As Erratus searched through the darkness of the room by his dim, burning light, he found himself only coming across blank parchment pieces and empty inkwells sitting on top of the numerous desks that lined the area. Going through the innards of each desk yielded little results as well as most of the desks were either empty or contained a quill or two. Just as Erratus' search seemed to be coming to a fruitless end a familiar smell filled the air towards the back of the room; decay. Approaching the smell Erratus happened upon the remains of a body. The corpse appeared to be a woman's, though it was fairly difficult to tell as it had already decayed a fair amount. The body had been stripped of its clothes with tatters still clinging to her shoulders and around her neck. Many of the features on the woman's face were indistinguishable due to decay and her exact age was unclear as her skin had dried out and began to shrivel leaving her long, stringy, blonde hair seeping over most of her disrobed body. What was clear was that parts of the woman's body had been removed, large sized chunks of flesh had been torn away almost as if insects or beetles had been feasting on her carcass, though this seemed impossible as her body seemed completely clear of maggots and other insects...

______

"I did not come here for you, I came here for...for knowledge of magic"

The clearly deranged man froze as Lucia spoke and for a moment his smile vanished as he stammered out a mess of words. "M-master? No couldn't 'ave- he knows... he knows, knows I think..."
Shaking his head furiously he turned his attention back towards Lucia who had been fidgeting about with something on the table that she was now pointing at him, a ring of some sort. Looking confused the man was cautious with his next step, raising his leg ever so slightly he made certain not to make any sudden moves as if were approaching a frightened kitten he was attempting to capture. Just as his bare foot touched against the stone floor of the vault he leaned into a full sprint towards Lucia hoping to catch her off guard, his hands far out in front of him and his unsettling face once more appearing in full light.

Erratus cursed his luck as he came to the end of the room without finding anything that would help him in the slightest. The decaying corpse before the thief taunted him, a physical manifestation of the dead-end he had reached. The cadaver itself didn't even have anything of use on it. No tools, no valuables, hardly any clothes. Even the body itself wasn't complete, entire chunks having been seemingly torn out. Now that he thought about it, though, that was a bit strange. There didn't seem to be any animals here, and there certainly weren't any husks. In fact, the only living thing in the vault had been that man, which in and of itself was odd. There was no food in this place, and it had apparently been sealed for some time. How had he survived?
The answer eluding him, Erratus shrugged and left the room. Lucia would probably be able to figure it out.

Lucia screamed as she stepped backwards away from the man who seemed more beast than human as he sprinted toward her. His sudden movement caused her to stumble and fall. Immediately out of self-preservation of her life and fear of all the horrible things that the man would do to her she completely unravelled her robe. There was a pang of sadness and regret that followed her thoughts as she felt the robe dissipate from around herself and turn back into fire which she had spent many many long nights spinning together and had served her very well on so many of her travels. Nevertheless, she channelled the fires around herself, while she scrabbled away backwards away from the wall of fire; her chest heaving as she watched attentively wondering what would happen next.

The mercenary who had been called out to by the name 'Quentyn', the man who had originally been pressing Ketchs, gave Ketchs an odd look of distrust before stepping back and taking one final look at Ketchs.

"A southerner-" Quentyn twisted prudently away as he regrouped with his fellow mercenary. "Andreu," Quentyn spoke as he pointed a quick finger towards Ketchs. "This southerner says this storm that's coming is dangerous and that he knows of shelter that we could use. What do you make of it and him?"

Andreu's old brow stiffened for a moment as he too was finally given a decent opportunity to survey Ketchs. "I see no reason not to trust him." He finally spoke after a short period of silence. "You've heard stories about the storms that ride down from the north and commonly terrorize the east. I'm too old to get swallowed by some horrific column of wind, and besides we don't really have much of a choice considering the position we're in."

Nero let out a sigh of relief after the older mercenary gave his opinion on the matter. Andreu seemed fairly considerate compared to his colleague and hopefully his input would sway Quentyn to take up the kind but still fairly unsettling man's offer.

"Fine!" Quentyn announced as he quickly marched to Ketchs side and confidently planted his hand upon his shoulder. "I accept your hospitality friend! I do so hope that you can forgive my friends here who have all been so terribly rude!" Removing himself from Ketchs shoulder he extended his now free arm towards his party and introduced each member. "The kid there is Nero, the middle aged man is Andreu, the gypsy woman there is Nadya and somewhere in this city we have another gypsy girl wandering about, perhaps you could even help find her with your brokering skills!" Quentyn's tone had changed from insulting and suspicious too loud and cheery as he finally decided to trust Ketchs.
_______

Making her way down and through the city streets, Talaitha found that the advice the Lord of Silk had given her about the men who had been watching her had indeed been true. Not far off behind her were the three men who the dark skinned had pointed out. Each of the men watched Talaitha intently as she passed through the red wood gates and entered the now empty Roost. Had their been people in the streets the thugs would have more than likely turned around and not followed Talaitha into this foreign district but because of the storm the men felt confident that they could follow her through the gate...

The Roost itself appeared to be a fenced off community within Venosaar. The streets of the Roost were paved with odd bronze coloured stones and all about the area buildings made of red stone, wood, and ever paper sat in the middle of small grassy yard like areas. But a red building with yellow doors was not one of the buildings that was immediately visable. A few back streets lined the Roost, but for the most part it was easy to see just about everything in the wide open area. Perhaps the Lord of Silk had missed a detail?


_______

Screams echoed out from the other side of the wall almost immediately after it was erected. The screams continued for sometime until the wall dissipated revealing that Lucia's assaulter had caught fire and he was now frantically throwing himself about on the floor in an attempt to save himself from burning. Surprisingly the man's body wasn't covered in much fire, he must have barely skimmed the flames, more than likely throwing himself out of the way before he had been completely engulfed in fire...

The man's body burned and his screaming continued for some time until most of the fire had been smothered out by his constant rolling. Frantically the man tossed away his fur cloak which was the only piece of clothing which was still on fire after all was said and done. Splaying himself out onto the floor he relaxed his burned body as tears streamed from his face and whimpers of pain leaked through his lips.

"I'm sorry!" He screamed out to Lucia who from his current position on his back he could not see. "I'm sorry! Sorry!" he repeated over and over for sometime before he curled himself into a ball and covered his face.

Talaitha froze in her tracks and glanced around the roost, searching in vain for what the Lord of Silk described to be earlier. Was he mistaken or wrong? He could not have purposefully given her the incorrect information seeing how he did not ask for her money in exchange. Whatever the reason was, he was wrong and now she was was left with wasted time. Though unwilling to give up in her mission, the weather was far from perfect and she would rather find a place to wait it out. She would rather be with Nadia at this moment, as her wise elder might have given her advice on where to go and what to do.

Though she was a gypsy and her people were not the most welcome race in the world, she believed that someone would be willing to allow her shelter from the storm in the roost, and she began to walk on through the community and knocked on doors in hope of support.

An awkward smile gleamed across Kechts' face, expressing his courtesy towards Quentyn and company. However, his usual dull visage quickly returned when he heard of the missing gypsy woman.
"It - worrying that she - out alone. The - here are very unh--pitable towards outsiders. She will likely not find - place to stay."
He paused for a moment, his face contorting out of concern even further.
"Pardon - rudeness, but I trust she - least has the wits to not go near - south - the town?"
He sluggishly shook his head and continued.
"I may be able - find her, if she is not too - away."

Hearing Lucia's scream from the hallway, Erratus cursed under his breath and bolted for the room she had entered. What he found there surprised him. Lucia was pressed against the back wall, surrounded by a wall of flame, while their new friend was curled up in fetal position on the floor, muttering apologies. He looked back and forth between the two, attempting to puzzle together what had just happened. He gave up quickly and turned his attention to Lucia.
"So, I think he might have eaten someone."

Going from building to building Talaitha knocked continuously on every door she could find, but not a single soul answered to her requests. Whilst Talaitha had been seeking refuge from the outside world, her three pursuers had strolled casually through the main entrance to the Roost and were simply watching her from the archway. It was then that an odd feeling overcame Talaitha, a feeling of dizziness or lightheadedness. Something was off, Talaitha's body began to feel heavy and even drag behind her as if it were simply refusing to respond to her actions. What was going on? What was causing this unsettling feeling? Could it have been something she had consumed earlier in the morning?

"Ah, I'm glad you made it." A familiar voice boomed from behind Talaitha. "You are quite good at following instructions, such a rare thing for girls these days." turning to see the source of the voice Talaitha was met by something else even more familiar, the colourful robes of the dark skinned man who called himself 'The Lord of Silk'.

"You have made a terrible mistake, girl." The Lord of Silk announced as the trio of goons who had been waiting by the gate converged around the man's sides. "You should have stayed at home."

_________

Quentyn looked overjoyed to hear that Kechts might be able to help them find their missing companion. "I sent her to search the eastern part of town, I was the one searchin' the south." scratching at a few straggly hairs on his chin Quentyn leaned in towards Kechts as if he were about to reveal some great secret. "But between you and me, these gypsies, especially these gypsy girls don't listen to us Aestarians very well. They think they know everything, it was probably a mistake in itself to send her out alone. She could have wandered anywhere by now and knowing this God forsaken place she could be in some trouble." Quentyn's eyes shifted back towards Nero and the older gypsy woman, Nayda. He wanted to make sure neither of them were listening as he spoke.

"What's your biggest concern though?"

OOC: phew. I thought you were going to move us along before I got to post >.>

Lucia's chest heaved as she watched in terror as the man rolled about in flames until he put them out. Even while he exclaimed how sorry he was she didn't take his eyes from him, neither did she move. She was paralyzed with the sheer horror of what had happened, and what could have happened. She snapped from her trance as Khast entered the room, never being so happy to see the thief whom only moments before she didn't dare trust. What he said however, only seemed to further churn her stomach as she looked at the man; no, creature; who lay on the ground.

She got up from the ground slowly while passing her hand by the fire and the wall of flame coalesced into a ribbon-like stream of fire that she maintained about herself defensively.

"He..."she began while looking down at the man "What do we do with it- him?" she asked warily. If this man was capable of cannibalism, she did not feel safe at all to continue her research in the vault. Perhaps they could tie him up somewhere? She felt like that would be cruel, yet, perhaps it was justice for what he had done, and what he had possibly intended to do to her. She was conflicted, to say the least.

OOC: Wouldn't dream of doing such a thing



The man remained weeping on the floor for sometime, even after Erratus had entered. It was only until he heard Lucia ask about his own fate did he spur from his trance.

"I didn't do it!" he shouted as he pulled himself from his ball. Quickly the lightly-burned man started himself to his knees and lurched himself forward into a begging-bowing like position.

"She was already dead! S-s-she he.. he did it- she-she-she..." The man seemed so frantic that he was unable to find words to express his thoughts. "Master- yes master... He.. he-he gave he gave her he gave her to me. She was dead! dead already!" The man's eyes shot about the room quickly going back and forth between Lucia and Erratus, he was clearly trying to judge their expressions but wasn't calm enough to actually take the time to do so.

"Then he... he... he went up! He went up and left her and m-" the man's jaw dropped and his eyes widened greatly as if some extremely important bit of information had just popped into his head.

"He...left...me..." he muttered hopelessly as he sunk back onto the floor. "He left me, Lord Tate left me."

SO DH WAS THE DUDE

As she became dizzy and seized up, Talaitha heard The Lord of Silk's voice before her. It was that drink he gave her, and she was naive enough to drink it because she trusted his explanation of it. As the goons flanked him a tinge of fear went through her. There was no way for her to get out of this, she could feel her jambiya by her side, but physically was unable to grasp it.

"Is this about the money or is this about Kariya?" She inquired with a slight grimace.
"Though it can't be about the money because you would have taken it when I offered."

The Lord of Silk had to know who Kariya was. There was no other reason for this.

"Before you kill me, tell me who and where Kariya is!"

Erratus looked down at the sniveling wretch of a man on the floor before him. He could feel the tinge of an emotion he couldn't quite place. He felt like he owed this man something, simply because he was so pathetic.
"I'm sorry." He mumbled, surprising himself. He quickly spoke again, as if trying to cover up what he had just said.
"As much as I hate to say it, we can't leave him here. He could have important information, and Gonye might want to know about this. Whether he killed that woman or not doesn't matter at this point." He paused for a moment to gather his thoughts, then continued. "There's a strange doohickey in the room at the end of the hall that looks like it might be able to get us out of here, but we'll need a key to get it open. Or a lockpick. Or..." The thief's hand dove into his pocket and resurfaced with one of the resins. "We could always use one of these."

"My biggest concern..." Kechts muttered as he recalled something unpleasant. Once again his face contorted into a grimace.

"- town is very unfriendly to outsiders, but - is an elusive man around - who actively sought after kidnapping - women. His name - the prince of... silk?"

As if he had suddenly lost his shy disposition, Kechts emphatically glared at Quentyn.
"- is quite aggressive - approaching his victims, - wouldn't rule out the possibility that your friend - stumbled upon him. If she let - guard down at all, she may - danger at this very moment."

Kechts walked back a few steps and began to direct his speech to the group as a whole.
"I - no business in seeking him out, but - could easily apprehend - if he is after her."

After pausing for a moment, Kechts put on a somewhat regretful expression and continued.
"Apologies, but I do not expect - go unpaid. Please make haste - deciding if you want - to find her."

Lucia still didn't trust the man, nevertheless, Khast thought that he would be useful. She grabbed the tip of one of the conjured flames between her thumb and forefinger and begun to twist it revealing a red string tinged with orange and gold. Sadly it was all that remained over her cloak, and what she had left probably wouldn't even be enough to make a hat. Another point against the stranger, she thought to herself.

"I don't think those resins would be a good idea" replied Lucia softly "They're old, so they could either not work at all, or blow us all sky high" She didn't really know what to make of the crazed man's stories. It was clear that he wasn't all there, if he had been trapped in these vaults for all that time then perhaps it was reasonable that he had become insane. Who know, once upon a time he could have been a scholar, or a even a mage. She paused her thoughts momentarily, if he was such a thing, any scraps of knowledge he had rattling around in his mind would be of use to her. She turned to him with an inquisitive expression, while picking up the ring with the strange marking on it that she had dropped earlier.

"Who is this Lord Tate?" she asked in her usual soft manner.