Solus Stayanoga

Solus stepped through the doorway of the unimpressive tavern they’d ended up at and suppressed a snort of disgust. She couldn’t believe that such a once-great city could fall so far. Next to her stood Ash, who jerked his head towards the far end of the room before heading towards the nearest corner. Sighing, she headed in the direction he indicated and sat down across from an elf and a figure she assumed was an elf, both in heavy black armor.

“Hey there, how’re you?”

The elves eyed her disinterestedly. One, with a blue jeweled hair clip and two enchanted swords, answered. “Alright. What are you doing here? It’s surprising to see a new face.”

This was one occasion in which Solus’ Sing-style eyes and skirt would come in handy. “I’m a history student. I’m exchanging from Homana’a because of the fascinating structures here.”

Now the other elf showed some interest, although it was near impossible to make out their face. “Homana’a. You’ve come a long way. And all to see our titchy little village?”

Hair-Clip grimaced. “Please, excuse Salorien. We-”

Salorien leaned forward and let her cowl fall back, revealing not an elf as I’d thought, but a tiefling. Interesting. Her skin was tinted purple, one eye was covered by an eye patch and she was smiling slightly too much - probably to show off her fangs. “No no,” she said with delight. “I am fascinated. Clearly they know how to pull off skirts in Sing, I may have to drop by sometime. And the language -”. She turned to Hair-Clip. “Miriam, I have never heard vocals like those Naior-i who came up from Sing’s coast last year.”

Hair-Clip - Miriam put her face in her hands. “Moryap, kill me now before I murder someone.” Salorien grinned.

“Oh, we’re praying now, are we? Si’la won’t be happy about that - I heard that he doesn’t appreciate other gods.” This part was directed straight to Solus, who sighed. She had to have heard this line at least a thousand times before.

“Outside of the empire it’s much less strict. Besides, I’m not extremely connected to Sing. We parted ways a long time ago.”

Salorien seemed to be about to speak, but without missing a beat Miriam slid a fresh cup of beer across to her and started talking. “So what do you need? I run a bakery, if you need anything of that sort. This wild creature here,” - she gestured at Salorien, holding the mug for dear life with both purple, black-clawed hands - has a moderate singing voice and a viol that she can sometimes play.”

There was a spray of alcohol scented mist from the other end of the table. When Salorien stopped choking she snapped, “Excuse me Miriam? What have I done to deserve this treatment?” She turned to Solus. “Impressionable stranger. I am the greatest viol player ever to have lived. ‘Look upon my works, ye mighty, and despair,’ yada yada.” With a flourish she pulled an instrument in remarkably good condition from her bag.

“It has a scratch,” Solus pointed out bemusedly after a moment. “You’ve kept it in good shape overall though.” The look of absolute hatred emanating from Salorien’s eye almost made this conversation worthwhile on its own.

"How. Dare. You. This viol was handed down through my family for generations."

Miriam winked conspiratorially at Solus. "She stole it from a merchant's house her first day in Flosa City".

"I've spent countless hours perfecting my rhythms and chords."

"That one's true," Miriam conceded. "So far she's perfected the ear-splitting screech and the caterwaul."

"I have protected this viol with my life on multiple occasions."

Miriam was nearly doubled over laughing at this point. "Tell her! Tell her what happened!"

Salorien glared at her. "I don't have to tell her anything."

"Then I guess I'll have to." Grinning, Miriam turned to Solus. "A cat attacked her viol and managed to scratch it before it was defeated."

Solus frowned. "Are you sure this happened? Cats don't normally attack viols."

"Yes." Salorien sighed. "How else do you think I lost my eye?"

There was a short pause. "Wait, what?" Solus burst out. "You lost your eye in a fight with a cat over a musical instrument that you stole?"

"Yup." She appeared unconcerned. "Anyway, what was it you wanted to ask?

Solus shook her head, trying to get back on track. “Uh- I don’t suppose you’ve heard of the Sunless Citadel? My companions and I are looking for it.”

“The Sunless Citadel? Never heard of it,” said Salorien in a cold voice, still attempting to skewer Solus with her eye. Miriam rolled her eyes.

“Oh Salorien, it’s almost like you haven’t been literally obsessed with that thing for months now!” She turned to Solus. “Salorien is an interesting character, as I’m sure you can tell. When she heard from this girl she hooked up with a couple months ago that there was a poison apple guarded by goblins down there, she literally could not think about anything else.” She paused, then added, “Except for her viol. Of course.”

Now it was Salorien’s turn to roll her eyes- eye. “Yes, alright. I have heard of it. I did travel out to see where it was. No I did not enter it. And YES, my viol is my soulmate who I will never part with.”

Miriam grinned. “Salorien, you should go with these people! You can show them the way in, and they can kill the goblins!”

Salorien snorted. “No way.”

“She knows a lot of music magic,” Miriam whispered conspiratorially to Solus. Solus was extremely uninterested, but had to admit that it could be useful to have another person on their side.

“I’d be very grateful if Salorien came on this excursion with us. It’s true that none of us have ever been to the Sunless Citadel, and we don’t know what to expect.” It was also very useful to her - having someone lead them there would save Solus a lot of trouble in the long run.

Salorien groaned some more, but it was clear that she was eager to go. After several more minutes she and Solus stood up and walked out of the bar, Miriam waving fake-cheerily behind them. As they walked Solus asked, “So why is it called the Sunless Citadel? Does it not have windows?” Salorien’s raucous laughter made her answer barely intelligible.

“Oh... oh. That is the funniest thing I’ve heard all day. It’s in the ground, - I’m not sure I caught your name? No, I am sure. I just didn’t get it.”

“Solus.”

“Ah, that my friend is a quality name. Anyways. No Solus, it is in the ground and therefore no sun shines upon it.” Solus shook her head, and led the way back to rejoin the group.