Arius pauses his steps. “…I may be out of the loop, but do we have any concrete evidence that the cult activities are related to Baron Dalin in any way?”
“While the cult activities in Hazel Ford are most certainly concerning, was it not our mission to investigate regarding his frequent disappearance?”
“Those bribes were so pitiful. Ten gold pieces is two and a half mystery novels, without even the fancy binding, and at least three-in-five mysteries you’ll buy are second-rate.” Paprika shakes her hair again: she can’t adjust the braid in handcuffs. “I’d only have gotten one good mystery story out of it. This is worth at least two.”
Never asked but…could be intuited.
Silver spoon. Makes sense.
Drakor stopped on the path. “I had initially thought that the Baron was involved in the cult, but that theory is starting to look less and less likely.”
He frowned. “Were there any locations you had in mind?”
(If it was somewhere far more north, then perhaps. Here though…?)
Arius shakes his head. “Unfortunately, I do not have any connections in these parts of the land.”
“The only thing I can think of at the moment is to venture deeper into the baron’s territory, and ask the citizens there for intel.”
He looks around a little bit. “There are surely many sinister cults and ruffians around, but we do not have the luxury of time to look into all of them. Investigation is not my specialization, which is why my best recommendation is to tackle the problem straight at the heart.”
This particular Temple of Abadar is, additionally, a bank and a post office. The Watch officers guarding you debate whether to pay extra to jump the queue, since it’s all coming out of the Watch’s budget anyway, but ultimately decide their superiors would be more annoyed about the extra expense than about the reduced fraction of their patrol time spent actually patrolling. The people ahead of you mostly seem to be here for ordinary business — depositing money, withdrawing money, sending letters, exchanging money for letters of credit, and so on — but one person does take up quite a bit of a junior banker’s time complaining about how they won’t pay out on an insurance policy just because he took it out after the event he was trying to insure against.
Eventually, though, you reach the front. The priest handling your case is one of the junior bankers; like most of the other people employed here, she’s wearing a necklace with a golden key, but unlike the other people here, she has gold-feathered ears, and her hair seems to glitter as it catches the light. From the price sheet next to her, it seems that the primary spell she offers is Abadar’s Truthtelling, though she also offers Continual Flame castings at a bizarrely low (though still quite expensive in absolute terms) price.
“Here to resolve a criminal case?”
The dwarf nods. “Good to see you back in town.”
“Not good news, I’m afraid. The shipping venture that hired me on went under.”
“Well, better luck next time.” The dwarf clears his throat. “The Truthtellings? You can draw from the Watch’s account.”
“Of course. How many will you be purchasing, and who will be testifying?”
Rafau steps forward. “Just one should be adequate. I can testify.”
Drakor frowned. “We should probably coordinate with the team, yes?”
“Zelsh will testify instead.” Zelsh offered. “Zelsh wants to make sure there’s no funny business afoot and Zelsh is interested in seeing what it’s like under a truth spell and Zelsh finds it fishy that the guard offered to be the one to testify when he’s the one lying.” the half orc explained. He had a feeling something was up after all, although he didn’t know what it could be.
(How much does a truthspell cost)
“It’s not quite like a Zone of Truth , it might feel a little different,” she says. “Anyone who testifies will have to agree to the wording in advance, so there shouldn’t be any funny business.” She looks at the dwarf to make a final call.
(Zelsh, make a Diplomacy check)
Prices fluctuate based on demand + vary by location, so the prices might be different in other future locations, but currently she’s charging two crowns and six links. First-circle cleric spells in areas with several competing clerics are usually cheaper than that*, but (perhaps unsurprisingly, given the name) only Abadarans get Abadar’s Truthtelling, so it tends to be a bit pricier.
* I am ignoring RAW rules for spell pricing
7
((…ah, shoot. I see where this is going.))
Arius nods, and walks back whence they came.
her Continual Flame spells cost forty crowns – a considerable sum, nearly a year’s income for an ordinary laborer – but while that is quite a steep price, it’s much cheaper than a spell that requires a material component of “ruby dust worth 50 gp” would normally cost
joy cat
Wanderer will look towards Rika.
Lore accurate diplomacy check