Trouble in Little Yetiville [Snowpeak] (Genzo with Devilsteel)

Reaching the town at a good stretch of daylight was going well so far, but the group rushed to get all their duties completed. Casara would find, moving through the stables Pooky's mount had been returned. It still had its velvet coverings and everything. That was a relief. That out of the way, it seemed Gyoma and Eve really did follow Sandal where he was going.

"I do live in this town, but a staycation in the inn sounds like a ball." the Kokiri mentioned to the Moblin.

They could probably afford to let her pass out in some part of their room situation. Gyoma was attentive, but cautious about every move they made because he knew there were sick kids in town waiting on them to return. Eve was largely the same way, planning to get back to the brewers and turn in their concoction to the quest bureau as soon as possible. That seemed to be part of the plan, anyway. The various members of the party were certain they'd be partly responsible for delivering it all too. But in the meantime, the rest of the party tried to stretch their legs and get a bit of a rest ahead of the monumental task coming up. . .

"Ssssir." Gyoma thankfully interrupted. "We have eight. Seven I thought but the Kokiri tells me the Miniblin will inevitably be back to take more from our rapidly dying energy pools."

The clerk looked at him, oddly. As a citizen of a Hylian-dominated town he also wasn't ready for a menagerie of monsters to appear to ask for board. Though, he had seen that odd Kokiri on the street. He had hoped not to run into her, if he was being honest. Something about the metal eyes and golden outfit made her look like she was up to something at all times.

"We also have a Lynel and he will need one of the larger rooms to be comfortable." Gyoma added, staring at the glazed over Hylian.

"That'll cost you a bit." the clerk answered. "But you seem ready to pay any price, don't mind me."

At that moment Pooky appeared out of the dark corner of the room. Like clockwork. The oddly dressed Miniblin approached the counter with some enviable gems in his paw. The little bastard was unforgivable but he was being generous on this particular journey. Eve rolled her eyes, and with one of them being lazy it was just her single eye twirling around on her face. She could easily cover the rooms on her own, and she'd almost prefer it if this weird imp character would only go away already. But he was right there with the gems in the clerk's face. She wasn't about to interrupt that.

"Of course ye'll pay 'em. What did I e'en expect?!" the girl complained, her accent stretching as she talked.

"Pooky covers the rooms! Pooky made mountains of rupees!" the imp screamed, slamming rupees on the counter.

"We could've used all that medicine!" Eve hatefully spat, twisting her boot on the floor.

--

Briggson hobbled across town, arms filled with lab equipment. Soon enough he would find the daring Casara and his beautifully rendered tables. Carefully, Briggson assembled the many materials and equipment on the stone bench. He wasted no time sorting everything out and preparing it for his reduction recipe.

"It'll be somewhat complicated but follow all my instructions. If we do this right we'll have more than enough medicine for the whole town." Briggson cheered, his many large fingers sorting the various materials.

Gyoma and Eve all got together and prepared to follow the Moblin. But not before Eve grabbed the mischievous Miniblin and heaved him over her head. She did have all those glittering objects on her person, likely boosting her physical strength in various ways.

"An' yer comin' with us too." she grunted, holding the writhing devil still above her.

Pooky bellowed as the group left with Sandal. Meanwhile, Briggson set up his brewing array. He instructed Hanno and Corbin on the functionality and purpose of their equipment. He explained how the distillery would remove excess water from their reduction, after boiling out the medicine and filtering the chunkier plant material out of the top of his brewing stand. Then they would transfer the liquid to a separate heat source and mix it with some of his own reagents. This would then combine and make the herbal effects more potent.

The Lizalfos, Moblin, and Kokiri all appeared partway into their brewing session. Eve trod down the way, a familiar set of roads in her current hometown. As they became familiar with the area, Pooky would activate his Gnat Hat and vanish into the wind. Eve was too far gone at this point to throw a fit about it. She mumbled something obscene and went on with her day alongside the others. She knew the Miniblin would avoid helping out only to return later and do something bothersome.

"That's them, I see their work station." Gyoma announced, the group merging on a particular part of the roadside.

Not really able to help with this part, the group watched the brewers get really involved in their work. Eventually some useable medicine would be created, and they had to separate it into smaller vials to be taken properly. Eve volunteered her quick fingers to the task, filling multiple vials very deftly. She seemed like someone who could easily take up crafting if she wanted to. She knew all her own that she was a pretty horrible cook, but that seemed to be a very different skill even compared to what they were doing. Gyoma invited Sandal to help separate the vials further, putting them all into a large doctor's bag. They seemed to make a good team, and several townspeople gathered to watch what they could only guess was a solution to their grim problem.

"Good, good." Briggson insisted. "We start handing them out. I gotta send one of you all over town though. I'd love to goron roll this all over town but I can't even think about risking squashing the whole bag of medicine."

Listening intently, Gyoma eyed his Bullbo and the asinine Kokiri next to him. He had a little bit of a plan brewing.

"Why don't we hold the bag steady and run it through town on the back of my speedy Bullbo, Bullion?" Gyoma quickly suggested, looking with focus at Briggson.

"We can afford to split up the bag. Most can go on your mount's back and the rest can be spread amongst our party to hand out." Briggson calmly suggested, assessing the numbers of their vials.

While he explained, Gyoma sized up the weird girl next to him. He was kind of unwilling to just pick her up and put her on the Bullbo like the others in his party might do. But he knew the kid would hold the bag tightly with her very prominent power bracelets she was practically showing off wherever she went. It was worth a shot.

"Miss, you don't mind. . . holding the bag on the back of my good pet Bullion? We have to ride fast and cautiously at once." the Lizalfos hummed to the overdressed character nearby.

"Miss? Ye' I'll do it. I wannae give the kids in town a chance at life! Even that smelly boar of yours knows that! An' ye can call me by my name maybe? Awkward lizal boy." Eve spat back, flinging her hand in all directions as she spoke.

"Right. Eve." Gyoma replied, unable to look her in the face.

The girl climbed up the boar creature like a spider monkey might do. The saddle was more than big enough for her to scoot all the way onto the back. Gyoma placed the fully separated bag of vials into her hands, leering to make sure she was actually holding it. There was more than enough of the medicine still on the table for the rest of the group to sort out and distribute in this highly populated area.

"I'll tell ya' where to go! We're gonna find ev'ry sick kid in town!" Eve shouted, suddenly commanding the Lizalfos.

In response to her yelling, Gyoma took the reins and shot off into the distance on the sprinting Bullbo. Surely their plan was infallible and it had to be as they exited view so quickly no one could do a thing about it anymore.

With those two long gone on the Bullbo, the others continued their work. The crowd became more dense as the adults of Darunia converged. They came to cheer, to start an early celebration for the medicine, but also to get their hands on some for their own children. The crowd started to become a mosh of madness as Briggson and the Outcasts scrambled under increasing stress to get the right amount created. Then, likely Pooky was off to make his own brew elsewhere in town. Nobody would be shocked if the Miniblin intended to hike up the prices and sell his to anyone with ongoing problems.

At some point Briggson was waving around his massive arms to keep the increasingly unruly citizens from getting too close to their precious setup. He knew he wouldn't hurt them but it was getting too out of hand and it was becoming harder and harder to keep their workspace safe. They all had to keep their heads about them as the greedy adults could possibly take a lot more medicine than they needed and leave other children without any chance of help.

"We're gonna have to distribute the rest by hand." Briggson explained, loudly. "One per kid will be enough and there's not enough total to just give out."

As many still celebrated, the Goron split the vials between them and commanded they all seek the remaining sick. Proven able to defend themselves, they'd have no trouble cutting through the crowd to split up along the rest of the town.

Meanwhile, Gyoma and the girl hit so many individual houses that things were surely looking up. As Gyoma delivered each vial to every doorstep, citizens would wave at Eve goodbye and thanks. Many had seen her to mixed reactions and experiences, but most were incredibly happy to see her out and about giving medicine to their struggling children. Some even started to change their minds about her in this moment. Gyoma also had a new experience being welcome to a mostly Hylian community. Everyone was overjoyed to see this oddball guy bringing their much needed help all around town. Some Hylians even begged for his name hoping to see him again.

The sun became low in the sky as the Lizalfos and his compatriot rode back into town on the Bullbo. The girl behind him was kind of falling asleep at this point and Gyoma was glad they had an inn room booked. He wouldn't have known the first thing about bringing her home. They pulled up to the inn, their bag of vials now empty. The Lizalfos posted up his mount and grabbed the Kokiri's hand, leading her into the front.

They entered the light of the inn to the low din of a crowd of people. Many people were drinking and making merry in the inn's lobby and bar area. Everyone turned to celebrate the odd duo as they entered the front. They had truly bent their backs to save the children of Darunia. Pushing modestly through the party, Gyoma escorted Eve to one of the open rooms. She clearly needed to be set onto a bed, visibly more exhausted than most had ever seen her.

Moving along to the rooms, Gyoma turned open one of the doors. There was Corbin, having made himself comfortable at this point presumably. Gyoma knew he would get the biggest room. But that made it immediately apparent that Pooky was sitting there in the corner. Unwilling to not stay in the most expensive room, the Miniblin made his peace with a news flier and a big cigar. Eve's face twisted a bit as she focused on the fact that he was wearing reading glasses and burning out a huge stogie. Forcing her arm a little bit she made sure they turned around at once to seek a different room.

"I don't blame you miss, that creature is the biggest headache I have ever experienced." Gyoma admitted, helpfully supporting the girl as they sought a different room.

As a creature somewhat not associated with consuming the same substances as Hylians, Briggson quickly got bored of all the drink and associated merriment. He retreated to his room, which he had also amassed a number of his botany resources from the traveler storage he had been using. Most importantly of which was his herbalist journals which had better details on this herb they had found. He needed every drop of info on this plant that he could squeeze from the book. For starting tomorrow, he'd begin the laborious process of trying to grow it separately. Though he had some confidence, and although he didn't like it, he could buy extras from Pooky at some point if he ran out of seeds. Especially now that the Miniblin had a monopoly on those, and would not let go of them without what the evil imp considered fair payment.

The entire lot of them awoke the next morning, only to find they were still being celebrated. Perhaps without much surprise, even. Many of them had difficulty leaving the town let alone the inn. Then, in the late afternoon, Eve would wake up finally. The Kokiri found that most of the party had made great effort to stop being accosted by strangers for the congratulations and various social annoyances of many townspeople. Though for the most part many of them were humble and grateful for what they had done with no ulterior motives for taking them aside at every step in the lobby. Eve sighed, rubbing her face to the point her mouth moved across it. Maybe it was just her own insecurity making her think the townspeople could be so bothersome.

Now that the inn had been mostly cleared out, Eve made preparations to go home. She set herself in front of the mirror. Being careful with her fingers she completed her daily routine of trying to make her irises face forward on her prosthetic eyes. When it was "good enough" she got dressed and prepared to head home, which for her was kind of right down the street. This was all perfectly fine for her because she could make sure the least amount of her new fans would have followed her home. Not like her incredibly bizarre pirate themed cottage wouldn't give them a heads up on where to find her anyway. Eve's zen garden and rampaging Pol's Voice did little else to make the place fit in with the surrounding houses. She felt kind of forlorn in that moment. What she wouldn't give for one person she had met to sit down at her child sized table to have a way-too-small cup of tea with her.

With all of that out of her mind, she approached her own doorstep to a pleasant surprise. It was Gyoma, standing in one of his outrageous delinquent poses. He tipped his skull helmet up coolly.

"Didn't think I'd forget did you." the lizard creature said slyly. "I let those others know in one way or another where to find you. Ya' can't just stay cooped up in this place alone. Not after you helped everyone like that."

"What about it? What if I want to stay home alone." Eve responded, spitting.

"Well you were moping all the way down the street until you saw me. Pouting even." Gyoma retorted, trying not to acknowledge her spitting.

"Okay you got me. Smartass lizard guy. Everyone can visit me or whatever, just don't try to throw a surprise party in my house you won't even fit." she replied, a complaining tone to her voice.

"We'll be back alright. Now I have to go find that anouki boy. He's probably fallen into a well or something." Gyoma responded, getting somewhat off topic.

"Don't get me started! Some damnable anouki keeps following me places. He thinks he's the main character in a book or something." Eve bellowed, barely able to stop her fist from shaking.

"Oh no, he's gotten out of hand." Gyoma whispered as he backed off. He'd have to track this person down before any more trouble could befall this town. "I'll be back! Try to stay safe miss. I just, ugh." he finished his statement poorly as he thought about all the people he had to keep in line these days. He eyed the Pol's Voice with a disappointed leer as he left. In all honesty it was probably better this way. The Lizalfos had more than enough animal handling to take care of, and would likely concede that the troublemakers in his life would probably get along fine in his absence. . .

Gyoma nervously nodded along. It seemed as Eve spotted each Outcast appear she wanted to make sure each of them was acknowledged and appreciated. The Lizalfos also didn't want his end of the conversation to continue as they had gotten frightfully close to him admitting that troublemaking Anouki was his best friend.

"By all means, feel free to come by! I actually didn't expect to make so many friends so soon. Corbin is also in good hands, so long as he's in MY town him and the goron will be under my watchful eyeballs." Eve corroborated. "I'll look forward to seeing you too, Sandal!"

Then Gyoma continued to nod in agreement. His eyes went soft as he realized what an interesting and, underneath it all, wholesome group he had been part of. He couldn't have dreamed this Kokiri had caused so much chaos with how she was behaving today. Not that he knew the half of it, anyway. He continued to stifle himself from speaking, knowing any minute that Aniki would be causing so much worse all on his own. Maybe the Lizalfos could recruit this girl's help with keeping that boy in line, even.

"It seems we've made good comrades, even friends through all this. I bid everyone farewell. I ought to get going now." Gyoma finally responded, letting the tension slide off him finally.

"Oh, that reminds me." Eve interrupted, watching the Lizalfos walk off. "I may have to check the quest board again, Hanno. There are some shady people combing the seas for me and I need to ship out to Greatfish Isle for some errands when the weather clears up. I wouldn't rope all my new friends into it, though. That's more of a job for some freelancers and maybe people savvy with seafaring. I can't even bring my rito buddy, it's going to be way too dangerous."

She watched them all prepare to leave. The girl had little else to talk about now, for what she mentioned wasn't a job for these guys anyway. With that, she bid them all farewell and prepared to clean up from her journey. She would be sound asleep soon enough, and with good reason. So much of that heavy crisis was narrowly averted by their teamwork, and so many villagers would rest easy tonight. The jolly roger swung loose on her front door as she turned in to her cottage for the night. -- Fin --