Seekers of Fortune

[Mahou-Shoujo]

"We can't Lose".
Those had been the last words the general said before shooing the gathered officers and heroes out of the command tent, it had seemed like confidence or bravado at the time, after all they had had a string of victories the past few weeks, pushing further and further into enemy territory with each passing day, and now they stood at the capital, ready to end the war and annex the kingdom that had somehow offended the ruler of Valaryon's nation, however... Almost the entire army was here, the supply lines were stretched and the enemy was strangely eager to retreat...
Well, it was command's job to think about all that, they had tasked Valaryon to lead the elite unit and break the enemy's defensive line, the whole plan hinged on him and his heroic reputation among the army.

The battle started early the next day, the enemy forces retreated rapidly, almost right up to the gate, Valaryon's unit barely had to fight, Blair hadn't even needed to break out any of her Divine healing, Nikola only had three kills and Garrick had only thrown a single fireball!
It was clear the troops were feeling confident as they approached the gate... And then everything went bad, the first warning that something was wrong was Nikola throwing himself forwards in front of Valaryon, followed less than a second later by a blast of light and heat, by the time he could see again, the battlefield was in chaos, balls of flame rained down from all around them as the city gate opened, hundreds of cavalry ready to charge, Nikola was laying in a ditch, cloak smoldering, Garrick was trying to summon a barrier and Blair was desperately trying to save a guard who looked like he ha taken a direct hit to the face, they had fallen into a trap.
Before anything could be done to try and salvage the situation, Valaryon was hit from behind, feeling intense heat for a second, before blacking out...

It was several days later that he awoke, he was in a barn... On a bed of hay, and his entire back hurt like he had been laying on burning coals... Which made sense, as his memories of the catastrophic ambush returned in flashes.
He was naked, armor and clothes sitting neatly to the side, his armor had held up well, but the back was clearly warped and heavily damaged by the blast that struck him, it did it's job though, and kept him in one piece.
He felt weirdly drained, it was something vaguely recognizable as an aftereffect of Blair 'borrowing' energy when she was too drained to power a divine healing herself... Speaking of whom, Blair made her appearance, entering the ajar door to the barn with a pail of water in her hands, she was wearing her healer's robes, and had bags under her eyes, but lit up when she saw he was awake.
"C...Commander Valaryon! You're awake! Thank goodness... The farmers only said we could stay for one more day..."
She placed the bucket down near him and all but collapsed onto the floor as she sat.

 

[Fetzen]

Valaryon's eyes blinked in rapid succession. The smell of hay and animals invaded his nostrils and caused a slight itch in his nose. His eyes hurt as they tried to adapt to the sunlight they apparently had not seen for days. He was truly in a barn ? He turned his head, but only a slight bit as more wasn't necessary to determine the answer: yes, he was. And that could only mean one thing: Things were probably even worse than he himself felt like. The last time his back had hurt so badly had probably been back in training when he had been a rookie instead of one of the most revered -- and feared -- fighters of these lands, but even then it had felt more... constructive... than now. His eyes darted towards his armor or rather what was left of it. That would need some very serious fixing, but still probably was one of the smallest problems at hand. The army ? Gone. Most likely obliterated in what first had felt like a campaign planned well and executed with that certain bit of brilliance.

Quite frankly Valaryon could only wonder why apparently at least someone still had decided to stick with him. After all he probably was at least partly responsible for the disaster as well in some way. "Blair!" he called out, full of surprise to see her that moment. However she collapsed in front of his eyes and even in his current state that came as a shock. Valaryon rammed his elbows into the haystack supporting him in an attempt to push him into a more upright position swiftly, but a surge of pain made this a futile attempt. Groaning, the giant man instead more or less crawled over to her and patted her on her cheek.

"Blair ? You there ? Wake up!" His fingers reached for her neck in order to try and feel her heartbeat, but it seemed to be very weak. There was the pail of water and he grabbed it, dumping a small amount of the cold liquid over her face. There were more rewarding ways to spend precious drinking water, but maybe that would work better. Maybe she was too tired from all she had had to do in order to care for him ? He could only speculate, but as he did so the farmer's words also came into his mind: Having to leave within one day meant that they'd have to act fast. They needed food, water, proper riding horses and, last but not least, a plan what to do next. And a very formidable one preferably...

 

[Mahou-Shoujo]

Blair must clearly have been exhausted, not rousing as he called out to her, she had gotten this tired a few times before, usually when doing a lot of healing mixed with physical labor, and looking closer there was dirt and blood (fortunately not her own) on her usually pristine robes, it seemed that for whatever reason the town had been especially hard on the girl, which was strange considering that Blair's order was fairly respected back home, which could mean that they were not in fact home, and still in enemy territory, if there was even still a kingdom to fight for that was.
The water did it, causing Blair's eyes to open as she blinked them free of water, she was still tired but more more alert now, and tensed for a moment as if about to attack before calming down as she remembered where she was and what had happened.

"I'm Awake!... Gosh that was embarrassing... I'm sorry Commander Valaryon... I guess I was more drained than I thought".
She rubbed the back of her head with one hand.
"Oh! Uhh, I got water... Which you clearly know already".
She fiddled with her hair for a moment before sighing, clearly she had wanted to avoid talking about their situation but forced herself to do so, they couldn't really afford to waste much time.
"Commander... The war is over... We lost, bad... We marched right into a trap, they enemy forged an alliance with our southern neighbor and hit us from behind, the kingdom has been divided up between them now... B..but the populace are being treated mostly fairly! So that's okay at least... You umm, were hurt really bad, I had to put you on the horse and walk it here, and do a lot of divine healing... I don't know if the others made it out".
Divine healing was a miracle that could bring someone back from the brink, but was incredibly difficult and draining, especially for larger wounds.
"I found a village, they didn't recognize you but were really reluctant to let us stay, they had me do a lot of things but nothing like chapel training!"
She forced a smile onto her face, trying to see the good side of things as usual, even if she was clearly about to burst into tears.

 

[Fetzen]

Valaryon blinked again. The war being over ? Not that bad a thing. Them having lost though ? A catastrophe! Upon closer observation Blair would be able to see how the commander's body tensed up momentarily upon him hearing about how a foreign third party had committed itself to the enemy's war effort. This was in dire need to be undone, but... how ? Listening to her words it seemed as if the opposite alliance was in full control of things now...

"We... need to get out of here." That was nothing new given the farmers words about them only being able to stay for one more day, but deep inside his mind Valaryon was also trying to form new plans. He knew for himself that this was quite pointless at this point since they were only two people, but what else should he do ? Factually he was not a commander anymore for the lack of an army, but it was next to impossible to just get out of this role in an instant as well.

Groaning, Valaryon raised himself to his full and indomitable height. It felt as if he had not done this for days and that probably was even the truth. He offered Blair his hand in order to help her up. "We still have the horse, right ? Then at least we can get away from here in a tiny bit of comfort." His eyes darted over to his armor, seeing how damaged it was. However it still seemed wearable, but doing so might be a very unwise thing. There still were a commander's insignia on it and even without them it would be rather easy to identify him as what he was. "Do you know if there are any patrols ? People searching for members of the former military ? We need to be careful and hide everything that might make us easily identifyable. It might also be good to avoid the most frequented paths..."

 

[Mahou-Shoujo]

Blair certainly noticed his tensing, after all she had been paying close attention to see how his wounds were affecting him, he likely still had a lot of natural healing to go, not to mention that divine healing couldn't restore muscle completely, so he would need to work on building the affected areas back up, still, he could move, that was better than most could hope for after the wounds he sustained! Blair couldn't even claim total credit, sure her healing was critical, but mostly Valaryon was just that insanely tough that he could practically shrug off a fireball to the back and several stab wounds for good measure.
She nodded at his rather obvious statement, obviously they needed to leave before the hospitality of the farmers ran out and they found themselves turned into the local town guard for the reward that no doubt tempted most people, as a healer and follower of a major faith, Blair would likely be spared but Valaryon would be executed, like so many others had been, branded as 'war criminals' for daring to fight at their liege's command.

Blair couldn't help but clap a little as he stood up, she had hoped but wasn't sure he would be healthy enough and happily accepted the hand up, she was fairly light when not in her armor, her body covered in lean muscle rather than fat like many non combat non traveling priests may develop from their lack of physical exercise.
"There are several patrols in this area, they are looking for soldiers... But mostly ignore the back roads, those less maintained and traveled, this farming family used to smuggle goods across the border using them... Which is the only reason they agreed to help us".
Blair explained, before grinning and running off behind cover, returning a minute later with her robe reversed into a common brown travelling robe.
"You never know when you will enter an area hostile to your church, so healer robes are always reversible".
She declared.
"We can't do much about your armor or looks... Unless you want to put mud through your hair and over your armor".

 

[Fetzen]

Mud in his hairs ? The thought was logical, but no less disgusting. Valaryon was not exactly known for extreme personal pride, but this would make his scalp itch and him scratching the latter until it was bleeding and his hairs were gone. Overall it probably would do good optically, but very badly in every other aspect.

"I suggest we stow away the armor in some bags. If it starts raining the mud would be washed away in no time. As for the hair..." He paused. There was not much of an alternative idea roaming around in his head to be honest. Valaryon looked around as if there was anything to spot that would help him get one. And, surprisingly, there even was. "Speaking of bags... what if I cut a slice out of one of my shirts and wrapped it around my head to make it look like some kind of bandage to treat a war injury ? That should not be that uncommon these days and it would obscure my hair quite nicely, don't you think ?"

Valaryon turned to his clothing, finally starting to actually put some of it back into place on his body. "Would you like to prepare the horse while I pick up all that stuff or should we do it the other way round ? I'm not exactly eager to stay here much longer to be honest." Valaryon's clothes were not exactly tight, but still it was quite obvious that he was one hell of an athletic person. That could not be hidden, but hopefully it would not be enough to identify him as the general he was... or rather had been.

"I have to admit I'm not all too familiar with this region. You came here while I was unconscious, so do you know a good and not so obvious way out of here ?"

 

[Mahou-Shoujo]

"I think that could work... You could pass as a soldier wounded in the war, since well, you actually ARE a soldier wounded in the war... And I have ACTUAL bandages I can use, don't go cutting up a perfectly good shirt for no reason, it could be a while till we can get a new one..."
That was a good point... Their home had fallen, their army was gone and they had no coin, things were dire.
Honestly Blair was secretly relieved that Valaryon didn't agree with the idea to die his hair with mud, not only was it totally gross, but she liked his hair! And besides, lighter hair colors, while extremely common in their own country, was barely present here, so she would probably have had to muddy her own hair as well... Since her hood DID have a chance of slipping and revealing her hair, and she couldn't rely solely on her status as a healer to get out of trouble...
Of course while she didn't voice her relief, she didn't need to, it was all over her face, and anyone could see it.

"It IS pretty rainy here too... I hope that doesn't cause much trouble, I do hate getting wet".
Blair commented as she headed out of the barn to wait for him to get dressed, a slight blush on her face as she realized he was very thoroughly undressed... While she could ignore nudity while in healer mode, focusing instead on patching people up, Valaryon was okay now and to be honest, a total hunk! And it's not like her order was celibate...

She returned soon and retrieved a bandage to wrap his head with, if she did it then the bandage probably wouldn't come off, it was while wrapping it that she answered his question.
"Hmm... Well I haven't had much of a chance to explore... Our hosts have kept mostly occupied... But I did get a chance to ask around, this farm is built on the edge of a forest, we should be able to head in there and get a good distance before finding a road, as well as find a lot to forage if we run out of supplies, though uhh... I'm pretty sure I would get lost... So I'll follow your lead Sir".

 

[Fetzen]

Valaryon stopped dead in his tracks, his hands just moments before ripping one of his shirts in two. "You're right..." and he sighed. "How could I forget that..." He let go off the shirt, packing it into his personal bag among as many other things as he could stuff into the small leather container. "A forest, you say ? That sounds good. The war's just over and there's an entirely new kingdom for the enemy forces to cover, so their lines should be spread fairly thin. I doubt they'll do much to inspect the forests but focus on the villages and larger cities."

The general reached for his armor, knocking against it in order to get the dust off. Some burned leather parts were falling of as well though. "Looks like it has saved my life like never before... I'm really not sure if I'll make much of a good guide out here. Every general usually tries to get as much knowledge aobut the terrain before sending anybody in, but under these conditions I think we don't have much of a choice... Let's go!"

Valaryon grabbed his posessions, more troubled with keeping track of everything than with the massive weight of his armor and other things. "Try to get some fresh water. We'll need that more than anything else. I'll pack the horse. You should mount first I think "?

 

[Mahou-Shoujo]

"Hey, you were pretty bad off not long ago, forgetting that I have bandages isn't exactly that bad, Nikola seemed to always forget I have them... Or even remember to tell me about his wounds..."
Blair assured him, bringing up one of their companions, Nikola clearly wasn't there, neither was Garrick in fact, who knew if they were even still alive? His last memories of Nikola had the archer laying in a ditch, cloak slightly smoldering, and Garrick had been locked in battle with the attacking mages, it was wholly possible that they were dead, but surely that couldn't be so?
"Yeah... Even with our home split between two kingdoms that is still a lot of ground to cover, especially after the casualties they took in the war, we won't even be technically crossing a border".
She tried to be cheery about the situation, though her voice rang hollow and the smile was forced.

Blair winced as Valaryon picked up his armor, remembering having to pry it off of him to treat his wounds, and then her attempts to clean it, even with her training as a healer it made her stomach churn, not to mention that just looking at the charred plate brought to mind images of the battle where everything had gone so horribly wrong.
"Umm... I'm pretty sure we need to head South East, so as long as you can keep us going in the right direction we should make it there without any major trouble".
Blair assured him, she knew WHERE they were supposed to go, just knew that her sense of direction was far too unreliable to actually get them there without at the very least a massive detour, if they were lucky.

Blair did mount first, silently apologizing to the horse that would have to carry them both and their armor, it was a strong horse, bred to carry a soldier in armor and his supplies, but still, Valaryon was huge, and they both had armor with them, at the very least she would make sure to let it rest more often than usual.
"There is a freshwater river on the way, we have a little water but can fill up there".
Blair stated as they started to ride, they would reach the forest fairly quickly, with a river just within the treeline.

 

[Fetzen]

The ride was slow, which probably came as no surprise to anyone given the weight on its back. Valaryon knew that he alone already was more than enough to overburden one of those, but while Blair certainly was on the more lightweight side of things it still only made things worse. Unfortunately though it did not seem that they would have much of another choice. They needed to get out of the place as quickly as possible and doing it this way still was faster than on their feet alone. Aside from that he still was injured and moving too excessively might tear open some wounds again.

The villagers did not seem to care much about their depature. There was reason to doubt that anybody even truly took notice of it, except for the peasant that had granted them his hospitality of course. The forest indeed was not far away, but going there also meant that they would have to leave the fortified road and pretty much go cross country.

"It seems that nobody is following us. Sorry... but I can't stop myself from constantly checking this. The more lonely we two are the better I think, as sad as that sounds. The river sounds like a good idea, we definitely need more water. After that... what if we go for a larger village ? We definitely could need a second horse at least to increase our mobility. Do you know if at least some of the old military bases are still standing ? I mean... all those soldiers had to go somewhere. What happened to them ? Maybe if they see me some of them might be willing to support us one way or another. The land might be gone, but not the loyalty."

The clanking of both their armors made it more difficult to hear the sound of a small creek, but one could already see that the ground became more and more saturated with water. It had to close by, maybe in that small ravine over there ?"

 

[Mahou-Shoujo]

Blair more than once considered getting off the horse and walking alongside it, while Valayon was wounded she was almost perfectly healthy after all, but understood that they needed to get moving... She could walk along later, when they had the time to move at a more leisurely pace, in the meantime they just had to hope the poor horse could muscle through and get them out of the area, once they were more within their own kingdom they wouldn't stand out nearly as much and could relax a bit, maybe even find some old allies!
Then again... What allies could they possibly have left? The surprise attack had been very thorough, and a good chunk of the nobility had been 'removed' once their homeland fell, and of course she had seen both Nikola wounded and Garrick overwhelmed, so they couldn't even rely on them being alive and well...

"Hmm... A larger village... Well that certainly wouldn't be what the patrols expect... I doubt any town guard would have been told to be on the lookout for you, and if we go somewhere close to the old border I doubt many will so much as bat an eye... There is a problem though".
Blair stated, taking a breath before continuing.
"We have no money... I couldn't find your coin purse and umm... I think I lost mine somewhere on the battlefield..."
Ahh, yeah that was goold old Blair... Really it was a miracle she managed to hang onto enough coin to need a coin purse, the girl was utterly hopeless at hanging onto things, some whispered of a curse but more than likely she just had bad luck.
"The military bases have been occupied and most of the army disbanded... A few units were kept but are likely being watched closely to insure their loyalty to the new regime... Other than that the army was scattered, I have no doubt quite a few bandits will pop up over the next few weeks".

They soon reached a small ravine with a river flowing slowly through it, likely just enough to avoid stagnation, it looked clear at least, and Blair was first off the horse, offering Valaryon a hand getting down if he needed it, she might be a lot smaller than him but she was also quite strong! She was able to move him in full armor after all.
"We should give the horse time to rest, and clean your remaining wounds, I can heal them but nothing I have will stop an infection from developing".

 

[Fetzen]

"Thanks!" Valaryon's wounds still made themselves felt somewhat so he was glad for Blair's assistance. A freshly healed scar being torn open probably was the last thing they needed right now, so he accepted her surprisingly strong hand gladly. Also the horse most likely was quite happy about Valaryon not only getting off, but even doing so quickly. Him dangling from one side of the stirrups for longer than a moment was prone to toss things out of balance to say the least.

The now ex-general approached the creek and kneeled close to it, inhaling its odour before collecting a small bit of water with his bare hands and almost diving his nose into it. "Smells save to drink I'd say." Valaryon was no expert on survival at all, but as a general one had to know where one's army was going and making camp. He was a man who preferred not to overly rely on second- or even third-hand information, so this was not the first time he attempted to find out if something was rotten or not. "And to clean wounds... Can't see anything wrong with it." He smiled slightly towards Blair, his facial expression telling that this might be the first time for them to be lucky in quite a while.

Valaryon started to undo the leather straps holding the various pieces of armor together in order to grant her access to his wounds. In the meantime he did not stop talking though: "So trying to approach a part of the army still standing somehow doesn't sound like something we should try the fast way. If their... supervisors... discover us we'd be in prison faster than we can think. And no coin ? That's an issue indeed. I could try and sell parts of my armor, but it would only achieve the price of scrap metal I guess because there's hardly anyone else who could actually wear it." It was a rather desperate idea. He loved that armor as it was not only of superb quality but also kind of an inherited thing, so selling it was something he'd only do as a last ditch effort probably.

"And then of course there's the hard way... We could try to sympathize with the population. If they recognize who we are they might be willing to asssist. On the long run that's what we have to do anyway, but we need to be careful. Maybe there are even people who now consider me as utterly incompetent. Can't even say that they'd be that wrong with that opinion..."

 

[Mahou-Shoujo]

Blair seemed relieved when Valaryon told her the water was probably safe, cautiously tasting some before filling a canteen, clearly she was quite thirsty.
"I am glad this water is okay... I feel as if a water purification could be quite draining and want to save what strength I have left".
Clearly she spoke not of her physical strength, but of the strength of spirit required to summon divine miracles.
Blair was one of the lucky few blessed with the power of the gods, but like most War Clerics she lacked the greater power wielded by the priesthoods of most churches.

Blair worked quickly and efficiently to treat Valaryon's wounds, cleaning them and changing the bandages, it was painful, as she seemingly had none of the numbing ointment usually applied to wounds, but at the very least she was careful not to agitate anything too much.
"It looks like you're healing okay... No infections and it looks like everything's staying closed, but you're going to have quite a few new scars in your collection".
Blair informed him as she finished up.
"That's not a good idea... Even if we could get a decent price for your armor, it would likely not be as useful as having the armor itself, and besides... Pawning off such a well known set of armor would doubtless attract attention".
Blair didn't really get how someone could be attached to a set of armor, but knew they would likely need to make use of it before long.

Blair looked away as Valaryon mentioned people possibly thinking bad of him, seemingly having an internal fight with herself before sighing.
"T..there are certainly those who see you as incompetent... And more than a few who believe you to be some sort of traitor or madman... But there are also plenty of people who still believe in you! I'm sure of it! E...even if they stay quiet about it..."
Ahh, it seemed Blair had heard enough of local gossip to tell that he was not a well liked man at the moment.
"T..there is something we could do to make money... During the war a lot of people were drafted and a lot of soldiers died... So jobs that would normally be done are still in need of doing... And with so many mercenaries still drafted a lot of those jobs could be picked up by wanderers... Maybe we could find some work and earn coin that way? At least enough to buy some supplies".

 

[Fetzen]

"Some new scars in my collection, hm ?" Valaryon remarked in an almost sarcastically sounding manner. Years of large-scale fighting during which he had lived out his tendency not to stay behind in some anonymous planning tent but instead to join the heat of battle himself had indeed left some quite visible traces on his body, but none of those he could associate with utter defeat. This was something entirely new and it felt bad to say the least. "At least they are on my back so I don't have to see them every day. No other scar feels as ugly as these even without a mirror..." he continued to mumble, more to himself but still loud enough for Blair to hear.

Once more Blair displayed her prowess in terms of healing. It didn't hurt at all and still it felt like an effective treatment. Significantly better probably than what most of the men he had used to command just weeks ago could experience when wounded, given the severe constraints on a battlefield. Should he consider himself lucky ? Probably yes, because of that. And probably no because he was at least partially responsible for the kingdom's demise by now. They would have to try their best in order to fix that or his life would remain in ruins he had just started to explore.

"Okay, let's keep the armor and try to find some other work. But... which work ? I don't want to force anything upon you. Would you prefer what we two probably are best in or something more... menial ?" A slight smirk appeared on Valaryon's face. Given he was a fighting general and she a healer they both knew what they were best in. "With so many mercenaries still busy otherwise there indeed might be a lot to do for us."

Valaryon refilled as many water flasks as he could and started checking if they were in danger of having put anything on the ground and not picking it back up again. "I hope the horse will hold. If you'd like I could walk a while..."

 

[Mahou-Shoujo]

Blair didn't reply to his comment on the scars being on her back, she could understand how he felt in a way, that the wounds he received were a permanent mark commemorating the greatest defeat in his career, the greatest defeat in their kingdom's history most likely.
Blair herself had several scars, but nowhere near as many as Valaryon, and only one or two could really be put down to failures on her part.

Blair's healing was most definitely better than what the average soldier would receive, while the army had several war Clerics and priests with healing magic, the average soldier could only expect enough healing to ensure they would survive and recover, with their bodies and mundane medicine being left to repair the rest, meanwhile Valaryon and his companions had the near exclusive attentions of Blair to patch up any wounds and keep them in the fight, which was arguably more important as Valaryon was the commander of the army.

"You wouldn't be forcing anything on me... Work would benefit me as much as you".
Blair pointed out, hands on her hips.
At the mention of menial labor she had to suppress a shudder, while staying on the farm she had been worked to the bone, it reminded her of her time in the church as a neophyte before her healing talents were discovered.
"I think we can both agree what kind of job would better fit our talents, as well as paying much better than mucking out stables or sowing fields".
Well it seemed Blair had decided they would be taking mercenary work, which would admittedly be a far quicker way to purchase what they would need.
"The horse will hold... And I am fine with walking, you need to save your strength and let your body heal... At least as much as you CAN heal while in the saddle".

Fortunately there was a village not too far from where they were, it was somewhat close to the border so their foreign features would stand out far less, it also appeared that there were no soldiers posted there, likely they had gone directly to the border, prepared to catch those trying to flee, Valaryon especially, if they even knew he was alive.
The two of them did stand out, but Blair's religious attire seemed to put at least some people at ease, as most assumed Valaryon to be something along the lines of a bodyguard.

 

[Fetzen]

The village, given that there had been a war going on just weeks earlier, appeared to be in rather good shape. Some of the farmer's buildings and the local tavern in particular seemed to be in a more intensive state of disrepair as was normal, but even in absolute terms it wasn't completely serious. It was a rather small settlement, not accounting for more than maybe a few dozen continuous inhabitants and a few visitors. There were only a few traders on the roads these days however. Many checkpoints, inspections and the general downfall of the kingdom's economy weren't exactly goot at boosting everyone's business, so once Blair and Valaryon entered the tavern there was plenty of space left for them.

Despite the current lack of worn armor the wooden floorboards creaked precariously beneath the former general's boots, causing those patrons who happened to be there to turn there heads and look at the two with great interest. Most turned back to their beverages and grilled meat quickly, but a few kept staring long enough for Valaryon to start worrying. Were they about to be identified already ? One could never know... Carefully, Valaryon closed the entrace to the main hall after Blair had entered as well and looked around.

The place was small and most people seemed not to be in a particularly good mood. Understandable, but it probably wouldn't help in getting a good job. Therefore Valaryon refrained from talking to anybody directly, but instead redirected his attention towards one of the walls. It appeared that the habit of pinning messages to a tavern's wall in order to seek help instead of staying around there all the time in hopes of finding someone directly had not been forgotten... He stepped closer and took a few of the parchments off their nails carefully.

"Would you mind going through one half of this ? I'll do the other. Maybe there's something interesting for us." he addressed Blair, speaking with a low enough voice not to be heard elsewhere. Or at least so he hoped.