Solo or RP Format Counts as 5 RP growth Points Solo word minimum is 750, RP post minimum is 7
Rumors are spreading of a traveler who has entered the area. Apparently, this traveler has a strange item they claim comes from a different time. It's hard to believe what people are saying, and the only way to really know what is going on is if you see it with your own eyes. So, you make it a point to travel to where the traveler was last sighted, and as you approach you notice a crowd. The traveler is holding up an object, high above their head, and shouting across the crowd. Some approach to get a closer look, some appear fearful, but everyone can agree...this is something no one has ever seen before.
What exactly is the traveler showing off? Roll 1d6 to determine what strange item has been found using the guide below:
Rolled 1-2
The traveler pulls out a strange piece of metal, warped a bit on the edges and covered with an unknown language. It looked similar to what you've read, and you think you can make out words, but overall it doesn't make much sense.
Rolled 3-4
The traveler pulls out a strange piece of metal, wound around and almost bouncy in nature. It seems a bit sharp on the edges, but in general it looks like it could possibly be some sort of jewelry piece, if it was smaller.
Rolled 5-6
The traveler pulls two strange pieces of metal, which don't seem to go together outside of their color. One is covered in a language that sort of looks familiar, but isn't fully legible. The other is a winding spiral, which is too big to wrap comfortably around a wrist.
Amalric had been to Zidel a handful of times in the past. Though his aunt and uncle were not nomads — and boasted their fair share of wealth, at least as compared to the average windling family — they were, at their heart, merchants of their own variety. Simply predominantly stationary ones, and professionals by trade. This meant that, while they lived in Coeld in their single family home and raised their daughters there, shipping and trading their wares sometimes entailed personal travel. This was particularly so when involving the higher end of their business and the upper crust class of icelings that they catered to, many of whom lived in the capital.
Still, it had only been occasionally that Amalric had come for the ride and even then, it had always been just that: him tagging along at the heels of his aunt or uncle or both with all his cousins, bundled as much as he could and grousing quietly while making every effort to ignore most of it unless some particular detail caught his eye.
Now, things were different.
He was, for one, completely on his own, which was new as it was unpleasant. While he certainly treasured his privacy and solitude, he did not appreciate being alone in a space with no one to go to if he did wish to seek out company. And, he was to be here for quite some time. Unlike in the past, when a trip to the capital meant staying with friends of his aunt and uncle or other relatives while they socialized and did their business for a few days or a week in passing before beginning their trip home, if all went according to plan, Amalric would be here now for months.
Seasons.
He breathed a puff of a sigh. Though he had, at the time, not known for certain how his testing results with the examiner from Daurelts would go, that was behind him now. He had, apparently, performed well enough to receive official admittance and a welcoming letter some weeks after his appointment, much to his aunt and uncle’s satisfaction. He — at the time and presently — had mixed feelings, but was pleased to be accepted, and excited to learn what the school might have to offer him in terms of intellectual pursuits. The living conditions were another matter.
He’d traveled in the company of his uncle, for safety precautions — for, despite all their words, Elayna and Besbin were not about to force him to make the trip entirely alone — and because they did not want to pay for a hired escort. It also gave his Uncle Besbin primary opportunity to again handle a scattering of business matters in the capital while he was there. After moving Amalric in to his on-campus dormitory, however, and handling those matters on hand, his uncle was gone again, leaving Amalric to his own devices.
It had since been a week. His first classes were set to begin in three days’ time. He had time on his hands. Most of it he spent reading. It was easy, after all, to wall himself up inside the high stone walls of the academy, tucked with his things and his books in private spaces and ignore most of the world but for the occasional necessity of feeding himself and scoping the grounds for the locations he would need to know of: the classrooms, the library, where to purchase food, and so forth.
Eventually, however, curiosity got the better of him. Curiosity, impatience, and restlessness, he supposed. For, although he was more than capable of winding away all his hours into books, particularly when a wealth of them were now available for avid consumption, he did have a nose prone to stuffing itself, at least briefly, into new business until he’d satisfied the itch of scoping new territory.
This would be the city he lived in for several years to come now, after all. It seemed appropriate that he investigate. He happened to have ‘perfect’ timing, apparently. For, after scoping the city markets and the town hall, investigating the outside of what he guessed was the council meeting chamber, and making his way back towards the path that would take him to campus again, a crowd was building.
He had heard, very briefly in passing, some talk of a traveler in town accompanied by various other odd rumors. This, however, was the first he’d seen any actual evidence of anyone’s presence that seemed out of the ordinary or strange enough to cause a stir—but causing a stir they were, now. And, being who he was, Amalric couldn’t resist the urge to press at least a touch closer to listen—and watch.
They were certainly an animated sort. Arms about, voice raised. Over the heads of the crowd, the speaker held a strange, coiled object. Metallic, but of a bronzed shade like a golden armlet or wrist adornment, except that it was too large for that. Given the depth of the crowd, there was little hope getting much nearer himself, and once his curiosity was sated, Amalric pulled away, miffed. Thoughts of the object, though, would linger and return to him periodically in the days and weeks to come.
Zidel was, if nothing else, making a distinct first impression upon him.
