Wings of Fury 2

"Putting out fires could be very useful, particularly if one of the group is set aflame! Good thinking," Henri said, giving an approving nod and a smile. "Such help would be well appreciated."

Rozenn perks up once more!! She gets back to scribbling, using her shield for support, now.

"Thank you, ma'am!! For both your help and your compliments :D I'm glad they brightened your day a little bit. I'm honestly surprised it's actually good! I kind of just thought it was just a well-made but otherwise basic shield. Here I was, thinking my moms were talking it up a bunch. I appreciate your expertise!! If you don't mind my asking before I let you go again -- what brings you along on this journey? I can't imagine an armorer getting much out of a foolish fellow looking for people to sing his praises. Did you come here looking to fight the dragon? Maybe to test your armor yourself? Or is there something else that's pushing you forward?"

A moment after that note has been passed off, she passes a second.

"If you're willing to share, of course! We all have our secrets, so if you don't want to get into it I COMPLETELY get it."

Comète reads over the note, then takes one of the flyers from the table and slides it to Rozenn, tapping it with her finger. She writes back a new note.

"You're right about testing armor. But even more than that, I've gained many clients from fellow adventurers seeing me display our pieces in the field. And when your clientele is adventurers, word of your craft travels quite far." She pauses, then adds another section.

"Well, that's why I started. At this point it's just part of the business model, going out an adventuring. I've been doing this some 20 years now."

She slides the note back and pulls her thick glasses off, using a hand in the bottom of her shirt to wipe some of the dust off the lenses.

Holek is a bit concerned at the colourful person's puppet probing. He kinda retreats, and removes the puppet, and shows it to Terzi, gripping on it hard, to make sure she won't steal it, not that she would want to, probably. "Isfor therapy", he mumbles.

Avag had been a little more sullen after Henri's arrival, and had gone over to order some food and better drink now it was clear the knight was covering. Being an itinerant adventurer didn't offer many opportunities for fine dining, and he'd take them as they came.

Now armed with a fine drink, he returned to the conversation, which seemed to have mellowed out a little after the initial excitement of them all meeting each other. He settled back in with his drink, looking for a conversation to jump into - but instead gravitated to the cat-like elf who seemed to be dozing.

"Hey, Caulind," he said, sidling up and nudging him in the ribs with an elbow. "What do you think? Still gonna stick with us to go see Henri slay a dragon? I mean, it's not exactly the kind of thing that pops up every day, and I'm pretty sure we'll still get an opportunity to get involved regardless of what the knight thinks."

"I wonder...Are there perhaps enchantments that can be sung before the battle commences? Something protective, or perhaps something the dragon is vulnerable to?" Guillairme ventured, softly. He was neither an expert on the second song nor dragons.

Zaya looked at Guy. "Hm. Not from me. Not really my specialty. Wouldn't help anyway. More than an... ice sword would help killing anything. I mean. Obviously draining heat with a stab is effective. But. What I mean is. Not really any... elemental vulnerabilities for dragons. They're beings of the entire Second Song, not only aspects of it. Even if a dragon uses fire. There's no such thing as a 'fire dragon'. Only real weakness is enclosed spaces. We ambush her somewhere confined, she'd be easier to kill. Though, also. I imagine that isn't... Sir Henri's way. A powerful antimage could also make a dragon less dangerous, but. If we have one, they haven't spoken up yet."

"I see...That is something to bear in mind, then. Thank you." He was a bit disappointed that the second song did not work in such a convenient manner, but there was no use complaining about how things were.

Sir Henri certainly wouldn't attack a sleeping dragon, but perhaps he would be willing to challenge the beast while she was still in her cave...it was possible!

Henri simply laughed joyously and then smiled.

"Do not worry, my friends. I have a means and a plan to defeat this dragon wherever she chooses to fight. I am personally hoping she stays in the air and pummels me with fire! Such would be the greatest challenge."

Rozenn's eyes lit up at Comete's exploits! She'd never heard of an adventuring armorsmith, and she's definitely impressed.

"I see... That's all really smart! You must be really good if you've managed to do it all these years. I look forward to seeing your stuff in action :) I don't really think this is going to go the way Sir Henri wants it to, and I'll be ready to dive in to fight. If you do too, I'll be right by your side!"

She looks back at the table. Zaya's gone missing, but there's a few folks there still. She finishes the note: "I had some people I was talking to back there before I came to stop you - I should probably check back in on them. If you want, you can join us!! Everyone's pretty nice, and I'm thinking about ordering food for everybody :D Thank you again for everything, though. I'm excited to see what you have to show off, ma'am!!"

A few moments after Sir Henri spoke Guillairme's eyes went wide, before he shut them firmly with a resigned sigh. So that was his plan, huh? Of course that was his plan.

"Sir Henri, when you were praying for the journey ahead at the altar of Lord Ramay, did you make offerings for calm weather?" He had visited both Ramay and Mashele, of course, but Ramay was the more relevant god here.

Zaya had done all she could here.

"...By the way. If you could get me the names of those... knights that trained you for this? Could be helpful. Might want to talk to people with dragon experience later. Hard to come by. I'll be at the table in the meantime."

With that, she heads back away from the booth and this poor doomed bastard of a knight. She took a brief glance over the flyer she'd taken from the table, and approached the armorsmith herself! "Uh. Hi. Nice flyer. So you make armor? What, uh. Kinds of materials do you work with?"

Smooth conversation starter as always.

Comète looks at the note and taps the word ‘ma’am’ with her finger. She states “Comète is fine. Ms. Révolte if you’re formal.” And with that, she turns to Zaya, tilting her head slightly as she removed her glasses.

“Metal. Leather. Wood, twice.” she replies.

He looked to Zaya as she prepared to leave.

"I trained under Sir Pierre the Dragonpiercer and Dame Adeline the Windrider, both experts in the Fourth Song. Should you wish to find them, I'd be glad to help with that after the quest. Farewell!"

And then back to Guy.

"I mostly prayed for success," Henri told Guillairme. "Hm. Should I have prayed for weather? Doesn't FEEL relevant, but maybe! There's a temple to Ramay in town. Perhaps in the morning..."

"Was wondering if you'd worked with anything unusual. Rare metals, that kind of thing. Strange materials scavenged from Salin's ruins. I was a scavenger. Still interested in what you can make out of that sort of thing. More my girlfriend's area of interest than mine, but. Still. Hear this planet has some, uh. Interesting metals too."

Was Zaya planning on commissioning an Armor Gift now? Maybe.

Rozenn gives more big ol' nod and a grin to accompany it! The next note comes fast.

"Very well! I hope to see you around soon then, Comete. Let me know if you want anything before I order! :D"

And with that, she dashes back to the table to read the note Grok left her! She's a busy bee, this one. Making friends is hard work! Once she's had a chance to see what he said, she quickly replies:

"Those are noble goals :D I might assist you if you'd allow me! It's not my first time here, but it's my first time as a true knight. When I was a squire under my moms, one of them would sometimes come here for diplomatic work - trade deals, that sort of stuff - and the other would accompany ships to Chunadier ports, sometimes. I got to come along during breaks in my schooling and meet some nobles kids and stuff sometimes. It was always weird, because nobles are weird, but most of the people we met were pretty nice! :)"

Comète makes Very Good Active Listening faces at Zaya. She shrugs a little bit. “I’ll work anything.”

Brom notices Terzi coming in.

"Oh, interesting...that you are taking an interesting in my fellow compatriot's doll." Yes, Brom had decided Holek was a friend or at least an acquaintance to dispense grandfatherly support to. "Interesting choice of fashions. Are you some sort of...magical fabricmonger perhaps?"

The tip of Brom's MIGHTY GARDEN HAT bobbles in emphasis.

"'O pilgrim, entreat thy Lord with a devoted heart, generous hand, and clear vision,'" he quoted, a common inscription at Cellesian shrines. Three principles of prayer that were thought to make the gods more likely to heed your request.

"If I have the correct notion of your plan...I believe success will come more readily absent water-slick scales and buffeting winds." He pointed out.

He nodded, suddenly a bit concerned. It was summertime, and mountain weather was USUALLY fine, but it was still an uncertainty.

"Hm, true. I'll be sure to attend to that before we leave," Henri confirmed.

Guillairme nodded. "As shall I. By your leave, milord," and with a nod from Henri Guillairme got up, ordered a round of drinks and a pub snack of fresh cheese pretzels for the table, and rejoined the party.

Caulind jerked at the elbow jab. There was a half motion of the arms reflexively shifting into defensive positions different than just natural movements that stopped in place. The narrowed pupils slowly became less dilated as Avag talked and he loosened up swiftly, shifting back again into a comfortable position, quite a lot like whenever a sleeping cat has a hand put on it and immediately chills when realising who's petting it.

"Oh. Avag. Yes, of course I am. Coming with everyone I mean. I will get involved if necessary of course, who wouldn't, if it turns out that something goes wrong in our leading expert's plan and therefore a bunch of people jumping in too won't add much more chaos into things."

His tone altered ever so slightly talking to Avag, like, 5% mimicking Avag's speech rhythm and sway of tones. His eyes remained on Avag throughout even as he adjusted his clothing again, making sure his hood was still up and grabbing his a glass of elderberry wine again.

"That's why we need an intervention plan," said Avag. "Gotta make sure we can actually help if we need to. You look like you can handle yourself, got some solid confidence. I'd bet you know a Song, right? Me too. I'm Fourth Song, durability, mostly. Helps a lot when I'm out on my own. Saved me from being eaten by giant ants just a few days ago! And getting burnt. That alchemical fire was dangerous stuff, it turned out. Now I know!"

He ate one of the cheesy pretzels, though he didn't stop talking. "Oh huh, even the snacks in here are fancy. What do they put on these? Anyway, like I said, I bet you know some magic. Got any experience with the Songs? I'm sure you're a talented guy!"

"Oh, a fourth user? Quite a difficult one that." He said with a touch of sympathy with the respect of it as Avag snacked.

"Did you know that, pretzels were originally made for children? Religious origins, meant to represent arms crossed in prayer made from ingredients the monks could use, flour and water, that weren't considered extravagant. Then cheese and other additives were added to the basic treat. I believe that is Auschol cheese though. Made from coconut and almond milk and fermented, at least that's what the smell reminds me of."

Caulind nattered on gently in a constant motion once he'd gotten a work in, no gap between question marks or full stops except for a thinking look for a second, then a nod. "I'm quite talented, yes, and more experienced than most yet not as capable as I'd like. Third."

"Anything? Alright. Might come in handy. Especially if I can find something rare. Not sure I'll have time while I'm here. Have something sent from Salin, maybe. See what you can do with some offworld materials. Not easy to send something this far, but... Might try." Zaya considered. "So why fight a dragon? Seeing if your armor can hold up to that? In it for the heroism?"