Herry (Nick): Theatre of the
Justin: mind. Theatre of of Theatre the mindset. How much does twenty years change a person? How much does a lifetime change a person? Are we accountable for the decisions of our forebearers?
To what degree are we accountable to decisions we made a decade ago? How much can we really change? These are all questions that the incarnate king, Esau Theophilus Zimri wrote in his journal. The reincarnated king Asher Theophilus Simri reads his previous life's journal as he looks out across the capital city of Venethar, Rhysinium City. At the top of a hill rise, the Stellshall River breaks before entering into the sea, and Asher can see the bustling city around him.
So much has changed in the last twenty years, and yet he finds himself embroiled in the politics and the ramifications of the decisions that he, in some capacity, made in his previous life and the life before that and the life before that and the life before that. He remembers so much. Thanks to the ritual which reunites the memories of his previous lives to this one. And yet, they were still previous lives. And the childhood and the life that he has lived now colors and shapes those memories.
Sitting before him is an order that he has given a diplomatic envoy he has sent to the small town of Sharnwick in the Northeastern region of Venethar. Shockingly, to many and to Asher himself, the best individuals that he could think of and that he could gather for this envoy are individuals close to his heart or at least were close to his heart at one time. It seems that a protest has gotten out of hand per a briefing from senator Gustavo Reyes, senator representing Sharnwick. And senator Reyes has requested additional support from the incarnate king in the Council of Faith, sending the ward of the Ur tribes, Sara Kassain, to represent the people of the Ur tribes. Prelet Lucan Meskar, representing the interests of the Council of Faith and sending his uncle, senator Harry Pinch.
The incarnate king Asher Theophilus Zimmeri is hoping to quell this problem before it gets to become a national issue. With that, he moves that briefing to the side and picks up yet another problem requiring his attention. And with that, we will zoom out and back in hundreds of miles away where we will pick up with Harry Pinch. Where do we find senator Harry Pinch twenty years later?
Herry (Nick): Harry Pinch is in little side office conference room at the place he's staying in Sharnwick talking with his assistant, Beanie, getting the rundown on the events of the last week, any sort of relevant information about the students that are around here that are involved in the protest, and getting ready to meet with the senator of the Sharnwick area.
Justin: Senator Pinch, it looks like there have been, the the the protests have been happening since the eighth. So it's been at least, four days now, and they've been on a hunger strike. You see, Beanie is this, like, petite woman. She has basically a a suit jacket on with a little senator staff lapel pin. She Her hair is curly and kind of done up in a tight ponytail on the back.
She is clearly dressed for travel, but trying to look as professional as possible. She Her dark skin and kind of close kept hair kind of all looks like she is just like wound a little too tight. Like, there is not a wrinkle on her, whether that is because of excellent skincare routine or because her hair is pulled back so tight that there is no option for a wrinkle. She is younger than you by a significant margin just out of Venator University and has been very interested in working for Harry for a number of years now. And kind of going through the events of the past couple of days, she says, it looks like a few days ago, three members of the protest were taken into custody and are still there.
Herry (Nick): What were they taken in custody for?
Justin: It looks like a fight broke out.
Herry (Nick): Oh, jeez.
Justin: And the members both both parties involved in the fight were taken into custody.
Herry (Nick): But three of the protesters specifically,
Justin: and a man by the name of Jarish Jarus Van Wirth Okay. Was also a local resident of Sharnwick, was also taken into custody. What was he taken for? The same thing. Rowdy behavior.
Okay.
Herry (Nick): But he wasn't a protester.
Justin: He's not a protester. No. He's a local citizen.
Herry (Nick): Who's reported on this so far? Is this national yet? Has anyone
Justin: Currently not national news. Okay. I have no reports. Just local local news up here in this region.
Herry (Nick): What are the demands of protesters?
Justin: The protesters are demanding action, specifically action for the Stielmaro tribe Okay. On the part of the the Council of Faith and the Incarnate King. Okay. Also, a result of the custody, the individuals being taken into custody, they're demanding they they be released For sure. And that punitive measures be taken on those who attacked them.
They're also demanding that in lieu of the return of the land to the tribe, that sanctuary be given to individuals from the Steelmarrow tribe, the giants there, be a sanctuary be given in Venethar for them to seek refuge in. Space Okay. Essentially.
Herry (Nick): Who's this other side? Do we know if there's an organization that's messing with these protesters? Or what's the
Justin: It seems that there's been reports that sympathy magic is being utilized. A number of young people have also joined the protesters, members of the local school, and just younger generations in general seem to be joining in. And so rumors of sympathy magic have risen, and that's causing the locals to be a little spooked.
Herry (Nick): It's just the local folks against the protesters. It's not some other larger organization. As of right now,
Justin: that is Okay. Seems to be the case.
Herry (Nick): Alright. Okay. Harry is this very short, a generous five foot, with he's got some big shoes on. You know, ancestry is mixed halfling human. Think Robert Reich, Jed Bartlett type.
Just a little guy. His voice has kind of gotten pretty rough over the years from a lot of bar singing, smoking, and drinking. And he is basically putting on his nice little three piece suit with a bolo tie with a gold ring around the middle of a black sort of emblem there. Alright. Do you know do we have time does did have you reached out to Gustavo yet as far as getting a little time to getting together on this?
Justin: I have we had an appointment with Gustavo later this afternoon. Okay. I do have reached out to Lie utenant Fender Strike. Okay. They are the leader of the guard here.
Herry (Nick): Okay.
Justin: Also have an appointment with them Beautiful. Sooner.
Herry (Nick): Thank you. Okay. Of course. I do just can you tell me if you've just already given me everything? But I've got lore born, so I've got advantage on roles to get the history and culture of, like, a region or a place.
Yep. So can I just get not even necessarily with, like, the herb, but, like, just any rundown of why the economy of these locals and it could be through Beanie or and like just kind of what's why here, why now, and why is everyone pissed? That'll be a 17 with hope.
Justin: 17 with hope. So this portion of Venethar borders along the Ur nation, which is a largely desert portion of Sariel filled with tribes folks who are largely mercantile in nature. And so as a result, a lot of the border towns, villages, and cities are taking advantage of that. And this group of Ur tribes folk are likely merchants. Okay.
And would probably be regular visitors
Herry (Nick): Mhmm.
Justin: In this area. What's odd is if they are protesting something, this would, a, probably disrupt trade routes. They have places to go, other stops to make. They have made agreements with other towns, villages. So the impact to this town is probably minimal.
The impact to other towns
Herry (Nick): Yeah.
Justin: Will be how the news spreads. Gotcha. If another town down the road is expecting this caravan to show up in two or three days
Herry (Nick): Mhmm.
Justin: When they don't show up, people are gonna start to talk. Gotcha. And when people start to talk, they're gonna wonder, well, why aren't they here? Oh, they're protesting. What are they protesting about?
So that's how news is going to get out. Okay. These areas are magic is pretty prevalent across Venethar, but just using magic to transport and teleport goods from place to place is a waste of magic.
Herry (Nick): Yeah.
Justin: So they depend on these caravans to transport things. And so even if it's not something directly from the Ur nation, it would not be uncommon for this to be how letters are transported, to be how any amount of goods is gotten from point a to point b. And so it's not just a, oh, well, we haven't gotten our goodies from the the Erd tribe that goes through. It's, oh, genuinely other things are transported in this fashion. Supply lines are being disrupted.
Herry (Nick): Gotcha. So basically, our our goal here correct me if I'm wrong, Benny, is basically we gotta get trade back up in this area, so we need to figure out what we're trading. Is that what I'm getting? What we're trading these protesters, how do we get them to
Justin: Dispersing the the protesters was definitely priority number one.
Herry (Nick): Sure. But the reason we need to disperse them is to get the trade ridges.
Justin: Yes. It seems here that they have they primarily deal in salt. Okay. And so getting the salt through this supply line would be highly great.
Herry (Nick): Alright. That's step one. What time is our meeting with Stripe?
Justin: We have probably fifteen, twenty minutes.
Herry (Nick): Alright. Should we head that way? Yeah. We can head that way.
Justin: Is there anything else I can help you with? I am a little out of my water here.
Herry (Nick): You and me both. Just keep get keep getting the information wherever you can. I'll work on the social bits and see if we can I'll tell you this. I don't know that we're gonna stop or change anything for the protesters today, but our goal is to get them enough of what they want to find a new way to protest and get this solved as as far as today's thing going.
Justin: Senator Reyes is gonna be pretty concerned about getting this supply line up and moving again, but he also could be convinced if the if if push comes to shove, could be convinced to be a little more aggressive. He has a history of senator Reyes is has a history of giving a kind ear to a stronger arm in the past Mhmm. More so than others in his circle, in the circle of sand. Got So something to keep in mind. He has voted three times with the circle of of rock.
So a little unusual for senators of his of his kind.
Herry (Nick): Remind me above table circle of sand, where they stand on stuff.
Justin: Very, very generally pre pro Ur Nation.
Herry (Nick): Gotcha. Cool. So there he's also gonna be in the realm of wanting being kind of pro these protesters, but knowing that he needs to also
Herry (Nick): Yeah.
Herry (Nick): He's gonna be easier to work with. Yeah. He's not trying to strong armor thing.
Herry (Nick): Yep.
Herry (Nick): Great. Okay. Who else is he Who who are we working with? Who else is here?
Justin: We have obviously the lieutenant.
Herry (Nick): Okay.
Justin: Lieutenant is older. She has been in her role for a number of years. She seems to have a pretty stalwart history, had did serve a little bit of time in the war against the lost. Okay. So is a seasoned veteran.
I would definitely consider her your biggest obstacle in terms of handling this in a peaceful manner. She was the one that ordered the arrests. It also looks like things really culminated with the murder. Oh. Sorry.
I kind of brushed Yes.
Herry (Nick): Murder is a big one.
Justin: Yeah. This is here. Yeah.
Herry (Nick): Know you're a numbers person, but the murder. One murder is plenty of murder.
Justin: Yeah. One murder is it is a statistical anomaly.
Herry (Nick): Yeah. Say more about that.
Justin: Yeah. So the captain of the guard, Otrallachner, was murdered two nights ago. Oh, man. The suspect is still at large, although it appears that we do have a name.
Herry (Nick): What's the name?
Justin: The name is Amira Rashad. She is a young aright in the caravan.
Herry (Nick): Oh, so she she's she was protesting?
Justin: She's not a protester. No. Oh. She's not a protester. But it appears that she had been caught on the wrong side of the law a few days before, and some of her ritual items was confiscated.
Herry (Nick): Okay. So we're people are assuming it's her. She's a
Justin: true suspect a true suspect.
Herry (Nick): Okay. And okay. So and these other protesters that have been arrested that don't don't have anything to do with the murder?
Justin: Nope. No proof has been brought in
Herry (Nick): that fashion. No. Okay. Alright. We don't like the killing.
Justin: Just We don't like the killing.
Herry (Nick): Yeah. Just so you I know you have you wanna get more into politics. We don't like the killing.
Justin: Yes. I I wanna be clear. I I felt that way even before I knew I wanted to get into politics.
Herry (Nick): Okay. That's earnestly good to hear. Yeah. You are very good at what you do. Okay.
Justin: Thank you. Alright. Senator Pinch, if I can I ask you a question? Always. What's your plan?
I know you said that you were you were interested in getting the protesters to protest in a different way. Yep. Do you I mean, in Resinium City, it's one thing to protest in a way, but out here, it's harder to get there's not a lot of news cycles that focus in this area. So For sure. In general, you have to be pretty loud to get the attention.
Herry (Nick): What they want is for the caravan not to get to where it needs to, and that's how they get their word out. We need the caravan to get to where it needs to so the word doesn't get out. So what we can offer them, potentially, is some variety of other way of getting word out. Maybe that's in Residium City. Maybe that's in a treatise with someone else.
Those are the tools we have. We don't really know how we can use them. Our cards are power higher up. And so if they're willing to put this particular protest on the back burner in order to get a bigger ear in the future, that might be our best play. But until we talk to them, we don't really know.
Justin: And the other members of the of the envoy, what is your read on them?
Herry (Nick): Well, old friends, which is kind of nice. More and more emphasis on old at this point as far as I go. I have not seen I've not really spent any time with Lucan or Sara in years, but they're good folks. I'm sure Lucan's gonna handle the house of fortune or whatever the hell is going on with that guard. So apparently, the the faith of Boaz and House of Fortune in Sharnwick has apparently set some adventures to protect the protesters, which seems outside of the norm of the Council of Faith.
And so that's new and fresh. So I'm looking forward to talking with Lucan about that and see what's up. And then Sara is a wild card. I know a few different versions of Sara, and so we'll see which one shows up as far as urnation or Venetharen or both. So should be fun.
Justin: Her allegiances are with Venethar. Right?
Herry (Nick): We never make any assumptions on anyone's allegiances.
Justin: Okay. She writes that down.
Herry (Nick): Circles it twice. Regardless of stated allegiances, both are great people and want what's best for the average person. And that average person might just not be Venatorian in this case.
Justin: As you say that you arrive at the Office Of The Guard, it is this barracks style building. There is not a lot of decor on the outside, but it is clearly marked. There are two guards stationed on the outside. They see the gold emblem with the dark, senatorial mark inside, wave you inside, and you make your way to the Office Of The Lieutenant. When you walk in, the lieutenant is sitting and reviewing some type of brief on her desk.
You can't see quite what it is. She has a stack of papers, on both sides of her that she has clearly moved. One pile is for reviewed. The other pile is for unreviewed. She is this, Panther Qatari person, and you can see she is probably a little bit older than you, well into her fifties.
Her, fur is grayed, and she wears, even as a lieutenant who in this kind of setting would maybe spend more time in the office than not, even in that position, is still wearing gambeson, a a garb that would be fit for if she needed to, light combat. So clearly, an individual with that kind of mindset. And you can see that her, two handed sword is leaned up against the wall behind her in its scabbard. And there are a number of books, in a bookcase, but aside from that, her office is fairly, minimal in design. She has one large window that looks over the town wall into the desert, behind her.
But mostly, everything is pretty open air in this space across the the town in general. The climate here is fairly warm. Lots of people use plazas and open air as a way to keep things and air flowing, and keep things comfortable. She acknowledges you as you walk in with, just like a a brief look up and says, my 02:00 is here. Senator?
Herry (Nick): Strike. As we're walking in, Harry's gonna look at Beanie and just say, go become friends with another assistant. Figure out what Strike wants, needs, and is afraid of.
Justin: When you say friends with, you see her eyes get big? Yeah.
Herry (Nick): You don't Yeah. You don't have to go get drinks later. Just friend friendly. You'll be fine.
Justin: Okay. I'll make friends. And she looks at don't assume the motives of anyone. As she reviews her paperwork and and and moves away. Lieutenant strike.
Harry Pinch. Senator Pinch, nice to meet you.
Herry (Nick): Yeah. Nice to meet you. Sorry that we have to meet on some complex and unfortunate circumstances.
Justin: I find that rarely in my line of work do I meet a lot of people in other circumstances, but I imagine that not to be the case for you. So I if anything, extend my apologies to you.
Herry (Nick): Yeah. I'm I'm happy I'm happy to help. I don't know what I'll be able to do, but happy to be of service to you.
Justin: Well, I hope a lot, honestly. I think, with the backing of the king and the Council of Faith, and the senate Mhmm. I think we are actually gonna be able to do a lot of good work here. So Great. I anticipate you have some type of official decree that is going to allow us to take some greater action here.
Herry (Nick): Not yet. Yet. We're gonna spend the first day or two fact finding and having some conversations. So you're you're my first stop. You're the most important one that I need to come to first as you're on the ground here.
And so I'm coming to you first to get the truth out of what's going on.
Justin: I'm gonna spend a fear. Goddamn it. And she arches an eye Mhmm. And says, fact finding.
Herry (Nick): That's true. That don't have a decree or anything. We're just here to Yeah. Solve this. But is that true?
But I just wanna make sure. Yep.
Justin: She arches her eye and says, fact finding. Yes. Does that imply that we have not found all the facts? I believe we gave you a report.
Herry (Nick): Yeah. You gave everyone a report. Yep. And I'm here to follow-up on it.
Justin: Great. I I need because the individuals involved are not from Yeah. Our nation Sure. I cannot just arrest them. I need official I need an official notice that I can arrest this individual Yep.
Because doing so is a quote and she makes quote fingers in the air, a diplomatic move. Yep. I need full buy in from the senate. She keeps making air quotes in the air Yep. As she is clearly over all of this.
Yep. She says, it's it seems to me like the laws of the land should apply to everyone, And I I've been told that they do. Yeah. But because it's someone from somewhere else, it's diplomatic in nature. Yep.
And you have to be here for that to happen?
Herry (Nick): I guess so.
Justin: Great. So you're gonna now tell me that I can arrest them?
Herry (Nick): I don't have a decree to do that. Boy, I wish I could. So I I mean it when I tell you I came to you first for a reason. Okay. Because you and I are gonna come up with a plan right now.
Justin: Okay. Love
Herry (Nick): that. I don't have a decree. Okay. I don't have power. Looking at a lower ranking member of the circle of gold.
Okay. I'm not gonna overstate my position here. Okay. We're on the same team. Okay.
So let's have a conversation on what you actually need short of a decree that I don't have. What can I do short of that to help you on this?
Justin: Give me a presence role.
Herry (Nick): That is a five with hope. Five with hope. I'm not doing a
Justin: great job lying today. So that's a failure with hope.
Herry (Nick): Oh, can I use it'd still probably be a failure? But can I use senator of Resinium City to add to oh, I'm so sorry? It's not a five. It's an eight. Can I say we used a hope to senator over Resinium City?
Yeah. Which should be plus two, so it'd be a 10. I think
Justin: a 10 will be a success with
Herry (Nick): hope. Okay. Yes. I I need to remember that there are more stats than just the die. Yes.
Anyway.
Justin: Yeah. A 10 with hope. So go ahead and mark your hope.
Herry (Nick): Well, do I get it or do I just mark
Justin: it or just immediately spend it for that purpose. Okay.
Herry (Nick): Okay. She
Justin: it is just a 10, which I think was the minimum of what we were going to need in that moment. Absolutely. And she says, I appreciate You know what? I was worried that you were going to come in here and give me a lot of politicking. Sure.
And I appreciate you putting all your cards on the table. So I'm gonna put all of my cards
Herry (Nick): on the table. I appreciate that.
Justin: I have one of my own
Herry (Nick): Mhmm.
Justin: Murdered Yep. By someone from that caravan. And I need justice.
Herry (Nick): Yeah.
Justin: Can you and I paint a picture of what justice looks like right now?
Herry (Nick): Talk to me about I have very little information on the murder. In fact, between us girls, it was the last thing my assistant told me. There's a lot of data that I got ahead of like a lot of population things. Murder came up a little bit late. Okay.
So talk to me about who talk to me about the who's, the whys, the evidence we have so far. Because all I can do is I can only carry your information so far if I don't have it.
Justin: You know? The murder happened. We discovered we discovered the body of OtrA yesterday. Well, we believe the murder happened yesterday. We found the body this morning.
And Were
Herry (Nick): they on patrol? What were they doing?
Justin: We found the body in the woods. Oh. She slides you a picture. K. Of an absolutely mutilated corpse.
Herry (Nick): Okay.
Justin: It looks like a animal just had a had its way with this body.
Herry (Nick): Yeah.
Justin: Like, absolutely desecrated this body. We have reason to suspect that there's also magic involved. Yeah. The a number of days ago, on the eighth, we had reports from, an individual from the town, having nightmares. Mhmm.
And then a few days later, members of my humble town began to join in the protest. Lots of signs of sympathy magic.
Herry (Nick): Mhmm. And so Talk to me about that. What does that mean? I'm not I'm I'm not a magic person. I'm a comps person.
Justin: Listen. I I know about as much about primal magic as anybody else. Okay. What we know is that members of the protest are hunger striking and that the magic that they are utilizing, they're they're striking at the well. Okay.
And anyone who goes to the well experiences and feels the same hunger pains that they are experiencing. Okay. And so that sympathy magic, they're we believe is also being utilized to sway people to their cause.
Herry (Nick): Okay.
Justin: We don't have proof of that, but we do have proof of the hunger pains.
Herry (Nick): Okay. And have you been to this I mean, I assume Yes. You've been to the site? Yep. Have you experienced that yourself?
Yes. Okay. Yes. Okay. No notice of anybody casting anything or any?
Justin: Aside from the Obvious. Aside from the the arc the the primal magic that is chaining them to that space.
Herry (Nick): Mhmm.
Justin: No. No other magic signs.
Herry (Nick): Okay. And so not to be crass or anything, but I'm assuming the suspect must be a giant person with some powerful weapons in order to do what I see your captain ended up facing.
Justin: We have not we are trying to cooperate with the leaders of the air rite caravan and not having a lot of success. Sure. Their leader, wayfinder deep rock Mhmm. Is not being the most cooperative.
Herry (Nick): Sure. And that's unfortunately not super surprising. But I guess, not not to over focus on this and obviously like Harry's like looking at this picture of a mutilated bug. She's like, what are your friends saying how this happened? We
Justin: OtrA Mhmm. On the ninth, OtrA confiscated the ritual items from an individual named Sister Henel. She is a ritualist and we believe this is suspect number one.
Herry (Nick): Okay. So I have Yeah. I have incorrect information already. So I'm glad I came to you first. I was told Amir Rashad was the suspect.
Justin: Amir Rashad is We are She's the head of the protest and is commonly understood to be the focal point of the problem at hand. Of course. But she we have reason to believe that she is not capable of the magic at hand. Yeah. This, and she gestures to the picture Mhmm.
Is beyond what we think that Rashad could accomplish.
Herry (Nick): Okay. And so what kind of magic are we thinking? Just general primal? Is there any more information on what this what it what it was confiscated from Henle, sister Henle.
Justin: I'm happy to show you.
Herry (Nick): Yeah. Let's talk about this. Let's see.
Justin: She takes you over. You go out of the office to essentially where they keep evidence, the evidence locker.
Herry (Nick): Harry looks at Beanie and gives a thumbs up.
Justin: Beanie is talking to a person who's like at their desk writing something out, and she's just, like, leaning against a wall with a mug of of coffee in her hand, just, like, trying to make casual conversation. She should and you hear her say, yeah, I mean, statistically, it should be seven degrees colder this week than it is. It's crazy.
Herry (Nick): I just give a a wink and I was just hope hoping for some rally, some inspiration. Okay.
Justin: You go to this, locker, evidence locker, and eventually she pulls out, just a an absolute crate full of, candles. There's some vials in there. There's a book, a thick tome. It's pretty packed full of You see some dried herbs and they say this is all It was all compensated from Sister Hennel.
Herry (Nick): Okay. So this was confiscated before
Justin: the murder? This was confiscated before the murder. Yes.
Herry (Nick): Okay. So these are most of this person's spell casting stuff. And so we still think they're
Justin: well I
Herry (Nick): don't know. Okay.
Justin: Does this look like I can't do anything with magic.
Herry (Nick): I get it. I'm I also can't it looks like a lot of spell casting materials.
Justin: It does look like a lot of spell casting
Herry (Nick): This is
Justin: yeah. We got their book, which is usually like the most important part.
Herry (Nick): Right. So I guess that's the I'm not questioning any doubt putting any doubt on you. I'm just trying to make sure that if I get asked, well, how did you do this without x, y, or z? I have an answer.
Justin: I mean, what if they have more?
Herry (Nick): And that's the next step. Right? Which then implicates far more than this one person.
Justin: Mhmm.
Herry (Nick): And so that's this is all very helpful information. Okay. What message do you need me to carry out to the next seven or eight meetings over the next few days I'm gonna have to
Herry (Nick): speak?
Justin: That we're coming to arrest her. Okay. Okay. We need to at least be able to question her. I think that's what they don't understand is that we have to be able to question her.
Sure. We need to bring her in for questioning. Let
Herry (Nick): me let me start.
Justin: Can we get like a sanction for like any type of our own sympathy magic to question her?
Herry (Nick): I'll send I'll send Beanie on that. I I Beanie's my assistant. Beanie's gonna be running she's the one chatting up your assistant right now. Okay. And I'm sorry for whatever weirdness she tells him later.
Justin: My my assistant prefers not to be spoken.
Herry (Nick): Yeah. Honestly, so does Beanie. So it's gonna be
Justin: I'm sure their conversation is riveting.
Herry (Nick): Honestly, it's gonna be an interesting back end there. So I'll I'll put Beanie on trying to figure out what tools we can get you as we figure this out. We can do that while I'm also getting information. The reality is we're gonna have to put the case together where that becomes the most attractive option, if that makes sense. And so I'm I'm working with you.
Justin: Understood. Yep.
Herry (Nick): Okay. I'm off. I've gotta meet Gustavo. And then I'm sure I don't know. A handful.
How's how's the interaction between you and the the adventures from Baaz? Talk to me about what's going on there.
Justin: So we typically see a number of adventurers come through town on the way to the Erd Desert.
Herry (Nick): There are a
Justin: number of ruins out there. And after the protests, we needed to ramp up security on the area. Yeah. But the, House of Fortune, sanctioned a protection That's what I heard. Quest, essentially.
And there are now 14 adventurers.
Herry (Nick): That's a few parties.
Justin: Yes. Okay. It's a pretty easy quest for them to be going on. So they're now 14 adventurers. And I wanna be clear, they outstrip every one of my guards members.
Herry (Nick): I understand. I understand.
Justin: Protesters. Okay. And the caravan. Okay. And I'm a little confused why the Church of Boz is sanctioning this type of adventure.
Yeah. And I'm not getting a lot of information from the sender.
Herry (Nick): I I have an old friend showing up with the from Baa's faith. I'll see what I can find out from them. I have what you need from me. What I need from you is to have a little patience and a little bit of a cool head. I'm not questioning that you can or can't do that.
I'm asking that we now have a lot of players that are gonna fuck with your shit, and I'm here to help you not have your shit fucked with. And so trust me that I'm on your team and we're gonna figure this out. It fucking sucks with set 14 other adventures are sent in your way. And that makes it really complicated.
Justin: I just wanna be clear. Yeah. I can only control what my guardsmen. Yep. Do on the clock.
Yep. And the town is pissed. Yeah. They're scared. Yeah.
And that's honestly worse. Yep. Yep. I'm glad that you're here, and it sounds like a couple of other folks were sent, but this needs to get handled quickly.
Herry (Nick): Our best scenario is that this disperses, and you get justice for what you need. But the dispersing is important.
Justin: The dispersing is important, and justice will only happen. Yep. Those those are hand in hand. Yep. Yep.
Same page.
Herry (Nick): Same page.
Justin: Great.
Herry (Nick): Love it.
Justin: I need to write down another name, and then we can jump to let's jump to
Herry (Nick): We're gonna quickly find out how much I was just kind of lying about being on her same page.
Sahra (Shelby): Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Herry (Nick): And I'm hoping Beanie has some information on what she needs and whatever reasons I need you, Beanie. Beanie seems reliable. This is fun. Yeah.
Luken (Steve): She knows the weather pattern.
Herry (Nick): She knows the weather pattern.
Justin: Wherever we are. It
Sahra (Shelby): is wild
Herry (Nick): that it's this warm up.
Herry (Nick): Dang. Asking for fucking torture magic sucks though. Cops are gonna cop.
Justin: Cops are gonna to read a mind, would you not? On the other side of town, approaching the fortune of Sharnwick, the temple to Baaz, the god of adventure, ambition, and good fortune. Most of, as at least as often as possible, fortunes are located near bodies of water or within sight of water because Boz greatly favored seafaring. He's often depicted in many stories as being on the ocean or seeking a way on a ship. And this being so close to the desert doesn't afford many options in that way.
And the fortune here makes up for it by casting giant sails as ways to create shade in the desert heat. So despite the fact that there is not a, actual body of water anywhere near Sharnwick, you get a nautical feel from the fortune of Sharnwick, merely from the large cloth shades that billow and snap in the wind, as it moves through the open courts of the fortune itself. All fortunes have, a number of things in common. One, usually an audacious amount of gold, that make for the decor. Second, usually a large depiction of Bas himself, a simian with four arms, each holding his one of his divine instruments.
And last, the questing board on which these pre sanctioned adventures are posted for various adventuring parties to choose, pre blessed adventures that they can go on knowing that Boz has gifted them with good fortune, as they go out on this quest. This is what you see Prelate Luken, as you approach. Why don't you describe how you look twenty years later and what we see?
Luken (Steve): Yeah. Luken, unlike who he was twenty years ago, now carries himself with like a bearing of confidence. He you know, it's not quite marching, but he is, you know, walking with purpose as he approaches the fortune. He is a Simeon standing about, you know, five eight, five nine, you know, athletically built. Looks like he has been through some level of, you know, like physical trials through his time.
He has, like, some, you know, scarring here and there. Perhaps his most striking feature though is, you know, as a young person, his mixed fairy ancestry, resulted in him having wings, but those wings were largely, like, ornamental. He couldn't fly. They were they looked like, you know, bugs' wings, kind of gray, black, you know, kind of draped over his shoulders, but, they weren't, you know, a noticeable or useful feature. Now, as the prelate, as one of the four serifs of Baz, his wings are bright red and lay when not in use along his his back almost like a cloak.
He is the Seraph of Flame, one of four Seraphs in the Church of Boz. And in that role, when he uses his wings, and and the sun hits them, those red wings look like they are aflame. So, you know, he is capable of having a a pretty striking presence where he goes. And along with that, he, you know, again, just carries himself with that kind of confidence as he walks up to, to the fortune. He knows that this is a place where he is, respected and, you know, if not in charge, pretty close to it.
Justin: Walking up to the fortune, you see that there are a number of people going about their business. You see, a group of adventurers who are using this as a waypoint, which is a pretty common practice. They are packing their bags full of various supplies that they know that they can re up at any of the fortunes. There are another group of individuals who, are reviewing maps. A lot of fortunes will, invest in cartography as a way to encourage adventuring.
You also see the large questing board where there are detailed notes pinned up allowing, giving information on various quests that, individuals can go on knowing, again, that Boz has pre sanctioned these things, pre blessed them, with good good luck. You also see, not uncommonly, an acolyte of Phelos, the god of music and revelry, has an acolyte here. She is a young Galapagos woman. Her shell has been brightly painted with many, many colors, and she is tuning a lyre that sits on her lap as she lounges back in the sun on the steps. She is the only kind of official clergy person that you see.
You don't see any official Boz clergy.
Luken (Steve): I I walk up to the Skolapagga. But as I do, do I see any like adventuring parties like get like pretty close to heading out?
Justin: Give me Yeah. Actually, you you see an adventuring party getting ready to head out.
Luken (Steve): Yeah. I I walk up to them and, you know, clap them on the back.
Justin: Oh. Oh. Oh, goodness. Oh. Oh my good.
They immediately like kind of get down on their knees and kind of bow their heads. A seraph.
Luken (Steve): No need for the bowing. You Please, you know, don't let me interfere. You you look like you're hard at work. Oh, we we were
Justin: just about to about to head out. There's a a quest that we plan to go on south of here to a cave. There are some kobolds that need depopulating, if you will. Jesus. Just using the language on the board.
Luken (Steve): Yeah. That sounds like a great quest. I I know you'll do too great. Be bold and and go with Boz. And I hand them a coin that is like a Boz it you couldn't spend this.
It's not like currency, but it's like a Boz specific coin that I, you know, hand out to show some, like, additional favor on this group of adventurers before they head
Justin: out. Yeah.
Luken (Steve): Before before you go, have you seen the sender? Is he is he in? Is he around? Or she? I don't
Justin: I shouldn't have assumed. Sender Demerick, he is out and about. I think recently, he was seen near the the well. It's been kind of a dramatic time and he was there administering to the adventurers.
Luken (Steve): Very good. Yeah. I I'm aware that it's been a little bit of a a dramatic time around here and that that's what I was hoping to speak to
Justin: him about. But, yeah, all of that's a little bit above our pay grade. We're not not quite our area of expertise. It it might be
Luken (Steve): a little above my pay grade as well, but here I am.
Justin: Absolute no way. Absolutely not. Thank you so much for this. And they kind of clutch the coin that you gave them tightly and they say, we we really appreciate this. We we feel confident about our depopulation quest now.
Luken (Steve): Wonderful. Go forth. Depopulate. You're Be bold. I don't wanna take up any more of your time.
You've been very helpful. Yeah. Best of luck and good fortune to you.
Justin: Thank you. And they bow one more time and then head off.
Luken (Steve): Great. Yeah. Then I go talk to the the Galapagos with the lyre. Yeah.
Justin: She is kind of strumming it casually, just checking the notes. You hear her a little bit, just checking the pitch, and then sees you. She has, her eyes get a little big, but she doesn't have quite the, like, shocked reaction that maybe the other adventurers did. She sets her liar to the side and gives you like a head nod and she says, Prelate? Acolyte?
Luken (Steve): Can I ask, what's your name? What's your name? Ivarna. Vorana? Ivarna.
Ivarna. Ivarna. Well, it's it's great to meet you. What what are you doing here? What
Justin: Well, this is I'm an acolyte serving here here in the fortune of Sharnwick. And, currently, the the sender is out and so I'm just making sure everything is is keeping tidy and I had a spare minute. So I'm just, tuning my liar.
Luken (Steve): I'm not accusing you of being a liar.
Justin: Tuning my liar. But is there anything I can help you with?
Luken (Steve): Well, with the sender not here, I I just gotten into town pretty recently. And I'm I'm hoping you can clue me in as to what the lay of the land is around here. What Happy to serve. Yeah. What You know, from your perspective, what's going on with these protests?
Oh.
Justin: That's a big question. Quite a tale. She kind of can I get you We should probably talk in a quieter space?
Luken (Steve): Sure. Yeah. They'll let me in here. Let's go grab a drink.
Justin: She gestures you in and follows you towards maybe one of the privater areas of the temple. There are little alcoves for people to rest in, not necessarily like private rooms full out, but definitely areas where an adventurer could rest, and seek some refuge. And eventually, you find your way into there. She pours herself a cup of tea and offers you some I accept it. Yeah.
Yeah. Pours you both some tea and settles down. And she says, well, a number of days ago, there, I'm sure you're aware of the protest.
Luken (Steve): Yes. Absolute yeah. Well, I'm aware of the official line on the protest, but I haven't talked to any witnesses, anyone who's who's been here in the middle of it.
Justin: Well, as you know, a number of years ago, several decades ago, the Steelmarrow tribe of the Ur nation was annexed by the Taranad Kingdom. And the protest is all about that. They are demanding that Venethar, a long standing ally of the Ur nation, finally do something about this. We have a lot more military than, frankly, the nations do. And so they're demanding action on this.
We've not they are saying that our inaction is permission, essentially. And one thing led to another. There are a lot of people here who don't understand magic, period, let alone primal magic. And so there's an old woman here by the name of, Candace Griddlesworth.
Luken (Steve): Ex excuse me? Yeah. Exactly. Yes. Candace Griddlesworth.
Justin: Okay. Candace, she was having nightmares, and so she started reporting sympathy magic. And then people started feeling hungry by the well, which correlates with the hunger strike. And so the evidence for sympathy magic is pretty high. That got people pretty anxious and angry.
And so a fight broke out. And when the guards started to get involved, that's when Sender, he decided to post a quest to protect the protest, saying that that Boz would want to encourage change in in this space and that ambition and good fortune smiles on those who seek the change.
Luken (Steve): That that's very interesting. Is to your to your knowledge, was the sender aware of, you know, the crown and the Council of Faith's, you
Justin: know, position on the Steelmarrow tribe? Sender Demerick is how do I say this nicely? Sender Demerick is feisty. He definitely likes to hear both sides and enjoys being a devil's advocate. And while in the past, that's definitely gotten him a lot of good praise and gotten him, into the position that he's in, I'm worried that in this time, in this moment, he maybe has listened to the devil a bit too much and is advocating for protecting the wrong people.
Luken (Steve): Now, I appreciate how honest you've you've been with me so far. And I do have one just very blunt question for you as somebody who seems to have been observing this place for for at least some amount of time. Have you seen any evidence of an organized movement or, you know, some might even call it a cult pushing against, what our archon, the head of of the, you know, Church of Vaz, has set out as as the position of the church.
Justin: Give me a are you do you care how she answers, or are you looking for a reaction?
Luken (Steve): I am looking for a reaction.
Justin: Then give me an instinct roll.
Sahra (Shelby): Yeah.
Luken (Steve): Could I spend a hope to get the plus two from experience for being the prelate? Yeah. Because I'm, like, asking her from a position of authority.
Justin: Yeah.
Luken (Steve): Alright. So plus two. That is a On the die, that is a seven with fear, but I get a plus three total, so it's a 10 with fear.
Justin: I do think that's a failure with fear. She says, I
Luken (Steve): I get advantage on rolls to detect lies. Okay. So maybe Yeah. Above the table. Wanna hear her response.
Can a Can I then do another roll to see if I can detect a y and what her reaction is?
Justin: Mhmm. I try to keep out of the intricacies of the Boz theology, and could not tell you one way or another what the sender was doing. But I will say, a couple weeks ago, he did make a trip. And upon coming back, really did have a lot of thoughts about this whole he did start using change a lot more now that you mention it. And I I I feel like that's all I can say.
It's not really my place to
Luken (Steve): No. And I wouldn't ask you to speculate. I I appreciate you, being willing to speak with me. I have one more question for you. Of course.
What do you think about the protests? You can be honest. I'm I'm not here to try
Justin: and get anyone in trouble. I think that I don't fully understand. I wasn't alive when the Council of Faith and the Incarnate King voted and decided not to come to the aid of the Ur nation when the Taranad kingdom took over and annexed the Steelmarrow tribe. But it does feel like we just kind of left them out to dry. And they have basically been kind of put into, like, the absolute lowest class there in their own lands.
And it doesn't feel like we've done a lot to even help those who escape or are seeking refuge because it would put us at odds with the Taranad. So it doesn't seem like we're doing the right thing by them in a lot of ways. And the Ur nations have asked and implored in many different ways for some type of action, be it economic or even even if it's not military, they they some type of economic move. It just seems like we're not doing enough.
Herry (Nick): And do you think that's your your opinion is a common one around here? Again, you guys are just closer to Here, definitely. Yeah.
Justin: There are a lot more I have a lot more interactions with people from the Urite tribes. Yeah. I don't know. With you all being in Rasinium City, you probably see a lot of these people a lot less. But the tribes, although they were separate, they were close.
They intermingled a lot. So for most of these people, a lot of their families, their parents knew people in the Steelmarrow tribe. This is just one generation removed. Mhmm. So I don't know.
I feel like this is a fresh wound for them. They're this is the first generation to really kinda see what it's like to have never been free for them. So
Herry (Nick): I can see how how your sympathies here may lie differently than, you know, the perspective that we have back in Residium City. And I, again, I appreciate your honesty. You've you've been really helpful. Did the sender say when he would be back?
Justin: Maybe later this afternoon. Okay. He tends to come back in the evening time for, like, the blessings. Okay.
Herry (Nick): Well, you know, I I kinda like to go do do the work myself. So maybe I'll I'll go out and and try and find them myself, see what see what I see.
Justin: If there's anything else that I can do to help, let me know.
Herry (Nick): I I appreciate it. I know where to find you. By the way, years ago, I really liked a band that was led by a Galapagos. Did you know the Speedy Galapagos?
Justin: My dad was really into them.
Herry (Nick): Lucan is, like, stabbed in the chest. Lucan's like, oh. Oh, yeah. You're okay. Did you swallow your
Justin: tea wrong? Sorry. Did I leave some herbs in there?
Herry (Nick): There must have been some debris in the bottom of the Sorry. Well, keep working on that lyre. You're you're doing great.
Justin: Thanks. Thanks for everything. Thanks.
Herry (Nick): Not the Bomigas or Wilco.
Justin: Alright. And then last, we will pick up outside of town, outside of the town walls, which are not tall by any means. They are really just a way to have a gate more than anything else to keep, some semblance of safety at night more from animals than anything else. There is maybe 15 large caravans that comprise this merchant caravan in total. Maybe 30 to 45 people comprise this ember line caravan of merchants.
And you, Sara, approach and quickly are met met by three large dogs that come up to your shoulder and are kind of not completely aggressive, but kind of give this, if you come closer, we can get more angry vibes. And you are probably 20 to 30 feet away from the caravan itself. And these dogs have just kind of like gotten up from their shade where they were lounging like big dogs do, and they've patted their feet over in your direction and now are like staring at you, before anyone has even emerged. Why don't we describe describe how you have changed over the last twenty years?
Sahra (Shelby): Yeah. So, Sara is an Infernus. So she has kind of like a scaly lizard type skin and horns kind of like a devil. Alright? But just through the years, she has very much been brought up by the nobles of Vicinium City, and they have kind of like, as she's grown up, have kind of directed her horns so that they fall around her ear the same way that hair would fall around your ear to make them less noticeable.
And she is kind of like a chameleon in a sense that her skin color will change. When she was younger, she had less control over it, and it was largely based on her emotions. Her skin color would change. Now she has more control over the color changing aspects, but when she's in moments of intense emotion, that can sometimes pop out still. Her, like, neutral color would be like like a mauve.
Like a like a light kind of purple y color. She is dressed very smartly, that she dresses the same way that a noble would dress. And she is now in traveling clothes, and she sees these dogs and she is gonna use nature's tongue to talk to them and is gonna be like, are you such a good boy? Are you so good puppies?
Justin: Can you read me the exact wording of this this spell?
Sahra (Shelby): Yeah. It says, you can speak the language of the natural world. When you want to speak to the plants and animals around you, make an instinct roll. Okay. On a success, they give they know.
On a roll with fear, their knowledge might be limited or come at a cost.
Justin: Okay. I I think it gives you the number that you have to beat to.
Sahra (Shelby): Right? The instinct roll? 12.
Justin: Yep. So go ahead and give me an instinct roll. Try to beat 12.
Sahra (Shelby): I'll try. I did not do that.
Justin: Don't forget to add your pluses.
Sahra (Shelby): Oh, yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. 56, 789-1011.
Justin: And you can spend a hope to apply any relevant resources Yeah. Experiences.
Sahra (Shelby): So I can spend a hope to gain a plus two bonus. So that would be
Herry (Nick): wait. Okay. Five, six, seven, eight, nine,
Sahra (Shelby): ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen k. With fear.
Justin: Great. One of the dogs, when you use this, primal magic to alter the way you speak, shimmies up to you and is like, I'm a good boy. I'm a good boy.
Sahra (Shelby): And I just give him screechy scratches and smoosh in his face.
Justin: Yeah. It has been completely docile, domesticated at this point. With the you said with fear?
Sahra (Shelby): Yes.
Justin: You do it says have an opportunity to get some information out of it. Mhmm. Do you want to try and get any information out of this dog while there's no other humans around? Any other humanoids around?
Sahra (Shelby): Yeah. I'm like, hey buddy, who who's the most important person? Who should I talk to?
Justin: Oh, you're you're the most important person right now.
Sahra (Shelby): You've got good scritches. Yeah. But who's your people?
Justin: Who should who should Oh, my and he gestures, kind of like turns around a little bit and kind of looks in the direction of a a tall orc man who is leaning over and looking at the spokes of a wheel on one of the nearby caravan that seems to be damaged in some fashion. And he gestures over and says, that guy feeds me the best food. He's the most important.
Sahra (Shelby): Who's your people's name?
Justin: Names, names, names. I names are complicated. I people call him Cartus.
Sahra (Shelby): Okay. Great. Thanks, buddy.
Justin: More scritches. Scoochies.
Herry (Nick): Scoochies. Scoochies. Great.
Sahra (Shelby): So I'm gonna I'm gonna pat him on the head. I'm gonna say, thanks buddy. And then I walk away toward Cardis and I approach and I say, you doing okay? Need any help?
Justin: Oh, hello. I don't know who who hello. Could use some help. Yeah, actually. Would you mind, can you you're a little bit smaller than me.
Can you go underneath there and on the other side there should be on the axle, if you could check to make sure there are no cracks in that. I'm gonna give it a spin. If you could look to make sure there are no cracks, that would be that would be great actually.
Sahra (Shelby): Okay. Great. Yeah. Happy to help.
Justin: Great. Go ahead and, give me a instinct check. Okay. Just trying to beat a seven.
Sahra (Shelby): You said instinct? Yep. Okay. 12 with fear.
Justin: 12 with fear. I think, actually, go ahead and just mark a stress.
Sahra (Shelby): Okay.
Justin: The act of kind of crawling underneath there, it's hot. And while you're underneath there, you see, now that you are underneath this wagon, your intentions in coming here were to I'm not gonna speak to what your intentions are in coming in underneath here. But you're now on your back underneath this wagon as he is kinda spinning this wheel and you're looking for cracks. And he says, so who are you?
Sahra (Shelby): Oh, hi. My name is Sara. Sorry. I I saw your dog. He was really cute.
And and then I saw you looking at your wagon, so I thought I'd help.
Justin: Oh, yeah. I I appreciate the help. That's for sure. But can I can I help you with anything? I no offense, but there are a lot of people here in this town who can see us, and not a lot are coming up to help.
Sahra (Shelby): Oh, don't I know it, buddy? Yeah. Well, I'm I'm here in in good faith. Was actually wondering, I'm I'm kinda new in town and I I heard there's like protests and stuff going on. Have you heard anything about that?
Justin: You heard about the protests?
Sahra (Shelby): Yeah. I I mean, people talk. I was in the I was in the bar last night and people were talking but I couldn't really hear them.
Justin: Yeah. There are definitely protests happening here. A couple of the young people here in in my group are are making a making a big deal out of some stuff for sure. Yeah. Great.
Sahra (Shelby): I I What's the cause? How can I join?
Justin: You you wanna join without knowing what the cause is?
Sahra (Shelby): Well, I mean, I get good vibes from you, man. What's going on?
Justin: You see him put his foot down. Right? Kind of wedging his foot kind of at the base of yours, preventing you from kind of you will have to go further into the camp to get out. You can no longer weasel your way back out the way you came. In order to get out
Herry (Nick): from underneath the wagon. You'll have
Justin: to go into the camp further. He has not trapped you in any way. You can definitely get out, but you cannot come towards him anymore. Okay. He has, like, thoroughly stopped you underneath this cabin.
He says, listen, are you a guard? Because I'm not gonna put up with that. No. They they've tried to come in here a couple of times now and I'm not gonna tolerate it. If they want to do something, they can at least do official shit.
Sahra (Shelby): Woah. I am so sorry. I am not a guard. I swear. I I I'm sorry if I gave you sus vibes or something, but
Justin: I'm sorry. I didn't catch your name again. Sara? Sara what? Sara Kassane.
Sara Kassane. Interesting. Interesting. Interesting. Not a name I've heard.
Yeah. Definitely from out of town.
Sahra (Shelby): Oh, I'm out of I'm from out of town.
Justin: Yeah. Passing through?
Sahra (Shelby): Well, I got some friends in the urn nation and I was gonna go visit them and this was on my way.
Herry (Nick): Okay. Okay. It's good
Justin: to know. It's good to know. Sorry. I don't mean to be terribly rude, but things are tense right now. I'm Wayfinder Cartus Deeprock.
Nice to meet you.
Sahra (Shelby): Nice to meet you.
Justin: Any cracks?
Sahra (Shelby): No. There's no cracks.
Justin: Oh, alright. Well, we just got a bad spoke then. Alright. You can, come on out. Go go on the other side.
I'll meet you around over there. And he moves his way to the other side of the the wagon and, kinda helps you kind of get
Sahra (Shelby): up Yeah.
Justin: From from the ground. He dusts off, the shoulders on your jacket and gets you a little bit cleaned up. He says, things are tense right now. You'll have to forgive me for not assuming the best of of outsiders. I
Sahra (Shelby): I get it, man. I mean, where I come from, I'm the outsider and I feel your pain there.
Justin: Where where is it you come from?
Sahra (Shelby): I live in the city. I live in Resinium City and they don't take too kindly to er people over there.
Justin: Oh, you're er?
Sahra (Shelby): Yeah. Yeah. I'm I I say my name's Kassane, but my real name is Manisblood.
Justin: I'm going to spend a
Sahra (Shelby): fear. He
Justin: takes two steps back from you and he says, you're the ward. You've heard of me? Oh, I've heard of you. You're the king's bootlicker.
Sahra (Shelby): I wouldn't say that.
Justin: I what I don't know what else you would say in this moment.
Sahra (Shelby): I mean, I yes. I I grew up there, but I mean, my my roots are er.
Justin: Your roots are er?
Sahra (Shelby): Yes. My okay. My mother was the chief and as an act of peace, I moved to Racineum City and that's how I'm able to get education and I can read and I can write, but I Oh.
Justin: Excuse me. I'm I'm so glad that you've done so many good things for yourself, why all of us have benefited greatly from your position as Ward. I'm sorry, I forgot to think about all of the ways that we've benefited from that. My apologies. Thank you.
Thank you so much, Sara. Thank you. How can we ever repay you? Would you like to take a wagon? Is that what you're here for?
For some type of, like, payment for your good work?
Sahra (Shelby): No. I that's not look. Okay? I'm trying to help. I'm not trying to be a scab.
Alright? I'm not trying to cross picket lines. I genuinely wanna help.
Justin: Great. It seems like, as ward, if you're here and you join the protest, then they won't be able to do anything.
Sahra (Shelby): Great.
Justin: You're kind of a protected body. If anything happens to you, that's diplomatic problems.
Sahra (Shelby): Great.
Justin: So if I show you to the protest, are you gonna be cool?
Sahra (Shelby): That's why I'm here, dude. That's what I said.
Justin: Give me a presence check. Mhmm. I'm gonna before you tell me, I think you have to beat a 17.
Sahra (Shelby): I got a 19 with hope.
Justin: Hell yeah. Wow. I think you see his mind working as he begins to think of all of the ways he just met you. So I don't think this is you gaining his trust, but you are essentially being like, he, at the worst, sees you as a extremely valuable chess piece that just walked into his camp that, oh, if I just stick this important person in the middle of the protesters, then they can't raid them because if they hurt her, that's a problem. Mhmm.
And so if nothing else, he you can just see his mind working of, oh, I just have a VIP who I can kind of use as a, like, a as a bodyguard or as a meat shield.
Sahra (Shelby): Yeah. Yeah. More like it.
Justin: And so he says, yeah, I'll show you. And he walks you out of the caravan still outside of the town, but closer to the wall nearby to this well. And this is a large well, maybe twenty, thirty feet across that is clearly used by there's like a stable nearby. This is not the city well. There's a well inside for that.
But this is kind of used for not just drinking water, but all types of oh, we need water for washing. We need water for this is non potable water where they can use it for cleaning and all of those kind of other things. And around it are gathered 20 people. Many of these people look like Venetharans. They are sitting there.
The mood, even without a check of any kind, the mood feels tame but resolute. People are talking but not loudly. There are three people who are kind of sitting on the ledge of this well, and their hands are bound by what looks like a thick wisp of smoke that moves, across their chest where their hands are crossed or through their wrists, almost touching, their their hearts on their chest, and then out ten, fifteen feet to the next person where their arms are crossed across their chest and the wisps of smoke creating this barrier, where in order to get to the well, you would have to cross through that wisp of smoke. And you see that a number of the protesters, do kind of approach the smoke, walk through it just fine, and you see them, like, hold their stomach for a brief second and then walk back out of it in some type of, like, occasional, almost moment of it looks like thoughtful prayer almost. And you see in the center, there is this younger tiefling, woman who has two horns that stick straight up, large, and kind of wave very much, just at the top, where she has two chains, linking them, with ornaments in between.
She appears to be the one kind of leading this this protest of some kind. And he says, here's where we are stationed up and currently holding our protest.
Sahra (Shelby): Wow. It's a lot of people.
Justin: People are more sympathetic to the cause than I think is polite to talk about.
Sahra (Shelby): Are the people with this with their hands bound, are they bound by choice or not by choice?
Justin: That is their is their magic.
Sahra (Shelby): Okay.
Justin: Yes. That is they are casting a spell that allows others to experience the memory of someone who recently died.
Sahra (Shelby): Wow. That's powerful. I
Justin: would encourage you to experience it.
Sahra (Shelby): Okay. So I take a deep breath and I walk towards the smoke.
Justin: People, the Venethorns kind of clear the way for you. I guess I'll ask this question of you. Are you if a common person were to look at you, would they know that you are er?
Sahra (Shelby): I think based on stereotype, I think yes. I think people can tell just by my race that they that I'm probably Yeah.
Justin: And not all are tieflings. Obviously, the Stereo Maro tribe are are giants. They would make assumptions that you are, based on your in furnace nature. The woman in the center that you are approaching as you get closer to this ring, she her eyes are open. She sees you, and she kind of gives you a suspicious look and she says,
Herry (Nick): who are you?
Sahra (Shelby): My name is Sara Manasblood, and I am here to fight for my Ur ancestors.
Justin: Manasblood is an older name.
Sahra (Shelby): Yes. My family lineage is strong and goes back generations. My mother was the chief of our tribe.
Justin: Do you know what we're doing here?
Sahra (Shelby): Not really.
Justin: My friend Sethin is from the Steelmarrow tribe, and he died. And I was able to capture his memory from death and am now spreading the word of what's happening there because people need to know. People talk like, oh, it's people are misusing and abusing the Steel Marrow tribe, but that's not even half of it. They they don't understand how bad it is there. I want people to know.
I want them to feel it.
Sahra (Shelby): So let me feel it.
Justin: Go ahead and give me a We're gonna do our first weird Justin roll Okay. Of this campaign. I'm gonna we're gonna do two reaction roles. So in this situation, with hope and with fear don't matter.
Sahra (Shelby): Okay.
Justin: It's just a number. You're gonna give me two roles. The first will be, I want a strength roll
Sahra (Shelby): Mhmm.
Justin: And then I want a knowledge roll. Okay. You can roll twice and then assign the one you want to the role that you want. So you can roll twice and assign them however you want.
Sahra (Shelby): Okay. You said strength and Knowledge. Knowledge. Okay. Okay.
So I got an I got a nine for knowledge and a 13 for strength.
Justin: And that's with your pluses and everything?
Sahra (Shelby): Yes.
Justin: Okay. Any hope you wanna spend in any of that?
Sahra (Shelby): I don't know. I don't know what's about to happen. Maybe okay. Wait. Let me let me spend a hope so that I can plus two my knowledge because I'm connected to my roots.
Justin: I like that. I think that's definitely applicable. So bringing it up to eleven?
Sahra (Shelby): Mhmm.
Herry (Nick): K.
Justin: You cross through that line of smoke and immediately feel days of hunger come over you. Days of hunger, while uncomfortable, is not debilitating. So I don't want to describe this as something that is going to cause you any physical harm. You did pass. You needed to get a 12 in your strength roll.
Sahra (Shelby): Okay.
Justin: So you do not you do not fail this roll. I think what's shocking about this situation is that you went from not hungry to days of hungry in an instant. So you are able to keep yourself grounded. I think it is one of the first practices that any ritualist in primal magic learns, is how to maintain your presence in yourself. Because as you learned at a young age, primal magic is very physical and will try to take that physical away from you if it can.
And so you lean back on those years of training and you remind yourself that that hunger you're feeling is not real. It is not your hunger. You are feeling the hunger of the three people that this smoke is connecting. However, that pain of the hunger is what the primal magic is going to use to transfer the knowledge and the experience of the memory. Okay.
And so through that hunger, you start to feel the memories of Sethin. You needed to get a 16 on this knowledge check-in order to pass. Okay. So you do fail this. So what this looks like is instead of being able to make or instead of feeling like a book that you reading, making logical of making chronological sense of the memories, it's just like a flash pan of knowledge that you were hit with.
So you suddenly see and have a memory of yourself in chains being exposed to caustic gases. You have a sudden memory of being forced to endure large amounts of volatile magic in order to forge metal. You have memories of not being afforded a lot of opportunities to sleep. You have memories of being beaten. You have memories of seclusion.
You have memories of being separated from people, getting close to them, being separated again, basically being treated as subhuman. All of this happens almost immediately, and then it's done. As fast as it happened. You don't have a lot of time to make sense of these things, but it hits you very, very quickly, and then it's over.
Sahra (Shelby): So I stumble back through the the smoke, and I'm just sobbing, and I just have tears streaming, and I kind of collapse to my knees. And I'm very overwhelmed with, like, the emotion, but not quite able to place where that emotion is coming from.
Justin: You one of the Venetharne protesters comes up to you and hands you a container of water and says, drink this, it'll help.
Sahra (Shelby): And I
Herry (Nick): It's a lot
Justin: for your first time. Give yourself a couple of hours, things will things will start to collect together. It's a lot.
Sahra (Shelby): Thank you. Something needs to be done.
Justin: We agree. My God. I I didn't know how bad it was either until until they showed me, but now I do and I I don't even think this is enough.
Sahra (Shelby): No one's ever told me this.
Justin: I I think they keep it quiet. I don't think they I don't think the Tarah and Ad Kingdom want people to know. And I and I don't think many people in Venathar care to know it's easier sometimes to ignore atrocities than to face them head on. But that doesn't justify it, you know? We can do better, I think.
Sahra (Shelby): And I just kind of nod my head and my my tears start turning into angry tears. And I just keep saying, something needs to be done.
Justin: As you kind of gather yourself, you notice that amongst the people, amongst the Venetharan protesters, you also see on the outskirts leaning against the town wall, there are pockets of people who are in adventuring gear, who are eyeing the wall itself, eyeing the caravan, the horizon, clearly trying to look casual, but also on guard. The protesters remain resolute and focused, but it's clear that they're all hunger striking. Mhmm. So some of them, depending on how long they've been here, are feeling pretty tired and they're just drinking water, so they're not necessarily the most strong. A lot of the safety is coming from these people on the outside and you see them there.
Sahra (Shelby): Is the person that gave me the water, is she still there?
Herry (Nick): Yeah.
Sahra (Shelby): Okay. What is your name?
Justin: My name is Darcy.
Sahra (Shelby): Darcy, what are those adventurers doing?
Justin: They showed up, they showed up, and they're they're protecting the protest.
Sahra (Shelby): Why?
Justin: The police came and arrested and well, before the police came, there was a fight with some of the other townsfolk. They claimed that, yes, there is sympathy magic happening here, but it's just you have to willingly subject yourself to it. You it's just right here. There's nothing else beyond just this line here. But they're suspecting that it's bigger than that and that they're manipulating us.
But I'm not being manipulated. I'm choosing to be here.
Sahra (Shelby): I believe you.
Justin: And they don't get that. They think that I have to be manipulated to think this way, to feel this way. But, anyway, once the police showed up after that fight, the the local Church of Boz sanctioned adventurers to protect the group. So that's what they're here for. They're here to protect us from from the guards.
Sahra (Shelby): Well well, do we know what the adventurers want in return?
Justin: Well, they get good experience out of this.
Sahra (Shelby): Okay. Just XP. Yeah. That's fair.
Justin: This is They're
Herry (Nick): out here grinding. Yeah.
Justin: This is a guard job. This is what they signed up for. They are an adventuring party.
Sahra (Shelby): I guess I guess I just need to know how I can help.
Justin: Your participation is great. And like us, we're just we're just here joining along. And the the more of us if the more of us if we have high enough numbers, they can't arrest us all. Right?
Sahra (Shelby): I don't know that to be true, but
Justin: I mean, the jail can only house like 20 people. So if we just get five more, like they literally can't arrest us all.
Sahra (Shelby): Well, I like your optimism, Darcy. Darcy, can you keep a secret? Yes. Do I believe her? No.
Justin: You've just met
Sahra (Shelby): Darcy, I think that I think that I can be a real asset to you guys.
Justin: Oh, I think that too.
Sahra (Shelby): Everyone is. Alright. So what is is it that you that we need other than I feel like we're not this is not doing what we need. Right? That if the goal is to get this information out, and currently the only way for people to experience this is to willingly submit, we need to find another way to spread this information.
Justin: Right now, there are three members of the caravan who are already in jail. They need to be released. They didn't do anything wrong.
Sahra (Shelby): Yeah.
Justin: We were victims. They were victims. They need to be released. After that, we want the senator to bring a petition to the senate asking for an official refuge to be made for members of the Steelmarrow tribe who escape and can come here and and not fear retribution from the Taranad Kingdom and know that Benathar will protect them. These feel like easy things that an ally should provide.
Sahra (Shelby): Yeah. So I just kinda nod my head and I go, I'll see what I can do.
Justin: Are you like someone important?
Sahra (Shelby): I just kinda like give her a wink.
Justin: You get the vibe that Darcy does not read the news. Darcy does not read the papers.
Sahra (Shelby): I've I've got friends in high places.
Justin: That'd be great. If you know Senator Reyes, he's not coming he's not even come out to meet us yet.
Sahra (Shelby): Well, like I said, Darcy, I'll see what I can do.
Justin: Thanks. You've been saying this, and over Darcy's shoulder, Emera has been listening to all of this. And she has kind of given you the continue to give you those suspicious eyes as you've kind of explained to Darcy that you might be willing to help. You get the idea that Amira cannot move from her spot, she is locked into place here, but she is going to watch you as you leave. Great.
Each of you have paid for rooms in the local tavern.
Herry (Nick): So we're not sharing a room.
Justin: You are not sharing a room. Absolutely not.
Herry (Nick): Can we like hang out for a while into the night?
Justin: Absolutely. Okay. That's The the tavern will allow you to hang out. But your
Herry (Nick): That is what taverns do historically.
Justin: You are welcome to to congregate. You traveled here relatively together, but you also traveled here magically. So there is a space in Residium City called the Waygate. It's not a direct teleportation. It's like think of it like a short hop, like flights with connections.
So it probably still took you, three or four days to get here in total, but it was much faster than had you gone by horse or by caravan. Also, I'm gonna go over what facts you know. On the first, the Iravite caravan arrived in in from Tollendale in Sharnwick. This is a monthly thing, very normal. On the sixth, the young people led by Emera, began the protest ritual.
On the eighth, Candice filed her complaint. On the ninth, Jarris Vanworth three Jarris Vanworth and five others got into a physical altercation with the protesters. Jarrus and three protesters were arrested. On the tenth, a large group of young Scharnwick citizens began joining the protesters. Later that night, an individual, supposedly sister Henel, killed Ultra late in the night in a nearby did I say forest?
Herry (Nick): Woods.
Justin: Woods. Woods. In a nearby woods. Woods.
Herry (Nick): It is like, we are being told that it's basically accepted as fact that it was Sister Yes. Ultra. But we
Justin: Sister Henel. Sister Sister
Herry (Nick): Henel killed Otr Otrall Lochner. We we don't know. Like, there's been no court of law. There's been no Correct. Yep.
These could be fabrications. My client could be innocent.
Justin: Correct. Correct. I did miss out on the on the ninth is when the goods were taken from Sister Henle.
Herry (Nick): And today's the twelfth. Right? Yeah. It very well could be we got sent when the physical altercation happened.
Herry (Nick): Yeah. On the ninth. That makes sense. Yeah. After arrest.
Herry (Nick): Yeah. Yeah. Once arrests are made, it makes sense for them to send in the big guns, three semi related weirdos. Yeah. Yeah.
Justin: I think you guys being sent is a is an escalation of the situation, but not a national escalation of the situation.
Herry (Nick): It's not their way of
Justin: It's their way of being like, the nation's gonna handle it before the nation has to handle it.
Herry (Nick): It'd be really great if you guys handle this in a way where nobody has to think about this after tomorrow. Right.
Justin: Right. So the Avengers got there on the eleventh.
Sahra (Shelby): And when was Utracilled?
Herry (Nick): On On the tenth. Sometime the tenth.
Herry (Nick): Found on the eleventh though.
Justin: Right? Yeah. Yeah. The three of you have rooms in the local tavern that have been paid for by the Council of Faith, the Senate, and the Crown. You are welcome to return to those or stay where you want.
This is also an opportunity for you all to conversate and discuss the things that you have the information that you've gathered. You arrived here via magical Way gate and did not have a ton of opportunity to discuss. It wasn't an immediate teleport here. There were a couple puddle jumps via smaller way gates on the way here, so it did take a little bit of time. It wasn't an immediate teleport.
So this is not the first time maybe you've talked to one another, but definitely will be the longest time you'll have spent in a number of years with each other. The tavern room is filled with people in that this is the only tavern in the city, in the town, but it is also not filled to the brim on account of the city being on edge. It looks like it's mostly people who live very, very close by and regulars. You all do stick out a little bit like sore thumbs in that you are from out of town. And people have, at first, noticed you and given you a lot of attention.
But having seen you come and go at least throughout once throughout the day, kind of understand this is not, a town completely unfamiliar with adventurers and or people on their way through a trade route. So the idea of outsiders is not completely foreign. It's mostly just that you were the only three in this room who currently do not live here.
Herry (Nick): Have I met have I met with Gustavo yet?
Justin: You have not. He was predisposed Cool. At for the meeting and unfortunately was unable to meet with him.
Herry (Nick): Convenient. Harry walks into the bar, goes straight to the bar, a bartender, and just hands fairly large stack of money to them and goes, this is more than I can drink, but not much more. And then heads to a table.
Justin: He knowingly puts a finger to his nose and says, I'll keep that in mind. I'll keep that in mind.
Herry (Nick): Thank you. Thank you.
Herry (Nick): Thank you. I think I came in closely behind Harry. I saw this happen. I walk up to the table and like clap you on the back and say, you're paying for everybody tonight it looks Yeah.
Herry (Nick): Absolutely. Why not?
Herry (Nick): It's been a while. Good to see you.
Herry (Nick): How are you, Lucan? Oh, I'm sorry. Prelate.
Herry (Nick): Look, we go back far enough. You don't need to use the title here. But it's good to see you.
Herry (Nick): Good to see you too.
Herry (Nick): How are things?
Herry (Nick): Murdery, I guess. I don't know. It's fucking a lot.
Herry (Nick): Yeah. I come in and I
Sahra (Shelby): see both of them, And I am more excited to see Harry than I am to see Lincoln. But I'm excited to see both of them. But I I run up, and I give you a big hug.
Herry (Nick): And I'm
Sahra (Shelby): like, oh my god.
Herry (Nick): How are you? What have you been up to today?
Sahra (Shelby): Oh, boy. Oh, boy. Do I have something to tell you guys.
Herry (Nick): It looks like there have been some waterworks, if I can if I know you well enough. What's going on?
Sahra (Shelby): Well, I went and I I met the protesters.
Herry (Nick): Holy shit. You've been over there?
Sahra (Shelby): Yeah. Oh, okay. So, okay. So there's
Herry (Nick): Here, get a drink. Here, let's find a table. Let's find a table.
Justin: They slide you each drinks. You guys find a table a little bit off to the side where people cannot hear you generally. Great.
Sahra (Shelby): Great. So, okay. So I I found the caravan and and I met Amira Rashad.
Herry (Nick): Oh, okay.
Sahra (Shelby): And so they have They're at the well and they There is There's three of them that are hunger striking. Or sorry, are they all hunger striking or is it just the All
Herry (Nick): of the
Justin: people are hunger striking, but the three are the only ones that have done it for multiple days.
Sahra (Shelby): Okay. Great. Great. Great. So there's three of them and they're chained together with magic and when you pass their line, you feel the hunger, and you also feel the memory of the some of the atrocities that have been taking place.
At least that's
Herry (Nick): Okay.
Sahra (Shelby): My I crossed it. Really? I went in. Wow. How was that?
Fucking brutal, man.
Herry (Nick): Oh, I believe it.
Sahra (Shelby): Yeah. There were fucking people in chains and people being gassed and tortured and put into solitary confinement and it's fucked up, man.
Herry (Nick): Above table
Justin: Mhmm.
Herry (Nick): How much of a surprise, like, how much intel do I have on the set of how fucked up Taronat is in that region of our nation? Like, I'm assuming it's not that much of a surprise to me that like torture is happening and things are
Justin: this bleak. It is known that the Tarnad Kingdom functions on a caste system. Yeah. Okay. It is known that the Tarnad Kingdom do not treat the Steelmarrow tribe well.
What is probably not frequently talked about are the details. Sure. And you have heard sparing reports. Yeah. Rarely direct.
Herry (Nick): Sure. So this probably isn't surprising that it's this bleak, but the details are not? Correct. Okay. Okay.
So, yeah. There's a bunch of people talking about it. Sympathy magic or sympathy magic or whatever the hell it's called, and I'm assuming that's what that is. Yeah. Not to say that it's not true or valid, but
Sahra (Shelby): And from what I can tell, the sympathy magic is you have to submit to it. I didn't feel it just walking up to them. I had to willingly cross the line to feel it.
Herry (Nick): Gotcha. That's great. I mean, that's Nothing's good news going on, but that's good news.
Sahra (Shelby): I mean, from what I can tell, I don't think that they have the ability to submit people to it without their will.
Justin: Gotcha.
Herry (Nick): I met with I met with lieutenant lieutenant strike, and she wants blood. And even, frankly, had a veiled threat slash warning that she doesn't have control of what her guard does after hours. So there's miss we're not through the woods on as far as violence or anything, don't think. Just to let you guys know.
Sahra (Shelby): What it so somebody was telling me that there were three people who were arrested
Herry (Nick): Mhmm.
Sahra (Shelby): And they're being held right now. And ultimately, what the protesters want is those prisoners to be released, and they want refuge and protection, basically. Gotcha. Okay. And what are the odds of us getting those prisoners released?
Herry (Nick): I don't know yet. I don't have I mean, I haven't been able to talk to Reyes, this senator. Got blown off this afternoon with him. I've talked just to the lieutenant and saw what happened to the captain that was murdered and it's brutal. Sound sounding equally brutal.
I don't know. It sounds like that captain confiscated a bunch of spell components and then was murdered not long after, maybe the next day. So I don't it also doesn't completely add up that, hey, we lost all our spell components and then did magic so horrifically. So there's something there's something not adding up within this, but the lieutenant's after blood for that captain's
Sahra (Shelby): Right.
Herry (Nick): Vengeance here. So we have to fit we also have to figure that out in order to just get some patients down. So that's a piece of information from the IR side, the protester side that we probably need to get to the bottom of this. Is there any evidence to get them out of being accused of that?
Sahra (Shelby): Right.
Herry (Nick): If that makes sense. How's your day going, Logan?
Herry (Nick): Well, I spent most of my day trying to figure out who authorized sending adventurers to to guard the protesters.
Herry (Nick): I didn't think it went to the top.
Herry (Nick): Because that's, as I understand it, not the party line here.
Herry (Nick): Okay.
Herry (Nick): Yeah. I I was not able to find the sender who, you know, ordinarily, when a a serif comes to town, especially kind of a outskirts town like this, the sender of the local, you know, house of fortune would be there to greet me.
Herry (Nick): Sure.
Herry (Nick): You know, that's just kinda part of the deal. He he was out. I was able to verify he is the one who sent over the the adventurers to guard the protesters. I went out looking for him. No sir.
Didn't find him. So I I did get some information from a a very pleasant accolade who was very willing to talk to me. But the sympathies in this town seem to be with the protesters. Mhmm. Before I jump to any conclusions about why, you know, this sender seems to have kinda gone off off script a little bit.
I think it's from what I'm hearing from Sara, I think we have to give some weight to the fact that these protesters are pretty sympathetic figures Yeah. On the whole.
Herry (Nick): Yeah. I mean, first, it sounds like someone's trying to grow a fifth arm, is that's that's for you to fuck with. But I think nationally, it's not a particularly popular movement that we've made away from the arrogation. That's true. Right?
Generally, like is generally anyway. Yeah. So I think I think they have more power than they maybe even they realize and more backing than they realize. So we have to figure out how to disperse this and get them a better audience without blowing the spot.
Herry (Nick): Yeah. I I think de escalation is still seems like the order of the day, but you know, this is not what I thought I was walking into, flying into.
Herry (Nick): What I don't mean to ask. You're fairly high up. Your boss is your boss doesn't have a boss. And so what are
Herry (Nick): My boss answers to God.
Justin: Oh, okay. Well As do we all.
Herry (Nick): On this plane, your boss doesn't have a boss. How hard is it how hard were to get, you know, for this deep rock to get a meeting with your boss? That's I mean, that's a that's a rocket ship to the top, so I don't expect that to be an easy call, but I'm just I'm trying to figure out what cards we have to offer. I'm not a particularly high ranking senate member, and I'm here, but I can't exactly get someone audience with the king. But someone on the council of fave.
Herry (Nick): Archon Rondellis, he's he's in Rasinium City. He's he's not exposed to what we've even what we've seen today. Yeah. And even if I could get an audience with the Archon, I'm not sure how that audience would be received. I'd I'm not Sure.
You know.
Herry (Nick): Well, I'm I'm not saying that needs to happen anytime soon. But if the if there's something on the table there, it's worth investigating.
Herry (Nick): If it's something they want, it's something that Yeah. You know.
Herry (Nick): I negotiate.
Herry (Nick): We can talk about it. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Okay.
Herry (Nick): Okay. So they want that's kind of all they want refugee status for folks in the Steelmarrow tribe.
Sahra (Shelby): Yes.
Herry (Nick): And they want the folks that were in the scuffle released.
Sahra (Shelby): Correct.
Herry (Nick): Who would be responsible for releasing the folks in the scuffle? Is that your
Herry (Nick): I'm assuming it's Tavo.
Herry (Nick): Yeah. I guess Tavo or lieutenant would lieutenant strike?
Herry (Nick): We're not gonna get anywhere
Herry (Nick): with strike. That's yeah. That seems unlikely We're
Herry (Nick): gonna go over strike's head for Yeah. Anything at all. At this point, we're on strike's team as far as strike knows.
Sahra (Shelby): Sure.
Herry (Nick): Well, that's what we were sent out here to do. Exactly. Exactly. But if this is what we were able to find out from the protesters and about the protests on our first day in town
Herry (Nick): Yeah.
Herry (Nick): I I worry that as we're here longer, we're gonna find more.
Herry (Nick): 100%. Sara, did you was sister Henle there? She's the number one suspect for the murder. Did you run into them?
Sahra (Shelby): I didn't hear anything about her.
Herry (Nick): Okay. Okay. That's interesting. We need I mean, if we're if they're gonna get out of if they're gonna get out of that one, we I'm this might be a you thing. We may we were gonna need some evidence that they weren't involved.
Cause right now they're the they're the logical leap. I just there's no evidence either way. So as soon as they can get evidence to prove they weren't involved, the better.
Herry (Nick): Yeah. So I do have one more thing. Yeah. I think it's worth looping you all in on. The sender, the one I wasn't able to find, the information I got from him is that apparently, he wandered off for a few days and came back talking about how much and how important the aspect of Vaz that seeks change is.
Herry (Nick): So that's true.
Herry (Nick): So we might have some cult of metamorphosis influencing what's going on here as well.
Sahra (Shelby): So what does that mean?
Justin: Well,
Herry (Nick): I am one of the four Seraphs of Boz. My boss, the archon, is a staunch ally of the king. One of, you know, it's it's no secret that's one of the reasons that the Church of Boz has its elevated status on the council is how we've tied ourselves to the incarnate king. The cult of metamorphosis would prefer that we do away with all of that. They think that, you know, as the god of ambition, Bas would not want his church to be stagnant and static in terms of being tied closely to the status quo and the existing structure.
And they want to take action to to force our hand and transform the church away from that. You know, I wouldn't say, you know, amongst the church boss that the house of fortune here is a super influential one, but this is the first I've heard of of somebody as high up as a sender for an entire town speaking using the language of the cult.
Herry (Nick): Where's that timeline line up with the protest? Is this before the protest starts or after the protest starts? As far as him leaving and coming back, has it Right. Changed my No.
Justin: Well, before.
Herry (Nick): It was before.
Herry (Nick): Okay. Okay. Yeah. So it was it predates all of this.
Herry (Nick): Okay.
Herry (Nick): Apparently, he had been preaching about you know, the the tone of his messages has has shifted even before these protests started according to my source.
Justin: I'm gonna spend a fear.
Herry (Nick): Yeah. Great.
Herry (Nick): Great. Yeah. Make something happen.
Justin: As you were all sitting here, a group of four drunkards walk into the tavern. All of them still wearing their guardsmen official guardsmen garb, but clearly in their off hours as they are, you know, a little bit more disheveled, and taking their helmets off, kind of leaving their scours a little looser. They go up to the front. They get their drinks, and they sit at a table, still out of earshot, but clearly in line of sight of you all, of where you were all sitting and take up their spot kind of well within view of where you all at, and now have kind of made their themselves known in this space while you guys are all talking. So they're now a group of drunken guards in this space with you.
Herry (Nick): Continue. I I think I make knowing eye contact with both of you and say, hey, you know, might be time to kinda watch what we say around here.
Herry (Nick): Yeah. Why are they always messy? Why are the guards always drinking? Why are they always drunk? Why are the guards always this kind of guy?
Justin: As you say that, a says something about their recruiting practices. A server comes up and hands you another drink. You so much. Pounds. Yeah.
As I understood, this is yours? Absolutely. Yes.
Herry (Nick): Keep them coming. Thank you so much.
Sahra (Shelby): So Harry
Herry (Nick): Mhmm.
Sahra (Shelby): What do you think we should do? Jesus.
Herry (Nick): What we we still need to talk to Tavo and figure out what he he's sympathetic to their nation. He just has a guard lieutenant up his ass about a murder, which is not incredibly unfair. I think we need to spend a little more time getting to know the folks at the protest camp. The lieutenant wants a declaration to be able to use effectively use force to go arrest whoever they think did the murder had action in the murder. They don't have any hard evidence about it, So there's not really anything to there's something to worry about there in that.
I'm not sure how under controlled she has her force. But
Sahra (Shelby): So I need to gather information with the protesters.
Justin: I think
Herry (Nick): so. And figure out what where everyone was and if they know anything about anything on the tenth. Yeah. And then you who can figure out what's changing?
Herry (Nick): Yeah. I need to find my sender. Yeah. On its on its face between my boss isn't here listening. Yeah.
It doesn't seem unreasonable to allow some adventurers to go perform guard duty on protesters that Yeah. If couple instances aside have largely been been peaceful. I worry though that there might be more to this than what is on its face. Yeah.
Herry (Nick): We're on a clock as well. Yeah. Caravan's gonna be noticed that this all hasn't gotten through. So I'd say two days. How many how much time do we have above table before?
Justin: Two days would be pushing it. Yeah. Two days would be pushing it. I think
Herry (Nick): we I think we gotta start locked up in two days. Yeah. Mhmm.
Herry (Nick): I think we gotta start home in two days. Yeah. That we that gives us tomorrow. Yeah.
Justin: One of the guardsmen pushes his chair back kinda loudly, looks over at your table, and in particular, at the large red flames and cape of Prelate Lucan and says, hey, I know that. Look, you're you work with you work with the sender, don't you?
Herry (Nick): I've actually not had the pleasure of meeting the sender yet, but, yeah, I'm part of the Church of Vaz. What can I do for you?
Justin: You're you're part of the problem. You you should go and tell those those adventurers that they should leave. They're getting in the way of the law. What what does the law plan to do? Those people they murdered someone.
We've gotta question them. We're gonna we're you you should get them out of there tonight.
Herry (Nick): Tonight? Yeah. You seem to be implying that something's going to happen.
Justin: Justice is gonna happen. That's what's gonna happen.
Herry (Nick): Tell me more. You know that the Church of Boz is a staunch ally of the king and of order.
Justin: Well, seems like those two things aren't always the same anymore, is doesn't it?
Herry (Nick): The king has not changed his tune at all.
Justin: Oh, yeah. We'll tell that to you us out here.
Herry (Nick): Harry's gonna walk in between and just be like, how can we help you boys? Weird. Weird. You know, I had a I had a big meeting with Strike this afternoon.
Justin: I'm not talking to you, little man.
Herry (Nick): Hey. Oh, little man.
Justin: And he kind of puts his hand on your And he points his finger at you, Lucan, and says, you need to tell the adventurers to leave before they get themselves in a place where they can't handle it.
Herry (Nick): I wanna use voice of reason Okay. On the sky. Oh, yeah. You speak with an unmatched power and authority. You have an advantage on action roles to deescalate violent situations or convince someone to follow your lead.
I think we are getting close enough to a violent situation.
Justin: Yeah. For sure.
Herry (Nick): I'm emboldened in moments of duress, which is not this. So I have advantage on an action role here. Okay. I want to use my voice to reason and say, I'm going to suggest maybe we take our hands off the senator and along with that, I think it would be really helpful if you want me to go talk to those adventurers, why why don't you tell me, you know, what's gonna happen if if they stick around?
Herry (Nick): Let's get these guys another round.
Herry (Nick): Yeah. Yeah. We can we can all we can all talk like adults here. We're all we're all having drinks.
Justin: Go ahead and give me a presence check with advantage. You have to beat a 12.
Herry (Nick): So 15 with fear on the first one?
Justin: Advantage is adding a d six.
Herry (Nick): Oh. Well, got a 15. Yeah. So I don't really Yep. With fear?
16. Still with fear.
Justin: He takes his hand off the little guy. Harry just winks at you. And says, oh, so sorry senator. Didn't didn't know.
Herry (Nick): No worries.
Justin: No worries. What where are you from?
Herry (Nick): Oh, I'm I'm senator from Residue City.
Justin: Oh, city folk.
Herry (Nick): Yeah.
Justin: Sorry. Didn't didn't know. You know what?
Herry (Nick): It's alright.
Justin: Me me and my friends will just kinda get on our way.
Herry (Nick): No. We're we're chatting now. I just bought you another round. Come on. We're chatting.
Herry (Nick): We haven't even started drinking.
Herry (Nick): Yeah. Let's go.
Sahra (Shelby): Stand up, I'm like, come on boys. Let's go. You guys wanna party. Right?
Herry (Nick): I bet I can drink you under the table, big boy.
Justin: But I'm using that fear. And you see the other three kind of all get up and they gather their things and they say, you know what? I think we're we're a little bit farther gone than we thought, and I wanna be respectful. We got a little in over our heads, so I think we're gonna call it a night. You all have a good evening.
We hope to see you in the future under better circumstances. Sound good? We apologize for our friend here.
Herry (Nick): No harm, no foul. I'm gonna
Herry (Nick): cast for can't. It's been the hope to cast for can't so they don't remember the last minute of this.
Justin: What does this look like?
Herry (Nick): As they're walking out, Harry just starts whistling like a very old folk tune, just like a bark tune, just kinda whistling as he look watches them go out and then just kind of like they can just kind of hear the tune like kind of earworm in their head as they just kind of theoretically slowly forget. And I'm gonna use subtle spell as my
Justin: thing. Yep.
Herry (Nick): Oh, they have to make a reaction roll. Need a 15.
Justin: Oh, I think I just rolled flat. Yeah. I fail. Yeah. So they don't remember this conversation?
They just start whistling that same tune that you are on their way out, and they have no recollection of they remember getting a little rowdy
Herry (Nick): Yep.
Justin: And then making their way out after having a couple of drinks. Yeah. They do not remember the, like, actual altercation itself.
Sahra (Shelby): Well done.
Justin: And, yeah, they're just all whistling the same tune as they make their way out.
Speaker 5: You've been listening to Faith and Fortune by Theater of the Mindset. Our actual players this season are Steve Edinger, Shelby Myers, Nick Traeger, and your kind and generous GM, Justin Girardeau. Audio engineering, post production, and scoring is done by Nick Traeger at Studio three six zero seven. If you're enjoying the show, you can help us grow with no capital investment by sharing it with a friend, following us on Instagram and Reddit, writing us a review on your favorite pod catcher, or you can ship in for coffee at our Patreon. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next week on Theater of the Mindset.