[h3]Jaelnec, Freagon, Irah, Lhirin, Nabi, Yanin, Jordan and Madara – Borstown, Bor Manor, dining room[/h3]
“You did,” Vela conceded with an approving nod to Yanin. “To be clear, this is not the same kind of task as your first two. Doin' this will not help Borstown, nor me personally, directly. It is not a critical emergency, and if you disagree the problem will still be resolved... eventually. But we will have to wait until a team of deo'iel gets here to do it.”

On the baroness' left, from the north side of the dining room where the kitchen and pantry were located, Wade and Kylie returned to deposit an armful of food each. Wade arrived carrying a hefty copper pot that gave off a strong aroma. It contained a hearty venison stew with broccoli, onions, leeks and tomatoes; a meaty meal with ingredients chosen specifically to avoid starchy vegetables to accommodate the diet of a palanter... or half-palanter, as was the case here.
Kylie came bearing a large, wide copper tray laden with what appeared to be a literal silver platter of baked apple slices with cinnamon, a second silver platter with baked potatoes, a copper bowl of roasted nuts and a loaf of dark rye bread. It was all simple but expertly cooked, with plenty of vegetarian alternatives.
The even mildly attentive among them might notice that not only the cookware being brought in from the kitchen, but also the dinnerware arranged at the seats on the three dining tables that were arranged end-to-end, were all metal, and their plates even appeared to be silver. As Wade had reported earlier, it seemed that Bor Manor had not yet managed to replace all the dinner- and cookware that had been destroyed to form the vessel of the ceramic wraith.

While her servants set their burdens down on the middle table, Vela continued: “But that's plenty of platitudes, I think. I'm offerin' you all another thousand rodlin to travel to Wenal and track down and stop a vampire that's been makin' a mess over there. And before you even ask,” she added, glancing meaningfully in Irah's direction, “this is the [I]nasty[/I] kind of vampire, not the kind I'd expect to be reasonable. He's been actin' really weird, pickin' random victims from random villages, feedin' on them a bit and then turnin' them. He's been leavin' a trail of new vampires all over the place – twelve of them from my last report – , and it's caused all kinds of havoc.” Her expression darkened. “A couple of them even decided to just sit where they had been attacked, waitin' for dawn to incinerate them. And another several went home and couldn't stop themselves from slakin' their thirst on their families before comin' to their senses.”