Role-Playing - "Sometimes there's worse things than dying."

"Tell you what. Ale's on me tonight and we forget this happened." Fern said before she dropped off the porch of Panas' Place. Lon thought about chasing her, then looked at the rich woman now drawing her daughter off the street and decided she needed the money less than Fern did.
Finally Lon pushed his way into the now-dispersing crowd. He bent over and spoke softly to the girl. "Hi," he said. "I'm Lon. What's your name?"
"Fern," she sniffed. "And I'm not ten, you know."
Lon smiled. "It's going to be okay," he said, putting his hand on her shoulder. "He wouldn't have hurt you."
Fern looked up at him through wet eyes and it looked like she was about to argue with him.

Pop exits his hotel room across from the tavern to go get a drink before retiring for the night. He notices a couple people talking on the way, one looking quite upset. He took a seat at the tavern and ordered a cold beer, and another, and another.....zzzzzzzzzz. Pop was sound asleep.

The voices had stopped, and Fern had to force herself to stay calm as the sound of footsteps in the opposite direction faded away. What she heard was interesting to say the least. She waited another minute to make sure she was alone and peeked around the corner. The alley was empty.

With light steps she made her way out of the system of alleys, careful to avoid any other confrontation. The sky was dark by the time she had scaled the wall of a local bakery and settled into a corner with her cloak secured tightly around her curled up body. The recently stolen money bag rested next to her well trusted knife on her hip. She slept lightly and waited for the dawn to come.

Skye brushed a strand of loose blonde hair behind her ear and listened to the murmurings of the crowd. Most of the spectacle beforehand she had already witnessed, a ghost sighting, but she had decided to stay behind and observe the crowd. Skye was good at melting into dense crowds, always was, since she came to this village. A village where no one trusted one another, a village where the folk always hid behind bolted doors, not that it would have made much difference if they did or not. Skye blinked her huge pale blue eyes as a man in front of her whispered to his comrade, "That makes the fourth ghost-sighting this week. Those blasted spirits aren't keeping to their own territories, by my tongue!" His comrade shook his head. "Let's just forget about it, and go have another ale." His friend nodded, grumbling and the two men went back inside the tavern. By now, that was where a large portion of the crowd had gone; the others wandered back to the safety of their own homes. Skye found herself in the deserted street alone when a crazy idea occurred to her. Looking from either side down the street, she straightened her weather-stained indigo cloak, adjusted the belt around her waist that held a small, intricate dagger, stepped out onto the street, and then disappeared into the blackness of the night. She knew where she was going and why, she just didn't know what she would do once she arrived there, at the tombs.

Eva sat at her usual table in the tavern, the one next to a window overlooking the street, and just absorbed the sights and sounds around her. This was where she came to think and recollect herself, and she felt she needed a lot of that right now. Her most recent dream disturbed her, and had brought back unpleasant memories of her childhood. She took a sip of the hot coffee which the waitress had brought her; she couldn't stand the ale they had. Eva was just biting into a piece of fresh pie when she heard the scream from outside. The girl didn't even look out of the window. Ghost sightings were regular things for her by now, but that didn't make them any more bearable. She hated the crowds and the noise and the drama, but most of all she hated the fear.

When the crowd cleared, and the majority of it entered the tavern, Eva turned her gaze to the outside. By the street she spotted a blond girl, standing all alone and glancing around furtively. The next thing Eva knew, the girl had disappeared into the shadows. Something inside Eva's memory went off like an alarm, but the thought was unreachable. With a slightly tired sigh, she paid for her meal and left the tavern quietly heading in the direction of her home, a small apartment down the road.

Ruthie wrote:may your journeys be many, may your battles be few, and may you bring justice to the things that so desperately need it!!!

As the sun crept through his window, Lon's first thought was of work. He hoped he wasn't too late. This job at Mr. Creson's General Store was the only one he had held for more than a week since . . . he didn't want to think about that. Lon quickly dressed and splashed some water on his face. As he did so the events of the night before came back to him.
He headed out the door of the small nearly-collapsing building that served as his home and glanced down the street to where the girl had thought she had seen an evil ghost. All that was there now was Cyn, a ghost of an old woman who frequently came through town this time of morning. He waved at her but she didn't notice. Lon headed up the street toward the general store. Not that there was very far to go--the town only had two streets.
"Did you hear the news!?" Mr. Creson burst out as soon as Lon was halfway in the door.
"What news?" Lon asked. He was relieved that his employer hadn't noticed his lateness but he didn't let Mr. Creson know that.
"That woman! The rich one! The one from last night!" Mr. Creson paused dramatically. "She's . . . missing!"
Now that was a surprise, but after a moment Lon smiled. "She probably just got lost on the way back to Mardy's Hotel and wandered off. Tourists do silly things like that, if you remember."
Mr. Creson shook his head. "No, she's missing!" He insisted. "Really truly she is! They're rounding up a search party, you'd better get over there and see if you can help."
Lon nearly fell on his face as Mr. Creson, broom in hand, pushed him back out the door.

Just as Cyrus began to ponder about what to eat for lunch, the door to the general store creaked open. She glanced up from her shelf of canned food and saw Lon looking nervously at Mr. Creson. Why is he late? Does he want to lose his job? Careless, absolutely careless. She looked back at her food and arranged the cans by freshness or how fresh she decided they were. Her knees started to hurt from the squatting position that she had kept up since her workday started. Even though Cyrus knew that eavesdropping was a terrible thing to do, she couldn't help listening to the conversation between her co-worker and boss. They were discussing something about some rich lady disappearing. Cyrus didn't really care about the rich lady or whatever happened to her. She only had to worry about her job and her life. I want some kind of meat today. I love meat...or maybe cheese. Fish sounds good too. The door slammed, and Cyrus quickly took the chance to relieve her knees by standing up.

"Where did he go?" She asked, trying not to sound angry. Mr. Creson better not have let him have the day off.
"I sent him to go help the search party find the rich lady. I think Lon would be very helpful in this kind of situation, don't you think?"
"Sure, I guess. He's a guy and all, but what about me? I could be helpful too."
Mr. Creson laughed heartily, "Come on, Cyrus, I know you well. Why would you take any interest in something that has nothing to do with you?"
Did he just call me selfish...or apathetic?
"Besides," he continued, "with Lon gone, you can be in charge of taking inventory!"
Cyrus smiled and decided to take that as a compliment. That meant that she was the better worker, and that was all that mattered. She would make her money and save up for a trip out of this rundown town that people somehow call home.

But maybe I could do a little investigating on my break.

Ruthie wrote:A village where no one trusted one another, a village where the folk always hid behind bolted doors, not that it would have made much difference if they did or not.

Corinne wrote:Did he just call me selfish...or apathetic?

Pop abruptly awoke that morning to obnoxious yells of Mr. Creson. He listened in on his conversation with Lon. "Hmm.. That sweet woman has gone missing....and a search party, eh. Well I'm sure they could use the help of an expert explorer like myself. I best get going then." So after his seven o' clock beer Pop rose slowy from his seat and with some undesired pain, cracked his back a bit. "Phew. Being old is no picnic." He grabbed his worn, black hat and placed it over partially bald head. Grasping his cane firmly, he exited the tavern to join the search party.

Well, that had gone less well than I had hoped. Lon thought to himself. Frankly all he wanted was to find the poor woman, whom he really believed was lost now, but he didn't think trekking all the way down to the river outpost would do just that. Granted, other groups were combing the rest of the countryside, but that didn't help his feeling of uselessness as he headed for the narrow but well-worn path that led down the mountain. He was thankful at least that Pop was in his group. That old man was always useful to talk to.
"Hi Pop,"* Lon said, falling into step next to the old man. "Isn't it a little early for you to be walking around without a bottle for comfort?" he chuckled.

The sun started to shine brightly through the trees and down the rock covered mountainside. He paused for a moment to 'take it all in' and admire the beauty of nature. As he did these things, Lon, who was also in his division of the search party, came over and jokingly said "Isn't it a little early for you to be walking around without a bottle for comfort?"
Pop chuckled and gave Lon a friendly slap on the back. Then becoming slightly more serious he said " So my boy what do you think about this little mystery we've got on our hands? Some folks say it might be those ghosts, but they've never been any trouble before. Then again, it's the only explanation we've got at the moment."

The same sun that had Lon marvelling at nature shone through the window of a shabby house in the east district of town, commonly known as the Warren. This was because loads upon loads of the same kind of houses had been built wherever there was room, including upwards. Some of the houses rose three or four stories up, with no stairs leading to the hovel above, but instead, rickety ladders lined the narrow streets leading to open doorways. Inbetween the second and third level houses were boards crossing over the street and above the lower lever houses, resulting in an endless tangle of paths and alleyways that made the entire Warren helplessly confusing, unless you lived there.
One of the few pieces of luck in Jimmy's life was that he did. It was far better to live in the Warren, he figured optimistically, then to not and one day find yourself stranded there. People had known to get lost there for weeks, and they usually came out robbed or scared to death, if they came out at all. Gangs roamed the paths and boardways, helped by renegade groups of ghosts called the Reapers. Everyone in the Warren knew you didn't go out at night.

The light shone through the window of the fourth story hut and into the freckled face of Jimmy, who tried in vain to push it away. Finally he sighed and opened his eyes a crack. Then they flew open and he leaped up, almost causing the cords in his bed to break.
"What the heck?!" he shouted, startled and staring at the figure before him.
It was a rather small figure, a young girl, with intense blue eyes and fiery red hair and pale skin. Actually, the skin was beyond pale, it was transparent, as was the rest of her body.
"Boo," the girl stated matter-of-factly. "This has been my official haunting for the day."
Jimmy collapsed onto his bed, panting. He lifted his eyes to the girl's face and grimaced.
"Fiona," he said, trying to hold back a laugh. "If you ever do that again, I swear, I will kill you."
Fiona tilted her head. "Really? Hate to break it to you, but..."
"I will find out what I can do instead of killing you, and I will do that."
Fiona nodded. "Oh, yeah, now I'm really scared." Then she jumped up, drifted in the air for a few second, and then floated down to his bed, like a leaf falling from a tree. "Hey, guess what- today's Saturday. And you said you'd hang out with me today. And I'm your best friend, so you better. And guess what else..."
Jimmy rubbed his eyes, knowing the only way to make Fiona shut up was to... not. "What else?"
But for once Fiona didn't answer, but instead, stood and stared out the window. She pointed.
"Hey, isn't that Lon and Pop?" she asked.
Jimmy looked. "Yeah, it is."
Fiona looked at him mischieviously. "Let's go find out what they're up to. See you in a few!" Fiona disappeared through the floor before Jimmy could protest.
Jimmy sighed and began getting dressed. Looks like today was going to be busy...

Lady Maeve Talbot, as she was commonly known, was slowly opening her eyes in the semi-darkness. A dank, musty odor assaulted her nostils and the top of her head was throbbing. She instinctively touched it very gingerly and the events of the previous evening flashed through her mind. She recalled meeting Ren on the "forbidden street". She really couldn't blame her for taking a short cut, considering her stubborn, albeit hard-working father, had gotten it into his mind to form some "character" in his just-as-stubborn daughter by refusing to let her have her carriage and driver. Ren had her mother's looks, but that temperament was all her father's! For heaven's sake! Was is really worth his poor girl sprawled in the middle of the dirtiest and most-haunted street in all the shire? Oh, and that Ren, and her vanity over those ridiculous heels!
She remembered helping Ren up and helping her carry packages...they were walking home together...and that's all she could recall, it was just dark after that...She reached down. Of course, her coin purse was gone. A mugging? What had happened? Obviously, it had everything to do with this goose egg protruding from her dome...Where was Ren? Was SHE all right? Where am I? Lady Maeve wondered. This looks like an old dungeon! I must be in the old ruins of Cair Castle, five miles outside of town...How did I get here?...Why am I here? Is someone holding me for ransom? When will I find out what they want?She heard rustling in the corner and couldn't hold back a little shriek when a rat darted across her expensive shoes. A miniscule amount of light was coming through a tiny opening about 10 feet up the damp, moldy wall. It was a sunny day, and she was surely hoping against hope that she could hear the faint sound of barking dogs... Had the sheriff raised the hue and cry for her? Her heart sank in despair. How would they ever find her here?

Zier sat in peacefully in his chair at the tavern, drinking his beer, his cold blue blue eyes scanning the crowd, nothing spectacular, then all of the sudden he heard a scream outside.

People moved to the doors but he merely raised an eyebrow and finished his pint. Zeir slowly stood up and walked to the door, leaning against the jam, the dim light shilluetting him to the crowd.

There was a girl encircled by a crowd, he was at the outskirts, not very interested he went inside and up to his room, and fell fast asleep thinking...

***Next Morning***

The rooster crowed Zier out of his sleep, dimly he could see the details of his room. Hearing a commotion he picked up his sword and strapped it on, he was so tired from the night before he had forgotten to take off his other clothes. 

Zier went down the stairs and out to the street. There he found a crowd, and he gatherd from the mumblings that a certain person named Lady Talbot, Maeve Talbot, was missing and he they were organizing a search party for her. 

Zier saw a few people he recognized from the previous nights, two regulars, a tall dark clothed man named Lon, and an elderly, lovable, character named "Pop," he followed them, they decided to check down by the river with a few other people, he hastened his pace to catch up to the man named Lon and asked "What happened? Last I saw someone was screaming in the street."

When Eva woke up thinking that today would start like any other one, she didn't know how mistaken she was. She sat up on her slightly creaky bed, stretched, and thought about her morning schedule. It was no different; she would get up, get dressed, practically inhale her breakfast, and then slip in the door to the book shop, "The Redwood - A Quality Used Book Store", where she worked, just before her boss could call her late. But things were definitely not ordinary this morning.

She raced down the road and into The Redwood like she normally did, the bell on the door jingling, an exhilarated smile on her face. Putting her well-loved tote bag down on a dusty table she called out to her boss. "Dorothy! I'm here!" When she didn't get a reply, Eva looked about, peering around the corners of the book shelves. "Dot? You here?" No answer. That's odd... she thought, pushing open the door into the back room. On the cluttered desk she spotted a piece of hot pink paper; Dorothy's trademark stationary. Snatching up the note, she read it hastily.
"Eva - My good friend and customer, Maeve Talbot, has been found missing. The town is arranging a search party which I intend to join. Find me in the center of town where they're having the gathering.
See you there... and lock the door behind you. - Dot."

It was with a shaky hand that Eva put the note down. The logical and practical part of her brain was struggling with her frantic emotions. It can't be! Her brain told herself, but her thoughts were so muddled. Dreams don't come true, do they? Just because I dreamed the ghosts took someone doesn't mean they did. It's probably coincidence, the lady just got lost. But what if it's not? My dreams come true a lot. "And if it was the ghosts, I'll bet they could use someone who has had some experience." Eva said grimly, pictures of what the Reapers had done to those she loved, and herself, floated around in her head. Though she didn't know much about them historically speaking, she knew just what kind of things they did to prisoners. Squaring her shoulders, Eva headed out of the store, grabbing her bag on the way out and locking the door behind her. On the street, she broke into a jog, and caught sight of the search groups in a few minutes.

Making her way through the crowd, which was growing quickly, she looked for Dorothy. She saw her boss in the center of the people, speaking with a man. In a few moments, a group headed off in the direction of the river, Dorothy with them. Eva considered going after her, but only for a moment; she hadn't had a free day in ages, and didn't much care if it had to be spent searching for a missing woman. So with a feeling of blissful freedom (though nervous that the Reapers may be getting braver and deadlier), Eva turned her attention to the sheriff, who was giving instructions and directions on where to search.

Ren was curled on her side underneath a shady maple in her back yard. Living where she did meant that the entire property was rather small and compressed: the yard consisted of the small maple tree and a few shrubs before the neatly manicured grass hit the side of the house. Her mother's disappearance hit her in a hard way, a fact that surprised her. She had been living under the influence of teenage hormones that told her that she was on top of the world and nothing could bring her or those she was near to her to disaster, and so when she and her father discovered her mother to be missing Ren felt as though she had been stabbed through the stomach.

Her father was out with the others searching for his wife but she felt too hopeless to move out from under the tree. She had been laying there for hours already and didn't even move when an ant crawled across her arm. As she thought about how pathetic she was being, she heard a commotion out front of her house.

Pop Marcit leaned over to Lon as they walked along. "So my boy what do you think about this little mystery we've got on our hands?" he said. "Some folks say it might be those ghosts, but they've never been any trouble before. Then again, it's the only explanation we've got at the moment."
Lon nodded thoughtfully. "I spoke to the girl, Ren," he said quietly. "She seemed pretty shaken. I know she's an out-of-towner and everything, but according to her the ghost isn't one we've seen before. She described him to me," he paused. "But then, her mind wasn't plowed straight, if you know what I mean."
Lon jumped down a particularly steep rock, then reached up to help Pop down. The rest of the group followed. It wasn't long until they reached a small waterfall, which fell into a small pool of water. That pool of water trickled slowly down until it met the main river.
"We're almost there," Lon said cheerfully, even though he knew they were less than half way there.

As Lon stared at the waterfall, he could have sworn he saw a face in it. He was about to tell Pop about it when the face smiled at him. Lon almost jumped as the face drifted out of the waterfall, along with a fragile-looking, translucent body. Lon thought he had seen the face before. One of the ghosts that haunted the Warren, if he remembered correctly. He tried to remember her name but he couldn't. The ghost began to drift closer.
"Did I scare you?" the ghost asked.
Lon didn't acknowledge her, he just continued down the path.

"Leave her alone I say!" Bill said. "She doesn't know anything."
"We're not going to hurt her," Paul said, pushing past Bill and through the back gate. He caught site of a lying form curled up under a tree. "Girlie!" he shouted.
"Stop it!" Bill hissed from beside Paul. "We don't need her."
"If it is the Reapers," Paul sissed back, "Then they'll come back to threaten the girl. We're protecting her."
"No," Bill corrected, "We're using her as bait."
"Same thing," said Paul. He moved toward the girl and grabbed her arm. "We need you to help us find your mom. We're going up to the old Cair castle."

Fiona was standing gaping on a small outcrop by the river when Jimmy caught up with her.
"Did you see that?" she asked indignantly, pointing to the other side of the bridge. Jimmy could just make out the retreating forms of Lon and Pop.
"That is the rudest thing I have ever seen in my entire life!"
Jimmy raised his eyebrows. "Which must be saying something, considering both your reputation and your current vital status."
Fiona looked at him questioningly. "My current vital-? Oh, I change my mind!" She made as if to slap Jimmy, but let her hand go right through. Jimmy jumped off the outcrop and started down the path to the bridge. "You are the new rudest thing!" She shouted after him, then sighed and started down the path. She finally caught up with him on the bridge. She looked at him sideways and waited for him to say something.
"I'm not talking to you," she stated and looked straight ahead.
Jimmy spread both arms to the sky. "Thank you God!" he said smiling. "You've answered my prayers!"
"Why, you-"
Jimmy ran ahead laughing and caught up with the tail end of Lon's search party. Fiona followed, slightly invisible, a few steps behind, as he made his way to the front of the party, where he tapped Pop on the shoulder.
"Hey, Pop!" he said. "What's the search-party for?"

Zier walked through the green woods until he came to a breach in the clouds, there the sun shone through bright an clean. Zier took a deep breath of the clean air, so different from the muggy air in the trees. 

He pulled himself up to a branch to look out over the cliff, better get back to work he said as he headed back to te group.

Zeir saw a ghost following behind the group and he recognized her as Fiona, he continued looking around the woods diligently 

A little after the search party had reached the far side of the bridge, Lon thought he saw the edges of his vision darken. He rubbed his eyes, thinking that he was just tired, but that didn't help at all. He glanced around and saw that it wasn't just his vision that was turning dark, the whole day was turning into night around him. And from the astonished looks on the faces of his companions, he wasn't the only one seeing the anomaly. Cautiously, he drew out his father's necklace and held it in his left hand while he drew his dagger with the other. Soon, he heard a strange screeching noise, far away, but coming fast.
Lon couldn't hear where the noise was coming from until a large, feather bundle slammed into him from behind and knocked him off his feet. He felt a sharp pain in his back and instinctively rolled over, only to find a dark mass of feathers and sharp claws on top of him. He lashed out with his dagger, unable to see enough of the creature to know if he was doing any damage. He worked a leg under the thing and kicked hard, sending it tumbling away. Lon sprang to his feet even as the pain in his back caused him to wince. He looked around and knew that this was no longer anything like an ordinary searching mission.