When Karley's fireball goes off, Tsu Harabax reacts with surprising speed, casting a hand outward towards the halfling and forming some sort of bubble around her, containing the explosion within the shell so that only the unfortunate, accidental caster and her trusty canine companion are harmed by the flames.
While a contained fireball was preferable to killing half the folk within the inn and setting the place ablaze, it still certain garnered attention. Zippy was screaming again, the dwarf and the woman he was with had risen and drawn weapons in surprise, and the dryad was hiding behind her tree's flower pot, but grinning at the display.
The big tabaxi bouncer, Aleksandr, loomed over Nuruk and Karley after the dragonborn kept her from dying, arms crossed. "That one can't stay," the big feline said with finality. Tsu's expression, too, was a bit grim.
The lorning, attention drawn by the drama, spotted Nuruk -- and recognized him. It gave a little yelp of surprise, then turned around and ran out the door.
Willow grabs his shoulder and he leans back, his head tilting for just a moment to listen to her words. His eyes widen and he looks towards the figure that had just entered the inn. The reds grew wider and wider, his nostrils flaring, and the cup in his hand cracks as his grip tightens.
His heart begins to race in his chest and his vision goes blurry. Was he blacking out? No, it was tears that were threatening to fall. Fear, anger, shame, it all began to rush through him as he trembled underneath Willow's gaze.
"I-I-I should...I should..." Just then, Karley exploded. The blast of heat shook him from his stupor and the paladin would rush from the table towards his blasted, fiery friend.
"Karley! Wh-what happened?" Nuruk placed his hands upon her, the essence of life that was a gift from the Queen would flow into the halfling, healing her as much as he could.
Willow places a hand on Nuruk's face gently, about to whisper something calming to the dragonborn before Karley's explosion goes off. She whips around, the lornling all but forgotten, and her jaw drops with shock. Karley, casting spells in here without regard for the consequences? She wasn't shocked. She follows quickly in Nuruk's wake, worried she would find her friend a burnt-out husk.
Willow doesn't notice Tsu's reaction time, but she does notice that Snook is just...gone...and Karley is barely breathing, holding onto life thanks to Nuruk's healing. She kneels down next to the sorceress and casts another healing spell, light purple energy enveloping the naked halfling and soothing even more of the burns. The tiefling's normally carefully neutral face is twisted with worry and no small amount of anger; brows furrowed and slightly pointed teeth bared as she casts.
When the healing is done and Karley is conscious, she nods carefully to the tabaxi man. "I understand," She replies, standing and looking down at Karley, that mixture of anger and worry still apparent on her face.
She nudges Nuruk slightly as the lornling yelps and goes to leave, raising her eyebrows at him in an unspoken question: Will you pursue, or stay here? She waits a moment to see what Nuruk does, then makes her way over to Tsu to try to make amends.
"My lady," She begins carefully, touching her holy symbol briefly for comfort. Her inability to smile, to defuse the situation with a simple act of politeness, made her worry that her pleading would not be enough. "My friend violated hospitality. I would like to make it right on her behalf."
Khalil just happened to be looking at Tsu, pondering how best to articulate the meditative visualization needed to connect ones self to the inherent nature of the world's creatures in order to communicate with them. The tip of his pen tapped against his lower lip when the surge of energy rippled across his table and through the inn. But before he even knew what was happening, Tsu was already throwing up the force barrier. Her magic enveloping Karley and poor Snook, but preventing a total disaster when the fireball explodes.
Coughing and waving his hands to try a clear some of the residual smoke, Khalil makes his way through the stunned crowd. Seeing Willow kneeling over Karley, he turns to Tsu.
"Is anyone else injured?" He asks the innkeeper looking sadly upon the remains of Snook. "Alas, there's not much I can do for the poor hound."
He then tips his head respectfully in her direction. "That was quickly and amazingly done." He says gesturing toward the confined space of the fireball. "I'm sure many here owe your their lives."
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Nuruk's concern over his friend is too much for him to have seen the magic that the innkeeper has done. His hands rested upon the halfling and after his short...sabbatical...in his room, he had felt refreshed.
The tabaxi's words are missed as Nuruk's eyes lock with the lornling, the little creature holding his gaze for a moment. It was then that it gasped and turned to run out the door.
It was scared of him.
All those feelings of shame, feelings of fear, burned away as a new emotion replaced them. Anger. A burning, furious, fiery rage that swelled from a place deep in the paladin. It was not the righteous fury of his charge being corrupted by the coven and the laws of the Feywild being twisted from the Light. It was the rage of a child that was violated. It was an anger that made his whole form tremble and the kindness in his eyes be replaced by the truly draconic nature inside of him. He stayed still, perfectly so, as it ran towards the door. He waited for that moment, the one foolish mistake it could make.
It left the hospitality of the inn.
No words were spoken as Nuruk shoved his way passed the Tabaxi, his footsteps hard and fast. He had no armor and no weapons, the tools of his trade secured in his room. He rushed out the door as the servant of the hag was already going down the ladder.
While the lornling was retreating, the creature would suddenly notice the shadow above it. The grey sky had been blotted out, the massive figure of the dragonborn instead encompassing what was the sky for it.
Nuruk leapt off the edge boots-first.
"My lady," She begins carefully, touching her holy symbol briefly for comfort. Her inability to smile, to defuse the situation with a simple act of politeness, made her worry that her pleading would not be enough. "My friend violated hospitality. I would like to make it right on her behalf."
Tsu directed a critical eye at Karley, then looked to Willow. "You would pay what she owes? Very well. No harm was done but that was very nearly not the case. So nothing too extreme... If I can have an hour of your time, we'll call it even, and I'll even get Aleksandr to back down and let the drunk little monkey stay the night with the rest of you. No more magic from her though."
He then tips his head respectfully in her direction. "That was quickly and amazingly done." He says gesturing toward the confined space of the fireball. "I'm sure many here owe your their lives."
Tsu smiled strangely. "How right you are," she said simply.
People were, in many cases, taking their leave after the incident.
Nuruk leapt off the edge boots-first.
Nuruk's feet caught the little froggy thing and he landed atop it hard. It let out a little disturbing squeak of pain, and remained pinned by the dragonborn.
With all of the excitement of Karley blowing herself, and nearly the rest of the inn's patrons up, and Nuruk chasing off after the little froglike creature, Vash steps away from the harengon rogue - but keeps a wary eye on him.
Glancing in the direction of Tsu, he sees Willow trying to smooth over all of this mess. Vash cringes a bit when the tiefling offers to "make it right", gods only knew what that meant in this place.
Walking over to the halfling, he says, "I am sorry for your loss, Karley. I'm not as good at this as Willow is, but hopefully this will lessen the physical pain a bit, if only I could help with the emotional toll."
The half-elf waits by the side of the halfling, doing his best to console his friend, waiting to see what price Willow paid and looking worriedly toward the door Nuruk had just burst through.
Tsu directed a critical eye at Karley, then looked to Willow. "You would pay what she owes? Very well. No harm was done but that was very nearly not the case. So nothing too extreme... If I can have an hour of your time, we'll call it even, and I'll even get Aleksandr to back down and let the drunk little monkey stay the night with the rest of you. No more magic from her though."
"She is my friend," Willow says simply in reply as if that explained everything. Without thinking about the implication of the named cost, the tiefling inclines her head politely to Tsu. "I will happily pay the price."
"Very well. We have a deal." Tsu waved off Aleksandr.
The harengon Jinko made to leave with the others who were trickling out, or up to their own rooms.
Willow stands a bit awkwardly in front of Tsu, glancing at Khalil who had approached and sweet-talked the proprietor a tad bit. She looks nervously at Karley and Snook's smoking remains, and then where Nuruk had rushed out the door without his arms or armor, and finally, at Vashrin, who had been squaring up with a harengon.
"Ahhh... I will make sure Karley understands clearly that she is not to cast anything in here. I can let her know before you have your hour?" She glances again at the door, worried about the dragonborn.
Had everyone gone suddenly mad?! Khalil's thoughts struggled to keep up with his companions. First, explosive spontaneous combustion, a phenomena only Karley could have perfected to such a degree. Then Willow promises further payment with few boundaries or limits. And now Nuruk charges off into the night dark swamp. Maybe the hag will choke to death on her bloodwine when she hears the tale. He thinks grimly as he starts to follow Vashrin toward the door to look for Nuruk and see what had spurned the usually sensible knight into such raging recklessness.
Tsu smiled, and Willow caught a glint of several metallic teeth among the white ones. It was not a friendly one, nor was it exactly predatory...it was more like the smile a parent would give to a child who misunderstood something so badly it was cute. "Oh I don't need it tonight, dearie. Don't worry yourself over it. You'll hardly notice its missing. I'll collect when I'm ready." She sighed. "Well, that's the dinner rush over, then." She helped herself to a cream puff behind the counter.
Nuruk, rushing to peer out after Nuruk, saw the lornling, pinned on its back under the dragonborn's massive foot. The departing patrons gave the pair as wide a berth as they could as the walking inn sloooowly ambled away from the pair. Already, Nuruk and his prey were in line with the tail end of the building instead of the center, where he'd jumped from.
"Ah," Willow replies, nodding with some understanding. She had spent eight years in a Fey carnival, after all--despite her tendency to hole up and not venture outside of it that often, she was somewhat aware of some of the nuance...in this case, a tad too late. She bows politely to the proprietor and makes her way to Karley, arms crossed as she stands over the halfling.
"You are not to cast any more magic while we are here. I am covering the cost of this. We need to figure out a way to understand what's going on with you--without all of your riddles and talking around the issues like you normally do," She looks sternly at the halfling, but then her expression softens. "I'm sorry about Snook." She glances at the door again, sighing heavily and rubbing her temples.
Willow darts outside, looking down, and shouts at the Dragonborn: "Nuruk! Bring it back up here so you don't get left behind."
Spotting the dragonkin and what was apparently his quarry, Khalil readies a rope. Securing it to the nearest support post for the inn, he hollers to Nuruk.
"Probably not the best time for a swim Nuruk. Best secure that beastie and catch us up in case this wandering domicile decides its in the mood for a sprint and leaves you stranded." He says tossing the rope out to the dragonkin.
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The was satisfaction at feeling the creature underneath his foot, feeling it writhe in terror at the dragonborn's strength. No longer were they a dozen to one. No longer was he just a clumsy child trying to help the others. The Summer Court radiated power to him, not just the growth of nature but the blistering heat of the sun that could burn flesh and wilt leaves. Summer was life but it was also fire, it burned away the good and bad all the same.
"You me!" The dragonborn shouted, uncaring of the others who were leaving the place and giving them a wide berth. "It isn't so easy when your victim isn't a child, is it?" His instincts were starting to get to the best of him, bits of flame escaping his lips. Everything told him to breathe upon this abominable thing, to set it aflame and end its life. The water of the swamp stayed its distance, the magic of the carnival's gift doing its best and working with unseen strength. The lornling would sink deeper into the mud as Nuruk stepped down harder. "Where is my song!? WHERE IS WILLOW'S SMILE!? Give them back, you bastard!" His fist lifted, claws clenching to begin exacting justice when he heard Khalil and Willow call out to him.
"If we do, it can call for hospitality! Outside, out here, I am the hospitality." Nuruk exclaims, teeth bared as he looks down at the wriggling thing. "You may think this is the worst thing in your life but, in truth, this is the last of your good days. Savor this. It will not get better than it is, right now." The dragonborn promised, flames licking his lips. "So speak."
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Hearing the commotion from beyond the doors of the inn, the half-elf goes outside. Vash's eyes widen as he stands in stunned silence, seeing Nuruk's rage.
"Nuruk...your anger and your rage are more than justified, gods know I understand, and would likely do the same should I see that moon-masked b+#$* again...but this isn't you, my friend. Willow and Khalil have the right of it, bring it back up here."
A wicked smile crosses Vashrin's face when he adds, "Although nothing says we have to bring it inside of the inn."
Willow peeks over the edge, standing by the rope, and bites the inside of her lip to keep from grinning madly at the scene before her. While she knew it was actually not the best idea for the dragonborn to continue the confrontation down there, there was something thrilling about watching Nuruk's righteous anger; the same anger she harbored over their collective losses.
Willow chuckles smilelessly at Vashrin's last comment, raising her eyebrows and crossing her arms over her chest. "Vash is right, Nuruk...We can all have a word with the little shit," She calls loudly, dark amusement coloring her tone.
The lornling struggled under Nuruk's foot, mouth gaping open and closed as if trying to gulp air. A creepy little groan issue forth from it, one that set Nuruk on edge. It was like the sound of a weak, sickly, evil baby. It was not the sort of sound a humanoid should make, but it wasn't quite animal either. It was disturbing, that much was certain.
It didn't reply to him. He wasn't entirely sure it could -- they'd never heard any of the things speak before.
Nuruk stares down at the creature with a hateful gaze, his fist clenching as a light begins to manifest within it. He could bring down righteousness upon this mewling, unnatural thing. Crush it, destroy it, find a momentary reprieve to the anger he felt. The others called to him though and he would let out a breath, his hand unclenching to instead reach down and encompass the thing's whole head in his palm.
"Try to get away and I will break you." Nuruk said, still threatening but calmer now as he turned towards the leaving inn and made his way to quickly ascend back upwards.
Nuruk returns to the porch of the Inn, lornling dangling from one clawed hand. It's wriggling futilely in his grasp, making horrid high pitched groaning noises.
When Nuruk is back up, Willow approaches the dragonborn and his quarry, glaring at the hag's minion. "Can it even talk?" She mutters, gritting her teeth with disgust.
"What are you doing here, little lornling?" She asks it, jabbing the disgusting, mewling creature with one finger.
Khalil looks at Nuruk and then to Willow and then to the groveling lornling. Seeing the look in Nuruk's eyes and the way Willow jabs her finger at the creature, the druid steps in between them and the bound creature.
"Easy. Easy both of you." He says holding up his hands and glancing back through the door of the inn. "I've no love for these creatures either, but remember the rules." He says emphasizing the last word. "Tsu has declared all are welcome and its her hospitality we'd be breaking if..." He looks at Nuruk and can see the rage still burning in the dragonkin's eyes. "...if anything were to happen under her roof."
"Might be best to see how she feels about these creatures before we end up in a heap more trouble." He adds that last tilting his head back toward the area of Karley's self immolation where the blackened wood was still warm to the touch.
Willow stares at the creature for a beat longer and then tears her gaze away, heaving a heavy sigh and nodding at Khalil, grateful for the druid's wisdom. "Yes, you make a good point. I'd rather not have to promise away another hour of my life." She looks at Nuruk, raising an eyebrow. She hated to stifle the righteous anger, but their companion had the right of it. "Shall we? Karley's been left alone long enough."
"Then find me an answer, Khalil, while I offer this creature a chance at repentance. If you should come back and hospitality will cover it and it chooses not to speak and repent, then I shall smite it with all the authority the Order and the Summer Court grants me." Nuruk's anger was still there but his voice was now focused, nearly cold in nature. His fingers tightened harder around its head. The mention of Karley pulled a more empathetic look from him and his features softened.
"I-I cannot. Not till this is dealt with. We will also speak about this hour that you have promised away." Nuruk says softly with a frown. This inn was supposed to be refuge and it had seemed to have brought out the worst so far.
Willow stubbornly crosses her arms and then looks to Khalil, nodding and shrugging. "Then I'll stay with you while it's dealt with," Willow says to Nuruk, watching the lornling wriggle in the dragonboen's grip. "Karley broke the rule of hospitality with her spell mishap. I smoothed things over." She explains, a little evasively. She glances up at the dragonborn for a moment and then looks back to the lornling, her tail whipping back and forth sharply, agitatedly.
Tsu's reply came sooner than expected, from the door. "You won't get much out of it, I'm afraid," she said, quite casually for one whose place of business had suddenly spiraled into such chaos. She had a bowl of nuts in one hand and was idly snacking on them. "They do not speak. They are not even alive, really. They are spawn of Bavlorna, tiny copies in her image, hatched from her person. It may be for the best you end that one. When they return to her, and rejoin with her, she sees all they saw and hears all they heard. If it perishes, well. The beasts of the swamp have likely eaten them before, and will again." She glanced up at the eaves of the roof, and pointedly over to Nuruk, who was not yet under them.
"How unfortunate." Nuruk said, his fist seeming to glimmer for a moment. He immediately brings that fist down upon its being. His strength was already potent as it was but with it came a righteous power, light searing into his being like it had into the hobgoblin's poor dog. Like a torch would snuff out the darkness, he quickly would end the creature's life.
There was no body. As Nuruk destroyed the lornling, it seemed to fall apart, becoming a pile of leeches that wriggled on the ground for a few moments before those, too, dissipated into fog.
Tsu, unmoved by the sight, returned inside.
Vash's eyes widen in surprise and disgust as the lornling dissolves into a mass of writhing leeches.
Once the leeches turn to fog, the bard approaches Nuruk, whispering to the paladin, "You were more than justified in your actions, my friend. But take this not as admonishment, but more of a warning friend who knows and would not wish to see you go down a particular path - revenge is fleeting and ultimately leaves you cold, heartless, and damaged. What you just administered was justice, please strive to keep it that way."
His peace said, Vashrin returns to the comforts of the inn.
Willow shivers slightly at the sight of the leeches and then stays out on the porch a moment with Nuruk after Vashrin leaves. "You didn't freeze up. Or fail anyone. The less the hag knows about us, the better. But are you alright?" She tenses slightly at her verbalization of concern, but she wasn't willing to keep it bottled up.
Hearing Tsu's explanation of what the lornlings actually were, Khalil simply shakes his head in disgust. With his concerns about Tsu well answered, the druid doesn't interfere further in Nuruk's administration of justice. He'd not the history with the things that the others obviously had, but the mere fact they existed at all was yet another crime against nature the hags needed to pay for.
With little else to do, Khalil follows Tsu back inside and returns to his work on the scroll.
Nuruk and Willow remained on the porch, the others heading back inside. The elven couple had retired for the night. The only other customers remaining besides yourselves were the dwarf and the woman, adventurers by the look of them, and they were packing up to leave. The dwarf swung by the table where Vash, Khalil, and Karley now sat on his way out.
"I must say, tha' was certainly not a borin' evenin'," he chuckled. "I thank ye for the entertainment, friends. Safe journey."
Khalil tips his hat to the dwarf and returns the smile. "Things do have a tendency to get interesting around us." He quips with a chuckle. "Where are you two off to, if you don't mind my askin'?" He says his tipping his head toward all the adventuring gear.
"We were ta be meetin' our leader here, fella named Stronghard. We been trackin' a group a' villains callin' themselves the League of Malevolence, traced 'em ta Prismeer. Figured we could group up here but summat musta happened ta delay him. Molliver an' I decided we'd split up and go off lookin' for 'im." The dwarf nodded towards the woman, who seemed more the strong silent type.
"Hmmm...Can't say we bumped into anyone by that name. If we do we'll tell him you're lookin' for him. What's he look like?" He says rubbing a finger under his chin thoughtfully.
"This League sounds like a bit o'trouble and maybe allies of the old bat currently running this land." He says glancing around to make sure nobody else is listening in. He lowers his voice a bit. "If we happen to run into 'em, any tricks of theirs we should worry about? If they are in league with the hag, it's pretty likely we're gonna bump into them in an unfriendly manner." He adds.
The dwarf laughs. "Ah ye canna miss him. Stronghard's one o' them paladin types, and makes sure everyone knows it. So good-hearted he makes ye feel like ye need to be better, ye ken? Got angel wings on his bloody helm, he does." He shook his head, still chuckling as he thinks about his friend.
"As fer the League, no doubt they're hopin' ta gain some power or other from the witches. Kelek is a greedy, narcissistic sociopath of a wizard, and looks the part with his long white beard an' all. He's a coward at heart, though.
"Skylla's spiteful and treacherous, as likely to betray her allies as ta help 'em. She's real creepy, wears a horned skull on 'er head. Got some sorta pact with an evil entity grants her magic and such.
"Warduke, which probably ain't his real name, never takes off his helm. You'd think he's be the least dangerous a' the lot since he just hits things with his sword, but his sword is on fire, and he hits hard.
"Zarak is a wee assassin, and the one I'm most lookin' forward ta killin'. He's an abomination, half orc, half dwarf -- didna think such a thing were possible, but he's proof the universe makes mistakes.
"Then there's Zargash, an wretched human who worships Orcus and wants to become a vampire. Kills good folk and turns them into undead monsters."
"Hope ye never run into any a' them. A fouler group of odious individuals ye'll never meet." He spits off to the side, then frowns, glances at Tsu and sees her watching, and grabs a handkerchief to wipe it up, bowing his head to her apologetically. "Bad habit. Sorry."
The lornling falls apart into nothing and for a moment, the scowl on Nuruk's face deepened. It wasn't enough. He didn't feel any better after that. All he knew was the lornlings were part of the hag and that all they were good for was making others suffer before suffering themselves. Vash's hand on his shoulder brings him out of his thoughts and his head tilts, the red eyes looking at his comrade. It would've been easy enough to have taken insult, to let the rage consume him. Instead, Nuruk takes a deep breath and puts his hand on his comrade's shoulder.
"Thank you Vash but it is not justice yet. They are only a symptom of the problem. We must work together to bring them all done. I will strive to be worthy of my title and all of your friendships. I promise." He offers the slightest smile before his attention turned towards Willow, the last remaining Defender that stayed outside with him.
"Bha mi ag iarraidh freagairtean. Freagairtean dhan dithis againn. Tha mi duilich a ghràidh." Nuruk responded, the sylvan tongue not able to hide true deceit within it. Half-truths and misdirections, certainly, but not total lies. He only answered after the urge to mock her came, that foreign instinct making his stomach twist with the quiet rage. "I felt that fear but...I saw how it feared us. It knew the danger we were. It remembered us. She remembers us."
"I will rescue your smile and my song and I will sing everyday for you as long as you smile for me. I promise you that, even if I have to pry it from her cold hands." Nuruk whispered, holding Willow's hand for a moment and giving them a gentle squeeze. He would follow her back inside then, looking amidst the relatively empty space that had been so joyful only minutes ago.
"The hags unconsciously suck away merriment and joy from this place, even through secondhand trauma." The dragonborn thought before he made his way through. He gave a nod towards Khalil and Tsu, the latter receiving a suspicious glare with it though. The paladin was a hammer and there were more serious nails to strike down. He would come to Karley's side, his hand resting upon her shoulder.
"My dear friend, your smile has weakened...but seems more honest now. You've been carrying a weight, haven't you?" Nuruk says gently, his large hand looking almost ridiculous upon the halfling's back. He sits closer and lower to the ground, gently moving her if she wished to lean in against him.
"I know we all have our...difficulties. We would fight almost as much as we played when we were young, didn't we?" The memories of childhood innocence came to his face as he reflected for a moment, his draconian eyes holding their familiar friendliness. "If you need time, I understand, but if you ever just want to talk and someone to listen, I am here and so are the others. You have been missed, Karley Rumblemuffin, and we're here to help carry whatever weight you bear."
He offers the slightest smile before his attention turned towards Willow, the last remaining Defender that stayed outside with him.
"Bha mi ag iarraidh freagairtean. Freagairtean dhan dithis againn. Tha mi duilich a ghràidh." Nuruk responded, the sylvan tongue not able to hide true deceit within it. Half-truths and misdirections, certainly, but not total lies. He only answered after the urge to mock her came, that foreign instinct making his stomach twist with the quiet rage. "I felt that fear but...I saw how it feared us. It knew the danger we were. It remembered us. She remembers us."
"I will rescue your smile and my song and I will sing everyday for you as long as you smile for me. I promise you that, even if I have to pry it from her cold hands." Nuruk whispered, holding Willow's hand for a moment and giving them a gentle squeeze. He would follow her back inside then, looking amidst the relatively empty space that had been so joyful only minutes ago.
Willow waits patiently for him to fight the urge to mock her, then nods slowly at his words in Sylvan. She responds in kind, an eyebrow raised: "Tha e ceart gu leòr, mo chridhe. I'm surprised she can remember all the lives she's destroyed. Perhaps we're just the first to fight back to this degree."
After Nuruk's declaration, Willow fights the urge to smile softly, looking down at their hands twined together gently and nods. "Cha bhith e comasach dhut stad a chuir air mo ghàire," she replies, weaving her fingers inbetween his. ”We’ll get everyone’s loss back. Everyone's.” She keeps her hand in his as they re-enter the Inn.
Inside, Willow nods respectfully at Tsu and then sits next to Vashrin and Khalil, across from Karley, and listens to Nuruk speak to Karley, then everyone else. She glances over at Vashrin at the last statement about helping them bear their weights, raising an eyebrow meaningfully at the half-elf. ”That goes for all of you. We’re stronger together,” she adds on, leaning forward a little to make eye contact with Khalil as well.
She glances back at Karley and pulls out the note that the halfling wrote, sighing heavily as she reads. She wanted to be angry at the halfling, but it wasn’t as if the wild sorcerer had a choice in her predicament. Nuruk’s kindness in the face of the chaos tempered the cleric’s lingering anger over the situation that had arisen; as had remembering that her friend had lost a pet. ”When you can…we need to know more about this situation, if you know more. To better protect you and the rest of us.” Her eyes dart to the burnt spot, thinking of the promise she made to the proprietor to keep Karley from getting kicked out.
"You won't be able to stop me from smiling," she replies, weaving her fingers inbetween his.
"Thanks for the warning and safe travels friends. I hope you find your friend and that we all get the chance to share a toast under the fine stars and sun once again." Khalil says to the departing adventurers as Nuruk and Willow come back inside.
He tips his hat and smiles at Willow when the tiefling meets his eyes, but soon enough his attention follows the conversation and turns to Karley. Curiosity burbled in his thoughts. It was clear from her subdued manner that the evenings events had taken a toll upon the wild halfling. Everyone deals with such things in their own way. He wondered how all of this may, or may not, have changed her. But he would not push. That wasn't his way. Instead he just listened.
Listened and asked Tsu for a simple cup of coffee. After all, he'd still a lot of work to scribe that scroll for the innkeeper.
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Willow watches all of this unfold quietly, raising her eyebrows with disbelief when the strange little cube of jiggly gelatin addresses each one of them.
While the cube names the others, the cleric digs into one of her pouches, pulling out a carefully wrapped sheet of little perforated squares that had swirling pink and purple designs all over it. She counts the tiny squares, and then again...and then she sighs with resignation, carefully wrapping the slip of paper so as to avoid brushing her skin against any part of it.
After Kube's introduction, she looks to her halfling friend, brows furrowed in confusion, and then back to the jelly. "I feel like we have very different definitions of 'clearly,' Willow mumbles under her breath, awaiting further explanation from the Karleys.
After Nuruk's declaration, Willow fights the urge to smile softly, looking down at their hands twined together gently and nods. "Cha bhith e comasach dhut stad a chuir air mo ghàire," she replies, weaving her fingers inbetween his. ”We’ll get everyone’s loss back. Everyone's.” She keeps her hand in his as they re-enter the Inn.
Inside, Willow nods respectfully at Tsu and then sits next to Vashrin and Khalil, across from Karley, and listens to Nuruk speak to Karley, then everyone else. She glances over at Vashrin at the last statement about helping them bear their weights, raising an eyebrow meaningfully at the half-elf. ”That goes for all of you....
Vashrin nods offering a weak smile in acquiescence to the statement.
Following along to try and make sense out of anything Karley related - which all too often was a futile endeavor - Vashrin's expression is one of mild amusement and ultimately confusion as the gelatinous being introduces itself.
All these odd names for our supposed counterparts... he thinks to himself. "Great Lord of the Seven Kingdoms?" the half-elf asks incredulously. "This just gets stranger and stranger..."
Nuruk watches and listens with amazement, taking in the strange sights that Karley's room could show them. He did his best to try and keep up with what the strange, gelatinous cube before him was telling him. It was hard to understand it all though but the smile remained upon his face as he nodded softly.
"So...different realities are like different realms. Cosmos unto themselves. The priests of Mystra speak of such things, hypothetically, since her divine magic is akin almost to music. A single note changed changes everything." Nuruk supposes, scratching his chin lightly.
"So you are one of many, this one being just one of your origins then? Is that...right?" Nuruk asked, not sure which Karley to speak to.
Willow listens carefully, shifting her weight a tad while she does. When Nuruk speaks, she's grateful for an explanation that makes sense in the context of the world as she knows it--planes and realms and divine magic and the like.
Willow squeezes the halfling's hand back, looking thoughtful as she decides how to reply to all of this.
"I'm glad to find out what's happening with you, at least to some degree." She looks down at the halfling, one eyebrow quirking before she continues. "Maybe we can help you with it at some point...but we can't do that until the hags are dealt with and our losses are recovered. Truthfully, this seems beyond the scope of any mortal being anyway." Willow shrugs, letting go of the halfling's hand and starting to fidget with her tail. "We're stuck here in the Feywild until we handle everything that we came here for, so that needs to be our focus. But knowing what you're going through will help us understand things and possibly help you whenever the wild magic flares."