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Nathan, a tall lanky man sporting a longbow and quiver as well as a pack, hiked easily along the route upon which he had traveled several times before. He was hoping to run into a friend and fellow acquaintance.

The bushes in the undergrowth he was walking, however, began to move and automatically he reached for a bow. Wolves stalked these woods, but unlike normal wolves, their golden eyes had the ability to paralyze, and their blood burned like acid.

A golden eyed wolf watched him and then bounded forth, tail wagging happily. He relaxed, recognizing Bella. She was an Aurean wolf, but she'd been tamed to protect humans, rather than attack them. And Nathan had become her pack leader.

"Well, Bella, I guess this means there aren't any wolves in the ar-" he cut himself off as an all-too-familiar howl split the air. Wolves on the hunt; it sounded like. Bella flicked her ears but didn't make too much of a fuss; the wolves weren't heading for them. But at the same time, Nathan couldn't help but wonder who else would be out here in the woods, traveling like him.

"Let's go, Bella." He picked up his pace, heading towards the howling.

Arnes Teranyn had a bounty on his head; it wasn't really his fault, though. When you try to ask for directions in a land in which hand gestures are considered synonymous with requesting someone's hand in marriage, the odds were against him from the start. So, rather than meet the business end of a halberd in his current residence, Arnes decided to go somewhere where he could talk to people without dying. Surprisingly, this was a more intelligent choice of destination than he usually picked, as there are only a few dozen places in the galaxy where one could talk to other people without dying, and yet still be in danger.

So, when Arnes appeared in the middle of forest clearing, he wasn't as apprehensive as he usually was when he arrived in a new location. Dusting off his white brocade travel robe, still unchanged from his arrival in his last location earlier today, he looked around and decided that he had lucked out after all. Then he heard the wolves, and they sounded close; in fact, they sounded a little too close to his liking. He raised his arms, ready to cast a shielding spell if he needed to, or maybe take another portal.

The doors to a tavern opened long enough for a blue-streak to come flying out and land in the dust.

"And stay out!" the irate tavern owner yelled, hurling a sword after the man in the dirt.

Arien dodged as the sword clattered to the ground beside him and then picked it up. "Oy! This is a prized sword--don't go hurling it at the ground."

"Maybe you should respect women half as much as you respect that sword then." The tavern doors closed and Arien got up to reclaim his sword, brush the dust off his shoulders, and head away from the tavern.

"See if I care," muttered Arien belligerently. "I've got better places to be." He marched to the edge of town and peered into the woods beyond. "I should leave. There's nothing for me here."

The cave walls dripped and the air was thick with sulfur. This was the place, and what a long time coming his setting foot in here had been. The Man in Gold grabbed hold of the ancient, withered corpse across from him in the main cavern and shook it. Surprisingly, the dessicated eyelids opened and a pair of cataracts stared out, confusedly. From the shriveled lips came a voice, more of a death rattle than anything, directed at the intruder.

"You're too late, N-"

"Shut up, stupid child," the Man in Gold said as he shook the ancient body, "tell me where it is now."

A few gasps for air, a violent shudder, and then the voice slithered out again.

"Chest in the back, drawing of a forest...you'll have to find the Other, he has it now."

"The Other? What are you talking about?" Confusion, rage, but the withered body said no more; the perversion of time and age having finally given up the ghost.

The Man in Gold dropped the corpse onto the floor and shuffled over to the back of the chamber. Sure enough, there was a drawing of a forest on yellowed parchment. But, the drawing was decades old, centuries even, and there was a chance that whatever was on the land pictured in the drawing was now the site of a building now. Still, it was his only hint; no time to deliberate on the matter, the others would be coming soon.

He raised a hand and a swirling blue rift opened in the dank cavern; without a moment's hesitation, the Man in Gold tucked the drawing in the belt around his waist and stepped into the rift. Now, he found himself in the confines of a shop. Some sort of general wares store, from the looks of it; he had guessed right, but at least he hadn't appeared halfway in the foundation of a house or something. The Man in Gold stormed out into the street and looked around. Now to find the Other.

The wolves' howling took on a new sound, one that Nathan recognized all too well as having found prey. Or more precisely, a human. One look at Bella told him that they were quickly gaining on the wolves--or the wolves had stopped running away.

He nocked an arrow to his bow, keeping it pointed to the ground with a growl and flicker of movement from the right caught his attention. Bella turned as he did, in time to catch the flash of a black fur and gold eyes. He felt his body freeze momentarily as he did the one thing he shouldn't have done--look it directly in the eyes.

But Bella intervened, throwing herself at the approaching wolf before it could attack. Her distraction meant the wolf stopped looking at Nathan, and now that he could move, he was loosing the arrow at the wolf. It went down with a yelp, the arrow sprouting through its neck.

But he didn't have time to judge his shot. Two more wolves were coming to the rescue of the first one.

"Well, better me than an unsuspecting human," Nathan muttered under his breath, drawing another arrow and loosing at a second wolf.

Arnes saw the first wolf enter the clearing, and he prepared a fireball to throw at the creature, when something else had drawn the wolf's attention and it quickly left the clearing. He heaved a sigh, partially of relief and partially of anxiety. He was 6'5", dressed in a flowing robe, and had blue skin, not to mention he had just harnessed fire in his hand a moment ago. If there was something in these woods which posed an even greater threat to that wolf than himself, he'd have more to worry about than a hound or two trying to chew on him.

He followed the wolf, his own sense of self-preservation taking a backseat to his dangerous curiosity, and saw the animal bound off into the woods. There was a sound, barely detectable to Arnes, but his pointed ears twitched; a quick blowing of air, maybe even a little like a whistle. That wasn't a noise he was used to hearing, but it made him stop and think, not exactly the best thing to do with hostile animals around. Why was that sound familiar to him? He took a few moments to ponder, unaware of anything around him. Archers, that was it; the ranger academy had been located in the university campus near his sleeping quarters back when he was a student of magic, and that sound was the sound he heard whenever they would practice outside.

"Excuse me, is there a ranger or an archer near here? I'm a mage, and I come in peace."

Of course, he had no clue if he was speaking a language which the locals understood, or even if the person with the bow was friendly. But, Arnes had been lucky thus far at either finding himself in good company or getting to a portal before he got killed by bad company.

Arien didn't stare into the woods for long; he had to go get his pack after all, and given the notoriety he'd knocked up of late, he wasn't game for sticking around much longer.

He nearly ran into someone, a really tall, really strong-looking someone. Only by some miracle did he not actually bump into him, because Arien wasn't entirely sure he would have survived the encounter. And he'd though 6' was tall. This guy had to be at least 6'6".

And seeing the scowl on the guy's face, Arien really hoped now that he wasn't the husband of the lady he'd been flirting with earlier. Oh dear... He tried to pick up his pace, hoping the other man was too angry or too distracted to notice a shorter man suddenly bolting for the nearest inn.

The tiny human possibly could have died if he had collided with The Man in Gold; the armor was adamantine, hard enough to resist gunshots and heavy enough to weigh as much as an adult man on its own, so had Arien run headfirst into it, the resulting concussion and hemorrhage would have given the Man in Gold something to amuse himself thinking about while looking for the Other. He watched the short human rush into an inn and followed after him, albeit at a slow and painful gait developed by centuries of crippling arthritis. Inside the tavern, he brushed by the insignificant shadows around him, otherwise known as "people", and he focused on Arien. Without regard to the other inhabitants of the inn, he called out in a low, rasping growl:

"You, man. Get over here, I have questions for you."

He placed a hand on his sword hilt jutting out from his side; of course, he was far too old and brittle to be swinging that thing around, but the armor had the face of a young man on it, even if it was chipped, peeling, and rust-coated. The human didn't know he hadn't used the sword for more than two hundred years, and the Man in Gold did cut an imposing figure. Usually, a stern tone and the implication of swordplay was enough to bring most anyone around. Plus, if that failed, there was always using magic to explode things.

Nathan was so used to being on the road just him and Bella, that hearing another voice call out to him from the trees made him start and he misfired--wounding rather than killing the next wolf.

"I'm the archer!" Nathan yelled back."And if you don't mind lending a hand...I'd be very appreciative for it. Just don't kill Bella--she's mine."

Bella swiveled to eye the newcomer but her tail wagged and she didn't snarl. Until something behind the taller man moved. Nathan swung around, aiming his bow seemingly at the newcomer. But his loosed arrow soared harmlessly past and into a wolf trying to sneak up from the rear. Unfortunately, that left a huge hole in Nathan's defenses and he saw the next two wolves lunging for him too late.

Arnes raised his hands and threw a fireball at the two wolves rushing at the archer. It connected with the side of one and threw it aside, after which the wolf let out a howl and laid down, dead. The other wolf, however, had evaded the spell and Arnes threw another fireball; he wasn't trained in combat magic, and so it was a miracle that the second spell didn't overshoot and hit the archer instead. The second wolf also flopped aside, but this one was not quite dead. Arnes went to finish it off, when he turned to the archer, just aware of what had happened.

"My good man, you couldn't have asked me to move out of the way before letting loose with an arrow? I'm a very good listener," he tapped at the tips of his elfin ears, "and would have happily obliged. Now, would you be so kind as to tell me what all of these confounded wolves are doing here, and perhaps where I am?"

He walked casually up to the wolf to finish it off, but it was dead already. Arnes shrugged a bit, rubbed at his goatee as he usually did when he was thinking, and the looked at the archer again, waiting for an answer.

A slight "meep" escaped Arien when the larger man began to follow him and then called after him. He wished now that he hadn't flirted with the woman in the bar. Not if it would come down to a pummelling by a 7-foot bear of a man.

He stopped running and turned to face his doom, his eyes on the man's hand on his sword. His own hand fell to the sword at his waist, a bright blue jewel set into the end of the hilt.

"Y-yes? Have we met, sir? Or do you make a habit of threatening everyone for answers to inane questions?" He winced; his ability to watch his words just wasn't working today.

The Man in Gold gave a low snort, his reaction to things he considered humorous. The human was funny; he probably used his wit to get his way into a lot of places, probably a fair deal of trouble too. He relaxed his grip on his sword; even if the human had been intimidated by the display, intimidation wasn't the most effective tool the Man in Gold had at his disposal. He walked up to the human, the black holes in his helmet's "eyes" staring blankly into the human's face.

"You're a funny human. I like funny humans," he grumbled, "but if I may correct one thing, you haven't even found out what I plan to ask you; it's a bit hard to say, therefore, that my questions will be inane."

He understood humor, he snorted at humor, and he could appreciate humor; but when the Man in Gold attempted humor, it was almost guaranteed that he would dissect a joke and leave it bleeding. Still, he had found his guide to this area, even if the human didn't know of his purpose or want to be a guide.

"Since I like you, why don't you tell me where I am? I'm looking for someone, and I don't know if I have the right place."

Seeing that the wolves had either been killed or fled, Nathan relaxed and lowered his bow. The last three arrows in his quiver shivered against each other as Nathan eyed the mage with pointed ears.

"I'd be happy to, though let's keep walking if you don't mind." Bella sprang forth to greet the newcomer, her ears up and tail wagging as she went to sniff his hands. "I'm Nathan, she's Bella. The wolves attacking us were Aurean wolves. They have gold eyes that tend to paralyze you if you look at them directly, and their blood burns if you touch it."

Nathan paused to pull an arrow out of one of the wolves and held up the tip. Most of it looked corroded away. "It's a waste of arrows, unfortunately. Bella is an Aurean wolf, though we--I've trained her to be good with humans. She gets along well enough with other animals and people, but her breed in general is known well enough that no is keen on letting us stay in town for long."

He paused and then chuckled nervously. "Ah, sorry for rambling. I never caught your name, friend mage. Have you traveled far then, that you do not know where you are?"

Arnes placed his right arm over his chest and bowed low to Nathan and Bella.

"Arnes Teranyn, good sir. It is a pleasure to meet you. As for your question, I cannot say how far I have traveled. I, er, came here through unconventional...magical...means. Perhaps if we reach the town you speak of, I can vouch for you? I don't know how much the word of an ancient Mirthean wizard is worth, but you did save my life, friend."

As he began to follow them, he watched Bella with a bit of anxiety. He had a real fear of wolves, ever since he ran into one as a young child after being separated from his father on a hunting expedition. Still, Bella looked tame...enough. Nathan had said that she was good with humans, but Arnes wasn't a human. He wasn't even an elf, not by his definitions.

Arien chuckled dryly. This man liked him? He was willing to bet either the guy had no idea who he was, or maybe he just didn't care.

"Ah, you're going to have to be a little specific on the 'who' part, sir." And he was really hoping it wasn't a specific female who. "As for where you are, you're in a village called "Digsby". It's a fair sized village, but I've seen better. Pretty much the only thing it's known for is the healthy, overabundant wolf population." Arien shuddered. He'd rather take his chances with a 7-foot, armor clad, warrior than a pack of wolves.

He began to move towards the entrance to the bar, expecting the man with the sword to follow him, although he had made no gestures or said anything to the man to follow him. The Man in Gold was bad about that, sometimes, and he usually got upset when people didn't understand his intentions. However, he caught himself before he reached the door and turned to the man.

"Follow me. I need to find someone here, and you know the area well enough to be a guide. I'll pay you."

Almost as if to prove his point, he opened the ties on a large coinpurse on the belt and pulled out a handful of gold coins; the coinpurse was still quite literally stuffed with money, and it was a struggle for the Man in Gold to retie the coinpurse without some of the coins falling out. He then handed the pile to the man.

Nathan smiled briefly at Arnes. "The pleasure is mine, Arnes. Without your help, I'd probably be wolf chow as well." He looked back at the two wolves that had gotten too close for comfort and tried not to shudder at the dismal thoughts crossing his mind. "The town," he added after a moment, "is called Digsby. It's small but quaint. You might enjoy it, though I don't know where it is you came from."

Bella didn't seem to notice the man's fear of her. Or if she did, chose to ignore it by walking beside him and sniffing at something he had on him. Her curiosity however could be mistaken as a means for intimidation.

Arned realized what Bella was sniffing at, and pulled out a thin piece of jerky; it was necessary for someone who traveled as much as he did to keep a few pieces on his person when he traveled. He figured that Bella might want a piece, and hopefully it would placate her and keep her from biting him.

"Here, pup. So Nathan, what might I find in this Digsby? I'm hoping to find a tavern or an inn, somewhere with a room to let. I...travel a lot, so I usually have to rent a room in new places."

He didn't acknowledge Nathan's point about where Arnes was from; it would have been easier to leave that unexplained than it would be to explain why he was travelling now instead of settling down back on his home planet. Plus, there were some memories that he preferred not to focus on. Hopefully the town was close by, as Arnes was hoping to get a mild beer to relax; he had plenty of gold on him from his months mining on another planet, so he would probably have enough for a room for several nights, months maybe if the planet valued gold especially highly.

Arien stared down at the gold in his hands and then grinned. He hadn't seen this much money in too long. He pocketed the coins after a brief hesitation, revealing a vial of red liquid perched at his waist, and then followed TMIG.

"Since you're offering to pay me, let me introduce myself: I'm Arien Chase, a snaresman and tracker. I'd be happy to help you track down whoever you're looking for. Do you have a description of him or her? And could I get your name?" The man might be eccentric and might be filthy rich, but that just made it all the more important to get on his good side.

He stopped and waited, an air of tension between them. The human didn't know any better, though, and it was natural to ask someone their name when one has just met them. The Man in Gold lumbered outside and looked up one side of the street, then down the other. He didn't turn when he spoke, but rather assumed that the human was behind him.

"The name doesn't matter; it's from a dead culture and its significance would be lost on you. As for the person I'm looking for, I can't tell you. All I know is that I'm looking for the Other; no race, no gender, not even a general description to go on. But I was given a drawing of trees, and when I teleported here, that's," he pointed at the general store "where I turned up. So, the Other has to be around here somewhere."

It was a flimsy lead, and from an unreliable source at that. Still, he had nothing else to go on, and if his competitors were as good as he thought they were, that cave was now nothing more than a smoldering crater, so if there were any other clues there, they were long gone now. On that subject, he remembered the parchment and took it from his belt. He turned around and was prepared to show it to the human.