Dwarven Hospitality

Walker talks some sense into Sakiran after she runs away upon hearing Pryce's voice. Aria drags her to the medical bay and makes her recite nine verses from the Estellian Pathways. They are in one ear and out the other as Sakiran has more important things on her mind. She goes to her room and packs her panflute, shortsword, woodcarving tools and dagger and draws her hood over her face ready to leave. Sakiran goes to the other crew members.

Leoric decides, as captain, that he should role call everyone. Thaunir produces a shotgun from his jacket and loads it. Walker says about the Pryce fella. Nelalwe notes that the ship is clamped. Leoric says Jasmine should stay with the girls. She agrees and sets up traps. Sakiran gives Nelalwe her parrying dagger and says that the humans are just like giant phagerats so she should be fine and that she is stronger than she knows. Nelalwe is thankful and resolves to help Vae secure the ship properly.

Thaunir asks why Sakiran looks the way she does when all of the other phage victims are mutants and deformed. Sakiran explains that each tribe has different mutations. Aria asks what symptoms of late-stage nanophage infection are, and Vae lists terrible diseases. Aria then asks if there is such a thing as a stable infection, which is a 1 in 25000 chance. Sakiran notes that it did reach this point, but the disease spoke to her and it stopped. Aria talks about how Sakiran's soul may be possessed by demons since she has the horns and tail and looks mostly normal. Sakiran looks disturbed. Aria dismisses it as old scripture.

Leoric comes back with a box and hands it to Sakiran. She is stunned into silence as she opens it after reading the label addressed to her, then tries on the gauntlet. She presses a button as a big bar comes out of the bottom, then Leoric points out the other button that retracts it. She expresses her appreciation for the sword, humbled by the weapon. Aria asks if she has a name for it. Sakiran says it is bad luck to say a weapon name out loud - she is actually embarrassed by the name of Camaraderie that she has given to it. She tells Aria to not answer if anyone comes knocking and to be careful.

Walker, Thaunir, Leoric and Sakiran exit through the airlock, seeing that the ship is clamped. Outside the ship there are a fair few Gratus military. Dock slaves look abused and look down submissively. One approaches them, a dark skinned elf with fresh welts and scars of whips. She is wearing rags with thick leather gloves, looking down. She leads them to an opulent room where a man sits at his desk, blonde and stern. Two elite guards stand outside of his quarters. He has a thick red cloak with shoulderpads with lion emblems. His name is Gaius Faran.

He hands glasses to Leoric and Sakiran, then to Thaunir and Walker. He leans against a wall and takes a sip of the drink. Gaius gestures for them to sit, though Sakiran remains standing. Leoric takes a seat and it is the best liqueur he has ever had. Gaius asks them to explain why he killed two of his men. Leoric explains they tried forcing themselves onto his crew. They didn't take too kindly to being asked to stop. Gaius says he will have the guards flogged and has received word from Pryce. Those two men had a "horrible accident" where they fell off the gantry and their bodies were never recovered. Leoric confirms his understanding.

Gaius asks why Pryce's agents are in his dock. Leoric says it was the closest to them. Gaius said he is annoyed and perturbed that Pryce has not used his own dock. Leoric does not claim to speak for Pryce. Gaius speculates where his loyalties lie but moves onto business. He says the heavily damaged Altarnie vessel causes problems for him and he has to explain to his superiors why it is there. Leoric explains to Gaius that they were sent to Solor. Gaius asks if it was Pryce and Leoric confirms. He notes that Sakiran appears very tense, though Leoric says it is just because of her not being used to formality.

Gaius asks if he knows Solor is condemned for good reason, and asks if they recovered what they were looking for. Leoric says no, though Pryce bears the responsibilities, not them. Gaius asks if the Summer Song is theirs, or if they found it. Leoric says Pryce may have scrubbed it. Gaius disagrees, and says he knows about three females and the AI onboard. He wants to make sure the vessel is safe and deactivated weapons systems so they are manual.

They both share a drink. Gaius remarks on the non-humans and says he does not run his docks with brutality. Sakiran grips her glass at the lie. He says he will repair what he can for free, then charge the rest to Pryce's account. Leoric says he appreciates it. Gaius asks where he is going now. Leoric says they are going to check up on Pryce. Gaius proposes that they spy for him, because nobody knows what he is doing but he does anything he likes. He interferes with high lords and officials too much. He has risen up the ranks very quickly and it has not gone unnoticed.

Gaius says they cannot do anything directly, but knowing information is always important. Leoric excuses them, saying he will keep it in mind. He snaps his fingers and the door opens. The small Drow girl from earlier is outside the door. Sakiran hands the glass to her and she drinks it, realising what she did she says she should not accept it.

They come to the docks again and are stopped by a guard. He removes his helmet, revealing scars and caramel skin. He smiles at the mention of Gaius, saying he failed to mention they'd be coming. He says they need an inspection. Sakiran asks Leoric if they already had one. Leoric says they already had one. The guard with the scar says it is an inspection of themselves as passengers. They pass by mecha units.

They sit in a room, where Leoric and Thaunir sit down. They are handed a sheet of items that are prohibited and has space for declaring what items they do have. Sakiran mutters about there being too much writing with the urbans. The guard ushers them out after they complete the writing. Leoric wishes him a good lunch and the great gates open. They finally see Bastion proper. They see two giant mech suits standing guard either side of the gate.

Leoric suggests heading to the bar. Thaunir agrees, and  comes back after ten minutes with two dwarves, leading them to the nearest dwarven bar. They finally arrive after passing through alleys and prostitutes. Thaunir lays out the rules - insult those who insult you back, if you get blackout drunk you end up in the dumpster and thirdly to have a good time. Walker has to stoop down very lowly to get into it. They hear thumping bass and see neon strobe lights. Sakiran has never seen anything like it. Thaunir asks Leoric if he has ever been in a dwarven bar. Leoric says he has not. As they walk to find a booth, they get weird looks from the rest of the patrons. They find a semi circular booth with a dwarven dancing hologram. Sakiran looks horrified and downs her drink immediately. Thaunir calls the barmaid over and insults her, then places his order of three whiskeys and a beer. Thaunir thanks her sweetly.

Thaunir told them that he brought them here because if a non-dwarf tried to come in, they would know. He asks Leoric where they should go from here. They decide to go through a small keg of dwarven brew first. It pours gold into a pale green at the top. Walker and Sakiran both ask if it is safe. It tastes like absinthe as it goes down, burning the throat. Leoric has gone limp. He is able to recover and tells the group about his run in with the orcs.

They notice a hooded stranger, not a dwarf, comes into the bar just as Leoric finishes recounting his tale. Thaunir lays out a plan where they occupy themselves for about five minutes, then Walker and Sakiran grab him. He motions them to go to the toilets, and they both leave while Thaunir stays with Leoric for a few minutes. When they reach a point near the stranger, Walker grabs Sakiran by the waist and holds her close. She blushes heavily and asks what he is doing. He says it looks more natural that way and shushes her, keeping an eye out for Thaunir's signal. Sakiran misses it because of her flustered state, but Walker is able to catch it.

Thaunir goes over to the stranger and asks if he knows Leoric or Sakiran. He says he is about to, and Sakiran and Walker grab him. He is a branded Drow with a chipped fang. Thaunir has Sakiran search him. She finds an inscribed dagger and a communicator with a symbol they don't recognise. They drag him towards the booth. Leoric is pointing his gun at the ceiling towards the lights. Thaunir pulls the hood all the way down and pulls his cloak down. His entire body is enscribed with runic tattoos. Thaunir asks why he has been following them. The drow says he will not tell them. Sakiran notices he is speaking in a strange accent, but cannot decipher it. Thaunir slides him a dwarven brew and asks if Gaius sent him. The drow grabs the drink but doesn't touch it. Thaunir says he could just leave him there and let the dwarves take care of him.

The drow licks his lips and says his name is Beldar. Thaunir notes he has a slave brand and a lot of tattoos. Beldar's face twitches. He says he is not Pryce's, and he has come to warn them.

He warns that Pryce used his influence powers to change their perception of the tower blowing up, where unlike their perception the skies are clear and the tower never shut down.

Sakiran tries to dive into his mind with the elven power, inhibited by her own self-consciousness. She uses her ki to focus her mind, with a small white shimmer across her. She sees he was a slave kept as an exotic trophy, whipped and forced to do demeaning things and work hard labour. Nyra saved him from his servitude and asked him to join the resistance. He recoils away from her, saying she lived a life of violence, fear and torment, and that it scared him. He accused her of devil work, believing that she and Pryce must be similar if they can both do such a thing. She says it is just elves, but looks saddened and agrees when he accuses her of being an animal still fighting it each day.

Thaunir and Leoric disagreed with her method, but agreed that it was a good way of finding out the truth from him.

Thaunir asked Beldar if there was any fleet movement. He said no more than usual. Beldar does not know why they would want to spread the nanophage, and he sends out many people to gather the pure strain, since the natural stuff is too wild to be used. Sakiran was infected with a pure strain, whereas Leoric must have inhaled it but it did not have too much of an effect of him.

Beldar offers to join their crew onboard their ship as an informant, and Leoric accepts. He pulls up his hood and leaves the bar.