02-13-2016, 07:46 AM
The Path in front of Grimm stretched on, it would still be a half hour before he reached the gates of Darkshire. All around him dark fields rolled away into infinity broken only by stagnant pools of once running water choked by overflow from the wetlands. Throughout his brief excursion with IP he had never taken the time to properly look at his surroundings but now that he did Grimm could see that this was a world sliding into decay. Still and unmoving and seemingly unaffected by the winds the dark clouds that blotted out the sun didn't pass, even after a quarter hour they remained the same. The gates of Darkshire were close now and as Grimm drew near he could make out a lone figure standing guard by the city gates. It was then that a rather worrying prospect dawned on him, if the stories he had heard were true and this world was plagued by creatures of the night then it wouldn't be surprising if he were mistaken for one. After all the people of his own world would often enter bouts of hysteria when his skeletal face was revealed and they weren't constantly living in the fear of his likeness tearing through their town and murdering the local populace. With the intention of avoiding the rather undesirable event of the locals forming a lynch mob and chasing him back to the deathly white of the nexus Grimm resolved to open a nice and civilised discourse with the guard to make clear that he was of more class then the undead they were used to dealing with.
"Excuse me sir," Grimm called out, still a good fifty or so meters from the guard, "This wouldn't happen to be the town of Darkshire would it?". Grimm had tried his best to sound friendly but the echo caused as the air left his skull had the unwanted effect of making everything he said sound just a tiny bit ominous.
Wearily the guard turned so that he properly faced Grimm "It is but don't expect a warm welcome. We're still recovering from the last attack and no one has the time to play tour guide.". Now that he was closer Grimm could see that the guard had an aged complexion that was broken by the tell tale signs of exhaustion. Grimm had expected Darkshire to be town under siege but if the people within its walls were recovering then some of the carnage would had to have breached the walls. This would not be ideal, people pulling themselves back together rarely took kindly to skeletal strangers trying to pry into the local history. All in all this wasn't what Grimm had wanted to find. If he was going to get anything out of the people here then he was going to need to build some goodwill and in a community as isolated as this one that would probably be no small task. For now he would start with the obvious path.
"There's been a raid," Grimm did his best to emulate concern, "maybe I could be of assistance in the reparation effort."
"We have enough townsfolk to rebuild ourselves." The guard snapped almost cutting Grimm off, "If you want to try to be of use then report to Dobson in the armoury and get to ensuring it doesn't happen again." The guard was about as friendly as Grimm had expected, given both the situation and his own disposition, making it clear to him that his battle to win the, hearts, minds and information of Darkshire's people would not start with this man. Calmly Grimm thanked the man for his help, did his best to disengage from the interaction in the least offensive way possible and made his way inside thankful that his lack of a face ensured his scowl was only internal. He had hopped he would be able to build up relations through some simple rebuilding but if joining the local defensive force is what it would take then that is what he would do.
"Excuse me sir," Grimm called out, still a good fifty or so meters from the guard, "This wouldn't happen to be the town of Darkshire would it?". Grimm had tried his best to sound friendly but the echo caused as the air left his skull had the unwanted effect of making everything he said sound just a tiny bit ominous.
Wearily the guard turned so that he properly faced Grimm "It is but don't expect a warm welcome. We're still recovering from the last attack and no one has the time to play tour guide.". Now that he was closer Grimm could see that the guard had an aged complexion that was broken by the tell tale signs of exhaustion. Grimm had expected Darkshire to be town under siege but if the people within its walls were recovering then some of the carnage would had to have breached the walls. This would not be ideal, people pulling themselves back together rarely took kindly to skeletal strangers trying to pry into the local history. All in all this wasn't what Grimm had wanted to find. If he was going to get anything out of the people here then he was going to need to build some goodwill and in a community as isolated as this one that would probably be no small task. For now he would start with the obvious path.
"There's been a raid," Grimm did his best to emulate concern, "maybe I could be of assistance in the reparation effort."
"We have enough townsfolk to rebuild ourselves." The guard snapped almost cutting Grimm off, "If you want to try to be of use then report to Dobson in the armoury and get to ensuring it doesn't happen again." The guard was about as friendly as Grimm had expected, given both the situation and his own disposition, making it clear to him that his battle to win the, hearts, minds and information of Darkshire's people would not start with this man. Calmly Grimm thanked the man for his help, did his best to disengage from the interaction in the least offensive way possible and made his way inside thankful that his lack of a face ensured his scowl was only internal. He had hopped he would be able to build up relations through some simple rebuilding but if joining the local defensive force is what it would take then that is what he would do.