//O7 - The Shanty Between Buildings
Ananta observed the child's - Sasha's - mother and their home without judgment. The home, though many would likely hesitate to call it as such, was something made out of pure necessity... Though, given the state of Sasha's mother, Ananta assumed that she'd made it either a long time ago, before her body had undergone such deterioration, or appropriated it for her own use. Such was the way of things.
But these idle musings did nothing to help either of them, so Ananta banished them from her mind. There were far more pressing concerns, in her mind. Such as that strange mark that she'd gotten a glimpse of.
But before she would inquire further, it seems some clarifications were in order. Ananta spoke gently,
"I said I would see if I could help, I would not dare speak of a guarantee. I know not of what afflicts your mother." And past that, introductions.
"I am Ananta, ma'am." She said, inclining her head.
"I cannot say for certain if I can provide a solution for what might ail you, but if you are willing, I would see if there is naught I can do." She held some experience when it came to illness, but if she were to make an assumption off of what she saw, Ananta could guess that this wouldn't be quite as simple as that.
The woman coughed.
"Would it be too much to ask you to...take my daughter out from Oratorio, to a village or town far from here?"
"Ma!"
"This isn't an illness that can be fixed with medicine, and this stupid girl won't stay at the orphanage."
... Ananta knew that such a thing was within her power. Indeed, though she could certainly feel something writhe inside of herself at the thought of leaving now, she knew that she would return by the time she'd found a safe home for Sasha. Kamal may not be as far away as the mother might like, but it would likely be the best Ananta could do. Even if she could endure the burning coals inside of her for that long, the amount of families she knew that might be willing to take in a child, or just a good orphanage, were primarily concentrated in Kamal. It would not make much sense to go further, when it would likely only serve to harm Sasha.
However, even though she had the ability to do so... Such a thing was an option she would much rather save as a last resort, in a scenario like this. Even if her mother wished for her daughter to leave, and even if it would more than likely grant her daughter a better life if Ananta brought her to Kamal or elsewhere... The fact remained that Sasha very clearly wished to stay with her mother, and was desperately searching for something, or someone, to help. But, more than that, it was Sasha who had reached out to her, and it was Sasha who brought her here. So, at the end of the day, the one who had petitioned for her help was the child, and Ananta would do her best to ensure she completed the child's request.
That said, she would not lie.
"... I could do that, yes." She would not do so until it was clear that she could not help, but she would admit it was possible.
"The town I call home, Kamal, is likely not quite as far as you would like, but yes, I could." But would not settle to end it there, so she pressed further,
"However, ma'am, it was your daughter who brought me to assist you. Even if medicine cannot banish this illness, I would see if there is aught I can do to assist in another way, if you would allow me.""Kamal..."
A flicker of recognition.
"So you came from there."
It was not quite what Ananta had hoped she would focus on, but so be it.
"Yes, ma'am." She confirmed.
"I would not call it my birthplace, but it has been my home for nine odd summers." She had started young, incredibly young. So much so that when she had started out adventuring, more often than not, she was laughed out of many a party and job. In the end, she'd made something of herself, but only out of luck.
"You are familiar with it?" Ananta said, attempting to gently broach the subject.
"I've passed by, on my way here."
She shifted her position, as if setting aside that memory.
"Sasha brought you, but why did you come? If you stop for every misfortunate child on your path, you'll never make it to the Abyss." There was suspicion, but it was cursory at best, easily understandable whenever one unaccustomed to charity receives it without reason.
It was a fair question. One that Ananta herself would inquire, had she been in the mother's shoes.
The answer was twofold. One that she could provide with resolve.
"I stopped to hear what she wished to say, and as it was something I might be able to provide, I saw no reason to refuse." And the other with a modicum of embarrassment.
"And, as you can likely tell from my pack, I may have... overpacked, somewhat." The hero of Kamal, everyone. Truly, an inspiration.
"A weird sort, aren't you?"
A brief look of surprise graced Ananta's otherwise serene expression, before being overcome by a small smile and a chuckle.
"Ah, well, I suppose I cannot deny that, can I?" Internally, Ananta would have claimed fraud, but weird suited her quite well, too.
She shook off her amusement at the comment after a moment, and returned to the task at hand.
"But, I believe we are straying, ma'am." Ananta said, referring to her daughter's request.
The woman looked at Sasha as well. Then she held her daughter close while placing a hand over the child's eyes. The blanket shifted off afterwards, revealing a body emaciated, a dark, pulsating tattoo having consumed more than half her body.
"Do you know what this is?"
Ananta took a moment to properly analyze what she was looking at. If she had to label the kinds or markings the horrible tattoo appeared to have distributed across the woman, she would label them as flames. Black flames that had crawled their way over much of the woman's body, that were very clearly harming her in some way. She could see full well why the woman said medicine would not help. If Ananta were to assume, she would point to this being some form of curse. It fit the bill of curses she'd seen in the past. A particularly horrible one, at that. If she were to guess further, Ananta would say that the pulsating of the mark was playing a part in the harm.
And so, she spoke her suspicions aloud.
"... A curse, I would say." She said.
"One done out of cruelty." The woman nodded.
"A Banshee resides on the Second Layer, and I reckon I've got five more days in me." She closed her eyes, leaning back. "It takes two to reach the Second Layer."
"Can you do it?"
A Banshee... Well, this would certainly be a first for her, wouldn't it? An undead fiend, loud ones, at that. She'd heard a few tales from the elderly and retired adventurers. Unable to leave that which they are bound to, but they hold the ability of flight. A tricky foe, and one that she'd heard many a tale of loss over.
But could Ananta pull off something like this?
The Second Layer was deeper than she had intended to delve for some days. Ananta had planned to get her bearings with some more contained delving on the first floor... But the woman before her did not have such time to spare.
It seemed, then, that she would have to adjust her
timeline.
After some moments of contemplation, Ananta resolved herself, and with her hand on her heart, nodded to the woman.
"I will make the delve. Again, I shall not offer a guarantee of success, but I will do everything in my power to put the fiend down." It would be a disservice to everything she was, and everything she represented, to do anything less. She would succeed or she would die in the attempt.
"Do you recall it's location in the Layer? Bound as they are, with that information it would become much less of a task to track it down." If the woman did not, then that would be fine as well. Hunting down beasts and fiends with only an incredibly unspecific guide to their hunt such as "In the forest somewhere" was something of an adventurer specialty, even if she would rather that she got to the fiend as quickly as she could.
"No." She shook her head. "The Second Layer...you'll understand when you see it. And rather than doing everything in your power to kill it...make sure you survive." Because if time ran out, someone needed to know that Sasha still lived.
The location was not...? ... Very well. At one point or another, the woman had clearly braved the Abyss up to the Second Layer, and by virtue of that, she was more experienced than Ananta in that area by a good amount. She chose to simply nod at her words. If the woman believed that all Ananta would need was to see the Layer for herself, then she would trust in that.
The woman pulled out a crossbow and offered it to Ananta. It was a well-maintained thing, made of good wood and thick cord, its bolts tipped with iron.
"This will help, I trust."
Ananta accepted the crossbow without fuss, and inspected it's quality for no longer than a moment before realizing that it was of quality make. She nodded again.
"It will."Before she would depart, however, Ananta had one final question.
"Ah, may I have your name, ma'am?" She asked,
"It's occurred to me that I failed to ask earlier, my apologies for that.""Valentine."
Ananta nodded. "Well met, Valentine." A good name, she thought.
"I will take my leave. With luck, I will return with success." Ananta said, and turned to leave. She met Sasha's eyes as she did, and Ananta gave the girl the most confident nod she could manage. It seemed to lift her spirits somewhat, as her eyes regained some small amount of hope, so Ananta would call it a success.
About to exit, Valentine called out once more, reiterating her earlier words. "Even should you fail, see to it that you live."
Ananta paused her steps for a moment, and replied,
"As you say.""Good."
And that was that.
In a few moments, Ananta found herself back on the streets of Oratorio. Her hood up once again, her form obscured by her worn dark blue cloak. The streets of this district were much the same as the one she'd arrived to. But she would not spent overlong on those thoughts, not for a second time. With renewed determination, Ananta's feet brought her back to the Underpass.
Once again keeping a close eye on her things, she contemplated her next steps. This development would propel her much deeper than she had intended for, she knew. The supplies she'd brought along had been at the advice of a long retired tavern goer. Supposedly, it'd be what she needed to spend time hunting for a day or two on the First Layer of the Abyss... and she hadn't planned to delve beyond that for some a good while yet. Ananta had hoped to build at least some amount of familiarity with the trials that would be thrown at her, before going to where many claimed the "true" challenge began.
But sometimes, that was just the way of things. It wasn't reasonable to expect everything to stick to a single plan. So, she needed to adapt...
Five days was a heavy limit to be chained by. Ananta wasn't certain as to exactly how long it would take to reach the second floor... but it was likely for the best that she obtained what she needed quickly. Preferably in a day or two. The quicker she managed to delve, the better.
She would need additional supplies, for certain, and she would need them quickly. Ananta couldn't say she was entirely sure as to how she would go about it, but the simplest in theory, if likely somewhat challenging in practice, was to simply acquire more funds. But, then, how to go about such a thing?
... When she reached the Adventurers District, she would need to ask around. There would likely be at least some who were willing to answer the questions of a newcomer to the Abyss.
She would ask around, first, for how much one could make off of a day or two in the First Layer. Despite all the tales she'd heard back in Kamal, few had gone into the exact specifics of what they'd managed to gain, outside of vague exaggerations. For the most part, it was a result of them being muscleheads, but some of them simply could no longer remember. So she would need to confirm that first.
If it turned out to be viable for her needs... then she would consider delving.
The second, then, would be information on what she should expect. It would be good to hear more details on both the First and Second Layers, so she had a clearer picture of what she was getting into. The more she knew, the better prepared she could be to brave the depths.
And, lastly, for other methods of making coin. Though she imagined that it would be difficult to find someone willing to cough up the kind of coin she imagined she would need for her purposes from just a single job... Ananta knew how to be efficient. While a single request would likely not grant her what she needed, multiple very well could.
Information would be her very best friend, for the trials that lay ahead.
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