[@Stern Algorithm][@BurningDaisies][@13org][@Thecrash20]

[center][h3]Katze Plains: A Chance Encounter[/h3][/center]

When Spooky revealed his helmet and face, the strange man's suspicions were confirmed without a doubt.  The tall being in front of him was indeed, the strongest and maybe even the most intelligent Undead he had ever seen.  The fact that this Undead was traveling along with a living being and was certainly too powerful to be under anyone's control, meant that this tall warrior was indeed a sentient Undead.

The man was ecstatic at such a find, but his calm face kept that emotion from showing.  He also made sure to listen to what the beast girl was saying.  He brought a painted hand up to his chin, making his bone necklaces and bracelets rattle around.  The girl asked an obvious question which the man was more than happy to respond to.

"A fair question to be sure.  My name is Ikebode Rathorne, I am what you might call, an Undead researcher who currently lives in this infested wasteland."  He motioned to the whole of the foggy plains with his free hand.  "I have lived here for many years as a way to better understand the driving forces behind the Undead that continuously rise up in this area.  In all my years though, while I have seen the creation of many a powerful undead, I have never seen such a fine specimen before."  The comment was of course directed at Spooky.

He then noticed the girl was having difficulties blocking out the scent of his anti-life detection bomb.  He reached into his clothes and brought out some strong smelling herbs in a small bottle, to prevent the smell from leaking out, and handed it over to her.  "This will help you deal with the smell, forgive me it is not often I deal with the living or beastmen who have particularly strong senses."

The man turned to point in the distance at what appeared to be a dark tower in the mist.  "There is a ruin over there where I make camp, it is protected by wards to keep the Undead away so I may do my research in peace when required.  I am sure my large friend here will have no trouble with them.  You can rest there for the night and be on your way at daybreak."  The man started to show them the way, after some walking, they would arrive at a partly demolished tower that had been part of an old outpost.

Along the way the party would seen random Undead roaming around and the remains of other structures from a time before the Katze Plains were associated with Death.

[hr]

[center][h3]DragonWing Center Town[/h3][/center]

The group soon got on their way to get Danielle some new clothes.  It turned out to be a bit more of a hassle than they had hoped due to a few reasons.  First was it appeared that the currency was different from what they had, thankfully they were able to find a place to exchange their game currency for some normal currency and it appeared that the YGGDRASIL coin was worth quite a bit due to its weight.  Second was, Danielle had absolutely no experience buying women's clothing and especially not putting them on.  Underwear proved to be extra tricky as well since there was little that could accommodate her well-developed body.

Thankfully, with the help of some female advice as well as the skills of her servant who seemed to know much more than a man should about such things, Danielle was able to put together some outfits that were modest yet aesthetically pleasing.  Her new outfit consisted of a white dress with a cross-laced, black bodice on top, and some new white stockings and white shoes.  Danielle purposefully tried to make the outfit simple so as not to draw much attention, but because of her looks and proportions it could only cover up so much.

With that little nightmare out of the way, and a few other side trips, the group made it to the magician's guild.  It was one of the more high-class looking establishments in the area with decorative carvings on the outside depicting myths and dragons.  Aside from the detail work though, it was a building of solid construction due to the contents it contained.  Magic casters could be seen in the area discussing recent events and trying to figure out what spell they should try to master next.  There were plenty of more normal folks as well, who were either there to buy useful scrolls to help out with work, or even just to get a look at people who dabble with things they could never use.

While there were people doing things here and there, the magician's guild was not the most lively of places, the adventurers' guild had the monopoly on that.  Magical scholars and researchers were mostly likely to visit this place and so aside from the odd conversation among energized magical scholars, most were content to just do their business or read quietly.  This was more of a place for learning.

[color=fff79a]"Let's learn what we can here and then we'll need to secure lodging for the night.  We are certainly lucky the auto-translation from the game still works for conversation otherwise we would really be in trouble.  Unfortunately our translation services don't seem to extend to the written language here."[/color]  Danielle squinted at the sign above the magician's guild which had a bunch of symbols that didn't mean anything to her.

[color=fff79a]"I don't suppose anyone has one of those translation devices from the game do they?"[/color]

[hr]

Underneath the streets of the capital, several beastmen traveled silently through the underground.  These were beastmen who had managed to sneak into the capital undetected, they consisted of mostly rat types and other smaller beastmen that tended to be good at infiltration.  They had made good maps of the underground so far and now knew where all the best exit points were.  Mapping of the street level went a lot slower since only a few of the beastmen were able to disguise themselves as humans.

Their goal was to figure out a way to enter into the palace and to incapacitate the queen.  If they could accomplish this task then they would no longer have to fear their enemy resorting to Wild Magic to defeat the invaders.  A weasel beastman cracked his neck as he looked at the crudely drawn map in his hands by the light of his dim lantern.

"We need to make a move soon before our operation is discovered, even if we can get close enough though, we'll still need to find a weakness in their security to find a way in."  The weasel grumbled as he put the map away carefully to not let anything happen to it.  "That, or we need to somehow lure the queen outside..."