** spoiler omitted **
Might as well come clean. Tell her why I need to stay.
She looks Alessia in the eye. "You don't need to worry about St. Cuthbert's followers, I think. As long as I don't go out of my way to antagonize them, I think I'll be fine. I've even befriended one of their warriors." She says, starting to smile again.
The mention of Zalamandra causes the smile to disappear. "And I think as long as I don't go anywhere near the Emporium, she won't be able to press the issue." Carina takes out an explosive vial. "If it really comes down to it, I have these. I hope I won't have to use them to change her mind."
It'd be a waste of perfectly good bombs.
"Now, as to why I have to stay..." She puts her vial away. "Mom, have you heard of the Ebon Triad?"
”Come on girl, you can’t keep up the act forever. Strength and endurance are Kord’s two first lessons. Losing this little contest might be in your best interest”, he adds with a smirk as Tirra lines up for her last shot.
Tirra is walking up to the ten-foot mark, smirking as she raises her maserwork dagger once more. All she needs is one point and there's no way Tanith will be able to catch up.
But when she's poised to throw, Tanith speaks, and something about his words seem to startle her. Her cheeks going bright red, she twists her hand just a bit too violently as she flings the knife.
The throw goes wide, thudding into the wall a full foot away.
She looks at the knife, raising an eyebrow. "What a dirty trick, Creed." She sounds amused.
Pagget has already left in disgust. Tanith is up.
Tanith roars with laughter at the elf’s however tame indignation. ”All’s fair in love, war, and knife-tossing. I’d say we’re even – You’re too pretty and I can’t help but speak my mind.”
The big Kordite tries to mimic Robin’s form and tosses one last time.
The tavern goes quiet as Tanith throws the last dagger. Everyone watches with bated breath.
The knife sails straight into the wolf's forehead.
Tirra sighs, though she doesn't sound too distressed. "Well, that's torn it." She goes over and picks up her dagger, sheathing it.
On the way out, she flashes Tanith a grin. "See you in an hour. Don't bundle up too much—I've not been blessed with much patience for wrappings."
Tanith laughs and cheers, eventually crushing Robin in a celebratory embrace. ”You did good girl. I’ll see you at the Coaching Inn.”
Over the course of an hour, the big man enjoys a round of congratulations from those who had been watching (and jeers from those he cost coin) before picking up a bottle of whatever decent spirits the Dog had available and leaving for inn. He gives the fisherman a wink as he exits.
She bites her lip again. "That's why I came with this loot. Please, Mom, take your half of it and move on. Don't worry about me; I've got an adventuring party of my own to back me up."
"And... could you, perhaps, meet with those druids you mentioned so Edgar can have a good home? It's either them or Festus, and, to be honest, I couldn't do that to him. If I did, I'd be Zalamandra." She looks down at Edgar.
--------------
Carina decides to spend her time at the Coaching Inn, practicing her needlework and aiding her mother with patients that come in looking for healing.
She debates whether or not to see Smenk today. On the one hand, it might be a good idea to meet with him and explain why, exactly, we got tangled up in his crew's business. On the other hand, his info may not be the most reliable...
When she looks up and sees Tanith walking in, she's quite (pleasantly) surprised.
"Tanith! How's it going today?"
Still riding the high from his victory, Tanith beams at Carina. "Hey Red. I didn't know you were staying here. You and your mother live here?"
Carina looks between him and Alessia before getting up.
"Pretty much. We've been lodging here ever since we came to town. The proprietor's been nice enough to let us work here, too."
She looks to her mother. "Mom, this is Tanith. He's a wrestler who reveres Kord, and I'd say is responsible for a lot of our success in the Cairn."
Tanith's initially surprised that Carina's mother looks so little like her but turns on the charm quickly enough. "I see where Carina gets that shy smile from", the hulking Suel says with a laugh. "I'm just glad I could help."
As Tanith enters the Coaching Inn, he notices Tirra walking by. She's wearing a nice dress instead of her leather armor. She glances back and winks, heading down the hall and going into another room. The door is left slightly ajar.
Alessia takes Tanith's hand and shakes it respectfully, drawing his attention back to her and Carina. "Your help is very much appreciated, believe me. I was a bit worried Carina wouldn't be accepted in her adventuring party, but here I see one of her new friends already checking up on her." Alessia smiles. "I know some...don't know how to react to her uniqueness."
Carina watches Tirra walk past, with her slinky dress. She feels a pang of something and turns back to Tanith, biting her lip.
"Um, mind if I ask what brings you here? You look healthy enough to me..." Her tail starts *swishing* about.
Tanith glances at Carina and replies with a warm laugh. "If her uniquienessis what makes her pretty, clever, and brave, I can't say who wouldnt want her around."
Spotting Tirra quickly reminds the big man why he's there and he clears his throat loudly. Carina's question is only half heard as Tanith's thoughts wander toward the question of what's under the elf's dress. "I'm here to visit a lady-friend", he explains quickly. "And I think I just saw her. It was nice meeting you. See you tomorrow Carina ."
Tanith offers the two women a nod farewell and lumbers toward Tirra's open door.
The pang becomes more acute as Carina watches Tanith walk through the door to Tirra's room. Her hands clench, and her tail starts lashing about.
She turns to Alessia. "I... need some air. I'll be at the Land farmhouse if anyone needs me." She doesn't wait for her mother's answer before she storms out the door, tears starting to form in her eyes.
Of course he goes and f**ks the elf. Hells, he'd bed half the town if he wanted to, and you thought he'd actually be interested in you?
Tirra doesn't seem quite as happy as she's acting.
When she sees Carina, Astraden pushes herself up from the wall. "Hey sis, what's the haps -" She breaks off abruptly.
"You okay?"
Carina looks up at Astraden, tears rolling down her cheeks. While her eyes are normally red, now they're also puffy.
"No." She flatly says, her tail quivering. She walks over to the steps to the farmhouse and sits down. Her shoulders are shaking. She sniffs.
Tanith puts his pack down rests the bottle of cheap whiskey he'd brought on the nearest surface. "Something wrong? I hope you're not sore about losing."
The big man kicks off his boots. "It was just a game."
"Oh, just..." Tirra raises an eyebrow. "...I guess I'm not used to losing." She walks over and slides past Tanith to slowly close the door. "I underestimated you, Creed."
She turns, smiling coyly. "I guess you showed me."
Danger. Danger. The level of violent intent this woman has could vary, but she is almost certainly about to launch a strike of some sort.
Tanith grins as the elven girl offers her submission only to frown and softly growl when the hair on the back of his neck stands on end. He cocks an eyebrow and suddenly frowns stern. "What's going on? I get the feeling you're not as excited about a tumble as you said you were."
Astraden retrieves her supper (a crock of still-warm stew) and plops down next to Carina. "Here, get some food. What happened?"
Tanith is rewarded for his intuition by being able to easily dodge a slap to the face.
Tirra scowls, lowering her hand. "Ugh. Kordians—always getting smart just when you don't want them to."
She turns away and starts pulling out her gear from under the bed. "Whatever. Okay, look. The only reason I didn't deck you when you talked to me like I was some sorta ho was that Khellek wants to know where you got the ring. I figured I'd just get you in a nice position, knock you out, go through your stuff."
She starts putting on her suit of leather armor. "Of course, you shot that plan. This is just gonna wreck my street cred. So how about you just tell everyone we banged and I stole your wallet or whatever, and in return, I give you some real great advice."
Tanith scowls. Hard. It's an expression the big man wasn't used to wearing.
1) He wasn't going to get laid.
2) He'd been spurned despite some top-shelf charming.
3) He'd been used by someone trying to get information from him.
The whole thing left the Kordite feeling decidedly unstudly.
"Let's hear it."
"If you're going to be a pig, at least be nice enough to lie about it." Tirra starts walking out. "Seriously. Half-breeds have enough to worry about without being led on by your sort, and you seem just dumb enough to care about that kinda thing."
"What are you going on about? Or is this more lies?"
Carina accepts Astraden's offer of food, glumly eating a couple of mouthfuls before wiping her eyes with her sleeve.
"...I caught Tanith about to have sex, is all." She stares into her bowl of stew.
"I thought I meant more to him than that."
Astraden pats Carina's shoulder. "That's pretty rough. It was obvious you two had something going on, and . . . he didn't have any grace at all." She thinks. "Maybe it was some sort of miscommunication. I mean, Tanith is very interested in you, but he might think about sex and partners differently. He failed to communicate that."
Carina turns maroon. "We didn't... did we? Did I? Was I that obvious?"
Probably. You didn't even say anything about being interested, so how would he know?
She turns quiet after taking another mouthful of stew, blinking several times to clear her eyes. "So... um..."
"You'd be terrible at cards. No, there was no way he could've missed it." Astraden stands up. "If he doesn't want to talk about it, don't take it as insult. Just look after yourself." She starts laying out the planks for the new door.
When Cuetzpalli comes up the road, Astraden waves to him. "Glad to have you, man. I've pretty much finished clearing out the lower story, but as you can see, a lot of the floor needs replacing, as do the rafters. Edgar and Carina are here too, though I'm not sure where . . ."
"Well, show me what to do, and I'll do it."
Astraden sets Cuetzpalli to work replacing the rafters one by one. Today she'll finish the door then go and help him finish the rafters. Around evening she'll go back into town to buy supper for everyone.
Carina mulls over Astraden's words while she and Cuetzpalli work on restoring the Land homestead.
She does have a point... but I still need to talk with him. Where does he want to go with this?
Looking down, she's not surprised to see Edgar. The little owlbear followed her when she took off from the Coaching Inn.
She sets her bowl down and offers it to Edgar.
Astraden returns from Diamond Lake with a roast chicken, some rhubarb pies, and half a cow (for Edgar and Spiny). She uncorks one of the wine bottles from Filge's and passes it around, summoning water when they run out. At the end of the evening she prays again and heads to bed.
"What are you going on about? Or is this more lies?"
Tirra ignores Tanith as she leaves.
Farrukh is awoken by banging on his thin door. It breaks open, and Jolot—a so-called "half-orc" who has about as much human blood as Spiny—storms in. He throws a wadded up piece of paper at Farrukh's head. "These floating 'round town. I not tell, but you best see what they want. Where my ulbeshken rent, Alkattul?!"
The paper reads: Looking for Farrukh Al'Khatel. Will pay. —Smenk
Robin and Tanith are also awoken by knocking at their doors. Kullen is waiting for Tanith, and Rastophan for Robin.
They both say the same thing. "Smenk wants a word."
Tanith woke in a decidely bad mode. Between his night alone and Tirra’s confusing parting words, the big man hadn’t slept well.
The Kordite quickly prepares for his morning workout/prayers. A good sweat always helped him organize his thoughts but he’s interrupted by word of a messenger. Tanith’s mood darkens even more when he’s greeted by Kullen’s ugly mug.
”Did he say what it was about?” the hulking Suel asks as he tightens his boots. ”Smenk knows I don’t do his dirty work for him anymore.”
After dressing quickly, Robin puts his bow on his back and nods. "Lead on."
Astraden inside with the new door shut (though the place still kinda stinks from the blood). She doesn't set a watch, trusting herself to wake up if any danger approaches.
The next morning, she prays to Olidammara for fifteen minutes, preparing a few spells, then repairs another couple sets of armor.
She heads into town around 10 to pawn the armor at Venelle's, procure breakfast at the Feral Dog, and talk to Tanith.
Farrukh frowns as he looks at the paper, before folding it up and putting it in his pocket.
He drops his rent money in Jolot's hand absently as he walks out the door and goes to find Tanith or one of his other friends.
"No way in hell I'm walking into that viper's den alone."
Carina yawns, getting up from her spot at the Land home. She pets Edgar on the head before getting herself some leftovers from last night's dinner, letting Edgar have his pick of leftover meat.
After making a quick stop at the Coaching Inn and trusting Edgar to her mother, she heads out into town, pointedly staying away from the Emporium. The events of yesterday are still bothering her.
With nothing much else to do, she follows Astraden about town.
Astraden inside with the new door shut (though the place still kinda stinks from the blood). She doesn't set a watch, trusting herself to wake up if any danger approaches.
The next morning, she prays to Olidammara for fifteen minutes, preparing a few spells, then repairs another couple sets of armor.
She heads into town around 10 to pawn the armor at Venelle's, procure breakfast at the Feral Dog, and talk to Tanith.
As Astraden and Carina are leaving Venelle's, they find Merovinn Bask, Navius and Todrik waiting for them.
"You're hard women to track down," Navius snaps. "Smart of you to hide somewhere out of town. Smenk wants a word with the lot of ye."
Tanith woke in a decidely bad mode. Between his night alone and Tirra’s confusing parting words, the big man hadn’t slept well.
The Kordite quickly prepares for his morning workout/prayers. A good sweat always helped him organize his thoughts but he’s interrupted by word of a messenger. Tanith’s mood darkens even more when he’s greeted by Kullen’s ugly mug.
”Did he say what it was about?” the hulking Suel asks as he tightens his boots. ”Smenk knows I don’t do his dirty work for him anymore.”
"It's not just about you." Kullen gestures to the exiting Robin. "Something to do with Filge, I reckon. Which reminds me—you got my eyes?"
Tanith nods and then retrieve the pouch containing Filge’s bloody tooth. He tosses it to the ugly half-orc. ”It’s not eyes but it’s a keepsake that’ll last.”
”I’ll go pay that bastard Smenk a visit after my workout. Thanks for the message.”
With Carina along, Astraden decides not to look for Tanith. She will look for the others, though.
"He does? Where should we meet him?"