• Solo • Sweet Home II

[Shl'Drei]

3rd Ashan, Arc 721

Shl'drei wasn't a trouble maker, or a seeker of problems. Problems found him, sure. Like now, huffing his way to Dabryton. A while ago, he was at home, with Sek and Leora, in sweetwine. He'd just got the pack outside, Leora to roam and Sek for a quick walk and some exercise, when he heard a creak. And then a cricking sound, and finally a groan of collapse and the whoosh of wind as the hut caved in on itself. What. Just. Happened. He inhaled, closed his eyes, exhaled, and opened his eyes. His house was still a pile of splintered wood and crushed objects. No, no no no no. He almost let go of the leash he had Sek on, but he scrambled towards the wreckage in shock and desperation. This can't be happening, he reasoned. This was a horribly realistic nightmare. Yeah, just.. breath. The chances of his newly built as of last arc home, collapsing, caving in, was insane. It had no issues, no creaking or tilting, the foundation was flat... why was this happening? He turned to Sek, the puppy shaking like a leaf and gasped. "Oh, oh oh oh. No boy, it's okay! It's okay, boy!"

His panic had got the malamute riled up, and Leora was a good distance away as Shl'drei lifted the (not so light) puppy into his arms. He scratched along his fur, cooed and called to Leora who hesitantly came back. He ruffled her fur as he set Sek back on the ground. Immortals, what had happened? The house... his house, no- his home. It was gone... He took a few breaks just sitting there. On the ground, holding his two companions like a lifeline. It seemed unreal, trills ago he had a wonderful home. It was small yes, but it had the amenities necessary to keep up with life. And while he wanted to get something better, he couldn't afford anything better. Looking at Sek and Leora, his worry increased. Where was he going to house them? What was he going to do? Immortals, this was so bad. Could it get any worse?

With a defeated sigh he pushed himself off the ground and signaled his companions to follow him (though Sek had no choice with the leash honestly.) and started towards town. Once he arrived in Darbyton, the crisis didn't end, as there were people running around everywhere. More than was normal, at least. There was a sense of urgency and alertness, and Shl'drei couldn't have been more confused. Stopping someone, he heard the news loud as day, the panic clear. Houses were collapsing, people were trapped some likely dead, and no one knew what was exactly happening other than the danger and some minor evacuation.

He went deaf for a moment, everything but his chaotic thoughts were becoming white noise as he panicked. I can't get involved again. He needed to help. I can't lose anyone again. He couldn't let anyone else lose someone. I don't know what's going on. He needed to find out. It could be dangerous. He couldn't let anyone else suffer. He bit his lip, dug his fingers into his palm. He drew blood, tasted the iron and sodium, and made his looked around helplessly.

No. He wouldn't let himself be useless, not when so many could be hurt. He was scared- terrified of the unknowns, but he could help. He could. And he owed it to himself to try, if not the people. He grit his teeth and narrowed his eyes in frustration. Come on, he thought angrily. You've had worse, been through worse. Move, move, help, move. He rushed into action at a cry for help. He pulled Sek along, Leora close behind him.

"H-hey, what's wrong? Are you hurt?" He asked in a rush. The little girl shook her head, but pointed to some wreckage. She cried, but managed to choke out that her dad was inside. Shl'drei wasn't good at comforting. He wasn't good with people at all. But in his panic, his frustration at himself, his fear. He began to pull at wooden boards in the rubble. "Hey! Hey, can anyone hear me?!" He screamed, hoping for something, anything that would indicate life. The little girl cried beside him, but he was joined by others slowly. No life, no cries of pain. He turned back to the girl, noticed her ragged appearance, her hurt.

He couldn't just do nothing. Not now. I can't do nothing.

[Shl'Drei]

The collapse of the house, the way the wooden boards folded in... Shl'drei knew. He was hopeful, for a few bits- no, he was willfully blinding himself to the reality. His fingers stung, splinters and the harsh, heavy tugs on the collapsed boards made it hard not to feel the ache of use. His eyes and his heart hurt worse, even as others helped him or attempted to console the girl, Shl'drei could do nothing but screw his eyes shut and grit his teeth. He yelled his frustration, holding his tears back even though the burned the corner of his eyes. Please, if there's anyone, please, he prayed, but he knew the outcome when he started digging, when he looked at the wreckage.

Why did he try so hard? So he could look at the girl, only to tell her her father was dead? That he- that they, had tried their best to save him? The little girl, no older than eleven, would grow up without her father- alone. He pulled at the boards until the first sign of skin, until his fingers started to bleed. Then, he retched next to the wreckage, dizzy and hurt. He choked on his own tears, gasped for air as the breeze chilled his heated skin. Sweat cooled, tears dried, but Shl'drei sat alone, frozen, and the body was pulled from beneath the wood. He wanted to say something, anything, but he just started at the body, of the little girl weeping over it. He had pushed himself to action, told himself he couldn't do nothing. But the truth lied dead with the weeping girl and her deceased father, crushed under the weight of a house that was once a home.

He couldn't do anything. Not then, and not now. He clutched at his shirt as Sek and Leora flanked his sides, watching on helplessly as their pack leader, the one they depended on, wept as if he'd lost everything allover again. Shl'drei cried until he was asked to help once again, one house, the next. Numb fingers pulling at wooden planks that just seemed to take life after life. Running around, bringing water and doing what he could with his useless hands. There were no more tears shed- just a loss of touch with everything. The rescue and the following effort were white noise, static, and autopiloted. He just went where he was asked, sweating and bleeding with the people of Darbyton with whatever use he good give.

Each house he went to had a pain to it, brought the ache back. But he detached, even as he dug up family phots, salvaged heirlooms or last pieces of things that once were whole. Breaks and breaks of work, breaks of sweating, tearing himself apart just to put it together haphazardly to be cut to ribbons again the next house. The next home. The people who grew tried rested, Shl'drei declined water and food, he just mindlessly helped dug through the wrecks and the mass of houses in Darbyton without aim or focus. He finally eased into focus when someone roughly grabbed his shoulders.

"You there, aye, snap out of it," The voice was gruff, tired and angry. He made to look at the man, lazily shifting his head to look into the eyes of the dark haired dark skinned male. Tall, muscled, broad shoulders. The man gave him another shake, but when that did nothing, he took the back of his palm and knocked his sense into overdrive. Fight or flight took over, and Shl'drei went to punch him. The man pushed him roughly, letting him stutter back to reality. Shaken, Shl'drei looked around, confused. It came back slowly, and he looked back to the man while nursing his cheek. He held out a hand to Leora to stop her from launching herself. "You're a man, stop sulking about, do something helpful."

Shl'drei paused, right- move, help. He turned back to the man, who offered him a hand. He took it slowly, hesitantly, but the man reached further and took his to pull him up. He grunted, but thanked the man for shaking him out of his stupor. "Don't sweat it, I'm gonna need your help. I rounded up a few extras, but we need to put an end to this madness. That means finding the source. We need to ask around."

"Ask around?"

"Surely you noticed lad? All the houses that collapsed are made of wood! I haven't the time to check elsewhere, but the houses of brick or cobble stand fine, the only ones affected were newer houses. Daz by the way, you?"

"Shl'drei. I wish it was under better conditions," The tamer nodded. "You said only new houses were affected, how new are we speaking of? My... my home caved in just as I left. It's no where near being new though. It can't be a coincidence that wooden homes are coming down, surely someone knows something?"

"Aye, that's what we need to find out." Daz huffed with anger. Looking around, there was less panic, but it was still a lot to take in. There were a few carriages, wagons filled to the brim with immortals know what. He didn't want to think about it, lest he empty his stomach again. He nodded along, his need to help fueled by his anger and frustration. "Lets start with the people affected, aye? Hopefully they'll provide something about the home that could be helpful. The other men have already broken into rescue and investigation teams. We meet here in one break, next to this one, aye?"

[Shl'Drei]

Shl'drei took a moment to collect himself before he went in the opposite direction with Sek and Leora. He jogged at a slow steady pace as he looked about- he needed to save energy and not wear down his companions. With everyone running about, it was easy to succumb to the panic. Deep breaths, you can help if you stay calm. He reminded himself of that every time he saw someone crying or one of the bodies pulled from the wreckage.

Daz had said all the houses were recent and wooden, and as far as Shl'drei knew all the wood in Darbyton came from the Logging... something or other. He stopped his jog when he approached another house. It looked to be a mixture of wood and brick, and thus it remained standing. In the light reflecting off the suns, Shl'drei squinted as he caught the glare of a reflection. If the houses were made by the logging place, he'd best ask around just to be sure. The council had taken it over as far as he knew, but that didn't mean everything was fine and dandy. He wasn't sure of the exact details, just that someone had caused trouble there. The council had arrested someone and then the building was taken over by council people.

He thought he had blinked away the glare and turned, but Sek pulled on his leash and drew Shl'drei's attention back to the home. She sniffed about, eventually nosing into a crook where a wooden board looked to be coming off near the foundation. Tail wagging, she yipped once, twice, and then sneezed, her whole body shaking with the action. Shl'drei applied a little pressure to leash, "Come," but the little malamute was adamant that something was there. She yipped again, and dug into the wall side with her paws causing Shl'drei to raise a brow. He stepped closer, and a fly of some kind emerged and flew away.

It.. was bright green in color he thought- it was a bit small so he couldn't really see it. But once he had gotten closer he could hear the buzz a bit- Sek was sniffing around, pawing and shuffling a hive of... flies? No, if he looked a bit closer they seemed to glow with a bright greenish purple hue- and they paid no mind to the malamute, the lumen, or the human that observed them. Only when Shl'drei swatted the side of the house did they take offence and they only flew away in masses. Shl'drei watched them perplexed, but turned back to the wood for a shocking sight.

Where a horde of bugs had been, there was what appeared to be chewed- no, it wasn't bite marks in the wood. It looked like it had been dissolved little by littlie. What were those bugs? Had they liquefied the wood in this house? Wait, he flinched, his mind rolling back to the girls father. When he was pulling wood off the man from the first house he'd seen what looked like a dissolved board too. Could it be? The bugs were on this house, and the same kind of damage appeared on the first one he'd encountered in darbyton! Are those bugs responsible for the houses collapsing? He couldn't exactly prove it without evidence, but surely if he saw it in other houses that would be enough?

He picked up one of the loose boards for proof, but as he did he realized that the house was largely unaffected... It didn't look dangerous or harmful, there was no dangerous tilt or obvious sign of caving. In fact, the house seemed just fine other than the wood paneling laid over the brick. Now that he thought about it, those burns had only so far been on the wood. "Good girl, Sekhmet! Come on, we need to ask questions," Shl'drei praised, giving the fluffball a head scratch. The malamute yipped happily, nuzzling into his hand as he drew back to stand. So there was a strange bug in darbyton causing serious damage. But what exactly could be done? The bugs ignored him for the most part, and only flew away after he got super close... He shook his head to focus his thoughts- if the bug was the problem, surely the other houses had them too. He needed a bit more to prove it, but he had a basic idea.

The next house that was collapsed was harder to get to- it was a fresh collapse, having just came down during the chaos within a few bits of him running towards it. He helped everyone situate, asked if anyone was in the house. Thankfully everyone was out and about helping others. Just as he finished up Daz and a few other men came running over. "Daz, good! Did you guys find anything?"

"Aye, all these houses were made with wood from the Logging Consortium. Everyone thinks it was done as an act of revenge for the council shutting it down. Most of the wreckages are unsalvageable aside form the stuff inside!" Daz huffed, spitting a wad into the grass as the other men murmured or chimed in. "What of you? Find anything beside that wooden board?"

"Ah, yeah!" Shl'drei gestured for the men to come closer. "I've been to three separate houses, two of pure wood and one of wood and brick. The wood only houses are destroyed, but the brick one is fine save for what I thought was rotting boards."

"Aye, and?"

"I'm getting there, but see how this wood looks like it's been burned away? Have any of you seen any fire?" A chorus of 'no' rang out, but some only shook their heads. Still Shl'drei continued, a bit more confident now that he seemed to have their attention. "We, well Sek," He gestured with a jerk of his head to the Malamute on the leash. "Found these weird glowy bugs. They didn't seem to care that we were their until I almost touched them- their were at least thirty of them." He used a hand to trace the dissolved end of the wooden board. "I think they were eating the wood."

"Don't be daft boy, bugs-"

"No, they can and I'm positive they did. I've trained animals all my life, and while I've never trained a bug I'm sure you've heard of termites. They eat rotting wood, and travel in hordes. But I'm positive these bugs aren't termites. They glow a bright green color, and they fly away if disturbed closely. Otherwise they just ignore everything." He cut the other man off and shook his head. If he was right then these bugs were the cause, and they only went after the wood. If he could figure how or why...

"Well, its an infestation what do we do? We don't even know what they are!"

"Yeah, we can't just torch every house or anything!"

"Hey, HEY!" Shl'drei stated firmly. "If we can get word out I'm sure something can be done. For now we need to know how spread the infestation is. Does anyone know if any of the other villages have the same problem?" Shl'drei questioned the now much larger crowd. Again, the 'no' poured in unison. "We need to get the word out either way, someone has to warn everyone. We should get the rangers involved as they have more resources."

[Shl'Drei]

"Aye, but Larksong should know what's happening. if she doesn't already" Daz spoke over the murmurs of the crowd. As the crowd agreed, someone spoke. "No need fa' all that. I heard it straight fra' the horses mouth, what's yer name kid?" A hard voice had silenced the crowd, and as she stepped forward, Shl'drei recognized her as the docks boss. She walked with a wide berth, everyone respecting her presence as she moved through the crowd to the front. Swaying hips, tall, blond, beautiful, just a few ways to describe the woman. Few would say she fit the delicacy of her name, Larksong. Yet she was blessed with the powers and authority of darbyton and Shl'drei had respect for people of power.

"S-Shl'drei, miss." At his timid introduction, the girl slapped a powerful whack of her hand on his back and laughed with the boisterous amusement. She wiped a fake tear from her eyes as she caught her breath. She shook her head, stopped her foot and smiled.

"Nah uh, none of that misses nonsense! You call me Larksong, best dock boss darby has." She nodded once, but then she was all business and Shl'drei felt the intensity of her conviction. "Awraht men, we know what what needs to be done, yeah? Someone catch one of those damn bugs. As our speaker said, we need to warn the others. If anyone of you catch them, keep them alive. Better for the smarty types to work on."

A chorus of a agreement, and suddenly Larksong had the men in groups according to what needed to be done. Some were tasked with catching the bugs, others were tasked with cleaning up. More were part of the rescue effort and once everyone was sent off on their jobs Shl'drei realized he was the only man who hadn't been placed. Beofre he could comment, the woman spoke to him again. "With everything sorted, I want ya to do some work fa' me. Once the men come back with those bugs, we need to get them to all the villages. I can't just leave the people to fend for themselves, and you seem the reliable sort. You lack confidence in yaself, but ya still push through ya fear to help othas. harness that fea' and that want to help. Make it a need. You got some good qualities to lead, don't prove me wrong."

he was confused, but he nodded along. He wasn't as strong as the other men, couldn't do half as much. But he had a desire to get better and he assumed that Larksong could sense it. Still, he needed to ask questions. "Of course, they need you here. But what could I do? I don't even-"

"Like I said, the settlements need to be alerted, their leaders might be able to help. Since I can't leave I'm relying on you to get the sample and the message to them." She responded. She turned back to Shl'drei and smiled. "Don worry yer little head, yer'll be fine! I'll make preparations." He knew in some way what she wanted, but how was he supposed to take Sek and Leora? Both of them wouldn't be able to keep up with a boat or amount, and he doubted they'd sit still enough to ride with him on anything.

"I'll help, but I need someone to house these two. They'll slow me down, but I can't leave without knowing they'll be okay." He said firmly. Larksong turned back to him, looked at his companions, and broke into a small smile. She nodded her agreement and Shl'drei let himself breath again. "Thank you. Really. I'm assuming I'll be going by boat?"

"Oho no, you'll be riding a mount. And I need you to make all haste, fra what I heard fra ya, we need to get the issue contained. These pests could destroy more than just houses. We need to figure out how to deal with em, fast."

[Jackalope]

Experience: +10 xp

Knowledge:
Endurance: Fighting off overexertion sting to keep working
Discipline: Focusing on the task at hand
Strength: Lifting awkward burdens alone
Strength: Shuttling heavy loads by hand over short distances.
Leadership: Being firm with a crowd

Non-skill: Larksong Willow: Dock Boss

Mentions of “wooden boards” or “water and wreckage” are overly-specific and largely irrelevant information, so I edited the wording of your Strength knowledges somewhat.

Also, the last skill you requested is a non-skill, and doesn’t count towards the six-knowledge limit. PM me if you wish to claim another skill-related knowledge.

Skillplay: Appropriate to level. I would have added Animal Training to your skills used. Interesting that you overlooked that one of all the ones! Also, Detection, since the whole thread hinges on Shl’Drei’s noticing something novel (even if the dog does find it first). So, yeah, Detection’s big here.

Loot: None. You already noted the devastation to Shl’drei’s house on your character sheet and linked it to this thread, so you’re ahead of me there.

Injuries/Overstepping: Shl’drei has some minor scratches and bruises.

He also gets some splinters in his hands. These are a no more than a minor hassle and discomfort as long as he attends to them, but if neglected they could become embedded and infected (novice Caregiving to resolve).

Renown: +10. I think what Shl’Drei did in this thread warrants more than just +5, especially since it came directly to Larksong’s attention.

Comments: You really plugged Shl’drei into this calendar event. You wrecked your own house for the sake of a story. That’s pretty hard-core.

I’m reading the site on the light background, and I found your second post really hard to read. Could you use a brighter font against that background in the future, please? That said, I appreciated the variety of templates you used within one thread.

Shl’drei comes across as earnest, well-intentioned, and a bit out of his depth in this thread. Which seems appropriate to someone who’s Novice at basically everything.

I haven’t read the continuation thread yet. I’m looking forward to it. The use of the bugs you dev’ed and the Logging Consortium angle make all this very interesting.

PM me if you have any questions. Enjoy your rewards!