Chapter One: The Iron Sphere of Sthombo

They don't get any special combat bonuses for flanking, but they're on either side of the party. Two to your left and three to your right. The justiciars are in front of you.

Sthombo is not exactly known for egregious human rights abuses, but we are talking roughly Iron Age conceptions of crime and punishment here. Your weapons will certainly be taken. Any information NOT learned under torture would probably be considered suspect. And you are outsiders who consorted with somebody who was just executed for murdering city guards and stealing the city's greatest treasure and now stand accused of murder.

So, it's probably not a good idea to go with them, then... well, great.

I suppose us being friends of Kells and all, it was only a matter of time before we were treated as fugitives as well. Idk, this just kinda sucks for our characters because we actually are innocent, but there's no way to prove that without being subject to torture? Which we really don't want to happen, because a) it's torture, that sucks in and of itself, and b) because then they would probably also learn where Zora's at, and we don't want that to happen either.

So it looks as though our best option right now is to try and get away.

Agreed. Not a fan of killing a bunch of guards (hardly going to help our case) but if anyone has any bright ideas about how to make a break for it...? Nothing in my arsenal seems useful, although I could convince a nearby pigeon to attack them.

DM - How far is it to the town gates?

You're kind of in the middle of the city, so making a direct run for the gates might be tricky.

I don't have anything useful haha I'm pretty useless until I hit 2nd level and can start casting spells.

Anything we do at this point is going to be tricky :P If there's a "good" option, I'm not seeing it.

Really, thinking in terms of the overall story, we're probably going to end up against the Justiciars any way we go about this. Our goal right now is to find Zora and (hopefully) learn as much as we can about the Sphere and why it was stolen - and probably get involved in whatever plot is going on there. Which I can't imagine would exactly set us up as favorable people in the eyes of the government.

I'm OK with fighting to disable rather than kill (is that a thing?). Hopefully Vad can do some magical business to help us with stunning the bad guys.

DM - are there any animals nearby?

I'm willing to give anyone here an Insight check to see what their best option seems like.

There are gulls nearby, and other small birds. Probably some rodents and garden snakes you can't see.

As Felor silently prays for Fjorgyn's guidance, a sparrow flies swiftly overhead, heading south, where the Ophid runs. A second later he sees the hawk that had evidently been pursuing it. It appears to give up its chase, wheeling in a lazy circle over the temple, then flying back northward.

After bearing witness to Edvers' experience with Sthombo justice, Leth knows that if they go with the justiciars, they will likely not see the light of day again until they day of their execution. But making a stand for their lives on the temple steps probably won't end well either.

Is claiming Sanctuary a thing in Sthombo? Maybe there is an exit from the temple through the catacombs.

I can answer the sanctuary question if I get a successful Religion check from one of the three players on the temple steps...

Felor knows there's no formal concept of "sanctuary" among the followers of Nethuns. The temple of Semla might be a different story, but that's on the north end of the city...Mit-Rattu's temple is closer, and has some byzantine sanctuary-like rules for seekers of justice, but in Sthombo more often than not they just give their seal of approval to whatever the Tetrarchs want.

Impersonate with magic or with your acting/bluffing skills?

Magic. (It's not magic, Michael. It's an illusion)

Also, I'll be out for a few hours, sorry to take off in the middle.

As far as specific people, you could probably illusion up a good facsimile of one of the Tetrarchs, but that's a pretty ambitious gambit.