As the others talked, Bristle continued to sit silently and watch Whisper. Both of her. She mulled over the questions her companions were asking and watched how Whisper reacted to them being asked. But Bristle did not add any new questions of her own. Not yet anyway. She was currently in observation mode.

Noticing Voh'ren's gesture from the corner of his eye, Caleb shook his head slightly and kept his weapon raised. "She can still attack us through those bodies, and better they die than end up like that librarian."

As the others ignored Whisper and threw their ideas around, he snorted derisively. "Whatever. Not like there's anything that would excuse what she's done, and I'd bet my last coin she's not going to tell us her whole plan. And I'm not in the mood to feed your ego, witch, so try and kill us or leave already." He said, directing the last sentence Whisper's way.

The Banker grins and says, "Oh, charming, you really want to know the full story?"

"That's unfortunate," the guard continues, so smoothly that they might as well have been a single voice, or two trained actors. "You see, I have a philosophy that stories are like food. They're best when they're kept spicy, served over several courses, and keep you wanting more right...until...the end."

The guard opens the lock of Whisper's cell, then unlocks the one you're in as well, while the Banker continues to talk. "In any case, I really have no animosity towards you. Just because we happen to be on opposing sides in this conflict doesn't mean there's any need for us to be personal enemies. The food was a mere courtesy. Hospitality, you might call it. Also, I'm hungry, and it's always so uncomfortable to eat while people watch you without food, don't you think?"

"Thank you for the courtesy, I guess?" Bristle said disingenuously. "Unfortunately, after seeing what you are capable of and your insistence on keeping your goals secretive, we really have no option but to be on opposing sides. Maybe we could be persuaded if you were a little more open and honest with us, but I don't foresee that happening." Bristle stopped scratching Firea and stood up once more.

"And so, you force us to seek out answers for ourselves. For instance, let's see what answers this provides." On that note, Bristle clasped her unholy symbol and wove a divine spell of dispelling, targeted through the bars at the guard. Either nothing would happen (as she expected), or Whisper might be expelled from the woman's body. Both possible results would prove to be informative.

---

Casting Dispel Magic on the Whisper guard. It should dispel the highest level magic of caster level 6 or lower that is affecting the guard. Meh.

20:56, Today: Bristle Chonk rolled 17 using 1d20+7.  Dispel caster level check.
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic...ells/d/dispel-magic/

"Ooh, are negotiations deteriorating?" the guard says. "How quaint! How positively fresh!" She stretches. "Are you sure you don't want to talk some more? Because frankly, my dears, this isn't a fight that ends well for you. I mean, think about it. If you kill me, what story will you spin for our dear friend Captain Bale?" This last line is spoken by the Banker, but follows so precisely on the last thing that the guard said that it feels more like a single speaker than anything.

The dispel magic does not appear to have had an effect.

"You are the only one here that mentioned killing." She said, a bit dejectedly as the sudden scratching behind her ears stopped. "Now I see why cats always give that look when you stop doing that."

When the door opened, Caleb had risen to his feet. He opened his mouth to answer Whisper but bit his tongue as Bristle cast her spell. After a few moments of nothing happening, he raised his crossbow again and answered the witch. "This isn't a negotiation, this is you demanding attention. Like I said, I'm not in the mood to entertain your ego, so come make good on that little threat or get out of those people and go back to whatever hole you crawled out of."

"Besides," Bristle said, adding to Caleb and Firea's words, "If I were aiming to kill you, I have much more direct means." She held up her clawed hand menacingly. Her bare hands could be formidable weapons, especially when laced with infliction magic.

"I was merely testing the waters. But you are the one who will have to explain the escaped banker. Helping a prisoner escape won't look so good on your guard's resume."

"We're negotiating?" Voh'ren asks warily. "I admit, it seemed more like a predator was toying with her prey." The Half-Orc rises and heads over slowly toward the food that the guard had offered before.

"Thank you," he says as he fetches a piece of chicken for himself and his wolf pup. He takes the flesh off of the bone and hands it Kiru as he heads back with the others.

"Normally negotiations imply both sides need something from each other. What is it we have that would be of interest to you?" The tone in his voice shows that the question is sincere.

As Voh'ren spoke to Whisper, Caleb tilted his head as if in thought, before his eyes widened in realization. "She's stalling us, there's something else going on that she doesn't want us interrupting. We need to leave, now."

"Oh.."  Hester smiled.  "Lovely talking to you as usual, Mother but we're going.  Have a nice day."  And of course, she moved to do exactly that, pausing to unlock the doors if necessary.  "Would someone mind sedating the guard please?  She might get in the way."

Bristle's eyes widened at Caleb's words, almost mimicking Caleb's own reaction. Stalling tactics? It definitely made sense on several levels. The only problem with escaping though was that it would surely cause problems for them in the future. But perhaps Bristle had gotten a bit too used to preemptively avoiding problems that could arise (studying dark magics was a delicate business). If there was a time to make waves, now was that time.

"This is about the best I can do without killing the host," Bristle replied to Hester as she channeled Death's power and let it wash over the Whisper guard in their way. Unfortunately the jail's layout made aiming her magic at the woman difficult...

---

Casting Enervation on the Whisper Guard: https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic...spells/e/enervation/

Ranged Touch Attack:
21:25, Today: Bristle Chonk rolled 6 using 1d20+4.  Ranged touch attack - Enervation.
Aaaaand that's a wasted spell...

Voh'ren, if it has been less than 70 minutes since the assassination, you should still have Air Walk affecting you.

"Can't blame a girl for trying," the guard says amiably, moving out of the way without a struggle. "See you around, darlings. Sweet dreams and sweeter days."

When Bristle's spell faded with no apparent effect, Caleb began moving with urgency towards the exit. "Come on, the longer we spend time here the less chance we have to interrupt whatever she's up to," he said, say not a word more to Whisper, opting instead to keep his eye and his crossbow on her hosts until they exited the room entirely.

He walked through the precinct with the air of a man in a rush and angry about it, and this attitude did not abate when he saw the mob outside. He pushed his way through the crowd, not going out of his way to hurt people to get through but not hesitating to brandish his weapon and give a few elbow jabs where necessary.

Once they were all clear, he turned back to the others and spoke. "Alright, we've lost enough time already. Voh'ren, Firea, you two followed the librarian's trail the other day, right? Where did she go? Do you think you could sniff out those spell components again?"

Bristle was extremely suspicious of the fact that Whisper had allowed them to simply leave after the cleric had attempted to use two separate spell against her. Sure, they were both non-lethal spells, but that didn't make it non-threatening. It almost seamed like she wanted the group to go. Which was especially strange since she had just been stalling them a moment earlier. Maybe she hoped they would get charged with a jailbreak?

When Caleb asked Firea and Voh-ren about tracking, Bristle made an inquiry of her own. "Do you think we should let the guard captain know that both the banker and one of his guards are whisper agents? Incase, you know, they try to kill him?" Bristle didn't necessarily think Whisper would do that, but it would suck to lose a rare ally so easily.

"This is unwise," grumbles Voh'ren as the others leave the jail cell. "A priest is on the way and we would leave this place without even a warning. We should at least alert the guard...although I suppose all of them could be under your control." The last part is addressed directly to Whisper's marionettes. He reluctantly follows the others out of the jail, uncertain whether there is a better option.

Voh'ren shakes his head when Caleb mentions the librarian's trail. "She went to the river bank, but Kiru and I could not find anything of note. Firea likely has a better sense of what the ingredients smell like.

"We should tell the captain of the guard that Whisper lurks within his ranks and freed us from the cell," he replies to Bristle. "Not that I think it will help. I would not be surprised if both are found dead in the cell, and that we are implicated in their murders." The Half-Orc reflexively draws his cloak around himself, uncomfortable at having left after giving his word to stay.

Caleb shrugged at Bristle and Voh'ren. "I didn't see him in there, I would have said something if I had. Feel free to leave a message, but we don't know how many guards Whisper is in at this point. Hell, she could be in the Captain for all we know."

His piece on the matter said, he turned to Firea. "What do you say, think you can track those components?"

Hester returns Whisper's blessing out of politeness more than anything else.  To the others she says, "Certainly we could stay.  Is there any benefit currently in either going or staying.  I think I agree with Voh'ren here but I can't tell you why because honestly I'm over my head right now.  I guess because Priests are more able to resist invasions of fell spirits."

"Firea, you said you smelled some of the components near the stage just before the assassination, right? Maybe we should start there. Why don't our two sniffers head near the stage and look/smell for clues. I can leave a note for the guard captain. Maybe even try to Detect Thoughts on some of the employees to try and weed out who may be Whisper agents." Bristle shivered as she remembered what it had been like to touch Whisper's mind, and hoped she didn't do so again. "Hester and Caleb, you two want to split up one to each group? Whoever is better with clues could head to the stage with Firea and Voh,ren? We can all meet back up over by the stage in about half an hour or less."

As she turned to head back and write a note, she mentioned to Voh'ren, "And don't forget about that spell I put on you earlier. It might help to get a bird's-eye-view of things too. See if there is any pattern to the rioting."

"You just like looking at my tails. Or is it my paws?" The small Fox said with a chuckle to Bristle.

"Anyway, to answer your questions Caleb and Bristle. I did say I smelled them, but that scent was dissipating, on the stage. It was old. And yes I can track them, if I get the scent. But I would have to stay like this to do so." If a Fox could shrug, one could almost swear they just saw her do it.

"We should consider why they were near the stage, as well. Were they used there at some point? And then, on who?" She said, considering things.

Caleb shrugged at Firea's words. "It's better than nothing, and it's not like we have a whole  lot to go on," he said before looking to Bristle and Hester. "I'll go with Firea and Voh'ren then, I'm not good for much more than muscle if you two're going to be doing magical investigating."
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 07:55, Thu 04 Feb 2021.

Hester nods.  "What he said", she says.  "Looks like I'm with you."

"Alright then. See you guys in a bit," Bristle said as she turned to go leave her note for the guard captain. To Hester, she said, "Please don't let anyone stab me while I am writing. Who knows who can be trusted right now..." If Whisper were going to stab them, she probably would have done so by now. But any random guard could potentially see them as a threat too. Especially with everyone on edge because of the riots. It was an unlikely scenario, but Bristle was feeling a bit paranoid at the moment.

When she found some paper, she wrote:

Captain Bale,

Sorry we didn't stay. One of your guards let us out, right after she released the banker. Both were possessed by Whisper. I am as confused as you are why she let us go, but it seemed better than staying behind bars like sitting ducks. The banker and guard were both still in perfect health the last time I saw them.

Guard description: [guard description here]

No hard feelings,
Bristle (the heavily armored one)

When she was finished, Bristle showed the note to Hester and asked, "Anything else we should add?"

As the plans were being made and everyone split up, Caleb gave a small gasp, as if he had just remembered something. "Forget the stage and the riots, I've just remembered something. We were going to meet a historian named Wren today about the book Whisper destroyed, remember? If all this has been a distraction for us, I'd bet my left hand that's what she's trying to keep us from."

As he spoke, his eyes widened as if something terrible had just occurred to him. "We need to go now. There's no reason to think Whisper doesn't know about Wren, and if I were her I'd want to kill the only person who might know my secrets. We need to get the others now."

"Then let us go see this Wren. We can circle back to the stage later." Firea said with a nod. "It sounds like a better lead then the stage anyway."