<div class="floatright">(http://i.imgur.com/ItSy6iC.jpg)</div><br/>Lunari nodded,<strong>"I agree, lets get some hot food in us, and we can plan after that."</strong>She led the way through the small market town to a tavern that had large open archways leading into the tap and dining room.  Heavy wooden doors rested against the walls and it seemed that the entire building could be walled up at night or if needed for some other reason.  Based on the guarded nature of the town and the burned out farms at the outskirts, it seemed this region had it's share of problems from invading monsters as well.<br/><br/>They entered the tap room and Lunari whispered,<strong>"I need to go freshen up, get us some food, something clean to drink, and a table, near the map if you can.  Oh, and ask them to refill our water skins.  Do you need coin?" </strong>She'd hand him a pair of gold coin if he said he needed it, then touching her belt, produced a nearly dry water skin of quite large girth.  Then she walked off and disappeared into the back, down a dark hallway.<br/><br/>The fact that she'd leave him seemed rather sudden, though some things a woman needed a little privacy for he supposed.  The tap room seemed friendly enough, with everyone minding their own buisness other than a glance at him and a long lingering look at Lunari as she walked away.  Though other than a few whispers and some loud laughs, nothing seemed out of place to Nirael.  He found a table sitting right below the great map that took up a large portion of the wall opposite the bar and looked up at it while he waited for the server.<br/><br/>The server was a young woman, in her teens, though her face spoke of wisdom and experience beyond her years.  The cut of her dress, showing more than a fair amount of cleavage suggested she might be more than just a waitress.  But when she took his order it was with a bored detachment that did not speak of her looking for anything more than his order for food and drink.<br/><br/>Lunari was gone a long time, just long enough that Nirael was beginning to wonder if he should go find her.  But right about the time the food came, smoked fowl in a berry sauce, roasted vegetables, and a weak ale, she returned.  She did in fact look refreshed, as if she'd washed all the road dust from her face and body, and seemed to be in much higher spirits than when she'd left him.  She sat and started eating immediately, pointing up at the map.<br/><br/><strong>"See up there?  That's where we are  now, just a little cow spit of a trading town."</strong>She gestured towards the middle of the map.<strong>"But if we continue going south, we'll get to Kaleyk.  It's named after the baron who used to control the town ages ago, and has a thriving sea port.  We could board a ship there and be across the sea in two weeks time.  Should be boring but safe.  Alternately, we could head west and make for Kaetos, in the Navarrea region.  That would keep our feet on the ground longer, shave a day or two off the sea journey at the cost of another week or two on the road.  Or we could head all the way to port Kaliss, on the western most tip of that island there.  I don't know anything about that place though, as I came by boat to Kaliss, and then went overland tracking you."</strong><br/><br/>She hesitated and then added,<strong>"But those aren't our only options, our best ones if you want to make for my father's notes at best speed, but not the only ones.  North east of here there's a powerful wizard that lives in a tower outside of Kaldin.  He's notoriously antisocial, or at least that's what everyone around these parts says.  There's a chance we could go to him and beg for his aid.  Or we could head west and find Queen Dreslia, the ruler of this land.  She's a devout follower of Pelor, and likely to be sympathetic to the cause of a man being hunted by demons.  Though I have no idea that she would help us, it's a chance."</strong><br/><br/>She swallowed, obviously not eager for the last option.<strong>"The last of course is we could set our own battleground.  Let Marda come to us, at a place of our choosing.  If we set the battlefield to our advantage, we might have a chance to beat him.  They say if you kill a demon, he is forced to his own hell, and unable to return for a decade and a decade and a decade no matter how powerful the summons.  Certainly that should give you enough time to figure out how to use the key.  No?"</strong>