"True and I have bed-head still, whilst you two look perfect." Zara chews her fruity treats.
The door opens. Sheriff Hemlock casually walks in and studies the room. When his eyes find the table you are all sitting at he makes his way over.
SHERIFF HEMLOCK: "Good morning to all of you. Father Zantus has sent me to find the six "Heroes" that fended off the Town Square in the goblin raid last night. I must say, it's rather convenient to find two thirds of them in the same place. Do you know the whereabouts of the other two who assisted you yesterday?"
There is the sound of a yelp then a clap of body against wood as Damieka rolls off the bed onto the ground then tries to untangle herself from the blankets. She fumbles about and finally gets herself out of the material awkwardly and stands.
The ranger goes to the water basin, pours water from the jug into it then sticks her face into the water and throws her head back, putting a towel onto her face and wiping vigorously.
After a few more moments she walks out into the dining room, eyes half closed, a brush in her voluminous hair and a stick of dried venison in her mouth. She flops into a chair and looks at the others calmly, "Beds are higher than the floor. With how much I sleep on the ground I forgot that. Eggs and sausage?"
She moves her chair back a bit from the table as she brushes her hair into a braid, grimacing as she does so. She doesn't have a hangover but she certainly looks like she'd been drinking more than enough to go to sleep.
SHERIFF HEMLOCK: "Pardon, I did not see you. We're only missing one person then."
"Well Sir Sheriff, Miss Ameiko offered us rooms for the night. Well the week." Zara says getting up and dishing a plate for Damieka, before putting it in front of the beautiful half-elf and looking jealously at her hair. 'It seems none of us girls are too good in the morning. But I'm the only one with rubbish hair.'
"We're not in any trouble are we?" she says apprehensively.
SHERIFF HEMLOCK: "Much to the contrary! Father Zantus was very impressed with your actions throughout the raid. There is a loose end to wrap up however, and he feels it would be best accomplished with a group of people with a very specialized skill set."
Zara's face lights up; 'Great, maybe he could help me with my dancing?' she whispers back "Do you think? Great!"
"Yes!" she almost leaps up at the Sheriff's words. "We have some skills and are good with threads." the tone really enthusiastic, especally for the time of morning.
"Skills? And here I thought all I was good for was bringing smiles to the children's faces," Silva says with snark as he stuffs his mouth with scrambled eggs. Only then remembering to mind his manners, he dabs around his mouth with a napkin and grins at the sheriff. "But I am particularly good with loose ends. I'm ready whenever these folks are!"
"Certainly." Zara says leaving her empty plate, after just having a few bits of fruit. She leans into Damieka, "Can I borrow your hair-brush? My hair is a mess."
She smiles to the Sheriff with false confidence.
|
Samara's eyes go wide at the entrance of the sheriff and she makes sure to turn her back, busying herself with other things for a short bit. She's run across the sheriff before (never for anything serious, but to her, it just ended up rather uncomfortable) as it so happens and does not wish to call too much attention to herself.
"Er, yes. Skills are something I have some of..." she chimes in softly, agreeing to throw her skillset in with the others.
Damieka groggily looks at the sheriff and tries to stifle a yawn behind a hand as she realizes belatedly that he had been there when she came out of her temporary room. She waves at Zara with a half lifelike smile of thanks and starts to slowly shovel food into her face as the others talk.
"Heroes..." She nibbles some more, "Thanks..." She looks up and smiles, handing the brush to Zara, "No problem. Complete without 'friends'." She jokes.
The woman does not seem to notice much more than that but she was watching, even if she did feel tired. Strangely enough it was difficult going from soft ground to softer bed. She made a mental note to ask if there were any harder mattresses later.
SHERIFF HEMLOCK: "I'm glad that you're all so enthusiastic about helping this town. I only wish Sandpoint had more outstanding individuals such as yourselves. But where are my manners, I have interrupted your meal. Granted, as luck would have it, I found you all much faster than I thought with you all staying at the same Inn. Please finish then come meet Father Zantus and I at your earliest possible convenience."
SHERIFF HEMLOCK: "Why, at the new Sandpoint Temple of course."
The Sheriff bids farewell and heads out the door.
Zara looks to the others excited; "I wonder what this is all about? I talked to Father Zantus last night, but he was really busy with the injured and laying out the dead." she finishes solemnly.
Bounding off to her room she tries to get the tangles out of her hair and look presentable. As she comes back downstairs with her morning tea, she realises that she felt so comfortable with these strangers that she didn't bother fully getting her make-up fixed. That or she was just very hungry.
Entering the dining room again, Zara looks more presentable and has a quick look around to see if Lord Foxglove is around. "I'm ready to go." she tells the others.
|
Davben comes down just at the Sheriff is leaving, looks towards the door, then comes over to join the others. Being especially low maintenance he looks about the same as the day before, not having drank as much as Damieka he seems none the worse for wear. "You are all looking well today. It seems I must have slept in. What's all the commotion about?" He asks as he gets himself some quite a large breakfast.
He looks towards Zara curiously when she re-enters "Go where?"
"To see the Father, Zanthus is impressed with us and has some loose ends for us to tidy." She flicks her newly brushed hair away from her face. "I do like things neat and pretty."
Damieka shrugs as Davben asks his questions but smiles timidly after all the history she told him comes to mind. She doesn't react to Samara the same as the woman stays out of the way but it wasn't Samara she had told the information to directly.
She points a fork towards the door, "It's some kind of special attention they seem to believe we require for our helping the town during the goblin infestation." She taps her fork upon her plate and watches the door as if it would burst open, "Sounds like fun." But her voice is dry as she says the last words.
The woman eats the rest of her meal, drinks whatever had been placed in front of her and gathers up whatever dirty dishes there are after waiting for Davben to finish his meal as he was the last there. She brings them to their hostess with a respectful nod of her head in thanks.
"So who gets to be our leader?" Damieka says calmly as she looks for a spokesperson among them.
There is an air of trepidation in the woman as she is unsure of what is going on with this sheriff. She strangely feels fine with this group now, even if she is still a bit nervous with women, but the sheriff is an unknown she is unsure of. Having been in the woods most of her life she is not that sure of people but in the wild there were often snares one would not notice at first. Snares. That was always something to look out for even when in civilization.
Damieka shrugs, "Do we need a leader? I thought we would need someone to speak for us all. I'm sure we don't all want to be blathering on at the same time and I am sure some of us would rather hide in the back and watch what is going on instead of putting all our attention on a figure head of the town." She looks to the others, "Or am I wrong? I do not ... I'm not really that much of a people person but not a no-people person. Or ... I just don't know much outside the woods."
"Right," Silva remarks, practically rolling his eyes at Nicea's suggestion, "Because we need a brave leader to break through the tides of our adoring fans, who will no doubt do anything it takes to stop us from walking down the street!" Moving towards the door, he beckons towards it with a cock of his head. "Come on, let's just get going. If we really need a leader, we can pick one after we talk to the good Father. Provided this proves to be more than a leisurely stroll, of course."
Damieka sniggers under her breath at the antics of the other two then looks back at the rest, "Dav, Zara, and Samara? Shall we follow the crowd control masters?"
She starts off calmly, still feeling nervous inside about working with other women but these three seem fine. It was all good. It was all good. The ranger had to keep reminding herself that all was well.
|
|
Samara just follows along, crossing her arms tightly around her stomach as she walks and keeping her eyes somewhat downcast. She is less discriminatory about her anxieties than Damieka however, trying to remind herself that not all social situations end up in disaster. At least not complete disaster.
|
|
Davben gives Damieka a nod in greeting when she smiles towards him "Good morning friend." He sighs as he hears where they're going, the balance should already be restored do they really have to do this? He considers trying to get more breakfast, but decides he should probably stay with his friends. "Very well, if we are required."
As he goes to follow listening to the talk of a leader he adds in as well "I feel it should be fair warning that to say that even if a leader is chosen I will always follow the path of balance first. No leader no matter how good they are, not even you Nicea can change that." He moves along with the others.
Zara gently puts her arm to upon Damieka's, leaning in to talk softly. "Are you fine you were quite in your cups last night. I didn't linger, but if you need a pick-me-up." she states softly.
The dancer skips out of the tavern, the flow of her clothing and the body underneath creating quite the beautiful sight. It was too early for Zara's usual perkiness, but she knows that if you create the illusion then it becomes a reality.
The bouncing motion also relaxes and exercies the muscles as they soon warm up against the sea air. "Silva, I don't see the crowds will they be around the next corner?" she asks eagerly no hint of mockery as she bounds up to him. The tinkle of her top as the small blades clash is soft reassuring music to her ears.
Looking down at her shapely legs; Zara bops forward to catch up with the proud warrior. "Mine too! Hello, Mrs Wheen; hope you are doing well." Zara calls to a passing lady - whom she met when she entered town a few days ago. The young dancer had attempted to remember peoples names, in an effort to make friends and avoid the 'unpleasantness' of the last couple of towns.
Zara turns back to the others and gives them a little wave and smile.
Damieka smiled at Zara as she asks about the night before, "Davben asked about my balance and hunting. I am afraid I told him and Samara more than I figured to. Thanks for the thought . Maybe we can chat later when al is quiet. I would like that."
She feels a bit less worried now as they go along to the meeting as she is finding that even the women of the group seems to care. Maybe she was just being paranoid.
Biting her lip softly, she gives a quick shy nod; "Yes, that could be nice." Zara replies to Damieka, they walk up the street and the salty early morning air seems to be quite chill.
|
Nicea strides through town in her best heroic fashion, pleased at all the glances coming her way and oblivious to the fact that a dancer dressed only in scarves was walking right next to her.
As they approach Madame Mvashti's House, the gaudy fortunteller's sign catches her attention. "Have you ever had your fortune told?" she asks Zara. "I wonder if it's worth the money."
"A handful of gold pieces to hear about how about how much my life is going to suck? I think I'll hold onto my coin."
Zara looks to the building with an enigmatic look on her face; "I was meaning to go there..." she states to herself as much as Nicea, completely oblivious to the glances.
"Yes, I come from the Varisian caravans. We all learn about the Harrowing deck, it's well worth the money. I take it you haven't had it done before? To busy living life in the moment?" Zara asks.
"You should always listen to them though." Zara remembers the last reading she had. 'I ignored the first part and incurred their wrath. I wonder if the Lord is him.' she colours remembering.
"I grew up in the caravans myself," Silva mentions to Zara, looking towards the fortune teller's house with a frown, "But I never paid much heed to the Harrow. When misfortune comes my way, I prefer that it be a surprise. If you learn about it before the fact, you just waste time worrying about it."
Seeing the woman leave from the house, Silva shrugs at Zara and smiles. "See? Madame Mvashti probably told her that she'd never find true love or some nonsense like that."
"Me? Why yes, yes I am," he says with a smile, waving away Nicea as subtly as possible, "Is there a problem, miss...?"
"Shayliss? Why, that's a pretty name!"
"Rats, eh?" Silva says, brushing his hand through his beard. These would have to be some rodents of unusual size if she's running to a guy like me for help. Who knows what kind of trouble the diseased little bastards are causing her! "Well Shayliss, you're in luck! I am in possession of a particular set of skills, and rodent-killing happens to be one of them!"
Turning his head, Silva calls out to the others. "I'll catch up with you guys as soon as I can, they're only rats after all!" He looks to Shayliss and winks. "After goblins, how hard could it be?"
"You have to pay heed to the omens, Silva. You should know that!" she says honestly as the young lady approaches.
The halting manner of speech seems that this lady is shy; "He was impressive yesterday, stopping the goblins. You think you can handle this yourself?" she looks in askance of the girl; "You don't need our help?"
"We'll meet you at the church?" Zara queries wondering if she should follow Nicea.