"Apologies, dear," Straw said. "It's not every day I get to witness such extraordinary things. Couldn't help myself." He seemed unphased by her declaration to have been many things over the years.

"I didn't peek!" Calvin protested, wanting the elf to think well of him for some reason. He re-shouldered her heavy pack, hurrying to catch up, where he walked in silence for a few minutes, contemplating. "If you've been all that, you must've had some pretty exciting adventures. Ever been up north where we're headed?"

Cyriana rolled her eye at Straw's comment and instead turned her attention to Calvin as they made their way northwards. "Well I have been to a north... Not in this particular area, more northwest if I recall correctly." She stared to the distance and sighed. "Ran in to some rather nasty people there..." The frail elf shivered noticeably at the less than nice memory. "You two heard of the Drow?" She inquired politely.

Straw glanced behind briefly, " 'course. You sayin' you've had a run in with 'em? I'm surprised you're around to tell of it."

Calvin admiration for the elf grew slightly more as he nodded, also anxious to hear her tale of her encounter with them. Tales and rumors were whispered of the drow. Calvin suspected some of the tales were exaggerated, but either way, he knew they were dangerous. "Is it true they got whole underground cities?"

"Oh yes. Broke the neck of two of them before the rest of our adventuring troupe got there to back me up. Noticed that they really dislike bright light. Admittedly we outnumbered them, but it wasn't an easy fight. They like to use poisoned weapons..." Cyriana spat on the ground and shook her head. "I'm not sure why there was a group of 6 Drow above ground anyways... maybe they were scouts or something..." The elf glanced at Calvin and nodded "Yes, they do have underground cities - the names of which I will not repeat because it might bring bad luck on us." She smiled sheepishly "Admittedly I could probably hold a conversation in their foul language - you see my father was a scholar and had this nearly unnerving fascination on all sorts of cultures. Learned a thing or two from him, but what are the odds I'd have to chat with a drow, right?" She tilted her head slightly and giggled.

If the chance encounter on the road with riders wasn't enough to put Straw a little on edge, Cyriana's casual mention of taking down two drow did the trick and he gave a quick smile, a slightest hint of nervousness visible in his eyes. He looked away, back to the road before them as they continued walking. "I do hope I never have the misfortune," he said, hoping any appearance of unease was attributed solely to the thought of being set upon by drow during their journey.

Calvin, on the other hand, novice adventurer that he was, could only look at her in further awe. "So did you? Talk with the drow, I mean... before you ... killed 'em?"

Cyriana glanced at Straw and shrugged her shoulders while ignoring the little, sardonic whispers in the back of her head about distrust. "No need to be nervous. I'm sure there aren't any drow this far south."

The pale elf glanced at Calvin as a slightly amused expression appeared on her face. "I did give them some parting words in their own language. Though I refuse to repeat them. It is enough to have the voice of an anc-" Hastily the woman shook her head and began walking more briskly.

...voice of an anc... Calvin didn't push the topic further, as it seemed the elf turned suddenly uncomfortable about something. He pondered what 'anc...' might have been had she finished the word, but could not fathom.

The rest of the day passed rather uneventfully aside from the sighting of various forest creatures. Calvin managed to take down a grouse with his bow, showing a good amount of skill with the weapon. "Be eatin' like kings and queens tonight," he said with a grin.

It was beginning to grow dusk and Straw paused near the remnants of another traveler's campfire not far from the road and posed the question. "No sign of rain, I don't think. And we're still a couple miles from Dawsbury. Care to push on? Or make camp here?"

Cyriana flashed a little smile to Calvin as he returned with the catch of the day. "That was a splendid shot." She held her head and rolled her eye before turning her attention to Straw. "Well, we have a passable campsite right here and I think each and every one of us could use some rest." With those words the pale elf began preparing the campfire.

It did not take her long to get the campfire set up and lit. The dark haired woman smiled faintly as she sat as close as possible to the campfire without endangering her clothes. With slight reluctance Cyriana again removed the bandages from her face and closed her right eye. The orb sprang to life and this time it was actually moving. I am touched, little frail thing... It's not often you let me see the world like this. The sardonic little whispers were much louder than usually and the elf instinctively glanced around to see if the others had heard it. Oh fear not my fair skinned little friend... They cannot hear me just yet - I have no need for them to hear the voice of Cyrandion the Ever Living. Cyriana rolled the weird eye and shook her head as she concentrated on the area surrounding their campsite - she was obviously cautious enough to check the area for possible treats. "Be silent already..." The dark haired elf mumbled barely audiably.

(Sorry, sorry! I'm falling behind on everything lately!)

Calvin beamed at the praise from the elf. "Thanks. My brother and I spent a lot of time competing over who was the better shot. Got pretty good at it, I guess." As Cyriana started the fire, the young archer started gutting and plucking the bird and couldn't help but smile to himself slightly, still energetic and excited for the adventure even after a day of walking. "Oh... did you say something?" he glanced over at the elf after thinking she had said something to him.

Straw unpacked his bed roll, relieved that they had not objected to camping here for the night. After meeting the trio on the road earlier in the day, he was anxious indeed to avoid Dawsbury lest he was recognized.

Cyriana glanced at Calvin and shook her head slightly. The strange orb in her eye socket gleamed slightly in the dimming evening light. "No, my mumblings were not directed at you." She flashed a little smile. Oh, he's such a nice looking young man, perhaps you should introduce me to him... My frail little friend. The dark haired elf grimaced and held her head with her right hand. "Sometimes I feel that this damn thing had an awfully steep price in comparison to the gain. "

She shook her head and motioned Calvin to come closer. "Since I'm not quite tired, how about I bore you with another story? Cyriana suggested with a giggle as she began covering the orb with the bandages again.

He nodded, glancing quickly at the strange orb where her eye should have been, but looked away again just as fast. It creeped him out slightly, the sickly color, how it didn't move in sync with her real eye. So he busied himself getting the grouse positioned on a roasting stick over the fire while she covered the orb again and then sat next to her.

"I can't imagine it's boring," he said. " 'sides... we got a little time before that bird is ready to eat."

"Well, a handful of years ago I had a rather nasty run in with this... cult. For a lack of better terms. Now, of course I wasn't the only one who ended up tangled with the group." Cyriana stared to the distance and shook her head. "They were a weird bunch - the cultists I mean. Two of our six man group were sacrificed on this huge altar that was hidden in a cave that had unnervingly many skeletons - not just any skeletons, mind you. They were the skeletons of dragons." The pale elf paused for a while to gather her thoughts. It was quite obvious that she did not enjoy telling this particular part of the story.

"To this day I'm not quite sure if the cultists actually had any kind of an idea of what they were doing." She flashed a humourless smile and sighed. "I was panicking - you see, I had lost my eye in the ambush that got us captured. I felt weak and scared. Still, I refused to die there, in the middle of nowhere." Cyriana sighed and touched the bandages covering the orb. "I heard this silent voice in my head - at first I thought I was going insane, but the voice kept assuring that everything would be just fine if I'd follow instructions to the letter." She paused, as if waiting for possible questions.

Calvin was hanging on the elf's every word. "Can't say I'd mind seeing those dragon skeletons," he said, a moment after she paused. "Though I don't know if I'd have the stomach for those cultists. Pray tell, what was the voice?"

The story seemed to have caught Straw's attention too and he moved a bit closer to the fire, checking on the bird now roasting over the fire.

Cyriana stayed silent for a brief while before sighing. "It was the voice of Cyrandion the Ever Living, a dracolich." She stared at the flames and lowered her head slightly. "Of course at the time I did not know that. She sounded so kind and like she sincerely wanted to help me - should have guessed that in a place like that any help you'd get would cost you dearly." The frail elf shook her head and mumbled something rather negative before continuing. "I followed the instructions to the letter - managing to escape from a cell and locating an entrance to a lower level of the damn place with even more skeletons. There I found an even more ancient altar of sorts on which lay a skull of a lizardman." Oh now, my frail little friend... Should you really be remembering that? I at the very least saved your life. If it wasn't for me you'd be a corpse. The dark haired woman clutched her head and gathered her self control to silence the voice in her head. "On the eye socket of the skull was a very beautiful orb, it called to me, promising protection, power and new sight."

Cyriana's fingers moved to touch the bandages that covered the left side of her face as she glanced towards the horizon. "Admittedly all of Cyrandion's words were not lies. The very moment I grasped the orb and replaced my missing eye with it I got a small part of her powers. She must have been one of the stronger red dragons when alive..." The dark haired elf mused and flashed a very little smile. "At that time I did not care about sharing my body with a being of such evil - or the fact that I had a phylactery of a damned dracolich stuck to my face. All I cared about was saving my friends and the price did not concern me." She sighed again and straightened her back. "I fought my way to the upper floors where my friends were being held - I don't remember much about it, because Cyrandion chose to momentarily take over my body. Apparently some rather powerful spells were flung around, many cultists were turned to stone, some died outright..." Oh just think how grand it would have been if you were a wizard or even a sorcerer by trade, the amount of power, the beauty of arcane energies flowing through you... The cultists would have been dead even sooner... Again Cyriana winced slightly. "We eventually got out of the damned place, buried our dead and went our separate ways. I have not allowed the damned lizard to take over my body since. It felt horrible... Still... her power has some occasional uses..."

A dracolich...? Straw couldn't help but look at the elven woman curiously as he turned the cooking bird again. Now, isn't that interesting? Something to warn Zarintra about, surely. He took a seat on the ground on the opposite side of the fire, listening to the rest of her tale.

Calvin stayed silent for a few long moments, digesting Cyriana's story, noticing her wince as if in pain. "Could you... get rid of it if you wanted? The eye... or orb, I mean."

Cyriana tilted her head slightly to the left before glancing at Calvin. "I sincerely am not sure. Cyrandion seems to be rather protective of it and claims that I'll die if it is removed. A cleric tried to remove it without my permission and he got fried by a bolt of arcane energy - that wasn't my doing." She added hastily. "I tried removing it once myself, I just passed out before I could touch it." Now now, why would you like to be rid of me, dear Cyriana? We have traveled so far together. It is impolite enough you use those runed bandages to hamper with my vision... The frail elf spat on the ground and shook her head. "So now you lot know our - MY little secret." You are a fool, my little frail friend. Still, worry not. I'll keep you safe from harm. Again the dark haired woman winced in discomfort. "Still, even a spirit of a dragon is wise and intelligent - much wiser and more intelligent that I at least. She does offer some insight to things every once and a while and has saved my life a few times when I have been unconscious." Aaah, flattery. I do like that. Of course I can't let my host be killed - you saw the last fool's head back at the cave. Maybe one day your body will be mine, but for the time being you'd better take a good care of it, my little elf. Cyriana clutched her head and let out an annoyed groan. "Stay silent already!"

Calvin startled slightly at Cyriana's sudden outburst, reaching toward her instinctively as she clutched her head, but then paused, uncertain what to actually do to help her. He glanced over at Straw, thinking perhaps the more experienced adventurer might know what to do. But the boy's glance went unnoticed as Straw was staring at the elf and at the eye covering, his brow furrowed deeply with worry.

Was it wise, he wondered to himself, to continue their journey? Would the dracolich spirit alert the elf to the dangers ahead? Or even take matters into it's own hands if the elf was knocked unconscious? And if so, would that result in one of those lightening bolts finding him? He swallowed hard at the thought. But on the other hand... it could of great interest, and therefore value, to the drow. In the end, the thought of the gold coins in his pocket outweighed the risk. He would just need to warn Zarintra.

He cleared his throat. "Sounds a boon overall to me," he commented. "But is that what got you in trouble back in town?"

After a while of collecting herself Cyriana straightened her back and sighed. "I prefer to say that I have been blessed with a curse." She flashed a small smile and shook her head. "You ask too many questions for my taste, but fine... I'll humor you." The dark haired elf glanced to the distance and scratched the back of her head. "The whole debacle began with an innocent dice game, then this fellow cheated and... well... Before I knew what had happened there was a full brawl going on. I was more or less forced to defend myself against the whole damn local thieves guild - now in a big city that might have been a real feat, but now it just made me vexed. So I thought it would be best to get out before people start dying." There was something in Cyriana's tone that indicated that she wasn't being completely honest with the story.

Whether he caught the hint of a falsehood or not, Straw did not press the issue. "Ah, well, works out for me, I suppose. Must say, knowing we've got a dragon on our side should we find ourselves in a scuffle is a nice thought.

"Hey, I think this bird looks 'bout done," he said, inspecting their dinner. "I got some bread in my saddle bags." Straw stood up, brushed some debris from his trousers, then went to retrieve the mentioned bread as Calvin removed the game bird from the makeshift spit.

"I didn't pay it much heed, but did hear somethin' of a brawl in the tavern," the young man said, not fishing for information, just commenting. "Glad you're okay."

Splitting the grouse into 3 parts made for a bit of a meager dinner, but the bread helped fill up their bellies.

"Can't say I expect any trouble this close to civilized lands, but should make a habit of setting watch. I don't mind the first if you two wanna get some sleep."

Cyriana rolled her eye at Straw's comment about having a dragon on their side and shook her head. "You'd do well to remember that dragons always have their own agenda." She nodded at Calvin's comment and flashed her a little smile. "Don't worry about me.

After the little meal the frail elf kept staring at the flames of the campfire for a good while, occasionally moving her hands closer to the warmth like her fingers were freezing. She didn't take her eyes off of the flames when Straw spoke again. "Another little blessing of a curse I got from Cyrandion is my inability, or need to sleep - that paired with my elven heritage makes nights very dull." After a while of silence Cyriana glanced at Straw and rolled her eye. "Still, if you insist on taking the first watch I'm not going to stop you. At least I can meditate in peace knowing that someone is keeping watch."