The next day. In the Heroes Guild.

Emerald is laying sideways on the easy chair next to the fireplace, grabbing her toes. She is distracted, staring at the ceiling. There is a parchment or two laying on the chair's backrest, wedged between it and Emerald. She has a quill in her mouth.

Lurking in a dark corner is a hooded figure pouring over some old tomes.

Lucky steps into the guild and smiles at the cute sight of Emerald.

"Ink isn't the best of candies I would think," he chuckles, "But perhaps combined with the flavor of toe cheese?"

  Terdisas would think that in most cases, proper lighting would make for better tome pouring.  Of course with all the people that have Low-Light vision and such hanging around the guild who knows.

  "I think perhaps it may be coffee time for the little fox.  Of course, this one's mine so I would have to make a return trip in such a case."  Caffine before chivalry apparently.

Emerald spits the pen aside and ewes. "That's disgusting, Lucky." she gets up to be sitting straight. "I'll have you know, I take very good care of my feet. I wash them 3 times a day." She discretely puts the parchment away. "So what's the latest?"

The shadowy figure puts his books away.

"Just teasing, Emerald," Lucky answers apologetically, "Allow me to buy you a drink to make it up to you?  Latest news is that Grayhawk will not be going to war.  Terdisas and I were there for the peace talks.  We were hired along with Mittens to escort the ambassador.  Interesting situation there."

  "The shortest peace talks I've ever heard of, let alone been a part of.  But the end result was still better than some."  If there is less than four minutes worth of conversation, pauses included, does it qualify as peace talks?  Or peace comments?

  Superbird considers Lurksy McLurk,  "Tweet, finally got bored reading?  I know how that goes, a few pages and I nod off, chirp."

"Always nice when a war gets averted..." Emerald doesn't stick her nose into the lurky guy's business, so she's glad Superbird just did. She looks his way as though Superbird was the only reason she payed the lurker any mind.

Lurky mclurk headshakes and moves to examine the quest posts on the board.

"Long enough that you were being bitter about cutthroat politics as I recall," Lucky teases, "But yeah.  Good results, but very upsetting to say the least that war was even being considered.  Especially for the reason of 'because everyone says Grayhawk is weak and makes fun of them.'  Infantile."

  Bird based conversation hook averted, going back to default conversation.  "Any amount of political interaction with lives on the line is enough to consider such things, Lucky.  If it were a meeting on the percentage of taxes utilized to repair roads then such comparisons would be of little need."

Emerald is still looking at lurky smurf. "Well you gonna introduce yourself, or are you a lone wolf? My name's Emerald. The shifter's name is Lucky and the human with the bird is Terdisas. The bird's name is Superbird."

"Panch," the hooded one answers with a slight Transylvanian accent in a voice that sounds like whispering metal, "I heard talk of war.  What news?"

He steps forward to be close to where Emerald slipped her papers.  When he thinks everyone's distracted enough, he'll try for a sneaky thievery check to snatch them.  ( Up to Tim if it's more fun for him to succeed or fail such. )

"A pleasure, Panch," Lucky answers, "Thanks for dealing with introductions, Emerald.  Fortunately, no war in the immediate future as far as we know."

  Alas, Terdisass isn't perceptive enough to notice Panch is being a dick.  "While it seems Barrowmount's ruler is less than entuiastic about the current peace, they at least have enough restraint not to offhandedly declare war."

Emerald (especially this early in levels) doesn't have much in the way of perception. Which goes right along with how she is; VERY good at stealing.. not that good at spotting someone doing the same to her. Panch will see they are letters to the authorities that list qualifications of certain individuals who Panch likely isn't familiar with. Especially if he's new to town. Especially since this Barrowbank bit is news to him.

Emerald says, "What was the ambassador like? I heard she supposedly represents every god in the pantheon."

"Including the evil ones?" Panch answers, returning the letters to where he found them.

"Well..." Lucky hesitates, "She did seem to speak with authority when claiming how the evil god churches would react to a declaration of war.

"She was a nice young lady.  Very down-to-earth.  And yet, also quite spaced out.  Hard to describe."

  "Surprisingly mellow about getting shot through the heart, chirp."  Terdisas nods,  "While they have a certain serenity about them, There can easily be too much of such in some situations."

Emerald huhs. "I'll be curious to know more. By talking with her m'self, that is." she goes to grab the papers. "Pure conjecture... do you think she serves the evil gods alongside the good ones?"

Lucky headshakes.

"Her predictions came true every single time," Lucky answers, "I doubt any of the evil gods are generous with information about the future with someone striving for peace and mercy, so I'm guessing her primary source is the good ones.  That she's able to talk with members of evil churches without them killing her is about as much proof of her being evil as being able to talk to Barrowmount's king without him declaring war on you would be."

"Shot through the heart?" Panch asks.

  "Roughly seven seconds after declaring we would be attacked, arrow straight through the chest and out her back.  Predictions coming true tend to be less pleasant when such predictions are the unfortunate sort.  I'm sure the darker gods would be more than happy to inform her of that detail."

Emerald says, "Can't say I've been shot through the heart yet. Poor gal." She looks at Panch. "See anything on the board worth going after?"

Bridget enters the room. Emerald waves. "Oh hi, Officer Bordecelli."

"Always looking on the bright side of life, Terdisas," Lucky says with some sarcasm.

"Hard to say," Panch answers Emerald's question.

Lucky smiles at Bridget.

"Any news on those prisoners, Officer?"

  "Well, the bright side is that she didn't die thanks to you.  Though I would still have preferred if she were not harmed in such a manner in the first place, so wide optimism was a bust."  They turn, and wave hello top the latest arrival, "Hello again, I hope any news you have happens to be a more pleasant sort."

Bridget nods in greeting to those who greeted her. Then looks at Lucky. "The prisoners will be punished. But their misunderstanding was genuine. One of them is going to be executed, however, as he was a plant and had no misunderstandings when persuading the others to attack. The others will get light sentencing, but are already understanding how grave their misunderstanding was. Two of them are swearing off swords for life."

She looks at Emerald. "Do you have what I asked of you?"

Emerald nods and hands the parchment papers to Bridget.

"Well that explains a lot," Lucky says, "I guess then the genuine ones were rather poor at conveying all the details that convinced them to attack Antionette.  Glad to hear justice was done.  I would rather her trip not be needed in the first place, Terdisas, but both of us know that stuff like that is highly unlikely."

He looks at the exchange curiously.

"What's that?"

  "Tweet, it's a stack of papers, duh."  My, how helpful as ever Superbird.  "Well, I suppose the things we'd rather not happen are why there is need for this establishment in the first place Lucky."

Emerald answers Lucky cautiously, "Stuff I know about a couple of the prisoners..."

Bridget says, "Thank you, Ms Haynsworth. I must be off now." she nods to the others and heads out.

"I'm sure we'd both be plenty satisfied if there were no need for this place," Lucky answers, "You ok, Emerald?"

  Terdisas merely nods to Lucky, not mentioning a world where an Adventurer's guild has no purpose would also be one Divine services would also be pointless... Well, okay, so some of those rituals are kinda handy.  Go figure that materialism would make Divine influence (as well as the pure arcane sort of ritual) more widely practical than adventuring in general.

  He waves goodbye to Bridget, and comments "Emerald is merely being mysterious again Lucky.  If it is something important we know, we will find out soon enough."

Emerald looks around and then says in a hushed tone. "The two prisoners I gave info on are friends of mine. I'm being careful about who I tell because I heard from the grapevine about what Mittens wished on them. If she knew I was their friend..."

"I'm kinda flattered you'd trust me well enough to not hold a grudge against the guys who tried to kill me," Lucky says, "Your friends secrets are safe with me.  As for whether you have to be careful about that with Mittens...  I can have a talk with her and find out if she'll let up on the vendetta after she knows that they were deceived.  Well...  Me and her siblings.  I've noticed she tends to be more open to reason with them being the ones reasoning."

  Terdisas can not comment on Emeralds wisdom in friend selection.  After all, he is included in that list.  "The fact they were more directly deceived, as opposed to acting purely out of idiocy does take the edge off somewhat.  Though I do believe Lucky has a valid point for when best to bring it up, if at all."

Yup. That's Emerald. All Cha and Dex. No Wis.

Emerald says, "Heh... um... so anyway. I'm sorry you guys had a hard time. What else is new?"

Lucky snirks.

"Besides us having a hard time?" Lucky answers with a smile, "Nothing much on my end."

  Terdisas nods,  "We have only just returned, after all.  Though, I did at least have time to get a drink."  Yay coffee.  Superbird flutters over to take a peek at the board, because they think they TOTALY can see what's on there and not have a hard time saying what's interesting and what's boring.

  Also, Superbird is incredibly modest.

Emerald says, "Well, not much in the way of news on my end either... besides, you know... the bit with finding out you guys were attacked. Oh! I put together a new spell." she says with a bright smile.

"Let's see it, then," Lucky says with a smile, "Unless it's the kind that can't be safely demonstrated here."

  Superbird asides to Panch as they read the board, "Tweet, so, how many of the dust collecting ones do you think have already been solved with nobody knowing?"  Hey, wandering adventures happen all the time.

  Terdisas considers Emerald and Lucky's comment, and says "It would be unfortunate if you took out your favorite chair in a demonstration, true."

Emerald says, "Oh... it's just an upgrade of that one you've seen me use before where I cause the enemy to blunder. Though it's a lot more... I just compel them to go somewhere. How about you?"

Because we "level" every 10 logs, so we are all now level 3.

Lucky chuckles.

"Sounds like fun.  Me?  I got one that makes allies slightly more likely to hit stuff."

(( Actually I have no idea his level 3 pick, so this may change by log 31. ))

  "Oh, you know.  Just more of the same when it comes to smashing someone upside the skull with ice."  You picked a level 1 power for your level 3 pick, you so crazy.

  Meanwhile, Superbird considers attempting to perch on Panch's head.  But decides against it because they like existing and those short rests take a subjective eternity when you don't.

Emerald nods to her friends and says, "Sounds like we'll have a time of it, discovering together in combat what we can do..."

Emerald sees Panch has taken to ignoring Superbird like Terdisas does 1/5th of the time. She looks at Panch. "Excuse me... Panch, was it? What is it you do?"

Panch shrugs in reply to Superbird.  To Emerald he points at the quest board.

"I think she meant something more specific," Lucky says, "Such as whether you're a cleric, wizard, fighter, etc."

"I strike from the shadows," Panch answers, "I don't care to be more specific than that."

  Terdisas nods,  "An answer such as that is more than adequate Panch, enough to go on should we ever find ourselves working together."  Superbird wonders if Panch brings a tarp with him on sunny days so he can have shadows to strike from.

Emerald says, "Do you care to adventure with a group?"

"I usually work alone," Panch answers.

Panch does carry shadow with him.  Not a tarp, a cloak.  Sunlight really sucks for a vampire.  Intentional pun!

Lucky just shrugs.  "Not many quests out there that can be done solo."

  Can't Solo PvE!?  OMG what kind of lame MMO is thi-oh, right.

  "Well, forcing people to work together can end up worse than attempting to work alone."  OMG You want to get the explore badge!?  Imma kick all seven of you!

Emerald nods. "Your call, Panch." she says with a smile. "I know there's some things I prefer to do alone..."

Panch nods knowingly.

"Oh?" Lucky asks curiously, "Anything besides the standard modesty stuff that most would rather do alone?"

Terdisas despite having the skillset for it, doesn't pry... Seems a waste somehow.  Short post is short -.-;

Emerald says, "Well..." she hops up to sit on the table and continues, "I can empathize with this ambassador you speak of who associates with evil gods and their worshipers. I too associate with less-than-desirable people. As such, I also do things most people may not understand." The scene flashbacks to Emerald dressed in a suit made to look like Goofy and smacking a statue with a fish. "And so I keep those activities to myself. Beyond that, I can't tell you much."



...OK, so maybe that flashback isn't accurate, but it was fun to think on.

Some things even a curious kitty would rather not know.  Goofy statue fish smack technique is probably among them.

Lucky ahs.  "I thought that might be what you were referring to.  Well I'm glad you associate with shady characters.  They don't get much darker than my color, so if you didn't hang out with darker types, I'd be excluded."

He smirks and winks at her.

"Well I'm at your service should you ever need someone to share those kinds of burdens."

He gives a sweeping bow.

  Superbird wingflaps, "Tweet, Hey!  Fancybow is bossman's gig!"  "I did not invent, nor patent the sweeping bow."  "...You didn't?  But you said you did! Chirp."  "I was drunk at the time... You were drunk at the time if I recall."

Emerald giggles. "We're all friends here, Superbird..." she gives a fancy bow of her own, though more curtsy. "Try it, Superbird. It's fun."

Lucky chuckles as well.  He watches to see what happens next.

  "I am not a cartoon bird, tweet.  My wings don't bend that way lady, chirp."  Terdisas ignores his familiar's comments with the practiced method of being used to doing so.  "A fine bow regardless, Emerald."

Emerald considers the repercussions of using logic with Superbird, such as reminding him he can shape-shift. The consequences are too great, so she decides not to argue. "Thanks, Ter."

Enter Dauros. The 7 and a half foot tall minotaur steps in, shakes off a bit and looks around at the people in the guild. "Who's up for a rescue mission?" he bellows in his amazingly deep voice.

Emerald smiles brightly. "Rescue? Count me in!"

"I'd be happy to help," Lucky offers, "What are the details?"

  Considering talks in other threads, is this a huge stack of Irony?  Terdisas says "Quite possibly, they seem to be the most frequent sort of mission we take.  Though, any insight into just who needs rescuing?"

Dauros says, "An innocent girl was taken deep into the mountains. She has a lot of magic in her, though, so the kidnappers might have grabbed her for that power. As a focus for some evil ritual or maybe to steal the power from her. Dunno. But I do know she needs our help."

Emerald says, "Lead the way, Dauros!"

Dauros lifts his hand, grips his hammer and walks off, leading the way towards the mountains.

"Thanks for the info," Lucky says, "Please inform the police that we're going there, Jim."

Jim being the bartender or whatever that NPC who runs an inn is called.

Panch and Lucky follow along.

  Terdisas stops to consider what innocent girls who have lots of magic he knows that might happen to be, then stops as he remembers he knows a lot of girls like that from around this town alone by now.  "Of course I shall aid in this task.  Do you happen to know the name of the girl that has been taken?"

  Follow is haz.

Dauros answers, "I don't her name. All I know is that some farmer saw her glowing all magic-like. Then some mean-looking guys came to take her. They were many for the farmer to try taking them on himself. He ran to look for someone tough, found me, and told me. Gave a description of the girl and the mean guys. The girl was average height for a woman. Had white hair. Wore some clothes that kept changing color. The mean guys looked like oversized hyenas. They wore leather armor."

Emerald says, "And the fact they went to the mountains."

Dauros says, "That doesn't have anything to do with their description..."

Emerald ohs. "Rightright..."

"Human woman?" Lucky asks.

  Cue the Double Dare or Kids Gameshow music of choice!  Lucky has won the tiniest post award <kermit>Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!</kermit>  "Still, even that is a better description than what we normally have to work with"  At least, when not going off to aid people you already know in the first place so.  Which kind ot negates the need for description anyway.

Dauros says, "Uh... dunno. Didn't ask." he sweatdrops.

Two can play the short post game. Though this isn't as short! Darn it!

"True enough."

HA!

  "If her clothing truely is indecisive on color scheme, then that alone should be enough to identify her."  "Tweet, what if they took it?"  "...Pretty sure we can recognize a Gnoll, even if it wearing a wig and a dress."

The group finds themselves yoinked by Eek The Cat powers of switching the "you are here" x mark to another spot on the map. Poof! The group is now in the mountains, in the snow. It sometimes appears to snow because of gusts of cold wind blowing snow around. There is an encampment of gnolls with a human lady a the center. She has white hair and clothes that keep changing color. The girl isn't tied up, but she is surrounded by a magic circle which is surrounded by gnolls with spears.

Emerald says, "Alright... We can charge in and attack, frontal assault. They won't harm her, it seems. But here's an alternative: We lure some of them away, get them following us over to that ledge there, then flank them and force them off the edge. I'll make my opening via my movement control powers. Thoughts?"

Dauros says, "Lessening their numbers sounds good."

"What he said," Lucky answers with a nod, "Care to do the luring, Emerald?  You sound the least threatening among us."

  Terdisas has alternate timeline qualifications of using his Push powers as an 'I Win' button, so he approves of this plan.  "I approve of this plan." See?  "Just make sure they don't get the same idea when it comes to us."  "Chirp, just how would that be managed?"  "...Push them all off at once?"  "Smart, real smart, tweet."

Emerald says, "Alright folks... let's get this party started..." she heads over to the gnolls and yips loudly. They notice. She runs. They fall for it and a good number of them follow, cackling. Probably were bored.

Dauros stays by the others, gripping his hammer tight and narrowing his eyes. When the time is right, he rather suddenly appears farther in battle as if he was sped-up film, and charges one of the gnolls right off the cliff. Emerald sings and a gnoll tumbles to the side, making room for Emerald to escape as planned and now flank with the rest of the group.

Lucky also helps out with pushing a gnoll over the... oh.  It caught the edge and didn't fall over.  At least it's prone?

  Terdisas, in turn, helps out the helping out by managing to clip the Gnome Lucky shoved over with an ice brick... Hey, hitting them at all is nifty when prone gives a defensive bonus vs ranged /e fistshake.  "You just know that somewhere is a Cliffside that's actually a platform with a lever to tilt it."

  What's worse than the party dying?  The party surviving the fall and having to climb all the way back up again.

The fight is fairly short, considering the party had surprise and this is only some of the gnolls. But that said, the rest of the gnolls back at their camp, while equal in number to the ones just taken out, won't be surprised. Oh well. After seeing how fast Dauros moved, that might not be an issue.

Emerald leads the group into the gnoll camp and soon, the gnolls are in sight. "So are we going to charge in, or does anyone have an idea...?"

Dauros says, "I say we charge in."

"Again what he said," Lucky says, "For freedom!"

He charges in and spears an enemy!  Yay high init roll!

  "I do believe that I will be defaulting to the usual 'shoot the problem with lightning until it is no longer a problem' method."  Well, Lightning Strike sure beats Auto-attack at least.  Also, Arcana check is GO, in regards to crazy magic circlemajig.

Terdisas gets a crit arcana check and can see in Matrix code. Well OK, the magic equivalent anyway. The magic circle is just a containment circle. Basically, take magic circle and invert it. It keeps whoever's in it IN. Meanwhile, the lady sets off magic alarms like nobody else he's met. Almost like, sure she's a person? But she isn't? And her clothes register is a person. Or part of her? Or not? Hard to tell. The lady, her clothing, and just everything about her is one huge swarming mess of magic and soul energy. It's obvious why evil would want to snatch this and use it.

But to the naked eye, she just looks like a frightened young lady who has very magical clothing.

Meanwhile, Dauros is catching most of the attention of the gnolls and thus, manages to keep them off any other party members. For a tank, his speed is amazing. And for a defender, his powers seem incredible. Warden wouldn't quite be right since none of the powers touch on nature... and then memories of Liberty... oh... he's psionic! Of course!

Inverted magic circle means can mess it up from the outside!  Lucky takes a moment to mess up the runes on the ground to break the circle.

"We're here to rescue you, miss," he says, "If you happen to be any good with combat magic, any help would be appreciated."

Oh yeah!  Panch was here all the time.  Striking from the shadows and stuff.  Stupid headache.

  No, see, Panch is SO stealthy he hides INSIDE YOUR SKULL.  No wonder there is a headache.  "Very good question Lucky.  Though just to be on the safe side, stay beside her until this is over with."  Default Terdisas Method variant, Spam Lightning Strike on enemies that hassle Lucky specifically.  That seems to be the most common variant.

Emerald is doing her leader thang. Healz on Dauros who is still in the thick of things.

Lucky is able to break the circle and the lady stands up. She answers timidly, "I'll do what I can."

She fires a ray of divine energy and simultaneously seems to have a celestial glow about her for a second. The ray burns one of the gnolls. The gnolls cry out, "She's escaped! RUN!" the gnolls start booking it.

"Let's not give chase, please," Lucky says, "We were here to rescue the lady, and we've done that."

"Speak for yourself."  Panch chases the fleeing gnolls.

Lucky heavy sighs.  "Thanks for the help there, miss."

  Terdisas doesn't *zap* chase after *zap* the Gnolls... What?  We said he didn't chase them, he can take some shots from where he's standing.  "Just in case any decide to give parting shots.  Though, it is good to see that you are safe, Miss?..."  Trailing off in standard issue question trailing off way.

Emerald says, "Our new friend is used to doing stuff on his own, so let 'em."

The lady answers, "Your friend is chasing them alone?"

Dauros says, "The lady is rescued. Now to rescue my friend!" as he charges off after Panch.

The lady answers Terdisas, "My name is Bethany."

"I'll see to it they have a healer," Lucky says following after Doros, "Will catch up."

  Terdisas nods, "A pleasure to meet you Bethany, a shame about the circumstances of our meeting."  you could practically stock footage this sentiment from Terdisas by now when it comes to meeting new people mid carnage.  He'll form an opinion on the 'walking pile of magic' thing later.

  "Emerald, if you would be so kind as to stay with Bethany while I make sure none of the remaining Gnolls put my favorted tactics to use against our allies very long."  Translation, shoot in the face from a safe distance Gnolls trying to shoot his friends in the face from a safe distance.

The heroes are good. The gnolls are bad. Good guys win. Bad guys lose. Big surprise. Right? Well let's see how: Emerald does as requested and watches over Beth, but she doesn't have to for long as the ground itself suddenly swallows the gnolls. Sorry, Panch.

Bethany ohs and covers her mouth.

Emerald says, "Well that doesn't happen every day."

"Metal," Panch comments of the ground eating the badguys.

"You said it," Lucky says, staring in shock, "Was that your doing, Bethany?"

They /follow.

  Terdisas is somewhat at a loss for banter related to the sudden occurance.  Superbird Picks up the slack.  "Chirp, looks like they just got a... Dirt nap."  Yeaaaaaaaah! /Sunglasses.  We would have also accepted the answer of 'They're grounded'.

  Terdisas facepalms.

Bethany headshakes. "Uh- I didn't do that."

Emerald hrms... "What if... their own god did that for their failure? Whatever... let's not dwell here lest we get swallowed."

"What she said," Lucky agrees, "Nice pun there, Superbird."

  "Tweet, Thank you, I'm here all night."  Terdisas comments "True enough Emerald, not all sudden conveniences are reassuring."

The group travels a bit and Bethany glances around at the people present. "Who are you all? Do I know you from somewhere?"

Emerald says, "I'm Emerald. I... don't believe we've met before today."

"Lucky," the kitty replies, "I think I'd remember you.  You're hair at least is quite memorable.  Not to mention your exotic clothes."

"Panch" is all the dark hooded dude will say.

  Terdisas says, "Quite often we meet new people on the edge of disaster, mostly due to the process of attempting to solve such problems.  While it is uncertain if you know why you were captured, how did it happen in the first place?"

Bethany says, "I'm unsure. It happened so fast. I remember the gnolls came to me and then I felt someone put a handkerchief on my nose."

"Well I'm glad you're safe now," Lucky says, "If there's anything else you need, do please let us know."

  Terdisas may not exactly be an alchemical expert, but worldwide known cliches are a -5 DC to pick up on.  Alas, Rogue PC's that try to sneak attack with Chloroform tend to have less luck.

  "Well, if it is in the region then the least we can do is safely see you home."  Terdisas put in that qualifier for a reason.

Bethany's concept of home is a bit skewed. "Where is home?" she makes with the following.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:52, Wed 01 June 2011.

"You don't know where you come from?" Lucky asks, "How much do you remember?  We should get her to the guild for a meal and some rest at least."

  A recently kidnapped girl with kaleidoscope brand clothing and magic slinging.  Yeah, the Guild is probably the default building for such a person anyways.  "True enough Lucky, though I do wish we had an answer to her question.  But it will do for now."

Bethany asks, "I've heard the saying "home is where the heart is". Going from that, are you people my home now?"

"Awwww!" Lucky says, moving closer to offer the adorable girl a hug, "That's such a sweet thing to say!"

He looks between Emerald and Terdisas with a helpless smile.

"We can look out for you till you get your memory back, right guys?"

  Hmm, the noncommittal, likes obligation exits part of Terdisas's logic realizes just how permanent such an offer could be if held to.  On the other hand, Terdisas also does this thing where he tries not to be an insensitive dick.

  "It would be somewhat callous of us to save her, only to turn our backs on her minutes later.  So ensuring she has somewhere to turn to is agreeable."

Bethany immediately takes the offered hug and hugs Lucky with a big smile. Emerald awws and goes to hug the girl too. Bethany says, "Yay! So let's go!"

As the group travels, it becomes very quickly evident the lady acts like a child. Probably because of amnesia. After all, she doesn't remember where her own home is. The group soon arrives in Grayhawk.

Lucky picked up on the childish nature and has been treating the lady as he would a little orphan girl.  Well... perhaps with less picking up and carrying.

"I'll have a T-bone steak with mashed potatoes and a glass of wine, please," he orders, "Any idea what you'd like to taste, Bethany?  Maybe you could nibble off our plates and then decide."

He pulls out two chairs for the two ladies.

  "Tweet, Bacon.  Bacon is the obvious answer."  Good answer.  "I do expect that something here will be to her taste."

Bethany winds up eating off others' plates and seems to like everything. "This is so amazing!" she comments."I.. this..."

She's in tears. "I don't know what to say! Oh! Thank you!"

Lucky can't see a cute innocent girl cry without shedding tears himself.  He gives the girl a squeeze.

"You're welcome," he sniffles, "It makes me so happy that I can brighten your day, Bethany."

He'd burst into song if he were better at it.  Instead he looks at Emerald expectantly.

  Driving a girl to tears with snacks, you terrible terrible people.  "Tweet, of course you know what to say.  you said Thank you, duh."  Wow, a GOOD point from Superbird.  Looks like the bird is on the upswing again.  "I must admit, I am at a bit of a loss on how to promise comfort when the situation is already giving it."

Bethany is rather excited about eating. Emerald does sing for those present, weaving a little magic in there for the pleasant "song of rest" feeling such that even Panch would have to admit it's nice to hear Emmy sing.

Bethany eventually begins to yawn. "Well.. looks like I gotta sleep again."

Lucky looks between Emerald and Terdisas.

"Well this won't be the first time one of you has taken someone in," he says, "I could rent her a room, but I'd feel more comfortable knowing she had one of you two nearby."

  "I may have to find a way to afford larger housing purely on the basis of houseguests at this rate." Just because May is short doesn't mean she takes up less tile space.  "But, I could arrange something if need be."

Lucky happens to be the nearest person (Hey, he was hugging her not too long ago), so Bethany wraps her arms around his neck and sits on his lap before yawning again. Then lays her head on his shoulder.

Emerald giggles. She asides to Dauros, "That dress of hers is mesmerizing... but so's she. I'll be excited to learn more about her in the near future."

Lucky blushes deeply from the childish lady snuggle.  He cradles and pets, wondering if this is how it feels to be a daddy.

"I guess I'll be carrying her there then, heh," he says, "She's endured a lot today.  I totally agree, Emerald."

He stands up with the girl in his arms and follows Terdisas' lead.

  Terdisas, if there were ever any detail he personally found is lack of strength unfortunate, is the fact he can not literally sweep women off their feet without falling over in the process.  "Nice girl, fortunate that we were able to prevent more harm than has already been done to her."