Garrok shuffled about, packing things here and there into a small, weather-worn bag and as he finished, he layed it across his bed at his small (for Angori size structures), make-shift abode near the crimson quarter. He left and walked, with a scrap of parchment folded in his left hand, towards the Town Post. Arriving there after a few minutes he posted the folded parchment by removing one of the small nails holding another, older, post. His letter said:
Hi. Most of you in town may not know me, but I'm Garrok and I kinda found my way here by accident and I would very much like to get back to my own home. Sooooo If anyone would like to help me out, you know, by opening a portal or something or telling me of a span that I could cross to get back to Glesmyr, I would be very grateful. Oh and I also have a small trinket I would like to sell so as to have traveling money for the trip back so if anyone has an interest in a necklace, come and see me before I leave. Thanks a-bunch!
He leaves his post and touches the necklace at his chest underneath his hood as he walks into the Tavern with a slight frown on his slightly sad face.
Garrok sat hunched over at a table in the middle of the tavern with the necklace in hand, staring at it's craftsmanship. Yeah it looked pretty, but what use was it to him? He could heal himself now and he desperately wanted to go home to see... well who would he see? There wasn't anyone around that he was really fond of, nor did he dislike anyone, but maybe it was just the landscape that was drawing him back. It was nice and cool there afterall.
He looked up everytime someone entered the Shady Corners with dwindling enthusiasm each time, but when the woman came in apparetly looking around for something or someone, he thought to himself, maybe she's here for the necklace. We might as well find out.
The Angori stood and walked over to her and asked, "Excuse me, ma'am. Are you looking for something?"
"Well, I'm afraid I can't be a huge help," she said right away, so as not to get his hopes too far up. "But hopefully a little bit at least." Odelia took a few steps toward the nearest table and set down her satchel in order to free up her hands, so that she could offer one to the Angori. "I'm Odelia, by the way, professional mapmaker of shards and spans."
Garrok was mildly disappointed at what Odelia said, but he kept a smile on his face as he took her small hand in his and shook it.
"Well it's nice to meet you anyway Miss Odelia. Im Garrok a Monk and a healer of sorts. I know more about healing myself than I do others, but I can do both equally as well," he said. He then asked with a mildly puzzled tone to his voice, "Well if you can't help me then why are you here?"
He then tried to correct his question because he knew how it sounded by saying, "Well I mean... umm, I didn't mean to say it that way, I was, uhh... I mean I was trying to say why are you still looking for me if, well... you know..."
He trailed off on his question because by now he was thouroughly embarrassed and slightly red-faced because he thought he had made a fool of himself during his first impression.
"Well, I saw your note that you're trying to get back to Glesmyr," she started to explain. "I haven't been to Glesmyr myself and in fact know very little about it. BUT..." she dug into her satchel, brought out a leather bound book and thumbed through the pages, pushing her spectacles back up when they slid to the end of her nose. "A couple spans back, let's see.... it was the Mest of Beramosk, I think. Ah, yes! I traveled a span from this very shard to a town called Goven.
"There were multiple open spans from Goven, one of which the local inhabitants said had been open for years and led to Glesmyr. I didn't get a chance to travel to it though to confirm because I took a newly opened span instead.
"It seems the spans on this shard are very unstable, so I'd rather doubt the span to Goven is still open. Still.." she paused, looking back up from her book, "...it may give you a clue as to how to get home."
"Hmm," said Garrok. "I don't know of a town called Goven. I actually fell, literally, out of the air here. I was trying to escape a pack of snow wolves one day and a portal popped out of no where. I ran through it thinking it was my best chance to escape. I didn't know where it would lead, but I was hoping it would lead somewhere safer than there. And I'm still trying to make up my mind if this town is or not."
Garrok sat down at the table and then said, "There is a town called Tobolsk in Glesmyr that I usually spend my time in when im not traveling over the mountains. The fish are plentiful there so no one ever goes hungry. But as far as I know there have never been any occurances of spans opening up around there, although I did hear a rumor that a large group of people appeared somewhere in the middle of the shard a few mests back, and as soon as they arrived, a portal took them somewhere else. After coming here, I found out that they were from this town, but that is the only time I have ever heard of people going to Glesmyr. It's not exactly a top attraction for tourists."
"Well, it is possible," she speculated, sounding slightly disappointed to learn he'd never seen an open span in Glesmyr "that the span from Goven led somewhere else, I suppose. The locals seemed slightly nervous about it in any case."
"So, is Glesmyr really all ice and desolate plains?" she asked curiosly as she opened a scroll case attached to her belt and produced a roll of various maps. Picking out one, she unfurled it and spread it out on the table next to her gear to reveal a map of Glesmyr. "The only information I really have about it is this old pre-shattering map."
"Well, I mean, I haven't heard of anything, but that's probably because I'm only in town for about two days before I head back out over the the mountains. They separate the other Angori from the humans and the rare dwarves that pass through from town to town. The other people there may have heard of such spans because they stay in regular contact with one another. Me, I just really have no interest in news; most of the time i'd rather be by myself," said Garrok trying to cheer her up a little. "You can always travel there yourself and see, but make sure to pack a heavy coat. It's just a tiny bit chilly up there," he said through a chuckle.
Garrok looked at the map that she brought out and said with a matter of fact tone to his voice, "Yep. That's an old map you got there. And as for it being all desolate and things, well... yeah I guess an outsider could call it that, but there are like, other people that like it and stuff. I mean, I like it, you know. But there is a range of mountains that run from, uhh... here to umm... here." He pointed roughly to two points on the map and then pointing to three other spots he said, "And here we have Tobolsk more to the west, Vyberg to the south and to the north we have Lovinia right about... here."
"To the east of this mountain range that I showed you is a large snowy valleyish plain. This is where the Scargrim live. Kind of a wild bunch if you ask me. They like playing a game called stab the Spirehorn everytime I visit. It's fun and all if you aren't the only Spirehorn, which I usually am... ok so it's not that much fun it's actually pretty painful, but I manage to get away alright, but anyway...."
"And further east of that valley there is another mountain range that runs from here... all the way down... here," he said as he dragged his finger along the parchment. "Beyond that I have no knowledge of anything. It's like all ice and stuff you know."
Garrok then withdrew his hand and slumped a little on his seat. "I kinda miss it. Well... I mean I really miss it. They had my favorite ice fish there."
Odelia's eyes followed along as the large Angori pointed out locations on the map, making a little mark on her parchment where Garrok indicated he had no knowledge of the terrain.
"Stab the Spirehorn!? That sounds like an awful game," she commented when he spoke of the plains. "Are the Scargrim another Angori tribe?"
When he finished and slumped in his chair, she looked up at him. "I'm sorry that you've lost your way home, Garrok. It does, indeed, sound like a marvelous place. And when a way is found, I do hope to visit it someday. Perhaps you can show me around Tobolsk?"
"Heh," he said mildly amused at her thoughts of 'Stab the Spirehorn'. "Well the Scargrim are like... well they're not necessarily friendly. They're more like the bad Angori in stories that other Angori mother's would threaten young Spirehorns with if they came back home from the hunt without meat. They're very warlike creatures, but i've been trying to bring the ways of the Monk to them. They don't seem to listen very well, but I am trying REALLY hard."
As Odelia asked Garrok to show him around Tobolsk he looked up from the table at her and smiled gently as he said, "I'd like that. I'd like that alot."
"He stayed quiet for a minute and then said as he streached his shoulders, "Well I think i've waited here long enough. I'll probably head back to my tent to get some sleep. I'm Glad I met you Miss Odelia."
Odelia looked over the many flyers and notes on Jastrey's post. "Hmmm... pack mule for sale. Might be handy to haul around my gear..." she said to herself as her eyes lingered on that post for a moment before looking at the one next to it.
"Glesmyr!" she exclaimed aloud after her eyes scanned Garrok's message, all thoughts of the pack animal gone. "I wonder who Garrok is though?"
The human woman wandered toward the Shady Corner. "Someone in there should surely know where I can find him."