<div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote"><a href="https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=300584.msg14709785#msg14709785">Quote from: PhantomPistoleer on 21-02-2019, 15:48:12</a></div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">When Iona asked him, "You'll check in from time to time on them, right?  I'm confident the widow will do her best, but... this might give her a bit of incentive not to cut corners.  Know what I mean?", the bard nodded and said, almost tearfully,  "Yes, of course.  I will see to it."  He pocketed the gold coin in his coin purse.<br/><br/>When Iona asked, "Any words of wisdom before I run off for fortune and glory?", the bard had but one reply.<br/><br/> "Yes, but I am not supposed to say," the bard started.  He then neared Iona and whispered something.  The following is secret knowledge: only Iona will know of it, unless a character can succeed on a DC 25 Perception Check.<br/></blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><div class="floatleft">(https://i.imgur.com/SVgHqW2.jpg)</div><strong><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 14pt;">Iona Viliulf (https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=300582.msg14694421#msg14694421)</span></strong><br/>Iona gives a sigh of eased burden, and meets the half-elf's eyes with a wary, but somewhat relieved, smile.  "Thank you, Jocy."  She gives a firm nod.  "Be that as it may... there's a wolf sniffing about.  And there's one thing you and I have always agreed on.  Anything that could go wrong... well?  It could go wrong."  With a shrug, she glances off in the direction in which the stranger, Cygnar, had disappeared.<br/><br/>"So long," she says with a smirk.  "Thank you for everything."  And looking around with the hopes of catching Serana's eye, she gives a meaningful glance toward the path out of town-- indicating she, too, is ready as she'll ever be.<br/><br/>She detaches herself from the crowd with a squeeze of Jocy's hand, not looking back, and gives Ria an encouraging pat on the lower back-- as subtle as possible, not wanting the others to see (much less, the townsfolk) her encouragement of them.  No, she's the river-rat.  She's not as good as the temple girl, and she remembers well how humiliating it had been to stagger in with a knife wound two years prior, trying to play tough, but horrified when she coughed and saw red. She would be a cripple, or worse, if not for Ria's aid... and that stings.<br/><br/>Off to the side of the others, she falls into a position just off from Bellantha, toward whom she flashes a quick, wry smile... gone are the days of darting around by the river-bank with wooden swords and daggers they'd begged the carpenter to shape and smooth for them from scrap-wood for the price of a promised sweeping or carried water, and the young woman's changed under that armor.  To a pleasing degree, to be certain.  But while Iona had cast aside her dream of being anyone's savior as she chased silver from others' pockets, Bellantha looks like she could still be that hero of bedtime stories.<br/><br/>And Jilly... certainly they could find something for profit's sake out there, between the two of them.  But would either of them come back, if they did find an opportunity?  She knew the girl's skill, so what if the two of them took this opportunity to leave town in search of something better?  Could she trust her not to take the profits and leave her stranded?  Their chances would be better together, but she doubted Jilly would want to leave this place.  So for the moment, she just looks the young woman over, considers her quietly, then turns toward the road.<br/><br/>She kneels to tighten the lacing of one boot up the side of her calf, and then rises to face the road.