Downtime 3

The party returns to Ravenstead towards dusk, almost a full day after your adventure began at the Giant Elk Tavern. Still exhausted from the fighting and hard travel, everyone except Skosgreat retires to your rooms for an early night.

#### Drinking Alone (Skosgreat)

Skosgreat is troubled by what he has learned and seen, and the moral confusion that has been building in him for weeks comes to the fore. Unlike many of the party who have either neutral or arcanist leanings, Skosgreat has always considered himself a good Divinist, loyal to the ethos if not particularly pious. Learning that Rosa was a secret Arcanist was a shock, but professionalism and devotion to his employer overrode any doubts he may have had, especially when the rest of the party was clearly untroubled by the revelation. Now, however, Skosgreat has seen not just an example of Arcanism at its best, but Divinism at its worst. He liked Isaac, he liked Sav, he fought alongside them against the sort of monster that he had thought only Arcanists use, and looking back on his life he wonders how many times he had been on the other side of a fight like this. The wrong side. As the rest of the party rests, Skosgreat finds himself in one of his usual bars, but instead of telling stories he sits quietly in the corner, alone with his thoughts. Over the next few days the party notices that Skosgreat seems a bit withdrawn, but when asked he says he's alright, just a lot on his mind, so they leave him to his thoughts.

#### Riots in the Street

After a night's rest, the party largely returns to their normal routine, but you quickly start hearing talk about a disturbance that happened while you were on the road. It seems that the incident at the Giant Elk Tavern quickly became big news, and the attack on and disappearance of an arcanist civilian were quickly blamed on Church operatives. A crowd gathered outside the main Cathedral at midday to protest this violation of Ravenstead's careful neutrality, and things quickly got out of hand. Trash and rotten vegetables were thrown, and some of the more hotheaded young Arcanists in the crowd starting throwing rocks. The protest was broken up, but small bands of extremists continued roving the city for much of the afternoon into evening, dispersing whenever the Guard showed up but quickly reforming to harass local churches, priests, and anyone of visible Divinist sympathies. Violence trailed off as the Guard remained out in force overnight, and did not resume the next day, but the taverns remain abuzz with rumors of disappearances, murders and abductions, all laid at the feet of shadowy Divinist operatives. Many of the tales seem to be recycling old complaints, ordinary stories of teenage runaways recast in a more sinister light, but there is a general sense that kidnappings have been on the rise.

#### The Mad Basilisk

Following Sav's instructions, you head to the magic shop known as the Mad Basilisk to seek out a goblin named Fymzok. He is not hard to find, as he is one of the two owners of the shop and is at the desk when you come in. You start with some normal shopping, looking at the sorts of items he has on display, asking about the types of things that he sells. Upon learning that they have spell scrolls readily available, Murry purchases one Scroll of Cure Wounds to ensure that the party has more healing options. Rosa asks about the sort of defensive gear that might be of us to an adventurer that finds traditional armor too cumbersome, but quickly learns that the most basic item on offer (a Ring of Protection) costs 3,500 gold pieces.

The party uses the code phrase that they had been given by Sav, that they were looking for gear for some "underground mining", and Fymzok immediately gives them a serious look and starts half-heartedly reaching around for something on his desk. Calling back to a curtain behind him, he asks Fred to look for his glasses in the work room, and with a grumble you hear someone walking away and out of earshot. Fym turns back to you and quickly explains that if you're going to be involved with the Underground, you need to keep his involvement a secret, especially from his husband Fred. "I will not allow him to become involved. He puts up with enough from me, he doesn't need this." You agree to this, and he gives you two doses of Dust of Disappearance. He then coaches you to express interest in a set of darkvision goggles that you can't afford, to maintain the fiction that you're interested in mining, when Fred comes back out.