[quote=@RevNorv]
...

Ardashir approached the table. In doing so, he overheard the strangers introduce themselves. Aderynel, the sylph, sought history; Hagen, the soldier, sought adventure; Quintus, the Arventian, had taken an oath; and Tárwen, the elf, gracefully but definitively declined to say just what she sought. Arda smiled briefly, and walked up next to Vashra, the beastman. 

"Ardashir of Navavasta," he announced, "if I have arrived in time to join in introductions." He smiled a bit ruefully. "Pardon the interruption." A handsome man, this, and that smile said he knew it: warm olive skin and bright green eyes, a bit boyish despite his beard, with a swift flashing grin and a faint scent of agarwood and dried limes. Arda held out the bottle of Arventian red, and placed it on the table. "In my defense, I come bearing gifts." 

Then his leaf-green eyes settled on Aderynel. "Word around town is that you found something in the mountains," Arda remarked. He reached into his burnoose and retrieved a small stone seal, half chipped away; the Mitradaevaka's gloved finger traced the runes around its rim. "I believe you said that you are a historian, Aderynel. So am I. I can read these runes. If they resemble those you found up in the mountains, then I think we could help each other. What do you think?" With a quick turn, Ardashir glanced around to include Aderynel's other companions in his question.
[/quote]

"A pleasure to meet you," Aderynel spoke for the group, reaching over the receive the stone from Arda.  She paused, then gave a rueful smile and a shrug, accompanied by a slight unfurling of her wings, shrugging with those limbs as well, "I'd like to say yes, but I really don't know."

"I'm a Northerner," she added.  The sing-song accent while speaking Arventian was a bit of a giveaway though not everyone would be able to discern it, "The Giants never made it across the Stormsund Straights, as far as anyone knows.  Their ruins are a thing of the Southern lands and, I will confess, I have never seen them or felt the need to study them.  This was my first encounter with anything built by them... what I would say about these letters were they were very big, as if carved by someone wielidng a chisel I would struggle to lift."

"The other possibility, from what you've described is a Gundrukan vault," Tárwen chipped in, "But that seems less likely.  I could give you a long explanation as to why I think that, but you'd get bored... the short version is they aren't known for [i]completely[/i] forgetting the existence of a place."

Quintus, the more taciturn of the group took his moment to chip in, "I trust you know how to use that?" he motioned at Arda's scimitar.

"Oh yes," Aderynel gave a small laugh, acknowledging her earlier oversight, "I guess I should probably ask what your interest in these ruins is?"

[quote=@InfamousGuy101]
[h3]Jair son of Rensar[/h3]
[hr]
...

“Sounds like you already have one guide,” he said, his voice even as his gaze flicked briefly toward the man who had called himelf Vashra, then to the rest of the company. “I won’t pretend to know all of Morgador… but I’ve ridden near every other corner of this realm once or twice, at least. If you’re heading into mountains or ruins, you’ll want a man who’s done more than follow roads.”

He rested one hand lightly on the back of a vacant chair, the other on his belt where the worn leather met the hilt of a well-traveled blade. “Jair, from the steppe lands,” he added simply, "my mare waits outside.”
[/quote]

"And greetings to you, Jair.  I'm Hagen from the Strommark," Jair received the attention of the larger of the two warriors at the table, "We're not heading for the Morgador, just the mountains and, from what I can tell we don't have much need of a guide since our skyborn friend knows the route, and I'm pretty sure all of our little group has travelled offroad before. We have an Decurion from the Regnum, a skyborn and a low elf and one of the scalefolk and of course yours truly."

He didn't include Arda in the list, mostly because he didn't know much about him yet, but there hadn't been anything about his appearance, in Hagen's view, to suggest he wasn't capable of a journey across country... "Though I will not turn away another sword, especially since we know there are creatures of darkness in this ruin.  What are you looking to get out of this little expedition?" he asked.