Lwaxy
Cute but dangerous
A placid pony and a small sturdy horse to carry an armored man were quickly found in the stable, and a few minutes later, the borrowed horses paced towards the Razmiran temple. The paladin was mumbling under his breath here and there, not quite curses but definitely sounds of displeasure. His nightblindness made it hard for him to see anything beyond the sporadic gas lanterns lighting the almost completely abandoned streets. The chill of the night didn't agree much with him either. He supposed he would have to get used to things like these if he was to stick with this group, and he had a feeling that he would.
The chaos at the temple was obvious from afar. City guards were moving towards the building, and to Bjön it seemed as if they were taking their orders from the Razmir priests, which made him frown. Almost every window was alight, and there was a small crowd of onlookers. They stood in the shadows and out of the way, likely to not rile up the followers of the Masked God. There was little noise, though, and the priests had their followers well under control as they walked through the streets, obviously searching for something or likely someone.
"Are they l-looking for Teltz?" Mook wondered.
"Not too likely. One escaped acolyte wouldn't cause a commotion like this, if at all." Bjön rode right in front of a group of city guards coming from the temple and announced himself as paladin, demanding to know what was going on. The guards seemed uncomfortable, but finally, they decided it could do no harm to tell. A theft, they explained, and the thieves escaped unseen. Then they hurried on before the dwarf could ask anymore, and maybe that was for the better, as they didn't need any extra attention.
Near the temple, between two high buildings, the paladin dropped off his pony, and as Mook did the same he handed her the reins. "Try and find your wolf," he said. "I'll see what else I can find."
Slightly annoyed that he would just leave her standing here, Mook tried to feel for Dadawin, but the wolf was already trotting towards her from the shadow of a bakery. The gnome crouched down to greet him, feeling his excitement. Not about anything he felt was dangerous, but because Samin and Zaza had been anxious. And there was the impression of someone else in his mind.
Mook felt comfortable with Dadawin because he understood most of her thoughts. She didn't have to talk, which meant she didn't have to stutter. Sometimes when she actually used words, she did not stutter at all. But there was also the frustration of the bond's limitation, as she could not make heads or tails out of the wolf's messages right now. Someone with yellow skin? And fangs like Dadawin's? But, as the wolf seemed to think, mostly harmless. Feeling her emotions of needing to talk to her friends, the animal stepped a bit ahead, turning around. Mook didn't know if to follow; the ponies disliked the smell of the wolf and Bjön would expect her here. But then she decided that she would not be commanded around like that to begin with. Leaving the reins long so the scared mounts could keep some distance, she followed her companion.
Samin stepped out of the shadows so suddenly that Mook almost attacked him. Out in the wild, she would have smelled him; in the city, there were so many scents, even at night, to mask what she knew that it would take her a long time to get used to it. "W-what's happening?" she asked, trying to to let her surprise show.
"We're not so sure, but it is like a bee's nest over there. From what we heard from guards passing below, the temple has been robbed. Supposedly by some demon or the like."
"Huh!" Mook scratched her head. "L-likely s-some exaggeration, r-rumors flying."
"Yeah, but I still worry. What if there was something evil in there? My da..."
"Oh, a-almost f-forgot to t-ell you! Your da is b-back at the inn, l-looks exhausted and s-sickly." Mook pointed vaguely back to where she had come from. "Cajun s-stayed with him and our p-p-paladin is trying to g-get m-more info."
"Da is back?" A worried frown appeared on the three-quarter-elf's face. Then he relaxed. "If Cajun is there, good. But how did he get there? Did he say anything?"
"N-no, he didn't w-wake. W-e thought at f-first they are so t-troubled because he is g-gone b-ut B-bjön says that is not l-likely. And now they are l-looking for t-thieves."
"Yeah they wouldn't go all this crazy over one acolyte, I suppose, but Edawon is still inside. I wonder why da got out though, and..." Samin trailed off as a bunch of guards stopped some men coming home late from an inn, none of them sober, and started searching them. Probably just to have something to do. Samin stepped back into the shadows and Mook, keeping the ponies calm, and the wolf followed.
When the guards were finally gone, Mook had come to a conclusion. "I g-guess your da wanted t-to give us the results o-of the investigation. M-maybe s-something has ha-happened to Edawon and h-e had to do s-something b-before they were allowed to g-go out on t-their own?"
"Yeah," Samin agreed. "All the more important that we get him out of there. I don't like all this."
"J-just how? D-doesn't l-look like even B-bjön will be of m-much help in all this chaos." Then the gnome remembered something. "Say, where i-is Z-zaza?"
Before Samin could answer that, the piercing cry of a female voice easily recognizable as Zaza's could be heard to the east. Mook's best friend let out a stream of cries for help, but before Mook could run off, Samin grabbed her Arm. "Ah, yes, that is part of the plan Kronk has come up with," he said with a sheepish grin.
"W-who," Mook asked while quickly losing her patience with this matter, " is K-kronk?"
The attention of most of the city guard so eager to do the bidding of the Razmiran priests was immediately turned to the small alley where the cries for help originated. A small figure in a robe was carrying a young gnome girl away while holding a large dagger in one dark, scaled hand. The fact that the scene was started out right under the brightest lantern illuminating the sign of a female accessory shop seemed to do nothing to arouse suspicion. It seemed that most guards were happy to have an excuse to not participate in the Razmiran's search for a thief who might as well be a ghost.
The noise several dozen guardsmen made while trying to follow the strange abductor and the supposed victim was incredible. Shouts of "cut them off," get the bows ready" and "inform the guard captain," could be heard among curses, promises of capture or worse and stomping feet and cluttering weapons. It took but a few moments to abandon the Razomirans and their temple, and only a few priests and their lackeys were left standing. And a certain paladin who had been insulted and accused to probably cover for the unknown thief by a Razmiran Herald.
Bjön had been about to smack the insufferable lout of a herald back into his senses and out of his mask – if the guy had ever had some sense to begin with. The alarm cry and the following commotion made his well planned show of strength and authority unnecessary and confused him as well. The dwarf saw Zaza being abducted, but no Samin or wolf in sight. For a moment, he was not even sure it was really Zaza, but her high-pitched-when-wanting-attention voice was unmistakable. It however differed greatly from her help-me-I'm-scared voice, which he had heard twice so far – once on the board when she had fallen overboard and something in the river had tried to get at her and then in front of the inn when a wagon team nearly ran her over 2 days ago. She could not be in danger when she screamed like that, the dwarf concluded. Maybe the scaled villain was really Samin – did the boy know a spell who could do that? In any case, it was clearly meant as a distraction.
The herald went to try and stop some of the guards from following the others, and the paladin decided it was time for some action on his part. There were more priest at the gatehouse, but none of them paid him any attention, they were looking to where Zaza and whoever carried her had vanished. More guards came out of the temple, following the calls to action from outside, and in the commotion Bjön slipped into the courtyard of the temple. Before anyone would notice him specifically, he made his way to the wide open temple entrance. He was thinking that this was not a way to do any investigation, that any potential thief would have an easier time escaping in all this chaos, but then he suspected that the seeming lack of discipline was rather a cover up. Something very important and very dangerous in the wrong hands must have been stolen, and someone was staging the chaos to prevent anyone from finding out what exactly it was. Very possible that they had already cut their losses and now tried to escape before any evidence could reach the wrong hands. This made him remember the bard and he grumbled at himself for not checking if Teltz had brought any evidence to bring the temple down. But it was as it was, and right now he needed to find whoever was in charge here. And Hest, of course.
Back at the inn, Cajun had just changed the wet linen cloth on the bard's forehead when he saw that Teltz' eyes were open. For a moment, the bard's eyes were unfocussed, confusion obvious. Then the man remembered what had happened, at least part of it. "Bag... holding," he mumbled barely audible. "Ledgers. 3 of them. Get... to Reginar."
Cajun blinked, then he reached to the bag, putting his arm in and concentrating on 3 ledgers without being able to specify. But the bad obliged, although he had the feeling of a mocking presence in it. He ignored that and pulled the volumes of temple accounts out. When he flipped through, he immediately saw the relevance. Especially of one detailing the expedition to Kassen. He put that one aside – their quest was their own, in his mind, and had nothing to do with Reginar or the city. The other two though... They had to go to the Pathfinder, indeed. But where would he find the man at this time of night? Maybe Bjön would know, but Bjön was not here. He turned to ask Teltz, but the bard had already fallen unconscious again.
How was he to know where Reginar was? The time to meet the man again was late tomorrow. But there was someone else who might be able to help. The inkeeper was a member of the city council, and from what they had heard in the common room, not at all a friend of the Razmirans. The half-orc made sure Teltz was comfortable, then took the information and went downstairs, hoping the owner of the place was around.
Said halfling was listening to the upset discussions of the other acolytes at the moment. When they had arrived here, Krant had thrown a sorrowful look at his beer in the kitchen, and then walked away grumbling, instructing them not to go out or let anyone in. He had said he would make sure Teltz would be with them in a moment, but he had not returned yet, and from what the acolytes knew, he was rather about chastising the other priests and looking for someone to beat up, having forgotten about the missing acolyte already.
All of the acolytes had removed the masks. They often did that down here, as the masks were not quite so comfortable. This time, though, Edawon had the impression that most of them did not want to put the mask on again, much as if they could sense doom befalling those who would wear the mask after today. The halfling had the same feeling, especially as he was now as good as sure that the whole trouble must have something to do with the bard not reappearing. He was not sure what he thought of that. A part of him felt abandoned. But he had been left on his own a lot of times before and wouldn't even rate this as one of the more dangerous incidents. When push came to shove, he would certainly find a way to leave.
"...should not be here when that happens," the dwarf was just saying. "Most of the townfolks will not be so supportive anymore if they do not feel they have to, and guess who will bear the brunt of their scorn? Not the priests, maybe they are already packing their bags."
The others mumbled their agreement. "We can join up with another temple," the young half-elf suggested half-hearted. From his discussions with Evlar, Hest knew the young man had only joined up as a means of having a roof over his head and to get away from an abusive father.
"We could get to the Masked God's own nation," the dwarf suggested. "That is what the priests will do."
"I don't know, if they are running, then something more must be up than pressing some money from the locals," one of the women said. "I for my part would rather go back to honest prostitution than being in danger of getting charged with who knows what." Her sister nodded.
"What about we leave now?" Hest suddenly heard himself saying. "I doubt we'd be in too much trouble, we are just initiates, after all, and can claim to know little about anything but the basic doctrines of the faith."
"They'll stop us..."
"Who, the priests?" Hest felt his anger rising. "If it is true that they are preparing to abandon ship, if what has been stolen is so dangerous for the faith, then they will have no time to worry about us lowly acolytes now, will they?"
Evlar got up and walked to the door, hesitating only a moment before gripping the door knob. It didn't turn, though. None of them had noticed Krant locking the room; the key was on the outside to keep drunken senior members of the faith from raiding the kitchen at night but Krant was usually noisy about it.
The whole of them went to the dining room and tried the other door leading to the hallway, but it, too, was locked. "So what now?" Evlar inquired. He panicked slightly at the idea of being locked in. "What if they burn the temple to destroy evidence or something? We'll die in here!"
"Silly boy," the dwarf harrumphed. "They will not burn a temple to Razmir! The situation cannot be that bad. We just..." He stopped himself, sniffing the air suspiciously. So did the others. There was no mistaking the smoke in the air, not yet very disturbing but clearly creeping in from under the door. Likely, it had been there for a while but had not reached the kitchen door yet.
"We're doomed," Evlar muttered and went white as a sheet of fresh snow.
Bjön had found no one but a few confused and relatively new followers of the faith in either rooms of the corridor leading into the temple. He told them to get out, and the axe in his hands made them not doubt the wisdom of his words. He asked where the acolytes were, but only the 5th of them managed to get out a coherent answer. "Downstairs." She seemed to have no idea if this was true right now, or only their usual place of living though.
As he pushed open the doors to the main temple, a square looking man with a club and an iron mask covered in runes bumped into him. He had the garb of one of their priests, the first one Bjön had seen inside. "Halt! What is going on here? Where are the priests running this place?" the dwarf demanded to know.
The answer was the club swinging towards his head. The priest didn't even seem to think twice about attacking whoever was in front of him. It took the dwarf a moment – and endless moment as it seemed to him – before he could react and dodge the attack. He could feel the rush of air over his head where a moment ago his head had been. Sliding backwards, he was already about to push the attacker back with his axe – he had no intention of killing someone who might have an answer for him – when his masked foe used the door to bump it in his face and propel him against the wall. Blinking lights appeared in front of the paladin's eyes for a moment, but then he shook it of and turned slightly angry.
"Desna," he growled, staring at the advancing brute. "Let's do this!"
Any possible onlooker might have been surprised by the paladin's way of calling on his deity, but the priest swinging at him again didn't even notice anything. He chuckled under his mask, probably imagining the damage his hit would do to the paladin's skull. The club went off mark though, too much hurry had made the man miscalculate. Bjön, however, had not miscalculated.
The axe undercut the cover of the priest and hit him right under his left shoulder. There was a sickening crunch as the axe cut through hide armor and bone. With a grunt, the priest came to a halt, but his unharmed right arm swung his club again as if he did not really feel the pain – which was likely true, Bjön realized.
There was little time to free his weapon and not enough time to evade the blow. The club hit Bjön at the back of his left shoulder and took him off balance. The dwarf fell to the ground, barely catching himself before hitting the floor face first. Reflexively, he rolled around and tried to grab the advancing enemy's legs with his own, but the brute sidestepped his efforts. Even with the wound Bjön had caused, the priest' did not slow down. Not a very clever way to act, Bjön thought, but then, there were always the dumb ones.
He had not lost grip of his weapon, so the dwarf rolled over his unharmed shoulder and used the momentum to hack at his foe's legs. It caught the left boot and sliced a deep gash into the priest's leg. Now the brute swayed, having trouble to control his movement. For the first time, the eyes in the mask stared at the injuries, seemingly having trouble to comprehend them. But instead of backing up, pure rage showed and with a battle cry – really more a battle grunt – he went forward again, his club about to come down hard on the head of the paladin.
Again Bjön evaded by rolling around, but then his injured shoulder came into contact with the wall of the small corridor and for the first time he felt pain. The rush of battle had pushed the pain back until now, but that had ended with being trapped between the wall and the brute while still prone on the floor. Bjön began to wonder if this had been badly misjudged on his part and if his life would already end here.
There was a blur of movement through the doors, and the eyes of the brute went wide under his mask. A second later, he fell forward, his neck at an awkward angle. On his back was a small robed figure, it's yellow, scaled hands still holding the neck of the dead villain.
Bjön had time to recognize the hand as that of the supposed abductor of Zaza before he passed out.
Zaza rushed through the temple, stumbling over tumbled over chairs and tables and once over a door torn from its hinges. She could tell there had been an argument between the leading priests – mainly because one of them was on the stairs to the upper level, staring at the ceiling with dead eyes while a large dagger was sticking out of his chest. The young halfling pushed the image aside and ran on, catching her breath. "Edawon?" she called again and again. "Teltz? Where are you guys?"
She passed the mask robbed of its jewels and stopped. The quarters up here were more rich. She doubted they would house acolytes here. She had wasted time choosing the wrong place to check out. The basement it must be, then. But that was where the fire must have started. By now, the smoke was a lot more dense, almost as if someone had laid a smoldering fire with purpose instead of creating a blaze. Likely to give someone time to flee. Rushing back down the stairs, Zaza hesitated for a moment but could not quite get herself to take the dagger out of the dead man, even feeling the need for an additional weapon.
Maybe they had taken the acolytes along. If so, they would have a completely different problem in finding and freeing them. But half down the stairs, she heard the muffled shouts of people locked behind one or more doors. Maybe more priests who had lost an argument, but it could also be who she was looking for.
As they had entered through the southern doors, which had been abandoned but locked – it had taken her a minute to open them – they had noticed the smell of smoke and the emptiness of the building. They had also heard the sounds of a fight, and the kobold had send her to check for her missing comrades while he... well, she had no idea what he would be doing. Investigating battles could be dangerous, and she could have used the help. But nonetheless, she had found herself doing what he said. Again.
The whole way back to the temple, through backyards, over fences and walls and once a short way under the road through a water drainage, she had been following him. Sure, he knew his way, but she had not only followed him in direction. For some reason, she had not even asked a question when he gave her orders to hide this and that way, or when to freeze and when to rush. He certainly knew how to hide. Maybe one had to, as a kobold.
Someone was now banging against a door to her right. For a moment, Zaza wondered why it was that most people didn't bother to have the tools to get themselves out of such a situation. "I'm here," she coughed, only now noticing how much smoke there was. It smelled like incense and wet clothes mixed with charred meat. She didn't want to think about that part.
Luckily, it took only a moment to unlock the door. Zaza had no time to even put her tools away before the group of acolytes stormed out. The only halfling in the group prevented her from being run over. "Zaza!" he smiled. "How did you get in?"
"Through the doors, what do you think?" She turned and ran in front of him. "The rats have abandoned the sinking ship, so to say, and have laid fire to it, too. No one to stop us really."
"So Samin is here, too? Did you get to inform the others?" Hest had no trouble keeping up as they followed the rest up the stairs and out of the area with heavy smoke. It was hotter now, the fire seemed to have gotten to a part of the temple where it could produce real flame.
"Not sure where Samin is, last I saw him he was waiting for the others to arrive." Our of breath and feeling dizzy, the girl arrived at the top of the stairs. "Why wasn't Teltz with you? Where is he?"
"He went off to check the rest of the temple out, seems he has invisibility spells. He didn't come back and the chaos started after he left." Edawon grabbed Zaza's arm and rushed her along to the main portal. "I have a feeling he was somehow the cause of it."
"Wouldn't wonder," Zaza mumbled, then she stopped Hest. "There was a fight before, in that direction."
Edawon listened but couldn't hear anything. "Whatever it was, it seems to be gone now. We need to get out of here and find the others, see if Teltz is with them."
In the corridor, Hest recognized a dead on the floor man as the acolyte master, but decided to not waste any thoughts on the brute. He most likely deserved this fate more than any other of the priests he had seen.
A yellow reptile face popped out from behind the doors to the courtyard. "I see you found one of your friends. The one named Teltz is safe, so that paladin of yours assured me."
Edawon almost fell over his own feet. "A... a kobold? You know it? Who is it?"
"I am a he," Kronk said, sounding slightly insulted. "Can we do the small talk later? I was told there are lots of flames in the back of the building now."
"I'm not arguing with that," the halfling mumbled as they walked out to a courtyard full with angry townspeople and guards. Bjön was sitting on the steps to the portal, looking slightly worse for the wear. He waved at them and got up, not looking all that steady.
"Big oaf in there knocked him out," Kronk explained. "I was there just in time. As usual, Kronk to the rescue." The kobold chuckled like it was a joke only he could understand.
"Zaza! Ed!" Samin pushed through the crowd, smiling brightly. Further back, they could see Mook and the wolf, just out of the crowded area.
Bjön beckoned them to the courtyard. "They were waiting for you to come out," he explained. "Looks like they do not plan on fighting the fire, no buildings next to the temple to catch fire and they just want it burned down and gone for good. The city's council guards arrived, with order to arrst every priest´they can find. Looks like Cajun alerted them with information Teltz brought with him."
"How did he..." Edawon stopped himself. "Later," he then sighed. "I need a beer and something good to eat and a good night's rest." Which was something they could all agree upon.
The chaos at the temple was obvious from afar. City guards were moving towards the building, and to Bjön it seemed as if they were taking their orders from the Razmir priests, which made him frown. Almost every window was alight, and there was a small crowd of onlookers. They stood in the shadows and out of the way, likely to not rile up the followers of the Masked God. There was little noise, though, and the priests had their followers well under control as they walked through the streets, obviously searching for something or likely someone.
"Are they l-looking for Teltz?" Mook wondered.
"Not too likely. One escaped acolyte wouldn't cause a commotion like this, if at all." Bjön rode right in front of a group of city guards coming from the temple and announced himself as paladin, demanding to know what was going on. The guards seemed uncomfortable, but finally, they decided it could do no harm to tell. A theft, they explained, and the thieves escaped unseen. Then they hurried on before the dwarf could ask anymore, and maybe that was for the better, as they didn't need any extra attention.
Near the temple, between two high buildings, the paladin dropped off his pony, and as Mook did the same he handed her the reins. "Try and find your wolf," he said. "I'll see what else I can find."
Slightly annoyed that he would just leave her standing here, Mook tried to feel for Dadawin, but the wolf was already trotting towards her from the shadow of a bakery. The gnome crouched down to greet him, feeling his excitement. Not about anything he felt was dangerous, but because Samin and Zaza had been anxious. And there was the impression of someone else in his mind.
Mook felt comfortable with Dadawin because he understood most of her thoughts. She didn't have to talk, which meant she didn't have to stutter. Sometimes when she actually used words, she did not stutter at all. But there was also the frustration of the bond's limitation, as she could not make heads or tails out of the wolf's messages right now. Someone with yellow skin? And fangs like Dadawin's? But, as the wolf seemed to think, mostly harmless. Feeling her emotions of needing to talk to her friends, the animal stepped a bit ahead, turning around. Mook didn't know if to follow; the ponies disliked the smell of the wolf and Bjön would expect her here. But then she decided that she would not be commanded around like that to begin with. Leaving the reins long so the scared mounts could keep some distance, she followed her companion.
Samin stepped out of the shadows so suddenly that Mook almost attacked him. Out in the wild, she would have smelled him; in the city, there were so many scents, even at night, to mask what she knew that it would take her a long time to get used to it. "W-what's happening?" she asked, trying to to let her surprise show.
"We're not so sure, but it is like a bee's nest over there. From what we heard from guards passing below, the temple has been robbed. Supposedly by some demon or the like."
"Huh!" Mook scratched her head. "L-likely s-some exaggeration, r-rumors flying."
"Yeah, but I still worry. What if there was something evil in there? My da..."
"Oh, a-almost f-forgot to t-ell you! Your da is b-back at the inn, l-looks exhausted and s-sickly." Mook pointed vaguely back to where she had come from. "Cajun s-stayed with him and our p-p-paladin is trying to g-get m-more info."
"Da is back?" A worried frown appeared on the three-quarter-elf's face. Then he relaxed. "If Cajun is there, good. But how did he get there? Did he say anything?"
"N-no, he didn't w-wake. W-e thought at f-first they are so t-troubled because he is g-gone b-ut B-bjön says that is not l-likely. And now they are l-looking for t-thieves."
"Yeah they wouldn't go all this crazy over one acolyte, I suppose, but Edawon is still inside. I wonder why da got out though, and..." Samin trailed off as a bunch of guards stopped some men coming home late from an inn, none of them sober, and started searching them. Probably just to have something to do. Samin stepped back into the shadows and Mook, keeping the ponies calm, and the wolf followed.
When the guards were finally gone, Mook had come to a conclusion. "I g-guess your da wanted t-to give us the results o-of the investigation. M-maybe s-something has ha-happened to Edawon and h-e had to do s-something b-before they were allowed to g-go out on t-their own?"
"Yeah," Samin agreed. "All the more important that we get him out of there. I don't like all this."
"J-just how? D-doesn't l-look like even B-bjön will be of m-much help in all this chaos." Then the gnome remembered something. "Say, where i-is Z-zaza?"
Before Samin could answer that, the piercing cry of a female voice easily recognizable as Zaza's could be heard to the east. Mook's best friend let out a stream of cries for help, but before Mook could run off, Samin grabbed her Arm. "Ah, yes, that is part of the plan Kronk has come up with," he said with a sheepish grin.
"W-who," Mook asked while quickly losing her patience with this matter, " is K-kronk?"
The attention of most of the city guard so eager to do the bidding of the Razmiran priests was immediately turned to the small alley where the cries for help originated. A small figure in a robe was carrying a young gnome girl away while holding a large dagger in one dark, scaled hand. The fact that the scene was started out right under the brightest lantern illuminating the sign of a female accessory shop seemed to do nothing to arouse suspicion. It seemed that most guards were happy to have an excuse to not participate in the Razmiran's search for a thief who might as well be a ghost.
The noise several dozen guardsmen made while trying to follow the strange abductor and the supposed victim was incredible. Shouts of "cut them off," get the bows ready" and "inform the guard captain," could be heard among curses, promises of capture or worse and stomping feet and cluttering weapons. It took but a few moments to abandon the Razomirans and their temple, and only a few priests and their lackeys were left standing. And a certain paladin who had been insulted and accused to probably cover for the unknown thief by a Razmiran Herald.
Bjön had been about to smack the insufferable lout of a herald back into his senses and out of his mask – if the guy had ever had some sense to begin with. The alarm cry and the following commotion made his well planned show of strength and authority unnecessary and confused him as well. The dwarf saw Zaza being abducted, but no Samin or wolf in sight. For a moment, he was not even sure it was really Zaza, but her high-pitched-when-wanting-attention voice was unmistakable. It however differed greatly from her help-me-I'm-scared voice, which he had heard twice so far – once on the board when she had fallen overboard and something in the river had tried to get at her and then in front of the inn when a wagon team nearly ran her over 2 days ago. She could not be in danger when she screamed like that, the dwarf concluded. Maybe the scaled villain was really Samin – did the boy know a spell who could do that? In any case, it was clearly meant as a distraction.
The herald went to try and stop some of the guards from following the others, and the paladin decided it was time for some action on his part. There were more priest at the gatehouse, but none of them paid him any attention, they were looking to where Zaza and whoever carried her had vanished. More guards came out of the temple, following the calls to action from outside, and in the commotion Bjön slipped into the courtyard of the temple. Before anyone would notice him specifically, he made his way to the wide open temple entrance. He was thinking that this was not a way to do any investigation, that any potential thief would have an easier time escaping in all this chaos, but then he suspected that the seeming lack of discipline was rather a cover up. Something very important and very dangerous in the wrong hands must have been stolen, and someone was staging the chaos to prevent anyone from finding out what exactly it was. Very possible that they had already cut their losses and now tried to escape before any evidence could reach the wrong hands. This made him remember the bard and he grumbled at himself for not checking if Teltz had brought any evidence to bring the temple down. But it was as it was, and right now he needed to find whoever was in charge here. And Hest, of course.
Back at the inn, Cajun had just changed the wet linen cloth on the bard's forehead when he saw that Teltz' eyes were open. For a moment, the bard's eyes were unfocussed, confusion obvious. Then the man remembered what had happened, at least part of it. "Bag... holding," he mumbled barely audible. "Ledgers. 3 of them. Get... to Reginar."
Cajun blinked, then he reached to the bag, putting his arm in and concentrating on 3 ledgers without being able to specify. But the bad obliged, although he had the feeling of a mocking presence in it. He ignored that and pulled the volumes of temple accounts out. When he flipped through, he immediately saw the relevance. Especially of one detailing the expedition to Kassen. He put that one aside – their quest was their own, in his mind, and had nothing to do with Reginar or the city. The other two though... They had to go to the Pathfinder, indeed. But where would he find the man at this time of night? Maybe Bjön would know, but Bjön was not here. He turned to ask Teltz, but the bard had already fallen unconscious again.
How was he to know where Reginar was? The time to meet the man again was late tomorrow. But there was someone else who might be able to help. The inkeeper was a member of the city council, and from what they had heard in the common room, not at all a friend of the Razmirans. The half-orc made sure Teltz was comfortable, then took the information and went downstairs, hoping the owner of the place was around.
Said halfling was listening to the upset discussions of the other acolytes at the moment. When they had arrived here, Krant had thrown a sorrowful look at his beer in the kitchen, and then walked away grumbling, instructing them not to go out or let anyone in. He had said he would make sure Teltz would be with them in a moment, but he had not returned yet, and from what the acolytes knew, he was rather about chastising the other priests and looking for someone to beat up, having forgotten about the missing acolyte already.
All of the acolytes had removed the masks. They often did that down here, as the masks were not quite so comfortable. This time, though, Edawon had the impression that most of them did not want to put the mask on again, much as if they could sense doom befalling those who would wear the mask after today. The halfling had the same feeling, especially as he was now as good as sure that the whole trouble must have something to do with the bard not reappearing. He was not sure what he thought of that. A part of him felt abandoned. But he had been left on his own a lot of times before and wouldn't even rate this as one of the more dangerous incidents. When push came to shove, he would certainly find a way to leave.
"...should not be here when that happens," the dwarf was just saying. "Most of the townfolks will not be so supportive anymore if they do not feel they have to, and guess who will bear the brunt of their scorn? Not the priests, maybe they are already packing their bags."
The others mumbled their agreement. "We can join up with another temple," the young half-elf suggested half-hearted. From his discussions with Evlar, Hest knew the young man had only joined up as a means of having a roof over his head and to get away from an abusive father.
"We could get to the Masked God's own nation," the dwarf suggested. "That is what the priests will do."
"I don't know, if they are running, then something more must be up than pressing some money from the locals," one of the women said. "I for my part would rather go back to honest prostitution than being in danger of getting charged with who knows what." Her sister nodded.
"What about we leave now?" Hest suddenly heard himself saying. "I doubt we'd be in too much trouble, we are just initiates, after all, and can claim to know little about anything but the basic doctrines of the faith."
"They'll stop us..."
"Who, the priests?" Hest felt his anger rising. "If it is true that they are preparing to abandon ship, if what has been stolen is so dangerous for the faith, then they will have no time to worry about us lowly acolytes now, will they?"
Evlar got up and walked to the door, hesitating only a moment before gripping the door knob. It didn't turn, though. None of them had noticed Krant locking the room; the key was on the outside to keep drunken senior members of the faith from raiding the kitchen at night but Krant was usually noisy about it.
The whole of them went to the dining room and tried the other door leading to the hallway, but it, too, was locked. "So what now?" Evlar inquired. He panicked slightly at the idea of being locked in. "What if they burn the temple to destroy evidence or something? We'll die in here!"
"Silly boy," the dwarf harrumphed. "They will not burn a temple to Razmir! The situation cannot be that bad. We just..." He stopped himself, sniffing the air suspiciously. So did the others. There was no mistaking the smoke in the air, not yet very disturbing but clearly creeping in from under the door. Likely, it had been there for a while but had not reached the kitchen door yet.
"We're doomed," Evlar muttered and went white as a sheet of fresh snow.
Bjön had found no one but a few confused and relatively new followers of the faith in either rooms of the corridor leading into the temple. He told them to get out, and the axe in his hands made them not doubt the wisdom of his words. He asked where the acolytes were, but only the 5th of them managed to get out a coherent answer. "Downstairs." She seemed to have no idea if this was true right now, or only their usual place of living though.
As he pushed open the doors to the main temple, a square looking man with a club and an iron mask covered in runes bumped into him. He had the garb of one of their priests, the first one Bjön had seen inside. "Halt! What is going on here? Where are the priests running this place?" the dwarf demanded to know.
The answer was the club swinging towards his head. The priest didn't even seem to think twice about attacking whoever was in front of him. It took the dwarf a moment – and endless moment as it seemed to him – before he could react and dodge the attack. He could feel the rush of air over his head where a moment ago his head had been. Sliding backwards, he was already about to push the attacker back with his axe – he had no intention of killing someone who might have an answer for him – when his masked foe used the door to bump it in his face and propel him against the wall. Blinking lights appeared in front of the paladin's eyes for a moment, but then he shook it of and turned slightly angry.
"Desna," he growled, staring at the advancing brute. "Let's do this!"
Any possible onlooker might have been surprised by the paladin's way of calling on his deity, but the priest swinging at him again didn't even notice anything. He chuckled under his mask, probably imagining the damage his hit would do to the paladin's skull. The club went off mark though, too much hurry had made the man miscalculate. Bjön, however, had not miscalculated.
The axe undercut the cover of the priest and hit him right under his left shoulder. There was a sickening crunch as the axe cut through hide armor and bone. With a grunt, the priest came to a halt, but his unharmed right arm swung his club again as if he did not really feel the pain – which was likely true, Bjön realized.
There was little time to free his weapon and not enough time to evade the blow. The club hit Bjön at the back of his left shoulder and took him off balance. The dwarf fell to the ground, barely catching himself before hitting the floor face first. Reflexively, he rolled around and tried to grab the advancing enemy's legs with his own, but the brute sidestepped his efforts. Even with the wound Bjön had caused, the priest' did not slow down. Not a very clever way to act, Bjön thought, but then, there were always the dumb ones.
He had not lost grip of his weapon, so the dwarf rolled over his unharmed shoulder and used the momentum to hack at his foe's legs. It caught the left boot and sliced a deep gash into the priest's leg. Now the brute swayed, having trouble to control his movement. For the first time, the eyes in the mask stared at the injuries, seemingly having trouble to comprehend them. But instead of backing up, pure rage showed and with a battle cry – really more a battle grunt – he went forward again, his club about to come down hard on the head of the paladin.
Again Bjön evaded by rolling around, but then his injured shoulder came into contact with the wall of the small corridor and for the first time he felt pain. The rush of battle had pushed the pain back until now, but that had ended with being trapped between the wall and the brute while still prone on the floor. Bjön began to wonder if this had been badly misjudged on his part and if his life would already end here.
There was a blur of movement through the doors, and the eyes of the brute went wide under his mask. A second later, he fell forward, his neck at an awkward angle. On his back was a small robed figure, it's yellow, scaled hands still holding the neck of the dead villain.
Bjön had time to recognize the hand as that of the supposed abductor of Zaza before he passed out.
Zaza rushed through the temple, stumbling over tumbled over chairs and tables and once over a door torn from its hinges. She could tell there had been an argument between the leading priests – mainly because one of them was on the stairs to the upper level, staring at the ceiling with dead eyes while a large dagger was sticking out of his chest. The young halfling pushed the image aside and ran on, catching her breath. "Edawon?" she called again and again. "Teltz? Where are you guys?"
She passed the mask robbed of its jewels and stopped. The quarters up here were more rich. She doubted they would house acolytes here. She had wasted time choosing the wrong place to check out. The basement it must be, then. But that was where the fire must have started. By now, the smoke was a lot more dense, almost as if someone had laid a smoldering fire with purpose instead of creating a blaze. Likely to give someone time to flee. Rushing back down the stairs, Zaza hesitated for a moment but could not quite get herself to take the dagger out of the dead man, even feeling the need for an additional weapon.
Maybe they had taken the acolytes along. If so, they would have a completely different problem in finding and freeing them. But half down the stairs, she heard the muffled shouts of people locked behind one or more doors. Maybe more priests who had lost an argument, but it could also be who she was looking for.
As they had entered through the southern doors, which had been abandoned but locked – it had taken her a minute to open them – they had noticed the smell of smoke and the emptiness of the building. They had also heard the sounds of a fight, and the kobold had send her to check for her missing comrades while he... well, she had no idea what he would be doing. Investigating battles could be dangerous, and she could have used the help. But nonetheless, she had found herself doing what he said. Again.
The whole way back to the temple, through backyards, over fences and walls and once a short way under the road through a water drainage, she had been following him. Sure, he knew his way, but she had not only followed him in direction. For some reason, she had not even asked a question when he gave her orders to hide this and that way, or when to freeze and when to rush. He certainly knew how to hide. Maybe one had to, as a kobold.
Someone was now banging against a door to her right. For a moment, Zaza wondered why it was that most people didn't bother to have the tools to get themselves out of such a situation. "I'm here," she coughed, only now noticing how much smoke there was. It smelled like incense and wet clothes mixed with charred meat. She didn't want to think about that part.
Luckily, it took only a moment to unlock the door. Zaza had no time to even put her tools away before the group of acolytes stormed out. The only halfling in the group prevented her from being run over. "Zaza!" he smiled. "How did you get in?"
"Through the doors, what do you think?" She turned and ran in front of him. "The rats have abandoned the sinking ship, so to say, and have laid fire to it, too. No one to stop us really."
"So Samin is here, too? Did you get to inform the others?" Hest had no trouble keeping up as they followed the rest up the stairs and out of the area with heavy smoke. It was hotter now, the fire seemed to have gotten to a part of the temple where it could produce real flame.
"Not sure where Samin is, last I saw him he was waiting for the others to arrive." Our of breath and feeling dizzy, the girl arrived at the top of the stairs. "Why wasn't Teltz with you? Where is he?"
"He went off to check the rest of the temple out, seems he has invisibility spells. He didn't come back and the chaos started after he left." Edawon grabbed Zaza's arm and rushed her along to the main portal. "I have a feeling he was somehow the cause of it."
"Wouldn't wonder," Zaza mumbled, then she stopped Hest. "There was a fight before, in that direction."
Edawon listened but couldn't hear anything. "Whatever it was, it seems to be gone now. We need to get out of here and find the others, see if Teltz is with them."
In the corridor, Hest recognized a dead on the floor man as the acolyte master, but decided to not waste any thoughts on the brute. He most likely deserved this fate more than any other of the priests he had seen.
A yellow reptile face popped out from behind the doors to the courtyard. "I see you found one of your friends. The one named Teltz is safe, so that paladin of yours assured me."
Edawon almost fell over his own feet. "A... a kobold? You know it? Who is it?"
"I am a he," Kronk said, sounding slightly insulted. "Can we do the small talk later? I was told there are lots of flames in the back of the building now."
"I'm not arguing with that," the halfling mumbled as they walked out to a courtyard full with angry townspeople and guards. Bjön was sitting on the steps to the portal, looking slightly worse for the wear. He waved at them and got up, not looking all that steady.
"Big oaf in there knocked him out," Kronk explained. "I was there just in time. As usual, Kronk to the rescue." The kobold chuckled like it was a joke only he could understand.
"Zaza! Ed!" Samin pushed through the crowd, smiling brightly. Further back, they could see Mook and the wolf, just out of the crowded area.
Bjön beckoned them to the courtyard. "They were waiting for you to come out," he explained. "Looks like they do not plan on fighting the fire, no buildings next to the temple to catch fire and they just want it burned down and gone for good. The city's council guards arrived, with order to arrst every priest´they can find. Looks like Cajun alerted them with information Teltz brought with him."
"How did he..." Edawon stopped himself. "Later," he then sighed. "I need a beer and something good to eat and a good night's rest." Which was something they could all agree upon.