Conversations in the streets
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_In the past few weeks, Elissa, the pale priestess of Beshaba has spent a lot of time wandering through the streets of Peltarch. Often she stopped to chat to small groups of people until either them or she loses interest. Those who would pay close attention may notice that she focusses her attention on those that seem to be in a little bit of trouble, although she doesn't seem to exclude anyone.
For these wanderings, her clothes differ for each district while never really extraordinary. In the docks they are rough clothes, giving the appearance they have been worn a bit too long. However they always appear to be taken well cared for and supply the image of someone trying to appear dignified. For the other districts, her clothes are actually finely made and only show signs of wear at the ends. Those who pay really close attention may also notice a subtle change in the way she wears her hair or chooses perfume.
Up until recently the conversation mostly sticked to simple and small topics. Elissa often started with a friendly greeting, keeping a warm and reassuring smile as long as apropriate, quickly changing back to it. After a few words about the weather or the business, she'd begin talking of a small misfortune that happened recently, dropping it casually into the flow of the conversation. Mostly just tiny incidents like a cat that had disappeared, a worker who's broken an arm or suffered another injury, how someone keeps ruining his family by losing money in bets and games, and even the occasional mention of how a thief's fingers were broken because he picked the wrong victim. Occasionally, though, she comes up with a little worse things like a husband that has been forced to kill his wife who had been turned into a ghoul or the mention of the child that played up on the wall with a friend and was struck and murdered by a kobold's arrow.
After these stories, Elissa usually expands on the pains the concerned people suffered and how it shouldn't have happened in the first place. She often waits a little bit, allowing the other to say it cannot be avoided and then begins to explain just how bad luck could be avoided by properly appeasing Beshaba. Those willing to listen, she supplied with a bottle of wine and instructions to burn it in small quantities, offering it as a sacrifice to Beshaba. She also gives them words to speak as a prayer, mainly honoring one of Beshaba's titles followed by a plea to keep them and those they care for from harm.
That was Elissa's daily work up until recently. Now that the connection to the gods as well as to the weave seems to have suffered, Elissa has renewed her efforts with a new main topic. She does not seem to tire to point out, for example, that until now you could often find a way to magically fix a broken hand, even if at a price. In her words, though, now that is no longer a safe way. A spell to bend the bones back in place could just as well turn the victim to stone instead. Thus, she argues, it is now even more vital that ill luck is avoided, is warded against._