Delivered From the Flames (Shy/Claire)

[Rivers]

A tunnel appears in front of the house as Rivers walks through it, leaving it open for Claire and Seanait. After some discussion Claire had explained her house was actually isolated in the forever forest, and Rivers had reluctantly agreed that if they was the case it was unlikely she would be discovered immediately.

The bard streched a bit as he stepped through, and a refreshed looked appeared on his face as he looks around. He had to admit, that stepping away from the situation made him feel a bit better. He had told everyone that he would be back in an hour to transport everyone to where they wanted to go and had told the group that was coming with him based on what he could tell from the map the place that Louie suggested was at least worth checking out.

Rivers had been surprised to find that a little over half of the Fated they'd saved from the city wanted to come with him and it looked like they were going to be shaping up into a settlement of their very own. I wonder if this is how my village came to be. He found himself wondering as he waited for the others to come through the tunnel.

[Claire]

The portal let out at a cottage by a river- a sturdy little thing of wood and stone. It was peaceful here, quiet, besides the sound of rushing water. Claire stumbled through the portal towards her door, reaching out and grasping the door handle. She leaned against the door, pressing against it as the door creaked open into the cottage. Dust was in the air, displaced by opening the door, and Claire coughed. She pushed herself inside and collapsed against one of the chairs, gripping it tightly.

The place was modestly furnished, old food still out on the table and dried plants hanging in the window. It was clear that no one had been here- dust covered every surface. Claire tried to pull herself upright, clinging tightly to the chair. “Seanait… if you want to stay, I have a spare bed.” she nods to the bed built against the wall, on the other side of the fireplace. “There’s… there’s a pump- levers and buckets-” she pointed to the wall closest to the river by the window, where there was a small trapdoor. “Water through there- from the river.”

[Deleted]

Séanait's arms were full of weapons and a few medical supplies borrowed from Aria's cabin. She'd had to give Kail back his shield, but she still had her bow, spear, two bags of arrows, the sword she had taken from a dead guard and her battered helmet. The medical supplies consisted mostly of bandages, with a small pot of honey and a small amount of lunar paste.

Unfortunately, all these weapons and medical supplies tied up Séanait's arms and she wasn't able to help suport Claire as she stumbled towards the small cottage. It made Séanait feel slightly guilty that she wasn't doing more to help Claire, but she knew that, even if Claire would accept her help, it was more important to bring all the supplies in.

As soon as she entered the cottage, Séanait carefully placed her weapons in the corner nearest the bed Claire had indicated.

"Thanks Claire, I appreciate it."

She turned to place the medical supplies on the table and saw just how badly Claire was doing. Taking Claire's comment about the pump as a request for water, she immediately grabbed a cup and went to the pump.

"You should sit down and let me have a look at you. Did they torture you at all?"

[Rivers]

Rivers follows the pair inside and looks around. "Pretty nice place you've got here actually." He admits, in truth he'd stayed in far worse, for someone on the run this was probably a better accommodation than one could generally expect. Then he walks over to a small table in the corner and wipes off some of the dust off before testing its strength.

"Well where are my manner? I shouldn't just walk in without an appropriate gift." Rivers says in an almost theatrical tone. Then he closes his eyes and a keg of beer appears on the table. "Just to establish this, it's beer, not the powder." He explains, preemptively, not wanting to risk any misunderstandings with this pair. "A fine stock from the royal cellars."

Then he walks over to the table and takes a seat, reaching into the rucksack he was carrying and pulling out several piece of fruit and some cheese. "Sorry I can't do anything fancier right now, I need to conserve my ration supply." He apologizes.

[Claire]

Claire pulled herself around the chair and sunk into it, pain shooting through her legs and back before it dulled. She stared blankly at Rivers as he spoke in such a theatrical tone- how did this man think this was the time or place for him to act like this? She looked back up to Shy, then down at her wrists. They were rubbed raw and her arms were covered in mottled bruises. What they had done to her… she didn’t want to speak of it.

“I do not know what they thought I would have been able to tell them.” Claire shook her head, sinking further into the chair. She felt so tired, but hunger and thirst gnawed at her. She shook her head again at Rivers.

“I have no need for ale. You should take your spirits back to your friends, wherever you are going. But if that man leads you back into the dungeons of that <monster> it will be on your own head. I do not trust him.”

[Deleted]

Ah, so Claire had been tortured. Séanait had been afraid of that. She'd need to tend to any wounds which needed tending, give Claire some food and then get her to sleep off her fatigue. She wasn't sure how much longer Claire could stay conscious and, given Claire's recent experiences, Séanait really didn't want to do anything with Claire's body while she was asleep.

"Probably they wanted you to tell them what they wanted to hear. If they had had more time, they might have gotten you to confess to whatever they wanted."

Séanait sighed silently and closed her eyes as Rivers continued to be eccentric. Probably it would have been fine on any normal day, but Claire was clearly exhausted and not in the mood for River's antics. Rivers, for his part, was either still affected by battle stress or was trying to cheer them up. In either case, he wasn't helping matters. Claire needed peace and quiet to recover from her ordeal, not antics.

When Claire finally snapped there wasn't any shouting, but Séanait could tell that Claire wasn't going to tolerate Rivers any longer. She took Rivers gently by the shoulder and lead him away from Claire.

"You'd better go. Claire needs some rest, and I should see to both our injuries."

[Rivers]

Rivers frowns seeing that the pair were apparently as bad off as he had feared and his jovial expression turns serious as if the light heard smile had never been there. "Fine then, I'll knock off the jokes and jibes, you should keep the ale you'll need it at some point." He places both of his hands on the table and looks Claire in the eyes. "I do have a couple of things to say and a couple of things to leave you with before I got though."

Rivers takes three small metal balls with rope sticking out of them and places them on the table, then he takes out a small smooth stone with a rune carved on it, and finally a pouch of what appeared to be medical supplies. However before addressing the objects on the table he looks Claire in the eyes. "I intend to help the Fated that follow after me, because of that I cannot assist you in what you are trying to do. At least not until you manage to strengthen your position."

He turns to look at Shy. "If you do get caught, please tell them that I set up a hiding place in heaven's pass."

Next he turns his attention to the table and points at the metal spheres, "I call these Alchemic Charges, they are smaller, less powerful versions of the thing we dropped on the pit. They're hard to make so don't waste them."

Then be points at the bag, "medical kit" then finally he points at the rock. "Seanait, I need you to hold onto this and keep it with you. It can be used to communicate with me and vise versa, also I can use it to open a tunnel to you if you are in trouble. I'd appreciate it if you kept it with you as a personal favor to me." He requests and then gets up from the table.

"With that I'll leave you two to it," He says and heads towards the tunnel he used to get there.