Emmy in Action ch.6 (Patreon)

Author's Notes: Trapped in Ai Fenitra, Emeera and Vath-Raya set out to put an end to the smuggling ring and lift the embargo once and for all. But with such different approaches, will they succeed?

[story] [action] [light horror] [light romance]

_______________________________

‭The stay at the Quivering Kettle had been decidedly more restful for some, than for others. By the time the protective dome dissipated, and the single room’s three inhabitants roused from slumber, Orchid and Emeera had both slept like puppies after a shot of brandy – Vath-Raya, meanwhile, awoke with bloodshot eyes and creaking bones. Between the ‘distraction’ provided by the other two, and the general discomfort of the smaller, cheaper bed she’d slept on, the wizard had found little rest… but nothing that couldn’t be solved with enough determination, and questionably legal stimulants.

“See? I told you this was a good place,” Orchid stretched out, letting the sheets slide from her naked figure as she began to dress herself, choosing from a small selection of similar styles. “I suggest you leave your packs here for the day, we can travel a bit lighter that way.”

“Remember that we still lack a plan,” the githyanki sighed, fishing through her belt pouch for a tiny, wax-sealed paper bag, popping it open and fishing through while she refreshed herself on the contents of her spellbook. Withdrawing a few small, sky-blue pellets that resembled nuts, she tossed them into her mouth and began to crunch loudly.

“Well, as I said, I get my best info on my own – and usually on my back, or with someone pressed against a wall,” Orchid giggled, “so I definitely think we should split up. There are only two guard towers with the kind of infrastructure necessarily to pull something like this off, the north one and the south one. Both have access to Ai Fenitra’s canals and could be used to pull this smuggling thing off. So, as I mentioned yesterday, I say we split up. I’ve got a plan, the question is, do the two of you?”

“Barring Emeera’s litany of silliness from last night… not yet,” Vath-Raya growled.

“I stand by the monkey army idea. Did you see how smart they are?” Emeera folded her arms across her chest defensively. “I’m sure that if we took the time to talk to them, we could get them to spy for us. Nobody ever suspects a secret army of monkey spies.”

“Nobody over the age of twelve, perhaps,” the mage sighed, “though I confess I have come up with little better. I have potent magic, but spells – invisibility, for instance – only last so long. Likewise, we could use a pocket plane to hide in, but that takes time, assumes we’re already in the building, and it isn’t like everyone’s going to go home for the night. There’s always going to be a dark patrol.”

“Well, it isn’t like we need to spend time in the guard house at all, right?” Emmy mused. “Whatever’s happening, it’s happening in the canals, like Orchid said. We just have to get there.”

“...And we don’t have to go through the tower to get there. We could go underwater!” Vath-Raya’s violet eyes widened in a rare display of genuine excitement.

“Exactl– wait, what?”

“I was certain to prepare for the seas of your world–”

“Wait, ‘your world’?” Orchid interjected, but was ignored.

“–And I wrote a ritual in my spellbook that will allow us to breathe water,” the wizard continued. “It’s long-lasting, not difficult to maintain, and can affect multiple allies.”

Emmy’s eyes widened, the young human looking almost choked up. “You consider me an ally? That’s so sweet, thank you Raya.”

“I – not like – ugh, sure,” the mage waved a hand dismissively, “but you see what this means? We can skip the guards entirely while your goblinoid friend has some unborn children scattered across her chest. Get right to the root of the problem.”

“With talk like that, you’re gonna end up on my naughty list, sweetness,” Orchid tugged one boot on, then the other, starting to hide various blades around her body wherever her skimpy garments could conceal them. “If you’re planning to go straight to the canals, you’ll wanna go southside, the docks aren’t as well-guarded down there, so you can get underwater easily enough. I hope you two can swim.”

“The armor won’t make it easy, but I’m stronger than I look,” Vath-Raya nodded.

“And I’m a great swimmer! I mean, they didn’t call it Lakeheart because it was a desert, right?” Emmy beamed. “I don’t have a swimsuit with me, though….”

“Just wear what you’re wearing.”

“They’ll get heavy when they get wet!” Emmy huffed.

“I’d loan you something, but I, ah…” Orchid grinned as she gestured to the human’s petite figure and nearly-flat chest, then to her own much more developed curves. “I doubt they’d fit.”

Emeera looked down at her robes, pondering for a long moment before a flash of inspiration took her. “I can just use the wrappings to cover the important stuff! Perfect! Mummy-Emmy! Oh, I actually fought a mummy once, did I ever mention that? It’s a lot like punching ghosts, except they’re like, actually there, right? So very different, I guess. But they’re still all like ‘aauuuughhh’ and stuff, like ghosts.”

“Is fireballing the city still off the table?”

“Alright, you go south, I go north,” the hobgoblin scoundrel said. “Meet back here, unless you’ve got heat on you, which… from what little I’ve seen of the two of you, and heard of your plan, you will.”

“I know how to keep attention off of me.”

“I swear if you say ‘fireba–’”

“Fireball. Slip out in the chaos, works every time.”

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

The three took breakfast in the Quivering Kettle, though the establishment was clearly not intended as much for dining as it was for lodging. Still, while the meal was somewhat plain, it was plenty hearty, consisting primarily of a type of local tuber (not entirely unlike a potato) fried in rendered goat fat and served with pheasant eggs. The entire mess of food was covered in a coarse red seasoning, savory and slightly spicy, and of course sea salt, something considered a luxury in central Korrym, but utterly commonplace in Ai Fenitra.

“Alright, girls, I’m northside to see what I can dig up,” Orchid stood and stretched, checking her multiple hidden blade compartments to make sure everything was still where it belonged. “Have fun with your aquatic escapades.”

“They’re not escapades!” Emmy frowned. “We’re on a top-secret sub-marine excursion! Classic adventure fare!”

“Exactly,” Vath-Raya nodded, “just like in the Daring Trials of Heza Papermoon.”

Both Orchid and Emeera blinked, turning their attention completely towards the githyanki, expressions ranging between puzzled and nonplussed, with a hint of elation creeping into the human’s bright eyes.

“The… the daring what, now?” Orchid arched a brow.

“You know,” the wizard said confidently, “obviously you’ve read them.”

“Read what?” Emmy’s eyes widened like she was about to bust open the most exciting secret ever kept. “Some gith saga of old? An epic poem filled with flame and bloodshed?”

“No, it’s…” Raya’s look of certainty began to shake, “they’re… it’s a series of books, that’s all. Penned here, in the Prime Material. Purely… speculative.”

“They’re fiction?!” Orchid’s lips spread into a wide, sharp smile, and a faint blush began to creep over Vath-Raya’s golden skin.

“No wayyy!” Emeera gasped, as Vath-Raya reflexively looked away. “Wait, tell me what they’re about! Do you have them with you?”

“Of course I have them wi–” the gith began, then paused, quickly searching for a different topic. “It’s a mere dalliance, something to clear my head, not important.”

“Come on, you have to show me!” Emmy pressed, but it was an inch too far – embarrassment flared into anger, and the wizard shot back a scowl.

“I said it isn’t important,” Vath-Raya said icily, standing and dropping a few copper coins on the breakfast table, straightening her scabbard. “Let’s go. If the Lich-Queen is with us, we can figure out this smuggling nonsense and be out of Ai Fenitra by the time this harlot’s sucked out her first clue.”

Orchid remained visibly smug, but said nothing further as she parted ways with the pair, heading north while they headed south. Emmy bubbled with questions, but remained uncharacteristically quiet so as not to draw the mage’s ire. The two found their way towards the southside of the city after a few hours of travel by foot, not daring to unleash the unpredictable leucrottas in a crowded place, and carefully investigated the docks for any signs or notes as to an underwater entrance to the canals. Eventually, due to Emeera electing to boldly and bluntly ask random civilians until one of them knew, the two found themselves at the beach beneath the high wooden pier, staring at the vast, deep tunnel that led under the city.

One thing was for absolute certain – even with the ability to breathe water, making it into the canals was not going to be fun.

“Alright, here we go,” the wizard sighed, dropping to her knees and unslinging her pack from around her shoulders, beginning to draw out the materials she’d need for the ritual, including an incense burner, various papers and inks, and a few short, dry reeds. “Human, find a place for us to stash our things. Just because we’ll be able to breathe doesn’t mean we’ll be able to swim, or that any of our gear will be waterproof. This will… take a few minutes.”

“Gotcha!” Emmy nodded sharply. “And you can just call me Emmy. Not, like… human. There are lots of humans.”

“Not as far as I’m concerned,” Vath-Raya growled back, leaving the monk wondering if that was meant to be a compliment or… something else completely.

“If we win, will you tell me about Heza Papermoon?”

“No.”

“It’ll be a long boat ride.”

A violet-eyed glare shot Emmy’s way. Finally, it was followed by a reluctant snarl. “We’ll see. Now go find a place to put our stuff.”

“I’m on it!”

In a city with a more than modest population of scoundrels, it was strange that such a secretive place would feel so barren of markings, caches, or any other such signs of skullduggery. Whether it was the canals’ proximity to the guard towers, or the extreme localization of Ai Fenitra’s criminal element to Blacksands, this shady area beneath the pier seemed entirely untouched, and it wasn’t long before Emeera managed to locate a rotten wooden beam that would make a perfect hidey-hole. Throwing in her own backpack, she then bundled up her clothing, using her sashes alone to wrap around her nethers and negligible chest, and leaving behind that which was most likely to weigh her down. Returning with little else but her staff and her skin, she beamed with pride as Vath-Raya finished the final chants of her ritual.

Not ceasing her elaborate hand-motions or incantations, the githyanki handed one of the little reeds to Emeera, nodding briefly to her before bringing the other up to her own lips and inhaling. Emmy mirrored the motion, and felt a bizarre, burbling sensation fill her lungs – it faded after a moment, but left a curious, lingering sensation behind, like the bubbles that cling to the inside of a drained beer-glass. “Whoa,” the monk let out a soft cough, “that was weird. Is that like one of those pipes the elders used to pass around at the Edisseion? ‘Cause I tried that once and I didn’t feel all that enlightened, it just made me really queasy.”

“Just the means of binding you to the spell. You’ll be able to breath water until the Vezar and Phes take their same places in the sky tomorrow,” the githyanki nodded towards the sky, at Acrypharia’s two moons – barely visible in the daylight, but their silhouettes nonetheless apparent to the trained eye. Turning from the heavens, back to Emeera, she seemed to fully realize the state of undress that the monk was in – sashes of yellow and deep lavender covered just the essentials, baring almost the entirety of the young human’s petite figure. Excess cloth had been tied off into little bows and ribbons, complementing Emeera’s natural cuteness, while leaving far more exposed than Raya was accustomed to seeing outside of camping time. “You look… comfortable,” she said, stifling a swallow, doing her best not to let her gaze linger too long or wander too far. “I take it you found a place to hide our things?”

“I did!” Emmy beamed, quickly jogging off for the cache she’d found, which provided ample space for Vath-Raya’s pack, cloak, and breastplate. More clothing followed, leaving the annoyed wizard in a position that most other mages would be well-prepared for – completely unarmored. The sword and scabbard she kept, along with a small, wax-sealed pouch of spell materials, but everything else had to go. After a few moments, she found herself in smallclothes alone, silver fittings holding together pieces of bizarre black fabric that seemed to glisten in the absence of light, but shifted to a matte gray when touched by the sun. Her chest and nethers concealed, she nonetheless quickly took note of Emeera’s gaze, the human doing a far worse job of hiding her attention than the gith woman had.

“Alright, go on.”

“Huh?”

“Stop trying to avert your gaze and get it out of your system. I can’t have you trying to steal glances and distracting yourself on the mission.” Vath-Raya folded her arms across her chest, popping one hip to the side. “Shall I spin for you?”

Emmy bit her lip, fingers fidgeting with the endings of her sashes. “...Could you?”

Vath-Raya rolled her eyes and did a slow twirl, and Emmy let her eyes glaze over, taking everything in at once – the other woman’s strange figure, lean and strong and alien, every angle and curve just a little out of place. It was so unusual, but so… captivating, and the long moment she was allowed to properly study the gith woman was unexpectedly satisfying. Finally, she swallowed hard, and let out a nervous giggle, “Alright, I’m good! Should… I spin too?”

“I was planning on walking behind you,” the wizard said flatly, but after a moment to let the comment sink in, she flashed a dry smirk. In the short time she’d spent with Orchid, it was hard not to realize what a breath of fresh air Emeera was among these petty little primers. “Alright, let’s get going. We have a smuggling ring to bust.”

“Just like Heza Papermoon!”

“Shush.”

“Sorry.”

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

The spell worked as intended, allowing both submarine saboteurs the ability to breathe water. The quality of that water, however, was not taken into consideration, and breathing (not to mention swimming through) the water of Ai Fenitra’s canals was not dissimilar from breathing the air at a garbage dump or a mine filled with natural gas – while it was referred to as a canal, it bore many more traits of a sewer: a system of artificially constructed waterways designed to drain waste from the city into the sea. It didn’t help that the journey was quite long, taking nearly twenty minutes before the pair managed to find air once again, breaching at one of the many work stations built for city workers to provide maintenance. It just so happened that this one was directly beneath a prominent guard tower.

“Please, let’s please never do that again,” Emmy whimpered as she finally crawled completely out of the water and up onto the rough concrete walkway, shaking herself as dry as possible. “That was so unbelievably gross. Reminds me of when Var’veha used to cook.”

“Var’veha?” the gith arched a brow.

“Goblin friend. Long story.” Emmy sighed, leaning on her staff and taking a quick look around. The place was dimly lit with ensconced starsticks, variants of the alchemical sunrods that glowed much less brightly, but lasted far, far longer. She wasn’t exactly expecting to find blow-out evidence of a smuggling ring at first glance, but was surprised that she actually did find something. Closeby was the work station itself, a little concrete cube that, theoretically, should contain the tools for basic upkeep, removing clogs, and things like that. At the edge of her eyesight, though, far down the dark, damp tunnel, was a wooden blockade, likely marking the section as off-limits… despite there being no obvious reason why it should be. “They walled the whole area off… this has to be the place, right? The hub of their nefarious activities?”

“One would assume,” Vath-Raya hrmed under her breath, her fingertips simmering with golden-red energy as she kept a firebolt on standby. “But where do we go from here? Perhaps there’s a ladder up inside th–”

“Hello? Is someone out there? Please, please – I’m okay now, you can unlock the door, take me back in!” The voice echoed down one of the many long tunnels, dim lighting from the starsticks showing only a shadowy figure staggering in their direction, human-shaped but heavily obscured.

“We’ve come to take down your cabal of crime, you who betrayed your code!” Emmy shouted valiantly, hoisting her staff and pointing it in the figure’s direction. It showed no fear of the threat, though, continuing to stagger forward… and finally coming into the light.

“Those… things… already beat you to it.” The speaker was a man, either human or half-elf by the looks of him, though he’d clearly been through quite a bit. Heavy bags beneath almond-shaped green eyes suggested he hadn’t slept for who could tell how long, and auburn hair hung lank and greasy almost to his shoulders. He wore the uniform of an Ai Fenitra guard, or at least most of it, sections of armor bent or peeled away, his livery missing completely, sporting only a sidearm in the form of a short, single-edged sword. Chainmail was rent apart in long gashes in places, and heavily bloodied bandages were wrapped around his left thigh, right upper- and forearm, and his lower midsection, the latter which had began to turn brown with age and oxidation. In the state he was in, it was a miracle he was alive at all.

“Wait… things?” Vath-Raya’s eyes narrowed, drawing her sword with her free hand while flames continued to crackle along the other. “Explain.”

“Not… sure I have time,” the guard slumped up against the damp rock wall, letting bloodshot eyes slip shut for a moment, and from the tunnels behind him, another sound could be heard, this one softer – the sound of scurrying, of scrabbling claws and short, rapid breaths. “I… my name’s Jex, I–”

“I’m not interested in introductions, tell us what’s going on here. Jex.” The githyanki hissed through clenched teeth, and the man offered a short, solemn nod.

“We were moving stuff off Korrym, stowing crates away onto departing ships. Lots of shit, lots of contraband. Rare spices from up north, shipments of Wildleaf, used spellbooks, cursed weapons, illegal booze, you name it,” Jex swallowed hard, taking a few more deep breaths. The scurrying sounds were getting closer. “Got this crate, heaviest thing we’d ever seen, took ten of us to move the fuckin’ thing. We were told no questions, but… we opened it. Just this urn inside, and this… powder, and…” the half-elf was starting to talk faster, adrenaline kicking back in, desperation creeping into his voice, “It… t-they… it changed everyone, they started going crazy, and the boys upstairs locked me down here with ‘em… please, I’ve been down here for days, you’ve gotta get me out of here!”

“A convenient story,” the wizard growled.

“No… he’s right,” Emmy spoke up, closing her own eyes for a long moment, listening – past Jex’s heavy breathing and the idle flow of the canal’s water, calling on years of meditative training to tune them out, to listen only for what was most silent. She could hear them, some sort of creatures, coming closer and closer. A lot of them. “Something’s coming. Jarp, can you use that thing?” the human gestured to the guard’s sidearm.

“Yes. Lost the halberd a ways deeper in, this is all I’ve had for a while now,” Jex laid a hand on the hilt of his short sword.

“If we help you get out of here alive, you turn in your fellow smugglers and get the embargo lifted,” Vath-Raya kept her eyes locked on the half-elf, who nodded quickly.

“Oh, I’d love nothing more. Remember, the fuckers left me down here.”

Emeera cracked her knuckles, then her neck from side to side, fingers tightening around her staff and holding it tightly in front of her. “They’re coming. Fast. Hey, Raya–”

“Vath-Raya.”

“I think it may be time for that fireball.” Emmy pointed a finger forward at the tunnel Jex had come through, and the first signs of crawling things could finally be seen. Humanoid, if only vaguely, they scuttled on all fours, clinging to walls and ceilings, moving towards the two adventurers like a swarm of ravenous rats. Bits of armor still clung to them, but only the faintest traces of their original species could be seen – the muzzle of a tabaxi here, the stout figure and heavy beard of a dwarf there. Now, they were gray-skinned and feral, tongues lolling from fanged mouths, weapons remaining scabbarded in favor of claws and teeth. And they also happened to be in perfect range.

The githyanki cracked a grin, rearing her crackling hand backwards and hurling forth a tiny, scarlet bead, shimmering with fiery orange light. It was silent as the grave as it hurtled through the air some ninety feet, finally landing in the canal with the sound of a raindrop falling into a bucket of water.

The ensuing eruption was as much steam as it was flame, the sound of scrabbling claws quickly replaced by the sound of once-humanoid beasts shrieking in fiery agony. Such an enormous wave of flame in an enclosed place did create a serious backdraft, with both force and fire sending the travelers and wounded guard sprawling backwards from the explosion, but the brunt of the damage had very much been delivered exactly where it was intended to go… not that that meant each of the creatures had actually been killed.

“Holy cow,” Emmy panted, using her staff to stand up, trying to peer through the dense wall of steam, her nearly-naked body smudged with soot, scrapes, and minor burns. “That’s what you’ve been wanting to do all this time?”

“Now you see why,” the wizard grumbled, back against the far wall, struggling to sit up. Those wails of pain from down the tunnel were fading – some disappearing completely, and others dropping to enraged growls, then rising to roars of psychotic rage.

“I don’t think they’re done with us,” Jex whimpered from his own position on the ground, laying completely on his side. He’d one foot on the Wheel to begin with, and the blowback from the fire and steam had left the betrayed guardsman far too weak to move without aid. Still, trembling fingers reached for his short sword, slipping it from its sheath should he need to defend himself one final time.

As Vath-Raya struggled to her feet, Emeera took up a defensive stance, gritting her teeth and preparing for the coming wave. And come they did – scorched, battered, and seriously weakened, but decidedly angry. They tumbled from the ceiling and walls, attacking as a single front, united in their mindlessness, only to receive sharp, swift strikes from the Tranquilizer, the monk taking point and only attacking when an opening provided itself, using the staff to hold the creatures at bay while she waited for backup.

Behind her, Vath-Raya hooked a finger into that little sealed pouch of components, opening it to look for what she needed. The long trek through the foul water had ruined many of them, but not, fortunately, the one she was looking for. A grimace crossed the mage’s face as she withdrew a dried red pepper and held it up in front of her mouth – it smelled distinctly like sewage, yet she was faced with the inevitability of eating it anyway. Eyes darted towards Emeera, ducking and parrying as many frenzied attacks as she could, though the stray claw still scratched and dug at exposed skin. It was now or never.

Pinching your nose closed wasn’t much of an option for a githyanki, so down the hatch the pepper went. “Cheers.” Vath-Raya flinched, gagged, then finally swallowed, and a burning red glow began to emanate from her mouth and throat. These creatures hadn’t seemed fond of their first taste of flame… let’s see how they liked the next one.

“Hey, Raya, you got a plan back there? Not that like, you have to, I’ve… y’know, I’ve – unff! – got this totally under control, as you can see, but in case you did have something you were thinking about throwing into the mix, I just wanna be sure I’m not getting in your w–” Emmy was cut off by a massive gout of flame that cascaded across the clustered former guardsmen, a few of them scattering or collapsing entirely as Vath-Raya made her way in from the flank, breathing fire from her mouth just like the red dragons her people had allied with for centuries. Offering a sharp nod of understanding, Emeera pivoted on one heel, driving one of the creatures forward and away from the mage, using her staff to funnel and control them, packing them into a tighter and tighter cluster with small movements and quick, certain strikes.

After another deep inhalation, a second blast of heat and flame plumed forth from the githyanki’s lips, sending another few of the creatures sprawling. When they had first started rushing down the tunnel, there had been perhaps twenty in total, and while Emmy was taking more than a little damage from the neverending onslaught, the number had finally been whittled down to only three.

Another whack from the Tranquilizer, then another, and another furnace-blast bellowed forth. One of the creatures, now lit aflame, rolled sidelong, escaping Emmy’s reach and extending long, yellowed claws towards the mage – only to shriek and stumble forward unexpectedly, landing hard on its side as brackish black blood sprayed from the back of its leg. The fall was followed by the finishing blow of a short sword through the chest, and the thing finally gurgled itself into permanent silence, laying beside a still-prone Vex. “Motherfucker owed me eight gold,” the half-elf chuckled weakly, then promptly lost consciousness.

A final brutal strike with the staff, and the last of the creatures finally collapsed, with Emmy only a moment behind, stumbling back a few steps before slumping against the back wall. “That was… ow….”

“Are you alright?” Vath-Raya dropped to her knees beside the monk, checking her wounds – shallow but numerous, and exceedingly likely to get infected, especially assuming they went back the way they came. Getting up through the guard tower was unlikely to go well (if it was even possible), and Jex certainly wasn’t up for a long swim.

“Y-yeah… super good and cool,” Emmy flashed a weak smile, throwing out a thumbs-up while the other hand clutched loosely around her staff. “Guess we busted the smuggling ring.”

“Not until we’ve gotten out of here,” the mage furrowed her brow, laying one hand on the side of the human girl’s face, wiping blood from under her eye with one thumb. Tilting Emmy’s head up towards the dim light, the githyanki looked into her eyes, checking for any signs that they were losing focus… but found herself staring into them for a little longer than expected. She’d been selling Emeera short, that much was becoming very clear – both as a combatant, and as a companion. It was so strange, to her, to see someone so strangely selfless, someone seemingly severed from the wickedness the mage had grown to know so intimately, whose ego seemed to work in such an entirely unique way.

Vath-Raya didn’t notice how close their lips had become until Emmy began to inch forward, eyes drifting shut. She stayed still, just for a moment, her subconscious quietly entertaining the idea of what might happen if she didn’t move away. Just for a moment.

“You’re conscious, good,” the gith nodded, moving back and standing again. She’d taken a few hits, but nowhere near the amount Emeera had, and needed to find a way out before things somehow managed to get worse. “The barrier’s only wood – if I can burn it down before my spell ends, we can get out of here through the city streets and get to safety. I’ll return shortly.”

It took only a few moments for the wooden barrier to be set completely ablaze, but it took nearly an hour for it to actually burn away, smoke snaking up along the tops of the tunnels to escape into the city above. Vath-Raya returned, as promised, using the idle time to scrounge coins from the charred husks of the transformed creatures, stealing occasional glances back to ensure that Emmy had not lost consciousness, and that Jex had not stopped breathing. Sadly, having left their equipment back in that hidey-hole on the shore, there were no healing potions to administer, nor even spare cloth to wrap wounds with. She just had to hope they’d get back to civilization before anything unfortunate happened.

At long last, the mage helped Emeera to her feet, letting the monk lean on her while she attempted to slap Jex awake. Eyes half-opening, the guard groaned with pain, exhaustion, and more than a little indignance. “Why the fuck’re you hitting m–”

“Be silent and get up. I’ll help you but I’m not going to drag you.”

Against all odds, and showing unexpected character for a hapless smuggler who’d been left to die, Jex managed to stand, leaning on Vath-Raya’s other side as the githyanki made her way past the burned barrier and left the smoking, reeking killings grounds behind. Getting Jex and Emeera up the steel-rung ladder and out of the sewers had been an expected challenge, but at long last, all three finally managed to collapse under the hot sun of Ai Fenitra, half-naked, stinking, and barely conscious.

Soliciting healing, gathering their equipment, and convincing Jex to confess would be fresh challenges… but challenges the two adventurers would at least be alive to face together.