The large space, separated by rising rings of stone and still-living wooden growth, did much to remind Crowe Fraun of the handful of elven communes he’d visited over the years. They, too, blended architecture with nature, though it did seem that the beast clans leaned somewhat more into the structural aspect than not. It was interesting to look at, and part of him wanted to take the time after this to inspect the differences between how this city looked as compared to the others that he’d seen.
Of course, that would have to wait until after the council-chamber meeting, for which he was playing the role of helpful advisor.
His dear sister had lost the bet, after all.
“On the topic of aiding Greenleaf,” The oddly humanoid looking snake-like beast spoke, “We of the Greenscale Clan put forth the motion to render full aid.”
That surprised Crowe, and in spite of himself, he couldn’t help but consider why this clan was willing to be so helpful. He had to admit that there was a strange disconnect between the actions of these Yaunz - calling them ‘Snake People’ was apparently viewed as somewhat rude to them - and their snake-like appearance. As snakes were often dogmatized as cruel and clever, and altogether untrustworthy.
Crowe did his best not to look a gift horse in the mouth though, and listened as the other clans spoke one after the other. Out of the eleven clans, Crowe had noticed that half of them often expressed similar interests to one another. Factionalism was hardly uncommon, however he did get the impression that what they had was a very loose interpretation of such a system, and even those that belonged to other factions didn’t appear to have much animosity with one another.
‘It figures that the beast clans would appear to have milder politics than we do.’ Crowe made sure not to smile openly at the thought, but he did find it entertaining.
One party then spoke up that had yet been entirely quiet, “Yes, yes, we’ll help them out,” His impatient tone caught the attention of the other clan-heads, as though were surprised he was speaking at all, “The Rava Clan moves that we support all of the points brought up, with the stipulation that any visitors to our city will abide by our rules. I want to have guaranteed slots for my Clan to go to Greenleaf, as well, same rules.”
Crowe studied the speaker, an individual whom he had been informed abhorred these meetings and as such very rarely contributed. Bexxil, the Patriarch of the Rava Clan, looked like something mixed between a porcupine, a rat, and a full grown grizzly bear. Crowe had to admit that the Patriarch was intimidating, even considering everything he’d ever fought on his own pilgrimage, though Crowe had no intention of testing the beast’s power. His sister, perhaps, but she wouldn’t needlessly instigate anything simply for a challenge.
‘Though, she may invite them to spar,’ Crowe shook his head whilst looking back to the Rava Patriarch, ‘In any case, I have to wonder why the Rava Clan are so interested?’
Apparently, he wasn’t the only one, as a rumbling voice began, “It is rare for the Rava Clan to show interest in any matters. The Albedo Clan agrees, though I wish to know your reasoning?” The Frost Ursun, Gorm, sat upon a platform of ice, which was shaped to his body comfortably.
Bexxil shrugged, “There is much information suggesting that interconnectedness between the humanoids and our beast-kin aids in growth and strength. So long as they find someone they can trust, I don’t have a problem letting my kids run around with some lowlanders.”
That seemed to satisfy the curiosity of those around him, and Crowe couldn’t help but change his perception of the Rava Clan. ‘They’re battle fanatics, it seems. Hopefully that won’t cause problems later.’
“The Citrine Clan is in… full support, provisionally,” a Stone Kobold declared while tapping a jeweled staff against the stone under his feet, “We’ll have to see if this partnership is worthwhile, but having good trade partners would not be a bad thing. I expect that we can speak in private after this to hash out the details of a proper trade agreement?”
“Of course, Patriarch Karrak,” Camille replied, her tone official and confident, “I expect we can come to an amenable arrangement.”
Karrak grinned widely, displaying his sharp teeth in doing so, “Wonderful! Then, as I’ve said, we’re in full support!”
The talks continued for several more minutes as the other clans went through rounds of examination, but much to both Crowe and Camille’s surprise, the Clans seemed to be much more receptive to the idea than they’d expected.
Occasionally, though, Crowe noticed that they would look over to a beautifully gleaming buck. He couldn’t quite place the sensation he felt whenever he glanced at it… The creature was something of an enigma to him. It was powerful, that much he was certain of, yet the buck appeared only to have a place of honor among the council, and did not partake directly.
‘Odd… I will have to submit an inquiry to Anya, later.’ Crowe mentally noted, before turning his attention back to the council.
“Then the matter is decided, with stipulations and further details to be worked out as they come,” Anya, the Patriarch of the Blue Claw Clan stated, “Camille Fraun, Crowe Fraun, aid will be rendered unto Greenleaf as soon as possible. We would ask that you take our decision back to your people, along with an ambassador and some personnel to aid in setting up some form of communication between us until something more permanent can be established.”
“We would be happy to,” Camille nodded, sincerely grateful to the beast clans, “When would we be ready to leave?”
“The Greenscale Clan has supplies ready, we would need only escorts,” Scillaz looked to his fellow clan-heads suggestively.
“We can fill that role,” Bexxil responded, “I’ll send some of the young ones, too. They’ll help rebuild while they’re waiting to see how we’re doing this whole… cultural exchange, thing.”
“Then the Blue Claw Clan and the Albedo Clan can arrange for the next wave of aid.” Anya spoke, pausing only long enough to ensure that Gorm did not object, to which he, predictably, did not, “And the Citrine Clan can work on establishing long term trade and communication, along with those who are capable of assisting.”
The various clan-heads agreed to the plan, and Crowe once more found himself impressed with how quickly they seemed to get things done.
“Then, unless anyone else has anything they would like to speak of, this meeting is adjourned.” Anya announced, looking around the council for anyone who had anything left to say. This particular meeting had taken place outside of the normal routine, thus the others hadn’t much of anything to bring up, especially considering the last one had only been the day before.
Crowe stepped closer to his sister, whispering, “You did good work.”
“Pretty sure they were decided before we even came in here,” Camille whispered back to her brother, not so subtly looking at the buck once more. Crowe did the same, only for the beast to smile slightly with a twinkle in its eyes and nod to them, before it then turned and began to leave the council building. Several other beasts gave it a wide berth out of respect, and if Crowe didn’t mistake it, no small amount of reverence.
“Perhaps,” Crowe shrugged, “But, even so, I think you did a great job.”
Camille smiled and slapped him on the back gently, “Thanks. You wanna talk to Karrak, then? I’m definitely not the one to talk to about trade.”
“I can do that,” Crowe agreed, “Perhaps we will let Anya know… Hmm?”
Crowe looked over, seeing the Matriarch’s expression tighten in concern and alarm as a member of her household spoke to her. He was too far away to hear what was being said, but given the air of urgency that suddenly wrapped around her, Crowe knew it had to be something important.
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“Camille, would you kindly return with Anya?” Crowe frowned, “I have the feeling the Wyldwalkers may have stirred something up again.”
With a warm chuckle, Camille said, “They’re as bad as we were. Can’t take your eyes off of ‘em for a minute.”
Crowe sighed helplessly at that, “That is not always a good thing, Camille.”
“Oh, don’t be a spoilsport,” She started off quickly, “Talk to you later, good luck!”
With a wave, she sped off, and Crowe couldn’t help but shake his head more, before turning to the now approaching group of Stone Kobolds, each one hopeful to work out an arrangement that would give them an advantage in trade.
Crowe smiled at them, ‘Well, well, perhaps this will be more fun than I thought.’
--------------------------------------------
The Wyldwalkers and Sasha spoke with one another in a small sitting room that was comfortable and well decorated. A mild incense burned in the corner, more for the calming effect that it was supposed to have, rather than for the pleasant scent itself. Niko wasn’t the only one among the group that was unsettled by the strange jelly-fish like creature they’d seen. It wasn’t like the actual physical form of the thing was especially frightful, but there was something about it that had set them all on edge.
“It was definitely using some kind of mind-altering affect,” Niko stated, “We didn’t actually see the thing until we were looking directly at it.”
The others nodded at that, with Ronald piping up next, grunting, “The tentacles didn’t seem to do any damage to the bodies themselves, either.”
“Yeah, I noticed that,” Mithel frowned, “But, I don’t know what it was pulling out of the bodies…”
Dachna tapped his head, “Well, consider where the tentacles went. Those bug things–”
“Thimurge–” rapidly corrected Mithel.
“–Thank you, the Thimurge,” Dachna continued on without missing a beat, “Have their brains in their abdomen areas, right?”
Skye frowned, “You think it was extracting something from their brains, then?”
Dachna shrugged, “I think it’s possible. I have no idea what the bloody hells that thing was, so why not?”
“So it preys upon… the mind? Memories? Or is it just the whole package?” Niko cringed at the thought, “That’s pretty clucked up. It’s like a Mindflayer.”
Mithel groaned at that, “I do not like that.”
“What’s a–”
Niko answered Skye before she could finish, “Basically something that eats the brains of other creatures for sustenance, taking their memories and such.”
Skye shuddered at that, “Lovely.”
“Bant’s arse, that’s terrifying,” Ronald looked over at Mithel, “Are these things common where you came from?”
“Wh-Oh, no, thankfully not. I’ve only, err, read some materials on it and it later came up in conversation,” Mithel nodded in Niko’s direction, “I don’t think these work the same way, though, or else it would have probably sensed the psychic emanations from our minds and found us regardless of my potions.”
There was a distinct and uneasy pause at that, before Skye cleared her throat nervously, “Can you… make a potion that does that?”
Mithel opened her mouth, about to reflexively deny it before she stopped and hummed thoughtfully, “I mean… maybe? I can’t really sense that stuff, though, so…”
“Right… Wouldn’t know if it was effective,” Skye huffed, “Fine, well, maybe we don’t need that, right?”
“It didn’t find us,” Dachna agreed, “Hopefully that’ll hold true if we run into another one.”
Sasha shook her head, “I’ve never heard of something like this anywhere near the titanwoods. I’d say this is more like something from the Daurghast, but… I don’t know why it would be here.”
Niko trilled at that, “Maybe the deep Daurghast, unless I got really plucking lucky when I’d wandered into the outskirts there.”
Sasha made a thoughtful noise, before perking up, “Oh, I think I sense Mother coming.”
The others were glad for that, and Niko noticed the vague emanations of her essence after Sasha had pointed it out. In seconds, the force of the essence continued to climb, until he could feel it against his feathers.
The door at the end opened to a nervous looking Matriarch, whose control of her essence was erratic at best, up until her eyes settled upon Sasha. Niko and the others weathered the force of her essence, feeling it pressure them, but not nearly as much as it might have once. After repeated exposure to the auras of higher tiers, they’d become more and more adept at shrugging the force off.
Anya took a deep breath upon realizing what was happening, relief already transforming her expression upon seeing Sasha well. “I’ve heard you’ve encountered something strange, are you alright, Sasha? Are all of you alright?”
Niko couldn’t help but smile to himself at the open concern in her voice, and Sasha chuffed in reply, “We’re all fine. Though, if it weren’t for Skye, I don’t know if we would be.”
The large white sabrecat prowled into the room and sat down unceremoniously next to her daughter, her gaze moving over the occupants in the room, “Start from the beginning for me, if you would, please?”
They did just that, with Skye taking point and the others highlighting the things they’d noticed only through hindsight. All throughout, Niko watched Anya’s expression go from thoughtful, to concerned, to grave, and couldn’t help but wonder if perhaps they’d indeed managed to get themselves tangled up in something again.
When they finished, Anya simply sat there, looking pensively at a spot on the floor.
“Mother?” Sasha picked up on something Niko didn’t, “What is it?”
The Matriarch looked up, stirred from her thoughts, and Niko saw the moment she was going to dismiss it as ‘nothing.’ But, Anya then took a look around the room to the Wyldwalkers, and opened up, instead. “There have been a series of strange events around the city for several weeks. A young group of hunters would go out, only to return with their storage bags filled with monster remains, but no memory of hunting them. It was odd, but no harm had seemed apparent.”
Anya growled lightly, “Then a few more groups turned up, scared and reporting that they had found themselves deep in the titanwoods with no memory of how they got there. However, with reports from those who knew them here in Riizen, they had only left that same day as a group, completely sensate and aware of their actions.”
Dachna was the one who verbalized the strangeness of that information, “So, they just… didn’t remember anything? What about the days leading up to it?”
“Forgotten, as well. For them at least.” Anya then continued, “These events have been happening in the West, so I’d thought perhaps that you wouldn’t run into it. They are infrequent as well, and seem to be random.”
“Are these victims you're talking about low tier?” Ronald asked, to which the Matriarch nodded. He continued, brow furrowed in confusion, “Why haven’t higher tiers been mobilized?”
“They have.” Anya groused, “My own tier fours have gone in search of whatever might be causing this, but they haven’t found anything. Granted, I only have so many personnel, and the titanwoods are large enough that I can’t have the entire area searched at once. Perhaps if we were to mobilize everyone, but that may cause undue unrest.”
That made some sense to Niko, though he was less than enthused about the prospect that there was something out there actively stealing memories. If nothing else though, it seemed their conjecture about the thing was correct.
“Still, now that we know more about this creature, I can go to the other Clans and notify them of the threat. Given the circumstances, I’m sure they’ll be willing to send out some of their own scouts.” Anya looked pleased then, “Thank you all for that.”
The Wyldwalkers accepted the thanks, and after a few more minutes of idle chatter, the group decided to retire to their own devices for the remainder of the day. There wasn’t enough time to get back out into the field, in any case, and some of them had things they wanted to do. Ronald was going to try to convince Astold to allow him to use the kitchen to practice more cooking. Dachna was going to hone his throwing skills, as well as, as he put it, win some money off of whoever might be willing to gamble with him among the off duty house-guards, something that Sasha expressed should be fine with no small amount of amusement. The sabrecat herself was going to spend some time with Tiku, the little cat undoubtedly getting into trouble.
With Mithel shutting herself into a makeshift lab and playing – or, rather, experimenting – with the new alchemical concoctions she’d gotten her hands on, that left Skye and Niko to themselves. Rather than go about his business, Niko went up to her, remembering what she’d said when they were out in the field.
Skye was already waiting in her room, and invited him in wordlessly before closing the door behind him. Both of them could sense some vagueness from the mental bridge connecting them, and Niko felt that she just needed a few moments to put herself together.
“Right.” She began, “So, I said that my pattern helped me detect that thing out there… That… wasn’t strictly true.”
Niko nodded, but didn’t say anything, simply sitting down on the floor to present himself as an active listener.
“Well… Alright, let me start at the beginning…”