Keeping a safe distance, Rue began sketching the strange creature and jotting down notes about it. "Initially vicious, music and food seem to calm them, might be domesticable, carnivorous." She flinched seeing Gabe get bit by it. "Careful Gabriel. For all you know it might be be poisonous, or having the foaming madness like some wild dogs and horses." She announced, more out of professionalism than any notion that he'd heed her. "Extra set of teeth, almost like a Shark's." she mumbled under her breath continuing to write.

Lily couldn't help but wince at the sight of one of the two beasts tearing into the other. When said beast then turned towards the party, her body pretty much went on high alert. She would be ready this time...
...That is to say, if anything bad would've happened in the first place, something which was prevented by the halfling's enchanting music drawing up all the attention of the savage beast. In fact, even Lily herself found herself drawn to the music, having to force herself to pay attention to anything else - like, say, the monster that could still attack them at every second.
The longer things went on though, the more likely it became that Gabriel would be able to tame the beast, even getting the hairy creature to eat from his hand. To be fair, the monster took this a bit too literally for the halfling's comfort, but at least all hostility seemed to have ended. That being said, Lily wasn't planning on lowering her guard until it was absolutely sure that the beast wouldn't attack them, whilst simultaneously trying to listen for anything else that might attack them from behind.

Rasa lets the magical energy she'd collected dissipate harmlessly. She lowers her hand, but still cautiously regards the creature. When it bites into Gabriel's hand, she almost kicks into action but restrains herself when no one else moves. What a strange sight.

"I agree about caution being warranted, even if it seems non hostile. But, what do you plan to do with it now?"

"Knowing Gabriel, he'll be trying to teach it to do tricks." Rue said with a smile. "Sit, Stay, Lie Down, Roll over, Jump through a hoop, balance a finger on its nose."

Gabriel glanced back at Rue, while he still tried to pet the creature. "My mother was a Beast Tamer after all. He'll be a great addition, also I will make sure he is kept in good care!" Gabriel returned his attention to the beast, "You are adorable, and a magnificent friend." He then glanced back at the others, "Don't you agree on it being so wonderful? Also he can protect us from other things... And I will make sure to protect our new friend. Oooh! Also the dangers of the profession are well worth the risk of making a new animal friend."

Not long after their encounter with Lily and, the party had made decent progress. The yet to be named beast had kept mostly docile, staying at Gabriel's side. At the end of the clearing, a bonfire was seen lit. It was a village with structures made from stone and wood, all apparently recycled from the immediate environment. There were no roofs, rather the structures simply reached up to the ceiling. Surrounding the village was a wall of sand, and the air simply felt different from the rest of the dungeon, and with very good reason.

At parts of the sand wall, there were holes at the roof of the dungeon. Through them, air flowed. It was the surface- the party had made no progress down the dungeon at all. Through the holes, it was noticeably dark. Straight up, there were stars and no clouds. It was night time, apparently.

In the village there were several civilian houses, clearly marked by wooden signs with a family name over the door. Businesses featured pictures of things they sold. A bar had a mug carved over the sign. A general store had a coin. There were those stores and one that sold clothing. An inn was open, but it seemed connected to the bar.

Rue looked up at the ceiling, irked. She was failing in her duty as a Guide, they ought to be miles below ground at this point. She gave a sigh before looking back at the group. "All right, everybody pair up. We'll rendevous at the general store and pick up supplies. Be cautious, there is every possibility that this town is as hostile as Gabriel's new friend was."

Rasa looks over the area, her optic sensors examining the town, before looking upwards to the roof and the surface. "I see we have nearly returned to the surface..." She muses,. Rasa hadn't actually seen the surface before, this glimpse of the night sky was the first since her reactivation. After a short time in contemplation, Rasa looks over towards Rue and the others. "What kind of supplies do we need?"

"Well we've plenty of horse meat, but we're going to need fruits and vegetables too, especially citrus. I've seen what happens to sailors and migrants who don't get those and catch mouthrot. It's ugly thing." Rue said. "Maybe some water too, if they've a well. Actually, Rasa, do you need to eat or drink or any particular thing to..be?" Rue asked, unsure of how else to phrase it.

"Yes ma'am, Mrs. Rue. We'll be careful."
+"Yeah, sure. Alright Billy, we're in a town, so first thing's first."+
"Does it involve killing people?"
+"For once, no. We have to get you some armor to make you get less killed."+
"I- that doesn't make sense, but I get the idea. Anyone else have to stop by the smithy?"

Gabriel glanced at his beast companion. "Yeah, food, water and other essentials. OH if possible more meat, I want to make sure my friend eats well for the essential seven meals of the day! If you guys don't mind, I'm going to wait here with my new friend. I need to give my companion a worthy name!" Gabriel turned to the beast, "Oh first I have to completely determine if you are male or female! I didn't really check earlier, just assuming really. After all that is an important step for a name. I just want to be completely sure about this, okay? Oh, also, I think after we've created the name, how about I teach you some fun stuff!?" Gabriel glanced at the others, "OH, while you guys are there can you tell me if you find a tavern, and whether or not it is busy? If it is, I've got an impromptu performance to do!" Gabriel glanced at the beast, as he went to determine whether or not his new creature friend was male or female. "Also for names I've got a few names right off the bat. Could you tell me if you like any of the names I'm about to suggest? Hendrix. Cobain. Amadeus. Fluffy...." Gabriel began twirling his left side-burn, "Let me think of others, Oooh! Emperor! Hmm... Do you like any of those names?"

Although Lily didn't need all that many supplies compared to most other creatures, there was still the matter of replacing her bag; when they stumbled on it by what was likely mostly luck, the thing was already mostly totaled by rats and other vermin, to say nothing about the contents. Just about the only thing that was still salvagable was her sleeping back, which was likely due to it having several enchantments on it. She counted herself lucky for the fact that she always keeps her flask of water on her body rather than in her bag. Sure, it was too sturdy for most critters to destroy it, but that wouldn't matter if they just ran off with it.
"Well, I need a new bag," she told the blonde woman, holding up the heavily damaged piece of cloth for effect. "aside from that, I don't really need all that much. I don't need food, and as for water... I don't want to be rude, but I prefer to let nobdy touch my bottle but me."

With that bit of preparation taken care of, the Sprite turned to face Gabriel. "Oh, can I join you? I can dance!"

"Fair enough." Rue said giving her head covering a quick rub and began walking towards the place. As she left, she looked over her shoulder and shouted to Gabriel "Gabriel, can you leash that thing when we get to town? If it went wild and killed somebody, things would become complicated."

Gabriel glanced at Lily, "Yes! The more acts the merrier." He began rubbing his chin, "A dancer you say!? Wonderful, I have several acts that require dancers! I haven't tried the Motley Piper in sometime, perhaps I shall do that act. Or I shall do one random one on the spot." He smiled at Lily as he extended his arms, "Truly it will be a glorious show." His ear twitched as he heard Rue shouting, "No need to shout!" Gabriel shouted back at Rue so she'd hear. Gabriel turned to his beast friend, "Lady Rue thinks I should put you on a leash."

"Do I need to eat or drink anything to... be?" Rasa looks confused at the question, not understanding the implications behind Rue using the word 'be' instead of 'live'. "I am not sure what you mean by that, but I do not need to consume food or water." She does follow along with the others, though she glances at Rue as she does, curious as to the meaning behind Rue's question.

The sprite mirrored Gabriel's smile. "Thank you," she chirped, already prancing around a bit -- making sure not to step on a certain beast's tail in the process. "What kind of music do you like to play? Maybe we should ask what the people here want to hear though. Playing things people like to hear gets them to pay more, right? Of course, all of this doesn't matter if it's an entire village full of deaf people." She tilted her head slightly, as if she was somewhat confused by her own ongoing ranting. "How would a village full of deaf people communicate anyway? Maybe they use some kind of light signaling system? But that would require everyone to always look at the source of potential signals, which means they can't do anything else at the time lest they miss something important. Uhm... Well, that's a problem."

"Great." Rue replied a bit more quietly as she made her way towards town, taking a quick schluck from her waterskin. While she had told the rest of the group to pair off, she needed to deal with this one issue alone. Her pride as a guide wouldn't allow her to let anyone witness her ask for directions.

"I'm headed to the pub." James announced, rolling his shoulders. "Been walking all day; I wanna unwind with a beer. If you need me, just shout."

He located the nearest tavern by following the sound of idle chatter and tell-tale scent of alcohol, disappearing behind the door into a dimly lit room layered with wafts of scented smoke.

Rasa walks into the town along with the others, looking around at the various people and stores within the settlement. However, she quickly runs into a problem. Namely that she has no clue what she's doing here. She also doesn't actually possess any money, which would severely hinder her ability to purchase anything anyway. It's not long until she ends up standing around, looking reasonably out of place.

Kenneth had spent a couple of days in the town, recovering from the near death experience that had separated him from his party. He'd had some close calls before, yes, but never quite as severe as that, where he knew with no degree of uncertainty that he would've died had he not met with Morthos Sarzan, a fellow adventurer facing similar problems. Banding their powers together was enough to get them through the ordeal and into a safe haven, but only just barely, and so they'd elected to spend at least two days recovering. The populace, much like most other towns', found use for a healer even if they didn't share his faith and so Kenneth had managed to somewhat ingratiate himself with the locals during his stay.

Presently, he had just finished mending a sprained ankle in one of the village's houses and was headed towards the tavern where he and Morthos were staying when he saw a figure standing in the middle of the road, a strange-looking young woman who seemed extremely lost. "Oh, are you lost, do you need any help, lady?" he called as he approached, his hood down and his best smile on his face to make sure he wasn't mistaken for a creeper or a bandit or something.