Tanni feels uncomfortable in a temple of Shamara and it shows on her face and how her usually dominant demeanor changes to a meek and careful one. "Yes, let's find this Krusk-fellow, hear his opinion and then leave. I don't much care for this place"

Knok shrugs.  "Knok knows Krusk.  Trusts Krusk.  Everyone else here just wants your money."

Raising his voice, Knok does away with pretense and calls out to any acolyte who might be within earshot.  "KNOK AND HIS FRIENDS NEED TO SPEAK WITH KRUSK, ABOUT THE ARTIFACTS.  IMMEDIATELY."  Lowering his voice for his companions, Knok grins.  "That should just about do it."

Tanni would notice that the halflings earlier were dressed in traveling outerwear but the fabric rested on firmer armor hidden underneath. 

Hearing a familiar Goblin voice ring around the temple, Finan enters with a smile, following after Eira and Paren. Shouldering his way past somewhat ungracefully, he approaches Knok. His smile widens even further when he sees Jonathan and Tanni as well. "Oh friends, good to see you! Good Gods, you've missed out on something." His smile then turns to a worried frown, and with a lowered voice he directs his attention to Knok, his words silent and invisible to others as he weaves power.

 He forces a smile on his face again, then gives Jonathan a friendly nod and places a hand on Tanni's shoulder, giving it a slight squeeze.

Mechanics:

Perception: 19

Paren gives Finan a funny look. "There is no need to be secretive Finan. Though we disagree I am still a friend."

He then turns to the group. "Hello again. I think it is best to clear the air before things get out of hand. I have been touched by the entity, however, I do not feel that this entity means us the harm we have been led to believe. I have been communicating with it and it seems to simply want to be returned to it's grave. It says the damage being caused is because of the fact that the stone that contains it has been fractured."

Knok's eyes go wide as he ponders what to do next, quickly organizing the thoughts in his head.

As you gather and reconcile the events of the day, you see a large group of acolytes leave from the back of the room and walk out the front of the shrine. They seemed to be walking with purpose and they're quickly out of sight. 

Finan gives Knok a quick nod in reply to his question, then turns around to put Paren at ease, but his words are caught in his throat as Paren addresses the matter to the entire group. With a pained smile he simply watches and waits for Tanni and Jonathan to react to the news.

The watchful eyes within the shrine give some a sense of discomfort.  With plenty to discuss, the group decides to head back to the only place they can call home here in the foreign city: The Wishing Well. 

When you enter, you see Ombre pull open her drawer and withdraw keys for all that have returned. She offers the keys and strangely doesn't mention anything about payment. 

Food is brought out shortly after you arrive and you all find comfort around a table to the corner of the lounge. The room is quiet tonight with a lack of other patrons here. 

"Wait, what entity?" Jonathan replies. "I don't think getting 'touched' by something called an entity isn't good for anyone's health."

Upon returning and receiving a key, Jonathan looks a little bemused. Why did they not request coin? This has been a bizarre day, and he's not sure how to process all that is going on. Before this, it was a fairly straight forward life, so having this metaphorical spanner thrown into the works is something that is not settling with him.

With a meal in front of him, Finan begins retelling the tale of his adventures this day. Only now does he realize he missed most of the days' festivities, but he is aware of the bigger things afoot in the town, and with a hint of sadness comes to the conclusion that this year's festival would not be the light-hearted excursion he had planned for himself.

"This morning, after Paren led me out of the common room, we came across Knok here and made our way to where I had slept last night. There, this coin that I showed you, fit perfectly in a slot next to the big painting that was hung up. This, then, opened into a hallway which eventually led to a dark chamber. We heard some folks discussing, so we crept closer to hear, and they were discussing Gunthar. He was supposed to bring a dagger to the Shrine, but as some of us already knew, he was held up and could not make his delivery. It is still unclear to me if he is alive or dead, and his goods have gone missing."

He pauses, taking a big swig of ale before continuing, "We were caught, then, and after some discussion it became clear that the Elven woman we were discussing with was an illusion, that she was, in fact, Aiden."
He pauses again, looking around the table for signs of recognition of the name. "The God, Aiden."

He suddenly smiles in remembering. "He tried to grab me, he did, but I was too quick for him. Would you believe it? I'm too quick for a God! Well, anyway, before he left he told us to find the lost goods and bring them to Krusk. That Krusk was able to deal with cursed items. And he warned us of an elemental, but I have yet to figure out what that means, exactly."

Again he takes a moment to chew down a small bite, then starts with the rest of his tale. "Following that we went out in search of you, which is where we met, you remember? At the place with the strange guard. We should visit that place again, see if those goods are still there. I have the strong feeling those are Gunthar's, but I don't know how to get past that guard. My usual tricks don't work on him.

"But, as you might remember, me and Paren tracked down one of the workers carrying crates away from there, and I managed to convince him to bring one into an alley for us to inspect. We did, and what first seemed like a crate full of useless old junk then turned out to have a false bottom. When we opened it up, some ghoulish creature appeared. We only barely made it out alive, mostly because Quentin came looking and saved us. The damned thing vanished before our very eyes, leaving only this stone fragment, which sucked all the energy out of me when I picked it up. This is the entity that we speak of, by the way, somehow trapped within that stone, and there are more fragments out there.

"It spoke to me as we entered the Shrine, and Paren has heard it too, then, despite not having touched it before. We brought it to Krusk, this Messenger, and he disposed of it for us, but not before Paren also touched it."

He looks at Paren, a look of worry on his face. "I'm sorry, friend, but I am worried. We have heard nothing but bad things about this. Purple blood, sudden anger, Aiden himself warned us about it. Gunthar was afflicted and tried to kill Knok! I recall now that Aiden even said Gunthar's body is destroyed to remove the blight.

"I feel a lot less tired after Krusk cleansed me, I really hope you will let him do the same to you. Why would you doubt the Mother? You might be a danger to others, in this state."

Tanni stares blankly at Finan, a piece of bread forgotten in her hand as she listens to the story about the painting, Aiden and creatures in stone fragments. "That's... quite something. So we know there really is something wrong with these crates. I say we track them down, again, crack them open and crush every stone fragment we find inside. Can't have those spreading around the city." Tanni looks at Finan and Paren and gestures towards them with her flagon, "I haven't seen this... curse in action myself, but what I've heard, it's serious. If someone can make sure you're clean, I'd say you talk to them." She then locks her gaze to Paren, "and you mentioned you've been talking to this, thing. You do understand how that sounds to others, right?"

Eira listens intently as the others discuss their day. She's been working on eating but keeps dropping her fork to the plate with each revelation. She leans back into the fine wooden chair as she thinks on the events that have unfolded. "I hope Falaine is okay," she says with a bit of sadness to her voice. 

As Finan speaks, particularly in describing being cleansed, being tainted by some dark entity, the effort is clear on Knok's face as he fights valiantly to not interrupt the speaker.  Once finished, and a break in the conversation presents itself, Knok interjects:

"Knok has been touched by this thing!  Felt it inside him!  It is not something you can control or withstand!  It compels violence and anger.  KNOK TRIED TO FIGHT A MOVING WAGON!"  The little goblin takes an intentional, deep, focusing breath before continuing.  "Knok is not good at being a Not Us, but Knok is not stupid.  Knok stood in the road, ready to fight a moving wagon, because Knok knew that the driver was his enemy and Knok could not control himself."  Turning to Paren, he continues gravely, "Your enemy may not be a wagon, but it might be one of us.  All of us.  Holden Heights city guard.  As long as you let this thing inside you, you are not safe."

Paren occasionally nods or shakes his head along with the stories being told. He waits for everyone to speak before finally speaking up. "I understand your concerns Finan, and your's too Knok. If it will help the situation please, take these." He unbuckles the rapier from his belt and places it and his spear on the table. "I am much less dangerous without those, and I trust that you will give them back to me if the need arises."

"As for the entity, I agree that is a poor word for it Jonathan, I do not believe it is as evil as we were led to believe. I think it was able to contact me because it shares a striking similarity with Lugh. The stones that we have found bare a striking resemblance to the obelisk that was found in the Grove, the place that used to be my home. I can communicate with the entity by speaking with it in the same way that I speak with Lugh." 

"The reason I chose not to be cleansed is that I do not want to lose this link, it is not something I can do normally. Yes, the entity has made me very tired, but it has also given me things that I could not do before."

"The entity claims that the reason that it's influence is causing these bad things to happen is because it is unstable. The stone that holds it is separated and therefore the entity does not have control over everything that is happening. It could not control the ghoul that came out of the box for example, so the ghoul acted on its last orders, to defend the stone. But I think it does have some control. Think about it Knok, you were driven to attack the wagon. Not the driver, the wagon. If the entity knew that it was being taken from it's resting place and wanted to prevent that, the easiest way would have been to stop that wagon."

He looks quickly around the room, making sure no one is to close before speaking his final piece. "I am also deeply suspicious of Messenger Krusk and of the motivations that are driving him. When we brought him the stone he had a strange look on his face. He did not look as though these events were unexpected to him. Instead it was more the joy that someone has when seeing their plans going exactly the way they thought they would. Something about him and his motivations just doesn't sit right with me. And until I can figure out why I would like to be able to hear the argument from the other side." 

Knok is visibly frustrated, hearing Paren's defense of the taint.  "Knok wanted to fight the wagon, but Knok knew the wagon driver was the enemy.  Knok wanted to destroy the wagon so he could hurt the wagon driver.  And Knok could not control his body, his emotions, or his reason.  That's not the influence of god Knok wants to know or serve."

"As for Krusk, he has cleansed Knok, he has been the only person in the temple that didn't seem to be trying to stuff their hands in Knok's coin purse.  Why would he cleanse people of a taint that would help spread his master's influence if he wasn't trying to prevent bad things happening to Holden Heights?"

"I don't think that Krusk is working for the entity. I think that he is doing exactly what he claims to be, working for Shamara, and by extension Aiden and that whole family of gods. My best guess is that they are trying to upset the balance by eliminating a rival. If I am right about the stone containing an old god and if Krusk cleanses the stone then that is a potential rival of Shamara and her family who is dead and gone."

Jonathan shakes his head, "I think I'm getting a headache." He comments. "I left home to get away from all these intricate webs of plans of others. I just wanted to travel and see things, maybe learn a bit about the sword, that's all; not to be drawn into some sort of 'who can you trust' and 'allies with mysterious beings'... thing." He is obviously annoyed, but is keeping his temper. He takes a single breath before continuing. "Now, I'm going to order a drink. If anyone else wants one, I'll order them one too."

Jonathan then gets up from the table and slowly makes his way over to the bar to order a round of drinks. He thinks to himself that there is probably layers upon layers of something going on that he doesn't know about, and most likely doesn't particularly care about. He wonders if that vision of a goddess from yesterday is involved, if he is just a piece on a dragonchess board that the gods are idly playing in the realms beyond this one...

Ombre moves away from the book she's writing in a Jonathan approaches the bar. She pulls several glasses from below the counter and sets them down. "Ale, wine, or liquor," she asks in a pleasant tone. She nods when the response is provided and she quickly provides the requested drinks. 

"Something potent, if you please." Jonathan replies. "It's been a long day already."