An Ancient Compact (Farren, Gargantuablarg, Copper)
((First and foremost, sorry Garblarg, gonna have to veto your isolation from the nearest town so that you can fit into this better. Rather than a local faerie circle, it's a small fishing village you have occasional contact with, although they most leave you alone... or that's how it was back before things got really bad.
Also, in this case Copper will be separate from Sirens initially.))
Tension was mounting in the otherwise quaint fishing village of Brookdell as ill omens and other disasters struck. For a long time, the village had prospered, their fishermen experiencing calm, peaceful water and plentiful catch, enough to keep their village sustained and fed. And for this, they would not overfish the area; they had no need of excess food stores. An ancient agreement had been made with a Siren community, a bond of friendship and trust that saw that the Sirens would protect the small community and aid them in their catch, in returning receiving the promise that the area would not be overfished or polluted and that they would be free to visit the settlement when they desired company outside of their own kind.
Things had been going downhill, slowly, for a long time, however. The full terms of their agreement had been forgotten by the elves who made their home here and their leader of the last generation had been convinced that it was prudent to stockpile extra fish, a reserve of food, naturally smoked for preservation, should they have a bad year or some disaster struck. this generation took it one step further, the new village chief having been convinced that this extra stockpile of food wasn't so necessary after all, but trade could see them prosper. And so they began to export their high quality fish, and once again the fishing increased in volume as a result.
Throughout the forty or so year period of this, the Sirens had complained a few times, first softly, gently, but they grew more and more upset about what was happening to their ancient agreement, so much so that around five years back, they began withholding their influence, no longer keeping dangerous sea-life from entering the area, no longer encouraging the fish to make their nests here and no longer protecting the fishermen from storms. Rather than realise their folly, the elves blamed the Sirens for causing these disasters, rather than their long-time support being what prevented them, as within living memory such disasters were almost unheard of, much less in this frequency.
With news arriving via trade that rumours of the Accursed were on the rise, the two incidents managed to attach themselves as one, and now the elves were putting out a call for help against this Accursedly-aligned group of Sirens. A certain Nekomata by the name of Atair, whilst travelling Vira in search of exactly this sort of thing, made the journey out to the village to assist; after all, history had shown that the responsibility for dealing with the Accursed and their minions fell to the proud and honourable Nekomata. Joining the wagon-driver he heard the tale from originally on a journey back tot he town, he'd had plenty of time to learn the plight of the local people from the sudden disasters that had befallen them. It seemed that most of the locals also believed that the Siren who lived on a cliff top not far from their little cove was responsible. After all, they were clearly an outcast of the sirens who had always been so friendly towards the people, they must be the dark witch who was responsible for this entire ordeal, using their wicked magic to control the Sirens and bring ruin to the village.
And now, the wagon rolled into the village, greets by shouts from the villagers who have long known and been able to recognise the kindly old man who preferred to simply go by Shayer, whom Atair had found quite pleasant company. "Well, here we are," he said to the young catfolk as he pulled up his horse-driven wagon. "I need to go speak with the village chief about business. Did you want to come and be introduced to him, or were you going to start your investigation elsewhere?" he asked.
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Meanwhile, on that very cliff top overlooking the cove, Keti and Nae shared a peaceful meal, discussing the growing hostilities. While Keti preferred to live apart from his own people, their song wrenching at his heart and his own inability to do so, he didn't mind the occasional visit and Nae was more than happy to oblige. Captivated by the thoughts of living on the mainland and interacting more with outsiders, she was in a sense envious of his home, a balance of amongst the people and not far from the waves.
Still, it was not all pleasure, especially lately. With ever growing tensions, the Siren community increasingly resorted to pleading with Keti, asking him to return to them, where he would be safe, before things got violent. More often than not, they'd use Nae as their messenger, who herself was quite worried about how things were developing. The Sirens themselves had heard whispers of the rising darkness on the wind and worried that the village had been charmed by such evils. Certain more hotheaded individuals amongst them were already calling for a 'purification', but so far more sensible heads had prevailed. Still, all it would take was one incident to set the ball in motion for a disaster and all out conflict...
