"Okay, Sevren. We can watch out for bears. If we're heading in to the shops anyway, we might as well take some of the things that we got off of those adventurers with us. They won't do us much good, and we might be able to trade them in for something useful."
"Uglies for shinies?" Snowball asks while hopping from side to side excitedly.
After a moment she stops and stares at the ground, apparently deep in thought.
"No take shinies?" she asks while sitting up and tilting her head like a confused dog might.
Snowball is too attacked to her 'shinies,' but I remember that those will be useful if we want to buy things in shops. If I only take some of them it's still fair...since we'll be sharing!
Cindy moves slightly behind Snowball where she isn't in sight and uses Mage Hand to quietly scoop up some of the coins and place them in her belt pouch.
Xeria salutes Sevren, "Yes Sir! Escorting you will be a pleasure. What things will we be stealing?"
Snowball both nods and points emphatically at Xeria when she says 'stealing'
Cindy plans to sneak to Snowball's island and scoop some coins. But maybe she needs help to get through the water?
Sevren shakes his head at the question. "I'm not stealing anything. Lucian wouldn't give me something important like that to do. I'm just buying black onyx, milk, bread, cheese, and salt."
Xeria looks quizzically at Sevren and asks, "Not steal? What do you plan to do then?" she pauses for a moment, her face wrinkled up in puzzled disbelief, "Is this that mortal thing I've heard of called 'paying'?"
Xeria's face lights up, "I have an idea! Why don't we prove that you are important enough to steal things. If we go and properly procure the supplies you need and you come back with both your money and the supplies, then you'll show how responsible you are! Think about it, then you'll be given even more important things to do!"
"Aren't you tired of being around here doing menial tasks? If I were her, this would be your test. She wants you to show initiative and that you can be given greater responsibility. If you do not seize the chance when you are given one, she won't see that you are able to be given more responsibility." she reasons.
"Isn't that the test you'd design if you were in her place? What better test is there?" asks the little fairy. "You'd keep giving the person menial task after menial task until they rose above it and showed initiative! She isn't going to wake up one day and say, 'I've asked Sevren to purchase salt for the twentieth time, I think today he's able to take on a leadership role.' No, you keep asking that person to buy salt."
"For further proof, she's sending two very skilled thieves with you," she points to Tina and herself then continues, "Why would she send thieves with you if you weren't stealing things? This is her clue to you! You don't send thieves to kill bears, you send thieves to steal things!"
"Has she ever sent thieves with you before? No. That's your proof right there." concludes Xeria, smiling very smugly.
Tina flutters over, and sits herself down on Sevren's left shoulder, she claps him on the back of the neck, taking care to not energize her hands.
"Sevren, my lad, the tall one's got a point. Now it may not be exactly what your ma had in mind when she sent you out this morning, but just imagine how proud she'll be when you come back to the cave with a few skeletons or zombies of your own."
Tina furrows her eyebrows, raises her shoulders, and hovers ominously in front of the boy, in her best impression of Lucian, "Child, you have altered my orders, and shown independence. You have increased your value in my eyes. I shall permit you to bake yourself a cookie."
Tina relaxes, and takes a swig from her flask, "I know a thing or two about raising an army of the dead, you know. If she's sending you down for black onyx, it's because raising that worm took more than she was expecting. There's only one thing that onyx is good for: raising corpses."
She flits around him, and sits on his other shoulder. "Look, I get it, she's your ma, and she's a scary person even if she weren't. None of us are suggesting that you don't do what she asked. You come back with the onyx, and salt, and normal human food, as expected. You just also bring along a little bit extra."
"I've been in this cave for a long time, and I've seen a lot here. But never before have I seen a single mother raise a child with so much potential. I've known you your whole life, and I think it's time for you to take your next steps. Let's go to town and get you the respect you deserve."
Tina turns towards the whole group, "Now, it is important to remember, absolutely nobody can know anything is missing, and even less that it was us. And nobody can be hurt. Especially the gemsmith. Do you know how hard it is to find someone who will stock onyx? They all know that onyx is only used to make undead too. I convinced his great-great-grandfather to come here, and they've passed down the shop through the family. I haven't dealt with the kid who runs it now, but his mom was reasonable, and understood that sometimes us taking what we want from them was the price of living peacefully in that valley, under my protection."
"Gosh, I don't know," says Goldslip, looking at Sevren with concern. "Do you think he's ready for a mission like that?"
Snowball's boredom with the talky people is interrupted by a word she understands. "Ready! Ready! Let's go!" she exclaims excitedly.
The others were talking. Gorthug could tell that, and while he heard the words he didn’t quite understand them. It was like listening to a conversation while underwater. But it didn’t seem like he had to do anything yet, so he continued to silently loom over everyone.
Sevren is overwhelmed by such a suggestion. "Are you serious? My mom doesn't think I have any potential. She's tried a dozen times to teach me to read the very simplest light spell out of her book and I just can't do it!" But Piedmontina and Xeria are extremely convincing. "Well... I suppose we could try to get a little extra... added value out of our trip." The tiniest of grins spreads across the face of the normally-despairing teen. "Alright! Let's go!" Cindy catches up with the rest of the group, a few coins hidden in the pockets of her dress and you all make your way out of the cave into the bright, sunlit forest. Birds flit about singing in the fresh morning air of this early summer day.
Cindy, rushing back into the chamber right before everyone leaves, quickly grabs Bob and his pot and toddles off with the group.
As they walk along (hopefully going slow enough for her little 20' move speed legs to keep up) she has a hard time "watching out for bears" over the rim of the pot, so she decides that she needs a different approach.
"um. I'm trying to watch the bears like you said, but they're hard to see. I think they need to come closer.
Gorthug trudged behind Goldslip, a small part of him recognizing that being near her made everything feel better. But his orders were to accompany Sevrn with the other monsters. And the doll was falling behind. To fulfill his orders he suddenly turned, grabbed Cindy and put the doll on his shoulder. Inadvertently this made it much easier for her to both keep up and see bears. The zombie continued to shamble forwards, unable to even contemplate falling behind.
"Oh, uh, Cindy--I don't think we're meant to see any bears yet. The mistress wants us to be watchful in case any bears come close, because it's possible they might try to attack Sevren."
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Bear. Bear. Bear? A flash of a memory hit him.
Orcs laughed and drank and wagered. There was a bear, chained to a tree. Trained wardogs surrounded it, snarling. The broken bodies of two of them lay on the ground, those which were too slow when attacking. The bear was enraged. It was bleeding. It was dying. The orcs cheered.
Gorthug walked along. ”Bear.” He stated, oblivious to the meaning of the conversation.
"Oh. Sorry. I really hope we do see one though."
As they continue along she all of a sudden realizes that Gorthug said something, so she leans close to his ear to whisper "Did you see a bear?"
Snowball alternates between flying ahead and behind of the rest of the group, repeatedly passing overhead until she hears Cindy calling out to any nearby bears.
She lazily glides down to near eye level, catching the tail end of Goldslip's explanation. "Bear eat Sevren? Snowball eat bear!"
Gorthug twisted his neck to look at Cindy, and looked at her with a faint spark of intelligence in his dead eyes. After an uncomfortably long moment his head turned away, back to the road.
You walk on through the woods, following no particular path. Sevren looks somewhat worried when Cindy calls out for bears then shakes his head in amusement. "No, we don't want any bears. Most bears around here wouldn't be a problem for you all but there's a big one, Ol' Scartooth he's called, and he would be too much for you to handle. So let's just stay away from bears in general." After this brief conversation, Sevren turns back and looks where he's heading in the forest.
He is unsure where to go next into town.
Town should be northeast of your current location so you know generally which way to head from here.
"Why keep looking around? Looking for town? Did town get lost? Snowball good! Snowball not lost." Snowball flaps her wings occasionally in order to remain airborne and just a bit above eye level.
Goldslip looks around nervously. "Which way is the town, anyway?"
Xeria flies around just enjoying being out in the sun and in the air while Ripper chases after butterflies to eat. After quite a while, she finally looks around seeing everyone slow down and stop with expressions of puzzlement. She pauses, looks around, and asks, "Didn't we walk by that fallen tree there just about twenty minutes ago?""
Now she looks puzzled too, "Ummm, where are we? I'm all turned around, I was following all of you."
She sighs, "Now I'm regretting killing the halfling quickly, I should have left it limp along farther so I'd know which direction the town is."
"Okay Ripper, take a note, next time we're running down some prey, you hamstring them to slow them down and then we follow them to see where they're going."
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Tina looks around at the group, a frown on her face. "I'm disappointed in all of you. It really shows a lack of observational skill, and just a general ignorance on the part of everyone here. You're all so clueless...
Gorthug just said his first word, and you're all worried about being lost in the woods. This is a special moment in a young draugr's unlife." She hums a happy tune and makes high pitched trumpet noises, while causing some multicolored orbs to light up around Gorthug's head.
She zips over to Cindy and whispers "I know you heard it. But we need to make a big deal of it and encourage him. Maybe make him a treat when we get back" Tina floats down Gorthug, and gives him a good pat on the shoulder. "Good job, Gorthug. Can you say it again?" She enunciates, perhaps too clearly, Bar-uh. Bay-Ruh. Bayor. Bear. Bear. What sound does a bear make? Raarrugh. Raaargghugh. Can you say Raarugh?" She holds her arms over her head, and waggles them back and forth.
Once she's satisfied with Gorthug, she looks at the rest of the group, and raises a little eyebrow. We have 3 flyers, and we're looking for a moderately large village. How are we lost? She heads straight up, moving well above the treetops, looking out over the land, but always keeping an eye out for birds of prey.
Cindy, distracted by the pretty colors, eventually realizes what Tina is trying to do. As Gorthug continues to tromp along, she happily stirs Bob while quietly telling a story, emphasizing the occasional word for the draugr.
"There was once a little girl and her friend who were walking in the woods. Those woods were known to have BEARS, and the little girl was excited about seeing one. She had always had her teddy BEAR but she's never seen a real life lives in the woods BEAR.
The little girl and her friend got sad, because they decided they were lost. They hoped that a BEAR would show up and tell them where they were so they could find the village, but no BEARS came to visit them."
As Tina flies up into the air, Cindy's story continues. Unfortunately she isn't a very good story teller so she just keeps narrating what is happening.
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Sevren gets frustrated and throws up his hands "If I get lost, Lucian will say 'What a disappointing child' and despise me even more!" During this tirade, his hand accidentally brushes
Snowball!
Suddenly, Snowball feels magically empowered to find the town!
Bear bear bear bear bear bear bear...the word echoed in his head. The bear was bleeding. The orcs were cheering. He could hear the cheering. The bear was roaring.
”Raaargghugh.” Wheezed out of Gorthug’s mouth. Was he the bear? Was he the orc? He was getting confused. Who was he? He was drowning. He could see the mistress from beneath the water. Dead hands held him down. A dog bit the bear and wouldn’t let go. The orcs were cheering...Gorthug walked on, unsure if it was his mind or the spells that bound him which were breaking.
"Yay Gorthug! Raaargghugh!!!
Content that she might have done something good for Gorthug and Tina, she stops telling her story and snuggles up against the side of Gorthug's head to continue watching the woods for those elusive bears.
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Shocked at both the sudden contact with Sevren and with the feeling of the magic flowing through her, Snowball lands in a heap on the ground.
Getting up she shakes her head and snorts a couple of times.
"Peculiar. Anyway, just like Piedmontina Mumblethunder said, anyone with wings can probably find the way to town. I'm sure I must have seen it to the north-east while I was flying overhead!"
The magic spent on that revelation, Snowball sneezes and then once again takes flight.
"Snowball find town! Follow Snowball!"
With a renewed sense of direction, you walk along toward the town cheerily, celebrating Gorthug's new accomplishments. Sevren looks especially downcast and quiet for a while then. Finally, he sighs then asks "Ok most of you can't go into town. You'll attract too much attention. We should disguise you or hide you outside of town or... something... What do you think we should do?" Snowball the ranger is pretty sure you're about an hour's walk from town now.
"Um. I know some of the guys look a bit strange, but I'm just a normal girl, aren't I?. Why would that attract attention? I can be your little sister!"
Sevren looks in confusion at Cindy, not understanding what she is saying. "Um... you're an animated doll... people would think that's weird... I guess you could just lie still and I'd carry you around? But then people would think I'm weird..."
"Snowball can be cat! Fake cat!"
Snowball lands and stretches like a cat might, swishing her tail. As she does so, her scaly skin glistens under the dappled light of the forest canopy.
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"Snowball, that was a good try, but my name is actually pronounced Piedmontina Mumblethunder" As she says her own name, she spreads her arms wide, and waves her hands in a theatrical flourish, with dancing lights flashing behind her head. "I know not everyone can say it that way, though. We're all friends, so it's okay for you all to simply use words to address me."
Tina stands on Sevren's shoulder, and leans against his head, as she takes a swig from her flask. "I guess I don't really see why we need to hide at all? These folks know that we're up in the cave. They know that we don't come down here to raid them, so they live in safety. More safely than most villages, honestly, since they're under our protection.
We provide them with decent trade opportunities that most other villages don't get. How many towns this size could support a trader who traffics in magical wares? Not many, Lucian keeps this guy afloat, makes sure he can afford to feed his family in the winter. The people in this town may fear us, but surely they know a good deal when they see one."
She shrugs, "Otherwise, I know Xeria and I can be invisible, so that covers us. Everyone else other than Gorthug is pretty small. Maybe we shove them into a sack? We could find an old cloak for Gorthug and he could carry everyone?"
Cindy sits quietly, trying to make sense of what Sevren said, and then bursts into an indignant and confused tirade. "Wait a minute. I'm not a doll. I'm a girl. I make dolls. As a matter of fact I wanted to buy doll making tools while we were in town. What do you mean I'm not a girl???"
Sevren swats at Tina to try to get him off her. "I don't know. There are definitely rumors about the cave in town. But Lucian doesn't want extra publicity." He looks at Cindy in confusion but shrugs and doesn't try to convince her.
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Xeria casts a quick spell and changes to look like a small human girl, "I can go as your little sister."
Picking up on Cindy's state of mind faster than Sevren, she grabs Cindy by the hand and leans over to whisper to Sevren, "I can call her my 'Little Cindy Wee And Walk' doll. It'll explain the walking part."
Turning to Cindy she adds, "And you can be my little sister."
"I can convince a few people that I'm their friend...but I don't think I could get them to ignore the rest of you if you were seen."
Sevren nods to Xeria. "Yeah ok I guess that can work..." He shrugs at Bob. "There are some tasty things in town but I really have no idea what you think is tasty. What do you like to eat? You definitely can't eat the whole town. It's bigger than our dungeon." He eyes Bob's acidic drippings skeptically. "Are you sure you can keep from burning my head with that crazy acid?"
Snowball chimes in.
"Snowball sneak? No one see!"