The Darkness Looming.

[RainTheifAustin]

The sea breeze cascaded over the deck of the Aroha, Allen stood tall at the wheel of the wooden marvel, he directed his crew and they began to prepare for dock. Illium sat only a quater of a clique away. The Ship drifted into the bustling harbor, ships lined the pier for miles, and the dock workers hustled and bustled,loading and unloading supplies and shipments, but townsfolk also bustled along the harbor stopping by the fishermen's stalls. The ship halted as the crew began tieing off to the dock and settling it in place. Allen and his wife then exited the ship and proceeded into town. Here they would began their search.
----
Roren stood outside a tavern, peering across the citizens that strode back and forth across the road. He had been waiting for sometime, he had been informed of a contact that would give him some information on cerberus, but no-one had shown yet. He grunted in anger and then entered the tavern to get a drink. He sat at a corner table where he could see everyone, and relax himself a bit, without the need to watch his back he felt a bit safer. He waved a waitress, a tall, slender, shapely, pale blue Asari walked over in a dress that showed more then average amount clevage, her dress also had a split down the center of the front, and underneath were a pair of fishnet stocking. He thanked her for the drink, but also scowled her attire, one such as herself, so open, so frivelous in their fruit, were nasty and unwanted.

[Darkshadowmark]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcAI8rlQiq4
OR
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pySDfdygBA

His journey was long and arduous to say the very least. Forced to travel to the Sol continent to hunt down several blood mages. He was one of the best of the Templars in the circle, and they were more than happy to send him down...he setting sun reflected off of his dark, warpainted skin. His trusty steed, Josley picked at the flowers and plants on the ground, feeding. He still had a day's journey to the Citadel, and night was approaching fast. Even as a proud Templar with elite training, he still feared the creatures of the night. Cursed spiders, wolves...people....there was a small town coming up, a town he had no inclination to learn the name of...he spurred his steed down the hill's well traveled path, tearing it away from it's momentary rest...


He had been tasked with the hunting and elimination of thirteen bloodmages that had been capturing and sacrificing multiple humans of Sol for their rituals in the name of demons. They had hidden themselves just outside the city of mars in the barren red land using a small cave system to cower in. Many of the other templars they had sent did nothing but die and fail to send word back that they had died. It was but another service to the circle and his Templar master, one that he gratefully enjoyed. He would never admit it openly, but bathing in the blood of a mage inspired such an...ecstasy in him...it would bee deemed sick, wrong, something that a mass murderer would dream of. But to Canderous, it was something different that he couldn't put his finger on. Whenever he saw a mage, his mandibles would twitch and he would feel a heavy anger in his stomach...it was how he was raised, he guessed. Growing up with an intense hatred for mages and their ilk.

Making it to the bottom of the hill, he rode his steed into the small town he had seen earlier, there were many of many species here, a trading post from the looks of it. There were a few taverns here, more than the average of one for a small town like this, so definitely a post for trading goods and resupplying on a journey to the citadel. The road he traveled was one that had a deep rut in it from the amount of travelers. Thousands walked it every year. He made his way to the front of a tavern and hitched his steed, which looked at him disapprovingly. Josley knew that she didn't need a hitch, but also knew that it was law. Canderous made his way inside to rest for the night. Thankfully, the Tavern he was using was always open for Templars because of their work.

[Celestial]

Cordelia walked amongst the citizens of the Citadel as she eyed people walking past her. There was an elderly couple whom were yelling at children as they ran through the streets, guards trying to sort a dispute that would surely go up in arms if intervention wasn't present, and then she saw the various vendors who proposed the rarity of an item, which she could see was nothing but one big scam. She smirked as she kept on walking. Scamming was amateur; stealing the real thing was where the real professionals resided.

She wrapped her forest green traveling cloak around her shoulders as she quickly made back to the inn where she had for the night. She enjoyed the Citadel for its vibrant life, but she wasn't here tonight for mere tourism. She had received a contract from a client. Her weapons of death hung on her waist as she contemplated the kill. She had scouted, investigated, and exploited every avenue of information, and the time for her hunt was now.

Within the Citadel, explicitly stated by her client, she was to murder a high official and 'leave a bloody mark'. From what she had gathered, the Turian was a corrupt who dabbled within the slave trade. She grimaced at the thought. The Batarians and their trade. She hated them. She hated them with boundless fury. Staying the thoughts, she rehearsed the killing. Though she promised herself never to get emotional involved with any contract, she had a personal ... interest with regards to the slave trade. The turian would enlighten her. Until then though, she had a show to put on. She removed a small white harlequin mask and smirked. The children really loved the show; she'd be sure to put on a good one before the real performance began.

[RainTheifAustin]

Roren continued frinking, and found himself somewhat angrier then when he had begun, an odd effect, but not caused by liquor. His contact had not shown, there was nothing he hated more then to be held up with his tasks. He stood and left the Tavern, making his way up the street towards an armorer, someone he could talk to, someone he could get information on. On his way he passed a couple that eyed him carefully, and whether they knew, that Roren was aware of them or not, did not matter, he ended up passing his destination as he weaved slowly between the evening crowds. He pulled his hood over his full helmet and turned quickly down an alley and drew his crossbow, readied a bolt, and by the time the pair turned into the alley, Roren had his crossbow trained on the male. "Why do you follow me?" Roren asked hastly with the reminiscent anger from the tavern.
---
"Why do you run from us?" Marylnn asked with a sense of judgment. "Anyone with manners would simple turn and ask us why we follow, but you hold us at the end of your weapon, why?"
---
"Marlynn, we agreed to do this with manners, not judgment and sarcastic anger. I apologize for my wife's behavior. I am Allen Vasquez, this is Marylnn Vasquez. You fit the description of Roren'Teevar, are you infact he who we believe?" Allen asked bowing after introductions and giving a faithful smile.
---
"I am infact Roren'Teevar, if you are here from Cerberus, I suggest you prepare yourselves, I am not going to fight unarmed opponents." Roren stated furiously as he took a step back and tightened his grip on his crossbow. He glared at the pair and waited a moment as he studied their posture and appareal. "I fear I have judged to quickly, you do not have an angry posture, nor one that hints at an intent to kill. Forgive me, I hunt down that of which I hate most, and I am sorry to insult you with their name."
---
"It is quite alright comrade. We are not here to hurt you, we ar ehere to gather you for a team of specialized members, in which you will work. We need to investigate what we believe is a conspiracy. We are unsure of what, or who it entails, but we must not waste time, it wil take sometime to gather the team, and time is short. Now, will you join us? Jorgal Roren'Teevar? Allen asked with an extended hand and raised brow.
---
"You obviously do your research, which leads me to believe you tell the truth, and if the situation is as risky as you say, I cannot refuse, the power of justice is all that seperates us from absolute destruction. He stated as he took Allen's hand and placed his crossbow on his back. He then followed them to their ship and departed, they left as quickly as they came, their next destination would be a split operation, a tactic that would save time. They were headed to the Citadel to drop off Roren, and then Allen and Marlynn would sail to the Sol Continent and head to the town of Mars, in hopes to catch their next propsed memeber.

[Fabricant451]

Liars. Cheaters. Adulterers. That was all Tiani could see as she made her way down a rather crowded street of the Citadel, a sack casually slung on her back and dragging on the ground behind her. The people in this section of the city, the section for the drunkards and the criminals, always made her skin crawl. Even now she did her best to avoid making eye contact. Her slow, measured steps due to the package around her back were making her little excursion unbearable. Why the one who made the request wanted the proof of completion brought to this stain on an otherwise decent place was beyond her. It was not her way to question, only to respond.

And what a response it had been. There were few thing Tiani enjoyed more than tracking down and disposing of bandits; there were fewer joys in life than ridding the land of such rabble. Seeing the request on the local board was all the encouragement she needed. The only disappointment was how the human hardly put up a fight. It had still been a satisfying hunt, but not nearly as rewarding.

Tiani arrived at the designated drop off spot, a seemingly empty alleyway, and plopped the sack down. From behind a lone human entered the alley as soon as the thump was heard. Tiani did not turn to face him though she remained ever aware of his presence.

"Well done," the human said, stepping around her and kneeling to inspect the corpse in the sack, "All appears to be in order. Ah, your reward." The man dug around in his pocket and tossed a small bag at Tiani, who caught it while keeping her gaze on the man.

"For a thief he went without much of a struggle," Tiani's right hand began to glow a faint shade of blue, "And it is a strange request to want to body. I am curious, what do you intend to do with the corpse?"

The man, who had been busily inspecting the corpse's various limbs, turned his head to the asari. "You know how much I can get for these organs and limbs?"

Tiani had heard enough. The glow around her right arm increased in size and thinned in shape until a blue blade extended from her hand. She grabbed the hilt and before the man could react she knocked him onto his back and drove the blade into his chest, missing the heart. "You had me do your dirty work for an unjust cause. I will have to atone for the life I senselessly took. I will not mourn for the one I will take now." Tiana twisted the blade and the man coughed his final breath. The blade disappeared and Tiani stood up, dropping the payment onto the fresh corpse. She could not accept it, it was not earned properly.

She hated this part of town. No one there but liars, murderers, and thieves. Tiani would flee as quickly as she could. And when back in the respectable part of the city should would enter the nearest Chantry. Such atonement was required on a failure such as this. She could only hope that her next job was cleaner.

[Shoryu]

As luck would have it, a certain monk had also happened to have a similar idea to pass through the nameless little Trading post on the same day, Though he was certainly not in the same tavern as Canderous, the few people still awake at this hour had a small bit of gossip going about a man with a pet dragon who was in town. Panji was clueless about a lot of 'worldly things', among which was that there were people who hunt 'free' magic users, though he didn't exactly consider his abilities 'magic' in the same sense as other people. Regardless, such was irrelevant as he had come to the town earlier that day, and was at this time awakening to depart, He liked traveling at night, Stars and moon-light were an ever enjoyable travel partner as far as he was concerned.

He was making his way down one of the main streets of the small trading, only present because he'd been of a place called 'the Citadel' that was kindof like a capital city for this kingdom by his interpretation, and thought it might be the best place to start his 'journey' and to learn vital information about the world from people who must've been allover the place. Probably anyone that would've ever considered 'having' a dragon would know the problems it could cause walking down the street in the open, he'd actually had more than few people ask him 'what would you trade for the lizard?' only to recieve an angry Snarl from Hima, before being refused and moving on quickly to avoid an 'incident'. In addition to being oblivious to the dangers a Templar could pose him, he also had no clue that the 'street value' of a dragon, dead or alive, was vast and he was liable to attract trouble quickly, similar to an event only moments away.

Panji had actually rested during the afternoon, partly to avoid getting hassled by more merchants as he left town after they were meant to be asleep, though the very vague movement in a shadow near one of the closed stalls hinted to him that somebody else was watching him. He passed by this concealing shadow, and picked up on something's killing intent, and in an instant Kicked into the shadow, for only a second a blue glow erupted from his bare foot as it impacted and revealed a man in a cloak [a magic discharge that could be detected?], who reacted by falling down a couple feet back and dropping the pair of daggers he'd been intending to use. A moment later Panji kept on walking.

"Poor guy, I didn't mean to knock him out, he must've been starving or something. That's the third one today... This place must have a lot of desperate people."

"Ugh, Panji you Idiot, He was going to try to kill you. I mean you're a tough guy and all, but wow You're dense."

Panji just grinned stupidly as he continued on down the road that would lead towards the citadel and reached up to scratch Hima's head a little "Oh you silly thing you, Why would anyone wanna kill me? I'm such a nice guy." Hima just gives a grumbling sigh to this and curls around his neck to watch the sky as his 'steed' walks along the well worked road.

[RainTheifAustin]

Roren had been dropped off at the C-Sec Harbor, and he in awe at the massive, magical, floating city, how such a structure floated over the water amazed him. He continued on into the thick of the city. He was given a two dossiers, of two believed targets they needed for the team, each Dossier contained a detailed summary of their abilities and background, along with a painting of their person. He continued down a street, no wider then a horse cart, and peered around, he know how to gain information, it took a silver-tongue and a firm grip, but he hoped his tongue would be the only thing in action. He strode a few more feet before turning into the nearest Tavern and apporached the bartender, an older male, human too, but with what appeared to be Turian Face paint, something odd, and almost never seen. Roren ordered a thing of Turian Brandy and took up a conversation with the man, in hopes of gaining some information.
---
Allen and Marlynn set sail once more for the Sol Continent, they docked at the Harbor of Pluto, and would take a decently long Foot Journey to intercept their target.

[Celestial]

Some time later, Cordelia had made it to the inn that she was staying at. She nodded to the local innkeeper as he to her. She quickly made her way into her room and opened the door then closed it. She laid out her pack as she began to prepare for tonights gruesome deed. She wasn't sure what she had in mind to make the assassination leave a bloody impression, but she had a few good ideas cooking up within her mind. She tossed away her traveling cloak as she stretched out her sore muscles. She had been about the whole damn Citadel all day looking for potential escape routes and noting C-sec guard barracks. This mark wouldn't be easy, but a hard job was an exciting one. She was looking forward to it.

Her weapon on her side hung loose as she went to stare out of her window. It was there she picked out a rather curious sight. There, entering a bar, was a Quarian. She had seen their kind before, but within the Citadel, those nomadic people were a rare sight indeed. She pursed her lips. Having her curiosity sparked, she went back and took her cloak and wrapped it around her shoulders. She stored the harlequin mask within the fabric of her cloak and other things she may need for tonight's deed. Making sure everything was accounted for, she went back down and reemerged into the crowd. She wanted to have a quick peek at the Quarian. She had enough time to spare that it wouldn't conflict with her schedule.

She casually made her way to the tavern as she felt the jovial atmosphere wash over her. She took a seat a corner as she watched everything that moved within. The Quarians outfit was quite a sight indeed. She looked out the window as she judged the position of the sun. She couldn't forget about her task now. That would not do at all.

[Darkshadowmark]

The wait until the sun rose into the air was one he did not wish to make. he walked out of the tavern and found that Josley was gone, but not too far. She had found a hay bale to rest in after intelligently unhitching herself from the post. He hated to disturb her, but he had to. There was no reason to stay any longer as the hour of sleep he received was more than enough for him to continue. He poked her with the bottom side of his spear and woke her up. She looked at him, groggy and tired, unhappy that she had to get up. She shook off the sleep that had taken hold of her and readied herself for Canderous to mount up. Once he did, they set out for the road leading to the citadel and took it slow, making sure to stay with the few people that traveled the road as well. He took his time, enjoying the moon above shining it's wonderful light down onto his skull, illuminating his tattoos.

He spoke with few of the other travelers, most just sticking near him so that bandits would easily see the templar on a Turian Warsteed and steer clear of them. They barely exchanged names, let alone life stories of one another. He preferred it this way, that way he wouldn't feel bad if they wee slaughtered by bandits.

[RainTheifAustin]

Allen and Marlynn had been traveling quite sometime after docking in Pluto, the sail from the Citadel to the Sol Continent was a decent one, but nothing they couldn't handle. They had just left Jupiter and were making their way through the trail, but night was falling, and they decided camp would be best, but they saw ahead of them, a small group. They rushed ahead to prepare themselves for conflict, but found that group only contained travelers, one of which they seemed to notice was quite well armed, to well armed to be a trader, his armor signified he was a Templar, and Marlynn, almost openly, let an expression cross her face that would signify her enthusiasm. Marlynn and Allen began to make camp after offering the Travlers safety, and the couple began to convene in secrecy, with their dossier's ofcourse, of how the Turian they noticed, might just be the one they needed.


Canderus had noticed the two that were walking the trail, they seemed to go to the side and set a camp. They looked heavily armed and much more conversational than the ones he was currently travelling with. He broke off from his group and approached the ones at the camp and dismounted. The other travellers he was with split up, two of them coming to join him at the camp and the others continuing on. If these two travellers at the camp were bandits, he would be more than able to fend them off with Josley's help and possibly the others he was travelling with. He smiled, in the way only a Turian could, and sat down. "Greetings, fellow travellers. It is a pleasure to meet you. Where, might I ask, are you travelling?"


"Greetings. We are just traveling in general, we know where we are going, but we have no destination." Allen stated as he turned form the fire he had started and extended a hand for a polite handshake. "I am Allen Vaneko, and this is Marlynn, my wife." Allen added as he took his other hand and motioned to her to step forward away from the tent she had started on. "Greetings." She stated before also extending her hand.


He shook both of their hands and smiled. "I am Canderous Aureus. A pleasure to meet both of you." He liked these travellers, they were a bit more civilized than other rabble that he met from time to time, and from the looks of it, they were fellow warriors that had nothing to do with magic and sorcery. "Then where were you going, if I may ask. Just exploring?" To tell the truth, Canderus was genuinely interested in their story. One of his loves was seeing the stories of those that travelled, to see where they come and go and to know why they do the things they do.


"Actually, we have arrived at our destination it seems, you our friend, are exactly who we are looking for, Canderous." Allen said with a smile. "We heard word you were in Mars, we left to intercept you. We need your assistance, we are building a team, and you will be on this team, if you will join us that is, our plan is just, and we have information that may save lives." Allen said drawing Canderous in so he could speak quietly to him. "If you would join us that would be grand, we will leave early in the morning to return to our ship in Pluto, from their, we will fill you in." Allen spoke as he stepped away with Marlynn and finished setting up the camp.


He listened to their offer and gauged his interest in it and his obligation to the templars. He stood and stretched, unbuckling his armor for the night. "No. Sorry. Can't just leave my orders to return to the Templar Commander in the citadel. Until otherwise directed by the Commander, I am in constant active duty." He finished unbuckling his armor and used his satchel as a pillow to lay on while Josley moved close by and lay down. "Yeah, I'd love to go on some wild adventure to save everybody, but obligations come first."


"I see, well nevertheless, you shall join us on our ship, our next peparture takes us to the Citadel, we will speak with your Commander and resolve this issue. Hope you rest well Templar." Allen stated as he gathered with his wife in their tent. They slept clamly through the night, cuddled together as the happliy married should, but they were disturbed by the light of morning. Dawn shown through their tent's flap and awoke the pair with ease.