Chapter Four: The Manifest of the Harikan Squall

Why does she want to know about my mother?

Vad waits for a small break in the others' conversations before introducing himself.

"Vad Fekete, Your Majesty." he starts as he gives a low respectful bow. "As for my mother, well, I assume she's still ashamed of me for becoming an entertainer."

Not missing an opportunity to show off a bit, Vad waves his hand in front of him, producing a small floating blue orb. Reaching into the orb he extracts a deck of cards with his right hand and rifles the deck into the air. "Ace of Spades!" he yells, his left hand searching for his dagger. Shit! It's not on me! he panics, as cards rain down harmlessly on the ground.

Dejected he looks up at the queen, "Well, I guess she does have cause..." he responds to her question about his mother.

Zangua leans over to Zora and whispers, "I don't get it."

Leth is thoroughly uncomfortable with this whole situation. He feels helpless without his bow, and to be subject to the whims of this possibly insane... person...? is a bit more than he is used to dealing with. It doesn't help that he has been feeling stifled and cramped lately due to being stuck underground for so long. He is itching to get back to the surface world - to trees, and sunshine, and open plains - and he fears that if he speaks, his impatience might get the best of him. So for now he keeps his mouth shut and determines not to speak unless he is first spoken to directly.

Felor rolls his eyes at Vad's failed conjuring.
"My mother taught me how to use wittlemore leaves to staunch bleeding, how to find scorchmoss - that one's good for burns, and how to prepare starflower tea to treat a fever. She taught me a great many things about healing. She also said that Fjorgyn was, in many ways, mother to all of us who hail from the mountains."

Since their arrival, Shamush has seemed positively enchanted with this weird, dank shithole. His sense of wonder hasn't been dampened by the loss of his weapons or his constant sneezing. He looks at the various sorts of fungus with a curious hunger, murmuring to himself all the while.

He steps forward to the queen, eyes gleaming with excitement. A violent sneeze flows awkwardly into a respectful bow and then he proclaims, "My Highness, er, Your Lady, I am Shamush! My mother squatted down in an alley and dropped me in the dust of the city of Darcra and I never knew her." He says this with a sort of perverse pride, then continues with earnest fervour, "The potent mystics known as the Selves Horizonists (Pure Sect of the Unbroken Line [Communionist Branch]) took me in and served as my family. I suckled on the teat of the Blessed Goat Oracular and her milk nourished me and transformed me into a seeker! You and your home here would seem to contain truth's bounty and I am at your service if you would but share a bit of your mind-opening ambrosia!"

"So you know something," Zangua says plainly. "About her, and what she seeks."

"She did not lie to you, your majesty, but to the so-called King. The same King that we recently left for dead. My friend is not trying to deceive, but rather to remain concealed, as she has been hunted. I suspect that this disease you speak of is the same power behind those that hunt her. We also wish to keep this disease from extending its prongs into your house, and the faster you let us pass through, the better."

Mordred looks for the Queen's reaction to the word "prongs" and tries to remember anything about Ilhaz.

ETA: I hope I am saving the good rolls for combat.

"Perhaps an exception can be made? We only want passage through, and seek not to return. The way can be sealed again once we are past?" asks Zangua. "Will an exchange of service be acceptable?"

"What would you have from us, your majesty? Our friend - Zora Kells - is hunted because of something her father did. The powerful people that hunt her think she knows more than she truly does. Our only clue - an instruction from her late father - sends us to Hazard, perhaps to clear his name, perhaps to merely convince them that Zora does not have what they seek. We have fought our way into these tunnels in an attempt to reach Hazard, but we have no desire to do you or your people any harm. We just want to get to Hazard. What more can we tell you?"

"If we're taking a vote, I vote we tell her all we know, little as that may be." Leth mutters.

Zangua folds his arms. He looks around for a possible source of that disembodied voice.

Felor tries to recall any knowledge on the subject of black dogs with copper eyes.

Mordred metaphorically texts a link to the first three chapters to the Queen.