Investigate the False Saintess-- Report (Grade C)

Back at camp, your saintesses gathered around the bonfire at the center, to sit and review the results of your first mission. It had been... different than you'd imagined. Rougher. Frankly, just more difficult all around. During your studies, the saintesses had seemed to be infallible heroes who faced every trial with a success rate near 100%. Either these saintesses still needed polishing, you did, the stories were exaggerated, or maybe... just maybe... the trials had become more harrowing.

The good news was that you all had stopped the dark saintess, Nil Riiche, from transforming the town into servants of the dark lord, which you now understood to be the purpose of her tainted wine. You'd also managed to oust Mertz and those on his payroll, which ought to improve everyone's living conditions inside the nearby town, as well as minimize the risk that anyone was being overcharged going through.

The bad news...{if Quest 1 Gate Crash = True}

Amulette and Belit cackled, discussing the start of the quest. There was something said about 'the stupid look on Mertz's face.' It was true, it had been funny to see the look on his face, but giving Mertz's faction a public humiliation wasn't going to make the job of the inquisition against him any easier. He could now say that you were the first to enact ****, after all.{endif}{if Quest 1 Guards Attacked = True}

The way you all had gotten through the barracks hadn't been particularly graceful. Plans had failed and it had ended with you all slugging it out with the guards. While that had all gone over mostly without injury, it wasn't a particularly good look for the holy saintesses. That sort of fighting was usually reserved for demons, not people who-- at least theoretically-- are human peacekeepers. It wouldn't be particularly good if word of this got around without the proper context.{endif}{if Quest 1 Injured = True}

You'd been injured pretty gravely during the encounter with Nil Riiche. An impossibly powerful opponent, she'd had an answer for every trick you and the saintesses threw at her. No one would hold your failure to capture her against you-- that was all but an inevitability-- but the saintesses were all pretty crestfallen at their inability to protect you at such a critical moment. Luckily, you'd been quickly attended to by the church's healers, but if something like this happened out in isolated, demon-infested wilderness... It could cut your journey quite short.{endif}

Helmid clapped her hands together for attention, then raised a toast. "The important thing is that we are all safe now. Every party experiences bumps in the road like this--"

"True, but take note: our band's beginning bumps were brutally bumpy. We will have to work wiser in the weeks to come," Amulette interjected, resting her chin upon her ringed fingers with an unamused frown.

"Yes, of course. A learning experience, to be sure. But faith in Geod and in each other will preserve us, even in times of hardship such as these."

"Oh yeah? At least he's behind us. Those 'community leaders' and royal knights at the church were kinda stingy, huh? Didn't pay us a bloody cent for all the work we put in," Belit grumbled, crossing her arms with an irritable frown while rolling her eyes. "Didn't even set aside any of the wine from the party for us."

"Now, now. We saintesses don't do what we do for wine," Sister Rosary chuckled.

"Maybe you don't! I'm a master thief, not a sister of the cloth!" Belit groaned, turning her back and trudging back to camp. Amulette and Bangaal seemed to agree with the sentiment-- it would be preferable if future missions ended in donations of ****.

Liens shrugged. "Results are what matter. Not donations. Not trinkets. Not favors. Nil Riiche's still out there. Remember that." Her expression was not exactly merry, but then, it never was.

"Miss Whitespark is right. Let us all dwell on what we can do to better ourselves so that we will be better equipped to face that false saintess next time we meet," Helmid nodded. "But for tonight, try to rest up."

((Remember-- You can replay quests as many times as you like after returning to the camp hub! Try again to gather more gold, more favor, and see scenes you may have missed!))