Even in this backwater village, the Summer Festival is celebrated. Such distractions are necessary in this unforgiving environment, but now detritus is all that remains of fleeting gaiety.

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Quest Name: Out with the trash

Participants: Two or more

Location: Anywhere

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

Reward: +1 Renown

Description: This years Summer Festival was a success, with cities and villages all over Charon ending their big blow out parties. Now it's time to welcome in Fall, but before we can, Summer needs to be cleaned up. Banners, flyers, trash and party favors line the sides of streets and overflow public trash areas. Local governments are asking for help in the general clean up. It's not as glorious as fighting a dragon or arresting a crime lord, but it's work that needs to be done. Help out with cleaning up after the festival and help keep our wonderful cities clean!

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Krazdan was... out of his element so to speak. He mostly avoided civilization, even such a small settlement like Lilicors was a place he wouldn't normally find himself in. Such conglomerations of people unnerved him, all potentially watching his every movement, all potentially trying to pry away at his secrets. He'd much rather be in his hollowed-out log experimenting or exploring the marshes, but here he was, helping village folk clean up after a festival of all things. He was here for a reason though, he wanted to break out of his shell a little bit. Though he had discovered much in his decades of isolation in the depths of the swamps, he had come to realize that his isolation had also stifled his pursuit of knowledge in some ways. In just these last couple of weeks he had met several new people and had learned so much from them. He had come to the conclusion that he would, as much as it frightened him, need to meet many more people in his endless journey of discovery, and in order to do that, he would have to traverse the wilderness of civilization. Lilicors would be a good place to start. Even though, he had a reputation around these parts for being some sort of crazy witchdoctor who kidnapped children to boil them into a nice stew or some such nonsense, he had proven his altruism when he helped with that wasp debacle. The people of Lilicors maybe superstitious, but they always repaid kindness in one way or another. So, in his pursuit to socialize with the populace Krazdan made his way to the fighting pits, apparently the festival attracted a lot of fighters looking to prove themselves to a larger audience.

Traversing around the Marsh Flats will never be an enjoyable experience, Ambika thought to herself as she slowly carried herself to Lilicors Village. She wasn't particularly expecting her son to be here, but given that the last she's seen and heard of him was 9 years ago, excusing even areas as wildly inconvenient as the Marsh Flats was not an option.

Stepping into the vicinity of what passed as a village in these parts, Ambika saw reminders of eventful happenings in the form of myriad decorations strewn along the trees, the houses, the floating docks, and of course the surfaces of the swamps below. Likely the aftermath of the Summer Festival. After all, villages that did not celebrate it was a rarity on Charon.

The Fighting Pits seemed as raucous as ever, distant shouts echoing randomly from the mud arenas littered around the village, and with Kishan's love of demonstrating his talents, it seemed like the most likely place he could be at were he around here. Ambika silently prayed she still knew her son as she weaved her way along the floating docks scanning the people gathered around the Fighting Pits, whilst being careful to avoid getting in the way of the cleaners trudging along trying their best to bring a semblance of cleanliness to the eternally damp village.

Ambika would slow her steps when she saw an overtly suspiciously hooded figure also hobbling their way towards the Fighting Pits, drawing her attention to the uncanny fellow. She wasn't looking for any trouble, of course - it was just her reflexes speaking - so she just filed the figure as someone to possibly watch out for at the back of her mind and returned to her regular pace soon enough.

Gafelker traveled through the villages enjoying the Festivals as he went. Gafelker and have been in this village for a few days now. The village leadership asked for some help cleaning up and recovering from the Festival. Gafelker did not have a problem with that and volunteered to help.

Gafelker was teamed up with a quiet guy named Krazdan He was an odd fellow some thought But Gafelker had no problem with him. The were assigned to the fighting pit area. They were to clean up. Banners, leaflets, garbage, and leftover celebration things that lie in the streets. Trash overflow in the public areas was bad as well. Local consal asked for help in the public clean up. It's not glorious but it does come with a free meal something Gafelker will never pass up.

He looked at Krazdan who covered most of his form with an old, tattered cloak is what Gafelker saw most. there was a bard that was there watching Krazdan. She is an attractive woman. The bard's hair has greys and whites, the left side shrouding the left of her face and kept in place through a clip at the back. The right side of her hair rolled into a side bun. a few wrinkles show on her face. her dress in consists of mostly black and hushed colors. wearing practical clothing.

What a crew thought Gafelker. He had hoped to get to him better while they cleaned up the area. "Do you have any idea where we should start with this Task?" asked Gafelker as he looked around.

At first, Krazdan didn't seem to hear Gafelker's question, for he had become distracted by a beetle with a deep blue carapace and large black eyes that held a streak of purple that swirled within the obsidian depths like a rolling fog. Krazdan plucked the small creature before it had a chance to escape and placed it within a glass jar he pulled out from the depths of his cloak. The jar was filled with branches and leaves. Once the beetle was within the jar, Krazdan closed the jar with a metal lid with small holes in it, then he returned the jar back into the concealing folds of his cloak. After Krazdan finished with that, he turned towards Gafelker with wide eyes, finally registering that Gafelker was speaking to him. Within his mind, Gafelker could hear hundreds of voices all vying for auditorial dominance through their incoherent muttering, screaming, and weeping, then all of the voices fade into background noise as Krazdan establishes a psychic link with Gafelker (Message). Krazdan had done this once before when they first met. So far, Krazdan has only ever communicated through the means of this psychic connection.

"Well Marv, the owner of the fighting pits, mentioned that there was a big fight between some of the people gambling on the north side of the largest pit's auditorium. Apparently, a lot of drinks and food were knocked over or thrown in the kerfuffle. So, I suppose there would be a good place to start? And also, someone in the fight had their pinky finger cut off, so we'll have to see if we can find and recover that as well. And-"

Krazdan cut himself off as his skin tingled with anxiety. Someone was watching him. Krazdan looked towards Ambika, all of his instincts told him to run or hide and caution screamed, "RUN! IT'S THE WATCHER, THEY'VE FOUND US!" but Krazdan kept on walking towards the pits. By this point Krazdan had been ignoring caution for they had been screaming the moment Krazdan set foot in Lilicors, dominating most of the other voices in his head, his entire purpose for being here was to meet new people after all. So, Krazdan established a psychic link with Ambika as well. At first Ambika can hear a multitude of voices before they fade into the background. Krazdan took a moment to think, trying to come up with a good icebreaker. Then, Krazdan pulled out the jar with the beetle he caught just moments before, holding it out for both Ambika and Gefelker to see.

"This is a lullaby beetle, its venom lulls other insects into torpor. Aren't they fascinating? I'm going to use it in a new poultice I'm working on."

The sudden influx of voices assaulting her mind nearly threw Ambika off the platform she stood on before she realized it was merely a liberally cacophonous Message. Gods, she remembered when her kids used to overwhelm her with musical voices representing multiple musical instruments for fun. Then, as the voices settled down, she heard what the hooded entity had to say... and was absolutely lost on what he wanted. All she understood is that she should probably entertain the fellow somewhat, taking stock of the Forest Gnome who stood near him as well as she noticed the latter's eyes on her.

"What do you want?" Ambika sounded her thoughts in her mind a reply.

Ambika then descended down the floating docks to the fighting pits to where the two stood, controlling her body weight carefully as she meandered her way through the periphery of the mud arenas to prevent any unfortunate missteps that might make the day worse for her.

"Ambika Shanti Phairot." Ambika said aloud so that the Forest Gnome could hear her too. She wasn't all that inclined to give her name, but since she's already been eyed upon by this mysterious entity, she might as well try to draw out what she can.

The Forest Gnome leaned on his staff as the shock of voices running through his mind almost sent him to the ground. Gafelker was not happy with the psychic connection. It was a Space Domain spell that he had not researched. The spell did take some getting used to when dealing with Krazdan. Now was another Ambika so that is who she is, thought Gafelker.

"What in the planes of hell are the Watchers? Why would they he after you?" questioned Gafelker looking at Krazdan. Then back at Ambika "Are you a watcher?" asked Gafelker looking now more confused. "Master Ambika, I think there has been a misunderstanding. You seem to be watching Krazdan a little too closely," suggested Gafelker His manner was polite and he had a friendly smile as Gafelker watched Ambika walk.

Standing up straight again Gafelker looked over the area again to make sure there was no trouble coming his way. Gafelker did not want any trouble he had a good time last night and was in a good mood. He had seen Ambika before she had to be a Bardic Virtuoso. Ambika's singing was great from what Gafelker remembered. It was a blur and he had been drinking a lot doing some fire tricks now and then to get some drinks for free So he could be wrong too.

“What do I want? Well, that’s a rather broad question madam Ambika. I wish to delve into the secrets of the universe, I wish to know everything. But right now, I want to find a severed pinky finger.” Krazdan turns towards Gelfelker as their psychic connection shivers in anxiety. “As for what the watcher is. It is that which peels apart the sanctity of the mind, devouring the secrets within.” Krazdan looks around with wide eyes. “It is everywhere and nowhere; it is an external force, yet it resides within. It-“ Krazdan is interrupted as a large burly man walks up to the group.

“Been lookin for you lot. You three are part of the cleanup crew yea?” Before anyone has a chance to confirm or deny the man continues, “There’s been a change of plans. Instead of goin to the auditorium, we need ya cleaning up the yaguarete cage. Here.” The man thrusts an armful of shovels to the group. “Shovel out its shit. It’s mostly tame, just don’t look it in the eyes or provoke it in any way and you’ll keep your head on your shoulders. And here’s the key to its cage. Don’t let it out. Just slip in and out and make sure to keep the door closed behind you.” The man then walks away before anyone has a chance to respond.

Great. It's an absolute lunatic. Nothing like being targeted by a crazed figure with an unholy interest in body parts and an unhinged belief in some contradictory, omniscient power capable of striking whenever to steal all your secrets. Then Ambika got mistaken as part of the cleaning crew, and they had to clean what? Gods, her hatred for the Marsh Flats was increasing by the minute. Did these swamps have some unknown quality that specifically increased people's inclination to make her life worse?

"I assure you, I have no such ability as your so-called Watcher." Ambika replied, then added a personal thought to enhance her honesty. "Gods know if I did, I would be using it to figure out what my family was thinking." Especially Kishan. In general, it was near-impossible to figure out what her son was up to until it was too late to do anything about it. Granted, he was meticulous enough that it rarely spelled trouble for the family, but learning about the affairs themselves were most definitely not kind to her nor her partner's hearts. Or that of the other two children, if it involved them.

"I apologise if my eyes lingered too long on you. It is an... unfortunate habit of mine. Let us go now and get it over with," Ambika sighed and took the shovel and headed off to the yaguerete cages she had seen on her way here.

"If I remember correctly, someone called you last night, Shanti." Gafelker asked, looking a little nervous. "It is an honor to meet you, I am Gafelker, by the way." He said politely, introducing himself. Gafelker did not like this place. The smell was terrible, and some people were rude, thinking the keeper had just thrown the shovel at them. Gafelker sighed. "Why do people assume that they can treat me poorly just because I am 4 feet tall?" mumbled Gafelker with anger in his tone.

"I bet if I hit that guy with a fireball or lighting, that mean man might change his attitude when he talks to me," remarked Gafelker with a sly smile, thinking about it. He stopped when he saw the cage. He felt like a mouse looking at a Sahiger. "That is a Yaguareté?" Gafelker squeaked. "That is a large predator three lengths my size. And they want me in there? I think not. It will eat me whole," Gafelker said, looking in amazement.

Gafelker inched forward, his staff leaning toward the Yaguareté. "If that thing even looks at me the wrong way, I will hit it with so much light that its kin will feel it. Then, burn it to a crisp without a second thought," Gafelker described in detail. The Yaguareté looked at Gafelker with sadness and pain in its eyes. "Ah... well, dam." is all Gafelker could say. So much for looking tough thought Gafelker.

“It is quite a stunning creature, isn’t it? What stature it has! And it has the strength to back it up. Strong enough to rip a man in two. Unfortunately, its grandeur isn’t fully represented, being caged like it is, poor creature.”

Krazdan seemed lost in thought for a moment, before he shook off his contemplation and continued, “Well, no need for you two to enter the cage with those shovels. I think I can handle this on my own.”

Krazdan walked to the back of the cage and raised his eyebrows.

“That’s a rather impressive pile of excrement. Hold on there friends, this will take me a minute.”

Krazdan began to pull out chunks of the refuse through the bars of the cage by using magic. (Telekinesis) Eventually, all of the feces was removed from the cage and piled on the ground between Krazdan and the cage.

“Well that man wasn’t very specific on where we were supposed to discard the yagarette’s waste so, I suppose our work here is finished?”

Krazdan looked up at the yaguarete, again contemplating something.

“Could you two help me with something? You see, I do not appreciate the state this poor fellow is in. I would very much like to free this yaguarete, ideally in a way that won’t disturb the village folk. It would give you a chance to get back at that rude man from earlier and if that’s not enough, then I’ll owe you a favor. And if that still isn’t enough to convince you, look into its eyes. Can’t you see the poor pleading soul within? Surely it doesn't deserve to be put down in a pit by some wannabe gladiator.”

Ambika watched as Krazdan cleared all the foul excrements from the cage in record time without any of their hands getting dirty. She could appreciate that, as well as his employment of literal interpretations. So when he requested assistance from her and the Forest Gnome, she figured she was already owing him one and should return the favour. Besides, she was not above adhering to the policy of an eye for an eye, so she readily agreed to the request.

"No need for the favour. I already owe you one." Ambika gave her word, and scoured around to see what could be done. Looking into the yaguarete's pained eyes briefly reminded her of how, occasionally, people would bring their pets over to Florentio, desperate for any help due to veterinarians being a luxury profession for the most part. (At least, the ones who were not handling farm animals or horses.) Cordelia would take to learning about animals as best as she could, as she did not want to see anyone suffering as she was on the regular.

"I can give you a distraction of both the bright and dark variety. Though the bright variety might not be a smart idea, what with us standing on a literal swamp filled with flammable gases." Ambika presented a glass sphere containing blackish powder[1] sandwiched between her index and middle fingers before lowering her hand into her pouch and pulling out a thin spidersilk wire[2], barely visible amidst the hazy air. "Or a trap."

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[1]Improvisation Engineer: Glass Sphere + Smoke Powder

[2]Improvisation Engineer: Spidersilk Wire

Gafelker looked back and forth between Krazdan and the beast as Krazdan talked. Then, he listened to Shanti and her plan. Gafelker stroked his beard, thinking. He just wanted a simple day and food, not to rescue some monster that might eat him anyway. He sighed, looking at the beast. Gafelker could remember finding animals in the forest caught in traps and freeing them. He glanced back at the beast in the cage. It was there for a reason. The cage was for the safety of the people.

Gafelker sighed again. He contemplated whether or not the beast would be free. A fight started inside him, and he looked at the others and then at the beast. Gafelker shook his head in frustration. "OK, Great Hunter," he said softly, his tone tender as he walked towards the cage, slowly walking and looking as meek as he could. When he got close but still out of reach, "You can be freed. Could you show me you are deserving Great Hunter?" says Gafelker in a calm and kind tone with compassion.

He pulls some dried meat from a bag. Gafelker was no fool. He did not think he could hand-feed the beast, but offering food might go a long way. The best sniffs and growls but does not jump at Gafelker. It was not a stupid beast. Gafelker threw the dried meat through the bars. As it landed, the beast snatched it up and devoured it instantly. Look at Gafelker for more meat. It was still growling with an untruest look. "Soon, a great one." Gafelker smiled, backing away slowly. Gafelker turned to the others. "How can I help? If needed, I can make noise, such as fire, thunder, and lighting." explained Gafelker, leaning on his staff.

Krazdan looked at the powder Ambika had, then at Gafelker as he talked with “The Great Hunter.” Then, Krazdan surveyed his surroundings. With all of the cleanup, there wouldn’t be any fights taking place soon, so there weren’t very many people moving about the pits. The only people that were around were either people that worked at the fighting pits or were contractors cleaning up like themselves. There was also that man from before that had ordered them to clean the cage. He seemed to be yelling at another worker at the current moment, spittle flying out of his angry face.

“Alright, Ambika, if you could throw down something to conceal our presence, I’ll unlock the cage and let our friend here out. After that follow me, I think I know of a good spot to release the yaguarete. Gafelker, you seem to have… some sort of bond or understanding with this beast. If you have more meat to spare, perhaps you could guide the yaguarete to our destination.”

Krazdan waits a few moments, giving everyone else a chance to speak before moving to the cage with keys in hand.

“Alright Ambika. Do it.”

Krazdan inserts the key and opens the yaguarete cage.

Ambika observed Gafelker's interactions with the yaguerete warily, well aware that the more powerful a creature is, the more likely they would belong in one or more of the following categories: feral, mercurial, cunning or hostile.

Ambika would have no complaints in regards to Krazdan's plan. While she had doubts whether an impromptu team effort would be resoundingly successful, it was what it was and all she could do was be prepared for anything going south.

Ought to be as discreet as possible, Ambika thought as she had the glass sphere[1] weave a path[2] between the various columns holding the floating docks in place before settling in front of an intersection. Might as well lay as a double-layered distraction and make it seem like there could be a fire. While keeping it hovering just under the bridge, she would prepare another glass sphere of much the same[1] to assist their escape. As the glass sphere she had been levitating falls straight onto a rock, shattering and releasing its charcoal contents into the air just as the wind picked up, making it seem like both glass spheres shattered at the same time from different directions. 

Just to be on the safe side, Ambika readied her crossbow and stood on guard for any unexpected turn of events.

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[1]Improvisation Engineer: Glass Sphere + Smoke Powder

[2]Minor Trickery

Nodding his head to Krazdan, Gafelker did not like the idea much, but he had dealt with predators before at home in the forest. He guessed he could get out of the way with a spell of his if he had to. "Krazdan, make sure you stand behind the door and back. If you spook the Great Hunter, we both might be dead." Gafelker said in a calm, quiet voice.

He stood away from the cage, laying some dear jerky on the ground toward the woods. He had to ensure he kept some pieces of the meat between himself and the beast. He had to let out a deep breath to relax as hard as possible so the beast would not see any tension or fear. "Open the cage door," instructed Gafelker. "Come on Great Hunter. I have food for you and your freedom," Gafelker said in a confident and calm tone.

The giant beast stepped out for the first piece of Jerky. It took time to look around and flinch at every loud noise in the area. Gafelker kept his hand out and opened it so the large beast could see he had nothing threatening. "OK, come on, next piece of Jerky," Gafelker said as he backed up. He looked around to make sure no one was coming. Any interruption could spell death to anyone around the large beast.

Lighting Dace at the ready.