The Ring of Fire

[Avron the S'wit]

Llythanda allowed herself to be led down the street. "I don't understand," she said softly, clearly quite confused. "I cannot...remember. I feel that I should, but for some reason..." She shook her head softly. "Never mind. I don't wish to be a bother, Alandier. It is just not my way, to leave things so unfinished. You must understand." Her voice seemed worried at the end, as if she wasn't sure he did or would.

[Musicman247]

"Yes, of course I understand," Alandier stated. "But you must understand that hit your head during the earthquake and haven't quite been yourself since." He continued leading the Dunmer to the clothier. "We'll get ourselves some new, comfortable clothes and then go to my house so you can lie down and let everything come back to you. Does that sound acceptable?"

[Deandra]

The Nord sighed. "How about you give me that thing you're wearing so I can melt it for scrap, and a hundred fifty, and we'll call it a deal," she said, a hint of pity in her voice.

[Avron the S'wit]

The Dunmer nodded, feeling somehow quite relieved.

[Musicman247]

Alandier entered the clothing store with his beautiful Dunmer pet.

[JVElEven]

"Okay, fine then," Valeronicia said, ignoring the looks, squeezing out of her cuirass immediately, revealing the tacky, burgundy, woollen shirt she wore underneath.

[Deandra]

Elenia's Boutique
Inside the shop, Andaril was buttoning up a new dark blue doublet, while an Argonian woman rushed to greet the newcomers.

"Welcome, welcome!" the Argonian said, sizing up Alandier and Llythanda. "What can I do for you?" she asked.

"Andaril! Come lace me up in the back!" came a shrill voice from behind a heavy green curtain in a corner of the shop. Andaril rolled his eyes but rushed to comply.

=======================================================

Hammer and Tongs
The smith gingerly took the armor and then disappeared into a back room. A minute later, she reemerged with a bright steel cuirass that was only slightly too large for Valeronicia's frame. "I can add a bit of padding to make this fit better, and it'll also be more comfortable for you than that... thing... you were using before," she said. As she picked through a basket of quilted pieces, her mood seemed to improve.

[Musicman247]

Alandier smiled and stated, "My girlfriend and I are in need of some new clothes. My need is obvious," he said, fingering the edge of his robe hole, " while she is in need of something a bit more comfortable...and revealing."

[Deandra]

"Are you looking for a similar style of robe, or perhaps something a bit more elegant? Perhaps with puffed sleeves to disguise those weak shoulders?" the clothier asked Alandier as she began hunting through the racks of clothes that lined the store's walls.

[Avron the S'wit]

Llythanda, not entirely comfortable with the idea of something revealing, politely looked about the store, unwilling to object to Alandier. She had not had anything elegant since her days in Ald'ruhn, and she observed the many racks of cloth, silk, and wool with a subtle look of admiration.

[Eltee]

Andreo doggedly continued up the path toward the camp.

Spoiler:

I'm hoping for a mid-sentence realization that Andreo's alive from Merilia or something equally dramatic.

[JVElEven]

"What was so bad about that?" Valeronicia asked in an interested tone, finding a book and a quill.

[Deandra]

Spoiler:

Of course!

Fighters' Camp
"...completely failed them! I should have done more to help, but I was utterly useless!" Merilia wailed. The Imperial was curled up by the fire, her face pressed against her knees, and Salmei was gently patting her on the back.

"I know it's hard, sweety, but you can't blame yourself for this," the cook explained, her voice patient and soothing.

"He asked me to look after his sword, and I was so distracted I couldn't even do that! And then he had to look after me! I'm a walking curse!" Merilia choked out between sobs.

"Oh, you poor thing," Salmei said quietly as she hugged Merilia.

The weaponsmith brushed the tears from her red face and tried to calm down. The obese cook's embrace quieted her cries, and Merilia stared blankly out into the distance. At first, her brain didn't process the figure she saw approaching the camp, but when it did, she gave a piercing shriek right next to Salmei's ear. The older woman winced and pulled back as she lifted a hand to her ear.

"Andreo!" Merilia shouted as she sprinted over to the fighter. She threw her arms around him, but then she froze. A look of horror spread over her face. "Is it--are you--" she stammered, and then held her breath, waiting.

=======================================================

Valeronicia
"All of that rust will make the iron brittle. One good blow and the whole thing would fall apart," the smith explained. She continued her work while Valeronicia wrote in the book, and the shop was filled with a peaceful quiet.

"Ah, there we go. Try that on now, lass," she said, holding the cuirass up to Valeronicia's chest.

[Justice knight]

"Woah- to stubborn to die, huh Andreo?" Alicia jokingly asked.

[Derp53]

Spoiler:

I wanted to be a buzzkillif this counts as one

Shara having found a crust of bread sated her weak appetite and sat back down and continued to fiddle with her crossbow. She looked and saw the figure and looked and tossed a stick into the fire and looked back at the figure withheld reaction and neutral eyes.

[Eltee]

Andreo let out an out-of-breath, exhilarated laugh, wrapping his arms around the smithy. "I'm okay." he said firmly. His warm, tired hazel eyes flashed between her bloodshot ones. "Gods, are you okay? What happened?"

[JVElEven]

Valeronicia tried to get the armour on, managing to get stuck with an arm out the neck-hole.

"Uh... Well... Help." she mumbled blankly.

[Derp53]

Shara turned her eyes away from Andreo and picked up a sharp rock and began turning tightening the screws on the trigger of her crossbow, she then asked Andreo "So, how did you make it out alive Andreo? Boulders that land on people tend to kill them."

[Eltee]

Andreo looked at Shara blankly. He has been unconscious when the earthquake happened.

"Boulder?"

[Deandra]

Fighters' camp
Merilia returned his gaze as if still trying to convince herself that Andreo really was himself.

"They told me you were nearly dead from a spell, and then you got crushed under a big rock in the earthquake!" she said.

=======================================================

Valeronicia
The Nord couldn't help giggling at the sight. She lifted the cuirass up and held the front and back apart so that there was plenty of space for Valeronicia to move around in the center.

[Derp53]

"Oh right, I guess you were out cold when that earthquake happened" Shara said continuing her maintenance on her crossbow "To describe it simply; you were knocked out in a scuffle, then while Eimar's zombie was trying to kill me a boulder landed on you and your body vanished." Shara said

[JVElEven]

"Oh." Valeronicia looked around sheepishly, getting herself in the correct position.

"Thank you. It feels nice enough."

[Eltee]

Andreo gritted his teeth. "Eimar. Dammit... I'm sorry, Merilia..." he said, before squeezing her shoulders, as if to accompany a not-forthcoming reassurance. He shrugged.

"Shara's right, I guess. I was knocked unconscious by a lightening bolt spell, then..."

He shook his head, and allowed his hands to slip down Merilia's arms to her hands. "It's a bit of a wild story."

[Derp53]

Shara let a couple of minutes pass before throwing a question in "Where's our dunmer friend? the last I saw of her was when she was protecting that altmer necromancer, who if I remember correctly, had cast some kind of spell on her."

[Deandra]

Valeronicia
The smith tightened the straps that held the steel cuirass together. "Say, I couldn't help noticing you've got some magical looking staves with you," the woman began. "You wouldn't happen to know how to recharge an enchanted weapon, would you?"

=======================================================

Fighters' camp
Merilia felt a mix of emotions as Andreo put his hands on hers. She sniffed in an attempt to clear her runny nose. "What happened?" she asked him curiously.

"The necromancers took her," Vitellus answered Shara. He wore a pained expression on his face as he continued, "I'd rather not know what they're planning to do with her, or her body."