It was quite a nice spring evening in the city of Asteran, the sun was still up though clearly headed for sunset. The sky was cloudless and the temperature was quite comfortable even if it was a little breezy.

A young stout human man in some extremely fancy looking blue dyed clothing stood before the odd group outside the inn, trying his not to lose his cool in front of the group. he cleared his throat. “Ahem. Welcome all of you, I am Alan your main representative for the Enchanters Guild. This gathering today is mostly an icebreaker for the group. Everyone here will be travelling together tomorrow and I’m sure many of you would prefer not to be complete strangers with the companion who may be watching your back. The enchanters guild has a lot invested into this endeavor, and as you all know we are paying quite well for the safety and research of the cargo and are quite confident that all of your are quite skilled at your specialties.” he explained, waiting just a moment as he fixed a wrinkle in his garment.

“Anyways, a bit of business first, due to recent increased activity of undead in the area, our group has decided to give an at cost discount on all equipment provided by our guild in the town if you wish to purchase further preparations. Just inform the merchant, they’ll have a list of names. We hope you’ll take advantage of this to make even better preparations for this trip.” he explained.

“Lastly, a review of what you all agreed to. Your cargo is a variety of experimental weaponry deemed too dangerous to test inside or near the town. Please keep your hands off of them until you’ve reached the destination and the researchers have properly tested them. Then once they have been deemed ready you are free to give them a combat trial if any undead do happen to wander your way. Also please protect Karu here...” he added, pointing to a black scaled dragon about the size of a bear who gave a bit of a huff at that line, causing the man to hesitate a moment as he chose his next words carefully. “...er, given of course he is unable to protect himself for some reason, he is one of the top members of our development team and we’d be put back significantly if we lost him.” he said, the dragon looking quite sated with that. That was good, he’d rather not get chewed out later after all.

The man shook his head as he snapped out of his thoughts. “Anyways, as we wish to encourage some socializing and a happy group your drinks, rooms, and food tonight will be on the guild’s tab, though the bartender has been instructed not to let you get too drunk. I will be in the enchanters guild hall which is just down the street if you need me to answer any further questions. He added before leaving the group to their devices.

The inn was one of the most popular in town, quite large with very nice rooms and recently revamped to accommodate creatures of different sizes and even body type for the dragons. All the doors were quite wide and large, and inside was seating for both four legged and two legged patrons, cushioned chairs and large soft floor pillows mostly. The bartender was actually a pair, a human husband and wife with friendly smiles and much more average clothing. There was quite a mix of races already in the bar, dwarves, elves, humans, orcs, a couple kobolds and a naga even! It was quite odd to see everyone actually getting along, but it was likely because most kept to their own race, plus a pair of rather large half ogre bouncers were prepared if anyone decided to stir up trouble.

Anu'din studiously watched the representative from the Enchanter's Guild, alongside the black dragon that was to accompany their little group. The tavern had been an odd place to hold such a meeting, though he admitted it helped subdue any feelings of trepidation. His curiosity piqued about the job and what sort of artifacts they would be using, he thought about what the man had said just before he left.

I am unable to get inebriated, and I've yet to see another majin inside the city, let alone this tavern. I should ask Karu about the details of the trip. But, Alan already left. Hmm... Alan first. I need to make some more preparations, now that they've given us a discount. It would be foolish to pass up that opportunity.

Stiffly rising from his chair, the majin followed the representative out the door and into the streets. Making his way past the crowds, Anu'din entered the building the representative had mentioned. Taking a few steps in, he soon found the man, and steadily walked towards him. Stopping about two feet away, he made eye contact. Though, with his face nothing more than a mask with a voice projector, it may have seemed disconcerting to the man. If he spoke, would it be more or less disconcerting? Anu'din banished such thoughts and spoke.

"Excuse me, I had questions regarding the job tomorrow. What sort of experimental weaponry will we be handling? Will it be individualized for each member of the team you are sending, or is it meant for any of us to use? And should we be expecting a fight when we get there? I would hope scouts from the city would be able to tell us the amount of undead currently in the area."

The mechanical man rapid-fired the questions, not having a mouth to move or lungs to fill with air. Anu'din thought the questions well-deserved; better to be prepared than caught unawares.

Sennafing was excited. Quite excited in fact.
Senna had spent most of her life juggling between helping her brood mother take care of the young ones and working as a runner for messages and deliveries. It was only a few months ago that Senna convinced her mother to let her join the United Alliance. Finally, this was gonna be her first real mission! She was so giddy that she spent her time trying not to fidget and keep still through Alen's tiny speech. Best not to give a bad impression to the client and the group.

Then Senna looked at the people who were to be her comrades for this journey. Senna openly stared at Anu'din until he left. She knew it was rude and felt bad for it, but she couldn't help it. She had never seen a majin before and she hoped he was friendly.
They all looked like hardened adventurers! If any thing bad happened, it would probably be Senna's fault, and she was nervous and scared that she would screw up from lack of experience. But she couldn't have that. This was her first mission! She had to do her best! Letting out a breath to calm herself she addressed the remaining group.

"Good day Everyone!" Senna squeaked. "Ahem! My name is Sennafing, but please call me Senna! I am an inexperienced adventurer but I will try my best! I hope we can all get along!"

Giving nothing but a friendly nod to Alan as he took his leave, Seb began to walk towards the door of the inn with the intention of finally getting something to eat. The free meal and accommodation was...well, very accommodating of Alan and the Enchanter's Guild. Their recent swell of wealth and support with the curse around always meant that important tasks like these were well resourced. Having not eaten all day due to being absorbed in research made Seb's stomach grateful.

In addition to eating, Seb had been looking forward to catching up with Anu'din, although it seemed that he had business elsewhere. It was typical for a logical thinker such as himself to do so, but the realisation soon came upon Seb that Anu'din had little use for meals and beverages.

Before he even took three steps, Seb was interrupted in his stride by a menacing blue shape that quickly stilled into the form of the dragon assigned to the team. The sudden movement made him jolt in place. Great, the dragon must have been insulted that he or she wasn't addressed properly before he proceeded. Thankfully, pride didn't seem to be on the tone of this dragon's high young voice. It was more like excitement? Seb was wide eyed and paralysed, but gradually came out of his startled state with a response. "Um...quite! It is a pleasure, Senna. My name is Sebastian. I am a m-m-m-magical academic." Seb almost made two mistakes, by nearly calling himself a mage when he could not use magic anymore, and by extending his hand by habit. He quickly raised his hand into a wave before it could be shredded to ribbons by Senna's claws. In case the wave wasn't interpreted as a greeting, Seb redirected it to the door of the inn. "After you."

Alan was quite easy to get to inside the building, his office was right in the front after all due to his general public relations jobs. Many shelves of files and books lined the walls of the room, making it look more like a library room than an office space. Alan was the one who kept track of all the employees and members after all.

The golem-like creature was quite strange, but as someone who spent many days around wizards and magic types he saw all sorts of strange things. He was calmly sitting at a desk in a rather nicely carved chair with appropriate cushioning for a person who sits most of the day. He glanced down at a paper real quick before answering, reading a name off of it.

"Ah, Anu'din I believe. I can't answer too much about the experimental equipment, that's more of Karu's area. He's got a variety things, I believe he they're meant to be able to be used by anyone though. All I know is that they are currently dormant until he does something to activate them, so the risk of them going off during travel is close to zero." he explained.

"As for the undead..." he continued, frowning a little bit with worry. "The united alliance patrols have apparently been running into almost three times the amount of encounters since last month, but only what appears to be wandering, lone undead. Nothing that couldn't easily be dispatched though. Your chances of running into something is actually higher than normal, but nothing but the slow stupid ones have been scouted near the town. There may however be beasts to worry about as the test location is a decent ways away from civilization. We've scouted it yesterday of course, it's only about 12 hours away." he nodded a bit to himself. "We probably overhired for this, but the research is of incredible importance to us here so we're making perfectly sure everything goes smoothly."

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At the inn, the black scaled dragon Karu was quick to move himself into the inn once Alan was done talking. He'd been up quite late the previous night checking over the prototypes to make sure they wouldn't go off during transit or anything. He was rather happy to see at least one normal looking human in the group. It was rather difficult for dragons to grasp some of the weapons with their claws.

He did give a rather knowing smile toward the younger dragon of the group. He could remember being that young and excited, and about three times the size he was now. He could only hope that bastard Vivian would fall to one of his inventions for what she did to him. Then again, it wasn't all so bad, his new home and size were inconvenient in many ways, but a sniff and the smell of the bar's cooking were certainly quick to remind him how bland his diet used to be. It was hard to stay grumpy at humans when they came up with so many interesting foods. Also he didn't have to spend so much time finding enough food to eat.

He moved into the inn after the others, opting to go up to the bartenders to order some food for himself. A large roast of spiced meat mixed with some seasoned veggies was soon on his mind as he slid a cushion over to one of the smaller tables to wait.

Anu'din nodded, his curiosity sated for the moment. "Better to be safe than sorry, as the saying goes. Thank you for answering my questions. I believe I will go and find Karu now."

With that, the majin turned about and headed toward the merchant in the guild. He gave a quick rundown of the equipment he would need: a 5 liter drum, straps and bolts, flexible heat resistant tubing, and plenty of scrap metal. Anu'din had just enough money to purchase the items, thanks to the discount. The order would be ready in a few minutes; it gave time for Anu'din to head back to the tavern and find himself a particular black dragon.

Entering the tavern, he quickly spotted Karu by a table off to the side. As politely as he could, he grabbed a chair and pulled up to the table.

"Hello. I hope I am not intruding, but I had a question regarding the trip tomorrow. Mostly, I wish to know more about what sort of experimental weaponry we will be testing out at the site. I've spoken to Alan and I have a fairly good idea of the trouble we might run into. The weaponry is the only unknown variable of the situation, and I wish to know more."

Olerus had listened to what the representative of their guild had to say. He didn't really listen. Everything the guildmember talked about, Olerus had already known. What he didn't know was that Karu was coming along for the testing. Olerus didn't really like Karu. Hell, he didn't really like anyone else in the Enchanter's Guild. Nobody really cared for Olerus either. He was only allowed in because of the rumoured magic fonts he could create. He had made the Enchanter's Guild many fonts over the years. They were never able to use them, however.

Olerus walked inside of the inn. Within an instant, he walked to the bar. He held up one finger. The bartender seemed to recognize the symbol, and poured an oddly slender and tall glass. The glass was filled with a old type of brandy. Olerus took the glass from the bartender and poured it into his mouth. His mouth wasn't really made for drinking from cups. Much of the liquid spilled onto his chest and the bar. The bartender took out a small rag and wiped the bar clean dry.

Olerus walked away from the bar. One drink would keep him sated. He didn't really like this group of people, either. They weren't like him. They weren't like the centaurs. The proud, noble centaurs. A morose look filled his eyes when he thought about his race. Olerus took a seat alone. He chose to distance himself from others.

Senna pranced into to the tavern, ordered a shepherd's pie with a flagon of chilled milk, and sat down to observe. She was very curious about the other members of the expedition, and really wanted to ask them many, many questions. But she also wanted to make a good first impression, so she decided to keep her maw shut for the most part and just observe them.

She was watching the centuar busy being mysterious when Anu'din walked into the tavern and up to Karu with a question. This got Senna's attention and she very obviously started paying attention to their conversation.

Karu tilted a head up at the construct, tail flicking a little bit as he was asked about the weaponry. If there was one thing many of the older dragons enjoyed doing it was bragging about their accomplishments. Even if he was rather tired, his crabbyness would not get in the way of the joy of talking about his work. "Oh? I'll be happy to tell you. I've been working on a lot of projectile enchantments. Arrows, bullets, even throwing knives. The enchantment triggers when they hit something. We're starting with the basics, things like setting their victims on fire, but I've got a couple special ones, there's an arrow that turns itself invisible after being fired, perfect for picking off targets and remaining hidden." He said, beaming at the idea. "But the best one has got to be our magic gun, my latest project. It doesn't really look anything like a gun, but you load it with enchanted cartridges prepared beforehand, then point and shoot a fireball like mages used to be able to with ease. But the best part is these cartridges are small and easily stored and sorted, you could carry around and arsensal of spells in a small pack and just shoot em off one after the other!" he said, sounding increasingly excited before stopping himself, feeling the watch of the younger dragon. It was best to keep himself from acting too embarrassingly.

"That's of course, if it works properly. After I blew a hole through the wall and the three buildings next to us by accident, we were barred from testing any more in or near the town. We also have a couple claw extensions and other equipment for dragons." He added, giving a nod over at Senna who was clearly listening in. "Trying to find safe ways to enchant them in a way where they can't ever backfire. I of course have interest in that, if the gun works properly maybe I could mold it to be mounted on my claw somehow." he rumbles a bit to himself as his mind goes off on a tangent.

He snaps back to reality shortly after. "Ah yes, the equipment. Most important thing I suppose is that I didn't protect the enchantments at all, so they can be sealed and unsealed without much trouble, so you shouldn't have to worry about them going off on the road."

Before beholding the eclectic look of the inn, the sounds, the creak of the floor, Seb's nose tingled with the delicious aromas that blasted him upon taking his first step. He could have sworn that his mouth would be leaking like a spring if he hadn't thought to keep it closed. His first port of call was the counter, where he summarily ordered not one, but three pork pies and a pint of ale. He doubted that he would finish them all, but he was too hungry to care. Besides, it wasn't as if he was paying.

Many minutes passed where Seb spent most of his time looking about the inn and drumming his fingers on the bar. Eventually, his meal arrived and he began a balancing act to take it to a table. Even with his dexterity as it was, he truly missed magical telekinesis at times like these. He thought it only polite to dine with his new colleagues, but it appeared as though they had all sat at separate tables. Seb assumed, judging by the species, that it was either shyness or pride. Probably both.

Seb decided that he had taken enough risks with dragons for today and moved to sit across from the solemn looking centaur. The horse-bodied man was rather less imposing when he wasn't standing upright. "I suppose this is official greetings, my good stallion. My name is Sebastian, I study magic. What might your name be?" Seb extended a hand. "I couldn't help but wonder, how did a centaur find a role with the Enchanter's Guild?" Seb took a large bite from his first pie after finishing his question.

Moments later, Seb's ears pricked with the discussion between Anu'din and the black dragon, Karu. He had his back to the door, so he didn't even notice Anu'din enter. After short deliberation, Seb moved his gaze to them, then stood up and picked up his meal to take with him. "I believe their conversation is pertinent to our mission, perhaps we should join them?"

The attention given to this conversation was not lost on Anu'din. He wondered if he should do what he thought - then again, I will likely be using it tomorrow, and the guild has hired these people for a reason. No advantage is lost. May as well.

Anu'din nodded gratefully. "I see. That raises some exciting questions. I'd like to know just how these projectiles would interact with a system not necessarily designed to fire them."

The majin's right hand suddenly unclasped, and rolled away to his forearm. The arm itself lengthened, and the mechanisms inside reshaped to fit their purpose. The hand segments had become sights for what could now be recognized as some form of gun. Anu'din gently laid his arm on the table for Karu to see.

"It is unloaded, in case you were wondering. If the enchanted projectiles are proven to be safe from backfire, I would be interested in seeing if any of them could be fired from my arm here. It isn't quite a gun - it uses hydraulic pressure and compressed air. That said, it can fire bolts of metal of many sizes. Do any of the enchanted projectiles roughly match the size of this barrel? Enchanted bullets would be handy to have in a fight, especially if I didn't need an additional apparatus to fire them."

Anu'din paused, gathering his thoughts. "Also, hypothetically, what would happen if said projectiles were melted down to their base metals? Would the enchantments be destroyed? Or would the magic still reside in the material, ready to be used? Please understand, I have very little experience with the finer aspects of magic and enchantment."

Senna pranced into to the tavern, ordered a shepherd's pie with a flagon of chilled milk, and sat down to observe. She was very curious about the other members of the expedition, and really wanted to ask them many, many questions. But she also wanted to make a good first impression, so she decided to keep her maw shut for the most part and just observe them.

She was watching the centuar busy being mysterious when Anu'din walked into the tavern and up to Karu with a question. This got Senna's attention and she very obviously started paying attention to their conversation.

Ignatius, being the most pleasingly volitile of the group, followed after the peppy dragon(ness?). He took a set at her table and set his hammer on the on its head. "Ken, libram." With a huff, his bookinmp unfolded from his belt to slink across the floor sleepily before it started up the shaft of the hammer and wrapped its tail for support as it opened its wings to reveal its pages while promptly trying to take a nap.

With that little flex of power out of the way, he set his eyes upon the scaled one with a smile. "Evening my dear, how and who are you tonight?"

Looking over at Ignatius, Senna had to think a bit on how she was to answer before saying

"I am doing quite well thank you. As for who I am, my name is Sennafing, an inexperienced adventurer, which I will probably be for many days yet, other than just tonight. How are you doing? Any tips on adventuring for me, or guarding in this case? What is that imp thing? Is it a book?!"

Senna forgot about keeping her maw shut.

Ignatius Chuckled at her raw energy waiting to be unleashed upon the world, she reminded him much of someone else he used to know ages ago.

"I am going quite well and I am known as Ignatius. I also go by 'Ig', 'Iggy', and 'ohnorunaway'. As for tips, I can not say it is true but I drink a vial of holy water every day to keep the undead from turning me if I get bit. I cant say it does work, but I have been bit and haven't turned into undead. As for my Familiar, his name is Ken and he is a bookimp. They are a lesser form of damned, some say the result of tieflings who forsake the kings agreement, normally charged with carrying a single letter of the infernal contract upon their bodies. I use that letter to empower my spells."

Olerus didn't answer the young mage's questions. He just stayed silent when the mage had asked about himself. To be perfectly honest, he didn't know how to answer those questions. He himself didn't know why he was in the Enchanter's Guild. They just slowly forced him into it.

The Centaur's memories were cut short when the man said that they should probably speak with the Enchanter dragon. Olerus knew of her, but he had never met her. In fact, he was uninterested in meeting her for the longest time. He had only worked by himself making magic fonts for the guild to research.

"Perhaps." Olerus said, his voice rough and deep. Olerus didn't speak that much. He had no one to speak to. There was a feeling of solemnity when he was alone. He like that feeling all too much.

Olerus had raised himself from his seat, his figure becoming much more imposing upon the rest of the inn. He slowly trotted over to the dragon. He had no questions to ask. He remained quiet and standing.

Karu would take quite an interest in Anu'din's gun once he showed it off, the researcher's glimmer in his eyes as he took a look at the mechanics. "Hmmm, that's an interesting little trick you've got. I'm not exactly sure how you tick though, I wouldn't stick any dangerous enchantments in there until we try it out with a dummy first. You know, like a spell that flashes light or something so we know if it'll go off while firing. Nothing I could do by tomorrow unfortunately. The pellets we're developing would fit of course, but I don't exactly no much about you're kind, something weird might happen and make it go off prematurely." he said, tail flicking as he examined the rather advanced looking technology. Back when he was a large dragon he collected interesting things like this. He restrained himself from touching though... barely.

"Melting it down would either make the enchantment dissipate or explode, either way I don't recommend it. Would be interesting to try enchanting you, that would be too dangerous though." he said, his food being delivered over to the table. The plate consisted of some roasted meat and plenty of human desserts and treats on the side.

He glanced over at the centaur as he moved closer. Giving a bit of an interested glance. "Hmm, haven't see any centaurs in a long time, quite an interesting group Alan has found to accompany me." he sorta said to himself before becoming quite distracted by the sweet smelling slice of pie that was now on the table. Fortunately he had enough magic left in him to magically attach things to his claws, using one to slice pieces and move them to his mouth while the other held on to the table to keep himself stable, unable to stop himself from letting out a quiet pleased rumble at the taste of the first bite.

It was no matter immediately that the centaur did not seem to feel like talking. If it wouldn't have been so rude, Seb would have unleashed a torrent of questions upon the centaur regarding their unique magical methods. Their critical rarity made many of their secrets forgotten to the ages. With confirmation that the centaur was following, Seb carried his food and drink to the table accommodating Karu and Anu'din.

"Pardon me, sirs, for intruding," Seb said in apprehensive stops and starts while he slid into a chair, "I noticed you were talking about the cargo. If I may..." Seb unslung the crossbow on his back and laid it on the table unloaded, "...Would this cause any trouble firing your bolts, Karu? It has an enchantment on it, partially of my own design, but etched by another dragon, one of the Arcane Eye. It puts an effect on the bolts fired from it." Seb motioned shakily with one hand for Karu to pick it up. "You may inspect it, if you wish."

While waiting for a response from Karu's deliberation, Seb looked across to Anu'din. Seb nodded upwards in familiarity and wove his fingers together on the table in front of him. "Anu'din, it has been some time," Seb said in a slightly more comfortable tone, "How have you been these years? Anything new?"

A low rumbling came from Anu'din, punctuated by the sounds of gears grinding. A quick or experienced mind would be able to tell he was laughing.

"Aah, I believe that won't be a problem, then," he finally said, his laughter abating. "The magic that drives resides here," he pointed out by tapping his chest, "and the rest is all machine. After all, what is a man but bones and flesh? His mind is what gives him drive, what gives him his identity. All said, if the pellets can fit, then there should be no problem. I can always check the other mechanisms that are brought to fire them, to be sure. And no, I wouldn't be too keen on trying to enchant my own body. There are some things even I wouldn't try."

When Sebastian greeted him, Anu'din turned and tilted his head in acknowledgment. "Hello again, Sebastian. The years have treated me somewhat well, though the curse has been quite the pain. Literally. As for what has happened, I've added a small compartment for smelting metals. It lets me spray molten metal from the gun here. Quite a handy trick, I must say."

Senna didn't know much about tieflings. Looking at Ken and then Ignatius, she could only imagine what it was like to have a demonic contract. But he seemed nice, or at the very least being kindly patient to Senna, so she smiled at him (a dragon's approximation of a smile anyways).
"Alright, Iggy then. I'll keep the holy water in mind. I'll probably ask you more questions later, so please continue to have patience with me."

Noticing the conversation between Karu, Anu'din and then Sebastian, Senna had started paying attention. It seemed like some of her comrades had history, making them seem even more interesting. What stories they would have!

Pushing down her excitement, Senna worked at finishing the rest of her meal, planning to go out to buy some vials of holy water.