Closed Dead Man's Accolade

[Madeira Dusk]

42nd of Spring, 518

Armed with a feather brush and determination, Madeira waged war on the dust bunnies of the High Spirits storeroom. She had the neck of her prim high-collared dress over her nose to keep from sneezing, but she couldn't keep her permanently tired eyes from watering, or a fine film of the dust from settling in her fraying chignon. Candles had been stuck on every level surface before Nessela had left on business, though it was still the middle of the day ("to keep out the shadows", she had said cryptically) and the shop looked like a snow globe as the blaze of light made the dust sparkle in the air.

"What's that?" Emma piped up from below as Madeira wobbled on her stepladder, reaching high to fetter out the dust on the top shelf. The ghost was pushing a sinister-looking bone comb around on a lower shelf.

"Don't touch it, Em" Madeira reprimanded immediately. "It'll make your eyes fall out."

"No it won't!"

"Do you want to take that chance?"

The Spiritist had made sure to press the dangers of messing with anything in the shop, for fear it could be Maledicted. Yet like every child since the beginning of time, Emma would only retain the dire warning for a bell or two before she got bored and started poking at the dangerous thing again.

"Then what's this do?" she pointed at a leather purse that hung from a peg.

"Bite your hands off", Madeira nodded sagely. "Best not touch."

"And this?" The child smiled and pointed at a pair of crocodile skin boots. She seemed to be enjoying this new game.

"It'll make you dance until all your limbs fly off!" Madeira hissed, doing a little jig while Emma giggled.

"And this one will make you break out in boils!" the girl joined in the gruesome consequences, pointing at a tortoiseshell hand mirror that lay face-down on its shelf.

"And that belt will saw you in half!"

"And that that headpiece will make your hair strangle you!'

"And that wind chime will make your ears explode!"

"Now, who's been giving away my secrets?" said a soft voice behind them. Nessela had drifted into the shop as quiet as a ghost, still wrapped in her cloak and with a parcel under her arm. She had a strange little half-smile on her lips.

"I'm sorry, Ma'am!" Madeira was growing an alarming shade of red to have been caught goofing off at work, especially in such an embarrassing way. She nearly tripped on her long skirt as she struggled to get down. "I didn't mean to let my attention waver."

"It's quite alright." the Konti laughed musically. "But I do expect you to keep a better eye on the front door. Anyway, finish up here and meet me in the sitting area; I have a job for you."

Madeira nodded and beat the dust out of her skirt. There was a tapping sound as Emma tried to sit a bone ring upright so she could roll it around the shelf.

"Better not touch that", Nessela said with a sly wink, as she turned back to the sitting area. "It'll bite your fingers off."

x

[Grim Ravenwood]

"What I wouldn't give for some shut-eye..." Grim thought to himself wearily, his pale hand moving to pinch the rim of his hood, pulling it slightly lower. Faint lines would begin forming underneath his gray eyes, signifying that sleep had, recently, became somewhat of a luxury. Cora was rather insistent that every room stay illuminated, even during the daytime. The Eiyon recalled the first, and only time he tried extinguishing her precious little candles. It ended with threats of eviction, and a few swats of a wooden kitchen roller over his back.

"That crazy woman..." He would muttered under his breath, gaze firmly set down.

"Hmm?" Nessela inquired, lifting a sleek eyebrow at the remark, only to ask though a light smile. "You have been listening, no?"

"Would you doubt me?" The raven-haired man replied trough a yawn as they walked. He could not help but feel as if without energy lately, unlike Dusk. The Eiyon's scythe rested against his shoulder, its crooked blade facing his back, gravity pulling it downwards. Atop it, a grim crow stood perched, eyeing the surrounding people with a curious gaze. It adorned the skull of some unfortunate avian, as one would a helmet, proudly displaying it to the many that watched it with confusion, wonder and fear in equal amounts.

"As I was saying..." The Konti woman continued, shifting the packet she carried to her other arm. "From today, you will be working together with a lovely young woman."

"Oh?" Grim mouthed, the information jolting him awake.

"I see you show interest now." The spiritist said as she flicked a platinum lock away from her smiling visage. "I can't help but wonder why?"

"Please." The Eiyon said in mock disdain, preforming an exaggerated pushing motion with his open palm. "I am a professional, and am only interested in my job."

The older Eiyon chuckled lightly, as only she knew, before continuing.

"Her name is Madeira Craven." Nesella said, before her tone took a more serious, implying tone. "And she is an excellent spiritist, one you could learn from."

"Craven?" The raven-haired man repeated slowly, running a finger over his cleanly shaved chin. "Where did I hear that name before?" He would ask himself, unable to remember. If Grim recalled, one of the merchants he traveled with to Syliras, Bodrick, mentioned the family a few times, though, the context did not come to mind.

"They are a notable family in Alvadas." The blonde Eiyon informed, the tone of her voice clearly implying that it was something he ought to know. "And are well respected in the spiritist community."

"If she is so important..." Grim began, his signature smile making its appearance in the corner of his lips. "What is she doing in a place like the High Spi..." The younger Eiyon released a pained grunt as an elbow planted itself between his ribs, though it was one mixed with laughter. He knew that the shack he would be studying in was often dusty enough to repel even the most persistent spirits - yet it held immense importance, as it housed the only person that devoted all of her time to taking care of Riverfall's spirits.

"But not dusty enough to repel some, it seemed..." Grim thought as he found himself close to the High Spirits, his nose catching the faint whiff of ozone. It was a clean and metallic scent, becoming more and more pungent as the pair neared the entrance. Even though mixed with the salty ocean breeze, the Eiyon recognized it as belonging to a spectre. While seeing a ghost in the Spirits was not something uncommon, this smell was, in a way, different - as was for every ghost. To say that his curiosity sparked, would have been an understatement. The Eiyon neared the stained windows, while his employer casually breezed inside.

The glass panels, encrusted with a light coating of grime, served well to hide him from view as he peered inside, his eyes taking in the brief exchange from the comfortable darkness of his cowl. Dira's gift did not trick him this time either, for, indeed, there was a ghost inside, next to who he assumed would be Madeira Craven. Another life extinguished prematurely, he thought as he eyed the specter. Though it very well could be a lot older, it took the form of a young girl - not older than ten, he assumed. After receiving a few suspicious gazes from pedestrians that passed by him, Grim decided that he was to enter as well. And so he did, lowering his weapon as to not bump the upper threshold.

"I can vouch for that..." The man clad in dark robes said, overhearing the last bit of conversation between the woman and the spectral child. He displayed his left hand, with the index finger completely bent, so that the nail faced away from from the ghost. Allowing his scythe to lean against his shoulder, Grim's other hand hid the middle knuckle of his bent finger, while at the same time, making it appear as if its thumb was the bent finger's extension.

"Cut my finger off..." And with that he separated his hands, all the while maintaining a mortified expression as he created the simple illusion of his index finger being severed. "Even made my hand blue!" And while the latter was no illusion, It might serve make the simple trick a tad more believable.

Meanwhile, he pulled his hood behind, revealing a messy mane, one made additionally shaggy, having been pressed against the dark linen for so long. The Eiyon noted that he was rather unpresentable - how very Sunberthian of him.

"Oh, and greetings by the way!" Grim hailed as he moved a bang of hair that obscured his sight, his half-smile dimpling one of his cheeks. Mayhaps it was because his gaze has been stripped of its ability to see color, but the girl in front of him seemed deathly pale, her skin not unlike porcelain. Her posture, likewise, resembled that of the more well-off citizenry he had the opportunity to spy in Syliras. Her eyes on the other hand, mirrored his own in the weariness they radiated. At that moment, the Eiyon wondered what had they seen to become like that.

"My name is Grim." The man introduced himself cordially. As he did, the skull crow descended gracefully from the scythe's blade, only to nest itself on top of the Eiyon's head, its inky feathers blending perfectly with Grims dark strands. The avian poked the robed man's temple lightly with his beak, prompting him to steak yet again.

"And this pest is Dusk." He would add trough a chuckle, the crow in question confirming its name with a high pitched caw.

"Would I be correct to assume that you are Miss Craven?" He asked, all the while keeping an eye on the spectral child.

[Madeira Dusk]

It was only as Madeira was following Nessela into the main part of the shop, beating dust out of her skirt as she went, that she realized the senior Spiritist had brought someone with her. This new stranger was tall, with a pale moon of a face suspended between a heavy black robe and equally black hair. Indeed he was surprisingly colourless, from his grey eyes to his pale skin and dark hair. If it weren't for the purple bags beneath his eyes and the blue tinge to his arm, he would have looked like he was drawn in charcoal in a world washed in paint.  He was carrying a tool she had only every seen in a farmers field, but the wicked gleam of its edge spoke loudly of it's ability to reap more than wheat.

From the dour way he presented himself she would have expected he was an equally dour man, which made it so incongruous when he greeted her and Emma robustly. He took the time to win the child over with a simple little illusion, then turned to her with a cheeky half-smile and introduced himself.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Grim, Dusk." she nodded to both the human and the bird like she was expecting them both to talk. "Call me Madeira. And this is Emma-" she turned to introduce the ghost, only to realize she was not beside her anymore. The ghost was almost completely behind her back, no more than a suggestion of shape as she made no effort to make herself seen. The little trick with the missing finger would have gotten a smile or even a giggle out of the spirit if preformed by anyone else. Yet the gruesome scenarios she had just been playfully conjuring with Madeira ticks ago suddenly seemed much less funny in the Eyion's hands. The ghost looked steadily at the floor and picked at the weeping scabs between her fingers.

Madeira, who could feel no such uneasiness towards Grim or the mark he bore, paused for a bemused tick before turning back to their new acquaintance and breaking the awkward silence in the air.

"I like your arm." She motioned to the faintly blue hand that fell below his sleeve. "Did you use dogwood? I never got into the fashion of dying body parts, but it was big in Alvadas a few years back." She nodded knowingly.

As the two were introducing themselves Nessela had set her package down on a rickety table and opened it with a letter opener. From inside she pulled out an official looking document and thick leather bracelet.

"Are we all acquainted?" she asked. "Good. Grim is my pupil, Madeira. He's an Eiyon himself and a good man who wants to know more about Spiritism. Some field work would be good for him and, frankly, you’ll need his help for this job I have for you.”

Madeira's eyes flicked to the tall stranger with renewed interest. He was only the third person she had ever met who had seen the goddess of death and lived to tell the tale. She wondered what his story was.

"There is a spirit haunting the Kendoka Sasaran”, the Konti continued. “Luckily they know who the spirit is and exactly what it wants. His name is Trishanku, he is the dark half of a young Akalak man. He was raised in Syliras away from his people, and died in the service of the knights before he could set foot in his homeland. His biggest regret is that he was never one of 'his people', and he won't leave until he proves himself worthy of calling Riverfall home."

"Then couldn't they just... give him honorary citizenship?" Madeira asked cautiously, bewildered that the government wouldn't make an exception for a man so dedicated to his roots he spurned death and travelled half a continent to prove it.

"They tried." Nessela handed Madeira the contents of the package for her inspection. Inside was a citizenship form with Trishanku's name penned in neat calligraphy, and a bracelet of leather tattooed with a complicated little symbol she recognized from Nessela's own wrist. "He refused it, and accused them of trying to placate him. He said he hadn't earned it."

Unfamiliar with the process of a Riverfall citizenship, Madeira skimmed the document with brow furrowed until she found the root of the problem. At which point she sputtered with shock as the true scope of the job donned on her. ”And how are we suppose to have a ghost pass a weapon competency test?”

"I'm sure you two will figure something out." Nessela beamed at the pair of them in a way that made Madeira think she knew exactly how. Perhaps this was her way of teaching- by throwing them in the deep end and yelling 'learn how to swim'.

x

[Grim Ravenwood]

It would seem that, in fact, the little girl was not quite as amused as Grim led himself to believe. He would ask himself if he should have done something differently as he glanced towards his palm. Truly, the mark did more than help him out. Yet, Grim found that it made him appear as somewhat of a scarecrow to the spectral folk - odd, frightening, and unnerving.

Then again, his recent hairstyle (or lack of it, better yet) made it seem all the more believable, he supposed.

He thought about asking for her name, but argued against it in his head. Maybe they would talk some more once she gets accustomed to his presence. Thus, he turned around to face the two women again, but not before sending a polite smile the little girl's way. In his color-drained vision, the usually blue soulmist appeared to turn a grayish, muddy-brown, a color not unlike that of a pool of rain, gathered in one of the cracks of Sunberth's cobblestone road. From a distance, he might even have mistaken her for a cloud of dust.

Just as he was about to speak up, as it seemed to be customary with every new acquaintance, the question of his arm popped out. His lips turned slightly dry as Madeira inquired more about it, mentioning some sort of wood that he had never heard about. Seeing as it was from Alvadas, it probably might not have even been a type of wood, he reasoned. It was never quite a comfortable topic, and people often mistook it for an illness or infection. But before he could speak more of it, thankfully, Nessela butted in.

The Eiyon listened carefully to what his new teacher had to say, his dark eyebrows furrowing more and more as the exchange continued. One of the many "benefits" of working with ghosts was that the job was never quite a dull one. There was always adventure to be had, if one was after something like that. However, such adventure almost never came without some sort of hazard.

"Well, of course they tried. And of course, he refused, being an Akalak." Grim said jokingly. "Not quite the pragmatic people, are they?" He concluded, lifting his sleeve slightly, exposing what was his own Kuvan mark. It was still slightly red, not having healed yet. Was a little ink really worth all the hassle? The fact that most Akalak he had met, though he only got to know a few, were, unreasonable, vexed greatly.

"Actually, I recall a similar case I had the pleasure of dealing with back in Syliras. Namely, we had to exorcise a ghost that refused to pass on unless he were to do so in combat..." He began speaking again as he pulled off the black robe that went over his clothes that were of he same color. Grim's shoulder moved backwards, causing his entire arm to pass trough the sleeve, enough to expose his bicep trough the V-cut his shirt sported. There, a vertical cut stretched across the pale skin of his toned bicep. It was clean, almost unnaturally so, though one could say that it had healed quite nicely.

"We could, I recon, allow him to possess someone?" He said uncertainly, pulling his robe over his shoulders. "But I don't think that I need to say that fighting a Syliran knight will be and easy task."

[Madeira Dusk]

timestamp

"Allow him to possess someone." Madeira repeated derisively. "Does that mean you're volunteering to let Trishanku ride you into battle, Grim?"

Problem was, he was right. Possession was likely the only answer. Yet to surrender your body to a spirit with nothing to lose, and an inability to feel the pain and stress in its vessel, for the purposes of combat? That would lead to nothing but disaster, she was sure of it. Grim showing off a wound from a similar encounter just solidified her opinion that this was all a horrible idea.

Pocketing the bracelet and the document, Madeira scowled at the floor. Well, stalling the inevitable would not make it easier. She squared her shoulders and smiled for Nessela.

"I'm sure Grim and I will be able to sort it out."

"I know you will", the Konti returned the smile, though the reflection was rather mischievous.

Madeira strode past them and grabbed her beaten leather rucksack from a hook by the door. Opening it, she took a quick inventory of what was inside: nine iron ghostnails, one obsidian ghostnail, a jar of raw soulmist dough, jade soulbeads, and extra souldarts for the bracer crossbow under her sleeve. All her tools accounted for, she shouldered the heavy pack and called for her ghost.

"Come on, Em."

The child had not moved from her spot on the other side of the room. Her naturally hazy form was almost completely dematerialized, so Madeira felt rather than saw her eyes flick uneasily to Grim.

"Emma..." Madeira warned darkly. It wasn't just her responsibility for the ghost that demanded she join then, Emma was the only way she could navigate the city with her sanity intact. It was an embarrassing condition she was not willing to share with Grim. "Emma, please."

Reluctantly, the ghost drifted to her mistress. Madeira rode a silent wave of relief and opened the door. "Come on, Grim. We'd better not waste the daylight."

Thankfully, Syna was shining strong that day. The white stone and gilded roofs Riverfall were so fond of gleamed in the warmth of Spring. But nobody was out enjoying the day or taking chances. People walked in pairs or small groups, and were hurrying to their destinations oblivious to the cultivated beauty around them.

Madeira walked beside Grim, with Emma leading the way a few meters ahead. She looked to the Eyion out of the corner of her eye, noting once again the tall weapon leaning on his shoulder as it reflected the midday light. There was a leaness about him you didn't see in those who lived in Riverfall, where there was both plenty to eat and emphasis on physical prowess. The bulky style of his clothing and strange accent just confirmed that he belonged in the blue city about as much as she did.

"Your accent is worse than mine, Grim", she teased after a moment. "Where are you and Dusk from? What made you come to Riverfall?"

"Almost there", Emma called from up ahead, pointing to a low wooden building in the distance.

x

[Madeira Dusk]

Grades Awarded!

Don't forget to edit/delete your grade request!

Madeira Craven

Skills

• Cleaning: 1xp
• Rhetoric: 2xp
• Socializing: 1xp
• Investigation: 2xp
• Leadership: 1xp
• Deduction: 1xp

Lores

• Game: who can think of the more gruesome curse?
• Caretaking: keeping a child out of trouble
• Grim: Nessela's student
• Grim: surprisingly upbeat for a Eiyon
• Lore of the story of Trishanku, the Akalak knight
• Deduction: context clues
• Leadership: taking charge

Awards & Retribution


Notes

Grim Ravenwood

Skills

• Socialization: 1xp
• Endurance: 1xp
• Observation: 2xp
• Caretaking: 1xp
• Rhetoric: 1xp
• Logic: 1xp
• Investigation: 1xp

Lores

• Socialization: entertaining banter
• Endurance: functioning without sleep
• Madeira Craven: spiritist
• Craven: notable Alvadas family
• Lore of the distinct smell of a ghost
• Caretaking: entertaining a child
• Lore of the story of Trishanku, the Akalak knight
• Akalak: not a pragmatic people

Awards & Retribution


Notes
Just in case you come back <3