Solo Taking a Job

[Crylon Stonecraft]

4 Fall 519 Crylon had learned among his time in human lands that not everything translated completely to common. Or, more in truth, translated to the concepts and things which the humans and others in these lands understood from their language. Concepts that to an Isur made no sense, and things that Isur understood which would confuse the locals. Heading into Zeltiva with a human, Crylon was considering such things. Back at the meeting he had taken an interest in a job Kelski had mentioned. A card with some basic details. A place in Zeltiva, a building, which belonged to a mage in the city. Something that in other cities would be a much larger detail he supposed, or one more hidden. Here though, in Zeltiva, it was just a fact. Like the materials of the building, or its size. He liked cats, collected door hinges, and oh yes he was a mage. Crylon shook his head to himself, causing his companion for the day to glance at him as they walked. "What? You see something?" Crylon simply shook his head, taking a moment to look at his compatriot. Compatriot, someone in common of the Meraki and their Demesne, the thought of which made Crylon smile again to himself. Sona simply shook her head, saying "petching Isur..." under her breath offhandedly to explain Crylon's oddness. She was a small female human, or at least small for a human. She was still taller than Crylon, with long hair braided down her back of a pale hue with highlighted bits of darker color. She wore a pale and somewhat oversized white shirt with the cuffs pinned down, some leather breeches which similarly seemed chosen for comfort and use in wear rather than fashion, and a one armed leather pack slung over one shoulder which held the woman's tools. Or at least that was as much as Crylon had gotten out of her as to what she was carrying. When Crylon had mentioned he was going to inspect the house she had volunteered, or more so insisted on coming. She had explained her talents to the Isur by simply saying she was "good with tools." Something which raised as many questions as answers. Their destination was a building of a dead mage, one who seemed to have secrets. And so his living relatives wanted someone to look into his abode to see if anything was to be found. Hidden holds of resources, a hidden lab, or other locations to be looked into for follow up searches. It was odd, Crylon felt, to once more have compatriots. Not since leaving Sultros, or the Kindgom of the Isur, had he felt he had such. Now though... Kelski and her comrades had welcomed him gladly into their new site and community with open arms. Valuing his skills, and what he could offer, a give and take of a fairness which did not seem overly common for humans in their lands. It was an odd feeling, one he had a hard time putting a finger on. Why had he taken the extra work, seen the card and wanted to do the job? As they neared the house Crylon realized why. He was grateful. No other reason really. He was grateful for what he had, and wanted to show it by actions. And so he had found something he could do, and set out to do it. Simple enough. WC: 568

[Crylon Stonecraft]

Above all else, Crylon was an Isur. While a human might express thanks or gratitude by words, for Crylon such a response did not occur to him. For him actions spoke much more than words, said much more about a person than simply stating how one felt. And so when he had been given the chance, he had taken such an action. According to Kelski the job needed doing, and would be good for the Meraki and the Demesne. And so what better way could he show his gratitude, than by helping them? Fostering their name among the city and its citizens. Working to show what they could do, even in such matters as this that were only vaguely related to magic and did not seem to directly require the use of it. A house of a mage. Finally reaching the building, Crylon and Sona stopped. Both spent a few moments looking it over, but where Sona seemed ready to head inside Crylon wanted to inspect it more. “Is okay, go inside. Need look building more, before check inside.” Sona simply shrugged and went into the building, as Crylon took his time inspecting the abode. It was on the smaller side for a Zeltivan structure, though not tiny by any means. Two stories, with enough space for several rooms on each floor. A stone structure, granite perhaps though a shade light, a strong building made of stone. Heading to a corner Crylon check down the side of the building, finding one side almost met the next building and the other had but a narrow walkway down the side to get to the back of the structure. No yard in back or front, just the building itself, common enough for the cramped Zeltivan space. Pacing down the side Crylon counted out space in his steps, roughly measuring the building. One. Two. Three... So on till he got to the back. Counting across the back of the building he checked how wide it was, finding it to be slightly less wide than it was deep from front to back. A bit odd for a design, but not unheard of. Heading to the front he opened the door and headed inside after Sona. She seemed to be inspecting a chair in the front area which was apparently in use as a combination living room and welcome area. "Nothing in here I can find. Just a bunch of furniture, well enough made but nothing too fancy. And no spaces really to hide anything on it. Walls are stone but not too thick. You see anything outside?" Crylon shook his head in a negative, looking about the space. “No Sona, just building. Normal nough. Wide, but deeper. Two floors, roof. Normal seeming from outside.” Heading deeper inside, the middle segment of the bottom floor was taken up by a kitchen on one side and a dining room on the other. An open doorway leading into the dining area, and a swinging door on the kitchen for cooks to serve in the front living area or more formal dining area easily enough. Heading into the kitchen first Crylon continued to count out the space, navigating the inside by his earlier measure of the outside. One. Two. Three... Till he was at the back. There he found a simple storage area where various items and food and spices and things were stored. Simple enough. Heading out back through the kitchen to the living room he headed into the dining area. At the back of it was another room as well, this one with a door. Sona and Crylon headed inside, finding it to be a study of sorts. Thick carpeting. A window on the side to let in light during the day, and many unlit lamps for use at night. A desk with paper and parchment and ink. Books in a small bookcase off to the side. Crylon continued his count from the front of the house again almost absentmindedly, navigating by its external dimensions. He almost did not see it. He almost ran into the back wall. Speaking under his breath in Isurian, Crylon smiled and stared at the back wall. “Thank you Izurdin, for giving me a mind for numbers and buildings and things. Thank you, for speaking to me through them.” "What was that?" Sona queried? Slipping back in common, Crylon pointed at the back wall and met Sona's gaze. “Is back wall. Is in wrong place. Is close, but not right. Is not deep nough. House, deeper than wide. On other side, store room, is deeper, meet back wall. This one... Not meet. Is something odd. Is something hidden, about deep.” WC: 778

[Crylon Stonecraft]

As Sona responded, Crylon found another thing that he was thankful for. Patience. Not his own, but other people he had met and spoken too in the past. His common was not the best, and often it took time to make himself clear. But Kelski and many others he had met had taken the time to understand what he was saying. Even if he needed a few stories and or metaphors to clarify his meaning, or to repeat himself in a new way to make his words meaning clear. This was all the more evident, the patience of others which he had been graced by, when Sona so utterly failed to understand him. Though it did make him think once more how much easier things would be if everyone just spoke the tongue of the Isur, it was such a detailed and useful language, unlike the rough and stilted and short changing common. A language he supposed was marked by those who spoke it, and common was just as rushed as the humans and their short lives who seemed so in a rush. "What the petch are you saying? Was that even common? How can a wall be wrong? Look, speak plain common, alright, whats wrong with the wall, or whatever you said?" Letting out a sigh, Crylon tried again, instinctively rubbing at his brow for a few moments with his right hand. “Is... Not wrong. Is... Is wrong length. I... Look, other room, is deep, further back. Goes all way to back of building, back wall. Room here, not. Is... How say... Wrong. Is count off. When outside, count to back, count size, and is wrong. Should be deeper. Longer room. Kay? Is mean something hidden. Why is room not to back wall? Is mean maybe not back wall? Is make sense?” Sona stared at Crylon, puzzling through his words like a sheep trying to force its way through a patch of brambles. Getting there, but not easily or without effort. And not without some level of pain and displeasure. "Wait... Are you saying the back wall is fake? Like... There is a false wall? Well why did you not say that to begin with? I mean we are here to find hidden things, a false wall at the back of the mages study, that certainly fits does it not? " Crylon closed his eyes, trying to fight the urge to shake his head in frustration. But then, it was not totally her fault if he was not making himself clear. It was something he had been working on for quite some time, his use of common, but clearly something he had not fully worked out. But he supposed if he was to be out working among humans, going off like this on errands and missions and what not, he had a more direct need for speaking common more fluently. For himself, and Kelski, for the Meraki and the Demesne, he needed to work on his common. Just not today. Today, he was doing something else. “Yes, is... Well wall. Is wrong, but how? If not true wall, false wall, then mean must be way to get into false area yes?” Sona nodded, understanding if not everything he said but enough of it to from the context to get his meaning. "Yeah, we need to find the way in. Has to be something does it not? Let me do my thing, like I said, I work with tools. It is what I do." Digging into her pack, Sona retrieved a small wood hammer, and a hearing horn. A cone really with a small end to go in the ear, a bit curved, and a wider end at the other end. Using the tools Sona walked along the length of the back wall, tapping while holding the horn against the wall. Listening, Crylon realized was a rush of understanding, for the echo or sound of the knocking to change. Quite an inventive means of finding something. WC: 665

[Crylon Stonecraft]

It was as Sona was passing a painting that she paused, appearing to hear something different. She paused, took a few steps to one side of the painting and knocked, then did the same on the opposite side of the painting. Then she did it again on the painting, apparently making sure of something. "It is right here. The wall on either side is thicker. This spot here though, its different. Thinner I think. Must be. This must be the spot. Now how do we... Open it... Well mister mage, how do we open it? Do some magic!" Crylon paused, unsure how to respond when she changed tone and target of her words in the middle of her sentence, going from talking about the wall to talking to him and expecting something from him. He supposed he could use his Auristics, but did not like his chances of finding anything with his current skill. And if he did, he did not doubt he would be exhausted and in no shape to continue their work. No, that was not the answer. But then, Kelski had said it herself. He had other skills than just magic which were of use to the Meraki. His thought process, his skills, his planning, who he was, were of use. Crylon silently thanked Kelski for her prior kind words, and his remembrance of them allowing him to get back on track and to something important. “Is know some magic, but not all fix with magic. Cannot just magic wall open. But if it wall, must have way open. How else owner get in, through? Not ghost, so not walk through. Must be way. Just find.” With a sigh Sona walked off, checking the elements of the wall. Clearly she had been hoping for some show of magic which would fix their situation. Passing back into Isurian for a moment Crylon made a quiet prayer to Izurdin as he inspected the wall and floor. “Izurdin, thank you for your gifts to me, of insight and patience. Give me the strength to see what must be seen, and to help us get where we must go.” Looking at the wall, nothing seemed off... Except... Yes. Looking more closely, some of the bricking seemed off. Or more to the point, they were in a line. Where normally mortar and stone would be laid overlapping for strength, he could see several bricks here that were in a line vertically. They had been partially hidden by the painting, but looking closely by the edge, he could see where they were at. Several there, and then lower several more, and then a third time again. And tracing from that on the ground... Looker there he found another odd brick. Little mini bricks, cut into parts on the ground where other whole ones were lain. He pressed at these with his foot, on the middle of each, on the side, but nothing seemed to happen. So then he looked more closely, focusing less on the stone, and on where it was not. A rug, with a line rubbing into it. And just out of range of it, near the odd partial bricks, was a whole brick. Only it had no mortar on it. Some sort of whitish paint colored to look like mortar, but no mortar. Pressing this one Cryon heard a click, and then watched as the section of wall popped out. Rotating on the edge of the flat pieces he had noticed, which turned out to be three hinges on the wall segment. “Thank you Izurdin. For skill, and patience, and will.” WC: 601

[Alric Lysane]

Your Grades Crylon Stonecraft Skills Investigation - 3 Logic - 3 Observation – 4 Persuasion - 3 Rhetoric - 2 Lores Gratitude: Shown By Action Investigation: Signs of Hidden Wall Investigation: Mapping Out Dimensions Sona: Appearance & Mannerisms Comments Nice little thread. I'm new to Grading so please let me know if you think I've got anything wrong. Thanks for the writing Please remember to remove/edit your grade post. Cheers