[center]━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━[/center][table][row][/row][row][cell] [h2][color=darkorchid][i][b]Victoria Belmont[/b][/i][/color][/h2][i][b][color=9932cc]Half-Elf, Bard, Level 5[/color][/b][/i] [color=9932cc][i][b]HP:[/b][/i][/color] 33 / 33 [color=9932cc][i][b]Armor Class:[/b][/i][/color] 15 [color=9932cc][i][b]Conditions:[/b][/i][/color] N/A [color=9932cc][i][b]Location:[/b][/i][/color] The Coach House (Taproom -> Leftmost bedroom, 2F) [color=9932cc][i][b]Action:[/b][/i][/color] Casting spells ([i]Prestidigitation[/i] and [i]Minor Illusion[/i]) [color=9932cc][i][b]Bonus Action:[/b][/i][/color] [color=black]Morty[/color] [color=9932cc][i][b]Reaction:[/b][/i][/color] N/A [/cell][cell] [right][img]https://i.ibb.co/k55RrWV/Victoria-Alt-4-2.png[/img][/right] [/cell][/row][/table][center]━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━[/center] After the Grey Dwarf left, Victoria finally remembered the question that she wished to ask him earlier. It was shuffled aside amid the hustle and insecurities of negotiation, [i]twice[/i], and she was really left dumbfounded at the idea that she didn't come back to complete the thought. Or anyone, for that matter, as no one appeared to think twice when the oddly wiry Dwarf casually used the phrase "Assassin Armor," even if there was, admittedly, a question of language fluency at hand. Victoria gave this thought a moment of her time, contemplating what manner of girl Urmdrus thought she was, then mentally set it aside. Short of running after the guy in unfamiliar surroundings at night, there wasn't anything to do about this particular itch of curiosity. As long as the armor did what he said it would do, is wasn't so big an issue. And if he held a little more healthy caution about her based upon certain presuppositions or minor misunderstandings about her active adventuring profession, Victoria was just fine with it. Also in Victoria's understanding, Lizbeth was correct. It might mean an early night for the likes of someone like herself, but this had been a long day and there was plenty to explore in this vineyard over the course of the winter. It seemed a touch daunting at first; staying the while of winter in the Avonshire region was not her plan as of a couple weeks prior. Quite frankly, she had her mind set on finding a ship headed northward, as close to her home the better, and booking passage. But this was a new experience, and Victoria did appreciate those. Plus, on a personal note, the Bard had taken a liking to little Lizbeth. Even if she didn't seem to want to learn her adventure-craft from her. Not everyone could be a Bard, she reasoned. And not everyone wanted to. And speaking of not wanting to do things, Victoria had no desire to address the issue going on in the background of her talk with Urmdrus any more than she already had. As such, she gave parties concerned a diplomatic and nondescript smile as she cleaned up after herself and gathered what few belongings she had downstairs. [color=9932cc]"Well, I agree with Mademoiselle Lizbeth. It has been a compelling day. A compelling week or two, really. And after that delicious supper and superior bottle of wine, I believe that I am also ready to call it an evening."[/color] Victoria took a quick accounting of her colleagues' preferences of sleeping arrangements, following the brief tour of the Coach House when they arrived. Baronfjord mentioned the central room along the back wall of the building (at least that is what she thought he had meant), Kathryn merely wished for a bed large enough for her to sleep comfortably, and Kosara wished for a bed near a fireplace. Victoria, too, wanted this. And so far, no one had offered an argument specifically for having a private room. Taking these preferences to their most logical conclusion, Victoria looked to Kosara, speaking with a matter-of-factly tone, [color=9932cc]"It looks like we are bunkmates; at least for a time. The room above the kitchen has two beds near a fireplace."[/color] She would have much rather found some excuse to take the room to herself at the other end of the building with the larger fireplace and comfortable chairs all to herself, but it seemed reasonable for Kathryn to need the leg room. Plus, if a reasonable accommodation was not objected to on her part, when she actually required one for herself (or just [i]really[/i] wanted one), this concession would readily act as a point of leverage. At length, Victoria retrieved her cloak and violin case. The former she twirled about herself and secured soundly; while she had not been outside since night had fallen, she did feel the incoming air when Urmdrus burst through the door and when he left. Not insurmountable discomfort by any means, but that did not mean she was going to enjoy it. Victoria almost wished that the winter season would hurry itself along and express fully so that she could acclimate to the cold and carry on. She did have one parting bit of near-sarcasm to impart before leaving: [color=9932cc]"You know... most of the time when the Knight duels the Dragon, it doesn't end well for the Knight. All those grandiose stories you hear to the contrary are survivors' bias. Or fiction."[/color] She gave a wistful smile, adding, [color=9932cc]"Of course, that is why we form adventuring parties. Lots more true stories about those."[/color] A quick clearing of the throat and Victoria spoke to the motionless slab of tusked pork to the side of the room, [color=9932cc]"Come along, Morty. It's bedtime."[/color] The creature stirred to motion, following its mistress to the door. As if of its own accord, the largely forgotten about corvid hopped from its place on the mantle above the fireplace and flapped black, feathery wings in its journey to Victoria's outstretched arm. [color=9932cc]"Oh, and I do so apologze for not addressing the questions put to me earlier, with the intent of camaradrie, on the accounting of our unexpected guess. I will be quite happy to discuss them tomorrow, if you are still willing. I bid you a pleasant evening."[/color] Victoria removed herself from the Taproom, swiping up one of the oil lamps and hanging the rope handle of a bucket in the crook of her elbow as she departed. It was dark outside, and darker still in the interior of the second floor. The lamp was useful if imperfect with its luminescent glow, prompting for careful steps. When inside, Victoria noted that her personal belongings most assuredly were where she had been told they would be, just inside of the main door to the second floor sleeping quarters. She bid Morty to pull the little errand cart containing her backpack, chest, and local wines to follow her. The bedroom to the far left, be it with a few beds within, suited her purposes nicely. There were two beds near to the fireplace - she chose the one nearer to the door for herself - and set to building a quick fire with the wood present. As mucking about with a tinderbox was a thing to be avoided if she could help it, Victoria gathered up the simplest of magical energies, plucking but a few strings in the grand Orchestra of the Weave to prestidigitate a fire started. Satisfied, she doused her lamp and readied for bed. The accommodations were straightforward but comfortable, clean, and more than adequate. Fresh linens on the beds and good, thick blankets brought a bit of warmth to the young Half-Elf's face. A quick casting of [i]Minor Illusion[/i] set up a lovely floral privacy screen behind which she could change and see to her more private, end-of-day needs, even if it had to be recast every so often. Her clothes, boots, and person were cleaned and refreshed with appropriate castings of [i]Prestidigitation[/i], and Victoria slipped into modest attire consisting of black silk undergarments with respectable coverage. She preferred fine clothing of cuts and styles that held to modesty, such as it was measured by her culture and upbringing. And so with a full belly and clear head, after a day of travel and combat, Victoria settled in for the night with Morty and her raven closely, the promise of new armor and vacation time in front of her.