"Fighting the fire?" Orson Fairweather mutters, unstiffening a bit to chew on those words. His eye wanders over to the burnt hut, then he figures, "Ah." It is only even more apparent when Ka-Cha says water weakened it.

When Heiboros explains, Orson nods, eyeing the gawkers, "Seems quite a few number here too were awake." Some of the spectators nearby start to walk a bit more quickly now. "But very few knew what happened. Buddy, here, tells me that they saw that they saw and you-" he gestures to all of you, "So, I'm just asking to piece together this little puzzle here."

"I too woke up this morning to hear my guards waking me," he gestures to a few large fellows who trail behind by the cart, "telling me that my caravan was broken into, that my cart was found moved thousand yards off the site, and there was a fire. Been told that someone busted open my safe worth fifty grand, hundreds of gold worth a piece missing, and now there goes my delivery for Freimart out tomorrah evenin'..."

The squelching of boots makes his eye squint. Anticipating a rebuttal, he says, "So, thanks. I was only asking for a little collaboration"

He waits for Hadrian to make the first move, his tall frame around equal match with the young man. By the time you take a breath in the middle of your speech, he opens his mouth to speak, "My condolences." Then he lets you on continue, his golden teeth gleaming in the early morning sun. The words hit him like a breeze to a boulder. He stays unmoving. "Suppose you're right, son. My delerium did 'get loose.' It gone out and created a monster, just like alllll them other monsters in Drakkenheim, the city you're venturing into. The city you decided to walk up to. And you're hoping to take those on too?"

"My property was moved and it was moved without my right. Now, I'm sorry you and your friends got hurt. Wasn't none of my intention and sure wasn't none of yers either. But I wasn't the one who set the fire. So what happened after ain't any of my liabilities, son. I set the table, but I sure didn't cook the dinner.

"But sure, I guess you could say we're fair. Ain't nothing happen on my side of things, ain't like I got no mouths to feed. Guess it's all on me," he grits his teeth then gestures over to the houses, "Ainsberg will likely let you stay there for free. It's not the first time these houses here have been burnt down. Sure must be making gold off them insurances then." He clicks his tongue over at Heiboros, "Perhaps you're right. Hey Ransom," he whistles. Said captain, who had been talking with Tendilius turns his head, "don't suppose the city won't mind paying another one of those damn Sebastian's right?" He walks away before what Heiboros said could be heard.

 Ansom had been talking with Tendilius for a while now while this was going on. He coughs to clear his throat, "Uh, yes, sir, the ratlings, sir. They... they are a minor nuisance at best. They come to steal our supplies every now and again," he sighs, "Camp's right above them. It's honestly no wonder-" His own mind seems to wonder a bit.

"A coincidence? I don't know. I mean- Gate's pretty far into Drakkenheim, and Mr. 'weather's all the way down here. It would seem pretty unlikely for it all to be coordinated. But it's not impossible..."

"I was guessing that the storm washed them out of the sewers because of you know, the overflooding, and so they came above ground as they always do, and you know what they do? Those beasts only care to do two things and that's eat and breed. So now, of course, when we saw them, we outmanned them. Shot down a few of their ranks, got them running tail 'hind. But they got lucky. Some lightning strike scattered our horses and caused our men to swerve," he puts a facepalm to the head, "and then their delerium sling grazed me."

"Sister went, along with a few other of our guards too, looking out for what they stole... but almost all came back yet except for her." He sighs again as in a 'why am I even telling you this?' way. He gestures towards the hut and then back at the caravan, "Look, I honestly don't think you did it. The thing is that we got to investigate it. Orson's got a real stick in the mud and writing a report is the lowest on my agenda today. He can just make enough in a day to cover all this mess today. Would you just be willing to take a truth test today?" He produces a scroll out of his bag.

Then Orson calls him, "What?"

 The two engage in a conservation about how the city's got no budget and that the Hooded Lanterns are on their own terms now, which only seems to add merit to Orson's claim that the Hooded Lanterns really have no business being involved to which Ansom points out that he was the one who called him in the first place, which only adds fuel to the fire (metaphorically of course) until Orson reminds him that he is the one with property damage here to, which again Ansom reminds him is not within the jurisdiction of the Hooded Lanterns but of the town Reeve, which they don't have anymore.  

"I'll take a truth test," Heiboros quickly agrees. He's been able to trick most of these so far, why should this be any different? "Now, however, I do wonder, how did you come by so much delirium, Mr. Fairweather? I daresay you need to take a truth test too."

History: 3 + 3(INT_MOD) + 2(PROF_BON) = 8

What would Tendilius know about a Truth Test?

@Tendilius

You are not sure of what this Truth Test is, but if you had to guess it is some sort of interrogation tactic given that the Hooded Lanterns are, as you know, a policing force. If the scroll Ansom produced is anything to go by, you assume it is likely going to be a spell, which one though you are not so sure.

——

Halting the conversation with the palm of his hand due to Heiboros’s interruption, Ansom walks away from the irate merchant with a smile. 

“Okay, looks like we’re getting some answers today,” Ansom responds, looking over his shoulder at Orson. 

Orson looks past the captain at Heiboros and scoffs, “Me?! You’re asking me? I’m the one here whose delerium was stolen, and you’re asking? Why I outta-“ He mumbles that last part under his breath. Crossing his arms across his chest, he announces, “Fine. I’ll do it. I ain’t got nothing to hide.”

”Okay then,” nods Ansom. He steps to the side, unwrapping the scroll he held out before. “Alright this will be the Zone of Truth. Everyone who steps into must tell the truth,” he says, marking the ground with a point of his finger, “If you do not then I will know it.”

Orson blinks at this then sneers. “Okay,” he then directs the sneer at Heiboros, “I’ll go first.” He walks into the spot on the ground that Ansom pointed to.

”Alright,” Ansom nods, “Did you lock the chest last night.”

The merchant sighs and shuffles his feet. His shoulders sag in a more relaxed position, “Yes, I did with locks I got from Academy and I see I’m not the only-“

”What did you do after you locked the chest?”

”I went home to the Red Lion as always now what is this-“

”Where did you park the caravan?”

Orson sighs again. “Hendrix’s. His farm, by the barn. Costs me good money too,” he harrumphs.

”How did you come about to find it st- moved?”

Orson looks over to his bodyguards, “They told me when I woke up. They get up earlier than me. Walked over to see for myself and it was over here instead.”

Ansom then looks over to them, “Is it possible any of them moved it?”

Orson looks quite shocked, “What? No, I’ve known them for years. They’re my crew. Ain’t nothing from them that wouldn’t get past my eye.”

”But you’re cart’s over here-“

”Are you trying to tell me something, boy? How I’m living my life?”

”No, I’m just simply pointing out the facts.” Their voices overlap.

”No,” Orson stands his ground, “Because I vetted them myself. They know what happens when one opens the locks. In fact, they know the combination. If this was a setup, some sort of inside job, I’d know. This.. this is the work of amateur! For years and this only happened when these roll into town. Yeah I know these adventurers. Trying to always stake a claim in the business, look you ain’t the first and sure ain’t the last, but delerium you gotta work for yourself and not, sure, stealing from out of us hardworking folk just trying to earn a living. You go out into the city and you find your own gold-.” He gestures  north. 

“That’s enough Mr. Orson” Ansom shakes it off with his hand. Orson Fairweather gawks but stands down and mutters.

”You,” Ansom points to Heiboros, “you’re next.” 

((Do a Charisma Saving Throw))

((Also sorry no colors I’m on mobile))

During the conversation, Heiboros walks over to the hut and grabs his wand, also leaving his bag with the delerium in the hut. He intentionally fails the saving throw, but he is going to try to make them think he didn't take the delerium by saying he doesn't have it, which is technically true. About the fight, he will tell the complete truth.

Ansom's eye follows you to the hut and back during the conversation but doesn't acknowledge. When it comes to your turn and you enter the space you feel a slight tingle in your feather likes goosebumps (or maybe eaglebumps). You fail your Charisma throw. Ansom nods and gestures for you to come closer whilst still being in the center. 

He asks you various questions similar to Orson Fairweather: "Where were you last night?", "What did you see around the cart?", "Was there anyone there before what sparked the fire? What did you see after?," "How did you fight it?", and "What happened to the body?"

Then as you anticipated, he asks, "Do you have any of the delerium on hand at the moment?"

No matter what you answer, he does not show any sign of judgment, his eyes still looming over at the hut. 

"And lastly, why are you coming here? To the city, I believe?"

His eyebrows raise and he crosses his arms gently.

Ansom nods to all of your answers and writes the answers down, frowning slightly at 'magic' (despite using it himself) and then slightly intrigued by the end part by disappeared. "I see." His eyes stray over to the burnt hut then back at you.

The captain-boy puts his arms around his waist when you answer his last question. "Unofficially?" he sighs as he writes this down, "You know you shouldn't be doing that, right?" He says sternly with a hint of concern though with an overall undercurrent of 'why bother' like he knows you're just going to do it anyways. 

Orson watches this exchange contently, though he never takes his eye off you. "Okay," Ansom announces, "Thank you for you time." He folds up the notebook just about as soon as Orson grumbles. Ansom smiles as goes towards his horse. "Now," he stops to turn back around, "since this was the site of the fire-" He points over to the hut, "mind if we take a look?" He pulls on the reins of his horse while walking and starts heading straight there.

 Tendilius gets a bit nervous with the idea of a Zone of Truth. Not exactly his favorite thing to deal with. But if Heiboros seemed fine with it, why not? He steps into the circle. Unlike Heiboros he doesn't intentionally fail the saving throw, rather seeing how long it takes for it to take effect on its own.

Charisma Saves: 25, 19, 27, 23, 17, 8 //I assume that final one is the first failure

After smiling a bit, taking pride in his resistance, he gets down to business. "Where was I? Here of course. What did I see around the cart? Flames and broken parts. What did I see after? Flames and broken parts still. How did we fight it? The same way you fight anything, skill. And by not fightiing fire with fire. The rain helped. The body? Gotta agree with Heiboros there that it disappeared. Fires are known for not sticking around once they die down." He pauses for a moment before getting to the last two questions, "No delerium on hand. And why comes to the city?" his eyes light up and his chattering voice speeds up with excitement, "Knowledge! Adventure! To explore the unknown! I'm sure you've seen quite a bit yourself but Drakkenheim is so cool! Sure it's dangerous but we saw a man changed by contamination a little while back and it was fascinating! Tragic, yes, but very interesting. Did you know that even in his bestial state he still seemed to retain a sense of intelligence? This is a great source of information for my book."

When Ansom announces a desire to search the hut he steps out of the circle for regular conversation, "It's not my call alone to make." He turns to Ka-Cha Khan, "What say you? Not sure if you might've left anything personal in there."

Hadrian watches as both Tendilius and Heiboros take the Truth Test. The test is just another tedious formality. He wouldn't mind taking one himself, after all, they didn’t start the fire, so there’s nothing to fear. When Ansom starts making his way toward the hut, Hadrian frowns. “We’re all telling the truth. Why do you need to still check the hut?” He doesn't see the need to drag it any longer. 

Ansom raises his eyebrows at the the half-elf's responses and gives a half-ass chuckle to the 'fighting fire with fire' bit ("well it certainly wouldn't"), though you can see in his eyes he sort of did take it with some sort of mirth.

"As expected," he mutters when you say you don't have any delerium on with you. His eyes widen when you begin chattering. He looks as if he wants to scoff right but can't do it. "You're writing a book?" Ansom looks to be a bit bewildered, "What for?" Then since you've already answered the question he continues going. "You thought you saw intelligence. No, everything goes, gets wiped away when you transform into one of those beasts. If not, it's corrupted." He says this in monotone, rubbing his left arm and hiding a wince. "I've seen family go against family, friend after friend." He shakes his head. "They're long gone. Those beasts... are just beasts."

He continues on his way towards the hut then stops when Hadrian calls out to him. "Then I wouldn't be doing my duty then now, would I?" he looks over to see Orson who is still frowning with his arms crossed, "From the way the fire trail looks it stopped here and there was only one way in. If there's nothing to hide then surely you don't mind?" Ansom enters the hut with his horse out front and begins his search around. It doesn't take him much more than a few minutes to conclude his thoughts.

"Nothing here," he calls out from where the kitchen once was. Soon enough he leans on the baseboard of the door. "Mr. Orson, I don't believe there is anything of significant to report. These people do not have anything. Either the monster destroyed your delerium or it turned into the stuff." Somehow Ansom kicks what looks to be a heart-shaped rock out the door. It is crusted and blackened, looking nothing much like how it did before. It rolls out the front porch and onto the ground for all to see.

Orson growls then sneers at the rock before him. With that he lifts his hand up for a snap and his guards leave to take away the cart to head towards Caravan Court. The rest of the Hooded Lanterns back off.

Ansom stays behind and waits the doorway. He doesn't say anything and neither does he move. 

Heiboros gives his disturbing birdlike cackle at Tendilius's chatter. He's here to research the delerium just like he is, but he's not nearly as enthusiastic. When Ansom has the audacity to argue with a mage about the delerium though, he knows he needs to step in. "He wasn't saying that the man retained his intelligence, or his mind, he was pointing out the fact that the monsters are not dumb. If you've ever seen a zombie, you know that they are dumb beasts who do nothing but attack and follow commands. The dreg, on the other hand, seemed to calculate it's attacks, attacking us like an experienced warrior. It wasn't expected." He then flies up into the air and pretends to roost, but keeps his eyes open and follows Orson as far as he can.

"Indeed!" says Tendilius as Heiboros joins in. The spirit of academic debate, even if Ansom doesn't seem to see it that way, fills him with a sense of glee, "Corrupted intelligence, yes. But still intelligence!" He thinks for a moment, "And if they still have intelligence then it gives hope to uncorruption! If contamination can be purged or delerium repurposed like those folks at the Hendrix Farm-" his eyes light up from sudden remembrance. "JUNIPER!" he calls out to the druid excitedly, "I almost forgot in all the commotion that we had planned on going to the Hendrix farm!" He turns back to Ansom, "Well as I was saying if there's intelligence then it should be delightful news that it could be restored!" He takes a moment to look at the wreckage and suddenly darts back to Heiboros' cottage. He comes back out in a moment with his book along with ink and pen. "I can't believe I forgot to take notes." He starts a new entry by drawing a depiction of the elemental from the night before. 

Ansom is unsettled by Heiboros's bird-chatter, shifting uneasily by the doorway. "I've seen zombies," Ansom butts in and announces before you can finish. Then he grumbles, about to say something when Tendilius jumps in.

"Dregs do not know what they are doing. Yes, they don't follow orders because there is no one to command!" He sighs,  "The dregs don't know what they are doing. They used to be human, so yes, they do know what they are, but they don't think the way we do anymore. Corrupted intelligence is even worse! They have dreams and goals we can't even fathom. If you've seen the things I've seen you'll see. Talk to the Duchess, The Lord of the Feast, and you'll see. They... they are not like us." He shakes his head low.

Juniper's eyes light up when you mention her, she had been watching the wreckage carefully. "Right, the farm," she answers, nodding. "They were able to protect themselves from the contamination with it. If they can survive with it in them then there surely can be a way."

Ansom scoffs and even looks around to see if anyone hears what he's hearing. "Hah! Those there are crazy, you know that? If anything they soon too will be corrupted with delerium. It just takes one," he snaps with his fingers, "and it's just like that."

"You would hope. But honestly here, there's 'no' to hoping." Ansom narrows his eyes once again at Heiboros then back at the hut, "Be careful now with that bag, you hear." He gets on his horse and rides away. Hooves click clack towards the Court.

Heiboros flexes his talons, tempted to try out his new attack on the man but knowing better. 

"Seems he didn't appreciate academic debate." mutters Tendilius as Ansom rides away. "And of course dregs aren't like us. That's what makes them interesting." He smiles and shrugs at Heiboros, "Oh well."

He asks the others, "So, what are your plans today? With the price of things in this town we'll need coin. Shall we prepare today and plan to head in tomorrow?"

Heiboros grins and says, "none of these people enjoy academic debate. I love a little deception." 

((oh yeah @pastel detective is going for another character so I'll be NPCing Juniper from now on until I can figure out what to do with her. Dabbert will likely just follow along I guess until his player can come pick him up))

Juniper nods along with the rest of you, though slightly uneased by Heiboros use of the term 'deception'. "Agreed. I don't think he liked being questioned." She inhales from a little a laugh given the scene that just happened moments earlier. "I guess we should go to the farm like you suggested?" Looking up at the sky then back at you, "It seems we missed sunrise. I don't know if we'll still see them by now. At the pilgrimage site? Maybe they might still be there?"

"Speaking of coin," Hadrian grins, "I’ve got something interesting to share."

Once it’s just him and the group, he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small, seemingly ordinary die. But as it catches the light, the numbers on its faces shift and change. He lets the charlatan’s die roll between his fingers before tossing it lightly into the air, then catching it easily.

"Played a little game with one of the Queen’s Men at Skull and Sword last night. Blackjack Mel. Don’t know if any of you know him. He offered us the Queen’s protection. All we need to do is deliver 100 gold pieces from another party’s spoils, and in return, we get a free pass. We could do whatever we please—gather more delirium, stack up more coin, whatever our hearts desire. No more worrying about the Hooded Lanterns breathing down our necks or getting into trouble with those guys.” He nods toward where the Hooded Lanterns had just been.

"Oh, and Mel mentioned there’d be a little treat for each of us too. Not a bad deal, huh?"

Tendilius considers what Hadrian says. He'd known it'd take determination to get things out of Drakkenheim but was he truly ready for a life of crime? He eyed Heiboros, thinking of the delerium shards they'd kept quiet. Perhaps he'd already made a choice. Things seemed to move quick here.

"For sake of argument," he whispers, "a particular party in mind?" He feels uneasy as he speaks, but it may as well be discussed. "Or is the goal just 100 gold? Would it be necessary to thieve?"