Fantasy Cursed Island

[Fangs9090]

Nidia glanced over from the pool. "Hm?" Seeing how Siege was holding the clothing stand, her ears went back and her eyes went wide. "Eep!" She jumped out of the water and, seeing no place hied in the current room, bust out the door to run off down the hallway, still dripping wet. She startled a passing maid as she exploded from the room, making her jump to the side before she watched Nidia run off.



"Ah. I guess you'll have to carry them for now."

 

[Darkling0096]

Siege started to chase Nidia, but stopped, figuring that humiliating herself by running naked through the palace would be just as good as beating her with a stick for a punishment. At least for now, as badly as Nidia had possibly screwed them over Siege probably would enjoy hitting her with a stick, stress relief. Even if Siege wasn't a lioness, that should have been a common sense thing to tell the party if you were developing a condition that could interfere with the party's plans.

"She better hope this doesn't make things difficult," Siege growled.



"I suppose," Turac nodded, then paused as he heard a made shriek and stuck his head out to see a streaking Nidia running around. "Why is Nidia running around naked?"

 

[Fangs9090]

Emilia stayed quiet as she got to bathing herself.


“What? Her, too?” Roy was still standing out in the hall. By the time he looked, Nidia was already on him, grabbing him and spinning around him to hide behind him. “Gah! Nidia!”

“Help! She’s coming!”

“What? Who’s coming? Why are you naked? Get off of me!”

“Siege is coming! I didn’t get to finish my bath!”

“Why has she sent both of you over here without letting you get dre-“ Roy stopped before covering his nose. “Oh. That’s why...”

 

[Darkling0096]

Partially hoping she could work this out before it progressed any further, Siege covered her mouth and strolled out, heading towards the men's room. "Which one of you can use Presitigitation?"

"I can do that, why?", Jalin asked, then paused, "Oh, gods no." Nidia was reeking of it, and Siege smelled of it. "Why on earth did neither of you-"

"Ask the leopard!", Siege snapped, "After you magic the pheromones out of my shit so I can get shit done!"

 

[Fangs9090]

Roy sighed and put a hand to his forehead. "Oh, this is gonna be a tough week..." He paused for a moment. "Nidia, get off."

"But you're so warm~"

"Get. Off."

Nidia whined as she let go, though she kept him between herself and Siege.

 

[Darkling0096]

Turac sighed and fetched a blanket to throw around Nidia as Jalin tapped his cane and walked up to Siege, "Stand still."

"You talking to me or the bard?"

"He is speaking to both of you," Turac said, "Siege do you need a cold shower?"

"That would be nice," Siege nodded as Jalin worked a cantrip to de-pheromone Siege's clothing.

"You will need to have those clothes properly washed to get rid of it permanently, but I've blocked them for now," Jalin said, stepping away from the flushed lion.

 

[Fangs9090]

Roy took a moment to use spell he'd learned for drying his own clothes before glancing around at most of those present. "So, how does this change our plans?"

 

[Darkling0096]

"I don't know!", Siege stomped off to go do find something to occupy herself until she could calm down.

"Well, we can't let Siege go to the prince," Turac sighed, "And if Nidia is anything like Siege or Shuffle, we cannot leave either of them to their own devices right now."

"Did your mother not arrange to be able to arrive and help if we could not retrieve the stone?", Jalin asked.

 

[Fangs9090]

"Yes, but I didn't think it would end up being this big of a disaster... I'm hesitant to even tell her about it just yet..."

 

[Darkling0096]

Jalin sighed, "Well, we could have planned for this eventuality, if..." He glared at Nidia, "Why did you not tell Emilia or Siege you would be experiencing heat soon? Even if it would not have affected Siege, we would have had to plan around you being disabled."

 

[Fangs9090]

Nidia whined. "I don't keep track of it, I'm sorry!~" She leaned against the wall, sniffling a bit.

Roy groaned before the sound of heavy steps drew his attention. A group of guards was heading down the hallway towards them.

 

[Darkling0096]

"How do you not keep track of routine bodily functions? That is quite literally one of the easiest ways to track your own health!" Jalin looked like he was about to smack Nidia upside the head to deliver some sense into that fuzzy skull until the sound of the guards' armored footsteps drew his attention. "What have you done?"

 

[Fangs9090]

Nidia shook her head. "Not me..."

One of the guards spoke up. "Good morning. We need to search your belongings."

Roy blinked. "What for?"

"A royal family heirloom was stolen from the prince's bedchamber during the night. We're searching everyone in the castle. If you're innocent, there's nothing to worry about."

 

[Darkling0096]

"You may search away, we have stolen nothing," Jalin replied, stepping back and tapping his cane to let the guards through. "What was this heirloom, perhaps we can help the search?" Ever the opportunist, even though the situation was going to hell in a handbasket, any way they could gain more royal favor would be ways that they could earn more time to make their plans happen.

 

[Fangs9090]

The guards spread out, some stepping into the rooms while the others patted down the party. "It was a stone, or perhaps a gem. Perfectly smooth and blue."

 

[Darkling0096]

Niudisa had the foresight to make the outermost layer of Katsuo's inner construction resemble that of a warforged construct, so in removing some parts of his armor he was able to conceal his necromantic nature. True to the party's word, the stone was not found, though some of them were sharing looks as the guards described... exactly what the party themselves had come to steal? What the devil?

In spite of her own resentment towards her situation, Siege did allow herself to be searched, though she was biting the inside of her cheek the entire time trying not to make any noises or shudder. Turac chose not to alert the guards that, even if they had stolen the stone, he could have easily swallowed it and stored it in his treasure stomach, never to be seen again. Jalin... well there was a lot of weird things on Jalin, but none of them seemed to be even related to the blue stone.

 

[Fangs9090]

Once everyone and their belongings had been searched, the speaking guard gave a nod. "Thank you for your cooperation. If you learn anything, inform one of the guards, the prince, or the king himself." With that, they took their leave and headed on down the hallway.

 

[Darkling0096]

"Of course," Jalin nodded as the guards left, and turned to the others, "Okay, we need a new plan."

"This is your fault," Siege growled at Nidia. She wasn't sure how, but the day had started going south when Nidia got involved, so Siege was sure she was responsible.

"Siege," Turac got between the two cats, "Nidia could not have foreseen that the stone would be stolen."

 

[Fangs9090]

Roy shook his head. "If anything, this is a lucky break. Tracking down a thief should be easier than robbing royalty."

Emilia soon arrived, dressed and carrying the clothes Nidia had left behind. "Did everyone else just get frisked, or was it just me?"

 

[Darkling0096]

"We all got felt up by guards," Siege's ear flicked as she grumbled, "Apparently some jackass took our rock."

"At the very least," Jalin sighed, "It should be easier to track a thief down than it would be to rob the vault. And we now have an excuse to wander the palace." He tapped his nose, "If myself, Siege, or Nidia can find the thief's scent, then, we should be able to track things down."

 

[Fangs9090]

Roy gave a nod. "Right. Then we should go to the king and request permission to launch our own investigation."

 

[Darkling0096]

"Fine..." Siege grumbled and looked back to the girls' room. "But I'm not doing any talking!"

"It is probably best you and Nidia remain behind, anyway," Turac nodded, "At least until we have sorted whether the king will let us search or force us to leave."

 

[Fangs9090]

Emilia spoke up. "Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on them." She walked over and handed Nidia her clothes, now that she'd dried herself off.

 

[Darkling0096]

"Good," Turac nudged Nidia towards Siege and Emilia, "We have left Sinach in a box, he's been misbehaving, don't let him out."

 

[Fangs9090]

Emilia nodded as Nidia got dressed. "Got it."

Roy turned and started heading towards the throne room.