(Homebrew) Heroes of Bardstown

Grugga looks concerned about the talk of fighting in the streets. "Who are they? Cultists?"

“These are Blue Crowns- thieving shlubs who tried to take our hydra.” 

"Our first encounter with them might have been untoward and unpleasant, but I don’t believe stooping down to their ways would be beneficial to our cause. I’m sure we can come up with a solution where we both can remain civil."

"Believe men when I say among some of the rougher mercenaries, not killing them after a brawl is being civil." Guilim says as he cracks his knuckles through his metal armor. He then shrugs and looks to Rohuzar since he is the de facto leader 

"Do we need to confront them? They seem to have lost us. Maybe they'll just head back to the ale house..."

The three stalkers do seem to be on the verge of giving up and leaving the area.  If you plan to confront them, or follow them, you can do so, but your window is closing.  

Otherwise, you can continue on toward your planned destination.

"Yes, perhaps we can risk not confonting them, it's unlikely they will find us again tonight." Aubrey says, looking to Rohuzar for his decision.

You wait for the Blue Crowns to give up their search and watch them wander back in the direction of Bardstown.  You then continue on your way to the Water Pony Boarding House.  It is a long, low-ceilinged wood structure almost at the very edge of the wharf, overlooking the Great Lake.  You can hear the surf on the stone breakwalls below you... the sound takes you back to your twilight battle with the juvenile hydra.  A sign outside the door reads:

• Hot meals: 1cp
• Beds: 2cp

You need to stoop slightly to get inside the door.  There is just one, long room filling the building, with wooden posts every 15 feet helping to hold the roof up.  There are perhaps 40 cots spaced out to the left, some of them in use, and several mess tables to the right.  In the corner an old, hairless man is stirring a cauldron full of what smells like some sort of chowder.  Other than the cook, it is not clear who works here and who is a guest.

Grugga has to stoop especially low to get in the door, thanks to Zap. Once he gets in, he stretches his poor back out and takes a look around. Figuring that the old man on chowder duty is probably an employee, Grugga nods toward him and leads the group in that direction. "Evening, mister. We're looking for Sabbras. Has he made it back in this evening?"

The man with the pot looks at you strangely, leaning forward and looking up, like he is peering over imaginary spectacles.  He stares long and hard at you, and just when you feel it might be necessary to restate your question, he jerks a thumb at a nearby cot.  A thin, bearded human of indeterminate age in dirty clothes and a fisherman's apron has been sitting up on that cot, watching you.  When the cook points him out, he scoots to the far side of the cot and puts his hands up.  "I don't owe nothing to no one!  I don't know who sent you, but I didn't do anything.  I ain't got nothing to take!  Please just leave me be!"  

Most of the eyes in the room have now turned to look at the scene.

Seeing as the man sitting on the cot is visibly upset, Leelan approches him attempts to calm him down.

"Now, now. There’s no need to worry. My comrades and I were not sent by anyone. We would simply like the opportunity to ask you a few questions. Perhaps over a hot meal? Our treat. What say you?"

(Could I attempt a Persuasion check? : Unable to parse dice roll.)

The strange looking humanoid in the blue leather armor and red beret does his best to soothe the nerves of the worried fisherman.  He backs away further until he almost falls off the cot, then stands and backpedals deeper into the long room.  "Wha - what are you?  You ain't a dwarf."  He looks on the verge of tears.  "Oh gods... they said strangers might come after me... oh gods...".

A handful of other sailors and fishermen come to Sabbras' aid.  None of them are armed but they try to stand between the scared man and your group. 

"Hey... you all had best sod off and get out of here."

"Yeah!  He's one of us and if ye've come looking for trouble you'll find all you can eat, here."

"He said he ain't done nuthin' and he don't owe you nuthin'!   Go on.  Git!"

Aubrey takes a step forward, hoping to present them with a less unusual sight. "Please gentlemen, let me buy you all a round while we have a short friendly chat with Sabbras and soon we will be on our way again." He says with a disarming smile, holding up a purse with golden coins.
Persuasion: Unable to parse dice roll.

The large men pause momentarily at the jingling of Aubrey's coin.  Another man rises from a cot.  He is older and frailer than most of the others, but also more well spoken.  "Let's all be sensible about this.  You wish to 'talk' with Sabbras?" he says looking at Aubrey.  "Fine.  You can talk to Sabbras, right here in front of all of us so we can keep our eyes on you.  And you can pay him for his time... 5gp.  And for all these fine gentlemen keeping watch... 1gp each.  Call it a... security fee."  He moves next to the Sabbras, behind the larger men, and crosses his arms.  "Take it or leave it."

Guilim sighs and looks to the others with a frown, muttering to himself in his native language. He then shrugs and moves step away to let the others decide if it is even worth their time to mess with the dirty man.

Rohuzar scowls. “You take us for gangsters and thieves, then proceed to extort our generosity. You’ll take the generosity offered and be grateful. If you interfere, you’ll find that the stick is much worse than the carrot.” Rohuzar begins to loom over the spokesman closer and closer.

”Now go. Sit. Down.” He clenches his fist tight enough that his knuckles pop. 
Intimidation Unable to parse dice roll. 

The older man who tried to negotiate terms gulps and slips away.  Some of the other fishermen do so as well, leaving just a couple of the larger toughs remaining.  Without the backup of the rest of the crowd, they have lost the nerve to challenge you, though they linger in the room and watching you closely.  

There is no one left between you and Sabbras.  He seems more convinced now than ever that you mean him harm, but he is not trying to flee.  "Please, sirs.  I did nothing.  I have nothing.  I saw nothing.  Leave a poor man be, please!"

"Good gracious!" Grugga seems absolutely distraught by the way the situation is unfolding. He tries to "iron out" the mood. "Mister Abrax, your friends at the Land Shark sent us. We've been targeted by the same cult that tried to recruit you and they thought you could help us. If they told you that people would come for you, it's because their cult is a bunch of hag-worshiping murderers; of course we came for you - you're one of the only people who can help us take down this evil cult."

Grugga hopes that eases some of the tension in the room, and he presses Sabbras for more information. "Now, Mister Abrax, could you please tell us what you saw that night? We know the location of the warehouse, but any details could go a long way toward ridding this city of a great evil and removing the curses from the waters - have any of you been having bad luck fishing lately? Yeah, that's the cult." Grugga waits for Sabbras to start talking. He pulls his pouch of coins off his hip and puts a gold coin on the counter for every (major) detail that Sabbras produces. Grugga leads the man's memories toward any faces he may have seen, any names he may have overheard, or anything else that may help them.

Aubrey smirks as the fishermen disperse. He gives Rohuzar an appreciative nod over scaring them away and moves closer to Sabbras to catch any information Grugga might get out of him, meanwhile keeping a lookout for people paying special attention to their discussion.
Perception: Unable to parse dice roll.

Seeing no alternative but to cooperate, Sabbras Abrax tells you what he recalls of his recruitment by the cult.

He has always had strange dreams.  The most common is of being trapped underneath something heavy, and being overwhelmed with grief and rage and desire to escape, whilst other figures dance around the edge of his senses and laugh at him.  There are other dreams to, dreams of red dragons in flight, of insects crawling and stabbing over all the world, of cold eyes in the dark.  He has always dreaded sleep, but the cultist who sought him out knew about his dreams.  They told him that his dreams make him special, and that there was a place for 'sensitive' people like him.  

He was asked to come to a meeting to see if he liked it.  He was led to a warehouse.  The inside was packed full of old wagons and ship parts, it was claustrophobic.  Underneath the warehouse was another building, built under the wharf and into the bedrock by the shore.  It was down a long staircase and full of narrow corridors.  Inside was a temple, with a pool of water inside.  There were other rooms and halls but he wasn't allowed anywhere but the temple.  There were priests, as well as other people like him, new converts.  

They said they worshipped Leviticus.  There was a new convert who had decided to fully join the faith.  They were going to summon Leviticus to bless the man, and as part of the ritual the man cut his palms open and placed them in the pool of water.  This was all too weird for Sabbras, so he slipped out.  He snuck back up the stairs but a priest was there waiting for him.  He said that for rejecting the faith, he would be forever persecuted and that people would come for him.  They would come for him, but the faith of Leviticus would not protect him.  Then he fled.

That is his story.  If there are additional questions he can try to answer them.