Tika follows the others while occasionally giving a glance behind her.
Distan sighs. "Suppose it was too much to ask that they just keep not noticing we'd left the building..." He casts a glance over his shoulder while pulling a tiny snippet of fleece from his belt pouch. He picks up the pace while kneading it in his hands. "Let's see if we can't convince them they're heading the wrong way..."
For GM Levi:
As you pass an alley connecting to an adjoining street, Distan flciks a piece of fleece to the ground, which forms into the image of Sir Vorik in his prominent plate armor. The image lumbers down the alley way, and only seconds later you see several of the guardsmen on horseback make their way after it. Now only a pair follow your trail, but with noticeably less worry, after all, they just saw their companions chase after the man they are looking for.
A street sign catches your attention. It appears as though you are not too far from the city gate, but are also close to the Cathedral, where you could possibly find the young Keeper.
"Well met, Distan, as usual. If only all of them had left. No matter. The objective is close at hand."
"So somehow deal with those last two preferably without seriously harming them or make a dash for the Cathedral?"
Distan rummages around in his pockets and other pouches. "Oh, that could be useful! Too bad I left it in Sharn..." he muses. "I've got some smokesticks..." he finally says, "In case we need to just suddenly vanish. But that might attract more attention than we need, in the end. Otherwise I've got a few more illusions up my sleeve, but I don't know that we'll be able to fool these guys with the same tricks twice. I'm up for any other suggestions..."
The exiled monarch speaks, his voice clear over the din of the street, "We have two options, run to the cathedral and seek the Keeper, or run from the city all together. Either way we're running, which I dislike. There is no honor in running."
Vorik speaks, and when he does confidence fills his voice. "Then we stride up to the entrance of the Cathedral, and make our way inside. I do not think we need to run, just walk with purpose. If they catch up to us, then we ask them to escort us. It might not work, but it is better than running."
"Guess we continue to the cathedral then." Tika turns to look at Distan "I have an idea. Could you let me have one of your smokesticks?"
Distan nods and hands a smokestick over to Tika.
After a few minutes, the remaining guards shift down another street. You disguises have appeared to work!
The Cathedral looms before you, it's walls a mosaic of stained glass and marble, the whole structure dominating the city. Worshipers who are not busy preparing the city for battle still make their way around the grand building. A number of stalls at the bottom of the steps leading to the entrance sell incense and small bouquets of white flowers, some with a few royal purple flowers mixed in for variety.
Tika hands the smokestick back to Distan whilst looking over the cathedral "Does this place allow visitors?" she asks while doing this.
Ancian buys a bouquet of flower, looking for one with some extra purple.
"Regardless of their visitor's policy, they're going to have to accept them", he says to Tika as he begins the climb the temple steps.
As he rises above the Cathedral square, he reaches to his neckline and pulls out the chain around his neck. The dragonshard glows in the Orien emblem now resting on his chest. He stands straighter and walks the steps with more confidence. "This could get me in a lot of trouble, but it could also stop a war." he says to himself. And as he reaches the Cathedral doors, his cloak falls off his shoulder and his dragonmark is now in plain sight
Distan takes the smokestick back with a sigh. "Too bad, was looking forward to see what you had planned..." He gets behind Ancian, letting the Orien scion lead the way in to the Cathedral, giving a low whistle as house emblem and dragonmark are both put on display. "Pulling out all the stops, huh? Gotta admit, that's way more impressive than what I have on my back..."
At the doors, a pair of robed priests bow to Ancian.
"Brother Orien, you honor us with your visit. Are you here at the heart of the Church to worship, or do you come on business? To our knowledge High Cardinal Krozen was not expecting visitors today."
Ancian returns the bow with a slight bow of his own.
Ancian speaks to the priests in a modest tone, slowly and methodically, "Brother, although now seems like the perfect time for prayer, I am not here for that. I am here on business, but not with the High Cardinal. I seek audience with the Keeper, and it is vital that we see her."
Ancian glances quickly at Kaius.
"It may change all our fortunes, and then it will certainly be a time for prayer."
Diplomacy:
The older of the two robed priests eyes widen at Ancian's request.
"I ... I..." he stutters, shock plainly displayed across his face.
Priest's Sense Motive:
Sensing the urgency of Ancian's request, and not seeing a reason to deny him, he ushers the group into the Cathedral.
From the entrance he leads you down a steep set of stairs, and then waves his arm to the right, where a waiting room lays waiting.
"When she is ready, her Holiness will come to speak to you, until then, please wait here." the priest says. Then, if none of you question him or have any other requests, he turns and leaves.
"That went better than expected."
While being led Tika attempts to read the man to see if he is being sincere
Sense motive
Once inside the waiting room Vorik tuns to Ancian "Well played good sir! Thank you very much. This hopefully will save us much aggravation" He says clasping the man from Orien on the shoulder.
When they are the only ones in the room, he changes his appearance to one more befitting a normal Paladin of Dol Arrah.
Distan gives a half-sardonic, half-bitter smile as Ancian's clout manages to actually achieve the desired results. "Yeah, must be nice to actually, y'know, not be kicked out of your own house..." he muses, looking around the plush waiting room.
Based on her hunch, Tika does not sense any deception from the priest.
Some time later (perhaps 20 minutes), a child appears. It takes a second to realize that the youth is not a child at all, but rather a halfling.
"Follow me, the Keeper will see you now."
He leads you further into the Cathedral, this time going up a spiral staircase. Finally, you reach a large room, where you can sense a number of magical effects wash over you. The halfling requests that you put all your weapons on a simple wooden rack that stands next to the wall on the right hand side of the room. He makes it clear that anyone who refuses to relinquish their weapons will not be allowed further access to the Cathedral.
Bastion relinquishes his laser rifle.
Tika keeps an eye and an ear open on there surroundings and on the halfling
Perception
Sense motive
Distan begins going through his gear to give up any possible weapon items. In short order, he has divested himself of his longsword, bow and arrows, and whip. "Wow, didn't realize I was carrying so much. I'm not that violent a guy, really." He pauses, holding several vials of alchemists fire up to the halfling, as if to confirm that these 'count', then shrugs and puts them (very, very gently) on the rack as well. Thoroughly unarmed now, he follows through to the next room and takes a seat when told.
Ancian gives Distan a quick inquisitive look, and wonders if that comment is related to what he said earlier on the steps. Regardless, Ancian responds to his praise, "You're welcome Vorik, and to be honest, it went better then I expected as well."
Ancian follows the halfling through the Cathedral and as they reach the room he says,"Thank you". He rests his crossbow on the wooden rack and places his two warhammers on the floor next to the rack, and as he releases the hammers a few small arcs of lightning spark between them and his hands.
Recognizing that this man is clearly not the Keeper, Ancian becomes cautious and alert, but sits down and pans the room for information.
Perception:
Bastion takes a seat when asked, but remains aware of his surroundings.
Vorik surrenders his sword and shield, then takes a seat with the rest of his companions.
When you are all seated, the man leads forward in his plush chair, fingers steepled in front of him. A shaft of light from a thin window allow you each to few his features, and you each immediately recognize the man.
High Cardinal Krozen.
Some whisper he is the real power behind Thrane, and that the Keeper is merely a puppet to please the people. It's hard to believe otherwise, as a child as young as the current Keeper couldn't realistically lead a country as successful as Thrane in war (despite any divine influence).
"Well, well, what do we have here?" the muscular man asks, his brown hair hanging limply from his scalp. His sharp blue eyes make it clear he is tired and stressed.
There is a pause, and then he adds, "I suggest you do not lie. I am not a man to trifled with."
Tika sits down when orderd but waits for Ancian, Vorik and/or Klaus to begin the talking.
"Klaus" remains silent. His fear is obvious.
Ancian is somewhat taken aback by the High Cardinal's threat, but figures it makes sense that matters of state, such as this, would be handled by an elder political figure and not a child. "Well High Cardinal, we have no reason to lie, so fear not. I will say, though, that I'm not too surprised to see you, although your priests could have told us we were speaking to you instead of the Keeper.
We have come to hopefully stop the war before it begins, and we have brought with us someone who could do it."
Ancian looks to Vorik and Kaius, knowing that one of them can better explain the situation.
Diplomacy:
Bastion remains silent, wary and ready.
Distan remains silent for the nonce, not wanting to speak over the much more diplomatically trained Ancian. He carefully studies the face of the Cardinal, though, trying to gauge the man's reaction.
"And why, good sir, would one stop a war? The financial gain your House stands to make is more than enough to make one such as you desire war. And there is no doubt that Karrnath represents a very real threat to the safety of the Pure."
Vorik sighs, this was going to be a bit more trying than he anticipated. Deciding that the best route would to lay all their cards on the table now, he drops the illusion and stands revealed in his blood red wicked looking spiked armor. "War may make you money, to be sure, but what of the loss of lives that will be needlessly thrown away?? What if you could, right now, today broker peace with Karrnath, without ever drawing one blade??"
Tika remains quite although watches Klaus with concernn Great he chooses now to get cold feat?is all she can think as she watches him.
This isn't going as planned. We may need an escape route. That's too bad.
Bastion: There is a stain glass window behind the Cardinal.
"GUARDS!" the Cardinal roars, as he stands tall, an impressive sight. His sharp features contort as magic plays across his fists.
On a hunch, you could guess the Cardinal is quite serious about money.
$h1t. We definitely need an escape route.
Tika leaps to her feet as the situation begins to unfold
"Now everyone calm down." She yells trying to get everyones attention "Cardinal as bad as this currently looks I assure you it is not what you think it is. So before you have us all run through or thrown in a cell or whatever at least give us a chance to explain the situation."
Diplomacy
Initative
Drawing himself up to his full height, Vorik looks angrily at the cardinal "What exactly is your problem?? Are you so eager to destroy the lives of your people that you are unwilling to listen to an attempt to ever go to war? If so you are a disgrace to the Silver Flame and everything it stands for. Continue this course of action and I promise that you will not experience it's warm embrace once you leave this life behind."
Bastion stands but doesn't speak, hoping not to make the situation worse with his lack of experience with the arguments of the flesh-bound.
At Vorik's de-illusioning and, subsequently, the entire audience quickly going to Fernia, Distan utters his first words since the group was ushered in to meet the Cardinal. "Oh, bugger" He licks his lips, throws a glance over at the doors, and quickly chimes in after his companions.
"Your Eminence, I understand your alarm. We had to disguise our Karnaathi companion to gain an audience here. But we mean no harm. We're incapable of such, we left our weapons outside. Please try and overlook Vorik's... rashness and listen to the core of what he's trying to say: peace is potentially just as profitable to a nation as war. And..." he glances over at Kaius, making a decision. "That is a literal statement in this case, if you will just hear us further."
Two guards rush into the room - both wearing beautifully crafted chain armor, silvered swords drawn.
"Hold." High Cardinal Krozen says as they bust through the door. "I'm listening." he says looking to Distan.
Distan exhales in relief that he guessed correctly: 'profit' is, in fact, a magic word with this Cardinal. "Well, you're right, of course. There's an old saying that war is good for business. But it doesn't have to be Thrane's war, and it can still be Thrane's business." Another glance over at Kaius, then back to the Cardinal. "What if we told you Thrane is in a position to set off a civil war across the border? That, with a little backing, you have the ability to topple the current leadership of the nation and put a new ruler in place." Glancing back at his group, he adds to them, "Because, let's face it, that is what we're talking about, here." Back to the cardinal, "Without endangering your own populace, you can gain the benefits of an actual war; defanging the threat of an enemy, and for aid in installing a grateful new government? Well, I can only imagine there'd be the opportunity for trade agreements and concessions."
Vorik relaxes a bit himself, though he is still on edge. "My friend here is right. The reason we seek an audience with the Keeper is because we need serious help. We are going to try and replace the current King of Karrnath with somebody more reasonable, but we if we can't do it ourselves, we would like the power and might of the Silver Flame backing us."
"You, a Karrn, seek to overthrow your king?" High Cardinal Krozen asks, his voice showing his doubt, "You do not worship the Flame, but instead choose a power that is merely a part of it, so why concern Thrane?"