Chapter 2 - The Fortress

Finished with my incantation, I shove Crolwell lightly out the wagon and in that moment he immediately blinks out of view. "You have one hour from this moment. Do come back to us within that time or you will be seen."

Crolwell jumps in suprise and runs forward, when he notices that he cannot see his feet he yelps in surprise and runs into the side of the barn. As he gets up, Crolwell shakes the hay off of his head and starts moving toward the side doors. He makes sure that nobody will see him.
((OOC: He forgets that he is invisible so he will sneak around and then remember he is invisible and speed up. And then starts sneaking again...))

Crolwell thinks this odd, then stops thinking and walks merrily out into the middle of the road and makes his way to the front doors. If he makes it to them he will wait for a second in front of them, waiting for the guards to welcome him in... and then he remembers he is invisible. And instead studies the gates, the guards, and examines everything about them looking for a better way in, or anything else that might be helpful. What was I suppose to do again? Crolwell thinks to himself.

"What do you think he's doing out there?" Ütés whispers to the others.

Aelar listens worriedly at the door, but can't hear anything indicating that Crolwell has been found.

"I don't know... perhaps I should have been the one to go," Aelar sits down in miserable silence to wait for their large friend to return.

I look up from my pile of notes that I've already begun jotting down. "It's not too late. You can check it out yourself. I won't be able to grant you invisibility, but you do seem to have a knack for blending in. Perhaps they won't even notice?"

"Or maybe you could sing us a song to help pass the time? You do have a lovely singing voice!" I put down my notes for now. How many opportunities up until now have I had to truly get to know my companions anyway? Now's as good a time as any, seeing as there are no immediate threats.

Aelar smiles and bows at Xadira, "Thank you for the compliments, I would love to sing for you but I'd rather not attract attention to us. Once we're out of here I'll sing every day for you if you'd like. I could tell some stories if you'd like?"

"Something to pass the time would be most appreciated. I fear we're not going to learn a thing while Crolwell is invisible."

Aelar will begin a happy tale of love lost and then found again, something to inspire hope.

Edit: Nailed it!

"I've... I've got something in my eye..." the ever stoic Ütés says quietly as she rubs her eyes with the back of her hands.

"Oh my, Aelar, that was... that was the most beautiful tale I've ever heard. The fragility of life, the hope and yearning, the passion in your words..." I use an entire sleeve to wipe the tears streaming down my face as I blush a deep red. I do a terrible job of composing myself. "Yes. Good job." I give him a pat on the shoulder and then sit back down, leaning against the wall of the cart. A change in topic. Yes, that will do us some good.

"SO ÜTÉS, er I mean, ahem that was louder than I intended... anyway, do tell me more of this Prince of yours. I am quite curious as to how you came to know this young man. I myself have not known many royal figures in my lifetime. You must have so many interesting stories to tell, perhaps not as well as Aelar, well I mean he IS a professional and all, but you know what I mean..." I find an incredibly exciting corner of the cart that has attracted my attention and proceed to stare at it very intently as I continue to babble. "Are you two very close?

"The young prince is a buffoon and an embarrassment to the royal family!" Ütés blurts out.

Surprised by her own outburst she takes a deep breath before continuing - "Still, he is the King's son and heir to the royal throne; May the gods help us! Usually when he goes missing we'll find him four or five days later half out of his mind from strong drink and smoked herbs. This time, however, there were signs of an abduction and enough clues to bring me to the tavern where we all met."

"Why anyone would abduct the good prince is still a mystery to me but it's of little concern. My task if to simply retrieve the lad, once again, from trouble." She'll continue on with a few terse stories of the prince's behavior. It is quite clear that she's become tired of having to continually fetch the irresponsible prince and it is also quite clear that she would never let the King down by failing to do so.

"Now, my friend, what stories do you have for us?" Ütés asks.

"Children often find themselves in trouble. Sometimes the only way one can avoid it is by keeping them safe, under lock and key. Although, that could have some unintended consequences. In fact, perhaps one should not do that at all. Hmm, no that is not always the best course of action." I begin to comb through my hair with my fingers until it is, once again, perfectly straight with not a tangle to be seen.

"Books! Yes, one should read as many books as possible. That is how I passed the time back before I began this epic journey. History contains some of the greatest stories that one can know and learn from, my friend!" I begin to explain the history of certain types of Elvish salts and how they were thought to be magical in nature and came to be traded amongst many of the races in the known world. It's a fascinating, detailed story... one may even say overly detailed, and you can nearly hear the annotated bibliography in its telling. "And that's how the sylvan word was misheard and mistranslated to elva, which sounds much like the dwarvish word for "foul smelling", which is why they don't touch the stuff...hilarious!"

Aelar listens to his companions stories, absorbing as much information as he can about the people who were quickly becoming his closest companions. Amazing how a couple of life and death situations will being people closer, he thinks to himself.

"The prince should be put under Garig's tutelage!" he says with a grin and chuckle, he takes on a far-away look as he remembers his old troupe mate, "He'd teach him some responsibility right quick. Garig is in charge of all the non-entertainment responsibilities for the troupe, and he doesn't stand for any nonsense."

"Elvish salts?" Ütés thinks to herself as Xadira starts in on her history lesson of the most boring topic Ütés could imagine. "Elvish salts... Hopefully someone will attack us or maybe the invisible old man will save us by playing his invisible fluba...". A few minutes in, however, and she finds herself hanging on every word. Whether it was the passion of Xadira's delivery or, gods help her, the actual historical content, Ütés may never know, but she can't remember that last time she was so intrigued by the history of anything.

"Very interesting, Xadira!" and then proceeds to ask the elf several questions about the topic at hand - apparently genuinely interested in elvish salts.

---

Hearing Aelar's suggestion about the prince Ütés quickly concurs. "The prince needs to be placed where his royal heritage will have no influence on how the lad the treated. Perhaps some time with this Garig wouldn't be a bad idea." Smiling at Aelar she adds, "After the daring rescue of your troupe is complete we will work out the details, yes?"

Aelar smiles widely at Utes, a mischievous gleam in his eyes, "Oh yes, I'm sure we can come up with something."

"So many names, places... so much seen and experienced! You both must have had such exciting lives, even before joining this... what are we calling this? An adventure? I suppose it's an adventure. It's like a story in those books I like to read. Well, not exactly, perhaps my books don't have the sorts of dangers we've encountered, at least not in the way I imagined they would be. We did take care of that hag pretty quickly, so perhaps my study was useful in that regard. But I haven't encountered the sort of fellows you've mentioned. This is one of my first, er, outings in a long time. Oh dear, I hope it's not too obvious! I do try my best to blend in." I carefully remove another speck of dust that has made its way onto my robes. Why must the outdoors be so... dirty?

Aelar smiles at the bookish elf, "Nah, you've been doing a fine job. Nobody would know that you're not a hardened adventurer."