Aevelyn motions in the direction where the Last Tavern is located. "Our next destination. I sincerely hope we can be availed the opportunity for a drink!"
"Sounds like a plan. Might as well wet our whistles while we carry out the task. Maybe we could do it sneakily, though as the crowd doesn't seem fond of these proclamations."
Turning to look over at Breeze and speaking softly, "Of course the people do not like it. They are losing what little freedom they have." Looking forward again, "No one likes not being able to choose to do as they want with their lives."
Falling silent for a moment then putting a smile back on her lips, "Where did that term come from? Wet you whistle. Is it because people are loud? But I always thought whistles do not work when they are wet and drunks only tend to get louder."
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You have made your way from the Ash House (map #2) to the Castle Gate (#3) and then proceeded eastwards through the city (remember, north is to the left of the map) to reach the square outside the Church of Iomedae (#4). From there, you take a street that starts heading south and then gradually curves westward before reaching the Last Stand tavern (#8 on the map).
Colorful wooden shields and weathered antlers hang upon the deck girdling this rustic public house. Overhead, a sign carved with crenellations bears the name “The Last Stand Tavern”—the letters “L” and “T” formed with painted greenfletched arrows. There are ample places to hang the archbaron’s decree upon the supports of The Last Stand’s porch.
"Should we get our drinks first?"
"Business before pleasure, my dear."
Grinning over at Aevelyn, "We might not get our drink then." Making a gesture with her hand towards the post, "Business firs then."
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Nysene hammers the proclamation into the porch support, and sure enough, it calls attention rapidly. A large, burly man bursts through the front doors holding a sturdy wooden spoon and, under his other arm, a half-full pot of spicy chili. It doesn't take long for him to put two and two together and connect the group outside the tavern with the hammering noises. "What in the world is this ruckus? What is happening out here?" he says loudly, brandishing and waving around the wooden spoon with sauce dripping off it. Moving over to the proclamation, he reads it, and then, predictably, begins to darken in demeanor.
"What is this nonsense? Curfew? Gathering restrictions? That crazy sonuva has finally lost it! You know what you can do with this ridiculous decree? You can stuff it in your mouths, take it right back to Archbaron Fex, and defecate it right onto his table right in front of him! We're not going to accept this! Take this...thing off my porch right now!"
As the tavern owner heads towards them, Aevelyn nods in agreement with her bodyguard. "I fear you may be right here." Once he reads the proclamation she steels herself for the unpleasant task ahead of them...being polite to this great lout.
"Mister Caggan, the owner of this fine establishment? I can understand why you are upset here, but unfortunately I do have my instructions, and sadly following through on your instructions will not change the force behind this decree. Now, I do not wish any unpleasantness here so if you have a legitimate complaint I would be more than happy to take your concerns to the Archbaron."
Diplomacy Aid
"Yes; the Archbishop wants everyone to stay safe here in town. There's been bad things happening around here. Did you hear about the murder at the tannery? By following the rules and workingnwith the Archbishop, the town might be saved."
"We will be more than willing to take your complaint to the Archbishop. These new ruling are only for the safety of this town."
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Despite your excellent attempts at diplomacy, the tavern owner rages and makes threatening gestures with the chili-dripping spoon. Yelling at the top of his lungs, face turning red, he shouts, "Words, words, words! You get off my porch, get out of my sight, or so help me, I will do something I will regret!" While he yells and blusters, a group of tavern patrons filter to the doorway and windows, watching what's going on.
"I tried to be nice, barkeep. But I'm tired of being yelled at. We've got our orders. If you get in our way, we tell the Archbishop and who knows what might happen around these parts. I'm not saying, but I'm just saying. Or we could always go get the Sheriff. She's been quite helpful to us before. Now back up and let us do our job."
Intimidate
Aevelyn sniffs the fragrance of the chili, nodding in approval. Not bad...
"Tsk...tsk. Such a waste of a tasty meal. " She responds in a scornful tone. "All of your hard work...wasted. And for what purpose?" She finishes as she lets a note of steel enter her voice.
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Breeze moved to the empty chili pot, scoops it up and hurls it back at the cook. "This chili stinks to high heaven. Smells about as bad as you do, I'd wager!"
Ranged attack
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Caggan is too angry to watch out, and gets hit with his own pot of chili right in the face. The chili spatters all over him and...
...he manages to avoid getting it all over his eyes, which would have blinded him. Instead he's just covered with the chili in a cosmetic way. Some of the people watching burst out laughing at the sight, but most of them are watching tensely and fearfully for what will happen. Caggan grits his teeth and clenches his fists while wiping some of the chili off...then he picks up the pot from his feet, mutely turns his back to you, and walks back inside his tavern. The bystanders watch with a hushed, tense silence having fallen.
Caggan is now out of sight, back inside the tavern. Bystanders are quietly watching.
Aevelyn motions for the others to follow her out of sight once the notice has been posted. "I see no reason to push our luck here. We should be fortunate our clothes are stained with just chili. We can freshen up when we get to the Jailhouse."
It is far preferable to be stained not with blood. Caggan...now THAT one will be trouble. We have not heard the last of him...
"That bastard got chili all over me! He's lucky I didn't slit his throat," Breeze whispers as they finish putting up the posting. She kept shaking herself as the group walked away, trying to get as much of it off of her as possible. Her tail twitched back and forth like it had a mind of its own.
More than pleased that she kept to the back so the she was spared the majority of the flying chili. Damn I will not be getting the drink now. Reaching out to slightly awkwardly pat Breeze on the shoulder, in what might be a reassuring way, "There is no reason to get overly heated. Lets just get going."
"Let's fire the damned Sheriff and get finished with this. I've got to get this stuff off me," she fumed. However as the group kept walking, her temper calmed down a bit and she even allowed a smirk to cross her face. "I guess that whole thing was pretty funny, eh?"
Aevelyn allows the faintest hint of a smile to cross her face. "Yes, it was. Sadly I wanted to partake of the chili as it did smell delicious." She shrugs her shoulders. "Oh well, perhaps we can...acquire his recipe."
"If we happened to get his recipe, could we manage to burn down his place while we were at it," Breeze asks while continuing to walk and shake her arms, trying to shake off as much as possible.
Grinning over at Breeze, "You are a vicious one aren't you?"
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You leave the Last Stand tavern behind and make your way north to make a full circle of the town, passing by the Castle Gate where you started as you make your way to #11 on the map -- Longacre Jail.
With its unevenly mortared stones and barred windows, this squat structure looks like a miniature fortress. Despite the row of horseshoes hung beneath its sign, nothing can make the plain word “Jail” look welcoming. Two wooden pillories stand empty in front of the building.
Inside, a large common room contains three desks and a table with four chairs. Two doors exit the common room to the north, opening onto a narrow hallway with two jail cells. To the west of the common room, a waisthigh railing separates the sheriff’s office from the rest of the jail.
No one is outside the jail at the moment.
I have added maps for Castle Gate, Last Stand and Longacre Jail to our Google Drive folder (linked at the top).
Aevelyn looks around the Jail, noting the lack of activity out front. "Well, at least no one will...object to us posting the decree at this time. Now..." She peers inside one of the open windows, motioning to the others, "...to find the Sherrif." She glances over at Cimri, adding "Are you ready to handle this, my dear? Remember we are all with you."
Breeze knocks on the door. She wasn't quite as angry, but she still wasn't feeling purr-fect, just yet. She wanted this done, to get back, to clean off, and collect her gold.
Crossing her arms and nodding, "Yep we are in this with you."
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"Eh, I don't think I'd ever be fully ready to handle this...thanks for being here", Cimri says, giving a slightly embarrassed smile before making way for Breeze to knock on the door. Soon enough, one deputy clad in the uniform for local law enforcement, Chelaxian symbol and all, comes to the door and raises an eyebrow. It's not a deputy you have met before, this one is a white-skinned male in his thirties or so with brown hair. "Can I help you?"
Aevelyn gives the young deputy a nod in greeting, saying in a brisk tone "Yes, we wish to speak with Sherrif Rhona Staelish. We bring a message for her. Is she here currently?"
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"She is. I'll get her. Just a moment." The deputy goes inside for a moment, then Rhona Staelish comes to the door, with a couple of deputies visible somewhere in the room behind her.
"Ladies", she nods more formally, and then awards a smile to her niece, "Cimri. Always nice to see you." Then she looks over each of you. "I was told there was a message? Anything I can help with?"
Aevelyn returns the smile, though her heart was not in it.
It is...unfortunate that past events have brought us to this point. I wish I could soften the blow here. At the least I shall spare her the indignity of being humiliated in front of her underlings.
"Yes Sheriff. The message we bear was meant for your ears alone. May we confer in private?"
"Sheriff, you've been relieved of your duties. The Archbaron has sent us this note to deliver to you. Might as well not beat around the bush, and just spit it out. Thanks for your service," Breeze says, producing the note for perusal.
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Rhona Staelish takes the note from Breeze and reads it. Then she glances up at Breeze. Then back down, and reads the note again. And one more, a third time, for good measure. Then, she mutely turns around, and opens the door back into the jail, walking back inside. She puts the letter down onto her desk -- well, technically not her desk anymore, as it's the sheriff's desk -- and then begins to remove her black vest, embroidered with the symbol of Cheliax.
As Rhona divests herself, the deputies inside the building quickly come to her side. One of them picks up the note and gives it a glance-through. "What? You're being dismissed?" the deputy looks aghast, and the reaction quickly spreads to the other three deputies in the room as the words penetrate. "Sheriff, what?! No!" In unison, all four deputies protest the letter, but Rhona keeps mutely to her course. Once her vest is on her former desk, she slaps her ebon-handled longsword on top of the vest on the desk.
Once Rhona has given up the vest and sword of her office, she takes a crossbow from the wall and a few small effects from her desk, and still quiet, starts for the door to leave the jail. "I'm not worried about me. I'll be fine. It's this town I'm worried about." Unless stopped, she walks through the exit from the jail and begins to walk away from the building.
Cimri, for her own part, does not do anything to interrupt or say anything during any of this.
Sense Motive
Sense Motive
Perception
Breeze could tell how angry the Sheriff was. She chose to not say anything about it, however. She strode into the room after the Sheriff had departed, picking up the vest and the sword. "Effects of the office, I see. We'll take these to the Archbaron. Can't take a chance on them being stolen."
Breeze wasn't trying to provoke a fight, but wanted to make sure one the deputies didn't take up the items and make for a violent transfer of power before a new Sheiriff was appointed.
Aevelyn is silent during the exchange though the interplay between Rhona and Cimri does catch her attention.
That is not a surprise. Probably blames her niece for this, though she should accept the responsibility here. As for Darellus, well he pays his retainers well.
As Breeze gethers up the Sheriff's effects she eyes the deputies evenly, making sure they do not interfere with the catfolk. She gives Rhona a glance, and is about to say something but closes her mouth.
She already hates you enough...
Once Breeze is finished she motions to the door, nodding to the deputies. "I would expect you to comport yourselves as professionals here until a new Sheriff is appointed. Until then, fare thee well."
Why can I not get to got to nice places and make allies instead of enemies? Angering the law is going to be nothing but trouble. And Cimri is just being quiet, coward. Hanging back and watching the scene unfold. Catching the former sheriffs muttered word Shiloh's lips downturn. She is right about that.
Speaking up as Staelish moves towards the door, "Thank you for being so dignified about this Ms. Staelish."
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After the sheriff departs, and Breeze goes to pick up the vest and sword of the office, there's a loud clicking noise as one of the deputies draws and loads his light crossbow, but does not raise it at any of you yet.
“This ain’t right. You can’t just throw out this town’s only justice. It ain’t right!”
The other deputies rumble in similar manners, hands reaching for their weapons. The four deputies -- Ashel Ballenry, Curtwyn Skape, Ertha Casada, and Saster Figgs -- watch *very* closely whether Breeze will actually touch Rhona's things. The air is thick with tension.
Breeze, will you touch the vest and sword?