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Gehenna, ignoring the imagined pain, glaces over the gruesome workshop and wonders what sort of mad logic was at work here. She nods in ascent to her companions intentions to move on, but notes to herself with some satisfaction that the broken from of the blue-skinned creature does not elicit the same fearful response as a human corpse might.
Gehenna follows her fellows into the fray, but stays just outside of the clamor. Instead she tries to identify the strange winged-beast while preparing to defend herself. Mechanics: Action 1: Move within 10ft of the fight. Action 2: Ready action to attack anything that comes into range. Free Action: Knowledge check on the winged-beast.
Look forward. "Action is better than being taken off guard. We should... finish this task as quickly as possible. I'll do my best to espy any danger in the dark."
Take care, Castor. It was fun playing with you while it lasted!
Gehenna turns her head away darkly as the others approach the scene. She had seen the murderous act quite distinctly through magical veil and now desperately sought to expunge the memory of it from her present thoughts. Instead, she bites her lip nervously and continuously pans her vision over the various dark portals surrounding the room, knowing danger would not depart from them as swiftly as Vaen had.
Gehenna takes a step forward and resists the curious instinct to squint as she peers into the greater darkness before her. Seeing what Evelyn is reaching for, and the party's retreat, she does her best to indicate the positions of the pale blue creatures and then readies herself for any incoming attacks. OOC:
Mechanics: Action 1: Step up next to Evelyn. Action 1: Aid Another? Action 3: Ready an attack against the first enemy to enter striking range.
"Agreed," Gehenna whispers back to Juliet. "If they're not bad people they'll run, or beg for mercy, or... something," Gehenna makes a dismissive shrug as she says "or something," not looking the least bit conflicted. "If they are bad people then I'd rather have the jump on them."
Stab away! Gehenna still has the phantom smarts from those reefclaws and would rather not her guard down again.
As the group proceeds towards the noises, Gehenna primes a message spell and whispers to the group that, if desired, she and the more stealthy members could douse lights and proceed ahead. With Gehenna's preternatural vision, they might be able to size up the source of the sounds before engaging. Mechanics:
Not yet having a sense for the size of this place, or for how long their party might be forced to linger within, Gehenna channels additional energy into her spell. Calling forth the armor of magical force in this way was dangerous, not to mention unpredictable if she failed, but Gehenna succeeds without great effort. This time. Seeing Evelyn exposed to possible avenues of attack, Gehenna steps up next to Juliet, hoping that the invisible shield of force would adequately defend the both her and the summoner. Mechanics:
Mechanics:
Relief in Gehenna's heart over her conversation with Thousand Bones mixes with grim trepidation about standing in the middle of the city's largest, death-choked graveyard leaves her feeling somewhat removed and she only vaguely listens in to her comrades' banter. "Doesn't look like many other people come this way so...perhaps it did carry the, er horser?" she suggests taking peeks at the desolate landscape from underneath her hood.
Gehenna can easily prepare Light or Dancing Lights. The former has a better duration by far, but the latter can be used to scout ahead somewhat. If holding torches is really no problem, then Dancing Lights is probably the better option. And I guess before we get started:
If we don't have many healing items on hand I can swap favor for cure light wounds.
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Gehenna's eyes seem to glaze over as she attempts and fails to process Kadok's statement. She dismisses it with the shake of a head. "No, Kadok, these are for me." That aside, Kadok's presence represented a more pressing concern. Separated from his family as he was, the boy was in need of looking after, but she certainly could not provide it. Not with the situation as it was. Perhaps Kroft would know of somewhere where displaced... refugees of the current unrest could find some level of security and succor. "It isn't particularly safe here, Kadok," Gehenna says to the child plainly. "Work is... keeping me busy lately. I can't look after you myself or help search for your family right now. For the moment, please stay here and try to keep quiet. I'll speak with Field Marshal Kroft and see if there is somewhere safer you could stay at while I make what inquires... I mean while I do what I can to find your family." She reflects briefly before continuing, "Don't open the door for anyone but me, okay? Just hide or flee through the back window. I don't think many locals want to mess with "the witch," but if any of Lamm's servants come by it could be trouble. And if armour-man kicks in the door, you tell him that I said he needs to fix it before he leaves, else take you somewhere safe. I know you don't care for him much, but he's a tough one, like you. Between the two of you, I bet any trouble makers would keep their distance."
Gehenna listens to Kroft and Thousand Bones pensively, thoughts of displaced Kadok still fresh in her mind. Upon hearing of their proposed task and the words "necromancer" her fists and jaw tighten reflexively. With some effort, she manages to avoid quailing and maintains a front of impassiveness. "Hmph," she grunts looking away from Kroft an the others. "I'm still in too. Removing one of Rolth's kind from the world is good work. Excuse me." Gehenna quickly steps out of the room and pursues after Thousand Bones. If she is able to catch up: Sighting the older man, Gehenna calls out in confident Shoanti. "Please, Way-Keeper! Hold a moment!" Catching up, she tilts her head respectfully. "I am sorry," she continues in Shoanti. "I know you need to return to your people as soon as possible, but I need your help. There is a young Shoanti boy who I am acquainted with that was recently separated from his family by Korvosan... rioters." Gehenna had nothing to with the hateful acts of violence the Shoanti had endured, and as tiefling she was used to persecution, but even so the awkwardness of petitioning the Way-Keeper for help in the wake of such a tragedy made her cheeks flush. "His name is Kadok. A boy of about 11 years. I don't know if he was a member of your community, but the boy is adrift and I can't take care of him. Not with jobs like the one you purposed landing at my feet. Is there any room for him among your own? Until he can find his kin?"
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"K-Kadok!" Gehenna stammers in surprise. "What are you doing here, boy?! The city is not safe! You should be at home!" Gehenna's distress in genuine and the cold atmosphere of her new attire melts away in an instant. Kadok, a young Shoanti boy with too much courage for his own good. A trifle, really, but still one of the few bright spots in an otherwise downtrodden life. Gehenna reaches out and lays a hand on the boy's head awkwardly, a gesture that is as close to comforting as she can get. "All is well, Kadok," she says attempting a soothing tone. "As you can see we are both in one piece."
Jezebel had not undersold the breadth of her wardrobe. Gehenna spent the first ten minutes attempting to approach the situation methodically, but was quickly forced to reassess her approach. The closets seemed to be spacial anomalies. Although large, they were impossibly voluminous on the inside. As if Jezebel had opened a gateway to another plane of existence, just to store clothing. In that first brief foray, Gehenna came to know the fear of accidentally straying too far into the wardrobe and never being able to find her way out again. So, abandoning all pretense of logic, she instead worked on instinct and in so doing the outfit had assembled itself before long. From top-to-bottom: Over her head Gehenna draped a finely woven gray hood which attached to a cloak that fell at about waist-length. The cloak's interior lining was a deep violet which could be easily glimpsed during movement or revealed when the cloak was pulled back over the shoulder. The material itself was as flexible as any linen or cotton, but had a strange texture. Jezebel assured Gehenna that the garment was water resistant, causing the latter to idly muse to herself how this had been accomplished (Some kind of alchemical wax coating?). Under the hood/cloak combination she wore a black, long-sleeved turtleneck shirt shirt made of warm cotton. On top of the shirt was a black leather jacket. The jacket was unique in that it seemed to have been stitched directly to the liner in a multitude of patches, which were in turn cut into a variety of sharp-angled geometric shapes that fit together. Taken as a whole, the patches seemed to create an unlikely order out of the chaos and revealed that the design was a calculated affair and not haphazardly sewn together. Below the waist, Gehenna chose a pair of close-fitting black suede pants, which terminated at a pair of knee-high boots (black, naturally); the boots having thick, practical rubber soles to them. All said and done the outfit had an almost otherworldly fashion sense to it. The two-toned, flowing cloak, obscuring hood, and geometric collage of a jacket all combined into something which was arcane in design. No doubt a patchwork monster to someone versed in Chelexian fashion, Gehenna thought looking into the mirror. If she was bothered by the thought, it didn't register on her features. OOC:
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Interesting. She isn't sure exactly what happened. Not quite. But something did happen. However fleeting. It's a start Gehenna thinks without pride or excitement. A simple test of a different approach. Informative, but best not to push her luck. Let it be a fluke for now. "T-Thank you," Gehenna says, easily slipping back into her usual manner. "A bed alone means... a lot to me right now." Gehenna pauses, pushing away the impossibly enticing thought of the bath for just a moment longer. Oh, I can't help it she thinks. "Jezebel...," she starts slowly, genuinely bashful. "You don't think you've got anything in black... do you?
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The numbness begins to fade from Gehenna's body, leaving only the pain. But instead of those unpleasant sensations sharpening her senses and mind, as they usually tend to, Gehenna struggles to reorganize her thoughts. She attempts in vain to recall the names and features of both places and people dear to her, but her mind's eye fails to visualize any of them. Save for the one closest to her... at present. "Jezebel..." she mutters thickly through still tingling lips. The decor of the room, and the heady perfume lingering within it, is enough to confirm that she is once again a guest of the Acadamae. But before she can fully process this, a light touch of some sort graces Gehenna's forehead causing her to bat an eye and look about dumbly for a moment before looking down at herself. The blood she sees is, she suspects, mostly her own. Although the superficial wounds themselves have been sown shut by the grace of the magic potion, she feels the lingering damage beneath her skin; phantom cuts on otherwise pale white flesh. The blood, still glistening on the fabric of her dress and all smeared across her skin, writhes and wriggles with alarming activity. The ordinarily buzzing black motes that her mind so poorly equates with death have changed in character and flow. Yes, flow is the right word for it. Instead of stinging Gehenna's eyes and darting about madly, the motes have congealed into a thick ichor that seems to have set itself to the task of slowly entwining around her body; not unlike familiar strands of pitch black hair. It does not probe curiously or slither about randomly, but instead moves with a purpose that she can hardly guess. At its current rate, it threatens to consume her entirely before long. It doesn't do to skirt so closely to death, Gehenna she thinks. Mentally, and perhaps physically, she attempts to recoil. To regress to a fetal state in order to let the pain and the nightmare pass as she usually does, but she cannot. Confused, she tries another tack by straining to marshal her confidence in order to push past the fear and uncertainty, but the way forward is blocked by invisible forces as well. Gehenna finds herself in the curious position of being unable to retreat or advance, and for a span of moments it boggles her mind more than it does inspire fear. My footing must be poor she resolves. You can't advance any ways worth a lick with poor footing. Her eyes glance further downwards and catch sight of the gourmand. It stares stupidly back at her, offering no sagely advice or wisdom. I must obtain... better footing. A smile forms on her lips and the world snaps back to focus. In a few precise and purposeful strides she approaches Jezebel's back, places a hand on the blonde tiefling's shoulder and turns her about. Before saying anything she places a quick kiss of her own on the woman's forehead. "Really now, Jez," she says affecting a familiar tone. "I'm beginning to worry about the tab I'm running up with all these favors. But I'm just dying to hear how I might show my... gratitude." Cool mimicry delivered from a woman whose sharp, even beautiful, features are usually undercut by a pall of unearthliness and disquiet. Only a twisted mind could find such a clean and calculated beckoning charming. Gehenna doesn't care. More accurately, she suspects Jezebel might just be that sort of... sympathetic mind.
Mechanics: *cough*
I have not started off well on this poison track thing! Exciting!
It had been some time since Gehenna had been worked over this thoroughly. Her mind reels from the experience, but somehow wills the body into going through the motions of unstopping the potion and taking it down with a few deep gulps. Mechanics:
Although the potion does provide some much needed succor, the trauma that the ragged wounds inflicted on her body is not easily washed away. Vaguely, Gehenna feels the poison taking hold. "Fufufu..." she chuckles quietly; her mind awash with pain and the memory of pain. Despite her detached state Gehenna follows the party competently enough, but takes little heed of their findings.
Knowledge Nature checks:
Why? Gehenna thinks gritting her teeth as she nurses her head. They're only butchered animals. As expected, the butcher shop is a veritable swarm of death, but for reasons beyond her grasp the feedback from her eyes is worse that expected. It's almost a mercy when the two reefclaws burst from the mortifying pile of remains. It grants her the focus to shut out the noise. "Reefclaws!" she yells startled; too late though to be of use to Juliet and Vaen. "If they've nested here they probably aren't going to let us go easy." Gehenna's hair bleaches itself stark white and begins to weave between the various bits of hanging meat and bone towards one of the reefclaws. Mechanics:
Ready as well.
"Dead bodies and waterfront warehouses are hardly strangers in Korvosa," Gehenna says, clearly uncomfortable with the idea of carting the dead around. "And that's even during the best of times. Must we move them?"
For one who was lucky enough not to get up in the actual fighting, Gehenna appears oddly lifeless for moment (although still more lively that Vaen). She leans slightly, unable to concentrate as she struggles to block out the macabre influence of the dead and dying around her. By the time she regains her composure, Juliet is already administering some kind of potion to the still half-elf. Gehenna feels a pang of guilt, and frustration, but doesn't hold onto it. Not so long as she's standing in this place. "Will the potion be enough for him to keep?" she asks wearily. "If not I can apply what little ability I have to assist. Otherwise... yes, let's be done with this place." Gehenna wanders closer to the door and stumbles on one of the bodies in the process. She looks down for only a second, but it's enough to cause her "ability" to trigger and deliver a brief jolt of perceived pain. Nothing but thugs after all she thinks. Got what you deserved then...
Very vaguely myself. More easily if or when I get a wand. Sorry for being off and on. The last couple of weeks have been a series of snowballing issues.
OOC:
Mechanics: Turn 1 + 2: Cast enlarge person on Lorick.
Turn 3: Holding position. Ready an action to move away from the first enemy to approach, maintaining a 5-ft distance if possible. She would move North, towards the catwalk where Evelyn stands.
Assuming I was able to choose a new list of spells before the fight started: Mage Armor, Enlarge Person, Cure Light Wounds. If there wasn't time then the last default setup was: Mage Armor, Divine Favor, Cure Light Wounds. If we're able to barricade the south doors, then Gehenna would start hiding around J17 so that she can cast Enlarge Person on Lorick (either before or after his charge). Afterwords she can can engage when suitable. Mage Armor would be cast pre-fight. If we can't barricade the doors then Gehenna might need to work in concert with Lorick or the skellingtons to flank those approaching from the south. In that case K18 (I can't recall if that wall is out. Hiding behind the door in L18 if so to look for flank opportunities).
Gehenna shakes her head. "I have no such reach. But that is an interesting idea which I had not thought of...," she says, closing her eyes in contemplation. "B-but that aside, If Everlyn's kin can keep the bodyguards at bay I may be able to restrain Vancaskerkin. Especially if he's surrounded and unable to defend himself properly." "Um, do you mind if I look at the 'errand' list he gave us? Just in case anything is familiar... or might shine some light on whether or not this man really is just a thug or working for someone else."
OOC:
Sorry about being out-of-commission, family stuff came up.
As far as utility goes Gehenna can prepare healing or a few debilitating spells. She has cause fear (will save and ineffective against 6HD or more), ear-piercing scream (daze and damage. Fort save, so probably less effective against toughs) and ill omen. The latter makes an enemy roll their next d20 twice and take the worse result. No resist, but still single target. She's very good at grappling though, which can lead to pinned and even bond foes with some kind of restraint. Another tact is enlarge person for the martials. Unfortunately that's her only non-personal buff. Only get 3 spells per day, and one pretty much needs to be mage armor. "I can of course offer healing magics. Or if we're feeling bold, and I dare say that isn't inaccurate, I could forgo healing spells for debilitation. My more... inherent talent should be useful as a means of restraint," Gehenna says pointing at her hair. "Provided I'm not run through right away. She sighs; detached despite the severity of the situation. "If only he hadn't been so guarded. As expected, the man does not match the reputation. I wish I could have looked for signs of outside influence. It could be disastrous if he has someone with potent magical talents backing him when we start this fight."
Once the guards have taken their leave, Gehenna speaks quietly to the group. "Something is very wrong here," she says with a tinge of paranoia creeping into her voice. Gehenna couldn't quite pin down exactly what it was that had been affecting the guards, but it was out her league to be sure. "I think... up until a moment ago those two where under another's influence. Not personal, not entirely anyway, but magical. Strong magic." She places her hand on her chin and continues furtively. "Vancaskerkin's work? But, he's just a guard right? Someone behind him as well?" It was a bad feeling. Briefly, Gehenna considers the soft beds and warm halls of the Acadamae with longing. She even considers fleeing to her own dilapidated hovel, but such thoughts are quickly dismissed. It was too soon (and too late) to quit now.
Gehenna frowns, looking at both of the injured guards. "Yes... but just one spell. So I can only help one of them," she admits. OOC:
Gehenna tenses up as she takes in the sights and smells of the dive. She crosses both of her arms defensively, as if cold. Places like this seemed to teeter on the razor's edge of violence. After making a quick scan of the room, she turns her eyes downwards. So far the bar was full of the living, but it already looked like death to Gehenna. In response to Vaen's quip, she looks up briefly to see Evelyn smile and reach toward's the dwarf. "The Bloodline of Inheritance apparently applies the uniform of the Guard as well, she jokes poorly, her own tension evident in her voice.
"Sure... I don't mind," Gehenna murmurs. It was true. From the sounds of things this detour for Lorick would not end happily, but it still seemed like more of a good deed than their primary mission did. "I wonder if he's under pressure. Or duress." she muses as they walk. "I understand the corrupt using the chaos to take advantage, but Verik's reputation doesn't..." Doesn't seem to fit that particular mold Gehenna thinks as she trails off in thought. "I wonder if he knows something we do not."
"A job's a job," Gehenna says, easily falling into line. Gehenna reflects that her own skill-set should prove useful in subduing the enemies they come up against. As long as she could keep herself focused and not get caught up in the violence of the situation. OOC: Non-lethal grapple checks ahoy!
At the end of her struggles, Gehenna was nothing short of mortified to find Jezebel on-hand afterwards. "I may have made a huge mistake," she says wearily to the tiefling woman in hushed voice. Her wry smile does little to belie the defeat in her voice. "I may be predisposed towards it." --- Very Early Morning
"A-ah, certainly, Lorick," she says with all the vitality of a wilting flower. "Still, what a hard woman that Kroft is... failing clerical aid, she could at least part with an alchemical concoction to help combat the disease. With the city deteriorating so quickly, we may not be able to purchase supplies of our own for much longer." OOC: DMU, was Gehenna able to purchase a wand of CLW for the group while at the Acadamae?
Gehenna inches forward, allowing the arcane energies channeled through the gourmand to flow through her to sharpen her concentration. She searches for an opportunity to attack as the tentacled beast thrashes around at her companions. Mechanics: Action 1 & 2: Gehenna casts divine favor. Action 2: 5-foot step closer to monster.
"Why couldn't it have been a giant flower or some such?" Gehenna says despondently. "Something that would bleed fine floral scents and not..." she ends her sentence abruptly as she closes her mouth; hoping in vain to keep from tasting the creature's foul stink on her tongue. She mumbles a quick incantation and raises a barrier of force around herself before warily stepping close to the beast. Mechanics:
I can't make a detailed post from my current location. Please gm post for me if you want to move things along. Otherwise I'll get a proper post in later this evening. Gehenna will cast mage armor first and then move within 15 feet of the thing.
Sorry for the slow posts! It has been, and will continue to be, an extremely busy week for me at work. So I apologize in advance for any slowness or briefness of posts. I'll try to make sure I do at least one a day.
Gehenna's experience at the Acadamae is nothing less than shocking. In her experience, the truth behind bad rumors was typically worse than the rumors themselves, but everything she had feared about the Acadamae seemed (at least on the surface) to have been false. Briefly, this revelation causes despair to swell within her chest. I could have been here, learning and developing all this time! she thinks. Thankfully, the despair quickly dies when Gehenna realizes a certain irony: for the Acadamae to have actually been a safe haven for her, a place Lamm couldn't possibly ever breach, it would have needed to have been as bad as she had imagined it. The somewhat juvenile (a description Gehenna regarded with fondness) reception she had received, and the ease of entrance, proved in Gehenna's mind that this was no sanctuary. At least not as long as Lamm lived. As far as the attention went, Jezebel was keen as ever on the quickest route to making Gehenna uncomfortable. Knowing that any prolonged discussion would break the student's illusions, Gehenna spoke only sparingly; feigning aloofness in order to avoid disappointing her temporary admirers (or herself). OOC:
Overwhelmed (as usual) by Jezebel's richness of... personality, Gehenna finds herself being carried along toward's the Acadamae's imposing doors. Jezebel always got her way when she and Gehenna had interacted in the past and, in truth, Gehenna had never minded much. She both envied and admired the fellow tiefling's exuberance and spirit. From Gehenna's perspective, Jezebel was a walking, talking crystallization of the concept of "haves" in Gehenna's world of having not. A comfortable, sheltered life of learning and discovery, a perfectly sculpted form, and and the confidence to go with. As if that were not enough, Jezebel even carried the evidence of her fiendish heritage with a kind of pride that Gehenna could never imagine. Smooth curved horns, lithe devilish tail, and golden cat-like eyes that, to Gehenna anyway, had always seemed almost regal. All I have to show for my heritage are these pitiful broken stumps that should have been wings Gehenna thinks bitterly as she is dragged along. But was this truly alright? Were visitors allowed within the Acadamae's walls so easily? Gehenna had always feared that the consequences for fleeing to the institution would be worse than any Lamm could ever cook up for her, and that opinion had not been greatly swayed of late but... Many things are changing; have already changed she tells herself. If she could resolve to pit herself against Lamm, then surly she could sped a few hours within the Acadamae's walls without ill consequence. Takis would be scowling something fierce if he knew about this, but he doesn't understand Jezebel Gehenna thinks, her resolve growing. She's willful, and more than a bit forceful when she wants to be, but she isn't a bad person. I've seen enough bad people to know at least that. Gehenna snaps out of her thoughts to find herself on the threshold of the Acadama. Right? She steps through.
Same as Lorick, it has been busy this weekend. I'll try get a quick post in tonight though.
"They... stopped?" Gehenna asks, tilting her head in bemusement. "Like a strike?" As far as she knew, there wasn't enough discontent among the dock workers to elicit a strike. Then again, with her sometimes spacey sensibilities (especially once out in public, and self-consciousness drove her into a mental retreat) she could have easily walked past throngs of protesting workers and not noticed. --- After her dismissal, Gehenna began to wander back towards her hovel, but paranoia gripped her en route. What if Lamm, or some of his men, lay in wait; eager to hear her report? Instead of returning home, she walked past her district and continued North. She did so at first absentmindedly, but upon seeing the high parapetted walls of the Acadamae, she made the arcane learning institute her destination. At least to see what state it looks to be in she tells herself. The riots were concerning, and she wondered if the Acadamae had faced any backlash. It was easy to blame the magically inclined once any situation began to go downhill.
The Queen had not been as Gehenna had expected. Oh yes, every bit as beautiful, regal, and unapproachable as she believed to be befitting of royalty, but not nearly so cold as she would have thought. Gehenna had always thought that it was power itself which precipitated the chilling of the human soul she had observed in so many powerful people, but perhaps not. Whatever the case may be, the situation was truly unbelievable. Servants of the Crown? That was probably the best outcome that she could have hoped for, and yet... It was shameful to think of, but Gehenna would not deny to herself that a part of her had felt a sense of relief and solidarity when Lorick had turned down the royal offer. After all, what were they thinking?! Free of Lamm? Of the Spider? Madness was the only word for such a thought! For a few minutes, she had felt a sickening momentum of purpose building within her, pushing her towards a reversion back to the norm. A hopeless and self-destructive impulse to preserve everything as it had been before. A miserable, futile, and comfortably static existence. Her companions words, although directed toward Lorick, had shamed her. Young Evelyn, who had an understanding with death she could never comprehend, had the right of it. It is too late for cold feet now, old girl she thinks, finally steeling her furtive, but slowly strengthening will. "Indeed, Lorick," she says; finally joining the dialogue. "But for a moment there I think I may have been against it as well. Although I do not have quite the same concerns as yourself, since I am the most truly hopeless person I know, your... eloquence was quite convincing. Especially with the, uh... smashing and burning bits." Gehenna clears her throat anxiously. "Ah, though...," a defeated look crosses her face. "Heroes? Oh my..." Mechanics:
Gehenna fidgets uncomfortably, somewhat devastated that she must appear before the Queen looking... well as she typically did. It was strange to her the power that the implication of royalty had, but nevertheless she could not doubt that such power was real. Despite the weight of these concerns, Gehenna discards them as she enters the palace. She realizes that there is nothing for it now, but to come as she is.
Gehenna shakes her head timidly, uncomfortable being under the scrutiny of members of the Crown guard. She has no weapons to surrender and shows the guards as much. At her feet, the gourmand scampers close. "It isn't... dangerous," she says, understanding how ridiculous the assurance must sound. The gourmand's blank stare belied untold stores arcane knowledge, but there was no denying that the crab was simply, a crab.
No complaints with Juliet's plan. Although we may be relying on her charm to get us past simple officials and to the Queen herself. Like Lorick mentioned, times are uncertain for the Queen atm.
Gehenna exits with the rest, the gourmand skittering along somewhere unseen at her feet. "She probably doesn't have any real answers. At least not any that we would be fully satisfied with. That sort of divining is safer than devil charming, but not nearly as... precise." Gehenna shivers slightly, although she is not cold. "It is a large risk. If Lamm finds out about any of this... well, we best hope the Queen is truly grateful for the return of the brooch." If this fails then what? she wonders. Seek refuge in the Acadamae? Would that be better than being lunch for Lamm's pet?
Gehenna frowns. She is no grand judge of character, nor does she have any deep pool of worldly wisdom to draw insight from. All Gehenna can do is observe the facts. "It really is a lovely home," she says looking around wistfully for a few moments before looking at Zellara again. "Lamm uses us to serve his avarice. It sounds like you want to use us for revenge. I... I don't think questions are out of line. No one is a saint here..." Gehenna grips a fold of her dress tightly. Such direct confrontation is not in her nature when not "on the job." "Not that I am not interested..."
Gehenna's eyes widen with nervous energy. This pendant is... the Queen's? If Gehenna is honest with herself, the prospect of meeting a queen excites her, but her survival instinct demands that she express caution, not excitement. "A moment," she mumbles just loud enough to be heard. "This belongs to the Queen? How did she lose this pendant? Showing up at the Queen's doorstep with lost goods in hand... I should hate to think of what might happen if our intentions are misunderstood due to... the circumstances of the pendant's loss." Nevermind how it ended up in a drug den Gehenna thinks, feeling that particular detail hardly needs to be brought up considering the present company.
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