[Job Thread: Solo] Do What You've Got To

[Auldwin]

71st Day of Fall, 511 AV

The Ghost watched from a distance as darkness crept down across the many pavilions of Endrykas. The Drykas had gone about their day working hard, perfecting their crafts, and trading with various foreigners, just as they always had. Auldwin often watched those coins and goods transferring from person to person, but for so many years he had decided such material things were beyond his grasp. Or were they? His grasp was not so immaterial anymore, and through diligent practice and sheer force of will, the apparition had turned his barely functioning Soulmist into quite a useful tool to exact his own ends. There was so much more left to be done, however.

Auldwin had heard of the mystic art form of the Drykas called Webbing, now having been amongst there people for sometime. It was said that particularly skilled masters could gather nearly infinite amounts of information and track the movements of various things from afar. It seemed like the perfect answer to Auldwin's query, tracking down the Ghost that killed him. He needed to integrate himself further into the Drykas for that to happen, and to become further inaugurated with their Pavilions he needed capital to start something legitimate.

Floating toward the congregation of tents before him, Auldwin was satisfied with the cover of darkness, it was time to test his plan. In order to gain capital, Auldwin would need to retrieve 'donations' from the people, so to speak. More plainly, he was going to steal what he needed over a prolonged course of time. Not taking to much, and not striking the same tent in rapid succession, it was his plan to simply allow people to believe they had lost or misplaced some of their smaller coin denominations. To that end, Auldwin looked for coppers and silvers mostly, keeping away from the golden variations of currency unless there was a particularly large sum where one or two would not be missed.

Of course Auldwin knew to stay away from those with Spiritual sensitivity, whom mostly existed within the Opal Clan. Today, he moved toward the Diamond clan, particularly interested in striking members of the more transient population. A foreigner made for a particularly excellent mark, as they wouldn't stay long enough to cause much of a problem. "Don't keep too close an eye on your coins, they'll go to a good home." the Ghost thought, determined to make it through his first evening of petty thievery.

[Auldwin]

Auldwin chose a sloppily made tent, hasty in it's construction. More than likely it belonged to a foreigner. It appeared to be just large enough to fit one or two people, the typical size for a rather transient subject. A slow wind pelted the outside, ruffling the tents exterior slightly. In the distance Auldwin could see torches and lanterns used to light the area just before and around the larger, more significant structures. Here and there people still went about their evening, cleaning their wares or washing up their dinnerware.

Almost as if he was crawling upon his belly, Auldwin floated low the ground in a horizontal position, his mist just barely kissing the dirt before splaying out slightly. Silence was easy to control when you didn't have any mass to disturb the area in which you were moving through. As silent as he could be, there was a discomfort many felt when a Ghost was near, and due to that Auldwin recognized he couldn't stay long during any of his attempts upon the various marks. Slow and with patients, that was the theory behind this practice. Auldwin had all the time in the world.

Slowly the Ghosts field of vision was obscured by the bottom of the tent, and without hesitation he floated his head straight through that material until he could see the inside of the structure. There at it's middle a young man rested snoring loudly, probably after a good night at the Barrel having too many brews. By the various pelts piled off in a corner Auldwin pegged the male for some sort of furrier or hunter, quite common to find upon the Sea of Grass. It took a moment for Auldwin to search around until he found something resembling a container that might hold some coins.

A large pack sat next to the man's right side and spotting it after a moment of cautious surveillance, Auldwin floated over. "Focus, slowly...concentration..." his inner voice echoed as his Soulmist Projection began to work upon the flap of the pack, moving it up and over so he could get a better glance of the inside. The technique Push was all that was required for something this simple, but it took a level of concentration not too apply too much force or create too much noise. A Soulmist tendril shot from Auldwin's body and began pushing upward against the top of the pack, splaying it apart to get at it's innards.

[Auldwin]

Clothes, a razor, old bread. Junk. This was no good. Slowly Auldwin Soulmisted the various internal pieces of the backpack onto the ground, and only after nearly half a bell of work did he find a small pouch at the bottom of the bag. The young man, so near by groaned slightly and turned upon his side, directly moving to face Auldwin. His eyes were closed, fluttering slightly as he slumbered. Though the Ghost had no heart that could race he felt a certain emotional tension. There was something exhilarating about theft. Something about the challenge that he felt he enjoyed. Now if only he could gain some kind of reward for his hard work.

Regardless of the young man's orientation while sleeping, Auldwin continued his plan. He pulled the pouch which jingled slightly, giving him an indication he had found what he was looking for. Fumbling slightly with his Soulmist Projection he finally got the length of twine sealing it undone, no easy task. It was lucky the Ghost focused on the art as much as he did. Inside he saw a few things, a few coins, some pieces of what looked like jewelry. Slowly he pulled out a handful of Miza's, mostly silvers and coppers, and stacked them neatly together.

Afterward, it was a long, careful process of getting everything back the way it was. Still, the Ghost had been a Human once himself, he knew that when something was changed, even if you didn't pursue it's cause immediately, you know. It would sit on the back of your mind, "I had 8 silver, not 5, didn't I?" he imagined he would think to himself. No matter now, the deed was done, only one of many. In order to make any decent enough wage for himself he would probably need to infiltrate between 5 and 10 tents a night, unless he can across a particularly wealthy individual that wouldn't notice a few gold missing. That would cover his attempts for a night or two. Could he stay away from it though? Something about the act simply made him feel...accomplished.

Eyeing those shiny pieces he maneuvered them through the air and looked to exit the tent, only to find that unlike himself, the coins could not go through a solid surface. A bit perplexed, Auldwin placed the coins upon the ground and pulled the side of the tent upward from the dirt with care, and then slid the coins out beneath it. Taking a moment to check the man he was leaving behind he saw him gripping his furs tightly, probably infected with the cold that Auldwin couldn't help but bring about him where ever he went.

[Auldwin]

What to do with the coins was something Auldwin had pondered for quite sometime before attempting his first theft. Though Auldwin wasn't a brilliant man, not in life and certainly not as a Ghost, he struggled to find a better solution than buring the money until he had a place that he could protectively store it. In a place like the grasslands he had no real fear of any man digging up his treasure, considering the sheer amount of space and the lack of numbers in the population. As a Ghost it would take too long to dig it himself using Soulmist Projection, and the effort and strength he could put into the movement of dirt was most likely too much of a strain on his powers, even as knowledgeable as he was about the projection art.

That was why he had to rely on a different skill he had. His first skill, the one he understood before all others, Possession. In the darkness he placed those coins against a tree before he searched, looking all around for a potential candidate for possession. With the lush amount of wildlife surrounding the grasslands it didn't take long, and Auldwin soon returned wearing the body of a coyote. The creatures dull brown and black spotted furs looked disheveled and matted, but it succumbed to the powers of Possession easily enough. It didn't matter the type of creature, just one that had the strength and ability to dig.

Wearing the body of a four legged creature took some getting used to, but in Auldwin's experience it was much easier than trying to move in the water as a fish, or attempting to tame the sky as a bird. To simply walk on land with all fours legs was a bit awkward, and anyone whom saw the coyote in question may have believed it's gait to be a bit unbalanced, but compared to controlling multiple fins upon a fish or the tail and wings of a bird it was a simpler learning process.

Arriving back at his coins Auldwin checked for their presence, and upon finding them began to dig the canine's paws into the soft dirt beneath him. He acted just like the creatures he had seen in life, the dirt flying outward behind his hind haunches as he peddled his feat from the front to the back, pushing those claws into the ground. Over time the divit in the ground became deeper and wider, the coyote's body twinging slightly until Auldwin remembered to stick it's tongue out and enact a dog's 'panting' to release some of the built up heat generated from all of the effort.

[Auldwin]

Time passed, but Auldwin did well enough in his plan. The moon rose higher in the sky, and the darkness was fully complete as far as the eye could see. In the dead of night fewer and fewer people stirred, and although this particular instance had taken Auldwin was time he could only imagine that with more practice and better skill at what he could do with his Soulmist, his attempts would not only become much more expedient, but would generate larger yields amongst the populous.

He had to remember a few basic principles, mainly to only take small sums, to target non-resident individuals if he could that appeared to not be regulars within the confines of the Endrykas, and to never hit the same place twice in a short span of time. That would take substantial powers of observation on Auldwin's part, as well as a real effort to learn and remember the faces of the various important people within Endrykas. No easy task, but one Auldwin was determined to accomplish if he was to get enough money for the plans he had laid out.

Up until then he mostly drifted through his death with only a few loosely defined objectives. Goals that he wished to accomplish that would possibly sate his desire to continue in his terrible existence as a Ghost. Now though, like the lines of a drawing being re-written and refreshed, the outline of his desires appeared so much more clear. Perhaps he did have a purpose now. Or, perhaps he always had one, he just hadn't realized it, just as the young Endrykas he had met all those years ago did. Zeal Aldercraft had potential himself, he just needed to reach out and grasp it firmly, and never let go.

Auldwin wasn't about to let go, not to this existence, not yet. There was still far too much to do, and the little accomplishments that he was able to claim strengthened his resolve, something that did understandably waver on occasion. "Don't give up. Just keep moving forward, just keep digging." he echoed to himself until the hole was substantially deep enough. Not too far into the earth, as it would take too long to unearth each time, but enough to lie beneath the surface where no one would find it. Unless they were looking.

[Auldwin]

Suddenly there was a break in Auldwin's plans. Something he had not thought about. If he was going to steal small sums of money, a little at a time, but some of it from many people, than the amount of coins he was going to be burying would be substantial. Some could get lost in the ground, he needed something to put them all in, keep them safe and collected. Something simple, it didn't need to be elaborate. Just a container, a box of some type. It had to open and close, though it didn't necessarily need to have any type of locking mechanism.

Wearing the body of the coyote, Auldwin trotted back into the outer ring of Endrykas, trying to appear as nonchalant as a canine could. He looked about, all around the outside of the tents and pavilions, looking for something suitable. There were crates and barrels, but those objects were far too large for his purpose. His tongue hung from his mouth limply, him having forgot to retract it back in after digging so dutifully with the creature now at the whim of his Soulmist. That was when he saw something. It appeared to be a sizable tankard or stein, something like a pitcher with a top cap that was operated by a press of the thumb against a lever built into the side.

Auldwin moved the creature's paw upward before remembering the type of body he was inhabiting. Turning his head slightly to the side he then moved up onto his hind feet, placing his forepaws atop the box the pitcher stood atop and wrapped his teeth around the handle, pulling it off and onto the ground. From inside thousands of spent sunflower seeds spilled onto the ground. "Augh, great. It's good enough though." he reminded himself, shaking the thing back and forth to get rid of all of it's contents before padding back to his original spot with it.

Once there he finished what he had intended, he picked those coins up in his jaws and spat them into the stein before flipping the top closed and nudging it down into the hole he had made. He nodded at his success, the coyote's head responding to his own Humanoid gesture of self-appreciation. Now he had a plan, he had the way to accomplish his ends. He just had to perfect this and utilize it over a period of time. Yes, the small pocket change of others would add up into his wage. A job fit for a Ghost.

He could only imagine what his wife would have thought of him, now being a thief amongst a group of people he knew little about. He tried to push those thoughts out of his mind throughout the night as he continued the pattern of using his disembodied form to gather small amounts of coins. A copper, some silver, even a gold or two if he could manage it, and put them into that pitcher before finally he piled the dirt atop it with the poor exhausted coyote he was abusing for the task. Smoothing the disturbed ground as best he could, he patted it down with those paws and finally released the canine, which flopped back down to the ground as it had previously to sleep and regain it's strength from the trauma of being Possessed.

[Lariat]

Aludwin

Experience:

Soul Mist Projection: 3 xp
Possession: 1 xp



Lores:

Where you hid your stash- Beside gnarled tree

Rewards:

1 Silver rimmed miza

Comments
Just one thing to add that I noticed. An outsider wouldn't know about webbing unless a drykas personally told him about it. They tend to keep even the name of the art a highly held secret as its not something they want people to know. If you thread with another pc, and find a clever way to bring it into conversation, then lore will be awarded for that. Also at your level you can only pick up one object at a time with projection thus the single silver miza. If you have any questions just send me a pm!