As you scale the house's walls, one of the first things you notice is how decrepit the interior looks. The second story of the house is composed of little more than a single bedroom with two beds, with several more blankets and pillows scattered about. The whole room smells of rainwater and salt. You hear the sounds of people's voices speaking downstairs...
"Dad, please... you have to eat something." A young-sounding woman's voice... "Come on--this isn't like you--"
"I'll eat when I damn well feel like it, girl." A gruff, aged voice snaps. "Take your swill and get lost--I already told you I'm not hungry."
"Dad, please--you haven't eaten in three days. At least take a bite of bread--"
"No. How many times do I have to tell you I'm not hungry?! Did you go deaf when I wasn't looking?!"
The argument appears to be escalating...
Lyla easily picks the window lock and enters the attic. Crawling along the ceiling, the girl heads downstairs after counting the number of blankets in the crammed up space. Spotting the people in the room below, she bites her lips while peeking at the scene before her, and takes a good look at both halflings. She carefully examines the room to see how this family lives and looks for doors to other parts of the house.
The first floor of the house has a few more rooms than the upstairs, but that isn't saying much. The stairs descend into a common room with few furnishings--several chairs surround a long table in the room, with a hearth on the wall opposite the stairs. There is a room to your right that appears to open into a pantry and kitchen.
The scene before you is a pitiable one. Sitting in a worn-out chair at the table is an aged halfling in a dirty sailor's uniform, with one of his eyes and lips scarred from what appear to be old knife wounds. His greying beard is ragged and stringy, and his grey eyes are ringed with far too many crow's feet than is healthy. Standing before him is a halfling woman who doesn't look much older than you, dressed in a faded red blouse and apron. Her brown hair is the only thing about her that can be called passably clean, and her brown eyes are filled with weariness and desperation. She sets a plate of bread and some sort of stew is on the table before the old halfling.
A pair of halfling children, a boy and a girl who don't appear to be older than five winters, sit in a corner playing together--or rather, the girl is tormenting the boy with her doll. Their features are remarkably similar--they both share their mother's brown hair and eyes.
"No, Dad, I heard you the first time."
"Then put it away or give it to them." The old halfling grumbles and glances over at the two children. He takes a hip flask from his belt, pops it open and starts chugging the contents.
"Dad, what did I tell you about drinking in front of the kids?" The young woman sighs in irritation, folding her arms.
"What, now you're afraid they'll start beggin' me for a taste? They're dumb little s#~&s, but I doubt they're that dumb." The old halfling pauses long enough to reply before taking another swig from his flask.
"Dad!" The young woman's irritation hasn't been relieved in the least.
Lyla feels her chest tighten watching the sad exchange between the family—her family, maybe. She gets out of the house the same way she got in and goes after Ortik and Nalun. She waits for the extracts to wear out, except for the mutagen, whose effect lasts a lot longer thatn the rest. Back to her normal size, she proposes they go speak to the family.
"Ok, here's what I found. My d—the old man inside looks sick, he's got a terrible temper. Not the nicest person either, it seems. He's got a daughter about my age, a little older I think. She's in there with her kids trying to get him to eat, looks like he hasn't had anything in a while, 'cept for booze." She looks down. "It's sad in there. I... I want to get them out of here. Even if they're not my family... if they got here because o Lamm, I wanna help them anyway. Did you have any ideas?"
Lyla listens to Ortik's plan of passing for investigators tying up loose ends after Lamm's death, and agrees with the approach. "Alright, let's do it." Reaching the door, she raises her hand to knock, but holds her fist looking back at Ortik and Nalun. "I was hoping you guys would do the talking, but after what I saw... I think I have to do this. Please cut me off if I start sounding too dumb, I have no idea how this is gonna go. Good thing is, it'll probably be the girl who answers... and she seems nice."
She knocks holding her badge up, waiting for the door to open. "Helloooo! Anyone home? Korvosan guard, we'd like to speak to the Fairwoods!" Worried that her announcement might sound too alarming, she continues. "You're not in trouble, it's just a few questions we need your help with."
The knocking at the door goes unanswered for a few seconds. "Er--one minute please!" The halfling woman's voice answers.
After a second or two, the door opens slightly and she looks out at you, her lips pursed. "This is the first time you've come out here in weeks, guard. What do you want?" Her tone is quite guarded.
She blinks in confusion when she sees Lyla's face.
We've heard reports of sick and injured inside. Cannot have the plague spreading, this one here will see the infirm. Nalun says with bravado indicating Lyla as the apothecary.
"And at no charge, Nalun, don't forget that," Ortik says, filling in the gaps. "She's got a head for herbs and simples. She'll clear up anyone with ague right as rain."
"There's also a second matter we came to discuss, one that's probably best discussed indoors, involving some information that came to light after the passing of one Gaedren Lamm. Might we enter, and have a word with the head of house?"
"No! I mean, we can talk here, right? No need to bother a sick man, I'm sure Ms. Fairwoods here can help us." Like I'm going to spill the beans to that angry drunken old men... yikes.
Not a very good liar herself, Lyla tries to play along, poorly. "Well, yeah, your neighbours said your... father... was ill, since we’ve been asking around for you, but like my friend here explains, we have something else to discuss. This is the Fairwoods household, right? You're probably thinking 'hey, what's the guard doing at my doorstep'.." She looks around and sighs. "Doesn't look like they... we... come here often. Anyway, we're closing an investigation about a drug ring led by this Lamm guy, and there are some loose ends we need to tie up". She takes a deep breath and continues, trying to stick to the truth whenever she can, hoping to gain the woman’s trust. “You see… we captured a shiver producer called Devargo Barvasi. He oversaw an operation that employed orphans and stolen children, and this goes back for over a decade. He gave us a few names—Fairwoods included. Does that story ring any bells?” She pulls out a vial filled with an extract of cure light wounds to soften the blow. "Oh, and yes, we happen to have some medicine for your father."
The young woman nods along with your questions until you mention Lamm. Her face promptly darkens.
"Fairwoods? Yeah, it rings a few bells." She looks like she's about to order you away, but Lyla's offering of a healing extract gives her pause. "My little sister was stolen from us, and for all we know, she's dead and gone--"
"Marra, who's at the door now?" The gruff voice snaps, causing the woman at the door to turn around.
"Just the guards, Dad. They were looking for us... they want to talk about Lamm and his boss."
A dead silence comes from inside the house. It's broken by the sound of a chair scraping against the floor and plodding footfalls.
The door opens wider as the aged halfling steps up next to Marra, his eyes narrowed into a venomous glare. "So, it takes an honest halfling ten years for the guards to finally get their thumbs out of their arses, then?"
Lyla can't help but feel for the old man. His frustration is palpable, and only then she realizes how much he must have struggled to find her. Standing there, face to face with him, makes her shudder, and the words just escape her as her eyes tear up. "I'm sorry", she apologizes with a trembling voice.
She rubs her eyes hiding the tears and goes on, wanting to make sure the man's story checks with her own. "I know you've been over this before with the guard, but I need to hear what happened to your daughter—the one that was kidnapped. In detail. Please."
"Hmph." The old halfling snorts and takes another draft from his flask. "It was a Kuthona afternoon. We'd just pulled into port at Korvosa... it'd been the first time in two years I'd ever had a chance to be home."
"They'd been standing on the docks, waiting for me to come home..." The man's eyes take on a faraway look. "There were supposed to be five of them waiting for me: my wife Mirri, and my children Hyrgan, Trilbin, Marra, and..." He winces. "...Lyla."
Marra starts trembling. "A gang of pickpockets took the opportunity to start working the crowd. One of them must have gotten caught or used too much force, because the crowd panicked--and in the panic, Mom lost Lyla. We never saw her again..."
"I started scouring the seedier parts of town, looking for my little girl. All I got for my trouble was scars and a bum leg." He points to the scars on his face. "My old captain left me here, hired himself a new crew, and sailed off. Didn't have much use for a crippled sailor, I figure..."
"I kept trying to find her for several years." The halfling looks down at his feet. "Each time, I'd come home worse for it--first my face, then my leg, then my hopes. Now..." He takes another drink from his flask, this time draining it dry.
The girl swallows dry. "Yes... yes, that's how I remember it", she mutters staring at the ground, the memories flashing inside her head. Going over their names, Lyla nods, and then looks at Marra. "...Ma-wa?", she uters, recalling the name as she would pronnounce it back then. Lyla looks right into the old man's eyes and says "It's over, dad. We got them. Lamm, Barvasi, Giggles... we got them all."
Nalun looks uncomfortable at the family exchange...feelings weren't his "thing".
Ortik stays silent through the exchange. Sure, he had a small gift for words, but the words that needed to be spoken couldn't come from him. He holds his breath, praying silently to the stones. Korvosa, you've taken so much from these people. Now there's a chance to make things right. Help them rebuild the bridge that was burned years ago.
The two halflings are silent for a long while. The old man drops his hip flask on the floor in surprise.
"...Lyla?" The old halfling chokes out before--
"SIS?" Marra leans closer to Lyla's face, disbelief mixing with a host of emotions on her face--shock, relief, anger?... right before she grabs Lyla in as tight a hug as she can. "Gods above and Hells below, we thought you were dead--"
It's somewhat interrupted by the old man stumbling back into the house. "No... no, you can't be. It's not possible... nothing goes right for this family. Never has, never will..." He gropes blindly for his flask before collapsing in his chair, shaking.
Tears are starting to form in his eyes.
Unaccustomed to physical displays of affection, Lyla cringes under Marra's embrace. Though she does not hug back, she doesn't try to break away, either, letting her sister hold her for as long as she wants. "Uh, yeah, missed you too...'sis'."
When Marra lets go of her, she steps into the house to comfort the aging halfling. "I think it's time to take this inside. You don't mind, Marra?" She looks at her sister and then signals for Ortik and Nalun to get in, too. "Watch your head, slim. Ceiling is low." Once inside, Lyla approaches the old man. "Listen. Don't say that. It's gonna go right this time. I'm doing well for myself, now. I'm gonna help you."
She looks at the two children who keep staring at her from the corner of the room, and smiles awkwardly at them before turning her attention to their mother. "I know this is a lot to take in. It is for me, too, trust me. But we have a lot to talk about. I can go first." For the next hour and a half, Lyla gives an extensive account of the events following her kidnapping, talking about her life with the Little Lamms and her training in the lab, without going too much into the specifics of the criminal activities she was forced to perform. She tells them about their attempt of escaping, and how Althea took her in after she was beaten to near-death by Lamm's thugs—which ended up being her way out. After that, she had nothing to look forward too, no leads on her family. She could not remember their names, or even her own surname. She talks about her life with Althea, in the Shingles, and about Madam Zellara's convocation, at which point she includes Ortik in the narrative and tells how they managed to bring Lamm's operation down, gaining Field-Marshal Kroft's trust and an offer of a job—not to mention an audience with the Queen herself, she adds with more than a little cockiness. "I know you don't trust the guards... I know I didn't, not long ago. But Marshall Kroft is a good woman, and she is cleaning up the corporation. She said we were an example to be followed", she states proudly, pointing to Nalun and Ortik.
"So, it was only after Barvasi told me my last name that I could actually start looking for you. A few days back, I finally found an old sailor who knew what had become of you guys... didn't get his name, though. Anyway, this is the short version, I guess", she declares upon reaching the end of the story.
"Like I said, I can help you. We're gonna get you out of here and into a nicer place in the city. Don't worry about the money, I'll take care of that. I just need a couple of days to find a place... but I'd still prefer if you got your things and came with us right away. Ortik, do you think there's enough room at Zellara's?" She turns to Marra again. "How many of you are there? Where's mom, by the w—oh." The girl clasps both hands over her mouth. "Is she...? When?"
Ortik follows into the house, taking a seat on the floor, mostly because the Halfling-sized furniture would not support him. He lets Lyla take the lead in telling her story, only chiming in to support her. "She's got a hell of a head on her shoulders," he says. "Like I said, she's a talent for herbs and simples. Picked that up from Althea, she did, and that one has some of the finest stitchwork I've seen."
When it comes to living arrangements, Ortik nods instantly. "We found space for the Little Lamms after we took that bastard down. We'll find space for your family as well."
The two halflings don't say anything as Lyla explains her ordeals under Lamm's thumb. Marra nervously fiddles with the hem of her blouse as her father regards her with a stone-faced expression.
"How many of you are there? Where's mom, by the w—oh." The girl clasps both hands over her mouth. "Is she...? When?"
The aged halfling shakes his head. "There's seven of us living here--Marra, myself, Hyrgan & Trilbin (they're off working, you see), Marra's husband Davlos, and the two rugrats over there." He nods at the boy and girl. "Jess! Robb! Come over here and say hello to your aunt Lyla!"
The two children approach rather timidly. "Yes, Grampa Barwick..." They chime in unison, eying Lyla with a mix of curiosity and nervousness. They give Ortik & Nalun even warier glances.
"As to your mother, Lyla..." Barwick starts, his hands starting to shake again. "...a part of Mirri died when she lost you that day. While I tore half the city apart looking for you, she tried to carry on, as she always had. When I failed to bring you home, she lost hope. The pox came for her soon after, and carried her away." The halfling slumps down in his chair. "Five years ago."
"She's got a hell of a head on her shoulders," he says. "Like I said, she's a talent for herbs and simples. Picked that up from Althea, she did, and that one has some of the finest stitchwork I've seen."
Barwick looks up. "Did she now?" He smiles at Lyla; judging from how Marra's face brightens, it must be a rare sight indeed. "I always figured she was the smartest one of us. Glad to see I haven't been made a liar."
"We found space for the Little Lamms after we took that bastard down. We'll find space for your family as well."
Marra doesn't look very convinced. "How?"
Before anyone else can say anything, the sharp tolling of bells suddenly rings through the air... they're coming from the harbour. "What in the Nine Hells...?" Barwick stands up and shuffles over to the window.
Nalun turns his head. Those bells could mean any number of things
Out on the harbour, rounding Old Korvosa, is a brig with black sails, its deck empty of crew and weapons. High on the mast, a yellow light is lit instead of a flag. It is slowly drifting closer and closer to the North Bridge. From where you're standing, you can see the ship's nameplate on the stern of the ship--the Direption.
Up on the walls of North Point, a contingent of Korvosan Guards is moving--and they're readying several catapults. A couple of them are yelling something indistinct toward the ship, but judging from the weapons being loaded and the squad of Sable Company marines swooping in on hippogriffs behind them, they're getting ready to attack.
"Now, that's..." Barwick leans closer to the window before paling. "...wait a minute, isn't that Hyrgan's ship?"
"Can't say for sure" Ortik says. "Can't see the colors she's flying."
"What is that? That doesn't sound good." Demitri says looking to Karri, then down to Nadia rather worriedly.
"Warning bells by the harbor." hehehe...something wicked this way comes...hahahah... Karri goes pale. Something that makes Legion chortle has to be something bad. Karri whispers to Demitri, "We need to find Lyla and the others. Something terrible is happening." So much for dinner tonight.
Kasdaye chooses this moment to speak up, he'd been silent for days. Can you feel your blood moving, Fleshling? Your heart pumping in anticipation. How strange you get excited about something you call bad. But are you afraid, or anxious for the show?
"Alright, but I don't know where they are. Do you?"
"Then we sit and wait." Karri frowns, her eyes darkening with the mood. Wait all you like. You know it's time we have some more fun...
Lyla sinks on the chair hearing the news—to her, at least—of her mother's passing. Suddenly, stirred by the commotion outside, she follows Barwick to the window and spots the Direption approaching. "Hyrgan's...? Wait, isn't that a quarantine signal? You gotta be friggin' kidding me..."
She rushes outside, calling Ortik and Nalun. "C'mon, there's something wrong there. If they're under quarantine, they should know better than to try and come ashore, unless they want a squad of Sable Company marines raining hell on them. We have to stop that, and maybe we can treat the diseased... perhaps it's nothing too serious", she finishes, worried about her newfound sibling aboard. Her optimistic words do not match her expectations. Right, with my luck...
She runs towards the catapults yelling at the guards. "Hey, stop! What do you think you're doing? There's on that ship!"
Ortik's eyes widen and his stomach grows a pit as Lyla fills in the blanks. "I'll be right behind you, sister," he says grimly, standing too quickly and smacking his head against the low ceiling. "Oof! I should remember about that in the future."
He follows the Halfling the short distance to the docks, and joins her in shouting at the guards. "Aye, there are more humane ways to prevent them from entering the city than sending them to Gozreh's embrace! Gods above and below, man, have a heart! Death by drowning is no way to die!"
Despite Lyla's & Ortik's shouts, the guardsmen don't appear to be inclined to change their minds. Odds are, it's because they're too far away to hear you.
As the group rushes outside, you have a chance to take a closer look at the ship. You notice that there doesn't appear to be any signs of activity on the ship... in fact, there's no sign that anyone at all is aboard. The sails are folded, the ship drifting aimlessly in the Jeggare River's currents.
After a minute passes, you hear one of the guardsmen calling out to the ship again. "This is Sergeant Grau Soldado of the Korvosan Guard. Your ship is sailing under a quarantine light. We have standing orders to guard against unknown entrants to Korvosa sailing under such conditions--identify yourselves, or we will be forced to attack!" From the tone of his voice, it appears he's very reluctant to follow through on his orders.
Your shouts have attracted the attention of one of the Sable Company riders, from the looks of things--a fair-skinned lady on a brown & white hippogriff turns and flies over to where you're standing. Her hair is styled in a tight bun and her dark blue eyes are showing signs of agitation and concern, and her dark brown uniform is slightly wrinkled and disheveled.
"Petty Officer Aeryne Penn, of Sable Company. Civilians, do any of you know what that ship is?" She asks as she dismounts from her hippogriff, turning to the Direption before looking back at you.
"The Direption, Petty Officer," he says, stepping forward, running a finger over the pseudodragon insignia that the Field Marshall gave him. "I hadn't heard about it before today, but I do know my friend's brother is supposed to be aboard." He gestures over to Lyla.
Lyla stops cold as she takes a more careful look at the Direption. "It's adrift. They're dead already." She stomps the ground in frustration letting out a series of curse words; it is uncommon for her to lose her temper like this, but the girl doesn't seem to mind. Regaining composure, she joins Ortik in talking to Petty Officer Aeryne Penn. "We're not on duty right now, but we're not civilians. We're with the guard, under Field Marshal Kroft's command", she says, showing her badge as well. "Have you flown over the ship? Is it empty, riddled with corpses, or what?" She looks over to the catapults. "They're not really going to sink a ship filled with disease and contaminate the river, are they?"
Petty Officer Penn blinks in surprise as she sees your badges, then shakes her head. "I've done a couple of flyovers of the ship. I've seen no signs of life aboard--no lights aside from the quarantine light, no movement below decks, nothing. I don't mean to say the occupants of the ship are dead--there's literally no one on board, from what I can tell."
"They're not really going to sink a ship filled with disease and contaminate the river, are they?"
"We haven't been getting any replies from the ship for over a minute. If another minute passes and no one from the Direption replies to us, we'll be forced to sink it. Queen's orders." Penn grumbles. She looks back at the guardsmen stationed on the North Point walls.
The Direption drifts closer and closer to Korvosa down the river for a minute before the guardsmen finish loading catapults and aiming them.
This cannot be good...no matter the end result. Nalun says wryly
"That would compltetely ruin the ship manifest and the captain's journal! How are you gonna find out what happened, then?" She stops and thinks for a moment. "What if we manage to drop the anchor without boarding the ship? We wouldn't be breaching the quarantine, and the end result would be a lot better for everyon. Damn, if Karri were here she could use her magical pets to do the work... Ortik, Nalun, any ideas?" She turns to Penn and says decisevely "Or you can just do another flyover and drop me there, and I'll lower the anchor myself. Just make sure you send me enough food and medicine to last in there afterwards..."
Petty Officer Penn scratches her head. "I'll admit, that sounds like a good idea--"
She doesn't get to say anything else before a commotion from the walls draws her attention. There's a cry of surprise, followed by--
"--oh, you've got to be f!*&ing kidding me."
--the *SNAP* of a rope being cut. One of the catapults launches a boulder at the drifting ship. The boulder crashes through the starboard side of the ship, ripping open a large hole below the waterline. The Direption's bow dips into the Jeggare River and begins to sink.
Petty Officer Penn's look of shock turns to one of sheer anger. "Oh, someone's going to hang for this." She saddles up on her hippogriff and is about to take off...
Nalun shakes his head and says Better they sink the ship than it lands here and gets everyone else sick...its bad business but it would be worse if we were all spitting blood and dying.
Lyla drops her face into her hand. "Geniuses." She then turns to Aeryne Penn. "Wait! If the sailors were in there, maybe one or two will float up at some point but... if not... what about them? Are you going to search for a lifeboat or something? It's possible the survivors abandoned the ship somewhere along the way, will you conduct some searches? I mean, you have hippogrifs and all..." She listens to Penn's replies and just nods, and then watches the Sable Company mariner take off. "Of course thies doesn't mean we can't make an investigation of our own", she says looking at Nalun and Ortik. "I have an idea... but first, let's get my family out of here."
Lyla goes back to the house and tries to calm Barwick and Marra. "There's hope. The ship is empty, so Hyrgan could still be anywhere. We're going to look into it. Right now, I want you to get your things and find Trilbin and Davlos, and follow us back to the city. We'll get you settled." She looks out the window, watching the ship sinking slowly. "Man, that really sucks."
Once the band is ready to depart, she leads the way back to Zellara's home. I hope Demitri and Karri won't mind... anyway, it's not like we're hosting a dinner party, right?
Ortik winces as he sees the boulder tear into the Direption. "I'm sorry, Lyla. I'll help you look for survivors, whenever you're ready, but yes, let's get your family back to Zellara's. It'll be good to have a full house again."
"Wait! If the sailors were in there, maybe one or two will float up at some point but... if not... what about them? Are you going to search for a lifeboat or something? It's possible the survivors abandoned the ship somewhere along the way, will you conduct some searches? I mean, you have hippogriffs and all..."
Penn nods. "I'll lead a squad and conduct a search along the river and coastline." With that, she takes off on her hippogriff and starts rallying some of the waiting Sable Company marines...
As you're finishing up the preparations for the dinner party, you hear a knock on the door.
Demitri looks up as he is stirring the soup. Nadia is setting up the table, standing on her tip toes as she is putting the silverware on the napkins. Demitri puts the cover on the soup to let it simmer and walks over to answer the door.
Karri is standing at the bottom of the stairs waiting for Demitri, "Is the Judge early?" Gods, I hope not... She tries to smile, but her nervousness at meeting with the judge again bubbles up.
Demitri opens the door, and sees Judge Zenderholm standing there with at least three other families. She's dressed in practical, yet immaculate black furs that are more suitable for a middle-class merchant than a noble.
"Ah, there you are. I trust we are not too late?" Zenobia asks, her arms folded into her furs.
"Hello there judge. No you are a little early actually. I'm finishing up the food. It won't take long. Have a seat."
Karri steps into the entrance hall and smiles, Let's see if I can remember some manners... "Your honor, it is our pleasure to meet the families." Her smile is pleasant if not exactly warm, Butterflies, go away!. She offers a curtsy to the parents, and finds a bit of happiness that the children are safe at home with their folks. "Now if you will follow me, we can all settle and get comfortable." She leads the rather large group into the parlor that Madame Zellara had used to read fortunes, she has a distinct feeling that another card is being turned by the ghostly diviner. Karri gathers up the coats and finds a safe coat rack to hang them from making it look like a wool and fur festooned willow tree.
Kasdaye whispers, And think, we could take layers and layers from these meat puppets and make this a gory work of art! Karri doesn't even acknowledge the comment. Ah, don't be a spoil sport!
Judge Zenderholm steps inside, followed by an older couple in noble-looking red clothes, ushering an uncomfortable-looking sandy-haired young boy with them. They offer their coats to Karri and take a seat at the table, with the lady wrinkling her nose at the room and the boy looking quite relieved at no longer having to wear a coat. They're followed by a pair of men dressed in clean blue tunics and brown pants, a happy-looking brown-haired girl clad in a red blouse bouncing along behind them. They take a seat at the table.
The last family to enter is a young couple, dressed in plain white & brown clothes and with two boys trailing along behind them. They take their seats at the table, their eyes mostly on Demitri & Karri instead of the other guests.
"I'll admit, this is--well, this is the first time I've ever met the ones responsible for the Korvosan Guard finally getting its act together." The nobleman says, glancing at the inquisitor & sorceress. "To be honest, I might have been expecting someone grander."
"Well we try our best. I hope the humble food will suffice." "Jackass."
Demitri starts taking the food out to the table to serve while Nadia gets the water jug to pour for the guests.
Once all of the guests are seated Karri takes her place at the head of the table, Judge Zenobia seated to her right. She nods a polite thank you to the man and his backhanded compliment. If there was ever a time I felt out of place, this is it... She turns to the judge and asks, "We heard emergency bells this afternoon. Do you know anything about those?"
Well, that was hardly table talk now was it?
Hush.
Let me know if you want advice on how to talk to these vain people, or if you want us to turn them to ash and pained souls.
"Well we try our best. I hope the humble food will suffice."
"Oh, he wasn't complaining." The lady replies, shooting her husband a dirty look. "Far be it from Ausio and I to be inconsiderate guests."
"We heard emergency bells this afternoon. Do you know anything about those?"
"Hmm." Zenobia takes her offered soup bowl and stirs it with her spoon. "Alarm bells--they came from the harbour. Apparently, there was a ship in the river that didn't respond when the Guard and Sable Company hailed it."
"And thank Abadar for that--it could have been pirates or raiders, for all we know." The noble, Ausio, speaks up again. His wife rolls her eyes. "They're getting more brazen by the day, aren't they?"
"What, by attacking in broad daylight?" One of the blue-dressed men speaks up as his bowl comes around. "Come on--nobody would be *that* stupid. I doubt anyone would even be that desperate." The other man quietly takes his hand and looks at the rest of the guests.
The young couple quietly sits at the table, but their two little boys appear to be poking and prodding at each other when they think no one is looking.
Noble & Wife: Ausio of House Carowyn & his wife, Emilia. Outspoken critics of Queen Ileosa. Ausio isn't very bright, if Emilia's reactions are any indication.
Two Men in Blue & Brown: Kieran & Remus Oakfield. They're merchants who make an honest living in the Midland district of town.
Young Couple in Plain Brown Clothes: Ophelia & Yoren Waters. A working-class couple who work at the bank of Abadar as tellers. Otherwise not very notable.
"Well if they didn't respond, it probably wasn't pirates. But anyhow, how are things? I'm curious to know how you are adjusting to the new additions to your families." Demitri says looking at the children. Nadia stifles a giggle as she sees the boys being antsy.
"Oh, they're settling in just fine." Ophelia speaks up with a smile, completely oblivious to the two boys who are now trying to pull each other's hair. "Timlin & Reyne are just little angels around the house--they're eager to help out with the family business."
Kieran & Remus are visibly suppressing laughter. "Well... our Theresa is quite a little charmer around the customers." Kieran rests a hand on her head and pats her, eliciting a giggle. "She's been helping us restock our inventory in preparation for Market Day--Abadar knows Remus wouldn't be able to keep the shelves stocked himself."
"Says you." Remus snorts. "I've kept those shelves full longer than she has."
Ausio clears his throat. "Well, that's fascinating. I'm afraid Oren here hasn't quite adjusted to living a normal life yet." In response, Oren fidgets in his chair and gives his adoptive father a wary look. "I tend to catch him with his hands in the guests' pockets when we have company over. I swear, if Ileosa REALLY intended to clean up this city, she'd have someone looking into the whole Gaedren Lamm affair sooner. Of course she wouldn't--no one thinks of the children these days--"
He's about to continue, but Emilia glares at him. She clears her throat. "Yes, yes, yes--now, that whole business is done and over with. You can calm down now, Ausio. You're ruining dinner." She pointedly takes a sip of the soup and smacks her lips. "Speaking of which, the soup is just lovely."