Crater's Crown

Stone walls line the outside of the city, forming a circular barrier that encapsulates everything within. At the face of the wall resides a great set of oak doors with a tower at either side of the entranceway. The group proceeds towards it with caution, unsure of how their presence will be taken. Yet, the twins do not carry the same weight on their shoulders. Instead, they approach the gates as if they own them and swiftly knock at the hardened surface.

"Hello? Anyone up there?" Samuel asks, looking up towards the towers overhead. "The Decwicks have arrived and we have brought some companions along with us."

"Decwicks you say?" Comes a voice from one of the towers, but which tower does not become clear until a face appears over the edge of the one at the right. "What business have you got within the great walls of Crater's Crown?"

"Communion with a tradesman and the delivery of rare goods." Samuel responds, lacking any further interaction with the guard.

"And what goods might that be?" The guards questions, now squinting down at the man.

Samuel lifts his coat and exposes several vials of gold-like liquid. As the guard comes to recognize the contents he swiftly motions for the gates to be opened.

"My apologies for intruding, Decwicks. Please, be on your way then. Offer the Tsar my greetings?"

"Of course." Samuel smiles at the guard and allows his coat to fall loosely at his side once more. "Come now, we mustn't waste any time."

"You were already prepared to meet with this Tsar?" Asks Lee, who reminds himself of their earlier conversation.

"Of course. Who wouldn't?" Samuel chuckles at himself and presses on through the gates. "Afterall, it would be wrong to neglect one's sister's wishes, would it not?"

Samara claps cheerfully as she too enters the gates.

"Oh, it has been such a long time that I have wished for what moment is to come!" She exclaims with glee. "Do you think he truly is as you say he is?" She asks, directing her question at Samuel.

"I am certain he is all that I say he is." He assures.

"You speak as if you already know the Tsar." Marne states, acknowledging Samuel's wording.

"In some essence, you could say that I do." The young man smiles cheerfully as he looks back at his companions. "After all, he is a relic, and I myself do enjoy researching such things just as much as I dislike traveling with barbarians."

"I take that to mean you like it quite a lot." Mumbles Lee with gritted teeth.

"Quite. Now, come! There is much to see and not enough time to see it all!" Samuel rushes off down the main road, where he takes Samara by the hand and guides her away from the others. "Enjoy your stay, Nostrum!" He shouts. "We'll meet back here come dusk, when our trade has been completed!"

"A strange pair, those two." Hael claims, watching as they disappear into an alleyway.

"A strange pair indeed." Admits Yuler.

"What do we do in the meantime?" Marne begins, looking about himself.

"Leave that to us, visitors." Everyone looks toward the unknown voice and finds a middle-aged woman to be approaching them. "Hospitality is a thing we prioritize in these parts."

"There will be no need for that-" Lee begins, but stops himself as the woman motions for the attention of the staff of a nearby vendor. Studying the vendor, he comes to realize that it is a kitchen with many pastries and assorted meats already out on display. "Perhaps I misspoke."

"Please, allow me to offer you all a filling meal." The woman requests before speaking further. "You may call me Mertil, even though I am sure you won't be staying for long."

"Not long at all." Marne assures. "Likely for no longer than a night."

"Then allow me to also offer you a place to rest. I have a cottage on the city outskirts, just outside the walls. You will find it to be within a small village, third on the right." As the woman says this she pulls a necklace over her head and places it in the palm of Lee, who looks down at it and finds a key. "Your friends may also stay with you."

"Friends?" Lee asks with distaste in his tone.

"Yes, those which ran amuck a few moments ago. Be sure to let them know."

"Oh, yes, I'll most certainly be sure to do that." Lee stuffs the key into his pocket and smiles at the woman. 

"Is it normal for your people to be so generous?" Questions Yuler, who begins to feel slightly uncomfortable with the hospitality.

"Not always, but you were fortunate enough to run into me first, so I will ensure you are welcomed like never before. Perhaps then, you might seek a permanent residence here. Some day." With this, the woman steps aside, allowing the group to pass her and sit at a bar across from the vendor's staff, who get hard at work preparing them all a meal.

"How odd for a place such as this to exist in times such as these."

"Odd it is, but not an unwelcome sight." Lee says, removing his mask.

"What are you doing?" Asks Hael, who places a hand on Lee's shoulder.

"Relax, please." Lee begins, smiling down at the woman by his side. "No one here is wearing one and Dabria seems to have hardly touched the land this far out."

"Yet." Hael sighs and removes her own, taking in a deep breath as she does so.

Marne and Yuler follow their example and each of them catches a strong whiff of what the kitchen has begun to cook up for them. Their mouths begin to salivate at just the thought of all the food.

"What is it you think the Decwicks are off trading?" Marne takes a swig from a glass as it is passed off to him by a man in an apron across the bar, not caring for what the contents may or may not be. "Surely it must be something rather important for the guards to simply let them in."

"I doubt it is their trading that got them in." Hael takes a sip from her own before continuing to speak. "It seems more likely that they have already established a reputation here, given their acceptance with visiting the Tsar."

"Perhaps so." Marne admits, finishing off the bitter beverage; An unsweetened tea. "Still, I wonder what it is they are trading."

"I wonder not." Lee admits, chugging his second glass of tea. "It does us no good to be so curious, just as it does them no good to remain a part of our travels."

"Lee, they have offered us direction and guidance, even with their opposing views. Allowing them to travel at our side is the least we could do." Hael places her glass against the bar and turns to face the man, giving him sympathetic eyes.

"Not to me."

"And what of those vials? What do you think was in them?" Yuler now questions, assuring Marne that he is not alone in his nosiness.

"I am sure that is an answer we will receive once we meet the Tsar."

"You think we'll get to meet him, too?"

"Of course. We made it this far, perhaps the Tsar will know some useful information as well. It's best to run with these things while you can rather than stick simply with what you know." Hael explains, now nipping at the corners of a steak that had been placed in front of her.

"Right." Marne accepts simply.

"We will simply await the arrival of the Decwicks and from there, we will continue our mission."

"What makes you so sure that the Tsar will have any information relevant to our search?" Lee rips a chunk of meat away from the bulk of it, then begins chewing viciously. "After all, we're farther from Dabria than we seem to have ever been."

"It is a hunch of mine." Hael explains. "If the Tsar can keep his people this calm in the face of danger, then he must know something that we do not. Perhaps, another prophecy?"

"I hate to remind you, but the last did not go so well." Marne states, clearing his throat as he does so before taking a bite from his own platter. "It is what got us here in the first place."

"Well, we can't be sure that it's been fulfilled either, now can we?" Asks Hael, who now cuts at the meat before her irritably.

"Sorry." Marne chews his food awkwardly as the word leaves his lips, not wanting to further worsen the mood.

"Hael is right, we can't be sure of anything. That is why we must continue doing as we have been. Perhaps the Tsar is the missing piece."

"Perhaps." Lee mutters, not looking away from his hot meal. "For once I must agree, I do think this is what is best."

Hael smiles at him and sighs.

"I'm very relieved to hear that."

*****

As dusk approaches, the group returns to the street and awaits the arrival of the Decwicks, who in turn show their faces right on time. As they regroup with the others they appear to be nervous, but not yet scared. Hael notices this first as she can smell it on them, but she does not immediately say anything. Instead, she continues to study their body language.

"Did something go array?" She asks, raising a brow as she does so.

"What? No. Of course not." Samuel states, now looking towards the farthest right point of the street. "It's just that... the Tsar is our next stop and...-"

"You're nervous to meet him." Hael explains, smiling as she does so.

"What? Of course not! I-"

"Yes, yes we are." Samara admits, looking to her brother with childlike eyes. "It's been a dream of mine for what feels like an eternity. The Tsar is quite the fascinating creature, from what the tales tell."

"Well, let us not lose what little bit of this day still remains. Come."

Lee takes the lead and approaches the point in which Samuel had been looking, where a grand building with pointed windows sits. The stone is not unlike those of the walls that surround the city, and the towers at its corners are no different either. Yet, it holds some amount of holy signature that resonates within them the closer they get. Granite stairs fall underfoot as they get nearer to the building and away from the main road, cutting off the dirt trail and ending it in stone. As they approach the doors, they are met with the faces of two more guards, who look each of them over and await silently for their reasoning for approaching.

"Greetings," begins Samuel, "we are here to meet with the Tsar." Once he has said this, he once again raises his coat, exposing the vials within. Alongside the vials, Marne catches a glimpse of a silk cloth that he doesn't remember seeing before. The material is quickly stowed away once more as the guards step aside and allow Samuel to push the doors open himself. Once he is inside, Samara cheerfully follows after. Then the others do the same, still finding their welcoming within the city to be slightly amiss.

As they enter the building, the guards shut the doors behind themselves, but now stand inside with the party. Looking about themselves, they find that the building is overloaded with large bookcases and that each bookcase is overloaded with literary arts. At the far end of a square hall, they spot an empty desk, which seems to chatter about. Strange words can be heard being spoken in a hushed and quick voice, which they then choose to investigate. As they approach the desk, they step onto a platform that it resides on and begin walking around either side of it, with Hael and Yuler on one side, and Marne and Lee on the other. Once they have circled to the desk's hidden side, they are met with a fluffy white tail, which sticks up from beneath the desk itself. Still the hushed words continue in a frenzy, as if the creature that has yet to notice them is actively searching for something important.

"E-excuse me." Comes the voice of Samuel from the red carpet that lines the hall leading to the desk. As he says this, the creature beneath the desk stirs and smacks its head off the wooden surface before ducking and crawling out.

"Ow, ouch!" Shouts the creature, now rubbing behind one of two elongated ears from atop its head. "Ah!" It shrieks again, having only just noticed the party of four that snuck up on it. "W-what do you need, Nostrum? Why are you here?"

"There's the welcoming I was expecting, but not from you." Lee rests a palm on the hilt of his blade, ready to pull it free at a moment's notice.

"There's no need for that!" Samuel shouts at the man. "Really."