A Command Performance (Morathor and Ackina)

[Morathor]

Siren's Bluff was a dreary little town--which made good business for traveling performers, or so said the Master of Players. He'd been to the remote fishing village before, some five years prior, and done his best to prepare the newer members of his troupe for what to expect there. "It's foggy and muddy and generally unpleasant, but the locals are friendly enough, and starved for a bit of color."

There was fog, just as promised, thick as the sea itself. You could hardly see from one side of the street to the other. Mud, too, was plentiful, making every step a struggle, as if walking through a sea of grasping hands that tried to pull you down by the boots. But the friendly faces of the locals failed to materialize. Siren's Bluff was almost a ghost town, the streets shockingly empty. The troupe trudged through the narrow roads for a quarter of an hour before seeing any trace of human life--and even then, it was only an old man's face scowling at them through the gaps in a window shutter. A few minutes later they saw a pair of hunched figures making their way through the mud, but the moment the two villagers caught sight of the troupe, they changed course to hurry away from the performers as best they could.

Eventually, the Master of Players led them to a large building--the largest in Siren's Bluff, unless you counted the great stone keep just past the outskirts of town, built on the highest peak of the cliff. Many of the troupe's veteran performers remembered this as the inn where they had stayed five years before. However...

"No rooms?" The Master of Players was aghast. "You don't look all that busy."

"We're not an inn any more," said the innkeeper--or rather, the barkeeper now. "We don't rent rooms."

"Why not? You still have them," said the Master, gesturing at the row of doors which could be seen through the railing on the balcony above.

"We just don't." The terse barkeeper would not meet the eyes of any of troupe.

 

[Ackina]

Mei loved to sit on the back of the troupe’s wagons and admire the scenery. Even a dark and swampy place like this had its own charm in her mind. Many of her fellow performers mocked her for always being so cheery, but Mei couldn’t help it, she always needed to have a big smile when performing her acrobatics.

Many of the traveling performers had gone inside to look for accommodations, but Mei decided to sit outside and look around, even though there was little to look at.

She tried to say hello to the villagers, but they all walked the opposite way when she would approach them.
“Maybe they were really busy?” She thought to herself as she wandered back towards the wagons. Little in this town had anything in the way of charm, but It didn’t stop her from wandering the streets a bit on the way back. When she was bored of looking at nothing, she decided to check the inn to see what was taking so long.

Entering the Inn, she arrived just in time to hear their rejection from staying there.

“That doesn’t sound promising.” She whispered into a nearby cast-members ear and smiling, her chipper attitude met with eye rolls from the others.

“Yeah Mei we are sleeping in the dirt tonight. How ‘awesome’.” Another male cast-member snapped back at her.

It didn’t bother Mei. She looked at the Innkeep who was not an innkeep anymore and back to the cast member.

“I don’t think you’ve noticed, we do that every night on the road.”

“Yeah, exactly... EVERY NIGHT, I want a warm bed.” He snapped with more attitude this time. “How about you come warm my sleep roll if your so chipper.” He looked her up and down.

“As if.” The rest of the cast giggled at his rejection.

“Quite down!” The Master barked. He was annoyed enough the innkeep wasnt an innkeep anymore, now his performers were getting punchy.
“Is there any place we can settle down, a barn, a inn, a abandoned house?”

 

[Morathor]

Just as Mei made her way into the tavern, she caught a glimpse of something approaching from down the road--a large, dark carriage from the looks of it, though through the fog she couldn't make out any more detail than that before she slipped inside.

As the performers grumbled and bickered over the lack of lodgings, the barkeep wasn't focused on cleaning mugs and dishware, a surly expression on his face. As Mei chimed in on the discussion, his eyes lifted to the young woman's face, then fell back down to his work. His knuckles grew pale as he tightened his grip on the tankard he was cleaning.

Even when the Master of Players addressed him directly, the man did not answer right away, but after a long, sullen pause, he cleared his throat. "No, nowhere. You'll not find anywhere to stay in town. I got drinks to parch your throats and warm your bellies as you leave, but you'd best be heading on. Maybe you can make the next town by nightfall." The suggestion was laughable; maybe, maybe on the swiftest courier horse, one could reach the next town down the road before midnight, but at the speed a wagon-borne troupe of this size could travel, it was bound to be another day, maybe two.

The barkeeper continued to speak as the door to the inn opened once more, though he did glance up to see what sort of patron had turned up; once his eyes fell on the new arrival, he went a bit pale and trailed off mid-sentence. "Siren's Bluff has no place... uh... no... place... for... um..."

"For travelers?" chimed in a new voice. A woman walked through the tavern as if in a trance. Her eyes were unfocused, and she didn't seem to be taking in her surroundings at all, but neither did she seem to be having any trouble navigating them. It was hard to guess at her age; by her features she was young (and fairly pretty), perhaps two or three years older than Mei, but she had the coarse gray hair of an old crone. She wore a black gown, the neckline cut daringly low, but her modesty was preserved by a dark red shawl over her shoulders.

She reached the bar, glassy eyes staring past the barkeeper as she addressed him. "I apologize, please continue."

"I... I was going to say, outsiders... no place for outsiders--"

"But of course we do," said the woman, turning and looking across the troupe of performers. It was almost imperceptible, but her eyes lingered on Mei slightly longer than any other. "The Lord of the Keep will extend to you his hospitality. Please accept it."

 

[Ackina]

This lady gave Mei the creeps. She grimaced as she took a long look at her, she even tried to hide behind her red hair as the room sort of felt cold all around. The rest of the party fell very silent too, just was so erry. She wondered if this lady was riding in that dark coach she saw.

But it was nice she was offering them a place to stay. Mei didn’t really think anything of it, other than the innkeep was an ass who had something against performers.

The master did not seem to think anything of the woman’s cold and lifeless appearance either.

“We thank you for being so kind, we would love to give your lord a performance as thanks.”

 

[Morathor]

"That can be discussed with Lord Sova," said the woman, as she made her way back towards the door. "He has asked that every traveler be invited to his home; those who please him may be invited for a longer stay."

She did not speak again, and did not seem to notice anything said to her as she stepped back outside. A dark carriage, most likely the one Mei had seen earlier, was parked scarcely a foot from the stone doorstep of the tavern, all but blocking the entrance. The rich brown wood was almost black, adorned with subtle, tasteful gold trim. There were windows into the small, intimate interior of the carriage, but they were currently completely blocked by lush curtains of black velvet. The woman did not step inside, instead nimbly hopping up to the coachman's seat, avoiding the worst of the mud.

She turned her eyes to the path ahead, not looking at the performers even as she addressed them a final time. "Come along. I'll lead you to the keep." With that, she set the carriage in motion, without waiting to see if the troupe would follow.