Onnu was always pleased to see a new town appear in the distance, because it made for a new place to mark on his ever-growing map of Artkos. However, Gandara was turning out to not be such a great place to be. Everyone here seemed awfully grim compared to the rest of the towns he had visited, and it wasn’t like positive people were a surplus in Arktos. He stopped anxiously by the hitching post, tail flicking back and forth. He’d already received a couple of dirty looks from the townsfolk, and he couldn’t decide if that was because he was a centaur or because that was the natural state of the people living there. He just hoped they hadn’t seen the mark on his neck.<br/><br/>He was distracted by the clop of hooves next to him and he glanced down to see a satyr, riding a goat. He blinked as he processed this, then shrugged. He’d seen weirder. “Nice goat,” he said. “You from around here?” Maybe a local perspective would help him grasp the town.<br/><br/>Ahnva was beginning to think that the merchant had either been playing an elaborate practical joke on her or was dead somewhere in the Barrens where she had last seen him. She stood on the box impatiently and glanced around the town. She was starting to become conspicuous, and that was one of her least favorite things to be. Absently, she glanced up at the cliffsides that sprang up by the ocean shore behind Gandara- then frowned. Was there a horseman on top of the cliffside? Why would he be up there? There wasn’t a path to Gandara up there, and it wasn’t like it was a great view. She frowned as he raised his arm-<br/><br/>saw that it was black as a shadow-<br/><br/>And the town around her erupted into chaos as black fire sprung on rooftops and shadow monsters came to life where they had not been before.