Day 28 (S16)

The morning after the party got their 2 weeks of diplomatic immunity, Kin approached Valentine, "I want to build a shrine to Oara here," Kin said, "would you mind if I had a space that's permanently mine? I spent time looking for an Oara Flower in the woods last night, I'd like to do it while the flower is fresh."
"Not at all, Kin," Valentine said, "Let's both go look around and find a suitable place."
The two of them left to find a place where Kin could make a shrine and Hallow there for a day.

Rina, Alice, and Aurelius all decide to go into Vorovni and take care of some business. Kin's Hallow spell would take an entire day, so changing the name of the party would have to wait. 
“I want to go see Neely,” said Rina, “she’s such a sweetheart and I want to see if she’s doing well.”
The other two nodded in agreement, then headed to Vorovni on their horses - which came through the treestride with them.

They got to Vorovni and many people waved at them along the way, everyone being friendlier than before. Getting to the inner section of the city was much easier this time, they were simply let in by the guards.
Eventually they get to the Mayor’s office to find another girl working there.
“Um, hello,” Rina said to her, “We were looking for Neely.”
“Who?” the girl asked, seemingly annoyed by their presence.
“Neely, she used to work here,” said Rina.
“Oh, the girl before me?” the girl asked, “She’s working somewhere else now. She aged out of the job.”
“Aged out?!” Alice exclaimed, “She was only like 17!”
“Yep,” the girl replied, “the mayor doesn’t like older girls working for him.”
“Older?", Rina scoffed, “Okay, well do you know where she’s working now?”
“Last I heard she was at a bar or something in the outer part of the city” she answered.
“Ok, thank you,” said Rina, “What was your name, again?”
“Trish,” she answered, “do you all like… need anything? Because I need to get bac-”

She was interrupted by a loud, deep voice.
“Well!, if it isn’t the Sprite’s Lights!” Mayor Highwater of Vorovni said as he walked around the corner, “I heard of some hullabaloo concerning you recently, haha!” 
“Yes, well, let’s just say we won’t be the Sprite’s Lights much longer,” Alice said, glaring at Aurelius who was flirting with Trish, “We will probably change our party name after all this.”
“Haha! Well, that’s just splendid. Look, I actually had a favor to ask you - if you have the time?”
“We have all day,” said Rina.
“My son has signed up for a competition in Everhelm a month from now,“ he started, “and I’d like to hire you as escorts.”
“You… want us to be escorts for your son?” Rina said with a concerned look on her face.
“Oh, hahaha!” the Mayor laughed, “Not that kind of escort. I just want to make sure he gets to the competition and back safely - I figured a powerful group of adventurers like yourselves would be good protection.”
“Ohhh… protection…” Rina said, “Yeah, that’s probably fine.”
“Don’t you want to talk to Kin and Aurelius about this?” Alice asked Rina.
Rina thought a moment then turned to the mayor, “Does it pay well?”
“Oh yes!” he answered, “I’ll be sure to compensate you handsomely!" 
“Good,” Rina said as she turned to Alice again, “No, I don’t think we need to consult the guys. I think they’ll be fine with it.”
Alice shrugged, “Works for me!”
“Good, good!” the Mayor said, “Let me introduce you to him - Lloyd! Come one out!”
Sure enough, Lloyd - the leader of the small group of soldiers who helped the party in Riverbend defeat the goblins and ogre - was the Mayor’s son.
“Haazaah! Hello my friends!” Lloyd exclaimed, “So happy to hear that you will be accompanying me to Everhelm next month! The Everbleed bowl is certainly a hoot!”
“Everbleed bowl?” Rina asked.
“The everbleed bowl is the name of the competition!” said the Mayor, “People come from all over the continent to compete and watch the competitors! My Lloyd here has proven to be one of the best soldiers in Vorovni after your fight in Riverbend.”
“Haazaah!” Lloyd yelled as he jumped into the air - his long blonde hair flowing in the wind.

“Hazah indeed,” said Rina, “We will be back in a month or so, then. For now, I have a small request of you, Mayor.”
“Pray tell, what would you ask of me?”
“I heard that Neely is working at some shit bar on the edge of town now,” Rina said, “She was a really good employee to you, and I think she deserves better, don’t you?”
The mayor looked flustered, “Uh, um, well, I suppose so. She… She did get a lot more work done than the current girl.”
They all looked over at Trish who was flirting with Aurelius.
“But what can I do now?” the Mayor asked.
“You could write up a letter of recommendation for a future employer,” Rina suggested, “A letter like that from a powerful man like yourself would go a long way. Don’t you agree?”
“Oh, well, I suppose so,” he answered, “Trish! Get me a pen and paper.”
Trish walked over and handed the Mayor a loose piece of paper and a quill pen with no ink on it.
Mayor Highwater looked a bit embarrassed, but Rina smiled smugly and handed him her Scribe’s pen and a clipboard to write on from her bag, “Here, these will do well for you.”
“Oh, uh, thank you…” he answered as he began to write the letter. 
He then handed the letter, the pen, and the clipboard back to Rina, “I would take it to her myself, but I don’t know where she is.”
Rina rolled her eyes, “Thank you, I’ll be sure to get it to her.”
“We should get going,” said Alice, “It’s starting to get late and I’m hungry.” 
“Thank you, again, Mayor,” said Rina, “We will see you in a month.”
“Come on Aurelius!” Alice said as she started to drag him off. 
“I was about to ask her out!” he exclaimed.
The girls just glared at him until he sighed and began to follow them.

They left the central city and began looking at bars around town. It didn’t take long before they found her in a run-down bar, wiping down the counter and hurriedly cleaning glasses to make more drinks.
“Oh, um, ok, yes, sir. Yes, alright. Ok, I’ll get you another…” She was frantically moving about trying to do her job as efficiently as possible, but was clearly over stressed.”
“Neely!” Rina yelled as she entered.
Neely looked up, “Oh! Rina, Alice, Aurelius - hello. Um, one moment, I need to finish this…” she then continued cleaning a few dishes.
Rina walked up to her and gently grabbed her wrist, “Neely, we’ve come to get you out of here.”
Neely began, “Oh, well, it’s my shift right now and-”
Rina cut her off and pulled out the letter with the Mayor’s seal on it, “This is a recommendation letter from the Mayor. With this you can get an infinitely better job somewhere.”
“You… you got the mayor to write a recommendation letter? I… I don’t think he’s ever done that before…”
“Yeah, well, I’m convincing,” said Rina, “If you want, I’ll talk to Valentine of the Sprite Light coven to get you into something immediately. They’re in need of some serious organization over there. Besides, she owes me a favor.” Rina recalled the day she almost died from the Jabberwock incident. 
“Um, alright, if you’re sure,” Neely said. 
“Girl!” Alice yelled, “Get the hell out of here, you are better than this!”
“Ok, once I’m done with this shift I’ll-”
“Now!” Alice yelled again.
The owner of the bar began yelling, “Hey! Let my employee get her job done!”
“This isn’t her job anymore,” Alice said for her, “you’ll have to find someone else.”
Neely looked shocked, “Ok well looks like you decided for me. Now I’m officially jobless.” She paused for a moment, “Oh no! I can barely afford things as it is! What will I do?!” she cried as she covered her face with her hands. 
“Neely,” Rina said quietly, still holding onto to Neely’s wrist gently, “I won’t let anything bad happen to you, here. Let’s go outside, and we will see what we can do. I believe in you, ok?”
Neely put her arms down and Rina let go, “Okay. Okay I can do this” Neely answered.

They all walked out to the sidewalk area and found a couple of benches to sit on.
“Now,” Rina started, “what do you WANT to do, Neely? If you could do anything, what would it be?”
“Anything?” she started, “Well, um, I don’t really know. I don’t feel like I have much of a place in this town anymore.”
“I am happy to take you and this letter to Valentine tonight to try and get you a job there,” Rina said, “It may not pay much since they’re up-and-coming, but it will be safe and exciting at the same time.”
Neely paused for a moment, then looked at Rina with tears in her eyes, “You have been so sweet and so kind. If I could work for anyone, I’d… I’d work for you.”
Rina smiled softly, “Well, we could use someone to keep track of our funds and schedule.”
Alice whispered, “We really don’t, though…”
Neely didn’t hear, but she spoke up again, “That’s it! That’s what I want to do. I want to work for you all, and I want to travel with you. I’m a great secretary, I love keeping schedules and numbers. I don’t need much money, just enough to keep me going!”
Alice and Aurelius looked at Rina questioningly, they didn’t seem to want to employ her. 
But Rina never was one to just do what everyone else wanted: “Ok, Neely, you can work for me.”
“Really?!” Neely replied excitedly. 
Aurelius and Alice rolled their eyes. 
“Right now I can only pay you about 3 gold a week, is that ok?” Rina asked.
“Three gold a week!?” Neely exclaimed, “Yes, yes that’s great! The mayor only paid me one gold a week, and the bar… the bar only paid a few silver. This is the most money I’ve ever made!”
“You should know that we get into some dangerous situations” Rina started, “If you’re going to be travelling with us, you may need to learn a thing or two about fighting.”
“I can teach you!” said Aurelius, “I was in army training a few years back!”
“That’s… that’s fine…” Neely said hesitantly. 
“I’ll also give you bonuses whenever we finish a job that you help with, and bonuses any time you go above and beyond secretary duties. How does that sound?”
Neely gave Rina a huge hug and whispered, “Thank you…”
“Her pay is coming out of your pocket,” Alice said sternly.
“She’s helping everyone here, not just me,” Rina argued.
“You’re the one who hired her, you’re the one to pay her” Alice echoed. 
Neely looked down at the ground for a moment, then looked back up at Rina.
“I certainly don’t mind being the one to pay her,” Rina said, “money doesn’t mean much to me, anyway” she said as she smiled at Neely.

“It’s getting dark,” said Aurelius, “Let’s find an inn with available rooms before they’re all filled up.”
“We should probably go back to the inner city if we want to find a decent room,” said Neely, “if… if you’re ok paying that is. I know it’s expensive.”
Rina had about 40 gold in her pocket, “How expensive?”
“Usually 5 silver per room,” Neely answered. 
“That’s completely fine, I have more than enough for us to each get our own room, Rina said. “But you two are on your own,” she said to Alice and Aruelius. 
“Fine by me,” Alice replied as she hopped off the bench and headed toward the inner city wall.
“What’s her deal?” Neely whispered to Rina.
“I honestly don’t know,” Rina responded, “she’s kind of aggressive about money apparently.”
“I can be aggressive about other things, too!” Alice yelled back in response. 
Rina and Neely looked a little shocked, but continued to follow her toward the central party of the city.
They found a decent inn with 3 rooms left.
“Do any of them not have windows?” Rina asked as she glared at Aurelius. 
“What? That was one time…” Aurelius mumbled.
“Um, no, I’m afraid all of our rooms have windows…” the woman at the counter said, “We do have a basement, though.”
“But is it for rent?” Rina asked.
“Um… no.” she answered. 
Alice threw down 1 gold, “One room for me and one for Aurelius!”
“Are you serious, Alice?” Rina asked, “You’re going to take 2 of the last 3 rooms?”
“Yep!” she said, “Now hand me the key, please.”
The woman handed Alice and Aurelius keys then turned to Rina, “Are you wanting the last room, then?”
“Yes please…” Rina said defeated, “Looks like we’re sharing,” she said to Neely. 
“Oh, that’s alright,” Neely said, “I feel safer with you around anyway.” 
“There’s an extra cot I can offer on the house,” the woman at the counter said.
“Thanks, I’ll use that,” Rina responded.
Neely smiled as they headed to their room, “If you don’t mind, Rina, I’ll… I’ll sleep in the cot and you take the bed.”
“Neely, I’m an elf,” Rina said, “We don’t sleep. I’ll be fine taking the cot for a few hours. You get a comfy night’s sleep, ok?”
Neely smiled again as they entered their room, and she ran and jumped on the bed. 
Rina laid out the cot, then went to the inn’s restaurant area to get some food for her and Neely. Alice and Aurelius were already there stuffing their faces. Rina didn’t talk to them or even approach them, she just went to the counter and ordered. 
“I’d like 2 of the chicken meals, please,” she said to the man at the counter, “I plan to take them back to my room.”
“We’re outta chicken for the day,” the man said, “but I can give ya some bread and some bean soup.”
“Ok, that’s fine,” Rina said. She laid out 1 silver - a little more than the food cost - then went back to her room. She and Neely ate, and Neely went to sleep very soon after. 
Rina wrote in her journal about Neely and Lloyd's Competition, then rested for a few hours on the little cot.

Next: Day 29 (S17)