[center]   [img]https://i.imgur.com/2a2Qvr0.png?1[/img]  [img]https://fontmeme.com/permalink/200611/e27c881e7bd0977fcd1c2798ebaa7a72.png[/img]
[@Zarkun][/center]

"[color=aqua]Oh good. Slipped my mind for a moment,[/color]" Ria said with a soft laugh. She glanced around for a moment before remembering where they were in the city. Then glanced at the sky before looking back at Damian. "[color=aqua]It's about lunch time, isn't it? Are you hungry?[/color]" She started walking, again, though this time she seemed a bit more mindful of where they were headed. A list of things swirled around her head, trying to vie for the correct order of priority, but things get jumbled every so often. There were books to get, things to look into, and - "[color=aqua]Oh yeah, we should go back to the guild, anyways. I've fallen behind waiting and taking my turn to cook in the past week. I need to make sure the kitchen is cleaned up from Lavinia's attempt to make cookies and take my turn as guild cook.[/color]" 

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[center][@Spectral][@Sho Minazuki][@Landaus Five-One][@Lord Indra][/center]

Carver's attention returned to the rude one. Formerly rude one - a pleasant correction to make. Explanations that were offered were only partially adequate for the performance thus far, but it was far more than he anticipated from the gentleman before him at the time. The others, in turn, seemed to all share the same sentiment. The warm smile returned to the historian's face as he turned his attention from one Feinxtear member to another. 

Gwen rolled her eyes at the round of complaints. After pushing a stack of books into a much orderly pile than the 'how has this not tipped over yet' haphazard stack it was, she hastily pulled her clothes back on. "[color=cyan]Yes, apologies,[/color]" she said as she turned. "[color=cyan]You keep your office like my sister keeps her room, and habits are habits.[/color]" She fixed another stack of books on her way back over to them, casually pushing a few books that were nearly falling back into the shelves.

The historian's eyes lit up with the mention of the sentient sword. "[color=darkkhaki][i]The[/i] sentient sword of the Tranzell family? Intriguing. My colleague - Professor Ksenia Nikowski - would be terribly interested to speak with you and your sword at some point. She specializes in weaponry through the ages. Perhaps you would allow me to arrange such a meeting?[/color]" He put a hand up before she could answer, shaking his head lightly. "[color=darkkhaki]Actually, don't answer just yet. Think on it. You're not here to speak on your family artifact.[/color]"

He stepped back up next to the table, standing opposite the others that moved to the table. As he spoke, he motioned to the map on the table, "[color=darkkhaki]There are several routes we can take, as you see from my mapping, but I believe that this way will prove both the least dangerous naturally and hopefully will avoid potential mating locations of several of the more dangerous beasts that live in the mountains. Without the guarantee of being able to avoid it is why I didn't wish to travel by myself. That and once we're there.[/color]" Carver let his voice trail off as he put a few old books atop the map. Each he opened to particular pages, some illustrating the ruins they were looking for while others had illustrations of things that looked like stone beasts and what might be warnings of traps - all the writing in ancient languages. "[color=darkkhaki]Within the ruins themselves, there are natural dangers such as beasts that may have made these ruins their home or even just the natural decay causing them to potentially crumble beneath our feet if we are not mindful. Beyond the natural, these texts indicate there are special magical protections on the throne room, royal chamber, and treasure room, as well as throughout the ruins' inner chambers. What I am looking for within are mostly items that have significance to when this ancient people lived, but according to this book - [/color]" he held up a particular book, highlighting a [url=https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/781911543130226718/801647466797203486/unknown.png]scepter[/url] - "[color=darkkhaki]This was an item of great significance to the emperor. It hopefully will lay within the throne room, but it was also known to stay with the emperor at all times so it is likely to also be within one of the many other rooms left to the ravages of time. I'm looking to recover this specifically, and study it further.[/color]"

Carver placed the book back onto the table, and rest his hands atop it. "[color=darkkhaki]Getting theoretically will take us a day and a half, perhaps two depending on how the terrain actually is. According to the texts, the ruins are slightly smaller than the king's castle, so it is my hope it will take no more than a day to fully explore them and hopefully locate the item of interest. Any additional items would be much appreciated - there's only so much one can learn studying the books about a people without actually seeing their things, after all - so I may be able to increase compensation based on what we are able to recover if it is not simply the scepter I seek. All in all, we will be gone from Crocus for about a week. Is everyone ready for the venture?[/color]"

Gwen listened to the whole speech, standing with her arms crossed but studying everything the man said. When he'd finally seemed to take a breath and checked on if they were ready, she shrugged. "[color=cyan]Yeah, I'm good.[/color]"