”Then perhaps I can be of assistance?” Cai’nan says as he works a spell, targeting it to include just the deviant creature assailing his childhood friend!
__________
"That's him, that must be Mr. Wretch!" Aurealia says excitedly. "You're in big trouble, mister," she informs the fey pointing at him. "The Black Arrows are here now. We can't have you causing any more trouble around town."
After delivering her little speech, Aurealia casts a spell on herself. A magical shield appears in the air between her and the gremlin.
"Gah! It's Retch! There's no 'W'!" the gremlin exclaims angrily as he is also caught off guard by the Entangle spell. It doesn't appear to catch him immediately, but he starts scurrying about trying escape the spell's reach!
At the sounds of other people talking, Galatea turns to face the newcomers... and freezes when she sees Kallie.
"Kallie..." she whispers softly.
"Catch that little ticălos before he escapes!"
Aurealia runs towards the area of entanglement her longspear ready, trying to head off Retch before he escapes.
Being warned in advance, Kallie doesn't react when she spots Galatea except for a quick swish of her tail. She meets her eyes with a neutral expression -- not hostile, but not appearing happy to see her, either. The fleeing Mr. Retch suddenly draws Kallie's attention and she gallops around the zone of entangle to head off the gremlin.
While she considers what she knows about the ugly fey, she asks aloud, "What crimes has this creature committed?"
Jaya crosses her arms and fiddles with her ring as the wretch attempts to flee.
"If you set up shop somewhere else we might actually just let you go you know. If you force us to hunt you it won't be so easy."
Surprisingly, the Silver Sentinel is the one to answer Kallie.
"Multiple instances of theft, disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace, vandalism, destruction of private and public property, animal cruelty, assault, resisting arrest, and assaulting law enforcement," she recites without missing a beat. "And that's just what's known to me."
Meanwhile, Mr. Retch continues to nimbly dance around Cai'nan's spell!
"Ha! Just a cheap parlor trick!" he declares smugly. The ugly gremlin pulls a rock from his belt and gets ready to toss it, "This'll teach you to... mess... with..."
However, Jaya's words quickly take the wind out of his sails...
"You throw that rock at any of us and I will stab you," Aurealia informs the gremlin. "Why are you harassing the town anyway? What did we ever do to you?"
Kallie pulls her whip from her belt and gives it a couple swings as she sets herself in position, giving the gremlin an escape route, but clearly away from the village. She hoped the message was clear.
Upon hearing Aurealia's pointed questions, the ugly gremlin manages to find some spine.
"You know darn well what you've done to me!" Mr. Retch exclaimed angrily. "Sir Roderic can't stay dead; that's what! All his ghostly ruckus is keeping me from getting any sleep! So I'm showing him who's boss!"
Kallie's whipping is enough to silence him again. At this point, seeing that he's clearly outmatched, Rim Retchlock appears about ready to bolt. Whether or not he plans to get lost for good? Hard to tell...
"Well, it looks like you've got a very good solution for your sleepless nights. If the ghost of Roderick's Cove is keeping you awake, you should move to another, quieter town. No ghosts, no sleepless nights. How does that sound?" Kallie asks, giving the ugly thing a charming smile.
Jaya quirked an eyebrow at Kallie. Careful there, Kallie, or you'll sign us up for ghost busting before you know it.
That said, thanks to all the heat he's recently attracted, Mr. Retch also appears inclined to finally leave Roderic's Cove alone.
Mr. Retch takes a moment to think over Kallie's words...
"...You know what?" the gremlin says with a smirk. "That's a great idea! Glad I thought of it!"
As the ugly creature prepares to leave, he suddenly gets snagged by one of the twisting tree branches!
"Gah!" he exclaims in surprise, not noticing a little pouch falling from his makeshift belt. He appears unable to move now. "Hey! Let me outta here!"
...Regardless, it looks like you all have managed to capture the infamous Mr. Retch!
”Is it wise to just let him go torment others?” he asks Jaya quietly now that the plants seem to have a grasp on him.
He then moves over to Galatea, smirking to himself as he positions himself so that his hood still covers his face. ”Are you alright, Lady Kailani?”
Jaya shrugged, "What's your plan then? If he's willing to move along, I don't particularly want to kill him for mischief. I can't imagine Roderick's cove has an appropriate prison, and I don't think we'd get anything good our out of forcing him to give up restitution. Though..."
With a twist of her fingers and a muttered word, Jaya snatches up the small pouch in a mage hand and brings it over to take a closer look.
"...Restitution might not be off the table after all."
"I'm fine with exiling him. If he comes back, we can always give him the pointy end of a blade. The main thing is that he leaves us alone."
** spoiler omitted **
Mr. Retch takes a moment to think over Kallie's words...
"...You know what?" the gremlin says with a smirk. "That's a great idea! Glad I thought of it!"
Kallie can't help but chuckle at the gremlin. "Indeed. You are most wise. I'm honored to have met you."
Swift as lightning, the Silver Sentinel moves to block Cai'nan from getting close to Galatea.
"At ease, Sentinel Rockne," Gali says quickly. "This gentleman is clearly with Kallie, so he's an ally."
The armored woman visibly relaxes and quickly takes a step back.
"Sorry about Yulia; she takes her job very seriously," Galatea says with a giggle. "I'm fine. Thank you for asking, sir. Sentinel Rockne here has already healed me and Cheshire."
The young noble studies Cai'nan for a moment.
"...Have we met before, sir? You seem very familiar..."
Meanwhile, Mr. Retch is too distracted by the spell to notice that his belt pouch is missing.
"I was gonna split! Honest!" the gremlin pleads, trying to break free of the twisted tree branches.
"Cai'nan, dismiss your spell please. Let the creature flee."
Cai’nan waves a hand, dismissing the spell drawing the pants forth to grasp at the thing. He then folds back his hood and steps forward to embrace Galatea.
Once freed from the entanglement, the frightened Mr. Retch quickly scurries off into the woods. In fact, the gremlin suddenly remembers that he can fly and rather clumsily/comically floats away! Going by his ramblings, you get the impression that he doesn't plan to bother Roderic's Cove any time soon.
While Galatea returns Cai'nan's embrace and quietly talks to him, Yulia Rockne approaches the rest of you. Cheshire trots after her.
"It would appear that you have rescued my liege's companion and dealt with Mr. Retch. Very impressive," the Silver Sentinel remarks in a light Ulfen accent. She reaches down to pet a certain tigress on the head. "The sightings of Sir Roderic's ghost have certainly been keeping the Cove's residents on edge, and that gremlin was just throwing kindling on the fire. I think everyone will appreciate any respite they can get."
The blonde seems to be quite social when at ease.
She appears to think that you're going to vanish again at any second...
Kallie arches an eyebrow at Cai'nan's and Gali's embrace, then quickly turns her head away with a >hmph<. Her tail tosses while she focuses all her attention on coiling and stowing her whip.
With that task done, she looks at the Sentinel with a smile. "Thanks! Nothing to it, especially when we had the gremlin outnumbered so. Anyway, should we all go to the Cove now? I'm ready for something besides trail rations."
Aurealia beams, having basically accomplished what she and 'Elle snuck out of town to do. Yess. Sweet sweet accolades. Finally our genius is recognized.
"That sounds like a good idea. On the way you can tell me what you've been up to lately, and more about those ruins you mentioned."
Cai’nan is smiling as he leaves the embrace. He turns to the others and says ”Ladies. May I present Lady Galatea Kailani,” with a flourish and a bow, adding emphasis to the “Lady,” for fun. ”To be honest, Galatea, I have only just bumped into these two,” he says with a gesture to Aurealia and Croquelle, ”but it seems you may already know of my two traveling companions from Sandpoint?”
Jaya nods with a hint of a smile, and gives Kallie a quick pat near the joining of her halves when she sees her tail's distress. "Always happy to chase off some pests." And aside from that, it's always nice to have your base of operations think you're worth keeping around. Thanks for that, Mother.
"So, any local delicacies?"
"Aye. I'm obviously not a local myself, but as the Andosana sisters here can likely attest, the seafood and surf & turf selections are divine!" replies Yulia, licking her lips at the mere thought. "I recommend the reefclaw especially; we had that our first night here. If you prefer something less meaty, the local elves serve some good alternatives; they threw a little celebration for the Treeslayer when we arrived, and she was floored by the salads and bread they served. Finally, according to some of my Sister Sentinels, Ms. Blackberry is probably the best baker in the region."
Galatea adds her two copper pieces, "They aren't exaggerating, Yulia. Before we left on our mission this morning, Ms. Blackberry gave me a blueberry muffin; it was delicious~"
The Treeslayer's daughter realizes that Cai'nan asked her a question and blushes slightly upon realizing that she got distracted, "Oh, right! I definitely know Kallie; we are family after all. I can't say that I've met your other friend, though. As for the Andosana sisters, we were introduced when Mom and I arrived in town."
Galatea turns to face the entire group.
"I want to sincerely thank you all for finding Cheshire. She was missing for almost two days, and Mr. Retch kept getting in the way of finding her. As a thanks, please allow me to buy everyone..." she trails off before referencing at the position of the sun, "dinner."
Jaya smiles pleasantly, "Of course, if you insist. The reefclaw sounds fantastic."
"Oh yeah, it's great. I'll have some too, have to celebrate driving that pest off."
"So yeah, tell me more about the ruins you came to look for. I might be able to help you. You know how I love my Thassilonian ruins."
As they walk back towards Roderic’s Cove, Cai’nan asks ”So...is this some sort of strange reunion party that I am playing the part of the strangest third carriage wheel ever? Or is this some strange case of the Lines pulling everyone’s strings?”
The mention of a good meal gets Cai’nan’s attention, though, and his stomach is grumbling as they approach the edge of town for the second time today. As they do, he turns back to Galatea and asks ”So where do you keep your tiger i town? I need to make arrangements for Krodha. And since when did you take up animal rearing? It would seem we have a lot of catching up to do!”
Jaya gives Cai'nan a teasing smile, "All the scrying sensors didn't give you a hint that this was a long awaited reunion? No, not as far as I know. In fact," she pulls off her thin glove and reaches her bare hand out towards Croquelle, "forgive me. Jaya Farwynd, lately of Sandpoint."
Kallie narrows her eyes as Cai'nan and Galatea seem to bond over animal companions and some past relationship. Her tail continues to toss as she tries to keep from huffing.
"I think dinner sounds great. Though I detest seafood. Breads and salads, you say?" Kallie says with forced cordiality. "Shall we go?"
On the way back to town, Galatea happily catches up with Cai'nan.
"Mom rented out one of the local inns, The Efficient Quiver, for our visit. She threw enough platinum at the owners for them to retire if they wanted, so they're letting Cheshire sleep in my room. However, I imagine the owners of the Creekside Tavern and Inn will let you keep Krodha in their stable. I hear that they're Cladissans, and ol' Saint Bentley is surprisingly popular in this town!"
She reaches out to pet Cheshire, who starts making that purring-like sound again.
"Since Mom is basically the de facto High Priestess of Shelyn, she has quite a following among the catfolk; evidently, Shelyn is their most widely worshiped deity. One of those catfolk prides raises tigers. During one of their visits, Shiloh and I bonded with a couple of the kittens. Hence Cheshire for me and Pryde for Shy!"
Putting their keen minds together, Aurealia, Jaya, and Kallie quickly review what they know about the local Thassionian ruins.
They appear to have been the foundations to some sort of tower. Sir Roderic himself once explored them and supposedly discovered a small fortune that he used to found his Cove. The tower's original purpose has not been discerned yet. There is much debate about which Runelord to which it belonged, but most scholars believe it was either Alaznist (The Runelord of Wrath) and Xandergrul (The Runelord of Pride).
(Upon hearing about Alaznist, Galatea shivers and remarks, "I'm glad the Sihedron Heroes eventually vanquished her. Unlike Krune, it wasn't a particularly easy battle; she fought both Eugeni and Argor Constantine to a magical standstill. Thankfully, while she was distracted, it all ended when Zoli stabbed her through the eye and then the heart. As for Xandergrul... Shelyn help us when he returns; he was supposedly the strongest of the bunch by far.")
Gali takes you to the The Rampant Reefclaw, the most popular restaurant in town. Despite the name, they don't serve only seafood and surf & turf; the human owner Unli Jever works with an elven woman named Taldeer to cater to the Cove's sizeable elven population, who typically have similar preferences in food to Kallie. Every day, he also orders a variety of treats from Blackberry's Bakery.
Upon seeing Aurealia and Croq, Mr. Jever happily works with everyone to find comfortable seating arrangements. The two animal companions are also allowed inside. Krodha is parked in a corner, where he is largely out of sight. Meanwhile, Cheshire sprawls out under the table at Gali's feet. All the orders are quickly placed, and the food is served in record time.
"These reefclaws are so big!" Galatea remarks with a giggle. She only ordered one, but at a little over three and half feet in size and seventy pounds, that's likely sufficient to feed the entire group!
Dear Kallie,
I haven't forgotten my promise. Whenever you're ready, we can talk about those amends or anything else we need to discuss. If you want, I can also explain the situation with Cai'nan.
Love,
G
”You’ll need to be careful, despite the fact that it seems you’ve done a good job so far. Predatory animals like these are hard to keep in line. I worry when Krodha gets bigger...he’s still just a baby. His mother...his mother was the biggest creature I’ve ever seen. And the most vicious. She was a primary culprit in the Mwangi Expedition I was with being destroyed...”
He falls silent a bit until they reach the Reefclaw. He settles in opposite Galatea and between Jaya and Kallie, his eyes gawking at the size of the food prepared for them. He takes a healthy chunk into his plate and tosses some to Krodha periodically. ”Okay, sho,” he begins with a mouthful, ”you are all gonna have to explain to me how you know one another. This is too weird.”
Jaya gives Cai'nan another smirk, "Well, Kallie and Aurealia and I all studied under the same master, but I'm not sure that was the mystery you were trying to uncover. Oh, pass the claw please."
Kallie avoids the reefclaw, but fills both her stomachs with the Elven fare. At some point, she unfolds a note, glances at it, and crinkles it up and shoves it into a side pouch.
She passes the plate of reefclaw to Jaya. "Yeah, I wore Master Eugeni down so that he'd finally agreed to teach me. With that door opened, he started accepting others, like Jaya and 'Lia."
"I spent four of my teenage years down in Sandpoint - once mom realized I would be better at arcane magic than the normal repertoire of the Black Arrows. We're all three of us mages of one stripe or another. If I remember right Jaya likes her fire, Kallie likes her enchantments, and me ...I transform my body. Well, by that I mean I am studying how to turn into other creatures. I haven't quite mastered more than the basics yet. Polymorphing is rather advanced magic after all..." Aurealia trails off, realizing she's gone from answering Cai'nan's question to talking her own talents down. Bah. I always make myself look dumb in front of new people. Especially if they are sexy druid boys who might be able to teach me about wild shaping! She blushes slightly and turns back to eating her reefclaw with great concentration.
Jaya gives a bit of a wince at the description of her studies.
"I don't particularly care about fire; it is frequently the most efficient ratio of effort to effect, but the point is really the study of energy in any case."
"Right, what she said." Aurealia nods sagely. She's so smart, so pretty. Why am I so dumb? At least we got Retch, maybe we'll get a little bit of respect now at least.
Before Galatea eats, Yulia scans the food with some spell before giving her liege a nod of approval. She seems to have shifted back to Sentinel mode; while the Ulfen woman eats some food, she keeps quiet and constant searches your surroundings for danger.
"...Jaya? ...My goodness, you've grown!" Galatea remarks as she sets a plate full of reefclaw below the table for Cheshire. "From my end, a relative of Jaya's was best friends with my big sister. As you've probably heard, Kallie and I are family. Finally, I was only introduced to Aurealia and Croquelle a couple of days ago; oddly enough, I seem to have always missed Aurealia whenever I visited Sandpoint."
"Not on purpose, mind you. I was rather anti-social in those days. I probably had my face buried in a book, hiding away somewhere. I'm glad we've finally met though. I've always looked up to your mom."
Cai’na is clearly trying his best to keep up with the relationships being described, but he is obviously struggling. After a few moments to quietly try and absorb the information, he replies ”So...Gal and Kal are sort of sisters, Aurelia and Croquelle are sort of sisters, Jaya, Kallie, and Aurelia are sort of classmates? And Gal and I are friends from way back...” he asks.
”Phew...” he sighs before taking another bite. ”This is an interesting web we find ourselves in!”
"Galatea is Kallie's aunt, and 'Elle and I are sisters," Aurealia corrects.
”So...Gal and Kal are sort of sisters...” he asks.
Kallie, in mid-drink, suddenly starts choking and coughing. She quickly grabs a napkin to stifle her fit.
"I suppose it has been a few years." Jaya's warm expression goes neutral when Galatea comments on how she'd aged, and she quickly seizes on Aurealia's explanation to get away from it.
"It's true, even with the Rusty Dragon right on our doorstep, it was always a trial to drag 'Lia out into the real world for a bit of fun." She smiled fondly to take any sting out of those words. "How did you and Galatea meet, Cai'nan?"
"Galatea is Kallie's aunt, and 'Elle and I are sisters," Aurealia corrects.
"Abso-frigging-lootly we are!" Croquelle grins as wide as only a crocodile can, throwing a green, scaly arm around her sis's shoulder. "Like two peas from the most rocking of pods!
"And did you say your name is Caiman? Are your folks croc-o-philes? You're not a scaleheart too, are ya?"
”Cai’nan. And no...I’ve honestly never had a good interaction with a crocodile...” he says as he eyes the strange were-croc warily.
Croq gives a hearty laugh and, digs her finger in her ear. "Mama always tells me that too much loud music hurts my hearing."
As she speaks, Croquelle lets her skin shift back to human form. Suddenly--after a disturbing few seconds of her body shifting--Cai'nan sees a tall, muscular, broad-shouldered, blonde half-elf. While somewhat unusual, her features are all nicely portioned, and she has a warm smile.
"No worries, bud. We can all be a bit small-minded about the things we don't know yet, eh? I won't bite though! At least not without permission." she grins (still seeming to show more teeth than one would expect).
"This form's fine too...but ya know, when you gotta rock, you gotta ROCK like a CROC!" And with that, she gives a drum solo, and then a dramatic bow.
Cai’nan blushes at Croquelles overt comment. It was evident that being around so many attractive women with strong personalities has him in a situation he is not accustomed to, but one he wasn’t eager to leave either.
”So, ummm,” he says as he shifts uneasily in his seat. Instead of continuing his thought, he takes a bite of reefclaw.