Jack made his way downtown, heading to the bar that Clarence had informed him of. It took him a couple of hours to find it as it turned out to not be at the junction Clarence thought, but a little ways off. He managed to learn where it was after asking several people. Looking at the building it was clear that it was a dive bar, with a tattered worn down sign and a large dirt covered window. He had been expecting something a bit more upscale, especially because Days Watch had both a formorian, who were well known for their distinct palettes, and now the heir to the local Telipar branch.
Having finally gotten to his destination Jack headed on in. To his surprise, the bar was much better decorated on the inside, in an almost jarring disconnect from the seeming disregard that the outside showed.
Looking around Jack didn't spot the group that he was looking for. It should be easy enough to spot Days Watch considering their group makeup. Both formorians and macorsians would stick out like a sore thumb in this city. While species other than humans and agier weren't rare in the city, formorians were an unusual sight as only a few in each generation would leave their worlds, and macorsians had a small population compared to almost any species other than the agier. This of course is just if the fact that both species looked radically different than any others in the Consortium was ignored.
Formorians looked like a strange cross between some kind of wolf, bird, and worm all mixed together and then coated in metal spikes. They were quadrupedal with double-jointed legs that looked similar to that of most birds, their torso was almost canine in terms of musculature but instead of going into a head or neck, from the shoulders up, it looked like the end of a worm, with no noticeable sensory organs. From what Jack knew they sensed the world around them through vibrations, both physical and magical.
Macorsians on the other hand were far more humanoid in appearance. If you took a human covered them in the brightest multi-colored feathers you could find, gave them four wings, and razor-sharp teeth.
Taking another brief look around the main room, Jack approached the bar. After a minute a barman came over and asked. "What can I get for you?"
"Hey, I was looking for Totis or Sunny. I was told that they were most likely here in the evenings." Jack replied.
"Yeah, I saw them come in earlier. They should be in their normal spot on the second floor. Stairs are in that corner." The barman gestured to the back of the bar.
Jack thanked him and headed up the stairs. As he started up, he felt the tell-tale tingle of wards on his skin. Considering the fact that he hadn't really noticed the stairs before the barkeep had indicated them, Jack guessed that at least one of the spells on the stairway was a disinterest ward. Shrugging off the discomfort he continued upwards.
The second floor was not too different from the ground floor in terms of décor. It was more sectioned out to allow for more of a sense of privacy. Glancing around Jack spotted what he thought was Days Watch immediately. Like he had thought the group composition made them easy to distinguish. Currently it looked like Carlos was not with them as there were only three people sitting and he did not see the young man he had gotten into an argument with. As he walked over to them he called out, "Excuse me, are you three Days Watch by any chance?"
All three of them at the table turned to face me. The great maw of the formorian opened up and out came an almost disturbingly light and airy voice. "Hello human male, these ones are indeed Days Watch. This one is The One That Is Sent To Find Good Food And Bring Good Tidings. You may refer to this one as Totis. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."
"It's a pleasure to meet you as well. I'm Jack, I was hoping I could talk with your group for a bit here." Jack said, his face not showing much expression. He held out his hand to shake, in response one of the Totis's toes extended out and wrapped around his hand.
As Jack tried to pull his hand back after shaking the tendril Totis did not let go. In fact, Jack noticed that they were sending other tendrils to wrap his legs and other arm. With the three to one disadvantage that he would be at if a fight broke out he suppressed his instinctive reaction and waited. He had come to talk, not fight.
"This one apologizes for securing your limbs, but this one is wary of your intentions. Human male Jack appears to have the same features and name as one that got into a public argument with a member of this ones work group." Totis explained. "This one felt it was best to prevent any possible violence that you may have come to commit upon us as a retaliation for what occurred with this ones companion."
Jack nodded his head making sure that he did not resist at all. "If you mean Carlos Ross-Telipar, then yes. I did indeed get into an argument with him yesterday, and while I will admit I had misgivings about coming here to talk to your group. Especially as right after the argument with him when I had left the Adventurer's Guildhouse I was promptly attacked by people for that argument. But we do as we must, and talking to your group is something I have to do."
"Very well. This one will trust your intentions. This one will just ask you to remember that you have been warned. Please sit and join these ones." With that statement all of the tendrils wrapped around Jacks body receded.
Taking a deep breath Jack nodded and sat at the empty chair at the table. He placed his hands on the table making sure that they were in easy sight of the others to help their nerves settle as well. "Okay, just so you know. I am not here about Carlos or anything of that nature. I needed to talk to you as your group was among some of the last to have seen and spent time with Dilacy Fawler."
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At this point Sunny spoke up in a set of whistle and trills that Jack did not understand but the other two at the table seemed to. The human woman, Samantha, if Jack recalled correctly nodded and said. "Indeed. It's why we try to avoid them." Jacks confusion must have been clear on his face as Samantha turned to him and explained. "Ah, Sunny was saying that it seemed like the curse of the northern ruins has struck again."
"The curse of the northern ruins? What exactly is this curse you are talking about. When I spoke to the group that you had worked with on your last mission, they didn't mention anything about a curse at all." Jack asked, his voice filled with curiosity.
"Yeah, well they are fairly new to the city and the adventuring jobs in this area. They probably dismissed it as just hearsay and rumors, as nobody has been able to find a source or cursed land in the ruins themselves." Samantha said bluntly. "Those of us that have been doing this work for longer though, we know it exists. We have all seen friends and loved ones that worked with those ruins disappear."
"If that is the case, then why did Days Watch take on the mission alongside Wolven Freedom?"
"These ones took the job on because of our new companion Carlos Ross-Telipar. That one felt that he must see some of Telipar's history to be better suited for his future role within the company. So as a longer term mission with a lower danger threshold that one felt it would be a good chance to see for himself." Totis replied shifting slightly as they did.
"Just how dangerous are we talking? And also, how would Carlos be able to judge that more then you three, who are experienced adventurers?" Jack wondered aloud, surprised at the groups decision to leave the choice to a newcomer.
"This one is unsure of the levels of danger that are present within the ruins. It has been made clear to this one that much of the danger rests within artifacts and material fragments scattered about. This one cannot count the number of times that the human male Carlos warned this one to not eat anything found within the ruins. No matter how delicious or interesting it looked." Totis sounded miffed as they stated what they had been told.
Jack nodded, considering what he had read in the library and had felt from touching one of the broken fragments, those could very well create some significant dangers. He paused for a moment wondering, then decided to go ahead and ask the question aloud. "I can certainly see how those would be a danger, is there a reason that you hadn't learned about that danger before hand from the library archives?"
Samantha looked at him oddly as if he should already know the answer to that question. "The library archives? I wish! Unless we manage to become much more powerful and higher ranked as adventurers, then there is no way that we would be allowed to visit them."
That statement made Jack pause; he had never thought about it before. To him the library had always been a safe space that he could go and learn. It was how he had managed to teach himself magic when he hadn't been able to go to school when he was younger. He had never thought that there was some kind of social restriction on the archives as well as the magical protections. All he had done himself was simply ask about a subject matter that was held within the archives and he was allowed to study it with no limit other then time.
"Why me? Was there some secret behind it? Was someone trying to have me jailed or worse for learning something that I shouldn't have?" Jack shook himself to pull out of spiraling thoughts and conspiracies that whirled through his head. Right now, wasn't the time to wonder about the why it happened, he already had been allowed to view the archives. For now, all he could do was keep moving forward and try to solve the problem in front of him. He could always look into the matter once his current investigation was done.
"Ah I see. Sorry it was just my first thought was to look up information if you were to go into a dangerous location." Jack apologized for his faux pas.
Samantha laughed it off and replied, "No worries. That same thought is how I learned about the restriction in the first place. Carlos said that the reason he was able to warn us on what was the most dangerous stuff there had to do with his family's history with the region."
Sunny interjected at this point with another set of trills. There was a brief moment of contemplation from the other two before Totis slowly stated. "I agree." Before looking over at Samantha for her choice. She pondered for a while, an uncomfortable silence falling over the table before she finally agreed as well.
All three of them turned to look at Jack, causing him to feel a sudden rush of anxiety. He forced himself to not change his facial expression. "This does not leave this table and you never heard it from us, understood?" Samantha stated with a harsh expression on her face.
Jack nodded silently. Seeing this all three of the people in front of him relaxed marginally. "Look, you may have already guessed that there is something slightly off with how much Carlos knows, and yeah there definitely is. He's a nice enough kid, but he isn't the smartest. While it is almost guaranteed that his family has information written down on all kinds of history and events that they have been involved in over the years… Carlos probably wouldn't have studied it on his own unless forced to. So something as niche as the dangers of the ruins? That is probably something that he was specifically told. Now we don't make enough to go against a power like the Telipars, nor do we really want to. But our guess is that if there is anyone that knows more about the curse and what it does or is it's them." Samantha said seriously.
Sunny trilled an angry sounding song, and Totis translated. "That one says that this is as much as these ones know of these matters. These ones do not wish to involve themselves further when it can and would likely hurt these ones in the end. The idea of what Telipar may know does upset these ones, but these ones are in no position to do something about it."
"Fair enough on that front, I can understand your reluctance to look too much into it. Can you tell me if anyone from your group has seen Dilacy Fawler after returning from the mission that you recently did?" Jack acknowledged their discomfort and changed tracks.
Sunny trilled and shook their head in a negative, Samantha said a simple "I haven't" and Totis stated, "This one has not seen them after we reported our success at the Telipar Branch Headquarters."
"Very well thank you for your time. If you see your other groupmate please do tell him I'm sorry and that I hadn't meant for that to turn out like it did. If there is anything else that you can think of or notice here in the next couple days please do call and leave a message at my office." Jack stated and wrote out the sigils for the communication crystal of his office.
As he stood up to leave, he heard a small whisper in his ear from Totis. "Before you go this one just wanted to check if you are feeling healthy. During your time talking to us your heart has only beat a few times. From this one's interactions with others of your species this seems out of place. If you don't want the others to hear just whisper and this one will understand you."
Jack turned toward the stairs and whispered, "thank you for your concern, I feel perfectly fine. I will however have my heart checked as soon as I can." This was yet one more worry in a short amount of time. At least with this new problem brought to his attention he had an idea of what caused it and a way to at least mitigate the effects. It would just require things to settle enough for him to have some free time.
As Jack stepped outside of the bar he felt around in his pockets to see if he had forgotten anything and to check if he had grabbed the tools he would need for tonight. As his hands went into a side pocket, they found the piece of paper that Lalinda had given him earlier. Taking a quick look, it had a quickly scribble message of "Tomorrow 18:45" along with a location that Jack would have to look up. That however was a worry for tomorrow. Looking at the setting sun, Jack nodded to himself, it was time to do a bit of second-story investigation.