Laying out one of her better thread-of-gold gowns and a pair of delicately embroidered slippers on her bed, Lyfrid began dressing herself in front of the horrendous mirror she kept in her private room at the Mercer Manor that sat high on the hillside in Arrowhaven. The petite woman liked fine clothing, shoes and jewelry and spent a good deal of the coins she earned from reading runes on those things. It would be fair to say, the Seer liked all the fine, tangible things. She had been born into a life of privilege but had been denied luxury for a long, long time, but no more.
The fair haired woman planned to go into Bree-town to have dinner at the Prancing Pony Inn. Having heard talk of the place as being where anyone and everyone would go to be seen, she decided to see for herself. Lyfrid would need to look her best. After she slipped into her ensemble, bedecked herself with tasteful jewels, dotted behind her ears with calamus oil and arranged her hair with gold combs, she chose a simple woven hooded cloak with large pockets, swung it around her shoulders then lifted the hood carefully over her hair. Just before leaving her room, she reached into a basket on the bedside table and slipped something into one of those roomy pockets. Curiously, Lyfrid dressed for her own enjoyment that evening, she had no intentions of being seen. In fact, she planned to avoid being seen.
After a short, slow ride, she arrived at the infamous 'Pony' and stepped through the door with high expectations. After all, the only tavern she had been in since arriving in the Breelands was the Warhorse, which wasn't nearly as popular but was very clean, well appointed and had excellent food and spirits. Surely as popular as the Prancing Pony was, it would be grand! In less than five minutes, however, Lyfrid stepped back through the same door, her entire body shuddering. The place didn't look bad from the exterior, but the interior reeked of stale ale, vile perfume and old piss. Out the door she went as fast as her fancy slippers could carry her.
With a disappointed sigh, she descended the steps and Lyfrid stood along the side of the building in the tall grass for a moment to decide what she would do. Right about that moment she spotted Patch coming through the alley between the Inn and the adjoining building, walking right by her then standing in the same patch of tall grass but he never looked her way! Reaching up and rubbing her neck for a moment she made the decision not to draw any attention to herself and began to back around the building. "Why am I not surprised to see you here," she thought to herself then deciding on caution, she reached into her pocket, removed what she was carrying and dropped it in the high grass, never taking her eyes off Patch.
Being fairly certain the broad shouldered Man had not seen her, Lyfrid then moved around the edge of the building, in the opposite direction of the him, pressed tightly to the exterior wall as she skittered out out sight. Toward the back of the Pony she found an empty bench in a dark corner and took a seat, pulling the cloak closed and hood down over her face.
She kept watch on the alley to see if he had followed her. After a few minutes, she was satisfied Patch had not seen nor followed her, so Lyfrid relaxed. Unfortunately, she was wrong. The one-eyed Man had gone around the back of building and now was standing next to her. He had, in fact, seen Lyfrid standing in the grass with him. Her Strangler had followed Lyfrid to the bench in the dark corner, but he wasn't the only one that had followed her that night....
