Delilah bumps into Rodrick one early morning in the kitchen, bringing in a few doves she'd caught. "Oh! Hey, Rodrick. I--" She looks sheepish. "Mind if I... ask for some fatherly advice?"

Rodrick mumbles around his breakfast. "Go for it!"

She sets the birds down on the counter and takes a seat, trying to collect her thoughts.

He grabs a clean mug and pours a coffee, sliding it across the table along with a freshly baked muffin.

She catches it and gratefully takes a sip, relaxing her shoulders. She smiles. "The muffin smells nice. Are those Ruck's seasonings?"

He nods. "Ruck keeps some ready to make mixes that I can just add wet ingredients to! Today's muffins are lemon raspberry."

Delilah takes periodic bites and is silent for several minutes. Partly from thinking and partly from how delicious it is. "Well... If... If someone were to find a-- a bad guy," she brushes some crumbs around on the table. "What would be the right thing to do?" She looks sincerely up at Rodrick, a very clear look in her eyes.

"Would-- would it-- is it be right to... To give them a taste of their own medicine? To just kill em? Save the world from their influence? Protect other innocents that way... Or, exact... Ironic justice? A punishment to fit the crimes?"

Rodrick pops a piece of muffin in his mouth, chewing thoughtfully. "Well... I guess that would depend on how bad of a person we're talking..." he swallows and follows it with a sip of his coffee. "Are we talking a petty thief or someone who's murdered simply for the sake of taking a life...? Like Hikaru's uncle?"

"They..." she gets quiet. She remembers Hikaru saying something about it, and mumbles, "...he's kinda like Hikaru's uncle, yes."

"I don't... I really don't know what I'd do. What would you do, Rodrick?"

"Well, if he truly is evil... then I'd kill him."

Delilah nods, slowly sipping at her coffee.

*** (Later that evening)***

Having found a room in the rundown castle the cultists were using for alchemy, Rolland happily sets to work cleaning up and discarding their filthy equipment. Having thrown the last bit of useless or broken items away, he sits down on the stool and pulls out his hand carved oak pipe, packed with the fragrant emerald shimmerleaf, and lights it, putting his feet up on a nearby stool and relaxes for a bit, admiring the cleanliness he was able to achieve.

Delilah cautiously peers in the open door to the alchemy room, giving a small smile. "I thought I smelled your shimmerleaf down this way." She glances around in the hall, looking a bit jittery. "I haven't ventured down here much since-- well... It looks nicer. Ya'll really changed this place. Mind if I...?" She looks inclined to join him.

Rolland smiles and gestures to another nearby stool. "But of course, Lady! By all means!" He puffs a smoke ring and smiles as it changes color to a vibrant green.

She seems to breathe a sigh of relief, retreating to the seat to relax. She retrieves her own cherry wood pipe he so lovingly made for her, still grateful it was in her possessions. Tamping down a bit of the dried leaves, she glances over. "What do you think? This fancy, old, beat up place...?"

He cocks his head to the side and glances upward, as if thinking. Eventually he takes a swig from his flask and offers it to Ruby. "I think it was downright nice... once... and that with a bit of hard work from everyone, it could be right nice again..."

She nods in silent agreement, eyeing the flask. She looks like she wants to politely decline but hesitates. Taking it she downs a small swig.

"Tasty fruit juice, eh?" He smiles.

Her eyes light up at the taste. "It is! I-- sorry, I forgot you keep juice in this." She chuckles, handing it back.

He throws his head back laughing. "Yeah, no worries Lady! I don't wanna put my scotch in here just in case somebody needs a drink that don't like scotch! No sense wasting good alcohol on poor tastebuds!" He puffs on his pipe and looks around the room once again, as if something could have moved on it's own.

She smiles, blushing. "That's a fair enough statement. And kind of you." She watches him a moment. Always amazed at his charm that even she'd get flustered at, and she used to do that for a living...

"Hey, are you gonna be... Setting up shop here, perhaps?" She looks thoughtful.

He nods, blowing smoke out his nostrils. "Yeah, I may as well. Seeming like we're gonna be here a mite, and since Rodrick let my alchemy station get blown up on the airship, I figure the damned cultists don't need this one anymore..." he grins.

Delilah snickers, taking a few small puffs of her pipe. "Surely so. May I... be your first customer? Once you're up and running?" She smiles sheepishly.

He looks at her, a slight look of confusion on his face. "Uhh, sure? I kinda figured if you wanted something made we'd do it together. Rodrick kept saying you wanted to do some alchemy with me whenever I got 'round to doing some."

"I do, I..." She fiddles with her pipe. "You're just... Really good at what you do. Some of what I need... You think I'd be able to learn it? I wouldn't be a hindrance?"

He smiles broadly. "My dearest Ruby... you'd be no hindrance at all. I'd love the company, and I'm sure you can learn whatever you set your mind to!" He grabs an odd looking briefcase and sets it on the desk, opening it to reveal a padded vial case, containing all sorts of potions, salves, ointments, and balms. "I have these already made, but we can make whatever you're interested in."

She blushes again from the kindness. "Thank you, Rolland. I'd be mighty grateful to learn from a master like yourself." She eyes what he has, giving it some thought.

Reaching into her bag, she pulls out a large bundle of sageroot. "Well I found these, if you needed more. I do want to replenish my supply of healing salve, and learn how to make it proper-like."

He grins mischievously. "Proper-like according to Tarj alchemists or proper-like from ancient recipes that they have banned?"

A half smile grows on her face. "Well... That's too intriguing to pass up now, you sly fox." She chuckles. "Teach me what you know. I'm... I'm not worried what the church thinks."

He grabs a small vial from his suitcase and spins it, then tosses it from one hand to the other. Inside, you see a purple flower with bright yellow tips. "This is nightshade. Bloody deadly if ingested or if you use too much... that's why the church doesn't use it... but, just a bit of it in your healing salve, and it will a totally neutralize most toxins and poisons!" He beams.

Her eyes widen as she eyes it. "That's impressive. It's a beautiful flower..."

"I usually like salves... Less breakable than a potion. More area. But..." she furrows her brow. "Would there be a way to make a concentrate? In some kind of... Capsule?"

He takes a puff from his pipe, and looks off into the distance, as if thumbing through a mental book. "Like, something you swallow?"

"Yeah. Even if just a powder, or liquid... Still fast acting but..."

"We would have to look at different ingredients, because salves are topical and only work on the wound itself... but I don't see why we couldn't make a potion like that!" He stands up and walks over, giving Ruby a hug. "You're a genius!"

Flustered, she blushes red and hugs him genuinely back. "T--thanks Rolland. I've just had a lot of time to think about things, I guess." She mumbles quietly, "I missed you guys... I'm so glad to be with you again."

"Missed you too, ya pretty lady... don't go scarin' me like that again, please..." he steps back and takes off his coat, hanging it on the hook by the door along with his tie. He rolls his sleeves up and using a piece of silk, pulls his hair back out of his way. "I would think it'd be similar to a healing potion, but we boil it down to a thick liquid and then encapsulate it..."

She nods, trying to focus and follow along. "You don't think the boiling process will break down the chemical bonds too much, do you?"

He smiles. "Not if it's a cold boil..."

She gives him a funny look. "What in the world is a cold boil? That sounds like an oxymoron?"

He pulls out a fancy looking container that has a large glass beaker suspended inside it with a small spout leading to it. "We put water in the pot and all our ingredients inside the glass beaker. We keep the top part of the beaker cold with either ice or cold water, using this..." he holds up a metal tray that fits overtop the whole contraption. "The water boils, heating the potion and condenses it, but doesn't dissipate the potency because it never actually boils." He grins.

"Another thing the church outlawed, because if I make a poison with this... it can basically kill on contact."

She stares at it for a long, fascinated moment, unblinking. "By chance, did you use the Wyrmtongue petals with this already?"

He smirks and turns around, going back to his vial case. "You mean these?" He comes back over holding two vials of the bright red petals suspended in a preserving liquid. "I had to use one... damned harpy in the rift..."

She looks at them, a funny expression on her face. Contemplating. "How well did it work on the harpy?"

"They have a pretty weak immune system, so the nasty beast crumpled over dead within seconds... why do you ask?" He sits down and begins tossing one of the vials up and down absentmindedly.

She watches him, somewhat distracted. "Um, I..." shaking her head to clear it of her mental fog, she tries to focus again. "I'm just... Curious." She looks around the cleaned room again, as if searching for something.

She reaches into her bag again, pulling out another satchel of brown paper. Inside is a fresh bundle of grimnettle. "This grows everywhere around here. They were using this to keep me and other prisoners.... Subdued." She says the word distastefully. Taking a piece and eyeing it, Delilah puts it in her mouth. She chews on it thoughtfully.

Rolland makes a sour face. "Nasty stuff, that..."

"It really is." Delilah swallows it, her voice a touch raspier. "They overused it a bit on me. I got cocky, and they didn't like that it wasn't as effective as it should be." She looks away. "But it made me think, hey... I could build up more resistance to this, so...the next time I meet someone with it... I won't go down." She looks guiltily over at Rolland.

(Lolol,, nat 20 insight!) "The next time, eh? You do realize who you're talking to... right? I can tell when someone is lying or skirting the truth. What is it you aren't telling me?"

She almost pouts... before letting out a hoarse chuckle. "You are too clever. I.... I know there's more out there. More cultists. No one found my silk rope from Balgor, did they?"

"And their airships... Armella and I saw where one....was. Past tense." She frowns.

"I didn't see your silk rope, sorry Lady... but... I'm still thinking there's something dodgy you aren't talking about..."

"I know who has it then." She crosses her arms and leans on the table. She looks away. "I asked Rod for some advice... It was about...Cyrus. The captain of the cultists who took me."

"That the bloke you asked about the wyrmtongue petals for...?"

She nods, and grows quiet. "I... I killed some people, Rolland... On that ship. I ain't ever done that before." Her hands shake a little but she rubs them to still them. "But that... Vile fellow, he bested me twice. I couldn't kill him then. Hesitation. Weakness. Whatever it was, I don't wanna miss the third chance. Whenever I get it, I... I have to be ready."
"For the sake of anyone else he may hurt..."

"Killing someone like that... sometimes it is what needs to be done. Not to be done lightly, or in every situation, but sometimes there's just no other answer. When someone is just pure evil... there ain't no other way sometimes." He puffs his pipe, blowing the smoke out his nostrils before rummaging around in his vial box, setting a vial of glowing orange liquid on the table, followed by one of jet black, and finally one of a swirling purple liquid that looks like it has metallic flakes in it. 

Delilah mulls over his words as he sets the vials on the table. One or two seem familiar, but she's not sure what he's getting at. "Sorry for being a downer. Whatda have here, Rolland?"

"Firelord's fuel, concentrated shadow, the flame liquid from the Dolor dragon, and wyrmtongue petals." He touches each vial as he says the name. "I've been thinking of trying to combine them into an extremely potent contact poison... should work wonders on this Cyrus bloke, if you want it." He looks at Ruby, a pained look in his eye. "I can't change what happened to ya, Lady... all I can do is give ya the tools to help right the wrong."

Delilah meets his eyes and senses the heartache and genuine sentiment in that gaze. "I appreciate that, Rolland, I..." She glances at the vials. "Is what I'm hoping to do.... Justice? You think I can do this? I want to, I just-- I--" She looks nervous, and brushes a hand against the scar running up to her ear.

"Justice and revenge are closely related. You gotta figure out why you want him dead. Is it because of what he did to you, or because you don't want someone else to have to endure it?" He pulls out a mortar and pestle and begins grinding a wyrmtongue petal into a paste.

She watches him work for a long while. Hesitating, she quietly says, "...What if it's both?"

"That's a dangerous slope to start down. Revenge isn't easy to recover from. You start off telling yourself it's just one person, and before you know it you're waging war against a whole church in a 10 ton mech..."

She can't help but smile a little at that, and thinking how far Rodrick-and the others--have come from then. "I see your point."

"I wouldn't..." she pauses. "Hikaru mentioned torture... Giving this guy a taste of his own medicine. I couldn't do that. I told him I didn't want him doin' none of that either." Delilah looks confused. "I'm not sure if this would be along those lines or not. I just... I need to overpower him fast. That's all. When he has time to react, he..." she trails off, remembering.

"If this works like I'm planning, he'll be in agonizing pain for all of about twenty seconds tops, and then dead. The concentrated shadow burns skin on contact, creating a small wound for the rest to get into his bloodstream. Firelord's fuel will thin his blood to the point it can't coagulate, making it so he can't stop the poison. The wyrmtongue petals will eventually kill him once it reaches his heart... and the Dolor dragon liquid? Well... I'm not sure, but it does some crazy things when mixed with other chemicals!"

She nods, curiously watching him. "That's really impressive, Rolland! I'm floored by your ingenuity sometimes... That should work perfectly."

"Perhaps I can load some in my hummingbird... I... Don't fancy gettin' close to him. But if I have to, I can match him now..."she pulls out a pair of daggers she found in the keep upstairs. "Just gotta get past my own bloody rope..."

Rolland gets a pondering look on his face. "You know... I bet if you loaded this into one of those immolation cartridges of Rodrick's and shot it, you could pressurize his entire system with the poison in mere seconds..."

She looks a bit terrified at the idea. "T--that's true... Hmm..."

Delilah fishes out her old notebook of Ruby's and starts sketching information, notes, ideas... Everything she could remember and is learning from Rolland. She wants to be a good student.

"So... this Cyrus bloke... judging by how you can still talk after munching on that grim nettle... I'm guessing he dosed you with it quite often? And he has your magic rope?"

She looks sheepish, her nose in her book. "Y--yeah. It was hard to keep track of time there. But... Probably made me drink it every few hours or so? Near the end of the trip it felt like every half hour." She has an ill look on her face. "As a concentrate it was horrid... Like a bubbling soda and acid. The leaves ain't peachy but they aren't nearly as terrible."

"They cold boiled it... smart. Cruel, but smart."

"Yeah... If anything he just fed it to me more cause I started fightin' more. I wasn't feeling so right in the head after... after some time. But I stopped caring, I guess. I'd spit it back in his face and mock him."

"Torture can mess with one's mind... not to mention these cultists were worshipers of Mephistopheles, so I'm sure they were creepy as well..."

She visibly twitches at the name. "Y--yeah. Well, I guess... One guy there, Gerald, he was half decent to me as far as they went. But the rest... All insane. Turnin' me into that, too. Cyrus got my rope when..." her face grows kinda blank. "Honest to goodness, I almost just want it back on principle. But I... I dunno if I could use it again."

"You don't have to tell me what happened if you don't want to, but just know that talking about traumatic situations usually helps you work past them..." Finally satisfied with the paste, he mixes in the orange liquid of Firelord's fuel and slowly candy carefully stirs with a wooden spoon.

She bites her lip, mulling that over. She watches him work the concoction together, the colors mixing with a pungent sort of smell. Delilah sets her book down gently. "I suppose you're right. You always have been..."

"Well when I was aware enough the first day, they had me in a holding cell. I wriggled free, grabbed my rope an'--" she winces. "I broke the necks o' the fellas watching me. I got on deck but that's when he caught me the first time." She looks away, rubbing her shoulder. "I missed stabbin' him in the neck. He didn't miss. And that damn nettle... Took me down like a lamb it did."

"He weren't nice about gettin' me healed up... Nor me carrying on crying out. So..." she shrugs, nodding to the nettle again. "That nicer cultist, Gerald I think his name was, he was kind but dumb. Gave me my rope without thinking twice. I nailed the next fellow watchin' me. He was a piece of work."

"Thought if I saw Cyrus again... I could charm my way out. Or in..." she smirks. "Ask to join, ya know? I..." She chuckles, embarrassed. "I tried to think like you."

"Think like me? Well... you took on a whole ship full of cultists... sounds like you're a lot braver than me. Had I been in your shoes, I would have let Rhys take over and handle things..." Rolland shrugs and looks away.

She laughs. "Well... I didn't know what I was up against... I thought my wit and playing their game would help me better if I was that outnumbered. I've picked up some from you." She adds, teasingly.

"Well, I'm glad I was able to teach you something useful!" He grabs the vial of concentrated shadow and uncorks it, slowly pouring it into the mixture.

She nods, watching. "Cyrus wasn't sold though... Almost. He tried to get in my head. We went back to my room to discuss and... I was me, but not. I suddenly... Didn't mind him? Then I did... Then I gave him my rope, and then I--" she stops short. "He called Mephistopheles."

"I don't remember much... Just... Like I wasn't in my mind any more... I couldn't..." She looks blank, and her eyes tear up a bit.

Rolland jolts, nearly spilling the mixture. "He did what?!"

She almost doesn't notice she's so lost in thought. "W-what?"

"He called that... that asshole?"

She blinks. "I-- Uh..." she brushes her sleeve past her nose. "Yeah he... He spoke. When he started talking was... Was when my mind got fuzzy. It was... Overbearing. Powerful. Mortifying. I... I was somewhere dark. It felt like the only time it'd relent was when I'd say... Say..." she trails off quietly.

"What he told you to..." Rolland finishes for her. A look of familiarity in his eye. "I've dealt with something similar..."

She looks up, confused, imploring, not realizing tears are rolling down her face.

"I spent time in hell, remember...? Let's just say not everything was pleasant..." he pulls out a handkerchief and hands to her.

She takes it, suddenly becoming more aware again. She hurriedly dries her face, mumbling a very sincere apology. "I-- That's right, of course..."

"No apology necessary, my dear Lady..." he merely smiles and continues working.

Delilah watches him, thinking about that. About what he had to endure as a child, when he would see his mom there... Before... Before everything. Suddenly her eyes widen again, remembering her promise to him. His mom! She looks borderline frantic. "Rolland?! Rolland we were right there, then! Did-- did we-- I promised Rodrick that--" she puts her hands to her mouth, scared she screwed up their chance. "...Did we find your mom?"

Rolland smiles broadly. "Yes, Rhys was able to talk with her briefly. She had some business to take care of back in the hells, so she returned with Nerezza, but she is safe."

Delilah's fears relax almost immediately upon hearing the good news. "Oh that's wonderful... So wonderful. I'm glad she's okay, Rolland."

"I hope some day I get the chance to meet her, too."

"As am I... I think she would like that..." Rolland grabs the final vial off the counter, pouring it into the mixture and slowly stirring it with the wooden spoon. The liquid comes together into a swirling liquid of orange, black, and purple with metallic flakes drifting throughout it.

"Now, to test it." Rolland takes and dips a leaf into it and quickly lifts it out, moving it away from the rest of the solution. The leaf sizzles and dries up almost instantly, curling and smoldering before bursting into flames.

"Tarj Almighty--!!" Delilah jumps backwards a bit at the sudden emulsification, watching in awe. "That sure did wonders... It's rather terrifying."

Rolland drops the burning leaf into a bucket of water, and watches in total amazement as the flames spread across the water instead of being extinguished. "Well I'll be... I think we just created a downright nasty contact poison... but what'll it do if it gets into your bloodstream?"

Her eyes widen. "I'm scared to even consider it. Is... Is this safe to handle? I was thinking of lacing my blades with it, but I'm scared I'd cut myself." Her brow furrows in thought.
Rolland grins coyly. "Well, maybe not your current knives... but a pair like these, sure!"

He waves his empty hand in between himself and Ruby with a flourish, and when it stops, resting in his hand is a dagger, the blade right next to the hilt stamped with the insignia of Iron Falcon Armory's top grade weapons. "Ragnar calls it an injection knife."

Rolland pulls out a vial of water and loads it into the handle, pressing a small button at the back and then holds it up for Ruby to see as a thin bead of water runs down the blade.

"W...woah..." She eyes it with intense curiosity, a very awestruck chuckle escaping her. "This is... This is amazing! You really do always have tricks up your sleeve, don't you? The workmanship of this is immaculate..."

"Ragnar has three levels of work that he does. His baseline, he calls his Talons line. The mid grade is referred to as the Wings line. His top grade items are called the Feather line... and then there is a secret line, above them all..." he points at the insignia on the blade. "They're just referred to as Falcons."

"I see... It's... It's masterful." She glances down at the cultist blades she'd picked up from her room, and the crudely, mass produced, rough metal looks laughable in comparison.

She looks back at Rolland, her face determined. "How.. How would one-- what would it take to get a pair that works like that? Even something just a fraction like yours?" She sits back, thinking. Planning. "I'll do anything I can for you-- Ragnar, the others. Whatever you need."

Rolland smiles, spinning the dagger in his hand. "Well, since Ragnar's shop got blown to hell his prices have skyrocketed. People aren't sure if he's going to recover... but for you, I'm sure he'll give you a good deal."

Rolland brushes his free hand through his hair and down to scratch his neck, but his hand comes back holding an identical dagger. "In fact, I know he will..." he smiles, placing the daggers in Ruby's hands.

She looks terribly shocked and glances between the daggers and Rolland. Her mouth opens and shuts a few times, not sure what to day. She looks about to cry, but bites it back. "Thank you.. Thank you both." She shakes her head, trailing off. "But please... Let me earn them. I can't take them for nothing, I..."

"You helped me make these potions. You're helping Ragnar overcome his battle with the shadows. You helped Rodrick see his errors in fighting blindly through anger. You befriended Ruck when most people won't. You trust Rhys with your life. You've earned them, Lady... trust me." Rolland smiles broadly.

Delilah seems struck by that. The two of them had certainly come a long way since she first met him in Alwyn. She stifles a small sob and hugs Rolland gratefully.

Rolland hugs her back. "Ragnar made a pair of sheathes for them as well... the belt has loops to hold injection vials, so they won't be rattling around loose in a bag."

She laughs a little. "Well that's a smart idea. Mighty dangerous if they crack together and break."

Sitting back down she holds the daggers, getting a feel for them. "They feel so... I don't even know how to describe it. It's completely different."

"I know we only have so much time. But... In between the alchemy, doing repairs, Rod's help with the villagers, if.. If there is any free time, might I get some tips from you how to use these properly?"