Three Things Bothering Rune
Log Info
- Title: Three Things Bothering Rune
- Place: A08: N. Bridge Over Tornmawr River and Shipping Channel
- Summary: Jacob stumbles upon Rune at the bridge and she attempts to get him caught up on recent events.
The day is warm, with only a few clouds flitting across the sky. Much of Alexandria carries on as it always does, oblivious to the threats that lurk both within and outside their walls. For Rune, it has been a trying few days. The rogue is standing on the overlook of the bridge, leaning slightly against the railing, her hood up, her eyes looking down along the river.
People pass by, largely giving her space since it isn't polite to interrupt someone so clearly introspective. However, there seems to be more to it than that. There is a slight bit of padding around her belly that suggests bandages underneath. Her hands seem to be fidgeting with her mother's necklace, toying with the loose pieces.
Rune is... unsettled.
Many people pass by.
The shadows that may flicker at the edge of her vision come and go until one seems to slow to a stop. Hooded and robed, Jacob seems to move closer to Rune, resting his wrists on the edge of the railing as a slow hum leaves his throat, a soft sound.
"A troubled mind is oft the killer of hope." His voice rumbles from him like quiet thunder, yet friendly all the same as mismatched eyes regard her with a deep fondness.
"Rune."
He speaks her name, eyes drift to her midsection where padding seems evident. "I would ask you what troubles you...and what enemy had been lucky to wound you."
The sound of a voice draws Rune's attention, causing her blue eyes to look over almost immediately. There is a brief look of surprise that passes on her face before her lips curve upward in a faint smile. "I must be out of it if you were able to sneak up on me." This is followed by a gentle laugh. A laugh that then causes her to wince and take a slow breath.
"It was a man the size of a mountain, with more hair than your average werewolf. I think someone told me they're called Firbolg." Rune explains, reaching a hand down to touch that area of her belly, "Had a giant axe and nearly cleaved me in two. Not my finest of moments."
She makes a soft sound, then, "Besides, my mind is always troubled these days. Things don't seem to really ever ease in that regard."
Jacob's observant. He can see the troubled look in her eyes, the unsettled nature of her spirit in this very moment. Some...urge and impulse in him wants to slay everything and anything that's ever harmed her.
A dark urge quickly laid low.
"Daydreaming is common, especially if your mind is racing to distant shores." Jacob comments with a chuckle. He reaches to gently place a hand on her shoulder. "Would you like me to look at it?" The wound. Though Jacob seems surprised at this news of a 'Firbolg' and the description she gives him. She was almost cut in twain?! Unacceptable.
"Would you share these troubles with me?" He asks her, his voice soft. "I would choose not to allow you to carry this burden alone."
"If you insist." Rune is used to dealing with healers. They never did trust the work of someone else. Turning her back to the railing, Rune lifts first the layer of patched leathers, and then the light shirt of mithral chain beneath it, revealing the layers of white bandages. As she starts unwrapping it, all that is revealed is a long slash of dark pink skin just above her belly button. It has already been healed by magic, that much is obvious.
It also gives him one new tidbit of knowledge: Rune's tattoos don't end at her arm. They seem to go down along her side as well. "See? Nothing to be worried about. A couple more days and a bit more tending and it'll be like nothing happened." Magic is good like that. Still, she lets him examine anyways.
"Where do I even start?" Rune sighs, leaning weight back against the railing. "Should we talk about Fey nonsense, Werewolves, or the tower in the Felwood?"
It's not so much that Jacob distrusted the work of others, but rather he didn't much like it when people who have been successfully treated seem to still be in mild pain. So he's just planning on checking it to make sure her wound didn't manage to become infected.
"Hmm...a clean cut. Good work on the healing...Harkashan's work, I presume?"
He sees the true length of her tattoo as it runs down her side as well, though he seems to reach into his belt to take out a small bottle of salve solution, applying it delicately to her wound. "That should help with the pain. It will help keep you functional for a few hours at least." He takes the time to reapply bandages and keep them tight to her form. Better a salve than maggots, one might assume.
Then the mithril shirt and leather armor is brought back down to keep contact from him to her flesh. "Hm...that does seem like a lot. Let's start from the bottom and work our way up, hm?"
"Guild healer." Rune replies, "Harkashan was off in Mictlan at the time so I took what I could get. He's... had his own troubles to deal with." Just from her tone, it's obvious that the girl isn't going to get further into that matter. Whatever is troubling the other Cleric is his business to discuss with people, not hers.
When he applies the salve, there is a wiggle and a sound from the rogue who murmurs, "That's cold..." It's a quiet complaint, met with a hint of embarrassment about the whole ordeal. "I'm fine. This is nothing compared to..." Trailing off, Rune just shakes her head. She is not going to elaborate to anyone what the experience of dying was like.
"Okay, so which thing is the 'bottom' then?"
"Troubling news." Jacob looks at Rune's eyes before her tone can take its full effect. He knows enough from that small thing that she's either not too happy about it or she's respecting Harkashan by not unveiling his business to others. "But I won't ask about it." And in turn, Jacob respects her decision. He's not much a gossip anyway.
Amusement leaves him in the form of a soft laugh. "Cold, but it'll warm with time." His work complete, he finishes her sentence. "Dying?" He asks with a chuckle. "I don't know if anything really compares to dying. In a way, you have a leg up on all of us."
She asks which thing is 'bottom'. "I suspect it's the thing that troubles you least. Or we can simply discuss what you feel like discussing, as much as you're comfortable."
Oh the expression that Rune gives at his comment on dying. Her brows raise and she side-eyes him hard. Taking a breath, she schools herself to not jump off that particular cliff. Instead, she just shakes her head and turns around again, looking out towards the water.
"Least troubling, huh?" She murmurs, throwing her mother's necklace back around her throat and tucking it under her shirt before taking out a dagger. She just starts to play with it, as if it were a toy rather than a weapon. It's tossed, flipped, and occasionally she just runs her fingers along the flat edge. "So, we took a job to help investigate that tower in the Felwood."
Her eyes look over to him, not knowing how much he really knows about that situation, "So, we ended up coming across this clearing, with a table and food set for exactly the same number of people as our party. Turned out to be mimics. The table was a big momma mimic and the jars of jam on the table were babies."
She smirks then, "I got tongue grappled by the big one, and nearly got my arm bitten off by one of the smaller ones." Rune pulls down one of her gloves to show a very faded white scar on her wrist. "After that, we went to the Mythwood to try to get some answers. That was a whole mess." Without elaborating, Rune gets to the point, "Seems like the tower has something to do with the Sky-singer, and only can be approached during the full moon."
Aaaaaaaand that's a good place to stop talking about /that/ particular subject.
Rune had a Mile-long death stare that could rip the soul out of a man. His eyes briefly shift to the necklace she plays with, the one that swiftly goes around her neck while her knife is drawn and toyed with. If she seemed irresponsible, Jacob doesn't point it out. He just listens.
"Felwood...terrible place." Jacob /hates/ that forest. He looks at the scar on her wrist and he frowns. "Mimics? Deceptive and cunning. You're lucky to be alive. They've taken many an unsuspecting adventurer. "The Sky-Singer? What would Eluna wish for a Tower paved by moonlight?" Jacob brings a hand to his bearded chin. "I suspect foul play."
"I'm not sure I understand the hows and whys of it. It seems like the tower might be something very old." Rune lifts a shoulder, her expression uncertain, "You know my relationship with the Sky-Singer is a confusing one, at best. But... I started on this so I have to see it through, even if it means putting myself right under her watchful eye."
She looks towards him, then, "So, I'm going to keep chipping at that mystery. Seeing what sort of information comes of it, but I suspect whatever the Tower is now, it is no longer a place blessed by the Sky-Singer. It seems like a much darker thing."
And that is the /least/ of Rune's concerns. Oh gods.
"So, following up on that... That woman we rescued from the Cultists? She goes by Asphodel. She's a Llyranesi noble. Someone my father worked with." And yet this doesn't seem to be the problem, only the precursor. "She held a party in the Theater District and these two men showed up. One younger, one older. They were asking for Telamon. Acting really suspicious, too."
Rune taps the handle of the dagger against the railing, "I'm not sure I follow most of what happened the other day, but the younger one seems to want something from Asphodel. He mentioned needing clothing for 5000 people who seem to be his 'workforce'. That doesn't sound like a workforce to me, it sounds like an army." But Rune may have misunderstood some of that. "He seems to be involved with the Blue Moon Ale company."
Then, as if to add to this, "Harkashan apparently had a run in with the elder of the two. They were identified as Marsward Seraquoix, the leader of one of the were-wolf factions." And this is likely why Rune would rate this one higher on her concerns, "Apparently he can turn invisible and is quite powerful."
"That's putting it lightly."
Rune's relationship with the sky-singer was /extremely/ complicated. Though he has offered her encouragement to seek out Eluna at her temple, Rune believes she is indebted to the Goddess. It's Jacob's sincerest hope that she's able to meet that doubt and confront it. To defeat it.
To meet her destiny.
"The darkness around us always seeks to corrupt what the Gods have built. It would not surprise me if a dark God had tried to take over her lands in mockery. I will be there to help you dig into this."
Because that's what she means to him. She's the most important person in his life.
"I recall. She's...interesting. I'm not sure I know what I think of her yet. But go on." He tilts his head. "She worked with your father?" He asks, and he listens more. Werewolf leadership were present?! "He...can turn invisible?" Jacob lifts a hand to his chin, looking out to the water.
"...Things are getting more complicated."
"Any help we can get would go a long way." Rune replies, letting out a sigh of breath and drawing a few strands of her dyed hair back behind her ear. He might just notice that the color has been refreshed since last he saw the half-sil, carrying a slight purple undertone to the blue. She may very well have taken his advice and accented her usual blue-flower dye with the purple ones he had pointed out.
"Harkashan could probably explain better than I can. He was there in person when Marsward tried to take someone." With a pause, she adds, "Apparently, he nearly knocked one of our fellow Adventurers out cold with a single blow." She tilts her head, looking at Jacob with some concern, "If you don't already own one, I'd suggest investing into a silver weapon of some sort. I'm sure there are still more encounters with the werewolves to come."
With hesitation, Rune reaches up and her hand touches over her tattooed arm. "I guess that brings us to the last thing." The struggle in Rune's expression is real as she takes a moment to gather her thoughts. "We ran into a Fey creature, one called the Corpse-Eater. He recognized these tattoos. The ones that I copied from those my mother had." Her blue eyes look to him, but only briefly before flicking away again, cast down the river. "Telamon and Cor'lana believe my mother might have had a pact with some Fey entity, and that might be what got her killed."
"Then I will be there."
Jacob says such a thing as if it were the greatest fact he could utter. He looks upon her hair, how the color had been refreshed with a new touch-up of dye. It carries a slight purple undertone to the hue, a slight flush comes to his cheeks as he notices such a subtle detail yet...it would appear that she had taken his advice.
It looks good on her.
"I understand. I will make the attempt to seek him out and try to attain a silver weapon. They are rather...pricey, if I'm not mistaken." He looks down then. "A corpse eater? A fey being..." He seems to look uncharacteristically angry. "An abomination." He then looks towards her, the tattoos copied from her mother....and it appears bound to a Fey. "That would explain...quite a bit." He humms softly.
"I fear this is not the end of the story. We must find out which entity your mother may have bargained with."
"They can be, but it seems worth the investment for the chance that we might run into more lycanthropes." Rune reaches a hand down, patting a new scabbard attached to her waist rather than her usual ones strapped across her back. "Eventually, I'll replace it with something mithral, but that's probably more gold than I can afford just now." Her blue eyes look over towards him, "Cor'lana suggested it, along with a cold-iron blade in case we run into more Fey beings."
It's obvious that while the first two topics are the ones that impact others more strongly, threatening the very fate of Alexandros, that it is this strange Fey connection that weighs most heavily on Rune's shoulders. "The Corpse-Eater knew my mother. He said he would have bound with her, but she was already bound to another. That the tattoos were a sign of that. That I'm a fool for putting them on my skin not knowing what they mean." She lifts one shoulder, seeming to silently acknowledge that foolishness.
"It's not even close to the end of the story." She confirms, catching her lower lip between her teeth as she seems to pensively think through things.
"Cor'lana is going to take me to the Fey realm to speak with someone. Hopefully they'll have some idea what sort of entity it was that my mother might have been connected to." She whispers to herself with a soft sigh, "Anything that might explain... why."
Then, Rune seems to steel herself back to normal, shaking her head and pushing herself up from where she had leaned against the bridge. "That's... pretty much all of it. Figured you should know. Things seem like they're going to change fast..."
"Mithral is expensive. I tried to look into it and just the /thought/ of it was more than enough to break my bank." Jacob remarked with a big smile on his face. "But I suppose that silver will have to do." He looks at Rune for a long moment, thinking for a second. "Cold Iron....yes, that will work well."
"Hm...at least it's comforting that your mother wasn't bound to this Corpse-Eater, but it may know more information. Maybe if it were pressed...but making deals with Fey is a foolish notion at best." Not that Rune's mother is a fool, but no one in their right mind would make a deal with something known as a Corpse Eater.
"There's even more?"
Jacob starts to laugh grimly. "When you told me you've been busy...you clearly were not lying." He jokes with her playfully, humming a little bit. "The Fey Realm? Quelynos? I've been there before. It left me..." He seems to clench his fists tightly. "Changed. I don't know how or why....but something happened. If you go....just be careful."
He moves his hand to rest lightly over hers if she allows. "Thank you for trusting me with this information, Rune. I'm always here for you, and should you have me with you...I would gladly join you into the realms beyond our own."
She doesn't comment about costs, likely knowing full well that there have been quite high expenses as of late. Things that have emptied her pockets and pouches in order to better equip herself for the challenges to come. For Rune, it is simply part of the life she leads.
Instead, she focuses on the Fey. "I get the idea that the Corpse-Eater is a power beyond our abilities to deal with. He seems to even worry more powerful Adventurers." her brows furrow. "If my mother had some sort of deal with the Fey, she must have had a reason. She was a good person, not a fool." Rune's hand reaches up to lightly touch the tattoos on her arm.
"Besides... I was warned that by wearing these marks, the being that they refer to might find me, sooner rather than later." She had gone years without anyone taking notice of them as more than body art, but things were changing.
Turning to Jacob, she seems to echo his concerns. Her lips press together and she lightly lets her fingers slip up between his, giving a squeeze. "I'll be careful. No names, no offers of gratitude... Cor'lana and Telamon warned me of the basics." And yet, with him offering to accompany her, Rune just shakes her head, "It sounds like you have your own history with the Fey. Besides... I'm already imposing enough."
She tries to offer her reassurances, then. "Cor'lana insists that it should be safe, so long as we are within the realm of her patron. I trust her."
With that, Rune gives Jacob's hand another squeeze and then steps back, "I should get going. I've got some supplies I need to pick up. I'll... see you around, okay?" A soft smile si offered in goodbye, but that troubled, shadowed expression remains in her eyes.