Spoiler (click to show/hide):
Ze Blitzkrieg Wrote:Raagen Morcaryn (kermitphrogg)
The faun simply scoffs at you as you berate them.
"Why ever would I tell you to mind your business? Who wouldn't want to share their left story with such a beam of sunlight?" They ask you rhetorically, "Go flutter off to be someone else's problem, you glorified duck."
The cloaked figures brushes themselves off and makes their way down the street opposite the direction you intended to go, leaving you to poke through your belongings to see whether or not they had been so brazen as to steal from you in broad daylight. Everything seems well enough in order, at least for your money pouch, and so you head off to settle the other business of your day.
The walk out of town isn't exactly something to enjoy when you had only recently arrived; your body yearns for the softness of the inn as opposed to the morning chill of the open wilds, but nothing ever gets done huddled beneath the covers. You walk for what seems like an hour, following the beaten dirt road that winds from Esterwyn's northern most gate towards the looming mountains ahead. You can't imagine many people go further north than the town itself, even ignoring the mountainous barrier than presumably halted Andova's expeditions into the Marches. Perhaps the mining the mayor mentioned occurs in the foothills you find yourself traversing.
True to Calina's word, as you travel the increasingly rugged trail, you manage to spot a man-made construct off in the distance. Sat atop one of the rolling hills is a large, spire-like tower. It must be at least eight or nine stories tall, and constructed of a jet-black stone that seems distinctly out of place in the surrounding countryside. It even has its own little cobbled footpath branching off the main road, leading you from the rough and bumpy dirt track up the hill and towards the duo of large, oaken doors that make up the tower's entrance.
As you walk up the short staircase the leads to the door, the door suddenly swings open inwards, as if someone had been expecting you. True, the tower certainly did command a view of quite some distance, so maybe they spotted you on the approach, or perhaps you missed some kind of alarm system along the way. Considering the imposing aura it commands, you scarcely expect what you see on the other side of the door; a young half-elf of dubious sex seems ecstatic to see you, their eyes wide with wonder.
"Mistress, you've retur- Oh. You aren't her. You aren't her at all."
His (based on the pitch of their voice) excitement deflates almost immediately. He clears his throat shortly thereafter, taking a moment to compose himself. Then, he speaks again.
"Greetings, traveler. Welcome to the domain Elanora von Haustein, Archmage-at-Large. I am her apprentice, Branwick, serving as steward to this tower in her absence. How may I be of assistance?"
You get the feeling this one doesn't talk to outsiders very often, but he's trying very hard to seem official. Plus, his name is Branwick, which surely shortens to Bran, the man you're looking for.
"Yep, that's me alright," Raagen mutters to herself.
"A regular ray of sunshine with dark wings and hair."She finds it hard to argue with the faun's barb; she's never been the friendliest sort, she generally sticks to sarcasm and witty banter. She knows how her sisters would have handled it. Fionna would have told the local to watch where they're going before calming down and offering a helping hand and generally being nice and polite. Cugu would have been profusely apologizing from the first moment. And Filita...
Well, alright, maybe Filita would be a bad example, really.
To be fair, Raagen liked her solitude, working with books and knowledge rather than people. However, growing up, she found out that she'd have to learn to work with and around people, so rather she knowshow to handle them properly than have to struggle with stubborn and hostile strangers. And yet, her defensive sarcasm and loose tongue was never truly tamed, resulting in moments like these.
She sighs; what's done is done. She only prays it doesn't bite her in the ass later. For now, she heads north to Bran's location, a tower just located an hour north of town.
She's not entirely sure why she didn't just fly there. Sure, the winds were being stiff and stubborn, but it would have saved time to get there from the sky. Still, she supposes it didn't matter, as long as she got there quickly enough.
She finds the tower quickly enough, though, and prepares herself. She knocks on the door, and awaits the response. What she finds, however, is a surprise; rather than someone who could pass as a scholar, she finds a rather...
slender (yes, let's put it that way) young half-elf.
"I'm sorry, is this a bad time?" she asks.
"I was asking about some ancient ruins in the forest just east of Eastwynn, and I was told that you were someone I could ask about them. It... well, it hopefully won't take long..."Still, she can't deny he looks kind of cute.