Lera let out an audible sigh.

"This 'team' of adventurers are nothing short of a ragtag bunch of individuals in it for various reasons. It's unreasonable to assume any amount of goodness required of us," She glanced away, dejected, "We really can't expect goodness within ourselves."

"Even so! I believe in the possibility of treasures or secrets concealed within this lycanthrope infection. If someone were behind this, which seemed highly likely based on their coordination, we could indirectly progress our quest. A problem like that ought to be connected to the request to visit the city of Highmount. Plus, frontloading our monster slaying would ease up the rest of our journey, don't you think? No more werewolves, or other things." Lera fiddled with her ears.

"I can't. But I can try to save as many as possible and base my judgment on what I can see." Aurea shrugged. "Tell them your price, if they in fact can't cover it, I volunteer to help instead. No payment required." She tried to do it the easy way, benefiting all sides. "Fortunately, I don't have to choose here."

"Poison?" Sir Dreimon shook his head. "Lera, the amount of poison we would need would be far too great for a reasonable use." The knight captain then looked at Rhea as she delivered her concern only for him to grunt but before he could speak, he noticed the mayor's move to silence him. He was about to protest either way but decided not to.

Mayor Roderique nodded. "It is true that your duty was never to Thornfell and we were simply lucky that you were here to assist when it was sorely needed," he said solemnly to Rhea then to Aurea. "And I will not promise funds I cannot be sure that I will have in the future. That is simply my way. So I wish you luck on your journey to Highmount. You never owed anything to Thornfell to begin with and in fact we owe you now."

Sir Dreimon stepped in. "Then my men and I will stay. My duty was simply to escort these men and women to Thornfell nothing more but it extends to protecting the people of the Empire."

The mayor didn't speak to counter or to say thanks but remained still as he waited the reply of the rest of the party.



"It is never to early to preach the glory of Soramaru, guide of the night and shining glory of life," the disciple proclaimed as he moved to Rudolph to assist him with the packing.

Mari groaned upon hearing more of the religion crap but proceeded to aid in the packing, the monk did as well.

Esther was still, coaxing the little girl to wake. "Wake up, little one. It is day, the lycanthrope will be asleep or away, so it is safe." The girl stirred and moved a bit, rubbing her eyes. She remained quiet however as Visage handed out the food.

After the short meal, everyone was ready to move and Visage opened the door. The druid's magic worked its way through the stone and slid it open. Cautiously, despite the sun's rays piercing through the cracked rooftop of the church, they departed for the front door. The disciple, monk and Mari moved alongside Rudolph, each carried their own load of silvered weapons. Something stirred outside however, the sound of music.

"Wot in da?" Rudolph dropped the weapons onto the sleigh as he turned to focus on the sound. "Music? is some ninny tryin to be funny or he just daft?" The dwarf made his way out the church grumbling. "Fool's gonna lead the who knows what here playin dat noise. Wait till Oy get m'hands on dat instrument, Oy'll snap that thin in twain, teach this idjit a lesson." The dwarf continued to mutter angrily as he followed the music.

"As much as I want to help protect my home, Thornfell, I worry that this infestation of lycanthropy may be a small piece of a larger plan. Even if we treat the symptom by fending off the beasts, they'll keep on coming and exhaust us all," Lera sighed. All the bravado she mustered had been used up, "If we get this job over quickly, we can then focus squarely on Thornfell. Or Aurea and me, at least."

The music was being played by a large, bronze clockwork that sat upon a rather thick log. The log still had branches covered in leaves growing off of it, indicating that the log was a recently chopped tree. But, the roots were visible on the bottom portion of the log, making it apparent that the tree had been ripped from the ground and placed down to make a quick bench. The clockwork carefully held a light brown cittern with faux gold strings, plucking at the strings with its right hand and moving its left hand up and down the neck to form different notes. However, the notes that the clockwork pulled off seemed to irk a smaller looking man with pitch black hair and dark brown eyes. The man pushed back some of his hair behind one ear, revealing the point at the top of it.

"No, man, listen to me. The notes are A5, A5, G7, repeat. They are not A5, A5, G6. How about we get it right this time before I lose my mind, yeah?" The man ran his fingers back through his hair, taking a deep breath to release the intense amount of stress that resided within his chest currently. Once his mind was clear, he heard the sound of someone's footsteps coming from behind the clockwork. He placed his hand on the ground to his right and leaned over, checking to see who or what it was. He took in every detail of the thing that he saw as a result of this investigating.

Dwarf. Robotic arm. Doesn't look too happy. May possibly be nasty. Put a smile on.

The man plastered a smile on his face quickly before raising his right hand and waving it in the air at him. With his left hand, which should have been covered by the clockwork's rather wide frame, started doing different hand signals. The first was a flat palm held at shoulder height, followed by a quick double tap of his left pectoral muscle, and ending with him pointing his index finger towards the sky. The clockwork nodded and leaned the cittern against the log while twisting his body to get a better look at the dwarf.

"Hey! I didn't think anyone else would be out hea! It's good to see anotha face." the man said.

"You wanna speak about someun losin dere head, you in for a treat laddie." The dwarf took a look at the clockwork then at the man. "Now this is a funny pair, a golem an'... course it is. Shoulda known that it'd be some tree-hugging yuppie knife ears, playin like a twit in da middle of da woods. Doncha know dere be werebeasties n other nosties roaming through these here parts? Now I dun't know where you lot came from, an' ta be blunt, don't care much either, but stop playin dat mess, sounds out of tune to begin with. You elves so proud of yer music, sound like some chicken pluckin at strings." Rudolph crossed his arms. "Now away with ye, I got important business to attend to, n' dunt need you mucking it up by attracting beasts and whatnot."

Is this metal muncher blind or dumb? Maybe both.

"Hey, I'm sorry but, I think we already attracted all the dogs in the area." The man got up, revealing his true height that was clouded by his previous slouched posture, and motioned towards the dead lycanthrope bodies that laid about. Some of them had multiple bruises along their ribs while others had their heads flattened into a blood and brain matter pancake. The man dusted himself off before taking a step past the golem and its log bench. He made sure not to make any sudden movements as he approached the dwarf, stopping about fifteen feet away from him to give him time to react to a sudden attack. The elf started playing three notes repetitively, feeding magic into every single strum, while keeping his right leg bent ever so slightly.

"Also, all of 'em should be out for the day. Dogs don't really like to hang around in the light. Ain't that right, Rook?" The clockwork nodded its head in agreement before lifting its legs up and over the log so it could be completely facing the dwarf. "Also also, it ain't like we want to be hangin' out hea in the woods. We were just passing through and decided to set up shop for the night." If the magic was working, his words should sound a bit more convincing than usual.

The half-elf's size surprised him, a fact he didn't let slip easily except for a slight flex in his arm, a reaction he hid with a roll of his shoulders as if to loosen himself up for a fight. Rudolph scratch his ear in irritation, he could feel the magic, made his skin crawl. "Seems Oy wasn't da first to complain bout the music den. Though these ain't normal mutts, wasn't a full moon yesterday now was it? Now enough with that playin, yer makin me choose between which I find worse, it er yer voice." The dwarf knew what was happening, this wasn't his first time listening to a sleazebag try to act smooth, but his natural resistance was more than enough to beat the small party trick. "Now loike Oy said, don't got time to waste with you lot, the sun's out, so make like a pest n bugger off." The dwarf glared at the half elf.

The man noticed the small flex of the arm which was, nearly, transitioned smoothly into an arm roll. He filed that bit of possible information into his brain as he contemplated letting the dwarf go on. But, he could hear the slight shuffling of something in the church. As much as we wanted to be rid of the small, rude creature, he didn't want to give him the chance to gather whatever was in the church and use it to jump them. So, he stopped playing the black cittern and lifted his hands up in to the air, immediately cutting off the flow of magical energy to his music.

"Sorry 'bout that. I'm trying to teach the bucket of bolts over there how to play and I got a little stuck on the song." The man thought about all the possible things he could say at that moment, but only one seemed fitting. "The name's Osxium. I know we may have had a bit of a rocky start, but, Rook and I would be glad to help you with anything you need." and, without saying another word, Ox turned away and started walking towards the golem. The smile from before was immediately wiped from his face as it was replaced by a look of genuine annoyance.

Hopefully, that'll keep him from attempting to bash our heads in.

Visage stayed with Esther and the girl as they walked, ensuring nothing was in the church that would harm them before he stepped outside, having heard a bit of a commotion. On the way he checked to see if his sleds were still in one piece, and seeing they were so, proceeded through the front door.

He rolled his eyes, noting already from posture that the dwarf and half-elf were at odds. A single eyebrow was raised at the construct. He didn't like them much -- they sold well, but he personally considered them inferior to what nature itself could do. He strode past the dwarf and laid a hand on the man's shoulder, having heard his introduction as he was leaving the church.

"Excuse me, Osxium, but would you mind explaining your purpose in being here? It's well and good that you killed Lycans, but one simply does not camp at an abandoned church without reason. We're here on official business, but what of you? No offense, but your eagerness to offer aid is a bit...sudden."

Ox's left index finger twitched slightly, a reaction to the hand being placed on his shoulder that he refused to suppress. He quickly rushed his hands up to their places on his cittern and strummed a few notes before responding. These notes were not used to cast a spell. They were one of Ox's many signs that he was thinking about something. Once he was finished deciding what he wanted to say, he ran his fingers through his hair and plastered yet another smile upon his face.

"You see, I'm heading towards a town nearby named Thornfell. The clockwork and I have some business to attend to there and we simply lost track of time along the way. When the sky went dark we set up camp here." Once Ox finished his first round of speaking, he turned around to face the man that placed a hand on his shoulder. His smile softened a little bit as he took in the details of this new person. The first thing he noticed was the eyes.

Changeling, yeah? Interesting creatures.

"As for my offer to help, that's just how I normally run things. My grandma taught me that I should always try to help while I'm able and I sure as hell don't look crippled, do I?"

Visage took in the man's habits, noting them as he did with everything. More curious faces, more curious stories to discover. The fellow seemed to use his musicality as a crutch for thinking out of habit. At the man's response, he gave a wry smile.

"Crippled? At least not physically, no..."

He dropped his hand from the man's shoulders, shrugging as he cast a glance back over his shoulder to the rest of his party as they emerged from the church. "Well, you're welcome to join my little group here, of course...anyone willing to lend a helping hand is always welcome. We're heading back to Thornfell as it stands, and your mighty friend there might prove useful in helping us transport the silvered weapons we bring. I have wooden sleds inside for him to place them on to aide hauling."

He quickly contemplated the idea, which caused him to take another pluck at one of his cittern strings. On one hand, traveling to Thornfell with a group could take some of the lycan killing off their shoulders and he could potentially find out why they needed silver weapons in the first place. He assumed that the people of Thornfell needed silver from another place because they were low on their own supply of silver, which meant that they could be in some pretty bad shape at the moment. If they were in bad shape, that could lead to them asking the group for more help. More help would require some form of payment, since help is rarely ever given for free, and Ox would gladly take up the offer if it lead to more gold. All of this was theory crafting, of course. But, the duo was already running low on funds....

"Alright, I think we can help yous guys out with some of the heavy liftin'. I can keep everyone entertained with some stories on the way." Ox turned back and kicked Rook, lightly, on the shin. Rook nodded and got up, using one of his mighty hands to lift the uprooted tree. As he went off to put it back where he tore it from, Ox looked back at the man.

"My name is Osxium. But, I know you already knew that since you used it earlier. I would like it better if you called me Ox, though. Osxium sounds too much like my father's name." He nodded before walking past the man and towards his group.