Snippet #1199644

Leave it to a pirate to squander a perfectly plausible lie. Jade sat back and listened to the conversations rather than participate any more than she already had. Taking a hesitant moment to shake the orc’s hand and offer a smile now that she was a little more comfortable. She’d never seen an orc up close before, let alone talked to one, and the sensation left her feeling a little uneasy at first. She’d heard a lot about them while sneaking about Sarife, and not all of it was pleasant. Osife seemed gentlemanly enough, however, and Jade left it at that, preferring to nibble at the food that was set out for them and eavesdrop on every conversation.

Jade tested every dish, trying to calculate how long each thing would keep on the road before she came to a realization: the familiar dunes of the desert were likely hundreds of miles across an ocean. Even if she decided to go back to Sarife, what would she do there? Would she continue to scuttle about the desert like a frightened rat, scavenging and stealing to survive while she was hunted by bandits, raiders, and bounty hunters? Assuming she could find passage, any self respecting boat captain familiar with the laws and customs of the desert lands weren’t likely to allow her on their boat, at least not as a free woman. She balanced a half-eaten roll on her fingertips with a neutral expression while listening to the group talk. It was the second time today that she came to the conclusion that this was not her home, and that her home had nothing to offer her. Jade felt like a fish foundering on the beach, and not just because of the humidity.

“I’ll go,” she said at the latest lull in the conversation. “Sarife has nothing to offer me but poverty and constant fear. However, I don’t know the land here so striking out on my own isn’t the intelligent decision; I could wander around for weeks and still not find another settlement,” she continued, dunking her bread roll into the broth of her soup and taking a bite from it.

“Your group has no lack of fine warriors, as I can see,” she noted, wagging the remains of her roll at the two hulking knights and the orc. “I’m no slouch with a blade, and I have other skills to offer: the quickest and safest path to the treasure isn’t always to smash through the door and slaughter everything on the other side.”

Jade left the fact that she was a telekinetic out, and that there were other, hidden, conditions to her coming along. Being the one able to unlock doors, disarm traps, and open mysterious chests meant she often got first pick at any valuable objects that were found. It was a natural benefit of having such skills, but she’d found that her intentions were often misunderstood as dishonest thievery… which wasn’t necessarily untrue. What the party didn’t know might leave them a little poorer, but wouldn’t hurt them.