The Sundered Way

[Theis2]

"The report I have is that citizens reported a purple-faced man turning a cat into a dragon and back to terrorize some street children. When my guards arrived, you were holding the cat like a sacrifice and had some glowing staff with gems? You claim that isn't the case?"

Holger laughs slightly at the description
"The only spell I cast was mage hand to signal Maji to distance himself from the kids.. I can recreate the scenario with an illusion if you are interested. We've not been on the best of terms lately so rather than listen he transformed to a cat with his magic setting off the chaos. I stopped Maji from running off with a sleep spell and not wanting to be clawed by him I held him by the legs. Not that it stopped him from that on the way here.. I've been a performer most of my life so decided I would give the guards a bit of a show and a story to tell their wives and kids. Couldn't make it worse than supposedly transforming a cat into a dragon. Floating gems is the limit off the staff."

"What are your names? Some of the guards have taken to calling you Purpleface and Dragon Cat, but I assume those weren't names you gave them?"

"An accurate description though slightly unimaginative.. I'm Holger Starwind"

"Do you have any affiliations?"

"We are a group of roughly 8 people who have worked together since the festival of hope but are otherwise unaffiliated. Well a couple are a bit ingrained with their church but they are satisfied with doing good in the world by ridding it of monsters."

"When did you arrive in Galisti?"

"An hour before we met roughly."

"Are you staying in the city?"

"Yes and I assume it would be at the lame goat as that's the only clue we got."

"You say your business in the city is to search for a woman? What is your intent towards her?"

"A dwarven wizard asked us to look for her in exchange for a teleportation spell. He send her on an errand here to retrieve a tool his previous apprentice took from him when they parted. Being a typical wizard he wanted us to complete her errand so his research could continue. We however are more focused on finding out what happened to her and help her stay alive and well when we find her making his research secondary or tertiary on our priority list. It has been over a month since he had any contact with her though so either she's dead or something is interfering with his magic. She looks like this."

Holger will ask permission for showcasing an illusion of her.

Holger will scratch his face to cover his mouth if he hears Tess' whisper and inaudible say "don't think so"

[thinkslogically]

((Assuming she heard the reply)):

Message (over a cough): "See you at the inn then".

Nem will turn back to the guard. "Oh my goodness, what a shame! Can I help?"

[spiderwrangler]

"Festival of Hope?"

He cautiously nods to allow you to cast your illusion of her, but as you do, you hear a bit of commotion from out in the hallway, followed by Tess whispering in your ear.

((Tess, give me a Sleight of Hand as you whisper into your bit of wire. The desk guard will have disadvantage on noticing.))

[thinkslogically]

SOH: 1d20+6 = [18] = 24

[spiderwrangler]

((I was planning on just taking the -5 on her passive. She has no clue, and the messages are exchanged with none the wiser, as the Commander's attention was also drawn to the commotion.))

[thinkslogically]

Nem commiserates with the guard a little, offering a handkerchief to help clean up the mess, then waits to file her report in an entirely law-abiding (if probably somewhat annoying) fashion, just in case Holger changes his mind on the help or is allowed to leave.

Once it's all done, she'll head out into the streets, looking for someone who might point her towards the Lame Goat. She'll also keep an eye out for any more thieves marks and/or likely contacts (with that message gesture from earlier). In short, she's taking the scenic route to the inn and is in absolutely no rush to get there now she knows Holger is ok.

2d20 = [14, 7] = 21

Insight: +2 = 16
Perception: +4 = 11

[Rodgeir]

"So...probably better if a human asks about the woman. Randy ye gonna ask or we gonna wait until everyone's here?"

[Lurks_In_Shadows]

Randy looks thoughtful and nods. "Probably. Might as well get started. Maybe we can have an answer by the time the others show."
He signals the innkeeper, indicating he needs to speak to her.

[M0rtimer]

Ulmwin shift somewhat uncomfortably. Seems he's got an idea, but he wants to make certain no one can overhear, so this was likely not the best spot for it- He speaks up again once he's absolutely sure no one can be listening in.

"Y'know, twas heavily suspected that the lass we're looking after... Well, his artifact mostly but finding her will lead us to that- Was taken away by unsavory characters, so word is likely to spread around about us searching for her."

"...What if one of us were to disguise as her, and walk about? We could get some of the men responsible to reveal themselves, if by accident."

[NotStickFigures]

"Dornikal, no one has really bothered me at all or given me attitude. It seems gnomes and halflings aren't common here, but also aren't held in bad regard." he shrugs, "to me it makes no sense to hold a grudge for generations."

While Ulmwin is eating he begins chatting with him about history! "I still don't understand exactly what we found in the wilderness with the blights. That place was obviously built so long ago, and the statues showed all the races, working together, but with a very strong Gnomish involvement. And so advanced! None of the history I know of, from stories or books, ever mention anything like that. How could that all have been forgotten or ignored on purpose? Have you ever heard of anything like that?"

EDIT: This would be before you started actually talking about our current plan, he was just chatting to chat until the rest show up, hopefully.

[M0rtimer]

"Well, it's not been forgotten in full, I don't think. My folk are still tinkerers, somewhat, though we keep to smaller stuff, trinkets and such... Nothing like would be found in a place like that, I'll admit."

[Rodgeir]

Dornikal listens politely to the made up stuff about gnomes having a great, advanced civilization while he eats.

[M0rtimer]

Ulmwin may or may not slightly embellish the stories of his homeland.

[Theis2]

"Festival of Hope?"

"Oh right, we're pretty far away from Circle vale to make it a feasible trip. In short it's a celebration of the peace that followed the sundering. All kinds of people go there making it a lucrative place for performances and a great opportunity to hear news and stories from all over the world.

Actually I just remembered I don't hear Tess whisper so I won't have answered her unless Holger knows it's from Tess

Holger will make a copy of Kreldoran's illusion hoping he didn't just make it up.

[spiderwrangler]

((You'd know someone was trying to contact you, but not who unless you 'pick up the call'.))

[Theis2]

Right, there haven't been a whole lot of magic with them so there's no reason to assume the guard captain is trying to enter his mind so Holger would open up. He'll make the illusion so they have to turn their head away from Holger to see her while he answers Tess while scratching his face. He'll then have her walk over to Holger and twirl around to face them again.

[thinkslogically]

((wait, Holger can't just hear Messages? That's inconvenient...))

[Theis2]

((My brain got its own border patrol! I'm ready to refuse entry to all! ))

[Rodgeir]

"So...are we being sneaky or direct?"

[Lurks_In_Shadows]

"Mostly direct...misdirecting someone about your reasons can cause people to clam up, even if they would normally talk to you. The innkeeper strikes me as being reasonably honest, so straight talk is probably best. That being said, we don't have to lay EVERYTHING out up front. She IS an innkeeper, so that means an ear for gossip. There's very little we can do to prevent other people learning that we're looking for this person. We probably can prevent them from learning that we're looking for the doohickey as well."

[Rodgeir]

"Well aye guess ye can let meh know what aye can do to help."

[Lurks_In_Shadows]

"Given the current attitudes, probably just stay quiet and don't attract attention. These folks seem to be ready to try to fight the last race war over again."
He shakes his head. "We probably shouldn't make it a point that we're working for a dwarven wizard, either. That is NOT going to endear us to our hosts. They seem pretty suspicious of magic around here. That may be what got his apprentice in trouble to start with. They may have thought her a dwarven spy or saboteur. It's anyone's guess as to whether she got detained by officials for questioning or whether she got kidnapped by extremists or by criminals. The innkeeper's response should be helpful, even if she won't tell us anything. But for reference sake, we're here on temple business...which is more or less true, at least for me. The wizard has information I need and this is his price."

[spiderwrangler]

The commotion outside the room dies down, and the Commander returns his attention to Holger, Dragon-Cat and the illusion, the later of which he studies until Holger dismisses it.

He finally sighs, sitting back in his chair and rubbing his face. "I can say with certainty that you won't find the woman you seek in Galistri. I... I don't suppose that concludes your business here?"

---

In the outer area, Tess helps the guard on desk duty with cleaning up the spilled ink. Her curses are much quieter a less frequent now, her face red from the looks it got her from some of the others around. "Spoons, I'm sorry... wasn't paying attention, let myself get careless... it's gonna be my spatula if this ink stains the desk." She yawns, covering up with a hand that leaves a trace of ink above her lip.

"Here, let's move over here so I can take your statement... you mind starting from the top? What was your name again? Where can you be reached? Where were you when you noticed you'd been robbed? Do you think it happened there, or previously and you only noticed then? How much was taken? Did you see anyone you think might have been responsible? If so, can you give me a description?"

It seems the excitement of spilling the ink has jolted her back alertness.

---

Randy flags down the innkeeper.

"Everything alright? Selina taking good care of you?"

[thinkslogically]

Tess repeats her story for the guard, hopefully giving Holger a bit of extra time in case he and / or what she assumes is Maji change their minds on the needing help thing.

[spiderwrangler]

The guard dutifully writes it all down.

"Unfortunately, coins look much the same as any other coins, but if we apprehend any pick pockets, any funds recovered would be put towards replacing what was taken from the victims. We'll do what we can, and send word to you at the Lame Goat, should it turn up.

She places your report on a large stack of others to the side.