Cyneburg

Location: Salarn
Interacting with:Keystone, Lederer

"I dunno, having an official rank in a monastery seems like a clear indicator of being a monk proper. You do all that..." Cyne, at a loss for words for how to properly describe chi waved her hands around trying to convey the idea non-verbally. "stuff that monks do. You don't really act or look like one, but appearances are all superficial, yeah? Being able to think and do properly's more important."

Unrelated to Keystone's official designations, she did appreciate his answer, but wasn't entirely sure how well it worked. She herself couldn't wear metal armors, but that was due to the rules of her own organization; she'd still be perfectly capable of doing everything she could at the moment. If she turned into a horse and that horse had barding applied to it, she would be no less swift (well maybe just a bit less), just more easily fatigued. Yeah a full set of plates would probably interfere with that otherworldly grace, but monks generally wore little more than pajamas. Surely a bit of extra padding wouldn't hurt that much. Maybe that weird monk stuff was just a more finicky form of arcane magic. Then that would make a measure of sense, she supposed.

"Sounds like a plan." Thomas' reply as he caught the cat running back. Still a slight aversion to the kitty, but old habits die hard. Sort of like necromancers who turned themselves into liches. But Satilla was right they had everything they had required more or less, these bugs should be more then adequate for providing light. All that was left to do was to wait and see if the others finished up their shopping sprees too. And maybe tomorrow he'd find a bit more in the rather barren apothecary's store. Or maybe if they were lucky, they'd find an knickknack or two in the old tower to try and sell for some decent coin or alternatively store credit? But there was a nagging thought in Thomas' mind that the old timer might be keeping too many secrets from prying eyes.

The walk back to the tavern was rather uneventful. No one had stopped to accost them or their beetles. Maybe a pin would puncture them nicely, assuming the illuminating glands were avoided. Or Keystone could cut their heads off with a knife maybe? Thomas could too but he was rapidly becoming attached to the little guys. Or girls, Thomas had no training in sexing beetles. Hopefully the tavern owner Femnal would be fine with having a few ingredients short of gunpowder under his roof and incendiary insects as Thomas walked into the tavern looking for the others. He had his hands full, but spotted Sana and Kyra sitting yonder by a table, having all the silverwork done it seemed, as the day was wearing thin. They still had to prepare a thing or two, but as the daylight slips, they'd best head into that tower before nightfall. With the excitement of a schoolboy presenting show and tell, the sorcerer aptly set the glass vessel down on the table for the women to see. "We've got some Firebeetles. We should able to use their light-emitting glands for a good light source, and uh, if we extract them carefully enough, I might be able to grind their shells down for that potion for later use."

"How did the silvering go?"

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Location: Leather Goods Shoppe

Interacting With: Shopkeeper, Cyneburg

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The itinerant brawler inspected his coat. It was decent work, no doubt. straight, reinforced stitching, barely noticeable from the outside. Later on, he might go as far as to get some additional hide or stiffened leather applied to the areas of his protective garment that had been penetrated by steel a couple of days back. Too much of that became counterproductive after a fashion; he was being truthful when he said that he required decent freedom of movement to properly utilize the skills he picked up from various Shou masters and texts. He immediately slid himself into his coat and flexed a bit. "Good work, this..." he mumbled. Placing the five copper coins he received as change for his silver ones onto the counter, he remarked, "...'preciate the rush job." and slid them toward the leatherworker.

Then Cyneburg happened. He really couldn't blame her, he did introduce himself to the Monks at the Yellow Rose Temple with title. It didn't stop him from chuckling, though. Well, less of a chuckle than a guffaw. And by guffaw, that really meant that he came close to soiling himself laughing, running out of breath quickly and using the counter as support. Smiley choking tears squeezed from his eyes, and he had to force himself to breath at a normal rate. When he finally could a moment later, he addressed the Druid as best he was able. "Oh, just bloody fonging 'ell... I 'aven't laughed that 'ard since I'm a lil girl." he breathed deeply and centered himself.

"Fact is, Miss Cyneburg, I'm nobody. I don't belong to no proper Temple like those folk what wear robes and think the deep thoughts 'bout their place in the universe, y'understand. They got their spiritual pursuits an' philosophy an' codes of bloody conduct. I mostly just put the hurtin' on folks what need it." he smiled broadly again, but refrained from actually laughing. "Any title I go by with these folk is, umm..." Keystone struggled with a word for a second, "Honorary. Yeah, that's it. 'onorary. I know a style ain't been used in 'undreds of bloody years, an' they lemme work with 'em 'cause they want to study me as much as I want what they know. These buggers know 'bout me places I ain't been yet. They keep sayin' there's somethin' else 'bout me, but..." he trailed off, shaking his head.

"I just ain't a Monk, not proper. No Master ever invited me to join 'em official-like. I'm a brawler from noplace special what got into a library I ought not've been and found a bloody book." Keystone tried to maintain a sense of lasting humor with his words, but something else crept in. A sense of futility, maybe. Frustration at being pulled into a destiny for which he did not ask. "Past that my life's been a real peach."

"Oi, you about ready to 'ead back?" Keystone seemed eager to change the subject, following his outburst. Without another word, he headed outside.

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"You sure you can handle it?" Kyra asked as she sat there and finally got a bite to eat. It wasn't anything from the kitchen, just from her personal stores but it was something. She wasn't about to order a meal, she wanted to get to the tower as quickly as possible. Sitting there waiting for someone to cook something, then bring it out, then eat it, then pay.... Yeah, that wasn't going to work for her.

Sana just nodded and glanced over towards the door as some of their group returned. "Yeah, I got it," she said without looking back at Kyra. Kyra cocked a brow but let it go now that others had returned. Sana looked down and rearranged the arrows in her quiver. She wanted them set just right if she need to go for them. After that she checked her boot laces to make sure everything was set. Now that some were back it wouldn't be long until Kyra was pushing for them to leave.

"Well do what you need as quickly as you need, soon as the rest are back we are leaving. We want as much daylight time as we can get. Potions might have to wait, don't know how long it will take you to make those but if you just gotta pull something from the beetles, then I suggest you get on it," Kyra said to Thomas before tossing the last few bites of her jerky down to Ash who took it in a single snap of his jaws and horked it down.

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Location: Salarn Streets -> Crossed Swords Inn & Tavern

Interacting With: His Thoughts

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Wordlessly, Keystone stalked back up the thoroughfares and pathways of Salarn, en route to the Crossed Swords Inn & Tavern. He was a bit ahead of the one hour time limit imposed by Kyra. While not 100% happy with the fat that someone was arbitrarily giving him orders, he understood that this undertaking was a thing he was voluntarily a part of, and if the others would not organize of their own accord for the betterment of their common goal, then one of the bigger dogs in the pack had to start barking at the others. It was the way of things.

Not that Keystone minded. In pursuit of his short term goals, he was just as comfortable taking the lead, following the leader, or stepping to the side. His long term goals... were a different story. When acting in the interests of his plans for himself for the future, he was nobody's lackey or footstool. Even if he had to stool some feet or lack it up in the meantime.

Kyra was not as demanding as some of the tosspots he'd worked with/for in the past. She just seemed overly sensitive to other people's bullshit, intentional or not. Perhaps a thicker skin would do her some good. Naturally, the only way to grow a thicker skin was to apply pressure and wait for the body to react. Well, Keystone was nothing if not a force of physical pressure. Yes. Yes! He would strive to Just Be Himself, for the overall betterment of his new friend Kyra.

As he strode back to the Inn, he reached into his pockets. There was a set of two large, black knuckle dusters. So black they seemed to pull in light around them. He regarded their craftsmanship; they were unique, masterfully formed. Purposed to destroy armor, constructs, barriers, stone even, while remaining quiet as a whisper. They turned him into a pummeling juggernaut, but limited his options. He quickly put them back into his coat pockets. Maybe another time. Silver, apparently, would work better.

Before long, Keystone was pushing open the doors to the Crossed Swords, his coat repaired, hopefully his brass knuckles all shiny with precious metal.

Cyne & Nor

Location: Salarn & Crossed Swords Tavern
Interacting with:Keystone & Kyra and Sana

How does one react when somebody they were talking to suddenly bursts into a fit of hysterical laughter out of nowhere at something said that wasn't meant to be funny? Anger or sadness might be there, but concern and confusion were chief reactions that lead to other emotions such as the initially stated two. This was no different for Cyne who stood and watched in silence as the giant of a man almost suffocated himself with laughter. A bit more and she might have had to end up performing some form of CPR on him, and although his strength was admirable and he had that exotic accent, Keystone was not high up on the list of people she wanted to get mouth to mouth with.

"Yeah, we should probably get back with the others." She agreed as she followed behind the larger man. Cyne's perception of time was passable, but not perfect, and she'd rather not push it and end up being late. "You didn't strike me as the book-hunting type."

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Nor barged into the inn, decked head to toe in iron. Only his face remained uncovered, simply because he had the faceplate raised up. No need to trap one's head in a sauna when there was no sign of danger nearby. His expression was a good deal more grumpy than previously seen.

"I was waitin' outside for a good quarter of an hour. Thought we were all meetin' up there before headin' out. Armor might have lots o' paddin' underneath, but it still be a good conductor of cold." He couldn't exactly climb up into a chair given the amount of extra encumbrance he was loaded down with, so he had to content himself with leaning against the wall as he waited for the rest of the party to show up.

Satilla Valen

Well they had assembled it seemed. Satilla nodded at Kyra's words, the beetles had to be prepared fast. She threw a look at Thomas with a serious expression.” Alright, give me one of the beetles, I will quickly separate one into pieces.” She stated, throwing a look at Keystone. He was the cook and naturally she suspected him being able to separate the glans would be a lot faster. Still she was a trained healer after all, she needed to know how to cut both herbs and bodies. Luckily she had rather sure hands if nothing else. She quickly pulled one of the now empty herb glass jars she had.” If we keep the glans in something like this, they will be protected and a lot easier to carry.” She stated and placed the small jar on the table, pulling out a knife ready to prepare a cut beetle.

She then threw a look at Nor who was seemingly waiting outside for some reason. She couldn't understand why he would do that even if the agreement was to meet there. It was more than enough to check outside or out the window once in a while than waiting in the cold. Still she shrugged mentally, having a lot more attention focus requiring task at hand!

“By the way, the Apothecary is fishy...” She threw a quick remark.” I'm pretty sure he withheld the last ingredient Thomas needed. Seemed to give some weird excuse about it too. We should have that in mind at the very least. Never hurts to have possible troubles in mind.”

With a nod to Kyra and Sana, who decided it was better to hurry than the dwaddle the daylight gone, the cosmic sorcerer acknowledge the fading light. Ah once more the romanticism of keeping these beetles alive slipped way with the lamenting of the western sun.
Would they even know they were being harvested for their special glands? The illuminating organ so preciously held that was its defense,
now became its down fall. To which Thomas sadly had to wave goodbye to one of his new pets, and with a solemn sadness tilted his reach into their imprison to carefully avoid getting bitten by a startled bunch of bugs. And yet also careful enough not to release all of them when only one could be dealt with at a time. Slowly, ever so gently, sneaking up on the insects before grasping one by the thorax and pulling away from the rest. The flashing distress of ember-like glow before its eyes signaling its anger. Squirming to escape, mandibles clicking and clacking away in a fierce demonstration against the predators strange. "I'm sorry buddy..." How quaint, an apology as Thomas forced the wriggling beetle against the table, hands pressing against the surface for Satilla to extract the precious glands near the frightened creature's eyes. Thomas could hold, if Satilla could cut. Or if Satilla prefered to hold while Thomas cut, the question was how may days would each gland last?

"How many more do we need to uh... Extract from?" Thomas wondered aloud, "I think we can spare a few if we can get two good glands out of each one." With his free hand digging around for his pestle and mortar to grind up the remains after Satilla was done. "Yeah, he didn't seem to have any Saltpeter, it's a pretty common alchemical reagent, I mean its used in quite a few processes and even... Wait a minute..." Thomas seemed to have a stroke, or a stroke of brilliance. Maybe it was the feeling of the life fading away from beneath his palm, or the twitching of legs still fighting him despite all that happened. "Uh, Mister Femnal Sir, you don't happen to have any niter do you? Any charcuterie or brining salts in the back room there?"

And either way, they had to cut up whatever amount of beetles were suggested. Though Thomas was rather protective of anyone but himself and Satilla handling them. In a twisted parental way...

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Sana looked over towards the door as more started to come into the tavern. As she spotted Keystone she pointed to his knuckles laid out with other items on the table. Kyra cocked a brow at Nor. "Yeah, we were. That's why we are all here. Why Sana and I have been here bit a now," she said as she sat there. Her and Sana had gotten back first, a bit ago and had been sitting and talking before Thomas and Satilla arrived back and those two had been back for a little as well. Seemed everyone was back now and they had taken less than the hour she had given so if there was a problem she couldn't see why. They had agreed to meet back at the tavern within the hour, they had. End of story.

Glancing over at Satilla, Kyra listened and made a mental note. It seemed odd that the man would be fishy but he had to try to keep things hidden from them yesterday when her and Satilla were restocking. Guess their previous business wasn't enough to establish even the least bit of report. Femnal glanced up from the bar where he was going over his books as Thomas spoke up. It was an odd request but in the time he had known this group odd seemed to be their norm.

"Yeah, in the back, how much you need?" he asked as he slipped off the stool.

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Location: Crossed Swords Inn & Tavern

Interacting With: The Group

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The first thing that Keystone noticed upon entering the Inn was the Healer and the Spellcaster doing something beyond his desire to comprehend, with bugs. He viewed the scene with a sense of detached confusion, as if he had just stumbled into some manner of culture shock. Everyone else had no problem with these people vivisecting tiny creatures on a table top inside of what used to be a bustling place of business, as if it were a common enough event. He shrugged it off. Then he saw Satilla looking up at him expectantly. He wasn't sure how to respond, so he rolled out a nonchalant, "Yeah, 'preciate an' all, but no. Already 'ad bugs for breakys, I did. 'xcuse."

The second thing he noticed was that Sana was looking at him and pointing to his brass knuckles, sitting quietly on the table. He strode over to them, gave a cursory look, and carefully picked them up. It was fast and crude work; a thick splash of silver over the business ends of his first adult sized set of knuckle dusters, runes highlighted with the precious lunar metal. They were still a little warm. Keystone nodded grimly and tucked away the twin instruments of ouch-making, the beginnings of a smile forming at the corner of his mouth as he looked to Sana.

"Well then. What's next on our To Do List, then? 'Less we're 'bout set to take in the sights, anyhow."

Cyne & Nor

Location: Salarn & Crossed Swords Tavern
Interacting with:Keystone & Kyra and Sana

"I thought we were going to the tower and that we were just doing some last minute preparations. Is that not what we're doing?" Cyne replied to Keystone's question. As she spoke, she idly watched the other spellcasters in the party butcher a bunch of brightly colored beetles. She wasn't sure how much they were going to do, if they were just going to harvest the whatever they needed (something about a gland? She'd only been half paying attention when Thomas was talking about the things he'd needed to gather during the meeting), or if everyone would need to wait around for the alchemy to be completed.

Nor had his eyes shut and bided his time by tapping his foot and thinking about other things. Like if he should carry his shield around during the trip. Nothing might happen at the tower, and as much as he liked the defense it provided, the thing was a pain in the ass to lug around. But if something did happen, he would be limited to his knife and armor. Not that full plate was lacking in protection, but he found that a sturdy shield tended to work better for magic attacks, and from the sound of things, magic was a very possible threat. Damn magic users, always making everything complicated.

Satilla Valen

“I suggest we cut just 2 maybe 3 of the beetles. Better keep some just in case we need them later.” The witch explained, getting to work on cutting up the rather uncomfortable to deal with creatures. It wasn't that it was that hard of a task, what was annoying about it that she had to work real careful in order to not destroy a gland. In the end she went with the slightly messier tactic of just using the knife she had to deal with the outer shells and some of the insides where the rest she carefully cleared with her fingers, real careful to not damage the glans with her nails.” I'm so going to need an alcohol wash after this...” She mumbled, noting the gooey remains of the insides of the beetles.

Sadly she was refused when her expecting look didn't give Keystone the desire to help her with cutting up beetles. Well her task, what to do. She just sighed in reply.

“The glans will be done in a few minutes and the last of our light sources should be prepared...” Satilla mentioned as was noting some people were feeling the need to get going by their looks.” Yeah... Thomas Cyneburg is right, we were supposed to get last preparations in haste... I'm not sure we have enough time to do complex alchemy.”

"About fifty grams of the pure salts. I think half a gallon of brine if not?" Thomas replied back. The recipe did call for fifty grams of purified saltpeter, meaning any impurities found in common niter would have be driven out by fire and flame. Otherwise, a nitrogenous brine salt solution would have to be evaporated and the salts recovered, like wise for any preserved meats and such re-hydrated to extract the nitres and from there the salt-water boiled out. Alchemy was one part chemistry, one part magic, one part cooking. "Hrm, I guess I could skip on the alchemy part since we are in a hurry. It'll take at least thirty minutes to prepare everything so, I suppose it won't do good for us in a pinch for time."

A few beetles later, and a mess of hemolymph on Thomas's hands and table soaking in rather nicely, they had extracted the six glands from the three beetles and their carapaces were sitting in Thomas's mortar to be ground to bits. There was no reason to grind them now, not with the rest of the group ready to go evidently. So they'd have to remain there awhile, assuming Femnal was okay with that and having a few living fire beetles crawling around. "Femnal, if you could please watch the beetles until we return? I don't want to lock them up, they might get a bit stressed if I keep them in the dark." Given that three were just murdered, it was ironic that Thomas should really care for the well being of the creatures.

"I've got some pure alcohol if you wanted to wash Satilla." As if almost on cue to Satilla's complaint, Thomas retrieved his silver flask of aqua vitae. Not that Thomas thought it would be useful to go around smacking undead with a silver flask, but rather offering it up for Satilla to clean herself with. "Careful though, it's pretty hard on your skin... And if you try drinking it... Well it's nearly two hundred proof." And with that, the sorcerer looked at his own hands with some moderate bug juices and considered cleaning them down with alcohol for a moment. There really wasn't anything wrong with having bug juice on your hands, as long as it wasn't puritic or corrosive. So Thomas held off for now and spared his hands the alcohol.

"Alright everyone, I guess pick up a fire beetle gland and we can head out. I'll be sticking close to Satilla due to my spells, so I think our Six glands here should be plenty for each of us. I'll try and do some alchemy later when we get back."

Well, if it was settled, it was time to head on out, bug parts in hand.

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"Shouldn't be anything but heading to the tower at this point," Kyra said as she stood up and slung her bow over her shoulder. Ash perking his ears as she did before stretching out his paws in front of him and yawning. Sana nodded a bit glancing around. It seemed most were ready to go but Keystone and the magical pair.

Femnal cocked a brow as he came over and shook his head. "Boy, I think you slaughtering the others in front of them is going to stress hese unintelligent creatures out about as much as anything will. They're plains insects, they need warmth and deal with dark every night." he said shaking his head a bit. "What po'dunk magicians shop you learn from?" he said as he covered the beetles up. Sana nearly choked on the water she was trying to down before they left stifling the laughter that was threatening to erupt.

"Right, will be outside," she said with the back of her hand still covering her mouth as she slipped from around the backside of the table and quickly made her way out the front door. Kyra just let out a short breath, picking up glands for her and Sana and followed suit, Ash on her heels.

"Hey might need this," Kyra said as she stepped out into the town, seeing Sana laughing and grinning as she couldn't help herself at this point.

Nor

Location: Crossed Swords Tavern
Interacting with:Thomas

"And we wouldn't want those poor wee bugs tae get all stressed when yer gonna kill em for their organs. Maybe ye should read em a bedtime story and tuck em in so they don't get scary dreams while you're at it." They were insects that were needed for parts, not a pet, beast of burden or wild animal that looked hungry. All those things are creatures you should be worried about being stressed to varying degrees. As long as the glands or whatever weren't disrupted the state of the rest of the bug wasn't all that important. Fucking mages.

"About bloody time. Let's get a move on." Nor pushed himself off from the wall to head outside. In his peripheral vision he noticed the half-breed follow along outside.

He decided against bringing his shield for this particular trip. It would be safe enough in the cart with Dorka, and since as far as he knew he wasn't bringing that along, it would be too much of a hassle for comparatively little gain. If there was any sneaking to be done, he was clinking and clanking enough as it was and a shield would only disadvantage him further. He'd just have to rely on his not quite bare hands and big-ass knife to get by in any combat scenarios that were liable to occur.

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Location: Crossed Swords Inn & Tavern

Interacting With: Sana, Kyra

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"...Right..." expressed Keystone in a single, lengthened syllable. He wasn't precisely sure what was going on with the rest of the people in the group, and he wasn't in a frame of mind to get into a lengthy discussion about it. He did have an idea that his role in this nigh suicidal, self-appointed campaign against evil leaned more heavily toward beating people and/or things into very messy oblivion significantly more than exploring bug innards, no matter how helpful it might turn out later.

Noting that the rest of the group was anxious to get a move on (and particularly thankful for it), Keystone scooped up one of the insect's light-emitting organs and called to Kyra and Sana, "Ey, 'alf a bloody minute then! Gotta grab somethin'." and dashed up the stairs.

His pack was still in his room, or at least the room that he and Sana cohabited the previous night. It seemed untouched since he saw it last, thankfully, and he needed a few things from inside of it. For starters, Keystone carefully opened a sturdy box and snaked out a smallish piece of textured paper. The smell of fine black tea wafted from it before the lid snapped back down. He quickly utilized this piece of paper to wrap the bug squishies into a tight package and slipped it into a pocket. Secondly, he recovered two decent, utilitarian knives in simple sheathes and slid them into his coat, one on either side. Lastly, he took up one of his bandoleers of kunai.

In younger years, Keystone had never considered that learning how to throw a knife would be a life saving skill, let alone that he would take to carrying more than one when preparing for a pitched battle. Yet here he was, equipping himself with no less than nine. His one large, lightly ensorceled seax at his back, the bandoleer of six Shou weapons, and his two occidental blades in his coat. They did tend to round out his usefulness in a fight. He was no expert at it, but he was proficient enough to put the pointy end into the target he was hurling it toward most of the time. Keystone had a feeling that this time, his skills as a Pugilist would be more useful to the group, but it was good to be prepared.

Before he left the room, he pulled on a pair of fingerless leather gloves and flexed his hands. It was one of his little rituals. Then the situation became a little more real to him. They were making preparations to go on the offensive. This is when, in his experience, people started to die. Keystone's thoughts drifted toward Sana. He wasn't sure what he felt for her, but he certainly didn't want her to be ripped from this life by the Undead, as he had seen so may others. Keystone shook his head, trying to clear it. Sana was a big girl, she was tough, she was talented. As long as he did his job and she did hers, they all stood a better chance at getting out of this alive. "Head clear, old boy. You do yours, yeah?" he said aloud to himself.

Briefly, Keystone considered bringing his coils of rope and grappling hook with him. They were exploring a tower, though, not the caves. Unless the tower joined up with the caves in a lower level, anyway, or they had to rappel from some point on the tower. In the end, he decided not to. This was an exploratory run. In and back before dark. If they came upon something that required a rope and hook, or anything else for that matter, they could come back and resupply.

It might have been a little more than a half a minute, but it wasn't very long at all before Keystone found his way back out of the Crossed Swords and with the group. He nodded his head and began to pop the knuckles in either hand, one at a time. With a steady, concerned gaze, he walked over to Sana. In a gravelly but quiet voice, he inquired, "You good, Sana?" She had been out of action for a while, and had only gotten a decent meal and single night's rest since receiving treatment. He was a bit concerned.

Satilla Valen

“Thank you, Thomas.” Satilla stated as she had finished cutting up beetles and moved onto taking the flask, moving her hand above a now empty plate and quickly poured some into one of her hands, moving her fingers to clean up her hand. Sure enough just as Thomas had stated it was quite the kick this thing. She was so glad she hadn't poured any on open wound... Actually that said, it would clean up wounds like no other if they watered it down somewhat. She made a mental check to do that later before proceeded to repeat it with her other hand in haste and handed the flask back, before whiping her hands in her skirt. No need for manners giving the situation.” Alright, let's go, Thomas.” She stated as she too stood up, grabbing the glass container for the rest of the glans as she stood up, placing it in her bag for the moment.

Taking firm hold of her simple wooden staff, she walked outside to join the rest.” I'm ready too.” Satilla stated, as Skittles meowed, standing by her.” And Skittles's ready too...” She added with a smile.

Depending on the undead type she'd have to switch form the staff to the silver dagger Kyra had gifted her, so she made sure it was firmly secured on her belt also.

Well, forgive Thomas for being some what sentimental to his animals. But Femnal or whatever the dwarf's name was (Nor was its?) didn't have to be so rude about it. Keeping them in the dark may have worn out their bioilluminsence, given that they aren't particularly being fed anything. Hence the point of keeping them in a lit area where they need not tax such glands to signal distress or confusion after their friends had been harvest so publicly. And the young sorcerer's reply was a rather indignant 'hrmph' who was some weak-stomached innkeeper to call him out? And this dwarf? A hairdresser that obviously only sees hair and heads, not people being so objectively driven to eschew comfort for livings things. All business, a barber who's earned his red stripe proper probably. Well at least there was Satilla of whom Thomas was happy to have her company, following the woodland witch with satchel in side. Thomas considered grabbing his makesift staff-walkingstick that was prepared by Ntaj, but seeing how he'll be riding sideseat its was probably unnecessary given Satilla's weapons and Thomas' lack of weapon training.

"Alright, coming!." Oh what an adventure this could be, hopefully one that would be fruitful. A good experience nevertheless assuming you didn't get yourself killed. Something to write home about maybe, the wonderful adventure of the dark tower. Of course such foolish youth was champing at the bit, threading forward with bold strides towards possible impending doom. He'd have to stick close to Satilla who had their shared light source. Reagents capped off and quickly placed in the hanging satchel, a stuffed bag carrying all of Thomas's usually effects. Maybe they'd find some interesting items in the tower, something to carry back and examine more thoroughly.

Leave no stone unturned and what not right?

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Kyra stepped off the veranda of the tavern and glanced around. The winds were picking up and the sky was grey with clouds. Pulling the hood of her mantle up she turned towards the tower. Her chin tilting up a bit, taking in the sight as the temperature continued to drop. It was a rather decapitated looking, how it stood standing was beyond her at this point. It stood thirty feet tall with a domed ceiling but there were bits of the wall broken away and from where they were it looked rather abandoned. If it was, this would be a quick run and then they could check out the caves. Maybe with the walls broken away in certain places it wouldn't be too dark. With the clouds covering the sun though those beetles looked to be coming in handy rather quickly.

"Alright, let's get a move on," Kyra said as she pulled her cloak tighter around her. She started walking down the road and towards the tower.

Sana looked over to Kyra and nodded giving Epona a quick pat. She wouldn't be taking her with them, a tower was no place for a mare; no matter how loyal. At least they had Ash, who was staying at the heels of Kyra as she walked down the street. Adjusting her bow Sana's eyes darted over to Keystone as he came over. She looked away and petted Epona once more. "Yeah," she said rather unconvincingly. Looking back to him she forced half a smile.

"Yeah, of course, let's get this over with," she added before turning and heading in the direction that Kyra had went off in. She still wasn't sounding convincing but it wasn't for the reasons others might think. Sure, going off to a possible fight was never a fun thing, least for her it wasn't. Undead sucked. So did what she had been through the last few days but recovery wise she felt fine. It was the weather that was getting to her and not the cold. The more grim the weather turned after it being warm the more it worried her. She had been caught up in one than more fog and each time it ripped her away and dropped her somewhere else. Sure it was a bit cold for a fog right now but the last several that had taken her had come after several days of rain and then a sudden drop in the weather. For her, right then, getting in the tower no matter what it held was better than being out in the open air.

Coming up to the tower Kyra looked up it. There were no windows and what areas of the wall was ripped away didn't look like a large enough opening for at least some of the people to climb in through; even if it were it mean climbing. For her that wasn't a problem but she had to wonder how well a dwarf in armor and a direwolf would do.

"Are we going to knock?" Sana asked coming up to Kyra. Best entrance seemed to just be the front door; which looked to be a little bit better of condition than the rest of the building.

"At this point if there is something inside, they probably already know we are here," Kyra said shrugging a bit. "How's your voice?"

"Rather now go there today if I don't have to," the gypsy stated frankly. "I could climb in though."

"Rather not split us up," Kyra countered with a smirk.

Cyne & Nor

Location: Tower
Interacting with:The group

"We could just bust our way in." A rather simplistic train of thought, but it had its merits. They had a couple of really beefy guys in the form of Keystone and the dwarf and she could transform into something big like a bear or ox if need be, so it wasn't like they lacked the muscle to just knock down the door. And chances were that nobody actually lived here, so any damage they did to this tower wouldn't be to anyone's detriment. And if anyone was residing in the tower, they were about to have a shitty day either way, That hole wasn't going to keep out the impending storm, so might as well cut down on all the decision making and just go the simple route. And Cyne would rather not be out in the open when that storm did roll in.

"Perhaps we ought to take a gander 'round the area afore we start breaking into places. We be dealing with a necromancer, aye? From me own experiences, if'n a spellcaster be holed up somewhere like this, they have some secret back door that they use. The front door looks a bit too shabby fer a'body that's throwing around hordes of skeletons." At least I wouldn't hole up somewhere with only a single entrance entrance and exit if it were me, Nor thought to himself. Having only one entrance to your lair was a rookie mistake. Sure there was only one way for your foes to come in, making it the most secure option but then there was no escape. Any wizard with enough power to command an army of undead should at least know that much. Then again, you never knew with those types.