I think that should be plenty.
Upon entering the Temple of Sarenae, Tolenn looks about for her mentor Solora, whom she did not see the last time .
Spying her friend across the nave sheparding a number of the former Lambs, Tolenn calls out. "Solora! How fares the children? "
After a little small talk, Tolenn motions Pyron forward, "Solora, my firend Pyron sustained some injury freeing the children, but the priestess on duty refused him aid. Would you grant him Saranae's boon?"
"Greetings, Tolenn! Sarenrae smiles upon us that you would gift us with such a crop, even if it needs more tending than most." She smiles, gazing down at the children before continuing. "They are doing well. Their imprisonment will likely takes weeks to months to get over, but with the Dawnflower's Blessing, they should fare alright."
She engages in the small talk with gusto, anxious to hear about the plight of the city.
"What is this? Well, I can't blame her. She was doing things 'by the book', so to speak. Let me see your friend." She waves Pyron over, then mumbles a little prayer, looking up at the end towards where the sun would be before grasping Pyron's arm firmly. Pyron feels a tingling energy flow through him, almost like an electric current. When it is over, he feels rejuvenated, the strength loss from the spiders already a distant memory.
She grins at him, "Isn't that better? Praise be to Sarenrae!"
Thank you. I feel so much better. We also came back for another reason. We promised the children that we would give them some money if they helped us by watching over one of the bad guys without hurting him while we attempted to arrest their boss. They followed our instructions, so we want to pay them for their help.
"Master Pyron, these are children, so we will not give them money of any kind, besides coppers for treats. They are too young and wild for that kind of responsibility. We would be happy to accept the coins on the children's behalf and use them for their education and upbringing."
That would be fine, but please let them know that we fulfilled our promise in this manner. Gaius has some money for them.
"You can rest easy knowing the children will know of you checking back in with us about them. And we thank you for the money. Raising children is never easy, and every copper helps!"
Gaius hands over the 5 pp, then looks to the others expectantly.
Ready? We probably shouldn't keep our guards waiting.
Tolenn gives her friend a hug, "Thank you Solora, I know you and the other will take care of the Lambs. I will check in when I can..."
She gathers her gear, waves to a couple of children that noticed their presence, then nodded to Gaius that she was ready.
"No, thank you, Tolenn, for bringing this gift to us. May our Lady's love go with you."
"Well, time to go play with some Hellknights."
Thank you for the healing and for taking care of the children.
The guards escort you quickly to Citadel Volshyenek, overlooking Jeggare Harbor. A few soft words from your escort gain you entrance, and you are ushered inside to a sort of battle room where an exhausted looking woman in red plate armor sits at a desk. She is attractive (though not so much as the Queen or Sabina), with short cropped black hair and dark brown eyes. She looks up at you and smiles weakly.
“You are Pyron, Gaius, Tolenn, and Daud? You are the ones sent by Queen Ileosa. Greetings— y name is Cressida, and heroes of your caliber are exactly what Korvosa needs now. You’ve been on the streets. You know better than me how bad things are out there. It’s breaking my heart to see Korvosa tear herself apart like this. Every little bit of aid we can get from upstanding citizens like you helps. If you’re willing, I’d very much like to retain your services as...free agents of the Guard. I don’t need to say, of course, that you’ll be well compensated for these services.”
"- and Vuk " he adds to her ascertation of the group before adding "So what is it you want us to do?"
Gaius' face betrays a curiosity that he is unable or unwilling to hide. Captain, is it? We appreciate any chance to help the people of Korvosa. When you say 'services', exactly what is it you"d like us to do? Between the five of us, our skill sets are...varied.
At Gaius' comment Daud is unable to hold back the urge to raise his hands and move the upper two fingers on each back and forth in a bunny eared motion. The word "Services" only adds to the mental image of a room in a Calistrian temple occupied by the Inquisitor and the Captain.
At Gaius' comment Daud is unable to hold back the urge to raise his hands and move the upper two fingers on each back and forth in a bunny eared motion. The word "Services" only adds to the mental image of a room in a Calistrian temple occupied by the Inquisitor and the Captain.
"Field Marshal. The captains of the guard report to me." Cressida replies to Gaius' comment before continuing. “Korvosa’s got enough troubles as it is without my own men losing their way and going rogue. As much as it pains me to admit, though, this has happened several times already. Many guards have deserted their posts, more concerned about friends and family than the city. I can understand this, yet not all of the deserters have family—some of them are simply using the riots as an excuse for personal gain. One such man is Verik
Vancaskerkin. Worse than a lone deserter, he’s convinced a small group of fellow guards that Queen Ileosa is going to ruin the city. Whether he does or doesn’t isn’t the point—right now, we’ve got a city-wide crisis on our hands, and I need all of my guards working with me to see us through. A deserter is worse than a lost resource—it’s an infection. I can’t afford to pull any of my other patrols off duty to deal with Vancaskerkin, and I’d rather not expose any of them to him anyway, since I neither want Vancaskerkin to infect more guards with his talk of secession, nor do I want some overly patriotic guard killing Vancaskerkin outright. I need impartial, skilled talent. Like you.
“Vancaskerkin and his men have holed up in an abandoned butcher’s shop up in Northgate—the place was called All the World’s Meat. I need you to check out the place. Try to avoid killing any of the deserters if you can, but if you must, they brought it upon themselves when they threw in their lot with Vancaskerkin. For him, I’d really prefer it if you could
capture him alive and return him to me for interrogation, but if he makes that impossible, I’ll accept his body as well. Finally, see if you can find out why Verik deserted—if there’s more to it than simple personal politics, I need to know immediately. Bring me Verik alive, and there’s another thousand gold in it for you. Dead, he’s only worth half that.”
"Oathbreakers! One's solemn oath is not to be tossed aside like yesterday's fashion! " Tolenn says heatedly "Field Marshall, we shall endeavour to bring him in alive so that his cancer can be fully expunged."
"A group of violent people are going to talk to a different group of violent people in a butcher shop. With no killing. Riiiiiggghhhhtttt..." Daud's comment comes off as more a sense of foreboding than disagreement.
Field Marshal Cressida nods briskly to Tolenn, turning back to her papers and maps. At Daud's comment she frowns, but says nothing. To her the business is at an end and she turns to focus to the rest of her troubles.
Field Marshall, we have just cleared Lamm's fishery, brought henchmen alive to the sergeant, except for Lamm who was killed by his own croc who turned on him, brought the kidnapped children safely to the temple, and returned the queen's stolen brooch to her. I then received my honorable discharge from the sergeant. I tell you this, so you know a little bit more about us, who you are sending in to fetch the traitors. We can handle this task. After that, he salutes. If the Field Marshall responds, he'll reply in appropriate short phrases such as "Yes, sir." Then he will leave with the group.
Cressida nods distractedly, not looking up from a stack of papers. " Yes, yes, I have the utmost confidence in you."
Well then, it's settled. We shall be on our way.
Later, after we leave the Field Marshal's office.
I can ask around, see what I can find out about Verik and his associates. Do you all have any other ideas?
Daud simply shrugs.
We can always scope out the place like we did with the other place.
Daud simply nods.
Tolenn, would you and Pyron go to the temple of Abadar to exchange the queen's gold for coin? Daud and I can sell the rest so we can all equip ourselves before we look into the butcher shop.
Gaius asks around for where he can find someone who will purchase "found" items.
The people of the city appear to be wary from yesterday's business, and are reluctant to open up to Gaius.
"For your sake as a Calistrian I sincerely hope you're better with your dick than with your mouth." Daud muses aloud after they're turned away from the third shop that day.
This has nothing to do with skill--these people are too frightened by the riots from the queen"s ascension to come forward at the moment. We'll just have to use the gold we have to gear up for now. Don't worry, at this and...other things, I always get my quarry.
"Uh-huh." Daud adds with a roll of his eyes.
Gaius studies his companion in puzzlement.
You have witnessed my fury first-hand, and yet you jest in this way. Most would find this dangerous. I think you either do not fear me, or you count me as a friend. I have to say that I am unfamiliar with both.
Then, a bit later: Still, I do...appreciate your assistance.
The words are strained, as though he finds this hard to say despite having no problem concocting elaborate lies to strangers.
"And I yours, Uprising. But you can trust me on this, I have every reason to fear agents of Calistria. The last one I was dating tried to burn me alive in my bed." his expression remains listless as he speaks.
Pyron and Tolenn have a much easier time of things, carting the small silver chest filled with gold bars to the Bank of Abadar. Entering, they are quickly met by a smiling young acolyte.
"Greetings, my friends. How may we be of service to you?"
We have been rewarded for our services and would like to exchange these gold bars with standard currency.
Tolenn nods politely to the acolyte, but allows Pyron to conduct the business at hand.
As she does she think of the events of the past day I never would have thought that such things would have happened once I returned here to Korvosa...Saranae's light guide me, but greater things are astir, should I be worthy...
The acolyte opens the silver chest, glancing inside. He nods, then shuts the lid. "We will have to take these to the back to verify weight and authenticity. Would you care to wait right here?" He indicates a pair of comfortable-looking chairs by a desk.
After a wait of roughly ten minutes, the acolyte returns, all smiles. In his hands is the small silver chest, along with a heavy burlap sack.
"After conversion and processing fees, I am pleased to present you with this bag of one-thousand one-hundred fifty-two gold coins. And of course this fine chest. That is, unless you are willing to part with it? I am willing to offer you another fifty gold for the chest."
Pyron turns to Tolenn, whispering,Do you think we need the chest?
Tolenn responds quietly to Pyron, "Let us keep the chest, as a reminder of our service to the Queen."
Thank you for the offer on the chest, but we would like to keep the chest. We are happy about the transaction with the gold though. Since that is a lot of coins, do you have platinum pieces? We will need only a few gold coins to split the full amount between four individuals.
The priest's expression doesn't change, but aggravation lights up his eyes as he gathers up the heavy bag and walks off. He returns shortly, carrying a much smaller bag. "One hundred fifteen platinum and two gold."
Not wanting to press his luck, Thank you very much sir. With that, Pyron gets up, takes the money, places it in the chest, and leaves to meet up with the others.
Gaius and Daud arrive back at the Temple of Sarenrae to see Tolenn and Pyron standing by a chest brimming with gold.
Good work, Gaius says earnestly.
Our efforts weren't rewarded as well--people are still scared from the riots, and won't open their doors to any less-than-legal items at the moment. Still, I think I may have use for one of them to get us some information...
Gaius rummages through Lamm's trove, and pockets the small inscribed silver ring.
I think Daud and I can still find some information about the butcher shop tonight. Would you mind getting some gear in case things turn ugly when we do confront Vancaskerin? I need a sword, a well-made longblade.
If there are no objections, Gaius turns to leave, then stops and takes off his holy symbol, handing it to Tolenn.
I almost forgot--could you go back to my temple and free Larks from his bonds? If you take this they'll know I sent you. Tell him his debt is paid and Lamm is dead. Live righteously, and we won't have to find him again.
He then looks to Daud to see if he's ready.