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Despite Sarah's comment, Ferabras is looking pretty beat up as he and the magus exchange blows! Your mentor keeps calling for one of you to pick up the flail and finish it. "Don't worry, we won't let you die. For good, anyway!"
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As Ferabras and Hoshiko provide each other with pleasant, cooling breezes with their poorly-aimed saps, he says quietly to her, "We're not impressing them much, are we?"
He then lifts his sap and thwacks her on the forehead, muttering a quick apology as her eyes close and she slumps to the floor. "Sorry 'bout that..."
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Krant enters the courtyard clapping. He gives a hearty pat on Ferabras' shoulder for the performance and informs him that he is excused from his duties for the rest of the day. He also later brings Ferabras a bottle of his finest Chelish wine from his own private stash
As Krant leads you out, some of you see and point out seeing the head cultist, Egarthis, looking out at you from a window. The window belonging to the chamber of one cultist, Iramine. How long as he been watching?
In the middle of the next day, while the streets around the temple are filling with merchants, shoppers, and other folk. Egarthis, along with a trio of priests, gathers up you and Evlar and informs you that you will be assisting in today’s sermon to the masses.
"Your job is to move through the crowd and extol the virtues of Razmir. Feel free to use your talents to gain the attention of the crowd in any way possible so that your fellow priests can look for more potential followers."
Once outside, Egarthis stands atop a small crate to speak to the masses, drawing a large crowd around him. While this is going on, the priests instruct you to work around the edges to keep people interested.
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Ferabras makes a point of quietly apologizing to each of the others that he hit during the mock battle, healing those that still need it. When Krant is not looking, Ferabras gifts the bottle of Chelish wine to Hoshiko, saying quietly, "Sorry about that last whack on the head, went a little overboard trying to be convincing."
He's a little nervous about being set out in the crowd, but his kindly personality allows him to overcome his fearsome appearance to good effect. "The church takes excellent care of its members," he tells the bystanders, "we're kept fit and fed. I was even given a bottle of fine wine for a job well done recently." He can't bring himself to tell complete falsehoods, but he manages to spin the tales he tells to sound far better than what really happened.
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Zolarus procures a copy of a religion scroll or book and holds it high in the air.
Ladiessss and gentlemen lend me your earssss. Razmir, has seen through your ssssouls and is displeased. Turn away from your vicessss and pettinesssss and lean on him for sssstrength. You will be saved by incorporating his virtuesss and walking in righteouness."
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Mikail wanders through the crowd, juggling anything he can swipe off of passersby, and casually tossing items back to their owners. A few miss their mark, but hey, thats show business, right? He keeps an incessant banter up while moving through the crowd, doing his best to talk up the Living God and calling out any who do not seem to be too interested.
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Ferabras realizes with horror and shame that the Razmiran priests are using the Pathfinders as a distraction to pickpocket the locals! He is deeply conflicted as to what to do. Do I expose the priests and stop the pickpocketing, endangering the larger mission, which surely must be the greater good? Or keep quiet, proceed with the mission, and allow decent people to have their belongings stolen by a sinister cult? Ah, this cursed mission!
Racked with indecision, he knows he must at least tell his companions what he's seen. He gives Mikail a nudge and a nod, knowing the clever kitsune will spot what's afoot once it's pointed out to him. He catches the attention of sharp-eyed Soran and the others and makes sure they see what's happening, while whispering, "What do we do here?"
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Mikael nods as Ferembas subtly points out what is occuring, and keep his eyes searching for more dastardly deeds. His loathing for these "priests" is growing my the day, compounded by the monotony of their routine. Mikael may be many things, and a pain in the arse is high on that list, but an outright thief has never been on the list...
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Ferabras manages to shift his position around as he speaks so that, on several occasions, he's actually drawing everyone's eyes in the direction of the damned Razmirans rather than away, foiling a few attempted thefts. It still rankles him to do anything other than bite the two-faced acolytes, but he focuses on the mission and does his best to impede the thievery.
As you course the crowd, doing your level best to either impress the rubes or subtly disrupt the petty larceny of the Razmirans, Egarthis's booming voice sounds out.
"Friends! Let me speak to you of a god unlike any other! Of course some gods were once mortal, but they fled this world as soon as they could, spending their time lounging on other planes, content to grow fat from your worship. But one god was unlike all others. One god passed the test and looked upon his faithful and said 'Shall I flee this plane and leave my followers bereft and alone with my guidance? NO!' said Razmir! NO, I shall stay and guide my followers to prosperity! I shall raise them up with my wisdom and together, they shall join me in an earthly paradise here and now!"
Egarthis pauses and you can see some of the crowd begin to nod slowly. "Sure, other gods heal. Other gods grant prayers. They listen, don't they? Mere trickles. The lowest gift they could grant. You may as well give a starving man a candy and demand he be grateful. Razmir does not merely offer prayers and healing, he offers his presence, his divine being to you! He lifts you up, recreating you in his own divine image! And what does he ask? Your faith, dear friends. Nothing more."
Egarthis opens his arms, as if spreading Razmir's divine blessing. "He asks your faith and he asks you to act on that faith! He asks you to help your fellow man, to reach out to them, to help them up as Razmir helps you. And how do you do that, friends? By donating to his church. For alone you may help one or two souls, but together, together we can help all of them! And your donation does not go unrewarded, for does not Razmir say that charity is the investment in the future of us all? And will not wealth flow to him that gives of himself freely?"
He looks around at his masked priests, who hold out their begging cups. "Brothers and sisters. When you die, will your wealth buy you happiness? Will your silver console your soul? Of course not. But the wealth you will discover in Razmir will lift your soul high. The love of Razmir will raise you beyond this mortal life and help you into paradise now and forever! Give generously, my children! Give for the sakes of your souls and those of the ones you love. And let Razmir enter your hearts and make you truly wealthy!" He finishes by stepping down and embracing a nearby fellow who seems to have truly taken the message to heart.
The whole ordeal takes around an hour and at the end Egarthis leads you the party of Razmirans back to the house. Safely behind doors, Krant gathers the acolytes together and nods happily. "Good work my sons. A solid haul for the day. Here, you've earned this." He ladles four gold pieces into each of your hands with a sweaty palm and a greasy grin. "Now, the lot of you are late for cleaning. Get to work ye lazy swine!"
Sure enough you're back scrubbing floors, but Krant seems pleased enough by your take that he isn't paying a great deal of attention to you.
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As Egarthis speaks, Ferabras grits his teeth so hard that one of the eager congregants looks at him in alarm when she hears a quiet crack. He endeavors to smile at her, feigning all the enthusiasm he can for the sermon, but it is a trial to him indeed.
Give all to Razmir and he'll lift you beyond this mortal life? he fumes silently. Sounds like 'Give me your money and I'll kill you! It's worse than getting mugged down by the docks!
He manages to suffer through the head priest's entreaties for gold and, back at the temple, Ferabras is almost pleased to be scrubbing floors rather than pretending to believe something he despises. Moving his scrubbing rag closer to Hoshiko's, he says quietly, "Well, now what?"
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Mikail suffers through the rest of the day, looking for an opportunity to quietly discuss with the others what Ferabras pointed out to him. His boisterous shenanigans are hard to keep under wraps for long though, as he starts a small water fight and upturns a bucket over Hoshiko's head when shes not paying attention..
Scrubbing is followed by afternoon prayer, which by now has grown somewhat repetitive to you, as Egarthis lectures on the steps to Razmir's love, and the importance of gaining wealth for the church, so it may continue its work.
Training follows prayer, though today, Krant's paunch is on full display as he begins to teach you of the proper way to 'encourage' charitable giving, even going so far as to teach the proper phrases and wording when speaking to the guardsmen so as to remind them of their obedience to Razmir. He never flat out says that the guard are being bribed, but there's a lot of 'wink, wink, nudge, nudge, know what I mean' to his speech. Finally after several hours of instruction, dinner is served. Dinner is a silent affair, when you are allowed to enjoy the meager beef stew, with its wilted vegetables and fatty inedible meat. You notice that Egarthis does not seem to eat with the others..
Prayers follow, with a final chore of transcription of holy texts for Razmir for several hours.
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Ferabras doesn't particularly care one way or another about the quality of the stew, but he can't help but think that Egarthis is probably eating very well elsewhere. Typical of this place, with so much wealth, to feed their lowliest servants badly while the leaders gorge.
These thoughts are interrupted by something that catches the tiefling's eye. Wait a moment, those acolytes aren't copying prayers! They seem to be doing book-keeping! He nudges the sharp-eyed Zolarus, to bring it to his attention, then quietly points it out to Hoshiko and Mikhail, as the most likely to be able to make sense of the ledgers - if Mikhail can focus on anything that long.
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Mikail makes it through the afternoon studies and chores, but groans at the sight of the substandard food. The quality, however, does not prevent him from cleaning his bowl! During the transcriptions, his sharp eyes immediately pick out the different tasks, and he quietly passes on the information to his team. He looks to Ferabras and asks in an undertone "What should we do?"
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Mikail tries to side closer to get a look over a scribes shoulder as he's writing
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Krant seems to have imbibed a bit tonight, because he's not paying much attention. The scribe who is copying seems too intent on copying it correctly to notice your attentions. What you see is a list of amounts, grouped together under dates, that seem to show a lot of small amounts being brought in and every seven days or so, a large amount going out. Where it's going, you cannot discern. The scribe flips to the next page and it's about that time that you hear Krant coming closer, loudly berating another acolyte for having spilled ink on his parchment. You hustle back to your desks and resume the appearance of diligent work. After an hour or so, Krant suddenly claps his meaty hands together and announces bed time for you lot.
You march across the hall, back to the barracks where you sleep. Eight wooden double bunks rest in this room, each outfitted with simple straw mattresses and a thin blanket. A communal table sits in the center of the room, flanked by four chairs. Two chests lie open between the bunks, each one loaded up with fresh white robes. Pegs are mounted to the walls above the chests for the acolytes to hang their masks on when they are not wearing them. An everburning torch rests in a cloth-draped frame hanging from the ceiling above the table.
You're free until morning, but you better keep it quiet: Krant's sitting in the dining room across the hall, drinking.
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Ferabras joins his companions in the bunk room, taking a seat at the large table and thinking on what they've seen today. "You know," he says after some consideration, speaking in a low voice so as not to rouse Krant's interest, "it seems these Razmirans aren't very careful at concealing what they're really up to. And with us tucked away in our room like this, who knows how obvious they'll be in their false ways? How about the quieter ones among us take a look around tonight? Maybe come up with some kind of story about why they're out and about, just in case?"
He glances at Mikail and says, "I'm no good at sneaking, but you are. But you'd need to keep quiet and calm, to stay safe. Think you could do that?"
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Ferabras grins at Mikail's nature, his black teeth glittering in the magical light illuminating the room, then says, "Well, if you're so very quiet, you could go with Soran, just in case. But you should think on what you'll say if you're found out in the halls - or somewhere you're really not supposed to be."
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Once the place quiets down, Soran motions toward the door.
We ready to do this? Mikael and I will scout ahead and whoever else comes with us can keep up watch. Best leave our weapons here, if we get caught we don't want to seem like we were going to assassinate anyone in the night...
Soran starts heading for the areas on this floor that haven't been explored yet.