Sylvia could feel a slight blush rise in her cheeks at the mention of her being a foreigner and not knowing much because of it. Apparently it was that obvious. Still, she wasn't going to complain about it, and she listened as Shor spoke highly of the Duke, but knew little of the Senaschal. The fact that he was the third Senaschal was concerning and the previous Senaschal was hung for treason. Sylvia was glad to hear Aisha's candid remarks, not only because it shed a little more light, but it also aligned with her own feelings that she had thus far: The Duke may not be corrupt, but he may be manipulated by someone who is...

At that thought, she glanced towards Pylia to see if she could see her expression in response to Aisha's words. Sylvia did recall how Pylia seemed to believe that the Duke only cared to rest on his laurels then go and fight a dragon if it returned.

Sylvia had mixed feelings on Aisha's comment on the leader only being led by the people, but she kept silent on that. She wanted to keep listening to Aisha's rant, but the market crowds were deafening. In the end, Shor advised her on how not to offend the Duke and Senaschal, and she answered him, "Thank you, Shor. That will definitely help," She then looked to Aisha, and she told her, "And thank you for your candid answer, Aisha,"

She then bid them a good-bye for now, "We'll be heading back to the Silver Stag for now. Hope to see you tonight at the party!" She then started heading back to the Silver Stag.

....When they get back, Sylvia was going to start that discussion she wanted to have with Pylia.

With a wave farewell, the group split, with Shor and Aisha heading towards the castle while you and your friends went back to the Silver Stag. It was as busy as ever and even the hostess was helping in the kitchen as large families came in to dine, workers came for lunch, and even a few warrior types seem to stop by to rest or rent a room. Upon returning to your room Shortfang was the first to go into the bathroom to do his business, and Buddy stood by his usual spot at the door. Pylia went to her bed, sitting down to take off her armor and allow her body to breath easy without the weight of plate. "Ah, I am never going to get used to wearing armor like that. Ugh. Maybe I can buy something lighter on my shoulders... Oh by the way Sylvia, let me treat your wounds. The air down there was foul, and I don't want any of our injuries to get infected. And your clothes are ruined again... Well at least these are your spare clothes."

Sylvia let out a sigh as soon as they reached the room. She listened to Pylia as she took off the armor and spoke. She mentally noted to buy lighter armor for Pylia when they go shopping for gear. She answered her friend when she offered to heal her, "Ah, thank you. Yeah...I figured today wasn't a good day to wear the fancier dress from Cassari. That might be better worn when we go to see the Duke,"

While Pylia would start tending to her wounds, Sylvia would ask, "Speaking of the Duke...what did you think, Pylia? Regarding what Shor and Aisha said about the Duke and Senaschal,"

She was not only curious, but she also wanted to make sure Pylia is in a conversational mood so that it would be easier to start the discussion regarding her meeting with the skeleton.

Pylia would break out her healing kit, applying the stingy bitter smelling medicine to your cuts and wounds. “Well... You already know how I feel about the Duke. Personally, I don’t think he’s being manipulated by others like Aisha says. I think he knows very well that others are trying to control him, and he uses that to his advantage so if anything goes wrong, it’ll be someone else’s problem.” Pylia says with a flat tone as she begsun to bandage you up.

“I’ve... Heard about how he does it. Put the clues together. He’s the type of leader who would claim his followers accomplishments but throw them aside when they fail. Honestly I don’t even think he truly skew the Black Dragon. At best he helped slay the dragon. But I think he is stealing the credit from the true hero, one who might’ve died defeating the dragon, so the duke took credit for it.” Pylia seemed to say these things as if she was reporting factual information, even though she doesn’t actually have proof. “Not to mention some of his other policies he’s passed that benefits no one but himself and his interests. Disbanding the navy in order to centralize trade in his city instead of other coastal towns like Cassari for example.”

After finally finishing with your injuries Pylia began to mend your clothes. “But that’s just politics. No need to concern yourself with that, unless you intend to speak as some sort of civil leader! Which... You might. You are here to represent Cassari after all, not to mention your promise with the kobolds. You’ve taken quite a bit of responsibility for a newcomer and stranger to these lands.”

So...Pylia still suspected the Duke to be the corrupted apple among the bunch. She noted Pylia's flat tone and how she seemed to be reporting facts despite that she didn't have proof. She muttered with a raised eyebrow, "Is that so...?" She wondered quietly if Pylia actually believed what she said, or if she had been told to believe that.

She answered Pylia rubbing the back of her head, "I'm just a messenger for Chief Arduo and the rest of Cassari. I wouldn't exactly call myself a 'Civil Leader'. And as for the kobolds...if I hadn't, then they would have allied with the Cultists who worship the Black Dragon. Couldn't really persuade them not to without promising their protection and freedom. And I intend to uphold that promise,"

After Pylia finished healing and mending her spare clothes, she thanked her, and mentally noted that it was time to start the discussion. She took in a deep breath and thought "Here we go..."

She then subtly looked to Buddy and moved her hand, as though to silently tell Buddy to move over a bit so that he was standing right in front of the door. She didn't want Pylia running off before the discussion was over.

She then turned her attention to Pylia and she spoke seriously, "Okay, now that the war is over...Pylia, there's something we need to talk about. This is pretty damn important in my opinion,"

"Right now, you don't need to say anything. Just listen. Because I am going to start this conversation by making some confessions of my own. Pylia, remember that night when you ran off on your own because I accidentally scared you with my being a ghost? When you came back and I went back to sleep, Buddy told me that he saw red smoke after he caught up to you. When I asked you about what happened, I noticed you weren't telling me the truth...both times I asked. Normally, I would've left the matter alone, but from our journey, I've never seen a skeleton create red smoke, not even that mage that had Buddy's heart,"

"So, when we got to the Silver Stag for the first time, before heading into the sewers to visit the Sewer Dragons, I asked the oracle doll what you encountered. Do you know what it told me, Pylia?" At this question, she felt the fear and dread once more and it showed in her eyes as they locked onto Pylia's.

She answered the question for her, "It said that you met, 'An Old Friend, A New Enemy'. I don't know about you, Pylia, but that freaking worries me! And I had fully intended to tell you last night, that's why I said we needed to talk then. However, you did something I didn't expect: You ran off. You contradicted your own words, and ran off. And...I followed you. I knew something was up, so I followed you. I watched as you went to the beach and then to the graveyard in Gransys,"

She rubbed her face and she told her, "I saw you talk to that...undead being from the red smoke. I didn't understand a word either of you were saying, but I was ready to charge forwards and fight if it even lunged at you. I certainly didn't expect you to spot me when we got back to the inn though. After I went to sleep, I shared that memory with Buddy, to see if he could understand, but all he got was that you were answering yes or no questions,"

She then told her, "While in my sleep, Buddy and I did notice that you had been in the water closet for longer than normal. So I checked on you. I saw you smoking and watching some...vision, and I saw the scar on your back,"

She then sighed and finished, "That's all of my confessions. I don't blame you if you are angry with me, and you have every right to be. But, I'm telling you all of this, because of the fact that you are hiding something from us. I'm seriously worried about you Pylia, and if you keep hiding whatever this is, I won't be able to fully trust you. And I want to trust you, Pylia. I really do!" At this point she could feel her eyes stinging with tears as they started to pool at the edges.

She then took a breath to calm herself down and rub her eyes, and she told Pylia seriously, "So now...It's your turn, Pylia. Will you tell me what's going on here?" She then told her, "You do realize we're your friends, right? We can help figure things out,"

Pylia was just about to head over to the water closet to wash when you wanted to speak to her. So she sat back down and listened, but it wasn’t long before her face turned Stoney and solemn. After a while her eyes drifted away from you and turned to look at the fire place, as if she could y look you directly in the eyes. She sat in silence, unmoving like a statue, as you told her the things you’ve seen, your thoughts, and your questions. After you finished talking Pylia was utterly quiet for about five minutes. The only thing that broke the silence was Shortfang leaving the water closest, blissfully unaware of this discussion as he mentioned going to get something to eat.

“I... Um... I... I need something right quick.” Pylia sputtered out as she head towards door as Shortfang was leaving. But sure enough her path was blocked as Buddy closed the door behind Shortfang and stood in front of Pylia, his arms crossed. Despite lacking emotive eyes it a face, Buddy seemed to look at Pylia with disappointment that she was trying to runaway. So she sighed, going into the closet to get her pipe and herbs to smoke in the room and calm her nerves.

A few more minutes of silence and smoking and eventually Pylia was able to form a sentence for you. “First.., I want to say sorry. But there are things in this world that... That you don’t need to know. Things that you have no reason to know, which has nothing to do with why we’re here. That’s what I was thinking when... When all of this was happening. I figured... Sooner or later, you and I will go out separate ways. Last thing I need to do is make you deal with my problems which I didn’t even know was going to be a problem until recently so...”

Shaking her head at these rambling thoughts Pylia had more to say. “And second I want to tell you I’m offended that you’d spy on me like this. I just needed time to be alone and you... You invade my privacy so...” Closing her eyes Pylia buried her face into the palm of her hands. “No. That’s wrong for me to say and I know it. You’re only caring for me which is why you looked into it. And I... I want to be angry, because no one has ever done something like that for me before. Sorry. I’m still angry but I understand why you did it.”

Pylia was quiet for a while long until she ran out of herbs in her pipe to smoke, so she added some more, lit it on fire, took a few puffs, and then handed it off to you as an offering. “Alright. I’ll... Ill keep this as short as I can. Basically... A long time ago, as a child, a friend and I... Studied Necromancy together. We were both stupid and naive. I was still a dumb girl who just wanted to help heal people, even bring them back to life. I learned that Necromancy was the only way to do that so I studied it but... It wasn’t long before we ended up making some very serious mistakes. Made friends with really bad people. My friend died because we were young and dumb. So... I ran. Ran away to Cassari. Tried my thing there and well... You know how that turned out.”

Clutching her hands together Pylia noticed tears starting to form on her face. She tried to hide them from you and wiped them away but that just made sure they’d start falling, so Pylia chose to stand near the fire place so you couldn’t see her face. “Ever since we got to Gransys they found me. When I ran from the camp, when you tried to message me in your ghost form. I thought they found me and I wanted to make sure they wouldn’t hurt you guys in your sleep, so I ran to fight them. Then... Then they found me for real. But they said they forgive me. That they understand my fear and hesitation back then and that they’ll gladly take me back. But I know I can’t trust them. The things they did Sylvia... I wanted to believe there are good necromancers in this world. But I didn’t find them that day. Those people, those monsters, they...”

You could hear the fear and sadness in Pylia’s voice as she tried to compose herself. But she failed and started crying. She tried to stop but all of her feelings were coming out too strong for her. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry I... Hust give me a moment please I’ll stop soon.” She said between sobs. She blew into her sleeve, tried to wipe her face clean, but still she was feeling the burden of her past squeeze every emotion out of her all at once. Fear. Regret. Spite. A lot of negative energy.

Sylvia noticed how Pylia tried to avoid the discussion, but she remained silent. She nodded a quiet thanks to Buddy after he prevented Pylia from running away. She gave Pylia time to calm herself, and she listened when she spoke. She accepted the apology, but she gave Pylia a deadpan look of skepticism when she said that there were things that she didn't need to know. She honestly thought that knowledge was power, and this situation seems like she should know.

Then she mentioned how angry she felt at the invasion of privacy, and Sylvia nodded, accepting that anger. But she was glad that Pylia understood and seemed to be handling that anger well. When she offered the pipe, Sylvia declined politely. She never smoked anything in her life, so she wasn't really going to start now.

She listened as Pylia began explaining that she and a friend of hers had studied necromancy, made friends with awful people, and now her friend was dead because of them. All of that had spurred her into hiding just outside of Cassari...

She saw the tears form, and she could feel tears start to sting her eyes again. She could hear all of the negative emotions, and she could feel the sadness, anger, and pain. After she asked for a moment, she answered her compassionately, "It's okay, Pylia. Take as much time as you need," She let Pylia cry, while remaining in the room to be there for her. She wasn't going to try hugging her again, she learned from last time that it didn't really help.

It's okay to cry...

Sylvia remembered hearing those words. She knew why someone said that to her, but she shoved the memory to the back of the mind once more. This was about Pylia, not her.

She waited for Pylia. When she finishes crying, Sylvia intended to ask more questions. But she did make a mental note: If she ever came across those necromancers herself, then she was going to kick their butts.

It took a few minutes of crying and Buddy giving Pylia a small bowl of water to clean her face with before she was finally calm enough to speak. Pylia sat back down into the bed trying to collect her thoughts. “... The worse part is, they turned my friend into... Into some sort of monster. An undead monster. She wanted to become a stronger spell caster so they killed her, and turned her into some sort of undead mage. They were going to do the same to me.”

Rubbing her eyes tiredly Pylia looked up towards you. “I suspect they still plan to do that to me. Thats why they’ve been following me. I thought maybe I could lose them in the city but... You saw them in the graveyard. This... This might sound odd, but usually those places are protected from necromancy. So either those necromancers have become stronger, or even those sacred grounds aren’t safe anymore.”

Pylia took a deep breath before collapsing onto the bed, putting the bedsheet over herself. It seemed like she planned on taking a nap but she kept talking. “I don’t really know what to do about them. I figured as soon as you didn’t need me anymore, I’d go deal with them myself. I made sure at least they don’t know about you or the others. As far as they’re concerned they only want me. I... I wanted to make sure it stays that way.” Pylia turned over on the bed to look at you, hiding most of her face so that you could only see the top of her head and her eyes. They were red from her crying.

“You look like you still have questions. What is it?”

When Pylia mentioned that she figured that the necromancers wanted to turn her into some undead mage, like they had done with her friend, Sylvia could feel her anger towards the necromancers intensify. She watched as her friend crawled into bed, fully planning on taking a nap. She quietly promised that she was not going to let that happen to Pylia, nor let her go and face them alone. When Pylia mentioned that she still had questions, Sylvia nodded and answered, "I do have one more question. When you were talking to that...messenger, I think, in the graveyard. What did it ask you, and what did you tell it?" To Sylvia, it sounded like the undead messenger was gathering information for the necromancers for Pylia. She only had that question since Pylia already answered another question of hers, what the necromancers possibly wanted from her.

She sighed. “A few personal questions. Things like... If I still cared about what happened, if I wanted to change things. Things like that. It was just trying to prey on my guilt. It offered to take me... Take me to my friend. But she’s dead now. What she became... That isn’t her anymore. I know that better than anyone.” Pylia took a long drag from her pipe, exhaling a cloud of smoke big enough to cover her bed. It was almost like she was a dragon breath smoke. “And that’s what’s going on. And... I’m sorry. You just finished fighting against those monsters in the sewers for Shortfang. I... I didn’t want to make youfight my battles too. You should be able to spend at least one day at peace. But now you know. I... I just hope you don’t... stress yourself out over me.”

Sylvia listened to Pylia as she answered her question. After Pylia apologized and hoped that she wasn’t causing stress to her, Sylvia answered her, “There’s no need to apologize Pylia. Besides, I would be a lot more stressed out if you hadn’t told me and something happened to you. Thank you for telling me. Now we can fight those necromancers off if they bother you again,”

She then added, “Just promise you won’t run off on your own again, okay? I wouldn’t be surprised if they decide to try and kidnap you,”

She then told Pylia, “If you need to sleep, go ahead. You certainly earned the rest,”

Pylia sighed, sitting up and getting out of bed. “I’d try, but I smell like shit. I’m going to heat up some water.” Pylia filled up a pot with water before leaving it to heat up on the fire place. Buddy moved away from the door now to allow everyone to come and go, though Shortfang still wasn’t back yet. Pylia looked over at the door curiously. “I wonder where Shortfang went. It shouldn’t take him this long to eat. I hope he didn’t overhear us...”

Sylvia quietly noted that they still hadn’t cleaned themselves after Pylia said she was going to heat up the water. After Pylia asked about Shortfang, Sylvia felt a little worry appear once more. Didn’t Shortfang usually bring his food to the room? Maybe none of the group should be alone right now...

With that thought, Sylvia decided to head out. She told Pylia, “I’ll go and check on him. Maybe he’s just waiting for the food to finish cooking,” She then looked to the both of them and told them, “You guys stay here, I’ll be right back. Lock the door behind me,” She then headed out of the room and headed for the main area, where Shortfang and the food should be...

Soon you would hear the sounds of a loud ruckus not too far from your room, withShortfang shouting and things being tossed around. When you arrive you’d see a group of men gathered around one spot, and you’d see Shortfang standing on top of a log, crossbow in one hand and bear stein in the other.

“AND THERE SHORTFANG! Surrounded by trogs! Only three bolts left but fresh from fight! Everything on fire! Shortfang idea, burn trogs out, work like charm. But now trogs come to Shortfang! So he think fast, act faster. More oil! Slip and slide! Pew pew! Destroy roof! SUMMON THE SUN! Trog never see it coming!” He seemed to have gotten himself involved telling a highly embellished version of the battles you just fought earlier today, with many of the patrons being entertained by the drunken dragonling. Fortunately he at least was waving around an empty crossbow, so he wouldn’t shoot anyone in the face.

Sylvia heard the ruckus and her first thought was that a brawl had started. She hurried over, only to find that it was just Shortfang telling a highly embellished story about their fights from today. At first, she was relieved, but that feeling but then she realized a couple of things that could count as problems. The first was that Shortfang was already drunk. It wasn’t even time for the party yet, and being drunk could cause him to do something dumb.

The second was that the Elysium cultists were still out and about! This story would probably tip them off of their interference! Sylvia took a quick glance at the audience. Thankfully, none of them seemed to be listening for the sake of gathering information. The masked elf was only listening and paying attention to Shortfang in order to make sure that he didn’t shoot anyone in the face.

Still...Sylvia worried that rumors of Shortfang’s story might reach the cultists’ wars somehow. He could be painting a huge bullseye on himself, so to speak. So, she decided to try and get Shortfang to come back to the room...as well as make sure that he didn’t fire any magic missiles at anyone.

She moves to Shortfang and she tells him, “Hey, Shortfang. Hate to interrupt, but there’s something we need to discuss,” She then nodded as though to silently tell him to follow her.

Shortfang sees you and waves. “Hiya boss! Shortfang telling tale of heroism! We thrash em good yeah?!” Everyone turned to you, a mixture of surprise and intrigue seeing your face. You can tell they weren’t sure if Shortfang’s tale is true since you didn’t seem like a warrior type to them. He did sit down though and beckoned you over. “Sit here! Shortfang order food for party! Lots and lots!”

Oh, this was awkward...

Everyone was staring at her...

Sylvia felt a little flustered at the attention, and she could feel a blush rise. She answered, awkwardly at first, “W-We did. But before we continue the story, we should go get Pylia and Buddy. Can’t have the party without them, now can we?” She wanted to get out of the room as quickly as possible with everyone’s eyes on her. She just hoped mentioning Pylia and Buddy would be enough to convince Shortfang.

"Aw, but Shortfang wanna wait for food!" He says drunkenly, however he eventually manages to skip over to you like a happy child, clutching his ale stein like a toy. "Dizzy drink real good! We should buy barrels of dizzy drink for kobolds!" It seems that Shortfang would comply with following you back to the room at least, though he rambles loudly about the wonders of surface food and how tasty it is and how weird that he doesn't really see anyone killing their meat, wondering if it's really meat or something else. Everyone more or less returns to their business and ignores the two of you as you leave.

Sylvia reassured Shortfang in response to his complaint, “Don’t worry, I’m sure they’ll bring your food to the room,” Thankfully, Shortfang was complying and she led him back to the room, smiling a bit as he ranted about the food. He was like a child...

To Sylvia’s relief, she noticed that the other patrons didn’t pay them any more attention. Before entering the room, she knocked and informed Pylia and Buddy, “We’re back, guys,” Once the both of them got back into their room, she closed and locked the door behind the both of them, and she let out a quiet sigh. She asked Pylia, “Hey, Pylia? I don’t suppose you have anything to help Shortfang sober up?”

“Hmm. Give me a moment.” Pylia took out her herbalism kit and worked on something for Shortfang as he climbed onto Buddy. “Ya know Buddy, Shortfang been thinking... What if Shortfang make like, chair, sit on Buddy. Shoot bad guys on Buddy. Pew pew kachow! Unstoppable!” He says in a drunken ramble as Pylia went up to Shortfang and splashed something on his face, which made him cough and gag. “That ought to sober him up. The sudden hangover will be terrible but I have something for that too.”

And sure enough Shortfang fell off Buddy as he suddenly got sober, staggering around clutching his head. Pylia fed him something yellow and murky, and he immediately went to the water closet to vomit. “That’s normal. And let that be a warning to you, Sylvia, that I won’t hesitate to make you drink that stuff if you go overboard. It’s fine if you want to Sri k but let’s drink responsibly, okay?” Soon Shortfang came out of the water closet still tired and dizzy, but fully lucid now. “Ugh... What happen?”