Shackled City - Chapter III

[hippocrachus]

"How do you like that," Orpheus says to the others as they are "dismissed" from the church like so much unwanted rubbish. He licks his lips and nods at the usual murmurs.
"We should all take the rest of the day off. I need a drink..." he says as he starts heading down the steps of the Church of St. Cuthbert towards the nearest tavern. "Meet back here by Nightfall."

 

[Manzanita]

"Ah. I'm with you there!" Raven hurries after Orpheus. Having spent a lot of time lately with Zeric, she's eager to get to know the others better. She's also interested in having a drink, something which she's never done before, having always been too broke &/or paranoid to let down here guard. The power she now felt coursing through her veins made her feel confident and dangerous. And the risks they were taking meant there was no point in putting off anything she wanted to do.

 

[Majin]

The Tipped Tankard being closest, Orpheus heads there to get a drink. Others who follow to join him are are also witness to quite a shock when the party enters the tavern. A small round of cheers echo through the building, as you are recognized for your heroic rescue of the children. Numerous tavern goers approach you to pat you on the back or shake your hand. News apparently travels fast in Cauldron.

Orpheus and Raven can't help but notice a small group of what look to be fellow adventurers (2 male, 2 female) that stand out from the rest of the patrons. They're also the only ones not cheering. They stare disapprovingly at you as you move to get drinks. A hint of unbridled jealousy can be seen plainly on one's face and an outright sneer encompasses another's. They whisper quietly to themselves as you approach the bar, all the while stealing quick glances your way.

 

[Velmont]

"Meet back here by Nightfall."

Leanthas nods. He then leaves his new companion and travels in the streets. At first, he has difficulty to find his way. After decades of isolation, and having been here only once, on his way to the dwarven city, his memory is lacking him. He looks around to find buldings or streets that would allow his memory to come come back, but also to anyone who would try to follow him. After a time, he finally retrace his way and end in the front door of the temple of Wee Jas.

He climbs the steps and walk in the temple. He starts to search for the librarian of the temple.

 

[kirinke]

Alinis goes with the others to get a drink and perhaps something to fill the hollow pit in her belly. She's thankful that she thought to take a combination of the copper and silver as well as the gold coins. She snags a barmaid. "Hay, I'd like something to eat to go along with the drinks. What do you have?

 

[hippocrachus]

Orpheus sits down with his lady friends at the bar and orders something strong, not paying too much heed to the attention he's getting from the locals. While he's waiting on his drink, he excuses himself for a second to go converse with the rabble of sniveling adventurers that seem to have a staring problem.
"Greetings! I can tell by the distasteful expression on your face, that you've heard of me," he says, his mouth smiling, his eyes countering the barrage of daggers with a volley of flaming arrows, "I however am not aware of who you are..." he says, giving googly eyes to the most attractive woman.

[sblock]Diplomacy +10[/sblock]

 

[Verbatim]

Noticing that Althron wished to be speak with her privately, the priestess dismisses the rest of the party, considering the trial over, and gestures Zeric to wait for her in her private meeting chambers. Her gaze follows the ex-Hextorite as he exits the room. Once it is cleared she listens patiently to Althron's words. Accepting his tithe graciously, she nods with a smile. "You are of course right, Brother Althron. I may be acting too harshly with our new ward. It has been a rather chaotic time as of late, what with the rash of kidnappings and the Flood Festival approaching us. I can only hope that the high priest returns soon with the wands we will need this season.

Continuing to smile warmly as the priest left the room, she waited until the door close before exhaling a sigh. She turned to face the door that Zeric was waiting beyond and with a determined stride made her way across the room and pushed the door open. She walked straight to her desk and sat down without a word. Folding her hands tightly across her desk, the purse returned to her lips as she stared hard at the man. She tried her best not to look too angry, but it proved difficult. She stared at him in silence for a few moments. When it looked as if he was about to speak up instead, she finally spoke:

"As a ward of this church, in penance for your past mis-deeds, you agreed to obey our authority without question as you worked your way towards redemption, did you not?" Not waiting for an answer, the priestess cuts Zeric off as he is about to reply, talking over him.

"Therefore, I fully expected you to return with the party once I transmitted the sending to you. Directly to you, if I recall, Zeric," she adds, curtly. "As it turns out, not only you, but another one of your group foolishly decided to stay down there with you. What her reasons were, I don't care, as she is not my responsibility. You on the other hand, are," she continued, her steely gaze burning into Zeric's eyes.

"Perhaps you were fortunate she did decide to stay, or you might have done something even more foolish down there alone. You may explain yourself as you will, but nothing you can say will change what I am about to tell you, I can assure you that. Zeric, from now on, as long as you are performing deeds for this church and Althron is a member of your group, you will fully defer to him in all crucial decision making situations. Is that clear?"

As Priestess Urikas effectively placed his parole in the hands of the dwarven Cudgel, Zeric fought to control the rage which threatened to boil over once more. Biting back his words, Zeric looked down at his feet for a moment before raising his eyes and locking them on the acting high priestess. When he spoke, his words were flat and as cold as ice.

"You sent me down as a weapon Priestess and before I left I told you that I would not return until the guilty had been punished. While you and the others may not approve of who you think I am, know that a deal has been made between myself and Cuthbert. When Cuthbert guided the strike which brought the slaver down, I swore on my life that I would be his weapon of justice. I will do as you command and follow Althron's lead until you, or he, tell me otherwise. My blood and my life are the church's..."

Looking towards the door for a moment, Zeric continued speaking.

"Orpheus and I do not see eye to eye on anything, and even when we both acknowledge this fact, we still have nearly drawn steel against the other. I do not know if it is the fact that we are perhaps two sides of the same spear, or if I am truly the only one at fault. Whatever the case may be, I will hold my tongue around him as long as we are traveling together. Alinis is as a leaf to the wind, it changes and moves her before she is aware of that fact. While she has skill with the bow, it is her mind that needs sharpening and hopefully, she will learn that the city is not as honest as the wilderness. Elayas' hands and thoughts are those of a scribe and if he and I exchanged more than a handful of words, I can't recall it, but his mastery of languages was invaluable to the group when we first encountered the skulks who were the "legs" of Kazmojen.

You know more about Althron than I do Priestess, but his judgement is solid, even when it involves tasks that are less than pleasant to say the least. He will have to be their drive if none of the others are willing to be it.

However, the one I truly worry about is Raven. I have seen the fire in her blood and while she can move as quietly as a panther hunting its prey, when the bloodfire takes her, she is more feral in battle than anyone I have seen."

Turning back to look at the priestess, Zeric's voice sounded tired and weary.

"I tell you these things so you will have a measure of those who will help you if the worst comes to pass. I tell you this so you will know their strengths and their weaknesses, and to allow you to see them as more than what you see me as, a dangerous tool who is too valuable to be lost, yet too dangerous to be trusted."

Walking towards the door, Zeric did not care that he had not been officially dismissed; he did not care that Priestess' Urikas' eyes bored into his broad back.

"I will come when summoned Priestess, my blood and life for the church I give..."

 

[Mimic]

Althron watches as Orpheus and the others head off down the street, probably off to start spending their hard earned gold.

"Ale and food, no doubt." He thinks with a smile, its a good idea to be sure but right now he had other things to do but if he was quick about it he might be able to catch up with them later. With that thought he heads off in his own direction.

His first stop is to the amourer that is working on Kazmojen's armour, making sure that he was making the adjustments correctly so the armour fit him better as well as attaching St. Cuthbert's symbol on the front. Once that was done Althron's second stop was to the orphange, to give a donation as well as quick visit to the children there. He was tempted to talk to the boy that was taken by the beholder but it was probably best if someone else did that. When the visit is over he will head back to where he last saw where his friends were, hopefully someone will be able to point him in the right direction.

 

[Majin]

Jenya said nothing as Zeric ended his tantrum by storming out of her office. She knew she had done the right thing. She didn't fully trust Zeric to inform Althron of her decision, so she made a mental note to make sure of it at the next oppurtunity. She did not know how things were going to pan out with that one; she could only hope the man would not end up getting anyone killed with his foolishness. High Priest Delasharn, return soon so I may wash myself of this situation entirely! she thought, selfishly, then immediately chastised herself for thinking such a thing. Be strong Jenya, by Cuthbert, be strong...

~

Leanthas wandered the streets aimlessly for awhile, trying to locate a temple of Wee Jas. Finally he spotted it and went inside. Finding a librarian proves not to be too difficult. The man says nothing as Leanthas approaches, apparently engrossed in a stack of tomes he's seated near, but it's not hard to tell he realizes there is someone else in the room. He does not look up, but almost seems to wait expectantly for Leanthas' reasons for disturbing him.

~

Althron completes his chores without incident.

~

"Here you are miss," a waitress says, as she hands Alinis a menu. (OoC: Anything available in the PHB is available here)

In response to Orpheus' attentions, the attractive woman returns a sneer to match the one her companion gave earlier, but other than that, ignores him. The other male meets the bard's gaze and says darkly, "We are 'The Stormblades', newcomer. We have been Cauldron's saviors for quite some time. Don't think you can simply step into town and steal our glory away."

 

[hippocrachus]

"Well then, savior," he says, letting the word hang patronizingly, "it's amazing that we are just now meeting each other. My name is Orpheus; I travel with a bunch of other adventurers like myself. We don't have a fancy name, but we get the job done all right," he continues to smile.
"What exactly has the Stormblades done for Cauldron?" he asks pleasantly, still trying to catch the eye of the attractive woman.

[sblock]Gather Information +8[/sblock]