[System]
With platinum hair messily cut below her ears, Cider is a sight for sore eyes for contractors. Despite her age, her skin shows very little in the way of wrinkles or scars. Her eyes are a vivid orange - an unusual color for anyone who doesn't wear contacts. Standing at 5'6", her body is lithe. There is not a single bit of athleticism that can be seen from her. Her features lack any sort of scar, blemish, muscle, or callous that one would gain from any rigorous activity. While traits of old nationalities can be gleamed from her appearance, they are too inconsistent to mark her race to only a few words.

Often jokingly called a babysitter, Cider is the liaison for many contractors. While often playful and coy, she acts overbearing and protective with alarming frequency. Her veteran experience working for Ultralight often acts as a double-edged sword. While she often is able to give out sagely advice to newcomers, she often forces distance between herself and contractors. Moments of respite only act as time to reflect on those whose faces Cider can never see again. Despite the stress she often faces from sending those around her to danger, she still chooses to greet every single one with a smile.

With boyish looks and a young, athletic physique, it's not uncommon for one to mistake Magpie's gender. Standing at 5'10", Magpie is exceptionally tall for a woman. Her blonde hair is tied into a thick braid that, when placed at her front, easily reaches her breast. The sides are loosely cut at her shoulders. While Magpie's young face is relatively unblemished, her arms and legs tell a different story. Dense callouses cover her knuckles and her fingers often seem misaligned, at least compared to her large hands. The occasional scar reveals itself upon her arms, but they remain nothing extraordinary. Her legs - jokingly called tree-trunks due to the sheer amount of muscles in them - tell a different story; thick scars show themselves at every possible moment. Magpie wears them like a badge of honor, wearing shorts instead of actual gear that would mitigate damage to her legs.

Often called an ass, Magpie isn't a very good people person. She's often sardonic and mocking of others. This has resulted in her working alone for as long as anyone could remember. She is the oldest surviving contractor that still works with Cider. As a result, she has become a bit of a cult icon within their cell. This isn't because she's an interesting person or is obscenely powerful, however. It's because of all of the antics she manages to get herself in. Occasionally appearing in the safe house completely shit-faced - only drink more, appearing covered in viscera, dragging 130lb "requisitioned" boxes back to camp, all adds to the strange mythos surrounding who Magpie is. Though, to most people, she's just an asshole.

No more than a child, Ana is a pallid and strange girl. Of diminutive stature, she is only 4'7" and has a sickly build. Her brown hair is long, but styled with bows and ribbons. Her large black eyes often feel empty, as if she is unaware of things that go on around her. She often looks lost in a dream, unresponsive to the outside world.

Taken care of by Cider, Ana is an odd sight for the safe-house. The only person she pays any mind to is Cider. Others are either ignored or pushed away. She is almost always alone in the corner, drawing esoteric pictures with pastels. Her child-like drawings, while most are meaningless scrawls, foretell the future. However, Ana's mind can only see flickerings of events foretold. She is unable to accurately foresee any event until just before it happens. Ana is generally left alone by contractors. The reason is two-fold; her manic drawings often alienate those around her, and she brutally bit the last contractor who tried to play with her.

A cloaked figure and associate of Cider.

[User]
Ambrosine put away the syringe after seeing no one in immediate need of medical attention. The twitchy redhead could use a psych evaluation, but she was not qualified for that. A man mentioned hydroxozine and asked if she had some. The man's knowledge made her crack a bit of a smile, though it was very close to a smirk. "I don't carry mental health drugs. I am a field medic rather than a psychiatrist. I am also a doctor, so I can prescribe some meds, but for anxiety, I leave it to the professionals."

She walked past the redhead, walking up to Cider. "Hey there. You are looking as young as ever." Ambrosine had been around since Ultralight started working in small cells. In fact, she was recruited to a cell directly after the interrogations. Being so old had the benefit of her being able to give some lighthearted ribbing to anyone about her age or younger. Cider definitely knew how old she was given their history of working around one another for so long.

[Assistant]
With the twitchy Thomas muttering about, Cider, while initially surprised by his sudden appearance, intently listened to everything he had to say. "I would prefer if this thing wasn't captured. I'm not saying you can't try to incapacitate it, but try to finish it off on site. It'd be difficult to transport and hold," she teased with a gesturing to the refrigerator in what was barely a kitchen, "so I would prefer this thing gone."

"As for leadership," Cider mused for a brief moment, "there's no strict hierarchy set by me. You can figure it out yourselves." It was a simple answer given by Cider. After all, contractors usually worked with inconsistent teams. To force a leader on everyone would be difficult. While she had faith in those who worked under her, she was always cautious to push them into disagreeable positions.

As Ambrosine had greeted Cider, Cider nodded back to her. Usually, she would reply to anyone trying to make idle chit-chat. However, now was not the time nor place for casual conversation.

[User]
"Like the boss said, this is a kill mission first and foremost. Incapacitating it would be an unnecessary risk, and take too long." Asche agreed, mulling over the available information before jerking his thumb upwards towards his chest before performing his best impression drill sergeant impression, "You can call me Smoker. Hard to explain what I can do, just call it teleportation. I'll play distraction, try to keep it busy and away from the rest of the team. I ain't good for much in this fight but I can at least keep the rest of you out of the line of fire."

Next, the dark-eyed man narrowed his gaze towards Dempsey, "Twitchy, three questions. First, what's your name, Second, how good of a shot are you, and third do you have any AP rounds?" he asked rapid-fire, focusing on Thomas and awaiting his reply before continuing, "That thing's head is probably armored for a reason. I'd wager that if we blow the top the beast goes down with it." the large man explained while scanning the other contractors in the room.

Asche pointed at Ambrosine, "You, name?" he demanded flatly, pausing just long enough for her to respond "If a headshot can't take it down, then plan B will be to disable it and cut it up piece by piece. Best way to do that is probably a big helping of the strongest sedative you can find. The problem would be getting close enough to dose the nasty. If push comes to shove, think you can handle it?"

Despite his commanding tone Asche wasn't thrilled suggesting anyone else get that close, nor was he sure that issuing orders to strangers was the best way to operate; but he had seen missions go bad because of poor organization one too many times."Care what happens to them, why should I?" He shook his head gently to clear his thoughts as he felt the shadows creeping in; careful not to let his concern show.

Finally, the former officer shifted his attention to Cassian, "Last but not least, who are you and what can you do? Don't see much in the way of specialized equipment, or any other giveaways of what your particular skill-set might be."

[Assistant]
Ambrosine heard the basic rundown going on behind her. Then, Asche addressed her. "Call me Stim. I have meds. I also have some power. I'd prefer not to announce it for now. We will see if I need to explain it later. I will give you a tip: I am capable of going toe to toe with this." She checked her bag to see what she had that may affect the creature, seeing a few options. "I have a few neuro-muscular blocking agents. Those would shut down its ability to move but provide no benefits to pain tolerance or awareness."

She pulled out two bottles, though she had two spares of each in the bag as well. "Norcuron and Pavulon are both commonly used. Norcuron has an onset of about 60 seconds and lasts 30 to 40 minutes. Pavulon is 90 second onset with at least 180 minutes of effect. Both would suffice for our purposes, but we need to gauge how long we need. Pavulon will provide more time to eliminate, though at a slower onset. If we can simply down and kill, Norcuron is likely our best bet."

[User]
He was listening. Honestly, he was. It was just that he was thinking physics and hypotenuse and wind speed breathe deeply hold breath trigger trigger— "Yep! Uhuh?"

Dempsey snapped to and flinched like he'd been slapped by the man instead of being given an anxiety recommendation. "Fireball! Twitchy! That's good, h-heh, that's... really good..." His gaze flicked away again. "No... nonono... gotta stay sharp. Gotta be alert, think on my feet. Can't l-lose focus! Heh!" Besides, who knew who might sneak up on him while his head was fuzzy?! He needed his wits about him, or he'd be a sitting duck. Mellow Dempsey was useless in a sortie. He thought he would be, anyway.

The group was coming together and the redhead twitched in recognition that he was the topic of discussion, making another jerky motion that might have been a nod of agreement to Cassian and Ambrosine. "Y-yes ma'am!" He stammered to Cider. His pupils dilated as the implication of keeping a monster in the safehouse sunk in and a shudder ran through his body.

Dempsey gave another hiccup and turned back to Asche, already deflating in relief that someone was stepping up to a more leaderly role. "M-me? Nailgun. They call me that." He hitched a nervous laugh and his fingers tightened on his sniper rifle til the knuckles turned white. "O-oh boy, you can count on me for the shot," he assured the other contractors, jiggling the weapon. "Face is protected though. Right? I heard that?! Mask, or something." At the mention of AP rounds, Dempsey threw a hesitant glance at Cider for permission and gave a quick nod. "Got it. Gotitgotit. I know a place—overlooks Ninth Ward, will stake out." He threw a thumbs-up.

[Assistant]
Cider, with an implied question from Dempsey, gave back a quick nod.

"Aw, babes," the cloaked Worm said, his voice effeminate, "when someone tells you to head out, you should really head out."

"There's an unmarked car waiting outside the ward. Suit up and get in, it'll take you to 9th industrial. There's a manhole that leads inside, take it and just," Cider said worryingly, "stay safe."

Finishing whatever business they had at the safe house, the group left the claustrophobic maze of alleys and roads that protected their base of operations. The trip there was, for lack of a better term, uneventful. They entered the car, only to be greeted by a rust-bucket of an android sitting in the driver's seat. Though, to call it a robot was a touch misleading; it was most similar to a mannequin. Their chauffeur was completely immobile, save for its simplistic, featureless head which turned with a single motor. Everything that the driver needed to do was handled by the car itself. The robot only served as an aesthetic feature that made the car look more human. That and it dispensed licenses and registrations through a single slot on its head. The car was completely ordinary, except for the blood on the backseat. Not an extraordinary amount, but enough to know who exactly left the mess.

The Tetsu Foundry, 9th Industrial

---

The 9th industrial district was always an odd place. Almost every square foot of the place was used for four-story concrete buildings. Narrow roads with no place to walk allowed for some travel, alleys forgotten by time, and thick, voluminous nets covered anything higher than one story. Not a single light out on the street illuminated the way for travelers. Only light-bleed from the bustling factories gave a sense of space in the dark, cramped concrete jungle.

The car drove next to the Tetsu Foundry. Officers, along with their yellow tape and (more persuasive) threats of beatings, kept both worker and onlooker from checking out the foundry. But the robot drove past and instead, stopped outside an alleyway. There was that manhole, slightly ajar from its hole. A bloody hand print marked the edge of the hole. Obvious who it came from. Entering the manhole was, in essence, entering the third circle of hell. As if stepping into the raging inferno, a sweltering heat overcame all trespassers.

With dense buildings covering every square foot of the ward, there was no way to use any overlook for this operation. Instead, a pipe was climbable to the walkways that allowed for supervisors to oversee the mooks. With a knife, one could easily cut through the netting and break into the building via a window. It was still extremely hot, though. More of a dry heat, if anything.

The ones who entered from the hole were greeted with a simple ladder up into a small closet connected into an office. A single tiny window covered in iron bars allowed for vision out, but it could barely cover 1/4 of the building. Anything of value had already been taken. All that was left was useless papers and furnishings. A single, heavy door separated the office from the work floor. But that scraping, that horrible screech. Metal across concrete, that noise permeated past the door.

Whatever had invaded the foundry, it was on the other side.


[System]
Appearance:

Well built, tall and musclebound with lightly tanned skin and brown hair, styled in a short mohawk with a small braid, with an overall unshaven look.
Age: 35
Gender: Male
Race: Human
Personality: Gruff, no nonsense and something of an agnostic atheist, more often relying on his own experiences than the words of others. He's the kind of guy to cite his 2 greatest loves as cooking and fighting. To Tony respect is earned mutually, and those who break that respect are amongst his greatest enemies. He does his job to the end and doesn't often deviate from that path himself but will follow the team wherever they go. Usually isn't particularly confrontational unless it's about wasting food and isn't often stubborn but when he is there's no moving him. As such he's a mainly defensive fighter, willing to stay back and protect their more important members but ready to go into the fray and dice up his enemies.
Allignment: Lawful Neutral
Class: Soldier
Combat equipment:
* Steel Waraxe
* Hide armour (with 1 iron shoulder plate)
* Steel round shield

Non-combat equipment:
* Cooking utensils
* Cooking pots
* Bowls and plates
* Various spices
* Flask of oil (made from animal fat)
* Bottle of olive oil
* Water flask
* Flour
* Flint and tinder
* Cleaning rags (for pots and equipment)
* Camping equipment (including metal poles for a portable spit)

History: The illusive Tony Sauf'cok, a man of honor and sense, named for his legendary tendercrisp chicken recipe (and a few other unrelated things), Tony Sauf'cok remains a humble man of humble beginnings. His life opens with Tony living as an orphan in a war torn land, its resources ravaged by constant conflicts, whether they be between the demons, other nations or themselves. The orphanage struggled, as any organisation running on goodwill (which much didn't exist) and luck would. He learned not to waste food from a young age as they would be lucky if there were even rats to eat. He was recruited by the country's military after a time, the army having a habit of recruiting orphans for the front lines. Tony Sauf'cok quickly made a name for himself for precisely 2 things, surviving and cooking. Even in the orphanage where food was scarce they'd managed to make something of it. Army food matched the worst they'd had and then some, considering the fact that when they were in the orphanage they'd managed to get small windfalls of luck. Soldiers sometimes had down time and he decided to hunt down animals and pick herbs to suppliment their diets, a common practise back in his orphanage. He also used the time to practise his cooking, spending his meagre wages on spices to liven up the lives of his fellow soldiers. The soldiers around him were those like him lucky enough to survive and they used the extra nutrients given by Tony's meals to grow further. Soon their merry regiment were one of the with members from its conception, and a fair few at that. There were a few reasons for this, including a competent commander and a lot of luck, but some go so far as to say that Tony's cooking helped motivate them to survive for so long. Regardless his cooking skill was recognised and all in the regiment knew the name Tony Sauf'cok. Tony never really cared about it though, all he wanted to do was cook for his brothers in arms and perfect his craft. Soon his regiment was sent out for more dangerous but less frequent missions and Tony found that he had more time to perfect his craft. When the hero hit the world, Tony's country was one of the first casualties. Scraps of the country survived and Tony's regiment came out of it slightly better than others, meaning decimated but not as much. With their general dead and their numbers ravaged Tony Sauf'cok decided it was time to go on a solo adventure and set off to find people willing to risk their lives to end the hero's rampage (and also become the greatest chef known to man).

[User]
Alexis heard the rumor of someone that could defeat the Tyrant. She knew that the one that spread the rumor probably was bluffing, no one could kill the Tyrant. No one alone that is. She had to see this with their own eyes. The shadow said that they shouldn't go, but unfortunately for the shadow...Alexis was in command.

She was, as always, waking towards the village in what most would think be her Sunday dress, only black as the night. No weapons could be seen on her, not even a knife. A mad grin appeared on her face as she saw zombies moving around as if they were still alive. She started to laugh as she saw that zombies almost acted as if they were alive, moving around and doing nothing. " The classic life of a peasant " said Alexis in-between laughs.

A zombie eventually came towards her trying to attack her, she smiled and then ran towards the center of the village, where others could be seen. Humans and non-humans.  Perfect  she thought. As she approached the group, the zombie was following her , she started crying and yelled " Help, help. The undead have risen again. ".
She let a few tears go on her cheek and now, she looked perfectly harmless to anyone.

[Assistant]
Astiroth didn't find the effortless strikes it took to kill the shambling undead. "Better to simply be put in the ground to be a shambling husk of what was former a person.

Astiroth moved from rooftop to rooftop watching as others moved to the center of the town as well. A varied group of misfits seemed to be forming. A demon or two could also be spotted. This might be an issue. In his human form, they won't be able to recognize, but if he unsheathed his sword around them then it would certainly raise suspicion. For now he would stay in human form and hope he would hot have to unsheathe his blade.

Astiroth made it to the center of town and listened as Feon talked about starting a rumor. Astiroth went to turn around and walk away in disbelief that he had fallen for a rumor until she mentioned it was truth. When the woman asked for names Astiroth had no intention of giving his real name. "My name is Jason Mythious. I heard of a rumor that this town held a key in defeating the tyrant. I figured I would come check it out. Not much hope left anyway."

[User]
"I see..." Leila answered, sounding a little dejected.

Their conversation was cut short with a lizard man suddenly leaping down from the roof, taking down a couple of zombies with his attack. Then, he loudly called for anyone who was there hiding to come out.

Leila never thought of that possibility. Her mind was entirely focused on the destruction of the village that she neglected the possibility that others might come to check out things too.

The rumor? She had known about it before she came here. It was yet another reason why she went here, though she had already fully expected the possibility that it was just a hoax, or even worse, a trap.

So this woman was responsible for the rumor, huh? She just wanted to gather strong people to bring down the Hero.

If it came to that, then she would be ready to fight.

...Wait, did she hear that right? Did she say the name of the Demon Lord, Remus? She said she could communicate with him.

Fishy. That was definitely fishy.

"Hey, what do you mean that you can communicate with Remus? Isn't he dead already? Are you one of his minions?" Leila said with a raised voice, her hand readied at her blade.

Her alarm bells rang even harder when a literal demon suddenly came out of nowhere and walked towards them. She just ignored her as she addressed the lizard man.

And then another person showed up. Thankfully, he seemed to be human from what she could tell. He walked towards the brawler and introduced himself.

"Careful! This girl apparently had some connections to the demon lord!" she warned him.

Now she had no idea what to do. Should she strike right away at the demoness? She didn't look to be hostile, and she herself wasn't sure that she could take her on. And then there was still the matter of the suspicious brawler.

Could it be that she just stumbled upon a gathering for the remains of the demon lord's army?

She shook her head. She had to stay calm in a situation like this. She concluded she would adopt the wait and see approach for now. With her blade's grip still in her hand, she waited for the brawler's explanation.

[Assistant]
Slightly confused, Vreskrr assessed the situation. Random crying woman, check. Oblivious zealot, check. Shady figure trying to blend in...Concluding she had found herself in some silly soap opera, Vreskrr decided to 'handle' the situation. Pulling her spear from her zombie-meatshield, Vreskrr charged the spear, aimed it and shot a beam past the crying woman, barely passing next to the woman's cheek and hitting a zombie behind her.

Vreskrr turned towards the 'zealot'. "I wouldn't suggest picking a fight here girly, with the undead and all. So remove that hand from there will you?" She spoke in a voice that was clearly not human before adjusting to a more serious tone. "--If you don't, I'll have to." Laughing in a manner befitting her demonic voice, Vreskrr turned to perhaps the most interesting person around. "I don't know much about this rumor, but Remus? I thought he'd perished. Well, not that I care all that much, I've been feeling better than ever since I quit his army."

After a moment of uninterrupted silence Vreskrr sighed. "Geez, enthusiastic much? Fine, I'll play by your game then." Vreskrr took a step forward, unimpressed by Leila who was visibly on guard against her. "Call me Vreskrr. I might not know much about this rumor of yours or your plan, but I'll play along for now."

[User] Leila's face turned into a frown at the demon woman's attitude. She was clearly irked by how arrogant she was. She did not respond to her taunt. Instead, she sent her sword away, though she still eyed the demon with a gaze that might just drill through the skull of an ordinary person. She reasoned that the demon seemed to come in peace for the moment, but you could never trust a demon. So even though she had summoned her sword away, she still would be ready to summon it in a split second if the demon decided to suddenly turn hostile. She was quite proud of her quick draw, having already caught many opponents off guard with her suddenly pressing her sword on their throat even though she was unarmed just a second ago. She thought this would also make the demon lower her guard, even if just for a little.

[Assistant]
The fist fighter's announcement didn't move Tony, it only made him more suspicious. The only thing more suspect than a nutjob was a magic nutjob. Not that the girl (If he could say that; magic always made things weird) was necessarily insane or magical, but talking about dead people and demons tended to point towards insanity, and there was a good chance that magic was also involved. But he could accept that she might believe that she could hear the voice of the dead demon lord, he'd met plenty of people say that they could hear dead people, so that didn't bother him. If she was telling the truth, that would be bother him a lot, but that remained to be seen.

There was still something that bothered him, however, and that was his prospective teammates. One of the problems was that he could count the humans on one hand, and even then he wasn't sure they really were human. There was the fist fighter, the young knight, the man that introduced himself as Jason, and the crying girl. But with the presence of the spear wielding demon, that opened the situation up for all sorts of trouble. Any or all of the humans he'd counted could be demons, crafty lot as they were. The only one he could actually count on not being a demon was a lizard man, but that wasn't saying much.

Many people had an immense hatred of demons, and although Tony was not amongst those numbers, he'd lost a fair few friends fighting the demonic hordes. This gave him a slightly negative disposition to them, but that wasn't the main problem. The main problem with the group were that they were just eating this up! For all the things the demons had done to his fellow soldiers he at least believed they were realistic or cynical enough to not just believe some random possibly insane stranger who claims that they're talking to their dead leader. Tony himself wasn't exactly one to mind either but half his regiment didn't give their lives so humanity's last hope could follow the first random guy (or girl) who claimed to have a way to beat the tyrant. He wasn't against the idea, he too didn't have any options, but he was starting to get annoyed that no one pointed out the absurdity of this situation.

Tony stepped out of the shadows to where the group had begun congregating.
"Well look at the sorry lot we have gathered here." He said, walking confidently forward.
He took a moment to look around at the misfits gathered together. A demon that fired beams and various assorted persons of varying degrees of scruffiness. This was the group of misfits he expected. Well, he wasn't quite expecting demons but he hadn't been planning for any worse.
"I'm all for following a random stranger on an adventure and off a cliff or wherever it is you're supposed to go," He announced. "But I'm not biting the hook just yet."
He began slowly walking towards the monk girl, taking long, measured strides.
"I don't know about the rest of you," He continued, eyeing everyone in the group. "But when some nutjob starts telling me she can see the spirit of a dead schlub, I start turning the other way."
He stopped just in front of the girl and crosses his arms, staring resolutely into her eyes.
"So you're telling me that you're channeling the spirit of a dead man." He began. "When the only dead men I see are these god forsaken rotting abominations."
He gestured at the shuffling zombies pointedly and recrossed his arms.
"So I'm going to have to ask you to tell me again; why exactly should we trust what you're saying?" He continued. "Because from where I'm standing, you don't have any qualifications to call the shots around here."


[System]
Stats:
* Strength: 17
* Agility: 9
* Intelligence: 12
* Height: 7.8 feet
* Weight: 400

Current Gear:
* Dark leather clothes that can protect him from bad weather.
* Thick linen clothing. Not exactly very nice looking or even expensive, but it offers good warmth and comfort.
* A short but very sturdy sword (can also be used as a lever), a small crossbow he can use to shoot a climbing rope with a hook, a garrotte, a set of lockpicks and some minor other tools required for his kind of work
* a draft horse for those occasions when he needs to get out of town. Going on a real long journey would require additional preparation though.
* A lot of pockets, but one won't find many coins in them. He is very far from being rich.

Batharyn is a thief. He has descended into killing before, but these had been sad emergencies. He takes jobs from his involvement into the local criminal network, but on most occassions works for his own good. He usually stays in one town until the local 'resources' so to speak have been sufficiently exhausted or until he feels that he has drawn unfortunate suspicion. Usually any of these conditions only comes true after a time long enough for him to have rented a more or less small, humble room or even a small hut or house for him to live in.

He doesn't know anything about magic, nor does he know much about what the usual frontline soldier would call fighting. He can be considered quite successful with what he does though, even though one might add that he sticks to a more conservative approach and only seldomly want to engage in stealing tours which obviously are much more risky than average. One probably doesn't want to start a bar fight with him though. In fact a tavern is where he often works when he either currently is out of jobs or wants to put up a deceptive facade for a while.

[User]
"Might I help you with this ?" Batharyn had noticed that something large and heavy had to be inside the bag she was carrying around on her back. It certainly couldn't be comfortable, especially for a woman he didn't consider to be physically strong. He said this while they were walking through the main hall, allowing his master to see and hear how helpful his auxiliary was for his paying guests. However him helping her had another side effect: As his hand reached forward to support the heavy bag from below while not entirely putting it off her back, his fingers could effortlessly fiddle around and analyze what could be inside it once they were out of everyone's sight. He was very good at doing this, anticipating which move could cause a suspicious noise that had the potential to let the victim take notice of his action.

"Good word with my master ? If you want my advice, then don't do this. Just... don't!" Batharyn had held back these words until they had left the wooden stairs behind them and were standing in front of the door that led to her room and even then he only spoke them out with low volume. His hand had finished its work, but the result was inconclusive. What kind of weird stuff was this woman carrying around ? Well... if she claimed herself to be a real soothsayer... what could he expect ? Anyway there could be precious metals or other valuable stuff in there, in one form or another...

"It's a room with a single bed and a large window. I hope you'll like it ?" Smiling, he pulled out a ring of iron keys. Most of them were in a similar state of decay as the halfway rusted locks they fit in, but Batharyn's master constantly insisted on keeping the room's locked even if they currently weren't occupied. Too great was the threat of a bandit climbing up and coming in through those windows...

[Assistant]
Salina appreciated his help but, out of habit, did not let go of her bag. It was not due to suspicions of the large man beside her. He seemed kind enough and a man as large as him would not risk being caught or he would never be able to return. He would also likely find himself facing the noose or at the very least, the loss of a hand. It would not take the guards long to track him. But as Batharyn's hands fiddled with her bag, one thing he could feel was a large spherical object about the size of a head. It didn't seem like anything a normal person would be carrying so it was hard to place. There were also many other tiny trinkets and what felt like cloth in the bag. Quite unusual.

"Why should I not put in a good word for you? I'm sure that praise would not cause your master to be upset. He should appreciate the fact that you are doing your job well." Was this man really that awful? Perhaps she would could consult her magic about him once she was alone in her room. Just then, her stomach growled, reminding her of her uneaten dinner downstairs with the barkeep.

When he opened the door, she stepped inside and took a look around the simple room. It was as good as any she had stayed at and definitely better than some. "This is lovely and will serve me quite well for my stay here." However long her stay might be. She hoped she could at least get a few weeks out of this place before she faced with an angry mob. She set her bag down on the bed then moved back toward the door. "I will unpack later after I have eaten."

[User]
Batharyn spent more than one second on turning his head and leaning out of the doorframe towards the cramped hallway, checking if there was anyone there. Then he returned his attention to her, a somewhat sheepish facial expression decorating him. "Don't underestimate him. I have no doubt that he could easily take your words, flip them around and let the pointed end of the spear rest on your chest. He could claim that I must have left my neutral attitude and tried to please you especially well for you to put in such a good word for me."

The thief sighed, a colossal amount of air leaving his only one-third filled lungs. "However... I'd leave my neutral attitude as well if I'd try to prevent one of his guests from doing something that one guests wants to do. So... Let's say I haven't heard anything, alright ?" His last words were accompanied by a more open smile towards Selina.

Batharyn's mind was still trying to make sense of what he had felt. What the hell could that spherical object be ? An actual glass ball ? So far he had believed that to be nothing but a stereotype, but something about her was... highly unusual. Her eyes had been almost piercing, as if really looking inside his metaphysical layer. If he'd make the ultimate decision to steal things of her he'd have to be careful. More careful than he probably was used to in this context since most guests were too drunk to be uneasy targets. And that was the next keyword.

"Eaten ?" He arched an eyebrow, trying to look casually. "My master can't influence the quality of the meat we get from the local butcher, so I'd say what you can get here is quite good for the most part. I'd try to go around the beer though... Want some wine instead ?" At this point Batharyn was glad that his official duties were congruent to his more sinister planning.

[Assistant]
Salina smiled a very kind smile. "I think wine would be lovely and whatever he is serving tonight will be just fine. I am sorry your employer is unkind to you though… I don't blame you for wanting to leave. I have met my fair share of unkind people in my travels." And wasn't that the truth. She's met more people that have ended up wanting to kill her than those that haven't. Her life was quite lonely.

She still had a pleasant smile on her face as she set her bag down then turned to leave and lead the way down the hall back to the dining room. She knew that she should probably treat him like the auxiliary he was so that she did not get him in any trouble.

As went to move past him, her arm brushed his. She felt the tingle of magic jolt through her from her arm all the way to her eyes. To most, it would have been quite the unpleasant experience but she has felt this many times. Now she has associated it with money because when she got a vision, she always made coin. As the jolt ran through her, she stopped in her tracks. Her back and neck arched backward slightly and he could see that her eyes have turned completely white. She also seemed to stop breathing for a moment.

She saw this hulk of a man sneak upstairs on surprisingly silent feet. He went to the exact place where they were standing and used his key to get into her room. He began going through her things and when he found the Dread Coins in their small pouch, decided to pocked them. Nothing else was really worth anything. That he could sell easily at least. However, Salina felt the holes in the fabric of the scene she was witnessing. She could feel that things did not need to be this way. She was getting better about realizing when she could perhaps change things and when she knew she could not. She might be able to influence it.

These images happened in a flash and within a few seconds, she was breathing again and her eyes had gone back to normal. "My apologies, Batharyn. I am fine. I just have mild fainting spells sometimes. Mild enough to where I don't always fall down." This was the truth in a way. She hoped he wouldn't be scared of her. Usually these things happen when she expected them to because she was trying to read someone's future. The fact that it happened with such a quick touch meant the magic believed this was an important thing for her to see.

She also knew that her visions didn't always come true exactly as she has seen them. So perhaps he does not break into her room through the door but the window. And perhaps the reason she saw him taking the Dread Coins is because they represent that either a good or bad result can come from the situation which then meant she could influence it. One thing she did know, was that he was going to try to get into her things tonight and she was going to take advantage of it. She flashed him a smile and went to continue back down into the dining room.

[User]
Batharyn could feel her arm touch his. It was an entirely unexpected thing, so even though he couldn't feel the magic flowing like her, he pulled his arm back until its muscles were tightly pressed against his massive torso. It was a quick move, but not quick enough for him to prevent what he had no idea of.

What the yet, at least from his own perspective, undiscovered thief could see though was the very strange and quite horrifying behaviour of his female guest. Normally if one's eyes twisted to hard that there was only white to be seen that person was in serious health trouble, so Batharyn instinctively prepared for grabbing her in case she'd collapse. His mind was flooded with thoughts about what to do if the worst would happen. What would his employer think ? It could only be a horrible thing, maybe even more horrible than one of the guests dying in his hands.

Luckily Selina's weird state proved to be a very transient one. Only moments later she seemed to be back to normal, at least seen from outside. "Are you sure you're alright ?" Batharyn's voice had significantly increased in volume as if to make sure that he'd reach her even if she'd still be halfway unconscious -- at this point he had instantaneously stopped caring about his master being able to listen or not. This was more important and one could tell from his facial expression that her answer had a very hard time to convince him.

He had no idea what had happened. How could he ? So far he had believed her to be some kind of phony who's primary discipline was to pull one's money out of one's coin purse without stealing it (like he did). The strange image of the items she appeared to be carrying in her back had only helped to fortify this impression. For some moment he considered abandoning his plans of paying her room another late night visit, however he could also observe her while eating to check if she'd really be alright. In that case he could continue without his conscience putting up a rebellion...

"Okay, let's go down. Shall I support you ?" That would probably difficult to explain to his employer, but what kind of auxiliary he'd be if he'd let a guest go downstairs knowing that she'd collapse at any time and hit her head on some hard and nasty edge ?

[Assistant]
"Oh no, everything is completely back to normal. This has happened frequently all my life, it is nothing to worry about." She pat his arm and led the way back downstairs. She seemed to be just fine. No confusion or disorientation. It was as if that little episode never even happened. In fact, she seemed to be in higher spirits than she was before it happened.

Salina was quite excited that she had a vision about him. To catch him going through her things would be the perfect way to get him to join her because it was in that moment that she was realized he would be a great help to her. He was sweet yet also could be intimidating. Just what she needed to keep the mobs off her back for longer. It also helped that he seemed to have a hard time holding up in once place for long. The fact that the barkeep was so unkind to him would only make it easier for her.

She went back up to the bar and sat down on one of the stools directly next to one of the other male patrons. "Sorry about that, I'll take that meal and wine now if you please. Your auxiliary was quite helpful so I thank you for that." She nodded at Batharyn. Now that her magic was awake and buzzing, she was looking around the main room like a hawk searching a field for mice.

[User]
The tavern's owner's face had turned into a kinda ambiguous mixture of a gentle smile towards his new guest and a fair share of unhappyness about his new guest praising his auxiliary. He didn't like to hear that -- he wanted to be able to continue to thrive in his own world of prejudice. Or was it because his auxiliary threatened to sit down onto one of his chairs and have a brief pause, watching his master having to cook a meal for his guest now ?

Batharyn indeed sat down, the wooden thing beneath him protested so loudly that Selina could easily hear it. He was kinda bored -- his mind had already completed its preparative thoughts about the little raid he was going to commit tonight. She was strange, yes, so he'd have to be careful. In every other aspect though it was nothing he hadn't done many times before though. Routine whereever he mentally looked at. For now however he still was on duty, even though that meant that he'd have to idle around for a while until someone else would come or she'd have completed her meal.

It took a few minutes to prepare the meal. Given that her request had not been all too simple this time could be considered quite short, implying that the tavern's owner had a firm grasp of the concept of preparing thigns in advance and trying to keep them warm and edible as long as he could. How far he actually went with this idea and how much it impacted the quality of the original product ? Batharyn couldn't really tell. He preferred to eat his meals elsewhere where he didn't have to pay his own master for them.


[System]
Gender: Female
Age: 20 (Don't you know never to ask a woman's age~?)
Appearance:

Rank: Private
Class: Scout

Weapons and Equipment: Gallian S-1, Ragnaid, Standard Scout Equipment. One B-Type M1 Grenade

Personality: Kind, Friendly and Elegant, but painfully naive. While she may appear wise and insightful when discussing the topics she was educated on, her knowledge of the world in general is painfully lacking. Due to her pristine upbringing, she is also a massive neat freak and is unused to the sight of blood. She also has a strong sense of duty, and often bases her decisions on what she thinks she ought to do, rather than what she truly wants.

Bio: Born into a wealthy family, Lilly is probably about as close to an aristocrat as you could get without actually being an aristocrat. Her father owned a string of arms factories, factories which had brought him immense wealth during EWI, as the constant demand for rifles meant he was never lacking for business. As such, Lilly never wanted for anything material during her childhood, with her father paying a significant amount of money on tutors, private sports coaches, etc, and her room was never lacking in books or toys to busy herself with. She was highly educated in economics and philosophy, as well as the art of running a business, and her sports coaches ensured that she was never out of shape by challenging her with tennis, running, swimming, and even archery. The unfortunate part of her strict upbringing, though, was that she rarely got a chance to get away from her family's estate. It was quite safe to say that she had no friends of her own age during her upbringing, and that the only people she really got close to were simply the servants of the house (her father maintained a rather distant relationship).

When she turned 15, her father decided that it was time to teach her how to handle a rifle, particularly the ones they produced. The thought process went along the lines of "If you run a manufacturing business, it is your duty to at least know how to use your own products." Though the grease and filth that had to be dealt with when cleaning a rifle bothered her, Lilly actually found the workings of the rifle to be incredibly interesting, and developed an intense interest in the sport of marksmanship. Her father was pleased with this, and once she was older, began to take her hunting on occasion (though always within the safety of their enclosed estate). As her skill in hunting increased, she found the prospect of being groomed as the heir of her father's business to be increasingly distasteful. While she was out in the woods, she felt at ease, free of the stifling atmosphere of the mansion. She longed for adventure and to escape the stiff, formal structure of her day to day life, little did she know that day was soon to come...

RP Sample:
Lilly calmly sipped her tea and signed her name on the recruitment forms with an old fountain pen. Across the table, her butler and friend Hanz was frantically trying to talk her out of her decision, pacing back and fourth. "Lady Jatmoore, I beg of you, will you not reconsider? Your father will be furious when he finds out!" Lilly finished dotting an i before setting her pen down and shaking her head. "No, Hanz, my decision is final. I will be joining the militia, and I pray that you will not further your attempts to sway me." She took another sip of her tea, before going back to writing. In an uncharacteristic outburst, the smartly dressed man slammed his hand down on the table, clearly distressed by her stubbornness. "But m'lady, what could you possibly want with war?! You are the daughter of a wealthy merchant, and your father expects you to take over his business for him. What would we do if you were to d-die!?"

Lilly paused her writing for a second time to wipe up some of the tea that had splashed out of the cup when the table was struck. She remained silent for a moment, before staring Hanz straight in the eye. "It is not about what I want, Hanz. War is a horrific evil brought about by power hungry men who see violence as the only means to get their way. I wish to have no part in it." "Then why-" "Why?" Lilly stood up and walked over to one of the windows of her study, before addressing the confused expression of her servant. "... Why indeed. Look, Hanz. From here you can see the countryside, the town of Eindon, the farmers toiling in there fields. Each one of them has a life they built for themselves, a home, a profession." She spun around to face him, a determined look in her eye. "A war will destroy their ways of life. The town could be razed, their fields trampled, their very lives could be taken by a stray bullet. In times like this, it is the duty of every citizen to defend their land in what ever way possible."

Her expression softened when she saw the look of sadness on her friend's face, and she continued in a more gentle tone. "... You are my friend and my mentor, Hanz, and I do appreciate your concern for me, but it is every citizen's duty to defend their country, and I am no exception. Please, my mind is made up. I pray you do not try to press me further." As she went back to filling out the papers, Hanz sighed and bowed. "Very well, m'lady. I will not impede your decision." Leaving Lilly to continue writing in peace, he walked down the hallway, his heart heavy. Lilly was always like this, driven by a sense of duty and altruism, but she lacked wisdom in the way of the world. He hoped that she would do well in her endeavor, but could not help but feel like he had failed. She had been sheltered her whole life. How long would a girl like her last on the front lines? Maybe he should tell Master Jatmoore as a final effort to keep her safe.

Other: Catherine O'hara is best girl!

[User]
Private First Class Cecilia Rousseau

Jatmoore had explained to Cecilia how the guns were going to be dealt with, and she just nodded, before waiting around. After a moment Jatmoore and Durandal seemed to talk for a moment before Hunt called them both. Soon after, injured members from Squad 9 came in. Cecilia started to feel left out, being the only Squad 4 member guarding the prisoners. Was it because she was still new to Squad 4 that she wasn't called upon? *Sighing* she decided to make best of the situation that she could.

Her butt and left thigh were shot, but it wasn't too bad. It made her uncomfortable with some pain, but it wasn't too bad. Her shoulder was bandaged, it was only a light wound, so she was still fit enough for all her duties. She was lucky to have made it with light wounds, considering that she was rushing in head on. She really does get too reckless sometimes. The Squad 9 members spoke to each other, with mixed emotions and mixed topics. One was offering ciggies. Cecilia took the chance to take one, but she didn't really get a chance to talk to them. They seemed to be keeping to themselves more. It might have been a slight squad grudge, as their squad was in the firing line the whole time.

Eventually, Cecilia thought she should also head to where the others were for the meeting. She was uncomfortable in the guard room. Entering, it seemed a few new people were around, and there were a few people talking. Cecilia noticed that Hunt had picked up a gun that was from the Imperial pile. "Yo, Hunt, or should I be calling you your title right now? Is it alright if I take one of the guns? Also, leaving me alone with the prisoners and Squad 9 members. They didn't even want to talk to me." Cecilia casually spoke to Hunt. Looking at the new faces, she introduced herself, "PFC Rousseau, Shocktrooper. Nice to meet you all."

[Assistant]
Private Glaive

Snowman@Raven_Operative@POOHEAD189@Zarkun

Alex couldn't really accept that the girl was not a rookie if she got annoyed by just some words, but then again she did not bother to continue with that line of questioning. "Hello Lilly." She gave the girl a small wave before she started to check over the SMG once more, wondering if she really could keep the weapon! "Yeah that is right, mostly anyway" She mentioned to Colin and even nodded in thanks to him for liking her taking the name of commando, which was good because she had no intention to go back to a normal name anytime soon. Thankfully Hunt went into more detail about what they were going to be doing, which was just fine by her since she did not come here to take up her old rank.. Oh by the emperor that would have been oh so awkward to meet her father on the battlefield as she was commanding a force against him! Shaking her mind clear she holstered the SMG and her rifle before listening to even more new people starting to come into the building "This is a surprising amount of people that we are getting, I am starting to get a little worried that they think we need numbers..." She stopped herself from saying numbers over quality but she did hope it was not the case...

[User]
Lilly Jatmoore
Lilly nodded thoughtfully as she listened to what Private Hexner said, before leaning in to get a better look at the image. "I see... Hmm, you may want to find and talk with PFC Sykora some time. She is also an artist and the two of you probably have a lot in common. You seem quite adept at the art." She furowed her brow when mention was made of Alex annoying her, though that line of reasoning was quickly diverted when Hexner asked for an introduction. "...Might I ask what Miss Glaive did to annoy yo-Oh yes, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Lilly Jatmoore. I am a scout from Squad 4." She did a sleight bow in lieu of a curtsy as she spoke, before smiling and commenting on the pack. "It is a pleasure to meet you Miss Hexner. Yes, I assumed you were an engineer. No other vocation caries such a large load with them out of necessity for their duties. Are you one of the soldiers from the armour column who may be joining us then?"
Snowman

[Assistant]
Private Hexner

---

Hearing the name of someone else that was interested in art. Aria was quick to make mental note of the name, thinking she might seek this Sykora person out at some point. It be nice to meet someone else who was an artist given she had meet none since being drafted, at the start of the war. It was then the no named scout came over and provided a somewhat hasty introduction of himself. Aria not even able to get a reply back to before he started talking to someone else.
"Tch ... what was the point of introducing himself like that?" she asked herself out loud, tilting her head noting the name but confused by the rushed intro.
"Whatever."Aria muttered to herself turning her attention back to this other girl who gave Aria her name when she requested it. Again mental noting the name this time the girls class as well.
"Pleased to meet you, but please just call me Aria, or Hex, everyone else did in my last squad. Your comment about my pack is amusing. I would laugh ... but that something I have trouble with." Aria said reply to Lilly introduction. Aria looking a tiny bit sad when she mentioned her last squad, although it only lasted for a split second.

Looking at the girl for moment as she opted to answer the question she was going to ask just before she introduced herself.
"Yes I came up here with them. Although I was a last minute addition to a squad just for the trip. I guess I get my next permanent squad assignment here. I dunno, command didn't feel like telling me anything. Annoying, heck they didn't to my temporary squad leader what to do with me until we got here and he asked." Aria stated bring the drawing back into it original position. Starting to work on it again although only at a slow pace. So she could pay attention to Lilly.
"As for Alex ... her attitude ... that's what annoyed me. Don't worry about it thought, I'm over it. If anything I should thank her that annoyance got me drawing. So I can't complain. Although next time she might not get so luckily." Aria stated answering the earlier question with a dismissive wave of her free hand given her tone remained neutral, Aria feeling it didn't convey that she was over it.
"So did you help secure this building? If so maybe I should add you in here. Give you a touch of immortally." Aria stated, looking up from her work as she spoke.

[User]
Though Hexner's manner of speaking was unusual and her comments more than slightly odd, Lilly carried on with the conversation like nothing was out of the ordinary. "Alright Miss Hexner, I will try to work on that." Lilly's own unusual mannerism was that she never referred to anyone by their first name unless they were related or extremely close (a product of her formal and strict upbringing), so keeping that promise was unlikely. When Aria went off about how her squad leader didn't know what to do with her and how last minute everything had been, Lilly couldn't help but nod in agreement. "Yes... It does seem like the militia is lacking in organization these days, though I suppose that must be a product of the chaos of war. One can only hope that after this battle our squad assignments will be settled in a more permanent fashion."

When Alex was mentioned as having an annoying attitude, Lilly sighed. "I see... Private Glaive does have a... unique manner of conducting herself, though she truly means well. She has been with the squad almost since it's inception, though, and is probably one of our best members when it comes to combat. I pray the two of you will not let this conflict come between you in the future. She probably did not mean to cause offense." When Aria said she was over it, Lilly smiled and nodded. "That's good, then. I see I had nothing to worry about."

She continued to watch the girl as she went back to drawing, admiring her handy work. Lilly knew how to dance formally and play the piano, but had no practice or skill when it came to painting or drawing. Part of her almost felt envious.

"So did you help secure this building? If so maybe I should add you in here. Give you a touch of immortally."

When Aria asked that, a series of complex emotions flooded through Lilly causing her expression to darken. She was indeed here when they secured the building, but so many people had died or been wounded here... mostly imperials, but the point still stood. She certainly didn't think that moments like this should be forgotten, rather they should be preserved for future generations to look back on and see exactly what the soldiers of the Gallian militia experienced... but she didn't want anything to be able to tie her to her role in the war. If it was something that she could keep and use to remember those who might perish in the future, she might have been fine with it, but since it was a personal sketch to be kept by Aria, she didn't want to be included. If she were to survive, the less things in existence that could remind her of the horrors of war and those she killed and wounded, the better. It was because of this that when she was asked that question, she responded in a serious tone with: "I think that it would be best if you did not." After a moment, her dark expression lightened and she composed herself, before adding to the statement in her usual cheerful voice. "Though I thank you for your kind offer."
Snowman


[System]
Theme:
Just One Yesterday by Fall Out Boy

Gender:
Female

Species:
Lessereurm

Appearance:
Green with blue mixed in.
She looked like a fantasy version of a skink lizard, her head being more bony with scaly outcrops along her snout and over the ridges on her eyes. Though she had no back legs, her front limbs had become somewhat longer and stronger. While she didn't have true thumbs, her claws had been reduced to three digits, two of which were longer and the third of which was shorter, thicker, and set at an angle to the others. It was a bit like a human's hand making a constant "Spock-hand" by holding the index-middle and pinky-ring fingers in pairs and curling the thumb. The joints of these "fingers" and the natural curl of her claws gave her a stronger grip that she could feel even as she began to pull herself along the ground--she would be able to pull, or to scoop and dig, quite fast if she felt so inclined. She was roughly twice as long as her previous form, though not so heavy-set throughout her body. As her tail instinctively lashed behind her, she would likely feel confident that she could easily contort herself in a variety of shapes.

Goals:
Rain has only a few major goals:
-Follow any instructions from the mysterious Demon King
-Make the most of this second chance, no matter the cost
-Become the King's favorite, at any cost (selfish reasons, really)

Past Life:
There were few things more important to Rain in her short life than secrecy, alertness, and speed. She was not stronger than most, she was not at healthy as most, but with those three key factors helped to keep her alive and ahead in the dirty streets of an unnamed slum deep in the heart of Detroit.

Born to teen parents who didn't want her, it was a life of hardship from the start. She looked to her parents and was left wanting, before being abandoned at the age of six. She was a street urchin with a lack of trust and a thirst for better.

She scraped by, year after year, by honing these skills and not being afraid to be ruthless with the other filth left in the gutter, the gangs and the deranged.

Her life, however, was cut short by someone just a bit smarter and faster than she was, who happened to slip a knife between her ribs at the age of 16.

Given a second chance, she's going to do it right this time.

Transformations:
Fanged Lizard -- Lesserwurm

Inventory:

[User]
Asura looked over the information given to him mentally. Yeah he kind of figured Zieglar would be very powerful, especially with that equipment. Probably high quality given his Templar status. While he was doing this Ardur's Gods, Divine Spirits, whatevers, were explained. An ancient one worshiped by few, a barbaric one worshiped by few, and one who possibly protects worshiped by a lot. Who would have thought the one who potentially protects would be the more worshiped one! Never mind the fact some people didn't worship women based deities. Whatever, he didn't worship a damn thing anyway.

When the knight began talking again Asura paid some more attention than normal. "So far the only consequence has been the disruption of a caves ecosystem. Which made a Death Dungeon." He said before molding himself back up into the crash dummy form. Trying to get more definition instead of leaving it so blank. "But proper food would probably fit Ardur here better than what we've been eating. But...I would like to clear that dungeon sooner rather than later. I have all my energy, but no mana." He said while giving Zieglar a handshake. The hand was actually made larger, some mass taken from elsewhere. It was close to his own hand size but still roughly the same size as the Knightly humans.

Withdrawing he splashed down into his puddle body and contacted Mother Slime. We'll be following the humans for now...but be wary. I don't trust either of them. He thought while waiting to get moving depending on the other mans decision. Either the friends house, or to the dungeon and fuck shit up.

[Assistant]
~Temporary Campsite~
Throat Pouch:
- x6 Nothing
Rawhide Backpack
- x5 Nothing
Equipped:
Mana Bone Spear (Average)
1 Smooth Stone

---

Lesser force becoming more precise was only a small success. She'd need to continuously use and develop it, so she would. What was more interesting, was drawing Mana to her. Meditation seemed to passively draw mana towards her, whilst this seemed to be making a conscious effort to draw everything to her. Curious...perhaps...? Focusing her attention on the particles, Ash began pulling more to her.

...actually, wait.

She was kind of a dragon, wasn't she? Maybe this was a bit of a stretch, but, instead of exhaling things, she could inhale them? Some sort of Magic-gathering breath? Standard things like fire seemed to be possible, so maybe something like it was possible? Was she being a bit silly with that thought? Perhaps, but instead of simply doing it one at a time, this would offer a large scale effect with both likely direction and power. Opening her mouth, Ash attempted to inhale, trying to suck in the mana particles and keeping her mana vision active to see the results. If doing it like she was before was like forceps, then this would be more similar to a vacuum drawing everything in front of it in.

[User]
Asteria

---

---

As soon as her sacrifice-esque action was done, Asteria felt a sudden presence. The closest reference to it was that water spirit in the sword she'd met way back in the dungeon. Narrowing her eyes, she dropped the coin from her mouth to her left palm, clutching it closely while looking around warily. "Hello?" she murmured the question. She used Mana Sense to try and get a feel for the disturbance. "Are you a spirit? Were you that being who was pleased by me offering part of the bug meat? Any connection to the coin?" she wondered aloud, whispering. She was mostly attempting to communicate with whatever was there, just to see if what she felt was some sort of a sentient spiritual being or not. She cocked her head to the side, focusing intently on her sense of touch.

"You know…If you like blood so much…there are some bandits outside this place, up to no good for sure," actually, from what Ed had told her, she wasn't sure if they were about to ransack the barrow if they had some other purpose. The fact that they were a danger was indisputable, so the details probably didn't matter that much. "They're bothering us too, but they outnumber us, some have armour, and they may be more skilled too…But I think at least one of them is a human," she confided in a hushed, somewhat sweetly beseeching tone. Ed had referred to them as 'armoured dudes' so that last bit was likely true. "And if we had your help dealing with them…well, in exchange we can bring the corpses inside and you could have all that tasty fresh blood, hmm?"

Asteria didn't honestly think something like what she was doing could get any sort of reaction, but then again, back when she had been speaking with the water spirit, that being had spoken to her and had wanted her mana…Though, as she still clearly remembered, dealing with it hadn't been possible. Maybe this would be different. Or maybe nothing would happen. She was fine with either outcome. If mother rat, Ed, and herself had to deal with the situation themselves, they would. If there was actually some mysterious protective force in the barrow that had interest in keeping potentially disturbing presences aside, then perhaps it would offer a helpful push for them to deal with the bandits.

Shifts coin to paw.
Addresses the presence.
Uses Mana Sense II.
Uses Beast Senses III: Touch.
Attempts dealing with what she supposes might be a spirit.

[Assistant]
Well, that was considerably more dramatic than he'd expected. The Flame Lance shot out of his hand with more speed than his previous attempts, the more concentrated spear of energy almost seeming to pull itself through the air with its drill-like rotation towards the stream. It also didn't explode once it had bit into his target like it had previously, though that might just be because the spitting and steaming water hid what was happening. The skill message popped while the water was still boiling away quickly followed by the level-up message he was hoping to see.

He didn't need to read the description to know that the spell cost more Mana than a regular Fireball as he felt his reserves drain considerably as the spell left his hands. That it was faster than a regular Fireball was also evident, but the note that it could potentially lower his opponent's defence was interesting. Due to its cost it was a spell that would be best used sparingly, either to crack opponents with strong defences or to hit opponents which were too fast for his other spells to hit. Costly or not, it added yet another tool to his kit, another solution to a potential problem that may show up in the future, which is exactly what he wanted.

Speaking of his tool kit, with his recent level-up he had another five skill points to spend and given their imminent meeting with a potentially dangerous Goblin tribe he planned on using them to prepare for any eventualities that may happen. His skill list hardly looked any different than it had a few moments ago, so he was able to ignore the information displayed to him having already thought about what he wanted to spend his points on. They were about to enter into negotiations with a group of creatures native to this world, his first non-hostile encounter with something that wasn't reincarnated like himself, and he had a Charisma skill that was close to completion that might come in handy in the upcoming meeting; normally he wouldn't want to spend points on anything that close to ranking up by itself but considering he hadn't seen any progress in the last day and a half he felt okay in this case. He could also spend some points in ranking up his Alert skill, just in case these Goblins tried anything sneaky.

"System: show current experience."

Before that however, there was something he wanted to check. He knew that creating skills gave him experience, and ranking them up might do the same, but did purchasing skills with points also give him experience? He would assume not, but given that he now had a rare opportunity to find out for certain, he was going to make use of it.

"Put one point into Charisma. Show experience again."

It would be interesting to see what the results of this would be. If buying skills gave experience, even if it was less than what you would gain when earning the skill through natural development, then they might be able to use that in an emergency somehow; not to mention that if spending one or two skills point could trigger a level-up and thereby gain them five more skill points, that would be a net gain no matter how you looked at it. And if it did give less experience than creating a skill normally then that would give them more reason to try and create skills naturally wherever possible.

"Put four points into Alert. Show experience again."

At this point Oberon wasn't sure if ranking up a skill gave any experience at all, but with this he would hopefully soon find out. He knew, or could assume at least, that learning new skills granted about 10% experience from what he had seen, though that would likely change over time as he grew in level and more experience was required. He had no evidence that the same was true for ranking up an existing skill and even after this he wouldn't know if buying a new rank gave the same or less experience. Since his skill list showed him that he had a couple of skills that were very close to gaining a new rank however, it wouldn't take him long to find out.

The Sprite raised a hand and created a Mana Orb before reaching out with his Mana Shape ability to start moulding the orb into a different shape. He had no goal in mind, no spell he was trying to create, Oberon just wanted to exercise Mana Shape until a system message appeared. He began by flattening the orb down, the circumference growing as the sphere was compressed and the sides bulged out; when viewed from the top it would look like a perfect circle still, but while viewed from the side it would appear to be an oval, one that was quickly growing longer and thinner as it was squeezed flat into a disc shape. Once it was mostly flat Oberon would work on the edges, pressing them flat so that the border of the disc was sharp rather than round and making the Frisbee of Mana look more like a large pizza cutter. In his mind the Sprite couldn't help but picture a circular saw blade and even though he had started this with no aim in mind he began to think about how he could work the Mana into that shape.

The edges would need to be serrated, but doing so would require finer control and shaping of the Mana than Oberon had done previously; up until now he had really only worked with simple, geometric shapes after all. He focused on the flat disc hovering over his hand, imagining the shape he wanted it to take as he used Mana Shape to etch teeth into the rim of his creation. If at any point he received a notification about Mana Shape ranking up he would request to see his experience again, even as he became increasingly distracted with his newest idea.

Requested to see current level experience
Spent one skill point on "Charisma"
Requested to see current level experience
Spent four skill points on "Alert I"
Requested to see current level experience
Used "Mana Shape I" on "Mana Orb II" to create flat disc of Mana with serrated edge
Requesting to see current level experience if "Mana Shape I" ranks up

[User]
Torrent watched the result of her experiment with a rabid interest, and she would have smiled if she still had a proper face. She'd started it. She'd started to figure it out.

This was the first steps of a change, she could feel it in her very core.

Maybe if she used her mouth to start she could keep it going once she let it out? How big could she make it before it collapsed upon itself?

She repeated the process, though this time she didn't try to put her own will into the Void, instead just pulling everything away from it. And when she opened her mouth, she continued the efforts. She again used Magic Analysis on the effect while she continued to focus on keeping the Void growing in front of her. She'd seen spells that had a natural shape, so what if she just helped the Void grow into whatever shape it was wanting to do?

She continued to try to make sure that the Void survived as long as she could manage. If it collapsed too soon to do anything, she would instead change tactic to trying to keep it in her mouth and let in small amounts of Outside into it to see the result, again using Magic Analysis on the result.

The more she learned about how the Void interacted with the world and how to interact with it the easier it would be for her to manipulate it into something she could use.

In a last ditch idea, she took a small break from trying to make the spherical Void, and instead focused on trying to push everything away from herself just like she did to make the Void, and used Magic Analysis on the result and Monster Analysis on herself.

She would figure this out, no matter the cost.


[System]
Name may yet be subject to change.

-----
Nickname: Kou

Appearance:

Age: 25

Gender: Male

Store: Tachibana Tailoring

Job: Tailor

Sexuality: 1 on the Kinsey scale

Personality: Quiet, curt, serious about his work. When he's with friends, he can be pretty chilled, but on the flip-side he is known to mother hen people.

Likes: Food, action movies, sewing, his sewing machine.

Dislikes: Foods too strongly flavored, chick flicks, having to use a computer for extended periods of time.

Bio: All about the family business…tailoring. He's actually pretty good at his job. He picked up a needle at age four, and his father saw fit to teach him how to use it…his father was actually a surgeon, so his mother took over after about a day. Despite getting bullied for having a 'girly skill', he embraced his ability, and was never without a number of female friend with similar interests…actually, that might have been why he got bullied in his teens.

After high school, he went on to work at the family business, a tailoring shop that moved to a new mall. One of his four older brothers works at the shop occasionally, but most of them have moved on to different careers. Recently, he's either repairing store uniforms, or working on cosplay designs brought forward from anime fans.

Birth Date: March 5th

Other: Makes and sells plushies of the store mascot...it is an orange with angry looking eyes wearing a waistcoat. Foreigner parent, him and his four older brothers all have not so Japanese names.

[User]
Kurosawa Emi:

 After she waited about 5 seconds for paper, she quickly realized that she had some in her bag and took it out. She wrote down the name on a piece of paper, swiftly tearing it out and handing it to her. "Bye," she whispered quickly before leaving the store. After leaving, she exhaled and noticed that she felt a little nauseous from all the people she had just seen.

 I wonder if she's alright... but another person came so I think it should be fine. Looking forward, she saw a beautiful clothing shop by her and began to head that way. The piece that lured her in was a light pink one piece. It would look wonderful on Mayumi is all she thought before heading in.

 Nearby, the only person he saw was a man that appeared to work there. What if he didn't though... Would it be rude? He doesn't look like a bad person. Inhaling, she finally spoke "E-excuse me.. Do you happen to work here? I-If so, I would like to see this one piece?" Lifting her finger to the dress as she quietly spoke but attempted to look into his eyes for a while, remembering that eye contact is key. Then, she slightly smiled at him hoping that he didn't find it rude.

[Assistant]
Chamise Allen

Cammie tried to assist the customer one last time before a young lady suddenly stepped in. She seemed very timid, yet she handled things very well - it was hard to be angry with someone like that, especially when they were a complete stranger. The woman seemed pacified for the moment as she spelt out the kanji to the newcomer; she seemed to be pacified by the fact that she was no longer dealing with a foreigner. Believe it or not, Cammie actually got a lot of this because of her outstanding appearance. Men always bugged her and women seemed to hate her. She had handled many issues like this before, but this time there had been too few staff members to take care of the other customers. Actually, she felt pretty bad having been unable to take care of it quicker on her own and need the help of this stranger.

"Ah! Y-Yes!" Cammie ducked down to dig through the drawers for the paper, not wanting to write it straight onto the official form yet as she wasn't super familiar with those kanji. When she ducked up though, she found Sora standing there, yanking the woman by her collar and speaking harshly. Her mouth gaped open at the surprise, and the woman began to shriek. "L-Let go of me, young man! I already told her the damn kanji! Now let go of me! I'm your senior - you show me some respect!!!" By the time she finished ranting he had released her, but Cammie just kind of stared at him in shock. Did he not even worry about his job, to grab a customer like that? She was thankful for the help, but he could get into trouble...

"A-Ah! W-Wait!" She called after the young girl who had written the kanji and then suddenly took off. I forgot to ask her name... Was she really that timid, then? If she was, Cammie could understand not wanting to linger in a store full of this many people. Even so, she hoped that she could find the young woman again to thank her. She was still in awe of how calm that girl had been, and how she just managed to bring a raging customer down to a calmer level, as well. I'll buy her lunch if I ever see her around. Now remembering the situation, she turned and quickly filled out the customer's request, took her payment, and sent her grumpily on her way. The lady wasn't the happiest when she left, and she probably wouldn't be a repeat customer, but at least the current order was filled.

With that done, Cammie turned her attention back to Sora and bowed, deeply. "I-I can't thank you enough..." She said, standing up and smiling. A smile had never really left her face, but a small crack showed through her eyes that she was holding back tears. This had been a very stressful day, and it was nice to know that friends and strangers alike had her back. She still had to handle this crazy group of people, but she didn't want Sora to feel obligated to stay. "Oh, it's okay! I-I can take care of this... I know you probably want to head to lunch, now..." She pulled his usual job salary out of the register and added an extra 1000 yen on top of it for all the trouble. "Again, thank you."

[User]
Aiko Mizushima

---

Aiko had made it back to his store earlier than he expected, so after clocking in he would begin inspecting some of the chores that were given to those staff that had taken the opportunity to slack off. As he was rearranging some of the clothes to look as clean as possible another customer walked in. "Hello, Welcome!" the cashier had said aloud to that customer. Aiko nodded as she had at least done that right.

Suddenly he was approached by a girl who wanted to try on a dress that was on display. He'd push his (fake) glasses back into place, and would turn towards the voice. "Yes I do work here, and yes I'd be more than happy to let you try on that dress." He'd say in a fairly monotone voice. Right after he'd look the female down to see if she would actually look good in the dress he assumed she was pointing at. Well, She wouldn't look bad. Just add some simple jewelry to the wardrobe, and she'd be good to go.

"Follow me to the fitting room." He'd turn as he signal for her to follow him to where the fitting rooms were, and then would make his way to the back room to get the exact same dress since it'd be a hassle to have to take down the one on display. As he found it Aiko came back to show her the dress in case he had grabbed the wrong one. "This one, yes?"

[Assistant]
Kurosawa Emi:
When he attempted to take her to the fitting room, she had noticed that he may have misunderstood something. Such a beautiful dress with frills wouldn't match her is all she could think. "N-no.. Of course not for me." She chuckled at the thought of herself wearing such a cute dress. A hideous sight to have to lay your eyes on. "I w-would like to get it for a friend of mine.. Have you met Mayumi? She's the one." She smiled as much as she could. "H-how much does it cost?"
(Might edit)

[User]
Faarah Wahba
Crisis averted? No one made a scene so that went about as well as expected. With Natsuko out of the costume it was easier to take her serious, or as serious as she was acting. No mention of payment was ever had but yet she gave him a twenty. Faarah figured this would be enough to cover parts and a basic warranty, since it was for a fellow associate he wouldn't charge for labor. It was nice to have something to fix that wasn't a cellphone or computer. "I might just do that. Thank you for..." She left before he could even reach for his receipt pad.

When he was done with the receipt he went in the back to file it and deposit the money. Just as he was closing the drawer on the cabinet he heard a tinking sound. "Was that the cabinet?" Next was a thud, more audible, and he didn't touch anything, so it defiantly wasn't him. Lastly was a crash, clear and audible, not to mention broken. He peeked over to the closed circuit monitor to see someone in the store. They looked kind of familiar, like the blond guy who own works at the clothing store. He was putting things back on the shelf. When Faarah finally left the back room to take a closer look. The man was walking out the door and Faarah rushed to the items, where were as he feared damaged. These items were marked down products that people never came to pick up, meaning he had fixed them once before and now had to fix them again. He did not look forward to putting the lamp back together.

Fellow mall worker or no, Faarah had to address this. He hurried out the store dodging a few guests of the mall to reach him. "Hey!" he called out. Not being very good with people he didn't know how this was going to go, but he knew he had to work something out, and he wasn't going back empty handed. By the time he caught up to the man he had made it back to his store, and was helping a customer. Torn between coming back later and saying something now, he felt it was best to get it over with, that there would be no right time. "Excuse me Miss, but this will only take a second," he said to the bystander with a whole hearted smile, then proceeding to turned to the man. "We need to talk about that stunt you just pulled back there."
@sakurasan

[Assistant]
Aiko Mizushima

---

"Er," Aiko suddenly looked at the person addressing him. "What stunt?" he practically spat toward the person attempting to talk about something with him. To him, it was fairly rude to interrupt even a conversation, and at that he was trying to help a lady try on something. Though she actually just wanted the dress for someone else He was still helping her with it, so to have someone else butt in was indeed against his code of business.

He'd look back to the woman giving her a forced smile as he called one of his workers to grab the dress from him. "Excuse me for a moment." Aiko would say as he held one finger up, and then turned to show the person that he had his full and undivided attention.

"Now, what's the problem?" Aiko would say in a much nicer tone as he pushed his glasses back into place, and placed one hand on his hip. I really should get some better glasses.

@sakurasan

[User]
If Quint had noticed her eyeing him up, he had made no visual indications. Pulling out a pad of paper and made a few notes, his brows rising slightly when she bumped into the door frame, and attempted to rub it like one might to smudged glass, before leaving. Returning her wave with a curt nod, and waiting for her to leave his sight, he let himself quietly laugh out loud. She hadn't seemed clumsy from his initial observation…

He couldn't help but wonder what she might be like the next time they met up, certainly knew more about the neighbor to his shop than an hour ago.

Well, time to break for lunch. Swiping the clipboard off of the counter as he made his way to the back of his shop, he returned to front of the store, flipping a sign before stepping out the door…

Now, what did he want to eat today?


[System]
Gender: M

Age: 26

Career/Class:Soldier / Ex-Soldier

Weapons:
* Basket Hilted Broadsword
* Imperial Dagger
* Norscan round Shield (Took from his first felled enemy)
* Aged Pistol

Physical Description Cyrdic is tall and lean, but solidly built, standing an inch over 6 feet in height. His eyes are reminiscent of shaped wrought iron. His face is ruddy and echoes a youthful appearance, though battles and training had roughed him into the look of a mature soldier. He has quite the rugged quality about him. Two scars mar his face. One parallel to the bottom of his left eye, and another scraping across his right jawline. His legs are long and his his facial hair is only a coarse, 5'oclock shadow thanks to his knife. He's clad in fine and tough leather over a chainmail hauberk, with sturdy traveling shoes and a worn belt.

Mental Description/Personality: Cyrdic isn't a fool. He spent a year apprenticed to a Quartermaster (as punishment for recklessness) and learned how to read and write (to a degree). The best way to describe him would be a hardened, rough soldier at the brink of his youth. He'll use what he can in his disposal to win, though half the time it turns out he'll need to fuck someone up anyway. His fierce independence and rough nature can only be matched by his determination to survive. He's not tactically intelligent, but he has a sense of how battlefields shift and can command smaller troops with his powerful voice. He tends to have a take-no-shit (unless it's from a superior officer) lookout on life. He's amiable to certain people however, and will have a dry wit around those he enjoys (or to people he wishes he could be more honest with). While fighting and killing and marching has been his entire life, he's not particularly fond of being thrust into impossible situations and doesn't lack a healthy sense of self preservation. He's gotten quite tired of working for corrupt officers. He's a devout Sigmarite thanks to his upbringing, and has a hammer chained necklace upon his breast to signify this.

[User]
The nearest volcano belched forth, spewing magma and ashes into the air. It was horrifying, and yet almost mesmerizing to watch, and it took Skaldi barking at them in Khazalid to get the companions moving again and out of harms way. Konrad tripped over some rock, and Dietrichia fell from the shaking ground, but Ivan and Yantz caught them and set their feet steady, the group moving as quickly as they dared over the uneven ground.

"Where's the closest temple!?" Cyrdic yelled over the tumult of the raging earth. He seemed to be talking to Skaldi. The Dwarf scowled at that. "Why would I know where the next blasted Temple would be!? I don't come here on vacation!" They vaulted over a stone that jutted out of the ground, and it reminded Cyrdic of the ever moving earth within the Chaos wastes, something he desperately wanted to forget.

However, Skaldi spoke up moments later. "Uzkulak!" He spat, as if the very word left a foul taste in his mouth. The volcano roared as well in seemingly mock distaste. "North of us is a dark port the Dawi Zharr use called Uzkulak. It's the only place I could think of. Me kin in the North have to deal with their machinations!"

"Let's hope that there's a temple outside of the city itself," Cyrdic muttered.

"I long for za clear vind of Kislev on my face! And a horse underneath me!" Ivan lamented, clearly growing tired of having to be away from his native land. "Ve should have never taken the sword vith Nordland." Boris said. "I vanted to gain saum loot, not visit all thrice poxed lands within a pair of months!"

"Vear not, ve are almost there." Ivan said, giving a jovial wink even as they passed through a thick cloud of ash. The roars continued however, in a strange, jumping sort of sound. It took Cyrdic a moment to realize those were not noises made by the mountains of fire. He...felt an instinctual connection to them. "Wolves?" He said aloud, only for Skaldi to glance his way, and then curse. "Hobgoblin riders!"

"By Ranalt, look!" Camilla called, pointing down a small valley that lay beneath them. A small ziggarut rose from the earth, the color of the stonework even redder than the earth it rested upon. However, it looked well hidden. "You have fine eyes, indeed." Konrad said to the woman. They merely needed to traverse a few crags and not be caught upon the sabers of their pursuers. Cyrdic also had a distinct feeling even if they made it inside, it would not be a matter of simply walking in...

[Assistant]
The howls of the wolves were a continual irritation as they moved along the line of craggy hills. The near perptual darkness made the task easier as they wormed their way across the ash shot wasteland. Camilla was trembling with weakness as hunger gnawed at her belly. THey were all hungry of course but she had almost no reserves of body fat and had undergone the rdeal f kidnapping before this latest misery. She tried to keep it to herself although she occasionally caught Cydric looking at her with concern. It wouldn't be fair to admit to weakness when they were all here because of her. In any case, either they would be out of here soon or it would cease to be of real concern.

"They will catch us certain sure," Konrad moaned as they took cover amidst an obsidian outcropping. Below them a column of wolves ridden by ragged fur clad goblins padded past, snapping and snarling as their masters hauled at the reins. Camilla pressed herself against the rock and tried think small thoughts but there seemed no immediate danger. THe wolf pack passed them by heading towards the ziggurat. After perhaps a day of walking the red structure was much closer. Large watch towers of black iron rose at its corners and strange geometric designs ringed its walls. It hurt Camilla's eyes to look at them too long. The column passed through its grim gates at a gentle lope.

"I think… that so long as we move closer to the city we are safer," Camilla ventured. A slight smile fought its way through her hunger fogged brain.

"After all, who would be stupid enough to try to get in there?" Ivan snorted a laugh at that, blowing ash from his mustache as he did so. Camila felt filthy, her skin covered with ash and grime. They had all suffered on the trek and she was beginning to regret not turning back, mysterious prophecy be damned.

"Ha! I see vat you did there," Ivan said with a rumbling laugh.

"Speaking of idiots trying to get in," Yantz put in as he peered over the outcropping to look down at the city.

"Does anyone have any idea of how we get into this place?" the Imperial asked.

"Oh aye," Skaldi grumbled. The dwarf had been unusually silent and foreboding since they had entered these dark ash stained land. Camilla could only guess at what was going in the dwarfs mind as he went over ancient grudges with these apparently dark dwarves. Camilla hoped he was going to be able to keep a handle on it. Looking down she saw her hand was clasping and unclasping the hilt of her sword. Irritable she pulled it away.

"I don't suppose you'd like to share that information with the group?" she asked acidly. If Skaldi noticed her tone he didn't remark it, but merely pointed to an irregular pile of rocks a quater of a mile off.

"The Dawi-zharr might be chaos loving scum, but they still need to breathe. A ventalation shaft like that will serve to get us in, though I've heard they often have guards," he grumbled. Camilla looked skeptically at the pile of rocks. It looked no different to a hundred they had passed to her, but experience had taught her that when a dwarf told you a thing about mines or caves, you could take it to the treasury.

"So what are we waiting for?" Konrad puffed.

"We should rest," Dietricha put in, the first words she had spoken since her conversation about propecy. Camilla's stomach grumbled in protest but it was an open question as to whether exhaustion or hunger were bigger problems right now. After a brief discussion the bedded down amongst the great spike of obsidian. She snuggled close to Cydric, her hands trembled slightly from fatigue and weakness.

"I'm afraid," she whispered to the Ostlander, unable to find the emotional energy to amplify the statement further than that.

[User]
Initially, Cyrdic didn't know what to say. The very air was rough to breathe and cold to the core. He felt a wheezing crackle in his massive chest. The same hunger gnawed at him, yet to perhaps an even greater degree. The blessings of Ulric had its downsides, and Cyrdic's hunger nearly drove him mad. Though he knew Camilla seemed to be wasting away. He had to be strong for her. Even with his respect for her skills, and all they had been through, she had been a courtesan and duelist first. These past weeks had been nothing like she could have ever experienced, and even Cyrdic only had had a taste of it before he had flung himself into the wastes.

"We'll be ok," he told her. Promised her.

He was afraid as well, but his fear was nowhere near as powerful at his anger. Something he had to keep in check far more than usual, with the lack of food and water, and the odd obsession of the world with throwing them into terrible situations. He had the intense urge to find what being had decided to curse them, and bathe in his blood. With a will, he swallowed down the images. No...I will not be lost. The Blood God would not have him.

Instead, he nuzzled into Camilla's hair and held her, even his strong arms tiring. "We just need to go into that temple, and we'll be fine. We can do it, right?" He asked. Cyrdic waited for a long moment, and her muddied hand gripped the back of his. "Right," she said with a conviction. He kissed her head.

Konrad looked every part forlorn, though he gripped his greatsword with a strength born from desperation. Even Ivan seemed somewhat slower and more tired, and Boris looked as if he wished to charge out into the wastes of the Dark Lands and simply end it with his sabre in hand. Yantz seemed on the verge of violence for having to wait any further. Only Dietrichia and Skaldi seemed somewhat calm, though they both had an edge of wariness to them.

"Now is the time." Dietrichia said, standing up. Her red hair fell in waves about her, though the sweat of the day caused it to staick to her shoulders and back. "Lead us on, good Dwarf."

Cyrdic groaned, and helped Camilla up. Konrad had to use his sword to stand up, but down they went. The group hugged the crags and knelt as low as they could behind the rocks. Skaldi glared at the temple constantly, and they were not sure if it was he looking for the ventilation, or simply his hatred for his dark kin. The howls of beasts filled the air in the distance, seemingly carried by the faint wind.

"There," Skaldi called, pointing toward the southern end of the temple. His thick finger aimed at the left side of it. Camilla and Cyrdic would spot a small, square hole that hugged the rocky ground. It took Cyrdic a moment to realize it had been cleverly made to look like a uniform curvature in the deceptively blocky architecture. No matter their differences, these Dwarfs had the same eye for detail as their kin in the World's Edge Mountains.