RP:Mermaid Scales

Summary: Nortengaal and Meri go on a search for some precious mermaid scales.

Secret Cove

A bit of time has passed since Nortengaal’s meeting with both Meri and Magik, the one where he officially joined the guild. The blonde lycan had ended the meeting by welcoming the man into the guild and assuring him that she would be reaching out to take him out on his first adventure. That promise is kept. Word reaches Nortengaal in the form of a letter. The other lycan should probably not overthink how Meri was able to get this letter to him, given that they had not really discussed which areas he might prefer to reside in. Meri has her ways. One way or another a courier is able to locate Nortengaal and when they do they hand off a letter enclosed in an envelope that is sealed with a wax stamp. The wax stamp has the initials ‘AG’ formed into it. There is no assumption that Nortengaal can read, Meri has already learned the hard way that not all of her guild members can read. Which is why the courier actually sticks around long enough for Nortengaal to open the letter, just in case. The note that Meri has sent reads the following: Nortengaal, I know that you said swimming was not your strong suit but part of this guild is about pushing limits, overcoming boundaries, and improving on various skills. Which is why I am going to ask you to meet me out in Rynvale. On the eastern side of the island there is a cove that mermaids are known to frequent. We need to harvest something from them for upcoming adventures. Don’t stress too much about gear, I will bring several tools for us to utilize while we are there. ~ M

​​The courier has located Nortengaal at the grogshop in Gualon, one of the many taverns haunts the man can be found in. Its no less impressive that he was found, considering how little about himself he actually imparted to the couple when he introduced himself. Maybe it was the hip flask in it’s own holster that gave him away as a drinker, from there it’d really narrow down some of the places he could be found. However it was done, the message has been delivered, and the bearman tips the loitering courier before cracking open the letter. “Mermaids eh? Arent they known for drowning people?” he thinks to himself, a small shiver shooting across his body. There isnt a lot that Nort outright fears, but ever since his childhood accident drowning has been a pretty consistent one. “Of course it’d be something like this. But i do appreciate being pushed, so its off to Rynvale i go. I wonder what their taverns are like.” Without further ado, the man finishes his drink, drops a couple coins on the table by way of tip for the waitstaff, and heads out into the night to begin his trek to the port town, practicing yo-yo tricks as he walks along.

Hopefully Nortengaal will find one of the local watering holes to his liking. There are three of them located within Rynvale, unsurprisingly. Those who help to man the ship do enjoy their drink during their brief stints on land. Two of those taverns, the Kraken and the Broken Barrel, even host rooms for rent. Of course, drinking was not high on Meri’s priority of things to accomplish so it is not any of the taverns that the blonde lycan will be found in. She herself as set up a small and private camp a safe distance from the shores of the cove, so that none of the sea-life will give her trouble, but also close enough that she still gets to enjoy a lovely view when she is not busy making preparations for this excursion. The camp itself should not be hard for Nortengaal to locate, so long as his sense of direction does not lead him astray. When he arrives, he will find that Meri has kept good on her promise to bring plenty of gear. There are a total of four nets, even if it is just the two of them on this hunt, just in case one of them fails then they will have a backup. There are also a pair of blowdarts and ample ammo to fill them with. Blowdarts against mermaids though? Surely Meri has utilized some sort of substance on the tips of these darts to make them more effective against the mermaids. The fact that Nortengaal was afraid of water was not a detail that Meri had forgotten. Meri was quite curious to see how the newest guild member would react in this uncomfortable situation. For now though, Meri is waiting by a fire, enjoying a cup of coffee while she waits for Nortengaal to arrive.

Having arrived in Rynvale with enough time to sample the various taverns, among other things, he’d settled on the Kraken as his place of choice to wet his whistle. That being the case, sightseeing and tavern hopping was not what had brought the man to this part of the lands, and so, having set himself up with one of the rooms at the inn just in case he was to spend some time in the area outside of his current venture, this fine day finds him heading towards the cove Meri had directed him to. The trip is pleasant enough, the weather amenable to taking an easy pace. If one didnt know better, they might think the bearman was dragging his feet a little bit due to his…healthy respect for the waters he finds himself more or less surrounded by. As has been his habit of late, he’s practicing various yo-yo tricks as he walks, getting accustomed to his new acquisitions and their individual personalities. In relatively short order Nort arrives at the base camp that’s been set up by the guild leader, who can be seen by a small with a cup in hand, perhaps of coffee given the current morning hour. A couple tugs and a quick snap of the wrists breaks the yo-yos free of the oddly intricate workings of the strings and brings them back to his waiting palms, and he places them in a pouch at his waist as he approaches Meri with a wave and a “Mornin!”. Looking over the camp proper now that he’s upon it, the nets and - are those blowdarts? - catch his his attention quite handily and he stares, puzzled and not a little bit wary. Nets and blowdarts…that can only mean theyre going to be in the water. With the mermaids. Who are kind of known for drowning interlopers. Turning his attention back to his lycan compatriot, he may or may not be sweating a little more than might be expected for the temperature and leisurely pace he’d arrived with. “So, uh, what exactly are we doing here at this admittedly beautiful location this fine morning?”

Meri probably noticed that Nortengaal was sweating more than normal. There was something about fear, Meri was coming to learn since becoming a werewolf, that was easy to sense. Maybe it was the way that the heartbeat increased or perhaps there was something different about the scent of sweat when it was born out of fear rather than physical exertion. Either way, Meri might notice but she does not highlight the detail. She just explains the situation, “Well, as you might have overheard when you spoke with Magik and I…the next set of adventures we are planning could very well be all seafaring in nature. You see, were were tasked with hunting a leviathan so that we could bring it’s spine back to a certain blacksmith named Nikola, and in the process we have found some interesting artifacts. I am absolutely convinced that the finds will lead us to the sunken city of Armantium. Now, every adventure we undertake requires a considerable amount of research of preparation…But if a team of us are going to go giving into the ocean? Well. We’re going to have to take extra precautions. Yes, my sister Khitti might have managed to work with Alvina to have rebreathers fashioned for when she had her own underwater excursion. But what if those fail? I won’t have my team drowning. I have met with an alchemist who swears she will be able to create a concoction for us…as a ‘just in case’ measure. But she needs help gathering some of the ingredients to make it work. One of those ingredients, she says, are scales from the tail of a mermaid.” Yup, Meri was confirming it, they were indeed on the search for a mermaid. “Now I don’t want to kill this mermaid, which is why we have nets and blowdarts. The nets are to help physically restrain and the blowdarts are last with a toxin that will render the creature sedated, long enough that we can steal a few scales from the tail. If we do this right…? My hope is that we will only need to capture one mermaid to steal some scales. Not only do I not want to kill her, but I also don’t want to cause any lasting damage to her tail. So if we happen to drop any of the scales into the water? Well. That could mean we have to wait for two mermaids instead of the one. The scales don’t need to be in pristine condition, my understanding is that they will be ground down anyway. I also have a boat waiting for us at the edge of the water, so hopefully neither of us will have to get into the water for this mission.” A beat. “Questions? If not, grab your gear and let’s get to it.”

While he’s not quite wearing a neon sign about it, Nort is pretty sure the guild leader can tell that he’s less than completely enthused with the idea of hunting for mermaids. He appreciates that she opts not to comment on it, and instead moves into the explanation of what the plan is and why. Oh thank the gods, there’s a boat involved, that makes things a little better. Nortengaal does appreciate the opportunity to work on surpassing his fear of the water, but he’s also grateful that he doesnt have to dive in headfirst, so to speak. She concludes, graciously leaving him space for questioning, which is nice because he does in fact have some. “I’ll be the first to admit i dont know a lot about mermaids, and what i do know comes mainly from tavern talk, but are the nets and blowdarts strictly necessary? Are they the first thing we’re going with or are there other options? Like, can we not simply ask them to part with the scales we need, perhaps trade something for them?” He moves to gather up his share of the gear as he speaks, getting ready to move out. Even if it turns out they dont end up using the nets and such, it’s always better to have something and not need it, than need something and not have it. The man pauses a moment, straightening up and facing Meri. “...how big are mermaids?” The answer wont change his willingness to participate in the hunt, but it’d be nice to know all the same just what he can expect.

Meri is not sitting still while she listens to Nortengaal’s thought process, she has her own share of gear to start gathering up. She does give pause in her efforts right when Nortengaal asks if there was some other approach that they could take. Meri lifts a brow, and then resumes slinging the net over her shoulder. “I mean…I suppose if you would like to, you could always just try asking her to see if she won’t willingly share a few scales. But…Mermaids are notoriously…fickle. It may not turn out the way that you are hoping. Still, if you would like to try…” Meri shrugs to signal that she would be fine with humoring Nortengaal. She may not have high hopes that a mermaid would willingly do as asked, but maybe Meri ends up pleasantly surprised. While the two debate their plan of action, something that Meri prefers to be free-flowing even if she does hold the title of guild leader. “I suppose though, if you wanted to ask..and she said no, then there is nothing saying that we can’t fall back on the nets and blowdarts as a plan B.” By the time Meri has gotten done explaining this, the two of them are at that boat that Meri mentioned. A boat might not be an accurate description though, it was not your standard rowboat. More like a moderately sized raft. It had a single sail in the middle so that the breeze can be used when there is one, and if the wind is still then it does have the means to row via oars. And now that they are at the boat? Meri pats the raft to signal to Nortengaal that he should hop on. “Oh, they’re not small. I mean, I would say they are at least human sized. Maybe larger, it really just depends on their age and how big of a tail they have.” Meri flashes a confident smile at the end of this sentence, like hunting a mermaid was totally no big deal. No chance of drowning at all. “Anyway. Hop on, I will push us off the beach and then we’ll sail out a bit. Don’t worry too much, this is not my first time out at sea.”

Nortengaal approaches the raft with not a little bit of trepidation. A boat boat would’ve been bad enough, but this…open expanse of wood does not breed confidence in the bearman. Then again, if it does come to the nets and blowdarts, he supposes this actually is less likely to dump him into the water with an irate mermaid than a boat would. Putting his share of the supplies down on the raft he looks to Meri, catching her confident smile and finds he’s surprisingly reassured. It’s no small comfort that the woman is - or at least appears to be - completely at ease with the whole prospect of potentially having to wrestle an upset fish lady for her spoils. Then again, she is the guild leader, this is probably the least of what she’s had to handle. That said…”Yeah, I’d like to at least give it a try. I mean, if it were me i’d appreciate the courtesy, if nothing else. And like you said, we have the other stuff for plan B.” As he speaks he climbs up onto the raft, moving to stand as close to the center of it as he could. It’s been…a long time since he was on open waters by choice, and his nerves are starting to get the better of him. Steadying himself with a hand on the mast, he closes his eyes and starts to take deep, slow breaths, focusing on his breathing to calm himself down. He must admit, the salt in the air really gives it a unique feeling that lends itself well to this technique, making each breath all the more interesting to focus on. After a minute or so of this he opens his eyes and gives Meri a nod, indicating that he’s alright and ready to get going. “That makes sense. More sense than some of the tavern tales that’s for sure.”

Meri could only offer a smirk when Nortengaal makes mention of the tales told at the tavern. Sailors do love to exaggerate. When Meri’s adventuring companion nods to indicate that he is ready, Meri pushes the raft off the shore and into the waters. Were she human, such a task would be near impossible to do herself given the weight of the raft, the gear, and Nortengaal. Meri is a lycan though, which has it’s perks. The raft inches forward with resistance until it is completely free from the sand and in the water. After guiding the raft out into the water, past the first few breaking waves, the blonde woman leaps up onto the raft. Likely much to Nortengaal’s dismay, the raft does end up swaying and bobbing for under five seconds before it steadies itself. It will be some rough going in terms of how steady the raft feels until they make it past the reach of the waves. Poor Nort. Meri has no intention of taking them much further past this point though, the two of them will end up floating somewhere between the shoreline and the open sea. At least the coast was still visible, eh, Nort? Eh?

While it will only take a few minutes for the two of them to reach this point, the amount of time they will spend actually finding a mermaid will be considerably longer. Both fishing and hunting were similar in that both involved a dreadful amount of patience while waiting for prey. While it was easier to speak more freely while fishing, one still had to be mindful about the amount of movements and vibrations that were created in the water. Sometimes little movements served to attract attention, sometimes it scared off the fish. Meri had a trick up her sleeve though to try and the attention of the mermaid. Unfortunately, who knows what else it will attract. It was not part of the gear hauled down, but it was left on the raft prior by the guild leader. Meri begins to crack open and dump the contents of several medium sized wide-mouthed jugs. Everything is dumped directly into the water. If Nortengaal would look, he would see that the ocean is tinted red around them and there seems to be bits of other fish in the mixture. Chum. Yum. “Listen though, if we see ourselves a mermaid? Since it was your idea to do this whole talking thing, you get to try your hand at charming the pretty-fish-maiden and see if she don’t feel like sharing.”

Even with this assistance, Nort and Meri still had plenty of free time on their hands. Who knows when they would catch sight of what they were looking for? So Meri went through the motions of making sure that Nort actually was familiar with how to throw a net and use a blow dart. She would also take a moment to point out a small storebox right next to the single-mast of the raft. It had provisions like snacks, fresh water, bandages and etc. If they had absolutely not luck then they could also go back to shore and refill their provisions to try again later. Time would pass and the morning sun would climb higher into the sky. It was just past noon, with the adventurer’s having to float out at sea for a couple of hours. Meri and Nortengaal had been floating at sea for a couple of hours now, with the two of them having to periodically adjust their course and having to throw more of that chum in the water. They have definitely been attracting fish, even a shark or two, but no mermaids. That changes when a woman breaches the surface and hangs off one side of the raft. Her hair is a vibrant shade of green while her tail is a considerably darker shade. She doesn’t say anything, not at first. Nor does Meri seem to notice her. The mermaid just hangs off the side of the raft, watching and waiting to be noticed. And if they take too long? She’ll flip her tail so that it splashes in the water, using the noise to pull their attention to her.

While the start was a little…rougher than he would have liked, Nort manages to maintain both his composure and footing while the raft brings them out to their hunting grounds. He nods his agreement with her statement, “Yeah, that seems fair.” and turns his attention to the soon-to-be chum filled waters surrounding the raft. Time passes, as it is wont to do, with the two of them going over how to use the items they brought and making sure Nort is aware of where things are. It took a bit, but Nort’s general command over his body has him moving steadily with the movements of the raft on the waters, and much to his own surprise he’s finding the experience rather pleasant overall. After a couple hours out, Nort’s stomach starts rumbling a bit, spurred on by the chum of all things, and as the fish and other aquatic life take notice and start hanging around he carefully approaches one side of the raft. His pupils expand as he intently watches the fish move about while he kneels down to get closer to the water. A look of concentration crosses his face briefly, and his right hand starts shifting slowly, nails elongating to turn more claw-like. Reaching back he pauses, holding position as he waits for the right moment before striking with a swift jab into the water, smiling brightly as he pulls back with his prize, a decently sized fish speared onto his claw-nails, which he tosses behind him towards the center of the raft once it stops it’s wriggling. This he does a few more times, careful not to get too into it lest he dump himself into the drink, before turning back to Meri with a pleased look on his face. “Lunch! Though I suppose we’ll have to wait to get back to shore to eat it, unless you’re fine eating them as is, which admittedly I'm fully prepared to do.” A sudden splash startles him, and a quick look around reveals the mermaid lounging against the side of the raft opposite him. How he didn’t immediately spot her upon turning around he has no idea; that shock of green hair is very hard to miss. “Oh! Uh, hello! Didn’t see you there, sorry about that.” Standing up he wavers a moment, a touch unsteady on his feet after kneeling for a while, before regaining his balance and taking a couple steps towards the newcomer, stopping a respectable distance away. Seeing no reason to beat around the bush, given he has no idea how long he’ll have her attention for, he launches into who they are and just what they’re doing out here on this fine day. “So uh, my name is Nortengaal, and this is Meri. We were wondering if you might be willing to part with a few of your scales. I’d of course be willing to make a trade with you, should you have something you’re interested in that I'm able to give.”

The tattooed lycan watches as Nortengaal seems to have the ability to elongate his nails, which he uses to catch one of the numerous fish that have been swarming their raft. Intriguing. Meri is just about to answer Nortengaal’s inquiry when that mermaid makes her appearance. While Nortengaal might have wanted to talk first and maime as a last resort only, Meri can’t help but regard the beautiful creature with suspicion. Though for the sake of the task at hand, the guild leader manages to mask her general mistrust of mermaid kind with a cordial smile that forms right as Nortengaal introduces her. Following this smile, Meri offers the mermaid a lazy salute as a greeting. Nortengaal might notice that Meri is making a point to keep toward the center of the raft. It might not be too big of a vessel, but she would prefer to keep herself just out of reach of the mermaid.

The mermaid seems to be hearing Nortengaal, for she is looking right at him as he speaks and even glances at Meri when the blonde is introduced. Does she understand? That might be a different story. If she can, she does not speak immediately. Instead she lazily flips her tail back and forth, breaching the surface of the water, almost like a cat who is trying to show annoyance to whomever is in its presence. Finally the mermaid speaks, her voice a sultry purr though way she pauses when she speaks suggests that she is considering her word usage carefully, like she has not been speaking the language for all of her life. “What do you have to trade that I could want?” In a nosy inspection, the green-haired mermaid places both hands on the edge of the raft so that she could lift her torso up and out of the water, gaining her a clearer vantage point of the gear that Nortengaal and Meri have packed. The net does not escape her attention but the mermaid's reaction is a calculated one. While the mermaid does this, Nortengaal might notice that the mermaid also has claws for hands that are probably as sharp as his own, she also has rows of razor sharp teeth within her mouth. For now, it seems she is causing little trouble. Mostly. As she slides back down into the water she reaches out to grab Nortengaal’s freshly caught fish. “You will tell me and I will take this fish while I listen.” Should she not be prevented from stealing Nortengaal’s catch, then the mermaid will proceed to eat that fish right in front of the hungry werebear.

Meanwhile, Meri is standing guard in a watchful manner. She is making Nortengaal take the lead on this conversation just like she said she would, but she is still there to jump in at a moment’s notice. Should Nortengaal look her way for confirmation of his ability to trade any of their gear, Meri would nod her head to suggest she’d allow it.

As the relative silence began to slowly fill the space between his speaking and the mermaids listening, Nort starts to get a little nervous. What if she doesnt understand him? He hadn’t considered that, and he’s pretty sure he definitely doesnt know any oceanic languages. He breathes a little sigh of relief when she responds with a voice that does not sound at all like he was anticipating. What he was anticipating he couldntve told you, but it wasnt the somehow velvety tones that she’d producing, and the sound of it causes him a small shiver. This surprises him, and he almost misses the actual words of what shes saying. That’s an excellent question; what does he have to trade, and more importantly what might she want of it. A glance is given to the supplies stacked in the center of the raft, followed by one to Meri to see if that was on the table. Confirmation received on that end, he’s about to ask her another question when she slips an arm past him to grab one of his lunch-fish, and begins eating it right in front of him. A low rumbling sound escapes the werebear, and even he isnt too sure if it was just his stomach or an involuntary growl at the action. He gives his stomach a small rub, hopefully conveying that it was in fact just his stomach, as he considers the question carefully. The net could potentially be useful for someone who lives in the water…though the blowguns would be useless. Their provisions maybe? No,no, also useless in the water. The mermaid stares at him as she tears into the fish she has, making quick work of it. While he thinks Nort absentmindedly slides another one of the fish from the small pile over to her to get at after she finishes the first one. Precious metals? Thats a terrible idea, water tends to do bad things to metal, especially salt water. Gemstones maybe? That could work, though the mermaid isnt currently wearing any sort of jewelry to indicate they might care about that. Nortengaal sits down cross legged in front of the mermaid, lost in thought at this point. A moment passes, then suddenly he snaps to attention with a smile on his face. “I have many things i could offer you, but theres only one thing i can think of that you cant get any other way: Me. More specifically, i offer in return a favor. I will come to your aid when you call on me, for any reason, and i will help you to the best of my ability. There are limitations to what i can do; i dont currently have the capability to breath underwater for example, though that might change, magic ever evolving as it does.” Nort of course is aware that the entire reason they need the scales is for making it possible to breath underwater, but he’s not about to lay out all their cards just yet. This mermaid seems nice enough, but her teeth and claws did not escape his attention and he has no idea what that knowledge might incite.

The mermaid may have knowledge enough to at least be able to speak common, with a bit of an accent that is not remencesnt to any of the land-dwellers nearby. Yet she is not familiar enough with all of the nuisances of land-dwellers to be able to tell the difference between a growling stomach or a growl of annoyance. His gesture to try and imply that it was his stomach is lost to her and for a moment the mermaid is seen narrowing her eyes on Nortengaal in an annoyed fashion. The mercurial being is temporarily placated by the presentation of another fish. Temporarily only because she seems very unsatisfied with the answer that Nortengaal has given her. A promise? For his help? Not only do her eyes narrow, but her tone of voice does not come off as a sultry purr like it did the first time. “And how would I be able to call on you? When I am stuck in the water? Just flag a sailor down and hope that he will deliver my message? Do you know how sailors feel about my kind?” Admittedly, mermaids have earned their reputations, even if some of the stories are mere fisherman’s tales. “I do not think this is a fair trade. I think you are trying to trick me.” The previous sentence and the sentence that follows are spoken through a hiss of frustration and anger, “You land-dwellers are all the same. Nothing but liars. Treacherous, cowarding, liars.” The mermaids tail is flipping back and forth in the water, much like a dissatisfied cat, while her sharp claws grib the edge of the raft hard enough that her fingers leave marks into the wood. This was not looking good for Nort.

Meri was still paying close attention, every muscle in her body tight and ready to spring into action. Yet she contains herself. This was not a test for her, but for Nortengaal. She would be ready to support him if things turned sour, as her gut said they would, but she was still letting him take the lead. Perhaps he had some negotiating skills. Or perhaps Meri will soon be throwing nets while trying to fish the poor werebear out of the ocean.

Inwardly, a spike of adrenaline shoots through Nortengaal as the mermaid’s agitation increases, quickening his pulse. Outwardly, the only visible reaction is a thin sheen of sweat that forms on the man’s brow, though he wouldn't be surprised if Meri noticed the changes. He doesn't move from his seated position near the mermaid, even as her claws leave noticeable marks in the raft as she grips it. A slow, easy smile sits on his lips as he raises his hands in a placating manner, nodding while he speaks. “Yes, I have heard the tales, varied as they are. And I know better than to believe everything I hear.” The nod is replaced with a little shake of his head. “I’m not trying to trick you, nor am I lying about anything. I would not offer you such a thing without a way to follow through.” Pursing his lips, Nort lets out a short tune. From his shadow, a decently sized hellhound emerges, settling readily at his side. Reaching into one of the pouches at his waist he rummages around for a moment before extracting a small stoppered vial, which he uncaps with a slight popping sound. Then, rather unceremoniously, the werebear uses his sharper-than-average canines to open a small wound in his hand. As the blood wells up and escapes his body, he maneuvers the vial to catch the crimson flow, and in short order the vial is nearly filled. Replacing the stopper, a brief flash of concentration crosses his features as a white glow covers the wound, the bleeding slowing then stopping altogether in short order as the wound closes up. That task completed, he returns his attention to the mermaid, holding the vial in his palm between them. “This is Escher. He’s not bound by the same physical laws that I am, and can travel just about anywhere there is a shadow. You can use this vial of my blood to call him, and he can come to me wherever I am to let me know you need me. I’m a bit of a vagabond, to be sure, but I can come readily enough.” Smiling still, he places the vial down on the raft. “If you're still not interested in my offer, you tell me what you are interested in. I just figured that if I'm asking for a bit of you, I should offer of myself in return, but I have other things I can offer you as well, gemstones or gold or weaponry and things like that.”

It was a tense situation, with the mermaid blatantly accusing Nortengaal and Nort trying to convince her that he could in fact be trustworthy. The situation grows momentarily more tense when Nort summons the hellhound from the shadows, resulting in the mermaid pushing away from the raft and flipping her tail into the water to propel herself away from the vessel. At any second, she could decide to dip beneath the waves and disappear entirely. Then where would Nortengaal and Meri be? Frustrated and back to waiting, no doubt. It is the fact that neither Nortengaal nor his companion seem to display any hostility, even if they did manage to spook the mermaid, that causes the female to swim back. She listens, she watches, thinking and trying to discern if this particular individual was being honest with her. After some hesitance the mermaid finally decides to reapproach the vessel, but she does not dangle off the side as she has been doing. Rather, she uses some rather impressive upper body strength to push herself up onto the flat deck of the raft, positioning herself so that her tail is half-curled around Nortengaal’s feet. By the time this happens, Nortengaal has already cut his own skin and filled the vial. It is really just a matter of the mermaid accepting it.

Meri is a seasoned adventurer and this action from the mermaid is enough to cause the woman to move from her seated position to a standing one. Of course, Meri is one of those tough girls who has to put on a front of stoicism regardless of how she is feeling but the lycan does find this situation to be most concerning. Nortengaal could easily be swept off into the waters by the mermaid in a flash if the two of them were not careful. Instinct for some might be to reach down and grab the net in preparation, but the psion does not. The wrong movement could alarm the mermaid again, possibly with more deadly results than the first time. In the back of her mind, Meri knew well that she could utilize her telekinetic abilities on the net if push came to shove. Just try and breathe easy, keep calm, navigate through the tension without any knee jerk reactions. Nort had specifically requested they try this without fighting.

After what is probably an uncomfortable amount of silence for both Nortengaal and Meri, the mermaid finally sighs out a reluctant and still mistrusting agreement, “Fine.” The vial that is offered is taken and the mermaid remains still on the deck. Except, removing her scales is not a task that she is going to trust to two complete strangers. The mermaid uses clawed fingers to delicately slice a number of scales. There is a clear sense of vanity even though the mermaid has agreed to give up her precious green scales. The verdant creature selects the locations carefully, not taking too many from the same spot. When all is said and done, the mermaid will offer Nortengaal a total of six pieces of scales in exchange for his promise and this strange little vial. It seemed like such a delicate thing, the mermaid will have to store it somewhere safe.

Should Nortengaal happen to look to Meri for further instruction, the blonde would nod to encourage him to accept the deal and send the mermaid off. They would need quite a few for any underwater adventuring, spell components to make sure they do not drown. However, Meri was not about to fuss with this mermaid. Not when she was positioned to sweep Nortengaal’s off the edge of the raft so easily.

Outwardly Nort is simply waiting patiently to see if his offer is accepted, inwardly he’s honestly starting to low key panic a bit the longer time goes on. He’s out of ideas and he really does not want to have to resort to violence after coming this close, particularly since he’s currently poised to be swept off the raft and into the still bloody waters should this go sideways. He’s not worried about dying at this juncture; he trusts that Meri would be able to rescue him if he ends up in the drink dealing with an angry mermaid. Still, odds are pretty good that he wouldnt come out of the encounter unscathed, and he’d like to avoid that if at all possible. After several very tense moments, the mermaid utters a reluctant “Fine.”, accepting his terms before she carefully selects a choice few scales to give to the werebear, depositing them into his hand and taking up the vial of blood in one smooth motion. Nort was particularly glad that she took the scales herself, as he hadnt really considered how else they were going to get them, thus saving him any further danger or potential embarrassment. Their business concluded, the mermaid reaches past him to snag another of the few remaining fish from Nort’s fish cache, then slips off of the raft into the water and disappears beneath the surface.

A huge sigh of relief escapes the bearman as he slowly gets to his feet, Escher melting back into his shadow for now. With a huge smile he holds out the scales in his carefully enclosed fist for Meri to take if she wants, guessing she has someplace to store them. “I did it!” he says excitedly, very much pleased with himself. “And without any force.” Nortengaal made a friend! Or at least didnt make an enemy, which is arguably more important. After a second his smile starts to fade as he realizes something: “So um, how many of these do we need? I’m not sure how many more vials i have, I kinda got lucky that i even had that one handy.”

The deal was made, and while it was full of a few tense moments and forced Nortengaal to confront his fear of water? They at least managed to do it without any violence, which is what the newest member to the Adventurer’s Guild was hoping to accomplish. Meri breathes a sigh of relief a few moments after the mermaid removes herself from the raft and disappears into the depths of the ocean. Before Meri gives any further detail, she pauses and lets relative silence linger between them. The purpose was that she was listening, trying to make sure that the mermaid was gone. Meri was trying to listen for any splashing water around them, anything out of place. She heard nothing but the caw of the seabirds. Once she had a reasonable amount of confidence that the mermaid did not seem to be returning with friends to cause trouble, Meri finally speaks. “I think it will be hard to pinpoint an exact number of how many we will need. I think we have a great start though. I will see how much this will get us, and if we happen to need more for some reason then I will make arrangements.” The blonde takes a moment to gesture to the sky, specifically trying to draw Nortengaal’s attention to how much the sun has moved across it during the time they have been out. “Besides, even if we did need more, I think we have spent enough time out at sea for the day. And. I am not sure we’ve got enough luck on our side to encounter two mermaids in one day.” As Meri explains that she would be surprised that if they managed to find two mermaids in one day, she is already moving to one side of the raft so that she can pick up an oar. She motions for Nortengaal to grab the oar on the opposite side of the raft. “That being said, I really appreciate you coming out and braving the water to help with this. It shouldn’t take us too long to get back to shore.” Once they got close enough to the beach that there were waves, it would be an easy ride back to the beach. After the raft was beached on the shore, Meri herself would remain behind to break down and pack up the supplies, minus the raft. That would be returned to the fisherman she rented it from. Nortengaal? He would be free to do whatever pleases him. A well deserved beer after a long day of facing his fear of water?