South of where the Sylrowen Clan's main settlement used to sit, across a large pond and in particular dense part of the woods lies Alula. Originally a small Simiah village, the houses are built into and around the trees, and were previously connected by vines and rope with their inhabitants could scurrying across with ease. However, in the past few decades, the population of Alula has grown, becoming more diverse, particularly in the past five years following Haven's take-over of the land as several other inhabitants have been displaced from their homes. As such, a lot of wooden ladders and bridges have been installed to allow better access, though these would still be considered a bit rickety to those more used to the solid stone of city-life.

As most places deeper in Fanewick, the vegetation around Alula is thick, with no major roads leading through, and as such, Haven attempts to gain a foothold have been a little trickier than usual. However, this hasn't stopped outsiders from reaching it, and with the rumors of a rebel sect operating within the otherwise remarkable village, it's probably not going to be long before the nation attempts to exercise more control over Alula. As such, the residents are wary of outsiders, a sentiment that each of you has likely felt to differing degrees since arriving.

While your reasons for ending up at this village may be different, you have all ended up arriving within the same period of time, as the daylight week begins its final twenty four hours. Ikla the Sky Painter had started adding steaks of peach and gold thirty six hours ago that started to spread out until they filled most of the sky line. Now, though, these colours are being overtaken by reds and purples that are steadily darkening in shade every few hours. Before the week is over, they too will give way to the darker blues and violets that herald the beginning of the night. A couple of Simiah residents have started gathering fireflies in lanterns and hanging them on branches in preparation for the coming darkness, and any villagers who were outside gathering or hunting are slowly trickling back in with their spoils, either taking them to their homes or using them to barter for other goods at other services.

A grave site rested at the edge of Alula. Therein, a Faerie knelt before one of the graves and laid an offering down upon the headstone. This Faerie was unlike any other in the land, for no other Faerie had limbs made of gold. No other Faerie had a torso carapace made of multi-colored metal rather than chitin. Not even the Fae Royalty who lived atop the Tallest Tree had ears made of gold-streaked diamond or wings and eyes made of gold and jewels of all colors. But while this Faerie bore no royal blood in his veins, six antennae made of rubber cable circled his head from bases of gold like a kingly crown. And at the crown's center a golden wand drew in eldritch energies from the air around it, giving power to the Faerie's metal and giving the wand itself the appearance of a moth's antenna made of arcane fire. Between all of this, the traveling garb he wore that looked more akin to a monarch's regalia, and the nomadic syndicate this Faerie had built over the course of ten generations of his unaltered kin, it rarely came as a shock to anyone to learn that many referred to this Faerie as the King of the Road.

"The Sky Painter is doing a fine job with this sunset." Dimple Brightmite spoke to the occupant of the grave. "You were right, Alu. Ikla's work just doesn't look the same from behind the Godless Gate. Even when I stood atop the Big Snake's skull, the views from Haven just don't measure up to the views from Fanewick... Though there aren't nearly so many bloody bandits on the roads over there. But I suppose I shouldn't complain too much about that. I'm the one who decided replacing my flesh with precious metals and gemstones was a good idea, after all." Dimple chuckled and shook his head at that. "...Well, I think I've kept you up long enough. It's about time I got to work on my chrysalis anyway. Rest well, Alu." With that said, Dimple spread his wings and took to the air.

Navigating Alula's non-standard architecture was hardly a hassle for Dimple. He had visited the place many times before, and his ability to fly allowed him to find his way around easily enough even back when he'd first come to the village. And so it was that Dimple found his way to a sturdy branch that had supported him during his visits to Alula many times before. There, he sat for a few moments more, taking in the view one last time. Once the moment had passed, Dimple got to work on constructing a chrysalis for himself to wait out the night-week within.

Arnannel sighed as he waited just outside of Alula's clinic. The clinic, resting on top of one of the numerous treetop buildings in Alula, was rather small and underequipped compared to the one in Haven cities, though it was still a marked improvement over what they had before, when Alula was still a settlement of the Simian people.

As a former member of the Sylrowen Clan, who acted as the overseer of the forest, naturally Arnannel was familiar with the settlements around Fanewick, especially one such as Alula, located somewhat in the vicinity of Clan Sylrowen's main settlement. And this clinic, established by the Haven settlers—despite appearing dilapidated in the eyes of a Havenite who had never stepped a foot outside its bigger cities—still offered better healthcare than probably most, if not all, of the healing services offered in Fanewick before Haven.

It was not as if they had bad healthcare, per se. They developed their own salves, tinctures, potions, and other remedies using resources available in Fanewick. And, of course, they had access to healing arts through druidic magic. So in terms of 'healing magnitude' so to speak, Arnannel did not think they were all that behind Haven. And yet, despite that, to Arnannel it was also undeniable that the narrative of 'Haven improved the quality of life in Fanewick' was true, in terms of healing in this particular case. The difference lies in the quantity. For one, Haven's more industrious civilisation allowed the manufacturing of medical supplies that far exceeded what Fanewick's old inhabitants were able to produce. Furthermore, the development of medical equipment and medical science paved the way for advanced mundane medical techniques, thus allowing more than just powerful druids—of which most settlements only had a handful of, if that—treat wounds and maladies with great efficacy.

Such was the product of civilisation that his own clan spurned, preferring to be one with nature. Exactly the sort of reason that had led Arnannel to be a turncoat, helping the 'occupier' instead. Some said that his actions trampled upon Fanewick's dignity, but frankly, dignity was not worth all the advancement Haven brought, which improved the general quality of life. And it was not as if they had a chance of winning, anyway. The desperation his clan and other rebels turned to by the end of the war...to Arnannel, that already tarnished what 'dignity' they had.

But he digressed.

The point was, though his employer—a somewhat famous alchemist from Haven's capital—balked at the state of Alula's clinic, it was more than sufficient to treat his injuries. Which was merely a sprained ankle and some shallow lacerations.

The alchemist had hired Arnannel as a guide to a small patch of land in the wilderness where some Lady's Veil had been spotted. Nowadays, just about every settlement of Haven in Fanewick cultivated Lady's Veil. But this particular alchemist had the hypothesis that wild Lady's Veil would be more 'touched' by the Witherwild, and thus just as Witherwild seemingly imbued vitality into the beasts and plants in Fanewick, some wild Lady's Veil might possess unique properties such as an even more potent effect against the Serpent's Disease.

The expedition itself went fairly well. Arnannel knew the area they spoke of, and led the alchemist along with his assistants and guards there, before they managed to harvest some samples. It was on their way back, that they were attacked by a massive boar that had grown to such size courtesy of the Witherwild. Though their main focus was alchemy, many among the group were also wizards, capable of casting some spells. And so, if only they had listened to his orders properly, together with Arnannel and the guards they brought, they would have been able to take down the boar with little to no issue. Alas, they had little combat experience, and thus panicked. In particular, the alchemist ran in the wrong direction and sprained his ankle when retreating to safety, forcing Arnannel to deflect the boars tusks with his blades to give others in their group some time to help him up. It resulted in his blades being broken, but he managed to buy enough time, before the guards they hired helped him up and engaged the boar, allowing Arnannel to fall back to the treetops and used sniped the boar with an arrow.

Given the injuries suffered by the alchemist and some of his assistants, Arnannel decided to postpone their return and brought them to Alula instead, where they might get some medical attention. Their injuries were not severe, but it would probably take a few days at the very least before they could safely make the trek back to Haven territory.

Some of the alchemists were still being treated, and thus, as someone who was familiar with Alula—well, 'familiar', he had not been to the village after it was taken over by Haven, and Haven transformed it quite a bit—he had been asked to secure their lodging for the night. After asking for directions from the workers in the clinic, he had been directed to a rather famous local inn. Probably the best in Alula, though how that would measure to his client's standard was another question, but given that this was a village in the 'frontier' of Haven's newly acquired territory, he just had to make do.

After securing the pouch of money he had been given to acquire lodging in his pocket, Arnannel swiftly made his way through the wooden bridges, having traversed Alula back before these amenities were installed by Haven, the wooden bridges posed little issue.

He heard that the inn served good food and drink, so he might as well partake while he was there.

---

Hasdrubal waited patiently as the human at the counter slid each coin one-by-one into a waiting hand. That wasn't necessarily the common practice here in Alula, but much like Hasdrubal himself, the innkeeper seemed to be a recent arrival in the village--presumably one of the wave of Havenite immigrants who had seen opportunity in the army's southern expansion. Dru hadn't asked, but the signs were fairly obvious; the building sat lower to the ground than any of the other available lodgings, and the interior decoration was full of metalwork and tapestries woven on the workshop-sized looms of the cities, rather than the hand-crafted, naturalistic style typical of villages in Faenwick.

Frankly, Hasdrubal found the innkeeper himself somewhat offputting, but he was willing to put up with that in order to minimize how much he dealt with the god-botherers running the other establishments. Watching the man deliberately count his money was a damn sight less rage-inducing than being yelled at to wash his feet, or scatter ground nut-shells across the threshold, or whatever ritual the other innkeepers might think the local faint deity demanded of their guests.

And besides, he was already finished. The human nodded as he dropped the coins into a purse below the counter, then turned his eyes up to meet the soldier's.

"Yes, that's plenty. The room is yours until the next day-week. Meals are served in the common room here, at..." The inkeeper's voice trailed off as he looked up at his guest's face.

Hasdrubal wasn't fazed; it happened often enough. (Personally, he thought it was the eyes; giants never really had any issue with it, but two-eyed people never seemed to know which of his two good eyes to look at.) He simply nodded back and reached over to grab the room key.

"My thanks,", he rumbled. The innkeeper just nodded instead of resuming his thought, and Hasdrubal turned and walked back out the front door.

He stopped at the railing in front of the building, planted his hands, and scowled. The primary reason was that from his lofty perch, he could see the pair of riding animals that he and his young charge had rode in on. Their riding packs were still slung on the creatures--he hadn't really thought theft was a concern anyway--but they were also approximately twenty feet down. The big man snorted. Another reason he had chosen this inn--the owner had sprung for stairs, rather than just a ladder--or, corpse of the serpent, bare braided vines.

His eyes then tracked up, sweeping over the rest of the building suspended among the trees. The young mage he'd been tasked to guard was somewhere out there; he couldn't see her, but he at least had a vague idea of where she had run off to. The rational part of his mind told him that there was only so much trouble she could find so long as she stayed in the village, but he couldn't help but remember how she had almost gotten herself eaten by the flora on their way in, and besides--the whole sense of the place set his teeth a little on edge. The last time he had been in a place like this had been as part of a squad of soldiers, and the visit had been significantly less friendly.

Well. Hopefully there would be no cause for anything like that.

---

Seeing all of Alula in person for the first time was so intriguing as well as beautiful! This village was the sort of location that Pepper could only imagine after reading about it in the past. To experience this village for herself was a completely matter altogether, and it was amazing! ...Except for the parts where she made the mistake of looking down to the forest floor. It took some searching, stumbling, getting lost for a bit, and asking around, but Pepper was successful in finding her reason for being in Alula.

She stands in front of the Sage's Home; A simple home carved into a giant tree's trunk, high above the canopies of the trees. It's clear that part of the trunk was carved to function as a door, and chimes hang above it. It's clear to Pepper that this home also functioned as a store front for anyone who comes to seek the Mage.

Sage Gokuanni, the mage who first studied the Serpent's Sickness and managed to come up with a cure through the Lady's Veil Flowers....! Pepper had heard that the Elderly Simiah Mage lived here, and she hoped to speak with her, in order to learn all she can about the Serpent's Sickness that her University or her previous Master, Archmage Lapin, may have missed.

Pepper could feel the butterflies flutter about in her stomach, as she takes a moment to dust off her long dark pink skirt and white shirt, and adjust her pointed wizard's hat so it sits straight on her head, and not askew. With one more sigh, she knocks on the door politely. She hears an elderly woman's voice inside call in response, "It's open! Come on in!"

Pepper clears her throat before she opens the door. The elderly Simiah, a rhesus macaque like humanoid, turns to face Pepper. She grunts coldly and callously in greeting, after her eyes briefly glanced over Pepper's form and belongings, "Ah. A Havenite Wizardling. What do you want?"

Pepper noticed that the sage's gaze had lingered on her plain, wooden wand, and that was why she was addressed as a wizardling. Her face rose in a blush in shame as she adjusted her wand to be hidden.

She clears her throat as she addresses the Sage politely, but eagerly, "Ah, yes. Hello, Sage Gokuanni! I've heard--or rather, read--much about you! My name is Pepper--"

"Yes, yes, yes. What do you want?" The Sage interrupts Pepper in a tone that made it clear that she wanted Pepper to get to the point.

Pepper blinks at the tone, and she clears her throat, "Oh, Sorry. I'm here because I wanted to talk to you and learn more about the Serpent's Sickness from you. You see, I want to do my part and help cure the Serpent's Sickness, and I believe there may be another cure for it other than the Lady's Veil. But the best starting place to accomplish that, would be learning about it from you,"

The Sage is silent for a good moment, before she gives a single derisive guffaw, "Hah! You want me to teach you so that you Havenites can find another aspect of the Forest life to exploit and corrupt? You are sorely mistaken, girl! I will not help you. Now, leave!"

Pepper is also silent as she processed the refusal. She then states in a stoic tone that almost seems cold and calculating voice, "Alright then. It appears you leave me with no choice..."

The Simiah grips her staff tighter, half expecting Pepper to start slinging spells at her. Pepper does indeed clap her hands together, as though it was the beginning of a spell...

...

Only for Pepper to bow lowly to the Simiah Elder!

"Please! Please, Sage Gokuanni! Please teach me! I'll do anything you ask!"

The Simiah Elder is taken aback by Pepper's act of humility, and she starts, "What the...? No! My answer will not chang-"

She doesn't even finish her statement, as Pepper immediately falls from the Saikeirei Bow, to a full on Kowtow! Her head and back rise up and down from the floor rapidly, almost threatening to give Pepper a concussion from the repeated contact with the floor. As the kowtowing continues Pepper continues pleading and begging,

"PLEASE TEACH ME, SAGE GOKUANNI! IwillcontinuetobegandpleadforaslongasIhaveto! IknowIamnotworthyandIamjustworthlessgarbagebutifyouteachmeIwilldorightbyyou! IswearIwillnotdisregardanywarningsyougiveandIwilldomybesttolearnsopleaseteachme!"

The Simiah Elder is taken further aback by Pepper's full kowtow, and the repeated words from Archmage Lapin that wormed their way into Pepper's subconscious.

What has Sage Gokuanni's full attention however, was the book that slid out of Pepper's backpack during the kowtowing. Upon seeing the cover, the Sage moves places one hand on Pepper's forehead to stop her Kowtowing and begging, while picking up the booking with her other hand. She asks Pepper,

"Girl, Where did you get this?" The Sage asks both in awe and suspicious towards Pepper.

"Huh? That tome was passed down to me by my parents before I left home. It's been passed down from generation to generation...!" Pepper answered the Sage in confusion and curiosity.

The Sage's eyes widened at the answer, and they narrowed as though trying to find any sign of deceit in the young Wizard. Upon finding none however, the Sage lets out an intrigued, "Huh..." as she hands the tome back to Pepper. Pepper immediately places the tome back into her backpack.

After a beat or two of silence from both women, the Sage answers, "....Alright, fine. I will teach you,"

Pepper was surprised at first, before her expression immediately brightens. She inhales to start thanking the Sage, but she is immediately silenced by a raised hand from the Sage, "But! We are not starting immediately! The both of us need food and rest! Come back in eight hours, and I will start teaching you what I know about the Serpent's Sickness,"

Pepper starts, "I'm more hungry for knowledge than food!" Then her stomach cuts in with a loud rumble to protest. She blushes while the Sage raises an eyebrow, and Pepper amends, "On second thought...learning cannot be accomplished on an empty stomach..."

She then sincerely thanks the Sage, "Thank you, Sage Gokuanni! I won't let you down!"

"Good. Don't disappoint me, Pepper. Now get some rest," The Sage dismisses her, her tone softer and kinder than it was when the meeting started. With everything said and done, Pepper leaves the Sage's home.

After the door closes, Pepper quietly squeals to herself excitedly and does a little victory dance and a fist pump. Naturally, anyone who was near Everything seems to be going well, despite that close call with the Melancholia Flower! Now she just needed to come back in eight hours, and she'll be closer to her goals!

Pepper tells herself, "Now, I just gotta get back to Hasdrubal, and...down from here..." She made the mistake of looking down from again, causing her to flail before gripping the nearby rope to steady herself. She mumbles, "I learned something new already: I really don't like heights..."

After taking a few deep breaths to steady herself, she makes her way down, and starts navigating through Alula to find the Inn that Hasdrubal should be at...

@rush99999@Guardian Angel Haruki@Randomguy

As Arnannel, Dimple and Pepper all make their own separate ways across the village, all three will hear a similar commotion as seven figures come charging out from the trees, all of them seeming a little shaken and shouting to one another. Three of them seem to be lagging behind the rest, with two having to support the third, a somewhat portly faun man who appears to be badly wounded. The group make their way to one of the ground-level ladders, and the shouting begins to get louder and more agitated as they try to figure out how to haul their injured comrade up into the trees. Several villagers have taken notice, with some of the simiah members even hopping down from the platforms and scaling down the trunks to some of the lower branches, hanging from either their feet or tails as they offer to help carry the faun up.

Before any decisions can be reached, however, an eighth figure comes bursting out from the trees, a tall, broad-shoulder katari woman resembling a panther. She glances over her shoulder, as if something might be following her, before making her way towards the rest of the group. Without another word, she snatches the faun man from the other, hoists him over her shoulders and begins climbing up the ladder, leaving the rest of the party temporarily stunned before she shouts something at them and they all start climbing after her.

Once the katari has reached the tree tops, she wastes no time rushing towards the clinic, leading her to cross one of the bridges that Arnannel is making his way across. Because of the bridge's rickety structure, the katari's large frame and the fact she's carrying an injured man, she wastes no time being polite and gives a shriek, clearly communicating without words that he either needs to get out of the way now or risk being pushed aside.

@ctrlsaltdel

From his position on the ground, Hasdrubal witnesses the same commotion those above him do, though being much closer to the action allows him to pick up extra details. For one, after the katari and the faun have ascended the ladder, the remaining members of the group and the simiah who swung down to land are left squabbling amongst themselves, with a couple of them glancing back to where they came from. The conversation is quite frantic, with several people trying to talk at once, but Hasdubral is able to see from how the bows, arrows and other assorted gear that this group were hunters, and they must have encountered something during this recent hunt that is responsible for the faun man's injury. He's also able to see that the faun wasn't the only one who is injured, though none as badly.

@Vertigo

From his place on the balcony, Capriccio hears the same commotion, and should he decide to turn his gaze back, will see the same thing. What he will note that the others might not, is that one of the members of the hunting party breaks off from the rest of the group, climbs up the ladder and makes his way towards the Curved Tail. This is an older simiah man resembling a howler monkey. Capriccio will definitely hear him as he enters the tavern, partially because of the rest of the tavern becomes more hushed as he enters. Capirccio will then hear him stumbling over to the bar, and shouting "I'll take whatever is strongest. And give me the largest tankard you have, I'm gonna need it!"

---

Pepper immediately freezes at the sound of the commotion. She immediately lifts the wide brim of her hat to allow her to see what’s happening; That would in turn, allow a certain infernis bard to see her face and her concerned expression clearly. She could only watch as the crowd rushes past her to get the clearly injured faun to the clinic.

Before she could even process that scene, the panther-like katari woman appears and rushes past her to quickly take charge of the portly faun’s well-being. The fact that the woman was glancing behind her didn’t escape Pepper’s notice.

After the woman passed by, Pepper was able to process what had happened. The group and clinic had the faun, so she didn't have to worry about healing him, but…what was happening over there to begin with?!

Pepper looks in the direction where the group just fled from. Curiosity about the situation and a terrible thought came to her: What if there more injured people over there who need help?! With both factors considered, Pepper immediately found herself heading in that direction, going as quickly as she could. As she runs, she holds her hat down to her head to make sure it didn't fly off of her head. She was a little slower when it came to climbing up ladders though...

Regardless! If people were in danger, then she wasn’t going to just stand by and do nothing!

---

---

From the time he was old enough to understand danger, Hasdrubal had been conditioned to respond to the sound of travelers in distress. Before his conscious mind had the chance to take in the commotion, he was already striding towards the group of hunters, sheathed sword in hand. His eyes tracked the katari as she made her swift way through the village, stopping only when the woman crossed Pepper's path. The soldier breathed a sigh of relief--whatever was happening, at least his young charge was high up in the treetops, presumably out of immediate danger.

And then he watched her, after only a moment's hesitation, take off the way the hunter had came at her best pace.

She's as bad as a toddler. Hasdrubal snorted and shook his head, but he couldn't find it in himself to put that much heat into the thought. At least she'll be where I can see her.

That train of thought carried him up to the little knot of hunters, where he interrupted their conversation by physically leaning over one. He addressed himself to one of the two who had been carrying their injured companion, relying on his physical presence and the basso rumble of his voice to cut through the commotion.

"You there! What happened to your friend?"

Dimple had just finished weaving the stem of his chrysalis to an acceptable standard and was about to start work on the container itself when the commotion caught his attention. Leaving his antennae to focus on the work, Dimple turned his eyes towards the hunting party as they emerged from the treeline. The faeborg's eyes emitted a faint whirring sound as his vision zoomed in to get a closer look at the newcomers. They were all injured to some extent, the rotund faun most of all, and it seemed like whatever injured them was still alive and potentially hot on their heels if the behaviour of the last member of the hunting party was anything to go by. It was how the hunters had styled themselves that finally made Dimple stop working and turn fully to face them though.

They were flying Road Court flags. The Syndicate's "uniform" wasn't as obvious as the Havenite military's or the like. The dress code for members being more of what one would call guidelines than actual rules, leaving plenty of room for people to throw in their own personal touches. But there was enough of a common look that anyone in the know could identify a member of the Court at a glance. And having made most of those guidelines himself, Dimple was definitely in the know.

Dimple quickly decided the chrysalis could wait. It was his duty as King of the Road to ensure his subjects safety within the bounds of his demesne. He could not stand idle now. Especially if whatever had harmed the hunters was still out there. Dimple spread his wings and began to glide down to meet the katari woman carrying the wounded faun, who was the leader of the hunting party if the Road Court markings hadn't had their meaning garbled by all the extra red staining the heavyset hunter's clothing. Dimple would have met them by the bridge, but when he finally got a good look a the faun through vision that wasn't slightly distorted by lens-zoom, Dimple beat his wings once to back away. Had they not been replaced by gold and jewels, Dimple's eyes would have widened in shock and recognition at the sight.

"P...Prino?"

Dimple almost hadn't recognized him, the faun having changed so much over the fifteen years since they had last met properly. But Dimple had recognized him nonetheless. The faun's name was Prino Mustun, a hunter of great skill and renown... even if he left most of the actual hunting to his assistants nowadays. If anyone wanted something that could only be acquired by hunting, Prino was usually the first name to spring to mind. Dimple had met Prino just as the faun was starting out and just as the faeborg was beginning to consider staying put in one place for a time. Dimple had help get Prino's career off the ground and the two became friends after that. In the time after, the two of them ended up becoming more than friends as well. But Dimple wasn't the best at long-term commitment. He tried his best, of course. He was by no means a neglectful lover. But sooner or later, Dimple would remember that he is immortal and his paramour was not. This made it difficult for the faeborg to form proper attachments, which led to a small but noticeable amount of emotional distancing on his end. Inevitably, this led to most of Dimple's romantic partners walking away from the relationship upon realizing that, deep down, Dimple was never going to truly love them. Dimple's relationship with Prino had been no exception to this rule.

The rogue had long since gotten over Prino ending things between them. Hundreds of other lovers had done so already, so Dimple was more than used to it. But seeing Prino again after all this time? Seeing him so changed? Seeing him so hurt? Seeing all of this so unexpectedly? As used to it all as he was, even Dimple found it impossible not to be left reeling momentarily from the sight. By the time the faeborg had recovered from his daze, the katari woman carrying Prino had made it past the elf blocking her passage across the bridge. Dimple followed after her, but kept a large hallway's worth of distance between himself and her until she reached the clinic. Once she had entered the building, Dimple landed, leaned against a patch of wall near the door, and waited.

Arnannel immediately jumped off the bridge, before grabbing onto the edge of the bridge and nimbly swinging to a platform below. Though he wanted to know what had happened, he was not about to demand an answer from the katari who was carrying her injured comrade. That was neither practical nor ethical. Better that he made his way down to find out the cause of the commotion from the rest of the hunters.

He wondered what exactly happened. A hunt gone wrong because of an encounter with a creature touched by Witherwild? A bold ambush from the remaining rebels? Perhaps merely an overeager young hunter getting careless?

Personal curiosity aside, as someone hired to ensure safe passage through Fanewick, he should probably try to find out what happened in case it was something that made Alura no longer safe, and thus, him needing to advise his clients to hire local sellswords as additional guards so they could make their way back to Haven even despite the injuries sustained by some of the alchemist.

As he arrived on the scene, he noticed a towering orc with an eyepatch—probably some mixed giant ancestry given his build—already questioning the hunters.

"I'd like to know as well, if you don't mind," he said as he approached the group.

@Guardian Angel Haruki
As Pepper plants her feet on the ground and starts making her way in the direction the hunters have just come from, someone from the treetops calls down. "You there, stop! What do you think you're doing?" If she looks above, she'll see a ribbet resembling a red-eyed tree frog looking down at her. She's wearing some sort of wooden armour and has a large bow in her hands which is already loaded with an arrow and pointed towards Pepper's destination, implying she's some sort village of guard. Seeing a girl running out into her line of fire must have given her pause and she's lowered her bow slightly.

@rush99999
The katari pauses in her charge towards the clinic when she sees Arnannel jump off the side of the bridge, worried for a moment that she might have caused him to fall and hurt himself. However, once she peered over the edge and saw him swinging safely down the ground, her worry vanished, and she quickly makes her way to the clinic.

From outside, Dimple will hear her shouting at whatever healers are available to aid Prino as soon as possible, and there's a commotion from inside as several people come to aid to get Prino to an empty bed. After a long moment, one of the healers must have asked the katari to leave and let them do their job, because she exits. The determination that had been in her eyes when on her way there has completely gone, replaced with exhaustion, concern... and regret. She doesn't even seem to notice Dimple as she takes a moment outside the clinic to run her claws over her face.

@Randomguy@ctrlsaltdel
The hunters immediately cease all chatter when Hasdubral addressed them, and all share wary glances with one another as they consider how much they should say to this complete outsider. Before they can come to a decision, however, Arnannel joins the discussion, also curious to know what is happening, and one of the younger hunters pipes up.

"Who's asking?" says a squat golden brown ribbet, looking both Hasdubral and Arnanell up and down. He takes a step towards the two outsiders and puffs out his chest to make himself appear taller. Considering he is less than half Hasdubral's height, this doesn't really do much to increase his intimidation. A couple of the other hunters shake their heads at this, but don't make any effort to stop him or interfere.

@Vertigo
A couple of other patrons, one a katari and the other a dwarf, leave their tables and take a seat next to the howler monkey simiah. "Spix! What in the Circles Below happened to you?" asks the dwarf, who, upon closer inspection, appears to have a beard made entirely out silvery-green lichen. He makes a gesture towards the person behind the bar, another simiah resembling a gorilla, to get them a fresh drink too. The barkeep nods and begins filling up three tankards.

"Yeah, you look like shit," the katari adds, causing the howler monkey simiah, apparently named Spix, to shoot them a look.

"Don't start with me, Mito, I'm in no mood," Spix says. He grunts gratefully as the barkeep hands each of them their drinks.

"Never stopped them before," the dwarf says, though he also casts Mito a disapproving look. Mito didn't seem to notice as they started downing their drink. The dwarf then turns his eyes back to Spix. "Hunting not so good today?"

"Oh it was going fine," Spix says before taking a long gulp of his drink. Once he's done he give a deep sigh, its tone somewhere between satisfied and exhausted. "We'd downed a couple of one of Rohkin's herds and had plenty of meat for the entire village. We were really looking forward to celebrating the amount of gold we'd rake in after that hunt." He lowers his head. "Trouble is, transporting a carcass that size takes time and effort. Most of us transported the first one back earlier today while the couple kept watch over the second. We returned to find the second carcass gone and the two hunters we'd left behind worse for wear. Apparently something had attacked while we were gone and taken our spoils."

"Oof," was the dwarf's only response. He might of said more, but Mito chimed in.

"That don't explain the scrapes you got," the katari said, jabbing a single claw towards a nasty gash on Spix's arm. While they didn't make contact, the sudden movement was enough to Spix tense up, pulling his arm close to himself.

"Watch it!" Spix spat.

Arnannel looked at the Ribbet who was addressing him and the other man, before looking at the rest of the hunters. For a brief moment, he wondered if he should give his name. They were in Fanewick territory, after all. Here, to those who were still bitter at the annexation by Haven, Arnannel was the name of the traitor who sold them out to the invading Haven after all. Particularly in regard to Ribbets...He knew well that many families of Ribbets used to live in Fanewick before the annexation by Haven forced them out of their home. It was not unusual to see Ribbets still having animosity against Havenites and those affiliated with Haven due to being displaced in the aftermath of the invasion.

Still, he supposed it would be better to answer. Clamming up now would only make him look suspicious. And besides, he looked rather different now than how the natives of Fanewick would know him. After moving to Haven's city, he lost his elven Mystic Form that was shaped by the forest of Fanewick; the leaves and foliage that had grown on him wilted and eventually disappeared completely. And the name Arnannel was not particularly rare for elves of Fanewick.

"I'm Arnannel," he answered, "Some Havenites hired me as a guide on an expedition to find some wild Crimson Lady's Veil for an experiment. There seemed to be a commotion, so if it's all right, I would like to know what happened so I can advise my clients on whether we should speed up our schedule and leave so as to not wrapped up in anything dangerous,"

Dimple took a moment to digest the information he had overheard being discussed in the clinic. It was distressing news to be sure, but it was also news that could wait for a moment. The katari huntress had been holding it together well enough up to that point. But now that she'd gotten Prino to the healers, it looked like she was about ready to start crumbling. Fortunately, Dimple had just the thing to lift her spirits. Reaching into his coat, Dimple withdrew a hip flask of silver vine vodka. It was a popular beverage among the katari, and one the faeborg was sure this particular katari would appreciate right now. "Can I offer you a nice drink in this trying time?" Dimple offered as he drew level with the destressed woman and held the flask out for her to take if she so desired it.

---

Pepper immediately stops, almost falling over from her momentum that was carrying her forwards. She looks up at the Tree Frog Ribbet, noting that she was a guard. Pepper's sense of urgency and concern for others outweighed any potential embarrassment she felt for rushing towards the gates like that. She answers back, "Are all of the hunting party accounted for? If anyone was left behind, I can provide healing!"

Now, granted, she had no idea if the guard knew or not. But still, she figured it was good to ask while she still had the chance. The odds of this guard seeing who was in the Hunting Party to begin with are pretty good, mathematically speaking, unless she was on a different shift.

@Guardian Angel Haruki
The ribbet looked a little taken aback. "Err..." She glanced back over to the hunting party. "I don't... think so."

As she's attempting to remember, there is suddenly a rustle from the trees near Pepper.



@rush99999
The katari spins round, her fur standing standing on end as if she is expecting an attack. Upon seeing Dimple holding the drink up to her, she scrutinizes him before forcing herself to slowly relax. "Sure," she says after a moment, carefully taking the drink. She brings it up to her face, sniffing it cautiously before taking a drink. After a few sips, she returns it. She gives a sigh. "Thanks, I... needed that."

@Randomguy
The ribbet snorts. "Like we care if some city-lovers get hurt waltzing into our forests," he said. "Serves them right."

Again, the other hunters don't seem like they're going to intervene. In fact, Arnanell mentioning both Havenites and the Red Lady's Veil had made more of them seem a little tense.

@Vertigo
At Capriccio's interjection, the dwarf, Spix and Mito all immediately feel quiet. Spix and Mito eyed him with suspicion, though the latter less so than the former. The dwarf seemed less so, eying the infernis curiously. After a moment, he smiled and offered his hand to Capriccio. "You can call me Greenbeard. Always nice to meet a fellow enjoyer of gossip."

At this, all suspicion disappeared from Mito's face as he gave a loud snort. "Yeah, that's one way to describe you," he said, smirking at Greenbeard. He looked like he was going to give Spix a light nudge, but then decided that might actually be painful given his current condition. "Go ahead, Spix. Tell us what happened."

Spix was still eying Capriccio intensely, but at his friends' jeering, he averted his gaze to look at them. Greenbeard, then Mito. Seeing their companions looking at him expectantly, he gave a loud sigh. "Fine," he said. "But one of you better pay for my next drink."

Greenbeard opens his mouth to speak, but Mito cuts in. "What do you say to that, city boy?" they said, grinning over at Capriccio.

"No problem at all." Dimple said in response to the katari's thanks, though he didn't immediately accept her attempt to return his flask. "You can keep that if you like. I have a few more flasks of silvervod stashed away in my pack... A while back, I believe a mutual friend of your employer and myself made mention of meeting you. You are... Feliana, yes? It's nice to finally meet you if so. I heard many good things about you. Though that's hardly a surprise. I hear many good things about all of Prino's proteges" At the mention of Prino's name, Dimple's friendly demeanor turned somber as he remembered the circumstances of this meeting. "How... How was he doing when you left him?" Dimple asked. "And what manner of quarry had your hunting party been tracking?"

Arnannel had to refrain from clicking his tongue. This sort of attitude was exactly what was wrong with Fanewick Native. They’ve lost. The rebellion was little more than desperate rabble that would rather they all die in a suicide charge than entertain peace or a semblance of peace.

What would such posturing and explicit disdain for Haven accomplish? Do they think Havenites would kneel down upon a brazen display of pride in their homeland? Or would it make the Havenites who saw them as mere lowly barbarians change their mind? Who were they kidding? It
would only make it worse for all Fanewick natives.

What use was there in clinging to such foolish pride? Would it feed your children? Would it give you access to Haven’s amenities and a higher quality of life? Would it magically grant your wishes? The answer is no, so to Arnannel, something as burdensome as pride of one’s homeland was better thrown away if it would allow you to make a better life for yourselves.

He had done so, ingratiating himself with Havenites and partaking in the ‘fruits’ of their society and never looked back. If these people refused to imbibe from the proverbial Havenite fountain because of foolish pride, then it was their loss.

He sighed, “Look, I don’t really care what you think of Havenites. It doesn’t matter to me either way. But if there’s trouble, surely we share the same interest in keeping them away from Alula, no? What’s the harm in telling me? Unless…” Arnannel trailed off, noticing their guarded look, “Is it the rebellion?”