(Job) Finding Amelia

Spoiler:

After a particularly strenuous job, Arthur found himself relaxing in his favorite tavern. He liked this place, its people, its rooms, and its ale. He has started to gain a reputation in the bar for being a general do-gooder. It warmed his heart to know that people came to him with their general problems. Taking a sip from the ale he ordered, Arthur snacked on the nuts that had been provided to him. Tonight, the food and drink tasted particularly good. Maybe it was because of a job well-done, but he genuinely felt proud of himself for what he had done. Arthur was right in the middle of a large swig of beer when he felt a tap on his shoulder. With a smile, he turned around to see a middle-aged woman with a desperate look on her face.

The woman's lips trembled as she spoke, her smile lines animated with the movement of her mouth.

"Arthur, is it? I know you solve problems for a lot of people, and I think I just happened to develop one. You see, my daughter is a bit rebellious, it's those kind of years for her. I know I'm not the best parent, but she ran away from home because I didn't want her dating this particular boy. She snuck away in the middle of the night, leaving a note telling me that she was gone to escape with him into the woods. This happened just now, and I'm awfully worried for her. I know what kind of wild animals live in the woods, so if you could do this for me I'd be eternally grateful."

As she finished her request, her face took on a hopeful expression, one that pleaded and begged at him without ever actually having to verbally do so. Arthur knew that look of desperation on her face, one of a mother's love. There wasn't anything he could do but to accept it, and so accept it he did. Arthur swallowed the last mouthful of beer from the frosty mug.

"Yeah, that's me. Arthur in flesh and blood. I used to be like that, when I was a teenager myself. I'll see what I can do, see if I can find her. It's getting dark, but that shouldn't be a problem. If you can wait here for the rest of the night, permitting the barmaid lets you, I'll try to haver her back to you soon. Is this boy hostile, do you think? Will I have to fight him if I find them?"

Contemplating what the paladin had told her, she put her hands on her hips. Looking up to the upper right, the woman tapped her chin with thought, trying to imagine something.

"Oh yeah, I don't think he'd fight, he's kind of the emotional rebellious type too, nothing too bad. I'm mostly just worried about the wild animals and such, maybe dark mages too. Who knows what's out in the woods at this hour. I'll stay here, up in room 204A, I don't feel like heading home for the night only to make another trip out. Besides, I need to be here when you bring her back, so I can give her a piece of my mind. I love her so much, oh god, please just get her back for me."

Laying a hand on her shoulder, he gave her a reassuring squeeze.

"I've got this, don't worry. Enjoy a good meal for yourself, okay?"

With that said, Arthur hopped off of the barstool and gathered his belonging at the door. Doing up his jacket, the brunet tossed a few jewels towards the barmaid, who caught it with ease. It wasn't terribly cold out, but there was a certain chill in the air that Arthur didn't wanna be caught up in potentially in the middle of a dark forest. That probably would not have been a good situation.

Taking off into the night, Arthur approached the east forest of the town. The streelight lacrimas of the town had since illuminated, further legitimizing the plunge into imminent night. Not quite dark yet though, he still had time to find her before it became almost impossible. Searching a forest in pitch black definitely would not be easy, so he'd definitely have to find them or at least their trail before it got to that level. In his opinion, he really wasn't worried about some teenage boy, he was more worried about the wild animals or whatever else took claim of the forest as its home.

The dark winding forest swallowed him whole, Arthur's vision suddenly encroached by a landscape of menacingly twisted trees and treacherously root-latticed terrain. Fortunately, from the path the woman had sent him on, there was somewhat of a trail for him to follow winding deep into the woods. There were two sets of footprints on the path, something he had noted upon entry. This was likely them, as he didn't think anybody else would have been out in this direction at this time of day. Trying to magically sense anybody in the area, Arthur found nothing aside from the natural atmospheric signatures. So they weren't mages, not were there any mages in the area. That was probably a good thing, all things considered.

A symphony of forest ambiance danced into his ears. Owls hooed and crows cawed to the percussion of crickets and cicadas. Fireflies danced in the distance, creating and almost enchanted aspect to the place. It was definitely beautiful, Arthur had to admit, how this scene came together in an almost artistic way. If he was a painter, something like this would have been his muse. Putting his hand down to the trail, Arthur watched as the pair of footprints suddenly veered off of the path and to the left. Following their redirection with his eyes, he saw that the two had gone straight into the pure forest. There was no path on their route. That was actually probably the easy thing though, because it was clear where they had pushed past the brush and beat down the natural vegetation. There was nothing else for him to do but take the plunge and fully enter the forest.

WC: 1034