"I could go to the town's constable and ask about it", Neide observed, "I am... or, at least, I can still pretend to be... a soldier of Alara. Soldiers of Alara are tasked with upholding justice, so I don't think it'd be seen as strange, if I went to the constable and demanded some explanation..."

"That's brilliant! I honestly hadn't thought of that!" said Aden. He pauses. "...Of course, there's the risk that they've already been warned to be on the lookout for a runaway Alaran woman... but we took that risk just by coming here and showing ourselves, and no one's pointed and shouted 'hey, that must be them!' yet, so..."

"We can always break you out, if they arrest you or something..." says Ondreya...
This message was last edited by the player at 16:22, Sat 24 Aug 2019.

"Again?", Neide smirked, "Now that would be humiliating..."

She tilted her head slightly.

"I say we try this. I don't think the risk is that big - and if we manage to help out with this trouble, it'd be good for both us and the town..."

"So... the plan is for you, by yourself, to approach one of the constables and talk to them...?"

"Not necessarily by myself", Neide replied, "I think you could come with me to lend some weight to my questions. But yes, that'd my plan... Do you think it's no good?"

As she spoke, her tone of voice wasn't confrontational - she was honestly open to Kerran's objections.

"I will come if you want... but my thought was that it sounds like the constabulary has already had enough badgering for results from both the followers of Veles and Noric... they may not be glad to see me..."
This message was last edited by the player at 16:39, Wed 28 Aug 2019.

Neide pouted her lips slightly.

"That might be right...", she agreed, "I'll go alone, then. We'll see what the constables know... or care to share"

She furrowed her brow, struck by a sudden idea.

"But what if the constables are involved in all of this? Wouldn't approaching them tip them off that we're looking at the matter? Maybe it'd be better to talk to some locals first... like our innkeeper, for once?"

"Sure, let's go do that, then," shrugs Aden.


Soon you are back in front of the innkeeper.

"Hullo, hullo, folks..." He lowers his voice to a stage whisper. "Did you, ah... talk to... that fellow...?"

"Yes", Neide replied to the innkeeper, keeping her voice low, "Can we talk somewhere more... private? Could you come to my room in a moment?"

The innkeeper swallows, hard. "...J-j-j-just me...? And you...?"

"You and *all of us*", Neide said, "Please come to my room discreetly in a moment..."

She motioned for her friends to follow her, then headed upstairs to her room.

"Oh, well, er, all right then..." He follows you to the room in question.

After the innkeeper arrived to the room, Neide approached him.

"All right", she said, keeping her voice low, "We visited the temple of Veles and we learned of... the trouble. What can *you* tell us about these happenings..?"

"...What? Er, nothing much... I mean, they're obviously done by one or more deranged followers of Noric to frame those of us who follow Veles..."

"Hmm", Neide nodded, "And do you have any suspicions who exactly might be doing this? Also, what can you tell me about the constables - do you think they are trustworthy? Or could they be involved in all of this?"

"It's funny that you asked me that... I think it's obviously one of us, because it's someone who knows the town... since the people doing it never attack the wrong people, and strangers in the town wouldn't know who to attack, would they? How would they know?"



"Hmph! I wouldn't have thought so before, but right now I definitely think they could be involved. I think they're covering up for someone... Which is particularly frightening, because it makes me wonder if the temple of Noric doesn't know who's behind it all..."

"It's a serious accusation...", Neide observed, "Is there any specific reason you think the constables might be hiding something?"

"Oh! Oh, it's not an accusation... I don't have any proof... except that, well, shouldn't they have caught someone by now, or-- or be doing something...?"

"And you think they aren't doing anything?", Neide inquired, "You didn't heard of them talking to people, trying to get to the bottom of things? This is an honest question - we're trying to decide whom we can trust in this whole matter"

She looked at the innkeeper seriously.

"We are willing to try helping you. But, as you understand, we have to move carefully. The person or people behind these crimes might be dangerous, also toward us..."

"Bah... sure, they talked a lot at first, and they talk to people after each new crime, but what comes of it? Nothing! Not even an arrest!"




"Oh, sure, sure... but you're an Alaran, right? You're a soldier! What do you ever have to be afraid of, eh...?"

"I'm but *one* soldier, though...", Neide couldn't help chuckling, "It's not like I could defend myself against a crowd of bandits... or a sneaky assasin".

She gave the innkeeper a nod.

"Thank you everything you told us...", she said, "As I said, we'll try to get to the bottom of this. I can't promise anything, though... we're just pilgrims, after all."

She saw the innkeeper to the door. Then, she turned to her companions.

"So...", she asked, "... what do you think? If you ask me, it doesn't seem to me like the constables are suspect in any way..."

"I think we can take the innkeeper's views as representative of everyone else in town," said Aden, "but I also agree that there's nothing that particularly points to the constables being in on anything. Sounds more like everyone's just angry with them for not being able to put a stop to it..."

Neide nodded.

"That's my impression, too", she said, "Of course, we might be wrong, but - so far - it seems to me that there'd be no harm in me approaching the constables to talk."

She eyed her companions.

"So, are we all agreed regarding this plan? If so, I'll go and try to talk to the constables' commander now..."

They all seem agreed, so Neide heads to the gaol, where the constabulary are located.

When she walks in, the officer on duty is reading over some paperwork, frowning. He looks up when Neide comes in, then does a double-take-- her Alaran armor clearly gets his attention. He stands up. "Yes, er, what can I do for you?"

As Neide walked toward the gaol, she couldn't help feeling anxious. What if Bredon's guards learned of her desertion somehow? She might be walking straight into another prison cell... Still, she managed to push her worries out of her mind - and, when she entered the gaol, she tried to present a stern and confident face to the guards.

"You can take me to your commander", she replied to the officer who greeted her, "There is a matter I'd like to discuss..."