Soulriders 5.0: Legend of the Unending Games

After session 4

Rudy makes his way to the Crooked Lantern, finding that the tavern is doing good business as he can tell from the noise from within even as he approaches. The door is open to the street and he enters to a steady roaring of half-shouted conversations, entirely shouted orders, and a rather frenetic accordion tune that several men and women are singing and dancing to, gaily spinning around on one half of the tavern where a few tables have been cleared.

Luck happens to be on his side, because he finds Maril quite easily amidst the crowded clientele, currently engaged in a game of darts with two other patrons, one Rudy recognises as Shug, still looking a bit pale and unsteady on his feet, and the other a short scraggly-bearded man who might be a tall and skinny dwarf but one can't quite be sure...

Rudy opts to leave Myra outside instead of having her oozing presence unnerve the locals- at least, those inside the pub.

"Hey, hey! Send a round over to the dartsmen, eh?" he calls, palming a few coins to the nearest waitress and opting to approach the group just after the drinks arrive, grinning like a cat.

"My repatriations. No hard feelings, right?"

The two men present regard Rudy with states of recognition that vary between 'dazed' and 'none', but Maril favours him with a grin, showing her pearly white teeth below her slightly squashed and crooked nose. "Hey, it's whatsyername!" she seems to be far better dressed than when she was seen last, still wearing the same slightly worn leather bodice but with a fine looking white silk shirt underneath, and a set of black pantaloons in the same expensive fabric, although coupled with the frayed red bandana in her hair it makes her appearance a study of contrasts. A rapier hangs off her hip, but there's no sign of her crossbow.

She takes her ale and has a deep draught, her two companions following, although Shug barely sips at his. "No need for reparations, I made out well enough, but that's real gentlemanly of you anyhow," she goes on, sidling up to Rudy. "Think you can throw a dart as well as you can shoot a crossbow? This guy here thinks he's a hustler, but we might be able to pull a fast one ourselves..."

"Never played this in my life." Rudy cheerily stretches his palms and loosens the cuffs of his comparatively rumpled shirt. "But how hard can it be? And how much has he had tonight?"  he adds, starting to head towards the board to pick off the darts already stuck in it.

"Less than he'd like you to think," Maril whispers to Rudy before grinning inanely at the scraggly-bearded man who raises his drink back. Luckily the game is simple, despite Rudy's lack of knowledge, although Maril takes great pains to belabour all her explanations to Rudy of how the game is played, before she turns to the alleged 'hustler'. "So, hey, we've been having fun up til now, but howsabout we make things interesting?" she offers, leaning forward a bit to present a view that's not quite as good as what she showed Rudy on the boat.

"How interesting's that?" the dwarf/man asks, swilling his ale around.

"I've got a good feeling about my boy here," she gives Rudy a fond slap on the ass. "Five gold says he takes the next game. Whaddya say?"

He seems to mull it over for a moment before smiling and nodding, "Easy money."

Maril just smiles and turns her back on him, throwing her arms around Rudy and giving him a quick kiss - oooh, tongue! "For luck," she smirks before whispering, "Lose."

Rudy's arm snakes its way around Maril's back until he's grasping her firmly by the waist. "Not so, my friend. Tonight, you're gonna get to see the real deal!" he replies, picking up the darts in his other hand and twisting to face the dartboard properly. A girl in one arm, cash in his pocket and a prank on the go, is there anything more sublime?

Carelessly, he flings the darts haphazardly towards the target, ending with an outstretched hand pointing valiantly towards the bullseye.

Maril's not a bad armful, even if her face shows evidence of a few violent altercations, it's clearly kept her fit otherwise, and she has no compunctions at all about draping herself over a man she doesn't even know the name of. Shug decides to sit out this game while the short man shakes his head at Rudy's careless throwing, recovering the darts for his own turn... and he's actually pretty good. He easily beats Rudy, but he might well have done so even if Rudy had been trying properly. "Oh, that was pretty terrible, I almost feel bad for taking your money," he smirks at Rudy and his girl, showing a gold tooth. "How about we go double or nothing on this next one so you have a chance to win it back?"

"You're a sportsman, aren'tcha? I'll take you on again," replies Rudy. "But hey, don't feel bad, it's just cash. I got the real prize already, see? Come on, love, time to get serious," he adds, heading to grab the darts and then wrapping his opposite arm around Maril. "Don't mind if I use me good arm, right?"

Throwing away money on trivial pursuits is a pretty heady experience- but hey, it's all in the line of work, and it's a job with fuzzy expenses, ain't it? This time, Rudy takes a moment to line up his shots properly...

[18:16] <Kallen> roll 1d20+5 pointblanking
[18:16] * +Hatbot --> "Kallen rolls 1d20+5 pointblanking and gets 7." [1d20=2]
[18:16] <@Janson> roll 1d20+6
[18:17] * +Hatbot --> "Janson rolls 1d20+6 and gets 21." [1d20=15]

Despite Rudy making an honest effort, he still loses, and quite badly to boot. Maybe he's too out of his usual element for comfort? But for some reason Maril gives him a smile before she scowls and hands over ten shiny gold coins which vanish into the bearded man's moneypouch. "You think you're hot shit, don'tcha? That was just luck, though! I got fifty gold that says he'll take you this time!"

The darts player laughs out loud at that declaration, while Shug edges away. "Fifty? Maril, you've been stuck on land too long, you're going crazy," he turns his attention to Rudy, "Man, you gonna let her throw away her money like that? 'Cause if you don't stop her I sure won't."

"Ain't like I'm her husband!" replies Rudy, poised to throw the darts once more. "I mean, how d'ya repay trust like that? You gotta at least try, friend, or you won't make it where it counts in life."

Still, while this is the sort of thing he's normally good at, the bullseye seems to be evading him today. It's not the money that counts here, but playing the role of a useless fop isn't one he wants to take on indefinitely. Nothing for it but to let them fly again, though!

[18:30] <Kallen> roll 1d20+5 I can hear the synth
[18:30] * +Hatbot --> "Kallen rolls 1d20+5 I can hear the synth and gets 16." [1d20=11]
[18:30] <@Janson> roll 1d20+6
[18:30] * +Hatbot --> "Janson rolls 1d20+6 and gets 19." [1d20=13]

It's a very close run game, Maril hanging on tensely to Rudy's side as darts are thrown and numbers counted up... but Rudy's foe squeaks it by a small margin. This time there's no sign at all of a smile on the brunette's lips as her fellow gambler grins and rubs his hands together. Her eyes dart around furiously for a moment, before she suddenly slips out of Rudy's embrace as if she was never there and gives him a violent shove straight at the smaller man!

Not sticking around to see the results, she abruptly turns and bolts for the doorway!

Rudy she failed to beat your CMD on the shove, so you're able to resist the shove if you care to

Rudy bats away the shove and makes a low whistle. "Sorry, boss," he remarks, flipping the gambler a single platinum piece. "Ain't for me to know when the dames'll break out of line, eh? I got so many, so y'know how it is. Oi, MYRA! In the door!" he yells, counting on the abominations remarkably good ears to catch his voice and occupy the way out, whilst he comes up the other side.

Maril's run on the door is blocked by Myra, the two engaging in a brief but inconclusive tussle before the human woman fully registers the unholy nature of her foe and falls back on her rear in fear! The darts player catches Rudy's coin with an adroit snatch, sauntering after Rudy towards the door while a space is cleared and the music stops. "Tryin' ta welch out? For shame, Maril," the man leers down at her. "Thanks to your boytoy here you still owe thirty."

Maril manages to shoot Rudy a filthy look even through her obvious fear of Myra, before giving the hustler a weak smile. "Was just... going to get the money I left in my other coat, Kivas," she offers. "I'm a bit short right now, that's all."

The now named Kivas grins and tuts. "Can't cover your gambling debts? Sounds like you've got a problem... say, that's a nice shirt," he reaches down and pulls on her ruffled sleeve. "Izzat silk?"

"It's not good to spend your money entirely frivolously," admonishes Rudy, idly rolling another platinum coin around his palm. "You're not even making full use of the shirt! Why, look, all those buttons going shamelessly unused! You're rather in luck, though," he adds, trying very hard to restrain his innate smirk. "Need to speak to you 'bout something, and it's a chance to earn back your losses. Whaddya say?"

Perhaps recalling the large sack of platinum that Rudy obtained yesterday, Maril's attitude quickly reverses back to how it was when he first showed up! Yanking her arm away from Kivas, she stands up and leans into Rudy, "Sounds like I'm all yours, loverboy..." she says in a passable attempt at seductiveness, trapping his free arm against her bosom.

Meanwhile the music starts up along with the thrum of conversation around the tavern as a fight seems to be averted.

"Damn straight," replies Rudy, starting to walk towards a secluded table in the corner. "Be with you again in a second, friend. If you need something, ask my secretary," he adds for Kivas' benefit, glancing offhandedly at Myra while he departs.

"Right..." Kivas seems mollified by the sight of the cash Rudy is so cheerfully flashing around, although he refrains from asking Myra any questions, instead gravitating towards the bar.

Upon reaching an appropriately secluded table, Maril shows no hesitation in dropping herself onto Rudy's lap and wriggling in an entirely distracting manner. "Sorry about that, lover," she apologises in a breathy tone, setting Rudy's hand on her thigh. "Thought we could take Kivas for a ride, didn't know your aim's only true when shooting at my ex."

"What can I say? Money- real money, I mean," he adds, nodding- "It's like magic when it comes to my shots, see? Speaking of, business before pleasure, aye?" Focus, Rudy! Look at the nose! Ignore the sensations between your legs!

"How much did you know 'bout the people whose boat you were taking for a ride?"

"People?" Maril repeats, her hand snaking down to quite shamelessly add to Rudy's distraction despite the sight of her somewhat squashed and bent nose placed between her pink lips and hazel eyes which seem entirely devoted to young Rudy at the moment. "Vark said it was only some stupid noble bimbo just come into her inheritance and with more money than brains. Shug was there the first time she tried to take her boat back and they kicked her off," she snickers, jostling her grip, "Would've been funny to see some uptight highborn ditz getting thrown into the drink."

After her mirth she shrugs and presses her assets against Rudy's chest. "Guess she got the last laugh, though, didn't she?"

"People like us'll do just about anything for money, and that ain't something they're short of," replies Rudy, snaking his hand up the underside of Maril's shirt, and pulling her in close for a deep, long-lasting kiss (with his spare hand kept on his purse, 'course. Can't let the dames try and pull a fast one!) Ain't right for the man to not be pushy.

When they break off, he exhales, but doesn't stop the chat. "That's the game, and they're the backers. So I'm on the job now, and I'm looking for the young miss's brother. Heard he's been circling in the most unseemly parts of town, y'see- so of course, who do I know who knows her way 'round there? So- Vanthus, you heard the name? Tall guy, got an evil goatee?"

Lucky for Rudy the brunette's hands are far more busy with a different package than his coin purse, and she seems more than appreciative of both his kiss and his fondling, pressing more than a handful into his palm in turn.

"Vanthus, huh? That'd be Vanderboren, right?" she mulls on the young summoner's question as they amuse themselves in the darkened corner of the Crooked Lantern. "Y'know, there's a girl called Brissa who hangs around these parts. Good for a few laughs, calls herself an artist but I'd watch my purse around her quick fingers," she gives Rudy a little squeeze for emphasis. "Saw her with a guy like that one night, nice clothes, goatee... didn't talk to him, but overheard her bragging about her filthy rich boyfriend Vanthus..."

"Funny thing," she muses amidst her wriggling, "Nobody's seen hide nor hair of Brissa or her beau for at least two weeks."

"Gonna brag about cash in this place, you gotta be able to back it up," mutters Rudy, slowly losing what little reservations remained and swinging his other arm around her, to better pull her in!

"Artist, huh? She got a studio or anything? Any friends? The little miss'll- and I- 'll be very... grateful..."

"Most folks knew her," Maril shrugs, smiling at what the movement does in tandem with Rudy's wandering hands, "Like I said, she could be fun. Didn't really know her more than that... Think she lives somewhere in Azure but near to Sunset. But forget Brissa for now - I know I'm more than enough woman for you," she asserts, placing her hand over Rudy's and forcing him to grope her more roughly to emphasise it. "Howsabout we go someplace more quiet and have some fun after you pay off Kivas?"

Rudy needs little further convincing, and ends up paying off Kivas before proceeding on to.. wherever it is that Maril deems suitable.

Of course, she would have to be prepared for Myra being there.

Watching.

After session 16

After their trip to Shadowshore, Rudy and Henrietta both pay a visit to the Vanderboren estate, only to find that Lavinia isn't in at the moment. Nonetheless her hardworking maid soon has the two comfortably set up in one of the sitting rooms with all the tea and cakes they can handle. It's nearly two hours later when Lavinia returns, and she takes a few minutes to freshen up before the two are admitted to her presence in another sitting room, the young noblewoman sitting poised and expectant, her dress and hair entirely unruffled from her errands.

"It's good to see you again," she smiles at the pair, bidding them to sit, "You were so hurried after that business under the taxidermist's hall. Do you have any further news?"

Unlike their employer, Henrietta required some time to appear that composed though, luckily for her, the hours of wait were more than enough for the task.

"It is a troubling situation, I must confess," she says upon sitting down gracefully. "Lady Vanderboren, it turns out that the group that your brother became part of values him too much to care about his past betrayals. We originally agreed to perform a small task on their behalf in exchange for them turning him over. If only things ended there... that is to say, that task swiftly evolved into a new one altogether. It may, I fear, just end up getting us involved in the affair of these gangs deeper and deeper."

Henrietta's hands gather into fists in her lap, clutching at the hem of her shirt for comfort. She looks down briefly, before returning her gaze to Lavinia. "I very much being in your employ, as I suspect the rest of us do, and I would trust your judgment here. The Lotus Dragons profess to controlling the docks, and have designs upon seizing control of the city which may not be entirely unrealistic. Do you still intend to pursue your brother, My Lady, even if it means making the Dragons your enemy or dealing with them in any way beyond the most casual?"

Lavinia's calm is ruffled by Henrietta's words, the young Lady taking a moment to consider. "Steering my brother away from this ill-intentioned path is important to me, and there is little I would not do to see him returned to the man I once knew. But I have responsibilities to continue the Vanderboren name, and can't be cavalier when dealing with groups as dangerous as you claim." For a moment she looks down, her strong and composed expression replaced by something more wistful and vulnerable, "Things were so much easier when my parents were still here... but I must try to act as they taught me."

She looks in thought for a moment longer. "The Jade Ravens will return from Burnriver hopefully by the middle of next week. Between them and yourselves, I would consider myself well protected, but I could not say if it is enough to prevail in open conflict against these Lotus Dragons. For now it sounds as if you have at least some confidence of my brother's associates... how long do you think you could stretch that out without sullying yourselves in their service? Even if they won't outright tell you where my brother is at the moment, you may be able to overhear something amongst them? Or find records of assignments that could lead to Vanthus?"

Speaking out loud to give shape to her thought process is a familiar act to drawn confidence from, and Henrietta focuses on that familiarity as she responds.

"I cannot say that I fear open conflict as a possibility, due to the nature of such underground guilds. They do, however, train assassins and employ poisoners, which are several degrees more difficult to keep a constant guard against." She pauses for just a brief moment to summon her next thought. "We believe that the Lady of the Lotus was truthful when she told us that your brother, Vanthus, was out of town for the moment, Lady Vanderboren. There seemed to be no incentive for her to lie on that point, as far as we could see. She, however... well, she...."

Henrietta can't quite say it, so she opts to continue lamely with, "It does not seem plausible that your brother would part easily from the Lady of the Lotus even if we managed to convince her to give up on him."

She coughs delicately into her hand, eager to move past that issue. "As for our delaying tactics, My Lady, the time we have to gain would be difficult to assess." A quick glance is thrown Rudy's way as Henrietta is briefly hesitant. Nevertheless, she ventures forth with a guess. "I would estimate a few days, perhaps as much as a week, without too much trouble? It is impossible to resolve their... request, if we are to put it this way, without spending a few days studying the situation and, perchance, laying out an ambush. It should sound entirely believable if we put it that way to the Dragons."

Rudy is already sitting on the edge of an armchair, and nods along to what's been said. "We could stretch it out a bit. But if you don't mind me saying so, m'lady, people aren't the sort of thing you can easily fix. A bit of low cunning might put your brother in our hands, but a man's sure to resent it when others interfere with his work, as he no doubt sees it. 'course, I'm not saying it's a bad idea to bring him in, but unless you keep him under lock and key, well, he's sure to take off again once more."

He strokes his chin. "Truth be told, though, without going up against 'em in some fashion or doing as the dragons say, I don't have an idea of how to catch the blighter. Could wait to see if something turns up, maybe get a feel for just how far their power spreads, mind. Equal chance that our time'll run out and we'll have nothing more for our efforts than what we have now, too."

Lavinia nods resignedly at Rudy's appraisal of what's likely to happen even once she gets hold of Vanthus. "The other possibility, of course, would be to use the opportunity you have now to both sabotage the guild and learn information about their activities that could be used to weaken them and spur their enemies into action... you mentioned their designs on the harbour, do you think it's possible they were involved in Harbourmaster Islaran's death? The details were grisly enough to fit, anyway," her face pinches in distaste.

"I'm far from the expert in such matters, but it seems to me that since they've invited you into their lair, your time is best spent trying to take advantage of that to prepare as much as possible for when they either move against me or you discover information about my brother. If he sees his associates ruined for their crimes it would speak more than a thousand words from me about the path he's on."

"We shall do what we can," Henrietta accedes primly. "It is entirely possible that they were involved in that assassination, and gained the control the profess to have of the harbor through it. It is even possible that we might find written proof of it or, perchance, someone willing to switch sides and talk to the authorities. And so... I... would like to raise, once more, with your permission...."

Recognizing that she is stalling, Henrietta goes ahead and asks, "My Lady, has your stance changed on the subject of involving the city guard in this matter? Is it inevitable that the Vanderboren name be dragged through the mud in the process, or might we be able to avoid that if we brought them in?"

"It does seem a lot to bear for just ourselves, doesn't it?" Lavinia agrees, tapping a finger on the armrest of her chair. "It really depends on how deeply Vanthus has entrenched himself with this group. If he can be painted as an unwitting dupe... well, it's not very flattering, but still far less harmful to his reputation than being a murderer, or their chief financier." That gets her to pause for a second, "The money he stole from the family vault, it's likely he spent some of it - perhaps even a great deal - on impressing his new friends. That would certainly be disastrous for our reputation if it came to light."

She takes a moment now, looking off to the side with her expression shifting as if she's furiously trying to think of something. The silence stretches almost uncomfortably before she finally returns her attention to the present and speaks. "The guard should be our last resort, but I'll start making enquiries of my own among them to see if I can locate an officer able to act discreetly and with my confidence. I'm not sure how long it will take, or how expensive it will be, but my parents were owed many favours. Perhaps in their correspondence I will find someone in a position to assist us." She sounds more hopeful than confident, now. "For now I would like you to continue seeking leads on my brothers activities, and working against the Lotus Dragons as much as you can while keeping their confidence... whatever arrangement you have with them, it will come to a head when Vanthus returns from whatever task he's been sent on."

Seeming grimly resolved to this objective, she now focuses her full attention on Henrietta. "You implied the Lady of the Lotus and my brother had more than a professional relationship. Would you care to tell me about this supposed Lady?" she asks, any attempt at sound casual completely lost by her keen intent.

Rudy is unable to repress a grin.

"That woman's a contradiction, I tell you. First impression is that she's real fatale, the kind of girl you're best avoiding. Didn't give a damn that one of her men wound up dead- not that I expect much from a criminal boss- and didn't seem too slow to sell out Vanthus to a bunch of strangers, either. But I got a feeling she's not entirely on the level, there. Think she likes him, or at least what he can do for and to her.

"Still, I figure she's the type that weighs business more heavily than fun. Don't y'think so, Henri? I wouldn't mind sharing a drink with her, but I wouldn't want to be hers."

"I wouldn't want to be hers either?" Henrietta responds to Rudy uncertainly, shaking the confusion off and focusing back on Lavinia. "This certainly seems to be the case, Lady Vanderboren. Aside from her own admission, it was my impression that your brother is not liked at all by the Dragons, so it is somewhat unlikely his professional skills got him his position," she tells her.

Henrietta pauses then, and seems to reconsider. "Ah, but you asked about her as a person, My Lady? It is my belief that the Lady commands a great deal of respect from the Dragons. Considering what one must do to qualify into their guild and the reasonably even split along their gender lines, I would suspect she is a capable assassin herself. She appears to keep a facade of civility, surrounding herself with riches and art, but her chambers are guarded by loyal men and at least one undead beast, so that outwards expression of vanity may well be an act. I certainly hope that I am right about the Lady being a smart and confident person, because then there would be a chance for us to cater to that, though at this point we have no real way of telling. The very fact that her followers insist on such a title for her and on the need for manners while addressing her may itself be of importance, though I'm not certain what it indicates at this point."

She nods slightly to herself, judging the appraisal complete, and adds, "As an aside, on the subject of the money your brother stole from you to finance the Dragons, I have doubts that any beyond the Lady of the Lotus and, perhaps, her closest advisers know of his involvement. That might be helpful in keeping any investigation from revealing too much, should many from the lower ranks be picked up by the authorities."

Lavinia seems somewhat distressed by the appraisal of the Lady of the Lotus, bunching up her marine-green skirts nervously between her fingers. "I don't know what I can do with that," she confesses, "But I was curious what sort of woman she was... I'm sure I don't need to tell you to be on your guard around such a person."

She's silent for a moment longer, seemingly in thought. "I don't have any other questions at the moment. Is there anything else you need to tell me? Otherwise I think we should proceed as we discussed."

With nothing further to discuss, the pair depart from Lavinia's presence, going their separate ways.

For Henrietta, a leisurely late breakfast the following day is interrupted by Trucy's arrival, the skinny young girl seeming quite interested in whatever Henrietta is eating and whether she plans to eat all of it. Nonetheless, she does also earn her pay by delivering some news. "Yeah, Cobra Fangs? I actually met them, we had a few drinks and talked - you know that smuggling thing with Vark? Actually gives me a bit of credibility with those folks!" she grins toothily. "They're one of those old fashioned gangs, you know - protecting the neighbourhood, looking out for each other, keeping the scum out... I can pretty much believe it, 'cause you know Shadowshore's a shithole. Saw just the one guard my whole time there, and he was hip deep in a whore just off the main street."

She shrugs and nimbly snags something to eat regardless of Henrietta's permission or not. "Anyway, they didn't seem bad. Not like squeaky clean or anything, but they're making the best of what they have. One of them's a girl even younger than me, cute little cripple... didn't say exactly what, but they hinted about some mages or a cult experimenting on her or doing some weird rituals when she was young..." her youthful face scrunches up, "Bet she could probably fry someone with her mind or some magic mojo - she's got that kind of intensity, like you and that creepy raven chick. But that huge snake they've got never took its eyes off her, so she probably wouldn't even need to since it'd just gobble up anyone who tried something."

That grin is something Henrietta can return, if in a slightly more subdued fashion. "It is quite nice to hear that you have a valuable reputation, and I don't doubt it was pleasant to have it acknowledged. The hat helped keep you safe, I hope? They are more than symbols of status, you know, but function as good luck charms as well," she says knowledgeably.

Trucy's information on the gang is quite enlightening, and she pauses in her eating, placing down her utensils to gives the other girl the proper attention she deserves. "What do you think the Cobra Fangs would do, if they heard that the Lotus Dragons were trying to make a move against them?" Henrietta asks Trucy, her only reaction to the nefarious assault upon her breakfast being to order a matching set for Trucy. "Already, what you have told me suggests they are much more pleasant to deal with. Perhaps that is something we should consider after all, if it is at all possible."

"Well, I dunno. Lotus Dragons are big, aren't they?" Trucy asks. "These guys are pretty small time, there's like half a dozen of them, and they don't seem to care about what happens outside their little corner of Shadowshore. If I was them... well, I'd just get on the first boat out of town, actually," she smiles sheepishly, "But if I was them and cared about my ratty corner of the worst part of Salerno, I guess I'd try and mess up anyone who came after me so bad that they wouldn't try again, even if they were bigger?"

She pulls out her rumpled hat from a pocket in her coat and flicks it a few times to put it back into shape. "This thing kinda messes up my hair," a hand goes to her uneven and split-end covered mop of dark brown tresses, "I guess it'll be good for when the weather's cold."

"It must mean we have not found the right kind of hat for you just yet," Henrietta says, accepting this harsh reality with a touch of regret. That concern, however, is secondary to her present one. "What do you think is the proper approach, here?" she asks, trying to get back on track. "Just heading straight to meet them, without any pretenses, and seeing if we could help one another in this situation?"

"Worked for me," Trucy shrugs and puts her hat on, giving Henrietta a cheesy grin. "Well, that was just making conversation, not planning gang warfare. I dunno what you should do, though, I guess it depends what you want to get out of it?"

After session 20, also referring to posts starting here (http://www.soulriders.net/forum/index.php?topic=101101.msg1019193#msg1019193)

As the meeting with Lavinia's breaking up, Lucie endeavors to catch the young noble's attention:

"Excuse me, your Ladyship?" Sitting up straight rather than with the lackadaisical slouch characteristic of her usual haunts, making an effort to mimic the poise of a more respectable class of person (insofar as this is possible while wearing threadbare robes). "As I've taken some part in the risks and the mission of your employees, could I trouble you with a request? Or rather an offer."

"Of course, Lucie, wasn't it?" Lavinia asks the up till now silent oracle, her attentive maid having made sure to garner said name before showing everyone in to see the young Baroness at the start of the meeting. As a keen judge of character, Lucie can detect some sense of disapproval from Lavinia, although it seems mostly directed at her attire - Miranda tended to receive much of the same looks whenever she fell under the Lady's gaze, much as she seems skilled at putting forth a pleasant and polite front.

"Lucie Dolan, if it please your Ladyship. As it's of some interest to me to see that this gang doesn't get more of a hold on the city than they've got--seeing as they've got an eye on Shadowshore, though it might not be much, it's where my old friends and my mother still live--I had it in mind that I might formally enter your service as long as these troubles are ongoing. And if your Ladyship is pleased enough with my services when the current troubles are done with, perhaps we can talk about my staying on in a more permanent position at that time. I've a knack for magic that'll put foes in some discomfort, and a fair hand with a cudgel if worst comes to worst. I've spent a little time with the rest of your employees here, I'm sure they can vouch for any questions you might have about my character."

"You are a blunt one, aren't you?" Lavinia looks somewhat amused, but she also seems relieved at the same time. "Still, it's true that skilled and trustworthy help is becoming ever more necessary in my life of late. Even with the Jade Ravens returning soon, I was already considering seeking more aid. What say you?" she turns to her other employees, "Since you will be the ones to rely on Miss Dolan's goodwill and abilities in carrying out my work, it is your opinions that matter."

"She's good with rope. Would've surely all died without her," replies Rudy. "You can't have too many extra eyes when you're dealing with criminals as it is."

"Lucie seems strong," Henrietta admits, looking away, "but, umm, I did not even know her last name until just now. If you are looking for an informed opinion, Lady Vanderboren, I would need some more time...."

Pursing her lips at the half-hearted endorsements and guilty silences coming from her existing employees, Lavinia deliberates for a moment before speaking, "Well, we can call this a trial run, then," she eventually decides. "If you can keep up with the rest, payment is 100gp, made on the first of the month. Your role will be that of both a bodyguard and troubleshooter, and you'll be expected to always behave and present yourself in a proper manner, as you will be representing me for as long as you draw a salary. Kora will provide you with a small stipend, and we'll see how the rest of the month goes, shall we?"

As everyone splits up after plotting the downfall of the Lotus Dragons, Lucie and Rudy embark on a circuit of the city to try and find Miranda, checking in with guard posts in every district. While Champion, Cudgel, and Merchant districts turn up empty, they get more of a response in the Azure district.

"And y'say she's been missing since last night, aye?" the young guardswoman asks, chewing her lip and giving the pair a nervously pained look that's at odds with her no nonsense tone and the wicked scar running down her left cheek. "Well, the description ain't far off, one a' the dredgers pulled a floater from the canal this morning. She did'na have any identification on her, but girls that young with grey hair? We might've found yer Miranda after all," she nods heavily.

Lucie's tone is as level as ever as she speaks. "Yeah, well, can't know for sure 'til we've had a look for ourselves. So let's see her."

After session 23

In short order Lucie and Rudy are taken to a squat greystone building on the waterfront near where Trucy lives. After a few routine questions from the mortuary workers, they're led into a room with a body lying on a table and covered in a white but patchily bloodstained sheet. Your attendant casts a cantrip that masks the odour within before your noses can really get a proper whiff. "She'd been in the water for a few hours, so... well, be prepared is all," the middle-aged man suggests before pulling back the sheet. There you see a slim and deathly pale woman clad in tattered black rags that show off a good deal of flesh - the effect is nauseating rather than titillating, however, given the jaundiced bloating of her form and the blackened cuts visible from where she was obviously stabbed. Her hair is iron-grey and frames her face in filthy clumps, her eyes closed in eternal repose.

For those that knew her, there's no doubt this is the corpse of Miranda Altair.

Rudy recoils, something halfway between a scowl and a grimace etched across his face. "Craven, cretinous..." he mutters, slumping his shoulders. "Ain't standing for this. Ain't."

At Rudy's apparent confirmation the mortuary worker replaces the sheet over Miranda's shell. "I'm sorry for your loss," he says as if by rote, little feeling behind it. "There weren't anything on her but the clothes on her back. We can release her for the funeral if you care to arrange it yourselves, otherwise the city'll see to a cremation."

"Yes... a funeral," replies Rudy, shaking his head. "We have some important business to take care of, but we'll be back for her in a day or two. Will that be fine?"

That is indeed fine, the mortuary understanding that funerals can't be set up instantly, and thus freeing Rudy and Lucie up to handle their very important business...

After session 27

"Terrible, terrible creatures," Henrietta laments, favoring her side. "You don't suppose they would be, well, like some sort of sea guard dogs?"

"I expect some sort of foul sorcery is responsible," replies Rudy, eyeing the waves. "Besides, if they really wanted to stop us, well, we'll never make it past the docks."

"A really terrible, dark sorcery," Henrietta agrees, shivering. She follows Rudy's gaze, peering ahead out into the sea. "How long would it take us to get to the, umm, greasy smoke-filled shore?"

Griffin Reef lies near flat on the horizon to any who look South, wisps of smoke billowing up into the otherwise clear blue sky from it. According to Vanthus's chart, the North face of the island and its East side are dominated by nigh impassable cliffs, while the West has a low lying beach forming a scimitar-shaped bay to the South. Banks of high sand and coral reefs surround the island, fit to tear the bottom from any ship foolish enough to sail over them - the safe approach involves coming from the Northeast through a narrow channel to hug the Eastern cliff-faces and make a tight turn into the bay.

Given the Fisher Princess's speed, it's a fair assumption that it'll take most of the day to reach the island, probably some time around late afternoon.

"Hard to say how many might be living on this island," Lucie says, eyeing the smoke on the horizon. "Might be there's a good number if we can see the smoke from out here, though. Unless Vanthus has already started torching their ships.

"If there's something like a town, well, that's good for us. Better chance we can blend in while looking around. Figure first thing we do is find out who Vanthus's partners are. Mentioned something about 'joining up with her' for striking a deal and betrayal in one of the letters, didn't he? So a ship's captain, probably. We find out who Vanthus has been talking to and get them this letter--assuming they can read, of course--before Vanthus finds out we're here and asks his 'friends' to take care of us. Might be tough to ask about him without him hearing, but I don't see another plan short of playing at bein' pirates ourselves. And I'm no actress.

"If the letter's enough for them to drop him overboard tied to a rock, great--we just need him dead, right? Doesn't have to be us that does it. But at the least we want folks thinking twice about him before he tries to turn the whole lot onto us. And those of you who are wounded, best put on a good show of not looking the part. Bet anyone senses weakness, they'll pounce fast."

"So, well, we press on?" Henrietta half-asks, half-suggests, tilting her head slightly. Not enough to dislodge her hat, certainly. "And then, our plan is to improvise? I like it!"

Aside from planning taking her mind off the pain, it sounds just like what proper adventurers would do in their situation!

"Not a captain," replies Rudy. "She was just an artist back in Salerno. Besides, we already know about who he's trying to meet up with- The Collective, correct?" He glances at the distant smoke. "If this is where they make port, I doubt they'll be too difficult to find."

"She was," Henrietta confirms. "I'm living in her house, now. It is a very nice house."

"There's something morbid about that."

"Really? What is it?"

"Well, think about it," replies Rudy. "She's either in on this scheme with VV, which's got a good chance of putting her in our way. Or he's tricking her like he tricks everyone, which means for all we know she could already be at the bottom of the sea. Either way, things don't look so good for her."

"If she was tricked we could... save her?" Henrietta says, pausing in consideration. "And if not, about going through her... do we even need to find Vanthus? I mean to say, isn't it enough to contact the Collective and give them that last letter?"

"Because it went so well when we just gave Penkus' letter to the Lady of the Lotus," snorts Rudy. "Even if they accept it, I want to make sure we know exactly what happens to him."

"We thought she was being tricked!" Henrietta protests. "But she wasn't! She was in on the entire thing!" She takes a moment to smooth out her clothes, mindful of her side. "This is entirely different. The pirates are surely being tricked, unless they want to be set on fire and have their ill-gotten gains stolen."

"I'm sure they will believe us. We are total strangers, so of course we can be trusted," replies Rudy. "You think we should try and figure out how he plans to set all the boats on fire before we tell them? Would you just need a torch? The ocean's all wet, how hard can it be to put out a fire at sea, anyway?"

"What do you need to set a large ship on fire?" Henrietta asks Trucy, who serves as her resident expert.

"Boats are made of wood," Trucy observes laconicly, tapping her foot on the deck. "Doesn't matter if all that water down there keeps the fire from burning every inch, a ship burnt to the waterline's way far past dead."

"But most ship wood gets treated so it doesn't burn so easy," young Grant pipes up hesitantly, having overheard. "I mean, for expensive ships, that is. Ye'd need lots of oil or something to make it take ta fire properly."

"So, for instance," Henrietta muses, all too happy to make use of Grant's experience as well, "if someone were to want to burn several large ships this way and did not want their plot discovered too early... where would they keep all that oil?"

The blond boy opens his mouth to reply but is promptly interrupted by a scowling Trucy, "I know that!" she snaps, before turning back to Henrietta, "Remember Glenn chucked a firebomb at Vark on the Blue Nixie and barely scorched the varnish? What you'd want to do is get a bunch of oil, maybe some alchemist's fire and some other stuff like that, and just hide it in the cargo hold amidst all the other junk. The cargo's most likely going to burn more readily than the hull anyway, so it can fuel a really big blaze and gut the boat from the inside. The smoke'd make it really hard for anyone to try and go down and put it out, too," she smiles at having reasserted her knowledge and usefulness, while the young fisherman shrinks back in a chastened manner.

Henrietta nods to herself as she listens. "So if the letter is not proof enough, then we should have one of the pirates search the cargo hold of his ship? If they find oil there, it would serve to prove our case." She mulls over this briefly. "Uh, and how far before departure would you store all the oil away for this? It seems to me that if you hide it too early, it runs the chance of being discovered. And, well, if you wait too long, you might lose your chance altogether."

Trucy looks completely blank, eventually offering a defeated shrug. "I dunno? Maybe he'd do it in the middle of the night and then set the fires right away rather than setting it up and just sitting on his ass for a few days?"

After session 32

Lucie

Ahh, the old neighbourhood down in Shadowshore. Where the everybody knows your name, but are they always glad you came? At the very least Lucie is familiar enough with the place - and familiar enough to the denizens - not to be assaulted or molested as she trawls its furtive streets. Finally reaching the end of the slums ruled over by the Cobra Fangs, she finds the much diminished gang tossing a ball around on the street in front of the rum distillery. It's really just Hermann and Dawley tossing it back and forth, the fat man often dropping it and the tall man seeming quite glum at the diminished state of his once feared gang. Maya seems quite oblivious to it all, teasing her enormous snake with a stick which it obligingly goes after without ever quite getting.

Hermann notices you first, putting a smile on his face and walking over. "Lucie! 'Bout time you got back, we were startin' to worry. Thought maybe you'd forgotten where you came from." He puts a friendly face on, but it's no secret to Lucie he's tense, perhaps still suspecting she's moved onto better things.

Henrietta

Finding a shrine to Hecate turns out to be surprisingly easy. The House of Olympus stands tall upon the highest slopes of Salerno, white marble pillars reflecting the sun and golden effigies of the Gods and Goddesses gleaming with polish and devotion. It's quite busy with people coming and going, seeking blessings from the gods, making offerings at statues, consulting with the acolytes who tend the shrines, marked by their robes and welcoming smiles for any who show the slightest interest in the Gods.

It also has nothing to do with Hecate, despite her being one of the Olympian pantheon. Fortunately a severe faced young devotee of Hera sends Henrietta off on the right path, to the crossroads leading up to Cloudcrystal Academy. It's a statue in black marble inlaid with gold highlights representing a woman in flowing robes who holds a book in one hand and a dagger in the other. Atop her head is a spiked crown, and as you get closer you can see it has three faces - two on either side of the centre one. On a foot high stand before the statue is a large copper dish which has several strips of meat within it, and occassionally someone will deposit another such strip - the people most oft to do so are scholarly robed students coming and going from the school nearby.

Several dogs of various breeds linger near the statue, but make no move to partake of the meaty offerings.

Glenn

Freshly cured and rested, you return to Arabani Manor and find it open and welcoming as always - in fact you're not the only one visiting, and you end up sharing a sitting room with several others, an overweight and expensively dressed man who complains to anyone in sight of utterly ruinous taxes that are positively ruining him - do you understand? Ruining! Besides him is a very soft spoken young woman with flowers in her hair and wearing gossamer robes that are just on the borderline of being indecent, who makes idle conversation about how too many businesses are infringing on services that should be reserved for the churches alone.

Thankfully Glenn is eventually pulled from the waiting and brought in before Lady Arabani, who gives him a brave smile upon entry. "Ahh, Mr Farrunner, wasn't it? I'm afraid if you've come about the extra reward I've promised, I only sent the... rescue, party last night," she hesitates slightly over the word 'rescue', eyes downcast. "It will be over a week till they return, I understand."

Glenn sighs and gives an apologetic glance at the lady.

"No, it wasn't that. Actually I had been hoping you had not sent out a party just yet, I wanted to see if I could provide a bit more information to help on the trip or see if your team had any questions or the like, but if they've already left, there's no helping for it," he answers. "It seems I underestimated how fast you'd be able to put together the resources for a trip to the island."

"Couldn't ever forget that," Lucie drawls. "You're worried, I know. Can see it on your face. No point runnin' around the house first, then, may as well have it out: found new work, need a new place closer to it. Movin' out. I have to do this--things I need can't be found here, bigger world waiting for me.

"Don't feel like I'm leaving you all behind, alright? Shadowshore's a terrible place to be all on your own and I woulda been the past few years without the gang. Not about to forget everything. Expect to be kept busy in the future, but if you need help with something--look, I got a place over in Merchant, here's the address. Something comes up you can't handle on your own, send me a message.

"Otherwise, well, the Dragons were loaded to the gills with cash and we parceled out an even share for each of you. Know money doesn't mean much to you, Hermann, and it won't bring Mort or Chekick back, but it'll make things easier easier for a while."

"Excuse me!" Henrietta calls out to the student that had just placed another strip of meat as an offering for Hecate's statue. "Can I ask, that is, can you please tell me why the dogs are not eating anything from the dish?"

Lucie

Hermann's expression is stony as he listens to Lucie, accepting the note with her address on it and waiting until she's finished. Only then does he show emotion, flickers of disappointment, anger, and resignation seen as he screws up his face. "Shoulda known... who needs the neighbourhood when you can just trade up, right?" he asks bitterly, shaking his head and starting to pace. "Shit, Lucie! Thought you understood, thought you were one of us! Not just a sellout!"

Dawley hangs back as Hermann rants, giving Lucie an apologetic look but not doing anything to draw away the taller man's anger. Maya and her snake both look over curiously at the scene as well. "Fuck money!" he goes on, before pausing and almost laughing. "Fuck... your mom was around a couple days ago, looking for a handout. You want we should tell her where you're living now or just tell her you're dead or something?"

A subject change is about as close as you're likely to get for acceptance with Hermann the way he is now, really.

Henrietta

A bespectacled young teenager with a spotty face and unruly hair looks up at Henrietta, wiping his hand on his robes and smiling optimisticly. "They're really well trained, ma'am," he declares. "Plus they know they'll get to clear the plate at noon and sundown, so I guess there's that."

Glenn

"Yes... it's a slim hope, but every moment counts if he's captive in the state you described yesterday," the middle-aged noble nods forlornly. "In the face of that, what are time and money? Still," she puts on a hopeful smile, "If there's anything important you missed yesterday, there's still a way for me to pass it on to Captain Blake, so long as it's not too verbose."

Henrietta nods to herself, her suspicious handily confirmed. There is nothing supernatural or otherworldly about the behavior of the dogs whatsoever. Clearly, it is all in their training by far more real and mortal hands!

"So I see," she agrees, and then hesitates visibly. "I am not from Salerno, as you might see, and, well, is Hecate not part of the Olympian pantheon? And yet, she was not worshipped over by the House of Olympus, as far as I could see. Why is that? Ah, if I may ask, that is."

Henrietta

The boy's expression is a visible war between ignorance and the desire to appear knowledgable as he hems and haws for a moment before a husky female voice pricks at Henrietta's ears from behind her. "How nice it is to see you've finally decided to give proper thanks to Hecate for your blessings, Henrietta Ul'Copt... have no fear, for I can answer your questions."

Sauntering around now to stand beside the shrine you can see the horned woman from the feast of Demeter, once more dressed in concealing yet alluring black robes and wearing a smug smile on her lips. "Hecate's place is here, at the crossroads, more than in that commercialised temple. It doesn't hurt that anxious young students are more apt to leave an offering if the shrine is conveniently on their route to class, isn't that right?" she looks to your young friend.

"Haha," the glasses wearing boy blushes and looks bashfully down at his feet rather than at the two beauties before him. "Got a demonstration on practical illusions today. Figure it can't hurt to hedge my bets, right?"

"You don't need to tell her anything!" Lucie snaps. "She'll be coming with me." Although if Lucie's honest with herself for a moment it's more likely this means getting her mother a small place of her own somewhere safe. The desire to have some measure of personal privacy for the first time in her life is a strong one.

"And just because I was born here doesn't mean I have to die here. As it's likely to happen sooner for me than the rest of you, I bloody well have a right to choose where."

She looks over the group as a whole (what's left of it, anyway). "So do you want your shares or not?"

Lucie

"Oh, yes, I want to buy a new suit for Midolin!" Maya carols, walking unsteadily towards Lucie with her snake nudging her along. "Can we come and visit your new house, Lucie? I like it here most of all, but I'm sure if you're there it'll be nice."

"Yeah..." Dawley ambles forward at the mention of money, "I mean, I've needed a new bed for months now," he blushes, the fate of his old bed breaking under his weight a subject of much merriment to the other members of the gang since then.

Hermann just throws up his hands in irritation. "Might as well get something to show for Mort and Chekick buying the farm. Hope your new friends are worth that," he scowls angrily both at Lucie's departure and the failure of the remaining Cobra Fangs to properly censure her for it.

"Don't misunderstand!" Henrietta protests, something inside her feeling irritated at the smugness displayed by the other woman and rebelling against it. "I just wanted to learn more because knowledge is power. That is all there is to it!"

Blatantly shifting her gaze to observe the blushing student, Henrietta asks him, "Would it not be better to practice more?"

Henrietta

"W-well sure!" the young mageling sputters, "I study! Lots! And hard! Like you wouldn't believe!" he insists. "But it just costs me a couple of coppers and a few seconds to make an offering, and if it can help then why not, right?" he looks at the horned woman for support, receiving a condescending smile and nod in turn.

"Right..." he blushes. "Anyway, yeah... I better get going for my demonstration. Bye," he backs away lamely before turning tail and scurrying towards the gates of the grandiose magical school ahead.

"Ahh, youth," Vriskna sighs wistfully, watching him go. "He'll probably end up making an offering to Aphrodite as well before the day's out."

"I cannot see how that would possibly help him," Henrietta states, frowning. "But that is not my business, I suppose."

She gives Vriskna her full attention once more. "You remembered my name, I could not help but notice." Henrietta looks quite pleased with that.

Henrietta

"Of course," she beams, flashing a brilliant smile at the redhead, "How could I forget my self proclaimed rival? I've been waiting for you to seek me out - it seemed inevitable, considering the Goddess's interest in you, Miss Ul'Copt."

Still smiling, she steps towards Henrietta and primly smooths down her robes, causing them to highlight her figure in a way that's just too perfect to be anything but calculated, "Ask your questions and I will reveal what wisdom I can, blessed one."

Henrietta perks up as their rivalry is so formally acknowledged, smiling back at Vriskna despite herself. She would certainly have to write her parents about that, and won't they be proud of her?

"I'm only just starting my studies, so the questions will probably be boring," Henrietta finds herself admitting grudgingly, much as it shames her to display a lack of knowledge of such magnitude. "Why associate dogs with Hecate? And do you believe her to work through them all for some all-encompassing goal?"

Henrietta

Vriskna rubs her fingers together which prompts a medium sized black dog to make a happy woof and pad on over, allowing her to scratch its head and behind the ears. "Do you know why dogs are so obedient to humans? So quick to learn our voices and habits, so eager to please and follow our commands? The reason is because they have human souls."

She smiles as if already expecting an outburst from Henrietta, but continues smoothly. "The story goes back to antiquity, when a tribe offended Hera and found themselves transformed into wolves, condemned to be feared and hated by their former brothers, running wild and desperate in the dark forest primeval... Noble Artemis took mercy on some who exalted in the hunt as she did. Today their descendants are known as werewolves and beastmen... but others could not bear their new existence."

"Thus a bargain was struck," she makes a gesture and the black dog sits down obligingly, tongue lolling out and panting, "Hecate would restore their connection to humanity, allowing them to once more understand their brothers, to be able to serve and earn their place back in civilisation, to be appreciated rather than feared. In return, their lives would be forfeit to her... the sacrifice of a canine was the culmination of any proper rite in the Goddess's honour..." she looks upwards and sighs wistfully, the dog at her feet emitting a fearful whine which seems to bring her out of her reverie. "Of course this is a far less bloodthirsty age, but the association with dogs still lingers, and they don't forget their ancestral debt."

A loud affirmative bark is heard as she concludes, the dog now wagging its tail and looking up at Henrietta.

"In other words," Henrietta says, a frown quite promiment on her face, "you believe that lycanthropy widely affected a tribe in ancient times, sweeping through it like a plague, and then some of them wanted their humanity so much that they decided to follow Hecate?"

Henrietta tilts her head this way and that, as if testing the theory out. "I suppose I do not have a particular problem with any of that, but is, well, that is," She hesitates slightly, before blurting out, "how can you say that dogs have human souls and then talk so happily about sacrificing them?"

Henrietta

"No, you misunderstand," Vriskna shakes her head patiently, "The people were turned into wolves. Those sheltered by Artemis became lycanthropes, and those sheltered by Hecate became dogs. As for sacrificing them?" she shrugs lithely, "The more important the sacrifice, the greater devotion it shows. What better to sacrifice than a creature touched - however indirectly - by the Goddess herself? There is greater meaning in it than sacrificing these strips of meat," she gestures down at the offerings currently placed on the plate.

"But sadly it's the way of things to change," she sighs melodramatically. "I may be clinging too tightly to the old ways. There are many who say the sentiment behind the sacrifice is more important than the offering itself."

"So what are the new ways, then?" Henrietta asks, deciding to hurry right past the incredibly disturbing pseudo-human sacrifice that she sincerely hopes has all been left in the distant past.

Henrietta

The elegant horned woman raises a perfectly sculpted eyebrow and gestures once more down at the copper plate filled with meat cutlets. "Sacrifices of fish and frogs are also accepted..." the causes her to start smiling nostalgically. "Did you know that several decades ago, the people of Plinyrica believed that the red mullet fish was especially sacred to Hecate? It was believed that by offering it in sacrifice they would receive great fortune and riches - the bigger the fish the better, of course. Nobles made great sport of it, paying fabulous sums for the most prime examples of the breed. It was quite the economic boom, until the fish was driven extinct within a few years."

"Of course, Plinyrica is more famous for being the site of the first Collective uprising, and many of those same nobles found themselves dancing the hempen jig. It's an interesting lesson in taking things to excess. I like to wonder what the Goddess thought when she received the last red mullet in offering... as the very last one, would it not be the most meaningful of sacrifices? And yet knowing no more would ever be offered must have been most melancholy."

"I did not know that," Henrietta admits. "Frogs? Really?"

She shakes her head. "I suppose everyone has their own unique taste...."

But that is not really the important part, she knows, and so she asks, "How about you? Do you believe that Hecate wants a terribly extravagant sacrifice from you, in order to bring you fortune or riches?"

It would be rude to ask all that and not to respond in turn, and Henrietta muses, "As for what I think, should Hecate merely bring the red mullet fish back if she really wanted it to? It does not sound a very difficult task for a goddess." There is just a bit of challenge behind those words, and Henrietta finds herself wondering what excuse will be given here.

"I see! That's convinient then," Glenn replies looking a bit more pleased. "Very well, remember how my companions mentioned that the disease is contagious through bite? If you've been infected, the disease takes a while to incubate before it causes noticeable mutations. While it does so though, the infected person will become irritable, perhaps some headaches and generally just find it harder to think clearly the more time passes, so that should be a warning sign to watch out for."

"Did any clerics or alchemists go with the rescue party, Lady Arabani?" he adds, pausing for a short breath, having spoken rather quickly. "If some have, I would confirm that restoration and remove disease do seem to work on an infected person, at the very least prior to mutations taking place. While it doesn't guarantee they will work on your son, it should improve the chances at least, knowing what will work on someone infected."

Henrietta

"Ancient depictions showed Hecate with the head of a woman, a dog, and a frog..." Vriskna glances at the statue with three quite human heads on it and shrugs, "Tastes change."

"As for myself, I have no interest in fortune or riches. I have all that I need - when I sacrifice it is done out of respect, not the expectation of reward."

She smiles smugly at Henrietta's last question. "Clearly Hecate does not want to bring the fish back into the mortal realm, else she would indeed. Resurrection is hardly unknown now, is it?"

Glenn

"That's some small comfort," Lady Arabani nods gratefully to Glenn. "There is another druid among the rescue party who is capable of lifting disease from the sick... though in truth I fear far stronger measures will be required if my Walter is caged as you said yesterday. A week is a long time to go without food or water..."

There isn't much comfort Glenn can offer in regards to that statement, except to briefly bow his head. "I can only hope everything goes well."

Of course, it makes perfect sense. Henrietta is too cultured to roll her eyes, and glances at the statue herself. "Does that mean that Hecate changed with the aeons, you think, or that people believe in different versions of Hecate over time?"

And the personal response is too good to pass up on, so she soon after wonders, "And what is it that a follower of Hecate like yourself needs?"

Henrietta

"People's interpretations change. The spiritual needs of these young scholars are no doubt quite different to the needs of the tribal peoples who dwelled upon Pranneria before King Koryand and the Queen of the Sky forged the first true nation. The true nature of the Goddess is something we can only divine through the ever-shifting lens of our culture," Vriskna replies, walking in a slow circuit around the well polished statue.

"I suppose at this moment in time I most need to help the Blessed One find wisdom and power... but before that of course I need to ensure she survives," she flashes a knowing smile at Henrietta. "So I shall turn the question around. What do you want, Blessed One?"

"Well, I'm not really settled in just yet," Lucie starts, looking down at the hopeful child. "That is...Oh, just let me know in advance that you're coming, will you? Send a letter or something. I'll be very busy soon and I'd want to make sure you don't drop by while I'm out. We wouldn't want to miss each other, would we? And Midolin has to be on his best behavior, alright? It's a quiet neighborhood and they're not used to giant snakes on the streets."

Lucie turns to the giant man-child next: "And yes, Dawley, you can easily buy yourself a new bed with your share of the treasure. Could be you could even afford one big enough for you. Or more than one bed, and set them up next to each other? Up to you. The bed-buying is limited only by your imagination."

"You!" Henrietta exclaims, going so far as to point at Vriskna. "That time with the assassins! You got the third one-- and warned me?" Henrietta tilts her head in confusion. "Didn't you?"

Lucie

Dawley and Maya both take their shares with much eagerness, the former going off into a daydream now and mumbling to himself "Two beds?" in awe. Hermann takes his but with considerably poorer grace, glaring at his money-bag as if it were directly responsible for all his ills.

"Guess you'd better get going to your new digs. Don't worry about us, we'll get by just like we always have," he offers churlishly, dismissing Lucie.

Henrietta

"Clever girl," Vriskna smiles approvingly at Henrietta. "It is nice to be appreciated, I'll say that much, I suppose. At least I think I heard a thank you in there... perhaps its better for me simply to imagine I did?" she cocks her head curiously. "But do share some of that boundless gratitude for Hecate while you're being so effervescent with thanks.

Glenn

Think we're good there, not a lot to say in response either

At the answering smile that answers and confirms so much, Henrietta rushes to envelop Vriskna in a hug!

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she repeats, holding onto her. "I live alone here and it was oh so very scary to be attacked by assassins at night and they wanted to kill me and the guards were so close but they still did not hear anything and I had to go to them and-- and-- thank you for being there!"

Henrietta

The dark-haired and rams-horned woman is startled by the hug, but awkwardly returns it for just a moment before quickly extricating herself. You can notice that quite a few people are stopping to stare at the pair of you now. "Yes, well... think nothing of it, I was only doing my duty," she replies, slightly flustered as she looks away and smooths her robes out some more. "It wouldn't do for one blessed by the Goddess to meet such an ignoble end, but all I really did was give you a chance - you did the rest," she refocuses and turns a stern gaze on Henrietta, "So please don't abuse my good nature and take it as license to risk your life mindlessly with the reassurance that I'll be looking out for you, Miss Ul'Copt."

"Oh, well," Henrietta fumbles for the right words, taking a step back, "I don't think you need to worry about that. I kept on risking my life without knowing about what you did or, you know, that reassurance. But I would like to believe it was not mindless or senseless in any way."

As her general awareness returns, so does her embarrassment at causing a public scene grow, and Henrietta turns away. "I was thinking of getting a-- a dog, that is, a guard dog, actually. N-Not because it is Hecate's animal or anything of the sort." She sneaks a quick peek at Vriskna before averting her eyes again. When she speaks again, however, Henrietta's voice no longer stutters. "But if you are not busy, maybe you would like to help me pick the right one?"

Henrietta

As Henrietta sneaks her peek she can see that Vriskna is once more wearing her usual condescending smile. "A dog, hmm? Well, perhaps one of these four would suit your tastes?" she invites, as the black dog by her feet woofs and wags its tail. At Vriskna's words the other three canines lingering around the shrine pad over and line up neatly to sit facing the sorceress, this doing nothing to diminish the growing number of people stopping to gawk.

The black dog has a mid-length coat and floppy ears that manage to rise up just a little before bending over and falling down the sides of its head, long tongue lolling out and panting while its tail wags and thumps the ground behind it.

Next to it is a much smaller terrier, its very short fur mostly white except for a mottled brown and black patch on its left flank, prickly upthrust ears and an almost buzzing short pointed tail. It makes a happy yap at Henrietta's scrutiny.

The third dog is the largest of the bunch, a ponderously moving and lazy looking hound with sagging jowls and big ears dangling flat down the sides of its head. It seems content to just sit there idly catching the sun on its reddish-brown coat, and the only response it gives to Henrietta's gaze is a cavernous yawn that shows off very large teeth.

The last member of the pack is a greyish-white skinny canine that seems to exude haughtiness, sitting perfectly straight as if a soldier at parade rest, the only movement betrayed by its upthrust and occassionally twitching or swivelling ears.

"Meant what I said," Lucie offers on parting, whether Hermann wants to hear it or not. "There's ever trouble you all can't deal with on your own, just let me know."

Having said her piece, Lucie heads home--well, to her old home--as there's still one person left to see in Shadowshore. All words to the contrary, she looks forward to not coming back after this. Not for a while, at least.

Rudy

Heading out Shadowshore way intent on getting answers about Maya's sordid past, Rudy has a little trouble with ruffians wishing to divest him of his hard earned gold, but a sharp word or two and Myra's gentle ministrations are enough to see such foolishness off without any great harm to either party. Unfortunately he doesn't find the Cobra Fangs immediately in evidence either in or around the rum distillery they habitually hang out at. It's only when he's about to give up hope that mercy is shown in the form of Hermann leading his abbreviated gang out of old Rabbani's shop, a scowl on his face and a small cloth bag in his hands. The overweight Dawley ambles along lazily behind him, while young Maya twirls and skips to a song only she can hear, her terrifying (did it grow spines recently?) ophidian slithering to and fro on either side of her.

Putting on the cheerful face that only those completely certain that everybody wishes to see them can wear, Rudy waves towards the Cobra's remnants and approaches at fast clip. "Afternoon, gentlemen and ladies," he remarks, undeterred by Hermann's grim expression. "Folks got a few minutes for some serious discussion?"

Rudy

Maya skips to a halt and waves cheerfully. "Hello Myra!" she calls, clasping her hands behind her back and walking over to examine Rudy's eidolon, ooohing and aaahing over the extradimensional horror's new fins and other appendages, while her snake warily follows her.

"Rudy, right?" Hermann's expression at least becomes marginally polite, stuffing the bag into his pocket with a jingle of coin. "What's up?" he asks, starting to walk towards the nearby brewery and tavern.

"The same. Wanted to come by and have a chat about the youngster's circumstances," replies Rudy, glancing briefly at Maya whilst Myra poses for her benefit. "Or, rather, how she arrived at 'em. Seems like it should be concerning to me."

That condescending smiles helps put Henrietta on a defensive better than anything else could, and she collects the shards of her composure and meshes them back together until they stick.

"You all seem very nice dogs," she tells the animals, her gaze alternating between the four. If Vriskna can talk to the dogs and get them to respond, so can she! There is nothing mystical whatsoever about smart animals. "Which of you wants to help guard my home? It is very nice and there is plenty of room, but it can also be a bit loud at times and I might need to leave from time to time for my job. I promise to leave a nice person behind to care for you if I do, however."

Henrietta

The black dog barks loudly in response to Henrietta, wagging its tail, while the little terrier next to it bounces up and down on its paws, seemingly filled with nervous energy. The other two are more restrained, the big dog lying down and resting its head on its forelegs, looking up with sad soulful eyes, and skinny dog betrays no reaction at all.

Rudy

Hermann grunts and continues on into the nearby tavern, the rest of his gang following. "Figured you might be interested in something like that," he allows, waiting until everyone has a mug of paint-thinner or rum or whatever they call it around here - with the exception of Maya herself who forgoes beverages entirely, sitting against her snake while the others use the table. "So, I figure you didn't pick up your creepy pal the way Maya got Midolin - you've hardly got that vibe," the tall bald man leans on the table, facing Rudy. "So what did you want to know in particular?"

"Can't say my nerves weren't thoroughly wracked by the end of it. Got a real taste for drink right after," replies Rudy, reaching out to drink his mug of distilled pain (nothing can be worse than the drugs, after all.)

"These things ain't natural, and by that I don't mean they're from hell or whatever- mean, they could be, but I ain't certain. What I mean is that there's got to be some sort of method you can use to give people these magical monstrosities, something a person did. I guess what I wanna know is who's dreamed it up, where they are or were, and why."

He takes a big gulp, and sets down his drink with a heavy breath. "I figure the others might tell you I protest too much over it. Gotta be hundreds of people out there who want a bit of power for themselves, y'know? But even now, Myra still leaves me all uneasy. So that's what I wanna know, and why I want to know it. As it pertains to Maya, well. Where'd it happen, and how?"

Henrietta takes that loud bark as her answer. The black dog must want to go home with her the most.

"Are you sure?" she asks, focusing on that dog now. "Assassins might attack me again at some point. That is, I hope not, but I suppose it is a possibility. If you are brave and wake me up, however, well... I am certain we can win against them!"

Henrietta

The black dog springs to its feet and barks again, bouncing on its paws and spinning in a circle before wagging its tail furiously and barking again as it looks up at her.

"It seems you chose well," Vriskna muses, tapping a slender finger against her chin as she watches for a moment before leaning down to ruffle the scruff of the dog's neck for a long moment. "So to formalise your new friendship, surely you should provide this fellow with a name?"

Rudy

"Not something I know a huge amount about," Hermann admits, nursing his cup as Rudy discovers the foul alcohol brewed here burns his throat and clears his sinuses as thoroughly as before. "'Tween Maya and Lucie we've had to get some handle on magic, but you'd hardly call us experts."

"Best we can figure, Maya used to be normal... so was Lucie when she was a kid, so take that for what it's worth. She didn't meet the snake or get any of her other powers until after she was taken away."

"It was cold there," Maya speaks up now in a faraway voice, "The rocks were jagged and damp, and in the dark I'd cut myself on them..." her head swivels around to regard Rudy with a beatific smile, "I like wood more," she pats the filthy floorboards under her.

"Better food and better company here too, right?" asks Rudy, eyeing Maya with curiosity.

"Taken away means kidnapped, right? That sounds like a story."

Henrietta only hesitates for a moment before she copies Vriskna's actions, reaching down to pat her dog. It would probably take some work to care for him, but her father would surely just say it is all good training for the future to learn how.

"How about Val?" she asks the dog. "Do you like that? It is a very noble name from my land of birth, I will have you know!"

Henrietta

The newly dubbed Val barks happily at receiving his name, bounding up to put his paws on Henrietta's legs and start licking and slobbering over her face. Vriskna straightens up and covers her mouth with her hand, observing the scene.

"He clearly approves," she murmurs, hiding her mirth unsuccessfully. "I'm sure you'll be much safer with him watching over you."

Rudy

"I... can't remember," Maya admits, looking lost, her gaze faraway. "I remember the cave, but not where I lived before... it was here, though. It feels right," she murmurs vacantly.

"She comes and goes," Hermann coughs awkwardly. "Sometimes she'll mention something from further back, but ask her about it later..." he shakes his head, "Gone."

"We've pieced together bits. Whoever her family was around here, they're gone now... figure either they got a fat pay-day and did like Lucie did, or they got themselves dead," he elaborates harshly. "Lots of people disappear in Shadowshore, ain't exactly something most folks bother noting after a while."

"I-- I'm sure," Henrietta stutters, feebly fighting off her dog's affectionate nature for several long moments before she realizes the foolishness of her efforts. Changing her tactics, Henrietta gestures at her mirthful rival. "Val! Show Vriskna how much I am grateful for-- for everything!"

Prestidigitation, prestidigitation....

Rudy can't help but think that at least Shadowshore is still here, unlike Griffin Reef. He glances back and forth between Maya and Hermann.

"Ever figure out just where this cave was?" he wonders. "Folk who caught you still there, perchance?"

Henrietta

Val relents on showing his gratitude towards Henrietta, bounding off and turning towards Vriskna... and a dangerous look from her has the dog whine and roll over and expose his belly, tail between his legs.

At least her cantrips let her clean herself up easily?

Rudy

"I don't know... Midolin ate a lot," Maya sing songs, looking up at her serpent and stroking its jet black surface just under the head, eliciting a pleased hiss.

"Not something we've ever cared about going after. Got enough problems here at home," Hermann adds. "Best we can figure it's some ways East of Salerno, in a cave near the bottom of the sea cliffs."

Maya stands up at that, screwing up her brow and turning in place until she's facing South, then she holds out both of her hands and looks between them before shaking the right hand triumphantly. "I went that way!" she agrees. "It was so bright and it hurt my eyes, but I knew that was the best way to go. "It got dark again and then light again before I met Hermann," she concludes, beaming at the grumpy figure nearby.

"Good boy," Henrietta calls to Val, even as she seethes at such blatant cheating on Vriskna's part. Being clean again does wonders for her mood, however, and she says, "Val and I should be going, I think, to show him his new home."

She cannot quite leave it at that, however, and after just the briefest of hesitations Henrietta voices, "But, that is to ask, do you have any plans for tomorrow evening? We are having a party, you see, to celebrate not dying to assassins and mutants and some very terrible things, and, well, it's not like you have nothing to do with that so you would be quite welcomed, I should think."

"Might have a wander and see what's what," replies Rudy. "Doesn't sound like there'll be much there to worry about."

Myra emulates Maya's pose, with a significant number of superfluous jerks and spasms. "Don't want to speak too soon, though. The only virtue of having free time is that you find more ways to plunge yourself into mortal peril. Isernia's far more dangerous than they told me it would be, y'hear?"

Henrietta

"Hmm, I have rather a lot of other pressing matters to attend to," Vriskna hums, "But I suppose I could drop by and ensure no harm comes to the Blessed One, at least for a short spell," she allows ever so reluctantly, accepting the details of time and place from Henrietta and letting the sorceress depart with her new furry friend.

Good there, Cor?

Rudy

"Place is a shithole unless you're rich enough to hide yourself away from reality," Hermann reflects, leaning back and taking a swig from his foul rum. "If you find the place and there's anything there, let us know?" he glances over at Maya who's now trying to coax a line of ants up from under the floorboards towards Midorin's waiting maw. "I doubt there's anything good there, but we might as well know what's what."

"No worries," replies Rudy, reaching out to down the rest of his mug. "Not expecting to find anything I'd call good, but... guess important's the right word. Either way, though, no sense going there all morbid." He smacks the sides of his face with both hands, and stands up. "Lucie dropped off your take, right? G'luck with that, it's serious money. Man could really make something of himself with that."

Rudy

"Something, yeah," Hermann repeats with a grimace. "Money has a way of making people forget things that really matter. Friends, family, community..." he drains the last of his drink and sighs. "But it's the devil that makes the world go round, no arguin'."

Having spent the remainder of her day settling into her new digs, Lucie appears at Henrietta's apartment the next morning. Without anything in the way of preamble or greeting (she hasn't had her etiquette lessons yet): "Henri? Decided I was in need of your expertise after all," she says after a knock on the door.

"You think?" replies Rudy, standing up. "Finding people share a lot of the same worries no matter where they're at. Vices, too."

He sets his cup down and shrugs. "Be seeing you around. Come on, Myra!"

A happy woof answers Lucie! The door opens a moment later, and a large black dog bounds towards the stairs and Lucie right after.

Henrietta herself appears in the doorway a moment later. "Oh?" she asks, watching Val enthusiastically return Lucie's greeting. "What sort of expertise is that? Do you want to learn how to use a flail?"

"I--oh gods, what?!" Lucie backs away a few feet, hands outstretched to ward off several dozen pounds of aggressively friendly dog.

"No," she starts again, scratching the dog's ears at arm's length. "I'll need something else to wear to the banquet. This--" she gestures with one threadbare sleeve, "--I am sure will not do. You offered to show me around and look for something more...respectable?"

"Oh. Oh!" Henrietta clasps her hands before her chest, stopping at the top of the stairwell. "Certainly! Just how respectable, say, do you want to look? Like a successful merchant? A mysterious and wealthy traveler? A visiting noble?"

"Any of them? I'm not sure what the differences are." Lucie shrugs. "Something that fits...well, that fits the house I just bought. Really, I imagine I need a whole new wardrobe, but we'll start with something to make an impression at the banquet?"

"I am ever-so-glad you asked!" Henrietta announces. "Please, wait a moment." She disappears back into her home, to emerge later with a white parasol.

"I hope I am not being overly presumptuous," Henrietta tells Lucie, locking the door behind her, "but could we, perchance, see your house to get an impression of what might, well, fit it?"

She descends, brushing her hand against Val's back upon reaching Lucie. "In the meantime, I can tell you all about the differences. Some are not so much in the dress itself, but what it reveals about yourself. What sort of accessories would you wear with it? Which jewelry? Is it merely to display yourself before others, or is the dress made for comfort? Both, perhaps? Ah, so many choices!"

"I don't see why not," Lucie says, starting down the stairs. "It's over in Merchant. Short walk. Wanted to be in the center of things."

"I...am not used to wearing jewelry," she continues on reaching the street. "Anything I'm going to be wearing regular needs to be comfortable, but the banquet...well, these aren't my normal circles. We need to stand out, but not so much we look out of place. I am not sure what that calls for."

"Come along, Val," Henrietta says, smiling at her dog. "We are going to visit Lucie's home!"

She falls in step with Lucie, nodding at her words. "Yes, yes, of course. But this is where, well, a certain paradox emerges. You see, the more expensive a dress is, the more you would stand out without the proper accessories to it. So if you want to get eased into the banquet scene, what you need to do is pay even more for your attire, and then you fit in so much you can stay in the background until such a time you are ready to make your move. It certainly cuts down on any awkwardness, I can tell you that!"

Henrietta smiles again, this time in remembrance. "Of course, there is also the part where you may wish to, you know, make a statement with your clothing. Like draws to like, and so if you are interested in forging contacts with merchants, appearing as one of them would go a long way towards that goal! It makes perfect sense, does it not? People who might be intimidated by nobility would feel quite right with someone they consider one of their own circle."

Lucie rubs her forehead, sighs as they walk. "Why do people insist on making things like this so complicated? Do they not have enough to keep them busy?" She shakes her head at the foolishness of people with too much time and money on their hands.

"I most wish to engage...academics, clerics, magicians. Otherwise...I have patience for merchants and the like only insofar as they're useful."

"We can look for some very high-quality robes for you, perhaps," Henrietta muses, looking Lucie over in contemplation. "I suppose it may cause you to fend off a charlatan or two, but we can make the image authentic enough to draw genuine interest of the sort you wish, I am most confident of that! Oh, we need to consider so much... do you intend to draw men in general? We will need to hunt for the right perfume, then! And a fabulous hair clip, most certainly--"

Henrietta sneaks a peak beneath Lucie's hood, and turns away to conceal a wince. "Although perhaps we could also style it differently? Seize the moment, I say, and in doing so, seize the advantage, as in battle! So many mages wear it loose or in a utilitarian ponytail, but we could do something unique with yours. Braid it, perhaps, or let it run in twin tails over your shoulders. Why, I believe that would be quite lovely!"

"Men? It wasn't really what I had in mind." Lucie considers this for a moment. "One flashy, attention-getting dress, maybe? There might be a time it's useful to make that kind of impression. Otherwise, I'll defer to your expertise in what's likely to have me be taken seriously."

"We...don't really have to do anything elaborate with my hair, do we? I rather like it having a certain...presence," she adds, defending her standard style of having it be a looming, tumbledown mess inside her hood.

"Not... have to, I suppose," Henrietta admits when pressed. "But you simply must look at your attire together. Everything must flow together, one into the other-- why don't we wait and see what hair style fits your dress of choice?"

Considering that thorny issue successfully deferred, Henrietta continues, "As far as first impressions go, Lucie, being taken seriously and attention-getting dresses are not quite in the same category, I must say. It is, well, I suppose it can be called a bad idea to try and combine the two. If you want to talk to new and interesting people and have them listen to you over admiring you then I again would suggest some robes. We can even, I think, adorn them in a way that looks flashy and interesting without being tasteless or tacky."

"As I said, I'll defer to your experience in these matters. Mostly." Lucie waves one tattered sleeve as repeat demonstration of her own breadth of experience in the world of high fashion.

In time Lucie stops in front of handsome townhouse wedged into a busy Merchant street. Two floors, interiors mostly obscured by curtains inside the front windows. "Well, here we are. And as we're already in Merchant, it's likely a short walk to a dress shop...I haven't taken the time to look around yet, wouldn't know where to start." Lucie looks to Henrietta, apparently assuming the redhead's own taste in clothes suggests she must know all the stores in the city already.

"As a matter of fact," Henrietta muses, looking at the nearby street names to orient herself, "I have purchased a very nice dress here some time ago to pick me up." Her face falls. "I really needed it after being trapped underground with zombies and diseases and large, incredibly hostile crabs."

It shouldn't take her too long to start leading Lucie to a good store.

It's a short walk up Wall Street and into Sunset District before Henrietta turns off onto Dusk Street between the city gates and the park. Here a tailors is found, under a sign reading Jaurant Fashion. In the window are a couple of dresses and accessories, favouring furs and deep layers as the season begins to turn towards Winter. A bell rings upon entering and two figures are seen, a slim and haughty looking man with black hair in a long pony-tail wearing an understated but well-fitting suit of black with green and silver highlights, and a teenage girl with long unbound brown hair wearing a simple long-skirted brown dress.

The man looks up from where he's poring over a large sheaf of paper with some sort of clothing design and smiles silkily, "Customers, welcome! I'm Mr Jaurant... and ah, Miss Ul'Copt, it's a pleasure to see you once more. I trust the dress was satisfactory? Won't you introduce me to your friend?" he invites, gracefully walking over. The girl looks up and smiles briefly before focusing back on her needlework.

"Ah, thank you," Henrietta responds, smiling back at the tailor. "It made me very happy. I did not have a chance to wear it to a formal occasion yet because I was out of town, but my chance should be coming up in a manner of days." Gesturing at her side, she continues smoothly, "This is Lucie Dolan. I told her we would find her something that goes with a dignified scholar look. Styled much like robes, perhaps? With the focus on furs the coming season, it should not be too hard, I hope. And while we are browsing, perhaps I should look for something to pamper myself again."

They did, after all, once more battle against disease and against unspeakable horrors given cannibalistic mutant form.

"Of course," the tailor turns to Lucie, "Why don't we step through to the fitting room and I can take your measurements first, then we can discuss styles? Salli, do help Miss Ul'Copt if she requires anything," he adds to his apprentice, gesturing for Lucie to follow him behind a curtain at the back, while the younger girl looks up and nods perkily.

Lucie follows (alone, thanks!) She's never had clothes fitted specifically for her before, and can only hope the mysterious measuring process is not an elaborate one.

In the front room Salli hums and stitches, leaving Henrietta to her own devices. Meanwhile Lucie is taken back into the fitting room, racks of garments on one of the walls and a table covered in an unfinished but shockingly cut gown of white and pale blue. Inviting her up onto a stool, the tailor uses a measuring tape on numerous parts of Lucie's body in a way that would surely be highly rude if done in public, but he's professional and polite throughout, deft fingers not lingering anywhere. Scribbling her measurements down, he nods approvingly while leading Lucie back out, "Many woman would be envious of such measurements, Miss Dolan. I'd dearly love to make a dress that could properly frame them, but perhaps in Summer? 'Tis the season for robes, it's true. I think cool colours would suit you best - I recently got a good deal on some pinnacle wolf fur that would make a good drape over your shoulders. Exquisitely soft, and guaranteed to keep you warm," he enthuses.

Henrietta follows Lucie with her eyes until she disappears behind the curtain, before redirecting her attention to Salli. She already has a lovely dress that helps turn her into a rose of red and black, not to mention a properly-won, expensive dress that should make most women her age green with envy. But something is still missing....

"Something for a formal occasion, I think," she voices. "And let's go with a strapless dress made for the summer season. The event would be indoors so it should not be cold, and it might allow me to look daring without crossing that line into inappropriateness. Do you think I would look good in green, or should I aim for red once more?"

Mr Jaurant lights up upon hearing Henrietta's words. "Ah, I still have your measurements Miss Ul'Copt, so another dress would be no trouble. With your colouring, red or green are both excellent fits - I would suggest green this once, if only to vary your wardrobe. Perhaps Tanagran velvet with a vine motif? I did something similar for Lady Arabani recently and she adored it, but with your figure I'm sure you could carry it with a little more panache. Something low cut, bringing to mind leafs or petals accentuating your endowments?"

Lucie endures the probing with stoic grace. "Yes, perhaps waiting on that would be best," Lucie agrees, if for her own reasons.

"And cool colors are best, aren't they? Yes, I think that will do. Quietly impressive, not...loud and commanding. I should order several outfits while I'm here, truly. I...left most my old wardrobe behind when I moved."

Well, it's not entirely untrue.

"I will want high collars on them wherever feasible as well," Lucie says, quickly adding: "Because of the cold weather we'll have soon. I hope that's not unfashionable?"

Henrietta can't say no to flowers, can she?

"That sounds quite lovely," she says approvingly. "And I have just the perfect pair of emerald earrings to go along with it, at that. All I will need is a matching choker-- Lucie, we should make the time for a visit to a jeweler, most definitely!"

The tailor looks a little put off, "High collars were popular last year..." he admits, but rallies bravely! "But still, perhaps it's time for a daring reinterpretation? Perhaps... hmm, yes," he eyes Lucie a moment. "A high stiff collar to frame your commanding gaze, and expansive sleeves that you can use to shield your silhouette and highlight all the more when your figure is hinted at... perhaps bring the robes in about the waist to better flatter your hips, and a deep pooling skirt to give your stride an ethereal quality," he starts sounding more excited as he gets into it, his apprentice stifling a giggle. "In black with darker blue low tones and icy blue highlights, accessorised with the white fur drape over your shoulders. Yes, you would be a vision of uncompromising elegance!"

"...Yes," Lucie says momentarily, a little taken aback by open enthusiasm, as usual. "I think that'll do. All of that sounds acceptable." She puts her hands on her hips. "If you're going to emphasize something, that is the best area. How long do you expect it to take?"

And a quick aside, to Henri: "Ah...jewelry? Wouldn't it have been cheaper to simply keep some of what we...found?"

Henrietta gives Lucie a most scandalized look. "You mean... wear mismatching jewelry?"

Lucie sighs. "It would be some sort of affront, I take it?"

"Just... just follow my lead here, please," Henrietta asks in a pained voice.

"Four days," the tailor takes a piece of paper and scribbles on it it, handing it to Lucie - it appears to be a receipt, the price being seventy five gold. "If you're in a hurry it can be done more quickly, but will cost extra." He then scribbles out a similar one and hands it to Henrietta. "I can have your gown ready at the same time as your friend's, Miss Ul'Copt. If you two are attending the same function I can only pity the other attendees, they won't know where to look!"

"You are too kind," Henrietta tells him, all smiles again for the man's benefit. She accepts the receipt, parting with yet more of her money.

"Four days is fine," Lucie says, adding with a shrug: "They'll focus on Henri like a beacon, I'm sure."

After session 33

It is quite late in the day when Henrietta finally rises from bed, spurred on by Val's sad whining. The cause for it is readily apparent after Henrietta washes the sleep out of her eyes, and she refills her dog's food, thankful that he still had plenty of water, at the very least. A full hour is spent on making herself presentable enough to be out in public, as Henrietta also makes a mental note to remove her makeup and wash up immediately after a party like that in the future, rather than going to bed first.

Once she is clad in her usual traveling clothes and her hair has once more been tamed and collected in a ponytail, Henrietta gathers her trusty hat and sets off towards Lady Vanderboren's mansion. She had put off exploring the state of magical education in the city for far too long as it is, and what better way to spend the day than doing that? A local mage would be great for such an excursion, and rather than search for her blindly, Henrietta decides to check in with Kora on Liamae's whereabouts. That way, she could just ask her out and not feel awkward about visiting the Cloudcrystal Academy.

Henrietta

Kora is happy to give Henrietta directions to Liamae's home in the Sunset District, along Widow's Walk not too far from the lair of the Lotus Dragons. It's a two storey apartment building in which the sorceress has the top floor. Thankfully the stairs up to it are far sturdier than the ones at Trucy's old home, and come with a wooden safety railing to boot. The dark brunette woman looks somewhat worse for the wear when Henrietta arrives, squinting at the redhead with bleary red eyes of her own and distractedly adjusting her oversized but sheer cotton nightgown that keeps threatening to slide off her shoulder and expose her chest.

"Hwuh?" she slurs vacantly, stepping back to allow Henrietta into her front room which is full of various arcane paraphenalia from crystals to strange wands and other mysterious implements, and books ranging from musty old tomes to freshly printed pamphlets, most of it scattered around messily. "Cloudcrystal?" she rubs her eyes, collapsing down into a big puffy stuffed bag that deforms into a chair shape - there's another one Henrietta could use if she dares. Leaning back and exposing far too much leg in the process, she briefly incants a spell and waves her hand, a bowl floating through and landing in her lap - seems to be porridge with honey and spices, which she starts to slowly eat.

After a few mouthfuls she seems alert enough to go on, "Why you want to go visit that kiddy prep school for?"

Lucie

Orimander's Emporium of the Soul is just around the corner from Lucie's new home, facing into the harbour. Stepping into the shop, a bell rings and an elderly man with wispy white hair looks up from behind a counter near the door, giving her a benign nod before looking back down at an open book on the counter. Within are several aisles bounded by stacks of books, most of them seeming at least somewhat aged, and a fair proportion look truly ancient, at least on casual inspection. The subjects mostly tend to cover metaphysics and philosophy rather than straightforward arcane spellcraft, but there are enough exceptions to be notable in the eclectic collection.

For the most part it at least seems clean and dust free - musty smell of old book notwithstanding, except for a few cobwebs glimpsed in high and dark corners of the shop. There also looks to be a stairway going down, but that's behind the counter. Whatever Lucie feels like looking for, there's no telling what mysterious treasures could be found...

Henrietta thinks it only proper to settle onto the other stuffed bag with a pleasant smile at Liamae, taking off her hat and bringing it down to her lap.

"Kiddy prep?" she asks, mulling over the term before hazarding a guess. "It teaches the basics, you mean? Cantrips, in other words?"

Henrietta

"I guess, something like that," Liamae waves dismissively, slowly perking up as she eats her breakfast. "S'where rich kids go 'cause they want to pick up some magic along with learnin' which fork to use at a fancy dinner and crap like that. S'not got anything worthwhile to learn for real sorceresses like us, am I right?" she grins widely at Henrietta before abruptly wincing, "Aoow!" she whines, touching the side of her head. "Felt a twinge..." she mumbles.

"Ah, yes!" Henrietta exclaims after a brief moment of confusion. "I knew asking for your help was a good idea. Why, just think of how much time you saved for me already!"

She takes her time to look around Liamae's apartment, giving the other woman a chance to eat her... breakfast? lunch? and wake up. "Besides, well, I cannot say the same thought had not crossed my own mind. Us two being real sorceresses, that is. Since I am planning on making Salerno my home for the foreseeable future, that is, I was hoping we could become friends and learn much from each other!"

As Lucie's evening of drinking was cut short to give way to a different and unexpected variety of debauchery, Lucie is clearheaded and alert early in the morning when she sets out on her quest for knowledge! Or at least for potentially useful information. She gives the shelves a cursory scan to gauge the quality of merchandise on display before getting too engaged with anything in particular. Not that she truly has a great deal of experience with arcane literature...and she might not actually be able to tell at a superficial glance whether what she's seeing is legitimately respectable material...but at the least she can determine whether the store has anything on subjects she might be interested in. And that's a rather broad field since she has only ideas on where to start and no specific directions.

So! Anything pertaining to medicine and illnesses (natural or otherwise) gets at least a second look. Any sort of compendium of gods or other supernatural beings might be worth browsing. Treatises on the nature of magic, how it works, where it comes from, possible effects on users (Lucie suspects no one genuinely has reliable answers for most of that, but she's casting a broad net today). And of course anything that appears as though it might speculate on immortality is intriguing by default. What was that alchemist's name? Zon Akuma? Yes, she'll keep an eye out for that. She'll bother the shopkeep with further inquiries when she's had a first look around.

Henrietta

"Yeah, real sorceresses and real women!" Liamae cheers, starting to laugh throatily. "If those little kids saw you in that same outfit you had on last night they'd have fuel for their wet dreams all year long!" she straightens up and grins, holding her half eaten porridge to the side and letting it drop... only to be caught by an invisible force and carried through to the room it came from, the sounds of washing dishes heard after. "But now that I've seen what you're capable of, don't think I'll let you win easily - I'm gonna buy something even more daring than that!"

Settling back down, she smiles easily. "S'nice, though. Kursk is hard to talk about magic with - he's all about trees and the wind and all that guff. Doesn't really do anythin' for me, though. So how'd you learn the trade, Henrietta?" she squints a moment and adds, "Alright if I call you Henri?"

Lucie

Well at least Lucie can say the books mostly seem to be well bound? They don't look like they're falling apart on a glance. There's a lot of subjects on offer, though - 'Magic: the Fifth Element', 'Who Killed the Gods?', 'The Late Great Planet Aldremir', 'Theurgical Sins', 'Protocols of Draconic Elders', 'For I have Tasted the Fruit', 'Nightmares of Myth', 'Anatomy of the Modern Human/Dwarf/Elf' (these are three seperate books by the same author), 'Magical Diseases and their Treatments', 'Jherlund's Failed Crusade', 'Secrets of Olympus', 'Ends of Aldremir', 'Legendary Alchemy', 'That Which Eternal Lies'... and that's just on one shelf!

"People call me that quite a bit," Henrietta responds, giving off a little shrug. "It does not particularly bother me." She grins back at Liamae, even though her cheeks darken slightly. "Oh, and that little thing? It felt good to be bad for a night." Henrietta giggles. "I don't think I can stop after just a taste. And you were quite lovely yourself, I noticed!"

At the mention of Kursk, Henrietta looks intrigued. "In a sense, I suppose, well, my magic is somewhat like that. That is to say, it often reaches the same result as that of the nature mages, but we are using different ways to get there, Mother would always say. She taught me, you see, because it is in our blood, literally." She lets her gaze trail over Liamae's form. "Would I presume too much by asking if, perhaps, you also share a diverse heritage that is slightly more than human?"

Henrietta

The dark-skinned sorceress shrugs easily to that last question, "Family tree is human from what I've seen, but not like someone couldn't just fake it. For me it's the stars - that's why I like astronomy," she grins toothily, pulling her legs up under her and crossing them, only pushing down her overstretched gown after giving Henrietta an eyeful. She doesn't seem to notice since she keeps on talking, "My spells are like that as well - little flashing starlights all over, tiny fake meteorites... and I can see really well under starlight, too. You're lucky to have had your mother to teach you," she nods, leaning back. "Mom wanted me to be a bard like her, but when you've got this power burning in your blood... can't ignore it, can you?" she shivers and rubs her bare arms.

Lucie grabs the book on magical diseases instantly, picking up "Legendary Alchemy" (maybe Glenn can use it if it turns out to have nothing for her) and "That Which Eternal Lies..." out of sheer curiosity, then heads to the shopkeep.

"Excuse me," she says, making an unusual effort to be polite (it doesn't do to make a bad first impression with new neighbors, especially potentially useful ones). "I wondered if you could recommend some things for me?"

Lucie

"Hmm?" the old man puts his book aside and looks up at Lucie, his wrinkled face dominated by a large hairy nose and bushy white eyebrows. "Don't think I've seen you in here before, Miss. What sort of books you interested in?" he cranes his neck to look at the two she's holding. "Alchemy and the undead, huh? That's not a mix you see every day."

"I have diverse interests," Lucie says. "Oh, please let me introduce myself. Lucie Dolan. I've just acquired a house down the street, on Frogwallow. Expect you'll be seeing a lot of me."

She raps her fingers on the books before her. "There are specific subjects I'm trying to research. Unusual ailments, possibly with equally unusual cures, and anything related to causes of such. Suspect what I need might be spread about many fields, though. Hence the selection. Is there any one work you can think of that might suit me?"

"Its call is very strong," Henrietta agrees, feeling just a tiny bit guilty. The tiny bit of excitement helps even things out for her, however.

"In case it is not apparent, my blood is... well, I suppose I can say I have an affinity with plants. It may not sound much in a city, but outdoors that extra boost can be the difference between victory and defeat. I can only hope to master it to such a level my mother displayed, to glide across the ground in dance, nature in full blood around you and responding to your unspoken whims! To truly have so much under your control... ah, but I suppose she did not have that perfect control at my age, either."

She quietens while considering Liamae's description of her spells. "You are studying for offense, should I take it? Bolts of magic, bedazzlement, illumination? I've recently mastered several glamers myself, after expanding my skillset to cover for unexpected holes in my education. Would you like to have someone to practice together with? It has been quite a while for me, and I would be delighted myself, of course, and not just because you are such pleasant company."

Henrietta

"Sounds like she's a pretty powerful woman," Liamae nods approvingly at Henrietta's description, snapping her fingers before a set of dark purple robes come floating into the room from another door, lacy black undergarments placed atop them. Standing up she casts another cantrip and starts running her hands over her body and hair, smoothing and cleaning everywhere before she turns her back on Henrietta and takes off her nightgown, leaving her nude until she gets her underwear on, shimmying into her torn robes after and turning around. "Lets find some place we can do some damage, then?" she flashes a wicked grin at the redhead.

Lucie

"Hmm... I think I have a volume on diseases of the Cimmerian jungles somewhere. Nasty things those, can empty a person right out in days," the shopkeeper hums, standing up with a stiff creak of his back. "Oh, you can call me Bert... lotsa folk use 'Old Bert' but that's no way to respect your elders," he huffs good naturedly. "Other'n that? Hmm... got a few books on curses, lots of them manifest like disease, and are far harder to cure, so that might fit your bill. Lessee..." he goes puttering along the shelves past the counter towards the rear of the shop. "Here we go. Blood Curses of Infamy. Got quite a collection in it, might be what you're after."

"Both of those will do, thank you," Lucie says. "Also, is there anyone local you can think of that might be considered an expert on such things? Or just anyone with similar interests that might not mind it if you sent me their way. I'd presume you have other customers with unusual areas of expertise, given your merchandise." Lucie gestures to the shadowed stairwell with her free hand. "Is there more stock down there, I wonder?"

Henrietta stands up, hurriedly returning her hat to its rightful place atop her head and nudging it forward just a bit. "I-- uh-- yes, let's! I can even pull my blows, as they say, so that my spells would not hurt anything or anyone!"

Henrietta

Soon enough Henrietta and Liamae end up in a scenic clearing in Sunset Park, away from the bustle of the city and free to cut loose with their arcane mastery - all in good fun, of course. The other sorceress might look a bit more delicate than Henrietta, but she's full of boundless energy and quite capable of giving every bit as good as she gets.

"So hey, you're from Jovar, right Henri?" she asks as the session dies down. "I thought you guys were a lot more reclusive and reserved. What made you come all the way across to Pranneria?"

Lucie

In short order Lucie is provided with a battered and stained copy of 'Savage Plagues' to go with her other books. "Nothin' but overstock down there, the best stuff's what you see," Bert says dismissively, going to stand in front of the stairway. "But well... hmm, you're looking for an expert on magical diseases? I do know someone - problem is he's out of the country right now. Laslo Gagliardi, he's got a manor just out of Salerno, but last I heard he was in Cimmeria right now. You might be able to find out more from his housekeeper. Past that try asking around any priests of Hermes or nature, maybe? Sounds up their alley."

"If those are all the books you're looking for today, that'll be three hundred and eighty gold."

Lucie's books total up to 380gp.

Savage Plagues grants a +2 circumstance bonus to Survival, Knowledge (Nature) and Heal while within the jungles of Cimmeria (or when dealing with anything originating there)

Blood Curses of Infamy grants a +2 circumstance bonus on Knowledge (Arcana) and Knowledge (History) checks relating to curses and famous individuals afflicted by them

Magical Diseases and their Treatments grants a +1 bonus to caster level for the purpose of caster level checks made to affect individuals afflicted by disease.

That Which Eternal Lies grants a +2 circumstance bonus on Knowledge (Religion) checks made to identify undead creatures.

Legendary Alchemy grants a +2 circumstance bonus on Spellcraft or Craft (Alchemy) checks made to identify potions.

In all cases the relevant book must be referred to for 1 minute before making the check.

Well, Lucie always knew she'd need to circulate with a better class of people in order to find what she needs, and what better proof could there be than today's bill? Clearly she'll have to knock over more assassins' guilds in the future if things keep up like this. At least she'll have plenty of reading material to keep her busy for a while. Being a woman of means who doesn't need to quibble over coppers anymore, Lucie promptly pays Bert, thanks him for his assistance, and leaves with her books. Not all of them may be completely focused on her main topic of inquiry--she's not sure how she would've acquired a disease from another continent, for example--but it's best not to rule anything out and you never know where useful information could turn up. As for the book on the undead, well, the group does seem to have a knack for finding those, doesn't it?

(OOC: So I figure Lucie'll spend a lot of free time reading in the immediate future, but I also want to try and find out more about the names I've heard--Gagliardi, for starters, as well as the ones mentioned in bizarro world. Telvanta, Priestess Janais...I believe I recognized the others, so that'll do. Probably there are some respectable eating/drinking establishments in my neighborhood where one could hang out to pick up gossip. I will go to these places and intermittently read about exotic ailments/put my mighty +1 diplo mod to work. Also possibly K:R to see what I know about Hermes/nature deities?)

<Lucie> roll 1d20+1 GOSSIP
* Hatbot --> "Lucie rolls 1d20+1 GOSSIP and gets 4."12 [1d20=3]
<Lucie> Bah.
<Lucie> roll 1d20+8 knowledge of stuff and things.
* Hatbot --> "Lucie rolls 1d20+8 knowledge of stuff and things. and gets 19."12 [1d20=11]
<Lucie> Well at least I'm competent at something.

Lucie

Lucie knows offhand that Hermes is the Olympian guide to the Underworld and messenger of the Gods. He's also the patron of thieves, shepherds, literature, athletes, invention, borders, commerce, and medicine. Given the... diffuse, nature of his portfolio, its likely that any self respecting cleric would at least have some knowledge of medicine, but finding a true expert is a bit less likely.

As for nature worshippers, while most are more concerned with things like seasons and plants and animals, disease is a part of nature and so of interest to those who devote themselves fervently to it. There are two schools, those who seek to study and mediate diseases, ensuring life constantly flourishes, and those who see diseases as an important part of life in themselves, and thus worthy of being propagated in their own right. Naturally the former viewpoint is vastly more common and accepted, but those subscribing to the latter are more likely to be among the truly great experts on the subject.

After dropping off her books at home, Lucie at least has some good fortune - it registers that the dance school just across the street from her house happens to be Mistress Telvanta's Academy of Dance. Asking around local establishments doesn't turn up much of worth beyond the fact that it's an expensive and well regarded school for young budding socialites to attend and polish their skills on the dancefloor. Questions about Gagliardi and Janais are sadly met with blank looks all around.

Henrietta's arcane might is tempered by her desire to avoid hurting decent people, an ability she sadly had little chances to use of late.

"Pretty much," she agrees with Liamae. "That is, you could most definitely say so. However, for me it meant bowing my head down before the so-called divine emperor. Is it not strange? That people bow and scrape and worship all sorts of things as divine simply because someone told them to? I, well, I was bothered by that, you see. I left, well, that is, you could say I left to find proof that those beliefs were wrong. But now I changed my mind some, because, well, is it not close-minded to just claim something does not exist without any proof whatsoever? So I really want to find the answer for myself, now. Just what is out there? So... I guess that is why I am here...."

"Yeah, I've heard about how you guys have some sort of living god over there. What is he, some kind of super-wizard?" Liamae asks irreverently, going to sit on one of the pale rounded ornamental boulders that dot the park. "Still, if you want to find any real Gods, I bet they're up there," she points at the sky. "I mean, look at the sun - wait, don't really, you'll hurt your eyes!" she hastily amends, eyes widening. "But uh, you know what I'm talking about? Think about the sort of power that must go into it, heating and lighting here and all the other worlds we can see in the sky. There's no magic that could ever come close, unless you were a God - and that just bugs me." She looks up, "Zeus is the leader of the Olympians, right? But he's the God of what? Thunder? Meanwhile Apollo's the God of the Sun - I think the sun's a lot more impressive than some momentary flash in the clouds!"

"He, well, he cannot possibly be a god!" Henriette exclaims in indignation. She starts pacing back and forth before Liamae, gesturing agitatedly. "He is just... just some man who was born to the previous emperor! Who was not a god either, I shall have you know!"

Henrietta huffs. "Jovar's emperors may be wizards, or maybe even secretly dragons or, well, some sort of powerful dragon wizards, but that in no way makes them gods!"

Realizing how unseemly she is behaving, Henrietta shoves her hands deep into the pockets of her pants. "I do not want to believe in the local so-called deities, either. Every supposed miracle I have been witness to thus far could fairly easily be explained away in much simpler terms." She not quite pouts as she admits, "Aside from nature itself, I suppose. But just because I have no real idea of how to make a sun, does it mean a god must exist to create one? Maybe I will learn how to do it one day, and it would in no way make me one!"

Hebnrietta takes a calming breath, following Liamae's gaze skywards. Her eyes linger on the sun for a moment, but no longer, and she blinks away the dark spots that appear across her vision. "I believe, to say it plainly, that you may well be right about this. That is to say, the answers to everything lie could out there, along with that proof I seek." This time, Henrietta sneaks a glance at Liamae herself as she asks, "Do you think it might be possible to find that out some day? You thought about it before, did you not?"

Henrietta

"Definitely!" Liamae's fist smacks into her palm. "Falling stars manage to cross the void to land here, so it has to be possible for us to do the reverse. I mean, magic exists that lets us fly, and survive in extreme environments, and even teleport!" she brightens happily.

"Anyway, about the sun? Even leaving aside creating it, someone or someones have to be working to keep its fires stoked... they might not be Gods that give two kinds of shit what we get up to down here, but even then it's something."

That prompts her to get up and start heading back towards the path, "So I guess that begs a question. What *is* a God? Just someone more powerful than we could ever be? Ruler of some fantastic realm beyond imagination and death? Anyone that says they are and can back it up enough to get worshipped?"

Rudy

After session 35

Rudy finds himself almost getting used to walking Shadowshore's mean streets. Enough so that he doesn't feel like an outsider, even when solely accompanied by Myra - and between those two points, it seems most of the slum's less savoury inhabitants choose to leave well alone. This gives him ample opportunity to make his way down to the far end where the Cobra Fangs dwell, where he finds Hermann talking to a skinny and strung-out looking young man who keeps twitching and looking around as if on the edge of panic. Nearby Maya is skipping and swaying around her hideous snake, which slowly screws itself in knots as it turns in place to follow her movements, fanned head swaying in time to the beat she moves to.

"G'morning, Maya!" greets Rudy, strolling up to the girl whilst Hermann conducts his business, whatever it might be. "Have you been a good girl lately?" Myra wanders towards Midolin and peers curiously down at the snake, before deciding to demonstrate her astonishing ability to twist her torso about-face without moving her legs or chest!

Rudy

Maya skips to a stop and turns to face the taller summoner, while her giant snake also ceases its twisting and looks down at the smaller eidolon, flicking its tongue out. "Oh, it's Rudy! Hello!" she smiles widely. "I've been very good. So has Midolin - he gets to eat a whole lot more since Lucie and the others left. Is she having fun?"

Hermann seems to dismiss the figure he's talking to, biting out something harsh that sends him scurrying along before the more well built balding man strolls over. "Rudy. Seeing you more often than Lucie, these days," he comments with a not very well hidden edge of bitterness.

"Can't be helped. I've got more free time. Who knows if she's having fun, anyhow? Seen her smile maybe.. once?" He shrugs.

"But hey, don't be putting it all on Lucie. Nothing stopping you from dropping by unexpectedly, is there? No idea what the woman does during daylight hours, but I'd bet a good sum she doesn't go far from home."

Maya pouts at Rudy's response. "You can tell by seeing her eyes," she replies with a knowing nod.

"Yeah, well she's gone pretty far from home by my reckoning," Hermann complains, crossing his arms over his wide chest. "But I doubt you're here just to listen to my troubles. So what brings you down into Salerno's hidden gutter?"

"Well...." Henrietta trails off in confusion as she realizes that she had never truly given this particular matter any thought. She opts to catch up to Liamae with several quick strides and then matches her pace.

"Let me see. I believe that it would be easier to go into what absolutely cannot be a god, I would say?" Encouraged by devising an approach she can work with, Henrietta nods to herself, continuing. "A person who claims to be a god because he is, well, really powerful is most definitely not a god. The word implies that the powers were invested in the god from an outside source, I would say, be it from their worshippers or from birth or whatever other alternative I might have missed here."

She frowns lightly. "The ruler of a realm would only qualify is the realm was genuinely a realm we could prove as an afterlife. That is, if we could, say, come across a realm that had Miranda, our past companion, and we ascertained that she was not raised in some way, shape or form... if the ruler of this theoretical realm were not one of its denizens but had been born there with the powers to control that realm, I suppose only then would he qualify."

Henrietta rolls her eyes to display her disdain for this possibility, and puts it out of her mind by addressing the others Liamae had brought up. "Naturally, anyone being more powerful than we could ever be reflects more on us than on him, and poorly at that. I am not quite that eager to accept that as a possibility, but even should it happen, it would really be our fault for not going through enough life-threatening training to achieve that level of ability."

She shakes her head. "I suppose this is what I think? And... and we also have another ability on our side if we want to explore the sun!" All smiles of a sudden, Henrietta brightens up. "Because Rudy's Myra would not die even if she is killed, he says, so once we figure out how to teleport others we can keep on sending her across over and over again until she discovers something!"

"Well, I was thinking of a couple things," replies Rudy, sauntering towards Hermaan. "You want to start with the good stuff or the bad stuff?"

Henrietta

Good there, Henri? I don't really have much else to put out here.

Rudy

"Not often you get good stuff around here," Hermann snorts, going to lean against the railing coming out of the rum distillery and regarding Rudy dubiously. "Might as well get that out of the way first before we get to the real business."

"Well, what if we could change that?" asks Rudy, turning to glance around the streets of Shadowshore for a moment. "There's gonna be a banquet this week, all about celebrating the downfall of the Lotus Dragons. Feels a bit shameful, since it's not as though we did it for purely altruistic reasons. Still, can't turn down a chance to hobnob with the rich and famous, y'know? Only two ways to go in this life, and that's up or out. Anyhow."

He spreads his arms. "I heard you take care of this place because the rest of the city won't. How true's that?"

Hermann snorts and looks down the street, as Maya seems to deem the current conversation unworthy of her attention and instead starts tossing pebbles that Midolin tries to catch on his nose. "You see any town watch on your way down here, Rudy?"

As a matter of fact Rudy does recall seeing a couple about halfway along his route, egging on the participants of a rather acrimonious domestic dispute.

"I ain't gonna say we're saints, but the only law you'll find in Shadowshore is what you make yourself. Folks like that old bastard Rabbani might say we're squeezing honest businessmen, but I figure there's a reason he's still here rather than setting up shop in Draktus's fief."

"Basically you can divide Shadowshore up into three parts. East side gets run by Emil Draktus - our noble 'Lord'," Hermann drips scorn over the title, "Guy's filth - your Lady of the Lotus was an innocent babe next to him I'll bet. North side's mostly taken over by the Clan Camore. Immigrants," the bald man snorts. "Then you got West Side, where we sink our fangs... only our fangs ain't so long as they used to be..." he trails off, looking morose.

Shaking himself out of his funk, he looks up, "You'll find other pissant gangs here and there, but that's the big three players in Shadowshore. 'Course a lot are sensing weakness in the Cobra Fangs right now - Mort was one viciously scary little fuck when he wanted to be, and Chekick, he was good with having eyes and ears all over the place... and I bet you know all about how useful Lucie is to have around." He sighs, "Dawley's stepped up, but shit, we only ever let him in so we could laugh at him. Weren't for Maya and Midolin, it'd all be over for us."

"Lord's as filthy as you say, he's sure to have more than a few things he'd prefer his peers weren't aware of," notes Rudy. "I owe you guys one, and there's enough bullshit going on in this world that it's getting hard to look the other way, n'matter how much I drink. Ain't saying I'm some idealist, but if a chance to put some dipshit duke in his place came along, I'd take it in a shot. Bet those diehards from the Collective'd like that, too."

He flexes his palms with a grin. "That aside, I don't mind hanging around every now and then. Myra ain't quite up to Midolin's standard, but you'd have to be crazy brave to think about taking 'em both on, don't you think?"

Hermann's expression turns sour. "This ain't a part time job, Rudy. Told Lucie the same - you can't just swoop in every couple of weeks to crack a few heads and pat yourself on the back for making a difference. It's about being here full time, being a part of the neighbourhood, living the life. Y'can't fix Shadowshore from up there," he points to the cliffs looming high over the slums, the gentrified homes of the Champion District standing tall and proud above it all.

"I find any jobs that need outside help, I'll let you and Lucie know. But down here we're used to looking out for ourselves." Recrossing his arms, "And you had bad news as well?" he asks with a snort.

"Shouldn't try so hard to alienate those who'd help you. Like it or not, Shadowshore's not quite an island," remarks Rudy. "I get wanting to do things on your own. Goes for a community 'swell as a person."

"Bad news ain't so much bad as unpleasant. Sordid stuff we found down the coast," he continues, lowering his voice and glancing towards the two eidolons. "Maya did the world a service when she broke out of there, I'll tell you that much. Wasn't just one kid they were trying to give a monstrous pet, and she surely weren't the only kid gone missing from Salerno, being the closest town. I want to hope she got all the bastards there, but there's a decent enough chance a few got away to pick up their work elsewhere.

"Her mind, how it's all unsound? They do it deliberately. Apparently they thought only a broken person could summon up one of these eidolons. I'm sure you've put a few people through some pain in your time, but it can't be as cruel as what we saw."

Rudy turns back to Hermann with an unhappy shrug.

"Folks all over are looking for new weapons, it seems, and they aren't shy about the means they're using to get 'em. And if they're gonna go that far to get them, it makes you wonder what they're intended to be used for afterwards. You happen to have heard the names Kivan Gardner? Jellica Hawthorne?"

As Rudy relays his foul tale, Hermann's stony gaze is drawn to the fragile looking young girl currently standing on tip toes to balance a stone on the nose of her horrific but compliant giant snake. "Always figured it was something like that... but she never mentioned any other kids," he murmurs, pitching his voice low. "Probably blocked it out."

Staring in silence for a long moment, he eventually sweeps his gaze back towards Rudy. "Never heard either of those names. Whoever they are, they don't live in Shadowshore."

I'm about done, methinks!

After session 37

Rudy

It's a bit of a trek up the cliffs into the Arena district for Rudy to find the Anowian Embassy, a walled compound adjacent to the rising barrier cliff that shields Salerno, near the entrance to the district. The gates are wide open facing the street, flanked by two guardsman in gleaming silvery breastplate glimpsed under their white and purple tabards showing the star and circle emblem of their nation. Tall halberds are held upright by their sides, and the two men - tall, handsome, and well muscled specimens of Anowian stock if ever there were - nod as Rudy approaches, the left announcing, "You walk on Anowian soil, sir!" as Rudy passes through the gate. Ahead stands the three storey building of the embassy itself, each floor smaller than the last to give it a stepped-pyramid appearance, though the empty space is used in the form of gardens and balconies. A dozen or so other soldiers are seen drilling in the yard under the flag of Anowia, and the door to the embassy beckons Rudy onwards.

Once inside he's met by a voluptuous older brunette receptionist who, after learning his business and explaining that the ambassador is currently busy but will shortly be available, spends a good half hour shamelessly flirting with the far younger man, before she escorts him up the stairs to meet with Ambassador Witchwillow. The dwarven Anowian seems happy enough to see Rudy, wearing far less jewellery than at the banquet but still having a few flashes of gold threaded through her hair. "I'm glad you could make it, Mr Giacomo," she welcomes Rudy into her office, the window having a commanding view over Salerno and the surrounding forests, the walls decorated with paintings of scenes from home, both rustic and cosmopolitan. "The embassy is as much here for the benefit of our expatriates as it is for forwarding our agenda in Isernia. And it's especially gratifying to see one of Anowia's sons doing so well for himself in a country that doesn't always appreciate us," she grins unashamedly.

Lucie

After a fruitless day or so locating a physician at a small monastary devoted to Hermes in the Cudgel district and then being told exactly what all the quacks her mother hired years ago said, Lucie turns her attention towards the dance school opposite her new home which also shares the same owner, the mysterious Lady Telvanta! It seems innocuous enough, a wide single-storey building with lots of glass windows on its sloped roof to let natural light in, but few windows on the walls themselves. A noticeboard stands close to the double-doors of the entrance, with fliers detailing the various classes on offer and their times, coupled with glowing recommendations from former students and various luminaries of Salerno... a quick scan with Lucie's sharp eyes is all it takes to spot one such recommendation saying, "Thank you for unlocking the music in my heart - Rowyn Kellani."

As she's looking, however, her musings are interrupted by a friendly voice saying, "I haven't see you around before - thinking of signing up?" Looking to her side Lucie can see a young and fresh-faced blonde woman, her trim and toned figure barely hidden by the short lavender dress she wears under an open overcoat, woolen stockings worn to guard her long legs against the encroaching winter chill. It's a body Lucie is more familiar with than most, given that it belongs to the 'maid' she enjoyed the use of in the strange fantasy conjured by Vriskna's deck of cards.

Many of the scenes are as of yet unfamiliar to Rudy, who had barely stepped foot outside his hometown before his travels began.

Like the ambassador, he's not quite as shiny as he was at the banquet. He can't resist a bit, though, and a large, disc-shaped gold amulet rests in plain sight, visible just above his (admittedly low) collar.

"Isn't it our business to be appreciated?" replies Rudy, sauntering towards the window. "That is our agenda, surely, and one I'm happy to forward by whatever means necessary!" He turns back to Witchwillow, grinning the grin of rogues. "Or did I miss something on the boat over?"

Rudy

"Money talks louder than history," Miszen nods, "And don't get me wrong, I love being posted here in Salerno, much better than up in miserable Thanellar," she follows Rudy to the window, looking out over the harbour. "This town has an almost Anowian quality to it... no surprise considering it's spent a good number of its years under our flag," she chuckles knowingly before sauntering back towards her desk, but remaining standing.

"So, Mr Giacomo, I think I can safely assume from that that you're willing to do a little work yourself to help your country out here. That's good because you're well placed to do so - I took the chance to talk to Lady Vanderboren at that banquet she arranged, and she's a forward thinker, someone we can work with. I can put Anowia behind her, with the right advice pushing her fortunes forward and taking you right along with her, and I'm confident she can be an asset to us. But before we get to that, I'd like you to do something for your country - it's not an easy task, but if the boasts I heard at that banquet are true then you and your friends should have no trouble."

"I am now," Lucie blurts out. "That is, look at all these recommendations," she adds, gesturing to the notice board. She does her best to smile in a friendly manner. She doesn't have that much experience with it, but surely she's seen such an expression before. "Lucie Dolan, just moved in across the street--" she waves to her house, "--thought I might as well look into the neighbors, see if maybe the classes here had anything to offer me for a start."

"Aha! I knew all the flattery was going somewhere," replies Rudy. "Work is work, though. People like us seem to live irregular lives, so it's hard to turn anything down. Especially when it will help to justify milady's retainer to us at the same time."

Rudy

"Not to mention I'll reimburse you from my discretionary fund," Witchwillow reassures Rudy, leaning forward. "The matter at hand involves one of our couriers, two days ago she was delivering a message to a friend in the Merchant District... the message was never delivered, but it was a minor thing and that's not what troubles me. You see, the courier was picked up by the town watch after causing something of a scene - they had her as a drunk or a lunatic, and it took not a few kind words and donations to the veteran guards' fund to have her released back into our custody."

The dwarf leans back with a pensive look on her pleasantly soft and rounded face, "She used to be one of my most reliable workers. Quiet, attentive, proud to serve her country. Now she's loud, vain, a thoroughly disreputable braggart - but what really concerns me is that she doesn't remember a lot of the jobs she's done for Anowia over the years. It's not like an enchantment, where you can see magic floating about her," she waves a well manicured hand vaguely around her head, "Pushing down the memories where conscious thought can't reach. It's more like something reached into her head and tore them out, along with her sense of discretion."

Focusing her attention fully on Rudy now, she asks, "What do you make of that, Mr Giacomo?"

Lucie

"Ilona Marwood," the blonde smiles back, seemingly not put off by Lucie's painfully constructed look of friendliness. "I live over the water," she gestures her hand Eastwards in the direction of Cudgel District. "I think any woman could benefit from learning dance - it improves your prospects, it's a nice way to meet new people, and it's good exercise. Though..." a sidelong look is given to Lucie's new home, "I'd daresay your prospects are quite favourable as they stand, Miss Dolan. But the other points still stand."

"Pleasure to meet you again, Ilona," Lucie says. It's a task to keep her eyes from roving given the nature of her previous encounter with the woman and Ilona's outfit, but Lucie gives it a valiant effort. "Cudgel, is it? I've not spent much time there. Truth be told, I've not explored my own little neighborhood much yet. It would be good to know which eateries to patronize and which to avoid, if you have any recommendations.

"And I have been fortunate to come into money of late, but it will take work to make it last. I shouldn't turn aside the chance to learn new skills, as you say. I fear I may lack the grace for the art, but there is only one way to find out, isn't there?"

Lucie

"Again?" Ilona looks briefly puzzled before giving her head a minute shake, seemingly dismissing the slip. "I'm afraid I rarely dine out, so couldn't help much for recommendations about restaurants here, but as for dancing I'm sure I can - I've been an instructor here for a few months now, and a student for years before." She takes a moment looking over Lucie's voluptuous form, her affliction hidden well enough that the blonde makes no comment regarding it.

"I'm sure you could handle ballroom dancing, at the very least, and that's a style that there's always call for," she offers as her clear blue eyes meet Lucie's. "If you find you enjoy it, you can always take it farther and learn other types."

Lucie carefully avoids acknowledging her own non sequitur in any way, and instead holds that gaze a moment before nodding. "And a lovely instructor you must be. I could have some use for the talent--I attended a social function of some sophistication not long ago and it was an act of mercy that there wasn't a call for dancing while I was there. Wouldn't have been prepared for it had such a demand been sprung upon me. I think that will do for a start and, well, we'll see where things go from there?"

"The first question, before we even consider 'how', is 'why'? Who gains from turning your agents into, might I say, extremely entertaining but professionally useless fops? What is the motivation? Let us count the possibilities."

Rudy raises a finger. "First, denying you a useful asset, and murder or kidnapping would provoke too great a response. I could see it, if her jobs go beyond being a simple courier. Second! It is an attempt to humiliate Anowia in the public eye. There are many who'd like to see us taken down a peg, no? Crude, but effective. Third! It is something personal between the courier and some enemy of hers. You would know the possibilities better than me, I am sure. Fourth! It is a distraction, meant to consume your resources while some other activity takes place behind the scenes. Fifth! Perhaps this is the wrong angle, and the real goal was, in fact, to steal the memories of your agent to begin with. Is such a thing possible? I can't say."

Rudy's lips compress into a line, and he seems to nod to himself. "Of these, the first and second would be part of a larger sweep, shall we say. If you lose more agents or the embassy suffers further embarrassment in otherwise unrelated circumstances, that should tell us enough. I can't speculate well on the courier's personal circumstances. And if you don't believe your courier knew anything sensitive, then I would put my money on the fourth. All of this, of course, assumes there is a motive, and this is not a random act of cruelty. With some mages, though... Oh, and of course she could be faking the whole thing."

Rudy

Miszen listens along to Rudy's various suppositions, waiting until he finishes before speaking. "My first instinct mirrored your fifth possibility. Her job does make her privy to many things best kept safe within her head. But the more I look, the less it fits - the memory loss is too hap-hazard, as if someone took a scattershot to her brain rather than deliberately sweeping for sensitive information. To be fair, it could be the case that only one memory was considered important and the rest were taken just to throw us off, but it's still a shockingly brute force method."

After a moment she adds, "She's not faking though, I made certain of that. In any case," she clasps her short-fingered hands before herself over the desk, "As you've no doubt surmised, what I want is for you to discover who or what stole her memories and sense of discretion. Recover them if they can be recovered, but if nothing else ensure that the culprit presents no future threat to us or Salerno's citizenry. Think you're up to that, Mr Giacomo?"


Lucie

"If you're interested then why don't you stick around?" Ilona asks smoothly, "We have a beginners' class starting in just under half an hour," she inclines her head towards the noticeboard, "It's only three silvers per session at that level and you don't need to worry about dressing up, but it should give you enough not to embarrass yourself at your next waltz. If you like it you can keep coming and learn more as you go."

"What fortunate timing," Lucie says. "I'd love to." A genuine smile has seized control of Lucie's face by this point, much to her dismay. Stop grinning and gawking, woman! Could you look any more the smitten maiden? What a fool she must think you. "This is the regular day for it, then?"

"Twice a week, today and Saturday," the short haired blonde replies, starting to head through the doors inside. "Come on in and I can show you around if you like." She seems confident that Lucie does like, since she continues talking, "If you don't mind my asking, where did you stay before moving across the road? Your accent sounds local enough."

Lucie does indeed follow Ilona inside.

She was never one for lying when threats and coercion would suffice, so Lucie suspects she hasn't had the practice to get that knack for evading things she'd rather not acknowledge--especially right now, given she's talking to someone she didn't know was real prior to a couple minutes ago. Therefore: "Shadowshore," she admits, with a very concerted effort to conceal her chagrin. "I'd not seen much else of the city until recently."

"I'll check it out. Can you give me the details on her last trip?" asks Rudy, flexing his palms. "Without any clue as to who is responsible from the outset, the key to this can only be found by retracing her steps."

Rudy

"With her amnesia I can't tell you the precise route, but she tends to favour taking gondolas over roundabout walks. Her delivery was to Bastion Street on the island just next to the one your Lady Vanderboren lives on, and the guards hauled her in on Ditch Street just across the bridge on the next island over. So the centre-North of the Merchant District is probably the best place to look," the ambassador suggests to Rudy.

Lucie

"Anyone else stuck in one district all their life, I'd call them sheltered... not really the right word to use for Shadowshore, though, is it?" Ilona asks, her expression softening and to Lucie's well-honed hearing her own diction becoming a little more relaxed. "Definitely a trade up, though. Are you living with anyone?"

"Just my mother," Lucie says. "Brought her with me when I left the old neighborhood. Obvious reasons. Else, it's just us and a couple empty bedrooms. Might be I bought more space than I've need for. Likely the extra'll fill up with books before anything else."

Lucie

Planning on sneaking around or doing anything significant Cid? Otherwise we can assume you have an enjoyable dance lesson with lots of attention from Ilona and leave it there.

Beyond casually asking whether Miss Telvanta herself ever teaches or visits the academy (solely from curiosity because she's Lucie's landlord, of course!), Lucie has no plans to do anything sneaky at this point in time. She'll wait and watch people for now, since that's what she's better at.

Lucie

As she spends time with Lucie before the lesson proper starts, and now out of her overcoat, Ilona replies that, "Dame Telvanta lives out in the country, a beautiful old mansion. She visits Salerno maybe once or twice a month, and always takes time to visit here. Of course, a Lady such as her wouldn't deign to teach any but the most talented of students, but she's very skilled herself from what I've seen." There's a faintly knowing tone in her voice, implying to Lucie's keen observance that she's seen quite a lot.

Lucie decides they'll have to compare notes someday. In the meantime she'll eagerly apply herself to the lessons at hand.

"What's the first thing she remembers since the.. uh, period we think her brain was washed? Like waking up in a ditch somewhere?" asks Rudy, rubbing his head. "Should I go ask her?"

"We've already interrogated her quite thoroughly, there's no need for you to concern yourself with that side," Witchwillow waves that aside, "She says about halfway along Star Street, which runs parallel to Bastion Street on the South side. The alleys between the two might have been where she was attacked, if there was a physical altercation. She had a few scuffs and scratches that she couldn't account for - I'm sure you've noticed we're quite image-conscious here."

"This? This is normal," replies Rudy. "It's the rest of Salerno that has issues. Look, I'll talk to the guys and see what we can do. We gotta get onto this one quickly before it goes cold, so we'll aim for results in the next few days, I think. Gimme a figure to share with them. Oh, and I actually came to ask you something else, too.

"There's a couple of people I think you'll find it worth looking into- Jellica Hawthorne and Kivan Gardner. I'm pretty sure the latter's dead, but the former should be in Isernia somewhere. I got a personal issue with these folks, but it's one that'll concern Anowia, too, presuming you don't want to deal with an army of people like me under Isernian command." Rudy shrugs. "Don't think you'd want one under Anowian command either, not with what it takes to make it."

That gets a penetrating look from the dwarven woman. "Dame Jellica Hawthorne, royal Treasurer?" she asks, knotting her brows. "Never heard of Kivan Gardner, but... so Isernia's cottoned onto a way to train summoners en masse? That's valuable information alright - draft me up a report on exactly what they're up to? For that I'll pay you..." she pauses, thinking a moment. "Tell you what, I'll group it all together for something nice. For that report and confirmation of what happened to my courier I'll give you and your group two thousand gold, total. Permanently deal with whatever afflicted her," her eyes gleam at the word 'permanently', "And I'll give you an infiltrator's cloak I happen to have lying around... not as easy to split up, but worth far more in its use to people in your line of work."

"Our line of work, huh. When you say that, it's like I'm becoming a shady person," remarks Rudy. "I won't disappoint, Ambassador."

After session 44

Lucie

After watching Rudy's narrow victory over Tobin in the Arena, somehow nobody seemed interested in spending time with the charming Lady Vanderboren any longer, and thus the group drifted apart, perhaps to mull over the expression of savage violence in the name of love that had just been witnessed. As for Lucie, she ends up going down Frogwallow Lane on her way home, and pauses at the dance academy opposite her new house... perhaps thinking of Ilona, perhaps thinking of the suspicious nature of hers and her friends' visit to the casino, or perhaps thinking of Ilona's gratifyingly more compliant double in the fantasy conjured by Vriskna's magical prophecy deck? Only she could say for sure.

Nonetheless, perhaps her oracular gift is good for more than just casting spells to make people miserable, for as she ruminates she spots that very same trim blonde exiting the school, a thick quilted cloak worn to conceal her figure and ward against the cold, though with the hood down she's quite easy to recognise.

All of these thoughts share headspace in the busy moment before Lucie decides to walk over and make herself part of Ilona's evening.

"Still not used to seeing a pretty young woman walk the streets alone," she admits with some amusement. "Can't help but think you need an escort. Or at least someone to shield you from the wind, if that's the most dogged sneak in this part of town. All done for the day?"

"Oh, I'm sure it's far too early in the day for me to be mugged," Ilona replies dryly, brushing back a loose strand of sunflower yellow hair behind her ear and turning towards Lucie. "All done with the dancing, anyway. What about yourself? Been busy, or has today been one of the many quiet days your work gifts you with?"

"It was supposed to be, until some fools I call friends broke out into an honor duel. After that we were all obliged to spend the afternoon at the arena." Lucie waves dismissively, emphasizing the reluctance of her participation in the entire debacle. "Wasn't about me, which given the parties involved I think I call a relief. I could do with a quieter evening in more sensible company. Headed home, or can I cash in that tour 'round town you offered?"

While far from an expert in such matters, Henrietta finds it easy enough to come upon a set of guidelines. It should be within walking distance so as to not drag Liamae halfway across town. It should be a tavern on the quiet side, given that this is the Arena district and the rowdier places are likely to get them drawn into some sort of brawl before they so much as get to the first course. The last criterion is that Liamae doesn't look bored by the tavern, and Henrietta is more than willing to keep an eye on her.

Henrietta's criteria are hardly exclusive, and after a pleasant walk they are shown into a an establishment featuring a majestic lion with a burning mane that must be illuminated with cleverly-concealed torches. Inside, frescos glorifying the eternal struggle of lion and man are lining the walls, putting to shame the poor display they were unlucky to see earlier that day in the Arena, and Henrietta gives them an approving look before securing an empty table in the back for the two of them.

"This is fine, I hope?" Henrietta asks, displaying more confidence than she feels. But she is fretting, and concealing that is quite impossible. "Should it be more formal? An expensive restaurant? Ah, but casual is also nice, that is, since it is really all about the company."

Lucie

"I hope no one was actually hurt," Ilona returns with some surprise evident upon hearing of the duelling activities of Lucie's friends. "I actually was heading home, but..." a glance up at the grey sky, "I suppose we could do something of a tour at least until it starts to rain. Still, it's a big city - is there any sort of thing or any area you're particularly interested in, Lucie?"

Henrietta

Liamae doesn't seem to have terribly discriminating tastes, and appears more than content with Henrietta's selection. "Yeah, this line of work takes you from supping with Lords and Ladies down to brawling in bordellos. Casual's nice for when you just want to actually have something to eat," the dark-skinned sorceress agrees merrily, rubbing at the crossed crescent tattoo on her cheek as she eases back into her cushioned seat.

"Ah, really? That never happened to me," Henrietta admits, likewise arranging herself comfortably and giving Liamae her full attention. "The latter part with the brawling, that is. Is there an interesting story behind it?"

"Oh... I guess it's sort of funny," Liamae's dark skin flushes and she grins disarmingly. "You know the Crimson Genie? It's, ah, not far from Vanderboren Manor. Me and Zani got jobs there as dancers when we were trying to get some dirt on this Anowian who was in town doing some business with the Vanderborens. Tobin and Karkus were there as well in case of trouble, but as far as our target goes we couldn't pin anything on him - seemed a pretty nice guy, really, just happened to enjoy the shows and never took it any farther than that. However..." her grin turns into an amused leer, "Zani's exotic looks and inhuman flexibility managed to win her a few devoted fans of her own. One of them got a little bit grabbier than he should have, and Tobin took exception. Then his friends took exception, so of course me and Karkus had to get involved as well... and so ended my brief career as a cabaret girl. Still, I liked the outfits," she nods happily on that conclusion.

Henrietta laughs, using her amusement to ward off the embarrassment she's also feeling. "You are very humble, but you had to have had your own group of fans," she offers sincerely.

"I had a similar experience, now that I think about it," Henrietta muses then, "and just recently at that. Well, not with a cabaret, I mean, but I was trying to be bait for a mysterious assailant while the others were shadowing me, and in the course of it I naturally had to pretend to be her. The best way for that was to, well, to put on her clothes to ensure the best sort of disguise. Her summer clothes, it turned out." Henrietta shakes her head in self-recrimination. "She never bothered with a change for the colder months, merely putting on a cloak, and I had already left without one. It made for an interesting time, walking around in the cold in tight leather."

She cracks a grin. "And the best part of it was that I did, indeed, get to draw the miscreant out into the open and attack me, yet it was not due to any disguises or cunning planning on my part but out of sheer coincindence!"

Shrugging at the reference to fans of her own, Liamae listens to Henrietta's subsequent story. "Ah, yeah," she looks down at her own seasonally inappropriate attire, "I'm a bit like that, too. Cold just doesn't bother me, so no need to wear more than I feel like. Still, tight leather, huh?" she smirks, giving the redhead an openly appraising look. "That the sort of thing Rudy goes for?"

"I would not know," Henrietta admits with some mild consternation. "I was disguised as that woman most of that time, and another time he asked me to look like a blonde he remembered from his homeland. Rudy is a good friend and I trust him with my life, but I think I would prefer someone who liked me for me and as me. Plus he seems to go for everything and everyone and-- and I would rather talk about you, I-- I think," Henrietta concludes, catching herself before she goes on a rant.

"Do you have any other hobbies beyond finding interesting clothes to try on and studying the stars and their magic?" she asks Liamae. Learning more about her or sharing something about herself sits far better with her than badmouthing one of her friends in a fit of pique, however unintentional.

"Nobody got hurt so much as to dent their egos," Lucie assures her.

Though Lucie has an abiding interest in Salerno's centers of obscure divine and arcane knowledge, Ilona's expressed disillusionment with the churches at the very least and the last thing Lucie wants to do is bore the woman. So...

"Well, I've not much experience with art," she says, reluctantly admitting, "past lewd scribblings on a wall, which is all you'd find back in Shadowshore."