[center]━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━[/center][table][row][/row][row][cell] [h2][color=darkorchid][i][b]Victoria Belmont[/b][/i][/color][/h2][i][b][color=9932cc]Half-Elf, Bard, Level 3[/color][/b][/i] [color=9932cc][i][b]HP:[/b][/i][/color] 23 / 23 [color=9932cc][i][b]Armor Class:[/b][/i][/color] 15 [color=9932cc][i][b]Conditions:[/b][/i][/color] N/A [color=9932cc][i][b]Location:[/b][/i][/color] Neil & Bob's Public House [color=9932cc][i][b]Action:[/b][/i][/color] N/A [color=9932cc][i][b]Bonus Action:[/b][/i][/color] [color=black][i]Morty[/i][/color] [color=9932cc][i][b]Reaction:[/b][/i][/color] N/A [/cell][cell] [right][img]https://i.ibb.co/tpv4vyV/VicSS.png[/img][/right] [/cell][/row][/table][center]━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━[/center] Robert's words were taken in and mentally digested as best as possible. The implications and ramifications therein spent a few thoughtful seconds colliding with each other in the confines of Victoria's mind, and coupled with what she had figured out on this investigation, came to some pretty horrible conclusions. The Bard herself liked to stay out of situations which did not concern her directly nor which piqued her academic interests, but this was something that she was stuck right in the middle of. The possibility of taking what little daylight they had left and booking it definitely came to mind; before she agreed to accept this job he was headed west to the sea anyway and had no problems continuing with those plans. Something struck her about what all was going on, though. It didn't seem right, even among the obvious horrors going on in this region. She kept her conjecture to herself, quietly waiting for the initial push of their immediate situation to calm some before addressing anyone else. When Victoria did speak back up, it was to Marita. [color=9932cc]"I cannot speak for the rest of you,"[/color] she began, an attempt at humor lifting her voice, [color=9932cc]"But I look nothing like trouble. I am an absolute [i]delight[/i] to be around."[/color] She gave a warm smile, whether or not her charming personality took hold of the overall mood of the room (which she suspected that it wouldn't), and then completely changed the script. [color=9932cc]"And what if Cavendish [i]is[/i] upholding the law, Pholtan Barbel?"[/color] Her tone was inquisitive, maybe even a little challenging, but not judgemental nor accusatory. [color=9932cc]"What if he is upholding an ethic or a code, but not the one he swore to when becoming a Constable? I find it hard to believe that a man suddenly granted magical ability does not have the yoke of another's doctrine upon them. But I agree, he cannot be ignored."[/color] What she said next surprised her a little. [color=9932cc]"This place was beautiful and fun; full of life and music. I danced around the square's fountain yesterday and ate one of the nicest blush pears I have ever tasted. I met a sweet but sad little girl with ...potential I'm not sure she realizes... and her very generous aunt. I sang in a cemetery with new friends and made memories that I shall commit to paper, that others might share a shade of my contentment. No one in Avonshire has come at me with torches, no Cleric of Light sought to remove me with force and holy water. This man, Cavendish, and whomever or whatever pulls his strings has tainted this place in the middle of a time of community and joy. Some things must eventually be answered for."[/color] A sense of resolve followed her words. No, she would not be running for the coast like she had planned. Even if it went against a tried and true survival strategy. In that moment, she remembered a similar mistake from a couple of years ago which brought her to an interesting predicament which still haunted her. The words settled for another few moments, during which Victoria shuffled her cloak about to more evenly dry, applying a bit of care to the fine garment. She sighed. A little drama never hurt anyone, most of the time. But she meant it. A short chuckle later she looked to Baronfjord, to whom she has asked a question and likewise had been asked one. To bring the overall feel of the room back to one of general rest and/or guarded relaxation, she opted to answer first. Sweetly, but with direct words, she ripped the cover off of one of her personal truths, [color=9932cc]"Why, I am a True Bard. I recognize the music inherent to the world around me and apply it to magic, creating effects that others versed in the Art might require a notable bloodline, or years of arcane study to accomplish. The philosophy of my chosen College flavors the effects which I can accomplish, which in my case is the College of the Grey Requiem. It channels certain emotions and powers associated with... well, with the celebrations and sorrows of one's life, death, and what lay between these states of existence. We see to the fallen and respect their beliefs, occasionally borrowing the wisdom of those who came before or utilizing that which is left behind. Some of the more powerful can perform other acts, as powerful as it is questionable by those who consider themselves righteous."[/color] Okay, maybe she was getting a little flowery. To summarize, [color=9932cc]"Much of what we do is a form of Necromancy, with many aspects common to Bards of Lore."[/color] She might get an answer back, but for now Victoria bent a little attention to a slightly overwhelmed Lea. [color=9932cc]"Let us keep talking in a few moments, Master Dragonborn Excuse me, please?"[/color] The others were discussing the more intricate protocols of sandwich making and/or what constitutes one in the first place, not to mention firing off specific orders which didn't quite fit the menu. She looked to the barmaid, blushed just a little, and said, [color=9932cc]"We'll work something out, Miss. Of course we will! If your friend Daisy is still back in the kitchen, I'm sure she can handle it. If she is not, I'm sure I can help put a few things on a plate or bowl up some of that yummy stew from the last time. You still have that, don't you? It was delicious."[/color] Her tone was soft and reassuring, her words kind, her body language subdued and non-threatening. [color=9932cc]"Maybe we can all sit down and have a sip of something fine and calming in a bit, yes? I think you've earned it."[/color] As usual, Morty just stood there. He was out of the way and seemed very content to do so.