Against the Cult: Meet Me at the Bar Fight (1.9)

Jan 27, 2025 4:16 pm

"Interesting," says Aanbo. "I did not expect Orlane to have close relations with troglodytes. What god do you follow that has you marked with the same tattoo on those foul beasts?" The monk describes how the troglodyte at the farm bore the spiral symbol.

spaceseeker19

Jan 28, 2025 6:18 am

Against the Cult: Meet Me at the Bar Fight (1.9)

"He...he kept money for himself? When did he...?" Lhari's mouth snaps shut and his brow furrows with a frown in response to Theran's casual reply. "That's not for the good of the community!"

Theran Naïlo

MaJunior

Jan 28, 2025 2:50 pm

Against the Cult: Meet Me at the Bar Fight (1.9)

"No, no it's not. It's good for Derek though." Theran says with a shrug. "But it raises the question... was he just stealing from travelers? Or was he being paid for something else?"

Myrtha

matmaisan

Jan 28, 2025 8:14 pm

Against the Cult: Meet Me at the Bar Fight (1.9)

"You mean being paid for all the torturing and killing?" she asked.

"Guess it’s one of those things she asks of those who’ve met her…" she suggested.

spaceseeker19

Jan 29, 2025 3:15 am

Against the Cult: Meet Me at the Bar Fight (1.9)

"From its founding, Orlane was dedicated to the goddess of agriculture, Merikka." Lhari explains to Aanbo, clearly reciting a bit of familiar folklore/history. "While troglodytes have never been welcomed to the Temple of Merikka with the good people of Orlane, the goddess has domain over all food that grows from the earth, and troglodytes need to eat, too. Some acknowledge her sovereignty as we do."

spaceseeker19

Jan 30, 2025 3:09 pm

Against the Cult: Meet Me at the Bar Fight (1.9)

Lhari is clearly pretty upset at the revelation that Derek had stockpiled loot. "Why would he do that? How could he have done that? Everything we need is provided..." Eventually what Myrtha has said registers, and he gets hot. "What? NO! She does NOT condone torture! If he was torturing people, then he was no true believer!"

OOC:

At this point, we could abstract this conversation if you like. This could speed up the process of getting to the long rest that Chase needs to restore his hit die and recover consciousness (not to mention Theran's spells). What information are you trying to get out of your captives? What are you going to do with them?

Aanbo Earthshaker

CancerMan

Feb 5, 2025 6:36 pm

Against the Cult: Meet Me at the Bar Fight (1.9)

Aanbo double-checks the bindings on Hamiff. "Okay," he says, looking at Lhari. "You must take instruction from someone. If we wanted to become true patriots of Orlane, who would we talk to? What would we have to do?"

He continues the questioning like a diligent miner prospecting for ore. "It's obvious that non-Orlane citizens are taken into custody. What happens to them? I think it was Hulbar or Donovan that mentioned the temple. Is that where they go?"

OOC:

Basically, Aanbo will try to determine who's in charge of the operation. He's become aware that not everybody knows everything, but if Lhari can at least finger several people that we don't already know are with the goddess, that might be a good start.

He'll also want some info on the temple itself; how it's laid out, if it goes underground and if so how deep, any non-Orlane citizens within the temple, etc. He's aware that he didn't exactly hear (at least I don't remember) Hulbar nor Donovan talk about the temple, but Aanbo thinks that if Lhari didn't know what Derek was up to, he might believe the story that the other dwarves said something.

Theran Naïlo

MaJunior

Feb 7, 2025 6:08 pm

Against the Cult: Meet Me at the Bar Fight (1.9)

Once everyone is awake, Theran recounts his side's experience after they split at the barn.

"We hauled the body with us, and found an entrance directly into the cellar. We explored as we moved, cautiously. We thought we heard a commotion on the street above, but couldn't risk being caught with a literal dead body."

Theran grabs a chair and sits, the day starting to catch up with him. He cracks his neck and runs fingers through his long hair as he considers how to phrase what comes next.

"This inn has a lot of hidden passages. I'm not surprised they're able to keep things hidden from the villagers... even the ones they're allied with, apparently." The wood elf shoots a poignant look at the captive cultist. "We found another hidden door with a small room, and another door that opened into a tunnel. We heard a noise beyond the door, but by the time we actually opened it we couldn't see anything or anyone. I have to wonder what other buildings connect to the tunnels. We didn't explore it, but I have to believe more of the town is part of the network.

Regardless, we stashed the body. Gods, it feels terrible saying that, but..." Theran shakes his head and splays his hands in front of him, giving a shrug and a sigh.

"After we did that, we headed up into the inn. A fight broke out. I... I tried to keep Reptile alive, but... I failed, clearly. You saw the aftermath down there. We charged upstairs after that monster," Theran punctuates his word by jabbing his staff roughly into the corpse of the scarred man as he continues, "and my earlier reconnaissance paid off, since the hidden passageway wasn't a secret. But that's about where you all joined back up with us, and you know the rest."

Theran falls quiet and looks at the remaining Dungeon Busters. "I'm worried about leaving, because that gives them time to regroup and to twist this tale to suit their own ends. But... someone beyond us needs to know what's happening here, and frankly I think we need help. I feel like this is bigger than the four of us can handle."

Last edited February 7, 2025 6:10 pm

spaceseeker19

Feb 7, 2025 7:41 pm

Against the Cult: Meet Me at the Bar Fight (1.9)

OOC:

Sorry for not responding sooner; I really thought I had posted responses to Aanbo's post already.

Aanbo asks Lhari: "If we wanted to become true patriots of Orlane, who would we talk to? What would we have to do?"

Lhari is not good at disguising his anger, unhappiness, and fear with this situation or his reluctance to answer these questions directly, but he does respond. "True patriots of Orlane wouldn't kill its citizens, for one thing!" He gets a sly look on his face. "...or if they did, they'd show up to repent at the Temple. She is very forgiving, and will embrace all those who are genuinely contrite."

Then Aanbo continues: "It's obvious that non-Orlane citizens are taken into custody. What happens to them? I think it was Hulbar or Donovan that mentioned the temple. Is that where they go?"

Lhari frowns at this. "I don't know what you mean about 'taking non-citizens into custody.' The only ones we tried to take into custody were you, and that was only after you went berserk and attacked the other customers here at the Inn. I know murder may seem like no big crime to big city adventurers like you, but around here we take it pretty seriously. After you killed Hep and Poe, and nearly killed Bertram, a bunch of us were all for going right then and stringing you up. That'd be justice!

"But some of the others reminded us of Her mercy and how She redeemed even hardened criminals to become productive members of Orlane that truly serve the Homeland." In Lhari's fervor, you can hear the capital letters in his speech as a beatific smile transforms his face. "So a group of us went out to capture you and take you to the temple to be redeemed." His face flushes dark again as his brows furrow in a frown. "You probably murdered them all, too, didn't you? Didn't you? Maybe some monsters shouldn't be redeemed."

spaceseeker19

Feb 7, 2025 7:48 pm

Against the Cult: Meet Me at the Bar Fight (1.9)

Aanbo and Theran both notice that truculent captive Lhari visibly quails and gives an involuntary shake of his head when Theran recounts how they opened the door in the basement.

Aanbo Earthshaker

CancerMan

Feb 7, 2025 8:03 pm

Against the Cult: Meet Me at the Bar Fight (1.9)

"You took in Jonbon," says Aanbo, though he is indifferent to whether or not Lhari recognizes the name. It's clear that Lhari is not very high on the need-to-know list.

The monk continues, "So murder is not what a citizen of Orlane would do, but apparently poisoning people is. That is what Bertram did to our meal before he and his fellows (presumably Hep and Poe) said they'd take us to Her. Do you think the goddess would forgive us for defending ourselves from being kidnapped?

"Whatever. You probably do not know, much like you did not know that Derek was torturing people and hoarding gold." Aanbo sighs. "I feel sorry for you, Lhari. You have been lied to, probably for a long time, by people like Constable Grover and Bertram. By people that are manipulating you and others like you into doing their dirty tasks while they profit.

"You might think that we are lying, but you have been made to ignore how every person we've encountered was given a chance to stand down and resolve conflicts peacefully. The others chose to attack with intent to kill, and we were forced to meet them with equal intention. Those who chose peace, like you and Hamiff, are still alive. Our mercy should be apparent to you now."

With that, Aanbo listens to Theran's summation of events. He adds his own to fill in the gaps. "Chase and I explained what we could to the Mayor and Constable. It seems that the Constable and half of the accompanying villagers are under the spell of this spiral tattoo and were reluctant to believe us, while the Mayor and others prove reasonable. We willingly surrendered to the custody of the Constable and were escorted in this direction, when out of sight from the others we were attacked by Grover, Donovan, and Hulbar. They tried to make it appear as though we initiated the attack. We knocked them unconscious and left them bound and disarmed on the road, when we heard the conflict in this tavern. The rest, you know."

Aanbo purposefully left out the elves' and Alan's involvement, lest Lhari report them for their non-compliance.

Myrtha

matmaisan

Feb 7, 2025 9:21 pm

Against the Cult: Meet Me at the Bar Fight (1.9)

Despite her exhaustion, the warrior listened carefully to the exchange, grateful for Aanbo’s and Theran’s interventions. She was surprised that they spoke of the dead man that Theran, Reptile and she had carried back to the inn.

"Suppose we ought to show Lhari here what Derek did to that poor soul," Myrtha stated, feeling disgust at the lad’s blind faith in his seniors. "Maybe take him downstairs to see what lies behind these hidden passages. Patriots, he thinks… but these are just murderers and liars."

Standing up again, she added. " Wager there’s more hidden gold, and perhaps papers, in Bertram’s room too… we ought to secure those, before moving on."

spaceseeker19

Feb 7, 2025 9:25 pm

Against the Cult: Meet Me at the Bar Fight (1.9)

CancerMan says:

"You took in Jonbon," says Aanbo, though he is indifferent to whether or not Lhari recognizes the name.

Indeed, Lhari looks blank at the name.

Lhari does, however, look rueful when Aanbo reminds him that his life was spared. He's grateful, and a little perplexed, as that behavior doesn't fit into what he knows about the characters otherwise.

OOC:

A meta-observation: Lhari was upstairs when the party initially entered town, and only came down after Theran had passed out, the mob attacked, and Reptile started fighting back. So from his perspective, he came downstairs and saw reptile slaughtering the commoners; he might well believe that Reptile just started murdering. Then, as far as anyone knows, the next time he encountered the heroes was when he and his companions came out into the hall and found the party already attacking Derek. Again, from his perspective, it doesn't look good for the heroes.

None of that is to say that the PCs should be treating him any differently, of course! It's just fun to note how suspicion and incomplete information can affect NPC attitudes.

CancerMan says:

Aanbo purposefully left out the elves' and Alan's involvement, lest Lhari report them for their non-compliance.

OOC:

Nicely done!

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