"This is the place is it?" Auger studies the outside for a moment, noting the lack of people eating or drinking outside. The weather is poor of course. That could explain it, correct?

Py, settle somewhere up high and let me know if you see any patrols coming by on the street.

Auger looks at the others, ensures his cloak is safely covering his coat, briefly remembers walking into a bar and getting into a fight, and then strolls forward, opens the front door and steps into the tavern.

"Yes, this is the place", Snow replies quietly as he wanders across to the nearest window to try and peak inside, not realising Auger had then gone straight for the door.

He is listening as much as looking, trying to discern any movement coming from inside either the tavern itself or the neighbouring inn.

Perception: 4+7=11 (Passive: 17)

While the others check the inn, Varielky keeps watching for any other patrols passing by, ready to alert the others if she spots one. If Auger manages to enter and finds people inside, then calls them, she'll follow inside. "Couldn't look more conspicuous if we tried." She mumbles to herself, hoping that Snow's magic will last as long as possible.

Py sends an assent to Auger and invisibly buzzes upward and out of hearing range. Varielky, looking behind, notes that the rain suddenly stops, and almost right away a very light mist begins to rise just above the warm ground, which may make walking or cantering on slippery cobblestones tricky. Meanwhile, Auger steps toward the entryway, under the eaves of which lantern light from within, shining dimly through a glazed geometric window set in the heavy door, dimly illuminates the threshold. 

The southerner tries the door as Snow absorbs these details, and the bard also hears, from somewhere, a quiet melody tracing through the air, perhaps from within. Not a drinking song to be sure, but a single voice singing a slowly unfolding verse.

Suddenly, a distant crashing noise reverberates off of the building walls, and then perhaps a yell, or a hyena, something alive, and some other metallic sound hard to characterize, all far away, indistinct. Varielky thinks it sounds like swords clanging, but the noise has drifted on an errant breeze from somewhere unseen, the exact location impossible to pinpoint. Soft and distant to begin with, it dissipates in a moment.

The tavern door creaks open at  Auger’s urging, and warmer air puffs out. Inside, an entry corridor leads to an empty bar on the right side, then opens out into large common rooms. A few candles are lit within, although no occupants are immediately in view. The sound of plaintive singing is now plainly audible, though still soft, coming from farther inside. 

Auger pauses at the door for the moment, absorbing the sound of the soft singing. He looks towards the others, nods and then steps into the tavern, leaving the door open behind him for others to follow.

Am I mistaken or did I hear something outside? Stay sharp little friend, something is amiss I think.

Auger enters and steps towards the bar. He makes no attempt to hide himself from view but he does attempt to move quietly (Stealth 17 +2 = 19). After looking at the bar he will turn his attention to the various common rooms.

"Well, at least there is someone in residence", Snow says quietly to the other two as he hears the melody.

"And I think we are safer inside than on the street", he adds, returning Auger's nod.

He waits for Varielky to enter the tavern before him (if such is her intent), and with a last look up and down the street, he slips through the door and carefully shuts it. Once inside he will follow the sound of the singing trying to discover the source. As he moves, he will do his best to ensure the other's are within the dampening field.

Perception: 11+7=18

Statuses: Pass Without Trace Concentration, Comprehend Languages

Varielky enters the inn. She doesn't make any special attempt to be quiet, but doesn't make a lot of noise either. "Shouldn't we make our presence known?" She proposes, keeping her voice just a bit lower than usual. "We came here to find a person and talk to them, after all, so we'll be seen eventually, and I think it would be easier to explain if we approach someone directly, rather than sneak around."

Even having said that, however, it's not that Varielky sees anyone to approach, so easier said than done. She doesn't want to alert the entire inn, either. They're still wanted, after all, and it's possible their faces show on the posters, too.

That thought raises Varielky's curiosity, and she starts to look around. It's a bar - a place where people gather. It'd make sense if 'wanted' posters would be hung here. Maybe theirs as well. 

‘Yes, Master,’ sends Py in response to Auger’s instruction.

The warlock and Snow enter the tavern and, hidden by Snow’s magical veil of concealment, move forward, past the bar – where one occupant sits, head on forearms, a large, empty glass pint on the counter before him, as he quietly sleeps. A retired guildsman, one might assess from his white whiskers, clean clothing, and girth.

Farther inside, in the common room, you find two women. One sits on a small stage on a small stool, sewing the hem of a bar towel – there are ten or twelve towels of similar unremarkable size, of white cloth, neatly folded on a chair in front of her. She sings as she works, and hers was the song you heard coming in. Her violet skin gives off a healthy-looking pink sheen, her hair falls in a thin braid over one shoulder, a kerchief covers her head. Near the wall, another woman’s back is turned, and she, by candlelight, on her haunches beside one of the tavern’s booths, sews closed a tear in one of the soft bench covers.

Varielky hangs back for a moment, and indeed spies a parchment tacked to a billboard beside the bar, close to the entryway, which spells out the bounty whose details had been announced in Asni. There are no sketches, just the words:

Therodurk Ulloz, Provincial Governor of Oracca u Shia, hereby proclaims that Granophyre Strewn, Varielky Halladsdottir, Snow Das, and their companions carry a bounty of 1000GP each for their capture, dead or alive, for crimes against the empire including a plot to murder the Emperor himself during his spring visit to El Harrouch Castle. 

The shield-maiden, when she now enters the common rooms with the stage and spots the two women, may exchange a glance with Auger and Snow. The singer is the bartender Snow thinks he recognizes from his brief visit to the tavern some weeks back, and Varielky knows her to be the woman with whom you wish to speak.

She, Safiyah, finishes the verse, a song none of you have heard before, but whose words and mein Snow understands, for his Shian comprehension, thanks to his bardic mind, is fluent, at least in this moment. The verse is a tender strophe bidding goodbye to a loved one in a mountain vale; 

Until next year, love, when the almond flow’rs bloom

I’ll pick one for you and I’ll stand as your groom

In the morning your gown will flow white as the clouds,

We’ll be wed that day, and your mam’ll be proud. 

And your papa will sigh in the morning.

As she finishes singing, and you enter the common rooms, hiding is not possible. Her eyes seem to take you in without surprise, and she finishes the verse before stating, in an even voice, “Sit where you like. Don’t mind Illi. Just catching up on chores.” As she speaks, she folds her sewing, and now stands, seemingly about to walk past you to the bar, ready to serve whatever customers might arrive, yourselves included.

After the tense walk through the city the tavern feels like a respite of sorts, though a strange one with so few present in the evening. The calm call from the singer, to take a seat without any special note, does draw some extra attention from Auger. Given the situation they were appearing out of nowhere. Was she as calm as she presented herself to be? (Insight: 5 +3 = 8).

Not really noticing anything about her behaviors, Auger finds an open table, away from the bar, and calls for an ale. He looks to Varielky and then to Snow to confirm, letting his eyes ask the question. Is she the one? Safiyah at last?

Snow allows the concealment to fade and gives the merest of nods to Auger before giving the woman he believes to be Safiyah a warm smile.

"A tender song to be sure, you have a lovely singing voice. There is nothing quite like the hope of a spring wedding", he says amiably.

"It is not one I have heard before, is it of your own creation? You sing it with such feeling, does it have special meaning to you?", he adds, seeing if he can tease anything out of the woman.

Persuasion: 20+8=28!

Varielky confirms with a nod to Auger, but seeing Snow taking the lead, stands back anf listens. It's not that she had any connection with Safiyah, so it didn't matter who spoke, but what's important is that they don't overwhelm her. 

Safiyah notes Auger’s request first, continues to the bar, fills three pints and finds a plate of olives and salty flatbread toast, and in a minute returns with these things to where, perhaps, the three of you sit in silence, at a table with a view of the entrance and kitchen doors, the bar, and the stage.

Perhaps Snow now asks his question.

“Oh that’s a song from the vale,” Safiyah answers at first, somewhat automatically, something she’s said before, and she turns away to check the bar, but moreover to end the conversation. Yet something makes her turn back, almost unwillingly, to look Snow in the eye, and what she finds in his gaze opens the tap of her reticence, and she answers again, tinted with sadness. 

“It is a song my grandmother taught me. Or, you know, I heard her singing it to herself many a day, and it…sunk in. She… died recently and… oh stop it, I won’t bend your ear. Enjoy your ales.”

She gives Varielky a look of recognition, flat and reserved, before stepping away from the table again, and Varielky feels certain of three things: Safiyah remembers Varielky’s name; she connects it to the poster; and she will do nothing about it.

Snow, too, has put his finger on something. It is like trying a new instrument and finding its most resonant and vibrant tones. He knows that his instincts will point him to the precise words to employ, with Safiyah, right now, which will elicit from her whatever he wants. 

"Thank you. And do not worry, speaking of those no longer amongst us on this mortal plane is perhaps the best way to honour them in the afterlife. As is the way of those of us who revere Idiwala", Snow says kindly, holding out his open hand to represent the symbol of his deity. 

"I am sorry to hear of your loss, as I am sure are my companions. It does not seem busy at the moment, perhaps it would give you comfort to share a drink with us and tell us about your grandmother? And we in turn can share with you the purpose of our visit to your fine establishment, during this sad time", he adds looking a little melancholy himself.

"I have recently heard of the tragic fate that has befallen the High Priestess", he elucidates.

Varielky wants to say something, but stops short. It is clearly a sensitive subject and... as Benita once said, Varielky isn't the most empathic person in the room. The words may have been different, but the meaning all the same.

Instead, she makes a quick, small bow, expressing gratitude, then excuses herself and stands up. Put at ease to a certain degree, she decides to find a place where she could dry herself from the rain, and change clothes if any in her pack remain dry, or just wring those she wears to get them as dry as possible.

Auger silently follows the exchange between Safiyah and Snow while sipping at his ale. Briefly wondering why Varielky gets up, Auger realizes what she is about and leaves her to it. He then gestures towards Safiyah to join them at an open seat. Then with the same hand he reaches for some flatbread and a few olives, which he nibbles on.

We have found the granddaughter and she might be saying something to us. Perhaps we will learn something to aid our quest at last.

Varielky finds a vacant washroom where her ablutions can be carried out in privacy. 

As Auger snacks, Safiyah and the woman she referred to as Illi exchange a glance. Safiyah shrugs and shakes her head a bit, as does the other woman, once Safiyah begins to speak.

“It’s why I am here really, in this place. We all have our own tale to tell no matter how meager we may feel — or full of ourself. I love hearing them. I guess I’ve heard as many folk tell me about someone they’ve lost as anyone has, me here standin at the bar usually while they sit. That’s life and death in a nutshell isn’t it: those who live, live to remember. Those who pass… no one knows for sure what happens next in their tale.

“Something tells me you’re here to speak with me. Specifically. Why else would you mention my namesake.”

She pauses to look searchingly at Auger and Snow in turn, inviting you to respond. “Did you know her? Are you grieving beside me? Or has mere curiosity drawn you to me?,” she asks quietly. 

Through a partly opened window, you hear the sound of a horse galloping past outside. Safiyah and Illi look to the window, turn to hold each other’s eyes a moment, then, when the sound recedes, go back to what they were doing, Illi sewing, Safiyah conversing with you at the candlelit table. 

Snow looks to the window as the galloping horse passes by, then turns to looks back at Safiyah.

"You are very perceptive, we have indeed come here to speak with you", he says with a smile.

"It is details about your grandmother's past we are interested in. We had been travelling to speak with her when we found out the news of her fate. And yes, we knew that she was imprisoned before we started travelling", he adds, taking a deep breath in.

"It feels wrong asking this under the circumstances, but do you have access to any of your grandmother's journals or letters? Or perhaps she shared some stories about her younger days?", he asks, then looks to Auger to see if has anything to add.

Auger watches the others watching the horses go by and wonders what Py saw. They seem very interested in things going on outside. Please let me know what is coming.

When Snow looks to Auger he adds, "We are most interested in your grandmother's activities and locations during the time of the rebellion. It all has to do with an object she found and then gifted to a friend. An axe. An axe with ancient markings upon it. Do you know of such a thing?"

Auger waits to see if the brief description creates any sense of recognition in Safiyah. Auger continues studying her, hoping to see any signs of recognition or to tell if she is covering anything up if she responds (Insight: 14 +3 = 17).

‘A horse galloped past, Master,’ Py replies. ‘Mounted by a City Guardsman.’

Safiyah seems to answer truthfully when she asks, her voice a hot poker, “You decided the day after my only living relative’s death would be a good moment to ask me about some axe??

“Thank you. It seems wrong to me too.” She glares at both men for a long moment, but takes a breath, looks at Illi, who makes a furtive gesture which causes Safiyah to chuckle just a bit. A moment passes in silence. 

“I can’t believe she’s gone,” she says to no one in particular. She looks around and seems drawn back to Snow and continues. “She knew of all kinds of ancient things, and foreign things, politics. The lands and seas were the shore of a great ocean of knowledge to her and she went fishin evry day. She taught many people to fish for themselves as they say, to think outside themselves. Folks love her even though she always keeps her distance.” After a moment she corrects herself. “Kept her distance.

“I’ve been wanting to visit her rooms under the temple since she was imprisoned, but they’ve been under guard. And now, with the revolt happening, I don’t know when I’ll be able to… to collect her things.

“When I do I’ll look. For this axe. I don’t mind.”

Varielky is done drying herself at this time. 

"Well, in our defence we were trying to be a little more subtle and gentle about this. Like I said, you are very perceptive", Snow says kindly, but has the decency to blush a little.

"When I said I was a follower of Idiwala myself, I was not being deceptive. I am a bard, myself. Keeping knowledge alive is my purpose", he adds, keeping her eyes locked with his.

"For some time now we have been on this path, and bad as the timing is, it has led us to your grandmother. I do not wish to speak out of turn, but I sincerely do not believe she would wish this knowledge forgotten. And I am sure she would recognise our intentions are good", he continues, making a move to hold her hand at this point.

"If you have been meaning to visit her rooms, perhaps we can escort you there? We would of course ensure your safety", he finishes, looking at Auger and Varielky if she has returned.

(OOC: if a persuasion roll is required, Snow will at this point hold his roll and help either Auger or Varielky)