"... Do you all hear that? I'm going to go check it out."
(Not surprising to those who know him), Abasi seems only partially present in the conversation. His mind is clearly chewing on something.
Through his musings, a few words seep in slowly.
"Jaya...you look like a Jaya who was briefly at the CZSS with me...but you look about 15 years too old to be her...and Farwynd! Daughter of Auronee Farwynd!
"By Nethys' Mask, you must have quite a story to t--" Suddenly he notices the sounds of conflict. "Uh, yeah, let's go check it out."
Jaya FARWYND!?! What kind of woman would Auronee's daughter grow up to be?
"That was me. I suppose it's a... short story."
"Well," Abasi arches an eyebrow and smiles with curiosity, as they hustle through the crowds, "I look forward to hearing it, perhaps over an ale at the Hagfish.
"For now though, let's see what's going on."
I'm missing something, Kallie thinks as Abasi reacts to Jaya's parentage.
She is about to ask when there's a commotion just outside of view. "Okay," she says as the others start going to check it out. "Rod of wonder after, okay?"
Abasi, throws a thumb up. "Deal!"
Embreth sighs, but scurries along behind the other.
Jaya flashes a smile back at Abasi, "I suppose a drink would be a way to catch up. And maybe explain a few things."
And hopefully not end up in Master Silva's realm...
"Just in case," Kallie says to herself as she casts a spell that brings an invisible force to surround her like a suit of armor. Then as they move to the site of the disturbance, she pulls out a small dagger at her belt. It shimmers briefly and suddenly it's a long braided leather whip in her hands. She starts spinning it around like a fan, and it flares into a roughly shield-shaped magical barrier.
As you approach, you can see that the crowd has started giving the area a bit of a wider berth, though no one appears troubled to the point of seeming in any danger. Once you reach the edge of the crowd, you can see a beautiful, dark haired woman sitting on railing with her feet dangling, surrounded by three local men. Abasi and Shiloh immediately recognizes Bethania, while Kallie has to take a moment to make the connection due to her no longer being the young girl she remembered. One of the men around her is a large man, though clearly not too bright. The other two men, while clearly not as strong, seem a lot more devious and have a look of ill intent in their eyes.
"Come on, honey," The ringleader says as he leans against the rail beside Bethania, "You know it's rude to play hard to get."
Bethania rolls her eyes, "Puh-lease," she scoffs, seemingly unconcerned with her situation. "I'm a Blakros. I highly doubt you even realize what that means, do you?"
"Who said I cared?" he asks in return as he brazenly traces a finger along her leg, "Let's ditch this joint and go back to the Feedbag for a little fun?"
Bethania slaps his hand away "Keep your hands off me, you ingrate!"
The other man laughs and moves even closer to her. "Why should we, darlin'?"
She smirks and says "Because I have a suspicion you have feelings for someone else..." before she subtly works some magic. The man suddenly gets a befuddled look in his eye before looking longingly to the largest of their group and stepping in to give him a passionate kiss! The large man pushes him away, and in his confusion, punches him hard and sends him reeling! Without waiting, he continues to assail his buddy, lunging on top of him and proceeding to continue to pound him!
"Knock it off you idiots!" the ringleader shouts as he starts to go break the fight up, but he then turns back to Bethania. "You witch! You did something to them!"
But before he can react, she works some more magic on him. "I did, honey. But you don't have any quarrel with me, do you?"
He blinks numbly a moment before replying with a mischievous smile, "Naw, baby. Never with you."
Bethania smiles back. "Good. Now, do me a favor and take your buddies and go have fun at the festival, okay? No sense in wasting a good fair being locked up in the jailhouse, now is it?"
He nods and says, "You're sure right. Come on! Get up you morons! Let's go!"
After a couple moments more wrangling up his men, the three head off into the crowd. As they leave, Bethania waves to Abasi and Shiloh, before spotting Kallie with them. She gasps and hops down from the railing "Oh my gosh! Kallie!!!" she squeals as she runs over and gives her a big hug. "It's been so long! How are you!?!?"
Kallie returns the hug fiercely, though feeling a bit sad that Bethania was so grown up. "I'm good! And look at you! Stealing all my best spells! Nice one with the unnatural lust! I approve!"
Idiots, Embreth thinks at the three thugs as they leave. "Well it looks like this chick is fine. Let's go! We gotta do the thing!" Visions of a rod streaming gods knows what from its end over the town fill his mind with devious delight.
"It can wait a minute, Tortellini." Gone was the former joviality and warmth in her voice. Now eerily calm, Shiloh silently steered Pryde over to Bethania.
"Are you alright, Beth?" she asked her cousin gently, clearly concerned about what just transpired.
Jaya gives Embreth a dry side-eye at his dismissive attitude. "And should you really have let them go? The next woman might not be able to take care of them so-" frivolously "-effectively"
"Hehehehe. Classic Bethania." Abasi chuckles. "Embreth, you think those turds have learned their lesson?"
"Beth, you want to join us? We're about to go borrow a Rod of Wonder, it seems, and then perhaps retire to the Hagfish."
"We could use the rod on them instead of the seagulls. That would serve the bastards right..."
Kallie smirks. "But they're Beth's friends now. That's no way to treat *friends*" She snickers uncontrollably, eyes dancing in delight.
Bethania giggles too, looking to Jaya and Embreth. ”So, you going to introduce me to your new friends, Abasi?” she says as she offers a hand to Jaya. ”You have to excuse him, he gets so nervous around girls,” she adds with a glint of her own mischief in her eye.
Jaya returns the smile, "An affliction hardly unique to him."
"I'm Jaya Farwynd. I'm new to Sandpoint again, but finding it filled with far more interesting people than I recall. But then I'm guessing 'Bethania Blakros' isn't just here for a quick ale?"
Abasi gives a strained smile, trying to look amused at his being 'nervous around girls' is discussed.
"And this is Embreth, son of Zoli Tileani. Embreth and I used to hang out some when I was at the Chaldira Zuzaristan School of Swashbucklery."
After a pause, he adds, "Umm, Jaya was there for a bit too only she was, ummm, much younger. Like, fifteen or so years younger?! But she's offered to explain everything over ale, later."
Seeing that Beth appeared to be alright, Shiloh relaxed somewhat.
"I've told you about Tortellini, Beth. Kallie and I frequently hire him as a bodyguard for our adventures. He typically turns every monster we meet into cold cuts."
Kallie looks with surprise at Shiloh. "You've been paying him?"
”Oh, another child of a legend?” Bethania says, her own disgust at the idea painfully evident. ”Seems all of us are in one another’s illustrious company! Tell me, do the rest of you find it more frustrating than the glorious dream life everyone expects it to be?” she asks as she kicks the dirt in the road a bit with her shoe.
In reply to Jaya, she adds ”Our father doesn’t let us out of his sight often, and the entire time he’s around is a lecture on what is expected of us...so this is a pleasant reward that took weeks of pleading from the four of us, Lana included. Though she has chosen to use her freedom to bury her nose in yet another tome to make father proud,” with an eye roll.
”So...what’s this about a ‘Rod of Wonder’ and how do we plan to procure one?” she asks with an excited grin.
Jaya's eyes sparkle with amusement behind her smoked lenses, "I can't decide who that makes the hopeless negotiator out of you three, but it's at least one of you."
The sparkle dies though at Bethania's words, "I don't deny the impact my mother has on my life, but I'm sure it has less in common than you think with being the daughter of a Hero of Absalom. If you don't want the burden of the world's expectations, change your name. If you don't want the burden of your father's, change your life."
Kallie folds her arms and grows quiet. She chews her lip in thought as she mulls over something Jaya had said when they first met, about how she knew what it was like being perceived as young. Given Abasi's statement about how he knew Jaya when she was much, much younger recalled that odd statement. So is Jaya younger than she appears, just as I'm older than I look?
"Oh, another child of a legend?” Bethania says, her own disgust at the idea painfully evident. ”Seems all of us are in one another’s illustrious company! Tell me, do the rest of you find it more frustrating than the glorious dream life everyone expects it to be?” she asks as she kicks the dirt in the road a bit with her shoe.
Beth's lamentation about expectations of them elicit a scowl. Maybe if I appeared as a middle-aged centaur, they'd expect something of me, she almost voices.
She drops that rumination and listens to Jaya. "Ha. I have. I'm not a Thunderhoof, or a Silva, or a Kailani. I've got the name the Wheel gave me."
”So...what’s this about a ‘Rod of Wonder’ and how do we plan to procure one?” she asks with an excited grin.
"I don't know exactly. It has random effects I think. There's one just laying around in Eugeni's realm. He's probably off on another plane, all we gotta do is go in a get it."
Bethania balks, grabbing Abasi’s arm before they follow along. ”Uh...seriously? Stealing? Is that really a good idea? Father would lock us away forever if he found out!”
"It's just borrowing for a bit of fun. No one will know it was even gone."
Embreth shrugs. "You don't have to come, but you better not be a rat or some s#~+. Besides, can I really steal from my own step dad?"
"You see, Beth! We're stopping by Embreth's dad's place to borrow something. A magical item I've never gotten to study before and would love to get my hands on.
"It's an educational field trip, just like Lana's doing." He smiles at his sister.
"Yes. You can absolutely steal from your father, step or otherwise."
Jaya's stern expression holds, barely, as she adds. "Of course, borrowing isn't stealing. Did he get around to adding the permanent portal in? Or does one of you have the right tuning fork?"
Embreth grins and produces a fork from his pocket. "Step son is always welcome, or so he says."
”I guess...” Bethania mutters, uncomfortable at the idea but excited at the thrill clearly. She follows along and asks ”Ummm does anyone here have the ability to, you know, travel between planes?”
"In a manner of speaking," Shiloh answered Kallie, a wide grin on her perfect lips. "Embreth gets a share of the treasure, doesn't he?"
Not entirely certain how to answer Bethania's question, the Oracle largely kept silent during that part of the conversation. While Shiloh was Argor Constantine's ward, being Jeevika Kailani's daughter also gave her a degree of independence from the Hero of Absalom that his actual children never saw. For example, Shiloh just did not see Uncle Argor ever letting the twins run a business. Meanwhile, without her surrogate father's help and resources, Shiloh likely would have never gotten her inn off the ground and operating like clockwork.
"There's a portal to Uncle Tusks' pocket dimension in Master Lightstaff's basement. How do you think Kallie visits him?"
Kallie grins. "Yeah, and I'd been thinking of paying him a visit. It'll be awkward, unless I can think of an arcane breakthrough to share with him, and I still haven't had one of those since I learned to do this with my whip." The long, coiled whip still in her hand shimmers and looks again like a simple dagger that she slides into a sheath on her belt.
"But I could still distract him while you borrow the rod. It's not that unusual that I stop by to say 'hi.' Even if he doesn't get the purpose of doing it."
"Yeah, he basically treats me like I don't exist. I guarantee you he's never even used the rod. He's so powerful he doesn't even notice us mortals anymore." Embreth thinks. "The biggest problem will be all the simulacra outside the tower. We have to play it cool, pretend we are giving the out of towners a tour or something. If Titanicus catches wind of us, we're toast!"
Kallie scoffs. "Titanicus is a sweetie! He wouldn't toast a fly. He still thinks I'm just a foal, too, so I could probably talk my way around him, too."
Titanicus is smart, but the passage of time isn't great for dragonish things...
"It's possible he'll think I'm still allowed in. It's not like I was forbidden from returning." Not specifically anyways
After the training session, before the Constantine-Blakros kids depart for Varisia via teleportation, Argor asks for Abasi, Bethania, and Lana to join him in his office in ten minutes. The twins look to each other and then to Abasi with dread.
When the time comes, the three file in and find Argor standing at the window, his arms folded behind his back with his pseudodragon familiar perched on his shoulder. He remains quiet for several long moments as the three of you stand there, waiting for him to speak first.
“I know you all blame me for Cai’nan’s death,” he says without turning around.
Bethania immediately snaps back “He’s not dead! He’s just miss-“ she stops as Argor holds up a hand and turns quickly with a stern look.
“Your brother and I had our differences, and whether the three of you believe it or not, I have done everything practically possible to try and find him. But his anger for me led him to have that damnable amulet made, and it has quite potent magic infused within it.”
Lana sighs in frustration, while Bethania chews on the inside of her cheek to keep quiet and not make a smart remark back.
Abasi narrows his eyes, trying without success to read his father. Why kid myself? Objects are like books to me. Dad? Heck, people in general…the gods only know if he believes everything he's saying...if there's anything he's leaving unsaid...
Unsure exactly what to make of this--and tired of retreading the same conversation--he simply nods. ”OK. Did you ask us here to remind us that you’re sorry Cai’nan’s gone?”
Argor turns his gaze to Abasi, but after a moment’s hard glare, his tone softens and he closes his eyes as his head hangs slightly. ”I will never be able to forgive myself for the rift between myself and Cai’nan that is ultimately responsible for his disappearance. I don’t expect to ever earn forgiveness from the rest of you, either. However...I can take measures to try and prevent a similar fate from befalling the three of you…” he adds as he moves to his desk and opens a drawer. One by one, he removes three small wooden boxes and lays them on his desk before you all.
”Take them. They are yours.”
The girls open their boxes and Argor explains ”Girls, for you I designed two matching sets of bracers. They are quite potent and useful, though more for safety and security than any practical combat application. Once each solar cycle, you will be able to open a rift to a private Demiplane similar to a Magnificent Mansion spell. It is shared between both sets of wrist guards. The Blakros rune on their surface will glow to let your sister know if it is being accessed, and if there are others besides your sibling, the Constantine rune will glow as well. This way you will each know if the other is there or not. This way you always have a safe place to lay your head or even retreat to in a hurry…”
Lana looks the bracers over academically, while Bethania’s eyes tear up as she looks them over, her finger tracing the Blakros sigil on it’s surface.
Argor turns his eyes to Abasi again. ”For you, my son, I knew a regular, newly crafted item would not peak your interest. As such, I acquired and altered an item of antiquity,” he says as he opens the box and lifts a delicate looking headband bearing the Thassilonian rune of Pride on large garnet on its brow. ”This is from the fabled Runeforge itself. Acquired by the Varisian Rangers from the Shimmering Veils from Vraxeris, one of the lieutenants of Pride placed there by Xanderghul himself. Vraxeris in turn gave this to one of the multiple simulacra of himself he had made over the eons. There were only six of these retrieved from that place, four have scattered across Golarion, one is finding its way to Blakros museum, and this one...is yours,” he says as he hands it to you. ”I bolstered its original enchantment some, and given your insistence on engaging foes directly, I also gave it the ability to make multiple illusory copies of yourself once each day.”
Abasi’s eyes go wide, then close softly as his fingers begin to trace over the headband, feeling the delicate metal filigree-work in the peacock/eye medallion on it it’s face. A flash of Vraxeris comes into his mind’s eye.
”Thank you, father. This is...it’s a very thoughtful gift.” He pauses, clearly unsure what to say. ”Sometimes, the way you try to push me to conjure...well, I start to wonder if you don’t see me, only a disappointing reflection of yourself.
“Seeing this...it’s very generous, but more than that. You do see who I am. I’m sorry I’m not the wizard you want me to be...but I appreciate you recognizing the man I am.”
After another pause, during which Abasi again looks completely enthralled by the headband, he looks his father in the eye again. It’s clear (even to one as obtuse with people as Abasi) that Argor is pained at the memory of Cai’nan. ”And I know you love Cai’nan too. You may be right that he’s gone for good, but I really think there may still be hope. Maybe Beth and I will bring him home some day. To all of us.”
”And I suppose that means I am incapable, brother?” Lana’s voice chimes in from the side.
Argor raises his hand to stop the sibling squabbling before it can begin. ”Know this, my children. Though you are all adults, you are inarguably still children when it comes to the ways of the world. Wickedness and danger can fear its head from anywhere. Even Absalom, back in my adventuring years, was rife with danger. There wasn’t a mission that went by,”
”Where the threat of undead didn’t loom over us!” the twins interject in unison, the three of you having heard this speech countless times. It elicits a giggle from them, and even Argor smirks ”Even so...the city is still dangerous, as is Sandpoint. Do not think it a safe haven just because it is but a speck of a town next to the city. Years ago, this very festival was beset by a goblin raid, and the dangers of Varisia haven’t vanished in these years of peace I assure you.”
With a smirk, Abasi says, "Duly noted. Sisters, when we get to the festival let's keep vigilant for undead goblins, shall we?"
And to Argor, "In seriousness, thank you. And we'll take care."
The girls turn and leave, but before Abasi can exit Argor grasps his arm. With a serious expression, he says quietly ”Keep them safe, son. They are naive. Bethania is too aloof and Lana...is much like I was…” he sighs. ”And you, as stubborn as your mother. Which is good. Had you been as stubborn as I, the world would be in too much trouble for the heroes to handle.”
He smirks before adding, ”Just...be careful…” as he looks at you meaningfully.
For the second time, Abasi finds himself taken completely off guard. Will I ever learn to understand him?
Not sure what to say, he settles for nodding. "You can count on me, Dad."
After a moment of silence that felt like several days, Shiloh finally spoke up.
"So are we just gonna stand here? We have the key to Uncle Tusks' house and permission to be there. What's the hold up?" Shiloh asked impatiently.
"Let's go, then!" Kallie says after Shiloh's urging. She starts going at her usual brisk clip, checks behind her, then slows up so the smaller members of their impromptu troupe can catch up.
Once within Eugeni's realm, she pushes aside their mission for a moment and focuses on going to visit her soul father. She hadn't seen him in quite a while, but she doubted he'd have missed her company in that time. That sparked a wistful longing in her, feeling sad that he was alone and not bothered by it. As she wandered the realm past Eugeni's usual haunts, she tried to logic her way out of those feelings, chiding them for their inherent centaur-ness.
Not everyone needs to be part of a herd! she thinks, her tail swishing agitatedly.
Finding him in one of his labs full of summoning circles, Kallie stands quietly and keeping her distance while he concludes whatever business he was conducting with the strange extraplanar entity within the silver-inlaid runes etched upon the floor.
When he finally turns his froggy eyes toward her, she smiles. "Hello, Father. It's the Swallowtail Festival today, so I was in town. I thought I'd stop in to say hello and let you know I'm well. I'll let you get back to your important business."
If ever there would be a time where he would want to spend idle time with me, it would be now, with the others waiting on me. Kallie didn't have enough time to decide whether that was a real hope before Eugeni nods and dismisses her.
"Okay. Be well," she says and leaves to go rejoin the others, taking a moment to compose herself first before they see her.
Before Shiloh and her entourage got into Eugeni's realm, however, they needed to first get past William Lightstaff. Thankfully, Shiloh had a plan; Shiloh always had a plan.
First, she located whatever Book of Puzzles her Argorian Uncle's favorite minion was solving these days. Next, when William stood up from his desk to fetch something, Shiloh had the sneakiest amount their ranks quietly place the tome - opened to the first page with an unsolved puzzle - on his workstation. Within seconds of Master Lightstaff's return, he was too busy solving his puzzle to notice a troop of giants marching past him.
"Works every time!" Shiloh chirped once everyone was safely in the basement.
While presumably Embreth and whoever else was sneaky searched for the Rod, Shiloh watched Kallie interact with her father. She was not too worried about him noticing her. Wherever Kallie Silversun trotted, Shiloh and Pryde Kailani were expected sights too.
Despite being named after the esteemed arcanist (Shiloh Eugenie Kailani - hers used the Elven spelling and pronunciation of "You-gee-ni" instead of the Varisian "Eugeni" and "Ay/Eh-ooh-HEY-ni" respectively), Shiloh had a... merely adequate relationship with her Uncle Tusks. On paper, their interactions appeared surprisingly warm and affable, but to anyone who wasn't sleeping, every exchange sounded like it was being read off a script. At least from her end, it was difficult truly liking someone who treated Kallie as a chore and thought of Embreth as a houseplant.
Jaya avoided Eugeni's notice by two simple expedients. She wasn't walking around with any significant magical auras, and she wasn't planning any problems for him that should show up on his typical divinations. She couldn't help but eavesdrop on Kallie's nonversation with him though, even if she knew it might get her caught.
So. It wasn't just me.
Shiloh eventually noticed Jaya stalking around nearby. However, the blonde only spoke with the redhead (?) after Kallie returned and Uncle Eugeni was presumably out of earshot and too busy with his studies to care about anything else.
"I know that look; I take it he acted the same way with you?" the tiger rider remarked dryly. "Only Mother and Aunt Zoli seem to get much out of Uncle Tusks these days. I mean, I've had a good conversation with him once or twice in recent memory, but they've always felt incredibly scripted. When did you start studying under Uncle Tusks anyway? I mean, I visit him every few months, but this is the first time we've met!"
"It was a few years ago, while my mother thought I was still at the Fencing Academy. I was a persistent enough prodigy to be worth... well some time at least.
"Power may be amoral, Jaya, but some sources are still dangerous! Especially for someone as inexperienced and overeager as you. Enough. If you persist in this folly, you may have luck enough to survive it, but I will waste no more of my time on someone who is more likely to use my teachings to kill herself. If I had only known you were going to waste my time, I would never have taught you so much as your first cantrip!"
Not that he actually did, even if he did insist on starting with the basics...
Jaya gives a wry smile and continues, "As I'm sure won't surprise you, his goal wasn't for me to socialize with anyone, including himself. I do think I heard him off script at least once though."
That's my father you're talking about, Kallie thinks as a swell of defensiveness rises in her. She can't bring herself to voice those feelings, however, as what they're saying is ultimately true, she had to admit.
Wanting to stomp on those feelings of melancholy, she steps in between Shiloh and Jaya. "Excuse me? We're here for something a little more exciting, aren't we? Let's go." Her hind legs give her a good push and she's off at a good clip towards the exit, hoping to meet Embreth there with their entertainment for the evening.
As the others are off visiting Eugeni or chatting, Embreth sneaks off into the extradimensional tower. He knows the place well, having whiled away many hours there as a young halfling. He goes directly to the room where he last saw the rod of wonder, and is relieved to find it still laying casually forgotten where it was before. He snatches the rod and secrets it away in his clothing before sneaking quickly back towards the exit of Eugeni's tower. He arrives just in time to see Kallie canter up. He winks at her. "Got it!"
Damn. I thought if her friend was saying that in front of her, then it wouldn't...
Good first impression, Jaya. Way to go.
She followed along, trying to figure out how to word an apology that wouldn't just embarrass Kallie more, when Embreth returned.
"Oh. That was simple. You're sure that's the right one?"
Embreth holds up the rod, indicating the small paper tag hanging from it. The tag says "Rod of Wonder" in a precise hand-written script. "Who knows how to work it?"
Abasi says, "Ooooooh, allow me!" and take the rod into his hand.
He closes his eyes and runs his fingers over it, muttering a few Ooooos and Aaaaahs and then chuckling.
"Eugeni did experiment with this once. He summoned a few eagles and then tried it twice. The first time, he turned an eagle to stone.
"... The second time he shrunk himself to 8 inches tall."
Abasi wipes a tear from his eye as he laughs at the mental image.
"Shall we go try it ourselves? Anyone can activate it. I'll show you how."