[center][h2]Melia[/h2][/center]
With a pile of wolf corpses at her feet, Melia let out a huge sigh and wiped the few sweat drops that had formed off of her forehead. It was likely just a pack of wolves that had attacked her, but the fact that they were roaming close to the city probably meant that something more was amiss about this whole situation than she entirely anticipated. After Araldyne had moved up from a trading post into a town, players left and right had worked to clear out the area and deal with the mobs as the NPCs did their thing. That also meant setting up guards to patrol the area. So then why...?

"...This is too strange," she said to herself quietly as she flicked the blood off her katana (was there ever blood in the game? She didn't think so...) and sheathed it back into its scabbard before looking around. The chaos in Araldyne seemed like it would persist a while longer, which meant that, more likely than not, she would be better off looking elsewhere for the moment for relatively-calm people.

"Now, where could I go for that, though...?"

Pulling up the minimap with a few motions of her hand, Melia glanced at the area from above. She was just outside the western gate, which was a few miles off from the base of Rolu Mountain. The journey would take a while, and since she wasn't sure if this was a 'death game' or not, decided against heading there straight away. After all, throwing her life away in a situation like that would be... Incredibly stupid.

Off to the side, though, there was one location that piqued her interest; that little inn, the 'Wagon Wheel' or whatever it was called. If there was any place just as reliable to gather information from in RPGs when compared to bars, it'd have to be inns. Of course, that was assuming the NPCs didn't just spew stock phrases in her face, but at this point she'd take all the knowledge she could get.
[hr]
The walk over had taken about fifteen minutes, mainly because Melia had figured out how to use her 'Flash Step' skill after the first ten attempts or so had resulted with her face-first in the ground (thank GOD nobody was watching). The inn, rustic as it was, seemed to be relatively lively even at this hour. Whether it was from panic or actual joviality, well... She'd find out soon enough.

Carefully opening the door, Melia was relieved to find that the inn/bar (how convenient! Two bird with one stone!) was simply lively. Though most of the people there seemed to be NPCs given their clothing of choice, there was one person that caught her attention; she had seen him many a time on the various endgame raids during her last few months of play. Swiftly moving to take a seat near him, Melia flagged down the barkeep for a simple cup of water with ice before turning to the man clad in armor. Though she usually wasn't one to be proactive, now was a good a time as ever to start.

"...Lorand, right?" she asked, looking him over. "That armor seems... A lot more intimidating in person."