Stargazer Village wasn't often a destination for Zarius. It was relatively small and out of the way with little to offer someone who does a lot of work in the secret urban undergrounds of Charon. But sometimes there were rare instances when the fellblood criminal ended up out in the wilderness or in the rural communities of Moonglade.

What brought him here this time?

Rocks.

Yup.

Well, moreso the paperwork of someone researching rocks. Specifically an archaeologist who was looking into some ruins in the countryside near Stargazer Village. This archaelogist’s research was of interest to a contact of Zarius’ and they asked him to go there.

Word on the road was that this same archaelogist accidentally disturbed a geonid nest and was being held by the local guard in town on charges of destruction of public property and endangering the civilians.

This complicated things. In order to get his hands on the researcher’s documents, he would have to clear him of the charges which logically meant he would have to clean up his mess.

Somehow.

Luckily, he has some extra hands to help. Snow, the catfolk archer, Eirynor, the half-elf swordsman, and Shael, the dark elf drake rider have all tagged along. The fellblood had limited time to spare away from civilized society, so testing Shael’s skills out in the field had to be rolled in with this job. She wasn’t…massively enthused, but that was to be expected.

“Are we there yet?” Shael asks from atop her storm drake which plods along behind the group.

“I think we're getting pretty close,” Snow chimes in, chipper as ever to be out of the sweltering conditions of the Ash Lands.

It was still pretty warm in Moonglade and the humidity was fairly high, but there was a nice breeze rustling through the long grass.

“Okay, how close?” Shael asks again.

“Asking will not make our travel any faster,” Zarius replies.

“Hmph. Would go faster if you got everyone horses at least. Not like you can’t afford it.”

Eirynor rolls his eyes, his patience for the young dark elf was running thin. He wasn't even sure while Zarius insisted on bringing Shael along, or why he had to come as well. It would have been just as easy to ask Cyran or Caedes to help test the new recruit in his stead. He choses not to say anything, partly because he can't speak but also because Eameia insisted he go along for some reason. Admittedly, her strange behavior did put the tall half-elf on edge, like she was hiding something from him. 

"Eirynor."

The half-elf snaps out of it and looks at Zarius. 

"Keep your eyes up. These geonids might not be particularly dangerous alone, but in mass they can cause a lot of trouble."

Eirynor frowns and signs a response. 

"You seem distracted, is all," Zarius replies bluntly.

Eirynor signs an apology and focuses on the task at hand as Stargazer Village comes into view while the group crests the hill. 

---

Minions
Eirynor - Master Stealth; Novice Blade
Snow - Master Stealth; Novice Marksmen
Shael - Master Animal Handling (Adult Drake); Novice Blade

SPOILER: Click to show

Description: Some dumb archeologist was digging out in the glade, and without investigating first, tunneled into a nest of Geonids. The disturbance caused the nest to scatter, trying to flee for safety, which was further complicated by the researchers trying to hit them with axes and picks. Now 500 of these small rock-like things are just everywhere, disturbing travelers, getting into homes, and just being an overall pain. Your job is to go in, and somehow round these things up. Use force if you need to, but the longer they stay out the more danger they are to others and themselves.

Leandros was similarly out of place in Stargazer Village, but for quite the opposite reasons. Being a knight of Sol City it seemed strange to be so far from what most would consider his post, but thankfully he wasn't actually promised to the city itself. He had the freedom to travel and that freedom often brought him to more remote villages where people needed help.

He had heard rumblings of a disturbance lately from farmers who complained of their fields being ruined and trampled. Moving rocks was something new, but Charon at-large seemed to hold many secrets he had yet to discover.

"Rocks that move...I can't tell if that is easier or harder to find." He mused from atop Byrr as Gilder and Theobo walked beside him, Apogee sat at his front in the saddle.

"Harder...geonids are...annoying." Gilder's words were rare, but never false. Though....he found most things annoying, so there really wasn't much to glean from that.

"I know if handled correctly, you can get some useful materials out of them...though killing them without crushing the catalyst that binds their magic is difficult." His wife chimed in as they clip-clopped into the village.

"Oh? Well, let's see if we can collect any then....village should be just ahead." The four of them start to crest a hill on the opposite side of the village from Zarius, heading into the town.

The village itself is a quaint, quiet little pastoral town that relied heavily on the surrounding farmland both for growing crops and raising livestock. Mostly woolfuls. So. Many. Woolfuls. There were whole pens full of them on the outskirts of the town which looked fences barely containing fluffy cotton candy colored clouds. It was all too tempting to jump the fence and land in them. Or, in Indra's case, eat them. 

The storm drake eyes the pens as the group passes by, a low rattling rumble deep in its throat as her tongue runs along her rows of sharp teeth. The woolfuls, not used to seeing a drake up so close bleat loudly and press against one another on the far end of the pen. 

Shael snickers as she watches and gives the drake a heavy pat on the side of its neck. "We'll find you a snack after we're done here, girl."

Indra shakes snorts and shakes her head, rattling her plated scales and making the harness holding the saddle on her back jingle loudly. 

Zarius looks around, from a distance it didn't look like there was all that much damage. But upon close inspection there are splinters of wood littering the grown as well as plenty of loose rubble. The fences must have gotten damaged and been repaired already, but the road through town is heavily rutted and hard to walk through. Some of the buildings had dented or cracked walls from being impacted with some significant force. While geonids weren't particularly large creatures, with enough momentum they could definitely bash in a few walls. 

"Halt there."

The fellblood stops with his compatriots at the call from down the street, a few local men armed in mismatched armor and with some weathered spears approach. These small villages often didn't have a luxury of having any permanent guard presence, and with Moonglade being light on military force to begin with, it was mostly up to volunteers to offer any sort of public defense. These were not trained soldiers, but farmers who took up arms when no one else was able to. 

Admirable, but they were hardly able to handle more than a public squabble or the stray wolf that passed close to the herds. A few geonids probably weren't something they couldn't handle, but without any training in strategy it was no shock that they would get overwhelmed by a few hundred.

"Good day, gentlemen," Zarius replies as the group approaches them.

The farmers are clearly wary of the odd group, especially the large storm drake looming at the rear. 

"What business do you have here?" One of the farmers asks. 

"We are here to provide aid. I am a member of the Fighter's Guild and we were informed of the problem, though it seems the cause of your troubles is not currently around."^[1]

Usually brandishing a claim of being a guild member would put locals at ease, but these farmers instead tense up at the mention. 

"Fighter's Guild huh?" The one speaking puts his hands on his hips. "Seems they do nothing but cause trouble for folks."

Zarius' smile doesn't falter, but he does tilt his head. "I am sorry?"

"We heard about some Fighter's Guild folk tearing up a temple in Sol City, and then there was the whole situation with the Mud Worms in Lilicors Village."

Ah. So word of those incidents has reached even this far. No doubt thanks to the efforts of the Stablemen. 

"I can assure you, I was not personally involved in either of those incidents and I have no intentions of creating more collateral damage."

The farmer eyes him suspiciously, but the fellblood had a way with words that helped ease any tensions or apprehension. If only a little bit. 

"Fine. The geonids rolled through here yesterday, spent most of the night cleaning it all up and folks are dead tired."

"Which way did they head?"

"Which way do you think?" The farmer gestures to the turned up ground and rough tracks clearly cutting a swath through one of the fields.

"Ah. Yes. Thank you for your assistance." Sassy bastard. He'd let it slide though, the farmers were at least not growing in hostility. "The information I was given indicated that it was an archaeologist who disrupted the creatures?"

"Yeah, that's right. He's under house arrest until the guard come and pick him up from Eclipse City."

"After we have dealt with the creatures, would you release him into our custody? We can ensure he makes it to the guard."

The farmers exchange a look of uncertainty. "No offense, but you don't look like a guard."

"It will take a while for any guards to travel that distance, we can meet them half-way at least so you do not have to keep using your resources to keep him detained."

It was a decently logical argument, but despite his reassurances, the farmers were not too trusting of such an odd group. Maybe it was because Zarius was a fellblood, or because identified himself as part of the Fighter's Guild which has hit a rough patch with its reputation across Charon. Either way, the farmers were not budging on this. 

Poor Shaa, no doubt the minotaur was under a lot of pressure from the Crown due to the recent events. Athena still hasn't been found either and the Clasp were still up to no good in Moonglade despite the guild's best efforts. No wonder the locals were second guessing their competence. 

Regardless, if he couldn't get that information from the archaeologist because the farmers would stubbornly only release him to someone resembling a guard or knight, he may have to resort to more underhanded tactics. 

---

[1] Smooth Talking

As they approach the village, Leandros will eventually slow Byrr to a stop and dismount, helping his wife down as well. Theobo takes up the reins to lead the horse along as the group enters into town. Leandros nods to Gilder as the tracker heads off to start searching the perimeter and seeing what signs of these geonids there may be.

With the obvious look of an adventurer, some farmers look to Leandros as well and approach, though with far less caution and concern given the lack of a dragon.

"Ye here to look for the rocks too?" One farmer leans against the fence to his farm as Leandros passes, the knight coming to a stop.

"Too? Have others already come?" He follows the direction the farmer points to notice Zarius and his group, a little sheepish embarrassment crossing his face as it took him so long to notice such an obvious other group. "Ah, I see. Well if two groups of adventurers are showing up, this problem should be taken care of."

"Sure hope so, awfully hard to till the land when the little fellas keep hopping in your way."

He nods to the farmer and turns to head down the path to start approaching Zarius and his group. "Let us just hop he can see the issue at hand and doesn't get too caught up in the chase of glory and coin. I would hate for this village to suffer over something as petty as that."

This was just starting to get annoying. He's gone back and forth with these voluntary guards and still they haven't budged. At this point it wasn't worth assisting them if they still wouldn't entertain the idea of letting them take the archaeologist into custody themselves.

Alternative scenarios were already running through his mind as far as how to break the archaeologist out and just absconding with them in the cover of darkness. They could easily out skill and overwhelm the local guards, but then that might get their little group in trouble with the actual guards of Moonglade which wouldn't help the mistrust of the Fighter's Guild members or his own reputation any. 

Just as he's starting to feel his temper flare and his patience wane, he spots someone approaching from the opposite side of town. He didn't recognize the man but it was pretty clear he was a knight of some description. 

Fuck. 

Did the guards the farmers call already arrive? Wait. No. His armor is not that of a guard of Eclipse City. He looks like he's from the Capitol and yet he doesn't have other knights accompanying him. Strange. But maybe this was something he could leverage. 

"Well," he says to the farmer, "seems you will not have to wait too long on the guard."

The volunteer guards glances over at Leandros as he approaches, their faces seem to brighten a bit at the sight of what they assume to be a more upstanding and trustworthy individual. 

"Thank the gods," one of the other farmers mutters which earns them a sharp look from Shael. Needless to say the dark elf wasn't too impressed with how they were being treated so far.

Zarius shoots her a warning look not to make the situation any worse. With any luck, this knight would make their jobs easier rather than more difficult. Though something about him seemed...familiar, but the fellblood couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"Good morning," Zarius greets Leandros with a friendly smile. 

"Doing well with the locals it seems." Leandros chuckles only hearing muttering from the famers as they passed him. The knight and his group didn't seem to be bothered by any of their presence. Theobo however is a little scared, but he is a teen just barely getting to know the world.

"Leandros Aurthurian of Capitol Landing, my wife Lady Apogee, Gilder, and Theobo Buck, my squire." He offers out a broad hand to shake Zarius' as he introduces his group. Gauntled hands come back to rest on his hips as he expectantly waits for Zarius to introduce the others.

"So, should ask now, assuming you're here for the rock men, can we cooperate or are you more interested in keeping the reward for yourself? Just looking to make sure we are on the same page." For Zarius, Leandros' earnestness is probably gratingly honest. Another goody two shoes, though the knight seems a bit more proper than the runt from Moonglade the fellblood knows.

Theobo eyes the drake intently both enraptured by seeing a friendly dragon up close, but also scared. He'd seen the head Leandros had in his home and heard the story. Would this thing eventually grow to that size?

Leandros Aurthurian. Something about that name sounded familiar. He'd heard it fairly recently but he isn't quite sure what the context of the information is at this moment.

"Pleasure to meet you, sirs and madam." He shakes the knight's hand firmly while giving a polite bow to Apogee and the two other retainers. 

"Zarius Rha'Oryin of the Ash Lands, these are my associates, Eirynor, Snow, and Shael and her storm drake, Indra." He introduces the others, gesturing towards them each in turn.

Snow gives a friendly wave while Eirynor just nods in acknowledgement. Shael leans to the side of her drake and gives the new arrivals a look of skepticism with one raised eyebrow, especially towards Theobo who looked  a bit jittery to her. 

Indra's nostrils flare, taking in the scent of these new folk including the horse. There's a slight rumble in the back of the drake's throat that isn't quite a growl but not quite an attempt to vocalize. 

Zarius chuckles, keeping a friendly smile on his face while speaking with the knight. "I can respect a man who gets right to the point. Cooperation is fine, we are not here to earn any coin to begin with. People here merely require assistance with a problem and we are here to help, even if that help is not appreciated."^[1] He shoots a bit of a side-eye at the farmers who have been being rather difficult to work with.

The farmer doesn't notice, but they do scurry up to Leandros' side. "We are grateful that you arrived so quickly! Though we did not send for help from Capitol Landing...regardless, your help would definitely be appreciated, Sir Aurthurian."

Zarius cannot help but sigh. Well, at least if he can get on the good side of this knight he might still be able to get what he was actually after even if the farmers weren't willing to trust him. The knight seems friendly enough and wasn't offput on sight. It's a start. 

---

[1] Smooth Talking

Apogee gives Zarius a look as if she seems to catch on to the smoothness of Zarius' words, but doesn't say anything. They've passed their fair share of smooth talkers, just meant to keep an ear out for that one.

"Call it a fortunate coincidence for use." He gives the farmer a laugh, patting his shoulder. "We had been traveling by when we heard word about the issues happening here. A horde of moving rocks rummaging through fields is sure to catch anyone's attention." The knight gestured then towards the other group.

The farmer once more gives a squint to Zarius, entreating Leandros to be careful. He doesn't exactly out right say that he is worried about the fellblood, but with the very unsubtle pointing of his head its obvious.

"Please, trust us. We have it handled good sir. Rest easy while we handle it."[1] Apogee smiles from the back of the horse.

The farmer's tension eases a bit as he backs away, but still seems nervous about the others. All the same, thankfully he leaves much to the benefit of both groups.

"I'd hate to assume, but does that happen often? I can't imagine how grating it must be, but thank you for not giving him the earful he might have rightly deserved....Should we focus on the rocks then?"

---

1. Smooth Talking

"It happens from time to time," he says with a shrug, tucking his hands in the pockets of his coat. "As a fellblood, it can be challenging to assure more superstitious folk that you are not up to something insidious."

It was true, in more rural communities, especially far from Zeinav, fellbloods were few and far between. This sometimes meant that those who share more fiendish qualities are looked at with suspicion and mistrust due to their reputation and assumed relation to actual demonic entities. While it was a challenge, it was not something to be controlled, and Zarius hardly had the time or prerogative to raise awareness across Charon or change the minds of the common folk. 

There was also the case of his own reputation, but the chances of these small town bumpkins knowing about his big city crimes was highly unlikely. They didn't seem to recognize him by appearance or name after all. 

Really though, these people probably were more mistrustful for an entirely different reason other than just a little bit of casual racism or caution around a member of the criminal underbelly. The reception he had received after claiming he was from the Fighter's Guild made that as clear as day. 

He sighs. "Admittedly, they may have been more friendly had I not made the mistake of saying I was here on behalf of the Fighter's Guild. Seems the guild's reputation has taken a few significant hits as of late. It is a shame really. Most of the folks part of it mean well, but with the guild leader still missing and what happened to Lilicors Village and to that temple in Sol City, I can understand why more rural folk would be cautious. They do not have many means of defending themselves nor can they afford to take any chances."

Snow pipes up. "I think bringing Indra along also didn't help."

"Hey!" Shael snaps at the catfolk. "Indra is perfect and doesn't do nothing wrong. It's not her fault these hicks are wimps."

"Please excuse them, yes, we should get to work," the fellblood says then looks back at the arguing catfolk and dark elf. "Snow, can you pick up a trail for us? Shael, take to the sky and see if you spot any abnormal movement nearby."

"Yes, sir." The catfolk nods and heads over to where there are some tracks to see if they can pick up a fresh trail amongst the ruts in the ground. 

"Tch, whatever," Shael responds with a huff then looks down at Theobo. "You wanna hitch a ride?"

"Just because it happens, it doesn't mean it is something to be complacent about. Unchecked biases and grudges are the heart of nearly every conflict." The knight lets out a little breath, pausing to give them a moment to either respond or move past the point. Leandros may think the treatment unfair, but he also knows as a human noble he really doesn't know the full experience so any more talk might just be more hurtful than helpful.

"I can't imagine what happened at the temple would worry people so far out in Moonglade, but by the time that story reached this town it was likely inflated far beyond what actually happened.....though the reality of it is not exactly kind either."

While not explicity saying he was there, it was clear from the tone and body language Leandros at least knew more about it than the jumbled tales that have traveled across Charon. He looks to the others and their talk before turning back to Zarius.

During the discussions, Gilder had already just split from the group and sent his owl into the air. The scout wasn't much for conversation or large groups and did what he was paid to do.

"There's far more here than there should be..." Gilder looks over to Snow as they approach.

Theobo for his part looks a less on edge, but still wary of the drake and its rider. He looks up to Leandros for approval, the knight giving a small laugh and nod.

"It'll be good experience for you. If you enjoy it though, you may need to squire under a drake rider though. Byrr's hooves stay firmly on the ground, I can't teach you how to fly."

Zarius shrugs. "Words can only do so much. Sometimes it takes more...drastic measures to right the wrongs of the world, and even then there will always be unfairness."

It was a hinderance certainly, but there was little point in wasting his breath on trying to change the minds of those rooted in their ways. The people here were inconsequential to him, and they already didn't respect him so what power did his words even have?

The fellblood narrows his eyes at the knight as he speaks of what happened in Sol City. "And what reality is that exactly?"

He knew some vague details, rumor that a member of the guild perished in the conflict. Vikram...that strange stout man whose own prejudice against fiends nearly resulted in the fellblood being stabbed in the back more than once.

Zarius probably should feel some sort of way about the man's death, but he really didn't know him too well and when all was said and done, Vikram had just been another trusting fool who fell for the fellblood's feigned friendliness.

Still, the weight of his passing was still felt and shook the guild. No one could say the fighter had not left a lasting mark on the lives he crossed in the end. 

Meanwhile, Snow investigates the tracks with Gilder, the two archers knowing their duty well and not really needing any pleasantries or small talk to at least be comfortable enough with one another to work on the task at hand. 

"Yeah, from what we've gathered about the situation so far the colony was living in a nearby ruin which someone was digging around in. It's possible that the earthquakes weakened the ground and made the colony more irritable."

Snow kneels down and picks up some soil, giving is a sniff. "It's pretty dry." They look up at the sunny clear skies. "Upturned soil in this region is usually pretty damp, if it's dry already we might have a hard time finding them anywhere nearby."

While the two trackers work through figuring out how to hunt down the colony before it makes a surprise return, Indra, the large storm drake gives Theobo a judgey look as he approaches. 

"Move it or lose it, I won't wait all day." Shael sits forward on the drake and tucks her hair into her hood while pulling a bandana up over her nose. "Hop on up, Jitters."

From the ground, Eirynor gives Shael a disapproving look and signs to her.

Shael raises an eyebrow and puts her hand to her ear. "Sorry? What's that? I can't hear you."

The tall half-elf's face turns red and he flips her off instead. 

The young dark elf scoffs and rolls her eyes, shrugging off the gesture from the mute half-elf dismissively. 

"Good to see you two are getting along," Zarius says to Eirynor who shoots him a displeased look. 

"You'd be surprised." He gives a gentle laugh and smile. "Words hold more power and strength than the sword when wielded properly and unfairness is only allowed to survive if we let it remain unchallenged."

"Leave it to the supposed enlightened ones to do something this stupid." Gilder sighs as he looks out over the area. The tracks of the geonids criss-crossed over the fields in a haphazard fashion, it was impossible to tell where paths ended and began from their point of view. He gently shrugs one shoulder as his owl takes off to get a literal bird's eye view.

"Get a look from above, might be easier to find where these things are going.....good news is from these tracks it looks like they aren't exactly organized."

Leandros turns his attention back to Zarius after taking a moment to check on Gilder and Snow. "Depends on what you yourself have heard I suppose, but to keep it short since we are on the job...A corrupt celestial attempted to overtake a man, in the struggle for control a fight broke out in the temple, rather than let himself be overtaken, he asked that I kill him, taking them both out...and I did."

The knight is clear to leave out Astrid, wanting to clear her name from the story as much as possible. If the story were to spread he could at least hope she didn't have to be reminded of her part in it.

In all the conversation, Theobo eventually musters up enough courage to join Shael, though the halfling clings tightly to the woman.

Zarius refrains from rolling his eyes. While he agreed there was power in words, if no one listens then nothing changes. The way the knight talked likely came from some naive optimism. The fellblood can't help but wonder how much of the ugly side of the world this man had actually experienced. Justice is merely a social construct, an illusion of fairness determined by biased and corruptible minds. Those who have gained political control determine what actions are crimes, regardless of and morals or ethics. It's about control above anything else, spinning a narrative that favors the selfish and justifies means to an end. 

"Some people cannot afford to risk challenging what has been enforced by those with more power and resources than themselves. Conform or die is hardly a choice, and neither option makes things any better. But, I am not here to debate such things with you, Sir Aurthurian, perhaps another time under more leisurely circumstances."

He watches the man go and check on the two trackers while Eirynor steps closer, signing subtly under his cloak. Zarius watches the hand movements out of the corner of his eye then nods. The tall half-elf then steps away and goes to 'search' another area of town, disappearing around a corner before turning invisible and moving silently between the buildings away from the group.^[1,2]

Snow laughs a bit. "No, they definitely just rolled around like someone spilled a bag of giant marbles across the ground. It's a wonder there isn't more damage." The catfolk looks at Leandros as he checks in on their progress. The man had an authority about him which put the archer on guard, but they were all on the same side for the time being. 

When Leandros returns his attention to Zarius, the fellblood listens to him closely as he recounts the situation from Sol City. It is a little surprising to hear more specific details about what happened. It certainly explained some of Vikram's hang ups and abilities. Damn celestials. For as much grief those with fiendish ties are given, it seems those with ties to angelic beings cause far more powers.

He's quiet for a moment. "...I see...were you close?"

Shael grunts a bit. "Watch where you're putting those hands, Jitters. Here we go!" The young dark elf clicks her tongue and the large storm drake snorts before lifting off the ground and flying up over the town. 

"It's true that it is harder for some to challenge the power structures in place, which is why it is even more important for those inside that power to take on that risk and ensure the fairness everyone is born with the right to have."

Apogee puts a hand on Lee's shoulder from atop Byrr with a gentle smile, a polite reminder that he is getting carried away again. Naive or not, Leandros clearly held his convictions close and believed in them deeply. It was hard at times to remember that no one is ever asking for a speech or sermon on morals and values.

Mostly due to familiarity, but Gilder hardly reacts to his lord approaching. The immense sound of the armor jangling together meant he had plenty of time to prepare for the approach anyways.

"Wonder if the danger is under the surface...if these things tunnel then there could be a sinkhole waiting to happen." The tracker mused as he looked up to his owl, squinting his eyes to track it across the sky. For the moment it seems to be circling over an area to the northwest. "He's spotted something, either the rocks or where they could be hiding."

He cocks a head in that direction for Snow to notice before heading off to follow it.

When Shael suddenly takes off Theobo yelps, falling back a bit and just grabbing on to whatever he can to stay on board. "SORRY!"

Leandros again gives a gentle laugh at Theobo, before looking back to Zarius, "Not at all actually. I barely knew the man, we had a few brief interactions beforehand, but they were hardly friendly. Right place, wrong time it seems. Don't get me wrong, I did not enjoy having to cut a man down...the brief glimpses of the true him I saw seemed like a fine man, but in some small way it was a mercy I think....At least that is how I am trying to see it."

"It's possible, although I haven't seen any holes, just ruts," the catfolk comments as they follow behind Gilder. 

Meanwhile the large storm drake flies towards where the owl is circling with Theobo and Shael on its back. Shael does her best not to cuss out the poor kid for throwing off her balance as they soar overhead. 

Seeing the group start to move out, Zarius falls into step with Leandros as to continue their conversation as they trail after the others and leave Eirynor behind.

The fellblood listens to Leandros explain his lack of a relationship with the man that he had to kill out of mercy. "Knowing Vikram, he probably would have agreed. He was proud. He would not appreciate being anyone's puppet."

He sighs a bit and rubs the back of his neck. It was an unfortunate outcome of whatever the situation was, but it probably couldn't be helped. Leandros didn't seem like the kind of person to make knee-jerk reactions to things, which meant he probably did everything he could to avoid the final verdict. Still...didn't the rumors say there were more Fighter's Guild members involved?

Thinking about it for a moment, he stops in his tracks. Something clicked. Something bad. The timing of the incident and the timing of a member's departure from the guild...it couldn't be...could it?

He looks at Leandros, the friendly smile now replaced with a sharp, serious look. "Was anyone else there?" He asks.

Snow and Gilder crest the hill but not after Shael and Theobo have circle overhead. The young drake rider leans over and looks down at the ground below them which is speckled with oddly spherical stones all piled up in the valley between two hills. 

"That's gotta be them, right?" She asks to Theobo, but also doesn't really expect him to be a geonid expert.