[ooc:<a class="postlink" href="https://creativefreedomrpg.com/viewtopic.php?f=23&amp;t=42854">link to ooc thread</a>]<br/><br/>The border city of Khalem-Dol, Kanzem’s Gateway to the East, was a surprisingly quiet affair, situated amidst the low rolling hills where the grasslands from the west met the sands from the east. Although officially a fortress, Kanzem and Sabaku had not had any military altercations in the past several decades, so the city had become more of a trading outpost than a military fortification.<br/><br/>Her footsteps were silent down the main street, the sound muffled by the clamor of merchants and traders bustling about preparing their wares. Black eyes scanned her surroundings, drinking in the hastily erected awnings, the bundled goods waiting to be placed on display, the harried merchants directing their yawning hired help to and fro. Though the sun had not yet risen, the inhabitants of the city were already out and about, so different from her own hometown. Kaleissa pondered for a moment, her expression turning thoughtful; no, that was not quite right, Jaskreim also had its share of early risers, such as the craftsmen like Andreios, but since most of the population was active at night, the city did not really start to awaken until closer to noon. While hours for raiders were more varied, often depending on which kingdom they were currently visiting, Kaleissa found it rather refreshing to see such liveliness so early in the morning, at least every once in a while.<br/><br/>The road opened out into a spacious square, decorated with a large fountain in the middle. Given the location of the city at the edge of the desert, whatever architect had designed the thing decades ago probably never considered how precious of a commodity water would be in Khalem-Dol, so at present the fountain was dry. As she reached the agreed-upon meeting place, Kaleissa took a look around and winced; despite the early hour, there were already quite a few people waiting at the fountain, as it was virtually the city’s only landmark. All of them were dressed like herself, wrapped in a nondescript cloak to ward off the wind and sand with the hood pulled low, the outlines of an assortment of weaponry poking out from beneath the cloth. The woman sighed; she had forgotten that half the trading going on in Khalem-Dol involved human goods: for the Sabakujin Clans in the Northern desert, this city was the entrance to Kanzem and the place where merchant caravans, adventuring expeditions, and the like tended to look to for extra hands. Even with her rather distinct bow slung across her back, the ‘meeting up’ they had planned would quickly fail at the ‘meet’ stage if none of them could find each other in the crowd of hooded figures.<br/><br/>Reluctantly, Kaleissa lowered her hood, exposing her face. From among the warriors gathered around the fountain, several heads turned to look at her, eliciting a faint blush from the girl as she ducked her head in embarrassment. While female adventurers and combatants were not particularly rare given the Sabakujin belief in gender equality, her pale facial features were unusual amidst the darker skin tones of the desert tribes that were prevalent in this area. Still, she was not particularly bothered by the glances sent her way: almost everybody gathered here was a military artist looking for a job, so in all likelihood they would be sizing up her up as a prospective competitor. Instead, Kaleissa was more worried that somebody would recognized her as a Jakuuzoku raider; there were plenty of Kanzemite merchants in Khalem-Dol, and even though the Sabakujin they employed were not likely to hold grudges, merchants tended to be a rather less forgiving sort after you attacked their caravans and looted their goods a few times. It was for this reason that she had avoided stepping within the borders of Kanzem for the past two years, and she was honestly still wary of doing so now, but…Kaleissa thought back to the events of yesterday afternoon, the corners of her lips tugging upwards in a small smile.<span style="font-style: italic"><span style="color: violet">'I suppose it can't be helped.'</span></span><br/><br/><blockquote class="uncited"><div>The sand shifted beneath her feet as she jumped, propelling her across the gap between rooftops. The ruins of some ancient civilization had already been partially reclaimed by the desert, but the portion of the city that had been built into the mountainside seemed to have escaped the worst of the beating from the elements that had eroded the rest of the city beyond recognition. While this ruin was not a particularly new discovery, rumor had it that a previously unknown section had been unearthed after a recent earthquake. Since some Sabakujin legends mentioned a mystical wish-granting artifact in this area, Kaleissa had decided to go take a look.<br/><br/>Unfortunately, she was not the only one to do so. Already the woman had seen several tracks of footprints entering the newly exposed section of the city, evidence that others had already come and gone. By now, anything of value was probably already gone, carried off by looters. As she made her way through the narrow passageway that had been exposed by the earthquake, Kaleissa only hoped that there were no other tomb raiders waiting for her within.<br/><br/>The passage was only a few hundred meters long, but unusually wide; it had probably connected the city's interior to the more heavily fortified exterior. As she emerged, Kaleissa could not help but let out a whistle of appreciation as beams of the afternoon sunlight criss-crossed through the air before her, providing illumination for the hidden city. From what she could see, this area seemed to have been some sort of residential district, with structures that were quite varied in size and shape, scattered almost carelessly across the cavernous space. While there did seem to be some avenues and roads to suggest organization, the layout was truly mazelike, meandering this way and that with dead ends, circular loops, and even staircases that led to nowhere. After wandering halfway around the district without advancing any closer to the center, Kaleissa ultimately gave up on navigating the streets and took to the rooftops.<br/><br/>If there was any uniform feature, it was only that the height of the buildings seemed to increase as she progressed, as if the entire city was built upon a hill. The burning in her limbs was enough to confirm this, even if the gradual change in elevation was difficult to perceive by eye. If she remembered correctly, this method of construction was similar to what she had seen of the settlements in South Kaminoyama; something about being easier to defend. Going by how troublesome it was now for her to advance, even without having to fight any defenders, Kaleissa wanted to give whoever came up with the idea a pat on the back, after first giving him a knife in the ribs for putting her through all this exertion. Thinking back to her teenage years, the woman was fervently thankful that when she had organized her first raid into South Kaminoyama, the target was a caravan and not this kind of settlement.<br/><br/>With a final leap, Kaleissa slid gracefully off the roof of the last building, floating through the air for a brief second before coming to rest with a gentle thump. As she lifted her gaze, holding her breath in anticipation, her eyes came to rest upon...the most god-awful ugly statue that she had ever seen in her life. Elevated on a small pedestal was the figure of...something...carved from stone. something so terribly disfigured that she was beginning to wonder if the rock had actually been carved or if it was originally that way. She let out a sigh of frustration...and simultaneously heard two other exclamations of disappointment from nearby.<br/><br/>At once she turned, her body falling into a basic combat stance as her right hand reached for the hilt of the blade resting at the small of her back. Black eyes flashed dangerously, already tinged with red, her pupils dilating to see better in the quasi-darkness. The scene that greeted her made her pause: there were two others, a man and a woman, who had also frozen in a similar ready position, staring back at her in surprise. For a long moment, there was silence as they each observed the others, as if unsure of whether to attack. Finally, she blinked, and the awkward moment came to an end.<br/><br/><span style="color: violet">"Uh...good evening?"</span></div></blockquote><br/><br/><span style="color: gray">"Hey there, cutie."</span><br/><br/>The rough voice abruptly brought her back to the present, the smile vanishing from her expression as if it had never existed. While Kaleissa had been lost in her daydream, some fool had apparently thought that she had been making eyes at him and approached her. From his manner and speech, he was from Kanzem, and if the sword he wore at his hip wasn't just for show, he was one of the rare Kanzemites who chose to walk the path of a warrior instead of a merchant. At the least, it was clear his intelligence was a little on the low side; perhaps that was why he gave up brains for brawn. Undeterred by her frosty glare, the man broke into a leering smile, taking her silence for implicit acceptance. Kaleissa felt his eyes shift downwards, as if he were trying to caress her entire body hidden beneath her cloak with the force of his gaze alone.<br/><br/><span style="color: gray">"You can call me Gill, the Seraph of Kanzem. You looking for some...company?"</span>