Moving spheres

[Anastasia]

Latha accepts that arm and rests against you. "Thank you," she murmurs, resting.

[Ebiris]

I've got nothing else to really say here, so feel free to move us along to something happening or Marie finding a lead.

[Anastasia]

Sure. For reference, gimme a Diplo check for Marie.

[Ebiris]

Reminder of her methodology:

Step 1: Gather information about the best rich people taverns and hangouts. She uses the epic 'rouse suspicion' ability to be pretty obvious about this, giving her a +20 bonus to her check. She takes 10 for 78.
Step 1a: Gather information about Sharran activity concurrently with the previous action. She uses the epic 'avoid suspicion' ability to fly completely under the radar while doing this, taking a -20 penalty to her check. She takes 10 for 38.
Step 2: Spend several evenings performing at places highlighted to her in step 1. She sings and dances while intentionally limiting her abilities - she could hit DC 58 by taking 10 but she'll aim to hit DC 25 for a memorable performance.
Step 2a: Gather information about Sharran activity while performing at these places. Again she'll take a -20 penalty to her check to avoid rousing suspicion, but she'll also get Alicia to buff her with heroism for 5 hours ahead of each evening, letting her hit DC 40.
Step 3: Explore town during mornings after performances looking for any evidence of Sharran activity - symbols, omens, superstitions. She'll take 10 for 56 on perception and 10 for 56 on knowledge: religion as far as spotting physical signs, and 10 for 56 on sense motive for spotting suspicious people.
Step 4: Move to next town either by using Seira's teleport network (preferred if available), or joining up with a caravan. If none are available she'll gather information to find reliable adventurers/bodyguards and take 10 for 58 and hire said guards with a portion of her proceeds from performing to escort her to the next town

Unmodified diplo check for reference:

[17:20] <@Ebiris> roll 1d20+48
[17:20] <Penuche> Ebiris invokes Penuche's magic: < 59 > [d20=11]

[Anastasia]

Wetwind Harbor is a busy sort of place. Sailors, more than ever, demand entertainment. From sailors comes prosperity and trade, and with that, people to spend money. In these Marie makes her days and listens. It's about a week into her efforts when she's sitting down after a song, sipping some honeyed mead.

"Darling," The young man who comes up is well dressed and dark skinned, bringing you another mead. Sayal, one of the assistants of the owner. "Great work there. If it wasn't for this ghastly rumor doing the rounds, we'd be on cloud seven today!"

[Ebiris]

"Ah, thank you Sayal my throat is parched!" Honey Belle gasps in dramatic fashion, taking her drink and having a sip. "What sort of ghastly rumour is that? If people's spirits need improving I'll have to work on a properly uplifting routine!"

[Anastasia]

"Old Jaffar's caravan was wiped out!" A soft whisper at that, "Only a single survivor made it back, and he's more dead than alive."

[Ebiris]

"Oh, how horrifying!" she gasps, a hand going to her cheek. "What route was that caravan on? This sounds less rumour and more dire news, darling!"

[Anastasia]

"Southern bound to head east to Victoria," Sayal shakes his head, "Tragic. I hear a sandstorm blew them off course, or that a monster attacked them. Or..." Lowering his voice, "I heard they saw the symbol of the Sharrans in place of the moon and were driven to suicide."

[Ebiris]

"How ghastly!" she says, looking queasy. "Either one, really. All three options came from the same solitary survivor?"

[Anastasia]

"Well, different people say different things," Sayal admits, "I haven't talked to the survivor personally."

[Ebiris]

"Sounds like they must have quite a tale to tell. Did anyone give them magical healing?" she asks, pausing for a sip of her mead.

[Anastasia]

"I don't know," Sayal admits, "You'd have to go find out, Darling." Shaking his head and getting up, "Just dreadful!"

[Ebiris]

"Dreadful," she seconds, shaking her head and looking at her mug. "It's enough to put a girl off her drink."

Rising up she settles her tab first before leaving the establishment for some fresh air... and instead trying to find the survivor of Old Jaffar's caravan!

Using gather information with the 'avoid suspicion' -20 mod and taking 10 for 38.

[Anastasia]

There's rumor as the morning wears into afternoon, but sorting through it? You hear he's in a local Temple of Kossuth, a small organization that mostly keeps to themselves here. The temple is essentially a rented two story building, nothing too special there from what you hear. They only came here about a year or so ago.