Chapter 2
Within a continent unknown to many, lies a small town.
Off in the distance, a pillar of light pierces the sky. Urvkos steps out into the outskirts of a desert town, soon coming to feel this same “foreign” arcana that his acquaintance felt. Though it was only a faint feeling, it wasn’t as foreign as he described it, it was most certainly familiar.
Noteworthy, Urvkos thought to himself as he continued to enter the town.
As he made his way inward, he sees raised banners and tents belonging to a completely different nation. While Urvkos was looking around, he spots men in red patrolling the streets. One of these men sees Urvkos and immediately marches towards him.
“Stop! This area’s unda Regalian occupation! State yer business or head back to ya home!”
Urvkos pauses as he stares at the man stopping him.
“I am but a holy scribe documenting various religious locales for the purpose of historical preservation.”
Urvkos raises his faux holy symbol. “It is of Ogma’s will.”
The man inspects Urvkos as he continues to stare blankly at the guard.
“Now may I ask,” said Urvkos “what is your business here.”
The guard stops, “We’re here in search of aid for our forces by request of General Vlad.”
“Oh, that’s quite interesting.”
The guard imposes his presence on Urvkos.
“What brings you t’say something like that, scribe.”
“Well if you must know, your general and I used to work together. We fought in that big elements conflict, or what have you…” says Urvkos as he hides his faux symbol.
The guard peers into Urvkos as he scratches his chin, “Partnas, eh?”
An air of silence soon falls upon them both, as the guard inches closer to Urvkos.
“Sir, if you need to go and confirm it with him, you can just ask--”
The guard interrupts him as he palms him in the side of his head, throwing Urvkos to his knees.
“As if some hobo scribe like you would ever have the grace ta work with a man like Vlad, you mock Regalia by spoutin’ that nonsense.”
The guard spits on Urvkos’ beard, and turns to walk away.
Urvkos stays on his knees, before regaining his composure.
“Well, to be fair…” Urvkos mutters as he wipes the spit off his beard. “I can see why some may not take a liking unto me, given my appearance… But it seems as though a pawn’s on a power-high.”
The guard continues pacing forward, acting as if nothing was uttered.
“Ah, I see.”
Urvkos swiftly advances toward the guard, with one fist cocked and the other drawing out a shape in the air, all the while mumbling words of an unknown tongue, followed by Urvkos hooking the guard at his head with a necrotically charged punch.
The guard drops, convulges, and coughs out blood.
“Grunts such as yourself are only fodder for when the bigger gun comes, take that statement to your grave, pawn.” Urvkos declares as he kicks the side of the guard.
Urvkos trots toward the town as he notices two distracted guards stationed. Urvkos feigns a smile and waves politely toward the men.
“It seems whilst I was being greeted, one of your men fell ill. Please take care of him!”
The men rush over to their comrade, as Urvkos begins to leisurely stroll through the town.
He takes on a slow stride as he passes by a quaint bookshop, with a window to look through; through the window were books, new and old, stacked high. Urvkos admired the absurd quantity of books as he continued his stroll.
As he continued, he looked out into the sprawling sandy fields.
The desert seemed to stretch outward toward infinity, but before Urvkos could take note of any other detail, he noticed an ancient structure in the distance. The structure was surrounded by what appeared to be a myriad of men; both entering and exiting the structure, as well as many more guarding it.
Odd, Urvkos mumbled to himself.
Urvkos slowed down his stroll as he took a moment to further analyze the town he was in.
As he looked around, he noticed more men in uniform making their way through the streets than what could be the commoners. He also noticed the amount of tents placed about the outskirts of the town, almost akin to barracks. Whilst he was taking a more investigative stroll through the town, he happened upon the tavern. From there, the idea of getting more information with a tankard of mead came to mind; and so he entered.
When Urvkos entered, he noticed a group of Regalian men drinking in the corner and chatting furiously loud, amidst the other patrons. He continued his advance toward the barman, who appeared slightly annoyed with the disruptive chatter of the men present.
Urvkos pulls up to the bar counter.
“O’ hello!.” Said the half elven tender, attempting to feign enthusiasm.
“Ah yes, hello.” Urvkos reaches for some gold in his pouch.
“I’d like some fine mead, as well as some conversation on current happenings.”
Urvkos places the gold on the counter.
The half elven takes the gold and reaches for the tankard and begins filling it with mead.
“So what brings ye? You best not be like one of them folk in red.”
“Oh, no, I’m here for personal matters; but... that’s beside the point.” Urvkos motions toward the guards drinking in the corner with slight grimace
“I want to know why I see more Regalian folk than commoners here.”
The tender laughs, “Ah, those schmucks? They came lookin’ ta figure out the ‘secret’ to our town’s warpin’ ritual.”
The tender’s laugh soon turns to a grunt of loathing. “Their general’s gone real whack on tryna ta figure out how he can use our ritual for his own benefit.”
Urvkos’ blank expression soon grows cold, he already figured what a general would want to use extra-planar travel for, despite the man using it being one of his work-partners.
“I see.” Said Urvkos as the tender hands him his mead.
After Urvkos enjoyed his mead, he went on and left the bar. He immediately looked for the nearest guard and approached him.
“Pardon me, sir.” Said Urvkos.
“But may you direct me to where I can meet with the General, Vlad?”
The guard gives Urvkos a quick inspecting glance.
“Sure… just head toward the tents, and it should be the biggest tent there. Just know that Vlad hates havin’ his time wasted.”
Urvkos feigns a smile and thanks the guard as he swiftly walks toward the tents.
Whilst Urvkos is strolling through the town and approaching the outskirts, he thinks about the time since he last saw his other partners from the Elemental Conflict. He knows that Barnabas went off to go steal relics from incompetent users, his massive goliath acquaintance remained as a royal guard, and the last detail he can vaguely remember is that some respected buffoon went off and became a king, whilst having a strong-arm bull lead his smiths. Their outlooks on things certainly have changed since then, and he feels that this Vlad fellow won’t be much different.
Urvkos approaches Vlad’s tent, it’s bigger stature clearly announces his rank to those who were none the wiser. When he arrives at the foot of his tent, ponders on what he feels he might say… sure, he’s a general, but he didn’t remember Vlad being all too bright for a man who was supposed to lead an army. But these types tend to be the worst at being convinced, he also thinks.
After some consideration, Urvkos takes a deep breath, and enters the tent.