Samyan: Argue with your sister

"I charmed Auphrey because they were wrong! These guys are clearly harmless!" you try to convince her. "Harmless?? They set the bear free that attacked me!"

"You did forgive us for that", Artemis chimes in meekly from where he is sitting next to Mary-Lou, who is pale and just kind of staring into the air.

"See!!" You say more loud than necessary. "Also attacked is a strong word, you got a tiny scratch, don't be such a wuss!"

"They lied about where they are from! They were going to be *arrested*, and what's worse, they resisted arrest!"

You turn to the two again. "Is it true? Did you lie?" Artemis looks at you and shrugs helplessly. "I'm not allowed to say." Your eyes narrow. You're sure they're harmless, but how are you going to make Saya see that?

Surely casting Unseen Servant again will help you make your point. Saya didn't really compliment you the first time anyway, probably because Auphrey started trouble. You cast the spell but you can tell immediately that it didn't work. There's a pink sparkle and then nothing.

But Saya's eyes grow big with fear and anger. You've never seen her this way. Oh boy. She takes a deep breath, points to the door and screams: "OUT WITH ALL OF YOU! LITTLE SISTER I HAVE TOLERATED YOU IN MY HOUSE BUT YOU ARE CROSSING A LINE TODAY! NO, YOU ARE CROSSING TOO MANY LINES TODAY! OUT!!!"

Mary-Lou and Artemis leave immediately, and you go to your room and throw your things into a bag. Angry tears sit in the corners of your eyes as you grab your books, candles, crystals, money, travel clothes and some other things. Then you march out the door, past Saya who is standing there with crossed arms. But, you run into the arms of your new friends who have been outside for you. Of course they have. You get a group hug, your tears roll but with happiness now too, and you begin to think that you've been wanting to leave that boring, boring, boring house for a long time.

You conjure your circle of floatation. "Why did you fail me before?" you ask it. You toss your bag onto it and climb on too. Turns out that you can stand your bag up and it won't topple, so you've got a backrest too. "Not too bad," you think.

"Where off to now?" asks Artemis. "The monastery", you say. "It's getting dark, and travellers can stay at the hospital. They serve hot meals too, 3 copper for a bowl of soup."

Artemis: Stay the night at the Monastery

You arrive at the monastery without a hitch. It's a majestic building and looks well in order. The front door is open, but as you go in, it seems empty. Shouting hello yields no result. You all look at each other, and Mary-Lou seems to wake from his stupor somewhat. "Should we explore?" You ask, but you can tell that everyone's real tired so -- with Samyan's guidance -- you walk and float until you find the hospital wing. It seems hospitable enough, besides the part where all the candles are out and no other person is in sight.

You feel the urge to check for alternative exit routes. There is a door at the far end of the room, leading to the monastery gardens. And you can hear crickets outside, which calms you down somewhat.

"I can cast Alarm", Samyan informs, clearly she's also creeped out by the lack of people. "It's a spell that will alert us if anyone comes into this room while we sleep." "That's a good idea" you say and put down your backpack on a bed. These are clearly broad enough to house more than one person at a time, but since the room is empty, everyone can get their own bed. Or so you thought, but Mary-Lou lays his bag onto the same bed. "Are you okay?" you ask. He shrugs. "Don't want to be alone right now, is that okay?" You nod, hoping that you'll be able to sleep at all; sharing beds isn't really your thing but you don't say that. You each eat a ration. "This isn't how I imagined this vacation to go," your friend admits. You nod. "I didn't know what to expect but this isn't what. But hey, we made a new friend."

Samyan is barefeet, walking a big circle around your beds and half of the room while humming a melody. Once she closes the circle, it lights up in red for a heartbeat. Like an afterthought, she lights one of the monastery's candles in a wall niche. Samyan throws herself onto her chosen bed. "That's taken care of! We'll be safe tonight. If anyone crosses that circle, I'll be immediately awake. Oh yeah. Please do your business inside the circle, if necessary." You look at Mary-Lou, he looks at you, and Samyan rolls her eyes and raises her left hand.

A small amount of smokes comes out of her index finger and she sighs. "That's what happens when I try to show off. But look, over there in the corner, the pisspot. I made sure to include it in the circle." You look over to where she's pointing. Sure enough, there's a jar there. Medievial times, huh? Samyan seems to read your mind, becasue she adds "There's an outhouse obviously, the pot is just there for sick people who are to weak to walk that far. Hospitality includes treatment for the ill. Usually anyways..." she trails off and none of you want to continue on the topic of why this place is so eerily empty. You just have to trust that her magic will work like she says. "What's got you so upset?" she suddenly asks your friend Mary-Lou. "Or are you always this quiet?" He looks at her with indiscernible expression for a short while. "Not sure," he finally says. "Just been weird since we arrived at your house." She laugs. "Tell me about it! I feel like every minute I spend outside of there I gain back some of my soul." You all laugh. "And that cop" you say, "kind of a loser to be honest." She agrees and you go on "No wonder your sister likes them." Oh damn, you realize you probably just overstepped a boundary. But Samyan agrees more. "Oh my gods yes! A loser and a bore, the perfect match. Honestly, I shouldn't be sad that she kicked me out. Her loss really, and I finally get to be an adventurer!"

You're relieved that she didn't take it badly. Gaining trust, you say: "I think you can tell that we are kind of shitty at being adventurers." She nods. Ouch. "That's not an issue, that's what you've got me for! First thing tomorrow we are going to a tavern and see if there are any requests." "Or maybe we should start by figuring out this empty monastery," Mary-Lou says, and rummages in his travel backpack, whose fabric barely passes for linen. He gets out his smoking puch and fiddles with it. "Make sure you don't make light", you tell him. "We don't want to give ourselves away." He nods and starts crushing one of his yellow crystals into his pipe. "What's that?" asks Samyan. "My pipe." "I know, dummy. What's the yellow stuff? I've never seen anything like it before." "It's cristallized sulfur. I smoke it." says your friend. You somehow doubt that, you've seen him smoke it before and it smells nothing like rotten eggs. But what do you know? "Can I try some?" asks Samyan. "Definitely not. It would kill you." She frowns at him. "Just because I have an illness doesn't mean some smoke will kill me!" "That's not what I mean. I mean that it's a poison, I smoked it hoping to die, but it didn't work because I can't die. It would kill anyone else though. Believe me, I've seen it. The other prisoners at the mine used it to end their lives. But when I tried it, nothing happened. I tried again and again until I was addicted to it. I can't die." Samyan is quiet and looks at him with big eyes, then asks you "Is that true? He can't die?" You shrug helplessly. "That's what he says, why would he lie?" You both look at him now. He sighs and shows off the scar wrapping all the way around his neck, then rolls up his left sleeve to show the scar across the inside of his arm as well. "Believe me, I've tried."

Samyan seems to chew on it. "Is that why you reacted that way to Auphrey?" He nods and smiles. "I still think that was funny." You have to agree, it was pretty funny.

"You two are weird" says Samyan. "But so am I! We are going to be best friends forever!" "Hey!" You say. "Do we get a say in that?" "Of course not", Mary-Lou chuckles and lights his pipe.