"Not unless ye happen te 'ave several hunerd sols about ye. The temples in this city expect pretty hefty donations for powerful magic like that. That was why I was hopin', as her Defender, ye might know a bit more. Nae, bes' we can do now is te give 'er a peaceful place te rest. Michael, ye are welcome to tend te her, of course. To ye others, might I have a private word in the other room?"
Olindar takes the rest of you over to the bar room and makes as if he is pouring you another round of drinks, but it is clearly meant only to distract the other patrons (a large, burly man with a balding pate and a bushy, red beard, a young man and woman who look as though they are traveling together, and a rather scrappy looking fellow with a few missing teeth). Olindar keeps his voice low as he readies your drinks, "I'm only tellin' ye this 'cause ye seem like the right sort. But dark things been happenin' in this city of late. It's only jus' comin' together fer me now. Krethan, the woman ye saw last night, well I seen her 'round town before. Always spoutin' some nonsense, but then she predicted the great storm o' last year, an' no one doubted her talent after that. Shortly after, Sister Kara, the woman back there, took Krethan under her wing and began to teach her. Ye see, Kara is a diviner, one of the best in the city.
"Well Krethan been down on her luck lately. She come in wit' her poor mudder 'bout a week 'fore the lot of ye, lookin' somethin' horrid. So ole' Olindar tells her te kick a leg back and saw her tale. She tells me she an' her mudder been kicked outta their home. Come te learn 'twas only so an assassin could put 'er up to the Crucible. Only she survived the firs' attempt. After that, I gave her an' her mudder a discount rate te stay 'ere 'till they gots their own place again.
"Then her mudder disappeared yesterday. Sees it all the time. An ol' assassin trick te lure ye out at night; kidnappin' a loved one and tellin' the target te meet ye in some dark, deserted alley. Only Krethan didn' go fer it...at firs' anyway. Later in the day she came back wit' this fella, Durm, te protect her and said she was plannin' te go oot and get her mudder that night. I managed te talk 'er oot of it; convinced her if she went, then likely both she and her mudder would end up dead. I thought she would stay in last night, but then yer group arrived.
"Somethin' had changed aboot her when I saw her leave las' night, tha's te be sure. Though I can' quite say what it was. She had a strange look in 'er eye. Anyway, somethin' aboot yer arrival changed her mind, fer no sooner had the firs' of ye wandered in than she began slowly creepin' back te her room. I doubt ye even noticed.
"Then everythin' happened last night as ye know. And this mornin' ye show up; said she had survived last night, which was surprisin' enough. Then I come ter find out Sister Kara, the woman in the back room there wit' Michael, been poisoned. Sister Kara mentioned a woman with red hair. Well, I be no diviner but it sounds an awful lot like Krethen had somethin' ter do with the poison te me, but it don' make sense. Somethin' has got into Krethan, but I cannae say what."
