[center][h3][color=lightblue]Nicholas[/color][/h3]
[b][HP: 500 - SP: 6/6][/b]

[i]Armistice - The Eastern Quarter[/i][/center]

[hr]

The young mercenary stepped out of the inn and into sunlight. The sky was overcast with dark grey clouds and a fierce gusts of wind tore at them, threatening the mortals below with rain and thunder, but every now and then a hole would open up and let a godray pass through, and inexplicably, one of them shone on Nicholas right now.
He smiled. It was the most sincere smile his face had seen in a long time, perhaps for the first time since he left Sorei. This was it. Today, his life would change, one way or another. Either his dreams would come true or he would not return. At heart, he was a man who liked a safe bet, a conservative fighter with his shield and plate who avoided unnecessarily stupid maneuvers, but the persona he showed the world most of the time - the arrogant joker - well, he was a gambling man and he [i]liked[/i] those odds.
And it wasn't like he had anything left to lose. Nicholas had thrown away everything he ever had and none of it would return if this turned out to be a success. But perhaps this would be enough to start over.

"Your horse, sir", one of the hands of the inn said, approaching him with a brown mare.

[color=lightblue][i]How stupid of me[/i][/color], he thought to himself as he thanked the boy and handed him a small coin, [color=lightblue][i]I haven't lost Nina.[/i][/color] The animal had been with him since before he left Sorei, a loyal creature he was awarded with for 'a job well done', or so one of the 'officers' had called the raid. She leaned her head trustingly into his hand as he caressed it.

[color=lightblue]"Maybe this is our last journey"[/color], he mused. [color=lightblue]"I [i]hope[/i] it is our last journey."[/color]
Instead of getting on her back, he led her by the reins towards the near Eastern Gate. It was where the ICC had told them to gather, and as soon as he stepped through it, he could tell why they didn't want them in the city: A giant of a man in an armor that made Nicholas' look paperthin was in the process of feeding his horse a slab of meat; a haggard guy and another who looked like a monk or priest of some sort had passed the gate before him, along with a girl of the Burning Light Order - he had only been here a day, to see one last good meal and nice bath before they went off on this crazy errand and yet he'd already run into at least a dozen women like her - and they all began settling in closeby, waiting for others to come and join them.

Now that he looked at the guy in green, he could recognize him as somebody from the Enclave, a men's club dedicated to the preservation of knowledge, and got the feeling that speaking to him would be interesting, if he wasn't one of those who were so caught-up in their own world they didn't realize the gravtity of the situation. Sure enough, the men was making tea and offering it to the people around him as if they were meeting for an academic discussion and not for a perilous journey. Either he was endearingly naive or he had a great sense of irony. Whichever it was, Nicholas immediately took a liking to him, strangely out of a place as he looked right then, and, leading his horse along, he sat down next to him, making himself as comfortable as a man in armor could possibly make himself sitting on a cobble road, and took him up on his offer.

[color=lightblue]"Thank you"[/color], he said cheerfully and tried the tiny cup's contents. It was steaming but not blistering hot and had a curious aroma. [color=lightblue]"It's good. Definitely better than the last one I had - I think the guy might have just been picking random flowers and cooking them up."[/color]

Nicholas smiled his winning smile, his swords and shield sitting next to him, his mare looking for an appetizing patch of grass.
[color=lightblue]"Are you going along on this strange errand?"[/color] The green man's weapon caught his eye and his smile widened. [color=lightblue]"Spreading your knowledge one mace at a time?"[/color]