The party is still drinking at the bar, and Dayne pulls Aelin aside.
Dayne:
“So, uh, what do you usually drink when you’re back home — where is that again?”
Aelin:
“Wouldn’t you like to know.”
Dayne:
“I think it would be importa—”
Aelin:
“I’m… from all around. I’ve lived in both of the major cities… I currently live in Oakbury. And… that’s all you get to know about that :)”
Dayne rolls an Insight check and discovers that Aelin is lying, at least partially.
Dayne:
“Fair enough, it’s not like I expect someone of your persuasion to be immediately forthcoming. Especially when I haven’t really divulged any details of myself. If you haven’t guessed it, I’m from Silverhold. Shocker, I know, but things didn’t exactly turn out well there for me, so. I’m a bit of a drifter. I imagine you’re a bit of a drifter as well. What exactly are you running from, or going towards?”
Dayne is watching her like a hawk for any hint of body reactions, because he knows she has a bit of a silver tongue.
Aelin laughs and breaks eye contact, saying:
“I’m just here for… adventure. I’m here to make friends :)”
Dayne:
“Are you gonna bullshit me all night? You’re here for ‘friends’? Is that really why you’re here? To make friends?”
Aelin:
“Maybe.”
Dayne:
“Yeah? Is that why you have daggers on your hips? To make friends?”
Aelin just stares at him.
Dayne:
“Look, I don’t expect you to give me the details of your whole life story, but if we’re gonna be moving around near each other, I need to know that I’m not gonna wake up with a cut throat or with my coin purse empty.”
Aelin:
“Where’s the fun in that?”
Aelin stops laughing and looks down at her drink, then back up at him and says:
“Listen… someone I knew well died at the hands of the Manaforged. And, let’s just say… that I’m against… that. And if I can find people who — even if they don’t share that common disinterest — if they help me get back at the Manaforged, then I’m all in.”
Dayne:
“…Are you being honest with me?”
Aelin:
“Yes.”
Dayne:
“Maybe you are, maybe you aren’t. But I’ll tell you this: I think we have some commonality in our interests. I have my own bone to pick with the Manaforged. Are you familiar with Silverhold College?”
Aelin:
“I am.”
Dayne:
“Well, my family is… patrons of theirs, and I myself am a recent… dropout, I suppose you could say. But the circumstances of my… premature withdrawal are a little bit dubious. But I have my full intentions of returning — not with a pen and paper, but with my new tools — my spear and shield.”
Aelin chuckles and cheers with Dayne, “to getting back at those who wronged us.”
The next morning, Thulrum offers us a job to take down a gate along the trade route, and our task is essentially just to get the gate open.
We arrive at the gate, and Dayne creates a plan to go in posing as merchants, set off some small fires inside, and use the chaos as a distraction to take the gate.
Aelin hangs back kind of stealthily while the group advances forward, Dayne taking point. Ianoth tries to go in stealth behind Aelin, clearly not understanding the point of the mission or the plan that Dayne had formed.
Aelin questions him as he comes up, kinda towering behind her:
Aelin:
“Um, what are you doing? You’re not a rogue.”
Ianoth:
“I have a plan.”
Aelin:
“…Are we not following Dayne’s plan?”
Ianoth:
“No. We’re gonna sneak up behind these guards and kill them. Then we’re gonna set this outpost on fire, and the other guards will notice Dayne’s big armor and go after him while the rest of us sneak into the city.”
Aelin just deadpans at Ianoth and gets up out of her stealth position, walking back over toward the rest of the group and basically rattling on whatever Ianoth just tried to pull by throwing Dayne under the bus.
Dayne:
“Do you want to explain yourself, Ianoth? Anything?”
Ianoth:
“I beg your pardon?”
Dayne:
“You don’t have to act stupid, she just spoke right in front of both of us and told us what you said.”
Ianoth:
“Oh, well then what say you?” (???????? LMAO)
Dayne:
“I’m wondering why the fuck you listen to my plan and then sneak over to her and try to set up some other notion of a plan that involves using me as a distraction? Do you have an issue that we need to speak about?”
Ianoth:
“Because surely you are the brawniest of us—”
Dayne:
“Don’t bullshit me, drop the act. Look, if you’re gonna stick around with us and we’re gonna go into danger, I’m not gonna have this fucking ploy of you wandering around behind our backs. Look, it’s cute when you’re racist or upset or threatened by me, I don’t really give a fuck about that. But when it comes to putting my life at risk — and the rest of the party’s — you don’t cross that line. So if you want to be prissy and talk behind my back, you can do so in a tavern. But not out here. Do you understand me?”
They go back and forth for a while — Ianoth not really making much sense, just being stubborn and clearly not listening to Dayne.
Ianoth:
“Very well then. Shall we attack them head on?”
Dayne:
“…Is this a fucking joke to you?”
They continue to argue, and it’s eventually decided that Aelin will go up and talk to the guards — after Dayne’s suggestion.
Aelin:
“Well, you know I’m good at making friends!”
They walk up to the gate, and a commoner is yelling and making a ruckus at the gate because he wasn’t allowed through with his band of merchants.
After assessing the situation, Dayne decides to walk up to the guards while Aelin stealths nearby one of the tied-up merchants, ready to make a chaotic distraction if things go poorly.
Dayne walks up and greets the guards, lowkey flirting with one of them, and manages to talk him down to where they only require a city ID card to get in — not a merchant pass or anything.