Donna
*Hitoshi, Thistle, and Akaise would hear about a call for help from a nearby temple. You 3 would meet up at a nearby crossroads, with almost no one in sight, flat, empty land. There was a nearby sign though, saying that there was a temple east of here. What the temple wanted wasn't exactly sure.*

*Later though, a man could be seen running towards you, though he wasn't close enough for speech.*
Tyrone
*Standing, staring at the sign with a paper in hand is a hooded, shrouded Oriate, a composite bow strapped over her back and a strange sword hung on her side. The Oriate in question is here for yet another job, this time about taking down a group of violent cultists. Almost like the old Cult of Aventurr, she muses, as she stares some more at her piece of paper. If anyone in the group can read Runran, it would say:*

**Details**
*Violent cult, needs to be killed off/captured.* *(Aventurr?)*
*Allies' names are Akaise Zelkashen and Thistle Fairward*
*(The details of their location is written below: Tiksak, nearby ~~whatever the town name is~~, etc.*

*Hitoshi never really heard much about the Cult of Aventurr, but she can't help but draw similarities between the behaviour of this cult and the Aventurr one. Considering the fact that nobody ever mentioned the Song of Aventurr, their defining feature, it's unlikely. But a tiny voice in the back of Hitoshi's mind asks...

"Maybe it is them? Might be best to check. If they're coming back, they need to be quelled, as soon as possible."*

*Hitoshi's idle wondering would cease as she hears the man running towards her, her keen ears picking up on his footsteps quickly. She turns to face the man, also glancing at her teammates.

One, a... Macen? Elf? Maybe even a fellow Oriate? It's impossible to tell. The person is absolutely covered in armour from head to toe, wielding a **Gigantic** Shield, and wearing a large cloak. Hitoshi can't tell a fucking thing about the person! The other, almost certainly a Macen, wielding a crossbow and wearing lamellar armour. Seems like a strange group. Suppose that's what you need to take on strange people, though.*

*Hitoshi faces the man running towards the group, twanging her bow with her left hand idly as she waits for him to approach.*
Gina
Hell can go while I write
Michael
*This was not what she signed up for. But she did need the money, and couldn't really afford not to do this... Whatever this quest would turn out to be. She quickly glanced at her teammates. They looked like experienced warriors. That's a good thing - sort of - it meant that Thistle would have quite a protection while reloading her crossbow. And said crossbow might as well come into use soon, as Thistle spotted someone running towards the group. With some difficulty, she loaded the crossbow and aimed it at the man, ready to shoot if he would turn out to be an enemy. If he actually was a threat... Well, Thistle had quite a lot of experience with crossbows and a target moving in a straight line towards her, on an open plain is not that hard to hit.*
Gina
AAAHAHHHHHHGHHHHGHHHHHH
Elijah
*Akaise stood at the crossroads, having gone there for the quest as well. She had a piece of paper of her own, although it was in her backpack rather than her hand. As opposed to her appearance at the temple, her tentacles were now covered in several wooden round shields, strapped to the appendages with the use of their tightened leather guiges. As they were only protecting the sides, it seemed attacks from above or below would be most effective against the tentacles; however, their size combined with the protection of their makeshift armor made those areas rather difficult to reach when they were positioned carefully. Though these tentacles were naturally flexible, the shields seemed to restrict their flexibility rather considerably; the areas where one shield touched another had the most flexibility and yet the least protection, serving as the 'joints' that the wizard would need to keep mind of when attacking. Due to the change in her Arcane Tendrils' properties, it seemed Akaise would have to take a more defensive role in the upcoming mission. A rather thick, metallic heater shield was strapped to her left, and a smaller steel shield slightly larger than a buckler was strapped to her right. As they were strapped rather than gripped, she would be able to cast spells with these arms, though the movement of her left arm would be restricted rather heavily due to the size and mass of the heater shield.*

*It seemed the wizard had learned quite a few things from the temple as well; now, her groin and joints were protected by mail. Though they would not stop the sheer piercing power of spears or other polearms, they would work as intended against anything intended to be used for slashing rather than penetration, including swords and most daggers.*

*Having seen their names on the quest paper, Akaise took a few short glances towards her fellow teammates. Hitoshi Hisikawa, Thistle Fairward... That first name didn't seem Salvainian. They were from somewhere else, most likely. Judging from their appearances, Thistle was the Macen with the crossbow. Using process of elimination, Hitoshi had to be the hooded... Hm... What race were they? Due to their concealing clothes, she wouldn't be able to know their race, though such a name seemed to be Runran. Either an Oni, an Oriate, or it could be something entirely different. It wasn't good to judge solely on someone's name or appearance, after all. She decided not to think about it for much longer as she noticed someone running towards the group. The Macen woman who she had named 'Thistle' was almost about to shoot them. She raised her right hand as an attempted signal for her to stand down. Her shields would be able to handle anything he could throw at them (well, at least once), and she would rather not have someone be killed so quickly into the mission.*
Donna
*The man would reach them, and seeing a massive crossbow pointed at him, would yell.*

"Don't shoot!"

*As he gets closer, a massive crossbow bolt can be seen in his left shoulder, a large blotch of red staining a white shirt, piercing the linen and brown leather vest. He has a golden medallion around his neck. Approaching you three, he would collapse to the ground, catching his breath, then get back up.*

"Oh, thank the gods your here! We've been under attack! The temple... It's been invaded!"
Tyrone
*Hitoshi would offer her hand to the man, glaring at who she assumes to be Thistle for getting so hasty and aggressive.

Not much to work with, is it? "Invaded temple". Some questions are in order, it seems. Hitoshi would begin to talk from underneath her cowl and hold as she pulls the man back on his feet, assuming he took her help.*
Tasha
"That is why we're here... We're here to take the temple back, but we might need some help if you can spare it."

"...Er, first off, how many of them are there?"

*Akaise's guesses as to the woman's origins would be proven correct as her thick Irunian accent is heard.* 

"...Uhh, what kind of equipment do they have? And do they have magic? If so, are you able to tell us any of them? Any spells to worry about?"

*Mages. Hitoshi always revered magic in all of its forms. It's a truly awe inspiring thing... And incredibly dangerous, which means Hitoshi absolutely must know what kinds of magic, if any, the cultists wield.*
Elijah
*Oh. The temple's been invaded. That wasn't good. No, not good at all. She was assigned to invade a temple in her last quest... Could this be the same people behind it? No, they were based in Silnaria, and this was in Mentia. But if it was them, they could have operations all over the map! Just thinking about them back in the temple gave her a strange feeling... A mysterious and truly terrifying group, they were. Were the ones who invaded the temple hired adventurers, or dedicated members of the cult they were supposed to eliminate? The only way to find out would be to head in, though it was possible that the grievously wounded man approaching them could have some more information about the ones who had invaded the nearby temple.*

"Don't worry... Conserve your energy. You probably already know, but the nearest town with healing services is a bit far away from here. I don't have any healing magic, unfortunately..."

*For a brief moment, she was reminded of Sirdan. He steppe elf was the only one in that team with access to healing spells — very useful ones, at that. Perhaps she should get one as well.*

"Yes, knowledge about their spells and their numbers will be very important to us. Was there anyone else who was able to escape from the attack?"