➶ quest

[Keriae]

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

★x
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ＢＥＣＡＵＳＥ
ａ ｃｈａｍｐｉｏｎ ｉｓ
WHAT THEY CALL ME NOW!

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xxxxxxxage: twenty seven
xxxxxxxclass: warrior-knight
xxxxxxxtagged: kalli, tauriel, estel

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The signing of his name on the roster did not take long, though he had to wait for the people in front of him to sign it first. When it finally came to his turn, Fabian listened half-heartedly, rolling his eyes at the words that were repeated again and again to each person to stand in front of the guard, and then pulled the quill away from the other man, dipping it into the ink pot and signing his own name. That was the idea of signing a roster, that you did it yourself. Besides, this roster could very well go down in history if the ill-fated quest went well and the guard's writing was simply atrocious. Fabian might not be the best at writing himself - he'd hardly had the chance to learn how to write properly, like his current superiors - but he at least had writing that was somewhat eligible. Not like this slanted scruffy stuff already on the parchment.

A week later, Fabian was wide awake. He'd had some last minute business to take care of, an extra bit of money to gain to help him on his way throughout the quest. Securing the bag of gold onto his sword belt, next to his powder horn, Fabian turned away from the shape slumped on the smooth marble floor and reached behind him with his other hand, sliding his dirk into the sheathe it belonged in. He had somewhere to be.

It did not take long to return to the garrison he had called his home for a few years now and whistle for the stable boy to prepare his steed. As a warrior-knight in service of the Viscount, he often had access to horses and there was one in particular he favoured: a black stallion, well behaved with great stamina, and the only horse he would ever ride. Occasionally he had no choice, but most days he did. There was no way at all that he would be going without his horse, so he would take Hector with him. In record time the stallion was prepared and saddle bags tied upon the tack, full of many things; a good half of the bags were just oats, for he had to keep the animal in good condition. Who knew how long they would be away, and if they would even return? While he was tying the last bag, the stable boy disappeared and returned with a leave of absence clasped in his hand, which was soon in the man's pocket. He had taken the precaution to gain one, in case anyone questioned them in another city.

When he arrived, there were three people already there. Dismounting, Fabian only offered a nod in their direction. It was not yet dawn, only just before, and the sooner everyone arrived the sooner they could be on their way.

[Wolvine]

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Ａｌｙｃｅ  Ｔｏｂｉａｓ  Ｖａｕｘ

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Ｈｕｍａｎ  Ｓｐｙ

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Ｗｉｔｈ：  Ｅｓｔｅｌ，  Ｔａｕｒｉｅｌ，  Ｋａｌｌｉ，  Ｆａｂｉａｎ

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The natural light was bright against her eyes. Perhaps it was somewhat daft to be complaining about something she’d been praying to see for the past week, but she had never made any claims of being a genius. The sun was just starting to inch its way over the horizon, giving the Keep a rather sluggishly haunted air. Alyce hadn’t been to church since she was still on good terms with her parents and had never been particularly superstitious, but somehow she couldn’t quite shake the feeling that this was an ill omen.
Briefly she allowed herself to consider it was nothing more than her own fear creating ghostly apparitions, making the walls appear to loom towards her, closing in on her, but that would mean that she was afraid of a building, which was ludicrous. Obviously, it was nothing more than the light.

After the mass recruitment at the tavern, some higher up had ruled that there were sufficient members for the quest to be viable. Since there was no more people to convince, Alyce had been thrown into the dungeons for a week, perhaps to try and scare her into a straighter and narrower path or simply because it had been convenient to lock her up and forget about her.
They’d let her out of the dungeons yesterday in order to prepare her more thoroughly, but she hadn’t actually been allowed outside of the Keep until today. She’d been given an entire array of maps, notes and other scraps of parchment she couldn’t understand, but by far the most interesting gift had been her equipment. She was now the proud owner of a high-quality leather armour set, one of the most handsome she’d ever had the pleasure in laying her hands on, as well as a fine dirk to add to her collection of blades. Naturally, she’d spent much of the day showing her new clothing to the interested guards, but since they’d all been far too attached to their jobs to do anything more than shoot the occasional appreciative glances, she’d eventually had to actually try and make sense of some of the documentation that had been given to her.

Her guardsman, who’d apparently been reassigned to her, perhaps wasn’t as bad as she’d originally judged him. Granted, he was still mind-numbingly dull, but he’d been surprisingly patient towards her. His raised eyebrows and widened eyes betrayed his shock when she’d asked him to show her where exactly Aelhaven was on a map, but he’d never actually commented on her ignorance, and had controlled his expressions a lot better upon subsequent questions. Much of their time that evening was taken up painstakingly trying to work out possible locations for the Chalice, cross-referencing with past expeditions and more solid rumours by candlelight.

This morning she felt none of her usual pomp and vigour. Her face, when she had caught sight of herself in a basin of water, was pale, her eyes ever so slightly sunken in. A week in the dungeon with poor sleep and constant worrying had left her drained. Of course, she’d kept up the façade for her stony-faced city guard, but he wasn’t as irritable today as he had been in past. She kept catching him with something almost like pity in his eyes, which was disgusting. She didn’t need anyone else to feel sorry for her. She was doing perfectly well at it by herself.

Carefully, the two made their way towards the eastern gate, Alyce attempting to make conversation, the guard (whose name she still didn’t know) resolutely refusing to. She gave up after a few minutes only to start up again once she realised being left in silence with nothing but her thoughts was worse than being ignored. The mindless running commentary at least kept the worst of these away.

Figures appeared on the horizon, eventually sharpening into four human (well, humanoid) shapes. Fabian was there, which she was surprised to see. She had half expected him to take the expedition money and run, although on reflection that kind of thing was more her style than his. He was with a horse, perhaps enjoying the fact it clearly showed he was of superior status to most of them. Alyce herself wasn’t overly fond of horses; they smelled almost as bad as the nobles who rode them. Tauriel, the anxious elf, was also present, looking, unsurprisingly, anxious. The other knight – what was his name again? Evan? Eren? – was also there, looking far more like a member of the order than Fabian was. Kalli was also present, along with a donkey. How quaint. At least it was a mount that was proportional to her size.

“Good morning!” she called with cheer she didn’t feel, ignoring the very obvious awkward tension between the group. “I hope you’ve brought enough food for me. I’m travelling light, as you can probably tell.” No need to mention that she hadn’t had a chance to go shopping; they’d put the pieces together easily enough themselves.

[gallifrey falls.]

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

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mood: slightly annoyed
location: outside the city
tagged: tauriel, alyce, fabian, estel
ooc: bit of a short post, sorry!

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Estel, the knight, was the first to arrive, and gave a polite 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." She inclined her head briefly in greeting. "Yes, that is correct. I share your skepticism, but I know of one other who plans to accompany us." As if summoned, Taruriel appeared out of the morning mist, approaching them and speaking once she stopped. Her greeting was quiet, but clearly heard. Kalli gave her a friendly smile, tipping her head in the same greeting she had given Estel moments before. "It's good to see you again, Tauriel." Leaving it at that, she returned her attention to the city gate, half hoping they were all whom had showed up.

The steady clip-clop of hooves dashed her hopes, and Kalli stared ahead expectantly, resisting the urge to scowl when she saw the identity of the rider. Of course Fabian would be the one who owned a horse, and decieded to bring it along. She could feel the man's haughtiness from here; she was surprised his large head did not cause him to lose balance astride the stallion. He merely nodded at the three of them as he drew closer, declining to speak. "Are you sure you can handle a horse?" she inquired, looking all the world properly concerned. "We wouldn't want to you to fall off." The hidden barb in Kalli's words was all obviois, only a half-wit would have mistaken her tone for concerned. He wasn't foolish, as much as he was other things.

Her attention was drawn away from Fabian at the arrival of yet another quester; this time Alyce, the thief. She looked like she had been sleeping in a sewer for the past week. Bags under her sunken eyes, and a haggard look about her. Knowing the dungeons in this city however, Kalli wouldn't be surprised if they had been similar to a sewer. Nevertheless, she managed a cheerful tone as she approached the small gathering. "Good morning, Alyce," Kalli returned. "I'm sure there will be plenty of food between us." She herself had packed enough food on Ash's back to feed a small army. Or at least, that had been what it seemed like when loading him up. The merchant had to be given some credit it seemed, as the donkey was doing remarkably well for holding the weight of the food in addition to other supplies.

[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: party

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A quick glance over the companions that had thus far arrived told Fabian all that he needed to know. Kalli, Estel and Tauriel were all clad in light but undoubtedly effective armour. Frankly, Fabian did not see the need in such armour for this quest, at least not right now, in the beginning, and it seemed foolish to him to wear it all the time. Not only was armour (even if it was relatively lightweight) heavy, but it constricted the owner's movements if not put on properly, which was easily done, especially as none of these people had squires to help them. On top of that was the sheer fact that armour was extensive, consisting of many different parts. The most common armour was made up of three elements: an arming doublet underneath, surprisingly made of two sheets of fabric with wool between, sewn in such a way it provided some protection. Over that was the mail, or maille, and then the various plates of metal, each made to protect a certain part of the body. As far as he was concerned, all he needed was boiled leather and a spaulder over his right shoulder, for he would like to keep the use of his sword arm. Carrying such heavy armour was not what he wanted to do, especially as there was always the risk of loosing it. Should they have trouble crossing a river, for instance. If he limited the armour he had, then there was less chance of having to let it go and then being without.

Besides, if they all decided that they wanted to get out of their armour every night to sleep and then put it on again in the morning, Fabian was sure to grow impatient. Maybe fatally so.

Kalli's remark cut through the chill morning air just as Alyce saw fit to join them, offering a warm greeting though she looked like death warmed up. God forbid she look like this for the entire journey, or he may be forced to put her out of her misery. The man's blue eyes flicked over the thief's appearance as he stepped away from his steed, leaning against the wall of the city. His fingers pulled his dirk from his belt and he started to methodically clean the weapon, using the rag and small glass bottle of oil always on his person to ensure it was spotless. Love your weapon and it will love you, a voice echoed in his head, harsh with illness and old age, for a dirty weapon is a useless one. Fabian wasn't sure who the voice belonged to, it was so long ago now, but he had a feeling it was one of the old men who had used to live on the streets, an experienced thief who had taken the young Fabian under his wing. Upon joining his current profession, Fabian had been assigned a mentor of sorts, to make sure he stayed on the straight and narrow. He had repeated the same, not that it had been needed. As he cleaned the blade, Fabian drawled out his reply to the dwarf. "I am confident in my horsemanship," he said, not lifting his gaze to her out of indifference, "are you sure you can keep up with us all? You are lacking in that department. I feel that your ill-looking mule could walk further than you." It was a low insult, and one she had likely heard before; on top of that, he knew she had a donkey, not a mule, but the animal hardly looked worthy of existing. The time might come where they had to kill it for food. To Alyce he added: "If you care for oats, I have plenty."

[Wolvine]

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Ａｌｙｃｅ  Ｔｏｂｉａｓ  Ｖａｕｘ

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Ｈｕｍａｎ  Ｓｐｙ

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Ｗｉｔｈ：  Ｅｓｔｅｌ，  Ｔａｕｒｉｅｌ，  Ｋａｌｌｉ，  Ｆａｂｉａｎ

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Alyce beamed at Kalli’s cordial greeting and offer, pleased to see that she wasn’t petty enough to still be bitter over the rogue’s rather vocal overexcitement at the tavern. She hadn’t been planning on apologising over something so trivial anyway, but it meant that there wouldn’t be as much tension. It seemed like that was pretty much the only thing the group had in surplus; the glances and glares suggested that she’d just missed some delightfully catty remarks.

Her suspicions were confirmed when Fabian remarked on the dwarf’s height. Me-ow. It was low (like Kalli herself) and fairly unoriginal, but that didn’t stop her from smirking a little bit, though she tried to mask if for the sake of maintaining civility. The knight had taken out a dirk and was engrossed with cleaning it, apparently judging them beneath him, which, fair enough, they kind of were, both in the literal sense and in terms of rank. Still, it was more than a little off putting. She was only just resisting the temptation to try and actually push him off the animal. In truth, the only thing stopping her was the knowledge that he was much larger and stronger than her. It would be so satisfying to try though. It would be easier to upset him with a suggestive comment about polishing blades, but that was low hanging fruit.

“Good Ser,” she answered, covering her mouth with a hand in an attempt to convey shock. “Are you per chance insinuating that I am a horse?” She carefully made sure to swallow the last two letters of the word, and made little attempt to conceal her grin this time. It wasn’t one of her best lines, but she’d just spent a week in a dungeon damn it. She had an excuse. Her guard made his presence known once more by clearing his throat, which promptly caused her to replace her smile with a frown. It seemed he was trying to draw everyone’s attention for once.

“Apologies,” the guardsman mumbled, dipping his head a little, which was flattering but unnecessary since he’d been sort of responsible for her being locked up in the first place. “I have been asked to deliver a message on the captain’s behalf.” Oh, perhaps he wasn’t talking to her then.

“Though I’m certain you are aware, it is my duty to remind you that you are all responsible for Vaux. Though she has been volunteered for this quest, she is still a prisoner and a criminal of Aelhaven. If you return without being able to account for her you will face punishment. Commander Tristen also sent word to the captain that you are also accountable for the mage, Leanne Kios. Should she become a threat however, you have been given permission to use lethal force. The Commander stressed that you should not take any chances.” Cheery. Still, it was nice to know that if they had to stick a sword in the mage to avoid being eaten by demons or whatnot, they wouldn’t get in trouble for it.

“The guard took liberty in sifting through some documents. On this map the most viable locations for finding information about the Chalice are marked. I believe the closest and most solid source is east of here, so I fear you’ll have to cross the Narivi. The journey will be a couple of weeks, though there is a smaller town on the other side you’ll be able to stop for supplies at. I must take my leave now, as my captain has ordered. Good luck. Aelhaven thanks you for your sacrifice.” With that suggestion that they were probably going to die, the guard turned heel and disappeared into the city without looking back. Ass.

[gallifrey falls.]

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

▔▔▔ ▔▔▔▔▔▔ ▔▔▔
mood: snarky
location: outside the city
tagged: tauriel, alyce, fabian, estel
ooc: ---

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Kalli arched an eyebrow at the jibe, contempt clear on her features. "How creative of you, dear ser, to insult my height. I can assure you I have never heard that one before." Her tone was as dry as a desert wind a she spoke, and she turned away to check the straps on Ash. The urge to stick her long sword between Fabian's ribs was too compelling; it would be a shame if her sword slipped and did so. As she was finishing with the donkey, Kalli causally added, "If you are as good a rider as you claim, I'm sure you will have no trouble going over the heavy underbrush we are sure to encounter on the journey. After all, your stallion can fly, with you as its guide, can it not? We wouldn't want to leave you behind." She knew from experience that the trees and plants choked paths so heavily in some places that one would have to take a detour to even get to the other side - never mind passing through with a horse.

She made no comment at his offer of oats to Alyce, but smirked when the woman mocked him, asking if she was a horse. Perhaps that would deflate his ego a bit. Though, from what she had seen of him, probably not. Her attention strayed from both of them at the arrival of one of the guards from the city. Alyce's guard, judging by what she remembered of the man. He gave a few warnings and helpful tips, but mostly warnings. About keeping Vuax, Alyce, that was, from running off or dying, and keeping an eye on the mage. Kalli personally wasn't worried about either; she would like to see the humans attempt to punish her following the quest, they would be worried enough over their own whether she brought back the Chalice or not. It would be simple for her to slip away, unnoticed. As for the mage, Kalli knew the girl was quite young, and didn't seem the type to call up the wrath of Hell upon them for anything. She could be judging her wrongly, but for the moment that was how her opinion of the mage would stand. It wasn't as if any of the girl's magic could touch her anyway.

The guard departed, with Alyce's gaze scorching his back, much to Kalli's amusement. It seemed no love was lost between the two. She put one loose hand around Ash's rope, hoping the animal would be as good as the merchant claimed. There would be no time to mend any broken bones on the quest from a false step. Glancing back at her four companions, Kalli gestured to the path leading away from the city and into unknown country. "I suggest we move out."

[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: party

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"My horse cannot fly," Fabian admitted, though his voice was steely; he was not going to put up with this, especially as everyone knew that the dwarrowdam was not so foolish, "but on open ground I'd like to see you attempt to keep up." In actually fact, that remark was not one on Kalli's height. It was meant for everyone, for they were all on foot while he had the greater stride length of his steed on his side. Other than that, Fabian was not going to lay down like a mat and let the dwarf insult him. However, she had made a fair point: forests were places damned by travelers, and the Narivi particularly so. The rest of this rag-tag band of people would soon be cursing him for bringing the black stallion with him, but that was well beyond his cares. They could curse him all they wanted, he at least would not be wasting his limited coin on a starving farm horse that could hardly walk a mile, never mind complete this quest. Hector was of good breeding, Fabian would be having no problems unless the nag tripped and broke a leg. If that happened, Fabian would waste no time in ending the animal's life. If such a thing happened, they would even have the extra meat for their supplies. I wouldn't be surprised if they called me heartless.

Sliding his dirk back where it belonged, the anger throbbing through his veins was calmed somewhat by Alyce's jest. The way she pronounced the last word especially helped, and Fabian's lips twisted into a wry smile and he turned his head away from her in amusement, looking for all appearances utterly done with her. "You and I both know you are both." He responded whimsically, relaxing somewhat around the thief-turned-prisoner. But then the sullen guard that had followed Alyce like a shadow finally spoke for once, explaining things quickly and simply. Well, they were all either going to fail or die, there really was no up side. Why was he here again? Oh yes, to get away from this hellhole.

The thing that mused him the most was being responsible for Alyce. He had a feeling she wouldn't be trying to get away. A not so amusing side but definitely good - in his opinion - was using "lethal force" on the mage, who was not present at that moment in time. Fabian was not going to regret something like that if it was their only option. He hardly thought Estel or Tauriel would be up to it, which left himself, Alyce and Kalli. The dwarf of whom would provide a remarkably amusing sight. She might not be affected by the magic, but she was still short. He wasn't so happy with the final words. Getting thanked for their sacrifice? No one expected any of them to return, what a bright thought. Still, i they stayed in Aelhaven they were only going to die anyway. The best thing to do was to leave, and now, before they got ill.

As soon as the guard was gone, Fabian pushed his foot into the stirrup and swung his leg over the saddle, settling into the position and holding the reins loosely in his hands. "If we're going then let us get moving. The sooner we are off the better. This is already a suicidal mission."

[Jade Harley.]

leanne kios
• nineteen • human • spirit healer • tagged: everyone • big fancy gates •

Leanne almost winced when her eyes met the sign up roster. How anyone would be able to decipher let alone read these atrocious mass of scribbles was beyond her, even she could write better with her hands tied. Which they were. At least there was some good that came out of being sent to a mage circle. Then again she would trade her neat penmanship and good education for freedom any day of the week. What good was all this knowledge when it couldn’t even be put to use? She finished signing of her name quickly. Leanne knew that she would be under house arrest for one week but at least she would have something to occupy her during the time. She wasn’t sure if she could say the same about the others.

-one week later-

The mage girl tried not to oversleep. Oh how she tried. She didn’t want to miss her only ticket out of this place. If she missed the station the next stop would have been execution and she was lucky enough that one of the Templars keeping guard had been kind enough, to wake her up. Either that or they wanted to get her off their hands as soon as possible. It was probably the latter, and she didn’t blame them, she would have wanted the same in their place. Leanne quickly got up and dressed herself in the only thing she had besides mage robes. They were her sort of robes she called them. They were short enough not to be a bother and short enough to need pants but they were still robes. She reached for the backpack that she had packed the night before which contained a few necessities and a light tome for reading, which she assumed she would have more than enough time for on this journey. As Leanne turned to grab for her staff, the Templar that had woken her up, waved it in her face, along with metal cuffs that looked very heavy.

Her mood was slightly dampened after that but it wasn’t enough to rain on her parade, she would be getting out of here with not Templars to follow and if Leanne was lucky she wouldn’t die. The three Templars and the mage made their way out of the tower and towards the city gates. She could almost taste freedom and as her gaze reached their destination she spotted several figures, both human and horse. Or was that a donkey? Leanne couldn’t really tell with how far they were. When they were close enough to hear her voice, Leanne put on the biggest grin she could manage and waved both hands, “Miss me?” Sure she seemed a little childish but this was the first time she had ever even been this far away from the mage circle and even that was enough to get her pumped.

“Aw what no fair why do you get a horse?” She spoke in a teasing tone. The man didn’t seem like he was rich and his handwriting didn’t look like it came from expensive tutors so what was he doing with a horse. The donkey was justifiable because they were less expensive and easier to let go off than horses. His horse made the rest of them look bad, it looked noble and confident and Leanne was almost sure that the horse was prettier than she was. Almost.


[ I'm so sorry it took me so long to reply, I've been sick for the past week and few days prior received some bad news from home but I'm back and kicking now i'm so sorry this is so late i swear this doesnt happen often]

[Wolvine]

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Ａｌｙｃｅ  Ｔｏｂｉａｓ  Ｖａｕｘ

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Ｈｕｍａｎ  Ｓｐｙ

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Ｗｉｔｈ：  ｔｈｅ  Ｐａｒｔｙ

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Alyce snorted disdainfully at the guard's retreating back, just barely resisting the temptation to make a vulgar gesture at him. It was a pretty close thing though. The only reason she refrained from such was because he wouldn't be able to see her, and if he happened to turn around, it may appear a friendly wave, which was pretty much the exact opposite of what she wanted. Apparently they hadn't bonded as much as she'd thought the night before.

"There's always someone immune to my charms," she complained, turning away with an over dramatic flourish of her hand, apparently washing herself from the matter. "He never did get me that second drink."

She considered her companions once more, the reality of the dangerous journey falling upon her. Fabian was a friend, in the loosest sense of the word, and would offer plenty of amusement. He was capable with a sword as well, and knew more about combat than she did. Though she knew better than to trust him, she could safely assume that he'd help her out as long as she remained useful. E-something-or-other was also a knight, which meant he'd be proficient with a blade. He seemed to be a man of integrity, which though she cared little for, meant he'd be unlikely to let her die as long as he could help it. She had nothing to judge Kalli on except the way she carried herself, clearly a warrior's gait, and her clearly fairly sharp wit. She too seemed to be fairly honourable. The anxious elf-girl was pretty much a mystery, though there seemed to be some power in her wiry frame. If she'd been eating anything like most of the elves in the slum though, she wouldn't be in peak condition at the moment. Not that Alyce was one to talk.

That left the final, most noticeably absent, member of their group. The mage had yet to turn up, presumably slowed down by her entourage. It would be a lie to say Alyce wasn't worried about such a member joining their group. She had never been a religious girl, but the church frequently whispered of the evils of magic and the demons who were seduced by it. Seducing demons sounded fun in theory, but not when it threatened the lives of an entire town. She'd heard tales of entire cities destroyed by a single rampaging mage. The fact that no templars could be spared to join them wasn't comforting in the least.

As she was thinking this, Leanne herself arrived, followed by the usual suspects. It was hard to match up the images of dark figures surrounded by fire and her own memories of cruel faces brandishing forbidden magic with the young girl in front of her. She looked excited, a little nervous perhaps, and Alyce wouldn't fault her for that; it would almost certainly be one of the first times she'd been outside unescorted for years. If a week in a dungeon had driven her mad, she couldn't imagine what it would be like being confined her entire life. She gave a greeting, but it was noticeably muted, with none of the good-humour she'd shown the others.

Kalli and Fabian both expressed a desire to get on the road, one she agreed with wholeheartedly. The city, filled with its sickness and death, seemed less appealing by the second, even if they were marching to their deaths. Before agreeing, she did a quick check to ensure she had all her personal items; there wasn't a lot, just her assortment of blades and a set of well-worn playing cards. Judging from the icy glares that her companions were sharing with each other, it didn't seem likely that they'd all settle by a camp fire and play, but perhaps she could cajole Fabian into a couple of rounds at some point. It had been a while since she'd had a game; most had stopped accepting her bets once she'd emptied their pockets a couple of times.

"I'm all set. Let's head out then." They'd be following the well-worn trail out of the city for the start of today, until they hit the edge of the Narivi. Supposedly there was another trail through the forest, mainly used by woodcutters and traders passing through the city, which would make their travel easy, if long. Things rarely went to plan however. She wouldn't be surprised if all hell broke loose well before they saw the first trees of the forest.

[Wolvine]

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Ａｌｙｃｅ  Ｔｏｂｉａｓ  Ｖａｕｘ

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Ｈｕｍａｎ  Ｓｐｙ

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Ｗｉｔｈ：  ｔｈｅ  Ｐａｒｔｙ

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The sun was just starting to settle against the sky by the time the trees came into view. The day had got off to a quiet start, or at least, in Alyce’s case it had. Not keen to step on anyone’s toes before they’d even properly left Aelhaven behind, she’d decided not to say anything offensive until they were at least in the Narivi. Her definition of offensive usually wasn’t exactly on par with everyone else’s however, so she’d opted for the far safer choice of just not saying anything at all. The only person she’d consider chatting to was Fabian, but he was busy sulking on his horse. His loss.

The sight of the forest was certainly something. Alyce was no poet; she had neither the words nor the enthusiasm to describe it. It wasn’t the first time she had seen the forest of course, but familiarity did little to lessen her awe. She found herself thankful that they wouldn’t have to actually traverse the trees blindly. She still didn’t truly understand how Aelhaven had come to be, isolated as it was by the Narivi.

She couldn’t see the start of the track itself, but there was a crude log house a few feet away. A man was watching them approach. She couldn’t read his expression from his far, but the man didn’t appear to be aggressive, as his stance was fairly relaxed. A woodcutter, if she had to guess, based on his semi-permanent looking abode and closeness to the forest. She coughed a little to alert her companions and then nodded in the direction of the man, who was now coming towards them. Her hand curled against her dirk’s hilt instinctively, and she took a couple of steps back so as not to draw attention to herself as the leader of their little group.

“You don’t look like merchants.” The man’s voice was deep and loud, roughened by a heavy, curt accent that Alyce couldn’t quite place. He wasn’t from Aelhaven’s county at least. His face was coarse and leathery, and he wore a large smile, though both were half-hidden by his untamed facial hair. Also, he was huge. Alyce had always been a little on the short size, but this man, well, dwarfed all of them. “Haven’t seen a lot of merchants recently anyway. Hope you’re not trying to get through the Narivi. There’s been some trouble recently.”

Trouble? More trouble than the usual gigantic beasts tearing limbs off people and feral elven tribes making human sacrifices to their Gods? That was great news. The woodcutter gestured vaguely towards the forest, but his irritating smile didn’t waver. “I couldn’t tell you what exactly at the moment, but nobody’s come through in a few weeks. Highly irregular, let me tell you.” Alyce got the impression that the man didn’t usually have people to talk to. He seemed far too chatty for her liking. “There’s been several requests that the Guard do something about it, but nobody’s been sent yet. Unless, that’s what you are? Though you look a little well-equipped for guardsmen. Knights maybe?”