Just as the executioner's axe begins to fall, Yhrrilka blasts it out of his hand! Blackjack quickly clambers up a hanging banner to a nearby wall, hauling Trinia up behind him. As the two reach the top, he drinks something from a small vial, raises his rapier in your direction as a salute, bows to the shocked crowd, and drops off the wall and out of sight.
Yhrrilka watches with excitement as Blackjack escapes with Trinia. As the crowd erupts into bedlam, she turns to her friends, her face lit up. "Did you see th-" She trails off as she sees a facial expression on Torsten, which she can't place as fury or horror. Or both?
Gesturing with her head to the crowd, she grins sheepishly as she suggests, "Maybe we should get out of here..."
"Wha-" Torsten said. He looked at Ril very much in horror and worry. Then he hissed "Are ye *this* willin' to hang?! Let's bloody well get out of here while yer head is still on yer shoulders." He grabbed the half-orc by the arm and began pulling her away. "Come on Mac, let's get goin.'" He called out, hoping that she wouldn't do anything to further provoke the situation.
"Ow!"
Ril's outcry is more in surprise than pain as Torsten forcibly leads her by the arm away from the square. It occurs to her that she's never had the man lay hands on her, let alone so forcefully. She realizes that the only time she can recall Torsten ever sounding this upset was when he tried to warn her and Zohruk off of helping defend the shop from Lamm’s goons.
When they've reached Zellara's Mark, Yhrrilka gets inside, and collapses onto the stool she sits on when she's inking clients. As she sits, Ril feels the stress of the whole incident start to come off her in waves; from the outside it almost looks like she's about to collapse. I knew I was taking Trinia's conviction hard, she thinks to herself, But wow.
The young woman takes a few moments to compose herself. When she's ready, she sits up straight, holding her hands in her lap. Ril's gaze is fixed there too for now, as she can't yet bring herself to look Torsten in the eye as she's speaking. "Trinia was going to die for something none of us think she did." She's speaking in a low voice, as calm as she can get herself.
"Blackjack saved her from that fate, a fate to which she was delivered by us. He fixed our failure, and I helped him. One hand washes the other." She finally brings herself to look Torsten in the eye. "I don’t have a death wish, Torsten. But some things, my conscience, I’ve got to live with, okay?" She looks across the room to Macaria as well. "I'm sorry I disappointed you, and I hope I didn't endanger you two, but I can't tell you I'd do it differently if I had it to do again. I’m sorry." Ril looks back down at her hands.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Once away, Torsten paced back and forth, listening to Yhrrilka's explanation. At length he said "Ye bloody well should be! That man was well and truly masked. And...and...what am I supposed to do if ye die?! Ye think it's well and good to be heroic, but there's still people here who care about ye. Bah!" He threw his hands up, feeling helpless to explain why she was wrong, but feeling the need to voice his frustration nonetheless.
"Th- there are always loved ones left behind, Torsten," Ril says, her voice halting as she goes. She again raises her head to meet his gaze. "I will tell you what you're supposed to do."
She pauses a moment; when she speaks, her voice is still wavering. "You will wake before dawn, every day, and offer a prayer to Sarenrae. You will remember your friend Yhrrilka, who was commanded by her chief and her god to stay fierce and true. You will swear that she did her best to live as she was commanded to..." She rises from the stool, maybe not as steadily as she'd have liked. "And if she fell short, you will ask the Burning Mother to show mercy to her daughter, so that she may once again be with those who have gone before her."
Ril slowly walks across the room to where Torsten is, standing directly across from him. "You will do these things, just as I have done them every day, for Zohruk." She rests her hands on Torsten’s shoulders (a bit heavily, almost hanging on to him for balance), and looks into his eyes as best she can, as her own eyes are full of tears.
"If you will promise to do this for me, dear friend," she says in between ragged breaths, "I swear... I - I will try very hard... to make sure you never have to..." She ends there as she is now crying openly.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Torsten listened, his bearded face drooped with unhappiness. He watched, silently and still as Yhrrilka cried. For all of his strength, for all of the arcane power that flowed through him, he found himself completely helpless infront of tears. Emotions such as sadness were not something he was used to, for they had been beaten out of him at a young age. His parents were no-nonsense types who saw weakness of any type as an impurity that had to be burnt away. Sadness, in their eyes, should always give way to either rage or determination, depending on the source of the sadness. Tears were something that only infants were permitted to shed. After all, the honor of the clan rested on all of their shoulders.
So when Yhrrilka cried Torsten did not know what to do. He knew that his father would have smacked him across the face 'to give him something to cry about.' And his mother would have said a single sentence so biting that it would haunt him for months. But he was not his father, and he was not his mother. Their ways were not his own, for why else would he have left? It was then that he realized that he did not have a way of his own. With a hand that trembled his awkwardly patted Yhrrilka on the shoulder. "A-aye...aye. Come now. Yer...eh...leakin.' Aye." He forced an equally awkward smile, suddenly unsure of where his hands should be. "I...uhm...it's...gonna be alright. Sure nay anyone saw ye in the confusion. How about we go get a drink? Put our minds at ease with this whole sordid affair." Alcohol. He thought. It was the either the cause of, or solution to, most problems. He couldn't think of a better one for this situation.
After a few minutes that only feel like forever, Yhrrilka manages to stop crying. She looks at Torsten, a little ashamed of the extent of her outburst, but not so much so that she regrets it having happened. Managing a smile that doesn’t feel as forced as she thought it would, Ril says, "Yeah, I think a drink would do me good right about now." She takes a moment to try and quickly compose herself. Nothing to be done about the tear-streaked face, or the strands of hair that managed to work themselves free of her braid, but she at least takes a moment to straighten herself out a bit, look a little less like she's been running around the city doing a half-assed impression of a banshee. When she's done, Ril has tamed her look down from "Full-on meltdown" to something on the border between "Having a bad day" and "Hot mess."
*=*=*=*=*
Later, as they sit in the tavern with a drink, she says to Torsten, "One of the things I like about Taldan is, when they don’t have a word for something, damn if they're not okay with just making one up. The word I'm thinking of right now is 'buttinski.' I know I'm bad about that, but one of the things we learn is that the Burning Mother, she sought us out, Torsten. Have I never bored you with that tale? She sent an angel to us, who said "YOU, you are the children of Aghash Odreth. Heed her call! Be fierce and true." To look away from the light on purpose, that's a bad thing for us, my friend."
Ril takes a long pull from her mug of ale; when she sets it down she’s got a slightly sheepish look on her face. "I really laid a lot on you back in the shop. That was more than I meant to do, I just... a lot of what I've felt about Zoh being gone, I've kept bottled up, and it kind of burst out all at once there. I'm sorry if I was a bit of a... I don’t know, a spectacle."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Torsten took another swig of his drink and listened. When it was appropriate he said, looking into his glass ”It’s interesting. How everyone sees the world based on their own culture. For me, all I could think is how glad I was that it happened at home. Because that way it wouldn’t cause harm to Clan honor.” He smiled ruefully. ”And for ye, most things come through the lens of the Burning Mother.” He finished the drink and put it down on the table. ”Emotions, lass, are a dangerous thing. I’m...” He paused, as he thought about the right word. ”I’m glad that I can be here to help carry their weight.” Refilling his glass he raised it. ”A toast, then. To Zoh.” He said, kindly, being far more used to showing emotion when drinking. It was as he said, in how people fell back onto their background. ”May our deeds make him proud, and may we live long enough to nay surprise him by reuniting too soon.”
"To Zohruk," the girl says, smiling. She stands, drains her drink, takes a quick look around the room and, seeing there is no one in the way, throws her mug into the hearth, where it shatters most satisfyingly. After the rest of the room startles, she yells out, "Sorry! Sorry. A round for the house," she says sheepishly, and when the serving girl comes around again, Ril presses several sails into her hand.
She grins at Torsten. "Unless eternity changes him, and I'm not ready to say it will, Zohruk will be insufferable on that day. He's going to give me more guff about following him, and dead or not, I'll kill him!"
You're lucky. In the chaotic aftermath of Blackjack's rescue of Trinia, it appears that Yhrrilka's assistance was overlooked. The vigilante's exploits border on the supernatural as the legends say, so a swinging axe being knocked away in a flash of fire is practically expected in the eyes of many. Queen Ileosa sets a royal bounty of 5,000gp for the capture of either him or Trinia, and the city is quickly scoured by soldiers, mercenaries, and anyone else in need of money. An undercurrent of unease ripples through Korvosa at the same time, though, as one question remains: why did the long-absent hero choose that moment to reappear ... and why did he rescue a sentenced killer? There's no easy answer, unfortunately.
...
Your meeting with Field Marshall Kroft is equally disturbing. She's received advance word that the queen is intending to restructure several elements of the city's military organizations. Queen Ileosa is temperamental and inexperienced with the intricacies of rulership, and Field Marshall Kroft is worried that this will result in poor decision-making. "My ability to finance your missions will almost certainly be diminished as the new leadership restructures and realigns elements of the Korvosan Guard. It's even possible that my position as Field Marshall may be in jeopardy. My goal at this point is to not make waves and cling to my post as tenaciously as possible. This way, I'll remain able to protect and represent those under me for as long as possible."
She sighs. "I'm afraid this means that, for all of our best interests, you shouldn't consider yourselves agents of the Korvosan Guard any longer. As long as you continue to work for the betterment of Korvosa and her citizens, I'll aid you when I can. While I hope the future will be bright, if things continue as they have been, I worry that the power of the Korvosan Guard may not be enough to protect those who serve the city."
It seemed like their side job was coming to an end. Torsten was glad that he was not an adventurer, moving from place to place looking for work that involved finding people to kill. He had his shop. He had his craft. Anything that he got from Field Marshall Kroft was just extra. "It's been an honor to work with ye." Torsten said, making a salute by putting fist over chest. "Hope ye keep yer job. City needs decent people who actually care." He thought about adding in what he thought of the queen, but decided to keep it to himself. There was no point being antagonistic. "If yer in need of us, ye know where to find us, aye?"
Ril counts herself lucky, and does her best to keep her head down for the next few days. But the matter of Blackjack seems to be a hot-button issue for her, and when she hears the situation come up in public, she sticks up for him.
"All the years he's watched over Korvosa, if he saved that girl he had to have a good reason, right? Trust him. Besides, he's probably back on his ship in the Astral Plane. I hear that's how he stays forever young. Well how do you think he stays young...? If he was a vampire he'd have burst into flames in the daylight rescue! Tupitsa..."
In their meeting with the Marshal, Yhrrilka listens, worried. When Kroft is finished speaking, Ril says, "We will do our best to keep our heads down, while still helping out. All who love Korvosa should rise to her aid in these troubled times..." As she says these things, her mind wanders, and Yhrrilka starts to daydream of those who would help Korvosa, men in black, and women in white...
The day after the botched execution, the queen introduces a new group of elite guards - the GRAY MAIDENS. Hand-selected by Queen Ileosa herself, members of this all-female squad are highly skilled and are tasked with assisting the Korvosan Guard in keeping the peace. While the Gray Maidens are few in number, they are currently taking applications from any woman who wishes to help keep order and prevent Korvosa from once-again falling into chaos. Potential recruits can apply at the Longacre Building .
After the thrill of witnessing a true people's hero rescue the innocent victim, Maca receives the news with sadness, going into a kind of rollercoaster syndrome.
"A pleasure ourselves" she says to Field Marshall Kroft.
She carefully plans her next moves, since she was counting on the income from serving the city guard to finance her orphan house.
When news about the Gray Maidens reach her, and also that they're recruiting, she walks by their HQ to get some more info on that...
It's another day in Zellara's Mark, and today, Yhrrilka is working on a tattoo for a young woman she's acquainted with from her church. The woman, a human about her own age, eventually settled into the idea of a dove on her arm. The challenge here stemmed from the fact the Ril had never actually seen a dove before. It took a lot of convincing from Sage, but Yhrrilka eventually managed to get a dove that didn't look about to attack someone.
"I’m so glad you like it! All credit to Sage, she's been an invaluable addition to the shop," Ril says, smiling as she does. She figures it's best to boost the girl's confidence, but it's also quite true. Ril would've had an unhappy customer without Sage's help. After she leaves , Ril looks over a design that Sage had shown her, that she called 'Magnus.'
"I'm not saying no," Ril says, eyeing the picture up thoughtfully, "But I think if you want to do this, your duck must be strong like bull!" Ril flexes her arms at the girl, breaking into a wide grin. "Show me a version of Magnus that can wrestle my cousin Haazek, then I think you've got something!"
As they're cleaning up later, eventually, Ril addresses Torsten in her 'I know I'm being nosy but I can't really help myself' voice. "Torsten," she begins, "I wonder something, and if you don't answer, or can't, that's fine, and I'm sorry if I'm being too… too me. Torag, does he…" She pauses, struggling for the right word. "Does he smile upon your work here? All I've ever heard of him is about works of the forge, but your works are as mighty as anything made of steel." She mimics dropping an elbow like Torsten did in the Janderhoff Power Bomb as she turns to Sage. "One day I want to put him and Haazek to a wrestling match on top of a boulder, and see what happens. I'll be putting a sail down that the boulder cracks first," she winks at her assistant as she says it.
When Macaria comes by, sharing her intent to check out the Gray Maidens, Ril's face visibly perks up. "I too am curious. I like the idea, but," she looks around, and when she sees that Sage is in the back room and out of earshot, she says, "I worry that no good fruits can be borne from the plans of the Queen." The girl doesn't know what we know, no sense in alarming her with things said without context.
As they walk there, Ril says, "Maca, I know you were planning on the money coming in from those jobs from the Marshal. You're probably sick of me saying, but anything I can do to help, just tell me." After a brief pause, she mutters, "Almost makes me wish Korvosa had a place like Kalunzatokh. We could make a fortune betting on ourselves in fights!" She pauses. "Well, right up until we were horribly maimed or devoured. Maybe not the best plan after all," she shrugs.
"Torag? He created the world." Torsten replied. "It means that everything is his creation, in a sense. In a sense, he is a God of creation." The dwarf replied. "Steel and stone are what he's known for, as the dwarves are his most devout worshipers and it is from what we came from. But any act of creation is holy to him, and he demands that his followers take the process of creation as seriously as he. And to defend what is made, just as he defends our world. Me own work isn't up to standards just yet. But it will be." He replied, stopping when he saw Macaria come by. He nodded, as Ril offered what help she could to the Varisian.
Joining the Gray Maidens involves passing a rigorous multi-part examination. Members of such an elite order of soldiers must possess exceptional strength and beauty, after all. Passing the necessary tests will prove extremely difficult, as they are heavily weighted towards applicants with a great deal of physical might. It also appears that all recruits also have unwavering loyalty to the queen. If you manage to pass the exams, though, you'll be given several weeks of intense training inside Castle Korvosa before earning your gleaming silver armor.
As the two women hear the Gray Maidens' recruitment spiel, Yhrrilka does her best to not appear outright hostile to the idea. "Mmm-hmm, yes, interesting. Don't think it's quite for me, though. I don't look good in plate mail." After they've left (unless Maca had something particular to do), Ril says to her, "Okay, I can't put my finger on it, but something about that place gave me the creeps. Was that just me or did you feel it too?"
The next day, when Sage arrives at the shop, she notices that Ril hasn't started laying out tools. When she and Quackers have arrived, Ril says, "I have something I have to do today that is not about tattoos, Sage. We found some books and documents that we found that were owned by an evil necromancer. I need to go through all this chepukha, see if it has any clues to what this man is up to, and where he might be hiding, so that we can find him and stop him." She points to the back room of the shop. "I will be in the back with these books. I don't think these are anything I want you reading, dear. You can work out front today, do some more landscapes for display to the customers. That mountainside you were working on had a lot of promise. Tomorrow will be work-related, but not exactly work. There will be a lot of walking around the city, so perhaps tomorrow is not a day for the bird." In response to the girl's pout, Ril says, "Don't make the face, please. Not every place we'll be going accommodates animals. I'll make it up to Duck, buy him some bread."
The next day, as soon as Ril sees Sage, she says, "Good morning. So today, we're gonna go out looking for new ingredients. Special ingredients. I want to see if there's such a thing as magical inks for making tattoos that can change color, or shape, or fade away after time. Honestly, Sage, I want Zellara's Mark to be known as someplace where, if the customer can imagine it, we can put it on them, no matter what. Some of this might also help me upgrade my own work," she bares her upper arm to Sage. "So then, are you ready?"
The days rolled by, and Torsten focused on his craft. The city was going crazy, but then again, when wasn't it going crazy? So what if the queen only felt safe around women? It wasn't his problem. He was just glad that everything was going to be nice and quiet again. It meant that he could practice his craft in peace. Work on humans to make enough coin to survive, and when they weren't around he could study and theorize on how to enhance the tattoos. While part of him would miss the excitement of making a fortune with his fists, he knew that it was better for everyone involved for the insanity to finally be over.
Yhrrilka
The books and scrolls looted from Lamm's shelves are mostly treatises on necromancy and the art of crafting golems. There are also a large number of books about diseases and plagues. In addition, there are two scrolls wedged between the pages of a thick picture book on humanoid anatomy. Many of the writings are filled with handwritten notes in the margins. It seems that Rolth is trying to find a way to have creatures automatically reanimate as zombies upon death. He's been looking into various diseases, but (fortunately) no such disease exists. Perhaps a plague demon could create something that could work, but summoning such a beast is beyond Rolth's skill. In the notes, you also find a rather nasty spell that Lamm has created.
You spend the following day in Midland, exploring Eodred's Walk. Your search for tattoo innovation proves profitable. Hedge Wizardry has a small stock of magical inks, and Basha's has a text that claims to contain a method for infusing permanent magical effects into tattoos. Afterwards, you have dinner at Aram's Crown, as it's not too pricey, and the watered-down spirits it serves won't be a temptation for Sage.
Torsten
Between the reappearance of Blackjack and the founding of the Gray Maidens, Korvosan pride is at an all-time high - albeit for rather contradictory reasons. Several people want tattoos of the KORVOSAN FLAG. You also get a number of requests for a STYLIZED HOOD in discreet locations.
When she sees the book in Basha's, Ril's eyes practically pop out of her head, she's staring at the pages so hard. She takes the book, hoists it onto the shopkeeper's counter, and looks him in the eye. "I will be back. DO NOT let anyone have this before I return, or I will feed you to the duck. Sage, davay potoropimsya!" She barely looks to see the girl is with her as she strides out the door.
As they walk, she's thinking out loud. "Grrr, the Bank of Abadar is all the way up in North Point. I hope Torsten has a hell of a rainy day fund...!"
She and Sage burst into the Zellara's Mark to see Torsten putting a Korvosan flag on a thick-necked young man. The second Yhrrilka sees Torsten's brought his needle off the boy's arm to freshen his ink, she grabs the dwarf by the arm and hauls him into the back room. "Excuse us, shop business, very important."
In the back room, she can clearly see that Torsten is about to explode on her, because there are few things the man hates more than interruptions while he's working. THE FOOK D'YE THINK YER DOON, she can hear it already, but there's just no time. She puts up a finger to silence him. "Scream at me later, but listen to me now. Have you got five hundred sails stashed around here somewhere, or do I have to run up to the Bank?"
Torsten glared at Ril like a grumpy old man would stare at a loud child. After a moment he turned and went into his room. He was not the kind of person who trusted banks. What was to stop them from stealing your gold? Sure, they spoke a good game about Abadar, but the entire enterprise struck him as being somehow less than honest. He came out with fifty platinum coins and placed them in Ril's hand. With an incredibly serious look on his face he said "I expect a full explanation tonight." There was no trust that he could show greater than handing over half of his savings without a question asked. Still, it did not leave him feeling good about the situation.
When Yhrrilka sees Torsten coming back with the money, her face breaks out into an expression of both enormous relief and excitement at the same time. She hugs the man briefly, too excited to worry about impropriety, then takes the money.
"I expect a full explanation tonight."
Already heading back out the door, she doesn't so much reply as let a stream of words flow from her mouth, "Of course and by tonight if you think this wasn't worth your time I'll give you six tomorrow thanks so much Sage let's GO GO GO!"
Later, as Yhrrilka and Sage sit down to dinner at Aram's Crown, the young half-orc woman is fidgeting in her seat with excitement. She eats quickly, not as much from hunger (even though she's been walking around town all day), as anticipation of showing Torsten her finds. She says to her young friend, "Sage, I really think we've got something here. If Torsten's drunken sailor friend returns, we'll give him a tattoo of a Chelish fan-dancer that has so much jiggle to her, he'll run his ship aground looking at her instead of the sea!" Ril laughs so much it comes out as a snort, to Sage's amusement.
After she's walked Sage back to Dawnflower House, she hurries back to the shop, to find Torsten there. There's no client at the moment, and when he sees Ril, the irritated look he had earlier returns immediately. Yhrrilka nods. "I know, I know. But first, please look," she sets the book down on a clear spot on the workbench in front of him. "I found this today at Basha's Maps, while The Girl and I were looking for magical tattoo inks." She suddenly seems to remember, and nods at the small chest under her arm. "Got a whole mess of great stuff on that front too, but this, Torsten, this is what had me in such a state. You could do this, my friend." She opens the book and stabs a finger down on one of the pages. "You will likely need to do a little translation into Dwarvish, and change it up so it looks like that thing you do, but this is… AAAAH!" She's excited to the point of bouncing up and down on her toes.
"So tell me, am I getting five hundred sails out of the bank tomorrow, or six…?"
Torsten looked at the ink in silence. Taking one of the vials he held it up and carefully examined it, a look of intense interest on his face. As she talked he made no sound, just grunting or nodding. At length he put it down.
"This is interesting. I'd be interested in figuring out how it is made. Only way to make a real profit off of this. That, and me pride says so." He added with a small smile. "A good find. Hopefully a good investment. I think that we're going to need to do some real advertisement to get the right kind of clientele for this. Will need to charge serious for it." His voice trailed off, before he said "One thing I've never figured out how to do is enchant tattoos on someone else. This ink might be just what I need to figure it out. Will take some study..."
"Well the inks were just for, y'know, artistic considerations," Yhrrilka replies. "The real power is in the -" She puts a hand out to stop Torsten, who was gently shaking a vial of fire ink. "I wouldn't fool with that one. That's just a Ril thing," she says, smiling sweetly as she takes it from him and puts it back in the chest. "I don't think you could handle that."
Holding up the vial for a moment before putting it back, she says, "Anyway, neither of us has the alchemical knowledge to churn this stuff out in bulk, so the real money for us is in the book, not the inks. Hell, even if you never figure out how to put your rune tattoos on someone else, you can use this to become a damn juggernaut, Torsten! Heh, I could see you grabbing a giant by the arm, snapping it like a, what's the thing, the vegetable?" She pauses to think for a minute, before dismissing the idea with a wave of her hand.
"But if we do get the hang of this, we'll have to really be careful who we enchant with what, you know? Could unleash some chaos with stuff like this," she says. "Yeah, discretion will have to be the word we go by."
Torsten blinked. Things he couldn't handle? A Ril thing? The gears in his head turned, and then he decided that it must be something feminine which meant that it was indeed something he didn't want to handle. "Plenty of things I can't handle. Kind of like jars placed too high on shelves." Torsten said, with a mostly straight face. Moving on, he added "Thing is, me runes. They bring out what is already within someone. It's very personal. It enhances, nay gives. It's why I work me muscles so much. It's like me father always said. A good rune on a shoddy blade just wastes the rune. But this ink?" He leaned it to look at it closely, not touching what Ril had put down. "The magic is in the ink itself. It's nay as permanent as me craft. But it means that it would work on anyone. And it has far more options than what I'm capable of. As ye say, we'll need to be careful with this. Power that isn't earned is ne'er respected..."
A messenger boy approaches you with a note.
"My friends, I hope this note finds you in good health in these dangerous times. In light of the recent unrest, I feel that I could provide some tips on self-defense to adventurers such as you, and would be most gratified to meet with you for these lessons, offered gratis, at Orisini Academy, 16 Hillcrest Street. I eagerly await your arrival. - Vencarlo Orisini
Yhrrilka reads the note and sets it on the table, her face a scowl of annoyed skepticism. "Really? 'Tips on self-defense?' Am I some silly youngest daughter of The Heights or East Shore, who's never even drawn her blade, because she doesn't want to spill her wine? Oh yeah, when we finally track down Rolf Lamm and he summons the living dead into our path, fear not! For I've had Tips. On. Self-defense!"
Ril starts pacing around the shop, muttering to herself in Orcish about 'arrogant, know-it-all roshka men.'
"Sounds like a trap." Torsten said. "But I'm of a mind to walk right into it. If we ignore it, then the sender will likely just give us a reason for why we need to know to defend ourselves. And if I need to get vengeance for another burnt store." He let the words trail off.
"Oh, I don't know that it's a trap," Yhrrilka says, calming down a little bit. "It just sounds so… presumptuous of him! Grrr! Still, with Marshal Kroft left to fight for her job," she says with the tone of a woman talking herself into something she doesn't really want to do, "Maybe it's worth our time to go? Expand our contacts, or something? But if he does anything patronizing, I'm gonna give him a piece of my mind and you can't stop me!"
When you arrive at Orisini Academy, there's a sign on the door: "Classes Cancelled Today" A few moments after you arrive, the door opens, and Vencarlo beckons you inside. He hides it well, but you can see that he's very nervous - and you see why as soon as he closes and locks the door behind you. Inside the academy is Trinia Sabor! She gives you a sheepish wave. "Sorry about the trouble I gave you in the Shingles."
All of Yhrrilka's irritation at this situation vanishes immediately upon seeing Trinia, to be immediately replaced with immense confusion.
"Um, yeah, sure. Wha?"
"Don't... don't get me wrong, I'm so glad you're alive after all that's gone on, but... Why are you here? We last saw you being carried off by Blackjack, was his Astral Ship not available? The hidden lair in the Darklands? I just don't get it," the woman says, more puzzled than ever.
”Me guess.” Torsten said, choosing his words carefully. ”Is that Blackjack is a man, standin’ before us. And that legends are just that. And that ye want us to move the lass to a safe location?” He asked, hoping that outright treason wasn’t going to be asked of them.
Vencarlo gives a shaky grin. "You're half right, master dwarf. I was at the queen's morbid gala and saw Blackjack sweep this charming young woman off her feet. When I returned home, he was sitting in my parlor. Told me Miss Sabor was my responsibility now and vanished - presumably to right some other festering wrongs.
"I don't know Blackjack's motives or politics, but I trust his judgment. He's a hero of the city, after all, not some bloody-minded child playing at queen. She's going to dismantle the Great Tower, did you know that? Wants to build a giant statue or something and needs the stone. What kind of person does that?" He dithers on for a few more seconds before returning to more important matters.
"Anyway, Korvosa is clearly not a safe place for Miss Sabor. There's a price on her head, and people have been searching tirelessly. I've even had Gray Maidens knocking on my door! You can't imagine how stressful it's been! I can't keep my academy closed forever. People will get suspicious.
"Then I remembered you fine people. You're artists of some sort, right? Maybe you can disguise Miss Sabor and help her get out of the city. I just know she can't stay here for much longer. I'm at my wit's end! Please, is there anything you can do to help?"
Yhrrilka hears Vencarlo's story, and seems satisfied with it. "That all sounds reasonable, Master Orisini. But I'm not so sure what we can do to help. We're tattoo artists. We don't have…" A sudden flash goes across Ril's face. "Um, excuse us a moment," she says, as she gestures Torsten aside.
"Did you see anything in that book we bought about ways to use tattoo magic to disguise a person? I don't recall seeing anything but I didn't get to see everything it had to offer."
Torsten shook his head. "It'll be some time before I can do anythin' like that reliably. As I said earlier, me tattoos are very personal right now. Uses what's inside a person to enhance them. Tryin' to work such magic right now, it'd be like...diggin' a mine without any preparation. A high chance of leadin' to disaster." He thought about what might happen by an amateur performing body-modifying magic and visibly shuddered at the thought. "But...maybe if..." The academic thought of how to go about doing it was slowly taking a hold of him. It wouldn't need to be much in the way of a change. Just a feature here or there. Enough to not fit the official description...
Yhrrilka says to Torsten, "See? Blackjack dropped Trinia off here, for reasons he knows best." She shakes her head at Torsten. "How could you think Vencarlo is Blackjack? Blackjack has been protecting this city for over two hundred years. Easy enough for a dwarf, maybe, but not for those of us with human blood…"
Ril pauses, waiting for Torsten to finish the thought. She even makes the coaxing "come on" gesture, spinning her hand in a circle, but when he still doesn't say, she finishes her own sentence. "...unless one possessed the Elixir of Acavna! Which Blackjack got at great peril in his first battle against Doctor Abaddon!" With another shake of her head, she taps the back of her skull and says, "Think about it!"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
A skilled paint job will alter Trinia's appearance, and a change of clothes will complete the disguise. However, overcoming magical scrutiny is beyond your current ability. This means you'll need a bit of luck to avoid attracting such attention. A symbolic connection between Torsten and Trinia will allow the dwarf to keep the magic active as long as he stays close by.
After hashing out the elements of a disguise, Yhrrilka asks, "Okay, so even if we pull this off and get Trinia out of town, where are we going to take her?" She pauses a moment, frowning in thought, until her face suddenly lights up. "We could take you to Belkzen, stash you with my tribe, the Burning Suns! You like the outdoors, Trinia?"
Trinia smiles. "I do like the outdoors. But Belkzen's really far away, isn't it? I've never been farther than Harse. What about there? I've got some friends there that I could stay with. They're ranchers."
"Belkzen is a little ways off," Yhrrilka says glumly. She nods pensively, then concedes, "Yeah, I guess Harse could work. I'll get home some other time, I guess. It's a shame, I think you're my cousin's type," she says with a wink.
"These friends of yours, you trust them to keep you under wraps? Do folks in the area know you? It won't do to have everyone say, 'Hey Trinia's in town,' then the Gray Maidens show up two days later."
Harse
Harse is a small village approximately 60 miles northeast of Korvosa. Although there are only about 800 residents, the vast majority live on isolated farms and raches scattered around the countryside. The majority of people there worship Erastil and prefer to keep to themselves. There are also ferries allowing an easy means of crossing both the Sarwin and Falcon Rivers.
Torsten still found it strange to hear about Belkzen in anything but whispered curses and ancient longing. But he was mature enough to know that everyone had a home, and that both politics and war were bigger than any individual. Hatred was for people with small minds. Like his father. He almost smiled at the thought, but forced himself to stay in the moment.
"So we can make a disguise. But the real challenge is goin' to be gettin' out of the city. I've got two ideas. First, we could use a boat. Slip out at night. The river isn't that big and to the north of the city is just wilderness. Problem is that if we're spotted, it'll be bad. The other idea is to go to Croft and see if we can get a pass from her. Somethin' that would give us a reason to get out of town. Could walk right through the gate then. So long as the disguise holds up."
Ril listens to Torsten's ideas. "I know the Marshal is facing difficulty with her position right now, but maybe she can help us with that. Should one of us pay her a call?"