PREVIOUS: 006: Soup and Sorcery
Tanvir's House
The sun's just started to set when Lucya hears a door open, and she nearly jumps out of her skin. She doesn't want to wake Jagal, but figures he'll probably be more mad at her if she lets Tanvir see him sleeping.
LUCYA: "Auh, wee man, it's sundown now..."
She pokes him lightly on the shoulder.
Jagal bolts up, his daggers drawn before he’s even opened his eyes. His alarmed gaze flits around the room, not clearly registering anything for a good moment.
JAGAL: “............”
LUCYA: "...I'll be pokin' ye with a stick next time!"
After another breath, his eyes manage to focus on Lucya and he seems to figure out where he is. No threats—not immediate, at least. He groans, sheathing the daggers and slackening his posture.
JAGAL: “Good morning to me.”
LUCYA: "Ach, enjoy it while ye can..."
Tanvirr enters the room once more. His smug aura has faded into vague annoyance, but he does have the book in hand, as promised.
TANVIR: "...There you go. Serves me right for thinking little Celery had anything worth stealing, I suppose."
He tosses them the book. Not his problem whether they catch it or the floor does.
🎲 We decide to roll to catch the book, haha. Jagal misses, and Lucya gets a weak hit.
Jagal is busy picking up his torn shirt and the attached spool where he'd knocked them onto the floor.
JAGAL: "Didn't even fini—Ack!"
Lucya manages to catch it, but almost loses the cover in the process.
LUCYA: "Weren't ye s'posed t'glue this back?!"
TANVIR: "I never said that."
She huffs and flips through the book, to make sure he's at least put the right pages in this time. Everything seems okay...
Jagal shoves his shirt into a pouch and peers around her shoulder, not that there's anything he can help with on that front. Man, the handful of illustrations are totally different.
Tanvir sighs and pours himself a bowlful of soup-- he does at least use his own dishes.
TANVIR: "So... you've got your book. I've got a bowl of soup, two half-filled vials of blood, and a massive repair bill. Do you need anything else from me?"
LUCYA: "I sure hope not...!"
Lucya gets a bowl for herself as well-- they do need to empty the pot before they can get moving.
JAGAL: "Yeah, think we're good."
Jagal is happy to help with the serious issue of too much soup. But not, like, visibly happy.
TANVIR: "Alright then. Finish eating, pack up your stuff... And PLEASE get out of my house."
He leaves for his room and shuts the door. He opens it again a couple seconds later.
TANVIR: "Unless you want to donate more blood. But wait a couple weeks at least, okay. Now shoo."
JAGAL: "Yeah, think we're good on that too."
Tanvir shuts the door again, hopefully for good this time.
LUCYA: "...I-is he really just lettin' us go...?"
Lucya certainly isn't complaining-- as soon as he's out of sight, she gathers her bags and carefully picks up her dutch oven. She can wash it out and eat her soup when they are Out Of There.
JAGAL: "If not, I'm leaving anyway."
Jagal rarely sets any bags down in the first place, but he'll give them a quick double-check before he heads out.
🎲 Vow progress advanced! We didn't bother with a progress bar for the journey back, but we did roll Undertake A Journey just to see how it went-- and Lucya got a strong hit! The trip happens without issue, and we decide to take +1 momentum in exchange for -1 supply.
Eleri's House
Eleri's property seems to have been cleaned up since the travelers' departure—to some extent. The blood damage apparently doesn't disappear as easily as the dead wildlife, and no effort was made to move any large rocks in the area. The front door is shut, but firelight is still visible through the cracks.
Lucya's cheered up considerably after leaving the nasty swamp man's house, especially since they didn't run into any trouble on the return trip. She knocks on the door politely.
LUCYA: "Mx. Eleri! We're back!"
Eleri reacts too quickly not to have been standing right behind the door, but unlike some people, they actually wait for the knocking to finish before throwing it open.
Jagal is inexplicably holding the book at that time.
JAGAL: "We come bearing gifts!"
Lucya yelps and looks under her arms.
LUCYA: "Auh-- how'd ye do that?!"
Jagal just grins at her—and good thing, because any explanation would have been cut off by Eleri immediately.
ELERI: "A-aah...! That—Did he—It—You r-r-really found it...!"
Eleri is clearly this close to bursting into tears.
ELERI: "I—Please come in—Um—Y-yes!" (too tongue-tied for any more than that at the moment)
LUCYA: "We did!~ He sure wasn't happy about it, though!"
Lucya trundles inside, hoping they've made more of that tea. Jagal slips in silently behind her.
Even the inside of Eleri's home seems tidier—er, maybe not. It's hard to be sure if anything's changed. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any tea on at the moment, and hospitality isn't foremost on their mind right now.
ELERI: (gingerly reaching their gloved hands out) "M-may I...?"
☑ Locate "For The Advancement Of Scrying": COMPLETED, with a strong hit on the progress roll!
LUCYA: "Er, he also... did some stuff tae the book, but I tried t'make sure all the pages were there..."
JAGAL: (handing it over) "I'm sure I don't have to say to be careful."
Eleri winces at Lucya's warning.
ELERI: "O-of course he did..."
Eleri takes the book gently regardless, looking crestfallen for a moment at the cover shifting in their grip before they seat themself rather aggressively to start flipping through the pages.
ELERI: "A-ahhh... I'll have to take care of—But—This is it... It's..."
Eleri shuts it gingerly and clutches it to their chest like a newborn child. They close their eyes for a second and try to take deep breaths.
LUCYA: "And...! I found out why he took it! Or I think I did..."
Lucya leans in and does a stage whisper.
LUCYA: "I saw his notes! And there was a weird map... and it said 'Forge of Fate' on it! What's it mean?!"
Eleri finds a cleared-off space to set the book down before they can try to lose their temper.
ELERI: "Is that—That little—O-o-of all the—But then I..." (shaking their head) "Right, er."
ELERI: "Um, i-it doesn't have a lot to do with scrying, necessarily, although part of the—I-I'm going to get way too off-track on that, um! Basically, the Forge of Fate is a sacred site—or however you'd like to refer to it—that isn't completely attached to reality as we know it, a-and while Zurssan doesn't have a lot of notes on its interior—a-at least not published—certain texts have clues hidden in them th-that any scholar worth their salt has already figured out by now, but—Um, this book, in addition to a-all its—everything, I-I won't sidetrack there again—also contains a-a way to predict where the Forge will appear under certain conditions."
Jagal rapidly deems this too academic to be of interest and roams around the room a bit. Lucya tries to follow, but it's been a long, weird, and stressful day.
LUCYA: "A sacred place... and it's... not there all the time...??"
LUCYA: "Um, m-maybe ye can tell us more tomorrow... I'm wore out!"
Eleri looks ready to launch into another clarification before that hits.
ELERI: "O-oh, of course, I'm sorry..."
ELERI: "Ah! Ah ah tea, I didn't—Sorry, one—!"
JAGAL: "Oh, and the payment while you're at it?"
LUCYA: "A-ah, I thought the payment was... Can't we just come back here tomorrow fer the scrying?"
LUCYA: (@ Eleri) "It's okay! Ye can just make it tomorrow, if..."
ELERI: (looking for wherever the teapot's disappeared to and not quite keeping up) "H-huh? Sure, I... What?"
Jagal is about done with the "we" business, but he'll let it slide for now.
JAGAL: "Right, don't worry about the tea. We can come back in the morning for the scrying and the material rewards if that's easier on you. And I can regale you with that guy's whole conspiracy—we barely caught him before he could try to swap the cover with one of his own to sneak that back to you instead, and boy."
JAGAL: (making sure his shoulder bandages are visible) "He sure wasn't happy about it! Came after the both of us, lucky we made it out."
Eleri nods along until that.
ELERI: "O-Oh—Of course he—I should've—A-a-are you—I'm so sorry...!"
Lucya gives Jagal The Look™, but she can't exactly deny anything he said, either.
LUCYA: "Uh-- we'll talk about it! Tomorrow!" (under her breath to Jagal) "I will talk to you about it tonight!"
ELERI: "R-r-r-right... Right—Okay. Um—Thank you, still. T-tomorrow, um—what time? Anytime? I don't—I don't have a clock in here, um..."
JAGAL: (under his breath to Lucya) "You'd have to catch me first~"
LUCYA: "How about noon? That'll give us a little time tae shop in the morning..."
Lucya squints at him for a second, then grabs the back of his collar as she turns to leave.
ELERI: "...Noon! Noon is easy! O-o-okay. I can do that. Um, thank you again...!"
JAGAL: "No prob—" (gets grabbed)"Are you kidding—"
JAGAL: (theatrically, making sure some bandages are still in view) "Owowouch, let go! You're hurting my shoulder like that!"
ELERI: "........"
Lucya rolls her eyes and ushers him out of the house. She tries to placate Eleri on her way out, but another escape attempt knocks her off balance, and she decides to just cut her losses.
LUCYA: "You!!! Ye are shameless! Shameless!"
JAGAL: (breaking down laughing) "Okay, but it was funny, you've gotta admit that."
LUCYA: "The poor waif's been through enough! Now yer coming with me, we'll see Mr. Bartender about a room fer the night, and on the way yer gonna 'splain t'me what yer trying tae pull here!"
Her grip on his shirt collar doesn't budge, but she seems just as concerned as she is annoyed.
LUCYA: "What do ye want? Why's a big-time adventurer like you stealin' library books when ye can't even read? I can't figure ye out..."
There’s a short bark of a laugh at “been through enough,” but Jagal’s running a little lower on mirth now.
JAGAL: “Can’t explain much if you’re set on choking me the whole way.”
Jagal makes another attempt to twist out of her grip, but he’s already gotten one shirt damaged today and isn’t keen on tearing another.
JAGAL: “Figured I could find a reader a safe distance away, guess that didn’t work out. How’s it your problem, anyway? You’re still getting your scry.”
LUCYA: "It's... well, I was thinkin' about..."
Lucya sighs and looks away. Her grip doesn't relax a bit.
LUCYA: "Well, yer right. I seem t'be nae good on me own... And I have some money, but I cannae ask a man tae travel 'cross the land fer me, so long and so far! But, if I knew what yer aim is, and I could help..."
"I just dinnae who else tae ask..."
Jagal is slightly hooked by someone conceding he’s right about something, then a little more by the mention of money. He doesn’t remember exactly how far she was trying to go, but she sure didn’t say any particular location he was avoiding.
JAGAL: “You’d be hard-pressed to find anybody better at surviving what they shouldn’t, that’s for sure.”
Jagal slowly eases off the struggling, hoping she’ll let up on her grip a little.
JAGAL: (cheerfully) “Lucky enough for you, money is the goal! Not sure how much of my help you’d be able to afford, but I’d at least be willing to listen to negotiations.” (with a little huff) “Assuming they include some attitude adjustments on your end.”
LUCYA: "...Ye will? Really?! Thank ye, thank ye!"
Lucya hesitates a moment, but then lets go of his collar. If he runs away at this point, she's probably better off going by herself anyway.
LUCYA: "But... just money? Then what do ye need the scryin' for?"
JAGAL: "We already talked about thanks, but all right, all right."
Jagal ducks out of immediate grabbing range the second he has an opening, but if she's talking money he won't run off just yet.
JAGAL: (smoothing out his shirt) "..."
JAGAL: "Well, specifically the goal is black iron, so the money's just going towards that. And the good vendors tend to move around, so it can be an awful long trip if your info's outdated. No point exhausting myself more than necessary."
LUCYA: "...Then what will ye do with the black iron?"
Lucya smiles at him, a little nonplussed.
JAGAL: "Now that one's a secret."
LUCYA: "Hummm... different people value different things, I s'pose!"
LUCYA: "I dinnae much about the stuff, but if ye were t'come back with me tae Mossgrove, there's a smithy there..."
Her voice trails off as she realizes what she's said.
LUCYA: "Auh... I will have tae go back, won't I? Auhh..."
Jagal nods along until she trails off. Hmm.
JAGAL: "Or I can follow directions fine if you wanna stay outside a safe radius."
LUCYA: "Auh-- thank ye, but it's nothing like that! It's just embarrassing... And if me folks see me again, it'll be even harder t'leave..."
LUCYA: "...Let's see what the scryin' says first, aye?"
They can see the meager town square of Lostmoor by now.
JAGAL: (a bit blankly) “Aha.”
Jagal has resumed his idle animation of the knuckle roll with something or other.
JAGAL; “Sounds solid. So, you’re getting a room, and… I might as well stay in the bar long as it’s open. Maybe something exciting’ll happen. Or maybe I could just use a few drinks after all that.”
Jagal snorts. Apparently some part of that was funny.
NEXT: 008: Ill Omens