The usual suspects grant Delia the attention her overnight transformation demand; while Aron kisses the succubus's hand in a very model of courtly manners, Garth just raises an eyebrow and Mona makes a quiet, smirking comment under her breath to Chira. The centaur's tail flicks, in what likely passes for an oration from her. Everyone seems to have taken advantage of the relatively posh inn's facilities, with most at least... clean enough, even if the nose brings a few hints that not everyone was as much a soap enthusiast as Delia. With this many species in close proximity, the smells are necessarily indistinct but oddly comforting. Maybe it was just that her stomach recognized a banquet when she smelled it- two banquets, if you counted her breakfast as well as her companions.<br/><br/>The others in the party nod at the succubus greeting them; Mona cackles just a little, adding, "I'd say I don't want to ever go sailing again, but since it'd mean living and dying on this little rock, I don't think I'm THAT desperate to keep dry land under me. Just I'll try to spend as much of it as I can drunk, full, and sleeping so I don't really care, yeah?" There's a quick little frown at the invocation of bathing, and when Delia's attention turns to the centaur and begins to talk about grooming, she stiffens a little. "Ah. Garth was... kind enough to find a brush last night," the centaur rumbles, keeping a flush off of her face by dint of will. The half-orc beside her doesn't fidget or squirm at that request, either, meeting Delia's stare levelly. "Always more to do. I don't think I was able to reach<span style="font-style: italic">everywhere</span>." Chira nods placidly. "Yes. The offer is very welcome. I don't really feel a need for..." she pauses. "Looking resplendent. It is enough to stay healthy and not look foolish." The tail flicks again as Delia invokes soap, and Aron smiles. "Yes, I know- you barely left any for me when you left your room," the drow says, not concealing where he'd spent part of his night. "There was enough. But it's always good not to smell too strongly- of soap, or of anything else, no?" He takes a dainty little bite of pastry.<br/><br/>As talk turns towards the little side job Aron found, the drow brightens. "Excellent! I was hoping you'd all agree. I had to do a bit of digging to find a sufficiently, ah, objectionable target, but-" He shrugs. "No need to belabor the point. I have some details about where our target sleeps. Enough that this should in theory be first a quick, stealthy execution of our main target and then we... let our metaphorical hair down with the rest of his security, eat who we can, loot the rest, burn down the wall-" Mona brightens visibly, "-and leave. We sent a message, we get some money, and we do at least a little fighting as a group before we get to a point where we have to. Say, if the Empire wants your lovely rear back so much they dispatch a shipful of troops, Delia?" He smiles thinly. "Now, Xarius, I never ask who wants a target dead, that's simply poor business manners. Perhaps a client. Perhaps a competitor. Perhaps someone who wants the land he lives on. Who can say? In the end, gold is gold, and he'll be fat on one of our lucky rears. And I'm afraid," he pats Delia's shoulder, "I agree with Xarius, in this case. Not for moral reasons-" He gives the others a wink, "-but because it'll be good for our image at least initially if we don't. We can argue about the morality of it later," he hastily adds as Garth seems to be able to blow up at treating things in so cold-blooded a manner.<br/><br/>"So who's going?" Mona asks, bluntly. "No offense, but if you want to be quiet, as much as I love having Chira to hide behind..."<br/><br/>Aron smiles thinly. "Quite. I strongly suggest that Delia and Xarius accompany me, and I believe you should go as well as a... safety valve if things begin to go awry. Plus, I think Garth and Chira make more sense as a possible rescue party down the street..." Over Aron's head as he begins talking about more tactical details of the job, Mona gives the catboy a quick wink at his innuendo before he and Delia take their leave.<br/><br/>Outside, the city's a plenty busy place this late in the morning, with carts of licit and illicit goods being driven through narrow packed-dirt streets between hastily built buildings, for the most part. While Delia has a definite aim in mine, Xarius is content to follow her lead as they while away the day. There's not a lot in the way of organized worship around here- at least, not of the kind that advertises itself, and probably not of the kind that would make Xarius feel very at home. But then, there aren't many temples that both Delia and Xarius would be welcome in, when you come right down to it. Delia's turned away from one in a snit- and after trying a few more and being met with walls of polite refusal, it's time to start hunting for psychics and mediums. Most of those are willing to talk to her, after Delia "pays for a consultation"- one insists that she's telling Delia's fortune, but mumbles something clearly just generic and made up. The day isn't quite a waste, though. There is a harried-looking elven alchemist who'd been at the bottom of Delia's list of prospects, doing odd work on a bench full of bottles that looked like a glass blower's nightmare. She seems surprised at the questions but grateful at the chance to stop doing things that give off noxious fumes for a little while, and has a nice, friendly chat with the pair.<br/><br/>The gist of the conversation is that the strange thing isn't that a phantom voice talked to them. The strange thing is that it was able to do anything in the physical world. That ruled out most garden-variety ghosts and spirits. Her best guess is actually that it was someone with an invisibility spell on them, since it doesn't seem to fit any of the usual fae-types or spirits she knows of. But it doesn't quite make sense for any of the crew to have freed them, and if it was someone else, they did an astonishing job of hiding- and would still be on the island with them now, unless they took the ship back to the Empire. It isn't much- but at least it's... something.<br/><br/>((Will let you all react and chat one more quick pair of posts and then push on into the nighttime attack!))