Adventure Thread - Group B

Nue points right down the hall. Leanne was so distracted by her riveting conversation with her new gf Nue that she didn't notice it wasn't even that far away. At this moment, a maid strolls past the two of them and heads over to Brooke and Yue. She offers a curtsy to both girls.

"Lady Yue, I know you are excited to see your friends again, but your Lady Mother wishes me to inform you that you still have studies to attend to today." She then turns to Brooke. "Miss Brooke, the Master will see you now if you wish to speak with him."

Yue sighs wistfully and finally releases Brooke from her hug. "As you heard, Brooke, it seems I have to return to my studies. I hope you and Father get along. With that said, Yue runs along to the abyss known as studying.

"Oh, it's you again," Brooke says as she catches sight of Leanne. Despite the words, the tone is not aggressive. "Guess that means Leon's not coming? Reckon you might as well, if he can't be here himself."

"Better'n I expected to be after a fight like that," Brooke replies honestly, taking the question at face value. "You must have some good healers on staff. Though I am wonderin' what happened to my things."

Leanne nods giving a basic courtesy figuring she'd try to be polite "I'm well myself, I have been mostly talking with your daughter Nue about some matters relating to our battle" she said though looked confused hearing Brooke's statement "You're missing things? That didn't happen to me, at least I don't think it did" she said checking her pouch to make sure she still had her wand and witch slayer.

Leanne does indeed still have her things. Apparently only Brooke's stuff was taken. "Ah, yes, my wife does have this habit of trying to 'pretty up' any young lady she comes across. Has a thing for fancy dresses, as I'm sure you've noticed." He begins. "I believe that she may have put your clothes in the 'cloth scraps' bin in the servant's quarters to 'encourage' you to wear what she provided. I'll have one of the servants perform a quick search for your old clothes, but perhaps you'd allow me to offer you newer clothing in the same..er..style as your previous set. It won't take more than a few hours, I should think. In the meantime, you are free to roam about the Manor, though I'd ask that you allow one of the servants to escort you so as to avoid becoming lost. Oh, and as friends of Yue, consider this a formal invitation to join us for supper later tonight. You will be returned to Saffron whenever you wish to be."

Shinobi fills Brooke and Leanne in on the details of his brother's schemes. He loved Himari from the moment he met her, and through a series of reckless self-endangerment events, finally convinced her to marry him. If for no other reason than "If you're going to be so reckless with your health, then I may as well make it my full time job to look after you.". Before he could make his plans known to others, Augustus used his influence to force Himari into wedlock with him. Due to legal red tape, there was little that Shinobi could do about it. However, as Augustus had only done this to spite Shinobi, he was not a very good husband; often neglecting Himari. So, whenever he wasn't paying attention (which was often) he (Shinobi) would secretly spend time with Himari. Long story short, she became pregnant with his children, and they planned to smuggle them away and fake a miscarriage while Augustus wasn't around to dispute it. Their plan was going swimmingly, but alas, the horrid man turned up in the middle of giving birth to the daughter who would be Yue. Thus it was, that he forcibly claimed Yue, meaning to turn her into some kind of assassin or something. As the fates would have it, Yue was born with supernatural powers that resembled those of a woman named "D'Mara", whom he hated for reasons unknown to Shinobi. So Yue was locked up and Himari was divorced so quickly it'd make your head spin. The rest of the tale, you already know.

Shinobi begins to weave another tale for them. A tale of woeful ignorance of his daughter's true plight, given to him piecemeal by the many disguised/loyal servants of his that were 'hired' by Augustus to look after the child until she was old enough to begin proper training as an assassin. "Oh! The Shame!" he cries melodramatically. "If only I'd known sooner! If only there had been some way I could have spared her that life! Alas, my brother knew mine own tricks too well. I could never have infiltrated his Fortress of Evil without being caught! And were I caught, my brother could easily have had me thrown out of the village, nay, executed even!" He continues like this for some time, but the gist of it seems to be a perfect storm of 'political red tape', being woefully unaware of Yue's imprisonment, and being too well-known to effect a rescue himself.

Brooke listens, polite but well short of enthralled. "Your brother sounds like a right piece of work," she comments when Leanne is done. "If he makes trouble again, let us know. Nobody can blame you'n your family for what we do."