"That's a pretty interesting device you have there." Chambala commented, noticing the thing her new friend pulled out of the box. She wasn't sure exactly what it did, but what she did suspect it was tied to magics. Devices like that from her mostly limited experience and knowhow were utilizing magic energy in some form or another. In a way it was not too different from the enchanted items, just with different way to harness the powers and bring forth effects." You should show me how it works later, when we are away from this place." She added with a smile.

The device certainly raised some questions in the huntress's mind. This woman was clearly not just anybody. To have such item meant she had some kind of knowledge or status somewhere, which raised other questions such as what brought her here and her desire to return over to the other side of the river. Not that it mattered to Chambala any, she was just curious about it. She pondered those curios questions while her companion was shopping for supplies and then nodded with a smile when Rebecca was ready to go.

"About nine or so years..." She replied calmly as they were now headed to Chambala's tavern, so she can grab her stuff from there." I started living on my own since very young. Living in the forest, hunting small game, gathering forest herbs and fruits and the like. Not exactly the best way for an young girl to grow up, but beats being an orchin in the streets of a city likes this one." She stated, leading the way to her inn." In fact I've faced more dangers in cities than in the forests strangely enough. People seem to think lone young girls are a great pray." She sighed, pointing her traven down the road." I will just go grab my bags and we can leave." She explained.

Denise felt warm inside. This situation was ever so slowly turning towards something exciting. Hostility oozed out from the knight. It was, sweet in a way. The taste in the air. The fear of the people around her. It sent shivers down her spine. The hunger inside of her grew. The threat of her losing control was growing by the minute. However, now was not the time for such things.

"A woman after my own heart," she said and nodded towards the knight. Their ideas seemed to be quite similar in that regard. However, the means probably differed quite a bit. And while Denise motives were mostly selfish, the knight's seemed to be for a cause, possibly a fanatic. Fanatics were good for the single mindedness towards a goal, especially if it was beneficial to others as well.

Helvyra grinned as the man turned around towards her. A brutish smile of fury and fire. Did the man hope to fight then flee? Or did he have some illusion about being able to fight her head on? When the man came close enough she dug her foot into the ground and smacked together her hands where his head would had been if he had not taken a dive.

The move caused her to swing forwards from the sheer momentum. Her massive leg crashed down in front of her as her body twisted and turned sideways. The ground shook as the golem came to a standstill. The move would had worked against a regular golem, but not against a soul golem. A golem with a fully functional mind and reactions.

Denise smiled softly as she watched them. He had passed her test at least. He was agile enough to avoid being smacked to death. Her interest had not been in vain it seemed like. "Helvyra, stop, and come back," she said and the golem ignored the man as it started walking back to Denise. She figured that she might see more of that man later. No need to force anything.

"Well, I'll drop off my stuff at a contact in the city then I'm ready to leave. Feel free to follow, or meet me at the gate in an hourglass. Whatever you prefer," she said as the golem returned and picked up their stuff before they both started walking towards the edge of the shopping district. For now she was going to influence a merchant to sell her things for a cut of the profit. This knightly business took precedence.

Cain had enough time to draw an arrow from his quiver but the golem seemed to have enough sense of presence to halt immediately and get her bearings, still an arrow with a mysterious pale red gem on the end would do the type of damage Cain hoped to deliver, had the strange woman not immediately called it off. Either she decided Cain was not worth the trouble or was as much of a trickster as her looks would suggest was unclear, either way it was rather surreal as Cain stood with his bow still drawn to fire, watching the golem amicably lumber back over to its master.

The golem and its host began leaving to some other end of the market. Cain looked over at the golden knight still stood there watching them go. He then turned his attention to the crowd who had given the altercation a wide berth, they stood around him in a large circle with faces ranging from surprise to continued anger at his presence. Considering a golem had just rampaged through their streets the guards appeared to be as confused as the people, trying to take statements and witness accounts on what happened.

Cain un-drew his arrow and slung his bow over his body, he looked around one more time for a minute and shuffled somewhat awkwardly. Briefly he considered trying to leave in a cool way like throwing down a cloud of smoke but unlike actually well paid Assassins he didn't have the funds for smoke bombs or anything to disappear in. Pondering his financial situation for a few more seconds Cain gave another look at the golden warrior and began shuffling away from her, trying to think of a way he could fade into the shadows for a while and resume his investigations later, seeing as how he was public enemy number one and his cover had been well and truly obliterated.

[Tirñea]

       The young beast master smiled again as Serena grabbed her things and began heading towards the stone arch leading out of the city, with Veronica trailing fairly close behind her. It seemed a little too lucky that she'd managed to catch them at such a perfect time, and for that reason Tirñea remained just a bit suspicious, but for now they seemed worth trusting.

       As the two of them departed, from beside her Jamie called out to either of them as he began moving towards the road. "I gotta grab a few things, I'll be right with you all," he shouted, turning away and rushing off further into the city. Tirñea took this as her cue to get moving, shutting her eyes for a moment and breathing deeply before she started towards the gate. As she walked beneath the arch, she turned back briefly to look at the large tower in the distance and made a note of wanting to return for a visit.

       Just outside Veronica and Serena had already finished loading a few things onto a cart, drawn by a pair of horses that waited patiently to be commanded forward. A few tribes back home had horses to carry their things, but they were more common further south and beyond the badlands. As she approached the cart Tirñea took the opportunity to interact with the animals, moving past where her new companions waited and going around to face the beasts. They were powerful looking animals, well trained too as neither payed Tirñea any mind even as she crossed right in front of them.

       After a few moments of staring up at the animals, she managed to make eye contact with one and gained it's attention. Her mentor had explained that the eyes were a window to the soul, and could be used to better see how to reach out to a creature. Within the horse Tirñea could see a sense of dutiful pride, and slowly she extended her free arm up towards it's muzzle. Reaching out with her mind she maintained eye contact with the horse, trying to find it's thoughts and feelings as it stared down at her. For a moment she thought she felt something, but when her arm drew close enough that she could almost touch the beast the horse snorted and turned away it's head.

       Though she had been ready to try again, it was then that she heard Jamie calling out, the man rushing through the gates clad in leather armour with a bag thrown over his shoulder. Tirñea began walking to the rear of the cart again, overhearing Jamie's quick jest regarding the luxury of their ride before he climbed aboard. Before she boarded the cart herself, Tirñea moved away to give herself some space and took hold of her staff with both hands. Quickly she swung it into the ground around her, alternating between the two ends as she thwaked the earth six times each in a different place. With a short twirl she returned her staff to an upright position and hastily came back to the cart, climbing aboard and moving to the side but staying near the back. She could already sense Sierpe nearby, their minds always tethered so long as they weren't too far apart. But to be sure he followed she'd need to smack the ground a few more times from out of the back as they departed, the wurm used to following her footsteps rather than the sounds of a cart.

[Calieo]

Calieo had watched the rock monster advance, her heart leaping at the thought that this man's head was about to be turned to red paste. Such a thing didn't happen though, the stranger clad in black sliding past the monster and readying his weapon to fire some sort of pointed projectile. What such a tiny thing would do to a being of stone was laughable, but the woman clad in black armour called off her monster before Calieo could see this man fail.

"Disappointing," the knight murmured under her breath, watching as the stone creature began to return to it's master. The man in black still stood there, weapon ready though he didn't seem eager to fire it anymore. The ashen skinned woman began to speak again, babbling about some pointless chore before getting to anything important. "I'll be at the East gate. Make haste with whatever unfortunate chore it is you feel is more important than the fate of your world," Calieo huffed, letting the merchant and her servant creature depart. Before turning away Calieo gave the stranger in black one more glance, her stare stern lipped and judgemental as he began shuffling off.

Calieo moved hastily through the streets of Falke, doing her best to remember the way out of the city. She would head East every chance she'd get, often being stopped by a fork in the road that would demand she take a new direction. Though to many the sun was invisible today Calieo could still find it, the light above ever so slightly more intense where it hid behind the sheet of grey. Though she had no idea what an hourglass was, Calieo assumed she had made good time as she quickly marched down street after street, eventually coming to the massive wood and iron gates that let people in and out of this oversized stone box. They remained open, people coming and going every once and a while with armoured guards stopping those that sought to enter. Already feeling impatient with her guide, Calieo turned to face the streets she'd come from and waited for the merchant to show herself again. Shielded arm at her side and her free hand resting near the loop and clip that held her weapon in place, the gilded knight watched with cold and empty eyes for the stone creature to make an appearance.

“Just don’t spook ‘em and we’ll get along fine.” The cart driver said. He stared at Tirnea as she tried to bond with the horse. When it turned away from her, he simply shrugged. As she returned, Veronica and Serena were discussing their method of transportation. Veronica seemed to be somewhat unappreciative of it, asking why they couldn't just get horses of their own.

“Well, I am not the best with horses,” Serena said. “To say nothing of our companions. You should be very grateful, Veronica. I had to make my first journey on foot, back when I was younger. I find being able to rest my feet on a chase like this to be quite a novelty.” Veronica opened her mouth to retort before giving up, taking her helmet out of her bag and setting it down next to her with a sigh. Serena began to rest her eyes, though she opened them briefly to watch Tirnea as the cart set off and she struck the ground with her staff. The ride turned out to be somewhat bumpy, the cart occasionally shaking violently as it went along the roads of Tour de Rouge.

“That thing you’re doing with your club,” Veronica said to Tirnea. “What is it, exactly? Some kind of spell?” She was enamored with the bizarre, precise ways she struck the earth, like some sort of dance. She admittedly didn’t even know that much about staves, as the Crescent family was somewhat notorious back home for rarely using them, preferring to channel magic through some other bizarre means. Still, she thought her hammer was close enough to one.

---

“Thanks!” Rebecca said with a smile. “The exact details, models, and formulas are probably a bit boring and confusing to someone who isn’t well-versed on physics, magical mechanics, and Animus Theory, but I could probably run down the basics of Resonance Theory once we get a chance to stop. She’s my pride and joy, but hopefully I won’t have to demonstrate it before then.” She thought that maybe it wasn’t the best idea to be throwing that kind of information around, but The Choir never regarded Resonance Theory as anything especially important anyhow, so she supposed it was her way of sticking it to them. She listened as Chambala detailed her experiences with city life.

“Maybe people wouldn’t see you like that if you didn’t dress so… proudly,” Rebecca offered. “Not that I’m complaining, that is… I mean, well… Sorry, let’s just get out of here.” That certainly didn’t come out right… She sighed and shook her head as she waited for her friend to grab her things from the tavern. What a day this was turning out to be...

"Sounds curious and I'm actually always open for curious ideas and knowledge." Chambala replied with a smile, listening to her new friend's brief explanation of things. Granted the huntress wasn't the most knowledgeable on the greater intricate workings of physics and magics, but she had a rather unique understanding of the way magic worked non the less. Otherwise she wouldn't have had developed her own brand of what she had heard some people refer as primitive rune Enchanting. It followed some of hte same basic laws as the normally thought way of doing it, but the fine workings behind hers were somewhat different. Focused less on agressive alterations and more on almost natural movement of forces and growth in nature. Such as her flame trinkets. They didn't cause fire to appear out of nowhere, they simply caused the wood or bone to ignite into fire. Granted she was experimenting with more agressive forms of enchanting also.

"Hmmm back then I didn't dress like I do now, you know." Chambala stated with a smirk." I used to dress like normal girls at my age at hte time, which made others thing of me as defenseless girl that's easy pray. Nowdays those same people avoid me from miles." She stated proudly indeed." My clothing reveals skin a lot, this is true, but I personally do not care what others think of it anymore. I like it, after living in the forest for so long, dressing like this had turned into a second nature. It's also surprisingly beneficial also I even learned how to fight with arms and legs only from a four legged stance." She stated proudly, showing her clawed fur, bone adn steel gountlets and boots." Took me a long while to get the style down, but I can now freely fight pretty much every normal beast in the forest with these alone."

"Alright, going to return in a moment, would you mind keeping an eye on my spear until I return?" She asked, leaning the spear on the wall nearby and entering the tavern post haste.

The inside was roudy and noisy, whispers started as soon as the fur clad woman entered the tavern. She walked past the tavern keeper who's hand slipped under the counter as she passed and got to the second floor with two simple hops across the stairs. Entering into her room, she noticed a certain noise from the wardrobe kind of furniture nearby. Whomever it was, was pulling efforts to be very quiet, but she noticed it. With a calm, but fast movement she moved over to her big bags, noticing the things inside were moved about and rearranged, proof that someone else beside her was rummaging inside. She Sighed, quickly threw the two bags, one across each of her shoulders, their straps forming an X on her chest, with her smaller bag now being exactly between the two bigger ones, at the middle of her waist.

As she was about to leave the room, the door of the wardrobe was being opened. Someone was tryign to ambush her, probably a theif, but she didn't allow him to, she kicked the door with nearly all her leg strength, causing the attacker to be slammed back inside with painful groans. Some people never learned. Afterwards she left the room, walked down the stairs and threw the key on the counter." Next year the same time." She stated to the tavernkeep and exited to see Rebecca again and her trusty spear.

"Alright we can leave now." She said, reaching and taking her weapon.

[Tirñea]

       As the cart began to depart, Tirñea held her staff close to the smaller striking end in order to be able to reach the ground from where she sat. One smack as the cart began moving, another after the cart had travelled a dozen feet or so, and one more for good measure after the cart gained some momentum. Sierpe understood, the wurm following deeper underground and away from the road where his tunneling wouldn't be too disruptive. The effort to keep up with the cart was noticeable in what stray thoughts would reach Tirñea, the underground of this land apparently 'uncomfortable' in how different it was to the sands of Piñura. Tirñea returned her own thoughts, claiming it just needed some getting used to, and received thoughts of a slight hunger building. Sierpe hadn't eaten properly since they'd boarded the cargo ship, and that had been a little more than a week ago. Normally he could go a little longer than that without eating anything, but the extra exertion of this new terrain might be causing him to focus more on such things.

       Her train of thought disrupted by Veronica breaking the silence of their ride, Tirñea pulled her staff away from where it hung low to the ground and let it rest beside her with one hand on it keep from it falling. "A, uh, spell?" Tirñea replied, unfamiliar with the term. She thought about it for a moment, recalling how other people had reacted to the way she struck the earth before this, all of them assuming it was some sort of earth weaving magic. It was an effective lie, Sierpe pushing the sand up sometimes looking like magic. "A spell is to mean incantation, yes? Then yes, a spell, for uh... good fortune to follow," Tirñea continued, deciding the best lie was one that was partially true. Sierpe wasn't a good luck charm, but his protection certainly was as beneficial as one could be.

"Oh really?" Denise asked with an amused expression. "I guess you like the sight of blood. Don't worry. Where we are going there is going to be plenty of that commodity." She was quite sure of that fact. Even Denise could not cross that forsaken place without spilling quite a bit of blood. Both human and daemon, neither side was very forgiving.

It didn't matter though as Denise walked the streets until she found a merchant that seemed willing enough at first glance. She smiled a warm smile at him as she entered the store. He looked at her with lecherous eyes and she played on that fact. She walked up to him and bowed slightly. "Hello. I'd like to interest you in a business venture. You sell my wares for a thirty-seventy share, me taking seventy, of course."

Denise closed the distance so that she was standing right in front of him and let her magic work it's ways. She made herself look more attractive in his eyes. More willing to follow her commands. Probing his greed and lust and heightening them. "Why should I accept that offer? Especially for such a low share? I'll be storing your things here, taking up space. I should get a much larger share."

She just smiled at his words and leaned in closer and whispered into his ear. "You can get thirtyfive and a preview of the best night of your life." She smiled coyly and bent down.

After about an hour Denise was closing in on the gate. She and the merchant had settled with forty-sixty, her way, in the end. Quite the stubborn man, but easy to influence with her magic. She had already decided to suck him dry of life when she returned for her money. But that was a matter for another time as she saw the knight standing at the gate. She looked quite impatient from what Denise could tell. All the better.

She waved at the knight. It struck Denise that she had not asked for the knight's name. She'd have to do that soon enough. "I forgot to ask you before; but do you have a name?" Denise tilted her head slightly and smiled at the knight. "I'm Denise, and this is Helvyra," she said and indicated with her hand towards the golem. "Also, do you have a horse do you want to ride with me? We've got a pretty long way to go, and I'm guessing you want to get there quickly."

Rebecca stared intently as Chambala showed off her boots. To think that she could take down beasts like that…

She snapped back to reality when Chambala asked her to keep an eye on her spear. She nodded and stared at it as her friend left. She guessed it wasn’t convenient to carry a thing like that inside. She was kind of glad to be heading out of Falke soon, but she was also hoping to find a little bit more during her stay. Hopefully what data she had scrounged together would be enough… She was absorbed enough in thought that she didn’t notice the woman running her hand along the wall until it was too late. They each yelped in surprise as the other woman fell down.

“I’m sorry!” They each said in unison as Rebecca got a better look at this person as she felt along the ground. She looked like a nun of the church of Aramice, with her hooded garb, necklace, and blindfold. She had a basket filled with what looked like groceries, which Rebecca helped her pick up and return them to where they were before helping the other woman to her feet. The nun offered her a pleasant thank you in return.

“You guys don’t usually leave to go on shopping trips, do you?” Rebecca asked, kind of puzzled as to why someone who had to wear a blindfold would be out doing much of anything. The nun shook her head.

“Someone used to bring some extra supplies every couple of days,” She said. “He was drafted some time ago.” She kept her free hand against the wall of the building, not wanting to lose her place. She stared at Rebecca's mouth, rather than her eyes. It made Rebecca wonder if they ever took those blindfolds off.

“That’s rather unfortunate,” Rebecca said, her feelings sincere. “I’ve heard that things have been getting pretty heated.” The nun shook her head and smiled.

“Child,” She explained. “He was overjoyed to be given the chance to fight for our king on the battlefield. A chance like this has not come in many generations.” Rebecca shook her head, never having wrapped her head around either Aramice or Loyalitat’s bizarre philosophies ever since she first encountered them.

“I just mean that it’d be nice if he could come home in one piece,” Rebecca corrected herself. “All this war is starting to take its toll.” The nun’s expression grew somewhat somber for a moment before she responded.

“Thank you again, Child.” She said. “May Aramice’s sword point your way forwards.” She left Rebecca to wait for her friend to return. Once she did, they set off for the gate. If everything went well, she could relax for a bit back home before she went back to The Choir. She’d have her own lab, as many research materials as she needed, maybe even a nice lab assistant... She noticed that the gilded woman was near the gates. Here we go again...

“Hold on,” Rebecca said to her friend. “I’m gonna try this once more.” She sighed, straightened her hat, and strode up to the knight, her weapon still resting comfortably at her side.

“Hello,” She said as professionally as she could manage. “I’ve been cataloging magical items and artifacts around here and I’m wondering if you might know anything? I was going to ask you earlier, but things got a bit sidetracked.”

Cain sat silently atop the gate's watchtower, watching the strange woman and her golem converse with the golden warrior, he then glanced over as another woman hid under a thick brown cloak walked up to them, he couldn't hear what was being said but was busy trying to remember where he'd seen her before.

Cain then recalled her as the woman who'd clashed with the golden knight earlier, he'd guessed she was either demanding an apology but given the current events of today Cain wasn't really placing much stock in the obvious being the case. Behind the robed woman was the huntress with the claw hands, it took significantly less time for Cain to place her due to this very obvious characteristic.

Whatever they were planning was irrelevant at this point, if they paid Cain he would come along but his goal at this point was to get some answers on that golem from earlier. The woman in control of it was certainly exotic which led Cain to believe more would be at play here than previously though, employers sometimes made him jump through hoops prior to a job to see what he could do but this had no real guarantee of anything and was a random act that concluded as soon as it began.

Cain looked up at the sky, dawn was fading, his usual time was approaching. They were leaving so it was now or never if he wanted to get answers. Like a cat, Cain began gracefully scaling down the tower where he would then meet with those who had caused him no end of grief today. As he neared the bottom of the main gate, sticking to the side so he wouldn't drop directly in front of the party.

[Calieo]

       Though she only had to wait a fraction of the planet's rotation, any time not spent searching for the key was considered wasted in Calieo's eyes. How long she had before that benevolent vagabond passed by to check up on her again, the warrior had no idea. He'd come looking for her though, and it would complicate things to no end. Bitter thoughts circled about the knight's head as she waited, growing upon themselves with every passing minute.

       As Calieo's thoughts began to border on the edge of obscenely violent, the jagged and rocky form of the merchant's beast finally showed itself. Atop it the merchant clung to the creature's back, waving towards Calieo once she drew closer. While the knight was prepared to take out her pent up aggression on her soon to be guide, the woman's question disarmed such thoughts and Calieo listened carefully to the pronunciations of what she would have to call them.

       "A name, yes," Calieo grinned, pride welling up from within as she thought of the awe her name had inspired with a few of the mountain people she'd met. "I am Calieo. Embodiment of your day star, ruler of all that is pure, bain of the night, and the soon to be the saviour of this world," the gilded knight announced, emphasizing her words with a flourish of her hand. She'd met a few mountain people on her way to this settlement, a few dropping to their knees and a few taking offense after her short introduction. Those that acted against her had been cleansed. Rather than give praise however Denise followed up with another question regarding how they were to depart, the forward thinking appreciated though Calieo felt a little confused without recieving such a dramatic reaction.

       "A horse? No I do not have a horse, yours is the first I've encountered," Calieo began, looking up at Helvyra assuming that it had been what she meant. The idea of riding something was a little conflicting; on one hand it proved dominance over another creature, but it also meant reliance on it. While she took a moment to consider a response, a vaguely familiar voice pulled her from such thoughts and gained the knight's attention. It took a moment to recognize the figure approaching, but Calieo soon realized it was the girl she had pushed aside in the market earlier. At first the knight assumed she just wanted to complain more, but her question proved quite relevant to the quest at hand.

       "You mean you seek information on such things as well?" Calieo inquired, turning away from Denise and her rock creature to better face this curious stranger. Whoever she was the girl looked odd to say the least; short, oddly dressed, and carrying quite a lot with her. "Tell me, do you know anything of an artifact about the size of a human head, shaped like a circle with three points? It's of the utmost urgency I find it and this wares pedlar here claims it to be in some place called Nevergate." Calieo gestured towards Denise at her mention, staring down at the girl with a sort of judgmental scrutiny.

Chambala was pretty happy at how fast they were moving through the city, headed towards the exit. All she wished right now was to get as far away from the blasted chaos these two 'nations' were stirring and leave them to sort it themselves. Probably by either getting the majority of their populations killed to the point peace was the only alternative to mutual destruction or till one side decimates the other. She knew the reason why they burned the bridge was to buy time... Didn't matter by the time things got worse, she should be back home and avoid the stupidity of men.

Just as they had reached the gates, Chambala's perfect feeling vanished the moment she saw the golem thing, it's rider and the goldie thing. There were the problems... all … over … again. Those 3 things were so eye catching that she suspected they'd attract guards attention before long. Especially the gold armor. She suspected someone of high stature would try to demand it sooner or later... Chambala just wanted out of the city and be in nature. Among trees and plants, forests were the best.

“Good luck... just be careful. We are at the gates, guards here are the greatest in numbers.” The huntress stated as her friend moved to talk with the goldie thing.

Chambala couldn't help, but sigh from the side as she watched her new friend go and talk with the woman who seemed significantly more interested in discussing when the subject of it was something she wanted to talk about, it seemed. Not that Chambala was surprised about that. Most people were like that, no reason for this goldie to be different from the rest. While thinking about that she noticed a certain very low noise that attracted her attention. Since she was some distance and by the side of the group, she could see a certain someone scale down the tower... To his credit Chambala was impressed. If she wasn't at this right angle, she may not even have been able to hear or even less see him. She didn't look directly at him, instead her long wild hair hiding her eyes as she very discretely following him move down the stone surface. 'Better go grab Rebecca and we leave before that man causes some commotion and we get trapped inside the walls.. or be chased off by the guard.' The huntress thought, quickly walking over to her new friend and the goldie.

“Rebecca, we'd better leave now...” She said quietly to the woman with serious voice.” Any discussions could be done once we are outside...” Chambala added, not really too interrested into the gold clad woman.

Rebecca initially felt somewhat intimidated by the other woman, beginning to see her armor and stature as somewhat imposing, but she could only stare with bewilderment when she was asked such a bizarre question. She could only assume that she meant “Nethergate,” though the mistake made her wonder who in the world she could possibly be.

“That's a pretty vague description,” Rebecca answered. “Why would something like that be in Nethergate? There's not much there except for demons and hunters with shoddy tools. How much do you know about this thing, exactly?” Rebecca leaned back a little to listen to Chambala as she spoke to her. Rebecca shrugged in response. She didn’t really know what could prompt her to take on that tone of voice and still not tell her what the problem was, but she supposed it was better to trust her friend in case they ended up getting into more trouble over it.

“Do you mind if we continue this conversation outside?” She asked the gold-clad woman, gesturing to the gates with her free hand.

[Calieo]

Calieo frowned slightly when the girl's answer wasn't more informative, though she supposed it made sense considering how she hadn't started seeing humans until the last leg of her journey through the mountains. It was somewhat odd that this apparently foreign merchant had been the first to claim any knowledge on what she sought. The Pillars were far from any civilization, which left Calieo wondering who or what had been so bold as to steal from their heart.

As the girl continued her inquiry, Calieo listened carefully and glanced towards her new guide upon hearing the description of 'Nethergate'. It sounded like a primitive place, even more so than this one, and such thoughts filled the warrior with a sense of loathing. Her negative emotions turned on themselves when the girl asked for more information on the relic, of which Calieo did not have much. "I know very little regarding what I seek," the knight admitted bitterly, pausing for a moment to think. "All I know is it's shape, and the stone hole it fits in. That, and whomever took it has a death wish."

It was then that another familiar face showed herself, the fur clad woman from the market, and whatever she said to her companion prompted that the two of them depart from this tangled mess of a city. "We may leave, yes. I grow tired of this aggravating stone maze," Calieo agreed, heading towards the main gates and motioning that she be followed. "Come along, Dennis," the warrior called back towards her guide, assuming that everyone else would keep up with her somewhat brisk pace.

“Well,” Veronica said with a shrug. “If you say so. Do you need luck like that in Pinura? I’ve heard that it’s a tough place to-” She was cut off by the cart stopping, followed distressed neighing of the cart’s horses and the crunch of something impacting hard against the cart’s wooden frame. Serena and Veronica locked eyes for a moment before they slid off the back of the cart. Serena grabbed her mask while Veronica put on her helmet. A few drawn-out, tense seconds passed before the source of the disturbance revealed himself, planting a foot on top of the crates that had previously cut off their view of the front of the cart.

Though the parasol the man held above his head blocked all traces of sunlight, the magenta glow in his right eye helped illuminate him somewhat. Long, golden locks of hair streamed down from his head, highlighting his beautiful features and pale skin while flowing over his left eye and ending at his chest. He wore black, tight clothing that hugged at his shapely form and toned limbs. His long legs ended in a pair of black high-heeled boots, contributing to an impressive 6’11” stature that made even Veronica feel somewhat intimidated. A cape flowed down his right shoulder, black on the backside and the same shade of magenta as his eye on the inward side. In his gloved right hand he held his parasol, and in the left, he held the cart driver by the neck, partially covering two small puncture wounds still dripping with blood that soaked into his glove. He looked down at the group and smiled, a fang retreating behind his lips.

“Would you sweeties be willing to help me with something?” He asked with mock innocence. “Is there anything on my clothes? My face, perhaps? Maybe even in my hair? I don’t like to consider myself a messy eater, but…” He trailed off, the glow fading from his eyes as he disdainfully threw the cart driver down to the two women. Veronica caught him, making sure that he was still breathing before carefully setting him down and focusing her gaze back on the man. Serena tensed into a fighting stance as she donned her mask and held her naginata forwards, that ice cold look returning to her eyes as she stared the assailant down.

“Let’s just say I’ve been craving some of those infamous Choral rations for quite some time,” The man continued playfully, slowly and suggestively running a newly freed hand through his hair. “Shall we?”

Calieo, quite the pretty name. Had a nice flow to it in Denise ears. But what caught her attention was the description of herself. Denise could not stop herself from chuckling at it. The sheer amount of pride the woman took to the name and what she represented. The amount of surprise that she was not in awe from hearing such a proclamation.

But what broke her into laughter was when she called Helvyra a horse. Calling a golem a horse was the best thing she had heard in quite a while. This really proved that Calieo had no sense of what the world was like. Denise guessed that she had been locked in a convent or a temple her entire life or similar and thus had no idea of what the world was like. Just a shame that they did not teach their people about what was around them.

"I never did claim that it was there; I just said that I know someone who probably knows about it. He has always collected artifacts from around the world and experiment with different things."

Denise shrugged her shoulders and tilted her head slightly as the request to move out came about. She just nodded and patted the golem on the head and they started walking out from the city. Denise sighed and rolled backwards off the golem and onto the ground next to Calieo. "If it's such a hurry, like, the end of the world and such; then we should probably hurry up. Possibly ditching our company, unless you feel them necessary."

She was not too fond of this amount of people tagging along. Or at least walking with them. One more perhaps, but this amount was making her uneasy. If things went the really bad way, she could probably convert Calieo and get rid of one additional person. Two more? Not enough to win, but enough to be troublesome.

Cain dropped the last few feet, hitting the ground with a near silent thud which he normally wouldn't allow but in this case he was in a hurry. He hadn't yet known that the claw handed woman was privy to his skulking but he was well aware that the group was on their way out and didn't seem keen on slowing down to enjoy the view. Breaking into a sudden sprint Cain began running towards the wall that held Falke's main gate, his velvet tread propelling him forward like a ghost as he leapt towards the wall and began scaling it with frightening pace.

"Hey a coin!" the archer said as he bent down atop the wall to pick up a discarded silver piece, he eyed his new prize with joy as he held it up to the sun, gleefully unaware of the black figure darting behind him and jumping clean over the other side of the wall.

Cain almost slammed into the tree, his momentum had carried far enough to grab hold of one of the branches but almost made his body collided with the base. Luckily he managed to get steady and pull himself to overlook the group. He hadn't usually followed someone at this speed but most of his targets were content to stay in their manors and stand out in open balconies were there'd no doubt be several vantage points to deal with them.

Cain followed the group for a few more moments before deciding it was time to do something rather foolish and confront them, but he'd taken some precautions to no doubt tip things in his favor if need be, all he really wanted at present was answers and money, preferably in that order. Cain dropped down from the tree in front of the group and their hulking golem, despite the dramatic entrance Cain wasted no time standing straight and dusting himself off, eyeing each one of the people he confronted. He'd known an assassin who liked to make an entrance like that, did roughly the same thing and was shot in the chest with an arrow just as he began his standard monologue.

Cain continued dusting off the dirt from his hands as he continued looking his cold gaze over the group. He bowed slightly before speaking as if he were popping in for some small talk.

"Introductory." He said after the courtesy bow "Made your acquaintance earlier" he added, gesturing towards the golem. "Explanatory. From the commotion in the market you may no doubt know the guards aren't going to investigate on my behalf, have to take matters into my own hands. Curious. You." He pointed to Denise "Want to know exactly why your pet came after me."

He glanced over at the gilded warrior who didn't appear to be particularly liked by anyone, but that was fine, neither was Cain.

"Further introduction. Seen you around Falke, obvious, hard to miss, most likely attracted wrong attention down the line, sloppy. However, heard your desire for fighters." He looked towards the rest, the cloaked woman and the clawed lady "Reassuring. Primary reason for arrival, simply want information and if possible, employment, capable fighter, guaranteed, demonstration if required but would rather not waste arrows. Require payment now or when funds are available and free to join, travel light, prefer to remain introverted so will not disturb companions."

Cain paused slightly, his face and demeanor never changing.

"Warning. If nothing else, would not recommend attack, want answers, that much is a certainty. But must stress that leaving without providing some or deciding to kill me is ill advised." He gestured towards the gates, further away but still in sight. "Good fighter, not enough perhaps to kill all four of you and golem, but enough to last, enough to make noise. Guards do not like noise, especially from strangers. Whole city could potentially be alerted if need truly arises, very bad."

He placed his hands behind his back, all official like, yet his eyes and brows were still locked in a bored looking state.

"Summarizing statement. Provide the minuscule answers and I shall take my leave, or, if the golden one wishes, will accompany for a perfectly reasonable fee, will stay somewhere near the back. A mercenary who does not deviate from the contract until its completion. Awaiting. Will of course let you decide among yourselves for that last proposition."

Despite Cain's very presence and requirements being completely absurd to anyone else, Cain seemed relaxed as if this were a commonplace arrangement. Even for him however this was slightly strange, he wanted answers for his attack but in reality they were secondary, he was just very very poor at present. However he was odd enough that he was sure they wouldn't pick up on it, the gilded one most likely just wanted someone to act as another meat shield for her and Cain was quite confident in his abilities to avoid such a role. He stood still and awaited the response that he was fairly sure would be confusion to annoyance.

'Good, better be out where escape is easier in case something happens.' Chambala thought with a smile as Rebecca followed her advice and they left, quickly followed by the goldie thing and the exotic woman with the golem. Now that she knew someone was following them, tracing his presence was quite feasible especially once they were outside the city walls. That man was still following them for some reason or another. What was his game? The fur clad woman had no memory of every doing anything bad to him, maybe someone else from the present did something bad to him and he was coming for a vengeance now? It would explain why he was sneaking... or he got paid for one of them? Or he was spying? So many possibilities and they'd find very soon, because the huntress had just about it with him and was going to deal with him right now...

Well she was about to deal with him when he came out on his own. This was a strange way of speaking. Really strange and his reason for tracing them and sneaking up on them for that matter was even dumber. Chambala sighed, the grip of her spear softened just a tad and looked at Cain with rather displeased expression.” Are you bloody serious...” She grumbled in annoyance.” I thought someone was out to get us... and you just... aghh...”

“Whatever.” She growled, starting to move forward in a course that she'd basically pass shoulder by shoulder with Cain.” I'm not losing anymore time with pointless stops, you try something and you will be whistling a tune by a number of new holes in your lungs.” She snarled at the man almost like a wild beast would.” Rebecca, we should move... This one here was the cause of the scene at the marketplace earlier. Not going to be surprise if someone sees him from the walls or something and the guards come running...”

[Calieo]

As the imposing wood and iron gates of the city drew closer, Calieo couldn't help but look up as she passed underneath the arch. It was somewhat impressive what these people had done with a bunch of rocks, not incredibly so, but still worthy of some credit. The guards at the gates didn't pay much mind to the group of strange individuals, a few stealing glances but trying to remain at attention. "Safe travels," one of them called out as everyone continued past the walls and out of the city, Calieo briefly glaring back at whomever had spoken up. She didn't stare too long however, Denise catching the knight's attention as she rolled off her mount and approached.

"Do not rush me, merchant. I will determine the worth of any information they can disclose, then we can be on our way," Calieo rebuked, looking away from Denise and turning back towards the girl she'd been conversing with. Before the knight could open her mouth again, the sound of something hitting the ground brought Calieo to look forward again and stop in her tracks. Only a short ways away a man now stood where there hadn't been one before. His eyes the only visible part of his face, the man in black leather dusted himself off a little before speaking in a hollow and toneless manor. While he droned on and began addressing Denise for some reason, Calieo soon recognized him as the man that had nearly had his head turned into pulp- an unexpected encounter, but one he apparently seemed determined to make considering his sudden appearance.

It was then that he began to address Calieo, his words empty sounding and monotone to the point where half of what he was saying flew right over the warrior's head. He kept talking, Calieo beginning to lose interest in whatever he was going on about. She'd caught the gist of it though; he sought money, and assumed that Calieo had it. "Your voice is like the empty space between starlight," Calieo commented, making clear to this stranger that she was unamused. She wasn't the only one displeased with this man's appearance, the woman in furs acting out and pushing past him to show how she felt. A slight grin moved across Calieo's lips at the sudden display of aggression, though she turned her gaze back to the man in leather to address him once more.

"I hardly understood a word you said. You seek wealth though, that much made sense, but I can tell you now I see no reason to request your aid. I've slaughtered man and beast alike traveling through the mountains, and will be surprised if there's anything I can't handle after fighting what I have. If you're offering your service to my cause there will be ample compensation for your time, but I have nothing to offer you until I find what I seek," Calieo announced, raising her shielded arm and pointing the blade towards this stranger. She grinned wider than before, a simple attempt to taunt whomever this was into a quick reply.

[Tirñea]

When the cart suddenly lurched and slowed to a stop, Tirñea looked over her shoulder towards the front of the cart just in time to hear the crunch of something crashing into wood. Tightening her grip on her staff, she watched as Veronica and Serena locked eyes for a moment before sliding off the back of the cart. Seeing it wise to follow, Tirñea pushed herself forward and onto the ground so she could rush over to stand by Veronica. Jamie followed closely behind, hands prepared to draw his weapon as he moved to stand near Serena.

The man that revealed himself was not at all what the Piñuran girl had been expecting, her worry replaced with confusion for a moment while she tried to process this pompous assailant. His treatment of the cart driver help her realize the situation remained very serious, and while he laughed and continued to talk Tirñea clutched her staff with both hands and lowered the weightier end towards the ground. Without putting too much force behind her swings the staff bounced off the ground again and again, each swing quickly turning into the next as she drummed against the earth. Sierpe had begun tunneling closer to the sounds as soon as he had recognized the quick and constant thuds travelling through the ground. Though Tirñea could not see him, she knew Sierpe was close and ready to act. Hopefully she wouldn't need to reveal him yet, and considering the people she was with Tirñea decided it was best to raise her staff defensively and let the actual fighters take the lead. Besides, it was three of them against this one stranger, surely an easy confrontation.