Vixie tugs on Adriana’s sleeve. In a small voice, she says, ”W-what about M-Miss Cassandra?”
The assembled workers behind Adriana glare at the cowardly Irina. Then they start arguing.
"Kill her! After everything she's done--"
"--no, take her arms and legs and let her suffer--"
"--throw her in the harbour and let her drown--"
"Let the law deal with her." Lyrienne steps forward. "We'll make sure she doesn't escape her fate. We ALL will."
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Adriana looks a little disappointed...letting the law do anything is just surrending more of your identity and freedom to society. She though shrugs and leans over to Irina and whispers.
"If I ever hear of you doing anything like this again I will determine what vengeance you suffer. You will not like that."
She than reaches grabbing her chin and cast Brand. She than traces a symbol on her forehead denoting her a heritic of Calistria.
"The only way to remove that is by earning Calistria good graces. If you don't before you die Calistria will claim your soul and I think at that point you would rather go to whatever Hell you were destined too."
She than turns and stalks out.
Irina lets out an agonized wail as Adriana sears an image of a broken dagger onto her forehead--the mark of someone who gravely transgressed against the Savoured Sting's faith. The smell of burnt flesh starts to fill the room as the inquisitor withdraws her hand and leaves.
The workers surround Irina and drag her to her feet, hauling her from the premises of the Crimson Club and off to face Tamran's law.
In the morning, there's a knocking at the party's room doors.
"The forest marshal needs to speak with you." A ranger says before ducking out.
Groaning softly as he roused himself from the dregs of sleep, Khalaban pulled on his trousers so as not to offend or distract the messenger, depending on their proclivities, and went to answer. "Good morning. How urgent would this be? Do we have time to wash, dress and eat first, or shall we rush?" He hated rushing off without food.
"Get yourselves presentable first, at least." The ranger replies.
Khalaban nodded. "My thanks," he replied, mourning the breakfast that would not be, and headed to get his padding and armour on before returning in his burnished plate armour.
Adriana answers the door in very revealing sexy lingerie. She looks at the Ranger and says,"Tell the Forest Marshal I will be there in two hours as i have get ready and eat breakfast."
Adriana fhan closes the door.
A lump in Adriana’s bedding wiggles for a few moments before the kitling’s head pokes out of the blanket. ”W-what was that, M-Miss?” she asks, blinking in the soft light of morning.
"The Forest Marshal would like to see the group. I told him to expect us in two hours. You can't let these government officials think they control you after all "
Vixie nods along; she isn’t entirely sure on the nuances of Adriana’s statement, but she’s never really been one to ponder those anyway.
”W-what do you w-want for breakfast, M-Miss?”
Adriana ponders for a moment,"I don't know yet. Let us see what is on the menu. After a bath and stuff of course."
The breakfast menu consists of the following:
Max dreamt as the exhaustion claimed him. Once again the massive many-hued metallic draconic deity loomed over him.
"You have done good things for your father. But you need to remember that justice and vengeance do not always follow the same path. Your companion of many elements chafes at this, but you can help her learn. Be the bright example, my child. Remember that not all who wander are lost."
Max blinked wetly up at the large dragon, deeply ashamed for some reason they could not fathom.
"You are growing closer to the truth of your spirit. It will be terrifying, more terrifying than any threat you've ever faced before. Be. Not. Afraid. You are my child, as much as any other dragon. I will not forsake you and when you pass on to the after, I will have a place for you in my home."
A rumbling not-quite roar filled the edges of the dream. "Time is fleeting. Remember that a dragon's hoard has MEANING to them. It is not wealth for wealth's sake. It is wealth of the spirit. Now go on, my son, and wake up. Or you'll miss breakfast! And a growing boy needs breakfast!" the majestic dragon rumbled as the dreamlike vision faded.
The small dragon bolted upright in their bed, and ran to the door in their nightgown. "Um, ugh... jus' woke up.. whaisit? Oh, meeting? Okay.. ah... be there... ah... soon!"
They then quickly get cleaned up and dressed as fast as they can before getting some oatmeal breakfast, as they don't have much more money left -- all the money the party found was being kept for 'evidence' the last they heard.
They slowly eat the oatmeal, watching with slight jealousy all the people eating bacon. The eggs give them pause, though.
The breakfast menu consists of the following:
Bacon & Eggs - 1 silver Cinnamon-Spiced Oatmeal - 5 coppers Blueberry Pancakes (includes maple syrup) - 2 silvers Strawberry Waffles - 2 silvers
By the time Vixie and Adriana are dressed enough for company, Vixie is plenty hungry to get her mouth around some breakfast.
Not being good at counting, though, she plonks a gold on the table and asks for some of everything!
It takes Adriana about a hour to get ready. She is taking her time. When she joins Vixie at the table she will order a double of bacon and eggs and asks if they can add some cheese.
Ready to go, Khalaban was moderately surprised that the others had chosen to get food. But he wasn't one to look a gift meal in the mouth, and ordered some strawberry waffles and blueberry pancakes.
Max sat quietly by themselves and slowly nursed their oatmeal along, trying to make it last as long as possible and not draw angry looks or irate comments from the staff or the cook. They look a bit more jealously at the pancakes and waffles but say nothing, slowly and mechanically eating their oats...
Once the party has had a chance to have breakfast, it's off to see the marshal.
-------------------
By the time the team reaches the watch station, Forest Marshal Gavirk is waiting outside.
"Glad you lot could make it. Got a few things to discuss." He says as he leads you inside, his unibrow furrowed.
"First, there's the matter of what was retrieved from inside the temple. As much as we'd hoped otherwise, there don't appear to be any personal identifiers on any of the wealth we retrieved, so we have no way of knowing for certain to whom these goods belong to." He shakes his head as he enters his office with the party in tow. "So, as it stands, we've decided to let you keep whatever you found in there. Just so long as you don't use it to make Tamran's honest folk even more miserable."
Captain Weathers is sitting in a chair on the far side of the plainly-decorated office. She clears her throat and moves to get the door once the party is inside.
"That, and Captain Weathers has mentioned that you found evidence of corruption within our ranks." The forest marshal finishes.
"We found several things", Khalaban agreed, gesturing for Vixie to pass the paperwork over. He hoped she hadn't left it in the inn. He really should have checked.
Vixie blinks in confusion for a moment, then “o-oh!”s and removes her backpack. It takes a weird amount of time for her to find the papers, given she theoretically hasn’t had it for long, but soon she retrieves the documents and holds them overhead.
There are a few new stains on them—mostly jam, a bit of saliva.
Gavirk takes the ledgers from Vixie and looks them over, flipping to the relevant entries. His face pales.
"...this is how far deep it runs?" He thinks aloud. "Well. That's... that's unsettling news."
He shoves the ledgers into Captain Weathers' hands. "The next item of business." Gavirk's hands start to twitch. "We've interrogated several of the cultists about their operations here--how long they've been active, if there are any other cells in town, what their plans were, all that."
"One of them mentioned an island out in Lake Encarthan, where their leadership fled to before we could arrive. There's only one island within that lake--and it's truly a damned place. Locals call it the Isle of Terror."
"Marshal, is the problem with the local law-people going to be bad, do you need us to stick around and help with that before heading to the island? It'd be horrible for us to help you deal with the Razzies only for them to cause even worse problems 'acting out' or trying to outright 'take over' Tamran." Max inquires politely, then considers.
"If they moved to a really bad place like that, they might be able to get ahold of really bad things to come back and attack with..."
"I agree with Maxillia," Khalaban said with a nod. "I'm sure you have ideas and plans, but if you also have need of our assistance then I shall be happy to provide such."
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Adriana murmurs to herself,"Why is it always 'Isle of Terror' and not 'Isle of Kittens' or 'Isle of Lesbian Dominatraixes"
”M-Miss Shyla could b-be all three,” stutters the kitling.
"Thank you, but pursuing their leaders is more important than our woes." Gavirk waves the offers off. "We'll manage."
He then sighs. "...the Speakers aren't going to like this. Hell, they're certain to cut our funding." He shakes his head and snorts. "But who knows--maybe the rest of the force will remember that personal integrity is more important than their salary."
"Why is it always 'Isle of Terror' and not 'Isle of Kittens' or 'Isle of Lesbian Dominatrixes?"
Captain Weathers turns beet red and pointedly stares at a map hung up on the nearby office wall.
"As you prefer, of course," Khalaban agreed, although he was intently studying said map for any sexy islands that might be present.
Adriana waits for Captain Weather to look up from the map and gives her a wink and a little come hither look.
Captain Weathers glances over at Adriana and a bead of sweat runs down her forehead.
"Right." Gavirk takes the ledgers back from the flustered captain. "Captain Weathers? Escort these folks down to evidence and let them claim what they will. I'm going to have to explain things to the Speakers."
The captain springs out of her seat and leads the party out of the forest marshal's office.
"I will follow Captain Weathers anywhere. I like women with...authority."
Shaking his head - and hoping the captain liked women who came on strong - Khalaban followed behind to go see if there was anything they needed among the items. His armour was good, and he made his own weapon. A new shield might be useful, although he hadn't seen one in the goods they'd taken.
Captain Weathers leads the group out of the marshal's office and down a couple of corridors to a stone chamber illuminated by a pair of white everburning torches. The three chests recovered from the Razmiran Vault are sitting on a table in the centre of the room, their locks broken off and their contents visible for all to see.
"This is what was recovered from the vault. Help yourselves."
Adriana shows no interest in the treasure and moves over to Captain Weathers, "So tell me Captain Weathers how long have you been part of the force? Do you get to punish naughty women?"
Also will throw in a Diplomacy check to charm her...
+1 to the above check if she is sexually attracted to Adriana (the trait Charming)
"Ah--" Captain Weathers fidgets and folds her hands behind her back, straightening her posture and trying in vain to quell the blush in her cheeks.
"--I've been on the force for about ten years." She says after clearing her throat. "Pretty much as soon as I began my eighteenth winter."
"As to... well..." She runs a hand through her hair. "...that, part of my job involves making arrests. And sometimes, the perpetrators are women, yes."
"Perhaps you can stop by my inn room later... she says quietly,"I am afraid I have been extra naughty of late."
”D-don’t day that, M-Miss! Y-you’re a v-very good person,” interjects Vixie.
Captain Weathers looks Adriana over, memories of the last time the two of them shared a bed flashing past her eyes.
She clears her throat again. "I'll... keep that in mind."
Her cheeks are beet red again.
Max clears their throat. "I'm not sure if that's deliberate or not, but I can feel the heat radiating off of you from down here, Captain. Do you, ah, need a moment or two?"
Are they grinning in a draconic fashion? Don't be SILLY! There's absolutely no influence of copper scales on their reaction to this situation...
Captain Weathers makes a brief sputtering noise before hastily marching out of the room.
Adrian gives Max a unfriendly look. "Dont go shaming people for being who they are. She is repressed enough."
She will go follow Captain Weathers out of the room to make sure she is okay.
Captain Weathers hasn't gone too far--she's leaning against the wall a couple of doors down from the evidence room, her shaking fists and forehead pressed against the uncaring stone.
"There's no shame in being attracted to someone. I was trying to open up an opportunity for you because it looks like you both need some time to work things out." Max offers with a slightly more serious, sober, and conciliatory tone as they turn to the rest of the party. If she thinks that Captain Weathers is repressed....
There's a brief moment of excitement as they see the coins again, having been given free reign to take what they need as a party, and they give the mace and the bag a considering glance before looking to Vixie and Khalaban.
"Do either of you need any of this, or would it be possible for me to carry the Bag of Holding and use the mace until someone else needs it?" they inquire with a subdued tone. Still not enough coin.
Vixie shrugs. ”I-I think I have e-everything I need!” she states.
"Please, use what you will Maxilla. Given my bulk I can carry things well enough, but it would be a boon for you to be able to carry more. And weapons are a simple matter for me." Khalaban nodded. "I have no great need for more things, I think. Some gold will be payment enough, and perhaps the potion of Cure Wounds. I would like to be able to revive those with healing magic in a pinch."
Adriana approaches Captain Weathers and in a concern voice asks,"Are you all right?"
The captain sighs. "...no. No, I'm really not."
"How would you feel if you suddenly learned that the people under you--people you thought you could rely on--were basically working for the enemy behind your back?" She asks, still leaning against the wall.
Adriana pauses to think for a moment, "It depends on why? I know society likes to paint everything in simplistic terms of Good and Evil or Law and Good. But life is much more complex than that. If I found out somebody betrayed me because they needed to survive like maybe a sick family member or a family member is being held hostage I would forgive them. On the other hand if it is for greed or hating me for being myself that I would lay down the smite on them."