((Apologies, [@lmpkio], it's been the better part of a month now, so I'm just going to manhandle this team ahead until you're back again to take charge.))
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[center][img]http://txt-dynamic.static.1001fonts.net/txt/dHRmLjY2LjVjYWRhNy5TR0Z5Y0hrbmN5QlhhVzVuLjAAAAAA/vtks-felicidade-2016.regular.png[/img][/center]

Arianna had been having a fantastic time at the festival. The teams had come together just has she had predicted, and she was confident so far that all her precious Harpies would be making it back alive from their quests. The leaders seemed to have done an excellent job of choosing the easiest ones to complete, so those ones all flew off the board within a couple of minutes of the captains being released. The last Harpy team to require confirmation was Dreadlin's, and so she was making her way over when she saw the altercation with Kage. While her first instinct was to separate Dreadlin from the impending danger, she quickly recognized the Golem, and watched from a distance as they seemed to reach some agreement after a brief scuffle.

Smiling to herself, she quickly crossed the remaining distance between herself and the budding team, just in time to hear their collective agreement on their choice of mission. Appearing silently over Illedrith's shoulder, she blew softly in her ear before whispering

[color=8882be]"Boo"[/color]

Illedrith almost leaped out of her skin, spinning in a similarly comical fashion to how Dreadlin had done so not two minutes prior. Fortunately, she gathered herself together before striking out, deflating like a balloon as she saw Ria behind her.

[color=fff79a]"Riaaaa, why are you like this?"[/color]
[color=8882be]"Ufufu, it's all about keeping you on your toes my dear! Your reaction to the situation earlier would have been much too slow if your new Golem friend meant any harm."[/color]

Grinning at her protege as she seemed to be suitably chastised, Arianna waved her children in together, so the whole team was within earshot, specifically taking the time to make eye contact with Kage to make sure she knew she was also invited.

[color=8882be]"Alright, you're all together, and I see you've chosen a mission? Let's see here..."[/color]

Taking the sheet of paper from Dreadlin, she looked at it with a deep sigh.

[color=8882be]"And it would look like I have once again outsmarted Guildleader Delsin. That's three bets in a row he's lost to me today alone. I knew only you would be insane enough to take this assignment, Dreadlin."[/color]

Looking around at the assembled group, she sighed again. Much as she'd like to tell them to take an easier mission, with a group of this size she didn't really have the grounds to deny them the mission they'd chosen. Looking each of them in the eye, and lingering on Illedrith, she spoke in an uncommonly stern and serious manner.

[color=8882be]"Alright. I'll approve you as a team. And while I have full confidence that as a team you will work well together, I have a very serious instruction for you. If you're over your heads, leave immediately. And I do mean immediately. If this turns out to be a true ancient dragon, and not a hoax or a series of bad pranks, this is well over the heads of even a group of S-Classes, let alone you lot. There will be many years to attempt your S-Classes, but you have only one life. Don't. Waste. It."[/color]

And then with a grin and a pat on the head to Ceri, she was off, skipping across the courtyard to find Delsin. She had some debts to collect.

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[center][color=fff79a][h1]Illedrith Adrasia[/h1][/color][/center]

In all the commotion of the sudden appearance of Kage, Illedrith was caught totally off guard by a puff of cold air in her ear, which sent an active shiver all the way down her spine, followed by a quiet [color=8882be]"Boo"[/color] right next to her ear. Her reaction was instantaneous, and practically involuntary. She spun on the spot, ready to hammer whoever had the audacity to scare her like that, but stopped short at the sight of Ria with a massive grin plastered across her face. Pouting to somewhat allay how much the jump scare had got her, she complained bitterly about these antics, but her Guildmistress's point about how she was slow to react stung her into sullenness, and so she silently resolved to focus on it in her next month of training. She'd not be caught off-guard like that again.

She listened seriously to Ria's warning about the mission. It was a very real concern, and one that she would probably have raised at some point herself anyway, but coming from Ria it carried much more weight as an instruction rather than just a warning. She would give this job her all, as usual, but if it came to it, protecting the members of her guild and getting them out alive was worth more than anything else this job could contain. She'd waited this long to be an S-Class, and she could wait a bit longer.

As Ria meandered off back into the crowds, Illedrith's eyes were drawn with her to an amusing sight. Her eyes were drawn to a large flashy object over the heads of the crowd. It was wobbling around like a tree caught in a strong breeze, and was unmistakably the head of her halberd. Attached to the other end, and apparently doing a valiant effort to make sure it didn't hit anyone, was Cyril, who had Saeko in toe. Stifling a laugh at the scene, her eyes soon narrowed. When she'd given it to him, that halberd was piled high with sundaes. What was it suddenly doing face up in the air? Clearly, someone needed to answer for their heinous crimes.

Turning to the rest of the group, Illedrith quickly followed up on Ria's comment, keeping the group's attention to avoid people getting off-topic.

[color=fff79a]"Guild family first. That's the rule, that's always been the rule. I trust we're all mature enough to not go glory-chasing and endanger each other."[/color]

If her eyes seemed to linger on Dreadlin longer than necessary, that was surely a coincidence...

[color=fff79a]"Still, as the last group to be approved from the Harpies, we should definitely get going to make sure we don't get left behind. I see Cyril and Saeko over there by the alley, and I'm going to go let them know what's happened. Anyone who isn't packed and prepared for the journey needs to go do that now, everyone else is welcome to follow me to collect them and head back to the Nest. We'll meet outside in an hour and a half if anyone needs to go off and get things."[/color]

With that, she turned and cut through the crowd towards her guild members and the mystery of the lost sundaes. Hardly difficult to miss at the best of times, the beeline she made for Cyril must have alerted him to her a long way off. Sweeping up in front of him, she put on a big smile and an almost airy tone of voice, while at the same time looking him straight in the eye without blinking.

[color=fff79a]"Deary me Cyril, it's so [i]hot[/i] outside today, and I'm just absolutely [i]parched[/i]. I sure would love one of the three sundaes I left you with. I do hope that's not a problem?"[/color]