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"There, now, we've got our tents and bedrolls, plenty of food and water, pots and -" A loud clang behind Taro told them all they needed to know about what their companions thought of their impromptu camping trip, "Pans to cook said food in. Really, you all?"
She turned to see Woljif looking at her sheepishly. "Sorry, Chief. In my defense…it's all Daeran's fault."
An overly dramatic, shocked gasp drew all their attention to the prismatic spring. Daeran had already begun disrobing, but stopped upon hearing his name so viciously slandered. "All I did was call in that favor you owe me. You know, for when you -"
Woljif's cheek flushed as he quickly hissed, "All right, all right! I tried to carry too much at once, all right?"
Taro sighed, hands on hips and shaking his head in exasperated fondness. Due to unforeseen circumstances, everyone who usually stayed in the citadel, as well as lived in the upper layer of Drezen, was having to spend the night in the Court of the Willow’s Starsong instead. While unexpected, Taro was having a hard time feeling put out by the turn of events - fae loved being outdoors, and a night under the stars seemed like more than an agreeable alternative than having to wade through the mess back in the citadel.
The cause of said mess was bringing up the rear of citizens filing into the court. Ariadne looked uncharacteristically demure, clutching their bedroll - complete with an agitated owlcat - to their chest as their eyes took in the sheer amount of people flooding in, seeking refuge amongst the Free Crusaders for the night.
Taro took note of the way their shoulders slumped; of the pointed way they ignored Woljif, who seemed to be trying to catch their attention and deflated when they didn't acknowledge him; of the way they purposefully picked a spot as far away from everyone else as they could to set up their tent. Nope, Taro did not like that one bit, but before they could hurry after her, Irabeth Tirabade stepped in front of them.
“Knight-Commander, I have a report of the…situation.” Irabeth looked vaguely annoyed and definitely uncomfortable, eyes darting and taking in the sheer chaos that was the Court. “Your halfling compatriots here have managed to stop the spreading of the…”
“Goo?” Taro offered helpfully as the half-orc faltered for the right word.
“Yes. They’ve stopped the spreading of the…‘goo’ but clean up efforts will take at least the rest of the night, if not well into the day tomorrow.” Irabeth paled before she added, "The glitter, on the other hand, will likely take weeks to get out of everything."
Taro bit back a snicker, then a sigh. Citadel Drezen could do with a little sparkle - at the very least, the glitter would make the dull grey stonework pop. It would also only serve to make the guilty party feel even more so.
Deciding he needed to tend to Ariadne's no doubt bruised ego sooner rather than later, Taro thanked Irabeth for the report then set off in the direction fae had seen Ariadne settling in earlier. Unfortunately, all they found when they wandered over was an irritable owlcat curled up on the bedroll in the tent, making a low growling noise that promised nothing good for anyone who might cross its path.
So that was how they ended up on a wild goose chase, if it could be called that, across the court to find their wayward alchemist.
First, she went to Olla. It stood to reason that two Caydenite alchemists would find solidarity in each other, but Taro wasn't all that surprised to find the maitresse’s workbench free of any tiefling tricksters. She was surprised to find Olla in a huff herself, however.
"Oh dear, what's the matter?" Taro asked as he drew near.
Olla turned and gave fae a sullen look. “My ambelic’s missing, as are my second best pestle and mortar, as well as an assortment of ingredients. Really, Commander, must you invite all these busybodies in here? Several have given me the stink-eye already, and now someone’s made off with my supplies!”
“I’m sorry, Maitresse, but Drezen’s…it’s in a bit of a pickle right now,” Taro said, holding their hand up for peace before the disgruntled alchemist could continue further. They had a sneaking suspicion they knew who the culprit was, but nothing good could come of mentioning that. Instead, they deftly changed the subject. “Have you seen Ariadne around?”
“Let me guess, that little Pathfinder upstart is responsible for Drezen’s ‘pickle?’” At Taro’s sour look, Olla added, “Look, I would be happy to let bygones be bygones if they’d just apologize for the Absalom incident! It’s rare to meet another alchemist in the faith, after all.”
“I don’t think Ariadne intended for the blame to fall on you in that particular circumstance,” Taro started, but when she remembered that Ariadne was also their likely thief, she quickly added, “But I’ll make sure they apologize right away. Anyways, have you seen them?”
The Maitresse sniffed. “No, and I'm not being difficult, I really haven’t! If you find her, tell her I have a fine bottle of rice wine waiting for when she wants to apologize.”
With that, Taro made his way around the court in an attempt to find his friend. Along the way, he was stopped several times, to answer questions, accept thanks, and stop or encourage shenanigans accordingly. Among the highlights were directing Nenio away from the mimics and towards the Maestro in hopes the two kitsune would tire each other out, pausing to chat with Ember and the treants, and stopping to watch Arueshaelae teach a song to the free squires. Watching their young faces light up at the sound of the succubus’ voice made his heart soar, and when Arue opened her eyes and smiled softly at him, it skipped several beats.
Then they remembered they were on a mission. Blowing a kiss to Arue, they quickly hurried on.
It took longer than they were anticipating to find Ariadne. Somehow, even on a floating island, the tiefling had managed to escape from prying eyes quite efficiently. Finally, however, Taro heard a soft, tell-tale curse, coming from the trees tucked in a far corner of the Court.
As quietly as she could, Taro approached the source. As she peeked through the thicket, she found Ariadne, sitting cross-legged in the dirt. Their skirt was bunched around their hips, exposing an amount of stockinged leg that would make several of the crusaders just a few yards away blush furiously. They were biting their lip, eyes darting quickly over the piece of parchment in front of them. It had seen better days - creases from being folded and unfolded over and over, along with a smattering of glitter and a suspect stain told that whatever it was, it had been read quite thoroughly.
“Bezoar, finely sliced. I know I got that right, as well as the caustic mold and the ground meteor powder. Maybe it was the bloodshot eye? ‘Diced’, it says…well, last I checked that's only one way to dice things…"
"Perhaps it meant for you to throw them in, like a pair of dice." Ariadne jumped, looking at Taro with wide eyes as he made his way through the bushes. "Magic's always got a bit of whimsy like that, yeah?"
Ariadne let out a breathless chuckle as they watched faer settle in. "Magic perhaps. There are plenty of peculiarities and oddities in alchemy, but precious little whimsy to be found, I'm afraid."
"Which makes it a surprise that it's a discipline you chose," Taro said, "As you are one of the most whimsical people I know."
"Oh, we alchemists ourselves more than make up for it, I assure you." Their smile fell then, gaze drifting back down towards the paper. After a moment, Taro's curiosity got the better of them. "What's that?"
Ariadne made a face, looking for all the world like she might not tell her. Just when the suspense almost got to be too much and Taro was about to pull out their rarely used 'I'm the Knight Commander' card on her, Ariadne finally sighed and met their eyes again.
"It's a recipe. I got it out of one of the first alchemy books I ever used. Well, one of the first that wasn't written by my father, at any rate. I had thought…this recipe always sounded interesting, but it's complicated. It's not something anyone but a master alchemist could probably accomplish." Ariadne sighed again, eyes downcast and voice barely more than a whisper as she added, "Guess we learned I'm not a master alchemist."
Taro frowned. “Hey now - that is not the type of attitude I normally expect from you. So you messed up this one time, on this hard project…so what? That’s life! I’ve no doubt you learned from your mistake, and will do better next time.”
“But this mistake just displaced dozens of people for the night! We can’t get any work done. There’s glitter everywhere!” Judging by the look on their face, Ariadne did not truly believe this to be a travesty.
“Yeah, I did want to ask - did the recipe actually call for glitter? Or was that just a little Ariadne touch?”
Ariadne’s cheeks turned bright red as she mumbled, “I just added it for flare.” A slight smile pulled at her lips, though, and Taro noted how her posture relaxed.
“Well, it’s a good flare. And I’m sure the next time you go to brew…whatever this was supposed to be, I’m sure it’ll be spectacular. And if it’s not? There’s always a next time, and a next time, and a next time…”
Ariadne laughed. “You do have a way with words, Commander.” With one last look at the page, they folded it back over and said, “Well, I guess I should stop with the pity party. What’s there to do for fun around here? I mean, I know there’s lots, but where do you want to start?”
Taro grinned wickedly. “I saw Daeran getting ready to hop into the prismatic spring before I left to find you…and I seem to recall the cavalry sculptors had a fine selection of body paints amongst their supplies. Are you up for a little prank?” Ariadne’s returning grin was the only answer they needed. As the both stood, Taro noticed the slip of paper on the ground. Again their curiosity pulled at them, picking up the paper and unfolding it before they realized what they were doing. The contents were not what they expected in the least.
“Ariadne…you were seriously trying to create a sentient gelatinous cube!? That’s…” Taro paused, running through the uses for such a thing in her head. “That’s fucking brilliant, is what that is.”