Tomorrow

Finally Clay let his mind return to the task at hand. Tomorrow. Tomorrow they'd arrive at the Woods of Delphie, where the Satyrs had begun to kidnap locals. Aphrodite had tasked them to set the Satyrs straight as needed.

He would need to pick which of his party to bless for success the next day.

He knew that the satyrs are prone to revelry and banding together. Willing to fight, better with slings and staves, but prone to using their charming magics first and general trickery. But they rarely fought to kill, as no more fun can be extracted from the dead.

As if summoned by his sober mood, Azure reappeared in his tent with cleaning rags. After a short interlude, cleaning and making some small talk, Azure tempted him to sleep. Letting him spoon her and fall asleep with his face buried in her sweet-smelling hair, he drifted off peacefully.

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He awoke alone. The party decamped and returned to the road with their packs and packmules. Another day of walking ahead of them, the party fell into a comfortable quiet broken up with Rose's occasional group questions, Azure's songs, Centri's odd facts, and Abi's recalled stories. Lunch passed, and they came upon a matronly women, the requestor, who was clearly awaiting them.
She walked with them, guiding her to her land as she confirmed what they already knew, the local Satyrs had kidnapped more than 5 of their more comely and eligible local bachelors (much like themselves) for well over 2 weeks now. The Satyrs had always been a minor menace, maybe a dozen of them, but this was above their usual antics. They had fully left their woods and broke into their victims homes. Attempts to broker with the Satyrs had been scattered, with them asking for various things, more wine, money, the breath of disappointment wrapped in a bald man's hair, without promise of any return of their victims. Her own nephew had fallen victim, and she wished to see him back. They would stay the night at her home, and she'd lead them into the sacred woods tomorrow to set the Satyrs straight.

Her home was small, and she apologized for her sole bedroom she had available before she departed to make them a hearty supper, cheerily adding she had procured wine for them. The women agreed that Clay should have the bedroom with whomever he choose, with the rest sleeping outside. Clay felt sheepish once again to inconvenience them, but the ritual was mildly inflexible at times.

Each of the girls seemed eager to be picked and made a point of making their case to him through dinner.

Azure felt her divination magic could help them find the Satyrs, since they could probably already take them in a fight.

Centri seemed more interested in sleeping inside than anything. Promising to ride him all night if he'd let her, accenting her request with a tracing of her foot beneath the table.

Rose, made a single comment about how good her hunting skills would be in the forest before making eye contact and looking away, which was as far as she'd go to make her own case.

And Abi kept talking about wanting to wear her heavier armor.
All the while, their host, eager to see their nephew back, opened up the wine for them, with a nervous smile, serving them all cups. Leading to a lively evening, but at a point Clay knew he must choose.