Tanni flashes a wide smile at Jonathan, "From my experience, priests and other folks are calm and irritatingly patient no matter how you yell at them. As long as you don't slander their god or goddess or whatever they worship, you're fine. Granted, I've mostly dealt with a single priest of Sorata back in Sunridge Mountains. That man had the composure of a rock."

Tanni looks around the square, but when acolytes are nowhere to be seen, she stops a passerby with a yell and a wave. "Hey! We have business with the priests. Do you know where we could find them now that their shrine is destroyed?"

A rather stout halfling stops as he's flagged down by Tanni. "Aven't seen any o'tem since it fell. Don blame 'em. Tings like that afta' me, you bet your arse I'd be out of town too."

Paren looks around the ruins to see if he can spot anything that stands out to him, like one of the crates or a piece of the captain's armour. 

Perception: 3

"Well, that's a smart move by them but doesn't help us one bit." 

Paren doesn't see anything of note among the rubble. It seems as though anything not covered in heavy stone has been taken by the faithful followers in the city or scavengers looking to make some coin from selling holy relics. 

Paren looks back at the group. "Any ideas as to where we go now. I don't know where the boxes are and it seems like people are either missing or dead now." 

Falaine will look somberly at the destruction before saying in a hushed tone. "We either need to go to the warden, or to the red cliffs. I think the city has told us all that it can."

The lack of acolytes is rather unsettling given the numbers that had been here prior to the fall of the Shrine. You reason that they've either dropped the cloth and resumed normal lives in town or followed the call to regroup somewhere safe. Wherever that may be, it doesn't seem to be here in Holden Heights. 

(Here are some potential things to do next:

• Find the elder Warden
• Investigate the fires in Thornwood
• Investigate the deadening of the forest grove
• Find where the acolytes have gone
• Find the monastery mentioned by Talia
• With the dagger known, find the other artifacts.
• Return the shard to Merveille
• Earn coin 
• Investigate the strange elf
• Investigate the guards that were stationed at the crate piles (Both are long gone by this point)

"Before we leave the area I would like to return to the Grove. If what you say about it's demise is true then I have failed my duty while we were here and need to fix things before I can move on." 

"That's all well and good, however." Jonathan pats the sides of his trousers. "Since I've gotten here I've found myself getting short on coin. I don't expect you all to understand the problems of getting short on change, but we should also look into earning some coin while we are here. Being able to save the day is all well, but it isn't when you are running low on funds."

(Happy to go with any of the above TBH, but noble without a huge stack of money is feeling a little like a pauper :-p )

Falaine will nod to Paren before turning to Jonathan she'll hand him a sack with ten gold in it and say in voice devoid of emotion and accent. "Is that enough to slake your need?"

Jonathan looks at the coin bag, seemingly insulted. "I am not asking for charity. I am saying that we should be thinking of at least benefiting somewhat out of all this work we are doing!" He doesn't take the bag, stubbornly pushing it back towards Falaine.

Paren looks over at the pair. "I won't pretend to know how you're feeling Jonathan, it has been many years since I've had more coin on me than I do now. If you can think of a way that we can quickly earn some coin then I will listen. I just feel that I must at least try to fix my home before I becomes to far gone. I have spent to much time in the city for a guardian of the forest." 

Tanni turns to Paren, "If you feel that way, sure, we'll visit the grove. But after that's done, I think we should find the rest of the shards. They seem to be important to these squabbling gods, so if we collect them, maybe we can use them to put a stop to all these disasters." Tanni then turns to Jonathan, "I'm hoping the same. Maybe the townspeople or people in charge are willing to reward us if we stop the city from turning into a celestial fight pit."

"Does everyone have any idea where we should continue search for the shards. My ideas about where to look are all used up."

While everyone is talking Falaine will cast Skywrite to write a message in druidic.

 She'll then tell the group. "I sent up a message to my people. I told them to meet us at the grove. I intend to head that direction, but I should be available to help with any jobs, so long as I can return to the Grove each night over the next few days."

"Then perhaps just asking around for anything to do in general is what's next on the list." Jonathan suggests. "Perhaps just mingling with the commoners will bring up some clues for these shards and the like, and also ensure we don't become some down on their luck urchins." He is beginning to feel the potential fears of not having a warm room and bed to return to every night, especially since their recent place of stay is no longer available to them.

Tanni nods at Jonathan's suggestion. "That might work, squash two bugs with one stone. How about we check in with Paren's Grove, make sure there's no immediate crisis that requires our meddling and then return to ask for jobs and clues about the shards?"

The cool morning air is slowly shifting into the dry warmth of afternoon. The sun hangs in the sky doing what it can to try and heat the chilling air that comes with the approaching season. The streets are busy with travelers making their way through the town. Most have no idea what happened here while a large portion of them couldn't care less about Holden Heights itself beyond the lift that saves them several days of travel. 

The townsfolk here seem to be doing their best to put the past week behind them as well. Shops have opened up along the streets selling more common quality of goods and wares. The rich aromas of fine cuisine have been placed with more tradition foods including smoked meats and the smell of fresh bread. It occurs to you all that you haven't heard or seen from the Lord tasked with presiding over this town for several days. You wonder if he's hidden himself away in shame of what happened here. 

As Falaine's message appears in the sky, it looks like a beautiful combination of soft clouds to those unfamiliar with the language. They hang over the city like a balloon and can be seen from miles away. It's unclear if the message has been received, but it has definitely been delivered. 

Looking about, it seems like the group could make some coin doing basic jobs around town. None of it would pay all that well but it would provide some coins for their purses. Most of the townsfolk here would have little use for trained adventurers like yourselves. Perhaps a different city would offer more opportunities. 

Before we left:

Talia thinks for a moment. "What dust were you talking about?"

Finan looks up in surprise, not recalling any mention of dust in their conversation. He might have missed something, but the mention does trigger his curiosity. "Red dust. Do you know anything about that?"

After we left:

"... twenty men and do everything at once I would do it, since it feels like that is required of me. Everywhere we go we are several steps behind, and every answer leads to new questions that seem to take us only further from the truth."
Finan's voice has risen from speaking quietly to almost shouting in frustration. He's been taken a bit aside from the group by Paren, but the last few sentences were loud enough for anyone close to hear. He looks over, shrugging in apology.

"I don't know, friends. It... I... Perhaps it will do all of us good to head outside of town for a little bit. My curiosity for the grove has steadily grown, and we seem to be running in circles here anyway. Whatever is happening there must be connected to what happened here, so we might as well go and have a look. Every idea I've had has led only to more confusion, but well, I don't intend to stop having ideas. What do you say?

Quote from Rylentlar >>

Falaine will flinch in realization. "The clay... It must have disrupted Zymphura's connection to Shamara. You would know that, you must have seen how rapidly she aged!" Falaine will lose herself in a bit of guilt driven anger and her eyes will dilate to impossible sizes and turn a deep crimson.

Intimidation: 21

 ((Sorry for the confusion. Talia would reference Clay and not Dust.))