Korriban smiles at Imperia. "I try. Just don't spread it around." He gives a chuckle before saying, "Just kidding. I thought she would be cold up there. After all, she doesn't have anything other than Abu. Something I know all too well. Being raised on the streets with nothing. I was lucky that someone helped me in my time of need. Her. Not so much." Korriban then turns to the window, looking at the faint rioting, a small frown taking over. "It's funny how tragedy brings people together, isn't it?"
At Imperia's suggestion of the scorpion taking watch, the coatless Korriban moves towards Imperia. He gets a closer look at the scorpion as if appraising it. He gives a quick shrug. "I have no problems with that. But perhaps some of us could take watches with him."
Adoros nods at Imperia's offer of her familiar to guard their sleep, "If it's all the same to you, m'lady, I'll take a few patrols during the night to make sure nothing has slipped past your pet. I doubt we have much to worry about here as Zellara's place is far from an obvious target during these riots but one can never be too careful. There might be a few looters looking for easy targets." He settles down in a chair, facing the door as he brings out this musket to continue to clean and repair from Lamm's horrible misuse of it.
You all spend a fitful night in Zellara's old home, recovering from an eventful and exhausting day. The new day dawns clear and warm, although the city is strangely silent; perhaps it, too, has been drained by yesterday's tumult.
Inside, you find the other sleeping; except for Celia, who is curled in a chair by the small table in the kitchen. She looks up at you with wide, shadowed eyes. "Can you not sleep either? I couldn't." She brushes a bang out of her eyes. "We never really got introduced. My name is Celia. Celia Onoria Ascadia Winthrune. What's your name?"
Korriban slowly awakens, giving a yawn as he does so. He gets out of the chair. He stretches and proceeds to place his armor back on and secure his rapier on his hip. He takes his hair tie and bandana off the desk, but doesn't put them on. He walks to the bedroom, moving his hair out of the right side of his face. Seeing Celia, Gadriel, Abu, and Teodor awake, he gives a tired "Good morning. Did you guys sleep well?" He is far from his usual perky self. Whether he's still tired or due to the sleeping conditions, that you're unsure of. Seeing Gadriel wearing his coat, Korriban can't help but give a tired smile and a small chuckle. "Like my coat, do you? I think that it suits you. Though you might be stumbling over your feet." He gives another yawn and scratches the back of his head. "Does anyone know if there's anything to eat?"
Turning to Celia, he asks gently, "How are you doing, Celia? Feeling better?"
Gadriel looks at Abu for a few moments before turning back to Korriban. "Abu says Korriban shouldn't take credit for Abu's gift." Gadriel shrugs her shoulders, then continues. "Abu may be teasing Korriban though. Abu seems to like teasing Korriban. We do not think there is food here. Abu says ghosts and magic images do not normally need them." She then stands up with a somewhat excited expression (well, for her at least) and says "Maybe we and Korriban could go buy some? We have never had coins, and buying food is a good thing to use them on."
Korriban smiles. "Yeah. Abu does like to tease me, it seems. I gave you my coat last night to prevent you two from getting cold. Of course we can buy some food. Let's wait until everyone else is awake, all right? That way we can eat together. Do you want to wear my coat for the day?" He gives Gadriel a gentle ruffle of her hair.
Raina awakens with a start, the long years of having nightmares allowing her to quickly stifle her hurried breathing and swallow any terrified gasps that might want to escape her mouth. Last night's dreams were more strange than terrifying... Zellara's detached head and Lamm's eyeless corpse featuring quite prominently. Giving herself a few minutes to catch her breath, eventually Raina stumbles on off to wash her face and clear up ready for the day.
When she arrives downstairs, she notices that there's already quite a crowd awake. Raina offers the group a friendly wave. "Morning all. Looks like the upper class are late sleepers." She grins. "I could do with a good feed though... no dinner last night! We should've got your mother to make us something before we left, Korriban."
Shortly thereafter, Raina wanders off into the kitchen, having a poke around for anything remaining that might be worth eating. Otherwise, she'll stick her head out the front door and look down the street for anywhere she could buy some chow... a bakery, greengrocer, or something of the sort.
Nothing can be found in the kitchen that's still edible.
You can't see any open eateries, and you're not familiar with the area. Just as you're about to head back in, though, you're stopped by the familiar smell of pastry wafting through the air. Looking down the road, you see a forlorn-looking street vendor pushing a massive cart. Oliphant ears. Delicious pastries backed on tower shields, each close to as tall as you. Your mouth is already watering, and the vendor is heading your way. Two of those would probably do to feed the seven of you; three would be plenty.
Celia giggles. "Korriban's coat does look good on you, Gadriel--but it's definitely his. I think Abu is teasing you. Or him." She smiles timidly at the others, but lapses into silence for a moment. As Raina goes to look out the door, she asks, "Do you think Imperia will be up soon? I'm supposed to be going to the Acadamae but now...I don't know what we're going to do now."
Raina gives Celia a knowing wink. "Let your sis sleep. I'm sure she'll wake when her stomach does. I'll be right back, kids--don't tease Korriban too much without me!"
And with that, the young woman hurries upside to grab her coin purse before jogging out after the pastry cart. "Morning over there! Can I get a few oliphant ears over my way? How much they goin' for?"
(Despite her hunger, she's still rather on edge--Korvosa was incredibly strange at the moment. She'll keep an eye out for any danger as she goes.)
Gadriel hands the coat back with a little pout. At least, you think it's a pout. The expression seems a little foriegn and strange on the child's face. "Then we will buy a coat today with our coins. Maybe. We are unsure of what happens now. Lamm is dead, but there is only more darkness here. Abu says there is change coming, and that fear is strong outside." She shrugs her shoulders before heading back to her window sill, perching and watching the city. "We think things are afoot, and that the tide will sweep us along if we are not watchful."
Korriban puts on his coat. "We'll get you a coat. Don't worry." Seeing Gadriel crouched on the window sill, he walks over to her. "Don't worry. Whatever may come, we'll face it... together."
"hee hee hee ...but everyone dies alone ...
The street vendor glances at Raina. He looks tired, a bit bedraggled. "Morning to you too," he grumbles. "Though it's a dark morning, following a dark night. They're 7 silver sails a piece. How many you looking for?"
"Oh, c'mon," Raina rolls her eyes emphatically, "don't try and pull the wool over my eyes, 'coz it ain't workin'. I know a baker over at Pillar Hill and he sells 'em for 5 silver shields apiece, fresh outta the oven."
Raina rummages through her coin pouch and draws out a gold piece and seven silvers. "One sail and seven shields for three. A fair price, and a bit of a bonus on top of it. Whadda ya say, buddy?"
Korriban looks to Teodor. "I beg to differ. If I die, then I would be happy knowing that I would see my friends and loved ones in the afterlife. Your bonds can transcend death, you know?"
Adoros comes awake with a start off in the corner of the main room. His armor is bundled up into a pile with a folded blanket on top to serve as a pillow. He rubs at his sleep-crusted eyes before letting out a mighty yawn. The Chelish man squints against the light bleeding in from outside, "Is it morning already? Gods, I dreamt that yesterday was merely that, a dream. Lamm is still dead, correct? And we helped some ghost-spirit lady?"
Adoros' stream of sleep-addled questions are interrupted by a loud growl from his stomach, "So what's for breakfast?"
"Oh, you'll have some time in an afterlife ...depending on your god. But in the true end nothing survives. Hee hee hee when Lord Groetus gathers up the wayward child that is reality ...
Seeing Aldoros up, Korriban smirks, still moving hair out of the right side of his face. "Nope. It happened. You're not nuts. Or dreaming." Korriban shrugs at Adoros's question. "Nothing in the building. Raina went out looking." Looking out the window, he sees Raina arguing with a street vendor. "And she might have found something."
The vendor hesitates for a moment, then sighs. "Oh, fine. If you're willing t'watch me family starve, who am I to stop ya?" He unloads three of the ears into Raina's waiting arms and accepts your coins, biting into the sail to test it. Seeing that it's real, he nods approvingly. "In all seriousness though...be careful, and know that food prices are going to go up, if I know what's what. It'd be bad enough normally, with the festival, but with these riots..." He shudders slightly. "I hear the Guard came down pretty hard on some of them last night. And those Hellknights are worse, from what I hear tell." He spits on the ground in a warding gesture, gives you a final nod, and trundles off down the street.
Knowing the vendor was just trying to make her feel bad - if he was cutting his own throat, so to speak, he'd just refuse the sale - Raina merely waits patiently as the vendor checks her currency isn't made out of chocolate. The wafting scents of the warm pastry cause her tummy to rumble somewhat audibly, and she tries to fake a cough to cover it.
"Yeah, last night was pretty awful. Saw a guy nearly get lynched for wearin' fancy clothes," Raina comments with a shake of her head, "not to mention those thrice-damned Hellknights prowlin' around like they own the place."
"Thanks for the tip though, man. I think you're right. I'll heed your warning and stock up early." Raina flips him another silver shield for his troubles before jogging on back to the Varisian fortune-teller's home.
"Breakfast is served!" she announces loudly, a spring in her step and a chirp in her voice. "Got some oliphant ears for the lot of us." Clearing off a spot on a kitchen bench somewhere, she deposits the load of flat-bread pastries and begins hunting for plates and the like.
After pulling off a hunk of an ear for herself, and allowing herself a big mouthful, Raina swallows and meets the eyes of the adults in the room. "By the by, all, the street vendor was warning me that he reckons food prices are gonna go up with all these riots. Might wanna get a stockpile goin', just in case. You should probably tell your mother that too, Korriban."
Gadriel's eyes widen in shock at the size of the pastries. She hesitantly walks over to them and gently pulls a piece off. "These are very good. We have smelled them before, but have never had one. Do we need to give Raina our coins?" is said between mouthfuls. Abu doesn't appear to have the same hesitation, and the agile monkey scampers onto the bench, grabs his own piece, and returns to the window in the blink of an eye.
Seeing Raina coming in with the delicious pastries, some of Korriban's peppiness returns. "Oliphant Ears! Raina, you rock!" He moves all of his hair from his face (but doesn't tie it off). He then rips off a chunk and begins eating. At Raina's suggestion, Korriban nods. "Head over there after breakfast?"
Celia shyly takes a piece of one of the ears for herself, biting into it. As she chews, she looks surprised. "This is...really good!" She looks around at you all wonderingly. "Mommy always said that Korvosa was a backwater with no real culture, but these are really good!" She starts to tear off another piece before realizing that she might be rude and stopping herself.
Raina laughs and roughly tousles Gadriel's hair. "Of course not. Go ahead and eat as much as you want. Same to you, Celia! There's enough pastry here to feed us all and have leftovers."
She glances over to Celia as the young girl digs in. "That said, y'know, compared to Cheliax or wherever your parents come from, this place IS pretty backwards. Korvosa's an awful place for the most part. But it's home. And you gotta appreciate that on some level."
To Korriban, she then says, "Yeah... maybe. We need to figure out what to do with that thing of the queen's first. How on earth are we going to get it to her without being either beaten up by rioters or arrested for theft of the queen's jewellery?" Raina buries her sign in a big munch of oliphant ear.
Korriban nods at Celia before swallowing. "Yeah, Korvosa's crazy. But it's our type of crazy. It's like a gem covered in dirt. Gotta work at it until it shines."
At Raina's question, Korriban takes another chunk of pastry. "I don't think so. Remember what Imperia said. It was stolen from the jeweler's where the clasp was getting fixed. I believe if we're honest and tell them we found it and are returning it, there's a chance that they might believe us. Just let me do the talking. After all, I do have a way with words."
"Explain to me why we care if the b!$+* gets her bauble back. Clearly something big is afoot, but how do we benefit by this risk? I say we get rid of it. Sell it if you want. Trash it. It means nothing."
Korriban says to Teo, "Because, if we keep it and sell it or just toss it in the trash, someone else will find it. And that will lead to us. And then we would be called thieves. And then we would die. And then you'll meet your god sooner then you would hope. But I don't think you have a problem with that."
"Silly boy ...it would be ridiculously easy for this trinket to disappear without it leading to us. I believe our new ...'sovereign' has bigger things on her wicked mind than jewelry. Though pain and death come for all if us, trust does not. And a new widow queen who'd use Hellknights to quell commoners ...I don't need such a person to know my name, for a name is power. The world is not some adventure from one of your storybooks."
Korriban shrugs. "Well, you have your thoughts, I have mine. I'm returning it because it's the right thing to do. The good thing to do. And since it was stolen, there might be some form of reward for its return."
"Tis known the Queen is a nasty thing ...whose power grew as the king grew weaker ...this is no blonde virgin for you to masturbate to. We are best far from her notice. There ARE things to be done, though. The people are ready to rise but they lack organization. And we need to make the soldiers feel more people than royal ...." Teodor's murmuring continues more inwardly.
Korriban shakes his head. "I know that the Queen's a b***h. I know she couldn't care about us. I'm just saying that I want to return stolen property. I don't want the Queen's ire turned to me for any small slight. But I'll agree with you on one thing. Something big's coming. And I have a feeling that the Queen will be involved. So, we better stay on our toes and hone our skills. For whatever may come."
While he continues to eat, he digs through one of his coat pockets and pulls out the cracked black stone. He turns it in his hand, examining it. 'What is this thing? Maybe Imperia'll know.'
"Hmmm ...meet with the queen? Hee hee hee ...it invites great possibility ..."
The sun already high in the sky, Imperia finally awakens under the 'gentle' ministrations of her loyal familiar, crawling all over her face and lightly pinching her ear as a way to chastise her for being so late.
Climbing out of bed, and realizing with an hint of shame that all the others must be already up, she proceeds to freshen up and finish her morning routine as swiftly as possible. Fortunately, thanks to her magics the whole process takes but a few minutes, and when she gets downstairs to join her friends, her hair is gracefully done, her face is perfectly decorated with tasteful makeup, her dress is smooth and unblemished and she is surrounded by her usual light essence smelling faintly of roses.
"Good morning everyone. I'm afraid I may have overslept... My apologies..." - she greets her friends, more than an hint of shame in her tone. She looks a bit perplexed when she notices Celia seems to be eating some kind of pastry - 'Oh... Oliphant Ears? Some early bird must've gone out and bought them...' - but that thought is quickly replaced by the joy of seeing her little sister happily eating her breakfast, just on of the simplest little things she so much feared she would never be able to see again when Celia went missing...
After giving the little girl a warm hug, Imperia pulls a chair next to her sister, and after politely asking permission, and making sure Celia did in fact act in a dignified manner by asking permission herself and giving proper thanks, she joins the others for breakfast.
Seeing Imperia walk down, Korriban gives a huge smile, his peppiness now fully returned, light pink dusting his cheeks. He ties off his hair into its signature ponytail and puts on his bandana, trying to look his best. "Morning, Imperia! It's no problem at all. How did you sleep?"
After a while, he speaks to Imperia (after finishing his food, of course), "Hey, Imperia. Do you know anything about what this might be? Besides a rock, of course."
"Quite soundly actually" - Imperia smiles back at Korriban - "Yesterday was an... Eventful day, and a little rest was much needed."
When Korriban hands her the strange stone, Imperia takes it and examines it thoroughly, murmuring a few arcane words of power under her breath.
"Uhm... A thunderstone?... Yes, most definitely a thunderstone." - Imperia sentences, once she has looked over the peculiar pebble from every possible angle - "They are alchemical creations, and can be hurled or struck to release a deafening blast of sonic energy. It should be handled with care... Here, CATCH!" - she suddenly yells, throwing her arm back as if she wanted to hurl the stone at Korriban!
... Only to stop a moment later, a mischievous grin on her face and giggling softly - "Please forgive me, I couldn't resist! Here, take the stone, no tricks this time, I promise." - she apologizes, handing the thunderstone back to Korriban, a few giggles still escaping her lips.
Seeing Imperia about to throw the dangerous stone, Korriban panics and braces himself to catch it. However, she begins to laugh. Hearing her laugh, Korriban can't help but laugh as well. Taking the stone back, he says, "Nice one, my lady. I guess I should watch my step around you, huh?" All the while, a playful smile adorns his face.
Adoros has, in the interim, finally got his armor fitted back onto his person as the others are eating breakfast and discussing plans for the day. The Chelish man takes a piece of the Oliphant ear as he nods his thanks to Raina. He finishes a mouthful before adding his two cents, "Korriban and myself are in agreement with this. We should return the Queen's possessions to her. Thought with the riots yesterday and the death of the King, she might be in seclusion for protection and mourning. Perhaps we can compromise and instead return the jewelry to an authorized official in the city? A captain of the guard or Sable Company, or even a Magistrate would probably work if we do not wish to brave the castle."
Korriban shakes his head at Adoros. "Do you really want to bother the guard during a time of high stress like this? You know, when they're going to be on edge and might automatically arrest us? Besides, I don't know about you guys, but I want to see the castle. See how the other half live, you know?"
"Hee hee heee ...the boy thinks the guard too busy for us but the b!&@*queen will let him suckle at her traitorous teat of terror? Remember, Korry, I am the mad one. Adoros' is the better idea. You feel free to try to meet your queen, though it more likely you'll meet her guards' meat ...fresh mouth like that hee hee ..."
Korriban just chuckles and rolls his eyes, crossing his arms across his chest. He doesn't say anything else, knowing that the Mad Cleric would just find a way to twist his words back at him. While he loves banter, he knows when he's beat.
Gadriel finishes eating in silence, watching out the window and gauging the current state of the city. She is unlikely to care about the next step taken, only that she gets at least another day to explore with this odd group.
Korriban walks next to Gadriel. He gives a small smile to the child. "So, you ready to go explore? Ready to meet the day?" His body language shows that his peppiness has fully returned and that he's eagerly awaiting whatever comes to him.