HP 20/57; Hero Points 2/2
AC 22, touch 15, flat-footed 18, CMD 21 (23 vs. disarm)
Fort +4, Ref +8, Will +2 (0/1 set mind; 0/4 charmed life; 0/1 defiant luck)
Panache: 3/5 (0/1 deed reroll)
Effects: +1 panache is 26 hits Carver
Aurelian dips out from between two of the attackers, keeping his focus on the former Carver. He lets out a shout as the blade drives home, one design to cow the ... creature, and then quickly resumes his stance to be ready to flick his foe's blade away again.
"Thass the spirit!" Jenner grins at Aurelian as they tag-team one of the horrors.
"Uh... guys?" the young girl questions as the flames rise higher. They still don't pose as much of a threat as the creatures attacking them, though, and she directs another beam at the seeming leader.
Ashlyn's trident and Elizar work together to crush the yellow monster that Jenner has been fighting. This frees the dwarf to barrel forwards and apply his axe to the remaining monster, lopping a deep gash into its morphic flesh just after Sarine rams her sword into its back. The creature collapses under the combined assault, leaving only the leader.
He takes a bolt of fire straight to the eyeless head courtesy of Tettia as Aurelian Fache passes his rapier cleanly through the creatures wrist in a brilliantly debilitating strike.
"For the Master!" The false Carver gasps, lashing out once more at Aurelian. But the swordsman easily ducks the weakened blow before passing his blade cleanly through the creature's body.
This final blow is the fatal one and like its kin, the false Carver collapses to the floor, strange green blood oozing slowly from its many wounds.
Although the fire nearest the door is easily contained it is clear by the time that false Carver falls that the building is beyond saving as fire licks up the walls and races across the ceiling beams. The heroes just have enough time to grab the imposter and drag its body from the building before the smoke grows too much for even a hardy dwarf like Jenner to withstand any further.
As the government house collapses with a mighty roar a strange calm settles over Talmandor's bounty. The attackers have been slain or driven off, most perishing in the fire with their leader and all the remaining colonists flock to the square to watch the bonfire and weep. One thing however is clear - there are many people missing, Alba, Tobias, Marguerite, even Carver. Whether they live or not, and where they may be... those are important questions that will need to be answered.
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”I have something to say,” Sarine spoke out over the crackling flames devouring the building behind her. She stepped up onto a small crate nearby to give her audience a better view of her. She must look frightful, covered in soot and blood from the foul creatures that had attacked Talmandor's Bounty that night. Somehow it fit the mood, though. No one wanted to see a shining knight tell them everything was nice and happy right now.
She gathered a breath to let her speak out to the crowd, trying to force down her surging emotions. Ramona, Carver, Alba...probably they're all dead.
”The town has called us heroes before. Well, tonight I don't feel much like one. We were hit right where all of us live. Hard. And I couldn't do a thing about it. I can't fix it. Some of us will never come back.” She stopped for a moment, trying to gather her thoughts.
”It won't do any good to hide it, so I'll just say it now. Any one of us could be an enemy, including me. These vermin that attacked us can steal faces. They can make us fear each other...hate each other. If we let them, they can make us destroy ourselves.”
”But we don't have to. We can choose to trust each other. We can choose to fight back our fear of what they could do to us and stand strong, together,” Sarine spoke out, looking at as many of the colonists in the eye as she could. Her father would have counseled to let them think she looked them in the eye instead. As it was, too many heads were still lowered. Too many eyes were closed tight with tears. ”That won't be easy. We've trusted each other before to lend a hand, to give help when needed, to leave us to our own devices, to help with the work. After this though...we'll all have to trust each other not to kill us when we know that could happen.”
”I'll make that choice right now,” Sarine said as she dropped her weapons one at a time to the ground, then unbuckled her armor and let it join the heap. ”I said it before: I'm not a hero. I'm just a girl, and I'm scared. But I trust every one of you to be who you are. I put my faith in every one of us not being one of those monsters.”
”I can't make any demands of you. We have a ship in port right now: if anyone wants to get on that boat and someone speaks bad about them, they'll have to get through me first. But I won't be getting on that boat. I'm scared, but I'm also angry. These monsters have attacked the Bounty twice, and we've done nothing to them! I'll find Ramona and the others and I'll bring them home. And these faceless freaks will pay for what they did tonight, to all of us!”
Her face pale, her curly blonde hair limp with dirt and soot, Tettia steps up next to Sarine and drops her bag and staff to the ground next to the woman's weapons and armor. She reaches up and wipes at the tears drying on her face, smearing more soot across her pale skin.
"I'm with Sarine," she says in a small voice. "Wallace and I are staying."
So far nothing has gone according to plan. First the arrangements, then the transportation, now this,
As if the extra day at sea wasn't bad enough, she was pretty sure they were making an emergency stop for supplies or something. More likely, someone needed help because they were pulling up to this deserted island which looked like it was on fire?
Walking up to the Captain, she taps him on the shoulder from behind asks "Excuse me? How long will we be in port? We're already a day past when I was told when we'd be arriving and I really need to -"
The bearded man answered without turning around "We be 'ere lady. Just relax fer a little bit longer an' we'll get docked an' ye can finally be on yer way. Arright?"
The beautiful tanned woman with blue-eyes and brunette hair which was currently tied back in a ponytail, had run out of good will with the crew days ago. At first she had them waiting on her hand and foot as she sung songs for them and kept them entertained, but that was over a week ago. Lately, her persistent pestering of why this taking so long had begun to grate on their nerves and she's pretty sure she heard them talking about throwing her overboard yesterday.
Quirking a brow, she spins and looks at the dumpster fire ahead of her, blinking twice before turning back in slow motion to the man and tapping him on the shoulder again as she cleared her throat.
"What is it now!? he exclaims, frustrated by Prim's pestering these last weeks.
Clearing her throat she folds her hands patiently and with a wide smile she laughs, as if something he said was funny. "Talmandor's Bounty. That's where I'm supposed to be going. I think you've made a mistake and brought us to some desolate trading post."
Slowly spinning around to face her, he raises his voice and firmly says. "That's. Talmandor's. Bounty." before turning away from her again.
It can't be...
She stared dumbfounded at the burning pile of sticks that was supposedly her destination until they docked in "port". As the half dozen crew began unloading crates from the ship and carrying them off towards the bonfire up ahead, she looked down at her luggage crate and waited for help unloading it.
And waited.
And waited.
After fifteen minutes she realized everyone had left and no one was coming back. Fine. I don't need them. I'll do it myself!
Frustrated, she began the arduous task of pushing the large box off the ship off the ship and on to the pier. Weighing nearly a hundred pounds, she instantly regretted bringing the rope. And the net. And the diving kit. And the breathing tubes. And.."[/b]
Lost in through about what she packed, she misjudges the gap between the pier and the ship and both she and her chest are greeted with gravity as they go careening overboard. With a she splashes underwater, bumping her head on the chest floating above her. Flailing about only for a second, she gets it together and quickly takes charge of the situation.
At least I can pull it now she thinks to herself as she begins to slowly swim to shore pulling the large crate behind her. She only gets it halfway out of the water before the sand on the beach proves less friendly to her dragging it. Kicking the crate with frustration, she looks down at herself with a heavy sigh.
Completely soaked head to toe, her casual sailing attire wasn't leaving anything to the imagination as it clung to her rather sculpted chest. With another sigh, she plans on taking a hot bath later. Surely they have baths here?
She climbs on top of the crate and begins to jump up and down, waving her arms.
she shouts.
Cupping her hands to face she screams again
With a heavy sigh she plops down on her crate, placing her head in her hands.
Gods help me.
Tettia's head lifts up as in the midst of the tense moment, she can hear someone calling for help. She taps Sarine on the shoulder and then grabs her staff and bag.
Making her way quickly to the beach next to the dock, her eyes take in the woman in the wet clothes standing on top of a chest. She looks around for the perceived threat, but doesn't see anything.
"What's wrong?" she asks, holding her staff at the ready.
Primrose looks down at the women covered in grim and grit and lets her shoulders slump They don't have baths here. Shit.
With a heavy sigh she takes both hands and motions to the chest she's standing on. "All of the crew just left me out here and didn't bother helping me with my stuff."
Figuring this woman with the fancy looking staff and skirt-pants wasn't going to be helping her lift the hundred pound chest, she hops off it into the water and walks up to her on the beach. She looks at the way the woman is holding the staff then looks back at her chest. She tilts her head closer to her shoulder and examines the staff. "Nice piece of craftsmanship you have there. Arcadian Oak, right? Nice taste. But, uhm. Hold still."
The brunette saunters up to Tettia, her white dress clinging tightly to her body and dripping with the sea down her body. As she steps up behind her, Prim presses her body behind against Tettia's back and slides her hands down on top of the other women's. She moves her wrists and arms, re-positioning the staff by lowering one and and adjusting the angle of the other. Stepping away, she moves back in front of the arcanist and nods, winking once and proclaiming. "Much better. Now the evil chest is quivering with fear!"
She smiles broadly before laughing to herself. Blowing the wet hair off her face she proclaims "I'm Primrose."
"Oh," is Tettia's only response when she realizes that the woman isn't in any real danger. "We were ... uh ... kinda busy. With the town hall, kinda ..." She trails off when the woman with the chest doesn't seem to be listening to her.
"Oh, I guess ..." she says when the woman asks about her staff. "I bought the best that I could afford because ... oh!"
Her explanation of where her staff came from is cut short as the newcomer moves behind her to correct her form. Her eyes open wide in surprise as a wet and cold chest is pressed against her back.
She still holds an expression of surprise when the stranger moves back around in front of her.
"I'm Tettia ... Tettia Tuditanus," Tettia answers in a stumbling voice. "... and ... and you got me wet."
Prim blinks and says "Well Wet Tettia Tettia Tuditanus, pleased to meet you. I suppose if we're going formal with full names and everything that I have severely undersold myself. Let me correct this."
She speaks while her body begins to move in several different directions simultaneously, fluid and practiced. Not only does she physically move eloquently, but her words roll off of her tongue with smooth and silky precision "Strong brushstrokes on smooth mulberry paper, gathered into sheaves and tied with ribbon and placed in a lacquered box."
Lowering her right towards the sand, she unfolds it slowly and extends each of of her fingers until they are all spread and pointing at the sand. At the same time she raises her left hand towards the sky while keeping her fingers together, cupping her hand. She arches her back and leads to her right, the sand giving way slightly as she shifts in it.
She finishes with a flourish and a smile stating clearly "Primrose Lethanna, at your service. I'm afraid I don't have a duplicate middle name, though I do find it quite cute."
"Oh, my. You're a dancer! That's amazing! I've always wanted to dance." She shakes her head and her elation vanishes.
"I'm glad to meet you, Primrose, but you've chosen quite a time to arrive," she says in a more somber voice. "There are ... things ... out there. They've been replacing the people in town with creatures that look just like them. I think we've killed all the ones we know about, but ..." She shrugs.
"I'll get one of the others to assist you with your chest. I can see that it's wet and much to heavy for Wallace and I to help you lift."
Prim bites her lips while she smiles to refrain from laughing. "Help me. With my chest?" but can't help it and burst into laughter. "Well Tettia Tettia Tuditanus, between that and telling me that I got you wet, I'm afraid I don't know what to do with myself over here."
Shrugging and shaking her head she says "I suppose since it's just us girls around, that'd work alright?"
Moving her hands to opposite shoulders, she wriggles back and forth and pulls the dress off over her head and hands one end to Tettia Tettia Tuditanus while holding the other. Completely topless now she says seriously "Alright. I'll go clockwise, you counter. Alright?
Tettia's go wide and then try to look anywhere but at the half-naked woman in front of her.
"Don't do ...! Someone might see!" she sputters out. However, she obediently takes the other end of the garment and helps squeeze out the water.
"Would you put that back on now before someone sees!" the girl hisses, still avoiding looking at the bard. "Why does everyone around here have no shame at running around naked," she mutters to herself.
Holding her dress in her hand, she looks around left and right and sees no one else. Waving her hands across the open beach she says "Are you counting fish? I see no other naked people around here."
She holds an apologetic hand up and says "Tettia Tettia Tuditanus, I am sorry if I've offended you. I shall clothe myself post-haste m'lady."
As she wriggles back into her dryer but now wrinkled garment, she looks down and shakes her head. "This simply won't do." and she mutters a few words casting a spell as the dress dries completely and the wrinkles disappear. "There we go, much better!"
"Tettia Tettia Tuditanus, That is a mouthful. Does everyone call you that around here? You're going to need a nickname of some kind."
When the woman uses magic to dry her dress, Tettia frowns. "You could have done that all along. I understand. You just wanted to embarrass me," she says, her face turning a light crimson through the dirt and soot.
"My name is simply Tettia Tuditanus," she says in a clipped voice. "I have no middle name and only my friends and my sister call me by my nickname - which you are neither."
She turns and begins walking back up the beach. "Now if you'd like to meet the others, follow me."
A drawn-out croak comes from the girl's waist pouch.
"I was not being rude!" she snaps at the pouch.
Another croak croaks forth.
"Ok, I might have been a little snippy, but she was making fun of me," she whines back.
brrruuuppp
"Fine!"
Tettia turns and takes a deep breath and rolls her eyes. "I'm sorry. I was being rude. Come up to the square and we'll see about getting you a place to sleep and your luggage moved."
She looks down at her pouch. "Happy?"
brp
The girl looks back up at Primrose expectantly.
Primrose shakes her head when TT starts to get snippy with her.
She holds a finger up and opens her mouth and tries to say something to apologize or clarify but then she turns and walks off and begins talking to herself.
And then a frog croaks?
Hanging her head, now embarrassed herself. She shakes her head slowly back and forth while looking at the sand. When the girl apologizes and rolls her eyes, she isn't sure who exactly she is talking to but she is fairly certain it wasn't Prim.
Raising her right hand to her chest, she bows her head and offers "Tettia Tuditanus, I have offended you. This was not my intention, of this I swear to you. Would you please accept my humblest apology before we trudge back to the village? Perhaps we can start over."
Primrose walks up and holds out her hand to Tettia. "Primrose Lethanna. Newest arrival to your humble village. I come bearing knowledge, stories, entertainment and inspiration for all colonist and it is my sincere hope to bring good will among all who listen."
Tettia narrows her eyes when Primrose apologies to her, initially sure that she was being made fun of again, but when it's clear that the woman is being sincere, she looks down.
"I'm glad to meet you, Primrose," she says again, taking the woman's hand in hers. "I really am sorry about being rude and I would have apologized ... eventually. Even if Wallace hadn't said anything. Oh ...!" She realizes something. "I haven't introduced you to Wallace. He's my bestest friend."
She reaches into her waist pouch and pulls out a large toad. She holds it up to her face as if posing for a couples' portrait. "Wallace? Primrose Lethanna. Primrose? This is Wallace."
brrruuupppp!
Prim's eyes go wide and reaches out to take Wallace from Tettia "May I?" she asks, waiting for permission.
Assuming she gives permission, she scoops him up in both hands and holds him out and says "Well aren't you the cutest toad I've ever seen!"
She pulls him in and then leans forward and kisses him on his back and then extends him out again. She waits a few moments before laughing and says "Just had to see if you were going to turn into Prince Wallace."
Looking at the toad she winks "You can still be my Prince, Wallace."
Prim extends the toad back to Tettia and says "Shall we?" motioning up to the village. "Tell me again about killings and fire and what in the hell I've gotten myself into."
Tettia seems to light up at Primrose's reaction to Wallace. When Prim compliments him, her smile widens so much that it's a wonder that her face doesn't crack.
"I've always called him my Prince Wallace until my sister started making fun of me for it," she says in an aside. "It's nice to meet someone that sees him for the wonderful being that he is."
She takes the toad back, but when she attempts to put him back in her pouch, he croaks insistently. "No, she's not going to kiss you again." She frowns. "Hey! You never ask me to kiss you twice." There's a subdued response. "Well you could have told me my lips were dry." She shakes her head and deposits him into what seems to be his normal abode.
As they walk Tettia begins to relay what's happened to her since her own arrival on the island.
"So, to sum up, there might be an aboleth involved using faceless stalkers to replace the villagers. We haven't been able to discover if it's killing them or using them as slaves."
Primrose giggles when Tettia talks to the toad. "You can understand him? You talk to animals? That's extremely rare, isn't it? I've seen a lot of things, but I haven't see anyone talk to a toad before. Tell him I think he's cute and I'll give a second kiss whenever we wants."
With a wink she changes the conversation to get a little more serious. "Aboleth. Faceless Stalkers. Slaves."
She stops walking and holds up a finger "Just to be sure, this IS Talmandor's Bounty, correct? I ... I don't remember any of that when I signed up to come out here."
"Yeah, it wasn't in the letter they sent me either," Tettia says with a shrug. "They just talked about all the Azlanti ruins - which there are a lot of. I did my doctorate on the Azlanti culture. I couldn't pass up this opportunity." Her voice grows quieter. "I just didn't realize that the place would be so ... dangerous."
brrruuupp!
"No more kisses today, Your Highness. Go to sleep," she says to her pouch. "I can't talk to animals, but Wallace and I go way back. We understand each other."
She leans in close to the bard. "He's smarter than the average toad," she whispers. "But I'd never tell him that. His ego is big enough already."
She leads the woman up to the village square (a triangle, actually) and introduces her to her companions.
"This is Sarine Dulciare, Mistress of the sword," she says, indicating the warrior. "Her cat Narue should be around somewhere. She and Wallace are good friends."
"And here we have Jenner Holystone, follower of Abadar," she says, bowing to the blood-spattered dwarf.
"And finally," she begins with a deep breath, "Is Aurelian Fache." She doesn't elaborate on what his specialty is.
"Everyone? This is Primrose Lethanna. She just arrived on the ship and her luggage is still down there on the beach. Could someone help her with it?" She doesn't look at the swashbuckler, fully expecting him to offer his services at any moment.
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Walking with her up to the burning town, she's half tempted to turn around and run back to the ship. This is not what she signed up for.
Prim smirks when Tettia insinuates that the Prince requests more kisses and nods to her when she whispers to her.
When the arcanist performs introductions, Primrose frowns. Before any of them can speak she holds up her hand and lets everyone know she is speaking next.
Turning to Tettia she nods her head. "Thank you Tettia Tuditanus for the introduction. If you don't mind, I am fond of introducing myself."
She turns her head and sees a crate that was recently taken off the ship. Sidestepping over to the crate, she gracefully hops on top and sweeps her right hand across her body in one fluid stroke, keeping her back arched forward. As her hand finishes crossing her chest, she flits one hand towards the sky and the other to the ground and arches her back and leans to her left slightly. Looking down on the group from the crate, she rolls her head and speaks in a softer, measured tone.
"Ladies, gentlemen," she pauses, turning to Tettia "and Princely toads. My eyes have observed that you have had a rather rough go of it today, so I'd like you to close the cover on your woes while I steal three minutes of your time."
Closing her eyes and sucking in a breath to calm and pace herself, she slowly begins to sing. Her voice starts soft like a whisper, slow and controlled "It's like a stooooooooorrrm, that cuts a paaaaaaaaath. It's breeeeeeeeaks your will, it feeeeeels like that."
Sliding down from the crate, she moves towards Sarine, slowly taking one step every second. "You think you're looooossst""But your not loooooooooooooooost on yourrrrrr ooooooooown, you're not alone." she finishes by shaking her head.
Slowly turning in place while still singing, she makes her way over to Jenner and raises her arm and slides it around his neck "I will stand by you. I will help you through. When you've done all you can do, if you can't coooooooope."
Pulling her arm out, she turns towards Aurelian and slowly saunters towards him, swinging her hips and moving in to wipe his eyes with the back of her left hand "I will dry yooour eyes, I will fiiiight your fight."
Finally spinning to move over to Tettia she reaches in and hugs her as she concludes "I willllllll hoooold you tight. And I wooooon't. Let. Gooooooooooooo."
She lets the words fade and release Tettia from the hug, curtsing and then smiling. "Primrose Lethanna, at your service."
Jenner headed for Alba's hut as soon as the last monstrosity was slain, in the hopes there might be some clue in the belongings of the thing that had impersonated her. Finding nothing, he had regrouped with the others, in time to see... of all things... a new face in the colony.
His axe was back in his hand a second later.
"Let me get this bleedin' straight-- Ramona-- sweet Alba-- all the rest of 'em-- are missin' an' likely dead and those shiftin' horrors were playin' at bein' them like how children play at dolls--"
The dwarf IS bloody; he'd made some attempt to wipe the worst of it off but he's missed a lot of spots-- continues with increasing volume.
"....and a new face shows up and you're willin' to just buy she is WHO SHE SAYS SHE IS?" Jenner half-roars. He starts to circle Primrose with a dark glint in his eye.
"Aye, and who's PRIMROSE LETHANNA, then?!"
Tettia blinks for a moment before she adds one other thing of note.
"Uhh... and she sings," she says in a stunned voice.
At Jenner's outburst, Tettia rolls her eyes. "Don't be silly," she says. "If it was one of the shifting horrors, wouldn't they show up as someone we know? Showing up as a stranger doesn't make any sense at all."
Prim's smile fades and her arms fall slack by her sides, hanging her when the dwarf does not take to her song. She furrows her brow trying to figure out where she screwed up her introduction. Scratching her head she tries "Did I read the crowd wrong? Mess up the words? I usually get a much different reaction than that. Applause, flowers, kissing my hand. All acceptable.”
Shaking her head she sighs ”My good dwarf. I am who I say I am, I am quite sure there is no double. Who else would I be?"
The beautiful blues-eyes brunette NOT covered in blood and grime points at the crate she stood on she asks, ”Do you require an encore perhaps?”
"Relax Jenner," Sarine says as she approaches the new gathering from behind. "All the evil faceless things tonight tried to kill us, and her head isn't splitting open yet."
"Good to meet you Primrose," Sarine says, extending a hand. She only has a little bit of blood on her hand, as most of it splattered all over her armor, which is still on the ground over by the meeting house. "I'm Sarine Dulciare. We've had a rough go of it today, but it's always good to see new faces around here."
"We've been building some housing for new arrivals. Pretend nobles go over there, deviants of all sorts go there, blind cyclopses are over there, everyone else has housing in that direction and if you would like to use the common space in the meeting house, it's currently on fire," she says as she points out the various living spaces around town but without specifying which direction Primrose should choose.
Primrose smiles when Sarine tries to calm the dwarf down. She starts to reach out to shake Sarine's hand, but stops and raises a finger. "One moment."
She utters the words and flicks her wrist at each party member as she casts a spell on each of them that cleans the grime, grit and blood from them. With a beaming smile she proclaims "There! I know it's not as good as a hot bath, " she leans in and lowers her voice, "which frankly I sure am looking forward a hot bath myself. All that time on the boat with those sailors." she shivers and rolls her eyes. "Where was I? Ah yes!"
Reaching out she takes Sarine's hand and shakes it gently. "Pleased to meet you Sarine. Thank you for the introduction. I can proclaim I am neither a noble, nor a cyclops with certainty. I would need clarification on your definition of deviant to determine if that is appropriate, but I'll lean towards no for now. I do not preferred to bed in charred, burned wood so I'm going to assume I'll be taking accommodations in that direction?"
"Thank you," Sarine says as Primrose cleans her up. "It really isn't a hot bath, but I needed that."
"If you want something like a hot bath, you'll probably have to wait until tomorrow. The ocean warms up nicely by the middle of the day."
"Somehow this all seems familiar...what are they putting on those fliers?" she mutters, glancing over at Tettia.
Sarine nods after Primrose points out the direction of her choice. "Is that your trunk? I can help you move it in." she asks as she points to the crate that Primrose is standing on.
Primrose turns and looks at the heavy chest sitting in the ocean, crossing her arms and frowning. "Indeed."
With a delightful smile she responds "I'd love some assistance if you wouldn't mind. I know you're terribly busy here, but if my clothes all float away I'm going to be quite perturbed."
"Let's get you set up then," Sarine says, pulling the chest out of the water and carrying it without too much difficulty, despite some excess water and sand. "Welcome to Ancorato, Miss Primrose!"
As they walk down to the water, Primrose mentions casually "So, I tried to over prepare for this trip and there are a few extra things in my chest that may add a pound or three. It's quite heavy, I think maybe we should grab one of those men back there to assist us?"
However, when Sarine yanks it from the wet beach with one hand and starts pulling it up the beach, Prim's jaw falls slack. She looks the woman up and down again and mentions "So I take it you have a rather regimented exercise routine here on the island?"
As Sarine struggles to even lift her end of the chest with both hands which is severely tilted in her direction, yet alone carry the water logged box up the wet said. Struggling she adds "You're. Deceivingly. Strong. Sarine Dulcaire." through clenched teeth.
Once they are back up at the main area again, she leans against a wooden wall and tries to catch her breath, clearly winded from the exercise. "Can you point me in the direction of really annoying residents who are probably doing your hunting? My brother was one of the first ones here and I can't wait to surprise him."
Smiling with a smirk she adds "He doesn't know I'm coming. It's going to be fantastic."
As she sees Primrose struggling with the chest, Sarine shifts more of the weight onto her. "I can take this, but it's a little unwieldly . Just help steady it."
As Primrose comments on her strength, Sarine adds "I've been told that before. There's a boy back in Andoran that could tell you all about it."
Before Primrose asks about her brother, "So what brings you out all this way Primrose? Obviously you didn't come looking for murderous stalkers hunting the Bounty..."
When Sarine lifts more than her share of the large chest, Prim breathes a sigh of relief. "Thanks."
As Primrose comments on her strength, Sarine adds "I've been told that before. There's a boy back in Andoran that could tell you all about it."
Twisting her lips into scrunched smirk, she raises her eyebrows and asks "Girl talk later tonight. You need to tell me about this, Andoran boy of yours."
"So what brings you out all this way Primrose? Obviously you didn't come looking for murderous stalkers hunting the Bounty..."
Primrose looks at Sarine, tilting her head down with a You're damn right about that look on her face. "My brother Josef was accepted into the initial colonist group. I'm only here to pass some news of mother, then I'll be catching the next supply vessel back home." she lies just as easily as breathing.
Steering the conversation away from her and back to Sarine, Prim asks "What about you? Out here for fame and glory? Or are you the kind of gal that enjoys doing something for the advancement of society?"
Sarine chuckles. "It won't be the sort of story you seem to think it is, but alright. Later. Not tonight."
Sarine grows more somber as Primrose describes her brother. She turns to face her new friend directly. "I'm sorry Primrose. I'd assumed that word had reached home by now. The first colonists..." her voice breaks a bit. "When we got here, Talmandor's Bounty was empty. Everyone had been killed or driven off. We've found a few and I don't think everyone is accounted for yet, but if your brother was here I'd know his name..."
Prim stops walking when Sarine tries to explain to her that her brother is dead. "What? No. He's fine? They just told me before I left that everything was flourishing here."
"No, no. You're mistaken." In denial, Primrose steps forward past Sarine and starts with a quicker pace as the destruction and chaos of all around her comes crashing down on her for the first time. Breathing more quickly, she raises her voice and begins calling out loudly as she begins to head to each building.
Running into a group of bloodied and injured men, she grabs one by a shoulder "Have you seen a scrubby blond haired man of twenty-seven named Josef? Most definitely clean shaven with a twang of a northern accent?"
She repeats this process as she begins to move to all of the people she can find. After each group tells her over and over again that they haven't seen him, her pace becomes more frantic and she nears the point of hyper ventilating by the time she makes it back to Sabrine.
Grabbing the woman on both shoulders, her body trembling slightly. Twin tears start to streak down her cheeks as she struggles to remain her composure. "Okay. Funny joke on the new gal. Had your fun, dear. Please tell me where Josef is now? I no longer find humor in this charade."
Tears are already running down Sarine's face when Primrose returns. "I'm sorry, Primrose. This isn't a joke and if he's out there, we'll find him...but there's no one named Josef in Talmandor's Bounty."
Primrose loses all semblance of holding her shit together and collapses into the ground, falling uncomfortable on her bottom. Her legs are splayed at awkward angles that surely aren't comfortable, but she makes no attempt to move them. With both hands she hugs herself tightly and starts to sway back and forth as the tears burst from her eyes freely now. "no-no-no-no-no" is all she can muster, her usual grace with languages lost for the time being.
Tettia's heart breaks as Primrose grows more and more frantic looking for her lost brother. When she finally falls to the ground, the arcanist drops to her knees next to her. Not knowing what to say, she just pulls her into her arms.
Prim falls into the arcanist and buries her head into the shoulder of the stranger of sixty minutes. A world away from where she wanted to be on a quest she didn't want to take for reasons she couldn't discuss, and now her brother was presumed dead.
Dead.
Primrose sobs for several minutes, tears and snot dripping down her face ruining the pristine cleaning that she had helped secure for the arcanist only moments ago. When the tears finally stop, her chest still heaves as her body tries to return back to normal. She pulls away from Tettia looking dazed, confused and scared. These are not traits that she likes to be defined by and thus she knows she needs to pull herself together.
Some first impression your making!
She looks at the mess she's made of the arcanist's neck and hair, reaching down and wiping her face. "Sorry. Thank you,
Tettia Tuditanus"
Looking up at Sabrine still looking down at her, she reaches a hand up asking to be helped up. "Thank you. Sorry I was rude."
A stress eater, Prim falls back on what she knows will help her clear her head. Out of her element, she looks at the women surrounding her and asks "Is there food? May I eat? What I would give to have a lemon cakes right now. Maybe some sweet wine? Strawberries?"
"Oh, gods, I would let someone put their name on one of my papers for a lemon cake," Tettia says with a grimace. She stands up and offers the woman a hand.
"We need to find you ..." Tettia begins and then glances at the still burning great hall, "... and me, a place to stay. We'll find you something to eat, as well. I think we have some potatoes."
Accepted the offered hand, she slowly takes her feet once again. She sighs "No baths and no lemon cakes? I suppose I should have brought more than one pair of silk sheets then?"
Nodding as if she was told all they have was sand to eat she swallows unnecessarily and repeats "Potatoes." With controlled sarcasm she adds "Fantastic. I love potatoes." As they begin to walk she adds "I suppose I should be thankful you didn't say fish. All I've had for as long as I can remember is fish and friendly I'm a little fished out."
Scratching her head at the great hall she asks "Please don't tell me the potatoes are in there?
"No, that was just the town hall," Tettia answers as she leads her towards some of the small buildings on the edge of town. "And where I slept. No potatoes there."
She stops at one of the small cabins that looks like it needs a lot of TLC.
"They were supposed to be fixing it up for me, but we've had other things come up," she says as she moves to push the door in. It creaks open and reveals a dust-filled main room with a large bed with suspect bedding in one corner. There's a rickety table pushed against the other wall with three wooden stools in various states of repair. Dingy cupboards hang from the wall above the table. A metal tub is shoved into the corner.
The soot covering the front of the mantel of the fireplace gives voice to the fact that the chimney may need work as well.
"We've got a tub and a fireplace so we might be able to arrange a warm bath," Tettia says, trying to put on a happy face.
Prim sticks her head in and looks around, trying to control her face from contorting into disgusting shapes. Clucking her tongue asks "Home sweet home?" before walking in and wiping away a spiderweb in front of her.
After spinning in a slow circle taking in the new accommodations, she nods a few times while sticking our her bottom lip. With a deep breath she lets herself melt and shudder a little while she flits her eyes several time "A hot bath would be transcendent."
Putting a hand on Tettia's shoulder she adds "I'll even forego the potatoes for a little while."
Spinning around she looks for a bucket. "Uhm. Are we getting water from the ocean? Is there a source of fresh water nearby?"
Aurelian shakes his head, coming out of a melancholy reverie. He wipes his eyes and then moves toward the home where he sees Tettia taking the newcomer.
"Welcome," he says, managing a wan smile before he offers a bow and a flourish of his plumed hat. "Aurelian Fache is sorry for his meager welcome. It is ... a sad time here, and he has lost people he loved very much. If you would be willing to start again, perhaps he can welcome you more appropriately to Talmandor's Bounty."
"Welcome," he says, managing a wan smile before he offers a bow and a flourish of his plumed hat. "Aurelian Fache is sorry for his meager welcome. It is ... a sad time here, and he has lost people he loved very much. If you would be willing to start again, perhaps he can welcome you more appropriately to Talmandor's Bounty."
Primrose smiles at Aurelian's flourish, taking a step back with a smile. She claps her hands, approving of his methods. She looks at Tettia and then points to Aurelian asks "Oh. I thought you said he was Aurelian?"
Primrose smiles at Aurelian's flourish, taking a step back with a smile. She claps her hands, approving of his methods. She looks at Tettia and then points to Aurelian asks "Oh. I thought you said he was Aurelian?"
Tettia looks confused as she searches around for a bucket. "I did. That's his name."
"Aurelian? How about you be a gentleman and help us draw some water so we can arrange a warm bath?"
"Oh."
Looking equally confused at Tettia, she asks her new friend "He talks about himself in the third person. That's new. Alright then"
Turning to face Aurelian she says "Primrose Lethanna would desperately like a bath so she can take a bath. Perhaps if you could find a bucket for her she would be more welcome to an appropriate welcome after she was clean of weeks of travel grime."
Leaning into Tettia she asks "Like that?"