As the group burst out into the light, they were blinded by the sheer brightness of the day. No light spell seemed to even come close to the sheer intensity that was brought to bear. Adrith covered his eyes as he could see even through his closed eyes and arm covering his face, the warmth and light. It was warming, yet also ruthless as they had not seen such bright light in some time. It took multiple moments to recover as they stumbled forward but they finally were able to get adjusted.
As the group began to open their eyes, the group found themselves in a small encampment that was a far cry from civilization. Many makeshift shelters are made from wood, cloth, canvas, stones, sheets of grass and dirt, and on rare occasions some old bricks. Adrith began to look around, on his face he wore an indifferent mask, however underneath, he was shocked. He didn’t fully comprehend what he was looking at. Countless people were walking around, half-naked, dirty, wearing faces of weariness, and others sadness. Some rambled to themselves, and others poked and prodded at each other to try and find some fault to be exploited or to blame another for their situation.
Everyone wore a weapon on them somewhere, yet some were better than others. There were a few who had large metal swords, bows, and even staves for magic. While there were others who carried spears, axes, shovels, and even some who had fashioned weapons from wood, and even some monster parts. As Adrith looked around, it was Connor who broke his thoughts, “Hey! We made it just in time!”
Connor clapped Adrith on the back, he gestured over to a group of carts being pulled by horses, “Let’s see if they still have spots left”.
Connor gestured for the others to follow, once everyone was set down and got their bearings they followed without hesitation. Yet for Adrith he had countless questions. As they walked through this dreary encampment, Adrith was able to fully take in this place. The first thing made most apparent was the smell. The smell of thick mud hung in the air. The strong scent of rotting and decaying wood lingered around each home. Yet the most horrid smells came from the smell that humans left. The smell of human waste was such a putrid smell that no matter what one did, it was nearly impossible to hide the smell without burying it deep and far away from oneself. Yet it seemed that was the least of their concerns.
As Adrith passed a person, he noticed, that none seemed malnourished, none seemed disabled, lame, or even unhealthy in a physical sense. All even seemed physically capable in a sense. Not meaning all were physical specimens fit to fight the most grueling battles, however, they were all well. Adrith understood what this meant, this was not a settlement of outcasts. This was for the Awoken. Those who could not die. Those who did not absolutely need a city to protect and provide for them. Those who needed no water. No need for food. No need for shelter. Those who did not need anything more than to sleep. And the only thing that others can see them providing is to fight for them. For all eternity.
The moment the group had made it further into the settlement, they were being noticed more and harassed as it wasn’t difficult to spot Evelyn’s Wishing Star disc had many different monster cores, items, and materials. Around the group gathered a small crowd of people begging for things, trying to see if they could find a moment to try and pickpocket them, or even try their hand trying to steal from them. All but Adrith seemed used to something like this. Adrith looked astonished now as people surrounded him asking for things, trying to grab at him, and even begging and pleading with him. Adrith’s once stoic face was flabbergasted, he couldn’t even think that this was happening here, he remembered in his time beggars, they were old, haggard, weak, and weary, children and elderly. Not young men and women. Adrith was used to hearing people ask for food. Not for people to ask for clothing or monster cores.
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Adrith was overwhelmed as the group began to notice. Evelyn reached back and grabbed Adrith and yanked him forward. She looked at him strangely, she had never seen Adrith like this. Where did his steadfast personality go? What happened to his calm and almost cold personality? He looked like a child who had just stepped out into a busy street for the first time. His eyes told he had a great confusion, in his mind, Evelyn couldn’t understand what was happening, yet, she pulled him with her, keeping him close so he did not fall behind again.
They walked for a few minutes until they reached the edge of the settlement, there the strangeness of the area began to fade. There were 10 large wooden carts with large canvas coverings on top to protect against the elements. Standing around them were multiple men and women wearing decent-looking clothing, some looked disheveled, while others looked well-groomed. Around each cart, there were 2 men in matching armor. They wore a full metal chest piece, a long green cape which had at the very center a white marking of what seemed to be a crest. The crest was one all of them recognized, even Adrith, it was a golden circular crest with a blade and a clerical staff making an X, and at the center of the X was a dragon’s head. This was the sigil of the line Dorsainvil, starting from over 1000 years ago, Michael Dorsainvil founded Fairhaven after the time called the Raid of Heaven, where the dragon Dorsavier, began to reign with terror over the land. During this time Michael Dorsainvil was a priest of the Maiden of the Golden Sun, Elli’anor. He had sought to solve this crisis and was given a divine blessing from above. He had given refuge to many, and once he had been given this blessing, he sought to slay the dragon. Once he had done this, he was given the title of Saint.
Many believed he would have ascended to Demigod status or even further, however, one day he vanished. Never to be seen, yet left Fairhaven to those of his lineage, entrusting them his home and his people. Yet as time went on, Fairhaven fell, and further Fellwinter rose and slowly fell. A slow-down turn that started from the fall of Fairhaven as more and more of the world was turned to madness, and so did Fellwinter. In Adrith’s time, it was the madness of a noble who wished to not die. In Evelyn’s, it was the return of Saint Michael. The true lord of the land had returned after millennia, and now he had returned as an Awoken. Yet it was not for the better. Any and all who could fight fought. They did what they could, and died for Fellwinter, if they liked it or not.
Yet the ones to earn this ire more than any other person was the very ones who now had one of their own ruling the land now, the Awoken.
The moment the group neared the carts, the multiple guards were at first attentive and tense, maybe they were ready for a fight with another Awoken. Maybe they had a specific dislike for Awoken, or even were just skittish, nothing could be certain, yet the first to speak was Connor. “Hey hey, you know me, you know me”.
As Connor spoke the guards looked at him for a moment as they began to nod and calm, they brought their weapons up as they said, “Ah, Connor, good to see you have made it out, I hope you found enough cores to pay the tax”.
Connor chuckled and laughed, “We have, we have, but it’s good to see we made just in time, what’s seating looking like right now?”
The guard turned back to the other carts, “Well we have only 3 people taking a spot at the moment and we unloaded more than we expected, so there are plenty of spots. Just the toll as normal”
Connor nodded his head as he turned to give a thumbs-up to the others. Evelyn didn’t know about some tax that they were speaking of. She had not heard of such a thing being introduced in her time. Did something change since she was last here? She couldn’t know, yet there were bigger problems than those thought, as they moved forward they were looked at as if they were being scanned by hunters. The Guards held out a scale that had a monster core on one side, and on the other it was empty. Almost everyone knew what these were, they were a soul scale, and they were used to measure monster cores, often when placed against other things it could be determined the price or weight the core had. Yet before Evelyn could place a monster core to be weighed, she heard someone yell, “And why should I allow those dirty Undead into my caravan”.