Gods, Gold, Trouble and Adventure! (Ezralora and Guardian Angel)

[Ezralora]

The world is a strange place, the place is wrought with dangers of the land. Magics to be discovered, myths and legends that are routed in the history of the world, even with the Gods and Goddesses of the land themselves. Adventurers work to find the gold, the items of myths and have their names carved in history for all of time! For what better way to be remembered then to be woven in stories with that of heroes of the ages! Myths and Legends change throughout the land, with various connections to the Pantheon, a few even claiming that they at times walk amongst the world themselves in mortal forms to create heroes of destiny that the likes of the world will never see again! Of course none of this has been proven, but one thing is for certain.

There is GOLD to be made! Which brings us to the Lilandis Empire.

The Lilandis Empire currently resides over the largest continent on the planet. It is a land that has been through many rulers before falling under the current ruler, King Dogma Lilandis, and in his life time has managed to get the entire continent of Wildheim under the control of his glorious empire. With that came a few new rules, such as deities being outlawed, whether they are good aligned or evil. Only a few are allowed to be worshipped in public, and those that are caught can be punished by the guards that wonder through towns and cities trying to keep the peace. It has been near fifteen years since Lilandis was able to bring the continent under his rule, and whatever tides of rebellion fell onto the land had either been quelled or crushed under the sheer force of the empire. Yet, our story starts much smaller, without the large democracy of Empires, Kings, Queens and Deities.

Our story starts in a local brewery town of Barnabuck, a town surrounded by fields of barley and other plants for producing drink. It had the feel of an old rustic village. It was here, where on this rather rainy night many a traveller, adventurer and others have taken shelter in the local inn. The Cow Bell. Cheers and merry making can be heard all around it, as the inn keep continues to pour out drinks and keeps the merriness at an all time high, and keeping his pockets lined with the highest in take of coin he has seen in a long time! Tankards are clunked together, drinks are spilled on the floor. The smell of wines, ales and food breath a welcoming air to those that seek to rest at the hearth. It was certainly a lively time, as no one wanted to be out in the weather like this!

The members of the Adventurers Guild were clearly marked out by their clothing, attire and just general care free attitude. A lot of people tended to started as Adventurers whilst young, in order to make a name for themselves before moving on to other professions. Heck it is even rumoured that the Arch Mage of the Empire started as an Adventurer and had worked up to his position. It was things like this that made it all worth, that and the promise of a sizeable reward for a job well done.

It was amongst this chaos that the first member of the future band of misfits could be found. Thors sat in one of the larger chairs closer to the hearth, smiling to himself as he drank from his mug. He was a half-orc from his appearance of two toned green skin, with shaved sides of his head and a head of black hair with a grey flecked amongst it. His face, despite having scarring across it still resembled that of a handsomeness that refused to go away. His armour was absent as he had been sitting for a while, warming up by the fire. The half-orc sat with dark trousers and brown leather boots that seemed well used, as well as a cotton white shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his shoulders exposing his scarred forearms. He drummed one of his black nails against the wood of the chair to the theme of the bards playing in the background, humming along quietly as he peered over, observing the patrons and taking note how they were acting. It was, certainly interesting to observe, but even that was beginning to get a little dull. With a grumble he wiped his hand through his hair, feeling the still dampness of it. "Still not dry..." He closed his eyes before standing up to get another drink quickly, not wanting anyone to take his seat. He was probably shorter than one would expect, just about hitting the six foot mark.

With a tankard plonked in front of him Thors widened his eyes as he lowered down, watching the ale be poured into it as a smile moved over his face, his tusks as was common with orc, not visible in the slightest. "Come on... keep pouring..." he said as he waved his hand, a leather band on his left wrist as he continued to rotate it before bring it to a halt. "Stop! That'll do my man... that will do~" He took the tankard in his hand, and began with an almighty drink.

He had just come back from a job with a few others that had been in the town, he had gotten along with some of them.... but he was sure that most of them would just want to get going once the rain cleared. He did not mind that in the slightest, it was rather rare for a party to stay together unless they were close friends already.

 

[GuardianAngel]

Lilandis empire. The most powerful of all of the empires in the world. A force to be reckoned with. The leader was that of the King Dogma, who had put in place a number of new laws around the empire. And there were many people that seemed to disagree with these laws, especially after the gods were outlawed. And magic seemed to become a thing of the past, especially considering a lot of the times, the use of magic resulted in praying to a specific god. Yet there were some that could just use magic naturally, a rare and mystical thing indeed. Those that tried to stand up against the Empire, didn't stand a chance at all. They were crushed before they could even attempt to try and rebel, which made people see that their resistance was futile.

The people of the empire knew that the king had three children. Two sons that were destined for greatness; one of them the heir to the throne, while the other was walking down the path of being a great warrior. The final child was a young woman, which meant she was pretty much invisible to that of her father. An adventurous spirit that was always finding new place to explore, or new items to take home. She was also one of those people that decided to break her own father's laws, continuing to pray to her matron goddess. The Goddess of Life. At some point in time she had actually gotten tired of the royal life, and had actually ended up sneaking out of the palace. And this is how she had ended up finding herself venturing to one of the adventurer guilds, and actually joining up as an adventurer. Man her father was going to be furious if he ever found out, not like she thought he had noticed that she had disappeared anyways. Hell half the time even when she was right in front of him, he didn't notice that she was there.

"You know you are going to get drunk if you just down it like that." a feminine voice spoke to Thors as a blonde haired female walked over and was taking a seat at the table across from him. A delicate smile decorated her lips. This just happened to be Aerilaya, more commonly known as Aeri to those that she was adventuring with. This also just happened to be the adventurous daughter of the King, not that anybody knew that fact. No that wasn't something that she was going to tell anybody. That would just cause more problems. Nor was she going to tell anybody that, while she was a healer, the potions that she gave her companions really didn't do anything.

Aerilaya Lilandis was one of those rare individuals that was able to use magic, without praying to a god or goddess. No healing magics just came naturally, and she use the fact that they were distracted by thinking the potions were healing them to her advantage. So far she hadn't been caught, and she had been adventuring for a couple of months now. Shocking that nobody had realize it yet, and she was almost certain that by now her father would have figured it out. If not one of her brothers, considering she had a closer relationship with them.

Actually she was waiting to run into her brother, Raeran considering he the warrior out of her two brothers. Granted her eldest brother was a good warrior, his main focus at the current point was learning all he could about being a good king. Raeran took to doing the killing, prefering not to allow the hands of his elder brother to be stained with blood. Actually out of the three siblings, his hands were the only ones that were stained with blood. Even Aerilaya herself hadn't killed anybody or anything. She hadn't really had to, not with the group she had been adventuring with. A couple of them had been slightly overprotective, a bit overbearing.

She was currently dressed in the usual outfit of a healer, a hood pulled up over her head to hide her features. She was smoothing out her skirts a bit before she was resting her head on her hand, just watching the half-orc with a slightly amused look. "So our darling warrior companion has already gone about looking for another job. He seems quite adamant about keeping the group together as well. Likes adventuring with us." Aerilaya cooed in a soft voice before she was accepting the water that she was being handed, swishing the water back and forth.

Thors was probably one of the few people that she had come to trust since she had started adventuring with that group. The others she was a bit wary about, they all gave her bad vibes, but she kept it to herself most of the time. Probably just her being overly paranoid of everything. She took a sip of the water before she was setting the glass down, fiddling a bit with one of the bracelets that she was wearing, before she was just glancing out the window, watching the rain as it came down. Honestly at that point she was quite grateful for the cloak that she had, helped cover up the soaked white dress that she was wearing. Perhaps the downfall of being a strict healer, and taking to dressing of a devotee to the goddess of life would dress, in pure white.

 

[Ezralora]

Thors frowned a little as he lowered his tankard upon hearing a familiar voice scolding him. With a very slow movement he lowered the tankard before looking over Aerilaya with his yellow eyes as a smirk came over his face, "Please, it'll take more than downing a simple tankard to get drunk." He said to her before a loud burp left his mouth, he gave her a grin before placing it down as he folded his arms and let out a sight. "Yeah i guess that he is set on what he's got and isn't intending to let us go just yet." He drummed his fingers on his left forearm as he stared forward for a moment, looking through one of the shutters, the inn not having any glass as even that was beyond what it could afford. Even from here Thors could hear the rain hammering against the wooden shutters, and it reminded him of the sea... The place that continued to call to him it seemed, as he felt a little homesick from it.

Before he had become an adventurer he had been a sailor for a long time, that was until pirates captured the ship and he was sold into slavery where he became a gladiator in the Empire of Romulus. The Pits of Harleese were a place of renown where people fought all sorts of creatures, and people... being a gladiator he had no choice but to survive. In his sleep though he managed to hear the sea, and the storms it brought with it and one day he escaped. He kept that fairly quiet though, he had even changed his voice to hide himself deeper in this empire. He could use magic but he barely understood it. After a dream in the barracks, he awoke to have these abilities, they had been useful in his survival there and in the end his escape.

"Perhaps..." He said as he saw her drinking water, again... "You need to just start drinking more." He pointed out, as he lowered his head to look under her hood as he smiled up at her, the scar over his upper lip stretching a little as he gave her a friendly smile. "I mean i don't think i've ever seen you with a drink in a hand. Are you saving it for a dragon or something?"

Dragons were powerful creatures that very few people sought themselves to go after, they were creatures that hoarded mounds of treasure, and magic and the different kinds depended on how to deal with them. The colours were Black, Green, Blue, White and worst of all the powerful Red Fire Dragons. It was nearly impossible to tame the beasts, and even harder to kill one as the older they became the stronger and bigger they were. Very few adventurous had even set eyes upon one.

Thors peered under her hood for a little longer, trying to make out what race she was. She appeared mostly human but he so very rarely saw her with her hood down that he wasn't entirely sold on it. His yellow eyes flicked away from her before settling on his own tankard as he swished the frothy liquid inside it around for a moment. "You planning on sticking around, i mean if you want we can always leave." He had certainly grown attached to Aeri, enjoying her company and conversation amongst other things... But three was something else he just couldn't quite put his finger on. Thors had gotten good at reading people, and well there was just a little something about her that didn't sit right.

 

[GuardianAngel]

Aerilaya just gave a small giggle before she spoke, "You know that I don't drink alcohol." She wasn't going to mention that she had tried it once, and hadn't been able to handle it at all. She got quite drunk, very fast. And turns out she is quite the emotional drunk, and tended to be rather clingy. Not something that anybody really wanted to deal with. At the mention of saving it for a dragon, which had her snickering a bit before she was commenting, "I could be." She did happen to know somebody that had a dragon. Actually her brother, Raeran… Which had her realizing that there was no way that she was going to escape being detected, especially if Nemoth was with the male. The white dragon knew the young woman just as well as her brother did. That was going to be fun. Her sibling scolding her, and then she would get getting scolded by the dragon, before they were worrying over her being injured.

Her purple eyes flickered over towards the half-orc for a moment in time before she spoke, "Of course I plan on sticking around for a while. Not like I have anything better to do." She was actually looking up a bit more, and was studying the male for a moment in time. It was comical, that out of all of the time that she had spent traveling with the group. They really didn't know much about her. Yet again... it was far too much of a risk to reveal too much about herself. No if anybody even had the smallest clue of her true identity... that was going to spell distaster.

"Got us a mission!" came the familiar, yet heavily intoxicated voice, of their warrior as he was coming up behind Aerilaya, just slapping his hands down on the table, on either side of her. Well this had her jumping slightly, and she was grateful that she wasn't holding onto her drink at that point in time. That would have ended up all over her. "Also I got us some rooms so that we can get some rest, and change out of wet clothes." the warrior spoke before he was plopping down in a chair near them, tilting back on hind legs.

"Also it seems that the archer bitch decided to leave us." the man was scoffing which just had Aerilaya looking over from under her hood before she was just resting her hand on her chin, making an idle comment that she really didn't blame the other woman for wanting to leave. The warrior was a bit of a sexist and had a terrible habit of flirting with any and all women that came across his path. There had been a few times he had tried with Aerilaya, and much to his dismay she seemed to more or less ignore him.

Not that Aerilaya wasn't use to that. God knows as a noble she had attended enough balls, and dealt with enough people hitting on her. It kind of went in one ear and out the other. She was just looking towards the warrior with a raised eyebrow when he was making a comment that they were going to be room together, and he was basically stating that she could share his bed with him.

"I think I would rather sleep on the floor than share a bed with you. You kick in your sleep, and snore loud enough to wake the dead." Aerilaya was mumbling under her breath. Was she at all fazed by the almost hurt look at the man had on his features. Nope not at all. She was turning her attention towards some of the gossip that was drifting throughout the inn. One thing in particular had her about choking on her sip of water, especially after the mention of the particular group that had been spotted. Some of the King's men. Damn it... this wasn't going to go well at all.

"Well while you two are drinking. I'm going to go change out of wet clothes." Aerilaya before her eyes were flickering towards the warrior before she was commenting, "And no you cannot help me change." After that she was getting up from the table and snagging the key from him, before heading off towards the room that they were sharing. Was she at all shocked by sharing a room? Not really, nothing new there. It was far more cost effective when traveling as a group. Although usually she was sharing a room with their other female companion, when the other female had been with them.

 

[Ezralora]

Thors rolled his eyes a little as he heard that intoxicated voice once more, it was uncommon for the guy to get drunk like this. Though when he heard that their ranger had left he let out a low sigh before mumbling. "shame it was her that left." before taking another drink as he listened to the guy trying to get out coherent sentences. He leaned over to Aerilaya and just whispered. "At least i'm not like that." He gave her a half grin before his face went rather bland as he continued to make rather uncomfortable advances. With a roll of his eyes Thors had his tankard refilled before looking over the warrior. "Well seems like we're one person down so i'll just see if i can get us a fourth person." He said with a smirk at him as he began to delve into the crowd and begin to mingle around chatting and getting word.

In the back of his head though he was wondering why Aeri had decided to just up and leave like that, but then again he could imagine it wasn't too joyful having a guy who would leap on anything if it had two legs and long hair. It was getting late it the chances of actually getting another person to join them was becoming less and less likely, as the inn was growing quieter, but the storm continued to wage on. "Fuck it." he said as he slammed his tankard down and picked up his pack. "That's me done for the night, i'll check again early in the morning." he grumbled and tossed the barkeep some coin. The circus was in town tomorrow, that was always a good time to get a bunch of oddities.

Heaving his way upstairs the half-orc just made his way inside the room that had been rented and tossed his pack onto the closest bed, he didn't carry much other than his armour and a change of clothes. From the looks of it he didn't carry his sword with him, yet always appeared to have it hand when it was required. It was just one of those things about him. He took his boots off before seeing that the two beds had been claimed already, and he didn't feel like sleeping head to toe with their resident drunk tonight.

Pressing his pack against the wall he settled down and began to sleep.

The next morning the king's guards had certainly arrived. Wearing their embossed armour and carrying their fine weapons as they swept through the town, tax collecting was always a fun part of the year... Despite this though there was a buzz in the town about, as in the distance in one of the fields a large purple tent had been erected and performers were out in the streets getting attention and selling tickets to tonight's show. Thos however, having been up early sat outside in the crisp damp courtyard of the town, watching the guards as they moved from store to store slowly. It had been like this all morning...

Setting up also in the courtyard were a few people tying up a long line of cable from one tree to the other, the trees had lost their leaves for the winter but still seemed strong in the courtyard, the cable hovering over the exposed fountain now as it tightened. It seemed as though soon enough there would be someone performing there, whilst two others, a halfling and an elf were getting ready to sell tickets.

 

[GuardianAngel]

Aerilaya had taken the chance to change into dry clothes while the guys were around, and was taking off the cloak to shake out her long hair. After a moment she was taking to putting it back into a braid, and was just going over to gaze out the window. Ultimately, even when the guys did arrive to the room, she wasn't asleep at all. No she was sitting up in the window seat, just gazing outside, watching the stars in the sky. How she adored the nighttime. It was when things were calmest. She was looking over as the other two came into the room, watching as the warrior passed out on one of the beds. She figured he wouldn't even bother to change or anything.

"You can sleep on the other bed you know." she was commenting to Thors from where she was curled up in the window seat. At that point in time she was quite comfortable, shockingly enough. Yet it seemed like the half-orc had decided that he was just going to sleep against the wall. Whatever worked for him. She wasn't going to argue it at all. She would worry about herself at that point in time.

The next morning came around soon enough, and Aerilaya was awoken by the warrior being rather noisy. This had her looking over before she was commenting, "Let me guess. Hung over?" This just had him grumbling and she was getting up, just making a comment that he had brought it upon himself. It had been his own fault for deciding to get that drunk. She had warned him that that was probably a bad choice, but he hadn't listened. Not like he ever really did.

Soon enough she was getting up so that she could leave as well. Oh everybody was getting set up for the circus. And the king's men were walking around, going from shop to shop. Collecting taxes. Personally she was looking for the familiar figure of her brother, and actually found herself jumping slightly when she turned around and actually bumped into the male. She had been wanting to avoid him, but guess that wasn't happening. Man did his eyes widen in surprise and he was grabbing her wrist, drawing her after him so that they could speak in private.

"Aerilaya… What the hell are you doing here? When did you even get here?" the male questioned in a sharp yet concerned voice. This had her just looking at him before she spoke, "I've been here the last couple of months. I've been out adventuring." With that she was giving a shrug and the male was just mumbling under his breath about the idiots at the palace, and somehow managing to lose the damn princess.

"In their defense. I'm always sneaking out. Benefits of being the youngest. And the only girl, I'm kind of invisible." Aerilaya was shrugging and Raeran was just giving a sigh before he was just mumbling a few curse words under his breath. After that he was inquiring if she at least had a party that she was traveling with, and if they could be relied on. He really didn't want to have to hunt anybody down, or have Nemoth hunt anybody down either. This had her giggling before she spoke, "Two others, although I really only trust one of them. The other is.... well you'll know if you actually meet him." Thors she could stand, the warrior....not so much.

 

[Ezralora]

Thors scratched the back of his head as he watched the performance for a moment before hearing a small bump with the guards and turned to see a familiar looking person getting dragged away by a guard. "We can't be having that now can we..." He grumbled as he rose to his feet and stretched his arms out before following slowly, but when they ducked into a corner he leaned against the wall listening in. His ears twitched a little before he narrowed his eyes a little. He heard most of the conversation that was said louder but not much else. Once he heard it quieten a little he turned the corner with his hands resting on his belt. "Hi, everything alright here Aerilaya?" he asked her, as his yellow slitted eyes scanned over the man in front of him. Not being overly familiar with the kingdom he didn't know the royal family, but then again he was sure that there were a fair few people out there who wouldn't be able to recognise the King's children.

He eyed the guard up a little, feeling the palms of his hand warming up as he was getting ready to attack if things turned a little shade darker. His gaze flicking to Aeri now and again. "I don't mean to sound like i'm butting in, but urr, it sounds like the pair of you know each other and in all honesty i'm kind of surprised. You been holding out on me there?" His question directed toward Aeri more than Raeran.

He didn't want to break into a fight now in the middle of this, but if he needed to he certainly would. Heck he didn't want to be left alone with that drunk. If he could he'd go out and just form a new team as it was. But at the moment the funds just weren't there. So if his teammate was in danger he didn't want to see her get taken away. The half orc remained rather still as he waited for an answer.

 

[GuardianAngel]

Raeran was looking over at the male that came up before he was looking towards his sister with a raised eyebrow. Obviously this person knew the blonde haired woman, which had him just studying him a bit more. Go figure though that he would be reaching for his weapon as well, which had Aerilaya just looking at both of them and telling them to stand down. The woman was giving a faint sigh before she spoke, "Yes we know each other. Thors, this is my brother. He is a general in the king's army. And yes I have been withholding information but.... I have a reason behind it. I can't explain.... not here, definitely not here. But I shall."

"Aeri....." Raeran warned his sister and put a light hand on her shoulder, which just had her looking towards him and she was commenting, "This is the teammate that I was talking about. The one that I actually like, and trust." Raeran was just folding his arms over his chest before he scoffed a bit. After that he could see that another one of the soldiers was gesturing towards him, which told him that he had to get going. He was looking towards the half-orc before he spoke, "If my sister gets hurt because of you, I will find out. I will use all the power I hold to hunt you down."

After that the male was turning and walking off, although he was looking over his shoulder before he spoke, "Oh and Aeri, Nemoth is in the meadow on the outskirts. Stop by and say hello before you leave." He was continuing on his way, walking over towards the other soldiers, and they were soon walking off. They needed to get back to work, because once they were done collecting taxes, there was something else that they had to get done.

Aerilaya looked towards Thors before she spoke, "If you want I can explain but we need to go somewhere private, and I need your word that you won't say anything... and I need your word.... that you won't hate me." After all she was the King's daughter. There were often times where a person tended to hate another just because of who their parents were. But she most definitely wasn't anything like her father, not even close.

 

[Ezralora]

Thors looked over Raeran as he explained who he was, he did a good job at hiding his reaction. 'Shit that's far from good.' He thought as he kept his hand behind his back, but once things seemed to slowly diffuse the energy he was building in his hand began to fade and he just held his hands out either side. "She's made it this far hasn't she?" He said before giving a small smile as he watched the general beginning to walk away before he let out a sigh. He turned to Aeri as she walked towards him, as he scratched the back of his head before cocking his head to the side as she began to speak. "Pfft. i mean you're really laying it on thick there. Sure, i cross my heart and hope to die." He said with a small smile as she asked him to promise.

He had his armour on, and it looked like a mixture between piecemeal, roman and leather armour. One shoulder pad curved over his right shoulder, whilst his chest guard held up and had chiseled into the leather and metal a slight muscle outline. His gauntlets had metal that ran up his forearm, leaving his biceps exposed to the weather. Around his leg was a quilted leather around his waist. His armour was weathered, foreign looking but practical. The fact he was wearing just showed he was up for going just about anywhere at the moment.

"So where do you want to explain?" he asked her as they began to walk and he gave her a small smirk, "And do i have to start addressing you as your highness?" He might not know a lot about the royal family, but he knew the positions of them and was beginning to wise up a little. His yellow eyes moved over the areas around them scanning over the scenery and the people as he made his way to quieter part of the town, only ten minutes away from the circus tent. "Plus seems i don't have a choice about liking it or not, my life has been threatened by a man far above my own station." The half-orc chuckled as he tried to come to grips with it. Just finding this day getting more and more bizarre.

 

[GuardianAngel]

Aerilaya just watched for a moment in time although she didn't say anything at all. No she had seen the expression that Thors had gotten, even if it was slight. Damn it all for happening. Things had been alright up until this moment in time, but what could she do. Other than hope that everything would be alright, and that Thors wasn't going to hate him at all. Soon enough her brother was leaving and she was leading him towards somewhere more private. Although at the question of asking if he should start calling her your highness, she was shaking her head a bit.

"You can't do that! Nobody can know!" Aerilaya spoke after a moment in time, almost a hint of panic in her voice. No that would be bad for a lot of people involved. Anybody who hated her father who probably try and target her to get back at him, which was only going to cause more issues. Especially with how protective her brothers were of her, not to mention her bond to the goddess. Soon enough they were to a quieter part of town and nobody was around. This is when she was actually pushing down the hood that she was wearing, a first time for anybody in the group to actually see her without a hood up.

"I am Aerilaya Lilandis, youngest child of the king." she spoke after a moment in time as she was sweeping some of her blonde hair out of her face, and was just studying him for a moment in time. For some reason him stating that he didn't really have a choice in the matter on liking the news or not, almost hurt. Honestly she had thought that perhaps they could be considered friends. "I.... Ne...." Aerilaya started before she was just shaking her head a bit then spoke, "I never lied about anything, I just never said the whole truth. I couldn't. My father.... there are many people that would sooner see him dead. There are many people who think that all children are like their parents." She was nothing like her father.

A strand of hair was being tucked behind her ear before she spoke, "And I won't take Raeran seriously, he is just being overprotective. He should know by know that I'm stronger than I look. Especially considering.... I have a strong bond with one of the goddesses." Yeah there she went revealing her own little secret, and she was praying that he wasn't going to say anything to anybody. Not even the warrior. She was just clutching the edge of her cloak for a moment in time, almost a bit afraid of whatever he had to say. It had been hard enough hiding who she was when they had been traveling together, how she felt like she was lying to them.

 

[Ezralora]

Thors glanced around before focussing on her as she began to explain where she came from. He folded his arms as he listened to her. He was surprised to see her beginning to lower her hood, and frowned a little which seemed to deepen a little as she continued to explain what was going on with her and why she was here. The half-orc took in a deep breath before letting out a long sigh as he rubbed his eyes as he let out a long sigh. "Sure okay..." he muttered and placed his hands on his belt. "I can see why you wouldn't open up with that line when we first met." He added, though oddly enough he had a smile on his face as he looked over her for a moment. "Well thanks for trusting it with me Aerilaya."

He paused for a long time before he asked her the question, "What do you mean by a strong bond with one of the goddesses?" Seemingly a bit confused by that statement he tilted his head to the side. "You mean like you worship her devoutly or...." He didn't want to outright say it, if there was anything he had learnt recently it's that people tended to be very defensive about this type of thing. The empire worked hard to keep a few gods out of worship but now she was here, the daughter of the man in charge claiming to worship a goddess.

Thors didn't appear to be annoyed with her and in some regards could actually be seemingly taking the news rather well as he waited on an answer. "If there's more i need to know then please do tell me, you can trust me Aerilaya." His voice wasn't joking as there was a serious underlying tone to what he was saying. This was a dangerous conversation to have. Deep down he was beginning to think if it might be worth the pair of them leaving to start getting a new team together of people they could potentially trust further.

 

[GuardianAngel]

Aerilaya just looked towards him for a moment before she spoke, "I didn't want to reveal anything. Honestly I was hoping to avoid running into big brother Raeran, but I suppose it was unavoidable. Out of my two brothers, he is the warrior." With that she was giving a small shake of her head before she was just looking towards him at his next question. Man this just had a small smirk forming on her lips before she was pulling her hood back up over her head, not really wanting to keep it down.

"I am a priestess to the Goddess of Life, and I do worship her. She is my matron goddess. But I'll let you in on a little secret.... the healing potions I give you guys, they actually don't do anything at all. It makes you guys think that it is the potion doing its job, but it is in fact me. That is my other little secret, through my bond to the Goddess of Life, I have access to restoration and healing magics." the young maiden spoke after a moment in time as she just looked at him fully. With that she was taking a step towards him before she spoke, "But regardless, I don't regret meeting you guys. Or joining you on your adventure."

If anything she felt more sorry that she was so useless. She was no warrior whatsoever, had no fighting abilities at all. The only thing that she could really do to help them was healing their wounds when they got injured, or even if they happened to get infected with something; poison, disease, whatever else. It was something that she could take care of, easily enough. And Aerilaya didn't even have to openly pray to the goddess, to ask her for her blessing. It was just something that was granted to her.

 

[Ezralora]

Thors gave her a surprised look as she began to talk about her connection to the goddess of life. He didn't say anything about it but just nodded a little, he felt like he should tell her something else... but at the same time there wasn't a need to. Not yet. "Well that's good to know at least, i'm in safe hands if i ever get hurt." He said with a smile before resting his hands on his belt with a wide grin at her, showing his white teeth. "If worst comes to the worst you can always make those vials taste worse for the warrior to sober him up if he gets on your nerves." He added and patted her hooded head gently once.

The half-orc had no idea why he did it, it just felt like the right thing to do to her at this moment as she seemed to be getting worried. "Well if we're sharing past stories i suppose i owe you something as well." He said with a smile before looking down at his armour. "I'm not sure if you've guessed by i'm not entirely from these parts... I've been a pit fighter for the past three years of my life." He added and gave a slightly sad smile as he remembered back to those conditions. Being treated like a slave and forced to kill those in the same position as yourself. He let out a low sigh before he folded his arms. "Romulus definitely has different customs to this place." He admitted before shrugging his shoulders. "So if i ever have to ask you a question about the land we're in you might have to remind me. My memory of this place is a little foggy. But normally i've got a good eye." he pointed to his yellow eyes as he gave her a small smirk.

"On the other hand if there is anything i can help you with just let me know. And if you ever want to ditch the drunk we'll do it at the drop of a hat." He said before widening his eyes. "Oh yeah also." He handed her a purple bit of paper. "A ticket for the circus evening show. Should be fun at least before we head out again for work."

 

[GuardianAngel]

Aerilaya was giving a faint giggle at the mention of making the potions taste worse to sober up the warrior when he got on her nerves. Oh man that would be interesting as all hell, and she was half tempted to do that now. It would be interesting to see his reaction. Perhaps she would work on that tonight, and do that once they set off once again. As long as she knew which vial was which. Now that Thors knew the truth, she didn't really have to hide the magic use from him but she didn't trust the warrior. Something about him still had her on edge, but he was a good teammate, that and she wanted to find out what was bothering her. One of the reasons that she had stuck around.

"That sounds horrible." Aerilaya gasped when he told her about his past and she was shaking her head a bit as well, just clutching the front of her cloak. Oh that was horrible to hear! But that was apart of life, sadly enough. But she was giving a faint smile when he made a comment about asking questions, and how she may have to remind him. That wasn't difficult to do at all. A simple enough taste. "That shouldn't be too difficult." she grinned after a moment before she was taking the ticket that he had offered to her. A ticket for the evening show it seemed.

This had her tilting her head for a brief moment in time before she smiled beneath her hood. "Yeah! It sounds like fun! Also... I don't want to ditch him yet. There is something about him... that bothers me. But I'm the curious type, so I want to find out." she was commenting, making sure to comment on both of his statements.

 

[Ezralora]

"Something bothering him? Just seems like the only thing that bothers him is when he doesn't have a drink in his hand." He said with a smile before frowning as she said that it was awful to be put into the pits. He didn't answer that and just decided to go for the joke once the conversation had change. He drummed his fingers on his bicep as she spoke before tilting his head to the side. "Just don't go pushing him, people can get messy when you try to pry too much. Just like with anything where pressure is building underneath the surface."

He felt a breeze move through the town for a moment before frowning a little as he felt something going on with the circus tent. It wasn't malevolent by any means, Aerilaya would feel the same thing as well. If anything it would have an air of familiarity about it. He narrowed his eyes as he stared at the purple tent before slowly looking back at Aerilaya. "Is there anything else i need to know about? A fifth cousin that's going to leap out and call you out in the middle of the street or something?" He asked as he began to walk.

 

[GuardianAngel]

Aerilaya was shaking her head before she spoke, "No I won't be pushing him too much, I'm not that cruel." With that she was giving a small giggle before she was just looking off into the distance. Oh yeah she felt something very familiar as well, but she couldn't quiet place it. She was however looking towards Thors when he was inquiring if there was anything else that he needed to know about. A fifth cousin or something like that. This had her shaking her head before she spoke, "Nope. About the only person that may do that is my eldest brother, but I highly doubt we will ever run into him. Although Raeran did mention that we will see Nemoth when we leave."

Was she going to state that Nemoth was a dragon? Not at that point in time. He would find out soon enough. Actually it had been Aerilaya that had founded the dragon egg when she had been exploring. The dragon's mother had been slaughtered recently, and the adventurous child had ended up grabbing it and taking it home. Who would have figured that within a few months there would be an actual baby dragon running around the palace, and joining her on her adventures. It had been decided by her father that Raeran would take over training the dragon, and thus her elder brother became a dragon rider.

With that she was just prancing after him before she spoke, "Otherwise, nope not that I know of."

 

[Ezralora]

Thors frowned a little as she began to walk away before placing his hips on his belt as they seemed to be walking. "Well if we do i can always appear more charming." He said with a wide smile as he changed the tone of his voice to a rather surprising tone, it sounded so far away from his normal voice which was usually rough and textured. Now it was smooth and elegant. "Good day my lord, i hope you are finding yourself in good health." He swapped back to his regular voice, "Or something like that if you want."

"Nemoth... is that like a dog or something?" he asked raising an inquisitive eyebrow at her as they began to walk away from it before he heard something and continued to walk. Before his eyes widened as he saw the thing in the opening. "What the heck is even that?" he asked her as he looked from where Nemoth was, or what he assumed was the thing to Aerilaya.

 

[GuardianAngel]

Aerilaya couldn't help but chuckle a bit at the change of his tone of voice. "The fact that you can change the tone of your voice like that is rather impressive." With that she was just looking towards him with a faint smile. After that she was just humming in an amused voice when he was asking if Nemoth was like a dog or something. Sure... something like that. Nope for the time being she was just keeping silent, he would find out soon enough, especially as they were getting closer to where the meadow was. And she could see the white shape of the dragon in the distance, and she could see some pesky townspeople harassing him as well.

"That my dear is a dragon." Aerilaya spoke before she was looking over at him before she spoke in a cheerful voice, "Come and meet him!" With that she was grabbing the edge of her dress and cloak, before she was running towards the dragon, who was just laying on the ground, seeming to ignore the townspeople that were around him. At least until he felt the familiarity and stood up, looking off in the general direction, before he was heading closer to the entrance. But he didn't get too close, to avoid spooking the people anymore.

He was however lowering his head down so that the cloaked figure that had run up to him could wrap arms around his neck. 'I am so grateful to see that you are safe, my dear child.' he spoke in the young woman's mind, the female not even being fazed by it at all. She was letting go of his neck to take a step back towards the figure that had come up with her. "Thors, meet Nemoth." she cooed, and the dragon was just lowering his head again to study the other being that had come up.

 

[Ezralora]

Thors.... was a little less eager to come running up to the giant ice breathing reptile. He steadily began to follow, keeping his eyes on the creature not trusting it at all. To say the least he was having to resist the urge to summon his sword into his hand. "hey shoo." he yelled to the townspeople just to try and clear them away before he cleared his throat. Meeting the dragon's eyes with his own slitted yellow ones. He wasn't sure how to say hello to this thing and nodded slowly at Aerilaya. "You failed to mention it was a dragon." He muttered before awkwardly grinning at the thing.

"Urr... hello Nemoth, i'm Thors. Nice to meet you." He gave a nod at it, silently praying to the sea that this thing wouldn't freeze him in the spot he was standing on. "I do have to wonder how the heck you manage to get a friendship with one of these things- Dragon." He corrected, not wanting to refer to it as a thing at all. It was rude to refer to it as a thing, it was a..."Is Nemoth a boy or girl?" His confused look seeking aid from his companion.

 

[GuardianAngel]

Aerilaya was just looking towards Thors for a moment in time before she spoke, "I'm sorry." She did kind of look a bit sad, she felt like he was a bit annoyed with her due to it, but she just pushed that aside for the time being. After that she was tilting her head when he was inquiring how she managed to get a friendship with the dragon, and was even asking if Nemoth was a boy or a girl. This had her chuckling before she spoke, "Nemoth is a male."

'Aeri was a very adventurous child when she was younger. Difficult to keep an eye on at all times.' Nemoth was commenting which just had Aerilaya looking towards the dragon for a moment in time, giving a soft scoff. "I had been exploring when I came upon a cave. A dead dragon had been in there, the tail curled around the egg. I ended up taking the egg back home, keeping it hidden. After a while, the egg hatched and Nemoth was born. For the longest while I kept him hidden, although after a while my father found out. It was decided that Nemoth would go to Raeran, and they've been together since then. Raeran has trained him." Aerilaya was commenting before she was giving a slight shrug.

Nemoth was just laying down on the ground, laying his head down, but currently he was just watching Thors. He seemed a bit unsure about the half-orc.

 

[Ezralora]

Thors nodded slowly as he kept his eyes on the dragon as his heart began to hammer less in his chest. "Well he certainly grew up healthy and urr... big?" He tried to compliment as he rubbed the back fo his head as he cleared his throat. "But yeah nice to meet you Nemoth... sounds like you've got a big job in the future though. Surprised you weren't allowed to keep the thing in the end though Aerilaya considering you found him." Thors found it to be a rather weird idea to have the dragon just handed off like that, but if he was happy.

"You ever want to get a pet?" His question being directed towards Aerilaya as he took a few steps closer to the dragon, crouching down to look it in the eye and smile before waving. He was certainly feeling a bit more confident around Nemoth once he had heard the story surrounding him. "So you two have known each other for a long time then. Any embarrassing stories you wish to share with me?" His grin turning to Aeri as it moved to a more innocent smile. "Just so i can learn a bit more about my wonderful adventurer buddy."

 

[GuardianAngel]

Aerilaya was giggling before she spoke, "My father thought that it would be dangerous for me to keep the dragon. Especially with how adventurous...." 'And reckless.' Nemoth was chiming in, which just had her looking towards the young woman. This had her clearing her throat before she continued, "Yes and reckless, I was when I was younger." Anybody who knew her would find it hard to believe that she had once been reckless, that had all changed after she had gone to the temple to train as a priestess, before her father had outlawed all of that. And she had made him believe that she had given up on walking that path, that she no longer had any ties to any of that.

She was just shaking her head when she heard the question of if there was any embarrassing stories although it wasn't long before she was looking towards Nemoth. "Take flight." she spoke as she was holding her hood to stop it from falling, as the dragon stood up and took to the air. Good timing too considering now their warrior friend was spotting them, thankfully she had spotted him first. "There you guys are!" the man waved as he ran over towards them and was actually taking their hands to draw them off with him, making a comment that they had founded them a new traveling group to join up with. Well that was nice of him to consult them about it first.

Aerilaya was drawing her hand away from him before she spoke, "We have discussed this touching business. I prefer not to be touched without permission." "No need to be a bitch about it all the time." the warrior was scoffing which had her pointing out that if he had gotten the hint the first time she had mentioned it, there wouldn't be an issue. After that she was speaking, her purple eyes locked on him from below the hood before she cooed, "And I would be careful not to piss me off too much. Remember.... I'm the one who supplies the health potions." Sure they usually ended up buying some while they were in town, but as soon as they ran out, it was she who was usually making them from herbs that she found. Although now that Thors knew the truth behind that fact. If anything the health potions only helped with pain, considering there wasn't much that she could do about that.

 

[Ezralora]

Thors grinned at her before shaking his head. "You reckless... never would have dreamed of such a thing being possible." He shielded his eyes as the dragon began to take flight the wind forcing him back, but he placed his firm foot behind him to stop him from being flung back away like a leaf in the wind. "Well that's something you don't see everyday." He muttered as he saw the thing begin to vanish into the sky and then just like that he couldn't make out where Nemoth was, he'd need the sight of a hawk in order to make it out from this distance. He gave Aerilaya a smile before it dropped as he heard the voice fo his favouritest person in the world and was suddenly being grabbed.

"You know i'm perfectly capable of walking right?" He said to him as he went to snatch his arm back before adjusting his gauntlet. "Hmm?" he lifted his head in a questioning manner before taping the wariror's shoulder. "I'm sorry for a second but i thought you just said you'd found new people to travel with without consulting us." He said and let out a low grumble as he brushed his green fingers through his black hair. He had planned to try and get someone from the circus, still did in all honesty as there was always someone skilled enough to be there that wanted a bit more action in their life he was sure. But this could complicate things. "I hope you've made sure they're not going to rob us as soon as we leave town, because if they do i swear you'll be in serious debt for a long time."

Thors didn't decide to make a comment about the potions and just shrugged his shoulders. "Just cool down a little though, if she doesn't want to be touched just don't touch her. Simple as that, now where are these people?"

 

[GuardianAngel]

Aerilaya was just huffing a bit and folding her arms over her chest, before she was just narrowing her eyes a bit at the warrior from under her hood. Man now he was being all secretive about these new people that he had supposedly decided to join up with. Man something was telling her that this was a really bad idea, and she wasn't really wanting to go with at all. They had learned in the past that this man had a very bad judge on character when it came to traveling companions. "Like that other warrior that we had allowed into the group." Aerilaya was commenting which had the warrior commenting that the woman had been hot as all hell, and the young maiden was just mumbling that her looks really hadn't done any good for her fighting abilities. That woman hadn't been able to fight whatsoever, then there was that assassin that had tired to kill them in the middle of the night.

"I am beginning to doubt your skills at recruiting people. Recruiting decent people anyways." Aerilaya was adding before she was giving a slight scowl when he was throwing an arm across her shoulders, and telling her that she needed to loosen up now and again. "You tend to act more a stuck up priss than anything else." the warrior was commenting, although was a bit shocked when the usually non-violent maiden was actually slapping him across the face, before she was walking off. Oh was she annoyed! Of all of the times that that man had actually recruited somebody, or even decided to merge with another group, none of them were decent people. Hell the last group had just been a bunch of thieves pretending to be adventurers.

Screw that man at the time. A small sigh was escaping her lips as she continued to walk, and soon enough she found herself standing in front of the circus tent. She were merely looking at the tent for a brief moment in time. She was just watching some of the performers that were wandering around, then was looking at all of the other people that mingling around in the area. The last few weeks, she had been half considering returning back home, but at the same time she enjoyed the freedom.

 

[Ezralora]

Thors ran a hand over his face as Aerilaya began to storm off deciding not to follow after as he turned his yellow eyes to the soldier as a disappointed parent would their child. Still best to try and make the best of a bad situation. "Right, well first off i think maybe talk to us next before you sign up with a new group alright?" He said before clapping the warrior on his shoulder. "Come on let's take a look at this group and make sure that they aren't just a bunch of thugs." Thors was somewhat decent at reading people, so he trusted that he could pick out the promising lot from the, i will stab you the first time i get. "And lay off her a little alright? I know you two tend to spat at times but just listen to her sometimes and you won't get the worst bits of her bite." He added as he gave the warrior a small smile.

Thors would proceed to follow the warrior to the group where they were. He'd look them over and back to the warrior. Some of them were looking okay, but there were still a few of them that seemed a little shifty. He cleared his throat as he looked at the warrior before tilting his head from side to side. It seemed like the good were outweighing the bad in this group so he ran a hand through his hair and just said. "I'll see about hiring a wagon then if we're going to be taking this many people and equipment as well."

--

The circus tent was open and inside there were people of all races working to set up the seats for people, and others were practicing. There were all sorts from the colourfully flamboyant to the drab and dreary. It was a wide selection of characters. A tight rope had been set up between two posts with a fire fae balancing elegantly on the wire, her bronze coloured skin gleaming with sweat as she worked the wire, her hair flowing like actual fire.

Jugglers and more acrobats joined her and began their rehearsal in the chaos as fire was breathed, magic was displayed and the fantastical grew even more fantastical as they worked. Before the acrobats left as one performer took the ring, clearly her part in the opening routine.

She wore a mixture of black and red, making her appear somewhat in the dreary column of the group of performers. A veil covered her face, making it impossible to make out her features behind it, her pale hands were partially gloved with lace as she held a lute with eight strings. The notes were plucked and slowly a voice with an ethereal quality came from her as she broke into song, telling the stories of demons and creatures of the dark. The acrobats working around her to bring it to life, whilst it seemed like shadows were moving around her and dancing to the alluring tune of her lute. The song built up further and further as more of the shadows were swayed and compelled to dance to her tune, before there was a snap of fingers.

"Very good, very good." Came a plump dwarf with a massive moustache and rosey drunk cheeks. "Yes wonderful wonderful, i'm sure the show will be fine. Thank you for the rehearsal go get some rest, but not too much. I will see you all back here in a few hours."