Ryzom

((Just a note: it's unlikely that this is IC-knowedge for anyone else's char but mine, and most (if not all) of it will be OOC knowledge only, unless your char maybe observed mine during some of it. Not an RP thread either, more of a story thread.))

At the back of the now empty main room of Yrkanis' inn, a young woman - girl really - wakes up, stretches, and shrugs out of her bedding: a rather shabby sleeping roll. She packs everything up and heads out of the inn. The barman hands her a note, tells her it's from Perun. She folds it open and holds it up, staring at it blankly.

Well... it says her name at the top there. She is pretty sure of that, after some time of studying the handwriting. And a word in front of it. She supposes that's a greeting. The main body seems rather lengthy, split up into several parts. Then a small line at the bottom, probably his name.

She folds the note back up and tucks it into her pack, expression still blank.

The materials suddenly sink back into the ground, right out of reach. The young woman who has been trying to carefully coax them out curses, letting out a streak of words indicating disgust at herself and her carelessness.

She moves back a bit and plies her craft again, slowly teasing the materials back up.

The beast springs up from nowhere and sinks its fangs into her upper arm. Cursing, she springs up and manages to fling it away. Cursing more, looking infuriated, she throws down her tool and whips out a sword and longknife from her pack. She bears down on the ragus. The sword falls from her hand in moments.

The knife stabs, stabs, stabs into the creature's chest time and again, until eventually it weakens and falls over. Her hands move to its neck and the life still left in it is slowly strangled away.

The young woman strips the carcass of all usable materials, a smile playing around her lips.

The girl runs along the road heading out from Yrkanis. Now and then she turns her head from side to side. She moves away from the road occasionally, avoiding predators. Snarling, growling sounds suddenly creep up close behind her. She doesn't turn her head - instead increases her speed.

Through the trees and brush the shape and outline of fences and tents can just be made out. The girl cries out and stumbles, instinctively bringing her hand to her back. She feels moisture on her fingers. Scrambling upright as fast as possible, she finds energy for one last burst of speed. She rushes through bushes and branches, making a beeline for the bits and pieces of tent cloth and fencing that are visible, seemingly indifferent to the scratches appearing on her arms and legs.

The young woman trips and tumbles into the camp at high speed. She falls onto her back not far beyond the fence, watched by several guards. In a practised manner, without any apparent surprise, they turn around to face the approaching gingos, still intent on their prey. She lifts up her head to look in their direction, and after a moment lets it flop back to the ground with a relieved expression. Her chest heaves up and down.

The barman hands her another note. It's vellum; rolled up, scented, and sealed with an important-looking seal. She stares at this one too, then sighs and heads off at a strong pace. After some searching through the many-roomed buildings of Yrkanis, she finds the person she was looking for.

She hands him the note, and dappers change hands. He reads it to her, aloud. She stares at him for a while, an incredulous look on her face, then rolls her eyes and heaves another sigh. After a short conversation, she hands him back the vellum, and he scribbles a short note on the back. More dappers change hands. As she exits the building, she rolls up the vellum and ties it closed with a piece of ribbon.

The young woman entrusts the note to the barman, and ambles around Yrkanis for a while, perusing the wares of local merchants, eventually heading for the city gates. A short-haired man approaches her, and they talk shortly a little way outside of the city and to the side of the road. After he leaves, she sits down along the fence near the gates, and waits.

((going OOC here too; if anyone prefers to read these at our own forums for some reason: http://seedthecommunity.org/viewtopic.php?pid=4776#p4776))

The young woman walks out of the door of one of Yrkanis' many tree-buildings. In her hand is a note. She makes her way through the bustle of the city to the main gate. A little way out of the city, along the road, she looks around to all sides and moves to the right side of the road, towards a tree. At the base of the tree she stoops down, placing the note there. She stands upright again, and looks around once more. Then she heads back into the city.

---

The girl sits in a quiet corner of Yrkanis, working her art. Slowly, she crafts a long skirt. Then another one. Day turns into dusk, and she looks around at the sky, wearing a somewhat surprised expression. She packs up all her things, and heads off in the direction of the Yrkanis bar. The next day, she can be seen in the same spot, spending her time doing much the same thing as the day before.

---

The young woman is sitting on top of a low hill in Yrkanis. Spread around her are a weapon, a pair of amplifiers, several tools, stacks of materials, a few heaps of clothes, a bedroll, a waterskin, some food packed in cloth, and a pack. She looks at the pack, then turns her head from side to side, eyeing her belongings. Her eyebrows form a frown, and lines of frustration and mild despair can be seen on her face. She lets out a sigh.

She watches as two Matis men stand opposite eachother, talking. Their faces express dislike of eachother. Sometimes one sneers, laughing derisively. After a while, one leaves, saying a few words to her before walking off. The one that stays wears a pleased expression, and she walks with him to the stables of Davae. He gives her dappers, and she buys a packer mektoub after looking the ones on sale over for a while.

A Fyros man comes walking up, looking angry. He speaks to the Matis man, voice hard. After looking from one man to other, she walks over to her mektoub, and takes the reins. The beast stands still as she pulls on the reins, then pulls harder. Walking around to its backside, she pushes it instead. It does not move. She takes out a large sword, and slaps the flat of the blade against the mektoub's backside. It starts walking. During all this, she exchanges a few words now and then with the Matis man who had gifted her the packer.

She nods at both men, then walks off leading the mektoub by the reins. Underneath the gate she goes, following the road for a short while, then going cross-country until Yrkanis. She walks up to the stables there, and finds a free spot for her new beast of burden.

The young woman is curled up in her bedroll, on the floor in the back of the Yrkanis bar. She tosses and turns. Her face is dotted with tiny beads of sweat, and her cheeks are flushed red. A frown plays around her eyes. The corners of her mouth curl downwards, stretch to the side in a slight grimace, then her lower lip twitches a bit. Her arms move restlessly. One of her hands, curled into a fist, hits the floor beside her bed and she startles awake.

As she half sits up, leaning on one elbow, she looks around blearily, wearing a surprised expression. A look of sleepy realisation settles on her face, and she lies back down. For a while she stares at the ceiling, until her eyes close again. This time there is no wild tossing and turning, just the occasional movement and twitching of limbs. Eyes and forehead look relaxed, cheeks pushing slightly upwards to give her eyes a pleased air. Her lips settle into ever so slight a smile and the red of the heat on her cheeks turns into a blush.

---

A ragus spots her as she is standing on a hill overgrown with bulbous plants. It charges at her, barking and growling. She is wearing magic amplifiers. At the sounds, she quickly turns towards the beast. Showers of acid burst forth from her hands. The ragus keeps coming, regardless. Not long afterwards, it collapses, right at her feet. She looks down on it, face set in a contemplative expression.

The young woman is standing not far from one of the buildings in Yrkanis, the kind that contains homes for homins. She turns her head to look at its many windows and outcroppings. Then she holds up the small bag she had been carrying, weighing it. Her expression turns wistful and a little pained.

After tucking away the bag somewhere deep inside her pack, she stalks off in the direction of the Karavan Altar. Once there, she stands some ten metres or so away from the place where homins are teleporting into the city. Her face intent, she scans the crowd of people coming in. About fifteen minutes later, her expression turns resigned and a little sad, and she walks away.

Now she stands near the Yrkanis gate and the city's official welcomer, some hope still shining in her eyes. Again her eyes move over the crowd of people coming into the city, head and neck straining slightly this way or that. Some time goes by before she heaves a sigh, shakes her head, and heads out of the city.

Sitting in a corner of the Yrkanis bar, deserted at this hour, the girl is busy creating something. Around her, rudimentary but numerous equipment for the creation of living objects is stalled out. Something small is slowly taking shape. Next to her, beyond her equipment, lies a small pile of similar objects. At one step of the process, a frown appears on her face, and with an annoyed expression she throws the current small object onto the pile.

---

The girl holds the reins of a mektoub packer. She walks it out of the Yrkanis gates and turns left. The ground is covered in a layer of snow. After a short walk through heavy snowfall, they reach an area near the edge into the cloudy void that is almost completely clear of any wildlife, apart from a few yubos.

She takes out a small object. It reveals itself to be a whistle when she blows a few experimental notes on it. Running a few feet away, she blows one clear note on the little whistle, then yells and gestures for the mektoub to come to her. It doesn't move on the first try. The girl does not stop at one try, though. Eventually the beast gets the idea, and comes when she yells. Digging in her bag, she fishes out a treat and feeds it to the mektoub. She keeps going, keeping up the exact sequence of whistle - yell and gesture (if needed) - reward (if it came to her). After some time she stows away her little whistle and leads the beast back to the stables.