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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 7534347" data-attributes="member: 143">Chapter 230Glori sat alone in the common room of The Seaman’s Lament and sipped her wine.  Majerion’s tutelage had included instruction on how to appreciate wine.  This was a fine Siccarian vintage, crisp and fruity, but she was too distracted to give it its due.She turned her head and scanned the room.  The inn was even quieter than it had been when they’d first arrived in town two days ago.  She was starting to get a feel for the place, and knew it would get busy once the afternoon shift at the docks let out and a small army of clerks, journeymen, and others with the coin to afford the Lament’s prices would descend upon the inn.For the moment, the dozen or so patrons enjoyed their drinks in peace.  The feel of a quiet common room grated on Glori’s sensibilities, and she was tempted to go up and fetch her lyre, to fill the chamber with music.  But while the gilded instrument fit with her cover as the private player of the “rich foreign merchant,” such a person wouldn’t be playing tunes in a common room.She turned back to the window and looked out into the street, but couldn’t see much through the streaks of rain that covered the glass.  She was starting to feel stir-crazy from being cooped up here.  She understood why it wouldn’t have been consistent for her to accompany Bredan and the others to meet with the Syvalian captain, and someone needed to stay here with Xeeta, but the forced inactivity was still difficult to deal with.She’d asked Xeeta to join her for a drink, but the tiefling had refused.  She was likely still distracted by the feelings wrought by her return to her homeland.  Kavin had also turned down her offer.  She suspected that the soldier had orders to make sure that the tiefling did not leave the inn.She raised her glass to take another sip of her wine, but paused as she heard a sound.  It wasn’t much, just a soft thump that could have been anything, but it still had her rising from the booth.  No one else in the common room had paid it any heed, and the bartender was polishing bottles, unaware or unconcerned.Telling herself that it was probably nothing—one of the maids had probably dropped something—she headed toward the back of the inn.  She paused to peek into the kitchen.  It was strangely quiet.  The lunch press was well past, and it was hours still until supper, but there still should have been at least someone there.  She could see a large pot atop the stove, where the evening soup was simmering.  It was possible that the cook had just stepped out for a moment, but she could not shake a feeling of unease as she made her way toward the back stairs.She found Kavin on the landing halfway up between the second and third floors of the inn.  One look at the angle that his head was lying told her that he was dead.  His sword was halfway out of its scabbard, which suggested that his attacker had managed to catch him by surprise.Glori drew her own sword as she made her way up the stairs.  She now regretted leaving her lyre in her room, but she hummed a few notes under her breath, summoning her magic.The landing at the top of the stairs was empty.  She made her way carefully to the hallway that led to their rooms.  The door leading to Xeeta’s room was slightly ajar.  The room they shared, where she’d left her lyre when she’d come downstairs.She continued cautiously ahead, sliding her feet forward to minimize the chance of making any sound.  She reached the door and reached out slowly with her sword, using its tip to push it open further.The room was empty.A soft creak from behind caught her attention.  She spun around, but had no time to react as a huge form hurtled down the hallway toward her.  She tried to bring her sword up but before she could get into the stance that Bredan had drilled into her the figure slammed into her.  She was flung backwards.  Noise and light exploded around her as she hit the window.  She felt the jarring cold and the patter of raindrops on her skin before a solid impact blasted away all other conscious thought.“Miss, are you all right?  Miss?  Miss!”Glori jolted back to consciousness as abruptly as she’d left it.  She was cold and wet, and lying on her back in what she realized was the side yard of the inn.  There were several people around her, staring at her with looks of concern on their faces.  Her gaze traveled past them, up to the shattered remnants of the window high above from which she’d fallen.“Xeeta,” she said, and tried to get up.  That proved to be a mistake as her head exploded and her vision swam.  As she tried to refocus her senses she could hear the voices of the bystanders.“What happened, did she jump?”“Get the Watch, someone call the Watch!”“She’s hurt, better get a cleric…”“I’m fine,” she said.  This time she didn’t try to get up, but focused her thoughts and hummed a melody to summon her magic.  She let out a gasp as the energies of a cure wounds spell poured into her.  Her perceptions cleared, but that brought with it a fresh wave of pain as her remaining injuries reasserted themselves in her awareness.  But it was enough for her to pull herself up.Bits of wood and fabric clung to her, and she realized she’d landed in a pile of crates.  That had probably saved her life.  If she’d hit the cobblestones just a few steps to the left she probably would have broken her neck.  The bystanders drew back, a few making a reflexive gesture against evil.  Great, she thought, remembering Xeeta’s comments about the restrictions on spellcasting in Li Syval.  Well, she would worry about that when the immediate emergency was over.The innkeeper came rushing out from the side door of the inn.  As his feet crunched on bits of broken glass, he glanced up at the broken window high above the courtyard.  “What happened?” he asked.“There’s been an attack, someone’s been murdered,” Glori said.  “Better get the Watch.”  She started back toward the inn.  She looked around for her sword, but didn’t see it; it must not have made it through the window with her.The innkeeper stared at her, a look of horror on his face.  “Where are you going?” he asked.Glori hesitated in the doorway.  “I have to check on a friend,” she said.The common room was astir as she made her way back inside.  Someone in the kitchen called out to her as she passed, but she ignored them and once again ascended the stairs.  She summoned her magic again as she hurried up the first flight, further easing her wounds.  Their foe had handled her easily, and now she didn’t even have her sword.  But she couldn’t leave Xeeta if there was even a small chance that she might still be there.  She paused at Kavin’s body and drew his sword from its scabbard.  Thus fortified, she returned to the hall.  The floor there was already damp from the rain that had blown in through the broken window, but there was no one there.She checked all of the rooms this time.  There was no sign of Xeeta, or of their attacker.  She hadn’t gotten a good look at his face, just a vague impression of size and bulk.Her lyre was sitting where she had left it.  She cradled it in her lap as she slumped onto her bed.  She knew that she was going to have to talk fast very shortly, but for now she just sat on the end of the bed and took a deep, steadying breath.A man was dead, and one of her friends was gone, taken.  And for the moment, there was nothing she could do about it.</blockquote>

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