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Vi found herself in the middle of the Absolutist war room, staring down at their unconscious captain.
“So. We should probably get rid of her while we can?” Vi meant to sound confident, but it came out like a question.
When the fight broke out, Vi had managed to deck Minthara right in the face with her trusty cast iron gauntlets. All it took was a quick one-two and out she went, hitting her head on the table on the way down.
Next to her, Caitlyn, a high elf clad in leather armour and the tabard of a Flaming Fist, took a break from fidgeting with her crossbow to shoot Vi a glare.
“We can’t just slit someone’s throat while they’re unconscious,” she replied tersely, “It’s downright dishonourable.”
Vi turned to glare right back. For a vengeance paladin, Caitlyn could be such a wet blanket when it came to violence. “Dishonourable? Aside from the fact that she's dangerous, she just called the two of you like three different slurs within five minutes. I’m not exactly itching to be merciful here.”
“Plus, we already did this,” Vi added, motioning to the bloodied goblin corpses surrounding them. Several of them had crossbow bolts sticking out of their heads.
Caitlyn sighed, exasperated. “Look. The fact that we had to kill so many goblins is regrettable, but it was in self defense. This wouldn’t be.” She paused for a moment to regard Vi, who was still seething a little. Her expression softened. “Plus,” she continued, with a raised eyebrow and the slightest hint of a smirk, “I’ve probably already annoyed Tyr enough recently. I’d like to avoid adding any war crimes to my ledger.”
Vi had to chuckle at that. Caitlyn did put her job on the line to spring Vi from Wyrm’s Rock, shortly before they were both abducted. It was all to get her help with an investigation which was, as Vi later surmised, completely unsanctioned. It didn’t exactly align with the due processes of justice that the Tyrrans liked to jerk off to. Caitlyn was probably the most competent Fist Vi had ever met, and it owed entirely to the fact that she was apparently allergic to following orders or sticking to procedure.
Vi made a mental note to ask Caitlyn what the deal was with her oath some time. There was absolutely no way her divine powers actually came from Tyr.
The irritated voice of their cleric rang out from by the bridge. “Would you two please decide what to do already, so that we can get out of here? Tadpole’s ticking, you know.”
Vi tried not to laugh at the visible irritation that appeared on Caitlyn’s face, before she quickly schooled it into practiced neutrality. This seemed to happen whenever Shadowheart spoke. Vi didn’t understand what their beef was. From her perspective, they were both fine company. Regardless, she found it hilarious.
“Fine,” Vi acquiesced, “I guess I’d probably feel bad about it later, or whatever. Wanna just leave her here?”
Caitlyn shrugged. “Works for me. Let’s go find the others. Hopefully, they had as much as luck as we did.”
“Such a gallant knight,” quipped Shadowheart as they reached her, “I do hope your little act of kindness doesn’t come back to bite us.”
She clearly trying to get a rise. From the way Caitlyn’s jaw set a little, it was working.
“So!” Vi piped in while slipping between them, before Caitlyn could have a chance to snap and do something unfortunate, “Anyone read any good books lately?” A common interest between the two. Vi mentally patted herself on the back for the idea.
As Vi dragged her companions down the bridge by the arms, they both looked at her incredulously.
“…What?” Vi asked, suddenly self conscious.
Shadowheart raised an eyebrow. “I thought barbarians were more about throwing books than reading them.”
Vi laughed. “Okay. Wow. Rude. I’ll have you know that I read Wyrm Rock’s entire library three times over!”
Caitlyn chuckled. “So that’s what, two books?”
“Damn. Okay. Never mind, you two go ahead and kill each other.”