The Bizarre Adventures of a Half-Elf

Déja Vu

The group blinked in silence at the Quest Board. Finally, Charlotte spoke up, "How in the fuck are the Black Skulls at it again?"

"They must have deeper roots than we originally thought," Red sighed.

 "But we've taken out two huge factions. How did they have enough people or authority to steal an entire armored caravan full of weapons?" She asked in aggravation to no one in particular.

"Who are the Black Skulls? They sound fun," Gretta asked.

 "Bandits. Not fun," Türin explained briefly. "And if we take this one, you know this means we have to go and see her again."

"Her?" Tobias inquired.

"Lady Clara," Charlotte answered, her tone neutral. She still didn't really know how to feel about the mysterious woman. But looking at the minimal other postings on the board, it seemed they didn't really have any other choice if they wanted to keep their hero status. "We need to go to the Dragon's Shadow."

As Charlotte turned towards the docks, Türin fell into step beside her. "I don't trust her," he objected, "She lied to us last time, and I don't think her information is worth all our money."

 "Wait, you mean she got you lot to actually pay her?" Timoré guffawed. Even though the mage seemed genuinely amused, the sound that came from him seemed unnatural. He wiped a fake tear from his eye. "That's priceless."

 "Then why don't you try getting information from her?" Charlotte snorted in disdain.

 "I think I will. And I bet you that I can get it without spending a single copper," he smirked.

 "Or any money from us," the Half-Elf prodded, not soon forgetting that he had always refused to lend any money to help.

The Human's smirk faded slightly, and he shoo'd the thought, "Fine, fine. As if you'll do anything useful with it anyway."

"How about fixing swords I use to save your arse with almost daily?" She challenged, unable to keep herself from getting more heated. Then she noticed that the others were merely watching the two of them in complete silence as they followed. "What?" The rogue felt herself shrink back at the attention.

 "Do they always do this?" Grom whispered loudly to Red.

 "All the time," the archer-turned-mage nodded.

 "Whatever," the Half-Elf rolled her eyes, "I'm just making sure our healer doesn't screw us!"

 "I would never screw any of you, even if you were halfway attractive," Timoré spun his staff.

 Before Charlotte could retort, Lydia intervened. "So Timoré and Charlotte can go speak to Clara. And I'll come with them to make sure they don't tear each other to bits." The Woad Elf gave Charlotte a pointed look.

Charlotte and Timoré just turned their noses up at each other in disgust, as Lydia took the lead.

The Dragon's Shadow had not changed much since they had last visited, save for the lack of sailors now. Clara sat in her normal spot, this time accompanied by a trio of strange-looking people. One was a Goblin, hunched over in a chair while chittering to the other two, who were both dressed in garb unlike anything Charlotte had ever seen. There was a Human male in tan and crimson robes made of thick silk shining with golden runes that seemed to dance and shimmer like fireflies. The other was androgynous and had ethereal-looking blue skin and dark blue hair, dressed in black robes that wrapped around their body like a spider web and shone with something similar to starlight.

The dual-wielder was so stunned by the appearance of these people, that she completely missed the fact that Timoré and Lydia had already approached and begun the conversation. She quickly closed the distance between herself and the table, the three strangers moving across the room after being seemingly dismissed by Clara.

"You're telling me that you want the exact location of the Black Skulls for free?" The Lady's eyes seemed to darken as she placed her elbows on either side of her closed ledger and leaned forward on folded hands. "And why exactly would I do that?"

"We all worked together to fight the Black Skulls earlier. Shouldn't that mean that we should continue to band together against them?" Lydia suggested.

The red-head's expression didn't change. "I have many enemies. That doesn't mean that I should stop making a profit."

"What if we worked for you?" Timoré asked. After a small silence from the three women, he cleared his throat before continuing, "You have a lot of enemies and already make a profit. What if we helped you with your enemies for a small fee? It seems we already have an in as the local heroes."

Lady Clara leaned back in her chair, the corners of her lips curled up in dark mirth. "I'm afraid that if you tried to kill my enemies, you would surely die. Talk to me about it when you're more skilled." She picked up her quill from the ink-well. "If you want your information, make me an offer that would actually benefit me."

Charlotte crossed her arms and watched Timoré, not bothering keeping the expectant smile off her face. But he did not look at her as he said, "The Black Skulls stole a weapons caravan. If we recover it, we will give you half of whatever we find."

Both Lydia and Charlotte stiffened in surprise, and even Clara looked up with interest. "I get to handpick my items, and we have a deal," she propositioned. 

"Done," the mage said, shaking her hand. The Lady then tore a blank page out of a notebook, and drew up a map with the marked location of the bandits, before saying, "There are only six, so it should be no trouble."

They nodded, and Lydia rolled up the make-shift map. Charlotte hesitated a moment, before finally speaking up, "I hope you know that if you are lying then the deal is off."

Ice blue eyes slowly moved up to bore into the Half-Elf's green ones. Charlotte felt herself nearly waver at the sight of them, suddenly afraid of this woman. Then the Lady smiled, "Of course. When you buy information from me, I cannot guarantee the absolute accuracy. If my information is wrong, we will negotiate a price depending on how wrong I was."

The dual-wielder's mouth was suddenly dry, and she forced a swallow before nodding. "I appreciate your understanding." Her voice sounded hoarse even to herself.

 "Run along now, Charlotte," Lady Clara's smile did not falter.

**AN: I know, I know, more dialogue. Next chapter will bring action, I promise! And then after that, the big, overarching plot will start! Also, big shoutout to CosmykDragon for going through and giving the first votes on all my previous chapters! Thank you so much, it has been a big encouragement for me! 

If you guys have been reading so far and did not see, I have added a Cast of Characters at the beginning of the story!