The trek back to Sandpoint is a quiet one and you arrive a few hours after midnight. The guard stationed on Sandpoint Bridge, a young man named Harald Gutmanson, recognizes you as you approach and gives a friendly wave.
"Glad to have you back," he states with a smile. "Nothing much new here, thank the gods. You should check in with Sheriff Hemlock tomorrow morning. I'm sure he'll want a report."
Harald waves you through his checkpoint as you rejoin the town you have gotten to know so well.
Ro returns the watchman's greeting and dismounts.
"We'll do that Harald. Tonight we'll be at the cathedral if Hemlock needs to see us before morning."
Things are looking up south of here where the farms have been having troubles. We think we have things about back under control. Too soon to relax, but we're getting there."
"Glad to hear nothing's gone amiss here while we were gone. Take care."
After the quick chat with Harold, Ro remounts and rides on to the cathedral. On arriving she sends anyone she can find who is awake to inform Father Zantus they are back and will need magic to tend to some injuries as soon as it's possible.
Drasven give the night watch man a friendly smile.
"It's good to see you and even better to hear that the town has had no mishaps in our absence. we'll take your advice and check in with the sheriff tomorrow. For now we need to head to the Cathedral. "
Having had a sleepless night before and riding out towards the Misgivings before daybreak, Lia was hazy at best during the way back, and fast asleep by the time they arrived in Sandpoint.
Unable to be awakened, the others eventually settled for leading her horse and securing her on the back.
Worried and unable to sleep, Kira is still awake, and sitting at the Cathedral stairs waiting for news - when the party returns, she helps lift Lia off the horse and carrying her back towards their room so she can continue sleeping in her own bed - a task luckily made easier by Lia's petite build.
With her roommate happily in Desna's domain, Kira also beds down for the night.
After the quick chat with Harold, Ro remounts and rides on to the cathedral. On arriving she sends anyone she can find who is awake to inform Father Zantus they are back and will need magic to tend to some injuries as soon as it's possible.
You go to Father Zantus' quarters and wake one of the acolytes who sleep in front of his door.
"Ro, what is it you need?" a young woman named Neela asks you with bleary eyes. "Is there something I can help you with? I don't want to wake the Father unless I have to."
Drasven and Karmid head to the Cathedral to tend to the Shoanti's infected bite wound. The dwarf orders the acolytes to bring him fresh, hot water and clean dressings, and he spends the next hour bathing and re-bandaging the wound, using a knife to cut away any flesh that has begun to turn necrotic.
"It just itches...really!"
"OK it REALLY itches now."
Despite Drasven's best efforts it seems that Karmid's bite has shown signs of spreading towards other part of his body.......
Jili follows Karmid and Drasven into the temple.
She walks over to where Ro is speaking to Neela, "I think this requires Father Zantus's attention. He has ghoul fever, and we have to cure him immediately" She points to Karmid worry showing clearly on her face. "I will be very unhappy if something happens to him."
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Overhearing Jiliana, Karmid sweats and complains while stumbling about confused.
"You'll be unhappy? Think how I'll feel! On that note, I'm getting a little hungry. REALLY hungry. Is that a bad sign?"
If Jili hadn't added her voice to the request, Ro would probably have relented. She's dog-tired, and it's unlikely Father Zantus would be able to help immediately. Instead she presses.
"You have to wake him Neela. We don't have time to wait. Karmid needs help that only Father Zantus's magic can give. He will need to start preparing right away."
Jili's words also alert Ro to a possibility she should have already thought of sooner. But, there hasn't been much time for thinking beyond the moment recently. When she has the energy to ask, Jili may be able to help her with a question.
"Don't lose your head, Karmid. It's hard to put it back. So sit down and stay still..." Drasven jokes though his face is worried and he has a hand on his axe handle when Karmid mentioned hunger..............
The acolyte Neela runs off to wake up Father Zantus, who emerges a few minutes later still straightening his robes. After hearing about Karmid's condition he nods and goes over to see to his wounds.
"Yes, this is bad," the middle-aged cleric intones seriously. "I am afraid that I have not asked the gods for the magic that will help him. I will remedy this tomorrow morning at dawn. Keep Karmid comfortable and keep a close eye on him overnight. If he starts to growl, feed him some raw meat, the older the better."
With Father Zantus now aware of Karmid's condition and preparing to treat it, Ro calls it a night. She searches out a room where she can get some sleep and almost immediately drifts off.
Ro doesn't sleep as long as she would have liked to though. Difficulty with breathing wakes her. She labors to inhale, feeling her lungs rattle as they labor to take in air. She opens her eyes, confused by her distress, and sees the light of day, not morning light but the full light of midday. She raises her hand to her face with effort to clear her eyes, and realizes her face does not feel as it usually does.
She sees her hand when she pulls it back, and it is withered, with knobby knuckles and liver spots. Attached to her hand is a spindly arm covered in loose, wrinkled skin, grown thin and slightly transparent like vellum. The blue network of veins under the skin of her arm and hand can readily be seen.
Ro continues to struggle for breath. She can feel she is nearing the end of her life. She adjusts her head slightly to look down and sees her other arm, looking the same as the first, lying on the blanket that covers her. She can make out the lines of her body under the blanket, skinny and frail, her breasts fallen.
Her mind is fuzzy, but Ro begins to realize she must have been dreaming. Something long forgotten from decades ago at the cathedral, brought back by her subconscious as she slept. Her dulled hearing picks up a familiar voice, so she turns her head toward the speaker.
Ryn is seated beside her in a chair. Ryn is unchanged, just as she looked the first time Ro remembers seeing her. At first Ro thinks she is seeing a vision of some sort. Maybe she isn't fully free from the dream she was having. But as Ro looks longer she sees that Ryn is in fact changed, there are the faintest beginnings of crow's feet in the corners of her eyes.
Ryn speaks to her again. "Drink a little water." Ro feels Ryn raise her head up from the pillow as she offers a cup with her other hand. Ro knows Ryn is trying to convey a soothing, gentle tone with her voice, but she can tell it is forced. As Ryn leans in to guide the cup to Ro's lips, Ro can see her eyes clearly. They aren't sad or kind, rather what Ro sees in them is impatience and disdain.
Ro starts awake with a sob, and looks around to see the darkened acolyte's chamber she had found to sleep in. She curls into a ball and pulls the blanket tight around her. It's a long while before she can fall asleep again.
Strangely enough, karmid starts talking to himself. In a way.
"Look guys..and gals...I'll be fine...NO YOU WON'T!...Who said that?...I DID!"
For the next several hours Karmid argues with some other part of himself that he never knew existed, and for some reason it hates cats. Very strange.
"THEY ALWAYS STARE AT ME FUNNY! ...wha? I'm sorry. That's just what cats do... NO! THEY HATE ME! THEY THINK I'M WEIRD AND UN-CAT-LIKE!!...but they're fuzzy and cute! Kitten man! How can you hate kittens... NO! THEY ARE WORSE! KITTENS BITE AND SCRATCH TOO MUCH! THEN THEY POOP IN MY BED! NO KITTENS!"
Drasven watches Karmid talk to himself and sighs.
It was going to be a long night.
He begins sharpening his axe's blades with a whetstone he scrounged up somewhere. The sound of metal being sharpened forming a symphony with Karmid's one sided talks.
It would be a long night for this dwarf.
As Karmid begins discussing cats and their staring habits, he sighs again. A long night indeed.
Lia dreams, flying to Cynosure on Butterfly Wings, enjoying the stars as she glides through the void.
When the sun is up the next morning, Ro goes to check on Karmid's condition.
Father Zantus invites everyone to join him for sunrise services, after which he will pray for his daily "little miracles" as he calls them.
Knowing Karmid is quickly deteriorating, he leads an abridged service that lasts only half the normal time. A number of townsfolk you know are also in attendance, including Mayor Kendra Deverin, the dwarven locksmith Volioker Briskalberd, Garridan Viskalai, the owner of the White Deer, Chask Haladan, proprietor of Sandpoint's only bookshop, the Curious Goblin.
After services are finished, Father Zantus withdraws to pray while the other attendees find those of you who are in attendance and ask you about what you encountered during your travel. They seem especially concerned to find out if you were able to track down the person responsible for the many farmer killings.
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Sweat soaked, eyes sunken in his head, and neatly tied up in a straitjacket-like manner, Karmid will let out a blaring roar once people start asking about what happened!
"IT WAS AWFUL! THE HOUSE WOULDN'T BURN! LIA BURNED IT SHE DID! RIGHT HOT! I'M FEELING HOT! IS ANYONE ELSE HOT? ...Jiliana is hot...NO! YOU BE NICE TO HER! I LIKE JILIANA! shuddap! You're goin' to get yourself in trouble...NO! I SPEAK WHEN I WANT...YOU AND YOUR HORRIBLE CAT PROBLEMS CAN GO STUFF IT!"
Karmid is swiftly removed from the room once everyone realizes he won't shut up.
Drasven had spent the whole night listening to Karmid go on about cats, their habits and apparent war history from Karmid. While amusing it still reflects that Karmid had gone into full blown Delirium. It was a short blessing when he finally fell asleep.
Now.....................
With brawny arms around the big Shoanti's waist, the aged dwarf trusted the others to appraise the others of Sandpoint on their adventures while he dragged Karmid out immediately when he started again on Cats. The big man had an obsession with cats. Straining and huffing, he managed to herd Karmid into another room hoping that Father Zantus had the appropriate spell to cure the fever that had addled his companion's mind.
Ro wants to laugh (discreetly) at Karmid's antic-filled meltdown, he's going to be really sorry about some things he says. But since it's the result of an extremely dangerous sickness it really seems like bad form. Not that Ro is very worried about Karmid. She trusts Father Zanthus knows what to do to take care of it, and Karmid always pulls through.
Among the town attendees, who seem to be hanging around wanting news, there's only one whom Ro actually wants to talk to. It would be nice to catch up with Volioker, and she really owes him a thanks.
Otherwise talking to them is a sort of low stakes headache. Ro doesn't want to, and it isn't really important enough to her to try hard to get it right. If she did care a bunch, Ro would probably try to split them up so she could craft what she reveals and how she frames the information she gives them to meet their needs and match their likelihood to gossip what they learn to absolutely everyone they come across. She'd also rather be talking to the Sheriff first.
But on this particular morning, screw it. Best to get it done and over even if some people hear things maybe they shouldn't or don't get the full disclosure their position deserves.
Ro gathers the group and gives them a quick brief.
"I have good news about the problems you've heard about down south outside of town. We went down there and found the gang of ghouls responsible. They were organized and were carrying out planned attacks on farmsteads. We killed all of the ghouls we found, including the one who organized and lead them. We also burned their lair to the ground."
"That's the end of the coordinated attacks. But we can't be certain we found every single ghoul. You can relax, the town and surrounding farms are safer now. But people should remain alert to the possibility there could be a rogue ghoul here or there still able to cause some trouble. Until we know there aren't any more, or that we've we taken out any stragglers, people should remain alert and on guard if they notice anything strange."
"We'll be talking with Sheriff Hemlock soon this morning to work out any details about making sure things get completely back to normal as soon as possible."
The assembled townsfolk at the Cathedral listen carefully to Ro's abbreviated summary of what your group experienced in the Sandpoint hinterlands. Ro's answers evoke noticeably warm reactions as everyone seems to let go of some of the tensions they have been holding for days.
Mayor Deverin takes the lead in responding to her. "Thank you so much, once again, for all you have done for Sandpoint. I can't tell you how much I and the rest of the village appreciate the sacrifices you have made. I'm afraid after the destruction caused by the goblins we have little to offer you in monetary compensation, at least until trade picks up again on the Lost Coast Road, but I will be meeting with the other founders' families to come up with a suitable gift of gratitude on our part."
The group seems eager to ask more questions, but hold themselves back until you have made your report to Sheriff Hemlock.
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An hour or so later, Father Zantus emerges from his private study flanked by nearly all the acolytes. They cluster around Karmid, doing their best to calm the delirious man. When they are unable to keep him contained, they opt for the more direct method and hold down his extremities with everyone else's help while two of them sit on his chest. Zantus then applies the blessing of Desna to the Shoanti's fevered form. He scoops out a poultice from a ceramic jar, smearing a foul-smelling substance on his face, hands, and feet, while speaking in low tones.
The change in Karmid is almost instantaneous as the wildness leaves his eyes and he stops struggling against everyone's hold.
"YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE CATS!...wait...I'm...what am I babbling about? Why are you guys sitting on my chest?"
"Oh wow. Cats? Really. CATS? OK...I guess I have issues I didn't know about. Or that disease just did something to my brain I will never understand. I apologize wholeheartedly. I never intended to insult...cats. Anyway...anybody got some bread or cheese on them? An apple? I'm starving!"
Drasven snorts as he sees that Karmid despite being cured is still catty about it.
He gets up having being granted the privilege of holding the big shoanti's legs down, to go get some food for the big man.
"Lie down and rest like a cat, I'll go get you catsnip to settle your stomach.." he cant' help but jibe after all he had to listen to Karmid's tale of Two cats wielding a hammer and the power of thunder or something the previous night.
Jili had been following Kharmid and Drawven to the room where they kept him overnight. She sits next to the dwarf and tries to rest as Kharmid goes on about cats. "I guess we should get him a dog for his birthday."
She hops off Kharmid's chest where she'd been sitting afer he's cured. She looks completely frazzled and her hair looks like a rat's nest from all the tussling.
"That was entertaining. I need some sleep. I guess we'd better report to the Sheriff." She sniffs herself. "But I think some of us need a bath first."
Looking pointedly at the older dwarf, he pouts a bit and scratches his chin absently then angles his head sharply.
"Old dwarves aren't supposed to have a sense of humor you know. Kinda like CATS."
He then smiles and wanders off to take a cold swim in the river nearby, but away from the town's pollution and runoff. Having had Jili's delicate parts sitting on his chest for a while made him feel a little funny, and cold water ALWAYS helped with such things. He mumbles as he walks.
"Cats? Really. Cats. I don't hate cats. I like cats. I LIKE cats. Well...not that much...and they can be such pricks sometimes...but I DON'T hate them...they are actually quite tasty as I understand too....if cooked correctly."
Drasven laughs as he hears Karmid's attempt at a counter jibe.
"Cats do have a humor. A rather sardonic and cruel humor at times." Drasven makes his way over to the tavern hoping to scrounge up some warm leftovers to let Karmid feat on and regain his strength.
With that done and unable to find Karmid, he makes another trip to the sheriff's office to join in the report.
Ro gives Karmid a clap on the shoulder.
"Good to see you back to whatever 'normal' is like for you Karmid. Get something to eat with Drasven. I'll go talk to the Sheriff. I don't see why everyone would need to come. I'll catch up with the rest of you later so we can get set to go on down to Maginimar."
Leaving Karmid in Drasven's care, Ro grabs a quick bath and change of clothes before she goes to see Hemlock. As she enters the front door of the Garrison, it strikes Ro as funny in an ironic sort of way that she would be the one go to see the Sheriff. A few months ago she avoided contact with him and the building on principle.
Once she's seated with Hemlock and has some coffee, she will not begin until she has it, Ro recounts to the Sheriff what happened down south at the farms and at The Misgivings. She doesn't go into blow-by-blow details, but she lays out everything they learned and gives him her best approximation of where things now stand. She repeats much the same to Hemlock as she had the other citizens earlier. The ghouls are leaderless, disorganized, and probably mostly dead again. But, she can't say whether all the ghouls were at the farms or the manor, so some vigilance should still be exercised.
She leaves it to Hemlock to decide whether and how to share the information. If it had been the Mayor only earlier, Ro would have told her more. But, in another somewhat ironic shift, Ro's recent experiences have made her reevaluate the idea that nothing should be withheld from people by leadership. Maybe sometimes is better if people don't know some things for their own good, or at least a good night's sleep. Regardless, it all stinks of politics so she doesn't want to touch it.
Eventually Ro works her way to the things still looming, and what needs to come next. She shows Sheriff Hemlock the letter from 'Xanesha, Mistress of the Seven' they recovered from The Misgivings.
"It's clear Foxglove was working for them, 'The Seven' I guess, and they knew he was a ghoul, maybe they even made him one. We still don't really know what all this is about, but there's another layer higher up. We have to figure as things now stand, they can continue to make attempts at whatever they're trying to do. So we have to go to Magnimar and find them. Otherwise we keep playing defense here until we run out of luck."
"Notice the word 'Sihedron' in the letter? We've come across the word before, when we were out on Thistletop dealing with Nualia. There it was connected to a symbol, a kind of star. Here in the letter it's mentioned as a ritual. All this s!%$ might be connected, both Nualia and Foxglove under the The Seven and doing their bidding."
"We're going to leave as soon as we can for Magnimar. Foxglove's townhouse seems to have been a rendezvous location. We need to get there before it becomes known to them that the manor and Foxglove are destroyed. They might clean up and move on before we can search the place if we delay. There are a couple of other leads we can check into as well."
Ro slumps back in her chair and takes another gulp of coffee.
Hemlock listens carefully, interrupting several times during Ro's narrative in order to ask more detailed questions. His curiosity does not seem out of the ordinary to Ro, as they mainly deal with the identities of the various people and victims you discovered throughout the past few days.
His ears perk up at the mention of connections to the mysterious Xanesha and the clues pointing to Magnimar.
"I have never heard of this Xanesha or the Seven before, but if they are truly behind the crimes of Foxglove, then they bear some scrutiny. I do not know much of this Sihedron symbol either, although the fact that it has cropped up multiple times in your investigations and might be tied to ancient Thassilon is also worrying. I have never heard good things about that time. Of course I can't recommend such actions to you as they fall outside the scope of my territory. I also want to remind you that you are not obliged to stick your nose into such dangerous things if you don't want to. You have already done much for this community, and feel that you are not obliged to risk yourself any further."
"I have also heard from the mayor, and she has agreed that your lodgings in town shall be covered by her office while you remain in Sandpoint. Father Zantus also informed me that all magical healing at the Cathedral shall be covered by the church while you are here. I know it's not much, but it's all that the village can offer right now."
"Well like I said, I don't think there's all that much choice involved. We can wait around here for another go around on their terms. Or, we can go down to Magnimar and maybe have that fight on our terms."
"Besides my sister, do you remember Francesca? She's living in Magnimar now and I can visit her too."
Ro thinks it's cute the town is offering to cover their lodging cost, considering everyone except her is still living at the Cathedral free of change anyway. Ro had taken a room at the Grocer's Hall, but she'd only spent a single night there and it remained all but unfurnished.
"Tell the mayor we said 'thanks' for covering lodging. Could you ask her if the town could cover our drink tabs?" Can't hurt to ask... On her way out Ro asks one more thing of Hemlock. "Say 'hi' to Kaye for me when you see her next, will you?"
She might visit Hemlock now, but that doesn't mean she can't still screw with him a little.
When she's finished at the Garrison Ro goes back to the Cathedral and gets the portrait of Iesha that hadn't been messed up by Foxglove. She takes it with her down to the Rusty Dragon to get a bite to eat for brunch, or maybe early lunch. She takes a seat at the bar, and when Ameiko comes around to ask what she'd like, Ro starts by showing her the painting.
"Do you think you could do me a favor Ameiko? Could you find a place to hang this portrait in here? The woman in it is Iesha. She was the wife of Aldern Foxglove, if you recall him from the Swallowtail Festival. He was hanging all over Lia in here that evening. Foxglove had murdered Iesha maybe two or three days before that night."
"As you can see, she's Varisian. Her family comes through this area it seems. That how she and Foxglove met. I don't have a family name for her or anything else to help find relatives, but you get a lot of travelers coming through here. I'm thinking maybe a member of her family or somebody who knows them might see it and recognize her. If they say something, then you could tell them what happened. It's the only way I can think of for them to ever know."
Jili finished her bath and headed to the Rusty Dragon for some food and coffee. She sees Ro talking to Ameiko, and heads over. "Good idea. I feel so bad for her. He was a crazy one that Aldren."
"When should we leave for Magnimar?" She glances at Ameiko and waits for her to be out of hearing range. "Don't we have to deliver Tsuto to the authorities in Magnimar? It's been a few days since we brought him to the jail, and I might have forgotten the details."
Sheriff Hemlock's eyes narrow when Ro mentions the town covering the group's bar tab, but then tries to hide a smile as he busies himself with straightening up some paperwork on his desk.
"You'll have to talk to Mayor Deverin about that; it'll be up to her. I was simply passing on the information I obtained the last time I met with her."
He then continues. "I can't stop you if you wish to continue your investigations in Magnimar. My only advice is that you stay clear of the city's politics. That's a hornet's nest you don't want to stir if you can avoid it."
---------------------------------------------
At the Rusty Dragon, Ameiko Kaijitsu patiently listens to Ro's description of the person in the portrait, taking it from her when Ro passes it to her.
"I'll find a place of honor for it," she intones calmly. "Too many of her people disappear without explanation in Varisia." Ameiko then hands over the painting to Bethana Corwin, the halfling woman who helps her run the inn. Bethana moves some wall decorations around, finally finding a place of honor for the portrait on the southern wall of the common room.
"If anyone identifies her, tell them Aldern Foxglove was a troubled, evil man, but Iesha did not know until it was too late. Also tell them that her will was strong. She struck back from beyond death to have her retribution, and Foxglove is now dead by her hand. She found her peace."
"That's no tall tale, I saw it happen with my own eyes."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Ro is very happy to see Jili show up at the Rusty Dragon. She was going to have to find her at some point during the day, and her arrival forestalls the procrastination Ro was certain to engage in since the subject will be uncomfortable. At least it will be for Ro.
Now they are are a party of two, Ro invites Jili over to a table with some privacy. Ro orders a bowl of stew, some bread, and a cup of applejack for herself. At a certain point during the meal, Ro broaches the subject on her mind.
"There's something I want your thoughts on Jili. Now just to be clear, this isn't about Karmid, or you personally or any such thing. But you're half-elven, so I need to ask what you think about something in a detached from yourself general way, speaking about half-elves broadly. I guess you could think about it that way."
"If you were in love with a human, and they loved you in return, how long do you think it could last?"
As Lia wakes up, she finds Kira sitting next to her bed, reading some scripture. As she stirs, Kira notices, puts aside the book and fetches a tray with some bread, cheeses, water and cut fruit, bringing it over:"Good morning, sleepyhead. I saved you some breakfast."
As Lia sits up, still dazed, she mumbles:"I had the weirdest dream. We were at the misgivings, and there was Aldern but he was Undead and a mirror that trapped his wife and I got this Scarf from her", she points out the Scarf wrapped around her bedpost, not stopping to talk: "and there was a well and a Manticore and a friend that was not alive and a mutated bathtub-rat and the others wanted to fix the roof but then we burned the basement and..."
Finally stopping to drink a bit of water and taking an bite out of a slice of apple, she shakes her head:"A really weird dream."
Kira just sat there, smiling: "Well, it sounds curious. Do tell what you remember, from the start, before you forget."
And Lia did, as Kira listened to all that had taken place since her friend left.
Drasven does his tasks individually and methodically.
First obtaining food to feed himself and Karmid, following that he retires to the room offered by the carpenter for his well earned rest.
The morning finds him refreshed and once more ready to face the day as he makes his daily absolutions and obedience to his patron. In it he confesses to his patron what he perceives as his failure to aid his comrades more and yet give thanks for all of them surviving the ordeal.
Once that is done, he aids Father Zantus and the acolytes in cleaning the temple and doing minor repairs within his capability before leaving the church.
For all who approach him and asks about their adventures, he tells it truly with no additional embellishments. The tale of sorrow and horror. The redemption offered and given. The harrowing fights and beasts that partook in it.
Most of all he tells them all of the tragic tale of a wife and husband who fell to evil influence and their ends.
With that done, he tends to his equipment while waiting for his companions to gather once more.
After a day of feasting on fresh bread and water, because he feels nervous eating anything else for a while, Karmid will finally rest all night and feel more like his normal self the next morning. Again taking a swim in the nearby river, he claims it adds days to his life every time he does it. He avoids talking to the people, afraid of discussing what happened and what nearly happened to himself...
Finally he searches out Ro and corners her.
"So...when do we leave for Magnimar? These people connected to Aldern worry me. What if a ghoul infestation is taking hold there as we speak?"
Once she's back at the temple and Karmid finds Ro, asking about leaving for Magnimar, she answers "I would like to leave as soon as we can. Tomorrow morning first thing would be ideal if we can manage it."
Lia returns to her duties in the Cathedral, as airheaded and diligent as usual.
Flutter, however, seemed much broodier, more sombre than normal.
Between the two of them, it seemed clear who carried the weight of recent events.
Eventually, she also runs into Karmid and Ro: "Oh, right, we are going to Magnimar and punish those people who did all of this to Aldern, right? I think a ship leaves tomorrow, can we go by ship? I think there will be a storm soon so we'll be safe on the ship right? If we go by land we'll get all wet and maybe someone would get sick and if we crash into the reef at least it's all of us so that makes it better."
The group decides to take Lia's advice and book passage on the merchant ship leaving for Magnimar the following day. Captain Henrietta Morton is a middle-aged Chelaxian woman, and her double-masted brigantine, The Cormorant, mainly transports lumber to the shipyards in Magnimar. As the ship normally does not carry passengers, you are given the option of sleeping with the crew below decks, or find a place on the main deck. The latter choice gains in favor as the trip has remarkably dry weather for this time of year.
The entrance into Magnimar harbor occurs a few days later. For those of you who have never been to the City of Monuments before, the vista is very impressive. The bay is bordered to the north by a tall cliff while the massive support columns of the Thassilonian bridge known as the Irespan block out the sun to the north. The city is divided into two sections: the Summit, at the top of cliff, contains many government buildings along with the homes of the wealthy, while the Shore contains most of Magnimar's poorer neighborhoods along with its largest markets.
Once you disembark in Magnimar's Dockway district, you must decide where to head next. Find yourself a place to stay, or track down the clues found in the Misgivings?
Jili looks at Ro for a very long time, and then she sips her tea. She's clearly not taking the question lightly.
"I guess it depends on the kind of love. Is it the hearts and butterflies "this person makes me so happy I could dance on rainbows" kind of love? Or is it the "I wouldn't want to be with anyone else even if I do want to murder them sometimes" kind of love? My parents had that kind of love. My mother always said make sure you love someone who can be a friend. The butterflies will fly off someday."
She sips her tea for a while longer still thinking. "The hearts and butterflies are nice at first, but if it doesn't turn into the "I'm going to do life with you no matter what" kind of love then it won't last long no matter if you are human or an elf. I think. No I know. I could love a human for my whole life if I had rock solid love and support from them."
"Why do you ask?"
As the ship turns toward the docks in Magnimar Jili looks very intimidated.
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Ro listens to Jili, but the expression on her face hints that she not satisfied by her answer. It takes her a few seconds of thinking about how to explain the thrust of her question before she says anything more.
"When I was little, we had a dog. My parents had him before my sister and were born. We grew up with him from even before we could remember it. His name was Balto and all of us loved him so, so much."
"When I was nine he died. He was quite old by then. The last couple of years before he died, he had slowed down a lot. Couldn't get around so well anymore so mostly he laid in the wagon and slept more. We had chores and other stuff to do, so he kinda faded away during those last couple of years. It's not that we ignored him, or loved him less, but we were busy with stuff and couldn't stop our lives to spend a bunch of time just sitting around with him."
"When he died I think my sister and I must have cried for a week straight. It was the saddest thing that had ever happened to us. But a few months later we got a puppy. And you know what? She was the best dog, we loved her so much. We didn't think about Balto much after we got Feebs. We didn't forget Balto, it's more we forgot to remember Balto. Sure, now and then we'd compare Feebs to Balto, or she would do something and we'd talk about how she was or wasn't like Balto. Otherwise we were busy loving Feebs."
"If somebody had asked me when I was eight if any dog could ever take Balto's place, I would have laughed at the idea and said no way. But my ten year-old self would have proved by eight year-old self wrong."
"I'll be dead and in the ground before you or Ryn find a gray hair. How can you possibly know how you'd feel twenty or thirty years on when you can simply start again? But also how could anyone possibly ask that you not?"
"I just don't want to end up like the dog."
Karmid spends most of voyage at the ship's rails, dangling his feet over the side, and trying his best to enjoy the warm weather while staying out of the way.
"We should check out the townhouse first I think. We have keys! We wouldn't be breaking anything to get inside, and if nobody is there we could use it as our base of operations for now. Oh...we should also drop off this severed head for the coin too. The sack is starting to smell a bit ripe..."