Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="barsoomcore" data-source="post: 4128246" data-attributes="member: 812">Frying Pan, Fire: 17"It's quiet. I like that."Isaac grimaced sourly at Elena's comment and poked a stick in the fire. Embers brightened and heat swirled back at him.Etienne inspected the cuts of meat sizzling over the flames, shaking his fingers as hot fat dripped."Ouch. These are almost ready."Arrafin sat turning pages in a massive black volume, its covers detailed with eldritch sigils. She had to turn a little to let the light from the fire fall more directly on the pages as the sun reached the western horizon, off down at the end of the beach. The sky blazed with its last glory.Elena studied the girl for a moment, then frowned at the book."What is that, Arrafin?""My spellbook.""Since when do you have a spellbook?""Um. Since I got it. Um. I needed one. For my spells. So I got one."Arrafin flashed a quick grin at Etienne as she stuffed the book into her knapsack."Yum. That smells good. Yum, food. Don't you like food, Elena?""Yeah, food is--"Elena wasn't the only one of the group to turn as a figure came walking down the beach towards them. A slim figure in dark expensive silk, with a mocking smile on her sardonic face."Collette."Elena spoke before Isaac could say anything."We went to the del Orofin house. Everyone's dead.""Did you set us up, bitch? Are the del Orofin after us now?"The young woman chuckled."The del Orofin were already after you, Isaac. If they weren't before, you killing Pilar's son back in Bayonne certainly made sure of that. And no, I didn't set you up. But I gather she wasn't there?""There were a lot of corpses. We didn't search too carefully.""Well, I did. And she wasn't among them."Isaac frowned and watched Etienne begin snatching the now-cooked strips of meat off the skewers and onto a platter. He turned to Collette, anger fading away."What do you care? What do you want from me?"Arrafin and Elena both put a lot of energy into looking like they weren't interested. Nevid and Etienne put much less effort in, but looked much less interested anyway.Collette watched the waves rolling up the beach."I think something terrible was done to your mother. Did you know she's from Avernay? Same as me. Anyway, I just want to find out what happened. It was Isabella asked me to track her down. Now I'm obsessed, I guess. I just want to know what happened."She turned and she and Isaac stared at each other for a long time. Nobody else spoke."Maybe I think I owe you one. Or at least her. I helped set up your father, you know.""I know.""He WAS a traitor. He sold slaves to Caedmonish traders. You never knew. Your mother never knew. But it was true."Etienne growled."Why does everyone try to convince us that their version of what happened is what REALLY happened?"Everyone studied the half-Kishak with grease dripping down his chin. He shrugged."It's true. The Demon Goddess says Shang killed the Blood Mother, and the Blood Council say the Demon Goddess killed the Blood Mother, and the Demon Goddess says she's going to fix that and we should trust her and the Blood Council say don't trust her and Sharina says Kaley's an abomination and Farouk says Kaley's just a girl and the Tyrant's Shade... well, he's bad."Elena laughed at Etienne's faltering finish."You know, we can't even agree on what happened last week. Why should these people be any more consistent than us?""Exactly. And some of them are plenty crazy."Collette put up a hand."What's a Demon Goddess?"*****Arrafin upended the bottle and held it above her mouth, waiting for the last drops of wine. Just as the drop hung from the bottle's lip, ready to fall, Elena gave the Naridic girl a shove and it fell on her robes.Elena snickered. She'd had a couple of bottles herself already.Etienne had passed out and lay flat on his back in the sand, snoring peacefully. Isaac sat gloomily staring into the fire, incommunicative since Collette's departure, and Nevid and Kaley had wandered off."So... heard from your girlfriend lately?""My what? Heard from who? What do you mean? I don't have a girlfriend. What would I? A girlfriend? No. No.""You know. Madame You-Ack. She lurvs you. She does. She thinks you're neat."Elena pushed her finger into Arrafin's cheek. Arrafin pushed back, suddenly irritable."Stop it. I. I don't know what you're talking about. Elena. She's not li-- She's not liking me like that. I don't think. Not that I would know. I wouldn't. But she doesn't. I'm sure."Arrafin swallowed."Wow, it sure gets warm at night around here, doesn't it? What's wrong with Isaac?""I think he just had his world turned inside-out.""Yeah. What?""He's been hating Collette all this time and now she's doing him a favour.""Why doesn't he go look for his mom himself? He's weird.""Yeah. Hey, Isaac, Arrafin thinks you're weird.""Is that so?"Over Arrafin's jumbled protestations, Isaac turned to face his friend."Well, at least I'm not making time with some vampire goddess insane-o chick.""Yeah, that's what I said. Madame You-Ack.""Remember what Zuleika called her? Madame Lick My Thong.""Zuleika."The three sat staring at the dwindling coals. Overhead stars rolled in slow brilliant circles."So, uh, Isaac. Why aren't you? How come you didn't go with Collette? To find your mother.""She's probably just setting me up for something even worse.""Your mother?""No, Arrafin. Collette.""Oh. I don't think so. I think she likes you."Isaac barked a harsh laugh."That's a good one. The cold-blooded del Orofin bitch with a heart of gold. Right.""Do you think she likes him, Elena?""Enough. I don't want to talk about that bitch any more. Hey, Elena, get Farouk out here. Let's see what he can do."Elena and Isaac got into an argument over the proper use of ancient warrior spirits, and Arrafin shuffled back to where her knapsack lay. A half-empty bottle sat in the sand beside it. The Naridic girl looked up and down the beach, the long white lines of the incoming rollers stretching out as far as the eye could see, glowing under the starlight.She looked back over her shoulder at her friends. Farouk now stood in front of them, answering their questions in his grave voice.Arrafin chewed her lower lip. She snatched up her knapsack and looked again to see if Elena or Isaac were paying any attention. They weren't.She set off along the beach, soon lost in the darkness as she strode away from her friends and the light.</blockquote>

Verification