Turmoil and Respite
4 years ago, in one of Valindar's tiny corners, a small group of individuals had met by chance in a bar and ended up banding together in a bar fight, evaded arrest and defeated an ancient tree monster in the nearby forest. All in the span of 5 and a half hours.
Since, the group had gone on several adventures together; looting lost ruins, killing zombies and undead, stealing coin and magical artifacts from nobles and thieves alike. They had found friends, found love, found family.
That had been the beginning of The Rubicons.
Never regret, never look back
had become their unofficial motto due to their unique habit of wrecking havoc just about everywhere.
While Priscilla Lidgard would never trade this life for anything else, they had stayed true to their motto just the night before as well. Havoc had been wrecked, but not in the usual sense.
--
"
Ooooooow!!
Gaaaaabe! Heal meeeee..."
The early afternoon air outside of Howler's Tavern By-the-road was cold and damp from a whole night's rain. The streets of Bugsburry was covered with puddles and mud and not a small amount of filth.
Pris sat on a bench, bundled up in (thankfully) dry clothes and a thick woolen cloak against the cold as Gabriel and Rickhart was fitting two horses to a large cart.
Clutching her head, Pris cursed her past self for indulging in so much drink the previous night. Though surely she would come to remember the night with fondness, her current sullen disposition was that it was all stupid and she wished she had gone straight to bed.
"A god's grace is for the ailing, not the ale-ing." Gabriel replied heartily as he petted one of the horses and fed it an apple. As a man of the cloth, Gabriel never drank alcohol, but happily endorsed it for the rest of the crew.
"I am
both
!" Pris groaned. She hated that phrase. Not because it was pretentious or anything, but because she knew Gabriel
could
heal her, he just
wouldn't
. It wasn't out of malicious intent or anything, but Gabe was a firm believer in dealing with the consequences of one's actions.
"It's futile and you know it."
Pris looked up and met Millie's gaze. The elven girl was holding a large steaming bowl for her.
"Thanks..." Pris said, accepting the bowl filled with a thick stew of sorts with floating bits of pale meat and brown vegetables. "What is it?"
"Good." Millie replied shortly as she sat down next to Pris, letting her lean on her. "Chicken and mushrooms, I believe."
Pris cocked an eyebrow and immediately regretted it. The mere movement of any head muscle made her headache even worse. She smelled the soup and thanked the heavens above she wasn't nauseous, though her body ached like the hells themselves had been relocated to her muscles.
Trying a spoonful, the taste of herbs danced over her tongue. A rich taste of autumn and farm, if she were to describe it. Was there a little bit of pumpkin in there too? She couldn't tell, but the warmth that spread from her stomach and out was stimulating.
"Thank you." She repeated and again leaned against Milliana, who in turn rested her head on Pris's. "By the way, has anyone seen Norrin?"
The goliath's presence is usually very difficult to ignore, far more-so to not notice. Yet, looking around the area, he was no where to be seen.
"Two farmers swear they found a hulking man in a wheat field about an hour east of here along the road." Rickhart said with his usual air of matter-of-factliy-ness as he tightened a strap on the reins of a horse. "I figured we'll just pick him up on the way.
"I'm sorry, come again?" Pris blinked, wondering if she had heard him wrong.
"I overheard them earlier talking about it." Rickhart said and looked east towards the town gate which could be barely spotted down the road. "Huge man, tattooed and bald and cradling a barrel."
"I know I shouldn't be surprised, but..." Pris attempted to imagine the scene, but her head started aching more. "Oooooow!!" She groaned again, louder.
"Fine." Gabriel sighed as he finished setting up the cart. "Go find Kaiser and I will do it."
Pris looked up, trying not to seem sheepish. "Promise?"
Gabriel had an exasperated smile on his face as he nodded, his long gray goatee wobbling along.
Smiling broadly, Pris quickly finished her soup and stood up.
"Tell him we're leaving within the hour. If he wants to bathe, now's the time." Rickhart said.
"Okay. Come on, Nuggy." Pris went back inside, Nugget bounding behind her before jumping up and finding his spot on her shoulder.
The interior of the inn was still save for a few patrons. The three halflings from the day before and the scarred woman was eating over conversations while an elf and a half-orc were lazily playing at cards.
Behind the counter, Howler and a half-elven man with a thin pencil mustache were discussing something over a ledger, Pris surmised from their intense expressions. The two only waved in acknowledgment as she passed and headed up the stairs.
She cursed her short legs again as she ascended, her headache nearing peak levels of dull, annoying pain.
Just as she reached the top, she rounded the corner of the landing and nearly collided with a very unkempt and fully geared Kaiser who almost jumped as he spotted her.
"Oh, you're up. I was about t-"
"
Sssshhh.
" Kaiser hissed with a finger to his lips. "Let's go."
"You don't wanna bathe first? I can w-"
"Not now, later. I'll find a river." He whispered and Pris nearly tripped down the stairs as he ushered her back from where she came.
Though he was a scoundrel and a bit of a dick at times, there was never a moment where Kaiser's hushed voice didn't beckon caution, so she kept her mouth shut and descended. Only when they were outside did Kaiser say anything.
"
Phew
, that was a close call." He said, looking up at the building and muttered something to himself. It almost seemed like he was counting windows for some reasons.
"What's going on?" Rickhart was, as usual, the first to voice everyone's concern.
"Hm? Nothing." Kaiser lied, fooling no one. "When are we leaving? Now? Great!" He said and jumped into the wagon, disappearing into the canvass.
Pris would have followed him, but instead looked to Gabriel and tugged on his robe, clenching her eyes shut and putting on her most pitiful look.
"Very well." The cleric said and his mouth curled his usual crooked smile, pulling a small silver trinket he wore around his neck in the shape of a curve-tipped staff surrounded by a flower wreathe.
Clutching it in his hand, he drew a circle over Pris's head with two fingers of his other hand and for a moment, there was a glimmer between the fingers of his closed hands and Pris immediately felt her hangover fading into nothing.
"Oh lords above and below, that's amazing~" She sighed in relief and sat back down, exhaling as if a burden had been lifted off her shoulders.
"Better?" Millie asked and stroked her back affectionately.
"A lot." Pris stretched, finally able to enjoy the morning. "Now!" She shot up to her feet again, clapping her hands.
"KAISER!" She started towards the wagon and pushed passed Rickhart who was leaning into it.
"Get your ass out here! What did you do?!"
Kaiser was rummaging through his pack, pretending to check his equipment, but Pris knew him better than that. This was undoubtedly a situation he had fucked himself into and was unable to un-fuck it.
"Nothing." He lied again, brushing his tussled hair back with a comb. "What?" He said as he noticed Pris and Rickhart shot each other a glance of "
As if"
.
"Kai, please tell me you didn't mur-"
"
Kaaaaiseeeer?!
"
Everyone turned sharply to the second floor building as a vaguely familiar woman's voice carried loud and clear through the morning air from one of the windows above them. One of the horses whinnied loudly and Gabriel had to calm it down.
Looking into the canvas, Pris could see Kaiser looking positively green as he silently tried to desperately mimic the words "
I'm not here!
".
Rickhart only rolled his eyes. "Let's roll." as he went for the stables "Milliana, Gabriel! We're hauling out!" He waved a hand in the air and Gabriel climbed onto the front of the wagon to take his place as coachman while Millie and Pris jumped into the back with a relieved Kaiser.
"You shouldn't leave a girl without a parting word, Kai." Millie patted him sharply on the shoulder as she passed by him, pushing him towards the exit. Anyone who didn't know Millie would consider her angry, but to Pris, the look in her cold eyes was one of mischievous glee.
"
Kaaaaiiii?! Are you there?!
" The voice came from the front door and Pris had to suppress a laugh as she recognized it.
Ah, so that's how it is.
"Praise to the Moonweaver..." Kaiser muttered and drew his hand like a crescent moon over his chest before putting on his most suave expression and brushed his hair back again as the front door opened and the blonde-haired girl from the night before stepped out, her halter-dress so poorly affixed to her slender frame she had to keep it up with her hands.
Kaiser took a deep breath as he sighed to himself and muttered "Ooookay, here we go..." and leaned out of the canvass.
"Delaina, sweet." He said and Pris could, from over Kaiser's shoulder, see relief on the girl's face and she couldn't help feeling sorry for the soon-to-be heartbroken thing.
"
Kai!
