| GM: | Faking Dimplecotton's beating is a CR 4 encounter:
1200 xp total (300 xp per character) for pulling one over on Tarkan and making the dramatic-at-heart baker's day. |
|
Gratis nods at Yoshiki's instruction, but has no further questions for him.
Tarkan, upon bursting in, has a smile so big you can see it from behind his mask.
"Well done, you lot!" he says. He smacks one of the other acolytes with him across the back of the head and points to the minimal destruction dressed up as a disaster area.
"Now that's how you teach a lesson."
He hefts the gold Yoshiki throws his way, seeming to assess it.
"Greedy little pig-baker. Knew you had the money," he growls. His stride forward to the still-cowering halfling is interrupted by Elenka's assurance that Gratis won't be any more problem.
"Better believe it," he growls, moving out of doors.
"Now that's how ya serve The Living God," he says.
"Let's see if we can't fill the coffers with the rest of our rounds, eh?"
The next several hours are spent doing just that, as Tarkan, the two stranger acolytes, and the party move about the merchants of the city, collecting their protection money. No one other than Gratis provides any kind of resistance, and in fact news spreads so quickly that proprietors on the last several stops on the trip make allusion to not wanting "any of Gratis' trouble."
In an uncharacteristically happy mood as he carries the flour sack of coin (nearly bursting now with all his collections), Tarkan leads you all to The River's Tears for lunch. As deserted as you remembered it, it's just the lot of you "faithful" here for the meal. While you're especially cautious after last time, this much blander repast is also thankfully free of any drugs.
Tarkan himself, though, has more than his share of ale with his food, and pays for everything directly out of the sack of gold.
[sblock=Quioan]With the walkabout and his own innate skills, Quioan has a pretty good sense of the layout of the city nearest the temple. He realizes as he's eating that the secret door he saw and suspects leads outside the temple would roughly line up with this structure built just across the street.[/sblock]
The rowdily buzzed Tarkan finally leads you all back to the temple late in the afternoon, where he dismisses the 'extras,' but his mood quickly darkens as one of the heralds (black robes) berates him for returning late from his errands and indulging while out among the masses.
He takes it out on you, setting the lot of you to cleaning duty once again. He doesn't, however, seem to feel the need to reclaim your gear, which he tells you is up to you now to watch over.
Thon and Garthia are both conspicuously absent (the latter doesn't even appear to be watching from the large window on the second floor you'd previously noticed), though it's hard to miss the spattered blood in the courtyard during your cleaning.
It's not until you're returning to the empty barracks for the evening that Thon limps back among you. He removes his mask with some effort, clearly having some trouble raising his arms to accomplish the task. He attempts a smile, but the large bruise and swelling of one eye make the result more gruesome than reassuring.
"You should see the other guys," Thon says with a croak.
"So, Garthia says I passed the final test, and I'm outta probation. Even gave me a sleeping draught that's supposed to help heal me up overnight." He takes a small flask from his robes.
"Guess you guys did okay?" he asks, nodding to your returned gear.
