WANTED

Name:
Rank:	A
Location:	Northeastern Shroud
Reward:	40 Allied, 20 Centurio Seals

I'd like to report a disturbance.

Yes.

A voidsent. In the Shroud, yes.

I understand.

No.

I know.

I know. No. I didn't go anywhere near there, so you must understand when I say—this one is different.

Even with the many voidsent that find themselves terrorizing folk in the Shroud, I've not heard of one as strange as this for quite some time. I can assure you, I'm quite aware of the imps and the succubi that reside within Haukke Manor. I am also sure you've found colleagues strewn halfway between their homes and their posts. We've all known the sad souls, caught unaware by those daring enough to venture out for a fresh kill. While unfortunate, those too are quite predictable. Day or night, these attacks are avoidable. This one, however? This one is... Well, it's strange. It hides, it waits, it follows no pattern, and it has continued killing undetected for what I imagine has been quite some time.

Yes, I'm sure. Myself, I'd normally dismiss this sort of thing as no more than rumor, but after overhearing multiple reports of throats found ripped out by some unidentified animal, I... I got curious. I thought I might do a little digging. You see, I found—

What?

Well, word spreads quick at taverns, especially when—

Well perhaps I didn't feel like waiting around for someone else to do it for me, alright? Is that not reason enough? I don't exactly fancy myself one to be pushed around, and I—

Oh, will you PLEASE hear me out before you continue to so pointlessly lecture me about my own safety? I assure you I am careful, and I've been nowhere near Haukke Manor.

Thank you, and I promise this is not just some fanciful tale—

Yes, I will keep it brief.

As I was saying, I'm certain those wounds were more just than another overgrown bat. It was that voidsent. Few have ever encountered the damned thing, and it spared even fewer the dignity of walking away breathing. I spoke with a one of them actually, a survivor.

I'm here because he told me in no uncertain terms that he wanted to forget his encounter with this thing, and would have no more to do with it.

He hardly remembers how it happened, actually. Not where, not when, not why. There is one thing, however, that he does remember—it was the hunger... The way it stared into him, disorienting, peering into every corner of his mind... It twisted his his very perception until he was alone with these distortions, a prisoner of his warped mi—

Right, brief. Old habits. Says he woke up later, someplace near the Sylphlands. In the days and weeks since he's been experiencing recurring nightmares, and he gets the most horrific flashes of vertigo—but he claims he's slowly getting better. What hasn't is his sudden paranoia. He was very clear regarding a newfound fear of being watched...

I'm sorry?

Right, location. My sincerest apologies, but I'm not quite certain where it lives, if it even sleeps at all. Last I heard, someone saw it lurking the Lavender Beds... For all I know it could be hiding out in the basement of some savage. If I had to guess, probably the East Shroud... Larkscall, perhaps the Sylphlands? I believe some of the attacks occurred near there.

I've brought an illustration, if you'd like.

What? It was based on his description, the survivor, he—

Then he must've remembered it enough to note it down.

All right. Thank you for your time.

Hm.

Apology accepted.

What was that?

Oh, this?

No need. Everyone stares. I've learned not to mind. And really, it's a rather worthless story.