Lucia blinked, she still felt completely disoriented despite the vague explanations from Gonye. All she knew was that the ordeal had been very emotional for her, to the point that she was willing to employ the use of her magic to end a life. It truly did make her wonder though, could she cut through the various strings of energy that she created and could see flowing throughout all creation? What would happen if she did? She didn't want to find out though, she didn't like threatening people, and she had done so while in that hallucination. All she wanted to do was put it behind her, and rest.

"Umm...goodnight" she simply stated, ignoring Gonye's jest, and she turned to her side away from Erratus with her arms wrapped around herself for comfort. She missed her parents, and at times she wondered what her life would've been if they simply had been born without magic. How much better and happier she could've been with her family. It was these thoughts she had as she drifted off to sleep.

"Are you certain?" Talaitha inquired of Nayda, following her elder through the brush. She was growing annoyed with the water up to her ankles, but was glad she wore sandals instead of boots in this situation. At least that saved her feet from being waterlogged after they exit the swamp.
"What about our stoic friend up there?" She mentioned, pointing toward Nero. "He's far too reserved, and while that could mean he could doubt Gonye it also could suggest that he's playing along. Maybe I'm acting a little apprehensive, but I'm not sure who to trust here save yourself."

Erratus was still skeptical, but Gonye's explanation appeased him to some degree. He was, however, less than enthused with the mercenary's sense of humor. Poking fun at someone's age just struck him as tasteless and droll.
Rather than dwell on it though, Erratus simply curled up and tried to get some rest. It clearly wouldn't be safe to sleep outside, so he just stayed in the tent. Even so, he knew he was in for a sleepless night.

"We may not understand him" Nadya began as she turned away from Talaitha and hurried after the group. "but I'm sure he's just like the rest of us."

Night eventually fell upon the group as they camped out in a the midst of a large, grassy field not far from the shore line. When morning came the mercenaries woke the group, packed up and once more began heading south for some unknown destination. Still tried from his morning awakening Nero clumsily maneuvered to the front of the group to stand by one of the mercenaries.

"So.. where exactly are we going to find this Kariya?" He asked while yawning.

"South..." the mercenary uttered as he tried to avoid conversation. "There's a town south of here known as Venosar. It's some s*** hole founded by the barbarians in the south and the Draniks of the east. Kariya was apparently spotted out here heading in that direction."

"And what makes you so sure he went there?" Nadya shouted from the back of the group.

The mercenary refused to answer Nadya but instead turned to Nero and continued on. "Draniks and Gypsies... They're the same damn people, just split by this damn country." giving a slight shuttered the mercenary looked back towards Nadya and Talaitha before spitting on the ground. "We're certain he's in Venosar because there's absolutely nothing out this way but Venosar."

as Nero continued chatting with the mercernary before the group happened upon a lone standing gate in the distance.

"Alright, we've come far enough." one of the mercenaries raised his voice and turned to the group to address them. "Over the hill, where that gate is-" the mercenary's arm stretched out to the gate and the hill it was perched behind. "is Venosar. We're going to split here to look for Kariya, but there are a few... guidlines, yeah that's a good word for it... There's a few guidelines when wandering 'bout this town. Don't talk to nobody unless you got something worth while to say, especially in the common tongue. The Draniki are savages, they could give less than a piss about Aestarian rule and for the most part refuse Aestaria's existance as a mother country to man, they're easily insulted as well. The Southerners vary from tribe to tribe but assume that none of them understand you and would rather rob ya'. Secondly, and this one is for the women here. Stay away from the far south of the town. It's a red light district, you'll end up kidnapped or raped if you go anywhere near it. Third, when lookin' for Kariya look for a man in a brown tunic with a white diamond on the back of it, brown hair, rough lookin' face... He should be carryin' a curved sword and he's light skinned, you won't mistake him for some Dranik filth very easily." with that the mercenary quickly guided the group to the top of the hill to look over the town.

Venosar was quite a sight to behold for one who had never seen eastern cultures. Most of the buildings seemed to be made of wood and clay as opposed to western stone and refined planks. The town wasn't huge, but it wasn't very small either. Most of the largest buildings in town surrounded a road that cut directly through the area but as the eyes strayed from the road on both sides the buildings gradually became smaller and smaller till there were nothing but tents and small makeshift shelters.

"Andreu, you'll search the far south." the mercenary turned to address his companion who immediately headed off towards the town. "Boy, you get the market district in the east. It's right over near that tower." The mercenary gave Nero a bit of a shove in the direction of the town. "Gypsy one," approaching Nadya the brigand pointed towards the northern most tip of the town. "Remember to stay north." he added with a smug smile as Nadya pushed passed him. "And that leaves you in the west." he finally approached Talaitha. "That area is mostly a livin' space for the easterlings, don't confuse them for your kin now, they may look and sound like gypsies but they ain't." realizing that he left out an important bit of information the mercenary charged towards the town and shouted towards his disbanding group. "Return to the square when the sun is highest in the sky if you haven't found a lick of our man!"

_______

Morning in the guardian woods came slowly, night seemed to last for quite some time and throughout the whole affair the eternal silence outside the tents made for a terribly eerie atmosphere. When morning finally did arrive Gonye woke the group at sun up and ordered the tents packed and the area cleared. Once more the group was forced to wade through a sea of leaves though this time around the wading didn't last quite as long. Eventually a path was found that lead away from the autumn trees of the guardian woods and into the clearing Erratus had spotted earlier. Gonye let out a sigh of relief once the group had finally exited the woods, for now the group was safe from any kind of 'super natural harm'. "It's good to see the sun again." Gonye joked as he unfurled his map and inspected his location. "The city should be just this way then..." he mumbled after some time of tracing his finger against the map and fidgeting. "Which means we'll be hittin' the rough spots now." leading the group through the clearing and away from the forest Gonye eventually happened upon a dirt road which ran up the side of large hill. Following the road he immediately stopped dead when the large black walls of Gennenberg came into view. "Sooner then I thought... Well, I suppose sooner is better than later."

From all corners of Aestaria and even in the far east people once spoke of Black Rock, the great walls of Gennenberg. Once thought to be impregnable, mostly do to the failed invasions of the Khazareen horde of the North and the Draniki Warlord Gebben, Black Rock is now a simple reminder that nothing is truly unbreakable. 10 years after Gebben's attempted rampage of Aesteria was halted at Gennenberg the city was left in a terrible state of disrepair and many peasants began to flood into the city due to the land around the city being ravaged by the war. When the plague hit the east some 30 years ago, Gennenberg tore itself apart and was consumed from the inside out by the reanimated corpses of the masses who had fled and stayed in the capital of the province. Gennenberg was almost immediately abandoned by the Aesterian military and council and to this day remains abandoned by Aesterians, but unknown to most is the city remains a battle ground. Forces loyal to the old Khazareen horde still occupy an area far north of Gennenberg to avoid tribal wars in their mother lands and an unknown power fights for control over the city itself from the east using what some claim is sorcery.


"Inside that city is war zone... Not many know it, but Ostarius is still alive and for quite some time he's viewed himself as an enemy of Kane and everything he established." Gonye spoke briefly as he began to descend the hill towards the massive walls of Gennenberg. "Ostarius rules from some unknown keep just outside of Aestaria's borders but for sometime has been creeping his way into the country in an attempt to sack Ganaeg. I hope you two are prepared, once we enter that city it'll be war. Ostarius' forces and the husks have been fighting over this city for a year now and no progress has been made, I doubt anything has changed." pausing for a brief moment Gonye crouched upon the ground and unfurled his map in plain view of Lucia and Erratus. "Our plan is to charge for a tower on the eastern side of the city using the sewer system to avoid most of the fighting" Gonye dropped his finger hard upon the map to indicate the position of said tower and the sewer entrance just inside the walls "Once we get to the tower we're going to free a prisoner Ostarius has held up in it and use 'em as a guide to get us to the center of the town unharmed so that I can steal up what we came here for. After we're done we'll flee the city and head south to rendezvous with the others. Any questions, concerns?" Gonye turned first to Erratus, he hoped that Erratus was still on his side as far as their kidnapping plan went.




OOC: Sorry about taking so long, been extremely busy with some stuff

Talaitha glanced over at Nadya for a few moments before heading out towards the western end of the city as the mercenary told her. She was not really afraid of being alone, but she felt better in the company of one of her own opposed to no one. The contempt the mercenaries showed for them reminded her of the emotions she riled up when she was run out of her home. She didn't necessarily understand the hatred, but she didn't want to let it cloud her judgment. As of right now her only goal was to accomplish what she was told to do so she could move on.

Lucia listened attentively as Gonye explained the plan, she had no idea that there was a war presently going on anywhere in the world. While it was an ignorant notion, she believed that aside from the few villages and cities, the rest of the world had degenerated into feeding grounds for the shambling husks, waiting for a wayward traveller to cross their paths.

She would need to stay on her guard, and perhaps even use her magic more offensively than she had ever before. All they had to do was rescue a prisoner and then they would be able to rejoin the others. After that it would be a simple matter to cure this odd illness that they had all contracted. At least, that's what she hoped.

"Got it" nodded Lucia with a determined expression, "I'll help with my magic if needed."

Erratus, though he had hardly gotten a wink of sleep and was rather drowsy, gave Gonye a long, unreadable stare before shaking his head. He had winced at the mention of the sewer, though. While he was well acquainted with grime and filth, traveling in confined spaces was a vastly unpleasant experience. He sighed, scratching his head, as he pondered the miserable hours that lay ahead.

"So, that's that then." Gonye let out a deep breath as he tossed his map to one of his men who made quick to wrap the map up and hide it away. Approaching the walls of Gennenberg Gonye took a moment to admire Black Rock's stunning raven colour and its towering height which was well over 20 metres. After his moment of admiration, Gonye spied a gap in the broken down walls and squeezed the whole party into the sizable hole.

Gennenberg's architecture was quite odd when compared to that of the west. Many of the buildings were tall, sharp, and made of gray stone. The street were also extremely narrow and every structure was built wall to wall. The city also contained two 'layers' as in a part of the city was built above on an artificial ground made of stone and wood. All of this made the city seem extremely dark and claustrophobic, especially for those living on the bottom layer... Present day Gennenberg was a much darker place than its past incarnation though. Many of the houses had fallen into disrepair and had simply toppled over into the streets due to weather, war, and overgrowth. The upper section of the city in many places had caved in crushing numerous houses beneath, and trees grew high in some places, so high that they sprouted through the false floor causing further destruction. And now that the group had finally entered the city the sounds of wailing and distant, hellish screams become incredibly audible due to the narrow corridors carrying the sound all about the area...

By the time Lucia and Erratus had made it through the gap, Gonye had already found the sewer entrance he had pointed out on the map earlier and made quick to guide his companions into it. Just like the rest of the city the sewer was built narrow. Gonye was forced to bend himself far over, almost onto his hands and knees, and with very little shoulder room he was also forced to push his elbows against his sternum to avoid grazing the walls with them. In this position Gonye and his men were incredibly slow and at their current rate the party would have to endure an hour of this hardship to reach the tower which was only in actuality a 20 minute run from the edge of the wall.

"Captain-" one mercenary grunted as they pushed on through the conduit. "Is this really, well... necessary sir? Wouldn't it be better to try and just move through the town on foot?"

"No." Gonye answered back sternly as he continued to press onwards.

"And the reason, sir?" he asked in pure ignorance

"Because there's well over 100,000 husks fighting in this city. I don't want to even begin to wonder what Ostarius has amassed 'bout in this city to fight them. We entered in on his occupied side of the city," pausing for a moment to catch his breath Gonye turn his body to lean against the sewer wall. The crawling was by far the most exhausting thing they had gone through yet. "And we have no idea what's going on above us." Just as he spoke the tremendous sound of clashing waves of people could be heard above, though none of what was going on was truly intelligible. "Case in point." Gonye sneered before continuing on. As the group continued their 'crawl' the sounds above them continued to escalate and the conditions in the sewers themselves continued to grow grimmer. Besides the rain water that had gathered in the sewers the group was now crawling across bones, discarded weapons, and organic filth that had washed away from the streets into the sewers like tree limbs and animal parts. Occasionally the group also passed a sewer grate where they could look above and get a quick glimpse of Gennenberg's current oddities like armoured figured patrolling the streets or a fire being used to kill husks in mass. An hour of this affair passed, and after the hour had passed Gonye stopped beneath a grate and cautiously looked up.

"Alright... This it." Gonye gasped as he relaxed his body against the wall of the sewer once more to catch his breath. "We're just behind our target, when we bust out we need to circle 'bout the tower, and hold the door... Khast will get up the tower to the highest floor and secure the prisoner" Gonye reserved himself another minute or two of rest before he grabbed at his sheathed sword and used its pommel to bust away the iron grate from its hinges. One by one the party crawled out of the sewer into a back alleyway. From there they followed Gonye around the tower where two of Ostarius' guards stood ready outside the iron door. Rushing about the side Gonye easily cleared away the two guards by pulling his sword across their unamoured throats. Grabbing a key from one of the guard's pockets Gonye quickly unlocked the door and busted into the tower where a group of 10 men dressed in full armour waited before them. Quickly closing the door behind them Gonye grabbed Erratus' shoulder, handed him a string of rope, and pushed him towards a stair case just to the side. "Hurry up and get the prisoner, we'll deal with this. More will be coming." As Gonye instructed Erratus sets of blue eyes began to appear from beneath the armour and the soldiers who were standing at the ready seemed to come alive. Without hesitation the men charged the party swinging their heavy swords and shields as if they were nothing.


A man carrying a large two handed sword came after Lucia in particular. In a massive motion the soldier moved his sword behind his head and swung in a great arc towards Lucia.

Up above, the tower's stairs seemed to wind about the circular build of the structure until they reached a door some half way up the tower's height.

_____

Once Talaitha entered her sector of Venosar the scope of her mission became incredibly clear. She had just over five hours to search this area for a man she had never seen before. The area of Venosar she had been assigned to search appeared to be a residential district littered with numerous people from numerous lands. Houses of all sorts and shape were spread about as if they had been built for no rhyme or reason and many of the people about her seemed to gather in large communities generally filled with others that spoke a similar language or looked the same. Among these communities the dark skinned, dark eyed and dark haired Draniki seemed to be the largest and many members of the community dressed as if they were warriors, carrying hooked weapons, spears, flails and wearing light leather armour.

"Belashu dretta koct der vallen.. Pelle Dren, ashu der acten dretta falsh os caem. Teppen os?" A voice had suddenly sneaked up on Talaitha as she overlooked the area. The voice originated from large man who wore nothing but a pair of baggy brown trousers, a belt, a pair of swords on his side, and a long knotted beard that came to just beneath his belt. The man inspected Talaitha for a moment before stepping away and muttering something in his language again. Afterwards he quickly headed off to join a group of Draniki drinking around a table. Slowly more and more people were continuing to flood the area and move about. Talaitha would have to pick where she wanted to start her search soon, but where? Directly in front of her there seemed to be more housing and even a few inns, towards the center of town there appeared to be a large number of pubs and a more civilized tone, and heading away from the center of town lead to an even odder area filled with tents and horses.

The journey through the sewer was uncomfortable to say the least, though Lucia agreed with the reasoning presented by Gonye as he patiently explained this to one of his subordinates. It would've been impossible for them to fight their way to the tower, evidenced by the loud sounds of fighting she heard above them as they went through the sewers. She tried to occupy her mind with other things, anything that would get her mind off of her present location. Of course, her mind happened to fall on magic, as it always tended to do. She would need to be ready, what they would go through next was not going to be easy, and she couldn't be a handicap for the rest of the troupe. She wished that she had made a few more of her magical weave-work over the years, she still didn't feel comfortable enough to call on the energies that surrounded her and dwelt within. It had taken so much out of her that first time.

Eventually they reached the literal light at the end of the tunnel, and the group exited the sewer to head into the tower where the prisoner was held captive. Gonye managed to quickly and efficiently kill the guards before they had the opportunity to retaliate. Her hopes lightened slightly, perhaps this wouldn't be so hard after all? However her inner jubilation was cut short as soldiers came to life and began to charge at the group.

Instinctively, Lucia reached into her bag for her magic silks, and rightfully so, for one of the soldiers was heading for her! Lucia turned and ran out of the sword's path, and before it attacked her again she magically unwound some of her golden-silk and loosed a bolt of lightning at the soldier.

Erratus cringed as he crawled behind the others through the cramped sewage line. Unpleasant stench and filthy fluids notwithstanding, the tight tunnel brought out the worst in the nomad's claustrophobia. Moving was one of his favorite activities, right next to sleeping, eating and breathing. He began to absently rummage through the waste in search of anything that might be of value. This was to keep him distracted from his present circumstance more than anything else. After what felt like weeks, though was in actuality no more than an hour or so, he and the rest of the group surfaced just adjacent to their destination. Before anything else, Erratus immediately stretched out his sore limbs, happier than ever to be back in the open.
As he an the others entered the tower, though, they were confronted by at least eight guards. Quickly following Gonye's instructions, he bolted for the staircase. The nomad raced up the stairway at top speed, taking up to three steps per stride. His own well-being hung in the balance, something he wasn't willing to chance by taking his time. It also vaguely registered that the others on the ground floor were counting on him to do his job before they were all pulverized.
Before long, Erratus reached a single doorway in the middle of the hall. Immediately he cursed the mercenary leader for not elaborating as to the target's location in the tower. She could easily be just behind this door, or it could just as easily be a dozen more armed guards. Unfortunately, though every fiber of his being screamed at him not to enter, the nomad didn't have much of a choice. Preparing himself for whatever may lay on the other side of it, Erratus reluctantly moved to open the door.

Talaitha rubbed her forehead and then her eyes to make sure what she was seeing was actually there.
"This has to be the densest section of the city..." she muttered under her breath. "And they didn't even say a thing about what this guy looked like."
Taking a few deep breaths and calming herself, she glanced back over the the Draniki drinking. They did look similar to gypsies now that she had a better look. She might have a chance of fitting in with them if she tried. Sure, she didn't know the language, but at least one of them had to speak some form of the common tongue.
The best course of action was probably to investigate the pubs. Once finding one that caught her eye she walked in and made her way through the crowd to the bar.

"Has anyone here seen a man who looked like he wasn't from this area recently?" she asked to those around the bar. "If it helps, I'll buy a drink for you if you have any information," she added, patting the pouch hanging from her belt beside her jambiya.

The Lightning-silk Lucia unleashed wildly arced into the soldier's armour and successfully transferred its energy into the ground after passing from chest to toe. The solider stood for a moment as if stunned, its cold blue eyes continued to glare forth from its greyed helmet. It stood silent for some time before its eyes faded to black and the figure collapsed forward onto the ground dropping its large two-handed sword in the process. Meanwhile Gonye and his men were still battling the remaining soldiers, only one of whom were they able to fell.

"Some more of that magic this way girl!" Gonye shouted as he tossed himself against a wall to avoid being sliced in two. "Anything, it doesn't matter whatcha have! We just need these bastards dead!" the situation was quickly growing out of control as one of Gonye's men took a terrible slice across his belly.

_____

Upon opening the tower door Erratus' fear of further tribulations immediately came to fruition. Down a long corridor, filled with many doors, a single, young man wearing a dark red, tiled breast plate, greyed bracers, and a dark red tunic and trousers stood at the very end. The man wore no helmet, instead he seemed to want to show off his face which was fairly gruff but covered with long, golden hair.

"And they send a middle aged man to fight me." The man spoke deliberately in a very heavy northern accent, an accent that carried the tone of a harsh land covered with snow, dangerous animals, dangerous men, and a very hostile society.

"Well, come in!" the man spoke once more in a very insisting manner as he motioned his 'guest' inwards. "I am delighted to make your acquaintance, you may have the pleasure to call me Ser Kiliment Yelizaveta. And, what is it that you call yourself? dead man?" Gentilty Ser Kiliment shifted the left side of his body away from Erratus to expose his broad sword dangling from his side.


Ooc: Ser is a knightly title, like sir.
______

Most of the tavern goers seemed to completely ignore Talaitha, most of those that didn't failed to understand her and the small percentage that did seemed to be entirely disinterested in her offer. The whole tavern eventually went back to its business and left Talaitha standing alone until a large hand dropped onto her shoulder. An extremely dark skinned, bald man wearing white robes decorated in light blue and purple stitching stood silent behind Talaitha for a few moments before leaning in close to her ear

"You don't go showin' anyone 'round here that you're an outsider and that you've got money on you, girl." The man grabbed at Talaitha's arm, dragged her over to table and forced her into a chair before the stranger himself sat down across from her.

"I am known as the Lord of Silk in these parts, I'll spare you my name, you won't be able to pronounce it anyhow-" pausing for a brief moment the Lord of Silk raised his hand to catch the attention of a near by bar maiden. "Caem achtu, deb." He seemed to order the bar maiden about in his deep, foreign voice. Returning his attention to Talaitha the Lord of Silk began once more. "I'll take you on your offer for drinks, but I give you not information on who you are seeking... rather, information on how to seek him. Do you agree to my terms?" As the Lord of Silk spoke the bar maiden returned with two large cups of a white, unknown drink.

As the armoured fiend collapsed to the ground, Lucia sighed feeling relieved, though her moment of reprieve was short as Gonye called out that there was more still needing to be done with her magic. She nodded while unwinding more of her silken cloth and lightning coursed through both her hands. She loosed one bolt of lightning at another one of the soldiers, then loosed yet another at the one that was in pursuit of Gonye. Seeing Gonye die so quickly in the hallucination from the day before made her feel a need to be protective. The party seemed to fall apart so quickly without their leader. Her fabric of lightning was quickly running out though, which wasn't entirely a problem for she had her cloak, but it pained her slightly to lose such a valuable cloth, it wasn't every day that one could go standing in a storm and hoped to be struck by lightning to weave it into silk. Had she felt more in control of the abilities taught to her by Gonye, she would've drawn on those arcane powers, but she felt that the task at hand made it quite dangerous for her to do so, she couldn't risk passing out.

Just as before Lucia's lightning tore deep into the armour of two soldiers and neatly fried whatever was inside. The rest of the armoured soldiers immediately back peddled away from Gonye and his men to avoid the lightning attack and in unison turned to attack Lucia. Charging recklessly at Lucia the soldiers were halted by Gonye and his men who threw themselves in the way to protect Lucia and in doing so were able to strike down another soldier with a sound blow to the end, which was more than enough to completely decapitate the soldier. Just as the fighting was recommencing a sound of pounding came at the door and Gonye, who was in the midst of blocking an overhead attack, turned to Lucia.

"More are trying to get in, the door won't hold for long!" freeing himself from his attacker Gonye stabbed through the stomach of the armoured soldier only for it to have swing back at him. Quickly letting go of the sword which was well stuck into the armour he procured another sword from off the ground he swung hard against the soldier's side and knocked him to the ground before he hacked off its head with a few hard swings. "We got five of these things left. Lucia if you're a good shot with your bow try and put some arrows in these bastard's heads while we keep 'em in place!"

Erratus was more surprised than he should have been to find an armed man behind the doorway. In fact, from the way he spoke, it almost seemed as if he had been expecting them. The nomad tried to think quickly.
Even with this man here, there was no guarantee that the Gonye's mark was beyond him. If she was, then she was surely behind one of the many doors that littered the corridor. This hunt was going to be excruciating. It would be unfortunate if he wasted time and effort fighting this man if the girl was on another level entirely. Instead, he tried to think of a way to weasel the information out of the man. No viable options came to mind, however, and time was of the essence. Resignedly, he withdrew his cane.
"I call myself Khast." He said as boisterously as possible, putting on a brave face. It was no easy task for him. "And if you think that this little diversion is going to work, you're even more arrogant than you look." Without another word, he bolted out of the room and up the tower's winding staircase. What came next was simple. If the man chased him, then clearly the girl was indeed farther up the tower. If the knight did not pursue, on the other hand, that would mean he was actually guarding her. In that case, Erratus would simply find another way around. He stopped briefly to see if the soldier was following.