➶ quest

[Keriae]

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
ＦＡＢＩＡＮ ＳＨＡＲＰＥ
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
❛''''ＡＮＤ Ｉ＇Ｍ ＮＯＴ ＢＡＣＫＩＮＧ ＤＯＷＮ
I WILL STAND MY GROUND! I WILL STAND MY GROUND!
⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯

★x
★
★

ＢＥＣＡＵＳＥ
ａ ｃｈａｍｐｉｏｎ ｉｓ
WHAT THEY CALL ME NOW!

★
★
★

xxxxxxxage: twenty seven
xxxxxxxclass: warrior-knight
xxxxxxxtagged: everyone

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

This was really, really getting annoying now. In the absence of the guardsman acting as, well, a guard to the female spy sat here at the table, it seemed that an entire range of people wished to join in an adventure that would not work. In a matter of moments a mage, complete with templars, had joined them, as had an elf and the dwarf she'd been staring at. Fabian had never liked massive crowds; while crowds were a criminal's best friend and allowed them to get away with so many things that no one noticed, too many people were suffocating. Oh, he could enjoy a drink in a tavern well enough, as long as he had a dimly lit corner and a flagon of fine red wine to himself, and no one joined him. Which they never seemed to do, as he just glowered at everyone until they left. In fact, the only person who had been able to sit with him the entire night and just about match him drink for drink was Alyce. Though, if he remembered rightly, one night he'd had to quite literally carry her home.

As soon as the man spotted the tell-tale crests of the templars' armour and the look on Alyce's face, he knew this was going to very interesting. He never knew exactly what had happened, but he knew that she didn't like him. And yet Fabian could not help to be critical, for the mage was young, very young. Alyce was scared of that? The mage looked like she'd barely be able to swot a fly, never mind cause any damage. And, of course the mage was joining them. It didn't surprise Fabian, who leaned back in his chair to watch the exchange with an amused look on his face. Did he really want to miss this?

But before he could speak the elf and the dwarf were there, and the dwarf was speaking for the pair of them. It was unusual enough to see a dwarf above ground - he wondered if she (it looked like a she, anyway) had lost the respect of her contemporaries. It was well known that dwarves were a very proud species, even if not much else was known of them. But a dwarf above ground wanting to help solve something that did not affect her in the slightest? That was very strange. Then there was the fact that the dwarf was so confident when everything towered over her. There would probably need to be a few of her standing on each other's shoulders to even reach his height. The elf, however, looked very timid, very reserved, and still had her hood up. Fabian had nothing against elves: they died the same as men and women.

Swinging his feet back onto the table (he'd had to take them off to get Alyce to sit down) the knight nudged the guard's abandoned drink, scowling at the thin film of grease on top. "This is an interesting gathering," he rumbled, a smirk twisting his lips, "I might as well join in." Okay, that was really because he didn't want to miss Alyce interacting with the mage, and he really wanted to get away from the city.

[Jade Harley.]

leanne kios
• nineteen • human • spirit healer • tagged: everyone • the filthy unicorn •

Leanne had never been outside the circle very often. When she did go out it certainly wasn't to less than sanitary taverns that, from of the look of the patrons inside, had terrible ale. The people on the table in front of her didn't seem to mind though. In fact, she noticed a couple of knights, or were they just warriors? Perhaps mercenaries? It didn't really matter to her, they all technically did the same things, stab people in the name of “justice,” and “honour.” They were practically the same as Templars to her, except that Templars usually ended up stabbing more mages than anyone else.

If the Templar’s expression betrayed his monotone words, Leanne couldn't tell, the only thing she noticed was their relaxed breathing. They didn't believe her to be a threat, not anymore at least. “This mage,” His tone changed when he referred to her, “Is a last minute addition to your group, Commander Tristan’s orders.” The girl violently shrugged the Templar’s hand off her shoulder then gave the woman in front of her a big grin, “Hello! How do you do?” She said, trying to give her one of her hands to shake but because they were still tied together she just ended up lifting both.

This Tavern made her sick. Not because it was called, “The Filthy Unicorn,” and not even because of the terrible stench that seemed to occupy every corner of the disgusting place. It was the mood. The atmosphere. It was so terribly dull and the only people that seemed as if they were having a semi-fun time were the people in front of her but of course that was completely rude when she stepped in. Yes, just because she was a Mage. The one carrying her staff spoke up, “He believes she will be useful, she’s a healer-“

“Of extraordinary skill!” Leanne interrupted with a laugh, “Your life could be in my hands! At the small price of possible demon possession.” The Templar then sighed and rolled his eyes, not that anyone could tell under his helmet. He almost looked like he wanted to add, ‘And her terrible jokes.’

Leanne looked around and almost winced, “I see you all have things with you,” She kept her hand out, waiting for someone to shake it, “Such dangerous people! Such dangerous weapons.” Bows and arrows she didn't really mind, someone needed considerable skill to actually wield one. But any old idiot could grab a blade, swing it around and “accidentally” chop a limb or two off. She sighed then smiled as her gaze locked on to Alyce, “My name is Leanne and I’m a spirit healer, I’d be happy to fix a hole in your leg,” She paused for effect, “Or in your heart.” The girl giggled at her own terrible joke, “I look forward to working with you.” Of course it was just for politeness. She didn't really care about working with anyone, either way she would die and it was just a question of how.

[ haha im so sorry for terrible jokes im trash. also that was a double pun because she could also literally fix the hole in her heart im not very funny ]

[DancingWithDragons]

Gᴇɴᴅᴇʀ: Fᴇᴍᴀʟᴇ
Cʟᴀss: Rᴏɢᴜᴇ
Sᴘᴇᴄɪᴀʟɪsᴀᴛɪᴏɴ: Aʀᴄʜᴇʀ
Tᴀɢs: Fᴀʙɪᴀɴ, Aʟʏᴄᴇ, Kᴀʟʟɪ, Esᴛᴇʟ, Lᴇᴀɴɴᴇ

Tauriel followed Kalli over to where the other future quest members sat, looking at them from under her hood and eventually pulling it down to reveal her long, ginger hair. She let Kalli speak, the dwarf thankfully introducing her instead of Tauriel having to do it herself. The less speaking she did, the better, the ginger elf had already decided. As it was confirmed that Alyce was the one to speak to for the quest, Tauriel felt a little more comfortable, knowing now that she was where she needed to be.

She stood silently as the mage she had seen enter joined the group around the small table, which still had a couple of tankards sitting out on it. A shame that they would probably go to waste, but Tauriel was not planning on drinking any more than was necessary of the filthy alcohol. She had always hated drinking, even now when she did it so much more often. Waiting for a time when she would be called on to speak, she did a bit of an inventory of the people around her. There was a knight who had just spoken and who she assumed didn't want to be there much, or didn't care about the quest. She was just guessing that from his expression, but it was a pretty obvious guess in her mind. There was the mage girl, who had just introduced herself as Leanne. Tauriel committed that name to memory before continuing her inventory.

Looking around at the group, she noticed another knight, one who looked significantly more like he cared than the first one she had observed. There was Kalli next to her, and the girl, Alyce, who apparently was going to be the leader of the quest. If she was honest, Tauriel hoped someone else would step up, but she wasn't going to say anything of the sort. Maybe the second knight? He looked like a leader, he carried himself with confidence and he appeared to know what he was doing, even without swinging his sword around. That was the kind of person she could follow.

But it really didn't matter who the leader was, it mattered that they got going on the quest so the sickness could be cured as soon as possible. Tauriel took this as her moment to speak. "So, I suppose we should all introduce ourselves as Leanne has just done, so we can get to know each other. If I'm going to be on this quest I'd like to at least know all your names." She waited for a moment before continuing, trying to act as if she was completely fine and normal, not worried or sad. "I am Tauriel, I am an elf and, if I do say so myself, a pretty skilled archer." The elf realized Kalli had already introduced her, but continued anyway, acting a lot more confident than she felt. "I guess it's your turns now..."

(OOC: I don't know what to write for Estel, he's just kind of standing there and I exerted all my muse on Tauriel's stuff XD sorry. I'll post for him if someone needs me to.)

[Wolvine]

█

Ａｌｙｃｅ  Ｔｏｂｉａｓ  Ｖａｕｘ

█

█

Ｈｕｍａｎ  Ｓｐｙ

█

█ 

Ｗｉｔｈ：  ｔｈｅ  Ｐａｒｔｙ

█

Alyce looked over the templars' shoulders, trying to catch her guard's eye. He'd apparently either come to his senses before he signed over his house for some ale or had noticed that his charge was currently being swamped by people who she had no idea how to deal with. Frustratingly however, he wasn't coming over, but rather leaning against another table, watching. When he noticed her trying to signal him over, he feigned ignorance, though the beginnings of a smug smile were present on his face. What a time for him to develop a sense of humour.

She turned her attention back towards the mage and her entourage. The girl was younger than Alyce, but there was something about her demeanour that suggested she was confident about her own abilities. Then again, that was hardly surprising; this was practically a walking explosive. This girl had control over forces nobody but gods should have. It was probably best, admittedly, to have someone like her with them.

The dwarf and her elven companion approached the table then, mentioning that they too would be joining them. To her surprise, Fabian murmured something that suggested that he might also be accompanying her, which caused her to turn and gawk. How hypocritical for him to question her involvement in such an endeavour, when he was going of his own freewill?

The mage began to speak again, which took up her attention once more. Her words were meant to be joking, but Alyce found little humour in the reference to demons. Perfect. When she stuck her hand out, the spy couldn't help but give the smallest of flinches, almost expecting fireballs to appear and engulf everyone in the tavern. Fabian would no doubt give her grief about this later, the b*stard. She swallowed a little and extended her own hand, albeit a little hesitantly, unaccustomed as she was to such niceties. She offered the mage, Leanne, a smile, but it was small, tense.

It took her a moment to work out who it was that had spoken. She hadn't expected the clearly shy elf to speak, and so was somewhat taken aback. She was clearly hesitant to speak in public, perhaps nervous of human company. She really couldn't blame her; elves received pretty God-awful treatment from the nobility in Aelhaven. Despite this, she appeared confident in her abilities as an archer. Hopefully she'd live up to her word. If she didn't, well, she'd get picked off quickly enough.

"Yes, I suppose introductions are in order. Alyce Tobias Vaux at your service my friends. Former cartel, current prisoner-come-adventurer extraordinaire."

[Keriae]

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
ＦＡＢＩＡＮ ＳＨＡＲＰＥ
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
❛''''ＡＮＤ Ｉ＇Ｍ ＮＯＴ ＢＡＣＫＩＮＧ ＤＯＷＮ
I WILL STAND MY GROUND! I WILL STAND MY GROUND!
⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯

★x
★
★

ＢＥＣＡＵＳＥ
ａ ｃｈａｍｐｉｏｎ ｉｓ
WHAT THEY CALL ME NOW!

★
★
★

xxxxxxxage: twenty seven
xxxxxxxclass: warrior-knight
xxxxxxxtagged: everyone

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Fabian barked out a laugh at Alyce's face when he spoke. Now that was definitely worth going along. And in contrast to his dear friend (okay, maybe not dear) he thought the bad joke about demons and then about Alyce's heart were so terrible they were good. Obviously the woman did not feel the same, for every muscle in her body was tense and her eyes betrayed her fear. He was going to be squeezing reasons out of her for weeks; he needed blackmail material against her, just for the sake of it. He might have known her for years, and he certainly trusted her a damn sight more than anyone else at this table, but part of him was always wary, always looking out for himself above all others. A bit of information wouldn't go amiss, just in case. Who knew what would happen?

And then the introductions got under way. The real introductions of who they were, and their occupations. God, if they carried on like this they were going to be taking all night to get to know each other and Fabian didn't like that. If they were going shouldn't they get going as soon as possible? The city stunk of disease, death and decay, and if they got away there was always the chance that they could just escape and get away from the illness before they caught it too. Fresh air would help; it wasn't like the city was going to survive anyway. Better everyone in Aelhaven died and they - the tiny little party supposed to find some prestigious item that didn't exist - would be safe and able to start new lives somewhere else. All Fabian needed was his uniform and a well spun tale and he'd get a job elsewhere.

He might as well introduce himself.

Alyce had done so and there was no way he was going to wait for these other people to introduce themselves first. Some of them were going to die on this journey, he wasn't going to get attached, he didn't need to know their names, but he was a skilled swordsman and he was going to have their respect.

Not to mention the fact that once they knew his name they might remember some of the stories of his past. That would be fun.

Sweeping his cavalier hat (complete with a poncey guinea fowl feather) from his head, the man introduced himself. "Fabian Sharpe at your service," his entire tone was mocking, "warrior-knight." He wasn't going to say any more than that. They could work him out for themselves.

[gallifrey falls.]

███████████████████████

Ｋａｌｌｉ Ｚｕｌｄａｇｄｕｎ
ｔｈｅ ｄｗａｒｖｅｎ ｗａｒｒｉｏｒ
▔▔▔ ▔▔▔▔▔▔ ▔▔▔
known as: kalli
race: dwarf
class: warrior-knight

▔▔▔ ▔▔▔▔▔▔ ▔▔▔
mood: wary
location: the filthy unicorn
tagged: everyone
ooc: sorry, there wasn't much for kalli
to say about leanne in this post; I hope
you don't feel left out!

███████████████████████
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x

Alyce did not reply directly to her, but seemed to go along with what Tauriel spoke, introducing herself and suggesting the others do the rest. Kalli had no doubt the elf was as skilled an archer as she claimed; her body was certainly willowy enough for the task, and her hands calloused after many uses of a bow. Alyce went next, naming herself as a prisoner and what amounted to a thief. Dwarves were a very proud race, and wouldn't even consider being part of something like this, much less mingling with thieves and criminals. Beggars couldn't be choosers, though, as much as Kalli had chosen to go on this quest. She would have to take what came with it, and perhaps, even learn to trust Alyce and the rest of the adventurers. And maybe dwarves would grow wings and fly. Shaking her head briefly, clearing her thoughts, Kalli gave Alyce a nod, and turned to regard her companions as he spoke, a glitter in his eyes that unsettled her slightly.

The man was nothing remarkable; average in height and weight, a mess of brown hair, beard; the only remarkable thing about him was his hat that contained an exquisite feather, a pale white-gray against the brown leather. That marked him as some type of noble. Stolen hats didn't come in that good of condition, combined with the fact he had a sword at his side. Crimals and their types didn't carry exposed weapons. Unless, of course, he was some kind of behind-the-scenes criminal. Something she didn't doubt, after seeing the look he gave everyone in the party. Much like a thief, looking for the best purse to steal. Kalli narrowed her eyes at him. He was much like a raki, a type of creature found in the dwarvish tunnels. They were mean things, quite similar to above ground weasels, and you could put nothing past them. They possessed quite the intelligence, for an animal, and were the trickiest creatures she knew. Rakis, meaning 'devil' in her tongue, were even known to kill unattended infants. Any dwarf killed them on sight. She didn't doubt this man, who called himself Fabian Sharpe, was anything more than a raki. He was dangerous, to say the least.

When Fabian finished, there was a short pause. It seemed the only two who remained to introduce themselves were herself and the other knight, who had been largely silent. Kalli spoke first, brushing her raven hair back from her face. "I am Kalli Zuldagdon, but you may simply address me as Kalli. I am a dwarf, as some of you have already noticed, and a warrior." She refrained from glancing at Alyce when she spoke, but the woman most likely knew the statement was directed at her. Kalli did not like to think of herself as petty, but perhaps she was, if only a little bit.

[DancingWithDragons]

Gᴇɴᴅᴇʀ: Mᴀʟᴇ
Cʟᴀss: Wᴀʀʀɪᴏʀ
Sᴘᴇᴄɪᴀʟɪsᴀᴛɪᴏɴ: Kɴɪɢʜᴛ
Tᴀɢs: Tʜᴇ Pᴀʀᴛʏ

Estel realized with a start that he was the only one left now who hadn't introduced himself, since Kalli had given her information. He bowed his head in apology, knowing he'd have to introduce himself now. "My name is Estel, Estel Thornson. I am a warrior-knight, and I'm on this quest because my wife died of the sickness, and I don't want it to take anyone else." He said, looking at the ground as he spoke. The man usually didn't have any issues with confidence or talking to others, but in the presence of these people, he felt uncertain. Could he trust all of them? Could they trust him? What was going to happen on this quest? Thoughts of failure began to race through his mind, and he sighed, pushing the depressing ideas away to focus on the group in front of him.

Ugh sorry it's so short I've got WB for Estel right now but I needed to intro him so we could get going)

[Wolvine]

█

Ａｌｙｃｅ  Ｔｏｂｉａｓ  Ｖａｕｘ

█

█

Ｈｕｍａｎ  Ｓｐｙ

█

█ 

Ｗｉｔｈ：  ｔｈｅ  Ｐａｒｔｙ

█

Fabian introduced himself immediately afterwards. Alyce listened half-heartedly for the opportunity to interject and make fun of him, but sadly his words were very common and boringly straightforward. The dwarf went next, introducing herself as Kalli and what was possibly a very unsubtle attempt at a barb. The rogue didn't react beyond offering her a wide grin. She had no shame over such trivial things. Finally it was the other, less fun knight's turn to give his name. She looked over to him expectantly, though she wasn't fully prepared for what he was about to say.

My wife died of the sickness. Oh. Well. That was cheery. Alyce looked at the floor a moment, unsure quite what to say to the knight's explanation. It seemed a very personal thing to share with a room full of strangers, but grief did peculiar things to people. After a few prolonged moments of awkward silence, she cleared her throat in order to draw everyone's attention.

"Well, now that we all know each other, I suppose you'd better get registered officially. My charming guard over there can take your names and a place to contact you at, and I'm sure he'll do his best to pass it on to whoever's in charge. Obviously I haven't been trusted with any coin, but I'm sure it'll be arranged somehow." She waved her hand vaguely in the direction of the guardsman, who had now sat up and was looking attentive and alert. "I imagine I'll be thrown back in a cell when you're done, so I suppose we'll see each other again relatively soon."

ooc; apologies for shortness, if anyone wants to go ahead and do the timeskip that's fine, but if you'd rather i do it im afraid you'll have to wait around 24 hours

[gallifrey falls.]

███████████████████████

Ｋａｌｌｉ Ｚｕｌｄａｇｄｕｎ
ｔｈｅ ｄｗａｒｖｅｎ ｗａｒｒｉｏｒ
▔▔▔ ▔▔▔▔▔▔ ▔▔▔
known as: kalli
race: dwarf
class: warrior-knight

▔▔▔ ▔▔▔▔▔▔ ▔▔▔
mood: brooding
location: the filthy unicorn, outside the city
tagged: everyone
ooc: ---

███████████████████████
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x

Alyce responded to her thinly veiled bard with a wide smile, shameless. Kalli was tempted to be amused, but similarly exasperated. Humans were an arrogant race, to say the least. And they called dwarves prideful! Maybe she was meeting the wrong kinds of humans, but Kalli was more inclined to believe this was it. If the best the humans could come up with to save their race was this ragtag team, there wasn't really any hope for their species. But Kalli would leave the pessimistic views to Alyce and Fabian.

Instead, she focused her attentions to Estel, sympathy in her gaze when he mentioned his wife had perished in the sickness. Here was one good man; she may have judged the rest too quickly. "After we get registered with Alyce's guard, I suggest we meet back at the city gates in a week's time. That will allow anyone to get their affairs put in order, as well as fetch any coin or other items they wish to take along on the journey." Kalli rose from her position at the table, nodding at most of them in farewell, but somehow forgetting Fabian. "I expect I will see you all soon." She approached the guard, got her position on the quest registered, and departed from The Filthy Unicorn. Though the place had places to sleep, there were more prestigious places to spend her silver and gold. The door banged shut once, and she was gone.

- time skip of one week -

Kalli leaned against the outer wall of the city, glancing towards the horizon briefly. The sun was not yet rising over it; the time was still well before dawn. The others did not technically need to arrive until dawn, but she had never needed much sleep and decided to come to the meeting place early. There was also the fact she did not trust of the other questers save for Tauriel and the knight, Estel, and wanted to be there before them. A donkey stood beside her, holding most of the things she needed for the quest save her armor, which she wore, and her dirk and sword, both strapped at her waist. The animal stood placidly, not making a sound in the predawn silence. He, the merchant had called him Ash, had been expensive, but also competent with heavy loads and various terrains, she had been promised. Kalli doubted all of what the man said were true, but she had been able to talk him down from the cost of 150 gold pieces to the price of only 90, more upon her return if the animal proved worthy. They both knew she had no intention of doing so, but he had not protested further.

She exhaled, her breathing seeming in the chilly air, standing as still as the donkey beside her. Patience was one of her better qualities, as she had been told before, and Kalli exercised it often. A hasty warrior was a dead warrior; one of the wisest things her late father had ever told her. Kalli doubted the other members in her party believed the same, least of all Alyce. The woman seemed the type to rush into a fight without analyzing the consequences. She could be judging her too quickly, but it was the impression she had received. As for Fabian, he may look skilled with a sword, but she wouldn't trust him with the life of an insect. Tauriel was quiet, perhaps too timid for her own good, but Kalli understood her to be brave when the occasion called for it. She could only hope on a quest like this the elf would live up to her expectations. Estel was noble, she could tell that much, and had an equally noble reason for going on the quest. While Kalli may not yet trust him with her own life, he was someone she would chose to lead the quest. Leanna was more a mystery, and she had not had ample time to form an opinion about her, having only interacted briefly in the smoky tavern. Whatever the strengths and weaknesses of their party, she knew they would have to trudge on all the same, to face an impossible goal.

Pulled out of her rather morose thoughts by the sound of the city gate grinding open, Kalli roused herself, rising from her position against the wall and following Ash's gaze towards the approaching figure.

[DancingWithDragons]

Gᴇɴᴅᴇʀ: Mᴀʟᴇ
Cʟᴀss: Wᴀʀʀɪᴏʀ
Sᴘᴇᴄɪᴀʟɪsᴀᴛɪᴏɴ: Kɴɪɢʜᴛ
Tᴀɢs: Kᴀʟʟɪ, Tᴀᴜʀɪᴇʟ

Estel rose from the table without another word, following Kalli's lead and going to speak to the guard. He only spoke with the man for a few moments before the guard wrote something down and said that was all he needed, Estel quickly departing to return to his quarters in the more... well-off, he supposed he should say, part of the city. As he returned to his quarters, he thought of seeing his wife die of the sickness, and the grief washed over him once more. He collapsed into his bed, a long day of work and the meeting combined had tired him out, and he did not want to deal with grief now. He had a quest to prepare for.

-one week later-

Estel yawned and stretched as he awoke in his quarters, about an hour before dawn would begin. He did not usually rise so early, but today he had somewhere to be - they were going to begin the quest at dawn today, and he wanted to arrive on time. The outskirts of the city would not take him too long to reach, but he wanted to be there a bit early, and he needed to gather his gear anyway. After he had donned his armor and strapped his sword and dagger to his belt, he exited his quarters, beginning the trek through the city to get to the outskirts where the questers were supposed to meet. The air was cold, and he could see his breath in the air as he walked, but the cold was something he paid no mind to. He had more important things to think about.

As he approached the outskirts, he saw a figure standing there with what appeared to be a donkey, though he couldn't quite tell in the dim light that the moon cast. As he drew closer, he realised it was Kalli who was standing there. She had arrived very early, he knew, she would have had to have risen well before dawn to arrive here before he did. He approached her with a slight bow. "Kalli, if I remember correctly. Am I right? It is good to see I am not the only one who has actually turned up for the quest. I am skeptical as to whether everyone will actually come, but I should hope that they all arrive soon." While waiting for a response, he turned at the sound of footsteps - another person had arrived, it appeared.

Gᴇɴᴅᴇʀ: Fᴇᴍᴀʟᴇ
Cʟᴀss: Rᴏɢᴜᴇ
Sᴘᴇᴄɪᴀʟɪsᴀᴛɪᴏɴ: Aʀᴄʜᴇʀ
Tᴀɢs: Kᴀʟʟɪ, Esᴛᴇʟ

Tauriel, deciding now was time for her to go, went and spoke briefly with the guard to get registered, before exiting the Filthy Unicorn. She had many things to do to prepare for the quest - the first thing would be to take her son to the friend he would be staying with until she returned from the quest.

It would have broken her heart to see him standing there waving goodbye as she left him in the care of one of her only friends - if her heart had not already been broken. Still, it hurt her more than she had imagined to see his figure grow smaller every time she looked back over her shoulder. It pained her greatly to know that there was a chance she would never see him again - but it didn't frighten her. Tauriel would give her life for the humans who had destroyed the culture and legacy of her people, and she didn't know why. Perhaps it was that she felt guilt - she needed to fight, to do something to avenge her lost loved one. She had not been able to kill the enemy who had killed him, and she felt anger and guilt because of that fact. But really, she had been injured badly, there was nothing she could do. Still, she was angry with herself for not avenging him. Maybe she felt that this quest would make up for it - saving lives would somehow atone for her not being able to save his.

As she turned a corner and could no longer see her son or friend, she began to head home to her quarters to get some sleep - she'd be leaving on the quest soon.

A few mornings later, Tauriel woke to darkness, for a split second panicking as she could not remember where she was. Then her eyes adjusted to the light and she remembered that she was home, not in her dreams. She was covered in a sheet of sweat after a particularly bad nightmare, but knew she could not dwell on it - it was time for her to go. Taking what light armor she had purchased and her ever-useful bow and quiver of arrows, she headed out the door towards the outside of the city, where the questers were to meet.

As she approached, she noticed that two people had already arrived, from the looks of them Kalli and Estel. Kalli had some kind of pack animal with her, Tauriel assumed a donkey as a pack horse would be less practical for a dwarf, and probably more expensive. She drew near, only speaking once she was close enough for her now commonly quiet voice to be heard. "Hello... I'm ready for the quest."