Greg felt her heart sink like a stone when the girl mentioned a "mistress"
Jesus Christ in a Party Hat!!!! The priestess thought angrily.   She's one of THEM, isn't she!

We don't want to hurt you, young lady.  Who is  your mistress?  Was the woman who led the beast men?

Actually, Greg DID want to hurt the girl, partly out of frustration, and partly to put the probably brain-washed bimbo out of her own misery.
But, the cleric thought, that's not what Farlanghn teaches.  One must give mercy and succor to travelers until they try to harm you.
Still, there was no reason not to try to get some information out of the girl, especially if they could find out the name of the crazy cult leader.

He glanced back at Dan, nodding sadly.
Yes.  It seems that our "pea" was under a different "walnut". 

Of course, this opened up the idea: Was the princess even WITH the cult?  It seemed like a long shot that the psycho woman would know about the princess and that they were looking for her unless she HAD had her, but..... well, stranger things have happened.

"Mistress?  Oh great, we've kidnapped a cultist." Cassander said wryly, turning her attention back to the woods around them.  It wasn't a bad bit of deception actually.  Cast a bit of glamour over a cultist and lure them in.  Next time, we cast Dispell Magic on the captive.

"So I guess we're back to square one in trying to find our Princess.  Let's head to the rooms."  She turned and started to walk towards the Inn and paused.  Turning back to face the girl formerly referred to as Princess, Cassander thought for a moment.  "What are we going to do with her?  We can't leave her here to run back to the guys who were trying to kill us.  I guess we'll have to take her with us."

Dan was hesitant. "That's not too wise. All manner of things could happen if we take her with us" He said, turning to her with glaring eyes. "But she still is a person, we can't just ditch her in the wild" Dan continued, scratching his head and looking down in thought. He put his hand on his chin for a few seconds before turning back to her. He moved over to the woman and knelt down to be eye-level with her. He didn't say anything for a bit before asking calmly, "What was the last thing you remember?"

Though Cassander's idea of keeping the cultist around, possibly to interfere with them at a later date, was galling, Greg wasn't too keen on just letting her go, either.

If the authorities are willing to forgive our "shenanigans" from earlier tonight, especially after we tell them about the cult (assuming that they're not all members), perhaps we can turn her over to the local police.  Perhaps they can find her family?

Oh right.  She's a person.  Cassander grimaced at her mental slip.  "I don't like the idea of taking her with us either, but I like the idea of her telling of us even less.  I guess leaving her with the local authorities could work just as well."

She glanced around at the dimly lit streets.  "We could look for a guardsman or sheriff or whatever they call them here."

Greg nodded to Tizona and looked at the girl, trying to give a look of strength with compassion.
Kind of like my own mother, eh? she thought to herself. Cripes!  If she could only SEE her "baby boy" now, right?

What's your name, young lady?  How did you come to be here?

O Farlanghn, give me the strength to help this girl and to NOT give in to the urge to slap her "upside" the head until she renounces her"mistress".!

Dan looked back up at them hesitantly. "Eh... well, I didn't exactly go up to the authorities. I was thinking maybe we just lie low and try not to draw attention" He assured them. Maybe they had forgiven them but he wasn't so sure.

"Oh, right.  Good point.  They might not have taken too kindly to our busting up the bar earlier."  And would definitely not have appreciated the bolt of lightning that I called down.

She slung the bow over a shoulder and crossed her arms over her chest.  It took her a few tries to do so.  Tizona was rather well endowed in the chest and it made for some near comical attempts at crossing arms.  "I don't have the energy for a sleep spell.  We could just tie her up or knock her out."

Cassander was trying hard not to look at the girl now.  There were unfamiliar pangings when she thought of the poor girl taken away from her family by a cult.  Cassander had to remain objective and not start to feel something for the girl.  It was too late of course but she could still try.  "Maybe we could get her drunk..."

Sarah heads up with the girl and checks the rooms over, making sure they're worth the money she shelled out for them. Once she's satisfied, she heads down and waits for the party to return.

Since the bald girl hadn't answered their questions, Greg could only assume that she wouldn't, so as not to betray her "mistress".
I could approach the authorities and tell out story, unless you think it too risky.
Or, we could find the biggest church in the area, perhaps one of the more militant ones, like Heironeous or St. Cuthbert, if they exist here, and leave her with them, since the more "bible-thumping" types here would probably love to be able to get in the way of this "cult".   

Taking hold of her holy symbol, she took a deep breath.
Also, I might have a spell that can give us more information.

Greg looked over at Tizona and the others, and began speaking Elven.

My "Detect Thoughts" spell, might give us some information about what she knows about the cult and herself, especially if, when I give the signal, you begin asking her those specific questions.

Lucille, the halfling, tries hard not to stare at Sarah but fails miserably.  Sarahs new ears and tail are just too out of the ordinary for the girl to keep from staring at.  Several times she looks like she wants to say something but seems to shy away from the idea at the last minute.

She leads Sarah to the four rooms that they've paid for.  The rooms are fairly simple, consisting of a bed, a dresser with a pitcher of water and a bowl, a chair and a small window.  There are a few candles for illumination which are not lit at the moment.

As Sarah finishes examining the rooms and just as she turns to head back down to the others, she hears a faint whispering in her head, as though the wind has carried a voice through the Inn.  "Come outside, little pup.  We must speak."

-----

The bald girl looks up at Greg, Dan and Cassander.  "My name...is...is Ula and I am one of Nymuriels faithful.  She will protect me from you.  You will not harm my soul.  Let me go or...or..."  She seems to be putting up a brave front but it's easy to see that she's scared.

Sarah raises an eyebrow and heads outside, glancing around but not leaving the area near the front door.

Greg had never dealt with cult mentalities before.
Sure,there was the Church of Christ guys in his dorm who tried to recruit the "college Greg", but nothing like THIS.

Not sure how to talk to the girl, Greg says:
Ula, listen to me, please.  We don't want to hurt you.  Your soul is your own to do with what you will.   But  Nymuriel kidnapped our princess and is holding her against her will.  She tried to kill us when we came to talk to her in order to get her back.  We don't want to hurt anyone, sweetie, but we must get our princess back.  She misses her home and needs us. 

Greg wanted to point out that Nymuriel, assuming that she was the leader, had treated Ula as a disposable object, and basically discarded her to be killed, theoretically, by her enemies.
However, the pretty cleric remembered psychology classes about cults.  Members treated their leaders like abused spouses treated their abusers.
They loved them,  no matter what, and always justified the evil that was done them.  Until she was ready to look at the crazy cult leader objectively, any attempt to point out Nymuriel's flaws would only backfire, and  make Ula dig in deeper in her devotion and defense of the twisted woman.

Greg turned to Tizona and John, if she was there, speaking in Elvish again.

My Detect Thoughts spell would be wasted here, I think.
If she's so unvalued by her leader that she'd be thrown away as bait, then she's probably too low in the cult to know anything.   I say we just take her to the nearest church.
They can keep her to deprogram, or turn her over to the town guard themselves.    Sound okay to you guys?

For some reason, Dan didn't really share their predjudice towards this girl. Sure she was a cultist and maybe this scared act was just that, an act. But she hadn't knifed them yet or done anything hostile so he had no reason to hate her. maybe it was just his own sense of morality, maybe it was Kenjinn's love for beautiful women (which he hoped would not cloud his thoughts around his friends) but he just didn't really want to backstab some girl they really just met right now.

Supposedly, Greg started with a plan, but she was speaking that wierd language again. He knew they were elves, but they did know not everyone else was? Regardless, he guess they were planning on leaving her with a church from what she said before. "If you're going to leave her with a church, you should know they'd would 'purify' her right away, and she already said she doesn't want people mucking with her soul" He told them, assuming that's what they were talking about. "Say what you want about the lawful, they always want to destroy the chaotic" Dan felt strange as he grouped people by alignments, but what he said seemed true. He tried to bargain with the cultists multiple times, the others seemed content to fight them.

With that, he rose and walked back over to Ula. "I don't think she needs us too much, and you're obviously a nobody in the cult if you're the scapegoat of the plan. You say you're a faithful? I suppose that'd be pretty one-sided then" He said, turning to the rest and winking. If they could somehow slay some of her trust to the cult, hopefully she wouldn't betray them if she ended up tagging along. Just a backup plan. "If she put you as the scapegoat, I'm guessing she couldn't care less about your safety. We could've just done something soon as your spell wore off, but we didn't. Mucking with souls isn't on our agenda either so stop with your worrying" This could backfire (and probably would with their track record), but it was still worth a try. Plus they might get something out of her this way.

Greg hadn't noticed that Dan was back from the Inn.   She wondered if he spoke Elven.  If  not, she'd explain later.  It was more important to her that the cultist not understand them.

Than Dan started to badmouth the cult leader, if only a little.  Greg tried not to wince, assuming that the tactic would backfire.  Then again, she realized, Dan was a charming SOB, and might have a much better chance to "convert" the girl than any of the "other" girls did.
Greg wasn't sure about "souls", but the girl's mind had certainly been "mucked with".   Any of the civilized religions, no matter how annoyingly proselytizing, would be an improvement over the "beast cult', as far as she was concerned.   Still, she let Kenjinn give it a try.

Greg stayed silent as Dan talked.
The Bard really did have a beautiful speaking voice.  Smooth and melodious, giving the impression that his listener was the most important person in the world.
The cleric started wondering what it would be like to be serenaded by that voice.
It made Barry White sound like Pee Wee Herman.  The elven woman's thoughts drifted slightly to thinking about Kenjinn, outside her window, playing a song on his lute dedicated to her beauty....

Gah!!!  She blinked in self-conscious surprise.   Where the HELL did THAT come from?
Maybe she WAS getting tired after all?

Blushing a little, she returned her attention to the scene before her.

Cassander stood a pace back to let Dan do his thing.  She really had no other idea but Kenjinn was a bit of a charmer.  He did pretty well with the cult leader so she'd let him have a crack at the girl.  It would be so much easier if she wasn't a physical person but just an NPC name with a couple of stats.  Yet she was as real as any of them, and the thought of what they might do to her made Tizona feel a little ill.  Tizona had her own personality quirks but mindlessly spilling blood wasn't one of them.

Heaven help me if this is some maternal instinct, Cassander thought wryly.  That line of thinking would lead to more uncomfortable questions, so she decided to avoid thinking all together.

She continued to watch Dan speak and noticed an odd little smile on Gregs face.  The cleric was looking at Dan with a funny look, almost a dreamy admiration.  Aliana started and blushed and Tizona instantly giggled at the reaction.

Giggled?  Cassander shook her head to clear away more thoughts, thoughts of a decidedly feminine nature, and tried to watch the scene in front of her.

Ula looks up at Kenjinn.  "I'm not a...a scapegoat.  Nymuriel loves us all.  He takes care of us and protects us from those that want to hurt us.  And he's going to take us to paradise."  The girl says with a confidence born from daily repetition.  "He's going to take us to paradise where we'll all be Kings and Queens.  I just had to do my part, so I'm not a scapegoat."

He?!?  crap.
Greg's almond shaped eyes narrowed.  So, 'freaky cult lady' WASN'T the leader?  So, either Nymuriel appeared female but told "her" followers that she was male (and it was a tribute to the freakishness of her own situation that Greg's mind went to that possibility first),  OR, 'freaky cult lady' was either Nymurial's minion OR the leader of a different cult, and had kiddnaped Ula to use as a pawn, much to the real Nymuriel's dismay.
Was she a willing accomplace in the deception of looking like the princess? That would explain "doing my part".   Still, her surprise at seeing them seemed to indicate that she wasn't FULLY informed of every possible twist in "the plan".

Is was depressing to consider that Greg and several of her friends started out this "adventure" changing not only their gender, but their RACE, and THEN it got more complicated.

Still, Greg's own preoccupation with changed gender couldn't shake that "Nymuriel" meant "Not-Muriel".   Perhaps her mind was just too tired to think about this rationally.


Speaking very gently, Greg crouched near the sitting woman and looked into her eyes.
Ula, would you tell us about Nymuriel?  Please?  I think I've got them mixed up with someone else, and if they're really your true family, we want to take you back there.  Could you tell us a little about them?

"You want to know about...about Nymuriel?" the girl asks in a tone that is equal parts suspicious and surprised.  Seeing this as an opportunity to possibly bring others into the fold, she answers.  "Nymuriel is a new order among the chaos of the old gods.  He wants to help all our races to live peacefully but this worlds gods opposed him and cast him down.  Now he seeks to leave this world and bring his faithful with him to a new world where we can fulfill our souls desires."

"I'm sure that he will welcome you, as he welcomes all who come before him.  I...I could...take you to him."

I might like that, Ula.
Greg told the girl, soothingly, trying to keep the trepidation and condescention out of her voice.
The prospect of meeting a being more powerful than "crazy cult lady" (especially when Greg KNEW that the gods, at least on this world, were real), was a bit chilling, especially if kidnapping (or the appearance of kidnapping) and murder were among Nymuriel's "commandments".
Also, despite the elf girl's own "conversion", she remembered days when she (or, rather, HE) had endured proselytizing from "his" bible-thumping grandparents and other assorted relatives.  Even the newfound faith that Greg has found would NOT result in "going door to door".   That kind of "you MUST join us" mentality was horrifying to her.
Still, perhaps playing along would teach them something.

The woman in that keep?  The one who commanded the beast-men?  Is SHE a follower of Nymuriel too?  What IS your soul's desire, Ula?  That....that actually sounds kind of nice....

What was GREG's soul's desire?  It was a sticky question, at the moment.

This 'Nymuriel' sounded like a competent cult leader, in that he was bat-crazy insane. The gods may be real here but their zealots seemed as annoying as ever. He figured Greg was going along with this but was still somewhat vigilant. Greg was a bit strange as of late, though he didn't know the person that well in the first place. He didn't like the idea of tricking underlings to get inside a cult, but it seemed a logical option. Okay, maybe not logical but practical. Okay, maybe not practical but worth a shot anyway.

This talk of a 'new world' uneased him. He was still on edge about these people ever making it to their world. If they did, all sorts of crap would happen. Simple cultists probably wouldn't do much to modern millitary forces, but if we found a way here or a kingdom here discovered how the cultists got through... that would be a disaster. The last thing he wanted to make was a interdimensional war between worlds.

He'd still have to play dubious to make this plan work though. Having all the group instantly want to join this cult would be way to suspicious. "A new order? What's wrong with the current one? Also you don't seem very peaceful. Giant werebears aren't axactly what you'd think of when you think pristine peacful paradise" He wanted to learn more about how these people were getting Werebears anyway. From what he knew, they were not common.

Cassander listened to the girls little introduction to this Nymuriel person and tried to hide her skepticism from showing.  She couldn't deny that there were powerful forces at work in this World, she was tossing around arcane fireballs for pete's sake, but she was suspicious about this cults reasoning.  A quick glance over at Dan told her that she was not alone in this.  Greg was another story.  Either she was a really convincing actress or she might be...well Cassander didn't want to think about the alternative.

Gregs weird cheerfulness in the tower was troubling her.  Cassander didn't know too much about Greg, or Aliana for that matter, but being a cleric meant that she was a believer in a higher power and probably readily able to believe in the promises of other gods.  Cripes, does that sound odd?  Cassanders own religious leanings were a little more fuzzy, although Tizona had made offerings to Fharlaghn and some of the elven deities.

Still, if this Nymuriel was so powerful, wouldn't they have heard about him?  At least Aliana should recognize the name.  Both Dan and Gregs questions were good ones, and Cassander had some of her own.  "I'm really curious as to why that...lady wanted us to jump into that pit."

Greg kept her face pleasant and friendly, but inwardly  hoped that Dan's skeptical tone wouldn't be seen as confrontational or adversarial.
Greg had enough experience with overly religious people to know that they tended to become angry and irrationally defensive if you pointed out that their beliefs made no sense.   He still had nightmares about the "Boston Church of Christ" and that one prayer meeting he'd gone to.  It had only taken four "But Why?"s before the "college Greg" had been treated like a mean-spirited, hateful child, then as a curious adult.

I wonder what would happen of those guys could see me NOW? She thought with just a bit of amusement.

The questions from all three seem to bombard the girl.  She hesitates before answering.  "I don't know what woman in the keep you mean...unless...unless you are talking about the Voice of Nymuriel.  She is the highest of the faithful."

She looks at Dan and gives him a curious look.  "There is much wrong with this world, you just have to open your eyes to see it.  War, hunger, death and strife where there should be none.  The werefolk are trying to help us and we've welcomed them into our fold, as well as elves, Dwarves and other free folk.  I don't know anything about throwing people into a pit."

"If you want to know more, I can take you to someone who can explain everything to you."

"Hey, Kenji...uhm...buddy!" The man from the Inn staggers up to the assembled group.  He claps a friendly hand on Dans shoulder and gives the Elves an appreciative wink.  Leaning in close to Dan, the smell of alcohol strong on his breath, he speaks softly.  "I was thinking, buddy.  Maybe you need some help with the ladies and I'm sort of inbetween jobs..."

He stops and gives a surprised look at the girl that is being questioned.  "Ula?!

Greg was glad that Ula had been able to debate Dan instead of retreating into defensive dogma "sound-bites", like many "faithful".  It was a good sign.
The cleric suspected that Ula was just a nobody in the "organization", as was obvious by the way she was so casually thrown to Nymuriel's "enemies" as bait.   Greg wasn't surprised to hear that Ula knew  nothing about the strange pit, despite having dangled over it less than an hour eariler.

Greg doubted that Ula would believe anything bad about the werepeople, or the "Voice of Nymuriel" (a job title that screamed "leader of a fake cult").  The elf maiden was trying to remember if the "Voice"'s spells had been wizard or cleric spells.  She seemed to remember them as mage spells, like Cassanders, but everything had been so confusing, especially at the end.

Yes, Ula, I'd like to meet this person who can "explain everything".  Please.   We may have to do it in the morning, but I really want hear more about this.

Then the drunk "townie" had approached.  Greg blushed at the "help with the ladies" comment, feeling even more exposed and vulnerable (and very, very female) than she did back at the keep, but then the man recognized Ula.

Greg watched intently.  Their conversation should be enlightening.