Interlude: Blood for the Blood God

[Ancelas]

The cultist's expression flickered with uncertainty for a brief moment. He didn't say anything in the face of Rey and Jinn's rebuttal, but instead leaned back against the wall, tilting his head back and closing eyes. He began muttering in a strange language under his breath.

The back door to the tavern opened, and voices could be heard within. It seemed like the town guard had arrived.

[uberwulfx]

Crystal was completely fine with not finishing this guy off, but it made her wonder--

"You keep goading us to kill you, which may be practical, but I have a thing with killing humans, in that I'm not used to it, and I hope I never get a taste for it out of the extreme self defense you and your lot are going to force out of us." She sighed, squatting down once more, chancing being eye level with the man. "Am I right in understanding that every death from the faithful and their sacrifices will bring your Blood God to you quicker?"

[Kyt]

Rey had saidh er piece, so she watched Crystal try to get one last push.

[Deleted]

For his part Jinn sucked his teeth. He listened on as a newcomer made their way into the alley. With crystal focused on the Fist, he turned his attention to the door, ready to intercept the guard and fill them in on some of what they've learned.

[Ancelas]

The cultist seemed to pray even harder in that strange language in response to Crystal's question.

From the back of the tavern, Alan emerged, leading a pair of men in the uniform of the Wachovian Guard. They led them over to where the Lucky Hand stood.

"Here they are," they said. "These are the ones that preserved my bar, and the ones they dealt with. One of them is still alive as well."

The guards stepped forward, hands on the hilts of their weapons. "Would one of you be able to explain what happened tonight?" one of them asked while the other went to investigate the corpses.

[uberwulfx]

"Yeah, one second."

Crystal stood up and shoved the Soldier with her boot, the tip digging into his sternum as she pressed and wiggled it rapidly. "Whatever you're doing, stop it."

Her foot still pressed into the captured man with no intent to remove it until he groaned in discomfort or pain, but at the very least stopped praying or trying to cast a spell or whatever the hells he was doing, she turned her head to the guard, and gave him a run down of the hour's events. There was no reason to withhold details, so would offer any that she was queried on. At the end, she motioned her head to the Soldier.

"He and his lot keep saying 'Blood for the Blood God,' and it's my assumption that they don't mind dying in service or sacrifice for him. So if it's just one more person's blood that doesn't contribute to the count, you may want to rethink letting anyone revenge-kill this one."

[Ancelas]

The cultist grunted as Crystal leaned on him but would continue to mutter his prayers, bearing his teeth at her as he did.

The guards listened closely with expressions of disgust, disdain, and frustration. While they were direct to the point of rudeness, they asked for details and seemed to legitimately care about what happened - they were just angry that it had happened at all.

"Fucking cultists," muttered one. "Wasn't someone investigating them?"

"Captain Zodge of Basilisk," the other guard said. "He's a hardass. Surprised he hasn't cleaned this up already." He turned to the Lucky Hand. "Thank you for your assistance. We'd lecture you about carrying around weapons and openly brandishing them, but hell, you got the job done. The guard typically offers a reward for assistance in such things - we'll note your names in our report and send word to the other guard stations, they should have you on record by tomorrow afternoon. You can claim your reward from any station at that point."

The guard drew a wooden baton from his belt, opposite his shortsword. "As for this piece of trash, we already have someone fetching a morgue attendant with a corpse cart. We'll take him into custody and see what we can drag out of him."

"We've been pretty busy lately," the other guard said to the cultist, "so I hope you like a dark, damp cell. You might be locked up for a while before we get around to the questioning. And the city's rationing food, so I hope you ate well before choosing to be a dick tonight, 'cause it might have been the last thing you'll have for a while."

[Kyt]

Rey cocked her head at the man's praying, shaking her head as Crystal basically stepped on him.

[Deleted]

Jinn watched on, arms folded as crystal neatly wrapped up the recap. The mention of rewards was a good incentive, but his expression didn't change much. Instead, as the guards began prodding and poking the bear, he spoke up.

"Soldier here says he's got people on the inside. One of those dudes we tussled with was a trained assassin. They got talent. They got resources. You boys know anythin' about that?" He looked the guards over.

"... Maybe you watch your asses and pay close attention to your friends. They really believe this stuff, and someone out there is armin' and trainin' em. Might be a reason why Zodge ain't wrapped this up yet."

(Insight: 7)

[Ancelas]

The two guards blinked at each other and scowled. One kicked the cultist, who let out a huff and spat at the man's boot.

"Bullshit," said one of the guards.

"The city's in a bad way right now," the one who kicked the cultist said. "Gods only know who might be skimming off the top to fund trash like this. Hell, might be one of the nobles, their hands ain't clean."

[Deleted]

Jinn folded his arms a little more, watching them boot the guy on the ground. That brought a scowl to his face. "I'm sure they ain't. This kinda chaos, a lotta people are set to get somethin' good out of it, they play their cards right. Keep stirrin' the pot till the neice of count what's-his-face shows up. She turns this around? Her and everyone around her are gonna end up running this city- and that change is gonna be backed by the Crown." He cleared his nose.

"... Just sayin. Nobles ain't down here themselves trainin' these mooks, keepin' them out of the gulag, handin' em gear and flasks of go-juice. Nice things are hard to get ahold of in this town right now, and there's a lot of money changin' hands." He watched the two.

"Y'all keep an eye on your buddies, specially if they start keepin' weird hours, walkin' round with nice new boots. Start hangin' with new friends from the other side of town, shit like that. Don't wanna see em' on the wrong side of all this, gettin' hit in the head with chairs and whatnot."

[uberwulfx]

"Ugh, I hope not..." Crystal had backed off once the guard stepped up, and she didn't seem too worried about the cultist getting kicked. "The last thing this city needs is a rotten head; I'd rather the support be under their noses-- a guild leader with a lot of power, or something."

She sighed, turning to look at her companions before turning back to the guards. "Well, I think we may be done here, unless you fine gentlemen need us for anything else?"

[Ancelas]

There was a moment of confusion at the mention of 'niece of count what's his face' as the guards tried to make sense of what Jinn was talking about. Then one of the guard's blinked, and his eyes widened slightly. "Wait - you mean Portyr. Duke Portyr. His niece is an Inquisitor - I heard that he had sent for her but... did you hear something? Do you know if the Inquisition is actually coming here?"

The guard actually seemed... concerned. Even his partner looked hesitant.

[Deleted]

Jinn tilted his head and squinted slowly. "Supposedly she's on her way now. That's what the rumor mill's churnin'. With Ravenguard missin' there's been a lotta talk about Grand Duke Portyr and his niece Liara. Somethin' about a council or sommat. For the 'good of the city' he's sayin'." He shrugged.

"Pretty weird coincidences all around. We got Elturian's gettin' bled left and right, these mooks causin' chaos from here to Brampton, an' all the while the richest folk in town are settin' themselves up for a windfall."

[uberwulfx]

Crystal tilted her head and raised her eye at the guards' sudden hesitation.

"You... seem worried about that," she asked. Of course it would've been better to read the situation, but she was apparently too focused on the Soldier and his chanting (3 on die Insight) So while Jinn bantered about politics, she knelt down next to the Soldier.

"Hey, what's that prayer you're praying? Or at least the language? And I promise not to kick you or anything if you just answer; I don't really get off on hurting people, remember?"