[MythicDusk]

"Come now, Valor!"

"My name is Roug you fool."

"That is no name for a knight's steed!"

"You're not a knight. Your job description is literally 'Lancer'. How much of a pompous idiot are you?"

The Radrill huffed, tossing his mane as the armored man on his back attempted to kick him onwards, his hands careful on the reigns. Not that he actually needed them, generally, Val knew where to go. His lance lay across his lap, the specially made saddle buckling it into place when not in use, the heavy shield hanging from his back.

"Hey, fool, look up ahead."

The rough voice of his steed brought him out of his reviere. He squinted slightly, leaning forward to get a better look at the... The darkness that literally shrouded the land. His steed began to back away before he made a displeased sound, a heavy click of his tongue.

"Valor! We can't stop now! Get me closer, hmm?"

The Radrill furrowed his brow before groaning, padding forward to the edge of the mist. This was as far as he was going to go. The fool on his back would be just fine, but he needed to see the ground in order to walk on it, in order to make sure it was safe to walk on. "Come now, Valor! Be brave, old friend."

"I will throw you off my back you prick."

"Now now, that's no way to speak to nobility."

"Sorry, Sir Fuckwad, but I am not going into the black mist. It's black mist. It's dangerous."

"Now now! We don't know that friend!"

"March, it's black fucking mist. I do not know how to explain it to you any more. If you want to go in, you're going in on foot, and without me." The Radrill tossed his head with that final huff, beginning to turn away from the mist as the man on his back gave a displeased whine.

[Redd]

"What... are you..." the rogue was squatting down on the ground, one hand was tightly clutching piece of parchment and a battered quill in one gloved hand and the other was lightly teasing the silky mist cloud between her fingers.  Probably not the smartest thing to do here but so far, it hadn't hurt her and she hadn't tried to do anything dumb like breathe large amounts of it in. If she was going to do that she'd need some sort of clueless victim to push in and really, those were in large supply. Better risk one so she could save others, right? That's why she was here. To make sure the common folk were safe. Her methods weren't sound but at least she got results.

... Which, speaking of...

There was clanking like armour and footfalls of a heavy beast.... and well, an even more obvious sound of arguing. Korinne straightened up, stowing away the writing tools in her satchel and moving one hand close to her shortsword... just in case. She shifted back, close to the wall, but apparently the rider and... (goddamn, was that a talking mount?) the Radrill were engaged in such a furious debate that they hadn't noticed her, or at least acknowledged her, and it looked like Sir 'Knight-in-Shining-Armour' wanted into the fog. Excellent. She relaxed her hand and stepped forward, making sure they'd see her.

"Evenin' boys." Korinne grinned at the pair with a sarcastic little wave.

[MythicDusk]

March stiffened at the sound of another voice. "Ah! A fellow traveller I see!" He turned to look at the source of the voice and his eyes widened slightly. "And a woman, too! How novel!" He gave a soft, trilling laugh as he swung down from the saddle, making Val grunt as he shifted his own weight to counterbalance the armored man dismounting. He then watched with unrestrained glee as his rider carefully bowed at the waist, despite being fully armored.

"Marchour von Delàcourt, of the von Delàcourt-Grandhall house, third son of the great Viscount Gregrahim of Longwood."

Oh if this woman replied in any way how he thought she would, Val was going to have such a fun day.

"And this, is my noble and mighty steed, Valor! Come say hello, Valor."

Val let a groan leave his chest as he slowly plodded forward, looking surprisingly like a petulat child.

"My name is actually Roug, but you can call me Valroug if you want. Just Val works."

[Redd]

Korinne bit her lip, desperately trying to keep a straight face or... at least trying not to blurt out the first thing that came to her mind. Oh god, there was cliches and stereotypes and then there was this guy. She was hoping for a hapless lower class peasant, an upper class 'Sir Lance-Up-His-Arse' was so soo much better.

She took in a deep breath, trying to not roll her eyes at the 'woman' bit. Expected, but maybe she could work with it. "Pleasure's all mine Sir 'Marcher'." she replied, sweetly grinning back, pulling into a deep mocking bow. Something significantly easier than his attempt, considering she was dressed in leathers. "I'm Lady Korinne Amell, Nightblade of the Amell house of Kiswick. Otherwise, self-employed travelling bard, scholar, general annoyance, adventurer, investigator, at your service. However, Korey is perfectly fine." Luckily, that was almost practiced at this point. It wouldn't be the first time she'd had to deal with people like this. Some of those titles were true. She definitely was of noble birth, though she'd since renounced it for common thief and scoundrel. And she was definitely here for research purposes (people would pay good money for this). And... well she was good with a knife.

She perked up as she was addressed by the mount, leaning to the side to look around 'Marcher'. Oh thank god, someone who spoke normally. "I was going to make a comment on how Valor and Roug are nothing alike but dear Lord, I thought you were going to have a long name too, I could barely remember his. I'll give you a free pass." she flicked her eyes back to the man as she spoke, gauging his reaction.

So she was sure she was going to upset the big guy out of the need for sheer entertainment, but honestly what would he even do?

[MythicDusk]

Val was so, incredibly, wonderfully delighted by this woman. He hoped she was going to stick around for a long time. He hoped they would be best friends to make March's life miserable. He could see the young man bristling, the face blate of his helm secured into an upward position so he could see his cheeks redden and the weak, bristled attempt at a mustache fluffing out as he pouted, how he always did when he was offended but trying not to show it.

He remembered the exact same look when Val asked him why he was wearing a sickly caterpillar on his lip.

"Madame my name is Marchour." He huffed, placing extra emphasis on the final syllable. "Not Marcher." He explained, again placing extra emphasis on the final syllable. "And I would thank you to not poke fun at my name, did you not hear that my father is the viscount of Longwood?"

Oh god, Val wanted to cry out of sheer pleasure. It was better than sex, better than being drunk, better than any pleasure of the flesh he could think of, watching March get flustered and offended. He made a mental note to buy Korey a drink when he could.

"So, Korey, is it? What're you here for? The black mist?" The Radrill asked, tossing his head to the thick shroud of fog. He watched as March bristled further.

"Valor! Use the lady's full title!" He spat, his lips pressed into a pale line. Val had enough sense to look sheepish.

"Yes Milord." He murmured quietly, hanging his head until March turned around, at which point he pulled a face at his back.

[Redd]

Oops, he was upset. Quite... visibly so. Had anyone told him that? He'd be terrible at cards.

Someone remind her to convince him to play cards later.

"Ah, forgive me my good Sir. My tongue fumbles over such accents, you'll have to excuse my poor manners." Korinne sniped back, her tone full of sarcastic snobbery, if only for the benefit of her audience (aha, she'd caught the Radrill behind Marchour enjoying the show).

At the question, she opened her mouth to respond, promptly shutting it again when the two started up bickering again. So even though Marchour was upset, he was still insistant on formalities. Cute, really. And she had to stifle a small giggle at the Radrill, just in case she gave him away.

"I am, I'm looking to study it." she patted her satchel, the quills and ink jars rattling a little. "Or at least just make sure it's not about to start spitting out monsters. That would be... rather unfortunate." More things to fight she guessed though. People paid good money for hunters and she was good at that stuff.

"So far though, it doesn't seem all that bad." She took a few steps closer to the black wispy wall and reached out a hand, to plunge it into the Mist, to just test... how afraid these two were of it. She'd been touching it earlier with no ill effect.

[MythicDusk]

Val felt his ears flick up at the hidden smile, and he chuckled softly to himself, glad to have entertained his guest.

Then, he watched with horror as she shoved her hand in the fucking fog.

March looked positivley delighted.

"You see Valor? I told you there was nothing to fear! Now, if you will excuse me, m'lady, me and my faithful steed really must continue on our way-"

His sentence was cut off by a heavy sound of something falling to the ground. He slowly turned to see Val laying on the ground, staring at him with daring eyes.

"I'm not going anywhere, March. Take after your name and walk to where you want to go."

He watched as March's cheeks flushed red and puffed out once again.

"My name is Marchour not Marcher!"

[Redd]

If there'd been a quicker way to get their facial expressions to swap places, Korinne really wanted to know.

Marchour apparently, was quickly looking for an out or a way to shake her. Fat chance. She needed someone with muscle getting through this cloud. She could hold her own of course but she also wasn't going to pass up a walking, talking tin can to take hits for her either.

And then the pair were locked into, god-forbid, another argument. Ughh, that meant she'd have to take point. She hadn't even tested if she could breathe this stuff yet but... well, it was like they said. If you wanted something done, do it yourself.

She started fiddling with a selection of charms on her neck, picking the right one out and activating a rune on it. A ball of soft magic emerged from it and settled on her shoulder. "Well, I wanna be paid and time is money sooo... if you're coming, y'better hurry up." she gave a small shrug before stepping into the fog.

[MythicDusk]

Val felt himself yelp, his head snapping up and his ears perked as he watched the woman enter into the mist.

"She's going to get herself killed." He groaned, lumbering to a stand, shaking off the dirt he had picked up from his lay down.

"That's my boy, Valor! Let us go and continue on our way." March chirrupped, swinging himself into the saddle, making Val grunt and stagger a slight.

"Not before we check if she's still alive, and if she needs help. Surely you want to see where this mist started from too, right?" Val tossed his head, lurching into a run without any indication from March of the pace his rider wanted, his paws thundering as he dove face-first into the mist, his nostrils flaring as he tried to pick up Korey's scent.

By the gods it was dark in here.

[Redd]

It was... darker than she'd expected. The air was cold and the particles around her glimmered with an odd prismatic sheen. Huh. It was almost pretty, if she could actually fuckin' see anything.

But hey, she'd settle with being able to breathe any day.

Behind her, she could hear heavy footfalls and arguing so obviously both of them had taken off into the mist after her. Even Valor, who she'd sensed was more afraid of it than anyone else. Funny what the whole 'damsel in distress' thing did to men.

Like she needed help. Entertainment on the other hand, that was perfect. And she had an idea.

Hands reached out, patting down the sides of a building, assessing footholds. Excellent, she could climb this one no problem. After a small pause and a deep breath, she jumped up, hands and feet scrambling for purchase as she quickly scaled the side of the building. If they were following her, she'd have to ascend quickly if she didn't want to be seen. All that thieving in her younger years apparently was useful for something.

[MythicDusk]

Valor continued to charge on, he thought he knew the road, but without sight, it was a lot harder than he thought. The wall almost jumped out of the mist at him, and he let out a primal roar of fright, March crying out on his back, hauling at the reigns and forcing Valor to turn hard, his momentum still carrying him forward as his side slammed into the wall, crushing March's leg between the hard brick and he bulk of his weight.

He heard March cry out on his back and Val carefully turned his head to inspect the damage. The leg wasn't crushed, nor did it look like anything had broken.

"Don't fear friend, I think its just some bruising. I got off lucky, hmm?" March laughed nervously, moving his leck to check the angry mark on Val's side where his leg has impacted his friend and steed.

"You're lucky you had your leg on one of my softer parts." Val grumbled, turning his head away and shaking out his mane, trying to ignore the aching feeling that rattled through his body. "Where'd she go, anyway?"

[Event posts end here]