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The snake is defeated!
It looks like the cult may have disposed of some bodies down here as you find the partial remains of several humanoids. You also find a golden ring worth 50 gp, bearing the symbol of a local artists’ guild; a worn cloak belonging to one of the town watchmen; a bone wand of bless (21 charges, CL 3rd); a ripped belt that has a belt pouch on it containing 18 gp, 2 pp, and a single pearl worth 100 gp; and a leather bundle containing several sticks tipped with bristles, hair, or fur (an artist's paint brushes).
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Area T12: Six narrow cells line the south side of this corridor, each containing a simple straw mat thick with fleas. When you were first brought inside the temple, heavily drugged, you were stripped of all your gear and tossed in these cells. Each cell has iron bars at its front that swing out on a hinge, making a simple door. Common locks hold these doors shut.
Area T13: This small chamber is used to house any possessions stripped off the party when you were brought into the temple. While the door to this room is unlocked, valuable items are secured in a locked chest. Anything of lesser value, such as clothes and nonmagical gear, is simply piled up on the table in a heap.
Also, this chamber contains a secret door that opens into a tunnel leading to the Ranger's Lament!
When you open the secret door, a spider swarm attacks. You casts some spells, the GM hand waves, and the fight is over as soon as it was begun.
Now you have one possible avenue of escape. But you need to learn mroe about the cult before you leave.
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This event occurs in the middle of the day, while the streets around the temple are filled with merchants, shoppers, and other folk. Egarthis, along with a trio of priests, gathers up the new recruits (the party and Evlar) and informs you that you will be assisting in today's sermon to the masses.
"Move through the crowd and 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 potential followers." Egarthis instructs you.
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Tan'ia realizes that Egarthis' instructions are just a ruse. The new recruits' true job is to distract the crowd so that the priests can pick their pockets more easily!!!
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Harrow, excited to try what the priests would like him to do, bellows at the top of his lungs.
"Hey! Crowd! Come over here!!!" he yells.
"Listen to Harrow, and Harrow tell you about new powerful Razzermeer! Razorneer is god of bread, water, and beating fellow followers! Raisinmir also god of writing late at night! Come! Join us! You can also eat bread, drink water, and beat fellow followers to not write late at night!"
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OK. Moving on. I'm happy to simply say that Tan'ia cast her spell, but missed some mid-level rogues with evasion who don't take any fire damage. :-) Whew!
Egarthis and Krant give her sidelong looks as if to say: "Don't kill anyone before they've converted! Or at least donated..."
Because nobody was hurt, the crowd at large thinks it was a stunt to attract attention--which it was, after a fashion. (Sort of?) 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 the party to work around the edges to keep people interested.
Harrow begins by making a show of intimidation. He scares a few people. Mostly, the crowd has no idea what he's talking about. All the talk of bread and water attracts several homeless. Then he mentions all the writing and loses a couple of them.
You may all describe how you want to attract the crowd. Do it up! The sky is the limit here. You are able to make showy skills checks here. And you may make more than one check! Make your mark. :-)
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Seeing the confusion on some of the crowd's faces, Harrow tries to explain more about his new-found religion in what, for him, passes for thought.
"Religion of Raisin-mir good! Sure, eat bread, drink water, beat up other new guys, and rite at nite! But Harrow not want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as career. Harrow not want to sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed, or repair anything sold, bought, or processed. You know, as career, Harrow not want to do that! Harrow not have to do anything like that for Razor-mir! Join them now!!!" the half-orc says as he paces back and forth like a madman.
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Confused the crown generally backs away from Harrow. But a bunch of down-on-their-luck types approach hopefully. Their general attitude is: "I dunno what he's sayin'. But he keeps talkin' 'bout bread and raisins. I could eat. Count me in!"
Berosius covers his eyes and shakes his head...
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Berosius, Harrow, and Lumnessa notice one of the priests behind the guys listening to Harrow... Picking their pockets...
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You observe the priests making quite a haul picking the pockets of passersby. In general, they're happy with you; you did a good job of distracting their marks.
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Later that day, Krant assigns another task to you. Seems that a local baker, Welton Grompus, is late paying his protection money to the temple. As a result, Krant tasks you with entering the bakery and retrieving the missing money at all costs. The bakery, called the Harvest Hearth, is located just three blocks away from the temple and its oven supplies fresh bread and rolls to most of the inns and taverns in the area.
Krant escorts the PCs to the temple, along with a pair of additional acolytes. Once there, he waits outside, turning away any new customers until the place is empty, aside from Welton. Once this is done, he sends the PCs inside to retrieve 100 gp in missing payments. He also informs them that they should wreck the place to teach Welton a lesson. Krant and his two acolytes wait outside to make sure no one interferes.
You're all up!
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Not recognizing you all from before, Welton greets you with a perfunctory politeness. "H-h-h-hello, folks. Uh, we have some, uf fine fresh confections today. Here, try this bread; it's right out of the oven. I'll, uh, I'll have your payment for you next week." It is obvious that Welton despises the Razmirans, but he's also afraid of them--hence the politeness.
Lumnessa begins to cry a little. She doesn't want to hurt Welton Grompus or take his money. "Maybe they don't know how delicious his pastries are? We could share some with them?"
Tan'ia tries to understand the situation. She takes off her mask and reveals herself to Welton. "Shhh. We're on your side. Why are the cultists mad at you? Why to you owe them money?" ( , )
Welton explains that the Cult of Razmir asks for "donations" to help keep the neighborhood safe from "undesirables" .
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Harrow looks saddened at the prospect of doing his favorite bakery any harm.
Instead, he takes a large loaf of bread, the kind that is crusty on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside.
"Maybe we make lots of noise inside like we breaking stuff up, and then Harrow take this bread and break over leg outside to show we ruining lots of stuff. You bakery guys yell like we doing lots of harm! Everyone like Harrow plan?" he asks the others.
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Berosius agreed with Harrow's approach. "Yell a bit," he said. "Like you're in pain. We're going to try to make this look a lot worse than it is, I promise."
He looked around for something that would be loud in the breaking, but not too costly. A ceramic bowl or something.
"Sorry about this. You're a genius. I just want you to know that you have my greatest respect. Then he loudly smashed the bowl against the inside of the front door and indicated that the baker should yell in apparent pain.
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"Oh... Okay..." Welton says, uncertainty still clear on his face.
SMASH! Berosius breaks something near the door. Welton looks at the party, the party looks back expectantly.
"Oh! Right, sorry," he says sheepishly.
"Oh! Oh, gods, no! Not my grandmother's vase!"
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Harrow yells with an unholy racket, the cacophony echoing throughout the bakery and into the street.
"You...NEVER...BAKE...AGAIN!!!" the half-orc yells, smashing his nodachi repeatedly against a loaf of bread on a stone bread board, though in reality all he is doing is neatly chopping the bread into slices.
"Now cry a bit, yummy pastry man!"
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"There, there," whispers Berosius, patting the man's hand. "You're in good company. Harrow here has caused ogres to faint dead away and bugbears to cry for their mommies. But don't worry. He is one of your biggest fans. He wouldn't even give you that bruise. When those men come looking for their 'payment', you just give them what they want. I've a feeling they won't be in business much longer."
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Botting Tan'ia. "Sorry Welton" The cleric of Angrad gets angry. She puts back on her mask. And she kicks Welton hard out the front door as she yells: "And you better have it next week when we come back!" ( )
Seeing that the baker actually wet himself, the other Razmirans are pleased with your work. They take you back to the temple and give you all glowing reports. You get the night off from transcription. Coincidentally, tonight's the night you have to report back to your Pathfinder contact, Reginar.
The rest of the day passes uneventfully. At some point in the evening, the party finds themselves alone in the barracks. What do you do?
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Harrow breaks the loaf of bread over his leg before departing the bakery, keeping one half of it to eat.
"Sorry..." he mumbles to the baker through a mouthful of bread. "Harrow come back and pay for loaf and lots of other goods...can baker make Harrow chocolate cross-ants?"
The half-orc realizes he may blow his cover and decides to grab the other half of the loaf he had left behind and crumbles it into little tiny crumbs.
Once the group is at the barracks again, Harrow is not sure what else to do.
"There other areas to explore? Or we already see everything?" he asks the others.
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You meet with Reginar the same night you escape.
"Well, one thing has become obvious to me," Reginar begins with a grave tone. "We must destroy this threat before it grows any stronger. I have a number of contacts within the local government who would like nothing more than to see this scourge driven from Tamran, but they cannot act without proof."
"I need you to sneak inside the personal chambers of the high priest and steal any incriminating documents or ledgers. Armed with such evidence, we can bring these scum to their knees. Time is of the essence here, so you must return before you are missed. I think the time for subtlety is over. Do whatever you must to get the information we desire. As soon as you have the proof that we need, you can find me here."
It's almost dawn.
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"Okee-doke, Skipper!" said Berosius cheerfully.
Once the team is alone, Berosius chirped "So, I guess we just go in and do it, then. I'll sneak to the door and see what I can find. You guys come along a little ways behind. Sound like a plan?"
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Assuming everyone agreed with the plan (that basically amounted to "get her"), Berosius cast guidance and enhanced diplomacy on himself and commenced to sneaking.