Emillion NPCs (emillionnpcs) wrote in emillion, @ 2013-08-20 07:52:00 |
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The rumors were growing. At the Bazaar on Tuesday, a guard patrolling the area stumbled upon a troubling scene: scrawled in paint on the side of a shop was a crude inverted rood, accompanied by a sloppy script of profanity--some aimed toward the Church, some toward King Weyland and Parliament. While vandalism was nothing particularly new to the city, such similar handiwork had been found more and more of late. What once started in a broken-down section of the Tenements was now slowly spreading out wider into other nearby districts. Today it was the Bazaar, but the Commoners District had begun to see its share of vandalism as well. Suspects of these and other petty crimes were often the young and poor, those lot who were now homeless thanks to the destruction weeks before, angry and restless and already looking to cause trouble. Many, especially nobles, were likely to turn a blind eye to these events as nothing more than a symptom of poverty, a stain on civilized society. But others living in these poorer neighborhoods did not take the omens so lightly. A name was beginning to spread in the Tenements. "Cerf"--the healer, the prophet, a man who seemed to thrive in hearsay and could hardly be spotted in the light of day. Those curious few that sought out information were able to follow a small and inconsistent trail of breadcrumbs. The young criminals all claimed to have met the man himself, but thorough interviews lead only to vague descriptions and a multitude of inconsistencies. Tall or short, muscular or lean, some even claimed he was missing limbs--that they were offerings to whatever forces he claimed that drove him. For any serious investigator, it became obvious that they were spouting secondhand descriptions and simply filling in the blanks. The longer "Cerf" and his followers continued their presence however, the more information, both false and reliable added up. Older local residents, reliable shopkeeps and wizened streetears were able to glean some further details as well. This "Cerf" was a mage, that much could be said, as many claimed to have been healed or witnessed the magic of some charismatic foreign traveler. It appeared that he often traveled with a confidant as well, some sort of fighter who seemed to give orders to the others in their circle. Where he was staying in the city, however, that was a trickier detail. The group seemed to come and go with the wind, and their exact numbers were as yet unclear. Young people claiming affiliation to gain notoriety, or even those speculated to be among them by their neighbors, the usual hazards of gossip, were a common topic. Whatever the truth would inevitably turn out to be, the man was slowly becoming something of an urban legend. |