GM Harrow’s Curse of the Crimson Throne - AE

Game Master GM Harrow

Girrigz enunciates carefully in response to Audria's offer. "We neither require nor desire your assistance, smoothskin." He shifts his glare to Shane, and sneers. The wererat hisses at Shrike's threats. "Of course we would not hurt Yelloweyes! What do you take us f- no, don't answer that." He snorts. "House drake? They don't come here. But we'll find them." He jerks his nose towards the cavern ceiling.

Shane raises a brow as HE is glared at, "Everyone needs help, now and then, Girrigz. Distrust can be even more dangerous than trust when division is used as a weapon against all who don't fit in." He taps his horns. Then he turns to follow Audria

"Pride's a good thing to have, Girrigz, but if you carry too much it just gets in the way. Don't have to use us, but just think of us as an extra knife in your boot, yeah?"

The wererat leader makes no response, just waving them all away. Once it is clear that the intruders are leaving and they are no longer in danger of being skewered and slashed to death, the other wererats come sheepishly forward as Girrigz begins to berate them for their cowardice. His shrill, angry voice echoes behind them for a while - but at least the shrieker mushroom has mercifully stopped screaming.

Once they are out of earshot of the wererats, Audria lets out a groan.

"Pava. Shrike. I know you think that I'm just some silly girl that doesn't have the sense to pour water out of a boot, but could you please not vaguely threaten the people we're asking help from? I could feel you menacing Girrigz over my shoulders the entire time I was talking with him."

Girrigz enunciates carefully in response to Audria's offer. "We neither require nor desire your assistance, smoothskin." He shifts his glare to Shane, and sneers. The wererat hisses at Shrike's threats. "Of course we would not hurt Yelloweyes! What do you take us f- no, don't answer that." He snorts. "House drake? They don't come here. But we'll find them." He jerks his nose towards the cavern ceiling.

Shrike tilts her head to one side measuringly, and does not otherwise respond even as the others offer further cooperation. She is not a knife for them to wield. She does not turn her back to the wererats as the group departs, and only hooks the silver mace stained with blood and bits of fur back to her belt once they are out of the den and into the sewer tunnels again.

"Pava. Shrike. I know you think that I'm just some silly girl that doesn't have the sense to pour water out of a boot, but could you please not vaguely threaten the people we're asking help from? I could feel you menacing Girrigz over my shoulders the entire time I was talking with him."

Shrike rolls her shoulders and places her feet carefully as she considers her response, wishing to be out of this cramped and stinking place. The croak, when it comes, is flat but not especially harsh. "Soft words alone don't always work. Threats saved their lives today. And us some blood." Audria had given the wererats multiple chances to stop fighting, but it had been Pava — and likely Elric's putting two arrows in his chest quick as blinking — that had actually scared the underlings into a confused retreat, and Girrigz into hesitating long enough to back down.

Shrike pauses for a moment, so they can all faintly hear the sound of the wererat leader still excoriating his own crew. He had seemed genuinely surprised at the idea that he and his gang would punish Yelloweyes for betraying their location. Perhaps she had misinterpreted his expression, and he had thought they had offered the old fishmonger harm themselves, in order to find him. Perhaps he is a very good liar. Either way, she isn't sure they have done right to leave him alive. What if he does find the Urgathoans, or Lamm, and makes common cause with them out of mutual hatred for the city and most of its people?

"You gave him Yelloweyes' name. Think he's kind to 'traitors to the cause?' Better he know where we stand. You heard him. He only respects strength."

"I--" Audria starts, but the rest of the words die unsaid on her lips. She can't argue against Shrike's points, especially about how a soft word doesn't always work and how Girrigz only seems to respect physical and martial strength.

"How badly have I erred," she asks instead.

"Didn't say you did." At some point in all the fighting and tumbling about, Shrike's hood had come down, revealing the tangle of long pale hair with her pointed elven ears poking through, almost to the top of her head. She had mostly managed to avoid dragging her hair in the muck, but its usual loose waves are no more, and there is one small dark-clotted splotch near the tips that doesn't bear examining too closely. "It's a gamble. Could pay off. Wouldn't've happened with threats alone either."

Pava's still keyed up from the aborted fight, a smile escaping their poker face even as they disagree with the younger paladin. "Before we can go from bared blades to a nice cuppa, we have to actually stop the fight, Duckling. 'Sides, everything after was just good advice. I hope he takes it. Hope he learns some of the basics of proper solidarity too, but that's in his hands, innit? Oh, give us a hand with this wound? Don't want to take it for a sewer stroll before getting it seen to"

Pava's still keyed up from the aborted fight, a smile escaping their poker face even as they disagree with the younger paladin. "Before we can go from bared blades to a nice cuppa, we have to actually stop the fight, Duckling. 'Sides, everything after was just good advice. I hope he takes it. Hope he learns some of the basics of proper solidarity too, but that's in his hands, innit? Oh, give us a hand with this wound? Don't want to take it for a sewer stroll before getting it seen to."

"I'll admit, Audria, I was also worried he might have vendetta after yelloweyes, but he seemed sincere when he said otherwise," Though Shane can't keep his concern out of his voice, "Frankly I thought a temporary 'you scratch my back I scratch yours' was the goal... I am a complete hypocrite when it comes to lycanthropes I fear. They alarm me a great deal. The curse of their nature is said to literally eventually shape their soul... I'll have to study more but I've avoided becoming the evil bastard others think Tieflings are all my life. The notion of... a curse that takes the choice from one alarms me on levels deep." A breath "But you managed to pull everything back from a fight. In these belligerent times, that's no small feat."

Audria blushes a little at the praise as she takes a look at Pava's wound.

"Sorry, I'm afraid all I can do is clean it up and bandage it," she tells the Shoanti rake before looking at her hands and grimacing. "Or not," she mutters as she sees that her hands are covered in muck and blood from where she'd been on her knees rendering aid to the fallen wererats.

Heal: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5 Sorry Pava!

"...Yyyeah. Better to let it breathe even in here than have you actually rub filth into it."

Back above street level and making their way towards Eries Yelloweyes, the cries of a broadsheet hawker draw their attention.

The Korvosan Times - Wealday, 17 Sarenith 4708

Attack On The Sanctuary!

"It was in the early hours of the morning that the heinous trespass into Shelyn's temple happened. The motive seems to have been theft, as several items were taken - mostly potions and scrolls. The attack left one cleric dead and another gravely injured, a loss which the entire city will no doubt feel keenly as Korvosa suffers in the grip of the Blood Veil. One less cleric to heal the afflicted is grave news indeed. The perpetrator or perpetrators seem to not fear the wrath of the goddess of love and beauty as they dared to not only rob her holy place, but also attack her holy servants. Was it a robbery gone wrong, or is there something more sinister at play? Read tomorrow's edition to uncover any additional details!"

A Cure For The Plague?

This article is sponsored by Lavender - the best perfume boutique in Korvosa!

"Lavender's Luxuriant Liniment is the everyday elixir of the common Korvosan. It wakes you up in the morning and calms you down at night. It soothes aching joints, tired feet, sore hands, and throbbing heads. It takes the pain out of cuts, burns, bruises, and blemishes. It smells like chastity, confidence, and respectability, and tastes like honeyed dewdrops over snow clouds. Most miraculously, though, Lavender's Luxuriant Liniment dispels blisters, minimizes swelling, calms the complexion, and erases all symptoms of the common blood veil complaint. Get yours now for only two sails!"

Forgive if I take liberties with WHO the Hawker is but I've used him before here so ;)

Asillare the Crier's piercing voice cuts right through the already dubious serenity of the wizard as it blurts out. The ten year old shouldn't be out in time of plague, but Shane supposes the boy needs to earn a living.

Then the specifics of what the boy is taking kicks in.

He moves and hands the boy the price of a broadsheet plus a bit extra, "Honestly boy, you're going to end up drawing the wrong crowds one day."

And he reads hastily, but spreads it so Audria and others can read it as well. "Audria, I'm so sorry." knowing she likely knew the priest in question.

Audria pales as she reads the news. She had distanced herself from the Sanctuary of Shelyn to keep everyone she knew there safe. Learning that someone had killed one of the priests and injured another left her reeling, as if she'd been punched in the belly. Shane's apology sounds distant to her as she tries to grapple with the news. She feels as if she is going to be sick as she reads the brief article a second then third time. A burning need to know what happened pierces the fog of shock, and Audria takes off running, the need to inform Eries Yelloweyes of what occurred in Korvosa's sewers flying from her thoughts as she races to the first place she'd ever called home.

Shrike reads over Audria's shoulder and stills, the mask tilting away and toward the ground. The obvious snake-oil cure advertisement barely touches her attention. She is expecting it when Audria runs away without a word.

If it happened long ago enough to be in the newspaper, however, it is probably not an ongoing emergency, and they are only three blocks from Eries Yelloweyes' rooftop home. It makes no sense for the whole group to go all the way to Sanctuary first and then have to come back.

"I'll talk to Yelloweyes. Meet up at the Sanctuary."

She is very aware that everything she is wearing, especially her boots, still stinks of sewer. Nevertheless, Shrike sets out for the old fishmonger and her nephew at a swift jog.

Pava's muffled ebullience sours as they read the rag over Shane's shoulder. "Can't imagine this get's better on its lonesome."

"Right," They straighten to their full height and give Shrike a significant nod. "I'll get 'em safe to the sanctuary. Give my apologies to Yelloweyes, yeah?"

Shrike returns the nod with equal gravity before setting off.

Elric looks grim as he hears the news of the temple attack. He joins Pava and Audria, aware that the young paladin will likely need emotional support as she faces the consequenses of the attack.

She is very aware that everything she is wearing, especially her boots, still stinks of sewer.

I would assume that we ask Shane to clean everyone off with a cantrip as soon as we exit the sewer.

Shane hastily casts a prestidigitation on everyone if he can.

Pava's muffled ebullience sours as they read the rag over Shane's shoulder. "Can't imagine this get's better on its lonesome."

"It certainly can't." He mutters back and joins others in following the Paladin.

He also says as they go, "Later we should look in on Lavender's Luxuriant Liniment. It reeks of opportunist who is likely to end up robbing a lot of desperate people with a scam."

Evening is falling by now, and there isn't much light on the docks, but Shrike has no great difficulty seeing through the gloom. Eries Yelloweyes and Lisrek are not in view, but as Shrike approaches the warehouse, a large rat run across her path. Then stop, raising up on its hind legs to look at her, whiskers twitching. Once it has her attention, it scurries through a door left ajar.

Inside the warehouse, it smells of dust and incense. Crates and bales are stacked up in somewhat haphazard piles, some covered with rotting tarps. The rats have been at some of the goods stored in here, and grains of rice spill from a few decidedly deflated sacks. A faint light in one corner leads Shrike to the two wererats, who have made a somewhat cozy seating arrangement behind some moth-eaten colourful cloth hanging from the beams. Eries pats a stack of silk cushions next to her, raising small puffs of dust.

"Come, dearie, sit down and tell us how it went." The elderly wererat pours tea into delicate, beautifully painted porcelain cups, the aroma of cloves and cinnamon wafting into the air.

===========================================

At the Sanctuary, the atmosphere is somber and subdued as Audria and the others arrive. The queue of petitioners bearing the signs of the blood veil is kept in check by a few novices and directed towards an open tent were clerics sing prayers and try to heal those afflicted. By the drawn looks on their faces, no one has slept much lately. Inside, a body is laid out in the chapel, covered with a white sheet and surrounded by wreaths of flowers. Here as well, it smells of incense.

Audria runs pell-mell through the streets of Korvosa until she sees the Sanctuary come into view. She only slows to a trot as she sees what is going on. She pushes through the crowd and through the doors, stopping when she sees the body. She looks around and spots Zacharias keeping an eye on the chapel. The young paladin can't remember ever seeing the young poet ever looking so worn as she walks up to him.

"Z-zach," she asks, her voice tremulous from the dread settling over her. Her hair may be raven black now, but her face and voice are still recognizable. "Wh-what happened? I--I just found out and came as quickly as I could. Wh-where's Brother Theolan and -S-sister Jennelyn? A-are they alright?"

Ah okay, it does make sense for Shane to use prestidigitation right away when we emerge from the sewers, before we even see the broadsheet-hawker. I just didn't want to assume, and Shrike wouldn't think to specifically request it. Thanks Shane.

Eries and Lisrek, West Dock warehouse, evening of 17 Sarenith 4708

Shrike manages to simply pause for a moment instead of instinctively jumping away or reaching for a weapon when the large rat that dashes close across her path in the twilight then exhibits very un-rat-like behavior by stopping and standing on its hind legs. The mask of the butcherbird tilts to examine it, even as it examines her. With a barely-there nod of recognition, she smoothly changes course and shadows the creature into the warehouse, her hand hovering near the mace in case this is not a friendly guide after all, but a trick. She hopes this is simply Lisrek or Eries in another shape, or just an especially intelligent animal friend of theirs. Do wererats look distinct to each other in rat form? She supposes they must be able to tell each other apart from actual rats somehow.

Inside, she looks about with interest as she places her feet with silent care. Though it seems dusty and abandoned, if the rotting tarps are anything to go by, there are still some goods that have not been broken into, and even a little food. And someone — most likely Eries — has made a cozy seating area with intact cushions and hangings. Possibly it has not been abandoned for that long.

The empty warehouse near Bailer's Retreat was fully looted of anything valuable long before she ever found it, and is much less comfortable than this: there is nothing that could be called furniture, and it smells less of incense and more of rodent droppings and mildewed straw brought on by roof leaks. From an ancient notice on the padlocked doors, already mostly disintegrated by rain when she first saw it, she has the vague impression that its ownership has been tied up in some years-long legal case. It had never occurred to her to try to make it a more pleasant place in the meantime. Perhaps she ought to fix it up a bit.

Shrike hesitates when Eries invites her to sit, not wanting to slight the wererats but wondering if Shane's cantrip was enough to clean her clothes and gear properly, so that she will not harm the silk cushions. In the end she sinks down onto one crosslegged, abrupt but controlled. Behind the mask she closes her eyes for a moment. The aroma of cloves and cinnamon from the tea is like heaven compared to the stink of the sewer. "My thanks ma'am. Lisrek. Can't stay long. Been a death at Shelyn's temple. Break-in. Others've gone to look into it.

"Girrigz's boys attacked us straight off. So we broke a few heads. But the girl kept trying to talk. Pava too. ...In a way. In the end they backed off. No one died. No wererats anyway. Two would've, but Audria healed them. That's her way." At this last, the usually-flat croak sounds caught somewhere between baffled, resigned, and proud. Shrike shakes her head almost imperceptibly and continues. "Girrigz agreed to join the search. In trade for sparing them he said. Don't know that he's changed his mind. But it's bought time. Can't start a war with the humans while he's hunting the Vaults." I hope.

Sorry, folks, had a busy couple of days.

Shrike, Eries and Lisrek, West Dock warehouse, evening of 17 Sarenith 4708

Both wererats exhale in relief as Shrike summarizes the results of the tough diplomacy employed in the sewers. "This... is better new than I had hoped for, dear. Thank you, and your friends. Girrigz probably made things very difficult for you, so I appreciate your restraint - and your friend saving the lives of those silly boys. They are just boys, y'know. Hotheaded and stupid." Lisrek looks like he might object to such characterization, then looks away, wrinkling his nose. "Well. I won't keep you. We'll be on the lookout for those you spoke of, as well. Will send you news as soon as we know anything. But, before you leave..."

With much creaking of joints, Eries rises from her own stack of cushions, folds back the thick Vudrani carpet on the floor and presses down hard on one of the floorboards, causing the other end to lift and reveal a small space underneath. "Just my humble stash, dear, nothing stolen. I want you to have it and share with your friends. I don't have much use for it anyway."

Loot: 3 smokesticks, a tanglefoot bag, a thunderstone, 20 tindertwigs, a bent copper trumpet bearing a pennant with the city's coat of arms worth 120 gp, a complete set of masterwork carpenter’s tools, 2 potions of bear's endurance, potion of blur, 5 potions of cure moderate wounds, potion of shield of faith +3, a bottle of air, and a pearl of power (2nd-level spell).

Audria & Co., Sanctuary of Shelyn, evening of 17 Sarenith 4708

Zach's eyes are red-rimmed and his face is puffy from crying. He sniffles as he shakes his head at Audria's question. "Oh, Audria, it's terrible! B-brother Theolan, he-" His voice breaks, his face crumples under a fresh wave of grief and he can only raise a trembling hand to point at the body laid out on the dais. After a few hiccupping sobs he manages to speak again. "Sister Jennelyn is alive, but badly injured. Hasn't regained consciousness yet. The other clerics are tending to her, and they preserved Brother Th-Theolan's b-body." He begins to sob again as he covers his face with his hands. Muffled, he wails "Why?? Why would anyone do this?!"

Audria & Co., Sanctuary of Shelyn, evening of 17 Sarenith 4708

A low whisper to Elric and Pava "You two are more perceptive than I, should we look about for any clues? Evidence others might have overlooked into the murder? "

"We can take a look and talk to the other clerics, but I suspect there's little point in tracking down the killers. Most likely just townsfolk desperate to find a cure for the plague. Even if we bring them to justice, there are hundreds more out there willing to do the same"
Elric says quietly to Shane and Pava, then moves to stand by Audria.

"I'm sorry...I know how much they both mean to you..." he says, aware that whatever consolation his words can bring pale in the face of the loss she must be feeling.

The Sanctuary of Shelyn

Audria doesn't even hear Elric as she shakes her head. Brother Theolan couldn't be dead. Tears well up in her eyes as she realizes she's on her knees. Memories flit through her mind as the grief slams her like a roaring breaker during a storm. She sobs as she remembers the day she and Eliana met Brother Theolan after picking up his hoy symbol and following him to the Sanctuary. Tally is beside her, hugging her tightly as she wails and remembers how he'd taught both her and Eliana how to sing and dance. She feels Tally's tears soaking her hair as she remembers when Brother Theolan had introduced them to Sister Jennelyn, and how she'd warmed up to them over the next few weeks. She and Tally cling to each other as she remembers waking up after Gaedren Lamm had ordered Giggles, Hookshanks, and Yargin to beat her senseless and left her for dead in an alley to see Brother Theolan's relieved smile as he told her she and Eliana could stay at the Sanctuary.

More memories come as she weeps. Audria remembers his reassurances after a couple of imps had dropped some alchemist's concoction on both her and Eliana's heads, ruining their hair; his exasperation when she, Eliana, and Trinia managed to get into some spot of trouble and especially after the night she and Eliana had slipped off to regain their locks at the Dockside Doxies; and his joyful smile when she and Eliana were ordained as priestesses of Shelyn what seems like a lifetime ago all flood her mind with dozens of other memories. She never realized until now how much she thought of him as her father, and pain from that is far worse than anything Audria has ever felt.

When Audria regains her sense, she and Tally are surrounded by a pool of strawberry blonde hair with raven-black tips growing from her head. She and Tally hold each other still, and her body aches from grief. She looks up at Zach, her heartbreak clear in her blue eyes.

"I'm sorry Zach. I--I should have been here. I thought I was keeping you, all of you safe by staying away. I--I though--" her voice falters as she and Tally curl up against each other. She can hear Gaedren Lamm and Halvara curse and jeer in her mind as they lambast her for a foolish, little girl.

"Could be simple, could be someone trying to bring a bit of bloodshed to one of the few places you can find a healer for asking."

They tilt their head in thought. "Probably simple, and even more probably nothing here to indicate otherwise. Worth looking around though in case someone's dropped their manifesto."

Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (12) + 7 = 19

Shrike, Eries and Lisrek, West Dock warehouse, evening of 17 Sarenith 4708

Both wererats exhale in relief as Shrike summarizes the results of the tough diplomacy employed in the sewers. "This... is better news than I had hoped for, dear. Thank you, and your friends. Girrigz probably made things very difficult for you, so I appreciate your restraint - and your friend saving the lives of those silly boys. They are just boys, y'know. Hotheaded and stupid." Lisrek looks like he might object to such characterization, then looks away, wrinkling his nose. "Well. I won't keep you. We'll be on the lookout for those you spoke of, as well. Will send you news as soon as we know anything. But, before you leave..."

With much creaking of joints, Eries rises from her own stack of cushions, folds back the thick Vudrani carpet on the floor and presses down hard on one of the floorboards, causing the other end to lift and reveal a small space underneath. "Just my humble stash, dear, nothing stolen. I want you to have it and share with your friends. I don't have much use for it anyway."

For long moments, Shrike stares at the little stash of vials, bottles, alchemical items and tools, as well as the single large and lustrous pearl. The Eries she knows of is not a wealthy woman, and often has trouble making ends meet despite her decades on the docks. That is typical for those who make their living buying the day's catch from the fishing fleet and reselling it to households and restaurants.

Either Eries has some lucrative side business — in which case Shrike cannot understand why she and her great-nephew live in a Shingles shanty above an abandoned West Dock warehouse — or else these valuables represent many years' worth of minor windfalls and hard-won payments-in-kind, carefully tucked away against disaster. Perhaps they were even intended to be used to buy some more permanent dwelling someday.

"Thank you. Truly."

It is a hunter's charge to provide for her people, as much as to protect them, and to never to take more from her surroundings than is healthy. (She does not think too hard about when Eries and Lisrek became included in this category.) In Crying Leaf, her aunt and grandmother would not fail to accept such a gift if honor demanded another family offer it: indeed, to do so would be a grave insult, and the sign of an excessive pride, even hubris. But a city is not a village. Resources are scarce, most people are strangers to each other, and money is necessary.

"...But I can't take this." She stands. "Your help's enough. Sure the girl and Pava and the others would agree. They send their regrets for being called away. If there's news or need for us, find any house drake. Tell it you have a message for Majenko. The drakes'll understand."

Shrike, Eries and Lisrek, West Dock warehouse, evening of 17 Sarenith 4708

Eries Yelloweyes blinks slowly at Shrike, then replaces the floorboard and the carpet. "As you wish, dear, but if you need anything you come to me. I know a few people around these parts." She climbs to her feet with a groan. "And we'll keep watch for those you are looking for. Don't you worry, go to your friends now."

Audria & Co., Sanctuary of Shelyn, evening of 17 Sarenith 4708

Tearful himself, Zacharias does his best to comfort Audria, awkwardly patting her shoulder. "It's not your fault, Audria. It's not your fault. And if you were here and they killed you too, what then?"

One of the older sisters comes into the chapel, her eyes puffy and red as well. "Oh, Audria, my dove! I am so sorry! I know how much he meant to you." She comes to wrap the young paladin into a hug, her robes smelling faintly of mothballs and lye soap. "We are putting together a fund to try and bring him back. And I sent word to Sister Olga and her husband in Harse. Don't give in to despair, Audria. Even beyond death, there is hope," she whispers fiercely.

What then?

What then, indeed. Audria looks down unable to meet Zach's eyes after that. She places a hand on top of his before one of the older sisters comes in and wraps her up in a hug and tells her of their plan, her eyes fall to the glaive she'd dropped, and closes her eyes. She would need to find a new weapon, but how could she not do what she can to help, and especially when she owes Brother Theolan her life.

"Sister Rozalia, do you think you could find a buyer for my glaive," she asks in a whisper.

Shrike, Eries and Lisrek, West Dock warehouse, evening of 17 Sarenith 4708

Eries Yelloweyes blinks slowly at Shrike, then replaces the floorboard and the carpet. "As you wish, dear, but if you need anything you come to me. I know a few people around these parts." She climbs to her feet with a groan. "And we'll keep watch for those you are looking for. Don't you worry, go to your friends now."

"We will." Shrike nods to the elderly wererat with respect, including the boy as well with the smallest turn of her head. "Ma'am. Lisrek."

With no further ceremony she exits the warehouse as silent as she came, hurrying through the unsettlingly empty evening streets for the Sanctuary of Shelyn. Though she is moving fast, it is second nature by now to be watchful for danger too.

"Sister Rozalia, do you think you could find a buyer for my glaive," she asks in a whisper.

”I can help you with that, Audria. I’m sure the Quartermaster of the Guard or Sable Company will give us a fair price for it” Elric interjects.

Pava considers biting their tongue, but their sheer irritation overwhelms that urge without even a struggle.

"Fire and stone! Duckling, do not carve yourself to pieces to assuage your own guilt. Keep the damned glaive and protect people with it. Unless you think we're in the middle of a glorious ascent to universal peace and prosperity?"

"Wait, what's going on?" Shane didn't likely hear the whisper, but then pieces together by hearing what others did "Oh for the... no this is the worst time to be donating weapons that might keep innocents alive."

Elric looks puzzled. ”I think Audria is looking to upgrade or replace her weapon, not get rid of it…right?”

"I--I was wanting to help with bringing back Brother Theolan," she admits, her face turning red as the nest of hair around her and Tally grows a bit larger. "I figured I'd find something else to use with what I could earn myself."

"That what his soul wants?" The croak comes from what Shrike considers a polite distance of five feet behind the three huddled songbirds. It's the first sound she has made in entering the chapel and catching just enough of the conversation to know that Audria is planning to resurrect the Brother. After avoiding the queue of ill people and the tent from which the priests' overlapping voices spiral up in a song of shared entreaty and exhaustion, it had not taken her long to find the room with the covered body laid on the dais surrounded by flowers. Audria and two Shelynites she recognizes only by sight have clearly been mourning together for some little time, while Elric, Pava and Shane hover nearby.

The question is not at all rhetorical, and seems the first obvious one, to her — at least half of all tragedies produced for the stage hinge on someone's doomed efforts to resurrect a loved one against the soul's fate or will, through profane means, or as part of an unholy bargain.

Sister Rozalia raises her head to regard Shrike, nodding slowly in response to her question. "He does not want to abandon us at a time of great need - or the city." She gives Audria one last squeeze of the shoulder before untangling herself from the waves of hair and rises to her feet. "Come now, dove. Too early to be mourning like this. I'll send for your friend, with the shears."

Audria nods, though as she looks around, she realizes that Jessica is likely going to be exasperated by her undoing yet another dye job. After a bit of work gathering up the pile of hair, she looks down at her glaive.

"Thank you, Sister Rozalia," she says before turning to Zach. "After Jessica takes care of my hair, do you think I could see Sister Jennelyn?"

The mask turns between the Shelynites and the other three, then to the shrouded corpse. "What's known of what happened?"

When Sister Rozalia and the younger man have gone, Shrike moves to the dais and lifts a corner of the sheet to examine Brother Theolan's body and see what kind of injury had killed him.

""That what his soul wants?"

Pava manages not to flinch at Shrike's blunt question, but their words to Audria are sharpened nonetheless. "Duckling, this doesn't even get you halfway to paying some god botherer to help your friend - leaving aside . If you want to take on raising funds quick instead of the flaming church that employed him and let this happen in the first place, let's bring that oversized prybar to Gemshare Jewelers or the Bank of Abadar and-" they pause, considering their surroundings"...Get a loan or something."

Audria grits her teeth against the retort that comes with the flare of anger she feels when Pava says that the others let this happen, never mind that she is more than likely the most skilled fighter among the entire clergy of Shelyn here in Korvosa! She grabs her left arm just below the shoulder as she gets a handle on her emotions before she says something rash.

"Pava, what would you do if knew someone was trying to bring back a person that you owed your life to? Wouldn't you want to do whatever you could to bring them back," she asks quietly after she throttles the spike of anger. "Brother Theolan saved Ellie and me. He taught us how to be better people than Gaedren Lamm wanted us to be, and when Lamm and his lot left me for dead, he healed my wounds. He was like a father to me, just as much as Mister Bartholomew is. I only wish we could do the same for everyone who's lost someone."

Perception: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8

Shane maybe brilliant, but he is not nearly as aware as his fellows so he misses the whisper released.

He's glad to see Shrike arrive and explains what they know so far Your excuse to know whatever was said while Shrike was with Yelloweyes

Content warning: grievous wounds, mutilation.

Only if examining the body

Shrike nods her thanks to Shane's quick explanation — Sister Jenelyn seriously injured and unconscious, Brother Theolan's body preserved by magic, Audria considering selling her glaive.

"If you want to take on raising funds quick instead of the flaming church that employed him and let this happen in the first place, let's bring that oversized prybar to Gemshare Jewelers or the Bank of Abadar and-" they pause, considering their surroundings. "...Get a loan or something."

Shrike pauses with the corner of the sheet half-raised and her head turns with incredulous slowness toward Pava. "A loan." She, at least, is not going breeze over the fact that the Shoanti had obviously been about to suggest robbing the Bank of Abadar.

Of all the enemies I don't want to have, the God of Balanced Scales is right near the top.

But any follow-up she had to this not-quite-question flees her mind when she sees the Brother's injuries. Shrike goes perfectly still.

Perception DC 25: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (5) + 9 = 14
Heal DC 15: 1d20 ⇒ 1
Well, I hope that what's hidden behind those spoilers is not just "It looks like it could be the work of the Key-Lock Killer," because that is the very first thing any of us should think, being natives of this city and having already found those two daggers.

"...Not a robbery gone wrong then." This was an intentional murder, and it was personal. No simple startled burglar would go to the trouble of killing in such a specific way, or leaving the carving of a key over the heart.

Initial examination of Theolan’s body
Perception: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (20) + 13 = 33

Heal: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (20) + 13 = 33

Making the concious decision to pretend he did not just vitness the suggestion of armed robbery or burglary, Elric joins Audria and the others in the inspection of the slain cleric.

Intimitly familiar with the many different types of injuries armed violence can inflict on the human body, he reads the wounds on Theolans body like an open book.

”No, this was definitly not some random assault. Those cuts are extremly precise and the key-like pattern carved with great care—the slightest movements would have disturbed them. Most likely made after death…or at least after rendering poor Theolan completly immobile.” he says, a note of steel in his voice.

”Whoever did this took their time…and wield a blade with an extreme level of skill.”

Pava's eyes blaze with a focused heat as they stare Audria down. "What was Gaekhen then, just another dead horser?" Each word is precise, bitten down to what they mean to say rather than the fury that surrounds it. "Leave off it, Duckling."

Heal: 1d20 ⇒ 16
Knowledge (Local): 10 + 7 = 17
Knowledge (Local): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (6) + 7 = 13

They rip their gaze away from Audria to stare much more comfortably at Theolan's mutilation. "Soldier Boy's right. This wasn't random, and either it's the Key-Lock Killer come again, or someone else who's gotten a lot of practice in faking it."

With an acid smile they add, "Want to hold onto your pigsticker until we track the bastard down at least?"

Audria opens her mouth to respond, but what good will it do? She knows the Shoanti are different, but to her, they are still people. Hearing someone who has seen how she tries to treat others and who has seen what she'd tried to do for Many Bones, Gaekhen's grandfather put words like that in her mouth turns her stomach. She wants to yell, to scream at Pava and tell them that they're wrong and how dare they put such hateful words in her mouth. Gaekhen was a person, a dancer, a performer, an artist of motion and athleticism. She hates what happened to him, regrets that she didn't have the chance to get to know him better, and wishes that she could bring him back.

But she barely knew him.

Brother Theolan had taken her in, had given her hope, had helped her and Eliana survive years under Gaedren Lamm's thumb, and saved her life. She owes Brother Theolan, and if Pava doesn't understand that, if they don't want to understand that...

What does it matter? Pava thinks me a fool and will never see me as a friend.

Stealth: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (17) + 11 = 28

Surprisingly quiet for someone in armor and carrying an armful of hair, Audria slips away from the others when Pava turns to inspect the bodies. When they turn back, Audria's gone, her glaive on the floor where she'd dropped it when she learned of Brother Theolan's death.

The Wizard listens to Elric's observations and is impressed, "Perhaps someone with surgical skill?"

Not sure if he gets to make the second Local Knowledge roll if he doesn't observe things himself but assuming he's been told about it counts: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (4) + 10 = 14
Will post more if he can ICly spill any details
He's about to ask Audria what she thinks when..
she's gone.

Shane isn't sure what just happened, having missed half the conversation, but clearly something just went horribly wrong BEYOND the horrific murder.

"Maybe our team work and support of each other could use some practice," The Tiefling observes dryly as he finally notices the glaive that lays on the floor .