Beist looked around awkwardly, standing in the middle of the town square. Of course he'd had to come to Darkveil. Why did he keep having to come to Darkveil? He really didn't like having to come here, with all its pickpockets and gangs. Of course, any city had pickpockets and criminals, but this one had a reputation for it and Beist was easily frightened and easily learned things. A combination that made him naturally avoid these kind of places, or at least want to.

But, of course, here he was. He just had to come after hearing all the rumors going around of people going missing, being kidnapped and taken to the mountain for some reason. It just didn't sit right with him to stand back and do nothing. He'd come to do a little investigating, and investigating required not standing out. Something he did horrendously as a twelve and a half foot tall, four-armed beast man. Not only that, but one dressed in a tweed vest and dress shirt and slacks. He looked like a sorceress had cursed a college professor after he refused to let her spend the night in his castle.

On Beist's horns hung several charms, in different shapes with different colored gems in the middles. Along with them, on his right horn hung a sleeping bat and on his left horn, hanging by its tail, was what looked like a tiny flaming red monkey with a little outfit of a green backless vest and green shorts. On the creature's back was a pair of wings that looked a lot like those of a dragonfly, but with orange and red veins.

At least being so tall had its perks. He could easily look out over the crowd around him, and anyone trying to pickpocket him had to reach up to get to his waist, which wouldn't be very stealthy. Beist looked around, trying to spot any suspicious activity, and suddenly saw a familiar head of blonde hair with a unique pair of goggles on top barely visible through the crowd. He started to walk over to greet her.

SPOILER: Click to show

Quest Name: Fuel for the rebirth!
Participants: Two or more
Location: Anywhere in Charon
Post Requirements: 6 post per person, 200 words per post
Reward: +1 Renown, +1 Mystical Archive Ticket
Description: Random citizens have been going missing, kidnapped by mysterious cultists. We believe they are being taken to Mount Drakolt for some sort of ritual. You have become entangled in one of these kidnappings. You can go about doing this a multitude of ways such as having one PC be kidnapped while the other mounts a rescue, or both PCs could witness a citizen getting kidnapped. Whether or not you succeed or fail in rescuing the kidnapped PC or civilian is up to you and your writing partners.

---

Bringing pets:
Griffon (Sleigh Bell) (in Pet pocket)
Lightning Mephit
Woolful (My Best Friend)
Raccoon Dog (Stables)
Vampire Bat

After hearing about the kidnappings, Darkveil just happens to be the place Astrid is. She’d come out here to have a chit-chat with Zarius, and since travel takes a long time, she figures it’s not too bad of an idea to start looking for information. Being a child, she of course looks like a prime kidnapping target, but what most people trying to kidnap folks don’t know is that she is particularly capable. Her being a small thing is only but a ruse, a trap, if you will. She’s confident she can get out of any situation she gets stuck in. Usually.

A large lumbering figure draws her attention as the crowd parts to allow the supremely large four-armed man Beist through. If anyone is a helpful lookout, it’s the guy who can see over everyone’s heads! Astrid waves to Beist and steps on gathered air to trounce over the crowd and up to Beist to greet him face to face.

“Hiya, Beist!” she says cheerily. “Didn’t expect ta see ya all the way up here! What brings ya ta Darkveil? Lookin’ fer one of them fancy ash baths fer yer fur?”

To her surprise, there’s another familiar face in the crowd: Gerhart. What the heck is he doing here too?? “Oiiii! Gerhart!!” she calls.

---

Step of the Wind

Pets:
Spicy Pawsage
the lil pixie guy

Quest deets:

SPOILER: Click to show

Quest Name: Fuel for the rebirth!
Participants: Two or more
Location: Anywhere in Charon
Post Requirements: 6 post per person, 200 words per post
Reward: +1 Renown, +1 Mystical Archive Ticket
Description: Random citizens have been going missing, kidnapped by mysterious cultists. We believe they are being taken to Mount Drakolt for some sort of ritual. You have become entangled in one of these kidnappings. You can go about doing this a multitude of ways such as having one PC be kidnapped while the other mounts a rescue, or both PCs could witness a citizen getting kidnapped. Whether or not you succeed or fail in rescuing the kidnapped PC or civilian is up to you and your writing partners.

Kidnappings were definitely a growing concern for Gerhart, most of his family was vulnerable to it....not that anyone wasn't vulnerable, they just travel a lot...meet a lot of strangers. He shakes his head to dismiss the thoughts and lets out a sigh as he makes his way into the city. Halcyon circles over head as he looks for a place to perch, a familiar sign to anyone who knows the ranger.

Thoman struts at the hip of Gerhart, a new pixie nestled in the thick fur at his neck. Arms are stretched and his body loosened as he walked, freeing his muscles after riding in the saddle for awhile. Flying was incredible, but nothing beat a good walk in his mind.

An eyebrow perks up as he hears his name called, looking over to the crowd. It takes a moment to spot Astrid, especially as his eyes are first drawn to Beist. He jogs over with a smile. "Usually when we meet that means something bad is happening Astrid." Gerhart gives a little laugh.

He then looks back up to Beist, smile far from fading. "You must be a friend of Astrid's eh? Gerhart Stanislav." A gauntleted hand is offered up to Beist for a firm and hardy shake.

"Oh, an ash bath... I hadn't thought of that. Maybe it would be nice." Beist started to ramble for a moment, lost in thought with a hand stroking his beard, before bringing himself back on topic with a shake of his head. "Ah, no, that's not why I'm here. I'm-"

And she was calling to someone else in the crowd, not listening to him. Beist looked to see a man approaching, the Gerhart she must have been calling to. He seemed friendly. He didn't look frightened of the giant beast man at least, which was nice. Beist reached a hand down to receive his handshake, though it would be difficult for Gerhart to give the beast man a very firm handshake when Beist's hand completely engulfed his own. Beist's handshake was clearly strong, but exceedingly gentle, obviously trying not to hurt him.

"A pleasure to meet you. My name is Beistmild, but please call me Beist. You must be a friend of Astrid's as well." Beist introduced himself friendlily, but then looked overjoyed, looking right past Gerhart and toward his companion with a big smile.

"What an adorable companion!" Beist chuckled, maybe a little too excitedly as he leaned down closer to get a better look at the dog. "What's your name? Would you mind if I pet you?" Beist asked directly to the dog, completely used to talking to and understanding animals. And then Beist noticed something tiny on the dog's neck. He gasped in surprise, but then looked even more delighted. "Is that a Pixie?" He asked, with possibly a little too much excitement, but he just couldn't help being so excited to see it. He just loved animals and Fae creatures and he hadn't expected to see any in a place like this.

A chittering sound suddenly came from Beist's stomach and he stood back up straight. His stomach looked as if it was wiggling beneath his tweed vest, and after a moment, a head that looked a lot like a brown raccoon's but with a slightly more dog-like snout popped up out of the neck hole and yawned. The little raccoon-dog climbed out and into Beist's arms.

"I'm sorry, Awd, did I wake you? I always forget he's sleeping in there, I'm so used to it now I don't even notice." Beist apologized, a bit embarrassed. His bending down quickly must have woken the sleeping raccoon-dog in his shirt.

“I wouldn’t know if they’re nice, but I’ve seen a fluffy lil critter gettin’ a dust bath before, so I thought maybe it’d be a neat thin’ fer ya!” Astrid says before quickly getting distracted by Gerhart.

“Aye, well yer the one that brin’s all the trouble ‘round with ya, ain’t ya?” she jokes, grinning up at her fellow adopted orphan and WEF member. She steps back to let Gerhart and Beist introduce themselves to each other while Spicy Pawsage sniffs cautiously at Thoman. The hounds have met before, but Spicy does not often see other canines. Despite his inability to speak, he knows that he is indeed a Very Good Boy^TM.

So is Awd, who Astrid takes the opportunity to pet if she can ever reach him.

“What brin’s ya ta Darkveil?” Astrid asks, looking between the two taller (and much taller) individuals. “I was around talkin’ ta Zarius an’ figured I’d investigate some cult stuff while I'm at it.” Really, she's thinking about being the bait and then busting out and demanding answers, but that might not need to be the case if she's got a couple of friends around. 

"That is acceptable." Thoman looks up to Beist and replies as the much larger fuzzy creature addresses him. He would soon make a little alert hop as turns to face Spicy, tail up and posture firm. There's no snarling or aggressive posturing, just a very excited good boy meeting another good boy. Thoman then smells Awd and looks back to Beist, nose stretching upwards to get a sniff of the new creature. He is polite enough not to jump up, but he is curious.

"It is, we found her pretty worse for wear in a Moonglade field. Thoman healed her up and she's stuck with him ever since." Gerhart offered a little laugh.

The ranger listened to the others talk, hands on his hips just watching the others interact. He looks t asted when she finally speaks. "Maybe he's at the center of it." Another grin and snort of a laugh.

"I had heard about a few weird things through the grapevine. Weirdest thing now is I don't have to hunt for jobs anymore....people like....specifically look for me to do stuff for them. It's taking a bit of getting used to realizing people actually like know who I am....Important people that is. Like the people who wash their clothes regularly kind of important."

Beist looked as Astrid with slight surprise. Did she say "Zarius"? Was that the same Zarius he'd met in Kamille's home and healed his arm from its horrid state, mostly dissolved by an ooze and terribly infected? Was he acquainted with the young girl?

On top of that, he was surprised to hear Thoman speak clearly in an actual voice. Beist was used to understanding what animals said and having them understand what he said, but it wasn't often he encountered an animal that could actually speak speak. My, how fascinating!

"My, I don't meet many talking animals! I've only met one other, in fact. A prismatic spider belonging to a man I met named Caedes."

As he spoke, Beist lowered Awd down and placed him on the ground gently to let him get to know the other two dogs. The raccoon-dog immediately started to sniff at Thoman and Spicy Pawsage curiously. Of the three, Awd was the smallest of the group being more raccoon sized than dog sized, but he didn't seem very intimidated by the other two. He seemed very friendly toward them. Beist gave Thoman a few strokes on his back and then stood back up to leave the dogs alone.

"Speaking of Caedes, he was with another man at the time. A grey Fellblood named Zarius. Is he the same Zarius you mentioned? I haven't seen him since we met, when I healed his arm at Kamille's house. Does he live around here?" Beist said, looking to Astrid curiously. "I'm also in the area to investigate some disappearances that might be the work of this cult you're investigating. I'm afraid I'm not very inconspicuous though." Beist sighed.

Beist glanced at Gerhart with a concerned expression. Did... did he not wash his clothes regularly? Does he think washing your clothes is something only important people do? That's...

Given the shady behavior Astrid recently witnessed of Zarius, she would honestly not be surprised if he were responsible for some of the disappearances. But no, she’s pretty sure he’s not involved with a cult so much as just the shady underground type of people. It’s probably fine… Though if it turns out he is involved, well, Astrid knows where to find him exactly.

Gerhart talking about being sought out for work resonates with her, and Astrid pipes up. “Aye! It’s the weirdest thin’, ain’t it?? One day yer scroungin’ the garbage bins fer somethin’ half decent ta eat, then the next yer havin’ ta turn down work, an’ ya have a fresh pair of undies every day!!” It has always been nice that she and Gerhart share similar experiences. It makes joking and lamenting about it more fun than sad.

But wait, back to Zarius. “Aye, Zarius is a sketchy gray Fellblood. Bright gold eyes, nice guy in his own way. What were they doin’ gettin’ Zarius healed up at gran’s? Er, Kamille’s.” She considers whether confirming that Zarius lives around here is a good idea and offers a half-truth instead. “Erm, he’s got a tavern around here, but it took a beatin’ in a real bad earthquake,” she says.

This name, Caedes, it’s unfamiliar to her. Zarius was dodgy with any information about his pale companion that Shael mentioned, and none of the people she met at Zarius’ house was named Caedes as far as she remembers. Maybe Caedes is the mysterious boyfriend of Zarius?? For a moment, Astrid is clearly contemplating something, then she just asks. “This Caedes fella wouldn’t happen ta be a pale guy, would he?”

Of course, they could go investigate the kidnapping, but this information is much too spicy to pass up.

"Incredibly pale." Gerhart laughed. "Well assuming we are all talking about the same Caedes. This was moooooonths ago, I'd barely started adventuring, but I worked with him looking for that Sol Stone thingy. He had a cute little spider too...most are just gross, but I liked Charolette."

Thoman was very happy with the pets and seeing Awd. He gives the little raccoon sized dog a few sniffs, but backs off so as not to overwhelm the little guy. Thoman made sure Spicy wouldn't bear down on Awd too much as well, they were all friendly, but Thoman had seen plenty of small dogs basically short circuit when larger dogs just surround them.

"I didn't know he and Zarius knew each other, but I shouldn't be so surprised. Seems like half the adventurers running around know each other in some roundabout way." The ranger gives another little laugh and grins. "Oh that's right Zarius bar thing is right around this area isn't it? I think it's just a few streets away." He looks around suddenly trying to get his bearings in the city having finally stopped long enough to actually do so.

"Maybe we should see how its holding up if it really took such a beating."

Scrounging garbage bins for food, not washing their clothes, not having fresh underwear.... and did she just call Kamille "Gran"!? Beist looked horrified, confused, and furious at the same time. If Astrid was Kamille's grandchild, why had she been left scrounging on the streets, dirty and hungry!? The witch had never told Beist she had a grandchild! No, she'd never even told him she had a child, let alone a grandchild! Had she neglected her own child as well? This is outrageous!

"Kamille is your grandmother? Oh, I'm going to have some serious words for her next time we meet. Neglecting her own grandchild in such a way, unbelievable. I never thought she could do such a thing." Beist grumbled, a bit of a growl in his throat from his anger. Beist huffed and then looked to Gerhart.

"Yes, very pale." Beist nodded in agreement. Of course, he understood exactly why the man was so pale, but that might not be information he should share. "I see we're talking about the same person if you know Charlotte's name. Everyone always thinks spiders are creepy, but I think they're quite adorable." Beist shrugged with a sigh. No one else ever shared his love of animals, did they? At least the thought of Charlotte calmed him down somewhat. It was hard to stay mad with such a cute, eight-eyed face in his forethoughts. He looked back to Astrid again and cleared his throat before continuing.

"Well, according to the story they both told Kamille and me at the time, Zarius had been severely injured while working together with Caedes on a mission for a slime researcher named Lloyd. During that mission, Zarius ended up shoving his whole arm into an ooze and nearly melted the whole thing off. It looked dreadful, and left him too weak to travel on his own. Caedes carried him to Kamille's to have him healed, and Kamille called for me to come and help." Beist explained.

"I'm sorry to hear his bar was so damaged by the earthquakes. There's been a lot of those for a while. I myself was caught in one of them in Sol City. And now people going missing, really, what is the world coming to?"

Hearing that Caedes is a pale individual but also an individual who was seen with Zarius… Oh ho, Astrid’s preteen brain is going absolutely wild with the possibilities. She can’t wait to dig into this next time she sees hi– Wait, an ooze? “He stuck his arm in an ooze??” she blurts, completely surprised. "Why the heck did he go an' do that??" Now more than ever Astrid knows that she cannot let it out to Zarius that Blue Raspberry is indeed an ooze themself. 

Then she murmurs, “Kamille never told me Mister Zarius had a boyfriend… Or that Zarius did somethin’ stupid.” Now she has to go harass Kamille about that. How dare her gran not share the spicy details about Zarius?!

But she notices Beist looking super concerned about her, and pipes up to quell the concerns. “Oh, right, uh, Kamille is sorta me gran, like… me adopted gran? I only just met her a few months ago. She actually bought me all kindsa clothes last time I saw her, too. Her an’ da are real obsessed with fashion an’ nice clothes, but I don’t feel like I need a big wardrobe. Just means extra stuff ta carry around, ya know?”

“Anyway,” Astrid continues with a shrug, “The Rookery is uh… Well, it ain’t holdin’ up. It’s mostly collapsed in on itself, so ain’t no one there ta do no business until they get it fixed up.”

There’s a small tremor under their feet, something all too common in Darkveil nowadays, so much so that most people don’t pay it any mind. Astrid looks around. “World’s comin’ ta bein’ a mess is what it is,” she says. “All kindsa weird stuff is happenin’ ever since–” She stops, cutting a glance to Gerhart. They were both there for the battle with Ziev.

"Maybe Zarius just likes oozes or something. Last time I saw him we were working with Wolfe and he managed to find a way to get covered in ooze, no idea where it came from." He shrugs and gives a little laugh seeing the conversation about Kamille and Astrid.

It honestly wasn't too different than the strange way he had to explain his found family. It isn't exactly hard to figure out that two fellbloods didn't pop out a human. That would've made whatever Charon's version of the local news if that happened.

"Yeah...that was already weird enough, now this...though...kinda hard to be surprised by it." Another little shrug as Gerhart is also vague with details. As a fellow adventurer he just sort of assumes Beist has all the details for the Sol Stone situation.

"Caedes is real weird about fashion too, he insisted I get new clothes to try and blend in when we were working together. The store lady was real nice, but I think I annoyed him cause I didn't know anything about what I was supposed to be shopping for. Still don't know what a culotte is." Truth be told he barely knows what half of his clothing technically is. Pants is a good enough catch all.

Beist nodded, a little amused by Astrid's surprise at Zarius doing something so strange. "He did. He didn't say exactly why though. They were attempting to remove it from someone's basement and things must have gone wrong. Trying to grab an ooze and drag it away isn't the easiest task to accomplish."

"Adopted..." Beist repeated quietly. That explained a lot. How this small blonde girl who was part Dwarf and had horns could be the grandchild of a black-haired human, for instance. It also calmed him down a lot. So, she hadn't neglected her grandchild, she'd actually gone and adopted one. He was glad to hear she she wasn't a horrible person after all. He was also glad Astrid had explained that bit of information before he went and saw Kamille and said some things he might have regretted.

"I wouldn't call her obsessed..." Beist replied awkwardly, in no small part thanks to his own situation. Just recently, in fact, the giant beast man had made a bit of a lavish purchase in the name of fashion. A special suit that could mimic any clothing he wished and could change size to fit him no matter how much bigger or smaller he suddenly became. He just wanted to finally be able to wear nice clothes again! He hadn't really been able to ever since he'd changed into a beast. Now these orphans talking about never having fresh underwear made him feel bad. "Wanting to be nicely dressed isn't such a bad thing, is it?"

He looked to Gerhart. "A culotte is a pair of pants made to look like a skirt." He explained simply before looking back to Astrid and raising an eyebrow. Ever since what? All the strange things started happening ever since... ah, of course.

"You mean the Sol Stone, don't you? I've heard about that. I wasn't present for the event myself, but I did assist a friend of mine in finding a clue to lead her to it. I didn't accompany her to find it though. As a scholar, it was quite fascinating, but not my area of expertise. So, you've heard about that as well? Do you think what they said is true? That the gods are dead?"

Astrid’s face turns more to confusion. Surely Zarius is smart enough to know that one cannot simply grab an ooze. Well, he certainly knows that now. Hearing that Zarius managed to get covered in ooze when doing something with Wolfe and Gerhart, Astrid’s expression shifts to genuine distress. He didn’t mention that. Maybe he didn’t suspect anything?? Gerhart doesn’t know, so that must bode well. Definitely don’t let Zarius know. Definitely don’t now.

“Nah, wantin' nice clothes ain’t a bad thin’ at all,” Astrid says, giving Beist an encouraging smile. Their last adventure together sort of ruined one of Beist’s last nice outfits, so she’s glad he managed to find another one. “Some people just have a whole lotta extra clothes they ain’t never gonna wear when there’s folks who don’t have nothin’ at all.” She almost says, ‘An’ that’s why they get robbed,’ but she holds her tongue. As cheeky and kind of funny that it is, she can’t let on that she, a proper noble now, was involved in illegal activities.

It’s been a while since Astrid has really thought about the situation around the Sol Stone in any depth. Knowing that the gods are dead hasn’t been the easiest thing for anyone to deal with, and many people have decided that it’s just propaganda. She doesn’t really have the heart to argue with folks about it. Ignorance is bliss, and she sure wishes she was still ignorant of it sometimes.

“Erm, heard about it… Yeah…” Astrid says with some hesitation. She doesn’t want to out Gerhart in case he doesn’t want to admit he was there, but she’s told a few folks about it, so Beist seems fine to open up to in this case. “Um, I was there, actually. Lots of people were. An’... yeah, it’s true.” She rubs her arm awkwardly. “I don’t really go around tellin’ folks about it much though. Hard stuff ta deal with.”

"Dad never cared much for the gods, he always used to say 'gods like to piss on us without the courtesy of even calling it rain'" Gerhart puffs out his chest and does a very bad imitation of a vaguely British-ish accent before laughing. "Needless to say I didn't really put a whole lot of thought into them either. So...I don't know the Sol Stone was a weird thing, ya know? Sure, what Scern said turned out to be kinda true I guess, but he was also crazy and having not really believed in them in the first place nothing really changed for me."

He shrugs knowing his slightly flippant attitude probably wasn't the most appropriate, but it was how he felt. No god was going to come down and feed him as an orphan so he didn't think about it then. Ironically, he was saved by a pair of fellbloods. So, none of it really ever made sense.

"Anyways, if we are all here to check on weird kidnappings, we should probably get on with that huh? Cults and such aren't gonna wait around while we gab." He grinned brightly at the both of them hoping the shift in focus and getting a task to take on could shake Astrid out of thinking about the Sol Stone.