Atomos: The Cerobi Steppe Part 2

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There is not much excitment in the port city. The streets are bustling with people coming and going, the tarverns are all crowded with plenty of drunk people. Rydia makes her way to the front gates almost immediently, not feeling comfortable in the city and Malboro's do not make good first impressions on most people. As the party gets ready to leave the city at the gates a stranger aproaches them. Wearing a straw hat and a dusty brown pancho. He lifts up his head and tips his hat. A piece of straw btween his teeth as he smiles to the group. "Leaving for the north are you, and a varied lot you are. Pilgrams I would say, and heading to the Cerobi steppe. Your going to need a guide then. Names Gau, and I am your guide."

There is not much excitment in the port city. The streets are bustling with people coming and going, the tarverns are all crowded with plenty of drunk people. Rydia makes her way to the front gates almost immediently, not feeling comfortable in the city and Malboro's do not make good first impressions on most people. As the party gets ready to leave the city at the gates a stranger aproaches them. Wearing a straw hat and a dusty brown pancho. He lifts up his head and tips his hat. A piece of straw btween his teeth as he smiles to the group. "Leaving for the north are you, and a varied lot you are. Pilgrams I would say, and heading to the Cerobi steppe. Your going to need a guide then. Names Gau, and I am your guide."

Alba's ear flicks sharply out to one side at the appearance of the stranger, eyes narrowing behind her mask. Turning her head to look at Talen, Zhgir, and Moiraine in turn, she slowly turns back to face the stranger, hands droppng toward her belt. "...It must be greatly talented," she mutters, "that it knows the who, the what, and the where of passing strangers come to a busy, busy port. To guide must be in its bones... perhaps we shall simply take one or two of these with us, so as not to inconvenience the rest of it."

Talen takes on a rather guarded expression as the stranger seems to know of their purpose and direction. He looks to Alba with a strange expression on his face, and his ears angled back towards his head. "It must indeed, it must indeed." The male Viera gives Gau a look, eyeing him for some time before speaking. "Our purpose is not for common ears, nor our direction. One could walk a while perhaps, and speak to your experience?"

Zhgir for his own part, was tilting his head upwards and backwards, eyeing the skies with some intent, up to the point that the commotion down on the earth nearly passes him by. Which is when he drops his head down and looks at the Vieras and the stranger. For a moment, there is a silent tic, and then he holds up (two of) his arms. "Gau!" He exclaims, quickly making his way between Alba and the stranger. "Zhgir is... uh, Gau!" He continues and then suddenly leans in very close towards Gau, whispering very silently, "No eye contact, speak frankly, her blades hurt." He continues to hold his hands up in the air. "Also, Zhgir thinks you should be less suspicious to be better at being suspicious."

Moiraine tilts her head and reguards the stranger, "I could simply be going to the Temple of Mog, a stranger who has met these kind people on the transport over." she tucks her hands into her sleeves and turns to her companions. "Far be it for me to impose myself but I have found it is rarely wise to hire the first person to approach you upon disembarking. As master Talen suggests we should check what credentials we may. Perhaps a check the local guild, before we hire anyone. I'd dislike to hire a guide, get ten miles out of town and have to fight off our supposed protectors brigand friends... I've done that once in my life and have always made it a life goal to avoid doing it again. It destabilises the local economy, wiping out entire bands of oppurtunistic brigands, bad for local business."

Gau's gauded expression turns a bit guarded at the veiled threat leveled to him. A glance to Talen and a touch of a smile, "Then you hide it poorly by announcing it." The young man narrows his eyes a bit as he considers the group, "There is only one location a group heading north would go, I am the best ranger and scout out here. Head north towards where you are going, I will find you when you get lost." As zhgir comes up so close Gau does not blink but stares the spider kin right back and not breaking eye contact. "My bow never misses." The man glances to Moiraine, "I would never seek to do harm to a high priestess of the Temple of Mog, a honor High Priestess Moiraine." Then he turns around to start walking off.

"...Then it is courteous that it has told us where we shall find it," Alba snarls under her breath into Talen's ear. "For now I shall know when there will be need to secure it to ensure our success. Feh," she spits, rising from her crouch. "Come. Let us continue upon our errand."

Talen's mouth forms a thin line as the situation doesn't resolve itself quite the way he was thinking it would. "Perhaps then we shall see you once more, Gau." An ear flicks slightly, and Talen straightens himself. "Hmm, perhaps not the most auspicious start. Let us hope we do not get lost.", he says to the others. To Alba he shrugs, "One hopes we shall not be too needy of his services."

Zhgir does not blink either. Or break eyecontact. Or indeed, stare much at any particular direction. "But then how can Zhgir find the bow if it is never missing?!" He shouts after the man, then rubs his twitching palps together. "Don't worry, Zhgir is very good at finding lost things! Even weird people!" He grins cheerfully at the party then, before going on forth first. And he finally remembers to lower his hands.

Moiraine watches Gau walk away and shakes her head, "He must know that is not an auspicious introduction kupo," she adjusts her small bowler hat and checks on her cane and adjusts her skirts. "The fact he knows who I am is disconcerting kupo-po.... not many people would recognize me"

"Rydia." The name is spoken by a figure who steps out of the crowds, and is suddenly just... simply, there. Tristania moves to stand beside her younger sister, not acknowleding the presence of anyone else just yet. "...I see you have brought your companion," she adds, nodding towards the Malboro; the beak on her mask moves in an exagerated fashion as she does. After that she glares once more at the younger dryad; no words spoken on a certain subject, but the weight of her disapproval painfully palpable. At last it lifts, and she glances towards the rest of the group. "The errand continues, then?"

Rydia peers at Tristania and offers her a hug and giggles, "Your mask looks silly." Then hopes back onto her Malboro and follows the party along. When ask where to go she shrugs her shoulder, "Uhh, that way, maybe? Nope nope that way, err which way is north?" Clearly the girl has no clue where to go. The wilderness is rough and rocky and tree's are sparse and far inbetween. Alba leads the way north along what at first appears to be a well traveled path. Her skill at survival avoiding any fiends or dangerous encounters. After several hours though the trail goes cold as the terrain becomes more rocky and impossible to follow anymore. A few more hours traveling north and the sun is starting to set. Rydia wonders up to Talen and holds out a perfectly round red marble, "Here ya go!"

"Hhhhh," Alba says, sucking in a breath between her teeth as she scans the horizon. "Faugh... I think that I shall have to cut the guide, for the sake of principle." Turning, she flicks her eyes over the rocky terrain nearby, then points to a hollow in a sheared-off hillside, almost as good as a cave. "There," she says. "There is where we shall sleep. If a fire is desired, it shall be out of the winds that pass this land."

Talen travels along in silence, his faith in Alba well placed. When it comes time to sleep, he nods, "A fire might be helpful, the hollow will keep most of the light hidden. I doubt we have much to fear, though a wandering fiend may find us. We shall take turns keeping watch, yes?" That directed to the group as a whole. When presented with the marble, he looks at it curiously, and then to Rydia. "What is it, Rydia?"

Rydia shrugs her shoulders, "A red marble, you should keep it." Then skips off to the designated camp site to help with setup.

Zhgir lowers himself from the trees with his freshly spun web and reaches out to grasp the held out marble. "Zhgir thinks this is his, yes. Yes?" He looks towards Rydia, then towards Talen. "Yes? Zhgir well known for his red round thing?" Despite his probable upbringing in the wilderness, he still struggled with keeping up; obviously not enough trees. Except the one he was hanging from, because it was conveniently there.

Moiraine adjusts her coat and looks around with a warm sigh, "It is nice to be outside again, it has been too long since I last got to walk and travel without a retinue of others." She sits down on a rock, resting her cane on one shoulder and smiles out at the setting sun. "A fire would be good, I'd be happy to cook for you all."

"We should maintain a fire for only as long as it is necessary." Tristania has been silent for much of the trip, walking alongside her sister, rather... protectively, as much as possible. Overbearingly so, at times, but a course of action she seems unwilling to be dissuaded from. "Even in a hollow it is a risk. Though I grant that the thought of eating raw flesh might be unpleasant to some of you." Her teeth flash beneath the bottom of her mask as she grins.

Rydia glances up to Tristania, "When did you start eating meat?" Popping a few berries into mouth as she eats. Then turns to Zhgir, "No no bad bad zhgir. That belongs to Talen, I gave it to him. How very rude of you. Give it back." Scolding the spider-kin. The afternoon quickly turns into night as the sun sets beyond the horizon and the stars come out in a perfectly clear sky. The fire for the camp is started, tents are put out and snuggles finds a place nearby to start snoring and goes to sleep. Alba notices a few nearby fiends approaching but when the party goes to deal with them finds them all dead along with a few scattered arrows.

Alba's ears pin back sharply at the sight of the dead fiends, a low growl rumbling in her throat. Without comment, however, she sets about dressing the more edible ones on the spot, wrapping up the heart and a few of the choicer cuts of meat on the flayed hide, an offering for the slayer of the beasts. The offal, carried a couple dozen paces away from the kills and heaped for scavengers, and the rest of the haul taken back to camp... along with the head, and when the meat is set to roasting, she begins to lever the teeth out of the skull to pass the time.

Talen peers at Zhgir as the spiderkin lusts after the red marble, and said marble is hidden away inside the summoner's robes. He nods to Rydia and smiles, "Thank you, Rydia." He nods to Moiraine and the smile brightens, "A cooked dinner would be a welcome respite, though I really only have trail mix and dried meats and fruit. They don't stand well to cooking." Later, when the fiends are spoted, Talen accompanies Alba to investigate, and drops a hand on her shoulder when she growls. "Perhaps Gau wishes us to trust him?", he says quietly, almost a whisper. "At least someone has done the hunting for us." Meat's back on the menu, boys.

Zhgir folds his palps at being scolded. "But it could have been Zhgir's..." He mutters as he disappears to do his own thing. When the call for arms comes and goes, he goes wandering through the field of battle, peeking around the corpses and in the bushes in apparent search of something. Then finally, at last: "No bow!" He either curses or exclaims. It is hard to tell about the arachnid holding his hands up in the air.

Poor Talen, good thing he didn't suggest meats back on the menu boys outloud, the boys are scarce in this party, what with all the ladies and Zhgir.. well who knows for sure what gender he is! Moiraine however thanks Alba for dressing the meat she brought back and sets to work making a stew out of the vegetables in their supply. "How many days is it to reach the Temple Library? I'll admit I've never made the journey before"

Tristania tilts her head, and turns to gaze at her sister. "For years," she replies. "A lone lobo attacked me once, mangy and weakend. But I was meat, I suppose; and so was it, as I was also hungry. So I ate it, and found the act agreeable. Hunger is a powerful motivator when you live somewhere that is not a place of plenty." She shrugs, and settles down around the fire. The interaction between her sister and Zhgir is observed with merely a look; when Alba returns with her prize, the elder of the dryads watches her for a time, as well. "Give me some of the teeth," she offers, "And I will carve them for you, if you wish."

Suddenly several dozen arrows fly through the sky at the party attempting to injur them. Fortunetly the range from where the arrows are being fired at is a good distance off and in the dark so most will miss. Several shouts can be heard, "Surrender or die!" A group of banga bandits coming out from over a nearby ridge, the same direction the original arrows that killed the fiends came from. Bows being notched for another volly.

A handful of teeth are passed over to the Dryad, as an ear turns toward Talen's hypothesis. "If it is so," she grunts, "he is being agreeably distant for it." Both ears snap up, however, at the sound of hissing arrows falling and clattering against the stone. "....It is, however, not so." Uncoiling from her crouch and putting the rest of the teeth aside, she draws her daggers, moving to stand at the entrance to their hollow. "Which of these, then, shall you choose?!" she roars out into the night, in reply to the bandits.

Talen's ears wiggle agreeably to Alba's suggestion that Gau is remaining distant, and looks to Moiraine a moment, "I do not know how far it is to the Temple Library, for I too have not made the journey... at least, not from this direction." His ears snap to attention as well at the sound of the arrows, and he stands beside and just behind Alba, squinting. Turning back to those by the fire still, he says quietly, "Smother the fire."

"Zhgir can die, Zhgir can die! A six or a snake eye? Is double or split a rule? How many keys per wager?" The arachnid asks from the group instead, before tilting his head towards Talen - and then disappears into the darkness. There is a brief puff, and then the fire is nothing more than purple smoke.

Moiraine looks up from her stew pot and sighs, "Oh dear kupo-po... this is most inconvinent." she reaches for her wakking cane and picks it up, twisting the grip so the base clicks sideways, extending, shifting, a ratcheting of unfolding gears and cogs and the priestess is left holding a moogle sized hammer. "This is incredibly inconvinent, you boys run along now kupo-po before Mistress Alba has to hurt you or Snuggles does more then hug you."

Tristania has no sooner accepted the teeth from Alba, than she must tuck them away in a pouch. There are, afterall, bandits. She sighs audibly, and rises to her feet. Her knobkerrie is brought to hand, and she moves to stand alongside Alba and Talen. "Stay there, Rydia," she instructs. "Remain hidden until we have dispatched these fools." She whirls the knobkerrie in a wide circle around her wrist, catching it in hand at the apex. "Face them head on, or flank them?"

One of the bangaas calls out, "We choose surrender." Another one reaching over and smacking the first one, "No no we are not the ones choosing you fool." A third bangaa calls out, "Doubles of course! Err wait keys for wagers? Dat make no sense!" The bandits already being thrown into confusion and some of them are starting to fight among themselves over dice rules. Giving a perfect oppertunity for the party to walk up on them.

"All that we may bring to bear," Alba says, ears cocking forward, "we shall hurl into their teeth, for Zhgir has proven they are as stupid as the Fiends they kill." With a quiet cackle, she crouches, dashing forward in a blur of preternatural speed, eating up the distance between the hollow and the bandits much more rapidly than even the average Viera could normally manage.

Talen's dagger comes out of its sheath, and he agrees, "All that we can bring to bear, we shall bring to bear. Smash them while they are arguing amongst themselves." His right hand becomes sheathed in flames, and he whispers the slippery words of magic, the flames dancing higher. As Alba races off, Talen lopes along behind them, throwing a gout of flame once he is close enough. [Fire]

Zhgir, for his own part, was now more interested in the dice game. "Of course keys! And we are not playing with the fire bet! And all kupos must be declared before shooting. No! No you cannot gnaw the dice!" The dark shape continues to yell, and then argue loudly when he hits the clearing - probably too late before Alba is already smacked into something. "Teeth are only acceptable as stakes if backed!" [Annoy]

Moiraine moves forward quickly, not as fast as Alba but she has a turn of speed, skirts swishing around her feet as she hefts her hammer. Her wings buzz propelling her forward and she jumps up, hammer swinging around toward one of the bandits, not swinging as hard as she can as she lines him up for her next swing. [Heavy Blow]

Tristania joins the charge, rushing as fast as her feet will carry her, following the point of her mask just as much as Alba. Into the fray she leaps, winding up a mighty strike with her knobkerrie; she visualizes the image of a bangaa's face after his jaw has been broken and knocked askew from the rest of his face, and then wings her blunt weapon about as hard as she can, in an effort to make it so. [Bash Upside the Head]

The bangaa's are taken by complete surprise as the group rushes up on them. Alba is able to find nice fleeshy spots to stick her knives into on one and having the back up and drop his bow to draw a dagger of his own. The one Moiraine hits is dazed as he stands there and rubs his head not sure what is going on anymore. The one Tristania has rubs his head and backs up dropping his bow and muttering, "This aint no dice game." The other three are quicker to react droping their bows and drawing various weapons getting ready for a fight. Meanwhile back at the campsite Rydia is sound asleep next to a snoring snuggles, both without a care in the world.

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