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"I'm afraid that it's not up to me. I'm not quite sure why they picked me even." Pandora says, warming up to the dwarf and flashing him a rakish smile.
"True." He replied, noticing the smile and showing a more warm one back at the woman. "But that don't mean you would refuse any offered help. I'm more than just a simple Dwarf, y'know. And I figure, if I follow you lot, I might learn more about m' vision. Certainly wouldn't hurt!" He adds in a lower tone, "And I'm just as curious as you lot about that unfortunate soul that got himself dissected."
"Me? Nope, not at all, but as I said, you'll need to talk to the lady or the gentleman over there about it." Pandora agrees.
"And just between the two of us, I'm wondering why no one seemed to have heard him scream." she adds in a low voice.
"That is a concern." Sariel said, nodding slightly at Pandora's words. "Personally, I'm leading towards the use of silencing magic, but I'd rather not rule out any potential reason for the silence. It may even be that nobody was around, or something was done to the body during the murder and hidden afterward."
"Why use a spell when a knife will do? I, uh didn't get a good look at him. Was his throat slit?" Pandora asks.
Well his head was removed, so I think that qualifies as a slit throat don't you?
"Oh. Well, now I feel like idiot," she replies.
Perhaps you are still a bit muddled from your imbibing last night. Thorrpe laughs and strikes a chord on his harp.
"Maybe, but that still doesn't change how I feel." Pandora gives a little laugh of her own before turning towards Thorrpe more fully.
"This is Thorin Wildshape, he'd like to join us. And while you're telling him what he's getting into, maybe you can tell me what all I agreed to, hmm?"
"And his bowels. And his genitals. And he was cut into chunks..." Sariel explained in response to the question, shuddering slightly. Drawing and quartering was... one of the less pleasant ways of dying. It wasn't simply an execution - it was brutally painful, included multiple steps, and was generally only used on people that a group truly wanted to make suffer. It wasn't a very fast death, either - nothing compared to the quick slice of an assassin's knife or the deadliest spells. "May the gods accept his soul and grant him the place he deserves."
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He gave an acknowledging nod to the rest of the group, folding his arms over his barreled chest. "Nice ta meet you lot. Seems I caught ya in th' middle of somethin' pretty nasty. Maybe you can benefit from havin' a fella like me travelin' with ya?" He lightly stroked at his beard. "Perhaps my years of wisdom gained from walkin' this earth could be of use? If not that" He unfolded his arms and slams his fists together, causing them to emit a strange silvery-blue aura. "then at th' very least, I can knock some heads around."
The place of worship is a small church dedicated to Ilmater, the God of Suffering. The small church looks like a medieval church of English design, it's only a small church, able to accommodate up to seventy or so worshippers in its chapel.
"I think I get the point." She tells Sariel, her face going pale once more as the memory of that sight and that smell threatened to make her lose what little she had left in her stomach. She turns back to Thorin as he describes his talents. Meeting someone new, it appears, does wonders for helping the half-elf keep her stomach from misbehaving.
"Well? Can we keep him?" Pandora asks excitedly as she looks to Sariel.
Scin floats to the church's double doors. She lands softly, and pushes the doors wide. She carries her grisly package into the temple. She pauses and bows her head to pay homage to the martyr god. She scans the church looking for a priest. Hello? A towns person has been martyred.
ONly if you agree to feed him and make sure he only poos outside. Thorrpe laughs
Let's see if we can't catch the others at the church shall we. thorrpe leads the way as he tries I catch up w Scin. As he goes he retires his blade to his wrist and rope to his pack.
Sariel gave Thorrpe a disapproving look as she strode out into the street - her little minions should be about finished alerting the guards, and she wanted to get at least one drink down before they all got hauled in for questioning. "I will gladly accept the help of anyone who wishes to stand against evil." she said mildly as she moved along. It seemed they'd be meeting up later, then, which suited her well enough - she needed some time to organize her thoughts and pray.
what did I say!
He says with a wry grin.
After she has moved off So easy to get a rise out of her. A great warrior and commander though. Welcome.
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He rolled his eyes at the comments. "You'll both find that ya can talk big, but chattin' takes on a very different angle when yer flat on yer back, starin' up at me." Being 4 ft. of solid muscle made the Dwarf quite hard to topple or move in any way, if any of them tried to take up his challenge or call his 'bluff'. Still, seeing that he was accepted without much of a fuss, he falls in step with the group, looking up to Shayliss and bumps her on the hip. "So, you gonna tell me yer actual name? Or should I keep callin' ya Shayliss?"
no offense friend, after my recent history I find being less than serious is better for my mental health.
"Name's Pandora, though some call me Slip." She says as she looks her new companion over.
"And I'm pretty sure you'd have me begging for mercy if we ever fought," she adds.
The moment when her summons vanished was quite apparent, but the celestial girl simply nodded, satisfied that the job had been done as necessary. For now, though... perhaps all she really needed to do was pray for guidance and focus on the things she could do. Be the world you wish to live in, hm? she thought idly, smiling slightly. Well, the pithy little saying did make sense, at least, so at least it had that going for it.
The Chapel looks like a medieval chapel. There are pews lined up in a row from the front to the back with a line you can walk inbetween them to the pulpit and the soul altar. There is no relic in this church, but a symbol for ilmater. This is a church dedicated to the god of Suffering himself.
There is straw in some places of the church, in other places it is swept clean. There is a confessional to the left of where you came in, and there are doors leading to a vestry and a vestibule. There are candles that haven't been lit yet made of beeswax. And there are two bowels on the soul altar. One filled with holy water, and another filled with wine. There is a chalice at one side of the soul altar. The priests were just coming out with a bowl filled with cookies.
One of the priests comes to you. "Yes, can we help you?"
Thorrpe stand behind Sariel waiting for her to take the lead
Sariel nodded towards Scintillate and her... burden. "A citizen has been murdered, likely by a priest of Bhaal. We'd like to give some rites to his body and ask the gods to protect his soul as he moves to his final destination." she explained calmly. One couldn't be too careful when dealing with the gods of evil... especially when death was literally their agenda.
...Don't do anything stupid. Don't do anything stupid. Don't do anything stupid. Don't do anything stupid...
Pandora gets much much stiffer and her hands go under her arms after the priest ask if they could help the party.
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Thorin grimaced as they entered the church. He wasn't the biggest fan of this place or this god, but he kept his commented to himself. He happened to look over at Pandora and furrow his brow. She looked worse off than him. Bumping her side with the back of his hand, he nodded with his head to the front door, and motioned for her to follow him out.
Hey Panda why don't you go look at those lovely, shiny candlesticks?. Thorrpe says grinning at the uncomfortable rogue.
Taking the hint, Pandora follows Thorin out the door, but not before fixing Thorrpe with a glare that should have killed him.
"Thanks, my first reaction to someone asking me if they can help me with something is to start acting like a spoiled noble. Somehow, I doubt these guys would get, or appreciate, the joke," she tells Thorin.
"Then Sir Harpy had to go tease the ex-theif," she adds sourly.
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He simply shook his head and replied, "Aye, I have an idea of how ya feel. This.. particular church, just sets me on edge." He reaches into his robe and produces a simple carved symbol hung from a length of silver chain. It's a relief of a hand carved into a circle. "Irori taught me things about death an' how I think about the spirit, or soul. I'd... rather not go back inside, if it'n be helped." He tucked the symbol away and stroked his beard, almost more of a kind of reflex than any actual need to.
"That makes two of us." Pandora said.
"Anyway, all this talk of death and spirits is depressing. Let's talk about something happier, like, um..." Pandora thinks for a second then a wicked gleam shines in her eyes for just a moment.
"Like does Mr. Thorin have a special someone wishing he'd stayed in her bed?" She asks with a wicked, unrepentant grin.
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His hand stopped and the Dwarf raised a thick eyebrow at the rather bold question. Noting the clearly wicked gleam in Pandora's eyes. His hands fell to his lap and shook his head, figuring a boringly honest answer would sate her curiosity. "No, I don't. Monks of Irori are trained an' taught under celibacy. I was very focused on my trainin', knowin' it would let me travel the world doin' good work for my church. I knew to stay away from seedier parts of any major city, so I was never really tempted either." He exhaled softly, going back to the reflexive stroking of his beard. "I don't regret my choice maybe as much as I should. But, if nothin' else, I've lived quite a life to this point."
Sariel nodded slightly at Thorin's words, though she kept her thoughts on the matter to herself. There were some subjects she simply didn't feel like sharing her views on - for now, she was waiting on the responses from the priests.
Sariel nodded towards Scintillate and her... burden. "A citizen has been murdered, likely by a priest of Bhaal. We'd like to give some rites to his body and ask the gods to protect his soul as he moves to his final destination." she explained calmly. One couldn't be too careful when dealing with the gods of evil... especially when death was literally their agenda.
"Yes, of course, you may pray for his soul. How was he murdered?" he asked, feeling a little uneasy at the mention of the word, murder.
He was quartered, it was horrific and I am sorry to have to tell you about it. I would like permission to speak with his spirit tomorrow, if you can wait to inter the body one day.
"You don't have to go to the seedier parts of towns to be tempted my friend. All it takes is one dwarven lass with long flowing locks and a charming face, and I beat even Irori wouldn't be able to keep it in his pants for long." She chuckles and then shakes her head.
"Sorry, sometimes I get a little too blunt and forward. I guess that's my way of dealing with the times I have to be quiet and stealthy."
Sariel nodded calmly at the words of the others. Then, after a moment, she asked, "Who's Irori?" It had sounded like a location at first, perhaps a temple f some kind, but... it wasn't a name she was familiar with... of course, Faerun was a large place, but still!
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[dice=Sense Motive]1d20+11
"You don't have to go to the seedier parts of towns to be tempted my friend. All it takes is one dwarven lass with long flowing locks and a charming face, and I beat even Irori wouldn't be able to keep it in his pants for long." She chuckles and then shakes her head.
"Sorry, sometimes I get a little too blunt and forward. I guess that's my way of dealing with the times I have to be quiet and stealthy."
He played off her comment with a light chuckle. "I suppose. Though such a lass simply hasn't come along in my 50 years as a Monk." He added a light shrug. "I can't really begrudge you for how you approach things, Pandora. We all got our quirks and methods. I'd prefer, though, if you left Irori out of these kinds of talks."
At Sariel's question, looking back to see the Assimar woman standing behind them, he replied, "Irori is th' deity I was trained and studied under. He teaches us self-perfection, healing of th' body and soul, as is a deity that became one through self-perfection. As all Monks strive t' do."
"See! That's the kind of thing that'd get me burned at the stake in some churches." Pandora exclaims before leaning against the stone walls of the church. "Thankfully Tymora only asks that I be bold and be brave. Lady Luck isn't real big on protocol."
"Big on protocol? Oh, Lady Luck," the churchman says. He leaves your presence and talks to one of the other priests. After 15 minutes he comes back. "We will hold burial for the dead as soon as we can summon a priest of Kelemvor from Baldur's Gate."
Thorrpe is unfamiliar with Kelemvor...
So we can expect burial sometime tomorrow. Would you object to my speaking with his spirit tomorrow morning? It could go a long way towards helping us find the killer. My magics have already told me that we have a week to find the killer.
We can get word to the priest for you, we were on our way to Baldur's gate anyway. What is the priest's name?