Startup 65: Walk and Talk

Rova 25

Sandara brushed her lips across Varossa’s collarbone, enjoying the sensation. The small bed they lay in together was too cramped for two people to share without a lot of skin contact, and that suited both women just fine. For the most part, anyway; Varossa was currently glaring up at her crimson haired paramour with a distinct lack of bedroom eyes.

“Sandara.” She said, “I told you, I have business in town. Get off. I need to wash up.”

Sandara had absolutely no intention of leaving her current perch, straddling Varossa and pinning her down. For one thing the annoyance in her eyes was great. Even better when Sandara “accidentally” let her hair fall down on the older woman’s face and nose. She had on her best vapid smile.

“Oh come on, Princess!” Sandara wheedled, “My idiot Captain went and got himself arrested. What am I supposed to do all day if neither of you are around?”

“Get drunk, I presume?” Varossa said with a smirk. “You know I could throw you off.”

“You promise?” Sandara purred.

Varossa groaned, and a short wrestling match ensued, ending with the redhead on the ground. Varossa kept one heel on Sandara’s neck, resting lightly but with an implied threat. That was fine, because she’d need to take it off if she wanted to put on some stockings. Sandara wasn’t a fan of feet, partly due to the smell, but Varossa’s feet didn’t sweat or produce any kind of body odor. Getting slapped around could be fun, but Sandara didn’t care for unpleasant smells.

“Can I at least come along?” She asked from the floor, “You never take me anywhere!”

“No, Sandara.” Varossa said, rolling her eyes. “I need you to keep an eye on the Enterprise. Do you think that we’ll be able to set sail without him, if all of this goes poorly?”

As she spoke, Varossa was dressing herself from the waist up, leaving her toned legs exposed while her foot was otherwise occupied. It was genuinely an impressive acrobatic feat to move around the room without placing excessive weight on Sandara or losing her balance.

Maybe it’s those fancy dancing lessons Chelish people **** their kids to go through?

“I dunno.” Sandara said, curling a strand of hair around her finger. “Syl is so obsessed with the Captain; she’d probably get in the way. Oh! Maybe if you rented the whole ship from him? He has that debt thing, right?”

“If I had the money to hire a ship outright, I’d hardly be offering Emrys a cut, now would I?”

Varossa looked down and met Sandara’s radiant smile. The brunette rolled her eyes and shifted her weight, giving Sandara the opportunity to pull her down to the floor and attempt to shower her with kisses. It didn’t work out; Varossa was far too nimble to be caught so easily, but she needed to make the attempt.

Sandara was having a blast. Emrys would never let her get away with this much obvious bait; in fact, no one Sandara could have any respect for would. Not only did Emrys know she was smarter than she let on, Sandara was fairly sure he’d have stopped inviting her to bed entirely if she’d been this deliberately annoying.

Varossa, though? She wasn’t looking for a lover, she was looking for a tool. Someone that could get the men in line should a mutiny ever be needed. Sandara wasn’t interested, but Varossa didn’t need to know that. At least not until she let slip where the other two parts of the Three Reasons to Live were. Until that point, Varossa needed to assume the light in Sandara’s eyes was the sun streaming in through the back.

••••••••••

On our way back to the House of Stolen Kisses, I absentmindedly turned off the rain. Autopilot was doing quite a lot to keep the area of relative dryness anchored to the four of us, but from my perspective it would have genuinely been more taxing to hold an umbrella the whole way there.

Rosie blinked and looked around, still shocked at my ability to make a 20 foot circle where rain didn’t fall despite a few months on my crew. The rain wasn’t even particularly heavy, but the Shackles had a nearly perpetual drizzle. More than one person we passed noticed the sudden, brief dryness.

Linu sniffed the air and turned to look at me, her bright blue eyes and nose both flashing white. Detect magic wasn’t a particularly distinctive spell, but Autopilot knew it well enough to pick it out without any difficulty.

“A bit ostentatious, no?” She asked, speaking in Undercommon.

“Should I be keeping it a secret?” I asked. “I’m not the spy, here.”

“No?” She asked, “Only a mutineer and slavemonger, then.”

“Hey!” I said, “Whose side are you on?”

“Guys, could you speak in a language I can understand?” Rosie cut in, “It sounds like it’s getting heated.”

“Right.” I said, my train of thought derailed. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to exclude you.”

Linu looked down at Rosie and shrugged.

“Nor did I.” she said, “Unfortunately, I believe our discussion will be more relevant for Filli than you, and certainly more relevant to her than the rest of the street. You will need to wait, unless Emrys wishes to translate for you.”

Rosie looked up at our hulking companion and sighed.

“Go ahead, then.” She said. “I’ll just have to trust you, eh?”

Linu nodded down at the halfling, then turned her head back to face forward. I took a moment to enjoy the view. I’d seen the black and yellow striped top she was wearing on the high priest at the House of Amber Silk, but Osgri had paired it with voluminous skirts. Linu went with pants instead, just barely tight enough to show off her legs.

As I looked her over, I realized that she was actually quite short. When I mentally subtracted the four or five inch heels she was wearing, she couldn’t have been more than five feet tall. Between the heels and her extremely straight posture, she appeared to be doing everything in her power to appear taller.

“If my loyalty is in question, Captain, you have my permission to return to the courthouse.” Linu said, rolling her eyes. “You have stolen multiple ships, including one you were crewing, have purchased slaves in multiple ports, and press ganged enemy combatants into your service.”

Her words dragged my train of thought back on track. I was not about to take that kind of shade lying down. She hadn't been there.

“What was I supposed to do, kill the goblins? Let myself be press ganged without a fight?”

“Aren’t you defensive?” Linu asked with a smirk, “You inaccurately assume I condemn your actions. You wrought vengeance upon enemies and survived, then engaged in legitimate commerce. I just like to acknowledge the realities of a situation. You’ve spent time mostly upon the seas after being raised in a drow hold.”

She nodded at Filli, who limped along behind us on her uneven legs.

“It varies by city, but you’ll find that most in Quent live in a cocoon of comfortable lies.” Linu said. “They don’t like being reminded of the brutality found elsewhere in the Shackles. Most assume that if they went to Goatshead, Port Peril, or Dragonsthrall they’d find a version of Quent that’s a bit dingy, crowded, or full of dragons. If you remind them that the world is not so simple, they get angry. That’s why our courts are so full of frivolous lawsuits; much of what you’ve done would actually be illegal within this city.”

“If Quent is so isolated, why do you know so much?” I asked.

“Lady Fairwind hates reminders of brutality more than anyone.” Linu said, “So she proactively works to keep them off of her island, and encourages the temples of Callistria she funds to do the same.”

“Great.” I said. “I wasn’t asking about her, though. I meant you personally. Why do you know so much about me? Did Cog tell you?”

Linu’s fluffy white tail lashed, punctuated by a harsh laugh.

“No. No he did not.” Linu said. “Cog told me very little about your travels, but as it turns out your movements are fairly easy to track through our network. Since I knew he was with you, I made a habit of it.”

So… incredibly high effort Facebook stalking while he was away. I was just the one making noise.

“Are you two together?” I asked.

“We have been in the past.” She said, “We most recently parted ways when he insisted on leaving the island. I knew he would have difficulty keeping in touch so I elected to keep my options open. He has made shockingly little effort to rekindle or even maintain our relationship in the intervening time.”

Oh shit. She is not going to take it well when she finds out I have a secure communication network. He could have been sending her weekly updates if he’d asked.

I consciously decided to stop checking her out. She was certainly cute, but she was also at least partially attached to Cog. Even if she initiated something, even if those two were really done, I’d never be entirely sure if she was doing it as some kind of elaborate **** plot. She was Callistrian, after all.

“That does sound like him.” I said. “The man does not talk unless you drag it out of him, does he? I’ll be sure to give him a hard time about it later.”

Linu turned her head and blinked at me. Her ears flicked towards me, alert, then relaxed quickly.

“Please do.” She said. “He might listen, then.”

“Don’t worry,” I said. “I’ll be sure to frame it in terms he will understand.”

Linu’s posture relaxed slightly as we walked, a faint smile pulling at the edge of her mouth.

“Oh?” She asked, “What terms would those be?”

“Easy. Mission inefficiency.” I answered. “I imagine we could have gotten those reports I paid for a week ago if we’d been in closer contact with you.”

Her smile widened.

“You could have, yes.” She said. “May I ask why you wanted a comprehensive report on House Aulamaxa? House Thrune makes sense as a general point of interest, but Aulamaxa has been in decline for decades. I’d never even heard of them until I read the reports.”

“Wow.” I said, deadpan. “He really didn’t tell you anything. Yeah, it’s a gift for a friend.”

“Ahh, yes.” Linu said. “Filli told me that you’re quite generous with your friends.”

“I’ve found that it helps me keep friends,” I said, “and make them.”

Linu’s smile widened, and she nodded.

“Indeed? What a novel concept.” Linu said sarcastically, then pointed at a small walled complex. “The temple barracks is that building on the right. You three will be staying there.”

“Three?” I asked, looking at Filli.

Did she get arrested or something? Or are they racist against mutant ratfolk?

“Wow.” Linu said dryly, “He really didn’t tell you anything. You can get the full explanation once we have you all set up.”

••••••••••

The vat hissed and bubbled as Syl poured another flask of acid in. The scarred demonic bodies released a stream of bubbles as the physical components of their form broke down into raw quintessence, and the acid itself evaporated once the magic stabilizing it faded. She’d boil off the water later, and eventually scrape off the film of tarlike black sludge that all demons rendered down into. All that remained of the latest dozen Thoxel demons wouldn’t be worth more than a few gold coins, even to an interested buyer, and could be held in a single small flask.

“Aaron, keep an eye on this.” She said, “I don’t expect problems, but they are demons after all.”

“Of course.” Aaron said, only glancing up from his book for a few moments.

Safe disposal of the demons was important, especially given that Emrys would have precious little else to spend his magic on. Rosie’s cousin seemed fairly confident about his chances, so Syl was trying to focus on the positive. Unfortunately, the best case scenario still put Emrys behind on all projections.

Syl wanted to put the men to work checking the ship from bow to stern, possibly even look into hiring them out as security. Unfortunately, she had a more pressing issue to deal with, which made almost every plan she had that much less feasible.

“Bars not boats! Bars not boats!”

After ringing the bell for an assembly, Syl walked out onto the bow of the Enterprise. She saw a crowd of several dozen goblins and halflings. Most were reasonably well dressed, with gold and silver chains in tow, and many were carrying signs sporting slogans like “lock ‘em up right” and “Cages are Homes.” Conchobar sat on the railing, looking out as well.

“Why are they even here?” She asked no one in particular, “The pups were never on this ship in the first place.”

“Yeah, but Gobron’s Ship is far away and has Fairwind’s guards around it.” Conchobar said. “Someone probably just looked up the name of Emrys’s ship and stopped researching.”

“Any chance they’ll let us try to find a buyer before the trial is over?” Syl asked.

Conchobar, as the first mate on Gobron’s Ship, was technically captain ever since Rosie was arrested. Since every goblin on the crew except Rowe was taken into protective custody, that mostly meant that he supervised packing for the handful of short folk left. They would have taken Rowe too, but she’d refused with her customary level of tact. Conchobar’s first act as captain was commanding her to put her gun down so he could explain the situation.

“Not likely.” Conchobar said. “They take procedure seriously. My dad stopped coming here a while back because he kept getting arrested.”

“Oh?” Syl asked. “What for?”

“Public indecency, mostly.” Conchobar said. “Though I think it’s mostly that he slept with some rich guy’s wife once. I think I saw her over there, but all these ladies tend to look the same. They decide they want to date outside the species, they start going in for alchemical treatments, and by the end you can’t tell one Quent goblin from the next.”

As he spoke, Conchobar gestured vaguely at the crowd. Syl listened with half an ear, but she had other things to focus on. The crew were gathering on the deck for their marching orders. Between the arrest and the siege of petulant green women, most of the men were on edge. It didn’t help that the former slaves among them didn’t have anywhere else to go.

“Alright.” She said. “Most of you have heard some of the story by now, but Captain M’Dair has been arrested. Gobron, the owner of the ship that attacked us near Dragonsthrall, claims that we attacked him. We-“

Syl’s blunt proclamation was cut off by an outcry among the men. Those who had survived the battle remembered standing in the pounding rain, waiting for potential ****. To hear that the one who had stalked them like prey claimed himself a victim was too much to bear. Syl wasn’t able to talk them down until Conchobar pulled out a golden horn and released a single long blast that drowned them all out.

“Thank you, Captain Shortstone.” Syl said. “As I was saying, Emrys is going to handle it. In the meantime you can have liberty if you feel like running the gauntlet.”

She jabbed one thumb at the crowd.

“Otherwise, I’m going to assemble several teams to canvass the town.” She said. “If we can find people willing to pay for an artificer, Emrys has an opportunity to make a lot of money. Anyone who finds a buyer will get a cut of the profits. He does weapons, armor, poppets, and golems. Any questions?”

From what Emrys had told Syl, he could now mass produce magical items as long as he had the money needed to make them and crew members willing to assist. The goblin pups were an excellent example of how little training this required.

Narwhal raised one hand and asked. “Whassa poppet?”

“It’s a small doll that can do menial tasks.” Syl said. “Think of it like an extra set of hands you can control by thinking about it.”

“Wouldn’t anyone who can afford something like that just buy a ****?”

“Well, yes.” Syl admitted. “Long term it’ll be cheaper, though. Or at least Emrys seems to think so.”

This was the first question, but not the most relevant. After a few questions about why they needed to swab the deck if he could make “paupers” do it, Salyar spoke up.

“Is this legal, or will we need to worry about a guild representative arresting us?” He asked. “I don’t know how things are done here.”

In any other port in the Shackles, Syl would have thought this a silly question. Here, however, it seemed worth investigating.

“Fair point.” She said. “Taverns first, ask around about it. The last thing the captain needs is more trouble.”

••••••••••

The Callistrian barracks wasn’t the biggest building in the temple, but it felt more familiar than almost anything else I’d encountered since arriving in The Shackles. The whole building consisted of long hallways studded with doors. The ones that hung open led mostly into bedrooms; I’d have called them small back when I’d arrived in golarion, but they were spacious compared to the hyper-efficient cabins on the Enterprise.

I guess there are only so many ways to structure a dorm. Oh, yep, there’s the bathroom and the laundry room at the intersection.

Young people in black and yellow robes, mostly teenage girls, practically dove out of the way of Linu. More than one bowed, though they did so only after evacuating the narrow hallways. It probably would have been unnecessary if we didn’t have Filli, but Linu seemed to be walking down the center of the hallway on purpose. I did feel a little bit awkward at the sheer number of girls that openly stared at me, as well. I had absolutely zero interest in fourteen year olds, but it seemed that fourteen year olds had interest in me.

It didn’t help that everyone in my group drew eyes. Filli and Rosie were both quite tall and muscular for their species, in extremely contrasting ways. Filli could be cast as a slasher movie villain, and if Rosie had been human she’d be a foot taller than me with a muscular prosthetic arm.

As we walked, Linu held her hand aloft and twitched her fingers at Filli. As she did, a line of white divination magic arced from Filli’s head to her hand.

“You sleep here.” She signed. “Will find room for one.”

“I’d prefer we not be separated.” I said in Undercommon. “If it’s gender segregated I understand, but if I’m just going to be put in a box to wait I’d prefer I have my friends with me.”

“Filli has been offered a place here.” Linu said, glancing at me. “We would have taken a more direct path upstairs otherwise. She will move here after the trial, if she passes the initiation tests.”

I took several seconds to process that, looking at Filli. She was looking down, refusing to meet the gaze of any of the Callistrian initiates that weren’t staring at me. My face fell into a frown. She wasn’t getting much out of the tour, it seemed.

This doesn’t seem like a perfect fit.

I reached out and thoughtlessly patted Filli on the shoulder, and she jumped. She looked at me, cringing reflexively in a way that drove a spike through my gut. I’d just been trying to get her attention.

“Sorry,” I signed. “Is she speaking truth? Will this be you?”

She started to nod at my first question, but switched to a so-so gesture.

Undecided. Ok, probably a good thing.

“What do you want?” I asked, fingers dancing.

“Help you.” Filli signed back, “You helped me.”

I sighed.

On the one hand that’s very sweet, on the other hand she’s gotten a little too attached.

“What do you want from temple?” I asked, “For you. Not for me. Don’t go to temple for me.”

Linu kept speaking in Undercommon, but we weren’t really listening anymore. Rosie couldn’t even speak Undercommon and she was probably absorbing more of the tour than we were.

Filli touched her face, and the inside of her mouth, indicating her complete lack of tongue. Her hand came down and swept over her body in general.

Ah. Yeah, just because she’s too sharp for Vishgurv doesn’t mean she doesn’t want to be normal. If she just waits I can probably hook her up through Jerry, but that might take a while.

“Be careful.” I signed. “Better than fish, still greedy. Be sure it is better than **** mage before making deal.”

“Deal part of help you.” Filli signed. “I come here, they help.”

“Then I will help get best deal,” I signed with a smile. “So again, what do you want? Also, don’t let them know you’ll take bad deal. We need to be able to go to court if no good deal.”

There is no way in hell I’m letting her get dragged underwater on my account. I’d have to kill Cog if that happened, and no one wants that.

When Linu finally showed us to the small guest suite on the top floor, I decided to make a power move. I strode in like I owned the place, picked a chair at random, tilted it onto one leg to spin it towards Linu, smacked my shin with the full weight of the chair. That knocked my leg out from under me and left me sprawled out on the floor.

“Before we get into my situation, I would like to discuss Filli’s- fuck!”

(Intimidate 1+14=Critical Failure)

You have taken 3 damage.

You are now Prone.

Rosie ran over to help while Linu burst into peals of laughter. Filli, halfway through the door, tried to stand up to help and ended up jamming her shoulder into the door frame hard enough to dent it.

“Menno’s breath, Cog knows how to pick his recruits,” Linu said.