Quest 1: Investigate the False Saintess

The six saintesses gathered around the war table inside your tent, making it the first time you'd seen them all together. The way they were all a bit spread out, even in this small space, wasn't encouraging. It seemed like there was a lot of ice to be broken between the girls. Bangaal's efforts to draw somebody into a dance with her weren't going especially well, nor were Helmid's attempts to clear her throat loudly enough to draw everyone's attention, as the de facto leader up to this point.

There was one thing all the saintesses were likely to be interested in: the new squire who'd just shown up for his first quest. You saw that it was probably up to you to handle the meeting... despite knowing very little about the mission. When you took your spot at the war table and spread out the documents, everyone finally seemed to settle down and shift their attention.

The mission for today involved a false saintess. You were actually a little surprised. False saintess reportings were everywhere, weren't they? Generally, they were mostly harmless charlatans, trying to get a free room at the inn or donations from patrons with loose purse strings. It did seem like an issue, but not something serious enough to dispatch a team of saintesses over.

Helmid shook her head with a wave of her fiery orange braid. "Agreed, but the issue is not so simple this time. It seems as though the local authorities and even certain nobles are protecting the validity of this saintess. It's especially surprising when you consider that the activity of this saintess centers upon a small, checkpoint town between Missionaire and the royal capital. It's as though every authority at the checkpoint has banded together to protect the farce of the false saintess," she elaborated.

You were confused. What profit could they get out of this?

Amulette snickered, moving from her spot and sitting upon the table's edge. "Use that brain, bonking around in that bone-headed head of yours! When authorities and auspicious avarice-driven individuals associate, the end goal must be money! And what is a checkpoint if not a charlatan's choice, to take taxes from tired travelers?" she explained, inspecting one of her rings idly. "There is money at stake."

Across the camp, Belit stood up with wide eyes. "Money? I knew it! I could smell it," she giggled. "You know, I'd heard a little about this. The taxes through that checkpoint seem to be getting higher and higher. Corrupt guards putting the squeeze on people and then lifting a little extra from their inn rooms. I'd admire their gumption, if they weren't stealing from the poor and impoverished, fleeing from the war zone to the royal capital. They know those guys can't protest, especially not when all the authorities are working together on this."

So what? The purpose of the false saintess was to make it seem like a saintess was monitoring the situation, when really, she was in on it all?

Liens sighed heavily. "Just a piece of the puzzle. There's more to it. Who flipped the authorities? How at such a level? And perpetuating this false saintess. Crafty. This goes higher than those at the checkpoint. They're being supported. By whom? We've got to figure it out," she muttered, biting at the thumb of her glove as she spoke. "And it won't be easy. Taking in the saintess. She'll be protected. Messy. Shit..."

Belit crossed her arms behind her head as she sat cross-legged on your bed, a premium spot in your dwelling that she'd quickly claimed for herself. "I don't get it. We saintesses all have gold handprints somewhere on our body that the church verifies, right? So like... isn't it as simple as proving that the person doesn't have that hand-print on her body?"

"Idiot," Liens grumbled. "Bringing her in, hard enough. Stripping her naked? Pulling apart her cheeks? We do all that? We're dead. No way."

"... Y-You really think Geod would put a saintess's mark in such a place?" Sister Rosary questioned with a look of horror.

"Definitely," the elf snapped back. "Geod is a perv. Super perv. So we'd have to check."

Helmid coughed into her fist to turn the attention of the group away from the lecherous nature of the almighty creator. "Let's go over our objectives, then. We can't afford to go in with all six saintesses. We should keep a lean party of just the squire and two saintesses," she advised. "You'll be in charge, Sir Lavender, of deciding who should accompany you. Consider your own talents and ours as you make your party. Depending on the mission's objectives, you may want to choose a party that covers scenarios you expect to run into."

Objectives:

1) Investigate the local authorities to find out how high the conspiracy goes

2) Learn the identity and location of the false saintess

3) Isolate and confront the false saintess

Rewards based on grade:

C: Nothing

B: 100 gold + Royal Red Wine

A: 150 gold + Royal Red Wine + Black Forest Cider