Session 16: LOCKET?!?!

The scene blooms in to Sidna handing Vorach a locket, which he confusedly looked over before glancing inside and freezing at the sight of a human man and a half-orc child. Fortunately, they are dressed in the clothing of northerners, and it cannot be his mother's locket: yet the realisation sinks heavy on him and he morosely tucks it away as he realises that another orcish woman may have been through here recently, meaning his clues towards his mother may not even be his mother.
 
The party continues to pile up the corpses in the corpse wagon (fortunately 8 humanoid corpses fit, and we could even put some more goblins in! Instead, though, we just make sure we have the goblinoid hands, and then Zeal executes the goblin which had surrendered, drawing an immediate offence from Vorach and turning his attitude nasty towards Zeal. There was a brief stand-off between the two before Serafina suggested we head back to town instead of sitting in the forest arguing.
 
The party agrees, and we take another hour or so to leave the woods the way we came in, and then press on to Clearwater through the evening. As we go through the small hamlet between Hesjingmajak and Clearwater, we notice that one of the smaller huts has been turned into a drinking house, and the mood is rather somber - Vorach pauses at the road turning into the hamlet and places down an apple, a piece of hardtack, and two copper coins, quietly saying, "I hope you're not hurting wherever you are now."
 
Back on the cart, Zeal has used his thaumaturgy cantrip to create the sound of an air electric ukelele, creating a terribly awful racket to accompany the smell of corpses. With several people travelling and giving the party odd looks, Vorach hurries ahead, maintaining a distance of about 15 feet before the party. We find a new shrine erected, with Vorach believing it to belong to his god (Ixen) and Zeal his (Ran'efete). Vorach asks about the shrine, and if there are any customs for it that Zeal knows of beyond what he does: a small offering of food/coin [turns out this is lore accurate!]. As the sky goes down, Zeal lights his staff ablaze, with Vorach attaching a lantern to his belt as well, using his special eyes to keep an eye out.
 
We arrive back at the inn and are, thankfully, unmolested as we all begin to wind down. Vorach stables and brushes down the horses before hauling the cart out back and spending 45 minutes attempting to cover it with the tarp, poorly. Zeal finally takes mercy on him and moves out to relieve him, saying he'll keep an eye out for necromancers. This shocks Vorach so much he briefly forgets he's mad at Zeal and incredulously asks with wide eyes, "NECROMANCERES?! Is that a problem around here?!" To which Zeal promptly responds, "Nope!"
 
Completely baffled, Vorach shoves the tarpaulin into his chest and wanders into the tavern to find some food. Taking advantage of the solitude provided by the corpse scent and the darkness, Zeal attempts to meditate and focus on his flame, reaching inwards towards what feels like a small, flickering wildfire. Finding something, he takes a few minutes to step away to the nearby riverbank, taking a seat and a deep breath before resigning himself to give in. He uses his smarts, removing his top so it does not get burned (it was very expensive!)
 
--
 
In the tavern, Serafina sees Vorach staring out the window into the darkness, saying how he sees a really bright beacon down by the river, like some rutilated quartz. She, of course, can see nothing, so she pats his shoulder and says, "Okay, Connie, let's go sit down." He nods and says, "We should go get some food, and then, y'know, blah blah blah." Serafina misconstrues this as him hitting on her and blushes deeply, and with a 17 insight, Vorach has a grand realisation: She must clearly be into Lucy, the tavern keeper and is blushing at the thought of seeing her.
 
He gives her the sly grin of a confidante and assures her that Lucy and her mum both like him, and he'll put in a good word for Serafina to her. She is...completely stupefied, and the two stumble off to food as the camera returns back to Zeal.
 
--
 
Zeal's meditations by the river prove fruitful, allowing him grander insight into himself. Why doesn't he remember anything from...his childhood? He should, he knows he should, but nothing of his family, his home, his...anything. He feels himself drawn further and further into himself, a deep, sorrowful chill permeating throughout until he is suddenly jerked back into the warm summer evening he was in. He shivers, getting his coat and putting it back on before also draping on the tarpaulin that Vorach had thrown at him, creating a truly rank scent but allowing him a slightly warmer disposition.
 
Inside, Sidna mutters something in Duasaric before heading upstairs, done with people for the day.
 
At the table, Serafina and Vorach talk quietly, Vorach asking about her languages before Vorach quietly asked her if she was, "Really okay with what Zeal did back there?" She waffled for a moment, saying that in hindsight she could say that it definitely seemed like something that was a little extreme, but she couldn't really say. Vorach nodded, and then continued in the same quiet voice, explaining that there were some lines that couldn't be crossed. What if his mother surrendered, and someone put an arrow through her head because she was "just an orc", or "would have caused trouble later anyway"?
 
This seemed to hit Serafina a little harder, and she frowned before nodding and saying she understood why he was so upset. He asked for her help in talking to Zeal about this, admitting that he almost attacked the man earlier in the moment over his actions, so that way they could keep the peace and find a way forward. She points out that he probably won't listen to her, to which Vorach responds that she's really good at talking to people - at least he thinks so - and Sidna would just kick his ass if he tried to ask her for help. "Maybe that's what he needs," Serafina joked, but agreed to help him if he really thought that of her. He goes to say that it would have been an awkward night in the room with only Beans to keep the two men apart, then realises they have not seen Beans since they got back, and looks around the room.
 
In the corner, Beans is playing Madmen! He seems to be doing very, VERY well and is taking people for their money, so Vorach takes a simple buy-in of 1 silver for a friendly game. Note: a "friendly" game in orcish culture is one that does not devolve into a fistfight. Second note: Monopoly is banned in many orc tribes. He shuffles and cuts, Beans noting his technique before the two draw their cards. Vorach takes the first round with beginners luck, and Beans doubles the bet. Beans takes the second round, and so Vorach doubles the bet for the final hand.
 
Serafina, who had been watching from the side, realises that there are runes carefully disguised within the surface of the cards, and that Beans has an unfair advantage over the half-orc. So, as the final cards are being flipped, her deftly hidden minor illusion turned Beans' winning queen into a 3, which lost to Vorach's six, winning him the pot! Though Beans was suspicious, the two shook hands and smiled at each other, Vorach encouraging the rest of the crowd that they still had a chance if even someone like /him/ could win.
 
He steps over to Serafina as patrons swarm the table with their bags of gold, and excitedly shows her his winnings, thanking her for explaining the rules of the game to him by taking her to the counter and buying her a cup of wine (the bottle is a bit too expensive this time).
 
--
 
Back outside, Zeal snaps back to reality from his panic attack, the scent of corpses, dung, and more enough to bring him to focus. He realises, as he rubs his eyes, that half of his face is cold - his first instinct to use a fire spell and burn his face is thankfully bitten down, and instead he snuggles against Rubble for several long minutes until he goes and tromps back in.
 
Vorach, meanwhile, handed over some oranges to Lucy when she asked if he wouldn't be having anything to drink saying they had some juice, asking if she wouldn't mind making some fresh juice keeping the extra for herself (she was flattered!). She steps away to make it, and Vorach explains that his dad taught him that trick to help reduce costs during travel - causing her to bite back a sarcastic comment about it. Their next statements are interrupted by the stench, rather than the sight, of Zeal as he enters into the bar and proceeds to induce a round of nausea and retching in those gathered. People start heckling, so Vorach asks Serafina to run up and grab Svenna for help. Carefully, he helps Zeal out to the barrel, listening as the man tries to explain his condition and slowly tuning in as Zeal explains his apparent amnesia. Vorach asks grounding questions, annoying Zeal slightly but ensuring that it wasn't something caused by the days' earlier fight. He asks what the earliest thing Zeal remembers is, and he thinks for a moment before answering: leaving the village he was raised in.
 
He then asks Vorach a haunting question: Do you think memories are tied to the soul? As he asked, his eyes sent a shiver down Vorach's spine - they were dead and lifeless, too close to the eyes he sees in the mirror every day, and so he promptly did the most nonviolently orcish thing he could, and immediately dunked Zeal head-first into the water barrel. This would repeat as he discovered it helped, marginally, with the scent, and the impromptu waterboarding of Zeal began in earnest. Upstairs, Serafina enters the shared room and sees Sidna and Svenna talking, quickly asking for help. They both ask what's wrong, looking slightly concerned, but when it's announced that it's Zeal, Sidna sighs and says, "Not it," before turning and flopping into her bed. Svenna comes instead, and the two venture downstairs to find the tavern empty of their quarry, but fortunately the sound of splashing brought them outside, where they found them. Vorach pulled Zeal upright and smacked his back, causing him to cough up a little water and look around.
 
Vorach explains to Svenna that even though technically she doesn't owe them anything, Zeal got hurt helping end those bandits, and it would be a very big help if she could sew up the wounds after Vorach disinfected them: he's too squeamish to sew flesh. She says that Sidna would be a better choice. Vorach agrees, and warily asks if anyone wants to go wake up Sidna. Svenna thinks about it for a moment and then agrees to help. Serafina takes up Zeal's jacket and takes it inside to mend, even getting some buttons from Lucy to add (Sonny wants to clarify that his jacket had buckles before, so now it has a bunch of buckles and two buttons XD) as Vorach heats up a pail of water and uses cheese-cloth to carefully scrub the grime and dirt out of Zeal's wounds before Svenna closed them - pretty well done, too!
 
He notes a triple-x close and remarks about Svenna signing her name, to which she responds, "...my name starts with an S." He is delighted that she can read, and Vorach leans in and whispers that it's a good thing he's pretty. She asks if he really is? He considers, and then amends: it's a good thing he's got abs. She nods, then says he's not her type, which Vorach agrees to - Svenna discovers that Vorach is bi Together they all carried Zeal in towards the fire to get him warm and fed. Serafina slips off after spying Beans sleeping, drunk, near his winnings and carefully palmed the pouch, noting he won about 100 gold! She took half, and then took twenty of that for herself before giving thirty to Vorach and telling him, "Good job today." She heads upstairs towards bed, but hears Sidna snoring and remembered Willow had paid up for the week, instead taking the empty room for herself.
 
Vorach is taken aback by this, and as Serafina heads up to bed he turns his attention to Svenna and asks about her plans now that she's free of the bandits haunting her past. She explains that she actually got a job here at the inn, helping out Lucy and her mum around. She seems genuinely happy and excited, and Vorach sheepishly admits that much of the bandit camp was destroyed by fire: he couldn't find her pouch to return her belongings to her, but she seemed to think that the wealth within was soured by its unsavoury history, and was happier to start over fresh, even if she didn't really have anything. Vorach considered this for a moment, and then gave her five gold pieces - saying it was a gift, an investment if she wanted, in herself. He explained he knew how hard it could be for someone to leave a bad past behind to try and start something new and fresh, and that he'd rather her have something to fall back on than having to go back to a life of crime. She seems genuinely touched and offers him a hug, and though she doesn't hug Zeal (mostly because of the odour), she also personally thanks him for putting his life on the line for hers. They come to the understanding they'll all be meeting in the morning over breakfast to discuss next steps and keep everyone in the same loop, and all head off to bed.
 
However, Vorach still peeved at Zeal's earlier actions and even more peeved at himself for private reasons, also detoured from his original room to Willow's empty room. It was dark when he entered, but his special eyes were easily able to make out the occupant of one of the three beds, and so he carefully stepped over to an empty one. Thinking Serafina asleep, he quietly cursed in Anuic and worked himself up, to the point of infuration, before promptly casting sleep on himself and crashing for the evening. Turns out, Serafina was awake, however, and it is only after the spell goes off that she quietly whispers, "Have a good night, Connie."