"Dearie, I haven't seen you in ages! What have you been up to? You're-...you're covered in cuts!"
Charlie stood with her arms out at either side, grinning to herself. The elderly woman who was taking her measurements happened to be Mrs Kirkway, perhaps one of the sweetest seamstresses this side of Eastway who seemed curiously oblivious to the horrid rate of criminality in the city. Of course, Charlie had her suspicions; she somehow managed a constant supply of high quality materials and every so often there were hired thugs in her little shop, both of which couldn't be explained unless she had a lot of very intimidating grandchildren. Charlie knew she had at least one; when Mrs Kirkway knocked on her door and explained that her grandson got stabbed, she wasn't expecting the brute to be around 40 and have more tattoos than Charlie could count.
"It's been a long...uh, how long has it been?" asked Charlie distractedly, looking down at the shield. She knew time had passed without her knowing; after checking all of the labels on her medicine she was certain of it. Mrs Kirkway bit her lip anxiously, her trembling hands fitting the armour around Charlie's form. "It's almost been a month, dearie, how couldn't you know?" she responded.
"Magic, huh, what are you going to do about it? Nothing, that's what. Just hope it doesn't kill you." Charlie looked down at Mrs Kirkway and smiled, but the smile died a little when she saw the look on the old woman's face. "Is-...something the matter?" she asked tentatively, only to receive a shaking of the head and a nervous grin.
"N-no, you've never been so...conversational before. Looks like whatever attacked you managed to, eh, beat some life back into you! You needed this armour, I'm sure of it. Where are you headed, then?" asked Mrs Kirkway as she started sewing the leather and shifting the chainmail. Charlie thought about it for a while before simply shrugging. "I've got no idea. I'm either headed out again with a new friend of mine – if I can catch him before he leaves – or I'll go over to Vastwater Basin and check out the libraries. I'm leaning towards the former...there's nothing in Vastwater that can help me." The seamstress finished her work and helped Charlie out of the armour before leaving her to put on her rags.
"Come back in a few hours dearie, I'll get this fitted up for you." Charlie smiled and waved as she strolled out of the shop. With armour underway, Charlie knew that she'd need to put in an effort for this next trip. She wandered over to the stables and bribed the stablehand to get in without buying anything, pulling a scrap of paper out of her pocket. She went to the end of the musty room and wasn't too surprised (but incredibly relieved) to see Aros' Pegasus in its stall. It whinnied at the sight of her and Charlie stepped back warily, before sucking in a deep breath. "Alright horsie, sit still-..."
Charlie approached the beast carefully and pinned the note onto the winged horse's blanket before swiftly evacuating the stall and briskly exiting the stables. She didn't trust that horse an inch, especially when it was capable of breaking a few ribs or taking Charlie on a surprise flight to who-knows-where. The note in question was scrawled on the back of an old page of a book about astronomy, in all capital letters: "AROS - YOU'RE ACCIDENT PRONE. YOU'LL NEED A MEDIC NO MATTER WHERE YOU GO: COME FIND ME BEFORE YOU LEAVE. NO CHARGE." She signed it with a quick drawing of a paw print, even initials were dangerous in Eastway. Still, there was only one medic who may or may not be a werewolf, which made it easy enough to guess.
Let them find me, I don't care anymore, thought Charlie to herself. She hadn't smiled this much in a long time. Shoulder-barging the door open to her house, she immediately started the fire and pulled her heavy cauldron out of the way to place several smaller ones full of water onto the burning embers. The potions would take a fair bit of preparation, but luckily they were the easiest ones to make with the materials on-hand. Charlie started cutting off pieces of herbs and plants scattered around her home, watering the ones that needed watering and leaving the ones that didn't. It was nothing short of a small miracle (and some very handy alchemy) which kept them alive for a month without water.
Charlie had done this before, but never so quickly. The idea was to create a sort of...anti-werewolf medicine kit to have on hand just in case things got hairy (literally). Any spare material would be preserved and used on the road for makeshift potions if needed, and she'll pack at least three decent bottles of healing potion as well as a proper first aid kit. Given Aros' track record, Charlie wasn't taking any chances. Besides, if Remsworth came back to say hello, she won't leave him for dead this time, concluded Charlie. I won't give her the chance. This time it's war.
Within an hour, Charlie had to wrench open the grimy window to let out a thick plume of steam in the room. All of the cauldrons were bubbling with different coloured liquids, and Charlie was packing whilst stirring and adding all sorts of weird and wonderful items into the little pots at regular intervals. She hid the gold under a fake tile, just under her potions cupboard, and pushed an old crate on top of it to dissuade any thieves. Charlie rubbed her hands together and shook her backpack violently to give it a stress-test before fitting in small bundles of clothes, several socks, a spare pair of boots, a sleeping roll, her tent and a linen-wrapped bundle of that horrid dried boar jerky which seemed to last for decades without going mouldy.
The Eternal Sanctum had certainly taught Charlie never to leave under-prepared again. She shook her head a little as the memories came back at her fiercely, those purple tapestries seared under her eyelids and the banquet taunted her from the back of her mind. It was nothing short of a living hell, and yet here she was, only barely returning to Eastway just to set off again on another mission – quite possibly even more dangerous than before. She thought back to Aros, however, and became determined to prevent such injuries from being inflicted on him again. Not by me or anyone else, decided Charlie as she emptied an old courier's satchel into a box and started sterilising some needles.
She set out the syringes on a plate and took the cauldrons off of the heat to cool before returning to Mrs Kirkway's shop. The armour looked fantastic; the hardened leather was bolted on top of the chainmail, and the decorations weren't too opulent or stylish. Still, at Charlie's request, the bracers were emblazoned with a crescent moon that would sit just above the back of her hands. In fact, looking at the bracers when she tried on the full set in the changing rooms triggered a train of thought that Charlie hadn't bothered to think about in decades; what if I actually find a cure? She knew that it was impossible; she was most likely burdened with the curse for her entire life, but she had only ever explored a tiny portion of the world.
There was something else that spurred her on, towards Aros in particular – He said something about having to do research into his past, something to do with the death of his parents. If there was anything Charlie couldn't stand, it was the thought of being orphaned; despite having a very brief childhood, they were the most precious memories she had. If Charlie could help him out with finding out which soulless bastards killed his mother and father, she might be able to repay him for the whole 'werewolf attack' business. Hell, if we stumble on the monster that did it, I'll make him into Remsworth's new chew toy. Charlie peered down at Mrs Kirkway and paid up front for the armour, simply walking out of the shop with it on. "Keep safe, dearie!" she called out cheerily to Charlie as the werewolf shut the door, trying not to feel guilty at the fact she was intentionally flinging herself into danger.
The sun started to set as Charlie locked the door to her house and hid the key. She had her backpack, her armour, a small satchel and her shield weighing her down. As an afterthought, she decided to buy dinner before leaving, instead of going hungry. A loaf of bread and a couple of pastries were more than enough to settle her stomach, especially since she wasn't a fussy eater. Charlie made her way to the inn she met Aros in for the first expedition and sat in the same booth she sat in beforehand, surprised at how much more confident she felt. "I'll give you an hour, tops," she whispered to herself, setting aside the food on the seat next to her. Now it was time to wait.
[-60g: Chain Chestplate]
[-60g: Chain Leggings]
[-20g: Leather Boots]
[-25g: Leather Bracers]
[-5g: Bribe]
[-4g: Loaf of Bread]
[-10g: 2 pastries]
[Total Gold spent: 184g]
[Current total: 944g]