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Quinn blushed crimson at the shaking she had given the diminuative man. She acted with haste in her concern for the crystal. "I'm sorry I shook you." she offered quietly, shuffling away to find the remaining members of her group.

Holding the letter before her, she spoke to all of them, smiling subtly that Vash had found his way to them, "Remember the letter we found in Barton? That little man, he said the seal comes from somewhere in the Northern part of Durem. I think we should start there, since that's the way the ship flew too. What do you think?'

James had a pure, cold smirk on his face, as he walked through the crowd, picking up snippets of conversations, plans, discussions. His booted feet stopped behind the woman named, pausing as she said something about a note, and the direction the ship fled...

"Don't you think, that is a little too easy?" he asked her, not turning towards the woman, but still watching the rest of the crowd, "Hate what she's done, go ahead, but respect her still... look how she managed to waltz in here, and get away with a crystal, without even a scratch... she's obviously done her homework. And she obviously would have known someone would come after her... so can you really expect that she would leave such clues just laying around... that she would tell a creature she planned to betray," he said, tossing his head towards the midget knight, "Just where abouts she would plan to go? That she would fly right towards her home base, knowing that the eyes of many are watching her?"



From just outside the temple door, there was a low rumbling sound, as the half ogre let out a long, big yawn, and rolled over, curling up on the steps in front of the open doorway. His lips smacked and his teeth gnashed as he huddled up into a tight, large ball there.

Soon after, a soft snoring sound was coming from him once again.

"Ah, well, such things happen," Merrick said, waving off her excuses while gallantly returning her smile. "I'll be glad of your company on the journey."

Merrick stared down into the small creature's eyes...he could study the little one forever. "Elixir?" he echoed. "Well, I don't have one right now, but if we pass by a shop I'm sure I could buy one for you. Why do you need one?"

"Elazu...that's a lovely name."

Roger's eyes darted to the left, and to the right, looking over all these strange people, some armed and armored, some down right thuggish, and well, some a little too certain about taking on a person like this. All of it, worried the man, only fools or those certain in their own power talked like this, about doing something like that... he trembled as a chill passed down his spine at the thought.

Slowly he stepped away from Niva, and towards the one that seemed more or less dominate in his little group that had surrounded him. He tugged on Merrick's sleeve lightly to get his attention, before his soft voice spoke, barely a whisper, barely reaching Merrick, "Um... Dune... she knew this Baroness person, seemed to know her well... and was her enemy, of sorts... so, um... maybe she can help us, or at least guide us in the right direction..." he stammered out towards Merrick, his head bowed, his gaze pointing to a spot between his feet the whole time, "and... um... I sorta know where they might be..."

Sika looked over as the other man edged close to Merrick, tugging at his sleeve. She arched her eyebrow and held Elazu closer, ignoring his wriggling arguments. He seemed familiar, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it from this angle. Shruging, she turned her attention back to Merrick still trying to keep Elazu under control.

"Alright then!" The Knight responded as he motioned to Masa and then to the door, "We shall head towards the coasts of Durem and onwards, we are bound to find some clues along the way!" He chirped merrily and dug his heels into his mounts sides, causing Behebuncle to snort in protest before barelling forward and towards the forests (Masa would find it easy to catch up with him though for he wasn't moving particularly quickly).

Nevertheless, moving outside and away from the crowds the tiny knight began his adventure and narrowed his eyes expectantly as he waited for his beautiful companion to join him!

//*Slides into the "Outside the Temple" thread*

James followed after Quinn, a slight, sneering smile all that you could see of his face, "Listen to me, you little (Expletive deleted... but it was a 7 letter one, so yeah.)... you might not like me. You might not like her. You might think your friends are enough. But they aren't. You need someone like me, to help you, if you're going to go out into the lion's den. You better listen up, because, like it or not, we're on the same side in this one. We both want that crystal back. You might want it for some nonsense reason like 'to be good' or 'because it's the right thing', and me, well, I want it for decidedly more earthly reasons. But if you're going to go up against something this big, this deep, you'll need help, someone that knows what they're doing. Not some whiny little punks out to do good and get themselves killed. At this rate, you will die. That simple."

James leaned down a little, his eyes staring into her's straight on from within the shadows of his dragon helm, "You know what little missy? Money, power, has ways of changing people. And this woman we're after, has a lot," he told her frankly, "More than enough to buy the loyalty of your friends. I'd be more wary, of those that are nice to you. When a man wants to bite, he bares his fangs, in a smile."

The man then straightened up, standing rigid, at attention, "I however, will act according to proper behavior. Just watch out for the man that approaches you with a smile and open arms. 'Come into my parlor, said the spider to the fly'. Just think about it, and look over at your 'friends'. Then let me know if I can trust them, when it really comes down into it. If you can really trust them, really believe they are above any corruption, well then, I'll help you. If you aren't completely certain, at any time, I'm gone."