"You've got my hand."

Matti was glad to see that out of the dysfunctional disarray that was his current guild's members, he would be joined by the one entity he had come to show emotion other than indifference or contempt. He gave a quick nod to acknowledge Bunny's words, his eyebrow rising as the Living Doll approached him with her weapon drawn, but not intimidated in the least; even if she intended to attack, which was utterly ridiculous to even think of at that moment, he trusted in his magic to avoid any injuries on his person. In fact, he believed he was one of the hardest members of the guild to kill by mere blade. "I am glad to see you are motivated, but we could do without our armaments unsheathed."

"Sorry about that, Matti."

Matti responded with an adjustment of his glasses, with a hint of a smile in hi otherwise neutral expression.
"Apology accepted. Now then, though I have no reason to doubt your skills of articulation I must say I prefer I have your sword instead, as I trust you to handle that far better for this particular task. Now then, let us leave at once; we have quests to finish and a new business that requires capital."

---

During the trip, Matti mostly kept to hovering just off the ground, preferring to let his enchanted boots to do the work for him, but he did take foot every once in a while; as a physician he was very aware of the dangers that atrophying could bring, so he made sure to also give his own legs some activity. He also let Bunny stay on his shoulder if she wanted to, finding her to be quite an amusingly unexpected companion for the quest.

"May I ask you a question about yourself, miss Bunny? As a Living Doll, were you enchanted to life by a wizard, or has demonic essence possessed your current form?"

---

They arrived at Ambran, which Matti found to his liking; as a trading center it has quickly grown into a respected settlement, bringing goods from all across the world. The enchanter himself hoped he would chance upon a rare find after their mission is complete himself; maybe a lump of meteor ore, or an exotic root for potion brewing. If he was lucky, he could even learn more about his enchanting craft.

But first, they were off to meeting Samuel Cubbage, who told the guild he would meet at the local inn.
"Mister Samuel Cubbage I presume?", he spoke to the group in front of the inn.
"Greetings. I am Matti Virta and this is my companion Bunny; we represent the newly established guild you have sent your request relating to the local region to. Could you give use a more detailed explanation of your request?"

As Ryla rallied everyone she could, one of the bunny men came to talk to her. Some guy named Flare or Fire (Freyr), something elvish. She glaceed at Bast, who seemed to be saying something to her. Unfortunately she couldn't read lips and had no interest in his subtly, so she called him out. "Ah? Why are you whispering? We don't have time for gossip right now Bast, we got a quest to do!" She was only somewhat aware that Bast was trying to say something about Freyr, but frankly the ogreling cared very little. Still with just her and Bast, she needed at least one more hand. So Ryla marched up to Winter.

"Winter! Glad to have you on our team." Ryla took Winter by the hand and raised it up between the two of them, wanting the snow woman's assistance on this mission. "Come with me into the forests, I'm mostly there to get rare ingredients! Mushrooms and regents to make the most powerful of potions! And of course we could do a bit of hunting and get all sorts of delicious foods too. I know a thing or two about foraging, and if we finish our quest quickly I can make us a feast in celebration of a job well done! But I can only do this with your help. So, how about it Winter? Come with me and help with the quest, please! Say yes! Say yes!" With every sentence Ryla moved her face closer and closer to Winter until their noses were touching.

Suddenly turning around Ryla pointed in a seemingly random direction. "As the lil boy mentioned, we need to head to Mahigan first and find the wife. With any luck she'll give us some clues to help find her husband. Maybe even some supplies too! And for that I'll need your help, Bast." Ryla walked over to Bast while tugging on Winter's hand. "That lady must be heart-broken, an a smooth talker like you could coax some answers from her. And if she's a widower, work that magic! Now then, are you both ready?"

@13org@Rune_Alchemist

Feeling a bit down in the dumps having gone completely unnoticed the whole time he had tailed the Undead-Nightmarish trio since they were all going to do the same job anyways, Magnus was just trying his best not to feel the holes being stared into him from the Port's inhabitants. The port air while refreshing carried a bit of an unfamiliar stench to him what with the salt from the sea, but he couldn't help but appreciate the feeling of the breeze blowing at his head. It was nice to feel a wind that wasn't frigid. While the port was definitely monster friendly, it almost felt...uh...too friendly. Girls kept whispering to each other upon seeing him, and he's pretty sure that quite a number of human inhabitants were surprised at the existence of a male monster. That and a Minotaur...as far as he could tell from some of the old books that were so dang dusty that he got allergies for weeks opening, male Minotaurs in the past were...violent. Dangerous. And also went around naked. He really didn't want to be associated with that kind of image, and as such, had made sure to wear that special red loincloth...though for some reason some people were still staring at it. Was...was it weird for a Minotaur to NOT be naked?

Regardless, Magnus' attention was quickly grabbed by the voice of an unknown man who seemed to know his name. Curious, Magnus turned around to face him, blinking a few times before pointing his right index finger up at himself. "You know me? And...hey wait, you look like Neil. AND you're the client?" he asked, wondering if he was Neil's brother or something. "Wait...how did you know my name already? P-Please don't tell me we've met before...ahh, sorry if I forgot your name Father." Stooping down a bit, Magnus gave a respectful bow. Any lower and he'd have to headbutt the priest. Looking back to his "traveling companions", he wondered if they had taken notice. Or rather, he hoped that they'd have made up at this point. "Oh yes, your request was to talk about your quest, right? Why not just post up what you need done for the quest...if you don't mind my asking so? I understand if its a secret. Oh wait but we need everyone listening..." he continued, really hoping that everyone could just get along...especially since a super nice priest man was here. Thinking that this...might take a while, he opted for some small talk. "Your um...church is very nice. Very big." he commented, hoping that he wasn't mistaken in that being the church...could you blame him? It was as big as a castle! Kinda.

"So, Mark, you said something about plans for the demon lord? Maybe we could work something out. I mean, for an Order member you seem quite understanding." Tue started, looking vaguely in the direction of Mark as she trekked forward to their destination.

‘Well… clearly, you and Syszi are at odds with one another,’ Mark uttered, glancing between the heavily-clothed mask and the barely-clothed salamander. ‘She likes the current Demon Lord; you want to usurp the current Demon Lord. And you’d think my goal is to just kill the Demon Lord outright, but as you can see, my circumstances are mildly exceptional… not to mention I may never even get close to her, what with the whole Royal Makai Demon Realm in the way and all.’

“Mark is right. I’m not particularly inclined to give someone who wants to rebel against the Demon Lord the time of the day, let alone assist them in their endeavours.” The salamander let out a clearly audible ‘humph,’ and turned her nose up at the Mask. Or, at least, she turned away from the mask- since the salamander was taller than the other mamono, she didn’t exactly feel the need to do much more. “And as for Mark… Well, not only is he my husband and so I couldn’t hurt him badly if I wanted to, but I’m hardly going to convince an Order knight not to kill the Demon Lord.”

"Ah, so it's a matter of love…" Tue mumbled, a tad bit offended by the Salamander's rudeness but understanding her actions nonetheless. "What do you like about the Demon Lord? I'm sure an ironclad ruler such as myself could provide more?" Tue bragged, though her tone was more inquisitive than haughty.

‘I think what she likes is not being a lizard with no thoughts beyond murdering things,’ Mark interjected. He had no comments to give about whether he was Syszi’s husband or not beyond a slight grimace, but for this he certainly did. ‘And likewise for most monsters, I imagine. Unless you can maintain that status quo, she’s going to think of you as inferior to the current Demon Lord. Speaking of whom,’ he continued, gesturing to his weapon, ‘the idea in my mind is to eventually convert all monsters everywhere the way Syszi’s been… ah, but you don’t know about that yet, do you, Tue?’ Did he want to be so open about that spell so soon? Then again, if anybody else knew, they’d put a negative spin on it before he could explain it properly…

“You know Mark, you can just say it.” The salamander turned towards the mask and sighed, before taking a deep breath. “The branch of the Order that Mark belongs to has devised a spell that can… I believe cleanse the soul of a monster by forcing out the demonic energy within them and replacing it with ‘clean’ spiritual energy. As well as this, he can also bind a mamono to his will, using the same spell. He managed to perform the former on me in our first fight, although I resisted the whole mind control thing enough that I can still hurt the Order. Or, at least I could until they tweaked the spell. I can hurt, but not kill, any member of the Order that I come across, and if Mark tells me not to kill someone, I can’t kill that person.” She finished and let out what little breath she had left, before turning to see the reaction of Tue.

"Mind control?!?" Tue exclaimed over dramatically. "That's horrible! Please, tell me you aren't going to use that part on all the mamano?" She asked, knowing of course that it could convert monsters to her side for a revolution, if she could convince Mark and Syszi of course, mostly Syszi. "Anywho, I'm not sure if you'd keep you sentience, Sy. I haven't found much information on Masks before the new Demon Lord's reign. Still, I'm sure there's a way to keep everyone happy. I'd need to work on my magic though…"

‘It’s not mind control,’ Mark pointed out, rubbing the bridge of his helmet. ‘Mind control would, for example, be forcing a guy to enjoy being raped- you know, like what a lot of monsters do.’ A pointed glare through his helmet wouldn’t have the same effect, so he just continued talking, gesticulating as he did so. ‘The will-binding procedure is- well, it’s two parts, first an energy bond between the souls to let them cleanse one another if one starts getting corrupted, and then the actual shackling of their will, which doesn’t alter their thoughts. It’s basically a self-defense mechanism - say a Hero purifies a Minotaur, who’s now angry that they’re not technically a monster anymore. With their will bound, the Hero can stop the Minotaur from killing them just by thinking about it. Without, he’s already drained, and may be weaker than the Minotaur after that… oh, and by the by, we updated that part, Syszi. The current form of the spell just turns the demonic energy into spirit energy, like an inversion or what have you. I’m not sure about the specifics there, but basically, the old stuff is cleared out, and what’s put back is better than before, or so I believe.’

Tue's face would scrunch up, if it could, at Mark's comment about monster rape. But it couldn't, so she settled for a gasp not unlike Syszi. After listening to Mark's explanation, Tue was silent for a bit before responding. "Well, if you take parts out of something and put new parts in, is it really even the same person? My rifle, if I cut down the barrel and replaced the stock… would it really be my same old rifle? Sure I would own it, but the components that made it would all be gone. It's only my rifle in spirit, superficially. What a terrible existence for my little rifle! Torn apart, and it's place in the world stolen!" Tue flourished, a hand raised to her head. After which she realized her foolish behavior and corrected her form, back to the stoic, manipulative, strong woman she obviously was. "Erhem, but still, I'm not sure I agree with this 'cleansing,' even if it makes monsters safer for humans. There must be another way than that."

“Whilst normally I would be opposed to being compared to an inanimate object, it feels strangely appropriate to be compared to a weapon.” The salamander chuckled. “And besides, I didn’t agree with it either, hence why I spent so much of my time before I got a rematch against him extremely pissed off. And then a little time after it still pissed off, if I’m honest.” She sighed, also pointedly ignoring the comment about monster rape. Technically, monsters didn’t force humans into liking being raped, but hey, if they were kinky enough to enjoy it…

‘It’s not quite...’ Mark began, cutting himself off in order to think of a better explanation than he had been about to give. ‘Okay, here’s, uh… it’s more like a container, I guess? The soul, that is. You know, it has its shape, whatever internal stuff that forms its structure, and then it has stuff inside it, namely spirit energy and/or demonic energy. The thing about demonic energy is, it causes the soul to be more lustful by default, because of the Demon Lord’s influence, right? So if you replace that with spirit energy, the soul gets less lustful, but the personality itself doesn’t then become completely different… which proves problematic when a being who was already lustful regardless of corruption is purified, because they might well try to get themselves corrupted again anyway. But the thing is,’ he continued, ‘either way, what monsters crave is spirit energy, so giving them the ability to generate their own - in the manner of a man, by the way, much stronger than women’s generation - basically provides them with sustenance of their own. Some of them, anyway. You’d benefit from it for sure, Tue, considering.’

“That’s a unique way of trying to get someone to sleep with you,” cracked Syszi, before scratching the back of her neck. “Nice to know that you’ve… Not at all perfected the spell. What you just said sounds both ominous, and kind of… Well, if the replacement was immoral, permanently altering someone to your standard of ‘better’ sounds like an incredibly slippery slope to start going down. Or, it would, if you weren’t Order and hadn’t already leapt off of the slippery slope.” Seemed the Salamander was still a little bitter about what had been done to her.

Now Mark was just confused. ‘I think you’re misunderstanding what I’m saying. They’re not… wait, we’ve discussed this before, Syszi, my God- Tue, it’s not a permanent alteration the way Syszi’s saying,’ he said, turning to the mask. ‘It doesn’t directly change their underlying personality, you know? They’re still them, they’re just a more… reasonable version of them. Not addled by endless thoughts of sex and such, you know?’

Tue 'humphed.' "I'm getting two different sides of the story here. Spirit generation seems useful certainly, but your test subject here doesn't seem quite happy about it. Besides, what would a demon lord be like without any demonic energy?... What would a demon lord be without any demonic energy? Not that it matters, for now, I'm not endorsing this, not until I learn more. There are two sides to every story, after all."

Tue paused for a moment, before realizing something. "Ah, so that's how you met! Well, now I see why an Order knight has a salamander for a wife. Here I was hoping for a story of a man realizing demons were people too… or at least a little will they won't they. Ah well, I suppose not all love is glamorous."

‘I mean, a Demon Lord without demonic energy would probably… think through their plans before executing them?’ Mark suggested, subtly citing how the current Lord’s ritual was guaranteed to slowly kill everything sentient if not resolved, human or monster. ‘And ideally prove to want the best for both humans and monsters, and not just their own species of monster. As for Syszi being my… companion...’ Mark trailed off here, not sure where to continue on to

“We have for the moment. He could go over the scientific knowledge gained from mating with her, but he figured that would be… boring, at best.

“We did not ‘discuss this already,’ because you yourself said that you recently improved it. If you just changed it, there’s no possible way for us to discuss it, considering we haven’t discussed it in quite a long time.” Syzi was quick on the report, it had to be said. “And anyway, a demon lord without demon energy would quite likely be powerless, if I’m correct.” She touched her chin, before shrugging. “Not the best authority on that, I have to say. Maybe we should ask the source, if we ever see her.”

"Oh, I hope we do. Than we can murder her!" Tue exclaimed with a grin.

Mark’s gauntlet promptly met the front of his helmet with a loud-ish clang. ‘That is not what I meant, Syszi, and there is more to it than that, Tue. I… I think? Okay, first things first-’

Mark wound up unable to begin his explanation, for at that very moment, a farmer began limping towards the trio, immediately launching into a half-explanation about how his leg got broken by somebody from the city. A human man, most likely… but knowing what he did now, it could just as easily be a monster… man. Monsterboy? Or a disguised monstergirl. Who knew.

‘Don’t worry, sir, we’ve got this under control,’ Mark offered, both soothing and authoritative, as any good Order Knight ought to be. Turning to Tue and Syszi, he commanded, ‘You two go after the city fellow, I’ll stay here and heal this man’s broken leg. Try to bring him back alive if you can.’

Tue nodded to her ally, dashing towards the mountain, hand at her hilt ready to draw it. "This is our moment!" She exclaimed, in what she thought was an inspirational manner.

Syzi also nodded and drew her sword, smiling as it caught the light. She shook her head at her ally’s false enthusiasm, before following after her quickly, wondering what exactly they were looking out for. A human? A monstergirl? A monster...boy? She supposed it was boy, rather than monster’man’. After all, you didn’t call mamono monsterwomen.

Collab between @Lady Selune, @Kafka Komedy, and @BCTheEntity


^{Interaction: @Ariamis}
Over the course of the trip, Bunny rode on Matti's soldier occasionally, whenever she was sure there were no monsters about to spoil there funny. He had offered after all, and she appreciated him allowing her to get close, though she knew that humans could leave you on a dime. Still, she did like the gentle floating of his flight and his shoulder. Upon him asking her a question, Bunny responded frankly. "A demon wizard made me so I could ward off demons from my family- or owners I suppose. They tossed me out though, I almost killed a man."

There was a bit of an awkward silence before Bunny finished the thought. "I thought he was going to hurt them, but it was just a little squabble, I was told. The neighbors didn't appreciate having me around as much as my owners did. Much as I thought they did at least." She explained. For much of the rest of the trip, she was silent, and refused to move off Matti's shoulder.

---

Once Matti and Bunny were close to the city, the doll went limp, not seeing any monsters around. It was a fairly bustling little place, many people walking about, trading and the such. There were a few people shrouded by hoods that Bunny suspected might not be human, but she couldn't be truly sure, and kept herself hidden.

Sadly, her cover was blown fairly quickly. As Matti went up to the man who was assumably their target- er, client, Matti introduced himself and Bunny. She cursed openly, before becoming full of life again. "I wanted to keep my cover." Bunny explained, visibly annoyed. "Still, it looks like these might not be humans. I assume you're fine with this, Samuel? Don't worry, Matti will be the one showing you the ropes of cartography, I'm no mapmaker."

With that, Bunny hopped off her ally's shoulder and took a closer look at one of the hooded figures.

Interacting with: @Lucius Cypher

Winter had sworn she was tagging along with the halfling and stuff...

She had been talking to the halfling for barely a moment before here she was. Dragged down the road like some slab of meat. Ironic considering thats just how she liked to carry her own food if it was too large for her to carry normally. She was being paraded. That was fine. Completely fine. Mommy taught her to wait patiently for any and all prey. This was applicable here right? Just deal with it paitently. Don't curl up scared and get all defensive. As long as she kept the coat tight and revealed nothing of her figure. Nobody would be traumatised with madness.

Then the Halfling got too close so close in fact she had to retreat her head further into the hood like one of the fluffiest forms of turtles one could possibly ever conceive. "P-please don't come to close miss, I don't want to accidentally cause you any lasting mental trauma!" Winter said quickly as if trying to get her warning out as fast as possible before the Halfling tohught it'd be okay to go for another round of trying to get to close to her real appearance.

The eager little green skinned friend of hers went off to talk to others leaving young winter frozen in place as she had to get her little bit of anxiety out of the way. Deep cold breaths of air in and out. Her face slowly went back to normal. She raised her hand quickly

"So..." Winter began under her breath as if she was wanting to get going but didn't have the spine to speak any louder then the faintness she had just exhibited. She hoped someone would catch on.

--------------------------


Interacting with: [@Rune Alchemist]@The Irish Tree@Man Jack Frost

She had finished her drawing, It was simple. It was a self portrait.

Liliana cursed under her breath. Why couldn't she remember exactly what she looked like prior to the self infliction of lichdom. She knew she had rushed the process but the sacrifices it made her take. She has had to compensate for some things that was for sure. The main thing being the loss of identity though that was okay. She's still herself. Even if she doesn't remember her name. Her personality and experiences prior to death are still intact. She's still her. Nobody could tell her otherwise.

It was a good few more moments before she noticed the presence of the Soggoth. Didn't she get it? Liliana didn't want anything to do with her. Her anger towards the thing was just replaced with a sadness of being ignored. Everyone ignored her. That wasn't new. Why was it, The Shoggoth, being silent? Was it sorry? Well, funny. It hasn't said it was sorry. So therefore its just here to torment her. That is the only logical conclusion Liliana could get from this... This thing that just didn't understand her at all. If it wanted to serve her. It could do so. By going away.

A familiar clinking of silver and steel caused her eyes to widen. Was the Dullahan here to lecture her some more? To make her change... Like those girls wanted her to. How it ended up like this. No. She was proud of herself as she was dead or not dead. Nobody was going to make her change. She clenched her fist as the dullahan stood beside her, she was going to totally-. She paused. They were saying sorry? Though the Dullahan seemed to be very phobic of calling her anything in terms of friendship. At least she was being applicable. Approachable, redeemable. Unlike some horror. Liliana looked at the Dullahan in the eyes for a moment, a geniune look of thankfulness and kindness, giving the dullahan a slight hug before letting. Go resuming her normal attitude.

[colour=purple]"About time you came around to apologising to me."[/color] Liliana said with her usual huffy attitude of holier then thou though it seemed to be slightly toned down in Arletta's case, maybe as a way of paying her back for her understanding and the fact she is also a fellow undead. "Honestly, you should of understood sooner. People wonder why I rarely hang around with people." She said tapping her head shooting Arletta a smirk as she was genuinely in a better mood now. "Still, Who invited the big fluffy brute of a Minotaur?" Liliana mentioned as she motioned over to the Minotaur whom appeared to be making more headway then her on this entire quest. She stood up. She had to sort this out nobody was going to overthrow her as team leader.

"Whats going on over 'ere hey? I should skin you alive for not giving us the courtesy of greetings Minotaur." Liliana said as she walked over. "Also a priest, nice, certainly I bet you wish I was in the ground and dead like I am supposed to be but what can you do am I right priest?" Liliana said with a grin. "So why the secrets anyway, is it about the choir boy? If you know what I mean." Liliana finished summarising up her bit of hatred for the church and even the notion of a benevolent entity. "In all serious though, Why didn't you do as Beef Slab said and just post the secret on the board? Surely that would of saved you explaining it to us now?" Liliana looking personally displeased with the priest as if he was just another pebble on the curve.

"So Priesty priest. What information do you wanna give us that we have to solve, only to find out it's nothing extremely important and we get home to the guild all happy at the end of the day?" Liliana commented aloud as if purposely trying to extract as much information from the poor man of the church as she could. Her eyes more interested in what was up with the... Male Minotaur. She had a lot of experimenting to do. First Arletta and now this Minotaur.

It seems the fun would never end

~Arletta Dupain~

Interactions with:
@Man Jack Frost
@1Charak2
@The Irish Tree

---

Arletta sighed, glad that at least the Lich was willing to accept her apology. For the most part, she decided not to say anything else lest she say something that upset the Lich again. Her own personality was one that wasn't exactly adverse to conflict - she just tried not to let it out so much. It was fairly easy since becoming an undead, but even so she got fairly easily riled up sometimes. More importantly they had to discuss a quest with someone. She resisted the urge to tease Liliana and focus more on the quest.

"I am assuming, Liliana, he didn't post it because perhaps it might be sensitive in nature?" Arletta replied walking over to the priest and Magnus. "Either way, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Magnus. I would have introduced myself earlier but I had to babysit a grumpy Lich." Failed to resist the urge to tease. She quickly moved on by clearing her throat. She turned to the man that was apparently going to be giving them more quest information.

"I apologize for my friends here behavior, sir." She said, giving him a friendly if business like smile. "If you don't mind telling us the details of what exactly this request entails, we will complete it to the best of our ability I assure you."

Arletta didn't seem too put off or even interested in the Male Minotaur beyond business at least for now. She realized it was rare, but it wasn't exactly on her priority of things to care about.

Exotic Appetites
~@BCTheEntity~

"Ohh, ohh, thank you." The farmer sighed a breath of relief as you treated his broken limb. "Thought I was gonna walk with one leg my entire life from here on out."

"By the way, who are you guys?" He asked. "You look like your some knight from the Order but you're with that lizard monster. There's also that masked girl. She don't feel like a human to me." He noted.

"Did you turn away from the faith?" He let out a hearty laugh. "I myself turned away from it. But don't tell anyone that, alright? I get visited by the Order every now and then." He continued. "What's your reason by the way? Me? Well I've gotten tired of their laws. I was born free and I will live free, I say!" He exclaimed. "How dare these men in their fancy castles and temples tell me what to do?"

~@Lady Selune (SZI), @Kafka Komedy (TUE)~

It did not even take a moment for you to find a person fleeing towards the mountains. He appeared to be in his late twenties and wore very fancy merchant clothes.

He noticed your presence and took a glance behind him to confirm. "Oh gods!" He began running even faster after spotting you. "Look, I-I'm not tasty!" He yelled as he sprinted for his dear life. "Please don't eat me! Just leave me alone!"

Should you try to capture him, you do so with very minimal difficulty. "Please! Oh gods, don't eat me!" He pleaded. "I-I'm very rich! I can give you money! Lots of money! Just let me go!" He was almost sobbing. "I don't wanna die!"

---

Absence Makes The Heart Go Yonder
~@Lucius Cypher, @13org (FYR & BST), @1Charak2 (WTR)~

You were off to Mahigan. The trip took several hours but you encountered no trouble or distraction so there was no delay.

The monster-friendly village was relatively simple and there were no buildings that towered over the others. The largest appeared to be the two-story buildings of inns and large shops. As for the residents, humans and monster went about their businesses. Some of them briefly glanced at you since you did not seem to be from around there but they appear to be content in leaving you alone as some new stranger stumbling upon Mahigan.

You were there to search for the client but you had no idea where to start. Perhaps you could--

"Hey there, you people look lost." A beautiful feminine voice called out to you. A Harpy-like creature with indigo-colored feathers flew in next to you but she looked much more flamboyant and stylish than that is typical of a Harpy. Her purple hair was tied into thick twintails with light purple ribbons. She wore a silver, sleeveless jacket but nothing underneath except a black leather bra to cover her average chest. A short silver skirt covered her lower body.

"Are you here for some reason or do you want me to point you to an inn?"

She then noticed Freyr and her curiosity for the group increased. "And who's that Wererabbit boy you have there? I've heard of rumors of monster boys but..."

---

The Great Horizons
~@Kafka Komedy (BUN)~

Once you and your companion decided to talk to the harmonica man, the hooded men left. However, one of them had a misstep and you had a glimpse of what was behind his cloak: A couple of pistols strapped onto him. He quickly recovered and covered up his body again. He did not seem to know that you had seen what he was hiding.

The implications of the presence of such a person were many.

~@Ariamis, @Kafka Komedy (BUN)~

"Greetings. I am Matti Virta and this is my companion Bunny; we represent the newly established guild you have sent your request relating to the local region to. Could you give use a more detailed explanation of your request?"

"I wanted to keep my cover. Still, it looks like these might not be humans. I assume you're fine with this, Samuel? Don't worry, Matti will be the one showing you the ropes of cartography, I'm no mapmaker."

"Oh don't you worry about those kind of things, Miss Bunny." Samuel told Bunny. "Here in Ambran, people mostly keep to themselves and don't bother anyone if it's not business. So long as you're willing to do the same."

"Anyway, I'm glad that you have come. Come, let's continue this inside."

Once you three have found a table inside the inn, Samuel shared his request. "You know, I've been out here for several weeks or... several generations, I guess. Would've made better time if it weren't my horse getting... eh." He began. "Trying to get to Boreal Port. See the ocean." He continued. "From Mormont's Coast to the Stormy Seas in three generations. I'm gonna make something for myself there. I'm gonna find... something."

Sam paused for a moment before resuming. "But now, I am... a bit lost. So, where do I go from here?"

---

A Strange Tale
~@Man Jack Frost, @Rune_Alchemist, @1Charak2 (LIL), @The Irish Tree~

"Wait...how did you know my name already? P-Please don't tell me we've met before...ahh, sorry if I forgot your name Father."

The man chuckled. "Well, I am going to be a father soon."

"Your um...church is very nice. Very big."

"Oh, those compliments shouldn't be directed at me." The man replied. "They should be directed to its current owner. A priest of an interesting religion."

"So Priesty priest. What information do you wanna give us that we have to solve, only to find out it's nothing extremely important and we get home to the guild all happy at the end of the day?"

"I apologize for my friends here behavior, sir. If you don't mind telling us the details of what exactly this request entails, we will complete it to the best of our ability I assure you."

He sighed before striding around the three of you. "Listen, sometimes I just wish I knew more about this world. I wish I had better guidance." He said. "A friend of mine... is drunk as an Oni down that alley." The stranger motioned to a direction. "I think... he is about to be unfaithful to his Unicorn wife." He then produced a small pouch which contained gold from the sounds from it.

"Why don't you head over there and... advise him how best to proceed." He then tossed the pouch to you. "Have fun with the payment."

Technically, Mark's work remained undeterred, first lying the man down, then setting his leg in the correct position - the few bone fragments here and there would just wind up drawn back to their correct positions once the healing process began - and then etching with one finger the healing runes needed to fix the leg properly. Yet Mark's heart slowly dropped as the farmer continued to sell himself out - the immediate assumption that Mark was a traitor to the Order's cause, and the revelation that the man refused to follow the Order's rulings for such petty reasoning as "freedom". There was plenty of freedom to be had under the Order, all of... most of which involved not getting involved with monstergirls!

And then, the stark and abrupt realisation on an emotional rather than logical level that that would be how everyone in this location would see him: a traitor to the Order and everything it stood for. And was he? Well, that was the thing, wasn't it? He'd never be allowed to explain why he wasn't, why his alliance with monsters might in fact help save everybody everywhere... but in this case, he had to remember that this was just a simple farmer. He was a man of the land... the common clay of the world they lived in...

That was to say, a moron. Not because he was a farmer, but because of how little he understood why disregarding the Order's laws would kill every sentient being everywhere.

'Listen, sir,' Mark began slowly, hesitant to alienate the farmer immediately, 'I understand why you might be hesitant to follow the... sometimes stringent rules that the Order of the Chief God lays down... but they do exist for a good reason. There is an allure to being "born free", as you say, but if everybody has the freedom to do what they want, there would be far more murders than there are in our nations. Thieves and robbers would have free reign to steal what they wanted without consequence; somebody might decide they don't like your farm, and decide to burn it down; or maybe they'd attempt to rape your wife... and speaking of which,' he continued, 'there'd be nothing preventing monsters from doing the same, and I imagine most people wouldn't want that.' He didn't elaborate on his own circumstances, instead coming up with a plan in his mind for when the farmer inevitably attempted to call him out on what he'd perceived as hypocrisy on his part. Perhaps a point to be made, if the farmer's wife was... inhuman in nature.

'Suffice to say,' Mark concluded, 'humans are rather bad at governing themselves. You may keep yourself out of trouble, but others would surely seek it. Rest assured, I don't necessarily like that humans have to be governed by people in fancy castles and temples either, but if those people didn't, who would?'

The thunder of pairs of feet- or, well, really Syzi's considering she was dramatically faster, sounded as she easily caught up to the fleeing man, grabbing his shoulder and using the momentum of her run to roll him over her back and slam him into the ground, turning around and planting a scaled foot onto his chest. "You know, if I wasn't getting paid by Order, I would almost take you up on the offer. Also, you're an idiot. We don't eat people."

"You guys don't taste good." Syszi was joking, of course, but her sense of humour was a little... Eccentric, for sure. Drawing her sword, she kept it pointed at his throat, turning to the Mask. "So, I mean, the proper thing to do would be to drag him back to Mark and let him do the whole 'lawgiver' thing, but fuck that. This guy coulda at least put up a fight but noooo. Fuckin' bitch."

She looked down at him, stepping off his chest but keeping her blade at his throat, before squatting down next to him. "Look. You see us? I'm a monster." She pointed to the Mask. "She's a monster. Unless you want things to happen to you that only really happen to the bad guys in legends, you're going to tell me why you were running away from a man with a broken leg, why you're wearing those clothes, and who the fuck you are."

"Is that understood?"

"A demon wizard made me so I could ward off demons from my family- or owners I suppose. They tossed me out though, I almost killed a man."
"I thought he was going to hurt them, but it was just a little squabble, I was told. The neighbors didn't appreciate having me around as much as my owners did. Much as I thought they did at least."

"I see. My condolences," Matti responded, keeping his pace on the road.
"Fortunately that situation turned out as nothing worse than a few angry words, but I would recommend more caution for the future." his walking seemed to momentarily slow down.
"Demonic magic..." He then mumbled, writing a quick note to himself, before picking up the pace. Effective, but incredibly dangerous, he added as an underlined footnote. He would search for other possibilities before risking a knife to his chest from an overaggressive toy in his research for animation enchantment.

---

"I wanted to keep my cover. Still, it looks like these might not be humans. I assume you're fine with this, Samuel? Don't worry, Matti will be the one showing you the ropes of cartography, I'm no mapmaker."

Matti's eyebrows rose in slight bemusement; did the Living doll honestly expect her current form to be suitable for purposes of stealth? Only children people resembling them could carry dolls without raising suspicion to themselves, so the enchanter deemed Bunny's logic as flawed. Fortunately Samuel did not mind her rude mannerisms, and he nodded with a smile once Bunny mentioned him.

"Oh don't you worry about those kind of things, Miss Bunny." Samuel told Bunny.
"Here in Ambran, people mostly keep to themselves and don't bother anyone if it's not business. So long as you're willing to do the same."
"Anyway, I'm glad that you have come. Come, let's continue this inside."

"Yes, let us proceed to the business at hand." Matti placed a foot on the steps, and waited for Bunny to reach him before he whispered: "Keep an eye at anyone suspicious who might be eavesdropping; I don't trust this place." Since Bunny would not contribute much to the more intellectual side of their quest, he deemed it correct to place her to the job of lookout; there was still a possibility she would be unnoticed if left atop a bookshelf, for example.

Once the group found a table inside Matti listened to Samuel's explanation, nodding occasionally while writing notes to himself.

"You know, I've been out here for several weeks or... several generations, I guess. Would've made better time if it weren't my horse getting... eh. Trying to get to Boreal Port. See the ocean. From Mormont's Coast to the Stormy Seas in three generations. I'm gonna make something for myself there. I'm gonna find... something."

"But now, I am... a bit lost. So, where do I go from here?"

"Now I understand. You wish to traverse the roads. Let me pick out something first." With that said, Matti brought out a scroll from his enchanted bag of carrying, and laid it out on the table. It was a map that included Ambran and the Boreal Port.
"Before you ask," he said with a smile, adjusting his glasses as he glanced at the man, "I am aware of your...complications when it comes to the reading of maps. But that is a simple matter to learn. You see, maps are always laid out with the upper side pointing to the north, and the lower side to the south, with the left side to the west and right side to the east, respectively. We can use this information to know what direction the sun is rising from when we add a compass." He placed the small item on the table as well. "As you can see, the arrow on the compass points to that direction, which means that you are currently facing this direction in the map."

Matti's lecture on the art of map reading and cartography continued for an hour or so, with the scholarly man explaining the best possible route to take. "It takes nothing more than taking to the east for about a four days' time of travel or so, and then a turn to north at the Giant's Pillar. After that, it is only a day's travel to Boreal Port." Matti paused to take a sip from the cup of cider he ordered previously.
"If you have any other questions about the route I am ready to answer them."

@PaulHaynek@Kafka Komedy

Freyr

Freyr was glad to be together with Ryla and Winter. Ryla was cheerful, happy, energetic and she also had a 'connection' with nature. It was also thanks to her straightforward and energetic personality that Winter agreed in coming with them. The adorable, shy Winter somehow made Freyr want to protect her. He wanted to know her a little more. She was so... reserved and closed... especially under that coat. It was almost like an pearl inside an oyster.

But that Bast fellow... He acting a little bit strange... Especially with that last comment...
"Just try to be careful. Things are not always what they look like." Freyr remembered Bast's words.
Well, but that didn't matter. The man was already very mysterious, but he didn't seem to be a bad person. And if Ryla and Winter trusted him, he had no reason to distrust the man.

Their trip to Mahigan was tranquill, and it happened without any interruption.
Mahigan was a very peaceful village. Humans and Monsters worked together, living their lives without worrying too much. Freyr could feel that tranquility in the air.

A harpy came to greet them as they walked into the village. She was quite the looker, with a bright purple plummage, a beautiful voice and a very stylish and refreshing visual. She offered them help, asking if the group was lost, which they honestly were, since they couldn't even think about where to search for the client.

"And who's that Wererabbit boy you have there? I've heard of rumors of monster boys but..." she said, looking to him.

Freyr was caught off guard by both the harpy lady and Bast's comments, especially due to the fact that he WAS oogling her, curious about her bright plummage and clothes.

"I'm Freyr. I'm not exactly a wererrabit, but a male Viera." he said, trying to hide his embarrassment.
"I'm sorry about ooglig at you... Its just that i had never seen such a bright and beautiful plummage before, and i was curious about it and your clothes..." he said, laughing awkwardly.

---

---

Bast Ragoczy

Bast was hoping that Ryla understood the message he had just said, whispering, but apparently the cheerful girl didn't get it.
"Ah? Why are you whispering? We don't have time for gossip right now Bast, we got a quest to do!" she said, shortly after turning to Winter, trying to persuade her to go with them.

Bast was going to try to tell her again about Vieras, but she would discover it sooner or later.
"Just try to be careful. Things are not always what they look like." he said to her with a grin.

Bast watched as Ryla talked with Winter, her cheerful and bright personality was doing a good job in making Winter get out of her shell.
Bast laughed silently, looking at the girls. Even Winter, who was very shy seemed to be excited to get to the forest.

"As the lil boy mentioned, we need to head to Mahigan first and find the wife. With any luck she'll give us some clues to help find her husband. Maybe even some supplies too! And for that I'll need your help, Bast." Ryla said, suddenly turning her face towards Bast, letting Winter completely dazed thanks to her energetic personality.

"Of course, lets hear what you have in your mind, Miss Ryla." Bast said, enjoying the situation.

"That lady must be heart-broken, an a smooth talker like you could coax some answers from her. And if she's a widower, work that magic! Now then, are you both ready?"

"Well, I'll see what i can do." Bast said, laughing. Being together with Ryla was sure entertaining. Her endless energy and happiness sure made things much more enjoyable.

---

Getting on Mahigan...

---

"Hey there, you people look lost." a beautiful, voice called them, coming from a harpy-like creature.
With a bright purple plummage, her hair tied in twin ponytails, she was quite the looker. Indeed way more flamboyant and stylish than a normal harpy. Bast had some suspicions that she was not a normal harpy, but that didn't matter. She didn't seem to be the type who would lie or try to fool others.

"Are you here for some reason or do you want me to point you to an inn?" The girl asked, trying to help them.

"Indeed, we are a bit lost, your help would be much appreciated!" he said, tipping his hat in a quick greeting to the harpy lady.
"We are from the guild. We're looking for Rachelle Gardner. We're here to search for her husband who got lost in the woods." Bast said, looking to the harpy girl, analyzing her.
"I must compliment you on your looks, Miss...? You sure caught my attention the second i put my eyes on you. Quite extravagant style, but it suits you very well." He said, smiling and discreetly asking for her name.

"My name is Bast. This energetic and cheerful green lady near me is Ryla, and the adorable white princess is Winter." Bast said.

"Oh, so Freyr caught your attention, didn't he?" He asked with a mischievous smile, after hearing the harpy lady asking about Freyr, curious.

"Go ahead, talk with him. I'm sure that he will be pleased in talking to you."
"And don't worry... he only bites if you ask him to..." Bast said, with a sly smile, provoking Freyr due to the fact that he was oogling intently at the harpy lady.

@1Charak2 @Lucius Cypher @PaulHaynek

The gigantic beefy Minotaur was startled by the rather rude lich girl, genuinely lowering his head in shame as he was threatened. He was pretty much a push over for such Type-A's...

At least the armored lady was nice. Scratching the back of his head as he idly listened, Magnus opted to stay silent but attentive as the good Father who was going to be a father explained the quest objective. And...interesting religion? He'd have to ask about that later. Maybe it was for the North Gods? His father always spoke highly of them, although from the sounds of it most of the population didn't worship them. Not like he did either...bit hard to believe in gods in a world practically fueled by orgies.

Once the explanation was finished, his eyes were wide open in disbelief. Unfaithfulness...? That was...that was terrible, to be honest. Perhaps it was because he came from a loving monogamous household, but there was a part of Magnus that got a bit peeved at the concept of cheating on someone you love. Especially someone you're married to. Playing out how that would go with his father in his head, it always seemed to end with a Helm Splitter to his second head...ow.

Feeling his resolve swell up as the money was handed over in advance, Magnus exhaled out his nostrils, a visible bit of steam shooting out for a second. "You can count on us Father! We'll make sure that your friend stays faithful. I-I won't hurt him or anything, but if I need to I know how to...P-Promise that's the last resort though." Magnus said as he confidently pounded his right fist against his left pectoral, somewhat sounding like a drum for a moment. He didn't know much about Unicorns, but his Mom said that any guy who makes his wife sad isn't any good. And he didn't want the Father's friend to turn no-good. Turning around, he'd start heading to that alleyway, mentally prepping to deal with someone...m-maybe even having to argue.

Exotic Appetites
~@BCTheEntity~

'Suffice to say, humans are rather bad at governing themselves. You may keep yourself out of trouble, but others would surely seek it. Rest assured, I don't necessarily like that humans have to be governed by people in fancy castles and temples either, but if those people didn't, who would?'

"Sounds to me like you leave a lot of your life to others." The farmer remarked.

"A real man should be able to take care of any problem he encounters. He should be able to hold his life together without the help of others. He doesn't need nobody to look after him." He rambled. "If he can't then it's nobody's fault that his life's torn apart to shreds."

"You're a knight, right? You can fight off ten men without breaking a sweat? Why are you letting some stiff-lipped geezers in fancy clothes tell you what to do? Why not beat them up and take power for yourself? Show 'em who's boss?"

~@Lady Selune (SZI), @Kafka Komedy (TUE)~

"Look. You see us? I'm a monster. She's a monster. Unless you want things to happen to you that only really happen to the bad guys in legends, you're going to tell me why you were running away from a man with a broken leg, why you're wearing those clothes, and who the fuck you are."

"He was trying to eat me!" The merchant person yelled out his answer.

"I'm just a traveler trying to get to Ambran when this fellow met me, greeted me, attacked me and tried to eat me!" He continued to explain. Loudly and panicking, not to mention frustrated. "I had to defend myself! I broke his damn leg so he wouldn't be able to chase me!"

"So if you're not going to eat me, please just let me go!"

---

Absence Makes The Heart Go Yonder
~@Lucius Cypher, @13org (FYR & BST), @1Charak2 (WTR)~

"I'm Freyr. I'm not exactly a wererrabit, but a male Viera. I'm sorry about ooglig at you... Its just that i had never seen such a bright and beautiful plummage before, and i was curious about it and your clothes..."

The Harpy monster chuckled. "Hey don't worry about it. If I didn't get people to ogle at me, I'd be a terrible Siren."

"We are from the guild. We're looking for Rachelle Gardner. We're here to search for her husband who got lost in the woods."

"Rachelle Gardner?" The Siren repeated. "Ohhh, that Rachelle. So you're the guild she contacted to help her out. I heard you guys just started."

"I must compliment you on your looks, Miss...? You sure caught my attention the second i put my eyes on you. Quite extravagant style, but it suits you very well."

"Name's Haley, mister. Haley Wellington." The Siren introduced herself. "And thanks. It comes with being a Siren and all."

"My name is Bast. This energetic and cheerful green lady near me is Ryla, and the adorable white princess is Winter."

"Winter huh?" Haley approached Winter and examined her. "You sure are far from the mountains. Are you doing well under this temperature? I mean it's not hot but with that coat on, doesn't it feel like it's summer?" She asked Winter.

"Oh, so Freyr caught your attention, didn't he? Go ahead, talk with him. I'm sure that he will be pleased in talking to you. And don't worry... he only bites if you ask him to..."

"Well, you've got business on hand so maybe we can do that later. Come on, I'll take you to Rachelle Gardner."

The bird monster then began leading you into town. Though not without a word or two. "Hey, are you really from that new guild? How many are you there? Are there any interesting people there? Who's that guy who started it again? Bernie? Do you have any other requests besides this? What does your guild look like? Last I heard, it looked almost ready to fall down. How did you guys restore it? And in such short time even." Haley bombarded the group with questions.

---

The Great Horizons
~@Ariamis, @Kafka Komedy (BUN)~

"It takes nothing more than taking to the east for about a four days' time of travel or so, and then a turn to north at the Giant's Pillar. After that, it is only a day's travel to Boreal Port. If you have any other questions about the route I am ready to answer them."

Samuel inhaled a large breath, probably to process the information you have told him. He then let out a hearty chuckle. "Well, thanks for the advice you two."

He produced a small pouch and handed them to you. "There, one hundred gold coins." He then stood up and began walking out of the tavern. "Again, thanks for listening to my perhaps silly request. I shall wish you good fortune in the days to come and I hope you do the same for me." With that, Sam exited the tavern a happier man. "To the great horizons!"

With one hundred gold coins in hand, your quest was done and you were free to return to the guild. Though, you could stay a bit and see some of Ambran. Maybe buy a thing or two with the reward or maybe some foodstuffs since there does not seem to be any back at the guild.

---

A Strange Tale
~@Rune_Alchemist, @1Charak2 (LIL), @The Irish Tree~

"You can count on us Father! We'll make sure that your friend stays faithful. I-I won't hurt him or anything, but if I need to I know how to...P-Promise that's the last resort though."

The priest man chuckled. "You be you, Magnus."

Once you get down the alley, you spot a brothel though it looked more like a whorehouse. What's the difference, really? Places like those within monster-friendly territory are usually filled with monsters but this one appeared to have human women instead of the monstrous kind.

You spot one patron who was decently-dressed and likely in his late twenties. He appeared to be flirting with one of the merchandises, likely buttering her up for the course. The prostitute in question occasionally giving a giggle to satisfy her customer's ego. Or perhaps she really did appreciate the man's lines.

Whatever the case, this was probably the friend the Neil-lookalike referred to earlier.

'Well, it's all well and good that a real man can govern himself,' Mark replied, happy to move into more comfortable fields of discussion such as this now that the farmer's leg was fixed, 'but any man with sense also sees the benefits of working with others. Certainly, we could all be self-governing, but consider the following: alone, you are just one farmer, with limited ability to gather crops. Working with other men, you could farm far greater stretches of land, and perhaps develop ways of farming even more land per man. And that's just as far as farming goes; I won't continue into further examples, but long story short, we wouldn't have built up a society if we didn't work with one another.

'On top of that, say I hadn't come across you, and your leg had healed wrong,' the Knight continued, arms crossed over his breastplate. 'Wouldn't your life have been "torn to shreds" by the event, as you put it? And nobody could or would have helped you, because you've isolated yourself from others. But since you encountered me, I was able to help you, as is my job - that, and preventing monsters from taking people, either away or... well, away. Frankly, it's not my job to do what the geezers in fancy clothes do,' he explained, now uncrossing his arms to seem a bit more open, 'and if I beat them up and tried to do their job, I'd probably fail miserably, because they have been taught how to govern, and I have not.'

^{Interaction:@Ariamis}
Bunny's expression hardened at the sight of the hooded man's weapons, but she made no mention of it. Samuel may not have been how he seemed, but he presumably still had gold, and they were here to do a job. The trio entered the tavern at their customer's request, and Bunny stood guard as Matti told. She wished to order a stiff drink like her ally but sadly Tue handled the two's money and it would be quite rude to ask some she had only met less than a quarter of a day ago for a pint.

The lecture went surprisingly smoothly, no eavesdroppers as far as Bun could tell. Samuel didn't pull anything either, and gave the two their gold. Bun wasn't sure what to do next though. Tue's mission would take about a day so she certainly had some time to burn. "Hmm. We shouldn't return to the guild just yet. Is there anything we need to buy that we could obtain here?" Bunny asked.

Ryla tagged along surprisingly quite, but still visibly eager. Syfr followed alongside her, darting between legs and climbing random things ahead of the group. Soon enough the party reached their first contact: a harpy who knew the husband. The others started to chat her up while Ryla listened, trying to discern anything unusual. In her experience with the mages one can never be too careful around strangers.

The harpy was rather chatty, asking a lot of questions rapidly. Ryla decided to use this moment to speak up a bit. "Aye, new meme era of the guild. Well, perhaps not officially. But the again we're the first of em. I don't quite remember out numbers but at least a good ten, twelve people. Some guy name Burns started the guild, real mysterious fellow. Never actually met him yet. So far this is only first and only job, though I got some business in the forest I'm hoping to take care of too. Right now the guild is just a Lone tower in the middle of no where. Not much work done to it yet, but I'll spruce it up soon enough."

Syszi looked down at the man, confusion written across her face, before bursting out laughing. “I’m sorry, what?! He tried to EAT you?” She snorted, trying to remain composed, before giving up and barking out with laughter, pressing down on him without thinking. “Ok, ok, time out, time out. Tue, question him whilst I piss myself with laughter over here!"

Tue had been standing there and attempting to look menacing until that point, but at the mention of cannibalism, her facade broke and revealed her confusion. "Wait wait wait, that other man attempted to eat you? As if he was a monster? He seemed quite normal to me… Sy, should we bring him back to that other man, to get both sides of the story?”

“Well, I don’t know about you,” said the salamander, still stifling a laugh as she stood up and off the man- making sure to keep her blade pointed at his throat. “But I’ve never heard of a mamono that eats a dude, and even with the revelation that there are now male versions of us…” She paused and tapped her chin, idly musing what a male salamander would be like, before getting back onto topic.

“Anyway, he doesn’t look, sound or act like a monster. If it doesn’t shit like a bear, sound like a bear or eat what a bear eats, it probably isn’t a bear, and somehow I doubt the other gu-...” she paused, her face creasing with confusion. “Of course, there’s the possibility that he could be infected with demonic energy and will be mutating into an incubus, but I’ve never heard of someone ending up turning to cannibalism from that particular transformation.”

“Nonetheless, I reckon we should drag him back to my husband and let the guy with all the experience arbiting do his job.”

"Of course. You sir, are coming with us!" Tue commanded, dragging the man up and onto his feet, wrapping her arm around his as if she was escorting a date. For a moment she pondered, exaggeratedly, before asking her prisoner more questions. "Did he look any different when he attacked? More feral? Either one of you is lying or you've stumbled upon a mamano not looking for seed. Or maybe he's simply a cannibal… So many possibilities. I wonder how this story will turn out?"

“I’m married to a Knight of the Order. I’m pretty sure I’d know if there was a mamono that went against the order that every other mamono follows by not killing men and even if male mamono are somehow dramatically different, they shouldn’t be that different, right? Gods this is so confusing.” She shook her head, before twirling her blade and sheathing it, making sure it was strapped in tight.

“If I could cast magic I could sort this pretty easy, but oh well. You good to restrict him? Not a long walk, although I know you masks ain’t all that strong.” She gently teased her companion. Being a salamander, her own level of physical fitness was something she took great pride in, after all.

"Restrain him?" Tue responded with a grin. She gently shook the man she was guiding around. "He won't try escaping right? After all with my speed, I could have his head just as fast as you…" Tue half-joked, placing her hand gently on her blade's hilt. "Still, it won't come down to that, right Mr… Oh, I don't know your name."

The salamander returned the grin, before shaking her head. “After we’re done with this, footrace. Betcha I can beat you in a straight run.” She mock-stretched, watching as the shimmer of armour came in over the distance. “Hey! Husbando! We got the guy!” She cupped her hands and shouted out to Marxello loudly, giving a little wave. “Got an odd story though…”

Collab between Kafka Komedy and Lady Selune

---

Despite all the action, Jezamine was feeling bored already. All the other parties had left, leaving her with a 'mission' she knew nothing about, and a few others that she'd much rather have ditched for some of the other potential travelling companions. Getting her hands on that male monster...boy. Mm... She was practically salivating. Still, she had a job, she would do the job. floating up onto the roof of the building, she sat down, hand playing over the shingles. "So. Hi. I'm Jezamine. Sorry for coming so late, you guys mind filling me in with the introductions?"

"That must be him..." Magnus thought to himself, mentally preparing for whatever could happen, and how he was going to handle it. Naturally he couldn't just walk up and drag him back home...he didn't know where this guy lived anyways. Fighting him would be the worst case scenario, as Magnus would prefer not to hurt someone...especially a friend of the Kindly Priest. For now he needed a way to stop this without hurting the man in question.

Taking a deep breath, the burly Minotaur walked with forged confidence down the alley, doing his best to seem intimidating as he approached the man. By now his helmet was on his face, which he'd hope would add to his scary-stats. Stopping a foot in front of the man and woman, a small bit of steam exited Magnus' nostrils, and went out the same holes on his helmet. "Alright, you can do this...this is for the greater good and safety of his marriage." he thought to himself to psych his spirits up. Crossing his arms over his chest, Magnus let out a small sound of clearing his throat before he began his brilliant plan.

"Please don't. You're only hurting yourself and her." he said, prepared to...deal with whatever happened next. He just hoped that he'd be able to reason with him. And that this was even the right guy.

Exotic Appetites
~@BCTheEntity, @Lady Selune (SZI), @Kafka Komedy (TUE)~

Before the farmer could answer, Syzi and Tue have returned and have captured a person in merchant clothes. "Oh gods! Oh gods, oh gods!" The merchant sobbed as soon as he saw the farmer and Mark.

"Hey there, fella!" The farmer told the captured merchant who was carried atop Tue. He chuckled as he approached them. "Hello missies, you have yourselves a fine catch there." He told both Syzi and Tue. "Though I found him first, I can share." He then pulled out a knife and crouched, hovering the knife near the merchant. "So what part do you prefer? I'm more of a torso person but I can go for limbs." He asked.

"No! NOOOOOO!"

"People need to eat. People need to eat!" The farmer exclaimed before cackling, raising his knife to carve some flesh.

This sudden turn of events was probably unexpected.

---

Absence Makes The Heart Go Yonder
~@Lucius Cypher, @13org (FYR & BST)~

"Aye, new meme era of the guild. Well, perhaps not officially. But the again we're the first of em. I don't quite remember out numbers but at least a good ten, twelve people. Some guy name Burns started the guild, real mysterious fellow. Never actually met him yet. So far this is only first and only job, though I got some business in the forest I'm hoping to take care of too. Right now the guild is just a Lone tower in the middle of no where. Not much work done to it yet, but I'll spruce it up soon enough."

"Whoa, that Burns guy really must have the charm to attract twelve people to a lone tower in the middle of nowhere." Haley remarked on your answers. "Say, is the... Viera the only male monster you have?"

After a few more steps, the Siren raised one wing to point at a brown-haired woman sitting on a bench. She wore an expensive-looking dress which indicated that she was probably of upper-class. Despite her wealth, she sat at the bench with a face full of gloom and sadness. "That's Rachel. I'd bet my feathers her husband was taken by some monster in that forest." The Siren said. "But she isn't giving up so you get the lucky role of getting paid for saying the obvious."

"You can head out to make sure, of course."

---

A Strange Tale
~@The Irish Tree~

"Please don't. You're only hurting yourself and her."

"And who might you be?" The man asked, clearly displeased that his session was interrupted.

But before you could say anything back, he immediately spoke again in a more regretful tone. "S*** mister. I don't know who you are but... you're right. I am just hurting myself and her.." He said, not having the stomach to look directly at you. "I'm-I'm grateful, mister. Thank you."

Seeing that her customer was no longer interested in the merchandise, the woman left with a 'Hmph' and went back into the building. The man also left, albeit silently and leaving you with the request completed. Soon after however, your companions bid their farewells to pursue some matters they needed to attend to. They wished you luck with the guild and left you alone in the small port town.

With the request done, you were free to return to the guildhouse but you could explore Boreal Port more if you wanted to.

---

~@Lady Selune (JEZ)~

"So. Hi. I'm Jezamine. Sorry for coming so late, you guys mind filling me in with the introductions?"

The boy who tried to talk to you earlier was the one who responded to you once again, being one of the only people in the guildhouse left. "Uhh... hello, Miss Jezamine. Uhh, welcome to the guild. I guess you're one of the people Bart invited?"

"Well, the others have... Well, I said that we should do the requests that have already been posted while we wait for Bart. So they did, and they went to accomplish those. We're a request-doing guild after all." He explained. "I'm Neil by the way."

"Anyway, there's only one request here that no one's done yet." Neil continued. "But if you'd like, you can join me in mapping the guildhouse so we can know what to change and stuff." He offered.

...ah. That was a bit of a change in tune. He wanted to believe that the farmer... "farmer" was just making a joke, but the merchant's fear was naught but genuine, and likewise with that knife. Luckily, one did not become a Knight of the Order through possession of poor reflexes, and this farmer had telegraphed his intentions quite a bit. Quite foolishly, at that. Mark had plenty of time to draw his blade and invoke the Undine within it, sending forth a spear of water directed to smack the knife out of the farmer's hand, and then a swirling tendril of the stuff to wrap around the farmer's wrists and ankles, binding him and dragging him into the air, helpless.

'YEAH, so what was that about not relying on OTHER PEOPLE?' Mark asked, a lot of anger and probably a bit more force than needed in his voice, but also a fair heap of irony that he'd probably explain to his companions later. 'I suppose that explains where everybody's been going... you like to eat? Because you'll get plenty of food in prison, after you tell us where the others are.' And that train of thought came about under the assumption that this guy might not be unique. He might have family. A cannibal family. Ugh. The prospect horrified him, and that alone had him bluffing that he knew about "the others" already, no matter how real they were. He ought to just kill the man, but the justice system in nearby Ambran would be more than sufficient to get him executed or imprisoned for life for the scope of his crimes. Assuming Mark maintained a reasonable standing with the local Order-

Oh, crap, right. Monsters. And whilst the farmer's opinion wasn't noteworthy, the merchant probably hated monsters and all who associated with them. He'd have to make something up regarding them... step one: distance himself, since he had no hope of dissassociating from them entirely at this stage.

'You two, well done. For your hard work, you'll get extra rations tonight,' he stated toward Syszi and Tue almost monotonally, as if talking to two subordinates, or at least something along those lines. 'But we're not done yet. Once this one talks-' He jerked his head at the cannibal. '-scour the mountains for any allies of his, subdue them, and bring them back here.' The merchant and the cannibal might get curious about what he was trying to do, but he could easily explain away his interactions with any monsters. More importantly, he hoped Syszi and Tue weren't dense enough to misunderstand his intent once again... knowing Syszi, there was a good chance she'd misunderstand anyway, and react accordingly. Alas, it was worth a shot.