Cella has been in the privy for some time now.
Always make sure that bacon is fully cooked.
Carry on.
(Ear to door)
What’s that, Cella, my dear?
Oh, you’re preparing the ritual for making Tarwal shed a tear when he lies? From right there in the john?
Well, you know best.
grunt "Oooh! grunt plot “Yeah, it’s done!” squirt splat “Go ahead and question him!” groan
My image of her is totally blown.
Do we only get one question or a period of time, with that spell?
I think it lasts about 10 minutes, with as many questions as you care to ask in that time.
OK, then we don’t need to come to a consensus on one good question, we just need to stay on task and ask a bunch.
We can start with confirming the original questions:
who are you?
what are you doing here?
where did you find the knife?
how did you find the cave?
what did you see in the cave - - and that means everything you saw?
how did you find the dagger?
(if the pond story is the same - where’s the pond?)
what does the dagger do?
What else do you know about it?
have you done anything that the dagger asked?
who are you?
Tarwal.
what are you doing here?
Selling grain.
where did you find the knife?
In the pond.
how did you find the cave?
I dunno, I just kinda found it.
what did you see in the cave - - and that means everything you saw?
Them critters, the boy, bats, mushrooms… uh, the chest… Them rocky sticky uppy things… Uh, some doors…
how did you find the dagger?
Me foot hit it when I was swimmin’.
(if the pond story is the same - where’s the pond?)
Look out the window. You can see it from 'ere.
what does the dagger do?
Makes you want to kill people.
What else do you know about it?
Nothin’! Oh, ‘cept the hilt is made out o’ bone. Maybe human bone. And there’s writin’ on it, but I don’t know what it says.
have you done anything that the dagger asked?
No!
(Much like baby shampoo, no tears.)
I’d like to see that writing.
Hm. Well, I’m not much of a fighter, so maybe I could open the chest and try to look at the knife without picking it up, and if I do anything squirrelly the actual tough guys could beat the crap out of me?
Does that sound like a plan?
Before the time runs out, can anyone think of any more questions?
You’ve got about 60 seconds left, time for maybe three more questions.
Do you know anyone in this town who can vouch for you?
Did you see anyone else in or near the cave?
What was the boy doing when you found him?
Do you know anyone in this town who can vouch for you?
“No, I don’t think so.”
Did you see anyone else in or near the cave?
“No, not a soul.”
What was the boy doing when you found him?
“Fleeing the monsters.”
Time’s up on the ritual.
“It look like he is telling the truth at least as he knows it. I think our only options are to look at the knife, maybe our more learned friends can read the writing he speaks of, or we can go back to the cave and see if there is anything else of interest there.”
“I suspect that we’ll be doing both. We seem to have a volunteer for reading the knife. His plan sounds good to me.”
Tarwal, does one have to touch the knife in order to experience its evil? If I were to open the chest and just look it over, would I still be at risk?
(I think either way, we should crack that baby open and see if I can get any clue as to what it’s all about).
“Just lookin’ is not as bad, but still tempting.”
Well, I’ll take a shot. Open up the chest and let’s see if I can read anything without touching.
There is a single item in the chest. Well, two if you count that scabbard. The scabbard appears to be made of black leather, and is curved. The hilt does indeed seem to be made of bone, possibly human. You don’t see any writing.
((I apologize. I was extremely busy the past two weeks or so, and didn’t have time to even log on to the SDMB.))
I take a look at the prisoner’s leg and see if there’s any healing I can do to help it.
You pray for him.
That seems to make him feel a lot better.