[Kiel]

This quest is open to anyone who wants to join in, but is for Lucian first. It's the one where High Priestess Fay Prydwen asks someone to find a shrine on the Fae/Chandric border.

---

It started with a kiss. Like, kinda but not really, man. He just always wanted to say that, wahahahaha.

He was just walking along, doing his job, delivering packages, and then he knocked on this one door and this woman in a priestess's robes opened it and Kiel was suddenly being sent on an errand. Like, that's what she called it, you know? Except, Kiel had never heard of any errand that sent the errandee into the local tavern to ask questions.

“So, like, you seen it, man?”

“What, the shrine? You kidding? Fay's got her head up her arse if she thinks those stories are true!” Laughter — raucous and even cruel — circled the pub as pretty much everyone joined in on the whole "taunt the poor guy and the priestess" thing. “You're just as much in need of a brain if you're doing her dirty work for her.”

“Well, no, it's just 'cause, like, I was just doing my job, okay, and then this chick grabs me and plants one on me and I was like, wah! Like, Zeph'd totally rip her teeth out one by one if he knew about it, you know?” Kiel's shoulders slumped for a second. Like, he said that just 'cause it was kind of rote by now, but he wasn't so sure any more that Zeph would really care. Besides, it's not like Fay had actually kissed him, you know? "Oh, sorry, I thought you were someone else. You didn't happen to see a strapping young hunter around here, did you?"

“So you agreed to search the forest just for a kiss?”

“Wah! No way, no way!” Leaping off his stool so he could slap a hand over the man's mouth, Kiel flapped his free hand, panicking a bit. “Like, don't tell Zeph that, okay? But, like —” He settled back, totally oblivious to the guy's nasty stare or the tension that had swept the room, and scrambled back up onto his stool. “— she seemed kinda desperate, you know, and my dad always said that "You gotta help the damsels, Kiel". Like, you know?” Having lowered his voice to mimic (poorly and irreverently) his Rutilus father, Kiel flapped his hands again and returned to normal. “She said all I had to do was find out where to go, and she sent me over here 'cause the guy who's been helping her told her someone here had pointed him in the right direction, but he's disappeared and never told her who that was or what they said. She said she'd find another hunter or tracker or something to actually head out there once I got the info, you know, but, like, I dunno, man, that guy she was expecting kinda seems like a flake, you know? So you ever heard anything about that shrine, man? Or, like, know who the guy spoke to?”

Another chuckle, and the guy shook his head. “Lotsa folk come through here, kid. You don't stand a carser-on-a-diet's chance of ever finding it.”

“But. Like. Awwwww.”

[Lucian]

Lucian was in Alexshire. Why? Because after the fiasco in Espur he did NOT want to see any guards until everything was cleaned up and sorted out. So he took a spontaneous vacation, racing through the Espur portal without a location in mind, deciding he'd go where fate sent him. Luckily that didn't end as disastrously as it could have. As he walked the streets of the city, enjoying the sites and sounds, he had a rather goofy grin on his face. You see, Lucian liked souvenirs. He just didn't like buying them. His tan traveler's cloak, with it's many pockets, was weighed down with worthless baubles, yet each one glistened like a priceless treasure. Having walked around the city for a few hours, Lucian slipped into a local tavern, drawn by the sounds of laughter. What he saw when he entered was not quite what he expected.

The tavern and all of its patrons were laughing at a Rutilus. Lucian hadn't a clue what was so funny, but the Dracovari seemed a bit down. He sat down and listened in on the conversation, hoping to catch the gist of it. A barmaid, stifling a snicker, asked him what he wanted. "I'll take some wine I suppose. Whats going on over there?" he motioned to the Dracovari.

"Oh, sounds like the poor boy's been sent on a fools errand. S'posed to find a statue of Xanth somewhere in the Fae." she said with a light chuckle. She handed the Varian a glass of wine, and received her thanks in french. After a few sips of the cheap liquid the Varian decided an adventure would definately help pass the time, and who knows what shiny offerings he could dig up from a lost holy site? Even if couldn't find the statue, he could part the "fool" who accepted the errand from a few things right?

He chugged the last of his bitter-sweet drink, a very uncivilized way of drinking the civilized beverage, but he didn't really care. With his greatest friendly smile he approached the target of the tavern's laughter. "Hear you're on a quest. Mind if I join? I might be able to help you out." he said with a impish grin.

[Kiel]

“Yes!” Kiel's shout was louder than necessary, but he turned to the newcomer and slapped both hands to the Zanaryan's biceps in a totally manly glomp that earned him another snicker from the guy he'd just abandoned. Kiel was so glad to finally have someone take him seriously, man. For sers!

Several things occurred to his eyes then: This guy's wings were weird. His horns were weird. His eyes were weird, and, like, “Dude, are you really Zanaryan?” Dismissing the question almost before it was even fully out of his mouth, he went on to explain, “Like, this chick totally kissed me, man, and then she was all, like, "Oh, pleeeease will you run me an errand?" —” Said in a totally girly manly imitation of the High Priestess, of course. “— And, like, how was I meant to say no, you know, and so I'm here trying to track down this guy that this hunter dude spoke to about where this shrine is that she's looking for, right, but the hunter's a total flake and I'm not even sure there is a guy any more, and nobody here will say much more than, "You're an idiot, kid" —” This time, his voice dropped an octave, but beyond that, it sounded nothing like the man he'd been speaking to (and far too much like his imitations of basically every dude he ever met). “— And, like, how under Hel am I meant to find a shrine when nobody even knows anything, and for all we know Xanth could have totally just, like, stomped a crazy-big foot on it 'cause she got bored one day, you know?”

Panting for breath (having said the whole thing too quickly for his lungs to keep up), Kiel stared at the Zanaryan with puppy-dog eyes, his hands still clutching at the man's biceps in desperation. He totally hated letting people down, you know, and it was so much worse when it was one of Xanth's chicks doing the asking. Like, what if Xanth got pissed at him for not doing what Fay had asked and, like, turned him into confetti or something, you know?

That thought stuck in his brain, Kiel shook the Zanaryan a bit too desperately. “I don't wanna be confetti, okay?!”

[Lucian]

Once the Rutilius had started talking, Lucian immediately regretted coming over to speak with him. He had to read his mind to get any sort of hint as to what this guy was saying. If he hadn't been listening to his thoughts during the better part of his rant, Lucian would likely have been lost. Especially with that comment about confetti. "Uhm... Ok, I think you should probably sit down, breath, and drink something. Preferably with relaxing qualities. I here tea is nice for that." the hybrid said, guiding the other Vari, whose hands were still on his arms, over to a deserted table. He tried to wriggle his arms free of the other's grasp, but the grip was incredibly firm, although not tight.

"So, starting at the beginning, No I'm not Zanaryan, at least not a full blood. I'm half Vari, And my name is Lucian." The hybrid paused to allow the other to introduce himself, but started speaking again before the Rutilius could go on another rant, "I'll help you find the shrine. Just because no one is saying anything doesn't mean they don't know anything. I'm part of the Peteulanus sept, so I have a bit of limited mind reading. So just calm down, I'll see what I can pick up. And I'm pretty sure goddesses don't get bored and destroy their own shrines. I'm also pretty sure that they don't turn people into confetti for not doing what their priestesses say." he gave the other a comforting look before closing his eyes and listening to the thoughts floating around the tavern. Most of them were very rude observations about the rutilius, himself, or one of the rather attractive bar-maids. A few of the latter made him visibly blush.

Among the lewd, rude, and socially unacceptable thoughts he did manage to find a few useful tidbits, however. Now that I think about it, didn't that one guy in here last week mention that he was talking to the priestess?", "Hm... Weren't those two guys talking about a statue? Coulda been a shrine I s'pose.", "That one guy... Ordered the same drink at the same time and talked to some Hunter about something... eh, I'm sure it's nothing.", "I wonder what ever happened to that guy? I thought he said something about being "close""

Lucian rubbed his temples, leaning against the table for support. "Well, that wasn't incredibly helpful. A couple people remember seeing some guys talking, they might've been the people you are looking for, but I can't hear anything definitive." Lucian explained, closing his eyes to wait for his head ache to pass.

[Kiel]

“I am relaxed!” Kiel shook the guy a bit more just to prove it, but let himself be drawn to a chair and plonked himself down, eventually releasing the fake-Zanaryan's arms. “Wah, fake Zanaryan.” And immediately, he shortened the guy's name. “Hi, Luc! I'm Kiel. But, like, what am I gonna do about —” He had to stop because his folks had always raised him not to interrupt people, and while ordinarily he unwittingly left little room for interjection, even he knew better than to talk over someone else.

So he waited, literally on the edge of his seat with his heels bobbing and his expression one of wonder (like he'd never seen Pets in action before? Half his family were Blue Eyes but he'd never seen a fake-Zanaryan do it before), while his new buddy went to work. He did spare a quick mutter, though, along the lines of, “You don't know Xanth!” when Lucian tried to reassure him about the confetti thing. Kiel didn't know her either, but he'd heard enough stories from Zeph (who apparently had encountered her way too often, and Kiel had never once thought to question the warrior) to worry what she'd do or say.

“Well, that wasn't incredibly helpful.”

Kiel sighed, pouted briefly, and sighed again. What use was a fake-Zanaryan Pet if he couldn't get at the thoughts they needed? Then a thought occurred to him, spilling out of his mouth a tad bit garbled. “Hey, hey, which are the guys who think they saw the guys I'm looking for?” Maybe, if Kiel questioned them verbally, Luc could get at what they needed more efficiently or something.