Locate a trustworthy priest to identify the loot
You notice a paragraph got deleted somewhere in the last few hours. As a result, you neglected to attempt to hire Bark-Bark-SQUIRREL-Bark. It may not have made much of a difference, because Bark-Bark-SQUIRREL-Bark is more interested in something calm and less likely to result in casualties. Maybe a cushy desk job if there are any openings for one? Fortunately, Doodle-Crow is impressed enough with the overall result of the investigation that he'd go along with anything at this point for the tracker who earned him a parcel of VALUABLE but largely unoccupiable town land, really. (On the other hand, you have some doubts as to how a DESK job would benefit from Bark-Bark-SQUIRREL-Bark's olfactory prowess.)
Regarding the artifacts seized from the scarved tunnel-dwellers, BAWK-Cluck mentions that one of his cousin's friends is training to be a priestess in one of the minor outlying temples and would likely be willing to help identify the loot for a nominal fee. What with the daily rites and training, it may be some time before she's available, though. After some discussion, the rest of the Order agrees to send for her at once. While waiting, you decide to try to smooth things over with the 59'ers. They remain somewhat fearful of you and your comrades after their berserk rage, but most of them are at least relieved to find that you aren't on the side of the Cyanemy, not that that's too difficult in this realm, and the promise of honest work for decent pay appears to be particularly convincing. You rather hope they won't mind pitching in YOUR VISION OF MAKING THE TUNNELS MORE DEFENSIBLE is executed.
You invite Doodle-Crow out on a walk to map out the Tunnels and discuss the next steps. Doodle-Crow is somewhat displeased by your suggestion to promote Goldteef, a previous enemy of the Order that is to say Doodle-Crow, to such a high position especially given his very unchickenlike accent. Then again, he doesn't really want to waste the position of second-in-command of the neighborhood militia on a founding member of the Order who could instead be riding across the land questing for gold, glory, and the gods. HE AT LEAST AGREES TO ROTATE THE MEDAL OF GRACE among the most pious knights. Eventually, you finish mapping the closest tunnels together and find them to be a bit larger than previously expected.
Later, Acolyte Peck-The-Heathens-And-So-Open-Their-Eyes arrives (surprisingly early given BAWK-Cluck's introduction) to inspect the loot and quickly removes many pieces she immediately recognizes as irrelevant to matters of saintliness and divinity:
Corruption Band: A spiky bracelet of some sort with little in the way of visible gems but lots of metal
Seraphic Key: An ivory key with six expertly carved wings
Shadow Robes: A very dark set of robes or maybe a cape. Rather large for a chicken
Sword of Abundance: A ceremonial and richly decorated sword made in the image of a cornucopia
Hellish Chalice: A warm and very spiky ruby-encrusted chalice with a foul, demonic odor
Cup of Malice: A stone mug with a snake carving incorporated into its handle
Letters of Warding: A heavy wooden board. You can't quite make out the runes on it, but they're probably warding runes
Instrument of Temptation: A flute with an awful ratty smell. On second thought, it's probably not that tempting
Disc of Misfortune: Ow! This jagged metal disc has an awfully sharp rim!
Lamp of Flame: A metal candlestick with a lit candle in
Serenity Monolith: A stone perch for small songbirds or a crutch for overly strong creatures
Medal of Grace: A silver medal apparently given to one who has exhibited grace.
Spirit Sword: A SWORDS! promotional sword-shaped bottle filled with strong spirits (but in which sense of the word?)
Virility Fleece: Weird misshapen mammal clothing with assorted gems in
Prosperous Texts: An illuminated tome making extensive use of gold leaf. You can't quite make out the words on it, but some of the pictures depict scenes of great opulence
Rebirth Cylinder: A metal tube studded with gems that would make a fine bludgeon to help people along with their rebirths
As for the remaining pieces, Acolyte Peck is currently documenting them in painstaking detail and will cross-reference them against records of holy relics at the temple library over the next few days. None of them immediately strike her as being saintly relics, but she adds that there are many different sects with very different traditions even among those who primarily worship the Chicken Gods.
Your efforts to check the legal status of your occupation of the neighborhood are stymied by the atrocious state of the ownership records on most of the buildings in the neighborhood. As most titles changed hands rather quickly and abruptly, it appears there is something of a tradition of underjustified residence here, viz. the guards won't bother evicting anyone, but if the attempt to revitalize the area is successful, there's nothing stopping previous owners from dragging the Order into a NEVERENDING GUERILLA WAR of the lawyerly variety. The most tiresome but obvious solution is to track down previous owners and have them renounce their claims, of course, but this would probably be too much even for a rising holy order. Anyway, your investigation manages to get the names of three of the last five owners of the nearest building, a former smithy with two bedchambers on the second floor:
Sir Veillance: Claimed 1338
Unknown: Claimed 1337
Lord Caw-Caw: Claimed 1335
Lady Anthetramp Claimed 1333
Unknown: Claimed 1332
For reasons that are absolutely not handwavey at all, you dismiss the existence of ghosts ESPECIALLY IN THE CONTEXT OF THE PURPORTED HAUNTING of the neighborhood. Your explanation is less than reassuring for the locals, and this includes the recently hired Chicken Recruits. Acolyte Peck, at least, finds your explanation amusing but declines to comment on it.
At some point, you send out a recruit to collect "donations" in a richer part of town. On a whim, you decide to SEE WHAT THE GUARDS THINK of the Green Scarves and HOW MUCH THEY'D WANT IN EXCHANGE FOR LETTING THEM DO THEIR THIEVING THING IN PEACE. They are not amused and watch you closely until you RETURN TO THE HAUNTED NEIGHBORHOOD. It doesn't take long for your recruit to return TO REPORT ON THE "donations." This is apparently a very innocent town, because the veiled threats your recruit used were taken at face value as kindly well-wishes. Unfortunately, this didn't translate to MUCH IN DONATIONS, but it could help a bit with keeping everyone afloat OR MAYBE BUYING YOURSELF BETTER EQUIPMENT.
Acolyte Peck has completed her notes on the SHINY WONDROUS LOOT AND has gone back to see if there are any MATCHES in the saintly relic catalogs. Would you like to focus on developing the HQ, SEEKING KNIGHTLY ADVENTURE, COMING UP WITH SALES PITCHES FOR THE MUNDANE ITEMS, or training the Order?
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Topic: CHICKEN KNIGHT [SG] (Read 25661 times)