Runelords 28.1 - Homecoming

The sky over Sandpoint was cloudy as a light rain drizzled, soaking everything through. The air was warm though, and the dampness was better than the pouring storms that had dominated the last few days. After the monsters’ attack on the coastal village, there had been some serious damages to various homes and businesses, and the defenders who still stood had moved on to the burnt rooftops and gouged stonework that the fire-breathing drake had caused. The carpenters and stonemasons were away, having taken shelter with the rest of the village on ships or in the hinterlands, but among the militia and town guards there was enough skill to at least start repair, preventing leaks and making sure that nothing fell over. The mood was mixed: their losses had been considerable, with sixteen of their own dead and awaiting funerals, but it could not be argued that their defense was victorious, with the enemy completely routed and surprisingly few damages to the town itself. Only two buildings had suffered major damages: the tanner’s home and store had been nearly reduced to ash, and the Scarnetti manor, out on the far side of the harbour, had been found looted, ransacked and burned. The town hall, the church, the stone wall that protected the town entrance, and a handful of other homes had received damage, but nothing that couldn’t be fixed. The message had been sent out that people could return home, and that they had a home to return to. Besides those that had given their lives to protect the town, the people of Sandpoint could continue on.
The sound of fluttering wings and a throaty croak brought Virgil’s attention up from his work. It had been four days since the battle: those with injuries had been healed with his magic, and that of his allies. After that, he had busied himself with repairs, making himself useful where he was needed. His mood had been somewhat melancholic, in mourning for the town’s losses while at the same time poignantly aware of its decisive victory; the sound of his violin playing sorrowful strains drifted through the mostly-empty town in the early evening, when the work for the day was done. Boats had started to return though, bringing grateful villagers home, and their higher spirits seemed to galvanize his. Now, as he moved some lumber and bricks around in preparation for the return of skilled tradesmen, he looked up to see Romeo fluttering down to land on a fence nearby, staring at him as though waiting for a response to his earlier caws. Virgil gave his tilted grin, “Romeo! Hey!” He put down his load and took a few steps closer to the iron raven, “Your boat came in?” The bird ruffled its feathers, shaking off the moisture, giving a few quiet croaks in response. Again, when the man didn’t speak, he glared as though demanding a response, his manner far more intentful and canny than any normal bird. Sighing through his nose, Virgil dropped his head, shaking it, “Romeo, I’m really sorry, but I really can’t hear what you’re saying anymore.” He cawed a few more times, annoyed. Virgil rubbed his eyes, “I am really, very sorry. I really am.” 
The raven stared at him with what seemed like suspicion. Suddenly, it spoke in a gravelly voice, “If you’re playin’, you’ll be sorry.”
Virgil blinked once, but almost immediately fell into step with the concept of the talking bird. He grinned reproachfully, “I swear to you, no lie. I can’t understand a single thing.” His tone drifted as he began to speak more to himself, “I could probably get a wand, I guess? I swear I used to know that spell...”
“Guh, you had one thing going for you,” the bird said, ruffling its damp feathers again, “and you lose it.”
“Heh, yeah. Yeah, I guess,” Virgil said, but his gaze dropped and his voice was wistful. Shaking his head slightly, he looked back to the bird, “So, is Shadliss in port? Or did you beat the ship?”
“Should be back now,” he said bluntly.
“Guess I should go meet her then, huh?” he asked with his lopsided grin.
Romeo replied, “Yeah-hmm.”
“Well, let me just put this where it’s supposed to be, and I’ll head over.” He picked up his load again and started down the street. Romeo fluttered along behind him, flapping from perch to perch. Virgil glanced over his shoulder, “You can hitch a ride, if you’d rather.” Taking the invitation, the raven flew up and landed smartly on Virgil’s head, balancing on the tip of the hat he wore invisibly.
Finishing his delivery and excusing himself from the slowly-growing volunteer force, Virgil began to make his way to the docks to meet the incoming boats. “How is Shadliss doing? Was she ok?”
Romeo preened his wing, replying, “Yeah. Worried, but fine.”
Wincing slightly, he asked, “Did she...hear the news? About who didn’t make it?”
“‘Course!” he said. “Was waiting for that from the minute she left. Asking everyone all the time if they’d heard stuff.” He fluffed himself nonchalantly, “Your name never came up.”
As they rounded the corner to the docks, Romeo took flight, winging his way back towards his master. Virgil loitered around the edge, watching people unload and move back into their homes. The odd person stopped and thanked him for what he and the other defenders had done: news of the tree monsters and the fire-breathing drake had spread quickly, taken to the nearby ports where the people of Sandpoint had fled and awaited the signal to return home. Even if they didn’t quite believe the story, no one was going to question the authority of the sheriff and mayor, and the proof was there when they returned to see it.
A series of heavy footfalls on the wood planks caught his attention, and he looked up to see Shadliss dashing towards him. He smiled and opened his arms as she jumped into them, hugging him tightly. This lasted a mere moment however; she blinked and pulled away from him, frowning dryly. “Really?” she asked. “Really.”
He chuckled, “I was lugging stone. I hate working with a shirt on, and if I have to wear the stupid disguise hat anyways…”
“Ugh!” she rolled her eyes. “I can’t believe you. I can’t believe I worried about you.”
He grabbed her in a hug again, which she poutily returned after a few seconds. Virgil smiled, “I tried my best to keep your town in order while you were gone. Bit of cleaning up left to do though.”
“I heard you did a pretty good job,” she replied cheekily. “I’ll have to go inspect it.” Virgil gestured for her to lead on, and the two set out through the town with Romeo flying respectfully behind them. Virgil walked her through the fight, using the remaining building damage to highlight his story, which he told in his usual emphasized style. When it came to the deaths of the other guards though, he suddenly took a sombre cast: a fire drake wrapped about the top of the church was exciting and glorified, but the sacrifice of others was a serious matter. Shadliss sighed at the loss of her neighbours, saddened at the thought though she was only acquainted with the lot of them, hardly close friends to any. 
When they walked by the Vinder’s store, she stopped and stared. Virgil ceased his chatter and regarded her softly. Eventually, she whispered, “...I thought...I might never...never see home again…” Virgil leaned forwards and wrapped his arms about her again, and she lodged her nose into his chest, squinting away tears. “I thought...I might not see you either…” she muttered, “Thank you. For saving Sandpoint.” He said nothing, but held her tightly for another minute until she pushed away, wiping her eyes fiercely. “What did they want, after all that?” she asked, her tone serious as she took control of her tears.
“A rock. A carved stone slab from the floor at the bottom of the well,” he said. “Not magical or anything, and the engraving isn’t even that complicated. It must be part of something else,” he mused. “A key, or something like that. It mustn’t be replicable, if they went to such trouble to get it. We’ll get it out of town, and then Sandpoint will be safe again. Hopefully, for a long time.”
“Where are we taking it?” she asked.
Virgil raised an eyebrow slightly, but otherwise didn’t remark on her conspicuous use of pronoun. “I guess we’ll take it with us for now. If we slap it with a shrinking spell, we can carry it without any issue. They’re going to come back for it, so we’ll just have to make a very public statement that it’s in our possession.” 
Shadliss pressed, “But where are we going?”
Again, he ignored the inference, “Well, the next clue we have is Jorgenfist. Apparently, it’s a mountain valley to the north, with some abandoned ruins in it. We’re going to stop in Turtleback Ferry again to tell the Black Arrows that we weren’t killed, then go there.” Shadliss nodded at this. Virgil frowned thoughtfully, “Should also probably check to see if the Shimmerglen fey settled down, and if the Few got that vat of ithilium out yet.” Shadliss looked at him with obvious confusion, and he paused, “...I...guess we didn’t tell you much about Turtleback, huh?”
She folded her arms, looking away, “No. Not really. The only one who was really in a talking mood was Khyrralien. What’s ithilium?”
He grinned, “Really? That’s your question from that?”
She gave him a glare, “I know what fey are, and the Shimmerglen is probably a place where fey haunt. I don’t know what ithilium is or why you need a few people to get it somewhere.”
With a single chuckle, he said, “Ithilium is a priceless arcane reagent. Somebody or something left a container the size of a shed filled with it at the bottom of a dam reservoir just outside of Turtleback. Half-hidden priceless arcane relics aren’t usually good for the people who live nearby, so it has to be moved.” She just stared at him, so he added, “I have a vial of it, if you want.”
“Yes,” she replied immediately. 
“Heh. It’s back in my room, in my bag.”
When he didn’t move immediately, she took a step and tugged his wrist, “Well, come on.” He chuckled again, and the pair went towards the Rusty Dragon. Romeo flew in with them, fluffing himself dry and moving towards the fireplace as Virgil used his magic to dry him and Shadliss. They went upstairs, leaving the iron raven to his devices and entering the empty room that Virgil was sharing. The girl promptly perched herself on the edge of his bed while he ruffled through his bag, eventually pulling out the small vial of inky, thick liquid. He passed it over to her as he moved to slouch back against the headboard, and she stared at it with rapt interest. 
Her fingers moved to the cork and she looked to him for permission. He shrugged, “You can open it, but I really wouldn’t get it on you. I don’t know as it would do anything, but when it was escaping earlier, I’m pretty sure it was less killing us and more erasing us from existence.” She gently took the top off and moved the glass around, watching it flow like mercury in the vial. “Ithilium,” he explained, “The pure essence of abjuration. I’m sure there are wizards who’d give their arm for it.”
“And there’s more?” she asked, pushing the stopper back in place.
“Like I said, it was a huge canister,” he said. “Absolutely priceless. And dangerous. It needs to be better hidden.” Shadliss gave it one more investigative look before slowly handing it back to him. As he slid it back into his bag, he said, “I guess you’d like the full version of what happened in Turtleback,” he said, and she rolled over to lean on top of him, looking up and ready to listen. He went through their adventures in Turtleback in detail, explaining Lucretia’s schemes with the Paradise, the Black Arrows’ defeat at the hands of the ogres, the rescue from the Gruul farm, the incident at the lake, the trip into the Shimmerglen, and finally the retaking of Fort Rannick. She listened intently, enjoying his storytelling much more when it was about things that had already happened to people far away and, perhaps this time, she was slightly less skeptical as to the amount of lies she thought he must be telling. For his part, he had told her much everything as it had happened, however, he had omitted the several instances of debaucherous activity he had engaged in, including the drug-fueled party they had had on their first night there, and the liaison with the mermaid on the final day.
When he had finished and she was left to consider the tales, he reached up and pulled off the cumbersome disguise hat he had been wearing, letting it fall to the floor. Without the illusion, his lack of shirt was now visible, and she shook her head. “I can’t believe you do that.”
He grinned, “Makes you wonder how many people with hats of disguise actually walk around naked, doesn’t it?”
She rolled her eyes, “Well, I’m going to be wondering that now.”
“We’d dare guys to do it back in university,” he laughed. “I know a bunch of people who did.” 
Shadliss gave a mock disgusted sigh, and he chuckled. “I don’t know what I see in you,” she said.
“I have no idea either,” he replied, pulling her into a hug. “If you could find out what exactly it is you want from me, that would be great.”
She grinned, “Well, what have you got on tap?”
“Mostly just money, sex and inane comments,” he said, grinning as well. “And some magic.”
She pressed into him, “I’ll take the works, I suppose.”
He laughed into her neck. With a gesture and a comment, he cast the spell that caused her clothes to fly off. Before she could react, he kissed her ear and said, “Your clothes seem to be gone.”
Shadliss leaned up and smacked him, frowning, “You are such a bastard.”
“That was three of the four in one!” he smiled broadly. Groaning, she lay back down on top of him, and he smugly kissed the top of her head.
Much later, as they lay beside each other under the blankets, Virgil muttered, “...Am...I still...kind of attractive, at least?” His voice was halting, slowed by embarrassment. 
Shadliss gave a single snort of laughter but didn’t move to regard him, “I wouldn’t be here if you weren’t, would I?”
“There are...other explanations,” he replied. He sighed, and mumbled, “Suddenly aging twenty years was...not the best for the self-esteem, as it was…”
Shifting to look over her shoulder, she looked at him dryly, “What, do you need a magic mirror you tell you you’re the prettiest?”
He gave a half-grin, “I would buy that. Wouldn’t you buy that?”
Rolling away again, she closed her eyes and shrugged, “Not for the amount of money it would cost.”
“Eh,” he said, “Probably a lot cheaper than you’d guess, considering.” He turned to look at the back of her head and grinned, “Or I could just hold up a mirror and tell you you’re beautiful.”
She smiled and shifted backwards, pressing herself up against him more tightly, “That sounds much better.” 
Category:Rise of the Runelords