Seeds of Discordia

"Tell me again why we're going to a storehouse that will either be heavily guarded or nothing will be there?" Avery asked as she, Blair, Mercer, and Gimmel made their way towards the spot both Liam and Val had gone to, to stop people from stealing the night before.

"I want to check it out and see if there is any chance there are any clues Liam and Val might have missed," Mercer stated quietly as he looked around the area.

The road they were walking on that led from the city to the outskirts was empty. They hadn't seen anyone after leaving the city, but the more they walked away from the city the more he felt like something or someone was watching them. He looked at Gimmel periodically to see if he noticed anything, but from the way he looked no one was around. It confused him and caused him to grow more cautious to his surroundings.

"You really think there would be something he would miss?" Avery questioned with a raised brow. "I mean he has that whole heightened senses thing and everything so I would find it kind of strange if he missed something with that."

"I wouldn't be so sure," Blaire suddenly chimed in as she looked around as she walked.

Avery looked at her with the same expression as she gave Mercer. She didn't say anything but waited for her to continue to explain. "While he does have heightened senses, ones greater than mine and Roman for now, but you have to remember that he switches up how much heightened his senses get. Going from even greater to sense to lessening them and going back to greater can put a strain on your senses if you do not train them properly. Not only that, but you also have to process everything and have a great understanding of what you are processing."

Avery nodded at that explanation. While she could understand what Blair was saying she still questioned, "But wouldn't that make it easier to find something that sticks out? If it's something you cannot process or understand wouldn't you go and see what it is?"

Blair shook her head. "It doesn't always work that way." Blair noticed the confused look on Avery's face grow so she continued, "Think about it like this, when you train and work out a muscle so much what are you doing to it?"

"You are building it up to be stronger?" Avery replied, her answer sounding more like a question.

Blair nodded. "Yes, but you are also building up strain. When there's so much strain built up, the body sends signals to your mind of that muscle being sore or hurt. This is to help you stop before you break it. Senses don't work that way. The information your senses give you are all mentally." Blair pointed to her skull as she looked at Avery. "So when you overwork your senses you would think you'd get a headache or something of the like right?"

Avery slowly nodded her head as she looked at her. She didn't say anything and waited for Blair to continue because she felt there was more to it than that. Blair continued, "It doesn't work like that. Instead of getting a headache, the amount of information that gets sent to your brain starts to lessen so your brain doesn't get overloaded." Blair then looked like she remembered something and added, "Oh, but you do get a headache after heightening your senses to a certain point for the first time. The overload of information getting sent to your brain is tremendous and it shocks your brain, but after that first initial shock the amount of information lessens until you can get it used to it."

Avery looked slightly horrified as she tried to think about it. She then looked at Blair and asked, "Have you experienced it yet? An overload of sense information?"

Blair shook her head. "Not yet. I learned about it from Uncle Naro. Both Roman and I did after he informed us that we need to learn the Field of the Beast as well. He told us what to expect when we start training to get it and what we will need to worry about once we have it." She looked slightly concerned as she added, "He also told us that he hadn't informed Liam about this because he wanted him to learn this first hand for himself, but with how Liam operates I don't think he's caught on to it yet."

Avery and Mercer let out a sigh as they thought about that last comment Blair made. They subconsciously nodded their heads in agreement as if they were answering an unspoken question. "Shouldn't someone tell him then?" Gimmel suddenly asked, slight concern in his voice as he watched the three look at each other. They kept their stares for a brief moment before all agreeing and saying, "Nah. He'll figure it out."

Gimmel raised a brow before letting out a sigh. Before he could say anything else he froze and announced, "Group of people heading our way right now."

The others stopped their chuckles as they readied themselves. Mercer then asked, "Numbers? Friendlies or enemies? Which direction?"

"They look like guards due to the chain mail attire. Not sure on whether friendly or enemies, but they look alarmed, so caution is advised. Coming from down the road from the storehouse. As for numbers…five," Gimmel answered.

Mercer nodded as he stopped moving. This made the others stop as well and move closer together. They waited for a couple minutes before they saw a mixture of male and female Sea Elves and Merfolk hurrying towards them with a spear or sword in hand. Once they approached the group, the guard swiftly pointed their weapons at them and barked, "This path is supposed to be restricted to civilian use. Who are you and what is your purpose?"

Mercer looked confused as he took in their questions. He weighed out each of his responses as swiftly as he could before finally settling on his course of action. With a slight bow, Mercer said, "I apologize. We were unaware that this road was restricted to civili…"

"Don't bullshit us," a woman suddenly snapped. Mercer looked at who had responded and saw she looked tense. "The guards stationed at the other end should have stopped you and informed you of this. That means you found a way onto this path without proper authorization."

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Mercer looked confused as he looked at the others. They too were confused by this because when they started down this road there were no signs of any guards stationed. They had seen guards making their way through the town, but none of them had said a word to them.

Trying once more with as a calm and patient tone, Mercer stated, "I assure you that we have not been told about such rules nor seen any guards where you have claimed them to be."

"Calling me a liar are you?" the woman argued.

"Lacary…," the Merfolk female to her right started to say, but was stopped as the Lacary, the female Sea Elf snapped as she glared at the other woman, "No. We all know there should be guards stationed there. They are clearly lying and looking to cause some issues." She then looked at Mercer and the others and proclaimed, "You lot are suspicious and will be apprehended."

Mercer, Blair, and Avery tensed and were ready for the guards to make their move, but a whisper from Gimmel had them pause any actions as the guards moved forward. Before the guards could reach their arms out to restrain them, a calm grandmotherly voice commanded, "What do you think you are doing?"

Everyone turned to see Adva, Omira, Sebastean, and a few guards making their way towards them. the guards surrounding Mercer and the others snapped to attention as Larcary replied, "These suspicious individuals were caught walking on this road and claimed they were not told about the civilian use restriction. They claimed that no guards were stationed at the end of the road, and we were about to apprehend them, ma'am."

Adva held the woman's stare for a long moment before stating as she sighed, "Leave them be. They are not suspicious people and weren't lying."

Lacary, looking a bit frazzled, stared at Adva with a look of confusion. "I'm sorry. Ma'am…?"

Adva kept her stare on the woman as she said, "I said leave them be. They weren't lying. We just came from the other end of the road and found no one was at their post. We got a few guards stationed there now, but there wasn't any when we were coming through."

Lacary looked even more confused as she looked down, processing what Adva had said. After a few moments had passed she asked, "My apologizes ma'am. Shall we escort these people back into town then?"

Adva looked at Mercer and the others before side eyeing Omira. Coming to a decision she informed, "That will not be necessary. I will have them in my care and watch over them."

Taken a back, Lacary was about to argue but then stopped as she saw the look in Adva's eyes. Not wanting to test the old woman's patience, Lacary saluted and said, "As you wish ma'am. We will be on our way then."

Mercer and the others stood there as the group of guards made their way back towards town. As they did so, Blair stared at them with a look of confusion. Mercer noticed a confused look on Omira's face as well before it disappeared. Adva then asked as she looked at Mercer, "I take it you got curious on the materials used on this ritual?"

Mercer's attention was back on the old woman. With a practiced smile he said, "You could say that."

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Liam and Val entered the Web branch of the Fiddler's Spider Web not too long after they had left the others. They made sure Gimmel's bird puppet waited around in the front of the building, so no one found the back suspicious. As they made it inside they noticed it was busier than the last time they were there. A lot busier.

Every time Liam had stepped inside a Web Branch of the Fiddler's Spider Web the most amount of people he had ever seen was back in Cashat Port where most of the Leg's and a couple members were there for his report on his first mission. After that he was lucky to find more than just one or two people. However, as of this moment he was standing in a room full of people. He was surprised there was any walking room at all with how many people there were.

Val turned to look at him and gave him a concerned expression. She didn't need to say anything for him to understand what she was thinking. While they understood the situation outside wasn't a joke, they still hadn't understood the stakes. If there were this many people inside the web branch that meant they were going to take mission that were heavily related to the ritual that was about to happen. If that was the case then they needed to get to Lady Bell quickly to see if she could assign the right people or see if anyone had reported any signs of weird items spotted.

Liam and Val both nodded as they looked forward and made their way towards the front. They could hear people grumbling and questioning what they were doing as they glared at the two trying to make their way forward. After a few seconds of trying to make their way through the crowd, three people turned and blocked their path.

"What do you two think you're doing?" A deep guttural voice questioned. The voice belonged to what looked like a muscular goliath of a man. However, instead of the tanned skin he remembered Phorge having, this one had a deep blue hue to his skin. This made Liam believe he was a half Goliath and either half Sea Elf or Merfolk but wasn't able to tell due to the mask covering the man's entire face. "If you think you can cut through the line to get the best missions then your pretty stupid. Get back at the end of the wave and wait your turn."

Liam eyed the man for a long moment. He wasn't able to see the man's eyes due to the cover over the eye holes on the man's mask, but he could feel a wave of sternness. Liam understood then that he wasn't doing this to be a dick to him, nor did he have any actual animosity towards him, but rather he was just trying to uphold rules so no one would create chaos and start an unnecessary fight within the small confines of the room.

Liam could respect that. He then relaxed his own body to show he didn't want to start any fights and replied, "We are not here to take any missions nor ignore the fact there are plenty of people who were here before us. Us making our way forward is no power play to show we are above those who are better at their specialties. We are simply making our way to Lady Bell to report a finding we need help with."

"I don't believe them," A silky voice stated next to the larger man.

"Sounds too farfetched to me as well," another voice said.

The larger man didn't join in on the comments that were starting to swirl around them. Instead he looked Liam directly in his eyes, not wavering. After a few seconds he finally asked, "I don't know who you are. I can feel from your body language you are speaking the truth, however, that could be a trick of manipulation. How do I know you are speaking the truth? If you have a backer with proof the backer is real and not fake then I would be willing to help you get to Lady Bell quicker."

Liam stared at the man and realized something. He wasn't a normal member of the Fiddler's Spider Web. Liam weighed his options before coming to a decision. With as much respect he could muster in his tone he replied, "Which Leg are you?"

Liam noticed the sudden shock in the man's body language. It looked like Liam had hit the nail on the head as the man replied, "I am the Sixth Leg of Point Nemo's Fiddler's Spider Web Branch, Deep Sea Giant. Who are you and who is your backer?"

Liam gave a slight bow to the man before straightening himself and answering, "My Web Name is Phantom Cat. I'm not sure about this backer you keep mentioning as I am still new to all of this and the customs places like this have, but…" Liam pushed back the hood from his right ear and revealed just enough for his earring to be seen by the man. "I am the apprentice of Wild Card as well as the apprentice of Lady Arachne, First Leg of the Cashat Port Web Branch, who was the one who provided me the information I need to relay to Lady Bell."