A warm welcome [Open]

[Leo Varniak]

57th day of Winter, 510 AV By now word of the group of strangers who made up Glav Navik's party must have reached pretty much every working pair of ears in Wind Reach. The red-haired mountain folk had proven to be a bit of a conundrum to Leo Varniak. They holed themselves up in the crater of an active volcano, relying on little more than primitive hunter-gatherer strategies, and yet they flourished as artists and craftsmen. Their lives tended to be short and brutal and yet they seemed to enjoy themselves more than anyone in Syliras. A minority of privileged freemen held absolute power over the rest, and yet even the slaves seemed to bear their condition without truly questioning the system. Odd. Leo's hand ran along the corridor wall as he took a walk around the interior of Wind Reach. With Queen Morwen's fury raging outside, these halls were really the only safe place to be. He wondered how long he would be staying here. Days? Seasons? Years? Were Sondra and Terminus faring well back in Syliras, fighting evil in his stead? He feared that the city might prove too much for them to handle. Sondra was too jaded, Terminus too soft, and the place too dangerous beneath the surface. He wanted to conclude his business here and take the first ship back to civilization. 'But there is something I must do here.' And something else annoyed him, as well. It was cold - cold enough that even his abnormal body temperature could not truly compensate for it. He hadn't packed a lot of winter clothes, either, mostly because he didn't have any. His grey shirt might have been enough for his peculiar thermal regulation in Syliras, but it was woefully lacking here, and his hands were feeling somewhat numb from the cold. Leo Varniak sighed, looked left and right, and finally made up his mind. He took a step back from reality, visualizing the interior of his body, the veins and the conduits for more spiritual energies. He separated some of his inner essence and expelled it as thin Res from the pores on his right hand, then lighting up a small orb of fire that floated harmlessly just above his palm. He nodded in appreciation of the heat: much better now. He wasn't sure how exactly the natives would react to magic in this corner of the world; in fact, this was a splendid way to find out. The orb flickered as he literally allowed it to land on his hand, apparently setting it on fire, though the flames would never harm their friend. He just had to mind his clothes, for those did not participate in the friendship. Warm hands did feel wonderful! Leo walked around the corridors of Wind Reach like that, his mood significantly improved. He was ready to greet the natives with a smile and a handshake. Maybe not a handshake.

[Tavaltia]

Approaching the interesting man, keeping an eye on his hand’s the whole way, he will look at him and say, “You are quite possibly the most interesting man I have ever seen, your hand’s burn but you do not show any pain.” Smirking, he will walk up to the interesting man, not particularly what he should say to a man who can light his own hand’s on fire. “My name is Tavaltia, and I would offer to shake your hand, but it’s on fire.” Words that he never thought he would say let alone in any seriousness, He will look around, just out of curiosity if there are any other particularly interesting people around. He will look at the other man, wondering why he was able to hold the fire where it was, and wasn’t hurting himself.

He will adjust his Sontav, watching the man’s hands; He found this man’s ability to control fire interesting, to say the least. But he is nervous about his health, having never seen anyone who can touch fire without being burned before. He will laugh nervously, “I would say more, hell I’d even invite you out for a drink, maybe to see my shop, but I don’t see how that would interest a man of your abilities, I mean wow, you have control over fire” He seems to be talking his way out of his discomfort, but even so he still seems uncomfortable, though he is obviously amazed by the man’s ability to control fire, he would never admit it though. He will begin to scratch the back of his head, obviously very confused and trying to figure out what he should say. “I suppose we could go for a tour of the city, but I don’t think I’m the best person for that, you would probably want to talk to an Endal for that, I’ve been told it looks amazing from the sky.”

[Kellan Lucia]

The world was cold, one could even say frozen in fact. This did not stop Kellan though. He was a new Endal with a newly bonded eagle. He clung to Alwin's feathers like a security blanket and let out a howl of excitement. Prey we scarce but there was… movement! "Alwin! Dive closer to the ground! I see a rabbit!" The Inarta's excitement was not one of an eighteen year old but more like a small child. He could not help his excitement though. He was in the air, it was the dream of the Inarta and he was living it! "Stop your howling Kellan. You are not a hound." Kellan pat the neck of his feathered mount and chuckled. "Don't worry Al, if we don't get it there is always later." Alwin's beak snapped in frustration but he dipped regardless. Kellan wore a boyish grin as he pulled his arrow back and aimed. "Steady now little bunny. This will only be a moment." He released the arrow and watched as it flew from his bow and sank through the soft flesh of the rabbit. "YES! Al! Did you see that?" Alwin dipped a wing and started his decent to land on the ground. "How could I not Kellan. You are sitting on my back." He landed soundly on the ground and shook his head. Kellan slung his bow over his shoulders and walked over to the rabbit. Alwin eyed it hungerly and Kellan gave him a playful glare. "Not for you Al." Alwin snapped his beak and flapped his wings angerly. "You are such a child." Kellan climbed up on Alwin's back with the rabbit packed safely away. "Okay Alwin, let's head home." The giant bird soared through the sky as it headed back to the aeries. Kellan clutched Alwin's feathers and tried to nestle into his scarf while the winds picked up. "Hey Alwin, what do you think of the newcommers in town? No one ever comes to town after the frost sets in!" Alwin was silent as he flew. It was almost like there was something he wanted to say but he kept it supressed even on a mental level where Kellan could hear. "Come on Alwin. You gotta have some opinion. Zulrav knows you have a whitty remark for everything else." Alwin looked forward silently and focused in on the Aeries. "I would not fret too much about it. I'm sure they are just travelers. We have them all the time. These simply are arriving later." Kellan would not have I though. He could not think these visitors were just visitors. It was what it was though. Visitors or no visitors he had a job to do. He needed to get his kill to Wind Reach.  The Aeries were warm in comparison to the chilly winter world outside of Wind Reach. Once inside Kellan handed his kill off to one of the workers in the aeries and headed out to the tunnels. He was ready to get onto the fun part of his day, socilizing! His golden eyes caught a familiar speck of red before too much time. "Tavalia!" Kellan cried out as his practically crashed into his Avora friend. He looked up to see one of the forementioned "newcommers". Kellan held out a hand to the man but then pulled it back. "Oooh, you look like you have a very warm handshake, too warm one might say." Kellan chuckled and rubbed his hands against his cold arms. "Anyway, I am Kellan, Kellan Lucia. Son of... Eh, you don't know em, I don't talk to em. I think we can skip their introduction. Who might you be?" Kellan could not wait to tell Alwin that he met one of the newcommers. "Even more importantly, what brings you to the city of Wind Reach? We don't get a lot of visitors this late." The Endal spoke a lot but this habit also got a lot of the awkward questioning out of the way quick.

 

[Leo Varniak]

As expected, it didn't take long for Leo's showy tactic to bear its fruit. One could only hope they wouldn't be offended by his magic, and that he hadn't unwittingly broken some ancient law written in blood at the feet of some idol. Leo had a tendency to offend people that he himself couldn't really explain. He didn't do it on purpose. Maybe it was all the burning, who knew? The difficult part with the Wind Reachese was figuring out which caste they were from. They weren't really segregated, and you could tell by how well-fed or well-dressed they were if someone was a Dak, Dek or whatever they were called… but telling the higher castes was a bit of a problem unless you saw them riding an eagle. This was why he observed the incoming man carefully, studying his mannerisms as he spoke. An Eagle rider would likely handle himself with more pride. Ah, shop. Second caste. "Well met, Tavaltia. I am called Leo Varniak and this little trick is really nothing special. I couldn't do it without help, at the very least." This Tavaltia looked surprised at his ability. It confirmed Glav's suspicions - Ivak really was unknown among the Inarta. Their journey here was born out of a purely accidental discovery. Glav talking with a red-haired Inarta and finding out he didn't know about Ivak. Then, on the next day, the Inarta had forgotten all about Ivak, as if the conversation had never taken place. Odd, but then again there were odd people. Except this had already happened to Glav once before. With another Inarta, completely unrelated to the first. This was where things stopped being odd and started being interesting. Very interesting. Especially to those who sought to free Ivak. "Back where I used to live, there are people called Tuvalik who firedance with this. It's a show unlike any other, but it won't make me any less interested in your shop. What is it that you craft? I'll have to pass on the drink, though." He said it in a quiet voice, but with plenty of determination. The drink was bad. He turned around as Tavaltia's name was called out. A second, more exuberant Inarta approached the duo. The confidence of rank? Leo nodded to Kellan. "I am Leo Varniak, formerly of Syliras. Biggest city in the world, I think... way off to the East." He felt the need to add the last part. For all that they lived in a harsh pit of a world, these Inarta didn't look like they traveled a lot beyond their mountains. He tilted his head at the question. Leo had a strict no-lying policy, but there were things about his quest that couldn't be safely revealed. "I am more of a bodyguard than anything else. The man who leads our expedition, Glav Navik, is a person of great learning and wisdom, and he has developed an interest in your fair…" He wanted to say city, but Wind Reach didn't really strike him as one. It was the husk of an eviscerated mountain that had been taken over by a colony of men. "… homeland. Surely there are things to be learned from the mountains and those live in them, with them. We were supposed to arrive earlier than this, but we encountered… some difficulties along the way." The dead bodies lined up on the deck of the ship flashed before Leo's eyes.

[Tavaltia]

Tavaltia will stare at Leo’s hands and blink slightly. “Help, what kind of help allows you to light yourself on fire, odd form of assistance, Though I don’t think I would mind seeing people dancing with fire, though I’m tempted to ask how it doesn’t burn them, I’m sure you would be just as cryptic as you were about how you do it.” He will beam when asked about his shop, and start rambling at an excited pace, “I am a leather worker, I just got my own shop this early this winter,” At this point the excited Tavaltia will switch into Nari, “and I could take you there, I still have lots of furs, I could make you a cloak or a, oooh maybe I could make that, How about I just bring you there, trying to work something that is resistant to fire would be a wonderful challenge, maybe if I did it right I could make you a pair of gloves, though I would have to figure out a way to make them fireproof. Maybe if I coated them in the right mixture of grease and herbs, but the wrong mix would make it far more flammable, and that would be bad, but it wouldn’t hurt you, your hands are already on fire, oooh maybe I could experiment you, how do you do that anyway?” the stop in speech is sudden, and abrupt and he starts to stare intensely at Leo.

He will then proceed to fall over rather awkwardly as the tiny Kellan barrels into him, “hey Kell, how are you this fine and frosty day?” he will stand himself back up and stand a step behind Kellan. Though physically larger, Kellan still had rank on him. In common again. “Hell I’m impressed that you managed to make it up here in this weather, its cold as hell out there”

[Kellan Lucia]

"Glav Navik…, hmmm, have I heard of him? He sounds familiar." Kellan racked his brain for a name to connect to the face. He remembered a few whispers through the tunnels and in the commons about a Glav Navik and his companions. They had braved the Unforgiving and that alone gained Kellan's respect. "Just getting through the mountains is a feat within itself. A good amount of strong men and women have died on the very same path you took." Kellan could not help but admire the man a small bit. He had never left Wind Reach except for the short visits to the river or the small wooded areas around Mt. Sykinarta. He and Alwin had not ventured far enough to say they had visited the Unforgiving although the great bird could have just as well been there alone on his solo flights. The mention of Syliras was Kellan's next hot topic. He had always heard of the large city from traveling traders and from the extremely rare books they brought with them. He had heard of the great army that protected the city and the large… hmmm what was the building called again? It was not any sort of building that could be seen in Kalea. "I've heard great things about Syliras Leo. They have a huge army right? I remember hearing something about a large building they protect as well. I imagine it was quite interesting living there. Of course anywhere would seem interesting to someone who had never been there." Kellan could not help but wonder about the far away city. "It must hold so many secrets if it has a whole army." Little did Kellan know about the secrets his own city held. It always brought a smile to Kellan's face to see Tavaltia. The two had enjoyed a good time at Inclement Weather previously so Kellan had already pegged him as his friend. "I am doing quite well Tava. I just finished hunting. All I found was a rabbit but hey, food is food right? Hunting is so much harder when Morwen visits." Kellan let out a small sigh but then clapped Tavaltia on the shoulder. "No matter though. I gotta keep up the hunt no matter what. We can't have the city starving." Kellan's golden eyes turned to Leo at his comment about the city. His pause was a bit curious but Kellan wrote it off as a simple lapse of memory or a dramatic pause. "Have you gotten a chance to see the city? I guess more importantly have to found a place to stay. It really is a interesting place. That must say a lot because I have been here for eighteen years and I'm still not bored of the place. If you ever want a tour I can give you one. Granted I'm more of a hunter and at times part time medicinal help but I have guided a few people through the city in my time." Kellan could not help being a bit interested in the man. He wanted to know more about him. Any man who could make it to Wind Reach through the Unforgiving during Winter had to have some interesting qualities.

[Mercury]

Leo Varniak Skill(s) Reimancy: Fire + 2 XP Observation + 1 XP Socializing + 1 XP Lore(s) Wind Reach Caste System (Basic) Testing One's Magical Boundaries Being an Interesting Outsider Method to my Madness: I let you get away with being so frivlous with showing your fire skill, mostly because Wind Reach is populated and headed by quite a number of Reimancers. Most people would still be wary, but their interested reaction was still within reasonable bounds. Tavaltia Skill(s) Socializing + 2 XP Lore(s) Meeting an Interesting Stranger: Leo Varniak Obtrusive Curiosity Method to my Madness: Your writing style, while interesting, was a little difficult to read in this setting. If you wish to post again, please write in presence or past tense. Kellan Lucia Skill(s) Riding: Eagle + 2 XP Weapon: Bow + 1 XP Hunting + 1 XP Socializing + 3 XP Lore(s) Boyish Eagerness Meeting an Interesting Stranger: Leo Varniak Syliras (basic) Method to my Madness: I didn't know which bow you were using so I just gave you a generic bow. Change it to what you will and fix it on your CS as well. You can address any questions or concerns to the little voice in your head. A.K.A. PM me.