@Delta44@ONL@Sam12435: The situation had not changed much. Guards were still hurrying to their duties in the barracks' yard, the only difference was that people seemed to be returning to their homes on the citizens' side as more and more people could be seen outside the barracks' walls.

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Sala & Vala

“Seems we are... ready to depart indeed!” The witches stated, grabbing their bags firmly in hands and making final preparations, pulling their glowing potion medallions over their shirts and after activating them, they shone so they can easily walk forward. Vamon seemed interested in that black radiating crystal. It was normal to be curious about it, but the witches were more interested in the way the vampire girl was acting. Spencer was still acting as a drunk as she was let to get off the woman's back. She looked adorable, swinging her sword.

“It's fine, Spencey.” Zara stated to the vampire, placing a hand on her head and rubbing it softly in gentle manner.” It may be spooky, but it's not scary!” She whispered in the child's ear then.” Humans are scarier, right? Especially those church fellas that will be all over the alliance settlements.” The woman whispered softly into the child's ears.” You'd better be with the group, right? Besides, if you come, I will indeed treat you to something tastier than anything you ever tried!” She whispered and looked at the others.” Look, I know this will be kind of forced on my part, but I wish to join you. At least for a time, I have knowledge of some of the tunnels that await you out there and will certainly be of use! At least until we reach my Order's stronghold that's located on that direction.” The warrior woman stated and looked at Vamon, Guthrie and the witches, while still gently caressing Spencer's head.

“What do you 2 think?” the witches asked in single voice. They saw a good thing in increasing their numbers and this woman was probably trustworthy if the captain was fine with her.

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Spencer was clearly confused about how something could be spooky and not scary. In her eyes, they were basically the same thing. But, as intoxication tends to lead one to do, Spencer decided to trust Zara's judgement. Perhaps her trust in the woman would even lead others to a more trusting conclusion. "OK~! I trust miss Zara...!" Declared the vampire enthusiastically, patting her now-sheathed blade as though taking pride in the weapon. "I'm a good fighter, hehehe! If you guys need, I'll be doing all the battle work, going stab and slash and boosh!" Her expression of different methods to strike something using only onomatopoeia was pretty remarkable, as she continued on listing sounds before seemingly coming to her senses.

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaait... Whaaaaaaaaa? Huuuuuuuuuuuuh? Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh?"

It appeared as though Spencer had forgotten what she was doing...

With a shrug, the little vampire felt for her backpack, before freezing up suddenly. "Oh nuuuuuuuuu! My stuffs! Iz back in da plaza! DA PLAZA!" Despite being a little melodramatic, she still appeared to show concern for her missing items. "I wan'it, 'cause my stuff is pretty cool! I've got my bow and a dirk and a vase if we need one for decorating! And the... oh no... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! THE BIG BOOOOOOOK!"

Without warning (save for her screaming) Spencer took off in the direction of her bag, in an effort to retrieve it. Though barely tangible, one of the party may have heard a "I'll be back!" in the middle of her screaming, however this all depended on how hard they were listening. Though with her screaming, that was no small wonder if they had heard. Spencer continued to run straight from the barracks to the plaza, now with much less screaming, where she would look to locate her bag.

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"You, coming with us?"

The woman they had barely known for a few minutes, had now just asked them if she could join them in their journey through the tunnels. The Twins seemed to approve their fellowship growing even larger, while Vamon remained silent about the issue for now. Guthrie was more sceptical. While he wasn't neccecarly against safety in numbers, he also believed in the benefits of silence, stealth and the element of surprise. And even more sceptical with the thought of her causing the same kind of behavior of Spencer amongst themselves.

Then again, her mention of her knowledge of the tunnels and a stronghold peaked his interest.

"Well..." He said, looking at the different members of their growing party, before resting his eyes on her. "If you know your way through some of the tunnels, I can't turn down such assistance. You have my acceptence of joining us, at least till we reach that stronghold you speak of. I was under the impression that this was the last bastion of humanity before the darkness?"

Then all of a sudden, Spencer ran off. To where, Guthrie had really no idea, just that she had lost something and ran after it. "Hmpf...Theo, follow her. Keep her safe. You understand, boy?" Guthrie spoke down to his feet, where Theo had been standing while the conversation continued. Theo barked as if acknowledging his master's bidding, and ran after Spencer.

Vamon

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Vamon was a little surprised to hear that the woman wanted to join them. She may have been a companion of the captain, and her knowledge of the tunnels would most deffinatly be useful, but he couldn’t help shaking his suspicions. Could he risk travelling into the unknown with someone he just met? He kept quiet and listened to his companions give their answers, deciding to trust their judgment. He thought for a moment about how odd that really was, considering he had only just met his companions today as well. Letting out a small sigh, he smiled beneath his mask and looked to the woman.

“Well if my companions are fine with it, then I am fine with it too. Welcome to our little travelling party, if one can call it that” He found himself chuckling a little as Spencer proudly boasted about her combat skills. If he recalled correctly, she introduced herself as a travelling merchant, but he chose not to speak on it. He had seen some pretty strange things today, so perhaps it wasn’t that crazy to think she might actually have some combat ability. But all of a sudden he found himself jumping, as the girl started screaming and running away, only turning back to say that she would be back soon.

“I guess we should finish up our preparations for when she returns” He said to the group after a small silence. He turned and began to rummage through one of the boxes left for them, collecting any alchemical supplies and putting them in his bag, making sure to separate them carefully. He made a mental note to ask about the dark crystal from before once they had made their way out into the tunnels. They could be travelling for quite a while, so he didn’t think there to be too much of a rush. That said though, Guthrie raised a good point.

“If you don’t mind, could I ask just what this order is? You mentioned them to the captain before as well.” He said, glancing back to the woman for a moment, before looking back into the box. If this order had any connection to the dark crystal, then it would be in his interest to find a little more out about them. And since they had the time, he might as well ask.

@Delta44: Spencer ran away form hte group with utmost haste! People weren't really back in hte settlement just yet. They were hours away from returning from their work in the local tunnels which they were digging. Her road to the plaza was clam, clear and only lit up by the occasional torches along hte way. Nothing happened along the way and her things were just as she forgot them earlier. Theo also ran after the vampire girl, catching up to her quite fast.

@ONL@Sam12435: By the barracks the situation remains as it was until now. No notable changes happened while the guards were preparign for the upcoming conflict.

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Sala & Vala

"Yeah, one way or another." Zara replied to Guthrie with a shrug." I'm already supposed to head in that direction since I have to return back to the fortress, so I must tag along for a while at least." She confirmed with a nod, moving her sword sheaths back to her back with their straps, now that Spencer wasn't riding on her anymore.

At the warrior's question about the bastion of humanity, Sala and Vala also turned their eyes on Zara again, focusing on her with questioning eyes, almost as if repeating that question themselves. It was turly interesting turn of events that they didn't qutie expect just yet. Well they knew there were other settlemetns out there, elves and dwarves since those occsionally show up between decades, but a place where there were people closer to the settlement network was a news for them.

"Did you really expect the people here to be the only ones who survived?" Zara replied with a question to Guthrie and smiled." There are many out there, who knows how many actually, cannot be sure. My order lives in a fortress just about a week's travel from here. Beyond that are other settlements though the distance to there isn't exactly known. We keep contact with an elf community, but they are hte only ones who send messengers every 2 or so years. There's also a dwarven forge city far from here. That one I do know where it is, but it takes just a little over a year of traveling from the order's base." She explained with a shrug." Beside those two, who knows how many more are there just in radius around here. Because we cannot dig everywhere and know everything in complete sphere around us, in theory there could be a settlement deep under us, who knows." Zara added, finishing the positioning of her swords with a smile. It was important for them to be easy access.

"We are 'The Black Sun', we've been around just as long as the church of light has been, actually longer." She stated with a shrug as if it was the most natural thing to do." The church has a lot to answer for and we remember it all..." She stated.

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Other settlements...other people...Guthrie hadn't that of that before, not even as a passing thought that might wander through his mind just before falling asleep. All his life he had focused on the matters at hand, the physical issues that he could see, smell, feel and hurt, but outside of that? It made sense, though, who knew how large those caves and tunnels truly were? And if their small part of civilization had survived, surely it had done so elsewhere.

But most importantly, more people meant more witnesses for the Creature that murdered his parents. That was what really caught his attention.

"A week's travel, aye? That's not too bad. And as long as your order, this Black Sun doesn't treat my companions as bad as that priest, I can do nothing but allow you into the party. But..." Guthrie turned his attention to the Twins. He saw the anticepation in their eyes fixated on Zara as if...well, Guthrie didn't know, but it seemed important. "Sala, Vala, what is your answer...answers? Are you two fine with allowing her into our fellowship?"

Vamon

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Vamon nodded as the woman spoke. It made sense, why was their little society the only one that had made a place for itself. It seemed possible, even probably that there could be other settlements just as big as their own. The thought was a little daunting, after all the world around him was all he had known. Perhaps somewhere out in the darkness there was someone who had all the answers to questions that had wracked his brain for years. The thought gave him an odd sense of hope, perhaps their journey into the darkness wasn’t as crazy as it seemed. That said though, the mention of this ‘Black Sun’ intrigued him. The name alone was enough to raise an eyebrow, but to think they had been around for longer than the church.

“I would love to hear more about The Black Sun, perhaps once we get on the road” Vamon said, finishing up his search through the box. He had gathered up the last of the perishable and more fragile alchemy supplies in his own pack, before grabbing his share of the remaining supplies. He turned to face the twins as Guthrie posed his question. He didn’t think they would be too opposed to the idea, but he had only known them for a short time so it was hard to tell.

That said, he was hoping to travel with her for a little while at least. He couldn’t be sure on whether he trusted the new woman yet, but she had information that he was interested in. Plus, if they were going to make a stop in the fortress of this order, he might be able to learn a lot more. If they were as old as Zara claimed, then they would most defiantly have some interesting books. Perhaps he could find some answers, if given the chance to look for them.