“Like ye have any coin that I covet. Gold does not satisfy my fingers, ladie.” Raffy said before straightening her back and announcing with pride, “I am Raffy Nimblefingers, and I am no half-witted thief. I am a great thief.” With her proclamation announced, and with a new arrival, she took her tankard and gulped the mead down in one swig. Some of the golden liquid dribbled down the sides of her mouth and it was only when she was done that she whipped it away. And, much to her ire, the woman who called her enactment “theatrics” left to settle a fight. Disappointment gripped at her chest and she realized just how annoyed she would be on this little adventure that she had entertained. Ah, if only she could be sleeping at some rich ladie’s house while she was gone, all the jewels around her and all the necklaces, earrings, and such wrapped around her pale skin. It was only when the woman returned that Raffy harrumphed and said, “Great, a peacekeeper. Just what I need.”

Finn watched the newcomer step into the inn, walk over to them, and slap his letter down. He studied the man, looking for any sort of giveaway as to what he did. The face mask he had pulled down indicated a profession involving stealth. Finn decided not to focus on it to much, sipping his mead before saying to the man, "It appears our final companion has arrived."

"A surly li'l lass, aren't ye Nimblefingers?" Nariah laughed heartily while she picked bits of meat from her teeth with a small toothpick, nibbling on the end a bit. There was a bit of a scuffle at the other end of the tavern, catching the woman's attention. Been a while since she's seen a good drunken brawl, but unfortunately before the fists started flying, the scarred woman was to her feet at the men, calming them down with her words. The drunken buffoons must've said something to chide the poor lass, because immediately she stormed back, a most sour of expressions upon her slightly marred face as she once more concealed it underneath her white cowl. "Don't be bothered too much, lass." Rather assuringly Nariah spoke. "Just a mere scar it its. I've had plenty from me travels here." Just then, the door to the old inn creaked open again, and through the bitter cold outside into the warmth of the hearth stepped another, a shadowy figure cloaked in a hooded cape, that carried the scent of the forest heavy upon it. Not the scent of the Dunenmer pines though, no...this was the aroma of cedars, larches, and birches. He hailed to the west, in the thick, misty mires of Yolsorne, where the trees blotted out the sun and casted dappled shadows upon grounds of foreboding mystery. "Good to see ye made it. Have a seat, lad." Nariah greeted him with a curt nod. That seemed to be all of them now, unless there were others, but that didn't seem to be the case to the warrior woman. A few moments or so had passed and not a single soul carrying a letter dared to darken the doorway. Nariah yawned and cracked the bones in her stiffened neck. "Well I don't know about ye lot, but I'm tired of just sitting here getting drunk off mead. I think it's high time we be heading south now." But as she got up and made her way over to her weapons, suddenly the door flung open whacking her hard in the face, "Argh! Ye bloody bastard! Watch where ye-?!" Cantankerously the woman barked, but a pause as she saw who stood at the door. He was a poor farm boy, shivering badly, trembling with such a fear that caught the eye of everyone in the tavern, his eyes wide as the moon with such an ill terror glistening in tears running down his scarred and burned cheeks. His clothes, they were singed and smelled of smoke, his skin blackened with a thick layer of soot. Nariah looked at him, her mouth agape as she spoke, "Ye gods....what happened to ye, boy?" Immediately the boy cried out, "Y-you have to help me, brave warriors!! M-my village has been attacked by...by...by monsters!!" He fell at the door to his knees, sobbing inconsolably into his hands. "Aye! Calm yerself, boy! Tell us, what monsters?" Nariah asked the young lad kneeling beside him, though a bit harsh, "I said calm yerself! Tell us now!" The boy whimpered drying his eyes, "They....they were horrible! I-I couldn't even...they they killed my mother..and...and my sister....t-they killed everyone! Not even the royal guard could stand against them! Please, for the love of Agatha! Please you have to help me!" Tightly he threw his arms around the woman's ankle, Nariah coldly shrugging him off with a gruff and stern reply, "A'right! A'right boy! We'll slay the bastards for ye! Just lead us to the village, for Tha'agorn's sake!" In that instant the woman wrenched up her sword and sheathed it behind her back and holstered her war axe at her side raising her shield. She turned to the others, "Well ye just gonna sit there like a bunch a lazy goats? Let's go! The boy needs help! Ye there, healer, tend to his wounds!"

Raffy sighed and picked up her dagger from the table, sheathing it in her armor. She stood up, the chair screeching against the ground, and started towards the door. Raffy didn’t even spare a glance when she passed by the boy, but her hand patted him on the head – it may be construed as a sympathetic gesture, but it was purely condescending on Raffy’s part. She strode through the door and cursed under her breath when she realized that Mediocre hadn’t left…matter-of-fact, he was in the exact same spot she had left him in. “Damnit.” She swore, grabbing the mane of the horse and swinging herself onto him. Raffy hadn’t had the hindsight to steal a saddle when she stole the horse many leagues back. “Well, are we to be going?” Raffy asked sarcastically when she noticed nobody else had moved. “Why did I get put with ye fellows? Gods above, aid me.”

Finn calmly stood up from the bar and made his way towards the door, flicking his wrist and sending a blast of air to hold it open. Villages being attacked was his specialty. Many a village had begged him for his aid in helping them defend against goblins or bandits. Now, he wasn't exactly experienced in these monsters that the boy claimed had killed his whole village, but he figured he managed. He stepped outside, the cold air a stark contrast to the heat of the inn. He strode over to Belroch and untied him before climbing up into the saddle. He glanced over at the woman who called herself Raffy. He noticed her horse was unsaddled. "So do you prefer riding without a saddle or was there just not one in the immediate vicinity that you could steal?" he asked in a slightly condescending tone.

As the warrior spoke to the farm boy, Adelisa jumped to her feet and went over to the boy. She spoke soothing words to the traumatized boy as her hands grazed the damaged skin. She sighed in relief as the boy started calming down and she smiled softly at him. The boy hugged onto her and her eyes widened in surprise. "We should hurry. We have no clue what we are dealing with besides fire." She looked down at the boy, probably in his preteens, cuddling into her like she was his mother. She sighed, as this sort of thing always happened, and called the bar wench over. "Give this boy a plate of food please, whatever he wants. This shall pay for it" she said as she handed the woman a small bag of gold coins. The woman's eyes widened and she nodded, taking the boy and feeding him. She soon walked over to the front door, turning to the warrior and said "if you wish to share my horse, it would be no problem." After speaking she removed her cloak and put it in her bag, understanding the battle that would soon ensure. She hadn't wanted to get her cloak dirty, it was brand new. She exited the bar as fast she could. Her thoughts went to the group she was to travel with. The monk, well he seemed less and less of a monk the more he spoke. The warrior woman wasn't very surprising, but she seemed to be enjoying less of the companions than the mead. The elf... well she disliked mages but an elf Mage will put her on edge even more. The theif was going to agrivate her. She seemed to want to have everyone's attention and if she hadn't gotten it, then she would do something to achieve it. Adelisa couldn't put her finger on the man behind the mask, though. Adelisa walked over to her horse and fed her another carrot before setting her bag back onto Albus. "We will be going to save a village under attack by monsters." she informed Albus.

Conan shrugged and chugged down the rest of his mead before standing up, throwing a few coins on the bar as he did. He was no stranger to monsters living out in the wilds as he did. Hunting such beasts was also part of his training after all. While they didn't look like much, he hoped his "companions" could at least handle themselves. Before walking out of the door he stopped in front of the boy as he was being led away by the wench. "Don't cry for them boy because they won't hear it. They are dead and gone and the sooner you come to terms with it, the sooner you can live your live." Without waiting for a reaction he pulled up his face mask and continued outside. He had no real opinion on his supposed comrades. He hadn't been around long enough to form one though it seemed they had already formed some of each other. When they handled this monster crisis he'd figure were he stood on them.

Dorje sipped his mead as the commotion rose keeping an eye on the one with the red hair. Nimblefingers, eh? Almost as strange as Hearthstone, he thought as a young boy burst through the door, flooding his senses; Dorje could hear the boy's pounding heartbeat and smell the scent of burning flesh and ruin on his clothes. One side of his face was burned badly, and his hair was singed quite a bit. The boy had seen destruction the likes of which Dorje never had, and it troubled him as the small woman comforted him. Was this type of thing as common in the world as pleasant conversation? If so, then maybe the others of the order may be right to seek solitude and peace. He stood from his chair as the tiny lady gave the barmaid a substantial amount of money, and followed her out the door, seeing her offer a ride to the one with the sword. Why this detour? If we are truly to save the world, what use is it to tarry here and risk more lives by letting this evil fester? Though if my quest truly lies with them, and the journey is as difficult as the letter suggests, then I will need their help. His musing was broken by the sound of hoofbeats galloping away. Dorje closed his eyes, focusing intensely as his stone amulet grew warm against his neck, and began to run, faster and faster until he was keeping pace with the riders.

Of this eclectic bunch that gathered here on this fine winter's day at Hearthstone Nariah had no thoughts of, or rather she had no time to think of such trivial inquiries, not when the rancorous odor of death and decay was choking out the pleasant scents of Vaele and in the distance smoke and smog rose in billowing black clouds to blot out the bright, early sun. Climbing onto the woman's steed, she answered her, "Thank ye kindly, lass. Don't think I could've made it running in this damn armor of mine." And off they were, their steeds galloping swiftly through the city streets, a panic as people darted to get out of their way and the guards rushed to pull open the gargantuan gate of the walled city. But a surprise it was to find not a horse rushing beside them...but a man, the monk to be precise. Just as the woman's steed rose its mighty legs in a majestic, thunderous sprint, so too did the man named Dorje, his legs and arms pumping vigorously and such a speed he had even able to keep up with the mighty horses. "By Auriem." Nariah breathed rather astounded, but her gaze was soon put forward as a heat blasted her, and not a welcoming heat as the hearth back at the inn. Fire, it was everywhere, engulfing the wooden huts left and right and burning them to nothing but piles of smoldering ashes. "Gods! Looks like we're too late!" Or so it may have seemed. Just as they neared the ruined village, it caught Nariah and possibly her fellow adventurers by the ears, a vicious, terrifying screech, a screech that could only be heard in the bowels of the dark Abyss. "This is where I take me leave, lass!" Nariah called to the healer as her horse was in mid-sprint. Reckless as ever she dismounted and fell upon the ground going into a quick roll before climbing to her feet and drawing her sword. And just as her blade left the sheathed behind her back..... They emerged from the burning houses, twisted, horrific creatures of the likes Nariah never laid eyes upon. Their wretched bodies were consumed in shadows...living, breathing darkness, and their eyes...they glowed like....like the infernal horror of the Abyss. "By Tha'agorn..." In truth, upon seeing these terrible beasts, the woman was filled with fright, but also filled...with the urge to fight. One of the beasts quickly noticed her and it let out a deafening snarl charging at her. Nariah slammed the visor of her steel helm against her face and raised her shield clashing her sword against it crying out, "Come get some!" In a violent instant the two clashed sending Nariah to the ground. The beast, dear gods! His saliva was like fire to the woman as it dripped on her face, searing her and damn near melting off her helm. The doglike horror gnashed its sharp teeth at the woman and snarled in her face, but finally she threw him off before giving a fearsome jab of her blade into its guts. More soon arrived, as if appearing from the shadows themselves, hundreds of the ghastly demons....and they were swarming all over the village. "If this is the evil we're supposed to face, I'm not impressed!" Nariah growled throwing off her badly burned helm, her face seething slightly from being doused in fiery saliva and her ice blue eyes alight with a bloodthirsty flame. "Come on!"

Finn hopped from his Belroch as they reached the smoldering village. He wondered what sort of monster had done this and then they made themselves known. Finn reached over his shoulder and drew his staff as the dog like monsters advanced on the party, baring their teeth, and flashing their wicked eyes. "I hope I'm not supposed to be scared. If this is what we're facing then we'll have saved Hieldran by tomorrow," he said as he aimed his staff at one of the creatures. The air around the gem at the top of his weapon chilled and suddenly...YELP! An icicle had materialized and launched itself at one of the monsters, impaling it and earning a sound of pain. He grinned, the feeling of the kill bringing him an excited joy. Though it was short lived. As he turned around to face another one of the beasts, he was tackled, and pinned to the ground by one of the fierce hellhounds. He struggled, trying to keep it's snapping jaws from closing on his face. Saliva dripped onto him, burning holes into his robes. He wrestled with the beast, trying to get it off of him to no avail. And he couldn't summon the concentration to use a gust of wind to blow the beast off of him. He was loathe to admit it, but he needed help.

Adelisa gasped in fright, not only because the woman jumped off Albus, but because the creatures were so terrifying and disturbed that she almost fell off her horse. She said "Albus, you may go. Your mission has ended. Find safety" to the mare, knowing Albus wanted not to be there. She climbed off Albus and grabbed her bag with a soft sigh. She took out a dagger from her bag and pressed a button, making the dagger turn into a magnificent sword. Her eyes descended the demon-like beings, a smirk lighting her lips. "They are quite handsome for graves" she mused to herself as she held the hilt of her sword, ready for battle. Adelisa noticed the elf and the beast and she immediately went to his aid, stabbing through the monster with a fury summoned from deep inside her. She shoved the dead thing off the man and said "be more careful".

Conan retrieved his steed, Runa from outside the gates of Vaele before following after the others. He didn't bring her into the village because the stubborn girl hated villages more than he did and he didn't want to risk her goring someone out of annoyance. Luckily for him she was as fast as any horse and they had caught up shortly after the rest arriving at the burned village. Still mounted, he removed his bow from his back and grabbed a arrow. Inhaling slowly, he pulled back on the drawstring lining the shot up as Runa galloped forward and just as he let the breath go, so did the arrow, whistling through the air until it landed right into the back of the head of one of the dog-monsters. Satisfied he hopped off and notched another arrow eager for more prey.

Dorje breathed in deeply, steadying it at he came to a stop. He focused his eyes on the monstrous, fanged beasts that Nariah was already engaging; and pulled the two pieces of his bo staff from his back. With a quick twist, they fastened together by magic and he held it out before him in a defensive stance, favoring the longer reach and better force of the single staff to it's two constituents. He thought too long, however, and shortly after a howl of pain from one of the things, he heard a grunt and looked over to see the wizard wrestling with one of them, then a flash as it was dispatched by the healer. Quickly stepping to the side as one of them leapt at him, He grabbed one of the bony horns that protruded and swung his hips on top of it. It howled as much as it could and flailed, bucking into the air. Dorje pulled his bo staff into the jaws of the thing as it foamed, much like a bit on a horse, and began to twist the staff around until he heard a loud cracking noise. The animal fell still, and Dorje was unsure how he felt about his first kill. His breathing was even, even as he barely dodged another of the creatures, earning a deep gash across his thigh for his musing. He turned, facing the beast with his bo staff pointed upwards defensively, limping a bit.

Finn hopped to his feet and nodded at the cleric. He made a mental note to thank her after this was done. He swung his staff hard at another advancing creature, then flicked his wrist and sent it flying with a gust of wind. It landed on an upright board and was impaled. It struggled for a few seconds, howling loudly before it suddenly stopped due to an icicle from Finn's staff getting lodged through it's head.

Another fiery beast pounced on Nariah, but in the nick of time she bashed it with her shield and sent it flying with a yelp, but another caught her off guard and sunk its teeth into her arm, its searing saliva eating away at the thick plate of her gauntlet. "Agh! Get off me ye bastard!" She growled bludgeoning its head with her sword pommel, knocking it loose and then slicing its head clean off. As she fought through the hordes vast approaching her, her ears caught wind of the downed mage. Bah! Like they needed a damn cocky elf! Let him get fed off to distract these beasts Nariah thought, but sure enough who else but the healer made her way to his aid in time, killing the beast with a rather odd looking blade. "That's what ye get for being cocky, pointy ears!" Nariah hollered over to the elf bashing another beast with her shield and stabbing her sword through one trying to jump on her again.

The creature circling in front of Dorje pounced, and as it did, he swung his leg forward, catching it on the neck and using it's momentum to carry it up and over his head, where he swung his leg down, and the hound with it, into the ground with a thud, feeling it's windpipe collapse from the force, where it would suffocate. He felt an odd exhilaration, but forced himself to breathe easy as another leapt at him from the side. He pulled his bo staff up with his hands in the middle, and swung to the side, catching the creature in the ribs and deflecting it with his staff. It was much better to deflect a blow than to block one, he thought as the creature recovered just in time for Dorje to swing wide across the thing's face, channeling the strength of his people with him to break it's skull. He looked back at Nariah, who was making a proper fool of herself charging forward into more of them. He took three steps to fall in behind her, driving his shoulder into one approaching her from the side, breathing heavily now with a smirk on his face.

Finn glowered as the armored woman shouted an insult at him. He put it at the back of his head though, in the "Things to Discuss Later" area. He kept fighting, driving his staff into the chest of a beast, the pointed gem on the end piercing it's heart. As Finn pulled the staff from the creatures body he knelt down to get a closer look at the dead beast, looking around first to make sure he wasn't ambushed. The monster was something he'd never seen before but it looked like it was made to kill. He couldn't imagine who or what had created this beast but he was certain that powerful magic was involved. This creature most certainly wasn't native to Hieldran, which means that it was most likely summoned from another plane or dimension, or at least that's what he thought.

Raffy couldn’t help but smirk at her companions as they faced this threat head on – what jokes. While they distracted the hellish dogs, the redhead had slipped off the horse with her cowl and hood on and retreated into the darkness. That wasn’t enough, of course, to stop their noses and so she smeared ash all over her body to mask her scent, her black armor became grey. Then, she started to throw her daggers. They zoomed through the air, only the reflecting light a sign of them coming as they slit the throats of the creatures, severing their tendons and pouring blood unto the ground. Another one of her blades pierced the skull of one and a yelp escaped it. Raffy didn’t know the level of their intelligence and so she was constantly moving in the shadows, melding and twisting in one until her daggers were flying in every one direction. But her tactic could only last so long… Without her noticing, one of those insufferable creatures had crept behind her and it was only when she heard the low growling that she leapt from the shadows, becoming visible for her enemy to see. The thing jumped after her and snapped its jaws, she ducked into a roll to dodge it and when she pressed her heels into the dirt to stop herself, it took that moment and closed its fangs around her arm, its saliva burning through her armor and searing her skin. Raffy hollered in agony and lost her balance, landing harshly on her back. The creature mounted her and dragged its head side to side, jerking her arm painfully. With her new position, she had only one advantage and that was her legs. She drew them up close to her chest and began to push against the creatures stomach, shaking her feet so her hidden daggers peeked through her shoes and drove them into the stomach of the beast. It fell down dead. “Damnit.” Raffy cursed, holding her limp arm. Well, now she had to use one…oh well, she’s been through worse.

"Is that the best ye can do ye slobbering hounds?!" Nariah, viciously she growled equally with her canine foes pouncing onto her, only to receive a face full of iron knocking them senseless and a brutal stab to the gut or a decapitation to follow. All around her feet, the dead began to pile up and fester with the horrid stench of smoke and decay commingling. Her sword, just as her face and the rest of her burned skin, was gleaming red, as were her eyes glowing angrily with frosty shades of blue. More and more she kept fighting off alongside her fellow travelers and more and more the beasts came for them. "Gods! Where they all coming from?!" Suddenly under her feet, the ground cracked and split open belching smog and fire into the air. Quickly the warrior backed away from the fissure and rose her shield before the fire nearly scathed her whole, the heat so intense she could feel it soaking through the hot metal into her skin, not to mention singing her hair a little. From the burning fissure came a fearsome roar and as if being birthed from the flames themselves, here came more of the bastard demons, but there was....something else...something....gargantuan. Following the lesser creatures, a massive iron claw rose from the ground and out the beast pulled itself staggering and snarling from the fiery chasm...until...it came into full view towering over Nariah, eclipsing her in its deadly shadow. The behemoth glared at the woman, its eyes ablaze with the same hellish fire it emerged from and as it roared again, a hot wind spewed forth from its gaping jaws damn near cooking the woman in her armor. She trembled a bit before its horrible might and rose her shield staring it head on in defiance, although...she could probably use some help about now. Nevertheless, she raised her sword high and charged forth giving a powerful war cry, but a fool's errand it was as in the blink of an eye the beast swiped its gargantuan claws at her and through the air she went flying, crashing through the ruined house behind her and skidding across the ground violently.

Finn whirled around, the cracking of the earth and the roaring of the beast catching his attention. His eyes widened as he got a full view of the monster. Heat emanated from the behemoth, causing his face to run with sweat. He watched as the warrior woman was batted away by the creature. He chuckled and said to himself, "That's what you get for being cocky," before leveling his staff at the monster. The again, the air around the staff chilled, forming a mist where the heat met the cold. Tendrils of freezing air circled around each other until they formed a large icicle. The icicle kept growing until it was almost the size of a dwarf. And then, it was launched, through the air. straight for the hellish creature's eye.