The would-be victim was not hard to find. He cowered in the shadows behind the inn, an untrimmed mop of straw-colored hair revealed with his hood pulled down. He was a kid, maybe 16 or 17 years old, and he was terrified.
As Raelan approached, the kid drew back slightly, "Did you see that spider? Where did it go?"
An edge of panic tinged his voice.

Thalla laughed when she heard her new title, a raucous, very un-ladylike laugh. "Aye, the steel-limbed. Able to crush men's bones into powder in her embrace," she nodded, color in her cheek despite the dangerous situation. "Though perhaps Thalla the Bashful Maiden would better. Confuse my many enemies," she mused, and then marched her captive forward.

Thalla considered Rethsiren's offer, and then shook her head. "I've got him tamed. The way he and his comrade fought, I don't think they're much of a threat to any capable warrior. We should bring the other one too. Find some guards to take these fools off our hands... And yes, we should find their victim ran off too. I am not familiar with local customs, but I believe drowning is frowned upon in the South as well."

Waiting until the situation was well in hand, Lathalan nodded and stepped forward to clean up the mess he had made. Once the men were removed from the trench he had dug, he waved his hand back, smoothing the ground back over to what it was before. Soft spoken and very quiet compared to the others, he nodded to the ladies near him. "Until we find the crime, I don't know the penalty. Let the village decide, else we give out wrong justice."

Tucking his wand back into his belt, he looked around at the rest of the group. "Lathalan. Student of natural forces. And magic. Not very subtle."

Hacking up a gob of phlegm and spitting it to one side, Raelan looked up at the youth, eyeballing him critically.
"Aye, a-rachnid we did see,
but seems it went, turned tail to flee."
The strange little gnome chuckled to himself; a slightly disturbing sound when accompanied by the rattle of his fetish-pole. Then swift as a pistol-shrimp, he turned a fierce and expressive eyeball back on the young man, his eyebrow raised inquisitively.
"A question, a query, we ask thee a riddle;
Twixt blaggard and thug, thy cry out for help,
how did thee come to be in the middle?"
This message was last edited by the player at 05:00, Sat 10 Oct 2020.

Rethsiren shrugged and reached down for the other assailant, slinging the man over his shoulder. "After you." He nodded at Thalla and Lathalan. "I think we had better catch up before that strange little man finds our erstwhile victim first. Can't be easy on the nerves after a night like they've had."

“Aiya, Lathalan.” Basilisa gave a quick half-wave, taking in the growing numbers when the Dragonborn interjected. She looked him up and down. “‘Little man’? I thought he was a giant rat! It would hardly surprise, given the size of that eight-legged horror that skittered in and out of here.”

Basilisa grinned and shrugged. “Why not, hey? It was a slow night and I need another flagon of mead anyway!” She sashayed alongside Thalia and Lathalan, flashing a quick smile at the elf every now and then. To Thalia, she added, “In truth, you’d never sell ‘Bashful’. Not an Amazonian Bad Ass like you!“

The kid looked at Raelan, confused, Uh... I don't know. They just grabbed me while I was walking toward the Calf. I thought maybe they wanted Gregg, but I tried to tell them that I didn't know where he was and they just hit me."
He lifted his bangs to reveal a purplish bruise, quickly swelling up.

Rethsiren easily hefted the unconscious man. The other glowered, but moved as he was directed. His eyes darted around, looking for a way out and finding none.

As the first man was raised to shoulder height, a small, rolled piece of parchment sealed with wax fell from his clothes and landed on the ground. It was no more than six inches long. Looking at it in the moonlight, they could see the seal was a twisted tentacle - the sign of Holmgar.

Rethsiren saw something fall as he lifted the other man and stooped to scoop it up. Upon seeing Holmgar's tentacle, he scowled thunderously at the conscious captive as he offered the parchment to Lathalan or Basilia to crack open and read. He and Thalla already had their hands full. "Can we kill him now?" He demanded irritably. "I do not approve of those who would send thinking, living beings to Holmgar's embrace and call it a fit sacrifice." One was supposed to sacrifice things that meant something, would be a true loss in even some small way. Had they even known their would-be victim at all?

"And you-" still glowering at Thalla's man, "If you act in His name, how dare you not answer one of His priests?"
This message was last edited by the player at 16:20, Sat 10 Oct 2020.

He shrugged as he grabbed the parchment to look over it. Whistling a low tone, his familiar came from the woods silently gliding. Thia, a barn owl, alighted on his shoulder while he looked over the outside of the roll of parchment, trying to focus on that instead of the glances and smile being sent his way. It was easier to figure out this problem, hopefully. He thought out loud for a moment, talking to himself or his familiar even though everyone would hear this. "Scroll? Potentially. Trigger from reading? Unlikely. More likely, orders from another member of this faction. Read it? Sure. Let's see what it says."

Scratching at his thin and patchy beard, Raelan closed his eyes and nodded sagely.
"Questions twice to reveal the truth;
this Gregg you mention is another youth?
Scant information offered so bold,
is worth a copper, for a head of gold."
At the mention of copper, the Gnome opened his eyes and, having palmed a copper piece, he flicked it aloft; near enough to the boy that he might catch it if he were quick. The coin glittered as it spun in the air.

“He eats his enemies, you know,” Basilisa said with a half-shrug. The racist taunt didn’t sit well with her, though, and even she winced. “Sorry,” Basilisa said with a sheepish look at Rethsiren. She wasn’t in the mood to even try mind-games, since Fate seemed opposed to that stratagem so far.

Instead, she tried persuading the msn with brutal honesty. “Look, you could sit your ass in a cell and await a (reasonably) fair trial, or you could keep playing the tough guy and suffer the fate of a mightily pissed off Dragonborn & Barbarian. Look at all of us.” She gestured at their small group with a flourish. “Do you think that Lathalan and I could stop them from killing you in a gruesome and deservedly painful matter, even if we wanted to?”

Basilisa gestured at the poisoned man that Rethsiren hauled on his shoulder. “Your friend will likely die soon anyway. Save yourself and tell us why you tried to kill that kid.”

OOC:

15:10, Today: Basilisa rolled 17 using 1d20+4.  Persuasion .
15:07, Today: Basilisa rolled 5 using 1d20+4.  Deception on Thalia’s thug...or IS it?

 
This message was last edited by the player at 19:23, Sat 10 Oct 2020.

Thalla held the man by the arm as the others tried to interrogate the assailant. She smiled at Basilisa when she stumbled on the threat and then leaned forward to whisper: "I'm a bit of a man eater myself, but not in the way you'd enjoy."

Her smile turned to a scowl when she heard that they were following Holmgar. She always associated the God with passion and thunder, and the whole sacrifice aspects as a little strange. But she'd never heard of human sacrifice before. "Read it, I'd love to know what it says," Thalla said to the Elf, anger turning to curiosity. But just as a precaution, she positioned the captive between her and the scroll.

The lad glanced at Raelan's coin with little interest, "No, Gregg is an old guy. He's just a friend of mine, ya know? I haven't seen him for a few days. I wonder what happened to him..."
His voice trailed off as he glanced toward the cliff, but his attention was caught by the interrogation in progress about thirty feet away, "I wonder if they'll find out why those guys tried to... uhm, kill me."

The thug spat at Rethsiren's feet, "Take it back to yer slimy god and ask him to shove it so far up yer-"
He was cut off as Thalla moved him around to shield herself from whatever the scroll contained.

Lathalan broke the wax seal of Holmgar and unrolled the simple scroll. It was not large, containing only one line of script. The writing was in the common tongue, but in a fanciful, elegant script often used in temples and by paid scribes.
It said: "A life taken, unmarred. As so much has been taken before. To be embraced in the deep."

Raelan caught the copper and pocketed it with a shrug, wondering to himself at the kind of lad that wouldn't take freely offered coin. It didn't occur to the Gnome that, given his own visage, he probably looked like he needed the money more than most.
A Queen might ask the fate of friend,
but favours come with price to pay.
Surmise! Assume! Turn wheel of mind!
I'd guess yon Gregg met watery end.
As he spoke, a dull glowing orb appeared above Raelans open palm, which dimmed as it seemed to disappear into his hand, like a setting sun. As it fully winked out as he finished speaking, the distinct scent of salt-sea air rattled his fetishes in a gentle, melancholic breeze.
Dwell not, gold head, on dark thought so,
for comrade rare would want hero,
to risk limb and life in search so vain,
to seek for him as an end to pain.
Instead, seek aid and open mind,
come, let's see what they might find."
Grinning and with a backward nod at the group the boy was looking at, Raelen turned and scuttled over to listen in to the conversation.

OOC: Using a bit of Druidcraft and perhaps a Minor Illusion there.

Reading it out loud, Lathalan cocked his head at the line. "Sacrifice? Child sacrifice, apparently. Not good, not good. Oh dear. Perhaps you would like to see and read for yourself. We should bring these men before the village, but... are the villagers prominent worshipers to the Drowned King?"

"Any way, forward to put this man on display for his crimes. Or attempted crime. Or, men, as the case is right now. Perhaps they will draw out the others as well." He held out the scroll for anyone else to view if they so choose, but what did happen to the youth that ran off?

“Nothing kills a festive mood like child sacrifice.” Basilisa stared at the scroll in Lathalan’s hand. “Unless the festival in question centers on child sacrifice.” She shuddered and shook her head,

“The ‘Drowned King’...sounds like the makings of a great dirge.” Basilisa rolled the name around in her head, trying to remember any lore she may have heard while staying in the village, it didn’t seem to be the will of the gods, though, who seemed set against all her endeavors that night. That mood could have just been the alcohol, though.

“Maybe I could try talking with the kid while you lot sort out the scroll?”

OOC:

15:15, Today: Basilisa rolled 7 using 1d20+1.  Religion.


 
This message was last edited by the player at 19:24, Sun 11 Oct 2020.

Rethsiren took the scroll in his free hand and scowled down at it- at least in part to keep himself from following through on his earlier threat and knocking the rude creature out. "If not acting from belief, I would think, if I were you, on whether I wanted to take the fall for this, or perhaps name someone else to assume the blame. Where did you get this from? At whose behest did you act?"


Does that phrase ring any particular bells for me, meaning-wise?

22:38, Today: Rethsiren rolled 17 using 1d20-1.  Religion.

The lad nodded along with Raelan, seeming to pick up some of his meaning at least. His eyes widened at the illusions and he seemed enchanted. He followed the strange gnome over toward the rest of them.

The man looked up at them, his eyes sullen and his expression angry. Finally, he spoke, "I won't tell you nothin'. You can do what you want, I'm loyal till death if need be."

"Loyal to the death? Easy words to say, but unless you've died once or twice, no way of knowing if they're true," Thalla said with a roll of her eyes. "I'd love to put your words to the test, but it would be a waste of time. Shall we summon a guard and get all this sorted? This whole business is leaving a nasty taste in my mouth, one I'd like to drown with some ale."

The thug’s boast made Basilisa chuckle softly. Thalia answered him effectively, but she wanted another shot before they involved the city watch. “Luth gweg,” the Bard whispered with a discreet flourish at the thug. If it worked, her spell would charm the truth out of him.

Basilisa smiled winsomely at the ersatz assassin. “Are you really, though? Loyal to the death?” With a kind smile, she feigned concern. “What have they done to earn your loyalty?” Although Basilisa acted with ulterior motives, mostly just out of nosiness on a slow night, she still posed a reasonable question.

OOC:

Trying Charm Person Out Of Combat  to make him more agreeable.

DC 14.

 

"This.. is troubling." Rethsiren waved the scroll slightly to indicate he meant that, not the charming waste of time Basilisa was still trying to get something useful from. "I have heard rumors of live sacrifice to the Drowned King, in days gone by. Though if such a thing ever was, it is certainly not something my order condones now." He looked around the gathered party, clearly troubled. "I believe I, at least, need to have a word with the local temple of Holmgar.If there is a... cult operating according to that belief in this city, they need to know about the danger. Or, worse, I worry they do know, and I will have to see to some cleansing of it as best I may. That hand that wrote that note looks temple-trained." He hoped it, at worst, was a shadow within a temple whose members still mostly strode in the light.

If not, lightning could cleanse as easily as any purifying flame.

The thug looked at Basilisa. His mind was strong and the magic did not work, but her question still seemed reasonable enough to warrant a response.
"She showed me the light! The right way, the truth behind all the lies! I know what you cannot understand!"
His few, short sentences rose in volume quickly, ending in a shriek that echoed around the coastline of Sarambar.

Basilisa learned early in life to “Take your coin when the purse was open.” She gently touched the man’s shoulder. “What is this Truth that she showed you? Perhaps our sorry world would be better if more saw her light.”
This message was last edited by the player at 22:07, Mon 12 Oct 2020.

Lathalan huffed at this man's continues screaming, "More like her version of the truth, whoever this 'she' is. A vision easily manipulated by someone in power. There is a vast difference between 'The Truth' and truth in general. I would love to here this version at the least. The real truth is always somewhere in the middle, unless dealing with absolutes."

Help Action to give advantage on her roll? Should one be required anyways.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:53, Mon 12 Oct 2020.

Raelan appeared go ignore the conversation, pottering and skirting around behind the group, to inspect the unconscious thug still (presumably) hanging over one of the Dragonborns' broad shoulders. He peered up at the poisoned ruffian critically and apparently satisfied, circled back around to where he'd left the youth. He mused to himself and half aside to the young man;
"A King that's drowned would need a light,
if drowned he weren't, indeed.
I doubt they'd need to indulge spite,
if truth he seek in need.
If subject needed beneath the wave,
why not she who youths ruin crave?"
The gnome grinned and tapped his temple knowingly.