"Oi, three-on-one isn't exactly fair. You! You're coming with me." Ryuuga said as he kicked the first guy in the shin to disable him for a few seconds, ducked under the second's blade and pushed him away from the group. "You know, you shouldn't be drawing your weapons in urban areas. Heck, even if you do, at least wield it properly, your swings are slow and inaccurate, what if you got someone hurt?" To emphasize his point, Ryuuga caught the bandit's wrist mid-swing, making his sword stop dead in motion. With a simple twist, grab and kick Ryuuga put the bandit in a hold, his own sword to his neck. "Now, we're going to stop the fighting and act like civilized people, shall we?"

"And say, Krishtina, about that doof that just scooted past, please tell me he's just an unfortunate passerby?"

@Solaris @Gareth @TheWindel @KoL @Lucius Cypher @Darkmoon Angel @Cloudystar @ryougu

Kira sheathed his katana, crossed his arms over his chest, and slightly bowed his head towards everyone who ran over. Kira felt nothing but shame, accidentally involving so many random people. He should have been faster, stronger, better than this. He just felt such emotion wa sbeing judged for what he was it clouded his thoughts and allowed him to keep getting pushed back. He had to get over his heritage.

"I apologize everyone for disturbing the peace. These men are simple thiefs that I stopped awhile back, and wanted revenge. Also....I am a Nephilim, which is enough for these men to spring to violence. But my name is Kieran"

Kira looked at the thiefs, and instantly a surge of anger rushed through him. At that moment he wanted nothing more than unsheathe his katana, and slice the heads off of each man. Slowly. But Kira took a breath and calmed himself.

"hey, no need for apologies Nephilim, if they wanted revenge then they must have started the fight to begin with, so there's no hard feelings with me at least, by the way... I'm Nemo, its been a pleasure" said the young dragon to the katana wielding gentleman. He then turned to Khristina and said "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance Khristina... and this may sound abrupt but I believe that this rant is justifiable... why has Lucius summoned us to this village? what is the darkness that threatens all worlds and why has Lucius chosen you to be his oracle? I am aware that you may not be able to answer all of my, no, our questions right away, but we deserve answers. Some of the other people here such as Ryuuga also appear to have been called by Lucius and if all of us are here for Lucius then it appears as if some have made long treks to get here, so please... give us answers." Said the nemo sternly, yet politely to the kitsune.

The boy fidgeted slightly, tapping his left foot and scratching the back of his head, completely having forgot about the encounter with the highwaymen just a few seconds earlier, the boy sighed.

Sert's metal like skull almost seemed to spin as more and more things appeared around Sert. The noise was constant and never ceasing. Pushed out of the way Sert also proceeded to step back, giving up on saving the things life. As there were now weapon wielding warriors to Sert's left and right, an interesting thing with 'demon' tails? And much more other things that Sert had no idea even existed.

Sert clanked towards the demon tail thing that seemed to be 'oracle'? And stared at the 'oracle' thing while keeping one eye on the chaos that was the rest of the group.

Nephele would be running towards the tavern of which Khristina and Loralei were at. She was running late and knew very well that she was. She was panicking quite a bit"Why did I sleep in today of all days! Im going to miss my chance to say goodbye to Lady Khristina". Nepehele had decided to go against Lucius and instead stay behind to look after Lady Khristina's estate.

She ran into the tavern in a panic. She was struggling to catch her breath. "I-i-i-im.... Im here..... Lady Khistina...." She pushed out of her exhausted body. She was dressed in a nice White maid uniform that looked similar to Loralei's uniform. She notices the tension between Lady Khistina and a group of thugs.... "W-what's going on?" She seemed very confused about the commotion. "D-did I come at a bad time?..." She would back off towards Loralei

@Solaris @Gareth @TheWindel @KoL @Lucius Cypher @Darkmoon Angel @Cloudystar @ryougu

Rochelle had been busy scoping out the village. It was some sleepy little town, and aside from a few trouble makers, she wasn't sure why she came. She thinks she might have had a dream or something, but she never remembers her dreams once she wakes up. Whatever the case she was already here so Rochelle figured she could look around. As she did so she heard and explosion in the distance and went to investigate. There she saw a gathering of people, likely adventurers. A bunch of strange folk who end up getting into a fight with some more rough-types, and proceed to beat them down without missing a beat. Seemed like a tough crew, but Rochelle wasn't sure if they were even a crew or just a bunch of belligerent adventurers having an odd gathering. Rochelle was honestly not sure what to make of it.

Instead of getting involved she just stood a little bit away and listened. Chances are all these people are here for some job or there's trouble brewing soon, and Rochelle may as well listen in. If it's pointless then at worse she wasted some time and she can go into the tavern for a drink. But if it's interesting then maybe she'll get involved. She honestly didn't like the looks of anyone here; they all looked like a bunch of posers who think they're tough stuff just because they can beat down some low lives. Not that Rochelle was any better, but at least she doesn't make a big deal out of it.

"What is this place?" the red dragonute muttered to himself, the village beyond the entrance of a kind he had not encountered in all his years. Its people especially seemed to be a mix of all kinds, not just the dragons and humans he was familiar with. This he could tell after just barely passing under the stone brick archway of an entrance in between merchant stands on either side along the adjacent walls. Viranti wandered near a set of kiosks and was soon subject to eager sellers, newly opened for the day and more than ready to do business.

"Greetings newcomer! Might I interest you for a lovely tunic?" offered a lively vendor holding said green article, their face brightening at the site of his abysmal rags.

"My, you are a big one, aren't you? And a warrior at that! Come and peruse my collection of blades, guaranteed freshly sharpened and more than capable of handling your needs!" called another salesman from a booth away.

Viranti was less than interested in any of their sales pitches and was getting more and more irritated at their exuberant presumptuousness. Still, the offers persisted as he made attempts to get information, but only receiving more spiels in return.

"Care for a sampling of perfume?" a female seller of fragrant oils charged with giving complimentary samples spoke to him from behind, he immediately turning but already not in the mood for any more foolishness.

"No, and for the last time, I need to know the location of the Orac- arrghh!" he winced as the lady sprayed him with a mist of lavender from a bottle she was holding. Viranti broke out in a fit of coughing, the fit itself keeping him from making the lady's first day on the job her last. "Why yooouu...!" he snarled, his voice muffled somewhat due to his left hand clenching his snout. His other hand rose to unsheathe his sword and would have surely put it to use if not for the intense sound of an explosion from high above another part of the village. Viranti, along with the gasping crowd around him, all gazed in unison at the violent spectacle until it dispersed into nothing.

Alright! Now we're getting somewhere! Viranti grinned, now with something to focus on instead of the burning floral scent in his nostrils. The young desert dragon traveled with renewed purpose straight for the tavern, running and then scaling to the rooftops of any establishment in his path. He may have received the occasional odd look by a villager who couldn't help but notice his swift moving shadow from overhead or the sounds associated with his jumping from one roof to another. But he couldn't care less at the moment.

What did however cause him pause, was the audible and immediately observable rips and tears of his prison rags, most notably a split in his shirt's left shoulder that grew worse with time, making good on its threat and riving apart as he landed on top of a tailor's shop with a view of the tavern in the distance and the diverse crowd at its entrance. Part of his chest exposed, Viranti sighed angrily, knowing at least that he couldn't continue like this, and so sought out a secluded space where he could change to his extra pair of clothes. He didn't have to search long as he spotted a wooden hatch to the shop's attic, not believing anyone would mind if he quickly made use of it.

@cloudystar@KoL@Lucius Cypher@TheWindel@Eklispe@Lady Athena@Norschtalen@Gareth@Solaris@dabombjk@Ryougu

Khristina had a nervous grin on her face, she honestly wasn't expecting this Oracle thing to be so nerve racking. Aside from all the looks she was getting, especially fromthe robot, she knew that she had a lot to talk about, the sight of her two friends Nephele and Loralei did fill her with a bit of confidence at least. She took a deep breath. "Ok... You all have a myriad of questions I'm sure... But this isn't exactly the place to answer them..." She then took to whispering to finish her sentence. "This darkness... Has eyes and ears everywhere... So it would be best to take this somewhere... Safer." Khristina moved through her group to the doors of the tavern. "Well? Come on, I'll answer all your questions once we get to the Church. And... You two, you may want to come along." She said pointing at a little elf and skeletal warrior, her eyes glowing their usual rainbow color.

As she moved outside she also noticed a cowgirl like person watching the group. "You may want to come with us too." She said moving along to the Church. Loralei let out a deep sigh as the three thugs ran off before turning to Nephele. "You uh... Kinda did come at a bad time, but its over now." She said with a kind smile. "Lets go... Someone's gotta look after Lady Khristina, right?" Loralei said following after the group.

By choice or chance, the entrance to the tavern was getting crowded. Maybe that was because Flan was still blocking the doorway by pretending to be dead or something. Oh, and that was ignoring the fact that a robot of all things had decided to intrude on them. Lotte looked at the metal contraption before kneeling to poke at Flan’s boobs, not caring for the still active bomb she had placed.

“Hey come no, you’re starting to attract weirdos. Waah! And some weirdo took my wake-up bomb too! Now you have to get up to kick their ass for stealing Flan! Oh, Malkai you’re here! Quick, Flan’s still not waking up and someone stole my wake-up bomb and, and, and-oh, she was just faking it,” Lotte said, dragged out of her verbal race with herself.

Of course all it took was an innuendo to wake up the elf. Burning with joy, Lotte grinned up at the elf with relief that Flan was going to be ok. And then she kicked the blonde woman in the shin for good measure, the grin becoming tense and terse. “That’s what you keep for faking and making these poor, poor people wait for the bar,” she said with a wagging finger.

Yet her motions paused as the tell-tale sound of something rumbling in the distance made her slowly turn around. With agape horror she watched as her beloved explosive was gone with the wind, specks of embers scattering to the earth below. It was truly a horrible sight for the one who had spent so much time in crafting such a loud tool.

“W-Why would you do that?” she said with a quivering lip to the newly introduced Ryuuga. “What did my bombs ever do to you?” Unfortunately she wouldn’t receive an answer because soon all hell broke loose. Random thieves popped out of nowhere and began to fight while the Oracle they had all be tasked with finding revealed herself. “Huh. Neat,” was all Lotte said before grabbing Flan and Malkai’s hands and dragging them away from the scuffle.

Only when the fighting had ended did she drag them away from the safe spot; that being just around the corner. At long last the Oracle was giving them proper instructions and with a bouncing step she set off to drag the other two in the direction of the Church. “Come on, come on, adventure!”

---

Snatching the bandit's empty sheath before letting him off, Ryuuga sheathed the sword and put it on his back. "So, that could've gone worse. Quite a crowd we've got here though, how many champions does Lucius need?" He stood in silence and thought for a moment, then turning to Lotte. "So, what can I call you, little terrorist? Wotte? Lot-lotte? Lolibomb? ...Joking aside though, please restrict the use of bombs to outside civilized areas. As for your earlier question... If that bomb had blown up the tavern you'd be a long way from leaving on a journey, and a lot of people would've gotten hurt." His expression turned from stern to apologetic "Still, sorry for that. I too am a tad disappointed to see a bomb of such caliber go to waste, but just letting it blow up the tavern and everyone around wasn't an option, you see?" After having said this, he added softly "Teach me how to make a bomb like that sometime, though. I'll find you something good to blow up, okay?"

Then, with a satisfied grin he followed Krishtina, and stopped next to the mystery cowgirl. A quick glance revealed her gear. Cautiously, he tried to start a conversation. "So...Mystery lady, enjoyed the show? It seems you've been looking for a while now. My name's Ryuuga, would you be so kind as to share yours?"

There did seem to be a lot of commotion didn't there? The person she observed outside town earlier came rushing in yelling about something and coming near her for some reason. "Sounds exciting." Meflenius said dryly. Two girls came downstairs, apparently attracted by the noise and went outside. Somewhat worried at this point Melfenius internally debated the matter for a bit longer before saying, "I guess we can see what this is all about." At this point she attempted to step outside to find... A lot. A variety of characters, some more motley than others, than Meflenius had little room to speak in that regard. Rather than trying to say anything Melfenius merely leaned against the wall and watched to try to figure out what was going on. Perhaps these were the others her dream had talked about? The fox girl seemed to think so anyway, something about a church?

He wasn't the most discreet invader there ever was by a long way, but at this moment he was the happiest, doing away with the some of the last vestiges of his former incarceration and replacing them with articles belonging to his homeland. He was especially glad to wear his sleeveless, relatively ornate shirt. He felt one step closer to home.

The good feeling wouldn't last though, as he heard the sound of approaching footsteps coming from downstairs. His head darted for a trapdoor on the floor near him among the storage of apparel and materials. "Why, what on Grand- ack!" spoke the elderly bespectacled tailor as he began to open said door, which Viranti immediately slammed a box on top of. Having done what he came here to do and with no further delay, Viranti departed through the way he came in, retaking position on the roof, but finding the crowd that was once by the tavern, dispersing. Oddly enough, he noticed a trio of armed travelers were running in a rather panicked manner away from the tavern and next to the shop he himself was on.

Not wanting to let the opportunity slip, the dragonute pounced on one of them, picking him off the ground by the collar with his right hand as the others protested. "Hey! Let go, monster!" shouted the one in the dragon's grip, his associate to Viranti's right lifting his sword and spacing his legs into position. His stance and balance would be broken by Viranti's tail, which swiped his ankle and sent him to the stone-paved ground.

"What is this pla-! (growl)" Nevermind that for now... "Where is the Oracle!?" Viranti asked his temporary hostage impatiently but otherwise in a subtly good mood.

"Th-the Oracle of Lucius?! Aaaahhh!" the thug asked before getting the hint as the dragon used both hands to swing him around with enough force that his dangling legs swung around and effectively kicked his second comrade in the face, incapacitating him for a little longer. "Okay! Okay! Ugh... She left with a group of others! Sh-she said something about the church! That's all I know!"

"And what in all Dust is a church!?" Viranti roared, stomping his foot down in an intimidating fashion, getting ticked off at being led through more questions.

Now sufficiently scared out of his mind, the thug resorted to pointing a shaking finger at the church's general direction. "Thank you..." Viranti spoke as gratefully as he could, dropping the thug back down to his knees, he and his friends running with even more vigor than before, their assailant making his way for the church. He would arrive just several yards away from the place of worship, gazing bewilderingly at the odd, overly elaborate structure. Suppose this is the place...

Illium was a mile down the road riding towards the town his dream had told him to migrate towards. His body bounced with each step ol' Lucian took. Without being aware of what was going on inside the city, a large explosion startled the horse and caused him to rear upwards. Lucian was war-trained, but when there was no battle around him he was just like any other horse. After Illium settled him down, he took off at a steady gallop to attend to whatever issue was at hand.

Upon entering underneath the metal gated entrance, he spied a rather large draconian like creature swinging someone around and discussing the whereabouts of this supposed 'oracle' that his dream-god demanded he find. Suppressing the desire to go and save these two bystanders from being abused by this creature, he settled with rationalizing this as "They aren't my friends, and it's not my problem."

Trotting passed the now abandoned men who were just so easily discarded, he followed the draconian man to the church. Upon entering the sacred grounds, he lightly slid off his horse and tethered it the nearby fence.

@Mangrale
"Here to see the Oracle?", he questioned the light red humanoid before passing him by and entering the large building.

"T~Thank you ma'am! I'll try not to slow you down!"

Claire bows at the skeleton warrior a few times, not fully noticing the bones and such that the lady covered up. However, she/he did assume the person was a female from the get go from the armor and such, and after hearing the skeleton's voice, Claire was sure it was a female's. Patiently waiting for others to show up, the Oracle they all expected finally did which allowed Claire to sigh from relief. He/She follows the group in the front so she/he can avoid the rowdy fellows who seemed to have enjoyed beating up the bandits from earlier...pulling a bit on her/his loose sailing clothes so that she/he doesn't catch their eyes. However, whenever she/he did catch one of them noticing her/him, Claire would let out a small "Meep!" and wander off to hide/break off the gaze by using the skeleton lady. When they finally ended up at the Church, Claire tries to head to the front of the group to hear the Oracle speak better...mostly due to the others in the group scaring her/him quite a significant amount.

"Sorry f~for being an annoyance M~Ms. Oracle! The others are really rowdy I think...can't hear you that well. I~I'll deal with it though the best I can!"

@Darkmoon Angel@Eklispe

A bunch of the crazies around Malkai went about to do crazy things and beat up a few thugs. Nothing in particular that concerned Malkai, he didn't even pay attention to the oracle when she spoke. He was slightly more concerned about the health of his old friends, more so Flan since she seems to still be incapable of finding her own meals. Malkai supposed he only had himself to blame; he always took care of the cooking whenever they were together. Even now he couldn't help but pull out two rice balls from his kilt and handed them to Flan. "'Ere, eat my balls. I put me nuts in em." Sure enough inside the riceballs were peeled and cooked walnuts. He also took out his wineskin, which currently had some sort of honey mead he picked up the last town he was at.

Lotte had took the two away from the other crazies and went on her tangent. Apparently that bomb was suppose to wake up Flan? He guessed "wake up or die" is a good way to go about it. Malkai didn't really question it and just took out some rice balls for Lotte to eat as well. Finally the oracle, after some mystical mumbo-jumbo that Malkai wasn't too keen about paying attention about, asked everyone to go to church for their talk. Seemed like a foolish thing to do, any evil with half a brain could easily tell this ragtag group of misfits were suppose to be their enemies and follow them. Or burn the church down while they're inside of it. But such was the adventurer's life. Malkai would just have to have an exit strategy planned when it came to that.

Once they arrived to the church, Malkai immediately went about to explore the area. No doubt he'll still hear the Oracle's sermon while he did so and if not, he'll just get the short list from any of the others here. He looked for any possible exits he could take in the event of an inevitable ambush, as well as any loot he could pocket. Of course he wouldn't grab anything if any of the others decided to follow him, though at some point once he thinks he's in a good spot he would face anyone who was following him and just give them a stern glare. And if not, then he will proceed with the subtle looting.

"It is my impression or things turned bad quite fast?" Flan asked to her companions as the took shelter from the fight, only emerging after the daylight brawl in the middle of the street ended. "By the way, guys, did you had that weird dream with someone telling you to come here?"

"Oh, what's this? We are already going on an adventure? W-wait, Lolo!" Flan stuttered as Lotte dragged her away along with Malkai to the church, following the strange Oracle.

When she got there, the elf ranger found a place to sit, right beside Lotte, and rest her tired body while waiting for the full explanation to come. The difference in their heights more or less putting Flan's bust right into Lotte's line of sight, if the minuscule magician ever cared to look at her friend for a reason or another.

Rochelle watched as the oracle mentioned a great evil and asked everyone to come with her to the chapel. Rochelle was never much of a church going girl, and she was starting to slowly lose interest in this group. It felt too big for her taste. But unless this town was about to be attacked by bandits it would seem that they're the only interesting thing happening here. As she waited and listened one of the loudmouths from the group came over and tried to talk to her. She wasn't sure why he was acting so shy now, he had no problems talking everyone's ears off before. Rochelle did just see him tell off the little girl about her bomb and then try to ask her how she made it. Sighing the gunslinger followed the others. "Sandy."

As everyone went to the chapel Rochelle did something similar as the big man in armor and took a some money from the offertory box. God gives, after all. Rochelle really did hope the oracle would get to the point soon, and didn't just bring everyone here to sell them on some religion or god. Otherwise she'd be very pissed that she ended up getting tricked into listening to someone's sermon. "So. Looks like the gang's all here. Don't know how some church is suppose to be safer than the tavern, they both burn just as good." Rochelle said, resting one hand on the handle of her gun. She was aware that some people would feel uneasy about that, and if anyone had a problem they'll see what they had to be afraid of.

@Ryougu@Darkmoon Angel

Viranti didn't know what to make of the church before him. What would call for such an ornamented structure. Was it home to someone very pompous and important. Perhaps it belonged this God of Light Lucius himself? In which case, why should he bother with the Oracle herself when he could just talk with him directly? He no sooner put one step forward that he heard from behind the approach of an elderly man of military background given his attire. The dragon would just as soon ignore the man as he let him walk passed, not keen on strangers following him. "And what if I am, human?" Viranti responded flatly, waiting until the man was a good distance away before going into the church himself.
@Illium Vethelot

The well aged doors opened into a bright and imposing chamber of high stained windows and fixtures of various flashy materials. It took about a few seconds for Viranti to realize this wasn't the kind of structure where anyone actually lived in. At the very least, he couldn't imagine anyone making a home here. It was all very gaudy in his eyes, and prolonged exposure to this place for an extended period of time might just make him sick. He walked briskly about the room, trying to address the worshipers he found (less violently given he was developing a headache and they weren't outright running away). It took time, but he soon gathered that direct contact with the Great God and Savior Lucius was rare, and that the Oracle hadn't arrived yet.

And so the young dragonute chose a spot by the wall where he'd be less likely to be bothered and waited with his arms crossed and eyes closed. As the Oracle arrived, he could simply hear the varied footfalls and gear rustling of the gang accompanying her. Perhaps they were security, meant to guard her. It seemed like a possibility. But would they really start a fight here. He was even told that this was sacred ground and violence was not permitted here by one of the churchgoers for some reason. Yet at the same time, he himself got in and he had no qualms with setting the place ablaze if he saw fit, so these "people" could be just as destructive as him, which was a concern. And if the Oracle should be hurt or worse, there goes his only lead at getting home. He was acquainted with waiting and biding his time, but it always came hard for him and this was no different.

The boy sighed in response to the oracle's explanation "I suppose I'll have to be a bit more patient" he thought as he walked towards the church, staying at the very back of the group. He did that for the purpose of observing the group members in front of him. His eye appraised the overall feel of the group as being some excitement mixed with awkwardness and tension, the boy was however satisfied with the group. Many figures in front of him inspired intrigue, though some did perplex him he was excited to learn about these people and learn their stories, as well as the land which he now lives in.

For the majority of the walk he held a happy, calm and satisfied demeanor, until he checked for the presence of his kind. He closed his eyes for a few seconds to concentrate, still walking, and sought out any draconic souls that would lie within town. Some small occurrences, likely those whose powers have not been awakened or developed, one of he sensed was in fact very close. There was however one anomaly which shook Nemo, a well developed draconic who seemed to be in the direction of the church. he yawned and scratched his head nervously, opening his eyes, no longer being able to concentrate due to this Information. "I hope its the kind that I can get along with, probably is, there'd be havoc already if it wasn't" the boy thought to himself as the group closed in on the church.

Bored with analysis, the boy opted to speak with someone, but decided to remain silent for now and linger at the very back of the group. "I hope this goes well..." he said to himself after a sigh.

Nephele would look around a bit for the eyes and ears of the dark before shrugging. She walked out of the tavern with Loralei "S-sorry about that. Guess I need to work a bit better on protecting Lady Khistrina" She would giggle and return the smile to Loralei. She was glad that nothing bad had happened to Lady Khristina and Loralei. She shuts her eyes for a moment and mumbles something...
"Why me?"

Nephele would open her eyes and smiles again. Something seemed to be bothering her, she would follow close behind Lady Khristina as they headed towards the church. She looked to the over excited girl with a love for her dear bomb. The girl was dragging two other people towards the church. She felt as if the girl was too young for this and basically it would be a suicide mission for someone so young.

@Solaris @Gareth @TheWindel @KoL @Lucius Cypher @Darkmoon Angel @Cloudystar @ryougu