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[Sirus]

Treasure a whole city wanted to find? Well that was probably nothing, a legend to get the desperate and poor excited. Secret papers, on the other hand, sounded intriguing.

: "What sort of papers? Could I maybe see them?"

[Praefectus Screptum]

Now Karin's behavior was really making him question Sieve's options of recruits, why was she acting in such an unusual matter so suddenly?
"...Yes, we all are."
Ismo briefly glanced at Clara as if he was indirectly asking her if this "Karin" was always like this. But soon enough his attention returned to the stranger.
"We know where to find the second part of this lead, but we need more fighters to reach it. So if you are capable of fighting, we need your assistance."

[IamanElfCollaborator]

Karin weighed her options. On one hand, she didn't know a single one of these people. They were in a fairly dangerous part of Auroch (Karin herself was only there in search of leads to the treasure), so they had to be fairly dangerous people themselves to get around, either that or locals who'd been here all their life (and judging from the accent of the person talking to her fellow countryman, Clara and Amber's presence, most of them definitely weren't locals). For all she knew, they could easily be on their way to anywhere but the treasure Karin wanted or worse. This Sieve personality was seeming more and more suspicious; Karin had noted that whoever this masked man was, he was trying to push him out of the conversation, and that she had been watched on her way in. She knew full well she was being watched, but for her to be blatantly approached by people so soon after arriving? There was something to this, and she'd find out what.

On the other hand, Clara was with them. Clara was a decent sort of person, and Karin knew enough about her to know that hanging around common bandits and scoundrels wasn't something she'd do, unless something horrible had happened between now and the last time they'd met. It was also a chance to work with Amber, who was apparently Catherine's daughter. Most of the people there seemed relatively unsuspecting, the masked man and the person of ambiguous gender aside, though Will gave her an odd feeling, as if there was something going on behind him that Karin couldn't quite get at. In any case, this was a dangerous part of Auroch, and travelling alone would be less prudent, especially considering the treasure that Karin was looking for.

The treasure that Karin wanted for her mother, the treasure that could make her mother rich enough to live in luxury if Karin believed even one or two of the rumours about it.

And that was what Karin was here for, wasn't it? Her mother.

That decided it.
"I'd be happy to help, if you'll have me."

[Sirus]

Jasmine held up her hands in a "calm thyself" gesture, facing the weirdo in the mask.

: "Sloooow down, pal. I haven't agreed to anything yet. Besides, I'm not a fighter. I can do magic, sure, but I work with ships. Not bandits or monsters."

[Praefectus Screptum]

Ismo gave a nod of approval as soon as she gave her answer.
"Excellent."
Considering his attention was focused on the "Karin" they were looking for, which apparently was just a clumsy bookworm or sounded like one he forgot there was someone else on the table with her.
"Well, that offer was directed towards Karin. But if you are another outsider, you have your reasons to be here, don't you? And being a spellflinger makes you a fighter."

[SeriousConcentrate]

William quietly breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed he hadn't bungled the whole thing after all.

I wouldn't be surprised if you had. I might be the only person you've talked to for most of a decade but I can't do everything for you.

Since that had gone well, he turned to Jasmine.

"Astera has the page, but I can quote it from memory."

You mean I remember what's on it. Fine.

"At last I have reached Auroch, one of the few cities of Kiza that weren't affected by the disaster. I have brought with me my only two friends that remained with me straight from Rubidan, along with my most valuable possessions. I still don't know if I will be able to set shop properly here and continue my investigations, but I have had a stroke of luck already: I have met Zubor Darek, the Gentle Giant as they call him over here, and he, if not his son, fully support me. Along with Zukovich and Salaam I'll be able to live here. Even so, and after the disaster, I think the best I can do is..."

"And it ends there. We're hoping the other page will give more concrete answers."

[IamanElfCollaborator]

"Wait. Did you say....Kiza? As in....Kizamo? That's not possible, Auroch's always been part of Alberal, as far as I know. Rubidan's one of the fallen cities in the desert, I remember reading all that when I was studying up in Kizamo's history, a few years ago." Karin neglects to mention that she actually came across it while reading up on Harold and Senija's findings one night, staying up so late she'd slept the entire next day away, much to her mother's chagrin, after Karin woke up with her face plastered to the pages of the book and squealing about being taken on an archaeological dig by the two former heroes. "Those other names.....I don't know them either, except Darek, I think. He.....sounds a little familiar, but I can't place where...."

Something hit Karin right then and there. She lowers her voice to continue.
"I-If the treasure's really old...the archaelogical implications alone, it'd make it priceless to anyone looking into our history. People would pay a fortune for something that old. It.....we need to find it. This could be the biggest archaeological find since.....ever! And.....I wonder what investigations he was talking about. Maybe magic? Maybe the treasure's a magical artifact of some sort."

[SeriousConcentrate]

"That's what I thought, too, but apparently Auroch wasn't always Alberalian. And Zubor Darek is very likely related to Tarnum Darek, who was an ancient hero of some sort - I'm not familiar with his story."

William looked up, thinking.

"I can't say I have any idea what the treasure might actually turn out to be, but at this point I want to find it just to keep it out of the hands of the lowlife thugs that have the other paper we're looking for. Whatever it is, it deserves better than being used by criminals."

[IamanElfCollaborator]

"Tarnum Darek.....I can't say I know much about him either. Maybe if we can, we should figure out how he plays into this, maybe it could help us find more leads to where the treasure is. And you're right, the treasure deserves more than being used by criminals, especially if it turns out to be something historically important.

Judging from what the paper says, it's a letter of some sort, and they probably know who it was addressed to. Where did you even find it? As far as I know, nobody's conducting any large archaeological dig in the middle of Auroch, right?"

[SeriousConcentrate]

"Astera had it and the people he took it from wanted it back badly enough they tried to kill several bystanders in the attempt to get it back."

William partially lifted his sword out of the sheath, then dropped it back in with a definite 'click' as the crossguard met the metal at the top of the sheath.

"All that did was rally all of us to help Astera and now he has the paper and they... well, they would be regretting their decision if they could."

"And I... haven't really kept up much with recent news, but I imagine if such a dig was happening, at least a few people would be talking about it."

[IamanElfCollaborator]

"It must.....really be something. I can't tell why they'd want it so badly, not unless the names mean something aside from being historical figures. I can understand bandits responding badly to being stolen from, but.....to do that in the middle of Auroch? They must be close to the treasure somehow...."
Karin absentmindedly toys with a strand of her hair, a habit of hers when in deep thought about something, or when she was burdened with many different strands of thought, and so therefore a habit one got used to around Karin.

[Praefectus Screptum]

"We are currently in a violent treasure hunt, other gangs are looking for these leads. And this isn't something related to archeological digging, I haven't heard reports related to those either."
Ismo crossed his arms against his chest and shook his head in response.
"I somewhat doubt they are close, this is probably just a lead that somehow fell into the slums, if I had to guess a dealer brought it to Auroch in hopes of getting some easy money. The thing is that you need both pieces to truly gain the desired information, which is why we are planning to take the other piece from a specific gang."

[IamanElfCollaborator]

"Yes, that's also possible. Something about this whole situation seems really off to me, something I can't articulate without knowing more. Not that I'm backing out, but I want to get to the bottom of this."

[GiglameshDespair]

"Are you sure you do not want to think about it more? It might well- no, it is going to be dangerous."
"But if you are sure... I am glad to have you on the team."

[IamanElfCollaborator]

".....no, I'm definitely sure I want to come along. If the treasure's as linked to the past of Kizamo as I think it is, it shouldn't be in the hands of bandits, not where it'll disappear forever. Even it if isn't....well, I came here to find it anyway, even just a little bit for me to take home, and I'm not passing up an opportunity to help out an old friend, right?"