(Not going to do the normal Picture format this time )

Vitani Nodded in agreement as her pace quickened Her tail feathers Fanning out instinctively as she swiveled her ears on High alert. " we ain't far from the gate " she said trying to be a bit encouraging, however her tone was a bit sore

"Keep going." Iria called as she hurried forward with the others. She looked back at her Ny'vene and sent him to find the intruder.

Iria sighed a breath of relief as they filed through the gate. Iria glanced back warily and called back her shadow beasts who instantly vanished back into the void.

Midnight looked around cautiously. "So we need to be careful..... We won't get out of this if we aren't...." Midnight whispered to herself and looked at her daggers in case she needed to grab one of them. She then looked around again and jumped down.

(Imma be gone for till next monday X3 Imma be gone the whole week so if I'm needed I won't be here.)

"Gavin du Loch de Hallenbreich"

Two guards, one sylvorpa and a morkko, accompanying a zolnixi porter approached the berth Midnight disembarked onto from Gavin's back. Gavin was just starting to beach on the pier as they were arriving.

"Ack, mind ye lendin' a lil paw gettin' me oop here lads?" He spoke to the guards in a friendly manner, encouraging them to come help lift him up with the pack on his back.

He didn't need the help, but his tact served a three fold purpose. It freed up Midnight to payoff the porter a little extra to not consign their arrival while the guards are distracted, it also got the ferrikki clear of the landing so Gavin could fence the guards if need be, and if he needed to clear the guards off, their paws would be tangled in his kelp armor and he could launch them off of the pier. Neturally, the guards came to assist. Gavin was fairly known to them as a regular merchant conveyor so they didn't bat an eye. Conveying goods was good modest side work that provided him a cover for entering the city unattached to the guild.

((OOC: Considering Sapphirethewolf9339's situation, I'll move this forward))

"Thankee lads" He obliged the guards, offering them a few gold coin for their help. He sauntered carefully up to the wharf, saddlebags jangling some, his weight shifting whiile his fins worked to adapt to the extra weight. Midnight had finished her business with the zolnixi right behind the guards back and stepped into stride beside Gavin as they made way into the city.

Looking carefully into the water, the shadow beasts had danced and integrated between dozens of shadows following in the sylesties' wake.

Iria followed the little vixen through the gate and into the rainy streets. "Vitani, still be careful. Even though we are in the city, they might still attack. It's unlikely but still possible." She called as she stationed shadow beasts around them. Then she got an idea. She summoned the smallest beast she had, a little nephini and sent him back towards the gate. Her plan was for the nephi to follow the intruder and see if they was following them, or at least where they had gone to and who they were.

"Gavin du Loch de Hallenbreich"

The shadow beasts were making good on following them, despite the two dimensional state they needed to travel along with them. He wasn't watching them so much as sensing their presence, be it near or far. And they were never very far for more than a second or two it seemed to him. Once they were off the wharf, there was much more late bustle of the city for them to lose themselves in; both for the beasts as well as the travelers. This too was thinned from the rain, still it was a deal greater than they dealt with coming into town. It was difficult to tell what made the shadow beasts so selective about which shadows to traverse, but he imagined that aside from passing as shadows touched, that perhaps those more attuned to magic made them skittish about overlaying those particular shadows. A useful thought if they needed to track a magic-user one day. It was an imagined idea that he fancied and not one he could particularly prove; still he was glad Iria had sent them along. "I t'ink ye been quiet fer far tew long lassie." Gavin twanged over his shoulder at Midnight. "Twill be a bad nigh' ta hock, fence er saele some ohdese gewds t'night,ah t'ink." A little bit of acting mingledin with a fair bit of truth. Still he had an idea where Midnight and he were likely going to rendezvous with the others this evening. he pivoted his ears out and around so he could better hear Midnight's reply, that is, if she was actually conscious at the moment.She was so light it was hard for him to tell. Th kelparie was meandering about the cobbled streets with hardly a care in the world; the rain suited him perfectly. Deliberately meandering about the streets where he could flop hoping to get any tails turned about in the big honeycomb of streets here. But he knew exactly where he would end up and likely the last to arrive, The Rusty Lock. He was 90% certain that was where Vitani had planned to meet up as an alternative meet, rather than saunter right into the guild. He recalled as they were heading off on this adventure, that she had mentioned a lot about doing some "locksmith" techniques in her youth and was constantly sharing about the constantly poor and rusty conditions that many merchants tended to allow their tumblers and gears to get into. Not that it mattered if it was true or not, it was just one of the ways they as guilders had learned to disguise and riddle where meeting points would be if things ever went sideways.

((OOC: Just ad libbing a little pre-adventure point here to help continue the plot))

Odds are Brute was already aware of where Vitani was leading them and would have likely arranged for a buyer, local fence, or guild handler to contact them there, or not far from it already. Though 'The Rusty Lock' was in a fairly shady district and when they were about the area, Gavin had to flash the business end of his horn with a hint of menace and a no nonsense position that warned the hoodlums skulking in the shadows that he wasn't just a mount for looks. He had thought he noticed a dark luffox paying them particular interest as they passed through a side street but after a flash of lightning,the little fiend had vanished into the shadows. He paid it and a rough looking draeyl in a hooded cowl that had eyed them, then lumbered out of sight; very little thought once the coast was clear enough for him to make a more direct line to their rendezvous point...