She walked over to Bristle, and cocked her head to one side. Then she leaned towards her and smirked, finally poking her. "And how nicely is nice? Hmm...?" Seems the little fire-fox had no discretion against who she teased at all.

Hours pass, and in time, the group reconvenes, having accomplished many things.

Bristle's divination led her to a brothel, of all places, as where she can learn new information about defeating Whisper. Despite this, she is unable to easily determine who or what it is in the House of Roses that is of significance. Her detection spell seems to be of mixed use - it shows something strange, but not on everyone who has been affected.

Voh'ren proves unable to wholly stop the riots - there are too many agitators, and the city is large. But he steps in where he can, and undeniably he saves many lives in that long day of chaos.

Caleb returns that evening, looking much changed. He wears a chain around his neck with a silver pendant, and his eyes are distant.

"Hello mother", says Hester with a wicked grin. "What can we do for you this evening?"

Voh'ren returns to the inn with Kiru. The Half-Orc's head and body are still enshrouded with his cloak, and he still holds himself as straight and unbowed as a pine tree. However, his steps and breathing betray the fatigue of someone who has stretched himself to his limits. He moves a touch slower than he did when he first met the rest of the party. Nevertheless, his demeanor is much less agitated and tense.

Kiru is much less guarded in showing his exhaustion. The wolf pup plops himself on the floor and leans against Voh'ren's foot, ready to move when his master is but letting the Half-Orc know that he is in need of rest.

"Were any of you successful in your ventures?" he asks the group while reaching down to scratch Kiru behind the ears.

Caleb walked slowly, his eyes gazing past his surroundings. Wordlessly, he sat at the table with the others and gestured to the bartender for a drink, his free hand constantly tracing the pendant hanging from his neck. He didn't speak until it arrived and he'd taken a large swallow.

"I've found us a lead," he said suddenly, his voice quiet and his eyes still focused on some point beyond the inside of the tavern. "Apparently, the lore-keeper Crocutiel fell at the peak of Mount Callahan in the Five Kings mountain range. I'm told there'll be some kind of knowledge there that can help us. It's not far, only about a week of travel. Mountain's got a nasty reputation for bad luck though."

Hester frowned.  "I'm sorry to ask this, but are you, you know, YOU, Caleb?"

Caleb took another drink and looked in Hester's direction, finally focusing back in to his surroundings. "Yeah, I'm still me. It's just been a big day," he said in that same low voice, still fiddling with the chain he wore almost absentmindedly.

Voh'ren raises an eyebrow from within the shadow of his cowl. Hester's comments rouse a more than a little suspicion in him. Given everything that has just taken place, he cannot be sure if he is being cautious or paranoid...

OOC:

12:47, Today: Voh'ren Wildheart rolled 30 using 1d20+11.  Sense Motive-Caleb's Demeanor.

"Do you mind if I do a little something to test that theory?" Firea said as she walked over to him, sitting on the table in front of him crossing her legs as she looks right at him. Her tone was neither suspicious nor was it accepting either. She was neutral.

"Go ahead, I have nothing to hide," Caleb said, his voice returning slowly as he looked Firea straight on.

"Then show me your true nature, whatever that may be, and feelings if you have them for anyone in this room." The red-headed kitsune, currently in her human form said softly, running a delicate finger along his chin with a smile along her lips.

[OOC: Suggestion on Caleb. DC 18 Will Save Negates.

Last time she used this on a Whisper puppet they came out. Sooo....]

Caleb shuddered as the magic took hold, though he made no visible effort to resist. He locked eyes with Firea and began speaking.

"I'm a soldier, have been since I was fifteen and random chance plucked me out of poverty. For years I've followed my orders because they were my orders, I didn't need any other reason. Ever since Falcon Hollow though, it's different. The things I saw there... I've seen civilians killed in warzones before, it's an unavoidable thing in war, but that wasn't war. It wasn't crossfire that dragged a girl down in the dark and butchered her like a hog. It wasn't a case of mistaking civvies for insurgents that saw a man kill his wife, kids and then himself. It wasn't a messy interrogation that turned an innocent woman into a drooling husk. It was a dead woman who wants to be alive again, and I am going to make her pay for it."

He was breathing hard, rage undercut with iron resolve flaring behind his spellbound eyes. He took a moment to calm himself and resumed talking. "As for how I feel about you all, Bristle is sharper than any knife and objectively one of the most valuable members of this team, since she's actually able to heal people and keep them alive. Hester is more than a little creepy, but I've known creepier in the field. I don't know Voh'ren all that well but he seems reliable, if a bit too hesitant about getting his hands dirty. You talk a bit too much for me, and frankly I don't know what in all of Hell you are."

She leaned forward, taking his head into her hands tenderly, and kissed his forehead softly. "You are most definitely our Caleb. I am sorry for doing that, and thank you for letting me do it." She said softly, then pressed her forehead against his softly. "I am sorry for your loss, and that you had to relive that. I will stand by your side, until she pays this I swear. And should you fall, I will make her pay in your stead, this I swear as well."

"As to what I am, all I know is what my parents told me. I never met another like me, least not another Kitsune like me. My people, Kitsune, as a whole, are a rare, and me being a nine-tailed heir, one of the one's touched and blessed by our god Daiketsu is even rarer. I may even be a one of a kind amongst my people. Alone even when I find more Kitsune." Still pressing her forehead to his she then smiled. "...I think that's why I talked to much, I'm tired of being alone for so long."

Then she stood up and let go of his head, but took a hold of his hand and bowed. "Please accept my apologies."

Caleb downed the rest of his drink and signaled to the barkeep for another before answering Firea. "Nothing to apologize for, I'd have done the same in your place," he said, returning the handshake with a firm one of his own. "You didn't make me relive anything either, I haven't been able to get Falcon Hollow out of my head since I left. It's alright though, it just helps me remember why I'm going to enjoy putting an end to her". The venom in his voice when he spat the word "her" left no mystery about to whom he was referring.

"Never heard of a kitsune before, where are your kind from? I'm from up in the Vale myself." he said as the replacement arrived and he slipped a couple of extra coins into the outstretched hand of the waitress.

"From what my parents taught me kitsune are originally from the Continent of Tian Xia, far to the other side of the world. Many of our people crossed the Crown of the World as you call it and settled in Varisia though, and that is where I am from." She explained. "We lived in the Sanos Forest, near a small village that is no longer there."

Bristle watched Caleb spill his innermost thoughts to the group, feeling a moderate amount of discomfort as he did. As someone who often had to keep her true impulses and thoughts shielded from others, Bristle did not enjoy watching someone else being forced to be so open. But it was necessary, considering the mental state Caleb had seemed to be in when he returned. She would have to remember that if she ever returned to the group as seemingly rattled or dazed as he had, then she would also likely be subjected to similar "tests." She would not object, but she certainly would not be happy about it.

But with Caleb having seemed to have passed his trials with flying colors, Bristle brought up the subject of her own experiments with detecting Whisper's influences. "Unless we feel like making this sort of oversharing a regular occurrence, perhaps I could help by creating an items to assist us. My charm detection spell appears to be at least somewhat useful in detecting Whisper's influence. I could create some eyewear that will allow us to have constant charm detection, giving us a distinct advantage in finding her puppets in a crowd. It would cost around 1500 gold though, and I only have 1000 to my name. Not counting my gems I use for my spells." She scratched the skeletal critter in her pocket with a claw, as if it were an appreciative pet and not a mindless minion. "So I would need some donations and about three days of downtime to create my masterpiece. But perhaps we should investigate the brothel first? I know that information can be found there now, but there is no guarantee how long that will remain true..."

"But first, Caleb, were you planning on letting us know about your new attire?" She mimed grabbing a necklace around her neck, obviously referencing the chain he now wore. "What did you do and learn that brought you back here in such a distracted state?"

"Um...so...what's a brothel?" Firea asked, embarrassed at her question. "I never really been to bigger cities...this is my first." She said absently, as she further absently scratched her head behind her ears.

Caleb blinked as Bristle mentioned a brothel of all places as a place of interest, but quickly recovered, clearing his throat before answering her question.

"I went looking for answers, and I'm not ashamed to admit, hope. This whole thing is proving to be well above my head, so I figured it couldn't hurt to ask a higher power," he said, pulling the pendant free for the others to see. "I went  to that Sarenite church Halson used to be a part of, and I prayed for the first time in years. I didn't expect it to work, but apparently someone was listening. Something there offered me a deal, knowledge to fight her in exchange for service, and I accepted. It's where I learned about Crocutiel and Mount Callahan." He paused for a moment, taking a drink to wet his throat and let his words sink in before continuing. "It was a big shock that I was even answered, let alone offered help. I never thought angels or seraphs or whatever they were would want anything to do with me. They certainly never answered when I was little," he grumbled, a dark shadow beginning to cloud his features.

He shook out of it when Firea asked her own unbelievable question, looking at her in surprise as he answered. "A brothel is a place where people pay for sex, massages, drugs, all kinds of things. How sheltered has your life been?" he said, seeming for all the world as if he'd never encountered someone who didn't know this.

Hester grinned.  "I've heard there are some hungry for the love of women who look like me.  Which is more than a little weird if you ask me.  I wonder how much they'd pay me."

Hester hands 500 gold to Bristle and says, "Hope this helps, by the way."

"The Sarenite church, huh?" Bristle said contemplatively as Caleb told his story. "Well, I am glad you found some guidance, even if it wasn't from a... preferred source." Bristle clutched her own holy symbol. "Let's hope we don't find ourselves at irreconcilable odds in the future, eh?"

She left it at that and turned toward Hester to graciously accept the funds she offered. "Thanks Hester. This should help immensely. Now let's just hope I don't screw something up during the crafting process." Bristle knew how to craft certain magical items, but she was definitely not the most skilled artisan.

---

Funds added.

"Pay...for...sex?" Firea obviously did not have much concept of the idea, or was it she did not have much concept of the idea of sex? Or, both? "Why pay for something you could just ask someone for?" Then she scratched her head. "Is it better paid for? I mean...you are paying for it anyway, aren't you? Always buying the one you love gifts for their affection, to keep it...right?" It appears she never felt love before either, least not the love of a mate.

Then she thought about his next question for a moment. "Until my parents died, then later, when the village I lived near was razed, my life was very sheltered. My parents was for the longest time was all I knew, then after they died, the village new our hut was all I knew. That and the forest. Then it was all gone...the kids that played in my tails, the villagers, everything. Gone in a blink. I couldn't get there fast enough to help them." She said quietly. "Anyway...with nothing left to hold me there, I started wondering."

Caleb nodded in acknowledgement to Bristle. "We probably won't, religion's a new thing for me."

As Firea stumbled through her own questions and her own explanation of her past, a flash of guilt crossed Caleb's features. "Well now I feel like an ass, sorry about that. Anyway, about your question..." Caleb seemed uncertain how to explain the concept of a brothel to someone so naive.

"It's not that it's better to pay, it's that you go there when you don't have someone who loves you, but you do have money to pay people to act like they do. Nobody really loves anyone at a brothel, it's... Business first, feelings later," he says, pausing at the end as if looking for the right word, before sighing heavily.

"Of all the ways this conversation could have gone, this is not how I would have guessed it. While we're on the topic though, I know one of the girls at the place you mentioned Bristle," he said, trying to steer the conversation back to something professional, or at least as professional as a discussion about visiting a brothel could be. "Varisian girl, goes by Robin. She's a good sort, might be worthwhile to hit her up with a few questions about the place."

"Don't feel bad about asking about my past." She said softly, putting a gentle hand on his cheek and offering him an equally gentle smile. It was, weird, that someone that was so full of fire and that could display so much anger and fire could also be so gentle. "I forced you to show yours, and your true nature. You asked a question of me, so it was only fair I answered truthfully. Plus, I do not mind people knowing, at least not you all. I feel safe with you lot, so you knowing that about me is fine. So don't feel bad, okay?"

"If they do not love you...why go there then? Why pay for something fake?" She made a face at the entire idea of it all.

"To escape reality," Voh'ren says plainly. "Some would rather pay coin for the illusion of companionship than put forth the effort to forge a true bond." He ends the sentence with a disapproving grunt.

The Half-Orc straightens himself out, seeming to have caught his breath during the conversation. He reaches down and scratches Kiru behind the ears before patting him on the side, letting the wolf pup know it is time to move.

"It seems we are agreed on a course of action," he adds, pulling his cloak about him. "Let us attend to our business there quickly. Perhaps we can avoid alerting our common foe." He adds the last sentence to redirect Bristle's and Caleb's attention to the most pressing matter: foiling Whisper's inscrutable plans.