Party Regrouping (Current Location: Clock Town) Thread 7: Rip

"Purify the aura? So like, they can't detect it? Wouldn't that just like, delay them?"

"We're dealing with ancient forces here, though," Ruul spoke up. From what I gather, the oldest of these masks can be traced back to when Termina was wilderness. There's no guarantee we can affect the magic in the masks- or indeed the masks themselves." He paused, turning his head as though listening for something. "On the leaving Clock Town note, it would be best if we did that soon. Our past selves won't be arriving for another few hours, but Quint is already in town."

Chaos tapped his knuckle against the table. "If we were to hide the masks away, changing their polarity would slow down anyone hunting for them, but I feel that would only be a temporary solution."

"Eh, if the kid wants to try messing with it then at least we may get some extra prep time." Fist said with a shrug. "Tinkering with the unknown can be dangerous though. It could bite you in the ass if you don't know what makes these things tick... especially with old world devices. That stuff's always got some sort of  failsafe..." She added thinking back.

"That's good an' all, but where do we go while we wait for him to take care o' it?"

"We could always go back to that crappy desert." Fist suggested. "That's a lot of time for something that only might work though."

Chaos thought about where to go since relocating seemed to be at the front of everyone's mind. "Moving back towards the forest would suffice for now. Staying near a population could endanger them all if we're there for an extended period of time." He crossed his arms and turned on his heel to face the wall. He turned his mind back to the possible conclusions to this mission. He was positive there were two or three forces working against each other and having them fight each other would ease a lot of their troubles, but they knew next to nothing about the others. He needed a lead towards their identity/identities before this plan could become a reality.

"What about the kokiri though?" Kairo said. "If any of them are in the forest they'll be in danger too."

"I went through a large majority of the forest without finding any sign of them, other than Reina.There's a lot of forest away from wherever their settlement is." Chaos replied

A set of footsteps could be heard coming down the stairs to the cellar where they now stood. A pair of thick boots came into view, followed by equally thick legs and a powerful-looking torso belonging to a red-haired man with a warrior's look and a receding hairline. His clothes were plain brown complimented by leather and off-set by the pair of heavy falchions at his his hips. "Forgive the intrusion," he said first, in a soft baritone. "I came down looking for drinks and overheard some of your conversation. If it's a way to neutralize ancient magic you seek, I may have a way to help you."

Ruul's heart skipped a beat as the man spoke. They'd been trying to keep this quiet, and somebody had already stumbled in on them. Off to a good start.

as soon as the sound of the door opening could be heard Chaos snatched up what was on the table and stuffed them in his bag. He kept a hand on the blade by the table and the other close to his gun. His eye winced at the large figure coming down and his nostrils flared. "This is no concern of yours. Leave." He said bluntly. He didn't buy this man's story for a second.

Fist's brow furrowed and she looked the stranger top to bottom. "Maybe you're new here, but generally the drinks are at the bar bud. It's right by the entrance. You can't miss it."

Edit:

Noticing Chaos' actions, Darem hid the mask behind him, hanging it on one of the rocks jutting out from his back. "If ya needed somethin' from down here, I could hand it up to ya."

"It's considered rather rude to eavesdrop, sir. This is none of your business." Jillian said darkly.

Reina placed her hand on her knife and waited. Her body was tense, like an animal ready to pounce.

Kairo stood up straight from his leaning position against the wall and placed his hand on his belt near his weapon's pouch.

Kowen's dark eyes flashed as she looked at the man. She stared at him, trying to intimidate him with her grey, whiteless eyes.

He raised a brow at the hostile reactions, smirking slightly, but then gave a sober nod. "Rude, yes, if done intentionally. I can see I'm not welcome here, so I'll be about my business and leave you to your secrecy." Ignoring the point about drinks being upstairs, he grabbed a crate of bottles near the door, had a quick look and, satisfied, turned back around. "I'll be out of your hair, but I do want to mention there is a book in the library you may want a look at. That's all."

Zoliel briefly shifted her scowl from Kowen to the intruder after the last line.

"Have a good one!" Darem yelled back, before turning back to the others, "We have enough enemies already, don't we?"

"Not really, just one very powerful one," Ruul pointed out. "Still, we oughta keep an eye out for this guy in case he comes back for more 'overhearing'."

"As I said before, I suspect at least two or three." Chaos said as he relaxed from combat readiness. "We need to find out more about this guy." He held his sheathed weapon on his shoulder. "...and leave as soon as we can."

"Right, that too. We still have an hour or so before we really need to get out, should we move now?"

"We should move when the town goes to sleep." Chaos closed his eyes and turned on his heel. "I'm considering having two stay in town to try and learn more about this stranger."

Ruul furrowed his brow. "Really? I'd think we have more pressing matters than some swordsman. Maybe someone could have a look for that book, but..." He shrugged. "Eh, just my thoughts."

"There aren't really two of us that don't stand out." Darem pointed out.

"You think he was here by chance then? He just happened to come in here for unrelated reasons to this basement where we happen to be holding these masks AND he just happens to know a way to solve our problems?" Chaos then looked to answer Darem "...and you don't need to blend with a crowd to stay out of sight you know. Although your size would be a bit much either way."

"I can keep myself hidden when I need to." Reina volunteered. "Besides, there was something...wrong about that guy."

Darem frowned, "Isn't that more reason to get away from 'im? If we leave and make sure we're not tracked, it'd be safer for all of us."

Ruul frowned. "I'll grant you the guy had a strange air about him, but we're losing sight of our goal here. I suggest we go back to focusing on that, and just taking the swordsman into account in our plans."