Dragoknighte

Avonshire - D&D Based Adventure

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Marita Bärbel Human, Cleric, Level 3 HP: 18/18 Armor Class: 16 Conditions: N/A Location: Bob's Public House Action: N/A Bonus Action: N/A Reaction: N/A

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The cleric sneered in disgust as the man reached out to her and took a step back. She was not a holy woman of charity or forgiveness. She had no interest in playing the part of savior in whatever fantasy was playing through the man's head. If he had any sense and knew any better, he would have recognized that she was more liable to have him put in a holding cell over night so he could sober up in safety rather than offer any direct personal help. However, if Marita had had the foresight that Kosara would nonchalantly commit assault on a man who was half-cognizant at best, she would have. Not out of the kindness of her heart or sympathy for the drunkard, but simply that it wasn't the tiefling's place to take justice into her own hands. His immediate reaction to relieve himself of the night's festivities only hastened her retreat back into the public house.

Marita closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose upon hearing Robert's reaction to the entire affair. At this rate they would end up earning the ire of the entire township without even alerting everyone as to what their true job here really was. Well, might as well join up with the rest of the party here. Luckily she was close enough to the conversation to catch enough to not need Kathryn to repeat herself again.

Marita heard Victoria's request for food but before she could warn her that the only meal on the menu was stew, the money had already changed hands and Lea had vanished into the kitchen. Well, it couldn't be helped at this point.

"Kosara, you shouldn't just attack people like that, even if they deserve it. In a different situation that could have gotten you in trouble with the guards and I in good conscience wouldn't be able to help you." Her tone wasn't the same harsh edge she used normally, but closer to a weary mother explaining manners to her naive child. She turned her attention to the very tall elf. In her personal estimation, she wasn't sure if they could trust him. In her experience anyone who referred to himself as a hero was either a con or a fool, but he did not immediately appear as either. Furthermore in a situation like this a fellow outsider was more likely to be clean than someone who spent a lot of time in the Township. Besides, everyone else had already introduced themselves, so she was obliged to do so as well. She offered her hand to shake after the warlock.

"Rickard was it? Marita Bärbel, cleric of Pholtus. Your offer is noted, but we all have a place to stay for the night." Marita's tone returned to its normal status, namely that she sounded irritated (she was) and short of patience (also true). The cleric turned her attention back to her party members. "Speaking of which, unless one of you three have somewhere specific you want to go while we're all together, we should probably retire for the night. I've certainly had my fill of fun."

Avonshire - D&D Based Adventure

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Marita Bärbel Human, Cleric, Level 3 HP: 18/18 Armor Class: 16 Conditions: N/A Location: Bob's Public House Action: N/A Bonus Action: N/A Reaction: N/A

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Well that made things simple. In hindsight, Bob clearly would prefer she rather not be around, and giving her a new task would probably compel him to actually give her some sort of actual wage for the night rather than simply letting the tips act as compensation. Well it was no skin off her bones, she wasn't in it for whatever meager pay a job like this would provide her.

Marita was about to turn away and do something else when Lea came up and gave her 3 silver. Marita wanted to tell her she couldn't take it and didn't need the money, but her brief coworker was gone before she could protest. Well, if she could, Marita would find a way to make the coins return to her. If nothing else, at least she had some smaller coins to deal in while she was here. Paying with gold would likely attract unwanted attention so she could avoid it if possible. Get something nice for yourself. The temptation to turn around and get herself some Zinoberrot was there, especially after the night she'd had, but getting tipsy when she was still investigating would be in poor form. Perhaps if the rest of the festival's merriment was still ongoing when she left the public house she could find something less impairing to treat herself with.

Speaking of investigation, she had received some pretty good information, but how exactly was she going to follow that up? She had a feeling that asking Robert was the most direct method to getting answers, but he also was not the type to talk easily, and she wasn't sure how she's get him to open up especially without revealing too much of her hand about the mission and/or where she learned about him.

It was then that Marita heard the commotion up front and what was very clearly Kosara's voice above the ambient chatter.

"Blinding light, guide me." Marita wearily muttered under her breath as she turned towards the entrance to see what was happening. As she made her way forward she noticed Victoria was here (not a good sign) and most of the customers were keeping an eye on her (even worse). Why was Victoria here and Kosara outside? Did they not come together? Then was Hugh with Kosara? She certainly hoped he was. Her first instinct was to ask Victoria, but a second thought told her it was a good idea not to leave the tiefling unsupervised during a public incident.

To her chagrin, upon opening the door she did not find Hugh, but Kosara and a passed out man, red in the face from both too much liquor and from the tiefling's percussive medicine. He awoke, fear in his eyes as he asked where he was.

"You're passed out in front of Bob's Public House. Can you stand? You're making a scene." The Cleric diverted her attention to Kosara. "What's going on out here?"

Avonshire - D&D Based Adventure

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Marita Bärbel Human, Cleric, Level 3 HP: 18/18 Armor Class: 16 Conditions: N/A Location: Avonshire Township Action: N/A Bonus Action: N/A Reaction: N/A

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Marita paused for a moment to consider her options. On one hand, she felt responsible to finish what she started and power through the rest of the shift with Lea, some of that was due to a bit of loyalty and fire-forged camaraderie built from the hell-shift but most of it was her workaholic personality compelling her to keep going. But on the other hand, she really didn't want to do more barmaid work. Especially not with an air-soaked gown. She was given the green light by the one who needed the help most, so for once she would take the easier way out.

"If you say you're good, then I guess I'll leave you to it. Perhaps if I have more time while I'm here I might help out again if you need it. Farewell." She didn't know why she made the offer she did, but as soon as the words left her mouth she regretted them. With that said, the Cleric took a step away and took another look at the public house. Notably, the table Kathryn had been sitting at was now partially occupied by the men who'd been talking to her earlier while she was at the bar being chatted up by a half elf. Or at least they were for a minute. There was probably something going on there that she didn't feel like trying to work her way into. At least not before something more dramatic that would warrant it happened. No, right now the best thing to do was take things up with her temporary employer. Even if Lea said it was fine, it would be unprofessional to simply stop working. She strode across the public house to make it to the bar, far enough away from Kathryn to signal that she wasn't trying to intrude on whatever it was she was doing.

"Robert, Lea told me that she could handle the rest herself. Is there anything else you need me to do?"

Avonshire - D&D Based Adventure

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Marita Bärbel Human, Cleric, Level 3 HP: 18/18 Armor Class: 16 Conditions: N/A Location: Avonshire Township Action: N/A Bonus Action: N/A Reaction: N/A

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This new information definitely set off flags in Marita's mind. Chances rose significantly that Bob knew what was going on with the disappearances, even only partially. She couldn't be certain he was implicit in the trouble, but she felt that at best he was turning a blind eye. Why he was doing so: self-preservation, implicit powerlessness, apathy; she couldn't reasonably deduce. Perhaps she could find a way to confront the man about it without triggering a trap. They still had a bit of time in their break, but not much more; Marita would try to get a bit more information from them while she could. She finished her glass of wine and handed it to Daisy to wash.

"Halfling boy?" Daisy's face takes on a wry expression when Marita takes the bait to gossip.

"His name is Samthe, son of the Rentman family. They're an important family around here. They grow the hottest peppers in all of Avonshire. My cousin Kimberlyn didn't think they could live up to their reputation so she went and bought their hottest pepper and ate it in one bite. She spent the next hour chugging water trying to cool her mouth down, you should have seen it. But the boy, Samthe one day started up and using magic out of nowhere and on top of that he befriended this horrible gray gnome, Carl. He called himself a servebulin or something." Marita's mind recognized that she was talking about a svirfneblin, which was alarming. What was one of them doing up on the surface, let alone in a podunk farming county like Avonshire?

"Svirfneblin." Marita interjected, providing Daisy with the correct pronunciation.

"Yes, that. Anyways, he starts filling Samthe's head with foolish ideas about becoming and adventurer. At the same time he does nothing but cause problems for everyone in the township. Most days you'd find him stumbling about town completely drunk using all sorts of improper language and making a scene of everything. And if you said a word about what a disgrace he was making of himself, he'd insult you and make things even worse. In fact I remember a time he was so drunk in this very establishment that one of the patrons found him passed out hanging from the rafters by his feet. How he managed that is beyond me. If it weren't for him, a proper boy like Samthe would have never run off." Daisy crossed her arms and shook her head, tongue clicking in disappointment.

"You're being too harsh, Daisy." Lea speaks up, counteracting Daisy's heretofore uncontested Carl-bashing. "He could be a bit brash, but Carl was funny and told a lot of interesting stories about places we'd never set foot in. Samthe was all grown up, and if he was going to start adventuring around, it's good that Robert supported him at home. He'd take care of some of his belongings and even gave him some gear when he was starting out. Besides, in between jobs they'd always come back here and attract a lot of business and spend a lot of coin we wouldn't have otherwise." Daisy remains silent, not refuting Lea's last point but not acceding either. Marita made a mental note that Robert could be a retired adventurer himself. Given his current profession and demeanor likely some form of sellsword.

"But they haven't been back here in a long while. They used to be gone for maybe a few weeks at a time, maybe a month. It's been over half a year since the last time they stopped by." Marita wanted to ask a bit more, but she could sense the tavern starting to bubble with more life in her spine. She'd have to set aside any more investigation until after the end of the shift most likely. The cleric finished the last her stew and passed it over to Daisy to wash. At the very least she'd have time to think about what to do from here, along with more information to pass along to her teammates. She could only hope that Kathryn was able to turn her drinking contest idea into something productive.

"Well, it's been fun. I think we need to go back out there." She said to her coworkers. She took a deep breath, steeled her nerves and went back out into the battlefield.

Avonshire - D&D Based Adventure

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Marita Bärbel Human, Cleric, Level 3 HP: 18/18 Armor Class: 16 Conditions: N/A Location: Avonshire Township Action: N/A Bonus Action: Drinking Reaction: N/A

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Marita's head felt like it was about to burst. There were so many things that needed doing at the exact same time that if she were a less disciplined woman she would scream. Although she had in actuality been doing the job about as well as could be expected of someone starting it up for the first time during peak season, from her perspective it was as if she had stepped into the center of a tornado and had to untangle the winds from each other by shouting at them. Which made the miracle of all the customers being temporarily sated all the more astounding.

Marita looked around the public house, double checking to see if anyone required servicing before she noticed Lea and her silent invitation for food in the kitchen. She made eye contact and nodded, hurrying off into the kitchen without a word, as if letting her voice out would alert the customers at the fact that the staff were not currently swarmed with work and needed more to do. Once in the relative safety of the kitchen Marita let out a sigh and began to eat as quickly as one could while retaining a dignified appearance. It was only a matter of time until they were needed again, and chances were there wouldn't be another chance to eat until after the public house closed. Lea sat on a stool and had another one free for her newfound coworker, but the cleric's arse still being covered in ale kept her from taking that offer.

The stew was not to her taste, mutton was rather low class after all, but it would have been more surprising had it been. And regardless of personal preferences, this was the first meal she had since breakfast, and her third meal in two days so she wasn't in the state of mind to be overly picky anyways.

When Marita had finished most of her stew she felt confident enough to start a conversation even if they suddenly needed to get back to work.

"You've been having to deal with that by yourself this whole time?"

"It's not been as bad as tonight, but yes," Lea replied pouting. She stopped eating to shoot a glance towards the kitchen doors.

"And Bob hasn't done anything to get some more help? I know I'm here now, but I went up to him and volunteered." Lea scoffed.

"It's partly his fault why we're in this situation in the first place."

"What do you mean?"

"Up until about a week ago we had another girl working here, Audrey. Well, some nights before that started acting really paranoid. She would keep looking at doors and windows like she was being watched, and eventually Bob had a word with her. He said she was making the regulars anxious and that she was just being silly. They argued for a bit, but I guess in the end she did decide she was being silly. I said goodbye after a long shift and when I came back the next day she was missing. I haven't seen her since."

"No." This entire situation offended Marita for a myriad of reasons, but the worst one was when an employee of his suddenly became worried about her well being, instead of at least trying to see if there was any merit to it Bob's first move was to make her stop acting like it. If the story behind every missing person ended up being just as avoidable, she had a feeling that she would end up snapping sooner rather than later.

"Uh huh, so now we're stuck in this mess. Before you showed up I wasn't sure how we were going to make it through this mess." Daisy, the Halfling cook back in the back room, nodded in agreement with Lea, and silently offered Marita another helping of fresh bread and a glass of wine cut with juice. She pulled up a seat and joined the two on their break. Marita turned down the bread but accepted the drink. She took a sip silently wishing it was the Zinnoberrot instead. This was going to be a long night.

Avonshire - D&D Based Adventure

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Marita Bärbel Human, Cleric, Level 3 HP: 18/18 Armor Class: 16 Conditions: N/A Location: Avonshire Township Action: N/A Bonus Action: N/A Reaction: N/A

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Marita tried to keep everything in her head at once, even if most of it she felt was fairly self explanatory. Not having to keep in mind an extensive menu for food or drink certainly streamlined things, but given how busy it was it wouldn't do well to fumble such a simple job and make the situation even worse than it already was. Before she set off to work, Marita carefully rolled up her sleeves such that they wouldn't be in the direct line of fire of any splash or spill that came her way. This gown was rather expensive after all.

Unfortunately, this bit of foresight ended up not helping her at all. Before she even started to get to work, one of the patrons enjoying his conversation and ale a bit too much leaned a bit too far back in his chair and ended up falling backwards onto his arse, much to the amusement of his mates. In the process of falling, his drink flew across the pub, only to be saved from spilling all over the floor by landing directly onto Marita's rear end. She flinched at the suddenly sensation of wetness, her jaw clenched and muscles tightened as she turned around to see who just assaulted her, only to find the man struggling to get up to his feet while his friends laughed so hard they had trouble breathing, let alone speaking.

"Sorry about that, lass. Could you get me a refill?" The cleric had to literally bite down on her tongue to stop herself from telling him what for. She took a deep breath and told herself to treat these customers as if they were clergymen ranked above her. For the most part.

"Yes sir, I'll get that right for you." Marita replied, her eye twitching once. Once she set about her job properly, she was able to forget her anger and focus on the many tasks at hand. Initially she was a bit slow on the job due to her unfamiliarity with the position and the layout of the public house, but after the first hour or so she found herself getting into the flow of things quite nicely. As nicely as one could get working a new job on what was one of the busiest nights of the year. If any of the customers she serviced were the type to get handsy, Marita's natural charm along with one of the highest priority locations of attack being soaked in ale deterred any wandering fingers.

Although her mind was set nearly 100% to doing the job she volunteered for, even if to the detriment of perhaps attempting to learn information pertinent to the task she was actually here for, Marita noticed the men who had stepped forward to Kathryn's table. She couldn't hear what was being said from where she was, but the body language didn't appear very amicable. Truth be told she wasn't very concerned for the knight's safety. She had seen how she functioned in combat just earlier that day, and if a fight did break out she was right there to step in and keep the peace. But that was what she truly worried about, a scene being caused and her having to do something about it. Such a thing would only bring more unwanted attention onto the party and sour their reputation, especially with Bob. But that was something she could only spare a moment's thought before returning to her work. She'd keep an ear perked for anything that might require her direct attention.

Avonshire - D&D Based Adventure

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Marita Bärbel Human, Cleric, Level 3 HP: 18/18 Armor Class: 16 Conditions: N/A Location: Avonshire Township Action: N/A Bonus Action: N/A Reaction: N/A

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Before leaving with Kathryn, Marita had a quick change of clothes. Although she had been traveling around the township proudly donning her clerical garb all day and would continue to do so for most of her time, it felt like her being in her usual dress while attempting to conduct an inquisition would draw too much attention to herself and put people too much on guard. At least in the context of a pub in the middle of a festival. So for the first time that the party would see, Marita changed into something approaching casual wear. It was a long flowing gown that was a patterned with soft silvery blues atop a deep crimson. She still had her mail on underneath as a precaution, but she'd leave the shield and weapon behind in the barn. The convenient thing about chain was how lightweight it was, it didn't even show through the gown unless pulled taut. If they ran into unexpected trouble she'd have to rely on her spellcasting, but she had enough left in the tank that she was confident leaving it at that.

When they got to the Public House, Marita opted to stay back and watch Kathryn and the bar rather than immediately take action. This was the half-giant's idea in the first place. However, now that they had finally gotten to the actual investigation phase of this inquisition, Marita found herself feeling... nervous? No, that wasn't it. Uncertain on what exactly she should be doing. The clerical inquisitions she had seen or taken part in were much simpler. Get the required paperwork to do what needed to be done in a given location, present the forms in person to scour for whatever needed to be found, perhaps arrest some people and interrogate them, rinse and repeat until you've resolved the issue or run out of leads. Of course there was more to it than that, but having to gather information from a place of powerlessness and secrecy was not her forte. And neither was it Kathryn based on Bob's reaction to her approach of simply barging in and asking nicely.

Marita looked around the pub and through the clamor and merrymaking how absolutely stressed and overworked both the owner and his one employee were. No wonder he wasn't in a cooperative mood, he barely has time to conduct his business and someone starts asking him 20 questions. If she were in his place, she probably wouldn't have been as nice as he.

Suddenly, an idea popped in her head on how to kill two birds with one stone. She approached the bar next to Kathryn and got Bob's attention with a loud throat clear.

"I can't help but notice you're quite short on manpower. I can help you out for the night with waitressing. Try as best as she can, I don't think your only maid will be able to make it through the shift without someone getting upset at the speed of service and causing a scene." Having to speak over the noise of the crowd, she ended up sounded even more forceful than usual, but given the situation Bob didn't seem to care too much.

"You want to work? Fine. You'll work for tips. Talk to Lea," Robert motioned to the beleaguered young lady dashing from table to table, "she'll tell you what's what. And don't you be drinking my good stuff." Tapping the side of his nose, he gave the grave intonation, "I'll know."

Marita flashed a look at Kathryn before leaving to go find Lea. She could only hope that her teammate would be able to make progress in her own way. The cleric wove through the tables to find Lea and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Hello, I'm Marita. I'm here to help you out for the shift. Bob said you'll 'tell me what's what.'" A terrible feeling crept up from the pit of her stomach, she hoped she hadn't accidentally bit off more than she could chew by offering help like this.

Avonshire - D&D Based Adventure

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Marita Bärbel Human, Cleric, Level 3 HP: 18/18 Armor Class: 18 Conditions: N/A Location: Avonshire Township Action: N/A Bonus Action: N/A Reaction: N/A

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Marita had decided to stay on the ground floor. Staying on the top floor had its benefits, but the convenience of not relying on a lift to move up and down to where her things were was more valuable than one might think. Not to mention that if they suddenly needed to leave due to the building catching fire or the like, it was less likely for her to be trapped and she wouldn't have to jump out from a window. Granted, the chances of a fire breaking out was miniscule at most, but the possibility popped up unbidden when she was considering places to unpack. The cleric simply found an open spot near a corner and laid out her bedroll. It would have to do in this early frost.

It was mid-unrolling that Victoria asked her almost for permission to go along to perform funeral rites. She was surprised Victoria would do this, if Marita were in her position she would have gone ahead and just proceeded with the funeral since she had gotten it to that point. Not to mention that even though she was the most overtly devoted member of the party, and had been trained in various forms of common use rituals out of necessity her forte wasn't in something like funerals. If anything Victoria was, from her perspective the bard was more of the expert in this situation.

"You can go ahead. I doubt that we'll be able to get anything else significant done before then anyway. If anything happens while you're gone I'll let you know." Marita finished settling her things and joined the others to discuss the cart and what to do in the immediate future as prompted by Kathryn.

"We were directed to bring the wagon to Fields, so we should follow through with that if for no other reason than to demonstrate to our employer that we can follow orders." Not to mention that they won't have to care for the beast, deal with its filth and have more room for themselves in the hayloft.

"I'll go along with Kathryn to the Public House, Victoria is going to help bury the deceased. Kosara, Hugh, I think the township should be safe enough that you could potentially split off and see what else the festival has to offer you can. That said, going alone is probably no-good. As a general guideline I think while we're here we should always travel at least as a pair. There's a lot of strangers in town and I'm certain there are those with less scruples among them. Any problems with that proposal?"

Avonshire - D&D Based Adventure

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Marita Bärbel Human, Cleric, Level 3 HP: 18/18 Armor Class: 18 Conditions: N/A Location: Avonshire Township Action: N/A Bonus Action: N/A Reaction: N/A

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Like Hugh, Marita was not inclined to share any information with the woman who could turn on them at any time for a variety of reasons, but unlike him she was literally not in a position to where she could opt out of the conversation in its entirety. Because she was helping Kathryn unload the wine she ended up being in proximity to the owner, so refusing to engage would at best be a massive faux pas even for someone like her, and at worst interpreted as an act of social aggression (which it would be). So she was glad that Madam Marcie and her were on the same page. She didn't like the establishment and what it represented, but she wasn't going to raise a stink about it if left unprovoked.

However, even though she had zero intention of entering the Honey Barn, a thought cropped up in her head. Madam Marcie seemed to be interested in the more welcoming half of the party for better or worse. If they were able to get on her good side, they would be able to leverage that to investigate the Honey Barn for leads if the need arose. This was rather middling on her list of priorities, but if they found themselves stuck or with some free time it would do well to check it out.

On the way to the Hayloft, Marita spent her time split between listening to Cecily, trying to figure out what they were going to do over the next week and very occasionally casting a glance over at Lizbeth. As much as it hurt to see a child in pain, she knew there was nothing she could reasonably do to help. At least not unsolicited. Even something as simple as suggesting that she or Victoria assist with funeral rites for the deceased could be interpreted as opportunistically attempting to turn a profit from the the situation, which went against the Path.

So after the makeshift tour had concluded, instead of sticking around to add onto the emotional support dogpile that Kathryn and Kosara were forming, Marita silently grabbed her things from the wagon and took them to the Hayloft to settle in. She'd wait until the others had finished before thinking about getting down to business.

Avonshire - D&D Based Adventure

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Marita Bärbel Human, Cleric, Level 3 HP: 18/18 Armor Class: 18 Conditions: N/A Location: Avonshire Township Action: N/A Bonus Action: N/A Reaction: N/A

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Marita hadn't registered it at first, but hearing 'Audrey' multiple times reminded her that the name was familiar to her. It was one of the names on the list that Sheriff Gregory had given her. She would have liked to bring this up, but she was not keen on breaking stealth at the moment, even in the presence of the only two people in this township who they could consider allies at the moment. It wasn't even that she didn't trust them, but letting people know they were there to investigate the disappearances that didn't need to know only invited complications that would make their jobs harder and potentially endanger innocent civilians.

She hadn't gotten around to sharing the contents of the list before now because she wanted to wait until they had a better idea of the situation before hunkering down and trying to map out a plan of attack, but now that they were here a major factor she had failed to take into consideration had made itself evident: privacy. There were people everywhere all the time which made things quite difficult when you want to maintain any form of secrecy. The only ability anyone in this party had that appeared to be able to facilitate private was Hugh's field of silence, but that didn't seem to be something he could utilize consistently throughout the day. These were the thoughts and worries she carried out in the back of her head as they traveled throughout the township delivering wine. As the secondary muscle of the party, she primarily helped Kathryn unload the very heavy product off the wagon. Actually handling the casks drove home just how ridiculously strong Kathryn was. By herself, Marita would have barely been able to push one around, let alone pick one up off the ground.

When Cecily again brought up the prospect of the haylift, she couldn't help but sigh. She really, really, really didn't want to stay in some dirty storage room that no doubt reeked of barn animals and manure, and in any other situation would have taken staying in the commons of an inn in a heartbeat, there was one invaluable advantage the hayloft carried over anywhere else they could find a place to stay: almost guaranteed privacy for discussion. Perhaps even a place to safely lay low should the circumstances call for it.

"Very well. Thank you for housing us during our stay here." Marita's tone of voice made it obvious that she was trying to hide her displeasure with the turn of events.

When it came to the Merchant's Market, Marita took some time off of helping Kathryn to help Cecily locate where the client actually was. She went separately to help cover ground and found everyone she spoke to exceptionally unhelpful. Most ignored her, more than a few told her off, and one guy told her he'd give her the information she was looking for if she paid him 5 gold. In the end she didn't find the Merchant Association representative, but she did stumble across the boarded up building and made a mental note to perhaps check it out later.

"Marita Bärbel." The cleric shook the halfling's hand, but didn't bother speaking anymore than what she had already. She had spent enough time in cities to know how powerful people of Madam Marcie's profession could be, and how treacherous they could be as well. As true as it was that they didn't want to piss off the government needlessly, part of her wondered if inadvertently ending up in debt to the likes of her, even indirectly would be an even more disadvantageous position. That aside, she had no desire to go into that establishment, and she'd be surprised if Madam Marcie hadn't picked up on that just by looking a her. The cleric just hoped that circumstance wouldn't force her to go into the Honey Barn out of necessity, but an ominous spectre told her not to get her hopes up.