[center][h3]Ethan[/h3][/center] Ethan's jaunt through the forest was quiet, serene almost. Though the thick canopy put the forest road under a dark shadow, it also provided a wonderful shade for an otherwise rather warm mid autumn day. Especially with Ethan so winded from his quick walk back to the crossroads, a cool shade would be most pleasant for him, perhaps along with some fresh water and a crisp fruit or some such. Alas, not all was peaceful in this forest. Soon Ethan would come across a ghastly but not entirely unusual sight; a dead fox in the middle of the road, being eaten by two blood-red hawks. These hawks were quiet large; one was at least as big as Ethan's torso, and the other was just a few inches smaller. They tore through the fox easily as if they were ripping apart a roasted chicken, devouring it's corpse with gusto. Ethan would need to be quick in his decision making; should he hide and wait fore the hawks to leave, taking longer to get to the village, perhaps try to sneak around the blood hawks, or maybe even just run through and hope for the best? Perhaps he should just flee from these two birds of prey? The choice was his. [@Searat] [hr] [center][h3]Livia[/h3][/center] Before Nicolas could speak up, Monita went over and picked up the mewing kitten. She gave Livia a look of resistance but also a touch of fright. [b]"You can't! They're my kittens!"[/b] The mayor sighed, walking over to his granddaughter and patting her shoulder. [b]"Now now Monita, that was rude. Apologize."[/b] The little girl looked down and whispered an apology. Nicolas just gave her a firm stare and she spoke up more loudly. [b]"... I'm sorry. It's just... It's my responsibility, to take care of the kittens. That's my job."[/b] Nicolas smiled and stood up, picking the kitten out of Monita's hand to give to Livia. [b]"Forgive my granddaughter, ever since she arrived to the town she wanted to make herself useful. She's taken it upon herself to take care of all the stray cats around here, and their kittens. Feel free to have as many as you wish. If you feel like they've become a handful, Monita would gladly take care of them for you."[/b] The kitten seemed pretty passive in Monita and Nicolas hands, but once returned to Livia the little creature was ecstatic. It's been so long since he's gotten to play with new people. He would paw and wave towards Livia until he was finally in her possession, where he would proceed to crawl and play all over her until he'd wear himself out in about ten minutes. [@Rune_Alchemist] [hr] [center][h3]Keal[/h3][/center] It would take Kael quite some time before he would narrow down his listen to potential people who might be his father, and it was still roughly thirty people. They were older gentlemen, human by their description, who would armor and used weapons similar to what Kael would expect, each one have a written description that could possibly be his father sans a few minor details such as some being clean shaven, some wearing their hair short or long, and with certain articles describing the male as being fair skinned or tanned, either which could possibly still be Kael's father considering how often he may spend outside out of his armor. Each of the descriptions had one constant at least; they all came to the Temple for commission some sort of service, typically a repair job for their equipment, stayed in the town until the job was done, and left the Frontier Town. What their reasons for being in the Frontier was mixed or simply not written; most were just vaguely described as "On a quest", with the most detailed being some sort of investigation regarding a guild of thieves. Additionally most of these men had no given name and simply their description, and even those who were named had names that were fairly generic; names such as John, Adam, Bob, so forth. Even the scribes who wrote these receipts ponder if these are true names or just aliases. As Kael was continuing his research, the red-haired dwarf who he had spoken to before passed by the study, noticing him and entering the room. [color=ed1c24]"Oho? Studying the scripture? Do you wish to join our temple perhaps?"[/color] [@Guy0fV4lor] [hr] [center][h3]Antaeus[/h3][/center] Antaeus's slow and meticulous movements were not going to win him any favors chasing prey, but thanks to his watchful and patience eyes, he would indeed notice something that even a seasoned hunter would miss easily. Anyone would expect the White Stag to leave behind deep footprints or perhaps fur in the bush; many seek it and keep their nose close to the ground. It wasn't until a curious glance around that Antaeus would notice the true key to finding the White Stag; he would look upwards and notice a few branches with notable scratches on their undersides. It would easily click into place for the young man; the White Stag, no doubt a great and tall beast, would have his antlers scratch even the tallest branches unlike other normal deer and bucks. Once he realized this he could easily track the trail the White Stag would have gone, at least while it's moving through the forest. That would be when Antaeus would notice just [i]why[/i] such a creature is surprisingly hard to find. Had he followed the deer trail Antaeus would be led towards the grass plains where deer are commonly sighted during their hunting season. While it would make sense for the White Stag to follow his fellow beasts in their migration, the trail Antaeus knew continued onward through the forest in the direction of the Salt Lake; a land locked body of water known for it's complete lack of fish but high concentration of salt. In fact, this was where the Frontier Town got most of it's salt locally. However it was also dangerous; the Salt Lake was outside of the Red Bear's territory, so there was no telling what sort of predators may be there. Indeed, the White Stag himself had to be a formidable creature to willingly go to such a dangerous place on his own. Still, perhaps this would just be more in Antaeus's favor. Dangerous predators could be worthy prey to prove to the garrison leaders that Antaeus is worthy of being a warrior, and they may inadvertently help the young man hunt down the White Stag, possibly even slay it. Danger was always an ever present factor to these things, and it's only those with a heroic spirit who look pass danger to grasp victory. [@Zeroth] [center][h3]Katherine[/h3][/center] When Katherine arrived to the town hall, the person she spoke to was none other than another traveler who just arrived; he had struggled a bit with his written common, and thus had to have a scribe help write his papers for him. Or at least, a scribe who could also understand his lingo. Fortunately that same scribe spoke orcish, to which this young-half-orc man was quite fluent, so they solved that problem easily. So when Katherine approached the young half-orc he craned his neck. [color=00a651]"Fancy dat. Yer a newcomer too eh? Ye, ya just missed da orientation, but dere's a lotta stuff ye can do round ere. Mines could always use more workers, but I imagine dat a lady like ye ain't interested in dat. I hear dat da Tavern could use a courier. Let's see... Some lass who runs da local school needs people I hear."[/color] The orc lifted his oar over his shoulder and shrugged. [color=00a651]"Personally dey all sound like a crap job ta me. Word on da street however is dat Barthen, da guy who runs da general store here, is paying a gold coin fer every pound of some herbs from da forest. I'm gunna head in dere and grab as much as I can carry and get enuff dosh ta start up a lil fishery. Interested in helpin a bloke out?"[/color] [@Pyromania99]