Ever since I all but touched the black stone, I have felt…. odd.

I think of it as a shadow in my mind. The light of Pelor seems dimmer to me. My spells have been less effective. I can’t keep all of them straight in my head! This morning I concentrated on the high level spells and left the others to gather dust in the corners of my mind. As we head to the gates of Cauldron, I must to be ready with powerful spells.

I walked beside Acgar and Hamouk (who was carrying Alek’s body) for most of the morning. She is a quiet and undemanding companion. I needed the quiet as I try to sort out the play of light and shadow going on inside me. As we got close to the gates, we stopped to discuss how to enter the city. We know there is an “Adventurer Tax” of 50gp and that some new security patrol has been set up to guard the city and its gates. It sounds like an outgrowth of the old Magical Threats Squads we have encountered before.

I held back from the discussion. I felt petulant about the tax. I didn’t want to pay that stupid tax! and I know that that is not what I would normally think, so I held my tongue. Cinder, Sadi and Myntilly all wanted to circle to the east to try to find the secret door near the Coy Nixie. Ian, Various and Zallie figured that they could walk in as regular folk. We all tried to dissuade Various. She would not listen to reason.

Acgar shrugged. “I’ll pay the tax. I’m a paladin after all.”
I smiled. “I with Acgar. I’ll pay. It’s the right thing to do! And that way I can stay with Alek’s body.”

We stood in a line waiting to enter the city. Zallie was right behind me. Ian was a few people back and Various was behind him. I could see a cleric of Wee Jas standing beside a few half-orc guards. There was also a wizard of some sort and a man with a clipboard who was asking questions of each traveler.

I have a visceral reaction to Jasidin ever since finding the fake lemon balm with Embril’s handwriting and realizing that she killed the Pelorian clerics by substituting the false herb for the real. If the head cleric of Wee Jas could do such a thing, why should I trust any Jasidin?

We easily made it through the gate. We readily gave our names and our gold. What more could a bureaucrat ask for? We had arranged to meet the others at the Coy Nixie. So we strolled that way, keeping an ear out for our friends behind us. Zallie and Ian came through just fine but as Various stepped to the head of the line, there was a commotion.

I gave up pretense of not watching. Everyone else was gawking at the scene. Various, her smoking eye proudly displayed, was talking to the bureaucrat. “I will not go anywhere with you!….. Who am I? I am a scholar and a lady. Don’t touch me!”

I leaned towards Acgar. “What should we do?”
“Let’s wait and see what happens. Then we need to get to the others. We can’t save her.”

Various got louder and louder. The bureaucrat was flustered by her. The half-orcs seemed nervous. Finally one of them started towards her. “Keep your creatures in hand, sir” She bristled at the bureaucrat. And then she shot up about 30 feet into the sky. The crowd let out a sigh. She hovered there and began to berate the half-orcs. When one of them reached for his bow, she enveloped herself into a cloud of mist. Out of the cloud a voice asked, “What’s a nice inn close by?”
Someone in the crowd yelled “The Brass Trumpet’s quite nice, Miss. Dead ahead. Fly straight on, it’s right by the lake.”
A coin came flying out of the cloud. “Thank you.” And the cloud flew over the walls of the city.

Acgar tugged at my sleeve. “Look.” She pointed at the squardron of half-orcs jogging by. “They’re following her. But not too closely, I see!” She laughed. “Let’s go find the others.”

………… [to be continued]

What I heard there makes my head spin. Enemies surround us. And then there are the people who need our help, the mysteries to solve. I wish we had three times our number then maybe we could begin to truly save the souls of Cauldron.

We all arrived at Orak’s about the same time. Our newest member, Kiriana arrived on her leopard. She is, like Acgar, a paladin. As we entered the shop, Orak greeted us. He directed us to surrender our weapons. What an uncomfortable feeling that is! Less for me, as I could keep my holy symbol and cast spells if the need arose. For Kyrlscar and Cinder it was like asking them to walk naked down the street.
In exchange for our weapons, we got bars of soap.

It smelled good and I was truly looking forward to a long soak. I have been busy these last two weeks at the temple. Our dorms are filled with refugees. So many people have been forced from the outlying areas by animal attacks and other more sinister events. People arrive at Pelor’s house, dirty, hungry, hurt in body and spirit and it is all we can do to get them settled. Kristof, the head cleric, is no older than me. He was thrust into this role while still a low-level cleric. The highest ranking clerics of the Pelorian temple disappeared (presumed dead) in a tragic magical accident.

It is odd to work side by side with the head cleric, knowing that he has access to only my same spells. And just a few days back he cried, literally cried, on my shoulder in the early hours of the morning. I went to the inner courtyard for my morning prayers and Kristof came to me there. His distress was more than overwork. He discovered that a bundle of dried herbs labeled “nettles” was actually lemon balm. Nettles are used in wind walk spells. The very spell that caused the head clerics to disappear. And the worst part — the handwriting on the label was that of the head of the Wee Jasian cathedral.

My friends heard my story and shared similar tales of their own. Tales of unrest, betrayal, deceit, murder….. There in the hot tub at Orak’s our hearts grew heavy. We made a plan: I would go to see Jenya at St. Cuthbert’s. Cinder wanted to make contact with Maple and the Nightsong Guild. Myntilly would go back to her tattoo shop and gather information.

As we stepped outside the bathhouse, Sadie heard cries of pain down the street. As she started to tell us, the cries got louder and three people came into view. they were looking up at something in the sky. A creature with four wings swooped down and stabbed at one of the figures. Its tail seemed to jab and stick in the man’s chest for half a beat before it took off again.

Sadie muttered something under her breath and then called out, raising her voice to the sky. The creature shrieked like a bird of prey and swooped again. Myntilly unleashed a lightning bolt at it. Cinder and Sadie readied their bows.

As we got closer to the action, we realized that the three people were wearing sashes with the letters MTA on them. They were members of the magical Threat Agency.

We’d last seen them at the umber hulk attack. They were losing this battle and we gladly joined in. I heard Acgar whisper “Extraplanar. Can you dismiss it?”
“No. Damn it” I said. “I didn’t prepare that spell. But I always will from now on. Can we kill it?”
She laughed. “We better try!”

Kyrlscar threw a dagger at the creature. One of the MTA cast a spell. Cinder’s arrow landed solidly in the creature’s leg. Myntilly’s second spell hit the creature and a moment later, it disappeared. I rushed over to heal the wounded MTA member and Myntilly, who had taken some damage from the creature’s wrath.

I’m not sure the MTA squad thanked us for the help. They quickly took off, back down the street. We all went our separate ways. I pray that Jenya can give us some guidance. I don’t know which way to go.

We turned on to Obsidian Avenue, heading the the Slippery Eel. The street seemed quiet. Townspeople walking along. Suddenly the ground began to shake. A building up ahead seemed to crumble and out stepped a nightmare.

The monster was huge. Beyond huge. It turned back to the building and began to finish the demolition. The townspeople seemed only mildly interested. They told us that the building was a warehouse owned by a man who’d gotten on the Mayor’s bad side. Maulvern owned several and buildings warehouses on this street.

We moved closer to the monster. Myntilly threw a lightening bolt at it. That got its attention. It turned and started towards us. Cinder climbed a building for height advantage.
Acgar scanned the street, trying to find a vantage point where she could unleash her breath weapon without harming innocents. There were so many people on the street, she found it challenging.

I tried to focus my thoughts to cast searing light at it. But I did not have the concentration needed; my spell failed. About then, we saw a line of city guards march up behind the monster. They began clanging their swords to their shields, creating a din. The monster whirled around at the noise and suddenly disappeared into the ground! I ran to the hole left behind and dropped to the ground to listen. It sounded as though it was burrowing away from us, to the south.

Possibly it was headed right for an old man with a laden produce cart. Cinder, from her building top vantage could see where I was pointing and see that the old man was in trouble. She swiftly climbed down and hurried to his side.

He seemed as unaware of his danger as the other town folk had been when the monster first appeared. Once Cinder explained, he seemed eager to flee. The problem was that he’d just come down a slight incline. Getting the cart turned around and heading back up the sloping street would take time. “Help me out with this!” he cried. Cinder kept looking off to her left, trying to see and hear what was happening on Obsidian. She heard the sounds of screams and the rumbling of another building around the corner. Were there two monsters? Sensing that she was about to leave him, the old man grabbed Cinder’s arm. “Please! All I have is in this cart! Food for me; food for the city!”
Cinder gave him a long look and then grabbed one side of the cart handle. “Let’s get this done.”

The screams Cinder had heard were from a woman on a balcony. The building was shaking and she screamed for help, for safety for her baby. Myntilly and Sadi rushed to the building. Sadi whirled off her cloak in case she needed to catch the baby. Myntilly levitated up to the balcony and grabbed the baby.

Dyssko was looking for the right spot to try a fascinantion spell. Close enough for the monster to hear but not too close to the shaking building. Krylscar and I were trying to reason with the half-orc city guards. They were insistent on banging their weapons. I tried to persuade and reason without success. Krylscar at first tried to command them, summoning up his old days in the guard. But in the end, he resorted to bribery. Each guard got three gold pieces for the promise of a bit more stealth.

Dyssko’s patience paid off: he made eye contact with the monster and began his spoken word piece. I won’t try to recreate it here. That will be Dyssko’s job.

Unfortunately I don’t think his fascination worked any better than my spell. Myntilly and Sadi had successfully removed mother and babe from the shaking building. When she saw that Dyssko had failed to fascinate the monster, Myntilly thrust the baby into the woman’s arms, rolled back her sleeves and cast another round of lightening bolt. We all saw the monster flinch. Then it disappeared again.

“Gods damn it!” Kyrlscar threw his halberd to the ground in frustration. I was relieved to see Cinder at the intersection of the street, a look of concentration on her face. She was trying to hear where the monster had gone. From an alleyway behind Acgar stepped a brightly robed young man carrying a staff.

He raised his hands. “I am with the MTA. Everything is under control. I repeat: Everything is under control. The Magical Threat Agency is here.” As he finished speaking the building directly in front of me, a money lenders shop, began to shake. I left the others to figure out what the MTA is supposed to be. I walked up to the door of the shop, took a deep breath and opened the door. In the gloom of the shop, I could see the monster tearing at the back wall. I closed my eyes and prayed to Pelor. I had probably one chance, one spell. I called upon Pelor to unleash his vengeance on the monster. In an instance the monster seemed to shimmer with light then it collapsed. It was dead! I dropped to my knees in disbelief. I had half expected to be walking to my death and instead the monster was dead at my feet.

Outside, the silly MTA people were cordoning the area with long yellow strips of cloth. They asked us to go to the Slippery Eel to give a statement to the guards. Cinder hid in the building to see what they did in the clean up. Myntilly strode over to the site of the first destroyed building. Shifting through the rubble, she found some damaged tiles with runes on them. perhaps the monster had been summoned from another plane.

As we were sitting there, discussing the tiles and the monster and waiting to hear Cinder’s report, a beautiful young woman came to our table. She looked at each of us in turn and then her eyes settled on Myntilly. She thrust a piece of paper into her hands. “The Cusp of Sunrise. Meet me there at sunset. It will be worth your while.” She stopped and looked at us all again. “Dress appropriately.”
Myntilly started to ask “Who are….” and the woman interrupted. “I’ll explain everything tomorrow. I must go now. Please make sure you dress nicely.” She turned to go and stopped at the doorway. Cinder stepped past her, coming to join us. “All of you — dress appropriately.”