A frayed-looking young man had approached Ellenara after her offer of local reconnaissance. It seemed by the confidence in his own stature that he believed himself to be some sort of rake. Ellenara gave a smile like she held back a chuckle at the attempt. "Aww," she replied, leaning over slightly until her height was brought down to his, "That's adorable." A slender index extended, stretching forward toward the man and bouncing lightly off of his nose. Standing straight, she continued in a more genuine and gentle tone, "You can hold off on the wooing, child. I'm just an old elf from the Harrowgrove."
Vincent was taken aback by the actions of the Elven woman before him. He was not used to people treating him as she just did and at first this frustrated and embarrassed him. The temperature rising around him a few degrees before he calmed down and realized that the gesture was not meant to offend.
"In any regard, I would still love to accompany you if you would have me." He said dialing back the previous behavior.
As the Seeker and the Sorcerer conversed, Ada stepped forward, book in hand. "If you wouldn't mind, I would like to accompany you. I found some information that may help guide our search, and the people may be more inclined to speak to their former duchess." She then smiled coyly at Ellenara's suggestion. "I may know of some more... interesting pubs as well. I was not always cooped up in the keep, after all."
Rocking forward on her toes, gaining a half inch of height, Elle clapped in bright, brief celebration. "Wondrous!" she exclaimed, "We'll head out swiftly, then." Ellenara seemed oddly boisterous, stepping between the two elven archers and past them. As she walked toward the door, she said, "Which means you can show him to the Adventurers' Guild while I enjoy the air!" Then, in mid-step, her form seemed to fade and blur, her hair diffusing into a visible, grey mist that started to freely billow behind her. The misty composition scattered forward throughout her body before her foot had touched ground, until there was no foot left where then only fog remained. This thick, flowing air bore the vague resemblance to her. Looking back to the others, her face was seemingly cheered by the free feeling she was experiencing in this form. She spoke some word of encouragement in a voice so breathy and light that its consonants didn't form into their Common language. Then, the misty elf surged forward in a swift movement, almost vanishing through the library door and onward beyond the Seat.
"Ah..." Ada replied, somewhat surprised at the sudden shift. "I suppose the word 'accompany' means something different to wood elves?" The duchess knew that the Seeker was a Druid of the Moon, but had expected a form that would carry them all together. From her Bag of Holding, she withdrew a small broom and seated herself on it. "I assume you are able to fly, Vincent?" she asked. "Otherwise, this may be a longer walk than I anticipated, and I am not sure how the Guild will react to being assaulted by an elemental form after sunset. Likely not well."
Vincent Grinned reaching into his pack and pulling out a small bronze statuette of a griffon.
"I most certainly do have a way to fly but I will have to walk outside to use it as I am unaware of how large it will be." He said smiling brightly walking toward the door having forgotten all about the Wood Elf that had taken off. Once outside he set the Griffon on the ground and activated it the statuette grew into a full sized griffon before their eyes and screeched before kneeling so he could mount it. Looking back toward Ada he grinned and jumped up onto the griffon.
"Of course. You have a griffon," Ada muttered to herself before giving a nonchalant shrug. "Either way, we should catch up with our elemental friend before she gets too far ahead. After that cloud!" With a whispered command word, her broom leapt into the sky as Ada whizzed after the elemental, knowing that she was likely the slowest of the three.
The flight was not a long one, as there were many shortcuts that could be taken when one did not need to follow the intentionally winding roads up the mountainside. Towards the lowest reaches of the city near the first gate, a fairly sizable building continued to shed light even as the sun passed below the mountains to the west, engulfing the foothills in shadow. Although the journey was only a couple of minutes long, the Seeker had a chance to arrive ahead of the others and peek in the windows to see a large meeting house with benches and tables lining the floor and torches burning with continual flame filling the sconces on the walls. Although the Adventurers' Guild was not a tavern, per se, there were still plenty of flagons of ale being tossed around, and a hearty spirit of camaraderie and rivalry filled the conversations. The people were made up mostly of elves, but nearly every civilized race was well-represented.
Elle's body felt alight with a rush of movement as she swiftly meandered about town. Keeping to a low hover above the ground, she felt her body involuntarily wanting to giggle as she swept through the night air. Her form danced automatically in the chill breeze, for few to see as she darted about fluidly between dimly lit roads and alleyways. As she always did when assuming this magical shape, she felt the need to enjoy herself, to be free in her movement. Just the feeling of the wind catching her misty self caused a primordial glee to to surround her. Even as she looked back and saw her ally upon the back of a chimeric eagle tearing through the night sky, she chuckled to herself and moved on swiftly as if challenged into a race she couldn't easily lose.
And, of course, she didn't. Having arrived to the Guild, she found herself alone besides the pedestrians heading to their homes. Her body surged upward along an alley's shadow, spilling over the building's upper edge in a fluid movement that quickly reconstituted herself into the vague shape of a cyclonic woman. The shape, once fully formed, made a motion of a step. The mist quickly fell away where Ellenara, in the flesh, completed her step from the Seat. She gave a long huff, as if relieving her lungs of the elemental air that had just constituted her entire form. A relative calm came over her as she returned to her natural state, always so sensitive to the primal emotions of these elements. It wasn't a long wait for the others, but she spent it looking over the townsfolk in silence, crossed legs hanging over the edge of the roof she sat upon.
Vincent found himself exhilarated by the flight. He found he rather enjoyed the feeling of freedom and weightlessness it brought on. They flew for a short while and found the Wood Elf woman sitting on a roof. Vincent landed and pet the griffon mount having become attached enough to try and think of a name for the inanimate creature given life before canceling the magic placed on it and returning it to his pack.
"Well, that was a wonderful feeling." He began, looking to the Wood Elf. "I imagine you enjoyed the trip as well?" he added with a genuine smile.
Instead of landing on the roof like the other two, Ada dropped to the street in front of the Guild's door and stowed her broom in the sack she carried. "We may wish to begin our search for answers before the supper hour ends," she called up to the pair, wondering exactly how Vincent planned to get down from the roof without hurting himself. "We should look for someone who has had a mission up north. Perhaps some goblin or troll hunters."
The others had arrived in short order. While Elle had no issue with waiting, it was true that time pressed as long as threat still loomed. To keep things appropriately concise, she stood upon the ledge at their arrival and moved toward Vincent. "What's not to enjoy?" she replied, reaching out to take him by the wrist. Her grip felt strange, like his arm was becoming smothered in pressure, but this strangeness became apparent as her form faded again into a living gust. She ebbed backward toward the roof's edge, pulling him along with her. With a chuckle she pulled him off solid footing, dangling in the air.
But, rather than toy with him she lowered her graceful hover to the ground beside Ada and set him gently on his feet. Showing her familiarity with this technique, she quickly shifted out of her form much like an extension of her natural movement. Finally, without very much adieu, she stepped forward to pull the door open and invite Ada and Vincent inside with a gesture of her hand.
Inside was a raucous gathering of might, a true party of heroes. Drinks flowed joyously, tales were shared liberally, and confidence radiated off of the myriad of capable muscle stocked within what might otherwise resemble an alehouse. Elle had seen establishments like this in remote, dangerous regions of the land, and felt subtly that she had come home. But she came for business, and upon stepping through the doorway she searched for signs of authority among even those that carried themselves with authority.
One did, in fact, stand out among the others. A woman among the tables stood studiously and assertively, clutching a clipboard and assigning warriors with work. Charcoal hair adorned her oddly chromatic flesh and parted around distinctive horns jutting from her skull. She bore a mischievous smirk that showed she was impish in more ways than one. A heavily-plated knight stood before her, discussing some matters of adventuring work. Elle weaved her way through the people, attuning her keen ears to their conversation before any sort of interruption.
Vincent felt himself lowered to the ground and while he had loved the feeling of flight this felt foreign to him but he resisted every muscle in his body screaming at him to not trust someone pulling him off a roof. As his feet his the ground he sighed with relief and looked over the establishment with a fairly scrutinizing eye.
"Well where to begin am I right?"
"The Guildmaster, I would assume," Ada replied as she followed Ellenara through the crowds. On either side, mead-wielding warriors touted their accomplishments with loud cheers from those about them. A handful of clerics that shared a deity prayed in one corner next to the firelight, and a few bards strummed instruments and sang songs of their battles. None were singing about giants, and although a handful were claiming magnificent feats of derring do defeating dragons, it didn't take a druid to sense out the massive piles of bullshit. In fact, the majority of fighters in this guild were lower level goons that would be more of a liability in a fight against a dragon than an aid.
There were, of course, a handful of more-established members of the guild, and those generally kept to themselves, avoiding the low-ranked adventurers and their tall tales. To these individuals, adventuring was serious business, a job to not be taken lightly. The knight was one such member, chatting to the Guildmaster tiefling in hushed tones that subsided as the trio approached. The knight lifted up his visor and looked at the party, revealing himself to be a human with a somewhat frustrated glare. "Can I help you?" the tiefling asked with a smile before noticing Ada. The smile faltered slightly, replaced by a look of concern. "Is... is something wrong?"
When the others had yet to step up, Ellenara took her place. Slinking past a few more patrons, she put herself in talking distance with the presumed headmistress; though she remained close enough to the elvish Lady to be associated. "Nothing's the matter," she reassured, "we're merely here for local information. You see, we're about to embark on an expedition to the northern ranges and wanted to be aware of threats and where they lie. Especially those of mountainous giants and icy dragons. We've heard rumours of such beasts, and we're to disturb or eradicate them."
Vincent simply stood back and watched the duo work and smiled. he admired confidence more than anything and both seemed to have a lion's share. As the conversation turned to the conflicts at hand Vincent stepped up and smiled as charmingly as he could to the headmistress.
"Oh but rest assured we are all perfectly capable of handling the threats as there is also the threat of the Ghouls amassing that we are also humbly taking care of." He said grinning calmly.
The soothing comments seemed to calm the Guildmaster who nodded to Ellenara's request. "Well, regretfully, we have no information about these rumors. Perhaps if you went to Vael Turog to the north, you might gain more information." She was about to wave them on when the knight stepped forward, peering at the trio through his visor.
"Actually, I have heard of such threats. I just came from the North myself," he spoke up. "Giants and dragons are not my specialty, but I heard of no fewer than five adventuring parties that answered such a notice. None returned. If I can remember correctly... the area was described as a crag a few hundred furlongs south of the city. I'm sorry that I have little more information than that."
Ada stepped forward, a smile on her face. "Perhaps you have more information than you realize. Do you know how strong these parties were? Elite fighters with years of experience, or perhaps newcomers looking for a quick reward?"
"Well, one of the parties was new to the Guild. Their equipment looked pretty mundane. I told them not to chance it, but they didn't listen. Something about a quest for glory." The knight lowered his head for a moment, as if for a moment of silence. "However, the others were much stronger. Organized parties with clerics and wizards, paladins or barbarians. Everyone had enchanted gear, were planning their attacks out carefully. But none returned, and I can only assume the worst."
"Thank you for your time," Ada replied. With a nod of thanks, she led the group away from the Guildmaster. The rest of the evening was spent trying to gather more information about this dragon and its associate giants. This resulted in somewhat of a pub crawl as the trio explored the various taverns of the city, looking for any additional information. Eventually, they came across a weary-looking monk deep in his cups who greeted their initial inquiries with mumbles and drunken phrases. After a bit more persuasion from the sorcerer, the monk sobered up enough to tell them a bit more information.
Not only was there a white dragon of extreme power, but the giants that guarded it were elites of their ilk, led by a giant unlike anything the monk had ever seen. "One by one... my friends fell. Our cleric Balthas the Wise was the last to fall. He told me to run, and so I did. The giant's name was... Hraesvelgr, if I recall correctly." The monk then waved away the party as he staggered to his feet, heading towards the stairs to the rooms above the tavern.
The evening continued on, Ada seemingly drinking a bit more than what was to be expected from a noblewoman. Perhaps she drank more than she intended herself. In any case, she was thoroughly sauced as they left the final tavern, heading back up the long trek towards the Duke's keep. The Duchess staggered forward with the assistance of the others, mumbling about how awesome she thought they were, and eventually, they found themselves at the doors to the keep.
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