Lazarus didn't really relish the thought of traveling two days with these... odd, fellows as prisoners, but he would if that is what the group decided. Still...

Lazarus leaned over to whisper to his fellow adventurers. "Since it is so far, shouldn't we go turn them in back in town, then go out and search for Dreorus without these ball-and-chains weighing us down? Now that we know what we are looking for and which direction to go. The people people of Vorbund might even decide to pay us to go investigate, even though we were already planning to investigate regardless."

"Yes, I approve of this. Let's ditch these people in Vorbund and go looking ourselves-- I like that paid-to-investigate part, too, I think," whispers Istvan.

"Very well. The people of Vorbrud will be thankful, I have no doubt." Lucius happily agrees.

Thistle grins, and then realizes she's nodding in agreement with the prisoner's assertion that not everyplace worthy of a name has to be all about the humans.  She quickly changes her nod to one in agreement with Lazarus's proposal instead.

Still, it occurs to her, she needn't entirely ignore the sentiment.  "It sounds lovely," she says to the prisoner, sincerely.  "What brings you so far away from it, hiding away from the Moonlight," she gestures towards the mine entrance, "and trading in flesh?"

The other prisoner cuts in before the talkative one can answer.  "Doncher worry about tha'," he says.  "We do our Lord's will, same as anyone else.  When ye get there ye'll unnerstan'."

"We'll see about that," Lazarus replied to the prisoners now that his fellow adventurers seemed to have come to a concensus about what to do with the prisoners. "Unfortunately it is impractical to bring you all that way with us, seeing as how we do not quite trust you yet. I'm sure you can understand. We will need to leave you in town for a few days while we go check things out, then will come back for you if we find you have told us the truth."

Of course Lazarus had no real belief that they would find anything that would inspire him to free the prisoners again. Still, he was curious to see if an extended time away from their homeland would help clear away the prisoners' seemingly zealous and delusional mindsets.

Once you've more or less figured out your plan of action, the four of you get back on the road, with your prisoners between you.  It's a fairly long walk, but you make it back to Vorbrud before noon.  The guards at the gate ask about your prisoners, and suggest taking them to the Sheriff to deal with them further.

Have any of you ever dealt with the Sheriff of Vorbrud before?

And do you take your prisoners to the Sheriff, or do you dispose of them some other way?

"Should we do as they suggest? Take these guys to the sheriff?" Lazarus asked his fellow adventurers. "I have run into her a couple times in the past. May or may not have spent a night in the residence of the law. Which isn't exactly a rare occurrence for people around here... But from what I have seen, she doesn't hold grudges against people and people don't usually hold grudges against her."

"We should turn these people to the authorities. What other options are there? From what you're telling us of her, she seems like the right person."

Sheriff Elenda can most often be found in a stone building that would maybe be considered the "keep" in a diminutive fortress.  Lazarus knows, for one reason or another, that there are a few holding cells and a small barracks on the ground floor, and storage in the basement.  You don't thinkthe sheriff lives in that building, but you're not entirely sure.

In any case, your party arrives to find her standing at the doorway arguing with a well-dressed gentleman who looks vaguely familiar, though he might just have that kind of face.

"...If you're that worried about counterfeit art, you can go talk to one of the barons in Lutilia!  Here in Vorbrud I have more serious problems to deal with!  Like-" she notices you approaching, gestures in your direction, and continues "-vigilantes bringing me prisoners."  She then turns to you and says impatiently "And what did they do?

"These are the guys that were paying the goblins to kidnap people so they could use them as slaves," Lazarus said plainly, and with zero effort to keep the information discrete. "We were hoping you could keep them nice and safe in one of your cells so we can go check out the place they came from. I have a hunch they might be under the influence of some mind-altering magic (and not the fun kind), so I am curious if the influence will lessen if they are kept away from home."

Everyone within earshot (the guards, the guy complaining about counterfeits, and about a dozen other people walking through the street) stops in their tracks and turns toward you when Lazarus mentions slaves.  The sheriff takes a deep breath, and then says, slowly and clearly, "That is a very serious accusation you are making.  What evidence do you have to back it up?"

The talkative hostage starts to say "Matyokol needs us to-" until the other one elbows him in the ribs to shut him up.

"Hmm. We do not have any tangible evidence..." Lucius admits, sweat slowly forming on his brow. "We interrogated some goblins which led us to the cave where these people had their hideout. They confessed to their transgressions, saying they are worshippers of Matyokol and they were taking the slaves to Dreorus, a few days to the north. I intend to find out what happens to these slaves."

He exhaled, gathering whatever resolve he had in him, and puffed his chest a little, exposing the tabard with the blazing sun. "I give my solemn word as a Paladin of the Sun, what I said is true. I will rescue the slaves from the peril and I ask for your trust and cooperation."

18:14, Today: Lucius rolled 9 using 2d6+2.  Parley - word of a paladin?

GM, please check OOC.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:02, Mon 30 Mar 2020.

Sheriff Elenda knows that the word of a paladin is a serious offer, and she treats it as such.  She replies "Very well.  I will take these two off your hands.  Maybe they will repeat their confession to me.  Or maybe you will come back in several days with some additional evidence.  And if you are being less than completely truthful with me, then I'm sure the Order of the Sun will settle the matter."

Lucius - come to think of it, who is your immediate superior in the Order?  Are they here in Vorbrud, or somewhere else?

Lucius laughs nervously, but his chuckle dies down quickly. "Ah, y-yes. Paladin Greybeard has a way with people... If that is all, we have preparations to make before tomorrow."

Lucius' direct superior would be Paladin Durtik Greybeard. Real hardass. Believes in discipline above all. No sense of humour.

Are paladins humans only? Cause Durtik feels like a dwarf.

Lucius, like most other younger paladins, treats him with a mixture of hatred and respect.

The Order of the Sun has a central headquarters in the Great Holy City of Haspia, and most of its members act as sort of knight-errants. Durtik would be in the headquarters, training new paladins.

Lazarus nodded goodbye to the good sheriff, glad that the turning over of the prisoners went so smoothly.

To his teammates, he asked, "So what all should we do before leaving town? Buy some supplies? I'm broke myself, so I only plan on seeing if I can get my book back, then I am ready to depart. But if you all have shopping lists, I'm sure I could spend an hour or two trying to earn some spare coin."

"I must steel myself for the road ahead, and ask for guidance from the Sun. I should be good on equipment..." Lucius takes a peek into his bag, and closes it with a satisfied expression.

"I'm doing well enough on supplies... and in any event, I have no money, so..." says Istvan...
This message was last edited by the player at 19:45, Wed 01 Apr 2020.

The Order of the Sun is mostly made up of humans, but accepts anyone who will take its vows seriously.  That definitely includes a handful of dwarves.

If Lucius needs a couple hours to prepare himself, are the rest of you doing anything interesting during this time, or just hanging around?

Thistle wanders off, curiously.  She hasn't spent much time in big cities like this and wants to get a feeling for how their spirit moves.  After not too long, she finds herself sitting amiably with a shepherd's dog.

OOC: I know this isn't actually a big city, but for Thistle... anyway, would this give her time to Contemplate a dog's essence and add them to her collection?

...oh, that sounds so creepy when I put it like that.

Lazarus went to go see if he could get the items back that they had used for collateral the last time they were in town. Then, if he didn't experience any trouble, the wizard figures he would try to scrounge up a bit of extra coin with some street performance. He found people were often more impressed with good sleight of hand than flashy cantrips, so he usually blended his minor wizardry with mundane legerdemain.

---

This seems like it is probably a Cha roll, so here is one:
23:01, Today: Lazarus Steel rolled 5 using 2d6+1.  The ole razzle dazzle!
Aaaaand that's an XP...
This message was last edited by the player at 04:03, Sun 05 Apr 2020.

Lazarus does get the collateral back, along with a free drink to thank him for his work.

The street performance... well, it's not that Lazarus does badly exactly, of course not, it's just that he could have done a lot better if this other guy wasn't distracting him.

Jackdaw, that's you - what are you doing that's throwing Lazarus off his game?

Thistle - the dog isn't just staying in one place the whole time.  What do you do to avoid getting chased off as some kind of weirdo dog stalker?  Or do you just accept that risk and go with it?

Thistle trails around with the dog, letting it show her the town.  It is, in fact, exactly what she was looking for.

OOC: Thistle is far more aware of the dog than people, so she will be quite oblivious to whatever strange looks she might be getting.

Jackdaw was just loitering around these market streets that look fakingly colorful for a local but that doesn't stop people from visiting it often as it maintains several trolley carts for foods, games and other attractions. These streets are all too familiar for this young lad who is short and lithe in stature not because he is a seller but because too often has he treaded this place at nights when mists engulf the place and low lamp-lights illuminate the streets at odd alternating spaces.

But, today it was just a casual stroll and his eyes met this peculiar man who was showing tricks of cards to entertain the people gathered around him. He was not a charlatan though he was clearly mysterious. He entered the crowd and went close to the front as this man was showing how a card vanished from his wrist only reappear from his collar. Jackdaw was confident of making card disappear from any other place so clapped in fake excitement and asked the man politely, "Wow, that was awesome my good sir! Are you a magician?" While he was questioning the man, he palmed one card and showed it to the crowd, as the people got startled by the arrival of another person from nowhere. He then showed it to the magician and back to the crowd and made the card disappear from his finger, only to reappear from his other hand thumb. He made it disappear from there, only to reappear from his elbow and again made it disappear, only to make it reappear from his pocket.

OOC: I am totally new to the game, do I have to roll anything to make this happen?

Thistle is indeed oblivious to the looks she receives.  The important thing is that after a couple hours of intense study, she feels very familiar with the form and behavior of a typical dog (mastiffs and teacup poodles might be a little beyond her, at least for now).  And at the end of that time, she finds herself across the street from a small crowd where Lazarus appears to be matching wits with some other guy doing card tricks, much to the bemusement of the onlookers.

Jackdaw - technically no roll required; you showing up and messing around is the result of Lazarus's bad roll in his previous post.

That said, if the two of you would like to compete to see who can win the crowd over, or just for personal pride, or whatever, you can both roll 2d6+Dex and we'll see what happens with that.  Although it's an opposed roll, the usual rule applies that you get 1xp if your total is 6 or lower.