Session 13: Last in Japan!

Svenna: There's some army that needs to be fought off in the clan lands. Unsure what this means, remember to ask Sidna about it later.
 
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The story begins with everyone waking up! Both Zeal and Beans wake up with an orange to the face, groggily coming to as they discuss the previous night. Apparently Beans heard someone crying last night, and Vorach scolded Zeal for leading Svenna on (tee-hee). In the girl's room, Sidna woke up early for her stretching as Serafina woke up last with a blistering headache, definitely hung-over. She claims to not remember much, but that *someone* was prying, and it was probably Svenna. Sidna nods and glare-dares Svenna to say anything else.
 
Fortunately this is the moment when Zeal opens the door and apologises profusely to Svenna for ignoring her feelings as Vorach encouraged him to before turning and leaving, with a couple persimmons flying over his shoulder before the door closed. As they eat and ready, we find out Svenna used to be a butcher (a friend of the family, not a family business per se) and had been since she was a kid. This impresses Sidna. Svenna admits she tried to defend herself when she was first taken by the bandits, but stabbing people is much different from cutting up dead flesh. She mentions that this is a SUPER pleasant morning conversation and asks if we're always like this. Kinda, yeah?
 
Down the hall, Vorach waits with fruit for Willow, but she opens and slams the door in his face so he leaves the apples for her and mr. nibbles. All of them head downstairs, where Zeal is the first one down and was already (thankfully unsuccessfully) rizzing Lucy. I never thought I'd say it, but god bless capitalism. o7
 
He goes to sit down, but there are no open tables, so he ends up sitting next to a dwarf and a rather exotic looking orc. They are wearing clothes more reminiscent of the northern desert than anything local. They're travelling, as are we, with Zeal casually mentioning we're 'caretakers of problems'. He asks if we're an adventurer, or a folk hero. Zeal realises we are more exciting than he first thought! He asks what brings them this far north to trade, and warns that if they're heading towards Hesjingmajak to show caution because of bandits. They say they're not interested in going that far, because Hesjingmajak doesn't have interest in the type of wares they're selling.
 
They're heading off to Mournhaven, actually! Zeal is offered a chance to buy now, though, and he buys "four for four", getting four doses of songbird for 16 gold. He introduces himself as Hawk, Zeal Hawk, and is given a contact name of 'Appa'. Vorach comes down and greets Zeal, offering him some strawberries for his porridge before asking about the hanging bodies and the alchemist's shop, and Zeal thinks for a moment before asking for a hood from Appa. Though no hood, he's given a long scarf to tie a proper head scarf in. It's blue with beautiful gold patterns on it, kinda geometric.
 
Vorach heads out to the stable to get the cart and animals ready as the ladies come downstairs, Sidna catching sight of Appa and the dwarf, who are both wearing outfits similar to what she found in the mermaid's chest. She's skeeved out by Appa calling her a beautiful lady, and she sits down next to the dwarf to be as far from him as possible. Zeal explains they are merchants, and that he bought that scarf. She asks what they sell and he says that they sell whatever they can get their hands on, ingredients, supplies, crystals, tools, and more. Sidna's not interested, though, and Serafina is way more invested in food than anything else. Zeal calls over Lucy, and she gets orders from the girls before returning - though Willow has to put a crate on her seat. Breakfast is served, with Serafina grossly overpaying 5 gold for her breakfast (and no one else's lmao, that's some top tier shit). Appa and the dwarf, whose beard is more porridge than not now, leave as the latter is growing grumpy.
 
As the girls settle in to eat, Zeal stands up to go check on the alchemist's shop with Vorach, noticing Svenna and Beans moving with their porridge to the table. Zeal winks at Svenna, who makes The Face™. She is a bit flabbergasted by this, and Serafina makes a cutting remark that even further flusters her (implying she might be into Zeal). Svenna decides maybe she doesn't like Serafina as much as she thought she did. She does take the cultural difference between them into account, though, and explains her type (Nor'ling men who are super beefy and rugged). She asks about the south, and Serafina says (without specifics) she's from very far south, a place with its own peninsula beyond even Mornhaven and the northern desert. This is surprising to Svenna, but they talk and get REALLY into chocolate. Just as we found out in the cafe, the northern idea of chocolate is a far, bitter cry from the more sweet and rich chocolate she's used to. Svenna realises that she doesn't know much about everyone, and tries to inquire as to where Willow's from, but she doesn't trust that even slightly.
 
She says that Svenna hasn't proven herself worthy of her trust and that for all she knows, she could be waiting to betray them. She doesn't trust bandits, and Svenna may still be a bandit. Until we deal with those bandits, she's going to keep an eye on Svenna, and she will continue to not trust her in the slightest, because she has no reason to. She looks up towards Sidna and Sera and says that she HOPES that they're keeping an eye on *everyone*. Svenna isn't...really shaken by this, she understands why Willow doesn't trust her and is willing to be patient. In our place, she might not be trusting either.
 
Svenna asks if she wants us to lead her there, and Willow quickly says no - saying that if she really wants to come, she can go in first and set off the traps before we go in, but Svenna says that could be a bad idea. Instead, she's allowed to look over Willow's map, and explain where some traps might be based on her memory. She marks a huge log trap, a bunch of pitfalls, and warns them to watch out for snares and bear traps in the main camp. She's seen guards step in them and end up bleeding out, it's not a pretty way to go. Willow is torn between forcing her to go as bait or leaving her behind as she's useless, but Svenna's own insistence to stay solves that issue.
 
Zeal and Vorach move off to collect the corpses hanging near the gate with the Lawkeeper's writ in hand, though Zeal is more invested in removing his armour, removing his shirt, and putting his armour back on; leaving Vorach to do the heavy lifting. Doing so, he discovered an empty bottle similar to the one Zeal was drinking from last night, but Zeal was way too plastered to remember if it was his or not. So, Vorach does the sensible thing and chucks it at a nearby tree, getting yelled at by the guards. Strangely, he seemed to square up with the guards instead of being his normal, meek self and Zeal quickly cleaned up the glass while saving it, hoping to use it offencively against the bandits.
 
Thankfully, we talked them off (though they attribute Vorach's pallor with his work with corpses, which he allowed and encouraged to keep them off his back while also making them less likely to interact). Returning the corpse cart to the Spooky Bird, the party reunites and leaves Svenna to watch over the cart while the rest of us head into town towards the alchemist Zeal, Sidna, and Willow found out about the day before. Vorach briefly pauses to grab a bag of metal shavings from a blacksmith to get a bag of caltrops. Sidna detours to the cafe and tells us to meet her at the alchemist's later, and Zeal briefly splits to change his armour, going from metal to super heavy leather that's been carefully fit to his body.
 
Sidna enters the cafe with a purposeful stride, putting her hands on the counter and scaring the piss out of the clerk, asking for a box of her *finest* chocolate. She says they have cakes and bars, and even lies that they will keep, but Sidna is too desperate and bulldozes ahead, asking even about "flavoured" chocolate, and the clerk offers her a bit of chocolate with dried strawberry pieces. Sidna remarks that she likes it, but that SHE wouldn't. Still, she buys 5 silver worth and even gets the clerk to pull a ribbon from her own hair to wrap around the parcel. Sidna doesn't even wait to hear her say "please come again" (though she doesn't say come again).
 
Sera, Willow, and Vorach arrive at the Shoppe Du Girot, which is overwhelmingly garish and loud to each sense. Lots of doors, hanging spices, vivid colours, dried ingredients, and more. Both Serafina and Willow are familiar with this style of shoppe. A voice calls out, but we can't see it at first. Vorach approaches the cabinet with a till and notices a halfling standing there, about the same height and build as willow but in a long robe with extremely long (proportionally) arms, real nightmare fae type shit.
 
Willow is shocked and comments on his arms, which he is a bit sensitive about. She's abashed, but Vorach thinks those arms are dead useful. He asks Vorach to lean in closer, revealing more of his fucked-up spider arms, and he realises that he's the son of the woman he hired several months ago to hunt a particularly large monster (he's quite giddy at this). He can only offer that he pointed her in the direction of Aujurax, as they have some particularly rare medicines.
 
Stepping aside, he lets Willow up, who remarks that he's a little strange looking for a halfling, but she seems happy to meet another one (even if he looks weird) - he remarks that halflings are a bit rare! She compliments his arms now, and he's quite happy to hear it, and when she asks for help to fix his dulcimer, he's more than happy to inspect with his claw machine hands. As she steps away to browse, he then notices Serafina and compliments her beautiful scale colour. She's not here looking for anything, more here to support her friend. She asks for anything interesting he might have!
 
Zeal and Sidna enter, un-bothered by the cloud of stench that sent Vorach hacking and wheezing, and as the two enter in the shopkeeper's eyes immediately turn to Zeal. Oh god, they're flirting. Zeal somehow recovers from calling him a freak and is implied to get freaky. A chorus of groans arise, and Girot moves his built-in stilts to grab a potion from a high shelf. Serafina has made this before! It's a potion of shape changing (50g). That's an outrageous price, she thinks!
 
He offers us a deal, though. We go out and hunt a beastie for him, he'll pay us and throw in the potion. It's a crumblerock bear, the same thing that Vorach's mum hunt for him. He wants its skull, and is willing to buy more at 25/per. They tend to frequent the northwest part of Hesjing's Grace, so it's unlikely we can detour for that. He is also willing to purchase truffles, however, so Zeal takes a big whiff of an example one to save the scent. Vorach purchases a pound of spicy peppers (1g) and Zeal asks after a pouch that's sized to fit a raccoon, perhaps an empty component pouch? Sidna gets some ingredients while she's here, too, two of bloodpurge (1g/p) and felsoul (2g/p).
 
Bloodpurge is a good antivenom, draws poison from the blood and then forces you to regurgitate it. Felsoul numbs you and prevents you from vomiting, usually used in conjunction. Sidna is annoyed with her explanations, but swallows her pride when she notices things that she doesn't recognise and nudges Serafina in her side, who explains wolfsbane (which is a toxin), balsam (fungicide), blackroot (paralysing agent). Serafina is wigged out by the wolfsbane, though, and excuses herself outside. Vorach, concerned, steps out after her. Girot emerges with the dulcimer and offers it to Willow, but it's sadly out of tune :<
 
Everyone collects their purchases, with Willow exchanging proper introductions with Girot. Outside, Vorach asks after Serafina, who doesn't want to talk about it and really isn't okay, so he very kindly offers her the bottle of wine he bought for her the night before and says he hopes she feels better (he is completely oblivious to her heart eyes). As everyone steps out Zeal moves to get his coat while everyone else regroups at the cart, talking about how Svenna was crying the night before over Zeal and it would probably be best to get rid of her as soon as possible before there's an issue. Serafina agrees, but feels bad for Svenna, it must feel /awful/ to have someone you're interested in completely oblivious. Zeal grabs his jacket, and we'll begin next episode finally leaving!