Hollie nods somberly. ”I’ll make sure Jessalissa gets you the notes as soon as she is done with them. Hopefully we can find the reinforcements we need and get this business of Thistletop over with. Bereket and Matthias are going their separate ways.”
She sighs and looks at the night sky. ”And I should not be bothering you at this hour. I’m sorry. I’ll go and let you rest. Thank you, Mayor.”
Unless the Mayor has more to tell her, she says her pleasant farewell and returns to town proper. As she and Drax pass the Rusty Dragon, she pauses and then turns to enter. She asks after Shae, only to learn she has been drinking heavily and retired. Hollie makes her way to her room and knocks lightly. When there isn’t an answer, she cracks open the door and peeks inside.
Seeing Shae passed out in the bed, Hollie lets out a sad breath. Focused too much on your own troubles and you again miss the stress everyone else is under...
She closes the door behind herself and Drax and steps over to the dresser. She unclasps her armor and sets it lightly down on the floor before removing her weapons and boots. She gently slides into the bed behind Shae and considers holding her to comfort her, but didn’t want to intrude. So instead she just curled up facing her.
Draxtherian snorted before curling up on the floor beside the bed beneath Hollie. At some point after both girls are asleep, their blanket somehow has found it’s way pulled off the bed and turned into a nest for the dragon...
Shae's nightmare-filled sleep is restless, and at some point during her tossing and turning she realizes she's not alone in her bed. Pulling her cloak off the everburning torch mounted upon her shield--which lies propped on the floor against the bed's frame--Shae beholds Hollie. Her eyes reflect confusion, some anger, and even fear. When the teen realizes for certain that she's awake and no longer dreaming, her slightly bloodshot eyes turn tender.
"I thought you'd gone to the sheriff's office and then home," she says quietly. "What's the deal with your sister? I had a dream--a nightmare, really--that Nualia was trying to turn us against each other...."
After a pause, Shae asks, "It's over, isn't it? Bereket's gone, Matty's gone, I assume Jessa's gone, too. We're all gonna break up and go our separate ways, aren't we?"
Hollie had slept through the first part of Shae’s talk. Drax too, apparently, as his head snaked out from beneath the blanket and looked around groggily. Hollie stirred towards the end of the last part and looked at Shae with sleep heavy eyes.
”Hey,” she starts. ”You’re awake. You,” she pauses to yawn, ”you okay? What did you just say?” she asked, leaning back a bit from the heavy smell of booze.
Shae frowns initially, but then loosens up when she realizes that Hollie's here with her. She repeats what she said previously, but then the frown returns.
"Hey! What'd you do with my blanket?"
Drax just steeled his eyes at Shae and laid his head back down on the blanket, an unspoken challenge to her to even think about taking it back.
”Hey,” Hollie said as she placed a hand reassuringly on Shaedeen’s cheek, ”Nobody is going anywhere that they aren’t meant to be. Bereket is a wanderer, and Matthias...may just need some space. He is a bit of a loner. And I know Jess is a bit preoccupied with research right now. That doesn’t mean any of us are going anywhere.”
Shaedeen stares at Hollie warily, as if weighing her words. Eventually, she seems to relax a bit and speaks again.
"Good. I was thinking about moving on to Riddleport again: Sounds like an exciting place where someone like me could thrive. But I like Sandpoint as well. It's a pretty place--for the most part--and the company is nice."
"There's a bit of a problem with an infestation of parasitic, blanket-stealing, landbound, alleged dragons," she adds loudly enough for Drax to hear, "but our fight with the shadows has left me too weak to battle those. Does Ameiko have a linen closet nearby?"
Assuming there is, Shae wanders off to grab a replacement blanket and snuggles contentedly with Hollie the rest of the night.
A not-so-deep-but-trying-to-be growl emanates from the shadows beside Hollies side of the bed.
Hollie waits quietly while Shae goes for a new blanket. When she returns, she wiggles backwards towards her and pulls one of her arms around her waist from behind, letting Shae’s arm and hand rest on the skin of her stomach. She wanted to let the younger girl know that she had a friend here.
She then nestles her head into her pillow and closes her eyes, drifting back off to sleep.
__________
The next morning, Hollie gets up first and puts her boots and gear back on as quietly as she can. She finds something to write on and leaves a note:
Hey, I headed home to clean up and meet up with Jess. Feel free to catch up.
As she finished, Drax crawled out from his blankets and stretched in a feline fashion, yawning silently as he did so. Hollie motioned her head towards the door and he nodded understanding before following her out.
Once Hollie was out of sight, though, he hooked his tail around the corner of Shae’s blanket and then walked on to the door, dragging it to the floor behind him before he closed the door with a snarky grin.
__________
Shaedeen's tired enough that Hollie doesn't awaken her when she leaves. It doesn't take long for her to feel the chill from Drax's prank, however. She retrieves the blanket off the floor and climbs back into bed, beginning to plot payback on the dragon companion.
A bit later, she gets breakfast downstairs. When there's an opportunity, she asks Ameiko about Hollie and Drax...specifically if there's any food that Drax likes.
Hollie finds Jessalissa downstairs, snoring at a table, with a book under her head. When Hollie wakes her, with a start, the gnome looks embarassaed. "Oh, uh, hi, Hollie." She grins sheepishly, and wipes away some of the drool from the book. "I was reading last night and - I guess they didn't want to move me." Ameiko pops up from the otherside of the bar, seemingly having been rummaging here and there, and nods, "you looked so peaceful and comfortable, I didn't want to bother you."
Jessalissa shakes her head as if to clear out cobwebs, "bgluh, okay, so - these notes, I spent all night reviewing them and cross-referencing. Now that Matthias is gone..." she looks down sadly, "anyway, I did it alone this time, and I know now that the goblin god is the barghest that Nualia was looking for, and I also managed to piece together what they do. Here's what I found."
Jessa produces a fact sheet on Barghests. "So we won't know where it is, and it seems strong, but if we're careful and can prepare - we should be able to beat it and drive it back to wherever it came from." She taps the journal, "We also need to disable this runewell thing, as soon as we get back from Thistletop again. We will have to spawn monsters, and defeat them. I would say that you could argue that this runewell had something to do with your sister's... conversion? Corruption? At the margins? She made most of the bad choices, but this thing didn't help." She rubs her head and motions to Ameiko, who nods and brings over a coffee, smiling at the untidy gnome.
"The problem is that we're short on companions. I'm sticking with you, but it's just the three of us now. Maybe we could send word to Magnimar and ask for help from the Society, or something like that."
..............
Ameiko is stocking the bar, bringing up barrels of ale from the basement. She's holding the barrel as she stomps up the stairs, and puts it down to rest at the top. "Eh? Shae? Good morning."
She rests on the top of the barrel, leaning with her hand and looking thoughtful, "oh, Drax, I mean, most dragons like meat - but if he's a metallic dragon, I hear they also can eat gems, and dew, and the like. So that they don't harm creatures if they don't have to." She shrugs, and picks up the barrel, taking it behind the bar, "but I'm not an expert on dragons. You should ask that gnome friend of yours, Jessa. She knows more about magical creatures than most in Sandpoint."
G' mooooorning," Shae answers with a yawn. After listening closely to Ameiko's words, a plan of mild (But tasty!) revenge against Drax starts to form in her head.
"Ever seen Hollie give Drax...bacon? I mean, everything loves bacon, right?"
Shae practically skips all the way to Hollie's newly-acquired home and knocks on the door. When it opens, Shae smiles brightly and says, "I wasn't sure if you'd both eaten, so I brought some people food along just in case! Ameiko cooked it up herself, so it's damned near perfect."
She offers some to Hollie and Jessa, occasionally shooting Drax a side-eye.
”Hey!” Hollie says happily as she sees who is on the other side of the door. She steps aside to let Shae inside, her stomach grumbling at the smell of breakfast being delivered to her.
Aw. That’s cute!”
”Starved!” she replies as she points her towards the small table.
Draxtherian’s head snakes around a doorframe of the room adjacent, his nostrils flaring as his eyes narrow in search of the delectable smell. As the two girls take seats, he strides proudly across the room to the table and climbs up into a seat himself.
Shaedeen gives Drax a frown. "None for you...unless, I get an apology for all the blanket-stealing you pulled last night!"
When Shae moves to block Drax from the bacon, he growls and bares his teeth at her!
He then snarls ”You expected me to sleep on the floor with nothing!?!? You are lucky I didn’t take the bed! You forget your place, human! I am a dragon! Besides, such childish antics are beneath me!”
Hollie watches the whole thing with a stunned look! She looks to Shaedeen and says ”Shae...come on, don’t be rude. I don’t think he meant anything by it...”
Shaedeen jumps back, shocked that Draxtherian would turn vicious rather than make a simple apology (especially when there was bacon involved). As the dragon continues to berate her, however, the girl's fight-or-flight mechanism triggers...and she gets angry.
"I'm lucky you didn't 'take the bed?!' You tell me I 'forget my place?!' That was MY room at the Rusty Dragon where you pulled that crap--not yours, not even Hollie's! And I don't recall inviting you...."
Shae eats the next words with a nervous glance in Hollie's direction. No, she hadn't invited either of them to her room last night, though she was pleasantly happy that Hollie had visited. Heck, she didn't mind (too much) that Drax had been there as well.
The anger returns to Shae's features, however, as she decides not to back down. "I forgive you stealing the first blanket for yourself...though providing one is more Hollie's place than mine. Plus, you could have asked! Pulling the second one off me and the bed when you left, though--that was mean! And I want an apology!"
Draxtherian’s tail flicks back and forth in agitation. After a tense moment he scoffs and turns completely away from Shae and says to Hollie ”I’ll be in the other room, I won’t be talked to like this.”
He hops down and walks away, calling over his shoulder ”Hollie, when you are done letting this juvenile make her flirtations, we can go and acquire a decent meal for me.”
”Ugh,” Hollie groans as she buries her face in her hands in frustration. When Drax walks off, she simply calls out ”Draaaax, come oooon...” to no avail.
Once he had went deeper into the house, she sighed and muttered ”Well...that could have gone better...” giving Shaedeen a questioning look. ”What in the word brought that on? What’s going on between you two?”
"He's jealous of me!" Shaedeen answers with heat. "Jealous that you're giving me part of your attention instead of showering it all on him! He's mad that I teased him after he stole the first blanket last night; probably didn't like that I called him 'landbound' among a few other things...."
”Shae...” Hollie begins, uncertain how to best resolve this situation. ”I don’t know a lot about dragons. But I do know they don’t generally regard us humans as being on the same rung of the ladder, so to speak. And Drax...he’s been with me every day since he hatched. There isn’t going to be a way around this problem unless you two can work it out. Let’s be honest, you’ve been throwing jabs at him a lot too. Maybe he is just playing back at you? Or maybe they are malicious, I don’t know. But...I don’t know...I have too much going on right now to be able to begin wrapping my head around you guys fighting.”
She reaches across the table for Shae’s hand. ”Can you just, like, please try and make peace with him?”
Shaedeen lets Hollie take her hand and even gives a squeeze before pulling away, tears forming in her eyes. "Hollie, I just tried. But he 'won't be talked to like this.' Maybe he needs to cool off. Maybe we both do. I'll be at my room in the Rusty Dragon."
With those words, the teen takes her leave.
Cator and Lunal stood before the gate Cenotaph, peering up at the enormous construction. Krovek stood nearby, obviously bored, and hitting a broken tree with his greataxe. When Serato, Cator and Krovek's father, had disappeared, they had travelled over Varisia, scouring it for clues. They had found his notebook, which seemed to grow increasingly fragmented and strange as it went on, the ramblings becoming increasingly cryptic, in his tent. They had first travelled to Riddleport, where there seemed to be the cleanest lead. For Serato had often spoken of investigating what happened to Thassilon first at the Cyphergate, being one of the best-preserved ruins in Varisia, in a relatively safe area, and one which remained magical. The journal seemed to be coherent about this, as well, indicating that some "truth" could be found here, one which would "unlock" the rest of the puzzle box that was the fall of the empire.
Cator and Krovek had travelled there, and had met up with Lunal, a sylph, and a gnome cleric named Fuzzlewick, to begin a delve into the undercity near the base of the Cyphergate, having found a long-lost cave near the edge of the city, which afforded access to secret tunnels leading to the second ring of said gate. The expedition was something of a success - their party managed to retrieve a bit of preserved text in a book, a cypher of some type, which would allow the user to translate between Thassalonian and Taldan. This cypher made Serato's journal very clear, but when escaping, tragedy fell, and the noble cleric perished when they were ambushed by strangely armored and armed drow. Putting Fuzzlewick to rest, they found that Serato had indicated the next step of the puzzle was to examine the Cenotaph. Markings on this door, along with the cypher could provide a clue to Serato's behavior.
So, Cator and Lunal tried to make sense of the journal. Scribblings in the margin seemed to indicate that correctly translated, that some great terror, or something like a terror, or power, was to be found at either the "Lady's Light" or the "Old Light". It wasn't clear. Cator believe it to be the Lady's light, and Lunal the Old Light. Krovek didn't care, but he grew bored of their disagreement, and sided with Lunal. Despite the protestations of his half-brother, the small group departed Belzken, though not without a handful of attacks by un-tribed orcs who saw them as weak foes. Battered and beaten, the group raced southwest, hoping for a change of weather, and scenery.
Lunal, Cator, and Krovek wearily made their way into town. Krovek seemed to know something about the place, and pointed them in the direction of the Hagfish. They march in, and wearily assemble in a corner, though Krovek's eyes alight on the tank containing Nora, the namesake fish, and her filthy tank.
Krovek was tired. It'd been a long haul, and it didn't help that he had been traveling in his heavy stone plate--could never be sure traveling on the road. He tied up Kazaht outside the Hagfish near a water trough. "Don't you cause trouble," he barks in Orcish, as the rhino-like beast bullied a horse out of the way to get a drink.
Entering the tavern, he wasn't about to show his fatigue. The burly half-orc peels off his boots and gauntlets for a little breathing room, and the beginning of some red and black patterned tattoos can be seen in his exposed lower arms and legs. He'd been thinking about this moment since he was a child--since his father took him to this place. "You all get what you wanna eat or drink. There's a reason I came here." He calls out loudly to a server so the whole tavern can here. He drops down a handful of coin and nods his head toward the filthy tank. It was greener and slimier than he remembered as a kid, but he'd had his share of insects, tree bark, and bog water in the wild. This couldn't be much worse.
If the burly half orc appeared large before, it seemed doubly so next to who followed. A slim figure, short and lithe with long silvery-white hair and sharp facial features. Dressed in light and free flowing robes, somewhat frazzled from the road but still clean. A young elven boy?...or perhaps a petite elven woman, it was hard to say. White eyes and blue markings swirling across their skin betrays a stranger bloodline than elven. A jagged burn scar runs up from the collarbone to the right side of their neck.
The lithe figure winces at the cry for a 'wench'. "Really, is the crass call necessary?" They lean over and needle the half-orcs lower ribs with an elbow; it looked like a bird pecking at a tree. "What's a hagfish special?"
Krovek shifts reflexively as Lunal jabs him in the ribs. He grins and chuckles, unperturbed by the correction. "Just callin' 'em like I see 'em. Not like you, a real classy la--a real classy sort." Krovek was still really confused about whether Lunal was a boy or girl, and seemed like they didn't really want to help clear things up. "That wench is cute, though. When I win that purse, wouldn't mind droppin' a few coin with her to celebrate!"
At Lunal's second question, Krovek points to the filthy aquarium tank with a hagfish. "See that fish in that tank there? That's Nora, the hagfish that gives this place its name. Likes to live in that dirty, slimy water. If ya down a mugful o' that water and keep it down, ya get the bag o' coins AND yer name carved on the ceilin'." He points up at the beam with various names carved on it. "Last time I came here, I was a kid travelin' with Father and the folks here liked to give the little half-orc kid dirty looks. Today, I'm gettin' my payback. I'm comin' outta here a champion."
Cutting a figure somewhat intermediate in size between his two companions, Cator lingers a moment at the door, scanning the room before adjusting a seat to face the door and sitting down. Hearing Krovek and Lunal's exchange he chuckles "Crass, Lunal? you act as though you have never left the halls of the academy which we both no is not true, and Krovek, I'd remind you that we are here for more important things than getting your name on that wall for drinking swamp water, but since I know you're going through with this anyway at least wait until I can see what kind of odds we can get."
"Ah, side bets. Now we're talkin', big bro!" He looks around, curious if they'd get a good crowd of onlookers. "Wait, you're bettin' on me to actually do it, right?" He takes another peek at the water. It was sooooo slimy.
Lunal's nose curls in open disgust. "It's like you're proud of anything that could shorten your lifespan." They say, staring at the tank that didn't even seem fit for aquatic life, much less consumption.
Lunal rolls their eyes at Cator, but a sly smile appears. "I didn't last hardly a week at that academy. How was I supposed to know "demonstrate your lesson" didn't mean setting something on fire?"
Lunal walks away with a good-natured smile, waving absentmindedly behind them. They glide up to the bar and slip into a seat, uncomfortably resting their elbows on the high counter, and begins to wait quietly and patiently for the bartenders attention while glancing around at the room.
Feigning shock, Cator replies "Of course, I'd never bet against family" but then whispers "unless you are thinking about throwing this, in which case I'm sure we could clean up."
Hanging from a nail next to Norah’s tank is a leather pouch bulging with coins: obviously prize money for anyone who can drink down a single tankard of “water” scooped from Norah’s tank. Since Norah is a hagfish, the water in Norah’s tank is thick and horrifically slimy.
There is nary a wench to be seen this morning, of any gender, but at the commotion from the common room. A strange stumping thumping walk can be heard from the back room, and a voice calls, ”hold yer axe beaks, I’m coming.” A man with a wooden leg emerges from a door near the bar, carrying a some fresh water in a jug. ”Oh! Good day.” the man grins gregariously at the party and puts down his water on the bar.
He thumps over and wipes his hand on his smock, extending it to the first of the companions to take it, ”pleasure to meet you, name’s Jargie Quinn.” He gestures towards Norah, ”I’m guessing the big guy wants to challenge himself, though you’re all welcome to try.” He smiles broadly, ”usually folks want an audience - you may want to wait until lunch or later, especially if you want the challenge of having to keep our fine chowder down.” You all realize that there is a tasty smell coming from the kitchen, choice seafood that must be simmering in delicious spices. He gestures towards the carvings above the tank ”28 people have kept their lunch in 10 years.” He chuckles at his joke.
Hollie had grown angry at Draxtherian’s attitude and the way he had handled things with Shae. So angry that after the two had some choice words of their own, she dismissed him for a while to his extra-planar abode to cool off.
She was equally perturbed at Shaedeen as well, though. Attempting to blackmail an apology out of Draxtherian was also not a nice way to go about mending bridges. Instead, she simply paced around her house a while before deciding to go out and get some sea air. As she started to leave she spotted her breastplate...her sisters armor, and sighs to herself, remembering the way folks in town had started looking to her as something of a local celebrity and authority. For a moment she considered just wearing regular clothes and heading out hoping to not be noticed, but ultimately she realized she had a responsibility to Apsu and to her friends and neighbors to maintain the image. She took the time to put the armor on before heading out and walking the streets silently, making her way towards the docks.
She followed the sound of the ocean, letting the rhythmic waves calm her. She stopped on the wooden planks of the dock and leaned on the rail with her hands, leaning her head back and closing her eyes as she took a deep breath of the salty air. She kept her eyes closed for several moments when a boisterous voice broke her revelry.
The boast caused Hollie to open her eyes and turn her head towards the Hagfish. She snarled her nose...it was not one of her regular spots, that much is certain. However, judging by the tone of the braggart and his calling someone a wench rankled Hollie.
Let’s go see this oaf get what he deserves. Losing his lunch will serve him right for talking to someone like that.
She made her way over to the tavern and paused at the door. She looked around for a spot to sit privately before settling on a seat at the bar well away from the fish tank...but with a decent enough of a view of the scene about to unfold.
"Aww, crud, I'm seein' things!" says Krovek, rubbing his eyes as he realizes nobody's really in the Hagfish yet. Not even the tavern wench he was dreaming of. Instead, he finds a jolly peg-legged man. "Jargie? Nice ta meet ya. It's been a long week, lemme tell ya. You bet I want an audience for this. They're gonna see the 29th winner today. Name's Krovek.
He turns as a stunning woman walks into the Hagfish. His jaw drops, and he gives Cator a nudge to take a look. "Now THAT's an audience!" he whispers. "Think I could impress her?"
glancing over with considerably more subtlety, Cator eyes the woman Krovek mentioned and whispers "In all the world I am sure there is a woman who is impressed by nothing so much as a man who can drink slime water. I supposed she could be that woman but..."
"Whaddya mean? It shows strength and fortitude! Would work just fine back with the tribe. Or so Krovek told himself. He hears his father's chiding voice in his head telling him to use logic, not emotion but pushes that aside.
He turns back to the bartender, speaking loudly enough to be easily heard. "Alright, Jargie. Gimme us some o' your fine chowder. And a bowl for the lady o'er there. Maybe we'll tour the town a bit and come back later. Don't suppose you can point us in the direction of the Old Light?"
Hollie’s eyes shot up and darted between the half orc and Jargie. ”That’s not necessary. I’m fine. I’ve already eaten earlier. Thanks for the offer though.”
Seeing that the half orc was not going to be getting his come-uppin’s for the moment, Hollie sighed and turned to Jargie and asked ”How have you been, Mr. Quinn?”
Jargie wipes off his hand, and nods at Krovek, "will be a few minutes to stew, still. For the Old Light - I'm not sure why you'd be interested in that." He chuckles to himself, "unless yer like Brodert, big into "lore." He raises his fingers to make air quotes, "folks like him say it's a ruin of some sort for some empire - but I don't put stock in that. We all tell tall tales I think, even if we're telling them to ourselves." He gestures vaguely northwest, "can't miss it."
He nods at Hollie, "fine, fine, though I should be asking about you. Sad news about that sister of yours." He shakes his head, sighing, and reaches down to tap his wooden peg leg, "here's to hoping you can find something to get her off."
Hollie sighs and looks down at the bar top. ”Thanks,” she answers dourly, ”but I don’t believe that will be the case...”
She turns to the newcomers to town and adds to Jarvis’s instructions, ”Head on up Main Street here. Once you pass the garrison, take a left on Tower Street and that will take you right up to it.”
Lunal waits an appropriate time to be polite and then waves over the counter at Jargie. "Something warm to eat. That fish smells good. Please." They swivel in their chair, feet a solid four inches off the ground.
"Legal trouble?" The little figure asks aloud, seemingly to no one in particular. After a moment it's clear they were addressing Hollie.
Jargie nods at everyone, and disappears back into the kitchen to finish the stew.
After a few minutes, he brings out a few large bowlfuls for the new patrons to eat, with large wooden spoons. The stew is a mix of whitefish, crab, and clams, in a reddened cream sauce, with generous pieces of celery, potato, onion, and carrot.
He places it on the table in front of the patrons, and wipes his hand on his apron, "there you are, hope it is too your liking." He salutes Hollie with two fingers, and returns to the kitchen.
Krovek starts scarfing down the chowder, hardly stopping to blow on the steaming hot spoonfuls. He hadn't realized how hungry he was. "'ight, where can we fin' Bro'ert?" he asks before Jargie runs off, talking with his mouth full. The question seems directed generally to both the bartender and the woman. He swallows and then continues. "I'm thinkin' Brodert might know a thing or two 'bout Thass'lon. Could maybe help us out before we check out the ruin."
"I was thinking the same thing" Cator remarks to Krovek, then turns to Hollie and says Cator Vorenus here, you have already met my brother Krovek. This is our friend Lunal and like they said, sorry to hear about your legal trouble. As my brother mentioned we're looking into information about Thassilon. I'm an explorer of ruins and we had plans to check out Old Light, and we always prefer to be prepared so we would love to meet this Brodert person."
Jargie seems to stop for a moment to answer the question, but thinks better of it and heads into the kitchen to tend to his food, trusting that Hollie will elucidate them.
Hollie turns slightly from the bar to face the group of men. She crosses her legs and answers ”He’s the closest thing to a local expert we have around here...” before she pauses, thinking better than to point out how most locals actually feel about him. ”The...the Old Light is really just the top of the haystack here, actually. My friends and I...we’ve been helping the sheriff with some things around town and actually found a couple more ruins. One beneath town and one more a short travel out of town. Brodert has given us some insight into some of the things we’ve found.”
When the woman mentions finding a couple more ruins, Krovek spits his chowder onto the floor. "Woah, woah, you've found TWO Thassilonian ruins?" He wipes his mouth on the back of his hand and wonders if she was intentionally understated in describing her accomplishments. If Krovek had done that, he'd definitely be boasting. "Didn't expect this mornin' to find the most good-lookin' ruin hunter in Varisia." He had definitely spared a glance as she crossed those legs.
Hollie blushed under the half-orc’s wandering eye. She brushed her hair back behind her ear and replied ”I’m not really a ruin hunter or adventurer or anything. Just...one thing led to another and we ended up finding them.”
Maybe...maybe these men can help me find something that might prove Nualia wasn’t in control of herself for the attacks...
She stands and makes her way over to the men. She suddenly felt bad for her original purpose for being here, to watch one of them make a fool of themself. Once there, she curtsied and said ”I am Hollie Skyborn...champion of the Waybringer.”. It felt awkward introducing herself as anyone’s champion, but that is what the visions she had received proclaimed her to be. ”May I?” she asks as she gestures to an empty seat between the “brothers.”
She then turned to the small...man? Woman? And answered ”To your question, somewhat. But not my own. It is my sister...”
"You betcha!" says Krovek heartily as Hollie takes a seat with them. "Champion of the Waybringer? Where's that?" he asks, completely misunderstanding.
"Sister trouble, huh? Yeah, sometimes family's just trouble. Ain't that right, big bro? I get ta follow this guy around so he doesn't get himself killed by pit traps, zombies, or worse explorin' ruins." Worse being the drow that had gotten Fuzzlewick, poor guy. He pushes the thought aside, no need to ruin a first impression.