Fetzen

Realms of Sun & Shadow

Valthyr

_{Location: His treehouse, several dozen feet above ground.}

---

Construction went on nicely the last couple of days. While the tree has not reached its intended height yet, I can safely say that it is already large and sturdy enough to carry most of the intended housing area. I am, in fact, standing on its very floorboards as I am writing this. I was offered one of the new homes on the outskirts of the growing town, but did not hesitate to decline politely. I am much more happy to dwell dozens of feet above the ground. The air is more fresh, I do not have to hide behind any corner to shift, and whenever I do not want any visitors I can just pull up the rope ladder to the ramp.

It's a common misconception that peacocks can't fly at all, but I am pretty confident that particular one I am also trying to escape from never will dare to come up here. I also planted some vines that harmonizes well with the tree, but not so well with anyone trying to climb it and touching one of its many thorns. Got the anti-venom stashed away up here, just in case...

A rather harsh breeze of wind made the lantern swing back and forth violently below the branch it was hanging down from. Valthyr had to slam his hand down on the page to keep it from flying off. He sat on what could best be considered a balcony in conventional terms, but in reality it was more of a small platform only connected to the center room by a couple feet of narrow catwalk secured with ropes. The platform was bolted down to and supported by one of the more massive branches while railings made sure he would not fall of that easily either. No roof, just a nice place to hang out in a chill night with the possibility to retreat instantly.

I really was not sure whether adding a fireplace would be such a clever decision, but this 'winter' would make it too chill otherwise. Furniture is still mostly missing though.

He had to chuckle at that point. He had made more furniture for others than for himself so far, but seeing Sya in her new chair so far had never failed to cast a smile on his face. He had a bed, a roof, quite a bit of storage space and room for future expansion as the tree still had not finished growing larger.

Quite a few people have left for the expedition. I think the prince still does not really trust me, otherwise he might have sent me on that one, too. Or he does not know me yet really, who knows. At least the wound has healed fairly well except for a small scar. I can live with that.

The druid put down the quill for a moment, letting it rest in the small sea of ink next to his chair on the floor. Maybe he could convince Flynn to plant a few more trees ? Not the same species, this one had nothing special except for one could build tree houses on it. He had been nourishing the idea of setting up a few Nahmta seeds he had brought along with him almost since his arrival, but been busy enough with other things so far. The plant did not grow particularly large, but would require attention of maybe a few others than him as well to keep harvesting the sap they literally seeped through their bork constantly to form a tight seal against herbivores. Truth was the sap, once crystallized, was highly flammable and released enormous amounts of heat. His people back home used it to melt the little iron they needed. It just smelled a little infernal before combustion.

Maybe I could gain the prince's full trust by offering him the very top of my home as an emplacement for a ballista or similar ? If nothing happens, the blight might ultimately arrive here, too. A few incendiary devices hurled down onto them might do wonders. I shall not mention how that thing could also be aimed at the peacock's residence however.

Realms of Sun & Shadow

Valthyr

_{Interacting with: Eris Hightower @The Muse, Sya @PrinceAlexus
Location: The Eye Of The Beholder (in another room)}

Valthyr picked up the warning not very loud, but clear. Still what came next made him almost feel apologetic for ever having asked in the first place. What Eris had labeled as 'not being at full strength' looked more like her being in dire need of a healer's assistance herself. Just as the woman slumped back down a pile of pillows, the druid's inner gears already started turning to think about the situation. Wasn't there anything he could do about that ?

Halfway absent-mindedly, he peeled off the remainder of the self-made bandage. The leaves had become dry -- and possibly rather bloody on the inside --, but it had probably served its purpose well. A scar was still highly preferable to sticking around with a wound for months on end that would hurt whenever under strain and end up as an even bigger scar. A quick opening of the nearest window not to let in too much of the cold and the leaves had left the building.

Speaking of the building... Valthyr could only wonder how many more rather interesting backrooms there were.

"I owe you a favor, Eris." he said with a smile while doing his best not to provide the slightest hint at the other complications he indeed had. He didn't want to risk her feeling responsible for trying to fix them as well simply because he doubted a healer was the right person for this in the first place. Much rather a butcher to cut someone's tongue off...

"Do not worry. It will work out for now, the scar can wait. You on the other hand look as if we should lock you away here for a while just so nobody else can come and bother you for a while." Was the healers being even more exhausted than anybody else a good sign for a new place like this ? Not really, but Dawnhaven had already presented itself from one of the worst possible sides to him. "There is a brew or two from my people that might help you get up onto your feet again."

His eyes looked up towards Sya. "Maybe you could help me with one once you have tried out your new chair ? Would have to look for a few ingredients."

Would anyone be interested in a Dark Fantasy RP?

I'd be down for this.

Realms of Sun & Shadow

Valthyr

_{Location: Eye Of The Beholder
Interacting with: Sya @PrinceAlexus, Eris @The Muse}

---

Valthyr felt some slight increase in temperatur along his ears as he found himself confronted with another person who could not even barely reach up to him. Agreed, that was pretty much standard, but still it felt embarassing for himself in some weird way that didn't make any sense really. He gave Eris a silent nod as the sage introduced herself, then followed along rather silently.

At least that was until Sya decided to hug the poor woman out of the blue. It appeared that this was her most favorite -- and quite disarming -- move ? The druid made an effort to suppress any chuckle, but a slight puff of air might have escaped from the corner of his mouth still. Hopefully nobody heard that!

Who could that handsome man be ? Probably not Ayel, right ? He fit the bill appearance-wise, but certainly not in any other aspect of the word. He was as 'handsome' as a sword in the hands of somebody who didn't know that the thicker and dull end was not supposed to be the thing to club your enemies to death with. The mentioning of the princess stuck in his mind though: Had she actually been injured further after her runaway from the disaster zone with the murder ? At least the statement implied that she was well and safe now.

In the library, Valthyr took in the smell of so much paper. There was something satisfying in it, almost intriguing even. What kind of wood had these books all been made of, if not out of parchment ? Truth was that the druid community didn't know that much about Aurelian flora, there only was the assumption that it had to be quite different from Lunarian for the vastly different climate. He was about to pick one of the thicker tomes from its shelf when he saw his own arm again in the process: Still injured, still clad in that makeshift, self-grown 'bandage' of leaves.

"Eris ? You said you are a healer, right ? I... have a slight issue here from..." Could he really just bluntly say it or should he try to wrap it in something easier to understand ? "A blight-born squirrel." Yes, that was better. The fact that he had been bitten not by some random creature but something blight-born probably was a very important bit to know, but at the same time the thought of being blamed to still walk around in town and meeting people with this infested him with unease.

Valthyr presented his injured arm towards the sage and slowly, very carefully peeled away some of the leaves that covered the damage. He didn't like the sight, grimaced even as he had to gently detach one material from the other. And, of course, there was another thing!

"I have finished work on your new chair, Sya. I hope you don't mind that I went into the storage area as I didn't want to leave it standing in the main hall."

Fist Full O'Crystals

Yes, I am just a little busy and partly ill right now. Apologies.

Fist Full O'Crystals

Vekyzz

Vekyzz Manjar

Name: Vekyzz Manjar
Age: 26
Gender: Male

Appearance:
Dark gray skin, a pair of prominent horns reinforcing his head, pointed ears and unusual teeth clearly mark Vekyzz as being one of his rare kind. His skin, at least as far as it can be seen from the outside onlooker's perspective, lacks any scars or other impurities so far and betrays his relatively young age. A far cry from a grizzled veteran, but more the joyful boy ready for the next festivity. His hair ? A dark, shoulder-long mess with braids thick enough to strangle somebody with them, probably. He sticks out like a sore thumb not only due to his kind, but also because he's at least one head taller than the average male and quite broad shouldered with hardened muscle. A bit too much cheap ale has left a slight, but noticeable bit of softness around his belly region though.

Brief background:
Vekyzz's paths can be tracked back to the lands of Narfell, but are then quickly lost in the hot wastelands only inhabited by nomadic tribes, all too daring individuals and the occasional trade caravan. Given his place of birth and him being a Tiefling, it can't come as a surprise that he never really managed to socialize with anyone else than those most immediate to him. Maybe he'd still be roaming around in this sad part of the world if it hadn't been for that one day when his tribe made the decision to divert from its original path in order to hunt down a group of adventurers. The latter had been regarded as dangerous since they were headed straight for one of the large ruins, most likely in order to loot treasures and unveil other things that better stay down there.

Things turned into an unexpected, but nontheless great disaster. A few of the people traveling with the party proved to be quite more capable than their outside appearance betrayed, so when they deployed their magic many of Vekyzz's close friends fell. He escaped the mutual carnage, but only to find himself alone in a region of the world where this is a very bad precondition. Now not feeling any binding to anything anymore, he left his homeland to try and find a better place.

So far it did not play out particularly well. Sharp teeth, curved horns and his overall stature tend to make people belief he might actually be some sort of petty demon seeking to unleash his daily dose of chaos upon innocent people. It didn't help that the lack of finding well-paid work, combined with his lack of experience with this new society, has made him commit a theft here and there for real. He lives from day to day without any far-fetched plans right now, roaming from street to street and town to town on his search for luck -- or maybe not that, but a new true self.

Strengths

• He was forced to learn how to survive in the wilderness. Not every plant or fungus can be eaten twice in a lifetime, but he knows which can and has little hesitancy or trouble to deal with, let's say, subpar food sources.
• Sheer strength and endurance is definitely his forte. You might not want to wrestle with him or get into a bar fight.
• Being a tiefling, he has some natural affinity to magic. It might singe his hair a little from time to time, but fire is the most prominent of his abilities in that regard.

Weaknesses

• He comes from a different region with a different culture, so he has not really the intention to be awkward in people's eyes, but he quite often just is. His relationship to the strict rules of law is also slightly flexible.
• He lacks some actual combat skill. He's no good at swordplay or handling shields or heavy armor, at least not yet. Proper, professional is definitely needed.
• 'Heavyweight' is a tad of an understatement for him.

Fist Full O'Crystals

Vekyzz

Vekyzz Manjar

Name: Vekyzz Manjar
Age: 26
Gender: Male

Appearance:
Dark gray skin, a pair of prominent horns reinforcing his head, pointed ears and unusual teeth clearly mark Vekyzz as being one of his rare kind. His skin, at least as far as it can be seen from the outside onlooker's perspective, lacks any scars or other impurities so far and betrays his relatively young age. A far cry from a grizzled veteran, but more the joyful boy ready for the next festivity. His hair ? A dark, shoulder-long mess with braids thick enough to strangle somebody with them, probably. He sticks out like a sore thumb not only due to his kind, but also because he's at least one head taller than the average male and quite broad shouldered with hardened muscle. A bit too much cheap ale has left a slight, but noticeable bit of softness around his belly region though.

Brief background:
Vekyzz's paths can be tracked back to the lands of Narfell, but are then quickly lost in the hot wastelands only inhabited by nomadic tribes, all too daring individuals and the occasional trade caravan. Given his place of birth and him being a Tiefling, it can't come as a surprise that he never really managed to socialize with anyone else than those most immediate to him. Maybe he'd still be roaming around in this sad part of the world if it hadn't been for that one day when his tribe made the decision to divert from its original path in order to hunt down a group of adventurers. The latter had been regarded as dangerous since they were headed straight for one of the large ruins, most likely in order to loot treasures and unveil other things that better stay down there.

Things turned into an unexpected, but nontheless great disaster. A few of the people traveling with the party proved to be quite more capable than their outside appearance betrayed, so when they deployed their magic many of Vekyzz's close friends fell. He escaped the mutual carnage, but only to find himself alone in a region of the world where this is a very bad precondition. Now not feeling any binding to anything anymore, he left his homeland to try and find a better place.

So far it did not play out particularly well. Sharp teeth, curved horns and his overall stature tend to make people belief he might actually be some sort of petty demon seeking to unleash his daily dose of chaos upon innocent people. It didn't help that the lack of finding well-paid work, combined with his lack of experience with this new society, has made him commit a theft here and there for real. He lives from day to day without any far-fetched plans right now, roaming from street to street and town to town on his search for luck -- or maybe not that, but a new true self.

Strengths

• He was forced to learn how to survive in the wilderness. Not every plant or fungus can be eaten twice in a lifetime, but he knows which can and has little hesitancy or trouble to deal with, let's say, subpar food sources.
• Sheer strength and endurance is definitely his forte. You might not want to wrestle with him or get into a bar fight.
• Being a tiefling, he has some natural affinity to magic. It might singe his hair a little from time to time, but fire is the most prominent of his abilities in that regard.

Weaknesses

• He comes from a different region with a different culture, so he has not really the intention to be awkward in people's eyes, but he quite often just is. His relationship to the strict rules of law is also slightly flexible.
• He lacks some actual combat skill. He's no good at swordplay or handling shields or heavy armor, at least not yet. Proper, professional is definitely needed.
• 'Heavyweight' is a tad of an understatement for him.

Realms of Sun & Shadow

Valthyr

_{Location: Hot springs
Interacting with: Sya ([@Prince Alexus]), Eris (@The Muse)}

---

Valthyr would have loved for some of the harsh mountain winds from back home to just blow away the ubiquitous steam for a moment, but given how things actually were, Sya more or less slithered towards him out of the white. Being touched by someone who was blightborn, yet didn't behave at all like what most people said was... at least as unusual and not exactly anticipated as was the fact that he'd feel the touch no higher than about five feet up his body. Yet as unusual as it was, part of him openly embraced it and was even concerned that the brief startle would be noticeable and come across as unfriendly.

"Bad egg ? Erm..." The gears in his head rumbled into motion trying to figure out what that meant, first having to filter through the also non-standard pronounciation as well. When it clicked however, it did so pretty loudly. "You mean that wayward spawn ? If he makes any trouble, I will confront him. That's sort of still on my to-do list anyway. However, that's not why I have come here originally."

Another pair of footsteps approached, the sound indicating a rather lithe person. Valthyr briefly turned his head to see who was coming: No Ayel, no face-eating monster, no squirrel. So the druid deemed the chances of things going wrong so low that it was enough to greet the sage with a gentle smile. "You are not really interrupting anything. I am Valthyr and was about to tell Sya that her chair is ready."

He tried to keep his voice a bit lower than usual just in case any unwanted ears were still around to listen. "I've stowed it away in the Eye, if you'd like we can go there and check whether any details needs to be changed." he spoke more to Sya again. He couldn't help but glance at her tail as it slid over the hard surface with efficiency and his confidence in the many guesstimations he had had to make improved somewhat. He had only seen her rather briefly before, so all of that came from his memory.

"May I ask for your name ?" Valthyr voiced towards Eris. Another unknown face and he needed to change that in general in this place as quickly as possible. His elbow was still wrapped in a self-grown bandaid with the monster squirrel induced wound right beneath it and he'd be looking forward to fewer scars if possible.

Realms of Sun & Shadow

Druidic Furniture Works Inc.

_{Interactions with: Sya at the end
Location: Desmond's warehouse, on the roads of Dawnhaven and the Hot Springs}

The night's progress did not make the warehouse any less spooky than the first impression it had given, but after a couple of minutes had passed, Valthyr hardly noticed anymore. There were other scary things to deal with: How to carve out what should become a highly irregular piece of furniture suited not to an ordinary human's butt, but the very curved and irregular body shape of a half snake, half human user that would be Sya. There were several requirements that the druid needed to consider:

First of all was shape. Something that was just flat would maybe work for the lower body, but weight distribution would be a lot better if he'd make it longer and more curved so to force less deformation and increase the surface area. The same held true for the backrest. Maybe something like a front-rest would be better ? Like people sometimes turned their chairs around to put their hands onto the top of the backrest. Well, if Sya wanted that, she could do that anyway as well perhaps.

Second was surface quality. Ordinary people often wore thick clothes and had decent body fat around their butt, but what about... scales ? Were these even real scales or something different that only looked like it ? Valthyr could only speculate and decide for the safest option there was. Making the surface as smooth as possible and literally cutting corners was a good thing this time. The idea of treating the wood with oil crossed his mind, but again, that could be done later on still and he was not familiar with the mostly Aurelian oils around here. Hopefully this tree's wood had not so much of a tendency to splinter and leave behind tiny wooden needles that could puncture her anyway.

On the plus side, he was pretty sure that Sya didn't weigh that much, so sturdyness was not a major concern. Then again... it would be in the Eye Of The Beholder. From what he had been able to find out about that place himself so far, it could be rather turbulent and reckless, too. What if some drunken asshole would kick it around for it would not be useable for him most likely, but just occupy space ?

Last but not least, there was the factor of time. He had made a promise and didn't want her to wait for weeks. So candles were set up quickly, a set of tools that was more proper than the bare rock he picked up the forest found and magic let go off to remove the coarse bulk of the massive wooden block efficiently. It was pretty cold and the chill of standing naked in the forest had not yet entirely let go of the druid, so the imagination to try and feed the removed (and all of a sudden halfway rotten) scraps into a small fire made right on the ground was tempting.

Unfortunately, Desmond might not have approved of all of his goods having that smell of dried and smoked food attached to them. Not to mention the hazard of accidentally burning down the whole place.

Wood was a major material for the druids Valthyr came from. With the proper knowledge and some, let's say, non-standard processing and treatment, it could replace stone and even metal in a surprisingly large number of applications. So it was pretty hard to find any of his kind who hadn't learned at least a little bit about working with a saw and a plane. Valthyr made a mental note about asking this Flynn guy whether he could grow an Anzanica-tree here. The perfect plant to make arms and armor from, but it really didn't get along very nicely with most other plants because they had a tendency to be a little toxic. Wait... he should ask to grow an entire forest of them, around useless man's residence! If the noble would try and burn it because leaves fell onto his property...

----

Valthyr had no idea about how much time had actually passed. Under any normal circumstances, the fact that there still was nothing but darkness not shining through the fine gaps in the wooden walls would have given a decent hint, but without the sun it said nothing. As the flow of work started to recede, the druid slowly noticed just how drained he felt. Would Sya even recognize him as him as he still wore one of Ivor's furs and was not really shorter than the blightborn ? And where was she ?

The dark rings around his eyes made a pretty stark contrast to his bright red hair, so much so that one could think he had been beaten up after his disappearance at the hot springs. The druid's back felt somewhat stiff from all the bending and standing all the time and his mind felt like a sponge after having turned that corner of the warehouse into a ritual circle. The best idea probably was to carry the finished product straight to the Eye. If Sya wasn't there, he could still at least just topple over and start sleeping on a warm, comfy ground.

He didn't knock at the door, he just bumped it open pretty hard so it would stay open long enough to carry the chair in. Also he just wanted the warmth to surge over his tortured body. Yet the lamia wasn't here according to a bunch of lone patrons still idling around here. So maybe she was still in the hot water ?

Could use some of that as well to wash off the dirt. Hopefully there was a guard or so he could ask to watch him in case he'd fall asleep in the water and start drowning! So the druid trundled on through the snow at more of a snail's pace than ever before albeit he had left the chair in the inn. He had spotted some sort of second way directly to the springs upon his first arrival, that was the approach he was going to use.

----

"Sya ? Are you still here ?" Valthyr's hoarse voice reverberated through the area seemingly out of nowhere as the amount of condensed steam blocking everyone's sight had only increased.

Realms of Sun & Shadow

Valthyr Naffron

_{Location: Desmond's warehouse
Interacting with: a large chunk of wood}

---

Once the tree had been felled, the giant called Ivor and Valthyr each went their own ways again. There were tasks to attend to and while the druid really enjoyed the idea of a marvelous, super-sized bonfire cheering up the people, he also had a special 'customer' of sorts to cheer up. Or rather: He had promised her something special. Valthyr now counted on the merchant Desmond sticking to his word and giving him shelter for as long as it would take for the tree-house to grow. Hopefully nobody had trampled that down that while it was still tiny and its owner absent...!

A pair of men unlucky enough to encounter the druid on the open street while he was looking for a favor opened their eyes wide when they saw the large chunk of trunk that needed to get to the warehouse. Ivor was busy with the big rest, so this little transport had to be arranged a little more suited for ordinary people. That meant rolling it over the snow. A horse would have been able to drag it, but the bitter cold made the effort of prepping and hitching it up less appealing than the more intensive alternative. Good thing that Valthyr could not exactly count himself to the small and lithe kind of individual himself.

The warehouse was large, dark and unheated. The wind pressed against the large roof high above the druid's head and the timber groaned here and there from time to time, giving the repeated but nontheless false impression that he was not alone in here. Truth be told, it did make him a little nervous initially no matter what the mind said. The maze of crates and shelves in all of its vast lonelyless would have been a very good place for another murder in town, so Valthyr couldn't help but twist his head more than once upon a particularly suspicious sound. He needed to concentrate on the work ahead, even if that would make it even more easier for anybody to assault him from behind.

The large chunks could be removed by the power of the same magic and patience he had already executed in the forest, but the nitty gritty details required a much more traditional approach using a wooden hammer, a chisel and a small saw. All items could be found here (at the expense of a yet unknown, future customer who would pay the full price for items that had been already used once perhaps!), but time would have to be taken from the night.

And so he was, laboring away at Sya's future piece of furniture and with only candles surrounding him in a huge, empty building full of crates and potential murder weapons.