The Campsite.

A frown of thought crosses her features.
She opens her mouth to speak- and then changes her mind.
Her eyes fall from his gaze, and she fidgets, running her fingers through her hair, and pulling at one of her ears, then fiddling with her necklace of small trophies. Looking at the floor, she admits in a quiet voice.
"Sparkeye...not hunt Dark before."

"I learn fast. Good hunter."
She looks around at the others in the circle.
They seem strangely quiet, but perhaps they are just thinking.
"You hunt Dark?" she asks, addressing the group.

Before anyone can reply to the Lynx-kin, the last rays of twilight disappear and night descends. With the darkness comes a whoosh of air and a distant cry of "Aha!" Although the air is clear, a small patch of stars visible above the canopy is blotted out, and you hear a rattle of wood on wood as a rope ladder drops down in the middle of the circle. As it sways, you see a figure climb down, softly illuminated by the light of the campfire. He jumps the last few feet and whistles upwards, signalling the ladder to recoil and the dark shape above moves away. He swivels on the spot and looks around the circle. Adjusting his three-pointed hat, he addresses the most important-looking of the beastmen.
"Good morning, I'm Captain Cloudbreaker, have you seen my elven friend anywhere?"

Sparkeye flinches at the arrival of the stranger, dropping into a low stance, hand to her knife, ready to leap should she need to- be it either away from or directly at the figure. Yet as it speaks, it seems as though he is known here, and she relaxes- slightly- into a more casual crouch, resting one hand on the grass, and sitting lightly on her right heel.
Morning? she ponders, looking him over. Cloudbreaker, hrrm?...This good name.

Hans looks up from the fire and away from the odd Beast-talk he was listening intently to.

"If you mean Sasien, Captain, he's buggered off to get more food. If you mean Divah, he's not on this deployment. Likely back at the Guild in the Library or trapesing around in the back woods of wherever it is he lives."

"Ah, Hans, didn't notice you there, I was too occupied being surrounded by hairy people with fangs. Of course I mean Sasien, I said 'friend' didn't I? Anyway, food... Oh dear, you've been feeding him, haven't you? Make sure he doesn't drink too much alcohol, he thinks he can take more than he can."
Realising it would be more interesting (and probably safer) to stay with this group than to go sauntering into the woods at night on a wild elf chase, Seamus comes to the conclusion that Sasien can handle himself and will make it back to camp on his own. He addresses the group once more.
"Now you all know who I am and why I'm here, I would be most thankful if someone else were to introduce themselves. It would make me a tad less - what's the word - 'about to be mauled' if I could put names to the wild, snarling faces that currently have me completely surrounded..."

Rustling can be heard right next to the campfire, where Sasien has sat the entire time, on a stump dangerously close to the flames.

"Oh, I'm out of food..."

Sasien lets out a deep sigh as he tips his sack, spilling the last few remaining crumbs of bread out on to the floor. He looks up, instantly fixing his gaze on the freshly hunted deer, drooling slightly from the corner of his mouth, completely oblivious to the presence of the beastmen or the dynamic entry of his Captain.

With a sigh, the captain moves up behind the sitting elf, crouches behind him and taps him on the shoulder.

Sasien, snapped out of his daze, turns sharply to face Seamus, with sword at the ready.

"Oh, it's you, Captain..."

Sasien relaxes his hand from his sword and swings around towards Seamus.

"What do you want?"

"Nothing really, I'm just a bit bored. I was sitting there in Dun Pennot thinking 'this is dull, I have nothing to do for weeks until my next assignment. I know, I'll find Sasien, he always manages to find something interesting to do' so I found out you'd headed north with some other seekers on a camping trip and set out on the Rescue to come find you. I was circling a mile or so south of here for a while, but when night fell I saw the fire, and decided to take a gamble."
He looks up at the starry sky for a moment.
"I've told Stan to keep the ship circling until sunset two days from now, that should give us enough time to find something fun, don't you think? The crew should be happy enough, I stocked up on grog on the way here and told them they could have as much as they like, as long as they clean up after themselves. So, any ideas on what to do?"

Looking around for something of interest, stopping momentarily to glance at the deer again, Sasien notices the presence of a great many more people than before...

"There are beast people everywhere... that feathery one looks quite tasty..."

He gets up and walks over to the 'feathery beast person'.

[Had to cut it short, today's anime has just finished downloading]

Sparkeye relaxes, now that she knows that the others here know the newcomer.
She also takes note that after his arrival, they seem to have woken up.
"Cloudbreaker." she says, hoping to gain his attention, as she stands up, so as not to startle him.
She makes a fluid bow to the 'captain' who seems to be their leader.
"This one is Sparkeye. Will not maul."

Seamus faces the Beastkin and studies her briefly.
"Ah, yes, always a good thing to hear. From the looks of you you're from Lynx tribe, aren't you? So what are you doing so far from Lynx territory surrounded by Seekers and Wolf-kin, Sparkeye-who-will-not-maul?"
He says the name with a joking tone and offers a handshake.

She smiles gently, mindful not to show too much teeth, as she has heard it makes the furless ones nervous.
"Lynx, yes, mhrr." she nods, taking the offered hand, and shaking it awkwardly.
"Wish to see other lands. Meet new peoples, yes? Want to see world."

"Great! Always nice to meet another aspiring explorer! If you want any pointers on where to visit first, I'd be happy to give you a list. Dar'Suliss is nice this time of year... Anyway, I'd better go stop Sasien before he starts trying to eat our feathered friend over there."
Seamus hurriedly goes over to where the two are having their 'conversation' and grabs Sasien by the shoulder. Turning him around so they are now face-to-face, the Captain clicks his fingers in the Elf's face.
"What's got into you? You don't usually try and eat beastmen... Look, if you want to butcher humanoids, I'm sure there are some cultists or cannibals out in the forest."
He turns to address the group.
"Are there any wrong-doers around that need a sharp sorting out nearby? It doesn't seem like you violent-looking types would be just having a quiet camping holiday in the wilds,to be perfectly honest..."

"Not know Dar'Suliss. Heard Dar'Revan. Mountain, like Lynx land? Want to meet Elftribe. See them hunt."
She moves her hand to indicate the others present.
"Wolftribe hunts Dark things. Bad things. Soars-With-Moonlight sees. You hunt Dark?"

"Dar'Suliss is very fun, full of fierce 'wild elves' who can be completely unrelenting in a fight. It's probably the furthest you can get from Lynx territory without leaving Xenos completely, so it's understandable if you haven't heard of it. I wouldn't bother with Dar'Revan, the locals are too busy talking to trees most of the time..."
He trails off, then remembers the point of this conversation and resumes talking.
"I've fought Darklings before, aye, but not specifically hunted them. They're not always completely evil, though. Well, they are always completely evil by definition, but not always violently so. I've had civilised dealings with some before, although they did later try and kill my friends and eat my arm... Anyway, back to the point, does anyone know where these Theria - I'm presuming they're dark beastmen - are at the moment?"

"Sharphowl say trail cold. Darkhide lead them. Snowhide sees." she counts off the different members of the Wolf tribe on her fingers as she explains. "Maybe find, if spirits talk."
She turns back to the Eagle tribe member.
"Soars-With-Moonlight say spirits not settle. Maybe not talk."

Sparkeye blinks at the Birdkin, perplexed.
She has heard of spirits in commotion before, from her Father, but she never had a talent for it.
"Maybe someone help his head?"

Turning to face the others present, she asks again, a directed question rather than a thought this time-
"Someone can help his head?"

Hans crushes and sprinkles something into a mug of mead and holds it over the fire, swishing it around. When done, he hands to to Soars

"Drink, the alcohol and what I put in it should help with the headache. If it doesn't, I can give you something stronger but I don't know what side effects it will incur on a Beastman."

He turns to this 'Sparkeye', appraising her.

"You say you hunt, but have you ever fought anything that didn't run on four legs? Human, Dwarf, fellow Lynx Tribe, anything?"