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Message: <blockquote data-quote="arwink" data-source="post: 1018049" data-attributes="member: 2292">Friday, September 22nd It is still raining as dawn creeps up on the Inn, and a glum Geoffrey wakes everyone in the Copperhead's small room.  Tal has breakfast ready by the time they've reached the common room, a sparse meal that consists of little beyond porridge and a cup of warm tea.  Yip almost orders an ale with his meal, but a quick glare from Geoffrey discourages from this notion.  Haggash is an hours walk from the inn, through the rain and over a boggy hilltop.  The town itself is a less than inspiring sight through the deluge, a small collection of two dozen buildings that seem to be clinging to the title of disrepair as closely as they can.  The abbey is easy to spot, even through the rain.  It's the only building of any size in Haggash, and the short bell-tower easily makes it the tallest.Geoffrey leads the group up to the Abbey's front door, knocking loudly as the drizzling rain soaks them to the skin.  There is the soft sound of slippers on wood on the far side of the portal, and after a minute or so someone appears to open a lock.  The door swings open the barest slither of a crack, and an elderly face looks through."Yes," the face asks."We have come seeking sanctuary," Geoffrey says.  "May we enter and pray to our gods?""I am afraid not, child.""Why not?""There are monks here, children of the light who have sworn themselves to silence as an act of devotion.  They are praying in solitude, and the presence of others will disturb them.""We will be quiet," Geoffrey says.  "We have no with to disturb the prayers of others.""No." Geoffrey pauses to consider this for a few minutes.  His knowledge of such Abbeys, shared by all gods, is sketchy to say the least.  The correct protocol was taught to him once, but it dances beyond the limits of his memory to recall it quickly.  Eventually, he falls back on righteous indignation as a back-up."You would refuse a fellow priest?  I thought this abbey was open to all?"The elderly face examines him closely, then flicks a meaningful glance at Yip."This is a place to worship the gods of light," he says, a dangerous edge to his voice.  "A place for those who devote themselves to the sanctity and protection of all life and freedom.  Your god is a welcome ally, but he has no place here.  The dreams of your church are not the dreams of ours.  I have little time for this, and this conversation is already gone on long enough.  The brothers who meditate here have travelled far and if this conversation should continue I fear we shall disturb them.  I bid you good day, and recommend you take your shelter elsewhere.  The inn has rooms in which you can wait out the storm."The door slams in the parties face."That could have gone better," Halgo comments."Shut-up," Geoffrey says.  "What did you think?  Is there something up?""Something, but I'm not sure what," Halgo says.  "He's holding onto some old grudges against the church, that's for sure.  It may be as simple as a lack of contact, or some misplaced dogma.""You really think so?" Geoffrey asks.  Halgo shrugs."Broken window," says Yip cryptically.  Everyone turns to look at the small kobold, and he points at a small building opposite the church.  The shutters are damaged, one of them broken in two with the remnants hanging at a skewed angle from the window frame.  Everyone crosses the road and peers inside - It appears to be a general store, filled with mining equipment.  There is an aura of stillness about the shop, as though the contents were afraid of the very idea of movement."Go investigate," Geoffrey tells Yip.  "Unlock the door."The kobold nods once, scrambling up the wall and through the window.  Once inside, he almost trips over an elderly man laying bound and gagged on the floor.  Yip kneels down, reaching out a small paw to check the man's pulse.  Within the space of a few breaths his terrified eyes snap open, staring up into the lizard-like face looking over him.  The mans thin limbs struggle against his bonds, and Yip leaps back from his frenzied thrashing."Yip not hurt," he calls out.  Outside, in the rain, the others ready weapons at the sound.  Yip reaches forward, freeing the gag from the man's mouth, and instantly he starts screaming."HELP!  MONSTERS!  THEIVES!  ALARM!"Yip scowls, heading over to the door and pushing up a bar before returning to untie the old man's bonds."Yip not hurt," he snarls loudly as nimble paws worry at the knots.  The old man calms slightly, but as soon as his legs are free he leaps up.  Spotting Geoffrey entering his store, he runs to take cover behind the cleric.  When he sees that Blarth is just behind, entering the doorway, he almost faints from sheer terror.  Yip rolls his eyes."Yip not hurt," he yells at the quailing man, then turns his attention to searching the store for some clue about the thieves who assaulted the man."Calm yourself," Geoffrey orders.  "Neither the kobold nor the half-orc will hurt you, they are servants of St Cuthbert and warriors of his church."The old man looks up, doubt evident in his gaze."I am Geoffrey Cromwell," Geoffrey continues.  "I am investigating the problems in your Abbey, and Yip noticed the damage to your premises.  We are here to help. Who are you?""I'm Fror," the old man says.  He seems to be calming, but his eyes dart to follow Yip as he examines the store.  "I'm the storekeeper here, selling equipment to miners who come down from the hills.""And what happened?" Geoffrey asks.Fror shrugs.  "I don't rightly know," he says.  "I heard sounds last night, while I was sleeping.  When I came out there were people here, big men with cloaks.  Couldn't see much, but they had big noses and they were raiding my store.  I tried to fight them, get them out, but one of them clubbed me behind the head while I was trying to find a weapon.""Are problems like this common?" Halgo asks, looking around the store.  "Not really," Fror says.  "Some of the miners might try and steal some of my stock if they were really down on their luck, but mostly their crazy enough to steal from one another instead of me.  If you ask me, it was them monks over in the abbey.""Why would Monks be stealing from you?" Geoffrey asks.  "What do you have that they'd want?"Fror frowns, his beard and moustache quivering as he thinks."Don't rightly know," he admits.  "But I still reckon it was them."Geoffrey tries to restrain a sigh."Could you look at your stock," he says.  "Tell us what is missing?"Fror nods, moving slowly back and forth between barrels of mining equipment and shelves of food.  Halgo and Blarth both start examining the store in detail, searching it for aura's of magic or psionic power that would indicate some kind of tampering or divination.  When none is found, everyone joins Fror's examination of his stock."Yip find," Yip calls halfway through.  As everyone gathers around, he shows them a handful of brown feathers he's gathered from beneath the window."Anything you'd stock?" Geoffrey asks.  Fror shakes his head."Not me," he says.  "Don't deal in animals.  Folks have to go to Bellhold for that.  And they didn't take money, just some shovels and picks.  The usual mining gear."Geoffrey frowns, picks up one of the feathers and examines it closely."Something's going one here," he says quietly.  "I think we need to talk to the mayor, get some jurisdiction to deal with this."Fror bursts out laughing at the suggestion."Don't bother," he says.  "The Mayors a frightened old coot like me, he isn't going to care what you do.  As long as the problem gets solved and things go back to normal, no-ones going to care.""Procedure is procedure," Geoffrey says, his voice even.  "Yip, Blarth, you two stay here and keep an eye on the Abbey.  I've got a feeling that whatever is going on, it's going to involve that building somehow."With a nod, Geoffrey and Halgo step back out into the rain.  They follow Frors directions to the mayors house, leaving their companions to the watch the Abbey that sits quietly in the rain.</blockquote>

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