As the young merchant began to bring out her wares that he had requested, yes... These were certainly familiar. The north-eastern shore of Akitsushima was one such place he once visited while in service of his lord, but those were days long gone. How nostalgic. As he was preparing his coin, soon came the short blade he had requested, a wakizashi. The craftsmanship was unfamiliar to him, but nor was it anything more than just fine craftsmanship from a fine blacksmith. As he slipped it slightly out of it's scabbard to inspect the blade, there were no blemishes or chips, a well-polished blade. It's weight was light, and the steel seemed flexible. Perfect.

As he paid out the amount required, he thanked the young merchant... But he could not help but have some questions.

"So... How is the homeland these days? I have been here many of the my previous years and word or even items from Akitsushima are rare", he asks. Last he remembered, he was part of a political revolt of sorts, his lord and his lord's house silently cut away. The few survivors of that clan now hopefully still well and kept safe by his former colleagues.

Vira looked at the vendors wares and frowned a little behind her mask. There wasn’t really anything to catch her eye… and she was pretty much broke anyway. She waited politely for a moment, observing the rest of the party and silently judging them. Thus far though she had an amount of respect for a few of the party. Some she knew by reputation but for the most part their identities were new to her. Two of those she had dubbed Shorty and Rude. After a moment she had had enough of waiting.

“Can we leave now? Some of us may have bills to pay.”

“Yeah, right, no one here should put their own life or others’ at risk unless you have a really good reason for tha--” Leyna said, nodding to the arachnid mage’s words instinctively. However, her sentence came to a sudden halt when her senses finally caught up to her thoughts and she noticed that not only she was agreeing with a talking, giant-spider person, but that she was agreeing with a talking, giant-spider person that crept behind her without Leyna even noticing.

“Ahh-- Anyway, I guess that we should g-- get going. I think that if we do-- don’t dilly dally too much, we may be able to reach the ruins before it gets dark. A-- According to my notes, they aren’t supposed to be so far from Venne,” Leyna said, coughing here and there to try and disguise her stuttering voice as she walked forward, taking the scout position naturally.

"It's quite wonderful! I've heard one of the Imperial family is soon going abroad, as well, but that sort of thing is a rumor after all!" replied the girl brightly, with a cheery giggle. She seemed quite happy to have met someone who shared her origins, at least in terms of their country. Soon, she had also supplied the herbs that had been requested... or rather, very similar plants. It seemed these were Akitsushiman counterparts, relatives to the plants. It was notable that some of the items she retrieved did not appear to be on her shelves, nor did there appear to be much storage space in the back. And every time she disappeared into the back, there would bee that strange bell-ringing sound...

This, coupled with the fact that she had mentioned it had to be what she could carry, may have made it rather curious indeed, just how she was getting these items.

But for now, there wasn't much time to dwell on such matters. They had to get going, after all, in order to make it to the ruins at before nightfall. It was just as Leyna said.

"Hmph, as long as you don't try to order me around like your subordinate!" declared Sophie, before turning to follow the elf. She did note, with some amusement, that Leyna seemed somewhat frightened just looking at the drider...

The trip to the ruins itself was rather unventful. It wasn't a very long one, after all, and there were few creatures who would try their luck against a group of adventurers that were out and about during the day.

By the time they reached the ruins, the sun had already begun to set, casting the sky in brilliant oranges and long shadows across the earth.

Val Ethyn was somewhat near to the dwarven mountain, but it was not of dwarven make. They ruins themselves were seemingly elven in origin, but it was difficult to determine that due to their age and any elves who might have been around when this place was in working order were unlikely to materialize. Some were simply sets of pillars jutting from the ground, others were more elaborate underground complexes.

To be honest, Sophie didn't know the exact ins and outs or the purposes of the buildings that had been discovered, aside from the fact that adventurers had previously cleared one of them of undead and other such unsavory creatures.

If she had to guess, the crumbling stairway and door seemingly cut into the rock of a nearby ledge was likely the newest ruins, on the far side of the digsite.

The adventurers weren't alone.

There were numerous tents set up, with a large number of individuals-mostly humans and dwarves-enjoying dinner on a set of long tables between them. There were a few wood elves, as well, likely there because of the potentially elven nature of the ruins.

A short-haired young woman, wearing the blue and silver garb signifying her attachment to the Mage Academy of Venne, was first to greet them.

"Ah, you must be from the guild!" she declared, smiling and bowing. As she straightened, she continued.

"My name is Kiri Valveth, and I'm a supervisor from the Venne Mage Academy!" she introduced herself. Pausing for a moment, and blushing, she averted her eyes.

"... W-well, technically I'm still a student... b-but anyway! I'm happy to see someone came so quickly!"

Sophie cocked her head to one side. A student, in charge of overseeing the archeological dig? That didn't sound right. There had been a few jobs she'd accepted that involved the Academy, and their supervisors were usually more senior members the faculty. Like that blasted dark elf...

It seemed strange that they would send a student to oversee something like this.

"Do you have any questions?" continued Kiri, "Or would you like for me to show you to the ruins?"

@thrrnvwls@Raineh Daze@Sho Minazuki@KoL@TheFake

Galen received the plants with an almost-imperceptible mix of curiousity and delight in his eyes, no doubt fueled by his desire to study the obviously non-local specimens that had been presented. He had crouched, putting a piece of cloth on the ground, before laying each herb on it with great care. His hands moved deftly as he took several empty bottles out from under his cloak, his motions practiced and his expression one usually found in much older and more studious practicioners. Each herb was hurriedly put away, though Galen knew their potential potency would hardly be affected by a few seconds of exposure to air.

===

The group arrives at the dig site, Galen quite a bit away from them, his hands busy with a bottle as he packaged the last herb he could find on their walk. Habits are hard to drop, and Galen has found himself grabbing anything that might even look remotely useful, even if he possesses knowledge that proves anything he had picked up on the way to the ruins would be useless in treating anything more serious than a small cut.

After catching up with the group, Galen pushes past anyone blocking his way to the front.

"Do you have any information regarding any flora and fauna we might encounter? I am aware 'tis newly discovered," He makes a vague motion with his hand in the direction of the various people already present on the site before continuing,"but obviously some have been here long enough to settle down, and I'm sure it wouldn't be strange to assume someone would have heard or seen something."

@VitaVitaAR@Raineh Daze@Sho Minazuki@KoL@TheFake

Plants. The fool wanted to ask about the local plants, after taking so long getting here. That was... pointless. There were far more interesting and concerning things afoot, such as the presence of ruins within a days' walk from the guild... that nobody had ever heard about.

"Squirrels, monsieur. Ze guild is only a few miles zat way... and if you 'ave never stepped outside eet, why are you 'ere? For zat matter, why are any of us 'ere? How is it zat we 'ave never 'eard of zis place before?" the spider asked, continuing to look around at the camp, evaluating its setup, "And 'ow dare ze academy put a student in charge... as a professor I would never do such a zing."

“Hey! Could you not do that, please?” Leyna said in a slightly indignant tone and standing before Galen. Sincerely, she felt like extending her feet to trip him when he pushed her aside with no consideration whatsoever, but dropped that idea when she realized that it would cause more trouble than it was worth.

“Actually, could you stop doing everything you did on the way here? This herb picking made us lose precious time since I had to adjust my pace to not leave you behind. Also, do you have any idea about the fact that we are less than a day away from the city, like she said? How different do you think that the plants and animals from this place can be?” she said, pressing a finger against his chest and nodding towards their group’s arachnid mage, momentarily letting go off her apprehension towards Myrielle’s species.

Once she was done with her rant, Leyna turned to the mage that welcomed them with a blush on her face and said in a sympathetic voice, “I’m sorry for that. I’m Leynanniel, an Elven scout and explorer, but you can call me Leyna, if you wish. It’s been a long while since I last worked for the Academy but I see that Archi -- I mean, Professor Archibald -- is still too keen on ditching his work. It must be really rough to study under him, huh?”

“Anyway, I would be honored to know any details you have about the history of these ruins, its past inhabitants, why it fell, or anything else. But, more than anything else, I would like to know where you want us,” she gestured towards the remainder of the party, only skipping Galen unceremoniously, “to begin working? If you hired professional adventurers it must mean you have some high threat place, or places, you want to explore, right?”

As he gathered up the things he had bought, storing them away as was appropriate, and sliding the new weapon alongside his other two blades, listening to the girl talk of happenings in their homeland. So it seems things have calmed down over there, although considering the affiliations of some people he knew he had some misgivings about this visit. Still, this was not an immediate problem, or one that seemed to be in the near future for that matter, he smiled warmly at the merchant girl,

"Well, that is good to know, thank you", showing her some common gratitude, before joining up with the rest of the party.

---

Upon arrival to the ruins it was clear to them a base of operations had already been setup. Various tents and some what appear to be dig staff pacing around. They were soon greeted by a young girl, claiming she is from the Venne Magic Academy... To be frank, Kyoshiro had only passing dealings with their like, often acting as a bodyguard for some of their fieldworkers as part of being an adventurer, but never had any direct ties to them. Magic was an amazing thing, but not something he felt he needed or wanted to learn. Still... He greeted her kindly, before her attention was directed to the rest of his companions for this venture.

As he listened he began to have his own questions, although regarding history... He has seen these types of ruins once before, Dwarven the traveller called it... He had no idea what that meant, but he knew nothing of Dwarven ruins or Dwarves. Although in general, he did not think his questions were worth bothering the young lady over, besides someone had already asked about it's history.

He kept silent, simply looking and surveying the area... He then remembered, this orange hue across their surroundings was not simply natural decoration. It was nearly sun-down. As soon as everyone was done with their questions he simply had one of his own,

"We are not expected to enter them now I assume? As the sun has already set. I wager it would be dangerous to venture in during the evening", his question was rather concise. One thing he knew was to minimise threat and danger as much as possible, even if it as a student leading this expedition, either meaning this ruin is considered low risk enough for a student to be getting their hands wet, or... They're actually somehow short on people to be running these. Still in any case, it may not do to walk in there at night.

The alchemist edged around the group, walking to the entrance of the ruins and peered inside.

“I don’t see what the time of day has to do with anything. Why not go take a look now?”

Vira looked around, leaning against the structure. If there was an academic heading up the investigation then they might have a different set of priorities. They also might have made their own foray into the ruins.

“Have you entered at all yet? Have you dated the ruins?”

She paused for several beats and thought things through.

“You’re hiding something from us… ”

"You wasted enough time staring at the ground on the way here that you should already know all about the local plants," commented Sophie, with a huff and the folding of her arms. The healer was utterly incompetent when it came to dealing with other people, ad also somewhat naive in general. How different could the plants and animals possibly be when they were less then a day from the guild? The sun was only beginning to set!

For that matter, the swordsman was overly cautious, at least in Sophie's opinion. They were to be exploring an underground complex, it would be dark regardless of the time of day. She wasn't exactly in the mood to sit around and waste even more time waiting for it to be morning, she hadn't brought her camping equipment anyway and didn't fancy the idea of sharing a tent with any of the workers around here.

But the other matters were curious. What was in the ruin they'd been asked to investigate that required adventurers, and why was a student in charge of such an important dig site?

"Eh-heheheh..." Kiri placed a finger to her cheek, "Er, as far as I'm aware, nothing around here is particularly unusual. As far as animals and plants go, I mean. It's only a few hours away from Venne after all."

She paused for a moment, a little uneasy after having been asked so many questions so quickly. Especially after the drider's comments.

"... Er... w-well... Ah! Miss Leynanniel, er, has it right," she said, nervously fidgeting as she spoke, "Professor Archibald, um, shortly after discovering the new ruins he suddenly declared he had other matters that needed his attention and ran off... he's doing that a lot, really..."

Before she could continue, Sophie interjected suddenly.

"I don't see why the time of day should stop us," she asserted, "It's an underground ruin. It's going to be dark and dreary during the day just as much as it will be at night, isn't it?"

The purple-haired girl really didn't want to be delayed any longer than they already had been.

"W-well, all that's up to you," commented Kiri, shifting from one foot to the other, "But, well... it's strange. Professor Archibald believed this ruin was concealed with an illusion, and... as you might know, the last ruin hidden with an illusion had undead inside of it."

That certainly explained why they'd wanted adventurers brought in.

"On top of this, we're fairly certain it's a crypt of some sort, which means the presence of undead is even more likely," the mage student added, "I wish I could say more, but there's still so much we don't know about these ruins. We still can't tell for sure if it was even elves who built them. I-I promise, I'm not hiding anything."

@thrrnvwls@Raineh Daze@Sho Minazuki@TheFake

“Phew… At least it’s not giant bu--” Leyna said once the weary looking student explained the situation, stopping her tongue a moment before saying something that might poke their chitinous mage. “Bunnies, yeah! At least we aren’t going to face giant bunnies… those are really a pain in defeat… hehe,” she added hastily, in an attempt to recover from her near faux pas.

“Anyway, I agree with the others. If we are going to fight undead, in an underground maze, the time of the day means nothing. We can go as soon as we finish our preparations,” Leyna said, agreeing with Sophie and Vira. “Plus, we shouldn’t try to make miss Kiri’s life harder. It’s asking too much of anyone to have all the answers to our questions, especially a student making up for her empty-headed of a teacher.”

Vira set her jaw and frowned behind her mask. She still thought something was being hidden. The student referring to professor Archibald in the past tense really piqued her interest, but maybe Vira was reading into things too much. I could have been just a slip of the tongue or the professor was no long on the project. Still, it was exceedingly strange for a student to have been the one to greet them, especially with so much unknown about the ruins.

“So, does anyone have some light for us?”

She started into the ruins, walking in as far as the existing light let her. She did have some chemicals and compounds that could be used to illuminate things but if someone else was willing then it would help to keep her costs down.