A normal start, but then...

I wake up the next morning to movement next to me. The half-elf from last night is redressing herself, and gives me a shy smile as I sit up, giving me a simple "Good morning, I hope I didn't disturb you."

I wave my hand dismissively, "It's fine. I've always been a bit of a light sleeper, and early riser." It comes from having an asshole older brother who would love to mess with me when we were little, but she doesn't need to know that. I get out of bed, and start getting dressed myself.

I let her leave first, while I do some stretches. A lot of people think they only thing you need to be a good swordsman is to be strong, and while that is important, being limber is also right up there. After spending a little while working at loosening up my muscles, I head downstairs myself, collect last nights pay from Mardnab, and decide to go take a look around the nearby market to see what all there is.

Once I get there, I find it's already getting busy, with street performers, a number of vendor stalls already set up and selling various goods, ranging from an eclectic selection of items the guy swore had various minor magical effects (unlikely, given how little he was asking), to a handful of individuals putting their personal 'goods' on display (including a Tiefling making some heavy implications of what she could use her tail for), and a number selling a variety of fresh and preserved meats and fruits. I notice one particularly foppish looking human buying an apple and taking a bite, before I see a familiar face off to one side.

I walk over to the elf who approached me last night as she examines some of the trinkets the 'magic' salesman had out, "Well, hello there. Milaya, right?"

She looks up at me and smiles, "Yes, hello Aiden. You are shopping before our meeting with Nerissa also?" I nod, and she goes back to looking through what he has. I notice off to our side a performer juggling knives with a pouch set out in front of him. Looks like he's pretty decent, I think I see a glint of silver from the bag already.

I ask Milaya what it is she's looking for, and she just gives me a little shrug, making some comment about something useful. I turn away from the vendor, and say quietly into her ear "Probably won't find anything here. At these prices, these are all either fakes, stolen, or cursed." The guy who bought the apple before must have decided it wasn't good enough for him, because I see him toss it over his shoulder having only taken a few bites out of it. It sails through the air and knocks a vase off of a low wall.

Milaya shugs, "Quite probably, but you never know. Sometimes you find gold in garbage," as she keeps looking through, asking the vendor about a few pieces. Meanwhile, the vase cracks on the ground, spooking a pigeon that had been preening itself. It took off a little clumsily, and brushes against a mug of something that someone had left precariously on a balcony right over the knife thrower, causing it to fall onto him. Somehow, this causes him to spin, flinging his knives in our direction.

I make a wordless cry to Milaya as I move, and she goes to dive out of the way. Somehow, though, one of the knives apparently manages to sheer completely through the back of her tunic! When she goes to stand back up, it just falls to the ground, as somehow the stitching in the shoulders also came undone from all this. Her eyes grow wide and she freezes for a second, as she realizes she is completely exposed, the nipples on her modest breasts hardening in the breeze. I stand there, too stunned by the bizarreness of what just happened to know how to react, before she jumps to her feet and bolts down a nearby alleyway, her cute little elven ass jiggling with her movements.

After she disappears, I pick myself up and grab her tunic off the ground. Still confused I follow after her down the alley she bolted into, hoping I can find her and try to find out what is going on, and if I can help. After walking down it for a few minutes, I hear a soft sob coming from a darkened alcove. "Milaya? Is that you?" It goes silent, so I quickly continue "I just want to help. Here," I set my cloak down on a barrel nearby, "I'll turn around, and you can use this to cover yourself. Just let me know when you're ready," and I turn my back and wait.

A few seconds later, I hear a shuffle, followed by Milaya's melodious voice telling me she's ready. I turn around and she is standing there, my cloak wrapped around her shoulders with her holding it shut in front, blushing quite heavily. I ask her what happened, and she just looks at the ground and says "It's a long story."

"Well, if there's anything else I can do to help, you can give me the short version while I do it."

She looks at me for a minute, thinking, before saying "Can you help me get to Fae Fabrics? They know me well enough there now, they can help," and I nod. I escort her there, sticking mostly to back alleys as we go, and it doesn't take long to find it.

Fae Fabrics turns out to be a two story building in good upkeep. I quickly help Milaya through the door, causing a bell above the door to ring, and a male voice with a very singsong quality to it comes from the back saying "Coommiiiinng!"

From a curtain in the back wall emerges a faun, with short horns on his head, legs covered in light brown fur, his long nails painted with pastel tones, and wearing a short light blue robe that is loosely belted at the waist. As he comes out, he chirps "Welcome, dahlings, to Fae Fabrics how..." he looks at us, "Oh, no, Mil? It happened again?" Milaya nods, and he motions to the side, "Go on upstairs, hun, Mélisandra's free," and she heads off in the direction he indicated. He then looks at me, "Now, as for you, I don't think I've seen you before."

I explain "I just arrived in the city yesterday, I met Milaya at the Wench last night. Ran into her again at the market this morning, when"

He interrupts "A series of random events caused her to lose her clothes?" I look at him quizzically, and he chuckles, "It seems like that little elf has a curse on her. No matter where she goes, or what she does, something always seems to happen to leave her naked in front of people. Never can tell when it will strike, or what it will do. If she's careful, she can fend it off for a while, but the longer she does, the more elaborate it gets," he looks after her, adding "Last time she was in here was three days ago."

I look in the direction of the stairs as well, my mind churning with this information. What could have led to her being cursed like that? I look back over at the faun, who steps over to me and holds out his hand, palm down and fingers curved, "If you're going to be travelling with her, you're going to be seeing a lot of us. Pon."

I take his hand, "Aiden Kalazous."

He tilts his head to the side, "Kalazous? Isn't that the name of a barony in Minthria?"

I raise my eyebrows and nod, "I'm surprised you've heard of it, my father was just given the title a few decades ago."

He smiles, "I make a point of hearing as much as I can from everywhere. You need information, I can usually get it for you," he finishes with a wink. I tell him I'll keep that in mind, then lean against one of the walls to wait for Milaya to be finished getting her new clothes