#we open up the sun roof to make sure shit's not comin loose

[peace-andharmony]

Yeah it might be nice to be rich but then I wouldn't have the pleasure of seeing my husband pack our family car up like the Goofy Movie every time we go tent camping

[tabletopjourneys]

Session 31 Notes

We continue our journey in the Anesh desert, fight a few worms, find Perfection, and make plans to beat up the matricidal babies in town.

Alt Title: Tremors 8 - The D&D AU

@gher-bear​ @aradow​ @telurin​ @epimetala​

On this day we continue our journey across the Anesh desert, have a nice spot of lunch just outside the valley, and then in one fell swoop, discover exactly what Perfection’s problem is along with what those mole hills all over the desert were about. Somehow our camels all survive!

We kill a few giant worms, then sneak off from the remainder to check in on the town asap. There we find the town infested by an equally unrecognizable creature with only 3 remaining townsfolk all up on their roofs.

We get on a roof as well, use message to communicate with the others and hatch a plan.

In our pause we discover these new creatures are parthenogenic, two of them hawking up whole new babies ready to fight. Lovely.

(Read More)

Over the journey across the desert, we note that Rana and Diem have practically swapped roles with Rana energetic and smiley while Diem in their Tarma guise remains quiet and stoic.

Rana tells Edea all about the meteor and the detour she has planned that the rest of us don’t know about.

First morning there are more birds in distance but hard to see in the sun. It’s a quiet morning with meat stick breakfast on the go, good and early to make the most of the last hours of good travel time.

Eventually we see mesas and get close enough to also see that it’s the lip of a large basin.

The little valley below is more green than rest

Edea’s in good mood so she tells us about the surrounding area with Pebbles interjecting.

Mostly the whole area is made up of sandstone and limestone

Natural springs dotting the landscape ahead, no visible people, though Phi spots some buildings and glimmer of water.

Rana notices the road area has been widened for more traffic very recently

Tarma-Diem is too interested in storytime to do much talking (though they aren’t nearly as expressive under the Tarma guise)

We get just over the lip to the main area of the road close enough to the cliffs for shade and stop for real food (lunch).

Tarma-Diem summons the hut for this, much to Edea’s amusement (though she also partakes of the comfort). One of us (Rana? Phi? Lingers outside the hut for a bit because looking through transparent walls at the view just isn’t the same as seeing it unfiltered.

Then...breadsticks!

17 con check, I manage an hour of scribing alarm.

(”Big like hell underground monsters and they’re coming after you guys, they’re comin right now!”)

Up on camels again, we get in the valley and Phi notices a whispered thing as Tarma-Diem’s method acting fails to make them even reasonably perceptive.

Phi calls out and points at poofs of dust moving toward us but it goes away before anyone else sees it.

Phi: You guys didn’t see it?

Phi describes it as foof foof dust lol

Rana gets off the camel to perceive while feeling more connected through direct contact with the ground, but it doesn’t help. She definitely senses nothing in time to avoid getting grappled by two snake like things popping up out of the ground.

Another pair pop out near me and try to hook my camel, but Jadrie dances out of the way.

Edea stoneskins Pebbles

I stay on my camel.

Edea: Everyone stay off the ground!

I cast fly on my camel in response, it hovers about a foot off the ground and I’m able to steer it forward a little toward the rocks and away from the snakes, but not up.

Rana nature checks: These are not purple worms

Rana tries to polymorph one of the snakes into a mouse. It turns into a clinging mouse on her leg.

Rana: I have one, don’t touch it!

She tries to grab it by the tail. She nat 20 animal handles that shit to set the mouse on the ground and climb back on the camel. “One’s a mouse!”

Phi shoots at the furthest snake in front of her - one of the two that tried to snag Jadrie (since Rana said not to touch the one that’s a mouse now lol).

She does 7 dmg.

The one she shot and its nearby buddy both slink back into the ground, leaving loose earth where they were.

Phi runs the camel (east) in the opposite direction from Diem, and up another bit of rocky area but only gets animal handling of 4.

Phi’s camel gets a nat 20 on dex save when 3 pop up at her camel and it freaks out, then belatedly realizes why she was trying to make it a rock climber. Said camel manages to get up on the rock after all. One of the 3 has an arrow sticking out of it still, grasping blindly at the rocks trying to get her.

Pebbles moves himself and Edea up onto the rocks.

Ixayl’anu drives the elk toward the ones after Phi to try and take a stab at one of the worms that are still trying to get to Phi. She misses. 2nd swing hits for crit dmg 20. They all go underground.

Graboid mouse tries to bite the camel for 1 pt of damage.

Camel flings mouse away but it’s light and doesn’t take any damage, is thrown about 10-15 ft away, squeaking angrily.

Edea: “Get to the rocks!” 

Edea then casts silence on Rana’s area, just enough for Rana to get on a rock - Rana suddenly goes deaf, Edea motions her forward.

Rana rolls low on animal handling check, Rana slaps its side with spider climb and tries again.

Phi holds her action for next one’s appearance. Ixayl’anu also holds her action to the same end.

Mouse runs after last spot of sound, but freaks out just inside the silence circle and stops moving.

Whole huge graboid head comes out of the ground at Ixayl’anu.

15 to hit from Phi, it skitters off the hard armor plating of its head.

Ixayl’anu misses. Her 2nd attack succeeds - 6dmg

Creature attacks back - 16 dmg on Ixayl’anu directly, she rolls a nat 20 on her dex save. It let her go because she stabbed it. However, it does not completely retreat, withdraws only a tiny bit back.

Edea casts 5th level blight on the graboid next to Ixayl’anu. 48 pts necro dmg

It shudders and rests a little on the ground, too hurt to go under.

11 pts of eldritch blast from Tarma-Diem finishes it off, electrocuting it with prismatic lightning eldritch blast making it stiffen up and scream, shuddering and exploding all over Ixie.

Tarma-Diem to self: Dammit, I’m gonna be the one cleaning that up later…

Rana watches the mouse trying to figure out what to do. She can’t shout anything to anyone, so Rana has her fist raised to get attention while watching her mouse.

Phi is confused why Rana is looking away from the giant worm with her hand raised, but she also sees two more puffs in the distance, and Rana still has the mouse. Phi: Good job Diem! Two more over there (plus words I missed).

Tarma-Diem, nodding toward Edea: Pretty sure that was mostly Edea, but you’re welcome!

Pebbles passes his action.

Ixayl’anu charges up on her mount, Rana waving a frantic no, Ixayl’anu casts nature’s wrath, restraining the mouse in little tiny vines, Ixayl’anu sees it’s mouth opening up but doesn’t hear any of the angry squeaks. No one hear’s the mouse’s deadly anger. It is so hungry. But no one hears. No one cares. Edea has put up a censor blocking out all of its foul language.

Dex sav throw for Ixayl’anu’s elk as 3 new little guys pop up around her - 15: The elk is grappled by one, wrapped around its leg.

More vibrations are part of what Rana was trying to no no no about, to no avail.

Edea drops the silence and attempts to cast polymorph on the one on Ixayl’anu. It turns into a rat, still clinging to the elk’s leg.

I hold a toll the dead for any new emergence that has not been polymorphed: “What do we do now?!”

Edea: I think we found their problem.

Rana: What do we wanna do about the polymorphs?

Tarma-Diem: Well, Phi said there’s more out there.

Phi: Yeah, there’s more out that way (points vaguely at two spots south and east)

Rana holds erupting earth in that case.

Phi holds an arrow and then uses rat speak to say to snake ~hellooooo friend~ all menacing like.

The rat whips its head around to her and just screams at her.

Phi screams back at it.

Rana tries and fails to perceive a dirt cloud

Pebbles passes

Ixayl’anu tries to stab the rat twice since it’s still clinging to her - 8dmg, *whole worm pops up above ground* 

All held actions come into play.

Tarma-Diem: Holy shit that’s huge! *toll the dead for 12 dmg*

Rana casts erupting earth at it and does 8 dmg. Area in the 20 ft square becomes difficult terrain until cleared.

Phi shoots it, but it skitters off the head armor.

Ixayl’anu misses her 2nd swipe, the moving earth fucked it up. Ixayl’anu moves up on top a rock with her elk and bonus action casts shield of faith.

The graboid submerges in the freshly turned earth.

Mouse graboid bites at the vines and gets free. It huffs and looks at Ixayl’anu with all the fury of a no-longer-blind rage. 

Edea: If ya’ll get over here, I can hit us with pass without a trace so we can get out of here.

Rana: If you can get Diem, I’ll get Ixie and Phi - Phi get closer to Ixie!

Phi: I don’t think my camel can get there.

Rana casts pass without a trace on herself, which pops the mouse at full health above ground (concentration switched).

The submerged one notices her movements, but her camel rolls really well, notices the snake tongue and lifts it hoof up very slow, very gently sets foot back down  because Rana and camel’s goals are one now lol. Basically, that gif up at the top happens with camel toes instead of cowboy boots (yes I chose that wording on purpose. You’re welcome)

Rana slaps guidance on her camel with a pat, +4 to next dex roll as she gets in range to stealth up Ixayl’anu and Phi.

Ixayl’anu gets a 17 stealth to move closer to Rana.

Phi gets a whopping 35 stealth. Where did she go? We don’t know!

I got a 14 on my stealth, when my camel touches down it makes enough noise they both worms focus my direction. Tarma-Diem casts toll the dead on the one above ground and does 12 dmg, it dives away from them.

Rana’s head whips around, Tarma-Diem makes a shushing motion (like: I did it, but over there, away from us, keep going). Otherwise Tarma-Diem is actually taking all their cues from Edea and heading south with their camel.

("I don’t care what they’re doin, long as they’re doin it waaaay over there.”)

Edea quietly gestures us farther down the road, and falls back to be last in line. Rana takes point.

We move ahead quietly, keeping an eye out but nobody sees anything, despite Phi’s 26.

New stealth I do the worst at 14 (again). We later decide this was because I was too busy cleaning up smelly monster guck from Ixayl’anu.

We’re all distracted for the walk, except Phi, who notices disappearing cows in the distance and sends it message stone to us.

Rana is ever practical (this is literally ALL I wrote here lol - I think it’s referring to her not at all minding that they’re busy eating the cows instead of us?).

Tarma-Diem cantrip-messages back: I guess that’s why they’re leaving us alone.

Edea motions us to move a little faster as a result, seeing Phi’s motions.

Last stealth check my gentle whispers helped Jadrie get a 27 on her stealth this time around. Rana practically disappeared (nat 20). Phi got 32, Ixaylanu got 24.

Perception rolls coming into town, Rana and Tarma-Diem are too focused on sealthiness (AKA we’re too focused on looking at the ground)

Ixayl’anu notices this town is VERY quiet. (The townsfolk are wabbits?)

Phi: Woah, looks like some shit went down here…

Rana and I look around at those words and see the wreck of Perfection, blood spatters on walls, doors shoved in, buildings caving in, walkways shattered and more.

Human on roof, tries to quietly make hand gestures like what are you doing, get on a roof, off the ground (Later introduced as Lee Beck, a research student).

Edea casts wall of stone for all our mounts to theoretically keep them all safe, letting us know she’ll have to drop pass without a trace after we all get our mounts on the stone corral. 10ft high walls on either side so the mounts can get out. She concentrates for 10 minutes until it’s permanent.

Rana hung hamlet pouch off camels, phi copied that and told them to stay.

We follow rana into nearest building with door ajar and she sees a creature rummaging. Little flaps raise off the top of said creature’s head and it screams

Rana had her arms out to stop us from passing and slams the door shut.

3 thuds hit the door with echoed screams. Rana tries to hold it shut.

Phi tries to parkour up the building across the way. 22 to get up. She looks around a little from her new vantage point and sees 5 more behind her in the courtyard, other side of the building she parkoured up.

Phi lets us know and says that’s probably what that lady was motioning about, getting off the ground.

Meanwhile, one of the others on the other side of the door from Rana manages to break thru like heeeeeere’s Johnny from the shining, but can’t really open it’s mouth.

Edea reaches out and confuses it - it fails and is sitting there dazed and blocking the others.  

(”Everybody...get up on your roofs!”)

Ixayl’anu misty steps herself and rana to the roof with Phi. 

I cross to that same building and pull out my rope, make it tie off on the roof. Edea and I climb up and I slip it back into my pack as we duck down low.

2 of the original 3 scream again as they all bust through.

Their flaps raise and they scream one more time, spotting us. We got a 28 stealth from the second group on the other side of the building though, so they see nothing and don’t seem to be responding to the screams.

Rana gestures toward Tarma-Diem then the villager who was playing charades earlier. 

Tarma-Diem nods and pauses to sort out exactly what to say first about all this. 

Tarma-Diem to Charade Lady: Well...what the fuck do we do now? You can respond to this message.

Charade Lady: We don’t know they just showed up they don’t hear but big ones do, so try not to make too much noise.

I relay these messages

Rana: Why are we whispering?

Tarma-Diem: Because she also said the big ones might come back.

Through some back and forth messaging we establish that her name is Lee Beck (I don’t care where, we just do, okay?) and that we are indeed with the druid who’d been sent this way to answer a call for help. That we’ll take care of it and just need caught up to speed on everything that’s happened.

Lee Beck, together with the half orc female and male human on two other roofs (Val and Earl, respectively) drove big ones away with some explosives, staying behind to do so while the rest of the town got to safely up in the mountains, but  now they’re out of explosions and these new screaming guys just showed up.

I ask how long ago and how many. The rest of these exchanges are relayed piece meal to the group, but I didn’t record most of our chatter.

Lee: New ones are very recent, used to be only be four and we’ve counted and killed at least twice that many now.

Tarma-Diem: Where do they come from?

Lee: *exasperated* We don’t know they obvs look the same in the face but they’re different.

*We talk amongst ourselves about that, Phi suggests maybe each piece becomes a new one, maybe?*

Tarma-Diem to Lee: You’re sure when you killed them it wasn’t some sort of hydra situation?

Lee: Yeah we’re sure, the one’s we’ve killed have stayed dead.

We talk amongst ourselves again about just going for it vs. coming up with a plan, trying to figure out how many we’re up against, etc.

After much of this back and forth, Tarma-Diem to Lee: We’re gonna start a fight then over here, so if we shouldn’t...you should respond to this message.

Lee: Be careful to keep it quiet, the big ones are still around and they get smarter - learn from their mistakes, plus they’ll just wait us out, go off and eat cattle, come back.

We do a little bit more planning in response to this. We talk about whether or not we should try and lure them out of the town to avoid as much damage as possible to the remaining structures. How we’d even get out there though, whether or not we’d even make it very far or be able to draw out all of them without having to worry about attracting more of the big ones back into town.

Eventually I message Lee again asking about any better places to start the attack, stronger structures, whether or not, in her experience, she thinks luring them away from town would work.

She informs me she is just a researcher and the two guys behind her are just local handymen, but the person who lived there got swallowed whole and there’s not even a floor under our building any more. Overall though, without any more explosives, the three of them wouldn’t be of much help even if we all did gather on the same roof.

About this time, as Edea has been studying the group not occasionally shrieking at us, she gets our attention to tell us they’re parthenogenic. Two of the ones behind us had each hawked up a new baby, now smaller, but apparently just as capable as they forage around.

Tarma-Diem messages this back to Lee, just to keep her up to speed, just in case.

Lee: Lovely *she just sits down, completely done with this day*

Thursday the 28th for next session 6pm est

[aeneidpdf]

big sky country

chapter: 3/?

word count: 4.3k+

summary: they set out for Niagara Falls, and stop for lunch at Becket Quarry.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24394804/chapters/59282086

They got through the checkout line quickly, and then they were back in the van- Pete in the back, Ray and Art in the middle seats, and Abraham and Collie up front. Abraham fiddled with his phone, pulling up the directions to Niagara Falls while Collie popped in the first of the Johnny Cash CDs that Pete had bought.

It was the American IV: The Man Comes Around album. Johnny Cash’s voice came over the speakers, saying: "And I heard, as it were, the noise of thunder. One of the four beasts saying, 'Come and see.' and I saw, and behold a white horse."

“Great,” Abraham said. “A song about judgement day to start our trip. That’s not a bad sign at all.”

“It’s just a song,” Ray said.

“Ray’s right,” Pete added, lazing in the back row. “No need to worry yourself, Abe. Geez, good thing it wasn’t God’s Gonna Cut You Down or we never would’ve gotten this thing off the ground.”

In the side mirror, Art could see a hint of a grimace on Abraham’s face, but Collie was laughing and asking him to start the directions. Over top of the music, came the canned voice of the maps app: “Turn right to merge onto Maine Turnpike toward I-95. In 55 miles, keep left on I-95 South.”

Collie whistled low through his teeth. “Shit. Fifty-five miles.”

“Better get a move on!” It was Pete, a shit-eating grin on his face. “Lot more where that came from.”

Collie didn’t answer that, and they pulled out of the parking lot and merged onto the Maine Turnpike. Art didn’t quite know what he thought about the song, but he felt like he was on Abraham’s side. He didn’t practice much now, but he was raised Baptist, and his family had been heavily involved in the church down home in Louisiana, until they moved. They’d found a new church when they moved up to Maine. Art had been baptized in Highland Lake, just a thirty minute drive out of Portland, when he was eleven.

He had stood in the water that came up nearly to his armpits, his clothing floating loose around him and the marshy bottom of the lake swirling and tugging at his feet. It was a bright hot day in early May, but the water was cold, and the look in the minister’s eyes was serious. Art had been scared then. He wanted to turn tail and run back to his mother. But his mother and father and aunt and uncle were watching with bated breath, and his siblings were waiting on the shore, their shoes and socks shucked off and tossed aside. They were watching him too, and waiting for their turn. He was the oldest now; he had to be brave.

Art had then been dunked under the water and he resisted the urge to thrash against the strong hands that held him. The lake water wrapped around him and engulfed him like a coffin. He was drowning. He had forgotten to take a breath before the minister submerged him, and now he was drowning. He thought of another body, rotting in standing water, and bubbles expelled from his mouth in a mad burst as he let out a soundless scream. Finally, he was hauled up by the collar of his starched white dress shirt, and he came up breathless and temporarily blinded by the sun, while his mother cheered hysterically on the shore.

Thinking of it now still made him feel like he was going to be sick.

Even more than religion though, his life was ruled by superstition.

Superstitions were as sure as summer storms and waves of summer heat rising up from the cracked and melted asphalt. The whole south was steeped in superstition, and the Baker family was no exception. Superstition worked its way into the practices and customs of every season. On New Year’s, they ate black-eyed peas and collard greens for good luck and money. In fact, that was what they ate nearly all year round, because that was what they could afford.

The Baker children went around town with dimes strung around their necks to ward off the devil, and whenever his mother opened a new loaf of bread, she threw the first end slice in the garbage. “To keep money comin’ our way,” she explained when Art asked about it. Art watched, forlorn and hungry, as she tossed the bread into the garbage. Money never seemed to come their way.

In the summer, when the alligators came out of hibernation and the humidity floated off the wetlands and settled heavily over everything, Art was warned about alligators climbing out of the bayou and slithering under his house. Those meant there would be a death in the family soon. Art always took the stairs up and down the porch two at a time, frantic to get away from the monster hiding under the house, waiting for the perfect moment to snap at his ankles and drag him under.

There weren’t any alligators in Maine, but Art still sometimes dreamed of one, lying in wait for him, red eyes glowing out of the darkness. He shuddered imperceptibly at the thought.

Would a song ruin their whole trip? No, but a part of him still felt apprehensive.

Outside the window, South Portland disappeared, and they were on the Maine Turnpike, heading south. The song had changed, and Hurt was playing now. Over the van’s speaker system, Johnny Cash’s voice sang: “What have I become, my sweetest friend? Everyone I know goes away in the end.” The guitar melody built behind his voice in a way that made Art’s chest tighten. It rose in a crescendo and then disappeared as the next verse began.

“Have any of you heard the original of this song?” Ray asked.

From behind them, Pete answered, “Yeah. Nine Inch Nails. It’s good, but, you know, it’s not this.”

“I’d be fucking pissed if I wrote a song and then found out Johnny Cash did a cover of it,” Collie said.

Abraham laughed in the passenger seat. “Of course you’d be pissed.”

“Well, yeah! You write a song about some personal shit, and then Johnny Cash comes along and sings it and makes it a hundred times better. How would you feel?”

He thought for a moment and shrugged. “Shit, yeah. I guess I’d be kinda mad too.”

“You guys are thinking about it the wrong way,” Art said. “Imagine getting a call that Johnny Cash wants to record your song? That’d be exciting. That’d be an honor.”

He could see Collie looking at him in the rearview mirror, his eyes creased with his smile. “I guess that’s right.” It made Art smile too, and duck his head.

“It’s a good thing you’re on this thing with us, Art,” Abraham said, twisting around in his seat to face him. “It’s a good thing at least one of us isn’t an asshole.”

“Hey!” Pete protested. “Ray’s not an asshole.”

Ray snorted, and said, “Thanks, Pete.” Abraham twisted back around in his seat. The song changed. Art looked back out the window.

///

In a half hour, approximately forty miles into their journey, they passed a sign saying that there was a  toll plaza in four miles.

“Alright,” Collie said, turning the music down a few notches. “Who brought cash for tolls?” Silence answered him. Art had completely forgotten that they’d even need to pay tolls. “Jesus, nobody?”

“There’s a rest stop coming up on the right,” Abraham told him, reading the road signs as they zoomed past. “There’ll be an ATM there. We can take some cash out there.”

A couple miles down the road and they pulled into the rest stop. The parking lot was mostly empty as they all piled out of the minivan. The rest stop was a small building with a dramatically slanting roof and the front was mostly covered over with windows. Out front was a Smokey the Bear statue with a sign next to him proclaiming the fire danger in the area for today. The risk was low.

“I say we each take out $20,” Abraham suggested. “That should be good to start out, right?”

“I think so,” Ray said, looking like he was deep in thought. “After this, we’ve got a toll to get on the New Hampshire turnpike, and a shitton of them in Massachusetts. Once we’re west of New York, I have no clue.”

“Geez, you’re like a walking road map,” Pete said admiringly. Ray ducked his head. “We can spend whatever leftover cash we have on food and stuff.”

The group turned and headed towards the rest stop. Art followed, but Collie caught his arm and held him back. Art looked down at the hand and then into his friend’s face. Collie dropped his hand quickly.

“Art, if you want I can take out money for both of us,” he offered, his face flushed like he was embarrassed. “You don’t have to take out the $20 if you don’t want to.” Art heard the implication there. He meant: “if you can’t.”

Now it was Art’s turn to feel embarrassed. It brought him back to being a kid, and not being allowed to go to birthday parties because he couldn’t afford to rent the bowling shoes or the roller skates. It brought him back to eleventh grade, when they all got their driver’s licenses and started to go out to eat on the weekends and pass late nights crammed into diner booths. Pete had always pulled him aside and offered to pay his way for him. Pete always looked at him with a kind and earnest look in his eyes, and shame always rolled around in Art’s stomach like a hot coal.

He felt it now, rolling around in his stomach and pressing down on the back of his neck, forcing him to look down at his shoes. Collie was bouncing from one foot to the other, looking back at the rest stop every so often. The others were probably already crowded around the ATM, wondering what the hell was wrong with them.

“It’s alright, Collie. I can pay my own way. I have some money saved up,” he answered, finally looking back up at Collie. “Besides, it’s not like any of us have a ton of money.” Sickly he thought: there’s a big difference between being middle class and being poor. He knew that, and he knew Collie knew that. For a second, he thought Collie was going to say it, but mercifully, he didn’t. He just patted Art on the back, and the two of them walked across the parking lot to the rest stop.

///

Once they had finished at the rest stop, Collie had a modest stack of twenty dollar bills in his hand. The twisted the key in the ignition and the van rumbled to life. They pulled easily out onto the highway.

It was still only 9:30 in the morning, and the only traffic was huge semi-trucks carrying goods and produce across state lines. They rose up around the minivan on all sides, dwarfing it. Art figured the traffic would be heavier once they got closer to Boston. The route that Pete had devised had them driving within thirty miles of the city before veering off west into New York. Abraham’s phone estimated they wouldn’t reach Niagara Falls until 5:00 in the evening.

Their Johnny Cash CD had just restarted, and Abraham was shuffling through the other ones Pete had bought as Collie pulled up to the tollbooth. The toll only cost $3.00, and he handed the woman working in the booth a twenty with what looked like an apologetic smile. She gave him his change, the bar lifted, and they drove on.

“She probably thought I was a dick, paying with a twenty,” he mumbled to himself, sticking the change in his cup holder as he continued down I-95 South. Over the radio, Johnny Cash sang: “Whoever is unjust let him be unjust still. Whoever is righteous let him be righteous still. Whoever is filthy let him be filthy still. Listen to the words long written down, when the man comes around.” It was the song that had played when they first left the Target back in South Portland, the song that had made Abraham nervous. It made Art nervous, too. The upbeat guitar playing underneath it only served to remind him of his father, playing hymns on the back porch in Louisiana. The songs were always happy, but they said such horrible things.

He wondered if Abraham still thought the song was a bad sign. He wanted to ask him, but couldn’t bring himself to do it, in the car, in broad daylight. It seemed like the sort of thing where, if you admitted to it in the daylight, all the monsters and all the bad luck in the world would find you and strike you down. Better to say it in the dark, where you could hide. Art gulped- he guessed he was more superstitious than he thought.

Abraham ejected the CD, causing the music to cut out sharply. He put in the next CD, the American III: Solitary Man album. The first song on the album was I Won’t Back Down. A cover of a Tom Petty song. He noticed Collie was singing softly to himself. It made Art smile. He knew it was just the sort of song Collie would latch onto.

Ray had turned in his seat, and he and Pete had their heads together, putting their playlist together. Collie’s words in the Target that morning hadn’t deterred them.

“How much do y’all have so far?” Art asked, turning in his seat too to face them better.

“We’ve got like a hundred songs,” Ray answered. “All sorts of stuff.”

“Wow,” was Art’s only response.

“I think once we add a bit more we’ll be done,” Pete added. “We’re gonna be on the road for some ninety hours. Gotta be prepared.”

Art turned back around. Not for the first time, he wondered what exactly he had set into motion. Ninety hours on the road.

They crossed over a bridge, and beneath them the Piscataqua River lazed along. Some sailboats were gliding over the surface. Art wondered what it would be like, to lay on the deck on a sailboat, warming in the sun. Maybe his friends would be there too, casting their fishing lines over the side of the boat. Art decided that would be nice.

A sign posted on their right announced that they were entering New Hampshire.

“Look at that! We’re in New Hampshire!” he gasped out.

“New state!” Abe cheered, banging on the car dashboard.

“Maybe New Hampshire will be more to your liking, Parker,” Pete teased from the backseat.

Art was excited- it had been a long time since he’d crossed the Maine state line. They finished crossing the bridge, and the Maine Turnpike became the Blue Star Turnpike. The trip felt real in a way it hadn’t before. Art hadn’t left Maine since he was a kid, and now he was going to travel across the country. He looked around him, eagerly left and right, and took it all in.

After another twenty miles of driving, they came to another tollbooth. “Christ, again?” Collie exclaimed. “Fuck Maine, and fuck Maine’s roads.” They all laughed at his customary outburst.

“I think you mean New Hampshire?” Abe supplied.

“Yeah, fuck New Hampshire, too,” Collie grumbled.

“So… so far Parker hates 4% of states. Should we start placing bets on what that number’ll be by the end of the trip?” Pete asked.

Collie ignored him and gave the man at the tollbooth a few crumpled dollar bills. Then they were through.

“You really don’t know when to quit, do you?” Ray asked him fondly.

“Not at all,” Pete replied, and leaned back in his seat.

Art looked out the window.

///

They were in New Hampshire for only half an hour, and then they were crossing into Massachusetts. Another state to add to Art’s list. As they passed over the state line, Pete asked, in that fake earnest voice of his, “What do ya think of this one, Collie? Gonna add it to the list? Make it 6%?”

“You’re gonna get your stupid ass thrown out,” Art choked out between laughs.

“Art’s right, Pete. You’re getting yourself on my shit list,” Collie said.

“Who isn’t on your shit list?” Abraham asked.

“You know, Abe, you’re supposed to be on my side.”

“Hell, it’s fun to watch you get all red in the face.” Abraham grinned. Collie rolled his eyes but grinned too and kept on driving. They merged onto I-495 South, and then all the road signs began to point towards Boston.

“I was thinking we could stop and eat lunch around noon, and then switch drivers,” Pete said. His antagonistic streak seemed to be over, and he was back to examining the itinerary he’d put together for the trip.

“That sounds like a good idea,” Ray agreed.

“I like the sound of that,” Collie said.

“How you doin’ up there, Collie?” Art asked.

“Oh, I’m fine. Don’t worry about me,” he assured, rolling back his shoulders and stretching. “But I’ll be ready to switch two hours from now.”

///

They were mostly quiet after that, just singing along to the CD playing over the radio, until they were nearing Lawrence, Massachusetts. There was an exit leading onto I-93 South, which would take them into Boston.

“Collie, can we go to Boston?” Abraham asked, looking longingly out the window, as if he could see the city’s skyline from the highway, thirty miles away. “I’ve never been to Boston.”

“Who the fuck lives in Maine and hasn’t been to Boston?” Collie asked in disbelief. “I’m not even from here and I’ve fucking been to Boston.”

“Well, fuck you. I don’t have a car, dipshit,” Abe shot back.

“That’s a shitty excuse. Just take a Greyhound from Portland into Boston,” Collie replied. “You guys have been to Boston, right? Even you, Art?”

Ray and Pete nodded, but Art shook his head. “No, I’ve never been. Until this, I hadn’t even left Maine in like eight years.”

They all looked faintly surprised at this. “Jesus, what?” Collie asked incredulously. “I’ve failed the two of you as a friend,” he said to Art and Abraham. “Once we get back, I’m taking the two of you to Boston.”

Art liked the sound of that- exploring a new city with Abraham and Collie Parker. His world seemed so much bigger than it had this morning, so much bigger than his present in Maine and his past in Louisiana.

///

By the time noon rolled around, they were nearing Blandford, Massachusetts. Boston was over a hundred miles behind them. “Pull off here,” Abraham instructed, and Collie did, and they rolled into Blandford. The welcome sign said the population was 1,233.

“There’s a park around here that’s really pretty. We should eat there,” Ray said, looking intently at his phone screen. Collie asked for directions, and Ray gave them. After a few minutes of driving they pulled into the parking lot of Becket Quarry and Collie paid the parking attendant $10. They’d already spent nearly $20, and it had only been a few hours. That stack of twenties wasn’t stretching as far as Art thought it would.

They all got out of the van and crowded around the trunk, pulling sandwiches and water bottles out of the cooler Abraham had brought. Collie grabbed one of the packs of beef jerky out of a Target bag, and then they were locking up the van and heading down the trail.

It wasn’t a far walk to the quarry, and along the path and trees surrounded them, green and leafy and tall. They reached the end of the path, and came upon the quarry. It was beautiful- the surface of the water reflected the endless blue sky overhead, and large rock faces emerged from the water and towered over it, covered over with moss and bright green foliage. There were a few different groups sitting around the quarry, but it was mostly empty- plenty of room for them to spread out and eat their lunch.

Abraham climbed one of the smaller rock formations overlooking the water and set his water and sandwich down. “We should go swimming.”

The rest of the group looked eager, excited at the prospect, but Art hesitated. “How deep is it?” he asked.

“Well, it’s a quarry, so I think the most shallow spot will still be at least forty feet,” Ray answered.

“Forty feet,” Art repeated softly to himself. That was awfully deep. It would be easy to disappear in that water and never come up again. That old panic gripped him.

The rest of them were stripping down to their boxers to swim. Abraham dove in first, and then Pete jumped in, dragging Ray with him by his hands. Collie went next, doing a cannonball and splashing the three of them in the water.

Art wished he could follow, but he imagined jumping in and sinking down down down, away from the light. Instead he took off his shoes and socks and sat at the edge of the water, his legs under it up to his mid-calves. The water was cold, perfectly refreshing for a summer day.

A few feet away, Abraham was floating on his back, and Pete and Ray splashed at him, giggling to each other like conspirators. Collie was swimming laps around them, his tanned arms glinting in the sunlight. Show off, Art thought, and suppressed a secret smile.

It made Art happy to watch him, and it felt good to bask in the sun, to feel it on his arms and his legs. It was still early June, but the temperature must have climbed past eighty degrees. It had been humid in the forest, but by the water the air felt crisp and clean.

The sun flashed brilliantly off the surface of the water, casting his friends in a harsh glare. They looked like an old overexposed photograph, or a child’s crayon-colored dream come to life. This, he thought, is what summer is.

Collie noticed him sitting on the bank alone and swam over. “You coming in?” he asked. Art shook his head. “Can you not swim?”

“I can swim,” Art answered. “It’s just… it’s too deep.” He could only see a foot or two below the water’s surface. Below that, darkness straight down. He could see Collie’s arms as he tread water, but the rest of him was obscured by the quarry water. Pete, Ray, and Abraham were just floating heads, bobbing and laughing a dozen yards from shore.

“Oh.” Collie pushed his wet hair out of his face. “I get that.” He braced his hands on the rock and lifted himself up out of the water, sitting next to Art. Art’s shirt sleeve was wet from where Collie’s arm touched his.

“You don’t have to stop swimming on account of me,” he said softly.

“Oh, it’s not on account of you,” Collie answered. “We have to dry off and eat anyways. I don’t know about the rest of them, but I don’t want to drive around for another four hours in wet shorts.”

They sat in companionable silence for a minute, Collie kicking his legs and churning up water. The droplets seemed to catch fire in the afternoon sunlight. “What bothers you about the water?” Collie asked, looking over at him. The heat of Collie’s arm was still heavy against his arm, but neither of them moved away. Art’s face burned with the proximity.

“I can’t see the bottom. I can swim fine,” Art explained. “But I don’t like it when I can’t see the bottom.” He almost wanted to add that no one knew what was down there, lurking below the reach of the sun. But that was the stuff of nightmares, and he didn’t want to seem stupid.

“We’ll have to find you a swimming pool, then,” Collie replied.

Art fixed him with a look. “Are you making fun of me?”

“No, I’m not making fun of you. I’m trying to be nice. I don’t make fun of you, you know. At least not, like, seriously.” He had a faintly hurt look in his eyes, like this was something he really wanted to get across.

Art answered that look with a smile. “A swimming pool sounds nice, then.”

“Good,” Collie said simply. He got up and walked over to where his clothes were discarded, and started getting dressed. Art averted his eyes. He called out to the three in the water, “Come on and get out now! We gotta hit the road soon to keep on schedule!”

“Don’t be so lame!” Pete shouted back, in the middle of dunking Ray under the water. Ray pushed him away, laughing.

“Dumbass, it’s your schedule,” Collie answered, sitting back down and ripping open the pack of beef jerky. “Get over here and eat your sandwiches.” The three reluctantly swam over and pulled themselves out of water, instead eating their lunch and drying under the sun. Art left his perch on the edge of the rock and went to sit with them.

They ate their sandwiches and drank from their water bottles, warming themselves in the sun and keeping an eye on the time. When it hit 1:00 PM, Collie got up and said, “Time to go, guys. Pete, you’re driving.” He tossed the keys, and Pete caught them cleanly.

“Aye aye, captain.” Pete gave a mock salute and started getting dressed. “Ray can sit up front with me. We’ll debut our playlist.”

“Can’t wait,” Collie grumbled.

As they left, Art looked back at the quarry one more time, at the murky depths and the glare it cast on the rock formations surrounding it. Then, he turned around and followed his friends through the trees.

[queen-scribbles]

Bad for Business

Prompt Fill #30, Roll For It: Jailbreak! Edition for @pillarspromptsweekly I rolled Aloth and Sagani, Doemenels, and rope and poison for my elements.

It was good to see Defiance Bay was recovering from the riots, even if it was doing so slowly. It was also nice to be somewhere warmer than the fucking White March. A week since they left Stalwart and still the chill clung to her bones.

“Alright, so what all do we need to do while we’re here?” Tavi asked her group as they settled into one of the larger rooms at the Goose and Fox. “I don’t wanna think we’re done, get three hours out of the city, and then hear Oh shit I forgot...”

Her companions all chimed in with various things that needed doing--selling the shit they didn’t need, finishing up a few things they’d promised to help people with last time they were here, things they needed to buy.

“Alright, that’s a lot,” she muttered once they were all done, raking hair out of her face. “We should prob’ly split up, or we’ll be here a week. Keya, you, Kana, and Hiravias can stay here in Copperlane an’ handle the sellin’ and buyin’. I’ll take Aloth and Sagani an’ we’ll handle all those loose ends that need tyin’ up.”

Keya nodded. “Sure thing, Watcher.”

Tavi turned to say something to Sagani and found the dwarf grinning at her like Khellin’s cat the one and only time she’d gotten in the cream. “What?”

Sagani didn’t even try to look innocent. “I get to chaperone a date, huh? Make sure your kids behave yourselves?”

“It’s not a date!” Tavi argued, watching Aloth’s ears twitch and turn red. “If it was a date, all four of you would be goin’ to the fuckin’ market while we handled the loose ends, prob’ly place bets on whether or not I give him a hickey or some shit, an’ he’d be even more red than he is now.”

Aloth coughed almost sheepishly. “You’ve made your point, Tavi.”

She winced and sent him an apologetic smile.  “Sorry. Got carried away. Shall we?”

The two of them pretended not to notice the look Sagani sent Kana behind them as they exited the room.

xXx

Most of the loose ends they had to tie up were extremely easy, some simply stopping by the person who had initially asked to say they’d done as requested. The sun was starting towards setting as they made their way back to Copperlane by way of Brackenbury, since the route through First Fires was still clogged with debris from the animancy hearing riots. All three of them were wary, knowing Brackenbury had been the hardest hit and still wasn’t particularly safe. Given their heightened caution, it was a wonder Tavi didn’t simply eviscerate the raggedly clad woman who came bolting out of an alleyway behind the Charred Barrel and nearly ran into them.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” she panted, flicking a nervous glance at Tavi’s hands as they lingered near her sabre hilts. “I don’t mean no harm, I just... Are you the Watcher? From Caed Nua? I heard tales about you. Rumors. An’... well, my boy’s sick, see, some sorta soul ailment.” She ran shaking, boney hands through her ratty hair. “No one’s been able to do a blessed thing, but I was hopin’, since Watchers see souls an’ all... maybe you could help him?”

Tavi hesitated, but Aloth knew even before she nodded that of course she was going to help. The three of them followed the distraught woman through a maze of alleys and backstreets that made a sense of foreboding curl in Aloth’s gut. One Sagani shared, if her expression was anything to go by. And one that only increased when they reached the woman’s ramshackle house--close enough to Ondra’s Gift you could smell the salt water--and she pointed Tavi toward the stairs. “It’s prob’ly best if you go up alone. My Tristyn’s what might be called... excitable an’ I wouldn’t want him t’ hurt your friends. O-Or himself,” she added when Tavi opened her mouth to assure her they would be fine.

Tavi shot him a meaningful look. “Keep an ear out, city slicker?”

Aloth grabbed her wrist as she started to walk away. “Tavi, surely you realize this is likely a trap.”

“Oh, shit, yes,” Tavi snorted softly. “But on the chance it’s not, and there’s a kid who needs help, I’m goin’ up there. So keep an ear out, an’ if it is a trap, I’ll keep ‘em busy long enough for you an’ ‘Gani to make it up the stairs.” She kissed him on the cheek. “It’ll be fine.”

He had his doubts, but he did trust her, and so simply nodded and let go of her arm. Watching her climb the stairs was among the more anxious moments of his life, and he shook his head when the woman who’d brought them asked if he or Sagani wanted anything to drink. Itumaak didn’t seem too happy with the situation, either, shifting his weight from paw to paw and occasionally rumbling a low growl in his throat. Sagani nudged the fox with her foot, but he was undeterred.

Aloth knew the feeling.

There was a muffled thud from upstairs, followed by scuffling and then a loud, pained oath.

“Alo-!” Tavi’s shout was cut off abruptly, but it was enough for Aloth and Sagani to both surge toward the steps.

The ragged woman moved to stop them, her earlier cringing attitude turned to steely determination, and Sagani ducked under her outstretched arm to continue pounding up the stairs. The narrowness of the staircase prevented Aloth from from doing the same, and even as he tried(because Tavi needed him), the woman murmured something under her breath and thrust one hand toward him. A shock of pain shot through his mind, strong enough he staggered back a pace before recovering.

There was more noise of scuffling from upstairs and then Sagani yelling, “Aloth, they’re runnin’ with her!” followed by the window banging loudly.

His heart pounded, and when the woman--clearly a cipher from the purple light flickering around her hands--started toward him, Aloth slammed his grimoire into her chest without even pausing to think. She went sprawling backwards at the surge of magical energy, and slammed into the wall at an awkward angle. Aloth was already out the door, nearly tripping over Itumaak as the fox dashed past to the streets. He didn’t really care about the woman one way or the other so long as she wasn’t slowing him down. He cocked his head once he reached the street, able to hear but not see Sagani pursuing whoever had Tavi.

The rooftops, it hit him. The houses in this part of the city were so close together, you could travel from roof to roof as easily as walking (or running) down the street.

“This way!” Sagani’s voice floated down from somewhere up and to the left. Itumaak yelped and started running. Aloth wasn’t far behind.

It was tricky keeping up while also not running into things, but Sagani hollered updates whenever there was a change in direction. And Itumaak had a good sense for staying on their trail, probably due to his bond with Sagani.

Suddenly there was a loud clatter from up ahead, simultaneous with Sagani’s breathless, “Comin’ down!” By the time Aloth and Itumaak reached the location of the clamor, the thugs were vanishing around a corner and Sagani was climbing down the last stretch. “Go, I’ll catch up!”

Aloth didn’t waste the breath to point out he’d had no intention of stopping. He knew she could manage and had no desire to lose their quarry.

Unfortunately, said quarry knew the city better than they did. All it took was one corner rounded too slowly, and neither the thugs nor Tavi were anywhere to be found.

Aloth spun in a circle, breathing hard and fighting the urge to swear. “Gods damn it, where....” The corner led to a dead end, a small cul de sac faced by three dingy houses, none of which showed any sign of life.

“Dunno,” Sagani admitted, surveying the houses as she caught her breath. Itumaak paused next to her, looking up expectantly. “You wouldn’t happen to have somethin’ of Tavi’s with you, would ya?”

Aloth shook his head. “Not on me, no.” He scowled at the houses. “We can’t just give up...”

Even as Sagani rested a comforting hand on his arm and started to say something encouraging, Itumaak’s ears stiffened, then lay back, and he took an alert posture toward the rightmost house. “Who said anything about givin’ up?” She tossed the fox a small piece of jerky as a reward, and they approached the house with a balance of caution and speed. As they opened the front door, there was a creaking slam from further into the house very much like a trapdoor.

Sagani picked up speed, arrow already nocked on her bow, and moved through the house with the swiftness of a practiced hunter. Aloth wasn’t far behind, but still by the time he caught up she was prying open the trapdoor in question.  The faint sound of hurried--but not running--footsteps reached their ears and they shared a look.

“They think they lost us,” Sagani whispered.

“Well, let’s try not to disabuse them of that too quickly,” Aloth murmured, tugging a scrap of fabric from the door’s hinges as they made their way down the stairs. “Maybe we can actually catch them.”

Sagani grunted softly in agreement, her eyes lighting up at the sight of the fabric. “Ooh, gimme that.” Aloth handed it over without question and she let Itumaak sniff the part he hadn’t touched. The fox took off down the tunnel, paws near-silent against the dirt floor.

After several twists and turns and at least one fork that made Aloth very glad Sagani and Itumaak were there, never quite catching the group they pursued, there was the soft thud of feet up stairs. Aloth tensed, and would have picked up the pace, but Sagani put a hand on his arm. Wait, she mouthed, gesturing for Itumaak to stay as well. The fox didn’t seem to be anymore thrilled than Aloth, but both hung back as Sagani disappeared around the last corner. The seconds ticked by interminably slow, feeling like hours each, before a low whistle reached their ears. Itumaak’s twitched and he bolted toward the sound. Figuring that was the plan, Aloth followed.

The house this trapdoor opened into smelled overwhelmingly like sweat and booze. Cheap booze. Aloth wrinkled his nose as he looked for Sagani. 

“Over here.” She was crouched by one of the windows, peering out along the path the kidnappers had taken. Before Aloth could protest stopping, the dwarf held up one hand, a small scrap of parchment between two fingers. “One of ‘em dropped this. Prob’ly the same one who tore his pocket on the first trapdoor. They ain’t goin’ anywhere.”

“How do you know?” Aloth demanded, fear of losing them twisting his gut as he read the short note.

Medreth’s death is the last straw. The Watcher has cost us too much and it’s time she paid up. Take her to the madhouse. No one knows we use it yet, we’ll be undisturbed. A.D.

His head snapped up and he looked out the window at the building across the street. Or what was still standing of it. “Brackenbury Sanitarium.”

“Makes sense,” Sagani shrugged. “It had a reputation even before the riots, which I’m sure has only gotten worse since then, it’s almost completely destroyed above ground, has whole wards of cells-”

“Your point is made,” Aloth cut her off, queasy at the thought of Tavi locked in one of those cells, or the cages that dominated some of the below ground offices. “How do we get her out?”

“Well, I mean...” Sagani sighed, studying the broken facade of the Sanitarium.  “First off, I don’t think we have time to get the others. She pissed off a shadow-dwelling crime family enough they’re actually willin’ to move against someone as known as she is. I don’t think they’ll be patient. And this won’t be easy.” She pointed to the sanitarium. “If you look close, you can see the lookouts in the front rooms. An’ I bet they aren’t the only ones. We’ll hafta circle around and come from the side or the back. Prob’ly best if we try for the upper floor, too.”

“And how are you planning to get Itumaak up there as well?” Aloth asked dryly.

“Shit.” Sagani bit her lip, eyes darting around the room. “Guess he’ll hafta wait outside ‘til we make it to the ground floor...” She tugged a coil of rope free from a crate. “‘Cause I don’t relish his mood if we haul him up.”

“Yes, that’s probably unwise.” Aloth surveyed the ruined building. “How are we getting in the upper level?”

She flashed him a shit-eating grin. “I’m glad you asked.”

xXx

The reek of stale smoke dragged Tavi back toward consciousness. The throbbing pain in her shoulder finished the job. At first, when she opened her eyes and blinked at the dimly lit stone cell, she didn’t recognize where she was. But as she pushed off the cold floor with tightly bound hands, sending a fresh burst of pain through her probably-dislocated shoulder, she realized she recognized this cell. She’d been inside it, just not as her. As Uscgrim.

They squirreled me away in the fuckin’ sanitarium. Tavi shook her head. If she didn’t feel like her skull was doing time as a xaurip war drum she might have laughed at the irony.

“You know, Watcher, I thought it was going to be hard to get our hands on you, but even after sniffing out our trap, Mela says you still walked right into it.” A dark chuckle accentuated the words. “That takes a special kind of either idiocy or arrogance, both of which are rather deadly flaws. As you now see.”

“Gloat all you want,” Tavi shot back, voice rough. “All I’m gonna remember is that it took six of you copperfuckers ambushing me for you to get the upper hand.” She squinted toward the door and the dark haired man on the other side.  “Whoever the fuck you are.”

“Ah, see, Watcher, this is where some care regarding political factions would serve you well,” he said smoothly, deliberately stopping shy of an answer. “But you have cost my house too much, far too much. Danna alone was nearly worth making an example of you. But my father counseled temperance; you bested Danna in a fair fight, by all accounts. Her fiance, too.  But your deceiving and later killing Medreth was finally enough to persuade the old fool you were a threat to our dealings. And now I can exact repayment for all of your... disruptions.”

Tavi narrowed her eyes further. “Doemenels?” The flare for the dramatic was a dead giveaway. “Ah, the skulking ambush makes sense now.”

“Yes, my father prefers we act in the shadows for the more unsavory of our endeavors. To appear respectable. But down here I don’t have to worry about that.” He grinned. “I’ll have to thank my men for being so prompt.”

“Make sure you compensate the one I bit,” she snarked, mind racing. This was a fucking horrible spot for her to be in, especially if the thugs had managed to elude Aloth and Sagani. “And maybe tell him to wash his hands more often. Tasted like a fuckin’ gul.”

“I will be sure to pass along your critiques, seeing as you will soon be incapable of doing so.” His grin was nothing short of malicious.

Brisk footsteps approached, and a voice out of Tavi’s view said, “Your father requires your presence, sir.”

“Of course he does,” Doemenel sighed irritably. He looked back at Tavi. “We’ll have to settle accounts later, then.”

“Sure you wanna do that?” she goaded. “Bein’ linked to the disappearance of the Watcher of Caed Nua’s probably bad for business.”

Doemenel snorted. “No, bad for business is letting someone who’s hurt us as much as you have walk consequence free. People start to think they can do the same, and it complicates things. Besides,” he smiled, “you’re assuming it will be linked to us.”

“Doesn’t make a very good intimidation tactic otherwise,” Tavi muttered under her breath as he walked away. She heard him give muffled instructions--probably about her--to a couple of his men, and then there was silence. She tried moving her hands again, and pain shot through her shoulder. Without being able to see them, there wasn’t too much she could do.

Unless she found a sharp enough edge. Moving was awkward, and would probably make her shoulder hurt worse, but if she could find a stone in the walls or floor that hadn’t been worn smooth, maybe she could at least get her hands free. And that opened several possibilities for fighting back. Tavi grinned and started looking. How bad for business will it be if you have me and I escape?

xXx

Sagani’s plan was a good one, but it leaned far more heavily on luck than Aloth liked. It still worked. The rubble surrounding the sanitarium was in large enough chunks to provide a decent (literal) stepping stone to close some of the distance between the ground and the second floor. And this part of the sanitarium was wrecked enough they didn’t have to worry about lookouts. Nothing larger than a half-grown orlan could have made it into the destroyed chambers. Sagani instructed Itumaak to wait around back for them and laced her fingers together, looking at Aloth expectantly.

This was the part he didn’t like. It was also the part he couldn’t argue with. They didn’t know what waited upstairs, so he got to go first. A wizard would have better odds against multiple foes, at least that was Sagani’s reasoning. Aloth didn’t have any better ideas, so he refrained from pointing out it took time to cast spells. Instead he draped the loosely coiled rope over his shoulder so it hung diagonally across his chest, stepped on Sagani’s interlaced hands, and gingerly braced against the exterior wall as she boosted him up. A brief and decidedly graceless scrabble landed him through the hole in the wall on a grtty wood floor. Alone. A heavy ceiling beam had fallen across the door, barring entry or exit. Sighing in a mix of relief and frustration induced by that fact, Aloth uncoiled the rope and looked for somewhere to secure it. There were numerous pieces of heavy furniture to choose from, so that and helping Sagani up weren’t hard.

“You eatin’ enough?” she teased in an undertone as she bundled the rope back up and hung it off her quiver. “Wasn’t nearly as hard gettin’ you up here as I thought it would be.”

Aloth half-smiled and raised an eyebrow as he tied his hair back. There was too much to snag it on even just in this room; the rest of the place was probably worse. “I’m... not sure whether to be offended or not.”

“Then don’t be. We gotta get movin’,” Sagani shrugged, studying the beam that blocked their way and chewing her lip in thought.

“Any idea?” Aloth asked. He had a few spells that could have taken care of the beam, but all of them would make far too much noise.

“Yeah, actually,” Sagani nodded. “If long shots count as ideas.” She dug a vial out of a belt pouch. “Picked this up a few towns ‘fore I joined you lot. The most deadly poison in my inventory, the merchant claimed. Only problem, it looks so corrosive I’m afraid of what it’ll do to my arrows. So I’ve been savin’ it for somethin’ life or death.”

“This qualifies,” Aloth muttered, chewing a hangnail and trying not to think about Tavi. “Can’t hurt to try.”

“My thoughts exactly.” Sagani uncorked the vial and poured it over the beam. The liquid soaked into the wood, but didn’t seem t do much else. Both of them huffed in disappointment, but then Sagani kicked the end resting on the floor and the beam shifted at the corroded part. She grinned at Aloth. “Well...”

They each part an arm under part of the beam and rocked it back and forth, futher damaging the integrity of wood fibers already weakened by the corrosive agent.

“I think it’s a good thing you didn’t put that on your arrows,” Aloth whispered as he felt the weight of the beam shift and tightened his grip. Didn’t want it making too much noise when it snapped.

“Heh, yeah,” Sagani laughed softly. The beam finally broke, jagged splinters standing like forests on either end as they gingerly shifted it away from the door.

Aloth cautiously cracked the door open and peered into the hallway. He didn’t see anyone-

“Son of a moosefucker!” Sagani spat with quiet venom and he jerked his head back into the room.

“I... beg your pardon?” Tavi’s going to regret missing that one...

“Sorry.” Sagani winced. “Kallu’s been tellin’ me forever to watch my language,  ‘specially round our kids. Just... haven’t had a reminder in a while, I guess.”

“Do I want to know what happened?” he whispered, glancing out into the hall again. Still clear.

She shrugged. “Let’s just say Najuo may have overheard me tellin’ a joke ‘bout a Glamfellen youth with frostbite somewhere... sensitive.” She coughed. “Kids repeat everything. Kallu was not happy with me.”

“No, no, I meant just now.”

“Oh. Just jammed my thumb.” Sagani sucked on the sore digit and glared at the beam. “Nothin’ big.”

“Well, in that case, shall we move on?” Aloth said. “I can see the stairs, and there don’t appear to be any people to worry about on this floor.”

She nodded. “Let’s go.”

xXx

It was a singularly nerve-wracking experience creeping through a building that occasionally creaked and contained an unknown number of enemies. Still, they made it to the back door to retrieve Itumaak without much trouble. Getting down to the ward level, however, promised to be trickier.

Aside from the lookout hovering near the front end of the ruined foyer, two men--one human, one elven--sat at the top of the steps playing cards and occasionally taking a swig from a shared brown bottle. Despite the alcohol and the relaxed posture of all three, they were very aware of their surrounding.

No sneaking up on them, Aloth acknowledged grimly. How to remove them as a threat quietly and quickly so they didn’t raise a fuss was now the question. Sagani looked equally frustrated, and both of them sat thinking furiously for a minute.

Then it hit him. Fighting down a smug smile, Aloth flipped open his grimoire and paged toward the end of the collected spells. Where is it? He found what he sought and stopped fighting the smile. “If you can take care of the one by the front, I’ll deal with these two.”

Sagani smirked and nocked an arrow. “Consider it done.”

Aloth traced his fingers over the arcane symbols, silently mouthing the recently acquired spell for practice, then nodded to Sagani and strode from the room to cast it for real. He heard the quiet whistle of her arrow, the thump of a body hitting the floor, but was too focused on his own immense relief that he had properly judged the distance and the two men he was targeting froze stiff without a sound.

“Nice,” Sagani chuckled in an appreciative undertone. “Ain’t seen that one before.”

“I just learned it,” Aloth explained, wincing slightly as he watched her efficiently sit the throats of both guards. “From one of the grimoires we found in the Battery. Was that really necessary?”

“Unless that new spell of yours is permanent, yes,” she replied grimly. “I’m not takin’ any chances with the people who kidnapped Tavi.”

“Point,” he conceded, following her down the stairs. “Where do you think they’re keeping her?”

“As far from the stairs as possible.”

“I was afraid you were going to say that.” He really hadn’t wanted to think about how far into the wards they might have to go. The place had been unsettling on their first visit. Now it was worse. But they couldn’t leave Tavi in there, so for her sake he would endure.

There was no sign of guards in the researchers’ part of the floor. Aloth still gave Bellasege’s office a wide berth. Sagani shot him a sympathetic look as she ducked in to make sure the office was clear. She returned a few seconds later looking satisfied and carrying Tavi’s sabres, sheathed and bundled up in the belt.

“These’ll probably come in handy,” she whispered.

Aloth nodded as they continued forward. Hopefully. “I can take them,” he offered, and Sagani handed them over without a word. They found a guard in one of the other offices, and she dispatched this one as quickly as the ones upstairs.

Despite being underground, the patients’ ward did show signs of the riot’s destruction; strewn with rubble and smeared with dried bloodstains. The door that led to the hall between the main ward and the north ward was broken and jammed together, effectively blocking the way. Aloth and Sagani both hissed quiet curses before backtracking so they could loop down one of the side hallways and around to where they needed. A guard lounged against the doorway to the north ward, but Sagani took him out with a single well-placed arrow,

He jangled slightly as he dropped. Aloth held up a hand so Sagani would wait and felt around the dead man’s belt with his free hand until he found the keyring.

“This should make things easier,” he murmured, tucking them in his own belt as they stepped into the ward. Not that they were terribly complicated; the only cell with its door closed was the one that faced straight down the hallway. “Tavi?”

It wasn’t much more than a whisper, even though there were no more guards (that they knew of). It was still enough. She always had been sharp-eared.

“Aloth!” Tavi’s face appeared in the barred window of the cell, bruises and dried blood trailing across one cheek. Aloth tried not to dwell on the former occupant as he hurried to the door and started sorting through the keys to find the right one. Tavi hand curled around one of the bars, knuckles raw, as she watched. “I dunno whether to yell at you two for puttin’ yourselves in danger comin’ after me or crow that I knew you would, take that, bastard who thought kidnappin’ me would work out.”

“You can do both on the way out,” Aloth said, relieved smile stretching across his face as he found the proper key and fit it in the lock. “And we found your sabres as well.”

Tavi shook her head. “Not gonne do me much fuckin’ good at the moment, city slicker.”

“Why-” He cut himself off as the door swung open and he saw the way her arm was curled in protectively close to her side. The surge of anger curling in his chest must have shown on his face as well, because Tavi cupped her good hand along his jaw to make him look at her.

“Get me outta here,” she whispered fiercely, “an’ you or Iselmyr can rattle off everything you wanna do to these fuckers and I’ll nod along in whole-hearted agreement.”

“...Fine,” Aloth agreed begrudgingly. And then he caught sight of the ugly cuts that marred her wrists and the heels of her hands. “Tavi.”

“Those I did to myself,” she admitted. “Sawin’ though the fuckin’ rope. Seriously, Aloth, let’s go. I wanna get out of here before anyone finds whatever you two did to the guards.”

That was an excellent plan, and one he couldn’t argue, so Aloth simply nodded and firmly but gently grasped her hand in his as they headed down the hall. I’m not letting you out of my sight.

Tavi only made it a few steps before she hissed in pain. “Shit.” She shook her head when Aloth shot her a concerned look. “Think I broke a rib. Or two. I can--ow! Fucking shit--I can manage.”

Aloth didn’t contradict her, just pulled her closer so he could wrap his arm around her waist for added support. “I’m very glad you’re mostly alright, please don’t make it worse trying to be strong or some nonsense like that.”

She laughed and then winced, briefly leaning more against him. “Shit, Corfiser, don’t make me laugh right now.”

“Sorry.” They were drawing closer to the stairs, anyway, so silence was probably wise for more reasons than not causing her pain. (Though that on its own was plenty sufficient for him.) Much to their collective relief, there were no new arrivals when they made it up the stairs. Just the two dead guards, the petrification spell worn off and their bodies sprawled to the sides. Sagani shot Aloth a significant look, but didn’t say anything.

They headed for the back door. Yes, that came with higher odds of being caught, but there was no way Tavi could handle another flight of stairs, let alone navigate the rubble-cluttered second floor.

“We really need to move it,” Tavi hissed as they ducked under a partially fallen beam on the way to the staff entrance. “Someone in the Doemenel family is really fuckin’ pissed at me, and me escapin’--’specially hurt--is gonna be so very bad for business. He was gonna--ow!--make an example of me or some shit like that.”

Aloth thought of the note Sagani had found. “Abrecan?”

“Maybe?” Tavi shrugged vaguely. “All I know is he had the eyes of someone I don’t want anywhere near me unless I’m armed and uninjured.”

“Well, then, let’s go,” Sagani urged, pushing open the door. Itumaak bristled, but no one was lying in wait.

Aloth sighed in relief and felt Tavi relax as well, but they still put some distance between them and Brackenbury before truly letting their guard down.

“Can we... stop for a minute?” Tavi asked breathlessly.

“Of course.” Aloth helped her to one of the benches that dotted the streets. She sank onto it a little too quickly and he heard her whimper. “Tavi?”

“Mm.” A pained breath hissed between clenched teeth.

“Tavi.” He went to one knee in front of her, cupping her face in his hands so she’d look at him. “Is there anything you’re not telling us?”

She gave barest glimmer of a wry smile and shook her head. “Nah, city slicker. The shoulder-ribs injury combination just hurts like fuckin’ Hel, and I need a break.”

“Good.” He must have still looked worried, because she rested her good hand over one of his. “As I’ve said, I can’t...”

“I know.” She rested her forehead against his. “You didn’t.”

“Y’know, if you two wanna kiss without an audience, I can pretend I saw an interestin’ bird or somethin’,” Sagani interjected, voice rife with amusement.

“Shit, ‘Gani, I’ve never cared about audiences,” Tavi shot back, her hand moving to the back of Aloth’s neck and pulling him into a kiss. “Thanks for the rescue,” she whispered.

Aloth smiled. “You’re very welcome,” he murmured, before kissing her back.  “Sagani did help, you know. A lot.”

“Nice to be appreciated,” Sagani said glibly, tossing Itumaak a piece of jerky when he butted his head against her leg.

Tavi smirked, sitting upright once more. “I’ll appreciate you two even more if you get me the fuck back to Keya.”

“Right away,” Aloth nodded as he stood, helping her back to her feet and supporting her as they made their way back to Copperlane.

xXx

It took her awhile to get to sleep that night. The Doemenels were something of a power in the city, even more now with the duc dead, and Tavi couldn’t help worrying they would try to get her again and hurt her friends in the process. But the fatigue finally won, and she drifted off propped against several pillows to make it easier on her bruised-but-not-broken ribs. (Her shoulder hadn’t been actually dislocated, either, which was a huge relief.) Aloth had sat with her as she tried to get to sleep, fingers interwoven with hers, his thumb rubbing over the bandages Keya had wrapped around her hands. His presence was calming, and Tavi felt the nerves slowly uncoil at the steady cadence of his breathing.

She was safe. Her friends were safe. And the Goose and Fox was a good deal more public than that hovel they’d grabbed her from before. You can relax, Tavi. The voice was in her head, but sounded an awful lot like the wizard sitting with his arm around her shoulders.

It was also right, she conceded, shifting slightly to the side and curling up against Aloth. She fell asleep with his heartbeat in her ear and his hand still clasped with hers.