Tahira was not waiting long for Kat’s return, although she did have time to note those who had left on missions and those still discussing them. Rimau and a robed newcomer seemed to be conversing rather amicably, her attire seemed to indicate a knowledge of the arcane which piqued the mystic’s curiosity. Perhaps she would find an occasion to speak with her at a later date, for now she still had to familiarize herself with the witch, Margaret. As Kat asked if she was ready, Tahira nodded solemnly. “The cave we seek lies within the forests of Barvra,” she said, tugging the satchel higher on her shoulder and straightening her robes. “The journey there should not be too strenuous, but once we delve into the forests it will become rather dangerous,” she had studied Elrikur’s geography, and new where the forest lay. It would not be too long before they reached their outskirts, depending on how they set their pace.

"Alrighty then." Rimau said as cheerfully as a fellow such as him is capable of, removing the mission paper from Mysaren's hands and into his so he could have a look at the bit he didn't read. "...Now, it says 'ere that these robbers 'ave 'oled their loathsome selves up in some kinda mountain range, right?" He affirmed, still glancing at the paper to see if there was any hidden details. Or hidden clauses designed to screw them out of their reward. It wouldn't be surprising in the slightest. Not that it ever dissuaded him; gave him something to do, at least. And the ones who tried to kill him had a nasty habit of getting bullets driven into their brains. "...This could mean one o' two things; either this mission'll be a piece o' cake, or it'll be the opposite o' cake. Like a... piece o' pie." He continued, scratching the side of his chin again. He finally cast his glance away from the paper and back at Mysaren, a look of purpose on him. Not too unlike that pauldron dumbass' look, actually. "...An' that depends entirely on whether or not these dumbasses 'ave decided to hide out in a cave or not. That said, if I know yer average dumbass crook, they tend to leave lots an' lots o' evidence on their path. Hell, I'm surprised guards across the land 'aven't formed their own divisions dedicated to analysin' evidence an' drawin' conclusions from that. Like a... crime scene investigation team or somethin'." With that hypothesis out the way, he proceeded to pin the paper back to the board before someone yelled at him; or the tavern started acting weird again. Like maybe the board would swallow the paper up, and his hand along with it. It was then he realised something, which made him rub his eyes and roll his shoulders about. Travelling. To a mountain range. Probably very cold. "Also, I don't s'pose y'ave some kinda transportation method?" He asked, in such a manner so as to not be too forthcoming with his dislike of cold climates. If he had to be in a cold climate, he could at least minimise the time spent. Not the time spotting, that was important. But the time travelling, on the other hand... "...Uh... not that I mind walkin'." He said once he realised he may have paused for a second too long. "I may be three-hundred-and-three, but I ain't decomposin' just yet. But when I start, I'll be sure to tell yer so y'can make preparations, heheheh... uh... that was a joke."

Mysaren let Rimau take the paper, slightly annoyed that the height advantage didn't really allow her to read facial expressions that well. She couldn't tell exactly how sarcastic that 'Alrighty then' was, and it made her vaguely uncomfortable. "Yeah, apparently. Doesn't sound like too much fun, but at least that narrows down where they could be. Not too much of a chase." Hopefully. She wasn't familiar with the mountains, and definitely not familiar with any hidden nooks and crannies someone could use to run out of there quickly. She crackled her knuckles absentmindedly as she thought of a plan of what to do. Just trap them in the mountains and kill the poor bastards sounded like the best idea. "Yeah, quite true, but I'm sure it won't be too much trouble. If we're lucky, all we have to do is trap them up there, a few quick slashes and shots, and done. We get the reward money, plus whatever those assholes have on them at the time." That would probably get them a bit more money, whatever those bandits have stashed away in that mountain. Hell, maybe more that they'd get from completing the damn mission. "Transportation? Uhm, I usually just walk," she said, having decided long ago that purchasing a horse was a waste of money and time, "but I suppose we could find something on the way there, yeah?" Hitch hiking was a terrible idea, but if, say, a few horses and a cart went missing in town, surely no one would notice, right? Well, either that, it they would get noticed and repeatedly shot to death. Neither sounded great, thinking about it. Mysaren chuckled at his joke, grinning. "Heh, it was good! Not many people joke about the entire necromancy thing, y'know. It's... refreshing." Most people just ran for the hills screaming or called her some kinda evil monster when they learned about the necromancy thing. It wasn't the most desirable forms of magic, but it was useful, especially in her line of work.

Claire trailed after Historia to the board. She wasn't even going to pretend to read the board, once the paper was presented to her she looked it over once. She could put together...the word 'book' but that's all she could manage. "Uh..." she tried not to frown. Her cheeks were a tad pink. "Would you...explain it to me?" She gave a pleading look to her partner. She was sure that whatever they were being set out to do, she could handle it. Though she didn't want to sign up for anything she disliked or disagreed with. Of course with the person suggesting it, anything shady was likely not an option. Still, pretending to know something wen you don't is a lie, and lie's are wrong. "I..." She wanted to pick a word to explain her lack of knowledge. She struggled, nothing was coming to mind that she could...bear to say aloud. She gave small looks to people around her. She didn't want to admit her faults in such a public place. Admitting to someone she just met was a bit much already... "I would appreciate it..." she decided, her comment almost a hush.

Historia looked at her, confused for a moment, until she pieced it together. "Oh! sure!" Historia said, not even going to try and ask if her suspicions about why Miss Claire was asking her to read it were true. It looked like it made Miss Claire to embarrassed to tell Historia anyhow. "So basically, there's this elderly nobleman. He had a memory book, of his life I presume, and has lost it. This quest page doesn't give out too much information, so I can't really say how easy or how safe this quest will be, but seeing how a memory book only has sentimental value, not tangible value, I don't imagine we'd be fighting any thiefs. Overall, it sounds like something reality simple, pretty safe, and has the possiblity of a good reward to spilt between the two of us." Historia told her. In a more hushed voice, Historia leaned towards Miss Claire a bit, and added, "And um...if you ever need help with...anything like this again, and I'm near by, I'd be happy to help." She gave her a surrporting smile.

Drubbins trundled up to the job board, holding one platter of pancakes in his hand and just picking them up and plopping them, whole, in his mouth. It was right nice of that bloke to clear up that confusion and but him all these pancakes. He liked that bloke. While he'd been eating, though, it looked like one of the bosses underlings had put some real jobs up on that board. He reached over and ripped one down, then held it up over his head. This had worked before, so he called out. "OI! Who 'ere can read?"

It had been half a day since Rouen left the tavern. He walked down a dirt path deep inside a forest. A small piece of paper was folded up in his right hand. To his right he heard the steady of trickle of water from the river flowing parallel to the trail and the wind whooshing past his face. That however, was all he hard besides the soft scrunch of dry leaves against his boots. “This is strange. No sound of any birds or wildlife. I don’t even hear a gadfly. What is going on in this forest?” he wondered. His swiveled his head looking at the eerily empty forest. In the horizon, Rouen could see the setting sun slowly retreating behind the mountains. Soon the orange light would fade and darkness would descend. “Whatever, I’m almost there,” he thought and unfolded the paper. It had drawings of landmarks and trails in the nearby area. Land Navigation and creating rough maps was one of the basic skills he learned in his time as a squire. He had been in the area for a few weeks and took the time to mark some terrain features. “Now if I’m right this cave should be a hundred imperial units from where this river ends,” he thought. An imperial unit was a hallmark from the days of Deardmadtha rule. Rouen begrudgingly acknowledged that a standard of measurement was one of the few good things that resulted from their empire. He looked ahead and saw a pond that the river poured into. A beaten path could be seen through the brush. “Well, at least I know where this cave is,” he thought. “And it probably isn’t abandoned.” Rouen folded the paper and put it in his satchel. He pulled a stick with some rags wrapped around it on one end. Removing a glove, he let one finger near the wrapped end of the makeshift torch. Small sparks arced from his finger to the cloth, causing it to smoke and then burst into flame. New light lit up the area around Rouen. “ Let us see what haunts these woods,” he thought putting his glove back on and holding the torch up high. He walked down the beaten path with the lit torch. The sun finally disappeared behind the horizon and nightfall descended onto the forest.

Rimau's expression turned a little uneasy when Mysaren started talking about the transportation, or lack thereof. Don't get him wrong, Rimau was not lazy at all, no matter what the macho sword-swinging types said. It was just the weather he was worried about. It might make him act erratically, a thought that was enough to distract him from Mysaren's comment on his little joke. Or maybe it instead distracted her from his uneasiness. "Alright, well... walkin' it is, I s'pose." He conceded, rubbed the back of his neck. Sure, she mentioned she could find something else, but what were the chances? Horses didn't really like the old lizard, anyway, they always got worked up around him for some reason. Three-hundred-and-three years old and he still hadn't figured out why. "I should confess, I ain't too big on mountains an' such." He said with added honesty. "Too cold. An' us Zizz, we get real pissy when it ain't warm an' dry. It ain't nothin' personal if I start criticisin' life itself, heheh. Sooner we get t'where these dumbasses are, th'better, wouldn'tya say?" He finalised, restoring his previous optimism. Rightly so, of course. Between him and this lady, he was sure that these dumbasses would stand no chance. Even if she wasn't that good. Placing his now-empty Pipe back in its place on his belt, Rimau walked across the wooden floor, now a bit clearer, and poked his long neck out the window. He coughed slightly, since it felt like he stuck his head into a bowl of dirt and tumbling rocks once it was out the window. Even though the city looked quite clean compared to the Tavern... another weird thing. It also seemed a lot brighter outside when inside, but when actually outside Rimau noticed it was overcast for the first time. "Well, I'm guessin' that's the mountain range..." He said, pointing at said mountains visible to east, just over the town walls, and waving for Mysaren to observe with his other hand. "...Considerin' it's the only damn mountain range in sight an' all. Whad'you think?"

Claire nodded along slightly as Historia explained for her. She looked at the page, as if she was gaining the information from there, but she was only listening inventively. After Historia was finished explaining, Claire was about to agree to the mission, but Historia added another comment on the end. Claire's eye twitched when she registered the offer. "I..." She let her mouth hanging open a tiny bit. Searching for a word yet again. "I would like that..." She concluded, replying to both the job offer, and the future assistance. "And...thank you." She added softly. She tried again to give a smile. It was there, though quite faint. "Shall we...leave soon?" She gestured towards the door. She didn't have anything else to do, other than pick up her bag. If she was working alone she would have been on the road already, though she did tend to jump ahead when it came to acting and not thinking.

Drubbins trundled up to the job board, holding one platter of pancakes in his hand and just picking them up and plopping them, whole, in his mouth. It was right nice of that bloke to clear up that confusion and but him all these pancakes. He liked that bloke. While he'd been eating, though, it looked like one of the bosses underlings had put some real jobs up on that board. He reached over and ripped one down, then held it up over his head. This had worked before, so he called out. "OI! Who 'ere can read?"

[timeskip; after breakfast] Several of the patrons left the Tavern in pursuit of missions the Priest had put up. Saha left her seat at the table to read the list of jobs available, at a short distance away from the gathered crowd. None interested her, and more importantly, they sounded too dangerous for her current state before she had regained full strength. The Big Guy hollered with a piece of notice that he held in a giant hand. “It said a couple lost their pet dog - a yellow mutt, goes by “Peanut”, that’s all - to be returned to 8 Bright Avenue, a red house in town. There’s a reward, doesn’t say how much or what it is.” Saha appraised the Big Guy: he looked strong and intimidating, stupid as ogres were, but he seemed nice-natured enough that she could use his strength to serve as protection as well as to get the simple job done. “Do you want to do this mission with me? I think you’re just the right bloke for the job,” she complimented. “We better bring some food to bait the mutt,” she said, from years of experience in trying to get close to animals as a Naga, and ordered a piece of steak to go from Bernard.

"Dogs like me." Said Drubbins happily at the snake bloke. He had no idea what Da Boss would want a dog returned to someone, but that was normal. Da Boss asks you to punch down a building you don't ask what's inside. Da Boss wants every slime in the area gathered up and shoved behind the same door, you don't ask why. Da Boss asks you to chop off your hand and let your blood spill into the stone circle, you ask "how much blood would ya like, Boss?" He was also happy to have someone to come with him. Most Bosses didn't trust Drubbins to handle anything more complex than krumping a bloke on his own, and most of them at least sent someone to make sure he'd Krumped the right bloke. He thumped his chest, threw the rest of the pancakes directly into his mouth, and garbled "You point me at dat Peanut and dat 'ouse and I'll do da rest."

"Oh, I understand. Uhm, you can borrow my cloak if you want, you know. I don't mind." Even if Rimau was tough, Mysaren didn't want to have to deal with a pissy Zizz all the way up some mountains. She could live without the cloak, being pretty used to the cold. Her cloak was mostly just to disguise herself, make her blend in a bit, but it also helped with self esteem issues. She scratched her arm idly. "I'm not a huge fan of mountains either, of course, but, well, hopefully the reward makes up for it," Maybe she could actually buy some form of transportation, a horse or a cart or something with the prize money. "Besides, a bunch of idiots who decided to hide up in the mountains shouldn't take us that long to dispatch, of course. We'll be out of there in no time." She didn't exactly know that, of course, but bandits and robbers weren't generally the smartest of people, especially if they left enough evidence for them to know where they were hiding, even if it was just a vague area. Mysaren followed Rimau to the door, and frowned when she poked her head out, and turned back in. Inside the tavern looked bright and well lit, sun streaming through the windows, but outside was overcast and dreary. She coughed as she poked her head out, and looked at the mountains Rimau was pointing at. "Yes, that should be it. Hm, doesn't seem too too far away. Even then, there has to be some form of trail up there if the robbers were able to get up there so fast. Hopefully it won't be that hard to find where they're hiding."

Naida does not care of Azzrix comes along, but she does care about her share of the reward. Consider that he is a thief, he might wind up cheating them out of their share. But as Sessamaru says that he can come along, she has no argument against it. She begins walking again, looking down at the job. "So it says that the daughter is being held on the island out in the river by the Blue Moon. I know what river they speak of in this job, but I do not know which island. There are three islands on the river." She furrows her brown and looks at Sessamaru. "It doesn't matter anyways if neither of you can swim fast enough to keep up with me. Would either of you like for me to scout ahead see if I can find out which of the islands this poor girl is on?" As she is speaking, she hears the rush of the river and she can't help herself. She rushes toward the sound and stands at the very edge of a cliff that overhangs the water. She stares down at the water, a little bit of fear crossing over her mind. The last time that she had set foot in the water was three years ago, which was the last time that she had seen her father. As soon as she would set foot in the water, he would know that she had come back. But when she doesn't know is if he will come searching for her. She takes a deep breath and smiles back at Sess and the new fellow. That is a risk that she will have to take. She sucks in a little more air and steps off the cliff. There is no point in flapping her wings; the best way to have fun at getting turned into her mermaid form is just to drop into it. The icy cold water splashes up around her and she shivers slightly, but the change is imminent. She feels her legs meld together into one form and her wings shoot down her spine to her legs, enveloping her legs in a bluish silvery glow. Before long, she has a long, bluish silver tail flipping around underneath her. She smiles, unable to contain her joy, and she swims as fast as she can toward the surface, which is well a top of her now. She leaps out of the water like a dolphin, giving an excited whoop as she does. She then lands back in the water and floats on top of the surface, smiling up at Sess and Azzrix. "Come on, you guys! The water is amazing!"

"Well, if we're goin' by the assumption that these dumbasses came from town..." Rimau said, choosing to politely ignore the topic of mountains any further before it became distracting. "...They prob'ly used this road right 'ere." Rimau stepped outside, into the purely natural, gritty air of the outdoors, and 'sweeped' his pointed hand along the road towards the mountains. "...I mean, sure, they mighta been the show-off type an' scaled some walls, but roads tend to be the only viable way up mountains. F'good reason." Rimau proceeded to take a few strides down the cobbled road, in the direction of the mountain gate, and turned back to Mysaren, who he assumed was still inside. "...Unless y'got any other plans, I suggest we get goin'. Uh, no pressure, though. Those dumbasses are prob'ly makin' a mess o' their britches just thinkin' about retribution right now, heheh." With that, Rimau grabbed the sides of his goggles and slid them over his eyes; the sign that he was now in 'work' mode. Which reminded him; 'must remember to take that medicine when we get there. Last thing I need is a repeat o' the last Plat'num troll hunt... geez, maybe I'm gettin' too old f'this. ...Naaaah.' He finalised that line of thought with another devilish grin.

Azzrix was glad that the dog-like man was fine with him going with them on their mission and for once it seemed like he didn't have to use a lot of excellent persuasion skills to come along. He now thought of what was to come, if it was a kidnapping that they were dealing with then there was a good chance for combat, which made Azzrix smile a bit as he thought of getting a chance to show off his great swordsmanship. Azzrix listened to Naida explain the layout of the land and upon hearing that they would have to swim to the island he groaned. Azzrix knew how to swim, but he didn't like having to get his thief clothing wet and who knew how deep the river. He didn't voice any objection and after Naida asked she could scout ahead he watched her jump into the water and looked to be having the time of her life. Under different certumstances Azzrix would have laughed, but right now he was being very serious. "Is the water very deep and how far are the islands? I don't fancy drowning today" he replied to her, hesitant to jump into the water.

"Dogs like me." Said Drubbins happily at the snake bloke. He had no idea what Da Boss would want a dog returned to someone, but that was normal. Da Boss asks you to punch down a building you don't ask what's inside. Da Boss wants every slime in the area gathered up and shoved behind the same door, you don't ask why. Da Boss asks you to chop off your hand and let your blood spill into the stone circle, you ask "how much blood would ya like, Boss?" He was also happy to have someone to come with him. Most Bosses didn't trust Drubbins to handle anything more complex than krumping a bloke on his own, and most of them at least sent someone to make sure he'd Krumped the right bloke. He thumped his chest, threw the rest of the pancakes directly into his mouth, and garbled "You point me at dat Peanut and dat 'ouse and I'll do da rest."

“You’re a good right bloke, aren’t ‘cha?” Saha said in a saccharine tone, like she had found small animals responded better to a higher pitched, pleasant sound. “You’ll make the Boss very happy when you’ve completed the mission. You’ll split the rewards with me, yes?” She had to make sure the ogre knew what the deal was, for Bernard, the Priest or the couple might not care who got the reward as long as it was given out. Saha was in no mood to fight with the dumb Big Guy over some monies. She took the wrapped up steak and headed out of the Tavern. The sky had darkened considerably. The town wasn’t faraway, its rows of short buildings and chimney smoke could be seen from a distance, and without a need to hurry too much, Saha strolled down the path with an appreciation for the humidity. When her partner had caught up to her, she said, “I’m sorry I didn’t introduce myself. I am Saha of the Era tribe. What’s your story, Big Guy?”

"Hm, hopefully they did. Otherwise this is going to be a bit tricky." Mysaren said, still eyeing the mountains. This wasn't going to be fun at all, and she sighed deeply before digging in her bags to check her supplies. Nothing much right now, but enough for the journey. Mysaren followed, looking at the road that Rimau was looking at, coughing at the quality of the air. "Yeah, this should be it. So we just... follow this road and hope for the best then?" "Well, if they were carrying a solid gold mask, I'm assuming that they weren't going to be doing much climbing. Let's just follow the road, it'll be easier for us." Mysaren followed Rimau's strides, looking around the town. "Nah, leaving right now sounds pretty good. Haha, yeah. They won't even know what hit them." In fact, the mountains were probably the scariest part of this mission. Other than that, she had no real worries about getting the mask. She could do more than necromancy, and she liked to think that her scars and muscles proved that pretty well. She could handle herself, and she was sure that Rimau could handle himself too. Following Rimau, she flipped up her hood, her face now barely visible, the only part of her that could be seen out of the hood was a few wild bits of hair that she could never really tame. Intimidation was also a pretty good tactic, she learned long ago, and a strange, tall figure wearing robes definitely was intimidating to most folks, at least any with any brains.

<Snipped quote by Gentlemanvaultboy> “You’re a good right bloke, aren’t ‘cha?” Saha said in a saccharine tone, like she had found small animals responded better to a higher pitched, pleasant sound. “You’ll make the Boss very happy when you’ve completed the mission. You’ll split the rewards with me, yes?” She had to make sure the ogre knew what the deal was, for Bernard, the Priest or the couple might not care who got the reward as long as it was given out. Saha was in no mood to fight with the dumb Big Guy over some monies. She took the wrapped up steak and headed out of the Tavern. The sky had darkened considerably. The town wasn’t faraway, its rows of short buildings and chimney smoke could be seen from a distance, and without a need to hurry too much, Saha strolled down the path with an appreciation for the humidity. When her partner had caught up to her, she said, “I’m sorry I didn’t introduce myself. I am Saha of the Era tribe. What’s your story, Big Guy?”

"New meat don't get no reward till he proofs 'imself." Drubbins says, his massive frame creating load thuds with every step. "I'm Drubbins, and I been at dis so long I know how it works. I been under alot a Bosses over da years. Been under snake blokes before too. You know dem snakes blokes down on dat island out dere? I was wif dem for a while."

With Mysaren in tow, so to speak, Rimau wasted no time in walking out the nearest gate and into the surrounding woods. The road ahead was long, but even so, it was very civilised compared to the Zizz' usual place of business. From sight alone, he could tell that the mountains they needed to reach were a good few miles or so away. Good thing Rimau kept in shape, which wasn't something other Zizz his age tended to do. They preferred to send their sons and grandsons to do their dirty work for them. Someone could say they have to due to their ailing health, to which Rimau would say their health wouldn't be ailing if they didn't. Self-fulfilling prophecy. "Say, lemme ask y'somethin', kid." He spoke up as the town gate began to disappear among the trees behind them. "Y'ever gotten in serious trouble 'cause o' yer... y'know, profession? I mean, I heard that some dumbasses like t'unt down Necromancers, thinkin' there's some kinda law 'gainst it. I mean, there is a law 'gainst it where I'm from. An' most other types o' magic, f'that matter." He wasn't sure why he felt like asking her that, though maybe it was because of her general manner of speaking, and her love of concealing herself. As she was doing right now. He'd never heard of a person who concealed their appearance like that that didn't do it to hide from something. Not just something literally out to get them, but also from the dangers of the world in general. And Necromancers tended to face more of that than others. Sure, it looked intimidating, but that was just a by-product of the hiding; to show one's face would be to show emotion and vulnerability; and thus, weakness. Military leaders liked this line of thinking in their soldiers. "'Course, I ain't askin' f'yer biography or anythin' like that." He assured the good lady. "People's life stories just sorta reveal 'emselves t'folks most deservin' t'know. Only people who know 'em all are... whatever Gods y'believe in. I guess. I ain't got any Gods. 'Least in the conventional sense."

"Yeah, of course. I've had people hunting me since I was a teenager, when I started practicing necromancy in the first place. Lots of small, god fearing towns who burns anyone who even looks like they practice magic at the stake. Necromancy is basically a target on your back, but necromancy is important, you know.” Mysaren said, looking everywhere but at Rimau, her teeth digging into her bottom lip. Damn, it was going to be a pretty long walk to those mountains. Thank god she kept in shape. Mysaren knew she was probably suspicious, the random girl who walked into town, who was a necromancer and hanged around graveyards too much, and she tried to get that suspicion down as much as possible. “It’s funny, that people think that magic is inherently evil. It’s not. There’s good magic users and there’s bad magic users, just like there’s good people that swing a sword and bad people that swing a sword.” She wondered what category she would fit in. “I dunno. Magic seems pretty dangerous sometimes, it just depends on the person. Besides, most magic users are all for show. Make a little flame and you have people treating you like a god. That’s why I chose necromancy, you know. It’s one of the more honest types of magic. Not about manipulating people or catching things on fire, it’s about life and death, and I guess there’s nothing more honest than that.” Mysaren looked behind her, the town gone now, the only thing left was the cover of trees and the smell of the forest. She took a deep breath, sighing. Forests were nice, nice and quiet. She could at least rest easy before having to go up to the mountains. At that point, her head would almost constantly be screaming at her, the constant sound of death near her. It would probably be a blood bath.