Tyrrier Reven Hollow

[Chibi Pika]

It had been four days since the crisis at the Shining Congress. Ralsen and Vesta had made their way north in that time, by air when the weather permitted, and by train when it didn't. The last stretch of the journey was beyond the reach of the train lines, over the dense wood and jagged cliffs of Revenia. Ralsen would have preferred flying Kaida for the last stretch, but with Vesta's Pokeball having been shattered, there wasn't much choice. She'd have to brave the rain either way.

The onset of spring in the southern regions had brought temperate skies, but Reven Hollow was still just as cold and dreary as ever, the winter snow having been exchanged for dense fog, clouded skies, and a near-perpetual drizzle. Now, the two of them sat in the same tavern where Ralsen and the Wayfarers had met Lord Seir months ago.

Ralsen leaned back in his seat, grateful for the warmth of the tavern's fireplace while Vesta helped herself to the stew he'd ordered. Now it was just a matter of when the Wayfarers would arrive...

 

[Jackie Cat]

I intend to keep the promise we made to share information for mutual benefit.I have discovered a lead on the whereabouts of the missing relic from the Isle of Light.Meet with me in Reven Hollow four days from now. Bring your party if you like.Recovering the relic may be an ordeal.-R

And indeed Laura had brought her party – starting with Malachai, then moving on to Jade, and everyone else who'd become familiar with Ralsen and his dealings. Which didn't technically include Malachai, but he made all her business his business at this point... Right now, the dragon was waiting in the tavern's 'barn' – a wide open-plan enclosed area for larger species – while the 'mon more suited to chairs, stools or benches entered the tavern rooms proper.

Laura shook off some of the rain she'd hurried through in their slog through town from their nearest waypoint. She put her hood down and hung up her cloak, then ventured in to order something warm and vaguely alcoholic. She caught a glimpse of their contact and his charizard, and swallowed self-consciously.

So. The missing relic, huh? This was all very helpful of Ralsen. Then why did Laura have a bad feeling about how this was ultimately going to go...?

"Everyone get a drink and a bite if you want one, then we'll go sit with Mr. Mysterious over there," she sent over the comms.

 

[Chibi Pika]

Jade shook the rain from her travel cloak as she and Laura entered the tavern, her eyes automatically scanning the various patrons for the Grovyle they came here to meet. She spotted him sitting at a table in the back, alongside his Charizard, and found herself automatically tensing up the way she did every time she saw him. She'd been trying to forget that he was even here ever since that night at the Ranger HQ. She'd hoped to never have any reason to remember he was here.

She hadn't been part of the northern expedition but Laura had filled her in about the stolen relic that she and a few others had been investigating along with a few knights of the Covenant. Apparently at some point Laura and Ralsen had met up in a museum and agreed to swap intel? Jade still wasn't sure how she was supposed to feel about that.

Feathers ruffled next to her as Virga shook the rain from her plumage. "So, that's him?" she asked, fixing her eyes on the Grovyle. "The human Sebastian, from our world?"

"He goes by Ralsen here," Jade replied in a flat voice. "Also, he doesn't know me, so it's not the same version of him that we knew."

"Not 'the same version'?" Virga repeated skeptically. "What does that even mean? Could that not simply be an act?"

Jade's brow furrowed, and her eyes fell to the wooden floor. "I don't... know why he would." For as little as she trusted him, pretending to not know her didn't feel like the sort of thing he'd do.

Virga clacked her beak. "Mm. Well, I'll leave the matter of negotiating to you, then." The Corvisquire made for the larger room in the back where Malachai was. Jade watched her go, then veered over to the bar so she could order a warm spiced tea with milk. Something to beat the chill, and to delay the inevitable conversation with Ralsen by a few minutes at least.

---

Ralsen glanced toward the silver Meowth as she approached. "Ah, Laura. I trust you've been well? Vesta and I had to depart the Congress in a hurry, so I didn't have the chance to see how things resolved there." He was no longer wearing his silver lantern pin. He didn't need it anymore.

 

[Jackie Cat]

Laura's eyes went to the absence-of-pin and she made the natural assumption. He was done with the Covenant. She guessed he never had any friends there he'd need to say goodbye to, then. Just walked out, ghosting the whole organisation. Not that she felt bad for them or anything, but it was weird talking to a guy who was so polite but so unattached. At least he obviously cared about his pokémon. That was a green flag, if possibly his only one.

"Well enough," she answered, drily, not wishing to elaborate on the clusterfuck the party had been continually pressing through of late. "We wrapped things up well enough. Arthur got away. I guess handling him will be our final job to do on Forlas. In the meantime..."

She took a seat, gestured for a house ale, and fumbled for a loose coin.

"You've got something for us."

A statement rather than a question. Awkward self-consciousness had started to feel increasingly pointless, and this environment put her in mind for straight-talking. That, and she felt responsible for this liaison, having made the original deal to share intel herself. The least she could do was own the meeting.

 

[Chibi Pika]

Ralsen nodded. “Right to the point.” He didn’t seem bothered by the directness. He gestured with his palm up and said, “The relic that was stolen from the Isle of Light dungeon. I believe I’ve tracked down its wherabouts. It currently resides in Nona Manor, in the possession of our gracious host, the lord of Revenia.” His mouth curled into the slightest trace of an ironic smirk.

Warm drink in hand, Jade sat down at the table just in time to catch the tail end of Ralsen’s answer. Her eyes drifted to the pointed spires of the citadel across the valley, silhouetted against the fog.

The lord, huh. She hadn’t met him. “What’s the lord like?” she asked the others.

 

[Tetra]

Four days. Not enough time to clear his head, not enough time to untangle the mess of things that had happened, not enough time to breathe. Anubis had pointed out he could have stayed back but there was no way he could. For Jade's sake. And because he didn't trust Ralsen in the slightest.

And despite his insistence Anubis could stay back, he had no luck convincing him to do so. So Anubis slipped in ahead of him to a shadowy corner near enough to hear; and Koa followed shortly after. Ralsen probably knew full well who their teammates were, but Anubis said it was still better to observe from afar.

Koa took his seat and managed not to even give Ralsen any death glares. Nor did he voice the other thoughts of 'why should we trust you?'. In fact, he managed to even look perfectly normal.

The lord of... "...Seir?" he asked cautiously. That couldn't be right. "Or is there another Lord at this Nona Manor?"

 

[Phoenixsong]

Weird to feel a chill like this again now it was spring, but that was Tyrrier for you. Leaf held the tavern door open a few seconds longer so Blue could hurry inside out of the weather. He was obviously regretting his decision to come now they'd walked straight out of the wayportal into a steady rain, but mercifully he'd mostly kept his mouth shut, aside from a single muttered "This better be worth my time."

Leaf very graciously did not remind him that he had in fact volunteered to tag along, and if he did end up disappointed he couldn't blame her. Not that she was expecting disappointment. Never took long for something "interesting" to happen whenever Ralsen turned up.

So here they were, back at the tavern, hot drinks steaming in front of them (and Blue also steaming, a little bit, as he tried to dry himself off), waiting for the grovyle to get on with it. And he did, to his credit, but the point he landed on only raised more questions.

"Seir seemed nice when we helped him before," Leaf told Jade. "A little dramatic, maybe." She tilted her head and looked at Ralsen, confused. "But didn't we hear that that honchkrow's trainer had the relic? Did Seir manage to get it off him?"

 

[Jackie Cat]

Laura's jaw tightened and her tail lashed from side to side.

"Seir is that honchkrow's trainer, isn't he?" she concluded, trusting her gut. "Remember there were rumours about a whole six different pokémon acting strangely, not quite civilised but not just feral either? Well, they must have a trainer." She gestured vageuly to Ralsen. "Who came through with his team, like this guy did. And he'd be human. So he'd be strong."

She took a gulp of her beer to wet her throat.

"I'm not, like, a huge expert on Tyrrier or anything. But Lord Seir's whole schtick is that he's strong as fuck. Holds off 'darklings' from the northern wastes on his own. Didn't he save a couple Wayfarers from Glastrier back when we all got scattered? Tell me if I'm talking bollocks, but it makes sense to me. He's the bloke we're after."

 

[Chibi Pika]

Ralsen nodded, seemingly pleased that Laura had some to the same conclusion he had. "I've been working under the assumption that Lord Seir is an offworlder, and a trainer, for some time now. One who very rapidly seized power and influence in this region in a relatively short amount of time. To what end, I'm unsure, though I suppose that's not the important question."

Jade raised an eyebrow, unable to help herself. "And what is?"

Ralsen glanced at her, and for a moment she couldn't unsee the human in those piercing blue eyes of his. "Why did he need to send us into the Islet of Light if his own Honchkrow was the one looting the dungeon to begin with?"

Jade exhaled roughly through her nose. "You say that like you don't already know."

Ralsen gave her a curious look. "I don't."

Oh. She'd just assumed he was doing his usual shtick of posing rhetorical questions just so he could revel in giving the answer five seconds later. She busied herself with blowing on her tea so she could focus on anything other than the flicker of embarrassment.

 

[Tetra]

Koa stiffened and stared at Laura. Her assertations bunched up in his mind and knotted his thoughts. No he's not! He stifled the thought. Seir wasn't... Couldn't- His mind scrambled for purchase, trying to disconnect the Seir who'd chased off Glastrier from the... trainer of Honchkrow. The one Looker had been chasing. Laura probably guessed wrong.

Snapping himself back to attention, he studied Ralsen instead. "Maybe its not him, maybe thats not his pokemon." He wished he felt as nonchalant as he sounded. "Or it was a test to see how we fought." They should have taken Honchkrow back then.... His hindclaws dug into the wood of the chair.

"Where did you get this information?"

 

[Jackie Cat]

"Test sounds right to me," muttered Laura. "We turned up showing an interest in his interests, a whole gang of strong offworlders... He wanted to scope us out. In case we kept interfering. Which it sounds like we might be, honestly?"

She gripped her arms and hugged herself. She wasn't really cold but the thought of being watched like this made her feel like she was out in the snow again.

"The murkrow," she added, with sudden alarm. "The murkrow that were hanging about back in Blaguarro. They were spying on us."

It felt like a jump. She bit her lip, then teased out the logic of it...

"There were a ton of murkrow with that honchkrow, remember? I think it's been using the murkrow murder to keep watch on us for a long time. We're a threat to whatever he's planning."