Lineera began to return the smile, but it quickly drops off her face as she stares down the lance. "Uh, I uh..." Lineera quickly dumps her weapon and shield into the cart Lineera had brought out of Perdition's Point. "Blessings of Pharasma upon you sir... I couldn't help but notice the symbols on the wagons. Might, uh, might you be headed towards Perdition's Point? If so, I might be one of the ones who sent for you... May I ask you raise your lance, sir?" Trying to be compliant, but also firm enough to avoid fruitless conflict, Lineera shifts uncomfortably on her feet.
The hag scowls skeptically at Mister Shiny, showing no inclination to do more than lean on her walking stick after the long journey and snort at the authority of the church or Iomedae on the open road. Her voice grates, "Does racism pass for manners in Rozenport?"
Eva moved quickly putting herself in front of her friends, as if trying to protect them. Her arms were spread wide and she was showing her empty palms. "Woah, Woah, Woah. Just wait a minute. There's not need to be hasty."
It figures that the good weather would come with a price. Cathran pats and shushes Bertha to calm the mule, who is startled by the elf's sudden show of aggression. As she is about to lend some polite-but-curt words to Lineera's greeting, Mahb cuts in with her usual bluntness. Not exactly what I would have gone with, Cathran thinks, but she allows herself a smirk with one hand on the mule and one leaning her bardiche to the side in a relaxed, hopefully non-threatening manner.
Riley shifted uncomfortably. He had never cared much for do-gooders who liked to throw their authority around. He had been around Lineera long enough to know she was a decent person. He smiled as Mahb called the man out. She'll definitely get us in some trouble. He took a half step toward Lineera poised to protect her should things escalate.
The man's eyes narrow. "I believe I said to drop all your weapons. I won't repeat myself. Drop them all right now." The lance moves off Lineera, and toward Cathran, the tip pointing directly toward her chest, not wavering an inch. "Now then, if you wish to call it racism, you feel free, hag. I have reports of kidnappings, undead, accursed rituals, murder and death from a small town within the are of my judgement. And the first creatures I encounter on the way to that town are a Drow with what looks like obvious necromantic equipment who claims to be a follower of Pharasmae. Along with her an old hag who could be a real hag, or just an evil old witch." He nods toward Pyewacket, making it obvious he has divined she's a witch. "Add in a shifty looking man, an armed woman who seems entirely to calm at being on the receiving end of a knight's lance, and I have no qualms about running you all through if you don't submit to authority." The man's voice never rises above a frosty chill.
Lineera seeing that things were potentially escalating, and that she herself had already dropped her weapons, she redoubles her efforts and steels herself to more directly confront the mounted elf. Raising her hands in a passive gesture, Lineera slowly walks towards the knight, exiting the circle of protective friends, and entering into striking distance of the lance. "Sir, please, my friends are only acting as one would to see one of their own threatened at the tip of a lance. Understand that if one of yours were threatened similarly, I'm certain you would be reluctant to lower your weapon as well. Forgive their reluctance." Taking a deep breath to calm herself, "But if I were truly an... unscrupulous sort of person, I wouldn't be traveling by the open road. Much less if I knew that aid was being sent to Perdition's Point, most likely by that same road. Please, if you are responding to a request for aid for Perdition's Point, I personally penned the letter to the Church of Pharasmae, and I used to serve there myself. Even if you don't lower your lance, please call for one of them, my name is Lineera and they should know me."
The Stanton family gift each of the adventurer's with a Courtier's outfit, and a traveler's outfit. This is part of why the party has to wait an extra day to leave, as the husband and wife both work extra hard for 24 hours straight to fully tailor the outfits.
The Ellis Family provide the provide the group with a masterwork tri-point-edge sword, and a masterwork katana, both of which Maagra looks a bit embarrassed about giving them. She admits they were given to her for payment for items she made, and she's never been able to sell them. So she's not sure if the group will find a use for the unusual weapons, but she's sure they could sell them in a big city.
Elliot and Sanita Naevon give the group set of masterwork darkleaf lamellar (Leather lamellar) armor. Elliot can't make the adjustments with his arm still broken, but any competent armorer or leatherworker could adjust it to fit.
Eva kept her hands where they showed her palms, so he could see she wasn't doing anything funny. "Please sir. I'm Eva Elsington, resident of Perdition's Point and owner of the Cheerful Duck Apothecary. Two of our children were kidnapped, a Luke Carevin and an Elizabeth Hann. Lineera here helped us track them down and rescue them. We found they had been kidnapped by cultists, and were being used in a ritual. We managed to get to them, but we could not wake them. W-when we returned to the village after finding the children, the town had been attacked. Please sir, we are traveling to find a way to help wake children and replenish supplies for the village." All she could do was tell the truth and hope he would listen.
Cathran is surprised to find the tip of a lance leveled at her, but not quite as surprised that a religious envoy would send someone so invested in his own authority. She meets his hard gaze with her own, and drops her weapon in the dirt, sending up a small cloud of trail dust as the large blade clatters. Then, her eyes still locked on the elf's, she slowly removes the belt that holds her sheathed knives, and then just as carefully turns to Bertha. Unfortunately, she has to break the staring contest to slip her javelins off the mule's back, before turning again and letting those drop onto her pole-arm with another clatter. Cathran attempts to meet the frigidity of the man's voice in saying, "If I seem calm, sir, it is only because I do not wish to upset your...authority."
The hag gives him a rotten-toothed grin, completing the list of identifying stereotypes. She points at the lance with her walking stick and says, "Aim that sticker at me instead." She glances at whoever was presently staring down the tip, "Age before beauty, dear." She turns her attention back to the knight and taps on her chest. "Go ahead and run me through. I'm old enough and tired enough not to mind... for me it'll be over quick, I expect. But you, well, if you are truly some sacred servant of Iomedae, I expect she'll find time to make you pay for killing an innocent old woman on the road. And as an elf, you'll have a very long time to regret that mistake."
The hag's stance remains neutral, sensing the soldier's will to violence and its perilous limits. "Now, no weapons have been raised agin' you and many have been dropped. We offered no threat - unlike you - and the girl has explained our business a bit. So is it to be parlay or bloodshed?" Mahb makes no attempt to influence the warrior, waiting to see which way he chooses to act.
Riley draws his sword and drops it. He does the same with his bow. He then raises his hands as if to say we have done what you ask. Arrogant bastard. Riley wasn't happy with the situation, but there wasn't much more he could do or add. I better let the pretty people handle this.
As the wagons draw near, another horse breaks free, and a half-elf woman trots up. She too wears holy garb, although her armor bears the symbol of Pharasmae, rather than Iomodae.
"Kalvant, what ever are you doing? Oh, Lineera! We got your letter! Kalvant, that's Lineera, I told you she was a drow, why are you pointing a lance at her and her friends?"
Kalvant makes a face. "Because she's the cause, Sivalla. Her and this lot. They reek of evil. Check for yourself. It's as if they had been soaked in it." His voice is cold as ice. "I haven't felt anything so foul since..." He trails off, and his voice turns bleak. "...since ever."
It had not been obvious because of the rigid way he sat, but now you realize the Paladin has been concentrating on maintaining a spell of some sort.
Sivalla pales, but waves a hand. "Surely not, our little Lineera is surely not fully in line with our Mother, but she would not stoop to such evil things." Sivalla holds out her holy symbol, and chants.
Sivalla casts Detect Evil
As the woman stares at the group, however, her face goes bone white, and a look of horror and sadness fills her face. "By Pharasmae, oh my goddess... Lineera, what have you... what have you done?" Tears spring to her eyes as she looks at Lineera with a look of horror and utter sorrow.
"We interrupted a vile ritual. One of those old ones that uses children. Those children... were put in a state of half-life to fuel the ritual. Some sort of magic keeps them in that state. Please sir, ma'am, listen. My friends and I are not evil. We've just encountered it, between that ritual and the... attack on the town, the abominations. Please. Believe me." Eva had yet to lower her hands, tears starting to form at the very idea that they could have been behind it all.
As Eva speaks, Sivalla puts a hand to her mouth in horror. "Kal..Kalvant, could they be.. could they be speaking truth? I.. I can't believe Lineera would... but... oh Pharasmae..."
Kalvant shakes his head firmly. "No, they all reek of evil too much for this to have been exposure to a ritual, no matter how heinous and vile. If it were merely taint, to be at this level, they'd have had to be near something evil for weeks, not mere moments or hours for a ritual. Do not let them deceive you Sivalla. This drow is not the misguided but evil rejecting girl you remember. She's fallen to the depths that all drow fall too unsupervised."
Eva was wracking her brain, trying to come to any possible answer. "W-wait w-what if... we were a-around someone t-that was turned f-from a human into a large tentacled creature? If... if that took weeks... w-would that have been enough? Or... or we... we" She paused thinking, the tears still coming. "w-what if something... we took from those cultist, t-the ones that did the ritual, has... has tainted us?" She was just wracking her brain for answers, upset at the very thought that she would dare hurt the children.
Lineera's mind races in circles as she tries to make sense of what's going on. Her eyes begin to well with tears, shamed at the looks of abject horror and disgust coming from a woman she once called friend. Feeling betrayed, ashamed, confused, threatened, her mind is a torrent of clashing and contradictory thoughts whirling and flowing through her mind. When suddenly, everything clicks into place. We spent the night in the cave, it wasn't merely hours we spent there... Where have we spent weeks? ...Perdition's Point.
Lineera feels her heart sink with fear for both the village and what she's about to do. Stepping towards the front of the group once more, Lineera drops to her knees, and lowers her head submissively. "The village, the taint must be coming from the village. One of the villagers, Tommas Waters turned into some kind of abomination, the dead all rose from the graveyard, and all of them attacked the village in unison. ...Please Sevilla, believe me. You read my letter, you know what happened! Such a feat of necromancy does not just happen in a moment, this would have taken much time to prepare, even longer to do it whilst being undetected. As a member of the Church, Sevilla, surely you know this as well as I."
Biting her lip for a moment, Lineera continues with a shuddering breath. "I'd been at the town for about a month and a half, Cathran and Riley had been there about twenty days, Mahb, and Eva are both locals. We'd have all been exposed to the taint long enough to have developed it." Raising her head to look her aggressor in the eye, Lineera addresses him directly "Please, Sir Kalvant, if this is truly the worst... the blackest evil you've ever sensed, surely it makes sense that it would all stem from a like point. Surely we could not all be worse than anything you've seen before, even if one of us was." Looking back to Sevilla, Lineera continues her pleading. "But we cannot be stopped now. A new ritual is to take place on the solstice, in or near Illmarsh from the sound of it. We found a letter indicating such at the first ritual site. We should still have it amongst our belongings."
Sighing, Lineera bows her head once more and raises her wrists to be placed in shackles. "Please, take me prisoner. Let us go back to Perdition's Point and verify my story. If you must bind me, blindfold me, gag me, so be it. Just let me take enough money to buy a horse and enough supplies to travel alone. If my thoughts prove true, then release me so that I may catch up to my companions. But our work is too important to be delayed any further, they must continue on. You know where they are going, and you may take me hostage, is that not enough for the moment?"
Kalvant's eyes harden. "A very pretty plea, Drow. But the taint is strongest on you, weakest on your gnome ally. No doubt she's a recent convert to your evil. The hag is as steeped in it as you are."
Sivalla's face is a mask of sorrow. "I.. I am unable to say, Lineera. You were my friend, and I want to believe you. But Sir Kalvant speaks truth, the taint is strongest on you and the old woman. The gnome, the man, and the warrior woman the least. If it was as you say, the gnome should be tainted more than any."
Lineera licks her lips, and follows her conjecture one step further. "The Waters' left town after the attack. They gave their old home to me. Lacking any furniture but what they left behind, I've been sleeping in Tommas' bed. Mahb lives in the forest just outside of town, where the undead currently roam unchecked. The taint may be even worse there. Tommas' old room may well be the same. Please, someone get the letter so they can verify it. ...If... if my story proves false once you reach Perdition's Point, do with me as you wish. You'll have dispatched the worst Evil, and there's enough horses amongst yourselves and in the village that you'd be able to ride my companions down long before they could reach Rozenport. Even if you let them go for now, you do not let them out of reach. Perdition's Point is only two days walk from here."
Eva, for the first time since the lance had been pointed at them lowered her hands to retrieve a copy of the note from her pouch. She offered it to Sivalla and Kalavant to let them read it. "My brother translated it. He said it was encoded halfling."
"Place it on the ground with a stone on it. Everyone that has dropped their weapons, step off the track and sit there..." He points to a section of the field off to the north of the road. "When the rest of the caravan is here, we'll sort this out and determine if there needs to be low justice given here, or a full inquisition in Caliphas. I would prefer not to kill you, on the very slim chance you are telling some form of the truth, but I cannot in good conscience chance you escaping. There will be no releasing some of you on the hostage of the other. No Evil shall be permitted to roam free after what has happened."
The hag listens to the mounting information with a non-committal grunt and turns her attention fully on the priestess of Pharasma. "Why would the girl write you for aid, if she was part of the evil? What sense is that? I ain't questionin' that you found some taint on us... but that don't tell the tale, does it? If you have a truth-teller among you - question us. Then you will know the truth."
Kalvant eyes the old woman. "Which is one of the few reasons I am talking now, rather than smiting, old woman. Something foul is going on, and I will know the whole of it."
Eva set it down as she was told before moving off to the side.
Lineera also complies.
Cathran's frustration with the elf waving around his authority turns to smugness as the priest of Pharasmae rides up to exculpate Lineera and the rest of them. When Cathran realizes what spell she chants, though, the smugness just as quickly evaporates, replaced by worry. She moves off the road as Kalvant instructs, giving a sympathetic glance to the tearful Lineera and Eva. She raises her hand, hesitantly at first, and attempts to comfort Lineera with an awkward pat on the shoulder.
Riley followed the group to the side of the road hesitantly. Anger coursed through him at the thought of submitting to the paladin. He had no choice though. Use your brain. We would not travel the road so openly if we were practicing this type of evil. You judge us even before you have proof of our involvement. Then under his breath: Gee that's justice.
Riley sits down and glares at the paladin.
The rest of the caravan finally reaches the Paladin and Priestess about 10 minutes later, meanwhile, the two watch over the Perdition Point expedition from 50 feet away, whispering to each other. Sivalla looks extremely upset, but also seems to be deferring to Kalvant's judgement.
Soon there are 3 guards on the Perdition Point Expedition, one priest of Pharasmae, one priestess of Erastil, and one Royal Knight. They take up positions equidistant around the expedition, hands on weapons.
The equipment the expedition left behind is gone through, including personal packs and pack saddles on the mules. Each and every item in their possession is laid out on the ground, 5 ft apart. Then the priests and acolytes begin examining everything, bringing some things to the Paladin and High Priestess and High Priest (An Erastil high Priest came as well). This trio carefully examines anything that is brought to them.
This takes several hours. At the end of it, they've divided up the equipment into 3 piles, one for weapons, one small pile with things it's hard to see what they are, and a large pile that seems to be most of the belongings.
The trio of leaders finally approach the Expedition.
"There is a chance you are telling the truth. I pray to Iomedae you are, as I do not wish to do what I will have to do if these are truly yours." Kalvant says, his voice hard. He tosses a burlap bundle on the ground. The burlap splits open, and there are black amulets, from the cloak-hats, on the burlap. As well as a silver holy symbol. "The magic on these things has been masked, as has their evil. But the evil is so strong it pervades anything they touch, corrupting it."
Sivalla looks both severely disturbed, and somewhat hopeful. "Lineera, I truly hope this is all just taint, and that we can cleanse it. Please be patient. It will not be easy." She wrings her hands, looking upset. "These things.. they are... hideous."
The younger of the three, a boy who looks like he's barely into his late teens, nods. He wears a High Priest's robe for Erastil's church. "Indeed, we are not quite sure how to cleanse it from you, assuming you are only tainted. But we will attempt to use a Sanctify spell, holy water, and Atonement spells for all." The boy nods at the guards. "You will not interfere with these castings, or we will be forced to harm you."
Behind the young priest, the accolytes are unpacking portable shrines from the wagons, preparing to set them up for the Sanctification. The shrines are placed 15 ft on either side of the Perdition's Point expedition.
Mahb gives the warrior an arid look, "Lemme see... you've called me 'hag' several times, 'old witch' once or twice, and now 'old woman' when I wasn't even talkin' to ya. Do it once more and I'm going to start thinking you're trying to insult me... then I'm gonna start discussing your mother's dubious virtues, in detail. Rudeness begets rudeness, after all."
Mahb steps off the road as directed, expecting another snide retort from the warrior who she is certain delights in getting the last word. She sits down heavily near her comrades. She casts a baleful eye on the weepy ones, "'Low justice' - my ass."
Kalvant does indeed get the last word. "My mother was a Magnimaran whore, I doubt you could come up with any insult she didn't actually perform for money, old woman. So feel free to make as many comments as you like, I have heard them all." He then rides off to supervise the searching of the equipment.
"You will not interfere with these castings, or we will be forced to harm you."
Behind the young priest, the acolytes are unpacking portable shrines from the wagons, preparing to set them up for the Sanctification. The shrines are placed 15 ft on either side of the Perdition's Point expedition.
The hag eyes the boy priest and the preparations dubiously, then does the inexplicable. "A'right. I'll go first."
As Mahb set down, Eva gave her a small smile and a silent chuckle. "Going to try to teach him manners?"
"...we found them. In the cave where they had taken the children." She points at the silver holy symbol. "That one... I found with the letters." She was less upset and more numb in her words and actions.
As Mahb set down, Eva gave her a small smile and a silent chuckle. "Going to try to teach him manners?"
The hag gives the alchemist a genuine smile in return, it almost breaks her craggy old face. "I like a challenge and I'm fair sure he wants me... otherwise he wouldn't be trying to dip my pigtails in ink so much." Mahb cackles.
Lineera places an appreciative hand on Cathran's knee in response to the pat and offers a smile. Though still clearly upset at the happenings, she seems to be collecting herself.
When the bag of amulets and the holy symbol spills forward onto the ground, Lineera looks up, confused. "We still had those? I thought we'd left those behind. ...The amulets were being worn by two of the necromancers who we encountered in the kobold warren. We retrieved those after they were slain."
When Sivalla offers her hopes again, Lineera offers a smile, though clearly somewhat bitter. "I wouldn't be so passive and submissive if I thought that all of this would only prove my crimes Sivalla."
After Mahb volunteers to go first. Lineera speaks up. "I'll go second."
At Mahb's latest quip, Lineera can't help but snicker in response.
"Why are the royal knights deferring to a paladin?" Cathran idly mutters as they sit by the road, their equipment thoroughly searched. Lineera isn't the only one who wrote some letters for aid, though. She turns toward the royal knight of the trio guarding the group itself and asks her question more directly: "Pardon me, but how does a paladin like Kalvant come to command royal knights? I wrote a few letters to a few different nobles I have met, do you perhaps know the name Cathran Ingwood?"
---
Later, once the priests approach, Cathran nods at and accepts their proposal for cleansing, but not before looking quite surprised at Mahb's compliance. She almost starts to doubt Mahb's conviction to agitate the elf when she quips about her pigtails. Cathran cracks a small smile. "Careful, Mahb. He is probably quite a bit older than you. We do not wish him to take advantage of your youthful naïveté."
The female Knight looks on in stony silence, until Cathran finally says her name. The Knight starts, but still doesn't respond.
-------------
Later, after Kalvant and the others explain what they think is happening, and their plan, and have finally left to consult on how to set up the ritual, the Knight finally responds to Cathran. "Baron Malleth asked Duke Silrath for assistance, as Perdition's Point is technically within his demesne, although by mutual accord, Perdition mostly just pays taxes and keeps to itself. Lord Kalvant is the Paladin assigned to Ulastev by the Iomedean church. I believe he reports directly to Bishop Montraire in Caliphus, who reports directly to Iomedean Council. In other words, Sir Kalvant is one of the highest ranking members of the Iomedean Church, and one of the few high ranking Paladin's not assigned to the World Wound. I answer your question now that it seems you may not be guilty, since it was Cathran Ingwood who's letter got Baron Malleth to intercede. Therefore, I have an obligation to keep her alive if possible. In my estimation, making an enemy of one of the top 5 Paladin's in the Church of Iomedae is not conducive to a long and happy life." She states quietly.
The Erastil and Pharasmae guards give small nods of agreement. "I may be a Pharasmae Journeyman Priest, but when a Senior Paladin of Iomedae who can call up an inquisition is put in charge of my caravan, I ask how high and what color." The Erastil cleric just nods in turn, giving Kalvant a look of mixed awe, respect, and trepidation.