Solo Hunting Darkness

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Built into the cliffs overlooking the Suvan Sea, Riverfall resides on the edge of grasslands of Cyphrus where the Bluevein River plunges off the plain and cascades down to the inland sea below. Home of the Akalak, Riverfall is a self-supporting city populated by devoted warriors. [Riverfall Codex]

Hunting Darkness

Postby Quzon on July 2nd, 2018, 9:58 pm

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3rd Day of Summer, 518 A.V.

It was evening.

That perfectly hour at twilight where the shadows were getting longer and the lights were getting dimmer. It was the hour when people were settling into their meals and making their way to taverns, after finishing their work for the day. Riverfall was proving to be a wonderful place to live. And yet, Quzon did not really enjoy it to its fullest extent. All he did was go to work, weight-lift, sleep, eat, and repeat.

The reason for his passive lifestyle came from his decision to wait for the entirety of Spring to pass and see if the city would solve its Tainted Shadow problem for him. The 'wait and see' method of problem solving was only valid if it bore the fruit of results. However, it failed at doing so. And even worse, by the time he went to explore his only lead at The Oasis cavern at near the end of spring when he grew to anxious to wait, he found it completely devoid of any leads on the Shadows orgins. It was a maddening turn of events which caused Quzon's mood to grow sour by the day. Then almost out of nowhere, the shadows seemed to have lessen their activities.

That was why he now wandered out through the city after his work shift ended at the mines. "They couldn't have all just vanished?" Quzon thought to himself as he marched down the streets of Riverfall while wearing a new set of banded mail armor. As he continued to walk past Atri's Place, his eyes quickly shifted further up the road towards The Blue Bull Tavern. It was a place he often walked by on his way home, but now felt like it was the best place to learn anything about the shadows. "Might be easier to learn things from people who can't hold their ale." He mused to himself with a smirk before making his way up to the establishments entrance.

The Tavern wasn't exactly the sort of place Quzon frequented. Too many people. He'd take a nearly empty bar during a slow hour of the day before ever stepping into a busy one when he wanted a drink. He typically put up with it. More than anything, the bar he had found himself in was rough; as aggressive as someone might expect from a bar filled with drunk Akalak. Which surprisingly enough, in small doses, would have made it an enjoyable place for the Myrian. After all, there was plenty to be said for the virtues of violence... and there was an odd intrigue to the the bar in general.

While not the tallest man in the world, he was heavy set due to his Isur heritage, and also dressed in heavy armor which made forcing himself through the crowds relatively eventful. Most of them were simply in his way with their back to him, busy watching some type of event taking place in the sunken area of space within the building. Quzon could not see what was taking place from where he stood at the back of the crowd, so nudge the Akalak standing next to him with a drink. The man looked like he stood a head higher then him in height, so could see. "What happening?" Quzon spoke with an inherently thick Myrian drawl to his accent which proved he had broken common.

"There's a fight going on. Boxing match, damned good one too." The Akalak said before cheering loudly for one of the fighters. Quzon had to take a step back to avoid getting hit by the sloshing liquid spilling out from the mans mug. "Hey, I want know something? ... Tainted Shadows? Seen, lately?" He spoke to the cheering Akalak once he'd stopped yelling. "Shadows? Been a while since I seen one. And when I did last spring, I stayed away from those things. If I can't hit it with my fists, its a foe to be weary of." The Akalak spoke with a slight slur at the end of each of their words.

Quzon gave the man a nod before glancing around to find someone else less busy, but appropriately drunk to ask.

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Quzon
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Hunting Darkness

Postby Quzon on July 2nd, 2018, 11:12 pm

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Rubbing the back of his neck while walking around, he gave a quiet sigh, and eased into a less serious mindset. Maybe he needed to relax to get anywhere with the people around him. The sounds of feminine laughter from the side drew his eye a little too readily towards a small lounge area. Quzon made his way over to it where he saw several women all chatting with each other, or with a Akalak who wished to test their luck in finding a companion. It was a far less chaotic area which Quzon found himself walking into.

A waitress walking around the area approached him with an empty platter in hand that she'd just use to deliver several drinks with. "Can I get you anything?" He glanced at the waitress and brushed the tip of his thumb along the line of his jaw, regarding the woman carefully while his own gaze was elsewhere, busy wondering if other people might be better to ask about the Shadows. After a moment or two his attention strayed back to her as he nodded politely. "Have mug of... Isurian Barley?" The Waitress nodded then wandered off to get him the drink.

The people in the side room all seemed to be busy in their own ways, or the women who sat alone appeared to not want to be disturbed. That forced Quzon to leave the area as he followed the Waitress to the Bar.

"Ann, one mug of Isur Barley. Three glasses of wine, two..." He
overheard the Waitress spouting out recent drink orders to the Bartender who was apparently named Ann. "Coming right up." The Waitress locked eyes with him once she had turned around, then quickly informed the bartender the mug was for him before she went off to deliver the drinks she was given. Ann set his mug of beer on the bar counter in front of him. But Quzon was far to distracted by the Akalak standing to his right. The man seemed to be the dour type of drunk, sulking there while sipping their ale.

Quzon watched him out the side of his eye for a moment before looking back towards the bartender. She gave him a smile then asked him a quick question as she worked on making another persons drink. "Welcome! I don't think we've met? So, where are you from? "

He cleared his throat and took a drink from the bear, shaking his head. "Been in city, two seasons. Yet, not been in here. Hail from Taloba." Ann seemed genuinely surprised and curious by the fact he was from Taloba. "You are Myrian? I'd never would never have guessed that. I'd have guessed Sultros." Quzon smirked then nodded his head. "Not wrong. Half one, half other." This was the closest he'd come to actual successful small talk in ages. But he ended it swiftly by asking her what he wanted to know.

"Seen Tainted Shadows lately?" His question caused Ann to scrunch her nose in thought for a moment. "No, not lately. They were initially they were all clustered outside the city... Or rather, that's where I heard the first reports were made." That matched what Quzon heard in the past about the Shadows lurking around The Oasis, however they weren't there when he checked. "They aren't outside the city now. Seen any lately?"

The gloomy drunk Akalak next to him chimed into their conversation with a random fact. "Last I saw. They were around the library and school."

Ann chuckled confidently at the mans words, then corrected him. "No, silly goose. They were there, but now you can mostly find them concentrated around The Night Tower. Its pretty much the only place you can find them nowadays." Quzon glanced down to his drink before completely chugging it. "You sure they at, The Night Tower?" The doubt in his voice was palpable, but it was laced with a hint of hope.

"Completely sure, a guard at the Tower was complaining about it earlier. " Ann said with a chuckle before cleaning the bar with a rag. He retrieved two silver miza, then left them on the bar to pay for his drink. "Thanks for that."

He swiftly turned on his heels to make his way out of the tavern, but on the way out he ran into a person in a hooded cloak. He couldn't tell who they were, or if they were male or female. But he could barely make out that their whispered words said. "You dropped this outside..." The person said before holding out something towards him in their closed palm. Quzon held out his hand where the person dropped a necklace into his open palm. "What is.." The person quickly ran away before he could finish his question.

It was such an odd moment that he quickly started to chase after the person, but found himself blocked by a horde of shouting men as the fight in the sunken area ended with a swift knock out. The excitement sent everyone into fit of flying fists and rapid celebratory drinking. It was a good thing he was already close to the exit, otherwise he'd have been pulled into one of the bar brawls. After he'd moved around the people blocking him, he exited the building to find no sign of the person who handed him the necklace. He held onto the piece of jewelry in confusion. He'd deal with that stranger and this bobble later. For now, he knew that needed to head to the Night Tower as soon as possible.

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Quzon
Victory & Power
 
Posts: 318
Words: 272095
Joined roleplay: August 20th, 2013, 11:30 pm
Location: Syka
Race: Mixed blood
Character sheet
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Plotnotes
Medals: 1
Mizahar Grader (1)


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