Against the Cult: Disappearances (1.6)

"No," Jonbon replies, "I haven't put others to sleep with buteo and taken them to Orlane before the Jarls." He smiles, a little sheepishly. "..or after, of course." He frowns in apparently genuine puzzlement. "Bandit Black? No, I don't know that name, nor have I met him. I get along with everyone, but I don't claim to know everybody."

Brother Jamin gives the nod: there's time enough for one more question before his Zone of Truth runs out.

"Spiritual, yes." Jonbon's eyes widen with a manic fervor as he continues to speak. "So many things change when you come face to face with the goddess...Their sense of purpose, of direction, of being a part of something greater than themselves, of the value of service, of wanting to earn her favor, of belonging to a growing, tight-knit community. It is such a blessing, a change for the better, that all must experience!"
Brother Jamin sighs; the presence of the deity has left him and no one is being prevented from lying any longer. But Jonbon remains earnest as he continues: "You will see! You will be blessed too, and see how wondrous it is to be joined in the sight!" His smile fades and his brows fall into a frown. "Unless fear overtake you and you flee from the goddess. Some cannot bear the sight and instead choose the darkness."

Louis takes the group out of the room and locks the door with Jonbon inside. Back in the front office, he shakes his head. "Well, you got a clear confession out of him: he added something to their food that put them to sleep, loaded them on a wagon, and was taking them to Orlane to be converted to some religion. I'm noting that all down, and with let the Reeve know when he returns to pass judgment. Thank you, Brother." He shakes Jamin's hand and claps him on the back. "We're much obliged for your help." Then he turns to everyone else. "I know you all want to talk to the bandits, too, but I gotta wonder: what is going on in Orlane?"

Louis replies to Aanbo: "Yes, I've heard about Zahm from Lienne; he's already set up his forge and has been making friends. I'll take your advice into account, and let the Reeve know your concerns when he returns."

To Myrtha, Jamin the Dellebene monk replies: "No, that doesn't sound like Merikka at all. The people of Orlane honor Merikka as the goddess of fertility and the harvest in particular, because they have been so blessed with bounty in their produce. Their vegetables have been second to none for as long as I can remember, and the Orlane farmers have long been the highlight of Market Day. I have no idea what he could mean by "earning her favor," either, or what "service" people could provide to Merikka, other than growing good things and...uh...making babies." Jamin blushes a little at this last item; as a devotee of Delleb, his attitude about procreation is usually academic, his discussions about it clinical and usually in a dim library, and not face to face with a larger-than-life musky musclewoman hero in the light of day.

Karliel spares Brother Jamin any further embarrassment by pulling him away to begin the interrogation of the captive bandits. They are clearly much less civilized and intelligent than Jonbon, with very little charm or guile. They don't engage in the misdirections, half-answers, and oblique statements that the entertainer did in his questioning; they either answer openly or grimly refuse to respond.

From their answers to Karliel's questions, the party discovers:
- One of them was an orphan who ran away from the temple in Hookhill and joined up with Black's band years ago. Two were minor thieves on the run from the Guild in Hookhill. One was a failed Hochoch farmer. All are
- Black's organization has never had fewer than a couple dozen bandits in it, but they almost never gather together at once.
- They never stay in one place for very long; they set up camp in one place, then move on again. Usually they set up camp in the Dim or the Rushmoors
- Bandit Black assigns tasks to smaller squads, who then go off and perform them. They've been divided into as many as eight different groups robbing in different areas.
- Black has a fantastic success rate at figuring out ways to steal or otherwise acquire money. Each of them has gained much more money than they ever earned in their previous lives, or ever were likely to earn in any other profession.
- They've preyed on a lot of people leaving Orlane recently, but then they were told to take the mill
- The attack on the mill was unusual: they don't usually attack a target that close to a town, and when they do, it's usually hit-and-run, not to occupy it. None of them knew why they were holding the mill, other than that Black told them to do it.
- The mill plan was relatively complicated; rather than sacking the place, they were to occupy it and continue operations by holding the family hostage
- While it wasn't clear how they would profit from operating the mill, they never doubted that it would have got them a lot of money had it continued according to Black's plan.

The bandits respond with enthusiasm that Black treats all people equally. With considerably less enthusiasm, they admit that this included kobolds from time to time. They were told to expect the little monsters, and give them access to the basement. After they took the Miller family hostage, kobolds that Black sent met them at the mill, and the kobolds had tools and instructions to dig in the basement. After this, the bandits don't agree on what the purpose of this was: one is indifferent, one thought they were digging a tunnel that would go under the Realstream, while the other two were convinced that they were there to find treasure buried on that spot long before the mill was constructed.

Whatever it was, though, it was a big project: one or two more kobolds arrived every day, and they were taking the dirt and dumping it downstream into the River.

None of them are sure what happened to the kobolds after the Dungeon Busters arrived, though they're fairly interested. Were they killed? Did they scatter? Did they jump in the Realstream? The bandits seem eager for gory details.

Instinctively, Xana wants to say "The kobolds were all dead when I got there!" but finds that she can't. She makes a number of attempts, and eventually hits upon: "There were some kobolds down in the basement. When I realized that no one else was going to handle the problem, I realized it was all up to me again. Sometimes even the best leader has to do the work herself."

Louis remarks: "The miller, Hale? He didn't report anything, but when Cormac told the Reeve about the incident, we went down to look it over right away. That was before Hale was fully healed; he was still at the Temple. We didn't find anything in the basement except a bunch of dead kobolds and the start of some diggings that weren't extensive enough to know what they were for. We've been on the lookout for kobolds ever since, but no one has seen any more. Aside from that, all I know is that Tuan Vo has been caring for that insane man, Tap. We talked to him, too, but it's difficult to get much sense out someone whose mind is broken. He saw something in that basement that drove him mad. We've gone over it, but there's nothing else out of the ordinary about that basement. Since then, Hale has returned to work and filled in the hole."

Several times during this account, Xana starts to say something, but stops herself. In the end, she says simply: "I didn't see anything in the basement that would drive me mad."