Client :: Edin
Difficulty :: 2
Task :: Search for the demon nest in the Hüngel Forest, to the east.
Reward :: 1,500 gold pieces each
Manpower Limit :: 5

You're sitting in Deck's Tavern, relaxing with some mead. The bar is fairly well-lit, opposed to the ominous black that is the night sky. The tavernmaster's wife, Gertrude, smiles at you as she wipes some glasses clean. You look to your left, watching a couple drunken men fight over which will get the young prostitute first.

You shake your head, taking another swig of your mead. You look to the right, and are suprised when you see a man in a dark cloak sitting next to you. He greets you, never making eye contact. He's drinking something hot -- you can tell by the steam rising from his wooden cup.

He introduces himself as Edin, and asks you if you've ever been very far east. You lie, saying you have -- his cloak moves a bit as he nods. He sets a little bag on the bar, and pushes it to you. When you look inside, you see many gold pieces.

"It's yours," he says, "if you can handle a small request."

You ask for more information, and he tells you there is a nest of demons to the east, in the Hüngel Forest. He wants you to take a party of no more than five men and eradicate them. Once there, there'll be an artifact to bring safely back. That's an extra 250 gold pieces for whomever can find the artifact and bring it him.

You ecstatically accept, and look over your shoulder to see if anyone else has heard -- but when you turn around, he's gone.

Do you dare continue?

Arion glanced around the now-emptying bar for signs of the man who had disappeared as suddenly as he had appeared. Smiling to himself, he got to his feet and took a final look around the dusty, warm tavern before over to the door, resting a gloved hand on the handle and throwing it open, a wave of cold slamming into his body as Arion gazes outside, the persistant rainstorm still thundering against the ground, over and over again, like flies to a corpse.

Brushing his damp hair out of his eyes, Arion smiled to himself again and leant against the wall of the tavern, going over in his mind what he had just heard. Go to the forest to the east, eradicate the demons, return to him with the artifact and get the gold. But he had to take a party of men with him, that would be the only difficult part - Rounding up a group stupid or brave enough to join him on his "quest". But Arion didn't care. He needed the experience and the gold, so he may as well take the job and get on with it.

Shifting his rapier in it's sheath, he drew it slowly and swung it through the air lazily, the weapon becoming part of his arm so much that Arion's body and the sword moved as one, never missing a single movement as he began carrying out random attacks he had taught himself during his times travelling as a cihld.

Arion sheathed his rapier and ducked back inside to the warmth of the tavern, welcoming the heat as the door closed behind him with a thud, the sound of the rain dying down as Arion walked over to the bar and leaning across to Gertrude.

"I've just been given a job, to go east and do some work for a guy, but I need a squad of guys to come with me. You know anyone who's crazy enough to come along for the ride?"

Bolindad sighed tiredly as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other, his hood soaked from the rain storm he was standing in. He wasnt sure where he was, nor did he care, he would only be here for a short while, to ride out the storm, then leave agian, perferably with no incidents.

He pulled his faded hood off of his head, as he ducked into the temporary protection of a door way, and counted the gold in his pocket. He had enough for a room some where back home, but that could mean very little in this place.

Look's like I'll be sticking to door ways tonight He thought as he pulled his hood back over his loose brown hair.

He stepped off the small entryway into a puddle, and looked down the street. He yawned as he noticed a man standing in front of a warmly lit building, moving his weapon threw the air. Shaking his head, Bolindad turned and made his way in the direction of the man, and watched as he ducked inside the building.

As he walked by the bright establisment, he noticed a sign that read simply Decks Tavern and decided to enter, at least get a bit of warmth in him. As he stepped into the Tavern, he had to pause for the change in light, it was much brighter and warmer in here then it had been outside, so it took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the light.

He smiled under his hood and made his way to the bar, the comfort of the stools making him feel right at home. Pulling his hood off, and looking down the bar, he saw who he assumed to be the same man from outside talking to the woman behind the bar in a hushed manner.

Probably a drunk propositioning a bar maid he chuckled to himself, he had seen such things before in his life, and they had always ended up making him laugh.

"A little bit of service, perhaps?" he called down to the women, when it appeared there was a break in there conversation.

A young ranger leans back in his chair at one of the tables of the bar, dangerously balancing on the two back legs of the seat, seemingly distracted from the outside world. However, looks can betray thoughts easily, this case being no exception. The ranger, Tonio Asura, listened in carefully with his acute ears to the conversation between the man, presumingly a ranger, and his employer, trying to get a careful idea of what they were planning. He closed his eyes for a brief second, narrowly avoiding falling backward as he shifts his center of balance forward, causing the two front legs of the chair to send a thud echoing throughout the room, though it was quickly drowned by the constant talking and yelling.

"How can I get all the money from these fools..." is what he thought deep within the recesses of his brain, the carefully calculating mechanism running though various methods of which to achieve the most money with the least risk. He rapidly decides that following them unseen would probably be the best choice, defeating the demons himself, getting the artifact, and returning for the reward. He grins to himself at his plan, his hands reaching out to grab a bottle of wine, an elvish brand, he had ordered from the bartender earlier in the day. He pours a bit of the liquid into a glass, losing himself deep within his thoughts.

He looks back over to the man getting the job, considering telling the employer that he would do all the job himself. However, the employer was gone without a trace, having disappeared while Tonio was distracted. Tonio mutters a brief string of curses under his breath, bringing his hand down to hit the table, sending splashes of wine over the edges of the shaken glass. Swiftly, he regains his composition, deciding that it didn't matter as long as some of the money was made on this proposition, as surely the man would return in order to pay whoever did the mission for him. He grins to himself, the smile hidden beneath the hood of his cloak as he brings the glass of wine up to his mouth, drinking a bit of it slowly, savoring the taste.

He then stands upright, leaving the glass of wine behind him emptied, though some liquid was still left within the bottle. Wrapping his cloak tighter behind him, he heads to exit through the door just as another man opens it up to enter. For a brief moment, Tonio seems to recognize the man as the person who was around during the failed hunt for the wolf demon, pushing him aside in a swift motion as he exits the building. The rain pounds downwards upon his cloak, the light material brushing the raindrops off, keeping the ranger dry. In a swift motion, Tonio leaps upwards into the air, carefully landing atop the roof of the tavern, grinning to himself as his plan takes further shape. He wraps his cloak tighter around him, hiding within the magical veil of illusion known as the Will of Sight, keeping himself silent and still as he awaits his chance to follow the other people engaging the demons unseen, planning to use each one of them in order to accomplish his goal efficently.

The ranger, finding that his allies were most likely not going to be making any moves that would allow him to make his move, leaps off the top of the roof, vanishing into the darkness.

(OOC: I'm too lazy to write a real exit post. So I just go poof!)