[While on a rescue mission gone crazed, a holy warrior and a rogue fight bandits, demons, and the urge to rip each other's clothes off.]
The mission, rescuing a princess, could be going better.
Séa is an earnest paladin, honest and gullible. Tash is...
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With the sun still well up, the party found a gully with running water. The mare and the gelding drank, nibbled grass, and left piles of droppings. Séa and Tash compared their personal arsenals. Each of Tash's implements of destruction had its own short history. Tash's saber had only been lent to her, but its owner perished before claiming it again. One of her daggers shone iridescently. "Where did that come from?" Séa said.
"Under the sea," Tash said. "Somehow, merfolk make them from giant clams."
I'm probably staring. But it gleams in rainbow colors. "Golly!"
"It was a gift from a pod of mer." A wry half-smile tilted the half-elf's almond-shaped face. "Their gratitude was misplaced, but it would have been impolite to refuse it."
What? Merfolk? "I want to hear—" Séa began.
"Maybe later." Tash's face closed tight.
Tash's elegant shortbow was clearly of elven manufacture, but she declined to speak of it. Séa dared not ask about a device consisting of a wire strung between two handles.
In contrast, Priory hand-me-downs comprised all of Séa's gear. She could name the various monks who had previously used parts of her armor. She laid a blessing upon her businesslike vaned mace once each day. Séa's warbow dwarfed Tash's shortbow. "It puts some power behind the arrows," Séa said.
"Mine's quick and accurate."
Off to one side, Ghomarck hunched over and muttered incantations to himself. Despite the occasional flare of magelight from his weaving hands, the women ignored him. Until, that is, he pursed his lips and emitted a piercing glissando of a whistle. "This key is magical!"
"I thought it might be," Tash said. "If you're done with it, hand it back. If luck is with me, I will find the lock it fits. Someday."
Séa raised a finger. "No stealing, please."
Tash patted the rounded metal that covered Séa's knee. Sweetly, she said, "Now, now, did I say I would take anything?"
She answered me with a question. The paladin's suspicion probably diffused to her face.
The rogue laughed merrily. "You're right. I probably would. But, just imagine, what if our red Mevian is a thief himself? What if I found only items that belonged to other people?"
"That would be different," Séa said. "And more complicated."
Ghomarck handed the key to Tash. Its head, shaft, and bit were of the usual skeleton key shape, but its lacy bow showed clever craftsmanship. The fancy metalwork outlined the shape of a beetle, and every bit of it gleamed. "Here. It carries magic, but I cannot divine the details of its enchantment. Let us not tarry. I don't want to be stuck in the wilderness come nightfall. Millage is over that ridge. If we leave the path and go straight over, we'll avoid the road and its watch tower."
