[center][b]Kasim - East Watch Tower[/b][/center]

The Renaltan countryside was rather boring. Kasim had seen its like many times before, perhaps even this very stretch of it, and so it failed to hold his interest. As luck would have it, the others sharing the road were more than enough to hold his attention. Some of them were obvious weaklings who couldn't be depended on in a fight, though he knew it was hard to separate scary magic users from the genuine battle liabilities before actually seeing them in a fight of some kind. Others were destined to become damsels in distress who would need a hero to save them, and Kasim would be happy enough to oblige when the time came. There were a handful who looked like they actually knew how to use the weapons they carried, and those were alright as far as he was concerned; some might become competition for feats of heroism, but a little competition could be a good thing. And then there were the weird ones, and those were the most interesting. Kasim was working through fun ways to define these folks, such as the dwarf who looked to be ten pounds of crazy in a five pound bag, when his thoughts were rudely interrupted by someone running toward the group from the direction of Arian village.

The interruption turned out to be rather pleasant on the eyes, and so Kasim's annoyance was rather brief. Information was relayed, suggestions were given, blah blah blah. Kasim heard something about bombs and other nonsense and some eastern tower, but his attention was rather diverted due to intense ogling so he didn't catch much more than that. He briefly toyed with the idea of sending her a telepathic message offering her a place in his bed after he saved the town from this horrible threat, but this was the time for professional heroism, not for hitting on attractive spymasters, so he managed to restrain himself. Some of the others started toward the town, so Kasim got moving as well. He moved quickly, making for the eastern side of town and the tower where the trouble was probably located. He had a momentary worry that he'd screwed things up when the sound of footsteps behind him split off away from his own, though a quick glance back showed that some were still following, so he figured he'd made a reasonable decision. It was also possible that he had indeed made a huge mistake and these others were just following his lead, but that would be a worry for another time. Looking decisive was more important than questioning his choices, so he pulled his greatbow off his shoulder to show those following him that he meant business.

The sight of the orc at the base of the tower was an oddly welcome one, as it validated Kasim's good decision making skills. The orc's words, however, were less than welcoming. "Oh, so this James is the one causing all the fuss? Damn it, should've listened and gone wherever he is." Kasim shrugged, an exaggerated and overly dramatic gesture meant to convey great disappointment. "Too late for that, I guess. Speaking of standing in the way..." He gestured toward the bomb with his free hand. "Looks like that's the thing we're here to stop, and you're in the way. Those two look kind of important though, so what happens if I do this?" Kasim pulled an arrow from the quiver hanging from his belt, nocked it, and drew the string all the way back all in one smooth and practiced motion. He took a second to aim at the torso of the nameless bomb-tinkerer on the right, then let the shaft fly.

---

[center][b]Zin - Town Square[/b][/center]

With the situation more or less explained by Mikan, and Dean having given his suggestion that they split up into roughly equal groups, Zin spoke up to let the others know of her intentions. "I'll go to the town square." She left her motivation for the choice unsaid, since they would probably take it the wrong way if she said it sounded like the place easiest to escape from in case of a fight breaking out. Zin reached up with a gloved hand to make sure the hood of her cloak was drawn down securely enough to block the harmful touch of the sun, then set out toward the town without awaiting any further discussion on the matter. The others would disperse as they wished, and delays would help nobody.

Though she hurried toward and through the town, there was still enough time for Zin to silently vent her annoyance at the current mess of a situation. It was supposed to be a peaceful ceremony, a meeting with the queens wherein their duties were to be explained and they would be given jobs to do for the good of the country. She'd been expecting something along the lines of a diplomatic mission to negotiate some small matter of trade, or perhaps dealing with some minor crimes in the area, or maybe a mission to deal with hostile wildlife. Those would be things suited to new members of the Queen's Blades, not this nonsense with a madman threatening to blow up the whole town. Zin found it a little frightening and worrying. If their first real job was something of this magnitude, what in the world would their second one be like? She supposed this could be called a trial by fire, though she hoped real fire by way of explosives would not actually come into play.

Soon enough, Zin spotted the town square just ahead and slowed her pace from a jog down to a quick walk. The reaction of the militiamen in the area as she came into their view was peculiar and disturbing. Zin could hear other Blades following behind her, but she took the lead again rather than awaiting their arrival. "We're the Queen's Blades, and we're here to help. There's no need to be afraid." She kept her eyes (currently disguised with an illusion to appear blue instead of silver) on the men and pointed to the fountain as she continued talking to them in a calm voice. "There is a bomb in there, and we need to get to it and disable it before it goes off. If you can help us with that, it would be appreciated. If not, please stand back and let us do our job." Zin didn't hold much hope that her words would reach the men, since their fear seemed to be unnaturally aided in some way, but it couldn't hurt to try.