He felt like an idiot who was tempting fate. An idiot who truly did not understand the meaning of drowning, being crushed under the water, his lungs swelling with liquid instead of crisp air. Fear was bubbling within him, and his shivering was sending ripples throughout the surface of the lake. The humorous part was, he was barely up to his waist in water. Molegrik stood as still as he could, breathing in deep breaths to calm himself as the lake lapped at him. He couldn't remember the last time he had been this deep in water, nor did he want to. Water was death to him with his solid iron limb. He had not been able to swim since the age of nine, and the one time he had tried, he had been lucky enough that the pond had not been deep. However, on a day as hot as today, he had needed to cool himself off, and this lake had been the only vissable solution. Now he was on the verge of regretting his decision with his heart pounding and lungs working at a frantic pace.

Slowly, Molegrik backed out of the water, placing himself once more upon the more solid shore, an area where it would be much less likely to drown. His shakes began to lessen as the water level decreased around him, leaving only soaked cloth and leather from his waist down. He forced a small laugh at his cowardice to enter the water, trying to lighten his spirits. It came out as more of a gasp than a chuckle, and did nothing to raise his mood at all. He would only feel safe when he was completely out of the water.

When the depth of the water allowed only his feet to be wet, Molegrik turned his back on the lack and took a step forward. His foot never reached the ground as he suddenly slipped in the mud and planted his face down where his feet should have been. Floundering, he shoved himself upward and forward, lunging away from the lake altogether. Laying on his face, he laughed, a genuine laugh this time, at his clumsiness. To call himself one who protected the innocent, yet be to be so consumed by irrational fear in water. "I must truly be a sight to see," he muttered to himself.

Shoving himself off the ground, he breathed deeply and smoothly, his heart no longer running at a frantic pace. He looked down at the dirt and mud covering him, shook his head, the walked over to one of the nearby willows. Beneath its flimsy limbs lay his mace, the only weapon besides his iron appendage he used. Sighing, he turned and sat himself with a thump, leaning back against the tree. So far, today was a good day to relax, despite being so close to a huge body of water. The noonday sun was directly over head, and soon it began to dry his clothes as they lay on him. His eyes began to drift shut, not closing all the way, but leaving him in a dozing state where he still observed everything that took place, but it was as if he was miles away. Not that he was observing anything. No, he was just going to relax.....

As the lone ranger made her way casually through the dense forestry, her dagger sheathed neatly on her hip and journal in hand, with brief touches of warmth caressing her skin from the light which broke through the leafy canopy. Only to fade away soon after in the gentle hug of the cool forest air.

It was a paradise in Verena’s eyes and if it weren’t for the bandits who lurked around the area, she’d have likely picked a nice sturdy tree to doze off under by now. As it stood however, her meager equipment and lack of any companions made any such attempts merely foolish in nature. Instead, she was forced to step out of the protective cover of the forest and into the harsh sunlight as she continued her journey towards Norwood village, this time alongside a great lake. Being a ‘sun’ elf however, she practically shrugged the heat off out of habit.

Although, it wasn’t long before she too began to feel weighted down by the heavy beating of the sun as she dragged herself forward. She was actually considering being caught by the bandits of the cool forest bliss in comparison to the irony of a sun elf dying from sunstroke. Thankfully however, she was soon to forget all about the insane temperature at the spectacle to come.

It all started when her keen eyes spotted what may have been considered intelligent life, in the form of a hulking metallic figure, making for the lake. At first, believing it a plain man, she thought he was simply making for the river to quench his thirst or something along those lines; instead, he did something which had her eyes opening wide in complete shock. He was attempting to swim… in full body armour! In the sight of such an odd demonstration Verena could do little but gape dumbly as the man began what she could only believe an act. She’d have been reduced to a fit of laughter if she hadn’t felt so sorry for the wannabe metal guppy.

It wasn’t until she saw him floundering about on the lakeside that she snapped out of her stunned stance, feeling a little uneasy as she cautiously proceeded forward, not sure what to do. She didn’t really feel like dealing with crazy people but she wasn’t just a bit worried about the poor soul. “Why didn’t he take off his armour,” she muttered to herself a little irritably as she felt the urge to check up on him and see if he was okay.

As she closed in on him, she grew even more wary at the sight of the heavily clad brute, by now caked in patches of dry mud and apparently asleep. Taking note of his powerful and not just a little terrifying appearance, Verena moved into a crouched stance as she cautiously approached him; ready to dash at the slightest movement. “Is he even alive,” she pondered, his stillness hinting otherwise.

With a deep breath for courage, she waved a hand over his face looking for any sign of life. “Hello, sir, are you okay?”

Alice sat on a branch in a tree not far from the lake, a weak wind was blowing through the trees and made her hair float, the sorceress had nothing to do and she was extremly bored now. let´s go fins someone to turn mad said the voice, Alice did not say anything for a moment, then she sighed. We don´t feel like doing that she said as she leaned backwards towards the base of the tree.

Suddenly she could hear something coming from the lake, the elven woman looked that way. someone is here she said. Yes I heard it to, no need to try and tell me. Let´s go find out what it is shall we?
It sounded like a very good ide to Alice, she stood up and began to climb down from the tree, then she began to walk towards the sound, she made sure to keep her wand ready, one could never know in a place like this. She arrived at the moment when the paladin feel into the mud and it was very close that she began to laugh, but she did not. Then she noticed a strange woman coming out from anather part, asking the man if he was okey. Alice did not have anything else to do, she could just see where this was going.
But she could not trust these strangers, she was after all paranoid. But she was more bored now and wanted something to do.

"Why I did not expect to find people in this part now" she said and walked out from her hidding-place, she smiled a sweet smile towards the strangers. "Happily suprised that is." she stopped and looked down on the paladin. "You did a nice fall there sir" she giggled and one could never think that this girl was evil at all.

Molegrik's mind wandered, drifting from subject to subject. He saw brief glimpses of his childhood, when he lost his arm and part of the left side of his body, his early travels, the sculpting of his battle arm, the saving of a young maid and the night he received as payment. Various scenarios from his past splayed out in front of him, and he peeked and prodded at them. All the while, his semi closed eyes kept watch and his ears listened. Of course, he thought he was doing this. However, his physical senses were long shut down beyond conscious control. He was essentially asleep, though not quite. More like a gratified doze. Thats why he did not notice the newcomers until one was waving a hand in his face, and the other giggling like a child.

Molegriks eyes jerked open, reveling a hand waving inches from his nose. Blinking, they refocused on the face of an elf. "I am perfectly alright, though I see no reason to believe otherwise. Why exactly are you asking?" He pushed himself up, his iron limb gouging out clumps of earth and it ground into the soil. His eyes observed her stance. It reminded him a a deer. Curious, yet cautious. He could well understand that. He received it often when people first noticed his size and his iron appendage. He smirked, then made a quick overview of the rest of her. She was obviously a woman, and from the looks of it a ranger. Her skin, hair, and eyes gave her away as a sun elf.

Turning from her for a moment, and only a moment, for she was closest and despite her skittish looks was the more dangerous due to range, he looked at the other woman who had decided to enter in on his napping. This was the one giggling like a little girl. Her race was a little difficult to place, though she was an elf without a doubt. Her skin tone made him think moon elf, thought the green hair threw him off a bit. He had not heard her question with the sun elf maiden waving in his face, asking him if he injured. He could however, guess why she was giggling with such passion, and a smirk appeared on his own face.

his attention returned to the gold elf maiden, and he waved her back so that he could rises to his feet. "Pardon," he grunted as he pushed himself into a standing position. he always thought it appeared better when one introduced them self while standing, instead of slouched over or sitting like a stone. He brushed himself off wish his human hand, then nodded to both the women. "Now that we've all probably witnessed the spectacle of a half golem floundering about in the lake, let us share our names." he said this in a mock serious manner, a small smile upon his lips. He found it best to play off his iron prosthetics as nothing more than a joke, and most of the time it worked. "My own name is Molegrik. And yours' are...?"

"My name is Alice" Alice said, "Alice Winters of the Moon elf people, nice to meet you sir Molegik. Did you say you where half golem?" she examined him with her eyes. "I see, have never meet one of your kind in my life, and I have been around for a while. But it´s the first time for anything. Now I see that your not like other men I have meet before. Must be good with that body sometimes I guess" she smiled a bright smile to the paladin. This makes us sick, why are we doing this?the voice said inside of her head, not outside, so the others could not hear it. Because we want to have something to do, that´s why, not don´t do anything stupid Alice said in her thoughts
The wispering voice muttered a little then it said nothing more. Alice shook her head, she was still smiling and Molegik and the other stranger could not have seen anything odd now.

The sorceress then looked at woman, she was a sun elf, that was for sure, Alice could have seen that even in the dark. Not that she hated her elven relatives, but she did not love them, Moon elves and Sun elves had a way to respect each other.

((OOC: Not much I know, but I was in a hurry when I made this

“Umm… no reason,” she promptly replied to Molegrik's query of why she'd asked, not looking to puncture anyone’s pride - and most definitely not anyone who looked like they could crush her without even batting an eyelid. This course at being tactful was reinforced as Molegrik waved Verena off, her eyes widening in shock as she spotted the iron claw. Flinching enough to cause her to stumble back a little in her attempt to put some distance between her and the half-golem, only to realize the true size of the behemoth of a man as he stood upright, forcing her to tilt her head back as she looked up in wonderment.

She actually had to admire the man. Not only for his rugged looks, with his scars no doubt a testament to the many battles he’d engaged and survived in, but for how handily he diffused a potentially awkward atmosphere, with that charming and yet, cocky smirk as he made light of his embarrassing display. It was difficult to explain but if you looked past his frighteningly powerful exterior, he appeared to be quite amicable. Although, this could simply be the romantic in her talking. It was only when the moon-elf began to speak that she realized she was still staring all wide-eyed at the man, leaving her to give a small cough as she regained her composure; turning now to focus on Alice.

She was a little stunned at the claim of her moon-elf heritage, finding the hair oddly out of place for one of their kind. However, she’d be lying if she said it didn’t lend a sort of exotic touch to the moon-elf. And it went well with her matching green eyes. Something about the elf rubbed Delryn the wrong way though but she swiftly shrugged it off as mere paranoia. Either way, she supposed it was her turn to introduce herself.

With an arrogant cock of her hip, she made a neat rest for her hand. Her egotism shining through her fear now as she realized the man was friendlier than he first appeared, although she remained just that little bit wary. It never hurt to be cautious she reminded herself as she shot the man and woman a warm smile.

“Pleased to meet you, I’m Verena of the house Delr~” cutting herself off mid-sentence, she averted her eyes from the two strangers as she was reminded of the fact that she’d been abandoned by the family. “Uh, sorry, I’m Verena of the sun elves…” she halfheartedly concluded, her voice trailing off slightly at her revised introduction. In an attempt to divert any attention from her fumble she quickly returned her gaze to the two, a forced smile on her lips as she asked, “So, what are you two doing all the way out here?”

"Nice to meet you to Verena of the Sun elves people" she said to her. "By the look on your eyes you are suprised that I´m a moon elf, one could not guess it right away from my appearance I know, but I have not been looking like this all the time......it was a slight accident that changed me....I would rather not talk off it."

Alice thought for a moment before she replied to the womans question, what should she say, well it could be no harm to tell why she was here, it was no secret about it. "Well....I´m here because I´m looking for a calm place to rest on" she said. "I like the forest, it´s a calm and peacefull place. That´s why I´m here Verena. Besides I´m not very welcome in most of the world, not because I have done anything wrong....simply because none understands me" she looked around as she said this, and she was smiling a little to herself, then she looked back at the other two.
These people was no treat to her at the moment, but she dissliked the man a little, it was something about him, but she made sure not to show any signs of her disslike.

Why don´t we just kill him then? Or we could kill them both? the voice said in her head again. "No I said, no going to happen today, we have to keep this our secret, or they will try to kill us...like all others in this stupid greedy world" she said back in her mind. "Don´t dare reveal us not"
the voice laughed, As you wish then, We will leave this to us, good luck then the voice was gone, but Alice knew that it was not going to be gone forever, that´s how it was, it was her and she was it. That was the nature of it all.

Molegrik nodded to each of the women's self introductions. Both seemed to be of good intent, though he knew he could never be entirely sure of anything. he had plenty of scares to prove that. The sun elf ranger seemed to be the cocky type, very sure of herself. Molegrik caught the momentary hesitation in her voice when she mentioned a house, implicating that something was amiss with her family. It was not his place to pry into those matters though, and he let the slip of her tongue pass without remark. Her stance aslo told him that she was still wary of him, and he could guess why. it seemed she had finally realized that his left arm was not covered in some strange gauntlet, but was actually made of iron. For a moment, she had stared at it, but had quickly shifted her gaze.

Molegrik's attention turned towards the moon elf with the strange hair. She seemed very girlish to him, and it wasn't just because of her giggles earlier. She had almost an air on innocence around her, seeming to put his mind in a state where she couldn't be anything but a pure woman. This could mean she was actually pure and holy, or that she was an amazing actor who could convince others as such. As per his belief system, he decided he would trust her as the first. Even so, he mentally prepared himself against her as he had with the ranger. There never was a reason to let ones guard down.

Rolling the his left shoulder, he twisted his boy a bit. His left side always grew a little stiff when he gave it time to rest. It attributed it to the fact that most of it down to his side was made of iron, and often had to flex it so that he didn't feel to uncomfortable. Using his fleshy hand, he brushed off the dried mud and dirt from his leather padding, and off of his left arm. he noticed that the water had also helped to clean the metal attachment, making it gleam in the sun. He did this while listening to Alice's explanation of being in the forest. Once she finished, her began his own.

"Mine is very much akin to yours," he began, looking at Alice first, then to . Verena. "I don't often get along with those in the cities, due to certain physical attributes of mine. I find the forest better, where only small animals run away from me, which is expected if any human wanders into the area. That, and this lake was the only place to cool off for miles in any direction, and as I'm sure you two have noticed, it is a rather hot day."

At the end of his small speech, his stomach rumbled unexpectedly, and Molegrik blinked in surprise. He hadn't realized his own hunger in all of this, and now it was gnawing at him from the inside. He knew that there was a small wagon that was a ways off down the shore of the lake, but he had passed it earlier. While he had money to perhaps buy something from them, he had already experienced their shock as he had passed. His ears had rang for a half an hour at the girls screams of orcs and demons coming to render them fleshless. He decided to put the hunger out of mind.

His eyes turned to the Verena once more, and he spoke to her. "Well then. Now that I have shared mine, and the good lady Alice has shared her story, let us hear a small bit of yours."

“My story?” she parroted, placing a hand on her breast as if to indicate herself with just a small look of surprise, not sure exactly how to respond. Although, even she knew she should have expected the question would bounce right back at her.

“I’m just… learning, I guess,” she mused, mostly to herself as if even she didn’t know her reason for being there. She didn’t want to leave them with so little however after they’d already shared so much and so, attempted to elaborate. “I suppose you could say that I’m trying to carve out my own little niche in this world. I travel from place to place, with my destinations mostly being random, and I try gaining from the experience in whatever way I can. Currently, I was heading for Norwood village, hoping to maybe grab a bite to eat, some rest, and to take in the culture before moving onwards…”

She paused for a moment once she’d finished, wondering if she’d missed or could add anything else, before giving a short satisfied nod, obviously pleased with her answer. Now, she was more curious about what the other two had said - her gaze shifting to Alice first.

Placing a finger to her lips, she regarded Alice thoughtfully before finally pointing out, “I can’t see why as you’re very beautiful,” referring to her claim of how she believed she was not welcome in cities. This, of course, only compounded her suspicions that something was off about the moon-elf. Why else would she be seen or treated as an outcast by some. “There must be something we haven’t seen yet…” Verena thought quietly to herself before slowly turning her attention towards the man again.

“Oh and Molegrik,” she started, brushing aside a lock of hair to get a better look at the half-golem before stating, in response to the 'scary' bit, “You could probably fix that…”

“I mean, if you grabbed a blue tabard with perhaps a white border, threw in some heavy plate mail to blend the gauntlet and maybe added a few gold links for a little flash, you’d be looking like a champion in no time. Or, perhaps you could try a surcoat, same colour scheme but with either a completely white or blue long sleeved linen shirt for the top. It’d definitely be a little more comfortable than lugging around a full set of armour. Your gauntlet might still stick out but it’d certainly soften your image a bit. And whatever you do, don’t neaten up your hair, that wild dirty look would go really well with it all. Then again, it wouldn’t be all that conducive to fighting and keeping it tidy would be a real chore but…” she continued, seemingly chatting to herself now as she went on her own little tangent, obviously inspired.

Alice looked at Verena, she then shook her head. "I understand your point, but that is not it" she said. "If you have to know I was accused for the murder of my own mother and father some years ago." she sighed. "None would belive me when I said I did not do it, it was horrible to see, I had to run or they would have killed me." she sat down on a rock. "That is a part of my story, but I try to leave it behind myself. Besides I never saw the killer, it could have been anyone."

We are lying now are you not? the voice said in her head. "Not at all, the original me had nothing to do with this, It was after my accident that we killed them, my original self tried to stop it but she was to weak. We know this now, but we did not know it then."
The voice laughed lowly, then it again dissappeared into silence.

She looked at Verena and Molegrik, she thought for a moment. "You might be right Verena" she said and smiled. "I to think that surecoat could be really nice, to give a little less intimidating aura. But she is right about the hair, you should keep it like that, makes the womans go wild sometimes." she giggled again. "But may I ask why you started to talk about his fasion? I have to say that it was a little random."

Molegrik was able to follow the conversation with ease until the talk of making him fashionable came about. He could identify with the green haired moon elf in the respect that people would blame him for appearance rather than fact. Not that he'd killed his parents, but he had injured people and been chased from bars and towns for it. However, he didn't understand why she would continue to run. He doubted word of her had spread far unless the murder of her parents had been a particularly brutal and unique one. From what he had witnessed so far, she was easy to get along with, and he could see no reason that would make it otherwise when she was in the sight of others. Perhaps their was truly more to her than the eye could see. However, before he could delve further along this line of thought, Verena began to rattle off tips that would make him less menacing and more acceptable and fashionable to society.

Molegrik stared at her dumbly for the first couple minutes as she listed clothing ideas tht would help to mask his metallic limb. His head was cocked to the side like that of a confused dog, and his eyes were screwed in a confused yet humored manner. Then he began to laugh. Deep, long blasts of merriment burst from his mouth, and he threw his head back in the moment of comedy. This was almost too much for him. The last anyone had fussed over his figure was his mother as he was young. Most people ran, screamed, told him to leave, chased him with torches, or any combination of those, plus others. However, this was the first time anyone had actually talked to him in a serious manner about how to flaunt his appendage and looks with fashion.

Taking deep breaths, Molegrik's sides began to hurt as he stopped laughing. A tear rolled down the side of his face, and he hunched himself over as he caught his breath. "Milady," he gasped in between breaths, "You are truly one of a kind. Never before has anyone thought to give me advice one ow to wield my prosthetic with glamor. I must ask, do you do such things for a living, or is it merely a hobby?" Molegrik asked the question with his eyes still watering, and a huge grin on his face.

Alice laughed when Molegrik said this, since it was funny. To be honest is a good gift. she said and shook her head. She was happy that they had left the subject about her now, since she did not want to tell them the entier truth. I would say that it is a life-style, I myself could have said something like that, but she was faster then me this time. Alice giggled lowly, she looked at Verena and then at Molegrik. She calmly began to brush some dust of her dress when she talked.

((Not much this time.....but I did not know what to write down. :P))

Verena wasn’t exactly sure how to respond to Alice’s mention of her being random, since she felt it was quite clear that she was addressing the paladin’s issue of believing himself an outcast. Thankfully though, she was saved the trouble of explaining as a jovial laugh broke through her thoughts, causing her to turn her attentions towards Molegrik - the paladin looking barely able to stand or speak as he guffawed. It was an interesting sight, to say the least, seeing such a large warrior felled by laughter.

“Most definitely a hobby,” she replied, shooting Molegrik a warm wink and smile. Pleased at the thought of causing anyone to laugh so heartily while also finding the pair of strangers rather amusing. After all, on the one hand she had a woman who looked like an angel but was apparently a wanted criminal for a brutal murder, to which she attests her innocence. And on the other an intimidating giant of a man whose rough battle-worn appearance belied his friendly, accommodating, nature. Indeed, they appeared charming enough to coax her into bringing up her next question, the one she’d normally avoid asking a pair of total strangers.

“Hmm, I don’t suppose either of you could be swayed into allowing a ranger to accompany you to at least your next stop, if possible? As I said, I’m mostly wandering with no set destination.” She took on a contemplative stance as she posed the question, placing a finger to her lips in thought before continuing, “I know it may not be the wisest of moves but I do believe I’ll die of boredom before anything else if I have to continue on alone for any longer…”

She folded her arms once again as she finished, giving Alice and Molegrik both a patient yet inquisitive look as she awaited their answers. For the time being, ignoring Alice’s past but still curious as to whether or not they were close to her home, or if her crime were really that horrible to span not only years but entire lands. It actually left Molegrik as probably the better choice of traveling companions but on the chance that the sorceress and paladin were heading the same way, then all the better. After all, the gods seemed to be on quite the roll today when it came to coincidences, having her meet such contrasting characters.

Honestly, she was a little worried about them questioning exactly how well adjusted she was now, after suggesting that the three form a party. Even if she hinted that it was only temporary, they’d just met and barely knew each other.

Alice smiled at Verena. Well I have nothing agains it dear, it´s not very nice to travel alone, I can tell you that. she said. I was going to ask you the same thing anyway, if your going my way that is

Our way will be there way for now, we have been talking a little to much and need to prove that we did not do anything wrong. It was not our fault that they died.the voice said in the head of Alice. Nothing in the sorceress face could tell that she would think about anything else then that she was happy. We know what we are doing, no poblem about that, things is working very well. she thought back in her head
Alice was still smiling and then she walked to the closest tree. Why look what a nice flower, lovely she said and pointed at a small red flower growing from the tree. She giggled and looked back at the other two. I´m so happy that I meet you two, have not seen anyone for day now, with all this forest and just animals, and they don´t talk with me very much.

Molegrik's laughter subsided into chuckles as Verena winked at him. He returned it by smiling wider and raising an eyebrow. He found this ranger to be excellent company in the short time he had conversed with her. Not only was she fair in appearance, she seemed amazingly sincere and good humored. His thoughts about her did not fluctuate as they did when confronted with Alice. He felt that she was what she seemed. A simple sun elf ranger wandering in the forest. One who happened to enjoy giving out tips to better the appearance of others.

Verena's question, however, caught him off guard. Blinked, his smile faltering a bit. It was not that he was apposed to the idea. Far from it, he welcomed the thought of joining someone else in their travels, if only for a day or two. What caught him by surprise was the fact that he was being invited to do so. True, he had helped people before, he had saved lives, and he had been dully thanked, properly rewarded, and celebrated on occasion. However, these events only took place after he was scrutinized intensely, and even then done with reluctance by some. To be asked to openly, so willingly by some one he just met? The concept could barely find a foot hold in his mind so that he could consider it.

"Well I have nothing against it dear. It´s not very nice to travel alone, I can tell you that," Alice said, breaking the iron armed man out of his momentary stupor. It also let his mind come back into focus slightly, helping hims forget that this was an unexpected turn of events and allowing him to give his own response to Verena's question. His smile shrank, but gave off a calmer, more relaxed glow than the the one before.

"I myself would not mind traveling with you. Either of you really. You both seem to be enjoyable company." He spoke true, enjoying the fact that he had been asked to join this woman as a traveling companion.