[center][h3][color=C0392B]Rudolf Shilage[/color][/h3][/center]

[color=c0392b]"You've given a lot of people the runaround, Zeke Malina,"[/color] A tightly levelled-off voice sounded from the bottom of the ridge, as the departed black iron swordsman marched up to rejoin the group. Rudolf had slammed into the tail end of the search party about as well as he could have hoped— the deep tracks his boots in the snow flanked by flecks of fresh crimson, running down the length of his sword and knife. Within the helm, his furrowed brow had yet to loosen.

Cresting the summit, his coppered gaze flickered off Miina's suddenly-discovered brother to try and meet the gazes of the assembled Skaelers, almost to a man Solitude native. Forget the impulse to hogtie the slippery bastard until they could keep him still long enough to give their long-suffering Red Mage a good reunion; if the guy spoke truly, there was a real chance that their immediate mission here was about to severely reshuffle its set of priorities— if not fly off the rails in totality.

It was hard not to linger on Eliane's face, in particular, as the words "A city of the dead" echoed through all their minds. Each mental refrain was like a flame licking at the back of his skull, branding it— rationally speaking, the immediate presumption to make was that this was the reason Solitude had gone off the record to begin with, all the way back when Kayliss had first shared the information in Edren. The ongoing state of affairs that preceded any intervention on the Kirins' behalf. But was psychology ever rational?

They had been detoured for weeks since crossing the border. The weight of that time, in this new context... Zeke had just said it had been hell for [i]a week[/i], not multiple. If Rudolf thought back to what they were doing a week ago...

The flames at the back of his mind surged a little.[sup]1[/sup] Context. They needed more context.

[color=c0392b]"But that's vague. Vague and a pretty alarming claim. Let's tackle elaborating first."[/color] he continued, not moving to restrain the mystrel as he drew to a halt. Truth be told, Zeke [i]was[/i] a picture of the man on the run he'd come to expect, once you got past the striking similarity to his little sister. Rudolf was fairly certain he could run the redhead down if he bolted— eyes bloodshot and baggy, thin-boned... and [i]not[/i] smiling. Miina said he always smiled. It wasn't shocking that fond memories she had didn't line up with the shady image that day perusing Osprey's seedy underbelly had cobbled together, but given everything[sup]2[/sup] that had happened to the group since...

He did not raise his blades, but he didn't sheathe them either.

[color=c0392b]"What [i]exactly[/i] is Valheim quarantining? They're plying necromancy in there and it got out of control, or..."[/color]

...Had the city just up and lost all corporeal form, in a single night, leaving only malevolent shades?[sup]3[/sup]
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[*][sub]1. So is it more or less fucked up if you don't at least commit to the bit in full if that's true?[/sub]
[*][sub]2. Loki. I'm with your instincts. I've basically [i]become[/i] your instincts. Loki wants you to take her to your superiors. Calling it.[/sub]
[*][sub]3. That would be [i]exceedingly[/i] difficult for a bunch of reasons, which wwe do NOT have the fucking time to list out right now. I'm chatty, I'm not long-winded. I would significantly doubt infamously secular southerners Solitudeners would manage to remotely stumble upon a way to accidentally the population across the veil. Let alone pull it off.[/sub]
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