Denlo Begins to Meet His New Compatriots

“What’s what?” the Sea Elf asks a second time, after taking a moment to a chuckle. He’s curious, Denlo can tell. This Felazo is not the hardest to get a read on.

“Well, I am called Ren,” the bard begins to answer on the pair’s behalf, “And this is Den. We were wondering if you could take us aboard the fine vessel you doth steer when next you find yourself leaving this here port.” Denlo gives a nod when Renalt gestures in his direction.

Felazo pauses for a moment, then starts smiling even wider. An obnoxious look, though if the hulking Elfi’ika’s time with Renalt had taught him anything, it’s that obnoxiousness can have its uses. “Well, Ren. I have to wonder, how much of that happenstance I came upon falls at the feet of you and Den?” the Elfish sailor asked. He wasn’t suspicious. He was interested.

“Well,” Ren begins to tell a story. A story that will take time, and skirt the truth without outright lying too often. Denlo has noticed his companion’s tendency to do so. And, as he stares down the man they’re seeking a ride from, he realizes that in this particular instance it might not be the best solution.

Instead, he simply states the truth. “Three.” After all, the other one is the archer woman’s fault.

Felazo laughs once more. “Well, as it just so happens, the next place I want to go to is supposed to kill me. So, if you help me get through it and we survive, we’ll split all the treasure fairly and I’ll take you wherever you wish to go.”

“What would that be, exactly?” the elf woman asks her captain.

Felazo seems to ignore the woman and continues looking at Renalt and Denlo. “Do we have a deal?” he presses.

Renalt looks over at Denlo. The larger man meets the smaller’s gaze. Denlo nods. Renalt smiles. “I suppose we do,” the musician answers.

“Then welcome aboard the Ekzokia,” the captain greets them. He adds to everyone, “Hethaward. We can drop you off along the way, I suppose, but I’m heading to the unmarked and forgotten tomb of a cursed pirate from the days before Hetha was even a town.”

Hetha, Denlo muses as he drinks the provided cheap ale, which direction is Hetha? He shakes his head. Away is the important direction. The five of them sit in their own independent silences, drinking and musing. Or, some of them are drinking and musing. Felazo spends his time reading, and drinking. The armored woman, whom Denlo vaguely recalls Renalt referring to as a priest, nibbles on the table’s bread, drinking sparingly. And Renalt, though lifting his cup to his lips often, doesn’t actually always seem to swallow afterwards. Both he and the huntress drink in silence, though. They’d have the entire journey to learn each other’s eccentricities.

Then, after a long and slightly awkward period of time, Felazo quickly slams his book shut and stands up. “Well, now should be long enough.” Then, nodding to the bartender, the sailor adds, “Thanks for the hospitality, Lanoky.”

“Go screw yourself, Felazo,” the bartender replies.

Without another word, Felazo leaves the bar, with the four others trailing afterwards. As they walk towards the docks, the captain notices something. He turns towards the huntress and says, “Bring them to the Ekzokia’s dock and wait for me there. And no more killing. Just be generally scary or something, I don’t want to clean up more messes.”

The huntress nods and gestures for us to follow. “Big guy, you mind being scary? We’re supposed to make it to the docks without trouble.”

Denlo simply glares, puts on his masked helmet, and stands up tall. As he straightens his back up to proper posture, his already tall frame grows by more than a couple inches. Then, leaving it in the cloth just to be safe, he lays the flat of the blade along the back of his neck and relaxes, holding the hilt in one hand and the cloth on the opposite side in the other.

“I may be of some aid,” Renalt adds as Denlo begins to swagger like the mercenaries he traveled with earlier. Then the bard begins to pluck some strings and they all felt a rush of energy. Of quickness. They travel back across town at a good pace, helped along by the swaggering of Denlo at the front clearing a wide path through the market. Though from the looks they give him, Denlo isn’t sure whether it’s because they thought he means business, due to the posturing, or knew he means business, due to the corpses. Then he mentally shrugs it off as he relaxes on a lamppost at the end of the dock. Doesn’t much matter, he’s not coming back here for a long while, if at all. As they wait, the huntress nods at the massive man. Perhaps it’s a sign of respect, or acknowledgement of his skills. After all, even though he’s lounging because of some combination of his sheer size, the masked helmet, the large blade carried openly, and his general demeanor prior, no one has approached the strange group of four. Or simply her way of thanking him for doing what she’d asked.

It takes a couple minutes, but eventually their captain returns. “Well, you guys can thank me later, I got the people that be here to agree to let us stay the evening in town. But we’ll be leaving in the first ebbing of morning. Once we have our rooms at the inn I’ll set a water clock to awaken everyone with some time for preparation prior to our departure.”

“How early would this first ebbing that thou doest speak of be?” Renalt asks with a raised eyebrow.

“Eh, about a finger past dawn,” Felazo answers the human gentleman, then adds, “Come on now.” With a beckoning, he leads them past the Fisher’s Watch to a local inn, the Nascent Whaler.

As they enter, they’re greeted at the door by a grumpy, heavily stubbled elfkin. “The fuck’re you doing here?”

“Dumb as ever, dear,” Felazo says, “We’re here to rest the eve and irritate you.”

The owner shakes his head at the five of them. Or simply Felazo. “Fine, but if you want booze you outsiders’ll need to head over to the Watch.”

Renalt leans in and whispers something to Felazo. Felazo merely shrugs in reply. A great sign. Denlo takes off his helmet and pushes past the idiots in charge. “Rooms?” he asks.

The innkeep looks at him and nods. “Down the hall to the right.”

Denlo gestures towards Renalt. “He’s paying.” and then starts to walk towards the rooms. The elf woman follows him. Behind them, they can hear the innkeep chuckle and say, “Now that one I like.” But Denlo doesn’t pay it any mind. He heads to the hallway indicated. There are six rooms. The first two on the left have their doors closed. He enters the second one on the right. The huntress follows him in.

“Who are you?” she asks. “And what is with that?” She gestures towards the sword.

“I could ask the same of you,” he replies. “But suspicious folk make for poor chats.”

She sits down in a chair, facing the bed. “Fair enough. My name is Alessari, though I would ask you don’t share it too often.”

Sitting down on the bed, Denlo nods. “Thank you, I’m Denlo. And I’d ask the same.”

“So, why are you running away on a boat?” Alessari asks.

He shrugs. “The usual. You?”

She smiles a thin, unfriendly smile. “The usual. Your sword?”

“Found it in a ditch, maybe wasn’t supposed to. Your vine shit?”

“Growing up near a magical jungle has a few fringe benefits. Why were you being followed?”

“Those bandits wanted to take the coin we’d earned from killing a big cat and selling its teeth.”

She cocked her head, as though trying to read him. “And what about the other one?” she asks.

“Depends on which of the fool’s theories’ is true. But she moved to a window after the scuffle and wasn’t following us when your captain brought us to the local bar.”

“Probably was afraid we would kill her too. What do you think of Felazo’s plan?”

“I think it’s not here, Renalt’s excited, and they’ll die if I’m not there. You?”

“Going north will be good. I worry about the others, though. Cursed pirate tomb sounds rough, and they aren’t the greatest at keeping quiet. Or at least, mine aren’t and your partner doesn’t seem to be either.”

“I’ll help them out where I can, though you’d be surprised what Ren’s good at.”

The woman shrugs. “I’ll take your word for it.” With that she opens the door. The others are looking at the rooms outside. “How many did you get?” she asks.

Renalt looks back at Denlo, who shrugs. He doesn’t know exactly why this woman approached him so aggressively, but she seemed satisfied with his answers and had pretty good answers herself. Felazo replies to her, “All four of his available ones. Which means someone gets to bunk up.”

“I’m sleeping here and in the bed. Don’t mind sharing, long as whoever I’m sharing with is good with that,” Denlo says lying down on the bed he’d been sitting on.

Renalt shakes his head and heads to a different room. “Please, disturb me not. I shall see everyone in the morn,” the bard says to the hallway as the sound of a door shutting and a lock clicking echoes slightly. As Denlo expected. The man has nightly rituals that he wasn’t about to share. The others find their rooms, leaving Denlo alone to rest. The man slides his sword against the wall before falling asleep.

Morning arrives with a faint light through the window and a loud knock on the door. Denlo stirs, sitting up in bed and immediately reaching for his blade. It still sits, draped in cloth, nestled in the slight gap between the bedframe and the wall. Hefting it up and donning his darkened leather armor and his cloak, he leaves his room and checks in on everyone else. Renalt and Alessari both exit their respective rooms, seeming to have washed themselves the night prior. The three head down, out of the inn. Looking up, the sun is not even past the horizon yet. They have some time. “Breakfast?” Alessari asks.

Denlo nods. “What of your friends?” Renalt replies.

Alessari shakes her head. “Give them a couple. They’ve got a whole routine they do in the morning.”

Renalt nods. Denlo shrugs. The three head over to the nearby Fishers’ Watch bar. Everything else about it looks closed, but the door is open. Denlo looks at Renalt, who walks right in. Denlo follows, as does the huntress. Renalt approaches a Dwarfe’el lady sitting near the bar, dozing off in a chair. He knocks on the nearby bar top. The woman awakens with a start. “What’ll you be having this early in the morning, dears?” she asks, her facial expression not matching her words’ pleasant tone.

He smiles. “My compatriots and I are on the precipice of leaving your fine town and sailing out for days to come, but before we do, I would be remiss if I did not come enjoy the food of your marvelous establishment. ‘Twas recommended to me by several dear friends, I must admit. Might we have a small breakfast meal for the road?”

She nods. “I can do that, I suppose,” she replies, “Give me a couple minutes.” And she slowly gets up and makes her way back to the kitchen. After a bit, she comes back out with a mass of cooked meat and bread on a tray. “Tray’s mine, you can find your own things to pack it in, I assume?”

Renalt smiles, thanks her, and pays her more money than it would have cost if we’d not been waking her up at the crack of dawn. Meanwhile, Denlo snacked on the meat while Alessari began transferring the food to her pack. Eventually, with the task complete, the three people left the bar and headed down to the docks, to meet up with the other two traveling companions at the ship and sail away.