Corven Roche“You know, I think my favourite thing about the legion so far is the comradery.” Corven said to himself with a small, thoughtful nod as the group erupted into verbal chaos and he, for the second time in less than a day, felt at home.
Apart from a few ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ for some of the retorts as well as a poorly concealed chuckle when one of the elves misread an insult as some poor attempt at flirting, he had stayed mostly quiet as the back and forth’s intensity grew. Instead, he chose to watch the show unfold and tried to keep at least some tabs on those still entering the tavern. Most he didn’t recognise, some ashen haired twig of a boy with a stick, a few more humans, a ‘very’ relaxed looking wood elf and so on. Though eventually, some figures he did recognize entered the tavern. Rooke the fighter and Yvonne the paladin were among the first, he didn’t know the latter too well and considered introducing himself but after putting two and two together, choose to give the duo their space. Offering only a polite nod in greeting before flashing a raised eyebrow and smirk towards Rooke when Yvonne wasn’t looking. Not long after and much to his surprise after how much he had drunk last night, walked in a pristine looking Oberon and Frey with a bird of all things accompanying him. But seeing them getting about business, Corven finally decided to get started himself.
The delivery job was the least lucrative of the trio but also appealed the most to him and in the end he didn’t need coin or fame anymore. All he really wanted nowadays was hot meals, good company and a nice bed to sleep in and so far, doing the odd job for the legion was more than enough to provide.
‘That said, getting a few answers would be nice too’ he thought to himself as Rooke joined Frey while mentioning something about liking mules.
“You can add me to that mule-duty list Frey.” Corven called out “I don’t mean to brag but I’m a bit of an expert when it comes to sitting on my ass all day. Though I’ve got a few errands I need to run here first, I’ll make sure to meet up with everyone at the warehouse once its sorted.” and with a small curt goodbye, he turned on his heels and started making his way to exit stopping only for a moment as another familiar figure came into view. Scitha, the green ‘almost-ork’ had also entered the tavern and now appeared to be in talks with the crystal contract group. Some part of him felt a twinge of disappointment to see her going on a different mission, he hadn’t known her long but she was good company to be sure and more than little fun to try and poke fun at. Admittedly, he still wasn’t entirely sure whether she was playing along or actually threatening him last night but if anything, it only added to his evening. Though her choice made sense
‘the healers go where the healers are needed’ he remembered hearing and if anyone could help the villagers it would be a healer. While he couldn’t make out the conversation, he figured it best to leave her to her own devices and instead of jumping in, quietly wished her good fortune and left the tavern.
In the short time he had been a legionnaire, he had made more than a few attempts at gathering information. Usually it was on the basics of life in the northern lands and the general histories of the different kingdoms but recently he had been getting bolder in his requests to mixed success. While he hadn’t gotten into any sort of trouble yet, he quickly discovered that certain investigations couldn’t be done without the permission or supervision of the higher ups. But then again, he also knew better than most how no rule was ever perfectly held up.
“Good morning!!!” he shouted out as he practically slammed the door to the still closed library open.
“AAaiieeee!” A small voice shrieked in surprised followed by the unmistakable sound of a chair and at least a dozen books and scrolls toppling over.
‘Perfect’ Corven thought to himself as he happily strolled over to the librarian’s desk. Peering over, he could see the figure of the assistant librarian Lanassa sprawled on the floor beneath several different papers and a thankfully not too hefty looking book.
“What are you doing way down there?” he casually asked. He didn’t know her too well but from what he had been able to pick up over his last few visits, the small elf was a quiet, shy but kind hearted young woman. Perfect for his plan.
“
…N-nothing. Its just, that the library is closed right now… and when the door opened, I got surprised and I…
I fell” the small librarian quietly murmured in response as she tried to seemingly sink through the floor in a desperate bid to escape the situation. After letting out an obviously exaggerated sigh, Corven walked around the desk and helped the young elf to her feet before going about collecting the scattered papers.
“Oh, um, its-its fine.
You don’t have to- Sorry. Here I can- Sorry” She mumbled as she awkwardly tried to simultaneously thank, apologise and help Corven all at once with as little interaction as possible.
“Don’t worry” he responded with a small chuckle and a twinge of guilt “Besides, what would Orion say if he came in to see you sleeping on the job.”
“-but… I wasn’t-““Anyways, sorry to jump in without warning but I was hoping you could help me out with something. Long story short, my caravan got jumped by a bunch of bandits on our last contract but a handful of them had these symbols on them. Any chance you can you could do some digging for me?” He asked as he put away the last of the papers.
“Yeah, definitely! I can definitely do that!” Lanassa said with newfound confidence at the prospect of being able to help with her skills, quickly grabbing a fresh inkwell and scroll from among the cluttered documents as she continued. “Can you tell me anything else about them?”
“That’s brilliant! Well, there weren’t many of them but each had some sort of power that come from their markings. And they weren’t tattoos either, they looked like burn markings, singed over and glowing a faint orange but still somehow completely healthy looking. In fact, I have a drawing of one of the marking.” He added in his most upbeat voice as he drew out
an eerily detailed sketch from his pouch and passed it over to the suddenly, and once again, reserved elf.
“Um, this is… I think it might need a blue cloak’s permission. I mean I can do it! And-and I will! For sure, I just need the okay,
if its not too much troublethatis.”
He knew it was coming but still couldn’t help but feel a bit annoyed. Any sort of research to do with unknown magics and potential cults tended to require blues cloaks or higher to at least be aware of what was happening and why. Something about rookies biting off more than they can chew or accidentally summoning hordes of the undead started the rule but however ‘essential’ it was, it still ticked him off.
“Don’t worry about it, in fact I’ve already got permission.” Corven said behind a warm smile “Sylanna actually asked me to leave the request. She would’ve come herself, but you know how busy purple cloaks can be.” He added as he reached into his satchel, fished around for a document that wasn’t there, before slowly shifting his face from jovial to more shocked “So this is a bit awkward but I think I’ve lost her missive.”
“I’m sorry but without it I don’t think I can start looking into this. Though I’m sure you can find-“
“I know, I know but couldn’t you bend the rules just this once? Sylanna said it’s urgent and that this group could be dangerous. I’d go get her myself but she would have already left on her next contract by now.”
“
I-I’m really sorry but maybe-“
“We could keep it just between us! I know its unusual and that there’s a good chance its nothing but on the slight chance it is something, then we could really use your help in preparing however we can. Even just a name to give them could help save lives!”
“I-I-I”
“Please?”
“
Alright! I’ll do it!” Lanassa said somewhat shakily but with a fierce determination in her eyes “Just leave it to me! I’ll find out everything there is to know about these guys and then some! No problem!”
“You’re amazing.” Corven replied already halfway to the door. “I’ve got my own contract now but I’ll drop in again once I get back, and remember, its our little secret investigation. I’m really trusting you on this.” He said as he slipped out of the room. The moment the door shut behind him, he could just about make out the sound of the small elf collapsing into her chair from a sudden wave of exhaustion.
Admittedly he didn’t feel good about lying and putting her on the spot like that. But at the same time, after all the work he did figuring out who’d be the most likely to help him and when they’d be the only one staffing the library, he did feel some level of pride at a job well done and more than a little excitement at the prospect of finally getting some understanding of the mark.
‘But that’ll come another day. For now, work.’ He thought to himself as he made his way towards the legion warehouse.