Stranbrai was in the midst of being tugged down the alley. It was obvious to her why she had been separated from the others. Oaguz had a basic plan and she needed Stranbrai to stop focusing. She smiled as she considered that. The only problem was that Oaguz forgot one thing when they sent her off. She needed a little help with that.
"Shritoo, my head ain't right for this party. Let's get wasted first!" She called out to her companion. Shritoo stopped to look at her for the barest of seconds before nodding and dragging her off again. Her friend was always a hard one to read. Honestly, no one knows how Grizt found her in the first place besides the two of them. Shritoo rarely if ever talks and Grizt refused to talk about what had happened back then. However, that wasn't important. What was important was that she needed to help saving the chief. Fact of the matter is that Stranbrai isn't all that fit and has a serious issue of over thinking to the point of being unable to act.
She pulled herself out of her thoughts as she noted that the had come to a stop. Sure enough Shritoo was looking at a small building. It stuck out from the surroundings as it had an oddly less fancy appearance to it. What caught her attention was the sign itself. It still bothered her how odd the tattoo seemed to be. It seemed to work off of a connection between master and slave. Anything that the master considered necessary to know that had a shared basis was given to the slave to better serve. An example would be language. If you know to speak a language of a similar complexity, you will be able to understand and naturally speak your master's language. In this case, the ability to read had also been transferred since she could read her native language.
~I wonder if that would mean that Oaguz might have an expanded list of languages. I mean, she was already multilingual and if the princess's knowledge of foreign cultures is any indication, then she might know all the languages the princess knows instead of just her native one. I know for a fact I haven't been able to find any such knowledge setting in the back of my skull. Hmm, I wonder how it wo-~
Stranbrai found herself being brought of her thoughts once again by her elegant compatriot. This time with a slap. She was pointing to the sign. ~Oh, right. She can't read.~
"Yup, that's what we're looking for alright. Though it is odd that they didn't use a pictograph sign..."
~Then again it's likely because everyone who uses this quarter is supposed to be literate. That or maybe it's a way of making it so-~
This time she was slapped twice,"Ow, ok! I get it. Let's go into the bar and I'll get what I need.," she was slapped again,"What was that for!?"
Shritoo just glared before slapping her again," You have brains. Think."
Stranbrai groaned in irritation before going into a sprint to get some space between her and her assailant. She knew what she had to do as she got to the door. She needed to help the Chief.
She hadn't always been a member of a gang of goblins running amok through Godara. She was actually a general's daughter. That's right, she was born with status and power and had a formal education. She was known for being quite receptive to learning at the time. However, her favorite thing had always been to challenge her father to games. Her favorites had always been the ones involving strategy much to her father's delight. Things were actually looking well for the first half of her life. Especially since her father was actually making great progress serving under his lord. They were actually coming close to uniting Godara.
Sadly. It all came to an end, and with it, Stranbrai's happy life with her father was over. It was still unknown why he did what he did, but it didn't matter. The man had betrayed his lord at a critical moment and caused the war to continue for longer than it should have. In his attempted coup, her father had murdered the lord and his family and brought about a total collapse to the house and its power. However, he had died in the attempt. The question of why had left an indelible mark on her mind. She lost her confidence and would constantly try to second guess herself and question everything around. It had left her in a state where her greatest strength was crippled and with motivation. A strategist who couldn't pick a plan and follow it was useless. Even more so, she was the daughter of a known traitor. She lost everything and found herself a beggar just trying to get by from day to day.
At least, that was until the Chief came into her life.
"Well, you look like hell," commented a voice to the beggar with a chuckle. She gave it no mind, she was obviously enjoying her suffering,"Oh? Not gonna bother with me, eh?"
"Boss, she's clearly doing bad enough. What's even the point in picking on her?" said another voice more sternly.
"Hey now, who said I'm here to bully? It's not like that at all. It's just I remember her is all!" The other seemed bothered by the accusation as she replied. This was not good. If she knew her and was talking to her, it could only mean one thing. Stranbrai quickly rose from her spot on the street side where she'd been taking a rest from begging. However before she could make herself scarce, she felt a firm grip on her shoulder. ~What should I do? She's a woman, so that limits some of the easier options for getting out of this predicament. However, that should mean... But based on her speech pattern... Not mention her friend....~
She was suddenly snapped out of it by shaking," Helloooo! Done thinking?"
Stranbrai found herself looking at a pair of odd goblins. Or rather one rather odd goblin and her friend. After all, it's not everyday you see someone with violet skin in Godara.
"Look, I know what my father did was wrong. So please just let me be," She pleaded with the odd woman.
"Look yourself, why in the hells would I care about your old man? He already got what was coming to him for the mess he caused. Ways I see it, you got a load a crap ya didn't deserve. So how 'bout we all head to the bar and talk it out over a nice drink?" the crazy lady offered. Her friend seemed confused at what was going on at first, but smiled and gave her a nod. It was that day she discovered the wonders of alcohol and made the best decision in her life. She agreed to follow Grizt.
Suddenly, a foot slammed down on her own. HARD! Stranbrai let out a yelp of pain only to have her mouth grabbed and held open for liquid to flood in. She near choked one wine that had been poured down her throat. She kept desperately trying to gulp it down to get some air. Eventually she was let go and she fell to the ground gasping for air. A very comfortable fog was rolling into her mind. A welcomed old friend had finally come to visit again.
The first thing she did when she stood back up was to tap a spot right under Shritoo's nose. The look of shock before she suddenly backed up in a rather large sneeze was hilarious. As was the look on her face when she noticed the bottle was missing from her hand. Stranbrai was laughing uproarious in triumph when Shritoo the tripped on said bottle and fell.
"Just as I calculated! That'll teach you to hit me. I know how you really feel about it all and understand, but that is no excuse to take it out on me! Don't give me that look unless you want me to tell the others the truth on that little matter! Good! Now here's what we need to do!"
Just like back then, it was exhilarating. She could finally act on impulse again. She may be out of motivation, but give her enough impulsiveness with her lightweight resistance to alcohol and she could make things happen. Oh the things she could in this state. It was a pity the others considered it a bad idea to leave her like this. However, she had to agree it was the right call. The fact was that the amount of alcohol needed to keep her like this was too much. She'd likely have died from the poisoning a long time ago. However, that didn't matter. What did was dealing with the Bitch and getting her Chief back.
Not even a second had passed before she cracked a smile," You, go down that alley and take the third right into the square. She'll be arriving there shortly. Don't worry about me. I have to take care of the back up. That is none of your concern. I don't care Shritoo. Same reason as always Shritoo. It's better you didn't know that. Bye!"
Shritoo never even had a chance to say or express anything but confusion in the end before nodding in what she knew was resignation. Quite frankly, it was fun being able to easily get a read on her and predict the sum total of her thought processes while manipulating her. So fun in fact she was laughing out loud at the retreating Shritoo.
~Ah, the joys of just doing things again!~
Now, Stranbrai had an appointment a certain white pain in the ass. They were going to have some words. She was probably down the other alley hiding. The inebriated goblin happily skipped towards the next part of her plan.