East Meets West (for Weiss Ritter)

[Ecnalab]

Briadell. A lush, verdant land in the subtropics, Briadell is known for its mighty kingdoms, and stunning natural features. First and foremost among those features is the Sea of Fallen Stars, that rests on the edge of the ocean. The four-hundred mile wide body of water forms an almost perfect circle, and is said to have been formed when a star fell from the heavens. While the destruction wrought on the day of the Sea's creation was terrible indeed, the land eventually healed, and people returned to the area. Several people, in fact, for today the Sea of Fallen Stars is surrounded by several nations.

On its western banks lie two great kingdoms; southern Antavia, and northern Levareen. Though the two nations are neighbors, they could not be less alike.

Antavia, a land of rolling hills, and gentle pastures, is a land ruled by its faith. The church of Malsten permeates almost all aspects of life in Antavia. Its edicts guide the people through their daily routine, and its archbishops govern the land under the guidance of the High Priest, Hammed. Though the faith of Malsten preaches the virtues of unity, and cooperation, these edicts are solely for the benefit of the human race, and woe onto any not of the chosen people who find themselves in Antavia.

Levareen, meanwhile, preaches a much more cosmopolitan outlook. Though only about half the size of its southern neighbor, Levareen has managed to avoid being conquered thanks to the general ideology of its people. A melting pot in the truest sense, Levareen welcomes all with open arms, be they human, beast-folk, or otherwise, and thrives on the exchange of knowledge. Ruled by a young King Mika, the highlands of Levareen rise to merge with Brevian mountains to the west, and lower and flatten to meet the Sea of Fallen Stars in the east. All manner of topography can be found between these two borders, from dense forests to murky swamps, but in general, the countryside of Levareen provides ample space for crops, as well as abundant game for hunting.

Far to the east, across the sea from the uneasy neighbors, looms a mysterious giant... The Golden Empire. This exotic land of towering pagodas, and vicious oni, holds more territory than Antavia and Levareen combined. Divided into a multitude of provinces and ruled by shoguns, all of whom answer to a ruler known as the Dragon Emperor, little is known about this strange, mystical place as it adheres to a strict xenophobic policy. While citizens who wish to leave the Golden Empire are allowed to do so, neither they, nor any of foreign heritage, is allowed to enter.

What little is known about the Golden Empire, however, is volumes compared to what is known about the final land that borders the Sea of Fallen Stars. Hugging the shoreline of the sea, and spreading for hundreds of miles south, cutting off Antavia from the Golden Empire's southern provinces, is the primordial forest, The Fey Wood. Almost none who enter this mythical forest ever leave, and those that do are irreversibly changed; either physically, or more often mentally. The mad ramblings of these fey-touched people hint at a race of people living within the woods with power over plant and animal, and the ability to work strange magics that no rational mind could comprehend.

With so many nations of such vastly different mindsets bordering its waters, one might think that the whole of the land surrounding the Sea would be rife with wars and attempted conquests. But, there is one thing that keeps the powers of these nations from ever turning fully against each other. A race known only as the twisted ones. These hideous masses of flesh, teeth, and tentacles, regularly surge to the surface from the unknowable depths of the Sea of Fallen Stars to make landfall on the beaches of the four nations. Their sole purpose, to interbreed with the people and animals that they find on land to create hordes of ghastly twisted spawn; creatures just as terrible as their parents, but cast in the rough shape of men and animals, and born with a desire to terrorize and dominate all around them.

It is in this strange, fantastic world that our story opens, with a young man named Aedan.

 

[Weiss Ritter]

Spoiler

Name: Aedan Gallagher

Gender: Male

Age: 21

Physical description:

Aedan is a sharply handsome young man with raven hair and bright blue eyes. Though his facial features are more fair than rugged, Aedan’s build is surprisingly fit and muscular for someone who relies primarily on magic. While not a hulking warrior, he did spend most of his early life performing manual labor on a farm and never allowed his studies to prevent him from maintaining that fitness.

His typical attire includes a simple open-chested robe equipped with a hood and light armor beneath. All in all, Aedan values function over form and needs to protect his identity as much as his body from the elements and blows of his enemies. Though Aedan does keep a knife sheathed on his person at all times, it is more of a utilitarian tool than a weapon.

Personality: While a kind and compassionate young man at heart, Aedan’s upbringing and history have made him instinctively wary of most people and robbed him of valuable social experience that most take for granted. After being kept under lock and key by his own people for so long, the young mage greatly values his personal freedom and the ability to pursue his magical studies to their fullest, but often struggles to grasp the consequences of his words and actions where other people are concerned. Furthermore, while Aedan has little love for the theocratic, Human-supremacist nation he was born into, its influence can still be felt in the wariness he reserves for most non-Humans. As a child, he was raised with stories from his loving family of the horrific things the monstrous hordes would do to all he treasured if not for the knights’ strength being guided by the clerics’ wisdom and divine blessings.

On the bright side, this does make Aedan fiercely loyal to any who can earn his friendship regardless. His socially-ingrained prejudices aside, Aedan is also generally rather eager to learn and naturally receptive to new ideas.

History: Aedan was once an unremarkable peasant boy living on the outer edges of Antavia in a simple farming village. There was little reason to believe he or even anyone who knew were destined for more than providing crops and taxes to fuel the clergy’s ambitions. That all changed when the village and the surrounding land were ravaged by a magical storm. Though none knew what caused it, its effects were undeniable. If the ground it touched did not turn infertile, it produced only warped and twisted crops. Aedan was unfortunate enough to be caught outside during it. When his friends and neighbors found the boy, he was deathly sick and barely able to make sense of the world around him thanks to the visions of lights and arcane patterns he experienced under his condition.

It did not take long for the authorities to take an interest in what had transpired. While mages came to study the ruin that was left in the wake of the storm, they left with Aedan in their custody. Even if his family could have refused the mages, the village’s resources and prospects were so depleted that it was reluctantly agreed that Aedan going with them was for the best.

The young man’s condition stabilized and all his physical needs were taken care of, but at the cost of his freedom. A tremendous amount of raw magical power had been infused into Aedan’s being and the seemingly random visions were his mind working to comprehend the magic within as well as around him. This combination of raw power, unnatural insight into the arcane, and a startlingly sharp intellect that had only occasionally been exercised on the family farm made Aedan of great interest to the mages studying him who wished to understand his potential and see it fulfilled. For a time, the clergy agreed.

They changed their minds as Aedan’s instruction continued and his power and skills developed at nearly unprecedented rates. As useful to Antavia as the mages were, the ruling priesthood had no desire to be supplanted by them. Aedan’s seemingly unique power being replicated before they could prepare to keep any newly-empowered mages in line was unacceptable. They forced the mages studying and tutoring him to slow and then halt the process outright. When Aedan began to teach himself at a rate that still alarmed the clergy, the kindlier of his priestly caretakers tried to talk him out of it, but succeeded only in frustrating the young man for whom the study of magic had become a refuge.

The boiling tension came to a head when Aedan discovered the clergy had begun ordering his food to be drugged with compounds that would keep his magic in check and render him more suggestible. Escape plans that had been half-heartedly considered with the goal of sight-seeing around the capital began to be taken all too seriously by Aedan, and with much grander stakes. Their execution was not flawless, however. Aedan was intercepted on his way out of the Antavian capital. Again, the priests and priestesses who had tried to act as a second family to the young mage struggled to convince him that what he was doing was wrong and his less than enjoyable circumstances were all for the greater good.

Again, they only succeeded in enraging the young man. The skirmish that followed claimed no lives, yet the very public display cemented Aedan’s infamy in the eyes of many in Antavia. Bolts of crimson lightning, emerald binding crystals, black tendrils with magma-esque veins, and more frightening spells were employed against the soldiers and casters who tried to reclaim Aedan by force. Though he took care to spare the lives of his attackers and the nearby civilians, such an unnatural-even by magical standards-display was shocking and terrifying.

In the end, Aedan escaped, yet the young mage is aware that it would probably be far from the first attempt to apprehend him. He would have to keep traveling, perhaps even beyond of the Theocracy he had lived his entire life under. For better or worse, the world and all its wonders were opened to Aedan…


Stats:

Strength: 2

Speed: 4

Precision: 4

Fortitude: 2

Intellect: 6

Insight: 3

Charisma: 0

Physical Health: [ ][ ][ ][ ] (3 automatically, +1 from my 2 points into Fortitude)

Mental Health: [ ][ ][ ][ ] (3 automatically, +1 from my 3 points into Insight)

Aedan advanced grimly down one of the roads that would take him from Antavia and the hunters who would no doubt hound his steps. Perhaps for the first time in his life, the young man was making a decision entirely of his own volition rather than one dictated to him by priests, family, or even circumstance. It should have been exhilarating, but for now the thoughts of what happened back in the capital still haunted the mage.

The raven-haired man adjusted this hood, as much to defend against the sun's rays and protect his identity as to give his fingers something other than nervously fiddling to do. Escaping the very center of Antavian power was quite a coup, but he was far from safe yet. Aside from proper hunters, Aedan would have to be mindful of even the common folk depending on how quickly word traveled. Whether they acted out of good intentions and sincere loyalty to their country or just wanted whatever bounty might have been set on the renegade prodigy's head, there was surely no shortage of people who'd seize the opportunity if he lowered his guard.

If the road to Levareen was not an especially long one, it certainly felt that way. If the stories Aedan had been raised with were true, it was a vile and decadent place where beast-men and the other monstrous races were free to do whatever they pleased to the humans who were not strong enough to resist them or as depraved as they were. There were no priests there to safeguard the people by regulating dangerous and forbidden knowledge.

Of course, many of those stories came from his former jailers. Whatever the truth, though, Levareen was Aedan's best bet. He'd have to fight and sneak every step of the way through the Golden Empire and as intriguing as the magic of the Fey Wood and its guardians sounded, he would have to face its legendary dangers with his back right against Antavia and the Golden Empire.

Perhaps another day he would venture into those woods and peel apart their mysteries layer by layer, but for now Aedan would content himself with whatever opportunities the Lavereen scholars and places of arcane power had to offer.

 

[Ecnalab]

As the capitol city, Hastner, continued to shrink behind him, the well maintained road before Aedan stretched as far as the eye could see. The trade roads of Antavia connected its four major cities to each other. Hastner, the capitol, sat at the far western edge of the county, and the longest of the roads left its walls to travel almost directly east, across the entire length of the country, to end at the only port city in Antavia; Locross. The road that Aedan walked, however, did not travel east, but north-east, and would eventually bring him to Antavia's most infamous city, Arcis, the garrison stronghold, north-most city of Antavia, sat just south of the border with Levareen, and was where most of the country's professional soldiers were trained and garrisoned. All that stood between Aedan and his destination were over two hundred miles of Antavian territory, and a city-sized fortress.

As he walked, it soon became obvious that the meager provisions he had managed to take with him in his original flight would not be enough to sustain him for the duration of his journey. If he did not plan to hunt, then his only real options would be begging for succor at one of the many farmsteads that littered the land around Hastner, or if he hurried, he might make it to the next town or village down the road a couple of days.

 

[Weiss Ritter]

Aedan hadn't made his escape on a whim, and while the young mage was certainly not the most worldly of individuals, his books ensured he would not be wondering the world completely blind. The priesthood wanted everyone to believe that Arcis was the impenetrable bulwark standing between Antavia and Levareen, manned by an invincible army. Whatever biases may have riddled everything Aedan had read about the fortress-city, there wasn't a doubt in his mind that it had the potential to be a truly formidable barrier to his progress. If news that he was a wanted man had already reached the garrison through magic or mundane means, he'd have to find a way around it. Perhaps by magic, and if not, then a swift jaunt through the Golden Empire? It couldn't possibly be more suicidal than trying to storm or sneak through an alert Acrisian garrion...

But for now, Aedan had more immediate concerns. His escape from Hastner hadn't exactly allowed the young sorcerer to flee with a huge stockpile of supplies in tow, and he was hardly going to trust any of the Antavian farmers or townspeople to not drug his food and drink. That just left hunting.

A chillingly cold spike materialized in Aedan's magically shielded hand. What would have been, some would say should have been, a simple icicle looked more like a fragment of the night sky itself. The "ice" was pitch-black, yet countless white lights seemed to flicker softly within it. It had bothered the young man at first when he realized he had to try very hard to force his spells and summoned elements to look...normal, but that was before he began to appreciate the wonderfully intricate patterns such displays wove the arcane energies into and the much greater strength such "unnatural" constructs commanded!

The mage would veer off the road as soon as he spied a decent hunting ground. Aedan's mother had taken her with him on a few hunting trips in his youth. Not quite enough to make a comfortable hunter out of the young man, but he at least wouldn't be flailing blindly through the wilderness with his icey projectile at the ready.

 

[Ecnalab]

Aedan got the hunting opportunity he was looking for sooner than he expected. Alert as he was for danger, the flicker of movement he spotted out the corner of his eye drew his attention quite quickly. There, several hundred feet off the road, where the grass grew tall, he spotted the fluttering silhouettes of birds disappearing into the sea of green. His mouth watered as he realized that he had spotted a nesting ground of wild grouse.

[Couldn't think of a way to stretch this one into a proper paragraph, without taking control of your guy. Also, just a reminder, the Golden Empire is on the other side of the Sea from you.]

 

[Weiss Ritter]

(No problem! I don't think I would have minded much in this instance given that Aedan was definitely going to be making an effort to hunt barring a huge change in circumstances. As far as the Golden Empire goes, I wrote that while thinking in terms of going around/near the shoreline, though that definitely has its own dangers even if the border control beyond "just" Arcis would made that even riskier. Sorry for any confusion, though ^_^; )

Aedan's body tensed and his grip around the dark ice tightened as something moved in the corner of his vision. Whether man or beast, it was in his best interest to get a good look. The young man crouched low to the ground and then began to crawl outright as the grass grew tall enough to offer some real cover. What his movements lacked in raw hunting experience were made up for through a combination of natural dexterity and a gentle magical pressure noiselessly pressing down upon the foliage a few inches around him to stifle any sounds.

The mage's mouth did indeed water at the mere prospect of getting his hands on even one of the birds. Meat had been something of a luxury in his life at the best of times, and the right bred of grouse could make for a worthy addition to any priest's table!

The black icicle hovered by Aedan's head as the mage crept closer. He just needed to advance enough to get a half-decent view of his prey before his arcane projectile could be commanded to shoot forth through its first target and then dart back to cut down any other meal-worthy birds of its own volition!

(I'm unsure of how you wanted to handle the rolls and challenges from what I've seen of your other RPs, so just in the interest of avoiding "wasting", I will post some die I rolled. You can use or ignore them as needed until the matter is clarified )

(4+ 5+ 3 + Precision 4 = 16)

 

[Ecnalab]

[Looks like you rolled correctly, according to the system you posted. Although, because you're attacking with a spell, you probably should have rolled using intellect, but no big difference in this case. (Enemy opposition roll 5+1+2=8)]

Creeping through the tall grass, Aedan soon flushed out his quarry. In a flash of beating wings and stray feathers, half a dozen birds took to the air. As his eyes settled on one of the targets, Aedan's ice spike was propelled by the power keeping it aloft, and it streaked through the air, passing through on bird on its way out, and impaling a second on its way back before losing steam and lodging in the second bird. Both fouls fell to the ground, and Aedan was soon holding his catch in his hands. Sure enough they were common grouse, and fair sized ones at that. Once gutted and smoked, they'd easily keep him fed for several days. Smiling in triumph, he turned back to the road... only to come face to face with the two men on horseback standing there.

The two men wore matching suits of leather armor that clearly had the mark of the Antavian military branded across the chest, and wore the iconic red hunting caps of man-hunters. One of the men, a young man in his mid twenties by the look of his shaven face, had a crossbow leveled at Aedan, while the other, a much older veteran with greying mustache, regarded a scroll in his hands. After a moment, the older man called out, "Aedan Gallagher! Drop the birds, and place your hands behind your head!"

 

[Weiss Ritter]

(Well, I double-checked to make certain, but combat involves both an attack roll and a damage roll. The intellect stat influences how much damage magical attacks that land inflict while speed makes using magic in melee more accurate while precision does the same for ranged spells. Trying to sneak attack helpless birds is probably not the same as a battle for life and freedom, but I was operating under that logic for seeing how this challenge would go.

Still, it is a moot point, as you noted, and it should be easy to sort out any confusion like this in the future )

Aedan's heart nearly skipped a beat as two plump members of the flock fell dead to his spell with only a bit of excess water seeping into the meat for his efforts. The young man's mouth really began to water once he plucked their corpses from the ground and made his way back to the road. They were very nice catches indeed, just the sort of thing he would need to ensure this journey of his would be something resembling smooth. After all, he was not only trying to reach a well-guarded border over two hundred miles away, but do it will staying ahead of trained hunters and their horse-

Damnation...

Aedan mentally swore at the sight of the man-hunters. It was too late to duck back into the grass and the older of the pair identified him before the mage could even try to come up with some feeble lie.

"Alright. Just...stay calm..." The twin birds dropped to the ground on either side of Aedan with a barely audible thump. He slowly raised his hands to place them behind his head without a hint of any visible magic at work. "I don't want any of us to get hurt."

What happened once Aedan's hands were behind his head was another story altogether. Another dark ice construct roughly the length of a sword materialized in his grip, safely concealed by his body. Unlike the projectile from before, this arcane weapon would explode upon harsh contact and envelop much of an enemy's form in a freezing prison.

The pair would probably try to restrain him now. In the best case scenario, one would approach him while the other kept the crossbow aimed and would be frozen in place as a human shield for Aedan to safely dispatch the other with a surge of non-lethal lightning. In the worst case, they might have the foresight to demand the mage turn around first. If that happened, Aedan would just have to hope his apparent submission relaxed the younger man-hunter enough to nail him with the hurled construct before moving on to the elder.

Regardless, the real challenge here would probably neutralizing the men without killing them.

(4 + 1 + 3 + Speed or Precision, which are both 4? 12 total.

Since some of this does rely on how the man-hunters behave and more rolls may be required, you're welcome to make any for Aedan that you feel are necessary as the GM to avoid having to wait for that. )

 

[Ecnalab]

Luck seemed tp be on Aedan's side, as the older man dismounted and approached with a stout length of rope in hand. "On your knees boy!" he commanded. Aedan fell to one knee and hurled the icy weapon in one fluid motion. (Enemy roll 12) While the hunter had approached on foot, his guard had not been dropped, and he rolled to the side as the projectile flew towards him, but the blade still grazed his chest hard enough to trigger the blast of cold. (Damage resistance roll 13.)

Meanwhile, the younger hunter kicked his horse into a trot, and began circling Aedan; trying to line up a shot. Once his companion was out of his line of fire, the twang of his weapon rang out, and a bolt streaked toward Aedan. (Attack roll 11)

 

[Weiss Ritter]

(I'm not sure if you did your own damage roll for Aedan's attack, but I rolled an 18. Obviously, ignore if it contradicts what your roll covered. )

(Evasion roll: 16)

Aedan spun about as soon as he confirmed that his freezing projectile had managed to at least graze the more experienced of his assailants. The cold black construct would begin to expand and envelop the area around the point of impact almost immediately, perhaps even locking down a limb or two if the elder soldier held his arms a bit too close to his chest. It might or might not have been enough to incapacitate the man outright, but it would almost certainly slow him down enough for the prodigal mage to turn his attention to the mounted crossbowman.

The raven-haired youth's hand shot up in a blur of movement and a bolt of all-too familiar crimson lightning surged to life. The unnatural power ripped through the air and the incoming bolt alike with contemptuous ease. Mercifully, Aedan willed the force behind the arcane blast to lesson as it neared its true target. If the lightning connected with the young hunter, he'd likely be knocked flat off his horse with every muscle in his body convulsing uncontrollably and probably in more pain than he'd experienced before...but he'd definitely be alive at least.

(Attack roll: 15.

Potential Damage Roll: 12)

 

[Ecnalab]

(Resistance roll: 15. Damage roll: 12.)

The younger man managed to get his weapon in front of himself before the bolt hit him, but it did little to soften the blow, as he was blasted from his saddle and fell to the ground. He did, indeed, convulse for a few moments, but then lay still. That was one enemy down, now all that was left was the elder hunter, who was charging Aedan with sword drawn. The man's sword arm had stuck to his chest when he reached for his weapon, and so he had pulled his sword free with his off hand, and held it awkwardly. Still, he managed to close the distance faster than Aedan had expected, and thrust his weapon at Aedan; aiming for his stomach. (Attack roll: 5. Potential damage roll: 8.)

 

[Weiss Ritter]

(Evasion Roll: 1 + 1 + 6 + Speed = 12)

Aedan's gaze lingered on the fallen, trembling young man just long enough to confirm that he was both down for the count and seriously wounded. With all his practice and sheer natural talent, precise control of his spells were generally not a problem for the young mage. However, there was a world of difference between demolishing a training dummy or mindless ward versus trying to estimate how much punishment any given soldier and their armor and weapons could safely absorb.

The older soldier seemed to be made out of sterner stuff, and was quite a bit faster than Aedan would have expected from a man a third of the way to being a frozen sculpture. The air blurred around the young man as he lurched to the side just in time to evade the hunter's thrust. What Aedan lacked in formal martial training, he more than made up for in sheer magically augmented movements. The blue-tinged wind surged around the mage again as he threw one hand towards the ground swiftly enough for even veteran soldiers to have trouble following the movement.

The earth that was bent to Aedan's will became something more akin to obsidian than stone. A black stone club with pulsing emerald veins ripped itself out of the ground and into the mage's waiting grip. Again the wind surged around him, turning what might would have been a competent swing at best into a blindingly swift attack easily capable of flooring any heavily-armored man unfortunate enough to take the blow head on.

(Attack Roll: 6 + 6 + 5 + Speed = 21)

Damage Roll: 2 + 3 + 3 + Intellect = 14)

 

[Ecnalab]

(Evasion roll: 4, Resistance roll: 15)

The veteran hunter was indeed made of tougher stuff than most, managed to roll with the surprising attack only taking a grazing strike to his back, before continuing around, and thrusting his foot out at Aedan's knee; trying to knock his feet out from under him. (Attack: 13)

 

[Weiss Ritter]

(Evasion roll: 17)

Aedan's eyes widened a bit as the veteran hunter twisted along with the stone club smashing into his back. The mage understood the principle behind "rolling with the punches", and had even seen a few of the other soldiers who tried to stop him attempt it, but few managed to avoid tripping or getting smashed into something anyway. The old soldier even managed to swing his leg back to take Aedan's out from under him! Another burst of blue-tinged wind carried Aedan a few feet back where he landed neatly on his feet. One hand still clutched his ebon club while the other shot up at his opponent.

Another burst of crimson lightning, exactly the same as the first, surged from Aedan's fingers to send the huntsman flying back and convulsing on the ground if he didn't move swiftly enough.

(Attack Roll: 19, Damage Roll: 16)

 

[Ecnalab]

(Evasion: 7, Resistance: 11)

Despite having the skill and stamina of a much younger man, the veteran could only stay a step ahead for so long, and in the midst of his failed tripping maneuver, could not get out of the way of the lightning as it streaked towards him. The crimson blast slammed into him and he was airborne for a full five seconds before hitting the ground, and laying still. Neither man showed any signs of movement, and while the younger hunter's horse had bolted, the black and white pinto that the vet had been riding had remained where it was; its training having held. A quick examination of the two men revealed that both were still breathing, and the scroll that the elder man had been looking at when they first showed up was still in his pocket.

Unrolling the parchment, Aedan found a remarkably accurate drawing of his face over the words, Wanted: For sedition, destruction of property, and attempted murder. 1000 gold crowns. The bold black letters and numbers stood out in stark relief against the parchment. It was now official, Aedan was a wanted man. Looking down at the older hunter again, Aedan noticed that the man's coin purse was full almost to bursting. Inside her found twenty gold crowns; advance payment for his capture no doubt. A similar purse was on the belt of the younger man. Furthermore, the saddlebags of the remaining horse contained everything one might need for an extended hunting trip; food, water, even camping gear.

 

[Weiss Ritter]

"Attempted-?!" Aedan glowered at the parchment and fought the urge to incinerate it right then and there. He knew he had committed many crimes against Antavia during his escape and, if the priests were to be believed, the faith of Malsten itself but never once had he meant to kill his would-be captors! They knew him. They had to have to produce such a well done portrait of his visage. Did this bounty notice come from the priests and priestesses who had soothed him when he was scarcely more than a boy with parables from the holy books, valiant tales of Antavia's loyal knights, and sometimes treats pilfered from the temple kitchens after especially draining or even painful tests? Maybe...maybe it was just distant superiors who knew him only as a name on a ledger.

The thought was not a very comforting one and Aedan's movements alternated between being rough and glum as he poured through the hunters' supplies. They grew only less so when he realized that a prize far larger than the two plump birds he'd hunted just fell into his lap. With this gear and that horse, his chances of reaching Levareen mostly unmolested became almost realistic! The coins were another matter, though.

Aedan weighed the heavy sacks with a frown. Taking the men's supplies and horse was one thing, but their money...? He was going to need gold sooner or later, maybe even before he made it out of Antavia, but there was something different about stealing money. Everyone needed food but money...besides, he was taking so much from these men already.

They're wrong. Whatever they say about me, I'm not a god-forsaken...failure of a human being.

Aedan settled for half of the men's gold, pouring it all into one of purses. A large sphere of emerald-green fire burned in his extended hand while he fed the supernaturally hot flames the hunter's weapons and armor. Leaving them alive to spread the word of his presence and perhaps come back later for another attempt was taking a risk as it was. At least this way, the pair would be forced to withdraw and spend at least some of their money on food rather than hunting supplies.

If the hunters needed a meal to reasonably make it back to civilization, Aedan would have tossed the men that much before mounting his new horse and resuming his journey.

 

[Ecnalab]

One missed meal wouldn't hurt the two hunters, and Aedan would need all had if he wanted to make the journey before him without stopping. So, with his newfound supplies, he set off.

The encounter with the hunters had made one thing clear, patrols were going to be looking for him; or, at least, someone matching his description. With that in mind, it became prudent to stay off the main road; sticking to the woods and hills whenever possible. After three days of riding, his saddlebags were beginning to feel lighter, and the hardtack and smoked meat was beginning to grate. By the time noon rolled around on the fourth day, Aedan had just crested a hill to find a small farming village resting at the base of the other side. He could make out a few people going about their business, though none of them seemed to have noticed him.

While the village was a bit iffy, the stream that emerged from a nearby forest looked more than a little inviting. His canteens needed refilling, and four days of camping and riding, had left him with quite the smell clinging to him. The cover of the woods could certainly provide concealment if he didn't wish to be seen.

 

[Weiss Ritter]

Taking a horse off the beaten path and through some of the rougher terrain Antavia had to offer was neither easy nor quick, but it was unquestionably better than any of the alternatives. It also made for an adventure in and of itself. The young man was no stranger to nature, he had spent a significant part of his life on a farm and venturing into the wilds, but it had been years since he saw anything beyond the walls of Hastner. Just being able to breath fresh and stop to admire any sights he wished without a priest or mage reminding him he had testing to undergo or scripture to memorize was...nice.

It didn't change the toll three days of travel on very...utilitarian diet inevitably took, though. Aedan was sinking a bit into his new mount's saddle when the sight of the village below made him perk up. The initial interest faded quickly, though. These people were more of an obstacle than anything else as long as there was even a chance those wanted posters had made it here. Strained as his body was by days of travel, Aedan was quite confident his magic could handle a mob of bounty-hunting villagers. He was less certain they could handle it.

The stream looked far more inviting, and a gentle nudge to his mount's sides carried them both toward it.

Aedan dismounted and tethered the horse within drinking distance of the stream with a black stone spike magically hammered into the ground. He knelt down to fill a canteen, drank his fill from it, and then collected all the water he could carry. Only when the young man took one last look around to make sure his surroundings were as secure as could be expected did he begin to remove the sweat-stained clothes clinging to his flesh. The fresh air felt good against his firm and toned body, but the cool water almost immediately sapped the tension from the farmboy-turned-sorcerer as he slowly lowered himself into it with a contented sigh.

 

[Ecnalab]

As Aedan bathed, he had to admit that his trip was going smoother than he had expected. If he was able to keep the pace he was at, then he might be skirting Arcis in a matter of days. After that, he would just have to hope that the people of Levareen were friendlier than he had heard. Lost as he was in thought, Aedan nearly jumped out of his skin when her heard voiced behind him back at the riverbank. "Oi, who left you out here, boy?" Turning in the water, Aedan saw a young woman in her late teens standing in front of his horse. She wore a simple green dress that billowed slightly in the gentle breeze, and she paused to brush her long golden hair from her face.

Standing beside her was a skinny young boy, no more than thirteen, with similar thick golden locks; those his were cropped short. "He doesn't look like any of the horses I've seen around town," the child muttered. "Hey, what's that?" he exclaimed, as he made his way over to Aedan's discarded clothes, and picked up his shirt.

"Oh, my," muttered the girl. "You don't suppose..." Slowly both their heads began turning towards the river, eyes wide.

 

[Weiss Ritter]

Aedan let out a contended sigh as he sank deeper into the soothing waters. Traces of the water turned an emerald green when he reached out to it with his magic, infusing it with his power, and began to bend the current around his body. The liquid swirled against his flesh and massaged the lingering tension right out of his muscles. Between this luxury and the smooth yet rapid progress he had been making toward the border, Aedan was feeling better than ever about his chances. He still wasn't sure how much of Levareen's reputation in Antavia was truth and how much was fiction in the same vein as false accusations against him, but at the absolute minimum he would not be a hunted man there. That alone would make gathering information and supplies from cities and other settlements possible, and from there he could-

"Mph!" The young mage tensed when he heard the voice behind him and shot under the surface. The whiffs of emerald became lengthy tendrils running to either side of Aedan as he magically gripped a substantial amount of the water around him before rising back up just enough to breath and observe.

A pretty blond was hovering near his horse along with young boy who might have been her brother. Neither seemed armed, and he couldn't sense any backup hiding nearby before the pair turned their gaze to him anyway.

"H-hey!" Aedan waved an arm and rose up from the river just enough for the pair to easily see that there was indeed someone trying to bathe in the river. "Those are my clothes and my horse! If you could stop...that and stop looking...!"

Aedan sank back down into the river a little bit more. He was painfully aware of their gaze and his nakedness. It was making trying to sound authoritative to someone he wasn't truly angry at...challenging.

 

[Ecnalab]

"Oh, my!" the young woman exclaimed, covering the boy's eyes. "Apologies, sir, we saw the horse tied up here, and didn't know if it had been abandoned or not." For a moment, she stood there staring as her face turned increasingly red, before finally averting her own gaze. "Um, you know, there is an inn over in our village if you wanted a warm bath," she offered.

"Also, there are leeches in that river," spouted the young boy, wriggling out of the girl's grasp.

"Phillip!" she chastised, as she grabbed his hand and lead him back towards the village.

"What there are," he retorted, as they faded away.

 

[Weiss Ritter]

Aedan just stared back at the young woman and refused to budge from his crouched stance in the river. Part of it was done in the hope that she'd avert his gaze and leave him be. Another part of it was Aedan's brain trying and failing utterly to figure out something, anything halfway reasonable to say to the blond!

"That..." The young man tensed at her suggestion. For someone who without magic and a price on their head, it was an utterly reasonable idea. For a man with both, it left him with precious few excuses to avoid the village he'd made a point of side-stepping.

Mercifully, if unwittingly, Philip came to his rescue. Aedan sank into the water and against the bank with a relieved sigh. He could probably warm this section of the river up if he really wanted to, and leeches wouldn't be terribly hard to burn off with a few choice spells either. Still, the thought of a proper bath was a little tempting and a meal of something besides smoked meat and hardtack even more so. The mage's bright blue orbs flickered over his sagging supply sacks. He was going to have to stop and refill his supplies one way or another anyway...

"Ngh..." Aedan grunted as he rose from the river and willed a gentle white light around his body to hasten his drying off. He had a bad feeling in his gut about this, but he was going to have to take risks before he crossed the Antavian border one way or another and a quick shopping trip in a rural village was more acceptable than some of the alternatives. He dressed quickly and made a point of pulling his hood back up before fetching his new horse and the supply sacks affixed to its saddle. If the wanted posters weren't already lining the village's boards and walls, then shopping for some decent food at least with the hunters' gold couldn't hurt. If they were...well, he could probably pass through the settlement quickly and without incident as long as he kept his head down.

 

[Ecnalab]

Mercifully, the village seemed to have been passed over by the authorities in their quest to locate Aedan. Although, given its size, that was hardly surprising. The village was tiny; half a dozen houses clustered together, with a couple of farms a little further away. The 'inn' wasn't even a separate building from the owners home, rather just a couple of extra rooms added onto the side of the house. The only building that wasn't clearly someone's house was the church. The conservative white chapel bore the symbol of Malsten, an open hand within a serrated gold ring meant to resemble the edges of the sun, was displayed prominently on the side of the building, and looking around, it was emblazed on nearly every structure in the village.

As he walked the single road that wound through the community, Aedan noticed that there didn't seem to be a general store anywhere. In a community this small, commerce was likely done through trade between individuals and the local farmers.

 

[Weiss Ritter]

Some part of Aedan knew it was foolish to seriously fear that the authorities could have reached such a minor settlement already. Those hunters must have been rushing on horseback just to catch up with him, and the Priesthood was hardly going to seriously invest any magical infrastructure in a place like this. Even so, Aedan found himself clutching the inside of his open-chested cloak each time he felt someone's gaze wondering across him. The sight of the makeshift church made the young mage pause outright. There was a time when the symbol of Malsten would have filled him with warmth as surely as the sun itself. Now, whatever the god thought of him, it was just a reminder of the power and reach of his pursuers.

Almost reluctantly, Aedan made his way to what could charitably be called the village inn. He habitually scanned over everyone inside before making his way to the apparent owner or manager.

"Hello, I was hoping you could help me? I'm a traveler looking for a warm bath and fresh food to last me for the rest of my journey."

 

[Ecnalab]

Scanning the people present was easy enough, given that there were none. Aedan found himself standing in the foyer of an old, but well built, home calling into the rest of the house. "Is that a customer I hear?" came a man's voice from deeper in the house. Emerging from a hall, was a tall slight man in his middle years, his brown hair was beginning to thin, but was made up for by an incredibly bushy mustache. He adjusted the spectacles over his bright blue eyes, as he took in Aedan. "Good day, sonny, name's Fredric. Did I hear someone asking about a room?" he greeted Aedan with a smile.

 

[Weiss Ritter]

Aedan swiftly scrutinized the innkeeper. The middle-aged man seemed harmless and friendly enough. Even so, the slight smile Aedan offered Fredric in turn was forced. He couldn't quite get the thought of hunters creeping into the village under the cover of darkness out of his mind.

"I was asking about a bath and where to buy fresh food," Aedan corrected. Him failing to offer Fredric his name was no accident. "Or...is the bath part of a room?"

The young mage didn't frown, but there was a note of uncertainty in his tone. Granted, sleeping anywhere but the ground was another luxury his body was craving after several days of travel. He was really starting to wonder if all those years in the capital had spoiled him. Regardless, even a single night spent here rather than on the road could give more hunters a chance to catch up with him.

"My business is somewhat time-sensitive."

 

[Ecnalab]

"Aye, a single crown will get you a room and a meal for the evening, and if you like I can draw you a bath as well. If you're looking to stock up for a trip, the Durands can probably help you out. They run the farm on the west side of town," he replied. "If you want to head on over there and take care of any business you might have, the bath should be ready by the time you get back."

 

[Weiss Ritter]

Aedan was silent for a moment. The risk of more hunters following the trail of the two he'd incapacitated was quite real, and in a village this small it wouldn't exactly take much for them to wheedle the rumors of a mysterious traveler passing through out of someone. Still, just buying food would probably take less time than hunting anyway, and a decent bath even without a night in a warm bed would put a spring back into his step.

"Alright, thank you," The young man nodded and reached into the folds of his cloak for a single crown. He took care to try and keep the rest of the clinking gold hidden in the folds of his robe. People tended to talk and remember where large sums of money were concerned. "I'll be back shortly,"

Unless something or someone stopped him, Aedan would have left to collect his horse and make his way to the Durands' farm. The trip would probably be a fairly quick one. It might have been years since he'd lived in such a place, but Aedan definitely knew his way around a farm and the life of a peasant.

 

[Ecnalab]

The Durand farm was easy enough to find, and while he believed that time was of the essence, Aedan realized that it would probably take at least an hour for the water of his bath to be heated and transferred to the tub, so he had a bit of time to spare. It turned out that the farm was quite small; a community this size hardly warranted anything too large. Its focus seemed to be on vegetables and other food produce, rather than wheat. Staples like corn, potatoes, tomatoes, and turnips, grew in orderly lines in an oversized garden, while luxuries like strawberries and rhubarb grew in small patches in the corners of the wide fenced off area. A small barn sat not far from the house, which was two stories high and painted a pleasing white. Out in the field, Aedan spotted a familiar figure strolling about alongside a large wolf-hound. It was the young boy, Phillip, that he had encountered earlier.

 

[Weiss Ritter]

Aedan's gaze swept over the farm in a practiced manner. It may have been on the small side, but everything in it appeared to be in order and the house at the center of it call clearly had some care and good work put into it. All things considered, he probably could not have asked for a much better place to stop and resupply. At the very least, the thought of some cooked vegetables to go along with the dried meat was enough to get Aedan's mouth watering.

There was an eager spring in the mage's step as he approached the house, only to freeze and stare at the boy and wolf-hound rambling through the fields. If Phillip was here, the young woman who had seen him bathing probably was too, along with the rest of the family.

Malsten...!

Aedan mentally cursed, but truth be told he was not that surprised. This was a small village where everyone probably knew everyone else. He probably would have run into the pair again sooner or later anyway.

"H-hey!" The young man waved at Philip and cleared his throat to steady his voice before approaching the boy and his pet. "Fredric told me to come here if I wanted to buy food for the rest of my journey. Who in your family do I need to speak with to buy some of your extra crops?"