"Several years now," Inga says. "I enjoy what I do, and the Reaper of Reputation helps me do it better."
Sara crosses her arms and evaluates the woman. Gorgeous, but certainly threateningg. "I don't want to risk a strange psychic animal controlling her again. I say we keep her here until we've dealt with the threat they represent. Place may make a good base for us, too, all things considered." She turns to more directly face the woman. "Can you make sense of these notes, help us sort through them? We're tough b&+~~es, you saw that firsthand: me personally, I like the idea of having an assassin indebted to me, but I expect some of these girls will want to take you in. Regardless of what we decide, if you help us, I bet the others will agree to help keep you safe while we investigate things here in town."
Melodie takes a step back. "I have asked my questions. Your judgement I leave to my friends here." She moves away to study the papers on Farkin's table, the residual tension in her frame obvious to all those who know her well.
"She might be useful, but how are we going to keep her here and out of trouble? In the 'slicing our throats in our sleep' definition of trouble." Zhi asks.
She then steps to Melodie's side and puts a hand around her waist.
"Are you ok?" she asks.
"She was going to kill you Zhi. I read her mind as she planned it." Melodie looks somewhere between sick and seething. "I can't be involved in this. I'll kill her Zhi - no-one gets to hurt my wife. Ever! If I go back over there then she isn't walking away - the rest of you have to decide without me. You'll make the right decision." She squeezes Zhi's hand and musters something of a smile.
"I'll be better in a minute."
"She can't overpower all of us, and she won't dare anyways. After all, we're all that's standing in the way of her and these hidden masters. We'll help each other, isn't that right, Inga?"
"Given the alternative? Yeah, I'll help you," Inga says. "But only until we defeat these masters, then we go our separate ways. Unfortunately, I can't make any sense of this Farkin lady's ramblings."
"Lot's of people try to kill me, Mel," the rogue says, giving the woman's waist a gentle squeeze. "No one's done it yet - I'm still a pretty stabby b&#*@. It'll be ok."
Zhi returns to where the others are deciding the assassin's fate.
"Sure we help each other. We're the ones that will be eliminating the 'veiled ones', after all."
Sara shrugs. "I'm convinced. All this talk of the restaurant, though, even if Inga here admitted she was lying, it does leave me rather hungry. Anyone up for a meal?" The thought does occur to her however that they might meet up with some of these hidden masters. "Er, for safety's sake, how's about, we meet up with any talking animals, we stab it before it can finish speaking?"
Zhi steps away to talk with the rest of the group without the assassin listening in.
"We could turn her over to the authorities. In fact, that's probably what we should do," Zhi says with a look at Melodie. "Which means, of course, that we're not going to." She grins.
"I don't feel comfortable sleeping in the same house as a demonstrated assassin who just tried to kill us a few minutes ago. Charmed or not, she's already told us that that's what she does and that she enjoys it. If we let her stay here then Mel and I are staying at the inn."
Her tone brooks no argument from her wife.
"And since it seems like everyone and their sister has mentioned this restaurant, Savories, I think we should have dinner there, tonight." She gives the changeling a smile. "Care for dinner, Printesa Mea?"
"Well I don't feel comfortable staying out there where my dreams will be awful." She takes Inga's weapons and poison away from her, whispering in her ears. "Want anything special brought back from Savories?" Sara offers. "Might be just you and me tonight, if you swing that way. We could have dinner, talk about things, make out. Interested?"
Inga raises an eyebrow. "Uh, sure. It's been a while since I've been propositioned... Could help take my mind off this secret master business. Never been to Savories. Pick out something good I guess." She gives Sara a lopsided smile.
"Sara, we only have the word of a dead conspiracy nut that this house is safe. And since whoever is behind this already knows this location, we'll take our chances at the inn."
Zhi looks around at the small house.
"Besides, if we all stay here we'll be sleeping on top of each other." Her eyes close for a moment and her face tinges red. "I mean ... nevermind."
She leans close to the tall woman.
"And your libido is going to get you a knife in the dark," she whispers.
"Speaking of which ... "
Zhi appropriates for herself the assassin's masterwork dagger.
Sara blushes and pulls away from Inga, biting a red painted lip. "Inga, I know this is an abrupt question but have you had any weird cannibalistic dreams recently?" She stares at Zhi while Inga answers, expecting to prove her friend wrong.
"Um, no. I think I would remember something like that," Inga says
Sara crosses her arms and points, eyebrows raised.
Zhi rolls her eyes.
"That doesn't prove anything, Sara,' she says. "Not everyone is having the dreams. Ask her if she's had any dreams like that. I'll wager she hasn't. It doesn't mean the house is proof against them."
She looks around at the others.
"I don't want to argue about it though. Are we all going to dinner? If so, then let's go."
Sara puts her hands on Inga's ropes, ready to untie them. "Allies?" she asks once more.
Satisfied with any answer, she releases her unless stopped.
Melodie shakes her head in the background but, true to her word, says nothing, simply checking her gear and stepping outside with her wife.
"Allies," Inga agrees.
When you are ready, you head across town to Savories, reaching it shortly after sunset. This restaurant is tiny, with only four padded booths for diners. The wood of the structure is dark and embellished with gold leaf. An alcove to the southeast contains the restaurant's main entrance, while a similar alcove to the northeast contains a massive, graceful ice sculpture of an eagle in flight.
An elderly couple sits in one booth, while a trio of middle-aged nobles dine in a second. As you look around, an oily-haired but impeccably dressed elven man approaches. "Welcome to Savories. I am Argentus. Do you have a reservation?"
Sara uses the magic of the Envoy Ring to try and charm the man.
"We don't need a reservation, we're food critics."
"I'm afraid we don't." Melodie says, with a wide smile. "My wife and I only just to Yanmass and we immediately heard about your restaurant. We just had to come and try it. Thankfully my friends here are well known on the culinary circuit here. I'm sure you can find us some space?"
She watches Argentus carefully. So far the rumors have been accurate and there's supposed to be something strange about Savouries - it certainly doesn't seem that wonderful.
"Just want to point out," says Zileska, still occasionally watching Inga out of the corner of her eye, "that the notion of a mysterious restaurant named 'Savories' and dreams of cannibalism could very well have an unfortunate connection. Do be careful about the provenance of what you eat."
"Just want to point out," says Zileska, still occasionally watching Inga out of the corner of her eye, "that the notion of a mysterious restaurant named 'Savories' and dreams of cannibalism could very well have an unfortunate connection. Do be careful about the provenance of what you eat."
Zhi smirks back.
"Yeah, the potential connection there wasn't lost on me. Hopefully they have some elvish menu selections."
The man's eyes narrow angrily as he fights off the charm. "I know exactly who you are. You come in here and try to charm me? That's not how this works!"
He reaches for a wand and shouts an eldritch word. With a sound of crackling ice, the eagle sculpture animates and moves to attack!
Before you can react, Argentus casts a spell in an attempt to muddle your minds!
With an unfamiliar, magically induced anger, Sara throws her fists at the man, clawing and scratching.
Zileska easily shrugs off the confusion and lashes out with her whip to snag the wand from the man's hand.
Her face a rigid mask, Zhi drops her bag and pulls from under her tunic Inga's dagger. Seemingly not recognizing anyone around her, she stabs at her wife.
Fending off the magic, much as the man did, and moved to engage the animated sculpture with her sword cane, keeping it sheathed to use it as a bludgeon.
Melodie shakes off the spell, just in time for her wife to turn to her with glazed eyes and drive a dagger into her side!
"Why Zhi?" She murmurs as her legs give way and she falls to the floor. Retaining just enought presence of mind she brushes Zhis ankle, giving her wife a shot of her own powerful will.
Maria moves up to the ice sculpture and whacks it with her sword cane, leaving a few cracks in its body.
Sara claws at Argentus's eyes, and he shrieks as he's temporarily blinded. Her follow-up attack bounces off a field of mage armor around him.
Zileska cracks her whip, knocking the wand out of the elf's hand.
Succumbing to confusion, Zhi draws her dagger and stabs her wife! Melodie grants Zhi a gift of will as she puts a hand to her bleeding wound.
The icy eagle flaps its wings, battering Maria. Argentus takes a step back and casts a spell, turning invisible!
"Well this is great."
Zileska casts shield of faith on herself.
"Bugger, anyone pack adamantine or fire magic?" Maria called out as she stepped back from the construct and downed one of her extracts, her form blurring as it took effect.
Zhi drops the dagger and falls to her knees when she sees what she's done. She pulls Melodie into her arms and begins weeping and muttering placating words.
Melodie grabs the knife that Zhi has dropped, hoping to avoid any more unfortunate incidents. She then lets out a warbling note and covers the area Argentus just disappeared from with Glitterdust!
Sara recites each Taldan prefecture with some degree of accuracy, doing like she practiced in etiquette school
The restaurant's patrons scream and run for the exit as the battle rages on. As Sara and Zhi babble incoherently, Maria steps back and drinks her extract of blur. Zileska wards herself with a prayer, and Melodie coats the restaurant with glitterdust, revealing Argentus and blinding the elf again just as he recovers from Sara's dirty trick!
The ice golem pursues Maria. One attack is foiled by her blur spell, but the other one hits the tiefling.
Argentus casts another spell, dispelling the glitterdust. He promptly disappears once again.
Zhi switches to singing a Minkaian lullaby as she continues to hold her wife.
Sara stomps her foot on Zileska's, unapologetically, her face a mass of anger and confusion.
Melodie waits, straining her ears to try and locate the opposing spellcaster.
Frustrated that she was stuck fighting another durable construct, Maria kept trying to hit it with her sheathed cane, trusting to luck more than anything else, though she did start to pay attention to how it was moving.
Zileska cracks her whip again and drags the wand over to her, then picks it up so that the invisible wizard can't take it for later use.
Maria bashes the ice golem again, leaving a few more small cracks in its body. Sara drives her heel into Zileska's foot. Ignoring the pain, the half-elf snatches Argentus's wand with her whip. As Zhi babbles and sings, Melodie stays alert for signs of the invisible wizard.
When the door to the kitchen starts to open, the changeling unleashes her spell, illuminating Argentus with more glitterdust, though he avoids being blinded this time. The elf casts a spell and tells Melodie, "You're bleeding rather badly. You should leave this place and seek healing at the church of Abadar!" His words are laden with enchantment.
The golem continues to slam Maria, hitting twice despite her blur.