After some time, the group's meal ended, and Mark had insisted upon sharing his and Syszi's earned funds with the guild in general, rather than just letting it rest with them. They were contributors, after all, to the rebuilding; keeping money to themselves wouldn't help that cause. And after that... well, they shared a tent, was the long and short of it.

As he lay awake the next morning, he considered yesterday's events with some concern. On the one hand, Tue and Bunny had helped end a significant crisis. On the other hand, they were monsters. One of whom had the explicit goal of dethroning the current Demon Lord, with no realistic prospects of actually succeeding. He half-hoped they wouldn't get into too much trouble... and half-wished he'd purified them when he'd gotten the chance.

Alas, Syszi seemed to be asleep for now, with no sign of waking up any time soon. He might have discussed his worries with her if she were. Eventually, he felt he couldn't wait much longer, and dragged himself out of the makeshift bed, putting on his armour over his underclothes until he was eventually fully clad, then stepped out of the tent to find that many of the other members had already left.

Even so, he had no intentions of avoiding quests just because most others had already left for them; stepping over to the board, he looked down the list to figure out what was available, and indeed what specifically appealed to him, before ultimately settling on the so-called "Fetch Quest". A "special brew"? For "somebody who REALLY needed it"? That was extraordinarily suspicious, and he had no idea what to expect of it. Anyway, as much as he might rather have helped escort the girl out of the village, it struck him that the presence of a Hero might only exacerbate the issues there for the time being. Syszi would be perfect for the role, if it struck her to do it; she was hardly likely to be mistaken for an Order ally, nor was she likely to be overwhelmed in a fight- which could admittedly still arise as a result of her race, but that seemed unlikely with the civilians, at least. A shame that there was nothing to suggest it to her...

Either way, Mark had his fetch quest to perform. Glancing at it and the map one last time to figure out where to go, he strode off, prepared for whatever might happen along the way.

Anitta sighed. She figured this was a fight between the Dwarves and the Order. She'd rather not get involved in such politics, but she supposed that she still had a job to do. The least she could do is try to make sure this old man, whoever he is, leaves this place safely. Easier said than done. After getting her questions answered Anitta and Neil went to find the old man's cabin. Neil mentioned using the money to bribe the old man but Anitta shook her head. "That is not my money to use. We won't bribe him with guild gold. Why are you here anyways?" Anitta was genuinely curious as they arrived to the cabin. She saw a plain old man cleaning the lot before he ran inside, grabbed his crossbow, and tried to threaten Anitta. She just scoffed. She could easily knock the bolt out of the air before it could touch her, or just dodge out of the way. And by the time the old man would've even gotten the next bolt out, Anitta could be on him with her blade pressed against his neck. However she wasn't here to hurt him, yet. Instead she called out to him.

"We are not here to rob you, though there's another group here who may want to. I am a bounty hunter seeking a gang of brigands who have fled into the forest. They have at least thirty men in total, and they're seeking a hideout for themselves. I was told there was a cabin in the woods and I suspected I would find them here, but not you." Anitta said smoothly. It was a lie of course, but she spoke with such confidence and clarity that she nearly convinced herself. "I had planned to lay a trap for them here and capture their leader. I'm sorry to have to ask you this, but you must leave, for your own safety. I cannot promise that I'll be able to protect you during the chaos, and surely if I left you here alone, I'd only find a tragedy if I return." Anitta wasn't sure if the dwarves needed the old man permanently gone or just temporarily, but it didn't matter to her. As long as the old man leaves and the dwarves pay their dues, Anitta would get this job done.

There was just one last thing that Anitta wanted to say just in case this old man was a bit more informed than she realized. "I had tried to contract the Order near here to assist me, however this area is highly contested. Neither the order nor their enemies would dare enter this area, or else they'd provoke a battle they may not be prepared for. Thus I have been sent here, along with my partner, to deal with these brigands who wish to take advantage of the political tensions in the area."

@PaulHaynek

Water and Honesty
~@Norschtalen~

"...Why are you here anyways?"

Regardless of your intentions, it did not appear Neil appreciated your implications. "...Just trying to help..." He whispered which you could barely hear.

"I had planned to lay a trap for them here and capture their leader. I'm sorry to have to ask you this, but you must leave, for your own safety. I cannot promise that I'll be able to protect you during the chaos, and surely if I left you here alone, I'd only find a tragedy if I return."

"And ruin the whole place?!" The old man jeered. "You better find me a new home then! Otherwise, I'll take my chances with the brigands."

"Where do you plan on going?" Neil entered the conversation.

"I could find myself living in Pravar. Although I could never stand the people there, no sirree!" The old man replied. "But I'd need some gold to properly settle down. Say, three hundred?" He, indirectly, proposed a deal.

Neil looked at you for the decision. The gold to make this all smooth was available although you are free to try any tricks you have up your sleeve though that may compromise the situation.

---

Shopping!!
~@Lucius Cypher~

"What'll it be? Rock in the gut? Or rock in the skull? Yer choice..."

"BUYER'S REMORSE!" The boy yelled. "WE HAVE BUYER'S REMORSE HERE!"

Suddenly, a narrowly-missed knife almost nicked your face and the boy used this moment to break free of your grasp and run away. Soon, a man with two daggers appeared. He said nothing but it was clear to you that you now had a fight in your hands since you refused the deal. Probably a good decision for a person like you though.

Meanwhile, you heard something crash into the wagon. It was Bart and he looked a little roughed up. After opening his eyes and seeing you, he immediately asked. "What did you do, Sheolred?!" Bart's attention was shifted to his attacker, a large man armed with a multi-headed whip. "Hey now, we can talk this out..." Bart tried to reason but it appeared it was a little bit too late for that now.

Whether or not this was the kind of fight you wanted, you are definitely a part of this one. How shall you resolve it?

---

Humble Beginnings
~@Lady Selune (JEZ), @13org (BST)~

"We are from the guild, we are searching for Riñas Chavez. My name is Bast. Pleased to meet you."

"Oh, I am Riñas Chavez. Pleased to meet you too, members of the guild." The Dark Priest curtly bowed to you.

"It is good that you are here. Please follow me." Riñas lead you across the town. The scenery changed from a busy atmosphere to one that is quiet, not the peaceful kind but more of the sad and depressing kind. As the three of you walked, there were less and less people to be seen. "Some time ago, Boreal Port was under the rule of Varjo. One day, the local garrison pillaged and sacked the port, slaughtering some of the population while taking some as slaves before leaving completely. The ones who were left behind would've been goners had the Mermaids and other sea monsters not come with help and relief."

She stopped then handed you some chalk. "But that didn't restore the population. At least not yet." She continued. "Beyond here are mostly abandoned houses and buildings since the occupants have either died or moved out. However, we are not sure which ones are occupied or not so use the chalk to mark the unoccupied places." The Dark Priest explained the objective. "That way, we can easily direct any newcomers which places they can stay at."

"Do you have any questions?" She then turned to Jezamine. "Forgive me if this seems unseemly for us Dark Priest, sister. But this is important for the people here. I hope you understand."

---

Fetch Quest
~@BCTheEntity~

You reach the monster-friendly village in several hours. The place 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 the two of you since you did not seem to be from around there but they appear to be content in leaving you alone as some new strangers stumbling upon Mahigan.

"Hey! It's you!" A voice called out to you, in a jester-like tone. It belonged to an armored person but it did not seem like he was a knight. "It's a good thing I read your profile or else we'd be spending an entire day looking for each other in Mahigan." He remarked. "Niiiiice armor by the way." He ogled at your looks before continuing.

"Anyway, I'm Ian. Ian North. Professional mercenary." He extended an armored fist for either of you to shake. "More of a hero-for-hire, really. I'm not really taking questionable jobs anymore. It must be when I saved some monsters with an Order priestess. Anyway, I have a feeling we're gonna be seeing each other more in the forseeable future."

"As for the job, it's taking us to Lokdar Swamp. Now I know evil hags and supervillain lairs tend to reside in swamps but I assure you that nothing really harmful will be waiting for us there." He explained the request. "Although we might run into the Varjan refugees that just holed up in Ravager's Rest but come on, what are the odds of that?"

"So you in?"

Apparently, he'd missed that this particular village was friendly to monsters. Then again, considering it was near to Lymeria... he supposed he would have to have handled a quest like this sooner or later, and if anybody asked, he'd be able to claim it was a scouting mission.

Then again, looking at the armoured mercenary before him... well, to put it bluntly, that did not seem like appropriate attire for a fetch quest. Nor did it look like appropriate attire for "reading his profile" - Mark wasn't aware he even had a profile, but apparently he did, and apparently this man had read it. Apparently, he'd also saved some monsters alongside an Order priestess... the Hero really had no idea what to expect from Ian North, was the long and short of it, and he decided it'd be best to wait for him to finish talking before coming to a conclusion.

Heading into Lokdar Swamp for potion ingredients seemed reasonable enough for an ingredient gathering request. "Happening to run into refugees from Varja" did not... he knew something had seemed fishy about this one. Apparently, Ian- or whoever had hired him- was planning on kidnapping or even straight-up murdering relatively innocent individuals. Not that Mark knew what their crimes were, whether they were reasonable or not, but nonetheless, he'd make his own judgements as they needed to be made, and protect them if need be.

'I suppose the odds of running into refugees hiding in a location a couple of miles away are very low, aren't they?' Mark acquiesed near-sarcastically, almost daring Ian to further elaborate on what he'd meant by that statement. 'Nevertheless, I am well-equipped to go marsh-stomping, even if it appears otherwise, so let us make haste.' With little fuss, Mark began walking in approximately the right direction, trusting that Ian would take them in whatever direction he intended to smoothly. And, if necessary, ready to deal with Ian in a manner befitting any madnesses he was planning upon.

"Hah! Looks like it's time to cook up trouble!" Sheolred's eyes widen as she felt a fight brewing. Some rogue came out of no where and nearly knifes her while the kid ran off. Sheolred tossed the rock at the back of his head, however she didn't confirm if she got him or not. Instead she took out her giant club and got ready to square off against this knife guy.

As quickly as it started Sheolred made her attack. She swiped the bunch of rocks in the ground towards the knife-wielding rogue, peppering him with large stones. He wouldn't get any respite however as shortly after that attack Sheolred was already within range to smash his head with her club, the giant twenty pound cudgel en route to his skull.

@PaulHaynek

Anitta considered her options. She didn't have that kind of money herself, and she still didn't feel comfortable with using the guild's gold. She did have one idea however. "I do not have that sort of money myself, and I do not know where Pravar is. That being said perhaps I can still find a home for you here. I've recently discovered a guild that has recently opened, and you seem like a skilled and wise man. Perhaps they may be willing to house you and if you offer them your knowledge." It was a big stretch since instead of using the guild's money, Anitta was now implying that the guild would even take the old geezer in. Still as far as Anitta was certain, the only people who worked for the guild that wasn't adventurers was Bart and Neil. Surely they could use the help.

"And if the worse comes and the destruction to your home is too much, I promise I'll do what I can to assist you as well. You have my word." Anitta put her hand over her heart and bowed. She still kept an eye on the old man in case he tried to shoot her however.

@PaulHaynek

The Girl Who Cried
~@13org (FYR), @The Irish Tree~

It was odd that the forest was dead silent besides the whirling wind and that single howl from earlier. The trees had odd looking scratches on them as if the beast they were hunting wasn’t normal. The marks were large, oddly shaped and seemed to look more like a scrape rather than a claw mark.

Suddenly you hear footsteps behind you, sounded bipedal then it stopped behind you. If you were to turn around and look you would see nothing except footsteps which stopped behind you. The wind didn’t seem to be letting up. In actual fact it seemed to be tempting you to go deeper into the forest as if it was whispering "Deeper…" Followed by another howl, this time it is more clear. It sounded slightly off.

Water and Honesty
~@Norschtalen~

"I do not have that sort of money myself, and I do not know where Pravar is. That being said perhaps I can still find a home for you here. I've recently discovered a guild that has recently opened, and you seem like a skilled and wise man. Perhaps they may be willing to house you and if you offer them your knowledge."

"Hmmm, I'm not a guild kind of person." The old man replied. "Just wanna live out the rest of my days sitting around and doing nothing."

"And if the worse comes and the destruction to your home is too much, I promise I'll do what I can to assist you as well. You have my word."

"Hmmm..." The old man thought long and hard. "If you're that desperate for my house then how about this..." He then proposed another deal.

"You said you're a bounty hunter, right? Then that means you'll be fetching quite a reward to take down this brigand group." He started. "I want half of the reward. Whatever it is." He declared to you. "I'll start packing and head over to Ambran and stay with a friend for maybe a day or two. I'll be coming right back soon after and you better have the gold by then. You did promise to assist me, right?"

"Do we have a deal, missy?"

---

Shopping!!
~@Lucius Cypher~

You struck a devastating blow! The cutthroat could not react fast enough to your mighty swing. The cudgel strike sent him into the ground with a bit of blood flying from the attack. He lay still on the ground with his head bleeding from the nasty concussion. He was probably dead but there was a chance that he might still be clinging to life. Regardless, he was out of the fight.

But the fight was not over! You soon feel the lash of several whips hit your back. Looking over, it was the large bloodletter that was fighting Bart who had attacked you. Speaking of Bart, you see him knocked out near the wagon. It appeared that he was still alive, probably spared for later since you were clearly the more dangerous foe.

There doesn't seem to be anymore vagabonds left. This was your final enemy.

---

Fetch Quest
~@BCTheEntity~

'I suppose the odds of running into refugees hiding in a location a couple of miles away are very low, aren't they? Nevertheless, I am well-equipped to go marsh-stomping, even if it appears otherwise, so let us make haste.'

"Awesome, dude!" Ian ecstatically replied. "I have a feeling you don't really believe me but I'm sure that's just a feeling."

The two of you make your way to Lokdar Swamp. The wetland was nothing special. Some wooden walkways were present to help those who, for some reason or another, have to traverse the swamp. Ian, despite his armor, expertly traversed the wetland and guided you so that neither of you took dirt or water in places you did not want to have dirt or water in.

"We're here to collect some grass. Don't know what they're called though. They glow so they shouldn't be too hard to miss." Ian explained the mission. "That, and some berries. They sparkle so again, not really hard to miss." He continued as you two moved into moist but still firm soil. "You'd think I'd just grab some yeast to make the wine but I'm experimenting here so anything shiny goes!"

"Also, let me tell you about--" Ian suddenly stopped and pulled you to a crouch. He motioned to be silent before pointing to a pack of fierce-looking and strange-looking dogs or wolves. "Varjan wardogs." Ian whispered. "Nasty stuff. Can't be pacified with just chicken..."

"Over there." Ian pointed to a patch of glowing grass with a bush of shining berries nearby. "This pack seems to have been released. Can't see the handler anywhere. These guys must be just roaming around for food." Ian said. "Hopefully said food ain't us."

"So how do you wanna do this, Marky? Do you wanna go in there with your Avatar sword or do you wanna play the waiting game and let them pass?"

Jezamine turned to the other of her faith, and indicated for him to approach her, the preistess lowering herself so she could talk into the clergyman's ear. "Surely one of the Fallen is not just helping a village out of the kindness of his own heart, is he? Please tell me there's something else going on here...?"

Well, he knew what he was doing, at least... he'd clearly figured out how to traverse the swamp long ago, as well as roughly what ingredients they needed. Glowing grass and sparkling berries. They sounded very much like the sort of plants you'd find in a corrupted landscape, but what did he know about that?

Clearly, the mood was intended to be jovial. Ian quickly became far less so once the Varjan wardogs showed up, and God almighty, those were certainly horrendous-looking beasts. They certainly didn't have anything like that back in Andrale... could they be influenced by demonic- the thought was immediately quenched. Demonic energy was more likely to turn them into sexualised humanoids than those monstrosities. But what else could it be...?

Ideally, irrelevant. Especially now, when Ian had both pointed out their target, and asked whether the wardogs needed to be dealt with or could just be left alone. Mark pondered the question for a moment. He certainly had ways of dealing with the beasts easily if they were noticed, but why expend the energy if it wasn't needed? And on the other hand, if he could just restrain one long enough to ensure it was purified, he could perhaps determine why they were like that, yet would that be worth the effort if it gained him no information?

'I believe we would be wise to let them pass by,' he finally decided, 'so long as they do not notice us or attempt to consume our quarry.' For all Mark knew, they did in fact feed solely on glowing grass and sparkling berries... and that reminded him unpleasantly about the quest's supposed goal. 'What potion are these ingredients needed for, anyway?' he asked, a hint of suspicion to his voice as he glanced over to Ian. If they kept their voices down, as they had been doing so far, they'd likely stay out of the notice of the warhounds until they had passed by.

Freyr

"Freyr, w-we need to...to stick together, but you try and sneak. I-I'm big, so I can draw its attention. And my helmet will keep it from...t-t-t-tearing my throat out..." Freyr heard Magnus saying. Indeed he was big and undoubtedly he was more resistant than Freyr, but something told Freyr that that was no simple wolf. He could easily see how nervous Magnus was, but Freyr couldn't blame him. Freyr himself was terribly nervous and uncomfortable due to the forest being silent, but he was trying his best to hide it.

Vieras are naturally attuned to the forest, both magically and physically, and that only heightened the discomfort Freyr was feeling right now. It wasn't only the howls, but the terrible silence... It was almost if the forest itself was dead.. He wasn't able to feel the forest breathing anymore. Even the trees were strange, marked with big oddly shaped claw marks. Were those marks made by the creature?

But before he could do anything, a very distinct sound of footsteps interrupted his thoughts. They were coming from behind.
Out of pure reflex, Freyr turned back, with his bow on his hands, but there was nothing there. The sounds were too clear to be his imagination. But the most disturbing thing weren't the steps he heard, but the terrible howl, followed by an ominous wind that was almost inviting them to go deeper into the forest.

Something was terribly wrong...

"Magnus, I will be moving fast, you probably won't hear or see me, but my senses are sharp. Just call my name and I'll come. I'll always keep an eye on you, don't worry." Freyr said, with his eyes extremely alert and his ears twitching and turning non stop. It was clear that he was in full alert.
"Something... Something is terribly wrong here... This... is not an common animal. The forest is reacting in a completely unnatural way to it..." Freyr mumbled loud enough for Magnus to hear just as he gave a powerful jump, disappearing on the trees above them, moving deeper into the forest. He needed to know what exactly was that creature.

@GoddessOfNature @The Irish Tree

---

Bast Ragoczy

"It is ironic, isn't it? That the 'monsters' were the one that came to help. And we still say that they are the monsters..." Bast said, with a small chuckle.
Violence, chaos and destruction wasn't anything new. Bast had already seen other towns have a similar or even worse fate, and most of the times, the reason was either greed or just a simple desire to cause chaos and destruction. People indeed were extremely interesting to watch...

"But leaving that aside, I'm sure that the town will get back up on its feet. Especially with the help of the mermaids. Truly, the mermaids helping the town isn't anything surprising. What has really surprised me is seeing a dark priest wanting to help the town... That doesn't seem the 'style' of your order, am I right?" Bast asked, looking at Riñas with a mischievous smile.

That was when he heard Jezamine speaking, and what she said further piqued his interest.
"Surely one of the Fallen is not just helping a village out of the kindness of his own heart, is he? Please tell me there's something else going on here...?" she said.

"That is a very... interesting question, Miss Jezamine. Everything in this world is a trade. No one ever does anything out of pure kindness. Those who do are either mad or simply delusional. That is one thing that my experience taught me very well..." Bast said, studying Riñas' reaction.

"So... What are your true reasons? Don't worry, I will not judge, or try to stop you. You have my word on that. I am in fact interested on the outcome of this... mission." he said following the dark priestess.

"Very well, Miss Riñas, what exactly are we doing here? I'm at your disposal." Bast asked, with a smile.

@PaulHaynek @Lady Selune

@13org(FYR), @GoddessOfNature

Magnus' ears flicked up and down in a panic as he heard footsteps and then a whisper on the wind. His mouth was hanging agape under the helmet as he tried his best not to scream, visibly trembling as he tried to take another step forward. What was WRONG with this forest!? He'd hunted some decently dangerous game back north, but this was...almost malevolent in its presence. Could it be some sort of monster? No...he didn't think anything that'd be mistaken for a wolf had claws that huge. And then the howl came and Magnus froze in place, worried that the sound breaking through his helmet would be the end of him. Thankfully it wasn't, and the Minotaur calmed his nerves after a moment...at least a little bit.

Lowering his axe a bit, Magnus was worried that he'd freeze up when the time came for the fight. Turning his head to Freyr as he spoke, he heard him say to call him if he needed him. "Wait...Huh?" Magnus asked, just barely in time to see Freyr jump into the treeline. Was...was he alone now? No, Magnus remembered the impending danger, dread, and silence was also there. What joyous company. Taking a deep breath, he accepted that if he wanted to come out of this alive and defeat whatever beast was stalking these woods, he would need to trust in Freyr completely to watch his back. Maybe if the beast attacked, he could stall it, let Freyr get an arrow from unseen. Wait, that was what he was doing! Pounding his closed fist over an open palm, Magnus felt like he finally got the gist of it. No "Wolf" could climb a tree, he hoped, so they'd never see an arrow from above coming! Confidence regained, he would stride forward, axe in hand as he walked alone, his hidden ally having his full trust on this.

Anitta sighed. She supposed that this was what she'd get for making up such an elaborate lie. She was half tempted to actually seek such a ground of bandits to slay, but she'd have to follow through with it. Those dwarves better pay well. "So be it. Neil, would you please help this man with his belongings while I begin setting up this place?" Anitta went off to lay some traps around the area. Fairly simple but well hidden, things that would help Anitta should a fight happen here. A few trip wires, a couple of heavy objects falling from trees, a crossline here and there. Their strength lied in their sheer simplicity.

It wasn't long before Anitta had finished laying her traps. She stood near the front of the old man's house so she could escort him through his law, less he accidentally trip over some of the traps she hid. While none were particularly lethal, better safe than sorry.

@PaulHaynek

Water and Honesty
~@Norschtalen~

"So be it. Neil, would you please help this man with his belongings while I begin setting up this place?"

"Alright." Neil nodded before going off to do as you asked.

The old man was ready to go by the time you were done setting up traps the traps. He appreciated that you and Neil accompanied him but he bade farewell when you reached the main road, saying he will be okay and will not be wasting any more of your time trying to catch the bandits. You and Neil had the entire cabin to yourselves, albeit a trap-filled one.

"Nice traps. Though, did you really have to make them legit? I mean, we're not actually catching bandits are we?" Neil said to you. "Anyway, the old man said he was coming back. Are we going to deal with that or are we gonna leave that to the Dwarves?" He asked. "And if we go with the latter, do we tell the Dwarves the old man isn't gone forever or do we lie and hope they don't find out?"

"Sorry if I'm asking a lot of questions. I'm a detail-y sort of guy and I don't want this biting us later."

---

Fetch Quest
~@BCTheEntity~

'I believe we would be wise to let them pass by, so long as they do not notice us or attempt to consume our quarry.'

Ian gave you a confused look. Well, you felt it was a confused look since he had an helmet on. "Uhh... doggies rarely eat veggies. And Varjan wardoggies REALLY don't eat veggies. I mean, look at their teeth and those horns. You think Joshua Caldeyron put those in just so they could chew plants? Except Alraunes and Dryads of course."

'What potion are these ingredients needed for, anyway?'

"To make wine, of course! Didn't I tell you earlier?" Ian replied. "It's for a dude named Paul. Sure, he doesn't drink but looking at recent events, I believe a good bottle of fine alcohol and maybe a couple of prostitutes should get him back on track. I think I should also throw a party for him and invite the rest of my peeps. I may have to get food and drinks which could be expensive. Maybe I should just invite him to a bar or a stripclub..."

And Ian rambled on and on. It was not anything too problematic since he appeared to watch his voice from being loud enough to be heard. After half an hour, the pack began to move and leave the area. "Well, they're moving out. Let's get moving too." The mercenary went in once the pack was completely gone and began gathering the wine ingredients into a sack. Albeit slowly and carefully. "These things are pretty fragile so one needs care and finesse when extracting them."

"You know, you're pretty nice for an Order Hero. I hope you're not like this all the time or else someone's gonna want you dead sooner or later. You better hope it's not the Order or else they'll..."

While Ian began to ramble again, you found a lone wardog who also found you. The hound stared at you for a second before pouncing on you, its sharp teeth trying to get a bite on your neck. "Hey, you alright there, Marky? Can't really turn around since these things require lots of attention."

---

Humble Beginnings
~@13org (BST), @Lady Selune (JEZ)~

"Surely one of the Fallen is not just helping a village out of the kindness of his own heart, is he? Please tell me there's something else going on here...?"

"So... What are your true reasons? Don't worry, I will not judge, or try to stop you. You have my word on that. I am in fact interested on the outcome of this... mission."

Riñas giggled. "As you know, I am a Dark Priest of the Fallen God. And it is the Dark Priests' duty to spread the teachings of the Fallen God. I am no different and the port has a really nice abandoned church from where we can start."

"Very well, Miss Riñas, what exactly are we doing here? I'm at your disposal."

"Did I not make myself clear?" Riñas raised an eyebrow. "I'm pretty sure I just said that you should use the chalk I gave you to mark the doors of abandoned houses." The Dark Priest repeated.

"Oh and I hope you accept... other forms of payment." Riñas continued. "I don't really have much money and I need to save to purchase more important things for the port. We do have food to spare though so we can use that for payment instead."

Of course they didn't eat plants. Why on Earth would they? Still, he'd received a name out of the exchange: Joshua Caldeyron. Mark made a mental note to ask Bart about that man later on.

Not that it mattered so much, because it turned out the ingredients were being used for wine. No, no, not some actual alchemical potion, but wine in some form or another. Knowing this man's bizarre nature, it was probably going to be some form of... demonic wine, perhaps. And blast the fact that it wasn't so easy to tell with plants like that- at best, he might be able to... maybe purify the wine with his sword once it was made, if he had access to it?

'...they'd best be human prostitutes,' was all Mark said on the matter, not bothering to try and make himself heard over Ian's own voice. 'Uncorrupted humans, mind.' He had no opinions on the matter of whether whoring oneself out was moral or not himself, beyond the fact that if a monster was mistaken for human within such a context, it could very easily lead to a nation's corruption into a demon realm, suggesting that thorough checks were required regardless.

Half an hour later, the warhounds finally moved on, and Ian continued rambling for a moment about how fragile the plants were, and how nice Mark was when in some cases he shouldn't be. If only he knew Mark's opinion about him right now... not bad enough to warrant murder, admittedly, but it was certainly less than positive.

Seconds later, one of the wardogs found him again. Because of course they did. Mark had just enough time to draw his sword and invoke the Ignis within to enhance his strength before the wardog was upon him; though surely very threatening to an ill-equipped man, Mark's armour was more than enough to keep its mouth off of his neck, and his magically-boosted strength more than sufficient to plant both feet into its gut and hurl it away over and beyond Ian.

'I'm doing just fine, thanks,' Mark offered, invoking the Undine in his weapon and snatching the dog out of the air with a tendril of liquid, then heaving it back over his head to slam hard into a tree a few meters away. After that, and since he was already invoking the fire-based spirit in his blade, he figured he might as well draw upon a bit more of its power, and manifested a sort of whip of controlled fire out of the sword's tip. Hot enough to blister any living flesh it touched- and he prepared to lash out at the Varjan wardog if it decided to charge him a second time- but with no real risk of setting anything ablaze. Ah, elemental magic, was there anything it couldn't assist with? Not that he wanted to kill the creature, naturally, just drive it away, or at least fend it off for long enough to let Ian handle the matter of foraging.

The Girl Who Cried
~@13org (FYR), @The Irish Tree~

The wind would pick up once again and leaves slowly blowing into the air causing Magnus and Freyr to temporarily lose sight of each other. As Freyr jumped into the treelines and forward. Something would catch his leg and trigger some kind of trap. Freyr would find himself covered in both a sticky substance and feathers. His leg stuck in a loop of a rope as he would find himself hanging upside down. He would look like the perfect bait for a wolf. Oddly enough there didn’t seem to be a sound of howling this time. Rather it sounded like it something was giggling.

The leaves falling to the ground allowing both of the guild members to once again have sight of each other. Only thing was that there was a bit of bark on the ground in the pile of leaves reading "Cheating isnt allowed. Fight the wolf like men or feel the wraith of humiliation"

The odd howl would seem simply forward a little bit. It definitely didn’t sound like a wolf anymore, it sounded fake. Rustles up ahead seemed to signify the fight was coming to you.

Freyr

The second Freyr jumped, he felt something catching his leg, hanging him upside down near Magnus, his leg stuck in a loop of a rope. The worst thing wasn't even that. The worse thing was that he was now covered in a sticky thing and feathers. How did he miss that? Such an obvious trap... What the hell was happening? It was unnecessary to say, but that obviously irritated him. Whoever was in that forest was playing with them... Immediately taking his knife and cutting down the rope, he gracefully landed on the ground. Instead of the howl, a weird giggle echoed through the forest.

On the ground, next to them, something caught Freyr's eyes. It was a message.
"Cheating isnt allowed. Fight the wolf like men or feel the wraith of humiliation" the message said, written in a piece of bark, almost immediately after he read it, the odd howl from before came again, this time it was closer, and oddly enough, it sounded... fake. Someone was playing with them... Using the edge of his knife, he quickly cut part of the sticky substance, at least enough to make him look less ridiculous and let him move freely. He wouldn't have enough time to take it off completely, at least not now.

"I fight like a Viera, not like a man... Otherwise, I would already be dead a long time ago..." He thought to himself, irritated with the message.

Sheathing his knife, he crushed the piece of bark with his foot, with an obviously irritated expression, before hearing a rustling sound nearby. With his bow on hands, and an arrow already nocked, he looked to the direction the sound was coming, pointing his bow to that same direction. His face showed no emotions, his cold stare didn't show a mere vestige of the anger he felt moments before.
He would take no chances. Whoever was the one toying with them, would quickly learn that it wasn't very smart to put itself between a hunter and its prey...

@GoddessOfNature @The Irish Tree

---

Bast Ragoczy

Bast heard carefully as Riñas spoke about the reason why she was helping the city. She said she was only looking to spread the teachings of her god. Bast was no stranger to religions, nor to priests and worshippers. He knew enough to doubt their words and intentions. But one part of her speech caught his attention.

"Did I not make myself clear?"
"I'm pretty sure I just said that you should use the chalk I gave you to mark the doors of abandoned houses." she said, rising an eyebrow.

"Just spreading the teachings of the fallen god, right?" Bast said, with a grin on his face.
"My dear Riñas... Everything has a purpose. I just seek the reason behind it..." He said, reaching inside his cloak and grabbing a playing card, twiddling it on his fingers. It was a simple two of hearts.
"Marking the abandoned houses with chalk seems like a very... easy job, doesn't it? It's not that hard or exciting... Surely, anyone would be able to do it... It is a shame... I was expecting something more..." Bast continued, with a displeased expression.
"But I did say I was at your disposal, didn't I? And I always keep my words. But I will warn you... I can't promise you I wont investigate this situation a bit more... Who knows? Maybe I might stumble upon something interesting..." He said, with a rather dark smile, looking directly to her eyes, almost like if he was looking inside of her.

"Oh, you don't need to worry about the payment. I'm not bound by such frivolous and superficial things such as money... I have much more... deeper goals. Think of me like... a wild card..." Bast said, turning the two of hearts with his finger, hiding its front and turning it back again, now showing a joker instead.

"Farewell, for now, miss Riñas. I'll be back after I finish your request." He said, putting the playing card back on his pocket and walking towards the city.

@PaulHaynek

Fetch Quest
~@BCTheEntity~

The whimper of the wardog indicated that it had been killed when it was slammed into a hard tree. "Was that a Varjan wardog? Man, why didn't you tell me? I would've helped out and stuff!" Ian said.

"Well, I'm done gathering. Thanks for watching my back, man." Ian expressed his gratitude. "Although, I do hope that the wardogs from earlier don't--" He was interrupted by the sounds of quick rustling which grew louder with each moment. "Well that's not good. I'd say we have about ten or twelve seconds before they get here. Do you wanna make ourselves scarce and hide it out again or do you want seconds for your tussle?" The mercenary asked.

"Although the ingredients and the reward money might get rustled either way." Ian said. "Do you have some lube on you by any chance? Not a high amount just you know, enough. Although I would really appreciate high."

---

Humble Beginnings
~@13org (BST)~

Riñas frowned at your words. "I don't appreciate what you are insinuating. If you believe that I am here because of more sinister and ulterior motives, then let me tell that you are wrong." She declared, very unamused. "But perhaps that isn't enough for you in which case, I have nothing more to say to you. And the reason why we're hiring you is because we do not have enough manpower as everybody is more or less occupied with other matters." With the mood clearly soured, Riñas turned around. "When you are done or out of chalk, come see me at the church. We can discuss your payment then."

The Dark Priest walked away and you were off to do the request, marking doors with chalk if they are abandoned. While some were occupied, most are not and that made the area feel like a ghost town. However, there was one building you encountered that was unlike the others. You meet a young boy in the middle of a room. It appeared to have been the living room but all the furniture have been moved aside and on the middle was a crudely-built whetstone on which the boy was sharpening a large blade.

"Oh. Hello there, mister." The boy happily greeted you. "What brings you here? Oh, I know! You're here because you think this house is abandoned! Don't worry, it is abandoned." He gleefully said. "Once I'm done with this sword, I'm off to Varjo to kill that armored man who killed all my family and friends!" He continued, still cheerful as ever.

"Just give me a few more seconds and I'm out of here."

@13org(FYR), @GoddessOfNature

Magnus held a hand in front of the eye holes of his helmet to keep the wind from blowing right into his eyes. And then, he heard some sort of trap trigger nearby as the sight of Freyr, tarred and feathered with something that wasn't tarred. Realizing that it was not some strange chicken rabbit monster but his companion, Magnus was about to cut him down before Freyr did the deed himself. Magnus wasn't expecially paying attention to the message given the far more...heckling howl. Was it mocking them? A tinge of fear was welling up in Magnus as he tried to pull a bit of the feathers off of Freyr without tugging his hair out. "W-What kind of wolf sets traps!?" he questioned, hurriedly scrambling to attention once Freyr had his bow out.

Tightening his grip on his axe in one hand, his makeshift log-tonfa-shield-guard thing in the other, Magnus stepped forward to stand between Freyr and the rustling bushes, but naturally off to the side to make sure he still had a good view of everything BUT Magnus' massive back. Gulping after a moment, Magnus called out to the bushes: "N-No wolf howls like that...who's there? P-Please, we just want to hunt the wolf and help the town...no need to fight." the minotaur stuttered as he tried to mask his trembling. Fighting a wolf was one thing, but if this was a person...would he even be able to lift his axe? He could only hope that his hunch was right about that not being a wolf...far as he knew, no Hyenas roamed this part of the world. Or laid traps.

'Yeah, no, we're leaving,' Mark uttered, gripping Ian's sleeve and pulling him out of the clearing. Mark really hadn't wanted to kill the warhound, and honestly thought it'd be more resilient than it had turned out to be. Whilst that did mean he could probably handle the others with relative ease, it also meant killing more living beings, which really wasn't necessary... unless it meant leaving them to potentially savage other innocents... but then killing them would lead to potential backlash... but...

'Royal bloody Makai,' Mark cursed under his breath, bringing himself to a halt and his sword to bear, whip of flame reshaping into more of a burning lance, and the Sylph in his weapon imbuing him with enhanced speed and reflexes. 'You get out of here, Ian. Or stay and fight if you really want. I'll see you back in Mahigan either way.' He couldn't in good conscience leave those brutes unattended, much as he wanted to pretend it'd just be like leaving a more native beast alone. If an innocent person died because he was too soft to kill a dangerous predator pack, it'd be as good as killing them himself.