Café de Nuit

THE LAUNDRY, ALLEY AND COURTYARD SCENE

Klokulf takes Raen’s wet garments from the skeptical old laundress, saying he can dry them out in a hurry.

When a hot blast of air conjured by Klokulf’s spell hurls him leaping high over the rooftop, several people jerk to a halt in the burg’s courtyard and stare.
The cleric drifts back down as lightly as a falling sheet in the breeze, shaking moisture out of the wet clothes as he descends. Anyone standing below may be sprinkled.
A group of women and kids laugh and clap. One old man scowls and hurries on his way into a building.
After Klokulf lands, the clothes in his hands are still damp, but less so.
Raen will look as if he’s walked through a rain shower, but not as if he went for a swim.

A whiff of hot iron hangs about the garments now.

When Klokulf mends the garments with magic, something unexpected occurs. A symbol appears on the robes, embroidered in the breast: The Lawgiver’s Spear, inverted.

Raen, unsure about such frivolous use of magic is still overcome with laughter at the display and the smart application of the spell and claps along with the other bystanders as his clothes get a weird drying. He thanks Klokulf for his effort and for the show.
"I know have the most famous robe in the town!" he says joyfully. Then a little later he sees that Klokulf's magic left a mark. A mark of a deity he doesn't like and an ominous one at that.
"Ehh... thanks again." he tells the cleric but he's not thrilled about the situation.

Inwardly, Klokulf is quite disturbed by the unintentional emblem. Is it an indictment of the wizard, or a warning to me for fixing his garment?

All he says on the matter is, "I certainly did not mean for that symbol to appear. If we ever get back and you end up going to Nova Vaasa, you will want to get that turned right side up." After a moment of thought on the matter, he adds, "Actually, just don't go if you do not have to. Your profession will . . . not be appreciated."

"I am aware. There's a reason our magic is called 'arcane' after all. It's not wise to practice it in the open in most occasions. Thank you for your efforts."

Alain just looks on in amusement at the display of magic . He is feeling rather more at home here than in long time in the relaxing of his shoulders, but still with look of man aware of his suroundering more than most men ever have .

WITH RAEN'S LAUNDRY done, the party hastens to its meeting in the North Abbey...


At the North Abbey…

Guards escort the party into a checkpoint, where they are searched again, and thence into a masonry room with plain furniture and a narrow-slit window to let in fresh air and sunlight.

After showing the party in, the guards remain in the chamber, standing watch with hands resting on sword hilts. They don’t chat.

After a brief wait, a trim woman dressed in a dun jack of bronze-studded leather with a browned steel gorget at her neck and a long knife hanging at her belt enters and takes a seat.
The woman’s tanned skin, laurel hair pulled back in a ponytail, and bright hazel eyes lend her an air of sunlight and forest warmth. Frown lines and crow’s feet suggest she’s older than she seems at first glance: in her late thirties or early forties, perhaps.
“All right, then, you wanted to see me?”

After the impromptu magical display, Bennedict looks with interest to the townsfolk, noting their...lack of reaction. Many villages like this would have reacted to a display like that with torches and pitch forks, he muses, This is a strange place indeed.

Later, he rises as the woman enters.

"Greetings," he says, "I am Bennedict Gehrman. These are my associates." He hands her a card from his agency. "We are travelers far from home, and were wondering if we could receive aid to help us find our way back to our homeland." He explains their situation, edging around the details of the ritual that sent them to Cormyr.

The Governor sits quietly, listening.

After Benn finishes, she says,
''Well...that's some tale.''
She frowns.
''I don't suppose you'd object to being examined by the clergy?''
Perhaps reading worry in the faces of Benn and his group, she adds,
"To see if you've been enchanted. And, yes, to see if you are telling the truth. I'm not in the habit of accusing guests of lying. But you must admit that your story is pretty bizarre--not impossible, but bizarre."

Raen has stood up after Benn, following the archivist's example and gave a court nod to the governor. He didn't interrupt Benn nor explained any of the "missing" details.
When the reasonable but still intrusive mention of clerics was put forward, Raen, not very happy about it, asks "Clerics of which deities will be called to pass judgement on us?" hoping those more versed in such manners would recognize something.

"Take it from me," Klokulf chuckles, "these people do not like having their minds read. At least you are asking first."

"As for the clergy," he continues, "I think I have been planning on meeting with them all along. This place does not exactly fit with the teachings of my religion, so I was hoping to find texts of theology and cosmology that might help me place your gods relative to mine. You don't happen to know of the Lawgiver, do you?"

She answers Kolkulf first,
''Lawgiver? No. But you should ask the priests. There are many gods, and some go by several names."
To Raen, she says,
''You'll be interrogated by priests of Helm the Watcher, and maybe others...Why do you ask? Have you incurred the wrath of some god?"

Klokulf's eyes dart uncomfortably to the inverted spear on Raen's robe.

Alain says with amusement :"All adventures in my experience have offended some god or another depending on there activities in my opinion, usually evil one most of the time since those are the ones at least those who good for the betterment of there fellows in various ways . Personaly I don't mind being questioned about how we got here at all or our motives at all ."*


*Diplomacy Check see OOC

"Indeed, I doubt we have been here long enough to offend any deities local to this place," adds Klokulf, a genuine and disarming smile spreading across his face.

The Governor returns Klokulf's smile.

Alwina, seated close to the Lawgiver's priest, sniffs as she scoots closer still.