In the small town of Ravenwood, all is peaceful, the villagers farm and raise livestock happily with no burden in there lives. There is a small tavern for travelers in need of supplies and wares, an inn for those wishing to rest there bones, and a blacksmith's forge for those that need weaponry, armor, or repairs. For whatever reason, 8 adventurers have shown up within the past week. They have no clue what kind of hell this small piece of heaven is about to be put through.

Ravenwood was a nice enough village, although Alula never liked staying in one place for very long. It fascinated the oracle how so many walks of life could coexist so perfectly together. It filled her with a strange sense of nostalgia, but her weakened memory could pin no time in her life to what she was doing right now. Which was talking through an almost market district of the small village. It looked mostly like small stands and people trying to appeal their wares to her. But their voices seemed to fade away, alula's hazy eyes sweeping lazily along the stalls as the voice in her head spoke.

"Her goods are overpriced, but the man next to her is more pricy. You would be better off waiting until later in the evening. Desperate salesmen make quick barter."

The people running the stalls flashed grins as the girl, not noticing the far away look in her eyes. She did not speak, or respond to their chatter about how their prices were the best in town. Instead she grunted softly, and walked off. She had plenty to spend, she really didn't have to worry about high prices. She blamed this mostly on her dislike of material wealth, she always was loosing odd trinkets. As she walked away from the stall she could hear people talking, talking about her. She frowned, pulling the rim of her hat over her eyes. She didn't want to be looked at.

She had been in this town for almost a week, and she was just trying to pass through. Eventually, and with all hope, people would soon forget about her. People tended to.

Furnace slowly strolled around the market place.
In awe of all the delicious looking foods, the shiny trinkets and all the beautiful people.
He studied the people as they went on their business, not noting the vale little gnome.
Furnace paid close attention of the way people would walk around delivering small sheets of gold around the people standing in front of tables with all sorts of things. They then would be given these things and they would cary it of elsewhere.
He thought how he had found a large bag of gold sheets a while ago. He'd brought them in case he needed to make some armor to go with his shield. But as gold was rather soft it didn't really do much for protection.
For a while he pondered if he could pretend to be one of these workers, and using the sheets he could get a hold of some food or something.
He had some trouble finding that, and it hasn't just appeared since the dark days.

Completely absorbed in his thoughts Furnace had long since ceased to pay attention to his surroundings.
Suddenly something bright and colorful caught his eye. Imediately he walked up to it, it was a piece of cloth in fantastic blue.
Without paying any attention to what or whomever it was attached to he held it up in the light to witness the celestial patterns with childlike eyes of wonder.

"He is more similar to you then you think."

Alula hadn't noticed the gentle tugging on the end of her robe. She rarely noticed anything. She had grown used to the voice in her head, often telling her things she didn't immediately understand. Even with the gnome gripping onto her clothes she continued to walk, and only stopped when she realized the fabric that flowed behind her was now pulled taut. Alula stopped in her tracks, standing ridged. Someone had grabbed ahold of her robes, someone was pulling on her robes. Her eyes stared straight ahead, obscured from view by the brim of her hat. Unfortunately for the gnome, he was short enough to see under her hat as she whipped around, yanking her robes from the gnomes hands.

There was a glow to her eyes, but she didn't look particularly angry. Nervous perhaps?

Suddenly her mouth opened, and words poured out that didn't belong to her. "Kept to light the fires, and yet the fire inside never died. Dims, but never dies." She blinked several times, glowing eyes replaced with hazy and distant ones. She took a step away from the gnome, pulling the rim of her hat over her eyes.

"My...robe...wouldn't fit you." She spoke slowly, her words slurring together.

Rose Anew wandered into town about the time as the sun reached its zenith. She kept her hood up to keep the sun off of her face and she kept her left hand laying casually on the pommel of her bastard sword. The scenery around the town had gotten Rose in a peaceful mood. She did not desire conflict here but she tired to give the appearance of confidence. She passed a small shepard boy asleep next to the fence while his flock grazed peacefully. The scene brought a smile to her face and made no effort to wake the boy. This town was clearly peaceful to allow such a lazy scene to exist. Rose was happy to see such a place, but her instincts told her it could never last. Nothing good ever does.

Rose made her way to the market place near the towns center. It was a fairly lively place compared to the rest. She looked over the wares of various vendors. She was content with her armor and weapons so most of the shops for people of her talents seemed lacking. What did catch her eyes was a set of cookware that was among a vendor. She really did not need it but it had been so long since she had the proper equipment to cook a full meal under the stars. She could not just walk away. One of the copper cooking sets seemed to call her name. She started bartering for a reasonable price.

"Ah, I see you have taken a liking to that cooking set there, madam," The merchant said as he walked over to Rose, "For a pretty lass such as yourself, 75 pieces."

"So are you excited knowing your about to head off into the world and start your own adventure?" Asked the man sitting next to Separ Kurel, the very man who had trained him on how to be an arcane brawler. This man was known by the name of Millon Baotes. He was incredibly buff with a tall and wide body with almost no traces of fat. His usual messy short black hair was now combed for the special occasion of sending his one and only pupil off into the world. Some scars were located all throughout his torso, and for some reason he wasn't wearing a shirt. Though most of the time he didn't have a shirt on anyways.

"Yes, I'm excited if a little nervous." Separ answered truthfully as his eyes darted around the tavern, hopping from person to person. "So where is this group of mine supposed to be at? I'm anxious to meet them. We are meeting them here right?"

"No, you're going to be meeting them here by yourself." Said Separ's teacher as he crossed his arms.

"How am I supposed to know who my group is then? You haven't told me anything about them, so I don't see how this is going to work." Separ said, a hint of skepticism in his voice.

"You know, I first started out in this town as well. I knew no one whatsoever and lived in this town for about two weeks, only spending what money I did have to sleep at an inn and drink in this very tavern. As your teacher I'd like you to experience something similar and make friends on your own to team up with, rather than rely on me introducing you to some people you may not even get along with." Separ's teacher paused for a moment and took another swig of beer.

"That's good stuff alright, just like I remembered." He muttered before continuing on where he had left off. "Anyways try to meet some people you know you'll at least somewhat get along with rather than leaving it up to chance. If I find out you left this town without forming a proper group to travel with I'll kill you for making me waste my time trying to train you." And with that Separ's teacher started to chug the entire glass of frothing beer sitting in front of him on the table.

Separ nodded at his teacher's words, and while he felt a little put off by that last line, he knew full well that was just his teacher's way of joking around. "Alright, I'll do as you say then."

"Then it's settled." And with that Millon stood up from his chair about to leave, only to immediately stop and turn around looking Separ directly in the face. "Make sure there's at least one cute girl in your group as well, okay?"

"Huh?" Was all Separ could say, before his teacher left leaving him alone at the bar table.

Separ looked around at the crowd for a moment wondering if he should talk to anyone, but decided against it. The place was kind of crowded right now, and it would probably be easier to wait until the mass of people thinned out a bit before doing anything else. Instead he opted to just admire how simple this building was. So this is what it was like to be in a small town huh? It was actually kind of peaceful. However his thoughts soon changed into imagining all the adventures he would have. Fighting monsters, saving people, becoming a hero. What a wonderful life that would be.

Carver arrived in Ravenwood in the afternoon. It was a beautiful day in the country - all around was quiet, and the sun shone through the leaves in just that way that made Carver feel as though the goddess were truly with him. As the wagon he was riding pulled in through the gates, he waved here and there at passing townsfolk, and was often rewarded with a smile or a polite wave.

The wagon came to a halt and he dismounted, his armor clanking loudly as he landed. The farmer whose family he had been traveling with for the past few days approached him, and Carver gave the man a warm smile.

"My friend," he said, "I believe this is where we part ways."

"Yes, milord," the farmer responded, still using the honorific Carver has insisted repeatedly was not necessary. "We will be awful sorry to see you go. How much do we owe you?" The man responded, fumbling for his coinpurse.

Carver has expected that the man would attempt to compensate him for his services 'escorting' the family, though in truth he had only scared off a few petty thieves. The paladin held a hand out to the man, still smiling. "No such payment is required. Keep it. Feed your children, and raise them in the light of the sun."

The farmer nodded. "I, uh, yes milord. I will. Thank you."

Carver put his hand to his breast and bowed before turning away and walking into the crowd. It was time to find some wrongs and set about righting them - the marketplace would be as good a place as any to start.

Suki nervously stepped out from the narrow path between buildings, her eyes shifting as she cautiously looked over everyone nearby. From what it looked like, there wasn't anyone screaming for anything similar to those witch hunt riots that the church had done hunting her down. Making sure her cloak was covering her body, with the hood obscuring her head, she daintily slipped out, mingling with the crowd at the marketplace.

Although she tried to stay as inconspicuous as possible, it seems that her cloaked figure was something that my catch the eyes of a few. Suddenly feeling a hand grip her arm, she quickly spun around, only to realize it was a merchant. "We have good prices!" Heavily accented, the merchant gestured at his wares, or in this case, fresh produce. Feeling a slight bit hungry, she nodded, before pointing at an apple.

"Good eye, good eye, that would be-" The merchant started to speak, before Suki raised her hood slightly, revealing her face to him. Winking, she raised a finger to her lips. "Bring the apple. I'll make the payment through other means~' Whispering with such a sultry tone, the merchant was by no means resilient against such a tactic.

The two hurried towards a more quite alley, where Suki leaned in, and kissed the merchant. Whatever giddy thoughts that raced through the merchant's mind, was soon replaced by a lethargy. The man soon sank to the ground, the expression of ecstasy plastered on his face. "For a farmer, your energy wasn't too bad of a taste." Muttering such words mostly to herself, she quickly picked up the apple, and re-entered the hustle and bustle of the marketplace, taking bites from her newfound food.

Vis trudged through the dense mud, tired and with a gloomy expression on his face, though it would be difficult to make out, his scarf worn tightly around his face and over his nose, obscuring the expression and the gaping hole in his maw. Vis had been accosted by a group of thugs on the main road, though this generally wasn't an issue as he would run away and they would lose interest eventually but it seemed these things were desperate, as they chased him half way into the moor before deciding it was no longer worth it. He didn't like running away, if there was only one or two of them he would have stood his ground, unfortunately there were half a dozen. 

He tilted his head up to the sky to find light grey plooms of smoke in the distance, beyond the hill that was beyond the next. There were too many points of smoke for it to be a campsite but not quiet enough to be an industrial estate, so he figured it must have been some little township. 

Vis made it to 'Ravenwood' in the afternoon, drained from the task of traversing through mud that felt only the need to slow him down, so with some relief he slung his pack around so it was under his nose and opened it. He saw the cobbled street. His mood quickly turned dower, the bottom of his pack must have snagged on a branch and have been torn, spilling it's contents. 'that's why those highway men turned, they just had to pick up what they wanted.' With a sigh, he took what was left in the pack and cast it into an alleyway, though funnily enough all that was in there was the child's encyclopedia his mother gave him before leaving, so he could brush up on reading skills. Vis tucked the book into his leather armor and wandered forth. 

The market district was buzzing with activity, buyers haggling over prices and venders hawking their wares, though all Vis needed was a replacement pack and a few basic bits. Wandering the stalls and booths, he found nothing met his eye, mostly because of the high prices but also because many of the packs were just of low quality. Unsatisfied, he walked through the market, casting a faint green cone of light from his cursed green eye. 

There could be nothing, nothing at all in the whole world quite so amazing and attractive as black powder. It was a wonderful thing. Not that had anything to do with this however.

"Alrighty then sir, all fixed up! I told you it would be worth the tools." Kelvin ducked back out from beneath the wagon, finished working on the new fixed-axle bearings. Intricate things, and prone to sticking if not kept clean and well greased. In this particular case, the owner had left an axle cap off whilst traveling, and a bit of dirt and mud later... BAM. Frozen axle. It really didn’t take much in the ways of tools to fix, just a delicate touch, some boiling water, and some clean grease. The owner didn’t need to know that though. “Aye, was a pleasure indeed sir.”

He had always wanted to get in on the inside of one of those fixed-axle wagon wheels, see what was really going on in that hub. It was quite intriguing really, two cones, one inside of the other, and each lined with miniscule rollers that spun about eachother. Combined with a slathering of grease, and the wheels were practically floating! Of course... If yeh didn’t cover them properly, the dirt and debris would foul it up quicker than a necromancer in a chapel. It was payment enough to just take one apart. Kelvin opened his backpack, scanned over it’s contents quickly, and sighed. No food, only a bit of gold. Besides that, he didn’t truly feel like sleeping on the cold, hard ground again tonight. Tools of the trade were expensive, especially when most people had no idea what black powder even was. Only one thing to do. Head for an inn.

Kelvin kicked the door open to the inn loudly, if he was going to do this, he would do it in style. Not that anyone inside could have seen him turn the handle on the door before kicking it- partially so he wouldn’t have to fix it later, and partially because he wasn’t strong enough to kick it open anyway. “You there! I’m calling you out.”

He strode to the small bar, heads rotating, and took a short survey, picking a semi-muscular man who wasn’t facing him. Kelvin put a hand on his shoulder, and turned the man around, finding a woman instead. Inside, part of him died a bit, and the other shrieked with fright. “Sorry, wrong person.” Just had to sidle away from that one. This time he chose a younger looking man.

“Hey, I’ve been looking everywhere for you.” He made is voice deeper for a moment, and then winked conspiritorially, sitting down. “I am in need of a dry place to sleep, and you look like you need a travel companion. Care to figure it out?" It was a shot in the dark, but worth making. There was a reason this guy was in an inn, sitting alone. "Call me Kelvin, by the way."

As Separ continues to idly imagine adventures he is brought back into reality as he feels a hand touch his back. Separ turns around and listens to the man he starts wondering just how to respond, pausing to think about his actions. "Do I know you? Though actually I am looking for some companions. Wait, out of everyone here why choose me? You're not trying to rob me or something are you? Wait, umm, are you looking just for someone to travel with, or are you an adventurer as well?" Separ's words were quick and somewhat hard to follow. He had never done something like this before and wasn't exactly sure of himself and just how to proceed.

Carver strode through the marketplace confidently, his heavy armor clanking with every step. So far, everything seemed to be in order - the hustle and bustle of commerce carried on around him, seemingly unabated by any sort of wickedness or villainy whatsoever. The prices seemed to be reasonable, the merchandise legitimate - nobody was being cheated here. Carver was glad to see it; too many villages he had been to on his journey so far had been rife with dishonesty and corruption.

As he ruminated on the morality of the village, he caught sight of a scrawny gnome stumbling through the crowd. He watched as the gnome took hold of a woman's robe, staring at the fabric with childlike wonder. She immediately turned and yanked it from him, saying something unintelligible but obviously rather flustered.

Quite a pair - the girl seemed to be moving with a distinct limp, and the gnome clearly wasn't eating very well. It was hardly the stuff of legends, but Carver knew that every good deed mattered.

With his best winning smile, Carver approached the pair, regarding them each in turn. "Good day, friends! Keeping safe, I should hope?"

By the time Suki had finished the apple, she had managed to walk her way over to the tavern by chance. Mentally sighing, she pushed open te doors, before walking in. Avoiding eye contact with any curious onlookers, she made her way towards the corner of the building, sitting herself down at an empty table.

Carefully glancing about, she didn't recognize anyone, nor see anything out of the ordinary. Nor was there anyone staring at her with the look of death, as the members of the church had done so.

Feeling the safest that she had all week, she lightly rested her head on the table, befre falling asleep, her arms around her head, covering any view of her face.

Furnace let the cloth slowly slip away trough his fingers.
"It's pretty"
Would not fit... light the fires...
She knew he was Furnace, and that was his task.
So as the fires and hammer fit him the robe fit her?
The robe was her tool, he didn't know for what, and thus he could not perform that task.
Thus he was not fit.
Furnace wondered what her task was. He recognised the patters as those in the sky.
Since he'd seen them for the first time he had been unable to find ryme or reason for the lights up there

Suddenly a shadow fel over him, as he looked up he saw a large figure fully encased in steel.
The man smiled and called them 'friends' and asked them if they 'kept safe'.
Furnace double checked. He was talking to them, though he saw no spark of recognition in the robe-user.
He struggled to remember the word 'friend'. The voice had never used 'friend'. But the captors had.
They had used it to describe each other when they weren't fighting.
By the looks of this ironclad giant that seemed like a decent proposal.
"Good day.. Friend... I keep no one..."

Alula wanted to leave, she wanted to hurry away and leave the village and disappear from memory like she always did. She was very conflicted right now, as well as uncomfortable. She knew the gnome meant her no harm, but Alula didn't like being around strangers. She heard the gnome mutter something about her robe, but she didn't comprehend it. The two stood in silence and although her stoic face didn't show it vivid hallucinations played out in front of her eyes. Flames sprouted out from the ground, but left no burn when they touched her skin. Phantom noises filled her ears, crying and screaming.

And Alula was extremely distressed, but didn't show it physically. This had never happened before? Or had it? Her eyes went hazy again as she attempted to remember anything pass a few days ago. Nothing.

But as quickly as they started the hallucinations of flames and sound stopped. They faded away, leaving Alula dazed and confused. Someone else, another stranger, had approached her and the gnome. And suddenly things seemed a little calmer, a bit more controlled. Alula pulled her hat down over her eyes as she spoke the voice of the other. "A splendent light but his own kindness keeps him in shackles." She kept the glow of her eyes hidden under her hat as she listened to the man speak. Under normal circumstances the man's smile would be welcoming and most likely comforting, but Alula was confused? Was this man her friend?

"Calling someone friend is a way of showing you aren't hostile. He is trying to be polite."

Oh. But this mad also said 'Good day' when had it become day? She looked up from under the brim of her hat. Yep. The bright light in the sky told her it was a clear day out. She pulled her hat back down. She didn't say anything as the gnome and the man started a conversation, she was far too dizzy. She didn't like meeting this many people in one day.

Vis had managed to find a decent bag, similar to the one he had though fortunately with hardier stitching. He look up from studying the leather at the wrinkled old face of the leather smith, he did this again a few more times, inspecting the bag and looking up at the man who seemed to have infinite patience. "Thell me Letherthmith," he said, through the scarf that covered his mouth, "Whath kind of lether ith thith." the old man replied quickly, betraying that he indeed make the bag and didn't buy bad quality ones at low price to re-sell later.

"Stag leather," he said with pride, looking back to a pile of antlers in the corner of his little shack, "only the best." Vis nodded, feeling the rough interior and the smoothly finished exterior. It was indeed of good quality, it was stitched first with thread, then with thicker thread and over that with robust leather thread, it would hold.

"Thirthy gold." said Vis, avoiding the eye contact of the man as it seemed he was staring at his blind green eye, it cast a circle on the old man's face that seemed to unnerve him as he noticed it produced light.

"60." replied the man instantly, standing up a bit straighter as he sensed that a haggling war was about to ensue. 

By the end an agreement was reached, Vis payed 45 golden bits and got the bag thar he so desired and a set of stag antlers, seeing that he might as well get more worth for his pay and take something else, then to just get one thing. Satisfied with his purchase, he thanked the man and dumped his personal effects into the bag, his child's encyclopedia and the antlers; he didn't know what he was going to do with them but he figured it wouldn't hurt. As he made his way out of the market he tripped on an armored boot, looking up he almost shat himself at the paladin, who looked much bigger from the floor.

The word 'shackles' resonated with Furnace. With eyes full of concern he studied the knights wrists and ankles.
"What binds you fr-"
Suddenly another tall figure came tumbling past between them.
Did he trip over the chains?
Furnace found no chains around the giants feet. He sighed in confused relief. He now stared at the creature that had fallen amidst them. Without blinking, without words.

A splendid light, but his kindness keeps him bound. Carver furrowed his brow, confused. He was opening his mouth to reply to the girl when a tall man in a scarf stumbled over his feet and fell to the floor in front of him.

"Apologies, friend!" Carver said, kneeling down to help the half-elf rise to his feet. "I didn't see you approach. Are you injured?" These words were meant to assuage the man's obvious fright at the sight of him - Carver hated being seen as scary, but sadly it sometimes came with the territory of wearing armor.

The paladin looked back to the girl, who seemed faint and dizzy in the sun. Perhaps that was why the things she said made so little sense - was the heat getting to her? He placed a hand on her shoulder gently. "Milady, you don't look well. Perhaps you'd like to sit down in the shade?" He smiled back down at the scrawny gnome, still staring at the assembled figures wordlessly. "Come too, little one. We'll see what we can do about getting you something to eat."

"Hold up!" Kelvin raised his hands to stem the flow of questions
A cold sweat started to break out on his forehead. Stay calm. Stay calm. "Who said anything about robbery?" He forced a grin. "I just observed that as two separate travellers, we had something to gain from... er... travelling... together." The engineer leaned on the bar next to him. "Besides, you said you were looking for companions... if you don't mind me asking- for what exactly?"

"You want to know why I'm looking for companions? It's simple really, I've always wanted to become an adventurer, and now that I'm old enough and have trained quite a bit under a master I feel like I'm ready to go off and see the world." Separ paused for a moment as a small smile forms across his face. "Are you an adventurer as well? Because if so I'd definitely be interested in forming a group with you. Umm, are you experienced with any type of combat? Maybe you're some type of weapon user, maybe a mage or could it be that you're unarmed just like me?" As Separ says this his smile widens even more until he's smiling like an idiot. Yet, due to this coincidence of finding someone so quickly it really wasn't hard to see why he was smiling so happily, even if it was a bit strange.

Interesting. This was an odd one. Not that Kelvin was going to complain- any traveling companion was better than none. "Er, not an adventurer so much... no... and I am not really a fighter either... ..." He looked quickly at the other man's face and recovered his senses. "Ah, but I still have something to offer!" He straightened his posture hastily, straightening his shirt. ""I am an engineer. My skill is in making things go boom, putting 'em back together, and making things work." He grinned, "Besides that, I can defend myself- I have a rather nice crossbow, even if I am useless fighting up close." It was hard, like trying to sell ones self to another. He really didn't feel like sleeping outside or being hungry tonight though. "I can't promise I will stick with your crew forever, but I don't mind dedicating myself for a month or two."

"My Crew?" Separ laughed heartily, only for his laughter to quickly die down and shift into that of nervous laughter. "Truth be told, I don't actually have any other comrades or anything really. I'm just starting out and should you accept you'd be the first person to actually be part of my crew. Though, I don't really consider myself a leader or anything, so it would be our group." Separ looked around at the other patrons who all seemed to be talking to others, or eating food. "So, you wouldn't happen to know anyone else here, do you? If you do that would be great as we'd already be up to three, maybe even more people. I'll admit, it's a bit off putting that you can't defend yourself when things get close and personal, but to be perfectly honest I don't own any equipment whatsoever so I would actually be useless in ranged combat. Well actually, I could always throw a rock, or something. Oh! Actually I could use this." Separ grabbed the hilt of the dagger strapped to his waist and pulled it out. "It's just a simple dagger, but I figured I could always throw it at someone, or you know, cut some ropes or escape traps or something. After all, I only use my fists, and a little magic." Separ placed the dagger back at his side and looked towards Kelvin once more. "So, would you like to join me, and do you, just maybe know some other people around here?"

Kelvin looked the other man up and down, considering. If they really were going to be travelling about, he probably would find more work. As it was he had to go from village to village to find a steady influx of things to fix. It was lonely traveling alone anyways. "Yeah, I'll join you. Unfortunately, I am a bit new to the area though." He paused, considering those around them. "A lot of the people here at the inn will be patrons... people who can afford rooms, and probably with plans. We need to find the drifters." Kelvin tapped a finger on the counter for a moment, pondering. "We should check around here. The locals can tell us who the drifters are pretty easily." He glanced over at the barkeep, waving him over. Kelvin reached into a pocket and grimaced to himself as he pulled out his second to last gold coin. "I don't suppose anyone new has been hanging about lately, other than my friend and myself?" Kelvin slid the coin across the bar. "We are looking to get a group together before we head to the next town, you know, to keep off the bandits. Safety in numbers and all that."

The barkeep picked up the coin and examined it closely before stowing it away in his pocket. "No clue." Said the man as he went back to working, brewing some alcohol. It was obvious the man was holding back, probably wanting to get paid more in exchange for the information.

"If you don't know then could you give my friend his coin back?" Asked Separ, a bit agitated.

"No, I did answer his question after all." Said the bartender smirking.

Separ stood out of his chair and was ready to argue with him, but quickly stopped as he figured causing a scene wouldn't be a good idea. If a bar fight were to take place, chaos would ensue and well, that wouldn't be good. Instead Separ reached into one of his pockets and handed Kelvin a gold piece. "Here you go. And maybe instead of trying to bribe someone, we could just ask people if they'd like to join our group? I don't really think there's a need to pay people and ask about drifter's, when I'm sure some of the locals would kindly oblige and take us up on the offer of adventure." Without letting Kelvin get a word in, Separ pointed to the left side of the tavern. "I'll ask over here, and you can ask over there." And with that Separ walked over and began asking random strangers if they would be okay accompanying him and his newfound friend, Kelvin on their journey.

***
5 minutes later

"So what do you say, are you in? I promise me and my friend won't slow you down. After all I can throw a pretty mean punch, and my friend over there is good with a crossbow and knows all about machinery and the like." To emphasize his skill Separ threw a quick punch which sliced through the air. "Sure, sure kid, and maybe on this adventure we can go and slay dragons, save the world, and become the most famous and richest explorers in all the land." Separ beamed with joy upon hearing this. "So you'll join?"

"No! Now get lost before I smash your face in." Said the drunken man as he slammed his fist on the table trying to intimidate Separ. All Separ could do was sigh as everyone on this side of the tavern had either ignored him or didn't feel like joining him as they were not fit for adventure.

“I’m not having any luck.” Kelvin slid over next to the other man. Most of the people hanging about were locals, it just seemed that time of day. His gaze slid over the tavern in displeasure. It wasn’t the individual’s faults, just circumstance. “Maybe we would have better luck outside, more people coming and going.” The engineer pointedly ignored the tavern keeper, instead giving the room one last look. “Alright, let’s just-”

There. In the back corner. Kelvin tugged the other guy’s arm. He would have to ask his name sometime. He nodded his head towards the slumped cloaked figure, and moved towards it, having to circle tables and people several times over before he was near. “Dang. Seems to be asleep.” Kelvin glanced over at the other guy. “No harm in checking though.” Carefully, he pinched the back of the figures hood, leaning over and lifting it slightly to get a look underneath. It was a woman. Beautiful, with porcelian features and black hair. He dropped the hood and straightened, already shaking his head. “No.”

Watching Kelvin pull back the woman's hood Separ felt a little annoyed. He walked over to Kelvin a bit shocked by his actions. "What was that?" He asked. "What do you mean?"
"You know what I mean. You just pulled up her hood and you don't even know her. And why say no immediately anyways? I mean sure she's a girl, but so what? You could have almost woken her up you know." Separ said, steaming a little.
"Well, I am sorry, highness, if I am so much lower down than you in matter's of chivalry, but I was expecting a man, and drunk no less." Kelvin jerked a thumb at the figure. "This is different. Go ahead and look yourself if you like, but I say no not because she's a girl, just take a look at her face!"

"Look, I'm not upset because you pulled up her hood specifically, but rather because you did it in general. You really shouldn't just pull up random people's hoods is all I'm trying to get at. Also what exactly is the problem with her face? Does she have scars or is disfigured or something? Either way that's probably why she was wearing the hood in the first place. If she doesn't want to have her face seen just let her be. Either way, let's stop fighting over something this silly, shall we be on our way?" Asked Separ as he turned toward the main entrance of the tavern. Kelvin sighed and shook his head. "No scars.. its just..." He grimaced and looked at her. Maybe it would be best to leave.