(Homebrew) Heroes of Bardstown

Aubrey looks to Grugga to explain their business with the temple of Ord, but stands by to support him with his noble and trustworthy appearance.
(Help action give to any persuasion roll needed to get pass the young acolyte.)

Grugga can't be sure who's listening in, so he attempts to get the group into the lighthouse / temple without having to explain any specifics to this acolyte. He feels more confident as Aubrey steps front and center, to lend his words a sense of noble respectability and authority. "Apologies for our friends, but we aren't here for a cure to their drunkenness in any case. My name is Grugga of Raven's Hill; perhaps you remember me from a few days ago ((I visited during that week of IC downtime)). Bishop Cleghorn said you'd be able to receive me any time day or night regarding a most urgent matter." The artificer then fumbles with his one free hand to extract the "bottle of sending" from its pouch - he hopes that the acolyte recognizes it as as Cleghorn's means of communication. He holds the bottle up for inspection and explains what it is if the acolyte doesn't know.

Grugga frowns in in the moonlight to drive home his next point, "And this is about as urgent as it gets. May we please speak to your most senior priest immediately?"

Persuasion with advantage: 15

The young acolyte listens to Grugga, but his attention is drawn to the charred corpse you carry with you.  His eyes go wide and he begins to back up... though he does take notice of the bottle Grugga displays.  "You guys... you guys just wait here for a moment..." he stutters, and the hurries down the bridge to the lighthouse. 

A few minutes later, 2 different human men, both dressed as priests, hurry out to greet you.  "Come with us at once!"  They lead you back to the Temple.

The inside is surprisingly understated.  The entire ground floor, only about 400sq ft, is decorated as a place of worship, with an altar and a fountain in the shape of two cupped hands.  A spiral wrought iron stair case leads to upper floors.  The chapel is a hub of activity, and two more priests greet you and take the corpse of Caius Spezza and the unconscious guard and lay them out on the floor.  The two priests who brought you inside then look to Grugga.  "You need to explain to us what is going on here.  Now.  In detail."

Grugga sees Rohuzar about to start explaining, but he quickly cuts in: "Gladly, but do you have anywhere safe from scrying?"

Aubrey follows the others inside the temple in silence, ready to assist Grugga with any convincing needed.
He orders Furvus to keep watch outside to warn them of any attack on the temple.

At Grugga's request, the priests look further concerned, but the send a runner out into the night.  While they await his return, they offer some light healing to any of you who still hold injuries from the night's festivities.  Any who need it may take 7 healing.  They also ask that you remain in the corner of the room, with your weapons sheathed, until they get some answers.  The conscious guard tries to wriggle free.  "Look, I don't even know these ********!  They're crazy!  Let me go before they try to kill everyone!"  But the priests tell him to be silent for now, seemingly willing to give your armed group the benefit of the doubt that this man is a prisoner and not a victim.

After 20 minutes, the runner returns, with an elderly human woman.  Despite her advanced age she seems spry and keen eyed, though it is clear she was just woken and her hair is still bundled in rollers under a night cap.  She has thrown some simple vestments over her night clothes and carries with her a satchel of components.

Religion DC 10:

 The old woman immediately begins sketching out runes on the floor, onto each of which she sprinkles a dust that glitters fabulously in the light, and lighting candles in the corners.  While she is doing this, two of the priests of Ord begin etching out their own set of symbols and offering prayers to Ord to guide them to answers.

Arcana DC 15:

 Once the old woman and the two priests nod that their work is complete, one of the other priests who brought you inside steps forward.  "Mercenaries... you stand here in the holy house of Ord, god of the tides and bringer of the waters of life.  You arrive on a wave of doom, bringing with you the mortal remains of a high agent of his majesty, the Emperor.  The very same agent who had been working diligently to aid our brotherhood in rooting out the vile heretics who murder our kin and poison the minds of the faithful.  You must speak now, and tell us all that you know.  Your fate, and the fate of all our church, may well rest in the answers you share right now."

[One or more of you can tell the tale in the main thread.  I will also be sending you all some questions in DMs about specific details and whether you share them or not.  You don't necessarily have to RP those details, I will just assume that all of you are talking to the priests but not everything happens on camera.  Some of those questions will be red herrings... some will be very important....  And don't be afraid to throw in details I don't ask about... you never know what doors the unexpected might open.... ]

Religion: 7
Arcana: 24

Grugga nods approvingly and murmurs, "A cleric of Asmodeus..." as the old woman walks in. ((reveals the religion check))

Religion: 7

Arcana: 6

Religion: 11 Arcana: 20

Rohuzar puts the captive forward and gestures to the dead body of the judexi. 

"Tonight, ve invested in our future by attempting to remove the threat of this cult which has been brought upon our head. Ve intended to gather information. Ve arrested these two and defeated the others, but a mage destroyed much, before using teleportation runes to flee. Ve saved several pieces of evidence, including the judexi's body. It appears to have been kept, for nefarious purpose although Ve believe he has been dead for much longer than his condition would reveal. It is our assumption he has been replaced, and a double left in his place. It explains much, including his desire to send us across the border in search of an assassin."

"This," Rohuzar thumps the book of legion names on the ground. "It is a list of persons they vere perhaps attempting to manipulate into acting in their interests."

"Ve... Need reliable assistance. People experienced vith the cult. Our own people have visdom enough to sniff out a rat, but ve need someone who can suss out the truth, even from the dead." He gestures at the body.

The priest fires questions.

"Where did all this occur?  How did you find them?"

"The Judex wanted to send you on a mission?  Where?  After what assassin?"

"Who is working with them?  Have you identified any other agents?"

They also sharply question the shackled prisoner.  For the most part he remains silent, though he responds to a few questions as though gasping for air.  "Nothing!  I was a simple guard!  I don't know anything about what these men claim... they just stormed in and attacked us, then dragged us out into the night!"  The two priests who had been casting spells look up at the questioner and shake their heads.  "You do yourself a disservice, trying to lie to us," the priest says.  "What kinder treatment, do you think, will you receive from the Emperor's police?  They will have questions of their own about what happened to their special agent.  And when they ask, it will be with hot steel and short tempers."  To this the prisoner keeps his head down and continues to resist answering.

Religion: 17

Arcana: 3

Rohuzar will spill on all of that.

During the interrogation, Leelan will leave his companions to fill in the gap and answer the questions by providing his professional academic insight when the various monsters they’ve encountered are brought up. He mentions the water monster summoned in the underground lair, which he is still baffled by. He mentions the young hydra they’ve found beneath the docks on their very first mission as a group. He leaves out the detail about what happened to the remains of the hydra. 

Lastly, he will list the evidence that leads him to believe that a hag might be working with the cult:

• Malia, the elven girl they rescued (hopefully someone mentions her), was abducted and branded with a symbol of Leviticus to be sacrificed on a full moon to a sea creature. The girl was named May Queen in her village because of her good looks, which might explains why she was targeted by a sea hag.
• The same symbols were found on stone discs in the underground lair.
• If Grugga mentions his feeling of being watched by a powerful creature, he will bring up that sea hags are cruel creatures that enjoy toying with their victims.

Grugga makes sure that all the information he told to the fake Spezza ((Post 1445, page 73)) is all reiterated to the priests here. Then he continues on answering their new questions. ((Questions are spoilered to cut down on clutter, but they're not secret))

Would you share your prior encounters with this 'hag' entity?

Would you tell them about the prior event with the disc showing a mountain?

Would you tell them about your constructs and how you used them to scout and fight inside the temple, and how they performed?

"Where did all this occur?  How did you find them?"

 "The Judex wanted to send you on a mission?  Where?  After what assassin?"

 "Who is working with them?  Have you identified any other agents?"

What theory about what is going on would you share with them?  (Please include this one in the main thread, if you share a theory at all)

Aubrey listens as Grugga and Leelan makes an extensive and very impressive recount of the teams dealings with the cult. He has nothing much to add to their story but what he knows about the rumors of another cult temple situated under the Docksiders Alehouse in the port of Shelley.

Guilim will tell them that the watery creature had seemingly only truly been affected by the divine energy he had called upon making a connection with it. Finally in order to possibly show what they had fought he will show them the stone that had come from the creatures eye.

The priests listen to your stories.

They use their own versions of the 'message in a bottle' items, apparently corresponding with other temples and receiving responses in kind.

Most disturbingly, they turn to the corpse of Judex Caius Spezza itself for answers.  One of the priests casts a divine spell, and a shadowy visage of the late Judex takes shape above the body.  It is not a ghost, exactly.  Nor is it a fully formed consciousness with which you can converse.  No.  It is something more like an echo... a memory of the man that was.  It is also confused, angry, and unwilling to cooperate.  It demands to know who is in its room?  What they are doing there?  It is seen reaching for phantom weapons.  It struggles and then grabs its chest, gasping for air.  This scene plays out multiple times.  The priest attempts to ask it questions.  "Who attacked you?  What do you see?" but eventually shakes his head and dismisses the spell.  

***

After some time conversing with one another, one of the priests steps forward.  "My name is Deacon Obed Marsh.  You have spoken true, and though much of your tale still needs corroboration, what we can test tonight seems to be disturbingly accurate."

"This is grave.  Not since the hidden threat of the Tsaurian infiltration have imposters taken rank in the imperial legion.  We have taken this investigation as far as we can... perhaps further than we should have.  We must alert the other Judexi.  We will take our direction on what to do next from them."

"As far as yourselves, it is a certainty they will wish to speak with you as well.  You are welcome to remain here for now.  If you have someplace else safe to go, I will not hold you, but I will insist several of our clerics accompany you.  May Ord shelter us from the storms to come."

Grugga knuckles his chin. "Yes, it is awfully like the tsaurians, isn't it? Yet according to our monster expert, it's entirely within the wheelhouse of these hags... Perhaps a coincidence?"

He looks to his group and asks, "Do we have anywhere safer than here? I doubt it... I think we should spend the night here and see what news there is in the morning."

He turns back to Deacon Obed Marsh, "Thank you for welcoming us into your temple. I have no head for these sorts of machinations, so I'm happy you're able and willing to take up the charge, but be careful about telling the other judexi. if one of them is a cultist... well, it'd be awfully convenient for them and we could end up with more situations like..." he gestures at the corpse of Spezza. "I wonder as well if you'd be kind enough to have your priests tell Lieutenant Falstaff and Lieutenant Cochran of the Red Band at the Chenoweth Hotel and Jonny Nevers at the Robust Hound. They're close to us and are probably targets for assassination thanks to us. I'd vouch for all of them not being, erm, cultists as of earlier today."