rp: main topic The Wild West of Talvania

[Neptune]

Talvania

Talvania has a range of climates that can make travelling across it difficult, especially if one is not prepared. The northern part of the country is more temperate, with the northeast being covered in a lust forest that can hide many dangers. It is the coolest part of the country, with a high humidity that makes it perfect for growing a wide range of crops. To the southeast of the island though, the climate becomes warmer and the lust rainforest gives way to a more dry and arid environment with sparse vegetation. This trend continues for the entire southern edge of the country, with sparse areas of lusher vegetation that make travel difficult due to the rarity of clean water and foragable food. The heart of Talvania however is more akin to the Mojave Desert, making it impassable to all but a few daring travellers. In the Southeastern section of the island is the Southstone Peaks, a range of mountains that is as dangerous as they are beautiful. 

There are not just dangers from the people and the animals but a force even more ferocious. The weather. Due to the hot climate, combined with the humidity from the north and the cooler air from the mountains, the mixture of different temperatures and pressures breed impressive storms that hover like giant anvils over Talvania’s core. Some of these super cell storms produce unpredictable and powerful tornadoes that make living and travelling through the area dangerous.

So, travellers beware. Always watch your back and keep a hand close to your gun. You never know when you will need it.

Relevant Links:

• Extra Information
• Character ID
• Out of Character

Edited May 4, 2021 by Neptune

[Neptune]

Location: Outskirts of Kvor.

Small puffs of dust rose into the still, hot air that accompanied the soft hoof falls of the placid mare beneath Victor. He allowed his body to move fluidly with her movements as the animal moved at a brisk trot. With the air so still, it provided little relief from the head of the midday sun that beat down upon him. He was glad that he was wearing his hat which kept the worst of the sun's glare from his eyes. He looked out at the arid heathland that surrounded him, with sparse and scraggly vegetation that struggled for what little water there was. It was such an uninviting place. Perfect for what he was after. He cared little for the fact that it was uncomfortable. As long as others would not follow him here, it would do. His tongue darted out to lick along his cracked lips, ignoring the ensuing stinging sensation. 

He glanced down at his side, only to be met with light amber eyes of his beautiful and loyal wolfdog, Fenni who plodded alongside his mare as he followed his master. Victor was glad for both his loyal companions, as he had had both Cherry and Fenni since they were young, allowing him to form a close bond with both of them. He could not ask for a better mount, and a better hunting companion. He raised his eyes again before he narrowed them slightly when he saw a smudge on the horizon. He stared at it for several long minutes before he could begin to make out the details of what appeared to be a small cluster of buildings.

He felt pleased, as that was what he had been looking for. The town of Kvor. It was on the complete opposite of the country to where he had pretended to go. It was his hope that he would be able to settle for a little before moving on, which would give him the chance to earn a little money. He was beginning to run out, and needed a job if he was going to keep running. He spurred Cherry on and, with a toss of her head and a snort, she increased her pace as he was impatient to reach his destination. No doubt she would appreciate some rest as well, and a chance to drink away the dust of their travels. 

He slowed her down to a walk when they reached the edge of town. Immediately, he could see several houses and a few shops. There were some townsfolk aboard at this hour, who watched him with curious eyes as he entered the town. He gave them a friendly smile so that they would not feel overly cautious or threatened by his sudden appearance. He also saw a Sheriff’s office, and resolved that it would just be best to avoid any kind of lawman. With any luck, he would get a job outside of the main town. The last thing he needed was for the Sheriff to identify him. 

It was then that he spotted the tavern. The Running Stallion. It even had a post to tie your horse to, and a trough that they could drink from. Victor headed towards it, before pulling Cherry to a stop. He slid down from his saddle, clad to get a respite from being in the saddle. He checked the level of water in the trough, before he tied Cherry to the post. He watched for a moment as she lowered her head and began to drink before he patted her on her shoulder, pleased. He then turned and walked towards the tavern with Fenni at his heels. He opened the door and stepped into the dim room, which was noticeably cooler. 

The saloon was not that full at the moment, with one table surrounded by older men and a tender behind the bar. They all turned to stare at the newcomer, but he just nodded politely to them. He then strode up to the bar before saying in a quiet voice, “Whiskey.” 

“Coming right up.” The bartender said, reaching beneath the bar to pull out a whiskey glass. Victor sat himself on the stool at the bar, allowing his hat to shade his eyes and, more importantly, the identifying scar across his eye. Fenni curled up at his feet, panting lightly as he observed the room, watching it carefully. With a clink, the bartender placed the whiskey glass down on the bar in front of him. Victor pulled out a few coins and put them on the table before drawing the whiskey close to him and taking a small sip, enjoying the luxury while he could. 

[Dozle The Crusader]

The 56 year old gunsmith was dealing with a annoying customer and you can tell by the shade of his head was glowing red his temper was getting the best of him again  “Look, I don’t have time for you today.” He said in a very thick Maskurg accent, that was akin to a Russian accent, and his voice was alose deep too made him more scarier that made the smaller man that was in front of his counter silver a little that mad the bigger man sighed at this .”look you can take this Colt 1836 on the house and pay me later alright I need a drink after today.” The younger customer left with a small “thank you.”

 

Bear picked up his Crusader pump shotgun with it strapped. He put it around his large bear of a back he had on a greasy t shirt fun gun geasy and gunpowder and stained blue jeans and a gun belt with shotgun sells and bear skin boots and then he called out to Yamashiro “hey girl wanna go to the bar girl to get some treats the bartender just miss your fluffy butt “ all you heard was a roar from the back of the store. All the old man did was laugh and walked out of his store. 

 

He walked across to the Running Stallion. The name still made him laugh to this day. He noticed there was a new horse at the saloon and was like a joy, a new comrad to meet . He pushed open the door and yelled to all that was inside “Privet Tovarishchi” (greeting comrades). Has he walked up like no care in the world right next to Victor and he spoke to the bartender “I would like Valka my friend and I would like to pay for this young man here for at least two of his drinks. He looks like he needs them from the long road he been on.” with both of his hands raised to show that he meant the younger man no harm “It was only my old gut telling me before I think.

 

@Neptune i want to thank you so much for helping me once again you are to awesome 

[Neptune]

Location: Outskirts of Kvor.

Victor paused a little when he heard the door of the saloon open almost enthusiastically. Fenni’s head turned towards the door where his head tilted a little as the man boomed out a greeting. It made Victor stiffen a little as he recognised the language as being that of the Maskurg Empire. He had to resist the urge to turn around to see who it was that entered the room, as he didn’t want to draw attention to himself. Fenni remained calm, which indicated that the figure was not making any hostile movements. Otherwise the wolfdog would be growling and snarling. He saw movement out of the corner of his left eye, and turned his head slightly to see just who it was.

The man was massive. Unnaturally so. Victor had never seen a man so large in his life. It looked as if the man’s head was only a mere inch from the wooden ceiling. He was also heavily muscled but not in a way that made him look grotesque. He looked to be built like an absolute tank. It was not someone that Victor would want to get into a hand to hand fight with, that was for sure. A part of him thought of the man as being rather attractive but he ignored that as he turned his attention to his drink again. Only to look back up when the man beside him told the bartender to pay for two of his drinks.

Victor looked at the beast of a man again, still keeping his right eye shadowed to hide the scar. He was a little surprised that the man realised that he had been on the road for a long time. That thought made him pause. Either this man was very observant, or he was one of the bastards little spies. But as Victor studied the man, he discounted the second possibility. He didn’t seem the type. While he had the bearing of a military man, his face seemed too open and honest so Victor relaxed a little although he still wondered why the man would buy him, a complete stranger, drinks. Either he was very friendly or… he was coming onto Victor.

He took a sip of his whiskey, enjoying the warm liquid as it settled in his stomach, leaving behind a smokey flavour that lingered on his tongue. He placed the glass down on the bar, but didn’t let go of it, “Thanks, stranger. My name is Victor. This here is Fenni.” He flicked his fingers to Fenni who was still studying the tank of a man. “What’s yours?” He then asked, not wanting to refer to him as ‘stranger’ anymore.

[Dozle The Crusader]

All the bigger man did was let out a boom of a laugh “please to meet you Victor and Fenni “ he raised his drinks to the much younger man and took a quick drink of valka like it was nothing “Barkeep you know when I come in I want the whole bottle you know how Veniamin or how this Bear loves his drink and boobs “ .

 

The bartender was just staring up at the bear of a man and sighed “You know Bear for as old you are and as much you drink, I’m shocked your liver is not dead yet.” The bartender said as he placed the new bottle down just for Bear, “That's for the gun you gave me, it's what I owed on it.” the bartender walked away 

 

Bear took the bottle and took a big drink out of it like it was a lost love. ”I see you have some nice guns on you. You see, comrade Victor, I own the gun store and it’s the only gun store here. People love my Bear arms, I even made one.” The large man pulled out his crusader pump shotgun to show Victor his creation “It took me a few months to make this baby all on my own while taking care of a bear.”

[Neptune]

Location: Outskirts of Kvor.

Victor watched as the strange man downed a glass of Valka as if it was nothing. He was not a personal drinker of Valka, but he knew it could be a hard drink to handle. This man, who subtly let his name be known as Veniamin, was clearly a heavy drinker. He couldn’t help but to feel a little impressed that the man did not even flinch as the clear liquid went down his gullet. Victor glanced at the bartender as the man put a bottle of Valka onto the bar, leaving it with the large man. Considering how he had downed the first glass, Victor had no trouble thinking that Bear could drink the entire bottle with little trouble. 

He lifted his own drink, taking a sip before slowly lowering his glass to the bar as the man complimented his guns. Victor really didn’t want to talk about them, especially where he had gotten them from. Therefore he was glad when Bear quickly moved on and showed off his own gun that he had made. Victor eyed the weapon with curious eyes, impressed with the craftsmanship, “That’s a well built gun. I’m not one to use shotguns. I prefer a rifle. Even so, that’s a good looking gun. Packs a punch, does it?” He asked.

[Dozle The Crusader]

“Punch that it does my friend, it shoots out fire pellets out instead of the metal ball we all know in shotguns.” Bear took a big drink of his Valka from the bottle “It is a pain always dealing with my shop alone. It would be nice if I had an extra set of hands instead of claws I have in the back.” 

 

He took another drink from the bottle. “Hey barkeep, do you have any fish on you, because Yamashiro back at the shop is hungry and I have yet to go fishing.”  The bartender sighed and went in the back knowing the big man has yet to eat and went to get him and his real life bear some food. The bartender brought back a plate of fish and a sandwich. For the big man and let the two men be. 

 

Bear then asked “So are you staying anywhere while you are here, comrad Victor? I tell you that the hotel or what the barkeep has upstairs is alright, I do have a spare bed back across the street and I’m not coming onto you either.” He said trying to make things less awkward.

[Neptune]

Location: Outskirts of Kvor.

Victor’s eyebrows quirked up a little when the man said that instead of the typical shotgun pellets and instead shot out fire pellets. His initial kneejerk reaction was to deny what the man was saying, but as he studied the design of the gun he could see how it was possible. He found himself feeling even more impressed, “Impressive. The workmanship on this gun is incredible.” He said, just before the man made a comment that it was hard dealing with his shop all alone. His initial thought was ‘Is this guy hinting at something?’ He wasn’t sure, though as the man turned his attention to the bartender asking for fish for someone called ‘Yamashiro’. Was it this man’s wife? Or pet? He mentioned something about ‘claws’ back at the shop but with how some men spoke of their wives, it could be either option.

Victor glanced at the plate of fish and the sandwich before his eyes then flickered back to Bear once again when the man spoke again, asking if he was staying anywhere before offering him a spare bed. Victor was in the process of taking a sip when the man stated clearly that he wasn’t coming onto him, causing Victor to almost choke on his drink as his eyes widened. He glanced over his shoulder at the old men sitting around the table but they didn’t seem to have been listening. He then glanced at the bartender who had busied himself cleaning a whiskey glass.

He coughed, getting his bearings again before he said, “Er.. o-okay.” He now felt a little awkward as he had made no outward sign that he thought Bear was coming onto it. It had been a fleeting thought, born from how friendly Bear was being to a complete stranger. He cleared his throat again before he then said, “I’ve only just come into town, so I’m not entirely sure what I’m doing right now. I am after a job but I would prefer something a little… out of town. I just wanted to sit here and enjoy a drink before thinking of what to do.”

[Dozle The Crusader]

Bear nodded to the young man as he took a drink of his valka “Well comrad Victor, you are still welcome to come over to my shop. I don’t just run a gun shop, I own a store where I sell goods and I have been looking for a hunter to meet my girl at home or back at my shop.”

 

Bear took a bite of his sandwich and waited to talk again after to talk but he was just a big man that small sandwich wont last long and the sandwich was gone. And stood up straight “Welp, I best get back to my shop before I have a cranky girl without food is a bad day for me.” The bartender just sighed knowing he was talking about his pet bear .

[Neptune]

Location: Outskirts of Kvor.

Victor mutely nodded when Bear said that he was still welcome to visit his shop, and that he was looking for a hunter to meet his girl back at the shop. He still had no idea whether he was talking about a wife or pet. He glanced down at Fenni who was contently lying at his feet, relaxing after the hours walking this morning. His head was rested on his paws and his eyes were closed as he seemed to be fast asleep. He turned his attention back to his drink, lifting the glass and downing the last of the smokey, amber liquid. He set the glass down with a sign, feeling better after that drink.

He noticed out of the corner of his eye that his companion picked up his sandwich and consumed it within a few bites. Victor had seen men eat quickly before, but this was new to him. It was quickly gone and Bear stood up, causing Fenni to raise his head and watch the large man. Victor gave Bear a slight smile when the man said that he needed to get back. Still. No idea if he was talking about a wife, or a pet, “Well. Maybe I’ll drop by later if you let me know where the shop is. For the moment I’ll stay here and enjoy the two drinks.” He said, twitching his glass at the bartender who filled it with more whiskey. With how his finances were, he wasn’t exactly going to let two free drinks go wasted.

[Dozle The Crusader]

Bear took the plate of fish “My shope is right across from here look for the big bear sign you can't miss it comrade Victor.” The big man said with a laugh as he got closer to the door saying one last this before leaving the saloon “Dashvidya my comrades.”  (that is a formal goodbye) 

 

The older man was walking back to his gun store with his bottle of valka in one hand and food for his bear in the other and he was talking to himself “I so hope that new comrade comes to my shop. He would love it there; I can tell he likes guns too.” . 

 

Not even five minutes walking into the store all you could hear even out side was a very angry and hungry roar of a really big bear coming from his shop “I know, I know. I am late but I got dinner for you and I met a new friend. He has a wolf dog. He might come over later so you must be a good girl when he does.” He said as if he was talking to a person. But, it was a 1,500 pound female kodiak bear sitting on some really nice thick woolen blankets and she had a bow on her head. He gave the fish to her but the real bear gave the man no mind. It was clear that she was very pissed at him.

[Neptune]

Location: Outskirts of Kvor.

Victor watched as the large man picked up the plate of fish before telling him that the shop was just across the street. Somehow that didn’t surprise Victor, that his shop was just across from the local saloon. He almost snorted with laughter but restrained himself. He gave the man a nod and said in a quiet tone, “I’ll be along later.” He watched as the man moved to the door, calling out a goodbye. The older men playing cards in the corner either nodded their heads at the man, or said goodbye. It was clear that this Bear person was a respected member of the community which struck Victor as a little strange. The man clearly had the speech and language of those from the Maskurg Empire, and yet despite the problems that they had, had with the Empire in the past, the people of this small town treated Bear like one of their own. It made Victor wonder how long the man had lived here.

He turned back to his glass of whisky, taking a sip and rolling the smokey liquid around his tongue before swallowing it. He then looked up at the bartender and asked, “What is there to eat?”

“Some meat and bread if you’re interested.” The bartender replied. Victor considered it for a moment. It did sound nice, and he was pretty hungry. So he nodded and said, “Then a sandwich for me. And can I have a strip of meat for my dog, please?” He pulled out some of his remaining money and placed it on the counter, which the bartender picked up.

“Sure thing.” The bartender said with a smile as he went into a door behind the bar. He returned a few minutes later with a sandwich and a slab of dried meat on the side. He picked up the meat, giving a short whistle to get Fenni’s attention. Immediately the wolf dog looked up at him, to which Victor lowered down the piece of meat which was snapped up pretty quickly. Fenni settled back to the floor, chewing on the meat contently. Victor turned back to his sandwich and picked up one half which he began to eat. It was then that he heard roars of an animal, causing him to turn around. Fenni stopped in his eating to raise his head, letting out a soft growl himself. Victor looked at the men playing in the corner, but none reacted to it, as if they didn’t hear it or were used to it. He then turned back to the bartender with a questioning gaze.

“Don’t worry. It’s Bear’s girl.” The bartender assured him with a grin. One of Victor’s eyebrows rose, as it seemed that the bartender was implying that it was the man’s wife despite the animalistic nature of the cry. Well, it was certainly one reason to visit the strange man. To work out that mystery. But for now, he was going to eat his sandwich. 

[Dozle The Crusader]

Yamashiro just threw the plate at him after she had her fill of the fish. You could tell the big bear was pissed at the big man for making her wait for her food and turned her back to the big man. “I swear you act like a human female, sometimes. Always moody. You need to get laid more often-” He did not finish what he said as the real life bear threw a chair, hitting him right in the head to make him leave her alone to cool off. “Women. No matter bear or human both wild animals.”

 

As he said that, he went to clean one of the Neppy repeaters he had in his shop he kept on display for people to look at. “I swear, every time I get a man or kid who wants a gun, they always come and poke after this gun for some reason.” He was making sure it stayed clean, so he carefully removed the repeater from its display case and carried it behind the counter. He had a cleaning kit under the counter which he pulled out and laid on the counter, opening it up before he started to clean the gun with the utmost care.

[Neptune]

Location: Outskirts of Kvor.

Victor pushed his plate away from him with a content sigh. He felt a lot better now that he had eaten. He picked up his whiskey glass, downing the contents before motioning for the bartender to fill it up. Now that he had eaten something, he decided to down the second glass as well, since he was eager to investigate what that noise was. Once he had downed the glass, he placed it on the bar as he suppressed a burp. He gave the bartender a nod and said, “Thanks.” Before he slipped off of his stool.

Fenni immediately shot to his feet and came to Victor’s heel as the man turned and headed out of the saloon and onto the street. Immediately, the hot, dry air hit him which caused him to pause for a moment before he looked around, glad that his hat was shielding his eyes from the fierce glare of the sun's gaze. He then spotted the sign that Bear had spoken about and walked towards it, giving Cherry an affectionate pat on the neck as he passed her.

He approached the door of the shop, looking in the window as he passed it. He could see Bear behind the counter doing something. Cleaning something by the looks of it. Glad that he easily found the shop, Victor opened the door and stepped inside, causing the little bell attached to the door to chime gently, announcing his presence. Fenni continued to walk at his side as he stepped into the shop and glanced around. After a moment he commented, “Nice place you have here.” He then strode up to the counter to see what the other man was doing, only to see him cleaning a weapon he had never seen before. He frowned a little before saying, “I’ve seen a lot of guns in my time, but I’ve not seen that one before. Another custom made one?”

[Dozle The Crusader]

Bear looked at Victor as he was cleaning the repeater, “Ah comrade if only I did this beauty. This is a Neppy repeater. Very rare to come by and in a condition like this, is very rare.” There was a picture of a younger Bear and his family in a corner behind him showing where he got his height from and the award he got so many years ago.

 

The was another door that went to the back. It was about 12 foot tall and it was wide to accommodate something big that lived in the shop with the big man. There was movement in the other room and it was something large you can be sure of that, but it was pretty much a large animal back there.

[Neptune]

Location: Outskirts of Kvor.

One of Victor’s eyebrows rose a little when Bear explained what the gun was, and the fact that it was very rare. A part of him didn’t believe the large man. Why would someone in such a remote place have possession of such a weapon? And how? He stayed his tongue, though, not wanting to insult the man with an unintentional accusation that he had stolen it or was lying. If it was rare like he claimed then it had to have taken a long time for him to have gotten his hands on it, and he likely spent a lot of money on it, especially to get his hands on such a good conditioned weapon. No one would want to part with it willingly. Victor certainly would not, even if he were that desperate for the money. As he shifted to get another angle, he noticed the image behind the large man on the wall. He looked at it again, recognising Bear among the several people there. They were equally as massive and intimidating in presence. It was obviously his family. His sharp eyes noticed the medal that was pinned on his chest but the picture wasn’t well defined enough for him to see what it was.

He then heard something moving in the other room, and Fenni gave a faint growl warning him that there was some kind of predator nearby. Victor glanced down at the wolfdog, who was staring intently at the door, his ears pricked forward and his body language tense, ready to pounce the moment he was given the order to. Not taking the eyes off of the door himself, Victor asked in a wary tone, “Is there something in the back room?”

[Dozle The Crusader]

The big man pointed at his back room with his thumb with a chuckle. “You mean Yamashiro in the back? She might sound mean and scary but the only one here she would hurt would be me whenever I don’t feed her when she is moody.”  Victor indeed heard a bear grown at the big man but you can tell was a female has she was getting at the door to see that there was guest you can see she was mean mugging Bear like a angry housewife but if she was a 1500 pound bear 

 

“Comrad you and your wolfdog need to calm down. Yamashiro will not harm the two of you. She is a sweet girl who looks mean but very cuddly when she wants to.” He places down the rifle he was walking up to Yamashiro that was looking down at the two men and the dog there was a big size difference to Bear and the real life bear but the big man gave his Yamashiro a hug to show she was friendly and he was the only person crazy to hug a big bear. The big man let go of Yamashiro as he was looking at Victor with a big shit eating grin, “Comrade see is a big loveable girl! She won't hurt a fly... only me when I piss her off.”

[Neptune]

Location: Bear’s gun shop

Victor’s eyes widened when he saw the absolutely massive bear that shuffled into view. He had never seen a bear so big in his life before. It was the largest he had ever seen. He couldn’t help but feel a bit impressed when Bear casually approached it and hugged the animal who didn’t seem to mind the attention in the slightest. He read the body language of the animal, who didn’t seem to have any kind of aggressive posture. He glanced down at Fenni who immediately settled down. He stopped growling, and slowly sat down although he remained tense and alert just in case the bear decided to attack his friend. Victor was glad that he had such a close bond with Fenni that the wolfdog sometimes knew what he wanted before he even realised it himself. 

“I didn’t realise you had an actual bear in your shop. I honestly thought you were referring to a wife.” Victor said, unable to take his eyes off of the huge beast. He not only felt wary at being near such a huge predator, but he couldn’t help but to admire how large it was and how close Bear was without any form of trepidation. Despite having a wolfdog, he wasn’t sure he could get that casual with a bear. He would be too worried that it would one day turn around and claw his guts out.

[Dozle The Crusader]

Bear just laughed at Victor when he said wife” very funny Comrad Victor there are times she is just like a wife big and moody like one but she is a big sweet heat the whole town knows about her and no worry she his friendly to wolf dogs she really likes fish so you good Da”. The Big man stepped away from Yamashiro making her still looking down at Victor making the bere going back to her bed she was too lazy to deal with a new person to day 

 

Bear “so Comad  Victor what do you think of my little shop i use to love guns all my live all the way when i was a boy even when i was in the military” he laughed at the thoughts what he he through was tough but he was always a open happy person 

[Neptune]

Location: Bear’s gun shop

Victor watched the bear moving further into the back room and from the sounds that emerged from it, she seemed to be settling down. Perhaps for some sleep. That thought made him relax even more, and he refocused on Bear as the large man stepped closer to the counter once again and explained that he had loved guns for most of his life. The information that he was in the military perked Victor’s interest, and his eyes flickered to the picture on the wall again. He knew he was going to have to be careful here, as he didn’t want to reveal too much of himself. If the wrong information reached the wrong ears, then it would force him to flee once again. It was his hope that Kvor was isolated enough that he could settle even if it was for a little bit.

“Military, huh? Where did you serve? What division?” He asked, before he nodded at the picture, “I see a medal in that picture. Got it from service?” He asked, twitching his blue eyes back towards Bear once again to hear what the man had to say.

[Dozle The Crusader]

“Comrade Victor I served under the Maskurg Empire and my division or what left of it was well may sound funny the Bear division probably because I was a part of it for so long and I really grew throughout the time.” He let out a little chuckle be for he went on “I joined the military at 16 or training till I was about 46 years old few years after attack of the dead men where I got that medal for.” he said taking a big drink of his Valka bottle to live down the memories of that day “I hope you know your history my friend.”

[Neptune]

Location: Bear’s gun shop

Victor felt himself growing a little wary when the man freely admitted that he used to serve in the Maskurg military. He remained silent as Bear explained that he had joined when he was just sixteen. He looked quite aged, which meant that he had been in the military for far longer than Victor had been. He wasn’t sure what Bear meant about the attack of the dead men, and furrowed his eyebrows. At the man's last comment, Victor slowly shook his head, “Not Maskurg history, no. I was born in Talvania and I’ve lived here my entire life. Funnily enough they never taught Maskurg history in school. So you’ll have to forgive me when I tell you that I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about with this whole ‘attack of the dead men’. I assume it was a battle of some significance?” He asked.

[Dozle The Crusader]

The old Bear scratched his head trying to remember how it all started. You could see where the funny part of the Bear's face that you can see he was trying to relive his past, “The year was 1874 me and my division was on the border of the Thuyan Empire. It was a normal day after  I got back from a big drunken party, I was in the middle getting my big old ass yelled at by the base commander there. When I said this had a big meaning to our kingdom we were ass to ass to those sick fuckers over there and at the time they wanted that base for themselves.” He paused to get a breath in “And not even 5 minis in the room with my commander those sick Thuyan basterds blew up the supports and a wall and a lot of the men in the base I was 1 out of a hundred men to be alive from that and then I was the only one left with any real rank so then I started a counter attack of the dead men.” He took another drink of his valka and he chuckled “We had a few men missing an arm or leg fighting those chicken shits running away from crawling bleeding men they thought would die from a few berries of gunpowder.” You could tell he was living back in the moment by the way his eyes where he was back on the field of dyeing men. “We somehow managed to push them back that day we did manage to win but damn we lost so many brothers that day you can smell the blood that's still there from that battle and the gunpowder too.” He chuckled at that last part and pointed at the medal Victor was looking at, “They gave that to me after that hell I lead those men The Muskurg Medal of Bravery from pushing on like I did after losing so many.” He took a moment for Victor to say anything. He pulled out a bottle of old whiskey from his home land and gave the younger man a shot glass and filled it up for him and pushed him the drink “Here you look like you need it my friend.”

[Neptune]

Location: Bear’s gun shop

Victor listened closely to the story that Bear told, his eyebrows raising a little in surprise as the man described it. He could tell from the look in the man's eyes, the manner in which he spoke, and his emotions that he was not telling a tall story. He meant every word that spilled from his lips. He even knew what it was like to be in that situation, but he tried to block the memory out. Now was not the time to be remembering it. He switched his attention back to Bear as the man stated that it was how he had gotten the medal in the picture. He watched as Bear poured the whiskey before picking it up and sniffing it. He then took a small sip before commenting, “Not bad.” He took another, larger sip before he said, “That’s quite the tale, and it sounds like you were quite deserving of that medal. It’s not something a lot of men would be able to handle.” 

He paused as he took another sip, finishing off the glass of whiskey before he then said, “I’ve never heard of that battle before. I know that the Muskurg Empire and the Thuyan Empire have skirmishes with each other, but nothing in specifics other than their fight over Talvania before it was formally declared a nation. There are still some descendants of the Thuyan invaders that exist today who like to terrorise people who are just wanting to live out their lives. As for the Muskurg Empire… they attack us every now and again but otherwise we’re able to hold our own against them. I don’t think they have the resources for an all out invasion otherwise I think they would.” He was careful to avoid saying it in such a way that Bear could gleam that he was part of the army himself, as what he had said was general knowledge and well known throughout the country. 

[Dozle The Crusader]

Bear just chuckled “I’m glad that I'm no longer part of all of that hell. I moved here to get away from the old ways to start a new, but still keep how I was growing up. Big, loud and fun to be around with my guns, bear and many friends.” Bear was letting the younger man know he olds no problem with him and how he sees his people. “Heck they were all assholes over there. I mean they convinced a young 16 year old to join the army. It took me what 30 years to get a medal dealing with all those crazy years.” He poured Victor another drink “Well I told you a bit of history of this old Bear. So are you up for a job to keep you busy? It pays well on the game meat and pelts you bring in for me and there's extra if there is fish for the big girl in there.”