#c: kiplr

[ascalonianlightbringer]

Last time in the Order of Whispers story line, Gwen and Tybalt questioned the villagers about the disappearance of Demmi Beetlestone, daughter of the same Minister Caudecus whose actions got Gwen's sister sold into slavery for around a year.

With some allowances for Gwen's personality along the way, our intrepid duo discovered that Demmi had reached the village but vanished just before a bunch of Ministry Guards arrived. Gwen snuck into the Ministry commander's room while Tybalt spooked dolyaks, and found a letter from pirates, demanding a ransom for Demmi. Gwen and Tybalt promptly decided to embark on a tricky stealth/rescue mission to get Demmi (and her information on her father) back.

This time, they went downstairs and Gwen calmed down the innkeeper by smoothly lying about the dolyak distraction (the charm option). Very her!

Next up in the story line: the rescue mission, in which Gwen and Tybalt went undercover as pirates.

Somewhat predictably, Gwen's pirate outfit looked less like the cool coats that most in-game pirates wear than some Halloween sexy pirate costume:

Tybalt admired Gwen's outfit (...) and then went over the plan—Gwen would distract the pirates while Tybalt searched the camp. She was surprised and rather indignant about being the distraction. Tybalt insisted that she'd be great at misleading pirates and, once again, told her to trust him.

Gwen's (canonical!) response: "You worry me, Tybalt..." True enough, and she might be unbending just enough to actually say so. But Gwen actually is pretty suited to misleading people, so it's not like he was wrong.

Tybalt went up to the pirates and in the most pirate-y pirate talk imaginable, challenged them to a drinking competition with Gwen. She was basically "wtf?" and, again, he told her to trust him. He was perfectly pleasant about it, but he repeats it so often that I feel like it's got to be a hang-up of his, especially considering my dim memory of [redacted]. He's trusted enough to be a Lightbringer, but maybe part of him can't really accept it or something.

Anyway! Tybalt's pseudonym was Two-Tibs A'whisker (lmao) and Gwen's was long but shortened to Blackjack. Tybalt challenged the pirates' second mate to a drinking contest at the wager of two gold. The second mate was actually pretty enthusiastic.

I won't get too into the actual mechanics of the drinking competition, which are a bit involved. But Gwen went up against the pirates' "favorite cheap date", One-Drink Drake, who morosely said "I hate you guys." She easily beat him. Then she beat Kiplr the Tippler. Lastly, she (suitably enough!) went up against a Charr, Grana Guzzlemaw. Grana was actually a decent challenge, and when Gwen won, she mumbled "wise one ... teach me ... your ways."

Gwen: .........

The pirates conceded victory to Gwen, and Tybalt showed up in time to demand their winnings from Second Mate Khebril. He (Khebril) left to fetch the gold, and Tybalt quickly caught Gwen up on his search—Demmi was under heavy guard across the water.

Gwen dryly replied, "So there was a plan after all—beyond getting me sloshed, I mean." It actually fits their early-stage dynamic pretty well.

Tybalt:

Yeah, he's definitely fixated on that.

Tybalt and Gwen snuck across the water (presumably after collecting their gold) and tried to talk their way past the guards, but Tybalt's pirate talk failed him and they immediately realized Tybalt and Gwen were intruders. The fight wasn't difficult, though, and from inside, Demmi exclaimed that she'd help if she could get a sword.

After the battle, Demmi went, "Aren't you a little sober to be a pirate?"

That's got to be a Star Wars shout-out, yeah? In any case, Gwen coming off as sober after drinking three pirates under the table affirms my belief that she'd have an iron stomach. Gwen told her that they were there from the Order of Whispers to get her out, Demmi admitted that she'd started to wonder if the order forgot her, and asked about the plan.

Gwen: "Sort of. The idea starts with "run for it" and generally goes downhill from there."

Ha!

So the three of them ran off, fighting pirates along the way, and in the meanwhile, Demmi said, "Some rescue. No wonder you're called the Order of Whispers—nobody would brag about this."

Yeah, definitely a SW reference. Also, don't talk to Tybalt like that >:(

Tybalt: "Watch it, princess."

Good for him.

(Even Gwen might feel reasonably sympathetic there, given her baseline distaste for aristocratic arrogance. She's setting aside a lot of personal feelings to prove herself here.)

After fighting all the pirates, Tybalt said he'd escort Demmi the rest of the way, and Gwen set out to rendezvous with them in Lion's Arch.