*Bryna's POV*
As odd as it was to be summoned by Sarial, I'd go. Sienna hung up the communicator and said, "Thank you, Vincent. Be back shortly. I'm sure it's probably not very pressing."
"I'm not sure if you're just trying to ease your own mind, but if she's calling that many people to her office, it's important." Vincent said.
"Well, I said 'pressing' not important. If it was pressing she'd have been rude, not uncertain." Sienna replied. "And she'd be speaking mentally. Let's go Bryna."
"Ooh, he's annoyed!" I said, childishly while opening the door for the elf. It wasn't like he showed it at all, it was just a vibe I got from him. "I'll bring you a snack later."
"Adelaide, mind the store, I need to go have a cup of tea." Vincent said as the door shut behind us.
We headed up the stairs, her brother was easy to collect, we seperated so that she could get Dean, and so I zoomied over to Haril. Having the City Secrets trait allowed me to double my walking speed within towns and cities that I knew well. This included those who walked with me, which was a nice thing.
Once I approached Haril, I said, "Excuse me, Haril..?"
"Well, hello Bryna, what can I help you with?" Haril asked.
"You and I are in trouble and gotta see Sarial in her office." I said.
"Well, I don't know what I possibly would have done, you .. eh." He waved his hand uncertainly.
"But anyways, jokes aside Sarial did request your presence in her office, I just don't know what she'd want me for." I replied.
"Alright, well let's go find out." Haril said.
He barked some orders to some people and we headed to Sarial's office where Dean, Alexion and Sienna already were, just briefly waited for us, before Sienna opened the door and we went inside. As soon as we were inside Sarial directed us to shut the door. Plight and Lucretia were present still. Lucretia's children were not. Nor were Sarial's, but we could hear them playing in the Family room.
"I've been told I'm in serious trouble along with the rest of these people." Haril said, half sarcastically.
Sarial blinked then said, "Oh, yes. Serious trouble. Been slacking and such. But in all seriousness, we need to boost the security of the workers that are working outside the town at the farms and the other odd jobs that are handled outside, like the tanner."
"Could be done, but.. What should I be preparing them for?" Haril asked.
"Our farms in the South especially need some extra protection.. We should prepare for the possibility that we'll have undead forces involved here. Ones that aren't welcome." Sarial said. "I'd like to offer you a job, Bryna, involving that. I planned to have Mills take you to a few locations watching around for undead. Up for it?"
I looked at her with a slightly sickened look. "Oh, that's foul of you." I thought on it deeper. "Very foul, indeed. But, yes, I can do that. I won't like it, though."
"I can give them some training on how to deal with some undead." Haril said.
Sarial nodded and said, "Our friends to the South have an ongoing undead issue that I will be speaking to them about shortly." She tapped her nose, glancing at Dean. "It's gotten to the point that Lucretia has encountered them while taking walks in Ymir's Town with her children. They are adept at.. disguising themselves and blending into populaces. My concern is that if they can reach Ymir's Town, they can reach the Capital and beyond."
"Now, that is a problem. Sounds like that Sultan needs to get on it." Haril said.
"His people are stretched thin already. Their numbers are considerably less than the North's. That's why I want to strengthen our things, because I will be offering assistance to the Sultan through Adventurers. We have more in this area than are useful." Sarial explained.
"If you want to give some of these idiotic Adventurers something to do, go for it. I'm tired of hauling them out of the tavern." Haril grumbled.
Sarial shrugged lightly and said, "The tool I'm lending you to help teach about the undead issue is Alexion. His goddess demands he slay undead, so I figure he'll have useful information, if you would, Alexion.."
"Of course. I can help." Alexion said. "I would also like to be of survice in.. removing hostile undead from where they've over-reached."
"Haril, I will tell you, there are vampires that live in this town, I will never point them out to you, but if the training reveals them to you.. Keep an open mind." Sarial said.
"Well, that would be easy since nothing is able to het in here that wishes anyone harm, so.." Haril said.
"I enjoy your ability to look at things as a whole, rather than individually. Do you have any questions? If not, I've shared what I can at the moment." Sarial said, effectively dismissing Haril and Alexion.
"No, pretty simple. Train up the guards to handle undead, send them out." Haril said. He then excused himself and left with Alexion.
Sarial looked at Dean, "Ask away, Dean, if you have any curiosities."
"What could I possibly have to question you about?" Dean asked.
She raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Letting me off easy? I'll take that."
"No, by this point I'm just used to you not telling me things." Dean said.
"Well, then ask questions." She said. "I still can't read minds, don't make me learn just for you."
"So we have an encroaching undead problem and you have a plan to help the Sultan fix it." Dean said.
"Yes and no. Strictly speaking it should be the South's problem. But in the interest of continuing our lovely arrangement I am going to be confronting him about the issues surrounding the undead and seeing what we can do to alleviate the problem." Sarial explained. "Our people go South daily. It's my responsibility to negate danger to them."
"Well, should we build something in the area they are going to be at, or just deal with it directly?" Dean said.
"I would rather tackle the problem head on." Sarial said. "Building walls would probably not be a bad idea. Once Bryna and Mills have conclunded their walk in the areas I want them to, I'll update you. It may get complicated."
"Everything usually does. Just let me know if there's someone who may need a knife in the back, alright?" Dean said.
"Of course. Go play with your baby, so I can get to mine." Sarial said.
"Should probably find out where mine is. Heh." Dean gave a slight chuckle and headed out.
Sarial looked at some things on her desk and sighed. She got a letter quite suddenly and looked it over. Then she stood and went into the family room, "Mills, I'll be meeting with the Sultan in two hours. If you would go ahead and walk the dog..."
"You don't want me to come with you?" Mills asked.
"No, I'd rather you take Bryna around to East Haven, Scraver's Coast and the Capital to see if the issue is ours, too." Sarial said. "Why are you worried?"
"No, I'm not particularly worried." He said. "I will go with Bryna and see what we can find out."
"Thank you." Sarial said, and gave him a kiss. Which he returned and then got ready to go, hugging both his kids in the process.
We headed out then, Sienna following us down. Distractedly, I went and got a treat for Vincent and Adelaide first and headed into his shop to deliver those, while Sienna got the cloth and things that Vincent had ready for her. Then I explained what signs I'd be using to communicate with Mills, and shifted. After putting a leather cord around my neck to pass me off as a pet, we went through the portal to the Capital first.
We checked around the slums first, it reeked of piss and slightly of filth. Next was the middle class area. I didn't initially smell anything dead scented until we got close to the church. walking amongst some people, I was sure, was an undead. I alerted Mills to it, and we headed to the next location, the upperclass area. I alerted him two more tines to undead people walking about. It appeared they all used the same, or similar, cloaks.
The merchant area especially had the scent of undeads and I alerted to atleast five confirmed undeads. With this information, we headed to Scraver's Coast. There were many undead here. I lost count of them. When we got to the docks, we found a boat ran by them. Seeing the smell had about gagged me, Mills headed us onwards to East Haven. Due to it being ran by Sarial, we were extra careful. We found one single undead here. Our hunt took us just over two hours, because we hitched a ride to East Haven. Mills reported our findings through the device immediately once we reached Sarial's office.
Once Mills reported everything directly, Sarial said, "Well, since it's like this, it would seem my interest in the matter has grown, wouldn't you say, Sire?" Her tone was teasing and light, but her expression was the opposite. "If you wish, I can have Winter's Halt and Ymir's Town investigated in the same manner to find out the situation more clearly."
"Yes, I would say that will be a good idea at the moment. If we could atleast try and corral this problem.." The Sultan said.
"Dear, if you would like you can send someone else with Bryna, if she'll go, to investigate the two places. There are many paladins in Winters Halt, though I am aware they shouldn't have issue with Bryna." Sarial said. I nodded that I'd do it, not wanting to be revealed, regardless of form.
"If they meet some of my people at the gates of Winters Halt, we can deal with some of the undead while we're at it." The Sultan said.
"If that's what you want, I can ask for Arity or Alexion to walk Bryna through." Sarial replied. "Bryna may suffer in your territories."
"And why would that be?" The Sultan asked.
"Bryna is a winter wolf. She may be docile, but heat is something I don't think she'll fair well with." Sarial said. It was something I hadn't considered.
"I do not know how to help with that but a winter wolf roaming might be hard to be in conspicuous with." The Sultan said after a moment.
"It'll be alright. It's a reason why I would prefer her escorted. Arity might be best equipped to handle it." Sarial told him.
"Then I will go and see if I can find Arity." Mills said.
"It's ok, she made herself a device last time she was around. I'll add her in the call. Bryna's gonna need a really good reward, the poor girl." Sarial said, then began adjusting the device.
Arity joined a moment later, "Why are you calling me and not your dad?"
"Because I would like it if you considered doing me a favor that will drag you from your babies. If you're nearby Uncle or Dad it would be good for them to know undead have infiltrated Scraver's Coast and are in the capital." Sarial said. "What I'd like would be for you to escort Bryna through Winters Halt and Ymir's Town to figure out the numbers of undead that may have breached."
"Ah. I imagine that would be a good reason for Winters Halt to reek of death. I noticed that years ago." Arity said. "I don't particularly want to do your request but I will this time."
"I appreciate it. Sultan, how would you like this handled precisely? Arity will escort the wolf." Sarial asked, "But is there anything special you want? Like to see the little beast before she works?"
"It's.. alright, she can go about her job." The Sultan said. "Just try not to be too blatant about what's going on."
Arity snorted, "That may be impossible. A cat walking a dog is a sight to turn every head."
"You may have an easier time acting as if it's a performance." The Sultan noted.
"Is there a reason for the secrecy to Bryna?" Arity asked. "I'm not sure I understand it with the other things you've done."
"No, I suppose there isn't a good reason to it, besides she herself not responding." Sarial said. "It is her own secret to manage."
With that being stated clearly, I had a decision to make. One that could potentially prove beneficial or problematic. I wasn't sure if they were trusting the Sultan or not. During the pause in conversation, Sarial included, "Phintias is the Sultan's advisor. I've known him to be a reasonable man."
So, I shifted to the human form and said, "Well, I do like Phintias... I'm Bryna, a Wolfborn. If it would turn less heads, I can go in my human form, or in a hybrid form that looks similar to Leonin.."
"Your human form would probably draw the least amount of attention.You certainly know an interesting group of people." The Sultan said simply.
"I will likely be able to detect them still. Just, more accurate in wolf form." I said. "If you plan to deal with some of the undead, how do you plan on keeping it quiet without triggering them to attack?"
"The men you'll be meeting at the gate are experts in assassination and disposal." The Sultan said. "I assume your hybrid form would look like a werewolf."
"Yes. But less feral." I answered.
"I feel that will be difficult to walk around as. I suppose the wolf will have to do. At least with that you won't have people coming up to try and make a name for themselves." The Sultan said.
"So forgo inconspicuousness for hilarity?" I asked.
"Indeed." He inclined his head.
"Okies." I said. "So, I gotta go meet Arity. Bye-bye."
"Meet her at the portal." Sarial said as I was leaving. "Let's discuss this matter openly."
I left Sarial's office, leaving the cord around my neck, went downstairs and stopped by Bit's and Bobs to complain to Vincent. Once I was sure no one aside from the dog, Adelaide and Vincent were present I poutingly said, "Your sister is bullying me to make me go sniff out dead things in Ymir's Town and Winters Halt."
"Bullying you is she? There's gonna be a lot of sand in your fur." Vincent replied.
"You're Auntie is gonna walk me on a lead, too." I said, still pouting.
"I'm going to have to hire a painter." Vincent said.
I gasped, "You too?"
"I just think it wouls actually make a wonderful piece of art. And yes." Vincent said.
"Hmph. Well, I don't know if I'm supposed to tell you or not but there's lotsa dead things in Scraver's Coast and some in the Capital. Be careful, ok?" I said to him.
"Do we know what kind of dead things?" Vincent asked.
"Nope. I'm not well versed in it, but they can work a boat and know to use a magic cloak to cloak their presence." I said. "Humans were walking with them without knowing."
"That is a little disconcerting." Vincent said. "I'll have to try and mind my surroundings."
I smiled and said, "Addy will keep you safe."
"Yes I will." Adelaide said.
"Gotta go." I said, and left. I went through the portal to the Capital. I ended up getting there just in time for Arity to reach the building with the portal in it.
"Oh good, your here. Let's get this done." Arity said.
Since no one was currently in the building I ran through the signals with Arity, then shifted, we went back through to Undertown City, straight back through the portal to Ymir's Town. Once we reached Ymir's Town, Arity walked me outside, watching me. The sand was so hot it blistered my feet. She scowled and carried me to a nearby vendor.
She bought some cloth and some leather and wrapped the cloth around my paws, then the leather, tying it off, giving me shoes of sorts. As she did this people were asking her questions about me, and if asked if I was safe to pet, she shrugged and let them. I didn't mind until someone pulled my ear to try and provoke me. Before I could react to it aside from pulling away, Arity punched the dude out.
"Let's not abuse someone's pet, hm?" She said, leveling her gaze at people. She then led me towards the gate, expecting to meet someone there.
Sure enough, there were indeed people there. Three of them, who acknowledged Arity as soon as we got close. She told them the signals, and they began to follow us around. Sniffing the ground for them was about pointless. The wind from the sea shifted the sands and altered smells. People had scents, though. And the wind carried their scents to me. Only in the busiest part of the city, around the market place, did I alert. As soon as Arity pointed out to one of the men about who it was, they whisked that man away before he could react, like shadows come alive.
Impressed, we continued the hunt, though we only found one more here. I made sure we were quite thorough. Arity rented a sand skiff to take us to Winter's halt, the men stayed back to make reports. Within thirty minutes we were at Winter's Halt, meeting the people. The second we entered the town I choked on the air. I almost couldn't keep my wolf shape, the Sultan's men got nervous. When Arity began moving, they followed her. She'd picked me up and took me into some building.
The three men directly asked what was wrong, as Arity laid me on the floor in the building. She gave them a withering look and asked me herself what was wrong, mentally. I explained that the smell was so concentrated here that it choked me. I wouldn't be able to figure them out individually. Without reacting, she took out her device and contacted Sarial.
"... It's not good news." Sarial said as soon as she answered the call and saw Arity's face.
"The stench of the dead choked her. I have her recovering in one of Lucky Stone's warehouses." Arity replied. "She'll be walking as a human after she recovers, but I figured you'd like to know."
One of the three men cast a spell to alert the Sultan to the issue. Meanwhile Sarial suggested we head to the church once able. Arity accepted that and contacted her husband. The thing that surprised me, was she started rubbing my back.
"Hey, so, scent tracking the undead isn't going well. It's made the dog sick." Arity said in a casual tone.
"Well, it's a good thing you already set the kids with Snow. I'll be there soon." Dirthin said.
"We're at the warehouse in Winters Halt trying to let Bryna recover a bit." Arity replied.
"Oh. Well then I'll be there very soon." He said.
She chuckled and hung up. "Can you shift?" She asked. I turned my head towards the men. "Look away." She ordered them. They did and I shifted to human. She laid her hand on me and everything soothed quickly.
I relaxed a bit and said, "Do you think I should tell Daddy what I'm up to?"
"Hmm.. I don't know him well, but it won't hurt you to." Arity replied.
So, I touched the ring, contacting Bibs.
I was babbling a little.
Arity was still sitting next to me on the floor, one hand on my side, gently rubbing me. When I started to get up she asked if I was ok now, when I confirmed, she stood, helping me up, too.
"What did your Sultan direct you to do?" Arity asked them.
"Reach the church, gather the paladins. If we can get out of Winters Halt and reach Ymir's Town with as many confirmed citizens as possible." One of the men replied.
"To the church then." Arity agreed, looking at Dirthin. "We can help with evac and confirmation." She took out an odd little device. "In fact my Sweetheart, you'll have to keep them off me if things go south, because I intend to use Center of Attention."
"Easy. No one's allowed to touch you besides me and the kids anyways." Dirthin replied, giving her a tender look.
We headed back outside, though Arity stopped me and took the cord off me. "No need to give people an easy hold." Then we continued to the church which had tons of people lined up to see the Saintess.
"Wonder how many people in here I'm gonna kill." Dirthin asked.
Arity, having no patience either, walked ahead past everyone, ignoring protests. I tagged along, holding onto Arity's arm and staying close. I was smelling and noticing so many undead. It made me anxious. Priests started to stop us from entering, but one of the Sultan's people flashed something at them and they waved us on inside.
"Uh-huh." Arity said once we entered. It was a sound of sarcasm and irritation mixing together. When I looked at her face, she looked incredibly displeased. It was to the point if I was receiving that look, I'd just leave the room in shame. "Well, that's fucking annoying."
Bout the time she said that, over the smell of holy waters and herbs, I smelt decay. She grabbed one of the Sultan's mens arms and communicated with him mentally.
"You can't be here." One of the priests said. "This is sacred ground."
"This is pathetic and mismanaged." Arity snapped.
The priest called a paladin over, but Arity didn't care, "Touch me, he'll break you and then you'll be useless for what's about to happen." She touched one of the patients and they were instantly better, vitality returned to them immediately and they thanked her.
"What do you mean what's about to happen?" Someone demanded.
"Bryna, once I fix the people lead them to the gate. Take one of these three stooges with you to get sand skiffs ready. There is an event going on in Ymir's Town that is mandatory for citizens to attend." Arity told the room.
I don't get why, but basically everyone believed her. She touched several more people, and they perked right up, too. It was a strange sight to see. She placed a hand on one person and said, "You'll be staying right here."
Someone quickly left the room into one of the side ones. After a group of them were together, I was directed to lead them directly to the gate with the skiffs. I nodded and did as I was told, taking one of the men with us. A guard, I noticed, near the skiffs were also an undead. I whispered as much to the man. After a word to the owners of the skiffs, they'd all checked out thus far, the man escorted that guard away somewhere and returned alone.
After sending the previously ill people, and some people I rounded up, away on a skiff, we returned to the church. The man didn't need to flash his whatever it was at then again. The priest just looked away. Arity had helped some more people recover by the time we got back. The Saintess made her appearance now. Trying to deduce what was going on. Arity wasn't having it. She snapped at her, "Use Restoration on people or get out of my business."
The paladins went on edge, the priests were giving orders and Dirthin was ready to kill them. I cast Silence on the crowd and said, "We require your understanding and cooperation. Leonin are widely known for fighting, it's their love language. I will drop my spell, immediately, but you priests are being a hindrance to the orders of the Sultan. If you do anything more, I suspect things will go poorly. Please direct questions and concerns to myself." Then I dropped the spell.
Dirthin started laughing and Arity gave him a look. The Saintess raised her hand and told her people to calm and then she looked to me and said, "Can you explain what is happening here?"
"Yes, Miss." I said politely. "My elder here has asserted that the Sultan has an event going on in Ymir's Town. It's mandatory people attend, to that end, Miss, my elder is healing up those who are ill to send to Ymir's Town. Such is the Sultan's order."
"Might I see your proof of Sultan's orders?" She asked. One of the Sultan's men stepped forward and showed her a letter. She accepted it from him and began looking it over. She nodded, "Help fix everyone up and send them on." A few argued they were supposed to hold out for the undead wave, and she responded that they have their orders.
"Thank you, Miss." I said. Glad that Dirthin had reigned himself in. Arity looked slightly amused. I escorted the next bunch out, with one of the men, then returned. The rest were handled and Arity had escorted the rest out she taunted them again.
"Would you like to see a miracle?" Arity said.
"There are miracles every day, but I still live to see them." The Saintess said.
"This is what I can do." She said, turning towards the lines of people and using that item she'd taken out. She waved her hand slightly and all around the sick people and injured began recovering. Just like a miracle. And Arity didn't look the least bit bothered by doing something so amazing.
Then she spoke aloud to everyone. "People of Winters Halt. By order of the Sultan, you will be attending a mandatory event in Ymir's Town. I am going to place you in groups to send along. I shall also be selecting those who will be rounding up everyone else who is not present here today. If someone is ill or injured, bring them to the priests, the Sultan will be covering such cost of healing due to the mandatory nature of this event."
Some people seemed hesitant, but once the Saintess backed up her statements they believed her. She began seperating people into groups and sending others to the skiffs. Skiffs were coming and going now, smoothly. The people she picked put to 'help' her round everyone else up seemed to mostly be undead. A few weren't. I was confused over what the plan was. She also kept the priests, paladins and Saintess back.
I lost count of how many skiffs we sent off. Not a single undead was on any of them thus far. The undead remaining stared at Arity giving her their undivided attention every time she was in their sight. She then asked me to get on a skiff with the last of the living. I shook my head and saying I would help. She looked at Dirthin, who shrugged so she just accepted it.