She rubbed the silver on the edge of the telescope. The sea breeze had begun to tarnish it after only a day, annoying. She huffed, making a mental note to pick up some polish in town on the way back home. Gwendolyn had been prompted to take up stargazing recently by one of her associates, but her success so far has been limited. The book she had brought along has been nearly incomprehensible to decipher, let alone follow along with.



None of the stars were in the right places, none of the constellations matched up with what was in the references. Was she dumb? Or was the guide-book outdated… How fast could star-charts possibly become obsolete. Weren’t sailors supposed to rely on this junk? It would certainly explain why her voyage here had taken a week longer than expected. She threw her hands up in surrender, collapsing back onto the sheet she had spread out on the sand.



It was a pleasant night at least. The waves slowly lapped against the shore in hypnotic fashion, dimly reflecting the waning moon. Perhaps it was another skill outside of her reach. She gazed idly at the sky, tracing her own shapes amongst the stars.



Quest Name: Study the Stars

Participants: Two or more

Location: Moonglade

Post Requirements: 4 posts per person, 200 words per post

Reward: +1 Renown

Description: Charon has been struggling the last year with many, many changes to its world view, the most jarring being the changes to weather, the environment and the star patterns above which were used for navigation. With the veil of the Sol Stone dropped, new stars, constellations and cosmic markers have been popping up, revealing that not only is the world bigger than once thought, but so is the sky. The crown is asking people to help record and study these new heavenly objects, to help better understand our location in the cosmos. Spend an evening studying and watching the stars, recording what you see.

Everett strolls along what may be the only stretch of beach he is familiar with. Not long ago, just up on the hillside, he had a picnic with a dear friend. Since then, he's not sure how much time has passed, and the edges of his memories of their conversation have started to grow dull and chip away. He's tried his best to make a point to revisit places he's visited, to try and preserve what few memories he has made since washing up on the shores of Capitol Landing-

No, it was the Marsh Flats wasn't it?

Or somewhere else entirely.

Thinking about it makes his headache. He lets out a long sigh as he kicks a piece of driftwood across the sand. 

Looking to the sky, even the stars hold no answers and only leave him feeling more confused and lost. Everett finds himself particularly unnerved, but he isn't sure why. Something in the far reaches of the back of his mind nag at him, like something is very wrong with the sky itself and he should know that just by looking at them. But nothing is familiar about the glistening prin-pricks of light suspended within an infinitely dark sky. This sense of dread he feels remains as yet another unanswered question. 

Reclaiming bits and pieces of his shattered memory has been a futile endeavor. For every footprint he leaves in the sand on his journey to recover, there is another wave of an ever-rising tide that washes signs of his journey away. Most of the time, he's not even aware it's happening, though there have been signs here and there that it is, people who greet him by first name and with a smile of familiarity, despite him not remembering their names or faces himself. Some people have remained in his mind, while others drift in and out of obscurity like ships passing through a thick fog.

As he's traveled, making ends meet as a deckhand - the only work he's done that he feels confident in his abilities and knowledge of, despite not knowing if he even was a sailor in his forgotten past - he's heard plenty of seafarers bemoan how difficult navigation has been. They speak of the sky having drastically changed, and they speak of it like it's a recent occurrence. It makes no sense to anyone with an understanding of the cosmos and even less sense to those who don't.

Needless to say, the demand for correcting now obsolete start charts is pressing. Moreover, the pay is good. So while Everett isn't entirely certain he even has the skills or knowledge to make good star charts, he figures it is worth a shot, especially since he's in a good area to try already. 

Who knows, maybe there's some connection between his shattered mind and the shattered night sky...

Of course, finding any answers and having none of the required equipment to properly do the job is probably asking for the world to be far too generous, which is something it has proven itself to not be plenty of times already. However, luck has interesting ways of creating opportunities in ways one might not expect, like a fellow adventurer far more prepared than he currently lying on the beach with a telescope pointed up at the heavens.  

"Excuse me!" He calls out from a bit of a distance, not wanting to startle them in case it turns out they have fallen asleep. "Sorry for disturbing you, miss. I wasn't expecting to find someone else out here taking such intense interest in the stars." He gestures to the telescope as he approaches, stopping before he fully intrudes on Gwen's space. 

Still laying on her embroidered sheet, she turns to face the half-elf. She hadn’t been expecting many visitors to the beach this late, though it was a nice enough spot that company wasn’t out of the cards. He seemed innocent enough, though an obviously missing feature of his spoke to a potentially troubled past. It would behoove her not to let her guard down too much… She broke eye contact and went back to looking at the sky through her silver rimmed spectacles.



“It’s no bother, join me if you wish. Though I wouldn’t call my interest at this point intense by any means. Merely borrowing an old spyglass from an acquaintance who is trying to lure me into a hobby. Gwendolyn, by the way” Leaving a bit of room for a return introduction.



The verbiage he choses to use raises an eyebrow. Perhaps another amateur astronomer? Wouldn’t hurt to ask for some help in getting at least a basic understanding. It wasn’t like she was making much progress on her own.



“Do much stargazing? I feel as though even with this beginners manual, the sky seems to withhold it’s secrets like an iron chest.” She mutters, crestfallen as even the few stars her father had pointed out to her as a child seem lost in the inky abyss. It’s not like there was a lack of them… quite the opposite in fact. It seemed like the sky she gazed up at as a child was almost…dimmer compared to now.

"Name's Everett, it's a pleasure to meet you." 

As he sits down in the sand - keeping a respectable distance from Gwen since they're both just newly acquainted - he takes out a weathered, leather-bound notebook that serves as his reminder of what magics he knows. Creeping out from between the pages of the notebook is a loose piece of paper that seemingly moves of its own volition before it folds itself into the form of a vaguely dragon-like creature.^[1] The origami wyrm flutters up onto Everett's shoulder as he fished a stubby piece of charcoal from his pocket to loosely scrawl across the blank pages with. 

"A bit. I'm a sailor by trade," Everett explains, paying the little creature on his shoulder no mind as he glances between the sky and the page. "Knowing the stars is pretty important for my work."

He pauses as he stares at the glimmering sea of stars above them. A part of him feels heavy, almost as if stricken by grief he doesn't know the source of. Ghosts of memories dance at the edges of the thick fog that clouds his mind, but nothing becomes any clearer for him as the void above them is deep enough to swallow one whole. His gaze drops back to the earth, back to the sands and waves that lap at the shore, back to what should be familiar...

"Though I share in your sentiment. These skies feel almost too vast in a way." 

His eyes then flit over to Gwen and he offers a friendly smile with a curious head tilt. 

"What secrets are you hoping to find, if you don't mind me asking?" 

---

[1] Book Wyrm

Distracted by the sound of paper flipping, she looked over to see the paper dragon flit about the strangers person like an actual animal. Trying to remain coy, she followed it with her eyes until the eye contact brings her back to the present. Quickly bringing her focus back to the sky, it was her only hope that Everett didn’t think she was staring at the arm.



“Ah, yes. When I was a child, my father showed me a constellation of a many-legged cat in the sky. Felinara. Time seems to have lost it’s location to me, the few markers I knew don’t seem to lead where I thought.”



This whole situation was a little embarrassing truth be told. A noblewoman sharing a childhood curiosity with a stranger. Oddly vulnerable, but capable of being skewed to a fabrication if there were anything for this man to gain from it. And it wasn’t like she shared her position of privilege with him yet. It might be wise to vet this “sailor” a bit more.



“But such an diminutive goal must pale to your understandings of the subject Mr. Everett. I wonder the same, if there are any secrets you might be hoping to find?” The ambiguity of the statement, and the casual atmosphere might make him slip on any maliciousness he might be trying to hide. (1)





1 Thank You for your Candor



The longer you engage someone in conversation the more likely that they will be to reveal some private or secret information. Your skill to guide and lead conversation as made you an expert information gatherer. A conversation that lasts for three posts will subconsciously force the other participants to be truthful while talking. At the end of three post you may ask the conversationalist one question that must be answered truthfully.

Gwen's story from her childhood is a touching one. While he can't recall ever knowing about such a constellation, he sympathizes with her lament of how what she used to know has now changed. Accepting change and things out of one's control is not easy, and sometimes it weighs on you emotionally. It turns sentimentality into painful reminders. 

Everett laughs a bit awkwardly at Gwen's question. What motives the woman may hold doesn't really cross his mind as the inquiry is pretty on-topic and innocuous given the situation. Not that he really has much to hide anyway. At least, as far as he knows. 

"To list them all would take all night...I'm afraid I've suffered some fairly serious memory loss, and sometimes I have lapses of confusion. I've made some progress in regaining magic that feels familiar to me, but who I was before a certain point of time remains clouded." 

His eyes drift back up to the skies, but rather than focused, he has a distant look. 

"I suppose I hoped maybe the stars would jog my memory. Or maybe hoped is not the right word. I have mixed feelings about it, if I'm being honest. Part of me wants to know, but the other part dreads what will be revealed. Maybe there's a good reason this happened to me. Maybe I'm better off not knowing." 

He looks back Gwen with a meek smile. 

"Ah, apologies, that was quite a lot." He rubs the back of his head embarrassed at how he just divulged all his woes on a complete stranger likely not expecting such a boorish answer. He's not quite sure what came over him. 

An amnesiac sailor. She shrugged internally, figuring there were worse people out there. Though a man with a past uncertain even to himself might be inviting catastrophe, there would be little room for deception or trickery she supposed. A curious acquaintance at the very least.



“It’s fine. I’ve come to the understanding that one’s past bears little importance compared to their actions in the here and now. Best to keep your eyes on the future.” It was true, at least from her perspective. It would seem even the most fundamental aspects of reality were capable of change despite their origins. She looked at the stars from a different perspective. Gazing not for the fond memories of her childhood, instead trying to find something new.



Gwen pointed a finger up at the sky, tracing a collection of several stars off to the right. “There, that one looks like a cat. May not be the constellation from my past, but now it’s the cat in my present. I’ll name it Tom.” She chuckled lightly, hoping to alleviate a bit of the tension. A soft smile rested across her face, a sense of contentment for the peaceful scene she found herself within. Maybe one day sailors years from now will be using Tom to guide themselves across the seas.



“What do you see when you look ahead?”

It's hard not to smile at Gwen's declaration that she has found a new cat constellation and has taken it upon herself to bestow a name upon it. Her chuckle is nigh infectious. His own smile falters, though, when she asks him another question. 

While Gwen keeps her eyes on the skies, his gaze drops to the inky depths of the sea stretching out to the far-off horizon. 

"I'm not sure," he admits. "Don't get me wrong, I agree with you. It's just-" he pauses. He doesn't want to make excuses when he knows Gwen's logic is sound. "It's difficult. You would think not remembering your past makes it easier to leave whatever's there behind."

He runs his hands along the surface of the sand, picking some up and then letting the grains flow between his fingers. 

"It's like I'm being chased by something, and I have no way of knowing how to defend myself from it." The final few grains fall back onto the beach. "Or if I even should." 

Realizing that he's bringing down the mood Gwen had just tried to lighten, he brushes his hand off on his pant leg before focusing back on his notebook.

"Sorry, I shouldn't be troubling a stranger with my burdens. That isn't why I'm here."

He starts to sketch out the cat constellation Gwen pointed out before, writing T-O-M on the top of the page. A sheepish smile returns to his face as he tilts the page towards her so she can see his very simple drawing of it. 

"I like Tom though."

A turn of the head reveals a small sketch of her cat constellation. It was all she could do to refrain from belting out in laughter like the child warrior Astrid. Not out of any sense of mockery, but an overflowing amount of joy instead. She covered her mouth with a hand and sat up straight, saying “Sorry, sorry!”. Taking a deep breath to recover and calm herself, turning to face her new acquaintance.



“Tom looks quite lovely Everett. You must excuse my outburst, I just had the feeling of being a schoolchild whispering secrets in the courtyard. Worry not about sharing, I personally find it rather hard to open up to people. It’s a quality that can be quite admirable.”



Gwendolyn had certainly had her fair amount of trust issues, along with certain things in her past that have followed her even here. The reminder of her poor vision subconsciously brought her hands to adjust the silver spectacles on her nose. At least she was fortunate enough to remember how it had happened.



“Sharing your burdens can mean you’re no longer alone in your struggles. It seems your little wyrm shall at least remain by your side. And no matter what from your past catches up to you, I suppose there are always the stars to guide you. Tom included.”

The tips of the half-elf's ears burn with embarrassment as a laugh escapes Gwen's normally proper and composed persona. His feelings aren't hurt, it's more just a reaction to how ridiculous this situation ended up being. He hasn't exactly conducted himself in a very professional manner.

Gwen's reassurance that she wasn't mocking his artistic merit is appreciated, though unnecessary. He knows the doodle itself isn't anything to brag about. 

"It’s a quality that can be quite admirable."

There's that word again. Why does that word bother him so much? It's just a compliment. It doesn't have any deeper meaning. 

Right?

He shakes his head slightly to clear the thought from his head. 

"One could say it's a naïve quality as well. I've been fortunate not to be taken advantage of despite probably trusting too quickly." 

Then again, so many people have done nothing but help him despite him not being able to even begin repaying them for their compassion and generosity. It doesn't sit right with him owing so much, and one day he hopes he can repay those little acts of kindness. 

Seems he'll have to add another name to that ever-growing list. 

"Thank you, Gwendolyn." He can't help but chuckle a bit. "Having Tom will help. I'm sure of it."