Not really. But the next morning...

Cal woke first. Still frustrated from the night before, she left for her pre-battle ritual meditations without waking the others, wanting to avoid an awkward conversation that would probably make her sad. Xinae woke up not long after, with a pounding hangover. She needed her usual cure - a huge greasy breakfast and more ****. She felt uneasy asking Bower for it though, so she snuck out of the inn with a vague plan to steal eggs, a pan, ale, and also fire from some sucker farmer. When Naomi woke up feeling fresh (she was one of those awful people who never get hangovers, perhaps in this case due to divine protection), she woke to an empty room. Puzzled but not overly worried, she wandered downstairs still in her flowy nightie to ask Bower if he knew where her party had gone.

She entered the inn's main hall to find Bower and Garron in deep discussion, both chuckling nastily. The two men looked up and leered at her; she was quite a sight that morning. Her long wavy ginger hair bounced attractively as she came down the wide wooden stairs, as did other prominent parts of her anatomy. While the white nightie was clearly made to look tasteful, angelic even, the fact of her body shape and how tightly some of it was squeezed into the fabric meant that it looked tasteful, angelic... and a little bit pornographic.

When she saw the hungry look on Garron's face Naomi's usual undefeatable warm smile weakened, just for a moment. When, shockingly, the old man burst into heartfelt apologies, it soon returned. Garron apologised for his previous behaviour at length, explaining that he was overcome with feelings for his dearly departed wife, but that that was no excuse for what he had done. He understood if she hated him now and he could accept that, but he'd come bearing a humble gift that he hoped would go some way towards reparations, and help her on her heroic adventures. With a glint in his eye that went completely unnoticed, he stepped to the side, revealing a strange mechanical creature.

It was around 3 feet tall, made of intricate brass and copper clockwork, its torso painted to look like a dignified little butler, bowtie and all. It had strange, prehensile limbs made of innumerable rings, with a gloved hand on each wrist and a little black shoe at the end of each leg. All in all, it was a little unnerving, especially the single blue glass eye. Garron explained it was a mysterious miracle of advanced magical technology that his eccentric grandfather had made, who had taken the secrets of its construction to his grave. He said it had many other surprising features that he would leave for her to discover, but that it was the perfect untiring servant, able to help her prepare for battle, dress, bathe - it could even give massages. His grandmother used to say that it was excellent at... general stress relief. Its name was "Bingley". With the glint in his eye once again, Garron told her that in a way, it would be like he was watching over her. The very least he could do.

Despite her dislike of the man and their history, Naomi breezily dismissed his apologies (while making sure to avoid specifics of what had happened, and avoiding both men's eyes). She thanked him profusely and told him that she couldn't possibly take such a precious family heirloom - but he insisted, quickly wearing her down. The two men, sharing a meaningful look, suggested that the lady take her new mechanical butler up to the rented room and try out his services while she waited for her friends to return.