Unwanted Duty

The Temple of Daeus is quiet. Which is not unusual for the Temple exactly, but it seems perhaps even more muted than is normal. There are furtive glances constantly flickering throughout the grounds. Tension hangs in the air thick enough to need a broadsword to cut through. It's clear from a glance that no one trusts anyone else right now.

Visitors in particular get the short end of the priests distrust. Everyone is questioned thoroughly before being allowed entry. They aren't exactly turning people away, but they aren't just idly allowing people in either.

There is no reason why Cor'lana would be here. None that makes sense, anyway. Which is why, of course, Cor'lana is here for a nonsensical reason.

Pothy has flown into the temple through an open window. "Snacks!" he cries out. "Dolan!" It can be inferred that he is looking for a particular Redeemer, and rather than lead Cor'lana to his apartment, he decided that Redeemers would obviously be at the Temple of Daeus. Which, not a bad conclusion to make, but...

Cor'lana is very flustered with the whole situation. "Damn it, Pothy," she grumbles as she approaches the Temple. "Please let me in. My raven's gone and flown in looking for someone because he wants to share snacks with him, and he won't stop unless I physically come in and pick him up."

For a third time this week Patch finds herself before the Temple of Daeus. That's three times too many. An ear is twitched to this more in-depth process that it takes to get in. "Look, I just want to see the old Sunguard. It's fairly pertinent I think, but I can't be for sure." the questioning and extra security beginning to wear on her. "I was here the other night, and...." the Pothy and Cor'lana getting her attention from the man who checks those at the door.

"Cor'lana, hi! Looks like you're having a day of it too?" Patch muses, noting the frustration with the small raven, and smirking. "I could vouch for you, but..." motioning to the man before her. "I can barely vouch for myself."

Dolan, meanwhile, is actually here, and is here on business. It's rare for him to wear the white-and-gold mantle of the Redeemer, even in his own temple. He is much more given to simple clothing, but there are reasons to go to the extra effort, and today is one of them. So, wear the mantle he does, pinned at the shoulders with the stylized dragon that is one of the symbols of Daeus, another symbol hanging around his neck beneath it. This is over crisp tunic and trousers in similar gold and white. His hair is neatly tamed, falling to his collar, and he strides purposefully across the grounds, as if looking for someone.

"Look lady, I'm not letting you in just because your pet decided to fly in here. He'll find his way out again." The guard folds his hands across his chest and staring at Ravenstongue.

The second guard, who is talking to Patch seems equally discontent with her answers. "Do you know the name of the Sunguard you wish to speak to? I could send someone to fetch them for you."

Cor'lana frowns. "It's okay," she informs Patch. "I don't want to be here anyway, but Pothy's got a mind of his own. I am curious about that old Sunguard you want to speak to, however."

She looks back to the guardsman. "He's not just a 'pet'. He's a magical bird. And he's going to be a nuisance to everyone in there and try to pester everyone until he finds the Redeemer Dolan, if he's even in there. I don't want to cause a scene any more than I already have by not keeping my eye on him for a moment. Please just let me collect him and I'll be on my way."

"Sna-aaaaacks!" Pothy sings very loudly, imitating a Theatre District soprano. He is, in fact, going to Cause Problems.

Patch wrinkles a nose, and digs through a coat pocket. "Gods, Seldan said it would be easy to do this." a small booklet taken out that's bound in leather as she flips through some pages. "I forgot to write it down. I.. the wine!" ugh, having drinks while talking business is not always productive. "Look, I am here in regards to the missing relic. I have information I'd like to pass along."

Cor'lana gets a half-smile from Patch, her tone near defeated as she just shrugs. "I juggle too many names, but if only Telamon, or Dirk were here.... sucks, yeah?"

And then, there is hungry white bird.

Dolan, of course, knows exactly whose bird that is. "Pothy, what are you doing here?" Without thinking, he raises an unprotected arm to invite the bird to land. "Where's Cor'lana?" His head turns in the direction of the doors, and he looks that way.

"Well at least you know the name of the person you want to see." Grumbles the guard, turning. "We'll send for Dolan and if he's not busy..." The guard trails off, spotting Dolan as he walks by and pales slightly and turns back to Cor'lana. "He's busy."

The second guard, seeing that Patch has thrown her lot in with Cor'lana has decided to fade into the background. Besides if she doesn't know who she's looking for he can't help anyways.

Pothy croaks happily at Dolan and lands on the raised arm. Thankfully, raven claws are not strong enough to pierce the skin, and Pothy is also a gentle bird who does not want to hurt his best friend (this might be a one-sided designation, however). "Snacks?" he offers Dolan.

And then he realizes something. He doesn't actually have any snacks. He left them all with Lana. Who is trying to get inside to rescue him. "Lana. Let her in," he says, mimicking both Telamon's voice for the first word and Cor'lana's voice for the second sentence, effortlessly switching between the two voices.

"Considering that's my bird that's just landed on him, I /think/ I can be let in," Cor'lana motions before she calls out to him. "Redeemer Dolan, that is a very fetching outfit, hello!"

"Redeemer Dolan? He's here?." Patch says quickly, looking for this man, and back to Cor'lana. "I know you said I should speak with that name, but... I was looking for a Brother.... Feldman! That was his name!" a flash of excitement as that little kernel of fact resurfaced as she needed it. "I was told he may be interested in my tale." a hesitant smile cast form near Cor'lana to those guarding the temple.

"It's just a complicated time I guess." Patch says to Cor'lana, finally noticing the man Pothy finds themselves upon. "So that's Dolan?"

A cheeky grin splits the unmarred side of Dolan's face, and tugs at the melted and furrowed scar tissue on the other side, a far cry from the serious look he'd been wearing. "I have no snacks for you right now, Pothy, but it sounds like Lana is looking for you." He turns and redirects his steps towards the doors, and the small tableau there, carefully carrying Pothy with him. He tries to move gently enough to not jostle the bird, both for the bird's sake and his.

"Brightest of days," he greets all present, looking from face to face. "Lana, he's looking for snacks, and I don't have any right now." He holds out his arm towards Cor'lana. "Gentlemen, I am looking for Sunguard Moein and Brother Feldman. Are either in the temple today?"

The guard glances at Patch as she mentions Feldman, and he seems to recognize the name. He sighs as Dolan is called over to them and straightens a bit as the Redeemer joins them. "Redeemer Dolan. These women are looking for you and Feldman also. Do you want to take custody of them?" He seems a little doubtful. "Feldman is overseeing Sunguard Moein's punishment. I think he's cleaning..." A glance at the women. "At the moment."

"Custody?" Cor'lana's suddenly smirking. "Goodness, I don't know if you mean guardianship or if you want the Redeemer to lock me up. The Redeemer and I are dear friends, sir. He is going to be attending my wedding as a groomsman, in fact."

"Friends!" Pothy says, mimicking Cor'lana. His tail wags up and down from his spot on Dolan's arm.

Cor'lana looks at Pothy and also flashes a grin. "My dear Pothy here, in fact, wanted to share some snacks with you, Dolan. But I have to say I'm now suddenly interested... Patch, does this have to do with that... nasty business that Telamon was discussing the other night?"

"Like I said, I have information about Zalgiman, and those damned relics." Patch says, tsking under her breath and crossing her arms before her chest. "I am sure the Brother would recall my face." she notes, but as Dolan is spoken to, she finally takes in the man with a curt nod. "Redeemer Dolan, apologies. This is not how I expected us to meet."

To Cor'lana, Patch sighs and shakes her head. "I know they mean well, but... sometimes I feel Pothy makes more sense." a glance spared for the small bird. "But, if someone would hear my tale, I will obey, and promise to not be unruly."

Suddenly, the smile vanishes from Dolan's face, both sides of it, and his mien becomes stern and serious. He turns his face fully towards Patch, looking her up and down measuringly. "I don't know you, but if you have information on that topic, then yes, I'll take custody of them both. Sunguard Feldman may want to vent his spleen, but that doesn't help me find it or the asshole who stole it. I'll take these two and find the Sunguard. Thank you for your duty." Now his face turns towards each guard in turn. "You are right to be cautious."

Back to the two ladies. "Come with me. As it happens, I've been tasked with locating the item and its thief, and anything you may know is welcome. I was not in the temple the day it happened."

There's one last lingering look of general suspicion from the guards before they nod to Dolan and allow the man to take the two women into the temple. It's not really hard to guess where the sunguard has been placed on duty. There's not even a need to ask directions given that Dolan knows well his way around the temple. The sunguard in question is out in the back of the temple cleaning chamber pots. He doesn't look particularly happy about it, and there's a priest who's watching him diligently.

Cor'lana frowns a little as she looks at the Sunguard and the priest. "Oh, that can't be fun," she murmurs as her gaze lands on the chamber pots. "Poor lad." Her gaze turns fully sympathetic.

Pothy whistles at Cor'lana, who just rolls her eyes. "That's very sweet of you, Pothy, but I don't think you want to help that poor man," she says.

"Punishment for... being beset against by foes?" Patch's thoughts on this matter surfacing as she moves to follow, Dolan and Cor'lana. "Don't know if I agree... but not my home, not my rules."

"I am called Patch, Redeemer Dolan. Friend of Cor'lana and Telamon. Mostly." says, introducing herself.

"Well met, Patch. I see you know me already, and if Lana and Telamon told you who I am, fine." Dolan does not appear to be of a mind for pleasantries at the moment, although he is making a clear effort to be polite, and turns his face fully towards Patch as he speaks to her. "I am hoping you can help me get to the bottom of what happened. Sunguard Feldman."

He now turns fully towards Sunguard Feldman, placing himself to the right of the two ladies. The movement is awkward, but he seems to be used to it, and may not be doing it consciously. "I am Corona Dolan," he begins, assuming a balanced fighter's stance, "and I have been tasked with learning the truth of what happened. I realize that the Sunguard is busy at the moment, but time may be of the essence in recovering the item in question, and preventing a worse disaster. Will you release him long enough to speak with me?"

The Sunguard straightens as the group approaches, clearly not derelict in _his_ duty. He moves forward and nods to Dolan's words. "Yes. I was told to expect you. Though..."

"Hey!" The paladin pauses in his cleaning hearing the conversation and looks up. Really quite eager for anything that might distract from his current duties. "That's her!" He points to Cor'lana. "That's the girl I saw earlier that day! You found her!" The paladin quickly cleans his hands off and joins the group, clearly excited that the woman has been found. Feldmen gives Cor'lana a rather short look.

"Is that true Corona Dolan, is this the woman that bespelled Moein?"

Cor'lana folds her arms. "I am not that woman, and I was not at the Temple at all during that incident," she says. "As my fiance said, I was at home with him. We were drinking tea and curled up on the couch together with my raven, who I hardly leave home without. We were recovering from routing out totenmaskes in the city--Dolan was there on that expedition and would vouch for me."

She looks to the paladin. "But I have a feeling I know who, or what, that woman was. Sir, did that woman strike you as strange in any way? Did she have red eyes? A hypnotic gaze, perhaps?"

Dolan's remaining eyebrow raises at the paladin's behavior, and he turns towards Cor'lana, his gaze now both stern and appraising of all present. "Yeah? That's her?" He crosses his arms, and turns his head to look back and forth between them. "Cor'lana, I can vouch that we were both on that hunt, but I was in the care of the healers the day it happened. I have no idea where you and Telamon were."

"The first question I have is for the Sunguard. Sunguard Moein, was this bird present?" He holds out an arm with a fist on the end towards Pothy, an invitation to hop over but not a force. "The second question I have is for Cor'lana. Did you or Telamon enter this Temple on the day in question?"

The Sunguard looks at Pothy, peering at the bird and then helplessly shrugs. "I ah... I don't remember seeing the bird or not seeing it. I was..." He looks at Cor'lana, eyes flickering down and his cheeks coloring. "Distracted. She looked exactly the same as her though."

He looks at Cor'lana. "I don't remember anything odd about you... her? No red eyes or anything like that." Back to Dolan. "She didn't even talk to me that I remember. I just remember seeing her before I ah... had to go." More color rises to his cheeks.

"Her," Cor'lana corrects flatly. Then she turns to Dolan. "I swear by the grace and verse of the Muse herself that I was not here at the Temple that day, and Telamon was not here at the Temple until later that day when he was summoned to the Temple to discuss it being stolen." That is a very solemn oath that she is swearing--and also an indication of her newfound allegiance to Ceinara, it would seem.

Pothy croaks a little in discomfort before he whistles at Cor'lana. "My bird wishes to speak on my behalf," she says. "I can translate for you, but if anyone is capable of casting spells that make magical speech intelligible so that this information is understood by an unbiased party, I'd be happy to consent to that."

Dolan stares intently at each of them as they speak, but finally nods, seeming satisfied by something. "Sunguard Feldman, have you such spells? The bird is intelligent and may have additional information as to Cor'lana's whereabouts at the time." His tone is studiously neutral.

The cleric looks at Dolan a moment then nods. "I'm not certain how much weight the testimony of a familiar has, but I would hear what he has to say." He murmurs a prayer to Daeus and the magic of the words envelops the group so that they might be able to hear Pothy's words.

Pothy finally takes the fist that Dolan's offered out, hopping over. He then...

Clears his throat?"

"Good day. I am a repository of knowledge to the inheritor, Cor'lana Lupecyll. You may call me Apotheosis, or 'Pothy' for short." The cherubic little boy's voice leaves his beak in a decidedly odd disconnect with the bird himself, and he even bows a little politely with his self-introduction. "I can vouch that Cor'lana Lupecyll, who I am bound to by arcane connection, was at home all day with me. We played games together and ate lots of yummy snacks. We also cuddled on the couch and she read me some poems. They're okay. They need some work, though."

Cor'lana colors a little. "Thanks, Pothy," she murmurs regarding the quality of her poems.

Dolan simply holds Pothy, although pulls the bird a little closer to himself during the performance to lessen the load on his arm. The last bit elicits a quiet, amused snort, but he turns to Cor'lana. "He's as honest as any four-year-old." The frown, though, remains. "Cor'lana, are you capable of casting a spell that could make a man think that he needs to use the jakes immediately?"

The priest seems surprised, both by Pothy's voice and his straight-fowardness. The paladin stares at Pothy like he's grown a second head. "I've never heard a familiar actually talk before. That's pretty cool." He says to the priest with a grin, earning himself a stern glance that silences him.

Dolan's question is a good one, and the priest turns his attention on Cor'lana to see what her response is to the question. "I have a question for... Pothy. Were you at the temple at all that day? And have you seen anyone that looks like... your mistress elsewhere?"

"I can charm a person by magic, and I can even charm monsters by magic, but I cannot make them need to urinate, defecate, or anything else that one might use a privy for," Cor'lana states seriously. "I am not that powerful of an enchantress that I can alter their perception of their own bodily needs."

Pothy responds next. "No, I was not at the temple at all that day. Like I said, I was with Cor'lana. We were way too busy sharing snacks together to go anywhere."

He does pause. "Lana has a cousin named Adelaide Branfeax, 'Addy', who looks like Lana. But she's a few inches taller and has green eyes. She runs a business called the Cheerful Corvid Coffee Shop in the University District, and she works /way/ too much--plus she's not at all magical like Lana is. She couldn't have made anyone want to go to the bathroom unless she fed them a gallon of coffee first."

Again, Dolan snorts amusement, but this time, it is short-lived. "Yeah, so might be someone else, but -" He frowns suddenly. "Wasn't this the totem that you flashed your bosom at a creepy bloke to get?"

"Zalgiman Joaki." Answers the priest, his expression dead serious as he looks at Cor'lana. "He claims that she and Telamon stole the totem from him. He also declined to offer a reward for the return of the item saying that he suspected that she or he would show up with it miraculously. I'd be interested to know how much of _that_ is true."

Cor'lana flushes a little at Dolan's wording. "I did not /flash/ him. I merely pulled down the front of my dress a little to show off some cleavage--I happened to be wearing some supportive undergarments that day that... enhanced my structure a tad," she explains carefully and clinically. "And I flirted with him. I asked him to let me handle the totem, because I recognized it to be a totem that bound the Hound to his eternal prison, crafted by one of the gods of light and the gods of evil. He wasn't listening to any sort of reason no matter what people were telling him, so when I had the totem in my hands, I pretended to 'fall' and threw it into the air. Telamon caught it and we ran. The Lieutenant Balderdan has already promised that we would be cleared of any legal wrongdoing by submitting the totem to the care of the Temple of Daeus, which Telamon did--and now it is gone. I do not have the totem."

She folds her arms. "My theory is that the fiend that has been harassing Aya and trying to find Sir Seldan--the one who also tried to strangle Telamon when she discovered that we were not hiding Sir Seldan--has taken on my form. She had a totem when I encountered her in the marketplace with Sir Seldan and Serene the paladin. I believe she is working with the werewolves and may have returned and taken my form--as she was previously walking around looking like Aya."

Normally, Dolan would be apologetic. Not this time. He merely listens to the outraged defense of Cor'lana's assets, and the usage thereof, still holding Pothy absently. He will continue to do so for as long as Pothy wants it. "He'll probably remember your," here, he coughs, "structure most clearly, and that was why the Sunblade here," he turns his entire face towards Moein, "was treated to it right before he needed to use the jakes."

He goes on, his stance still balanced, his gaze sternly resting on each in turn. "I'm also aware of a claim that this Zalgiman stole it from someone else. I'll have yourself, Telamon, this Zalgiman, and the woodsman Dirk summoned in the coming days. I have another concern, Sunguard, and that is of where the item is now. I know exactly what that thing is, Sunguard, what it's capable of, and what will happen if it's where I think it is right now. The matter of who really owns it is one thing, but stopping it before Caracoroth's minions try to break his chains is a little bit more important, yeah?"

"Indeed." Says the priest, shaking his head. "Our concern is twofold. To discover the location of the item, and its proper ownership. It was given to our care, so its return must be our primary objective." He sighs and looks at the young paladin. "If it had not been stolen in the first place, this might have already been resolved."

The paladin bows his head and sighs. "If there is anything I can do to be of service please let me know."

Cor'lana doesn't look very happy about the idea of having to potentially see Zalgiman again, but such is the way of things. "If appearing before Zalgiman would clear my name, then so be it," she says. "Here's hoping he's just not staring at my chest the entire time."

"I'll poop on him if he does," Pothy says. This is a very serious threat, matched by Cor'lana's wide eyes.

"I... Have never seen you do that, Pothy," she murmurs. "Can you even--no, focus. I think that's all I can say about the matter that'd be helpful to you, Dolan."

"What's done is done, as Papa used to say," Dolan turns his face fully towards the Sunguard. "You've got work to do," and he turns his face towards the chamber pots. "And I've got a relic to track. Too damned long," he mutters. "You're right. Getting it back and finding the rightful owner is more important than casting blame. Brightest of days to the both of you. Cor'lana, I'll escort you out."

-End