They stayed on that boat for nine months. During those nine months, the four got to know each other rather well. Lily learned almost right away that she did not like Jean. At all. And he didn't seem to like her. Tsubaki, on the other hand, liked Jean very much and became something of his shadow. Randor acted as if he had been raised by kobolds. Which, in fact, he had been. His lack of intelligence greatly annoyed Lily, though the other two put up with it rather well. Lily turned twenty on that boat, just a few weeks before they finally pulled into a port.

"Finally!" said Lily after they had all hopped off the boat, stretching. "I was beginning to wonder if we would ever get out of there!"

"We're as far away from Waterdeep as physically possible," said Jean. "We weren't going to get here in a few days."

"Stop acting so smart, Jean," said Lily.

"I'm going to the tavern," announced Randor. "Let's hope they have better ale than that ship."

"You went through all of it within a few weeks," said Tsubaki.

"Yeah…so?" said Randor, already walking off.

"I'm going to the library," said Jean. "I want to look at trap making."

"I'm going with you," said Tsubaki.

"Hm, I suppose I'll go to the armory," said Lily casually.

Lily wandered off in the direction of the armory. She would need some light armor at least; she doubted her clothing would be much use if she got into a tight spot. She found it without too much trouble. The man looked up from behind the counter as she opened the door. He sneered.

"And what prompted someone as poor as you to come in here?" he asked.

"I wish to get some armor," said Lily idly. "Something light; perhaps a chain shirt."

The man looked like he wanted to laugh. "I think you must have my shop confused with one that actually lets street rats like you buy things for far less than they're worth. You wouldn't be able to afford anything in here."

Lily's eyes narrowed ever so slightly. "Show me what you have," she told him. "Then we'll talk."

The man sighed as if this were a great chore. "Let's see. In the field of chain shirts, the most affordable one I have is this one," he said, pulling out a chain shirt with a silvery look to it. "Mithril. Very strong, very light. Pity you can't afford it."

"How much is it?" asked Lily, starting to get seriously annoyed.

"Five hundred gold."

"Hm," said Lily. "What else do you have?"

The man rolled his eyes; he clearly thought his time was being wasted. "We also have this one," he said, pulling out a gold one. "This one is enchanted. Impervious to anything you can think of, even dragon fire."

"And how much is that one?" asked Lily, intrigued.

"Ten thousand gold," said the man, looking insulted that she had even asked.

"Oh," said Lily. "No, I don't have quite that much on me at the moment."

"Of course you don't, you stupid little whore," said the man, putting both of them back and moving back behind the counter. "Now, if you're done wasting my time –"

"I'll take the mithril," said Lily, fishing through her back to find her money. "Five hundred, right?"

"Seven hundred," said the man. Lily stopped, suppressing the urge to hit the man. Then she saw his bulging purse on his hip.

Lily smiled at the man. "Seven hundred? I could've sworn it was five," she said innocently. "Oh well, you're the shopkeeper." She passed him seven hundred, took the chain shirt, and left.

She leaned against the wall out of sight of the door and listened. Inside she could hear the shopkeeper talking to himself.

"Finally, I thought she'd never leave. Stupid poor little whore. Wasting my valuable time. Now to get on with…hm? What the…? THAT BITCH!"

Laughing to herself, Lily tucked the man's purse in her bag. Judging by its weight, she had just gotten ten thousand gold richer. Not bad for a stupid little whore, she thought. Then she booked it.

It wasn't too long before she spotted Jean and Tsubaki wandering back to the port to meet up. She ran up to them.

"Hey, guys," she said. "I think we should get a wagon or something and get the hell out of here."

"What?" said Jean. "Why?"

Behind her, Lily heard the familiar voice of the shopkeeper.

"Some little slut made off with my money! Guard, you have to track her down and arrest her!"

"Slow down, sir. What did she look like?"

"I don't know, she looked poor!"

Lily bit her tongue to keep from laughing. "No reason," she said. "Let's just find Randor and get on the road."

As it happened, they found Randor passed out drunk in the tavern. After waking him up, they all went and rented a wagon. They travelled in the back of that wagon for three days before anything happened. As for what happened, none of them saw it coming.


Man that was fun.

"This guy is really rude. I kind of want to punch him."

"Rachael. Stop interrupting. He's supposed to be a douche. Anyway, he puts the armor back. Roll your Spot."

"...17."

"You see a coin purse on his hip. It's filled to the brim and bulging."

"I'm gonna try to steal it!"

"Okay. Roll."

"...26."

"You succeed!"

"Ahahahaha."