"Take a step back and take a look at the big picture, things about about to fall into place."

Alula took this thought as a command, physically taking a step away from the small group. Maybe she needed to clear her mind? Would she understand? Or maybe the voice had a sense of humor, because within moments of Alula moving someone tripped over the knight and fell into the spot she was once standing. It would have been horrible if someone had bumped into her so suddenly. She watched in silence as the knight helped up the man who had tripped. "Pushed down many times, always to get up. Born of love and raised in the shadows."

She placed a hand on her forehead, feeling quite dizzy and confused again. When had she stopped walking? Wasn't she going somewhere? Suddenly a distant voice, a knight. And a hand upon her shoulder. Alula immediately tensed up, vibrating as if being shaken at great speed. She stepped away from Carver, yanking her shoulder from his gentle grip. Her hat tipped back in her head, revealing her now brightly glowing eyes. She began to speak, but her voice sounded corrupted, like many voices speaking at once.

"DO NOT TOUCH HER."

A voice spoke in her mind, her head clearing.

"He means you no harm, it was a gentle gesture.

Alula blinked a few times, her enraged expression turning to one of confusion and embarrassment. She wasn't sure what to say, she was freezing up.

"He wants to take you to the shade of the trees, to get you away from the crowd."

Alula pulled the brim of her hat over her eyes, which had ceased glowing. She spoke slowly, slurred. "Um...yes the shade sounds nice." She took a step back towards Carver.

From the moment she felt her hood gently shift, Suki had woken up. However, the unusually gentle action -unusual to her- was what kept her from springing out of her seat, and attacking the man. She would've preferred her scythe, but she had hid that on the outskirts of town. Such a large weapon drew curious gazes after all.

Choosing to slip back into her dreams, her interest was perked as she heard the two men argue. It seemed they weren't looking for any trouble with her, or as a matter of fact, with anyone. They might have been looking for others. However, what really stuck with her, was that these two weren't discussing as if they had met a demon, but instead a normal person.

"Mayhaps you'd like me to join you?" Completely on the whim, Suki tossed that question out, while mentally regretting the decision already. Unfortunately, what has been said could not be retracted. Sitting up slowly, while allowing the hood of her cloak to drop, she smiled at the man closest to her.

"However, to be willing to place one's hand so close to a lady, you must be rather daring of a person." Softly speaking, Suki half reprimanded the man, half teased, as she stood up, making sure the keep the rest of herself covered by the cloak.

Vis nodded his thanks to the armored man and slowly bent down to scoop his bag up off the floor, he gave it a good dusting and slipped it back on, not taking his good eye off of the paladin and casting a circle of green light on his face with the bad one. 
"thank you.." mumbled Vis, awkwardly. He still had more things to go and buy but the paladin seemed to have a point, it was very warm outside for some reason and the heat seared Vis' pale skin.

"I think thare ith a inn on tha wetht thide of the marketh, pathed ith by when I goth hear." he needed a drink after that much  lisping, something to calm his nerves but he only drank in private, so it seemed he wouldn't be able to. Vis tightened his scarf around his face, just in a way it would stay on but not in a way it would show impressions of his scaring. "there ith altho an airy bar thomewhere near thare." 

Vis turned his eye away from the armored man and looked at the group he had accosted with his tripping, there was a scraggly gnome at his feet, reminding him of an ugly cat but he mentally slapped himself as he knew he wasn't that good looking himself. Then there was the woman cloaked in fine fabric, with the heavens printed on the inside, she spoke to him and Vis shuddered, her words felt strange to him, they came out in a way that sounded like she didn't know what she was saying, yet was very accurate.

He kept his eyes on her, one to look at her and the other to cast a ghostly, green glow.

Carver withdrew his hand quickly at the strange voice's behest. That certainly wasn't the reaction he'd been expecting - glowing eyes and booming commands were usually confined to things paladins were expected either to worship or to kill, but as the girl tottered forward, pulling the brim of her hat down to hide her eyes, Carver was certain that neither of those reactions would be appropriate. No, his initial plan regarding the girl still seemed appropriate - she needed help.

It took him a moment to realize the half-elf was talking, and with a severe lisp, too. Something about a tavern? That seemed like it would serve both for getting the girl out of the heat (and the crowd) and for getting the gnome some food. He smiled at the man. "A tavern sounds like a fine idea. Might I trouble you to take us there?" He glanced around at the company. "A bit of rest and a meal, and I'm sure we'll all be feeling right as rain, friends."

He moved closer to the girl - not enough to risk triggering the same bizarre reaction, but enough that she could lean on him if she felt the need. He also extended a hand down to the gnome, hoping to prevent the small fellow from being lost in the crowd.

"Mayhaps you'd like me to join you?" Kelvin jerked around, twisting to look at the woman as she stood upright. He slapped a hand to his face, dragging it down, pulling on his flesh and in general just making him look tired. "See what I mean?" He lowered his voice for his companion, but doubtless the woman could hear as well. She pulled back her hood, fully revealing her features to the both of them. Pristine, perfect. Warning bells everywhere.

First. Why was she alone? With a face like that she could easily have been married to a rich man, or already in the bloodline of a powerful one.
Second. If she was alone, how had she managed to get so far by herself?
It just reeked of alarm. No offense to her, of course. It just didn't look safe... Kelvin glanced at his companion, wondering. Was he a fool for a pretty face?

"However, to be willing to place one's hand so close to a lady, you must be rather daring of a person." A flush crept across his cheeks for an instant, before he quickly responded. "Aye, no more daring than a lady who sleeps in a commoner's tavern with the ease of a barmaid." His tongue was going to get him into trouble someday. Kelvin averted his eyes from her, towards his companion. "Your call sir."

Alula had seemed to calm down considerably, but was still horribly overwhelmed. Not once voice kept still for very long, and she was very confused as to what they were telling her to do. She peered out from under her hat, watching as the half-elf gathered back up his belongings. He was an interesting one, but the voices could not agree on why. Perhaps he just was because he was. More phantom noises filled the oracles ears, whistling winds and breaths cut short. It was horribly unnerving. She shivered for a moment despite the heat.

The noises stopped suddenly, leaving Alula dizzy once more. Unfortunately she was also now out of the loop on the whole bar situation, she hadn't really been comprehending what the two taller men were discussing. But what she did pick up on was the half-Elfs speech impediment. In an almost comical turn of events, her mind was in an even fifty fifty split right now trying to remember and understand what would be socially acceptable. Was she supposed to not say anything or point out his strange pattern of speech.

And then Alula noticed he was looking at her. She initially panicked but then noticed something. He had glowing eyes too, or well one eye. For some reason this observation made her next choice very clear to her. And in her slurred voice spoke.

"You..talk weird..."

The moment I laid eyes on this woman I felt my body's temperature rise as my face turned beet red. I could hardly say a word as I was immediately enchanted by her beauty, and in that short moment time seemed to creep to a halt making it feel like an eternity. "Make sure there's at least one cute girl in your group as well, okay?" The words of my mentor echoed in my head as I continued to gaze upon this girl's beauty. "Your call sir."

Kelvin's words brought me out of my trance and back to reality. Ahh, just how stupid can I be? I can't just gawk at this girl, and besides regardless of how good my mentor's training was, I don't think his last snippet of advice can be considered valid. I sighed for a moment redirecting my focus to try and calm myself down. My body slowly changed back to normal as I now stared at the woman. I would not fall under her spell so easiy, even if I wanted to actually do so. Wait why am I admitting that? Ahh, forget it, just say something so you don't look like an idiot.

"I'd love it if you joined us, though I must ask if you know about how to fight or any useful skills really. I wouldn't want you or Kelvin for that matter, to get put into any dangerous situations, so please be truthful to what you can or can't do. Or at the very least understate your abilities so we don't do anything to rash and wind up all dead or something, I don't know." I gulped as while I wasn't going gaga over her anymore, I was still having a bit of trouble talking, as evidenced by the nervousness in my voice. Well it wasn't that big of a deal anyways, I probably just needed to get used to her.

Vis' eyes went wide when she said those words, his cursed left eye flashing an angry green for a moment before it stopped. He wanted to retaliate with words but his throat seized up, locking shut, if he spoke she would just poke fun at him again, he usually stood tall but now he slumped a fraction. 

"nothed*," he turned around and with a flick of his tattered left ear, he signaled for them to follow, his steps were more unsure now then they'd ever been, almost all people did not comment on his voice, they tended to know what was good for them, the last time someone did they suffered a beating. But he couldn't beat the girl under the pointy hat, he just couldn't bring himself to raise his hand at her, she seemed like she didn't know what she was saying but that didn't make him any less wounded. Vis tightened his scarf. 

When they arrived at the tavern, Vis held the door open for his group, turning around to see the Paladin, Gnome and the pretty hooded girl who made comments at his expense.

Suki shifted her gaze to the side slightly, as she was compared to that of a barmaid. Not because she was insulted, but moreso because she ended up thinking about kissing patrons when she was half dead. That was one memory she would love to bury, but at least that was at a different village.

"Of course. Although I may not look like it, but I do have confidence in my ability to scout out an area. That, and when I do run into trouble, I trust my skill in a scythe." Answering the other man's questions, she couldn't help but to notice how he had a momentary lapse when he first looked at her.

She leaned closer to him, while subtly releasing the top clasp of the cloak, allowing it to part slightly. From this angle, the man could get just a tiny glimps of her chest. "Well~? Do you believe me~?" Whispering these words, at such a low volume, yet with hints of a challenge mixed in with that sultry tone.

Furnace entered the tavern and looked around.
The room was filled with wooden constructs, living creatures and ceramics containing, what smelled like food.
He didn't see a source for the food though. How did these people find it? Why decide to eat it here?
Then he saw a creature with a large wooden plate stacked with cups. Distributing food to people.
He noticed a pattern, she went by all the wooden circles and gave foot to those balanced around it.
Furnace concluded that if they balanced on the small wooden constructs around the large wooden plates, they would get food.

Following the pattern the barmaid followed Furnace chose a table that would soon be serviced.
He took the cloth-wrapped bastard sword slung over his shoulder and carefully placed it leaning against the table.
After sizing the chair up for a few seconds and studying the other patrons he got up on the seat and sat down cross-legged.
Then he waited. If his guesses were correct food would now come to him.

A scythe huh, that's an interesting weapon of choice, thought Separ as he continued to talk to this beautiful lady. However as he was listening to her, she seemed to lean forward and unbutton the top of her cloak, an action which surprised Separ. He stared closely for a second and realized he could see a small portion of her cleavage. Was she purposefully trying to make him look? Should he look? Can he? While Separ kind of wanted to take a peek he realized that wouldn't be a good idea. She was most likely just feeling a little hot and wanted some more air. He glanced to the side not wanting to stare at her chest and give off the wrong impression. "I believe you, after all you have no reason to lie right?" His voice had turned even more nervous now, as he wasn't sure quite what to do. "So, uh, welcome to the team I guess." He looked back at her and gave her a somewhat shy smile.

Separ turned towards Kelvin and extended a hand, his palm facing the sky. "This here is Kelvin, and my name is Separ. If you don't mind me asking, what's your name?" As he said this Separ had a lightbulb moment and turned towards Kelvin and nodded slightly. "I'm sorry, it seems I had forgotten to tell you my name earlier. Sorry about that."

Well, at least the other guy was going to keep his head on. Mostly. Not that Kelvin had done much better with that passing insult. A scythe? Scouting? Kelvin shook his head. If she had those skills, it was more concerning. What if she was part of a marauder’s crew- luring unsuspecting travelers to the wrong road at the wrong hour. The thought made him shudder. It was just unnatural, for someone with a face like that to be alone in a town like this. Though, in retrospect, it was equally strange for an engineer to be hanging about the area as well. She leaned closer to them, his companion specifically, and murmured towards him, letting her cloak hang open a bit. Whelp. He was done here. Kelvin turned away smartly and sat down at her table, attempting to keep a straight face.

Aren’t you supposed to seduce them before you get what you want, rather than after? Not that he had experience in such things. Ah, Separ was his name. ”It be alright, think nothing of it.” Kelvin didn’t look at either of them, looking pointedly to the side and then jumping, knocked over his chair and falling to the floor beside it. ”What… who is that?!” A strange, whitish childlike creature was sitting on one of the seats beside him. Kelvin spluttered and recovered a bit. ”Ah, hello there… little one.”

Alula watched the half-elf for his reaction, and she couldn't help but think maybe she chose the wrong choice. He had looked mad, and she could feel that she had hurt his feelings. Her face kept neutral, but there was an argument going on in her head. She chose to ignore it, but her headache and dizziness were increasing. And after a few moments Alula had forgotten about what the voices were arguing over. Something about a voice? She knew plenty of those. Oh. They were walking now. She wasn't sure were they were going, or if she should go too. But after taking one teetering step forward she decided going with them was better then staying alone in a crowd.

She allowed herself to lean on the paladin a few times, and although the touch of armor felt like a searing through her robes she did not fall. Several times while the small group was walking Alula asked where they were going, and every time she got an answer she soon forgot it and asked again. She also asked several other questions ranging from asking "what time is is" four times to questioning why the paladin was wearing so much armor. Walking into the bar was slightly less overwhelming then walking through the streets. It was still many thoughts being thrown at her at once, so many intermingling voices. But now several of them were drunk. And yet it was still a lot to take in.

She opened her mouth, eyes dully glowing under her hat. "A gathering place for people of all kinds, the road of life twists and turns and no two directions are ever the same and yet they end up here."

She already felt far more comfortable being out of the heat, and although the bar was noisier she could barely hear them under the voices in her head. She watched as the gnome ran off to find a table, sitting with a few other people. Alula disliked the idea of having to be close to more people so quickly, and instead found herself wobbling over to a small table near the back of the room. All around her phantoms and hallucinations moved, ranging from the joyous to disastrous. From weddings to war. But she didn't mind, they were faded and quiet under a heavy cloud of alcohol.

Furnace noted the other beings around the wooden circle had noticed him and one of them wished to trade words.
He eyed the tall figure, he had a magnificent beard, he was tall but not as physically imposing as his new metal bound friend.
The thing that stood out about this guy was not his appearance. Furnace tilted his head slightly without breaking eye contact with Kelvin.
"Petroleum, iron filings, sulfur, fresh paper...and something else... You smell interesting."

Once the group he had latched himself onto entered, Vis followed, closing the wooden door behind him. Once the merry group had entered, Vis veered to the left and towards the bar counter where the bartender stood and dried out rinsed tankards. "Ith there a chanth I can thake a thankard outh?" asked Vis, watching the man behind the counter dry out the mug.
"Sorry mate, nothing leaves the tavern that's not yours." Vis sighed, he didn't like to drink or eat in public, he had to take off the scarf and let people see his gnarled up scar and exposed teeth, he didn't want that. He was about to walk away and find a seat but behind the barman was a sheld of unopened bottles of drink, waiting to be bought. One of the bottles caught his eye, it was a plain green bottle, slimmer and taller then most, with an all too familiar label; it was a bottle of ForestElf, Wildberries and Alderflowers and it was new, Vis didn't like aged. 

"How muth for tha ForethtElf?" Vis asked, he watched as the man reached up to get a bottle that sat next to the one that caught his eye, it was a lighter color and the wax around the cork was damaged, showing it had been watered down and re-sealed, "Tha fresh one pleath." said Vis patiently, as the man grumbled and brought down the unopened one.

"40 gold," said the barkeeper, clearly disgruntled by his failed attempt at selling him watered down booze, "Special discount for you my lispy friend."
"fiftheen gold and I'm noth your friend you con artitht." He glared at the man and rested his hand on his rapier, as the man dropped his hand under the counter, probably gripping a weapon. 

"40, you half-elf mongrel."

"Fiftheen, you gold pinthing donkey."

Carver stepped beside the half-elf and put a hand on his shoulder, smiling at the barkeeper. "No need to ruin this good day with... regrettable actions, friends. What do we say to thirty gold, and I'll put up half of it... provided you share some with our new friends, of course." It was obvious so far that the barkeep was a cheat and a swindler, and in another time Carver would have loved to have words with him on the subject. However, not on such a fine day, in so crowded a place, with friends in need of care nearby. The priority right now was diffusing the situation.

"How much for something hot for my diminutive friend, good man?" He gestured back to the gnome sitting nearby, who looked to be sniffing at a bearded stranger. The man didn't seem offended by this, so that was good. Carver jingled his coin purse and was disheartened by its lightness - a life of charity had taken a toll on his funds, it seemed. He'd need to find some form of income soon, but that could wait.

The barkeep looks Carver up and down, "For a respectful man such as yourself, 30 pieces is fine, as for food, that'll be 20 pieces for a nice hot meal." The barkeep brings the down the bottle and holds out his hand, waiting to be paid.

Vis, shook off Carver's hand and just glared at the barman, ignoring the paladin's offer after hearing the lightness of his pouch, he was too prideful at that moment to accept help and he didn't see it fair to take from someone who had little to begin with. "I'll pay thirthy." growled Vis through clenched teeth, his green eye casting a bright shaft of light at the barman's face.

"Fifty." replied the barman, seeing that Vis was willing to pay more, the man smirked. In no mood to barter any further, Vis shoved his fist into the his coin pouched and clenched about half in his fist before throwing them at the taverner's face and snatched the bottle from his grubby clutches, "What the f-!"

"You goth tha money, now shuth up!" yelled Vis, not caring who heard him. He turned around and let the paladin get what he wanted from the disgruntled man picking up coins from the floor. Vis found a secluded seat in a dark corner and popped the cork from the bottle, he took a deep whiff of it's smell, 'the smell of home.' he thought, remembering that the brewery was in his home town. He was about to lower his scarf to drink but he noticed a faint white glow coming from his blind, left side. He turned to see the girl in the pointy hat, he groaned, not seeing her as she was on his left side. Sp he went over to another seat, farther into the corner and away from the zoned out woman. As he sat there, on his own, he glanced at the girl in the pointy hat.

"Well, since your friend there is so rude, you have to be the normal price, 35 pieces for a nice meal." He sneered at the paladin, then looking at the rogue, "And if he causes any trouble, I expect you to take care of him because you won't like how I do it."

Carver watched the irritated half-elf storm off and shook his head sadly. If the man wanted to be surly, that was his own business; at least there hadn't been a confrontation.

He removed the thirty-five coins from his (now even lighter) coinpurse and slid it across the counter to the barkeep. "A hot meal, then, for the gnome." The barkeep pocketed the money and barked an order to a barmaid. Carver leaned in closer to the man then, still smiling with his mouth, if not with his eyes. "Yes, I will take care of any trouble. And perhaps, another time, you and I may have a discussion about your business practices, and you will not like how I do that."

This done, Carver turned and crossed the crowded room back to where the gnome was seated, alongside three others. One was the bearded man that the gnome had been speaking with, while the other two, a muscular looking young man and a very... shapely young woman seemed to be either arguing or flirting. Carver furrowed his brow at the girl. Though looking at her appealed to his baser urges, the higher part of his mind found something undisputably off about her. This was someone who did not know the love of the sun.

He sat down next to them and patted the gnome on the back. "Food on its way, my diminutive friend." Just then, a barmaid set a sizeable bowl of stew in front of the gnome and was quickly off.

He smiled at the others and nodded his head. "A fine day, friends. Hope you have a seat for another."