"After we turn this in to our employer I'm going to need a drink and a few days off." Arenel said as they rowed back. "This had not be a good time, not at all." She shook her head. She smirked over to Valghaz before saying "Don't you owe me a drink?"
"I need a new outfit. Again." Elaina mumbles, not rowing or do anything else that might be considered useful. Instead she turned one of the shards from the elemental gem over in her hands, examining it in the sunlight. She had hoped the elemental would stay around for a while and its disappearance had made her very sad.
Her eyes drifting across the sunlit water as she rows, Arya breaths in the fresh air as if she had been underground for weeks rather than a single night.
"Something tells me that Lady Van Rebvorn isn't going to like what we have to tell her about her lost brother. Perhaps a round of drinks before we have to break the bad news?"
"And shopping." Elaina says, perking up at the idea. "Some of us are very unpresentable." She inclines he head towards the bloody and bruised Valghaz.
"Indeed I do. Hopefully then ye can finish a sentence without somethin' tryin' to kill us." He responded with a weary smile.
"Can we have a bath and go shopping first?" Elaina asks. "I'm sore, I want a hot bath. And a nap. And I'm hungry. I want some grapes." She complains. She wanted all those things and many more more than she wanted to talk to Lady Revborn, but she also didn't want the others to talk to their employer without her and steal all the glory for themselves.
While she's sitting in the boat on the trip back, Mimi takes out one of her experimental acid-tipped crossbow bolts. She holds it over the side, above the water, and uses her knife to unseal the wax-coated leather bag from the shaft. That done she works the bag off the tip and lets it fall into the water.
After swishing the bolt around in the water to remove any remaining acid, she studies the bolt's metal tip, and the wood holding it. It had been around five hours now since the tip had first been immersed in acid, and she needed to check the degree of corrosion.
She is convinced the acid will eventually render the bolt unfit for use, but how long before it happens?
Elaina leads the way back to Rebvorn Manor, wanting to get the exchange of information over with so she could get cleaned up.
"I'd rather head to the manor first. I don't want to carry all this around from place to place." Arenel said with a shrug. "Then I'd like to go get that drink. Any place you'd pick for that Valghaz? Or is it lady's choice?" She asked the dwarf with a grin.
You return to Van Rebvorn Manor, and Lavinia greets you warmly. "What news? Have you found my brother?"
On the way to the manor, Valghaz smiled at Arenel. "I mostly drink at the tavern 'The Halfling's Daughter.' It's near the forge. But it's far too loud. I'd rather be able to hear ye, eh? So lady's choice it is."
-----
When they arrive at the Manor, Valghaz looks around at the others, waiting to see if anyone else wanted to break the news.
Mimi isn't one to do the talking for a group of people. Instead she lurks behind Arenel and Arya, who are both decidedly taller than her, to escape too much notice.
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Elaina launches into the story. The bard normally could spin quite impressive tales, but her emotions -frayed from having been on a real adventure- got the better of her and, with a deep breath, she lets forth an incoherent mess. "We were looking for your brother and a homeless man in an alley told us he knew where to find him so Mimi gave him some gold and he took us to an island and there was a hole and he said your brother was down there and I said not to go down there but no one listened to me and your brother murdered the homeless man and threw him into the hole with us!" Her hands go to the hem of her skirt, twisting it anxiously as she bounced up and down excitedly. "Your brother wanted to kidnap me! Or murder me! Or both! So he tried to murder all of us by locking us in a cave with his I killed some and Mimi almost melted me with acid! Then everyone started yelling at me for no reason and then everyone abandoned me and I was all alone! So I ate an apple and explored the cave all by myself and I didn't find anything until attacked me! And it was far more powerful than the others but I killed it and it didn't even touch me! And then I found the others and they killed a bunch of helpless baby crabs!" She jumps away from the others as if to distance herself from their crab killing actions, her voice rising to a hi-pitched squeak. "But I love baby crabs but it was too late and Valghaz stole my leggings!"
She continues, somehow with the same breath. "There was a really loud noise but everyone wanted to go to sleep and I said we should find the noise but no one listened to me And we were attacked by more in the night and that never would have happened if we did like I said and looked for the noise cuz they were making the noise! But I killed them too and then there was a pool of water with some and they stung Mimi and she But I made her feel better and we're friends now and there was a pool of water and Mimi turned into a fish! And on the other side was But I killed it too and there was a really loud noise I'm not sure what happened but Mimi was scared and then we found some treasure and there was a rock monster and he helped us out and he was my best friend so I was very sad when he died and now we're here and Mimi never even got her gold back from the homeless man!" She finishes her tale, face flushed and breast heaving.
"Vanthus a murderer? Vampire Thralls?" Lavinia looks taken aback and overwhelmed by Elaina's diatribe. "Baby crabs?" She looks around at the rest of the group. "Can anybody translate?"
"Aye." He took a deep breath. "We asked around about yer brother. He be part o' the underworld now. Runnin' with smugglers and their ilk. We bribed a man to bring us to yer brother an' he took us to old smuggler tunnels. Elaina indeed told us not to go in, so we decided to let her stay up top, but in the end she came with us. The smuggler we bribed turned out to be workin' with yer brother. Yer brother was waitin' there, waitin' for us to enter the tunnels. We foolishly thought that we would be goin' to talk to him. They locked us into the tunnels. There we found the corpse o' one of his smugglin' associates, a man named Penkus. We also ran into our fair share o' zombies. Likely what killed Penkus, an' what yer brother thought would kill us. As for the crabs, we tried to find a way out an' over sized crustaceans made that task far more difficult and painful than need be. So...here we be. But...
...now that I remember it. As he locked us into those tunnels we tried to reason with him. Said that ye sent us, jus' to make sure he was doin' alright. The last thing he said to us before he locked that hatch was to stay away from ye, an' that ye are not ours to claim. Yer brother is a right murderous man, who had no compulsion about killin' a group o' strangers come to talk to him. I don't know what he has planned, but he has made it very clear that he isn't interested in civil conversation."
"Don't go listening to that one." Arenel said as she used her thumb to point at Elaina. "She'll weave you a pretty story but that's all it will be a story." She told Lavinia as she crossed her arms. "Valghaz's had the right of it. When we mentioned your name I remember he got really angry. Didn't he say something about not pulling her into it?" Arenel asked as she looked to the others.
Elaina crosses her arms and turns away with a "Hmmph!" when her story goes unappreciated.
Lavinia bows her head. "Vanthus...how could you? What happened to you?" She stands motionless for a few moments, then sighs and looks back up. There is steel in her gaze. "I am not convinced he is beyond redemption. There must be something of the brother I love still in him somewhere. Please, continue looking for him. Find and subdue him and bring him back to me." She hesitates for a moment before adding, "And if he makes that impossible for you, I understand. Just...just make it quick."
Mimi whispers to Arya "Should you show that letter to Lavinia?"
Arya had been standing quietly beside Arenel as Elaina and Valghaz argued for their interpretations of what had transpired in the smugglers caves.
Suddenly Mimi's small voice from behind her stirs her into action and she steps forward.
"M'Lady, if I may be so bold, I fear your brother may be beyond redemption. We found this note, a record of Penkus' dying wish, on the corpse of your brother's former associate. The picture it paints is not pleasant."
Arya reaches into her bag and pulls out Penkus' letter and hands it to Lavinia for her to read herself.
Lavinia's face pales as she reads the letter. She sighs and hands the letter back to Arya. "You may be right. He might be beyond redemption. But he's my brother! I have to try!"
"If that is your wish, then we will endeavour to bring him home to you alive."
Arya bows her head to her employer before stepping back into line with her comrades and resuming a more casual stance, crossing her arms and chewing the inside of her lip as she contemplates capturing Vanthus.
"Maybe we can try." Elaina says slowly. "But if he tries to murder me again!" She clutches at her throat dramatically and squeaks. "Then he'll die!" Her voice returns to normal. "Not by my hand, though. I'm helpless. Someone will have to save me!"
"Thank you. I know you'll do your best, all of you." Lavinia puts on a brave smile before excusing herself.
"She took that rather well. If I had a brother and learned he was a vampire murderer I think I would be a little more upset." Elaina notes after the Lady leaves.
"The thing about nobility is, they'll never show how they're really feeling in such a public place. I'm sure she's a lot more upset than she let on just now, why do you think she excused herself?"
Arya speaks to Elaina in hushed tones, in case Lavinia is still within earshot.
"This is going to be a challenge," Arya addresses the rest of the group. "Vanthus isn't going to make it easy for us to take him alive. Any ideas?"
"He tried to kill us. We kill him. It sounds like he is making enemies of his own. If we can find one of them we might get some help on finding where he is hiding."
"The whole thing was to try and take him alive, though after what he did I doubt he'll come quietly." Arenel pointed out. "However why don't we speak about this tomorrow? We've been underground for who knows how long and I want my ale!" She stated as she crossed her arms.
"Can we go shopping too!?" Elaina asks excitedly. "I have an idea for my next outfit! It's gonna be red and black to hide all the blood!"
"A wonderful idea. Elaina can go shopping for what I am sure will be an amazing outfit. Arenel, lets get a drink. Yer choice on where."
Elaina grabs Mimi and Arya, pulling them each by a hand towards the door. "Cmon let's go let's goooo!"
Arya begins to walk toward Valghaz and Arenel, she too was desperate for a drink after the long ordeal. Suddenly she feels a tug at her hand and nearly trips up over herself as she is pulled back towards the door.
"Oh! Okay, shopping then, lead the way."
She strains to hear where Arenel suggests the pair go drink as Elaina drags her out. Maybe I can slip away and meet the others later.
"Alright then, Champion's Choice down by the area." Arenel said as she gave Valghaz a grin. "Maybe we can even catch a fight? What do you say?" She asked.
Excitement bubbles inside Elaina as she drags the two women to the nearest dock that they might catch a ferry to the trade district at the center of the city. I have friends to go shopping with! "Are you two gonna get new clothes too, cuz we found treasure so we should use it!" She says, grinning. "But I hope you brought some because I don't carry coin with me. I don't have pockets and I'm vulnerable and easy to rob."
"Aye, now that sounds like a right good idea. Let's meet there in two hours then. Will give me time to get home an' take this armor off."
"I'd say that's a date." Arenel said as she gave Valghaz a nod. "See you in two hours." With that she gave a wave to Arya and Mimi before heading off to her home to change and clean up. Also to check in with her father so that he didn't worry about her.
Mimi lets herself be dragged along by Elaina. A drink does sound refreshing, but alcohol in the afternoon doesn't tend to agree with Mimi. Unless it's well watered down and comes with food, it makes her queasy.
As soon as the opportunity arises, which could take a while, Mimi mentions her own shopping plans. She wants to get the items she needs for an alchemy lab.
She doesn't expect any enthusiasm from Elaina or Arya for her project, and doesn't encourage any. Eventually she slips away from them with a "Goodbye" that neither of them may hear.
First she goes to find Herrick at the grocery where he works. She hasn't seen him since she was hired by Lady Lavinia and there is so much to tell him!
Mimi hangs around for the somewhat gawky, towheaded young man to be finished and able to leave. She asks him if he will help her carry the equipment she buys back to her place. In return she promises him she will make a dinner of delicious sea bass pie, and tell him some unbelievable stories.
Elaina takes Arya and Mimi to several high-end boutiques, babbling away about adventures she may or may not have actually been on all the while. Intent on her shopping, she hardly notices Mimi's departure. After trying on many outfits she finds one she likes. A loose red silk blouse with long, loose sleeves and a mid-thigh length skirt split up both sides to the waist - Inspired by Arenel's dinner dress. She wears short black leggings under the skirt and a black and red silk scarf wrapped around her hips. She manages to find another comically large hat and soft black slippers to round out the outfit. After trying everything on and finding it to her satisfaction, she has the seamstress embroider a black silhouette of a chicken with a viper in its beak on the left breast.
After paying for the outfit, Elaina runs up to Arya, grabbing the rogues hand and jumping up and down. "Arya! ARYA! You should get an outfit just like mine and we can be twins!"
Arya is too captivated by the bard's tales and all of the fancy clothing to notice much when Mimi slips away. She waits patiently while the seamstress finishes up Elaina's outfit and stands back to admire it in full.
Arya had to admit that the bard did cut a dashing figure in her new ensemble.
"Um, I don't think I need any new clothes..." Arya looks down at the torn, stained shirt that hangs off her slender frame, and the grubby pants, with patches on patches barely holding them together.
What's the good of treasure if it all gets spent right away? Perhaps she was more like her miser of a father than she cared to admit, but the weight of the gold in her pack was a new experience for her and she wasn't ready for it to go away just yet.
"But Arya!" Elaina whines, craning her neck back to look up at the much taller woman. "You have really, really, really long legs! You should show them off, I bet they're lovely! And then we could tell people that we're sisters! I never had a sister."
Arya looks down at Elaina and blushes as the young woman complements her legs. She casts her eyes over the split skirt and the short leggings hugging Elaina's legs beneath it. Imagining what the garments might look like on her.
"Okay, okay. I'll try it on at least, we'll see."
Arya makes her way around the shop, gathering up the necessary items to construct an outfit to match Elaina's. She disappears for a moment behind a partition and when she emerges she is transformed. The loose red silk blouse hides her broad shoulders and does nothing to accentuate her figure. Just the way she likes it. With leggings under the tiny skirt are another matter entirely, showing off a lot more of her legs than she is used to. She can't help but think to herself how incredible her thighs look beneath the tight, black fabric.
She glances down at her lower legs, a forest of thick hair all that now covers her chiseled calf muscles. It wasn't something she would normally feel self-conscious about but here in such a fancy shop, and in front of Elaina, she shifted awkwardly from side to side.
"Um, what do you think? And what should I get embroidered on mine?"
Arenel returned home, calling out to her father to let him know she was home. "I'm back, though only for a couple of hours." With that she made her way to her to take a bath.
After that Arenel dressed in a dark blue sleeveless shirt with black pants that split open from the knees down in the front. She slipped on black laced boots before snatching up a green corset on the way out of her room. She stopped by her father's study as she laced up the corset. "I'm having a few drinks with a friend and maybe catching an area match. So I might be home late." Arenal told her father with a wave.
Once she finished her talk with her father she headed out to meet Valghaz at the Champion's Choice.
Upon returning home, Valghaz pulled off his armor, and with practiced ease put each piece away. His parents had wanted him to stay in the 'clan home' as was only proper. In their mind he was barely an adult, had not yet been wed, and his craft was merely 'passable.' But, he had grown up in Siren's Bay, and as such when he had come of age he had insisted on using his meager savings to buy his own home. As he pointed out to them, he had passed his apprenticeship and was an adult, so there was little they could do but grumble.
Looking around the meager dwelling he rummaged through his clothes. It was the first time that he had noticed how limited a collection he had to choose from, or how few of them were really all that clean. After spending more time than usual choosing something to wear, he hurriedly washed himself, using the gifts of his god to repeatedly fill a nearby bucket, and then left for Champion's Choice. As he left, he could almost hear his father's voice.
"To be early is to be on time, to be on time is to be late. To be late is to be wrong."
"Looking like that? Hope he's worth the trouble." His warm smile, one he rarely uses except with you in private, clearly indicates he trusts your judgment.
Arenel found Valghaz already there when she arrived. She couldn't help by smile as she moved over to join him, "You beat me." She stated as she joined him. "Happy to be back in the city?" She asked him trying to start off some form of small talk.
Elaina was beside herself with joy as Arya played along. She had never had anyone that was willing to come along and explore the world with her. When Arya does don an outfit similar to her own, she squeals and announces "You look just like me! You could get a viper with a chicken in its mouth as a sigil, but that would be heresy against the emperor!" She exclaimed. After pondering for a moment, she adds "You could get a fish with the head of a chicken! 'Cuz you live on boats and stuff."
After she calms down a bit, she takes a better look at her friend. She had always thought dancers were supposed to be lithe and fragile. Arya had been a dancer at the academy and she didn't look fragile at all. She was the strongest looking woman she knew. The bard concludes it must have to do with being a sailor. "But you should shave your legs so people people can see them better. That's the whole point; to be seen! Unless you hiding something. Like..." She gasped softly with realization, covering her mouth with her hands and gazing warily at the rogue. "Did someone hit you?"
When everything has been purchased Mimi has Herrick carry the crucible while she hauls the rest.
After the pie is in the oven, Mimi has Herrick help her set up the equipment while it bakes. The lab is a small one, there isn't much extra room in Mimi's flat. But she's now well set to do anything that isn't extremely complicated.
As they work, and then settle in to eat, Mimi tells Herrick about the craziness of the past few days. The events on the ship, and especially in the zombie tunnels make for good telling, but Mimi also spends a lot of time talking about her new co-workers.
She describes the dwarf Valghaz and Arenel as nice enough, but busy with a mutual admiration club for stoic warriors. "It's a particular kind of crazy I saw with soldiers all the time when I was in the army. Not us sappers, but the regulars. They seemed to think they could just go on forever without getting killed. Sort of a slow suicide coupled with denial of what they were doing. The type that rarely sees old age."
Arya she understands better. "I think she's mostly like me. It is an interesting and stimulating job, but mostly it's terrifying. And there's plenty of money. But once money + interesting < terrifying near certain death, it's time to quit and move on to other things."
Mimi has the hardest time trying to convey Elaina to Herrick. It's difficult to really capture her insanity in it's true breathtaking completeness. Multiple individual incidents won't quite do it. "It's like she more or less sees what the rest of us do. But if there is any way it can be interpreted in a way that makes no sense at all to any normal person, that's what she thinks of it. She's terrifying because you simply never know what she's going to say or do. Oh, and she talks literally all the time about herself, but not in a consistent way. Like she's tearing apart reality and stitching it back together in different ways all the time."
"So yeah, the people I work with are crazy. Well, except maybe for Arya, but I'm not sure. Mostly it's manageable. I just try to stay out of the way and hope for the best."
With a dessert of rice pudding Mimi shows Herrick the potions they recovered from the tunnels, and they spend some time trying to identify the ones she hasn't figured out yet.
At the end of the evening, when the lab is set, dinner is eaten, and all her stories are told, Mimi walks Herrick to the door. As they say goodbye, Kiss me! Kiss me! Kiss me! desperately runs through her head over and over.
Arya blushes as Elaina points out her legs. Yes, shaving them would let people see them better. That made sense for a dancer, but since taking up the sailing profession Arya had found it much more comfortable to go unseen, not to draw any attention to her femininity.
"What? No, nobody hit me... Um, I'll think about it... A fish with the head of a chicken?" She changes the subject. "That makes a sort of sense, and the chicken head will help people think we're sisters, because you have a chicken on yours."
Arya feels a warmth growing within her. She was starting to enjoy Elaina's company more and more. She smiles down at the bard before disappearing to change back out of the fancy clothes and handing over the outfit to the seamstress to be embroidered.
"Now, if I'm remembering things right, I think you lost a bet!" Arya exclaims as she throws herself into a nearby chair. She raises her feet, calloused and caked in dust and dirt, toward Elaina expectantly. Arya suppresses a giggle; Elaina's feet were probably a lot prettier.
"Eeeew!" Elaina squeals, shaking her head and backing dramatically away from Arya, cheeks pinking. She had hoped her incorrect assumption would have been forgotten by now. While she had to admit feet had a certain appeal, Arya's dirty ones didn't. On top of that, she wasn't in the habit of doing things for other people. "My feet were all clean when I said that, 'sept for some dust. Yours are all gross!" She crosses her arms over her chest and turns away from Arya, nose in the air, but one of Nkosama's sayings comes unbidden to her. Her only real friend had a saying for everything, and Elaina did her best to zone him out whenever he tried to teach her some social lesson. Now she recalled something he said about doing things for others that you want them to do for you. Or something like that.
Elaina turns partially back towards the sailor, giving her a considering sideways glance. She did want her to be her friend. "Maybe if you wash your feet I will." She finally concedes, her blush deepening as she admits, in her own roundabout way, that she had been wrong. After a few more moments of contemplation she gasps, rounding on Arya, eyes wide. "We could go to a spa together!"