"Sure thing," Persephone said, releasing her hold on Keystone's arm once they'd reached the inn. "And likewise. I'll see you in the morning." She hadn't minded the gesture, and didn't read into it much at all. Seph's own tendencies were anything but formal, and she rarely even treated formal gestures as such. He seemed like a nice guy, from the brief time she'd spent with him. Issues of digestion aside, her time in his company had been pleasant. She was glad he'd agreed to come along for tomorrow.

There were some new faces present in the tavern, one of which she quite certain had been responsible for that racket they could hear all the way up in the temple. Seph might've said hello, but she was fairly tired at this point, and needed to get a good amount of rest to be functional the next day. Crossing orcish territory was not something to be done lightly.

Offering anyone who caught her eye a polite smile as she passed, Seph made her way upstairs to her room after Keystone, and closed the door behind her. She unbuckled her boots and tugged them off, tossing them to the floor beside the bed. Sighing, she untied her robe and shrugged it off, collapsing on her back onto the bed, and staring up at the ceiling. Turning her head, she noted that the only light in the room was coming from a pair of candles on a table near the door. She narrowed her eyes at them, willing the fire to go out, but it did not. Why would it?

Rolling over onto her side, she focused, taking a few breaths, and feeling the air move into, through, and out of her body again. She then slowly breathed out, holding her right hand gently outwards, and she focused on the trajectory of her breath, imagining it curling around the air above the little flames. She slowly squeeze her fingers into her palm, and lowered her hand. To her surprise, the flames were snuffed out, casting the room into darkness.

Seph smiled to herself and closed her eyes, letting her head fall against the pillow.

---

---

Season: Late Fall/Early Winter
Time Of Day: Early Morning
Weather: Cool air, some clouds, air is clean - Thank what ever god you worship
General Ambiance: Tense, it is just tense everywhere.
Location: Hamlet of Salarn in the region of Gorlf just south of the Orc Settlement of Yzewz
Setting: Salarn

---

---

Kyra had slept well, doing and thinking of absolutely nothing you twisted fucks. She didn't even change out of her clothing you pervs, not even taking her socks off as to keep from showing her ankles. Geez!

Picking up her pack, she headed out her bedroom door, leaving the room empty behind her because she made sure no one snuck in to grab of peak. Making her way downstairs she was greeted by Femnal and Cremwise, who were at the bar. Femnal still looked a little green from the night before.

"Morning Lass, I hear you be joining me on the trip through the Orc Lands," Cremwise piped up as he stepped over to her and shook her hand.

"I heard you requested me to join and I need to go that direction as it is. Might as well join," she said returning the hand shake and taking a seat at the bar.

"Breakfast will be out soon," Femnal said, trying to plaster a smile on his features. Kyra nodded as Ash padded over to her and stood up on his hind legs, resting his front paws on the bar top.

"I'll bring you something as well pup," Femnal chuckled, causing Ash to wag his tail. Kyra running her fingers through her friends fur as she turned about to look around. Seemed other than Ash she was the first to wake. The sun was just breaking the horizon, to her she had overslept but it seemed to make no difference.

Sundos had slept well. He woke a little before Dawn. Using a pitcher of water and a bowl in the room, he washed his face and washed his chest. he was a little surprised the find he still had the big dormitory like room to himself. He dressed for the day but didn't put on his armor yet.

He headed outside to check on his horse in the stables and to greet the Dawn outside. He faced the rising sun and prayed. He prayed for his new companions and they would be protected. He asked a special bless on poor Lob that he might be protected from Man and find peace.

After is morning prayer, he entered the tavern to find Kyra at the bar. "Sister, Brothers, May the Glory of Lathander shine upon you today. Is there breakfast? I'm starving. How soon do you think until we can be leaving?"

Sona stayed awake for most of the night, it was weird though. Staying in the place doing absolutely nothing, she soon drifted off in the chair. Plopping her arms crossed around and her head layed on the beautiful oak furnishing, letting her harp stay on atop of the furniture. It wasn’t long before she began to dream…

The dream was rather beautiful. She was walking around slowly in a forest, but it wasn’t like in the forest of Aludimiir. Otherwise she would have recognised it quite easily, instead she walked into a clearing of some sort and it was full of flowers and various other scenery. It was an absolute surprise and mystery as to why she was dreaming of this in the first place, as in the centre was a Harp with some jewels embedded into it.

“Beautiful…” she mumbled into her sleep.

The blonde wanted to play it, but something wasn’t letting her, she didn’t know exactly what it was that wasn’t letting her play. It was probably the power of the dream itself, it can be a mysterious thing after all.

Not long afterwards, it was morning time; yet Sona was still sleeping peacefully on her lonesome.

Lucan yawned as he opened his eyes, moving to sit up as he removed the arm from his chest. Unable to find an empty room upstairs in the tavern,so instead he'd managed to garner the affections of some lonely woman who did have one. He thought he remembered something about her visiting her husband who was on the front lines, either way it didn't desperately matter to Lucan, he'd had his fun, and gotten his room. Moving to stand, he gently hushed the woman back to sleep as he began to dress himself, placing his leather and mail armour on over his coat, placing his belt and boots on before he made his way out and downstairs, glancing over those already present in the tavern.

"Good morning." Lucan greeted rather simply, moving over to the bar to take a seat by Kyra, giving Cremwise a nod as he heard Femnal's claim that breakfast would be out soon, something for which Lucan was immensely grateful.

"I assume we'll be getting going soon? Once everyone's awake?" Lucan asked in Cremwise's direction. He wasn't particularly in a hurry to leave, but he would have preferred to be out of town, or at the very least out of the tavern by the time the woman he'd spent the night with awoke, he couldn't quite remember her name after all. Shifting his gaze over to Sundos as he entered, Lucan chuckled as he echoed precisely the same question he'd just asked, diverting his gaze back to Cremwise in anticipation of the answer.

Location: Crossed Swords Inn & Tavern, interior and exterior

Interacting With: Cremwise, Fellow Merchant Guard Hires

The barest hint of cool, grey dawn crested the horizon, filtering in through the trees dotting the hamlet of Salarn. Keystone was already outside the Inn, just a few meters away in a small, unused area whose main feature was a thick oak, its remaining leaves darkened from the season. He had removed his boots and shirt both, the latter folded neatly and placed atop the former. The scars from a hundred (likely more) close-in scuffles of mortal urgency criss-crossed atop his almost grotesquely conditioned physique.

That, combined with his abyssal social skills was the likely reason he never married.

Keystone's breath fogged and quickly dissipated as he moved, finishing up a series of exercises designed to hone his unarmed combat techniques and provide resistance of motion - the end result being a quite effective maintenance workout. He flowed from stance to stance, form to form, with effortless practice and a grace that seemed the antithesis to his usual rough demeanor. He was a Pugilist, certainly, but one with uncommon complexity of training from obviously multiple sources. Those who had only witnessed the actions of the brutish man from the previous night were shocked somewhat to see that Keystone, the occidental brawler with the table manners of an orc-raised goat, was an artist in his chosen profession.

As his forms drew to a close, Keystone turned to face the Crossed Swords exhaling slowly and deliberately in an effort to slow his breathing and heartbeat. He pressed his knuckles together in front of himself and bowed his head slowly, signaling the end of his morning constitutionals.

Keystone pulled on his boots, retrieved his dark, woolen shirt, and jogged back into the Inn.

"Mornin' all." he said (almost) cheerfully, pulling his shirt on over his head. Without further greeting, he jogged upstairs.

He returned in about two minutes, just the time it took to buckle on his long coat of reinforced hide armor, grab his pack, and sling a bandoleer of kunai daggers about his torso. A quick scan for anything he might have missed drew his attention to the ceramic bottle from last night. Having barely been touched, it was carefully stoppered and placed in his belongings. No sense wasting good booze that can be utilized later.

He plunked the large pack heavily upon a nearby table, and called to Cremwise. "Ey, Cremmy!"

After the older merchant's attention was acquired, he strode purposefully toward the man and continued. "Call me Keystone. Miss Persephone went and convinced me to take your offer. Got nothing on my "to-do list", as it were. Long as I've already accepted it, um... what's your offer?"

Just then, his senses picked up on the possibility of breakfast in his near future. Tea, ham and eggs sounded positively heavenly.

Sundos nodded his greetings to each new comer. He walked over towards the tables to see if Lob was still sleeping by the fire.

Stopping dead in his tracks, he saw the nearly naked elf sleeping on the table. Her legs were bare for all the world to see. If she wakes up, she’ll think I was staring at her.

A bright red cleric quickly marched up the stairs to gather two blankets from the common dorm room. Throwing a blanket over each shoulder he returned back down stairs.

Without trying to look at her legs or her chest, Sundos draped a blanket over the sleeping elf. Then he turned to Lob and covered him as well. He used a corner of the blanket to wipe the drool from the side of Lob’s mouth.

Lob

Normally, Lob would have been out the door with the sun chasing squirrels and the like for breakfast. But the last two days had taken their toll. Even with the growing noise of the morning, he was still fitfully trying to sleep, legs twitching as he dreamed of chasing said squirrels for breakfast.

Ash was gone, so he was pressing close to the fireplace for warmth. He clutched his possessions to him for comfort and as the blanket draped over him, the twitching stopped. The dreams became as peaceful as they could as he breathing steadied. He'd sleep till mid-day if nothing came up first. But something always does.

Sona would still be sleeping soundly until she felt something land on top of her lightly and just gently fluttered them eyelashes of hers open. Sitting up she instantly noticed that it was morning. And that everyone else seemed to be awake apart from Lob (but that was expected in the mind of the elven bard) "Good morning" she yawned and looked around to see who noticed. "Who placed this blanket on me?? it was very nice" she noted as she queried this curiously, picking up the blanket with her delicate fingers and held it up before smiling at everyone.

Despite her small smile towards everyone, she was quite concerned about this dream she had last night. It wasn't a terrible dream, or a bad dream. But a VERY mystical one. Maybe it was telling her to buy a new harp or something in fears that her actual harp will break, but she isn't ready to buy a new one yet exactly. She loved her current harp too much.

---

---

Season: Late Fall/Early Winter
Time Of Day: Early Morning
Weather: Cool air, some clouds, air is clean - Thank what ever god you worship
General Ambiance: Tense, it is just tense everywhere.
Location: Hamlet of Salarn in the region of Gorlf just south of the Orc Settlement of Yzewz
Setting: Salarn

---

---

"Morning to you all, I will be right back, going to prepare the wagon," Cremwise said with a bright smile before toddling out the front door of the tavern as Femnal was preparing breakfast back in the kitchen.

"Morning every.." Kyra began as she looked around and then took a head count. They seemed to be missing two, well one in all honesty; Lob was there, just still dreaming.

"Sundos, would you be kind enough to rouse Lob, you did make him your responsibility if I remember correctly," Kyra said as she motioned over towards the sleeping half orc. She knew better than to wake one, she had before and ended up in a near hug of a snuggle she wished she could forget.

"And Lucan, could you or Keystone go wake.. Oh what was her name? Sorry, she and I were never really introduced last night. Any who, someone needs to wake her and better one of you two who have actually spoken with her than me," Kyra rambled off as she went through her pack to ensure she had everything she would need.

Ash padded around the room in the meantime, jaunting into the kitchen only to get shooed away rather quickly by Femnal, who was none to pleased to have a Dire Wolf run off with a roasted chicken secured in his jowls.

"Persephone? Aye, i'll go - Arseling might find a way to stink up the place if heads back upstairs." Lucan smirked in a self-amused manner at his new name for Keystone, shifting on the stool he sat on, he moved to stand up properly, shifting his belt slightly as he moved to the stairs. His little nickname for Keystone wasn't one with any intended offence, nor was it one with any degree of real mocking, Lucan simply found the name especially apt considering his experience of Keystone so far - which was little more than making a horrid stench.

Getting to the top of the stairs, Lucan moved along the hall until he found the room he'd spotted Persephone disappear into the night before. Reaching down with one hand, he tried the handle. Expecting it to be locked however, he reached up with his free hand in the same movement to knock on the door audibly, not exactly being gentle in his attempts to rouse Persephone as he called through the door.

"C'mon, Seph, sun's up and there's money to be made!" He continued to bang on the door and shift the handle, listening for any signs of movement on the other side of the door. Admittedly, Lucan had been reluctant to join the group at first, but after the much-needed company of a woman and a good night's sleep, he was honestly beginning to look forward to what lay ahead - and as a result, he was making his eagerness known in his efforts to rouse Persephone.

Seph groaned, lifting her head halfway off the pillow and pushing the hair out of her eyes. She blinked several times, not really hearing Lucan at first, but when she was awake enough to comprehend the words, she slid blearily out of bed, taking the blanket with her and tossing it over her upper body, leaving bare legs sticking out from beneath. Unlocking the door, she tugged it open until she was halfway visible, and smiled lazily at Lucan, leaned against the door.

"Morning. You're energetic." She supposed from their brief meeting before, she wouldn't have expected him to be the awake and alert, bright and early type. Then again... was it bright and early still? It was hard to tell. In any case, Seph was very fond of her sleep. "I'll be down in a minute." One eye having been covered by a mass of black hair, she cocked her head sideways to see him, just before she slipped behind the door altogether, and closed it entirely.

Several minutes later, Persephone emerged from the room again, dressed once more in her robes and more or less ready for travel, her hair messily tied up behind her. Heading down the stairs, she smiled and offered a little wave for the assembled group there. It was a decent number; she was glad Lucan had been able to pull all of them in. "Hey everyone, I'm Persephone, but Seph works just fine." She took a seat near Keystone, smelling something cooking, and she savored the scent. "I'm looking forward to traveling with you all."

Location: Crossed Swords Inn & Tavern

Interacting With: Persephone, Others

A stony, dead stare trained on Lucan as he began to speak, referring to Keystone in a manner that seemed impulsively rude and potentially quite unsafe. The pugilist regarded the prettier man with narrowed eyes, inclining his neck in incremental amounts until his vertebrae popped audibly. Quite possibly, Keystone had just met his new best friend for this outing. He would have to take note of the man's actions for a bit; tiny notes of disharmony had an annoying tendency to turn into problems, especially during times when the group would have to rely on each other to stay safe.

He had minor concerns with others in the newly formed company. The archer, Kyra, instructing the group like she'd already been contracted as their Captain, Cremwise ignoring his inquiry as to the particulars of this job. Admittedly, most of these people hadn't been up as long as he had; perhaps everyone needed a strong cup of tea and a good breakfast before they were willing to talk business. Maybe he needed the same, for similar reasons.

He forced himself to remain optimistic. Ish. If his endeavor in this regard suceeded, one could not see it on his face. Not that he was scowling, more than keeping a neutral expression and his eyes open.

He did brighten, if slightly, when Persephone made it downstairs. "G'morning, Sephy. You missed forms n' such earlier, but we're just in time for breakfast. Y'rest ok?" At this time, he was unsure whether his comparatively more genial approach with her was because she was a pretty face or a potential ally. Either way, she had provided the longest stretch of civil conversation Keystone had experienced in weeks, and that merited something. Even if all his limited social interaction skills could muster was more civility.

Sundos was nearly finished with his breakfast. With a shrug, he answered, "Of course, Sister." He was glad he was given the position of being the shepherd over Lob. Sundos was sure he could teach Lob a lot. Who knows, in a few years, Lob might even be able to become a paladin.

Sundos gently shook Lob's shoulder, "Lob, not sleep now. Lob wakie wakie. Lob eat food..yes yes. Food? Yumm? Wake up.. Lob wake! LOB! WAKE!"

Lob

Lob's gentle dreams were becoming disturbed, He was being rocked about like when he was on the boat to rescue Sana. He does not like boats. Then food smells while being shaken was sickening his stomach and someone yelling for him was making him upset, mad even.

Nothing is as dangerous as what someone does on accident, there is no limiter on movements or actions when there is no humanized risk to take into account. Glassed-over eyes pop open as a massive clawed green hand shoots out to grab the cleric. His broken mouth again opens into what could surely be a fetid roar of morning breath...Or just a yawn as he tried to roll over with his human teddybear to cuddle close with and go back to sleep. Surely the Dawn-god was protecting the cleric, as Lob is not dreaming of dwarven women at the moment but rather seeking the black pit of dreamless slumber.

---

---

Season: Late Fall/Early Winter
Time Of Day: Early Morning
Weather: Cool air, some clouds, air is clean - Thank what ever god you worship
General Ambiance: Tense, it is just tense everywhere.
Location: Hamlet of Salarn in the region of Gorlf just south of the Orc Settlement of Yzewz
Setting: Salarn

---

---

Kyra thanked Lucan for going to wake up Seph and glanced around the tavern slowly, her brow perking up as Lob grabbed a hold of Sundos of and pulled him into a death bear hug of a snuggle. The usually more conservative one of the group suddenly burst out laughing. It was a sight to behold to say the least and she was even more grateful that she had gotten someone else to try to rouse the sleeping the half-orc than her, or at least to deal with the first half of the process.

Containing her laughter as Femnal had the bar staff bring out breakfast for the group she cleared her throat and stood up. Taking a large sausage off the plate in front of her and letting out a loud whistle in the process.

"Lob! Breakfast!" she shouted rather loudly, especially someone of her smaller stature. Then she tossed the tube of meat up into the air towards Lob, letting it loft in the air slowly. Hopefully it would work to get Lob to let Sundos go, if not; Sundos was about to get a face full of tube steak whether he liked it or not. (Couldn't resist. :P)

Ash buried his nose into the bowl placed before him and just chowed down as Kyra ran her fingers through her hair before going back to her meal. Giving a small smile to Seph as she joined them and Cremwise came back into the room, having finished prepping the cart for the trip that the all would be taking shortly.

"Master Keystone, sorry for running out earlier. Wanted to get everything set before the stable hand charged me anymore for tending to my beasts," he chuckled as he walked back over to the group and set out a map onto the bar top before them.

"Okay, hopefully this will be a boring and uneventful trip but if not, glad to have you all along. This is the route we will be taking. The main road, it has been pretty much cleared out at this point, only a few rough spots. We are trying to get to the village on the other side of the orc territory. Should take a few days of travel if we don't hit any hiccups," he explained as he showed on the map the path they would take to the north.

"Here is part payment now," he said as he placed counted out several stacks of silver and divided them up on the bar top. It wasn't much but it was anything but meager earnings. "The rest will be paid on completion of the task and dependent on how well my merchandise stays in tact and how difficult the journey is. Any questions?"

Sona sighed, it was obvious that nobody was going to answer her question. Instead she dropped the blanket and looked around as she came to her senses. It seems that today was the day where everyone was going to travel to the designated place for their quest apart from one person... Sundos was busy being snuggled up by Lob, and Sona couldn't help but giggle slightly. It really was funny since Lob probably didn't even know what was going on.

Hearing Kyra shouting out that it was breakfast time, Sona sighed softly and gently took Sundos out of Lob's clutches "There..." she smiled coldly towards him. "Your welcome" The elven bard then returned to her seat and stared at her harp once more "Guys, do you know any place where I can get sheet music??"

Location: Crossed Swords Inn & Tavern

Interacting With: Cremwise, Party

Keystone viewed the stacks of silver casually as Cremwise set them down neatly in front of the group. He listened patiently as their potential employer laid out the brief overview of the job; what was to be expected, route, destination, etc., but there remained quite a bit unmentioned.

Times past, this kind of work was a bread & butter opportunity, something stable that filled in the gaps between paid fights and bouncing, if he so chose. The experience taught him to ask for specifics of his contract holders and insist on certain standards for himself and the people working with him. Many unscrupulous merchants might use the opportunity to take advantage of good people, experienced with combat but not with the particulars of private hire guard work.

Keystone laced his fingers together and popped his knuckles in front of his chest, and leaned forward to speak.

"Got a few questions, I do." he began in a rather businesslike voice, vocalized through his decidedly underclass accent, "Money you've got out is right enough for a few days, no problems there. Only it's the incidentals got me foggy. I'll try an' sum up quick."

"First, is our contract endin' when we get to the next town over, or when we return here?"

"Next, we're workin' with our own gear for starts, but how're we set up to replace or reimburse personal stuff what gets lost or damaged during?"

"Movin' on, how're we ranking ourselves, or are we figuring this out as we go, just under you?"

"Now, I'd greatly like knowin' what we're risking m'self for. What're you hauling so important it takes us through angry green folk you people're at war with?"

His professional demeanor dropped for a moment as a boyish smile curled half of his face. He shook his head in small, barely perceptable motions. A thought occurred to Keystone, trivial really, but as long as he had the attention of the man funding the expedition it seemed the best time to bring it up. "Aw, hells... hows 'bout food? We talking road bread and turnips 'ere, or what? I might could give a hand on that."

The lopsided grin faded back into more of a neutral look of semi-stoicism. Keystone glanced back at the small stacks of coins, hesitant to pick up the one marked for himself right at that moment. General etiquette on matters such as this suggested that and deal he would enter into began as soon as hands met silver. Though his personal life was chaotic at best, he liked keeping business clear and open. Few things provoked his irritation like a shady deal.

Sundos gently shook Lob's shoulder, "Lob, not sleep now. Lob wakie wakie. Lob eat food..yes yes. Food? Yumm? Wake up.. Lob wake..HEY...Stop"

Sundos was taken by surprised and pulled down by Lob. He was tried to roll away but was taken in Lob's embrace, Sundos's back to Lob. No matter how hard he tried to wiggle or squirm away he was unable to break Lob's grip.

"Bad Lob...Wake up, Lob.. Let go, Lob. Somebody help me..Kyra..Kyra.. help me.... no wait!" For some reason Kyra threw food at him. He could only close his eyes and shut his mouth as the sausage slapped him in the face. Did people have no respect for clergy?

Sundos blushed as he heard others laughing and giggling. This wasn't funny.

It was with a mixture and relief and dread that Sundos watched the half naked elf approach. Sundos was in an awkward position, laying on the floor looking up the bare elven legs. If that wasn't bad enough, the young cleric blushed and turned a shade or two brighter when Sona bent down in her low cut top. Sundos was grateful for the help, but couldn't help thinking that he should by Sona a cloak.

With Sona's help..not Kyra's ... Sundos was able to roll free of Lob's embrace. He scrambled to his feet with as much dignity as he could. He gave a slight bow to Sona, "Thank you Sister. And, I'm sorry, I don't know where to purchase sheet music.

"Excuse me, I shall don my armor. I'll be right back."

With that, Sundos marched back upstairs and put on his armor and gathered his gear.

Moving downstairs, Lucan settled back down at his spot at the bar, beside Kyra in time for her to burst out laughing. Shifting his gaze over his shoulder, Lucan scoffed as he saw Sundos enveloped in the arms of the half-orc. Taking his breakfast as it was brought out, Lucan began to eat, watching the situation unfold as Kyra picked up a sausage and tossed it in the direction of the cleric. Chewing on his own sausage, Lucan turned back toward the Cleric, chuckling

"Not sure if your god meant 'become a teddy bear' when they talk about spreading their love." Lucan called in the man's direction as he was freed by the elf, he doubted that Sundos would appreciate the comment, men of god usually took offence to Lucan poking fun at their beliefs, but Lucan had never been a man of Lathander, or any god for that matter, Lucan was far more secular in his beliefs than the majority of people he came across, and it had gotten him in trouble enough that he'd simply learned to stop caring.

Shifting his gaze over to Cremwise as he came back into the room, Lucan watched the fat man closely, with his large-brimmed hat and way of carrying himself that all generally well-to-do individuals had. He listened boredly to his brief explanation, normally, Lucan would've been hoping for more action, but instead now he simply hoped to get the job done and through Orcish territory as quickly as possible, so he could bid farewell to those he was with and be on his way to greener pastures.

Watching as the payment was set on the counter, Lucan was far less careful with asking questions than Keystone, as far as he was concerned, he knew all he needed to. Finishing his breakfast, he moved over to where the coins had been placed, picking up his pieces of silver and counting them, it was fair enough, had the expedition been going the other way, he'd have likely been content with this half and taken off then and there, likely not to be seen again, but he would do no such thing this time, he had to earn an honest day's pay once in his life, after all.

Scoffing as he heard Keystone's question of ranking, Lucan set his coin into the pouch on his belt and moved to take another seat, chain mail jangling slightly as he did so - but he said nothing. Lucan didn't really see it necessary to hop into an argument over who should or shouldn't lead, he didn't particularly care, they'd all be getting paid the same, after all, and he didn't see much need for set leadership. Simply, he was just amused by Keystone's attention to detail, and numerous questions.