The old man on the wagons saw Drescher step ahead and shouted up after him. "H-hey wait up! Y-you are famous for knowing your way around.." He spoke a bit hesitantly. "There are some disturbing rumors about you too, but everyone has those I guess. I apologise for my reaction, I'm just timid, what wish<em>Ash</em>here almost torching the whole pile of rations I bought before I could stop him from trying to cast somethign stupid." The old man looked at Drescher imploringly. "We could use your talent." He paused, and then tried again. "We got ale, meat, and even some of those bizarre crystals some are so crazy about ever since this destruction spread."<br/><br/>The crystals were not perhaps known to everyone, a gathering of them was found at borderlands, and at heart of the world, these strange things were said to whisper or reflect things from other worlds, some even whispered they reflected and whispered of other<em>times.</em>Many had actually gone insane at one time or another indulging in those dreams of a better world, only to wake back up to the devastation they saw around them.<br/><br/>For the right people though, those crystals were a way to learn more. It just took a rather strong mind to handle them, whether through logic, through sheer willpower, or force of personality that could not be conquered so easily.<br/><br/>Yet even then, there were also whispers of crystals that did more, changed the flesh itself, with similar power for those who learned to master them, but also terrible tales of crystallized golems that once were men. They might be yet another sign of the end-times.<br/><br/>Ash was staring at Requiem rather intensely now, seeming to be sizing the woman up and flipping through a tattered remnant of a spellbook, seeming to be looking for something, staring at her now and then with a grin that didn't promise well. Just then, the masked, burn-covered man spoke.<br/><br/>"Beast." He gestured ahead towards the distance.<br/><br/>Out in the broken plains, towards a pillar of smoke that had once been a small hamlet, years ago yet still on fire by whatever bizarre magic had bound destruction into this world even without fuel to sustain it, lumbering beast made its way among the ruins.<br/><br/>It was like a large ape but without hair, bulging muscles, strong arms and massive feet, knuckle-walking ahead and seeming to be guarding the hamlet. "Odd." The masked man remarked.<br/><br/>Others might have ran into the Beasts before too. Creations of the enthropic energies, they were hateful of all life and unlife, destroying living and unliving alike. While 'useful monster-hunters', they were a pain when they came near the civilized lands.<br/><br/>Especially since they were responsible for more than half the deaths of those who took up adventuring life. They were among those creatures that could kill a person, not just the physical flesh but the very soul, unless a healer could be brought to attend to the dead very fast, and the number of powerful people with faith was easy to count with the digits of one hand in this world. So was the number of strong mages, thieves and warriors however. Truely powerful people were a dying breed.