The owner of the inn is a retired soldier, and not much for words in the mornings; late nights dealing with drunkards and latecomers puts him in something of a mood, and he's long since learned better than to drive away business by taking point on that kind of interaction. His wife, however, is in a much more personable, and is more than willing to strike up a conversation with a well dressed young woman.

"What brings you to Halmyris? You don't exactly look like the usual merchants, and this is the wrong time of year for that regardless."

"The Abbess of my Monastery, a cleric of Irori, is considering relocating to this city at the invitation of Condesa Lucía.  Events in Westcrown have both of them busy, so I've traveled to see the city.  I have a letter of introduction, but I arrived late last night, so that is why I stayed at your inn first."

She'll get directly to the important parts.

"Have any foreign clerics or newly empowered clerics taken up a role in this city yet?"

Illda doesn't understand economics in general, but she has grasped the concept that Thea can't charge as much for her spells if there are a lot of competitors.

"There's a cleric of Shelyn from Andoran doing channels down at the main temple, but I don't think he plans to stay long term. Other than that, there's one Abadaran at the bank and a Pharasmin who delivers babies, but I expect everyone would be glad of another person around who can create water."

She's glowing with pride, particularly about the first part, but it might be hard to diagnose the exact cause.

She nods at that...

She has no idea how to ask the more sensitive things she needs to know.  But she thinks there was something important about the first part?  She's not good at reading people but there is something?

"Is Shelyn a popular God around here?"

Ilda wracks her brain for details about Shelyn.  Music, Art, and Beauty.  Neutral Good. Sister of Zon-Kuthon from before he was evil.  Her Holy Book wasn't as boring as the more abtruse parts of Irori's but it was less obviously useful than the practical parts of Irori's.  And... that's all she's got.  She kind of skimmed Shelyn's book hoping for some adventure story parts like Iomedae's book.

"Oh yes. My daughter always loved lady Shelyn, and when she helped us throw out the Asmodeans back in the war and helped us make sense of things after a lot of people listened to her. They sent over a cleric to help out with the things she couldn't do herself, and she's picked up a pretty strong following since. Not that we don't like Iomedae and Erastil and such too, of course."

So getting along well with Shelynites will be important if they reside in this city.  Ilda should make time to visit their temple.

"Was she chosen by Shelyn?"

Oh wait maybe if the answer is no that question if rude.

"Or uh, did she manage all of that as a lay follower?  Either way, it sounds impressive.  I'm trying to get a feel for this city, would she have time to speak with me sometime in the next few days?"

"No, but she could heal people and inspire them to see the best in themselves, so it was still a persuasive message for a lot of people." And in fact Alicia did think she was a cleric, for a while there, but her daughter is embarrassed about it so there's no call to go sharing that with strangers.

"She's off in Westcrown right now, got elected for that convention business - I guess I don't know she won't be back soon but I think it'll take longer than that."

Not chosen by a God, but able to heal?  And presumably she wouldn’t be bragging about the typical infernal healing?  Ilda is lost in thought for an uncomfortably long moment, trying to recall lessons on types of magic users.  The daughter is probably some weird type of sorcerer?  Ilda gives up trying to remember, there are too many weird sorcerer types.

“My Abbess is at the convention as a delegate of Irori’s faith.  Perhaps they will meet, although I understand the convention will be quite large.  And I will almost certainly make it back before the convention ends if it lasts at least a few weeks, I can suggest they meet so my Abbess can hear first hand from one of Halmyris’s finest.”

The flattery at the end is delivered a bit awkwardly.

That's okay, she only recently started getting flattery at all and hasn't had time to develop discerning taste in it.

"I hope so too. I don't know very much about Irori's priests, is there anything you tend to look for in a temple?"

She's heard of and met people who worship him, of course, but even a relatively tolerated diety like Irori would hardly be permitted a temple that might encourage primary worship.

“Our Abbess, Ei-, um, Thea, was chosen by Irori after the Four Day War, so she’s still figuring out what direction to lead us…”

Ilda tries to think of how to lead this back to her questions…

“Thea’s mostly just led us in continuing to train and perfect ourselves… it’s been more philosophical and meditation and less practice with assassination relevant skills compared with before the Four Day War.  Probably after Thea figures things out she will offer classes on meditation to the public or something like that.”

Assassination? And only less of it? Isn't Irori supposed to be a lawful god? She's suddenly unsure she wants to help encourage these people to set up a temple in the city. It's probably not the young girl's fault, though, she understands all about how evil leaders can make their subordinates do evil things.

"Maybe you should head down to the temple of Shelyn first, then, and talk to the priest there?"

And maybe she should come to to make sure the songbird knows what he needs to help the girl with, but that might make her more reluctant to go.

Lots of skills are broadly applicable!  The same meditation to clear your thoughts before a (assassination) mission can be used to clear your thought in general!

But Ilda can’t sense the woman’s unease to know to make this clarification.  Her training was more for ‘kill a target in the streets’ and not ‘infiltrate and deal with social situations to kill a target’.

“I was planning on presenting my letter of introduction to the Condesa’s father first thing I could this morning but I could try to get a conversation with Shelyn’s priest now if they aren’t too busy at this time of day?”

"I expect he's probably free in the afternoons, if you have an appointment with the Regent to get to first, and he certainly wouldn't be offended by you heading there first; Shelynites don't exactly stand on ceremony. I think mornings are usually the second busiest time of day anyway, since lots of people want to pick up water around now."

"I don't have an appointment or schedule yet (possibly the Regent will suggest one once he see my letter), but if the Shelynite is usually busy in the mornings it would make sense to try later this morning or this afternoon.  Speaking of the Regent, and I suppose of the Condesa... I assume the changes since the Condesa took her position have been overall favorable?"

Ilda needs to know what the Condesa (and her Regent) is like as a ruler and has very little idea how to ask deftly in a way that couldn't be interpreted negatively if it got back to the Condesa.  She workshopped a few ideas with Dia, so she will try for some blunt, but earnest flattery!

"The Condesa seemed like a decent sort in the brief time I met her.  The Abbess offered her an introductory lesson in martial arts, and the Condesa had the disciplined will to push through the full lesson despite her lack of endurance and the wise humility not to be shamed by her exhaustion at the end."

If Pride is of Asmodeus and Eiseth, then Humility is a Good virtue right?  Ilda has (just barely) enough religious education to know you can't simply invert Evil to get Good, but Thea seems to think humility is a trait to cultivate now, so it's probably in the right direction, at least for Irori.  Hopefully it's the same for other people trying to be more Good?  But... Iomedae didn't seem particularly humble in her holy book?  Ilda should have workshopped her flattery in more detail.

Ilda's outward expression is perfectly stoic, even with her inner debate.

"Oh yes, certainly much more agreeable. Some of that is from the queen and the good gods, of course, but Halmyris is mostly recovered from the war and you don't hear any of the horrible stories these days. I hardly think anyone has cause to complain."

The second part is even more concerning, she hadn't even imagined that she had to be afraid of the Irorites training the Condesa in assassination. She definitely need to talk to the songbird about this.

Ilda is feeling pretty good about things!  Dia seems to think all the other sisters are idiots that can’t hold a conversation, but Ilda thinks she has learned what she needed to and represented the monastery well.

She finishes up her breakfast.

“I suppose I’ll be on my way soon.  Is there anything important I should know about this city?  Or anyone important to talk to besides whoever the Regent will point me at?  I’m currently planning on talking to the Shelynite priest and maybe the Abadarans as well.”

Ilda’s voice is cheerful, but her expression remains unmoving and blank. 

"I think that's most of what I'd recommend. A couple of people are using some of the other Asmodean temples, so if you end up wanting to take one over you might want to talk to them about it? Or one of the local construction workers, if you think you're going to want to build new."

“I’ll keep that in mind, thank you!”

And she’s off to find the manor or whatever the Regent’s residence is to present her letter!

The castle's quite prominent, really. It sits on a high hill, looking down over the port. 

There are guards, with the same red shields as the Condesa's guardsman. 

Direct approach it is!  She walks up to a guard.

“I have a letter of introduction from the Condesa written to her father.”

Fermi's no slouch. He's risen through his current rank through hard work, and a complete and utter willingness to beat up absolutely anyone. 

"Show me this letter"

Fermí glares at her, then at the letter.

Sucks his breath through his teeth. 

"The Condesa? You're from Westcrown?"

“Yes sir, I walked from Westcrown with travel money and pass provided by the Condesa.  My Abbess, a cleric of Irori, is considering relocating to this city at the Condesa’s invitation.  With the events of the Four Day War my understanding is that clerics are in high demand.”

Hopefully he gets the obvious subtext that Ilda is an important messenger!

Fermí sucks air through his teeth again.  

"Irori? I'd better check with the captain. Bru, take over?"

Don Danilo is quite enjoying being his daughter's governor-in-absentia. She's refreshingly simple in her desires (certainly compared to the Conde), which means he can generally administer the port as it should be administered, and merely make sure that everyone pays their taxes. 

And, of course, being attractive to the women of the court, especially now that his awful wife is away, hasn't palled.

Could he have her killed in Westcrown, and give Lucia a new mother? She'd appreciate that, he thinks. 

A courtier whispers in ear.

"Irori? Certainly, certainly. Send her in" He smiles. Her daughter's up to her shenanigans again.