Durvekral's Plotnotes

[Durvekral Wormwood]

Threads ideas that I would like to explore:

1. Flashbacks of childhood "relationships" in Kalinor
2. Durvekral is hired to stalk and assassinate (stealth, patience and deceit, not mercenary work) someone
3. Durvekral develops an evenly matched nemesis
4. Durvekral learning about/traveling to Sahova

[Durvekral Wormwood]

The next day, Durvekral found himself at the Sanity Center. He skulked into the central building, wandering through a set of double doors and into the hallHis boots clicked across the floor as he walked toward the only visible office in his self-important manner. Quietly, and as reserved as he could be, he wandered up to the desk.

This was all very new to him and he was visibly uncomfortable. From the moment that he had left his house he had worried over whether or not this was a good idea. The entire point of getting a job was to avoid the authorities and yet here he was in the civil hub of the city.

He was able to take a moment to reassure himself. He wasn't working with the Listeners, it was just mail delivery. He could handle this. He had staged more elaborate ruses before. All he had to do, here, was to walk around inserting envelopes into slots.

Getting a proper job would make him appear less suspicious, not more. After all people start to question where assets come from when the owner doesn't appear to have any recognizable source of income. And because Durvekral didn't have the protection of an organized family of criminals, hiding was his only cover.

After taking a moment to gather himself he summoned the clerk. He calmly lifted his finger and gave the bell one solitary, little ring.

A brown haired human, looking to be in her forties, walked up to the desk. She wore an unassuming, light violet jacket over a grey linen shirt. She had a long brown skirt down to the middle of her calves. She peered at him through her thick framed, black glasses.

She gave him a tired smile that simultaneously reflected competence in her work and obvious apathy.

"What can I do for you?" she quickly asked him.

His response was awkward and unnatural. "I want to deliver the mail!" he demanded.

[Durvekral Wormwood]

Spring 1st, 513AV

Tonight was a rainy, dreary, drizzling night. Well it was dreary for the moment, anyway. You never knew in Alvadas. Although they were approaching the 21st bell, Durvekral half expected to walk outside and into a bright, sunny afternoon.

Certainly, the Symenestra didn't enjoy the regular company of others but he lived a very secluded life. Every now and then he felt the need to actually open his mouth and communicate thoughts to some other living creature.

He didn't like the idea of frequenting any public location on a regular basis. It was too easy to be followed when you had a routine. He was willing, however, to visit the Cubacious Inn on occasion. Every night, a dirty thug sat at the same spot along the bar. His tattered linen outfit never seemed to change and he always stunk of cheap ale even while walking through the door.

Durvekral didn't know the man's name and he didn't care. The drunkard, in turn, incorrectly thought Durvekral to be "Velanos Firefern." In truth, this guy might have been the one person in all of Mizahar, Durvekral wasn't worried about. He was too poor to be connected, to drunk to be nefarious and to stupid to be ambitious.

The other convenient thing about this particular wastrel was that he was always in the Inn at this time of night. It didn't matter whether he had anyone to talk to, what kind of day he was having or what the weather was doing outside of the bar. He was here. Not even Ionu's sick games could deter this man's love of the bottle. Durvekral always knew that he could come to this spot and blather his musings away to this human to his right.

*Hic* "Eh, well if it isn't Lanky Jim the Scarecrow Boy!"Alright, so the drunkard may not have remembered Durvekral as Velanos Firefern but that's how Durvekral introduced himself. Durvekral didn't mind the slight. Coming from a drunkard like this, the comments simply rolled right off.

"Hello there," Durvekral greeted him. Tell me about your trivial day."

Sometimes it just felt good to be in a conversation that didn't entail plotting some scheme. There was just something about the occasional opportunity to hear some dullard blither on about random nonsense. Durvekral needed it from time to time.

With this particular human, there was something else, though. The man supported himself as a small time criminal for the lowest ranks of organized crime. He was the peon for even the initiates. It wasn't glamorous but it put dirty, bland food in his belly and ale in his mug. Every now and then, Durvekral gleaned some useful bit of information from the stranger's waste-of-time drivel.

"So I started this new job today..."

Durvekral wasted absolutely no time in cutting the man off. "Wait a minute, what do you mean? Why? You have a job? What could you possibly even do?"

"One of the bosses said I had to. They were getting nervous that I might attract the Listeners."

It made sense. It didn't seem likely that any organization would be able to completely stop its initiates and wannabes from using cheap labor. Going right to the source was an intelligent solution.

"So they said I needed to get a "cover." Just some part time work. I load crops from the shipments to the stands and store fronts."

"Cover your tracks, eh?" Durvekral took a thoughtful sip of his ale. This horrible derelict may have been onto something there...