Chapter 2 - Set, The City of Gods

As you stand around getting acquainted, you hear footsteps and loud talking approaching the temple from outside.

"...and I want that deed signed yesterday. We don't want to look as if we're showing..."

You have seconds before they enter and see you. What do you do?

Mortemiar sees a side door next to the central dias. The door is unlocked and leads to the sacristy where the priests prepare before service.

Hagrac ducks down in a pew while Theodore shapechanges and hides among as well.

...discrimination against those Oceanus followerd. It has to look organic, just an oversight, you know, slips between the cracks that happen in bureaucracies."

The footsteps continue up the main aisle and stop several rows back before reaching the dias.

"Yes, this will do. The Moon Maidens' misfortune is our benefit. And find a buyer quickly for that space in Seaside."

The two men enter, the sound of grit on the stone floor under their boots loud in the silence of their words. The take a short circuit of the interior, a cursory glance, with one pointing out to the other how he will convert this area or that towards his new temple's decor. There are many references to "the depths", "lightless places", and "aquatic flourishes" between the men.

Luckily none of you are spotted but neither can you get a good glimpse of the two men from your hiding spot, except Theodore whose small form makes him agile and hardly noticeable. One of them is wearing a cowled robe with the hood pulled up, but with the vision of a cat Theodore notices this man looks sickly pale, with bulbous eyes and a flattened nose and fat colorless lips. Theodore also smells ocean brine when he walks close. The other seems to be a city official, dressed in well-cut and moderately expensive clothes. He carries a ledger and has a quill in one hand, making notes while the other speaks. He has a receding hairline and a chunk missing out of the top of one ear.

After their short tour which lasts no more than five minutes the pair sweep out of the temple. "I am looking to start tomorrow so I expect the paperwork filed today," the hooded man says. The other man bobs his head and replies, "Of course, with no delay." Then they depart into the city.

Enimpi crawls out from under one of the pews. "I feel so bad doing that. Why should I feel guilty?" she grumbles as she dusts off her robes. Then she catches what the other party is saying. "Oh I don't think you should go running off! What will you do when you catch them? You could be thrown in a dungeon for a dozen offences before you've taken half as many steps." In order to persuade the rash dwarf from running off alone she adds, "I bet they were talking about the plot of land the Oceanus cult had bid on for their new temple. It can't be a coincidence both the plot of land and this temple were denied to them. Maybe someone is trying to keep Oceanus' believers from having a place of worship..."