>>6143719<span class="mu-b">16: <span class="mu-s">successful</span> diplomacy! CZ is allowed aboard, and for no extra expense.</span>
<span class="mu-b">You have <span class="mu-s">21 points</span> left unspent</span>
“Ye can come aboard me Pearl,” Svanhilda says, voice calm but stern, “but I want ye to keep your distance, ye ken? I dinnae know much about demons, or half-demons, but I ken enough to know they’re nae to be trusted.”
You shrink down in your robe—maybe literally? probably not, though, right?—and nod. You wonder why she’s even giving you this level of benefit-of-the-doubt, if she dislikes demons so much, but you’re too grateful (and too fearful of her changing her mind) to question it out loud.
“Y-yeah, I ken,” you mumble. “Thanks, Svanhilda…”
Like a beaten dog, you skirt around her and slink over to your friends and allies. ZZ raises her eyebrows at your approach, but you shake your head and she doesn’t ask anything else. From a distance, you watch Svanhilda pull up her anchor and grip the boat’s spoked steering-wheel, masterfully steering the Pearl away from the port and out onto the lake. The memory of those same hands on you now fills you with a queasy feeling that almost matches Khorine’s seasick-green countenance. You’ll never feel those hands’ supple strength in calloused caress again.
(Will you ever know tenderness like that, without what you are and where you come from getting in the way?)
You can’t help but dwell on those dour thoughts, spiralling into a silent sadness as the others chatter about their plans. You force yourself to look away from Svanhilda after a while, mostly because of the looks she’s giving you, and how much more tense she seems to be whenever your eyes meet. You pull up your hood and stare down at the lake, instead.
“Hey, you good?”
You feel your other half’s presence before her hand claps down upon your shoulder. You look over into ZZ’s face, and force a smile that you both know she sees right through.
“Yeah,” you lie, “I’m good.”
“Aight, glad ta hear it,” she says, playing along. “‘Cause we need you at yer best. The plan is…”
>CZ will dive down to the deepest areas of the lake and poke around with her spear, stirring up and slaying any cave-drakes she finds>CZ and the others will creep around in the cave-system which ZZ and the gang visited yesterday, and CZ should be ready to chase down the mother-monster if she emerges>The people on the Pearl are going to just go about fishing, keeping an eye on the competing parties and hoping the monster gets hungry enough to emerge of its own volition>Write-in 