Once they were back in the suite for the evening, Rae began to get excited, and dropped a pile of cloth into Karl’s hands.
[This is for everyone.] She insisted.
“Presents from Rae.” Karl explained, then wondered how to sort the silk.
That proved to be much easier than expected, as she had stitched everyone’s name inside what turned out to be a set of comfy flowing nightgowns of the non-sexy sort that Karl associated with his grandmother. The only difference was that these were all soft silk, not cheap cotton repurposed from flour sacks.
“Thank you, Rae. This looks even more comfortable than the last set of night clothes you made me.” Dana giggled.
She had only found a few chances to wear those ones since the first time, as they were rather skimpy for casual wear. But this one she could wear all the time, and she would never have to worry about it being dirty or frayed, as Rae’s clothing options always bonded to the wearer.
Karl went to the other room to change so that he wasn’t accused of peeping on the clerics. But what he found was a whole room full of oversized bunk beds.
They were six metres long and three metres wide, suitable for even the largest of Trolls and Minotaurs to get comfortable. Yet even with his size buffed by Brutality, Karl was only a third that size.
One thing was certain, none of them would actually need to climb the ladder to the upper bunks tonight. They might do it anyhow, but it wouldn’t be necessary.
He changed quickly, leaving his dinner outfit carefully folded on one of the end tables. The staff could clean and store that for the next visitor after he left. The others came in only a minute later, and Lotus laughed as she pulled back one of the massive blankets.
“Can we share? Just turn down the other side of the bed, and we can sleep sideways.” She suggested.
Karl and Ophelia would only be a little shorter than the bed that way, but it should work just fine.
Tessa got to work, moving pillows and folding down the other side of the blanket.
“So, how are we going to work this?” She asked as she finished the work.
Lotus pointed at the pillows in order. “Dana, Karl, Ophelia, me, you.”
“So you’re still next to me, but you get to cuddle the Werebear? That makes sense.”
Lotus looked proud of herself. “And she’s close to the same size as Karl, so they’re well-matched.”
Ophelia ran a hand down her nightgown, then down Tessa’s back.
“Can you ask Rae why mine is different?” [Anti-static for furry friends.]
“She says that this version shouldn’t generate static against your fur. That will make you less frizzy in the morning. Though, the staff did a wonderful job of brushing you today, and I’m sure you wouldn’t mind an excuse to do it again.”
Ophelia laughed. “I wonder if we can hire a Satyr maid to come with us, just for grooming purposes? They’re better at it than anyone I’ve ever met.”
“I can talk to them and see if there is a hiring location in town with maids who don’t mind travelling.” Karl suggested.
Lotus smirked. “Can you imagine the look on their faces when we tell them that we want to bring the maid outside the country, and maybe bring her back next year on our way through?”
“I don’t think that we will be able to find one with that proposal. Perhaps a human or a half troll, but not a Satyr.” Ophelia noted.
Lotus pointed at Ophelia and smirked. “We should ask that bear working the portal at Bruse Temple if he wants to come along and groom you for a living. I bet he would say yes.”
Ophelia thumped the wayward cleric on the head and frowned. “I don’t need that sort of attention, especially not from a Dire Bear.”
They all settled into bed, with Ophelia turned away from Karl so she could make Lotus her little spoon. Karl did the same with Dana, and that was how they were when the maids came in to wake them in the morning.
“Do you think that they…”
“That would have to cause internal damage, right?”
“Forget that, the bear and her teddy are so cute.”
“No, that’s a cleric. Adorable.” Their whispers woke Karl, which startled the maids. They had a lot of experience speaking softly, so they didn’t bother guests.
They bowed politely and one of them began to speak quietly.
“Sir, your group has been cleared to leave at your leisure. Breakfast will be ready in one hour if your group wishes to dine with the other guests.” She informed him.
“That sounds lovely. Can you send in some assistants to help the ladies get ready? We have somewhat suitable travel garb.” Karl replied.
The maid bowed, and Ophelia got up out of bed, still holding Lotus, whose arms were wrapped around the Werebear’s neck.
Karl nodded to her and headed out for the men’s shower room, with a guard escorting him. They could sort out their sleepiest members while he got ready.
Moving from the bed woke Dana up, and the disappearance of Lotus woke Tessa, so they were all mobile bright and early. Early enough that Karl even had time to carefully blend the perfumes to perfectly match the scent he had worn the day before.
Then he pocketed a small sample of each, so he could do it again if he needed.
With his preparations finished, Karl returned to the suite to find the ladies getting their hair done. [Don’t wait outside. I want to see how that works.] Remi insisted.
“I’ll be on the sofa while you all finish up.” Karl informed the maid, who was trying to tame Dana’s curls.
They eventually settled on a loose bun that let her curls hang out the bottom. Nothing else would stay, and random strands kept escaping, as Dana refused the use of “an army of bobby pins” as she put it.
The maids looked very proud of their work, and the way that they’d managed to make the ladies look elegant even in their travel outfits.
For the Clerics, that was their fancy robes, Ophelia was in her new coat and pants with a silk sash, and Dana had gone for the hoodie and cargo pants Rae made for her, instead of her actual travel clothes, which were closer to the Spellblade uniform, and covered her face.
The guest dining hall held about thirty overdressed monsters, mostly transformed into humanoid forms. One Chimera preferred to eat in his natural form, but Karl saw that many of the others were wearing amulets with the Fortress insignia on them. [Rae, those are the transformation spells, right? What are the chances we could get one of those to study?] Karl asked as he took his seat.
Rae considered it for a few seconds. [I would say close to one hundred percent. I’ve taken six of them so far.]
Well, that was one way to do things. Karl hadn’t even noticed her taking them, so there was a good chance nobody else had either. There was also no way for anyone else to prove that Karl had them, even if they noticed them missing.
The only issue was that they didn’t actually have a team member who wanted to be human shaped.