Stories of my brain

They walk back to Ingry, but when they are close to the edge of the woods Adaly stops them to check if people are following them. Adaly connects with Yigadel and she sees her, Valziar and another black tiefling of the ebony guard sitting in a room in the inn. The 2 tieflings both look at Valziar who is using some kind of magic, and his eyes are completely white. The tieflings who Adaly doesn’t know the name of looks bored, but nothing happens.

Adaly switches to Es-Grenalieth who is in the same room as she was in before, Josenno is also present, Es-Grenalieth is in the middle of a sentence “… they left, it was a productive meeting. Now I will need to leave shortly. I have some business to attend to in the Grey city” Josenno looks slightly concerned but nods “We will continue the preparations, when will you return?” Es-Grenalieth approaches her minion sensually “Shortly… It depends on how long the business takes”

She touches Josenno’s face gently, almost in a loving way “Don’t worry darling… Nobody will touch us” Josenno still looks in doubt, but the spell breaks there.

Adaly sends a silent message to Jeremy ‘Please play along, don’t startle’ ‘What are you planning’, Adaly sends another quiet message ‘Need to convince Es-Grenalieth we are a couple, she didn’t understand the cripple minion’ Jeremy this time doesn’t respond but nods.

Adaly seductively approaches Jeremy “How are you feeling darling, did they hurt you?” Adaly touches his face with one hand, while her other hand grabs her ritual dagger very subtly. Jeremy swallows “A few bruises but nothing too bad.” Adaly smiles kindly at him before going for a kiss.

Jeremy narrows his eyes, she can see Sam look around trying to find a source of spying, and Livia just looks away out of discomfort. Adaly takes the chance and stabs Jeremy gently with her dagger. He doesn’t seem to notice when she quickly pockets the blood vial.

They part from the kiss “I missed you darling” Adaly says, and with his eyes still narrowed, Jeremy repositions himself, hitting her in the foot with his walking cane “I missed you too”. He hit her hard, but she just smiles. Getting a kiss and getting 2 blood vials, it is not a bad day.

They continue walking, not discussing what just happened. They pick up the wyverns and teleport with them to Loutiers.

Once in Loutiers Adaly says “I have a small arrant to run, I will meet you at the safe house. Won’t take long, so wait for me before you discuss anything interesting.” Sam this time narrows his eyes towards her, but the party doesn’t intervene. She walks back to where she dropped the sending stone she stole from Livia. The stone still is present in the water barrel, but the barrel is filled, so Adaly does get soaked in the process.

Back at the safe house the party looks weirdly at her for being wet but Adaly walks to Livia “Es-Grenalieth was the one who stole the sending stone, she told me where it was dropped. So here you go” Livia stares at her blankly “Um… thanks? But maybe it is good Jeremy has that so he can have multiple communications in a day” Adaly nods in agreement.

They walk through the underground city to where Jeremy has his office. The room is empty but clearly ransacked. They grab some chairs and Jeremy sits down, rubbing his head “So what happened?” Sam asks, switching his looks towards Jeremy and Adaly.

Jeremy swallows “They have been messing with my memory… So, I don’t have much more information than I went there once. A few days later I got kidnapped by the woman you met, who tied me up in a church.”

Adaly leans against one of the walls and thinks on how much she should share “You didn’t overshare if that is your worry. This was apparently where Es-Grenalieth is keeping her home right now, but when I talked with her, she didn’t seem to know about anything about Ilhoketh’s pact.” She looks the party over, there are things Es-Grenalieth told her she shouldn’t share with them.

“I… She does seem to believe Ilhoketh to be weak during the same time frame as we know, she didn’t want to share too much on why she believes that… Just that Ilhoketh is collecting many sacrifices for some big ritual” Adaly rubs her head, she has the gut feeling the sacrifices are for something other than the ritual Es-Grenalieth mentioned. But also, the ritual Es-Grenalieth mentioned is a concern. She doesn’t know how to feel about that.

“What was that about?” Amara comments and Adaly looks surprised at her friend who is pointing to Sam and Livia. Livia opens her mouth but before she can say anything Sam intervenes “None of your concern. Do not share anything Livia” he says harshly. “But Sam…” Livia starts but stops when he gives her a look. Adaly gets closer and Amara also gives them a threatening look “This sounds like something we should know, let us get all cards on the table” Adaly says calmly while Amara stares at Sam.

“No, it is none of their concern, now for the continuation of the mission…” Sam starts but Amara interrupts him “Spill it…” Amara and Sam stare at each other. Adaly intervenes a bit laying her hand on her friends’ shoulder “I think it will help all of us if we introduce some trust, I just shared information my aunt gave me… You guys also know already everything about me… I would expect some trust back.” Adaly stares specifically at Sam who just stares back. So, Adaly continues “Speaking of trust, I actually wanted to ask for your guys’ blood.”

Sam shakes his head “No, of course not. Has it sunk into your brains that Heskeni just died because we were all too trusting? This is need to know information, and you don’t need to know.”

Adaly rolls her eyes, but in her head, she agrees with him. She doesn’t want a repeat of Amadeus, but on the other hand that does mean that the four of them need to trust each other more. She looks at the other 2 paladins, who also shake their head no to her suggestion, while Amara comes closer and sticks out her hand.

Adaly doesn’t want her friends’ blood, but she still takes it. It would look bad if she now tells Amara that it is dumb to give your blood. Adaly pockets the blood and says “You know I am not just asking this without reason. Jeremy got kidnapped… twice. If I had his blood, I would have been able to figure out earlier what was going on. There is a good reason for me having yours”

Sam starts maniacally laughing “You got to be shitting me, right? I am not giving my blood to you for looking into my demon, or whatever other messed up shit you do with that. I am not allowing Livia to give her blood, helping you by giving you more information. For fucks sake Jeremy doesn’t have anything like that, but still, NO! How can we trust you.”

“I have been open and honest since the fucking get go… You are the one who hid the demon, who lied to us about what he is. At least Livia made it clear that something is up with her, but you Matthew should not be trusted. What the fuck do we have to do to gain your trust?” Adaly starts almost shouting. The other 3 people in the room have taken a step back, just letting Sam and Adaly fight it out.

Adaly feels her heartbeat raising, not just out of anger but also from something else… she feels like a kinship towards the asshole paladin. She quickly shakes that feeling while looking at him.

“Trust is not given it is earned.” Sam says and then Adaly yells back “What the fuck do we have to do to earn it? We have fought with you and saved you. You have even told your sob story, and we are keeping it a secret. Why does Livia’s story have to be a secret? Especially if it is mission relevant, we should fucking know.”

“You have not been as open as you claim, what the fuck was up with that cabin? What about Es-Grenalieth? You knew she was here” Sam yells back and Adaly looks pissed at him “You never fucking asked. How am I supposed to know what you know and what you don’t? I have not got the briefing what they told you about me. But you know, they did tell you about me, while I know fucking nothing about you. Yes, now I heard your sob story, but what about Livia, what about Jeremy?” Sam growls “You don’t need to know”

They stand close to each other, she feels a tingle in her body, a feeling of attraction. She agrees with him, not sharing things is better, however she hates being in the dark. She feels closer to him after he told his story. It felt so similar to hers, except he got rescued, and she had to save herself. She wants to know more about this man…

Both of them breathing heavily, staring each other down. Livia steps in between them. “I will tell them what is mission relevant” Livia says to Sam, before turning around to face Adaly and Amara. Sam looks annoyed at Livia, but he also seems distracted for a second and allows her to speak.