[coronatiger]

Thoughts on September 24th

I asked how people were feeling. Lady Karita was in pain. Kine said she was fine. Va’lyndra moaned that she wanted to return to her forest.

We spent the day in camp. I strung a rope between the portcullis and Kine’s wagon and practiced line dancing. Lady Karita looked over her notes, and Kine washed the blood and goo off the mail she had taken from the corpse.


Thoughts on September 25th

Va’lyndra drank two healing potions, but was still staggering afterwards. She wanted to remain in camp, but I insisted she come along to look for magic when we went to explore the last hallway leading from the marketplace. I promised we’d proceed slowly.

The last area contained barracks and armories, but nothing we found there was useable after all these years. There were some finer buildings as well and we searched them in our usual manner.

I was glad to have brought Va’lyndra along when she declared that she could see magic on a wall. She identified that it was a simple illusion, and stuck her staff into it, revealing the presence of a secret room inside the wall. I stuck my head through the illusion, but could see nothing. The lantern light didn’t penetrate the false wall. I bumped my head against the back side of the small room and withdrew. As I rubbed my forehead, the others scalded me, exhorting caution. I blushed with shame, but as there clearly weren’t any traps there, I put my hand inside and felt around, retrieving a small stack of gold coins.

We returned to camp and prepared for an early departure tomorrow. Olivia was displeased that I had risked my head the way I had done, and made me promise to be more careful in the future.


Thoughts on September 26th

Olivia and I woke up when Va’lyndra shouted that the dead elves were back. I brought my bow outside the tent, and strung it while Olivia fastened the quiver around my waist. Then I told Olivia to get my brass knuckles from my pouch, but I don’t think she heard me. I shot at the leader through the portcullis while his friends tried to clear the tunnel that Kine had had the foresight to block with crates from her cargo. The arrow flew true, and as the elf tried to block it, I realized that Va’lyndra had created an ice patch on the floor beneath him, for he slipped and moved the shield away from the path of my arrow to keep his balance. Black blood gushed from the wound, but he remained on his feet, muttering unintelligible curses at us.

The other elves eventually emerged from the tunnel and Va’lyndra felled one of them with a mighty shot. I stepped into the path of the last one, as I’m the best dodger of us, not to mention that I was the only one who wasn’t injured already. I avoided the attack easily, and surrounding the elf, it wasn’t difficult for the four of us to take him down, even if he had the longer reach. Va’lyndra finished the leader.

Lady Karita was furious that the elves had disturbed her sleep, and went to destroy the sarcophagus with a pick from Kine’s supplies. I came along, as protection, but when Lady Karita had worked the pick for about a quarter of an hour, her hands cramped, unused to labor, and she ordered me to take over. A few powerful blows cracked the sarcophagus, hopefully destroying the magic, too.

When we got back to the camp, Olivia glared at me and pointedly thrust a bundle at me. I reddened from top to bottom, but covered it with the clothes Olivia had handed me. She usually enjoys my sleek figure, but doesn’t want to share the view with the world. Good thing there are no men in our party.

While Lady Karita and I were away, the others had packed up the tents, and were ready to move out, but Lady Karita complained that they had stowed away her pillows and furs. Kine made room for her on the wagon, and the lady tried to get some sleep as we moved off. It wasn’t easy, what with the rumbling and bumping of the wagon, and after a while she got out her medicinal smoke.

We set up camp a few minutes away from the Mild Mole Inn. Some passing adventurers stopped to chat, and asked if we had any healing potions for sale. Kine and Va’lyndra gossiped with the adventurers, while Olivia and I listened. I did ask for news from Garuk, but otherwise focused on building up my hunger, feeling Olivia’s softness where my fingertips stealthily caressed her. When the adventurers left, Olivia and I dove into our tent, and eventually got some sleep.

When we got up again, we saw that Lady Karita was on her way to the inn, and followed her. A look from the lady told us she wanted to be left alone, so Olivia and I found another table where we shared a meal. It was tremendously expensive. I guess it was because of the governor’s tax.


Thoughts on September 27th

There wasn’t as much waiting at the toll station this time. We had agreed not to try to smuggle anything past the guards, and showed them the secret compartment in the wagon.

They confiscated the metal staff, saying it was a religious artifact, but ignored the fifteen other staves. Kine argued loudly when the inspector declared how much we had to pay to get the fancy sword through, and Lady Karita had to step in to defuse the situation.

After all our valuables had been counted, the tax we had to pay was slightly higher than the value of the diadem. The adventurers we had talked to yesterday had said that the grey elves maybe would come to retrieve the sword and diadem, so Va’lyndra didn’t have any objections to leaving the diadem with the annoying religious people who took her staff. We paid the remaining tax with all the copper and a couple of gold coins.

Back at the Red Mansion, the innkeeper was back on his feet, so it would be possible for me to get a room there. His wife, who had been taking care of business while he was ill, had a bee in her bonnet about me, possibly due to how I’d obtained a room here, once, while the inn was ostensibly full. I discussed it with Olivia, and while she wanted us to save our money for a rainy day, she agreed that we could stay here a couple of days, until we were ready to go out and save the world.