GM:
The various murmurs and grumblings from the crowd gradually coalesce into something along the lines of "Fine, let the prisoners go - we'll hear your story, and if we don't like it then we can still sacrifice you."
The prisoners collectively determine to seize the moment rather than risk a cautious delay, and they scatter in twos and threes. The townsfolk then close in a little more. Ready to hear you, and ready to be dissatisfied with your tale.
And then suddenly there is a change in their demeanor. Like a wave passing through, you see one face after another shift from wary skepticism to passivity with a hint of disorientation. And the same voices start to pipe up again, gentler than before, calling out "Well, go on then, what's this guidance you have for us?"
Istvan is pleased at first, and then realizes the people are probably just being affected by the new spell to calm them down.
Well, it's fighting fire with fire, one supposes. At least none of it was his idea.
He waits for, indeed, the story of how the moon got broken and so on, which after all he doesn't know himself.
Or waits for the official party line about it, at least...