[Syliras Quest] A Reckoning From Above (Jaq & Co)

[Gossamer]

Timestamp: 47th Day of Winter, 509 AV Location: Syliras - North Wall Residential Night was falling swiftly on the city of Syliras. It had been a peaceful yet miserable day, filled with cold winter drizzle that had not quite turned cold enough to become snow or freeze in the streets. No one had lingered long on the streets, nor had any of the bazaar crowd set up booths in the courtyard. It was simply just too wet and miserable. But as evening fell, the clouds broke up long enough for a low silhouette to be visible winging in from the horizon. The shape was noticeable as a large bird, and it seemed laden though there was nothing clutched in its talons. Wing beats were heavy, slapping at the air even as it lost altitude before it was obviously ready too. To the untrained eye, it might have appeared overly large. But in the twilight size was deceptive. For when the bird alighted briefly on the wall, it was seen to be no larger than some of the largest vultures and eagles that grazed Sylira's countryside. Though, still not clearly visible and only in profile, the bird did have an unusual shape. It lingered no more than a moment as shadows seemed to tumble from it, before it launched itself from the wall and glided to the ground. It was then that anyone close could tell it was no eagle but in fact a very large raven, a magnificent bird that wore a set of jesses patterned much like some of the native leather working commonly was found to the far south of the grasslands. It remained where it landed, in the middle of the street, and more shadows tumbled off its back. Pycons... could be seen clearly scattering. That must have been what it dropped off up top the wall as well. As it paused, four shadows separated from it, indicating its burden was now gone because it stood up straighter now, unburdened. Another shadow, this one a man's form, stepped from a nearby doorway and into the light. He was a thin man, mousy looking, with a rather crooked nose resulting from an ill-healed break. He moved forward. The bird turned its head, squawked crow-like, and launched itself at the man. The man was armed for a dagger could be seen glittering in the now night-darkened air. The bird wasn't without weapons either, for its beat and claws looked razor sharp. The two creatures circled each other even as the pycon's disappeared from view. Soon enough man and bird were embroiled in a deadly battle that seemed life or death. Anyone watching could clearly see the fight, jump into it, try to break it up, or let it run its course.

[Jaquise Emittere]

47th Day of Winter 509 AV

There were times when Jaq wished he had shown restraint. When dealing with a particularly wealthy employer, when speaking with a particularly beautiful women, and on nights like this when speaking with a particularly sensitive tavern owner. Apparently large as whale is still considered an insult, even when the person your saying it to doesn't really know how large a whale is. For all they knew it was a small land based creature. Jaq had never seen one himself, and he doubted they were nearly as large as the books he had read described them being. So maybe it wasn't the words themselves but the inflection Jaq had put on them. Whatever it had been, this was one of the few nights Jaq was going to go to bed sober and thus became one of those rare moments when he wished he had shown a little more restraint. That is until he came across a rather odd bird, standing on the ground in the center of the road. Now normally a bird standing on a road would not have stopped Jaq,, nor would it have even caught his attention. This bird though was odd for several reasons. First, it was a large bird. Secondly it appeared to be a raven though its size was way off. Thirdly it wore a set of jesses patterned much like some of the native leather working commonly was found to the far south. Finally there was a great many small people, Pycons most likely, jumping of its back. Now if Jaq had been in his usual inebriated state he would have naturally assumed that this was a hallucination and kept on walking. But as it was mentioned earlier he was sober tonight. Sigh.

Before he could get any closer to the bird a rat faced man with an improperly healed nose stepped into sight holding a dagger that glinted in the evening light. The bird squawked at the man then launched itself at him. Jaq stood there for a moment, not understanding what was happening. A bird attacking a man? That was strange. Then again the bird wasn't exactly a normal looking bird. It was only a moment, in which those thoughts passed through his mind, before years of work as a mercenary and equal amount of time fighting in bars brought him into action. First Jaq drew his sword with his right hand, a long katana with a nicked, dirtied and scarred wooden sheath hanging from a belt behind him. Then Jaq raised his left hand stretched it out in front of him. For a moment nothing happened, but slowly in his palm a solid glowing blue white substance formed, that only few people would be able to recognize as res. The two were circling each other now, in a dance of death.

The light and shadow played across both there features the glow from the res in Jaq's hand only served to more sharply define the dance. Since he wasn't going for anything explosive or bone breaking, it was a faster then most of his other workings and a great deal easier to perform. He quickly began drawing the air in from around him, as he had done so in practice so many countless times, and then when was sure it was ready he threw the working at the bird, whose wings would hopefully catch the gust of air and at push it back a few steps without hurting it. Then as quickly as he could manage Jaq moved his blade in front of the rat faced man. He had not lowered his other arm, which was on the other side of him now and still pointing at the bird in warning. "Now since the bird there probably can't talk, I'm going to be asking you this. Why are you fighting a bird?!"

[Kadurro]

It had been quite a night for him. The Fire Festival had been a complete success for him, and while he hadn't done much celebrating at the festival, Kadurro had spent a good portion of the night celebrating his own achievement. So when he had woken up this morning to a horrid hangover and poor weather, he decided to just curl up in his little "home" on the streets and sleep the day away. And he did just that.

Now he found himself waking up during the twilight hours of the evening, deciding whether or not he should sleep till the morning or go and visit The Rearing Stallion for awhile. As he was heading down a street that would lead him towards his preferred drinking haven, he saw two men further ahead in the street, confronting what appeared to be a very large bird with blades drawn. Someone's dinner, no doubt," he thought to himself, but as he dared to get closer to the skirmish, he realized that this wasn't an ordinary animal. That...that's a raven...isn't it? Kadurro had seen ravens, and he had seen large birds, but large ravens were certainly a first for him.

Kadurro managed to put two and two together: men with swords drawn and a very large animal means one thing. That thing is dangerous. He wasn't a hunter by any means; he didn't even carry any real weapons on him, and so he decided he would leave this situation to the ones with the weapons. I should probably just turn around and leave now. It seemed like a fine course of action, but Kadurro didn't move. Some unknown intuition seemed to be telling him that if he were to even so much as breathe too loudly that the oversized fowl would certainly come charging for him. Whether or not that was truly the case, he didn't really feel like taking any chances. So he stood and watched as the two armed men stood off with the bird, hoping that they would be able to take care of it themselves.

[Calovan]

Briskly moving down the streets, an especially dark individual could clearly be made out through the windswept roads of the city. His dark hair was pulled back, to keep from obscuring his face, and his darker eyes peered out in suspicion and outward anxiety as he moved to the closest establishment where he might find a warmer abode in which he could stay. Shivering and hugging his long, tattered black cloak closer to himself, Calovan cursed the cold and the darkness and quicked his steps, which still were as silent as the grave.

It was no more than ten seconds later that he picked up on vibrations in the air. Turning his head to meet the waves, he distinctly heard a male voice echoing through the alleyways. His expression fell into one of concentration as he shrugged off his cloak and shifted into his own raven form. Picking up his clothing in his talons, he took off like a loosed arrow into the sky and swiftly flew to the source of the commotion. His avian eyes captured the image of three men and a fellow raven. Landing on a street lamp, he cocked his head to the side and cawed, calling the attention of the other bird to himself.

"You there! What's going on here?" The words were incomprehensible save for any other creature except the other bird. Being Kelvic, Calovan could communicate with all of his avian brethren, and this case was no different.

[Stitch]

It was a good night. Even though the rest of Syliras didn't seem to appreciate the rain that they had been blessed with on this day, Stitch did. Last night had been hot, the Fire Festival containing several jostling bodies and several large fire pits. Back then, the heat had been a comfortable break from the cool winter air that had been plaguing Syliras of late. Like it had rolled over from the Festival, however, that entire night had continued to be a bit hot, Stitch had thought. It was nice to be out with the rain and the brisk air, back like it was. His old friend had used to tell him that odd changes in the weather, hot days in winter, cold days in summer, were ill omens. Stitch didn't really believe in such things, but it still scared the little kid inside of him. Just a little bit.

He strolled down through the Residential area, his mental eyes flickering from darkened house to darkened house. He didn't know why he wasn't asleep, like them. The kids were safe in their beds, he should have been to, but for some reason, he just couldn't. His legs had wanted to run, wanted to walk, just wanted to move. He wasn't normally like this, but Fentya did constantly tell him he needed to get out more. Get a hobby, besides his martial arts, and perhaps get a woman. He chuckled a bit to himself, shaking his head. The girl blathered on about getting Stitch a mate every moment she got. She was about that age though, where romances flitted through her mind.

A vein throbbed on Stitch's forehead, and he suddenly paused, putting up a hand to touch at the aching spot. Lifting his eyes to the street ahead, he suddenly saw something that he had somehow missed before. Three human auras, each emitting a variety of emotions, the aura of a bird, and the aura of a...

The vein throbbed again, and Stitch winced, his mind's eye staring steadily at the over-sized bird three of the humans were engaging. That wasn't a bird. Not a real bird. Not any normal kind of bird. Stitch darted his mind's eye back to the bird perched on the lamp post, mentally comparing the two. No, wait, that one wasn't normal either. For all means and purposes, it had the aura of a bird, but there was something else in there. Something familiar. Something... Kelvic! Like Lady Avi and the Lady Nya! He likely wouldn't have been able to realize that the bird was actually a Kelvic in shifted form if he hadn't have been looking at the two Kelvics just last night. He had noted near the end of the festival, how their aura had been human, but tainted with animal. This crow, it was the exact opposite. Animal tainted with human.

That still didn't answer the question on what the other bird was, the one engaging the two humans. The other human seemed content to watch, perhaps also overcome by unease, just like Stitch. The cold flicker of a metal aura pervaded Stitch's senses, and he glanced back to the three men and the odd bird, suddenly noting several glimpses of steel. What was going on here?

Unease overcame his heart once more, and he started forward, raising one hand, speaking in a gentle voice, laced with worry and concern. He was coming from behind Kadurro, a blind man with a white bandage wrapped around his head to obscure his eyes, simple peasant clothing covering his legs and arms, and black hair whipping about his handsome, innocent face as a sudden breeze caught him. "Milords, please... This one does not know what has happened, but children, there are children sleeping nearby... Violence is not needed to solve any kind of problems that may have befallen us..." He stumbled a little bit, walking fast, the rough ground underneath his feet, combined with the urgent sense of worry and his blind eyes, managed to trip him up a bit. "...And that bird... What is...? Something..."

Stitch paused mid step, the urgent sense of worry and concern hitting him once more, much harder this time. Perhaps last night had been an ill omen after all. "This one knows this must be obvious, but there is something wrong with that bird..."