Spoiled Bread

[Ryke] Cainbell Barony - Recruitment

"Protect and serve. I think its a good principles to go by, I'm hiring you as a butler so you don't need to concern yourself with education or disciplines." The noblewoman reassure him as she sip her own cup of tea.

"Though, I'm embarrassed to admit this but I'm actually having a hard time restraining her. She's crafty enough that even if I lock down this building and set 24 hours guards she would still somehow find a way out. So I'm now trying the other method, I want her to be free doing whatever she wants as long as she's safe, that's where your job come from."

"And I would rather you not report anything to me unless its absolutely necessary. She would hate me if I do that. You will be under my daughter Meredy's direct order." Helen's eyes darted toward the painting on the wall, and then to the large grandfather clock standing in the corner of the room.

"She should be finished with her violin lesson soon. She said she wanted to go shopping today so I think its a good opportunity for you to know each other. I will provide the written contract later this evening. Do you have any question?"

[Ryke] Cainbell Barony - Recruitment

"Ah, this is my first time meeting a Longchambon. I always admire people who can dedicate themselves to a role." After a few minutes, they finally stopped in front of a solid wooden door. The maid raised her hand to knock on the door, but stopped herself and whispered to Timothé.

"I heard the young miss also had some Levanos working under her, and she specifically picked the ones similar to her appearance so they could be used as body doubles." The maid gave Timothé a knowing wink before she finally knocked on the door four times. The Levanos would be similar to the Longchambon in a sense, a family that dedicated themselves to serving the nobles, but they had no noble blood and plenty of their members were recruited from a few chosen orphanages that they had cooperation with.

"Come in."

The maid opened the door and let Timothé into the room. It was a spacious office room with a pair of large windows that opened into the beautiful garden in the backyard. Displayed on the wall on the other side of the room was a large painting of what seemed to be a family of five. A man with a stern expression next to a woman with a relaxed smile was sitting in front of him. In various poses around their parents were three of the noble's children. The oldest boy was holding a book, the slightly younger girl was pinching the cheeks of the younger brother and the latter was giving the biggest smile he could manage. One of the most noticeable details was all of them except the mother had the same striking red hair and brilliant blue eyes.

"Welcome, Mr. Longchambon. What do you like more? Tea or Coffee? Or do you prefer something else like juice or milk?" The figure who greeted him was a woman with long black hair and black eyes, the same as the one depicted in the painting. She looked to be in her early thirties, but might be slightly older than that. She wore a simple dress but had a silver hairpin with an oriental design on her hair.

There's a set of padded chairs and a table in the middle of the room, Madame Helen's eyes silently hinted at Timothé to take a seat. Depending on what his answer to the previous question would be, the woman would pour the appropriate drinks from one of the ceramic kettles on the table and present it to him.

"I am Helen Cainbell. It's a pleasure to meet you. I know I haven't told you much from the invitation, but how good are you at handling teenagers?"

[ʀʏᴋᴇ - ᴀʀʙᴏʀʜᴀᴠᴇɴ] 𝑅𝑜𝒶𝒹 𝑜𝒻 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝑅𝒶𝓂𝒷𝓁𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝑅𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓇: 𝒞𝒶𝓃𝓉𝒶𝒸𝓁𝑒 𝑜𝒻 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓊𝓃𝓈𝑒𝑒𝓃

Marrion

Marrion stared at the stew the bartender gave her. It looks like those slimes the nursing ants fed to the larvaes. Still, pushed by Miiya's encouragement she would at least try it. Besides, it would be suspicious if she didn't eat this as this stew was what everyone here seems to eat.

"Thank you for the meal." Marrion pulled down the bottom jaw of her mask, creating a small opening where the mouth should be. Ideally she should put down her mask so she could devour the meal as fast and efficiently as possible, but there's no way she would reveal her actual insectoid face in this place. So for now she must be satisfied with slowly eating the stew, awkwardly thrusting the stew-filled spoon into the mask's opening, slurping the stew and then pulled the stone back out.

"The best stew we ever had." She commented flatly as she continued her meal. Technically this would be the only stew she ever eat so far so she wasn't even lying.

Listening to the others speaking about the disappearances, Marrion must restrain herself from commenting about how unimportant a few lives would be in the grand scheme of things. She hadn't forget that she was supposed to be building rapport here. Instead she choose to just listen silently to the conversation, slurping her stew, all while trying picking up what the locals might talk with each other in their whispers.

Action:
1) Use Heightened Sense - Hearing F to eavesdrop the locals

[Ryke] Cainbell Barony - Recruitment

It was a beautiful morning in the town of Prahuel, the capital of Cainbell's barony. Despite the clear sky above, the town was relatively quiet compared to most big towns. Some might attribute this to the fact that there's currently an ongoing sermon by the church of Miralis at the edge of the town, or one might be inclined to think that the town's relatively large vampire population makes the town much more lively at nighttime compared to its daytime. Regardless, Timothé wasn't here for any of that. He received an invitation with a noble seal a few days ago, asking for him to come for an initial assessment.

The Cainbell family was a noble house that dated way before the formation of Ryke as a country. Its capital was built on top of a series mana crystal mine, but it was stated to have dried all of its reservoir during the restoration period after the great race war 50 years ago. Yet despite all that, one of the area's highest revenues was still reported coming from mana crystal export, and an exclusive mysterious brand of wine dubbed the 'blood wine'. The details of these two products were a well-guarded secret.

Once he arrived at his destination, Timothé would be greeted by a line of professionally dressed maids at the entrance of the Cainbell's manor. These people might be his work colleagues soon, but for now he's still a guest that warrants the utmost hospitality.

"Greetings, Sir Timothé. Please follow me, Madame Helen is waiting for you inside." One of the maids, who looked to be the oldest, gave him a polite bow before guiding him into the manor. Like most noble estates, the interior of the building was regal and spacious, but some of the most notable features that Timothé might notice were the various shades of red that most of the walls were painted with, and the myriad of roses and crows depicted in various artworks displayed in the manor.

"If I may be a bit rude, may I inquire about your experiences in this line of work, Sir Timothé?" The maid that was guiding him suddenly asked. That was definitely not a usual thing to ask from a fellow servant right before the supposed interview. Yet the maid stared at him firmly as if she demanded an equally firm answer from him. This was when Timothé realized what was happening: The interview had already started, and this maid would be his first tester.

[Ryke] Cainbell Barony - Recruitment

It was a beautiful morning in the town of Prahuel, the capital of Cainbell's barony. Despite the clear sky above, the town was relatively quiet compared to most big towns. Some might attribute this to the fact that there's currently an ongoing sermon by the church of Miralis at the edge of the town, or one might be inclined to think that the town's relatively large vampire population makes the town much more lively at nighttime compared to its daytime. Regardless, Timothé wasn't here for any of that. He received an invitation with a noble seal a few days ago, asking for him to come for an initial assessment.

The Cainbell family was a noble house that dated way before the formation of Ryke as a country. Its capital was built on top of a series mana crystal mine, but it was stated to have dried all of its reservoir during the restoration period after the great race war 50 years ago. Yet despite all that, one of the area's highest revenues was still reported coming from mana crystal export, and an exclusive mysterious brand of wine dubbed the 'blood wine'. The details of these two products were a well-guarded secret.

Once he arrived at his destination, Timothé would be greeted by a line of professionally dressed maids at the entrance of the Cainbell's manor. These people might be his work colleagues soon, but for now he's still a guest that warrants the utmost hospitality.

"Greetings, Sir Timothé. Please follow me, Madame Helen is waiting for you inside." One of the maids, who looked to be the oldest, gave him a polite bow before guiding him into the manor. Like most noble estates, the interior of the building was regal and spacious, but some of the most notable features that Timothé might notice were the various shades of red that most of the walls were painted with, and the myriad of roses and crows depicted in various artworks displayed in the manor.

"If I may be a bit rude, may I inquire about your experiences in this line of work, Sir Timothé?" The maid that was guiding him suddenly asked. That was definitely not a usual thing to ask from a fellow servant right before the supposed interview. Yet the maid stared at him firmly as if she demanded an equally firm answer from him. This was when Timothé realized what was happening: The interview had already started, and this maid would be his first tester.

[ʀʏᴋᴇ - ᴀʀʙᴏʀʜᴀᴠᴇɴ] 𝑅𝑜𝒶𝒹 𝑜𝒻 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝑅𝒶𝓂𝒷𝓁𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝑅𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓇: 𝒞𝒶𝓃𝓉𝒶𝒸𝓁𝑒 𝑜𝒻 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓊𝓃𝓈𝑒𝑒𝓃

Marrion

Marrion entered the tavern tailing after the bard. Her three eyes looked at three different directions as she tried to decide what to do next. To start with, maybe she can inquire about the guild mission that she heard from the outside. She wasn't actually coming to this town for it but she heard anyone can became adventurer as long as they didn't alert the black orb, even someone with questionable background like her.

"We are here for the guild." She said to Juniper. Marrion's eyes were staring at the adventurer, except the middle one, that one glanced at the winged individual besides her instead, or rather at the stew on her hands. Tavern for gathering, lodging, eating and drinking. It would be suspicious if she just barged here to talk about job so she shifted her attention to the bartender.

"Do you have brains?" She asked, though she soon realized that she must had phrased it wrong.

"Correction, do you serve any dish made with brains? If not then just give us the same thing as that one." She pointed at the drink in front of the slumped Shiki.

[ʀʏᴋᴇ - ᴀʀʙᴏʀʜᴀᴠᴇɴ] 𝑅𝑜𝒶𝒹 𝑜𝒻 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝑅𝒶𝓂𝒷𝓁𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝑅𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓇: 𝒞𝒶𝓃𝓉𝒶𝒸𝓁𝑒 𝑜𝒻 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓊𝓃𝓈𝑒𝑒𝓃

Marrion

The task to infiltrate the general society was quite unnerving even for Marrion. After the blessing that let her pass the black orb, she still wasn't sure she would be able to blend in so she made sure to carefully watch and mimic the behavior of normal everyday people.

Marrion was walking on the rainy street in Arborhaven. Her black cloak was in constant battle between getting billowed by the strom wind or getting pelted down by the harsh rain. Tied to her back was an object wrapped in bandage, something slightly bigger than Marion herself and shaped like a human folded in fetal position. Once she noticed the local had been going into a particular building, she decided to follow suit. Before she entered though, the singing of the man and his lute caught her attention. The lyrics evoked something within her, although she wasn't sure what. She decided to listen to the singing and copied the blue-furred beastmen that came before her by giving him a few lumps of amber-colored crystals. It wasn't currency or anything though, it was candy. Dense, nutritious honey crystals made by the bees of the hive.

"How do we know whether our will is free or not?" She asked the man. Her voice had a slight echo as it bounced off her wooden mask.

@Moonberry

[ʀʏᴋᴇ - ᴀʀʙᴏʀʜᴀᴠᴇɴ] 𝑅𝑜𝒶𝒹 𝑜𝒻 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝑅𝒶𝓂𝒷𝓁𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝑅𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓇: 𝒞𝒶𝓃𝓉𝒶𝒸𝓁𝑒 𝑜𝒻 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓊𝓃𝓈𝑒𝑒𝓃

Marrion's sheet:
docs.google.com/document/d/1dN68adNKg…