Child of Ember - Chapter 3

You come across a strange looking edifice, a hybrid of ship and fish in appearance, it is lit brightly and music spills from within along with the scents of fresh stew that has your mouths watering. A single bouncer stands at the mouth taking a door fee. The building looks as though it will swallow him in any moment.

Dea, accustomed to such things, feels suddenly at home with a building that looks like a fish.

Celestia follows the others through the crowd to the fish-shaped building. It looks odd to her and she studies the outside to see if there are any features or distinquishing marks that are unusual.

Dea's face lights up at the sight, and she walks straight past the other tavern owner's stall, towards the illuminated doorway of the fish-building. "This", she points out to her companions, "looks so much better a place. Almost like home. We can surely find what we want in here." She trods up to the bouncer, nods at him as if in acknowledgement, then proceeds to go inside.

"Sorry, there iz uh dor fee." he says extending a meaty arm to block your passage.

Dea stop in her tracks, slightly baffled. She opens her mouth to protest, but then catches the bouncer's eye, and sighs. "I am a Maiden of Vesanis.", she tediously explains. "I have right of passage."
But it occurs to her that if the oaf did not recognize her status when she approached, he will probably not be impressed by words either. She sighs.
"You are unenlightened, hmm? Tell me your fee, doorman. I will pay for me and my two friends."

"One coppa fur each o'yuz."

At the sound of the door man asking for an entrance fee, Celestia's cloak bellows out a bit and then her hand appears with some coins in it. She waits to see if she needs to pay for herself or if someone else is going to pay. She also looks nervously at the crowd in outside.

After sifting through the coins, in her purse, she finally dregs up three copper coins, dropping them in the bouncer's hand. An elvish face grins madly from the coins' surface.
"They are good coinage", she says as the bouncer curiously inspects them.
She turns to her companions.
"Let's see what this place offers."

Natacha suddenly comes to the fore. There seems to be a sharp glint to her eye: "I'm capable of paying for my self, thank you." She plucks a purse from her side and start sorting through the coins inside. By the sound of it the purse isn't exactly bursting with money. Meanwhile the white owl on her shoulder is watching the fish shaped house with something bordering interest.
Natacha hands the man a copper piece.

"And very independent you are, too." laughs Dea. "I was too quick to judge."
With that, she takes the coin from Natascha's hand, holding it into the light.
"Odd coinage", she mutters. "Why does it have a cat on its face?"
She drops the coin in the man's outstretched hand, and walsk inside, not bothering to retrieve the excess fee.

Each of you pay your coin and enter the tavern. From the looks of it it is actually the converted cargo hold of a ship, though how such a ship came to be so far in land is hard to imagine.
Though the place is bustling with activity, there are a few spots open, some near a platform the seems to serve as a stage, others closer to the bar.
Trophies litter the walls, from the large head of a strange reptilian creature, to a creature seemingly a single eye with batwings preserved in a large case filled with yellow fluids. But strangest of all is the mummified body of a squid headed monster mounted above the hearth. Its pale lavender skin is shriveled to its bony frame, its four webbed, clawed fingers reach out menacingly, yet do not move. Four tentacles spread out from a beak like mouth, and empty eye sockets stare out in menace. Below it is a slightly corroded plaque that reads: DEMON OF THE DEPTHS.

Natacha studies the creature with intense interest. Her owl has flown up to one of the rafters under the ceiling. It sleeps.

Dea studies the creature for a few moments, than smiles, as if the alienness of the thing satisfies her.
"Let us take a place here, near the platform, where it is quiet? We can have some drinks... and get acquinted."
She nods to Natacha. "I gather you would like to pay your drinks by yourself."

Natacha nods in answer.

Turning to Celestia, she continues "...but I am sure you will accept a refreshment from my hand. You seem a bit lost."
She settles down in one of the chairs near the platform, glancing around for someone to serve them.
"Let me introduce myself to you.
I am from Abdok in Vechor, a country a long way away from here. I serve there as a Maiden of Vesanis.
I think you would call us an order, and the maidens are like the priestesses you may be familiar with, though I doubt you would fully comprehend our place in society.
I have only recently arrived. I am on a political mission, to gather information and alliances on behalf of my... " here her voice faulters "..country..." There is a odd waver in her voice, and it seems almost certain that she is not telling the whole truth.
She sighs, and continues, in normal voice "...on behalf of me and my order, actually."

Natacha nods to the 'E' on Dea's forehead: "Are you a follower of Ezra then?" she asks.

"I do not follow anyone. Not in the way your priests would, anyway.
We are the Maidens of Vesanis. Vesanis, in our language, means madness.
We have learned from the land, and gain our power from the illuminated state we have attained through our comprehension of the powers that have formed it.
We acknowledge the gods and goddesses, as we acknowledge the walls of Vesanis and the divinity of Easan, our king, who brands us with his sigil."
She touches the seal on her forehead, momentarily lost in thought, before she continues.
"But we do not worship them, and all that we follow is our own path, as it paves a road through the insanity of time."
She smiles softly. "You might call it more a philosophy than a religion. We call it a Path.
Now, let's order, and then it's time for you to tell us a bit more about yourself."

"Maidens of Madness..." Natacha mumbles to herself. "Well that certainly has an ominous ring to it." She smiles and locks eyes with Dea for a long moment, studying her. Breaking it she says: "Well my name is Natacha... Natacha the Marvelous on the stage. I've been traveling with a carnival for a while you see. Done some minor slight of hands there. Illusions and such.
But now... Now, I've parted ways with them. Thus I am currently on my own and searching for travel companions..." Natacha looks from Dea to Celestia and back again. "Going nowhere in particular. But there is some safety in numbers and the world isn't a safe place for a lone woman. Or man for that matter..." She looks questioning at you: "Are you likewise searching for someone to travel with?"

"Um.. I am not lost. Just kind of in shock at being some place that I thought existed in the back of my mind. With some of my past experiences, I am apprehensive about being in a big city and in a crowd." Celestia paused and looked around the room. She dropped her voice and continued "Since you both seem different that the common folk found around here, I am willing to trust you and travel with you. My name is Celestia."

So you wish to travel... but you don't know where to? Ah... wanderlust. Yes, I can still feel that in my blood. However.."
Dea leans forward to het companions.
"I did not come to Richemulot just to leave in a huf. I am here to study your political system. The lands I have travelled through to get here were all ruled by tirants, squabling idiots, and powerhungry men.
In my homeland, women are not more than furniture, unless they have the call and join the house of maidens. This land is the first I encounter where women have a strong position, and whose government matches that of my own - in that there is none.
If I can make some alliances here, maybe arrange some trade contracts, I may bring back influences that would better the position of women in my land significantly.
I would like to travel with you. You're pasts are full of shadows, and your futures filled with mists, and there I can see a Path that I must follow.
But if you do not have a destination in mind, I would like to stay in this land for a while so I can make alliances and contacts. If you like to wander, we could travel to the city up north, where I heard lives one of the more powerful merchant families - one headed by women - called Renier."

Natacha shrugs: "It matters not to me where we go. What I seek may as far as I currently know be found here as elsewhere. But perhaps you should ask Celestia about her destination?" Natacha turns towards Celestia with an unspoken question in her eys.

Celestia looks at Dea and Natacha. "I have no place specific that I wanted to go." She pauses and then decides to continue. "I was just going .... Away. Right now I am just trying to get my bearings. The only name that stands out in my confusion is Barovia."

"Barovia? I passed that country on my travels. Cold, and mountainous. The people are suspicious of strangers and unfriendly. I would not advise visiting there, especially if you are unfamiliar with the area.
Hmmm. You did not tell us where you came from. If you are trying to get away from something, which is your own right, it might help to know what you are running from. Then again, it is your right to be silent about it. Still, since you would enjoy our companionship and aide, do you mind tell us the name of your home town?"

Looking around the Flying Fish, Celestia leans closer to her companions and talks loud enough so that only they can hear. "I know that walls in places like these have ears. What I have to say, I prefer the walls don't repeat. Do you think that we could find someplace with more privacy than here?"

"We have a saying in Abdok: 'The louder you scream, the less people listen'. I doubt anyone here would pay the slightest bit attention to you... except for reasons of a more animal nature, perhaps. But sure. If you do not feel comfortable, we can go somewhere else, or find some private place to talk."
With that, Dea rises from her seat, dropping a few coins on the table as payment for the drinks.
"Let us seek a place of quiet then. We can return here later. Do you have a suggestion where to go? We can try the inn where I have my room. It's only a few blocks from here. It's quiet but the room is rather small. Everything else was booked. Where do you stay?"

"I have no place to stay. Until I arrived in this town, I was sleeping in the wilds. Your room sounds fine to me. I will follow you" replied Celestia.

Natacha's eyes lingerers for long moments at the "Demon of the Depths". With something resembling regret she arises to follow the others: "Ella" she calls out softly and the owl glides down from the beam under the ceiling startling a serving maid in midair. "Hey, wait for me" she says as she catches up. You hear her mumble to herself: "Yes... I think that I would like to come back later. Interesting..."

Dea nods, leading her companions through the intensifying throng of people that populate the festival. After several blocks they finally break through the mass. There are still a lot of people on the street, but there are less stalls about here, and the frenzy of the festival now lies behind them. She points out a small building. A pool of light illuminates the open door, and the sound of conversation and someone playing a lute drifts out into the street.
"That's the place. It's pretty quiet, comparitively speaking. At least you can leave your baggage here."