CH. 15: There and Back Again

[spyguy1503]

"Not a bad plan. Wouldn't the non-corrupt local authorities also wish to be rid of the pirates? Surely some towns would contribute boats or soldiers. Even with the cannon, more boats would be better."

[JadedDM]

Val, Baeros, Gallath, Drav (Bullring, captain's quarters)
"We could try contacting the Coral Knights for help," Sierra says. "But..."

"But they would confiscate all of the booty as 'evidence' and we wouldn't get a single red cent of it," Terra finishes. "Besides, if we put together a big armada, the Poison Curse will never come out of hiding. If we want to lure them out, a single ship is a much tempting target. They don't know about the cannon, and so will think they can easily take us down."

Naras Stonebreaker (Outside the temple of Gonto)
"Honestly, I'm not sure that Otaya can be reasoned with. She's far too emotional and a real bleeding heart. It's not her fault, but she's lowborn herself and so sympathizes with them too much. If we did things her way, the church would be bankrupt in a week," Leena explains.

[Chris1234]

Naras Stonebreaker (Outside the temple of Gonto)
"Thank you for explaining. I was beginning to think it was just me," replies Naras. "I will go and put something together and tell her what we're doing. If you see her, tell her that if she wants to talk to me about a soup kitchen then she has until I get to bed tonight. Oh and I need both you and her to prepare so that you can both cast 'Combine' tomorrow. We will use that to try and Remove the Curse on Ouragana tomorrow, probably after our Service."

{OOC: What time is it}

[Breila]

"It seems I have been doing lately was resting and brooding" Ouragana answers Jocelyn with a slight smile. "I will take some fresh air before I sleep."
She goes to the upper deck and wanders around until she finds a place with a nice breeze. She'll contemplate the night sky, calling to mind the constellation's names and running through navigation routines, before retiring for the night.

[spyguy1503]

"I get that" Gallath says.

[JadedDM]

Val, Baeros, Gallath, Drav (Bullring, captain's quarters)
"In any case, we might as well go get some rest now," Sierra says. "Thanks for coming, all of you."

"We should finish resupplying tomorrow," Terra adds. "Then the morning after that, we'll depart for Deimos. Hopefully it won't be on fire this time."

Naras Stonebreaker (Outside the temple of Gonto)
"I will see if I can find her then," Leena says. With that, she heads off into the town to look for the other acolyte.

By now, the sun is setting.

[Chris1234]

Naras returns to her rooms and after a little thought, writes out another parchment, which she puts in her draw. Then, seeing that the sun will soon be setting, scribbles another note "Otaya, Please see me about an hour after sun-down, Naras."
The dwarf pins it to her door and then scurries off to try and catch Roken. En route to (or from) Roken's place, Naras will look for someone (or a pair of someones) that has been injured {OOC: down on hit points, rather than missing body parts} and say, "By the Grace of Gonto, feel better," {OOC: Casts 1. Cure Light Wounds and 2. Cure Moderate Wounds on the persons.}

***
If Naras catches Roken,she says, "Hi Roken, glad I caught you. You ok? How's business? Just came to tell you there's an adventuring group back in town, potential customers maybe. Might be well-heeled. Their names were Jocelyn, Ouragana, Baeros, Gallath and Brock. Do you know anything much about them from previous visits, when the old kohen was still here?"

If Roken tells her that the magical axe has been sold, any profit coming to her gets tithed to the church and then split 4 ways (Leena, Naras, Pearl, Agnas.)
{OOC: If Roken declares he sold it for 200GP then Naras asks for 111GP of that, [just to make the maths easy. Similar maths otherwise apply.], i.e. 111GP -11GP (tithe) =100GP to the 'mine group', so 25GP each to Leena, Naras, Pearl & Agnas. Naras would hand the 2 x 25P to Leena to give to Pearl and hold on to her own 25GP plus the 25GP for Agnas. Will sweep up Agnas' stuff after Otoya shares thoughts on a soup kitchen.}

***
Naras then returns to the temple and waits for Otaya, meanwhile working on her first ever real sermon. If Otaya turns up, Naras says, "Tell me about your thoughts on a soup kitchen, or similar. How would you propose to set one up? How many might it feed? And at what monthly cost? And have you thought of any other options or possibilities on the subject?"
After such discussion with Otaya, Naras tells her that she must learn Combine in the morning so that they can try to remove a persistent Curse on Ouragana, probably after the Sermon.

***
In the morning, Naras will Pray for 1. Combine.

[spyguy1503]

"My pleasure" Gallath responds. He heads to bed, after making sure everything is in it's place.

[JadedDM]

Naras does not catch Roken before he leaves for the day, and Otaya does not return to the temple until after Naras has gone to bed.

The following morning, the party wakes up and has breakfast before heading to the temple of Gonto again. It is, once again, a fairly nice day out so they take their time as none are particularly interested in hearing Naras' sermon and so do not wish to arrive early.*

Thus, the temple had just cleared out when the party arrives. Naras and her two acolytes are there, waiting for them.

Naras' first sermon had been...controversial, to say the least. A great number of people showed up, although most were probably just curious about the new kohen.

Her announcement of the new armory did not garner any reaction whatsoever, strangely enough. Her claim that the Leaguers had declared war on the island, on the other hand, came to quite a shock to most of the congregation. The memory of the last Leaguer attack 10 years ago was still fresh in the peoples' minds, and panic nearly broke out right then and there. The wardens in attendance managed to get people calmed down, though. It seems they had deliberately withheld that information from the people (either they believed it was not credible or did not want to cause a panic), and were none too happy that Naras blurted it out anyway.

The announcement of the soup kitchen resulted in mixed reactions. Some people seemed pleased, some seemed suspicious there was some kind of catch hidden, and some (particularly the wealthy) were quite put off by it.

Overall, it was certainly memorable. But whether the impact was good or bad is yet to be seen.

(OOC: *Or so I assume, as none of you are followers of Gonto, but correct me if I'm wrong.

Casters may pick new spells today.)

[Chris1234]

{OOC: I'm assuming that as she's 'at home' that Naras has actually bothered to eat, drink, sleep, bathe and attend to other bodily functions. All of these would be attended to before going to bed. If these need to be explicitly stated then I'm happy to do so going forwards. There should have been enough food bought on the way back from the adventures to last yesterday and today. If for some reason not, she will cast Create Food and Water. And eat and drink the result, as required. Prayed for Combine and Augury before the sermon.}

Naras finds the acolytes, "What did you think (of the sermon)? And if you haven't done so, please prepare Combine. You can do that, yes?"

[HorizonsDream]

OOC: Jocelyn is going to memorize combine and remove curse.

IC: "Seems as if you have all ready had a busy morning," Jocelyn said to Naras and company.

[Nuke]

Val finishes her drink and rises to leave the table. "Thank you Captain, a pleasure as always. A few last minute details tomorrow, and I will be ready."

Val heads to her bunk and tries to figure out just how many coins she wants to trade off for gems or other goodies before visiting the jeweler in the morning. She will also pick up a weeks worth hard rations and a cask of wine. A nice dry white wine that goes well with seafood.

[Breila]

Ouragana had had breakfast and followed Jocelyn to the Temple without much talking. She still had mixed feelings about staying with her, not sure if the cleric was going to remember her promise of being kinder. Well, there still was the attempt to remove the curse. If that didn't succeed, she would follow the plan she had made up the day before.

[JadedDM]

"We have already prepared Combine," Leena assures Naras as the party approaches and Jocelyn speaks to them.

Val does not join them, instead going off for further shopping.

When the party approaches, in addition to Jocelyn, Brock, Ouragana, Baeros and Gallath with them, they are also joined by another elf--this one with bronzed skin (from hours under the sun) and long, blond hair.

===========

(OOC: I did assume Naras ate, drank and slept. But there are no baths at the temple. If you want to retroactively say she went to the Paragon and paid 3 copper for one last night, we can do that.

Nuke, the rations will cost 10 GP and the barrel of wine will cost 20 GP.)

[Chris1234]

{OOC: Thanks Jaded! Didn't realise that. Can you also knock off another 3 copper too, please, as Naras would have had a bath on returning from the mines.}

Naras advanced towards the group,greeting them with a bow. "Good morning to you all. Be welcome."
The dwarf looked at the Pastor without pausing, smile nailed in place, "All mornings are busy, Pastor, but this was my first sermon. Whether it will be my last, Gonto shall reveal to me when the time is right."
She centered her gaze on Ouragana, as tender gaze as the dwarf was capable."Gonto greets you with open arms, Ouragana. In a short while, I trust we shall have you back to your usual self. If you have any questions on this, ask, and I shall do my best to answer them."
Naras's eyes flicked across to the bronze-skinned newcomer, "I do not believe we have met, I am Naras." She gestured to the acolytes flanking her, "Leena... and Otaya. Be welcome here."