After-Quest Aftercare

Posted on Tue Jan 16th, 2024 @ 11:35am by Dungeon Master God-Emperor Taral & Fighter (Level 2) Jaene of Saint Clair & Priest (Level 2) Alden Mourningstar & Priest (Level 2) Leslie Aryz & Thief (Level 2) Alicea of Reneau

Mission: We're Forming A Party
Location: The Dire Melon, Fairfell
Timeline: The evening after "End of the Trail"

In the early evening, Leslie Aryz, Alden Mourningstar, Jaene of Saint Clair and Alicea of Reneau returned to the town of Fairfell. The Party (once numbering three, then two, and for now four) found their quest giver at the town constabulary, right where he said he would be. They turned in the Harpy's head, the disabled bell, and directions on how to find all of the evidence for what had happened. There was a chance that some or even most of it would be gone by the time the town guard reached it, especially given the late hour, but they would be able to recover something, anyway.

He had been a bit reluctant to spend 80 gold pieces, since he had expected to pay 60 the previous evening, but there was no denying that the party had been successful because of the fact that they were four. So each of them got 20 gold pieces and were invited to stick around, that more work might come up for some adventurers.

They would consider the invitation, but in the meantime, the four returned to The Dire Melon tavern. Jaene had gone in first, since she was the cleanest and had offered to spend the 2 gp to pay for the upstairs room for the four of them. After her near-misses with Alden, it seemed the least she could do. Leslie was still in no state to be seen among the people enjoying their food and drink, so they quickly snuck her upstairs.

"The back room here has a boiler and a couple of large water basins," Alden said once they got upstairs. "With soaps too. Let's get a hot bath set up for you, Leslie, and I'll wash clothes. In the morning, we can get things mended at the shops."

“I definitely get the bath first, then if anyone else wants one, we may need to empty and scrub the tub first.” Leslie reached up to her hair and shivered in disgust, “This is going to take FOREVER to wash out.. Oh and don’t you DARE peek in while I’m bathing you, you lecher!” She snapped at Alden, “You’ve had enough looks with my clothes half torn off already.”

Jaene saw the two large basins, both of which contained some water. She and Alden worked together to make it ideal for washing. The Druid cast Purify Food and Drink onto the basins, removing any contaminants from the water and making them pristine for use in laundry or a bath. Jaene, using the gifts of her Water Genasi heritage, created from nothing an additional 20 gallons of pure water, which (with the help of the boiler and Alden's Control Flame spell) instantly got nice and hot as the water was telekinetically controlled into the basins.

The Ranger left the room and started tossing articles of clothing to the Druid. Jaene got into one of the beds. "Our new friend is offering to wash our things," she observed to Alicea. "And I'm cold," she added with a wink.

“Oh, well, then someone should keep you warm!” Alicea noticed that Leslie had already vanished into the room with a bath, leaving behind a pile of blood soaked clothes, or rags from the looks of it, on top of her own cloak, now worse for the wear. The rest of her own outfit, however, was still pristine, “It’s just the cloak for me please, sir Alden, but please be sure to knock and wait a minute or so when you need to come in? Just for decorum’s sake?” Her eyes sparkled in themselves so that he knew why she was asking this.

Alden grinned. "Certainly, Lady Alicea," he said with a bow. He gathered the pile of clothes and went into the basin room, closing the door behind him. He went directly for the one reserved for laundry and made a point to avoid looking toward Leslie in the bath. He removed his own clothing so he could wash it too, positioning himself so that the basin was in between himself and Leslie. He worked to get the dirt, sweat, and most importantly blood off of the different articles, beginning with Jaene's and then his own, the two cleanest sets, before moving onto Alicea's cloak and Leslie's outfit.

He would be lying if he said he did not occasional steal a glance toward the bath.

Leslie went right to work scrubbing herself down, paying special attention to her hair, working up a fierce lather three times before it finally ran relatively clear. She glanced over her shoulder and saw his eyes seemingly glued directly on her... She glanced down, having turned enough to glance that certain bits of her were showing. "PERVERT!" She shouted at him, slinging the wooden brush at him without any warning whatsoever. It flew past his head and hit the wall, breaking it before it clattered to the ground. "I told you not to look!"

“Sorry!” Alden exclaimed, surprised by the sudden throw of the brush but fully understanding it. “Here, I’ll turn around.” He moved around the laundry basin so his default position was looking away, while now he was visible to her. It seemed like a fair turnabout and he didn’t really care if he was seen. “I didn’t mean to upset you. You’re really pretty and you’ve had torn clothes all day. It’s been a lonely journey these past few months. But you’re right, I shouldn’t have looked. How can I make it up to you?”

"Well, um..." Leslie looked away at the compliment, "I suppose it wasn't that horrible that you were... It's..." She trailed off, blushing red despite him not being able to see it and she sunk herself to chin height in the tub, "You're really making up for it right now if you're doing half as well as you seem to be trying to do. Bahamut Rising, I've been showing myself to be an idiot with how I've been on that quest." Her ears perked up as sounds leaked through the wall, "Are you kidding? We step away for what, ten minutes and those two are already?"

“Yeah, Alicea warned me that would happen,” Alden said. “That water girl is loud,” he added with a laugh.

“And we’re going to be called disturbers of the peace just because we’re associated with them.” Leslie laughed as she got back to washing herself, stealing a glance here and there at him, but making her moves obvious to give him a chance to look away if he were watching for it. She had stretched languidly, lifting one long, slender leg once to run a hand down it when she was almost sure he’d been watching. Compliments were her weakness.

Alden finished the washing, though needed to cast Purify Food and Drink another time, spending the last of his magical energy in doing so, to clean the water. “Shame I never learned Prestidigitation,” he said aloud, though mostly to himself. “Here, the clothes are clean. I’ll hang them up, so they’ll be dry by tomorrow. There are some robes here, in case you need something to sleep in.” He laughed again. “I suspect Jaene and Alicea won’t want them.”

“If I don’t have dry clothes, then I think I’ll take one.” She stood from the bath and glanced down over herself, yes, rather clean and that wound was looking better there and there.” She snatched a towel and wrapped it around herself before stepping out of the tub completely, “It’s safe to look, can you tell me if I got my hair clean enough?” Her shoulders were bare and a few freckles showed on their tops, and everything a few inches above the knee and down was also bare, but she was rather decent.

He finished hanging everything up, wearing a robe of his own, and turned to face her with another robe in hand. He’d seen a fair amount already, but the sight before him was something altogether different. Covered or not, he had to blink a few times before he could focus properly. “Sorry,” he repeated. “I always heard the stories of Aasimar beauty but I didn’t realize…” He shook his head clear and then took a closer look as she asked. “There’s a bit you missed in your hair. Here, sit down on the ground and lean back. I’ll get it.” He lathered some soap into his hands.

Leslie let him help her put on the robe and then, undid the towel from underneath, extracting it neatly, before sitting down and leaning back as he suggested, "There's some question about where the Aasimar in me came from, because both of my parents are true human. Maybe there was something back in one of their histories, or maybe it was just fate. The Sages say that this does happen at random, sometimes, but it freaked my parents out too much apparently. I barely remember them, like shadows of a memory and since they wanted to get rid of me, I decided to let it slide." She leaned her head back so her emerald eyes looked upside down into his, "It does help me, though, because I'm the best looking monk in the Order, bar none!"

“I don’t doubt that one bit,” he said, looking back into her eyes. He let her red hair cascade back into the water and worked on the grimy part he saw.

There was a moment of silence between the two, during which the sounds from the other room were all the more apparent. It made Alden smile. “There. All done.” He rinsed his soapy hand off in the water and ran it back through Leslie’s hair. “We might be stuck in here a while. Alicea said to knock and then give them a moment but I don’t think they’ll hear a knock.” He raised an eyebrow. “I’m sure we can think of our own ideas to pass the time. Taking inspiration from the act of love in the other room,” he added flirtatiously.

Leslie snickered as her eyebrows rose in the wrong direction as she was still looking at him upside down, a rosy look on her cheeks, "Listen to the sweet-talker taking his time to get to the point." Her sly smile looked like a frown from this angle as well, "Little does he know that sometimes you don't need a reason to get down and dirty, or at least an excuse like that." She reached up cat-like and grabbed his hand, tugging him towards her a few inches and placing his hand on one breast under the robe, "All you had to ask was if I wanted to fuck and you had me."

"Well if that's the case," he said, letting his robe fall off himself and gently guiding Leslie's off too, "wanna fuck?" He returned the hand to where Leslie had put it and used the other to pull her waist to him, before kissing her deeply

She hadn’t resisted as he’d removed the robe, taut body corded with muscle and very little fat. She didn’t even respond in words, not that she had the opportunity to do so, instead making her assent known even so. Sometimes, you just had needs that needed to be fulfilled.

Unlike their Genasi partymates in the bedroom, who seemed intent on ensuring everyone in Fairfell knew what they were doing, Alden and Leslie kept good control over their noise levels. They made an effort, so no one below or in the adjacent room could hear them enjoying themselves, and each other.

While all four of the party members did indeed get a Long Rest that night, it did not begin until quite late....

END OF QUEST



Check Results:

Alden Stealth vs Leslie Perception:
Alden: 4 + 2 = 6
Leslie: 19 + 2 = 21

Leslie 'Attack' throwing brush:
4 + 2 = 6: Miss

Perception Roll About what Alicea and Jaene are doing
Leslie: 15 + 2 = 17
Alden: 7 + 5 = 12

Jaene and Alicea Stealth Roll:
Jaene: 3 + 2 = 5
Alicea: 8 + 4 = 12

Alden Persuasion vs Leslie Intelligence check:
Alden: 6 + 3 = 9
Leslie: Natural 1

Alden and Leslie Charisma checks:
Alden: 13 + 1 = 14
Leslie: 5 + 3 = 8

Alden and Leslie Stealth checks:
Alden: 13 + 2 = 15
Leslie: 19 + 2 = 21

Alden Constitution saving throw (with advantage):
12 (discarded 9) + 0 = 12

Leslie Constitution saving throw
18 + 0 = 18