Lupus in Vestimentis Ovium [Q]

Valther stared at the water, shimmering serenely as boats entered and exited the marine in the evening light, hauling in their latest catches, and heading out to find bigger ones. He picked at his new cotton gloves idly, as if trying to feel the mana that flowed within them, and ran his clothed fingers along the dirty white curve of his brand 'new' blade. Of course, it was all crappy gear, but it was better than the useless starting equipment. Raising his palm, he whispered "Pruinae," under his breath, and he felt the air around his fingers chill, and the mana within the glove almost freeze as it condensed into a blue orb within his palm, and sprayed out in a cone of frost, coating the water at his feet in a thin sheet of ice.

Clenching his fist gently he smiled to himself. I'm on my way, he encouraged himself and stood, raising the blade carefully and sliding it into the leather housing of its sheath. Turning away from the water he headed towards the closest village... and on the way heard the high-pitched screaming of a child, gasping, Valther raised his hood and dashed off, his steps quick as he made a beeline for the village.

He wasn't fast enough. If he had something like aeromancy he could have gotten there quicker... but now all he was met with was a pool of blood, not even a single shred of flesh left over. Something had killed a child, Val knew it. That had to have been a child's scream... growling at his inability to save the victim, he turned and bolted into the village, the need to protect the villagers fueling his legs. He didn't even shoot the citizens a glance as he passed by, searching for what looked like the most important building.

Growing tired already, and anxious about the danger that possibly lurked within this village, Valther faced off with the closest NPC, his eyes anguished. "Who's the leader of this village?" he asked and the NPC gasped, shaking her head quickly. "W-we don't have a leader-"

"Then who can I talk to? There's something dangerous in your village!"

The NPC blinked in surprised. "No... not another one..." she gasped and began to tear up. "What do you mean 'another one'?" he snapped and the NPC began to sob, covering her mouth with one hand and beckoning with the other. "C-come this way..." she choked and led him into a small, humble cottage. Excusing himself as he entered, he stared at the small child rocking back and forth on his rump against the wall. "T-tell him Farro..." the NPC squeaked to the boy, and without looking at Val, the boy began to speak, stuttering repeatedly.

Apparently a 'serial killer' in the form of a wolf has been taking children from their homes and anywhere they would be alone and taking their identity. The boy was the only one to live to see the killer's true form, so the villagers were skeptical of his tale, and even if they trusted him, it would be impossible to sniff out the 'wolf in sheep's clothing'. Counting the child who had died that day... the body count was already at six.

"You must leave, it's too dangerous here... if you meddle with the wolf's plans you'll be next..." the NPC woman sobbed and dropped to her knees. Val reaches down to the hilt of his blade and sighed, massaging the silver hilt thoughtfully. "If it means no more children die, I'll be more than happy to deal with the threat," he offered, and the woman looked up at him, suddenly stopping sobbing.

A confirmation window popped up in front of him, listing the quest name 'The Hungry Wolf'. Shaking his head he chuckled; he should have known it was a scripted event. However, the 'accept' button was all grayed out. Scanning through the quest entry, he stared at the party size; two to three members. Running an anxious hand through his amethyst hair, he groaned. Looks like he'd have to wait for a partner to arrive.

@Daren @Kyupin Felnya

 

Daren silently stood on the docks of Duunstad. This was his first time he had visited Duunstad and he could tell that there was a massive difference in skill between players and NPCs. Most of the players visiting had at least some sort of experience while the NPCs seemed to keep to their own selves. He could feel his chest-plate rise and fall as he breathed and it caused him to slightly chuckle, at least he had one piece of armor for now. It meant he wouldn't get hit as hard by the creatures, but it still meant he had a long way to go for any sort of master set. Shaking his head slightly, he wondered just how far he could push himself while keeping all of the old useless equipment.

Slowly standing back up, Daren took the AFK symbol above his head off and then began walking toward the dockyard, he needed to see when the next ride out of Duunstad would arrive. As he neared an NPC, the NPC began running toward the village, confused Daren followed the NPC and only heard the cry of a child at the last moment. Blinking he wondered if this was a scheduled attack or something brand new. If it was brand new that meant that it could lead to a quest; and quests were the best thing for Daren at the moment.

Slowly arriving at the scene; he noticed he was definitely not the only person intrigued by this occasion. The pool of blood; no evidence, no remains; that was what made Daren curious about this attack, this scream of pain. Shaking his head as the player had run off; Daren decided to stick around a little bit. Crouching he slowly touched the pool of blood and then sniffed it. Over the years he had discovered that he could tell the difference between animal blood, human blood, and sea creature blood. This was because of his work, and his hobby. Smiling he wiped the blood against the grass and then began to walk toward the village. This was going to be an interesting quest.

He could see the other player making his way toward one of the larger building within the village. Quirking an eyebrow, Daren followed after him before seeing him talk to a female villager. Curious, he listened in on the conversation and from what he could take as a possible fact was that they did not have a village leader. Then the male player seemed to get irritated at her and say that it was dangerous. Chuckling, Daren was going to tell him to calm down only to stop in light surprise due to seeing the NPC's reaction. So it wasn't the first time; did that mean it was a repeatable quest?

The crying woman had then led the player to a small hut. It was here that Daren decided to stop listening in, this likely would lead up to a quest and that meant it would be something entertaining at least. So Daren checked his HP and MP and nodded that they were still full after all the other quests he had done lately. Flexing his hands and then stretching, Daren waited for the quest sound to appear. It took a while but finally, he heard the sound. "Sound's like we're dealing with some werewolf of sorts?" Daren spoke up from the doorway as he had walked into the building.

"My apologies, I was actually quite curious so I followed you around. My name is Daren and I would gladly give you an assisting hand." He actually wanted to kill whatever this creature was; because then he could study it at least.

@Valther Tyrell @Kyupin Felnya

 

"You shouldn't be out alone, kid."

Kyupin looked up, startled from her berry foraging by the gruff voice. She turned around to better stare at the large, hairy man, head tilted. "Shouldn't I?" she parroted, tucking a lock behind her ear and folding her basket of berries closer to her chest. Instinctively, she stepped closer to the man, curious at the stern expression on his face.

His eyes only darkened. "There be nasty creatures out, snapping pretty little girls like yous." In a gesture unfitting of his tone, he smiled. "Best be careful."

Humming in thought, Kyupin looked to her feet. Nasty creatures, huh? The odd thing about this game was, sometimes there'd be little spoken cues hinting at a quest from an NPC. But she never knew which one was NPC and which one was player. Heck, she'd only learned about NPCs being an actual thing a few days ago! She squinted at the man, trying to figure out if he was a fancy AI thing too. "Sounds pretty bad," she said with a nod, "looks like you need some help clearing the woods then!" With a bounce, she grabbed at his hand, tugging the bewildered man towards the town. "You're from here, right? I can help. Who should I talk to?"

The poor guy actually looked startled by the barrage of questions, so Kyupin hastily let go of him, turning in place to walk backwards and regard him. He, too, 'regarded' her. "You's like thems adventurers, aren'cha?" he mused, brows furrowing.

She nodded eagerly, hair fanning around her face at the rapid movement.

"A'righty then, follow me."

And she did. They walked closer to the nearby village, slipping through streets and waving at everybody she saw. Some waved back, others… cowered? "Is it usually like this?" she asked absent-mindedly, concern blooming in her chest at the odd state of these citizens.

She didn't like the look of frustration that crossed his face. "They don' hear these things uptown, do they? 'Course not. Been this way a whiles." He clicked his tongue, spitting on the street.

Kyupin took a wide detour around the hoagie, barely managing to keep pace with the longer legs. "What… happened?" she asked, hesitation finally filtering into her words. Did she really want to get involved in something that was devastating an entire village? Her hands shook, her personal survival instincts warring with her need to help. Yes, yes she did.

They swept past a door and into a rickety hut, which was slowly becoming too crowded. "Looks like theys can tell ya," the man said with a nod, quickly making to exit. Something seemed to stop him, though, and then he turned and gave her a quick pat on the head. "Stay safe, kiddo."

She frowned at his back as he left, then turned to the four others in the hut. Her eyes lit up as they landed on Daren, recognizing him from their stint in the fields. "Daren!" she chirped, sliding close to him. "It sounded like something serious is happening. Do you know anything about that?" Kyupin's ears folded in on themselves as she recalled the panicked expressions directed her way, the mothers sheltering children away from her body, the general… off-ness… of the village. "If you do… then please. Tell me. I want to do something to help."

@Valther Tyrell @Daren

 

Valther whipped around in shock, grasping the hilt of his blade and unsheathing it a couple inches, just enough for the ivory blade to reflect the dull candlelight within the hut. With a sigh, he let the sword settle back into its home with a clink and folded his arms. "Word of advice; make yourself known before speaking so suddenly in the future," he grumbled and eyed the newcomer off. "Others aren't as careful with their sword as myself," he smirked and held his hand out towards the player. "Name's Valther, but just call me Val. And it seems we do have a bit of a werewolf problem, but it doesn't sound like it's gonna be easy," Val introduced himself, before his eyes laid upon a young girl who seemed to already be acquainted with Daren.

In Daren's place, Val spoke up since he'd heard the story from start to finish. "There's some kind of shapeshifting werewolf lurking in the village, and it's been stealing children from homes and eating them, and apparently taking their identity," Val explained to the young girl, his arms still folded defensively. She sure seemed like a child herself, but Val new from experience not to judge a book by its cover, especially since this was a game. "If you want, you can help us track it down but I can't guarantee any of us will come through in one piece. If the beast has eluded the villagers for this long, he's dangerous," he grumbled, looking down at the ground, tapping his foot thoughtfully.

The quest prompt popped up once more now that all three members were present, and Val impatiently tapped the 'accept' button, and awaited the other two. As he waited, he began to ramble as a plan began to ravel together in his mind. "We'll explore the location each child was taken from in reverse order, see if we can find some kind of pattern. If we find one, then we can gauge where the wolf will strike next and intercept him. If not... I guess we'll have to go with a Salem-style witch trial, although I'd rather not," he explained to his new partners.

Scratching the back of his neck with one hand, he gently caressed the hilt of his weapon. "If we're to do this, though, we'll need to remove our weapons... store any weapons you have in your inventory. I use Hydromancy, so when we find the wolf I can restrain it while we retrieve our weapons," Val explained with an irritated, yet defeated sigh, opening his inventory and unequipping his sword, leaving him with magic as his only weapon. "If the wolf sees us with weapons, he'll know we're on the hunt and likely won't attack until we're gone," he added and nodded to the other two. "Any questions or suggestions?"

@Daren @Kyupin Felnya