ahayford
First Post
Thank you....all of you. I can’t tell you how relieved it makes me to know that people who value justice and goodness still walk the streets of Cauldron. So few of us...
The young brunette girl you remember from your less the ceremonious entry to the temple opens the door and enters the room with a tray of cups and a large steaming pot of tea balance on one hand. Under her other arm she carries a bundle of clean towels.
Jenya perks up slightly.
Ah Sophia, thank you. Leave it to a child to teach her elder some manners.
Jenya regards the party.
Please, have some tea and take a seat by the fire to warm up. I’m sure you are all chilled to the bone.
Sophia hands each of you a simple, but clean towel. She then goes around the room pouring the fragrant tea into small ceramic cups for each of you. The tea’s pleasant aroma and earthy flavor seem to lift the fatigue from your body and clears the fog from your head.
Sophia leaves the remainder of the pot and tea service on Jenya’s desk, then exits the room, closing the heavy doors behind her. The tea has a relaxing effect on Jenya, but it is still obvious that she hasn’t slept for quite some time. The evidence of several hasty meals lie strewn about her desk, as does several stacks of paperwork....briefs? summons? legal work? Difficult to say.
She pushes the cup away after she drains it, the weight of her station falling back onto her shoulders.
Four children were kidnapped from the Lantern Street Orphanage last night. That in and of itself is a crime worthy of Saranrae’s attention. However it is only the most recent in a series of strange disappearances and robberies. Something is going on here in the shadows, stealing people from their own homes...sometimes from the beds of their wives and husbands. My agents have been completely unable to determine who is snatching people or why.
She rubs her temples distractedly to relieve the stress. She pulls out a sheet of parchment from somewhere on the desk that depicts a building floorplan.
The orphanage the children were taken from has two bedchambers on the second floor, one for boys one for girls. Two children were taken from each room. None of the resident staff heard or saw anything.
The orphanage has barred windows and excellent locks protecting its doors. The headmistress says she locks the children into their rooms every night to prevent any midnight mischief.
Jenya digs her fingernails into her desktop in frustration. She squirms slightly as she relates the rest of the story.
As much as I might seem to be in charge here...I am not the High Priestess of this temple. I was put in charge by High Priest Delasharm, who is on an extended visit to Sasserine.
When I heard about the disappearances, I....rather brashly declared that the Church of Saranrae would bring the culprits to justice. That was almost a month ago. Service attendance has dropped off by almost half since I made that declaration with not a single lead to go on. People are losing faith in me and my goddess.
In desperation, I turned to the one artifact that this church holds most sacred. Our church was entrusted with Edge of Justice, a scimitar said to be forged from celestial steel and quenched in the breath of the goddess herself. It possess the power of divination. The high priest is the only one of her servants allowed to use its power....and I again, in my arrogance, thought my cause granted me special dispensation to use it. I asked it “Where are the children who were abducted from the Lantern Street Orphanage”. It responded...
“The Locks are key to finding them. Look beyond the curtain, below the cauldron. Beware the doors with teeth. Descend into malachite hold where precious life is bought with gold. Half a dwarf binds them, but not for long”
It made me so angry I could spit. The only line that means anything to me is the first. Possibly referring to the locks on the Orphanage?
Jenya sighs and closes her eyes, recentering herself. When she opens her eyes again, she looks at each of you in turn.
My fellow initiates and I are not investigators. We are advisers, teachers, and at best, litigators. We need people who know this city and its people. We need people that are not afraid of bullies or their petty threats. We need you. Please.....help those children. Help the lost of Cauldron find justice.
Do not think I ask you to work for free. Honest pay for honest work is one of the most just things there is. I offer your group payment of 2500 gold to find the missing townsfolk, as well as bring justice upon those who have to openly defied our lady’s peace.
If you have any further questions, you may ask me....but then I suggest you return home and start your investigation in the morning. Its already late, and most of the city is closed for the night.
The young brunette girl you remember from your less the ceremonious entry to the temple opens the door and enters the room with a tray of cups and a large steaming pot of tea balance on one hand. Under her other arm she carries a bundle of clean towels.
Jenya perks up slightly.
Ah Sophia, thank you. Leave it to a child to teach her elder some manners.
Jenya regards the party.
Please, have some tea and take a seat by the fire to warm up. I’m sure you are all chilled to the bone.
Sophia hands each of you a simple, but clean towel. She then goes around the room pouring the fragrant tea into small ceramic cups for each of you. The tea’s pleasant aroma and earthy flavor seem to lift the fatigue from your body and clears the fog from your head.
Sophia leaves the remainder of the pot and tea service on Jenya’s desk, then exits the room, closing the heavy doors behind her. The tea has a relaxing effect on Jenya, but it is still obvious that she hasn’t slept for quite some time. The evidence of several hasty meals lie strewn about her desk, as does several stacks of paperwork....briefs? summons? legal work? Difficult to say.
She pushes the cup away after she drains it, the weight of her station falling back onto her shoulders.
Four children were kidnapped from the Lantern Street Orphanage last night. That in and of itself is a crime worthy of Saranrae’s attention. However it is only the most recent in a series of strange disappearances and robberies. Something is going on here in the shadows, stealing people from their own homes...sometimes from the beds of their wives and husbands. My agents have been completely unable to determine who is snatching people or why.
She rubs her temples distractedly to relieve the stress. She pulls out a sheet of parchment from somewhere on the desk that depicts a building floorplan.
The orphanage the children were taken from has two bedchambers on the second floor, one for boys one for girls. Two children were taken from each room. None of the resident staff heard or saw anything.
The orphanage has barred windows and excellent locks protecting its doors. The headmistress says she locks the children into their rooms every night to prevent any midnight mischief.
Jenya digs her fingernails into her desktop in frustration. She squirms slightly as she relates the rest of the story.
As much as I might seem to be in charge here...I am not the High Priestess of this temple. I was put in charge by High Priest Delasharm, who is on an extended visit to Sasserine.
When I heard about the disappearances, I....rather brashly declared that the Church of Saranrae would bring the culprits to justice. That was almost a month ago. Service attendance has dropped off by almost half since I made that declaration with not a single lead to go on. People are losing faith in me and my goddess.
In desperation, I turned to the one artifact that this church holds most sacred. Our church was entrusted with Edge of Justice, a scimitar said to be forged from celestial steel and quenched in the breath of the goddess herself. It possess the power of divination. The high priest is the only one of her servants allowed to use its power....and I again, in my arrogance, thought my cause granted me special dispensation to use it. I asked it “Where are the children who were abducted from the Lantern Street Orphanage”. It responded...
“The Locks are key to finding them. Look beyond the curtain, below the cauldron. Beware the doors with teeth. Descend into malachite hold where precious life is bought with gold. Half a dwarf binds them, but not for long”
It made me so angry I could spit. The only line that means anything to me is the first. Possibly referring to the locks on the Orphanage?
Jenya sighs and closes her eyes, recentering herself. When she opens her eyes again, she looks at each of you in turn.
My fellow initiates and I are not investigators. We are advisers, teachers, and at best, litigators. We need people who know this city and its people. We need people that are not afraid of bullies or their petty threats. We need you. Please.....help those children. Help the lost of Cauldron find justice.
Do not think I ask you to work for free. Honest pay for honest work is one of the most just things there is. I offer your group payment of 2500 gold to find the missing townsfolk, as well as bring justice upon those who have to openly defied our lady’s peace.
If you have any further questions, you may ask me....but then I suggest you return home and start your investigation in the morning. Its already late, and most of the city is closed for the night.
