[Medieval] Party Capital

[Tiger]

Elin wasn’t okay - Leif had felt that fierce, internal stretching in the chest enough to recognize that particular grip, especially in someone he was already worried would pull themselves. She must have used her powers - Leif wasn’t sure what for, but it must have been fairly big to pull her so much so quickly.

And the pull wasn’t Elin’s only symptom of overtaxing her powers. Leif didn’t see any signs of shaking yet, but he didn’t think it would be too far behind. But before he could say anything, Morgaine had taken a few steps toward a cluster of stalls. ”I 'unno for sure but... shomething'sh weird, definitely.” Leif listened to the rest of the locksmith’s description, his expression tightening.

“That sounds like a glamour,” he said, “Or some kind of confounding charm…” He looked right at the stalls - and his eyes slipped away. Leif’s protective spell buzzed, a little faintly, but definitely a reaction to...to something. He realized that his tongue had gone a little dry and his throat felt a bit thick - when this was all over, he was going to need -

A drink. Well, that explained a lot, didn’t it? Leif looked up again, and for the briefest moment he felt...encouraged to go toward the stalls, even if he couldn’t see them - and suddenly it all fell away, the thirst, the beckoning feel, the effort required to look right at the stalls… Including one with very familiar bottles on it. “He dropped the glamour!”

Leif looked around, but it Morgaine who spotted the merchant. Both Leif and Elin turned to look, the latter losing her balance and falling before Leif could get to her. Leif glancd back at the Cathedral in time to see the mage’s cloak disappear around the corner. He was right there - but Elin and Morgaine...

”Leif, you have to get after him!” Elin urged, promising that she and Morgaine would catch up, but that Leif needed to chase him first. She had a point - he was the only one really equipped to fight him, anyway. If the merchant escaped, he would cause more trouble elsewhere - he needed to be stopped.

“I’ll get him - you two stay here!” He prayed they would - he sent a quick mental order for the large, incorporeal bird construct to stay with them, just in case the crowd got any ideas, and hurried after the juice-merchant, wand at the ready.

Rounding the corner, Leif braced himself for a trap, and sure enough, some sort of spell that fizzled and hissed struck the shield that Leif had just conjured. It would have hit him right in the chest if he hadn’t blocked it. Flinging the shield and the spell aside, Leif charged after the fleeing mage, who quickly rounded another building corner. It looked like he was heading deeper into town, in the direction of the Lyre and Medieville’s main gate. Was he trying to escape the city all together?

The ground ahead of Leif’s feet suddenly turned to ice - he managed to throw himself to a halt in time to avoid slipping on it. He couldn’t just go around - the pathway was too narrow. He furiously pointed his wand at the freeze. “Expulso!” The thin ice shattered at the force and Leif started forward through the shards, his pace much slower. Though he wanted to continue after the mage at full-tilt, Leif couldn't help thinking that the narrow paths might have been why the merchant chose this route - it was harder to dodge spells in smaller spaces. If Leif was the only one going after this man, he needed to avoid getting caught in any sort of trap.

SPOILER: Click to show

Leif tells Morgaine and Elin to stay behind while he runs after juice-merchant on his own. I’m sure Elin and Morgaine will listen to what he says...so they can laugh at it =P

[Gelquie]

((Collab with Shinko))

Morgaine tried to follow as Leif tore off after the juice merchant, but her gait was as unsteady as ever and she didn't make it very far before she stumbled, almost falling over entirely before she manged to right herself.

"They're too fasht, I'm too drunk," she muttered crossly, watching helplessly as Leif rounded the corner and vanished from sight. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a flicker of emerald, and realized that Leif's big magical bird was following her. Was it going to trail them like a puppy or something?

Elin stumbled closer to Morgaine and muttered out a curse. “That darn juish guy hash to make this hard. And now Leif'sh goin' after him alone when I shaid I'd do shomethin' to get that guy. If thish crowd could jusht go away...”

Elin trailed off as she caught sight of some of the houses, or rather, what was between them. She stood there for a moment, swaying as she squinted her eyes before laughing.

“Oh right! That'sh it!” she cheered. She grabbed Morgaine's arm and pointed the wine bottle towards the alley she was looking at. She cringed slightly as she brought her free arm away, but that wasn't the most important thing in her mind. “Shee, I know the alleysh, had to go through them a lot at one point. Easier than goin' through the crowd, an' we can catsch up with them and help! C'mon!”

Elin tugged Morgaine's arm as she moved unsteadily through the crowd towards the alley.

Morgaine was startled by the sudden outburst from Elin, but she was willing to grasp at whatever straws were handed to them at this point. "Alright, you're the bossh Shadow girl," she said, allowing Elin to tow her through the crowd while the magic hawk flew above them. On either side, the old woman heard whispers from the crowd, and while she couldn't tell exactly what they were saying she caught snatches here and there.

"...Juice merchant..."

"...Trying to catch him..."

"...Going to just get away with it..."

"E-Elin, I think shomethingsh up," the old woman remarked, glancing at the bystanders nervously.

Elin was so focused on her goal that she didn't notice the whispers until Morgaine pointed them out. She glanced towards one of the bystanders in the crowd and saw one of them pointing at her. “Uh oh,” Elin commented. “Gotta get fashter...”

There seemed to be more bystanders looking their way, and Elin held up the wine bottle warily while pointing it at the bird as if in warning. Thankfully, the strangers seemed to take the hint to not attack them.

Some of them did, however, think it was a great idea to follow them. A portion of the crowd broke off, stumbling after Leif in chase while some of the others tried to follow Elin and Morgaine.

Elin frowned as they approached the alley, but she kept walking, her pace increasing and her grip on the wine bottle tightening. She spoke to the crowd: “Hey, shtop following us; we gotta castch the guy.”

"We want to help," One man said. "That guy got my wife drunk and now she's passed out at the inn!"

"You'll never catch 'em like you are," Slurred one woman. "You're, you're stum, stu... walkin' crooked."

Morgaine blinked in surprise. They wanted to help? That was simultaneously flattering and terrifying, because the last thing she wanted was a mob after them. And that was exactly what they were going to get if this continued.

"Eliiiin, thish isn't a good idea," the old woman hissed.

Elin nodded to Morgaine. “The alley'sh too shmall for all of us, we'll jusht get shlower. You wanna help, you should, should... find another way to intershept the guy, find other alleysh. We're not gonna wait up. We can get him, I'll show you.”

With that, Elin took a breath before breaking into a run, dragging Morgaine along into the alley.

Morgaine yelped a little in surprise when Elin started running, barely able to keep up between her short height and her inability to stay properly balanced. The giant emerald hawk mantled above them, swooping between them and the crowd and startling the people chasing them into backing away. It gave them some breathing room, but as the bird returned to following the women and stopped paying attention to the crowd, they started tailing again.

"Wh-where are we g-going?" Morgaine puffed, her arm starting to hurt where Elin was dragging her.

Elin continued running doing her best to keep her balance, and she couldn't help but let out a small puff of a laugh as she turned into an adjacent alley. “Guy went pasht the chursch, and sho're we! Jusht follow my lead!”

After a few turns in the alleys, Elin heard the crack of the a spell, and Elin ran in its direction, confident that they were almost there.

The locksmith heard the sound as well, and she gritted her teeth against the searing of her lungs from the running and the pain in her yanked shoulder. Almost there, they'd almost finished this, they were almost there...

Finaly the two women burst from the alleyway, and they could see the mage coming around the corner towards them. His gaze was focused backwards, presumably at Leif, and he didn't notice them immediately. He did, however, notice the huge green hawk that was suddenly illuminating the darkened path and blocking his way in it's defense of Elin and Morgaine.

"S-stupify!" he bellowed impulsively, flinging his wand towards the bird. A jet of red light shot from the wandtip, but it passed right through the incorporeal hawk- hitting a very startled Morgaine instead. She yelped as the flash hit her in the chest, sending her sprawling forewards. The locksmith was unconscious before she hit the ground.

”MORGAINE!” Elin yelled. She moved to try to catch Morgaine as she fell, but she stumbled and missed. She shook her head. “No no no no! I, I didn't, I...”

Elin turned around and glared, a few tears escaping her eyes. “You... I'll get you!”

Elin charged towards the mage, stumbling without a care as she held the wine bottle tightly, looking ready to swing it towards him.

SPOILER: Click to show

Elin and Morgaine completely veto staying put, and the former drags the latter towards an alley. At some distance, a small crowd is following them. They manage to intercept the mage, and on impulse, the mage shoots a spell at Morgaine, knocking her out. Elin is furious and goes to charge the mage for an attack, which is definitely the smartest tactic you can take in this situation.

[Tiger]

Leif dodged back around the corner as another spell shot toward him with a vicious crack. It hit a wall and did nothing that Leif could see, but he doubted it would have been so harmless if it had struck him. The mage was either whispering his spells so that Leif couldn’t hear them, or he was casting them wordlessly - whatever the case, it didn’t give Leif much to work with defensively. Leif leaned around the corner, shooting a stinging hex in the mage’s direction, but he must have dodged it because Leif didn’t hear any sounds of pain.

Unexpectedly, a green light flooded down the alleyway. Leif expected another spell to come racing his way, but instead he heard the mage shout the incantation for a stunning spell. There was a flash of red and a yelp - Oh Woo! Leif bolted the remaining distance and rounded the corner in time to see Elin starting forward with the bottle still clenched in her hand, her face twisted with anger. The hawk construct was hanging back, “looking” uncertainly between Elin, and at its feet - “Morgaine!”

The merchant jumped and whirled on Leif at the sound of his voice, panic clear in his expression. “I - I didn’t mean to - “ He glanced once between Elin and Leif, and flicked his wand toward the ground at his feet. “Protegwoo!” A shield sprang up and the merchant bolted - heading toward another alley.

Anger flared in Leif’s chest. The merchant was not getting away - after everything he’d done, to the town, to Elin and Morgaine, to Kirin, to the Lyellian performers… He shouldn’t have left his friends with no more protection than an incorporeal bird, but the merchant shouldn’t have fired a stunning spell without knowing what he was firing at. And after all the havoc? Leif was not inclined to assume merciful things about him, no matter what stammering claims he made.

Leif pointed his wand at the mouth of the opening and a burst of green light flared from it, driven on faster and stronger by Leif’s anger. A shield appeared near the top of the alleyway and poured downward like a portcullis with its chains cut. The merchant scrambled to stop just in time to avoid colliding with it and whirled on his two remaining pursuers.

Leif pointed his wand directly at the man’s chest, side-stepping to get around the shield still hovering in the air. He snarled, “Drop the wand now, or - “

The mage did not drop his wand. Instead he pointed it at Leif with another cry of “Stupefy! Leif raised his arm and took the strike; his protective charm flared and the spell’s contact felt like a punch, but it didn’t knock him out. Not even close.

Leif’s thoughts raced - why had he tried that spell? Even the most rudimentary protective charms shielded against Stupefy, and he must have heard Leif announce to the crowd that he was a Jade mage, who would obviously have a. Or maybe he hadn’t thought about protective enchantments at all - maybe because he didn’t have them? Leif had just assumed he must, but maybe not.

If there was a chance to take this idiot out quickly… Leif had already been raising his wand for a retaliatory strike; now he threw a set of runes behind it. “Stupefy!”

Whatever the merchant mage’s reasoning for trying such an obvious spell on Leif, it was not a lack of his own protections; Leif’s spell hit the merchant and though he winced, it was clear the spell had had no more effect on him than it had on Leif.

Again, the mage glanced between his two opponents - Leif could imagine the calculations in his head and was preparing a shield even before the merchant pointed his wand toward Elin. Even with that slight headstart, Leif was barely able to finish his shout of “Protegwoo!” before the merchant gasped “Expulso!”

Probably meant to break the bottle Elin was holding at best, to violently push her back at worst. The shield Leif had cast appeared in front of Elin just in time to block the jet of light from the merchant’s spell. Unfortunately it didn’t just absorb the impact - some combination of the shield’s angle and the spell’s trajectory caused the burst of force to bounce off the shield, slamming into the corner of a building near Leif and the merchant. Splinters of wood and paneling shot outward from the impact, and Leif hastily crafted a shield to catch them, having to keep his magic entwined with it to spread the shield wider and catch the farthest-flung pieces of debris.

From the corner of his eye Leif saw the merchant uncoil from flinching at the falling rubble, when he realized the archmage was catching it - for a moment Leif wondered if this might be enough to scare the merchant into finally surrendering.

But no - jabbing his wand toward the ground, the mage stammered, ”Fumos!” and the familiar black smoke started pouring onto the grass. Leif caught a glimpse of the man whirling around toward the shield before the smoke obscured him from sight.

“What are you doing?” Leif shouted, and immediately regretted opening his mouth as the smoke made him cough. Eyes watering, he looked up at his shield - he could barely see the green-tinted glow, let alone the rubble gathered atop it. maybe he could drop it between the mage and the alley...but he didn’t know where Elin was, he definitely didn’t want to drop it on her...

The smoke should clear more quickly this time, there was open ground - only two shields were blocking it off and they were at least nearer to the combatants than to Morgaine, who wouldn’t be able to evade it. Evade - he’s trying to take down my shield and get out of here! get his current shield out of the way, the smokescreen would work just as well in hiding Leif as hiding the merchant. Or for Elin…

No, because she was hurt, too - she needed to get out of here. Leif started concentrating on moving his shield, folding it almost like a blanket to shift the debris over so he could dump it to one side. Shields didn’t like to move like this, even for archmages; he could almost feel his magic fighting to make it work - or maybe that was just his anger, hot and lashing in his chest.

“Elin!” he called between coughs. “Get - get back with Morgaine!”

SPOILER: Click to show

Leif is Not Happy, merchant is in over his head and not the best at strategy but has protective enchantments, the merchant’s escape is blocked by a shield Leif cast, and now he’s using the smoke spell to try and obscure himself while he attempts to take the shield down while Leif is distracted keeping the debris from a building hit by a rebounded force spell from falling on everyone \ o /

[Gelquie]

Things got very confusing for Elin very quickly. They'd manage to catch up, but now the merchant was getting away. Elin gritted her teeth. "Shtop running!" she commanded uselessly. She tried to stumble forward after them only to stumble into the shield. Oh, oh right, the shield. She tried to step around it only to stumble into the shield again. She watched it for a moment, watching it move in her vision and trying to make sense of where it really was, and how she was going to step around it.

At least Leif managed to delay the merchant further with a shield blocking the way, but then they started firing spells at each other. Elin cringed. This had to end, and quickly. She slowly and carefully began to step around the shield only to have another shield thrown in front of her... This one cast by Leif as it blocked a spell. It rebounded and then hit something, and then debris began to fall. Elin stumbled back and covered her head, but it proved unnecessary thanks to Leif.

Her relief was short-lived as the mage cast another spell... Another smoke spell. Elin coughed as it reached her.

"Not again!" Elin complained. "D-do theshe magesh like choking ush or--" she was unable to finish her thought as she coughed again. When she came to, she tried to see in front of her only to find her vision completely filled with smoke. That combined with the night and her own drunkenness made it nearly impossible for her to see. She couldn't see Leif or the merchant anywhere, and she could only barely see the shield in front of her. Not good.

Leif called for her to get back with Morgaine. Elin shook her head in spite of the fact that Leif likely couldn't see it.

"I-I can't help her!" Elin shouted, trying not to cough with limited success. "Y-you gotta catsch thish guy 'fore he hur-hurtsh anyone else! A-and I gotta do shomething, I jusht... I-I got her into thish, an' he--"

Elin went into another coughing fit as more tears welled in her eyes, which did nothing to solve her vision problem. As she did, she heard footsteps and commotion behind her. Elin doubt she could see them through the smoke, but it didn't take long for her to remember who they were.

“O-Oh right! Leif, there wash a crowd after ush!” she warned him as they began to catch up. Elin called back: “Take care of her, she'sh hurt! I-I shtill gotta get him!”

Elin coughed again, and some of the crowd called out for her to stop as she heard them come closer, but she ignored them. She tried once more to step around what she could see of the shield, bumping into it all the way and causing her more discomfort than she already had, but it didn't matter to her. She had to get to the mage. But there was no way she could see him in all of this. But she knew he was down there, she just...

Elin stopped for a moment, swaying on the spot and trying to pull herself together enough to lift the wine bottle over her head.

"Take thish!" she yelled, throwing the bottle down the alley, grunting at the effort before putting her arm back to her stomach, hoping the bottle would hit him. She didn't know how effective it really was; all she heard was the wine bottle shattering.

Well, maybe he'll step on it, Elin thought hopefully. But soon after, she felt someone grab her arm and try to pull her back as others tried to get through the shield and go after the mage.

“Hey, get off! Elin yelled.

“Take it easy, you're--” the person coughed. “You're going to get yourself hurt.”

“Too late, jusht let me do shomething, okay? I jusht wanna get him!” Elin tugged against them and managed to get out of their grasp, but not before falling to the ground. She cringed again upon impact and tried to catch her breath, but it proved impossible through the smoke, and she coughed again.

“Jusht... let me...” she struggled to catch her breath.

SPOILER: Click to show

Elin has trouble with shields and rejects Leif's request to get back with Morgaine. (Although he could probably pick up auditory cues regarding where she is.) Meanwhile, the crowd starts showing up. Oh boy! She throws the wine bottle at the merchant, and though she doesn't hear what happens, she hears it shatter. A more sober person then tries to get Elin away as the crowd starts closing in. Elin tries to resist, but ends up falling and going into a coughing fit. Meanwhile, the merchant has to deal with Leif, broken glass, and more people! He must be having the time of his life.

[Tiger]

Leif’s jaw clenched at Elin’s refusal to go back. “I’m trying - “ he paused to cough again - “I’m trying to get him - you don’t need to - “ Leif cut himself off abruptly as some of the debris suddenly dropped from one part of his shield onto another. The shield was folding under the debris, at least - like using a piece of parchment to gather and throw away wood shavings...

But it was too slow. Leif could barely see what he was doing, it was almost impossible to breath, Elin was caught up in this, too, and Morgaine needed help, and now Elin was calling something about a crowd coming - the mob from the town square? Were they still trying to chase down Leif and Morgaine and Elin? And if Leif left him for much longer, the mage was going to get through the shield.

There wasn’t time to be careful; he needed to start taking some chances. ...More than he’d already taken, anyway. Leif shifted a foot back to brace himself, and gave the shield one last forceful shove before letting it drop. He heard Elin shout something, and then a sound of shattering glass, but he couldn’t focus on that at the moment.

Sweeping his wand out in as wide an arc as he could, as quickly as he could, Leif snapped, “Agwoofors!” and threw as much power as he could into the casting. The wide swatch of green light quickly vanished into the smoke - and water fell back to the ground in drops and splashes and great, loud gushes. Leif flexed his fingers against the sensation of tugging in his fingers, quickly stretching up to his wrists. Turning bricks into water was not exactly a small task.

Still, he wasn’t done yet - pointing his wand toward where he thought the juice merchant was, he hissed the wind-funnel spell for the second time that night. “Ventus Spwooalis!” The smoke was thicker and had had more time to build up, so the effect wasn’t as instantaneous - but a good deal of it did billow away. Leif saw people at the edges of the alley and the glow of the incorporeal raptor - no sign of Elin, but he thought one of the coughs might be her. when the smoke reached the shield, it started rapidly upward, and through the updrafts Leif saw the merchant again, his face light by the glow of several hovering runes. He glanced back at Leif and the crowd, his expression one of near-panic. There was a cut on his cheek, dripping blood, and the light from the runes and the huge shield reflected dazzlingly off his shoulders. Leif remembered the sound of the shattering wine bottle - were those glass shards caught in the fabric?

Leif jabbed his wand in the merchant’s direction. “Carpe wootractum!” A rope of green light shot out from Leif’s wand - he felt it catch something and hauled back, hoping his aim had been true. For once, something went the way he’d intended, and when Leif took a forceful step back, he dragged the mage out of the smoke by his wand, to which the man clung desperately.

His voice husky from coughing and being choked by smoke twice tonight, Leif snarled, “That. Is. Enough!”

Still trying to get his wand back, the merchant spluttered, “I - I’m sorry, all right? I didn’t mean to - it was just a joke!” His eyes darted at the crowd coming into view now that the smoke was clearing, and Leif hoped it dawned on him that nobody was laughing.

SPOILER: Click to show

Looks like they've caught the juice merchant, but there's still a cutscene to watch. Keep the controller ready just in case!

[Gelquie]

The crowd had nearly completely caught up by the time Leif dragged the juice merchant towards them. They each grumbled at the juice merchant's response, and a number of them began to come closer and grab at the juice merchant. Elin--who could finally see the juice merchant again, glared at him as one of the members of the crowd grabbed his arm.

"A-A joke?" Elin sputtered, with a hoarse voice before she let out a cough. She struggled again against the person who had grabbed her, this time succeeding in getting out of the person's grip. She stumbled around the shield, ignoring the person's requests for her to stop before she staggered up to the juice merchant and threw a fist into his face.

"You got me drunk--half of thish whole town drunk--jusht for shome joke? I had important thingsh to do! I probably misshed that whole Counshil meeting, an' I don't know how I'm gonna eshplain that!" She was interrupted by another coughing fit. "An' there'sh the shmoke, you had to go with the shmoke, jusht like that other drunk mage guy, that guy should never get drunk! All he did wash hurt people, jusht, jusht like you did to her!" She waved her hand in the general area behind her, not knowing exactly where Morgaine was. "You hurt her, an' you pro'ly hurt othersh! You don't hurt or kill people as a joke!"

She landed another punch before going into another coughing fit. By this point, the sober person had caught up to her and grabbed her hands, pulling Elin's arms behind her back. Elin struggled again.

"Let me go!" she complained. "He-he hurt Morgaine, an' I... an' I..." She shut her eyes as more tears fell.

"Elin, relax, we've got him now," the voice said.

"How'd you know my-- wait, wait, Rhoda? Shouldn't you be at the Counshil?"

"Galateo cancelled it. People either weren't showing up or showed up drunk." The woman stared at Elin. "...Or both."

"It'sh not my fault, okay?"

"I know it's not." The girl glared at the juice merchant. "He got Jessica too, so I want him down just as much as you. But let someone more sober take him to the guards, okay? He's not getting away with this."

Elin paused before sniffing. "But he... But Morgaine, she... she's already hurt, a-an' I don't know if she'sh okay, or, or if the crowd didn't shtep on her, it'sh... It'sh my fault, I dragged her this way... I, maybe I should've... But I don't know what to-- OW!"

Elin was cut off by more members of the crowd shoving through her to get to the juice merchant, stepping on her foot in the process. Elin cringed as Rhoda moved her away so that the crowd could get through, surrounding the juice merchant.

"He's definitely not getting away," Rhoda said. "Maybe we can help her now."

SPOILER: Click to show

The crowd gets to the juice merchant and begins restraining him. Elin gets her wish and pummels the juice merchant before ranting at him. She's not satisfied with the one punch, but only gets two in before being restrained by another concerned member of the Shadow Council. Elin is super upset about Morgaine being hurt, but doesn't know how to help her.

[Tiger]

Leif held his Carpe Wootractum spell until someone in the crowd restraining the man had pried his fingers from the wand; at that point, Leif drew the green light back, catching the merchant’s wand and tucking it into his holster. By then, Elin had punched the mage twice before being restrained by someone; Leif was not sorry Elin had gotten her wish to deck the idiot.

There - immediate danger neutralized. Leif turned on his heel and headed for the glow of his bird construct, forcing his way against the crowd trying to get to the merchant. The incorporeal raptor had spread its wings out to keep the crowd back from Morgaine; its beak was open and it held up one talon, clearly poised to strike even if its attack would do no actual damage.

He paused near Elin and the woman pulling her back from the crowd. “Elin, come wi - “ he was interrupted by a man elbowing him in the side in his efforts to get past; Leif whirled on him, all but baring his teeth until the man hurried away. “I’m reviving Morgaine, and once the guard arrests that idiot, we’re getting out of here.” He glanced up at the woman restraining Elin, still unsure who she was, but introductions could be made another time.

Leif sent the raptor construct off with a sharp mental command to retrieve the nearest city guard and lead them here. They could deal with officially imprisoning the juice merchant; the crowd wasn’t going to let the young mage get away, and he wouldn’t be able to force his way free without a wand. In the meantime, Leif took the bird’s place beside Morgaine, casting a quick shield between the cluster of oncoming people and the unconscious woman.

“It was just a stunning spell - she should be okay once I revive her.” So long as she didn’t hurt her head when she fell...or anything else… His free hand was shaking as he pointed his wand at the back of Morgaine’s head, and ran it slowly through the air over her spine. Leif's vision went slightly out of focus as he concentrated on the feel of the magic probing invisibly and incorporeally at the woman’s bones and organs. To his relief, there was no spike to indicate an injury, just a steady sort of thrum and the feeling of looking at something and finding it just as expected.

Still, Leif was careful as he lifted Morgaine up and held her around the shoulders, turning her over so he could point his wand at her chest. “Renwoovate!” Green light gathered for a moment at his wandtip before leaping to Morgaine, spreading wide like an opening parachute just as it made immaterial contact.

Leif lowered his wand. “Morgaine? Mrs. Braham, it’s Leif - can you hear me?”

SPOILER: Click to show

Leif takes the merchant's wand, sends his bird construct to find the city guard, reconvenes with Elin, and revives Morgaine. Do all the things, Leif! \ o /

[Shinko]

Morgaine's awareness returned very suddenly as light filled the inside of her eyelids. Her face twitched slightly, and a very soft moan emerged from her throat.

"Morgaine? Mrs. Braham, it's Leif- can you hear me?"

The locksmith opened her good eye, looking up in confusion. Sure enough, through the haze of the alcohol still coursing through her and clouding her vision, Morgaine could see a familiar pair of bright blue eyes looking down at her wiht concern.

"Leif? Where...?" she realized she was being supported around the shoulder by his arm. Had she passed out? The locksmith tried to piece together what had happened, but her clarity of thought had been absent for most of the night anyway and being knocked out and restored to consciousness wasn't helping any. She glanced about, catching sight of Elin nearby. Then, she remembered.

"The j-juicshe guy!" she bleated, trying to sit up and wincing as her right arm stung when she put weight on it. Glancing down, she could see that the limb was lined with bruises and scrapes, and there was a slightly tacky feeling on her forehead that suggested it was in a similar state. "What happened, did he get away? Leif if he got away 'caushe I passhed out I am so shorr-"

"Easy ma'am, he didn't get away," one of the bystanders said grimly. "The Lord Mage here got him. He's not going anywhere."

"Oh. Oh, well that'sh good," the old woman said, calming somewhat. "Actually that'sh great. You did it Leif, you and Elin, you got him!"

The locksmith threw her arms around both Leif and Elin's necks, pulling them both down into a rather awkward hug. Then, on an inebriated whim, she gave both of them a small kiss on the nose- or tried. Her aim was a little off, and she ended up getting Leif's forehead and Elin's cheek.

A thought struck Morgaine, and as she released them she looked a little put out. "Woo, I'm shtill shorry though Leif, I... was I really that drunk, that I passhed out? I didn't think, I've never jusht, justh fallen over like that before..."

SPOILER: Click to show

Morgaine awake again, happy they got the juice guy, and offers up more drunken awkwards! \ o / A drunk kiss is exactly what this roleplay was missing, amirite?

[Gelquie]

Elin nodded to Leif's plan, too concerned about Morgaine and distracted by her condition to argue about any part of it. Rhoda glanced over to Elin at Leif's presence, but Elin waved a hand in response to it. "He'sh with me, don't worry."

She then proceeded to follow Leif to Morgaine and watched him perform his wandwork. It would've been easier to do if she wasn't swaying so much and if she weren't crying. Which was a shame; she was sure it was a spell she would've liked to learn. But any disappointment about that was shortlived as she witness Morgaine become conscious again.

"Morgaine!" Elin exclaimed with relief, pulling herself out of the other Shadow's grasp so she could stumble towards her. By the time she reached her, Morgaine's concern about the juice guy was answered, and she found herself being pulled into a hug with Leif. ...And then kissed on the cheek, which startled Elin into shocked silence as Morgaine rambled on. But it didn't stop her from throwing her arms around Morgaine, squeezing her arms around her a little tighter than she initially planned once Morgaine was done talking.

"You didn't fall over, he hit you with a spell," Elin explained, tears still in her eyes. "I... I led you this way, and he hit you with a spell, and... And I got you right in hish way." She sniffed, burying her face in Morgaine's shoulder. "The guy'sh terrible, he desherved those punchesh in the facshe and more, an' at leasht I got to help shomehow, but... I didn't help you either... I shtill got you in the way of trouble, an'... I'm shorry, I'm sho shorry. I know I'm better than that, I jusht... jusht..."

Elin proceeded to wipe her tears into Morgaine's sleeve.

SPOILER: Click to show

Elin is happy to see Morgaine conscious, and proceeds to express her remorse for getting Morgaine into trouble by crying into Morgaine's shoulder. It's kind of awkward.

[Tiger]

Leif was relieved to see Morgaine come to. Thank ‘Woo it had only been a stunning spell, and that it hadn’t caused Morgaine any harm. True, it usually took multiple stunning spells to actually hurt someone, even someone elderly, but as desperate as the juice-merchant had been….Leif fought off a surge of unneeded anger. Yes, it could have been worse, but things hadn’t turned out that way in the end. Though her arm was injured enough that she grimaced at putting weight on it, and her forehead was bleeding - he would need to take care of those wounds soon.

The locksmith seemed extremely confused, which, considering the alcohol and the stunner, didn’t surprise Leif very much. He started to answer her first question - “It’s all right - we’re in one of the al-”

Then Morgaine remembered the juice merchant. She panicked, but Elin and a bystander quickly clarified that the merchant had been apprehended. Morgaine’s show of enthusiasm and congratulations...was not the gesture Leif would have chosen if he’d been asked. A hug around the neck - without even the high collar of his half-cloak to shield any of the sense of each of Morgaine’s fingers and the wrinkles of her cloth against the bare skin there...and a kiss on the forehead.

“Uhm,” was all Leif could say for a moment. But at least she was conscious, and feeling...well, not entirely back to normal, but well enough for hugs and drunken shenanigans. Leif was flustered, but definitely not angry.

Morgaine suddenly looked abashed and apologized for passing out - which Elin quickly corrected her on. This started a bout of crying and for a moment Leif just felt exhausted. This was a lot of emotion.

Giving Elin a somewhat awkward pat on the shoulder - both because of his own natural awkwardness and because he was still holding his wand in that hand, the other at Morgaine’s shoulders in case she needed the support again - Leif said, “It wasn’t your fault, Elin. I shouldn’t have run off without making sure you two had a better guardian than that bird. And that mage shouldn’t have been throwing spells around like birdseed.” Leif scowled in the direction of the merchant, who was being restrained by thoroughly more people than was necessary. A few members of the crowd had taken it upon themselves to ease the tempers of those who wanted to get Elin-style vengeance upon the mage; Leif was rather gratified by the expression of overwhelmed panic on the mage’s face. That’ll teach you to be irresponsible with magic, won’t it?

He turned back to his companions. “...It’s okay, Elin. You don’t need to cry…” Oh, ‘Woo…

Leif felt a slight pulse against his magic, and glanced up to see the incorporeal bird returning. It made as if to land on Leif’s shoulder, but disappeared well before reaching him. Leif felt the spare magic seep back into him; he’d had to keep some of his power tied to the raptor to be able to give it commands, hence its natural state as incorporeal; he would have felt the punch of a spell if it had been solid and struck. With the bird out of the way, he could see city guards making their way into the alley; two walking, one on horseback. Good, the cavalry was here.

“What’s going on here?” the guard on horseback demanded, a hand on the hilt of his shortsword. The crowd was very quick to start a riotous explanation; Leif winced a little at the noise. Eventually, the guard held up his hand. “All right, all right, that’ll do! You’re sure this’s the one who - “

Leif set his jaw at another burst of noise, but this time when the guard held a hand up for silence, Leif called out, “Sir - I’m Leif of House Jade, and yes, he was the one selling the spiked juice.” He nodded toward the mage. “We saw him run from his stall at the exact moment a glamor wore off - it had the same bottles on it. And as you can see, he was fighting a little to hard to be innocent when I came after him.” Glaring, Leif added with a hint of a snarl, “He has no compunctions against hurting people - he shot a stunning spell at my friend. My unarmed, drunk friend - and he’s responsible for the latter!”

“I - I didn’t meant to hurt her - or anyone! It was just a joke!” the mage protested. - realizing a moment too late that he shouldn’t have confirmed what Leif had said.

The guard on horseback motioned toward the guards on foot - the rider must be a captain, Leif supposed - and they immediately headed forward and relieved the crowd of the merchant, holding his arms in what was, judging by the mage’s wince, a none-too-gentle grip.

Nudging his horse forward a few steps, the guard captain demanded, “Well? What do you have to say for yourself?”

“I - I’m sorry, I didn’t - I - “

“I don’t want apologies - I want answers. What did you do to that juice, and why?”

The mage hung his head. “It’s - it’s just alcohol in some juice. We made the alcohol stronger so we could use less in each one, and, and the juice is enchanted to taste stronger. But it was just supposed to be a prank! I’m graduating school, it’s my final year at Khotan and - and, it was just supposed to be a joke, you know? Me and some friends - we were going to see how many people we could get with it.”

Leif tensed - there were more mages out there? By ‘Woo, he would go hunt them all down himself if he had to -

“But - but they bailed on me,” the merchant mumbled. “I swear, I didn’t know it was that strong - I was just thinking, some people would get tipsy - I didn’t know it was this bad!”

Leif snapped, “You’re graduating a mage college and you couldn’t tell how strong you’d made your alcohol? You idiot - they teach you spellwork and power levels for a reason! You could have killed people, because you were too blasted lazy to do some math? And for what? What’s so funny about getting an entire city drunk?” Leif’s grip on his wand was so tight he was a little surprised he couldn’t feel any strain or cracking. “There are people who’d do anything to go to a magical university, and you just - you wasted it!”

He fell silent, so furious that he couldn’t even put words together to describe it. The sheer stupidity was mind-boggling, was revolting - how could anyone be so abysmally stupid, so moronically happy to set up such a dangerous situation? That wasn’t a prank, that was a criminal act! Everyone who had been hurt tonight - Morgaine, Elin, Kirin, the Lyellian performers, the people under that dome the wizard in the square had set up- and anyone who’d been worse than hurt - all of that was on this empty-headed child of a mage.

Others started delivering their own lectures, and it wasn’t very long before the crowd had devolved into a chaotic mess of shouting again. The captain visibly sighed and motioned for the guards to come with him, and they hauled the student-turned juice-merchant out of the alleyway.

Though still seething, Leif took a few deep breaths to try and relax. Gradually his grip on his wand loosened, and he turned his gaze back to his friends. Beginning a healing spell on Morgaine’s arm, Leif said, his voice a little strained now from yelling so soon after gulping smoke twice and shouting spells all night, “Let me heal any wounds you two have. If nobody else got hurt in that fight or the mob, I really think we should get you two somewhere to rest.”

SPOILER: Click to show

Leif is awkward, joins the apology club, and awkwardly tries to Be Helpful. The guards show up and arrest juice-merchant, giving his motivations (he’s a recent/about to be a graduate of the Khotan school of magecraft (Khotan Academy? I dunno, I didn’t give it an official name yet) who wanted to prank Medieville with a bit of spiked juice - the problem being that he didn’t realize how strong the alcohol was. Oops.) Leif yells at him, and I assume Elin and/or Morgaine will yell at him if they so desire, and then the crowd starts yelling, too, and juice merchant is taken away. The day is saved! \ o /

Leif gets started on healing Morgaine’s wounds and tells her and Elin that he’ll take care of any injuries they have, and suggests that when that’s done, maybe they can go home? Please??? D;

[Shinko]

Morgaine was startled when Elin started crying, and put her arms around the young woman's shoulders and patted her on the back. "Hey, hey, it'sh alright, I'm fine shee? I wanted to come anywaysh, it'sh not your fault."

Leif spoke up, seeming to want to confirm the old woman's reassurances, but before he had the chance to say much the city guard turned up. Morgaine watched with grim satisfaction as Leif explained to the soldiers what had happened, trying to stand up as she did so. It wasn't easy, but she managed to get herself upright, albeit with an unsteady swaying. She probably wouldn't be able to keep her feet for very long, but she wanted to see as much of what was about to go down as her short height would allow.

When she heard the young mage's story, however, a surge of annoyance spiked in her. She'd figured the spiked juice was a prank when it first turned up, and she'd been inclined to dismiss it as one at first- after all it wasn't like spiking drinks was entirely a new idea- but after everything she and her friends had put up with that night, she was less inclined to be charitable towards the young man.

"Jusht a prank?" she spat. "Who shells alcohol that makesh it hard to walk in a shtraight line to tightrope walkersh ash a prank? Why shellsh alcohol disguised as juicshe, alcohol they made shtupid shtrong with magic, that children might buy ash a prank? If you're a mage college shtudent you should know better'n to shell to other magesh who'll get drunk and go crazy with their magic! I came to the feshtival for shome fun and inshtead I got drunk and shome boozed up idjits shoved and elbowed me, then I fell down some shtairs and almosht broke my legsh, then I got burned and my foot shtill hurtsh, and I was blinded and got shmoke in my face from that drunk mage, and then you knocked me out with magic! Jusht a prank? I got news for you kid, nobody's laughing!"

She would have said more- as an experienced mother she was an expert at delivering lectures- but the rest of the crowd was shouting over her, and at that point the guards took the man away. The locksmith grumbled irritably, folding her arms only to wince as the bruised one protested. Leif seemed to notice this, and started to heat the bruises.

“Let me heal any wounds you two have. If nobody else got hurt in that fight or the mob, I really think we should get you two somewhere to rest.”

Morgaine sighed, looking up at the archmage with a lopsided smirk. "Alright fine, mother. I'll be good and let you take me home. Prolly not gonna be able to shtumble around much longer before I cave, already kinda coming off the high." She glanced at Elin. "Where d'you wanna go? The butcher shop? I think we shaw your aunt at the King'sh Armsh earlier if you wanna go there inshtead of an empty houshe, might be good to go where shomeone can help you. Yer probably gonna have a miserable wakeup tommorrow, hangoversh are not fun, not fun at all."

The old woman scowled. "I know I won't be getting outta bed until at leasht two in the afternoon, if then. 'M already a little headachey and I've not shobered up much yet."

SPOILER: Click to show

In which Morgaine *gasp!* actually agrees to let Leif take her home!

[Gelquie]

Elin relaxed as Morgaine and Leif consoled her, and she sniffed when they were done. “I... I jusht wanted to make sure we... I had to make sure that thingsh are fine. ...But Morgie, you're right; you're alive, an' you're up now.” She hugged Morgaine tighter, her tears beginning to slow. “An'... An' that'sh great. Really, really great.”

Elin didn't get much of a chance to ramble about how great it was when the guards came, and her attention was diverted. She stumbled back as she allowed Morgaine to get up before trying to get up herself. With her swaying and her shaking, however, it proved to be nearly impossible, and she grabbed onto a random passerby to hoist herself up. The passerby looked annoyed, but didn't say anything, too busy shouting at the juice merchant. Elin swayed on the spot as she joined along with the shouting before the guards shushed them, giving Leif a chance to explain the situation.

The juice merchant gave his explanation, and Elin found herself getting angry all over again. When Leif and Morgained delivered their lectures, Elin began to give another one of her own, although some of it was drowned out by the crescendo of the crowd's shouts.

“That'sh the shtupidest prank I've ever heard! You wanna prank shomeone, you do it in a way that doeshn't hurt people, or, or shomething that'sh actually funny. Y-you should jusht go--”

Elin proceeded to shout a series of colorful words, most of which were lost in the din of the crowd. The shouting decreased as the guards took the juice merchant away. Elin tried to take a step after them, but only stumbled as she did so, falling to her knees.

“--sidewaysh!” Elin finished. She then stopped and began to try to take a deep breath. Her voice had gone hoarse from the smoke and the shouting, and she realized that the shouting only made the pain in her torso even worse. She pressed her hand to her stomach as she tried to catch her breath. At least the tears had stopped. In a cathartic way, she felt a little better, and she let out a small, breathy laugh.

Elin looked up at Rhoda, who was still nearby. “G-go make sure he makesh it. I'll shtay with them.” She gestured to Leif and Morgaine.

“I think he'll make it after all of this,” Rhoda said. “But I have to go home anyway. You should too. Take it easy, Elin.”

With that, Rhoda walked away, making her way through the crowd. Elin turned herself towards Leif and Morgaine, the former who was healing the latter's wounds. She waved a free hand at Leif's offer to heal.

“Save your magic in my case,” Elin said, although she cast a glance down to her arm, where the bruise there had evolved into an ugly bump. “I-I've jusht got bruishes. It'll go away. An' you can't do much about the other stuff. Unless you can--” she coughed. “Make my voice better, or shomethin'. It-- agh.”

She tried to take another breath before trying to stand up again, leaning against the side of the alley as she did so. She frowned as they began to mention going home. She didn't know what to think about that, and she found it hard to think through the drunken haze to puzzle out the logic of going home. She looked over to Morgaine as she began to speculate on where Elin could go, before talking about hangovers. Elin stumbled forward, and once she reached Morgaine, she reached out and put an unsteady finger on Morgaine's lips, which happened to be just as the woman finished.

“Shh, I don't wanna think about that,” Elin said mournfully. “That'sh, that'sh away from now. That'sh morning, and that'sh alwaysh been bad when...” She shook her head as she pressed her arm into her torso again, leaning onto the wall of a nearby building. “I-I don't know where to go. I jusht don't wanna shtay here. But I don't wanna be alone either, an' Auntie... M-maybe the King'sh Armsh would be good. Lessh lonely there. An' I don't live too far from that, maybe I could walk from there. ...Yeah, can we go there? The inn? We'll figure out the resht there. Weren't we almosht there anyway, back with the mage?”

SPOILER: Click to show

Elin manages to cheer up, both from knowing that Morgaine is okay and from round 2 of shouting at the juice merchant, although most of her rant is lost in the din of the crowd. But she's happy to see the juice merchant taken away, and the Shadow NPC from earlier agrees to leave Elin with Leif and Morgaine. Elin argues that she doesn't need healing, saying that her bruises will heal and that magic won't help with the pull, but asks for something to clear up her voice, since it had gone hoarse from the smoke and shouting and is probably irritating her throat. Elin is uncertain at first about where to go, but agrees to go to to the King's Arms.

[Tiger]

Leif was not at all surprised when Morgaine and Elin delivered rebuttals of their own - after all they’d been through tonight, they were probably the ones who deserved the chance to lecture the mage most of all. He was surprised by the contents of Elin’s speech - he couldn’t catch all of the words, but enough to know that he was boosting his vocabulary in areas probably not appropriate for former priests by listening.

He was also surprised when Morgaine actually agreed that it was time to leave. Leif felt some tension seep out of his shoulders, probably visibly so. The locksmith brought up the issue of where to take Elin, and the two women discussed it as Leif worked on healing Morgaine’s cuts and bruises - as well as the burned and hurt legs she had mentioned in her rant. “I’m sorry about all this...it really wasn’t my intent to drag you into every obstacle in Medieville and then into a mage fight, hard as that might be to believe at this point.”

Elin waved off Leif’s offers of healing, and he frowned. Elin was already clearly starting to suffer, badly, from the pull, the last thing she needed on top of that and the hangover she was bound to have was pain from her various falls. And she was still coughing a little from the smoke - she needed something.

After they had more or less agreed on the inn, Leif guided the two women apart and toward the nearest building wall. “Here, let’s have you two sit down for a minute. Elin, if you sit with your knees up, that should put some more pressure on your chest and help a little with the pull.”

Leif tried to dredge up his knowledge of smoke inhalation treatment from his time at Our Woo of Charity as he dug through his satchel - nothing especially sugary, unfortunately, and nothing immediately helpful in the potion ingredients he’d bought. Let’s see...it can’t be a burn, the smoke wasn’t hot. But definitely irritation from the little particles. And...something el - inflammation, that’s it.

Well, that was easy enough, then. “I can help your throat, at least for a little while. Though you might want to have some honey-tea, or eat some ginger candy tomorrow, if your stomach can handle it. ...I can come by with a lighter potion for it, if you’re staying in the inn. Just to make sure.” And while he was at it, he should probably bring something for the headache...nausea...and Morgaine and Kirin would probably need some of the same. The potion-mistress was probably not going to be very happy with Leif - not only would he be returning with the ingredients hours late, and slightly squashed ones at that, but he would be further raiding the stock for his friends. Well...it wasn’t exactly my fault, so she can be angry with me all she likes.

Leif let the flap of his satchel fall shut, and turned back to Elin. “All right - erm, this might be a little...awkward, I don’t know - I’m sorry, but it’ll be more effective if I can get the magic directly into your throat instead of making it work through the skin - can you open your mouth wide for a minute?” Hoping it was mostly his own sense of awkwardness that was making this feel very weird to him, and suspecting it would be hard for someone who was having enough trouble walking or standing steady to keep their head still, Leif gently took Elin’s chin in hand to hold her head steady. Healing magic hitting a tooth by accident wouldn’t be dangerous or anything like that, but Leif would prefer getting this done quickly.

He cast a spell for relieving pain first, the same one he had used on Morgaine’s knees earlier in the evening, and gave it a moment to settle. That done, he cast a second spell; Elin probably wouldn’t feel much of an effect, especially with the pain-relieving magic already setting in, but it would reduce the inflammation. Hopefully, then, even when the pain-relieving spell wore off, the pain would be much more tolerable. He released Elin’s face, flexing his fingers a little; the sense of touch lingered even despite the gloves. It wasn’t a surprise, but it was still annoying to be so oversensitive.

“Let me know if that starts wearing off before we get to the inn, all right?” he told Elin, shifting his wand and his eyes to the bruise on Elin’s arm. “I don’t think it will, but if it does, you might need to come back to Marson with me and let me get you a potion for it tonight.”

When the healing was done, Leif finally holstered his wand and got to his feet, shaking out his wrists and fingers. A bit of tugging in nonexistant finger muscles, but nothing a bit of sleep wouldn’t cure. Considering he’d fought another mage, that was probably not too bad an outcome, all things considered.

“Okay - let’s get Elin to the inn - you’re right, we were just about there when that idiot trapped us in the market - and then I’ll take Mrs. Braham home.” He held out a hand to help one woman up, then the other. It was going to be a long walk - but at least he didn’t have to worry about looking for the juice-merchant anymore. Just all the normal drunk Medieville things. Wonderful.

[Shinko]

The following morning~

Sunlight filtered through the blinds at the Braham-Dylas Lock and Key Trust, and despite it being very late in the morning, Morgaine was still burrowed under the sheets of her bed in the apartment above the shop. She had a pillow over her head, and every so often a low, muffled moan emerged from under the cloth.

Rosalie was doing her best, but she was preoccupied with nursing her boyfriend Lawrence Kidde, who'd apparently also been victimized by the juice salesman. Being younger, lighter, and with less of a resistance than Morgaine, he was much worse off, and that combined with Rosie's affection for him allowed him to lionize most of the keymaker's attention.

The trip home hadn't been as straightforward as Leif might have liked. First, on the way back past the juice bottles, they'd been forced to stop as Elin insisted on trying to use her drawing skills to relabel them as alcoholic. It had taken a few false starts- in her inebriated state the best art she could manage were some scribbles- and some cajoling from Leif before she finally got distracted and forgot about the plan. Then, when they arrived at the inn, the drunken Clare had proved a sufficient distraction for Morgaine that it had taken another twenty minutes for the archmage to redirect he old woman's attention so that he could get her out of the inn and take her home.

Not that Morgaine actually recalled arriving home- everything past when she'd left the inn was blurred. She knew she'd been having trouble walking again, and had leaned on Leif for support... then nothing.

Trying to recall what had happened wasn't especially of interest for the old woman though- thinking made her already achy head hurt worse, she felt as if she were about to throw up, and her mouth was cottony from dehydration. She just wanted to sleep, but she was too miserable to sleep. So she lingered in her bed, not having any motivation to do anything but stew in her own misery.

"Uuuhhhhggggggg..."

SPOILER: Click to show

Timeskip time! It's the following morning, and Morgaine is badly hungover.

[Tiger]

It was closer to dawn than dusk by the time Leif made it back to the King’s Arms room where he’d left Kirin. Getting Elin to abandon her plan to relabel all of the juice bottles, pulling Morgaine away from Clare while trying to explain the situation to Xavier, eventually carrying Morgaine at least half the way between the inn and the Lock and Key shop...by the time he’d made it to Marson Manor, Leif was sorely tempted to just faceplant onto his bed and sleep. Instead, he’d hauled himself to the potions brewery, loaded his satchel, and headed back into the streets.

His head was pounding from stress and exhaustion as he quietly entered the room. After setting the satchel down, carefully so the bottles wouldn’t clatter together, Leif checked on Kirin. Still asleep, and pretty much in the same place and position Leif had left him. Leif straightened the covers a bit, more out of a need to feel like he was doing something helpful than because he thought it would actually make much of a difference to the unconscious Stallion. On his way to the chair, Leif draped Kirin’s coat across the end of the bed. Tracking it down had been a bit of chore, involving asking a lot of drunk or angry or drunk and angry people if they had seen it. Eventually he'd been led to the side of a fountain with dragon-shaped heads that spat water, and sure enough, the coat was resting on the wide rim of the fountain. Whether Kirin or someone else had left it there, Leif didn’t know, but he was relieved to have found it.

Leif adjusted the room’s chair so he could lean back in it and rest his head against the wall without too much fear of tipping backwards - but still facing Kirin so that Leif could be there right away when the Stallion woke up. Though it wasn’t a very comfortable chair for a night's rest by any means, at this point Leif was too tired to care; he fell asleep barely minutes after settling down and shutting his eyes.

-------

Though Leif had been tired when he’d first woken up, he realized that he was fit for battle compared to the victims of the juice merchant while helping Kirin and Elin through the early morning. It was closer to noon than he had intended by the time he left Kirin and Elin, dosed with potions but clearly still feeling miserable, to get more sleep while Leif headed first to the couriers' station, then to Morgaine's.

He'd written a letter for Lord Ambrose, to let him know where Kirin was and that he was all right, as well as just what had happened the previous night. Naturally, Leif didn't share the details of how they'd found Kirin, but he did ask that one of Kirin's shirts be brought to the inn, if there was someone at Stallion Manor free to do it. 'Woo knew how many of Stallion Manor's staff or their families had been in the crowd last night. The couriers were clearly shorthanded, but it seemed that they didn't have too many messages to carry, either. Hopefully it wouldn't be too long before Lord Ambrose received the message; Leif would have delivered it himself, but Morgaine's shop was in the opposite direction of Stallion Manor.

Already running late both in leaving the inn and with the delay to the couriers', Leif walked quickly toward the merchant's district. Or at east, as quickly as he could while still dodging around the many questionable puddles spattered over the cobblestones. The city was astonishingly quiet; even when Leif arrived in the merchants' part of town, he found it almost empty, both of shoppers and sellers. A good deal of the stores had their doors shut and the lights off - probably closed for the day. Leif’s light knock on the door of the Lock and Key Trust felt loud as the church bells in the half-abandoned streets.

Rosalie answered the door, and Leif hastily explained that he was here to check in on Morgaine, and sorry, he wasn’t going to be able to buy a key today. He learned very quickly that Lawrence had been a victim of the spiked juice as well, and, relieved he’d brought extra bottles, left Rosalie with some headache-relieving potion for Lawrence before quietly heading to Morgaine’s room. He barely brushed his knuckles against the door in the softest knock he could manage - he had learned from Kirin and Elin already that hangover headaches were not at all fond of loud noises - and nudged it open a few inches. “Mrs. Braham? I’m here with some potions if you need them.” Leif stifled a yawn. “How’re you feeling?”

SPOILER: Click to show

It’s been a loooooong night for Leiflet, but he finally makes it back to the King’s Arms and crashes (in a chair) in Kirin’s room for the night. The next morning he heads out to the the LockKey shop to check in on Morgaine and give her some potions to help with her hangover. Rosie makes a brief appearance, so if I've done anything innacurrate, Maddy, lemme know and I'll correct it ^^