Second is Sagus

Sophie leaned forward, resting on one arm laid on the table. "Ooo, a story about Sagus from before he had a mostly non-sexual harem, huh? Let me guess. You tracked down a nest of sirens, found out they didn't keep any pirate treasures and now you feel sore about wasting the trip, right?"

Rebecca tightened her lips in thought. "I'm going to guess he tried to seduce a few sirens and ended up in some kind of bizarre seduction-duel. He lost, the sirens laughed at him and left him...'dry', let's call it."

"No, no," Marianne said, swallowing down a mouthful of bread before continuing. "ulp. I'm sure it was something more noble than that. He heard about a crew of sailors the sirens had trapped and went in to rescue them. A hero going into a lair of, um, hostage-takers to do good." She hoped 'hostage-takers' conveyed why Sagus opposed them without insulting the siren sitting at their table. By all appearances, she had chosen her words well enough.

Sagus intended to take a drink before he began, but was quickly reminded that the siren had dropped the waters they had ordered. Instead, he sighed, asked himself silently why a siren shouldn't have ruined a small thing as well and spoke.

"It started nine years ago, the year after Arakarin attacked my hometown. I tried to leave the ruins, but with cursed eyes, I couldn't tell where I was going or whether the next step would end up killing me. So, I felt around slowly until I found something with enough walls to keep wild animals away and didn't leave until I was found by some soldiers. They'd been sent from a nearby city to look for survivors. on the way back to the city, they tried to keep me from finding out that i was the only one. Another solider, a higher-ranked one, as he was fond of telling me, asked me about the disaster. 'What happened? Who did it? Why didn't the demon kill you, too?'. He was especially interested in the last part and if I had known, I'd have gladly told him. My best guess was that Arakarin thought cursing me was more fun. Not a terribly helpful answer, I know, but it was all I had. Still is, honestly. After the officer was satisfied, they sent in a younger girl, some general's daughter, to cheer me up. To tell the truth, it worked better than I thought it would at the time. Marcelette..." Sagus paused, simultaneously realizing that Marianne probably would rather not hear more about her than she had to and that he hadn't thought about Marcelette in over a month. The latter realization felt cruel. "...the girl showed me concern I was sure was sincere and her cheerful personality made it harder to be sad with each second we spent together."

"And how many seconds did you spend together," Marianne asked, her reason so transparent, even Phoebe understood. "um, about how many?"

"Only a few days," Sagus said. "I didn't count the seconds." He knew he could, and probably should, word the next part in a way that would reduce Marianne's...interest in the girl, but to lie about what Marcellette had done for him would be doing her a great disservice. "But three days after we met, she gave me perhaps the greatest gift I've ever received. She told me she had asked a military adviser, a mage of Reason, to help me with my curse."

"your blindfold," Marianne half-gasped. A bit of her jealousy was smashed down by guilt at having felt it for someone who had no doubt saved Sagus' life, mind or most likely, both.

Sagus nodded. "I still couldn't see things as others do, but at least I could see well enough to walk around and find food for myself. More importantly, I could track down Arakarin. The hope was that I would be able to see some kind of weakness or flaw I could exploit and end him. I was so sure I would be able to do it...When I told her what I was going to do, Marcellette plea-...advised against it, but I knew what I had to do. Arakarin could not be allowed to do what he'd done without punishment! The military had been told that an island many miles off the coast had recently been devastated just like my hometown had, so I asked to join the crew that was assigned to investigate. The captain refused to let me aboard, as one would expect. Said he'd be in 'serious trouble' if he let me on. But two days later, the crew unknowingly got themselves a new shipmate. The journey to the island was only meant to last a few days each way. I thought it would be an easy first lead." From his tone, all at the table knew it had not been, and all were nervous about what had changed the voyage from easy to...whatever it became. Despite him sitting right in front of them, Marianne and to a lesser degree Sophie found themselves hoping he would be alright.

"I first heard the song in the hold," Sagus said, his fists clenching as the story became more difficult to tell. "It was the most beautiful sound I'd ever heard. It made me feel so at peace and...open. Like I could live forever, basking in love and satisfaction if I would only listen to the song's plea to follow it. I don't remember walking or leaving the ship, but I'll never forget looking at the ones singing as they led us into the cavern. Women with the heads of birds or the tails of fish. Their song was so sweet, but the way they glared at us... I should have known what was happening sooner, but that damn sound assured me it didn't matter. I wasn't scared, even as I watched them **** themselves on the crew. even as i watched them being devoured. I didn't think anything was wrong until the first time one of them bit me, and even then, it was so mild. i can still remember the way she said 'mmm' when she tasted me...she shared me with some of the others. they stopped singing and just let the fear come back to me. they enjoyed it. i was so sure i was about to die, but..." Sagus was silent for a moment, his blindfold hiding wide, terrified eyes as he experienced it all again in his head. "they...(ahem) They said I tasted too good to devour only once. Some Goddamned mage they'd captured but thought was too old and tough to eat would watch as they ate me over and over, restoring my flesh and preventing me from bleeding out. keeping me from ending my own suffering."

Everyone sat in silence, staring at Sagus as he relived the horror **** upon him. Marianne, who was sitting the closest aside from Phoebe, raised her hand to touch his shoulder. She desperately wanted to give him even a tiny amount of comfort, anything to make him feel just slightly less bad. But her hand stopped, fearful that her touch might remind him of the sirens'. Phoebe muttered "i'm so sorry," but Sagus ignored her and tried to start again.

"The mage wanted to escape, too. She said that if I helped her, she would teach me more magic. She swore to quadruple the number of spells I could do, and once I'd learned them, she would give me her life willingly. If it meant I could give her the **** she deserved and maybe learn something that could destroy Arakarin, I had to accept. We couldn't kill any of the sirens during the escape, of course. She claimed it was because it would scream and alert the others, but I believe it was because she was still affected by years of their magic. She broke my chains and we crept out, silently thanks to a spell of hers, getting onto some doomed old ship's lifeboat. When we got back to land, I discovered those sirens had been eating me for over a year. a year...!"

"...did you end up killing that mage," Sophie asked in a **** attempt to get everyone's mind off the horror.

"No," Sagus sighed. "She may not have been...through everything I had, but she was still a prisoner, **** to do things she knew were wrong. I hate her deeply, but she'd been tortured, as well. So, I let her go."

"That's pretty awful and I really do feel for you," Rebecca said, in a less stoic tone than usual. "But how do you know where this place is if you were down in the cargo hold and then in a trance before you got there?"

"The mage and I rowed back to Pacifique Havre," he explained. "I remember how far it was exactly, and in which direction. And besides, there are clues. The sirens would need a way to find that one island in the middle of the sea, some trail they can follow. This one," he said, indicating Phoebe with a slight tilt of his head. "claims she never found the place, which means the path has to be something she was never taught to look for. Between there and Pacifique Havre, I saw some tiny islands. Little spots of land or rocks just barely coming up above the ocean's surface, each of them with a magic aura pointing back toward...the place. I think if a siren does something with them, they'll point her in its direction."

"Singing," Phoebe chimed in, her excitement clashing with the somber mood at the table. She calmed herself and said "Only a siren can sing like a siren, so using song as a key would be the best way to keep other creatures from finding a siren stronghold."

"Obviously," Sagus almost sneered. "Now that you know how to find where the others are, would you be so kind as to bring us our meals so we can leave this town and you behind us?"

"What," Marianne exclaimed. "She can't go by herself! If there are that many sirens there, she'd never be able to sneak out with her sisters! Not without some kind of silencing spell, like you...used..."

"Marianne, no," Sagus said. "Even if the idea of helping this monster didn't sicken me, I'll be damned if I'd endanger any of you for her sake! We're not going with her!"

"Please, it's for her family!"

"No!"

Phoebe hadn't considered asking these strangers for anything. Even a tip seemed like an unreasonable request, after everything the man had been put through by her kind. Still, the woman in blue had a point. She wasn't that sneaky and if she tried to fight them all, she would end up dead or bred by captive humans. These four could give her an advantage. But how to could she ask a victim of sirens to go back to his own hell just to assist her? How could she convince them to do so?

"...are you still hunting for Arakarin," she asked. Sagus told her 'until either he dies, or I do'. "What if I swore to help you defeat him? I cannot do it for you, of course, nor can I put him under my power. But if my sisters and I are reunited, our song can affect even the Demon King of Tyren. I am certain of it. And...so long as my sisters and I are not among them, you may slay all the sirens you wish. I will not stop you. You can take **** twice over, and all I ask is for you to take part in a battle that should not last longer than an hour."