As the evening crowd began rolling in, I stretched out in my room, limbering up. It had been quite some time since I had danced in a tavern for coin, but it wasn’t the first time I’d played the tavern wench, and I doubted it would be the last time, either. It was too good a way of picking up coin or information when you wanted to ‘hide in plain sight’. No one suspected the dancing girl, after all.

The moment I stepped into the common room the conversation stopped. All eyes turned to me. Not that I blamed them, of course. I knew what I looked like. I was an ‘exotic beauty’, with my wings, and my figure.

Ice blue silks wrapped about my top, wrapping around my breasts so that they clearly defined their size and shape, while keeping them securely covered, even when I was dancing. The silk top ended just below my chest, leaving my toned stomach on display. Below that, the silk skirt hung low on my hips, held up only by my curves. Long slits up either side of the skirt showed off my legs, allowing me complete freedom of movement, while putting on an enticing show.

I didn’t mind their eyes on me, or putting on a show for them. Even in my last life, I had been a dancer, who thrilled at the idea of being on stage, performing, the center of attention. That was a long time ago, of course. When winter came, I would be older in this world than I had been in my last life.

I walked towards the stage, swaying my hips a bit as I walked, to draw their gaze. I left my cloak, and other gear which I couldn’t pass off as entertainer’s clothes, upstairs, which meant I was without some of my magical enhancements and protections, but that was fine. For what I needed in this crowd, they would be overkill. Even if it came to fighting, my base abilities were more than enough to win against most foes.

By the time I stepped up onto the stage, every eye was fixed on me, and I saw more than one jaw hanging partway open. They were practically eating out of my hand already. And then, I began to dance, and as I danced, I sang.

Melinda’s combined Performance check: 1d20+40 = 43

Rewards: 3d6 = 10 gold

The crowd responded well, as I knew they would. Even with me only doing a poor performance, by my own reckoning, it was more than enough to sway the hearts and coinpurses of the men and women in the audience. Coins made their way to the jar at the bar, which Olaf had set up for whenever entertainers plied their trade. Apparently, it was better, in his mind, than people tossing coins at the stage.

The people had been intrigued, but indifferent, as I walked to the stage. Now, I saw that they would gladly help me, even if it caused them some little discomfort. As I continued singing, I saw more than one moving closer to the stage, enthralled by nothing more magical than the sound of my voice and the swaying of my hips.

One, in particular, that caught my eye was a human woman wearing a breastplate, with a sword and shield resting against the table next to her. What was notable about her was that she wore the symbol of the Red Knight, a battle goddess concerned with strategy more than anything else, and that she was drinking alone, one of the few in the tavern to be doing so, especially as the night rolled on. The followers of Red Knight, even the Paladins amongst them, tended to be a bit more tolerant of ‘evil’ in their midst, if only because their goddess played no favorites when it came to strategy and war, and accepted all types under her banner, so long as they had the rigid discipline and adherence to the rules that marked lawful creatures.

As I continued dancing, I shifted my song to a retelling of the battle against the Malarite wolves in the Moonwood, edited and enhanced enough to be enjoyable to listen to, while still being close enough to the truth that any inconsistencies would be chalked up to artistic license. I tried not to think about the one companion out of the four who had accomplished that feat who was no longer with us.

I had just gotten to the battle in the Shrine of Malar, where the helpless angel had been used to power the Blood Moon, when a man sat at the woman’s table, wearing a matching breastplate, as well as matching sword and shield. The similarities did not end there, however. The two were obviously related, perhaps even siblings, for how closely their features matched each other. The only thing to set their faces apart was that the man had silver hair, as in actually silver colored, and not just greying with age.

As I continued my tale, the two perhaps siblings paid little attention to each other, their eyes focused on me. By the time I finished the tale of the Moonwood, and we used magic to raise the fallen, they were both enthralled. At the end of the song, or ballad, I guess it would be, when I went to collect my coin from the bar, the woman came to join me.

“Mind if I buy you a drink?”

I smiled at her. The woman clearly was not exactly used to trying to pick up strangers in a tavern, but the clumsy earnestness was endearing. And even if I wasn’t trying to get information, the girl was cute enough that it would make for a pleasant diversion.

“Perhaps if you were to buy a bottle of wine, I could share it with you, and your companion? I would love to have some company this evening. For drinking, of course.”

The way the woman’s cheeks burned when I mentioned company for the evening told me everything I needed to know about how this night would go. She hurriedly bought a bottle of wine from the bar, and I carried the cups as we headed back to the table. The man was just as pleased to see me up close as the woman was.

The woman introduced herself as Balde, and the man as her brother, Gery. As the wine flowed, I learned that they were actually Paladins of the Red Fellowship, the Red Knight’s church, and not just simple warriors or clerics in her service. When I asked how they came to be here, the answer was most enlightening.

“The Fellowship has been tracking down rumors of the Prophecy that everyone’s been talking about. Last time something like this happened, the Great Troubles came about. We don’t know what will happen this time, which is why we’re trying to find out more.”

Gery nodded at his sister’s words. “Yes, so far, the only hints we’ve found suggested that the siblings rivalling may mean something to do with the Kingdom of Adarra. It is known that the old King’s health is failing, and his sons are vying for the throne. No clear succession exists, however, since the two oldest are twins, which makes things all the more complicated.”

I nodded, and poured the last of the wine in their cups. They didn’t seem to notice that I had only refilled my own cup once, while they were each a few cups in, on top of the ale from earlier. Balde did notice the sad look I put on at the lack of wine, and ordered a new bottle brought to the table.

I smiled at her, and then said, “But you are both such a long way from Adarra. Surely, clues would be easier to find there?”

Balde answered this time, her words slightly slurred with a hint of drunkenness. That it was only a hint, despite how much she’d consumed, was a testament to her fortitude, if nothing else. “Sure, but that isn’t the only thing we have to check on. If there’s going to be ‘fire on the sea of ice’, that means something up north. And despite all the dire predictions, the Fellowship thought a god actually dying was more important than the fate of ‘inhumanity and justice’.”

“Ah, then you should head to Frostwind Dale, across the Worldspine Mountains from Northport, to the north and west from here. I hail from there, originally, and I have seen the seas extending out into the west, covered in ice ever-shifting. That is how the Evershift Sea got its name, you know.”

Balde smiled at me. “Oh, you come from such a place? How did you come to be here?”

I sighed for effect, and said, “Well, that is a tale that is less fun to tell. Suffice to say that I was exiled from my tribe. I don’t blame them, as the exile was to protect the tribe. Otherwise, the wrath of all the tribes would have been upon them, as I refused to be sacrificed to assuage the ego of a rival clan’s leader.”

Gery frowned. “That’s terrible. Sacrificing another being is a terrible evil. And for ego? Monstrous.”

“Yes, but that tribe is all but gone, and those who sided with him, too. My old tribe, however, still lives, and thrives as the other tribes’ fall left room for them to grow. But the magic involved means that I can never again rejoin them, so I live the life of a wanderer, as I have since I left my home, at only thirteen winters old.”

Balde sniffed. “Thirteen? Oh, you poor girl! How did you survive? Isn’t the land beyond the Worldspines a frozen tundra?”

“It was not easy, but I was able to make it to one of the towns, and then was able to pay my way on a merchant caravan heading south. Since then, I’ve been living life as I please. It has been hard, but I think I’ve done well for myself.”

Gery nodded. “And what about now? What brings you here, and what plans do you have?”

Melinda’s Bluff check: 1d20+73 = 86

Balde’s Sense Motive check: 1d20+20 = 21 (Fail)

Gery’s Sense Motive Check: 1d20+20 = 27 (Fail)

“I did a few adventures in my younger days, but now, I am enjoying the life I am living, and just exploring the world. I was literally passing through, and decided to spend a few days here in Breledo, before seeing where the winds took me.”

The lie rolled easily off my tongue, aided by the magics in the gear I still had on, which included one piece that had me enjoying the benefits of a Bard’s Glibness spell. Both paladins nodded, accepting my words completely at face value. That was good. Good enough, in fact, that I figured it would be safe to follow it up with something more.

Melinda’s Bluff check: 1d20+45 = 62

Balde’s Sense Motive check: 1d20+20 = 29 (Fail)

Gery’s Sense Motive Check: 1d20+20 = 26 (Fail)

“But enough of depressing things. I did not perform to put people in a distressing mood, after all. Come, we only have half this bottle left. Why don’t you get us another one, and we can retire to my room upstairs and drink it together, hmm?”

The siblings gulped, and looked shyly at each other. Gery was the first to respond. “Together?”

I smiled back at them, and nodded. “Together. And perhaps you’ll have a story or two to tell your children, hmm?”

Balde nodded her head, and picked up the half-empty bottle of wine. “I don’t see any problem drinking some more wine.”

Soon, we were, the three of us, all upstairs, and the bottle was finished. As we started in on the last one, I guided the two of them towards the bed, and out of their armor. And, as the three of us fell into the bed, in a tangle of limbs and bodies and tongues, I saw when both paladins let go of their inhibitions, and just went with where I was taking them.

We did not sleep much that night.