"Will Makoa let me keep it?" she whispers nervously.
"I don't see why not," Lorenz says. "So long as you take care of it."
"Camel lizard?" Pezock says, pushing his way through to see. "What in the world is a camel lizard? A lizard with humps?"
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"It's a chameleon lizard," Lorenz says, trying hard to enunciate the proper pronunciation of the creature's name. "At least, that's what we were told. Hold him up, Douena and you'll see why."
"Don't worry," Mahjik reassures, "what's the odds that Makao even notices the lizard? It'll blend right in with your hair. Though I honestly don't get why it is a camel lion lizard. Did you get some bugs or something for it too, for food, Lorenz?"
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"Jask, it seems you've been beaten by a pet." Makoa observes. "That seems unfortunate. You want a round of drinks? They can celebrate the pet while we thank the gods for our freedom."
Lorenz pulls out a packet and slides it across the table. "There's bugs in there. Once we get into the jungle itself, I figure there'll be plenty of bugs for you to feed to him. What're you going to name him?"
He looks up and blinks as he sees Jask and Makoa looking at them and remembers Makoa's announcement. "Congratulations, Jask! Glad to see they didn't arrest either one of you!"
"Though I honestly don't get why it is a camel lion lizard."
"It doesn't bear much resemblance to either animal," Douena agrees, "and it looks more like a jungley creature than one that would live in the desert or the grasslands. Will it bite me?" she asks, even as she is already reaching into the box. The lizard shies away from her eagerness. "Here, Lorenz, give me a bug; maybe it's hungry. Look, lizard," she croons musically, lowering her palm with the bug on it toward the box, "it's a yummy bug." She laughs with delight as the chameleon runs up over her fingers to claim its meal.
He looks up and blinks as he sees Jask and Makoa looking at them and remembers Makoa's announcement. "Congratulations, Jask! Glad to see they didn't arrest either one of you!"
"Well, technically, they did arrest me," Jask says. "They just let me go again once the Baron had reviewed the evidence you recovered for me. But thank you for your congratulations, my friend. It is a nice feeling to know that I am no longer a wanted criminal. And it seems I'm not the only happy one. I'm glad to see that Douena has cheered up since this morning."
He turns to Makoa. "A round of drinks sounds like a good plan!"
As Bergi begins to serve drinks, and the lizard entertains, Gelik enters the tavern and strides over to the group. He glances at Douena playing with the lizard before taking a seat at the table. "Good news!" he says. "As requested, I have arranged for a meeting with the Pathfinders tomorrow at noon. We'll meet with Venture-Captain Finze Bellaugh. He's very excited to meet you all."
Urza returns to the tavern rather drained of energy. He was not a fan of haggling. Plus running after Douena and keeping her on track was a chore. But they had accomplished what they had set out to do. "Is this everyone? Once we're all here, I can hand out our shares of the pirate booty." That 1350 gp each.
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Douena flushes coldly when Gelik enters the room, but she doesn't look up and ignores his intrusion at the lizard table. "Sasha, is it a boy or a girl?" She plucks the end of the chameleon's tail and lifts its back legs up in the air, displaying its nether regions for the redhead's perusal -- and, incidentally, in Gelik's general direction.
Sasha peers closely at the lizard. "Boy," she says.
Gelik looks around the table, waiting expectantly for a response. When none comes immediately, he starts to look crestfallen. "I'll remind you, you did ask me to set up a meeting," he says. "You could at least respond."
Lorenz, looking trapped, glances from Douena to Gelik and back to Sasha before looking to Gelik again. Finally he smiles weakly. "That sounds fine, Gelik. I'm looking forward to meeting the Venture-Captain."
He extends a hand toward the lizard that Douena is exposing. "We're all looking at this marvelous creature from the jungle that Sasha and I got for Douena."
He looks to Gelik a last time, doing his best to signal with a glance his desperate hope that the older gnome doesn't say anything to upset Douena.
"There's no competing with a lizard, I'm afraid, Gelik," Jask says. "It also overshadowed my own announcement of my freedom. Don't worry, I'm sure we will all be at the meeting tomorrow. I'm certain we all want to know what the Pathfinders have to say and offer."
Gelik nods slowly and places his hat down on the table with a sigh. "I'm sure you will be quite pleased with what we can offer," he says.
Douena smiles as she sets the lizard's feet back down and lets it run up her arm after another bug. Although she still doesn't acknowledge Gelik's presence, she seems pleased that he failed to grab everyone's attention. "I'll call him Ralph," she decides. "He reminds me of a gnome boy I knew in Whistledown; he was always changing color, too. Sir Ralph the Camel Lion, Lizard of Eleder. Gives him a little more distinction. Come on, Pezock," she tells the tengu, "we were talking about where you're from and deciding where we're going to go next. You don't eat lizards, do you? I think some big birds eat lizards. Or do some big lizards eat birds?"
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"Bah, I'll eat lizards if I'm hungry enough," Pezock says, "but I prefer fish. That lizard is too small though. It wouldn't be worth eating." He prods the lizard with a feathered finger as he says this as if to demonstrate the lack of meat on it.
"As for where I'm from, I'm from the island of Mediogalti and the great city of Ilizmagorti! Ah, now that was a fine city! Crystal clear beaches! Tall gleaming towers! The buildings all made of the finest shining marble. There are ships from all round the world and people of all kinds! And you would never have trouble finding a tengu ship there, as the tengu are the administrators of the whole place. We keep that city running efficiently!"
"Uh, Pezock," Sasha says a bit uncertainly. "There are no gleaming marble towers in Ilizmagorti, and the tengu there--"
"Quiet you!" Pezock snaps. "I'm waxing nostalgic!"
Sasha leans over and whispers in Douena's ear.
Pezock's eyes narrow as Sasha whispers to Douena. "I said quiet! I'm speaking here!" He goes back to describing Ilizmagorti, making it into the most beautiful city in the world, with more and more improbable descriptions. It certainly doesn't match what any of you saw of the city when the Jenivere stopped there.
Lorenz opens his mouth to speak and then sees Sasha lean down to whisper and pauses, holding his breath to listen.
He nods slowly at Sasha's words but decides not to comment on them. "I was in Ilizmagorti for a while. But I never got to visit a beach. It is a pretty efficiently run city, I did notice that."
He pales a little at some of the memories and is very glad to be in Eleder all over again.
Douena blinks up at Sasha a moment, then turns her attention back to Pezock, taking his hand with her non-lizard-bearing arm and leading him back toward the other table. "We ate lizards on the island, too," she tells him in a harsh whisper, turning her head away from Sir Ralph to spare him the awful revelation. "Don't tell him. Ilsmagordy sounds lovely. I've never seen a clear beach. How does that work exactly? Is the sand clear all the way down? What can you see through it?"
Lorenz relaxes once Douena and Pezock are back at the other table and lets out a slow breath.
"They really seem uniquely suited to each other," he says quietly to Sasha. "Each seeing the world in their own special way.
Mahjik is quite impressed while watching the chameleon, particularly about its ability to project his tongue and catch bugs. "You see that!?" He calls, pointing excitedly, "It's tongue is as long as itself!"
When he settles down later he asks Gelik: "So what is the Venture Captain like? Finze? What blood does he call his own?"
"Blood?" Gelik says. "I don't think he owns any blood that doesn't run in his veins. What a strange question. But as for what he's like, I'd say he's a good person. You have to realize I don't know him particularly well, but I have spent a bit of time talking to him last night and today, and he is certainly knowledgeable about the area and of Pathfinder operations, which of course, he ought to be, given his position. Based on early impressions, I would consider him very competent."
Douena blinks up at Sasha a moment, then turns her attention back to Pezock, taking his hand with her non-lizard-bearing arm and leading him back toward the other table. "We ate lizards on the island, too," she tells him in a harsh whisper, turning her head away from Sir Ralph to spare him the awful revelation. "Don't tell him. Ilsmagordy sounds lovely. I've never seen a clear beach. How does that work exactly? Is the sand clear all the way down? What can you see through it?"
"I mean the water," Pezock says. "The water at the beaches is crystal clear. You can see all the way to the bottom, and you can see all the fish swimming through it. It makes it very easy to catch your dinner!"
"The meeting will be fine, Gelik."
"I mean the water," Pezock says. "The water at the beaches is crystal clear. You can see all the way to the bottom, and you can see all the fish swimming through it. It makes it very easy to catch your dinner!"
"Oh." That obviously doesn't sound as interesting to her; water is supposed to be clear, after all. "Do you think there's somewhere on Golarion where the ground is clear and you can see all the way through the world to the other side? They say when it's daytime here, on the far side of Golarion it's nighttime. Then I could see the stars all the time, even when the sun is shining." She takes him back to his table where she sets up a little maze for Sir Ralph with plates and utensils, letting him hunt his meal through the obstacle course and undoubtedly causing no little consternation to any other of Bergi's customers due to the amount of bugs strewn across the eating surface.
"I've actually heard of places like that," Mahjik tells Douena, "only heard, though, haven't seen any myself. But there are a few places where great battles were fought between powerful wizards and sorcerers that have left the ground barren and molten almost like glass. It's probably not very clear, but you might be able to see a couple of feet into the ground there - maybe even see the dead remains of some in the ground."
Pezock looks up in start at Mahjik's sudden appearance at his and Douena's table. "Stop sneaking around like that! You'll give me a heart attack!"
Lorenz sits quietly at the table he's sharing with Sasha and the others, thinking about the shopping trip and looking forward to things settling down a little as the evening draws to a close and continuing one of his earlier conversations with Sasha.
Bergi continues to serve drinks and then food as the evening draws on, and you celebrate your good fortunes. Eventually, you begin to retire for the night.
Gelik is the first down for breakfast in the morning. He looks in a particularly good mood. "Ah, this is an exciting day!" he proclaims to the first to arrive after him.
"Actually, I've found the last couple of mornings to be rather dull and mundane. Perhaps all the excitment on the island has ruined me to civilization." Assuming everyone would be down soon, Urza orders enough food for everyone.
Lorenz and Sasha enter the tavern together a short while after all the others. The man is smiling contentedly, his hair unbound and hanging loosely on his shoulders. "Good morn, all! How are you, my friends?"
He pulls out a chair for Sasha and sits beside her. "I am famished! What's for breakfast?"
However, after hours, just when she's thinking of giving up, she encounters an older sailor. He mostly bald with only a few strands of greasy hair remaining. His face is heavily wrinkled and his hands callused. "The Crow's Tooth?" he says. "That's the second time in just two days I've heard that name. There was a tengu here yesterday asking about tengu ships. Blasted beast nearly killed me. All I did was mention that I once served on the Crow's Tooth. He mentioned the name in passing and I thought what an odd coincidence. I hadn't heard about the Crow's Tooth in years. It disappeared ages ago, so I heard. Well, he starts going on about its captain. He seemed to think she was a tengu like him. All I did was correct him. Captain Zoventai was as human as me. Then he starts pounding at me, screaming that she was a tengu. If it wasn't for the guards, I'd probably be dead by now. Blasted non-humans!" He pauses, momentarily embarrassed as he remembers he's talking to a non-human. "Blasted tengu, I mean," he mutters.
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He leans back against the barrel he's sitting beside. "I can't quite recall when she disappeared. Of course, when a ship goes missing, people rarely notice right away, so you never really know when it goes missing. You only know when it was last seen and when people noticed that they hadn't seen it since. The last I heard of it had to have been at least a year or two ago. Around two I think, and by then, it had already been missing a long while."
"Good morning, my friend!" Gelik says, sliding up beside Lorenz. "I was just commenting to Urza here that it is a wonderful morning. We're free of that horrible island, I'm in good standing with the Pathfinders again and may be about to take part in my first sanctioned missing in some time, Jask is a free man. A great day indeed! You, too, look in good spirits!"
Sasha smirks. "I should think so," she mutters.
Gradually, you all assemble for breakfast--all except Douena. There's no sign of her.
"Two good days in a row, huh? Hope that's true." Makoa says as he sets down to breakfast. "Anyone seen Douena? I wouldn't want her thinking we had breakfast without waking her up."
"Of course, knowing her, she has probably figured out how to copy that lizard and blend into her surroundings."
"hahaha! I wouldn't be surprised, she's sneaky like that," Mahjik grins at the half-orc, "here, lemme get some of the fresh bread for her - she didn't get to enjoy it much yesterday." Mahjik goes up stairs and knocks on Douena's door, "Wakey wakey sunshine! I got some bread for you. Can I come in?"
Lorenz grins. "Life is good, no question about it. I'm looking forward to seeing what the rest of the day may bring."
Urza looks at the doorway to make sure someone isn't there. "We'll I'm not looking forward to have to deal with Douena at our meeting with the Pathfinders. It ought to prove an interesting conversation at least."
Douena does not respond to Mahjik's greeting.
"No chance you'll join us downstairs? I'll just leave you some bread at the door then," Mahjik comes back down, shrugging his shoulders apologetically. "Maybe she's rehearsing a speech for the Venture Captain."
Urza looks at the doorway to make sure someone isn't there. "We'll I'm not looking forward to have to deal with Douena at our meeting with the Pathfinders. It ought to prove an interesting conversation at least."
Gelik laughs nervously. "Indeed, it should be very interesting," he says. "Perhaps she's still sulking and will refuse to come to the meeting. That might make things go more smoothly." He glances at the rest of you, particularly Sasha. "Not that I'm suggesting she shouldn't, of course," he adds quickly.