([Completed] Luca/Troy Adventure 1): Return to Tuskdale Hall

[archolewa]

The trio bring their horse and cart, and follow Reverend Renae down the street, along with the weeping men. The chapel is a simple one room building with rough wooden benches and a rudimentary wooden altar at the far end. There is very little in the way of adornment, save a wooden eye carved into the wall behind the altar, stained with smoke from the fireplace beneath it.

Renae starts a fire in the fireplace, and then spends some time tending to Vince's wound. Meanwhile, Marsha and her sons lay her husband on the altar, and cover him with a blanket folded up neatly in the corner. They give Renae a look, and then leave when she gestures for them to do so.

Gwen takes the time to put her armor back on, her face grim.

Once Renae finishes with tending to Vince's wounds, she spends some time speaking to and reassuring him and his brothers, and then has the women, their wives and girlfriends presumably, lead them home.

Finally, when it is well past midnight, she turns to the trio of travelers. "Evil forces are interested in your cart. Why? What did you bring into my village?"

[Juramenta]

Luca starts retelling the story of Esmeralda.

[archolewa]

Luca starts retelling the story of Esmeralda.

Are you telling her everything about the Tuskdale mansion, what you saw in there, and what's in the cart? Any details you're leaving out, glossing over, or being misleading about?

[Juramenta]

May I roll insight (if that exists in this game) or a similar check to read her as well? If she gives off untrustworthy vibes, Luca will mostly focus on Esmeralda, who she is and that we are planning to remove her petrification. If it feels like she can be trusted and is just looking out for her village, I will tell her everything. Although, every action by us will be embellished as usual. But that's just Luca being Luca. No ill intent behind it.

[archolewa]

May I roll insight (if that exists in this game) or a similar check to read her as well? If she gives off untrustworthy vibes, Luca will mostly focus on Esmeralda, who she is and that we are planning to remove her petrification. If it feels like she can be trusted and is just looking out for her village, I will tell her everything. Although, every action by us will be embellished as usual. But that's just Luca being Luca. No ill intent behind it.

I'll roll a Wisdom check behind the scenes (your character won't know for sure if he's successfully read the priestess, so I don't want you to know your roll results).

Luca studies the village priestess while she tends to Vince, and checks Greg's body. She seems to prioritize the comfort of her charges above all else, perhaps to a fault. It takes her a fair bit longer to remove the arrow and tend Vince's wounds for example, because of her focus on minimzing his pain. When she speaks to Luca, Troy and Gwen, her voice is soft, but firm, perhaps even stern. Luca also remembers a comment Gwen made when the group arrived at the village that this village is on the border of the lands controlled by the Tuskdales, and she's pretty sure these people owe their allegiance to the Tuskdales.

[Juramenta]

Luca feels confident to tell her the whole truth as he reckons it is in the best interest of family Tuskdale and with it, those they rule over.

[archolewa]

Renae stares dumbfounded at Luca as he tells his story. She walks over and looks inside the wagon, even grabbing a lit candle from the altar to look inside. Her face goes white as snow, and she sits down on a bench. For a moment she just stares up at the smoke-stained eye above the altar. Finally, she speaks in a soft, quavering voice. "Seer guide us. You have to take this to High Priest Derek and the Princess in Thorncity immediately."

[Juramenta]

Funny that you would mention Thorncity, for we were indeed headed there to deal with, well, this. His hand gestures subtly towards the wagon.
As soon as we resolve the petrification issue, we can, of course, seek an audience with High Priest Derek. However, if I may, I know firsthand how these matters of faith and leadership are fraught with responsibilities. The High Priest is surely an honorable man, as is the whole of the Seer's clergy, but they are often inundated with the affairs of state and spiritual duties. It is possible our arrival might not be met with immediate attention, urgent as our mission may be.
He pauses wondering if he used the right words trying not to insult her by hiding what his actual opinion is about the helpfulness of Thorncity’s followers of the divine.
That said, your word would carry weight, and perhaps a written letter or a symbol from you could help convey the importance of our errand. With your backing, I believe we might better ensure an audience and present the truth in all its gravity to the High Priest and even the Princess herself. After all, it's clear that this matter is larger than we expected, and your insight would be invaluable in ensuring they take heed without delay.

[archolewa]

"One of the Princess' vassals and his entire family have apparently vanished into thin air, leaving behind only his daughter as a petrified statue. Of course she will want to speak with you. She'll demand it. Still, I suppose it is farfetched enough that many may not believe you, and you probably shouldn't go spouting this off in hearing of just anyone." The priestess walks behind the altar, and comes up with a wooden sculpture of an eye, except the iris is bloodred. She offers it to Luca. "Here. Take this, and show it a cleric at the Church. All of us have one of these. They signal a terrible emergency that demands the High Priest's immediate attention. I guarantee that unless the city is being actively invaded, you will be speaking to High Priest Derek within the hour."

[Juramenta]

I thank you for your trust and will use this with the utmost responsibility Luca says already thinking about how he might use this if he can hold on to it after meeting with the high priest.

[archolewa]

Renae nods. "Very good. Come with me."

She leads the trio to a small one-room house situated just behind the chapel. "This is my home. I want the three of you to spend the night here. I need to spend the night in vigil over Greg's body anyway, and I want you away from the village. At first light, I want you gone. The Princess must learn of this as soon as possible, and frankly, the less time that cursed jewel spends in my village the better. That thing has caused too much pain and strife here already."

[Juramenta]

We will be gone before your return as requested. he says making a galant bow. I do have a minor request however, would you happen to have anything to still our hunger? Unfortunately we had no time for it back at the inn spinning our tales

[archolewa]

Rena nods. She fetches the group some bread and a bit of fruit, before returning to the Chapel.

Gwen takes a few nibbles of her food and then shivers. "What's going on? We killed the merchant didn't we? What happened to those men?"

[Juramenta]

Well... he pauzes for a moment Exactly how certain are we that he was dead? I mean, sure he was dead in the regular sense, but he did not seem all to concerned when he went down. We just left his corpse there. Think he could have gotten back up? I mean, he was controlling undead. Who knows what he truly was. Luca questions as he thinks back on the fight.

[Kenjosephus]

Troy

Troy talks to Gwen

I have a hunch that someone out from our reach is seeking this jewel. That the vile merchant is but a pawn to whoever mad enough to mess with the mind of the three innocent villagers.

[archolewa]

May 20 - 23 AR 1

"Well you two are just full of comfort," says Gwen with another shudder.

The three finish their meals, sleep and resume their trek at first light the next morning. It takes another three rainy days of travel. The weather forces them to seek shelter in the meeting halls of villages they pass at a silver a night someone deduct 3 silver from your coinage. They turn away any villagers who inquire about goods for sale, saying they are on their way back to Thornwall to restock. They keep their heads down, and a close eye on the wagon, but nobody else disturbs them. Indeed, they see no sign of anyone or anything malevolent or even more than passing curious.

Nonetheless, their skin crawls, the hair on the back of their necks prickles, and they find themselves constantly looking over their shoulders. They cannot help but feel malevolent eyes upon their every step.

It is with some relief when they reach the walls of Thorncity, on a sunny afternoon, the 23rd of May. They move past the gate guards and into the city without incident. Gwen looks around with more than a little agitation, and stays close to the horse, nearly bumping into it as Troy leads the animal through the crowded streets. They can see the steeple of the Church to East, and a little bit north of that the towers of the Arcane Academy, and North of that the spires of the Castle.

What is your next move?

[Juramenta]

Shopping spree it is, time to head for the highest buyers

Follow me my friends. A stranger is just a friend we haven't met yet and I might know a friend who knows a friend interested in our wares he says with such confidence as he strides into the city that it almost appears his sentence made perfect sense.

[Kenjosephus]

Troy

Aye, do get your silver tongue working, mister Silvercharm.

Following Luca brisky move towards the market, Troy felt a little bit uneasy bringing the statue towards and inside the city of Thornwall.

[archolewa]

Gwen glances towards the spires of the Church, opens her mouth to say something, then shrugs and follows after. Normally, I'd have called for a Charisma check here for Luca to convince Gwen to follow him, instead of heading for the Church, but between her trust in him, and his 18 Charisma, it'd be a guaranteed pass.

Luca gets to work finding someone to offload his goods. First place he swings by is The Sly Girl. If there's anyone who knows a guy who knows a guy, it'd be Natasje. She arches her eyebrow at Luca's request, but shrugs and gives him the name for a weapons dealer, with nothing more than a "You were supposed to help the family, not rob them." Gwen glares at Natasje in response to this comment, which Natasje answers with a little half-smirk.

"Getting field plate made goes about 25 gold. Plus that filigree, you're looking at an extra 10. Buuuut, field plate is specially made for a single individual. Ain't gonna fit anyone else. So that's gonna take a chunk out of its worth. Plus, folks are gonna think you stole it. Not saying you did of course. But ya know. Guy I know won't ask too many questions, but he's gonna assume it's stolen. He'll only pay a fraction of its worth for stolen stuff that distinctive unless you can convince him otherwise," says Natasje.

She shudders at the occult stuff in the cart. "Lady I know, lives in the neighborhoods at the edge of the docks. She'll take it off yer hands. You can haggle her, but if she tries to walk away, Seer help you just take her offer. You don't want to be caught with that stuff. Most other wizards and elves be as likely to report you to the Castle for carting crap like that around."

She takes a moment to study the five gems in the bag. "I'll take these off of your hands for two gold a pop."

Luca detects a subtle undercurrent of excitement in Natasje's voice. She likes the gems quite a bit.

[Juramenta]

Luca scratches his head.
One moment please he elegantly says to Natasja while giving a slight nod.

With Natasja still present, he will turn towards his companions.
I’m afraid I am met with a small dilemma here. The coins can go for 3 gold each, but I will need to spend some hours finding the right buyer. I am certain Natasja will be willing to go up to 2 gold and 5 silver each. It is my job to sense these things, even if she would now disagree he grins with a misschievous smile and a little wink to Natasja.

I am inclined however, to give it to her for that reduced price. This as she is a close friend and can be of great assistance to us here in the city. However, it is not only my loot I would be giving away. As it belongs to you as much as it does to me. Personally I believe she is worth the price difference, but I need your blessing before I sell it to her. he glances at both Troy and Gwen as he waits for their answer.