Ciara stepped off the Vialais airship onto the docks of the great Mamlak city. She gave a quick wave to the airship captain who gave her a glare. Perhaps her nightly singing had annoyed him more than she expected? She shrugged off the thought and made her way toward the city. It had been several years, perhaps even a decade since her last visit. Mamlak appeared to be the same as ever. The golden lions reflected the bright sunlight and stood as a reminder of the kingdom’s wealth while the stone buildings carved from the mountains were as sturdy as ever. Yet after a closer inspection, Ciara could see the small changes. Fashion had slightly adjusted since her last visit. Instead of large sashes tied around their waists, people had moved onto a slimmer silhouette with tighter fabrics.

Tourist traps in the form of colorful stalls surrounded the fae woman as soon as she took a few steps from the docks. A few stalls had necklaces using precious minerals from the mountains while others held maps or souvenirs to collect from Mamlak. Despite her interest in art, she knew better than to bother with the tourist traps. She made her way downwards and watched as the clean pretty streets turned older the longer she traveled. The wealth of the upper class faded away and revealed the true heart of the city where the working class lived. Blacksmiths, bakeries, and a mix of houses lined the streets. People scattered about their everyday business caught her interest far more than the glamorous lions.

She took a moment to visit a  shop to investigate the weaving finery of the city. Elaborate and colorful threads were woven together to create a masterpiece in a variety of patterns. Ciara was tempted to buy one to hoard in her museum back in the guild. Perhaps it would inspire her guildsmen or her students? She folded to her whims and purchased a carpet. She also collected a few minerals and stones as resources for the artists. Little did she realize that she was being watched during her shopping spree….

From a darkened alleyway a pair of eyes observed the fae woman. The mysterious person was dressed in a cloak and mask in an attempt to disguise themself. They had been observing the woman for a while after she had entered the middle district. Waiting until she drew closer, he waited for the perfect time to strike. He snatched her by the arm and began dragging her down the alleyway saying something about "safety" and "bringing her to meet some friends". Thankfully Ciara had managed to keep a hold of the things she had just bought. Her curiosity compelled her to just roll with the spontaneous kidnapping.

———————–
Meanwhile….

Two other cloaked individuals had taken notice of another stranger in the city. This stranger was dressed in a set of armor and had a skull which deeply interested the two people. They spied on him for a while, worried that there would be someone else trying to grab his interest before them. But when he neared one of the alleyways, one of the hooded figures grabbed him by the arm and attempted to pull him down the alleyway towards a dead end.

"Come with us oh glorious knight. We have been waiting for you." One figure claimed.

"Yes please join us for this evening. We desperately require your presence." The other said.

The dead-end was merely an illusion built from magic. They stepped past the wall and into a small tunnel built of rock and stone. The tunnel lead to an underground hideout where a barrage of cultists hid from the local guards. The presence the two strangers excited each cultist, especially the presence of the knight.

To say that a lot was going through Hans' head is something of an understatement. The Knight of the Raven who quite recently, because just today, arrived at the city of Mamlak, was experiencing a flurry of sensations. Never in his life he had a city as colorful and at the same time monochromatic in places. Colorful of course in a sense of how people were dressed in colorful robes that…seemed bit tight in places he had noticed. The variety of wares that were on sale, on myriad of stalls he had gone past by. The people themselves, Hans was very much accustomed to places in which a single group dwelt and lived with very few people from the outside and here he had seen so many different people of all sorts races, shapes, sizes (He almost stepped on a halfling by accident.) It was quite dazzling, stunning even and Hans himself moved about like a lost child in a crowd. As to the monochromatic aspect of the City…it was from what it was made from. The white stone that reflected the sun straight into his eyes and…golden lions. A lot of Golden Lions all about the place. He couldn't make few steps without bumping into one of those. He swore, even in the most of devout of cities in his homeland there haven't been as many idols to the various gods as there were Lions in Mamlak. Though…uhhh he assumed they were in reverence of some deity as that explaination seemed to make the most sense to him. However Hans didn't know much about the place he was currently in and it showed.

There were people who would come up to him and ask him about things, about his armor, where he is from. He once or twice heard some people refering to him as a tourist. Sometimes in an benign way in others he could swear he heard some jeering tones in reference to him. Tourist now that was not the word he was familiar with, he assumed it meant something along the lines of outsider, maybe a more polite way to say it in public? Now that he though about it there was something peculiar about certain stalls and business he witnessed. They…seemed to cater to outsiders which was peculiar to Hans because even cities with a lot of traffic back home, most things were set up for…well, residents of the city. The kind of establishments that served people from the outside were also the kind that were made primarly to serve people who were living there already. But here some of them seemed to set up for the expressed purpose of dealing with those so called tourists. To Hans, who at heart was still a mere commoner, this all seemed kind of weird..but well, cities have their own rules and it was not for him to judge them.

Still, despite his amazement at all of this it quickly begun to tire him. It was an sensational overload not to mentiong his black armor absorbed the sun like a sponge. Suffice to say, he started to move away from the marketplaces and the noise of neverending comerce and begun heading towards some more quiet parts of the city. At least he hoped they were more quiet, he didn't know his way around so he was more or less blindly walking around the city, with only direction being "Away from the noise". In which he sort of suceeded but inevitably he got lost, though in his current state he didn't much care. Silence or a relative state of it was still more preferable to his overloaded senses. However this also made him a prime target for certain people who just seemingly appeared out of thin air and begun dragging him into an alleyway.

They said something, but in his state of confusion, 27 year old knight couldn't make out exactly what did they say. However his eyebrow raised itself quite high as when they brought him to alleyway's dead end, it was reaveled to be an illusion leading towards an tunnel of sorts. It was very foreboding and Hans had very bad feeling about all of this and cursed his rotten luck, once again.

Deep underground was a hidden cavern just large enough to hold the cult and its supplies. The old abandoned tracks showed signs of it once being a mine that had long dried up and built over. The walls of the cavern were decorated in tapestries depicting skulls, necromancers, and human sacrifices. There was an altar in the center of the floor while the crates surrounding the edge of the room contained old books that the cult had collected. There were twelve people surrounding the alter when Ciara and Hans were pulled into the cavern. Elegant chairs with velvet cushions were prepared for both of them while the rest of the cultists started to gather around them. They were in awe of the death knight and the strange pale lady. Suddenly a silence fell over the room as a person wearing a red cloak and a golden chain round their neck stepped into the room.

“You did well to bring them here. A death knight and a perfectly created undead.” The head cultist declared.

Ciara had just finished taking her seat when she heard THAT little bit of information. It was only now that she realized that this cult had only brought her because they thought she was undead. At that grave offense, the fae woman simply couldn't stand by.

“Excuse me?!” Ciara exclaimed with a clear offense, “I may be pale but I am not undead!”

“…. Are you sure about that?” A confused cultist asked.

“Yes, I’m certain darling.” Ciara said, “I have a pulse and everything to prove it.”

The fae woman offered up her arm to show one of the cultists as proof. The closest cultist took her arm and felt the pulse at her wrist. Disappointment burned in the man’s face as he sighed and gave a nod to the leader. The red-cloaked leader shook her head in disappointment then looked towards Hans. This individual did appear to be a death knight but the leader wanted to actually check before they began a ritual.

“I guess you aren’t a death knight either?” The cultist's leader asked.

When Hans was taken by Cultists and dragged to their hideout he was still affected by the the hot weather outside. So he didn't resist much when he was made to sit on a cushioned chair, he somewhat appreciated that even if the comfort was lost on him due to the heavy armour he wore. Nonthenless, ability to sit down and rest for a bit away from the scorching sun made him feel better. Sadly, this feeling was short lived, as the senses which were dulled by the weather, began returning to him and he started to notice some unsettling…things. Namely that he was somewhere deep underground, surrounded by cloaked figures, a very pale lady was sat down next to hime and then, leader cloaked in red came into the room and things just kept on getting worse.

Undead…they brought them here because they thought they were related to the undead…which, well they were partially right in regards to him but not to the lady, who rightly was offended at this and went to prove that she was very much so alive. Under any other circumstances Hans would have been happy to see and hear this, but he started to put things together and he realised that they were in a lot of trouble. Clearly, this was some sort of a cult or other sort of organisation that has taken some interest in the undead, clearly he and this lady were deep within the base of this organisation and it was very clear to him, that it was doubtful they would allow them to leave this place alive.

So when the leader of the cult turned to him and asked him the question, Hans knew he had to act. Gears turned inside his head, trying to come up with a plan of action as he tried to play for time.
- Well you see this is a very complicated matter that requires a lot of time to explain and to get into all the nitty gritty… - He quickly stammered - So now uhhh I have to get right into the very important topic of SUNBURST! - He yelled while raising his right hand, in which he held a talisman addorned with a wood carved skull of an Raven. As he did so a blinding light emanted from the amulet as a ball of holy energy was sent hurling at the leader of the cult. After that, hoping that the confusion brought about by the sudden burst of light would be enough of a distraction to allow them chance at an escape, Hans grabbed the pale lady who sat down next to him and tried to run as fast he could towards the exit.

For a moment Ciara was wondering on what she ought to do to these people for this grave offense. However, she wasn't fully confident she could defeat everyone in the room. Her magical prowess was great but her combat abilities were lacking. If she actually tried to fight everyone in the room in such a closed space, there was no doubt that she would lose. No amount of skill or strength would save someone who is outnumbered. As the fae woman pondered this predicament, a certain knight was acting quickly. He stammered out a response then shouted sunburst. A bright light erupted from his talisman, becoming a ball of holy energy and striking the leader of the cult. The rest of the cultists were in shock, some gathering around their leader while others backed away from the knight. Before she could act further, the knight grabbed her hand and they both ran towards the exit of the cave. 

"How forward~" Ciara joked when he grabbed her hand. 

They escaped through one of the tunnels. The sounds of angry cultists echoed behind them along with the hoards of footsteps. The tunnel ahead of them was coming up to a turn to the left. Ciara could hear the cultists drawing near and knew that they would catch up if she didn't do something soon. She hurried her own pace and the second they turned the corner, she attempted to shove the knight up against the wall. Taking out her panpipe, she played a tune that echoed around the tunnel. Her music was quick and playful, almost like a joyous laughter or a merry whistle. In a matter of seconds the song was over. 

"Don't move an inch." She whispered to the knight. 

The cultists drew closer and closer until they were right upon them. The cultists turned the corner of the tunnel and… ran straight past them, almost as if they weren't there at all. Ciara kept perfectly still until she saw them vanish further into the tunnel, then she let out a sigh of relief. The fae woman stepped away from the wall and turned to the knight with a mischievous smile. 

"Basic invisibility spell." Ciara explained in a quiet voice, "I can see you and you can see me, but anybody else will be unable to. Of course this only works when we aren't moving. And the spell will only last a minute. Still, I think it was fairly effective." 

Despite their seemingly escape from the cultists, the tunnels were long and twisted. Ciara hadn't taken note of the direction they came from when they first entered and they would have to be weary of the cultists up ahead. Though they had escaped any initial fight, she knew if they weren't careful they would be caught. Meaning… she would have to stick to the friendly knight and his useful skills as much as possible. The fae woman smirked and grabbed the knight's hand again. 

"Well, my knight in skeleton armor, shall we try to make our daring escape?" Ciara asked. 

Things were getting weirder and weirder, Hans thought. The escape itself was fairly easy all things considered, the guards were blinded or stunned by his attack on their leader, so there wasn't much in a way of resistance. Though certainly, that changed quickly as cultists gave chase. All of that was fairly normal and predictable. The Cultists of course would have been surprised by the sudden attack and of course they would have been angry after they regained their senses. This made sense. What didn't make sense was the woman Hans was taking with him, or well her attitude. She seemed strangely…jovial? First she joked about his rather…well, he had to admit, rather forceful action of grabbing her, insinuating he was coming onto her. He was thankful for his helmet because this made his face redder than a tomato, from the sheer emberrassment.

Then was the fact that as they were escaping she took out some sort of instrument and she began to play it. He was about to say that its not the time for those sorts of things but she got the first word in before he could talk and then cultists showed up…and…then moved past them. She then explained to him it was an invisibility spell. Well, he heard that magic was all around in this world, he just didn't expect that it also applied to music. Then again if it was realy everywhere then there is no reason for music to not be affected aswell. He looked around the tunnel for a moment trying to spot a way that would lead them to the exit, though this was inturrepted by the lady grabbing unto his hand. This startled Hans out of his observations and caused him to yet again blush in abject emberrassment.

- "Ah yes, yes we should try that of course…I uhhh think we might reach the surface if we go this way." - He said pointing towards a tunnel where one could see some light shining - "Should I take the lead, lady…?"

"Why, certainly!" The fae woman said quietly. 

She followed close behind the knight as they made their escape through the tunnel. Her ears and eyes were alert, despite her easy smile. If she had to guess, the cultists would have spread through the tunnels in search of them. At any point one could pop out or try to attack them. Luckily, they wouldn't be in a group in a small room anymore. If it was just one or two, she had confidence the both of them could take the cultist down. After a minute the invisibility spell melted away. Fortunately they were closer towards the exit, leading back into the city. She wondered what she ought to do once they were no longer in such danger. 

"If I may ask for your name?" Ciara quietly asked the knight. 

The nickname skeleton knight could work but she preferred addressing someone properly and she was curious to test his wit. Before she could continue the conversation, two individuals stepped out of the shadows. Both were dressed in cultist robes and holding a spear in their hands. They blocked the rest of the tunnel off and were ready to attack at any moment. Ciara snatched her panpipes from her pockets and readied herself to play. 

"Would you prefer to take the left or the right?" She asked Hans. 

And so Hans led Ciara through the tunnel, all things considered their journey was less troublesome than he expected. The knight expected to more or less bump into a cultist or two almost every other step he took but they only encountered two of them now. If Hans had to assume anything is that Cultists probably have spread themselves out too thinly across the tunnels. Which either suggested that they didn't have the numbers to cover the network properly or that network itself was of significantly larger size than he anticipated. He hoped for the former but he felt that with his rottent luck, the latter was more probable. Still, the walk up to this point was pleasent if a little bit dark and quiet. Well that was untill the lady he was with asked him a question about his name. An innocuous enough question he thought, but still put him on edge probably due to her eccentricities from earlier…however he couldn't think of any harm that could have result from answering. It is probably highly unlikely that they will ever meet again after this, not to mention what could she do with it? Its just his name and he had a rather plain one at that.

- "Of course you may, my lady." - He replied - "My given name is Hans and my familial name, that is my last name, is Grish." - He answered without much of a fuss or fanfare.

But back to the present, now two cultists stood before them, ready to strike at them at any moment. The lady asked him which one to take one so he quickly answered.
- "I shall take on the one on the right, my lady." - And as he said so he reached under his cloak, from a scabbard that seemingly appeared on his belt from out of nowhere, a sword with an elongated hilt fit to be used in two or one hand. The blade, and the metal parts of it, were all silvery and glistened brightly under the dim light. At base of the blade, in the middle of the crossguard, laid a black rose from which sprouted silver, thorned vines which wrapped themselves around the guard and sword's base. Meanwhile upon the blade itself were etched runes in unknown tongue, which glowed with a faint purple colour. As Knight armed himself with his blade, his defences were further enchanced by the sudden appearence of a shield upon his left arm. Although it was too dark to make out the design upon it, one could see silvery vines with thorns, that wraped themsleves along its edges, just like the ones on Hans' sword. The Knight after arming himself lunged into action, keeping his shield raised and infront of him he closed the distance with the cultist. He would parry the enemy's attack and then he would counterstrike, aiming a swift blow at his foe's neck that would hopefully dispatch him in a quick and relatively painless manner.

"It's good to meet you Hans." The fae woman said with a smile.

Ciara was somewhat surprised by the ease at which Han's name had been given out. She wasn't exactly hiding her fae nature and most people at least knew of a story or two, even if they'd never met a fae in real life. His armor was incredibly unique as well. It was shaped like a skull but wasn't made of a real one. The details were too specific to just be a regular piece of armor. 

Her mind jumped back to the cultists at hand. They would have to be dealt with first before any further investigation. Hans chose the one on the right and used a scabbard, one that she hadn't seen before, with a black rose and silver thorned vines wrapping around the guard and base. Ciara's eyes widened with fascination at the shiny object. The artistry on the weapon was impeccable. A delicate piece of metal work that still could be used as a weapon. What was even more surprising was the surprise shield on his left arm with similar silvery vines.

The armory had captured her attention so much that she had forgotten the cultists once more. Until the one on the left tried to jab her with a spear. Now this cultist had her full attention. Bringing her panpipes to her lips, she began playing a sharp and harsh tune. Like a bird crying in the air or the howl of the wind only faster and louder. At first her target merely laughed, astonished that music was being used to fight him. 

Until he looked down at his legs. A swarm of rats had suddenly appeared and were slowly climbing his legs. He let out a cry of alarm as he tried to stab each rat, only to feel the pain of their bites instead. The rats kept swarming in and began biting into his flesh. He stabbed and stabbed each rat that was on him with all his strength but each time he could only feel the pain of their bites. One rat even chewed out a hole into the man's leg and was burrowing its way through his flesh and skin, up towards his chest. In a maddening panic the cultist stabbed himself in the chest in a desperate attempt to kill that rat crawling inside him. The cultist fell to the floor, having stabbed himself through the chest with his own spear. 

In reality, there were no rats. There wasn't a single rat in the entire tunnel, or at least none that she had called. The poor cultist had been a victim to one of her musical songs known as the phantasmal dream. An illusionary spell used to make the victim see enemies or illusions. If the cultist had a stronger mind, he may have been able to resist feeling the rats or broken the spell. To the cultist he was in a swarm of rats, to everyone else he simply started stabbing himself for no apparent reason and screaming at the top of his lungs.

"We'd best get out of here as soon as possible." Ciara suggested as she looked towards Hans to see how he was doing with his opponent, "The others will be here soon." 

As Ciara looked over his equipment and took care of one of the cultists. Hans focused entirely on his foe. In contrast to the lady, who acompanied him, he was so focused on his enemy that as far as he was concerned in this moment, he and that cultist were the only things which existed at this time. There were no thoughts, no doubts nor hesitation in his mind, only action and instinct. He lunged at the cultist who then moved to skewer him with his spear, Hans expecting this raised his shield, blocked the attack and deflected the blow off to the side. Using his still, substantial momentum the knight clad in dark armour moved in closer, past the spearhead and the shaft of his foe's weapon. The cultist knew his spear was all but useless now so he quickly moved his towards a short blade which rested at his hip…but not quick enough. In a singular, swift flash of motion, Hans swung his sword at cultist's neck, cleanly slicing through fabric, flesh and bone alike. After that, there were two dull thumps, as the body and the head of the cultist hit the floor and one clanging noise as the spear fell alongside it. From Hans' adrenline fueled perspective world moved in slow motion, dragging on every move, every relaxation and tensing of the muscle. It even took an agonizing long time from his point of view for the head to fall on the ground, while in fact all of this has happened in less than few seconds.

What took him out of his battle ready, adrenaline pumping state, was woman's voice. Hans returned to the earth, his muscles relaxed and he looked in the direction from which the voice came. He could see the cultist that the pale lady took care of…well. She said she dealt with illusions didn't she? She had clearly muddled that man's mind as he was screaming and maiming his own body. Though, they were his enemies at this moment, Hans could feel some manner of pity for that cultist. He decided that…he should not suffer like this, so he came up to the enchanted cultist and in a quick motion drove his sword through his chest, ending his life in as a painless manner as he could muster at this moment. After that, he turned to the woman and spoke up.

- "Agreed, let's move out and not waste time lest we will be swarmed by them. After me my lady." - He said calmly as he begun to move further into the tunnel towards the exit.