Malakaus Ironhide

Soon, the trio of survivors reached the city. It was ran mostly by those of the Reku clan, but otherwise a safe place. Safer than back at Halrock at least. The trio has some difficulty with the guards mostly due to Malakaus himself, and he was loosing his patience with these people. Were it not for Haven's connection to the city, he might have given the guards something to worry about. Regardless, they entered the city proper, where it was still dark. Whether that was because the sun had come down or was still rising up, the orc didn't know; his mind had been drifting since they left the forests.

During their trip here, Malakaus tried to make peace with himself if it turned out his family was dead. As much as he would think that his family could survive, there was still the possibility that they were overwhelmed. He needed to prepare his mind for that revelation, instead of pretending that his parents were immortal. It was difficult however, and made him quiet.

Malakaus's thoughts were brought back to reality when Haven asked him if he ever came to the city. "Rarely. My... Family would come here after we stock pile our merchandise. We come here during the autumn for business. That's about it." Thinking back on it, there was a place he could try to go to for help. Since Orcs weren't well accepted into human societies, they had a tendency to gather in places were the majority wouldn't come to bother them. They had to stay together, to protect each other while keeping a strong presence. They wouldn't be able to do much on their own. If his parents were still alive, they would have likely headed strait there for help. And even if they weren't there, he could try to appeal to the elders for assistance, or at least tell them what happened. It was a long shot however, as Malakaus himself never really socialized with the orcs of the city when he was here. He was, after all, trying to be a little bit less orcish for the sake of living among humans. But once he made up his mind, he turned towards his companions to let them know what he had in mind.

"I need to head to Low Town. That's where most of my kin live, and maybe where my family is. If I can find them, we could have a place to stay at for a while. I can also try to talk to the elders and see if they could warn the city about the threat, but... Well, we'd have to see really. I don't know what'll happen if we get there, and it might be dangerious."

Xia Yang

The trip to the city was, fortunately, uneventful. Though Xia often looked over her shoulder for the hint of hostiles, she and her companions traveled to the city in peace. As she guided the boat down to the river, she wondered what she'd need to do. She knew her father had friends in the city, but none of them she knew personally. There was a mage guild she could try to gain admittance to, but without a penny to her name she wasn't sure how willing they were going to accept her. So for now, she was more concerned with finding a place to lodge for the day. She'd rather not risk sleeping out in the open streets, safe as they may be.

Once the group reached the city they had little trouble going in. The guards were skeptical about their reasons for entering, but it was late at night and they were guards. After a few moments talking to each other, the trio were in the city. Cyrus came to Xia and Kiara and asked them what they would do now. "I need to find an inn to rest at. I'll be able to sort out my thoughts better after some rest." Xia began to walk away, but stopped and turned back towards the two of them. "And... I'd like to thank you for your help. I don't know if I would have ever been able to leave if you two weren't there... I don't know if we'll ever meet again, but until we do, I wish the both of you good luck. Be safe." Bowing her head towards the two, Xia left to go find an inn to stay at and think about her future.

"Dangerous?" Haven was confused. They had made it to the city, and Mal spoke of finding his family. Hadn't they escaped the danger. "What would be dangerous?" After escaping monsters and fire, if Mal said something was dangerous it must be serious. She took a step closer to him, setting herself between the Orc and the dwarf as they traveled.

The buildings became shorter and shabbier, the frequency of green-tinted skin increased. She looked about warily for the danger that Mal implied.

Mal and his family were the only Orcs that Haven ever knew. She hadn't really thought about it. She was taught to be kind to everyone in the village and help whoever she could. Mal's parents were especially kind to her and the family bought her cabbages often. But now in the city she wondered, why did they all live in one place? Why didn't she see more of them at the cities entrance? Why are their houses so different? Her naieve mind tread upon these questions between wondering about the Danger Mal had warned of.

OOC: Collab with Selia
IC:

Taraah's eyes narrowed into slits as the girl tried to make her head hurt again, this time with math. She blown smoke out of her nostrils when Ruri suggested she might not be able to walk the distance, a subtle warning not to assault her abilities and least of all her pride. This human might have been friendly to her so far, but that gave her no right to talk to her like that. None the less the dragoness was amused at how she handled the other one. Slipping into the river to ease her legs, she lazily floated behind the duo to the cave they mentioned. When they reached it she walked out on the shore and shook the water off, marveling at the colorful play the setting Sun created on the droplets of water left on her scales. Yes, she was definitely the most beautiful creature ever born.

She mentally cursed herself when she saw the cave. Brilliant! If only she saw that from the air, she could have spared herself the human disguise. Perhaps next time, although if the finger of blame was pointed at her, it would be the only thing that can save her from persecution. Still a bit tired, she lied down to the side, trying to think of what she should do now. She couldn't stay with the two like this. They needed to get to their own kind. The people that would hunt her. Yet she found herself not wanting to leave. They were the only living creatures that didn't run away from her, animals included. She used to be alone, but not now, and it made her feel warm in the core. She could also disguise herself again. It would make her wound heal properly if she could only walk on two. Yet in the same time, she didn't trust them with the secret. The girl maybe, but the boy only seemed to tolerate her because of Ruri. Huffing loudly in her indecision, her mind drifted to sleep again.

It was still night when squirming against her aside woke her up. She didn't pay it too much attention, her mind burdened with what she was about to do. She decided to leave the kids. Leave them, hide behind her human face again and come back to watch over them, at least until they reached the city safely. She could remain with them if she so chose then, and they wouldn't know her secret lest she revealed it to them herself. It was almost perfect plan, except for the fact she felt like she was betraying the girl. She appeared to be quite fond of her, and now she was about to make her think she abandoned them.

Waiting for the girl to fall asleep again when she returned, Taraah got up, careful not to wake them. She couldn't just leave, even if she knew she wasn't really leaving. Turning around, she brought her head right above Ruri's. "Peculiar little creature," the dragoness said, "you are the only one who ever shown me any kindness. I do not know why, but I thank you. I do not wish to leave you, but it is for the safety of both of us. Worry not though. We will always find a way to each other, that I know. Stay safe and I will see you soon. Until then, farewell, Ruri." With that she plucked two scales loose from her back, laying one to each child's hand and left. Unknown to her, the desire to explain her absence laced her voice with magic, allowing Ruri to hear all of it in her dream.

Making her way little distance from the cave, she waited until sunrise. Then she willed her magic to change her again. Stretching to get used to her old new limbs, Tara the barmaid jogged back to the cave, carefully walking in. Finding them both still asleep, she sat down and watched, waiting for them to wake up.

Ruri awoke from the most satisfying sleep she'd had in a long time. It may have been exhaustion, or it may have been the warmth she had felt from the bodies beside her; or perhaps it had something to do with her dream last night, Ruri mused as she sat up and rubbed at her eyes. Ashwing had been there, and so had Mom... Ashwing! That thought immediately pulled her head around to see where the dragon had been sleeping last night. She was gone, just as she'd said she would be, and somebody else sat in her place. A sad smile drifted over Ruri's face, her eyes drooping as she briefly imagined that Ashwing was there. But she wasn't; there was somebody else instead.

The sorrow passed in an instant,disappearing as though it had never been there, and Ruri climbed up to her knees before the woman. Her face lit up with cheer as she offered an enthusiastic greeting, reaching up to her hair as she did. "Hi! I'm Ruri! Did you escape along the river, too? We were moving slow because... well. So we stayed here for the night! And then you found us and joined us! You have really pretty hair! What's your name? I'm Ruri!" The small girl tried to brush the sand from her hair and tidy the twin-tails without removing the ribbons that held them in place.

She smiled, trying to sound shaken as best as she could: "No. No, I went the other way, I had to go back around the village. I'm Tara, I worked in the tavern - Oh poor Gustav!" Tara shrieked, realizing she saw the innkeeper hide in the basement before Ruri set Halrock on fire. If he didn't make it out, he would have starved of air. "I hope he's got away." she said, her concern genuine. He provided her with a place to stay, even though he didn't know better. Taking a breath, she looked up to Ruri. "We shouldn't stay. There's a city down the river. I met the owner of one of the taverns there, perhaps qwe can stay there. Anyway they will need to be warned."

Getting to the city was easier than Ada thought. She suspected that she would need to fight through an entire army of monsters just to get there, but the most difficult thing they needed to do was convince the guards to let the orc in. Once they got inside, Ada couldn't feel more relieved. Sure she may have been penniless, but the city setting was more at home for her than some quiet village out in the sticks. The dwarf would have split off the moment they got inside if Haven didn't have a vice grip on her, though she understood her worry. Once upon a time Ada was a little girl forced to fend for herself in a lonely world. At least she had the orc, and Ada herself. Ada always thought herself as a selfish person, but she suppose that she'd help out Haven for herself too; Ada would help because she wants to. Though Ada would have liked it if Haven let her go and let her do a bit of burglaries; she could probably break into a home, snatch a coin pouch, and they would be set for the night at the least. But instead the orc had some idea.

When the orc mentioned danger, Ada could imagine what: Other orcs. Back in her hometown, it was basically a constant war between the dwarves and the orcs. The reasons doesn't matter; Ada herself took up arms when the money was good for it. Though her time with orcs typically gave her the impression that all of them were dirty, bloodthirsty thugs, thieves, or vagabonds that were handy to represent all the negative stereotypes of people. It was easy to pin crimes on them if they were near by; no one would think twice about an orc doing something criminal. So Ada was admittedly surprised that this orc was civil; hasn't raised his voice or tried to go pick a fight, didn't even so much as throw her a dirty look. Either he was a bad orc or just a good person. Likely the former. "Well don't leave us in the dark. What could happen at Low Town that you're so worried about?"

Malakaus Ironhide

"I never had a good reputation here. I got into a lot of fights and made a few enemies. Some of them might recognize me and try to start something, and I won't back down. There's also the fact that Low Town does have some legitimately crazy people living there, and they will try to hurt you. Don't reason with them, just get away if you can. Punch them in the face if they don't leave you alone." Malakaus spoke bluntly of the dangers. He sincerely hopes nothing happens, but if something does he was confident that he could end it quickly. He wrapped his hand around the hilt of his sword, getting an idea of how he should hold it if he has to pull it out. Murders in Low Town weren't uncommon, and if it was between orcs no one would bat an eye. Well, except loved ones of the victims, but orcs knew better than to involve the other races in their conflicts. He could only hope that his enemies would only bother him, and leave the other two alone. "Alright, let's go."

Malakaus headed deeper into the city, towards Low Town. It was called Low Town because it was located near the bottom of a hill, and had an unfortunate tendency to gather garbage that's been laying out on the street. The river that goes through the city was nowhere near Low Town, so the area itself was often mucking in a bit of filth. The residents always try to keep it clean, but they had to balance out keeping clean and keeping the rent low; making the place undesirably made it lighter on the orcs' wallets, at the cost of having a reputation of being filthy. But since most didn't care and more weren't really affected by the filth health wise, it was a decent deal for them. Not so much when Malakaus was walking through; the first thing that hit him was the intense smell. It was a mixture of a lot of things, but it was all vile. He was tempted to turn around and try to find another way in, but the thoughts of his parents being here drove him forward. The ground was wet with what was presumably water, but he wasn't going to double check. Low Town was quiet, aside from the sound of snoring. He still kept his hand on the hilt of his sword as he headed towards an small, unassuming building. This was the elder's building. There would be at least one elder there, and likely the place his parents would be at. Standing outside the door was a large orc, larger than Malakaus, and wielding a brutish club. It was as big as a log and had iron rings holding it together. When Malakaus approached, the doorguard lifted his club, spinning it in with one hand to demonstrate that he did know what he was doing with it.

"I need to see the elders." The guard just smirked while he looked down to Malakaus, unimpressed at his sword. "Elders are asleep. Come back tomorrow." A predictable awnser, but Mal wasn't going to back down. "Than have you seen two elderly orcs come through here? One man and one woman. The old man is balding, ties his hair into a top knot?" The guardsman snorted and jammed his thumb in a random direction. "And what if I did? I got nothing to say to you, whelp, so get lost." Malakaus was growing angry now. He knows that guard knows something about his parents, or at least knows something that could help him. "Don't test my patience, you green shit, let me through!" Malakaus than drew his sword and pointed it at the doorguard.

Xia Yang

Xia got to an inn called the Amber River inn, apparently "famous" for having the best brewed mead. She didn't really care for it and chose it because it had open vacancies. Other inns she went to were filled up with other refugees or travelers. After paying the initial fee, she went to her room and dropped everything off. She fell onto her bed, thinking that she would immediately be taken by sleep. But after tossing and turning in her sheets for what felt like hours (But in truth was just a few minutes), Xia just sat on the edge of her bed. She was shivering, but no amount of blankets made her warming. She needed to do something to distract her for now, just to put her at ease.

The sound of wood clanking echoed from Xia's room, and inside she had set up a small apothecary. She didn't really have much to make with, so she instead focused on improvising one specific formula. A serum that, when consumed, should give her an edge should something like what happened back at Halrock happens again. She spent most of the time running away. If she could perfect this serum, she would have the means to fight back.

Cyrus watched Xia walk off after thanking them, and bidding them goodbye. Cyrus sighed, turning to look to Kiara, "Hey, I need to thank you too. You've saved me more than a couple times. I hope to get to see you again, take care."

Cyrus walked away, but his heart sank. He'd only known the two for a day, but there was a certain camraderie that came from working together in a life or death situation. He walked through the nighttime streets, which at this point were only illuminated by the flickering light of fire dancing on mounted torces, and by the ever-present glow from the moon and stars above. He still managed to find his way, his presence on the empty, late-night streets announced by the sound of the wooden broomstick tapping against the paved cobble of the town streets, a hollow echo that bounced along the walls that lined the way. It took a while, but Cyrus eventually found the post office, a plain, wood-panelled building with an oak door. The glass pane on the door showed the inside of the office was dark and unlit, not a single light stirred inside the office.

Cyrus took a chance and started knocking, but the knocking soon turned to desperate banging. Eventually, through the distorted pane Cyrus could see a candlelight appear in the hall, carried by a man clearly not pleased to have been roused from sleep. The man scowled through the glass at Cyrus, hesitating before opening the door, "Do you have any idea what hour it is?"

"Please, sir, this is an emergency," Cyrus took the letter out from his pocket, he had yet to seal it, "Read this, it will explain everything."

The man's scowl softened when he saw the sincerity, the fear and panic in Cyrus's eyes. He finally motioned for Cyrus to enter, bringing him to seat at a table just inside the office. He used the candle to light a lamp hanging from the ceiling, and took a moment to read the letter. He blinked a couple times, before setting the parchment down, "Boy, is this true?"

"Yes, I need to get this message to Daniel Carnet, immediately," Cyrus interlocked his fingers, "What is your fastest service?"

The postmaster nodded, "I can make a special delivery, it'll take only a night's ride for my messenger to get this letter delivered."

Without further question, Cyrus dropped his postage onto the table, a handful of gold coins, "Wake your messenger immediately, please."

"Very well," The postmaster returned to the counter, withdrawing a stick of sealing wax and a stamp. Using the candle, the postmaster melted the wax onto the letter's edge, the red beeswax hardening quickly after the master stamped it shut. He stood up and moved to blow out the lamp.

Cyrus smiled and raised from his seat, "Thank you."

"If even half of what is in this letter is true, boy, we may be headed for grave times," the postmaster excused himself to walk out back, allowing Cyrus to escuse himself.

He had been to late to save his family. But perhaps he was not to late to save everyone else...

Everyone.

Rhys was not an ordinary farmer. He was a retired soldier. He had lain down his sword in favor of a solve. He sought to lead an honest life and absolve the sins committed during war. He had fought his way out of the village and to the city.

He sat across from two people.

One was the Commander of the city's guard. They were loosely acquainted, having both served under the same commander once. His name was Lemure.

The other was a representative of the Magnus. The woman had announced her title, but Rhys could never figure out the mage hierarchy. It seemed all twisted and incestuous. He hoped that whomever he was talking to had some sway in the counsel. For what he had to say was important.

"What you describe is magic." The mage, Carine, wore a long black robe with a red sash. "It can not be. We monitor magical activities very carefully. And that is far to much magic for a rouge-wizard, or to go undetected by our divinations." She sat and folded her hands calmly. "Perhaps a hallucination?" She seemed cold and uncaring, but Carine had to consider every possibility. That was her job.

"I hallucinated nothing." Rhys looked at her with tired eyes.

"I believe you." Commander Lemure, recognizing the look of a soldier after battle. "But who could have done such a thing? And how?" He turned to the woman. "You claim that you would detect something of that scale, but are surprised... is the counsel hiding something? Another rouge experiment perhaps?" There was a quiet grudge between the magic-users and those without 'the talent' in the city's politics.

"No. This is something else. We need to know more. Surely there are other survivors. Let us search the country and the city for them and gather them to be questioned."

"Questioned? Perhaps we should help them as well. I know that's a quaint idea for civil servants..."

"Agreed. We will find any other survivors and question them, and assist if we can." The commander stood, ready to take action. "I will also prepare a team to investigate the township. Best send mages with them as well, the magic creatures might be strong there."

"Find them quickly." Rhys groaned and limped on his old leg as he moved. Rhys wasn't sure how much longer they had until the monsters came for them here...

Haven gasped as the weapons were drawn. She recoiled from Mal, the warrior, and clung to Ada.

"We-We don't have to fight... do we?" She wondered aloud. She suspected that inky green skeleton monster ere not the only danger in the world... yet... was a grumpy door-man an obstacle worthy of a weapon?

"P-Please, Sir." She squeaked. "It is very important... She tried to make eye contact with the surly orc doorman. "O-our village was destroyed by m-magic monsters and w-were just trying to find our p-parents." Haven figured that the truth would be enough to smooth over their way. She imagined that luck was on her side.

This is what Haven would say if she weren't flung aside by the orc as he moved in to fight Mal. Or perhaps he'd ignore her and tell them off. She'd hold her breath as she explained, and begged. She knew nothing of city-life or the world outside the village. So she spoke to the doorman as she would have one of her neighbors, she didn't know another way... in fact... if it were not for his green skin, crooked nose, and eyebrow mole, she could imagine[i/] that this man was actually Maret the tanner. That small thought made her anxiety melt away...

Her gaze faltered and landed upon her own feet as she felt her eyes begin to sting. "I-I wish there was something we could do for you, or pay you in exchange for letting us in... but everything is gone, its all burned... I'd say I'd [i]owe you a river-cabbage... but... I don't know if I'll ever be able to go back home and harvest more... If the cabbages are not all burned..." Her eyebrows knit together and she stepped toward the door. "I'm sorry Mal is angry... but... We've had a hard day... And we've not had any food nor rest after it happened... We just need to find someone that we know here, please... I don't know what else we can do... Can you help us?"