While the baker and the grain merchant reeled from the pressure of Loman's blatant extortion, backed by the threat of violence from the Temple Guard no less, the young lord himself had already moved on to another table as he continued to speak to Baron Hanrahan's guests as if they were members of his congregation.
"I've worked side by side with the Sisters of Soothing Light," Loman said as he arrived at a table filled with women who had been gossiping earlier. "Together we've nursed the sick, the lame, and the mad. We've cared for the children left behind by the men who fought bravely and died in our struggle against the plague of demons that infest our lands," he said, leaving them with words that sent shivers down their spine as they tried to imagine themselves surrounded by diseased and deranged beggars, or tending to frightened and filthy orphans.
