Zyphre cleaned the blood out from under his claws with his tongue as they exited Waterdeep. He sat on a rather repulsed Lydia's shoulder, licking his claws clean. She drew his coat tighter around herself and cleared her throat.
"Was it necessary to sever his arm?" she asked in a tight voice.
"Yes," said Zyphre.
"Nerull told you not to."
"Nerull says many things."
"How are you going to explain this one?"
"That I followed his orders," said Zyphre, finishing his left claws and moving to his right. "He told me not to rip out his tongue again. The rest of his body was fair game."
Lydia groaned. "You're impossible sometimes."
"I really hate the Prince of Madness," said Zyphre as if this justified his actions.
"Good for you," said Lydia. "He seemed…charming…I guess."
"He groped you."
"I'm aware."
"So I ripped his arm off."
"I saw."
"And beat him with it a bit."
"You have absolutely no sensitivity or tact, do you?" she asked.
"Not really," he replied. He leaped off her shoulder and transformed, dropping into the snow. "So shall we go back?"
Lydia sighed. "I suppose we might as well…" she mumbled.
"Don't want to go back?" he asked, straightening up.
"Can you blame me?" she asked.
"Not really," he replied.
"Yeah…I'll ready the spell…here's your coat back," she said, taking it off and handing it over. Zyphre took it back and put it on, fastening the gold chain across the chest.
Lydia reached for his hand, stopped, and grabbed his sleeve instead. She cast the teleport spell and they reappeared next to the portal in the front hall.
"I'll drop the bag off in my chamber and then I'll go with you to report to Nerull," said Zyphre, walking off towards his chamber. Lydia followed after him.
As they approached Zyphre's bedchamber, they saw that someone had made camp outside it. Draesen was slumped against the wall next to the door. He was holding a nearly empty bottle of wine diluted with blood to make it drinkable for him. He looked an absolute mess.
"Draesen!" Lydia greeted happily, running forward. She stopped when she saw the state he was in. "Are you okay?" He shrugged and didn't answer.
"What's wrong, man?" asked Zyphre, walking past Lydia to him. The smell of the alcohol got stronger every step. "Are you drunk?"
"A little," he said, slurring.
"Draesen, you never drink," said Zyphre, actually sounding a little concerned. "What happened?"
Draesen just looked at the floor and didn't answer. His eyes were dull and lifeless. Lydia looked between the two of them, unsure of what to do.
"Is there anything I can do to help?" she asked.
"Could you leave us alone for a little bit?" asked Zyphre. He gripped Draesen's arm and pulled him to his feet. "Come on, stand up. I'll take that," he said, taking the bottle of wine out of his hand. "We can talk in here."
Lydia watched him lead Draesen into his bedchamber and sit him down on the bed, coming back and shutting the door. She started to walk away to respect their wishes for privacy when she heard the reason for Draesen's depression.
"So tell me what happened," came Zyphre's voice. "Here. Drink this. Get the poison out of your system. Now what happened? You can tell me, I'm here for you."
"Katrine," Draesen answered in a thick voice.
"What about Katrine? Is she okay? Did something happen?"
"She's dead."
Lydia stopped. There was a very thick silence on the other side of the door.
"…Oh," said Zyphre finally. "I-I'm sorry, she…h-how did it happen, if I may ask?"
"Staked," choked Draesen. "She turned to dust in front of me."
"I'm…I'm sorry," said Zyphre. "When?"
"Last night."
"Was it just a run-of-the-mill vampire hunter or something bigger than that?"
"A friend. He turned on us. His name is Vance. I…I don't think you know him…"
Lydia knew she should go. They had wanted privacy after all, and now she saw why. But she couldn't help but be disgusted at his lack of sensitivity. Draesen's wife had been murdered and here he was asking questions instead of offering comfort.
"If you want to stay here until you get back on your feet, you're more than welcome to."
"Th-thank you, my lord…Zyphre…"
"Take some time off work, too."
"N-no...no, I can't. You have lady Lydia to watch, you don't have time to–"
"She'll be fine. Let me take care of the paperwork and everything. You just get yourself back up."
"No, really…the work, it…it calms me. Distracts me. Don't take that away…"
"Are you sure? I can do it, not a problem."
"You can barely handle your own job…you can't handle both yours and mine…"
Zyphre laughed a little. "Just don't push yourself because you think you have to do it, okay?"
"Thank you…"
"It'll be okay, Draesen. We'll get you through this. It'll take some time, but we will. I promise. You'll be okay."
Lydia finally pulled herself away and resumed walking towards her chamber. Despite the grief of the situation, she couldn't help but smile a little. She had liked Katrine, and she felt badly for Draesen, but it had just been proven that Zyphre did have tact and sensitivity. He wasn't as bad a guy as he tried to be, and that was a comforting thought.