Always Ascending

[Nihtgenga]

Retiaria took a deep breath, slowly exhaled then said "They spoke to me too. Then I woke up in the desert. We can't have all dreamed the same thing. It was real... that must be what happens when you make it. Something gets left in your place."

[Alice]

The woman frowns..  "You should never have been taken from here.. this is my space.. and it is supposed to be safe..." She looks around at all of you.. "Please place Gwyn on the counter." She looks down at the rodentized woman.. "I will do everything I can to repair this curse and get you back with your friends if you'll trust me.. I'll swear any oath you care of have from me to that effect.."

She looks round at the rest of you, "Now.. what happened.. all of it."

[Ryuforce]

"I just dreamed of a grassy forest.. and I suppose the troubles within." She blinks and scratches her head. "Muh, if this is all true and someone set this all up.. why didn't they tell me a thing?" She asks with a shrug but her eyes go back to both Naethra and Raethra. If it was real then... just what in the Abyss happen to those two?

When Lattiasha swore she would help Gwyn the dragonborn least smiled for a moment for that. Good to hear there's people this trustworthy as she at least tries to repay it in an explanation.  "Not too much to tell to be honest. A voice asked if I wanted to leave here... I woke up in a forest and got ambushed by a whole lotta.. I think... goblins yeah. short abut couldn't fully tell if they look like the ones here because they wore skulls. Really loved rocks though. Climbed a tree to try to escape them and... then everything went black." She recalls, having almost conveniently forgot her butter fingers kicking in at the worst time.

[darlingng01]

Oric:

I look from Lattisha to Gwyn. I'm... cautious. Lifting her up to my face I speak quietly again, trying not to startle her "Do you trust her? If you shake your head I won't hand you over, don't worry."

[Roselli]

I sigh hearing Red's answer. Like she's trying to convince them I'm just a squirrel. I look Red up and down to see if there is something up with her, not even realizing it would look like to nod to Oric

[darlingng01]

Oric:

With a sigh I hand her over to Lattisha, hoping she wasn't secretly the one who did all this. But if Gwyn wanted to trust her, I had to let her.

[Nihtgenga]

Finally letting go of Naethra, Red nodded. "I... I think it was when I was falling asleep? I heard a voice. They asked me if I wanted to be somewhere else. I told them yes, I wanted to be with my... my love. She said she'd help me as much as she could. Next thing I knew I was waking up in a tent in the desert, with some gear and a... home stone, I think it was called? I had a day to get back to White Sands, and ten hours' worth of travel. Didn't get far though. I dodged a few nasties, then there was a sandstorm, and a bug thing hit me in the leg." Retiaria rubbed her leg at the point it had been hit. "I lost the leg. I... I died. Then I woke up here."

[Ordos]

Naethra had barely paid attention to the others in the room.  She was stirred from this, somewhat, when she overheard that Gwyn was a squirrel again.

The barista had asked about what had happened.  And, for a moment, Naethra wasn't certain what to say.

The voice had almost gotten her out.  It had acted against the Fulsome Mistress' orders and risked retribution or repercussions to get her out of this tower.  It hadn't worked, but... it could be her only chance out. 

She shuddered at the thought.  She'd been concerned about where the Voice would put her.  She wondered if it would dump her to die in the Wilds.  She worried that this was a fool's errand with no chance of success.  And after she had crawled and bled her way through hell she had died, by the walls of the place the Voice assured her was the closet thing to home she had.  The thought of truing again, of trusting the Voice, elicited a visceral, gut-wrteching revulsion. 

And the others had already spoken, anyway.

"Someone... someone came to me.  After I fell asleep.  It seemed like the sort of... like, dream-fuckery your mistress would do.  I never saw her.  Just a voice.  She said she could get us out.  She hated us.  Me in particular.  Unworthy of your fulsome matron.  She offered a way out, and I took it.  Dumped me in the Wilds, a half-day away from..." here she swallowed, it took an attempt or two to managed the words, "home.  Or the closest thing to one.  I... I made it.  I ran and hid and crawled my way across hell.  I was shot and poisoned and a spider tore off my arm."  She ran her fingers over where her scar had just vanished. 

"But I made it.  I was greeted at the city walls."  The words were harder to form now.  "Clerics, or priests, or... something.  They had healing magic.  And acids.  They declared me unclean.  Unholy.  They bound and beat me and..." she left the details empty.  She didn't want to think about what it felt when her tongue was cut out.  "They killed me, eventually, by accident I think.  It took them hours."

She wrapped her arms and tail around her legs, back against the corner.  It was reassuring to keep track of all her limbs. 

[Alice]

The woman behind the counter listens.. Each moment of story told causes her face to take on a half measure of anger and horror..."I... I see.." She holds Gwyn to her chest petting her. In between pets her hands shake... "I...I'll get breakfast ready..." She retreats to the back for a few moments.

In the back room she sets down the former bard, "It's... not gonna be easy.. but I'll figure out a way to get you fixed up.. Don't touch anything ok" She pats Gwyn on the head and returns with coffee and fruit. She sets down the tray, "I promise you that none of this will alter you in anyway." She takes a deep breath.."T...that.. whomever it was.. acted out of turn.. You are all here for reasons and even if I can't say.. what was done to you is... " She shakes, "I can't make it up... but.. I'm going to go beyond what I was told I was permitted to do to help you."

She retreats to the back again pats Gwyn's head and then emerges into the front of the store bearing charms.. "show me your weapons.."

[Nihtgenga]

"Oh... oh fuck. Naethra, I'm so sorry..."
What had happened to Retiaria had been terrible. Traumatising. But it paled in comparison to Naethra's story, that was just fucked up! She laid a hand on Naethra's shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

When Lattissha came back with breakfast she poured two mugs of coffee, handing one to Naethra and drinking the other herself. "Thanks, Lattissha. That means a lot to me."

When asked, she offered up her trident, net and dagger.

[darlingng01]

Oric:

I realize my tail is bristling as the others describe what happened to them. I hand over my warhammer and holy symbol before moving over to Naethra. I know we haven't exactly gotten along but... I kneel down and hug her, pressing her head to my chest as I pet her head "I declined her offer to leave because I knew others wouldn't be able to make it home... I expected things like what happened to the others, but the cruelty of people never fails to shock me... However... if we make it out of here together, I can get you somewhere safe. I promise you. I've spent years guiding people through the wilds, I will get you there safely, and if the place we find is awful, I'll guide you safely to the next place. I won't stop until you find somewhere you can call home."

[Nihtgenga]

"Hey. Whether it's in here or out there, we should stick together. We work well together, we've got each others' backs. This place may have brought us together, but we're a team now. And I don't want to lose any more of you." Retiaria said, trying her best to fake confidence. Taking a sip of her coffee, she added "So next time you try finding home, you'll do it with friends by your side."

[Dichotomy]

I shake my head, still absently rubbing at my throat, feeling the unexpected tightness there, then numbness then... what even was that place? What was the point of torturing us like that? To make us more eager to stay? I...

I'm all the more suspicious of Latisha, what proof have I that this wasn't all according to the mistress's design? She does seem the sort to play the long game... I hold my tome- the focus of my magic- close to myself and peer at her with open suspicion.  "Your pardon, but the last time someone said they were intent on aiding me despite instructions to the contrary, I didn't wind up appreciating it very much."

[Ryuforce]

Duran was stunned. Red's story was grim but Naethra's was horrifying in more ways then one. She listened to every word said by Naethra and yet found herself not wanting to believe a single thing. "I... I... don't understand..." She said with disbelief, knowing that Naethra might not want to listen to what Duran's going to say. "I believe you, I really do but.. people hurting each other so cruelly.. after everything the gods has done to save our world from the darkness? I.. yeah sure I expected monster tribes to still be hostile but.. people.. to turn on each other just like that!? By the Gods, I'm so sorry Naethra. You did not deserve to go under such a cruel ordeal..." It was just baffling for the dragonborn to consider that people could be so cruel. But those tears from Naethra are clearly real and she has done nothing to be a liar before.

This leaves a troubled feeling even as she takes the coffee and fruit offered to her by Lattisha. Taking a sip slowly as the drink helps wake her up. When she requests to see their weapons the dragonborn nodded and fished out her tools. The scythe that hasn't seen play yet, her trusty moriningstar, and this new weapon she hasn't fully saw the potential of. To help give more space on the table, she extended the mult-ax's form to it's largest before being able to pull it back to it's smallest form to leave out for the hostess of this small area.

[Roselli]

What happened to my friends? They went through hell and I ended up as a squirrel? I try to jump and reach out to Red, but Latisha's petting puts me back down in her hand. Move I need to move.

She then takes me into the back room. I reach out and try to help my team. They need me. I need them. But I'm pulled back into this room and set down. She returns a couple times to pet me and promises to fix me. I need to find away out. I can climb right. I start to see if I can get up to a window or a door.