Roxana is quite surprised by the award of horses. "I'd thought you wouldn't be able to provide horses," she says as she looks over the creatures with a smile. "Or perhaps that was just in advance. It's a wonderful reward!"   She then turns to Rash. "I must say, the horses are probably much more valuable than the coins." She then glances to Anita at his side.  As well as Solitude and Gaer. "There are just the four of us that originally contracted with Lady Martha. But I daresay we've had help. I feel they should get something. Oh, and then the shield - it seems quite valuable too, though I'm not sure how to really evaluate that." 

The red-haired woman shrugs. "I'd certainly take more than one of the horses to forgo the rest, but I'm just not sure that's a very equitable division." 

Roxana then walks over and calmly greets all the other horses, having a look at them.  She's particularly drawn to the extremely unusual all white horse first. 

"Oh  Rash..." Anita laughs "You wrestle devils... and are you afraid of a horse? They are tamed, they'll do you no harm... I never had one, but I think we'll be able to take care of one of them! I recomend you the painted one... I cant tell why, but I have the impression that painted ones are always the best..."

Rash hesitates for another moment...

"I wouldn't say I'm scared of a horse..." Rash says with a chuckle. "But... I've never actually had one..."

He approaches the painted horse slowly, perhaps a bit more cautiously than necessary.

Night conversation between Thia and Spira (hours before now):

Thia is clearly more and more flattered by the tiefling's appreciation: "Thank you Spira! But don't joke..." she laughs "Even if I ardently venerate our Lady Goldheart, Hanali Celani, you are the one whom the gods have blessed with their sacred power... Angharradh herself, of which Hanali Celani is one of the three personifications, acts through you! You are the emissary of Arvandor. It is you who have the true healers' touch!"

At the idea of the home base, the young half-elf girl is enthusiastic: "It would be wonderful! I'm sure Miss Martha will welcome you here as welcome guests as often as you want!"

At the mention of Roxana and Gaer, Thia's eyes become dreamy: "Yes, I have the impression that Lady Goldheart has been particularly busy lately... You know... you can tell when two people are well together... they look for each other... they feel good together... I had this impression for Roxana and Gaer, for Aidwyn and Solitude, for Rash and Anita... Who knows if one day I too will find someone to feel this way with?"

The painted horse calmly observes the half-orc wizard who approaches so slowly. The equine keeps an ear pricked towards him... at a certain point it emits a loud snort from its nose, releasing an impalpable cloud of mucus droplets (before Rash is close enough to be hit by it). Once the hero is close, the horse's large head discreetly approaches the bag of spell components, sniffing... only to retreat a few moments later.

"Did it go badly for you, huh, Piteraq?" Martha comments, amused, then explaining "Piteraq was hoping to find some carrots in your bag, Rash... And if he had found some, he would have immediately assumed it was a nice welcome gift from you! He tends to be a glutton, but does not spare his strength either on the battlefield, or if you are in a hurry and have to ask him to run".

Rash can't help but chuckle.

"Yup, told you I don't know much about horses," he says with a sheepish grin. "Anyone got some carrots?"

"Oh, it's not like feeding this glutton every time you meet him is an obligation..." Martha points out "He's perfectly trained and will obey you anyway..."

But, with unthinkable speed, Thia has already disappeared in the direction of the stable and, before Rash or Martha have time to say anything else, she is already back with some things she keeps hidden behind her back... Under the interested gaze of Piteraq, the half-elf young girl furtively passes a carrot to Rash ("Here, this way you'll get to know each other in the best way"), one to Anita ("Here, so you won't be inferior to Rash!") one to Aidwyn ("Sunny isn't quite as brazenly gluttonous, but you'll see that he'll appreciate it too!"), one to Roxana ("Of course, there's no reason to overlook Snowshine!") and also one to Spira ("So you'll take Synlasu, I guess? Here's something for him!").

"Truly magnificent animals..." Gaer admires them "Healthy... Strong... And you can already tell from how they behave that they have been trained by people who have gained their trust... They will certainly give you great satisfaction," he assures the four original contractors "whether you decide to keep them or you decide to resell them".

'Four horses for four contractors was an easy division...' he thinks, probably believing that the horses had now been assigned 'I'm curious now to see how they will allocate the shield and the money...'

Roxana had not thought horses would be a part of the reward or she'd have brought something. "Thank you Thia. You are remarkably thoughtful," she says as she takes the carrot offered.  Gently patting the horse along the neck, Roxana offers the carrot to the white horse, evidently called Snowshine. 

"Perhaps I could suggest a proposal for dividing the rest." She then pauses a moment, turning to Rash and Spira. "Presuming you two are willing to accept one of these horses as part of the payment?"  She then continues. "It seems Aidwyn wishes to claim not only first choice amongst these horses but also the sole item which seems to have great utility.  However, she is right in that she is likely the best recipient for the shield.  The platinum could then be divided between the remaining 3 of us - 4 apiece.  I imagine the shield is worth more than that, but I'm willing to accept that.  The remaining gold ought to be split amongst Anita, Solitude, and Gaer, as they also helped to bring a happy resolution to Martha and Dobbian's troubles. What do you say? I'm open to other ideas." 

Rash takes the carrot and does his best to win over the horse through its stomach. He listens to Roxanna's suggestion, nodding along.

"That sounds reasonable to me," he says after a moment, moving aside to give Anita a turn feeding the horse. "As long as Piteraq is already thoroughly trained, then we can probably make use of a horse... definitely will make our trip out to see my folks a lot faster, and probably safer than travelling the whole distance on foot. Speaking of... might be a good idea to see if we can't find some light barding for our new equine friend... not exactly planning to ride him into battle, but I might or might not have gotten a little paranoid after that run-in with a pack of goblins..."

(OOC: By the way, has Rash's owl familiar come back yet with any news on Milo?)

Oh, you're right Mister_Whisker, I was forgetting, silly me... 

The owl searched long and hard and... 4

...and returned at dawn, reporting: "I found him, Master. He is heading towards the hills to the east, far from civilization, in company of his wolf. I tried to communicate with him, but he did not understand my words. He quickly realized I was not a common animal, though, and offered me food and hospitality doing then his best to infer at least something, by naming people he knew and observing my reactions. He named you, eventually, Master, so he now knows you greet him and reciprocates. He did not name Anita, though, so I was not able to deliver her greetings also".

In the morning: "Thanks, little fella. Maybe I should have had you take him a note or something... but we'll probably cross paths with him on the way to the orc lands."

Back to the present, the owl is presumably sitting on Rashugri's shoulder while events play out.

"Hold the carrot in the palm of your wide open hand," Martha advises "so you don't risk them accidentally biting your fingers in the rush to show appreciation for your gift..."

Both Snowshine and Piteraq quickly grasp the offered food with their lips (leaving only a slight wet sensation on your open hand - more or less as if they had kissed it passionately) and the carrots ends up in an instant between the horses' large teeth - and shortly after in their stomach.

In the meantime, with Roxana having expressed a possible division of the loot and Rash having accepted, all that remains is to hear the opinion (or any counter-proposals) of Aidwyn and Spira...

Roxana speaks softly to Snowshine as she takes the carrot, continuing to pat the beast's neck. "You are certainly a lovely creature," she says softly. "And I'm sure quite clever too, right? We'll have to get some nice exercise a bit later. You'll lake that, won't you?"  Her voice is very up-beat as she seems very pleased with this reward. 

Eventually, she glances over towards Gaer. "Did you want to come say hello as well? She's very gentle."  

"Thank you!" Gaer's midnight black eyes express deep gratitude and he immediately approaches with a sure step, placing himself next to Snowshine and caressing her elegant neck, her well-formed back, her powerful leg muscles... "Yes, really gentle, as you say..." he exclaims in admiration "and really beautiful..." now finding himself pleasantly close to Roxana, he smiles at her and adds "You two have a lot in common! I have no doubt that you will get along very well".

Roxana leans against Gaer after he'd had a moment to greet Snowshine. "While the horse is fabulous," she pauses a moment to take a look again at the elegant creature, "And probably more valuable than a share of the coins.  But it's not going to provide anything to live off of really."  Her voice hints at a bit of worry. "Guess I'd figured we'd have enough to just relax for a while after this." 

"Don't forget the eight magic Flags..." Gaer casually passes his hand around Roxana's waist, letting her lean against him to make her feel a reassuring closeness "For now we haven't sold them, since among the various hypotheses there is still the return to the secret prison, but when we have finished, sell them we will! And you will see... I'm pretty sure they will have no small value!"

"One of their powers" the tiefling reasons "seems to be that of being able to illuminate in a safe and permanent way... This is no small feat. Quspira had once told me about a spell of this kind... and I remember her mentioning that creating such an effect required (in addition to the necessary magical skill) precious materials costing no less than 50gp! Do you hear me? 50gp! And we have 8 of them! So, don't worry, I'm sure we'll earn enough to live a comfortable life, while waiting for the next assignment".

Roxana gives Gaer a nudge, and a slight laugh. "Yes, you keep mentioning those flags! Of course those could bring some money.  Though at the moment I'm wary of letting go if them if someone might use them to get into that place. Well, and like you said, we'd need those if we go back there."  She pauses a moment, looking at the others a moment before glancing back to Gaer. "Do you suppose many of the others will want to go back? It would be odd to not have the group."

After a few more moments pause Roxana sighs. "I suppose I should head by The Gilded Horseshoe later too. Let them know I'm back."

"Oh, to sell them, we don't need to explain that they have other uses than providing unquenchable light that doesn't set anything on fire" Gaer observes. "If you add to this that no one except us (and now Colin) knows about the secret prison... No, I'd say we can sell them without fear of anything, once we're sure we don't need them. What could go wrong?"

Roxana gives Gaer a look. "Oh yes, usually I find if someone asks 'what could go wrong' then something could go wrong!" She says this with a laugh, again nudging against him slightly. "But you are right about not revealing the source of the flags themselves to buyers."