The once distant carriage was now right in front, and the young man stepped out in the road, waving his hands around up in the air, the approaching silhouette of the transport riding up clouds from the road, "Ay! Ay!" He kept shouting until the carriage stopped and the dust began to settle, revealing a scrawny old man with no shirt, just pants, and a peculiar necklace almost covered by his white beard, his shoulders and face both a caramelized brown, and from it seems, the same could be said about his back. The old man narrowed his eyes, staring down at the group from the carriage, the two horses reigned to the carriage huffing at the halt. "Who'd ya' be?" He said, scratching his neck, the dry skin slightly flaking at the touch. Rurik, with his arms already down, approached the carriage but made sure to keep a bit of a distance from the horses. "Just some adventurers, mind giving us a ride?" He haggled, simultaneously trying to appear more pleasant rather than groggy and mildly infuriated.

The older man stared at them intensely, up and down scan them he did, he tilted his head right, he tilted his head left. After pulling at his beard and shrugging his shoulders, the old man spoke. "...Well, had Ye' been a couple o' bandits, I might as well been dead by now. Sure ting' I don't mind company!" He glanced at Luka, shooting up a smirk and a chuckle "Not of a fine lass and a gent, please go sparin' me a story or two, since yer' one of those for-hire guys, how'evr." The siblings looked at each other with tired eyes, exhaled with newfound ease and hastily made their way onto the carriage, sitting alongside some cargo of wheat and what seemed to be sealed cheese.

The group relaxed on the hard planks of the carriage, as if not disturbed by the rocking and constant vibration of the entire construction, the mix of wheels rattling on the gravel and the horseshoes clanking with no less severity. "So, where'd Ye' comin' from, young'ins?" The man started again, "Rare seeing ya' kind goin' Gastat's way." Rurik slid up to the front of the carriage, leaning on the wall of the wooden landboat behind the old man and to his left. "Gastat? Is that a city?” The old man hummed an inquiring tone without turning to look at Rurik, “We're just lost, that sums it up well enough." The man jumped in his seat, "Lost?! Damn you, I say! Not half a day away from the shore, a long way's you got lost, people." 

Rurik chuckled awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head as he slid back deeper into the carriage. Meanwhile, Luka just hugged her sword and napped. Neoklipt watched the horizon silently, his posture really straight. Not too long past Rurik’s awkwardness, he reminisced about the day that has almost passed already. With a repeated glance, the young man turned to get a little closer to the older gentleman again, adding a bit of new detail to their conversation. "Ranesairan, we're from there." — "Never heard' of it." it was a swift reply, but neither batted an eye, honestly, it was within their expectations. And though the old man was the one to ask those people to tell him about their misadventures... He really did not want to know much needless geography. "Don' bother explainin', though, never been out of Gastat or Aipz." The old man continued, shrugging at the many previous times people mentioned places he never heard of in the past, "You're from Aipz?" Rurik asked, which made the man a bit giddy, "Ye' know it?" But Rurik only managed a pop out of his lips, drawing circles on the planks of the carriage, "Nope" He said, clicking his teeth, "Never in my life have I heard of a place named like that." Now, both of them were disappointed.

"So, are you a merchant?" Luka suddenly barged into their little conversation, her nap certainly did not last long with this accompaniment of sounds and movements, as much as she could be accustomed to them. "Just'n errands boy, ya' can say." The tone of the man’s voice did not promise much fervor or passion about his profession, and looking at the rather scarce assortment of products that he was moving in his carriage, it wasn't a hard deduction that the man was far from a proper merchant, "I reckon, you take what the caravan couldn't fit and move it to Gastat alone?" The old man sighed, "Ain't hard to figure that much out, eh?" A short chuckle and he was back to being as giddy. "Name's Sarbat, not a fancy man as you've noticed." 

It would appear that the time for introductions has come their way, and in preparation of his own introduction, the young man slipped to sit beside Sarbat. "I'm Rurik Melinn," He said, immediately reaching for a handshake, "That gal is my sister Luka, and the suspicious guy is Neoklipt." Sarbat flinched a little at the introductions, "Ye've got surnames? Did'ja come a runaway noble kid or some'in?" Though this equally bewildered Rurik as well, quite hard to acknowledge the fact that they were a bunch of oddballs, "N-No... Where we're from, surnames are commonplace..." That did calm the old man down, rather quickly one might add, "Goodness', yer' scared the heart out of me' feet." Was exclaimed dramatically and sarcastically, Sarbat poking at Rurik with his elbow. "Ya' three do dress fancily for some hires, still." The young man leaned backwards until his head hit the bottom of the carriage with a distinct thunk and exhaled, his breath fairly burdened. 

In this awkward lying position, Rurik spoke further.  "You don't say! I want to get some hands on proper armour and equipment, all this junk is a temporary fix for all our lost stuff." Sarbat scratched his beard and turned around, "Doen't look cheap either way, to my keen eye." Rurik only shrugged at the remark, looking down at his clothes. Well, in this position, it could be said that he was looking up. The vest that had chainmail underneath, hidden from the eyes, pretty much everything is made from leather patched with metal platelets — an usual and not that practical mix... But it was something they could get on the spot, so it sufficed for the time being, "Cheap enough for someone of our caliber, you'd be astonished at the things we used to have." He rolled over to his stomach and crawled to the sack, going through their possessions, reaching out the same little pouch he had taken out at lunch, "This loot is from the place we lost our beloved possessions in!" He said, rolling the rugged piece of coal on the planks left of Sarbat, "Just 'ome coal? Ain't that an equal exchange, huh?" Rurik smirked, patting the man on the shoulder, "Stop the carriage!"

“Observe the magic, fool!”

"So...?" They gathered around the little piece of cinder; judging by the expression of the old man, he was not impressed at all. "Observe." Rurik announced, squatting near the cinder, soon snapping his fingers, a spark hitting the surface of the cinder yet again. That piece of peculiar mineral lit up instantly for a time definitely not last. Sarbat nodded and leaned to take a closer look. “Uh-huh.” Sabrat assessed with a serious verdict, "It burns." Facing back, he said, pointing at the yellowish-red rock, "Exactly, and it won't go out unless you wish it to!" The young man said, puffing his chest out. 

"Ye said you've lost all yer' equipment wherever you were..." Rurik nodded, "...and this is'll you got?" He nodded again, "Was it worth it...?" The knees hit the ground promptly; someone in particular let out a scream into the sky.

"NO! IT WAS NOT!" He screamed for all the coins that would never jingle in his pockets after that loss. Luka tried to slowly approach him, a flicker of guilt flashing on that cutesy face, but before she could say anything, Rurik's head spun around and his eyes glared at his sister, "Don't you dare comfort me!” The young man almost fell over at the sudden shift of his own weight, but kept the fire burning in his mind, “Your poor planning is the reason all of our precious equipment got trashed!" He cried out, lunging an accusatory finger at the older sibling, and Luka went into deep seething in her embarrassment. 

It didn’t go for too long, but long enough for Sarbat to take a few safe steps away from Rurik. "Neoklipt's stuff is fine, at least..." The young man stood up, trying to hold in his tears, it was not the first time they went through it, frankly, much of their finances go towards repairs and equipment replenishment. Rurik really could use those lost coins and precious gems on things far more useful than a single cinder from Stryky, that thought was exactly what reignited his rage.

Sarbat fidgeted awkwardly while Luka and Rurik kept shouting at each other. Neoklipt went to stand next to him, well, generally just near the carriage. "Hey, Neoklept." The old man nudged the hunched figure, and so he turned to face him. "It's Neoklipt." Sarbat huffed, disregarding the correction on that unusual name of his, "Why's ye' wearing that mask, eh? Ugly much?" The joke didn't amuse the Cloaked Individual a whole lot, like anything else that happens in his near proximity, "It's my face." Neoklipt said nonchalantly, waving his finger in Sarbat's face the second he tried to ask a follow-up question. That really put off the old man, so he chose to ask something else. "Then... Why are ye' travelin' around wit' those two kids? Ya' seem to be the mature on' of the bunch." It wasn't that hard of a topic to discuss, so Neoklipt obliged and engaged with the man at last, "It pays, it was also the best option I had at the time. Otherwise I simply go with the flow." Thus, their short debacle ended just as quickly as it started. Shortly after that interaction between Neoklipt and Sarbat, the siblings settled as well, both coming up to sit in the carriage, looking equally devastated. And although it didn’t take long, it was still enough for the old man to give his work horses water.

"Why'd ye' show me that piece o' surprise, anyway?" Sarbat asked, settling at the front of the carriage with a few groans and swears. Rurik laid across the carriage floor and looked up at the deep, almost red orange sky while throwing up his arms "Bored, man." He sniffed and stared at the darkening sky, "We were supposed to be going to a different place, buy new equipment... But all my plans got ruined by unexpected circumstances, juuuuuuust like always~" To which Sarbat laughed, nodding as the leads on the horses swayed. "I feel ye', ain't nuffin' ever goes how ye' plan it to. Fret not, lad, mayhaps luck strikes and all ye' wishes come to shake ya' hand once the right time comes." Rurik scoffed, itching his nose: "What kind of proverb even is that?"

"A good un'." It only made the young man click his tongue, and soon enough his sister interrupted again: "Ay Sarbat, have you got any news of anythin' suspicious going on around these parts?" A bit of an unexpected question, given the situation, "Where'd that come from, lass?" The old man turned around to face Luka, she sat a bit further down the carriage than Rurik, and also still had a slight cheeky grin on her face, "I'll have you know that we aren't some cheap hires — we're the real deal!" Sarbat grumbled, not quite sure of what to make of that statement, "It means we're actual adventurers and not some handymen, we explore on our own, so who might guess why I might be asking about anything that goes on in these lands?" Having realised his previous misnaming, Sarbat hummed while turning back to face the road, "I get'it now, so ya' bunch goes round' picking trouble and bleeding worth out of it?" — "That's one way to put it..." Luka awkwardly chuckled at his analogy, but she couldn’t deny that it was the exact way that they operated for their entire careers.

He pulled and stretched the chin under his beard, thinking of the recent ins and outs of his, maybe he had seen something or heard a couple words of worry coming from the folks he knows or might've overheard. "Ya' know, I did hear some men babble bout' trouble on this road, more or less the entire territory of Gastat..." He went to ruffle the memories in his head again, "Some of my guys did tell bout' some misgivings during they' trips to Gastat, like flat grass in them fields and iron spikes on the road." — Smells like criminal activity, every one of them thought — "The dungeon just out of Gastat had a breakout not a long while ago, I reckon tis' kinda trouble is definitely related to some spikes on the road..."