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[h3]--Departure--[/h3]

It's fortunate that Srikandi was rather familiar with Anki and her... quirks, including her ability to turn her head like an owl, wait, [i]surpassing[/i] an owl as she's sure that owls could only turn their head 180 degrees before having to rotate the other way around, a full 360 degrees spin was beyond them. That was the only reason that Anki's head spin didn't cause a reaction in the dragon knight, but Catherine hadn't met the artificial human before, yet... she so casually brushed off that impossible - for the common man - feat of contortion. [color=50c8ff][i]"Eh, that's because she's crazy."[/i][/color] Srikandi told herself with a shrug, the blonde had likely seen far more bizarre horrors in that lab of hers, something as 'simple' as a sentient construct was merely a passing curiosity. 

Now what [i]did[/i] manage to elicit a reaction from the tanned swordswoman was the alchemist's nonchalant attitude at the matter of her inquiry, even as the taller woman spoke, Srikandi was already thinking of demanding Catherine to sign an oath that all collateral damage compensation would be her responsibility alone. In the end, she decided against it as Catherine practically revealed that the Gremarrian Royal Court was her sponsor, right, that made sense. In hindsight, it seemed obvious as those academics hated her guts and they'd have sent someone else to investigate this meteor so the fact that [i]Catherine[/i] was here meant she was either independent or sponsored by someone else. 

[color=50c8ff][b]"I presume that you're speaking about Gremarre's royal family."[/b][/color] Though a supposedly obvious conclusion, Srikandi felt behooved to speak it out, she couldn't spare any caution when dealing with this madwoman, [color=50c8ff][b]"If you lie, on your head be the consequences."[/b][/color] The dragon knight decreed curtly, nary a modicum of jest in her tone. 

Speaking of consequences, the door opened to herald the arrival of the only person here who's [i]forced[/i] to adventure, Zavim Remington a.k.a Sleeve McDichael a.k.a Mr. Fuentes a.k.a Freddy Melon, and who knew how many other aliases he had over the decades of his scummy history. He gained a bit of infamy among sailors and as such, Srikandi heard his tale from the ship crews during her travels across the seas of Friestan. Well well well, it looked like he couldn't escape his dues after all, this is why crime never pays, children. One way or another, your debts would demand something from you. 

[color=50c8ff][b]"Welcome aboard, pirate, make yourself useful, and maybe I'll put on a good word to the queen for you."[/b][/color] The silver-haired adventurer snickered, looking down at the half-orc as if he was scum, well, he [i]is[/i] scum as far as she was concerned, a criminal who had roamed free for far too long, a blight upon civilized men everywhere. She was sure that the ex-pirate had robbed one of her family's merchant vessel, stealing a small fortune's worth of spices. Make no mistake, Srikandi had no reservations of allowing Zavim to join them, in fact, she welcomed it, a pack mule [i]and[/i] sacrificial lamb in one neat green-skinned package. If a dragon should demand a live tribute to pass their territory, she'd gladly offer up Zavim. 

[color=50c8ff][b]"Right, now that we're all here. Let us be on our way."[/b][/color] Without further ado, Srikandi sheathed Taring before taking the initiative to leave the meeting hall, expecting the princess, the mad genius, and the pirate scum to follow her. She had already prepared essential supplies for the trip, but if anyone needed something extra, she'd allow them to purchase whatever they need first as there'd be no shops deep in the mountains. From there, they'd board a passenger ship that'd take them upstream toward the Dragonspine Mountains, the aquatic vehicle powered by Magitek to enable it to sail against the river currents. 

[@Medili] [@13org] [@Sanity43217]