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[Bastian went straight to the bath house. Not exactly a pious cleric, but he figures the rest of the group can take care of funeral arrangements. ]

Bastian arrives at the bath house to find it mostly empty. Just a few off-duty soldiers are on hand. The place is small compared to many he has seen, but clean and warm. He places his gear in a cabinet and scrubs off the worst of the dirt and blood before entering the main pool.

Elias saunters down the main street, glancing around. He keeps his eyes peeled for a good place to sit down, get some food, and relax.

This being a typical imperial fort/town, in the past most meals had been prepared and served in central mess halls. Now absent military rule, the town has evolved, but because most of the living quarters lack individual cooking facilities, shops serving prepared foods are actually quite numerous, although most lack seating areas, catering as they do to folk who prefer to eat at home.

Elias, guided mostly by his nose, finds himself a food stand and purchases a meal from a vendor who spends most of the time eyeing at the ranger’s weapons. Then he settles on a low wall fronting the market square and begins eating.

The market square is typical for its type, but is fairly empty at the moment. It is clearly laid out for a far larger number of merchants than currently occupy it, suggesting that the empty spaces are used by transient vendors. Morning brings local shoppers to the merchants who are open, giving Elias a steady parade of people to watch.


The water in the pool is warm and welcoming, and Bastian finds himself drifting. Did yesterday really happen? Surely monsters out of old elven legends couldn’t have shown up. Strange tattooed dwarves leading twisted uruks and eigers into battle? Impossible, had he not seen it himself.

He settles in, ignoring the half dozen other bathers, with a wet towel over his face, and relaxes in the shallows.


The rest of the group arrives at the bath house while Bastian is getting a shave, and head off to the anterooms to prepare.

Hiric is a bit uncomfortable letting his sister out of his sight, but accepts Liri and Angel’s assurances reluctantly before heading off to the men’s anteroom with someone. Big guy, kind of old. Oh. Fraso. That’s right.

Liri and Angel walk into the women’s anteroom with Salia, who stands there looking uncertain.

"Salia." Angel says with a smile, "The last few days have been tough on us all." Leaning down she strokes away some dirt and a loose tear from the girls face.

"Now we relax, we take a few moments and we enjoy a brief rest." Turning to Liri she grins, "I never really liked these places myself, the whole idea of getting naked is.. Worrying."

"I will if you will." She says simply removing her armor, "Have you ever been to a place like this before?"



(ooc: Assume this is basically what we are in here http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/roman_baths.htm This is where I got the idea.)

Liri undresses with complete ease, not embarrassed at all, in fact she seems to be enjoying herself.

"Are you afraid that your body tells stories you don't want anyone else to know?" she asks Angel. "Relax, all your secrets will be safe with us." She smiles, then turns to the waiting bath servant to hand over her clothes.

"Salia? Come, enjoy being the one who is waited upon for once" she tells the young girl.

"Yes, simply yes there are things I wish to hide." Angel blushes Crimson, looking at the floor when Liri undresses, "I ah... Ummm.." Looking at Salia she realises any unease on her part will rub off on the Girl.

"I made a deal, I have to stick with it." Placing the armor on the floor she undresses quietly, saying nothing, until finally she stands in her linen shorts and top. "Here goes nothing." Pulling off the top, the whip marks making a criss-cross pattern across her back are plainly evident.

Liri draws in a sharp breath when she sees Angel's back. Then she looks away. "I'm sorry" she says. "I can understand you don't want everybody to see that."

Bastian finishes his shave and contemplates looking for a massage as well, but decides that spending some time with Fraso while he is otherwise unable to evade him, may be the best option. Walking back to the baths, he locates Fraso, mostly by locating Hiric first. "Let me bless the waters, brothers. It will aid your relief." He kneels and raises one hand above the steaming pool and mumbles a Prayer for Ease of Mind [Casting Bless].

Salia, still hesitant, strips down to her chemise but stops there. An elderly attendant, sensing her discomfort, offers the girl a dark cotton chiton before offering laundry services for all of your clothes, tut-tutting at thd stains.

The tub in the anteroom is more than large enough for three, and affords the opportunity to scrub off the trail dirt before heading to the main pool.

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Oddly, in this particular instance, Bastian has no problem at all finding Fraso, who is sitting on a stone bench in the water. Absent his dark robes and occult-looking jewelery, he looks like any other slightly pudgy, balding, middle-aged man, although he is pale as death itself, apart from the sunburn on his head and hands.

"Laundry? Oh, yes, that would be lovely. But surely the clothes won't be dry again when we leave, or will they?" Liri gives the woman a graceful smile.

After the attendant leaves, Liri enters the tub. "Come in, you two. Let us get the dirt from the road and the battle off our bodies and out of our hair." She is completely at ease, smiling at the two other women, helping them to wash their hair and their backs, making sure the scar tissue on Angel's back is well cared for. When they leave for the main pool, she tells Angel: "If you want me to, I'll stay closely behind you unless you are underwater, so your scars will not be noticed."

"Yes laundry would be appreciated. I applogise in advance for the stains, the road does not respect clothes." She bows slightly to the elderly woman, offering her clothes in a pile nervously.

"Salia, I understand your relucance. We will not make you do anything you don't want to do." Angel says simply, in a rather strange tone.

Thank you." She smiles at Liri, allowing the Elf to wash her back and hair. She makes no move to Salia, keeping her arms around her chest, covering the small globes in embrassment.

"Bastian has seen my scars, and more besides, but others are of concern." She adds, enjoying the water, taking a moment to wash Liri's back.

Elias eats slowly as he watches the people of the market. After his food is gone, he sits still for a while scanning faces, observing the ebb and flow of its visitors.

From his bag, he removes a small book and flips it open passing by crude scetches of people, buildings, and wildlife before coming to blank pages. Dislodging a charcole pencil from the binding, he continues to watch a while longer before he starts taking down the faces of vendors and the shapes of stalls.

The corners of his mouth curl up as he works, a hint of pleasure and mirth just behind his eyes.

"Master Hiric, I believe we need to consider arming your sister with something more serviceable than a kitchen knife. While you slept, it was discovered that she had some pretty nasty wounds on her palms from where the blade slipped. I healed her and aside from some stiffness over the next few days, she'll be fine.

She needs a weapon with a a cross guard so this doesn't happen again. I was thinking a stiletto or something along those lines. They don't require much finesse, and they pack the necessary punch when forced into action. Angel has already agreed to give the necessary lessons for her own defense."

While he talks this over with Hiric, Bastian involuntarily flexes his left hand, working out the stiffness of wounds long past healed. Unfortunately he didn't have a priest around when he received HIS wounds of similar origin.

Liri smiles to herself as the three women bathe. So Bastian had seen Angels scars, and more... but she says nothing, enjoying the comforts of the bathhouse, trying to make the other two comfortable as well.

When they're done, she suggests: "Let's get some food. I'm sure they have good things over here."