[i]"I find it strange, a bit amusing even, how seriously you take what it is you are speaking on. Do you not recall your earlier endeavors, your previous excursions? Men, those alike you in flesh, were just as content to take your aid as they were to speak in hushed tones behind your back - to call you 'sorcerer' and 'monster' - and to hunt you for fearful sport."[/i]

"And why would that change my heart? Surely some of them can be swayed - to see the more noble things we love just outside their stone walls. Some must know what it is they feel somewhere within the depths of their soul. How could they not?"

[i]"Because they are mortals raised by that same like. Do not forget what it is you see and experience remains the exception, more so in their eyes. They will be just as suspicious in their willful paranoia as they were before... perhaps even greater now."[/i]

"Then it should be me to dispel those illusions of what they believe they know and prove to them not all things born wild are so mindlessly vicious, that some are instead beautiful and wondrous. If I can -"

[i]"If you could, you would succeed where others of your blood have long since failed before. However, I still consider your desire to show them favor, immense pardon at that, noble and even in its own way charming. I will not hamper your efforts... but do not consider it explicit permission. I have no interest in you throwing away your youth, your life, on a matter of risk we could in time tend to."[/i]

[i]"You shall return to me and the call of the world whenever we summon."[/i]

"I shall."

[i]"And you will..."[/i]

[hr]
It was of no surprise that the journey to the foreign land itself was a special endeavor. Fortune was it that the younger man had means to make the trip, in particular by avoiding those places one might expect to find travelers. He had no reason to fear the surrounding wilderness that accompanied the roads, not like the merchant or peasant; he was never truly quite alone. At the same time however, he made the worthwhile effort to not arouse suspicion whenever the chance came as hiding in the woods when others were about was a fair way to do just that. He conversed with these unsuspecting men, women and children with no appearance other than a robed vagabond devoid of anything of value. In turn, having neither bothered them for alms nor aid, they seldom took problem with his company as brief as it might have been.

There was a relief in his heart that he had no need to perform any of the gifts he had been blessed with; a wanderer in brown, thick clothes that followed in slight upon dusted paths bearing a single sheathed blade who could perform minor miracles might attract unwanted company. Not that he would have denied them, not in the slightest of course, but he had no desire to yet go beyond what he had planned. It was already such a dangerous effort that he could only muse on how many ways it could go; it rightfully worried him, nature's favor or not. Not a question of fear like that many had of death, but of failure.

It steadied his nerves whenever he recalled that this was his one great chance to start the turn of the tide. In fact, it kept him the most company on the dark nights he spent travelling, more so than his actual companion.

At last when he did yet arrive to his destination he found himself not quite so alone; a lithe woman of athletic build and figure, marked by vibrant red hair seemed to be the only other company the wanderer had. She carried little more than a pack of what he could only assume to be her travelling stock, but moreover she was armed and armored - with a pointed spear and metal studded leathers. Regularly this would be some cause for alarm, but the young man was not [i]completely[/i] uninitiated; certainly not naïve at that. What odds were it that such a distinct woman was a foe rather than a potential friend? It was immensely unlikely she was here, with the ruined tower looming in the distance with an apparent fire still burning, for any other reason than she too answered the call to arms.

Outwardly so minimalistic to her, he made no attempt to hide as he followed the road which was flanked by tall grass and spots of open sand not far from the sea itself. When he drew near enough, his humbly bound feet slowing in step, he spoke audibly to her;

"I must ask, are you as well headed to that ruin? I mean no offense in this question, just that you seem of the determined sort."

[hr]
[Hider=Rolls]
While looking over the tower's ruins, Geraint rolled a [url=http://www.roleplayerguild.com/rolls/945]10[/url] on Spot to notice anything unusual or out of the norm. He does not note Jaegar's approach and has no reason to suspect anything overt meriting a Listen check, forfeiting his own roll.
[/hider]
It was on approach to the tower that the traveler, with his added company, did screen the building's fading architecture; how it had so clearly decayed and fallen into disrepair, worked over by nature in many, many years. It concerned him some that this was the place they were sent by the summons, being so confined and small. He knew well what blessings that did entail, but he was unsure if the woman at his side now would even be accepting of it. After all, it had been one thing to agree to travel with a strange man who had nothing more than a lonely worn iron dagger and old robes to a fallen tower, but another to have him practicing magic or more on whim.

[hider=Rolls]
Whereas Geraint failed to see anything strange, his animal companion rolled a [url=http://www.roleplayerguild.com/rolls/946]23[/url] for Spot. Because it was ordered to remain hidden and far back so as not to cause alarm, it takes no action to Jaegar approaching its unaware master. If Jaegar observes his surroundings behind him, he might notice a distant concealed figure in the tall grass as the animal companion rolled a [url=http://www.roleplayerguild.com/rolls/947]5 ((9), owing to tall grass and (14) if Jaegar is considered distracted)[/url].
[/hider]
The two had halted, as the man prepared to converse, but another stranger seemed to arise behind them from his hiding. He appeared as mercenary as one could in truth, enough that it prepared the druid for a fight, but his spoken word did not seem overtly harmful. A trap perhaps this was, but at least they were not truly alone against the man with his pair of swords and strung bow. Resting idly upon the hilt of one of those blades did he address them both.

[i]"Greeting strangers, I suppose you too are here to collect the King's ransom?"[/i]

"I will not speak for her business," The man gestured, the long outstretched sleeve of his drab earth robe motioned toward the woman slow enough so as not to be threatening, "But you could say that I am here on a similar quest."

Carefully with clam mind, body and spirit, he tried to look over the added company; he would rather another friend than foe, but something about this man seemed that he was just as wary of them as they were him. A positive sign, but not everything one could judge the situation of off. The air smelled of smoke, a bit rancid at that, with the structure behind them appearing quite disorganized but only time would tell further when or if they would ever be able to venture into it.

"And what of you sir?"

[@ELGainsborough][@Yamazaki]