An uninviting feeling throughout Crocus as she wandered about. So much on her mind, the events to why she had come here being in the foremost, but impossible not to also reflect on what had become of this place, of Crocus. A city that she seldom spent much time within before, most of her childhood now nothing more than a distance memory that she scarcely could even recall too well. It was disappointing, especially in that her navigating through the city, hoping to find some spark of memory or recollection. Instead, all she found were frustration and questions that persisted more than anything, but not without some level of curiosity too. A spark of hope perhaps, maybe the idea that things would become more clear to her, maybe under the appropriate circumstances? Perhaps the winter, maybe that would give her more of a recollection of a time before? It was something that perhaps would come to fruition, but she were not hopeful, all things considered.

The reality simply had been that the plight she was enduring, the motivation to her being here within Crocus, it could not be second-guessed for things of much greater emphasis and relevancy. Her father were still alive, his goal of ascending to the highest possible realm for any sort of politician, a seat within the court of King Reign; a situation as close to the throne as anyone could ever hope to achieve minus the act of marrying a member of the Royal Family itself. For Astrid, the thought of marriage was hardly one that drew much interest to her, despite the potential that her upbringing presented, her being in one of the unique situations to be able to achieve marriage and probably find herself in a successful spot. However, even there, it may not have mattered if her father were to get his way; his ability to ruin and erase her legacy all but certain, the access to the fortunes of the world that she may have had at the moment being lost forever to never be retained again.

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A chill rushed by her, as much an indictment of the cold that was coming. Freezing weather was not uncommon for Fiore, and unfortunately in the past several years it has gotten more and more aggressive, more difficult for people to survive pleasantly within. For those that lived within the cities like Crocus, the threat was much less of a concern, much more bearable. Services, benefits, aid, assistance, there were no shortage of things that the people living within the gates had over those who were living on their own out in the fields and even more isolated, within the great wilderness of Fiore. Even during the more aggressive and rough seasons, the people were able to endure, whether due to the nature of the walls that provided a natural level of defense. Whether it were the huge reserves of food, alcohol, and other aid materials that were often too difficult to store out in the fields, whether it due to the sheer size, the inability to store it all, or otherwise the risk that came with it being potentially robbed. That was a risk that significantly existed within Fiore; people who were trying to survive, whether they were refugees from areas like Talaz Lagaar or otherwise those who were struggling for other reasons.

Certainly no shortage of those, people that were displaced, whether they were suffering from the byproduct of conflict, high tax rates that forced them out of their homes – a situation was unfortunately becoming more common within these parts, to the point there were areas that people were opting to not move towards in fear of eventually losing their homes. This was in large part a byproduct of things that were plaguing the more distant areas, places like Oak Town that were receiving only a partial amount of the assets that would have meant to be devoted to the areas. This was a byproduct of sorts within the political world, those who were more of the selfish variety, those with an agenda, those who were inherently corrupt, and a number of other reasons that the people may have thought to think of. Their methods were causing problems, at least for the common man, and they were bleeding in to the peoples’ livelihoods. It was the sort of thing that would eventually turn into a powder keg of sorts, something that was going to eventually erupt, and there were going to be no shortage of casualities when that happens. The only question was going to be not if Fiore and its people were going to be affected, but rather instead if the cities were going to fall too as a result. Oak was secure. Magnolia was secure. Cities that possessed strong relationships with its people, guilds, or those who had the appropriate funds being funneled into them, they were safe. Others, no so much.

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In order to combat some of this, the people set themselves up to sustain themselves in whatever manner they possibly could have. Jobs that many were not willing to have done, suddenly with the difficulties of the cities wearing down on them now, some of the jobs suddenly became reasonable, if not something that they would have wanted to pursue. Given the wide variety of things that the people may have been looking to do in order to secure the basic funds necessary to survive, there weren’t a single job that wasn’t on the table. Even those that were dangerous, potentially even life-threatening, they too were very real considerations. In turn, as a result of that, there suddenly became a much greater interest towards jobs that posed no level of risk. It would not have been common that something like a baker’s apprentice or a novice stonemason would have been viewed as worthwhile jobs, but now they were amongst some of the best that people could have asked for.

There were still those that were around that people would have wanted regardless. Servers, hostesses, all the variety of typical and more traditional jobs that had existed for so long, some of them having been the ones that the people at one point or another may have looked down upon. But now, they were amongst those that the people most desperately sought out. Even though many of the jobs were available carried risk of varying degrees, the people certainly did not want to potentially lose their lives if it they were able to avoid it. Sadly, being able to be picky for something like that was a rarity now, not something that was a common thing, not by any stretch. Nor where there much separation between where the jobs were listed versus that of where the job was held. When it came to some of the more dangerous jobs, wherever it may have been, if it were deep within some forgotten ruins, or right in the outskirts of a city, or even in some back alley within a heavily populated part of the city, all of them were fair game if the jewels paid out were enough.

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When she saw them at first, she had a hard time believing quite what she was seeing. There were a number of people that were gathering up within one of the alleyways, some of them appearing to have been armed, some of them looking concerned, others impatiently waiting for others. Not a group that was unified, by any stretch of the imagination, but one that was invested in something together. Quite what that may have been, she had no way to tell at least at first. Intrigue more than anything, she found herself heading towards them, listening in, trying to be as discreet as possible while at the same time gather whatever sort of information that she possibly could. There were no shortage of things that she wondered that they have been doing, and she was admittedly curious.

It took a bit of time, but she did finally manage to listen in close enough to tell what was going on exactly. They were monster hunting, going after a creature that seemed to have been unleashed within Crocus, a shocker given that anything would have been able to get through here given the importance that existed here. To unleash a monster within the city that may have managed to find their way towards the Royal Family or someone else of significant important to Crocus and Fiore, it seemed difficult to believe. Nonetheless, that was exactly what was going on, and as she listened in further, it seemed that they seemed to have had a creature of some variant cornered. Quite what it was was hard to say, but it was small, not a massive creature, but she had seen firsthand that some of the most dangerous creatures in the wilds were the smallest. She kept broadly to the shadows, not wanting to get too close to draw attention of either the people nor the creature, but also to get a better glance.

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The sequence was quick, faster than what she would have expected. The creature emerged from the shadow and struck down a pair of them before any of them could have even reacted to it. In the panic, there were a few others who fell before they could even go ahead and secure a holding of their weapons or things of that nature, and even Astrid could not help but admire the creature’s ferocity, cutting down the people one by one. In a matter of merely some seconds, she had seen a dozen or so men fall to the creature that tried to remain to the shadows, even trying to escape. However, barely time passed before it seemed to register Astrid’s presence, thus setting herself up as a target.

Unlike the men earlier, she was prepared for the creature, disappearing into the shadows before the other creature was able to. From there, she could see just what it looked like, a horrific little thing that was certainly worrisome, but hardly something that she would have cared much to engage with. She did not plan on spending much time with it as it remained fixated on the shadows, knowing that she were there but being unable to piece her location at all. It worked perfectly for Astrid who reached out and managed to get the long dagger plunged directly into the creature before it could even register that she were there, the dark magic of the weapon being enough to cause great trauma to it, a wail echoing out as the life began to leave it. She hardly had a chance to revel in the kill though, as the sound that echoed throughout would inevitably draw attention, and the bodies that surrounded the area, it would be impossible to pin the blame on the creature. But she knew that she had carried out the kill, so returning again to the shadows, she set out to find out who it may have been that was offering the bounty and secure the prize for herself.

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