A small clarification

Looking to the side, Jay saw Vanessa holding her arms around herself and even quivering a bit.

It was no wonder as she only wore the wet shirt and it was pretty cold inside the cave, but on the other hand she was not low level and should have had quite some resistance. He looked at her questioningly to see if it might have only been the situation, but as she didn't react to that he asked her directly.

"Are you cold?" J.

"A-as if that m-matters to you after w-what you've done!" V.

"I guess you won't believe it even if I repeat it now, but I really am sorry for what happened. Though I have to say you really are hot stuff…" J.

"Humph…" V.

Even though Vanessa crossed her arms under her well endowed chest and looked the other way, Jay had seen a small smile showing on her face as he complimented her. Because she was still slightly quivering, Jay unbuttoned his shirt planning to give it to her. Though it wouldn't help much over her wet clothes, it was still better than nothing.

While he was undressing he saw her marveling at his body and the moment Jay placed the sailor shirt over her shoulders, she slid her fingers along his muscular chest. After she had eyed him closely she started blushing and then hung her head.

"Honestly, I'd never suspected you to have your sweet little nipples pierced. Quite the surprise you gave me there…" J.

From the color of her ears Jay saw she blushed even more to his comment, disregarding that her face was hidden. Shooting her head up suddenly, Vanessa looked him directly into his eyes.

She then stepped back once and pulled the shirt Jay had given her closed.

"You know… I can't say that I didn't enjoy what you did with me as well, though you really could have been a bit more careful.

Who knows when I can sit down comfortably again…" V.

"Sorry about that, but glad to hear you had some fun as well." J.

"The thing with my father… it was simply too much for me. Do you have any idea how you shattered my world as you told about his wrongings?

I still can't believe all of it, and I even had suspicions since quite a while…" V.

"You had?…" J.

"Yeah, but thinking about it and learning it's true is something completely different. I won't say I'm innocent but I'd never had done all I have if I knew my father lied to me.

What ever happens to him now is no longer my business!" V.

"That's the reason we left your room. I wouldn't want you to see what was going to happen there next." J.

"…Not that I didn't see something I'd rather not have, but thanks. So what are you going to do with me from now on?" V.

"Oh, I'm not quite sure. But it depends on Arya's opinion as well…" J.

The two of them had a pretty easy going talk even if the topic was grave, but to his last answer Vanessa's mood sank again. She looked downcast then and kept silent for a while until she inhaled deeply once and looked apologetically towards Jay.

"In that case I have low hopes on survival. I did too much of a number on her that she would ever forgive me, even if you thoroughly took out revenge for her…" V.

Without answering her to her suspicion, even when Jay thought she was wrong in her thoughts, he asked her to accompany him. The two of them then proceeded over the main deck and went towards the stern.

As they entered the hallway, he guided Vanessa towards the Captains cabin at the end of it.

Like Jay had thought, van Claven's daughter could open the doors lock without problem and the two of them entered the room behind it.

It was by far the biggest of all cabins and held a slightly lavish interior. The furniture like the big bed with the red velvet beddings to one side, or the desk straight ahead were well carved.

On the other side of the wide room were two wardrobes and behind the desk, right under the giant glassed stern window stood numerous crates.

Vanessa directly walked over to one of the wardrobes and fetched herself a red shirt from there.

Without wait or any sign of restraint, she first took off the sailor shirt and then the wet one she originally wore. After swiping her bare torso with the shirt she got from Jay, Vanessa wore the red one and faced him.

She then asked if he wanted her to help him with anything, but as Jay declined she decided to lay down on her fathers bed.

Jay himself walked over to the other wardrobe and opened it, just to find a nice but slightly too much crested and endorsed leather armor hanging inside.

Without wait he used (Analyze) on the complete set:

__________

Stormshroud Armor (rare)

Set

Requires Level 40

775 Armor

Weight 6

[Agility +20]

[Stamina +18]

[Strength +12]

[Dodge +36]

Set: 5% chance of dealing lightning damage on a successful melee attack.

[Stormshroud Armor]

[Stormshroud Pants]

[Stormshroud Shoulders]

[Stormshroud Gloves]

__________

This was the first time Jay saw something like an armor set. While each part of it seemed pretty good, the effect it had upon completion sounded enticing.

But Jay still had a long way for being able to wear it as the required level was nearly double his own.

Turning around to inquire fro Vanessa where her father might have gotten it, he saw she had already dozed off and got a bit startled to his question. As she couldn't answer it anyways she laid back down again and Jay stored the armor in his inventory.

"Should I really not help you with searching?" V.

"Thanks, but you seem to need some rest." J.

"That's normal, right? I mean, it's already morning...

And thanks to a certain someone keeping me busy since yesterday, even more so those last hours, I think deserve some rest…?" V.

"Then I order you to behave, sleep well and stay close. Have a good rest." J.

"Tanks… night…" V.

It didn't take a minute for Jay to hear a silent and somehow cute snoring coming from the bed, so he kept on looking through the room. He took some of the shirts from the second wardrobe like Vanessa previously and after putting one on, he stored the rest away.

The same applied to some pants.

Next Jay checked on the desk in hopes to find some kind of letter or other documents helping him in the search for the people behind the scenes.

As he was not really in the mood to read through the few private looking letters stored to the side, Jay put them away as well and thought about opening some of the crates behind the desk.

But as it had been like Vanessa stated and even the cave slowly got brighter, Jay noticed he really had gotten tired too.

Walking over to the bed where the beauty slept, Jay took the liberty to lay besides her and rest as well. Without thinking about anything for a moment he drifted off into a comfy sleep.

A knock on the door startled him and brought Jay back from his sleep about half an hour later.

He really had fallen deep asleep from all the strain he endured over the last days. Taking a moment to sort his thoughts and rise from the bed, he slowly walked over to the door.

Just as another knock sounded he unlocked and opened the door.

Arya stood there, about to knock on the door again, wearing a blood smeared light blue dress. Looking back over his shoulder, Jay saw Vanessa still sound asleep rolled into the blanket on the big bed.

As he stepped to the side to let her in, Arya strode past him and started to look around in the room. It seemed like it wasn't new to her, but as Jay thought about how she ended in this situation, that seemed logical.

After a quick glance over the open wardrobes and onto the bed where Vanessa was sleeping, Arya went over there to what Jay had a bad premonition.

That proved unfounded though as she simply went to the small basin with fresh water and started cleaning her hands. Them being that bloody as well as her dress, got Jay impatient to hear what had happened.

"So, how did it go?" J.

"Do you want to know if he's still alive of if I got new information for you?" A.

"I want to know if you could vent your anger a bit and get the revenge you deserve.

But of course I'll gladly take any information you got." J.

"Don't worry you smooth talker, he's alive, though barely. As for myself, I think I accomplished what I wanted…" A.

Done with cleaning her hands and arms, Arya got to her feet and without warning pulled off the dress she was wearing.

After throwing it to the side she stood there only in some lace lingerie and then walked over to Jay.

"Are you Satisfied?" J.

Sliding her index finger from his collarbone, over his chest and down over his toned abs, Arya held eye contact while she grinned sheepishly.

"I'm satisfied about my revenge, but about something else, I'm far from it…" A.

"Oh I'm enthusiastic about that, but we'll have to postpone it for a little bit, okay?" J.

He had caught her hand as it was about to slip inside his pants while answering her alluring proposal.

To compensate her at least a little bit he placed a long kiss on her lips while still holding her wrist so she couldn't restart caressing him.

"Okay, okay, I get it… As for my little playtime with van Claven, there really was some information I got…" A.

"I'm listening." J.

"After he stopped screaming like a girl, that bastard kept whining on how he would kill us and that his backers would have us hunted down. At first I didn't listen but at some point he mentioned a name I recognized.

I don't know if you heard of Lord Falconclaw previously, but the man is infamous for his mercenary army.

If he really had been backing van Claven, we might have a serious problem!" A.

"Calm down please. It's not like anyone knows what happened down here, right?" J.

"Yeah, but what about my mother?" A.

"We'll take care of that. About this Falconclaw, does he have anything to do with slavery or the likes?" J.

"As far as I know there had been no slavery in their business, but who knows if they did on the black market?

To the public their family was in trade business and mining." A.

"Are they active in Arathor?" J.

"No, why?" A.

"The support came from there as well as the slaver, so there must be some connection." J.

"Rumors state they were always close with the Perenold Family. It's the ruling family of the highlands where most of Lord Falconclaw's mines are located.

And that family is deeply rooted within Arathor, even up to the Royal Court…" A.

"Really?" J.

"Yep, the Prestons are a branch from that family as well, even if they only have loose ties with them by now." A.

"If what you said is correct, this whole thing is way bigger than we previously thought. You need to report this all to Captain Stoutmantle once this whole situation is over.

But another topic: how did you make van Claven spill that?" J.

"Believe me, you don't want to know that…" A.

"No, I do. If a beauty like you has to dirty her hands with his blood, me hearing about it can't be asked too much." J.

"Okay, fine, but I warned you.

I did the same to him what you did with his daughter, just that I used his own thing. The knife you gave me was nice by the way, cauterizing the cut instantly.

Like this his tool was still hard enough to shove it into his backdoor. Just as his whining had stopped and I did so, he started crying to this and then slipped the name…" J.

"That's unexpectedly cruel but doesn't really explain the blood." J.

"Well, I wasn't done with that. I decided to pull his thingy back out as his crying and cursing was a bit unnerving.

That was after I had searched through his daughters wardrobes for something that suited my tastes. When I rolled him back on his belly and got his sausage in my hand I saw a small magic tool he wore as piercing on it.

That was where the blood came from. As I ripped the golden ring out of the cauterized stump, the blood inside had a new way to exit. I didn't think there would be so much inside such a small thing though…" A.

Jay was speechless.

This cute beauty that was pure until not too long ago had turned into a really cruel and brutal woman.

But it didn't look as if she was finished with her narration, so Jay gulped down once and kept listening.

"...as I held the by then shriveled thing in my hands, I stored the ring away and turned van Claven back around. He still wore no gag, so I simply shoved the dirty, bloody piece of meat inside his mouth, followed by the gag to finally shut him up.

That's pretty much the state you'll find him in when you get there.

I didn't touch the chains, but one thing I really don't get:

I have an order placed on me to follow his command, so why didn't he stop me or turned me against you?" A.

"I thought about that as well, but think about what you told me. You said you got ordered to listen to Edward van Claven or whoever was in control… And latter would be me at this point, right?

The precautions the slaver took for revolts and the likes seem to have bitten back." J.

As her summary got finished, Jay had regained his senses as well. That really was a thing she had done on the man and Jay even pitied him a bit.

Deciding it was time to release van Claven from this agony, Jay knew what to do next. He finally buttoned the shirt he wore and by the time he was done, Arya had laid down on the bed as well.

She had unintentionally left the most possible distance possible to Vanessa, to what Jay couldn't help but chuckle. One thing was clear, those two might play nice as long as he was there, but they would never get along very well.

Leaving the two sleeping beauties alone for a while, Jay marched down the hallway and then over the deserted main deck towards the forecastle. It was slightly irritating to see the cave, now without fog, partially illuminated by the light shining through the gaps of the giant gate.

After looking around once again, Jay went inside and entered Vanessa's cabin where her fathers torture had taken place.

The man barely reacted to him entering, only turned his head a little to glance up to the youth.

"I came here to ease your pain, so no need to look at me this angry. You brought it up on yourself…" J.