Fanged Menace|Haven, Ilyamen

[Skittlebug]

Drystan had stayed in Ilyamen for a short while after first arriving, until finally admitting to himself that he was too worried about his safety to stay any longer. After that he had busied himself helping families that were now fleeing the city, though he still stayed in the area himself. He hadn't been sure why, but he hung around, not in the city of course, but keeping an eye on how things were degenerating.

It came to him eventually that he felt that he should be doing more to help, but was afraid to do so, instead hanging around the outskirts and helping people where he could. He'd been ashamed when he realized this, and now found himself drifting above the city.

Drystan wasn't sure how much help he could offer, but he felt he should try regardless. After his run in with the rats, he felt this was now a personal matter as much as the right thing to do. It might be useful to have someone who could understand the rodents, if they didn't have anyone already. At the very least he could make himself useful as a scout.

So he winged his way closer to the city, scouting the area. First things first, he needed to find the guards, or what was left of them.

[Darastrix]

It seemed as though finding a guard would be an easy task; uniformed men and women seemed to be everywhere. Groups of armed and armored folk walked the streets, weapons in hand. Bowmen stood on what buildings had roofs to support them, and movement could be seen in the upper windows of the taller structures. There were a few businesses and homes that appeared to still hold regular citizens, but all in all, the guard outnumbered the people.

Flags and banners of different colours were draped over several buildings. Blue seemed to be the most common and flew above the regular watch houses as well as residences and buildings on the street corners, as well as the former leader's estate. Many blue-bannered locations were neighbors of buildings with gold flags, and the gold buildings seemed to have twice the number of guards as the rest. The temple held a green and a white banner, the watch houses had green along with blue, and a few large halls bore white.

Now and then, a person could be seen hurrying to a gold location with an empty bag or basket and showing something to the guards before being allowed inside. After a few moments, they would leave, their basket full, and hurry home again.

[Skittlebug]

Drystan took his time and soared above the city for a few minutes, taking everything in. He was relieved to see so many guards about, even if things looked pretty terrible, at least it meant that the rodents hadn't taken everything over.

Considering how on edge everyone in the city was, he wondered if suddenly dropping in on someone was the best idea, but couldn't think of anything much better to do. He quickly gave up on trying to find any of the guards who had saved him from his first encounter with the rats, and settled for a group of them on a still intact roof.

Circling his way down to the roof, he calls out once he's within earshot, hoping not to take the guards by surprise, and perhaps be seen as a threat. "Hello down there, I'd like to speak with you!" With that he drifts the rest of the way to the roof, flapping to a bit of an unsteady landing.

[Darastrix]

The guards posted on the roof started at Drystan's call, though once over the initial surprise, they didn't seem terribly alarmed. Though winged folk were a rare sight, especially those days, most of the guards were used to the Wind-types addressing them from the air. At least the damned rats hadn't learned to fly.

"Haven is anything but these days, stranger," one of the guards responded, guessing from Drystan's speech and appearance that he was foreign. "Whatever your business, I advise you to head off to Atyar. Or Green Acres if you're shy of Clears. There's poison, man-eating rats all over the city."

[Skittlebug]

Drystan shakes his head, "I know about the rats sir, I came to offer my help. I was wondering whom I should be talking to about that?"

He gazed across the rooftops, taking in the sight. It sure looked different from down here.

[Darastrix]

"Talk to whoever's the ranking guard at the main watch house right now," he said, pointing to the west. "You can't miss the place--it's big and there's a shield set over the door. If you can't make that out from the air, it's one of the biggest places with a blue an' a green flag. Blue's for the guard houses, and green means there's at least one healer there."

[Skittlebug]

"Thank you," Drystan nods to the man, and with that turns and spreads his wings, dropping off of the roof. He catches the air quickly and soars upward, searching for the building described.