Standard Mission: A Bitter Rain

Samael

Samael woke up when a puff of nauseating perfume collided into his nostrils, as the vanguard woke up in a heaping cough like he was about to cough out his lungs. His eyes quickly glanced up to see Mandrake holding a 'bottle?' of perfume as it walked around spraying it all over his room with what Samael thought was a sadistic glee.

"What are you doing?!" Samael stated in an irritated voice coughing up more of the vile perfume, as he turned his head to quickly open a window. He was about to yell at mandrake as he rose a finger, his face red with rage when the flower responded with her own grimace of anger.

"I was just getting out the FILTH, that was here before." The mandrake stated in a heated rage knocking over one of shirts he had hanging in the center of the room, as she turned her head pointing towards his gauntlet with a simple sigh, "Also we have a mission, though, I'm not sure I like it, getting overwatered is bad for my health."

Samael blinked as he turned his face to view the information on the gauntlet, realizing he was supposed to meet soon the vanguard quickly threw on the finest of.... clothes and.... water jacket and head off to the meeting spot.

Aren Vent

Aren chucked and merrily walked through the graveyard. “Ah, I wonder when it’ll get noisy here.” He said to no one in particular. He walked through the long dreary path to get into town, out to buy a new shovel.

Once he arrived in town, his gauntlet chimed and he sighed. “There goes my plans for today then.” He muttered to himself. Aren glanced at his gauntlet, reading the information and realising he finally had something to do and fill up his empty schedule.

Filled with excitement, a grin found its way across his face. He squealed and gained a hop in his step as he cheerfully went to meet up to see other members of the vanguard.

Zephyr Arc - Barracks

Zephyr woke up at being shaken quite violently. Hopping up, he looked around thinking it might have been some kind of attack, reaching for his spear by the bedside. What he found, however, was an angry Pixie pouting at him, floating in front of him with her arms crossed. Putting two and two together, he realized it was just Cherry trying to wake up up and... promptly rolled over and tried to go back to sleep.

Understanding that he had no intention to get up otherwise, Cherry sighed... then threw a bucket of water over his head. Zephyr jumped out of bed with a start, then looked back towards his bed, regretful at not being able to continue his slumber. Really, ever since the excitement at the fairy banquet in summer, Cherry had been far stronger and more energetic than ever before. This was normally a good thing... except when it came to his enjoying his time slacking off or sleeping. Shaking his head for a bit, he asked her what was urgent enough to kick him out of bed so much earlier than usual.

"Look at your gauntlet, you idiot!" She yelled back at him, busying herself removing the wet blanket and pillow to dry. It was then that he noticed the gauntlet was pinging. "Oh, new mission, huh? Good thing we already got all the shopping and the like done." He spoke out loud, both to himself and to Cherry, whom nodded as she got things in order. "Guess I'd better hurry up then..." He trailed off as he went to get dressed.

-------

With his morning routine done, Zephyr fastened his gauntlet to his left arm and grabbed his spear. As he headed out, a new piece of equipment could be seen strapped to his right shoulder. A polished, shining shield with a point at the bottom sat there, flared out enough to cover his upper torso and jaw when seen from the side. It had impeccable craftsmanship, and had clearly not seen practical use yet from just a glance. He'd realized after so many missions that he had a tendency to use his kerambit as a makeshift shield rather than for its intended purpose, so he'd sent word to his master. It wasn't even a few days before this piece of equipment had arrived from him from back home, seemingly made just for his use.

Cherry landed on the very same shoulder, completely hidden from sight behind it for anyone that didn't look closer. She quite liked the added security, and hummed a joyful tune as Zephyr walked them to the meeting place. He wondered if there would be any new faces this time, as he'd been teamed up almost exclusively with his graduating class until now, not counting Nihility.

Chaldea - Outskirts

“Good morning, Vanguards!” A young man waved to the group as they approached a pair of carts near the city gates. He peered between them before settling back against one of the carts. “Not seeing any familiar faces. So, I guess introductions are in order.”

“Name’s Jack.” He put a thumb against his chest for a moment before gesturing towards the front of the cart. “This is Tamara.”

One might have assumed he was referring to the horse, if not for the young woman that stepped into view a moment later. “Mornin, y’all.” She waved before moving to Jack’s side. “We’re all set to go.”

“Great.” He gave her a smile as a large, horned demon came around the front of the cart. It regarded the Vanguards for a few seconds before looking expectantly towards Jack, who totally missed the look because he was still smiling at Tamara. Since she obviously wasn’t oblivious to the look, Tamara quirked an eyebrow at Jack, who now looked confused. Clearing her throat, she elbowed him in the ribs, which seemed to supply him with a little focus.

“Right.” He grimaced, rubbing his ribs with one hand. “And this is Stutely.”

The large demon puffed his chest out, looking pleased with the introduction.

“If y’all would like to hop into one of the carts, feel free.” Tamara cut in with a bright smile. “It’s about two days’ journey to our destination, and we can’t have y’all wearing yourselves out before we arrive.”

Zephyr Arc - Outskirts

Zephyr walked fairly leisurely to the meeting point, not really in a rush. Naturally, this lead to Cherry pouting as she sat on his shoulder, sure that he would be late. Upon arrival, however, Zephyr realized immediately that he was the first one to arrive. "See, Cherry? We're actually early. Unless you're about to say whoever else is going with us just happens to be tardy slobs?" He asked her sarcastically as he laughed. He was interrupted by a spirited chap calling out to them, waving quite energetically.

"I'll wager a guess that's our transport." He commented out loud to both himself and Cherry as he began walking over. Introductions got under way quite quickly from there. It seemed Jack was the friendly sort. Tamara didn't seem to lose out by much on that either. "Zephyr Arc, nice to meet you folks." He told them. After all, he was trying to be friendly and get to know people better too... Definitely didn't have anything to do with the Pixie pinching his ear, no sir.

Aren Vent - Outskirts

Aren reached the meeting point to see an ensemble of ragtag individuals, that you wouldn’t expect to see together. He had to try to suppress a smile, he had finally found them. He heard snippets of everyone else’s introductions and decided to introduce himself; “It’s a pleasure to meet you all, I’m Aren.” Noticing the other demons hanging around, he waved his hand; his gauntlet proceeding to come to life, lighting up, and vibrating.

A few seconds later, Sigmund’s body appeared, and his head rolled across the ground. “Oh wow, now you summon me.” Aren chuckled and gestured to Sigmund, “This is Sigmund, I thought I’d introduce him as he doesn’t get out much.” The rolling head proceeded to stop by Aren’s leg, nudging it slightly. “Doesn’t go out much, more like you keep me locked in.”

Aren proceeded to pick up the head and threw it towards Sigmund’s body.
catch it. “Anyway, it’s nice to finally do something, but I don’t suppose any of you have a spare shovel?” Aren asked, as he grinned and tried not to laugh at Sigmund’s clown-like act.

Samael

Samael let a look of annoyance as he noticed that the other two, Zeyphr and this new person called Aren were already there before him. He usually liked to be earlier than this, but he slept in longer than he normally had. Still, he wasn't late just not early... so it was fine.

"Two days in that?!" Samael's mandrake scoffed, as she suddenly burst out of Samael's gauntlet with big large plant eyes. Samael simply covered his face in embarrassment, as he gave a slight but swift gesture to mandrake effectively silencing her.

"Sorry, name is Samael, and this is Tulip. She's a recently arrival to my team but you'll find she's a great addition." Samael stated firmly with a nod, as Tulip seemed to glance back at the vanguard with a sharp but approving nod vanishing back into his gauntlet.

"Nice to see you again as well, Zeyphr, Cherry and... Aren? Don't think we've ever actually met." Samael stated holding out his hand in a brief and formal gesture, as he turned to cherry for a second eyeing her new high pixie like figure.

"By the way Cherry, does the swimsuit still fit you? I can resize it if need be." Samael commented in a worried tone.

Chaldea - Outskirts

Introductions had been going swimmingly until Sigmund was summoned. At the sight of a head rolling across the ground, Tamara’s eyes widened, and she let out a short shriek before ducking behind Jack and burying her face between his shoulders. “Ohmygod! Please no.”

Jack, whose face had gone sheet pale at the first sight of the demon, quickly regained his color as he realized that the lady had pressed herself up against his back. “It’s uhh…” He cleared his throat, trying to sound less freaked out. “It’s fine. His head is…”

“Uh… It’s supposed to do that. Yeah. It’s totally supposed to do that.” He didn’t sound very convinced of the fact himself, but considering Sigmund himself was talking, despite the disconnected head, it seemed like a reasonable conclusion.

“It.. It is?” Tamara peered around Jack’s shoulder, just in time to see Aren throw Sigmund his own head. With another squeak, she ducked back behind him. “I’m so sorry. I know I’m being rude, but that’s just very unsettling.”

Jack had to agree, but he didn’t voice that opinion out loud. Instead, he addressed Aren’s other statement. “I’m almost afraid to ask, but why do you need a shovel?”

Stutely, who had initially seemed concerned with Tamara’s unusual behavior, was now looking back and forth from the wagons to where Samael’s mandrake had briefly appeared. Judging from the look on his face, he was probably trying to figure out why the demon had taken such offense at the idea of riding in the wagons.

Jack cleared his throat again, drawing everyone’s attention. “Anyway, we should probably be get going.”

“Of course.” Tamara seemed to have pulled herself together enough to no longer be plastered to Jack’s back. “Y’all are welcome to ride in the back of either wagon, or there’s enough room for two on the front bench of Stutely’s wagon.” She gestured to the one on their right, which upon closer inspection didn’t have any horses tethered to it.

Zephyr Arc - Outskirts

His cohorts arrived not soon after, the first to show being someone he'd yet to meet. With a little bit of encouragement from Cherry, he turned to the man and gave his own name as well. Then he said something about needing a spare shovel. He didn't really understand why anyone would need a shovel when going on mission, so he couldn't help but blank for a moment, staring at him a moment too long. Maybe he was somehow using it as a weapon? That sounded terribly inefficient, but still possible...

"...Why a shovel?"

It seemed he wasn't the only one wondering, as Jack asked the same question at almost the same time.

Just before things could become awkward, Samael appeared. He looked just a bit irritated. From what he knew of the other man's personality, he was probably just miffed he wasn't the first to arrive. He was glad for a familiar face regardless. "Glad to have you, Sam." He replied to him with a grin, extending his hand for a shake. Perhaps it was a bit obvious that he seemed almost unaware of the demons other than Cherry, as he didn't even seem to react to any of them or their introductions.

Cherry, on the other hand, waved happily to Samael's new additions. Being a fairy folk herself, she felt a bit of affinity for the creature. When Samael began talking to her, she got off Zephyr's shoulder and floated over to him, twirling about to show off her improved features. Samael was one of the few people other than Zephyr she'd warmed up to by now so she didn't stutter as she spoke. Much. "N-no. I didn't get any bigger or anything so it still fits fine!" She replied to him with her bell-like voice, sounding much more energetic than usual. She hadn't interacted with Aren's headless demon as she wasn't exactly used to it just yet.

With the pleasantries taken care of, Zephyr quickly hopped into one of the wagons. "I'm sure you two can enjoy your chat in the wagon, so hop in. We're apparently in for a long trip. You too, Aren." He said as he yawned, placed his sack under his head and closed his eyes. Guess he could catch up on those winks he missed after all.

Aren - Outskirts

Aren smiled at the scene, he naturally aced his self-introduction with his usual flair. “Yeah, his head is meant to do that I think…” He walked forward towards a wagon, “To answer your question Jack, I need one to bury a new body.” He jumped into the wagon with a smile, and sat beside Zephyr. “Anyway, about that shovel; do you have one?”

Sigmund slowly shuffled over, and placed his head on top of Zephyr’s lap; “Hold that for me would you?” He crawled in, doing a forward roll in the process slamming into the wagon.

“Anyway, it's a pleasure to meet you.” Aren offered out his hand towards Zephyr, offering it in a handshake.

Samael

Samael simply nodded with a light smile as he climbed in with the rest of the group, though his eyes seemed at little bit doubtful at Cherry's remark about her swimsuit. Her wings certainly looked sharper now and also there were about four now.... while their effective size would be about the same, it would conflict with snug comfortable....

Well, that's for another time....

"If you're sure cherry" Samael relented, as he turn to the carriage and climbed into the wagon with the other three. As he pulled out a book the moment he saw Zeyphr begin to nod off, though Aren seemed to still be in a talkative mood.

"I think he's trying to get some sleep Aren." Samael responded, as Samael flicked his finger as the spell noise manipulation went off replacing the sound of the moving carriage with a instead the sounds of light soothing raindrops and the distant sound of light thunder around Zeyphr muffling their conversation.

"I've worked with Zeyphr a good bit already, I can fill you in on our abilities, we're both pretty exhausted after that 'vacation'" Samael stated with a smile, as he began filling Aren in on their abilities and tactics.

Entering the Wetlands

“Y’all are gonna want to see this!”

Tamara’s voice carried through the wagon as she stuck her head through the flap that separated the front bench from the storage area.

The wagon rolled to a stop a moment later, and as the Vanguards piled out to stretch their legs, Jack and Stutely were fiddling with the awning on the front of the cart, which would shield the driver’s bench from the rain.

For the last day, they’d been traveling on a slight incline. You couldn’t exactly call it climbing a mountain, but it had always been uphill. Now, the road ahead dipped down, and in the distance, the curtain of rain was clearly visible.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Tamara asked as she made her way towards the group. “This is the first time I’ve actually seen it, but Jack has apparently been out this way before.”

“He says that normally, it rains like this for half of the year. This is the first time it’s ever lasted so long.” She turned wistful eyes towards the rain. “Because of this rain, the locals can grow so much more than the village where I live, but too much is also a bad thing. If it doesn’t let up soon, all of this year’s crops might drown, and that could mean a food shortage for Chaldea and all the surrounding villages.”

“That’s why we’re hauling these fine Vanguards with us.” Jack commented as he moved to the side of Stutely’s wagon to help the demon unlatch his own awning, which extended out quite a bit further to cover him. “Hopefully, they can sort out whatever is going on.”

“The locals think that they’ve incurred the wrath of some demon and been cursed.” Tamara continued as Jack moved away again. “I don’t know much about curses, but hopefully, y’all can get to the bottom of it.”

Samael

Samael quickly shuffled out of the wagon his head stiff from the journey, as Tulip popped out a moment later a giant frown etched across her mouth. As she rose her arms wide into the air, staring at the cloud ridden sky like she was trying to kill the clouds with some sort of sinister hex.

After a few moments, glanced over at Samael who had a look of awe on his face, as he began writing one a quick sketch of the view before Tulip brushed her petal in his direction, as some of the perfume like spores flew into his face causing him to break out into a heavy coughing fit.

"Tulip.... relax, just enjoy the sight.  And besides... this view really is gorgeous" Samael responded in an exhausted tone, as she quickly tried to swat away the pink fragrance when he noticed Tamara was approaching the two of them. His eyes quickly locked to hers, as he corrected and stiffened his posture like he was about to engage in a business transaction before giving a stiff but... friendly? nod of agreement at her last statement.

"Zeyphr didn't you say something about your last mission was dealing with a lake full of water spirits?  You think it's the same thing here?  Maybe something is disturbing them?" Samael stated with a look of concern.  

Though a town fully covered in rain?  Who knows what kind of wildlife exists here, under such a bizarre climate there could be all sorts of strange demons... but there could also be some more rare plant life he could use for designing too....

"I'm not much of a healer, but Tulip has dealt with her fair share of purifying right?" Samael commented, as the Mandrake gave him a side eye before reluctantly commenting with a hint of bafflement in her voice her eyes wide as she flicked one of her flower leaves back, "I mean we need to keep the soil rich, but if you're talking about the healing spell that literally kills us.... No. I don't have much experience with it, hun."

"Right...." Samael coughed his face a bit red in embarrassment, as he turned his gaze to look directly a Jack, "So are certain demons more active during the rain here?  Or do you not see a lot of demons in these parts? Or any other information you might know about the area?"

Zephyr Arc - Wagon

Zephyr nodded off practically immediately once he lay down, missing Aren's greeting as a result. Sigmund's head fell off his lap as he rolled over. While Samael handled Aren, Cherry quickly grabbed the head and air-lifted it back to its owner, who had crashed into the wagon like a sack of potatoes. She gave him a quick bow in greeting before speeding off back to Samael, seeing as Zephyr had gone to sleep.

--------------------------

Zephyr stepped out with the others when the wagon stopped, taking in the new scenery. He'd brought a book for the long journey and had his nose buried in it for the majority of the trip, so it was nice to get some fresh air again after some time. Cherry sat on his head, hands pressed down in front of her as she enjoyed the view. Tamara's narration served more as background music for the scenery until Samael piped up and asked him a question.

"Yea, turns out they were corrupted by another race of demons attempts to replace the lake guardian with their own perverted version of one... I'd rather not have to deal with another of those. That fight was explicitly unfun." He sighed. As someone that normally enjoyed fighting, that fight was more tedious than fun, for sure. The climate was, admittedly, fairly similar. With perhaps the exception that, rather than randomly raining from out of nowhere, the rain simply showed no sign of stopping here. It was certainly curious...

"Healing and purifying can be a little different..." Cherry added to Samael and his new demon's speculation. She was a healer herself, and now had a spell that could do both at once ever since her little upgrade. "If there's a need for purifying here, though... I'm not sure any of us would have enough power to do it ourselves either way. Nothing 'normal' could cause something on this scale."

Entering the Wetlands

Jack scratched the back of his head with one hand for a moment, as if pondering the answer to Samael's question. "Well, I can't say that I've ever run into a demon out here." He glanced towards Stutely for a moment. "There were one or two living in the village, although nothing like the amount you'd find in Chaldea, but as far as I can tell, they don't seem to roam the area."

"Maybe there's some kind of stronger demon presence that's keeping the raiding to a minimum?" He phrased it as a question, clearly unsure of the answer himself. "Now that you mention it, I'd kinda like to know the answer myself." Jack laughed nervously. "Anyway, I'm sure one of the locals can probably give you a better idea of what you're dealing with than I can."

Jack waved his arm in a gesture that included Stutely, Tamara, and himself. "We're just here to transplant some young crops to Tamara's village, and since I've transported Vanguards before, they asked us to bring you along."

"A corrupted lake guardian?" Tamara's eyes sparkled with interest. "That sounds like an adventure. Although, I do hope you uncorrupted it somehow. I'd hate to think that the lake got messed up by a nasty demon." She paused for a moment, tapping a single finger on her chin. "But Jack said that it is normal for it to rain like this here. Didn't you?" She called over her shoulder.

"Yeah." Jack grunted in response as he and Stutely finished moving the second awning into place. "Every year, it rains almost nonstop for half the year, and then the rain basically dries up until the next wet season. The weird part is that the rain doesn't seem to ever extend beyond the local region."

Samael

Samael briskly nodded at Jack's response; Samael looked more mesmerized at the constant flow of rain, continuing to sketch it in his booklet as the conversation went on. It made him think of trying out some sort of water paint style on some fabric.... it seems like it would go well in a village constantly in rain like this.

It was certainly strange though that nothing out of the ordinary besides the rain had triggered.  He would think that some gossip would of gotten out about strange occurrences...

"Hopefully, it's just some strange maga related phenomenon, and it simply fell out of sync." Samael optimistically uttered, "Then would would just need to find the source and correct it." as

Samael gestured for them to continue, as he turned back towards the carriage however he caught onto when Jack stated 'Tamara's village'. Right, he didn't ask them that much about there history, he keep sticking to his own team.... Also, She said this was her first time seeing this... so they must be talking about moving crops from here to her village? She obviously didn't live here...

"Tamara's village?  Oh are there special crops that can be found in these parts because of the water?"  Samael asked with his interest intrigued a bit, "I was curious about what kind of plant life grow in such strange weather conditions. Though, wouldn't it be difficult to transfer crops that are adjusted to strange climate like this?"

Aren

Aren groaned, and hopped out of the carriage. “So you guys mentioned a nice view?” The young gravekeeper stood there, as he breathed in sharply. “Why can’t graveyards be this beautiful?” He said to no one but himself.


Sigmund stumbled along behind Aren, as his bones clattered with each movement. The carriage groaned, and tilted downwards in response to the dullahan moving. Sigmund jumped out, and the carriage rebounded bouncing upwards.

“You’re so fat.” Aren said with a chuckle, as glanced over to Sigmund. “Fat...I think you’ll find I’m just bone.” Sigmund responded with a glare.

“Anyway, you guys said this is Tamara’s village...She lives in these crop fields then?” Aren said seriously as he looked at the over members of the party. On the other hand, Sigmund shook his head in response to his masters idiocy.

Zephyr Arc - Wetlands

"The guardian's fine. They just didn't like him so they tried to make a new one." He swung his spear deliberately. "A pain to cut down." He added with a smirk. "It was exhausting it what is was, honestly."

He then turned over to Samael, Cherry settling back on his shoulder. "Hopefully it's that and we can treat this like a real vacation..." -but that's unlikely with our luck. He left that last part unsaid, as he felt that might jinx them more than they'd already been jinxed. It'd practically been non-stop unexpectedly super dangerous missions since they'd graduated, so he was pretty certain they were cursed or something by now.

Cherry observed Aren and his demon's two-man comedy act with a disappointed look in her eye as the others conversed.

Entering the Wetlands

Jack and Tamara shared a look (and a shrug) as Samael attempted to come up with a reason for the rain.

"Oh, I'm not from here." Tamara spoke up when the confusion became evident. "My village is on the other side of Chaldea. I'm only along for the trip because Jack and Stutely don't always see eye to eye." She cracked a grin. "I'm the designated mediator"

"Well, I don't know much about maga related phenomena." Jack cut into the conversation, puffing out his chest a little. "But I do know quite a bit about crops. We're here to pick up two kinds of plants. One of them is an incredibly juicy type of grape that thrives in moist conditions, and the village has prepared a portion of the lake bed to see if we can cultivate them for making wine."

"We're also going to be gathering clippings from a type of bamboo, which we're hoping will help us solve one of the village's more recent problems. With our sudden influx of people, the sewage isn't keeping up well, and it's making a sort of swampy place on the low ground."

"It stinks." Tamara cut in, pinching her nose for effect.

"Anyway," Jack continued, "the bamboo will hopefully help soak up the moisture and get rid of the smell."

Stutely bleated from behind him and shouldered the strap that connected to his cart.

"Right. We should probably get back on the road." Jack clapped his hands together. "Just a few hours into the downpour, and we should be able to kick up our feet for the evening."

------------------------------

Salam - The Inn

"We're here." Jack's voice echoed as the cart rolled to a stop. Judging from the sound of the rain, they were now inside a structure, and upon exiting the cart, the group would find themselves in a stable.

"I'll dry and brush the horses." Tamara called from the front of the cart. "Why don't y'all go ahead and make sure the rooms are ready?"

Jack motioned towards a door on the far side of the stable. "Sounds like a plan to me. C'mon Vanguards. Let's go introduce you to someone who might actually be able to answer your questions."

A few moments later, they were standing in front of a rustic bar top, and a rather portly man smiled at them from the other side. "We have been eagerly awaiting your arrival." He said, sliding a couple room keys across the worn, wooden surface. "I'm Marvin, and welcome to the New Haven Inn. Room six is reserved for you and your associates, Jack." He gestured to the key on the left.

"For the Vanguards, I've ensured that room three is also ready." He gestured to the other key. "If you'd like to get started this evening, Wren, the apothecary, is the person who initiated your contract. Bless the woman. You can find her shop across the street and two porches down the way." Marvin waved towards what was apparently the street, although it was difficult to tell through the constant splatter of drizzling rain against the windows.

Zephyr Arc - Wetlands

After some more chitchat and speculation as they enjoyed the scenery, it seemed their ride was getting impatient and bleated to hurry them along. Taking that as their que, Jack and Tamara ushered the Vanguard back into the card and continued along their journey. Zephyr found he couldn't concentrate on his book as the mystery of the rain kept rolling along in his head, while Cherry, having gotten bored of cart life, nodded off.

Inn

The cart slowly rolled to a stop, and the travel-weary group filed out of the cart. Zephyr poked Pixie on his shoulder awake as he walked. The barn seemed nice and quaint, so he was pretty sure this was definitely out in the boonies. Just like home! he mused internally.

Jack lead them off to meet someone Zephyr presumed to be important, while Tamara remained behind to tend to the horses. It seemed their first stop was just your average inn keeper, who gave them their room keys. It seemed they'd be bunking again. "Same room again? Good thing we're all guys I guess." He said to his cohorts off-handedly.

Cherry finally responded to the prodding and groggily awoke as the Inn keeper was getting to the part about the apothecary. Knowing it'd be fairly pointless grilling the poor man at this point in time, Zephyr decided to keep mum until they managed to meet this client of theirs.

Samael  - Wetlands

Well, they didn't talk about plants that were good for design, but the grapes did sound quite tasty. And... after all wine was commonly used as inspiration while painting and such? Maybe it might help him to try it out a bit.

Samael pondered for a few seconds, he didn't want to bring up more idle chatter that didn't help the mission, but the idea of helping his design was too tempting to pass up. So, he quickly walked towards the two and attempted to put on a pleasant and friendly smile.

"Oh that does sound good! Are you going to send some wine to Chaleda? Would be nice to try some at the Devil's Cocktail if it works." Samael awkwardly stated in a poor attempt to make further small talk.
 
He quickly took the option to get back on the road when the option was given, as he clammed back inside excited to actually here some details about the mission soon.  They were quite in the dark, and it made him a bit uneasy.... they needed to figure out more.

----

Inn

Samael wasn't paying too much attention to the conversation, as the innkeeper didn't appear to be supplying information either.  He was busy looking around the inn, eyeing various corners to see something that might catch his eye, but to no avail.

"Right... all guys." Samael automatically responded, as he quickly threw back on his coat and briskly worked his way towards the door of the inn, "I'm going to talk to her then, would rather have some information before going to sleep if the rest of you are coming."

Samael stared out the window in the meantime, seeing if he could make out any of the nearby windows in the down pour or any figures that might come up, slightly shifting his head back and forth around the sides of the windows in a futile attempt to make him see better.

Aren - Wetlands:

Aren had realised that his joke about living the crops had failed, so he decided to bask in the conversation, and the environment and listening to everything everyone had to say. He felt as if there was nothing he could add to the conversation; after all the young man had only recently learned that living plants had existed.

He sat there watching the rain fall down in a smile, dreary weather has always been his favourite. He thought to himself that it was a shame that there wasn’t any lightning.

Inn

Aren yawned loudly as he stepped off the cart. “Oh, how I can’t wait to sleep.” He said to no one in particular. “I finally get to have a sleepover...WOW!” He shouted with excitement as he jumped up in joy. “If I knew sleepovers were part of being the vanguard I would be on a lot more missions.”

He firmly nodded at Samael, “I’ll tag along if you’ll have me.”

Salam - The Apothecary

A bell chimed over the door as the Vanguards shuffled into the shop and out of the rain. Before them was a long counter, and behind it a colorful array of pouches and vials lined the shelves. The air inside was laced with pungent, floral notes, perhaps caused by the incense burning by the money box. Although, upon closer inspection of the store's contents, the aroma could have also originated from the dozens of flower varieties growing inside.

A tall, muscular man moved through the rows of plants, taking great care in watering each of the pots he came to. Almost under his breath, he sang a hauntingly lyrical tune, the words indistinguishable to the Vanguards that had just entered.

"I've been expecting you." A woman spoke from behind the counter, although she hadn't looked up from the mixture of herbs that she was grinding into dust. "Make yourselves at home. I'll be with you in just a minute."

She continued working for another moment, until seemingly satisfied with the consistency of the powder. Then, she carefully poured it into three paper pouches, which she placed on the counter in front of them.

"That's for the mold."

She raised a hand before any of them could respond. "Just take it and toss a pinch in your shoes when you take them off at the end of the day. Trust me."

The woman placed her elbows on the counter, leaning forward to rest of them. "So, now that we've taken care of that, I suppose you're all just full of questions. I'm Wren, and I'll do my best to answer what I can."

Inn

"Of course, it'll be will be easier to sleep once we get a better grasp of the situation." Samael commented with a nod and a smile. Though, if things end up being worse than they think that might make it harder to sleep..... whatever...

He opened the door towards the pouring rain, squinting his eyes as he braced himself for the downpour again by placing one of his arms over his head. He did a quite beckon to the other members before dashing out into the rain towards the building he was directed towards.

----

Samael dashed into the building as his nostrils were bombarded by a bunch of scents at once. It was very strong but was pleasant and relaxing at the same time. He was about to speak before his mandrake popped out of his gauntlet landing graceful on the ground like she had just landed on a red carpet.

"Wow! Now I could enjoy a place like this!" the mandrake commented, as she quickly glanced around at all the flowers enjoying their fragrances. Amazed at the amount of variety and different scents that she never had in the fairy forest.

"I suppose mold is quite common in this much rain? I'm Samael." Samael stated professionally as he held out his hand for a handshake staring at the produce behind the counter curiously before returning his gaze to the apothecary.

"So, do you have any idea why this rain might of started? Any demon sightings, changes in resident behaviors before the rain, or did someone go missing?" Samael commented, trying to run down a list of possibilities as he pulled out a some paper and a pen to write down all of Wren's comments.