Chapter 1: A Cold Wind Blowing

Arms wrapped around her knees, Avis stares into the fire, watching the flames dance and flicker. Ikkri, however, is restless, feathers ruffled, gaze twitching between each traveling companion and their surroundings. Eventually, Avis looks up from the campfire, peering at Amra.

"You mentioned that this—Jarvin, was it?—Is presumed dead. You must know, however, that there is a very real chance that he has risen as one of the undead he tried to cleanse. Will this ranger you speak of be ready to turn his blade on a friend, if the need arises?"

"Spare me the sermon. I didn't ask about your religious dogma."

Avis stands, Ikkri fluttering from one shoulder to another as she does so. She begins to pace in the shadow of the ruin's nearest wall.

"How far to Jalanthar?" she asks. "A day? A week? I'm not familiar with the area."

Her eyes bright under the light of the fire, Nerea chuckles as she watches her. “We might tell you,” she says, her tone deliberately light, “if you ask nicely. Are you often so rude to your employers?”

Avis leers down her nose at the cleric. "I'm paid to get the job done, not to listen to someone preach. My rates for that are astronomical." She smirks. "Sorry if you were hoping to spread the good word of Solonor."
From his perch, Ikkri imitates a mocking laugh.

Nerea’s answering smile is perfectly sweet. “Oh, I’m sure that would be no trouble for someone of Avis’s temperament. With her personality, I’m sure she’ll feel right at home.”

Avis's glare is as cold as Nerea suggested.
Ikkri howls with laughter in her ear. "Pretty lady, tell another joke!" he says.
Avis grimaces and turns her glare to her feathered companion. "Traitor," she growls. "It wasn't that funny."

The soft purring of her cat familiar in her lap helps Imarra to keep calm as she watches the others. She can't help the corners of her mouth to curve upwards as Avis growled at her familiar. Imarra has to turn to Amra to keep her composure "So, we should be ready to defend ourselves from those orcs while on the way to Jalanthar, if I understand right. Do you know anything specific about those savage orcs we should be wary of? Being called savages makes them not sound too smart.".

Kardalis leans back, further from the campfire than most of the others. Due to his drow heritage, while not impeded by it, bright lights were still mildly uncomfortable, even that of a campfire, and to those who looked carefully, at times it seems as though the light almost bends away from him, making him harder to see, less distinct.
He speaks with an accent which, to many is entirely unfamiliar, "Orcs may look big and stupid, and in many cases you would be right, but not all are so. I've met a few orcs, half-orcs, in my time. Many were brutish yes, but many of them also had a cunning too them. Trolls now....they are just stupid, but big enough to be dangerous"
He shudders slightly as if trying to rid himself of an unwanted memory.

With the information presented Imarra has to think for a bit before she formulates another question. Stretching out her hands towards the campfire to feel some more warmth she responds "Intentionally or not, the Orc raids might be supplying whatever is the cause for the undead with bodies. It would certainly be a situation a necromancer could take advantage of. But our task is the undead and not the orcs, right?".
Rubbing her warm hands she continued "I heard controlled undead are more difficult to deal with because they don't just mindlessly shamble towards the closest creature they see to sink their teeth into it. Can you confirm that? I'm guessing you have more personal experience with undead than stories I have been told." and reached for her waterskin to take a drink while listening for the answer.

Having silenced her familiar, Avis turns to Amra, brow furrowed and arms crossed. "Do you have any idea what sort of undead we might find? Have the reports only listed skeletons and zombies, or are we aware of any of the aforementioned spectres, ghouls, et cetera? Knowing that may give us an idea of just how powerful the source of these undead is, whether it's a necromancer, cult, or long-dormant artifact of some kind."

Avis frowns. "Reports of undead attacks, but no one bothered to list what manner of undead? Wonderful." She scratches Ikkri's cheek with a finger as she speaks. "We can use Ikkri to scout ahead, at least. Or he can help the ranger scout, as it were."

Listening in, Kardalis nods. "Powerful enough that we should take every precaution, powerful enough to, at the very least, detain an experienced ranger. Powerful enough that you felt the need to hire us."
Taking stock of the troupe for a moment, glancing from adventurer to adventurer Kardalis shakes his head and laughs slightly.
"How in the Nine Hells did this group of misfits converge on this same point in time and space...it apalls me"

Nerea stands, stretching idly as she surveys the encroaching darkness. Save for the crackling of the fire, the night seems quiet and still. A part of her remains restless, however, too alert to sleep just yet.

"We're quite the diverse group, yes," she agrees after a moment. "And despite some minor disagreements, I've enjoyed hearing the little you've each mentioned about your travels. I admit, though, that my favorite member of this little band is Ikkri. What a handsome, fine-feathered fellow."

She croons at him, taking special delight in Avis's baleful expression.

Ikkri shakes himself, fluffing up his plumage. His feathers shine iridescent in the dim campfire light. "Thank you, pretty lady! Ikkri is a pretty bird!"

Avis rolls her eyes. But then, she looks to Nerea with a glint in her gaze. "You like him so much? Why don't you give him a silver? He loves shiny things."

She offers her finger for Ikkri to perch. The raven flutters to it and looks at Nerea intently as Avis extends her arm towards her. "Give Ikkri a shiny!" he commands.

Her gaze flitting between Avis and Ikkri with a mixture of suspicion and amusement, Nerea ultimately acquiesces. She kneels down to dig carefully through her pack and, after a brief pause, emerges with a silver piece. Holding it aloft with a slight flourish, she presents it to Ikkri with a murmured, "For you, pretty bird."

Ikkri inspects the silver piece, his beady eyes blinking and twitching. "Silver...cheap!" Nevertheless, he accepts it, snatching it with his beak. He shifts it to his talons and pecks at it once, twice. "Hm...hm...a fine mint." At this, he plucks it with his beak again, this time swallowing it whole.

Avis grins. "Now, now, Ikkri. Give the lady her silver."

Ikkri obeys, flittering over to Nerea and nesting comfortably in her thick curls. With an ugly sound, the bird regurgitates the coin into his newfound nest.

Avis must stifle her laughter behind her fingers. "Oh, Ikkri! Such a rude boy. I really am sorry about that, my dear," she says, voice dripping with sarcasm.

Kardalis raises his eyebrows at the interaction between the other half-elf and the heaven-touched. "My earlier statement may have been an understatement it seems", he mutters, as much to himself as to anyone else.

Curiously Imarra's brows furrow at Amra's response to her question. Nodding she swallowed her water and pushed the stopper back into the waterskin. But before she is able to follow up on it Avis ask about the type of undead that were reported and finds out about the lack of information they had.
While the conversation then turns to the group Imarra can't help but eye the drowblooded man. He is likely capable in what he does, leading to his cinfidence, but not knowing what type of person he is makes her somewhat wary. With his built she did not think him to be a fighter, which leads her to imagine him as a spellcaster of some sort as well.

"While it is true that we are a strange group in one way, I believe another perspective shows us as ..." Imarra begins towards Kardalis, but loses her focus at the bird nesting in Nerea's hair for a moment "... a quite special, uhm, specialised group.". Keeping a hand on her familiar to keep the curious cat from going after the birdnoises she tried to elaborate, "We are to retrieve Jarvin, defeating the undead is surely beneficial, but if we find ourselves in over our head we can agree to leave for our own safety.".