Graded [Arborhaven City] Rooted in the Past

[The Last Curse]

Mentions: Elvario Skyhunter LadyOfStars Dante Verren ​

Thankfully, Cayde got past the search with no problems, though there was still one Skaven-sized issue right beside him. After they came in together, Cayde thought Kesh would've split up and gone and done her own business, but she insisted on staying. Furthermore, Kesh even asked if she could rob the church, earning a sigh of disbelief from Cayde. "Wha- do I look like a thief to you?" He retorted in a hushed tone, " And no, you can't rob Mira, the church, or anyone for that matter! I don't even know why you'd be asking me this." Cayde couldn't believe she could discuss robbery so casually, especially with a complete stranger! He'd only met her a few minutes ago, yet Kesh talked as if she had known him for years. And what was with her thing with alchemy? Cayde wasn't sure if she was doubling down on his lie or if she was genuinely interested in the trade, but it'd be hard to connect with someone who just asked for a good place to commit thievery.

Luckily, Ceylan came to the rescue and pulled Cayde away from her, though he had some questions too. It took a minute for Cayde to register what Ceylan said, notably the parts about cultists and leading a monster out of the city, but ultimately, Cayde heard his concerns, "No, no, no, Ceylan, It's nothing like that! She's not blackmailing me or trying to be my friend. It's just-" He murmured, pausing to take a peek over his shoulder at Kesh. He continued, with a soft groan, "Look, you saw what those guards did to those folk heading out the village. I didn't want to start another needless confrontation, so I might have said she was my apprentice," He admitted meekly, "I-I didn't expect her to stick around or try patting you down. I thought she'd just, y'know, leave when she got through!"

Cayde sighed and whispered, "If she's just here to rob people, she'll probably just break away. I've barely any Rykes on me, and the only thing I have is my equipment and some materials; there's nothing for her to take." He drew away from Ceylan and gave him a reassuring nod of his head, though, underneath his mask, his face showed some uncertainty. With that said, Cayde turned to respond to Mira, "Sure thing, Mira. Just lead the way."

Cayde would take another look behind him, but he'd divert his gaze away from Kesh and to a blond, armored woman behind her. His eyes immediately shot to her face, studying her scornful expression, and as a dreadful realization came to him, he gulped. Had she seen through his lie? Did she think he was a thief too? Cayde felt a wave of nervousness surge through him. Just why was she glaring at him?

He cleared his throat and awkwardly shuffled over to her, "Oh, hello, miss, you're coming with us too?" He asked, hesitantly offering a hand to shake, "Then it's best we get to know each other: I'm Cayde Whitinger, and you must be...?"

 

[Dante Verren]

Hildegard Karling
Interactions: LadyOfStars The Last Curse Elvario Skyhunter


While the line moved, it was not moving fast enough for her taste. Luckily it still wouldn't be that long until it was her turn, and as she reached the guards she presented her papers along with the badge. The guards seemed to appreciate that she was already ready to go. They even wished her luck which was more then what others got. Without her expression softening she gave them a curt nod and a quick "Thank you, and may the lord watch over you as you carry out your duty." The n she was through. Step one complete.

Finally past the line she found herself pretty much behind the group that she had been eyeing. The rat was hiding behind the plague doctor as she had seemingly earned the scorn of the priest. The rat's attempt to hide almost made it look cute, too bad it's evil and the evil of it's plague doctor companion outshined any kind of factor that could be seen as cute. She felt her left eyebrow rise in surprise as she watched the priest yank the plague doctor away in what seemed to be some form of act of concern. She couldn't hear anything they were saying, but the motion was simple enough to decipher. This caused her to sigh and her expression to harden a bit. So the priest really was in league with the evil plague doctor. "Very well" She thought. Once they were in a secluded place she would get them to confess their crimes and by the lord's grace quickly get to the bottom of this situation.

As she finished her quick plan Hildegard's attention was drawn away from her own thoughts to a figure who had addressed the group in front of her. Somehow Hildegard was included in that group. Still she listened and after the woman finished speaking it was clear this was where Hildegard was meant to be. Plus this way she could follow the two suspects and carry out her plan. If everything went well she wouldn't have to cause a scene or spill any blood. She just had to convince them to give up a bit of information. Though of course nothing would go to plan so easily.

After the woman whose name Hildegard did not know spoke to them, the warrior sucked in a quick breath to try and calm herself down. She had grown to antsy, risking a direct confrontation even just to get information from these two would put the mission at risk, no she would need a bit more tact. Quickly she started to try and formulate a new plan, but was interrupted by the plague doctor who approached her. He was a bold one, daring to approach her when he knew what kind of evil he had committed. She made no effort to disguise her scorn for the man, not even when he introduced himself. "Lord in your infinite mercy grant me the strength to contain myself in this moment of trial." She prayed silently. Reaching out her hand she grabbed ahold of the man's and squeezed. Not hard enough to actually hurt, but enough to show that she had resolve... and a good amount of strength. "Hildegard Karling, Servant to the righteous and holy lord." she said in the best normal voice she could. Lowering her voice she spoke the next line in a hushed growl "Do not think for a moment that I have not noticed what game you are playing. His grace has granted me his wisdom in sight. Cayde, I will be watching you and your companion." As she said companion she flicked a finger towards the rat girl, a small spark of electricity sparking on the tip of the finger. Once that was done if he had not already escaped her grip she would let go. Her point had been made clear.

 

[Elvario]

Ceylan
​

Mentions: Cayde The Last Curse | Hildegard Dante Verren | Mira @LadyOfStarts |

A look of disbelief was on clear display on Ceylan's face as Cayde tried to explain himself. Sure enough, they'd gone through some trouble with an oddly peaceful monster before, but covering for openly thieving criminals was a bit of a step beyond that. “I know we've associated with potentially problematic people before, but this one is way too open about her desire to steal from people. You'll really get yourself, and potentially the rest of us as well, in trouble if she keeps sticking around us like this.” He wasn't sure why Cayde had taken those risks to begin with, but it was what it was...

For that matter, their introduction to the knightly looking woman went equally unsmooth. That said, perhaps he could at least try to smoothen out that relation. “Nice to meet you, miss Karling. I'm Ceylan, a high priest of the Syncretist Church.” There was one thing that he was a tad bit worried about. “Might I inquire which of the pantheon you serve?” He really hoped she wasn't one of those fanatical monotheists that denied the existence of other gods and that she was merely extreme in her devotion to a particular one of them. Syncretism and monotheism didn't exactly go hand in hand, after all.

On the assumption they'd all follow along with Mira, he eventually realised it might be high time to turn the conversation back around to the main issue at hand, as he turned to Mira. “I'm not sure about the others, but Cayde here is an honest and resourceful man, I can vouch for that. If we've got his aid, I'm sure we'll be able to get to the bottom of this.” After which he figured he'd explain what he himself had learned thus far. “There's a strong sensation of evil magic and curses coming from the roots of Aegrizora and the church is showing all the signs of being an increasingly troublesome cult. They're actively working to take over the government in the name of Aegrizora and it's looking like the battle between the two might soon turn into a bloody one. If we don't resolve this soon, a lot of lives might end up being lost. However, they're very paranoid about whom they're allowing to go near the roots, so I haven't been able to go there or learn anything of it.”

However, he had already made one conclusion. “I've gone through a lot of their scriptures and there is one thing that's rather ominous, a small part of a poem called The Dark Tree...” He needed to think for a bit, trying to come up with what the exact phrasing was.

“The Sun has turned from it's favourite child
The favourite child has turned from its children
Darkness is delivered...
Smiles and open arms”

He wasn't sure if he'd gotten the details right, but that was the gist of it. “I might have gotten some parts wrong and the rest of the poem was no longer legible, however, it's making me think that this is a prediction. Other scriptures were all about how the tree was grown by fae and mortals alike and how it's been providing them with safety after being provided for, but that relation might've shattered. The tree deity itself might've grown corrupt in a worse case scenario or else it might actively be corrupted or abused. In either case, I'm afraid it's deeply troublesome.” Sadly enough, that wasn't even the end of it. “To make matters worse, it seems like people have gone missing. At first, it just looked like the work of some slavers trying to make use of the business and chaos of the festival, but it's starting to look like the cult might be connected to it.” He'd been rambling for a bit, before suddenly realising he'd accidentally started [Preach]ing to the others a bit more than intended. Hopefully they'd at least be sufficiently filled in with what was going on though.

C-Grade Abilities Cooldown (0/3)

• Preach – Religion C, Connected C [Syncretist Church] – Character holds a long theological speech about faith. Not very entertaining, but theologically sound. - Grade C - 3 Post Cooldown.

 

[Phineas Forge]

​

Rylak opened his eyes, turning towards the group that hard formed behind him. He'd overheard one of the nearby ladies thank Aegrizora, the tree god that the religious types of Arborhaven worship. This likely meant that she was an Arborhaven resident, but he'd also heard her mention taking them somewhere private to talk. It seemed like the only suitable lead he had so far, as long as he could manage to be included in the private talk. He moved closer to the group, hoping the lass would lead the way and no one would be upset with Rylak's inclusion in the group.

He couldn't help notice as Cayde, the man he'd spoken to earlier, was pulled away from the group by Ceylan, the man he seemed to have a history with. There was whispering between them and Rylak just hoped Cayde returned to the group, as he was likely the only one who could vouch for Rylak at this point. While they had spoken briefly, Rylak hoped that he'd come across well enough to not be excluded, if the need arose.

When he did return, he moved the Hildegard, introducing himself. This gave Rylak plenty of time to get close enough to be considered one of the group, though he hadn't introduced himself to anyone outside of Cayde yet. As the group began moving, Ceylan began talking and Rylak was amazed at how much the man knew and how well-spoken he was. He followed along, almost in a trance of sorts as he listened to everything the man had to say about the current situation. In the back of his mind, Rylak felt like a kid trying to play cops and robbers with a real life Sherlock Holmes... woefully inadequate.

 

[The Last Curse]

Mentions: Elvario Phineas Forge Dante Verren ​

Cayde thought a small introduction would settle Hildegard's hostility with him, but it only exacerbated the issue. It was clear she thought he was guilty of something, but what that something was, Cayde still hadn't an idea. He thought maybe explaining the situation would ease her suspicions, but she would expect him to talk out of this, only making him even more suspicious. So instead, Cayde decided to take a more neutral, polite approach, nodding after Hildegard's warning, "I've got nothing to hide, Miss Karling, but if you think that's necessary, so be it." He still didn't like the feeling of having his every action scrutinized, but if that were the only way to prove his innocence, he'd have to deal with it, "Just promise me you'll have my back, yeah?"

With that out of the way, Cayde listened to Ceylan's preachings about the Aegrizora tree, a cult that worships it, and what they wanted/what they were doing. Cayde was baffled by Ceylan's extensive knowledge on the issue, but that was to be expected by his furry friend - Ceylan was never one to leave out crucial details. "Wow, that's... a lot to digest," Cayde muttered, trying to form a simpler explanation for himself, "So what I'm hearing is: Something's going on in the roots of the Aegrizora tree, but the church, who just might be a cult, is barring us access. We have some reason to believe what they're doing down there may be supporting or causing something malicious in nature, but without a way in, we can't investigate it."

Cayde paused for a moment before giving his opinion, "So, after we get some more info on the cult, our next course should figure out how to get inside the roots, right? If that's the case, I don't think siding with the church gets us there any faster." He stated, "They're already paranoid, they're apparently doing something evil, they've got the government breathing down their neck, and now a couple of outsiders want to check out their sacred site - there's no way they'll even think about letting us near. Hell, even you, Ceylan, if they didn't let you get a peek - and you've got somewhat better relations with them than most of us here, no way we're getting in by their means."

"That doesn't mean we won't be able to extract more info from them or we have to brute force our way in," Cayde added, "It's just that if push comes to shove, we'll need to go against the church's wishes to get to the roots. No doubt."

Then Ceylan mentioned the missing persons, which sparked a realization in Cayde. That, paired with the possibility of a cult, would explain the presence of the Adventurer's Guild and the village guard checkpoints. It would also start to brew a peculiar idea in his head, but that idea would just stay a thought without any more information. "If that missing persons case is related to the cult, that could provide us with one possible way of getting into the roots." He said, though quickly realizing he wasn't in the right setting to discuss it, "That's all I can say here. Let's just get to where Mira wants us to go."

Even after finishing his ravings, Cayde still felt as if he was missing something. It took him a moment, but he eventually found what he wanted to say, "Oh, Ceylan - almost forgot. I need to introduce you to our new friend, Rylak." He turned to the feline beastkin and gestured him over, "He's here to help solve the missing persons case too, so we could definitely use his help. Plus, he's a part of the Adventurer's Guild, so you know he means business. Isn't that right, Rylak?"

 

[LadyOfStars]

While the rat-woman was bizarre and somewhat unsettling, Mira was elated that she showed interest, but wanting to be paid for being an adventurer was unbecoming of the woman and bad representation of the guild. "Um...I may be able to find you some gold." She replied with hesitation.

Ceylan's monologue had somewhat confused Mira, but what she didn't understand she attributed to not being an adventurer herself. She did understand that he called the woman a thief and Cayde was apparently a liar, but his intentions seemed well placed and the woman had harmed anyone. Mira wouldn't turn away help, their crimes were their own and so long as no one tried to kill her she would turn a blind eye to their sins.

Another monologue from the Priest revealed that he'd made adequate use of his time in the church by reading up on its history. From that he had drawn his own conclusions and Mira honestly felt that he was right in his assumptions. As he ended his little speech, she noticed that she was not the only one who had been ensnared by his words, But it seemed he managed to get the other riled up and ready to go.

"Follow me."

Mira insisted before she stepped through their group. She pulled her hood up over her head and walked with purpose as she lead the group through the streets of Arborhaven. Despite all the trouble that the village was currently dealing with, there were still plenty of people out and about and some were not native to the village. People who arrived late for the festival or people who stayed too long and were now having trouble finding transportation home. While city guards gave them no trouble, there was a heavy and tense air around them all as they stood and kept watch over the city. There were even flyers posted up around the city that encouraged citizens and even visitors to speak up about missing people and top file their reports with extreme detail.

Although the guard wouldn't give them any trouble, Mira took the group through a complex and sometimes narrow, series of alleyways to get to where they were going. The church knew her face and although they cared little for Ceylan, they knew him as well so it weas best to take a more secluded route. Eventually their alley tour guide would lead the group to a large cellar door which was attached to a building that seemed to be a bakery.

"This is it." She reached down and with a deep breath pulled the doors up and out, revealing a poorly maintained cellar that sported more cobwebs than furniture. Quickly she ushered the group in and as the last one to enter, Mira locked the doors so that they could not be intruded upon.

"This is where my sister and I would come to discuss our investigation of the church. The bakery above is run by a man and woman who allowed their son to join the church and they haven't seen him in years." She approached the walls and lit several lanterns before she made her way to large square table at the center of the room. "My sister and I believed that the church was just brainwashing people into staying away from their families and trying to grow in size so that they would have power over the city. The Ascension is supposedly a ritual that they perform on someone before they promote them within the church. We believed it was their brainwashing ceremony. Maybe....magic or something."

Peeling back the blanket that laid across the top of the table, Mira revealed a very armature arrangement of information; sketches of church members, passages from old texts, names of missing people, and a crude drawing of the roots of Aegrizora. Among the sketches of the church members was an elderly man who Ceylan would recognize as the elder that came to his rescue during the festival. The lists of missing people would also feature a girl by the name of Sherrie of Selve, a village Hildegard would be familiar with. The drawing of the roots, though clearly not a masterpiece, showed that there was actually a crater at the base of the tree.

"Do you all have a plan? Or any questions that I might be able to answer for you? Feel free to look over this information and I'll try to piece together what I can."

Phineas Forge Dante Verren Elvario The Last Curse Skyhunter

 

[Elvario]

Ceylan
​

Mentions: Cayde The Last Curse | Mira LadyOfStars | Rylak Phineas Forge

After cooling down from his heated preaching and reaching Mira's destination, Ceylan had gathered his thoughts into a reply to Cayde's. Thus far, he had merely nodded along with Cayde's summary. “Indeed.” He also agreed with the next course of action, but had an additional suggestion. “The roots seem to be at the eh.. root of our troubles, yes. It also seems like there's not a chance the cult will trust us well enough to lead any of us there. Perhaps... maybe, just maybe, we could have Mira claim she had a change of heart. If she claims she's seen how flawed my ways are and how amazing the cult is, they might buy into it. They kept her around for a reason, after all. The latter would give us an insider or a chance to tail them and figure out how to best get to the roots.” He looked at Mira. “It'd depend on whether you want to try doing so and if you believe you could pull it off.”

Ceylan sighed. “In a worst case scenario, you're correct to say that we might need to rely on brute force. It's clear that the greater good is under threat here, so some level of violence might be warranted to protect it. I wouldn't exclude kidnapping one of their Elders and forcing them to tell us how to get to the roots or using them as a hostage, although that manner would be far from preferable.” With that, he'd shown the lengths to which he was willing to go and the more pragmatic aspects of Syncretism.

The suggestion to have one of theirs kidnapped was more difficult. Ceylan clicked his tongue. “For one, I'm not entirely sure it's related, although it is likely. There might also still be other parties at play at the same time, so that might be an additional risk. We'd need to have a good candidate to play victim, which... he looked around the group for a bit, before shaking his head I don't think we have.”

He then realised there was a particular cat folk that had been following along for a while, whom Cayde introduced as Rylak. Being the feline that Rylak as, Ceylan could only greet him by starting to bark loud enough to alert the entire city. “Ah, my apologies sir, for rambling non-stop before even properly introducing myself. I'm Ceylan, high priest of the Syncretist Church. I'll be looking forwards to working with you.”

After the introduction, Ceylan had some time to go through the things that Mira had gathered. “You've gone into this a lot more thoroughly than I expected.” He muttered, as he was reading through the list of names. “Did you, by any chance, encounter the latter part of that poem I mentioned, The Dark Tree? It might reveal us more about what the cult is up too.”

As for Mira's claims, he had to digest them for a bit. “If they managed to brainwash people effectively enough to to challenge the government, there are only two options. They've either got someone very strong at magic of the mind or they've got a really effective method. Which of the two do you deem more likely?” He also pondered about the latter part. “Depending on whether or not their brainwashing is a direct affliction onto the brain itself, I might be able to undo it with healing, but I've never tried such a thing.”

Ceylan was also drawn to the passages of old texts. Having read up on the history for a large chunk, he really wanted to figure out what he'd missed from the heavily censored bits and snippets he'd been given thus far. Also that poem. He really wanted to read the full poem for some reason. Either it was intuition or stubbornness, he really wasn't sure himself at this rate. He had more questions and ideas, but for now, he'd said enough. For now, he figured he'd better let others reply and state their minds.

 

[Dante Verren]

Hildegard Karling
Interactions: Elvario The Last Curse Skyhunter Phineas Forge LadyOfStars


Hildegard quickly turned her gaze from Cayde over to Ceylan as he stepped in to do his introduction. She said nothing not even answering his question about her worship. She could answer him later. Turing her attention back to Cayde she was mildly surprised at how friendly he was/ Perhaps she had been wrong? No she wasn't sure of that yet. Taking a sharp breath she thought back to the lessons her previous travel companion had told her. Perhaps it was possible that her lord had drawn her attention towards Cayde not because he was evil, but because at this very moment he was important to the success of the mission. That was a possibility but she would air on the side of caution. While her thoughts shifted around a bit some of the intensity and scorn from her face would vanish, yet some would still remain.

For most of the travel and discussion she remained silent, watching and listening with sharp interest. That all ended when she saw one name in particular on the list of missing people, Sherrie of Selve. Lightning crackled across her hands and her scowl once again darkened, but only for a moment. A light smile showed across her face, but the rage was evident to any who looked at her eyes. " Selve, if the missing person cases from there really connect to this church then things are worse then what even the adventure guild knows. " She stepped closer to the table her eyes analyzing every piece of information. "The lord has brought me here to finish what was started. When I was passing through Selve a girl had gone missing, a group of adventure's including myself found her as a victim to a a demonic summoning. Cloaked figures with blood sacrifices and demonic chants, covered the poor girl in corpses and were using her as an offering. I don't know what the offering was going too, but if this is at all connected which I can see now it is then their intention with what ever spirit lives in that tree is likely for lack of better words, pure evil. "

Turning her head she regarded Ceylan, "You asked what phantom I worship? I do not serve any of them. My lord is the one who watches over the connection of the worlds, he who seeks to bring order and change to a stagnating realm. I am not worthy to speak his name, but I am worthy enough to carry out his will and crush monsters who parade about like a church using kidnapped victims as fuel for their disgusting ritual's. " She then turned her attention back to the group as a whole. "It is highly likely that time is not on our side. We must act fast and decisively. Unless any of us are particularly stealthy "She paused looking at the ratgirl, "I say we force our way in. Either by hostage or by battle."

 

[The Last Curse]

Mentions: Elvario Dante Verren LadyOfStars ​

After a few twists, turns, and journeys down some alleys, Cayde found himself in Mira's hideout. Settling in, Cayde put his pack off to the side and removed his mask, hooking it onto his hip. Unfortunately, he'd quickly regret that decision as airborne dust flooded his nostrils, causing him to sneeze loudly. Cayde groaned and reached for his mask but stopped once he spotted the plethora of information dotting the table, explicitly noticing the crude sketchings of the Aegorizea tree. He approached the table, picked up the drawing, and studied it from top to bottom, eyes slightly widening as he noted the crater near the tree's roots.

"Hold on. There's a crater underneath the tree?" He squinted in disbelief, but eventually, he put the pieces together, "So that's what they're trying to hide from us. That crater's got to be where they're gathering." His eyes started from the base down to the ends of the roots. "Maybe they've got something that leads further down in the tree?" Getting to said crater would be another issue, but luckily, Ceylan had suggested they'd involve Mira to lead them down there. Cayde nodded along, taking glances at the sketching every so often, "If that isn't possible, well, a tree this big is bound to have a few nooks and crannies that could lead deeper inside. The church will surely guard them, so we might meet some resistance. After that, it'll just be a matter of navigating." He said, turning to Mira, "Can you think of any entrances they might have into this crater? Big, small, doesn't matter."

While he awaited her input, Cayde decided to address Ceylan's thoughts, "If it comes to that, I've no doubt you'll be capable, Ceylan." He assured, flashing him a warm smile, "You said something similar in Vegard, and what happened? You saved the entire city." He set down the drawing and looked over to the notes depicting several church members, "Even if we can't fix them, your magic should be enough to keep them in a place where we can ask some questions."

As for Hildegard's suggestion for taking a hostage, Cayde uneasily rubbed his chin and reviewed the notes again. His eyes flitted past dozens of faces before finally landing on the sketch of an elderly man. With some hesitance on his face, Cayde reached to pick up the picture, "If we have to, maybe we should... y'know, take this guy...?" Cayde murmured, a bit ashamed for imagining kidnapping someone - even if they were a cultist. "What do you think, Mira? Can you tell us more about them?"

 

[Skyhunter]

Kesh

​

Kesh's ears perked hearing gold, " Gold-money? " Kesh had a large smile on her face as she hung on Cayde's arm, " Yes-yes this is good, Kesh can then go to school and learn about alchemy. " Kesh liked expressing her thoughts, her eyes looked over to the blue knight, Hildegard, Kesh's face dumbed up and she then whispered to Cayde, " Psst. Hey, Clyde. Do you think that knight is a part of the cult? She serves some sort of God. I don't understand religions much, but they all look the same, some are just more apparent. " Kesh wasn't really quiet in her own thoughts and now Cayde was stuck with her, he hung onto him like the rat she was, her eyes stayed on the blue knight for a moment as they then followed this Mira, seeing her raise her own hood, Kesh copied and threw a ragged piece of cloth over her own head to try and hide her identity. Despite her entire outfit being ragged and see through, honestly you could just about see everything about Kesh if you looked hard enough, not that she would notice being so oblivious and strange. Her ears poked out of this clothed that was pretended to be a hood. Kesh's face was still exposed, it was not a good disguise.

As they made their way through Arborhaven, it was heavy with seriousness and tension, even though Kesh was looking around with this large smile on her face as this was all new to her, " Whoa... " She said looking at a very shoddy looking house, Kesh wasn't very aware of the situation, yet at least. She was acting like a tourist arriving into a new town. Eventually they turned off into a alleyway till they got to a cellar, entering into it they would find themselves, the inside had stale air within as Kesh stared all around her as she looked down at the ground, she took off her shoddy hood as if she was revealing her true identity even though you could easily see her. These Ratkin were very... Different. She then knelt down and picked up a rusted broken nail, " Ooooh. This could go for a pretty gold-money. " Kesh turned to the ground revealing her find, as if it was a treasure. She then threw it into her pocket, just for it to fall back onto the floor without her noticing. Then this Mira began speaking, Kesh still having a smile on her face listened to what she had to say, Kesh's smile then slowly disappeared, once she realized the gravity of the situation.

" Oh... No-no this is terrible-bad. " The Ratkin muttered under her breath following up to the table, once it was revealed about all this information, Kesh would hear that this church would keep people and they would never be seen again, Kesh walked up to the table and picked up a piece of paper, reading it. Her facial expressions changes, looking disgusted to horrified then finally shameful. Kesh then looked to Hildehard that was next to her and handed it to her, " I can't read. " She stated with hands on her waist. Kesh hadn't realized this church was this bad, she knew churches were sometimes evil and they manipulated their followers but this was something else entirely. " Uh, Mira. " Kesh started looking over the information, " What can we do to help-assist? " Kesh asked, " I don't know much about this church and feel like I'm the least helpful here. I can steal and hide away. " She showed her ring to Mira, " And scratch. " Kesh expalined. " But I'm not too smart about religions besides them being evil and manipulative. " She sounded more serious and now was realizing just how bad this was but she still seemed somewhat confused. " Are we going to sneak-infiltrate in? " She asked in a whisper as she leaned in, even though they were alone in a cellar.

Mentions: LadyOfStars Dante Verren The Last Curse

 

[LadyOfStars]

Mira's Hideout​

Ceylan continued to prove to Mira that he was the hero she assumed him to be and that he gut was right about him from the beginning. She never thought that he was some fool who bought the church's story and was going to be another one of their tools. But she wasn't as strong or confident as the foreign priest was. His proposal that she play the role of the mole made her nervous and it showed as she seemed to shrink in stature. Her sister was the bold one, the strong one, she was the person that they needed to play that role, but she was also the person that needed to be saved. How unfortunate that she relied on her weaker sister to come to her rescue.

"I...I don't know. I think that they might have a mage using mind magic...but...only because the higher members who we've seen, have all used some type of magic." Mira turned and laid her hands on the table, thinking over the short verse that Ceylan had recited earlier. "We..." Her mind went back to their research, but then further back to their childhood. "Our great grandmother used to say...'Demons smile and hug you while they stab you.' It was something she would tell my sister whenever she met a guy and took a liking to him." A small smile crept across Mira's face as thought back to the good times. That smile didn't last long however as she remembered more from the past. "She also used to call the members of the church demons. She would swear at them and tell them to leave us." Her eyes went from the table, slowly trailing to Ceylan. "Could it be possible that..." She didn't even want to finish that question and tried to banish the thought from her mind. The idea that her sister might have been taken by creatures of darkness made her stomach churn.

Luckily someone had brought up something else to distract her mind. Missing people. It seemed Hildegard had been following the same string of evil perhaps and that warmed her heart "I am so glad that someone has been working against this threat other than my sister and myself. I felt like we were taking on the world and letting a lot of victims down...so...thank you." Mira nodded her head to Hildegard, grateful beyond belief for the woman's hard work. "I agree with you, ma'am, we shouldn't try to tip toe around these people anymore. We do not know what their plans are."

"The crater." Mira started. "Is where the First Shrine is located." She turned her attention to the drawing and then to Cayde. "The First Shrine is public knowledge and was supposedly where the first residents of Arborhaven went to worship and speak with Aegrizora, however, the crater is more recent than the shrine. It used to be a flat surface until whenever Aegrizora stopped talking to the villagers. No one knows what happened and no one who isn't a church member has been allowed to go there to investigate." She took the drawing in her hand and then laid it on the edge of the table where everyone would be able to see.

"I drew this sketch." She said with a hint of blush in her cheeks. "There are no defenses around the crater or the roots. It is a open field straight down to the crater with the roots being the only thing adding any degree of life to the field. Theoretically we could...walk in, but...I don't think they managed to keep people away without some sort of defense system in place."

Kidnapping one of the elders might be a good way to bypass whatever defenses they deploy though. Perhaps Cayde was on to something. "It would be difficult to apprehend an Elder, but not impossible." Her hand went to her chin and she rolled her thumb around it for a few seconds. "The thing is...they're always in a church or surrounded by other members so it would be a struggle, but it might be possible. Ceylan and i just left an elder at the church where we have been staying." She pointed to the location of the church on a small map of the city. "it isn't heavily guarded, but most Elders are capable of using magic in some way, plus if anyone saw us we would be declared enemies of the church and we would have to rush to get to the roots."

The answer to the problem then was thrown into their faces, by none other than Kesh, that ratwoman. "That might be the best way to go about acquiring our hostage." She smiled brightly at Kesh and took the woman's hand in her own. "If Kesh can sneak into the church, she might be able to catch the Elder off guard. They're old men and woman and usually very arrogant, so they won't be anticipating a rat coming to kidnap them. The rest of you...will need to be on guard duty. If Kesh succeeds or fails, the church will take notice and bare down on us. We'll need to be ready to fight." Mira's gaze swept across the faces of Rylak, Hildegard, and Clyde.

"What do you all think? We can grab the elder and head for the crater as soon as Kesh exits the church."

Skyhunter Elvario Phineas Forge The Last Curse NeganSteven

 

[Elvario]

Ceylan
​

Mentions: Hildegard Dante Verren | Cayde The Last Curse | Kesh Skyhunter | Mira LadyOfStars

Being ignored by Hildegard wasn't the worst that happened today, but it surely wasn't nice either. Was he not a good enough boy for her to reply? Knowing whom she served would've at least given him some insight in who he was dealing with. “A demonic summoning...?” Ceylan pondered the options, as it reminded him if the gnoll that he and Cayde had encountered. It felt like every snippet of information they gained made the entire situation a lot more stressful, dangerous and urgent.

He was then surprised when he did get an answer to his previous question. He was a good enough boy after all. Enough so to be unable to suppress a bit of a tail wag (he should never attempt to play poker), but that subsided when she rambled about some deity that sounded like one of the monotheist supremacy religions. He hoped the latter wasn't the case, but he was a bit more on guard now. Syncretist and monotheist didn't tend to go well together. Perhaps he was wrong though, and she was just dedicated to this odd connection deity in particular. In either case, they had the same goals, so that would help a lot in working together. “I agree we must act quickly, but we should try to be as precise as possible. We wouldn't want our actions to lead to the ignition of an all-out war between cultists and the government, especially not if the cultists are brainwashed and would end up fighting the government against their wills.”

Cayde's findings were equally interesting. Ceylan himself hadn't paid much attention to the crater yet, but realised that had been a mistake. However, his trust in Ceylan was a bit unwarranted. “Please don't put too much trust in me. I've yet to learn how to break magic or curses, so I can truly only help if the magic they use to brainwash people has a physical form in the brain. If there's nothing to heal away, I'll be powerless. Vegard was a much different story, where I just had to use my abilities to their limits. This might be something my abilities don't even cover.”

As much as Ceylan disliked the rat, which was a lot, he was willing to give her a shot. Even so, he'd observe her closely, hoping to use his [Empathy D] to figure out how much she truly cared and how much of it was an act. She'd proven to be untruthful, after all. Besides, one thing she said irked him in the wrong way. “There's a lot of good in religions as well, even though it can get overshadowed by people like the cultists we're dealing with. However, if you were to call them all of them evil and manipulative, you'd have to think of me as someone like that as well. I'm hoping to at least prove an exception there.” In his mind, he added, 'besides, the most evil and manipulative one are you', but he was wise enough not to say so.

Ceylan was quick to realise Mira wasn't brave enough to pull off an infiltration act. The next part was a lot more clear. “Smiles and open arms... demons smile and hug you while they stab you...” He sighed deeply. “With what we've learned from Hildegard, it seems like we know what we're up against. Demons. Whether or not the tree itself is one or whether it's corrupted by them, we don't have the luxury to find out beforehand. We'll need to go to the source to stop it.” Just confirming that they were up against demons, however, was already something.

Ceylan would quickly his book [Cults & Barbaric Belief Systems] and use his [Religion C] to quickly go through whatever they might be able to use against demons. There wasn't a lot of time, but perhaps he'd at least have something of aid. With the dangerous foe ahead of them, every little bit might help.

Meanwhile, a plan had formed between Mira and the others. There was, however a fatal flaw in that plan. “No offence, but you stealth didn't hold well and you weren't exactly subtle when trying to steal glass beakers. You couldn't even get your story straight.” He said firmly, still being upset at Kesh' behaviour. “You'll need someone to cause an additional distraction to have even the slightest chance as succeeding.” He sighed deeply. Was he really going to work with this rat? Apparently so. “I'll go to the church and demand to speak to the Elder. By now, I can guarantee that they'll sent just about anyone but the Elder themselves to me in order to either tell me off or to keep me preoccupied with the same things as always. I can throw in a few concerning sounding things in my story and see how many of them I can lure away from the Elder to give you some time to work with, but the rest would need to stay real close to where you'll leave with the Elder.”

He wasn't entirely confident, but it was a better plan than leaving all of it to Kesh. Especially with the rising tensions, he doubted Kesh would be able to find an Elder on their own. “Just make sure to give me some sort of signal, so I know when to back off and won't be caught. We can meet back up near the crater.” He looked at Cayde in particular for the signal part. He trusted the alchemist to be crafty enough to have some great ideas there. His alternative plan included making the cult believe they were under attack, which would sow panic and give them more room to play around with, but that simply had too many possibly bloody outcomes.

 

[Dante Verren]

Hildegard Karling
Interactions: LadyOfStars Elvario Skyhunter The Last Curse Phineas Forge


Despite his shady appearance, Cayde was already proving intelligent. He had spotted what both Ceylan and herself had missed. That crater as Mira would soon explain was in fact the prime place for what ever madness was going on in this town. This First shrine was definitely a holy place, and when they were dealing with a cult that has shwon it has a taste in kidnapping and ritual sacrifice, it was a place that needed to be purged. Two movements from the corners of her eyes drew her focus away momentarily from Cayde. First was the rat who approached her and handed up a scroll to her with the honest admission that she couldn't read. Hildegard despite herself couldn't help but crack a small smirk. Kesh was at least entertaining if nothing else. Before she could put the piece of paper down that was handed to her by Kesh, her eyes were drawn to the scene of Ceylan's tail lightly wagging back and forth. At that her right eyebrow raised slightly.

It was Mira who brought her back into focus. Hildegard allowed herself to smile at the other woman's gratitude. She bowed her head lightly as she spoke "I need no thanks. I was merely carrying out the will of my lord, bringing down his righteous fury on the scum who prayed off the defenseless." As Hildegard raised her head she felt her joy fade with Kesh's comment about the evil and manipulation of religion. She wasn't angry that she had been insulted for in truth she had not been. Hildegard did not consider herself to follow a religion. Her most holy of lords did not have a unified faith, in fact she was the only one know to her who worshipped his glory. Instead she felt the flame of a past fury, one that agreed with Kesh. One that was all but too happy to bring down her own wroth in combination with her revered master's fury.

Just as quick as her anger came it dissipated. Even then it was visible as a momentary scowl on her face and spark of electricity that danced across her fingers. The conversation had moved once more onto the plan. Something that she had once concern over. "I may be new here, but it sounds like you" she gestured to Ceylan" already have connections with this church. It would not do to spoil that. If we do use you to pull away some of the guards, if they figure out that you were connected with our plan then we will lose a possible position in their good graces that we could have exploited. Let me draw the guards away. If I march to the steps of where these elders are and then begin to speak what they would consider blasphemies for all to here, The guards will have no choice but to pay attention to me. Perhaps it will even draw the eyes and ears of those inside making it harder for our infiltrators to be found. No one will look for the rat within when there is one spouting heresy on their front door step."

 

[The Last Curse]

Mentions: Skyhunter Elvario LadyOfStars Dante Verren ​

Both Ceylan's and Mira's responses were just as insightful as they were disconcerting. The mentioning of demons stirred an unpleasant memory of a certain gnoll in Cayde's head. Even though he and Ceylan had stopped it, Cayde remembered the depravity the gnoll displayed to summon a demon. If the church was in the process of calling one, or worse, had already succeeded, Cayde couldn't imagine the horrors he'd witness down in those roots. A troubled expression formed on his face; Cayde didn't want to think about it anymore, so instead, he tried focussing on the good news. It turns out he was right about the crater holding a place of significance, though there still was the issue of procuring an elder to help them get past.

Mira put up Kesh for the job, and that made Cayde turn to look at the Skaven, witnessing her giving Hildegard a piece of paper, claiming she couldn't read. There was something about that gesture Cayde found endearing. He wasn't sure if it was the complete randomness of the statement or the fact it made Hildegard, the 'no-nonsense' knight smile, but it definitely improved his view of her. Of course, it could've been a ruse to appear innocent and oblivious, but after she'd offered her assistance, Cayde began to think otherwise. Maybe he was being a bit too judgemental, maybe Kesh was genuinely a selfless person. Still, that wouldn't explain why she tried stealing a beaker from him earlier, but she did show some interest in alchemy. Perhaps that was genuine too?

He'd have to discuss that later. But, for now, Cayde listened in on Ceylan's and Hildegard's plan to capture an elder. After the two finished, he gave his opinion, "If it's a signal we need, I might be able to come up with something." He said, "Hmm, after I see Kesh securing the elder, I'll come along in the church and act like I'm looking for you. When I get inside, I'll come up with a story and try to pull you out of there. I could say a few people got hurt near one of the village gates, they're having trouble managing it, so I came looking for you to help them. After we leave, we could rendezvous with the others." Then, he turned to Hildegard, "If we follow up on your plan, perhaps I can antagonize the church too. Or, if things get violent, I could be back up at the very least."

It all sounded easy in his head - a quick in-and-out type deal, but Cayde remembered the elders were not just old members. Mira had said they were skilled with magic, which would prove troublesome in subduing them. That, and the inevitable possibility that they would not come quietly. "Mira said the elders know magic, though, so they won't go without a fight," He said, eyes darting about the room as if looking for a solution. Eventually, his gaze found his pack in the corner, and another idea crept into his head. A tiny smirk formed on his lips, "But I think I could solve that problem."

Cayde approached his bag and rummaged through it, retrieving a flask, three bottles, and a small pouch. He returned to the table, cleared some room, and set everything down. Then, with a brief nod to himself, Cayde got to work. First, from one bottle that contained alcohol, he poured some of its contents into the flask. Next, he reached over to his pouch and undid the drawstrings before pulling out three vials filled with powder: one red, one white, and one blue. The blue powder, in particular, seemed to have a dull, almost pulsing glow. Cayde knew precisely what it was, and as he glanced at Ceylan, he had a feeling his friend would catch on too.

But before he could dredge up any repressed memories, Cayde emptied a portion of each vial into the flask, stirring the mixture until it became a bubbling deep purple. Then, preparing himself for the next step, Cayde slipped on his mask, grabbed the flask, and another bottle filled with a shiny, silvery liquid. He took a few steps back from the table until he was a reasonable distance away and poured one drop of the liquid into the flask, quickly sealing it afterward. Finally, he corked the flask and swirled it around. "And here it is," Cayde announced, "My [Bewildering Brew]. Made with love!"

Admittedly, He'd supplemented parts of his usual recipe with the powdered Blue Dreams, but that'd only help make his poison more sedating if anything else. Still, Cayde was sure Kesh would find it helpful, "Alright, Kesh. This'll keep him nice and cooperative. Just get a little bit of it in him. It doesn't matter how you do it." After removing his mask, he knelt and held out the flask for her, "It's not lethal, but try not to go too overboard, yeah?"

Spoiler: Abilities Used

• Bewildering Brew - Alchemy E, Medicine D, Nature E -By combing hallucinogenic herbs and mushrooms, Cayde can create a slow-acting poison that causes dizziness, nausea, hallucinations, and confusion. Larger targets require more poison to take effect while smaller targets require less. - Grade E - 2 Post Cooldown

 

[Skyhunter]

Kesh


​

Kesh stared at her hand when Mira took her hand, Kesh in response locked hands with her, turning her head to Hildegard smiling, " Look, we are holding hands. " Kesh acted innocently as she turned her head back when volunteered to go into the church, Kesh blinked a couple times and leaned her head in forward, " Heh? " She asked a bit confused at what was proposed. Kesh wasn't exactly sure if she was ready or good enough, sure Kesh could just hide away using her ability, but Kesh was sometimes clueless and this same church that was kidnapping people could ratnap her next! Although... Kesh really began to think about it herself, she could find some totems or even some of those weird necklaces she can steal! No... BOOKS! BOOKS SHE COULD READ- wait, she couldn't read... BOOKS SHE COULD STEAL AND SELL! But this wouldn't be just about stealing stuff once she looked back down at the table that had all these missing victims on them, it would be about saving them too or trying to find someway to track them down. This elder sounded like they would know about where these victims were at. " Yes. I am in. To steal a whole person? Sounds like fun. " Kesh had a happy look at her face.

Kesh then turned her gaze onto Ceylan, that priest that had pockets she wanted to rummage through. When Ceylan looked into Kesh's emotions, she was very sympathetic towards these kidnapped victims, she truly wanted to help Mira even though Kesh herself wanted to steal stuff for profit. He went on to defend religions and Kesh had a face of confusion, she looked at her sides like she was looking for something before turning back to Ceylan, " Wow, that's pretty insane-crazy. But I don't remember asking. " Kesh had a dumb look on her face, like she was trying to hold in a laugh. Although when he suggested an alternative, she felt relieved about it, Kesh would have helped with that anyways, but she wasn't sure if she could ratnap an elder and escape unseen... Well she had claws, her claws would have helped for sure. " Kesh isn't the most stealthy, this is true, but you didn't know I was there until my spell failed. " Kesh pointed out, " I was also very surprised by the beaker. " Kesh then used her free hand, since she was still holding Mira's hand, to pull out the beaker that she still had, or more like that she stole again, and handed it to Hildegard. " Could you give this back to Clyde? Thank you. " Kesh asked in a kind whisper then turned her attention back to Ceylan, " But if you have a alternative plan that won't fail, we should go with that instead. I don't want to jeopardize-threaten this delicate mission. If you do not trust me, which I can see you do not. " Kesh had a understanding of her own abilities and that she wasn't the best at everything, which was better than most people.

After that, Kesh's attention would be taken by Cayde with his work on creating a concotion, her eyes wide and mouth agape and she leaned towards Cayde, watching attentively. Quickly he walked away then came back, holding his brew while swirling the contents within. He offered it to her and she took it in her hand, looking at it like it was her baby. She even held it like you would a baby. " Wow. Alchemy. " Kesh smiled brightly, looking at Cayde, " What is it's name, Clyde? " She looked like she wanted to cry, over a brew Cayde made that wasn't even for her. " Actually. " She then released Mira's hand and held it in her hands, " Can I drink it? " She asked Cayde, placing her hands on it like she was about to open it, her face full of innocence.

 

[LadyOfStars]

Mira liked the Ceylan was adding to their plan, thus improving their chances for success. It was rather brave of him and she admired the foreign priest even more for his courage. "I'll accompany you, Ceylan. With the church having kept us both at the same location, they might be suspicious if we do not return together."

Hildegard's reaction to Mira's praise was quite pleasant. The woman was humble, respectable, and it was clear from the way she talked that she was a force to be reckoned with. "I think that would be a good plan as well." Mira declared, although she didn't see the point in trying to preserve a relationship with the church they were trying to bring down, she did think it would be safer for Ceylan to let a warrior play the role of distraction and avoid putting himself in potential danger.

This group proved to be more and more resourceful and capable as their little meeting progressed. Each of them had something to contribute to the mission and none of them seemed scared. Even Cayde, who Mira assumed to be a scientist of some sort, was willing to fight.

It seemed they had come to a general idea of what the plan would be, now they just needed to agree on a final decision. "So we will have Hildegard drawing away any guards posted at the church, Cayde will support her. Ceylan and I will go inside to distract the other acolytes, allowing Kesh to sneak inside, find the Elder and sneak him back out. If anything goes wrong, we'll meet up back here." Mira spared a brief moment to look around at the others.

"The signal will be..." Mira looked around the room and her eyes landed on a torch. "Fire. The church has candles and torches light all around, start a fire when you have the Elder, Kesh."

With that agreed upon, Mira didn't hesitate even a minute to begin leading them out of the cellar. They didn't know if time was on their side, so they needed to act quickly. She guided them once more into the alleys of Arborhaven. Their approach to the church was discreet and as they neared the street exit, she handed Kesh a blanket to conceal herself and avoid drawing too much attention to herself.

The church had very little security, just two men posted at the entrance. Within the building, there were no new people, just a handful of the faithful, praying and conversing with one another. The Elder was on the second floor, working in his office and could be seen walking back and forth past the window. "Everyone ready?"

Dante Verren Elvario The Last Curse Skyhunter

 

[Elvario]

Ceylan
​

Mentions: Hildegard Dante Verren | Cayde The Last Curse | Kesh Skyhunter | Mira LadyOfStars

Ceylan wasn't sure how much better Hildegard would do at causing a distraction, but it was probably worth a short. She was, however, overestimated some things. “My connections with the church are nowhere near good enough to be worth considering. The only use I would be able to get out of them would be that they won't be surprised if I entered the church, but that'd be the extend of it. They're extremely careful in whom they involve with anything more than the utmost superficial church business.”

Cayde added some ideas to the plan as well, but there was one specific part that stood out the most to Ceylan. “Wait... that blue stuff... That certainly brings back some memories.” Ceylan was pretty sure where that blue glow came from. He still wasn't sure if it was happy memory or not though. He definitely had felt happy, but being so due to a drug-induced state was rather dubious at best. Either way he was starting to figure out what Cayde's plan was. “That'll probably make the Elder a lot more docile, at the very least.”

As for the rat, Ceylan couldn't make up his mind about whether to hate or like her. Stupidity, innocence, criminality and sincerity were all present in equal measure, from what he could tell. At the very least, he should perhaps attempt to educate her, before writing her off as a lost cause. “You admitted to your ignorance about religions without anyone asking for your opinion. If that was not a question to be educated, what was it?” She further proved her rat-brain wasn't the most well-geared by fully misunderstanding him. “I'm not proposing an alternative, I'm suggesting a way to increase your chance of success. I'm afraid you're still are best bet at getting to the elder...” He sighed, deciding to save Cayde some trouble. “... and no, you cannot drink that. It's what you should feed the elder to ensure you'll be able to bring him back without too much resistance. Sneak it into his drink, inject it with something or force-feed it if needed, but once he's got that inside of him, he'll probably be out of his mind enough to be taken along.”

Luckily enough, Mira was able to summarize the plan thus far and combine their individual suggestions and ideas into something more cohesive. He was a bit hesitant to just start a fire, but he decided not to voice it. Perhaps something as drastic as a fire was exactly what they needed. “I'm ready.” Ceylan, said, upon arrival. He wasn't the best actor, but he already had some ideas that wouldn't really require him to act. Thanks to what her learned previously, he learned exactly what type of question to ask to garner everyone's attention.

Upon entering the church, he'd approach one of the cultist with a look for concern. “Excuse me, but while I was handing out rations just now, I learned of something rather ominous. From the passage of The Dark Tree that I've read, it ends with 'smiles and open arms', which someone told me is also an old saying for how demons interact with people. I'm worried that there's a rumour spreading that the church is actually welcoming demons in their midsts, which might be why so many people seek to leave the city.” Although it wasn't the entire truth, there was enough truth sprinkled in there to hopefully get their attention. With some luck, they might even call some others to help deal with him.

From there, it would only be a matter of using his [Preach] ability to keep arguing with them about how important it was to take away the 'misunderstanding' by relating it to whichever religion, cult or demonic story he could relate it to. With some luck, Kesh would be finished before he'd ran out of things to talk about or before they'd gotten too fed up or bored of him.

C Grade Cooldown (0/3)

• Preach – Religion C, Connected C [Syncretist Church] – Character holds a long theological speech about faith. Not very entertaining, but theologically sound. - Grade C - 3 Post Cooldown.

 

[Dante Verren]

Hildegard Karling
Interactions: LadyOfStars Elvario Skyhunter The Last Curse


Hildegard narrowed her eyes at what ever concoction it was that Cayde had mixed up. She still did not really trust him, and his mystic drug potions only reinforced her levels of mistrust. After all if he just carried shit like that in his back pocket what else could he carry? While she was becoming more use to the idea he wasn't involved with this evil demon stuff, she was confident he had something else up his sleeves. She was wrong about one thing though, and that would be about the ratfolk Kesh. At first Hildegard had lumped her in with being shady like Cayde, but even this short time had proved that false.

Her new suspicions of Kesh were confirmed as the ratfolk commented on holding hands with Mira. Another small quip from Kesh that intentional or not caused a slight smile to form on Hildegard's face. Kesh did not mean any harm, she was just different... and not all mentally there. Watching the exchange between Kesh and Ceylan was also pretty amusing. Enough so that her slight smile turned into a small amused smirk. It disappeared for a moment as she took the beaker form Kesh and looked it over. When the smirk reappeared it wasn't so much of an actual smirk now, but a grin. With a big grin on her face she held the beaker out to Cayde, "I believe this is yours, Clyde".

After that interaction it was time to get to work. Silently she followed Mira and the others as they left towards the church. Deciding that it wasn't a good idea to approach form the same direction as Ceylan she moved away crossing the street further down the way they came and then walking up from the other side, taking care to make sure that no one was paying attention to where she had come from. She waited for a few minutes she made her way towards the entrance of the church, she noticed the dog priest slip inside which meant it was her turn to strike.

Moving to the entrance she stopped about ten feet from the guards, and stared intently at the roof of the church entry way. "So this is the place?" she asked with her voice loud enough for the two men to hear. "Fitting I suppose. A terribly ugly shrine for a disappointing god. " A rush of excitment ran through her body acompnaied by a sense of Deja vu. Something about this situation felt almost nostalgic to her. "Tell me gentlemen, is that overgrown shrub really your god? If you asked me it looks more like a sad stick, something I wouldn't let my mutt play with let alone pray too. Is that really the great tree?" She scoffed. " What an absolute joke, no wonder you find no faithful outside of this town." She watched the two man closely, getting ready to start her retreat if he taunts had worked. If they did not take the bait, well then she would have to put more effort in wouldn't she?

 

[The Last Curse]

Mentions: Elvario Skyhunter Dante Verren LadyOfStars ​

Cayde quirked his eyebrows at Kesh's request to drink the poison. Usually, most people would have the opposite reaction, but Cayde figured Kesh wasn't like most people - she'd made that clear long ago. Cayde chuckled at her genuine intrigue, and though Ceylan had already done him the justice of explaining it to her, he decided to entertain her interest a little bit more, "Bewildering Brew's what I call it. Cheesy name, I know, but a little alliteration never hurts, right?" He gestured to his bag on the table, "As for the ingredients, I threw in some powdered milkweed, ground willowart, and finally, some... ethercaps. All combined with the principle of mercury." He said, though his eyes darted at mentioning ethercaps, clearly a name made-up to cover up the Blue Dreams. "All potions require a principle: mercury, salt, or sulfur. Mercury's the most toxic of the three, so add a drop of it if it's a poison you need. That's a little lesson in alchemy for ya." It felt good being the one giving a lecture for once. Ever since he started adventuring, Cayde never expected himself giving anyone any alchemical advice, if anything, Cayde thought he'd be the one learning something. Still, it was quite the pleasant surprise to finally find someone with the same interest.

With that over with, it was finally time to enact the plan. Cayde went to pack his things, but he stopped once Hilegard handed him one of his beakers. Immediately, he glanced at Kesh: Was this the beaker she took earlier? Or did she snag another one when he wasn't looking? If it was the latter, he wouldn't even be surprised. He shook his head, partially in disbelief, partially in hilarity. To think he got robbed twice of his beakers today, there was a joke in there somewhere. After that thought, Cayde responded to Hildegard with a grin of his own, "I'll try to keep my eyes on it. Thanks, Hildegard."

It didn't take long for Cayde to get ready, and soon enough, he too followed as the group traveled to the church. Once everyone broke away, Cayde went his own path too, making a few turns until the church was just a corner away. Instead of turning around the curb, Cayde parked himself against the wall of a building, staying just out of sight. For good measure, he took out his journal and quill and started scribbling down random notes. Hopefully, whoever passed him by wouldn't suspect a thing.

While his eyes were trained on the book, Cayde kept his ear out for any commotion happening at the church. While he'd be completely out of earshot of Ceylan's ruse, or Kesh's break-in, he was close enough just to faintly hear Hildegard's rant. He hadn't heard any replies just yet, but Cayde could only imagine the guards' faces after her tirade, the thought bringing a boyish smile to his face.

 

[Skyhunter]

Kesh

​

Kesh stared at Ceylan as he spoke about her ignorance. Ignorance... That reminded her of how ignorant religions are, yeah yeah... Religion... How boring it was. Why worship some god that may or may not exist that most likely did not care for you? Gods, to Kesh, were powerful through devotion and attention, otherwise they would lose power. At least that was how it was with her people, or a small amount of her people that worshipped a Ratkin God named Skitterer, Kesh herself didn't know too much of the religion her own people as she thought of religion to be a distraction and non-scientific. Kesh believed in results and evidence, not really so much on sources and rumors. Skitterer was said to be from the second generation of Ratkin to be created. He, through science that he discovered, was able to create alchemy. Yes, it was said a rat created alchemy in her religion that named itself Skut Auv, Old Ratkin Tongue for Skittering Concoction. He through alchemy made a potion that granted the powers said to never be seen or thought of before. Then- blahblahblah, skitskitskit- it was boring to Kesh. She didn't know too much nor cared but most Ratkin knew of this religion. Hence why some Ratkin, intelligent enough, practiced alchemy. Kesh just wanted to learn about as it clicked to her, and she found it interesting. Her own father did say their family ring, the one she wore, was created through alchemy in their religion of Skut Auv, a family heirloom she stole. But that was stupid.

As Kesh was thinking to herself, she shook her head once it was time to leave seeing everyone leave, she looked at the potion of Blue Dreams then attached it to her belt, smiling. It was time to Ratnap a Elder Priest of the Church! " You know, I bet if you applied Goat's Milk the potion wouldn't be as potent, and you could make it into a narcotic-drug, Clyde. " Kesh stated loudly to Cayde with a smile on her. Kesh had no shame, she used drugs before in the past when she was a more wild rat, she used a drug that was called in her culture Night Eye, it was a mix of a underground mushroom, a fat caterpillar bug with nerve paralyzing blood, and frog feces. Mix it into a bowl that made a dark as night goo that you drank like yogurt. Your eyes turned black and you would ascend into a plane where you couldn't feel your body but hallucinate like you were venturing into the universe. Fun stuff and highly addictive. There weren't many downfalls to it besides terrible procrastination and rapid dehydration/hunger, there was many times where Rats would die because they were so malnourished and dehydrated because they only ever took the drug and never ate or drank between taking it. One time there was a event called the Night Wave where a Ratkin, as a prank, poisoned the water supply with Night Eye and a entire colony of Ratkin fell under it's influence for a long time. Well, the entire colony either died or got addicted but they were never heard from again and Night Eye was outlawed. Although Ratfolk knew how to make it regardless, the ingredients were very common where she was from. What did this have to do with anything? Absolutely nothing. Kesh just knew about drugs from her own home. And there were more than just Night Eye, there was much worst.

Making their way to the church, Kesh was given a blanket from the kind Mira, Kesh stared at it and smiled happily, she even hugged it with a happy look on her face, " I haven't been given a gift in a long time that wasn't goat's cheese. Thank you, Mira, Kesh won't forget this kind deed-gesture. " The Ratkin honestly looked very happy, almost emotional. She threw on the blanket and made a sneaky pose similar to a thief's. " Kesh is now sneaky Ratkin. Away Kesh goes. " Kesh then ran off into the alleyways like a child with a cape thinking they were a superhero before they reached the church. " Into the night-shadows! " Kesh made herself sound like a certain caped crusader, deepening her voice, getting to the other side of the church, Kesh looked at the entrance seeing there wasn't too many people, just two men guarding the entrance. Kesh thought to herself how she would get on in then saw the good boy, Ceylan make his approach. Next the Blue Scary she referred to as Blue Knight which was Hildegard, made her attempt to goad one of them. Then there was Clyde! He just looked like a suspicious criminal with what he was wearing, he made Blue Scary look like Blue not so Scary. Kesh adjusted her blanket and took a deep breath. " Time to ratnap. " She whispered under her breath. " ratnap. ratnap. ratnap. ratnap. " Kesh repeated to herself to get over her nerves as she neared the church from the opposite side. When the group distracted the guards, Kesh slipped on in through the entrance and into the church. Kesh silenced herself seeing the foyer or main room of the church.

Looking to the left side entering in would be the kitchen and stockroom, Kesh wasn't hungry so she wouldn't go in there, but she may get hungry coming out with the Elder over her shoulder. Ahead of her were rows of many seats, probably for the sermons and such. Looking to the opposite side of the room was more ways for her to go. Kesh quickly made her way around the seats, making sure no one was around as she slunk like a rat in the night. " Come on Kesh, get in there girl. " Kesh found the doors, looking in she would see a library on the left and on the right, a stairwell. " Alright Keshy, books for later. " Kesh talked to herself quietly before venturing up the stairs. Slowly making her way up, listening for anyone, she saw a hallway with many bedrooms that looked pretty modest. Kesh snuck her way through the hallway seeing nothing of interest as she made her way to the door at the end of the hallway that had to be the Elder's Office and bedroom. Kesh looked at her ring and took a deep breath. " Like the Rat in the Night. It's time to Conceal-Hide Away. " Kesh whispered as her ring shimmered for a moment. (Conceal-Hide Away! - 1 Post Cooldown)

Her entire body would disappear from sight as she decided to open the door slowly and gently smiling as she did so. Or attempt to. Ratnap. Ratnap. Ratnap. Kesh thought to herself.

 

[LadyOfStars]

Ceylan's return to the church was very anti-climactic to those present in the building, even with Mira accompanying him, she too was dismissed. Until the foreigner priest opened his mouth and started to preach about the faith and the possible involvement of demons. That got everyone to stop what they were doing and at least pay attention to him. Some of the most zealous members came closer to him out of disdain for his words. "You're lying, mutt!" One man yelled. "Aegrizora and the church have nothing to do with demons or any darkness! You're just trying to scare those weak of faith!" And scared them he had. Those who were new to the church approached, Ceylan with caution and curiosity in their eyes. "Is this true? Demons? Do you have proof?"

Just outside, Hildegard made her play, drawing the attention of the guards with ridicule ad taunts. 'Take that back you bitch." The first guard demanded as he stepped forward and placed his hand on the hilt of his blade. "She's not worth the trouble." The second guard said as he grabbed hold of his partner. Then Hildegard continued with her disrespect of the great tree. "What do you know?" The second guard asked with a snarl. The two of them drew their weapons and started towards the woman. "I say we tech her the might of Aegrizora." The two soldiers of the faith marched forward, leaving their posts and started to circle around Hildegard. "Hah!" The first one launched a horizontal swing at her head while the second one tried to circle around to Hildegard's blind spot.








While Cayde observed from his position, he would see more than just Hildegard's tussle with the guards get started. He would bare witness to the truth of, Arborhaven and its people. The streets put on a show of despair and fear. The city guards turned a blind eyes to Hildegard's squabble for the chance to shut down some random church propaganda. A small prayer circle on the street was broken up with force, blades being waved and people being shoved. "Enough! Go on, get!" The soldier commanded. A few citizens cheered and clapped, praising the soldiers and the government for their willingness to thwart the dubious church before they could recruit anymore of their neighbors.



The rat woman moved at the opportune time. She bypassed the guards and the crowd that Ceylan had drawn without incident. Her trek up the stairs would go unnoticed and she would reach the Elder's office easily. It seemed the arrogance of the elderly and religious was working in her favor. As she neared the door, she would her the Elder speaking, rehearsing for his next sermon, but the creaking of the wooden door would cause him to pause. "Hm?" Quickly his eyes would turn from the book to the door and he looked with a tilted head and mind full of curiosity. "Damned church is falling apart at the seams." He walked around the desk, using a cane which held a sparkling, red gem in the handle to support himself as he limped over to close the door.

Skyhunter Elvario The Last Curse Dante Verren

 

[Skyhunter]

Kesh

​

Quietly as the door creaked open, Kesh poked her invisible head in, seeing the old man get up with his old body, this was a great opportunity to get in and do what Kesh does. Sneaking on in as the old man made his way over to the door, Kesh moved passed the Elder as he was trying to close the door. Kesh positioned herself behind the Elder as he closed the door, Kesh's eyes almost bulged out of her head seeing his cane! By Skitterer it was beautiful! It would sell for so much gold-money! Then she could become a student for some school! Maybe. Anyways that wasn't what she was here for, she needed to ratnap this Elder. Once the door shut and the Elder turned around to move back to his desk, Kesh stood up straight and released the spell, having her appear before the Elder as her appearance most likely would surprise the Elder. She had to say something witty as she kicked his staff to look cool! " Something witty! " Kesh, with her blanket on her, kicked the staff from the the man's hands. " Hello there. " Kesh said with a smile on her face, " Where is SHE! " Kesh wasn't exactly sure what to say besides be annoying as she then took the man to the floor and jumped on top of him pulling the Blue Dream thing off her belt and begin a struggle to have this man drink it. Wrestling with him, she was younger and more fit, " Would you just drink the damn thing and be happy with it. " Kesh asked politely as she was trying to strangle and have him drink it at the same time.

 

[Elvario]

Ceylan
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Mentions: Mira LadyOfStars

Ceylan was heartbroken when he heard Hildegard shout how she wouldn't let him play fetch with Aegrizora's branches. Ceylan was not exactly welcomed back into the church with open arms, but that was to be expected. Luckily enough, his plan worked. Perhaps a bit too well. In fact, he instinctively snarled back a little at the man that called him a mutt. Only Hildegard was allowed to do that. “I was reporting on what the rumours were out on the streets, but if you immediately take it to be my opinion and get defensive, I'm growing inclined to believe in them myself.” Whilst he wasn't here to pick a fight, he couldn't just let this one slip by. Besides, the fact that some people were actually concerned showed him that they might be saved from this cult before it was too late. Was that his duty here? Did the gods wish for him to go down this path? He wasn't sure, but at the very least, it would fulfil the duty of creating a distraction.

With that, he decided to really sever his ties with the cult. “I didn't want to believe it either, but this reaction is making me inclined to do so. Think about it, why would the roots suddenly be guarded so thoroughly, even though they should be a common place of worship for all Aegrizora's worshippers? The stories speak of how the three has been nurtured by fae and mortals alike and now cares for them, but also about how the sun turned from it and how it, in turn, turned from its children. With all the kidnapping and panic that spread through-out the city, it certainly seems more like a demon's reign than that of a benevolent god. Have the church elders given in to their desires for power by making a deal with a demon and therefore betrayed Aegrizora? They're open about their desire for the government to fall, so perhaps earthly desires of fame and power clouded their minds into doing the most sinful of all; making a deal with demons.”

He knew he was threading on very thin ice here, but he could no longer stop himself. “The Syncretist Church has always maintained strong and open ties with any religion that strives for the good in the world, yet I've rarely met this much resistance from a church before. The only times people are that guarded and hesitant to let me help them, is when they have dark secrets to hide, such as the fact that they've become a demon-worshipping cult.” Well, if he was this far into it, he might as well play all his cards. “By the authority given to me as a High Priest of the Syncretist church, in the name of Vertias, goddess of truth and her sister Aletheia, goddess of unconcealment, I formerly declare the church of Aegrizora under investigation and demand to be taken to the roots for investigation. May the sun that once shone upon Aegrizora now light up the truth.”

Perhaps he'd grown a bit too emotional or tired, as he felt like he wasn't able to [Preach] as well as when he started, but he was still able to bring his words at a certain (D) level. After all, the attempt had grown beyond his original goals of just causing a distraction, as Ceylan was now actively hoping to convince some people to leave this cult. Who knows, perhaps they'd actually take him to the roots just to try getting rid of him, which meant he'd only have to hope for his companions to follow suit and prevent him from actually being gotten rid off. Whatever the case would be, he said what he said and he'd not have to see what the consequences would be.

C Grade Cooldown (1/3)

• Preach – Religion C, Connected C [Syncretist Church] – Character holds a long theological speech about faith. Not very entertaining, but theologically sound. - Grade C - 3 Post Cooldown.

D Grade Cooldown (0/2)

• Preach – Religion D, Connected D [Syncretist Church] – Character holds a long theological speech about faith. Not very entertaining, but theologically sound. - Grade D - 2 Post Cooldown.

 

[Dante Verren]

Hildegard Karling
Interaction: LadyOfStars


A smirk flashed across her face just as a spark glinted in her eyes. Once more a rush of nostalgic excitement filled her body. While she had ignored it and even suppressed it while they were still doing the planning, this time she didn't have to. As the guard drew closer they had no idea what kind of wildfire they were about to step into. Her hands trembled with a few brilliant sparks of electricity that danced their manic tune mimicking the excitement that was building to fruition. She waited with a smile for just the right moment, not responding to the guards. One more step... one more... and then the first guard swung.

The general strategy of flanking and attacking from both sides was sound, the execution of their plan was lacking. In her opinion, the first guard swung too early. He didn't give his buddy a chance to get into position before he attacked, and Hildegard would use that to her advantage. She dropped herself low, crouching as fast as she could and ignoring the clanking of her armor. Once her instincts told her that she was below the arc of the swing she sprang into her attack. Instead of targeting the man in front of her like would be expected she used the first guards recovery time to target his ally. Spinning on her heels she sprang free from her crouched stance. Rushing forward with her shoulder raised she sprinted at the man who was still trying to get into her blind spot. In one motion she threw herself into a full speed shoulder bash putting her newly honed speed into the rush. She didn't use the lightning version, no she didn't want to kill the man. Just wanted to send him sprawling onto his ass with a smack good enough to keep him down for a second.

Once the guard hit the ground she would spin on her heels once more, this time drawing her blade and glaring down the guard who had swung at her. "Unless you both wish to meet your dying shrub in what ever sad excuse of a sap filled hell you have, I suggest you chose your next action very carefully." she growled." The threat would be evident in her voice, even though she did not intend to make good on it. Her job was to cause a scene, and that did not extended to slaughtering the guards in the square. Just roughing them up a bit. Plus they swung first, so they were the aggressor.

 

[The Last Curse]

Mentions: LadyOfStars Dante Verren ​

It wouldn't take long until a commotion formed, but it wasn't one the Cayde was expecting. The city guards had stopped another one of the church's antics, similar to the trouble back at the gates, with much more force than warranted. Although he didn't necessarily agree with the guard's response, it was hard for Cayde to emphasize with the church, especially after everything he'd learned. After all, a little scuffle in the streets would pale in comparison to whatever chaos the church planned to ensure. But, on the bright side, the dispute did provide a good opportunity for Cayde to station himself closer to the church, and so he did. He slinked away from the cheering and shouting on the street and turned the curb, preparing himself to face whatever scene Hildegard stirred up.

The closer he got to the church, the clearer he heard the quarreling at the front. Cayde didn't expect to hear much: maybe a few blasphemies thrown here and there, some tree-related slander, perhaps, but not the sound of swords unsheathing. "What? Are they fighting? Already?" Cayde thought, quickening his pace. He reached for his crossbow and plucked a bolt from its quiver, carefully loading a simple bodkin bolt. The thought of shooting someone made him shudder, but he'd have no choice if the situation escalated even further.

Eventually, Cayde reached the front of the church and saw Hildegard squaring off against two guards. He made it just in time to witness her knock one to the ground and draw her blade to the other. His eyes widened both in amazement and slight horror. The fact Hildegard could have such finesse in that armor only made Cayde more terrified of her than he already was. Not to mention this was without her magic, he noticed; how did she look fighting with it then? He gulped down that horrifying thought and proceeded into the square, but not before fixing his mask onto his face.

Now Cayde had to act threatening, something he was horrible at doing. The mask would do most of the work, but Cayde figured the guards would turn and laugh for everything else. He cleared his throat and shifted his voice to an icy tone, unfamiliar to even him. "Should've known I'd find the treehuggers at the center of all this nonsense!" He barked, raising his sights at the nearest guard, "Put away your weapons. She's done nothing wrong, you cretins!"