Nox's Story

Far above the Lands of Sorrow mountains of grey ash clouds blocked out the sun from the region, making the desolate place even more dreary. The storm system had been in place for centuries, and had been officially named Disdain's Blight, but it not only eroded the skyline. On ground level there were only two types of weather. Ash fog, or Blight storm, one being a more violent version of the other.

Outside it was currently the latter, a brownish grey sand made of the ancient ashes of tragedy and war across these lands which blew across Disdain in the high winds. It made the foggy dusk into pure night, and that is all Nox saw. The young boy Nox was standing in his family home staring out a tall window at the storm. The property was a rather large estate that his nobleman father had once owned.

The house was rather bland however, as being a noble in Disdain was little more than making ends meet. As such was the reason behind Nox's current problem. Two older gentlemen also claiming to be nobles sat in front of the boy's new desk. Both were looking frazzled and uncomfortable as they both spoke over each other at the boys back.

Endless discussion, ongoing princibles and regulation. Nox knew why the men where there. They wanted what money his father had left behind after his passing. They thought Nox was a weak minded child, but that would soon be proven incorrect. The dark haired boy turns on his heel, staring down both if these men and waving a hand for silence. "Enough! I won't tolerate your sniveling."

Both of these men seemed surprised to be silenced by a child. Their expressions changed quickly however when Nox flicked his arm out again. This time a thin blade impacted one of the men's throats, catching him off guard and severing a jugular in his neck. His associate stares in horror and begins to scream, but it was little use. With the roaring storm outside no one could hear Nox as he turned the screams into blood soaked mumblings. He even had a grin on his face as he wiped blood onto his sleeve and cleaned his blade off before securing it on the inside of his sleeve with some leather.

He had only been in his fathers place for a month and already he had dealt with over half of his local competitors. He had no goal to conquest the remaining nobles, for they knew their place in not messing with him, and this most recent set of corpses would ensure that. He dragged the bodies with some difficulty into twin burlap sacks and sealed them, cleaned both the room and himself of blood, then sent a servant to deliver the sacks to a black market butcher. He didn't expect the servant to return either, as all loose ends had to be taken care of.

Now dressed once again in clean and proper clothes he sets about keeping up the books his father used for business, and continue his noble status. But with most of the messy business taken care of he sought pleasure and relaxation. Perhaps a trip out of Disdain would do him good. He made plans on paper immediately, confident on his plan.

A loud uproar of commotion and gossip erupted from the front gates of Hoffngard, the general masses splitting to make room for three black carriages entering the city. As the main road cleared of traffic the carriages made their way inwards towards the upper class section of town. The carriages themselves looked worn down, except on a single wooden wheel that had been replaced with a new one, probably after breaking on the way here.

There was no glass seperating those inside from those who stared at the passing nobles. A single black curtain maintained privacy on all but the last carriage. A small pale face of a young boy poked out from side window and took in the sights, sounds and smells of the new location. Nox was eager to see something new but the shy side of him made it difficult. He kept his curiosity in check for now but everything was so vibrant in colour and scope that it interested him.

He was not used to the bright sunshine either hence the dark decour of the carriages. He would probably wait until nightfall to explore the city, and look for more victims.

Kana Na-Ahn
_____________

Life as an earth elemental is difficult. First off, you don't know who you are when you are formed. Two, it takes a lot of maneuvering in the first few moments of life in order to not fall apart right away. And three, provided you can keep your self together, the general public is usually a little hesitant to accept you as a member of society instead of as a monster.

When Kana was formed, a being known as Tir'Ish Na-Ahn found her. There had been a war, she was told, and there was a lot of magical energy left on the battlefield. By chance, certain amount of that energy resonated with the earth, and an earth elemental was formed. If it weren't for Tir'Ish's instructions and guidance, Kana would have fallen back apart as soon as she had formed. However, due to that help, she was able to stabilize and take up a form. The first form the elemental found was a fallen shieldmaiden who had fallen during the battle. Using her as a blueprint, Kana formed herself in that image and took the form of a humanoid. Tir'Ish then named her Kana Na-Ahn before leaving her to figure life out.

That was two years ago.
==
The city was a beautiful place. Kana wore a long cloak with the hood up in order to hide her rock-like skin. The less she drew attention to herself, the better. Kana was on the search for a day of labor. For her own purposes she was looking to raise money, and her incredible strength and resilience to fire made her a valuable candidate for both construction and blacksmithing. The only challenge was to find someone who would hire an elemental.

Going through the city was normally uneventful, but a commotion broke the busy trance near the gate. Three carriages were hustling towards the upper town, and making way for them was in the best interest of anyone who didn't like a broken leg. It happens often enough. Kana watched with curiosity as they passed. Nothing too exciting, except for the abruptness of it. After watching the speedy procession, she continued to make her way towards a part of town that was in need to repairs. She was hoping for some work there.

Nox

---

The three black carriages stopped once they were in the upper class sector of Hoffngard. Outside Nox could see the estate that he had requisitioned via messenger ahead of time. Stepping out of the carriages were three butlers or servants of some kind all in their thirties, and one small well dressed boy. Immediately a runner boy dashes up to the first butler and hands him a note and runs off.

The butler reads it then whispers the information into Noxs ear. He nods and leaves the staff to unpack his things into the estate. Walking down the street to a nearby estate as per directed by the note, he takes a deep breath before entering, unaware of the dark mist lingering behind him...

---

Xyr

---

The Deity of Tragedies and Horror drifted through the finely decorated halls of the estate, having come to the city for this opportunity. In front of him was one of his newer followers, Nox Stri. The young boy followed the directions given to him by the door man per his own request and soon entered what seemed to be a lunch meeting between several of the nobles within Hoffngard. Xyr noticed Nox gulp before the boy joins them and sits.

One noble in particular showed interest in the boy, a middle aged noble who was curious about Disdain. Nox was the first noble to ever leave the city state, and as such they had many questions. Xyr remained unseen and whispered into his ear. "You are new to these lands... new to their customs..."

Nox responded by thinking a moment then speaking. [color=darkred]"I am ignorant of this land... and I might need help with local custom... if you could offer it... "

An hour later Nox was leaving the estate, his innocent ways in this persona gaining him their favour, and enough money for a Disdain embassy in the city. Xyr had given him the words to convince them, but that was only one part of the whole. He left Nox to enjoy his afternoon and continue with the next part of this tragedy.

After much time he wandered into what seemed to be farm lands. How he really ended up here was a mystery to him. All he really knew was that he was somewhere, a place he was sure to find out, at least he hoped to. He just kept walking in a singular direction until a large city started coming into view.

He approached the large stone walls with two massive doors set in the middle where the road joined to the city. As he approached he could see some wagons carrying produce inside. The sun lit up the sky with a rather orange glow as it was starting to near twilight. He stepped up to the gate, the guards standing by to keep watch of those entering the city.


Just as he was about to enter the city a guard stepped up, stopping him from going any further. Creep eyed the halberdier up and down before the man spoke.

"Sir, have you payed the entry fee?" He asked him, clearly barring his passage into the city. Creep cocked an eyebrow, clearly in some confusion.

"There's an entry fee?"

"Yeah." The guard spoke brusquely, by no means pleasant in his demeanor. The man looked him up and down, clearly evaluating him. His upper lip contorted with disgust as he estimated Creep's worth.

"The fee is fifteen silver."

"Huh? I'm not sure if I have that much on me."

"That's not my problem. Pay up."


Creep's expression sank into a frown. He looked over, seeing peasants with wagons passing into the city regularly.
"What about those people? Don't they have to pay?"

"They've paid already. Now's your turn."

He couldn't tell if the guard was telling the truth or not but he didn't feel all too happy nonetheless. Regardless he started fishing in his pockets to see what he had to pay with. Within his jacket he fished up a couple silver pieces that were minted quite a while ago as well as a handful of bugs that happened to be in the way. When he reached out to hand the man his change the guard recoiled in revulsion.

"Eugh! What the-!?" The thuggish guard exclaimed after retracting his hand from Creep.


Just then three black carriages approached the gates, the other guards making way for them to pass through.
"Bloody hell! Look, just go and don't let me see your ugly mug again, got it? The guard told Creep after having seen the carriages coming up. The man did not wait for him to answer, hurrying over to do his duty instead of trying to extort money from passersby.

With a shrug he stuffed his silver coins back into his pockets and continued on, shuffling through until he was lost in the crowd, a face among faces. As he went along he noted seeing someone who looked almost earthen. He couldn't get a very good look however and he didn't bother to stop and check.

---

A bit of time later

---

The town was much different than he remembered it. It had grown and changed since he last visited this place. One old establishment that he recognized however was The Old Dog, a tavern down in the run-down side of the city. While everything else seemed to have grown up and gained a polished gleam to it this place still looked as sub-par as it did the last time he was here.

Stepping in through the door it was pretty much what he expected to see. The tables were somewhat rearranged, there were some new waitresses and the surly old bartender had been replaced with his son, the surly now middle aged bartender. Still much of it was still the same. The floors were still dirty, the lighting was still dreary and everything still smelled of vomit and alcohol. The customers were the usual fare, alcoholics and poor folk who couldn't afford to drink at nicer establishments.

Long has it been since a time where Creep could enjoy getting drunk and forgetting his problems. Nowadays he couldn't even get the satisfaction of filling his stomach thanks to the holes which lingered even still. Still he couldn't help but come and reminisce of a time when he could.


He went over and sat at a far table in the darkened corner of the room. Not long after sitting down a waitress came up to take his order. The young woman in her somewhat scant attire, the standard work uniform for all the waitress's there, would of looked attractive were it not for her constant scowling expression. Not that her looks mattered to Creep, not anymore. It was just something he noticed.

"Can I take your order?" She sounded a mixture of both bored and annoyed. None of the waitresses looked at all happy to be working here and for good reason as they regularly had to deal with undesirable sorts as a common routine. He couldn't blame them for that, nor did he feel it particularly unjust to be lumped in with the pathetic masses which this tavern called it's customers.

Creep just sorta looked down at his shoes, trying to be as discrete as he could so he didn't draw any unnecessary attention.


"What can I get for two silver?" He humbly asked, his voice somewhat retiring as though he were shy. He wasn't particularly extroverted but his main goal was to not draw any attention to his wounds or the bugs which sometimes crawled in and out of them.

"cup a' ale's all that'll afford 'ya."

Without another word he quietly reached into his pockets and produced his change, taking the time to make sure his hands weren't full of bugs this time. As he handed her the money she just took the money from his hands, not really giving a damn as she turned and strode off towards the bar without so much as spending a moment longer looking at him.


"'Ey Burt, we got an order for one cup a' ale for the creep in the back corner." The waitress passed off his order to the bartender who went ahead and filled up a cup. Handing the cup over to the woman she brought his order up to his table. Without so much as even a glance at him she passed his table, setting the cup down at the opposite end of the table before striding off to wait on another table.

With a melancholy sigh he took his cup and set it back down on the table in front of him, just staring down at the bottom of the drink as he dwelt on where the good ole' days went.

Alieth

As Alieth walked on, she realised she didn't really have a plan- Which was unlike her, but she shrugged and mumbled to herself "not like those plans work out anyways". Her thoughts were cut off by the the words of two men who were walking in front of her;
"They say The Black Ichor changes animals, as if they are mutants or far worse" he said in a hushed tone, his clothes looked as if he were a noble- But she guessed he wasn't that high in ranking. The other man looked alike, brothers perhaps, but his stature stood taller- more affirmative. "I see, I've heard that myself- even rumours that it might be spreading across the Ertse'gart, but they may just be rumours- People practically feed off gossip these days". Alieth slightly frowned, unsure if to believe this information. The men turned down a busy street, and she realised that she had been following them all the way back to the main gates. "Bleeding skies, I'm back where I beg-" she began to mutter to herself, but she was interrupted by a small, middle-aged woman slamming into her. She looked up, dazed. The person who slammed into her had her back to Alieth, and Alieth then saw that it wasn't the woman's fault. The large crowd of mortals had parted for three worn down, black carriages. She could practically feel the buzz of gossip that was brewing. Alieth moved through the crowd, muttering a "sorry" and a "excuse me" to all the people she bumped into. Her eyes stayed glued on the carriages, and she could faintly see a head popping out of one of the openings of the carriage. Managing to zig-zag her way through the crowd, she set off to find out where the carriages would lead her.

==
After some fast paced walking, she had figured out where the carriage would be going, the upper class sector of Hoffngard. She decided not to journey in there, for she knew that she would earn some unwanted looks- Everyone in that sector knew everyone, and gossip thrived as if it were light itself. She couldn't help but wonder what the new-comer wanted, and if it would affect her in any way- For all she knew, they would be discussing what tea is best. But she had a feeling, and it didn't go away easily.

Kana Na-Ahn
__________________________
Kana managed to find someone who would hire her. It was hard! Have you ever been discriminated against because of your race? Well, being discriminated against because of your species is even harder. Add on top of that that Kana is a woman, and most hard labor places simply would not even consider. More than once she was threatened to have the guard called if she didn't make herself absent. Finally, after about eight or nine attempts, one contractor was willing to take her after she moved a cart out of her way single-handed. In was an expression of annoyance, but apparently her raw strength was enough to get a job for the day.

This particular job was fun. Her fellow workers were scared of her, especially when she removed her cloak, but they were willing to work near her. The job only lasted for a few hours, and was of the type that each worker was compensated seven silver for basic work, and ten for specialized. When Kana was in line for pay, they tried to hand her seven.

"Am I just a standard worker," she asked. "Could any of your others lift two bundles by themselves?" And there she stood, with her earthen hand outstretched, while the contractor considered the situation.

"Fair enough. Take yer ten. We could use someone of yer....abilities later in the week. If yer interested, check back 'ere later."

Giving a grateful nod, Kana took her day's wages and followed the group of workers to a nearby tavern. They weren't scared of her anymore after working with her, but they still were wary. What better way to ease the tension of what could be future workmates than to drink with them? Kana couldn't get drunk, of course, but she knew she had a better chance at better pay if her work force actually trusted her. So with that, she led off to some dusty, dimly-lit tavern.
--------------------------------
Inside the tavern was about as bad as she expected. Dirty, dimly-lit indeed, and vomit, alcohol, and B.O. permeated the air. The smell didn't bother Kana, but each worker recoiled only slightly as they came in. They were used to it, sure, but no one could truly be used to it.

The group ordered the house grog with their wages. Kana got the same, even though it was more money than she wanted to spend. No one received a full day's wages, as they only worked almost half a day, but they were pretending that they were nobles with the way they spoke to the obviously unhappy waitress. More than a couple suggestive comments were made about her as she left with the order, and Kana decided that staying inside her cloak would be the best option. She looked conspicuous, sure, but it was better to be the strange one with a full cloak than the female earth elemental who would garner far too much attention from others.