Lavernius looked at the stall with a sparkle in his eyes. The amount of detail she puts into her work has never been short to amaze him. "They're beautiful Itsuka, the fact you find the works of the Vadalians as something to compete against is a staggering compliment, I must go see their works next. Magnificent as always however this one..." He looked at the carving of the Isles of Foxes and was surprised to see his hand reaching out to touch it, like a child reaching for candy. His other hand grabbed it and brought it back to his side and he passed her a sheepish grin. "I could only describe it as being miraculous, the level of love and dedication you're putting into this work is something else entirely. It feels alive."

He kept looking at her works and his eyes fell upon another carving. It wasn't as dramatic as the Isles of Foxes and shunned in a corner but caught his eyes because it was of a small girl in a kimono twirling in a field of flowers where resting on some were butterflies. The delicacy of the piece was shown by how there were chipped petals, broken stems and snapped wings. But he couldn't help but stare as he softly murmured, "She would love this..." Lavernius looked back at Itsuka. "I hope your pieces find wonderful owners." He clapped his hands over hers and stared at her warmly. "I hate to leave but I must begin my own work now." He kissed her on each cheek as a farewell and merged back into the crowd as he pushed his way to the Dancing Horseman.

"Oh, I see...So you're only passing by? You won't be staying till the end?" Faye saddened a little, before frowning and slightly tilting her head. "Wait...Shouldn't Shields be taking care of that? What kind of 'anomaly' we're talking about if they're sending Staffs?"

Hearing the commotion around Atlas the woman turned her head around. "It's okay really, he won't hurt them." She smiled. "Hey Atlas, copy!" Faye bent her right arm so that it had about 90 degrees and straightened her pointing finger; a gesture the automaton quickly repeated with a rumble, giving kids more opportunities to play as he remained in that position. Satisfied, she turned back towards Ravhin, still same smile present on her face. "So?"

She smiled at the young lad and brushed his hair with her fingers, "You've got quite the imagination. Sorry to disappoint, darling, but this cloak is rather new. It hasn't had the privilege of tasting another's blood just yet." She plucked the child's hand from cloak, with force if she had to, and stepped away.

Maybe coming coming out in the day was a bad idea, and maybe wearing her assassin garb wasn't the greatest idea either. Then again if things always did go south, she didn't want to have to return to that inn for a few extra knives. Dealing with grabby hands would just have to do. The woman began moving back in the direction of the large automaton.

At the sound of the word Hiraya, Mari's attitude changed drastically, but she did well to not show it. She backed away from Filian, turning around and giving him her back. Her right hand creeped up to her chin, palming it pensively while her left one rested on Sabi's pommel. With that new information in mind, the situation had changed entirely: her activities weren't targeted anymore by mere rivals. It was something much bigger now. But she needed more information before formulating a plan.

Mari spun around, blank expression on her face, and addressed Filian.

"Take them to the alley doctor. Tell him I sent you. Afterwards report back to headquarters. Dismissed."

Moments after the woman spun around and headed deeper into the alley. If there was one person that could shed some light on this conundrum, it was Marcus.

Lavernius Mylarc, Approaching the Dancing Horseman

The artist brushed through a lot of people, both interesting and not. The Plaza was filled with different people, and he noted a statue with children climbing on top of it, though he found it odd that it was made of stone, as he was sure today was for the woodwork. Either way, he reached the other end of the circular center and approached the Dancing Horseman. It was a low class inn but it did have its finer points, a finely crafted wooden bench sat outside underneath a hanging sign that had an image of a horse dancing alongside his rider. The place also appears to have a bar below the inn itself and he could hear a bard and a singer playing inside.

When he entered the establishment, Lavernius was greeted by one of the maids.

"Greetings, welcome to the Dancing Horseman, good sir," she said meekly and with a curtsy. She wore a casually, her hair tied in a bun and covered by a net and wrapped around her waist was an apron. "Will you dine or be staying?"

A voice from the back of the bar suddenly called out, revealing a plump woman, maybe in her thirties and wore similarly to the girl. "Milanee, don't be daft, this is the wealthy one who reserved a room." The woman¹ leaned forward on the bar and acknowledged her new customer. "You are Lavernius, yes?"

The sound of music filled the room as guitar strings were expertly tuned and the voice of the singer seamlessly accompanied it. The inn filled with people but not to the brim, people had sat down, listening to the sweet music and drinking.



Faye Petralis, Plaza of the Monolith

Ravhin nodded slowly. "Yeah," the Baelthanese Thaa'ans said. "But I guess that's fine right? I've missed a bit of festivities from the pilgrimage anyway. Whats one more?" A hint of sadness echoed in his voice but he tried to hide it with a shrug.

"I don't know really? Jocasta had argued with Vysterious for some time to allow a Staff to accompany the search group. Seems big," he said, also confused himself. "I mean, if its just a manhunt, for sure, Shields and legionnaires would suffice... but all she said was that I should go. Something about Draxir² something."

When Faye had given permission, the children broke free of their parent's grasp and ran towards Atlas and began scaling the golem without fear. The parents then had no choice but to watch, someone else decided to watch too, a cloaked figure just behind Ravhin but she could just be like anyone else, marveling at Atlas.



Marianna Laranis, Market of Six - Sarnath Section

With her word, her men were lead by Filian to the alley doctor while Mari herself left the area for another part of the Sarnath Section. She took a left and then another, deeper she went but she was never lost. Soon enough, she found one of the abandoned structures ever since the Sarnath section was cleared of all its native inhabitants. It used to be one of the old centers where all the trade from Sarnath would pass before let out into the public but now it was home to Marcus and his team of information brokers.

With a knock on the rickety door, Mari was let in by a young guard with a sword in hand. She passed him and some rooms full of paper and a couple of men and women exchanging words. Mari went upstairs to see who she was looking for, an aged man, no further than his fifties but looking spry despite it. His graying hair and faded brown eyes hid his ability to read through people and what they needed. Marcus was accompanied by short woman who had his tea waiting on hand while he sat on the floor amidst lots of paper reports.

"Did you know the Izukanese make the finest teas, Mari?" the Vadalian coughed without looking at his visitor. "They have this way with leaves and herbs, do it quite well."



Thalia Valgeiros, Plaza of the Monolith

Pryven let go easily and was confused, the mother as well who hurriedly took her child away, muttering something in fear.

Thalia easily flowed through the crowd and made her way towards the automaton. She noticed two coat wearing Thaa'nas had been beside it while a group of children were being wrangled by the parents. When she got close enough to see the golem clearly, the female Thaa'nas suddenly spoke: "It's okay really, he won't hurt them," the mage smiled. "Hey Atlas, copy!"

And the golem did copy her, raising its hand like the mage did. Suddenly all the children came back to grapple on the construct and the two Thaa'nas began to converse again.


FOOTNOTES
¹ Lavernius know her as Joyse Adeline, caretaker of the inn.
² Faye recognizes the word Draxir but can't really remember where she read it.

Lavernius' head drifted over to the main stage and he closed his eyes so that he could bob his head to the rhythm of the music and to absorb the singing. It was wonderful and he just let himself drift with the music until he was interrupted by the voice of a young lady. He opened his eyes and tilting his head over to her, he gave her a smile to calm her nerves. "No reason to be so polite." He swept his hair to the right with his right pinkie. "Just Lavernius will be fine." He was about to state his reason for being here when he was interrupted by the inn keeper. "Aah Mrs. Adeline, please you're exaggerating. I do hope that you still have my room reserved. However Miss Milanee did bring up a good idea, eating sounds like a good idea, I also wouldn't mind listening to the performance longer." He looked for an empty table.

Thalia noticed the two Thaa'nas talking, neither of them were elves. Obviously. Which meant that the construct was not of elvish origin. The woman sighed as she pulled her hood down to cover even more of her face. She walked up to Atlas and reached out with her hand to rub the automaton's body. Daana and Maat fortified the stone. It would be best to kill it's master quickly before having to deal with this giant. Glancing over her shoulder, she observed the short Thaa'nas girl who had commanded the creature. A frail little thing, really. A red smile from ear to ear would easily take care of the golem, but it would be a shame to stain her pretty silver hair. Thalia had a bad reputation with several Thaa'nas when she practiced Isfet, as she did not respect the boundaries of her environment at all.

She shrugged the thought off. If anything these two Thaa'nas were a reminder of how hard it could be to escape this city if things got out of control. Thalia had already come up with dozens of escape plans, but any type of magic could easily thwart any of them. The assassin approached the two mages with a terrifying swagger in her steps. She ignored the short woman and instead addressed the brown haired Thaa'nas, "Lovely use of magic. You must be inspired by the elves in order to conjure such a creature." She glanced down at the short woman before turning back to the Baelthanese man, "What's a handsome man like you doing traveling with Vadalian filth? Certainly she's no more than your servant, merely fetching scrolls and tomes at her masters command. You should leave her in the Twisted Woods for the Shirai'Kaen to eat." Thalia gave the man an innocent smile, eyes full of desire.

It was obvious who the true master was.

"Draxir? Where did I..." Faye didn't even finish the question when a cloaked woman approached them with her vituperations. Humiliation, disrespect, making fun of. Definitely not something she wasn't quite used to at this point. The woman learned to take these with her head raised, although this time her blood flow definitely accelerated. Faye listened to everything the mysterious person had to say with a polite yet forced smile and hand on her cheek, supporting her elbow below with the other hand.

As much as she wanted to play along and let the situation unfold by itself, she didn't want to put Ravhin on spot like that. "Ah yes...Unfortunately not all of us were born with a privilege of bravely walking around with a concealed face in bright daylight, taunting Aladea's officials with ignorance clearly pointing to one's lack of idea about matter spoken..." Short mage spoke calmly to woman's back without changing her expression or posture, although there was a note of annoyance in her voice. "Some of us might in fact be servants, mindlessly doing their master's bidding. Question being what for..."

Mari rolled her eyes to Marcus's irrelevant piece of information. She took a couple of steps forward then suddenly stopped, crossing her arms.

"I don't drink tea, Marcus. I've got bigger problems to worry about, and I'm positive you know something about it."

Mari took a small pause to formulate a train of thought. The woman knew that, although Marcus was a jovial old man, he was still an information broker. Every moment spent in the same room as him costed a small fortune. Without further hesitation she continued.

"Today we lost another shipment of crystals. It's the 4th this month. At first I thought that it was just some rival gang trying to shove their sticks into my business, but today I was proven wrong. Filian and the crew was attacked by a handful of individuals that used Hiraya. I wanna know who those people might be and why are they messing up my operations."

Lavernius Mylarc, the Dancing Horseman
"Well don't just stand there Milanee! Show the man a table," Joyse barked. "And take the man's order. I'll be waiting in the kitchens."

The innkeeper then disappeared into the back through a curtained doorframe. Milanee visibly relaxed and curtsied again. "This way, Sir Mylarc."

The woman showed the artist through the men who suddenly stood to sing along, through the smell, Lavernius could tell he wasn't sober.

"There is a table far over there, away from most of the smell," Milanee mentioned before actually reaching it. The table itself was round and wooden, a bit smelly from the ale that had been absorbed over the years but relatively cleaner than the rest, his chair was alright too and he was quite close to the stage as well, a good five feet away.

"Please take a seat. Our menu for the day is.." Milanee took her time telling the menu but it was relatively short. The waitress then waited for Lavernius' reply.

The beautiful Vadalian singer had began to sing A Council of Fools and most of the bar began to sing along with her, their jovial noise began to draw in more people from the outside.



Faye Petralis & Thalia Valgeiros, Plaza of the Monolith
Ravhin was taken aback at the sudden arrival of the cloaked woman and the children's parents began to call their younglings.

"I did not create this golem," he corrected the woman and ignored the other comments, trying to avoid conflict and looking into the cloak. "She did. Who might you be?"

Atlas felt some sort of disturbance and its head turned to face the commotion but did not act further.



Marianna Laranis, Market of Six - Sarnath Section
Marcus took his time finishing his tea and handing it off to his aid.

"Ah, good tea," he said. "Now about your crates."

The old man kept an indifferent smile on his face, aware that it irritated Mari. "I have heard of some odd events surrounding this port," he said accompanied by a weak cough. "That remnants¹ have infected the city and are out to sap all life."

"But I know you don't care much for all this lore," Marcus gave a short chuckle. "My sources say that this new organization operates very similarly to the Emperor's own network. Other sources say of that this is the other sect of Thaa'nas, those that work under the Emperor's own nose but that could just be a rumor as well. What I can tell you for sure is that they are thorough, never have I seen a scene so clean of murder hours after it was done. Some even disappear from Aladea itself, from memory, from records. They have connections, powerful ones."

The old man's tone got darker. "I care for you Mari," Marcus mentioned. "You've been a great customer. So I'll tell you this for free: Leave this shipment case. Some fights are beyond the streets and the underworld."


FOOTNOTES
¹Remnants are conciousness of dead entities that are stuck on a haera. They cannot do harm unless they turn themselves visible. Wraiths are remnant mages and are able to use magic even in this form. Maleovolent Remnants are those made of Khalid, as they can spread themselves by actively killing living entities. All forms of Remnants will fade away through time and the only way to keep themselves stable is to sap haeras from other entities.

The smile never left his face as he chuckled. "Please just Lavernius would be fine. No need to use sir with me. And I would like to have some beef stew with bread and cheese. And to drink, perhaps some crownland coffee or izukani tea if you have either."

Kill them, burn the children.

Thalia pulled the hood off and smiled at the lad, "No, of course you did not create the golem. I am Illaya Astapor. I'm merely passing through for the festivities." She shrugged and stepped out from between the two. Still focusing on the man she continued, "It sounds as if I've offended your little servant girl. It's pretty unusual for a servant to be so jealous when a woman speaks to their master, don't you think?" Her expression grew mischievous as she gently brushed the short woman's face with her hand and used the other hand to open her cloak enough to reveal her more prominent features in the skin tight leather suit. All of the pouches and slots for her hidden blades still remained very much concealed. "No? I bet you please him in other ways." Thalia's gaze met the man's again for a moment as she bit her lip with a naughty grin. "What else could a powerful Thaa'nas man and his companion be doing in a place like this?" Perhaps she was being a bit too forward, but gods be good her reasonably good looks and charm would yield the results she sought. At least she was able to be rude to one of the Thaa'nas.

"Such...Impudence..."

Faye's blood slowly began to boil, as her patience was being put to a serious test. Was she crazy, sent by someone to simply cause ruckus, or is it all just a joke of sorts?

"No? I bet you please him in other ways."

"Oh." Faye's expression changed from a forced venomous smile to completely blank, as if she suddenly understood what's going on. However a slight blush appeared on her face as her gaze began to unwillingly trail down. The mage quickly caught herself staring and jerked her head to the side, crossing her arms while at it.

"Oh, don't worry. If you're looking for clients I'm by no means an opposition in your trade...Though I'm not sure how interested he'd be in your services..." She shrugged innocently, but the way she spoke made it almost obvious how abashed she is. "...Nor any other man at this time of a day, you should at least wait until the evening when some of them are drunk enough...and alone..." Faye put a strong emphasis on her last words. She then turned to Ravhin again. "Well, do you want to further discuss this out somewhere where we won't be bothered or...You know..." The woman raised her hands for a moment and smiled to him. "...I won't judge, promise." By her expression, speech and general body language one could say she really wanted to leave...even if her gaze kept landing back on 'Illaya' for split of a second at the time.

Mari stepped in front of the table, leaning on it with both hands. She looked straight into Marcus's eyes, a fiery determination in her own.

"I haven't gotten to where I am now by simply bowing down to adversity. I have endured and struggled every single day just to get a single meal. Now I won't let some punks that can use a bit of magic boss me around. With that said..."

Mari leaned over to Marcus, gently maneuvering herself through the pile of papers on the table.

"Give me some information I can use, and I'll make it worth your effort." she whispered in his ear.

Noon to Early Afternoon

Lavernius Mylarc, the Dancing Horseman
Milanee curtsied and smiled shyly. “Of course, Lavernius,” she muttered the name. “—sir.”

And without any other word, she hurried off into the kitchens. The inn had begun to get more lively, people poured in and began to sing. Milanee and the rest of the servers ran to their stations, greeting and serving the newcomers.

Within fifteen minutes, Milanee was back with a tray and the artist’s order. “Here you are, sir- Lavernius,” she corrected herself midway. “Beef stew with bread and cheese. Crownlander coffee, freshly brewed as well.”

She curtsied and left without another word, Joyse was barking new orders at some of the servers and nodded when Milanee came back to the counter.
A new song had started just as Lavernius began to dig in; The Two Hills, the singer said its title was but the artist recognized the melody but the lyrics in Izukani was different.



Faye Petralis & Thalia Valgeiros, Plaza of the Monolith
“I’m here on business,” Ravhin mentioned loudly, for both Illaya and Faye to hear. The man sighed, slightly disappointed in the events that have suddenly transpired and lead to this. “In any case, I’ve got to take my leave. Illaya, Faye.”

The male Thaa’nas nodded to Illaya and as he walked to Faye he mentioned a sorry and left. With that, he left the two women on their own in the Plaza.

Its screaming for you, Thalia. The voice yelled.



Marianna Laranis, Market of Six – Sarnath Section
“Mari, my dear,” Marcus started. “I have the money to get that kind of treatment. Now you need to give me that money in order for that to happen.” He then shooed the woman off his desk. Once Mari was back in her place and he nodded.

“If you must know,” the old man said. “I can point you to a group that could be the reason. I’ve heard over the years of a power in the underworld, one that rivals yours. Perhaps they could be sabotaging your efforts to garner more, or perhaps they simply hate you. Who knows?” Marcus shrugged. “I will tell you that they’ve been in this business for some time.”

He could feel Mari’s sudden rise of her feeling betrayed but Marcus quickly raised his finger. “They’ve been paying me handsomely to keep their operations a secret. You know how this business works,” he beamed greedily and tented his fingers. “I’ve already told you enough for a small fortune and luckily for you their protection fee is running a bit late. They have a small foothold here, one of their expansions. Its hidden enough that they avoid my eyes and ears but they miss the fact that misleading information about an area is still information.

My sources will say this and that but they never give these locations,” he motioned his aid to bring in a map and she immediately rummaged the floor and found the perfect one. Marcus laid it out on the table and beckoned Mari to approach. The old man pointed at several locations¹ around and within Salvation Point. “My men and myself have crisscrossed some locations

“If you do find them, do not engage them with fists and sticks,” Marcus warned. “They aren’t Thaa’nas that they are careful for when they use their magic, they will use it and with extreme prejudice.”

FOOTNOTES
¹ Locations are within the Izukani Quarter, Market of Six – Lorcasian Section, an Inn that goes by the name of the Wayward Keg, a brothel in the outskirts of Salvation Point and two more patches of land that are empty on the map.