Chip, the squirrel who had previously tagged along with Ceria on the cathedral and sewer escapades, had retreated to a safe distance away from the rest of his elf-friend's round-ear-two-legs group that had tried to murder him.  If he was anything but a squirrel and could vow, he would have vowed never to be alone with anyone in that party except his pointy-eared friend elf.  Even then, maybe not the pointy-ears either.  

No, Chip had had just about human companionship for the time being.  His last act was to run after Ceria and reunite her with her round-ear-two-leg friends, the lot of whom he could still smell quite clearly.  As he tracked their pungent, city-dwelling odor along with his elvish friend's  more pleasant scent of crushed pine needles, back through the city to the warm-fire-lots-of-doors place where he had met the charming elf, he realized that the crushed pine needles scent extended far beyond the inn.  

After running through the city for what seemed like an eternity to a squirrel, he finally came to upon the door of a house.  As the first ray of dawn struck the door, the aforementioned elongated piece of wood opened to reveal his pointy-eared friend.  He squeaked in delight and bounded onto her shoulder, not even noticing the new bright blue bad-bad-hunting-tool strapped across her back.  Ceria's expression cheered up considerably as she beheld him.  "Chip! Hey little guy!"  Chip bristled on her shoulder, scratching her left cheek with a flex of his paw.  "Sorry," she winced.  "I mean, hey 'Destroyer of Acorns'!"  The squirrel nodded, satisfied, and chittered again at her.  Ceria's eyes widened.  "My friends went through a sewer tunnel in a boat?  I guess I'd better go wait for them.  Thank you Chip!  I've loved having you around.  Why don't you go back to your den, hmm?  You have food to go store."  She offered him a finger, which he latched on to and nibbled affectionately, while she lowered him to the ground. He ran off away from her intended direction of travel, and Ceria smiled as she watched him go.   

The elf did not deviate from her planned course of returning to the inn, but now she had the intent of returning to where the party had killed the gelatinous cube to wait and see if her companions were waiting for her or if there was another way she could reach them.  If the water was shallow enough, Ceria considered the possibility of wading through the icky muck to reach her friends, but if Chip said  he had seen them in a boat, they probably went further than one could feasibly walk.  Rather than further sully her own already revolting ripped and burned attire, she decided it would be best to merely wait in the sewers for awhile for them and made her way hence as fast as elvenly possible. 

As she ran, she tried to wipe the soot and other unholy grime from her face but only succeeded in smudging the dirt around a little.  She was fully aware that she looked like complete crap and she hated it. Already, Ephola had dirty handprints on it's mottled blue surface from where it had been handled.  She silently vowed that whenever she got to leave this accursed cityscape, there WOULD be time for her to find a stream or a hot spring to privately bath in.  


[hider=Mechanics/Summary]
[color=598527]- Ceria releases Chip back into the wild and he leaves for good. *sniffle*
- Even if Ceria had the prestidigitation cantrip, she would've utterly failed at making herself look presentable to anyone but the rest of the party at this point (and maybe not even them).  [/color]
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