[X] Plan "Let's Be Average Adventurers"
- [X] (
Inn) Go cheap by sleeping in the common room (1 SP/person/night)
- [X] (
Tavern) Talk Bumbo into letting you use the stage for a bit. It's tiny, but the acoustics in here should be adequate for your lute. (Performance Check to make a bit of money - but more than that, ingratiate yourself with people cheap and see if you can learn more of the town's situation.)
- [X] (
Church) Let Helen lead the conversations here - she knows the Auroran faith fairly well, given the connections between Aurora and Solaria.
- [X] (
Independent Priest) Yeah, go check him out.
- [X] (
Guild Hall) Steer clear for now.
- [X] (
Inner Fortress) Leave that side of the city be for now - you'll just need a reputation worthy of being allowed in!
With what information you've gathered, you gather at the Tavern. The menu is about typical for this sort of place…
Ale - 5 SP/mug
Small Beer - 1 SP/flagon
Wine - 1 SP/glass
Honey Mead - 1 GP/flagon
Bark Tea - 1 SP/Mug
Bread - 1 CP/Slice
Pudding - 1 SP/bowl
Vegetable Soup - 1 SP/Bowl
Venison Stew - 5 SP/bowl
Roast Fowl - 1 GP/plate
Roast Jount - 2 GP/plate
Hot Meat Pie - 5 SP/pie
Goat Cheese - 1 SP/wedge
Fruit - 1 SP/small plate
You've seen some of the portions passing, they're decent. The keep economy's good enough that the inn sees plenty of local traffic, as well - it's not just would-be adventurers getting fleeced.
But before you order, you decide to slip up to the bar and chat with the barkeep. "Hello! You would be Bumbo Wickman, yes?", you say - you'd caught his name earlier.
The barkeep nods. "Yup. This is my place, too. You look like a bardish sort."
"That would indeed be the case… Which makes me wish to ask, can I try my hands at a bit of performance? Hopefully I can get a few tips, cover at least part of my party's bill."
Bumbo glances toward the stage. "... I think that's doable. Just, not too long, all right? I've seen bards try to fish for tips for hours up there, after a point even if they're good it gets kinda sad."
"I promise, just half an hour or so."
You're good with your instrument and you're a freaking
Succubus, you know how to perform and you can do this excellently!
---
Performance Check (+8) rolled by Fabricati: 3 + 8 = 11.
… You did this
okay, you guess? Sure, there was the stumble onto stage completely wrecking your groove, meaning you needed to keep to basic playing. And your choice of music was maybe a bit off, though not out of place (you know better than to just use 20th-century Earth rock) it just didn't fully vibe with the audience, especially since you had to spend a bit too long tuning the lute, and there's just no way to make that play to your sensual strengths that doesn't objectively look
really stupid.
Still, you got a few appreciative tips - enough to cover small beers (for yourself and Eira), a giant bark tea (for Helen - "I've too much to do before I go for alcohol"), and some Venison stew (the freshest meat you've had in days, between your stock being freezer and Eira's house stock being salted for travel).
Slightly less imminently useful than cheap food, however, is the conversations with the various groups of patrons.
One of the Guild clerks, the dwarf, already has six emptied mugs of ale neatly sorted to her side. She enjoyed a couple of your pieces, and it's enough to get her talking about what she's heard about the surrounding area.
She's not sure where "Chaos Mountain" as the Cultists called it is, but if they want to do anything significant, they'd need to be operating with caves - so closer to the mountainside to the north and west, as opposed to the bogs in the south and east.
She is aware that a local merchant has been kidnapped… Tracking him down would be good for the town's morale, and probably for the finances of his rescuers.
A couple merchants nearby, less impressed but still satisfied, note that they think there's multiple orc tribes in the region - odds are at least one of them's involved with the bigger evil around here, in his book, but there's also a bunch down to the southeast who are humble shepherds… Well, when not hunting down and collecting the pelts of any wolf who dares go for their flock. (You'd think the wolves would learn to
stop going for the sheep after a while, but you're not a wolf and doubt Eira can talk to them to ask).
One also insists that the Goblin phrase 'Bree-Yark' means 'We Surrender!', which you immediately know is complete bullshit, so, not everything's reliable. But it does mean there's probably goblins around.
So, you've got two potential directions to check for the mountain. But the real question is if there's other do-gooding to do as, well, call it a warm-up maybe. But the four you faced earlier did
not seem particularly competent, meaning the major cultists are likely much more powerful.
And that means tracking more potential leads.
---
Helen Garland, being a Paladin (and easily verifiable as such) and knowing the traditions of Aurora fairly well, is a perfect fit to lead a church visit.
Like many small towns, this is one church with a few different clergy.
Helen's Persuasion Check (+5) rolled by beowulf: 17 + 5 = 22.
… And between them being excited even to see a relatively fresh Paladin, and her knowing the essentials of the major faiths far better than someone who was educated to view the gods as fools or foes, she's able to get quite a bit.
Aurora of the Dawn - the goddess of the sky, sun, victory, and life. No surprise she's the most common sponsor of Paladins in the region… And the one who would most easily work with Helen's goddess, Solaria. Which is
not a name you recall hearing of - doesn't mean she's entirely unknown, but she's different from the Fourteen. (Gotta remember to talk about that.) Her priestess, a 40-something human woman named Deirbhile, has some serious blessed raiments - enchanted platemail that actively distracts Helen for an entire minute, and you're pretty sure her staff is magical too. Notably, she also has some level of 'control' over the temple - Helen is able to talk her into 'lowering' the holy aura so you can come in without constant pain… After leaning on you with an elbow to make the point that she's in control there.
She speaks of the general dangers of the region - but also claims that there may be at least one danger within the keep. Besides the Succubus, no offense dear. Namely… She's suspicious of the traveling priest of Flamma. Most (But not all) of them hole up with the Church, but he specifically sought an apartment instead.
Gnomon, the Divine Archivist - He Who Knows All That Is Written. His priest, an elderly elven man named Eldrin (bit on-the-nose there…), is able to proffer a couple more specific things to look out for - like some local bandits, an aggressive bunch of frogfolk along the river to the south, and - he doesn't even finish talking about the spiderwood south of the river before Eira is yipping a 'nope' or twelve, walking right over to chat with…
… The Priestess of Sylphan, The Laughing Wind, The Unquestionably Floofiest (okay you think that's not one of his formal titles). He's the patron of Vulpecians, Travel, Deception, and Outcasts, among other things, so it makes sense he's Eira's patron. And that his priestess is a Vulpecian herself, named Cranait Mhic Iain. Eira doesn't bother to ask much information of her, though she does warn that the local Lizardfolk tend to be on the aggressive side at best. She doesn't see much off about the Flammite priest - he's kind of assuming they and their two acolytes are, well,
enjoying each other's company and polite enough to keep it on the down low.
So, a few potential things to go forth and face. But you want to check out this Flammite priest. You're not sure who is right… But you are sure you feel almost tingly after stepping out. So the Church has some defenses against the unholy.
Maybe don't run in there too casually.
---
You knock on the door to the apartment you were told is the Flammites'. You go over your notes in your head on the Goddess of Fire, Creativity, Passion, Brewing, Witchcraft, and Love. It is said that Succubi are an Awkward Point for her, being natural manipulators of passion and love who can reflect it in its worst form.
It's also said that their breweries smell
great, and the scent of cider within indicates the male, shirtless priest and his two accomplices, also both male, also both shirtless, and distinctly both wearing light masks over their mouth and nose, know their brewing at least.
"Ah, new folks!", the priest declares boisterously. "May Flamma bless you!", he declares. "Are you here to try and face the evils of this land?"
… Something about the word choice seems…
off to you. Eira, however, speaks up. "Something like that, maybe. Just figured we should meet more of the major figures in town."
Helen blinks a bit. "We might appreciate some boons… Or, if you have thoughts of where we might go, some inspiration."
The man eyes you three over a bit… Stopping for a few seconds on your bust specifically. (That
still feels more validating than creepy.) This buys you a chance to look at your two partners. Neither seems too concerned yet.
No sign of any magic being used to manipulate them. It's… Not implausible you're being excessively suspicious of servants of the gods, but something tells you…
He speaks up again. "Well, I've got a few ideas I could offer for making the area a bit safer. There's certainly no shortage of trouble to be faced down - thus why I came here!"
[ ] (
Your Response) "Let's hear you out, sure." (
Pretend to not be suspicious.)
[ ] (
Your Response) "Yup. Totally here to fight trouble and not cause it. I'm definitely not evil." (
Eira might be confused, but Helen will definitely know this is a cue you think this guy's suspicious - and any smart cleric of ANY of the gods would respond with Detect Good and Evil - if they could cast it. Or maybe he'll do something else stupid - the LAST cultists assumed you were supposed to be on their side after all!)
[ ] (
Your Response) "Mmm… Maybe later." (
Get the group out of here before he has a chance to try anything.)
[ ] (
Your Response) "
Yeah, maybe tell me some true statements." (
Cast Suggestion - Helen might be annoyed even if you're correct here, but it could be your best bet to force an answer. Mind, it might also provoke the other two to attack if your suspicions are correct - killing them would DEFINITELY look really, really bad.)
[ ] (
Your Response) Go right on the attack now. (
May get the town guards on you, and even if you can prove these guys are evil, they won't exactly be pleased.)
[ ] (
Your Response) Write-in - there's plenty of other things you can say.
[ ] (
While you're at it) Throw in a cast of
detect good and evil. (An actual cleric would ping a bit, but what you'd really want to see is consecrated or desecrated objects. If they're using
detect magic somehow, though, they'll spot this. This is
not an option if your response above includes a spell).
[ ] (
While you're at it) Throw in a cast of
detect thoughts. (They might be able to resist a deep cut on this one, but if it works, even just surface thoughts will give you much better clues. Again, if your primary option uses a spell, this is not an option.)
[ ] (
While you're at it) Don't throw in a spell.
***
Reminding that Senaz is sitting on a 23 Persuasion, so options that exploit, so options that could reasonably use that may go very favorably.
Also note that the vote timer is a fair bit shorter this time - A bit over one day, since it's a more on-the-spot decision.
