He looked about the group and then at Miles, who had started walking away, "Let us continue... he is correct, the day may be young, but that gives us no right to look like a flower basking in its light." He shrugged and started walking behind the man, luckily he had no idea what he was getting himself into. He didn't exactly know how a man or creature could be turned into something it wasn't.

He moved beside the man walking in the front and looked at him, "So... what did that contract say?" he asked as he looked back towards the girl, and back to the man beside him with a somewhat straight face, "I have little knowledge on what was on it... but I know it said adventure and tomb based off of what was said on it?"

Ana of Auroris

"Very well," Ana said as Miles continued on his way. "I suppose he has a point. Let's get going, shall we?" She followed him, keeping to the road that would lead to the mountain's base. From there, a short pathway would wind the first few miles, cutting through stone and allowing for easy traveling. It was at the path's abrupt end that things would start to get difficult. Ana was glad for her enchanted boots; she hated the cold.

She cast a glance back over her shoulder at the others. They had each signed and handed over the contracts. She had her team.

~Miles Kyzalith~

Miles nodded at Ana, acknowledging her response, then giving a quick glance at the others of the group just mere paces behind him. He turned his head forward and started speaking in a hushed tone, making sure only the blacksmith could hear him, "I've only took quick glances at it, makin' sure it said nothin' bout giving up all the riches." He paused, then continued, assuring himself that the others couldn't make out what he's saying. "All I know is that the scrolls are off limits to us, Ana is the only one who can take those home. But if she tries to stop me from taking me fair cut? Well...contract be dammned, I wont be played for no fool. Sorcereress or not she will have a fight on her hands."

His dark tone and hushed voice seemed subside for the time being and his outwardly nonchalant demeanor came forth, "Don't you worry none, I'm sure it'll all work out for us in the end, yeah?" He gave the man a friendly pat on the shoulder.

He continued to walk the street, buildings and various other paths passed him by. He started to think about the journey more. He was taking a liking to the blacksmith, not sure why, the man obviously had his own secrets just like the rest of them. Maybe it was the way he held himself or the way he spoke formally in this informal setting. It kinda reminded Miles of the officers back home. I guess we'll see just how long he keeps up that persona... He thought to himself.

Ana of Auroris

Ana had her team. She hoped this time she would be able to make it farther into the mountains. As much as she liked to think she would have tried to make the journey on her own . . . She shuddered at the thought of bracing those harsh winds and snow-covered slopes. Not to mention, the monsters that lurked about. Her magic was powerful, but it did have its limits. She cast glances at the others. It would soon be clear how much help they offered.

Vadymc was not fond of Miles' approach on things. For him, words like '"The sooner we get to fightin' the sooner you folks can see just how useful each of you are.' could only come out of a hot-headed fool's mouth. His approach was and had always been to try and avoid any real fight by doing his job properly with the first attack, but that required that the party would not enter this tomb like a hoard of rampaging elefants. Unfortunately Miles seemed to behave just like one already...

Aynway, he would keep his mouth shut and avoid making a conflict out of it. If they'd reach their destination in distrust of each other their chances would not be marginal, but nonexistent altogether. So it was better to give reality a chance to demonstrate what kind of approach was the best one.

Vadymc, at first glance, might have looked like a lumbering beast incapable of any elegant move. As he began walking however long legs indeed started to correlate with significant speed so the assassin, in spite of not having been the first one to get moving, was able to catch up quickly without making too much of an effort out of it. As he was in a close enough range to speak without much volume, Vadymc joined the ongoing conversation:

"You seem to be worried more about us getting backstabbed by our employer than by whatever ancient magic, sophisticated traps or just restless ghosts might roam in any old tomb of significant size and unclear origin. How does it come, Miles ?"

The blacksmith looked to the shoulder that was patted, then to the man, shrugging, "I am sure it will..." he said as he continued walking, looking down to the little dingy sword that was on his hip, he hoped it would be enough, he made that, and it looked like someone took sheet metal, made some blade and wrapped leather around the base to make a hilt. He didn't really know how to make a sword, and that was his best attempt, he made things like working hammers, nails, plates for a plow that was just some little scrap piece forged into a sword.

He looked to the beast-man, or whatever he was as he raised his eyebrow before looking at the girl who seemed to be having a memory fit in her head, "She is scared, and someone who does not seem to carry a knife to stab one in the back. I do not see her stabbing one in back, if anyone else does, it is the restless one or you Miles, I do not know this tailed and horned one."

He thought for a second, trying to figure out what it meant, backstab, "Maybe if she finds a sword, or something to cook with she could stab one in back. Or steal something." he turned to the girl and looked to his hips sword, "this is not good for stabbing in back, it is maybe for slashing, but it is not good at stabbing."

~Miles Kyzalith~

Miles pressed his lips into a line when he heard the tiefling speak. It was obvious Miles wasn't as discreet with his words as he liked to be, but it couldn't be helped. Before he could come up with a witty response that would deflect the tieflings question, the blacksmith spoke.

He was a funny one, even if it was unintentional. "Now I'm sure this fellow didn't mean it literally...But I get it." Miles said. He looked down to the road ahead of them, taking a few steps before finally replying to the tiefling. "For the record, I am. A nasty trap that could make quick work of my innards seems like a dangerous possibility. But at least the trap did it's job honestly. The trap decided to kill me the moment I triggered it, not after it let me believe it was safe. Now it's right obvious a traps not sentient, but you get the gist."

Miles paused for a second then looked the tiefling in his eyes."I'm not one to get all shady on ya, but not everyone is as nice as I am. Strewth, I might be the nicest fellow 'ere!!" Miles bellowed after that statement. He rested his head back on his neck, his chin in the air and his throat poking forward. A smirk grew across his lips as he regarded the sky. Oh this is going to be fun.he thought. All those days of witty banter with his comrades made him comfortable with passive aggressiveness. I wonder who will be the first to try and call me out on the things I say...

Ana of Auroris

The village of Stagcross faded into the distance. Ana pulled her hood over her head in preparation for the blistering winds that would soon be upon them. Her magic flared, and she tamped it back down. Not yet, she reminded herself. As easy as it would be to use magic right now, she needed to save it. The mountains would be far more dangerous the higher they climbed. She couldn't risk reaching a burn out before making it to the tomb.

She glanced at the others. They all seemed to be faring well so far, though the only thing they'd accomplished was a brisk walk to the foot of the pass. Ahead of them, the mountains loomed with the King's Pass leading the charge. They would make it to the tomb, or they would die on that snow-capped peak.

_{(Sorry... my life's in quite a bit of chaos right these times. I will try to post more consistently now.)}



A look at the tiefling's face was enough to tell a story about a reply not having dissipated serious concerns. Still Vadymc took a few moments in order to compile a response he thought to be adequate, given that he deemed Miles' attitude to be odd to say the least.

"The trap might kill you the instant you trigger it, but it would not be able to do so if you knew about its existence beforehand. Therefore your argument is invalid. The trap kills you after you believed that the place was safe to enter in the first place. So... where did your 'honesty' go now ? Or, in other words: You already signed the contract, so you're already in the boat no matter what you do about it. Maybe you should try to make the best out of it and not pile up even more odds against us than there already are ?"

The tiefling did not let Miles disappear out of his view. The man made him both curious and a little annoyed at the same time. A small mental note about always letting this guy go in front of him might be due... With that kind of approach Miles hopefully would dispose of any traps with certainty.

He looked between the group and shrugged a bit, his head turning over to look at the tiefling, then back at Miles. "Traps are not of honesty... from what I see of these traps, they are hidden away to attack some unsuspecting fool walking down a pathway of some kind. To me to attack someone who does not see you may be a bit petty..." The blacksmith would again think to himself, maybe the girl behind him was a trap with those contracts she had them sign, maybe the others were too afraid to mention that they could not read like him.

She could read, maybe she had planned to pull a bunch of idiots into a death trap, his eyes squinted forward to see if there was something off their beaten path. But he did not know what to look for, he looked back at the now hooded figure. He looked to those around him, what could they want from him, they had everything he had. Well but for a few things, and they probably had more. Then he thought about it a second more, maybe he is just an idiot who is becoming paranoid because of some tailed creatures and a probable thug are talking to each other about traps.

The blacksmith just shrugged after his constipated look of distrust and continued walking down the path, hoping traps would not bug him or those around him in the future.

~Miles Kyzalith~

Miles continued to walk with the men. He threw his hands up in surrender, "Alright alright I get it. Yall seen the arguments to my brilliant analogy." Miles paused for a second, walking and looking over his shoulder then forward again, "You guys are right. No need adding another thing to stress about, yeah? You two go on putting all your trust in an unknown quantity and just hope for the best." Miles's words dripped with sarcasm. The consequence of making these two people angry with him could be detrimental to the group in the future, but Miles never thought that far ahead. He continued to walk, pulling a thick hooded cape from his pack. He swung it over his shoulders, propping the hood up to cover his head. He looked back at the two men he'd been walking with, the tailed one falling behind. On purpose it would seem.

"I'll put my trust in her too. But, I will always be ready for betrayal. No amount of witty banter or wishful thinking is going to change that." With that, Miles turned around. The cold wind now blowing against the back of his hood. he started to walk against the group, leaving the Tiefling and the blacksmith to lead. Miles took a position next to Ana and joined her pace, walking by her side. He walked beside her for some time, not saying much in the way of conversation. He more or less wanted to switch positions to make the other two men uncomfortable. Miles' foolish confession didn't exactly have the effect on the two men as he hoped and it seemed obvious to Miles that in a time of a long walk he'd managed to make himself suspicious. It was, unfortunately, very common for miles to make enemies of new people he met, today it would seem would be no different. "Hey Ana." Mile's piped up, "We're coming up on the end of the path, yeah? it's going to start getting rough here. God knows what we're gonna run into going forth."

Ana of Auroris

Ana had only caught snippets of the men's conversation. Talk of traps and honesty. She wasn't particularly interested, aside from the fact that these were her traveling companions for the foreseeable future. As much as she liked to believe she could defend herself against them if it came to that, a sneak attack coupled with being outnumbered might prove fatal.

She glanced over at Miles. He had signed the contract. It would bind him to his word, as it would for all the others. Yet she could not be sure of his intentions or how well whatever morals he had would hold in the treacherous pass.

After a few long moments of silence, he cleared his throat. "Hey, Ana. We're coming up on the end of the path, yeah? It's going to start getting rough here. God knows what we're gonna run into going forth."

A gust of wind sliced through the air, ruffling a few strands of auburn hair that had slipped free from under her hood. She pursed her lips and brushed them behind her ears as best she could. It was futile, she knew, especially when the winds would only worsen. "Yes, the path will soon end." She brushed her gloved hands over her pants, ridding herself of invisible specs of dust. "I'd imagine cave crawlers may be scuttling about. I ran into a couple on my first attempt."

Ana held out her palm, allowing for a small spark to ignite. The flame glowed hot and bright against the dark leather. "These mountain breeds abhor fire, though. They'll run back to their caves as soon as they get too close." It vanished, and Ana instantly missed the small bit of warmth it had provided. "As for whatever else lingers, I'm sure a group as well-rounded as our own will easily be able to handle it."

Somewhere deep inside of himself, Vadymc made a mental note just to forget about Miles when it came to reasonable conversation about certain topics. Unfortunately his own primary profession just was pretty much exactly about those topics, so effectively he could forget about Miles when it came to any kind of conversation that was above the level of mere smalltalk. It almost seemed that Miles had come to the same conclusion, at least the man seemed unwilling to continue talking. Instead he switched positions, now apparently trying to start some dialogue with Ana. How ironic... hadn't he just put her on the top position of his personal 'people to mistrust' list ?

Now he was left with Irnflow and wondered whether he should continue talking with the blacksmith or not. The tiefling let his muscular tail whip over some loose stones, tossing them onto the wayside behind him while he thought. Having come to the conclusion not to put more pressure onto the topic Vadymc then just said "Well I'd say that everyone has his or her preferred methods. I just wished I'd be a little warmer here."

Vadymc was not fond of low temperatures. Where he came from the weather was rather hot, sometimes even sweltering, and high winds were a rarity just as were large amounds of rainfall. The rogue pulled a little at his clothes, trying to wrap them just that little bit tighter around his body in order to preserve the warmth that was left. "So what are you doing normally ? Forgive me being so direct, but you don't look like a pure fighter." For that, the rogue simply deemed Irnflow to be a bit too bulked up. All that muscle and its weight could stand in one's way.

The blacksmith chuckled a bit, "I've never been in a fight, I am a blacksmith. I would hunt around my home, farm a bit, and whenever someone needed something to be made, they would just have to bring the metal and a handle to fit the tool, as well as some food or something as payment."

"Sometimes people would stop and stay for a day before continuing their travels, I left it with a family I trust who needed some land to live on... I showed them the two fields I have and asked them to keep it while I was away. They were the ones who told me of this group... I think." Irnflow looked down at his belt and pulled the thin crudely made sword, "I made this, and left... and I do wish I had more to wear... if it is getting this cold here, then I wonder how it will be in the future."