With reddening eyes the merchant explained his plight. He was an 'artist' of the dealership world. His trading skills were legendary among the art scene as well as a few select relic hunters. His home city of Qi tailored to his needs rather than Auspar. He needed to remain secretive and well informed and being so close to so many privy ears and eyes in Auspar had swayed his decision. His patrons had been associated with high-standing families such as those in Auspar. He quickly rose in stature and security, becoming a Merchant Lord in Qi and attracting the eyes of a rival group. Soon he was faced with direct, fierce and underhanded competition but he held his ground for as long as he could. The money from the sale of the art he had acquired soon funded more outrageous 'acquisitions', with him selling the painting before the paint was even dry and commonly finding himself alone in its retrieval. At the same time, Chance was slowly influencing his buyers unconsciously, artwork would become more intricate, the framing more ornate, but he started to receive multiple complaints when the artwork was hung and was comparably duller than what they had purchased. The word soon spread to his rivals. They gradually started using the negativity to shut him down. The fault slowly dawned on him, he was creating the embellishments as he witnessed the artwork regaining what it had lost when he touched it again. With time he started to gain control over what people saw and had even fine tuned the style into a more ornate and highly artistic pattern. However the more he gained in power, the harder his enemies pushed to discredit him and proclaim him a fraud and succeeded. He had been travelling the steadfast looking for a place to take refuge, or at least a place with art.
After his speech his whole body and dropped, the stature of a proud lord was replaced with meekness with those in the Foundations. For most citizens of Auspar money was like sand. It fell through peoples' fingertips, pulling them down with it. Well respected and successful people had all plunged into the depths at one time or another. Xera had seen the results down near where his lab used to be. There was nothing about the merchant that, at the time, seemed false. The merchant finally told Xera his name, Chance, and then once again pleaded with Xera to let him go. He felt a twinge of guilt, the same twinge when the cloud of activated Black Sunshine poured out of his lab and into the city. He sighed to himself and let Chance go, on the proviso that he undid whatever he had done to everyone else.
With another deft wave of his hand the dancers and the violinist disappeared into a baroque light. It was as if everyone had been released from an elastic tension, as all of them took a step backwards before regaining their focus. The woman who had tried to take the letter stepped further back, constantly watching the position where the entertainment had been. She had become as pale as she had when she head of the house that Froge mentioned. Her companion seemed relieved to be able to put his violin down, although he was disappointed that he could not finish his sonata with the guest violinist. Eryn on the other hand was ready to explode.
He had had just about enough of being manipulated and fooled, and charged at Chance. With a daggered smile he mentioned how nice the performance was, to which Chance denied having any involvement. Eryn's broad and towering figure, now adorned with a violent halo of flame caused instant fear in Chance. He profusely denied anything and everything, in hopes that Eryn would leave him alone. In fact it only made things worse as Eryn grabbed Chance by his collar with one hand and lifted him off the ground. Chance had now frozen in fear. But before anything further could be said, they were interrupted by a loud wheezing cough. Forge, from his wheelchair, looked on with anger at Eryn. He accused him of being just like Jarvi, a Feral Hawk. The antithesis and an insult to that of City Hawks. Eryn twitched at the mention of Jarvi's name and proceeded to put Chance down.
Froge looked over to the woman and asked for her name. She whispered under breath the name Lavinia, to which Froge asked her to speak louder. She did through gritted teeth and Froge gently smiled. She then introduced her travelling companion, Randall. At the mention of his name, Randall took his bow, grabbing his violin bow just before as if after a concerto. Froge asked her what she had seen inside in the house, as it was obvious to him that she had visited it before. Calmly, through deep breaths and wincing eyes, she described her time at the house. Her memories were just like Froge's, fragmented and terrifying. When she had been inside ,she and a group of people she had never met, were sat around the dining table. They were strapped into the chairs and then were asked to decide the least worthy. After countless agonising hours, one was chosen. The lights darkened until the room was pitch black. When the lights returned the one that was the least worthy was now dead and ready to be carved up. Their restraints were lifted, which allowed them to read a note beside, stating that nobody was to leave until the victim had been consumed by the group.
Froge now turned to Eryn with pleading eyes and an almost polite tone to his voice. He asked Eryn to go with her, to follow the invitation and to find out what really was going on; and to bring Froge back the heart of the house. Eryn asked why it was him that had to go. Froge bluntly stated that since Jarvi had gone, and Lina was still ill, he was the most senior member of the Hawk-Eyes in Darkperch and was therefore responsible for the welfare of the villagers. He was in essence sheriff, mayor and agony uncle all rolled into one. Eryn gulped realising his now spiralling responsibilities and could only feel more pressure as he still wasn't officially a Hawk-Eye. He shook his head and went against his better judgement. He agreed, noting the place stated on the invite, The Morianna Reserve. Xera and Danton, along with his butler, Lavinia and Randall all decided to immediately go with Eryn. However Chance needed convincing. He asked Froge about his memories and the about the possibility of rare artwork inside the house. Froge shrugged his shoulders saying it was most likely. Chance needed no more information than that and returned downstairs with his equipment ready before the others had even started upstairs to their rooms.
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