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Of Magic and Dungeons [IC/PG-16/Accepting]

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As the group continued to run, making their way into the circular room, Lana felt a sudden wave of heat come over her. Looking around the circular room, the bright pool in the middle of the room was the first thing to catch Lana's attention, a shocked, horrified and somewhat annoyed expression all happening in sequence. "The water's on fire now?!" Lana simply listened to Chris as she tried to get over her shock of the new discovery, nodding when he finished speaking. "Right so, blow it up. Make it fall. And don't die. Yeah, uh, okay, I can manage that." The girl looked at the hulking beast, lumbering into the room. "Probably." 

Getting her axe ready the girl looked to the others before saying, "okay, I'm going to...not die at it. And then..." The girl let out a sigh as she thought about what was going to happen before saying, "and um, blow it up?" The girl tried to get closer to the center of the room, first getting against the inner wall they were nearest to. Psyching herself up, the girl said, "alright Lana you can not die. It's just got a bigger axe than you...bigger axe? Wait I wonder how valuable that axe is. Yeah, yeah!" Getting out from behind the wall, the girl shouted, "I'm gonna take your axe and sell it! You hear th- Oh that's not an axe." The girl quickly ducked behind the wall, the rock smashing against it as the girl's confidence seemed to dwindle a little. "Alright, that's just a...big rock...yeah." 

Getting out from behind cover, the girl started to get closer to the underground fire-water pond, shouting, "I'll also sell...your rocks?" The girl didn't dwell on it, as the minotaur had yet another rock in its hand as it started to make its way towards her. 

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The continued running with the temperature only rising, only te end up by the source of the heat in the form of a lava pool was proving taxing to Estelle yet she managed to keep well enough ahead of the minotaur to stay with the group. Their new surroundings afforded them some small amount of time to formulate a plan. Some sort of explosion to push it into the lava was what the Fereis gathered. She rummaged through her provisions and procured the blast powder in question. She had yet to take it out from among her things, always being distracted by some goings on at the manor to more thoroughly investigate it. That a simple flame spell could ignite it and spare her summoning another explosion was what seemed the most immediately important.

Lana meanwhile began the effort of trying not to die and one could argue how effectively that was going. Sure enough she had the beasts attention, giant rocks and all. Estelle took the opportunity to pass the blast powder off to her more agile friend.

"You need only get it on the beast, whether still in the bag or dispersed on its body. I will ignite it once Lana draws it close enough." The uncertainty in her voice betrayed her lack of confidence in this working as cleanly as intended but there were few other options. An idea seemed to flash across her face as she quickly weaved an enchantment on Chris' shoes. "That should silence your footsteps... or at least relative to Lana's japes." Estelle informed him, trying not to laugh under the circumstances at the very odd things Lana had yelled at the minotaur thus far.

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The minotaur didn't seem to understand Lana's words but her shouting did draw the beastman's attention towards her. He stepped around the pillar and, sticking close to it, moved towards the girl. With the lava on his right side and the stone semi-circle on his left he approached faster than before. As he moved he pulled his arm back and launched the small boulder at the girl. This one looking much more accurate than the last. Arching through the air directly where Lana was standing and flung with such force that it would land where she was within moments.

As he let it loose the minotaur dug his hooves into the ground and surged forward. Charging at her just behind the boulder, moving just slow enough to keep from overtaking it, and raising his axe up for when she got within his considerable range. As he charged Lana would notice his eyes darting back and forth wildly. It seemed to still be aware that there were others around even though he couldn't currently see them and so, while Lana had gotten his attention, the minotaur still wasn't fully focused on the girl.

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Despite the impending danger, Chris still took a moment to inspect the new enchantment Estellise had given his shoes, even tapping the soles with the flat of his sword. “Is there a way to make this permanent?” he asked. “I mean, this would help a lot outside the dungeon too for, uh…” He tried to find a way to justify himself that didn’t immediately sound suspicious but ended up just deflecting to “Maybe wait until I get a new pair, though,” and hoping that was enough.

He also took Estellise’s blast powder and weighed it in his hand, even going so far as to toss it into the air before realizing he probably shouldn’t do that with something so volatile and snatching it back out of the air. Fortunately, he managed to do so before Lana’s “I’ll sell your rocks!” taunt got a laugh caught in his throat that turned into a brief coughing fit, doubled over and hacking into his elbow.

“Okay,” Chris said, meaning both “I’m okay,” and “I need to focus.” He stood back up and saw the minotaur winding up for another boulder toss and instinctively ducked behind the wall/pillar/whatever out of the minotaur’s line of sight. “Good luck with your japes,” he said. “I’m gonna, uh,” he made a gesture that he hoped resembled his route and took off around the corner, blast powder at the ready in one hand, sword in the other.

When he got to the far side of the… column(?) and turned that last corner, Chris realized what the minotaur was doing. It was charging ahead, sure, but it was still cautious. It had used its boulder as a shield, buying it a brief few moments to absorb in the battlefield. He wasn’t going to be able to get near it unnoticed by just running in, magic shoes or no magic shoes. Instead, he had to hope that, whatever tomfoolery Lana and Estellise were getting up to, it was enough to keep the minotaur’s attention as he slowed down and started to sneak his way forward.

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Gulping at the sight of the Minotaur hurling yet another rock at her, charging at the same time, the girl had a very bad feeling about just dodging this like she had the last one. Not like there was any cover to fully absorb the rock this time either. So Lana had to think on her feet, and her feet were telling her to trust her hands. And so, with her hands tightening their grip against the axe's haft Lana swung it the flat of the blade at the rock. Twisting her entire body into the swing, the girl managed to knock the rock off course from smashing into her, jerking her arms back in the process. Stumbling backwards, she went wide-eyed as the axe made its way towards her, throwing her body to the side to try and avoid it. 

Smashing into the wall nearby and and tumbling to the side, a much better alternative than being turned into a ground stain, she managed to avoid being crushed by the axe-hammer. This came as little comfort to her, though, as she was still far too close to comfort to this minotaur. As it turned to face her properly, the girl took a gulp before shouting, "well come on! I'll cut up your hand just like the last time!" The Minotaur didn't seem keen on grabbing Lana, instead opting to again smash her to bits with its large weapon. Bringing the weapon at her with a powerful swing, Lana realized that it was using the same kind of weapon as her, and thus it probably had the same limitations. 

So, rather than dodging to the side and keeping herself in prime "getting crushed" range, Lana instead opted to rush closer to the avoid the attack. the axe smashing against the wall behind her much to her relief. However, she couldn't get entirely past the beast as it had interposed itself between her and open space. Not being able to move backwards in fear of the axe and not being able to go forward, Lana gripped her haft tight as she tried to force her forward. Smashing the butt of the weapon against the Minotaur's leg, the beast snorted in pain as it looked down at her. Seeing its clearly annoyed expression, Lana said, "t-take that!"

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"Making enchantments permanent is possible but-" Estelle cut herself from launching into the complex mechanics involved in taking her fleeting power ups to objects and installing magical structures into them and the object in question to make the effect last independent of her own exertion. It was hardly the time to get into theory with Lana still directly in harm's way. "We will talk after you get your new shoes." she concluded with Chris succinctly as he took off to enact the plan.

Lana for her part was still directly getting the minotaur's attention with word and axe to mixed effect. Trying to help her without drawing the beast away from the intended location seemed complicated on the surface. But it was simple really when she just stopped treating magic like it was ordinary matter. Sure an arrow had to fly pretty straight from the point it released but magic was magic. With this astounding breakthrough in logic Estelle readied her aim and fired three of her usual light arrows into the air well off the side of either Lana or the minotaur. Next was the unorthodox part as the Fereis began exerting her magic again to start curving them in their path. The arc was wide and her aim wasn't going to be great to start. But as long as she kept them high enough they'd sail over Lana's head but look like they'd come from behind her. Hopefully if one landed under this probably overly complicated solution it would draw the beast yet forward to the lava without immediately trying to hurt Lana. That was if she could land one. The first three all missed their mark rather extraordinarily though at least weren't flying at her friends or herself.

"This could make for a pleasant parlor game without the monster or the lava." She grunted in some frustration as she fired a second volley attempting to curve the batch better this time.

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The minotaur seemed none too impressed by Lana's attack. He was however rather upset about it. He started to move when Estelle's arrows came curving down. Two of them striking the minotaur's left arm and shoulder. He growled from the pain and looked over at the wounds. Out of anger he slammed his axe blade onto the ground and Lana could see chips of stone from the floor and metal from the axe flying with the force of the strike.

Glowering over Lana's head where the arrows had come from his eyes narrowed as he looked for the perpetrator. With a grunt of pain as he used his left arm he suddenly grabbed Lana's shoulder and flung her into the nearby wall. The beast then made his way towards the lava pit. He now seemed to be mostly ignoring Lana but he still glanced her way as his gaze swept the area he thought the arrows were coming from. If she moved towards him he'd notice but beyond that it looked to be focused elsewhere. The beast man's eyes seemed surprisingly perceptive and careful as he took in the view despite his earlier rage. It appeared this animal-like creature had more than animal-level of intelligence and yet it still hadn't figured out the trick yet.

How long that would last would be of utmost importance to the group's next actions.

Spoiler

Would put him about halfway between the wall and the lava pit. If you're gonna do a thing let me know what/how so I can tell you if the minotaur notices.

 

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Chris watched the other parts of the plan come together even as he tried to keep his focus on his part. Keeping behind the minotaur was difficult work; it kept its head on a swivel, too, narrowing its blind spot to fractions of what it ideally could have been. A lot of zig-zagging was involved, only taking risks (and not even particularly risky risks) in the moments the minotaur huffed. The magicked boots really did help, too -- not that Chris had had any doubts over Estellise’s abilities, but even then they were more effective than he imagined, as he made his way closer and closer.

Lana took a pretty heavy hit, getting thrown into a wall like that, but Chris just kept going. The sting of failure from only a few floors above with the goblin camp still haunted him. This one had to work, he told himself. And, when he saw his moment, when he was within range to charge at the minotaur’s back, he took it.

He started running again, this time with the blast powder even more at the ready than it was before. There wasn’t a need to keep up the surprise anymore -- this was the surprise. A few steps later, Chris planted his foot in the ground, leapt as high as he could, and dumped as much of the blast powder as he could all over the minotaur’s shoulders and back. When he landed, he kept running, still towards the magma, only diverting from his straight line when it was impossible to do otherwise, and even then returning to it once he had navigated around the pit. “Alright, it’s on!” he called out. “Just needs the blast and maybe a little extra push! Hey you! Cow-face! Over here!”

Now that his part was done, he really did hope Lana was okay.

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Lana's plan to distract the beast was definitely working, as Estelle had managed to blind side it with a few more of her arrows of light. Excited at them damaging the Minotaur, Lana shouted, "yeah take th-! Eeee!" The girl's cheer, however, was cut off as the axeblade of the minotaur slammed into the ground next to her. Closing one of her eyes as ground shrapnel hit her, she was once again reminded of the raw strength the monster possessed. This was only compounded as she suddenly, in her awe, had a hand close around her body. Letting out a grunt as she felt the minotaur's grip tighten, she could do nothing to break free from it as it picked her up. And then suddenly she was weightless. The world rushing past her as she could feel the wind passing her by before this too was stopped just as suddenly. 

With the wind being knocked out of her, axe falling to the ground as her grip loosened, Lana had no air to make a scream as she slammed into the stone wall. Pain radiated across her whole body as she flopped to the ground, using the arm that didn't hit the wall to try and get her senses back to herself. She winced as a bright light filled the room, which upon shaking her head and blinking again, she realized it was something like an explosion. "...Right..." Picking herself up she remembered the plan that they had, and seeing the Minotaur being pushed back from the tandem explosion of Chris and Estelle's efforts, she knew it just needed one more little push to finish it off. As it turned to face the group, Lana went full on into a sprint, grabbing at her own pouch of explosive powder. "Estelle! Here's another!" Stopping short, the girl wound back her arm before pitching the bag of powder towards the beast. 

Seeing the bag fly towards it, the Minotaur raised up its axe as if to swat it out of the sky. However, a red light streaked through the air before colliding with the bag. Both light and bag erupted into flames, letting loose a double explosion right in the Minotaur's face and causing it to stagger backward. With no floor to stagger back towards, however, the beast stepped onto thin air and lost its balance. Letting go of its axe, the enormous weapon sinking into the fire water below, the minotaur reached out with one hand and grabbed the ledge of the pit as it started to fall. Seeing that it was starting to pull itself back up, Lana took out her handaxe before running forward towards the Minotaur. Gripping it with both hands, the girl shouted loud as she brought the axe down onto its finger. The creature roared in pain, its grip beginning to slack before Lana chopped at its hand once - twice more. With bloodied fingers that could no longer make use of the Minotaur's immense strength, the rest slipped from the edge as the creature fell into the fire water. 

"Yeah! Take that you overgrown bull!" Looking as the creature sunk into the flaming sea, letting out roars of agony as its fur ignited, Lana's proudful boasting stopped a bit as she stepped away from the pit not wanting to see the rather grotesque and discomforting sight that that was. When it was all finished, though, Lana flopped back onto the ground before letting out a sigh of relief and letting out a small, "ow, ow." 

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With the beast slain a strange calm settled in the air. With no threats the place felt empty and the vastness of the place they had found themselves in started to sink in.

The calm only lasted a scant few moments before a rumbling was heard. The lava, deep down in the hole in the middle of the room, began to slowly rise up. Threatening to continue and flow onto the ground they stood on.

However at the same time the gate across the way shook. The magic around it faded away and the gate rose up. Giving them passage into a narrow tunnel that gently slopped upwards.

Once they traveled down it a short way they emerged into a small chamber. Across the way was a staircase leading down. To the left there was another of the teleportation devices that would bring them back to the surface. And to the right was a rather simple, battered-looking, treasure chest.

Upon opening it they would find, as one might expect in a treasure chest, treasure. A small pile of gold coins lined the bottom half of the chest. Resting on top of it were three glass flasks, stoppered with cork, of a dark green liquid. If one were to smell it they would detect an earthy scent and, oddly, spinach. Beyond this the only other thing was a wooden spool that was wrapped with a silvery thread that shimmered despite the low light.

Spoiler

Looooot. So I should just quick go over each of these.

Gold: It's gold. Basically a way to afford buying a bit more than the "living expenses and occasional extra" vagueness from before. Or to save up....Really it's just there for appearances ngl.

Liquid: Potions of Bull Strength. Basically each have about two "servings" and will grant increased strength for a short time.

Silver Thread: A magic item. When you unravel the thread it will not run out for a long, long, distance. Moreover you can "stick" the start of the thread anywhere, even mid-air, and it will stay there and, as long as you hold the spool in at least one hand, you can teleport to the point the thread is stuck.

 

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Somehow, for once, a plan went exactly as it was laid out all the way to fruition. The only downside was Lana using up her blast powder as well, but really that was just a problem of underbudgeting. They could keep that in the back of their heads for the next time they came across a minotaur and also had two or more sacks of magic-dungeon-provided blast powder – they’d definitely need as much as possible. Again, though, they had done it! “Good, uh, good job, everyone,” Chris said. Any more than that was interrupted by the lava beginning to rise out of the pit, so instead he just added, “Now let’s get out of here.”

Of course, the dungeon wasn’t about to let them go without claiming their prize (not that Chris minded the free stuff!) and when they wrenched open the treasure chest, Chris’ eyes immediately drifted to the odd thing out: the spool of thread, something glowing even while the gold and flasks of whatever, given the fading light, could not. His hands soon followed, immediately snatching up the spool and starting to fiddle with it.

He found the first magically odd property rather quickly. If he held the string in a certain way, it would stay there even if he let go. Chris’ mind whirred at the possibilities of such a tool, and when he gave the spool a tug to try to start winding it back up, he found himself standing a few inches away from where he had just been – right where he had placed the string.

“Oh, dibs!” Chris said, his eyes surely gleaming just as much as his new toy was. “Uh, you can take it out of my share of the gold if you want, but I’m definitely taking this, yeah.” Now all pleased with himself, he took one of the bottles out of the chest as well and turned towards the portal, ready to exit the dungeon.

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"Woo, go team." Lana put her fist to the air weakly as she cheered alongside Chris, the apparent lack of enthusiasm more caused by fatigue then anything else. She nodded at his sentiment, fairly fed up with everything that she had experienced today. Goblins, Fish Goblins, man eating treasure chests, giant metal eating bugs and then an enormous super bull with a fire water pool. All in all, the girl was fairly ready to get out of this dung- "oh!" 

Springing back to life, getting right back to her feet, Lana bolted over to the treasure chest as it rose from the pool of fire water. The girl's eyes sparkled like the gold coins that inhabited it, seeming curious at the potions and strange spool of thread too. The girl looked at the potion, raising a skeptical eyebrow at the strange coloration of the liquid inside but figured that treasure was indeed treasure. As she looked back to the other, she saw that Chris had already grabbed the thread. The girl looked curiously as the apparently magic thread simply hung in mid-air and then, as she blinked, it had become Chris. "Wha...?" Confused, Lana looked past the boy, seeing that there was not in fact a second Chris and coming to reason that the thread probably just yanked him over there really fast. Probably. She wasn't a wizard herself, so she didn't really know what to make of it, but Chris seemed extremely pleased with it and as he was offering part of his share of the gold she was more than happy to oblige. "Don't mind if I do then!" 

Shoveling more of the gold out of the chest into her pockets and whatever pouches she had on hand, the girl picked up her axe and started to make her way towards the exit. A pleased expression on her face as she did. 

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Chris wasn’t quite used to the shunting back to above-ground just yet, having only done it two or three times with loads of bodily trauma in-between each to make even such a situation as this fade to the back of his memory, but he was starting to. The magic teleporting string now in his possession being such a close facsimile helped as well, as did the inevitable medical treatment awaiting them on the other end. But he couldn’t stay and hang out like last time -- he’d said as much before, but it couldn’t hurt to say it again: “Alright, well, I have to hopefully go find the girl who gave me this purple heart-thing,” he said, patting the pocket where he’d kept it (thankfully it was still there, he wasn’t sure what he would have done if it was gone) and trying to remember exactly what Estellise had said about it (something about summoning, he remembered that much? Maybe she hadn’t said much else) before wandering off in the direction of the church.

It had been a while since he’d actually been to church, Chris realized as he entered, the late afternoon sun bathing the entryway in a golden light. His parents had certainly tried to instil in him a sense of piety, though, given his current line of work and relation to his parents, nobody could really say that it took (this in addition to the general politics of being nobility and interacting with the church, which he also never enjoyed the few times he was involved -- especially the solstice party everyone agreed to never speak of again). This one was smaller than the one he was used to, but that was the only big difference. Chris supposed that things changed slowly when you were a church. He hadn’t been listening too closely, but he was pretty sure he’d have known if there were any big schisms or reasons to change things up.

He didn’t see anything immediately out of the ordinary, certainly no mysterious water girls throwing themselves into his open arms or anything, but that didn’t mean anything given how little he knew of his potential engagement’s circumstances. Maybe there had to be nobody else around -- the church wasn’t crowded, but there were other people. Maybe the time of day he’d suggested was all wrong for the woman. Maybe, the worst-case scenario, they just weren’t coming at all. Whatever it was, it was worth waiting around for to make sure, so Chris took a seat in one of the rearmost pews and did exactly that, passing the time by taking the purple heart out of his pocket and pondering it as it pulsed with energy in his hands.

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Nothing could keep Lana from feeling down. Nothing. Not even the strange out of body woozy sensation dungeon teleportation gave her immediately after - though it certainly tried. After getting patched up by the staff outside of the dungeon, Lana looked over to Chris who made a comment about what he was about to do. The girl blinked for a moment, before remembering that he had had a bit of an adventure before convening with the group for their dungeon excursion. Though she'd be lying if she said she wasn't interested in this whole, "mystery girl and purple monster heart" thing, Lana had definitely been feeling something of an adrenaline crash now that they were out of the dungeon and had no desire to continue  with weird things for the day. So she gave him a thumbs up, and said, "well, hope you find out what you need to." Then, with a bright smile on her face, a little giddy, the girl said, "I'm going to go spend my money." 

Lana hadn't the faintest idea of what to spend her newfound wealth on, though. She figured food would be a good start, since she knew that rich people definitely ate a lot. And a lot of expensive stuff at that. But there had to be something else they used their unlimited money on. After thinking about it for a moment more, trying to figure it out, she landed on clothes and weapons. And though her clothes were definitely roughed up, both from the dungeon and her prior farm life, they had always been that way so she didn't really think there was anything wrong with them. But she had just lost a weapon, and there was definitely something wrong with that. So, Lana marched her way into the city proper, looking for a place to buy more weapons. And food. 

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Chris Checking the Church

Due to the size and openness of the building Chris could clearly see everything in the room from where he sat. There were a couple doors off to either side near the podium at the end of the pews and one to the left wall but all those doors were closed and seemed to be not in current use.

The people in the church seemed to be a specific sort. None of them seemed like typical church-goers and all of them were in some way armed. Most likely travelers who had only recently arrived in the city due to the way they seemed not entirely comfortable there and how many looked to still bear the dirt and dust of the road on their person.

A bald man near the podium seemed to be a priest, based on their garb, and was speaking calmly with a group of much larger men each with multiple weapons sheathed. With a friendly smile and shake of his head he seemed to be answering some questions. The group left, looking somewhat sullen and weary, and the priest scanned the room.

He had been busy when Chris walked in and so when he saw the young man he must have noticed he hadn't been there before and approached him. "Hello young man." he said, his voice gentle and reassuring. Chris saw his gaze pass over the object he held but it returned so casually to Chris's face it was clear he wasn't going to bring it up. "You don't look like you just came into the city, yet it seems you have some worries, is there something I can help you with?"


Lana's Shopping Lark

Lana's search didn't last long as she was easily able to find a weapon shop. Upon entering the first one that she found she was greeted to the sight of metal everywhere she looked. Racks of weapons were in even rows in the middle of the room. A wide variety of simple weaponry put out without much flair. Along the walls there were more fanciful weaponry that seemed to be less typical. A long bladed scythe-like weapon, a trident, a short sword with a rather unusual triangular shape and red blade, a large golden axe, and other such things.

There was a counter that stretched across most of the far wall. Behind it was an open doorway that Lana could faintly see the glow of a forge inside. The counter itself had a glass front and displayed various jeweled weapons. A man sat on a stool with something in his hands. The man was a tall, lanky, Orc male. With somewhat greenish skin and a couple teeth jutting from his lower jaw that resembled tusks.

In his hands was a simple sword. Or rather parts of one as the blade seemed to be snapped clean in half. "How'd you manage this? What've you been swinging this at?" He was speaking to a dark skinned girl who Lana thought she had seen before. The girl seemed embarrassed to speak and muttered something in response Lana couldn't hear.

The shopkeep seemed not to hear either as he said "What was that?"

Louder, the girl spoke up "Um....training...dummies."

The shopkeep was surprised by this, before admitting perhaps the blade had been defective. Though the girl turned down the offer of a refund. It seemed she wanted a specially made, more durable, blade than those that could be found among the common swords but nothing as fancy as those on the wall or in the counter. After being told to return in a day she gave a short bow and turned to leave. Upon seeing Lana she paused, watching her with curiosity before saying, "have I seen you before? I apologize if this is rude but you look familiar to me."

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There was a list of people Chris was expecting to be approached by, with such obvious standouts like guards insisting that he had committed some crime that he totally hadn’t and even if he had, they had no proof; or, you know, the girl he was looking for; but the point was, he hadn’t been expecting being approached by the actual priest of the place, and he especially hadn’t been expecting to be asked about his troubles. He almost went right to his instinctive approach, of sardonically laying out exactly why he wasn’t going to talk to them, just like he had with Julian, but he stopped himself. He was worried about something, “I’m looking for someone,” he said. “I don’t know, this place seemed like a good enough landmark for what I was going for, but now I’m worried she didn’t show up.”

“Hmm,” the priest said, stroking his moustache as he did so. “Did you tell this person when you'd be here? I can say no one who showed up so far has been waiting for anyone.”

“I just said, ‘this afternoon,’ I think,” said Chris, stretching and rubbing his shoulder as if to mimic the priest’s own contemplative action in some way. “It was kind of a longshot, to be honest, but I don’t know, I still had to stop by and make sure, right?”

“They could have stopped by earlier, perhaps you could describe them, maybe they had to leave and couldn’t give a message for some reason.”

Chris took a breath, an almost-sigh at one last attempt. “Okay,” he said. “Uh, dark hair, dark clothes… I think it was like a skirt? It might have just been a really big shirt. Either way, I guess the most defining feature is that she might have been tracking water everywhere, so if you did see her, uh, sorry about the mop job.”

The priest raised an eyebrow at Chris’ sorry mess of a description but kept his mouth shut. “It seems I cannot help you. Perhaps she didn’t enter the church itself? She may have decided to visit the graves or the river beyond. My apologies that I cannot do more for you.”

Chris was already on his feet. “There’s an idea, sorry for bothering you, Father, I’ll go take a look then.” A realization came to him. “Actually, if she does show up later with a message for me, you can pass that on to Lana, she knows how to reach me.”

Another realization came to him as he was walking out the door. It was a bigger one, like one of his worries had barged to the forefront of his mind and demanded to be taken seriously. “Oh, Father,” Chris said, turning back around, “Sorry, this is an unrelated question: Do you think there are any unforgivable sins?”

It was a tough question, and Chris knew it was bad to just spring it on someone, even a member of the clergy, so he wasn’t surprised at the drawn-out silence that followed, that only eventually ended with the priest saying, “That is something that may take more time for a proper answer, but, as you have places to be, I will simply say that there are three main ingredients for mercy: recognition of guilt, seeking forgiveness, and desire to improve.”

Chris nodded. “Thank you, Father,” he said, and went off to look for the graveyard and/or river to see what he could find there.

Edited by radio414

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After a bit of wandering the girl eventually found her way to a nearby weapons shop. With someone else having been there before her, the girl stood near the door, just waiting for them to finish their business and began to walk forward once it seemed done with. However as the other girl finished she then seemed to stop after seeing Lana. As she greeted her, Lana cocked her head to the side, trying to think about her question. "Now that you mention it, you seem familiar too..." The girl furrowed her brow as she tried to recall before she eventually shrugged and just said, "well, whatever. The name's Lana." The girl extended out a hand to shake.

The girl, holding the broken blade in both hands, hesitated as she tried to figure out what to do before tucking the two pieces under her shoulder and shaking Lana's hand with a strong grip. "Cleo. You're here for a weapon too?"

Lana was taken off guard for a second by the girl's strength, but had it break way back to her friendly face before nodding. "Yeah. One of my axes was eaten by these giant bug things - well, I guess it like, super rusted my weapon? I dunno, they were gross though. So I need to get a new one."

The girl seemed taken aback and then said "Oh, you must have gone into the dungeon then. At least, I don't think this city has monsters like that roaming about." though she furrowed her brow in concern at the thought.

"Oh uh, yeah. No, I would hate that. That would be - I don't want to think about one of those skittering around here." After thinking for a second, she off handedly said, "well, I think one of my teammates ran into a monster earlier but it probably wasn't as bad as that." Then looking back up, a clearly more positive expression on her face the girl said, "but yeah, just got back from an expedition today. Do you uh, do you expediti- , er, explore the dungeon too?"

Cleo frowned slightly "Wait did you say...ran into a monster? Where...no, never mind, I suppose it's not my place...a-ah, sorry! Yes, me and my...allies recently finished going through 20 floors. We were taking a break when..." she looked at the broken blade.

"Whoa." Clearly impressed, this then broke way into a bit of bashfulness as she added, "we uh, we just finished with ten." Then, as if trying to save face in the face of another adventurer, Lana doubled back saying, "but well, we just started a few days ago and uh...yeah...but wow that's awesome and, uh, right." The girl looked at the sword saying, "that also sounds impressive."

"We also...w-well, milord, er, my ally is very talented I wouldn't feel bad um..." she suddenly looked awkward as she shifted back and forth. When Lana brought up the sword she blushed "N-no, it was just an accident...is all."

Nodding the girl said, "I see, I see." Then perking back up she said, "well, anyway, it's fun to meet a fellow dungeon diver. And I'd love to talk about that stuff with you more, later. And uh, I hope things work out with that weapon of yours."

"Oh! Um...thank you...." she seemed to look uncertain if that was the proper response then said "Perhaps I will see you around, Lana....er, good luck with your new weapon." she paused and then said "Maybe make sure to test it out in the knight's training ground. Just in case. They let people use them as long as they register."

"Eh?" Surprised by this suggestion, such a thing clearly never having entered Lana's head, she nodded. "A real knight's training ground..." The girl's thoughts trailed off some more before she nodded, seemingly more excited before saying, "thanks for the advice! I'll be sure to stop by there later."

After having split from Cleo, Lana finally walked forward to do her business that she came here for. After procuring a new handaxe of relatively similar quality to the one she had before, the girl had decided to go and take the other girl's advice to heart and decide on her next destination. Leaving the store she said, "alright, now if I were a knight training ground where would I be?" Realizing that she probably should've asked to make doubly sure she knew where she was going, the girl shrugged and decided to sally forth on her next adventure. 

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Chris in the Graveyard

As it turned out one of the doors at the back of the church exited into the graveyard. Which, as would be expected, was filled with rows of gravestones. It seemed rather small, given the reputation of the church it likely contained remains of those who came from outside the city and didn't have attachment to it but had no way of being sent back home for burial, but well kept.

The grass was perfectly trimmed, the stones themselves spotless, and each had fresh flowers resting in front of them.

Across the way was a massive tree at he edge of a cliff. From where Chris was he could just barely see the river down below a ways off from the graveyard itself.

He was alone in the graveyard except for one pink haired young woman. She was sitting on top of one of the gravestones, idly kicking her feet and chatting into what seemed to be thin air. She suddenly stopped as Chris emerged, looked at him, her eyes not seeming to really register his presence. Instead she seemed to be looking through him with disinterest for a moment before turning back to her previous position. "They looked like they came out of the river didn't they?" she said to empty air.

Lana in the Train(ing)yard

It wasn't hard for Lana to find the training ground. Though she seemed to have found the wrong way to get there as she was greeted by a fence, with a multitude of pointed metal stakes with wooden slats across them, instead of any entrance. She could see into the training ground from where she was but couldn't enter without climbing the formation which rose up seven feet high.

Inside there were multiple individuals swinging weapons at what seemed to be wooden posts with what were essentially armored scarecrows attached to them. Farther off a group of presumably knights were inside a ring of stones and were facing off against an elven woman who Lana had seen back at the tavern before. Though she didn't have her large weapon and instead each of them were equipped with wooden swords.

As Lana watched she heard some rustling from nearby bushes and, looking that way, caught glimpse of a mousy looking boy watching the knights intently. He seemed not to realize that Lana was there and, when one of the knights made a particularly large swing, would lean forward eagerly.

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The priest’s words were actually encouraging to Chris. Not the “you might have gotten stood up by some girl who you invited on a not-date to a place neither of you had ever really been to” part -- obviously he was only now going on what felt like a fool’s errand to cover all his bases -- but the part where he could believe there was a path to going home someday. Really, he was already most of the way there. Of course he was “seeking forgiveness.” That was why he was venturing into the dungeon in the first place, right? And “desire to improve?” Put simply, wasn’t everyone? Two out of three wasn’t bad, and the one remaining one, “recognition of guilt” seemed like that nebulous sort of thing that could be put on when needed. So while he did have to actually finish his run into the dungeon to get whatever was down there, whatever would “reclaim his nobility,” he was doing okay.

“Doing okay,” was probably not the right mood to be in upon entering a graveyard snooping around, but fortunately(?) this came to an abrupt halt as he discovered he was not alone in the place. The way the pink-haired girl, so casually disrespecting a grave by sitting on its tombstone, looked at him -- or past him, rather -- especially gave him pause as it made him think that, somehow, again, he’d let someone come up behind him without his notice, though, of course, when he too looked over his shoulder, he saw nothing out of the ordinary.

Well, whatever, Chris thought. He wasn’t about to deal with another mysterious waif, especially when this one didn’t seem interested in giving him the time of day, but as he turned to go, the girl said, “They looked like they came out of the river, didn’t they?”

That was enough to get Chris to redouble his efforts. He turned back around and walked up to the grave. “With dark hair and an even darker skirt, right? That’s who you’re talking about?”

The girl slowly turned to look at Chris again and said in a tone that made it hard to judge how she felt, “You shouldn't eavesdrop on someone's conversation.”

And okay, fair enough. “Fair enough. I don’t mean to be interrupting,” Chris said. But firstly, well, going into random locations and hearing things he wasn’t supposed to hear was, like, half of his actual job, and second (and something he was more comfortable saying out loud to strangers), “I am looking for someone, though, and ‘looks like they came out of the river’ is a pretty good description of them, actually, so if you do know where they went, um…”

“Oh. So you've seen them,” the girl said. “Maybe they’re not a ghost then. Unless…” She got off the gravestone and stepped closer to Chris. The girl locked eyes with him and squinted for a while before saying, “I don't know what I’m looking for,” and pointing off towards the river. “They went back that way.”

It was a weird first half -- Chris wasn’t sure what the girl was looking for either, he wasn’t sure what to make about anything the girl had done, really -- but the actual directions, another signpost pointing the way forward, was all he needed to hear. “Thanks,” he said. “Sorry again to eavesdrop and interrupt or whatever. I’ll be on my way then.” And just like that, he was.

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With minotaur defeated, treasure claimed and all thoroughly tired from the day's adventure Estelle was relieved to be exiting the Dungeon for the day. Lana and Chris each went their own ways leaving the mage to her own devices. This amounted to little else than the woman walking home. Perhaps for the fatigue she held her head lower than average and focused more on the path before her rather than take in the sights of the city. Before long the edge of the Fereis estate came into view at which point the noble raised her glance and tried to stir herself. There was a pressing need to disarm her mother's criticisms which were inevitable regardless of how she looked. Though the act of lightening her heart and mood would soon need little artificial aid as of all people her father stood before her, apparently on the way out of the manor.

"Estellise!" he called out cheerfully and rushed to her side. The two embraced warmly before the man took to inspecting her. "Back from the Dungeon I take it?"

"Is it that obvious?" Estelle asked with some degree of embarrassment as she nervously played with her hair as if that were the giveaway.

"You might want to at least catch your breath before you go in, your Mother's been in something of a foul mood today." He responded with a weak chuckle that spoke to day he had been having.

"Do not tell me that is why you are out here?" the woman's concern for her mother at this point was clear. But her father assured her that wasn't it.

"No, I was meaning to make something of a quick trip but you know how work goes. Despite knowing I needed something I kept going and going until the point I needed it and now well... a bit of a mess, you'll see it well enough when we get back." he spoke and began walking, ushering his daughter away from the estate with him.

"Father, surely the servants could-" Estelle started in protest.

"No, no you know full well where I intend to go. Best we do it ourselves." he replied to which his daughter did all at once realize where he intended to go. Old habits died hard with him and it had been some time since the two had been in.

After a brisk walk of idle chatter the Fereis duo found themselves in the marketplace, specifically at a storefront for the Thelgo family. At nothing more than a glance the skilled enchanters took note of the cape Estelle donned and hounded her with offers to buy it to the extent she whisked herself away outside to leave her father to his errand. Ink was his main sought after commodity and the woman could only brace herself for the cascade of bottles he would inevitably come out of the store with. Each with a unique ingredient to enhance specific enchantments or withstand different evocations. It set her heart at ease that at least some things never changed as she turned her aimless gaze back to the square at large.

Perhaps a familiar face might come into view this evening.

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rbn.png

Yesterday...

The Drooling Dragon…a popular tavern in Froura, a fount of knowledge and stories that were passed along by the fire. Some of glory, others of defeat…some of love, some of loss…no matter the outcome, there were stories and tales of adventures found here. So what better place would one find a purveyor of music and art of weaving together a story with said music!

…except there was the case in which this purveyor of music and stories was currently in a drinking contest with another patron…and judging by the garb, a pirate at that.

“This isn’t my first drinking contest, you know,” the pirate lady grinned, setting her second mug of ale down. “Purveyor of music and all, you should know what you’re getting into by weighing your liver up against a pirate’s.”

“Ah, but what’s a little friendly competition between us, my dear?” the bard sat down his own second mug of ale. “However, at the same time, I do have a bit of a drinking side. You know…” he paused, moving to his lute and strumming the chords of it a few times. “...with my profession and all. Speaking of, I think I have a bit of a lyric for you.” Once again the bard began to strum on his lute. “The Dread Pirate Robin, found herself in a tavern hoping for glory. But alas while there, she drank herself under the table…and now things will get gory!” He paused, before groaning and began to lament. “Not one of my best ones, but I feel it’ll hold true if the wrong person gets between you. Don’t you think?”

"Like whatever's waiting in that dungeon, eh? We join up with a crew, reach the bottom, get the Spark, and then..." And then... "I dunno, after everyone else has had their fun I'll just keep it around, I guess."

The search for new comrades to join in their quest was one Robin got started on almost immediately after setting foot in town, but unfortunately with little success besides the bard sitting opposite her. After some asking around here in the Dragon, however, Robin had a hunch her fortunes were about to turn for the better...


The woes of the morning's hangover had already passed, but the memory was still fresh in her mind, and the dull ache in her head had yet to fully subside. I won, though. Sweet victory. After spending much of the day in a room back at the Drooling Dragon, curled up in bed recovering from yesterday's show of liver power, Robin was finally ready to tackle what was left of the day. And the first order of business was getting something to eat. Tavern food was no way to start the day as far as she was concerned, so a trip to the local market was in order. It was still weird coming here. They were a bit hazy, but Robin still had memories of Froura's markets back from when she was a little girl. It was pretty different these days. Bigger, for one.

And a lot easier to get distracted in. The goal here was just to get something to eat, but before she knew it Robin was off on a whole miniature adventure, seeing who had what in stock. Part of her considered getting a sword of some kind. It could serve to either replace that glorified twig Ziun carried around, or if he refused it, to help Robin protect herself against something trying to eat her face or whatever other horrific things the dungeon's denizens would undoubtedly try doing. But swords were not an investment she really felt like making today. Maybe some other time?

For now, if I were a nice, tasty basket of oranges, in prime eating condition, where would I have someone trying to sell me...

Rather than oranges, however, the thing Robin stumbled upon was a most curious sight. A pair of locals heading into a shop, only for the girl of the two to immediately step back outside. Stepping closer to see what this was all about, she could vaguely hear the chatter between customer and shopkeep from the inside. Something about ink. Was ink really that special? Robin only knew one type of person that would be so paraticular about ink of all things.

"...Mages. What a bunch, am I right?" Robin asked to the girl who left the shop, peeking in on the ink transaction out of morbid curiosity.

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Lana had eventually managed to find her way to the training camp, but hadn't been so lucky in actually getting in. Looking at the wooden wall before her, the girl briefly thought about climbing and hopping the fence to get over though the more she thought about it the less pleasant it seemed. She didn't want to accidentally be stabbed, especially when not in the dungeon. Also there were knights on the other side of this wall and she wasn't sure if this was considered trespassing. Thinking it was for the best that she just find a different way in, the girl backed away from the wall, briefly looking in to see the knights and a familiar elven girl fighting amongst each other. Marveling as the woman seemed to be taking on the group against her by herself, she then heard a bit of a rustling nearby as she saw someone else here. As she looked at the boy it had seemed that he didn't notice her at all and was entirely absorbed in whatever was happening inside. Lana, though, wanted to grab his attention as she had no idea how to get in there from where they were. And so, clearing her throat, the girl asked, "are you looking for the entrance too?"

His head snapped over to Lana, eyes wide like a frightened rabbit, and he stands up suddenly as though about to bolt. "U-um, no, not at all...I was...just...watching, I-I'll leave don't get mad!"

"Huh?" The girl was as surprised as he was, though more so because of his intense fright. Confused, the girl cocked her head to the side wondering aloud, "why would I be mad?" After a second, she shrugged and added, "anyway uh...I don't really care that you're watching. But well, they are cool so I guess I can understand it." The girl put a hand to her chin as she nodded to herself.

He relaxed a bit and nodded. Still silent but curious he doesn't run off. "Yeah...they are, aren't they? I wish I could be like that....er, um, you said you were going inside? Are...you a knight?"

"Well, I was looking to. But I got a bit lost." The girl gestured to the wall. "And no, I'm not a knight. I just heard I could practice with my weapons there and I got this new axe and I want to give it a good practice swing." The girl presented her hand axe before getting lost in thought for a moment,. Maybe she could see if she could find a job as knight as a side gig to the whole dungeoneering thing. It would certainly be a good source of secondary income and more money was always good. Though, the more she thought about it the less she knew how well knights were actually paid. Were they also even allowed in the dungeon? And her whole goal with finding the spark was to work as little as possible, so really it just didn't seem like the life for her. After shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she asked, "you don't really seem like the knight or weapon type though, so do you just like...watch here?"

He flinched a bit as Lana said that. "I....yeah." His gaze lowered and he said "I'm kind of, well...weak and...swinging a weapon is hard." he sounded bitter about it.

"Eh, it is?" Shrugging she asked, "so like, can you not watch from inside then?"

He blushed instantly, face turning impressively red, and mumbled "It's embarrassing..."

After thinking a moment Lana agreed, "hmmm, yeah, I guess that would be." Then shrugging she said, "but well, I'd probably want to go into a noble house if I had the chance, so this is probably like, the same thing? Well, anyway, do you know how to get to there. From here. Again, kind of lost."

He seemed to be shocked at her words but gave a simple nod. "Yeah, um, it's...just follow the fence until you find the building and ask in there..."

"Got it, thanks uh, pal."

"It's...Wallace." 

"Thanks, Wallace." As Lana began to walk away, she stopped and looked back for a moment before asking, "do you like, want to come with or?"

He hesitated a moment then shook his head, "N-no I'm fine." 

Shrugging she said, "suit yourself. See you later, Wallace - well you'll probably see me soon. It's Lana, by the way." And with a wave she made her way over to the entrance of the knight training ground. 
 

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A typical Froura morning...least that was what he was assuming. Truth be told, if THIS was a typical morning in Froura, then Ziun would definitely be in a world of hurt. Still, least he had a blast the night before against his newfound comrade in the "dread" pirate Robin. Though this hangover wasn't doing him any favors, he figured by the way the sun was...she was already up and about...which meant he was the lazy one. Oh, he was sure she'd rag on him for that...along with putting his liver to the test the night prior.

"I suppose that's what I get for challenging, of all people, a pirate and sailor..." he groaned, getting up and preparing himself for the day. "...truly the one set of people in this wide world who have iron livers...ah the best combination in this world, an iron liver along with quite the fount of knowledge in regards to their countless shanties." Ziun fixed his hair and fastened his coat and hat, looking himself over in the mirror, grabbing his Elegant Melody and of course...his trusty lute. "Not a hair out of place...as it should be. Now, let's see what we can accomplish today."


BGM

Leaving the Drooling Dragon, Ziun took in the fresh air and the liveliness Froura had to bring, as he grabbed his lute to simply strum a few chords, hoping to get his creativity flowing as he walked through the city streets. Passing by every vendor stall he could, Ziun truly was getting a feel for this place...a lot more then he did when he first arrived here. After all, when he first arrived here, he was just pressed for wanting to find a team and crew to follow down into the dungeons so he could tell their stories (along with partake in the glory, of course).

But now, after his brush with Robin, he figured things were preparing to look up. It meant now he could actually take the sights, sounds and atmosphere of the city in fully. And he was truly getting the feel of it...as this bard even proceeded to hum to himself, even managing to find his groove in a nice little melody that truly spoke to his soul about this locale. Perhaps his melodic talents would lure others to him...true it might not work, but at the same time, being simply at the Drooling Dragon lured Robin to him and their fates were tied this way, so perhaps this would also work just as well.

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Chris and Old Man River

As Chris left he heard the girl say, clearly not to him, "I guess he couldn't see either."

When Chris got closer to the river he noticed that a slight fog had settled in around the bank of it. He could see clearly still yet if it got much foggier it might become difficult.

At first he couldn't see any sign of anyone having been there. Now and then he'd notice the ground was wetter in places but that could have been caused by any number of things. As he walked along the river he would notice that no one else was around. The closest person was likely the girl he met in the graveyard.

There was no sign of the one he was looking for until, suddenly, he turned and saw them standing at the edge of the river. The girl hadn't been there when he last looked and Chris hadn't heard anyone approaching. They were looking out at the water with a furrowed brow. The girl took a half-step, foot hovering over the water, but then pulled back to dry land. She seemed to grow more sullen then before as she repeated this a couple more times without noticing Chris.


As the mage and pirate meet, the market goes on

Estellise might think that it would be easy to spot the Devil girl, given her stand-out appearance, were she in the marketplace. While this line of thought often would lead to disappointment it seemed that the timing was right and Estelle did in fact see the young woman.

Though only because it seemed she was in the process of being arrested. A red-haired and armored woman, who Estellise would know as the Knight Captain Theresa, was dragging the Devil girl by the arm away from a nearby shop.

"...little pranks have gotten out of hand this time." Estelle could overhear the woman saying something to the girl but not long after she heard this another, closer, voice spoke up to get her attention.

"...Mages. What a bunch, am I right?"


Lana's Night with the Knights

Sure enough the girl would find her destination quite easily once she kept to the fence. She came across a grey, squat, and seemingly perfectly square stone building. It almost seemed like it was simply one piece of stone as opposed to being made of various bricks. The only thing keeping it from being entirely a solid block was two small windows in the front on the left and right, with several iron bars keeping one from crawling inside, and a heavy oak door in the middle.

Carved above the door were the words "Training Ground. Open to all. Register inside."

Once inside she could see the interior was almost equally as sparse as the exterior. A couple benches were set up on either side and a half-circle wooden counter was placed in the middle of the room.

The building was small but this room was smaller still. A grey stone wall was roughly across the halfway point of the room and two iron doors were set into either side of the counter.

There were only two people there. One was clearly a young knight, with armor but no helm, and the other was a noble-looking man who Lana would suddenly remember having seen together with the girl she had talked to at the weapon shop.

The man seemed to be impatiently listening to the knight as they spoke "Milord, certainly you must be a master archer, are you sure I can't convince you to help teach..."

The man shook his head abruptly, "I haven't the time. Nor should I be teaching anyone when I still have much to learn. I must turn down your request. Now, if you'll excuse me, I should be on my way." He started to leave and paused when he saw Lana. His frown deepened as he examined her then recognition flashed in his eyes for a moment.


Sing us a song you're the illusion man

Ziun's music did in fact attract some notice. Especially from people who were heading for the various nearby taverns. Some hesitated, wondering if some show was going to happen, but most continued on to enter the taverns as opposed to listen to him out in the open.

However he soon would realize that someone had stuck around. A rather flamboyant man whose age was hard to tell. Not only had they stopped to listen to Ziun they also began to hum along as well. Though they would pause to take a swig from a flash that looked to be covered in precious jewels of various colors.

When the man saw that Ziun took notice of him he flashed him a bright smile and gave a low chuckle. "Seems like someone is in a good mood. Let me guess, you found a lovely lady for your own? Or perhaps you stumbled upon a treasure...well, I suppose they could be one in the same." He then offered Ziun a drink from his flask with a smirk and curious tilt of his head.

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In truth, Ziun wasn't expecting to garner a bit of a crowd as he did this...not at all. However, he found it fitting...that the power of music, moreso, his playing would bring others to allow them to enjoy it. Now whether they continued to go about their business or stay and listen, that was truly up to them and not him...the love of music truly was a fickle mistress, much akin to his muse, the Goddess of Poetry and Music. However...finally something did catch his eye, or rather someone.

Apparently, there stood a man...one rather flamboyant in his attire but nevertheless, he seemed to be humming along to the tune he played and brandished quite the interesting flask which was adorned in precious jewels of various colors. Truly mesmerizing to say the least. However, when Ziun took notice, the flamboyant man flashed him a bright smile and gave a low chuckle.

"Seems like someone is in a good mood. Let me guess, you found a lovely lady for your own? Or perhaps you stumbled upon a treasure...well, I suppose they could be one in the same."

This caused Ziun to elicit a chuckle of his own, only returning his smile with a smirk. "Truer words have never been spoken, my good sir." he said, nodding. "Alas, the only lovely lady I have for my own at this moment is my muse...my Goddess of Poetry and Music...but one day, there will be the most beautiful pearl I'll have ever laid eyes upon will come into my life...and that will be both my lovely lady and my treasure." He paused his playing, before deciding to graciously take the flask and a swig of the drink that was in it.

"My thanks, I was a bit parched. But I shall indulge you on why I may be in a good mood. This city, this town...this place...it's teaming and buzzing with life. So many sounds, so many stories waiting to be told. How could someone like myself not take in the atmosphere and not be in quite the giddy mood?" he said happily, before removing his hat and bowing slightly. "Ah, my manners...I suppose an introduction is in order. I am Ziun Castir, a humble bard from the Bard's College of Glamour in Steelhorn. And who do I have the pleasure in making the acquaintance of today? I'll venture someone who obviously has impeccable taste in music if my playing got you into humming along it."

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