War for the Crown Gameplay Part 1

After Adelaide picks apart that trap, the group moves eastward further and finds a room with two sets of lockers lining the northern and southern walls. A set of rusted swords stands on display in the opened southern lockers. Doors exit to the north and west. In the middle of the room stand a pair of halflings, looking startled and confused. "Lords and Ladies, oh thank the gods!" one babbles. "Twas chaos upstairs, twas all we could do to hide down here and wait for some kind of aid to arrive. Thank the gods you've survived!"

"Oh, you poor things. Here, let me cast a spell on you to protect you, in case any of the bad men from upstairs try and hurt you." Sarina says.

”Hang on, Dame Sarina,” Adelaide comments with a frown. ”What are you two actually here for? I’m afraid you weren’t terribly convincing in your cover.”

As soon as Adelaide says her piece, the pair draw daggers, with the one who hadn't spoke yet commenting, "Welp, guess our cover's blown, huh. Hard way it is."

Sarina sighs as she finishes casting her spell. "Hard way indeed. I do wish you had let me finish my spell, Dame Adelaide," she comments, as one of the pair falls asleep, the second managing to resist.

”Ah, so you had noticed,” Adelaide comments, pulling out her rapier. ”I apologize, you were quite convincing otherwise. Still, I imagine the knives would have come out about now all the same.”

The other halfling is quickly dispatched by Corey and Josie. This seemed like the end of it, until the halfling who had been traveling with the noble group snuck up behind Momo and stabbed her so severely she fell unconscious. Corey and Josie once again took point on the offense, while Adelaide and Sarina hastily administered potions to the unconscious healer, and the halfling was quickly dealt with.

When searching his items, Adelaide bites her lip on seeing an unholy symbol resembling a dagger with a white circle near the guard. ”This symbol is of the halfling god of greed and opportunity, Thamir Gixx,” she tells the others, rotating the symbol in her hand. ”He’s largely revered by cutpurses, assassins, and mistreated halflings. I wonder if we should wake one for questioning.”

"Probably easiest to wake the one I made fall asleep," Sarina points out.

”Do you think he’ll hold the most answers?” Adelaide asks.

"Perhaps not, but if we want more answers after we question him, we can use a potion on one of the others." Sarina says.

Adelaide nods, and with the group’s consent, they bind and wake the halfling.

The halfling assassin wakes with a start, then sighs. "Well shit. Alright, what'll it take for you to let me go?"

”We’ll see after some questions,” Adelaide answers. ”What’s your name, how many is your group, and what are you really doing here?”

"They call me Luskin, can't tell you the rest," the halfling answers quickly. "Nothing personal, but they'll do a hell of a lot worse than kill me if I talk, so best not."

”Interesting. Either of your companions more likely to talk?” Adelaide asks, drily.

"Nope." Luskin replies simply.

"Dame Adelaide, a word?" Sarina asks.

With a nod from Adelaide, the two step aside, outside of the halfling's earshot. "How rare is the knowledge of their religion, and how much of it do you have?" Sarina asks.

While Sarina and Adelaide step aside, Corey frowns at the halfling. "Well, we ain't gonna let nothin' bad happen to ya. Ah mean, no offense, but y'all didn't really do so much 'cept the one hit yer sneaky friend there got in on Momo. If ya come clean, then we can help keep ya safe from whoever it is what yer so scared of."

”Quite rare, the only worshippers are halfling criminals,” Adelaide answers to the first question, clearing her throat for the second. ”Thamir Gixx is the halfling god of greed and opportunity and is mostly revered by cutpurses, assassins and mistreated halflings. Halflings often associate him with Norgorber, be it as a friend, minion, or slave. His last name matches the last name of the Primarch of Absalom and has already been changed in the past to match with the city leader. A black dagger with a white circle on the blade is Thamir's unholy symbol.

”Angry or brutalised halflings sometimes turn to the worship of Thamir Gixx, seeing him as representative of the dark side of halfling nature. Stories tell of worshipers who lay traps, tricks, and poisons on the residents of their home, always to the ultimate benefit of the halfling of course. Worshipers might also offer prayers to Norgorber as well, though never the other way around.”

Luskin sighs at Corey and shakes his head. "Listen, kid, you seem nice, so let me give you some free advice. Keep your nose out of this. We're just the clean-up crew. You can't keep them from me, no-one can, and you should get out of this shit before you get caught in it too. They've got standards. If I don't say anything, they won't kill me, and they'll probably bust me out for loyalty. If I rat, best case scenario is I get shanked in prison. You can't help me."

"Perhaps we could use that? Explain to this one that unless he gives us the information we want, we'll tell his companions that he gave us information and drop a few choice pieces from there, to convince them that he really did give us the information." Sarina explains.

”We don’t know that this was a religiously motivated strike, though,” Adelaide points out. ”They don’t seem much like preachers.”

"I think you misunderstood what I was suggesting," Sarina says. "Since he's afraid of the group he works for, we use that against him. We tell him we'll set him loose, and tell the other two that he gave us all the information we wanted. We let the other two overhear a bit of the information you already have on their religion, to make that story more credible. So, if we free him, his group will be after him."

Adelaide frowns. ”For one, that seems terribly unsavory. For two, I don’t think knowledge of the religion will make the story more credible. Thamir Gixx isn’t a secret god, otherwise I likely wouldn’t know of him.”

"It's his own fault for becoming involved with such a group, and he just tried to kill us." Sarina says. "Unsavory seems to be the flavor of the day. Besides, we don't actually have to carry out the threat if he doesn't talk, just make him think we will. And not many would have knowledge of the religon, the most likely source would be from one of their own. That, plus us letting him go should be enough suspicion cast upon him that he would believe the other two think he had talked."