The difference between the caravan district and the rest of the city was apparent with nary a glance. Colorful tarps weren’t hung from the dilapidated buildings, letting rain and lighting into the cobbled streets. The streets themselves were far more worn down and torn up. Bricks were out of place and entire sections had been caved in.
The buildings surrounding the streets weren’t much better. Most of them were warehouses with the odd industrial appearing building here and there. Shattered windows and tarped up holes in the walls were quite common as she walked further into the dreary district. Their doors looked as though they had been busted over numerous times and had only been screwed haphazardly into the walls.
The people were far seedier. They had worn looks and most were covered in grime. They didn’t wear the fancy clothes of the people closer to the Shattered Grail. No, they were work clothes stained with sweat and grime. Their sagen were still mostly the same, but they were like her first one; entirely functional. They didn’t have the flairs and tassels that the citizens just a district over had, they were plain and simple.
The air itself felt heavier. Maybe it was because of the almost smog-like effect the industrial buildings shot from their long chimneys, but she felt as though she had to work two times as hard to draw in a single breath. Even the amber felt tired and dreary as if all the warmth and happiness had been sucked out by other districts in the city. She had to turn off her amber sense since it made the brunette feel like… like she had the morbs.
That wasn’t to say Quinn didn’t like her first few steps into the warehouse district. And it was the warehouse district, definitely not the ‘caravan district’ as Torrence put it. Quinn actually quite liked the place. It felt more natural, more real than the places she had been. The people didn’t put on a front to hide their poorness, they accepted it and just lived on. They weren’t like the ‘ladies and gentlemen’ of a few districts over that acted all swell and put on their fancy clothes as if going to an important event.
Indeed, even the air felt fresher. If she ignored all of the dreary vibes she got, the open skies were quite refreshing. The rain splattering like blood against the streets cooled the entire area down and she wasn’t afflicted by immense humidity like the tarped areas. The scent was also better, more real. It was the scent of hard work and a long rainy season. Her dad would’ve truly loved it here.
Quinn headed on in, walking towards a familiar figure standing outside of a warehouse just past a few shady alleyways. The person was someone she would notice easily from afar; Mister Edge Lord himself. He still had his bandolier of knives strapped to him. He had both hands on his shortswords and actively glared at every passerby. His black sagen was pulled up around his head, revealing only the light of his eyes as if to boost his intimidation factor.
She walked up to him, ignoring his ferocious gaze as she looked everywhere but at his eyes. “I-I’m here to see Arnz Schel.”
The edge lord stood motionlessly for a second before he spoke. His voice was deep, so deep, in fact, it seemed as if he was intentionally making it deeper. “I remember you… Sir Schel is in a meeting at the moment. You are welcome to wait inside.”
“No.” She wanted to speak to the man. They would be traveling companions on the way to Strumgard, and she still knew nothing about the edgy guy.
He simply said, “ok.”
“I- uh, I just like the rain…” Smooth, real smooth. If she was trying to be an annoyance, she was nailing it. She stood still and looked around everywhere up and down the street.
“Right.” He rolled his R slightly.
“S-so, what’s your name?”
His shadowy eyes glanced at her before sweeping over the surroundings. Just when she thought he wouldn’t answer, he spoke up. “Wyber. You?”
“Quinnzel. So, uh, what do you do?” Dumb question! Of course, he was a guard. Damnit all! This is so awkward. This is what she gets for trying to socialize for once.
“I guard the Schel Caravan Company…”
They both drifted off into silence as they sat at the door. Thankfully, the awkward wait wasn’t too long before a man came out of the warehouse. He looked quite… frazzled? It sounded better than crazy. He had a rabid look in his eyes as he looked around. His eyes themselves were weird; they were almost red vertical slits instead of the round pupils humans typically had. The odd vertical slits locked onto her own for a moment too long before the man walked off. He also had white hair, but he didn’t look very old.
“Sir Schel will see you now.”
“Y-yeah.” Quinn watched the odd man’s retreating back for a moment before entering the warehouse.
Dozens of carriages filled the inside of the warehouse. People she had never seen before were walking around briskly while carrying different kinds of boxes. Others stood around the carriages while carefully going over sheets of paper.
Guards stood around the warehouse wearing a mixture of metal - maybe steel? - and leather armor. They all had insignias of curling nautilus shells on their shoulders. The same symbol was printed on the sides of every caravan. It was obviously a sign of the Schel Caravan Company.
Mister Arnz Schel himself was standing over a table covered in papers not far from the door. He looked up at her entry and waved her over. “Ah, Quinn! What can I do for you?”
Her drive to seek him out collapsed. Seeing him here, surrounded by people hard at work, made her own reason for seeking him out seem so… shallow. Realistically, she could’ve just left the city walls and found a place to practice without bothering the man. And yet here she was, selfishly interacting with a super busy man that had been nothing but kind to her. Was she really that shallow of a person?
“S-sir, I was uh, wondering if I could do anything to help your company out in preparation for our departure.” It wasn’t her original reason, but her reasoning had changed with the introduction of a new perspective. A better one, if she might add.
The graying man smiled a genuine smile as he normally did. “It is so good to see such passion in youth these days. Hmm… let me think… Mikeal said you were a hunter, correct?”
“Y-yes sir!” She flexed her shoulder as if to draw attention to the bow hanging from her back. It was a subconscious move to communicate without the hassle of having to talk.
“Perfect! I’m a tad bit concerned about the badgius population in the northern side of the Halis Empire. I was wondering if you might keep an eye out for any signs of their passing on our way south.” It sounded like he was giving her busy work.
Still, that was busy work she would be happy to do Even if Just to make up for her selfish intentions. “Of course, sir! I-I would be happy to help.” Now she just needed to find out what a badgius actually was. Thankfully, they seemed like a common critter, so she should be able to find some info in A Traveler’s Handbook: Monsters.
“Is there anything else, girl?” Arnz asked. He was being polite, but she could see his eagerness to get back to work.
“N-nothing else, sir. I’ll be on my way.” She backpedaled away from the busy man and returned to the warehouse entrance. She hadn’t accomplished what she originally set out for, but she could find a way to manage. Maybe she could buy a pillow or something on the way back to act as a target.
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Quinn stepped out into the dim stormy street. Rain pelted her face as she pulled her sagen up. Thunder roared in the distance as lightning cracked just overhead. The curly brunette felt… off. It was as though a predator was watching her. It was a similar feeling she got when she strayed too far into bear and wolf territory in her old world. She couldn’t literally feel the animals’ territorial gaze, but she could sense it in the air.
“Everything alright?” Wyber asked from her side as she froze for far too long.
She snapped out of whatever trance-like state she had been in as she tried to locate the source of the feeling. “O-of course. Just, uh, just admiring the weather. I do so love rain, ha ha.”
He lost interest once more and returned to his duties. “Right.”
Quinn began her trek back to the Shattered Grail. It wasn’t far and nobody disturbed her on her journey. She did, however, stop and buy a fluffy yet durable-looking pillow that had cost several coppers too much.
She opened up her door, took off her backpack, and set it by the door. She moved into the dark room, her vision distorting shapes in the darkness. For a moment, she thought the chair at her table looked like a person. She shook her head and lit up a candle - the receptionist had apparently restocked them while she had been out.
The warm light cast its shadows once more across her room-
“Cousin!”
Fuck! Her heart jumped into her throat as she whipped around to face the intruder. She remembered what Atamai and Willa had taught her and immediately pulled her knife out as she faced the direction she was most likely to get attacked.
The interloper was sitting at her table with one knee casually crossed over the other drinking some kind of red liquid from a small cup. Two teeth stood out to her; his fangs. They were longer than normal. It took her nary a second to recognize the man. He was the same white-haired creep that had come from the Schel Caravan Company. “Calm down, cousin.” He spoke with a heavy accent.
Why the hell was this loon in her room?! She hadn’t invited him or anything like that. And why was he calling her cousin? Her family was all very, very far away. “W-w-what do you want?” She began to slowly step towards the door. If she could just escape, she could go get Atamai or Willa.
Sure, Quinn could fight the man herself, but she doubted shooting a spark into his weird eyes or cleaning his clothes would do her much good. And Gravity Cube was pretty much useless in this situation. Even if Sparks worked, the brunette was practically useless with a dagger and her bow would take too long. As she thought, escape was the best option.
“Calm down, comarade. I’m just here to trade, from one Venerus to another.” The man sipped his drink once more, not moving an inch from his spot.
“What the hell are you talking about? How’d you get in my room?” Sure the locks in this place were terrible - which was why she kept everything on her - but surely she would’ve noticed the latch broken.
He raised a white eyebrow. “I asked for a key.”
That receptionist was entirely useless after all. Who just gives a random guy a key to one of your customers' rooms? Your female customer. If she ever came to Mauershein again, she would avoid the Shattered Grail at all costs. “W-well get out, stalker.”
He laughed and stood up. “Very well, cousin. I can see my intrusion is making you uncomfortable.”
There was something she didn’t get about the whole weird interaction. “Why are you calling me your cousin?”
“All Venerus are cousins after all.” He paused and eyed her peculiarly before breathing in deep from his flaring nostrils. “You… are not a Venerus? I could’ve sworn- no matter. Have a good evening, miss. I'll return tomorrow the proper way about a business deal. You have something saI am simply dying to get.” The weird stalker left her room with a deep bow, his teeth sparkling in the low light of the candle.
Quinn stood there, staring at her closed door in confusion, for far longer than she would admit. What the hell was up with that guy? And what did she have that was so valuable? The grimoire? She didn’t even know what it was about.
She shook her head and propped a chair under the door handle. She would be a fool to trust the simple lock after what just happened.
What had the man been talking about? Venerus? Was that like a cultural thing? A memory tickled at the back of her mind as an unsettling theory started to rise. His fangs. The red liquid. Quinn didn’t jump to conclusions, no matter how much she wanted to call the man a vampire. She first sat down and opened one of her books that might shed some light on the situation; Myths: Fight or Flight. The book was said to be a book about myths and legends, so surely vampires were in it.
She found what she was looking for in the table of contents and flipped to a chapter called Human Subspecies. It took her a surprisingly long amount of time to skim over to venerus, as the man called himself. There were dozens of different human subspecies cataloged in the thick book. Far more than she had originally suspected.
And when she got to it… yeah, vampires. They weren’t technically vampires, but they shared the number one trademark, they drank blood to survive. The author of the book, surprisingly Rimor Magellan, suspected that it had to do with a leakage of their life force, whatever that meant. She didn’t know, nor did she care. All she cared about was the fact that a vampire was stalking her.
Venerus were said to use a mysterious power not too far off from mana. Apparently, Rimor managed to track one down and talk to him in exchange for a liter of… something. Rimor never wrote down exactly what he traded. Their power was called Athyrn. The venerus described it as an abundant ambient energy that they could control and manipulate.
It sounded like amber if she was being honest. Still, she reserved her judgment and didn’t instantly equate the two. Their athyrn could be some other kind of energy. It could be completely unrelated to the one she could sense.
The book only had two more parts about the venerus. The first was about how they were divided into six clans, but not much was said about each clan. First up was the Venerus Lejis. They were known as law keepers and were apparently the reason the Venerus didn’t kill and slaughter to quench their bloodthirst. The lejis were well known to hunt down other venerus that didn’t follow the ruleset they put forth. Unfortunately, nothing was said about why they were so dangerous. They were separable from their brethren by their gauntness.
The Venerus Necris were known as death fanatics. They could control the undead. Most venerus necris were morticians or something similar so they could always be around death athyrn. They tended to stick out compared to the other venerus since they were extremely pale and hated being outside during the day. They sounded more like the typical vampires that Quinn had about.
The Venerus Catis were hated by every other clan. Kill-on-sight type of hated. Unfortunately, Rimor either didn’t write down why or didn’t know. Not much was said other than the catis had powers involving diseases and they usually appeared covered in open sores oozing with pus.
The Venerus Dracis’ greed was well known. They would do anything to get what they treasured. Anything. They held strong elemental abilities and were quite ferocious when provoked. Rimor had traded with a dracis to get as much information as he had. They had near-vertical slits for eyes and had the ability to sense treasures.
The Venerus Diectis were said to be the most cursed of their brethren. They were exceptionally strong in body but were weak in mind. Rimor mentioned that they were weak to bloodlust and tended to fall into blood rages. They usually camped on the outskirts of civilization so as not to hurt anyone with their outbreaks. They were giants compared to the rest of their kin.
And last but certainly not least, the Venerus Medis. They were the most humane of the lot and were accomplished healers. They held the unique ability to heal using athyrn. Unfortunately, they were exceedingly rare and tended to die easily since they were exceptionally weak in body. They blended in seamlessly with the rest of humanity and were hard to pick out from a crowd.
The last passage went along with the theme and was labeled Fight or Flight. Rimor recommended trying to get away if you could since the venerus were mostly incredibly strong fighters. He also noted that they were quite rare, so the chances of finding one were zero to none. She counted that last bit as misinformation.
Quinn suspected the white-haired man was a venerus dracis based on his eyes. It would explain why he seemed so desperate to trade with her. But what did she have of value? Nothing was worth a whole lot except the grimoire- wait, no. She was basing value the wrong way. What did a Venerus find valuable? Blood, probably. And Quinn had an item made of blood. She had a sneaking suspicion that the man was after the blood gem she had accidentally - and painfully - created.
So what would she do? Obviously, she needed to make a deal. Not only would she get rid of the useless bit of blood, but she wouldn’t die a petty death over a useless item. Rimor Magellan clearly wrote they would do anything. Including murder.
It wasn’t necessarily a matter of if she would make the deal, but what she would trade it for. Unfortunately, she didn’t know what the venerus dracis was offering. Quinn stayed up late into the night, completely forgetting about her attribute finding to brainstorm ideas.