You make your selections and are soon surrounded by the seamstresses, who busy themselves with you for the next few hours taking measurements, selecting various colors and comparing them against your skin, eyes and hair, and finally playing with an assortment of pins and gemstones. The women speak in fast Tsoylani, which you easily understand due to your time adventuring here, but they mostly talk to one another and only break this habit in order to request the occasional opinion of you. The hours are exhausting, but the women seem happy in their work and James is kind enough to bring fresh fruit and cool water and wine to help ease the efforts. Finally, the women are done for the evening, and you are free though exhausted. Soon you are bathed and changed into new clothes of the Realms.
The five of you stumble towards the House of the Fulfillment of Dreams where you are attended by the local family of owners. As you are a familiar presence here, you are soon led to a lone corner of the establishment and feted your preference of food, drink and shisha while two handsome musicians play a jade flute shaped as a serpent and a small pair of leather-covered drums. The evening passes too quickly, and your tiredness creeps up on you. All except for Briony, anyway. By the time the rest of the relic hunters were ready to turn in, she had already seen the curly reddish-brown head of hair on the tall, aggressive Rolfe peeking out from the crowd from across the room. They purposely bumped into each other twice, neither apologizing for the rude shoulder knocking into the other. Briony and Rolfe also started numerous loud arguments with other patrons at the bar, and by the time the other four friends of hers called it quits, it was still not clear on whether Briony and Rolfe would be on the same side of the upcoming bar brawl or on opposing sides. Whatever the case, a tab would be established by the proprietor and the damages put against her current credit. Briony came home much later; a slight limp to her gait and a satisfied smile upon her lips.
The next day was full of more insufferable preparation, not helped by the late hour that you had pulled yourselves out of bed and the dry mouths and blurry heads that came from your late night. Elsbeth, in particular, had to deal with the lectures of a certain impatient raven. The seamstresses worked once more on your dress and appearance. Finally, as it grew dark, you were ready.
Angelina wore a formal ball gown of the Realms, dark blue satin decorated with blue sequins and silver loops to connect the top of bodice, instead of the usual lace ties. A golden necklace with three sapphires showing with brilliance similar to her eyes, and a matching headpiece crowned her finely braided red hair. Peeking from her red hair could be seen two ovular golden earrings, also with sapphires. The dark gown seemed simple enough, but the material was of expensive sort that shimmered with the light. Underneath she cheated a bit, eschewing high heels for dark boots with heels and a knife tucked into each of them because you never know.
The thin, stubborn Zephia made a compromise with the seamstresses and gave them the hardest time, but in the end she went as a relic hunter in the Tsoylani style, mixing adventurer with local subaltern. The light-weight ceremonial armor she wore was of dark purple leather decorated with bright silver studs etched with Tsoylani lettering. She wore pantaloons of similar color, along with dyed, flat shoes. An off-duty, long collar draped from her neck with silhouettes depicting the ten kills she could best brag if approached by Tsoylani warriors who wanted to compare. Her hair was done up in a Realms-like bun held together by numerous pearls and two silver stilettos, which were also weapons more familiar in the Realms. Two short, thin blades were carried inside velvet-covered scabbards resting along a hip. Her scowl gave the message, “Do not touch.”
The taller and broader Briony was covered in blue and yellow cloth with a shiny sheen. Her breeches were bright blue along with her closed shoes (flat boots, actually, but covered in a way with the breeches to seem more Tsoylani in wear). A mostly-blue linen tunic and outer quilted vest were also made in a cut pattern that made it difficult to see where the breeches stopped and upper garments began. The vest was padded in a way to resemble light Tsoylani armor. Dark Tsoylani kohl decorated her eyes, and her hair was placed into tight cornrolls with turquoise and shell gemstones lined evenly throughout. She also wore a long off-duty collar depicting the ten kills she was most ready to vouch to others, and a copper Tsoylani axe hung from a silk belt at her side, brightened by the numerous opals etched into its surface. Walking next to Zephia, the two made an intimidating pair.
Bella dressed as Tsoyani nobility, with a green skirt that showed off part of her knees and down towards her ankles. She was also fitted with green, closed shoes with jade gemstones near the heels. A darker green snakeskin belt was easily fitted to her, but it was mostly obscured by the sleeveless over-tunic in the colors of green with golden stripes along the sides (and besides, she hid a set of brass knuckles there). The over-tunic was also decorated with ceremonial Tsoylani lettering depicting her family name and the first names of her immediate three generations of ancestors. A jade collar with golden wiring closely circled her neck and she wore a golden metal headdress over her braided hair, with the wiring enclosing at a center point six inches above the top of her head. The headdress itself had several small, green alexandrite gemstones embedded into it.
Lastly, Elsbeth was also dressed in the style of a Tsoylani priestess of a nature god. With the raven as her totem, the witch wore brown shoes and earthen-colored robes. The robes themselves were covered in dark yellow-colored thread to form Tsoylani script. Along her shoulders hung a brown wide belt with yellowed bits of bone stitched inside to give the appearance of birds. Over Elsbeth’s braided hair, ears, and eyes the witch wore a darkened copper half-mask that covered the upper front portion of her hair and was shaped to give her the appearance of a raven. Black feathers were also tied into the hair behind the mask, and she was given a copper-coated baton with a cord on the end tied to a bunch of black and purple bird feathers to carry as a sign of her office as a recognized priestess, though she planned to hand it off to Bella to use as a weapon in case of trouble. Her own animal companion looked at her with apparent approval.
The clothing feels comfortable enough to move in, with the looser Tsoylani clothing being the more comfortable. And all of you look appropriately able to make the intended impression.
OOC: Next update tomorrow.
Briony hopped off the chaise and strode to the bottle of rum. Kissing Ang on the lips quickly, Briony washed down that bit of sisterly affection with a swig of rum. Echoing Ang, Briony agreed, 
