"One of the mysteries is what my friend Herm is talking about. What those men were doing, why they came to visit you, what they discussed Estovion, and what your role is in all this."
"The misconceptions might be numerous. One I would like to clear up is from the general populace, or at the very least Mister Duristans. Other misconceptions might be ours. Perhaps even yours."
"There was this one guy who brought a tiny pet that looked almost like an imp." Madame Ivanka replies to Herm. "They visited one evening. I don't know what for. But if you want to know that bad, I can arrange that the same lady serves you in the same room upstairs for the usual fee."
Herm almost blushes at the comment. "I will not be requiring your services in that way, we just want information. How much will it cost." Herm says reaching for his pouch but also scanning the woman for any evil auras
"I don't care if you only want to talk, or more, the fee is the same - 250gold." Madame Ivanja replies with a mischievous smile.
"That's for the room and the lady, right? We can split the price and go all for that talking." Jominda inquires.
"This is correct." Madame Ivanja answers.
"Still nothing to sneeze at. Here are 100 gold" Jominda tells, as she counts out the coins.
Herm pulls the full fee form his pouch and hands it to the Madam
"Okeaaay." Jominda comments, taking back her coins. "Does that mean you want to go talk to her alone?"
"No it just means I will pay this so we can get this moving along, we are wasting time here. Estovan is in the wind and we are not closer to figuring things out." Herm says firmly
"This way..." Madame Ivanja tells and leads the way to one of the private bedchambers on the tower’s second floor. A pretty Vudrani woman, wearing heavy eyeliner and clad in nothing but a translucent silken scarf,
waits within. "This is Niama." Ivanja introduces the woman "I wish you a pleasurable stay." She shuts the door behind her as she exits.
Niama lies upon a pile of pillows smoking a sweet scented substance from a glass water pipe. With glazed eyes, she draws heavily on her pipe, waiting for her guests to give her instructions.
"We wish to talk to you about 3 men who visited you the other night and asked some questions. 2 were dark cloaked riders."
"You mean that 'three nobles from Courtaud' from that one evening?" Niama asks, making air quotes. "One of them had an evil-looking, implike pet. You mean those?" She draws again from her pipe and sends a puff of smoke towards Herm.
"Yes, we mean them." Kendra says, appearing to be very interested in a certain corner of the ceiling.
"We wish to learn all you can tell us about them." she continues, and then turns beet red as soon as she realises the implications of what she just said.
"Ahem, uh, except for their sexual natures."
Niama chuckles at the prudish behaviour of Kendra. "I couldn't tell you anything about that anyway. They had me dance a bit until a forth man arrived. A silver-haired woodsman with a full beard who smelled like a beast. At that point they requested me to leave them alone."
"When I came back after about an hour they were all gone."
"What else can I tell you? They told, they are from Courtaud. But their accent told they are southerners. Maybe from Caliphas."
Meh. Jominda thinks. That's no real news here.
But Kendra has quite the entertainment value with her face changing colors. And her interest is piqued be the water pipe. She walks over to the bed and sits besides the woman. "What is it you smoke there? May I try?"
"This proved to be pointless, thank you lady for your time. There are no magical recorders in these rooms are there?" Herm asks, "We ask around the lodge for any strange things happening in the woods I guess."
Taking another draw first Niama hands over the mouthpiece of the pipe. "Sure."
Then she waits for further questions from those more interested in the interior design of the room.
"Of course there is no such thing. The customers wouldn't appreciate that. That's all? Only talking about things past?" she inquires.
Jominda takes a deep breath through the water-pipe. The smoke isn't as rough as the smoke from the pipe she tried as a kid. But it still makes her cough and sends tears to her eyes. But once the cough settles Jominda changes to giggling. All of a sudden everything around her seems to be very funny.
Which isn't too far off. A scantily clad vudrani woman with only a scarf lying on the bed, Kendra buttoned up to the neck staring at the ceiling. Herm in full plate standing there disappointed. If Harrold was there lecturing about herbs the comedy would be perfect.
"I uh... Would you mind if I used a spell on you? It's not going to hurt or anything, but it would allow me a look at these people personally, so that I may identify them at a later date."
"Yeah, why not. Do you need me to do something, or get into a special pose?" Niama asks.
Herm balks as the woman mention of a "special Pose" Almost blushing
"Well, it works best if you do a lotus pose in headstand." Jominda suggests. But she starts laughing so hard, that she falls off the bed. Which interrupts the laughing only shortly, before she laughs even more, rolling on the floor.
"Jominda, what is... what is going on with you?" Kendra asks exasperated. Adding to it, in response to Niama, she says "No, I'll just need a minute with my book, and then I need to... touch you. But your hand will be fine."
"You should try that pipe. It's really good!" Jominda replies.
Niama waits for Kendra to finish studying her book and then holds out her hand. On casting the spell on her Kendra feels no resistance at all for going through Niama's thoughts.
"What did you See Kendra?" Herm asks
"Just some men. I'll at least recognize them if I walk by them on the streets now." She answers. "They do give me the creeps though." Kendra shudders, and sits down on the cushion besides Jominda without really thinking about it, her mind on the memory.
Jominda throws herself at Kendra. "You are the best." she tells with an admiring look in her eyes. "Would you make me one of your sandwiches? I'm getting really hungry now." she follows up with a non sequitur.
"Lets head back into the lodge now and we will see who is injured and then we can talk about what is going on. Herm says,heading out of the tower and back to the lodge. "Has Estovion shown back up? Is Belik still here as well?"
"Where's Herm?" Jominda asks as he is suddenly out of sight.
Cilas is in the midst of the trophy room and has taken over the role of a leader - which is natural for him. "No, Estovion wasn't seen since he moved through and you after him. And Belik didn't show up either. Wasn't he with your friend Harrold?"
"Yes but I haven't seen Harrold much either in the last hour." Herm replies confused at to what is really going on.
"He went downstairs again. Perhaps we should go too." Kendra says to Jominda. She stands up, and turns to Niama.
"Thank you for your assistance. If there's something we can do in return... I, eh. Well, I guess we did pay."
She leads Jominda down. "Perhaps we should lead you to the kitchen first, eh, dear?"
"Kitchens are funny. And you can make sammiches there!" Jominda replies as she follows Kendra.
Kendra leads Jominda to the lodge's kitchens, and looks around for someone who belongs there to help prepare some food.
Ladimeur is busy cleaning up his kitchen. He is still a nervous wreck from the event earlier. "Can you believe that? A spider as large as a house in the lodge? A nice, serene job you'd get. Only a few guests you can cook for. Not at all dangerous inside the lodge, even though it's in the Shudderwood, they said."
Kendra walks in and hears the cook. "It's all safe again now, sir." She offers her hand in greeting. "I'm Kendra, one of the party that has slain the spider. This is my companion, Jominda."
Kendra indicates Jominda, before continuing to Ladimeur.
"It seems my friend here has fallen under a bit of a spell making her both hungry and a bit giggly. Would you mind whipping up some food for her? It doesn't have to be one of your masterpieces, she says, acknowledging the state of the kitchen, "Though if you feel like practising your art, Jominda is a great lover of good food."
"Of course I can do that." Ladimeur tells and springs into action to create an omelette with added bacon and some minced vegetables which looks really tasty. Also he toasts some bread on the hearth. Within a few minutes he has created a delicious meal.
"You don't do sammiches for me?" Jominda looks at Kendra with a sad expression, but as the meal comes together the delicious food consoles her a bit.
"So who takes over for the Lodge if the Warden has fled?" Herm asks Cilas
"As long as the meals are cooked and the rooms are cleaned, everything is fine. It's not like the world stops because Mr. Lozarov isn't around anymore." Cilas replies. "You want to take over?"
"I do not no, I have other goals in life that I wish to complete. Who will take over? Duristan might be to hot headed, I feel you might be a good candidate Cilas." Herm says
"I might send a note to the council about that. But I for sure won't volunteer for that position." Cilas replies with a grin.
"Well hopefully they find someone who wants to take it over. What can you tell me about Estovion." Herm asks
"You met him. I don't think I know more than you can know from that. Not that I would care. He is just the guy doing the administration." Cilas tells.
Kendra leaves surreptiously as Jominda digs in to her food, hoping to not be noticed. She just overhears the last of this conversation between Cilas and Herm. "Ah, mister Graydon. You do have some experience leading an organisation under siege, I would think, so perhaps you wouldn't mind doing so again, if only for a short while?"
She walks up to Herm and stands next to him, happy to feel protected by him once more.
"Infernal influences have made their mark, not only in this lodge, but also the communities living in the forest beyond. There might be more hardships to come."
Jorfa Blazeforge
GreySector
