[Quest] Finding What Was Lost (Bob Barton)

[Paragon]

Timestamp: 2nd of Winter, 511 AV Location: Near the Caern Elwin Moore often wandered about the Wildlands, endlessly searching for nothing in particular. He was sure that he would know what he was looking for when he found it. A cool winter wind blowed through the Syliran hinterlands, a great expanse where climates varied from monsoons to rich, agricultural lands. He was barely aware of the weather though, as his tan wizardly robe billowed in that same wind. About twenty yards away, stood the Caern. A great, ancient structure of stone - most intriguing to the eye. For a moment, Elwin wondered if this was what he had been searching for. But it was the figure that paced besides the stone that caught his attention next. He was peculiarly short, yet held himself in the same manner as the rest of his people. Elwin began walking towards the Caern, wondering what today would bring.

[Bob Barton]

2nd day of Winter 511 AV

The first trip to Alvadas long ago Bob stopped by the Caern. This time he did it again. Why would Bob actually waste his time doing something like this only to torture Bobo later when he had to catch up with the rest of the group? The answer was actually pretty simple, he knew what he was searching for. It was treasure and "you better hurry up and find something Jinsen!" Last time he was not able to find anything that interesting despite the stories that some travelers told him that they found things long forgotten and missed or remains of another unfortunate soul who tried their luck at loo...salvaging only to meet their end and add to it. Nothing better this time by the looks of it. So far the only things that Jinsen found were bones, bones and more bones. Bob could but did not want to use those. There had to be something a lot more normal around the place.

So he will not give up. "Go find me something better!" he told Jinsen pushing it forward with his foot. "Not you Bobo. You stay right there until we are ready to leave." Bob watched as Jinsen sniffed around for more bones that it greedily chewed on until he has had "enough. Let me show you how it is done." Tying Bobo down so that it would not have a chance to escape since Bob still did not have much of a chance to train it for himself he went to Jinsen and held out a bone right in front of it. Waving it until it snapped its jaws forward but Bob was already ready and threw the bone back saying that "bones are bad." They were just so easy to get like the one he had mounted on his cane, all he had to do was kill a few rats for that one. "Think you can find something good?"

After that the dog led him on a wild goose chase. Sniffing around here and there which Bob followed to dig only to find...more bones. The place was just teeming of them not only on the surface but buried beneath as well. It was disappointing and tiring. All the short man had to show for his efforts was just the dirt beneath his nails and on his clothes. "Just...go look for whatever you want Jinsen..." he told the dog wearily as he rested at the stones and took a sip of water. He would have better luck next time when he passed through then. Now all he looked forward to was a nice bath at Syliras. A destination he would be rushing to as soon as he was done.

Just then Bob saw that there was someone approaching him. Just who would come to this wretched place? A bandit? No Bob did not want to meet someone like that. How about another treasure hunter. Yes that would do well and if he proved something bad Bob could always escape. That was something he has been doing all his life. When the man got closer Bob told him that "by the looks of things, only Jinsen would enjoy this place." Who was Jinsen? The dog of course though the man would not know that and Bob was not going to correct himself yet. Let the man think that he had some protectors nearby even if they were probably a bit of a ride away.

[Paragon]

"It's an odd place isn't it," Elwin said, approaching the man at the rock. "It's tethered to the eternal cycle of life and death. Very strongly, in fact." When the mage spoke, the words often seemed absent. He was both eccentric, and damaged. Years of overgiving had not destroyed his mind completely, but they had left him with the senility of an elderly man. He babbled, on and on, belying his wise and powerful mind. He looked into the short man's eyes. They were sure eyes. Sure of a lot of things. Was he sure? Elwin frowned at the question. And then promptly forgot it again. "And why do you come to this rock of ages?" Elwin asked. Introductions were unnecessary in his mind. Answers to his questions were far more important. He briefly touched the man's aura, and stepped back. "Troubled, troubled," he muttered incessantly, "so very troubled."

[Bob Barton]

Eternal cycle of life and death sounded bad. Very bad but as Sunberth had taught him, death can be profitable to those who dared to take advantage of it. Bob looked around the place where there were only plenty of rocks and bones to see. "I don't know about life but there is a lot of death here" he said picking up a skull still wondering "what do you mean by life?" What Bob was certain about after digging around for more than a bell was that besides this new person the only other life around was himself, Jinsen and Bobo unless there were other people following the man. Was there? Who were they? Bob peered over the side of the man to catch a glimpse of hills, hills and more hills. Of course! There must be other people there like Bob's companions but they were nowhere to be seen so he had nothing much to worry about.

Well, one thing Bob was sure about was this man was strange. Like one of those old geezers who visited his uncle complaining about back pains and aching feet. Actually during his brief visit to Zeltiva only days ago he found out that his uncle was going to reach that point as well. Talking, criticizing,lecturing and asking questions like "this rock of ages?" Oh, like some of those scholarly types in Zeltiva "you mean the Caern?" that they were on. Something like this was able to chase him all the way to the Wildlands?!? Fine, Bob would answer the questions since he knew that it would make the old people happy and off his case. This man did not look that old but then he sure sounded that way.

"No, no. Not trouble" like he heard the man muttering. At least not this time. He was going for something now instead of running away. Both Alvadas and the Caern were for "treasure." A word for riches which never failed to make Bob's eyes light up. "You know what they say right? This place has been here for so many years that even our elders are nothing but babies to it" that of course there were many a story to lead greedy people like Bob up here despite the dangers if he had the chance. "Ah ha! This trouble of yours must have forced you to hunt here too" but make no mistake that Bob was not going to give up anything he gets. Well maybe he would if "you are interested in working together?" Stupid dogs know nothing of valuables so a human partner would be so much better. If Bob was not so concerned about sharing the loot initially then he would have brought along someone earlier but then he would get less. Not too late to fix that though.

[Paragon]

"Life, because the spirits of the deceased have rejoined the cycle here, to reincarnate," Elwin said slowly, nodding. He shook his head at Bob. Treasure. "There's no treasure here," he began, cuntenace growing cold, "I mean the trouble in your heart. In your mind." Of course, to Bob, the statement would be entirely contradictory. This eccentric man, who clearly had something wrong with his own mind, was lecturing on Bob's troubled one. "I can feel it. What did they do to you?" Elwin grew more serious, his voice taking on a dark tone. He placed his hand against the Caern, and looked towards the Winter sun. "What did they do?"

[Bob Barton]

Interesting. Maybe the next time Bob ran into those evil ghosts like so many he had met so far he could point them here so that he would never have to risk their bad, bad intentions. At least now he knows that he would not have to make any further visits here because there was "no treasure?" The guys in the camp are really going to have a laugh about this one. Especially with what the man mentioned about Bob's trouble. It actually suggested that he had a heart! More than thinking that the statement was contradictory Bob was actually wondering what the man meant. Everyone in the world has trouble. Even the powerful people. Maybeeee by "heart and mind you mean what could bring me out to the wildlands? Well I am travelling with some people right now and am not really alone" Bob admitted with a laugh "and there might be some real promise of treasure when I reach Alvadas" at least he hopes.

But when the man said feel and they it seemed to Bob that it was rather direct, like he was pinpointing on a specific fact. "T-t-they?" Bob asked a little bit nervously especially seeing the man's face and the tone he was using. Without knowing what exactly the man meant Bob went and talked about the most recent horrifying event in his life which was "the ghosts you mean? But I was not the only one, they attacked the whole of Sunberth!" Well the only difference that Bob had with the rest of the people was that "one of them possessed me. Is that what you mean?" A horrid experience. Until today Bob could not tell which intrusive presence was worse. A ghost's or that brand of "hope" Priskil handed out like stale cakes. There was only one thing good about what the ghost did compared to the hope and Bob muttered in realization that "the ghost made me remember about..." that petching wizard! "You are talking about what they did aren't you?" Bob asked not knowing what exactly he should and should not expose to this stranger.

[Paragon]

Bob would feel like a captive animal as Elwin began to circle him, studying his features, his eyes, his expression. He left no inch of Bob's appearance unchecked. But in actuality, he was probing with his aura, and delving a little into the mechanics of Bob's mind. "Your magic..." he whispered, "pain... so much pain." Elwin gasped, stumbling back. Bob's aura seemed to pulse, pushing him back, and punishing his investigation. "How can you live like that? How?" Elwin could feel a block over Bob's powers, and he felt an immense sadness along with it. Magic to a mage was like water to anyone else. It was necessary, and you became dependent on it. Being cut off from that source... he couldn't bear the thought. "Can you not cast res?" he asked, Bob evidently confused. This crazed old man had emerged from seemingly nowhere, had given no introduction, and now interrogated Bob on the state of his magical skills. This was going to be an odd day though, the old man just the first of many occurrences. "Does it pain you? Can you bear it?"

[Bob Barton]

Creepy...it was not like being rounded up by a pack of dogs at the kennels but it was unnerving all the same. Eyes that were looking, watching, seeing but for what? A weakness like some of those trained guard dogs? Definitely not affection like Jinsen that was walking around out there somewhere. Yes, it must be weakness that he was looking for as Bob concluded seeing the man stumbling backwards because he was strong. Very strong and strength was the quality for a natural born leader or why would there always be people around him? Not because he needed protection he would say because Bob loved to claim that his size makes people think things about him to their advantage.

Or that was what he thought until he noticed the remark about his magic and pain. "No, no, he must be mistaken" Bob told himself until he pointed out about the res. That was very...unnerving and Bob slowly backed away. Shuffling his feet until they rubbed against the rock that he was resting on previously. "W-w-who are you?" he asked feeling very, very vulnerable now that his weaknesses was exposed. Maybe around early last fall of on the summer before that Bob would have just brushed away the question with a laugh so confident of his ability and resourcefulness to protect himself. Now he knew how necessary it was, how much he relied on it on his first trip away from Zeltiva and his first days in Syliras. Maybe if he still had it after he would not have lost his fingers but he would not have met those twins. Was us a good trade? Was it? Until now he has never used that mark just like the magic for fear of its powers or like the man in the temple told him, putting himself under the influence of some divine being out there.

He needed to get out of it and called for "Jinsen? Jinsen where are you? Help!" but the dog did not show up, probably finding something that interested it a lot more. Typical. And if Jinsen was that useless what more Bobo that Bob hardly had any chance to train? He pushed his back against the rock again and found that there was no use so he told the man that "the ghost told me that I shouldn't" at least not yet. Not when he did not know how to use the fire and air that for some reason replaced the water he was so accustomed to. He only accidentally produced res once when he was learning to form a shield over himself and "res does hurt...but I can still use my djed" though not perfectly. Djed could be used for any discipline and the reason Bob was able to admit it was because he wanted to make sure that this man, the one who has been hunting down his weaknesses would know he could still protect himself if anything strange were to happen. It was like a roll of a die and as always the result he was looking for was one out of eight as he knew it.

The only question left now is "what do you want from me now that you found out my weaknesses? I'll tell you now that I was not able to make much in Sunberth and Jinsen is probably my only valuable now" and where was that dog? Bob could only wonder as he looked around the Caern again. Petch it all, he really should have brought one of his human friends along with him instead of just the animals. Thinking that he was on his way to Syliras where there would be knights patrolling around made him complacent. Stupid, stupid, stupid!

[Paragon]

"I'm just a crazed old man," Elwin said absently, "of no importance whatsoever." He stopped moving around and leaned against the Caern to steady himself. The short man was suddenly in a hurry to leave, calling his petching animal with a fools sense of urgency. "The ghost," he repeated, "the ghost told you not to. I see now... and yes, the pain must be terrible. You can let a trickle of djed flow, can you not? But nothing more. No gushing waterfalls." The dog, or whatever animal this man's companion might be, did not seem to emerge. Perhaps it wandered the wildlands like Elwin. Though he was not lost, most definitely not lost. He just wasn't sure why he was walking. But he knew when he found whatever it was he was looking for, everything would make sense. "I want for nothing," Elwin retorted, staring at the man with an unction of offence. "Tell me your name. Your aura is so... unusual. I can feel the block, like a great wall has been built in front of the channels that djed tumbles throuh. I... I would like to try and heal you." He sat down on the sloping rock of the Caern and looked out at the sunlit hinterlands, rolling as far as the eyes could see. Zeltiva was the closest city. He remembered that. His hands went to his small bag of possessions, pulling out a tatty, withered book. He leafed through the pages, looking half away as if nothing in the book interested him. "But what do I know?" Elwin asked himself aloud, "I'm just a mad old man."

[Bob Barton]

To Bob this man was more confusing when he was suddenly bringing in waterfalls into the conversation than he was crazy. He also highly doubted that a crazy person would be capable of admitting his own state of mind. However that did not stop Bob from keeping his eyes warily on the man as he continued to listen, even blinking a little in disbelief when he heard the admission that "you want nothing?" He must have been away from proper society for far too long because in Sunberth, the scum would even want life if they were given the chance. Bob probably really wanted to be able to trust again now that he was away from that horrible place, or he must have be losing his mind a little himself because he agreed "if you can do it." He wanted to give it a chance now especially since he just recalled how dependent on it he was in the past and how he had to continue on without when it was lost.

It was even more encouraging when he was thinking that this man could probably do a better job than that ghost who only wanted to use Bob especially if his intentions were as he said. After trying to sneak a peek at that withered book because Bob was always that curious, the scrutinizing midget was satisfied enough to give the introduction that "I am Bob, Bob Barton and you are Master...?" Seeing that this man might be helping and already displayed his skills by exposing that he knew so much with some mysterious method, Bob knew that he had to show some form of respect crazy or not and he did not want to get killed. However he was still wary and did not allow himself to take a seat. Still standing, Bob asked "how are we going to do this?" Hopefully not with another ghost is all he asked.