It was just pasted noon and was a strange time for a vampire to be awake and moving about; at least, for most vampires it would be. Not for Adrian Nightshade who was already wide awake and busy slaving away in the cellar of the winery. The cellar was a cool, dark place; perfect for a vampire. Adrian was the owner and operater of Alvaria's winery and he prided himself in making sure every bottle was perfection. Today was shipment day, most of the wine he made he sent out to other towns. The wine really was a hit, especialty in big cities were the noblemen ordered bottles by the hundreds.
Sometimes the orders became overwelming and he was greatful for his employee, Bri. She was a nice young woman and having her around made the work a lot easily, not to mention less lonely. Most of the time Adrain would have her work out in the yard, picking the harvest because he couldn't go out in the sun or risk turning to ash and there were much too many grapevines to be picked in only a few short hours.

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The sun shined through the window, falling directly onto Amelie Winters' face. She groaned and squitted her eyes, turning away from the beam of light. "Just a few more minutes..." she mumbled, tugging on her blanket. A few seconds of silence pass when she suddenly opens her eyes. I overslept again! she thought, flipping the sheets off her and jumping out of bed. She ran to her dresser and pulled out her work uniform; a maid outfit. She worked as a maid at the Inn she and her brother owned. Her brother was the one in charge of most of the business parts of running the Inn, she was content being able to just clean and make the Inn feel welcoming. She did feel a bit uncomfortble wearing the maid uniform. Her brother was the one who had ordered it and said that she had to wear it she couldn't work. Amelie was one of several natives from Alvaria to come down with a strange and uncurable illness. This same illness she had now was what killed her mother and father. Most days she was too weak to get out of bed but some days, like today she was feeling well enough to move around.
Amelie was pulling up one of her knee-high white socks when she lost her footing and fell hard on the ground. Several seconds later Amelie's older brother, Olivier was standing at the doorway to her bedroom. "What happened?" he asked, rushing to her aid, "Did you hurt yourself? Are you okay? Do you need to lie down? Come on, I'll help you to your bed."
Amelie swatted away her brother's hand. "I'm fine, I don't need help. I'm not hurt."
"Are you sure? I heard the loud crash from downstairs and got worried."
"Yes I am fine, I just fell pulling on my sock."
Olivier looks at Amelie for a few moments, "Okay, well I'll be downstairs if you need me and don't work yourself too hard, okay?" He leaves Amelie alone to finish getting dressed and start her work.

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"What you doing?" Jill asked, sitting down next to her older brother, Erik.
"I'm fishing." Erik replied with a smile. The siblings were in the woods located right out of town. Erik had his fishing gear packed up in the tackle box by his side. Today he was going to try his luck fishing in the lake. He has noticed that the fish seem scarce and what there is is tiny. That hasn't stopped him from being a fisherman though. He enjoyed fishing and no other job appealed to him. Sadly with the poor supply of good sized fish he and his sister had little money. They lived in the Inn and thankfully Olivier was understanding about their debt.
"Fishing looks so boring. Come on brother, let's go play!" Before Erik can even reply Jill has already dashed off.
"Wait Jill! It's dangerous!" Erik calls after his little sister who is already too far away to hear him. He quickly reels in his fishingline and takes off after her, leaving his things behind.

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Sage Lock was up before the sun like always. Sleep was not something very well known to him. He hated wasting time not being able to work on a new design. This crazy workaholic was lucky to get more than four hours of sleep a night but you would never be able to tell with all the energy he displayed.
Today he was working on a new design he had thought up while in bed. As soon as he had woken up this morning he rushed to start designing this new outfit. He hadn't even bothered to eat anything as he couldn't risk wasting any time and losing his inspiration.

On the outskirts of town, a clocked figure stood on the edge of the grass. The slender figure showed it to be a woman, but the cloak covered her face, shrouded in darkness. She looked at the town in silence, a gentle breeze blowing by. This seemed like a pretty town, hopefully with tons of gold. Three nights is her limit. In three nights, this town will be picked clean, then she'll go to the next town. Taking a step forward, the figure walks...

Martyn walked to the tailor's shop with both his breakfast and his lunch. Most people ate before they went to work, but he knew that Sage always wanted to get right to work, so he ate when he got there.
He opened the door, causing the bell above the door to ring. He walked into the back room and set his things down on a bench.
"Hello. Working on a new style?" asked Martyn, walking over to the table that Sage was working at.

Sage didn't notice when his helper came into the shop. The new dress had taken all his concentration. "Oh, good afternoon Martyn, I didn't see you come in. How are you doing today?" Not even giving his young employee a chance to respond he continued, "Yeah, I was hit with inspiration last night when I was in bed trying to sleep. I just had to jump into the design process this morning as soon as I woke up. I haven't even eaten anything yet today! Ha ha! Would you like to see the drawing I did? Here, look isn't it amazing?" Sage was on a ramble. Once he started talking about his work he couldn't stop. "Look at the sleeves and the waistband. And what do you think of the colors? Doesn't the brown compliment the pale yellow nicely? It's really the pretty spring dress, don't you think?”

She had walked to the main square of the town, which was filled with life. Customers of all kinds were buying foods, drinks, clothes, all of the sorts. Easy picking. Going around to three stalls (which were the busiest), she lurked by. No one had noticed her, no one paid attention to her walking by. Turning down an alley, she held up a large pile of sacks, filled with coins. No one suspected a thing...

"Okay. Little Tiffy's still asleep, and I've got the whole shop set up..." Venelope thought to herself as she overlooked the potions lining up all of her shelves. She took a bite of her over-easy eggs while reading the daily newspaper. Of course there was news about this strange epidemic. That's all anyone seemed to talk about anymore. She slowly chewed on her smoked bacon as she thought about how this might help her business. Of course she wasn't a doctor, but she did stock potions that are what amount to cheap painkillers. This store didn't see a lot of customers, and she could use all the help she can get. Maybe it has something to do with people not knowing much anything about this place. It would seem the next item on Venelope's to-do-list is to get some better advertising. Maybe Tiffany could help her with that. She reached out to get her cup of coffee, but she reached too far and accidentally sent her cup falling over the counter and hitting the floor with a crash. "Oh no!!" the surprised girl quickly scuttled over to see the damage. That was her favorite cup too...oh well. She got the broom and dustpan to clean up the mess, then wiped the liquid up with a rag. Now that the spilt coffee was taken care of, the realization hit her that she should have been open ten minutes ago. So now she walked over to the door, unlocked it, turned the sign to say "open", and walked back to her counter to eat the rest of her breakfast...or at least that's what she wanted to do until she tripped on the broom and landed face first in her plate of food. Slowly lifting her face from the plate, eggs and bacon smooshed around her cheeks and in her hair, she took a deep breath and slowly walked to the bathroom to clean herself up.

Bri picked one of the last few grapes. It was her 3rd month here, and she still didn't know too much about this town or it's inhabitants. She picked the final grape and took a breath. Taking a notebook and pencil out of her knapsack, Bri put a check mark next to "Pick the grapes" on her agenda. Then she picked up the basket, and she walked into the winery's lobby. She was humming a tune, which was similar to "Here Comes the Sun" by the Beatles. Bri then quickly put the basket down. "Hey, boss! I'm finished with the grapes!" Noticing that Adrian wasn't in the lobby, Bri was confused. "Boss? Where are you? I got the basket of grapes ready!"

As a drop of limpid water rolled down Vince’s forehead, he awoke. Vince, a solitary rogue, didn’t currently have the luxury of a comfortable abode; he was camped out in a nook within the vast network of sewers that ran under Alvaria. People seldom ventured into the sewers, and they were dark enough for him to remain unnoticed if anyone did.

Vince, regaining his senses, pulled himself up onto his feet. “Dang, I’m hungry,” he muttered. “Guess I’m going to have to pilfer some food.” He proceeded to the nearest ladder out of the sewer — the next left, followed by a right turn — without making a sound. All one could hear was the echoes of squabbling mice in the distance. Vince’s outfit was optimised for his trade: all black, to merge with the shadows, with shoes crafted for the express purpose of concealing his presence.

Once he reached the ladder, he climbed its slimy rungs and lifted the lid of the manhole cover to check that all was clear. The bright mid-day light poured in, and Vince resisted the urge to cover his eyes due to the pain. He saw no one, as expected — this manhole was on the outskirts of the forest adjacent to the town, after all.

Vince clambered out of the sewer and lowered the cover carefully back into place, and then he made his way towards the market.

Martyn took an apple out of his breakfast bag and munched on it while he listened to Sage talk about his new dress. It did look like a great spring dress, but it wasn't spring anymore. It was summer.
Then Martyn remembered that they needed to get more material. They usually went to the market once a season to get new material, and it was time to go summer shopping. That way they could pick up some summer-themed colors of cloth.
"We're almost out of material. Are we going to go today, or do you think we'll be able to last until tomorrow?" he asked.

Adrian was just placing the last bottle of wine into the third box for shipment when he heard Bri upstairs. "Ah, thank you for your help Bri." Adrian said, coming upstairs, "Sorry, I was down in the cellar getting the shipment ready. I should have left a note so you weren't confused." He grabbed the grapes from Bri, "I'll take these to the refrigerator, could you please go down to the cellar and start packing up the boxes? I will be down in a moment to help you. The boxes are labled with which wine bottles go in it."

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Sage looked up from his work. "Yeah, we need to get some supplies soon. would be better getting it sooner than later, right?" He laughed, "Do you mind taking invertory while I finish this dress?" Sage was nearly done already with the dress. He just had a few more finishing touches to put on it. He didn't want to leave his work before he finished.

It had been a good 6 months since Jack Helterson had been in town. Despite this, he had actually returned early. Normally it took at least 8 months to find anything good enough to bring back, and it wasn't as big as his catch this time. He walked into town, bringing a recently diseased deer upon his back. It had already been gutted, but that was part in parcel of the Jack Helterson Animal Treatment Procedure. First he hunted the animal, which usually took up most of his time when he was away from town. Then he would kill it, and gut it, and bring it back to town for sale. He usually got good prices for venison, and this buck he was lugging could land him quite the mother-load of cash. He mostly used his income to pay for rent and food, although he still lived a simple life. A dusty old cabin on the outskirts of the town is where he lived, and for the most of the year was empty and abandoned. He brought the animal to the butcher, who bought it off him for a decent price, although not as much as he would have hoped. He took the money, and went to the local winery. He walked in, after knocking on the door, and said loudly, "How much is a barrel?". He had always bough wine by the barrel, then stored it at his house and drained it over the course of a week or so.

"Nah, I don't mind. Just make sure to open on time," Martyn said, and threw away the apple core. He left the tailor's shop and headed towards town, running all the colors needed through his head.
Let's see, we need yellow, orange, deep green... White of course... And I think there's one more color. I should have made a shopping list.

Draining the last wallet of its coins, a large gleaming pile was on the ground. It was an okay-haul, but she could get more. Taking her left index finger, she swirled it around the pile. With a bit of magic, the pile of coins disappeared. Now, time to go looting again. Going back into the market place, she scanned the crowd for any suspecting victims in the shadows.

Adrian had just returned from storing away the grapes when Jack walked in. "Ah! A customer! Welcome, welcome, how may I help you?" He grinned, not many people came to buy wine here. Most of the money he made was by selling it to other towns or to the Inn where they served it every night. "The cost of a....barrel? Hm... Let's see." He did some quick math in his head using his finger to write numbers in his head. "How does this sound?" he asked, giving Jack the number he summed up in his head.

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Sage laughed, his helper knew him so well. There have been countless times where he had been so absorbed in his work that he had completely forgotten to open the shop! He was glad that Martyn had started working here. Although he was very young, Sage believed Martyn was very mature for his age, more mature than Sage believed himself to be somedays.

"Jill! Please slow down!" Erik called after his little sister. He struggled to keep up with his sister. She was such a ball of energy and had darted out from the trees into the town square where several people were shopping. "Jill! Watch out!" He ran faster to try and catch her before she got hurt.
"Hehe! Try to catch me!" Jill laughed, turning around while running to stick her tounge out at her older brother. She wasn't able to see the woman directly in her path and before she knew what was going on she ran straight into the cloaked woman. She fell to the ground with a loud thud, "Owie!" Jill cried, rubbing her head, "That hurt...." She looked up at who she had bumped into, "Ooohhh, hi strange person! Why are you wearing a cloak? It's hot out!" Jill stood up, dusting off her knees and laughed, "Hehe, aren't you sweating?"
"Jill!" Erik finally caught up to his sister. He sees the cloaked woman Jill was talking to and he felt suddenly uneasy. Erik grabbed his sister and pulled her closer to him. "Jill...apologize...."
"Oh, okay. I'm sorry strange lady!"

The sudden child to her body startled her, knocking her to the wall. It hurt a bit, but she was more concerned about the fact that she was being talked to. She wasn't the 'make-nice' kind of gal, so now would be the best time to leave. But how? Well, she has a kid in front of her...Maybe...
She knelt down so she was eye-to-eye with the little girl. Grabbing the glove of her right hand, she slipped it off. Her skin is fair, her fingers delicate. Holding her palm out, she swirled the air around. A sudden cool breeze can be felt as tiny snowflakes formed at her finger tips. They floated around her hand until the conjoined together above her palm, forming an ice snowflake. It fell in her hand, not seeming to melt. Maneuvering it with her fingers, she held it out as a gift to the girl. She held her left finger up to the front of her hood, then in a gentle tone, quietly shushed, indicating she should keep it as a little secret.
But she wasn't thinking of this as a gift. Putting on a friendly facade so she wouldn't be suspected of her true nature. Maybe...

Jill's eyes widened in amazement, watching the strange woman form the tiny snowflake out of thin air. "Wow." She mouthed, completely in awe. She held out her hands, letting the woman put the snowflake in her hand. Jill nodded slowly at the woman and whispered her thanks for the gift.
"Jill..." Erik said, concerned. He couldn't see what was going on.
"Let's go play big brother!" Jill turned to her brother beaming. She kept the snowflake out of sight from her brother. She dashed off before her brother had a chance to reply again.
"Ugh! Jill, wait up!" Erik gave the cloaked woman a suspious glance before hurrying to catch up to his little sister.

Karmaki said
Adrian had just returned from storing away the grapes when Jack walked in. "Ah! A customer! Welcome, welcome, how may I help you?" He grinned, not many people came to buy wine here. Most of the money he made was by selling it to other towns or to the Inn where they served it every night. "The cost of a....barrel? Hm... Let's see." He did some quick math in his head using his finger to write numbers in his head. "How does this sound?" he asked, giving Jack the number he summed up in his head.

Jacks eyes widened in surprise. This wine was pricey, however ... He was thirsty. He hve the man the money needed, and it was safe to assume that it almost emptied his wallet. "I'll take one then, thank you." He said, and made a mental note to just go to the inn instead of going directly to the winery. He took time to discreetly get a sniff of the mans scent, that would be how Jack remembered this man the next time he saw him.

Assallya Kressair oversaw the small child cleaning the Silken Sithin. Child labour was nothing new, especially not to brothels. Despite the use of sheepskin contraceptives and various herbs children were a natural result of what occurred there. The boys they sold off to anyone willing or the state. The girls they kept for themselves, using them in varying capacities until able to take up the trade. This young girl was dusting the gilded pieces of fake ostentatious pieces of artwork. Everything had the appearance of a noble person's lavish estate but nothing could be truly valuable for one simply couldn't trust those that frequented such establishments.

Seeing that the girl was doing fine, Assallya decided to step into the front half of the estate she shared with Valalia Selwyn. Valalia's primary responsibility included taking care of the bathouse, the Sylvan Springs. She also passed through those customers that were interested in more than a bath. Few people knew that Valalia was a succubus. It was a secret Assallya kept. One day, Assallya hoped to find out the demon girl's true name and gain absolute power over her but so far hadn't any luck.

"Valalia!" the blond elven woman called out as she passed through a beaded curtain, "Valalia, the nine hells blasted men delivering the faggots are tardy again. We need to send a runner to check on them. We can't afford to run out of wood."

Watching the two dash off, she silently sighed in relief. That was too close. But yet, she discovered something interesting from that confrontation. Maybe she could pull it off, but she needs a plan to separate the two. That older boy could pose a problem, he seemed more suspicious of her than the girl. They looked very similar, so they must be relatives, most likely brother and sister. This'll be complicated, but a demon in the next town would pay good money. The last time she checked, she had a month left. Tonight, she'll formulate the plan, tomorrow she'll execute it. Tomorrow she'll wake up early to set up in the market square, before anyone got there.