"Yeah. And what do you think we should do with you?"
Upstairs, Mikayna and Galyna engage in an intense stare-off, but the Tower Girl does nothing other than grit her teeth and sit down on a chair in one of the small bedrooms on the second floor.
In the sitting room below, Terisha looks uncertainly between Miet and Ellantera. "Why are you asking me?" she says, her brow furrowed. "I kinda figured you'd have this part worked out by now..." She seems particularly unsure about what to make of Miet's statement.
Sense motive
"Well I am kind of new to all this admitadly but I suppose we could put in a good word with Lady Shiela and maybe they can offer you a job here? Would that be of any intrest to you?"
In the sitting room below, Terisha looks uncertainly between Miet and Ellantera. "Why are you asking me?" she says, her brow furrowed. "I kinda figured you'd have this part worked out by now..." She seems particularly unsure about what to make of Miet's statement.
"Well, we're not guards fer the city, so we don't have to take you to the jail. Killin' ye in the heat of battle would be one thing, but ever'body survived. We are not interested in killin' ye now, especially wit' th' little ye tol' us 'bout yer boss. Me, I'd rather leave friends than enemies as I go through life. So which will ye be? And what's next fer ye?"
"A job?" Terisha says, looking completely befuddled. "What kind of job?"
"That depends on what ye can do, don't it? We've seen what ye can do wit' a sword 'n crossbow - got any hidden talents we should know about?"
After a seeming eternity of icy stares, Galyna finally breaks the silence. "You realize how much better off you are right now than if your boss finds you right?"
"Maybe become pathfinders I mean not all that diffrent from Your current line of work and your liable to get much better recognition for it."
"And assignments in towns far from your old boss."
After a seeming eternity of icy stares, Galyna finally breaks the silence. "You realize how much better off you are right now than if your boss finds you right?"
Mikayna stares back, lips tight. "You really think we won't get found? I think you're being a bit starry-eyed there, girlfriend." She looks out the window. "It's just a matter of time, and then we'll be just like Natalya, only we'll be sane enough to realize what's happening before it does."
"Maybe become pathfinders I mean not all that diffrent from Your current line of work and your liable to get much better recognition for it."
"And assignments in towns far from your old boss."
Terisha's eyes flick back and forth from the gnome to the ranger. "I'm... a thief," she says finally. "Do the Pathfinders really hire people like me?" She bites her lip. "Do you really think I'd be good enough to get in?"
After a seeming eternity of icy stares, Galyna finally breaks the silence. "You realize how much better off you are right now than if your boss finds you right?"Mikayna stares back, lips tight. "You really think we won't get found? I think you're being a bit starry-eyed there, girlfriend." She looks out the window. "It's just a matter of time, and then we'll be just like Natalya, only we'll be sane enough to realize what's happening before it does."
"Maybe become pathfinders I mean not all that diffrent from Your current line of work and your liable to get much better recognition for it.""And assignments in towns far from your old boss."Terisha's eyes flick back and forth from the gnome to the ranger. "I'm... a thief," she says finally. "Do the Pathfinders really hire people like me?" She bites her lip. "Do you really think I'd be good enough to get in?"
"Sure after all both profesions use a lot of the skills. Opening locks, good spotting skills and the like."
"Not starry eyed, just more open minded,for the Pathfinders can protect you in ways you couldn't do by yourself. Just a thought."
"Sure after all both profesions use a lot of the skills. Opening locks, good spotting skills and the like."
Terisha looks back and forth between Miet and Ellantera before saying, in a voice just above a whisper, "What do I need to do?"
"Not starry eyed, just more open minded,for the Pathfinders can protect you in ways you couldn't do by yourself. Just a thought."
Mikayna frowns a little, apparently considering. At a long pause, she says carefully, "Assuming, for the moment, that I'm interested. How exactly would this work?"
Uraisa happily continues to test the artifact, not noticing the passage of time while the 'interrogators' are working.
Sense motive
"Just say yes and I'll put in a word with lady Shiela for you."
Ellantera just nods.
"Well Lady Shiela could possibly set you up with work as a potential Pathfinder, but it'd be pointless anyway. I can see it in your eyes, you'd rabbit the first time nobody was looking."
Terisha bites her lip for a moment, then squares her shoulders and gives a firm nod. "All right. I'm in, if the Pathfinders will have me. It's got to be better than the Sczarni have been recently."
Upstairs, Mikayna spits an oath at Galyna. "Fine, then," she snaps. "I'll take my chances with the Arvensoar then, shall I?" She kicks one of the chairs over spitefully, then drops to the ground near another one, sulking.
Ellantera steps forward and offers a hand to Terisha. "Sounds like a wise move to me."
Ellantera will move upstairs to talk to the other woman, but it seems that ship has sailed, so she does not pursue it. She doesn't care if we let Mikayna go or take her to the Arvensoar. She will speak to the Lady on Terisha's behalf if Miet thinks she can help.
"That's great I'll talk to her as soon as I can then." Miet heads upstairs also seeing the ship has sailed and assuming Gaylna explains Miet will simply nod "Fair enough your free to go far as I'm concernd. Although you may have to stay here a couple more days." After that she will go to look in on Natalya
Ellantera wants to make sure she is all right, so she will go along. Until the charm wears off, at least.
Same with Galyna
Natalya is unconscious in the Heidmarchs' guest room. She's basically as you left her, although she looks relatively comfortable.
"So......who wants to try an wake her up?"
Ellantera looks at her uncertainly. "She was hurt bad. Do we need a healer? I mean, if she just needs a shake, I'll do it, but I don't want to hurt her worse."
Looking at the woman's caretaker, El asks, "Did you use the healing draught for her yet?"
The gorilla eyes Ellantera sideways, but replies in his deep, oddly-measured voice, "I have not, as Sheila asked me. I will not interfere if you choose to do so, Pathfinder." Mandali places one massive hand on his short sword, but otherwise steps back to give you room to work.
Natalya's eyes flutter for a moment, then they go wide and she suddenly sits up, hands scrabbling around her as though searching for a weapon to defend herself. She looks, confused and near-terrified, between the three of you and the gorilla, gasping, "What... who... where am I?" It is impossible to mistake the extreme change in her demeanor, this lost and scared woman bearing almost no resemblance to the haughty queen of the sewage you met in the ruined boarding house.
"Your in the Magnimar pthfinder lodge I'm Miet Silverback thats Elantera the big gentelman is....Mandali?" Miet looking to make sure she got the name right "....Anywho we sort of met earlier but uh you were kind of uh not all there at the time so you may not rememember it?"
Ellantera holds up both hands in front of her in an attempt to calm the woman. "Lady Sheila was worried about you and asked us to find you. You, uh," she looks sidelong at Miet, "there was a big misunderstanding and then some Tower Girls and thugs tried to kill you. How are you feeling?"
Galyna quietly observes the exchange, not wanting to crowd the frightened woman further.
"Oh and miss creepy I hide in the shadows is Galyna also what Ellentra said."
Diplomacy
Natalya continues to stare for a few moments, then slowly raises a hand to half-cover her mouth. "I remember all of it... I was... I... what was that thing? What happened? Why do I feel normal again?"
"Well we got that shard away from you apparently it was cursed...maybe you could tell us what happend from the beginning?"
Now Ellantera is confused - by Natalya's response. She just nods mutely at Miet's suggestion.
Natalya stares almost blankly for a moment at Miet, her lips forming the word "cursed" as one hand curves as though holding the Shard - and then she bursts into tears, sobbing as though in the throes of deep grief.
Mandali looks uncomfortable, if such things can be said to apply to gorillas.
"Um I'm sorry." Miet patting her on the back
It takes some time before the sobs work themselves out, and when Natalya is finally finished crying, she pulls away from Miet, laying back on the bed and rolling over, her face toward the wall.
Ellantera sits on the bed. "You are safe now. We stopped the assassins, but they said there would be more. That you took something from your boss. You should be safe here."
She looks at the ape for confirmation, already accepting his unusual form as normal.
Kassandra paces in the background, not having the patience to interrogate Natalya. When she starts crying, Kassandra rolls her eyes and leaves the room.
"Listen I am really sorry about what happend to you but thats why we need you to tell us as much as possible please?"
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Mandali replies, "I will permit no harm to come to her, Pathfinders."
For her part, Natalya remains facing the wall, but after several long moments of silence, she starts speaking. "After we got kicked out of the camp of the Wreckwash Blades last month, the Tower Girls wandered around the city a bit, grabbing space from Fenster the Blight for awhile before our leader, Ayala Javeski, found us a new place to hide out: inside the Crow, one of the pillars of the Irespan. There's an access from the bay, so we just sailed over there and started moving in.
"That's when I went to the Pathfinders. I knew there'd be things in a Thassilonian ruin like the Irespan that the Pathfinders would want to know about - things they'd probably pay a pretty copper for." She stops, then give a bark of laughter, devoid of any mirth. "Wasn't wrong about that, was I." She pauses then for another long moment before continuing.
"Anyway, we started exploring the Crow. I was leading most of the explorations, on my own or with a few of the other Girls; Ayala mostly just wanted to make sure we weren't going to get eaten by shriezyxes. After we'd been there for maybe a week, I found something. A skeleton, in one of the rooms I was exploring by myself. It had... that shard in its hand.
"I don't know how to explain it. Holding it... felt like power. I know that sounds melodramatic and cliché, but it's true. I felt like I could do anything, that I was better than everyone. I was going to take over Magnimar, all of Varisia, maybe even the entire world. And it didn't feel insane - it felt possible. Real. Inevitable, really.
"And now it's gone. And I kind of want to throw up. And I kind of want to hold it again."