Though it did feel a bit awkward getting swept up in the situation (despite being one of the causes for their prompt departure from the open road), Steven found himself at least somewhat grateful that he wouldn't have to spend the next who-knew-how-long wandering through the world before coming across anything even slightly resembling civilization. Riding in a cart was a novel experience in it's own right (though obviously it was difficult to downgrade from any sort of modern vehicle), but at the very least it allowed the kitsune time to gaze at the scenery around them as they moved.
The guards that were keeping a close eye on him and his companion all the while, however, left him feeling a bit on edge all the same. They
were strangers who were now barely in the good graces of someone who probably held no small amount of wealth (and possibly political power), so their trepidation did certainly make sense...
But at the end of the day, it was something the young man felt was worth being able to get some quick shelter with which to
properly start planning for the days ahead.
While he had expected something fairly glamorous, though, Steven did
not expect a grand mansion waiting for them at the end of their trip. Something smaller like a villa would have made sense, but something like this...
"...Huh. Impressive."
That brief utterance was all that came to mind as he stared at the building for a few moments, at which point 'Lady Darnell' offered them a place to stay for doing what they had—within reason, of course.
"Of course," he responded, bowing in turn before rising back up and turning to face her. "Might I ask if you have some books or maps of the region here? I'd like to familiarize myself with the area before departing."
Hopefully none of the other servants—or the lady herself—took any offense to that question; maybe his somewhat rugged appearance would help excuse his bluntness?
One could only hope.
@Raineh Daze
Though the door outside was now open and the sound of the bell ringing had worked prior to their arrival, though, the zombies all seemed to focus on the new sounds being made closest to them—and, in turn, the thing that was making them to begin with. The first zombie to lunge out at the group—or, more specifically, the hammer-wielding girl at their vanguard—found itself rather summarily dispatched by a rather devastating blow to the head. This, unfortunately, had the additional effect of creating a loud enough noise when the hammer met the old hardwood floor (and went clean
through it to hit the foundation below) to make sure that the zombies were now well and fully focused on the group.
Or, well, as focused as a group of undead could be.
Rather than simply lurch forward as one might have expected from mindless undead, though,
these zombies began to spread out, wielding their weapons with a vague sense of purpose before lunging out towards the group. Though time had not been kind to them
or their weapons, being stabbed by rusty metal in a situation like this could very well lead to something less-than-ideal...
Never mind what those weapons could have been stabbing at until being sealed away in this place with their wielders.
@VitaVitaAR@RolePlayerRoxas@Aku the Samurai@SilverPaw
Though it was quite obvious at a glance that 'Peter' was dodging around her questions, Meira chose to do little more than give him a slightly disapproving glance as she polished off her sandwich. Ultimately, it wasn't her place to judge whether someone was in the right for hiding their identity or not, but...
"...Well, to each their own, I suppose," she replied, shrugging her shoulders. "As long as you're not hiding your name because of some sort of criminal activity, I'm not going to fret too much about it... Though I certainly won't give any leeway if that
is the case."
Without anything else to say on that front, though, the catgirl seemed more than fine with flagging down the woman serving them and asking for another sandwich to go. Given that they were a popular establishment for adventurers, a request like that was far from unexpected; in a few minutes' time, she had returned with a meal neatly packed in brown paper.
After handing off a few coins to the girl, Meira stood up and walked towards the door, glancing behind her to see if the young man had chosen to follow her or not. The skies above had indeed begun to darken by the time they had left the building, but at least there seemed to be some people starting to light lamps to walk around the evening streets with.
"Do you need to find your way back outside the walls?" she asked, glancing behind her shoulder with one hand resting on her hip. "It shouldn't take too long, and I can just report back to the guild once I'm done."
@Zeroth
After making a (fairly) clear break away from the quartet of otherworlders, the bird would continue to soar above the sea of trees; unfortunately, the extent to which these trees seemed to stretch towards the skies beyond what might have been expected of a "normal" forest did not by any means make catching a glimpse of it as it departed any simpler. By the time Javal had made his way up high enough to a vantage point from which to see the creature, it had all but become a dot that glimmered against the natural greens and browns of the nature around it. Luckily enough, though, the dragoon would be able to catch a glimpse of it disappearing
into the foliage—and rather deliberately, at that.
For what reason it entered the forest was anyone's guess, but if he wished to follow, then there was at the very least some sort of direction to start with now.
@Thunder999999@Crimson Paladin@Expendable
The bird seemed somewhat unreceptive towards Nyana's remarks as it flew above the trees, caring not even when the slimegirl-knight began to—and continued to—talk and laugh to herself. Whether or not it could
understand her words didn't seem to matter much in this situation, though; either way, the end result seemed to be the same.
Eventually, though, the metal-plated bird stopped soaring through the skies and hovered in midair, if only for a moment. Then, slowly but surely, it began to descent downwards, towards what was unmistakably a massive nest formed of broken trees situated atop the still-stable ruins of some sort of tower.
Unfortunately, said nest already seemed to be populated by a few residents already. Three chicks, all apparently coated in much the same metal as the creature that had brought her here, seemed to be staring up at their parent—and, naturally, that meant they were staring at Nyana as well.
After descending low enough to land, the bird (somewhat unceremoniously) tossed Nyana towards its chicks. But where one might have expected ravenous pecking and biting, the slimegirl would instead find that the chicks seemed...
Well, 'utterly confused' might have been an apt description at that point in time. Compared to the usual things they must have eaten, something covered in metal like them but also was most certainly
not was more foreign than anything else.
@Crusader Lord
Member
Zapdos
Noctis
wintersoldier
Snowdrops
swordandpens
Izurich
Raineh Daze
The Otter
Danyel