[center][h3]Drosil, South-western Region of Barcea[/h3][/center]

Drosil breathed a sigh of relief as soon as they had gotten away from the automatons, letting a laugh of nervous relief as he reached into his bag. He paused shortly after, however, tearing through it rapidly as Cyril spoke to him, lost in his own world before he tapped on his Mount's head to get it's attention. 

"Sir Mauls-a-lot, where is the cube?" The man's question was answered with a succession of clicks,which it seemed that Drosil could understand as he let out a series of curses, unknowingly ignoring Cyril as he did so. He attempted to order his mount in the harsh language again, only to get slapped in the face by one of it's antenna. This led to a very strange back and forth for a few minutes as Drosil tried to get Sir Mails to do something, only to receive some increasingly annoyed sounding clicks and 3 more slaps from his antenna before the creature used them to gesture to the other three. Drosil looked back up, somewhat shocked to see that there were others around , and sat there frozen before some clicks from Sir Mauls reminded him of their question.

"Huh, oh right, the automatons is what you were asking about? Yeah, I've only a slightly better idea then you do. They're strange machines guarding a ruin I was exploring that activated when I removed a cube from an altar. A possible valuable artifact that I left behind in the ensuing chaos, sadly, but I've at least got those automatons to thing about. I'll have to go back later and retrieve the remains for further study, as I still don't understand how they're able to move through the ground looks that, or how they know when to stop pursuit, or even how they're still functioning do well after what must be centuries of disuse. They were magnificent in their efficiency and tactics, nearly killed me several times before we met, if you can believe it. Those barrels in their mouths aren't just for show, let me tell ya, they shoot out clumps of densely packed earth that can bury through stone with ease. Imagine the uses for that kind of propulsion, if only I could get my hands on an intact specimen, I'd be in heaven!" As he spoke, Drosil sounded way to happy for someone who had nearly died, and much, much too eager to return right after the event. 

"And as for why to led them to you, young lady Aya- why does she have her eyes wrapped up like that? Is she blind, and if so, why take her with you through this region? While I'm all for empowering those with disabilities to live life to the fullest, their has been increased bandit activity around here as of late. Capable as you and your companion here may be, wouldn't it be better for her to be left at home." Drosil might've said more, but Sir Maul suddenly rose up on some of it's legs, bringing it's head up to be level with those of the other three riders. It's antenna would go out to feel each person's face, all the while Drosil screaming at them to stay calm and not act rashly.

"Please, keep your weapons down, he's only getting to know you better. Deathcrawlers discover and investigate  their surroundings with their antenna more often than not, so please just bare with it for a few seconds. Please, he means no harm but will not be afraid to attack if you try to hurt him first, and I just ran out of anti-venom, so things could get bad fast." Sir Maul would keep this up for a short while longer, investigating the 3 people for a few seconds each before it got back down, satisfied with it's investigation.

"Okay, I think it's about time I introduce you to my buddy here, who must've been getting annoyed that I hadn't already. This is Sir Mauls-a-lot, my Deathcrawler familiar summons, and don't worry, he only attacks people when he's hungry and he just ate not too long ago. I raised him from Egg to monster myself, gave him sentience through a strange potion formula I discovered on one of my forests, and have taught him how to understand two languages: Common and Underdeep. He's a sweet heart most of the time and has never eaten a single child, if anyone tells you different they're lying. He may have bitten one or two, but they made the mistake of confusing a Deathcrawler with a slide. They generally don't like that."

Drosil seemed to have forgotten about Ayano's question as he got up from where he had fallen to the ground, dusting of his clothes and giving Sir Mauls a stink eye before getting back on the creature's back. Turning back to Cyril, the young Mage looked over the man before nodding to himself. 

"Well then, now that our lives are no longer endanger, I hope you don't mind me tagging along with you to the nearest village. I've no care for going it alone after that ruckus, and it has been awhile since I've last has a traveling companion to talk to. Sir Mauls is fine on most days, but conversations with him, at least I think it's a him, have the tendency to center around two things: Food and hunting. It gets tedious after awhile, talking about those same topics over and over again, with nothing else in-between. Between that and the self-imposed isolation caused by my dedication to research, I fear I've lost a bit of mind and a lot of my social skills."

[@The Darklight Project]