10: For some pieces of eight and a pint of ale

[Ebiris]

[15:44] <@Ebiris> On the surface Henrietta maintains a quiet vigil while deep in the bowels of the Bass Rock the rest of her party hunkers down and recovers from their ordeal, waiting on a favourable tide. Glenn begins to sicken even more as the hours pass, a dark red rash and blackened sores appearing around his wounds - drinking down the potion of restoration helps somewhat, but he still feels sickly. Rudy likewise notices the beginnings of a rash on his forearms after a few hours, but doesn't feel sick as yet. Miranda somehow manages to remain in rude health throughout all of this, as the tide finally begins to recede after five hours, water lowering below the path you used to reach this vault of sorts.
[15:45] <@Rudy> With all the portable valuables safely packed away and ready for transporation, Rudy begins to head back towards the shaft they used to enter the dungeon.
[15:45] * Henrietta retains her vigil by the trapdoor, neither able nor willing to leave without her friends.
[15:46] <@Miranda_Altair> Peering warily at her comrades, Miranda says, "Okay, so how do we get outta here?"
[15:47] <@Rudy> "We climb, I suppose," replies Rudy. "The door's open, so it shouldn't be too hard."
[15:48] <@Miranda_Altair> "Alright then. C'mon, Glenn." says Miranda as she helps Glenn to his feet.
[15:50] <@Ebiris> Skirting around the receding waterline along the dampened path, the trio make slow and careful progress back to the room with the crabs, allowing Miranda a chance to savour the fact that she lives and they clearly do not, the shattered crustaceans a mute testament to the fury of her stalwart friends in avenging her. From there it's altogether simple to return to the entrance shaft, Shefton still laying in a slick pool of blood at the bottom, the light of their lamp shining up to advertise their arrival to Henrietta.
[15:52] <@Rudy> With the way out so clear, Rudy is all too eager to begin climbing up towards freedom!
[15:52] * Henrietta keeps watch, ready to aid however she might need to!
[15:53] <@Miranda_Altair> Frowning at the corpse of their guide, Miranda follows behind Rudy.
[15:53] * @Glenn waits for Miranda and Rudy to start climbing, and then follows.
[15:54] <Henrietta> "An adventurer's life is fraught with peril," Henrietta says, her voice shaking ever so slightly.
[15:54] <@Miranda_Altair> "I've had enough peril for one day, thank you very much. I need a drink." grumbles Miranda.
[15:55] <@Ebiris> Leaving Shefton to his grandiose tomb, the party soon emerges up onto the overgrown interior of the island, midnight stars shining down overhead, the dull red orb of Firmenta visible low to the Northwest.
[15:55] <Henrietta> "I need a healer. And not just myself, I suspect. We should get treatment without delay," Henrietta says, shaking her head at Miranda.
[15:56] <@Glenn> "Drinks aren't as good as a nice warm bed, and a healer would be nice, yes," Glenn agrees.
[15:56] <@Rudy> "I've an unseemly feeling beneath my arms," adds Rudy, uncomfortably. "Is our boat still here?"
[15:57] <Henrietta> "I made sure it would be, yes." Henrietta flushes. "The boat. Not the rash."
[15:58] <@Miranda_Altair> "Thank goodness. I don't relish the thought of swimming back."
[15:59] <@Rudy> "I'd rather hope anything that feels this uncomfortable didn't come from you," replies Rudy, clearing his throat. "Should we leave now, or wait until light?"
[16:00] <Henrietta> "Does anyone know the way? Because I was relying on our guide. I suppose we could try waiting for daylight and navigating with the raven's help...."
[16:00] <@Glenn> "I'd rather put as much distance between us and this damned island as soon as possible, personally," Glenn chips in.
[16:00] <@Rudy> "Spoken like a true oarsman!"
[16:00] <Henrietta> "Oh, excellent! Are you skilled at naval navigation?"
[16:01] * @Glenn grumbles but nods to Rudy. "If that's what it takes, I'll handle the oars...though no, I can only roughly guess the direction of the town from where we came from. Don't birds have night vision though? The bird can still help, right?"
[16:02] <@Miranda_Altair> "Of course. Como can help us if it'll make things easier."
[16:02] <@Rudy> "We'd have to try pretty hard to miss the mainland..."
[16:04] <@Ebiris> With that decided, the party tromps back down to the rocky beach, Salerno visible to the Northeast mostly by the two great bonfires on the barrier cliffs, but a few lights are seen here and there around the smaller Azure port. The water remains quite choppy, however, from the way starlight plays on rising and falling waves seen across the blackened ocean...
[16:04] <@Ebiris> OOC: who's rowing?
[16:05] <Henrietta> OOC: I'll take one for the team.
[16:05] <@Ebiris> OOC: make a constitution check
[16:05] <Henrietta> roll 1d20+3
[16:05] * +Hatbot --> "Henrietta rolls 1d20+3 and gets 10." [1d20=7]
[16:07] <@Glenn> ooc: I was also going to help row, or just two oars?
[16:07] <@Ebiris> OOC: you can take an oar each. Go ahead and roll as well
[16:08] <@Glenn> roll d20+3
[16:08] * +Hatbot --> "Glenn rolls d20+3 and gets 14." [d20=11]
[16:11] <@Ebiris> Henrietta and Glenn combined proves a more able rowing team than Myra was, at least, managing to get the party back to the docks in half the time without any of the overdone theatrics that characterised Myra's efforts. Things seem terribly quiet by now, most taverns having closed at this hour and few people on the streets which are sporadically lit by oil burning lamps mostly at junctions and crossroads. The Azure Cathedral lies on the South of the docks, a large blue-stoned building projecting half onto the sea and boasting a few small piers of its own, built much like an elaborate lighthouse - a function it provides in truth with a shining glow emanating from its top.
[16:13] <Henrietta> "Does anyone know where to actually go to find a healer in this city?" Henrietta asks the most relevant question at this point.
[16:14] <@Miranda_Altair> "I don't, no." Miranda shakes her head.
[16:14] <@Rudy> "My dad always said, if you ever fall off a ladder and break your neck, try to get to a temple first. They'll either fix it, but if they can't, at least you'll be close to a graveyard and you'll save money on getting carried around."
[16:14] <Henrietta> "The Cathedral, then?"
[16:15] <@Rudy> "Knowing them, they'll probably give us a sailor's burial..."
[16:15] <@Glenn> "Your father is something of a cynical, if practical man," Glenn says before nodding to Henrietta. "That's our best bet. They're likely to still be open at this time of the night anyhow, compared to anybody else I could think of."
[16:16] * Henrietta finds an empty spot on the pier to tie their rowboat to, and then proceeds to lead the way to the Azure Cathedral!
[16:17] <@Rudy> "Let's go, then! At least we won't need to dig our own graves!" replies Rudy, following closely after!
[16:20] <@Ebiris> While no one is seen to be coming or going, and the large main doors of the cathedral are closed up, a smaller inset door is held slightly ajar. A wooden noticeboard set up besides the doors seems to list various services and priests of differing denominations - Poseidon and the Devil of the Deep seem to be most represented, as well as someone called the Mother of Life. Dim light shines steadily through the crack in the doorway.
[16:20] * @Rudy walks forward to knock on the door.
[16:20] * Henrietta takes out a handkerchief and places it to her mouth, before knocking on the open door and peering past it.
[16:24] <@Glenn> "Hello? Anybody in?" Glenn calls out.
[16:24] <@Ebiris> A light chime of bells is heard as the knocking pushes the door slightly. "Coming!" a light feminine voice is heard to carol sweetly, coming across some distance, but footsteps are heard soon after, clacking across stone and growing steadily louder before the door is opened completely to reveal a slim young woman with blonde twintails coming from the sides of her head, a black nautical hat perched jauntily atop it. She wears a black silk shirt and breeches of the same colour, long leather boots coming up to her calves and a silver sextant hanging on a chain over her chest. "You're a bit late for services, got yourself into some mischief, have you?" she enquires, looking over the group.
[16:25] <@Miranda_Altair> "Oh you know, the usual. Ghouls, zombies, giant murderous crabs."
[16:25] <Henrietta> "Yes! We've been infected! Bitten by the dead people!" Henrietta tells her desperately. "Please, of please, heal us!"
[16:26] <@Rudy> "I have this most horrible rash!" adds Rudy, grimacing. "I can show you," he adds, reaching to unbutton his shirt.
[16:26] <@Ebiris> "Eeep!" she recoils slightly at Henrietta's desperation. "Okay, okay! Come in, I'll see what Davey Jones can do for you!" she quickly steps back to allow the group admittance.
[16:27] * Henrietta steps inside, careful to keep her mouth covered and in general keeping her distance from the twintailed acolyte. "Oh, thank you!" she gushes. "It was so horrible! I opened the door, and there it was, the undead abomination! It bit me, it really bit me!"
[16:28] <@Glenn> "Thank you. We know it's a late hour, but we've had a rough day and really really want this taken care of," Glenn says as he steps in.
[16:29] <@Rudy> "God, I'm burning up," mutters Rudy, not making any effort to re-button his shirt as he heads inside.
[16:29] <@Ebiris> "Well, at least you're still alive?" she offers, the entrance of the cathedral a wide chamber with more noticeboards, ornate candelabras, and rather well carved statues all about, another set of doors leading further into the main hall. "Nobody died, right?"
[16:29] <@Miranda_Altair> "Well..."
[16:30] <Henrietta> "She was still breathing, honest!"
[16:30] <@Rudy> "Not yet, but I'm sure it's only a matter of time if we don't get help."
[16:31] <@Ebiris> "Okay, so you're all diseased," she nods briskly to herself. "I can cure one of you! And I can use scrolls for the rest - but it'll cost ye! Davey Jones doesn't show his mercy cheaply, you understand!" she concludes with a leer at the group, her voice lowering dramatically.
[16:32] <@Miranda_Altair> "I'm fine, actually."
[16:33] <Henrietta> "Miranda lives the risky life. Please, might you start with me? I was infected first, and I don't want to lose time. We can pay for the other two scrolls."
[16:33] <@Rudy> "We can? We can!"
[16:33] <Henrietta> "I guarantee it!"
[16:35] <@Glenn> "I'd like to get my own bite injury taken a look at next," Glenn says, having no issues with Henrietta going first.
[16:36] <@Rudy> "Does your bite make you feel like you're on fire?"
[16:37] * @Glenn just moves closer to Rudy and shows the area around the bite mark very clearly to him, then just stares at him silently.
[16:38] <@Ebiris> "Works out to... eh, lets say four hundred gold. Group discount!" the blonde cheers, advancing on Henrietta. "Oh, devil of the deep blue sea, this girl be comin' to ye! But for some pieces of eight and a pint of ale, ye'll show 'er a good time and make 'er body hale!" she sings a little shanty song, a dark cloud of briny fog manifesting around her hands before it envelops Henrietta! In an instant her rash fades into nothingness, black sores receding to leave healthy flesh behind!
[16:38] <Henrietta> "Oh thank you!" Henrietta exclaims, hugging the acolyte happily.
[16:40] <@Ebiris> "Don't thank me, thank the devil of the deep," the priestess smiles brightly, before her tone becomes dark and she leers at Henrietta, "Just remember, when the time comes, ye'll be going to the bottom of the ocean to Davey Jones's locker!" She abruptly brightens afterwards, "Now, I'll just grab the scrolls Louis wrote for the other two. Get your payment ready, please!" she tells Glenn and Rudy, waving for everyone to follow her into the main temple hall.
[16:41] <@Rudy> "I told you. Sailor's burial," mutters Rudy, following like a good little patient.
[16:42] * Henrietta keeps her distance from the others. A considerable distance.
[16:42] * @Glenn also follows, eager for treatment.
[16:42] * @Miranda_Altair stays behind, since she feels fine!
[16:45] <@Ebiris> Going to a cabinet to the sides of the benches lining the hall, the blonde fishes out a key and unlocks it, rifling her hands across several dozen scrolls before she fishes two out and closes it up again. "Okay, glasses, you're next!" she approaches Glenn and starts to read off the scroll, her face twisting into a grimace. "Oh Great Poseidon, show mercy to this scurvy sea dog so that he can sail your waves once more!" Glenn is then surrounded in a sea-green glow as the symptoms of his disease wash away like the tide. "Hey, don't look at me, I never wrote it," she shrugs afterwards.
[16:45] <Henrietta> "It sounds very authentic all the same," Henrietta assures her.
[16:47] <@Glenn> "As long as it works, I'm fine with however it sounds!" Glenn says, looking thankful.
[16:47] <@Ebiris> "That's the problem with sharing a temple," she sighs dispiritedly, crumpling up the scroll and unfurling its twin as she approaches Rudy to repeat the same incantation, easing away the summoner's rash. "Just forget all that stuff about Poseidon, though. Davey Jones is the patron of all *true* sailors!" she insists.
[16:47] <@Rudy> "If it works, it works. I'm not one to question weird magic." Rudy pauses. "If there's such a thing as magic that isn't weird, I'd like to see it, by the way."
[16:48] <Henrietta> "Magic is weird," Henrietta agrees, now far calmer. "Did you know there was a spell that existed solely to open a rift specifically beneath your foot to make you stumble?"
[16:48] <@Rudy> "That's so petty!"
[16:49] <Henrietta> "I'm trying to learn it!"
[16:49] <@Rudy> "I can't imagine what kind of person would learn it!"
[16:49] <Henrietta> "Me!"
[16:49] <@Rudy> "Is making people fall down that important to you?"
[16:49] <@Ebiris> "Maybe they meant to open a crevasse to suck you down into the boiling depths of the earth but couldn't put enough juice into it?" the priestess suggests. "Anyways, you landlubbers gonna pay up, or is Davey Jones's locker about to get a few new additions?" she asks cheerily.
[16:51] <Henrietta> "If I had to respond with yes or no to that, I would have to go with yes," Henrietta says thoughtfully to Rudy's query. "Father always said that making your enemies angry puts them off balance and makes them pliable, and nothing does it better than a petty spell or making them fall. Combine the two, and just imagine the outcome!"
[16:51] <@Rudy> "Now that's a spell, see? I'd learn that spell. If I knew how," replies Rudy, producing a bag of coins. "Mmm. I don't think too much about how to deal with enemies. Myra takes care of it. Don't you, Myr- oh, damn, she's not here..."
[16:52] <Henrietta> "Ah, of course!" Henrietta responds to the very legitimate prompting. "Henrietta Ul Copt would never run off on a debt!"
[16:54] <@Ebiris> "Someone with a double-barrelled name has to be rich," the blonde agrees brightly as she reaches for the coins. "Melinda Burntisle, by the by," she offers her own name as she examines the coinage, blinking and holding one up to the light. "Kraken's teeth, where'd you get these coins? Has to be at least two hundred years old!"
[16:55] <Henrietta> "They're still good, are they not?" Henrietta asks worriedly. "Gold is gold, I've always thought."
[16:55] <@Rudy> "We had to go through many zombies to get them, and endure unspeakable trials!"
[16:56] <Henrietta> "Let us not speak of those trials, yes," Henrietta concurs, suddenly solemn.
[16:58] <@Ebiris> "Oh, yeah, rightly so," Melinda nods, starting to stack the coins up on one of the benches. "Just don't often see ones so old. Still, Queen Jellica had a good run, must've been a lot minted in her day."
[16:58] <@Glenn> "Nice to meet you, Melinda. Thank you again for helping us despite the late hour," Glenn says before yawning. "Speaking of late hours...I think it's high time to go to bed..."
[16:59] <@Rudy> "Really? It's a rare Queen that stays in power long enough to mint much in their own image around here, I thought."
[17:01] <@Ebiris> "Learn yer history, lad," she shakes her head at Rudy as she counts coins. "She led Isernia during the Twenty Year War. This city was conquered by Anowia for five years during it, you know. Twelve thousand men died pushing them back into the sea! Davey Jones did well out of that, I'll bet!"
[17:03] <@Rudy> "A real warrior queen, eh?"
[17:06] <@Ebiris> "Well, dunno if she did much fighting herself, but she kept peoples spirits up, held the alliance together. More of a stateswoman than a warrior, the kind that real warriors gladly die for," Melinda explains. "A damn sight better than that big ape we've got on the throne now. You'd think if he ever saw a razor blade he'd die of fright!"
[17:06] <Henrietta> "That's no way to lead," Henrietta agrees, shaking her head.
[17:07] <@Rudy> "A real man is clean-shaven," agrees Rudy, stroking his smooth chin. "There's no dignity in a beard. Unless you're a dwarf, in which case, please, grow a beard."
[17:08] <@Ebiris> Finishing up her counting, Melinda nods in satisfaction. "Looks like we're square," she takes a moment to drop her voice and leer at everyone, "Looks like ye won't be going to the bottom of the deep blue sea just yet..."
[17:08] <@Rudy> "You've been there, haven't you, Henri?"
[17:08] <@Miranda_Altair> Miranda just stares.
[17:09] <Henrietta> "Yes, and Davey Jones will surely get more chances very soon," Henrietta assures Melinda and Rudy.
[17:09] <@Ebiris> "Good! Come along to a service some time, we don't get nearly enough new blood around here!" the blonde smiles perkily. "It only really hurts the first time, and isn't that true for anything worth doing?"
[17:10] <Henrietta> "I... suppose? I never really thought of it in quite those terms...."
[17:11] <@Rudy> "You're into pain, eh? That's.. that's something," replies Rudy, blinking, and backing away a step. "But hey, we all have our quirks, eh?"
[17:11] <@Miranda_Altair> "Yeeeah. This is interesting and all, but I'm going to go find a place to sleep now."
[17:12] * @Glenn shakes his head, slapping himself slightly to stop himself from nodding off. Yawning again, he nods his agreement with Miranda. "Sleep now, talk later..."
[17:12] <@Ebiris> "You cheeky little lubber!" she laughs at Rudy. "Go on with ye all, then. Off to your comfy beds."
[17:14] * @Rudy leaves off with a wink and a smile, before he drags himself back to his squalid little pad and falls asleep on his mattress-shaped bed substitute.
[17:15] <@Ebiris> Leaving the cathedral, the party sticks together through Azure district on their ways to their respective places of rest, but before they can split up a patrol of armoured guardsmen come jogging towards them at the corner of Toad Lane, torches held high and faces grim. "You four, what are you doing out at this hour?" the lead guard demands, all of them holding their hands close to their weapons.
[17:16] <@Miranda_Altair> "Going home. What about you?" Miranda drawls.
[17:16] <@Glenn> "We were at the Azure Cathedral, heading home to sleep now," Glenn replies with a yawn.
[17:16] <@Rudy> "We were just seeing a cleric about some healing," replies Rudy, tiredly. "I'm terribly sorry. Is there a curfew we were unaware of?"
[17:19] <@Ebiris> "Less of your cheek!" one of them glares at Miranda, a vein throbbing on his neck. "There's been a murder. We're on the look out for any suspicious types..." he looks over the party at the explanations from Glenn and Rudy, seeming to consider. "You don't look like assassins, though... go on and get yourselves indoors!"
[17:20] <@Rudy> Rudy frowns. "If you don't mind me asking, who was killed?" he asks, with an uncertain edge to his voice.
[17:21] <@Ebiris> "Harbourmaster Islaran," the sergeant replies grimly. "They slit his throat from ear to ear," he adds in a grimace.
[17:22] * Henrietta shudders at the news.
[17:22] <@Rudy> Rudy's eyes widen, and he shakes his head slowly. "Disgusting," he echoes. "We'll leave you to it."
[17:22] * @Glenn grimaces. "Well, that image is going to give me nightmares tonight..."
[17:23] <@Miranda_Altair> "Well, that's unfortunate." Miranda says, not really feeling all that bad for the man. "Good luck catching your man, then."
[17:23] <@Ebiris> "This is no night to be wandering the streets. Get moving," he nods curtly, the guards continuing on their brisk patrol.
[17:24] * @Rudy starts off on his way. "This really is a happening place," he remarks, en-route to his hovel.
[17:24] <@Miranda_Altair> Miranda grumbles as she moves toward bed. "Prick. I hate guards sometimes."
[17:25] <@Rudy> "You can't blame him, though."
[17:25] <Henrietta> "Curse them for maintaining proper law and order."
[17:26] <@Miranda_Altair> "He didn't have to be a jerk about it, though."
[17:26] <@Rudy> "You should write a letter to their office!"
[17:26] <Henrietta> "Miranda, in this particular case I must say that the safety of the city's residents and the capture of assassins takes precedence to proper manners."
[17:28] <@Miranda_Altair> "Whatever. It's been a bad day. Someone murdered the Harbourmaster. I want to go to bed."
[17:29] <Henrietta> "Don't get murdered in your sleep."
[17:29] <@Glenn> "Oh great, now I'm going to have nightmares about an assassin hiding in my room," Glenn complains.
[17:29] <@Rudy> "Really?"
[17:29] <@Miranda_Altair> "I'll be fine, trust me. Nobody wants to murder me. Not yet at least." Miranda says as she heads off to find an alley to sleep in.
[17:31] <@Ebiris> The next day the party reconvenes at Lavinia's estate, the gossip of the Harbourmaster's death racing around town and growing more and more grisly with each retelling - the current version overheard by two merchants on the road to the Vanderboren estate says that he was disembowelled and then strung up by his own intestines. Kora Thistlegap shows you all in with her customary good cheer, however, and Lavinia is soon found in her sitting room, resting primly on a high-backed armchair in a plum-red coloured velvet gown. "Ahh, good morning," she smiles happily to see everyone. "You're all looking well. I hope you have good news to distract from this terrible business about the Harbourmaster?"
[17:32] <Henrietta> "Regrettably, My Lady, our news are so terrible they would, indeed, distract you from that sordid tale."
[17:32] <@Rudy> "Oh, don't be so dramatic! The news is sort of good, and sort of bad!"
[17:33] * Henrietta looks at Rudy in surprise, unable to think of anything good that was discovered.
[17:33] <@Ebiris> Lavinia bunches her hands in her skirts. "Well, please don't keep me in suspense, I beg," she declares, visibly steeling herself.
[17:34] <@Rudy> "We've got a clue as to the whereabouts of your brother, Milady," continues Rudy, nodding. "Unfortunately, he's apparently a murderer. Well, according to a dead man." He frowns. "Here, take a look at this note," he adds, producing the parchment they found with Pinkus and handing it over.
[17:34] * Henrietta nods, looking uneasy. "It seems entirely unlikely that you could talk your brother down, as he appears to have murdered the ruffians he had joined up with in order to take over an underground cult."
[17:38] <@Ebiris> Lavinia accepts the note in her pale hands, wrinkling her brow as she begins to read over it. "This is..." she gasps after her eyes have finished flickering over the scrawling piratical handwriting, "To know that my brother has not only joined up with such ruffians, but murders them with impunity as well? I..." she seems momentarily at a loss, blinking her dark brown eyes rapidly a few times and shaking her head. "Nonetheless, my orders remain the same," she declares, voice firm. "I can't think of my own flesh and blood as beyond redemption, if he can be brought to me whole I can try and reach to his better nature. If..." she bites her lip, voice catching, "If you find him and he resists beyond all reason, I can only ask that his death be merciful and quick."
[17:39] * Kozzz is now known as Ko-Xornfanclub
[17:40] <Henrietta> "I feel the need to point out that once pursuing the lead, we found ourselves lead into a trap and left for dead in an underground dungeon filled with the walking dead. It is highly likely that he was the one who arranged it, if not locked us in himself."
[17:42] <@Ebiris> "The note implies that, yes," Lavinia nods dispiritedly. "I still must try, though. He remains my brother."
[17:42] <@Rudy> "I want to drag him back here, personally," remarks Rudy. "I mean, instead of, you know. So we can really rub his failure into his face, eh? No offence, milady, but we don't take too kindly to people dumping us in caves to rot."
[17:43] <@Miranda_Altair> "I nearly died!" Miranda cries.
[17:43] <Henrietta> "It was an exceptionally horrible experience we weren't certain we would survive," Henrietta agrees emphatically.
[17:43] <@Rudy> "Stiff upper lip to carry us through, eh?"
[17:44] <@Ebiris> "If it makes it easier for you to follow my orders, by all means cling to the thought of humiliating him by dragging him back to his sister's feet," Lavinia smiles wanly. "But I cannot countenance his death unless there truly is no choice."
[17:44] <@Rudy> "Ah, that's good to hear. Don't like to think of killing as my job, all things told."
[17:45] * Henrietta nods. "We are not murderers."
[17:45] <@Glenn> "Well, let's hope we don't have to deal with more traps the next time we find a lead," Glenn says. "The less he's out trying to kill us, the better for him -and- us."
[17:45] * @Miranda_Altair nods along with Henrietta.
[17:45] <@Ebiris> "And I am not in the habit of employing such," Lavinia nods to Henrietta. "So, will you investigate this... Taxidermist's Hall?"
[17:46] <@Rudy> "
[17:46] <Henrietta> "I feel we must, unless you wish us to turn the matter over to the Guard."
[17:47] <@Rudy> "Bad idea, if you want to deal with your brother yourselff."
[17:47] <@Ebiris> She shakes her head. "Doing so would drag the Vanderboren name thoroughly through the mud. I have enough troubles without that, and would rather deal with my brother myself."
[17:48] <Henrietta> "Have you ever heard of this hall before, Lady Vanderboren?" Henrietta asks just to be certain.
[17:49] <@Ebiris> "No... you may have noticed the stuffed trophies decorating my home, but they are all from before my time," Lavinia replies. "But if I had to guess, I'd expect it to be in the Sunset District - that's closest to the interior forests, after all, so it would be easier for hunters to bring their trophies to it."
[17:50] <@Rudy> "D'ya think we should go get one? Have a proper reason for visiting?"
[17:51] <@Glenn> "We could always go out and hunt some animal so we have a reason, if need be," Glenn notes.
[17:51] <Henrietta> "That's exactly what I'm thinking of, yes."
[17:51] <@Rudy> "Excellent! We can make a day of it, take along a picnic."
[17:52] <Henrietta> "What if we were to bring a stuffed trophy and ask it to be fixed?"
[17:52] <@Ebiris> "It would make it easier for you to get in without arousing suspicion, wouldn't it?" Lavinia agrees. "A portion of the forest belongs to me, so you could certainly hunt there without incurring any fees."
[17:52] <@Miranda_Altair> "You own part of the forest?" Miranda says in surprise. "Which part?"
[17:55] <@Ebiris> "Kora, fetch us a map, will you?" Lavinia calls to her servant who appears presently with a rolled up parchment which she opens onto the low table. It shows Salerno and its surrounding environs up to the inner cities of Isernia. "It's here, a bit North of the dragon lodge," Lavinia rises and points to a demarcated area of the forest Northwest of Salerno. "Not much, but the dragons often hunt there and pay the Vanderboren family accordingly. I'll provide you with a letter for the gamekeeper so he won't bother you."
[17:56] <@Rudy> "Dragons? Dragons pay you?" asks Rudy, blinking.
[17:56] <@Rudy> "I mean, that's impressive! As expected of a fine, um, noble, er... what kind of dragons?"
[18:00] <@Ebiris> She laughs daintily into her hands. "The dragons don't pay themselves, of course. The King does, since they all belong to him. Of course, my taxes also support the expense of the dragon riders, but such are the vagaries of economics. You might see some if you're lucky, but they shouldn't bother you at all - although they might scare the game, which could be unlucky."
[18:02] <@Rudy> "Oh, oh. I see. That would be unfortunate, yes," replies Rudy, coughing. "Well, we need to go and think about how best to tackle the whole situation, so..."
[18:02] * Henrietta nods with a pleasant smile, certain that the dragons are only biding their time and playing along with their would-be human overlords.
[18:03] * @Miranda_Altair blinks. "Wait...dragons belong to the king?"
[18:05] <@Ebiris> "Of course, I would appreciate haste, but prudence is likewise understandable," Lavinia nods sombrely, before glancing to Miranda. "Those ones do. A few nobles are wealthy enough to maintain their own dragons, but even then their numbers are strictly controlled. Their foremost job is the defence of the realm, after all."
[18:06] <@Miranda_Altair> "Maintain their own...? I'm sorry, I'm a bit confused. Dragons are property here?"
[18:07] <@Rudy> "Well, yeah? They're like pets, I think. Big, overgrown pets that breathe fire and can level large towns."
[18:07] <@Miranda_Altair> "Not where I com from! In Jovar, they run most of the country!"
[18:07] <Henrietta> "I would suggest splitting up as we prepare," Henrietta speaks, trying to get the conversation back towards their preparations. "We must have a pretext to visit, and we must learn more about this Lady of the Lotus to properly know what we will be facing. Perhaps it would also be prudent to discover who had been seen going into the Taxidermist's Hall lately, or who our erstwhile guide was working for?"
[18:07] <@Ebiris> "As Rudy says. Every nation maintains its own dragon rider corps... although I understand things are different in Jovar and Cimmeria, yes," Lavinia nods.
[18:08] <@Rudy> "Really? You let them run the country?" asks Rudy, blinking. "Really. Um. How does that work?"
[18:09] <@Ebiris> "My parents once mentioned that the dragons in Jovar are considerably more intelligent than the ones here, even more intelligent than people in some cases," Lavinia offers, "But we are getting rather sidetracked, yes."