RP:A Search For A Lost Khat

From HollowWiki

Part of the The Whisperer In Darkness Arc


Summary: Meri is on a hunt for Khitti who has been kidnapped. Word is sent to Lionel requesting he join the search. Krice happens upon Meri and lends his help to the cause. At first it seems like their search is not going to yield much, but Krice manages to stumble upon an important object to Khitti giving the group hope that they might be on the right path.

Starting Point: Main Street, Venturil

Meri sent word to Lionel the fastest way that she knew how. As soon as she had a free moment, she sent one of Khitti's trusted catering staff through the portal that the templar had made some time ago, connecting Venturil to Cenril. She instructed this person to go straight to Brand's ship and give this letter to the first person that they came across and instruct them to pass the word on to either Brand or Lionel, whomever was present. Hint: It's Lionel. They stress that the matter is urgent, it cannot wait. Once Lionel receives this letter, he'll find it to be very nondescript. It reads 'Khitti has been kidnapped. Come to Venturil, like yesterday. M.' Lionel is probably left with a number of questions, like, where in Venturil should we meet, Meri? That's a pretty important piece of information that Lionel could probably do with. The Fallen Star Inn might be a good place to start, except Meri is definitely not sitting stationary while waiting for help to arrive. Her boots are on the pavement and she is trying to pester some citizens to find information that way. If he is paying attention on his way into Venturil, he'll find Meri just to the west of the Inn, Main Street was bustling -- it gave access to vendors and housing alike. That is where Meri has started her inquisition. A couple of missing posters have been plastered throughout the area, but the citizens of area do not seem keen on letting them remain up. As fast as Meri can put them up, someone seems to manage to rip them down once the blonde is out of sight of it. At present Meri is speaking with some middle-aged woman with graying brunette hair, she is holding up a picture. One might presume from even from a distance that is probably a sketch of Khitti that Meri is holding before this woman, and by the 'apologetic' shake of her head that is being given, this woman claims to have not seen her.

Krice had returned to Lanara's birthday party shortly after leaving it; a cursory search had turned up little information about Khitti's whereabouts, as if the civilians of Venturil possessed some portal-related transportation ability without leaving magical signatures behind. What. The. Hell. After ensuring that the denizens of Lanara's party were safe, he returned to the hunt for the missing Khitti and journeyed outward from the lake, tracking along each road and neighbouring grassland in hopes of finding -anything- that would lead him to the woman. Eventually, he circled back toward the center of town, catching sight of poster-remnants on walls and trees - and retrieving a sketch of Khitti herself as left in the mud. Brow furrowed, the warrior caught a glimpse of a familiar female up ahead speaking to an entirely unhelpful older woman and he approached. At the tail end of their conversation, he arrived by Meri's right side and grumbled a sharp, " I hate people." The muddied poster had been scrunched into his left palm. " Anything?"

An autumnal wind chased him as Lionel rode hard and fast to the Cenril-Venturil portal. Once there, he wasted no time explaining himself to the golden-haired youth keeping watch. He handed the lad the reins to his Tikifhlee and curtly ordered him to feed her while he was gone. When the lad asked how long Lionel might be away, the only answer he received was “However long it takes.” Lionel loathed magical portals. The crisp coolness of the teleportation process was refreshing, and the process was generally painless, but they reminded him too much of Kahran. Anything that reminded him of Lithrydel’s most dangerous missing persons case was inherently unpleasant. The Catalian took a roundabout path through dark alleys on his way to the inn, concealing himself in case of ambush. Had Meri been at the inn, her unique features and exotic choice of dress would have signaled Lionel of her presence the instant he stepped through the door. Alas, this did not happen. Either she was elsewhere of her own accord or she, too, had been taken. The latter felt unlikely somehow, as if the very thought of Meri being caught off-guard was alien to him. Reluctantly, Lionel took to the main thoroughfare. He found the psion not far from where he’d started, standing alongside Krice after exchanging closing remarks with a woman he did not recognize. “Hey.” Lionel shuffled into view. “Something about this place has always stunk. I doubt we’ll get much help from the locals. But Hellfire will let me know if we get close to anything especially malevolent. Thus far, I haven’t detected anything any more malevolent than usual around here, which is to say, hardly benevolent but not malicious enough to kidnap someone.”

With Krice approaching the woman that Meri was speaking with was eager to disappear so that she could avoid more questions. To avoid making her want to exit the scene to blatantly obvious she flashes Krice a faux warm smile. The words are aimed for Meri though, and the woman's gaze returns to the blonde to signal that. "Sorry I could not be more help finding your friend. If I hear of anything I will be sure to let you know." Meri frowns heavily, looking exhausted both from the lack of answers that she is finding and from the fact that she has barely slept a wink since Khitti was taken. She is not so exhausted that she cannot recognize the crumpled up and muddied hand-sketched flyer that Krice holds crumpled in his grasp. "Really?" Meri inquires. Lionel approaches Krice and Meri but he's not met with a smile. His words earn him an incredulous look because, thank you Captain Catalian Obvious. He is Khitti's brother, Meri is Khitti's sister, adopted of course...So Lionel can just chalk this attitude he is getting from Meri up to sisterly love...plus Meri is cranky that Khitti has been taken. The blonde rakes her fingers through her blonde hair as she looses as sigh of frustration only to point to the flyer that Krice is holding. "Clearly not. Clearly everyone here has some sort of grudge against her." Okay, maybe not -everyone- but enough that they're not going to get answers. "I don't know what to do next. I can't....get a scent. I didn't see footprints. I didn't see a mob carrying a feisty and probably screaming red head running any which direction leaving the party. No one seems to have seen anyone pass through...At least not they are owning up to. So I don't know what to do outside of knock on doors and hope that some one here might have a damn conscience....Do you have any brilliant ideas, Lionel?" There is less sass in her tone when she speaks to Krice. "Or you?"

Krice glanced at the older woman only briefly; her pretense was exhausting. He had already come in claiming to hate people and that fake smile only made it worse. Still, his attention swiveled to Meri shortly after, the departing woman forgotten. He turned the crumpled parchment with a shrug of that shoulder. " It was in the mud," he muttered, incredulously - a poster already wrecked, but not by him. Upon Lionel's approach, the warrior diverted his attention from Meri to regard the other man, looseness in his brow denoting surprise. It had been many months since they saw each other, the black-clad fighters...As Meri spoke of the fruitlessness of her search, Krice glanced her way once more, a shake of the head preceding his reply. " I'm not getting anything, either. No noise, no smells - not even any magic. How'd they disappear so fast?" The warrior squinted toward Lionel, addressing both shortly after. " I don't like it here, either, but - why do these people seem to hate her? Let's start with that." Looking at Meri, he hoped she would see communicated in his eyes that he was attempting to formulate a 'brilliant idea'. They knew more than he did of the backstory, surely?

Lionel had neither time nor interest in Meri’s snark. What’s more, he understood where it was coming from -- grief, anger, maybe even a sensation of helplessness -- and these were emotions they presently shared. The clock was ticking for them both. Pleasantries were an unnecessary distraction. “No,” he said flatly. He had no brilliant ideas. He merely had ideas. “Khitti has caused a bit of a commotion here in the past through good deeds which have angered those that don’t take kindly to such things.” Lionel considered this briefly before speaking again. “There’s a byrg not far north from here with a shady past. The folk there were altered mentally, their minds remade. They sacrificed their own children in service to a dark ritual. Perhaps that’s not as done and dealt with as we’d hoped. I suggest we look there. Maybe your scents will return to you.” It was a long shot, but it was something.

Meri gives Lionel plenty of time to voice his own thoughts before she attempts to answer any of Krice's questions. "She got into a bar fight out here the other night. I don't even know exactly how it started, I missed that part. But that's not enough to turn an entire region against you..." Meri considers what else could have contributed to this angst, offering a slightly different interpretation from what Lionel is saying. "This place has been plagued with trouble for awhile now, and Khitti was doing her best to try and assist as much as she could. Except, her efforts weren't enough, you know? There is only so much she could do with the handful of willing help that she had...So I guess, maybe they are mad because the woman who was trying to help them abandoned them? It's not so much that the Byrgs have a shady past, it was like they were being infested with this darkness. That place that performed that ritual? It was not always that way. I mean I don't think it was at least?" Meri shrugs. "There is Denubyrg to the northwest that she never had a chance to....help. I guess that is a better place to start. If we don't have any clues there, then there is always Aedrebyrg, but given the state of that location....I think that if we are going to explore the byrgs next then it is best to go north."

Krice glanced at Lionel first. By the end of his explanation, the warrior was left a little less than pleased with the region in which they currently stood. The people here may have been tainted, yes, perhaps even against their will, but that didn't make their behaviour okay. Sacrificing their own children? Kidnapping women who only tried to help them? Meri's input only served to warp the citizens' behaviour - in his mind - further, and he was left hating people even more. Upon her mention of two locations, he spared a look at Lionel for agreement before gesturing with a minimal wave of his left hand. " Lead the way." As they presumably began to walk, Krice asked of the woman, " D'you know what the bar-fight was -about-?"

As Meri had said, Khitti had indeed done her best. In time, she would no doubt have been more successful. Lionel had watched his sister become a symbol of hope in an age of strife. He would find her, and she would be given all the time she needed. “Denubyrg.” It was a wise choice. Meri knew more about Khitti’s efforts in Venturil than he did, and it was clear when she mentioned a bar fight that her information was also more up-to-date than his. He walked at a brisk pace, nimbly sliding through the evening crowd. He and his companions reached Denubyrg quickly. It was quieter, more deserted. But that didn’t stop the poor folk from trying their best. A hawker plied her bronzeware, which was chipped and dented. A butcher was still selling meat despite the hour. Children were sulking, unsupervised, uncomfortably close to a church Lionel knew was more likely a brothel. Even the smoke from chimneys smelled wrong. Hard times still faced this town. “Well then,” Lionel muttered, standing at the center of the byrg’s main square with a grimace.

Meri shakes her head. "No, I don't know. Nothing important, I did not think. It did not get us kicked out of the Inn or anything but..." It was an incident in Venturil that was not a positive one involving Khitti, given that she was missing any detail was worth mentioning. Lionel paved the way ahead to Denubyrg, Meri might be more up to speed on Khitti-happenings as of late, but Lionel was still more than familiar with the layout of Venturil. Meri knew this and trusted him to take the lead. The road to Denubyrg from their current location was not a painfully long one, the terrain consisted mostly of rolling plains...but the open and flat ground did not mean that the route was without danger. Fog was prevalent no matter which direction they travelled, some patches were thicker than others and severely limited how far ahead the warriors could see. Which was great for the predators that hunt these plains, the three warriors would have to be on guard for certain. Luckily they were traveling on foot and all understood the meaning of silence, they would make it to Denubyrg without incident. The fog hindering their vision could potentially be also masking a number of clues about Khitti's disappearance. Searching the stretch of road all the way to Denubyrg in depth would be impossible with the manpower they had. When the gates of Denubyrg finally come into sight, just off the main path there is a glint of silver in a muddied patch of earth. It's the first sign of anything 'human' that the trio has encountered along the way. From a distance it is hard to see, but whomever gets closer will soon uncover a little bracelet with a trinket on it. It's hard to make out what the trinket is, it's coated in mud and would need to be wiped clean to fully reveal the shape of the object.

Krice glanced away from Meri only once she had finished her reply, which gave him little extra information to consider. Silent for the duration of their trek toward Denubyrg, the warrior set his focus on their surroundings. Through this dense, almost preternatural fog, even he struggled to discern anything of note. Lowering his chin, he scrutinized the path just a foot or two ahead of each step he took; it was less distance down than it was ahead, thus he had fewer layers of opaque air to squint through. Still nothing. In his peripheral vision he caught sight of that silver reflection and he stopped, diverting from the path to check it. Just in case. " Is this anything?" Asked the warrior, crouching before the bracelet and hesitating only a moment before he scooped it clear of the dirt. Cradled over the fingers of his left hand, he used his other thumb to brush the concealed trinket until soil fell away to reveal a seashell. To whomever approached first, he would raise the bracelet and offer it, standing thereafter.

Night fell upon Denubyrg like a sudden blanket. Had the three of them been in the fog much longer, they would not have been able to see their own hands right in front of them. The wind was merciful; it picked up, but not as much as it could have. The butcher’s face was borderline-morose. Few lived here, but even fewer would pass his way now. His assorted steak and saurian chops, Lionel noted, were discounted below an already-fair price. But fair prices in Denubyrg might as well have been outrageous. As the butcher headed inside, and the hawker smacked her servant for her own poor luck, Lionel wondered what he would even find here. Krice’s question snapped him out of that, and recognition flashed upon Lionel’s face immediately. “Yes. That belongs to Khitti.” There was no mistaking it. He’d seen it half a hundred times. His heart raced and his body warmed. No sooner had they arrived than they’d obtained a clue. “Damn good find, Krice.”

Meri's jaw just about drops when she spies the bracelet, one that was all to familiar too Meri on a number of levels. Meri is a mindboggling mix of emotions right now. She is infuriated and sort of wants to see this whole place burn down as soon as they find Khitti, but she was also relieved that they finally had a lead to work with. It was at least a sign they were in the right area. The blonde fails to keep her feet planted in the earth so that they can formulate and discuss a plan maybe. She is already striding forward, intent on skulking about the town, looking through windows, asking questions, and just all around being a nosy individual. "Let's split up. We have a better chance of learning something if we all split up. Let's plan to meet back here before the sun comes up to share anything we have learned." It did not seem like Meri was keen on being stopped by either Lionel or Krice, Meri had her plan and was currently being a headstrong individual who was set upon seeing this plan out. Honesty it was probably fine. Denubyrg was not too large, and their paths would probably cross at least a couple times over during their search.

Krice turned the bracelet over his fingers, scrutinizing its structure, metal, and relishing the scent attached to it; it was the first sign any of them had come across of Khitti's continued existence since her abrupt kidnapping at the birthday party. It was good news. Where Lionel was warmed and hopeful, the silver-haired warrior maintained outward stoicism, his feelings on the discovery kept to himself. Meri drew his focus next as she spoke of the trio taking separate paths to continue the search. Meri a wolf, Lionel a magic-sword-wielding hero of old, and Krice a superhuman hero in his own right, splitting up wouldn't overly endanger any of them. He watched the woman depart with renewed purpose and spared Lionel a final glance, offering him the bracelet before the enigma turned to take a separate path, traveling the outskirts of Denubyrg and moving inward - starting with the flank on which the bracelet had been spotted.