Naras' Vignette

[JadedDM]

Naras moves to the halfling with the ocarina, positioning her body to cover line of sight from the barman to the halfling, indicating Leena to cover her back.
"Evening player", she says, "looking for an old human woman, dressed as a follower of Gonto. Seen anything helpful?"
**
If there's a helpful response, 2 copper goes into the cup. "Can you tell me anything more?"
- Further help gets the same again. Very helpful gets 1 silver.
**
If nothing useful turns up, then "Thanks anyway, player," and Naras gives her 1 copper then heads over to talk to the barman.

[JadedDM]

"Maybe I have, maybe I haven't," says the halfling. "It's hard to remember, as I haven't eaten today. Perhaps to help, you'd like to donate to the 'Get Pearl off of this dumb island' fund. Seriously, I've been trying to save for a year to get passage somewhere else--anywhere else. But the people of this town don't appreciate good music at all. She picks up the cup and holds it out to the two. "Huh? Huuuh?" she asks, shaking the cup. It makes no noise because it is empty.

[JadedDM]

"Pearl, 2 bits just for being you," as she puts 2 coppers into the cup. "You know my kin pay their debts. So, help me now or don't."

[JadedDM]

Pearl looks at Naras incredulously, then looks down at the two coppers in the cup, as if to confirm that exchange just really happened. "Are you kidding me? That'll buy me, what, a beer?" She shakes the mug again, and this time it rattles slightly as it holds two coins. "Surely you can afford better than that. Look at you, decked out in that nice armor. What did that cost you? A hundred? Two hundred gold coins?" She scoffs. "Two coppers isn't even worth my name, much less what I know about your friend."

"You already told us your name," Leena points out. "And are you saying you have seen her?"

"Hey, hey, don't change the subject," Pearl argues. "Where's your compassion here? In the past year, I've only managed to earn 6 gold coins. It would have been more, but I've been robbed twice, plus I have to keep spending on food and shelter. I'm going to be stuck in this crap town for another decade at this rate."

"Perhaps you should get a real job then, instead of wasting time with that flute," Leena argues.

"It's an ocarina, not a flute. Isn't Gonto the goddess of knowledge? How do you not know that?" she argues, stomping her feet angrily.

"She is wasting our time," Leena says, putting her hands on her hips. "She's just a vagrant trying to scam us out of coin."

[JadedDM]

"Her loss, was going to try 'n' help her, food for sure, maybe a fill-in job 'til I could see about getting her on a boat," Naras said to Leena, as if Pearl wasn't there." She started to turn away towards the barman.

[JadedDM]

"Typical Gontorians," Pearl mutters as Naras and Leena turn away from her.

The bartender looks up from his duty as the two women approach, giving them a look-over. "Beer?" he asks.

"No," Leena replies. "We are searching for a woman--human, elderly and dressed in green robes. She is an acolyte of Gonto."

The bartender frowns, then turns away from them, polishing the bar again. "Haven't seen her. Try somewhere else."

"We were told she came here," Leena objects.

"You were told wrong," he replies, focusing on the bar and not looking at them. "She hasn't been here. Now move on. I don't want any trouble."

[JadedDM]

Naras insists quietly, "She was here. Talk to me and maybe we can avoid trouble. Gonto _will_ have her servant back."

[JadedDM]

The bartender looks over around, a tad nervously. Naras notices that a number of the rogues and thugs have ceased their activities and seem to be paying close attention to her conversation. "Trouble," the bartender says, "is what I am trying to avoid. I don't know anything. She was never here. There's no reason for you to remain, so best be on your way."

Leena, glancing around, slowly places a hand on her morning star, as if expecting trouble.

[JadedDM]

OOC: Does the barman seem to be lying about Agnas? And how many rogues & thugs are present? And how many appear to be taking an interest?

[JadedDM]

Naras studies the barman carefully, but if he's lying, he is doing a remarkable job at keeping it hidden.

Scanning around the tavern's common room, she spots three elves in dark leathers to the north, six human mariners to the south, four swarthy dwarves near the bar, and a rather ugly half-ogre sitting to the south with four human thugs. So far, everyone in the room is paying attention to her, except Pearl who is trying to play again but is being ignored, to her annoyance.

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

Naras makes a WIS check [TN 17] (1d20): 18, fail.

[JadedDM]

Ther priestess nods to the barman, "Well, seems I might have been mislead. What's your name by the way? Mine's Stonebreaker."
**
After getting his name (and looking to see if he signals to others in the room), Naras says to Leema, "With me," and wanders across to the four dwarves. Leaning in, she says quietly in dwarven, "Hello boys! Maybe you can help me. I seem to lave lost my elderly human servant. In green robes. She's old and maybe not too much use, but I've got used to having her around. Any ideas?"
**
If no pick up here, ~final chance is Pearl.~ So Naras bids farewell to the dwarves and heads towards the door, passing next to Pearl.She leans down to place a coin (silver) into Peal's cup and whispers, "I'll be round the side", flashing a palmed gold coin so that only Pearl can see it.

[JadedDM]

"Name's Corff," the bartender says. She doesn't see him signal anyone, he mostly just looks relieved that she's leaving.

The dwarves don't take too kindly to her. "Sod off," one of them tells her rather rudely.

"Meebee she up and died if'n she's so old," says another. The others laugh at this little joke.

Leena scowls at them, but says nothing. She and Naras make to leave.

When Pearl sees the gold, her eyes flash. After the two have exited and go around the side of the building, they wait. Pearl joins them shortly thereafter. "Well now, decided I'm not useless trash after all, did you?" she asks.

[JadedDM]

"Pearl, never said you were. Just looking to help a friend. Now, there isn't any more gold so don't bugger about." Naras flipped the gold piece to the halfling. "Your chance to make a friend. Tell me what you know about my missing friend. If it's good, come and see me tomorrow." She waited, ready, listening for any ambush or rushing of feet.

OOC: It's very literal, but Naras has no more gold on her.

[JadedDM]

Pearl catches the gold coin and quickly bites it to ensure its authenticity. Having done so, she quickly pockets it. "Yeah, she came in here about an hour ago, or so. Blabbing something about a new kohen or something...I admit, I kind of stopped paying attention to her after she stiffed me. Anyway, what got my attention back was when a group of thugs approached her. They said they represented a big wig who wanted to donate lots of gold to the temple, so she readily went with them. Not very bright, huh? I mean, I've been playing here long enough to know who those thugs were--they were Leaguers. But even if I didn't, I don't think I would have fallen for such a poor story."

"The League?" Leena asks, her eyes widening. "The League of Freed Minds? Are you certain?"

Pearl nods. "Oh, yeah. Like, I've said, I've seen them around, and people say lots of stuff in front of me. Part of being a halfling, everyone ignores you. They are definitely with the League. I think they arrived here a few weeks ago. Not sure what they are up to, but I guess having an acolyte of Gonto right in their sights was too tempting to pass up."

"You saw all of this and didn't report it to the wardens?" Leena asks incredulously. "The League is banned from this town, ever since the attack 10 years ago."

Pearl shrugs. "Why? There's no reward and the wardens never did anything for me, anyway. Sure didn't stop me from getting robbed. Twice."

The League, as Naras would well know, is a group of extremist Crizzites. While Gonto preaches that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few and that everyone has a destiny to fulfill, Crizza emphasizes the importance of self-determination and free will. So these two have always been at odds. But the League is on a whole different level. They strongly believe that government of any kind stagnates the people and holds them back. They are essentially anarchists and often infiltrate other organizations with the intent of bringing them down. In the past, they have performed horrific acts of violence. Recently, for instance, it is said that the city of Deimos on Mond Island was nearly destroyed after they unleashed a horde of zombies and Slaadi on the unsuspecting population.

(OOC: Not true. Aside from the ruby in her secret pouch, check her first belt pouch--she has a few coins in it.)

[JadedDM]

While Pearl was talking, Naras unconsciously feels in her belt pouch to check on her spare icon for reassurance. Her fingers find two coins hidden away in the lining - gold crowns.
She stares intently at Pearl for a few seconds after the halfling has finished speaking. ~Does she sound truthful?~ She looks as Leema to see if she appears to believe the halfling.
**
If Naras believes Pearl, and she wants to, she says, "My apologies, friend, I made an honest error. These are yours. I _now_ have no gold." She passes the two coins over. "As I said, if you come and see me tomorrow, I you will be fed. We can talk about possibilities for a temporary job and about trying to get you off the island, although no promises beyond 'I will try.' Now, are any of the others in there Leaguers? Where would Agnas - the Gonto acolyte - have been taken? And why? Do you know if the Leaguers are connected with anyone powerful on the island? What can you tell me about where she'd be? Or how many of them there are? Any help would be appreciated, please. Including who else I need to talk to." It was clear that 'talk to' included cracking heads if need be.