William walked along with his new companions, quite content with his situation. He listened in fascination as Alex had talked about dragon-kin snatching people as if it were a tomcat snatching chickens. Along the way toward Dawn's Star, a rather pretty name for a little village, William was so happy, he sang songs. Songs of the great battles and old heroes, long dead, but remembered for their great deeds. Will hoped he wasn't annoying his comrades, but the day was so beautiful and the adventure fairly humming in his veins.

He thanked Alex for the generosity in buying them cheese and wine. William was fast coming to realize that Alex had a generous spirit in general and William noted it for his future attempts in song.

As they approached the village, William quieted down and surveyed the people and buildings. He wanted to judge the temperament of the villagers. Were they a joyful people who would appreciate a bard? Some places shooed bards and gypsy bands along, thinking them of no propriety and possibly reflecting negatively for their immortal souls. As it was, the people seemed melancholy, but William could hardly tell if it was due to their character or their predicament with the dragons.

"That sounds reasonable. Maybe we could find out a little more about what's going on with the dragon as well. Taverns and inns always have the best of gossip." Will smiled and searched for an inn. "There's one down on the left. What say you we look into that one?"

Amarice was taken aback by the quite rude and abrupt entrance of some female on a war-horse. She released the thief's ear from her grasp, "Careful, boy," she murmured to him, kind green eyes flashing a warning as the war-horse flared above them. The string of profanities coming from this woman's mouth was appalling, and uncalled for. Amarice's expression turned to one of disapproval and annoyance as she stepped forward, despite the raging war-horse.

"You might want to take that beast somewhere where it won't bowl over thieves. Luckily there were no children in the street," Amarice's tone was a bit sharp as she looked up at the woman. "Despite your social disregard, there are mothers who wouldn't wish their children to be smashed by someone's irresponsible horse-riding." Amarice wasn't fond of these types. Overly aggressive, angry, unnecessarily rude to everyone. And despite her own short stature, she could've cared less if she was stomped flat right now. She didn't take well to those who stormed in to command whatever it was they craved the most.

"So, if you're looking for stables, perhaps you should redirect that beast," Amarice motioned out of the alley in which they were currently standing - for the life of her she wasn't sure how the horse had fit - and her green gaze flashing a little in an irritable way. "Lest you run over any small, innocent children on your crusade." Every word and manner of her speech was quite biting at the moment. Amarice glanced back at the thief, eyes moving over his tall stature. She turned her back to the woman on the war-horse, irritation giving her voice a sharp edge.

"Are you quite alright?" Amarice questioned the thief. "Before we were interrupted quite irresponsibly, as I was saying, what might be your name, thief? And is your head alright from that beating it continued to get on your daring escape?" She offered a light, dimpled grin at the tall young man. She felt quite short standing in front of him at the moment, but nonetheless despite her former irritation at the war-horse incident, was still amused by him.

"Yes we best be headed off to the inn" Lex said as they marched up the house lined streets of the city of Dawn's shard. All of the people here at dawn's shard looked on edge and they were right to be dragons in the sewers snatching up friends, family and acquaintances was definitely something to be worried about. Other than the civilian's demeanor the town looked nice enough. A place populated enough so that street rats could get around he thought as a young boy grabbed a pear off a stall without anyone noticing.

The trio passed by an alleyway, just a normal alleyway with the exception of the group that was in it. This group was quite a strange group indeed. It was composed of a lady on a very large horse and another, very short woman standing next to a boy who was bleeding from his head. The second lady seemed irritated with the female on the horse and he could only imagine the lady on the horse was in a bad mood considering the way she was holding herself. Lex had no way of knowing that the female was angry though considering her back was to him. Lex, William and Alex walked by the people in the alleyway without bothering to even ask what was up and headed straight for the door of the inn that was now right in front of them.

Lex walked into the inn, he was first and the smells coming up to his nostrils now were ones of fresh ripe fruit, freshly baked bread and a plethora of other foods and drinks. The looks were much different from that of the tavern they had been in at riverview. Everyone out in the dinning area was clean cut and seemed like they had money to throw around. The staff were all in uniform, if you can consider the aprons that they shared uniform, and the general vibe coming from the inn was one of pleasant times and good people.

Lex, once he was all the way in the inn immediately pulled the great sword from his back and set it on the ground. He wouldn't put it down anywhere until they had a room for fear of losing it. He now waited for his companions to come into the bar and did so by trying to find a place to sit.

After a time, the young man’s eyes finally adjusted to the light shining into them, his hands still over his face for the moment. His head throbbed where he’d been hit, but it wasn’t so much pain as an annoying ache. For a little street urchin, he had an unusually high pain threshold. He could, after all, sew himself up without any form of numbing agent, which he’d done from time to time. He often had many accidents, so knocks to the head were nothing knew. At least he hadn’t fallen on his head off of stairs this time.

His face paled at the sight of the slayer, more so from the axe on her back than from her appearance in general, for he normally got along easier with slayer women than men. The men normally found him annoying and would inevitably end up beating on him. It was where he’d learned to deal with the pain, though that had not been the only catalyst that had set him along that path. He blanched at the threat implied by the woman’s words and the movement of the axe on her back as she readjusted the strap, his eyes widening for just a moment.

“Ahh! Ack! Leggo’a that! S’not yours to tug on!”

He squealed a bit when she latched onto his ear, the irritating little sneak, as he had been called on more than one occasion. He stood slowly as she pulled up, moving to try and pry her fingers off of his ear, looking out of the corner of his eye for the pursuit squad. He started to point down the alley he’d come from, hearing larger footsteps, sputtering out unintelligible babble for a moment before squealing in fright. He had heard her questions, yet it was the horse that bore down upon him that kept him from speaking. He was, after all, still in the street whilst the slayer herself was a bit away from it, trying to yank away again.

“LEGGO! An’ I ain’t no damned idjit!”

He snorted indignantly, scrambling around Amarice’s side when she let go of his ear, ducked down and on his hands and knees for now. He peeked around her legs at the slayer on her horse, as well as the men who had just made their way out of the alley. His arms snaked around her waist for a moment, eyes wide, peering between slayer and chasers, gulping and then letting the woman go when she moved to step forward. Instead, he stood up and started trying to tug out what he called his “poker thingie.” He likely looked a bit comical for a moment as the slayer started to tell off the other slayer, one leg raised, for his “poker thingie,” the straight thrust dagger, was rolled into the robe at his shin.

He bounced on one foot for now, almost spinning in one place, the young sneak losing his balance and thumping sideways into the wall of the building. It did take a few moments, but he finally achieved his goal of pulling free his thrust dagger, wielding it like a novice at the moment. It was all for show, however, the way he bobbled it and held it so loosely. He darted back to the slayer’s side, contorting himself into odd positions quite often, which was what he had done now. His head rested beneath one of her arms, poking the arm holding his dagger out before him, his other arm around her waist again.

“Yea, I’m fine, got a hard head, can stand a lot of pain. M’name’s Snitch, or that’s what everyone calls me, and them fat tubs of lard over there is who was chasin’ me. The bakers brothers…hey, tubby! Don’t come no closer or I’ll getcha with my poker thingie here…I’m sure the nice lady here wouldn’t want me gettin’ any more lumps on my head.”

He poked his tongue out childishly, blowing a raspberry at the taller, far wider men. The three men were at least twice Snitch’s size, quite literally double his size, since he was so thin, the young man letting the dagger shake in his grasp as if afraid. He was quite good at what he did, really, putting on the act to seem much younger. It helped in the procuring of “shinies” for his collection. Back in his little rathole he called a home, he had a small tin’s worth of “shinies” he’d collected here and there, the young man speaking again as he nods somewhat seriously.

“At least it was only a loaf o’ bread. I didn’t take none of yer shinies and stuff. I can make my own…I just dun wanna pay you for my bread ‘cause you’d jus’ blow my shinies on booze.”

Amarice let out a bit of a rambunctious laugh at Snitch's odd performance during the whole thing, her bright, dimpled grin lighting up her gaze. She hadn't met a fellow this interesting in quite a long time, and now to have him contorted so strangely under her protection, she arched an amused eyebrow and disentangled herself from the man-child.

"Alright, I don't mind protecting you from whoever's after you," Amarice's voice was warm like honey and she was still chuckling a little as she spoke. "But we have to work on personal space, even if I do like you quite a bit already," she grinned in an entertained manner. Her toned arms gently nudged him slightly off of her.

"You don't have to have that out right now," Amarice motioned to his dagger. "Might you join me for some food at the inn? I have quite a bit of silver and I could use some company." Her expression was inquisitive, a dimple still remaining from the half-grin she'd failed to suppress.

Amarice had been traveling alone for quite some time now, and to have a fellow as comical as this would be quite wonderful, and a great change in conversational pace. She hoped she could convince him over some food to travel with her, yet unknowing of the other group of men who'd recently come into town and were simultaneously already making their comfort and filling their stomachs at the very same inn she had boarded.

She shifted the battle-axe on her back, "And don't worry, I only use this axe on beasts, and you're far from one." Amarice offered her arm to the strange man. "So, Snitch, joining me over some grub then, aren't you?" She grinned hopefully.

WIlliam couldn't help but smile as he made his way into the Dew Drop Inn with his new companions. Lex had led the way into the inn and went straight for the bar area it seemed, but they found a table soon enough and Alex got two rooms and three plates of food. WIlliam thanked Alex but fully intended to pay him back somehow at a later date.

The inn was a pleasent one and seemed a little more upper-end than William was generally used to. He liked the cheerful atmosphere and hoped to ply his trade later in the evening to earn some coin and perhaps a few drinks. It always helped to be in good standing with the people of a town. They could commend your name and would often recognize you when you came through town again. Willima had visited a good many of towns with his father, but the people didn't recognize young Will by face yet. Course, with a mention of his father, William was able to open a few doors for himself.

"So what's on the agenda for tomorrow? I know you have some sort of dragon-kin to hero after, but how do you intend to do that exactly? Run into the sewers, blades at the ready?" William gave a sort of chuckle. He hoped that wasn't how they actually went about business. That seemed foolish to him, but then again, he knew next to nothing about dragon-slaying except for what he'd heard from stories and songs and rumors. Not hardly reliable sources, none of them. Things are often blown out of proportion when it's passed along and hearing how someone had killed a firebreather could have in fact been nothing more than a wyrm with a bad cold or some hilarious variation.

In what seemed no time at all, a boxum girl in an apron delivered steeming plates of thick stew with carrots, potatoes, and venison along with fresh crusty bread. She smiled widely at the mismatched group and William grinned like a fool at her, or rather, at her ample, um, qualities. She left after William muttered a thank you and he delved into the delicious food. "Ouch! O mother of god, that's hot!" Will sputtered as he half-spit out a potato onto his spoon. Apparently the delicious food was very fresh and very hot. He laughed lightly and warned, "Careful, it's a bit warm."

"heh thanks for the warning," said Lex as he took his first bite of bread. He had lathered butter on it, put a piece of venison on top and rolled it over to make it sandwich looking. He then bit in and ripped half of it off, the butter and bread made the meat seem cooler and the food was an enjoyable temperature in his mouth. Following this he did the same thing but with variations of meat, potatoes and carrots until they were all gone. He was now left with just the broth which he promptly moved up to his mouth and drank with big slurps. "Delicious."

"Now back to that plan of attack," Lex said as he grabbed a piece of bread off of William's plate, it wasn't often that he got to eat so heartily. "I think that we should be gettin' a cow that's been butchered up and hang it down in the sewers, lying in wait for the dragon to come snatch it up. We be down in the sewers with it and when the dragon gets his nasty mouth on the meat we strike." He had been thinking of this plan for a deal of time now and he believed it to be a good strategy.

The waitress came back to the table an offered Lex more food, clearly she had noticed him stealing a piece from William. He looked at Alex who had to get them to double up in a bed and realized that they had no more money for food. Thinking it over he asked the waitress if there was anything he could do to get some more food without having to pay. She replied "No nothin' you could do," and winked at William as she walked away. "Hah someone be takin' a likin' to our boy Will here, eh Alex?" he asked in a joking, hearty manner.

Lex was finished with food which was sad for him as he wished he could have gotten more but he would get over it.. Saying goodnight to his comrades he marched upstairs to their room. He knew he would have to sleep with one of them and so decide it would be best just to lie down as close to the edge of the bed as possible. Doing this he realized that it wasn't very comfortable wedging himself up against the wall while his feet stuck off of the bed, but just as with the food, he would get over it.

Will watched in semi-fascination as Lex wolfed down the food as if it were his first meal in a long while and would be his last. He even had the audacity to swipe a piece of bread off of William's plate. He leaned over to Alex and muttered, "He's a hungry one then, eh?" Will chuckled, then ate his food as Lex outlined his plan for the dragon tomorrow. Will, not knowing a good strategy from a poor one, just nodded and acted like he was deep in thought about the process, hoping to come up with something brilliant to say. Nothing came to mind, so he filled his mouth with bread instead of words.

As the waitress came back to offer them more stew and bread, Will couldn't help but notice her definite interest in him. When she walked away with a wink in William's direction, he laughed. "Maybe I can use that to our advantage, Lex." William had a gleam in his eye and decided to have a little chat with the pretty waitress later on in the evening. Lex finished his food and bid them good night, then headed up to bed. He supposed it was probably the wiser choice, but William wanted to stay in the tavern for a while longer. After a bit, Will turned to Alex.

"I have a couple of questions to ask you. About the plan I mean. How are you going to get into the sewers without the dragon noticing when he's been snatching up anything that comes within chomping distance of them? And the other is, why would you fight the dragon on his turf when you could lure him onto yours? The sewers seems and awfully confined space to do any real fighting, let alone coordinating with other people in an attack. What if you put the cow carcass outside of the sewers and wait for it to strike, then chop its head off?" Seeing as William had no real expertise when it came to dragon-kin, he was legitimately curious. Maybe the scales or hides or whatevers of the beasties couldn't be chopped through in a fell sweep. He didn't know. But if they could, it seemed a better idea to Will if they got the dragon above ground than in the sewers.

The young sneak waved around his little poker thingie, calling it nothing else but variations of such in his seemingly diminished capacity, but in truth, nothing was wrong with his noggin. He just found he acquired more shiny things when people thought he was much younger than he really was. He looked between the warhorse and then the three fat men, or he called them fat, anyway. In truth, they were actually just a bit on the plump side, but anyone that much bigger than Snitch was fat in his eyes.

When the woman pulled herself away from him, he dropped to his knees with a whine and scrambled forward, yet kept his hands to himself for the moment. He did peek around her shins, wrinkling up his face and blowing another raspberry at the men, flinching back when all three growled in unison. True, he wasn’t easy to scare if he wasn’t trying to be, but it just served his purposes to do all he could to play things up.

“Nyah-ha! Serves you right, tubby! Gots me a slayer lady keepin’ you offs mah back now. Ain’t gots to use my pokie thingie. An’ you gots shinies, you say? Sure, I’ll come along if I can has a shiny or two to play with. They counts as them beasts, right? And…umm…wha’sat personal space stuff you said somepin’ about?”

He had a habit of quite frequently forgetting to address things as they came up, often going back and addressing them later, scratching at his dirty face. If one were to actually clean him off, one would see that he was not actually as young as he looked covered in dirt…he looked more dignified even in rags once washed. That was one reason he hated to take a bath, but once or twice he had been forced.

He waved his dagger for a moment more, then reached down, quickly and expertly rolling it back into his robe near his shin, looking up with wide eyes. He looked like an obedient pup with how he crouched near her knees at the moment, palms upon the stones as he looked up to the horse towering over them. He disliked the big animals, really…they had a habit of almost squishing him, which this one had not disproved the stereotype. He wrinkled his nose for just a moment, then blew a puff of dusty hair up out of his face.

He wanted to come with the woman…it wasn’t hard to convince the “shiny” obsessed little thief and informant to accompany anyone. They just had to know how to push the right buttons. The offer of food and a few “shinies” was more than enough to get the dirty little sneak to comply. He adored having shiny things to rub between his fingers, pushing up from his knees onto his haunches. Once up on his haunches, the young man then stood, still hunched, though, to only stand about the slayer woman’s height, back hunched and knees bent.

“So, uhh…can I has a few shinies, maybe? An’ I hopes they don’t mind I ain’t had a bath in a few days…ain’t nobody been able to catch me to makes me take one.”

Casting a single furtive look around, he leaned in, whispering a bit too loudly to keep things private as he spoke, latching onto the offered arm.

“Some say I’m slippery’r than a greased pig if’n you actually manage to gets me nekkid around a tub…baths an’ me don’t agree too often. Make me feel all…pointy-headed ‘n’ smart like ‘em scholarly folks with their fancy pages and such. So, uhh…lead the way, boss lady.”

Amarice couldn't help it as a slow chuckle of amusement bubbled from her throat as Snitch continued to ramble on, and she turned her light green eyes downward to the pouch in order to dig through it a bit. She managed to scrounge up a palm full of silver she'd left for extra expenses, and handed the silver to Snitch shortly after, "Yes, by all means, you should probably bathe." Her dimpled smirk was enough to mark her amusement as sincere, and casting a final glance to the warhorse lingering near them, Amarice moved out of the alleyway as a guide for Snitch, her eyes always peeled as it was. Not to mention it seemed that Snitch seemed to have himself a fair bit of trouble where ever he seemed to go. Amarice moved into the familiar inn, gently motioning Snitch along to follow behind her.

Her green eyes strayed to a table where three fellows sat. Two of them, she surmised quickly, were slayers as well. One was most indefinitely the blacksmith's son she'd been told about earlier, and the other two were unfamiliar even by town gossip Amarice had the distinct pleasure of hearing via the barmaid and town gossip. Amarice loosed her battle-axe a little as a sign to the patrons and the newcomers into Dawn's Star that her intentions weren't aggressive. Never one to be the first to step forward, Amarice shifted her auburn hair over her shoulder, short stature making her feel a little insecure at the size of the blacksmith-slayer.

"I'll get us a table and some food, Snitch," she informed the petty thief and gave his arm a reassuring squeeze before releasing herself from his arm. Amarice got herself a table - strategically - somewhat near the group of men gathered, her back (and axe) to them as she got herself a drink and ordered a couple plates of food. At this point she was glad she had gotten a room earlier in the day - so there was no chance of having to share a room with strange men. Her trust didn't come easy but she was quite overtly curious about them, her green eyes straying furtively over her shoulder once in a while to the men as her hands wrapped around the large wooden mug in her hands.

Amarice always attempted to maintain some sort of non-threatening posture unless she was angry or threatened, so she tried to be as relaxed as possible through her curiosity as she nodded in thanks to the barmaid as a couple plates of food were set before them. At least if there was to be a battle with this wyrm or dragon in the sewers, there'd be plenty of them to fend off the beast.

When handed the silver by the slayer woman, he snatched it quite readily into his dirty hands, a bit of dust puffing up off of his skin. He was just that filthy. The only bath he’d gotten recently was a fall into a watering trough for horses and he’d left it cloudy and murky. He tucked the pieces of silver into his deep pockets, beneath the bread to keep it from rattling. He kept two pieces for himself, though, rubbing them between his thumb and his other four fingers. A grin creeps over his lips, the three large men who’d been chasing him giving an agitated snort apiece before turning back towards their sibling’s establishment, the dirty little thief turned informant clinging to her arm with the hand not holding the shinies. He turned to give one last look over his shoulder, eyes raking the warhorse and its rider, then he was in Amarice’s care fully, attention now divided between his new shinies and the path they followed to watch for trouble.

With quick, darting glances around the inn as he enters, Snitch deposited the two pieces of silver he’d been rubbing together beneath the bread, as well. He was careful with his shinies, not wanting anyone to snatch them off of him as he often did to unsuspecting travellers. A hand ran up over his dirty blonde hair, making a fall of dust filter down from its length, the strands uneven. He did cut his own hair with the hunting knife on his belt, after all, so it was to be expected that his hairstyle was an eyesore. He sat down and pulled his bare feet up into the seat with him, toes curled over the edge of it, his posture a bit apprehensive. He usually wasn’t welcomed in places like this, but he figured that being in the company of a slayer was good enough to keep most off his back.

He nodded at the woman’s words, looking around for anyone he knew and ducking his head when he spotted one of his contacts. He didn’t quite seem to realize that it was a futile gesture, as there was no one in the town dirtier than he was, but the man was too drunk to notice anyways. He always had seemed to be constantly sloshed, though it did make for easy information gathering. Lots of booze equalled lots of talking. He placed his hands down on the table before him now, peering over his knees, then moving up until just his chin rested upon them, watching the slayers behind Amarice with a veiled curiosity. He was good at that…masking just how curious he was by affecting an idle state, making it seem merely as if he were bored.

The plates of food drew his attention away from the slayers and their guest, his eyes moving down to what he had, drawing forth the hunting knife from his belt. For someone who seemed young, he handled the knife expertly, twirling it between two fingers for just a moment before taking a tighter grip on it. He struck forward with it, spearing a piece of meat, then reeling it back with a furtive look around. It was almost as if he were paranoid that someone would steal it from him, biting off a corner of it, then starting to speak, gesturing with his free hand.

“Y’know, that’s for this. Ain’t nobody usually nice to me like ‘is. Normally I’m getting’ chased or whacked on the head or thrown out of places like this. Nearly broked my head on the alley wall behind this buildin’ once, really. Big tubby fella throwed me out by the scruff o’ my neck and such. They won’t mess with me wif you here, I dun think.”