Tuesday, January 23, 653 AU, continued

The Dawnbringers, holed up in a small closet, debate whether or not to leave immediately, now that they’ve found Siora’s journals.

“I’m worried that the engineer Valya charmed may fix the abjuration generator soon,” says Aurelia. “The locket is our only way out.”

Valya tests Siora’s locket, speaking the phrase “revelare infernalem fornacem”. Thankfully, the portal appears next to her, swirling blue. Qhask offers to take Siora’s journals through the portal and to inform Valspira of what they’ve done so far.

“I don’t know if we should stay any longer,” says Aurelia. “It’s just the three of us.”

“I know it’s difficult,” says Valya, “but this isn’t an impossible task. We’ve already fought many of the devils in this fortress, and they’re busy fighting each other.”

“What are you proposing, Valya?” asks Aetheris.

“We interrogate Dormin in the prison to learn more about the invasion plans, and then—assuming it’s not impossible—continuing on to the engine and blowing it up.”

While they are mulling this over, the alarm, which has been blaring for the last few hours, goes silent, and the red lights turn off. “SITUATION CONTAINED” says the voice in infernal.

“It seems the coup might be over,” says Aurelia, “which means we need to be very deliberate with where we’re going. We did defeat their lieutenant, Seryssa, but Xksautha looks way scarier… If we were to try to destroy the engine, how would we do it? I’m almost entirely out of spells.”

“The imp said they were told that if anything comes into contact with the engine, ‘something bad’ will happen,” says Valya, “so I think it will be very easy to destroy.”

“What if ‘something bad’ means we all get teleported to the elemental plane of fire, or something like that?” asks Aurelia. “I’m nervous; I’d rather not overextend.”

“My plan is to open the portal once we’re there. You can cross to the other side, and I’ll see what I can do, then follow you out,” says Valya. “In the worst case, the explosion might come through the portal.”

“It’s a big risk,” says Aurelia.

“But if we don’t do this now, what will happen? We’ll have to deal with devils invading Castalia,” says Valya.

“We’ll actually have to deal with devils much more… directly, if we do this,” says Aurelia. “We haven’t really done anything against Ilvoth yet, aside from killing Seryssa.”

“We’re still disguised,” says Valya, “so they have no idea who we are.”

“That’s true…” says Aurelia.

“I’ll go scout out the route to the prisons,” says Aetheris. She transforms into a spider and scurries away.

A few minutes later, Aetheris returns. The way is mostly clear; wherever the devils are congregating now that Zagumek’s forces have been defeated, it’s not around here.

⁂

As they head to the prison, they hear a group of devils approaching them from a side hall. They hang back and let them pass first. Aurelia surreptitiously casts comprehend languages before the devils come into view.

“Come on, pull your weight!” hisses one of the devils. They round the corner, dragging the body of a horned devil—either dead or unconscious—between the four of them. They glance at the party, but pay them no mind. “There’s a special show,” continues the devil, “and I don’t want to miss it.” They head down the hall and turn a corner out of sight.

“Do you think they’re torturing the survivors?” asks Aurelia.

“It seems so,” says Valya.

They follow the group of devils, keeping far enough behind that they stay out of view behind corners. As they approach the prison, they hear the murmuring of many voices. Aetheris peeks around the corner as a spider and watches the four devils pull open an ornate set of black iron doors, carved with horrific scenes of torture, and drag their prisoner inside. Aetheris casts comprehend languages herself, then follows them and looks inside the room.

The large, cylindrical room is a panopticon, with small jail cells lining the walls several stories high. But there is no warden’s tower in the center; rather, this panopticon appears to be for giving the prisoners a view of the “show”. There are all manner of torture implements strewn about the room, from iron maidens to tables laden with smaller, cruel-looking tools. At the center of the room, a corpulent, misshapen devil—unlike any they have seen so far—stands next to a prisoner strapped to a gurney. He’s lecturing to a dozen or so assorted devils.

“Now,” says High Torturer Roggomod in a sonorous, oily voice, “I know this was not scheduled in my lectures for the week, but we have here a beautiful opportunity! I’ve hinted before that the torture of mortals is quite different from the torture of devils, and now you will see this difference in action.” He looks down at the prisoner. “Oh, Nephira. Letting yourself get charmed and leaving your post at such a critical time!” He clucks his tongue with a disgusting, wet sound. “Perhaps Ilvoth would forgive you for that. Perhaps. I’d only maim you, then. But when we investigate your station, what do we find? Bombs! On the engine!”

“Wait,” gasps Valya, “is that the tiefling I charmed?”

“This tiefling is a traitor!” Roggomod shouts to the assembled devils, who boo and hiss in response. “Today, I am going to show you just how far you can disassemble a mortal without killing them. First I’ll do a little awl work, as scheduled.” He holds up a small awl with his long, delicate fingers. “Then we’ll flay her, and then we’ll put each of her organs in a different jar, connected by tubes to keep everything working. You’ll be surprised how many weeks she’ll live for! Once we’ve gotten as much out of her as we can, we’ll blow her up with her own bombs. Now: observe.” He suddenly jams the awl into Nephira’s arm, and she screams.

The Dawnbringers, risking a deadly confrontation, quickly enter the room. “Ah,” says Roggomod, “the lecture has already begun, but you are welcome to join us.”

Valya bows. “High Torturer Roggomod. I have orders from Xksautha. We discovered more of Nephira’s bombs, and they need to be deactivated immediately. We have been ordered to take her back for interrogation.”

Roggomod frowns. “May I see the order?”

“We were ambushed by some of Zagumek’s remaining forces. The order was destroyed by a fireball.”

“Hmph,” grumbles Roggomod. “Telepathic extraction is fast, yes, but it’s just so… impersonal. Fine. Tell Xksautha I demand she be returned within half an hour.” He waves at the gurney dismissively, and the Dawnbringers, relieved, wheel Nephira away.

Once out of sight, they search for an unoccupied room where they can release Nephira. Once they’ve done so, they remove her gag.

“You! You’re the ones who did this to me!” says Nephira.

“What do you mean?” asks Atheris.

“You charmed me, didn’t you? I abandoned my post, they questioned me, and found the bombs! This is your fault!”

“Where are the bombs?” asks Valya.

“I assume they’ve already been deactivated,” says Nephira.

“So you were trying to sabotage this ship?” asks Valya. “Who do you work for?”

“Zagumek, obviously.” Nephira rolls her eyes. “He feared Ilvoth would attempt something like this. My orders were to blow up the Spire if Ilvoth won. You ruined everything!”

“Not necessarily,” says Aetheris. “We want to blow up the Spire too. Where are the bombs?”

“What?” Nephira looks surprised. “Uh, Xksautha took them.”

“We can still make this work,” says Valya.

“No. There’s no other way,” says Nephira. “Do you realize how complicated the magic of the levitation engine is? Especially since it doubles as a teleportation engine? If you so much as look at it wrong, the resulting blast of magic could instantly kill half the devils on the ship. Unless you’re fine with a suicide mission, we would need the bombs.”

“If the engine is so unstable, wouldn’t a single bomb suffice?” asks Aurelia.

“The engine is resilient. An instability could release enough magic to kill half the ship, but the engine itself, and the ship, would suffer only minor damage. The explosion needs to be big to actually crack the thing.”

“What about a fireball?” asks Valya.

“A measly fireball? No.”

“A flame strike?”

“Oh, a cleric, are you? Hmph. No, it needs to be a sizeable explosion.”

Suddenly, there’s a familiar voice from one of the corners of the room, near the ceiling. “I’m learning a lot, but I don’t really understand it.” Zauza becomes visible.

“What are you doing here?” asks Aurelia.

“You said to learn everything I could about the engine, so I thought the best way to do that would be to shadow Nephira. But then she got taken prisoner? Most of what I’ve learned has been about torture, not the ship. Which is still interesting! But… what exactly will be on the test?”

“Uh… what have you learned?” asks Aetheris.

“Well, I’ve learned that the levitation engine can explode,” says Zauza. “I learned Nephira is a traitor who wanted to explode it on purpose. Oh! And I learned that the majority of our forces have been assigned to protect the abjuration generator and the levitation engine. Apparently there are dangerous intruders on board!”

“Do you know what they did with the bombs?” asks Aetheris.

“Oh, I heard they were taking those up to the vault near the command deck.”

“How many bombs?” asks Aetheris.

“There were twelve total,” says Nephira.

“What can you tell me about this treasure vault?” asks Aetheris.

“Oh, all the valuable stuff on the ship gets put there,” says Zauza.

“A treasure vault…” muses Aetheris.

Valya turns to Nephira. “Do you know how to get into the vault, if we need to retrieve the bombs?”

“Well… I wasn’t the one who designed the Spire,” says Nephira. “It was constructed a thousand years ago. But I’m very familiar with infernal architecture… It sounds like, to me, that you have a plan, and that this plan includes destroying this ship, and then leaving. If I were to, let’s say, give you some secrets that could, potentially, get you to the command deck without being seen, you would be inclined to take me with you. Right?”

“Perhaps…” says Aurelia.

“I need you to guarantee my safety,” says Nephira. “A ‘perhaps’ isn’t going to cut it.”

“It’s in our mutual interest to destroy the ship and survive this. We can do that,” says Valya.

“I don’t know if we can trust you,” says Aetheris, “so the second we are safely off this ship, we can no longer guarantee anything. We go our separate ways.”

“Fine by me. Though I have been nothing but truthful with you,” says Nephira. “If we can blow up the ship and survive, that’s already better than I was expecting.”

“May I?” asks Aurelia, gesturing at her healer’s kit. Nephira nods, and Aurelia begins bandaging her arm.

“So how can we get to the command deck?” asks Valya.

“The imp tunnels,” says Nephira. “Some are large enough for a humanoid to crawl through. You can get quite close to the command deck that way, though of course the tunnels don’t connect to the vault. That only opens with a command word.”

“Do you know the command word?” asks Valya.

“No,” replies Nephira.

“Do you?” Aetheris asks Zauza.

“What? No! And even if I did, I would never betray my masters!” says Zauza.

“It’s going to be on the test…” says Aetheris.

“What? Oh no! I don’t know the command word!” Zauza looks distraught. “Maybe I could find out!” He flies away.

“I doubt anyone will speak the command word while he’s there,” says Nephira. “But good try.”

“What did you see and hear in the prison?” asks Valspira. “Anyone there who could be of use?”

“Well, there’s Lieutenant Dormin, leader of Zagumek’s forces on the Spire. There was also a halfling with a Castalian accent, and a dragonborn, though she never spoke. They had both already been tortured. And in the cells in the back were some corpses. Strange creatures, with big bloody holes in their faces, as if they had been entirely removed.”

“Nothics!” says Aurelia. “Didn’t Seryssa say they had a stew? Maybe they have some nothic eye potion we could steal!”

“I was aware that Ilvoth had certain… questionable proclivities regarding his food, which some of the other devils joked about behind his back,” says Nephira.

“We should have sent Zauza to look for that,” says Aurelia.

“You know, assuming you manage to get the bombs, how do plan on getting them to the engine? Not all the imp tunnels are wide, and there’s at least a hundred devils between here and there,” says Nephira.

“I can transform into something tiny and carry them to the engine room,” says Aetheris.

“That… could actually work!” says Nephira. “But we’d still need the detonator, which I would bet Xksautha has on his person. But if we can somehow manage it… You know, the reason I’m working for Zagumek… there’s going to be an invasion of the material plane.”

“Yes, we had heard that,” says Aurelia.

“Zagumek said that if I could help him improve the levitation engine to teleport as well, he’d spare Sarmant, my hometown.”

“So you were blackmailed?” asks Valya.

“In a sense, I suppose. I am an expert of infernal machinery. I don’t know if I wouldn’t have accepted regardless.”

Aurelia frowns. “So you’re not the kind of person who asks whether you should, just whether you can.”

“When you ‘can’ as well as I ‘can’, the ‘should’ sort of falls to the wayside. Do you know how much Zagumek is paying me?”

“In what, soul coins?” asks Aurelia.

“No; gold,” says Nephira.

“What does gold matter when the entire material plane is nothing but ash and blood?” asks Aurelia.

“No, that’s not—I’ve overheard Xksautha and Seryssa talk many times. The invasion is to subjugate the material plane, but not destroy it. Ilvoth—I don’t know about Zagumek—thinks there’s some sort of threat coming, and that the material plane will be too disorganized to defend itself unless it’s… under better management.”

“Ha. Right,” says Aurelia with disapproval.

“They won’t burn everything to the ground. In the end, it’s for everyone’s good!”

“What have you heard about the demons?” asks Valya.

“All I know is that Ilvoth wants to get control of the material plane before the demons do.”

“Perhaps we should get moving,” says Aurelia, who has finished bandaging Nephira’s arm.

⁂

As they creep through the halls, Valya muses out loud. “You know, in theory these devils could help us in the battle to come. If we destroy the Spire, they could fall sooner to the demons. Perhaps it’s best if the devils and demons fight each other for as long as possible, so whoever wins is easier for us to defeat?”

“Who is less bad?” asks Aetheris.

“Devils at least have a code… demons will just eat you alive,” says Valya. “So… maybe we shouldn’t destroy the fortress?”

“This is the only chance we’ll get,” says Aetheris. “We were able to break into the ship once—I doubt we’ll be able to do it again.”

“You’re very lucky you arrived in the middle of a coup,” says Nephira.

“Precisely. Maybe we should set up the bombs, but wait to detonate them until later.” says Aetheris.

“The moment Ilvoth sets foot on the ship, he will know the bombs have been planted and where they are,” says Nephira.

“Because he has detect magic?” asks Aetheris.

Nephira gives Aetheris an odd look. “Because he is an archdevil. Ilvoth is… beyond the need for such toys as detect magic.”

“We still have to deal with getting into the vault and avoiding a hundred devils who are actively looking out for intruders,” says Aurelia. “Let’s deal with that first. I… hate to suggest this, but Valya, you do have death ward…”

“I could do that,” says Valya. “But we still don’t know if destroying this fortress will just mean we have to fight demons later. We are in a unique position of tipping the scales whichever way we want.”

Aetheris is silent for a few moments. “So what is this about death ward?”

“I can activate the bombs manually and possibly still survive…” says Valya.

“I think,” says Aurelia, “we shouldn’t blow up the ship. You’re right, Valya, devils are easier to deal with than demons.”

“And I didn’t think of this before,” says Valya, “but Valspira has a grudge against Ilvoth and—”

“Valspira?” interrupts Nephira. “Do you work for Valspira?”

“Damn it,” mutters Valya.

“No, we don’t,” says Aurelia.

“What do you know about Valspira?” asks Valya.

“Ilvoth and Zagumek both hate her,” says Nephira. “From what I’ve heard, she had the upper hand among the three of them a few centuries ago, so Ilvoth and Zagumek joined forces and managed to get her trapped by a wizard on the material plane. I had heard she was recently released. Ilvoth and Zagumek were very displeased.”

Valya speaks directly into Aurelia and Aetheris’s minds. Should we open the portal again and quickly speak to Valspira?

Probably, says Aurelia.

Valya activates Siora’s locket once again, and peeks her head through the portal. Nephira’s eyes go wide. “It seems they haven’t fixed the abjuration generator yet. Typical. Most of the other engineers are idiots.”

They decide to send Aurelia through to talk to Valspira. She passes through the portal, finding herself in the heat-shielded room. Outside, she finds Valspira sitting in an old chair and leafing through a book. “There you are,” says Valspira. She looks past Aurelia into the room and, seeing it empty, says “Only one of you survived? Fine by me.”

“The others are still back on the ship. We just needed your… expert opinion on the… situation,” says Aurelia.

“Hmm. I would also like to know about the situation—I haven’t heard from my usual sources in a few hours now. What exactly is happening in there?” Valspira narrows her eyes.

“It’s a bit chaotic at the moment,” says Aurelia.

“I see,” says Valspira. “Have you at least gotten what you needed as regards Siora Virren?”

“Have you not seen Qhask?” asks Aurelia, suddenly worried.

“Oh, I’ve seen him. But you know he’s not much of a talker. Did you get the diaries?”

“How do you know about… Well, yes, but—”

“Great! You’re done. Get out of there!”

“We wanted your sage advice about an opportunity,” says Aurelia.

“An ‘opportunity’?”

“Yes, we have a very unique opportunity to destroy the Spire of Pain! What are your thoughts on that?”

Valspira looks caught off guard, then angry. “Are you completely out of your minds? No! Do not destroy my future property!”

“I see,” says Aurelia. “We were thinking that Ilvoth would be easier to deal with if he didn’t have the Spire.”

“Ilvoth is for me to deal with. Soon the Spire will be mine, and what’s good for me is good for you,” says Valspira.

“So you think it’s in our best interest not to destroy it, so that you can use it against the demons?” ventures Aurelia.

“Against the demons?” Valspira smiles. “You think you’re quite clever, don’t you? As far as the rest of Avernus is concerned, the Spire of Pain is just a joint venture between Ilvoth and Zagumek to project power throughout the Hells, put down rebellions, and keep their underlings in line. But yes, Aurelia, it’s about the demons. Ilvoth and Zagumek have been working for a millennium on this.”

Meanwhile, Aetheris and Valya are debating whether to let Valspira know about Nephira. “She knows so much about the Spire,” says Aetheris, “so we could keep her a secret and use her against Valspira if we need to. If we give her up to Valspira now, that could work out against us.”

Valya agrees, and pops her head through the portal to mentally communicate this to Aurelia. We could use her as a bargaining chip to get Valspira to speak more plainly now, though, replies Aurelia. She maneuvered Thian out of the Spire, so she knows a lot more than she’s let on.

Plus, says Valya, if we take her with us Valspira is going to find out about her soon anyway. And Nephira is going to betray Zagumek and Ilvoth, and maybe being under Valspira’s protection is the only way to keep her safe from retaliation.

Everyone agrees with this, so Aurelia tells Valspira about Nephira. “Actually, we have something—a gift for you. In exchange for you speaking plainly about some things.”

“That sounds less like a gift and more like a trade,” says Valspira.

“Okay,” says Aurelia, “a trade. I think it would be in your best interest to accept it.”

“I see. And what exactly is this ‘gift’ you have for me?”

“It may, or may not, be someone on the inside who knows a lot about the Spire and has heard a lot about Ilvoth and Zagumek’s plans—”

“Please don’t tell me you have Klaxos hogtied in there,” says Valspira, rolling her eyes. “I know he enjoys rope stuff but—”

“No!” says Aurelia. “I promise you, this is—she would perhaps provide a bargaining chip?”

Valspira raises her eyebrow. “Don’t tell me you have Seryssa hogtied in there. I’ve always wanted to see her hoist by her own… whip.”

“No, it’s not Seryssa! We killed her.”

“A pity.”

“She was a prisoner,” says Aurelia.

“Hmm, I’m not aware of any prisoners of interest in the Spire at the moment…”

“Fine! We want to know what you know about Grieving Edge and all of the weapons that Siora made. We’ll show you the prisoner, and we want you to promise you’ll tell us as much as you think she’s worth.”

“Maybe that information could come back to bite you,” says Valspira. “We’re no strangers to forbidden knowledge, are we? But I’m in a good mood. I promise to answer three questions in exchange for your prisoner.”

“Deal,” says Aurelia. She confers with the rest of the Dawnbringers, and they decide on a first question. “First question: For what purpose was Ilvoth smuggling soul-filled weapons into the material plane?”

“Ah! Well, that depends on the weapon in question. Some of them contained pieces he was strategically positioning on the board in preparation for the war—his most loyal generals, mindless beasts intended to do damage, and so on. Others were pieces he trapped to keep them out of the war.”

The Dawnbringers mull over the answer—it’s the answer they were expecting. They decide to keep the other two questions for later use, and bring Nephira through the portal.

Valspira is suddenly triumphant. “You’ve just made my week, Aurelia. I had hoped you would just get me Siora’s books, but this is so much more.” She turns to Nephira. “Nephira, is it? You’ve betrayed Ilvoth and Zagumek today, it seems. What a thing to do! I can protect you, for a price.”

“And what might that price be?” asks Nephira.

“Nephira, you are one of the best engineers in all the Hells, correct?” asks Valspira.

“Well, yes,” says Nephira.

“How would you like to design and build your very own Spire of Pain? You know the ins and outs of all of it, correct?”

“What?” breathes Aurelia.

Nephira, flustered, says “W-well, yes, but that would be an extremely expensive undertaking, and would require many rare materials—”

“Oh, don’t worry about the cost, that can all be arranged and taken care of,” says Valspira, waiving her hand dismissively.

“Really?” asks Nephira.

“Oh, of course. I’ll give you your own team of underlings. I can draft up a contract, if you’d like,” says Valspira.

“I’ll… have to think about it,” says Nephira in a daze.

Valspira looks at Aurelia. “All this for the price of one measly question you probably could have guessed the answer to?”

“Three questions,” says Aurelia weakly.

“Of which you’ve asked one. Who knows if you’ll live long enough to ask the rest,” Valspira says with a shrug. “Think hard about what questions you should actually be asking!”

Valspira’s face turns serious. “I notice you’re sort of half-turned toward the portal as if you’re about to go back, and Valya and Aurelia are still on the other side. You don’t intend to go back, do you? You’ve gotten Siora’s journals, you’ve revealed your bargaining chip, and you’ve decided not to blow up the Spire of Pain, so…”

Valya, who along with Aetheris have stuck their heads through and listened to most of the conversation, shouts “You seem to have a second Spire of Pain in the works—are you sure you don’t want us to blow this one up?”

“No, Nephira is correct—to build a new one would be extremely expensive and much too slow. Better to use the one we have now and build the second one at my leisure!”

“Do you happen to know the password to the Spire’s vault?” asks Aurelia.

“The vault? By the gods, why do adventurers always go back for the treasure?” Valspira laments. “No! I don’t know the password and you don’t need to know it either. Leave while you’re still in one piece, you idiots!”

“That vault should contain a lot of treasure, right?” says Valya. “And we have a way to sneak there without being seen, and we might need Nephira’s bombs—”

“Bombs?” says Valspira. “What is happening in there?”

“Are you aware Zagumek just committed a coup against Ilvoth’s control of the Spire?” asks Valya.

Valspira seems genuinely shocked. “I had no idea—as I said, I have not received any information from my contacts for the past several hours. What else has happened?”

“Excuse us one moment,” says Valya. The party convene telepathically once more. They debate what to ask from Valspira in exchange for an account of what happened on the Spire of Pain. Aurelia is of the opinion that Valspira will kill them the moment their contract ends, so Aetheris suggests they don’t ask for any favors that wouldn’t get called in in the next few months at the latest. Valya suggests the ask for a boon during their eventual fight with Bellaroth, or the location of Grieving Edge.

Aetheris exits the portal and says “We have information you want. In exchange, we ask for the location of Grieving Edge, the location of Marenora, and a boon during our eventual fight with Bellaroth.”

“The current location of Grieving Edge and Marenora—don’t blame me if I tell you and they’ve already moved. In addition, you must give me a portion of what you find in the vault,” says Valspira.

“How about you agree to tell us the locations at a future date of our choosing?”

Valspira does some mental calculations. “Deal.”

The Dawnbringers explain to Valspira everything that’s happened during their time on the Spire of Pain. When they are finished, Valspira smiles. “It seems soon I’ll only have to deal with one of my old enemies. You know, when you gave me the curse, a lot of things started making sense. You say Ilvoth and Zagumek were collecting nothic eyes, that they know what we know about—” she glances at Aetheris, “certain celestial curiosities? I guessed as much. Certain of their actions that always puzzled me make perfect sense in that new light. It’s not really about the devils versus the demons, it’s about us versus… those outsiders.

“I can guarantee, as far our war with them is concerned, we are on the same side. If the material plane were to be utterly destroyed, our source of souls would dry up. Can’t have that!”

They re-enter the portal, minus Nephira, and crawl one by one into the imp tunnels.

⁂

The imps are none too happy to have obstacles to fly around, and yell at the party to get out of the tunnels, but they don’t attack them. As they approach the end of the path that Nephira had described, they hear voices on the other side of a hatch.

“I’m telling you, those intruders are craftier than that!” says High Torturer Roggomod. “They are disguised as spined devils, that’s why no patrols ever saw them. I was tricked! They stole the engineer out from under our noses. Perhaps that is what they came for, and the attack on the generator and snooping around the engine room was all a distraction!”

“Perhaps…” says Xksautha. “Biatha, you say the intruders are working for Valspira?”

“Yes, and Klaxos is informing for her,” says the succubus who charmed the party.

“Ilvoth will be most displeased,” says Xksautha. “Biatha, return to the pleasure room. Think up some reason to bring him to the command deck. I will have words with him.”

“Yes sir,” says Biatha. They hear her footsteps exiting the room.

The Dawnbringers wait a minute, and then Valya opens the hatch and tumbles out into the room. Roggomod and Xksautha are alone in a large room dominated by the floor-to-ceiling window on the far wall. Valya can see the landscape of Avernus rushing by; they’re moving again. Roggomod hisses, points his finger at Valya, and a fireball erupts in the tunnel behind her, catching everyone in its blast. Xksautha blasts Valya with searing moonlight, blinding her.

Valya activates Elminster’s Illusion from her plate armor, giving herself some protection, then stumbles out of the way of the hatch. Aetheris casts starry wisp and hits Xksautha, who merely inclines his head toward Aetheris and says, telepathically: Curious that you are here. You must be more desperate than I had realized.

Aurelia exits the tunnel and uses her gem of brightness to blind Roggomod. “You worm!” barks Roggomod. “I can still smell you, you know.” He runs up to Valya and stabs at her three times, but misses with all three. Unfortunately, he then shakes off the blindness from Aurelia’s gem.

Xksautha casts wall of ice, catching both Aetheris and Valya in the blast and trapping both of them inside the icy hemisphere. “Roggomod,” says Xksautha, “go for the cleric. We’ll take them out one by one.”

Valya misty steps out of the ice dome, positioning herself behind Roggomod, and slashes at him, catching him twice. Roggomod blasts Valya with a hellish rebuke in retaliation. Aetheris transforms into a polar bear and starts slashing at the wall of ice, cracking it.

Aurelia hits Roggomod with a sacred flame, then hides behind the wall of ice to get out of Roggomod’s line of sight. Rather than follow Aurelia, Roggomod stabs Valya with his awl. This time he hits, but Valya teleports away before he can strike a second time. Xsautha lumbers up to Valya and says: This alliance you have made will not avail you. He then falls on Valya with claws, teeth, and tail, doing considerable damage despite Valya’s resistances.

Rather than attack Xksautha in retaliation, Valya casts eldritch blast at the wall of ice to free Aetheris and then at Roggomod, hitting both targets. She then uses her second wind and her action surge to attack Xksautha, hitting him twice.

Aetheris breaks the wall of ice, and steps outside—as a polar bear, the lingering cold energy where the ice was barely affects her.

Aurelia hits Roggomod with another sacred flame. “You all lack artistry!” complains Roggomod. “That barely hurt. Allow me to demonstrate a more suitable technique.” He holds his hand up to Valya’s face and upcasts scorching ray point blank, but Valya casts absorb elements, avoiding the brunt of the damage.

Xksautha casts greater invisibility and moves to somewhere on the far side of the room. The wall of ice vanishes.

Aetheris attacks Roggomod, but he dodges out of the way. Aurelia casts see invisibility and spots Xksautha, then positions herself behind Aetheris.

Roggomod stabs Aetheris with his awl, but Aurelia uses her warding flare and Rogommod misses. His second attack, however, lands, dealing necrotic damage to Aetheris.

Xksautha releases a blast of moonlight, catching everyone in its blast, and then moves to another corner.

Valya slashes at Roggomod, hitting once, and then casts armor of Agathys. Aetheris follows suit, clawing Roggomod twice. At this point Roggomod is looking terrible, oozing black blood onto the floor and breathing heavily. Aurelia casts sacred flame, but Roggomod dodges out of the way. Roggomod stabs Aetheris three times, hitting twice—Aetheris looks as bad as Roggomod.

Xksautha blasts everyone with more moonlight, dealing considerable damage to Aurelia. Valya slashes at Roggomod. “Xksautha,” says Roggomod, “I think it’s time we take our leave and let Ilvoth handle this.”

Before Roggomod can flee, Aetheris claws Roggomod across the stomach, disembowling him. “You… wretch!” he gurgles as he collapses into a pile. Aetheris hears Xksautha’s voice in her head: You owe us a high torturer.

Aurelia casts sacred flame, but Xksautha dodges it. I never could have guessed how low you people could sink, he says telepathically. We’ll meet again, princess. He teleports away.

Valya quickly rummages through Roggomod’s things, finding a bracelet with three small crystal beads and five soul coins. Warning lights start blinking once again—they’ll have to get into the vault quickly before an army of devils arrives. They enter the side room and find the vault, as Nephira promised. “We still don’t know the password!” says Aurelia.

“Uh, I know it!” says Zauza, appearing in a corner near the ceiling. “Xksautha opened it while I was here to take the detonantor. But you… you just killed the high torturer!”

“This is the final exam,” says Valya. “Can you get into the vault?”

Zauza is distraught and confused, but acquiesces. “There’s a symbol on the floor you have to avoid, and then the password is, uh…” He says some phrase in infernal, and the vault doors swing open. Success!

Aurelia casts dispel magic and deactivates the symbol spell. They run inside the vault, but they hear footsteps approaching, so they just grab a few valuable things, open the portal, and run through. Zauza, worried that he’s now a criminal, follows them through.

⁂

They’re back in the Virren Estate’s basement. “Well well well,” says Valspira. “Looks like you picked up yet another pet.”

“Zauza, were you under a contract?” asks Valya.

“Of course! But… I think I broke it. Ilvoth is going to be so angry with me!”

“If you join our party,” says Aetheris, “you’ll be under the protection of Valspira. She can—”

“Valspira?!” shrieks Zauza. “That’s Valspira? Ilvoth hates Valspira!”

“Trust us!” says Aetheris.

“She’s right,” adds Valya. “If you join us, we’ll treat you better than Ilvoth ever did.”

“I was so close to promotion…” laments Zauza, still not realizing that was just a ruse.

“You’ve been promoted!” says Aetheris. “Here!” She takes a spiked collar they just stole from Ilvoth’s vault and places it on his head as a crown. Zauza just frowns up at Aetheris morosely.

“If you were to sign a contract with us—” starts Valya.

“Like the one I broke?” says Zauza, with tears welling in his eyes.

“This is all very amusing,” says Valspira, “but back to business. Have you got the recklessness out of your systems?”

“Your incubus has been discovered,” says Valya.

“Oh, that’s fine,” says Valspira. “He didn’t know enough to be a problem to me.”

“He knows we were there, and that we work for you,” says Valya.

Valspira frowns. “He can piece together that I was involved even without Klaxos. It’s no matter. Ilvoth will kill Zagumek, and then I will kill Ilvoth.”

The party sort through the treasure they stole from the vault. They count 5,500 gp worth of coins and gems, a hat of vortices, a ring of force resistance, a power collar, a driftglobe, and a whistle of freedom. They also determine that the bracelet they found on Roggomod is a mythallar bracelet. They give Valspira the bracelet as her share of the treasure.

“Very well,” says Valspira, “I’ll be taking my leave now.”

“I thought you couldn’t teleport again yet,” says Aurelia.

Valspira narrows her eyes. “Taking my leave from you,” she clarifies. “Come, Nephira. I will find you an inn, and tomorrow we will return to my estate in Crystalport.

“You mean my estate,” says Valya.

Valspira speaks directly into Valya’s mind. You’re heading to the Shining Citadel, correct? You’ll be passing through Telmir. You remember our deal, yes? There is a devil in Telmir named Tephug. He has a prisoner. I want you to kill Tephug, and bring me that prisoner alive.

What is the name of the prisoner? asks Valya.

Azakon, Valspira replies with a smile. I’ve learned some things in the past few weeks.

Valspira and Nephira leave, and the Dawnbringers spend the night in the Virren Estate, regaling Cara with an account of what happened. She doesn’t know how much to believe, but admits it’s an impressive story.

⁂

That night, Aetheris, Aurelia, and Valya each have strange dreams.

Aetheris finds herself standing on a pinkish-red rocky plain, featureless in all directions save for the occasional boulder. Above her is a sky of strange stars and shimmering clouds of pink, blue, and green. Ahead of her is Xksautha. You have forgotten so much, he says. A pity. I could help you remember. You must be curious, no?

I am curious, of course, says Aetheris, but I don’t know if I want to know.

Perhaps you don’t, says Xksautha, but if you do, meet me at the ashen peaks. The dream ends.

In Aurelia’s dream, it is night. The sun has just set in the west. Even though she feels she’s in Hearthollow, she can see the entire landscape of Castalia stretched out around her, as if she were viewing it from a tall mountain. Near the setting sun is the Shining Citadel. Aurelia looks to the north, and Beatrice is there, looking down at Aurelia from atop a white horse. At first, Aurelia thinks the horse is beautiful, but as she looks closer she sees the horse is dead and infested with maggots. Beatrice begins heading west, toward the Shining Citadel, and in her wake are a multitude of corpses, crawling after her. Aurelia wakes up in a cold sweat, screaming “Beatrice!”

In Valya’s dream, she finds herself walking through a dense forest. She stumbles across a clearing, and in the moonlight she sees robed creatures dancing around a defaced statue of Neesha. The creatures don’t move like anything Valya has ever seen, and they make strange gutteral noises as they flop about. Valya hears a voice that she knows in her heart is Neesha: Time is running out, my lovely…

Wednesday, January 24, 653 AU

The next morning, they discuss their dreams. No one has heard of the ashen peaks Xksautha mentioned in Aetheris’s dream, but Aetheris is sure it was no mere dream, but an actual vision. “I feel there’s a reason I lost my memory,” Aetheris says, “and I’m not sure I’d want them back anyway. What if they’re just filled with misery and pain?”

“What if you know something that could help us, though?” asks Aurelia. “What if your memory was wiped by force?”

“Maybe we can figure out what happened to her memories, first, without necessarily restoring them,” says Valya.

“Yes,” says Aetheris. “I don’t trust Xksautha. And we don’t know where the ‘ashen peaks’ are, anyway.”

“My dream was horrible,” says Aurelia.

“What happened?” asks Aetheris.

“There was a paladin of Soleil, Beatrice, who was once very noble. Before you joined us, her spirit was attached to me. Her soul has become… twisted. I saw her riding a rotting steed. I… think she’s turned entirely away from the light by now. I’ve taken too long to bring her bones back to the Citadel… perhaps this is my fault.”

“What if she’s guiding you,” says Aetheris,” maybe she wants—”

“She has no love for me,” says Aurelia. “She tried to take over my body.”

“Ah. So this was more of an omen,” says Aetheris.

Aurelia nods in agreement. “I think her soul has been corrupted and now she’s trying to get vengeance. Maybe Marenora has teamed up with her to give her an undead army? Soleil probably sent me this vision as a warning. We need to warn the High Temple.”

Aurelia casts sending to warn Lythienne.

“My dream was clear enough,” says Valya. “Neesha told me time is running out and we need to retrieve her statue from Dazg Bok.”

“Neesha just talks to you?” says Aurelia in disbelief. Then she remembers that Neesha spoke to all of them in her temple beneath Crystalport, and Aurelia heard her mocking laughter when they first entered the Shadowfell. “I guess everything is personal for Neesha. Soleil has standards.”

⁂

They take the train to Telmir to find Tephug and his prisoner Azakon. On the train, Valya pores over Siora’s journals. The journals are dense, technical, and totally impenetrable to Valya—she wishes Thaldohr were here to explain all the technical blacksmithing jargon. Siora talks about the theory of sealing souls, but it’s a complicated subject. However, Valya comes across a passage where Siora muses that the seals might weaken over time, but so slowly that Siora would not live long enough to test her theories. She also sees more diagrams of a sword that looks like Grieving Edge—a note in the margin just reads: “Ilvoth laughed. Why?”

They get off in Telmir, finding themselves in a very old city of bluish-gray stone. The train station is on the outskirts of the city, and faces a large square filled with merchants selling fruits. “How are we going to find a devil?” asks Aetheris. “Does anyone see anything written in infernal?”

They walk around and look for any leads. Curiously, there is a flower stall at the far end of the square that everyone seems to be avoiding. There are other flower stalls with customers, but no one seems to be going within twenty feet of this one stall. They approach the elderly man sitting on a stool next to the stall. “What does Avex want now?” he says.

“Avex?” says Valya.

“If you’re not here for that, then get out of here!” says the old man. “You don’t want to be seen talking to me.”

“Why is that?” asks Aetheris.

“You seem like nice people, I don’t want anything to happen to you on my account. This is my punishment and I have to deal with it.”

“If you’re being blackmailed by someone, we can help—we’re adventurers,” says Valya.

“Certainly not from around here, that’s for sure,” says the old man. “Fine. Avex is a councilmember, but everyone knows he’s the head of the assassin’s guild in Telmir. He’s a dragonborn. His guild has been branching out into extortion—we all have to pay our dues. I couldn’t afford it, what with the requisitions lately, and so he’s cut off my business. I’m hoping to get a loan from my nephew and return to good standing.”

“Requisitions?” asks Aetheris.

“Yes, the town guard has been taking all sorts of supplies the past few weeks. It’s driven up prices. They won’t say for what.”

“How much do you owe?” asks Aurelia.

“Three hundred silver,” says the old man.

“Why don’t the guard do something about Avex?” asks Valya.

“The guard? They take a cut from Avex! They’re all criminals, the lot of them.”

“Have you heard the name ‘Tephug’ before?” asks Aetheris.

“That orcish? No, I haven’t. Why?”

“Does anyone speak infernal that you know of?” Aetheris continues to press.

“No. What are you accusing me of?” The old man wrinkles his nose. “The lot of you smell like sulphur, now I can place it. Very suspicious if you ask me. Who did you say you work for? You work for that scaleface?”

“We’ll be leaving now,” says Valya.

⁂

They continue wandering their way toward the center of the city. Along the way, Valya feels mysteriously drawn to a small side street and breaks off from the rest of the party to explore it. It’s not as trafficked as the surrounding streets, and soon she comes to an old cobblestone courtyard with an old fountain at its center, filled with decades of trash and decayed leaf litter. The buildings around the square seem exceptionally old, dominated by an ancient, abandoned church. Valya shivers, snaps out of it, and returns the way she came.

The party, realizing Valya had gone missing, meet her in the side street. “Valya,” says Aurelia, “where did you go?”

“I thought I felt something,” says Valya. “I really don’t know why I came this way. I guess I was lost in thought.”

Aurelia peers into Valya’s eyes, trying to determine if she’s charmed. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yes, I think so,” says Valya.

Aurelia continues to the square and looks around. She sees the church, a butcher’s shop, and several other buildings that may be residences or may be abandoned. There are only three people visible in the square, and the buildings seem eerily devoid of life. “We should get going,” says Aurelia, feeling uneasy.

“There’s something weird about that church,” says Aetheris. Aurelia and Valya look at it more closely, and notice that it has no symbolism on the outside to speak of—it’s unclear which god it was dedicated to when it was in use.

“Curious…” says Aurelia. She accosts a passer-by carrying groceries. “Excuse me; we’re new in town. That church, which god is it dedicated to?”

“Oh. Um, I’m not sure. It hasn’t been in use since before my time.” Aurelia asks for directions to the Temple of Soleil, so as not to arouse suspicion, and after giving them directions the citizen departs.

“Perhaps one of the priests at the temple will know more about this old church,” Aurelia suggests.

⁂

The Temple of Soleil in Telmir dominates a much more crowded, lively square. The square is decorated with statues, like many they have passed in the streets on their way here. At the center of the square is a large statue of Queen Oriel. “They like statues here,” Aurelia remarks.

Once at the temple, they are greeted by an acolyte. “Greetings, sister!” she says to Aurelia. “How may we be of assistance?”

“May the brilliant lady smile upon you,” says Aurelia. “My companions and I are passing through, and would like a place to rest and perhaps someone who can give us some information about Telmir.”

“Of course,” says the acolyte. “From which temple do you hail?”

“Originally I am from Eth’Alorei. We are on our way to the Shining Citadel—I’m on my pilgrimage.”

“Oh, how lovely of you to stop by here on your way. I’ve heard the forests of Eth’Alorei are beatiful. Please, follow me.” She guides them through some hallways. As they are walking, the acolyte continues. “Telmir is a beautiful city, though if you haven’t been to the Citadel yet, well, you’re in for quite a shock. Telmir, you know, was going to be the capital of Castalia.”

“Oh really?” says Aurelia. “You know, we saw quite a few statues on our way here.”

“Yes, they’re quite something, aren’t they? Telmir has always had a thriving sculptor’s guild—the statues have been accumulating for centuries.”

“Interesting. Who is the head of the temple here?”

“That would be Talesse.”

“If it wouldn’t be too much trouble, we’d like to speak with her.”

“Of course. She is quite busy lately, though. She was recently elevated to her position. High Priest Ingesin fell ill several weeks ago, and Talesse has taken over his duties.”

“What sort of illness?” asks Aurelia.

“Well, he is quite old, around eighty-four I think. He’s got fevers, chills, weakness… He hasn’t been strong enough to eat for the past two days. They’re saying it’s his time—he’s been teaching Talesse what she needs to know to run the temple after he’s gone.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” says Aurelia. “Was Talesse a cleric from this temple?”

“Actually, Talesse arrived from Rhysnor about a decade ago. She’s a half-elf.”

“How old is she?” asks Aurelia.

“Oh, I’m not sure, something over a hundred, I think.”

“Would it be possible to visit Ingesin for a short time?” asks Aurelia. “I’d like to speak to such a venerable priest.”

The acolyte leaves them to make some requests. The Dawnbringers converse among themselves—it’s not that suspicious for someone so old to be sick, but they’d like to be sure. Ten minutes later they’re led to the infirmary wing of the temple. In the room at the end of the hall is Ingesin, confined to a bed. He turns his head with difficulty to look at the party as they enter—they can see that although his body is weak, his eyes are lively and animated. “Ah, yes. Welcome. What is your name, sister?”

Aurelia sits next to the bed on a stool. “My name is Aurelia Goldensong, from Eth’Alorei.”

“A beautiful name for a servant of our lady,” says Ingesin.

“You’ve been her servant for a long time, I’ve been told,” says Aurelia.

“Since I was fifteen, yes,” says Ingesin.

While they talk, Aurelia inspects Ingesin, but doesn’t see anything suspicious. “Would it be alright if I ask you some more questions?” asks Aurelia. “I don’t want to bother you.”

“Oh, ask away! There’s not much else for me to do, confined in this bed as I am.” Ingesin chuckles, then coughs.

“How do you feel about the new high priestess?”

“She’s very knowledgeable. I don’t feel that the temple will be in bad hands,” says Ingesin. Aurelia notices he grimaces slightly, and she’s not sure it’s all from the coughing.

Do you want me to go through his thoughts? Valya thinks at Aurelia.

Aurelia shakes her head at Valya. “You can speak freely,” Aurelia tells Ingesin.

“You think I’m not speaking freely?” says Ingesin, surprised.

“It’s normal to be a little anxious about the next generation, is it not?” asks Aurelia.

Ingesin frowns. “She climbed the ranks so fast. I cannot help but wonder… I’m not certain she got to her position entirely through her own merit. To be frank, I think she is just as much a servant of the queen as she is of Soleil. I think she was placed here for political reasons… it wasn’t entirely my decision to appoint her my successor.”

“When did you fall ill?” Aetheris interjects.

“Oh, a few weeks ago,” says Ingesin.

“And who has been bringing you your meals?” asks Aetheris.

“Various clerics.” Ingesin chuckles. “You’re accusing Talesse of poisoning me, is that it? No. She may be the queen’s lapdog, but she’s no murderer.”

Qhask begins casting detect poison and disease out of Ingesin’s sight. He looks at the bowl of soup on the bedside table, looks at the rest of the party, and nods. Aurelia’s eyes go wide.

“You’re being poisoned,” Aetheris informs Ingesin.

Ingesin frowns. “What an awful thing to accuse someone of! I am eighty-four, ma’am.”

“Well, your soup is definitely poisoned,” says Aetheris.

“And how do you know that?” asks Ingesin.

Aurelia casts lesser restoration on Ingesin. “You seriously believe this?” asks Ingesin. “I know a lesser restoration when I see one.” He pauses and clears his throat. “I… do feel better… Poison? Really?” He sits up with a groan. “My goodness… What reason would Talesse have to poison me? All she has to do is wait a few years and I’m dead anyway! What’s a few years to a half-elf?”

“Maybe it’s someone else,” suggests Valya.

“It must be,” says Ingesin.

Valya takes the bowl of poisoned soup and heads out to find Talesse, hoping to read her thoughts.

While they wait, Aurelia continues questioning Ingesin. “There’s a church we passed on the way into town this morning. Do you know of it?” She describes the strange church in the plaza that Valya was drawn to.

Ingesin frowns. “Best not to go near there, Aurelia. No good can come of it.”

“Why not?”

“That was no church of Soleil. Or Corentin, or even Neesha for that matter. Not Vodona or her children. I don’t know if you can even call it a church.”

“Devils, then? Or demons?” asks Aetheris.

“No. They called themselves The Church of Starry Wisdom.” The publishers of the Susurri Ignis Caelestis!

“We’ve heard about them before,” says Aurelia. What can you tell us about them?"

“Not much—they were very secretive. They claimed to be a club for knowledge and star-gazing, but those who lived nearby complained of frightening screeching and laughter at night. Various people went missing, and some who joined the church were later found raving mad in the streets. Whatever they were doing there, it wasn’t good.”

“Do you know if anyone in town speaks infernal?” asks Aetheris. “Or have you heard of ‘Tephug’?”

“Tephug is just a story to scare children,” says Ingesin.

“Can you share this story?” asks Aurelia.

“They say that long ago, beneath even the darkest, most remote oubliette at the bottom of the ducal palace, there lived a monster named Tephug. The dukes would send the worst of the worst to this oubliette, knowing that sooner or later the prisoner would vanish from his cell and never be seen or heard from again, save for the faint screaming that could be heard thereafter by the guards during their night watch—then would the guards know that he had been taken by Tephug.”

“Who is the current duke?” asks Aurelia.

“Adorin Sarlana, but it’s just a bedtime story to scare children if they misbehave. Our clerics have visited prisoners in those cells many times—there’s no sign of a monster.”

Meanwhile, Valya finds Talesse tending to another patient. When she finishes, Valya approaches. “Excuse me, priestess? My friend has a condition that I hope you can fix.”

“Oh, of course. What condition may that be? Dragonpox has been going around lately,” says Talesse.

Valya casts detect thoughts, then says “I think she may have been poisoned.” She brings forth the half-eaten bowl of soup.

To Valya’s surprise, Talesse seems genuinely surprised. “Why, those look like our bowls. Is the victim here? If it’s poisoning, we should consult the town guard—that’s a criminal matter. May I ask, who has been poisoned?”

“Ingesin,” says Valya.

“Ingesin? Who would try to… Who are you, exactly? Forgive me, I don’t know your name.” Talesse seems genuinely confused, not guilty, and her thoughts reveal much the same.

“We’re just passers-by. Our ranger discovered the poison while we were visiting him,” explains Valya.

Talesse asks one of her acolytes to fetch the town guard, and excuses herself, saying she’ll meet Valya in Ingesin’s room shortly to askmore about what is going on. Valya returns to Ingesin’s room, reading the surface thoughts of all those she passes, but doesn’t find anything incriminating.

“I don’t think Talesse is involved,” Valya declares to the rest of the party.

“I told you,” says Ingesin.

“It must be someone else within the church, then,” says Valya. Aetheris sits on an empty cot on the opposite side of the room and begins casting divination, focusing on the question: Who is poisoning High Priest Ingesin?

“Who brings you your meals? And who works in the kitchen?” asks Aurelia.

“There are maybe four regulars who bring me my meals, and we have two full-time chefs in the kitchen, though there are many volunteers as well,” says Ingesin.

“Could it be the assassin’s guild?” asks Valya. “This is the sort of thing they do.”

“I don’t know why they would,” says Ingesin. “Maybe because we try to save their victims? It’s not like we’d ever stop doing that, no matter how much they tried to scare us.”

“What happened around the time you got sick?” asks Aurelia.

“Hmm… That was about the time Anladar Morgen of The Hammer arrived in town.”

“The Hammer?!” says Aurelia.

“Yes, he came to town to talk to the nobles and the captain of the guard. He was feasted and feted, and after he left, that’s when the requisitions started. That’s about the time I got sick.”

“The whole town guard might be in on this,” says Aetheris. “When the guard arrives, we shouldn’t let them take him away alone.”

“I think this is a political assassination attempt. For all we know, the duke is in on it,” says Aurelia. “What’s the relationship between the duke and the queen? Talesse is loyal to the queen, right?”

“The duchess is the queen’s younger sister, Talia…” muses Ingesin.

“Someone is positioning Talesse as head of the church of Soleil in Telmir, and if her loyalties lie with the Queen Oriel…” continues Aurelia.

A few minutes later, Aetheris has her answer:

The leaves fall, wither, and die, And in their rot, the poison does lie.

“So we’re looking for a tree, potentially,” says Aurelia. “Unless it’s a metaphor.” She frowns.

“Is there a famous tree in town?” Aetheris asks Ingesin.

“There are several,” says Ingesin. “There’s a tree in the central park, imported from Thamior I believe, with beautiful deep purple flowers in the spring. Oh, and the golden tree in the courtyard of the ducal palace, also quite lovely, though it used to be used for hangings…”

“The soup has mushrooms in it,” says Valya. “So are the mushrooms poisonous?”

At this point, two guards arrive, along with Talesse. “From the beginning, just the facts, please,” says one of the guards.

“We believe he was poisoned through his soup,” Aurelia says. “Our ranger determined that the soup is indeed poisoned.” They briefly explain to the guards what has happened and why they think there was foul play involved.

“We’ll need to question all those you brought you the soup, as well as everyone who works in the kitchen,” says one guard.

“Do you have any guesses of who would want to poison Ingesin?” asys Valya.

“Well, slowing down, first we need to determine there was, indeed, a poisoning at all,” says the guard. “We’ll have our mages examine this soup back at the guardhouse. He holds out a thick waxed paper bag and motions for Valya to place the soup inside, which she does.

“I cast lesser restoration on Ingesin,” says Aurelia, “and it seemed to cure him of his poisoning.”

“If that is as you say, then I am glad the high priest is feeling better, but I will also note that this means there is no evidence that he was ever poisoned, aside from the soup, which may have been poisoned after the fact for all we know. If you’ll excuse us, we have clerics and cooks to question.” They nod, and leave the room.

Talesse takes her leave as well, apologizing for her business and mentioning that they’ll have to discuss what to do about her succession now that Ingesin is apparently better.

Aetheris transforms into a spider and follows the guards as they make their way to the kitchen, listening in on their interviews. The first two clerics who brought Ingesin his food don’t appear to have been involved.

“Do we really gotta interview four more people?” asks the guard who had not yet spoken to his companion.

“Nah. We’re not supposed to look too closely into this one. Let’s ask a few more questions and leave,” says the other guard.

Aetheris, angry, heads to the kitchen herself, but doesn’t see anything out of the ordinary. She returns to the others, and they decide to stop by the ducal palace.

⁂

The ducal palace is only a few minutes away. It’s much older and more impressive than the Daykin Estate, and the extensive grounds that surround the palace are themselves surrounded by a tall wrought iron gate. There are two guards at the gate, each in silver armor polished to a mirror sheen. Beyond the gate, in the center of an ornate manicured garden, is a majestic tree, though nothing is in bloom at this time of year.

They approach the guards. “Good morning,” says Valya. “We’re visiting the city, and we were wondering if we could have an audience with the duke and duchess. We are close friends of Prince Calvin, the duchess’s brother.”

The guards do not move, or give any indication that they’ve heard Valya.

“We are members of the Dawnbringers,” says Aurelia. “We’d like to present ourselves to the duke, should he require our services.”

Again, the guards do not move.

“Are they animated armor?” asks Valya, considering they can’t see the guards’ faces. There’s a gardener on the other side of the gate, so Valya tries to get his attention. “May I have a word, sir?” The gardener frowns—clearly he’s heard Valya—but ignores her.

A passer-by stops. “They don’t talk, you know.”

“Then how does one communicate with the duke?” asks Valya.

“By being invited, of course,” says the citizen.

“Do the duke and duchess ever leave their palace?” asks Valya.

“Of course! For festivals, greeting other nobles, business in the Citadel, and such. But you’re not going to get anything out of them,” he says, motioning at the guards. “The kids around here have a game, to see if they can get them to react to something. I’ve never heard of one winning.”

“They don’t react to anything?” says Aurelia.

“Well, if you touch the gate, they’ll slice your hand off faster than you can blink,” he says.

“Ah,” says Aurelia. “Thank you for the information.”

“Oh, any time,” says the citizen, who continues on his way.

“Maybe we should just investigate the church,” says Aetheris.

⁂

They return to the lonely square with the church. It’s mid-afternoon at this point—they’re wary of being here after dark.

Aurelia decides to investigate the butcher’s shop next to the church, which appears to be open, while Aetheris transforms into a spider and climbs up to one of the broken windows into the antechamber of the church.

Inside the church, Aetheris sees dead leaves, debris, and trash mixed in among the shards of broken glass. It’s been abandoned for decades, at least, if not centuries, and has never been cleaned up or repurposed. The walls of the antechamber are warped and twisted, but whether that was part of the original design or the effect of centuries of the building settling on its foundations she cannot tell. As she crawls through the antechamber and into the large central chamber, she notes there aren’t any recognizable symbols on the interior walls of the church either.

The main chamber takes up most of the interior of the building. Oddly, the room is shaped like a heptagon, but here too the walls are strangely twisted—it makes Aetheris uneasy. Whatever imagery the stained glass windows might have held is impossible to guess at now, as they have shattered into thousands of irreparable shards. At the center of the room is a raised stone dais, which looks like it might once have held a wooden altar, though all that remains are scraps of long-since-rotten wood.

Aetheris searches around, and she finds an old faded scrap of parchment among the leaf litter. It might be a page of a book, but all she can make out is:

…t wanders through silence beyond silence. When the…

Curious…

Meanwhile, Aurelia and Valya are at the butcher’s, hoping to learn something about the church. At the counter is a very large humanoid wearing a starched white apron, thick gloves, and a mask and cylindrical hat that obscures most of his face. He is chopping up some unidentifiable carcass with a huge cleaver. The man glances up at them as they enter. “No. We closed.”

“Sorry, we didn’t see the sign,” says Valya.

“No sign. Those who know, know, and those who do not, leave,” says the man.

“We came in for some meat,” says Valya.

“You came for nothing,” says the man, continuing to chop the carcass. He slides the pieces into a bloody bucket next to his table, brings another carcass from under the table, and continues working.

“What kind of meat is that?” asks Valya, disgusted.

“Meat that was once living,” says the man. “You not leave yet?”

“What do you know about the church next door?” asks Valya.

“Is cursed place. Not for you. You leave now.”

“We would pay you handsomely for any information,” says Valya.

“No. No money. You would buy meat?” The man continues to chop haphazardly, covering his apron and counter with blood.

“Sure, we could buy some meat,” suggests Valya.

“No! We closed. You leave now.”

“Suit yourself,” says Valya. She and Aurelia look at each other, and leave. On their way out, the man turns again to pick up another piece of meat. They get the distinct impression that the face behind his mask is just another mask, and an ill-fitting one at that.

They meet Aetheris in the courtyard outside, who shows the scrap of parchment she found in the church.

“Wait,” says Aurelia, “isn’t that from…” She searches through her notes. “That’s from The Maw in the Sky!” They’re definitely on the right track… ❦