GM Litejedi - Rise of the Runelords (Inactive)

Game Master Litejedi

To the sheriff, he speaks up, only stuttering a few times "I believe w... w... we should investigate these matters fully before determining what to do with N... N... Nualia. There may be a m... m... magical interference with her p... p... personality."

Bereket's eyebrows go up in surprise when he hears this. Then he turns to face the sheriff and the mayor. "If there is a reasonable suspicion here, then it is only right that we try to find out more before a sentence is meted out."

The mayor looks to the sheriff a moment who shrugs and she looks back to the rest of you "Very well, we will give you a couple of days to look into this before we make any final decisions. In the meantime, I'm sure sheriff Hemlock will do everything required to ensure that none of our prisoners attempt to escape."

With it being late the mayor and sheriff say their goodbyes as you head of to get some rest.

The next Day

Hollie isn't anywhere to be at the Rusty Dragon in the morning when everyone goes to meet up.

What's your plan for today, stuff with the prisoners, back to Thistletop, something else?

If they will still not let Hollie talk to her sister, then Hollie suggests they secure the last threats at Thistletop before we focus hard and heavy on her sisters trial.

That is assuming you survive the last threats of Thistleop *insert maniacal GM laugh*

Yeah securing thistletop seems like a pre-requisite for checking out any nefarious magic there.

Shae will suggest exploring her theory of EVIL below the town first. That way Nualia and Co. have less time to make their escape.

So we have two for Thistletop and two (Jess would vote with Shae) for going back to the catacombs. Bereket you are the tie breaker, what will it be?

Whatever aims they were pursuing at Thistletop, I think they must be stalled at this point with the major players either dead or in custody. I'm more inclined to delay further investigation there than to delay investigating what's right underneath Sandpoint. So I say we go back to the catacombs.

Current Day: Fireday, 28th Rova 4707

Starting up...

With the party in agreement, they decide to try and figure out what's going on with the ruins down below. The ruins had been obviously Thassalonian somehow and so Brodert Quink seemed to be a good person to speak with initially.

Remember that y'all had intended at some point to speak to Jessalissa's mentor, Brodert Quink, about what you'd found. This was never done. At minimum, you may want to borrow some books from him and take down for reference.

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Some OOC Notes: I will not be running an 'intrigue heavy' game, but I generally will allow PCs to get a hunch from someone they're talking to with sense motive, whether the person is being deceptive or not. This can even be someone's general state of mind! Please be aware of this.

In my profile I have temporarily put in some info about Sandpoint, including purchase limits. Once you get to Magnimar I will add info for them as well. I have also added reference to the libraries that are available at the moment (including Magnimar). Once I get control over the campaign tab I can edit a bit.

After affixing her new everburning torch to the front of her even newer darkwood shield (via a shield sconce), Shaedeen's feeling pretty good about herself. She decides to take a walk through town looking for the others.

That's right--Hero of Sandpoint comin' through! Hollie's right-hand woman!

That thought takes a bit of the spring out of the teen's stride. Where was Hollie? The Priestess of Sandpoint had said the pair would talk after the previous day's...development...but that talk had never materialized.

She's got a lot on her plate, Shae decides, secretly glad that she doesn't have a psychotic twin to make her life miserable.

Matthias stops by the lighthouse to ask the honorable Mr. Quink if he could please spare a few references on black magic, curses, and the like. With these, he eagerly heads back to the catacombs and begins examining the place for any clues as to evil magic conducted here, especially if it could relate to what happened to Tsuto and Nualia.

Detect magic! And idk if I get any books that provide skill bonuses but here are a bunch of potentially-relevant knowledge checks without them. Hopefully detect magic+skills at least get me some idea what do try next? I kind of forgot what all we saw in the Catacombs so hopefully my first investigations can get me some sort of clue.

K arc: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (8) + 10 = 18
K dung: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (8) + 10 = 18
K rel: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (20) + 10 = 30
K planes: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (15) + 10 = 25
K hist: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (6) + 10 = 16

Jess goes along with Matthias to talk to her roomy Quink as they ask for some books. With her attention turned back toward the catacombs instead of helping Hollie track down Nualia she sits down with the old man for a bit and explains what they had found below so he better understands what they are trying to look into.

"So... as Matty has said we need to get some books to research the ruins below Sandpoint. Remember I told you we had explored down there and found them? Oh... yes but I don't think I went into any real depth of what exactly we found. Quite honestly it was pretty amazing!"

She hops up in a chair and sits on her knees in excitement as she continues to recount what they found. "So... we found these creatures that I remembered seeing in one of your books on Thassilon, a sinspawn. We even captured one and locked it up in the jail, but with everything else going on we really hadn't had time to do anything else with it and things have been so crazy what with Hollie's sister and all that I forgot to tell you about it. Anyway, we also found a statue of this woman, she had a ranseur and and she looked really mad... Oh, oh... yes she also had a book with a Sihedron on it. So all in all it is pretty apparent that this place below Sandpoint is linked to Thassilon in some way."

She pauses a moment to catch her breath and purses her lips, looking up toward the ceiling as she thinks "Wait! One more thing, I almost forgot we had to fight a quasit down there, but while that isn't all that important, the interesting thing is she was in some sort of temple but there was this shallow pool in the upper part of the temple. It was triangular and filled with churning, bubbling water that looked almost like translucent lava. Yet while wisps of what look like heat and steam came from the strange orange liquid, the room itself was deathly cold. It was really strange and that is what we need the books for. We wanted to see if we could figure out what in the world that strange pool was or who that woman was. Shae thinks it might have something to do with why Nualia became the way she was."

She stops realizing Quink probably hadn't heard about the whole Nualia thing yet and explains "Oh yeah, Hollie's sister Nualia is still alive. I know, right shocker? That's what we've been up to recently trying to find her. We captured her and brought her back, but man she was messed up. Her one arm kind of looked demonic and she had these wicked scars on her belly and from what the others said she was talking about sacrificing things to Lamashtu... anyway, it's been a crazy few days, so any help you could give would be appreciated."

She finishes her long recap with a wink and a smile as she looks to Brodert expectantly.

Brodert greets Jessalissa warmly, and nods politely as Matthias requests some reference books, though he waits patiently for Jessa to go into detail about the ruins.

He purses his lips, and puts his finger to them, rolling his eyes up in thought, and furrowing his brow. "Jessa, Jessa - that's a lot to take in! Let me see if I can remember everything you've told me." He pauses and closes his eyes, tapping his chin, "Okay, here's what I can surmise- you know, of course of my theory about the Old Light, but I will tell your young friend." He turns kindly to the ratfolk, "I believe that the Old Light was a weapon of the Thassalonian empire - and the fact that you've uncovered these ruins down below connected to the empire, well... it certainly doesn't make my theory less likely!" There's a triumphant look in his eyes, "but... never mind that!"

He claps his hands, and then scratches his temple, before going over to some scrolls and books and thumbing through them, "ahh, yes, sinspawn, creatures of sin that were created by the agent magisters of Thassilon to serve as protectors and foot soldiers." He hands you a book on the subject. "it sounds like the sihedron rune was originally created to serve as a focus for the power of these magisters, and the seven points reflected their seven virtues, as well as their seven schools of magic." He adds with a smirk, "but as you can tell, something got twisted in their empire, at some point, and their virtues became corrupted, of course... though some scholars are foolish enough to disbelieve that..." He gestures at the book, "the book may hold more clues, should you read it. When you're finished, of course, I would appreciate it if you'd let me take a look - research can be valuable even when undertaken by the vile. No reason to throw out their insights, now that they've been captured."

He sits down, then, in his work chair, and looks at the two who've come in, "as for that pool, I cannot say. It sounds like some advanced magic, likely Thassilonian. Maybe it's an immobile item? Did you detect any magic coming from it?" He looks around, "there may be something buried in these myriad books, but I do not recall anything off the top of my head."

When Jessa talks about Nualia, Brodert nods gently, "she was a rough girl, but she did have a sweetness. Alive?" He considers briefly, "she may have been influenced, somehow by the ruins, but it seems if she's alive then she likely had something to do with the fire as well. If that's the case, she's been on a path of destruction for a long time. Many of the foolish people in town treated her as a freak or aberration, as they did with Hollie, but I suppose Hollie took it better - and came out better for it..." He shakes his head, "it sounds like such a corruption of her body, and whatever happened to her, much of it was of her own design. She wanted power - out of hatred and a thirst for revenge - and she found it. Such a bargain is not easily reversed."

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As Matthias is trying to do - you can take a handful of books down with you, which will provide you with a +1 circumstance bonus on knowledge checks you make below (since you're sort of grabbing a hodgepodge of things and hoping they work), or you may do research here. There are far too many books and scrolls to take all of them downstairs at once.

We can keep Matthias' rolls for when you eventually go down, or you can use them for your research checks, whichever you'd like Matthias. Note that you get a +2 bonus from Sandpoint's Lore Modifier on any knowledge checks done in the town using references, but this bonus doesn't extend while you're researching in the ruins themselves (already accounted for above).

Knowing that she wouldn’t be able to help in the research, and that she’d most likely just be in the way, Hollie spends the day gathering furniture for her house and decorating it. As she does, she leaves the door open for a breeze and her soft, melodic voice can be heard singing or humming as she works.

When she needs a break, she heads to the garrison to continue to see if the sheriff has decided to relent on letting her speak with Nualia.

Quink seems quite helpful so I'll research at the Old Light.

Matthias nods in eager fascination as the gentleman describes his ideas and the facts he has. "Ooh sir I would very much like to hear more about your Thassilonian theories! Especially about the Old Light!"

Matthias is absolutely obsessed about Thassilonian history and even has a trait dedicated to that. So despite the semi-urgency of his research, he would want to hear about that. XD We started with character flaws and his was greed for knowledge. Afterward, he'd research the strange pool in particular among Quink's books.

Jess smiles as Matthias is eager to jump in. "Well, I think it would be good if we dug into some research here first before delving back down below. I don't think we specifically examined it for magic, but it must have been, all things considered." She hops down from her seat and goes to put her arm over Matthias's shoulder "I suppose we should get to work then!"

Know. Arcana, Lore: 1d20 + 10 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 10 + 2 = 20
Know. History, Lore: 1d20 + 6 + 2 ⇒ (10) + 6 + 2 = 18
Know. Dungeon., Lore: 1d20 + 5 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 5 + 2 = 10
Know. Religion, Lore: 1d20 + 5 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 5 + 2 = 23
Know. Planes, Lore: 1d20 + 5 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 5 + 2 = 13

I think we would probably spend most of the day here doing this, probably two 8 hour shifts before passing out from exhaustion. The two little book worms would be in their happy place digging through research. Not sure if we need to roll a second round of checks.

Brodert’s library is listed in my alias, and is taken from someone else (forgive me for the high DC).

It requires a knowledge (history) check, with a primary (probably Mathias) and allows up to two people to assist (so if you have another person who knows Thassalonian in the group, they can aid, otherwise it’s very hard).

I’d allow someone to aid if they had history but no Thassalonian If they make a linguistics check, or they can aid at +1 without (by referencing writings in common about Thassalon). Brodert can also aid if you ask him to.

Sandpoint gives +2, and the library gives +4, giving a +6 total. If you’re just (only) trying to figure out what a magical thing does down there, you can use K arcana to try, with a penalty of -2. The complexity is DC 34, and ooc you know there’s 30 KP to get through. Based on your history rolls, your first 8 hours are a bust, unfortunately. If you succeed, you'll do 1d8+Matthias' Int Mod (5) in KP to the library's KP and will learn something.

In discord, there's a discussion about what to research first!

Matthias, Jessa, and Brodert work patiently throughout the day on trying to uncover a secret about the catacombs, some long-lost piece of information that might prove valuable. Jessa and Matthias gain a great deal of respect for Brodert, realizing now how difficult it is to make sense of the notes of the history, and the fact that he knows so much is a credit to the researcher.

Nualia/Hollie post to come later. Let me know if anyone else wants to do anything today!

Bereket goes with Matthias and Jess, unsure whether he'll be of any help but curious to see what they find out. When they begin to discuss the catacombs, he adds, "That quasit that we fought was a priestess of Lamashtu. Do you know, Brodert, if Lamashtu was worshipped among the Thassilonians?"

I don't have history or arcana, but religion is a strong point for me, so this seemed like the best chance of contributing!

You could embark on a research project examining religion in Thassilon empire, but you'd still have to do research, which would mean you're doing it parallel to the others (as they have a different question). Any checks you did would take a penalty, as Brodert's books are largely history books, and would require trying to pull out the religious references from them. The DC is still 34. However.

Brodert thinks a moment when Bereket asks, pinching his beard thoughtfully, before adjusting his glasses to peer at the Varisian, "well, it sounds like all of these folks were wrapped up in Lamashtu's 'embrace.'" He takes off the glasses to clean them with the hem of his robe, then puts them back on. "I don't know, really. Legend has it that she was once a demon lord - who ascended to outright godhood. Who knows when that happened, compared to Thassilon... I'd hazard that in the waning, debauched end days of the Empire that most of the higher ups had given themselves too all kinds of evil deities and demon lords."

He shrugs, "I don't know of any connection. It sounds like these followers were just staying where it was convenient, worshipping anyone who is willing to grant them power." He says gently, "but you can look through my collection if you'd like, so long as you keep it organized." He smiles kindly.

Could I cast fox's cunning to boost a check like this? The spell only lasts four minutes (or I can make it last 6 if I spend a reservoir poitn) but it could represent a brief focused period of trying to pull everything together from my notes to get an "Ah ha!" moment. Totally a GM call. Perfectly reasonable for you to say "no" to that question.

Nope, because research lasts 8 hours. Only effects that last a similar amount of time help. There is a reference to comprehend languages for libraries with an unknown language, and it explicitly says that this spell has to be active for the entire duration.

If you think about it this way, four minutes of boosted intelligence could never really assist unless the thing you were looking at during that for minutes was randomly the very thing you were trying to uncover - and that has less than 1% chance of happening. But as a compromise, for every research check, so long as you’re willing to memorize the spell and use it, I can roll a 1d120. On a 120 you could have +2. :)

Well it's 50% more tempting because I can make my fox's cunning grant +6 to int instead of +4 but still not worth it. :) Let's do this the old-fashioned way! That's what Matthias and Jess really want the entire campaign to be anyway, IC. XD

My connection to Windsong Abbey can't help here, can it? Because if the research is easier there, I could always go home for a couple days. I doubt it would be better than here since Brodert's library and Sandpoint are pretty helpful.

Matthias very carefully considers all he's learned in Sandpoint and references Brodert's materials very carefully as he tries to come up with any mention he can of such magical pools, their properties, and their past uses. He flips through books, reading rapidly, completely failing to observe the rapid passage of time.

K arcana, fingers crossed: 1d20 + 10 + 2 + 4 ⇒ (11) + 10 + 2 + 4 = 27 Well it was a long shot.

Matthias paws through the books carefully then comes up empty and exhausted. He turns to Jess "I'm tired but let's read more tomorrow. What should we research then?"

Not at all. Windsong Abbey doesn't have much information on Thassalonian lore. My understanding is that Windsong Abbey may have a collection of religious titles. So you all may go there if you'd like to research comparative religion, or study up on Lamashtu without getting weird looks. Brodert Quink and his collection are more extensive than most in Varisia.

To summarize the Day's Research:
Using his first arcana/history (because it wasn't clear when you rolled) Matthias didn't make the DC.
*Matthias is taking the lead and he sets the topic. He would like to study the vaguely magical pool.
*His total on researching said pool will be +10 Arcana +2 from lore +4 from the library -2 penalty for inappropriate subject matter +2 per assist.
*Should he wish to continue researching this topic, on the 29th Rova 4707, he will receive a +1 bonus to said check should he continue to research the topic. So the bonus will be +15 when researching the pool, with up to two assists (though Brodert is much worse at K. Arcana than history), with a DC of 34, should he wish to continue.
*If he changes topics, he will not gain the +1 bonus to the check regarding the pool.
*If he changes topics too many times, he will lose accumulated research bonuses.

Note: Using your earlier rolls, I had noted that you had already come up empty-handed, so this roll didn't count for anything. But I will not lock in this arcana check should you wish to continue on the next day; it doesn't seem fair. I will note that at some point, if people just keep rolling knowledge checks, it becomes a case of 'if I keep rolling dice, eventually RNG will work for me' which isn't really how this should work. Just keep that in mind - when you do the roll, you do it once for the day, at the start of the process, you can't roll again using a different skill at the end, or decide which roll you want. Make it your first D20 in the post you make where you a) declare the research topic b) declare that you're researching. I know it's confusing because this is the first time we're doing this system - so I'm just locking in the rules now. :)

Even with help, Matthias cannot make heads or tails of the complex narrative of the magic of the Thassalonian empire. So many researchers used conjecture, that it seemed like as soon as he came close to understanding something, it became less likely, and he ended his day of research with a slightly better understanding of the idiosyncracies of the library at least, but no knowledge of the pool.

I will note that I have seen no evidence that y'all have looked through Nualia's journal. That may be valuable to you.

The Sheriff

Hollie tries to get in to speak with Nualia, but Sheriff Hemlock rebuffs her, "Hollie - we've provided her with chalk, if she'd to write something to you, but we just can't take the chance she'll use her magic if we let her speak. You have to understand - she's hurt so many people..." He shakes his head, "I hope you can find a reason for this madness, I hope she was mind-controlled. But it doesn't seem that way - it sounds like she was just biter and angry- and maybe that was justified - we didn't always treat her right. But being angry doesn't give her the right to kill." He sighs, and hands the chalk to the manacled Nualia, who glares at him, gagged, and takes the chalk, throwing it on the ground, and grinds it to dust with her heel, before returning to the other side of her cell. Hemlock hands another piece to Hollie. "Take a shot - she hasn't done anything else."

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (19) + 8 = 27

Hollie takes the chalk and walks over to the bars. She holds the chalk out to her sister and asks with hopeful, tear filled eyes ”Nualia...please...talk to me. I want to help you. Please...”

Ok I think I'm wrapping my head around this sub-system. So it seems best to incorporate Nualia's journal into our research materials and keep trying to research the pool, then. I'd ask for Jess's input but I think she's being intentionally hands off to reduce meta-gaming.

Does anybody know of or have a constraint on how many days I spend researching? It seems like it would be a bad idea to just burn through a month or something.

The second day, Matthias tries again to figure out more about the pool, researching carefully in Brodert's library. The Old Light had a truly odd assortment of texts and was not organized around figuring out the arcane nuances of idiosyncratic magical effects but maybe there was something here that could help...

Is that a clear enough declaration?

K arc: 1d20 + 10 + 2 + 4 - 2 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 10 + 2 + 4 - 2 + 1 = 22 To quote Buzz Lightyear, "Not today!"

To note, we never actually looted her room, just took what was on her since we were dealing with the prisoners, and the journal was not included in that.

Jess happily works with Matthias combing through tombs of knowledge looking for any clues to help their search to better understand what exactly is going on beneath Sandpoint and how it may relate to Hollie's sister and everything that has transpired. Luckily her love of books and reading matches her enjoyment of experimenting and blowing things up. However, the work they were doing was turning out to be much more difficult than she initially hoped. After another 8 hours the next day of failed researching she turns to Matthias and notes "Maybe we should tell Hollie and Shae how slow this is going and see what they want to do? This stuff is just so in depth I fear it is going to take us several weeks to piece everything together enough to even find anything useful."

Shaedeen eventually ends up back at the Rusty Dragon. She chats a bit with Ameiko, asking if Shalelu got her gift of Bruthazmus's gory necklace with the dead bugbear's ears now attached.

Increasingly convinced that Hollie is actively avoiding her for some reason, Shae keeps ordering food and drink, nibbling and sipping the day away before retiring to her room to pass out.

It is, thanks Matthias. You should note that RAW, there's basically no way for you to learn much about the pool, the ruins, etc. That's why it's nice that they put the research option in, to allow people who are dedicated to figure stuff out if they have time. Note that you do not really have unlimited time, and without going into detail, note that there is a strong possibility that you will miss out on things if you only spend time researching.

Earlier, Fireday, 28th Rova 4707

Nualia glares at Hollie, and slaps the chalk out of her hand furiously. It looks like she's trying to release a stream of invective towards Hollie through her gag, but all that comes out, is a muffled, "gumummpplppph fummpphhpsp... ppppephhh biphheheheheh" She then retreats to the back of the cell, glaring at Hollie contemptuously.

Shaedeen sees Hollie around, picking up things for her new home.

Shaedeen may speak with Hollie if she'd like, before the end of the day.

Hollie gasps at her sisters continued violence and hatred. It’s finally more than she can bear. ”I’M TRYING TO SAVE YOU, SIS! DON’T YOU SEE THAT? BUT IF THIS IS HOW YOU WANT IT TO BE, THEN FINE!” she shouts as she turns and storms for the door. Once there she pauses before leaving entirely. She turns her head over her shoulder and says somberly ”I love you. Please....please come to your senses...” before she continues on out.

Research (religion) 28th Rova: 1d20 + 8 + 2 + 4 - 2 + 8 ⇒ (3) + 8 + 2 + 4 - 2 + 8 = 23

Bereket thanks Brodert for welcoming him to his study and sits down to get to it after calling on a blessing of Sarenrae to speed his reading abilities. He can tell that Matthias and Jess aren't getting anywhere fast on their topic of study, but Bereket feels even more lost--so much of the important material is written in ancient Thassilonian, which is incomprehensible to him.

After 8 hours of sorting books and reading, Bereket is more worn out than he gets after a full day of walking around in that heavy plate armor.

The warpriest stands up, stretches his back, and then rubs his eyes. "I'm getting no where," he confides to Matthias, Jess, and Brodert. "I think Jess is right--this is going to take too long. But maybe we could figure out something more by taking another look in the catacombs?"

Beginning of Starday, 29th Rova 4707

What to Shaedeen and Hollie do on this day?

Later, Starday, 28th Rova 4707

Bereket works pretty hard over the course of the day, but also doesn't make progress. Through the use of his spell, he's able to do better than he would have, but the complexity of the records are almost overwhelming.

Ok so I've already made my research checks for the 29th or am I deciding what to do for the 29th?

Beginning of Starday, 29th Rova 4707

What to Shaedeen and Hollie do on this day?

Later, Starday, 28th Rova 4707

Bereket works pretty hard over the course of the day, but also doesn't make progress. Through the use of his spell, he's able to do better than he would have, but the complexity of the records are almost overwhelming.

I noticed a typo above, it should’ve read ‘ Later, Starday, 28th Rova 4707’

Ok so I've already made my research checks for the 29th or am I deciding what to do for the 29th?

You’ve been researching for two days. The first day was the 28th (the result was a 27), the second day was the 29th (the result was a 22). Neither of these uncovered information that you were looking for. If you’d like to keep trying to research on the 30th, you may, but I believe the others are interested in doing something else. You may wish to confer with them.

Shaedeen awakens the next morning, hung over, confused, and more than a bit grumpy. At breakfast she hears the big news spreading through town: Hollie's bought a house and will apparently be making Sandpoint her permanent home.

Well, that explains why I didn't hear from her yesterday.

Still, the news troubles Shaedeen deeply: Hollie spent the previous day flitting between her house and her sister in the jail; that made Shaedeen her third-highest priority...at best. Shae knew Hollie had a lot on her plate currently...but the prideful teen felt that she deserved to be the entrée on said plate, not some crust of bread to be lightly tossed aside!

Then again, I don't have a twin sister almost certainly a day or two away from a date with the gallows. That can't be easy....

While nibbling a light breakfast, Shae decides that she can't spend another day drinking away her fears, regrets, and resentments--she's too much of a lightweight and really doesn't like the feeling of the hangover she's currently experiencing--so she decides to suck up her pride and try to be a good friend.

After asking around a bit, she learns which house is Hollie's new purchase. She lounges against a fence outside until her friend makes an appearance.

"I hear you're putting down roots here," she says. "Good for you. Need any help cleaning or decorating?"

Hollie comes out of the house, her hair pulled back and clearly having been doing housework most of the day. Her eyes light up when she sees Shaedeen and she says ”Hey! Phew yeah! Between getting this place ready and hounding the Sheriff to let me try and talk some sense into Nualia...” she says as she runs a hand across her brow, ”It’s been busy. But hey!” she says as she perks up excitedly, ”You want to be my first house guest?”

"Sure thing!" Shae gushes. "I didn't bring a housewarming gift...but then again I wasn't sure what state your new home is in." Her eyes narrow a bit and she asks, "Draxtherian is housetrained, right?"

If the handsome mithral dragon's around and in earshot, Shae teases him more by asking Hollie, "You've had Drax fly up and inspect the roof for leaks already, right?"

”HOUSETRAINED!?!?” Draxtherian roars from inside the house. He comes stalking out the door, eyes fixed on Shaedeen. ”What do you think I am? Some dog!?!?”

When she makes her flying comment, his eyes widen and his wings twitch reflexively. He stares at her slack jawed a bit before saying sharply [b]”That’s none of your business!” and storming off around the house.

Hollie puts her hands on her hips as the two pick and bicker. When Draxtherian heads off, she started to call after him but just sighed and turned to Shaedeen. ”You really shouldn’t pick at him so much. He IS a dragon after all. He won’t tolerate it forever.”

Going to assume Matthias gives up with Jess and Bereket for now

After it is decided that the research needs to take a back seat for now with them getting no where. Jess suggests they head off to find Hollie and Shae. Eventually tracking the two down at Hollie's home knocks on the door and waits for someone to answer. When Hollie comes to let them in she looks about "Pretty nice place you got Hollie!" After a moment of admiring she starts in "So... the research isn't really getting us anywhere. At this point, it's going to take us months to even start to piece together anything useful so I Don't know that it is worth the effort with other things kind of still pending..."

She looks to Hollie as she asks "Is your sister doing any better?" Not waiting for an answer she continues "In any case, we told the sheriff and mayor we would try and find out more but that doesn't look feasible right now, so I imagine we need to update them and see what the next step is." She scrunches her nose as she thinks a moment "Oh, we also need to go back to Thistletop and finish exploring make sure there aren't any other threats that are going to turn that place into another haven for evil."

Hollie sighs and shakes her head. ”No. She is as angry and violent as ever. I...I fear that the only outcome for her will be execution. And they would not be wrong in doing so. She is guilty as can be for far too many crimes.”

She turns and says ”Give me a moment, I’ll need to change,” before disappearing into her bedroom a few minutes. She returns in her armor and adventuring gear. ”Let’s go report to the mayor and sheriff your report, then let them get on to Nualia and her associates judgement before we return to Thistletop. I...as much as I hate it...I don’t want to risk their escape while we are away. Better...better to get it over with before we head back out...”

Matthias sighs when Jess explains the research situation. "Yes I am loathe to admit it but the references that could prove useful are so minor, obscure, and distributed throughout various texts without any organizational scheme, probably because they are never the intended purpose of each particular text, that it will take a great deal of time, effort, and luck to determine more concrete information on the magical and historical processes we need to know about." He finishes in a rush, out of breath, and blushes a little looking at his feet. His fervor for research made him forget how much he was talking...

He nods when Jess and Hollie mention Thistletop. "Yes hopefully we can deal with that and I can return to the necessary research." He chuckles slightly nervously. "Assuming of course no other urgent matters come up after we deal with Thistletop."

Poor Matthias doesn't know he's an adventurer...

Jess nods to Hollie and as they begin to leave she hurries over to her side and takes her hand giving it a reassuring squeeze, looking up to her with an apologetic look "I'm sorry we couldn't do more. Who knows, maybe they will be lenient or maybe there is somewhere more secure they could send her, like Magnimar?"

Hollie purses her lips tightly together as Jess takes her hand. She returns the squeeze tightly and also takes Shaedeen’s as she leads the way back to give their report to the mayor and sheriff. She will let the smart ones explain the impossibility of their research before she will chime in.

”Ma’am. Sir. Given this information, I relent my sister and her associates to your judgement. Their guilt is beyond denial and they are deserving of whatever sentence you deem fitting,” she says stoically, though her voice is obviously beginning to crack towards the end. The whole while, she has not let go of Jess or Shae’s hands.

Jess gives Hollie's hand another squeeze before speaking up to add to Hollie's words "So, yeah, I mean she is right of course, but with all things considered and the potential of an outside influence I would request you give us a little more time before you make your final decision. We didn't finish everything up at Thistletop as we thought it was important to get the prisoners back here and secured to avoid risking them escaping and we tried doing some research on what is underneath the town, but that is going to take forever and we know you don't want to wait for that. Maybe we can find more details when we get back to Thistletop. I mean... I understand what Nualia did was really really bad but look at her, something is definitely deeply wrong there but maybe there is a way to fix it?" she gives a half-hearted shrug.

"It is important that we return to Thistletop to finish investigating whatever it was that Nualia was attempting to accomplish there," Bereket agrees.

The party reaches the town hall, and after a moment, one of the scribes ushers the party into the second-floor office of Kendra Deverin, the mayor. The sheriff is not here with her, as he is likely at the garrison, watching over the prisoners.

Kendra looks up from the book she's reading, and cheerfully puts it down when the party enters. "Oh, good morning. Glad to see you Hollie and Jessa, and your friends too. The heroes of sandpoint are always welcome. What can I do for you?"

When Hollie and Jessa plead their case, she looks thoughtful, and nods along. "Well, the sheriff seems to have them pretty secure. If you can find anything that would point to why Nualia did this, it would certainly be useful. We have a pretty good amount of evidence that she was responsible for at least the goblin raid, and... unfortunately, she also directed Tsuto to kill his father. Ameiko is still broken about that... we're not far from Magnimar that we need a headsman immediately, but the laws they broke are pretty clear." She looks sympathetically, "folks have been living here for a long time, you know, and other than the business with Chopper, we haven't had anything like what Nualia did for... as long as I think we have records." She sighs. "But they did happen around the same time. Hmm." She looks thoughtful, "We can hold them for another week, but after that, I think the citizens will be after my head if we don't put an end to the problem. Is that enough time, for whatever you want to do?"

Shaedeen's eyes widen a bit when the mayor claims that Nualia ordered Tsuto to kill his father; that sort of puts a hole in the whole magical curse theory if Tsuto's patricide wasn't of his own accord.

She looks to Hollie to answer the mayor's question and give the order to saddle up for Thistletop.

Matthias shrugs hopefully. "A week should be long enough. I believe we should continue our investigations at Thistletop immediately, in that case."

Hollie fights back the urge to have too much hope, but bows her head graciously. ”A week is most generous. We will ride for Thistletop immediately to see what else we can find there, and return as soon as we can.”

She then looks to the others to see if they are ready to ride.