Chapter 1: Harvest Moon

@ Isuna: You see no black goo congealed in the remaining stew, despite a good stirring. From just looking, the food is fairly normal. A rather large lady yells back at you And who are you to tell us what to eat? The anger in her tone is... disproportionate, to say the least. She pulls a bowl into her hand and starts walking towards you.

@ Isuna, Deturai, Chuton: The woman continues Filthy traitors! How dare you! She throws the bowl at you wildly, and misses wide. The bowl hits the side of the stew-pot with a loud clang. This turns heads, all glaring, as Deturai begins to play. This only serves to draw them in. As they walk, their footsteps start to shift from a loud roll to a steady beat.
The guardsmen speaking to Chuton say I think we've run short on time! The one in charge sends a pair of men each to secure the gates, one each South, West, and East. They'll close them, but they're meant to keep beasts out, not people in... what's our plan here? @ Carlin: You find preserved meats and vegetables, as well as some slightly older produce. It's still edible, but definitely not from this morning. You also happen on Mellia's body... it's possible she took in the same poison, but there's only a few ways to find that out... grisly thoughts bother you for a moment. They're taking too long. We need to have samples now. What about the warehouse... Arius mutters quietly.

The lead guard nods Good thinking. We might be able to handle restraining smaller groups. He orders his men to split into four groups and arrange themselves around the crowd, trying to draw it into quarters, and the men run off to obey orders.

@ Carlin: You can feel a slight nagging in your head that tells you that you're overlooking something when looking through cupboards causes your sleeves to pull at your skin unexpectedly. On inspection, you realize that you've still got a few dried bit of black goop underneath various folds of your outfit, left over from the attack you took near the river. It's not much, even if you scrape it all together... but maybe it's enough for something.

@Chuton: True. But all this serves to do right now is lead the separate groups away from each other and the center of town. At least the elders will be safer.@ Carlin: I- where did? Well, it doesn't matter. If that's what I think it is, then we can get started. There's not enough here for the full panel of tests though... Since you've seen the stuff in action, tell me what kind of magic you would group this as. On pouring your vial into the first, you find there is enough of the goop for a second test. Reagents are set up to identify the source of magic as Natural, Divine, Demonic, or Arcane.

@ Chuton, Deturai, Isuna: The guards bang loudly on their shields while shouting to try to distract the crowds into following them away from the square. After a few minutes this seems to be working, and a smaller group is left behind still paying attention to Deturai's performance. In all, the group left over numbers 9, if you include the large woman who is still yelling at the unfortunate cleric: Pay... with... blood! She shrieks, and the other 8 seem to agree, rushing you.