"And she volunteered to help us in the Shield Maze!"

Wenduag is watching Venn with narrow eyes.

Venn nods. "I plan on leading a small group of skilled fighters through the Shield Maze; we need to return to the surface to help the city in the fight against the demons. Lann mentioned that your people might wish to help as well; we'd be happy to either send word back through the Shield Maze, once it's been cleared out, or send rope down the chasm we fell into, whichever seems safer and easier."

(She notices Wenduag watching, but doesn't break eye contact with Chief Sull. They'll talk later.)

"We'll want everyone we can who can fight," says Lann, "at least anyone who can help -"

"Sho it'sh ash Lann wants," he said. "We'll return to the surface." He looks at Venn again. "Just a little group, you say? How many will you need other than you uplanders?" They're crusaders, yes, and they need to die for the angels eventually, but there's death and there's death.

"I'll take Lann and Wenduag, if they'll come - they've both proven their skills in battle, and we have experience working together."

She'll bring up the cold iron if the Chief pushes, but she doesn't really expect him to.

Okay, good, fine.

Lann nods firmly. "Of course we'll come."

She smiles. "Thank you. I'm certain your aid will prove invaluable." 

"Oooh, how many of those arrows do you have, and what would you like for them?" 

"Twenty-two," says Dyra, "and I want coins!" Money is the greatest invention!

Ah, Abadarians. She smiles. "The City at The Center of the World, Absalom, has a market district bigger than the entire city above us. It's called the Coins, and they say that you can buy anything there, if it's sold at all..." 

Venn usually finds it a bit exhausting to interact with the kinds of nobles who expect to be treated like an archmage in a party of swordsmen, but Camellia has been risking her life fighting alongside Venn, which makes it easier to tolerate.

She'll pop in to see if the woman wants to chat about anything. (If the vibes seem right, she'll ask about Horgus, who just promised her a quite compelling sum of money if Venn gets him back to the surface.)

Camellia is a shaman in a party of warriors, actually. It's really quite similar. "This is a filthy collection of hovels in a mosquito-filled swamp," she tells Venn pleasantly, "full of the most grotesque and inbred ruffians you can find. Other than that, all is well." 

Maybe being a song-sorceress instills you with a much better understanding of how important your stabbyfriends are! Maybe Venn just isn't a bitch.

She laughs in a way that's just barely clockable as not very genuine. "Gods willing we'll be out of here ere morrow, though I fear the surface may be in dire straits..." 

She makes polite conversation for a bit, and excuses herself as soon as she can without snubbing Camellia. 

Oh, Camellia is quite used to being snubbed. Nonetheless. 

"- I've always wanted to back to the surface. I still dream of the blue, you know over us - and it's a chance to get back to what we should be doing and fighting for what's right." Lann is SO GLAD to have someone he can talk to about this.

He's wanted to do more, all his life. Venn can absolutely relate. "Lann - I'm thankful to whatever twist of luck or Fate that brought us together, in the city's hour of need."

She dips her head slightly in respect. "It will be an honor to push back the demons with you and your people under the blue sky." Her smile and voice are warm and uplifting, a mundane reminder of the magic in her songs. 

"And hopefully we'll still be tolerable when it rains." 

"We can only hope," she agrees, laughing delightedly. (Ah, she loves it when people have a sense of humor...)

Wenduag sharpens arrows when she has nothing else to do. It's better than talking, honing the arrows with a decent knife and a whetstone, turning each one's bone head into a new tool to use. It'll be broken if it hits bone, but if it hits hard enough that'll do.

Venn has a habit of humming when she's approaching someone she wants to talk to who's busy doing something else - it lets them know she's there, and it lets her read their reaction to noticing her before they start talking, which can be quite valuable, at times.