Nix isn't what most would describe as 'beautiful', cute perhaps, but her attractiveness doesn't reside on her physical appearance; more so now after the death of Gump. She stands at about 5 feet, and now generally looks gaunt and dark. She often has bags under her eyes due to sleepless nights tossing and turning. Aside from her general proportions, her eyes and hair can come as distinct features used to tell her apart. Her hairs cut short and are jet black, but with some gloss, much like a raven's feathers, and as for her eyes, they are amber. She has thrown away her gay clothes, and now dons more practical clothing. They are simple and durable, and nothing flashy. As for footwear she wears simple leather shoes. Lastly, she now has two things around her neck, a golden locket, and a dirty white cloth tied around her neck.

Nix has grown up. Experiencing perhaps the most devastating event in her life has accelerated her maturity substantially. She was no longer the happy, carefree crazy girl she was; she grew to be a serious and grim woman, not unlike Gump, in fact, she tried very hard to become like him. Her cheery laughs and giggles were lost with the destruction of Auria and although she learned to act more bright around Marty to avoid her worried and almost sad gazes, she could never hide her sorrows completely.

Dearest friend Gump

Hello Gump! Greetings and all that! No need for formalities I believe, not between us anyway. It’s been what, 10 years now since we last saw each other? I hope you’re doing well, and you probably are! I’ve never met a man who had such a good nose for trouble. I've only recently heard from a friend, well, a friend of a friend’s sister’s man’s friend who recently came to my shop, that he saw a blind old man living in the town called Auria in the Forbidden Lands. I asked him what that blind man was like, and he gives me this: “A bitter suspecting old grouch” I couldn't have said it better myself! I knew then that you were alive and well, and I thought of, well, asking a big favor from an old friend.

You remember Nix right? My beautiful and adorable little girl? I bet you do! Well, she’s 16 now, and the finest girl in the entire city of Provensia. Why, just yesterday she came to me, the charming little angel that she is, and gave me the sweetest smile that you've ever saw. It’s absolutely mad that the local boys would call her ‘plain’ and ‘dirty’; they deserved that beating! Blind idiots they are, no offense to you of course. But I digress. It so happened that I got into a spot of trouble; nothing serious, mind you, just a matter of a joke poorly swallowed, but I was told that it has offended the big shots here, and well, they’re not going to let me live here. As a result, I’m going to have to take a…, a trip, and I suspect that it will be a one way thing. Don’t let that worry you! There’s no trouble that the ‘Two-Handed Wheelbarrow’ cannot handle! But the problem is Nix, I can’t take her with me, as that would be a very un-fatherly thing to do, but I can’t just leave her either. I can’t bear the thought of what those beasts in the street might do to her, so I am left with one choice: to ask a friend for help. You’re the only one I trust Gump! And besides, Nix is also so very glad to be seeing Uncle Gump again. You two were a pair, you were. My dear Nix quite cried her heart out when she heard that you had been taken away and implored that I save you, which I did try my friend, I tried, but I just couldn't get you out of that hole of a place. None of the slave traders (sad excuse for human beings) would listen to reason. I explained to them time and time again that you were an innocent man, and that even if you had been guilty of that theft, although I am completely of the opinion that you had nothing to do with the crime, you did not deserve to be sold as a slave. I hope your time working for the armies hasn't been too harsh on you; they did say that the living conditions for slaves were fair in the army where you were sold to. Even so, I hadn't the heart to tell Nix that. I just told her that Uncle Gump had to go help our side win the civil war. I would have bought you out of there myself, but alas! I did not have the gold, the damned gold!

Anyway, I do hope you see the point I’m trying to make here. She’s just a child still, and without her papa to look after her, she won’t last a day out there in the world, and I’m sure you know much better than I do about the dangers of the world. She hasn't a proper skill to earn her living either, bless her! I should have let her learn one or two at some point, but those brutes that call themselves mentors and teachers looked at her with lustful eyes, and I knew immediately that they would not do. And well, it kind of went on, no teacher was good enough, and I knew just after a week that she could not be allowed to associate with such monsters. Oh! But do not misunderstand! I only wished for my daughter’s happiness, as proof, I hired maids to do all her bidding, and got her anything that she wished. Well, she did ditch the maids several times a day to go out to play, and she never really wanted anything that expensive, but that is just to be expected from a Crimer! She is certainly nothing like the bad lot who always displease their loving parents, and you will agree with me when you meet her, after all, she's my daughter. You see Gump? No one can say that I wasn't a loving father!

I don’t know if you remember when we first met by that horrible forest? Nix was just 5 then. Me and her had just run away from some bandits and were looking for shelter, and what do we come across? A blind man by a roasting campfire! You looked like Rhise down on earth, or was it Umbriae…? either way! Doesn't matter! The best part of that night was when I was talking about how I was a traveling merchant, and how Nix had been traveling with me ever since her mum, a disgraceful woman, chose to leave, remembers that? Nix fell asleep on your lap, and you had the most startled look ever, but I knew then. I knew that here was a man that I could trust to look after Nix. After that night, we began traveling together, until we reached Provensia and I decided to settle in it. I remember our heated discussion; you said going to Provensia was a stupid idea, and I thought it a great business opportunity. In the end, we ended up going to Provensia, but now that I look back on it, you were right; it was a stupid decision. You ended up being sold, and now I've gotten myself in a spot of trouble. But know that the few weeks that followed our arrival in Provensia were one of the best times I've had; Nix was happy, and I had someone I could trust looking after her, but the decision was stupid all the same. In my defense, Provensia was a great place for business, and quite safe from the civil war, although I still worried for Nix's safety. You can't imagine the numbers of sleepless nights I've had! I was caught between the dilemma of either having to allow Nix to go out and make friends in the city, and risk her safety, or endure the heartbreaking agony of seeing her play all alone, but safe inside where I could protect her. In the end, I just couldn't risk her safety. I ordered the maids to be her playmates, but they simply proved themselves useless; it was no wonder Nix got bored with them in less than an hour and ran off. The least that can be said of them is that they managed to keep her from roaming around the city. You see, after you were taken away, business started to boom, and I thought it would be better for Nix if I actually bought a house. Of course, I didn't teach Nix anything of the trade, she was still much too young to learn the in’s and out’s of the trade. I made sure that she lived a comfortable, and a happy life.

Well, now, it seems I've left the whole point out! Forgive me friend, but here it is. I am sending my daughter, Nix, over to wherever you may be residing, I send this letter, and with it a considerable amount of gold for your troubles. I've told her that I had to go on a long business trip, and couldn't bring her along. She was very disappointed, causing me so much pain, but brightened up immediately when I said that she'll be meeting you. I may come someday and reclaim her, but that may take a long time, so I must ask you, ever so humbly, to take care of Nix. Please be sure that she gets full 3 meals a day, and a wash every day. I think the gold I will send will be quite enough that she gets them, but if you ever run out, I beg of you to spend yours for the sake of an old friend, and an innocent girl. I trust in you completely that you will keep her safe.


Best Wishes

Malthus Crimer
Aka ‘Two-Handed Wheelbarrow’

Note: Nix always carries the letter on her person.

Skills:

Novice Mining
Apprentice Masonry
Moderate Artistry
Basic Literacy

Traits:

Positive:
Confident
Brave
Intelligent
Creative


Neutral:
Curious
Emotions easily show on face
Incredibly imaginative
Prudent

Negative:
Clumsy
Impulsive
Cold
Distrustful

Family
Lover
Crush
Close Friend
Friend
Good Person/likes
Can't Decide/No Opinion
Disliking/Suspicious
Hate/Despise
Mortal enemy


Aunt Marty: She's the only family I have left... I still don't understand why she wants to check on the bastards that left, but I will follow her anyway. She needs me.

Aurians that left: Damn them, damn them all.

A young girl arrives to a port town by boat, oblivious to the fact that her father was hanging by the gutters and simply excited by the fact that she was in a new place. Her provisions were nicked in her excitement, and she arrives in the town of Auria in all its former glory. What does she do now? She's excited, she's looking forward to meeting her uncle again, she wants to explore the forest, she wants to talk to everyone she meets and tell them how excited she is. She runs to the nearest building she sees, and makes quite the entrance, shocking everyone in it, and showcasing her crazy nature.

From then on, it was pretty much the same thing. She finds Gump and Marty by the mining camp and gets adopted, in a sense. She roams the streets of Auria, annoying people and generally driving them nuts. During the day, she would finds ways to entertain herself; she would often go into the forest find interesting things that she would bring back home and stash it with the rest of her things. During the nights, she would sit by Gump in the fireplace and be taught many, many things, most of which she forgot, she just enjoyed listening to him talk. On toasty nights Nix would just fall asleep and Gump would carry her up to her room and tuck her in.

Those were the good times, and the warm memories that Nix still holds onto, which were all ruined with the volcano going off. She was out in the woods just like any other day, and managed to get herself trapped under a tree, which all ended in a huge disaster with Gump dying to save her. She managed to get to safety but everything was a blur, and she was in shambles through the rest of the calamity. But her losses were too great for her, and from that day on, everything changed. She grew resentful of the people that just left now that the town was reduced to ashes and although she focused on getting the town cleared up and helping Marty restoring it, she honestly couldn't care less. She only did it because Marty wanted to do it, and she was all that mattered to her now.

As time went by she learned skills that Marty had to offer and found her gifts in the field of art. Marty was, to say the least, delighted in having found Nix’s talent and focused on nurturing that talent aside from the mining and masonry lessons she gave in between the short breaks that they had while clearing up town, and the basic literacy lessons she gave at nights. Thing is, she didn’t really need it; she was always creative in her own way, all she needed was a push to manifest it in a more, concrete way to become an artist.

She didn’t really interact much with the other townsfolk and couldn’t understand Marty being so nice to the new people coming into the setting. They were going to leave sooner or later anyway, why bother? Her distrust in people grew as more and more people came to visit Auria and left in less than a week with some lame excuse, that they received a letter from the mainland calling them back, that their mother was dying, that they had left their pets back home, pathetic. She hated those moments when she would stand with Marty at the entrance of the town and watch them leave; some people actually came to stay, but none of that mattered to Nix, she only had eyes for the ones that she could blame or hate.

And could anyone blame her? She had suffered so much, too much. She drew horrible things at night, things that would make Marty faint had she known, and make even the hardiest of hearts to flinch. Things only became worse when she received a letter and an urn from the mainland one day. It was her father’s ashes. Some kind but hopelessly foolish man from the mainland had taken pity and thought it an act of kindness to send the remains to the daughter. She just stood there by the pier rereading the letter over and over again to make sure she had not misread its contents, but alas, they were indeed addressed to her and the ashes were truly her father’s. She didn’t cry, no, she didn’t have enough emotions left in her for that, but the pain spread the darkness in her heart. She went and buried the ashes somewhere private and returned home as if nothing had happened.

Drawing after drawing, she poured out her sadness and hate onto sheets of paper, tossing them into the fire when she was done and feeling a ghostly feeling of satisfaction as she watched them burn. She couldn’t sleep for longer than a couple of hours and she was near her breaking point when Marty announced that they would be leaving to check on the people of Auria that had left. She was incredulous; see to it that they were doing alright? But then eventually she found a way to persuade herself into this ridiculous idea of her aunt; she wanted to see that they had suffered, to see marks of regret of having left Auria and of course, she wanted Marty to be safe. And with that ulterior motive she set out with her aunt, and was immediately pleased to see the fishing village. She imagined them having to live in those cramped spaces and it almost brought a smile on her face, until she remembered that Gump used to be a fisherman and the times she spent just watching him patiently wait for dinner to bite the bait. She grit her teeth and moved on to follow the trail of beacons, always seeing signs that the people had gone through hardship, and then being reminded of how Gump would have made their trip so much easier had he been with her. She didn’t twitch a muscle when she had come across the cave full of the stench of death and rot. She continued on past the farm and the hostel with increasing disappointment at the places where the group had found comfort and rest and sat outside those places where the beacon shone light, and continued to draw. She steadily grew weary of the journey as they traveled days on end, the outpost doing little to recuperate her, and the travel through the desert doing lesser still. She had heard of the desert, Gump had said that the place was a nasty place, it was difficult to walk on, and the winds messed with his nose and ears, and indeed it was. She struggled with Marty through the desert, seeing one of the escorts buried, and signs that the group had survived and was pressing on through the desert as well.

The only thing that kept her going was the fact that Marty was still willing to go on, and the grim satisfaction that the group must have had to endure the same kind of hardship, if not even more. Even so, she welcomed the end of the desert; she was happy to be away from the accursed sands. She bid the escorts goodbye, with a bit of sincerity for they have been honorable and good men, and continued on with Marty, following the beacons still, until they came across a sign in a fork, an old, weathered sign that gave Marty a feeling of hope and relief.

“Ravenna --->”

She smirked.