Absinthe tries to move the party past security as smoothly as possible and without attracting attention. If any of the guards or Hellknights does pay them any heed, she quickly starts up a litany of complaints: "Ahhh, Desna favour us! It's not bad enough the bloody customer wants us to come all the way out of the city on such short notice, but he wants all the work done today and it's been naught but delays, delays, delays from the docks to here! Beggars getting underfoot, people getting in the way, and now this? This? You have any idea how much work it is, patching a roof that the cheapskate hasn't lifted a finger to keep up for ten - blessed - years?! It's a crime, is what it is, and if we don't get it fixed today, it's coming out of our blessed salaries! For the love of Desna, can't we please hurry things along? Please?!"
Seren nods his head in sync with Absinthe's story, making sympathetic and irritated faces at the appropriate times.
I could cause a scene… Segang offers quietly.
Cherias grumbles along with Absinthe, sounding like a bored Varisian teenager.
Melianthe is suddenly very conscious of her ears buried in a mound of wig and says nothing.
In spite of (or perhaps because of) Absinthe's vocal complaints about delays, the Hellknights still make a point to stop your group for inspection. One holds up a hand to cease Absinthe's rant as he looks over your group. Neither make any moves, retaining their guarded stance, but the second knight points at Segang.
"Where are you taking this... thing?" he asks, voice muffled through his heavy helmet.
"It's to the job, innit?" Absinthe says, feigning both exasperation and surprise. "I mean, look at these! Flex 'em, bhruth'na."*
Absinthe makes Segang flex his biceps and squeezes them in front of the Hellknights. Her fingers do not really make much of a dent.
"It's cheaper than getting a team of oxen and a crane out there, innit?" she continues. "Eats less, too! How else are we going to get the fresh timbers up on that rotted old roof? Eh? You tell me!"
Segang plays along. I lift things. he says playing simple.
[/ooc] soooo close. [/ooc]
Cherias leans over to the hellknight to back up Abby's bluff, muttering, "He's harmless. Just a strong back and a stupid head, eh? We just want to get out and do our work, and he's an important tool for that."
"'Ee's a meathead. An' ya dunna haf a pay em much."
But I get to eat all I want. the big man explains conspiratorially, with a look like he gets the better end of that bargain.
"Trust me, you don't want to be anywhere near him after he eats," chimes in Melianthe, "Whew! I'd say we paid fair price for that time he ate those pickled turnips. And we're still payin'."
The Hellknight stares at you for a long moment, then finally shakes his head with a dismissive grunt. He gestures towards the gate, and the guardsmen step aside to let you through.
Once they're well past the Hellknights, Cherias lets out a long sigh of relief. "By Arshea, that was a fair bit scary... I don't think there'd be anything we could have done if they'd tumbled to what we were about. They don't take bribes."
"There may be the occasional patrol we'll have to deal with, so we shall have to keep our ears pointed...easy for some of us, Cheri," says Melianthe with a low laugh. "If you can believe it, this is the first time I've left Korvosa in decades. There's a whole world out there! Er, there's a whole world out there." She attempts to rein in her enthusiasm, but giggles nonetheless.
"Indeed, indeed," Absinthe agrees with a negligent gesture and a slightly disdainful look at the countryside. "However, the finest way to travel and see all this wide world is by sea -- or at least, that is one's own opinion. Ahh, the sea...! Endless-seeming expanses of constant motion, an arena of daily effort and hazard... Clean air free for the breathing, the scents of tar, cloth and wood, the chill bite and salts of strange waters...! It is thrilling."
Thrilling indeed; the normally pale tiefling has a little blush on her cheeks as she discusses life at sea.
"I've never been outside Korvosa either... strange to think about, isn't it?"
I was prepared to bolt into the crowds if they called us on that bluff Segang explains. Few can move through crowds of people like me. I believe I could have gotten away while providing you all a chance to disperse to safety.
The sea is pretty to look at Absinthe, but you cannot drink its water. No grass grows there for horses. It is poison. I do not fear the sea but prefer not to loose sight of land, like any person with good sense.
"Tch," Absinthe says, with rare alacrity. "Land. Land is for stopping at for a time, to gather supplies and information. Land moves too slowly, its winds are not wild and free like the ones out at sea. Land kills, but it kills from ambush. Out at sea, you can see death coming from a distance, and the fight is clean. No, friend Segang, I will prefer the open waters, even if I do not currently have the means to live on them. But one day, I shall."
"The elves of the Mordant Spire are out in the Steaming Sea," says Melianthe a bit wistfully. "...but I still yearn for a forest, on the edges of things, one that is dark and teeming with life. The ocean at night is beautiful, Absinthe, and I should like to travel below the waves some day--with air, of course--but during the sunlit hours you'd find me huddled under a blanket. Far too much inescapable sun on the Inner Sea for my liking."
She shades her eyes as if for emphasis.
"By day, perhaps, sister," Absinthe says. "But night always follows day. Perhaps one day, we will share that darkness, where the winds are free."
Free winds are just what Mel was complaining about back at the gate. Segang says with a coy smile, spoiling the mood.
Cherias giggles for a couple minutes at Segang's joke.
Trinia, who has remained nervously silent throughout the city, relaxes noticeably once the city is over the hill and out of sight. Like a great weight has been lifted, she chuckles a little at your opening banter, then breaking into a full-out laugh at Segang's joke. Her mirth is as pure as crystal and infectious.
When the fit passes, the girl lets out a great sigh. "Oh, it feels like forever since I've felt free like this. Oh, my friends, there is no way I repay the debt I owe you, but know you have all my thanks and love." She makes a point to hug each of you, in turn.
[B]"Never really considered the world outside of Korvosa. So much to do there."[/ooc] Seren observes with only a hint of sarcasm.
He awkwardly hugs Trina back.
"Trinia, we are glad that you trust us as friends, seeing as how we chased you across the rooftops and gave you over to the Crown Guards. Then again, I damn near fell off those sun-blasted roofs thanks to you, so I suppose that makes us somewhat even," says Melianthe with a laugh, then grows more serious.
"Korvosa is your home. Perhaps it can be again, but not in this current...time of troubles. Have you given thought about where you want to make a life for yourself? Don't say the sea, Abby," the dusk elf says, wagging a slim grey finger.
"No," Trinia shakes her head. "Korvosa is my home, and though it can be cruel at times, its what I know. I'll lay low in Harse for a while. Eventually no one will remember little old me. The city's got bigger problems at the moment."
Absinthe repays Trinia's hug with one of her own - and actually swings the girl around a few times, laughing happily.
"One wishes you good luck wherever you go, dear," she says after putting the girl's feet back on the ground.
Segang hugs her gently. Send for us if you need us. He says.
"One recommends we idle about a bit, and do not return to the city before sundown," Absinthe says. "The better to maintain the illusion that we were about a job of work out here."
"Might be best to re-enter by a different gate entirely, so that the same hellknights are not there."
"I may be mistaken, but I was under the impression we were to escort our friend all the way to her destination," says Melianthe, taking pains not to say 'Trinia' nor 'Harse'.
"No need, really. I can make it the rest of the way on my own," Trinia offers. "No one should be looking for me out here..."
"Might be best to do that anyway just to be safe."
"I am nervous about you traveling alone on the road, Trinia, whether you are sought after or not. There are creatures and humans of ill repute--no offense, Seren and Segang--who frequent the roads and the parts beyond them."
You forget that our Trinia here is an able rogue in her own right Mel. Now that she does not have the entire city guard after her I think she will be fine. But I do prefer the countryside to the ugliness back in the city, so I would personally be happy to spend more time out and about. But there is the issue of that sick girl, and the result of the harrowing.
"Very well, Segang. We shall sample some country air and then return. But don't you fool us--we know you are an urban Shoanti at heart," says Melianthe with a wink.
"Trinia, safe travels..oh! We never talked about Blackjack! For Cheri's benefit, of course," she adds hastily.
Trinia shrugs and smiles. "I wouldn't complain for the company, but it is a two day hike to Harse. I've only packed enough food and water for me..."
Cherias chuckles and nods, "I never looked at a map. If it's that far, we should be getting back. But let's talk about Blackjack if we could. What happened after he saved you? Did you get any hint of who he is behind the mask?"
Trinia scratches her head and frowns. "Not really. After we escaped the castle, Blackjack led me through a tangle of streets, alleys, across rooftops and through the sewers. We moved so fast I could barely keep up, but he kept me going." She suppresses a shudder before finishing. "We came out behind Orisini Academy. Blackjack broke in through a back door and bade me to wait in a store room. I was so exhausted, I just sank down and sat. He went to find the school's master. Vencarlo found me and told me the rest. He admitted to being an old accomplice of Blackjack's, and agreed to keep me in hiding until he could orchestrate my escape from the city."
"You know the rest," she says, smiling again.
"Wonder if Vencarlo is Blackjack ... pretending to be "old" friends?"
"Hmm... that could be..."
"He made you run across rooftops? Well, that seems like a fair turnabout," says Melianthe, laughing one of her throatier chuckles. "Ah, well, Cheri, you'll just have to figure out a way to, you know, 'test' both Vencarlo and Blackjack. Very well then, I feel motivated to return to the city. We have work to do. Trinia, we shall see you again--that's a promise."
"A promise I will hold you to," Trinia replies with a grin. "Keep safe." She sketches a small bow and turns up the road towards Harse.
Segang is ready to get back. Urban Shoanti. Who ever heard of such a thing…
Your return to the city is uneventful. Although the guards at the Citadel Road gate raise their eyebrows at your late entrance, they recognize you as Marshal Kroft's agents and let you through without a fuss.
Segang has nothing else he needs to do this day and is ready to retire.