Viantra... That name sounded very familiar... Not now, back to her question. Magerrothe was slightly taken aback by her question. A simple enough question indeed. Yet, he himself wasn't quite sure what awaited him in Reliquitia. Magerrothe thought for a moment. He concentrated on his words while saying, "To be truthful, I didn't choose Reliquitia, so much as it choose me. I had set out from my village about a week ago with a full pack of rations. My plan was to travel until my supplies ran out, and this would be the land of my new life. So to answer your original question, I wanted a new beginning".

While he was explaining this, Magerrothe remembered that he had been rolling that acorn in his palm this entire time. The acorn had began to glow a very small amount. While he reached back to grab his rations bag, he used a little sleight of hand to drop the acorn in his back pocket. He reached into his rations pack and pulled out the last two pieces of deer jerky. He offered her one. At that moment, he remembered why her name was so familiar. Was she truly Jean's daughter? He was the greatest hunter in all of the lands, and given he was an elf, his name was praised in most elven settlements. This was very interesting. Magerrothe needed more information from this girl.

Magerrothe decided to bring up the topic lightly. "You say you are a hunter, and your family name is Viantra. Does that mean you are related to a Jean Viantra, one of the greatest elven hunters? Whatever happened to him?"

At Paige's voice, Meredith looked up. And instantly realised it was a bad idea as the world spun. She really had left it too long this time...but she couldn't do anything about it just now.
"...I'm..fine..i think...", she muttered, looking down again, "just a bit dizzy...it happens..."

She didn't want to say the real reason though...if she was wrong, and Paige wasn't a vampire, then telling him that she was would be a very bad idea..

Paige looked in Meredith's eyes, if he had thought correctly before, he knew what might be happening. Paige knew he would be taking a tremendous risk, and may even have to leave another town if he was wrong, but he took out a vial and handed it to Meredith. "Here, need this?" The vial contained a small amount of blood but enough to keep a vampire stable for enough time. He had been planning to drink it but he wasn't in a desperate situation as Meredith seemed to be. Paige looked to see if anyone was there, there was no one in sight. Paige wondered where he got the blood from, he had several other vials in his home hidden away, Paige dropped the thought, it was a useless one for the time being. Paige placed his hand on his sword, "Any idea where we could find the southerner and, interrogate him?" Paige asked Meredith. The murderer, whoever it may be, chose the wrong person to kill, especially it being a child. Paige remembered seeing the child laugh and play with the other kids in town. He shuddered at the thought. Paige hoped the murderer wasn't the southerner, but from what he saw in the inn, it may very well be.

At this question Kiana suddenly was unsure, she didn't like talking about her father that much. She may look brave and strong but she has never really gotten over what happened. Not even Meredith or any of the locals knew how he died. Instead of answering his whole question she merely answered "Yes." That simple question bought up a whole lot of emotion for Kiana. She immediately felt the need to leave she couldn't try and deal with these emotions in front of this stranger. "I have to leave" she told Magerrothe and she walked off. She wasn't sure where she was going, she just didn't want to stay there.

Managing a tiny smile, meredith accepted the vial. It wasn't much, but it would do for now.
"...Thank you..", she muttered, before downing it, "and the southerner? His name is Garth Brumear..and he said he'd stay at the inn...not sure if that's still the arrangement, but..he'd seemed to take a liking to me..maybe i could find out something?", she suggested, not sure how Paige would react to that plan.

"Alright," Paige said in agreement, "but I'll need to stay close by, who knows how he will react." Paige was worried, if Garth was who they thought he was, he had killed an innocent child, what would refrain him from attacking a woman asking questions. But if Meredith wanted to find out information, why not let her. "If your feeling better we should probably be heading back to the inn before Garth catches on." Paige said. "Oh, and please be careful with Garth, he could be a very dangerous man."

Something in her eyes told Magerrothe that he had gone too far.  It was blatantly obvious that he had done just that when she left immediately after.  He didn't mean to offend her of course.  He meant it to be utterly innocent.  Although, Magerrothe had a small expectation that something of this nature would happen.

She was Jean's daughter though.  That much he did get out of her.  He certainly would not pursue this encounter any longer.  Magerrothe watched Kiana walk away thinking to himself, 'I could heal just about anything. Wounds can be sealed and the pain can be eased.  The only things out of my power are death and emotions.  Emotions are a different type of pain entirely.  I can do nothing for her now, except to leave her to her thoughts'.  

Magerrothe shrugged the conversation off for now.  He was tired again, and decided it best to return to his tree and sleep until morning.

Two, two voices. One was definitely Meredith's. The was male by the bass of it. Garth slipped forth back into the shadows. His breath was held. It was only snatchs of the conversation that he could make out. It was enough. If he didn’t do something soon he’d find himself on an execution. Who knew one unattended corpse could cause so much trouble. Garth eyed the door of the stables. He could make a run for it. Grab a horse, and be out of reach of the law in a few day. He lowered a hand to feel his coin purse. He’d stay. If he ran then the gold that awaited him for his work would vanish. Garth would be damned if he was going to let such a fortune slip through his fingers. He could return to Inn. Cower in a room and claim he’d been there all along. Wouldn’t work either. The patron’s wouldn’t vouch for him though. That left two options.

Garth silently pulled his scimitar from its scabbard. He would slay the male first. He’d have the element of surprise. Except his new employer had informed that killing anymore of his majesties subjects would result his termination. That left one option for Garth to pursue. One that he’d loath to follow. Still it seemed his only option. “Lad, oh, boy where are you?” He whispered out the question. Just loud enough to be heard. “Lad, is that you.” He edged out of the shadows. Scimitar clenched in hand. “I swear if this is some child’s hoax, I’ll give you a beating you won’t walk away from.” With each word Garth edged closer to the stall from where the voice came from. “Is that you boy?”

Paige heard someone shouting, there was no mistaking the voice either, it was the voice of Garth. "Meredith please, find somewhere to hide and quick, I don't want you to be injured." Paige whispered to Meredith, taking out his sword and listening for another shout. Garth was calling for a boy, but why? Could he have been referring to the child that had been slaughtered? Then a cold wind of realization blew down Paige's neck. Unless Garth was completely innocent, Paige knew what Garth could be up to. Paige walked towards the shadow of Garth, his figure becoming more and more clear as approached.

The young-appeared and young-for-immortal-kind girl pranced throughout town, as she usually did. She pranced along streets and, thanks to an ability of her kind, pranced along rooftops. The ground, or whatever surface she would be walking on, was cold at her feet, but cold never bothered her. A lowly fairy having shoes was just proposterous. She'd peek into the windows of different buildings, businesses or residences. She was greeted by whoever bothered to greet her, and given dirty looks by those who found her annoying. Children don't play with her anymore, for her differences were obvious, and her stupidity may had been a disease for it to be so extensive, and where she caught it, nobody knew. But this disease did provide an imunity, either that or it was her power, for not once had Chiru caughten a cold.

Chiru heard a man talking, a larger scarier man. He seemed to have been looking for somebody, and had a blade of some sort out. Maybe he wanted to give a boy a haircut, and he ran. Yes, that could have been it. As expected, Chiru is the smartest. Chiru didn't remember who the man was, as she could barely remember half the people in the town, so, it only made sense to ask directly. Why people never do things directly when interacting with others, when you could simply ask what you wanted to know or say what you wanted to say, Chiru had no idea. Besides, Chiru didn't really know what conversation truly was, all it was to her was just talking. In that case, she made conversation all the time!

Chiru walked up to the man, brought her arm up and tapped his hip, and asked very simply in a very non-adulty tone, "Who are you?"

(OOC: By the way, I give anybody the permission to harm Chiru if they wish, she'll heal in a matter of hours to days, unconsciously, a week max if she's blown up or something spontaneous, unless of course you're willing to do things without violence and let Chiru actually make you want to stab her/strangle her/blow her up.)

Garth felt his feet dragging him closer. The Scimitar held tightly in his sweaty grip. It was the faintest of whispers, but the voices were still talking. The hushed tones told Garth all he needed to know. They’d taken the bait. Now just to reel them in. “I can hear you whispering Lad. Its bad manners for a host to hide in the shadows.” As Garth spoke a figure began to emerge from the darkness of the stall. It was only a second, but Garth swore it was the lad. He blinked the delusion away. From the darkness stepped a all too familiar face. The pale faced stranger from the Inn. The one that even now left Garth feeling unease. A tremendous feat at the best of times. “You get a letter as well?” The Sell-sword edged forward then paused. The pale faced stranger was armed. “That’s a lovely butter knife you've got there friend. I’ll put mine away, if you’ll put away yours.”

Garth moved to sheathed the blade. A tap on his hip. Garth spun round, the sword arced through the air, stopping inches from the child's throat. The Sellsword instantly regretted not completing the swing. This little brat would complicate matters. The stranger he could deal with, Meredith was a complication all on her own, this child though. Garth tilted his head. Was it a child? There was something off about the girl. Something not human. “Who am I?” Garth repeated the question with his standard whimsical tone. “Why, I’m a very busy man, lass. Why not run along. The adults are talking.” He pulled the sword away from her throat. Shoving the weapon back into its scabbard. He turned back to face the stranger. “Let’s leave the child out of this shall we?”

Crispin woke after a few minutes, he still felt poorly and his chest pain was only slightly withdrawn, the rest not nearly enough for his aching body. He rose from the thatch immediately setting about pulling on a pair of pants, and then his boots, stopping momentarily before working the leather to secure them to his legs to wipe sweat from his brow and run his fingers through his hair. His head pulsated with some distant pain that teased him, unseen. Once he had finished in this struggled endeavor he pulled on his leather vest over his bare chest, his arms rippling with muscles that throbbed with every slight movement. And then he pulled on his large black cloak, using it to wrap around his face, though it covered up to his nose it did nothing by hiding the deep purple bags that had conformed to his face. Lastly he pulled on his leather bracers taking meticulous measure then to secure his belt and daggers, and then his longsword running his hands over the blade in moderate affection.

Then he went to a chest in the corner of the small inn room, crouching and hesitating before prying his fingers beneath a board and popping it out, retrieving a key. It was moments before the chest was open. He pulled from it, regrettably a small vial, if anyone had seen they would have noticed a massive sum of collected money, several small artifacts and then several of the vials. He set it upon his lips dipping it back and it filled his mouth and revitalized his lungs, his skin almost immediately taking a darker shade. He felt restored, but knew it was only temporary. It would only be temporary.

He put the key back, the board returning, looking as it had before, as if nothing had occured, the chest locked. Crispin stood recalling his recent encounters, he took the stairs two at a time eager to do what he could today. Though, silently in the back of his ever busy mind he hoped he wouldn't happen upon that same Southern man. He got to the bottom and was distraught at not finding Meredith there.

"Excuse me," He would look to a man at one of the tables, his beard coated with spilled ale and his eyes as brown as the plain boards of the in. He knew this man, not by name, but by nature. "Do you happen to know where the innkeeper is?" He asked, and immediately the man retired to thinking, less than a minute before he spoke up as if he knew he wouldn't be losing anything if he were to tell, and would not be gaining anything by asking the mercenary for payment for information or other things.

"Aye, I 'aw 'er leave, tal' o' the stables, or something li' that.." He would seem to falter before going on, but Crispin had enough to go on.

"Alright, thank you." And in gratitude a coin appeared in Crispin's hand and was dropped onto the table. The man took it hungrily, giving a toothy grin. On instinct a polite smile appeared on Crispin's face in return.

He left without a word to anyone else heading for the aforementioned stables.

This was bad. Meredith had decided that right there. She still wasn't at her best, but at least she'd be able to get out, as Paige had wanted. Unfortunatly, that was pretty much impossible, since Garth was now in the way. So she was stuck there. As was a small child that had wandered in. Stupid brat. Most kids who saw a guy with a sword would run off...not this one it seemed...
And, as if to add to her worries, Paige was trying to defend her. Why did everyone think she was useless, just because she was a woman? Kiana was female as well, and yet everyone just let her get on with it. Unfair.
She'd have to show them...show them that she wasn't as weak as everyone seemed to think she was.

Paige could hear the sell sword and had just approached into view. What was Garth's motive's to return back here though? "Listen Garth." Paige said loud enough for him to hear. "I don't want any trouble, I just want an explanation. There's a dead child in the stables over there." Paige said pointing to the stables. "You know anything about it?"

When the larger man spun around and brought the blade to the girls throat, Chiru barely reacted. Maybe a step back away from it, but nothing more, as if she hadn't recognized she was being threatened or registered that the blade could hurt her. As the man talked to her, she simplied made a wide toothy grin to show she was listening. The man tried to brush her off and turned around, but Chiru didn't move. Another man with another blade was facing him, a vampire, it was easy for Chiru to tell, not that she had an ounce of intelligence on her, only that she was a fairy, they could tell these things easily. Not that Chiru cared or anything, fairies, unlike many, don't acknowledge how differences effected social terms, they were quite different themselves.

The two conversed a little, the vampire mentioning a dead child. Then, Chiru walked back up to the larger man and tapped his butt. She erupted into a million careless questions. "What dead child? What's your full name? Where'd that thing on your eye come from? Do you tell lies? How much do you get paid? What's your job? Do you know who the strongest is? How strong are you? Where's the boy you wanted to give a haircut to? Does that guy need a haircut? What's your favorite color? What's in there? What's the answer to life? Which came first, the chicken or the egg? How many times have you eaten bread? What is love?" The questions went from personal, to trivial, to plain random, even if she already knew the answers. She was randomly blaring questions non-stop, and she wasn't planning on leaving anytime soon.

Paige looked over to Garth, still approaching him slowly. He seemed to be conversing with a child. Paige walked up to Garth so he was about 5 feet away from him. The child seemed to be asking several random questions, Garth looked annoyed by the child, this would not end well. Paige ignored the child. "Garth, I don't want any trouble, I just need to know what happened to the child in there. Paige looked around to make sure Meredith was gone. He couldn't have anything happen to her, Paige couldn't let an innocent person be injured so easily. " Now Garth, what did you do?"

it didn’t escape Garth’s attention that the Pale Faced Stranger still held his sword. It matters little. All that matter now were the words coming from the Southerner’s lips. He chose each word with care. Dropping hints with delicate discretion. Would the man who offered to sheath his sword truly kill a child? Would the man who wanted to leave the child alone, really a killer? Garth prayed to the Southern God such questions were running through the strangers mind. Doubt would make a far better weapon than a sword. The stranger spoke of the dead child. The Sellsword raised his eyebrows at the knowledge “Shit,” Garth spat out the curse. He’d have to play this right.

“Well hasn’t this night taken a turn for the rotton. Our host is dead and-Gah!” Something jabbed Garth in his rear. He turned around to see the child staring up at him. The in-human looking youth barraged him questions, each more absurdly arbitrary then the last. Garth took a breath then answered, “The one I’m about to see, Garth Brumear, I cut myself shaving, no comment, more than enough, to make myself richer, you’re talking to him lass, strong enough, what now, a good shave couldn’t hurt, grass green, I’ll be finding out, 42, Which came first, it is known the egg came first, lost count.” Garth paused for breath. “Inquisitive lass aren’t you.” It was time of the big one. The question that had puzzled many a scholar. “To love something is to want it. For example, I’d love for you to stop asking questions. You follow what I’m saying Lass.”

With the brat dealt with Garth spun back around. This was getting tiring keeping up with both of these annoyances.The stranger began asking questions that Garth would have prefered not to hear. They were blunt. It was blatant that the stranger hadn’t quite bought into Garth’s pantheon of lies. He’d have to drag this out till he had a plan. “Let’s visit this so called dead boy of yours first.” Garth smiled down at the little girl. “I’ll be right back. Why not think of one really good question till I get back, lass.” With his orders given Garth strolled past the stranger and entered the stall.

Meredith sat pressed against the one wall of the Stall. The fear was clear in her eyes. “Looking lovely as ever,” Garth said as he gave a small bow in her direction. With greetings done it was time to deal with the dead elephant in the room. The body had been pulled out of the stack of hay where he’d hidden it. Wishing he was anywhere else, Garth moved closer to the body. The gash on the boys neck had swollen. Garth pulled back at the sight of it. His eyes looked else where from the body. He clenched his eyes shut. “Damned, it hasn’t even started smelling yet. Never did like the dead.” Garth steadied himself then looked again. In truth he’d seen enough dead bodies that the sight of them almost bored him. Which was the entire point of act. Would a man who couldn’t even stand the sight of a corpse, be the killer? “Lass, you friend outside, said this boy was dead. Kind of understatement.” For the first time since he’d entered the stall Garth looked Meredith straight in her eyes. “How’d you two find this body?”

Paige entered the stables, blocking the exit. "I can tell you that Garth. This boy, he was one that I knew quite well indeed. Often I would watch him play, and his happiness and youth brought me a smile, sometimes I would give him a coin, and he would be fond of it. Some of us enjoy the sight of a smiling, breathing child." Paige said. He was telling the truth, it has been much too long since Paige had been a child, but the young boy seemed to resemble himself as a child. Paige looked at the ground. "I went into the inn and only Meredith was there, she approached me, and I had to tell her." A melancholy feeling swept through Paige, he could have stopped the murder, he could have helped the innocent child. Of course Paige was innocent, but he told himself otherwise. Paige slowly filled with anger. He stayed where he was, and did not yet return his sword to its holster. Paige took two coins and threw them at Garth. "I had a lucky day in the mines, thought maybe I'd pay my friend a visit. What was your motivation for this Garth? Did you want me angry, because if that is so you have succeeded." Paige had smelled the blood on his sword, Paige was almost certain the Garth was the killer. Of course to protect his identity he couldn't reveal this to him. "Now Garth, tell me everything that happened this evening. I don't have time for your poppycock, so keep to the truth.

Ava slid off her horse quickly and quietly whispering to the beast so he would keep silent. She didn't need him waking anyone if her plan was to work. She tied the reins to a post outside the inn and patted him once on the nose and entered the inn hoping to get a room for the night, but alas there was no innkeeper in sight. It seemed as if the only person in the room was a drunk man whom was near to passing out. "Well it seems I'll just have to wait here." She muttered to herself without any kindness in her voice. She pulled her hood up and waited by the door but away from the drunk. He had yet to notice her but she wasn't going to take a chance the he was less drunk then he seemed. Ava was an impatient girl but more so on this night then she had ever been in her life. If she was caught it was all over for her. She wouldn't be able to stand it if she had to go back just after tasting freedom or whatever this was. "Where is the dammed innkeeper?" Ava muttered a bit louder hoping that they were just in the other room and would hear her and come around the corner to give her a room. She would paymost any price now if they could hide her even if it was just for a night.

Taking advantage of the distraction, Meredith thought it best to get out while she could. After all, there was another child involved, and she didn't want that on her concience.
She slipped out of the stall, and over to the child, gently taking her hand.
"Come on, the grown ups are going to have a talk, okay? I'll see if i have anything for you to play with until they get back?", she offered, gently pulling the child out, realising that the little one was cold. She'd have to help with that. She didn't want this little one to get sick.

"Finaly a break."Cronox said.This was another period of the year in which he was going in this town to take a break from his normal occupation.Cronox walked directly toward the inn,a favorite place of him where he could relax and forget all the problems and the eveniments that took place even if this was for a short time."Meredith!"He shouted while entering the inn.Still he didn't saw her but the elf walked toward a table.Immediately as he put the papyrus on the table he started thinking at something that he forgot to write.

"That war how was.The Battle of Essesx."Cronox remembered.Taking the feather and puting it into the bottle of ink he started writing with an amazing speed still remembering the man which told him about this battle an soldier of the defeated kingdom."What the.Something is wrong."Cronox told in his mind looking on the papyrus again.Something was wrong,a wrong information. It wasn't the first time when someone gave an incorrect information to him so Cronox had to think at what he heard and to replace that wrong information.

"The Battle of Essex in which the King Askar died."After minutes of thinking and remembering rumons he decided to write this thing but also adding another thing"Probably dead or became a slave."He mentioned on the papyrus.Writing history it was for him like writing the life of the world and his life for the peoples who will live centuries after his death but he always liked to do this.After he taked the feather,papyrus and the bottle of ink from the table and put them in his clothes he looked after Meredith.Many minutes passed but still she wasn't there,an event which he considered to be strange.

Magerrothe awoke smiling grandly, completely refreshed after this long slumber.  It had been a very long time since he had had that much sleep.  He checked upon his apple branches, seeing that they had taken on apple blossoms which should harvest fruit in no time.  Next, Magerrothe jumped out of the tree and checked his small game traps.  Nothing, but one trap needed resetting.  Magerrothe fixed the trap and leaned back against his tree to decide what to do for the rest of the day.  He supposed he should stay out of the woods at least for the day to give Kiana some space after their last confrontation.  

. . .

Something was bothering Magerrothe about that encounter from the other day though.  He felt as if he had forgotten something...   Magerrothe's smile disappeared immediately.  He checked his back pocket for the acorn he had prepared the day before.   'No... ' thought Magerrothe.  'A prepared acorn holds my power for a time, then after a while, gradually loses it, returning to a normal acorn.  Therefore, the acorn should still be in my pocket untouched.  Acorns do not just walk away.'  A thought came to Magerrothe.  He shook his head.  'He couldn't have...  I overwhelm him easily enough.  Even the slightest bit of my power hides his.... '  Then it clicked.  

'I'll be damned...  He found a loop hole again...'  Magerrothe  quickly gathered his things and began running towards the center of Reliquitia.  If what Magerrothe was thinking was true, then he had better find this missing acorn before Gixendell's plans became a reality.  But, where to look first?  The cemetery would be a good place to start, Gixendell's particular brand of power would focus there.  

Upon getting to the cemetery gates, Magerrothe took out his bow and nocked an arrow.  He then proceeded carefully into the graveyard searching every nook and cranny for anything out of the ordinary.

Ava saw the man enter the inn and heard him yell for Meredith, whomever that was. But she had a sinking feeling that was the name of the innkeeper. Hmm it seems I'll be waiting even longer. Ava thought to herself slinking farther back into the shadows so as not to be seen by this new and most likely sober stranger. She only had enough money to pay for a few nights at the inn if the innkeeper was generous, so she wouldn't be able to buy his silence if he had heard anything about her. She hoped she didn't look to be from money but if she did there was nothing she could do about it now, she was here and that was that. She hoped she could find someone in town whom would hire her at least for a short time so she may move on a but farther out of her mother's grip on her life.
Where is the bloody innkeeper?!? Ava nearly said aloud. If I must wait much longer I might burst! She thought angrily.

Chiru was impressed by the larger man, answering all the questions she asked, not because he was able to so patiently, but because he answered more questions than Chiru could remember asking, even more answers than she could remember at once. This man may have matched her intelligence all along. Chiru was just about to go into the process of asking twice as many more questions, when the large man was headed elsewhere, but challenged her to come up with a real good question. "Okay!" Chiru answered in a sing-song voice with a smile, and sat down cross-legged in deep thought as to a type of question she could come up with.

But then another vampire, a grown-up woman one, approached her and took her hand. She suggested that Chiru should go, for "grown-ups were talking", but Chiru didn't exactly want to go yet. "But that coal-colored guy (Sorry for racisim!) told me to come up with a good question, and I almost got one!" Chiru paused a bit, then asked, "Who's Meredith?"

Paige didn't want an answer from Garth, in fact he didn't want much more from him at all. He had already confirmed Garth was the murderer. "Try to find the family of the boy," Paige said with a sigh. "have him buried. Properly. And make sure this doesn't happen again." Paige wanted nothing more, he was satisfied. He walked out of the stables and saw Meredith near a child in the distance. He ran up to the two to see what was going on. There was most likely something wrong, for Meredith was a busy woman. Upon approaching the child Paige recognized her, it was the same one that had been talking to Garth. A quite odd looking child though. Could the child been sided with Garth? Could she be Garth' messenger? Probably not, Garth already made his statement on what he did to messengers.

"Hello." Paige said smiling. "What's going on? You okay little girl?" Paige tried to direct the questions towards the girl. Paige noticed the night and realized it wasn't a time children usually wandered about. The look on Meredith's face suggested this was not a child she knew very well. "Where are your parents?" Paige asked, and even though the question was meant for the child, he looked at Meredith for an answer as well.