Boletarian Knight

The young knight leans forward, peering past the gloomy entrance and into the Nexus' second floor. Compared to the first floor of the Nexus, well-lit and lived in, this place was dark and lonely.  Squint as he might, he could only make out the first few pillars lining the curved wall as shadow obscured any other details. Perhaps it was only natural, but the grim atmosphere sent a chill down his spine.

"Dear me…" The knight mutters and glances down at the note clenched tightly in his hand. He found it an hour or two ago, resting on his usual perch under a paperweight. A thin piece of parchment with a simple message scrawled by a hurried hand. 

Pushing up his visor, he unfolds the note and looks it over once more. 

“My friend Ostrava. When next you return to the Nexus, meet with me on the second floor. There is an urgent matter to discuss.”

A tense sigh passes his lips. He didn't recognize the penmanship, which ruled out Biorr, and Mei never left notes. There weren't many others in the Nexus who bothered to speak with him, and he hadn't noticed any break from their usual routines to head up to the second floor.  So who could the mystery penman be? Only one possibility had come to mind; Esther.  Who else would ask to meet in such a shadowy place after all? 

Feeling only slightly reassured by his reasoning, the knight not so bravely ventures a few steps further. His Augite of Souls held now in his hand to better direct its light. Each step sounded louder than it ought to, the air felt uncomfortably chilly, and he couldn't help but notice how the shadows slunk along the walls in a serpentine movement. It must be all in his mind, but he wished his peculiar friend would have asked to meet somewhere less eerie. Even so, imagination was no reason to turn tail and flee. Not in the Nexus.

Again he steps further, gathering the courage to call into the pitch black, “Esther?” 

Straining against the dark, he waits for a response. But not a shadow shifted, not a sound was made. An uneasy feeling settles in his gut, but again he calls, this time with a slight waver to his voice, “Esther! It's me, Ostrava. Are you there?” 

Still no answer.

He frowns, looking about for, well, any sign of another person at this point-

Just then, there is a rush from the side!

Ostrava yelps, flailing his arm in a defensive reflex and drops his crystal. Metal grates across metal with a sharp ringing. A blade glances off his pauldron, flashing in the light of the fallen crystal. 

The cloaked man’s smile shifted, fondness leaking into the corners of his mouth; though there remained still that air of sorrow that never seemed to leave him. His head turned to look where Ostrava had come from, over the half-wall and up the way. The guarded gate did present a problem, but Alexander had been tempted to confront it head-on. Now, though, perhaps it would be better to reconsider. He didn’t want to just run off and leave Ostrava all alone, especially not when he seemed so shaken.

       “I’ve not found anything of that description, no,” he admitted. Boletaria was nothing like Yharnam in its construction; he’d gotten himself terribly lost more than once. “However, I didn’t know to look for it. I’ve an idea of where to start – perhaps we could find it together?”

"Truly?" The question tumbles from Ostrava’s lips perhaps a bit too readily, followed by a sharp inhale as a flicker of doubt stings the back of his mind. 

It wasn’t that he never wished for a travel companion. No one, he imagined, would doubt the usefulness of another pair of eyes or the aid of a second blade when travelling these demon-infested lands. The trouble was the deception it required. That he required. He was not particularly skilled at acting- at lying- and the longer one stayed by another’s side, the easier it was for the tongue to slip or for mannerisms to fail. One too many of such clues and the entire guise would fail.  If that happened, where would it leave him?

Trying to force the awful thought away, he swallows and nods at Alexander’s offer, “Yes, I’d be grateful for the assistance.”  It was a risk, but if he hoped to push any further today, he knew it would not be on his own.