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The lady emerges from the house, grateful for her rescue. She mentions the presence of another quickling, and explains why the fey were attacking her house— Faernip made it clear to her why she was being persecuted.
Maret tells the the story of her first son, Garen. She thinks that Garen is with the quicklings, though she makes it clear that she does not believe Garen is capable of the same cruelty.
When Maret was just a teen, a passing satyr seduced her and left her with child. She soon gave birth to a male faun she named Garen. Ostracized by the people of Ellsprin, Maret came to live on the outskirts of the village. Garen sensed he was the source of his mother’s alienation, and when he came of age, he ran away. Years later, Maret found happiness and married a kind woodsman named Borvald, and the couple had two children of their own.
Recently, the now-adult Garen fell in with two quicklings, a couple named Faernip and Zzababa. The naive faun was unaware of the capricious cruelty of the fey and told them his story. The quicklings became outraged that “verminous humans” would presume to be ashamed of fey relations instead of the other way around. Now for cruel sport, they have traveled to Ellsprin to punish the village, starting with Garen’s mother, Maret. Garen attempted to stop them, but the quicklings overpowered him and tied him up in an abandoned barn nearby. The quicklings intend to “toughen him up” by forcing him to watch what they do to his mother.
When the quicklings attacked, Borvald tried to fight them off while Maret and the children barricaded themselves inside.
"That quickling made me want to smash my head into a wall, I really don't look forward to fighting any more any time soon, but I will if you need us to I guess, or well, Issalissk and my friends will." Hace says, hoping that they can help the lady without fighting anymore quicklings.
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...When the quicklings attacked, Borvald tried to fight them off while Maret and the children barricaded themselves inside.
When the woman emerges, Quasit immediately gets serious again, listening intently to this strange tale.
"Maret... I'm so sorry about your husband. I wish we could have gotten here sooner. Are the children ok?"
"So Garen is being held in the barn by another one of these... what did you call them? Quicklings? Cute name. The hardest part about fighting this one was that it kept turning invisible. I don't suppose you have any flour, do you? If we get into a tussle with an invisible fairy, we might be able to dust him up like a dumpling and make him visible. Might give us a better chance to save Garen."
Maka let out a booming laugh as the fae dropped. "Good shot Sakitu." Maka said with a strong clap on the Kitsune's back. "That was a tough fight. Do you think we'll get to fight any more of those?" Maka asked to the group.
"I don't know if I can keep doing this. I mean, I guess we have to. But it's too hard."
Maka's face was a mixture of confusion and concern, before finally landing on a broad smile. "Don't worry, if it gets too hard you can just rely on us. That's what friends are for right?"
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”Man, am I tired of getting attacked for no reason.”
"But we are getting to fight so many different things. In Taldor it was nothing but nobles and their thugs. Here it's mind control mold, fae, ice trolls, and who knows what else."
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Quasit arches an eyebrow and smirks. "Oh? Do I need to worry about that?" she says, before looking over to Maka. She gives the Vudrani woman a conspiratorial wink.
"Why would I be jealous? A good laanat hai is usually just the thing after a fight. Might want to wait until it's clear though. Fighting naked is mostly only fun in a monastery."
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Maka listened to Maret's story, her anger growing as it's told. "What makes being mean to other's so appealing to people!? The world would be a much better place if everyone would stop being jerks and just have friendly fist fights."
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"That quickling made me want to smash my head into a wall, I really don't look forward to fighting any more any time soon, but I will if you need us to I guess, or well, Issalissk and my friends will."
"You bet we will!" Maka exclaimed.
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”Man, am I tired of getting attacked for no reason.”"But we are getting to fight so many different things. In Taldor it was nothing but nobles and their thugs. Here it's mind control mold, fae, ice trolls, and who knows what else."
Quasit looks at Maka for a moment to see if she's kidding. "Ri-i-ight." she says carefully.
Quasit arches an eyebrow and smirks. "Oh? Do I need to worry about that?" she says, before looking over to Maka. She gives the Vudrani woman a conspiratorial wink."Why would I be jealous? A good laanat hai is usually just the thing after a fight. Might want to wait until it's clear though. Fighting naked is mostly only fun in a monastery."
"Lanaat hai? Is that what I think it is? Holy smokes, life in a monastery is apparently nothing like what I imagined. I thought it was mostly meditating and reading scrolls, but it sounds like its all fighting and ... lanaat hai-ing. Wow. Sounds like a wild weekend by the docks."
She waves her hands, shakes her head and backs up from Hace. "He's all yours. My idea of a good time is a beach, lawn chairs and drinks with little umbrellas."
"Lanaat hai? Is that what I think it is? Holy smokes, life in a monastery is apparently nothing like what I imagined. I thought it was mostly meditating and reading scrolls, but it sounds like its all fighting and ... lanaat hai-ing. Wow. Sounds like a wild weekend by the docks."
"Well some monasteries are like that, but the Dragon's Eye isn't. See, Master Isa is really smart. He figured out that the Houses of Perfection's rigid code only worked for some people, but just because it didn't work for some doesn't mean they didn't have potential to unlock. So students are guided to find their own code and path. Some take vows of chastity for spiritual reasons, and some of us like to get physical. We're even allowed to have families, though children have to be raised as monks in the monastery, like I was." Maka momentarily drifts away, her thoughts turning to her father and home.
She waves her hands, shakes her head and backs up from Hace. "He's all yours. My idea of a good time is a beach, lawn chairs and drinks with little umbrellas."
Maka laughed in delight at the mention of drinks with umbrellas. "Why do the drinks have little umbrellas!?
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"Fighting naked is mostly only fun in a monastery."
Findurêl arches an eyebrow and makes a mental note to visit that monastery...providing he survives, of course...
The ranger nods to the lady. ”I’ll check the barn to see if your son is OK...”
Looking to his friends, Fin says, ”I’ll scout out the barn and report back...”
Fin draws his bow, keeps a sharp eye out for any tracks or signs of other fey, and sneaks out to the barn, using what cover he can, to see if he can catch a glimpse of the ‘boy’...
"I could use some mysterious magical healing... seeing how I am cursed to get stabbed extra hard!" Bulvi grumbled before adding to the conversation at hand. "Quasit might be right, they don't want rain water getting in and watering it down?"
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Sakitu accepts Quasit's hand and stands up. She reaches for her friend for a hug. The close contact helps her feel better.
Shortly after the cabin door opens and the woman comes out. Sakitu listens with growing horror at the story she tells. Of course they will help.
"Let's wait here until Fin gets back. Then we'll know where to start."
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Fin, knowing the woman mentioned two quicklings, figures another is in the barn and invisible...he quietly goes back to the cabin to inform the others...
"The boy is there, tied up...I saw no other signs of life, but I'm thinking the other fey is there, but invisible; don't think I can tackle it alone. We should move quickly against it, methinks..."
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"Ok, so we know it becomes visible when it attacks, right? Let's have one person go in there to try and untie Garen, and every one else get ready with ambush attacks: fire works, magic missiles work, arrows, whatever. When the little sucker pops out and attacks the untie-er, we hit it with everything we've got. Don't give it a chance to heal up and disappear again."
"What do you think?"
Flames surrounded Maka's clenched fists. "Sounds good to me."
"Oh sure Bulvi, let me try to pump a little extra energy into this one." Hace says as he tries to figure out how to give a cure light wounds spell enough charge to become a cure moderate.
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"OK, let's go. And be prepared just in case Garen betrays us. He may actually be a tied-up prisoner, or it might be some sort of trick to lure his mother to the barn."
Quasit picks up her short sword and puts it away, then draws out her last alchemist fire, then sneaks up to a place where she can look into the barn from a hidden position and yet be in range to throw.
"Thanks Hace, I feel a lot better now."
Bulvi hangs back with Sakitu knowing he's not too skilled at infiltrating areas. Ready to charge in if things go badly.
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After waiting for what seems like a long time to her, Quasit frowns, shakes her head, then begins to sneak forward into the barn. She puts away the alchemist fire.
Once inside the barn, she moves to Garen warily.
"My name is Mina, I'm here to rescue you." she whispers to him, then attempts to loosen his bonds. "Is the quickling still around somewhere?"
Bulvi moves over to cover Quasit's back as she helps the young man.
Maka joins Bulvi in covering Quasit.
Fin is crestfallen...and then angry, screaming. "Bastard and cowardly fey! He was just a kid! Come back and fight ME!"
"OR ME!" Maka shouted as she joined her anger with Fin's. Flames erupted from her back and smoke trailed from her mouth in her rage.
"Ok hothead, let's try to start a fight after we get this bleeding guy out of the crossfire, I dont want an innocent to die." Hace says as he helps use whatever healing wand we have on hand.
"Grr yeah fine!" Maka grunted through clenched teeth. Hace was right, as usual, but it only did so much to calm her down.
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As Have comes up beside her, Quasit looks up at him hopefully. "I think it's working. But I can't tell if I acted fast enough. There was an awful lot of blood. And it was just Boom! He's down!"
She looks back down at the faun. "Poor thing. Rejected by humans, and now used like this by vengeful fey. It's tough when you don't fit in anywhere."
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Garen stirs rubbing at his throat a moment, though his voice seems badly damaged for now but recovering he looks at the group speaking "Thank you, and I'm sorry you were brought into this" in the barn you do notice a pile of different small coins and small gems worth about 500 GP.
as you take Garen back to his mother, Mazret hugs Garen and offers a fine furred hat that Garens father left behind years ago.
"You don't need to apologize to us, but maybe your mother could use the sentiment. Also, you better take the coins and gems there, they should be enough to let you live an honest life." Hace says gesturing to the 500g worth of stuff.
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Quasit hangs back a bit as the heart-warming reunion of mother and son occurs. She leans against the doorframe, feeling a little worn-out and a little satisfied and not all that talkative for once. It also seemed like a sad sort of reunion. The father was still dead out there in the snow, and the villagers would still hate them. But why spoil the moment?
And then Hace was giving away their money. She blinks and stops leaning, standing up more alertly. She opens her mouth to say something, but then instantly clamps her yap shut and confines herself to turning her head off to the right and glaring at the inoffensive wall.
What she actually does say comes about a minute later, spoken in grumbled undertones to Sakitu and Maka, who happen to be nearby.
"What I'd really like from these people is a chance for a bath and a chance to wash my clothes. We've been trudging around in the snow and the mud for days. I feel itchy, oily and dirty. And I stink like an outhouse."
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Relieved that the boy is OK (but a bit chagrined at his overreaction), Fin arches an eyebrow at Hace's remark about the boy keeping the gold, awaiting a fierce response from Quasit...but when it doesn't come, he just shrugs and moves on...
"Yeah, Q, I could go for a good wash as well...do they have a bathhouse nearby?"
"Thank you, and I'm sorry you were brought into this"
Maka sighed in relief at Garen's recovery. "Don't worry about, we're happy to help." She responded, a wide smile on her face.
"You don't need to apologize to us, but maybe your mother could use the sentiment. Also, you better take the coins and gems there, they should be enough to let you live an honest life."
Maka nodded in agreement with Hace. "Yeah you should keep the money, with that fae still out there it isn't safe to stay here." Maka paused in thought. "Maybe they should come with us? At least until we come across another village."
"What I'd really like from these people is a chance for a bath and a chance to wash my clothes. We've been trudging around in the snow and the mud for days. I feel itchy, oily and dirty. And I stink like an outhouse."
"Yeah a bath sounds great! And food!" Maka loudly agreed.
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Quasit blushes and looks awkwardly toward Fin, then crosses her arms.
"Great. Did everyone hear that?" she grouses. She sighs.
"I don't suppose this town has a place to get a drink, does it?" she asks Mazret. "And although Maka's heart is in the right place, you probably don't want to come with us. The countryside is not exactly safe, and we're heading into more danger."
"I don't suppose this town has a place to get a drink, does it?" she asks Mazret. "And although Maka's heart is in the right place, you probably don't want to come with us. The countryside is not exactly safe, and we're heading into more danger."
Maka concentrated on her drinking jug for a moment before handing it to Quasit. The water inside had transformed in to a pale pink liquid that smelled strongly of alcohol and faintly of fruit. "But the danger is why they should be with us. They don't have to come to the capitol."
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Quasit watches Maka pull out the strange jug and then sniffs the liquid inside curiously. "Are you kidding me?" she murmurs to herself before taking a sip that turns almost instantly into a long pull that is mixed with a little whimper of sensual delight. Afterward she just looks at Maka and gapes in amazement for a long moment, slowly shaking her head, looking for the words, looking for the words...
"Cayden's codpiece woman! I don't know whether to kiss you or slug you!" she finally expostulates. "You've been carrying this around this whole time?!? And you're just now remembering it? I mean... you shoot fire from your hands AND you have a magic jug that makes booze? That's it. I'm becoming a freakin' monk."
She holds the jug aloft in salute. "To Lanaat Hai." after which she takes another long drink before handing it off to Findurel, her face now broken into a broad, delighted grin.
"Well it purifies the water on it's own so I forget you can make it do other stuff, but if you can't make up your mind you can punch me and kiss me. And then after our bath we can start on meditation training!" Maka said, clearly excited by all the options.
Bulvi scowls at Fin. "I've a problem with my eyes getting clawed at not my sense of smell. I assure you, you're worse. I've got a nice metallic edge." Bulvi sighs "It feels like we've been on this road forever, getting worn down for far longer than it has."