Chapter 5: Pleased to Meet You

"I'll go with you," Verrian blurts.

Why are you allowed to split the party but we aren't? We already built a fire. Bringing a lantern isn't that weird.

"Hunting is one thing, foraging is something else. And you can't bring a lantern when you hunt - you'd give away your presence to the prey."

Okay ,fine, but a lantern will alert scary things, too. So why bring a lantern outside the walls at all?

She takes a deep breath. It sort of helps. The last thing she wants to do is look bad in front of the new Naucan.

But, I can't see in the dark. So you have advantage on me there. If you're able to find any spider lace plants, I can make a stew like I used to at the tavern. I brought my spices and everything.

She stiffly turns to Wil, then Yelnar.

I would really appreciate some practice with the crossbow tomorrow, though, Wil. And if you could show me how to use this mace tomorrow, big guy, I'd be grateful.

I would be happy to help you, but I am not particularly skilled with a crossbow. I can give you aiming tips and such. It will be fun to spend some time together.

"Hello Coreene-" Whatever Elora was going to say is cut off by the ensuing debate regarding tonight's food, so she waits for a time to speak. "I can also help forage, Pip has been..."teaching" me about plants. I think it's working." Pip nods from his hat-perch in agreement.

Whether foraging happens or not, Ember hops up and tries to make something slightly nicer than trail food out of what the Viamardians were able to give them. She brought kitchen supplies and dang it she's going to use them.

So, should we get the depressing things out of the way first? End the night on a pleasant note later? Meriava is enraged that we left and the College is getting political. Go figure. We met some Crows who work for this Garand Disos bastard. Anti-magic post-war militant opportunist. They've figured out how to strip magic out of their prisoners. It takes only a couple days, and they think it's permanent. They got Yelnar's mom. And half our original party is off fighting giant demon birds and then, if they live, probably making pants for the sentient frog people.

She leans back and smiles as she toasts bread on a flat plate. She's got some vegetables roasting, too.

But! We found a really cool nature preserve protected by some spiritual Guardian, and we think there might be more, and Elora got a bird!

"That's a lot of information to take in in thirty seconds. Well, in Hara, we found a bunch of folk, maybe forty or so, right Coreene? being rounded up by the guard. At least one of them was known to us to have magical talent. As we were leaving, an additional style of guard began to accompany the town watch. Different uniform, but the guards appeared to defer to them. We didn't figure out who they were, but one of them studied us pretty thoroughly when we attempted to leave the gate. Whatever he was looking for, I suppose he didn't find it as they let us through."

Verrian shares with Coreene images of the various One-Eyed Crows they encountered in Viamard. Did these new guards look something like this? The Crows were usually wearing dirty, ill-kept uniforms and wielding poorly maintained weapons.

Ember drops the toast pan, starts to say half a spell as a curse, stops herself, snatches the pan out of the fire, and uses it to flick the pieces of bread back on before they burn.

What did the uniforms look like? Old and new.

She continues to focus on the cooking, but her voice is harsh. She, of course, can't tell Verrian is showing Coreene already.

"I misspoke in the rush to talk as fast as our dear chef. They didn't have uniforms per se, but simply put, they weren't wearing the guards' uniforms yet the guards seemed to take their direction from them."

Ember continues staring at the fire. Anyone close enough to the wall to see her face notices the flames reflect a bit more intensely in her black eye than in her blue.

So, most of the Crows we saw were ragtag. Basic weapons, some were drunks. Idelmu - she spits his name - had nicer armor. A ring. But the men themselves were just kinda bandit-looking. I mean....

She holds her hand up, which briefly flutters with color as if she's going to use her cantrips to show him. But she makes a fist and gets back to work with a sigh.

I wish they were easier to describe.

She actually looks up now, making eye contact with Coreene.

Verrian can show you, right? I'm sure she already has if she can.

"I am, yes," Verrian says. She's sharing her memories of their various encounters with the Crows, most particularly those minutes in Renaya's cell. She makes sure to reproduce every nuance of Ildemu's appearance, tone of voice, and mannerisms. The arrogance and cruelty embedded in those details has been etched into her heart, and she feels her rage and desire for justice flare up briefly before she quells it.

"And the ring," she says aloud, simultaneously sharing with Coreene the moment when Ildemu twisted the ring he wore and then disappeared. "I found a similar ring when we first landed in Viamard. I wasn't sure what it was or what it could do until I saw him use it."

Apparently unaware that she is speaking as though everyone in the room has been able to "hear" the telepathic side of her conversation with Coreene, Verrian grabs her backpack and fishes out the iron ring, holding it up for all to see. "But now, we know that it's some sort of teleportation device. We just don't know where it might go."

Coreene shares with Verrian images of the warehouse, her brief glimpse of the people inside and the threats by the guards on moving their operation. She also shows her the new guards of Hala, more in civilian clothing than anything ragtag like the images she was seeing. I don't know. It might be that they are branching out in who they recruit, or we could be dealing with an entirely different organization. she shares with Verrian.
Hearing Ember, she smiles. "She has, and I am sharing with her what we know, so that we might come to a better conclusion. I am unsure as to the identity of the new guards. They did not seem unkempt, only un-uniformed... except."
She shares with Coreene the image of the big man they saw outside of the warehouse. This one is the same.

Ember hops up, still holding the pan.

Except what? We can't hear you.

Coreene eyes show surprise and she shakes her head as if to clear it of something. "Sorry. So sorry. Um, this man. One that Uelten and I saw outside of the warehouse that they kept their prisoners. He was a big man, and he was the same as one of the men Verrian showed me." She spills, a bit embarrassed.

Uelten nods at the fire. "When did you see your Mr. Big Man, and where? We saw our guy three days ago in Hara. I wonder if he might have one of these teleportation rings."

Even though she's not holding it near the fireplace, the toast in Ember's pan lights on fire. She doesn't seem to notice.

Not mad, Coreene. Just trying to figure out who it is, Ember says evenly. We saw ours a few days before Athisa told about you.

She takes a notable pause. Verrian. Is it Idelmu?

Verrian shakes her head. "No, it's the really big man who answered to Ildemu. He might be the only person from that first group still alive, other than Ildemu. The angry woman died as a result of your distraction operation, and Squeaky..."

Verrian shares an image of the grotesque thing that was the result of Squeaky being caught in the magical storm.