We walked back to the inn crestfallen for dinner. What could have happened to them? If it had been some sort of in-game event, then their stuff should have still been around. But they wouldn't have left without telling us unless it was an emergency.
We grabbed our food and sat in silence, picking at it. None of us had an appetite. I looked over at the staff table. They should know what was going on.
They were all eating normally. Smitty and Jason were talking and laughing at one end. Meaghan and Samantha...weren't there. I looked again. Meaghan and Samantha were gone too! I stood up and walked briskly to the table. I placed my hands firmly between the two guys and stared at them. They stopped talking and looked back at me, slightly embarrassed. I realized my breasts were right in front of their faces and my ass was hanging out in the aisle, but I didn't care. "Where. Are. They?"
"Where are who?" Jason asked, as he kept glancing back and forth between my face and my tits.
"The rangers. Meaghan. Samantha. Where are they?"
Smitty smiled. "Well, Meaghan and Samantha are getting things ready for an event later. Last I knew the rangers were off looking for clues. I'm sure they'll turn up eventually." With that he turned back to his food, dismissing me.
I marched back to the mages and sat down with a huff. All eyes turned to me.
"It's obvious that he knows something and isn't telling us. I guess that's good because it means nothing bad happened to them. But...gaah!" I growled in frustration and stabbed at my chicken which flew off my plate and landed on Rushwillow's across from me. Everyone started laughing and the mood was broken. We managed to finish our food then headed out again.
For the rest of the evening, we wandered around, somewhat aimlessly, looking for any sign of our friends and talking about what to do when we found the necromancer.
"We have to assume he has all of the orbs at this point. Which means he'll be really powerful. I think we're going to have to take him by surprise."
"How are we going to do that?"
"Hmm...well, we could always send the naked girl to distract him while we come around from behind."
I glowered at Khitano. "Maybe we should send you in naked and we come around from behind. It would definitely be more unexpected."
"Nah. I'm not nearly as attractive to corpses."
"And how do you know that?"
"Um..."
"That's what I thought. But seriously, how the fuck are we going to take down someone with the power of six orbs and six nymphs?"
"Five nymphs. He doesn't have you yet."
"And you better make sure he doesn't get me."
With that, I left the guys and headed back to my room at the inn. I wanted to talk to Meaghan and see if she would tell me anything about what was going on.
But the only one in the room was Jason, sitting and reading a book. He looked at me briefly when I came in, then went back to his story.
"Meaghan?" I asked, still standing in the doorway.
"Still busy." He responded absently. "Won't be back all night. You should sleep though. Big day tomorrow."
I wanted to ask him more, but he was obviously not going to tell me anything. I laid down on the bed and closed my eyes. It felt so wrong not having Meaghan next to me. I knew I was going to have a hard time falling asleep, but I knew I had to try.
***
The next morning I woke up alone in the room. I got up, showered and made sure my jewels were all in place. I walked up to the inn, distractedly, trying to not feel lonely.
I didn't need to worry about that, since as soon as I arrived I was surrounded by five eager guys talking at once and waving a piece of paper at me.
I raised my hands. "Hold on guys. Let's get food and sit down. Then we can talk one at a time."
They quieted down, and I took my time grabbing my breakfast. They all looked like they were dying to start talking again, and it amused me to keep them in suspense for a little longer.
"Okay," I said, digging into my eggs, "what's going on?"
The cacophony began again as they all started talking and I rolled my eyes. "Guys. Stop."
I looked at Jaimor who was holding the paper eagerly in front of me. "Why don't you tell me what's going on."