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Silas, who has trudged along doing his damdest to look unobtrusive as Kenniniah canvases the local populace rasps his laugh,
"I'd wager good gold she's sending the children to pick pockets, or some such villainy, during the day. How should we proceed, we might simply follow the children when they leave, or we could have Kenniniah talk to one of them? We might have missed their daily excursion already."
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Silas sighs, aware that his sparkling personality has won him another friend,
[b]"If my assumptions are correct she is nothing like me, I am no thief, I believe in law and order. Those who flout the rules must expect to be punished for doing so. Now, do we wish to split up? It might be expedient, but if the lady possesses some means of protection it may prove risky.
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"No, do you? I would say ninty percent of children do some form of labour, is that not so? Farm children do hours of chores each day, apprentices more, I would judge only noble children and the tiny fraction fortunate enough to enjoy other schooling are exempt. I would have imagined that true even in "free" Andoran, but perhaps I am in error? I confess I have not looked into the subject, but I certainly worked as a child, and alongside our slaves more often than not."
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"I really do not, our slaves worked no more than I did. Would a slave on a farm really have more chores to do than a free child? Farm life is hard and there is a great deal of work to be done, someone must do it and most farmers are not wealthy. People tend to see those who own slaves as inherently evil, but in cultures where such practices are common slavery is controlled by laws and social norms. Your average slave owner will not work a child near to death, and while there are undoubtedly some bad masters are there not bad parents."
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"Guys there three boys right here in the front yard. Let's just question them and ask them about what kind of chores they have to do."
"Boys, I'm Ken, a priest of the goddess Shelyn. My fiends and I were asked to bring some medicine here today, and we started wondering what kind a chores it takes to keep this place going. What kinds of things are you asked to do to help this place out."
2nd boy
3rd boy
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"Mmmm, well no, but I only approve of the ones who treat their slaves properly, its just my experience that most slave owners are not like that. Treating slaves poorly is generally foolish, a poorly treated slave will be less productive and might just slit your throat some night. Maybe my experience is biased because I am largely familiar with household slavery as opposed to larger operations, I am certainly willing to disapprove of poor treatment and unnecessary cruelty, Silas responds, watching Kennaniah deal with the children veiled in his cowl.
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Silas raises a brow, saying to Wayne in a whisper,
"Hmmm, if she is using them to earn reimbursement that seems fairly admirable, but whether she ought to be able to claim charity when she is likely already earning via the children is another matter. I applaud her efforts, so long as she is paying taxes, which the relatively clandestine nature of her activities makes me doubt."
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"Well boys, I don't have time for a long tale right now. I'll have to see if I can come back later for some long stories, no promises my time isn't really my own, but I'll see what I can no. Now as for a short story about Shelyn hmmm..."
"Now someone else might tell this tale different but this is the way I heard it. Once there was a strong man named Kurgess, a man skilled at games that depended in large part on strength to win. One day he heard he heard terrilbe news!" His voice lowers to almost a whisper. "Someone was plotting against him and planned to cheat him in his next game." His voice returns to a more normal tone. "He didn't know what to do so he prayed to the Three Ladies - Sarenrae, Desna, and Shelyn ..."
Ken goes on to spend about 15 minutes telling the children a tale that has weaves a together a message about luck, love, and doing the right thing no matter the cost, all without the chlildren realizing he's giving them a lesson at all.
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"And that bothers me. A child should recieve learning in school not on the job, especaily something as basic as reading, and writing. No, I think 'Auntie Baldwin' is corrupt, and probably an alcolholic. How corupt? How to prove it? And is she doing more harm then good? I wish I thought to ask the neighbors if they knew how often donatations were received, and prehaps who did the donating. What we need to do is examine her financail records and give the place a top to bottom search, better yet get it done by the proper authorities."
A big grin suddenly comes over his face "you know what, we might not have the authority to get that sort of search done officaily but a Venture Captian of the Pathfinder Soceity, say a Paladin of the Silver Crusade, I bet someone like that has all kinds of pull. Let's knock on the door and get this medicine delivered. I have a sudden urge to inquire more into what exactly this Silver Crusade is, and maybe how they feel about people who use children for thier own ends, and I want to finish today's errands so I can have those questions anwered." Looks around cheerfully "Did the sun suddenly come out I'm feeling warm all over for some reason."
Coronoides is still bothered by the red-headed woman, so much so that his mind has wandered through all of the slave banter.
He makes a conscious effeort to bring himself back to the here and now. His brain short-cicuits and words tumble out without his grey matter participating.
"So is there any evidence of money changing hands?"
Then, realsiign he's been quiet for too long, and this will seem like an odd outburst, her recovers a little.
"What I mean is, we're talking of slavery and her earning money for their services, but do we have any proof? And if not, is that because we're not looking hard enough or because it doesn't exist?"
Coronoides falls silent again, his mind casting back to the red-haired woman.
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"I'll go upstairs with you, Ms Baldwin, altough my formal training in the temple hasn't included the healing arts yet, maybe Shelyn can use my hands to ease some suffering if needed. How did you get started in doing this good work, kind lady?" Ken asks with genuine intrest, knowing very well the best way to get to know someone and learn about them is to sincerly express intrest.
While upstairs he will take his time engaging the children with kind questions, and ask friendly nonthreating questions of Ms Baldwin. If given the opportunity he will tell stories of Shelyn and the other gods that entertain and educate.
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Silas scowls, but waits at the bottom of the stairs until they have ascended before following stealthily. I see no particularly troubling consequences should I be caught and her reasons for taking one up are utter nonsense - given she has taken the clanking cleric.
Once reaches the landing he stays put at the top of the stairs, pulling a vial into his hand to be used as an excuse for his unauthorized excursion.
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"I'm sorry to hear about your husband, Ms Baldwin, but you've been albe to take that awful event and do so much good. How eactly is your home funded? Donations of materials, cash gifts? Maybe I can get the church to give more or help hold a fund raiser. Surely the older children help with the needed chores. Have you ever thought of holding a bake sale? Your doing such good work here I think the community should be more involved."
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I was thinking of it as, received believable information from suspect source, if true no worries if false could be bad. Essentially I'm viewing Silas as someone who analyses facts and basing his extrapolation upon the factual statements which seem at odds. I don't think this really works after reading bluff again though, and I suppose I'm trying to attribute qualities to Int that PF gives to Wis.
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On the plus side Coronoides has stopped the cats from affecting their search and has improved their behaviour. On the other hand, he's not sure what to do with them now they've been calmed.
In the absence of anything more practical, Coronoides fishes in one of his many pockets for some string. Drawing it out, he uses it to play with the cats whilst sitting on the floor amongst them.
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"There's some truth in your words. There always seems to be demands on my time that take me away from the things I would rather be doing, and I assure, Ms. Baldwin, that listening to your stories and spending time in your company is by far the most pleasant thing I've had to do today." Ken smiles warmly, and maintains eye contact with the Ms Baldwin, after all everything he just said is one hundred percent true and he can be totally sincere.
"Your are right about time pressing on us however. We should go down stairs, perhaps to the kitchen or sitting room. My friends and I have to give you the medicine we brought of course and I'm afraid we have to continue our conversation. You will want to be sitting, I'm afraid their some bad news coming, tempered by good news too as I hope you'll see."