[IC] The Cult of Brannulv

[Valmark]

"That is accurate. They are to feed the cat at the temple of Matatabi" Ghiso nodded "Must be a feast to them" he started filling the backpack with the bought fish, careful to not overload the pockets since none of them could take the whole amount by itself.

[Izzarra]

From out on the dock you can see that there are several islands in the bay providing some natural breakwaters to protect the ships from storms when they are at anchor.

Spoiler: OOC

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Zergrinch, if you want you can have your temp character can bump into Rose while she is looking around the temple for clues.

[Valmark]

Seeing how neither Lanitfat nor Taara were coming back Ghiso shrugged and went back to the temple to feed the cats. He just hoped they wouldn't be hungry again by the time they came back.

[Xihirli]

Lana gave Taara a gentle kiss, but Ghiso couldn’t talk to cats so she ran after him.

[Gluteus_Maximus]

Taara giggled and sat at the end of the dock for a while before following about 10 minutes later.

[Zergrinch]

Rose carefully set the cat down on the ground and then walked around the outside areas of the temple looking for tracks, particularily in the areas between various exits but just in case gave most of the place a quick scan too.

The dark shadow watches the armored human as she walks around the temple -- certainly an extremely suspicious activity considering the recent theft of the relic. How brazen of her to act this way, to methodically look around the temple grounds for points of ingress and egress. She is surely up to no good.

But Zanza is patient, and continues to creep up on her unsuspecting quarry. She will be confronted in due time, but not here. Not now. There will be a right place. A right time.

[Fay]

Seeing no other ways to help out for now, Rose went back inside to the ritual room and sat down on a bench to wait for her companions to return.

Spoiler: If no bench

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If there's not bench or other viable place to sit, Rose will stand around instead.

[Zergrinch]

This was a most intriguing subject. Perhaps Zanza was wrong all along. While thieves do case the joint they plan to hit, they simply do not go into ritual chambers and just... stand around looking extremely conspicuous.

The goblin rogue follows the human into the chamber, and announces her presence by clearing her throat.

"I haven't seen you around before, and you don't look like a devotee of Matatabi. What is your business here?"

[Fay]

Rose quickly turned around to look at the source of the unexpected voice, then breathed out and replied.

"You are correct. Me and a few others are trying to investigate the theft of an important object from the temple."

She paused, then pointed to Zarron over in the ritual area.

"Oh and although I don't personally know him, he's a friend of theirs. I think. I only met them recently. They're trying to remove some curse from him...or some object he has. I was personally more focused on the investigation, sorry.

[Zergrinch]

Rose quickly turned around to look at the source of the unexpected voice, then breathed out and replied.

"You are correct. Me and a few others are trying to investigate the theft of an important object from the temple."

Zanza wasn't told that others have been assigned to the investigation. But then again it wouldn't be surprising given her lack of results. Nobody thought someone would pull off such a brazen theft on such a visible artifact. It would be extremely difficult to dispose of.

"I was officially assigned to the investigation, but nobody told me of your involvement. Who are you working with?"

"Oh and although I don't personally know him, he's a friend of theirs. I think. I only met them recently. They're trying to remove some curse from him...or some object he has. I was personally more focused on the investigation, sorry.

Giving the half-elf a once over, she comments, "Awfully young to be cursed. Was nobody supervising the child?"

[Izzarra]

Ghiso, Taara, and Lana return to the temple with a whole lot of fish.

Spoiler: OOC

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What do you do with the fish? Toss them onto the ground whole? Cook them and hand out little bite sized morsels?

[Xihirli]

Lana took a fish out of her haversack and knelt down next to a cat.

Spoiler: Sylvan/Beasts

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"I got you a fish."

She laid down some salmon.

Spoiler: Sylvan/Beasts

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"Can you tell me what happened here?"

She looked up at Ghiso. "Sorry, I forgot what specifically I was asking about."

[Valmark]

"About the carving. If they saw someone take the statuette from here, where they went, what they were like, etcetera" Ghiso explained "Also I don't think it's safe to give it to them with all the bones in it- they could swallow one and choke because it lodges in their throat. Fishes have especially spiky small bones" he cautioned her before finding a priest to ask "Sorry, I wanted to ask- do you usually cook the fish you give to the cats? If so, is there a kitchen we can borrow? We wouldn't want to make a mess of everything"

[Xihirli]

Lana handed the fish back with a pout. "Fiiiiine."

[Valmark]

"That's dangerous for people too, also" Ghiso added, taking the fish back. He had the slight feeling that it wasn't common knowledge- Zarron was probably fine but Taara likely never ate fish and Lana...

"What were lunches and dinners like at your home, Lanitfat?"

[Fay]

Zanza wasn't told that others have been assigned to the investigation. But then again it wouldn't be surprising given her lack of results. Nobody thought someone would pull off such a brazen theft on such a visible artifact. It would be extremely difficult to dispose of.

"I was officially assigned to the investigation, but nobody told me of your involvement. Who are you working with?"

Rose was about to respond when Lanitfat and Ghiso entered the room.

"I don't know the details, but I think we very recently agreed to help. Oh and those two are two of the three people I'm working with. I believe the third should be showing up soon."

Giving the half-elf a once over, she comments, "Awfully young to be cursed. Was nobody supervising the child?"

Rose looked towards Zarron and let out a sad sigh.

"I don't know. I haven't been working with these people for very long. I hope they're able to help him, he doesn't deserve a cursed life."

[Xihirli]

"That's dangerous for people too, also" Ghiso added, taking the fish back. He had the slight feeling that it wasn't common knowledge- Zarron was probably fine but Taara likely never ate fish and Lana...

"What were lunches and dinners like at your home, Lanitfat?"

“Awful,” Lana said simply.
“We didn’t have things like ‘cooking’ and ‘fire.’”

[Gluteus_Maximus]

Taara ran through the town to catch up, arriving riiiight abouuuut... now.

She silently slides in to stand next to Lana, holding her staff tight against her chest in her pretty green dress. She avoided looking at the fish, instead averting her gaze to the kitties in the temple.

[Izzarra]

After asking about a kitchen at the temple you are shown to a dining hall that seats 40-50 with an appropriately sized kitchen. The staff, a mixture of catfolk, humans, and elves, are finishing cleaning up after lunch and have begun prep for dinner.

One of them says "Sorry, lunch is over, it will be a few hours until dinner is ready."

[Xihirli]

"We need to cook for some cats," Lana explained. "So they'll tell us what happened last night."

[Valmark]

"More like three days ago" Ghiso noted, trying to remember when exactly the carving disappeared "But yes, we have ten salmons we shouldn't serve raw to the cats if you could help us or at least lend us the use of the kitchen"

[Zergrinch]

Zanza couldn't help but listen to the entire conversation. It sounds rather ludicrous to expect cats to be able to give any kind of meaningful information. But having exhausted most of her conventional means, she was willing to try the most outlandish of means to get results.

"I might regret this," she speaks to the staff, "but at this point I'm willing to try anything. I'll authorize this."

Turning to the motley crew, the goblin extends a hand. "The name's Zanza. I'm a retainer to the temple and am investigating this theft. You say you can talk to these cats?"

[Valmark]

Ghiso seemed to only notice the goblin now, craning his neck to look down.
"Pleasure to meet you, Zanza. Name's Ghiso Durant" he extended his hand to shake hers "I apologize, I didn't see you there. And yes, the blue girl does that- she's a druid" Ghiso explained "Of the sort that conjures spirits and talks to animals easily"

[Gluteus_Maximus]

Taara kind of stared at Zanza from behind Ghiso. "H... Hello"

[Valmark]

"And she's Taara" Ghiso offered then "She's shy with str... With some strangers, apparently"

[Zergrinch]

"Ghiso Durant huh? You know a guy named Kevin? And Taara, okay, so you're a little shy, huh? That I can work with, but you don't have anything to be shy about, honey. How about you, Blue girl?"

[Valmark]

"I don't think I know a Kevin...? Why?" Ghiso looked confused and didn't introduce Lanitfat. She would hate him if he robbed her of the chance of presenting herself to a new 'friend'.

[Zergrinch]

"Huh, I kind of thought you might be related, but never mind. Blue girl, what's your name?" Zanza hides the small pang of disappointment that she would not be able to secure an autograph of her favorite athlete.

[Xihirli]

Lana waved. "Hi, I'm Lana!" she said brightly. "It's nice to meet you! Will you join us on this coming mystery adventure?"

[Zergrinch]

Zanza blinks. That was unexpectedly cheery, and she was THE investigator. This was her gig and she feels oddly protective of it. She wasn't joining them; they were joining HER. But Zanza is a professional goblin, that she is. And she ran out of leads anyway. If coddling people who can coax information out of cats was the only way to proceed then by gum she was going to swallow her pride and go with it.

"Looks like it, Lana!" she replies just as brightly. "Let's get started right away! What did the cats see on the night of the theft?"