➶ quest

[Wolvine]

█

Ａｌｙｃｅ  Ｔｏｂｉａｓ  Ｖａｕｘ

█

█

Ｈｕｍａｎ  Ｓｐｙ

█

█ 

Ｗｉｔｈ：  ｔｈｅ  Ｐａｒｔｙ

█

After the Guard had showed up, it had been really the end of the evening, despite the fact Alyce could still see two foot in front of her and could recall her own name. Ideally, she would have liked to spend the rest of their funds on drink and pass out in the comfortable warmth of the Garters, but as it was, she'd had to drag an unconscious Ester out onto the street, and eventually fall asleep in a gutter somewhere. She’d fallen onto her stomach and curled herself up against the cold, making sure, even in her less than sober state, to fall asleep with a knife in reach and her coins under her weight, hidden from sight.

The night had passed slowly, with Alyce’s rest being fitful, frequently interrupted by people returning from their own nights of wild adventure. The night’s cheap alcohol had managed to coax bitter complaints, in the way only it knew how. Truly there was no hangover worse than one caused by the pallid piss serves in most taverns. She needed to find out who their supplier was.

Dawn came with Alyce’s groans of complaint as she shifted against the hard ground in an attempt to shield her pounding head from the light. Allya appeared, her voice far, far too loud against her skull. Alyce moaned and tried to bury herself in the earth. There was no way to fully block out the noise however, so eventually she conceded and cracked open her eyes, staring at the pebbles in the dirt.

She opened her mouth to try and respond, but all that came out was a mangled stream of groaning, followed by coughing as she managed to inhale some of the dust underneath her. She rolled back onto her back and sat up, still spluttering pathetically. In between wheezes, she managed to choke out and affirmative, “Yes, healer, before I die.”

She brought herself to her feet, and shuffled over to make sure that Ester hadn’t died, or been killed by Fabian, overnight. “You alive?” she asked, despite feeling like death herself. At least she hadn’t been robbed in the night. Exhaustion and the lingering traces of ale weighed down on her back and head, and being mugged really would have been too much for her to handle at that point. “Come on, we need to go before…” before what? Hell, it was hard to think. Instead of concluding her sentence, she turned back to Allya and tried to remember where they’d left the donkey the night before.

ooc; quick bad post, quality should improve as of next week since im getting internet at home and dont have to reply between lessons

[Jade Harley.]

leanne kios
• nineteen • human • spirit healer • tagged: da party • an inn •

If the big muscular sweaty bald man could look any angrier than he was before, he definitely did now that she had laughed at him. The whole situation had turned into a mess and in the end she had never even gotten her drink. She suspected there hadn't been anything left to serve the drink in, everything had been tossed around and some tables had even been broken into itty bitty tiny bits because some hooligans decided it was a good idea to try out new wrestling moves on top of the tables. There was one group in particular that seemed very "into it," a man had even emerged from under a table with scratches and a bruises all over his face because he dared to venture into the territory of a fierce looking lady.

Her signal to leave arrive as the city guard did and she took that as a sign to get the hell out of there before someone exposed her as a mage and the guard could make an example out of her. She escaped easily enough and found an inn that didn't ask for too much info, just that she gave a name and could pay up front.

The next day Leanne finally started to focus on what she should actually have been doing since the start, finding Illian Derei. A slightly mysterious figure, known for healing and helping the poor and oppressed. One of the older mages, the only person she could really trust at the time, had told her about him. He had said that if she really was planning to escape, she just had to find him and he'd help her. He'd help her find the life she lost so long ago. A normal life, with normal people and dare she say it? A life with real friends. The girl was wondering around town, taking in the scenery at day time but also looking for the mystery mage. Her mage friend had told her he was a forest elf but she had heard gossip from some of the less fortunate parts that there was a healer at an inn that fit his description. Hopefully Leanne and the locals had been thinking about the same person, or else she could accidentally reveal her talents to someone who would call the guard on her.

[ soon there will be bears]

[Wolvine]

█

Ｉｌｉａｎ  Ｄｅｒｅｉ

█

█

Ｅｌｖｅｎ  Ｍａｇｅ

█

█ 

Ｗｉｔｈ：  Ｎｏｎｅ

█

Ilian woke more exhausted than he had been the night before. He had been spared the nightmares, but at the cost of restless, frequently interrupted sleep. After the mysterious travellers had left, he’d finished mixing his poultices, setting aside some that would reduce the pain for when they returned. Minerva returned not too long after that, but it had been only to get him to go and look at the ill man she had gone to deal with.

The child’s description of the condition of his father hadn’t done it justice. The man was pale but for the places where sweat gave him a strange yellow glint in the candlelight, and he kept mumbling about a pain in his hand, though the details were incomprehensible. It was too early to be really sure, but Ilian couldn’t quite shake the thought that this was the fourth case of plague. There was little he could do that Minerva hadn’t already handled, and so he simply apologized to the child and his mother, who had another infant on her hip, and escape back to the stables.

The rest of the day hadn’t been kind to him. Racked with guilt, he’d fretted over his herbs in an attempt to come up with something, anything that could help the man who would probably die, or at the very least prevent his family and neighbours from the same fate. All three of the previous cases he’d seen had lived close to each other. Minerva had tried, uncharacteristically, to talk to him, but she’d given up after he ignored her for long enough.

He spent the night tossing and turning, mumbling curses and prayers in equal measure. He lay on his straw well after the run had risen, staring at the wood grain. When he rose, it was slowly, stiffly, the world shifting somewhat around him. It took him a while to adjust to being stood up, and he had to press his hands against his eyes to try and get them to focus.

A knock on the door interrupted his morning routine, the girl letting herself in before he could make a move. He tried to give her a stern look, but she refused to meet his eye. Despite the fact that she’d been a regular visitor since he’d first arrived in Daemarel, he didn’t know her name. Not her real name, at least. He’d heard many of the locals call her Rat, along with many other less polite names, but he had never taken to the nickname.

She was an orphan, he knew that much, and had taken to him after he’d healed an infected wound that might have cost her a leg if left untreated. She’d come and chat to him, tell him what she’d seen. She seemed glad for the company, and he’s be a fool to turn away any source of information he could lay his hands on. Truthfully, he enjoyed listening to her ramblings and much as she enjoyed giving them. Today however, his benevolence bore fruit beyond having a companion.

“You hear about them adventurers in town? I saw ‘em yesterday, coming in through the west gate. Lots of swords.” Rat grinned, the usual strange glint in her eye that came when she talked about weapons. The girl had a fascination with blades of all sorts, and seemed obsessed over getting herself some for defence. She continued to talk about the group, describing in particular the ‘hairy angry man’ who had caught her attention, but Ilian was only half listening.

Yesterday, the human had said he was a knight, so they’d come from somewhere large enough to warrant having at least a handful of members of the Order stationed. The west gate meant that they’d probably come from Aelhaven, through the Narivi. He’d seen the calls for recruitment when he’d last been in the county; they’d case a wide net when looking for volunteers to seek out the supposedly magical relic, but at the time he’d been on the run and in no position to give himself up to the city’s guard. If they were indeed the group assembled, then that would explain why they had seemed so well armed. Searching for the Chalice seemed like a slim chance to cure the plague, but it was better than what he was doing here, surely?

Another knock on the door drew his attention, and this time the visitor didn’t let themselves in. He shot a glance at Rat, who was already on her feet and ready to disappear, and then went over to see who needed his help this time around. He didn’t recognize the girl outside, and she wore the look of someone a little overwhelmed and frazzled.

“Good morning miss, may I help you?”

[Kitty~.]

e s t e r
role;; rogue assassin
race;; human
tagged;; the party
---------
---------
---------
---------
---------
---------
---------
---------
---------
---------
---------
---------
---------
---------
---------
---------
---------
---------
---------
---------
---------
---------
---------

Waking up where he was, Ester could automatically tell he wasn't in an ideal situation. Instead of lying on the comfortable mattress of a five-star inn next to a lovely lad, he was on the hard, rocky pavement. He was no expert on beds, but he had to assume this one wasn't very good for your back. In addition to this, he was sporting a headache. Now, this was usual considering his drinking habits however, this headache breached the every-day hangover. It kicked the hangover in the ss and threw it ten blocks away, KO'd. He groaned, barely human sounds of agony leaving his lips. God, he'd need more alcohol for this. Finally, much unlike his normal situation, he was being shaken awake - rather rudely - by a small, dirty elf girl. (He wasn't being racist, she was legitimately covered in filth).

Alyce's lovely (if loud) voice was the one that woke him up, or at least slightly. "No," he moaned intelligently. Still, he heaved himself up so he was leaning on his forearms rather than his face. The sun was harsh, he was not in favour of it. In fact, everything this morning wasn't exactly going so well. He could barely recall detais. What had happened the night before? "Why is it I always end up in some street passed out when I'm with you, Alyce? he mumbled. She had said something else, but he hadn't been paying much attention, far too focused on actually getting up rather than listening to her nonsensical words. Allya continued to then point something out - a donkey? How much had he drunk last night?

He got to his feet, swaying a little. Why was the world spinning like that? "I'm not even up this early when I'm sober." He turned to look at Fabian. He couldn't recall why, but he got the distinct feeling he didn't like that guy. Allya, ever the dutiful non-alcoholic, had gone to waking the poor man also. She was a lot more tentative with him, like he'd bite her or something if she got too close as she kept him just at arm's reach. Fair enough. He had to be nearly twice her size in body weight.

He was glad to note he still had all his things on him - his satchel, his gold, his liquor...He contemplated drinking some now, but considering Alyce's light fingers, decided against it. "Please tell me you haven't traveled this far with just a donkey," he said with a sigh. Honestly, how had they survived this long? It didn't take a genius to know that Narivi was dangerous in this age. A few horses would have been far more practical. Instead, the three of them had ventured with what looked to just about be themselves, a couple of weapons and the donkey. Unbelievable. "How have you survived this long? No, wait - I don't want to know. I'll worry too much and then you'll end up stealing my coin again." That had happened on more than one occasion actually.

[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

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Fabian was never drinking again.

What a lie. Fabian always drank. It could be counted as a hobby, actually. He always had a drink once he'd finished his shift of work, immediately heading off to the nearest tavern to where he was stationed for the day. More often than not one drink was followed by a second, then a third, and if he was feeling particular generous to the bartender, a fourth. Generally it was wine, the finest the city streets could offer (which, in all honesty, was not that fine). It could often be in the very early hours of the morning before he returned to a garrison and flopped into a cot bed, but he never had any problem with lack of sleep or the slight headache that normally greeted him. In fact, he'd found a good cure was a nice cold bucket of water, particularly on the bad days. Like today, actually.

His tongue felt not only fat in his mouth, but completely dry; his throat felt like he had a lump of sand in the back and the sunlight was none too favourable to his eyes. The stone cobbles were uncomfortable on his back, digging in to places he didn't know could feel so bad. After escaping from the brawl and the city guard, Fabian had managed to slip away from the group. Probably not the best idea in hindsight (he was pretty sure he'd had another fight in the streets somewhere, and wondering away in an unfamiliar place could spell more than a little trouble) but he'd wanted more to drink. Somewhere along the way he'd found his companions sleeping in the gutter and joined them. He was lucky enough to be awoken by a bright-eyed and bushy tailed Allya, who looked for all the world like she didn't want to get within arm reach of him. He wasn't going to grab her!

Except he nearly did, rolling over with his right arm swinging out. It was only his hungover state that stopped him from hitting her square in the face - and the fact that he couldn't see her, and therefore his aim was poor. When he managed to open his eyes, he, like his fellows, only groaned low in his throat and closed them again, as if doing so would cause the sun to set and enable him to see without pain. Slowly, he managed to get used to the glare, and turned his head to find Alyce and Ester talking. Oh, the rogue was still with them? He would have thought he'd had the sense to stay well clear; unless Alyce had brought him along. Which she probably had. God, could she not have left him? Fabian really didn't want to deal with him right now; because of him he hadn't had a pleasant evening with the lovely barmaid! Well, pleasant for him, in any case.

Hauling himself into a sitting position, the knight waited a few seconds before looking about properly. There were a couple of townsfolk ambling past, some casting them curious glances. Nothing they hadn't had since they got here, and now they must look even worse. And they had somewhere to be, didn't they? They had to get back to the healer, for their wounds. And to give him any news of Templars. Fabian remembered something about the east gate, but nothing more. It was hardly anything, but it was better than nothing. The male just caught the end of Ester's words. We had a horse," he said; he'd been the only one with enough sense, "but he was killed." That horse had been his.

[Wolvine]

█

Ａｌｙｃｅ  Ｔｏｂｉａｓ  Ｖａｕｘ

█

█

Ｈｕｍａｎ  Ｓｐｙ

█

█ 

Ｗｉｔｈ：  ｔｈｅ  Ｐａｒｔｙ

█

"You're the one who started a brawl. I'm not the problem here, I refuse to take responsibility." It genuinely hadn't been her fault this time around, but even if it had, she still wouldn't shoulder the blame. Her hands searched for her daggers, checking for the fifth that they hadn't been taken during the night. One couldn't be too careful. While this was a far cry from the slightly shadier areas of Aelhaven, the habit had been drilled into her after years. Being without a blade was the difference between being alive and being thrown into a sewer for the rats.

She swayed slightly as she tried to get her bearings, and it took more effort than she'd be willing to admit to stay upright. Fabian, who looked even more rough than she did, was clearly having trouble this morning as well, swatting Allya away like a fly. He rolled over and moaned, and Alyce wondered absently if he was going to vomit. She couldn't really recall ever seeing him throw up because of alcohol. It would certainly be something new. Instead, the warrior turned to give her and Ester a glare that was almost as filthy as their elven friend. That didn't bode terribly well for Ester's immediate health. Then again, it was possible that it was simply his usual hangover face, and that he wasn't feeling any special sort of resentment. Either way, it might be diplomatic to try and buy him a bottle of brandy or something with the rest of the coin she'd salvaged. It wouldn't do to have one of her friends decapitate the other. She didn't have enough of them to spare.

Alyce's head turned to watch Allya materialize the donkey out of what was apparently thin air. She squinted hard at the animal, putting down her failure to notice where it had come from as to the after effects of a good night. Patting the animal's flank absently, she pretended to check it over in order to cover up how she needed to support herself against its weight. "Of course not, we had an ass as well," she muttered, nodding over at the knight, but perhaps too quietly to be heard over Fabian's gravelly response. She winced a little. While she had no affection for the animal, believing horses the embodiment of the demons from biblical tales, it was blindingly obvious that Fabian was still smarting from the loss of his steed. Perhaps she'd been wrong, and he was capable of feeling something other than rage.

"Not all of us have the good fortune to be on a knight's wages," she added, wrapping her arm a little tighter around the donkey's neck as the earth bucked under her. "Its hard to scrape together enough for a hot meal when you're pickpocketing alcoholics in darkest Aelhaven." She'd always found it amusing how paranoid Ester was about having her rifle through his pockets. She rarely (though not never) stole from her friends, finding it less effort to simply charm them into spending for her. The assassin had always been charitable with his funding, one of the things that had endeared him to her in the first place.

"Now that we're all awake and grumbling, we should move out. I'm surprised the guard didn't come and kick us awake before Allya did. Will you be joining us, Master D'Lancey?" If he was on a job, then this would sadly be where they parted ways. If he wasn't though, well, they had just lost most of their party. Another skilled hand would be appreciated.

[Jade Harley.]

leanne kios
• nineteen • human • spirit healer • tagged: da party • an inn •

Leanne was a little hesitant to knock. She had seen a small child let themself in and was left standing in front of the door listening to their conversation. Not on purpose of course...at first. She heard her talk about swords and an angry hairy man. The latter she didn't care for but the swords...that left Leanne concerned. And Aelhaven was where she made her escape from. They might know about her or worse yet be after her.

But from what she knew this Illian character could help her right? She wouldn't be sent to the circles again, not alive at least. She refused. And if he was going to send her back there she was going to drag him with her. Only if it came to that of course. And it wouldn't. He was supposed to help her. She just hoped he was as selfless as her mage friend had described him to be.

She allowed her knuckles to knock on the door three times, hoping that this was even the right place. "Good morning miss, may I help you?" Leanne spied a glance over the man's shoulder, not seeing the child anymore. The man's appearance surprised her a little, not to mention he was an elf as well! There were a few elves in the circle, but not many with the same striking contrast between his white hair and dark skin. "Uh...I...hello!" She finally managed to spit out cheerfully. "Are you Illian Derei? I really hope so because my body really didn't agree with the distance I traveled to see you and I would hate to have made a mistake." She awaited his reply and then continued, "You happen to know a Reyel Teran?" She asked, hoping he would recognise the name of her mage friend.


[ so little going on im sor its so short]

[Wolvine]

█

Ｉｌｉａｎ  Ｄｅｒｅｉ

█

█

Ｅｌｖｅｎ  Ｍａｇｅ

█

█ 

Ｗｉｔｈ：  Ｎｏｎｅ

█

Ilian frowned a little to himself as he took in the girl's appearance; she was young, rumpled, clearly out of place. Something about her seemed off somehow, as if she didn't belong, but it wasn't immediately obvious what. She herself seemed to notice he also wasn't in his comfort zone, but what distinguished him from the rest of Daemarel's populace was much easier to see. He didn't mind her not so subtle gawking, more than used to it at this point.

She was not obviously injured, and from the look of her she wasn't a local, so presumably she wasn't after his healing services. He smiled at her encouragingly as she failed to respond for a couple of seconds, trying not to feel self-concious at her inspection. When the words came, they were in a rush, unloading information on him at a rate he was only just able to keep up with.

"Yes, I am Ilian," he answered, somewhat bemused as to why a young girl would have travelled any distance at all in search of him. It became clear as she elaborated, dropping an old familiar name. "Ah! Reyel! Of course! Come inside, quickly." He moved back in, trusting the girl to follow. She was a mage, on the run from the templars. That would also explain the order's presence in town. Everything was making a lot more sense now.

"Reyel and I exchanged letters for some time while I was in Aelhaven county," he explained, gesturing for her to come further into the stable, and away from the gaze of the public. Now that it had been spelled out for him, it was obvious from the wide-eyed gaze and her manner that she was a barracks mage. "I helped a few of your fellows a couple of years back, once they got out of the city." He turned and began to rifle through his items, looking for his ever dwindling handful of coins. He'd try and give her the basics of money management (he'd assume she'd been jailed her entire life, and would have no concept of such things) before he sent her out into the world with it of course, and she might have to stay in the stable while he worked out a route for her to escape without alerting the tempalrs. He didn't press her for a name, or any information of any sort, concious that it might be safer if he knew as little about her as possible. "If you've come all the way from Aelhaven, you must be exhausted. Feel free to take a seat."

[Kitty~.]

e s t e r
role;; rogue assassin
race;; human
tagged;; the party
---------
---------
---------
---------
---------
---------
---------
---------
---------
---------
---------
---------
---------
---------
---------
---------
---------
---------
---------
---------
---------
---------
---------
---------
---------
---------
---------

Ester was far too weary to reply to anyone's comments with his usual sass. Sleeping in a gutter wasn't the most hospitable of situations compared to the fluffed pillows he was accustomed to. As alyce spoke, vague flashes of the night previous came flashing back to him. Ah. Now, was it any wonder that Fabian was mad at him? Probably not. Ester was a big fan of stirring up mischief. Did he regret it? Never. If anything, it just made it funnier. A smug smile spread across his lips. God, he cracked himself up sometimes. He wondered how long he could play it off that he was a lady killer. The phrase wasn't entirely wrong. He'd killed a fair few ladies in his time. Just in the literal sense.

After Allya almost got swiped by Fabian's large arm, she picked herself off and threw him an irate look. Honestly, Ester was convinced that was just her resting face. She dusted herself off (not really, considering the amount of filth that was coated on her. Had she been rolling in a swamp?) and picked up her weapon - her bow and arrow. Ester noted to his relief that his knives were still upon him. They weren't cheap and he didn't really intend to lose them in a town such as Daemarel.

Ester barked a laugh at Alyce's discreet comment. He was glad that he had found her in this town, really. Assassinations were a bore at times. It was repetitive, unless one decided to add a bit of flair. Ester wasn't one of those types of people. He almost got caught half of the time as it was - there was no point in endangering himself any further by something stupid like a trademark some flashy assassins possessed. He glanced at Fabian as he voiced the fate of their steed. "That's incredibly unfortunate," he said. Still, if it came to him or the horse, he hoped they were glad it was the latter. It did leave to question what had killed the horse. Surely, someone such as Fabian, Alyce and Allya could easily challenge something such as a pack of wolves or bandits. Fabian looked like he sparred bears in his free time.

Ester wasn't really surprised at Alyce's request. He was sure she did dearly miss him in his absence. Unfortunately, he was on a job. Fortunately, he had long since abandoned it when he'd started having drinks with his targets. Another unhappy customer to add to his list, it seemed. Besides, where Alyce went, mishaps followed. He could get used to that. "I'll clear my schedule," he teased off-handedly. He could almost sense Allya's disapproving stare from behind him, but didn't care to pay too much attention to it. She was probably just bitter because he started that bar fight last night. Or bitter in general. That seemed more plausible.

"So I get that we're visiting a healer," he commented, in-stride with Alyce. "But I hesitate to ask...how can you afford it? It had become vastly apparent that this lot weren't the wealthiest, given their accommodation. What trained healer would be kindly enough to aid a bunch of muddy misfits?

[Wolvine]

█

Ａｌｙｃｅ  Ｔｏｂｉａｓ  Ｖａｕｘ

█

█

Ｈｕｍａｎ  Ｓｐｙ

█

█ 

Ｗｉｔｈ：  ｔｈｅ  Ｐａｒｔｙ

█

Alyce beamed at Ester, making no attempt to disguise how delighted she was to have him come with them. She liked Fabian and Allya well enough, but they were a bit, well, stiff for her tastes. The assassin was a laugh, always game for some ridiculous endeavour or other. Itd be entertaining having him along.

"There's some sort of loose mage offering healing free of charge. Stupid if you ask me. People talk, he's going to get caught." If she was risking her skin, she'd definitely try and make a profit out of it at least. The guy was a moron, or possibly had an ulterior motive. She was hard pressed to think of a situation where trying to heal the sick and dying would possibly be beneficial (information? one had to meet a lot of people, people who'd be grateful to have their loved ones saved, but he hadn't asked them anything), but there had to be something there she was missing.

Still, no point in staying here and contemplating about it. Alyce straightened up and began to move confidently and purposefully towards the stable where the healer was. Or at least, she imagined herself doing that. Her head groaned with every slight movement she was making, and so her journey was in fact a lot more pained shuffling and leaning against a mule rather than easy strides.

*

When the mage appeared this time, he looked a lot more rattled. He hadn't exactly been the picture of calm and serenity the previous day either, so that was really saying something. He invited them in with no words though, and Alyce noted absently the presence of another girl with a strange look to her. Hm. Perhaps that was his payment.

"When I recommended you get rehydrated, this wasn't what I had in mind." The elf spoke with a weariness that suggested this was far from the first time that this had happened to him. There was definitely a resigned practise to the way he handed her and her fellow hungover comrades a small vial containing some sort of greenish liquid. "Luckily for you, I'm well versed in the ways of dealing with those who had a little too much fun. That won't taste particularly good, but it'll clear your heads." Alyce peered dubiously at the vial, wondering briefly if he was trying to drug them, but then reasoned that if he wanted them dead, he'd have killed them by now. And Allya wouldn't drink the mystery liquid.

She drank it all in one slug, and immediately regretted her decision. It was more bitter than anything she'd ever tasted in her life and made her mouth feel like it was curling in on itself. The overpowering flavour did seem to go straight to her brain though, pushing away anything that wasn't disgust. Alyce shook her head violently, coughing, her tongue out. She scowled up at the healer, who was trying to hide a grin behind his hand, and swore at him, tossing the vial onto the floor in protest. She did feel better, but damned if she was going to be thankful for it.

The mage sobered as her head did, apparently remembering that they weren't just here to chat. He indicated to Fabian to come closer, presumably to check his shoulder. His eyes lingered for a second on Ester, apparently having noticed they'd swapped a short elven woman for a tall human man, though he didn't comment.

"I've heard Aelhaven is nice at this time of year," he commented as he examined the warrior's injury, and Alyce tensed. They hadn't told him where they'd come from. How had he found out?