Invar made his way to the town, his palms sweating in the autumn chill. His plan wasn't a great one, but it was the best one they had. The town was a quiet place. No more than a hundred buildings in total. The townsfolk seemed not to pay him much mind, travelers must be a common sight in this area. Invar heard the clatter of bone chimes as he made his way to the town square to wait for his moment. The Old Believers of his own town had been driven out long before he was born but he had heard stories about them and their bone chimes. The sound made the hairs on his neck stand upright. Still, he had to be ready and, more importantly, inconspicuous. He saw very few children and even fewer young men. He took careful note of every guard he spotted;
"This one hasn't been in a fight in years. His arm is practically leaking out of his bracers."
"This one's missing an eye, probably an ear too judging from the burns on his face. Wonder they're letting him serve at all." Invar took careful note of the local's speech. It was close enough that he had little trouble understanding, but he'd need to be more familiar with it or risk outing himself as foreign."

Once he had scoped the town to his satisfaction, Invar made ready to signal the attack. He made his way back to the town square and spotted the main bell. He ducked into an alley, carefully checking to make sure he had an escape ready and that nobody had spotted him. When he was certain of his anonymity, he grabbed a hunk of coal from a nearby barrel and hurled it at the bell. The chunk had nearly hit the guard manning the bell, Invar's head was still not completely recovered from the events of the last few days after all, but in the end his aim was true and the bell let out its ring. Without a moment's hesitation Invar made his way down the narrow backstreets to the tannery as the confused guards rushed to the square. The townsfolk were pouring in after the guards, perhaps expecting the crier had some breaking news. Now was the time. He made his way to the tannery, awaiting his sister's arrival.

Before long the voices from the town square turned from confusion to panic.
"Over zen hills!"
"Kentauri!"
"Form Ranks!" As the battle commenced, the townsfolk fled. People made their way into whatever building was closest. Invar played the part of a frightened townsman well, tripping over himself as he made his way into the tannery.
"What's ongoing, boy? What's the commotion?"
"Kentauri! ...en zen market!" Fear shot across the tanner's face.
"Arkn shield us. Get back here, boy." the tanner said as he motioned Invar behind the counter. Invar scrambled behind the counter, letting every bit of his fear come through his performance. He sat behind the tanner as he quickly scoped out the shop. There! Right under the counter, the perfect pieces. Only issues left were to get it out and signal Sari to get out of the fight before she got hurt.

"Sorry about this, old man." Invar said as he put the tanner into a choke hold. The old man soon fell limp and Invar leapt to his feet to retrieve the leather. The leather must've weighed as much as he did, but there wasn't time to sort it out now. He'd have to worry about that later. Invar hoisted the leather over his shoulder and kicked open the back door.
"Where's that damned horse?"
Invar scanned the back roads and saw nothing. The horse must've been spooked and fled.
"Taho's gaze!" Invar quickly lugged his haul towards the town square. Sari was keeping the guards off her remarkably well. She could probably keep this up for hours, but one lucky hit is all it would take for that to end. They had to leave now.

"Ara's Blood! Kentauri!" Invar screamed. Sari quickly glanced over to see Invar drop the leather and curl up into a defensive position, subtly pointing to his head once he saw Sari had caught sight of him. Sari smirked and began to charge at Invar, knocking him down and snatching up the leather before fleeing the town. Invar slowly picked himself up, careful not to appear uninjured. The remaining guards scrambled around the town square, checking on their fallen comrades, dispatching ravens, and securing the area. It wasn't long before there was a guard standing over Invar as well.
"Ye alright, boy? What was en yer skull to come outside during an attack? Yer lucky te be standing!" The guard said as he helped Invar to his feet.
"Arkn was my shield today. Gods be praised." Invar said, holding his side.
"Ye need anything, boy? Any bones broken?"
"I don't think so. The gods were kind today. Just need to find my horse and I should be ready to go on."
"Best luck to ye then." the guard said as he turned back towards the square. Invar couldn't help but smile. His plan had worked and both he and his sister were alive and had shelter. All that was left to do was find that damned horse and rendezvous with Sari. After about two hours of searching, Invar found his horse cowering in a storage shed.

As Invar left the storage shed, he noticed some guards in the square talking with a heavily armed stranger. She was dressed in black leather with a steel breastplate. Her hair was jet-black and she stood half a head over even the tallest of the guards. A white bird stood alert on her left shoulder and a red cape was draped over her right. On her back she had a two-handed blade. Invar couldn't hear what they were discussing but noticed that the woman was calm and collected, in stark contrast to the guards wild gestures. Invar decided to leave through the north end of town and circle around rather than risk being seen and remembered by the guards. Once outside the town, he returned to the hilltop where they had first spotted the town.

Sari was waiting just behind the hill, leather at her feet.
"You certainly took your sweet time, brother. We need to put some more distance between us and town before we'll be safe to set up camp."
"You can thank this idiot for the wait." Invar said motioning to his horse. "Bastard fled the scene as soon as you showed."
"He doesn't seem to like me much."
"Well give him some sympathy, he has to see one of his own kind twisted into some aberration. That'd be enough to make any of the gods' creatures uneasy, wouldn't you say?"
Sari huffed and shook her head. "Let's go, we're running out of daylight."
"We should move east. Avoid the roads for a few days, until the fear calms down."
"Shame there wasn't a way we could get the leather without alerting the whole region to our presence."
"Your presence. Besides, there's plenty of other threats for them to worry about out here. Even if they do send help over, we're not staying here. If anything this is good."
"We'll see." Sari said as she turned and started east.
"You will." Invar said, following after her.