First Stop|Clan Lach Linnod, Naurorod

[Kender Bard]

Demon breathed heavily, glistening with sweat. All of his armor was stripped, in his pack (or strapped on for the parts, like his breastplate, that he couldn't shove into the pack proper) and he was just beginning to consider stripping off his tunic. This is their winter? he wondered in bewilderment. Why would anyone sane live here!?

But there was hope in sight. A walled city lay ahead. "That must be Clan Lach Linnod. I hear it's their own city in this Force-forsaken desert."

[Deleted]

Larissa groaned as she adjusted her pack.
"Thank the Forces! This place is miserable!" She huffed, Any clothing that she could strip away and still be decent was gone. She was down to a chemise that she had take the sleeves off in perpetration for a trip into the desert. and all her long red hair balled up on her head.
"At least you can take off your shirt to try and beat the heat." She smirked.

[Kender Bard]

"Yeah, but we're just about there now," Demon panted. He hoped they had a well where he could dump bucketful after bucketful of water on himself later.

Trudging up to the gates, the guards barred their passage upon seeing that they weren't Fires and didn't look to be merchants. "State your business, if you'll please."

[Deleted]

Larissa took a moment to catch her breath. "We're Mercenaries from Ilyamen to answer a help request." She said, pulling out the job notice she's grabbed it just in case, and to remember the name.

[Kender Bard]

The guards glanced it over and one of them made a face. "I doubt you'll find anyone like that here," he said with the assurance of a very loyal clan member. "But you're welcome to Linnod so long as you don't cause us trouble." They uncrossed their spears and Demon, heaving a sigh of relief, trundled into the city, eyes darting around.

One of the children of the clan, with a small pail of water, threw its contents on both Demon and Larissa, then ran off shrieking with laughter.

[Deleted]

Larissa paused and gasped. She hadn't been expecting that.

"ugh..." She huffed. She was completely soaked, or really even half way, "Let's get to out rooms..." She groaned, her expression akin to that of a cat that had just had water thrown on it.

[Kender Bard]

Demon looked rather satisfied, even if he had been surprised. "That's more like it," he chuckled, wiping the water out of his face. He looked around and eventually located the main inn of the clan, the Charging Stallion, and stepped inside, laying down coin for their rooms. As the innkeeper fetched the keys, Demon glanced back at Larissa and asked, "So where are we starting?"

[Deleted]

"With a bath...." She huffed. " I feel disgusting, then we can go and find this woman and find out where the last man was taken from." She said fanning herself with her hand, the water helped, but now she just felt gross.

[Kender Bard]

Demon lay another coin down on the countertop. "A bath for my companion."

"Do you prefer cool or hot water?" the innkeeper asked of Larissa. He snapped his fingers behind himself and two strong looking young men, who had seemed as though they were dozing, snapped to attention and walked off.

[Deleted]

"After this little adventure, some cool water please." She said. She couldn't help but eye up the strong young men as they walked off and found herself thinking of various things she'd like to do them.

Larissa shook her head to clear the thoughts. "Ugh... " She huffed as she looked Demon. " Meet you in the room." She sighed.


After a brief bath, Larissa returned to the room they had rented feeling a little better. Her hair pulled back like usual. She was still wearing the sleeveless chemise she had brought as it was too hot not to. "So...Off to find this woman?" She asked Demon.

[Kender Bard]

"Best as we can," Demon said. His hair was wet but he still looked dusty--he'd only bothered to dump another pitcher of water over his own head. "The question is where do we start looking? Who do we start asking? I mentioned it to the innkeeper and he hadn't heard a thing about any murders or crazy women."

[Deleted]

Larissa thought a moment. " Well what about the woman that put out the add Meriam? We can find out which number victim her husband was, and then where he was last seen when he went missing and hope we find something there." Larissa said as she fussed with her shirt.

[Kender Bard]

"Well we can talk to her, aye," Demon agreed. "She's supposed to have a home in Linnod. But I wouldn't hold your breath on how much she knows. Likely she just had her husband killed and picked up on a rumor then tried to connect the two. I did ask after the person who hired us and got directions. Come on, we'll start there."

Demon had left his armor in his room--too hot to lug around in the heat and he didn't think he'd need it within the walls of the clan. He led the way over to a baked stone house. No wood stood in the doorway--it was too precious of a material. Instead there was just a long sheet. Demon slapped his palm against the doorframe's edge by way of knocking.

The curtain twitched aside and a young woman peeked out. "Oh!" she exclaimed, a bit startled at Demon's size. "Can I help you...?"

[Deleted]

Larissa had to work at holding back her snicker. She was so used to being around Demon, his size didn't even register with her anymore.

"My name is Larissa, and this is Demon. We've come about the missing men, we were hoping to talk to you." She said, just as polite as her mother had taught her to talk to people.

[Kender Bard]

"Demon!" the woman squeaked, but got her composure back. What a horrid name. "Oh, y-you must be the mercenaries then. I did write out a job request... Um..." She eyed Demon again a bit warily. "Come in, please."

"Thank you, miss," Demon told her in his most gentle voice. He was trying to seem as nonthreatening as he could with the woman and stepped inside the modest little home.

"What is it that you'd like to talk about?" Meriam asked. She went to where there was the remnants of a meal on the table and tidied up.