" I am Alex Trueblood." the high priest responds. "I'm glad to have met you Dae choosen one of the light. I promise not to tell anyone of this mishap but may I ask why. You can report this to your temple and I can not discuss this matter not even to m,y temple though I'm sure that Verna already know's the idenity of the matter."

Dae looked the man over his aura was clear, his colors not muddied or dark.

"This man tried to harm or kill a member of the group I am with. He has people who are after him and he seeks to avoid them knowing where he is." Dae begins a very abreviated edition for the stanger.

"My comrade foiled his attempt but we are currently trying to keep our presence here unknown to but a few. Stories such as these spread quickly and the wrong ears may hear them. I will inform my temple so the proper prayers may be said for his soul."

"Now, I must bid you good night, for it is fading fast. Though I do thank you in advance for your silence and understanding."

Dae walks forward to shake the man's hand, to seal their bargain. It was then she noticed, the signet ring on his hand. It was not his holy symbol but the signet of the Prince." She help his hand a moment longer.

"It never cesses to amaze me how our Deities arrange these things." Dae points to his hand with the Prince's signet. "Who gave you that ring?" she asks evenly.

Alex shakes hands with Dae to seal his agreement.
Telepathically he says to Dae. "I was given the ring by the same prince who gave you the mission to the burrans. And I know all to well about the Pirate Captain and his bounty. For you have to remember that Verna is a god of secerets and right now it is a seceret that you and your companion and perhaps your half sister are here. Oh yes I know more then you can even imagine about all three of you. But don't worry my lips are sealed by Verna."

Then welcome, indeed," responds Dae outloud to the unusual form of communication. "I wouldn't recommend taking this room." Jason, can our new party member bunk with you tonight?" I will take Septimus's things, while you show the good cleric to your room."

Once inside she moves over to Zara who is on their shared bed now and Septimus sleeps, hopefully on Zara's bed.

"You watch for now I need to make a quick trip to the Temple of the Light. That he accepted your offer surprised me. For that we will keep him safe. I will be back as quickly as possible. Take care I do not think the man he killed tonight was the one he guards himself against."

Dae cast Santuary on Septimus. Dae hurries out to her temple and confers with the High Priest. She leaves a tithe to the church for the services for the unfortunate soul. She says a prayer for his soul, while in the Circle of Light. It doesn't have to be informative, The Light knew, It is just a prayer for those who have passed beyond this mortal coil. She also prays for the success of their mission and for all those who are part of the party. Dae returns to her room and bed and sleeps until wakened by Zara for her turn at watching over Septimus.

She did notice that he features sometimes softened as he slept and dreamed and other times they grew harsh and hard when his dream were more nightmare than dreams of better times. When he was restless she used a very soft easy shushing to lull him back to sleep. Like a guardian angel she stood there near him until morning's first light crept in their window. She was tempted to let him sleep longer but she wanted to be on the move as quickly as possible.

"Septimus," she called out to him, "Wake up. Morning breaks."

"Zara. Rise and shine."

"Can't I just shine and not rise." Zara mumbles from under the covers. And then what shows of her does shine, a bright golden white glow that came from within.

Then one eye opens, "Oh, bother!" she says as Dae is standing there already dress and packed, She pushes back the covers, the shine gone and she uncoils from the warm nest she had made for herself. "There goes my beauty for the day."

Zara yawns, and begins to undress. "Time for traveling clothes."

She stands by their bed and pulls out what she packed for traveling. Taupe gray leather pants, and moss green shirt, a taupe gray leather jerkin with pieced and pierced work of moss green and darker taupe gray, and a set of high laced boots with the same designs as the jerkin.

"Watch this," she announced and with a few words of an arcanae encantation, the clothes disappeared from the bed and appeared on her.

"Oh, Varax," as she looks down and see that her pants were on over her boots, and her socks were on her hands. With a creak of ropes she plots down on the bed and pulls off the socks, and then her boots and then puts them on correctly; socks under her pants and boots over her socks and pants.

"I have to work on that."

She looks to Dae, "Have you washed, or do you want a quick clean and freshen?"

When the first members of the party get downstairs to the common room for breakfast they will see a fairly large feloni hanging about looking at the Inn's guests as they enter the room. He keeps lifting his head up as each person enters the room from any direction. It is not hard to figure out that he is looking for someone. He is aprox 6 and ahalf feet tall at least. must weigh around 300 to 350 pounds, with the typical muscular build of the Felani (think Thunder Cats with no tails)

Unmistakably he looks to be a fighter. He has 2 long swords one on each side and a Bastard sword on his back, as well as a long bow in a case and a finely crafted quiver with arrows., He is dressed fairly simply in leather paints, a shirt that covers up most of a chain shirt under it, A pair of leather gloves are tucked in his belt, he looks like a leopard with rather large spots but he is mostly gray with darker spots (clouded snow leopard pattern. His cloak is medium grey as well and lined in green.

"Save you magic for more important things. I have bathed myself for years....and dressed myself too." comments Dae on her half sister's decadent use of magic. "I am going down to order breakfast and check on a few things. She moves to the door and opens looks out. Dae had already prayed with the rising of the sun--the coming of Light for the day.

Walking over to Jason's and the Cleric's room she knocks on the door. "The sun is rising, we must be ready to leave as soon as possible.

Dae then heads downstairs. She keep her eyes open and actively looks around the room missing nothing. There is the ubiquitious pot of porriege hanging over coals in the fireplace on one side and a nice fire built up to take the chill off from the damp morning air.

There were not a lot of customers in the room which was typical of higher class inns. Rich people moved in their own good time. Poor people answered to others and were frequently up and moving with the sun rise.

A quick flash of tongue shot out as Dae departed. She look over at Septimus, at his hip high black boots and tattered black cloak.

She gathers her haversack and staff and leaves the room, "If your late to breakfast you'll only get the bottom of the porridge pot."

She dances down the stairs and looks for Dae, who she found ordering breakfast. She licked her lips at the mention of slabs of ham steaks, a rasher of bacon, two loaves of bread, a half wheel of cheese, and 2 dozen hardboiled eggs, and big serving of shredded potatoes cakes fried in butter.

As Dae ordered Zara looked about, her eyes came on the first Felani she had ever seen. She could not help but stare at him, he was so massive. The color of a clouded snow leopard, these she knew since they lived in the mountains where her home was. AS he lifted a large spoon of porridge, She caught site of the the Ring on his finger. This Felani was one of their party.

"Dae, another party member," she says before hurrying across the room.

"Hi, I didn't expect to see you here, can we sit with you." She looks like a short teenaged Elf dressed in tannish gray and green. Her hair is unbound in a glorious riot of golden waves falling well down her back held somewhat in place by a diadem of rose-gold with a bright goldish-yellow faceted crystal in it the size of a copper coin(a bit bigger than a nickle).

She holds out her left hand with the ring and sits before he even answers, then she whispers, "You're one of us. Act like you know me, name's Zara."

His eyes had darted nervously to the others, as if expecting judgement,forbidding and curious, he gazed upon the new party member, expressing a silent but nearly tangible feeling of distrust.

He watched silently as Jason picked up the dagger, reading a sense of unease about the object and avoided his gaze. He knew why. Poison was insidious, it was sneaky, it was dark. And it was certainly not heroic. Septimus was not an evil man, but he was a rogue, and avoided a fair fight whenever possible. His nature was revealed suddenly and unrepentantly, and he disliked the idea that others might be judging him for using something so crafty and unethical.

“I know what you all are thinking”, he whispered. “That the fight was not fair, but I assure you his death was quick”. His head was half-tilted, a figure in shadow. “He was not murdered, only euthanized”. His expression was grim.

“Like a dog”.

His gaze shifted away from the corpse on the floor.

He did not reply, but it was clear to all that the ragged sailor was not the man that kept him alert. His harsh expression softened only slightly at the mention of their protection. He nodded to them, once curtly, and left the room, his dark robes flying behind him. He entered the room that he shared with the two elven girls, and with a final and tedious check of the security, he retired.

Without a word he slipped into bed and slept gratefully and deeply.

****************************************

A soft voice, commanding, though not unkind roused him from sleep. He muttered something intelligible and woke slowly. He did not seem as intimidating as usual, his hair was mussed into dark curls from sleep, his eyes were blearily and unfocused. Drowsy, he slung his legs over the side of the bed and sat upright, waiting for the two females to leave, unmoving at the mention of breakfast. His hand moved to his throat, making sure the necklace was still there.

When Dae and Zara headed downstairs and he was ensured his privacy, he changed quickly out of his traditional wear and into something that was slightly more comfortable. He slid on a simple ebony peasant shirt and dark trousers, laced an emerald-dyed leather vest over his shirt, put on his high leather boots and tied a dark crimson strip of cloth about his head to keep his dark hair from obscuring his vision. Replacing his jewelry and weaponry, he cleaned the deadly dagger with antidote, and slipped it into its sheath, being careful only to hold it by the hilt and not to brush the lethal metal.

Rolling up his cloak and the rest of his clothing, he replaced it into his ornate traveling sack, and headed downstairs. He was just adjusting his baldric, when he entered into the mostly desolate room. Gone was the frightfulness of his appearance, he was slender and handsome in his outfit, and his emerald eyes seemed to glow with a new fire and determination.

“Good morning”.

He will look at the ring and notices it is like his own. Also the fact she matches the description he was given. He smiles with a reply of “It is good to see you again Zara. I was told the food in this establishment is good so I decided to find out for myself if it was. How are you and your sister doing?” as he is saying this he will make some room at the bench for her as well as standing up politely for her sister. He will note the arrival of the tall green eyed male taking in the long dagger at his hip, unusually high boots, and red scarf around his head. He will nod at him as he approaches the table. He will relax a bit when he sees the ring on his hand. “ The porridge is one of the better ones I have encountered” Please sit.

After helping with the body, Jason goes back to sleep. Wakin in the morning, he arrives in the inn, buying a simple meal of bread and water. He sits down next to Zara.

"Well everything so far has been... interesting." He remarks with a wry smile.

"Here's to hoping the rest goes off without a hitch."

"I bet I can make it better," Zara reaches into her haversack and pulls out a honey pot because that was what was glazed on the small ceramic jar, and a small mesh bag and hands them to the Felani. "Here, add some honey and some of the stuff in the bag. It's sliced nuts and dried fruit."

"Ahhh good, here comes Septimus and some of our food."

Behind the pirate came a serving lad carrying a tray loaded with bread, cheese, butter, some hardboiled eggs, a bowl of fruit perserves and two quickly fried ham steaks.

"Cook says the rest'll be ready in 15 minutes." On the tray were plates and eating utensils.

"Dig in, friends," pipes Zara cutting a thick end piece off a still warm loaf of bread. This she slathers with butter and jam and a piece of ham on top of it all. "Bring back a bowl of porridge for me," she calls after the boy.

"Yummmmmm, I'm famished." She mutters just before biting down on the open-faced sandwich.

His good humour was evident as he strode over to the table, a wry half-smile gracing his lips in what would be the most expressive smile for Septimus in over a decade.

After all, he had escaped death.

He nodded to his companions coolly, taking in the impressively large Felani, scanning him mercilessly with his searching eyes that were so much like tainted jade. He regarded him informally, his body posture indicating awareness and an animal alertness of his surroundings. His hand never strayed far from his weaponry. Noting the ring, he relaxed slightly, his expression wary but with a hint of approval. He sat at the table, aloof but comfortable. He was not about to foolishly give his name to him, as he refused to possibly be his own undoing, but he was friendlier to this stranger then he had been to most of his former crew.

Perhaps he respected him, because of his great size and strength. Septimus was crafty yes, but powerful he was not, and he knew that. Those strange emerald eyes did not miss a beat. They burned with an icy fire.

He had not realized how hungry he had been since the food was presented. His last meal had been the day prior, and he watched the plates laden with food with a calm eagerness. Delicacies that were unheard of at sea. There was bread! Not hard-tack, but real bread, still warm! Fresh eggs there were, and dried fruit, and meat, which was a rarity in his life. As soon as the food was placed on the table, he took a few utensils and set to work. He helped himself to a piece of the bread and a few small pieces of the ham steak. With good food inside his poor stomach, which was used only to what he could salvage at sea, he was indeed in a much better mood then they had ever seen him.

Since Zara had asked Oko to pretend that he knew her, he cannot very well introduce himself, so all he can do is to try to match the people at the table to the descriptions he was given by the prince.

The tall green eyed man who walked like a sailor, had very high boots, a dead giveaway cutlass, a red scarf tying back his hair, and eats like someone not used to REAL food must be the pirate. The priest must be a newcomer like himself, for the ring looked a bit out of place against the clothes he was wearing. The 2 Elven ladies must be the half sisters. He was told one was a fighter/cleric and the other a magic user of modest ability. Since Zara did not have the look of a fighter she must be the magic user.

Oko could not help thinking Zara looked kind of young for this type of a mission. After all, 5 people did not make for a large party. He hopes the Prince had gathered up some more people and that they will join up later.

Instead of worrying about it Oko tucked in and ate a very hearty meal listening to the others do most of the talking. Oko added some of the dried fruit and honey to the porridge the younger of the 2 sisters offered to him. Then when the serving lad came back with the rest of the food he will ask for 5 lunches to be made up and he will pay for them himself.

He will also give a brief prayer of thanks to the Light for the fact that one of his foes he had vanquished earlier had 2 very useful items on him. He hopes that he will have some time to buy some more supplies. The Barrens are not noted for having much in the way of food or water and his horse must eat as well, since he was big even amongst Felani. Oko does not intend to walk the whole way on foot because his horse does not have enough food and water.

After finishing his meal he would make a suggestion. “I think I should leave as soon as possible in orderrr to make the most of the day. I have supplies to get and some morrre horrrse food and waterrr,” he says in a deep voice that rumbles a little like a purr especially when he says words with an “r” sound.

Zara grabs a plate off the tray and puts on a 1/2 dozen slices of bacon, a thick slice of bread slathered in butter and drizzles it with honey.

"You can't go out witout eating," she says passing the plate to Jason.

Which assumes she does not think what Jason ordered could ever be though of as a meal.

"We bought enough for everyone."

She then returns to her plate and after it is cleaned, she takes the bowl of porridge, put an handfull of nuts and another of dried fruit into it and follows that with a big dollop of honey before stirring it all together and then tucking into it as if she had not just finished a plate of food.

She then drops her fork on the floor and bending over she tugs of the pants of the Felani, hoping he will lean over so she could whisper to him.