[You head towards the shrine! It's not too big, just one large circular room. Inside is an altar before the large marble statue of a woman in a cloak, holding a scale in one hand.] [Kneeling before the altar is a man, with his hands held like scales themselves, elbows bent, palms up. He's wearing a blue robe and a matching skull cap, both trimmed with white.] * Chess mutters something that might be, "Not a pimp cane." [He's muttering something, you can't hear what.] * Raxa catches up to the two girls at a slight jog as they go, right before the shrine, before laughing lightly. "This place agrees with me." She looks to Billie. "Did I hear correctly, there was a kidnapping?" * Yoshiko manages to catch up a minute or two later, she wasn't moving as quickly as Raxa. * Billie nods at Raxa. "Yeah. This lady had her daughter taken by bandits." * Raxa nods a bit and says, "I hope, for her sake, they keep prisoners alive here..." and she trails off. Kidnapping, what? Did they at least have demands or something? I don't know! I didn't want to ask her; she was already freaking out. Oh. Yeah, that would be bad. * Chess looks around for any other priestly looking people she could bug. Ones who might be less busy? [There's none. Just that one guy. He's middle-aged, kinda good looking but not really.] * Chess walks up relatively near him, so that she's visible from his peripheral vision, and waits quietly. * Raxa nods a little and half-smiles, saying quietly, "From one trauma to another, I suppose." [The man finishes, looks up at the statue's face, hesitates, then rises and turns to you. "Welcome. May I offer you guidance?"] * Billie doesn't look amused at the trauma comment. * Chess smiles at him. "Hi. Um..." She looks back to the other women. "I'm not exactly sure how to get this going. Are any of you less blunt than I am?" [He blinks. "Simply speak your mind, child, and I shall offer what guidance I can."] * Raxa scratches her cheek and steps foward. "I think blunt is just fine." She bows her head slightly at the man. "Are you the keeper of this shrine? A disciple of Ziphi?" * Logan has joined #shrine [He nods. "I am."] Great. We're some of the Chosen of Zomegar, and we've been sent here to help. [He blinks. "Excuse me?"] * Logan sticks his head in the (door?), looks around, and gives a hesitant wave at the people inside. * Chess frowns. "Too blunt, I knew it." 'Sokay, we're not used to this yet. Okay, well, Zomegar is one of Ziphi's siblings, right? And he likes his sister. And we were sent here to help out. [He frowns. "I see. Go on."] No, that's pretty much it. Zomegar's pretty, um, tied up with things at the moment, and we didn't get much information before coming here. We were hoping you could give us a quick background on the world and the political climate so we can figure out what we're supposed to be helping with. Beyond a lot of people thinking it's not good. Yeah, specifics would be great. [He further frowns. "Unfortunately, I don't think I can help you. You should speak with the high priest in the Imperial Capital."] There's no information at all that you can give us? * Logan chimes in. "How about horses, can you lend us a few of them?" [He shakes his head. "I cannot help you. The high priest will be able to offer more assistance. If you are who you say you are." He heads off. "Excuse me. I have duties."] * Chess looks back at Logan. "Can't we just teleport again?" * Chess looks back at the priest quickly. "Right, thank you!" * Logan blinks. "Uh... You know, I never thought about that. It's certainly worth a try. It's a long walk otherwise." * Raxa looks after the man, then looks over at Logan. "That is what I asked Jack about, yes." Bet it'll make us sick again, though. Maybe just riding will be faster. Well, not faster, but not sick. I'm willing to put up with temporary sick in exchange for faster. "You'd rather spend weeks walking across a strange continent rather than a few seconds of nausea? I'm not sure I understand your priorities." * Raxa steps after the man a bit lightly, just to see what he's going off to do. Not just following him! Craning her neck and moving a little, you know. Your sarcasm gets seven points! I'm not eager to get sick again, but... well, how far is it? "You saw the globe, those continents looked pretty big." ( It's pretty far :P ) "We should probably regroup, find Josh and... Yuki?... and see if we can get some more intel on this capital." *pause* "Also, maybe find out whether they got that girl back from the bandits." [The man's apparently going door to door, accepting prayers.] * Raxa rejoins the group. "I doubt they've regained her yet." * Logan sighs. "It's the Damsel In Distress thing, is all. We've got bigger fish to fry, though. Let's go find Josh." * Billie shrugs and walks along with the others. Yeah, Yuki. They found a note or... something. * Raxa looks up at the dual sunny sky and hums to herself as she walks. "How do you... oh, you must have the mind thing going, right? That must come in handy." * Yoshiko smiles. "She IS my familiar." * Chess looks around idly as they walk along. * Yoshiko walks back, then giggles but keeps it to herself. [You get back to the shack to find Josh and Yuki reading a note :P]