Koil hated Physt so damn much. It was hot, it was dry, so far away from the land that saw his birth, the ideal temperature of the undersea paradise of Narxos, well, before the mist and the unseen came. He had came here 1 week earlier through the Eldrast station. He had been paid handsomely to bring pouches of expensive plants to Tiaquin, with a bonus to be on time. The bonus had been a formality of course, since no one thought he'd be able to board the train from Gestalt with contraband. A little song of diplomacy went a long way to make people more open to your ideas.

Right now he was in a so called 'Club'. People dancing, probably smoking whatever he had brought with him from the north and so forth. Koilembolon was in fact having a discussion with someone who had work for people like him it seemed, although the young man was extremely suspicious to say the least.

"So a snake witch."

"Yes, exactly, a cave not far from here and I need your help."

"This is suspicious."

"The money is real."

He threw a large pouch of gold on the table. Indeed real it was and this was why Koil worked, to amass resources for an expedition in the north. This was a lot of gold but he generally made his business through contacts or guilds. People asking for mercenaries like this were extremely unusual to say the least and he had seen this man speak to other people around the place before.

"There is something you are not telling me, land strider, and for this I do not trust you. I recommend you do business with a guild. It also intrigues me that you are looking for a single man."

The man smiled some more, a forced smile.

"It's a cave, small, not a whole lot of place for multiple people to maneuver, I don't want for people to get in each others way. And I'm new to this hiring business. Come on, this gold and the loot inside the cave split in two, no, you can keep two third of it even!"

"What loot."

"Statues of crystal."

"Statues of crystal... may I interrogate you about the provenance of those?"

He looked stressed.

"Magic."

Koil got up from his seat.

"Oh come now, she's a magician, but you're better are you not? And I'll cover you, I'm a decent archer, yes, I'll come with you, I wouldn't risk my life if I wasn't certain you can get the job done now would I?"

This didn't help the situation. Visibly this man was a bandit waiting for a pray to send to send to his companions. But still, even from this perspective... Grab the money, go to the place, slaughter them all for the loot they had stolen. It was possible, Koil had more than a few tricks up his sleeves. It would be a tough fight but not like being a wyvern's prey. Koil turned and took the gold.

"You will meet me tomorrow here where I will deliver the head of the creature. I'll go in alone."

He frowned.

"How do I know you'll not just take the gold and run?"

"One does not get an armor like mine without having the habit of honoring his duties. But if you doubt of me then I will leave your gold and may you find a more cooperative business partner."

"Nooononono, it is quite alright. Here is the map, it isn't that far from the city, watch out for magic and uh... try not to look at that creature in the eyes."

Koil turned around and left. This was shady, it was 100% certain the people inside this cavern would expect him and traps were possible, but a fish that expects the net could never be caught as they said. Behind him the man smiled. Either this hired help would kill Dormeria or, more likely, he'd be turned to stone and his part of the deal would be completed: Send an unsuspecting fool to her.

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The man had been right, it hadn't been far, in fact, it was still in the city, albeit deep in it. One would have to know his way to reach this place. Was he sent to murder someone? He had moral qualms about being an assassin, but this city... it disgusted him. Surely every living being in it was guilty of something or another. And so he entered. 'Don't look at it in the eyes'... This surprisingly wouldn't be much of a problem. The creature of the deep closed his eyes and sent a sound wave. It came back less than a second after... there was air movement, at least one tiny thing moving, and there were human forms, lots of them, but yet they created no sound and were still. Another echo. One of the form had moved! Koil turned in the direction it now was and as his sonar kept track of movement turned around with the thing.

"Creature, someone wants you dead and I have received payment to end your life... What say you?"

It was a calm voice, a soft tone, not menacing, quite melodious a sound in fact. Land Walkers were always surprised that such a sound could come from such a creature. Koil strengthened his grasp on his weapon, ready to strike at someone lounging at him. He kept on his feet, turning around somewhat, trying to fake that he couldn't exactly pin point his enemy or that his armor impaired his movements. Both were false.