"I brought someone!"

"Sure, hurry up.  It's a short drop down to the start of this tunnel, you'll need to hunch as you get in.  This part of the tunnel isn't lit.  Gabi, lead her."

She leaves the stone set aside, and goes back down to make way for Gabi and this person to climb down.

With the stone lifted, if Silvia can see in the dark, she can see there is a hole leading to a downward sloping tunnel.  The tunnel requires a hunch at the start by the hole, but opens up to comfortable person height.

Silvia cannot see in the dark! This would be a strange time to betray her, though. She hops down, hunches over to walk in, and follows Gabi's guidance. ...She does try to straighten too quickly, and bumps her head, but her hiss of pain is quiet and she gets back to moving along without an issue.

Gabi guides her swiftly and efficiently through the darkness, it seems these tunnels twist and turn on themselves some, perhaps to throw off intruders?  But soon enough they get to a long curving hallway dimly lit by distantly spaced continual flames set deeply in sconces on the wall.  After another half a minute moving through this hallway (and ignoring several other places the hallway splits off) there is light up ahead, like that from a clear bright day.

At least Bàrbara has held off on lecturing her so far!

Bàrbara waits to speak until they can see the brighter light up ahead.

"So are you like, a delegate or something?"

Hopefully Gabi didn't just decide to rescue a random vagrant.  It's technically not against her instructions to have done so.  They should have planned for this better.  At least after this incident, Bàrbara will have clearer instructions about what to do.  Although it will mean Dia being so smug about having predicted this event.

"Why? Do I look so out of place in Westcrown? But yes." Silvia sighs. "I suppose I should find new clothing. The prices are not too bad, and I do have the silver now."

Bàrbara thinks the woman's clothing kind of looks like a commoner's or even a peasant's from outside the city or even a more nicely dressed beggar's. Bàrbara only assumed delegate because was hoping Gabi wouldn't bring in a random person as opposed to a delegate.  She'll take credit for having a keen eye for people though and nods at Silvia's words.

"Our Abbess is a delegate, along with a few of our tenants.  Our Abbess will probably want to talk to you at some point about the convention."

And she is content to lead on in silence as they reach the brightly lit area.  It is a large, seemingly open, chamber, with a permanent illusion of bright blue sky above them.  Standing around and laying on mats near the hallway they came out of are 15 girls and teenagers (ages 5 to 16).  Some of the teenagers are armed with short swords, longbows, and more unusual weapons.  Three people dressed like beggars are laying off to the side.  Another two people dressed as commoners are sitting next to each other.  A woman dressed like a wizard is talking to a woman in a dress with a starry night pattern.

Bàrbara addresses Silvia again.  "We are waiting around here to go back up the secret entrance we came from if our main entrance is breached."

One of the girls comes up to Bàrbara.  Bàrbara only says one word "Delegate."

She'll handle this.  She makes a normal person face (somewhat scared of the rioting outside but putting on a brave face).

"Go to Thea at the main entrance."  she says to Bàrbara.

And then turning to Silvia. "Hi, I'm Dia.  Welcome to our Abbey!"

"Hello. I am Silvia. I am told this is a safe place from everyone with their torches and pitchforks, and will not charge me for the night?"

"Of course we won't charge for protecting someone!  Our normal rate is only a silver a day anyway.  We should be safe here yes, our main entrance door is concealed and quiet durable, and in the worse case our Abbess could hold the entrance hallway while we retreat out the secret entrance you came in from.  I trust you will keep it a secret?"

Dia's voice is calm with her last question and implies it won't be an issue.

"I swore her to secrecy!  And she's really good at being stealthy and sneaky so I bet she's good at secrecy also!"

She's already in trouble so probably Dia won't be any extra mad at her chiming in.

"I swore to keep the entrance secret, yes. Not to reveal the entrance or even the specific alley Gabi showed me, specifically." She doesn't comment on her ability to keep secrets.

Suddenly words are heard by everyone, from a woman's voice, as if she was right next to all of them.

Stop rioting. Go home immediately. The primary temple of Abadar offers sanctuary for the night, for anyone injured or caught outside.

Excellent!  She got her adventure in before everything stopped!

"Did everyone hear that?"  Nods and affirmations go around.

"It was a Mage's Decree, so some higher circle wizards are solving things!"  She announces to everyone.

"We were planning on sleeping by this hallway for the option of a fast escape, but if the trouble is clearing I can show you to a room...  actually I'll wait for our Abbess to decide if we need to be ready to evacuate."

"A Mage's Decree? Ah, a wizard spell, this makes sense. Good, people are dangerous in groups."

"A room sounds good. At a silver a day, I should be able to stay here in the future, as well." They need Silvia to keep their secret, so she shouldn't make it hard for them to check.

"The silver includes more than just a room to yourself... Gabi, do you want to give the pitch?  Gabi's memorized our pitch and has been looking for the chance to give it..."

Is Dia not mad at her?  And she finally gets to make the pitch!

"Tenancy is only available to women, girls, and boys under the age of 11 with a mother or other female adult custodian.  The rooms are in an underground monastery, it's well lit by continual flames.  The price for one person, one room, is a silver per day.  Adding another person to share a room is an additional 5 coppers.   This prices includes decent stew for dinner, tolerable porridge for breakfast, plenty of clean water, laundry once a week at a set time by our resident wizard, optional participation in morning and evening stretches and warm-up exercises.  Optional add-ons sold by the day include 3 additional coppers for a light lunch, 15 silvers for a cure light wounds given a day's notice, and with 50 silvers collateral (or equivalent value), access to our library for a day for 1 copper.   The Abbess will announce price or rules changes at least 5 days in advance."

"And to add to that... we'll probably be closing our main entrance at a set time each day from now on.  Our Abbess might show everyone the secret entrance so they have another way to get inside in the event of another riot.  I'll leave that decision to her though.  But I guess you already know it."

"I do. A closed door, a secret entrance, and breakfast and dinner sounds good after today. A library... I will think on it. I should meet the Abbess?"

Thea is actually entering the main chamber now.  She decided with the Mass Sending that the rioters will be unlikely to try the crematorium again, so she's left Bàrbara to guard the main entrance, she'll assign Sofia to relieve her halfway through the night.  She announces to everyone.

"I've decided the risk of needing to evacuate is low enough you can sleep in your rooms tonight.  Still, if you hear shouting in the middle of the night, report to this main chamber for evacuation."  People begin to leave the main chamber and head down various hallways.

She notices Silvia and walks up to her.

"Hello, I'm Thea Iroria, monk and cleric of Irori, Abbess of this monastery, and delegate of the faith of Irori to the Constitutional Convention."

Silvia inclines her head, hesitates, and straightens up.

"Hello. I am Silvia Noguera, of Parafita. Elected delegate to the Constitutional Convention. ...You were on the Diabolism committee with the Select today? Is Irori a god of Good, then?"

She's happy to discuss her faith in detail!

"Irori is Lawful Neutral, but I believe he has many Good virtues to learn from.  I'm happy to answer any questions about his faith you have!  And I wasn't on the excising diabolism committee, I was merely reporting on an Evil cult I knew a lot about."

Her expression darkens.

"But apparently some pamphlet full of misinformation is claiming that I am an active member of the very cult I was reporting about."

She want to say more, but can see Dia signaling with some slight shifts in body language to move the topic on.  She is going to work harder at following Dia's advice after today.

"I hear you." Silvia speaks formally, clearly a ritual wording. An unusual one, perhaps just from her village? Thea hasn't heard it before. She pauses before continuing.

"The Select called for the overthrowing of the evil nobles, but also said the innocent should not fear. This," she gestures back towards the entrance she came from, "does not seem to keep the innocent safe. Do you know what changed? Was it the committee, or more pamphlets, or something else?"

"And I would learn of Irori if we have the time, but what is happening now seems urgent."