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The group looked on at Enek expectantly.

Feeling the numerous eyes focused on him wasn't helping the sudden knot that had settled in to his stomach. He felt a gently nudge from behind, Cyn's hand coming to rest on his shoulder as she guided him forward towards a relatively normal looking human man. He wore a hooded robe baring the kingdom's colors of Crimson and Gold over a finely tailored shirt and vest combo. His long slacks ended down with equally fine shoes.

Before she could introduce him, the gentlemen sat up and offered his gloved hand to Enek. "Pleasure to meet you, name's Ridley." As they shook hands, Enek's fears slowly subsiding as he swiftly beating heart gradually slowed to normal. "I'm guessing dear Cyn here hasn't told you much about us, so I'll give you the scoop on everyone." Ridley winked at Cyn, who gave him a frown back and a look like she wanted to retort back at him.

Laughing softly, he turned to Asyr and stared at her for a moment. A smile slowly crept back to his face and he offered her his hand as well. She looked at it then back at him with a slight tip of her head. Ridley cleared his throat and pulled back his hand. "I guess we'll have to work on that one.. Anyway!"

Spreading his arms out, he brought them back down and gave a formal bow. "Simply put I'm the finest medic you'll find this side of the known world. I got my start as a young boy in my parents own clinic where I learned the fundamentals of sawbones work and medicine. I practiced from an very early age and since on. Well when I was about 15 or so I got hired out by one of the local trade guilds back in home. They paid a rather handsome fee for my services to join with a group that was excavating out some old ruin they had come across." Ridley paced back and forth as he spoke, arms folded behind his back as he did.

"Well the ruins were just bursting with plenty of artifacts like pots and ancient coins. So the trip seemed like a complete success, I hadn't even needed to lift a finger beyond checking over a few of the workers who got a scrape or two. Well it's never that simple eh?" He grinned as the story continued. "One of the diggers opened up a hole into a retaining chamber and wouldn't you believe it, but the damn thing was a burial hall. The ancients apparently wrapped their dead in gauze and laid them in grooves that were cut out of the stone walls. The real weirdness though came from the lone figure not wrapped or laying, but sitting against the wall at the other end."

At this, Enek noticed Ridley idly running his fingers over his collarbones. "The figure was dead and decayed, but this guy hadn't received the burial rites of his fellows. He did, however have a beautifully crafted gold necklace. Strong chain with adornments that looked like they might have been fangs of some beast. And being that I was among the first ones on scene I did what any person would in that situation." He shrugged and smiled sheepishly. "I foolishly pulled the thing off the body and put it on to show it off, I even asked 'how does it look on me?' thinking to get a laugh out of the guys." He rubbed the back of his head for a moment before reaching to his shirt and pulling the neck of it down to expose the top of his chest.

Hanging around his neck was the necklace in question, but even more shocking was the fangs were embedded into his flesh. "Before you ask, it's not as painful as it looks. But at the time... Well the thing lashed out as soon as it sensed a living body and dug itself right on in. The lads didn't laugh so much as screamed like idiots while I writhed on the ground." Ridley laughed instead. "That's the history lesson then, frankly put this thing is slowly killing me by draining me dry and putting a strain on my heart but in a twist of fate it's also giving me the power over blood, hemomancy. I can pull it from others, shape it, harden and sharpen it more than any weapon, you name it. But I'm not much of a fighter, so I use it instead to repair and mend. You'd be surprise how effective healing is when you use the victims own blood to repair them from within combined with my own medical know-how."

Ridley smiled brightly at Enek and Asyr with a look of pride. "But enough about me, let me introduce you to everyone else." He led them to another human man.

===

This one was dressed in robes as well but were colored black and red, with a pattern of spades, hearts, diamonds, and clubs along the frige pieces. Considerably flashier than anyone else in the room, his clothes had sown in coins to reflect light with every move he made. He also appeared to be in an argument with a slinky and furred creature that was drapped around his shoulders.

"No, I'm not asking the new guy that, do it yourself." He ran a hand through his slicked back hair, to which the creature chittered back at him. The pair hadn't even noticed them approach it seemed.

Clearing his throat again, Ridley motioned at the pair with his hand. "This is Pascal and his otter familiar Nia. I guess to summerize for you he found a pair of.. well magic.. pants?" Even Ridley gave look of confusion with a slight shrug of his shoulders. "Pascal is particularly skilled with creating illusions and summonings though, so I've never needed to question it really."

Regarding them for the first time now, Pascal and Nia stopped speaking to each other and stared at Enek unflinchingly. Rubbing a hand across his face in a bored expression, Pascal sighed. "Nia says she thinks you're cute for a human and if you ever want a taste of the sea, to come find her." The spirit beast laying across his shoulders coyly looked away as Pascal explained.

Enek felt the blush rising to his face as he realized that he had just been propositioned. "I.. ah, thank you?" He blinked a few times in confusion as Asyr growled softly at the otter.

In his now usual fashion, Ridley cleared his throat. "Moving on then..." He rolled his eyes with a goofy smile.

===

The next person down the line was a rather cute and lithe elven girl. Short brown hair in a pixie cut topped her head with a bronze leaf hairclip, while a close fitting set of brown and green clothes covered her, aiding towards a very earthy look. She gently stroked the head of a small mouse that sat in her breast pocket. She looked up with a small squeak of her own in surprise as she smiled at Ridley, Enek, and Asyr.

"This is Lilliana." Ridley motioned to her with his hand, which she returned with a somewhat shy wave back. "As a baby, her parents left her at the edge of the southern wilds. Instead of a hungry animal though, a spiritual beast known as the lord of the forest came upon her. Taking mercy upon the innocence before him, he raised her from that point on til she was into adolenscence. She learned the balance of world and those that inhabit it. During one of her lessons she was forced to hunt down a beast that had become dangerous to itself and others, a task that had saddened her greatly to do."

Lilliana's eyes glanced away, returning to the small mouse she held as Ridley took a moment to pat her shoulder gently in reassurence. "The lord of the forest took the creatures fading essence and presented it to her in the form of a gem that was set into a ring made from ironwood. The spirit of the beast allows her to shapeshift into any creature she takes to mind." Ridley finished the introduction, causing the smile to return to her face. "She's also a bit shy around new people, so just give her time to warm up to you and she turns into a regular chatterbox."

Enek gave Lilliana a soft smile and a slight bow to which was returned with a nod of her head. Asyr sniffed towards her, comforted by the scents of the forest she was giving off.

===

Ridley looked around for a moment in slight confusion. "Dammit, where'd Katya go?" He sighed as his eyes fell across a folded up piece of paper laying where she had been sitting noted on the front as " to Ridley <3". He opened it up, leafing through the contents briefly before crumpling it up. His expression turned blank as he turned back to Enek and Asyr. "It appears she found the meeting boring and decided to go.. work the streets. She sends her regards though."

Shaking his head and tapping a finger to his forehead. "Katya is a strange one, I think she's a halfbreed snake-morph and human or elven.. but I've never really been certain on her parentage, nor has she been keen to reveal it to us. I'm sure if it hadn't been required for entry to our little group, we wouldn't even know her magical artifact either. Anyway, Katya specializes in stealth and hypnosis. But I get the feeling that's less from magical influence and more her own innate skill."

===

Taking a seat and stretching his arms and shoulders, Ridley yawned. "There's two other members that couldn't make it for whatever reason, Inara and Sir Rowen. They were both in the northlands last I heard so it was going to be tough going to get them here in short order. I'm sure you'll all meet at some point though."

"I could have tried opening a portal to them you know!" Pascal shouted over as he leaned back, causing a chitter from Nia who jumped from his shoulders to go curl up on Lilliana's lap instead.

Narrowing his eyes at the man, Ridley frowned. "And the last time we tried your portal ended up opening not to our comrades but a demonic lords domain... in the middle of the tavern no less. Or had you forgotten that?"

Waving the notion off with a flick of his wrist, Pascal closed his eyes. "Oh don't be so stuck up, it was an exciting experience for everyone involved. Not everyone gets to see a dreadlord and lives to talk about it."

Grumbling under his breath, Ridley rubbed a hand over his face and sat up. Leading Enek and Asyr to the front of the hall where the introductions had begun, he motioned finally to Cyn. "Last but certainly not least is dear Cynthia. But you've known her the longest out of our little group so I'll let her give the story this time, I'm all tuckered out from the explaining."

Hugging her book to her chest, Cyn stared back at Enek and Asyr whom had both quietly been processing the influx of information. "I guess it's my turn then." She readjusted her skirt once more with one hand, the other never leaving the book.

"Well let's see, I was born into slavery right here in Avalia." Cyn's words hammered against Enek as he opened his mouth in protest. She cut him off with a raised hand though before he could. "My.. master was a man of wealth and power in the heirarchy at the time. He actually lived inside the estate where you two are staying at the moment, so you could call that something of a childhood home for me. Unknown to him however one of the maids had taken a liking to me and actually started slipping me a one book at a time and teaching me to read. This went on for a few years until she was caught.. and whipped for it while I had to watch."

Reaching a hand up, Cyn turned her head but Enek caught the motion as she wiped a tear away from her eyes. "After I got my own beating.. I decided that had been enough. In an attempt that I can only call foolish and reckless, I lept from a second story window to escape the room they had shut me in, bolted through the castle gates with guards in pursue, and disappeared into the night. I slipped from the city under the cover of night. My caretaker had told me stories of the beast tribes that lived in the wilds so I figured I'd just go find one and live there.. simple no?" Cyn giggled softly.

"Well a few days of wandering, dozens of fresh scrapes and cuts, and bordering on dementia brought on by hunger and dehydration I came across a.. well it was a door just there on the road. There was no frame or reason why it should be there but I opened it. Inside was a room, an existence outside of the world around it. The experience was amazing, and even better it was a library!" Cyn's voice picked up in excitement as she recalled the moment. "There was also a kindly old elf man, he introduced himself Reginald to me and said this was his personal study. After feeding me and letting me rest for what felt like days, I told him who I was and where I'd come from. He listened to the whole thing silently and then for some time after I had finished, just watching me."

Cyn's eyes had drifted off, completely away from the current as she smiled. "He said he recognized in me my love of reading and said there was a gift for me but once it was given to me I had to leave. He retrieved a positively ancient looking book from his desk and put it in my hands. He called it Omnitome, the book of a thousand books. No matter what it was I desired to find, it would be within the pages, I needed only to look for them." As demonstration to the effect Cyn flipped through the pages until she opened to one baring Enek's own picture drawn in ink with an accompanying bio that followed.

Surprised by the suddeness of it, Enek bent down to read the page. The information contained within was everything about him from his birth to within days ago. "But..how?" Enek asked out loud, though he knew the answer before she even had to say it.

"Magic of course. The Omnitome documents everything that has happened, and on the rare occassion, what was yet to come." Closing the book up, she cradled it back under her arm. "Anyway, once the book was in my grasp I had suddenly been back in the wilds. I played with the books magics, testing it's limits and capabilities. Within a few days I had instinctually learned to draw out it's magic and bend it to cast effects. I could create food and water, light fires when it got cold, scare off creatures, and mend my wounds. I felt unstoppable, so what was my next course of action? I marched right back to Avalia, well flew there anyway, and went right to my former masters home. Like the avatar of a god, I extended my judgement upon the man as he laid in bed. He had only moments of awareness before I filled the room with a burning hot light and disintegrated him with a beam of focused energy."

Cyn pushed her glasses back up. "Well my little light show tipped the kings troops off and they had the place surrounded quickly after that. My brain had sort of shut down, the sheer force of the magic had drained me and with my goal completed I didn't know where to go from there. Anyway, they brought me before the King and as the courts lower ruling body were deciding how I should be killed the King intervened. If I used my newly found magic to serve him instead I could keep my life and continue to read to my hearts content, so it was an easy choice. That's also when I met the Kings farseer, a man who had been capable of his own magic and who swore to kill me if I got out of line. And well that's how we've gotten here years later."

Finishing with a smile on her face, Enek detected the barest hints of a twitch in her expression. "So you traded one master for another." He whispered quietly to her. She neither nodded or shook her head, just looked on at him with the false smile.

"So that's the group, well except for our newest inductee anyway, you." Cyn reached into her pouch and pulled out the crown. "I hope you'll understand if this isn't left within your care as the nature of its magic can be rather dangerous, I could see what you were doing with it on back in Malas and what you almost did." She put it back into the pouch. "The King wishes you to join our Witch Hunters faction and assist in matters of magical urgency unsuited for normal beings, so what do you say? See exotic lands, slay unique monsters..?" Cyn's tone was light and joking, but the question was still presented to him.

Enek turned to look at Asyr, who looked back at him with a grin. "I don't see why not, it sounds exciting. But what about Asyr here?"

Looking up from her book, Cyn raised an eyebrow. "What about her? I'm sorry if there was confusion, but the offer applies only to you. Royal decree states that beast races cannot even obtain citizenry, much less serve in an armed capacity. Under law at the moment she's registered as a servant to you and-"

"What?! Fuck no, the King can shove the offer up his ass then. There's his answer so he can stop holding us on the castle grounds now right? Keep the damn crown and just give me my things back." Enek's voice cut through the hall, echoing through it's interior. Each of the members of the group looked on carefully, trying to gauge his possible actions.

Sighing softly, Cyn hopped off the raised platform and begun leaving the room in the direction they entered from originally. "Come on then. I need to make my report and get your things." Enek took Asyr's hand in his as they followed after.

===

Fully restocked with their previous supplies, and armor donned on, Enek felt lacking without his sword as they marched out of the front gates to the city. Enek and Asyr had managed quick goodbyes with the Witch Hunters as they left the castle, things clearly not having gone as expected. The guards at the gate eyed the pair suspiciously as they left, but were paid no further attention.

Asyr had taken great joy in pulling the clothes off and throwing them in a bundle along the way, giving a great shake as she loosened her fur up from being flattened down and rubbed.

Regarding his map, Enek looked across the sweeping landscape ahead of him as they walked idly. "The lich is still a pretty serious problem, but a group more properly equipped to handle it has been informed now at least. So, where do you think we should go next?" He asked out loud to his companion.

"How about Skywall, in the kingdom of Freya?" A voice responded to him causing Enek to stop in his tracks. Turning to look at Asyr questioningly, she pointed to his opposite side with a frown and pinned back ears. On a rock a short distance away sat Cyn, tail casually flicking back and forth.

Despite his best effort, a smile still spread across Enek's face. "Let me guess, the King in his infinite wisdom can't allow an unknown like me to just wander unchecked."

Cyn smiled, and for once it seemed a true smile and not forced. "Your newly appointed baby sitter as it were, so let's put some miles behind us and this place hmm?"

Looking over to Asyr, she sighed and shrugged her shoulders. Turning back to the feline, Enek nodded to her and extended his hand. "Glad to have you along for the trip then Cyn."