King's Valley being the horrendously vast expanse that it was meant there was a near-infinite amount of ground to possibly cover, and gods know how many villages in-between to look into. It did not help that there is no real centralized governmental body or some geographical institution to help map the location of possible locales, meaning the only things Ambika could rely on was the words of others and her intuition. So it was that Ambika spent days upon days wandering all over the region, meeting a sinner who is striving to persevere with his ideals, never meeting a certain child Astralblood and her book going on yet another misadventure, and making damned sure to avoid that blasted village that forced her and Gafelker to do farm work when planning her routes.

Anyhow, travellers were far and few comparatively speaking when going off the beaten path, though Ambika would catch a group of people with wagons and luggage walking along a less-paved path as she travelled opposite to that.
"Ah, hey you! Old lady! I wouldn't go this way if I were you." One of the travellers called out, and she saw fit to stop momentarily. "There's... something in the village ahead that way, and whatever it is, it- it's ki-killed a bunch of adventurers who came here to hunt it down just, just yesterday..." The traveller broke down into tears, falling to their knees, and another two had to help him up and provide support.
"We're temporarily relocating for safety reasons." Another one continued. "Hopefully someone deals with it soon..."
"What is this 'it' you speak of?" The old woman was curious, though out of wariness rather than interest.
"We-we don't know. Only thing we know is... is..." A third tried to answer, but the words would not escape her mouth.
"Faces... Oh. So... many... faces... AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" A fourth cried out loud.
"I see. Thank you. I will avoid the village then." Her stony counternance would not betray the lie she uttered, as she carried herself to a nearby tree and pretended to do some foraging until the travellers were far enough. It would not serve anyone to have agitated them further with the level of distress they were exhibiting.

The unnamed village itself did not have many locals remaining; those who remained were mostly the elderly and people who could not, or refused to leave for one reason or another. Ambika would, per usual, make her way to whatever counted as a tavern or a canteen in the village and help herself to some sustenance, hopefully hear anything remotely useful while she scanned around for even the slightest hint of her son.

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SPOILER: Click to show

Quest Name: Endless faces
Participants: Two or more
Location: King's Valley
Post Requirements: 8 post per person, 250 words per post
Reward: +1 Mystical Archive Ticket, Choice of 1 Rare crafting material
Description: A very nasty, large Qhachqit has been stalking a small, nearby village, preying on the locals. It is a frightening creature to see as it possess several faces, making it a formidable enemy. It has already killed a couple of the villagers, and if no one steps in to stop it, the whole village may fall victim. It has been sleeping somewhere in the village, only coming out at night to stalk and consume its victims. Go in, stake out the beast and end it before it can harm anyone else. 


Special Requirements: 
The Qhachqit is sneaky, sly and extremely intelligent, able to outsmart and out stealth even the best. Locating the creature will be a task all by itself.

The Drakon Security Company had recently received an urgent report about a monstrous Qhachqit running amok in a village in the King’s Valley. It seemed like a time-sensitive mission considering how many people were already going missing and getting killed by the beast. So Javal with no worry or consideration of planning or strategy sprinted as fast down the ramp of his ship and towards the Hills of Braddock where the village was located. The man had never turned down anyone in need and today was not going to be the exception and as much as his lieutenant commander Nadia was probably going to scold him for going in without a plan he was going to do it anyway.

However, as he continued through the area a question began popping in his mind, ‘If this thing is supposed to be able to possess faces and hide amongst people then how was he going to find it?’.

As soon as he posed this conundrum an easy answer came to him as he exclaimed out loud, “I’ll just ask them if they’re the Qhachqit easy enough who would ever lie?”.

After some more time, he ended up right in front of the village but something immediately caught his sight. There seemed to be people leaving the village in wagons and on horses. Though before he could catch up to these people they had already left and continued on their path. Javal frowned a little bummed at the lack of being able to ask them questions but immediately his face lit up again as he saw a person in front of him.

The fellblood would call out, “Hello there are you of this village perchance? My name is Javal and I’m here looking to help defeat the evil beast causing catastrophe in this settlement. By the way, I must ask, are you perhaps the Qhachqit yourself ma’am?”.

"I am not of the village. And no. Even if I were, why do you suppose I would be honest with that?" The old soul's face would not betray any personal feelings she might have towards even being asked that question. A Qhachqit? That would certainly explain the horrified comments about faces... That this Fellblood swordsman was here to 'defeat the evil beast' suggested that this had been going on for long enough that outsiders were privy to the Qhachqit's existence, and the wagons just now were likely villagers who prioritized their lives above all else. "The name is Ambika."

Walking up to the village canteen, Ambika would take a seat by the bar counter that was still operating and order some butterfly pea-infused rice with harvest salad and chicken skewers.
"So. What information is there on the Qhachqit?" She asked the wizened bartender.
"Sigh. Another one walking to her death, eh? Well, I suppose it's better than a young'un... Oh wait. There's a young'un." The wizened bartender droned sardonically, voice laden with resignation and fatigue as he acknowledged both Ambika and Javal's presences. (Assuming, of course, that Javal followed her along for some reason.) The bartender hadn't the slightest idea how accurate his statement was when it came to the old soul, though. There was no real reason for her to be invested in this hunt; she wasn't getting paid for it, nor did she carry any sense of virtuousness that would beckon her to endeavour to save the lives of others. If there was anything to it, it was simply because she felt obligated to help others as a tribute to her dead partner, to keep the world moving round. Beyond that, her actions were driven by passive suicidality. No easier way to die than to die fighting.
"Only appears at night to kill one or two people. Yesterday it killed a trio of adventurers that came to exterminate it. That's all I know. Sneaky bastard."
"Where are the dead adventurers?" Their corpses might have clues.
"The monster dragged them away in the dead of night. Only reason we know they died was because of their dying screams, and nobody dared to open the doors or windows to check." The bartender readily admitted to his and the villagers' cowardice without flinching in the slightest.
"I see. Thank you." She supposed she was going to have to look for hints herself after finishing her meal.

“Oh I see indeed that makes sense and well who would ever lie? After all, it is dishonorable and mean to lie so I figured that this Qhachqit fellow would likely just tell me straight up if it was. Is this creature so monstrous and fiendish that it dare be dishonest?”, the fellblood would genuinely ask, as naive and trusting as ever.

The fellblood then extended his hand offering a shake, “It’s a pleasure to meet you Ambika my name is Javal Zarrias the Commander-in-Chief of the Drakon Security company. I am here to do justice and bring down this foul beast in the name of everything that is good. Would you like to be my friend?”.

The fellblood then followed alongside the elderly woman as she entered the tavern sitting right beside her excited at the prospect of making a new friend. He ordered a bowl of potatoes, eggs, and pork with his drink of choice being sake. He listened intently as Ambika began asking the bartender about the recent goings on. It seemed that the lady was very smart and wise so he felt bad about interjecting. So he ate his food greedily devouring his plate as he watched the two speak before interjecting himself.

“Hello yes indeed I am a young person I believe? Oh no, that fiend has already claimed so many casualties so soon we cannot let this go on any further. As adventurers, it is our sworn duty to help those in need and I promise good sir to honor those fallen memories by defeating this beast. Do you know what direction the screams were coming from by chance so we may pursue the trail?”.