Varrin squeezed Angelica's hand, trying to reassure her. “I'll do what I can, I promise... though for now all I can do is wait for Isabella to figure out where they went.” He sighed for the nth time that day. “As for killing one of the riders, it was thanks to Isabella's spell weakening his armor. Without that I'm not sure I would have been able to do any real damage, at least not without getting killed in return. I'll try and learn a bit more about the Wild Hunt later, to be better prepared for the next time I encounter them.” He paused. “Anyway, enough about that - getting worried sick won't help anyone. Did anything of interest happen while we were away?” He tried changing the subject.
Ard took note of Abigail's eyes, he would have to confront her about it eventually. He put his arm around her shoulder, 'I suppose we caught her in a foul mood. Come, it has been a long day.' The elf led the witch back to the alderman, to be shown where their hut was and to pay him to prepare a bath.
Lutz isn't disturbed by the trap being activated, the big torturer waking the next morning to the sounds of hustle and bustle from the street below his window.
Ashton nods, making a technically proficient lunge towards her, though one that isn't particularly difficult for her to evade or parry. Given that he's not very fast, she has time to examine his footwork, judging that he's a lot better than yesterday in that regard, but still just a tad off.
Opening the door to Samuel's office, she finds her husband with his hand over the crotch of another prostitute, a faint glow emanating from it as he casts some sort of spell. The young woman gives the sorcerer a kiss on the cheek, before dressing and walking out, leaving Samuel looking uncomfortable more than anything else, even before he looks up to see his wife. "Ah, dearest." He smiles. "How are you? Has our gangster stopped by yet?"
Angelica nods. "Yes, research them all you can, and get Isabella to as well. Just... Be careful." She squeezes his hand. "Get Madeline back, but don't get yourself, well..." She shakes her head, instead responding to the question. "Actually, your father left on business with some of the garrison, not too long after you and your sisters headed out. I don't know when he'll return, he didn't see fit to discuss it with me."
Abigail looks up at Ard with squinted eyes as he slips his arm around her, but relaxes against him nonetheless. They're lead to a hut on the other side of the village from the witcher's, a wooden bathtub within and two sleeping rolls within. Eventually, clean water is brought and put into the tub, and heated. It takes a while, but Ard judges that the water is hot enough.
Lutz gets up and goes down to eat breakfast. During it, he suggests his companion the alternative road he learned about. As they are talking he asks. "How was the service I bought yessterday?"
Ard stepped inside and looked around, 'Not exactly the finest lodgings but it will do.' He thanked whoever prepared the bath and gave them a golden coin for their service. Once the people preparing the bath were gone, Ard looked to Abigail as he slowly undid his enchanted clothes, 'Should we take turns in the bath... or would you care to join me?'
Mirellia was impressed that he had gotten better, or at least has started actually paying attention to the lessons. She parries his lunge, side stepping to gain some distance. "Very impressive, but your footwork still needs work." She then gives him some pointers, ready to parry, block, or evade his next attack.
The dwarf agrees with his idea, guessing that even if smugglers are using the route and object to their presence, they'll be easier to deal with than guardsmen, bandits or monsters. The dwarf chuckles. "Bought? What, you mean you paid for the girl to come to my room?" He growls, though he's clearly not all that angry. "Bloody maid made me pay her for her 'services'." Shaking his head, he answers. "Still, though, she was pretty good. I like a woman with a bit of meat on her bones. Not as lively as I'd prefer, though. I think you wore her out."
The servants accept gratefully, before leaving the elf and witch alone. Abigail looks casually at the elf's body, and shrugs. "It's up to you. I don't mind sharing, though if you'd prefer privacy, I can wait."
Following her advice, Ashton launches a flurry of attacks aimed at overwhelming his mother's defence. It's still clumsy and easy for Mirellia to neutralise, but she realises that for the first time she's having to actually put some effort into fending off her son. Ashton then tries a feint attack, pretending to slash from the right, before launching his real attack from the left. His technique is fine, but Mirellia notes that he does a poor job of selling his feint, and so she sees through the deception.
'Join me then. I would loathe for you to wait outside and then only have dirty and lukewarm water to bathe in,' the elf chuckled and disrobed completely, revealing his quite muscular body. He stepped into the tub and closed his eyes, letting out a sight of relief.
“I'll be careful, I promise,” Varrin reassured his mother. “Isabella retreated to her lab. She seemed to be blaming herself for what happened, so she's probably trying to figure out where they took Madeline. I might check on her later, but for the moment I think it best to leave her alone. I'll use the time to do some reading – we must have at least a few books that mention them...” he paused to catch his breath. “Well, at least I don't have to explain to father what happened to Maddie. With some luck she'll be back before he returns. At least I hope so.” He gave an encouraging smile as he squeezed Angelica's hand again. “Anyway, let me know if there's anything I can do for you. And try not to worry too much – I know it won't be possible to not worry at all.”
Luckily for him, the water temperature is just right to soothe his tired muscles, and is a pleasant change from the muck of the swamp. Abigail nods, relinquishing herself of her dress, revealing a lithe and surprisingly athletic body, with moderately sized but perky breasts, and a round ass. The witch slides into the water next to him, giving a relieved groan. "Ahh, that's better." She chuckles. "Wait, so my options were letting you go first, or getting in the bath with you? What happened to the gentlemanly act from before? You didn't think to offer the lady the first go?" She grins and relaxes in the tub, and he feels her feet touch his as she stretches her legs.
Seeing through his feint attack, Mirellia parries his strike. Before thrusting her left hand towards him, aiming to use her palm to hit his forehead. "Too obvious. Your feint attack had too many tells." She sighed, "But, I can see your offense has improved. Not, let's see your defense." She sheathes her Gwyhyr, opting to use a wooden training sword this time. "Now then, if you can remain standing after ten hits... I don't mind giving you another reward." She said in a stern tone, This is just to motivate him, nothing more. She thought to herself, as she waited for him to get in position. Before lunging at him, easily breaking through his guard. And all ten strikes land, but not on any of his vitals.
"He'll find out that she was gone, eventually, but we'll just say that Madeline went on a bender or something, so he doesn't give you trouble. I know how uncharitable he can be." She sighs, leaning against his chest. "I don't need anything but my children safe and sound."
Ard chuckled, rubbing his sore neck, 'Of course I did think of it for a moment, but you might have accepted that offer.' He opened his eyes and looked at her from the side, smiling, 'And I much prefer to have a nice hot bath and some pleasant conversation. We should have brought some snacks and drink with us. And there was something I wanted to ask you.' The elf rubbed the grime off his skin, continuing to talk with the witch, 'There is more to you than meets the eye, is there not? I saw a glimpse of it at the vatt'ghern's hut. Who are you really, Abigail?'
“As a matter of fact, he has.” She recites the information she learned learned. You’re going to want to get this all down.” Leaving out exactly how she got his hair but divulges in her recount the best she could.
