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Dust and pebbles tumbled down from overhead, settling on the still body of Mahi Silvertongue. A secondary tremor rumbled through the earth, causing the tiefling to stir, then groan softly. She lifted her head from the hard stone beneath her, aches running through her body. She could still feel the remains of the feather fall spell fading, the buoyant feeling starting to fray as she pushed herself up off the floor. She stumbled slightly as she got her hooves under her, rubbing her aching head as she looked up. A faint glimmer of light could be seen above, but it was clear she was down deep.

"Not getting out that way," she mumbled, looking away from the false hope the light offered. It took no time at all for her eyes to adjust to the darkness, the walls coming into view as sharply contrasted shapes of black and white as her darkvision took hold. It was always weird, to see the world with no light source at all. Fine details were washed away, but she could see perfectly well even in the pitch black below ground.

The crossbow she'd shot Deskari with (and honestly, what on Golarion had possessed her to think that was a good idea?) was on the ground near where she'd woken up, and she scooped it up to check over its frame, looking for any cracks that might lead to it coming apart under tension. Finding none, she cradled it against her body, fervently wishing she'd gotten some spare bolts from the halfling to go along with the bow. At least she had magic to fall back on, though she'd spent a fair amount of energy in the melee above.

She spent a little more, murmuring the incantation for a mage armor spell. The magic hardened the air around her, though it wasn't as invisible as it should have been - above her wound, the spell was shimmering, occasional flashes of blue appearing as the spell interacted with the metaphysical portion of the wound. She wasn't sure if her mage armor would last as long as it normally did like this, but she would just have to deal with it until she could figure out a proper solution.

Her magic felt strange overall. She was used to the way her aura pulsed along with the energy at the core of her being, the way magic seemed to buzz along her skin. But ever since waking up, she'd felt like her body was almost over-full. Her magic was always eager, a lantern flame trying to spill beyond the shutters wrapped around it. But now that flame had erupted into a bonfire, and her body felt too small to contain it.

Even after casting several spells, she didn't feel depleted. Her magic still danced in her grasp, ready to be woven into the framework of a spell and unleashed.

Something had changed. An intrinsic part of her had been altered by an unknown means, and as a result her magic had grown beyond her. She still had control of it, but she could feel how badly it needed to be used, how eager it was to leap out of her.

What had happened during the time missing from her memory?

That thought caught in her mind, carried in by a stray breeze - a warm, summer breeze.

The Armasse festival was celebrated in Arodus^[1]. Summer, in other words.

But in her most recent memories prior to waking up in the rest tent, there was snow on the ground in Nerosyan. It was Calistril^[2], only a few days into the month.

So she wasn't missing a week. She was missing, at minimum, half a year.

Her knees went weak, and she collapsed down to the ground. Her chest constricted painfully, making her whimper as tears threatened to spill from her eyes. Six months, and that was the best case scenario. Six months - but now she had to ask it. The question she was dreading.

What year was it?

There weren't, in this case, any obvious signs. She hadn't seen a newspaper or noticeboard that may have had a handy reference for the date. Maybe it was still 4712.

She really hoped it was still 4712.

The sound of voices penetrated her mental fog, and a glance in that direction revealed a smattering of color against the grayscale world - there was a light up ahead. Torchlight, by the look of things.

A distant rumble reminded her that things were still happening up above. She needed to keep moving - and toward the light was as good a direction as any. She pulled herself up, patting her own cheeks sharply. The sting helped her focus - there was something to do, a problem to be solved. She could worry about the lost time once she was somewhere safe.

The thought of safety reminded her - the bracers in her bag. As soon as she was thinking about them, the urge to put them on she'd been feeling since she woke up grew stronger.

She swung her bag around and opened it up, pulling the bracers out. Again her fingertips traced the words, unreadable in the darkness even with darkvision. She didn't know why she had them, and a part of her was suspicious of them, especially the compulsion she felt to wear them. But she couldn't identify anything untrustworthy about the magic woven onto the metal.

She shook her head and pulled them on. The magic of the bracers bound itself to her own aura as soon as both were in place, spreading the abjuration across her body. It wasn't a strong one, but she could feel it - and she could tell it wouldn't work for anyone else. It melded seamlessly with her own magic, a truly custom enchantment.

With that little itch of a thought scratched, Mahi turned her focus back to the light ahead. The voices were still speaking, though the echoes made it hard to determine anything about the speakers. She'd have to get closer.

She approached as quietly as she could, though her hooves did clatter on the stone no matter what she did. All she could do was step carefully, and hope that would be enough. Fortunately, whoever was ahead seemed to be focused on their own conversation. Snippets drifted back to her, but she couldn't quite pick out the words - not until she emerged from the scar created by Riftcarver into a natural tunnel. She paused in the shadows, listening intently.

"Hnnggh! S-shit...."

"Take it easy there. Things could be worse! Sure you fell down into the dark, but at least you have a friend! Tell me, can you feel your leg?" Mahi recognized this voice - the paladin from earlier.

"Yeah, I can feel it." This voice was strained, sounding reedy with pain - and unless the echoes were making things strange, it sounded like she was near to the ground. "Wouldn't say no to a little less feeling in it...."

Mahi took a breath and stepped out of her hiding space. Her ability to see in the dark came in handy for her, allowing her to take in the scene. The paladin was bent over someone pinned by some rubble that had fallen from above. At a glance, it seemed like she wasn't armed other than the torch, which looked like she'd made it herself - by the guttering of the flames and the occasional flaming drips, she'd used alcohol for fuel, most likely out of a lack of anything better. It was clearly slapdash, but at least it was light.

The paladin was dressed as she'd been up above - that is, in a light cream-colored tunic and a pair of brown breeches, both bearing signs of having been patched by a steady and patient hand, and made of tough materials that could hold up to a rough lifestyle. Her outfit bore marks of her fall down here into the dark - patches where the fabric had torn or was now covered in dirt - but she still seemed to have her cheerful demeanor.

"Hello?" Mahi called out, keeping her crossbow pointed in a safe direction. It was better to announce her presence than to sneak up on the pair, especially in this kind of situation.

The paladin whirled, holding her torch up to spread more light. She took a step to the side, putting herself between Mahi and the person who was pinned under the rubble. She crouched slightly, taking up a wary, ready stance. "Who's there?! Come forward if you're a friend, I can't see you in those shadows."

"If I weren't a friend, I'd probably have announced my presence by shooting you," Mahi remarked, stepping forward a few more steps. The paladin let out a bark of strained laughter.

"Yeah, maybe so, but you can forgive me a little justified paranoia in this situation," she said, squinting at Mahi until her eyes suddenly widened in recognition. "Wait! You're that girl from earlier! Fancy meeting you down here." Her wary body language eased, though there was still some tension in her.

"We can't just keep calling each other 'the paladin' and 'the girl from earlier.' I'm Mahi, though my friends usually call me Silvertongue. I'm a sorcerer and an itinerant scholar."

The introduction seemed to ease the rest of the tension out of the paladin. "Mahi, huh? Or should I call you Silvertongue? Well, either way, I'm Seelah, paladin by the grace of Iomedae."

The pinned figure, who had been silent up to now other than the occasional pained groan, said, "And I'm Anevia of the Eagle Watch. Now that we all know each other, let's work on getting me out of here, please?"

"Right! At least we have another pair of hands. Mahi, help me start moving some of this rubble," Seelah said, setting her torch aside before bending to grab a chunk of rubble.

"Wait!" Mahi grabbed Seelah's shoulder, pulling her back before she could grab the rock. "When you're moving rubble like this, you need to be very careful. Even something that seems free and clear could be supporting another chunk, and if the rubble were to shift too much...." She trailed off, her expression serious.

"We need to plan this out first. And it'll be easier if we can get a lever," she continued, pausing at the look of mild bewilderment on Seelah's face. "I'll take a look and plan how we're gonna tackle this. I need you to find the lever - look for a solid piece of wood. It needs to be properly sturdy, and the longer the better - within reason." Seelah nodded, flashing a quick grin.

"Right, I can definitely handle that. Do you need the torch?"

"Nah, I can see in the dark. What about you, Anevia?"

"I'm okay, you can keep it, Seelah."

"Great! Then I'll be right back!"

"Hold on! I've got something better than a makeshift torch," Mahi said. She muttered a word, then reached out and tapped Seelah's chest - and her tunic was suddenly lit up, brightening the whole area around them.

"Whoa-ho! Now that's useful. And leaves my hands free! Thanks!" The paladin's broad grin was infectious, and Mahi found herself grinning back. Then Seelah set off to some of the other piles of rubble, and Mahi crouched down next to Anevia, peering into the space around her.

"How are you holding up?"

"Oh, you know. There's a rock on my leg. But other than that...."

Mahi let out a short laugh at Anevia's dry response. "Well, the good news is I don't see any blood, so I don't think we have to worry about a partial severance, but it does look like a pretty serious fracture."

Anevia huffed out a soft breath. "Great. Hey, I thought you could only see in black and white with darkvision. I mean, I know I can't see color right now. How can you tell there's no blood?"

"Liquid still has reflections and refractions even in darkvision. It looks different when a stone is wet than when it's dry. And water and blood look different from each other as well."

"Huh. I've not really noticed, but I've worked with people with natural darkvision who had way better visual acuity in the dark than I do with an enchanted item. Maybe it's something that you don't really get unless you have natural darkvision."

"Huh... I remember reading a dissection study that compared the brains of various humanoids. Those from a species naturally capable of low-light and darkvision had larger visual cortices. So maybe there is something to that," Mahi said, her tone distant as her eyes followed from one piece of rubble to another.

"A... dissection study? Of humanoids? That your idea of light reading?"

"It was in my mom's library. I've read most of her library," Mahi said, shrugging. "Anyway, I think I have a plan for getting you out of there. How tight are your pants?"

There was a brief pause, before Anevia said, "I'm flattered, but I'm married."

Mahi felt her cheeks burning, and her tail thrashed side to side. "N-not what I meant! I meant, well, we're going to have to treat your leg and it would be easier to do so effectively if there's not clothes in the way, but if your pants are tight, we could cause more damage getting them off. Thats all I meant," she said, babbling out her full thought process in a single breath. Anevia's laugh cut through her fluster.

"Oh, man. Sorry, Mahi, but you served me such a straight line there. But... no, its a good point. I don't think we're going to be able to get my pants off past the break, so we'll have to plan for that when we're splinting things."

Mahi scowled, which Anevia met with a shrug and a grin. Then light washed over them, and they both looked up to see Seelah standing there with a plank of wood almost as long as she was tall. "Mahi! Will this work?"

Mahi stood, brushing dust and dirt off her knees, then leaned in to examine the plank. "Yes, I think it should. Decently thick, no obvious cracks... alright. Set it aside for a moment - we're gonna clear some of the safe stones first."

It didn't take long before the work area was prepared, with Mahi directing Seelah and the brawny young woman shifting heavy rocks with ease. That's not to say Mahi wasn't doing some shifting of her own - and either these rocks were lighter than they looked, or she was feeling very energetic today, because she barely struggled at all while moving them. Finally, she called a halt, and laid out the next part of the plan.

"Alright. You're gonna stick the plank in that gap there. Push it down as far as it will go. When I say, you're going to pull it toward yourself, and once the big rock shifts, you're going to push it in to hold things steady. Meanwhile, Anevia, I'm gonna pull you out. If you can help me out by pushing with your good leg, that would be ideal. Everyone got it?"

The women responded affirmatively, so Mahi crouched down in front of Anevia, and snaked her arms under the woman's arms, crossing her palms between her shoulder blades. This inevitably meant Anevia's head was pressed against Mahi's upper chest. "Sorry for the awkward position, but at least I have no tits."

Anevia let out a strained laugh. "If it gets me out of here, I'm fine with whatever it takes. Just don't tell Beth."

Seelah glanced over. "I'm ready here!"

"Perfect. On three, then. One... two... three!"

Seelah heaved, her muscles straining as the lever bent, lifting the heavy slab of stone from Anevia's leg. As soon as it shifted, Mahi dug in, pulling hard on Anevia, who pushed with her good leg at the same moment.

And then Anevia was out. Mahi took another couple steps back before falling back on her butt with an oof. The position meant Anevia was half-sprawled in her lap, but neither woman seemed to care at this point. Instead, they shared a relieved laugh, with Seelah joining in a moment later, once she was certain Anevia was clear and she could let go of the lever.

"Damn, Mahi! Its a good thing we had someone who knows how to use their brain around, or I'd probably still be moving rocks. Assuming I didn't screw up and make things worse." Seelah clapped Mahi's shoulder hard, making the tiefling wince a little.

"Yeah, thanks for your help," Anevia said, smiling despite the paleness of her face and the sweat beading on her brow. "Now... let's see about a splint, I think? And then we can start figuring out how we're getting out of here."

Mahi felt a little sheepish at all the praise, but it also gave her a good feeling. Perhaps she'd gotten a little too cynical - a little too used to good work being met with scorn or cynicism, if not outright hostility. "Right, a splint," she said, mostly to cover up her own embarrassment. "Maybe if we can find a proper blade, we can break down that plank and use that? A handaxe would be best, but we can even make a heavy dagger work if we needed to."

"I'll have a look," Seelah volunteered, turning toward some of the other rubble piles.

"Stick close. We don't know if there's anything hostile out there, and I'd rather you not have to fight alone if there is," Mahi said, digging through her knapsack. She pulled out the cloth her bracers had been wrapped in and started tearing it into strips. Once she had enough, she rolled the rest of it up to use as padding.

"So, what do you do with the Eagle Watch?"

"Our mandate is to ferret out infiltrators among the other knight orders. That's what I was doing at the festival - working security. We'd been intercepting smuggled weapons for a while now, so we were on guard. We had an inkling something was coming, and Armasse was a perfect target for a major attack." She laughed hollowly. "We weren't prepared for this, though."

"I don't think anyone could have been. How's your leg feeling?"

"Not great. Being pulled out hurt, and it's throbbing now," Anevia answered, her fingers twitching on the stone floor. "Better than being trapped but I do wish I had something for the pain."

"Sadly, I don't have a solution for that. We could ice it, I guess, which would restrict blood flow and make it throb less, and maybe hurt less, too. I'm not too confident in my medical skills, or else I'd say we could also make sure the bone is set properly - but poorly applied medicine is worse than none at all."

"I dunno if that's universally true," Seelah contributed as she approached them once more, a sword on her belt and a hand axe loose in her grip. Behind her, she was dragging a heavy chest. "After all, even if I spill half a potion down my front, it's still better than no healing potion at all. Anyway, look what I found!"

"Healing potions are magic, not medicine. Magic always makes everything better; and you can trust my word on it. I am a sorcerer, after all," Mahi said, casting a curious eye toward the chest. "What did you find? Looks like a chest, but I'm not sure of the significance."

"That's the chest ol' Hulrun was putting confiscated weapons in, right?" Anevia asked, sitting up a little bit. "Should be something useful in there. I'm sure the Prelate will forgive us for helping ourselves in this situation."

"I'm not sure 'forgiveness' is something Hulrun understands," Mahi mumbled, eying the chest curiously. "Anything good in there, Seelah?"

"Not sure. Regardless of what Prelate Hulrun thinks of forgiveness, he does understand security enough to lock a chest full of weapons."

"Tsk, and the lock is integrated, so we can't even break it off."

"I know a bit about locks, but I left my skeleton key at home," Anevia offered, frowning at the chest.

"Didn't bring your picks, huh? That's a shame. Well, we can always try to break it open."

"One thing at a time. Let's get a splint put together first."

Seelah nodded, and set the plank down next to Anevia's leg. Mahi scored a line across the plank with her claw-like nails, then again further down, marking where to trim off excess wood. As she and Seelah worked, Anevia watched on, until the silence got to be too much - or maybe she just wanted to talk to take her mind off the pain.

"So, Seelah, you're a paladin? Are you with any of the knight orders?"

"Nah, not at present. I don't know if I would want to join one either. I love my work, but I'm not always the most... regimented. The most important thing to me at the end of the day is that I'm doing good works."

"I understand that. I mean, I doubt there's a follower of Desna alive who prefers a rigid, regimented lifestyle," Mahi interjected, setting the solid part of the splint down alongside Anevia's leg. "The scrolls are open to interpretation but that goes a bit beyond doctrinal flexibility."

"Well, if you do find yourself interested, the Eagle Watch would be glad to have you."

From this point, putting together the splint was more of an exercise in patience and repetition than anything else. Before too much longer, it was ready. "Alright, that should do ya. Seelah, can you do any sort of paladin thing to help with the pain?"

"Paladin thing, huh. Yeah, I can give her a little help. Nothing like a proper healer can manage but it should be enough to get her back on her feet... well, foot."

Seelah leaned down, reaching a hand out toward Anevia's injured leg, but before she could make contact...

"Hello? Is somebody there?"

Seelah whirled, drawing the sword from her belt in one smooth motion. The other hand held the handaxe in a defensive posture - it wasn't as good as a shield, but she could make it work. In the same moment, Mahi stepped up behind the broad shouldered woman, placing her hand on her back between her shoulder blades - a warning of her own position so Seelah didn't try to step back into her, while putting her behind Seelah's bulk for safety.

It would have been more effective if Seelah had armor, but a muttered word from Mahi saw her covered in an invisible mage armor spell, which was better than a tunic, at least. The sorcerer peered out from around Seelah's shoulder, her vision piercing into the darkness beyond the light spell's range.

In the darkness, she could see a humanoid moving toward them. The individual paused, clearly surprised by their defensiveness. "Who's there?" Mahi called out. "Step forward so we can see you."

"It's okay. I'm a friend," the individual called - their voice was clearly feminine, and was strained, from nerves or from pain. She stepped forward into the light, revealing a pretty half-elven girl with raven hair. She was wearing a dress - a high-class one, by Mahi's eye, though the quality was difficult to determine through the dust, dirt, and damage. A silver amulet sat around her throat, the pendant appearing to be a snake skull. Something about it unsettled Mahi, though she couldn't really put a finger on why. Her feet were covered with what appeared to be slippers - shoes meant to be pretty, rather than practical. All together, she had the air of someone of noble birth, or at least of someone who wanted others to see her as nobility.

The girl was armed, though not armored - a rapier was held in her left hand, the point low and off to her left, while a metal pot lid was held in her other hand like a buckler. This was held up and close to her body, as though she were...

"Are you injured?" Mahi called out, unable to keep the concern from her voice. The girl looked sharply at her, and a smile ghosted across her lips. She moved her arm gingerly toward the right, clearly wincing as she revealed an obvious wound on her side. It was bloody, but didn't seem to be life-threatening.

"One of those demons got me before I fell down here," she said, the strain in her voice a little more obvious. "I haven't wanted to stop to treat it while down here in the dark."

Seelah's sword lowered slightly, and she turned her head so she could see Mahi in her peripheral vision. "What do you think?" she asked in a low voice. "My gut is telling me there's something weird about her, but she doesn't seem hostile."

"I agree. I think... she's dangerous, but not necessarily to us. I'd rather have her on our side," Mahi murmured, then straightened up and patted Seelah's back as she stepped around her. "Alright, then. I'm Mahi, and this is Seelah and Anevia. What's your name, friend?"

The half-elf's gaze sharpened as Mahi stepped out from behind Seelah, her eyes narrowing slightly, before she seemed to relax. "Camellia," she replied shortly, flicking her rapier once as though shaking blood off before sheathing it. It was clearly a maneuver she'd practiced extensively before, as her movements were sharp and precise. Now that the tension had eased, she slouched slightly, gingerly touching her wound.

"Sorry for the hostile reception, Camellia," Mahi said, ignoring Camellia's reaction to seeing her. She was used to being treated with open hostility, after all, so veiled hostility was barely worth considering. "We couldn't be sure who was coming our way, after all. You seem like you know how to use that rapier, at least."

Camellia's lips tightened into a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "You're wondering if I'll be holding you back," she stated bluntly. "Let me assure you, I had the best teachers in Mendev - I am quite confident in my skills. On top of that, I...." She paused, her expression becoming a bit more thoughtful. "I hear the voices of the spirits. I can convince them to help me cast spells, as well. I assure you, tief- I mean, Mahi. I am quite helpful to have around." Her eyes were intense and unwavering, locked onto Mahi's as she insisted that she would be a help.

"Spirits, huh," Seelah muttered, crouching down to finish helping Anevia. "Might explain the weird feeling, I guess."

"Those who are sensitive to such things often find the spirits unsettling. Especially here, so close to the Worldwound, the spirits are restless and even hostile at times," Camellia said, her hand touching her amulet gently - it seemed like a sort of nervous tick. She caught Mahi watching, and lowered her hand again, giving her a stiff smile. "But even so, they are helpful to those who know how to work with them."

Mahi nodded, looking thoughtful. "I've never felt spirits before... or at least, not that I know of for certain. But I guess the shaman would know better than the sorcerer," she said, shrugging expansively. "Well, as you say, I do think you'll be helpful. We'd have helped you get out of here even if you weren't, but having someone else who can hold her own if we have to fight is a good thing. Now if only we could find some armor...." She looked toward Seelah. "Hulrun wasn't confiscating that, was he?"

"Definitely not. Besides, the chest is too small to hold anything like that."

"The chest? Is it locked?" Camellia approached a bit closer, looking at the chest.

"Yep. Bet you Hulrun himself has the only key. For the record, if he fell down here too, I'm making myself scarce. I've heard he's got a feud against Desnans, and I already have a black mark on my ledger as far as he's concerned on account of my horns."

"Shit, I heard about that. His advisors were recommending a lenient sentence but... right now I wouldn't be surprised if he executed those kids just to feel like he's still in control," Anevia said, her expression darkening.

"Wait, kids? I know they were novices, how old are they?!"

"Kids like you're a kid, Mahi."

"You're not that much older than me, Anevia."

"Nice of you to say, but I'm over thirty."

"Oh damn. Well, you're aging gracefully."

"Thirty isn't old enough for you to say I'm 'aging gracefully,' kiddo."

There was a clunk, and Camellia said, "I got it!"

Three heads turned toward the half-elf, who was extracting a set of picks from the lock of the weapon chest. She turned and smiled demurely. "I am helpful, am I not?"

Anevia and Mahi exchanged a glance, then simultaneously mouthed, "sheltered," at each other. Mahi turned back toward Camellia, smiling widely. "Good job! Much better than my plan of breaking the lid with an axe."

"Let's get Anevia on her feet and then we can pick through the chest and see if there's anything worth taking," Seelah said, glancing toward Mahi. She took the cue and crouched down on Anevia's other side. "On three, one, two, three!"

Between them, they got Anevia up, and she gingerly put weight on her splinted leg. She winced, and hissed out a pained breath, but nodded. "The splint will hold. Though if there's a bow or a staff in that chest, I'd appreciate it."

Camellia took a look, then pulled out a longbow. "Here."

"Perfect. And if there's a bowstring and some arrows in there too, I might even be useful in a fight!"

That request was filled quickly, and the rest of the chest was rifled through in short order. For the most part, the weapons inside were low quality or not to the preference of the group. Mahi did find some bolts to use with her crossbow, and Camellia found a proper buckler and ditched her pot lid, and they were able to find at least one dagger each, so they had something as a backup. Camellia also took the time to ask the spirits to heal her wound - and then to produce some water so she could clean the blood from her skin.

"Now... which direction should we go?" Seelah asked, turning to peer out into the darkness.

"Only one option, really. The passage is collapsed that way," Mahi said, gesturing back where she'd come from. Camellia frowned slightly, but nodded.

"This way, then? I couldn't tell much where I landed - the mushrooms give enough light for me to see, but not well. Your light was much easier to navigate by." She gestured down the passage she'd come from.

"Sounds like a plan. Seelah, you take point. Camellia, you're in the second rank. Seelah at least has mage armor up, so she's got some protection at the moment."

"Oh! That's what you cast earlier!" Seelah beamed, looking quite pleased for having solved that mystery.

"Wait, you didn't realize?"

"Well, I felt you cast something, but I wasn't sure what."

"And you didn't ask?"

Seelah shrugged. "I figured if it was important, you'd tell me. It didn't hurt, and you seem trustworthy, so I didn't ask."

Mahi's tail lashed, and she couldn't meet Seelah's earnest gaze as her cheeks burned. "W-well... I'll make sure to let you know more promptly next time. But yeah, I gave you mage armor. I'd offer to do the same for you, Camellia, but I'm honestly just about out of energy for spells."

"That's alright. There's a few people back here who didn't survive the fall. Some of them were wearing armor." Camellia said, her tone matter-of-fact.

"Looting the dead?!" Seelah's voice shook the chamber.

"Quiet, unless you intend to attract every beast down here. Yes, 'looting the dead.' They can hardly use it now."

"But that's -"

"Practical," Mahi interjected. Seelah looked like she'd been smacked, but Mahi continued, "I understand your moral qualms with it. In any other situation, I'd agree with you. But we're not rolling them for their valuables, we're in a survival situation. Potions, armor, that kind of thing means the difference between us making it out of here alive and joining the noble dead."

Seelah grit her teeth, then sighed. "Inheritor forgive me, but... I do see your point. I don't like it, but...." She frowned.

"We can see if they have anything identifying on them. Once we're out of here, we can bring that to someone who can make sure families are contacted - we'll turn over non-consumable goods at that time, too."

Seelah bowed her head. "Thank you. That settles my conscience, at least. I may say rites for them, as well. Battlefield rites, at least."

Camellia sighed softly, but didn't protest out loud. With that settled, the party moved forward, taking an easy pace out of deference to Anevia's needs. The fallen bodies were easy enough to find, and from them Seelah collected a heavy shield and a suit of splint mail, which Mahi helped her put on. Camellia found proper boots that were close enough to her size and a leather jerkin with metal studs - it was bloody, and she initially refused to even consider wearing it.

Fortunately, it was easy enough for Mahi to cast a quick prestidigitation to clean it, which settled the issue. She recast her light spell while she was at it, targeting a buckle on Seelah's armor so that, if needed, it could be quickly covered to block out the light. The positioning did mean that less light came back behind her, but Camellia was capable of casting light herself, so they were covered for light. She cast it on her amulet, allowing her to tuck it away in case they needed to hide.

As they were wrapping up their armor collection, Mahi spotted a glint as the lights reflected off of something on the floor. She carefully moved a body that had fallen on top of it, and found that the shine was a pair of dragon scales. Specifically, silver dragon scales. Terendelev's scales. They shimmered with an internal luster, and she could feel a vibrant and vital energy stored within. She picked one up, staring into the silver surface.

"What are you, a magpie? Why are you picking up that dirty scale, anyway?"

Mahi frowned, giving Camellia a reproachful look. "Because I want it. I think it could be useful. And maybe I'm a little sentimental about it."

"Do as you wish, I suppose. Just don't expect me to carry it."

Mahi bit back a snappish response, instead just quietly putting away the dinner plate sized scales in her knapsack. "Are we ready?"

After the affirmative response, the quartet set off once again, moving carefully through the darkness. It wasn't long before they encountered the denizens of the underground - giant insects were crowded around a fallen body, apparently investigating its suitability as a meal. The sound of the party's approaching footsteps made the less brave and smaller ones scatter, but a handful turned to aggressively defend their meal.

Needless to say, insects were hardly a challenge for the party. A few bumps and bruises aside, the only challenging part of the fight was cleaning bug guts off their armor. In contrast to the enthusiasm she showed in the heat of battle, Camellia was most insistent that she "needed this filthy bug juice off her hands immediately" - which left Mahi to turn her prestidigitation to said use. And since Seelah had been in the splatter zone as well, she received her own dose of cleanliness courtesy of Mahi, in the interest of fairness.

"Honestly, how have I never worked with a sorcerer before," Seelah said, examining her glove, which had moments before been covered in a layer of multi-colored bug guts thick enough to impede her grip. "This is so much easier than taking an armor brush to it, and it can be done as soon as the fight's over, too. Thanks, Mahi."

"Yeah, magic is pretty great. Feel free to praise me more," Mahi said, earning an amused chuckle from the paladin. Anevia, meanwhile, was looking down at the body.

"Mahi. Take a look at this, tell me what you think," she said. Mahi obliged, coming over to look down at the body. She blinked, then frowned, crouching down beside it with a serious expression.

"I'll tell you this much... I don't think he died in the fall."

Anevia nodded. "Good eye. What makes you think that?"

"Injuries aren't consistent with a long fall. Plus, he was a wizard," she said, pointing out the spellbook on his belt. "Not hard to imagine he had a feather fall handy. Even if he didn't, there's no contusions, no limbs bent strangely, and no blood pooling beneath the body. So he survived the fall, but then he was killed by something down here."

"I think we have an obvious suspect," Camellia said, kicking one of the bug bodies pointedly.

"Perhaps... none of these ones had anatomy that matches the wound, though," Mahi said point to the thin puncture visible on the body's back. She gently tugged his robes out of the way, tearing them with her claws so she could get a good view of the wound.

"This is definitely the killing blow - obviously, he has no other marks on him. It's too thin to be a dagger...." She stuck her finger into the wound, earning a soft sound of disgust from Camellia. "The wound was aimed expertly - perforated his aorta, and the beating of his own heart tore the wound further. He'd have bled out in seconds. Could be a stinger... could be a stiletto."

"So... what?" Seelah asked, her expression darkening.

"So we watch out. His spellbook is still in its pouch - he didn't see his killer coming. Whatever it was, he wasn't on guard against it. So we'll have to be sure we're on guard."

"Of course. Anything identifying on him?"

"I recognize him. His name was Aravashnial. He worked at the Black Wing Library," Anevia supplied. "As for personal effects, I suspect his spellbook would be all the others at the library would care about."

"Spellbook, got it," Mahi said, pulling said item out of the late Aravashnial's belt pouch. She closed his eyes with her other hand, and murmured a wish for him to return to nature in Elven. Anevia nodded along, though Seelah just seemed confused.

"Let's go. Keep your eyes open," Mahi said, falling back behind Camellia as they continued forward. More of those giant insects were swarming, apparently attracted by the scent of blood and fresh meat, along with a scrawny lizard that nearly took a chunk out of Seelah's leg before the party put it down. Despite the aggressive wildlife, the party made it out with little more than scratches, though Seelah did need to do a little healing after the lizard bit her.

Before long, they were approaching what looked like a section of the cavern where the stone had been worked. Anevia called the party to a halt, peering ahead. "Lights out. I hear voices." Seelah and Camellia obliged, plunging the group into darkness.

Three pairs of ears strained - and sure enough, a strange pair of voices could be heard ahead, speaking in an unusual language - nearly Taldan, but clearly different. It was a little unsettling to hear, as they tried to follow the thread of the conversation only to find that the familiar sounds lead to nonsensical places. Anevia and Mahi shared a glance, the only two who could see properly in the dark.

"I'll go ahead," Mahi said quietly, slipping up past Seelah and Camellia. "Anything happens, I'll yell. Please make haste if you hear me yelling."

"What should we listen for?"

"'Oh gods, oh gods, I'm dying, please save me,' or something along those lines," Mahi said dryly, a smirk Seelah couldn't see on her lips.

Seelah snorted quietly. "Right, I'll keep an ear out."

Mahi slipped ahead, being very careful with each step. It wasn't easy to be silent on hooves, but she did her best, keeping the clops quiet. A little closer now, the voices became more clear. One was definitely masculine, and had, to Mahi's ear, slightly better enunciation than the other, which was more feminine. She still couldn't see them, though she could tell they weren't using a light source. She decided it was best to creep a little closer.

Slowly, carefully, the two shapes came into view. She couldn't see the details, but the one nearest to her was tall - definitely taller than her, though that was a list that so far included her entire party, so perhaps it wasn't saying much. But she estimated the individual was a little taller than Seelah, even, which definitely made him quite tall. She was fairly certain this was the male, based on his build.

The other, the female, was a bit further back, and thus harder to make out details, but at a glance she was either extremely bulky, or she had additional limbs. She couldn't tell for the female, but the male was armed, a strung bow slung over his shoulder, a quiver of arrows at his hip.

A rock slipped beneath Mahi's hoof, making her stumble with a loud clatter. She froze as soon as she regained her balance, but it was too late. The male's head snapped up and around, and his eyes widened as he saw her.

He called over his shoulder, the bow dropping into his hand as he moved, nocking an arrow to the string as he rushed to take cover behind a pile of rubble. As he moved, Mahi was already calling out to her companions, "Lights up!"

The sudden flood of light from Seelah and Camellia uncovering their respective sources made the man flinch, and Mahi got her first good look at him.

Frankly, he looked like the work of a drunken vivisectionist. He was split on the vertical - one half of him had a relatively human face, save for the horn protruding from his forehead and the pointed ear. The other half had more in common with a lizardman than anything else - covered in green scales across everything Mahi could see, and no visible ear.

From behind him, the female's voice called, then snarled something. The female rushed forward, staying out of the light as Seelah and Camellia moved up to join Mahi, the shaman placing herself in a position to intercept anyone rushing to attack the sorcerer. Seelah was a few steps behind, slowed by her ill-fitting armor, and the man's eyes widened as he saw the symbol of Iomedae emblazoned on her shield.

If the man was the work of a drunken vivisectionist, the woman was the prized work of that same vivisectionist. Despite her humanoid body, her skin had the look of a chitinous exoskeleton, and she was a sort of dark blue-black. Her eyes were yellow, and the way they shone in the darkness made her seem all the more dangerous.

Despite her chitinous skin, patches of dark fur were evident on her body. The most striking part of her appearance was the eight spider-like limbs emerging from her back. The limbs were currently focused forward aggressively, suggesting they weren't vestigial, as the woman nocked an arrow to her bowstring and raised the bow to sight down it. Mahi tensed, ready to spring into action as a fight seemed inevitable.

---

1. The eighth month in the Avistan calendar.
2. The second month in the Avistan calendar.

Tensions were high, both sides ready to leap into action, when the man suddenly stepped forward, holding his hand out in a gesture to stop. "Hold on, hold on," he said, in clear and fluent Common. The woman scowled at him and demanded something in their native language. His reply in the native tongue was short, and made the woman's lips curl from her teeth in an obvious snarl, but despite that she straightened slowly, lowering her bow again.

Mahi tapped Camellia's shoulder, stepping out into the open as the tension eased. The half-elf shot her a look, but did let her rapier fall to a rest position.

"Who are you?" The spider-cat hissed in Common, her yellow eyes narrowing distrustfully.

"The do-gooders, here to save our mongrel souls, no doubt," the male replied, keeping a weather eye on the party. The female scowled at him.

"You just love calling us that, don't you? That's what uplanders call us - in case you've forgotten, Lann, you aren't one of them. We call ourselves neathers."

"It doesn't matter what we call ourselves. It won't stop our horns, tails, and claws growing in. Why not just use the same name?"

"It does come across as fairly insulting,'" Mahi opined with a thoughtful tilt of her head. "It'd be like if I called my fellow tieflings 'horn-head.'"

The woman shot her an appraising look. "See, Lann? The uplander understands. Why can't you?"

"I just don't think it's a big deal, is all. Look, can we drop the subject? We haven't even introduced ourselves yet. I'm Lann, and this is Wenduag."

"I don't know what a mongrel is, but they look like the worst kind of tiefling," Camellia said, her nose wrinkling slightly. Wenduag's haughty glare landed on her. The neather woman's lips curled in a crude sneer.

"What, you think our ancestors sullied themselves by mating with demons like hers?" She waved a scornful hand at Mahi, whose brow furrowed in response. "Our ancestors were crusaders!"

("I'm not even that type of tiefling," Mahi muttered. The inaccuracy was more painful than the scorn.)

"Our ancestors were exposed to the corruption of the Worldwound. Their bodies were warped by it, and a few dozen generations later, here we are," Lann said, picking up the explanation from Wenduag.

"Where did you all come from, anyway? You didn't come from the direction of the Shield Maze," Wenduag said with a suspicious glare. Her gaze moved over each of them in turn.

"We fell down from above. Kenabres is under attack by demons, including Deskari himself. During the fighting, he swung that scythe of his and carved a rift across the city," Seelah offered.

"Dammit... I don't care what's happening on the surface, but the Maze...." Wenduag muttered. Her brow furrowed as she frowned thoughtfully.

"What's this Shield Maze you're so concerned about?" Camellia asked, looking bored by the conversation.

"Supposedly, it's the only way to the surface. It was built by our ancestors to keep mongrels and the surface folk separate."

"According to legend, when the surface is in its time of greatest need, the Shield Maze will be sundered open, and the Children of the First Crusade will spill forth to aid the crusaders in driving the demons out. We neathers wait in anticipation of that day," Wenduag said, sounding quite fervent.

"That sounds like our way back up to the surface," Anevia commented. Wenduag scoffed.

"Sure, if you're brave or suicidal, you can try going on your own. The Maze isn't a simple labyrinth. Terrible beasts reside within, and to make it through without a guide is impossible."

"Which leads us to the current problem," Lann said with a frown. "After that big earthquake, a bunch of kids from our tribe were convinced that the Shield Maze had been opened, and they rushed off without consulting anyone. Somebody put ideas of grandeur in their heads." He glanced sidelong at Wenduag.

"You can't blame it all on me, Lann. You were the one who taught them to fight and made them think they could best the Maze. If I'm to blame for telling them the legend, then you're just as responsible for teaching them," she retorted with a rebellious jerk of her chin. "I told them they needed to wait until I had mapped the safe path through the Maze."

"If these kids rushed off to this Shield Maze, why are you here?" Mahi interrupted. The brewing argument was stifled before it could begin as both neathers turned back toward her. Wenduag scowled.

"That's none of your -"

"We're looking for an artifact that was supposed to be housed here," Lann cut in.

"What kind of artifact?"

"A sword that was once carried by an Angel."

Mahi let out a low whistle. "Yeah, I could see why you'd want that. How did it get down here?"

"It came with its owner. Fifty thousand gongs ago -"

"About seventy years, in uplander time." The glare Wenduag turned on Lann was murderous. She bared her teeth in a snarl before continuing her story.

"Fifty thousand gongs ago, an angel came down here from the surface. Our ancestors met him. He protected them from demons - at great personal cost. It's said that he fell in battle here, his sword plunged into the stone. Our people built this temple around his grave, to remember him and our crusader ancestors."

"Right. After the kids rushed off to the Maze, the leader of our tribe hesitated. I'm hoping that if I can bring the angel's sword to him, it might inspire him to act so we can save those kids," Lann said. Wenduag scoffed.

"What, you think any of us is worthy of wielding the light of heaven? You and I are tainted by the Abyss, Lann. Our ancestors couldn't move the sword - what makes you think you'll be any more capable?"

"Look, I'll pick it up with my teeth and tie it to my hand if I have to. It's the only hope those kids have."

"We'll deal with the sword once we find it," Mahi said firmly. Lann gave her an appraising look.

"We, huh? Is that an offer to help?"

"It is. If people are in trouble, it wouldn't sit well with me to just leave you to deal with it on your own."

"Well, I'm not going to turn down an offer like that," Lann said with an easy grin. "Now, what should I call you?"

"Right, I suppose introductions are coming late. I'm Mahi Silvertongue. This is Seelah, a paladin of Iomedae. This is Camellia, and that's Anevia," Mahi said, indicating each of her party members in turn.

"Great, nice to meet you all. The gallery is pretty large, so we should divide it up into sections to search."

"Actually, if it's alright, I need to take some weight off my leg," Anevia said in a strained voice. She was leaning heavily on her bow and sweat was starting to bead on her forehead.

"I'll stay with her. I can use some healing magic so I'll see if I can treat her leg a little more," Camellia offered. Lann nodded after a pause.

"Alright, then. Well... why don't you two search up that end, and Wenduag and I will have a look down here," Lann said, indicating the search zones. Wenduag gave him a look but didn't protest. Mahi and Seelah simply nodded.

Whatever the gallery may have once been, what it was now was a heap of rubble. Mahi and Seelah started digging through different piles, looking for anything that might be an angel's sword. It was dull and back-aching work, especially for Mahi.

It was also the kind of work that left Mahi vulnerable to slipping into her own thoughts. The worry about her amnesia wormed its way back to the front of her mind. Her thoughts turned to her parents. She'd always been diligent about sending a letter to her parents at least once a month and twice whenever she could. But she had no idea if they had received any word about her in six months. At best.

They must be frantic by now. The thought made her heart ache and she faltered in her digging for a moment. They would have been tapping every resource they could reach to get word about her.

Which lead to the question - why hadn't they found her?

They weren't people of no means. Both were respected members of the Pathfinder organization, published authors, people with connections. Her mother in particular was a powerful arcanist, who would have been capable of magical means of searching.

So why was it she was in Kenabres with no memories of the recent past? If she'd been missing, her parents would have realized it after at least the second month without a letter. Even then, her mother always responded to Mahi's letters with a sending spell. If she'd missed a month, surely there would have been a sending to make sure she was safe.

Had she been able to respond?

Her thoughts were chasing each other in circles and filling her head with so much noise that she didn't even notice Seelah beside her until the paladin had clapped her on the shoulder. "Mahi! Are you alright, girl?" Seelah's brow was furrowed as she looked at Mahi's face - it took a moment before the tiefling realized she was crying.

She wiped her face quickly, then glanced around to see if anyone had taken notice. Anevia was looking in her direction, but she pointedly looked away as Mahi glanced over, apparently content to give her privacy.

"Seriously, are you okay?" Seelah asked. Her voice was soft as she leaned in a little closer. "It's been a hell of a day for you. It's been, what, three hours since you woke up with that chest wound? It's okay if you're feeling overwhelmed."

Mahi laughed hollowly as she straightened up. She didn't answer as she approached the next pile of rubble. Seelah followed along behind her. "Seriously, I can tell you're thinking too much about something you'd rather not think about at all."

The corner of Mahi's lips quirked with the ghost of a smile. "Is that a paladin thing?"

"No, that one's all Seelah. I know what it looks like." Seelah laughed mirthlessly. "Look, Mahi, if you don't want to talk about it, just say, and I'll back off."

Mahi paused to consider her options. After a moment she looked up at Seelah. "Alright. I have a question, and it.... it's going to sound crazy when I ask it." She swallowed the lump in her throat and fidgeted nervously. "What... what year is it?"

Seelah's face journey spoke volumes. First confusion, then dawning understanding, before settling into empathetic horror. "It's... 4715." Her voice was soft, but that did nothing to lessen the impact of her words. She said something else, but Mahi's ears were ringing, her vision narrowing to a tunnel.

Her knees went weak and she collapsed. Seelah managed to catch her and lower her down.

4715. Three years.

The thought made her stomach wrench. Seelah took her hand and squeezed hard. Mahi's eyes flicked over.

"Come on, Mahi. I need you to focus on me. Squeeze my hand, come on."

Seelah's voice sounded like it was coming from miles away.

4715.

She squeezed tightly.

Three years.

"Okay, Mahi. Deep breaths. In... and out." Seelah demonstrated. Her hand was still tightly gripping Mahi's.

In.

She took a breath in. It hurt. Her chest felt tight. It was a struggle to breathe at all. Her wound throbbed.

Three years.

She held for a moment.

Out.

She hissed the breath out through clenched teeth. The pain didn't lessen but her vision was getting clearer.

4715.

Her exhale ended in a sob as the floodgates suddenly broke. She slumped forward into Seelah's chest. Painful sobs racked her body as the reality washed over her. "There we are... let it out," Seelah said as she rubbed Mahi's back.

(Over her head, out of her sight, Seelah mouthed the words panic attack to a concerned Anevia, who nodded in understanding before distracting the other curious onlookers away from the scene.)

Mahi wasn't sure how long she spent crying into the chest of the paladin. Long enough that her throat felt swollen and painful, and she could feel the splints of Seelah's armor starting to dig into her skin. Her whole body felt like it was distant from her, miles away and slow to react. The process of pulling herself together was a painful one. Slowly, she grounded herself in the moment, taking stock of each of her senses. Once she'd regained her composure, she forced herself to a kneeling position.

"Sorry," she muttered sheepishly. She reached up to wipe her face before realizing her hands were filthy from digging through rubble. Instead she muttered a word and gestured half-heartedly to cast prestidigitation. The spell was about as half-hearted as she was but at least she wasn't covered in the evidence of her breakdown anymore.

"You don't have to apologize to me. Not the first time I've had to help someone through processing bad news," Seelah said softly. "I assume it was pretty bad."

"Fuck," Mahi said succinctly.

"What, uh.... not to poke at a clearly fresh wound, but what year did you think it was?"

Mahi winced. Another little sob caught in her chest. "4712. Specifically, the seventh of Calistril."

"Oh. Fuck."

"Language."

Seelah blinked, then let out a bark of laughter. "I guess you're going to be okay after all, if you can joke like that."

Mahi smiled - or at least she showed her teeth. If one were charitable they could probably define that as a smile. "I'll get back to you on whether I'm 'okay' once we're back on the surface."

"Still need a moment?"

"Yeah. I'm just.... three years. A lot can happen in three years." She shrugged helplessly. "And I don't remember any of it. Terendelev thought my amnesia might be related to this wound, but I'm not just missing a week now. I guess it could be related but... missing three years because of a chest wound? Does that make sense? It doesn't make sense to me."

Her breathing started to quicken again until Seelah clapped her shoulders. Mahi glanced up at the paladin and met her sincere brown eyes. "Mahi. Don't get too caught up in this. Can you change it?"

"N-no...."

"And does it make a difference?"

"I... I mean... I can't say it doesn't make any difference at all." She was unable to meet the paladin's intensely sincere gaze for a moment longer.

"Why not?"

"I can only think of a small handful of things that could cause me to lose three whole years of my life. And here, just a stone's throw away from the Worldwound? The most likely explanation is that demons were involved." Seelah's eyes hardened but Mahi kept going. "Maybe I'm an unwitting patsy, a sleeper agent or something. Maybe there's a geas on me, or-"

"Or maybe, you're catastrophizing and borrowing trouble. Mahi. I refuse to condemn you for something you might do or might be. There are other possibilities for what could have happened to you," Seelah said in that sincere way she had. "I don't know you well yet, so maybe I'm being quick to trust. But my gut tells me you're not a bad person."

Mahi's tail lashed. "Okay," she mumbled, the word barely audible. "I... I'll trust your judgement."

Seelah nodded with a gentle smile. "I understand what you're worried about. But you're not alone in this. You have friends to rely on. Now... do you want to tell the others?"

"They deserve to know, but... but I think it's best if we wait until we're somewhere more safe. I picked the worst time to have a breakdown, haha...."

"I dunno about the worst. It could have happened while we were in active combat. Besides, we never really get to choose when it happens. What do we want to tell them for now, then?"

Mahi sighed, then planted her hands to stand. There was a sudden tingle in her hand as she placed it on the rubble, and the wound in her chest ached. "Huh...?"

She shifted some of the rubble, and a golden hilt came into her view. "Oh, hey! I think this is the-" Her hand came down on the hilt, and the whole world shifted.

---

Treachery!

(The thought wasn't hers. It didn't belong, but here it was, thundering like a trumpet through her skull.)

They betrayed me, trapped me, and stabbed me in the back! Righteous wrath surged through him. My trusted allies, my treasured friends, the people I swore to protect.... Wrath subsided, leaving a melancholy ache. The people for whom I descended from Heaven and came to this turbulent mortal world.

(Mahi concentrated. These weren't her thoughts, no matter how strong they were. The last thoughts of the angel. She was certain that's what she was experiencing. Her heart raced and heat filled her body. Her wound tingled and pulsed and wept blood into the dressing, but it didn't hurt.)

The vision - his vision (her vision) - shifted, to the entrance of the cave. He could see the traitors there. They stayed away from him now. Wrath flared again. Were they afraid of him now? Or did they think he was about to die from their treacherous blows?

Beside him, in the gloom of the cave, a quiet voice moaned. His vision shifted again, to see the girl with the golden braid. She alone had stood against the traitors - and she had paid for it. Blood seeped from the open wound in her side, pooling on the ground beneath her, but she was still drawing breath. He could have run away, but he didn't dare. Not while he still had strength....

(The vision wavered. The angel's thoughts were muddled. Mahi concentrated on the girl - it didn't seem right to leave her like that. The vision cleared as a pulse ran through her wound.)

Healing light flared in the gloom of the cave as the angel brought his hand closer to the girl. Her eyelids fluttered open, and she sought his face. "Lariel," she breathed, her voice thin with pain. "You... you said everything was going to change. You said you and the other warriors of Heaven would be leaving us on a grand mission to stop the demons forever. Is that... true?"

The vision became confused, rapid flashes of memory passing through the angel's mind and consequently into Mahi's. A priestess in robes observing the stars. A young paladin praying over her golden sword. A majestic, golden winged angel gazing into the distance. His face is covered by a helmet, but his voice rings clear: "Only if you are willing, and only if you are ready. There is no going back."

The girl smiled, and shook her head weakly as she pushed away Lariel's hand. "Don't waste your strength... healing me.... Your mission is more important. You... take care. It is.... near." Her breath rattled and she went limp.

The darkness in the cave stirred into motion. The angel - Lariel - looked up to see a massive creature emerging from the gloom - a nightmare come to life. A wave of odious chirping and rustling emanated from the shadow, the sound piercing like hot irons through bone. The traitors fell to their knees in ecstacy, and the blade of a scythe pierced the belly of the dying girl. A terrifying vision washed outward from the shadow, the terror of staring death in the eyes.

(Mahi braced herself against the terrifying vision. For a moment she felt like she was going to collapse again. Then she steeled herself and it passed over her.)

The angel in her vision wasn't so lucky. He collapsed to the ground, broken and exhausted. The horrifying shadow existed only in the vision, but the terror it inspired was very real - it appeared to be the very image of Deskari himself. Faster than the exhausted angel's eyes could follow, the beast moved, its hand clutching Lariel's throat as it hoisted him into the air.

"The foolish angel struggling on the rocks, like a fly with its wings cut off." The shadow's voice changed as it moved, shifting from a quiet whispering to a sonorous shout, becoming young, then old and quavering. "Where is your goddess, angel? Where is her self-assured herald? How is it that you are dying here alone, so far from the light of your Heaven?"

A strange calm settled over the thoughts of Lariel. He recognized the enemy standing before him, and he knew he would never bow to it. The flaming sword flared to life in his hand - bright, pure, flickering with multi-colored sparks like a sunbeam through stained glass.

Slash!

The sword sliced into the demonic creature's flesh. The monster recoiled with a howl of pain and rage, releasing Lariel's throat. The angel fell back heavily - his vitality was failing him. With the last of his strength, he raised his sword high and plunged it into the rock.

The vision wavered and started coming apart at the edges. The last thing Mahi heard was Lariel's voice, coming to her as though through a long tunnel. "You will kill me, monster. This I know. But one day, someone will come here and raise up my sword. They will raise it up and...."

---

The present snapped back to her with a flash of blinding light. Golden energy flickered over her skin. It seemed to pour into the wound on her chest before disappearing as suddenly as it had come. Seelah was already there to catch Mahi by the shoulders as she stumbled to her hooves.

"That was...." Seelah's voice was breathless. Mahi could feel her hands tremble where she was holding her shoulders.

The sound of footsteps behind them interrupted anything else Seelah might have had to say. Mahi straightened up and turned to see her companions staring at her with wide eyes.

"What was that flash just now? It lit up the whole chamber," Lann asked with a note of awe in his voice. Wenduag was staring hard at Mahi.

"I found... I think I found the sword. Did you all see the vision? The angel Lariel, the traitors...." Mahi trailed off at the confused expressions on her companions' faces.

"I was right here... all I saw was a bright flash... and for a moment, I swore I saw the image of an angel," Seelah said. She was staring at Mahi with an expression of near rapturous awe tempered by the mild uncertainty that maybe she hadn't seen what she thought she saw.

"All we saw was the flash of light," Lann confirmed.

"If you found the sword, where is it?" Camellia asked. She waved a hand toward the rocks that had buried the sword. The rocks were reddened as though the light had burned them. But there was no sword.

"I touched the hilt, and then I saw the last moments of Lariel's life," Mahi said with a frown. "An angel's sword isn't just a weapon, it's a part of them, as much spiritual as material. Maybe that's why it disappeared. I might be able to -"

"How did you touch the sword without being burned? Generations of neathers tried and failed, and you expect me to believe some random uplander could just do it?" Wenduag scoffed. Her glare was intense as she turned it on Mahi.

"Now, now, Wenduag, she's clearly different than us. We've been tainted by the Abyss, so of course the sword would burn us."

Wenduag stared at Lann incredulously. "She is literally a tiefling, Lann," she snapped with a wild gesticulation at Mahi. "How can she be less tainted than us?!"

"I said I'm not that kind of tiefling!" Mahi snapped. "I don't know how I picked it up, but I did! Maybe it's because I derive my sorcery from a celestial bloodline, though even I think that sounds like a flimsy excuse."

Wenduag scoffed. "Celestial, mortal, fiend... you're quite the impressive mutt."

Rage boiled up inside Mahi, and her glare became murderous. "Run that one by me again, bitch?" she hissed, as water vapor condensed around her hands.

"Enough! We have enough problems without you two tearing into each other," Anevia snapped. She stepped forward between Mahi and Wenduag. "Mahi. You were glowing when you touched the sword, and now it's gone. You sounded like you had a thought about that."

It took an embarrassing amount of effort for Mahi to rein in that rage - and not for the first time today. "Right," she said, through grit teeth. "Right. There's... hold on." She closed her eyes to focus. She pushed all other thoughts out and focused on the weave of her magic.

Wenduag scoffed again and a flash of rage flashed across her mind, echoed in her visualization like a flash of lightning behind clouds. She breathed out through gritted teeth, reigning it in and focusing on keeping control.

The scar across her metaphysical being had changed. It seemed to glow now, when she visualized it, like the sun peeking from behind storm clouds, but it also burned, leaving her magic tattered and confused at the edges. She could adjust, but the fact of it was worrying to her. She'd heard of metaphysical injuries rendering sorcerers incapable of using their magic, temporarily or permanently. But she'd never heard of something like this, where the injury seemed to evolve over time and through metaphysical contact.

"I... I think I can control it...."

She pushed through and felt her magic connect with that heavenly light. It wasn't quite right - there was a friction there that sent tingles through her body - but that power was part of her now. Just like when she first made contact with her bloodline, she called for power - and she felt, for a moment, the weight of a hilt. Her eyes opened - and there, in her hand, was the angel's sword.

The sword shone like Sarenrae herself, and the chamber filled with the silence of rapturous awe. Every eye was drawn to the sword's light, and for a long moment, no one even dared to breath. A feeling of peace and calm washed over everyone, chasing away the lingering heat of the argument.

Seelah was silent, her hand clutched over her heart as tears rolled down her cheeks. She seemed to be gripped by pure rapture. Camellia seemed almost stunned, her eyes wide and her lips parted in a surprisingly pure and open expression. Even Wenduag was staring with almost child-like awe. She was gripping Lann's arm, speaking to him in the neather language, and for a moment she looked more like an excited teenager than a hardened warrior. She wasn't weeping as openly as Seelah, but tears shone in her eyes.

Even serious Anevia was staring openly, her lips parted in an 'o' of surprise.

All in all, the attention deeply unsettled Mahi. She knew it was directed more toward the light in her hand, but it still felt like... well, an inversion of the usual attention she got. Where people watched her because she was a tiefling, and only saw her horns and tail. Now she was being watched because of this angelic power.

She didn't love this feeling any more than the other.

She stifled the feeling and opened her hand. The light vanished as quickly as it had appeared, and the breathless moment ended.

"Wow. Just.... Heaven has surely blessed you, Mahi," Seelah said, wiping her face. Lann nodded.

"We have to show this to the other mongrels," he said firmly. He looked determined as he met Mahi's eyes. "Chief Sull will have to act if we show him this. He'll put out a call to the other tribes, and we'll storm the Shield Maze!" The awed expression slid off Wenduag's face, replaced with a sour scowl.

"Lead us to your village and I'll see what I can do," Mahi said, her tail lashing slightly. Honestly, a part of her was dreading it. If this small group stared at her so openly, with so much awe, what would an entire village of these neathers do? An image of them treating her like some kind of blessed saint ran through her mind, and she suppressed a shudder.

Lann nodded and lead the group to the trailhead of the path back to the village. There was an immediate problem.

"I think most of us can make it over that. But Anevia...."

"If my leg weren't broken? Easy. No sweat. Like this, right now? I won't say it's impossible, but I'd appreciate some help."

Right at the trailhead was evidence of a recent collapse. The ground had given way into an existing ravine that disappeared into the dark. The result was a small rent in the floor - too wide for a stride but traversable by jumping or climbing. Which was easy enough for the able-bodied, but they weren't all lucky enough to be able at the moment.

"Alright. Wenduag, Camellia and I will go ahead," Lann said, looking toward Seelah and Mahi. "Once we're on the other side, you two help toss Anevia across. I'll get ready to catch her. We do this all the time helping the older mongrels traverse the caverns." The three called out jumped quickly across, Lann in particular looking like it was no effort at all.

Seelah and Mahi took up posts on either side of Anevia. "Alright. On three, we'll give you a push, and you leap with as much force as you can muster one-legged," Mahi said. Anevia nodded, looking a little pale. "Lann, are you ready to catch her?" He nodded, standing at the edge but clear of where Anevia would land if everything went well.

Once everything was in place, Mahi called out the countdown. She and Seelah helped Anevia run up to the edge, then pushed her back firmly as she jumped. She sailed across the gap, and Lann caught her arm as she landed, twisting to absorb her momentum and helping her stumble forward, away from the edge. "See? Nice and easy!"

In retrospect, perhaps that was just tempting fate. Seelah went next, launching herself across the gap. Between the heavy armor she wore and the woman's own powerful physique, she was the heaviest member of the party. Her launch was fine - she cleared the gap easily and landed heavily on the other side. She bent her knees to absorb the impact - which turned into a sprawl forward as the cliff's edge collapsed under her. Her hands scrabbled at the rock as she started to slide backward.

"Seelah!"

Lann's back was turned as he helped steady Anevia, but Mahi's shriek pulled his attention back to Seelah. He twisted quickly and launched himself into a sprawl. He barely managed to get his hands on the back of Seelah's armor and one of her arms before she slid off the edge. Keeping her from sliding seemed to be all he could manage - the paladin was in a dead hang without any foothold. Lann snapped something over his shoulder in the neather language, and Wenduag moved quickly, dropping her bow and joining Lann in pulling Seelah up.

Which meant both neathers were sprawled on their bellies when Anevia shouted "Incoming!" and a giant spider dropped from the shadows near the ceiling, landing in the middle of the group. Two more skittered up the path - and straight into a puddle of grease summoned by Mahi. Their legs skittered as they slipped before all sixteen splayed out flat, leaving the spiders prone. Camellia pounced on the spider that had dropped into the middle of the group and drove her rapier in at the joint where the spider's clawed front leg met its body. It twisted and swung a leg at her, which she caught with her buckler before backpedaling.

With two spiders sprawled out and struggling to stand up again and the other actively engaged, the crisis seemed to be under control. Mahi raised her crossbow to take a shot, feeling mostly impotent as her new friends were in danger. Anevia glanced up toward her, then her eyes widened. "Mahi, watch out!"

Before the tiefling could react, a heavy weight struck her from above, sending her to the floor as a fourth spider dropped from the ceiling. Her crossbow skittered away from her hands, going off and sending a bolt away into darkness. Mahi twisted, getting her arms up just in time for her bracer to deflect a leg away from her face as the spider attacked. Its fangs gnashed at her, making her mage armor flare as the barrier barely deflected the bites.

Her vision was dominated by the spider's bulk, and its weight on top of her was making it hard to breathe. Desperation gripped her as she struggled. She needed to change something quickly, so she made a dangerous decision - next time the spider went to bite at her she thrust her arm up and shoved her left bracer into its mouth. It clamped down and she felt the venom dripping from its chelicerae spatter her cheek. She turned her face away and spread her right palm across its underbelly. She grit her teeth, forcing herself to concentrate on controlling the magic as she chanted the incantation for a snowball spell.

She had it all right, but at the moment the spell was released, something went awry. The magic surged and twisted, and instead of launching a dense sphere of ice and snow into the spider's underbelly, what came out instead was a hail of icy shards and mist. The shards pierced the spider's belly, carving a path through it. The spider shuddered in pain before rolling off of Mahi onto its back. Its legs curled and twitched from the staggering pain - before Mahi plunged her dagger through its head. Its legs twitched once more before the spider fell completely still.

Mahi scrambled to her feet, desperate to get a look at the situation across the way. In the time it had taken her to save herself, Lann and Wenduag had managed to get Seelah onto solid ground. The neathers were launching arrows toward the spiders sprawled on the ground - and as she watched, those spiders twitched and stopped moving, two of Lann's arrows killing the one while the other was slain by Wenduag's single shot. Anevia and Camellia had the last spider on its side, and Seelah launched herself forward, shield left behind as she used both hands on her sword to chop down into the belly of the spider. As soon as it stopped twitching she whirled to face the gap again. Her shout of Mahi's name died on her lips. "Oh, thank the Inheritor," she breathed, her shoulders slumping in relief.

"Everyone okay?" Mahi called as she looked over the rest of the party. Anevia waved as she sat down on a rock and rubbed her leg.

"Are you alright?" Lann called back. He didn't wait for an answer before leaping back across the gap with easy grace. "Damn! I'm impressed, that was a big one."

"Yeah, well, I'm done being impressive today. That last spell was all I had left, and it didn't even do what I intended," Mahi said as she picked up her crossbow. It was scuffed up from being dropped but otherwise didn't seem any worse for wear. "Now the question is, can I make this jump?"

"That's why I came back over. I'll give you a hand with the jump, you just worry about the landing."

"Oh, sure, leave me the hard part," Mahi joked. She backed up a few steps and ran toward the edge where Lann stood ready. As she passed him he put a hand on her back and gave her a hard push as she jumped. She sailed across the gap and while her landing wasn't good, she managed to turn it into a forward roll as she hit the ground instead of twisting both her ankles. It wasn't elegant and she wasn't sure it was on purpose, but it was less bad than it could have been. While she was reorienting herself, she heard the sound of Lann landing behind her.

"Well, that could have gone better," Seelah said as she picked up her shield and slung it onto her back. She gently lifted Mahi back to her feet before absently brushing dust and dirt off her back. "I dunno about the rest of you, but the day is starting to wear on me."

"Seconded. I'm pretty much spent," Mahi said. She waved a hand at the puddle of grease and quietly chanted the inverse incantation to dismiss her spell and clear the way for them. "I'm down to my aim with a crossbow. Which is fine but not exactly award-winning."

"It's not too far to Neathholm," Lann said. "You can rest there."

"If you're done whining, we should keep moving," Wenduag said. It seemed she was back to her usual grouchy self. Mahi chose to ignore her attitude and instead just gathered everyone to arrange the group. She put Wenduag and Lann slightly forward of herself and Anevia, as the pair were more used to fighting the creatures in these caverns and would be well positioned to watch forward and rear. Seelah took point with Camellia behind her and then there was a gap to allow some spacing between the front and rear lines.

"Any suggestions? I've fought in caves before but this is your home turf."

Lann looked thoughtfully across the group. "No. Considering our resources, this is the same decision I would have made. If we had more people capable of it, I'd suggest a rearguard and maybe a mid-guard, but we don't really have the option. That set up - two up front, a mid, and a rear, with archers in between, is how mongrel warbands and larger hunting parties take formation." He shrugged. "We're closer to a small hunting party in size, so two up front to lock down anything we encounter with the rest engaging at range is our best option."

Wenduag gave Mahi an appraising look. "When did you fight in caves?"

"I'm not exactly a Pathfinder, but I've picked up odd jobs more than a few times. Clearing out a warren of goblins, or a basement full of rats, that kind of thing. It helped to pay my way across Avistan," Mahi said. "Definitely the less risky way to pay with my body." That joke earned a snort from Anevia and a slightly scandalized look from Camellia, though the idiom seemed to go over Wenduag's head.

"You traveled alone?" Seelah asked, glancing back over her shoulder as the group continued through the caves.

"There weren't a lot of travelers who were willing to team up with a tiefling long term. I did have a few short-term parties, usually just for a few jobs or while we were crossing a particularly dangerous area, but never really had anything that lasted longer than that."

Seelah shook her head. "I traveled alone sometimes, but usually I could find someone willing to team up for safety if nothing else. How did you sleep?"

"Carefully and with one eye open. Some nights, I wouldn't - I'd either keep going, or I'd climb a tree and wait until sunrise. Sometimes I'd find other travelers willing to share their campfire. That brought its own dangers, of course. But I only woke up with someone on top of me twice so I think I did pretty well." Mahi laughed. Nobody else did. Her laughter died awkwardly as she realized what she had said needed context.

"T-that happened to you?" Seelah asked with a shocked and furious expression. Anevia looked just as appalled, and Camellia's expression had frozen. Wenduag and Lann were both staring with wide eyes. Lann seemed horrified, while Wenduag seemed more curious than anything else.

"Whoa, whoa! Simmer down, alright? First of all, nothing actually happened. Hells, I don't think the first guy was actually making an attempt, I legitimately think he just tripped on his way back to his bedroll after a piss. He started apologizing and trying to stand up and get away from me before I screamed and tried to claw his eyes. And the second guy got a dagger in his liver and a claw in his eye. I'm not a helpless little girl, you know? I might not be a big strong paladin, but I can take care of myself," Mahi said, trying to cut off everyone's anger on her behalf. "In both cases, I got out of there fast, no harm done. To me. That one bastard may have bled out and objectively that's terrible but subjectively I don't really care."

"Why do you think that's terrible? Sounds like just desserts to me," Lann asked.

"Once you're dead, you don't have any more chances. No chance to repent, to change your ways, to be anything but the guy who made the choice and paid the price," Mahi said with a shrug.

"Do you really think that guy would have changed? Ever?" Lann's harsh tone indicated his own thoughts clearly.

"Maybe, maybe not. I believe that anyone is capable of change. If you want it enough and you're willing to put in the work, you can change. And it is work. It's hard work. In this specific case, though.... I mean, there are no mitigating circumstances for that. He chose to do that. So no, I don't have much hope that he'd be able to change." Mahi shrugged again, resignation clear in her voice.

"Not to interrupt this fascinating philosophical debate, but I need to sit down for a bit," Anevia said, cutting off any further replies to Mahi. The group came to a halt as Mahi moved to help Anevia sit down on a rock.

"Hey. Uplander," Wenduag said. She paused for a moment, then continued, "Mahi, I mean. I'd like to talk to you."

Mahi glanced toward Anevia, who waved her off, then turned toward the neather woman, who was walking a little way away from everyone else. She followed, crossing her arms as Wenduag turned to face her.

"I'll make this quick. When we get to Neathholm, don't show the Light of Heaven to Sull." Wenduag's words were abrupt and clipped. She looked in Mahi's eyes, crossing her own arms as she made the request.

"Why not? Lann seems to think -"

"Lann doesn't know what he's talking about. His first plan, you recall, was to get the sword and charge into the Maze on his own." Wenduag shook her head. "You and Lann don't get it. You're an uplander, and Lann's near enough to being one himself. You hear neathers talk about how dangerous the Shield Maze is and think they're just stories to scare children. If you show Sull the light, he'll have to act, and that will mean leading the whole tribe into the Maze. The tribe isn't ready."

Mahi straightened up, her brow furrowed as she stared hard at Wenduag. The neather didn't notice, or didn't care. "The Maze is dangerous. Lann doesn't get it. He's..." She paused for a moment, her lips twisting as she tried to think of how to phrase it. "Nak shora bok^[1]. Uh... he thinks he knows better than experts. Or... more like, he thinks he is an expert. Or that he would be an expert, if he ever tried it." Frustration flashed across her face. "Fuck, I guess all three. Stupid Common."

"I get what you mean. I don't know if I agree, but you know Lann better than I do," Mahi said, frowning thoughtfully. "I'll be honest, I had the feeling you thought of your people as, well... better than that."

"My people are descendants of great warriors. They could be great warriors again, but... right now, they're fishermen. Farmers. A few hunters, but Lann and I are the best of the lot." She fell silent, her expression pained. "Lann is... he's a great warrior. He's strong, and brave. But the Shield Maze can't be conquered by strength, and it devours the brave. If you show Sull the Light, Lann will lead our people bravely to their deaths."

"What about the missing kids?"

Wenduag was silent for a long moment. "Those kids...." She hesitated. "Realistically, they're probably already dead. It's not worth risking the entire tribe over trying to save them. A small team with an experienced guide has a much better chance of making it through... and saving them, if there's anything left to be saved."

Mahi frowned, but she couldn't refute the practical declaration. Still, something about the way Wenduag was saying things sat strangely on Mahi's mind. "An experienced guide... like you?"

Wenduag nodded. "I've been through the Maze before. All the way to the end. I know its traps, and how to avoid the greatest dangers inside." The words were said proudly, but there was something else in her eyes as she boasted. Something bitter and pained.

Nobody would ever describe Mahi as slow on the uptake. Her eyes narrowed slightly. "I see. So if I don't show the light, you'll guide us through the maze. And I assume that if I do show the light, I can expect no help from you."

Wenduag gave a brusque nod. "I won't help you and Lann lead the tribe to their deaths."

Mahi drummed her fingers on her arm. Her eyes drifted away from Wenduag for a moment, toward Anevia - who was once again very pointedly looking at anything but Mahi and Wenduag's conversation. She shook her head, meeting Wenduag's eyes again. "I'm not making any decisions right now. But I'll take your request under advisement."

Wenduag's eyes narrowed, but she didn't say anything more, just moved to walk away past Mahi.

"Wenduag." The neather paused.

"What are you actually worried about? Because it's not your tribe dying. You just thought that would be a good way of getting me to go along with you." Mahi turned, meeting Wenduag's eyes again. For a moment, there was a flash of something - uncertainty, fear, something that was almost an actual insight into the neather's behavior. Then it vanished, the woman's prickly exterior back up.

"Believe what you'd like. Nothing I said was a lie. If the tribe follows you into the Maze, they will all suffer for it."

Mahi inclined her head, conceding the point. "I don't think you're lying about that. I just don't think it's your primary concern. What in the Maze has you so scared?" She observed the reaction to that question - the neather's pupils shrank, her lips curled, her brow furrowed - before she continued. "Fair warning, Wenduag. If you're trying to use me, you better be damn sure you have a good hold on the leash."

That got another interesting reaction. Wenduag took a half step away from Mahi, her eyes wide as she stared. "I... j-just think about what I said," she snarled quietly, though she lacked any real venom. She stormed off, with Mahi's eyes on her back.

The tiefling touched her upper chest, reaching for the symbol of Desna that normally hung around her neck. What she found instead, of course, was a wound that ached and burned at her touch. She scowled and let her arm drop. The crunch of boots on stone broke the silence around her, and she looked up as Anevia approached. "I'm ready to go," she said quietly.

"How much of that did you hear?"

"How much do you want me to have heard?"

"I'm looking for advice and-slash-or commiseration."

"Then I heard most of it. She had a good point, of course, and its worth considering. Still, I don't envy you the decision."

Mahi sighed, rubbing her temples. "Yeah."

Anevia glanced at Mahi from the side of her eyes. "You know she was manipulating you."

"I'm very good with people. Recognizing when someone is trying to manipulate me is part of that. My only issue is... I'm not sure what her actual angle is." She sighed again. "I'm pretty sure there's something in the Maze she's afraid of - not just in the sense that it is dangerous, but in the sense that she has personal experience with it and is afraid of it. Everything else is just speculation right now."

Anevia shrugged. "Well... I guess it's something to take into consideration."

Mahi nodded, rolling her neck before perking back up. "Alright, let's get back to it!" she called out brightly, earning a bemused look from Seelah. "How much further to Neathholm?"

"Not too much further," Lann answered, his eyes flickering to Anevia's leg. "About an hour if we take it in one push and keep our pace comfortable."

Anevia smiled wryly. "Right. I think I can push through until we get there, as long as there's a place I can safely collapse at the end."

"That, and probably some medicine. Nothing fancy but it'll either make the pain stop or make you care less about it."

"Either is good."

Lann laughed politely, and the group set off once again. "So, tell me about Neathholm," Mahi prompted. Lann glanced back at her with half a smile on his face.

"It's home. A little village on a hill in an underground lake, and as much variety as you'd see even in places like Absalom. Granted, it's more variety and fewer people."

"A bastion of civilization in the darkness?"

Lann laughed. "Sure, if mushroom soup and rat sandwiches count as 'civilization.'"

"They do not," Camellia cut in coldly.

"Well, I'm afraid we're all out of anything fit to your noble pallette," Lann said. "So you may have to lower your standards."

"My standards don't go that low."

"We may be able to scrounge up some boot leather and boiled rocks for you," Lann said, his easy grin getting a little more pointed.

Camellia looked scandalized. "I would rather not eat at all."

"Oh, well, that's always on the menu."

The conversation continued and carried them through the end of the journey. In what felt like no time at all, the party squeezed through a narrow passage and emerged in a cavern that smelled of damp stone. There were more luminescent mushrooms lining a stone path, a natural bridge over an underground lake. At the center, lit up by mushrooms and other light sources, was the village of Neathholm.

"Here we are. Home sweet home," Lann said, his tone a little proud. Wenduag looked over the village from their vantage point, but her expression was difficult to read.

"I find it insulting that you'd call this collection of hovels a village of any sort," Camellia said sourly. Seelah clapped her on the back hard enough to make the half-elf stumble.

"Cheer up, Camellia! There's worse places in the world. At least the people are friendly." She waved enthusiastically at one of the neathers, who looked confused but waved back all the same.

Camellia's glare was exceptional before she composed herself. "You-! Fine! Fine. Can we just get this over with, please?"

Mahi walked silently at the rear of the party, her eyes moving over the villagers they passed. There were more than a few able-bodied individuals - but most of the neathers bore at least one mutation that clearly impacted their daily lives, and would definitely impact their ability to use a weapon.

There was an air of tension, and the people glanced subtly toward their procession as they passed through. Less subtle were the looks at Mahi, the whispers and stares. Even among the neathers, a tiefling was a sight worth whispering about, apparently.

She was used to it, but that didn't make it less exhausting.

As they came to the top of the hill, a heavyset and aged neather emerged from a slightly larger shack. He had white, wispy hair that grew in clumps, a plump, ratlike face, and he shuffled slowly, like he was in a fair amount of pain just walking. His one good eye peered at them. "More uplandersh, eh? The end timesh musht truly be upon ush...."

Lann strode forward proudly. "Chief Sull! We found the angel's sword! And we found the one who can wield it." He gestured at Mahi, whose eyes widened slightly as she was put on the spot. The onlookers murmured, until a sharp glance from Sull sent them back to their work. "She had a vision, and now the angel's sword along with the Light of Heaven are somehow... inside of her." He paused for a moment, as though realizing how far-fetched it sounded, before plowing ahead regardless. "Gather the tribe! Anyone who can hold a weapon. Those kids are still alive, we can go save them!"

Silence reigned over the hilltop as Lann finished his declaration. Sull heaved a ponderous sigh. "Ah, Lann.... Alwaysh dreaming, alwaysh talking. You're hashty. Too hashty for your own good." His eye flicked to Mahi. "An uplander with the light o' heaven? It'sh too good, too mush for the likesh of ush. Our kind don't have good thingsh happen. There'sh alwaysh a catch. Come forward, girl." His voice, while querelous, held a strong note of authority. Mahi took two steps forward.

"Lann trushtsh people becaushe he likesh to believe. Ishn't that right, Lann?" His eye hardened. "I'm the chief. I don't work on faith. Show the Light."

Lann stared at Mahi expectantly. Behind him, Wenduag shook her head, eyes never leaving Mahi. Seelah took in a little breath in anticipation. Mahi looked down at her hand, then up at Sull, then around at the neathers watching. She swallowed, making her decision. She held her hand out, and closed her eyes.

Nothing happened.

After several long moments, she let her arm drop, and looked up at Lann. "I... I can't," she murmured, her voice quivering tearfully.

Lann looked as though a great weight had just fallen on his head. "W-what?"

"It's not there anymore, Lann. I.... I can't do it." Mahi looked down, her tail drooping.

"What do you mean it's not there anymore? You were the one who said it was as much spiritual as physical! You can't have just dropped it!" Lann's voice was a furious hiss, his fists clenched at his sides. Mahi flinched back visibly.

"I'm sorry! I... I can't help what I am. The Light of Heaven rejected me in the end." Mahi's voice quivered and her eyes shone, her throat tightening as she held back tears. Lann's disbelieving anger was clear on his face - then it clarified to understanding as a third voice spoke in the confrontation.

"Lay off her, Lann. If she can't do it, she can't do it. We should have known better than to hope for a miracle," Wenduag said, trying her best to sound exhausted and disappointed - though some smugness still showed through. Lann looked between her and Mahi.

"I see. I get it. You two had it all figured out, huh? More fool me for falling for it, I guess." Lann's voice dropped to cold flatness. The sheer rage and disappointment in his voice nearly made Mahi wince, but she kept up her tearful, apologetic expression.

"Enough, Lann. Enough. Wenduag'sh right. We should know better than to exshpect miraclesh." Sull sounded tired. "You uplandersh can join the other one. He'sh over there; hale and hearty and prim ash a peacock. Just like me!" He let out a half-hearted laugh while patting his belly. "Tomorrow, we'll figure out how to get you to the shurface again. Uplandersh shouldn't be here."

Mahi bowed her head, wiping at her eyes, before she turned toward the rest of the party. Anevia was giving her a knowing look, while Seelah.... This time Mahi did wince, and avoided the paladin's gaze. Anger she could handle, but the sheer betrayed disappointment on Seelah's honest face was too much to bear. Camellia looked quietly amused. She tilted her head and gave Mahi a thin smile when she noticed the tiefling looking at her.

Mahi walked past without saying anything. Seelah fell in right behind her, the paladin's stare making the back of her neck prickle. "Mahi." She ignored her. "What the hells was that? .... Hey!" She flinched, then stopped, looking back at Seelah, whose expression was somewhere closer to fury now. "Don't ignore me. What was all that about?"

Mahi sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "Can this wait a minute?"

"No." Lann's voice was a snarl, and before either Seelah or Mahi could respond he had Mahi by the arm and was shoving her into a crevice in the wall. She stumbled through, nearly falling over before he pinned her against the wall at the back of the crevice. "You will explain yourself."

Mahi grimaced a taunting grin. "Or what? You'll beat me up? Kill me? Make me cry for real this time? How is that going to help anything or anyone?"

"Hey!" Seelah grabbed Lann and dragged him back. "I get it, you're pissed. I'm not very happy myself." She turned her disappointed glare back on Mahi. "But threatening her and throwing her around isn't getting us anywhere. It's beneath you."

"I dunno, I like seeing this side of Lann," Wenduag said languidly, leaning against the wall of the little crevice Lann had shoved Mahi into. She hadn't realized they were in an out-of-the-way space until now, after the bewilderment of being thrown around. "I wish he'd show it to me more often." She gave Lann a lascivious grin, which just seemed to stoke his anger.

"Why? Why did you lie?!"

"Because I won't be responsible for leading people to their deaths, Lann." Mahi's voice was cool and calm in contrast to Lann's heat. He stepped toward her, only to be stopped by Seelah, who gave him a look before turning back to Mahi.

"Explain."

"Did you look at these people, Seelah? I did. I'm sure they've held weapons before. Maybe fought insects or straw dummies. But they're not warriors. They're hunters. Fishermen. Mushroom farmers. If we had a week to work on them we might be able to make them into a fighting force but in the time we have? No. They'd be slaughtered."

"So instead you'll leave those kids to die?!" Lann glared daggers at Mahi, who met his gaze coolly.

"Be realistic, Lann. Those kids have been lost in the Shield Maze for hours already. A place that has the one who make decisions in your tribe worried enough that they haven't already attempted to stage a rescue. How many people do you know who have been to the Shield Maze and come back?"

Lann's jaw set stubbornly as he glared at Mahi. Finally, begrudgingly, he admitted, "One."

"Funny, me too. It's only Wenduag. Which means she's the expert here, right? The one with the most experience? So when she says that realistically those kids are already dead, I don't see why I wouldn't believe her."

"So what? You toss the lives on a scale and decide who lives and who dies? What gives you the right to decide that?"

Mahi glared, and raised her hand, flexing her fingers. The barest glimpse of the Light of Heaven appeared in her palm for a moment. "In case you forgot, Lann, I am the one who had this power and responsibility thrust unwillingly onto her, so I am the only one who can decide that. And I'm not intending on leaving them to die. A small team of experienced individuals lead by an expert has a much better chance of getting through the Maze. If they're still alive, that Is our best chance of saving them."

"Surely more people would -"

"No. Do you know what happens when a bunch of brave and well-meaning amateurs go into a dangerous situation they don't understand to save someone? People die. Would-be rescuers need to be rescued themselves. At the extremes... a whole village suffocates at the bottom of a mine shaft."

Seelah frowned. "That doesn't sound hypothetical."

"It isn't, though it's not something I witnessed first hand. It's one of my dad's stories - one of the ones that he never tells sober," Mahi said, her eyes shifting to Seelah for a moment. She looked less disappointed now, more thoughtful.

"I think... I still don't like that you lied. And I have to question how you did it. Why the tearful act?"

"Playing to the crowd. Young cute girl like me, crying and apologizing while being yelled at for her failures.... It was a sympathy ploy. I am sorry I played it like that, Lann, but I figured the 'crying woman' act would be better than me simply contradicting you and saying you hadn't seen what you saw."

Lann's expression was extremely bitter. "I can accept that you didn't lie maliciously - that you really do think this is the best way of doing things. But I can't say I agree with you. And I can't say I'm not still furious about it, and about the way you lied. That was... low, Mahi." She bowed her head, accepting this rebuke.

"You certainly seemed to play the part well, Lann," Wenduag taunted. Lann's expression soured, and he turned a glare on Wenduag who looked entirely unapologetic.

"What did she offer you, anyway?" He turned back to Mahi, his jaw tight.

"Expertise. I can't say it didn't have some weight in my decision, but I didn't decide based solely on what she said or what she offered. Though if she hadn't brought up the idea I probably would have shown the light and not thought twice."

"So it's her fault."

Wenduag bristled. "Don't blame me! She was the one who made the choice. Or are you still clinging to the pedestal you put her on?" Lann's face froze with a hurt expression - it seemed Wenduag had been very accurate in calling that out.

"She's right. The decision was mine, and any consequences it has will be mine to deal with."

"You should have made a better offer, Lann," Wenduag said with a cruel smirk. Mahi's eyes flickered to her, then to Seelah, who looked sour about the neather's interjection, and back to Lann, who mostly looked tired now.

"Right now, I'm planning on getting some rest and leaving early tomorrow - or whatever will be passing for tomorrow down here. I'd be glad if you would join us," Mahi said. Her eyes flickered to Wenduag, whose expression had become sour. She made note of that, then looked back to Lann.

"I... I don't know. I need time to think about all of this," Lann said, his voice quiet. Wenduag scoffed to hide a triumphant grin.

"Fine, Lann. We'll do the important work while you run off and sulk about how nobody wanted to follow your stu-"

"Wenduag. Enough." Mahi's voice was quiet, but her tone was sharp. Wenduag glanced toward her, and Mahi's hand clenched under her chin, pulling down sharply - a tug on an invisible leash. Wenduag visibly flinched, then stared at Mahi with wide eyes for a moment, before snarling and breaking eye contact.

Lann glanced back at her, then at Mahi. "Good luck handling her. Watch your back," he said shortly - then turned on his heel and stalked away. Wenduag sneered at his back.

Mahi's eyes moved to Seelah next. The paladin was watching her, her expression thoughtful. "I don't love the methods you used, but I trust you have good intentions. And even if I don't agree, I can at least trust that you put a lot of thought into your decision." She stepped closer and clapped Mahi on the shoulder, leaning in close.

"I don't trust Wenduag, though. Something about her is making my skin crawl. One of those paladin things. I trust you know what you're doing with her, but... well, if things go bad, I have your back. And then I am going to remind you that I told you so." She clapped Mahi's shoulder again, then turned and left the little gap. Wenduag was watching them curiously, but didn't seem to have overheard what Seelah was saying.

And then it was only Mahi and Wenduag in the hollow. Mahi watched the neather silently, until Wenduag started to fidget. "What?" she finally snapped. "Stop gawking, uplander. Or do you see something you like?" She ran a hand down her side, head tilted to one side as she licked her lips.

Mahi filed that away as well, then ignored the provocation. "Did you get what you wanted?"

Emotions flashed across Wenduag's face - she was surprisingly easy to read, if one paid attention. Disappointment, confusion, frustration, before she settled on a sickly smile. "Of course. You didn't show the Light, just like I asked."

"Strangely, that's not an answer to the question I asked. But you're right. I didn't show the Light and even Lann isn't going into the Maze with us. So whatever you didn't want them to find will remain secret."

Wenduag's expression stiffened. "I don't... you're jumping to conclusions."

"And you are a bad liar. Something in the Shield Maze scares you."

Wenduag snorted. "This again? I respect how dangerous the Maze is. That's all."

"You don't fool me, Wenduag. You were furious at the thought Lann might join us."

"Anger isn't fear."

"Anger often covers for fear. Especially when we feel helpless to do anything about what we fear."

Wenduag snarled, getting in Mahi's face. Mahi didn't flinch, standing nose to nose with the neather woman as she glared. "You... are the most infuriating person I've ever met," she spat. Mahi smirked.

"It is one of my best features, I think." Wenduag growled, spitting something in the neather language before turning away. "Wenduag." She stopped, standing stiffly. "The sooner you tell me what you're so afraid of, the sooner we can come up with a proper plan to deal with it. If you wait too long, I can't help you. And I want to help you."

A shudder ran through Wenduag's shoulders. She didn't look back - just ducked her head and rushed out of the hollow. Mahi watched her go, then sighed. "That girl is scary when she's pissed," she mumbled, rubbing her face and taking the opportunity to compose herself.

"Seriously, Mahi, what are you thinking? Do you just see a pretty face and a bad attitude and immediately think, 'I can fix her?'" She shook her head. "It's going to get you in trouble someday." She gave her cheeks a light slap, shaking her head to get her focus back, before leaving the hollow.

Camellia was standing by the entrance, and the sudden appearance of the half-elf nearly made Mahi jump out of her skin. "Ha! Geeze, Cams, don't sneak up on a girl like that," she said, rubbing her chest. Camellia's head tilted curiously.

"Cams?"

"Ah... sorry. It's... sorry, Camellia."

"No, no, I like it. I've never had a nickname before." Her lips curled in a shy smile, an innocently coquettish look that emphasized her pretty features, though the effect was slightly ruined by the way she was holding that creepy snake skull amulet. "I'm rather fascinated by you, you know."

Ba-dump.

'Down, girl,' she told herself, her tail lashing back and forth - and thank Desna none of her new companions knew how to read tiefling body language, or else her embarrassment would be as obvious as the blush her dark-skinned cheeks would never show. She cleared her throat. "What, uh... what do you mean?"

"I've not had the opportunity to be acquainted with many tieflings. Most of the ones in Kenabres are dreadfully common."

Mahi frowned, her tail stopping mid lash to slump disappointedly toward the floor. "I'm not exactly noble myself."

"I don't mean common by blood. They're... rude. Uneducated. Boorish. But you've clearly been brought up well."

Perhaps she'd intended it as a compliment, but it felt very backhanded to Mahi. "A credit to my race, you mean?" she asked with a sardonic smile. Anyone with the ability to read a social cue would recognize the opportunity to backpedal.

"Precisely!" Camellia's smile was innocent and sweet and it honestly made Mahi feel a little bad for leading her straight into saying something so ignorant and bigoted. Her own smile grew colder.

"We could have quite the spirited discussion about the opportunities afforded to the tieflings of Kenabres and how that affects their upbringing, but frankly I'm already exhausted," Mahi said snippily. "We should catch up with the others, come on."

Camellia looked a little confused, like she wasn't quite sure where the conversation had gone wrong. It made Mahi seethe as she walked away, cold anger roiling under her skin at this perfect half-elf princess who can just say whatever she likes and act however she wanted and it was the fault of those insulted for feeling hurt by what she said and gods it made her want to tear into her with her claws and.... She clenched her fist hard, driving her claws into her palm.

Slowly, begrudgingly, the anger loosened its grip. Her head was left with a throbbing ache that echoed in the wound on her chest.

It was the third time today that rage had boiled inside of her nearly to the point where she couldn't contain it. She didn't understand why. Was it simply a case of stress? She didn't usually get so snippy when she was stressed. Maybe a combination of stress and her injury? Or perhaps it was something caused by the presence of the demon lord and his powerful minions. But she really wasn't that kind of tiefling - the abyss didn't call to her blood.

Unconsciously, her fingertips touched the edge of her wound. It wasn't just physical, but metaphysical - it had left a scar on her soul. Could it be the cause in the end? She didn't know. And she didn't like that she couldn't trust her own mind and emotions anymore.

"Uh... sorry. I shouldn't have snapped at you like that. It's been a long day," Mahi said, glancing back at Camellia.

"It didn't trouble me, but I'll accept your apology," she said magnanimously. "It has been quite the long day."

"Yeah. And it's not over yet," Mahi said, her gaze casting ahead. In the light of a pair of torches, a well-dressed and heavy-set man was talking to (or perhaps at) Seelah and Anevia. Lann was nowhere in sight, which wasn't surprising. Wenduag was lurking nearby, looking sour.

Mahi sighed, preparing herself for what was sure to be another unpleasant conversation.

---

1. Literally "expert in ignorance"

The well-dressed man looked up as Mahi and Camellia approached, his eyes lingering on the half-elf for a moment. "Ah, you must be the leader these two were speaking of. I was beginning to lose hope of seeing anyone from the surface again," he said with an impressive amount of bluster. He had the air of nobility around him, which immediately made Mahi chafe.

"Allow me to introduce myself," he said, eyeing Mahi sourly. "I am Horgus Gwerm. If you've been around town very long you've surely heard of me."

"I've encountered the name, though it was in Nerosyan. A donation of some books to the archival library, I believe?" Mahi turned up the politeness. Nobles were annoying, but easy to deal with. They rarely spoke to the common classes without specific purpose, so "finest manners and match the conversation" was usually enough to get through.

Gwerm's expression softened very slightly. "Oh yes, you've been to the archives? It's been quite a long time since I made that donation, you'll forgive me if I don't recall what it was."

"I believe it was a few primers and studies on the followers of the Green Faith in Old Sarkoris - I was intending, before all of this, to study those old ways and write on the subject, before they are lost to the inevitability of time," Mahi said, matching his polite tone. Gwerm's eyebrows raised slightly.

"A young scholar, then? I was certain you were an adventurer, but perhaps I am mistaken. Regardless, I do feel assured of your competence - I am acquainted with Miss Tirabade there, and if she is deferring then she must have been quite impressed by you."

"No mistake, Lord Gwerm. Scholarship does not pay well, alas, and besides the best discoveries are not made in the library."

"Interesting philosophy. It's good that you mentioned pay - I have a business proposition for you."

Mahi sighed softly, considering the elderly nobleman critically. "Let's find a place to sit down, shall we? Wenduag, could you make sure your healers see Anevia?" The neather woman looked torn between wanting to scorn the request and wanting to get away from Horgus Gwerm. Apparently, her disgust with the noble won out - she beckoned Anevia along and guided the injured woman toward a set-aside hut.

Mahi paced along toward what looked like a small common area, with cooking fires and a few rough tables set up. There was a free table, and she took a seat when Horgus gestured for her to do so. Despite his self-important demeanor, he wasn't completely rude, at least, and he waited for Mahi, Seelah, and Camellia to be seated before he sat down himself.

"How did you come to be here, Lord Gwerm?" Mahi asked idly, eyeing the cooking fire nearby. Whatever was roasting over it smelled distractingly tasty, and she found her body reminding her that she hadn't eaten or drunk anything since that half-pint of watered down beer.

Her eyes flicked back to Horgus to find that his eyes were on Camellia. Perhaps they were acquainted? His looked back to Mahi, and he shrugged with a frown. "Same way you did, I expect - when that accursed beetle cleaved the ground in twain beneath our feet, down I went. I'm lucky I didn't break my neck in the fall- and doubly lucky that I didn't encounter any subterranean cockroaches in my wandering, but instead a party of hunters from this settlement. Though I must say when I first glimpsed their physiognomies, my life did flash before my eyes! But they turned out to be decent chaps. Terrifying to look at, but they can keep to a bargain."

Mahi frowned, crossing her arms. "You don't seem to have many kind words to say of the neathers, despite them saving your life."

"Bah! Kind words are better suited to those who have time to fritter away on pleasantries. Horgus Gwerm speaks his mind - and he pays for services rendered not with kind words but with hard coin. I gave them my dagger in exchange for leading me here - the handle alone is worth more than this entire village!"

"I find that kindness costs little and gives good returns, but I see no future in attempting to change your mind. You said you had a business proposition for me?"

Horgus sat up straighter. "Yes, that's right. Whatever is happening on the surface, I am determined to find out. And I'm sure you have no intentions of living out the rest of your days in this village. We must find a route back to the surface, to the city. Or whatever is left of it."

Mahi nodded slowly as Gwerm gave her a studying look. "Unless I miss my mark, you are a spellcaster. A sorcerer or a wizard. Regardless, spells are always useful, especially in dire circumstances such as this." He inhaled slowly. "You are strong, and experienced. Miss Tirabade has vouched for you, and though we have our differences I'm not fool enough to scorn her opinion in such matters. Alas, I am not as fit as I once was, and am no longer suited for traipsing through caves and playing at scouts. My proposition is simple, dear girl: lead me back to the city, and I will pay you the sum of one thousand gold."

Mahi watched Gwerm, humming thoughtfully to herself as she thought. Camellia leaned over, and whispered, "I suggest we help him. It is good to have friends among the Kenabres elite."

It wasn't much additional weight on the scale, but it was something to be considered. "Two thousand gold."

Horgus' gaze became piercing. "Are you taking advantage of my dire circumstances?"

"Not at all. You are paying for the services of several experienced adventurers and at least one experienced hunter of the neather clan whose settlement you are currently trapped in. I am merely setting a more accurate price on the value of our experience. I might even be underestimating our value." Mahi's expression was impassive as she met Horgus' gaze unflinchingly. The tension grew for a long moment as each watched the other for a sign of weakness.

Ultimately, Gwerm broke first. "Pah. Well, far be it from me to dictate the price of the service I am purchasing. I didn't imagine you as an Abadaran, but you certainly argue like one! Two thousand gold, then. But no more!"

Mahi's expression broke into a sly smile. "I'm no Abadaran, but I know my own value. Could I persuade you to pay half up front? I haven't much to barter with, so I will have to hope the neathers understand coinage if I want to resupply before heading out. To that end, I will need coin."

"I would normally be happy to give half up front. Alas, I have only the clothes on my back and no coin at all. My wealth is all on the surface."

Mahi frowned slightly, but nodded. "Very well. I accept your offer."

"Excellent. Normally, I'd seek to draw up a proper contract, but such things are beyond our means at the moment. A hand shake will have to suffice." He stood and held out his hand.

"I have no reason to doubt your word, Lord Gwerm. A verbal agreement and a handshake is a good enough seal for me," Mahi replied, rising and grasping his hand firmly. A quick shake, and the deal was made.

"Excellent. Now, I shan't intrude any longer. Once you find a path to the surface, come find me. Until then," Gwerm said, stepping away from the table. He glanced once more at Camellia, then walked away. Not far, simply to another table where Anevia had recently taken a seat. Her flushed face and slightly glazed eyes made it clear she had been given something to help with the pain, and she looked about ready to slump across the table and sleep it off.

If Anevia was there, then Wenduag must be... Mahi managed to not flinch as the neather woman's voice rumbled right beside her ear. "Finally, he's gone."

Both Seelah and Camellia jolted slightly when Wenduag spoke up. Mahi simply tilted her head, looking up at the neather. "Welcome back. Good timing, I was about to go looking for you. Would it be possible for us to have a meal before we bunk down?"

Wenduag's lips curled, but she nodded. "Yeees, I think that won't be a problem. I'll bring you all something," she said, stepping back from Mahi. As soon as she was away, Seelah shook her head.

"You're surprisingly unflappable, Mahi."

"I noticed Anevia sitting alone," Mahi said, indicating the woman who was now having an animated discussion with Horgus Gwerm - it didn't look friendly, but it didn't look like it would come to blows, either. "But I couldn't see Wenduag anywhere, so she'd either run off for some reason, or...."

"She was sneaking up behind you. Observant," Seelah said, nodding.

"You learn to be, on the road. And you learn to be, as a tiefling. Sometimes the guy who disappears from the bar is just going home. Sometimes he's planning to grab the hornhead when she goes outside to pee, and remind her that 'this village doesn't need the likes of you.'" Mahi managed to keep most of the bitterness out of her voice, but a glance at Seelah showed a furious expression.

"Does that happen often?"

"More than you'd hope, less than you'd fear. Most often it'd be a refusal to serve from the innkeeper or bartender. Sometimes the local guardsmen would meet me right as I walked into town and walk me right back out. Worst is when it happens while I'm already sleeping." She smiled mirthlessly. "I make sure to sleep in clothes and keep one hand on my pack now. Learned it the hard way three days after leaving home for the first time. Nothing like walking for three days in nothing but your unders to drive a lesson deep."

Seelah looked appalled, but further discussion was forestalled by Wenduag's return. She dropped a roast fish on the table, then deftly set down four mugs before sitting across from Mahi. "Dig in, uplanders."

The fish smelled okay - in fact, it smelled pretty delicious. This in spite of the fact that it had three eyes and several visible growths throughout its body, and was clearly seasoned with little more than salt. "Hmm. Corrupted, I see," Mahi mumbled, poking at one of the growths. Wenduag rolled her eyes.

"We eat what we can get, and here, that means this. Don't like it? Go hungry."

Mahi delicately sliced a filet off the side of the fish. "I'm not picky. Better than going to bed hungry," she said. Seelah clearly concurred as she reached in to cut her own serving, leaving only Camellia staring at the fish with a disgusted look.

"I'd rather starve."

Wenduag shrugged. "Suit yourself. Just don't fall behind in the Maze, or something less picky might decide to eat you instead." She leered unpleasantly, baring her teeth. Camellia sneered, and glanced at her mug instead.

"What is this filth?! Ditch water?"

"Mushroom ale. It's good for you," Wenduag said, taking a drink. Even she couldn't hide the slight grimace.

Mahi picked up her mug, peeking inside. The liquid was brown and looked downright muddy, and it smelled very strongly like mud to boot - underneath an alcohol scent that made her nose crinkle. "Eh, I've had worse," she mumbled. "Wenduag, have you seen Lann?"

"He's probably off sulking somewhere about how lonely he is," the neather woman said in a nasty tone. "Don't worry about him."

"I had something I wanted to talk to everyone about, but... I guess I'll tell him later." She sighed, then raised her mug. "First, a toast. To the lost and the fallen. To Terendelev, and every unknown crusader who fell in the attack. May Pharasma's judgement be swift and true." Seelah and Camellia raised their mugs and tapped against Mahi's. Wenduag seemed skeptical, but eventually did the same. Then Seelah and Mahi tipped their mugs back and drained them.

Well, Seelah attempted to, but broke into a coughing fit at the first gulp. "Gods, that's horrendous!" she wheezed, setting the mug down as she attempted to cough up her lung.

Mahi concurred - the ale was thick and sludgy, and it poured down her throat like she was attempting to eat an ooze. And in much the same way, it left her mouth feeling numb from the alcohol. By and large, it tasted as it smelled and looked: like mud. Still, unlike Seelah, she managed to choke it down.

"Yeah, I've had worse," she wheezed, the alcohol burn making her throat feel tight and rushing immediately to her head. "Not much worse, mind. But at least there's nothing living in this."

Seelah groaned, pushing the mug away. "Dont breathe in my direction or I'm gonna be sick. Too much mushroom for me."

Wenduag smirked, taking Seelah's mug and pouring the contents into her own. "More for me. What about you, Mahi? Have another."

"No, thank you. What proof is that, anyway?"

"Proof?"

"How much alcohol?"

"It's all alcohol."

"Yeah, okay, fair. Set myself up for that, I think." Mahi shook her head. "I'll worry about that later. For now, I have something I need to talk to you all about."

She sighed, scrubbing at her face with one hand. "I guess I'll just say it outright. I'm suffering from some form of amnesia. I pieced together that I'm missing about three and a half years. My last memory prior to today is from the seventh of Calistril, 4712, in Nerosyan."

The response was lacking. Wenduag tilted her head, clearly doing some sort of mental calculation. Camellia looked interested, but in the polite way that made it clear she didn't actually care. Mahi sighed. "Sorry, I expected that to be more of a shocking revelation."

"Oh, I'm certainly shocked. But I don't think it's anything to worry about." Camellia drummed her fingers on the table. "So you don't remember the last few years. Does that matter?"

"It matters to me. And it might matter to you all, too. Look, there's not many things I know of that can cause selective loss of memory like that. When it comes as the result of a head wound, amnesia usually isn't so selective about what it removes. All of my memories prior to that day are fine. And I can recall the events of today perfectly." Mahi traced her fingertips over the rough stone surface of the table. "Having a discrete chunk of memories removed like that can only be the work of magic. And here in the Worldwound, the most likely explanation I can think of is... demons."

That got a bit more of a reaction, with Camellia's brow furrowing and Wenduag going still. "Demons in general aren't really known for playing the long game. But Baphomet's cultists are. I don't know why I have this wound or why my memories are gone. I know that I wouldn't have willingly participated in any cultist schemes, three years ago. But a lot can happen in three years, and I remember none of it.

"I just think you all have the right to know what you're getting into- a lot of questions without many answers. You're potentially joining up with a sleeper agent or worse. If you'd rather not be involved... I understand."

Camellia hummed thoughtfully. "It's always a risk to meet new people. You never know when somebody might have a dark secret. I can't say you've given me a reason to distrust you so far," she said, looking sincere. She gave one of her tight-lipped not-quite-smiles. "I'll stand by you. I think it will be interesting either way."

"You already know my answer," Seelah said, slapping Mahi on the back hard enough to make her nearly faceplant into the fish. "You can rely on me!"

"Appreciated," the tiefling wheezed, trying very hard not to cough all over the food and Wenduag. The neather had an odd expression, thoughtful and uncertain.

"It doesn't matter to me," she said finally, her expression shifting to affected nonchalance. "My concern is getting you through the Shield Maze. Anything other than that is your business."

There was something there she wasn't saying, but Mahi didn't call it out. "Well. I guess... that's settled, then. Wenduag, where are we sleeping?"

"Over this way," the neather woman said, rising from the table and draining her mug. Mahi and the others followed as Wenduag lead the way to a large hut halfway around the hill. "This hut is shared by all the hunters, but there's space for you three. Just don't touch anything that isn't yours."

"Goes without saying, I'd think," Seelah said, ducking her head to enter the hut. It was cozy inside, and the beds were simple, but at least they weren't just simple bed rolls on the hard floor - they were elevated, and there was space beneath for personal effects to be placed, which Mahi and Seelah immediately took advantage of. Camellia looked disgusted at the state of the hut, but eventually sat gingerly on a bed and pulled her boots off, taking the opportunity to rub her sore feet.

It took some time before Mahi and Seelah could do the same, as Mahi had to help Seelah out of her armor again. But eventually they were all seated or lounging.

"Alright. We'll be heading out early, so get as much sleep as you can. Prepare any gear you need now," Mahi said, stifling a yawn. The fatigue of the day was pulling at her eyelids. "Desna watch over our dreams."

She lay her head down - and between blinks, she was asleep.

---

As she slept, Mahi dreamed. She was in a warm place, green light filtering to her eyes through tree branches, a breeze tickling her nose with the scent of flowers. In the distance, a song played, familiar and strange in equal parts.

"Hello? Please, please, if you can hear this, heed my words!" A sweet feminine voice cut into the dream. While melodious and pleasant, the desperation in the tone soured the air around Mahi, and the pleasant smell on the breeze was replaced with the smell of oily smoke. The source of the voice was close, and Mahi turned to see her. She caught only a glimpse of pale skin and raven hair, a swirl of blue butterflies, as the voice continued, "Please, you have to act quickly! The Wardstone is compromised! You need to purify it, or all of Kenabres - no, all of Mendev - could pay the price! Please!"

The voice faltered, and faded out slowly, still pleading for anyone to heed her plea. The butterflies settled around Mahi, but the figure she only glimpsed for a moment was nowhere to be found. Slowly, the dream changed around Mahi, and she found herself sinking deeper. The warmth around her faded, leaving behind a chill that had her shivering. The green light and the forest faded as well, into a simple darkness that stretched beyond all imagining, oppressive in its simple omnipresence.

Mahi could feel herself moving, so it was no surprise when her feet touched down on a hard surface she couldn't see. Through the oppressive darkness, a red light gleamed, occasionally brightening and dimming along with the pulse of a wound on Mahi's chest. She found herself moving forward, toward the red light, at a constant speed. Even if she took no steps, the dream bore her along.

Soon she stood before it. A great purple gem, exposed in a wall of black granite. Every few heartbeats, red light pulsed out from the center. Mahi found herself drawn in, her gaze lingering on a facet of the stone that seemed remarkably clear.

She felt a sense of fear and anticipation as she approached. The stone was covered in a layer of frost, and she reached up to brush it away and see inside. Her hand came closer and closer to the stone....

But before she touched it, the ground fell beneath her. She tumbled down into darkness, her fall much more turbulent and wild until she realized she wasn't falling but rising, rising, rising!

Mahi jerked once as she burst out of sleep, her hand outstretched in front of her. She blinked in the darkness, her mind racing but her thoughts incoherent and jumbled. She sat up, looking around the hut as her eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness.

She could see Wenduag, sleeping on her belly to accommodate her spider limbs, which twitched and flexed in her sleep. Camellia was sprawled, one leg hanging off the bed and her sleek hair a messy halo around her head. Even in her sleep she wore that snake amulet. Seelah was a solid lump, and she had curled up into a tight ball on the cot. Her snores were thunderous, but soothing, soothing enough that Mahi felt her racing heart slowing as she listened.

She took a deep breath, steadying her mind as she focused on the dream - or was it two different dreams? Desna often communicated with her followers in dreams, and Mahi had been party to many such dreams in her life - though, of course, it was sometimes difficult to know what dreams would be important until the moment arrived.

This was one of the more straightforward dreams she'd had. A voice - not Desna's, or at least Mahi felt sure it wasn't though she'd never heard the goddess' voice before - calling out and giving a dire warning in plain common? That was as straightforward a dream as one could get. It matched up with the report from Terendelev about the Desnan novices and the warning they'd received from their dreams.

No wonder they'd been frustrated when the authorities refused to take their dreams seriously! This required no interpretation, no deep study to decipher; the Wardstone is compromised, something must be done. Anywhere else in the world, and such a straightforward dream would be instantly suspect, even to a devout believer. But here? Desna wouldn't leave her followers unwatched this close to the Worldwound. She wouldn't permit a demon foolish enough to try subverting her followers' dreams to survive the attempt.

On the other hand... she could understand skepticism from someone who didn't have a connection to the Great Dreamer. Any follower would be certain, instantly, on hearing a description of the dream. But not Hulrun. Probably not even more reasonable authority figures.

Mahi shook her head, chasing away those circling thoughts. It was a moot point anyway. The warning hadn't stopped anything. Nobody had believed in it save for the devout, and the novices had failed in their attempts to fix the problem on their own. And then Deskari broke it entirely. A total failure all around.

More concerning at the moment was the other half of her dream. It was like no dream she'd ever had before. It was hard to think about it - it wanted to slip through her fingers in the fleeting way dreams often did, and only long years of practice keeping track of her dreams allowed her to keep a grip on it. Even so, details were fading and it was hard to remember everything.

And she had no idea what to make of it. It felt revelatory, but the revelation hadn't actually come to her. Perhaps if she had managed to touch the crystal... there had been something inside. A shape, visible due to the pulsing light inside the crystal.

She hadn't gotten a good look, and any details she had caught were already faded as time softened the edges of the dream. She laid her head down and sighed, her racing thoughts tamed, ready for her to return once more to sleep.

… She said, to return once more to sleep.

… Okay, well, that clearly wasn't happening. Even though her mind was settled and clear, sleep still evaded her like the canny creature it tended to be. She groaned softly, then kicked her hooves off the bed. She dressed in her spare clothes and exited the hut.

The village was quiet, most of the torches doused and what few lamps existed shuttered. The natural luminescence of the mushrooms dotted around the village gave a sort of quiet, grey morning feel to the air. Even so, some of the neathers had clearly started their days already. By the water's edge, some were washing clothes while others hauled up nets from the deeper water. Still others repaired nets with bits of string.

In the communal area, Anevia had fallen asleep at her table. Some kind soul had wrapped what looked like a rough blanket around her, but otherwise she was out like a light, snoring and drooling on the table with her splinted leg propped up on the opposite bench. Mahi didn't envy her the backache she'd likely experience as a result of this position. A somewhat matronly neather - as matronly as a woman who looked like an unfortunate lab accident involving an antelope and a cicada could be - was seated nearby, grinding what appeared to be dried mushrooms in a stone quern.

"Ah, uplander," she called quietly as she spotted Mahi. "You're up early. Bed not comfortable enough?" Her voice was deep and had an insectile tick behind her words, and her common was heavily accented. Still, she smiled pleasantly as Mahi approached.

"I've slept worse places. At least I wasn't directly on the ground," Mahi replied, sitting on a stool opposite the neather. "Alas, sleep has decided to elude me this morning - I assume it is morning."

The woman laughed. "Oh, near enough, near enough. Still some time before first gong, at least," she said, lifting the top stone from her quern and scooping the rough milled mushroom flour into a mound, to which she added more mushrooms. Mahi watched with fascination.

"I'd never considered making flour from mushrooms. Can you bake bread with it?"

"Not bake, no. Bread won't rise. We fry it on stones, or form uncooked cakes to thicken soup with," the neather said, resetting the quern. She manipulated the stone with surprising strength, twisting and pushing it with a slight rasping sound.

Mahi continued to observe, occasionally looking up at other workers. "Do you mind if I ask some questions?" she asked, looking back to the matron. She shook her head, pausing to brush some sweat-damp hair from her face.

"I don't mind, uplander. Though if you're talking, your hands should be busy. You know how to make bread?"

"Simplest way is flour, water, salt. I've made trail bread before," Mahi said, sitting up a bit straighter. The neather woman nodded.

"Good. Sift the flour and give me any pieces that don't make it through to regrind, then make up portions of dough. Use this bowl to measure." She handed Mahi a basket inside a clay pot, a smaller clay bowl, a slab of stone that made the tiefling's arms shake, and slid over a clay pot full of water that was still slightly steaming from being boiled. "Use salt sparingly, it's worth more than its weight down here."

Mahi nodded, setting the slab down as her work surface. She cleaned her hands and the slab with a quick prestidigitation cantrip, making the neather woman ooh in surprise. As she began to sift the flour, the neather woman resumed her grinding.

"So, what are the nets made out of?" Mahi asked a few minutes later, once she'd settled into the routine of sifting the flour.

"Mushrooms. There's a type that is made up of tough fibers. Not much good for eating and you couldn't make cloth from it, but if processed correctly the strands can be woven into rope and string," the neather woman replied.

The work continued, Mahi asking questions of the neather's lifestyles and livelihoods and receiving detailed responses that often inspired more questions. The caves provided much for those willing to learn how to get it, and Mahi could tell that she was barely scratching the surface. Mushrooms provided textiles, wood, food, safe drink and light. Other creatures in the environment provided further resources and diversity in options. Spider silk was particularly prized both for the difficulty in safely harvesting it and for the quality of the fabric that could be made.

But the caves couldn't provide everything. The neathers often suffered major deprivation of things Mahi largely took for granted. Metal was a big one - though Kenabres was built over sedimentary rock, and there was plentiful iron to be found in her mines, the process of smelting and processing that iron the neathers could reach required equipment the neathers weren't easily able to build.

Soon enough, Mahi had made dozens of servings of dough which had been loaded into another basket and set aside to proof before they could be cooked. In the process, she had exhausted her own supply of questions, and instead she had engaged the neather woman in the favorite pastime of anyone who lives in a tight-knit community - gossip. Which, admittedly, meant little to Mahi herself, but it was good conversation to while away the morning. And it was a little disappointing when their conversation had to come to an end.

"Mahi. I need to talk to you."

The neather woman looked up and greeted Wenduag in their own language, as Mahi looked around at the hunter behind her. She looked... pensive, almost nervous, and she greeted the matron tersely. Mahi's interest was piqued, and she turned back to the matron with an apologetic smile. "Duty calls. Thank you for the interesting conversation," she said, bowing her head slightly.

"And thank you, uplander, for your help. We'll have plenty of bread made today, thanks to you."

Mahi smiled and rose, turning away before brushing stray flour from her hands and clothes. Wenduag jerked her head at Mahi, and lead her away from the common area - in fact, she lead her away from the village itself. She didn't say anything at first, and Mahi followed the hunter's lead, even as a sense of unease started to settle into her. She wasn't afraid of Wenduag - but that didn't mean she fully trusted her. She had no illusions about how dangerous the neather could be.

Finally, the silence had stretched on too long. "Where are you taking me?"

"Somewhere we won't be interrupted."

Mahi's tail twitched. "To what end, exactly?" She kept her voice level, almost bored. Wenduag glanced back over her shoulder.

"Stop nattering, you'll bring beasts down on our heads. We're almost there."

"Not an answer," Mahi grumbled, but Wenduag ignored her. The neather woman suddenly turned, ducking into a tight crevice in the rock face. Mahi almost missed it, but managed to squeeze in behind her, scooting along in uncomfortable silence until they emerged into a little cavern.

It was small and cozy, with a small patch of mushrooms growing in one corner to provide a little light. Moss covered the floor in a thick carpet, making it almost spongy beneath the feet, and one corner was dominated by a large pitcher-shaped mushroom. Mahi had learned from the neather matron that these mushrooms filtered and purified water before storing it in a cavity at their center.

There was a small lean-to in the cave, and it bore signs of infrequent use. Wenduag paused, looking around carefully before relaxing. She beckoned Mahi to sit near an unlit fire, where a pair of stones had been set-up as seats. She ducked into the lean-to for a moment and came out with two sealed clay pots. She broke the seal on one and handed the other to Mahi. The pungent smell of mushroom ale hit Mahi's nose. Wenduag drank deeply, before fidgeting with the pot.

"Drink," she said curtly.

"I'd rather not."

"You'll need it for this conversation."

Mahi's eyes narrowed, but she cracked open the seal on her pot of ale. It smelled even more pungent than the one she had drunk the night before, and even the smell had her feeling like she was going to throw up. But she was interested in whatever Wenduag was going to tell her, so she took a gulp, shuddering as the thick liquid poured down her throat.

"Okay. I drank. Now what did you bring me here for?"

Wenduag drummed her fingers on her drink, fidgeting nervously before standing and starting to pace restlessly. "I'm not sure where I should start," she muttered, her tail lashing. "The Shield Maze. You know I've been in deep."

"Of course."

"Don't interrupt." The words came out in a snap. It took a moment for the agitation to ease as Wenduag continued pacing. "The Shield Maze isn't... there's not just monsters there. There's cultists living in the Maze, under the guidance of their leader, Hosilla." Wenduag paused, her spider limbs twitching and flexing. "I... I am... one of them."

She hesitated again, glancing toward Mahi. Whatever she was looking for, she didn't seem to find it on the tiefling's impassive face. She snarled, pacing again. There was silence for a long moment while Mahi absorbed the blunt confession. It was surprising - and made some of Wenduag's behavior much more clear. But why reveal this now? She finally spoke up, choosing her words delicately. "How did you come to be in her service?"

Wenduag flinched at the question, her expression becoming clouded. "I.... she and her cultists captured me and a band of other hunters when we attempted to enter the Maze. We were beaten, starved. Forced to endure humiliation. Then we were offered a choice - join the cultists, or die."

She swallowed, her expression distant. "I chose to join."

"Why?" She couldn't keep the question in - it came out harsh, the tip of a rapier probing Wenduag's armor. Some part of her, deep down, was starting to pulse, incredulous fury rising through her as she stared up at the neather.

Wenduag turned, snarling defensively. "Do you think I should have laid down and died instead? Hosilla tortured me, but she never broke me. I chose to serve her because she was strong, and being her servant made me stronger."

"Hosilla never broke you?" Mahi couldn't keep the incredulous scoff out of her voice as she surged to her hooves. "Bullshit, Wenduag. You're nothing but her dog, barking at her command. And you've convinced yourself that capitulation is strength." That seemed to sting - Wenduag flinched back, her lips drawing back from her teeth before anger filled her expression.

"And what about you?" Wenduag snapped, stepping threateningly forward toward Mahi. "You've admitted you have no idea what happened to you over the last three years. How can you say with certainty that you've not done the exact same thing?!"

Mahi sneered, the comeback rolling over her easily. "Hiding from the facts by throwing accusations at me is the behavior of a coward. Does the truth hurt you? Does it scare you? Or have you blinded yourself to it entirely? Let me lay the truth out for you clearly, then." She surged forward, planting a hand in Wenduag's chest as the rage inside of her flared.

"The truth is Hosilla broke you like an animal," she hissed, her claws biting into Wenduag's chest. "She hurt you and starved you and humiliated you - and in the end you kissed her feet and begged for the pain to stop! You let her take everything from you, and you have the temerity to call that strength?"

Wenduag snarled and lashed out, her fist cutting toward Mahi's temple. The tiefling recoiled, lashing out with bared claws as her head rang from the impact. Wenduag stumbled away, her tunic torn, as Mahi lunged and shoved her hard.

The neather's back hit the wall, Mahi's claws pressed to her throat, her eyes wide and... scared? Scared of what, Mahi? The rage pulsing inside of her had exploded outward, leaving her feeling like her skin was taut and burning, unable to contain all of her. She had meant to shake Wenduag up, but this was more than that. The rage in her core fed into the darker impulses from her fiendish blood. A part of her - a part far more tempting than she was ever comfortable admitting - wanted to keep going. To hurt this creature under her claws, to bring her to the perfection of pain and agony and terror.

She snarled, pulling it all back with a tremendous effort of will. "I don't want to hear excuses, Wenduag. I don't want to hear justifications. Why are you telling me this? What do you want from me?"

"I want...." Wenduag hesitated for a moment before steeling her expression. "I want you to help me kill Hosilla."

Mahi snorted, pulling her hand away from Wenduag's throat and stepping back. The neather rubbed her throat, looking down at the shorter woman with half-lidded eyes. "I like this side of you," Wenduag purred.

"I don't," Mahi replied shortly, turning her back on Wenduag and starting to pace. She was feeling the shakes, an adrenaline dump accompanying the growing ache in her head from the punch that had clipped her. "Why do you want Hosilla dead? Didn't you say she 'made you strong?'" She spat the words, glaring at Wenduag through the corner of her eye.

"And you said that was a lie I was telling myself," Wenduag pointed out sullenly. "I had no choice but to work with Hosilla. But you're strong. The other uplanders, they're strong too, but you're... I don't understand it myself, but there's something about you. Between the four of us, I think we have a chance. And anyway, you uplanders aren't making it back to the surface without killing her."

Mahi shook her head. "Of course we aren't." She paused, then turned to return to her seat. She wasn't sure of the wisdom of showing her back to Wenduag, but she wasn't about to start showing the neather woman any fear now. It seemed likely that showing fear or weakness to Wenduag was likely to be a fatal mistake.

"What did your service to Hosilla entail?" She finally looked back up at Wenduag, who hadn't moved from where Mahi had pushed her.

"Whatever Hosilla desired. Most of it was simply being available for her to... use." Wenduag grimaced slightly, turning her head slightly to not look at Mahi directly. "She enjoyed hurting me, but mostly she enjoyed hurting anyone. Sometimes she'd make me help her torture someone else. Other neathers, uplanders, cultists who had earned her ire. If I refused, I'd join them on the rack. It was easier to... to capitulate. To do as she asked."

Mahi nodded slowly, her eyes sharp as she watched Wenduag's face. "What else?"

Wenduag frowned, her shoulders rolling forward slightly as her eyes unfocused. "Two things. First, I was to ensure that my tribe as a whole stayed out of the Shield Maze," she said, slowly. "And second.... I was to bring anyone from my tribe I considered to be worthy to Hosilla. She was always in need of more servants, and neathers were favored by her." Wenduag's tone was flat, but her expression seemed more conflicted. Mahi's eyes narrowed.

"And? Did you bring anyone to her?"

Wenduag's eyes flicked up to Mahi's face. She hesitated for a long moment, before her chin dipped - a single nod. "Yes."

Mahi snarled, the rage spiking again. "How many?" The words came out too clipped, more of a statement than a question.

Wenduag crossed her arms over her belly. "Some. I tried to avoid it, but Hosilla threatened me for not bringing any. So I tried to limit the number, as much as possible. Only those who followed me to the maze on their own. It's worked up to now, but I think she's starting to get suspicious."

Mahi closed her eyes, letting her head fall forward into her hands. "This is too much...." she mumbled, rubbing her face as she considered Wenduag's words. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Like you said, the more you know the better you can prepare. And..." She paused, looking down at the cold fire pit. Her next words came out slow and careful as she organized her thoughts about them. "I don't want to keep being Hosilla's slave. I was looking for ways to escape but I wasn't able to come up with something on my own. I was starting to believe it was impossible until I met you. You took up the angel's sword. I thought I could manipulate you into taking care of her for me. But you were even stronger than I thought - you saw right through me. I'd rather put my faith in the stronger side."

Mahi frowned. "Do you think killing her is enough to be free of her?"

Wenduag's expression froze, her eyebrows curving inward. "I... what do you mean?"

"I mean that Hosilla broke you. In the end, you chose to live as her slave. You were her willing servant. And killing her won't erase that. Kneeling to me as a stronger master won't erase that. You cannot be free when you're living on your knees," Mahi said bluntly, staring Wenduag down. The neather looked away first, her pride stung.

"You're the one who said a person can change as long as they're alive," she said bitterly. "Isn't this part of that? She's done so many bad things. She's the reason I did bad things."

"Don't deny your own agency in this. You had a choice, Wenduag. Maybe you wouldn't have done the things you did if she hadn't captured you in the first place, but you still chose. You chose to prioritize your own life over everything else, and the cost was your soul. And then you kept doing it. You could have resisted or fought back or even just run away at any time, but you didn't."

Wenduag slumped, her shoulders hunching. She slid to a crouched position, hugging her knees. She didn't look at Mahi. "So... what should I have done? Would you have chosen to die?"

Mahi's voice softened. "I don't know. I've not had to face that choice... as far as I recall. But some things are worth dying for." She sighed. "Rather than worrying about what you should have done, worry about what you will do. You can't erase the choices you've made. Killing Hosilla won't change the past. If you want to change, I'm willing to help you through it. But it's not something that is as easy as killing one person. It's work. And it starts with making a different choice."

Wenduag's brow furrowed, and she looked pensive. She and Mahi sat in silence for a long moment, before Mahi sighed.

"Tell me about what we should expect in the Maze," Mahi said curtly. Wenduag looked up, then nodded.

"Hosilla herself is quite powerful, but her true strength lies in the cult she's surrounded herself with. The strongest members bear the title of 'Hand of Hosilla.' She has two of them, Adet and Renna. Adet is a cleric, and Renna is... well, she was once a paladin. Those two are a threat on their own. Hosilla also has a few cambions in her service, along with a small army of corrupted neathers."

"Corrupted?"

"Hosilla has a... a ritual, of sorts. She performs it on neathers." Wenduag swallowed, looking at the ground. "It makes neathers more powerful. But most of them lose their minds and become little more than beasts. I survived it."

"What does the ritual entail?"

Wenduag stared at the ground for a long moment, before slowly shaking her head. "I'm not ready to go into detail. I will say it involves eating the flesh of... of a person."

Mahi's eyes widened slightly, and she leaned in as she examined Wenduag. "I see. That's... not good."

Wenduag swallowed, shaking her head. "The other neathers who went through it lost their minds, but they're very strong now. We'll need to be careful with them."

She paused, her forehead scrunching. "The biggest obstacle would be if Savamelekh is there. I've never seen him myself, but his poison is necessary for Hosilla's ritual. Hosilla may have called on him if she was planning to perform the ritual with those kids. I don't know what we can do if he's there."

Mahi frowned. "I guess we'll have to hope he's not there, then. Anything else?"

"Nothing I can think of."

"Alright." She looked at Wenduag with a serious expression. "How much do you want to tell the others?"

Wenduag curled in on herself, crossing her arms defensively. "Do we have to tell them anything?"

"They're not stupid, Wenduag. I'm not keeping the tactical information from them, and they're going to have questions about where we got that information. And eventually we're going to fight Hosilla. The more you tell them up front, the less suspicious they will be of you." Mahi paused, her expression softening. "I'm giving you the choice. I won't make it for you."

Wenduag fidgeted, then nodded. "Seelah and Camellia, we'll tell them. As much as I've told you. Not the tribe. Not yet."

In the distance, there was a quiet crash. Wenduag's head jerked up. "First gong. This took longer than I thought. We should go back."

"You go ahead. I need a moment," Mahi said. Wenduag's brow furrowed, then she shrugged.

"Don't get lost on your way back. And don't be too long."

Wenduag left. Mahi stared into the dregs of her ale pot, her thoughts sluggish but constantly churning.

"What have I gotten myself into," she muttered, frustration starting to bubble inside her. She let it out with a snarled "Fuck!" as she threw the ale pot across the cavern to shatter against the wall. The frustration propelled her upward to her hooves, and she paced and snarled under her breath, spitting invectives.

A thump from the lean-to startled her out of her anger, and she turned quickly, her hand coming up ready to cast. A shape emerged from the interior, shaking its head. Tall, male, half his body like a lizard - it had to be....

"Lann. How long have you been in there?" Mahi struggled to keep her tone neutral.

"The whole time. I guess I got lucky when she didn't find me," Lann said, his tone subdued. "Who knows what she would have done?"

Mahi frowned. "I wouldn't have let her hurt you."

Lann scoffed. "You seem pretty friendly with her to me. What's one more sin to ignore?"

"I'm not ignoring anything. Condemning her as a monster isn't productive. She came to me to tell me the truth, on her own volition. Shoving it back in her face wouldn't have helped anything. She has to believe there's a path back."

Lann shook his head. "Where's the line, Mahi? If betraying the tribe and cannibalism isn't a step too far, what is? Or is it only a problem if it happens to you?"

"If she's willing to put in the effort to change, I'm not going to give up on her. I believe that people can change, that we are not born good or wicked, that our choices matter - including what we choose to do next. I have to believe it, or else what's the point?"

"And if she isn't willing to put in the effort?"

Mahi looked up at Lann, her expression hardening. "Then I'll make sure she isn't a threat to anyone anymore."

Lann stared at her for a few heartbeats, then sighed and nodded. "Fine. Maybe your way will work, in the end."

"Are you going to go into the Maze with us?"

"With you, no. I can't trust my back to Wenduag, not now. I'll go in separately, maybe shadow you all."

"Alright. Safe hunting. I should get going before I'm missed," Mahi said, turning toward the entrance to the little cave.

"Mahi."

She paused, looking back at Lann. He frowned, then shook his head. "Just be careful, alright? With Wenduag and in general."

She nodded. "I will."

Then she slipped through the crack in the rock, leaving Lann alone with his thoughts.

"So explain again why you're trusting her?"

Seelah's low mutter made Mahi's tail flick, and she bit back an irritated sigh. "Trust is a strong word. I'm extending an opportunity for her to prove herself. That's all."

The journey to the Shield Maze took the party over the water in a shabby rowboat. Wenduag was in the prow, guiding Seelah, who was rowing. The prevailing attitude between members of the party was "thinly veiled hostility," after Mahi and Wenduag had explained everything once they were out over the water.

"I thought you followed Desna, not Sarenrae," Seelah muttered between oar strokes.

"Sarenrae is a fine goddess, and I've taken comfort in some of her teachings. Seelah, I'm a tiefling. There are things I can't easily explain to you, that any tiefling would understand instantly, about... about what it means to be a tiefling." Mahi sighed, looking into the dark water as far as her darkvision would penetrate. "I believe redemption is possible. I don't believe in people being too far gone to come back to the light. I have to believe."

Seelah sighed. "I understand better than you might think, but... Mahi, she told you she committed cannibalism. How do you come back from that?"

"I don't know. Maybe she can't, and when she dies, no matter how well she lived and strived for redemption in the rest of her life, Pharasma will still send her straight to the Abyss. But even if that is the case, she still has the rest of her life coming first. Surely it's better for her to live a life where she tries to be a better person than to die now, or worse, to live a life where she never believes there is any way for her to repent for the things she's done. And if she doesn't believe she can, why would she even try to live a good life?"

Seelah fell silent, other than the occasional grunt of effort as she rowed. For a moment, that and the sound of the oars cutting through the water were all that could be heard.

"Ugh. I can't really say you're wrong," she muttered finally. "But I don't trust her. Not yet. Wanting to get out of a bad situation she got herself into doesn't mean she cares about being a better person."

"I know. I'm not giving her a free pass here, Seelah."

"Okay. If you say so." She raised her voice. "How much further?"

"Speak quieter, your voice carries over the water," Wenduag snapped back. "Take us to the left. There's a beach we can land at."

A few minutes later, the boat bumped against the shore. Wenduag leapt out, taking the bowline and pulling the boat ashore. The others disembarked, helping to pull the boat, until it was well clear of the water.

"The entrance to the Maze is just up here. Hosilla doesn't usually post sentries, but we should probably expect to run into cultists inside," Wenduag said, collecting her bow from the bottom of the boat and stringing it quickly. The others followed suit to make sure they were prepared, and Mahi and Camellia cast their light spells. Wenduag snorted softly, but didn't make a complaint.

"How big is this maze?" Camellia asked, testing her draw and grip on her rapier before minutely adjusting the hang of its sheath.

"Big, and complex. This level is mostly living quarters. The true Maze goes downward several levels and sprawls. If I weren't here, you'd have to go through all of it," Wenduag said. "Fortunately, there's a simpler entrance, so that anyone returning to the Maze after hunting or scouting can just come straight in."

Mahi nodded, murmuring the incantation for mage armor. She'd spent part of the trip across the water focusing on her innate magic, realigning things so that the scar on her soul wasn't affecting the way she channeled her magic. The result was no further threat of her magic twisting out of her hands, and her mage armor was truly invisible once cast, lacking the shimmer from the day before. She gave Wenduag, who was not wearing armor, her own mage armor spell, to ensure everyone was at least somewhat protected.

Thusly prepared, the party ventured forth. Seelah took point, with Mahi at the second rank. Wenduag was behind her, with Camellia bringing up the rear. The entrance to the Maze was wedged open, as though the door had become stuck in its frame, and it took some effort for Seelah to get through.

The entrance hall was lit with guttering torches, and Mahi's eyebrows raised as she looked over the carvings on the walls. Baphomet's horns leered down at them from each side, and she had to suppress a shudder as the atmosphere took on a darker feeling - an almost oppressive pressure exuded by the unholy symbols, trying to wear them down, make them surrender to Baphomet's superiority.

"Cultists of Baphomet. Great," she muttered, wishing again that she had her symbol of Desna, if only for the psychological comfort. Seelah muttered a prayer to Iomedae, and the warm feeling of her faith washed away some of the cold oppression of Baphomet from the party.

There was a collapsed stairwell on one side of the room, but more obvious was a door that had been jarred open between the two most prominent carvings of Baphomet's symbol. Wenduag frowned at it. "That's the secret entrance. The earthquake must have broken it open and collapsed the way into the rest of the Maze. Lucky us."

They approached the entrance carefully. Wenduag called a halt as they got near, straining to listen. "Voices. Guards in the next room, I think."

Mahi signalled for lights to be covered, then crept up to the door with Wenduag. A cautious peek around the corner showed a group of six cultists. There was a crude barricade across the center of the room, with the only passage from one side to the other being guarded by two attentive cultists armed with glaives. The other four milled around, visible past the barricade but clearly engaged in conversation rather than watching the entrance closely.

Mahi pulled back, glancing toward Wenduag, then back at the rest of the party. "They're clearly prepared for an assault. I don't like our chances charging in from the front. They have this doorway well covered, we'd be pincushions in an instant," Mahi said quietly, her expression distant and thoughtful.

"Were they expecting us?" Seelah asked, her voice carefully pitched low.

"Probably not us specifically, but if the Maze's defenses broke in the earthquake, Hosilla might have been preparing for the possibility the tribe would attack to save those kids," Wenduag said, her brow furrowed with worry.

"And you're sure you didn't tell anyone we were coming?" Camellia didn't even bother to hide the accusatory tone. Wenduag bristled.

"I was with Lann or you all the entire time! I couldn't have told her, even if I wanted to!"

"Quiet down," Mahi said urgently. "Cams, she really hasn't had a chance to say anything. Let's not fall apart at the first hurdle. Wendu, can you distract them? Just for long enough for us to get close."

"Distract them? How?"

"They should still think you're with them. Just get them looking away from the entrance for a few moments, that's all we need."

Wenduag frowned, then nodded slowly. "I should be able to. I'll go ahead."

Mahi nodded, then waved Seelah and Camellia into position as Wenduag went through the door.

"Hey! Who is... oh. Its you." The cultist's voice carried easily to the rest of the party. "You're late, mongrel. Hosilla's not happy with you.*"

"I know. It was a disaster out there," Wenduag said, speaking in her normal languid drawl. "Where is she?"

"In her ritual chamber, where else? She locked it up tight, though."

Mahi glanced carefully around the corner. Eyes were on Wenduag as she passed through the barricade. "What took you so long, anyway?" The other guard spoke up now, his voice deeper and more severe.

"I had to convince the tribe it was a bad idea to come in after those kids," Wenduag said, her voice taking on an irritated edge. "What's it to you, anyway?"

"Ha! You should have heard them. They were so pathetic. Crying about how you'd lied to them, how you'd tricked them. It was a real riot. They'll be singing a different tune soon enough, haha!" This was the first guard, who had more of a mocking and nasally tone. The cultists broke into cruel laughter, Wenduag joining them a half-beat late.

"Well, I should-," Wenduag began, then fell silent as a glaive was suddenly resting on her shoulder. Mahi stiffened, covering her mouth to be sure she didn't gasp.

"Don't move. Hosilla's furious, mongrel. Ignoring her orders and letting a mob of your reeking kind get in here? Whatever you're up to, it ends here."

"I'm not up to anything! I told you, I was busy!" Wenduag snarled, letting her anger out in her voice. She ducked slightly to try and escape the blade, but the cultist kept up with her movement deftly, pressing the blade closer to her throat and making her stiffen nervously.

"Did you come alone?"

"Of c-course I did!" She couldn't stop the nervous catch in her voice, but she kept up her defiant glare all the same. The stern guard stared at her for a moment, then turned his head slightly, not taking his eyes off her.

"Go check," he ordered the mocking guard. Mahi ducked back quickly, glancing toward Seelah and Camellia, who both had grim expressions. "As for you, mongrel, Hosilla ordered us to detain you until she's ready to deal with you. Don't resist, or you'll wish I just killed you."

Mahi tensed, as footsteps drew closer to the door. She closed her eyes, clenching her fist, then stood up and stepped out swiftly.

"Hey, what the-" The guard's exclamation was cut off with a wet thud as Mahi's snowball slammed into his face, sending him stumbling back. She stepped through the doorway, breaking right just as Camellia came through behind her, calling on her spirit as her rapier glowed - then the glow vanished as she plunged it expertly into the cultist's body, driving it in at the unarmored spot under his arm and piercing both lungs in a single pinpoint thrust.

The other cultists roared in alarm, and Wenduag took advantage of the momentary distraction, taking the glaive at her throat in her hands and yanking it toward her. The cultist, distracted by the commotion, stumbled forward - and met Wenduag's dagger going the other direction, directly into his liver. She trapped his arm under hers and drove the dagger in twice more, spilling his guts before tossing him to the floor and dropping her dagger in favor of her bow.

Seelah charged forward, plunging past Wenduag in time to catch a bolt of fire across her shield. "Mahi, we have spellcasters here!" she called, twisting and slashing at a cultist trying to dart past her to get to Wenduag.

Mahi dashed forward and leapt to the top of the barricade, celestial light wreathing her claws as she pulled together a spell. She pointed at the spellcaster. "Hey, you! Did you hear the one about the banshee? It's a real scream!" Her voice shook with power, and the cultist gave her a confused look - until he started chuckling, then giggling, then keeled down to the floor in gales of hideous laughter.

Thunk! A bolt slammed into Mahi's side, making her mage armor flare blue as it pierced through. She hissed out a pained breath, and her leap down from the barricade turned into more of a topple. She lurched to her hooves as she hit the floor, launching a crossbow bolt blindly in the direction the lucky shot had come from. Camellia plunged through the gap, coming in to support Seelah, her rapier catching the unlucky cultist the paladin was engaged with in the side - moments before the paladin's sword came down in two swift chops, and her boot drove the cultist's body back off the blade.

"Mahi, you alright?" The paladin was panting a little, but her concern for Mahi was more evident in her voice.

"I'll live! Cams, take care of Chuckles! The rest of us will get the snipers!" Mahi commanded, taking a more steady shot at the snipers in question, who were huddling behind a toppled pillar for cover. Her bolt chattered off the top, and the sniper popped up with a mocking laugh - which was interrupted by Wenduag's heavy arrow piercing his chest and toppling him. Her next shot caught the other sniper as he was lifting his crossbow, but didn't take him out of the fight. His bolt leapt toward Seelah, who barely got her shield in the way in time, holding it up as she barreled across the room.

The awful laughing cut off as Camellia's rapier pierced the caster's back in two swift thrusts that tore his heart apart. Moments later, the combined efforts of Mahi, Wenduag and Seelah took out the last of the welcome party. Mahi panted, taking stock.

"Anyone hurt?" she asked, her voice tight with pain.

"You, dummy!" Seelah responded immediately, stepping over to Mahi to offer an arm for support. "Camellia, come help me with this."

"I have a name," Mahi joked weakly, then winced as Seelah helped her to a seated position. The paladin shook her head.

"I swear, you'll be making bad jokes on your death bed. Hold still, that needs to come out."

"Wait, hold on, I'm- aaagh!" Mahi bit back a shout of pain as Seelah grabbed the bolt and pulled it back out in one steady pull. Fortunately it hadn't gone deep, the mage armor having slowed it on its way in.

"Bodkin tips. Good thing they're not using broad heads," Seelah said, examining the bolt before tossing it aside. Mahi stammered through a stream of terrible curses, though most of them were in Infernal.

"Could have... given me a chance... to get ready for that," she panted, giving Seelah a baleful look. The paladin shrugged, unperturbed, as Camellia knelt down, her hand glowing as she pressed it to the wound. Mahi groaned softly, tensing, before slowly relaxing as the cure wounds spell sank into her, closing the wound and easing tension in her muscles.

Once she was healed, Seelah offered a hand and pulled Mahi to her feet. The sorcerer nodded gratefully. "Okay. That didn't quite go to plan. Still, we kept it together and fought well. Unfortunately, we definitely don't have surprise on our side anymore. So let's be careful moving forward," she said. "Wenduag, take point. You know this place best. Seelah, second rank, so you can step in quickly if someone gets the drop on us."

This marching order changed almost immediately when Wenduag stumbled into a trap in the next room - she was lucky enough to dodge it, but Camellia was moved to the front to check for such things. The party moved as quietly and quickly as they could - but the Maze was strangely empty. Wenduag's tension was obvious.

"Where is everybody?" Wenduag muttered, looking around the large common area. "There should be people here."

"Maybe Hosilla sent them to the surface to reinforce the attack on Kenabres as a whole?" Mahi suggested. Wenduag nodded slowly.

"Perhaps. If so, we're lucky. Come on, we have to go through the barracks," she said, pointing out the door. Mahi's eyes lingered on a strange arrangement of paintings on the wall near the door, as Wenduag tried the handle. "Locked."

Camellia stepped forward, nudging Wenduag aside and crouching to have a look at the lock. She hesitated, picks in hand. "It's enchanted. You have to use the key - or have a counter to the enchantment. I'm not that good," she said, standing up.

"Well... now what?"

"The only ones Hosilla trusts with keys are her right and left Hands," Wenduag said, turning to face the party. "If the key is on this side of the door, we'll have to find one of them. There's a basement for storage and training - we should search there." She indicated a door tucked into an alcove behind them.

The basement was flooded, apparently due to the earthquake breaking open the Kenabres aqueducts. Camellia complained at length about having to trudge through ankle deep water. Mahi kept her mouth shut, but wanted to point out that at least the half-elf had boots. The water was freezing. Her hooves quickly became numb, which made her clumsy on them.

The basement was as empty as everywhere else, and it was making Mahi's horns itch as they approached the last room, which Wenduag had explained as a training arena. She felt like the other shoe was about to drop, and if she didn't want it falling on her head, she'd have to be clever. Her paranoia meant her senses were even more focused than usual, and she came to a stop as a sound reached her from inside the room ahead. "Wait," she called quietly.

Another shuffling sound, then a little growl. A quiet voice murmuring something. A slight splash and a quiet curse.

"There's a few people in the room ahead. Not sure how many. More than one," Mahi said, her voice quiet. Wenduag glanced at her, then focused on the door.

"I hear them," she confirmed, then her spider legs twitched. "Neathers. I'm sure of it."

Seelah frowned. "Damn. How do you want to handle it?"

Wenduag frowned, then shook her head. "Hosilla's ritual broke their minds. There's nothing left of the person they used to be. They're better off dead." The firm declaration seemed to shake Seelah a little.

"Aren't some of them your kinfolk? Are you okay with just... killing them?" She pressed, watching Wenduag's face closely. The neather's expression went still.

"There's no way back once Hosilla's ritual is complete. There's nothing left of the people they were," Wenduag said, her tone flat and cold. "Killing them is a mercy."

Seelah grimaced and looked like she wanted to protest, but Mahi stepped forward to interrupt. "No point arguing about it. Maybe it would be possible to save them if we had a few clerics who knew what they were dealing with, but even then we'd still need to make sure we survived the fight first. Since we don't have any clerics, all we can do is make sure they suffer as little as possible. So let's plan for the fight first, alright?"

Seelah sighed, then nodded, stepping aside as Mahi considered for a moment. There was really only one way this could go.

"Seelah, you take point as we go through the door. Cams, back her up. Wendu and I will bring up the rear." The paladin nodded, taking up position in front of the door. On a count of three, she rushed it, putting her shield into it and knocking the door open as she rushed inside. Camellia was two paces behind and broke off to Seelah's right. Mahi and Wenduag slipped through a moment later, and Mahi faltered in her steps.

The room was about fifty feet across the long axis, roughly circular in shape. At one side was a raised dais. The floor was raised a bit compared to the hallway, meaning the water hadn't completely covered the floor in here. But the space was well-occupied all the same.

Up front, snarling but not moving to attack yet, was a half dozen corrupted neathers. They snarled at the intruders, eyes wild and teeth bared. Half of them were huge, easily matching Seelah's bulk and then some, while the rest were wiry and mean-looking. Between them, they were a whole menagerie of animalistic parts.

As intimidating as the neather vanguard was, it was the six others who were really setting off alarm bells in Mahi's head. Well, one of them in particular. He was crouched on the raised dais, an ornate and deadly-looking glaive in his hand, and he stood slowly to his full height as he looked down at them imperiously.

He was a tiefling, an almost stereotypical example of one, with skin the color of a ripe tomato, black hair, and a pair of horns that spiraled toward the ceiling, nearly straight up. He looked immaculately put together, his hair in a neat cut with not a single strand out of place and his beard shaped into a perfect pointed goatee. His armor gleamed, the steel breastplate polished to a mirror shine, and there wasn't a spot of filth or grime on him.

Flanking him were two more cultist snipers, heavy crossbows pointed down but ready to be brought up and fired. On the floor in front of the dais was a trio of other cultists, one apparent novice of Baphomet's clergy and two warriors who exuded a threatening confidence.

Being outnumbered three-to-one was honestly superfluous at this point. To Mahi's eyes, the strongest of their enemies would be a serious threat one-on-one, let alone in their current numbers. She made the only call she could - but she made it a moment too late.

"Fall back!" she called out, reversing course toward the door, but as she spoke the man at the center of the dais tapped the butt of his glaive down on the floor with a sharp "clack."

The door slammed closed behind them, making each of them jump in surprise and turn toward it - just a quick glance. But it emphasized just how much trouble they had just walked into.

"Leaving so soon?" The man on the dais spoke, his voice clear and confident. He stepped forward to the edge of the dais, looking down on them with a grin. "You've barely sampled our hospitality!"

"The hors d'ouevres didn't agree with us, I'm afraid," Mahi replied. Her voice didn't shake, but it wasn't as effortlessly confident as the man on the dais.

"Oh, how terrible. Don't worry, I'm sure something more suited to your taste will come along," he said, bowing affably. Mahi's eyes narrowed. The man's attention shifted, and his grin became cruel.

"Oh, Wenduag. I had hoped Hosilla was wrong, and you hadn't betrayed us. I suppose I owe Renna five gold now. Oh well."

"You know him?" Seelah asked quietly.

"Yes. His name is Adet, and he's Hosilla's Left Hand. This is bad," Wenduag muttered, gripping her bow tightly.

"If you must speak of me with that traitorous tongue, then you shall use my full title! I am Adet the Merciful, Left Hand of Hosilla, and one of Baphomet's Chosen! But enough with the pleasantries! I'm sure you can see the situation you are in. We outnumber you three to one. But rejoice! If you throw down your weapons, fall to your knees, denounce your gods, and swear fealty to Baphomet, then perhaps you'll live to see the sun again! And if you don't..." He chuckled, a sinister sound that promised vile things.

"My poor beasts have many appetites. And while meat is easy for them to get their other needs go unsated. I'm sure between the four of you they'd be quite entertained for a time before you die of despair. So by all means, show that crusader spirit! And I will enjoy watching you break.

"Surrender, or die! Make your choice!"

Mahi shuddered, grimacing at the implication of Adet's threat. "Ugh. What a dick," she muttered. Her eyes flicked across the room as she tried to figure a way out of this.

Options were few, but she could think of some, just from what she could do herself. A plan started to come together - it was a complete gamble, doomed to fail if the dice came up all ones. But Desna was a goddess of luck, after all, and sometimes you just had to bet it all and hope you came out on top.

"Mahi?" Seelah hissed, backing toward her slightly. Adet seemed content to watch them squirm, relishing the painful situation they'd been placed in. "Please tell me you have a plan."

"I have a plan."

"A good one?"

"Don't ask for miracles. I have no intention of surrendering, at least. I'd rather die fighting than live on my knees," she murmured, her voice more confident than she felt. "Follow my lead."

"Well? That's quite enough whispering over there. Make your choice, and do it fast!" Adet's affable voice was now tinged with impatience as he glared down at them.

"After some discussion, I think we're going to pick a third option!" Mahi called out tauntingly, lifting her chin proudly. Adet's eyes narrowed.

"Fool. There is no third option. Or do you plan on doing something heroically stupid?"

"I see a third option quite clearly. We kill you all, and take the key we need from your corpses." Mahi stated it confidently, her eyes shining with confident bravado she wasn't sure she really felt. Adet burst into laughter, his fellow cultists joining him.

"Ah. I see you've mistaken bravado for good sense. I do hope you'll continue to be this interesting once I break you, girl. Take them!" The last words were barked as an order. Mahi stepped out from behind Seelah, her hands lifting as she cast a spell in the same moment.

Six neathers lunged forward - and six neathers fell flat on their faces, the floor beneath their feet suddenly slick with grease as Mahi's spell took hold. The three cultists at the foot of the dais faired better, with only one not stopping before hitting the grease. The novice cleric hit it while trying to stop his rush, and the result was his feet going forward while his torso went back, and he dropped on his back with a clatter, his momentum sending him sliding straight into the pile of corrupted neathers.

"Close ranks!" Mahi barked, and Seelah and Camellia stepped in front, covering Mahi and Wenduag. In the same moment, there was a loud thwack as one of the snipers fired his heavy crossbow. The bolt shattered on Seelah's shield as she interposed it to protect Mahi. Another thwack heralded a second bolt - this one skimmed across Seelah's spaulder, catching lightly in the hard leather before tumbling away overhead.

"This effort is futile!" Adet roared, a wave of baleful energy pouring out of him. "You are merely delaying the inevitable! Kneel before Baphomet!"

"Futile or not, we will never kneel before evil!" Mahi countered, celestial light bursting from her upheld palm. For a moment, the Light of Heaven shone in her palm, and where her bless met Adet's bane, the opposing energies clashed before cancelling each other out.

"Betcha I can do that a lot more often than you can!" she taunted. The cleric snarled furiously, then barked at the sniper next to him.

"Shoot her!"

"Eep!" Mahi ducked back, her hands coming up over her head as the bolt leapt toward her. She felt her arm jerk as the bolt slammed into her bracer before shattering and scattering around her. "Ha, lucky me!"

An arrow thunked into the chest of the sniper who had shot at Mahi, then a second, as Wenduag ducked back behind Seelah. "They're moving up, get ready!"

"I see them," Seelah snapped, turning slightly to keep an eye on the warrior skirting the grease puddle to the left. The other was coming from the right, and Camellia moved to block him, lifting her amulet and chanting harshly. The man faltered, his limbs seeming to become heavy as Camellia's hex took hold. His swing was slow, and Camellia easily dodged and riposted, her rapier scoring a line across the man's cheek.

"Cower in terror before the eyes of Baphomet!" Adet thundered, and Mahi felt malign magic wrap around her. The omnipresent pressure increased, and her knees shook as terror gripped her heart. The thought that she would never see her parents again, that she would die down here, far from the stars, settled into her mind.

"Mahi! Dammit, she's lost it," Seelah's voice said, coming from a distance as Mahi succumbed to fear. She whirled and ran to the door, scrambling at the handle to try and pull it open.

Before she could, a bolt slammed into her shoulder, throwing her into the door and causing her to drop to her knees. Adet's mocking voice was clear as the brief magical terror faded away from her mind. "What was that about never kneeling, wench?"

Mahi snarled, rage pushing away the last shreds of terror and propelling her back to her hooves. She snapped out an incantation as she whirled, her hand flicking toward Adet. A snowball shot across the space, slamming into his breastplate and sending him staggering back into the wall.

"You okay?" Seelah asked quietly, glancing toward Mahi.

"Fine. Focus on the fight. Eyes on the neathers, they're starting to recover from the grease." Mahi said shortly. She couldn't lift her arm with the bolt through her shoulder, not all the way, but she could still function if she was willing to endure a little pain. And what was a little pain, in the end? Just a reminder that she was still alive.

Wenduag's bow thwacked as she launched two rapid arrows into the sniper who had shot Mahi, then snarled in rage as his bolt slammed into her thigh. She stumbled back behind Seelah's bulk, grabbing the bolt and yanking it out irritably. "This isn't going well!"

"Maybe not, but it's not going badly either," Mahi responded shortly. She focused on the celestial energy resonating in her soul, and raised her hand to cast another blessing. "Stay strong! We will not fall to this!"

Either she was right and Adet didn't have another bane ready to cast, or he was too furious to be tactical. They'd dropped both snipers already, and while she was lost to terror Camellia had taken care of one warrior before joining Seelah in engaging the second, who was looking more and more harried by the moment. Mahi's blessing tipped the scales - Seelah's next thrust was just that little bit faster and more precise, and her long sword slipped past his shield as she plunged a foot of gleaming steel into his chest.

On the other hand, the neathers were starting to figure out the grease, and would soon be charging in. Even as she had the thought, one of the wiry ones sprang up and charged Seelah, throwing a kick into her side while she was still recovering from the thrust. She grunted, stumbling as her stance collapsed, and the neather pressed the attack, clawing and punching and biting, throwing attack after attack at Seelah, who could only just manage to protect herself.

Camellia raised a hand, chanting a short phrase to beseech the spirits - and Seelah suddenly surged to twice her size. She recovered from the surprise quickly, thrusting her now much heavier shield into the neather's face and sending him stumbling back - before a thrust of her sword ended his life.

"Enough! Quit this pointless struggling!" Adet's commanding voice rang out - and Seelah came to a halt. Mahi could feel the spell that had gripped her, holding her in place.

"Cams, do you have a solution for that?!" she called out, lifting her crossbow and launching a bolt toward one of the neathers as he stood.

"I didn't prepare it!" Camellia called back, her voice tinged with bloodlust and panic. "But... yes, I do have something!"

She reached out toward Seelah, and chanted another request to the spirits. A sound like an owls call sounded as the spell took hold, and Mahi nodded. "Clever! Keep them off her until she recovers!"

"Mahi! Adet's coming!"

Wenduag's shout was all the warning they had as the cleric charged in, walking on the backs of the still fallen neathers to avoid the grease. He whirled his glaive, bringing it down on Camellia, whose buckler rang like a cymbal under the assault. He was chanting a prayer to Baphomet as he thrust and swung, pushing Camellia back. She met his chanting with her own, the eyes of her amulet flashing. Adet snarled as her hex slowed his arms, but didn't stop fighting.

Mahi darted to one side, snatching up a hand axe from one of the fallen warriors. "Wenduag, catch!" She tossed the weapon recklessly, and the neather woman dropped her bow to catch it. She charged into Adet's side, chopping with the axe, and the tide of the fight changed, with Camellia and Wenduag now pushing him back instead. Mahi launched a crossbow bolt, taking a corrupted neather in the throat as he noticed she was out of position - but that didn't stop him from charging her.

All the air was crushed from her lungs as his bulk hit her and slammed her back against the wall. She got her crossbow up, using it as a last defense - it shattered from a single titanic blow of his fist, and the next drove into her ribs.

Something broke. She was pretty sure it was her. She lashed out desperately, claws raking at his eyes and throat as his fists pummeled her. The heel of her hand slammed into the bolt in his throat, driving it in deeper, and the beast thrashed once, before finally expiring, dragging Mahi to the ground under his bulk.

She knew that it was dangerous to be down in a fight, but she couldn't muster herself enough to get free of the neather's body. Her whole body was wracked with agony, down to the tips of her fingers, where claws had been torn out during the struggle. He'd bit her a few times, and she could feel blood oozing from the wounds. A part of her wanted to simply embrace the darkness crowding in at the edge of her vision, let unconsciousness take her.

The rest of her rebelled. She forced herself to move, to start wriggling free of the neather's body. Never mind the pain. It was simply her turn. She didn't try to shut it out. Rather, she accepted it, felt it, and kept going in spite of it. Somewhere she couldn't see, a shout from Seelah indicated she was back in the fight. Wenduag snarled something, then Mahi heard footsteps rushing toward her. Wenduag's face appeared in her vision, bleeding from a gash across her forehead, and she grimaced at Mahi.

"You look terrible," she said shortly, before rolling the heavy body off of Mahi. A snarl behind her made her whirl, and her axe swung in a blur that ended in a spray of blood and an arm landing by Mahi. The tiefling forced herself up, stumbling to her hooves.

"Thanks," Mahi panted. Even breathing hurt, forcing her to pant shallowly instead of filling her lungs. She glanced around, trying to take in the state of the battlefield.

Seelah's new stature was an impressive force multiplier, and she had already cut down four corrupted neathers on her own. Along with the ones Mahi and Wenduag had fought, that meant they were all down, leaving just Adet, who was still moving stiffly from Camellia's hex, and the novice cleric, who was only just stumbling to his feet.

Mahi's hand flicked lazily, and her snowball crushed his face in, sending him crashing back to the ground. Now it was just Adet, who was being pressured by the enlarged Seelah and Camellia's clever rapier. But it was Wenduag who turned the fight completely, leaping over and chopping her axe into his spine. He went rigid, his mouth open in a surprised "o" as Wenduag wrenched her axe free, and Camellia's rapier flicked up, piercing through his open mouth and out the back of his head with a sick crunch. He twitched once, then went slack, collapsing to the floor with a final thud.

Silence fell over the room. None of them were unscathed. Wenduag was bleeding from a dozen small wounds Mahi hadn't even seen her suffer, Seelah was favoring her side and one leg, and Camellia was covered in so much blood it was impossible to tell how injured she was, but judging from her staggering she'd likely taken a blow to the head.

And then there was Mahi, who felt like an ambulatory bruise. And she was only ambulatory because she was too stubborn to stay down. The bolt in her shoulder had broken apart, leaving shards in her shoulder that would have to be extracted before she could be healed, and her ribs were dented on one side. Beyond that, she was struggling to breath and had ripped six claws off at the root, leaving her hands bloody and aching. She'd even cracked a hoof, though she had no idea how. She favored that leg as she turned to the rest of the party.

"Well. That could have gone worse," she said. Her voice lacked its typical bubbly expressiveness, being cold and flat and thin with pain. She turned stiffly. "Search the bodies. We need potions, bandages, anything like that. We need the key we came here for."

Seelah nodded, then knelt to start searching. Wenduag and Camellia followed suit. It seemed Camellia was too tired to protest the necessity of dealing with the dead bodies. Mahi didn't join them - if she bent or crouched down she was quite sure she'd end up on the ground with no way back off it. Even staying upright was difficult, and her vision kept going fuzzy.

"Wenduag. We're going to need a place to rest. One entrance, easy to barricade. Do you know where?"

Wenduag frowned, then nodded. "There's an office off the common area upstairs. We should be able to rest there."

"Good. Once we've got everything, lead the way." Wenduag nodded, then turned back to the body she was searching.

They were lucky enough to turn up a handful of potions, as well as the key that would let them move forward, and a ring that was obviously magical. Mahi took one of the potions right away, just to get herself in a state where she could actually move without blacking out. Camellia took another one just to be safe - better not to wait with a head wound - but the rest were held to be divvyed out once they were resting.

The office Wenduag lead them to was quite large and clearly doubled as an armory. Most of the racks were empty, but there were a few weapons still on them. Nothing worth taking, especially when Wenduag handed over a heavy crossbow she'd looted to Mahi to replace the crossbow she'd lost.

"How much time do we have before Hosilla finishes her ritual?" Mahi asked, her voice a bit more normal. She flinched as Camellia fished a shard of bolt from her shoulder, a pair of tweezers held in her delicate hand.

"Quit squirming, will you?" the half-elf complained, pushing the tweezers in again. Mahi bit her lip to keep from groaning, glancing up toward Wenduag.

"I'm not sure," the neather admitted, looking away from Mahi's eyes. "When it happened to me, my part in it was brief, but... I think she needs to break the victim first. At least, when she did it to me and the others, she tortured us first."

"How long?"

Wenduag crossed her arms, leaning against the wall next to the door. "It varied. I'm not sure of the exact timing. Can't really hear the gongs here. It was thirty torture sessions, for me. Toward the end, I was the only one left."

Seelah sighed softly. "I'm sorry you went through that."

"Save your pity. I don't need it," Wenduag hissed. "I was stronger than the others, that's all."

"You still haven't - Ow! Desna's blistered feet, Cams, I am begging you to be more gentle!" Mahi yelped, jerking away from Camellia instinctively. The half elf scowled and yanked Mahi's shoulder back.

"If you'd stop squirming, I'd be done already! I still don't know why it had to be me doing this."

"Well, Mahi can't do it to herself, I'm all thumbs, and Wenduag...." Seelah frowned at Wenduag. "Why didn't you offer?"

"Didn't want to."

"Figures. Besides, you said you know a fair amount about anatomy."

"I said I had an education, and you took that to mean I knew what I was doing! I'm not exactly a chirurgeon!" Camellia snapped, plunging the tweezers in again forcefully, before grabbing the last piece and yanking them back. "There! I'm done!"

Mahi whimpered, her shoulder throbbing unpleasantly. "T-thanks, Cams," she mumbled, trying to will her muscles into relaxing. A potion was thrust over her shoulder, and she took it gratefully.

"You're probably going to scar, unfortunately," Camellia said, wiping the blood off her hands, before holding them out to Mahi, who sighed and cast prestidigitation to clean them. She'd already had to cast it a few dozen times to get Camellia clean after the bloodbath downstairs, let alone the rest of them.

"Oh well, won't be my first," Mahi replied, drinking the potion with a grimace. "Goodness, they don't do anything for the flavor on these, do they? That's severe." She shook her head, and focused back on Wenduag. "As I was saying, you still haven't told us what the ritual entails exactly."

Wenduag grimaced, looking away from Mahi. She was silent for a long moment. "The ritual revolves around Savamelekh's poison. When the poison is used to kill someone, their flesh becomes tainted. When a neather consumes that tainted flesh, they become... well, like what you saw downstairs. Bloodthirsty. Mindless. Powerful."

"So why aren't you like that?" Camellia asked, licking her lips nervously.

"I don't know. Hosilla didn't seem surprised - maybe it's something that just happens sometimes."

Mahi's eyes narrowed, but she didn't press. Instead she sighed, rubbing her neck. "Alright. We should get some rest, if we can. I'll take first wa-"

"You'll take nothing and rest," Seelah stated authoritatively. Mahi frowned at her.

"I can take a watch, at least."

"Mahi, we just spent twenty minutes watching Camellia dig the pieces of a bolt out of your shoulder. You had three broken ribs and four bites deep enough to draw blood. You were the most injured and the most exhausted. You need to rest."

"Alright, I get it. I'll rest," Mahi sighed. Her instinct was to argue, lest she come to be resented for not pulling her weight, but the facts were with Seelah. Magical healing could close wounds and cause bones to knit together, but until one was getting into the upper ranks of magic, it didn't do anything to help with the mental and physical fatigue of being injured - only rest could do that.

The party settled who would take watches, and Seelah said a prayer to ward off the corrupting influence of the Maze while the rest of them set up bedrolls. No fire was lit, and their only food was mushroom flatbread and dried fish, which was unsatisfying, but by this point they were all so tired that they ate without complaint, even Camellia.

Mahi said a prayer to Desna as she laid her head down on her bedroll. She barely made it a minute before sleep pulled her down.

---

Once again, Mahi dreamed of a forest. There were voices speaking nearby, too quiet for individual words to be made out. Butterflies fluttered between branches. And once again, a woman's voice called out in warning. It was the same warning again, the only difference being the apparent exhaustion in her voice. Whoever she was, giving this warning was clearly taxing her, and despair was creeping in.

Mahi dearly wished she could give the woman comfort, to reassure her that her message was received. For some reason, here in the dream she felt that it wasn't yet too late, despite the Wardstone having been attacked by Deskari. The woman's warning spoke of consequences for all of Mendev, not merely for Kenabres. So maybe the worst hadn't come to pass yet, and there was still a chance to avert it.

Once again, the glade faded away, and Mahi found herself dropping steadily into darkness. Red light occasionally filtered up from below, along with an echoing pulse from Mahi herself. She remembered having this dream before, and this time she was resolved to hold onto the details. Once again, her hooves hit a floor she couldn't see, and she drifted forward at a steady pace. Once again she found herself staring up at a great purple crystal - and once again, she found herself reaching up to wipe away frost.

This time, her hand touched it. The crystal was cold, colder than anything she'd touched before. The momentary contact made the bones in her hand ache, and she flinched back instinctively. She still couldn't see inside, but the pulse of light came again, and she saw the silhouette of... something.

Thunk! Something smacked against the inside of crystal, a splayed hand. Four fingers, a thumb. No claws, but she couldn't tell much else. She'd flinched, stepped back, and found herself tipping as a hoof came down on air alone. Once again she found herself tumbling, falling, not down but up, strange feelings welling around her. Rage. Sorrow. Loneliness. Desperation. Fear. They were inside her but also outside, hers but not hers, and she found herself drowning in them, struggling, fighting, until her head broke surface and -

Mahi woke with a gasp, flailing around as she bolted to a seated position. Her heart was racing, blood pounding in her ears and her skull. She looked around wildly, feeling a weird disconnect between what she'd expected to find on waking and where she actually was. She couldn't explain it. It was like waking in an inn after dreaming of home - but she hadn't dreamt of home, and nor could she say where she'd expected to find herself. The feeling was there, but disconnected from any apparent cause.

Perhaps it was an artifact of her amnesia? Such an explanation unsettled her - it would mean she had been used to a place similar to this, similar enough that waking in the Shield Maze produced that sensation of wrongness in spite of her lack of memory. Which made it more likely to be a cultist stronghold.

No, she was jumping to the worst conclusion without evidence. Desna was still guiding her through dreams - this dream warning had not come to all who slept in Kenabres, after all, but only to the devout Desnans. So she hadn't forsaken Desna at some point in the three years she'd lost. And nor had Desna forsaken her.

"Mahi? You okay?"

She glanced up into Seelah's concerned gaze. It looked like the paladin was preparing for her morning prayers. Taking more stock of their little camp, Mahi found that she was the last one waking this time - Wenduag was prepping some arrows, while Camellia was quietly communing with her spirits.

"I'm alright. Weird dream, that's all. I think I had it before, but I just can't seem to keep hold of anything from that one."

"Do you normally remember your dreams?"

"I've kept a dream journal since I was seven. Once you get in the practice, it's a lot easier to remember them. And if Desna wants you to remember a dream, you will. Unfortunately, none of my journals - my dreams, my work notes, or my personal journal - were in my bag when I woke up. So no hints as to what was going on during the missing time and I don't have my journal for my recent dreams."

She sighed. "Silly thing to be worried about, in this situation. Still, it is disappointing."

Seelah smiled, leaning over to clap Mahi's shoulder - more gently than she normally would have, in case the tiefling was still sore. "I get it. They were yours, and now they're gone. That sucks even in otherwise good circumstances."

"You're up." Wenduag's hoarse voice cut in, and Mahi looked up to see her standing over her. "Good. You look better."

"Thanks, I guess? I feel better."

Wenduag nodded. "Here." She held out a handaxe. It wasn't the one Mahi had tossed to her during the fight earlier, but an extra one taken from one of the weapon racks in here. It seemed Wenduag had also found a light shield to join her axe.

"Uh...? Why are you giving me this?" Mahi asked, reaching up to take it in hand.

"You need something you can use to defend yourself if you get rushed again. Axes are simple." The neather nodded again, then turned away.

Seelah exchanged a glance with Mahi, her expression bemused.

"Hey, Wenduag." Mahi's words made her stop, and she turned back halfway, looking at Mahi from the corner of her eyes. Mahi lit up with her most adorable smile. "Thanks. It makes me feel happy that you're concerned."

Wenduag's spider legs twitched. "Don't go getting any weird ideas. We'd all be in trouble if you died, that's all." She looked away, her tail swishing. Mahi giggled. Wenduag turned back, glaring fiercely, then spat something in the neather language and turned to stalk away to her own corner of the camp.

"I can't disagree with her. We would all be in trouble if you died. Know how to use that?" Seelah gestured at the handaxe now laying across Mahi's lap.

"I learned to use a few weapons from my dad, yeah. I'm better with a rapier, but, well...." Mahi flexed one skinny arm. Seelah laughed.

"As long as you're not having to rely on claws while fighting someone twice your size, either one works. Do you have any spells that would help?"

"Nah. My first spell when I awakened to my magic was shocking grasp, which would work. But I lost the ability to cast it when I was eight, so that's not useful now."

"Your spells changed?"

"Are you the same person now that you were at five?"

Seelah frowned. "Definitely not."

"Yeah, I'm not either. Honestly, mom was thrilled when my spells moved away from electricity and fire - I was much less likely to burn the house down during an adolescent tantrum!" Seelah laughed, which made Mahi smile. Mahi rose from her bedroll, stretching out her back and shoulders. She didn't hurt too much, though there was some stiffness that she had to work out, and her hoof still ached from being cracked.

"You seem like you're close with your parents," Seelah observed, looking up toward Mahi as she stretched.

"Yeah. It was just me and mom for a while, before we met dad," Mahi said, puffing slightly as she worked through the stretches. "Then it was the three of us. We settled in Andoran. It gave dad a chance to work on his book."

"He's an author?"

"A political scholar. His most recent book was a historical comparison between the Galtian Revolution and the Andoren one, examining why Andoran's was more successful and where Galt went wrong."

Seelah blinked. "Uh. Wow. No offense, but I don't think I'm going to pick that up. What about your mom?"

"She wrote a few books before I was born, and once I was old enough that taking care of me wasn't full-time work she started work on her fourth."

Seelah shook her head. "They're both published authors? Please tell me your mom isn't also a political scholar."

"No, she studies the history of magic. She's been working on a book about the systems of magic common to the late Azlanti Empire, dating from around three centuries before Earthfall."

Seelah stared. "Suddenly, I feel like I understand you a lot better."

"I'm not sure how to take that statement. What about you? Are you close with your parents?"

Seelah's expression closed off, and she sighed softly. "My parents are dead."

"Oh. Oh, I'm so sorry," Mahi stammered, feeling that familiar sensation of having shoved her hoof in her mouth.

"It's not like it happened recently. I was fourteen when it happened. I've made my peace with it," Seelah said, managing a smile. "Hey, I need to focus on getting my morning prayers done. Could we talk about this another time?"

"Y-yeah, of course. Sorry," Mahi said, her tail drooping. Seelah shook her head.

"Hey, you were just continuing the conversation. You didn't do anything that needs apologizing for." She gave a much more sincere smile, which eased some of Mahi's worry that she had offended or hurt the paladin. She moved away from Seelah so she could do her prayers in peace, and found Camellia looking up at her expectantly.

"Hey, Cams."

"Are you feeling better?"

"Yeah, mostly. Still a bit stiff but that will fade as I move around," Mahi said, settling into a kneeling position across from Camellia. "Did you sleep well?"

The half-elf grimaced. "As well as one might expect from such conditions. I dread looking into a mirror to see the state of my hair, after all the time we've spent in these caves."

"I get that. Prestidigitation gets dirt and blood off but it really doesn't replace a proper bath," Mahi said, rubbing her arms with a mild grimace. "It's better than nothing but you still feel grimy if it's been a few days, and no matter how much I try to adjust it always leaves my hair painfully dry."

"Oh good, so that wasn't just me. I hadn't wanted to seem ungrateful by bringing it up, but it really doesn't work well for cleaning hair in general, then?"

"Mom and I guessed that the wizard who invented the spell was probably bald," Mahi joked, giggling behind her hand. Camellia's thin smile showed through, as genuine as it ever was. Mahi was getting used to how closed off the young noblewoman was, outside of battle at least. In battle, she was pretty... well, uninhibited would be a polite way of putting it. Mahi suspected it was the influence of whatever spirit Camellia had contracted with originally, though she hadn't yet felt the urge to pry.

"What are you two talking about?" Wenduag asked, her tone exasperated. Camellia stiffened, her expression becoming sour. Mahi gave the neather a smile.

"Girl talk, I guess. Care to join us?"

Wenduag snorted disapprovingly. "It's a waste of breath and a waste of time. We should get moving already."

"Some of us actually care about being presentable," Camellia said, sotto voce.

"We're waiting on Seelah, I think," Mahi said, a bit louder than Camellia. Wenduag glared at the half-elf, but didn't respond to her, instead looking to Mahi.

"We shouldn't delay too long. We're giving them the chance to prepare for us, and giving Hosilla more time to finish her ritual."

"I know, but rushing in unprepared would likely lead to our own deaths or lead to us getting captured. Rushing in downstairs was an impatient mistake and we nearly all died for it."

Wenduag growled softly. "I just don't like waiting."

"Well, in the meantime, why don't you tell us about the Right Hand? Renna, wasn't it?"

Wenduag sighed, then sat. "Yes. Renna the Joyful. She used to be a paladin."

"When you say 'used to be,'" Mahi said, drumming her fingers - then wincing and lifting her hand from the stone at the reminder of the damage done to her claws. "Did she lose her powers completely? Or does she simply serve a new master now?"

"More of that second one. I don't know what she is now but she has some power still."

"Antipaladin," Seelah said, her tone grim as she joined the conversation. She knelt down at the fourth point of the circle. "I've heard of them, but never seen or faced one myself."

"I always thought they were a rumor," Mahi admitted, looking toward Seelah. The paladin shook her head.

"No such luck. They're very real. A paladin who falls and chooses to reject everything they once stood for rather than seeking atonement. If they can find a new patron for their faith, they will become an antipaladin." She grimaced. "I expect she'll be a difficult opponent to face."

Mahi nodded, her brow furrowed. Wenduag looked grim, while Camellia bit her lip with a serious expression. For a moment, the group was silent.

"Oh. Mahi," Wenduag said, reaching into a pouch at her belt and pulling out the ring they'd found among the spoils from the fight downstairs. She handed it over. "You said you thought it was magical. What kind of magic?"

Mahi hummed, turning the ring over as she examined it. "Deflection. It's a fairly weak enchantment, but even a weak enchantment can save your life. Seelah, you take it."

"You sure? I'm already wearing the most armor."

"Yeah, I'm sure. It's another layer of protection, and you're the one standing in front of the rest of us. You should have it."

Seelah slipped the ring on her left hand, then pulled her glove over it. "Alright. I guess I can't argue with that."

The party gathered their supplies, packing up the campsite quickly. The rest of the maze awaited them.

"Of course this wing is deserted too."

Wenduag grumbled darkly as the party pushed through the barracks and into the dining room, encountering nothing but traps and a hidden room. At Mahi's urging, they took time to search chests and drawers, turning up a few more potions and some gold, along with some weapons that suited none of them. They also spotted a secret room that had a slightly more interesting prize in the form of a proper cold iron longsword, which Seelah picked up immediately. They hadn't seen any demons yet, even lesser ones, but having the option was better than not.

The next chamber was a grand chapel hall. To the south was the entrance to the Maze, the path blocked by a total collapse of the ceiling and walls. To the north was a statue of Baphomet. At the head of the room, at the feet of the statue of Baphomet, was a pool of blood. There was an exit to the left and the right. "Where to from here, Wenduag?" Mahi asked, as the neather woman looked around.

"Let's see... the ritual chamber is that way," Wenduag said, indicating the right-hand exit. "But we need to find the key first. There should be...." She approached the left-hand door - or rather, the wall sconce next to the door. She fiddled with it for a moment, before there was a loud clunk and the door swung open to reveal a stone staircase leading downward. "There."

A smell wafted up through the open door - rotten flesh and blood. Seelah and Mahi winced, while Camellia covered her nose and mouth with one slim hand. "What's down there?" the half-elf asked, her voice tight.

"Torture chambers and cells," Wenduag said simply. Her expression was momentarily hollow, but she seemed to shake it off. "It's not pleasant. No surprises there."

Mahi swallowed her bile, shaking her head and steeling herself. "Alright. Let's go," she said, with more confidence than she felt. "Seelah, take point. Camellia, behind her, keep an eye out for any traps."

They fell into the familiar marching order and proceeded forward carefully. There were traps on the landing. The area was under construction, but there didn't seem to be anyone present in the first few rooms they passed - nothing other than a few lizards, which died without a fuss, and a disgruntled earth elemental, which battered Camellia a bit before Seelah's sword made it collapse into rubble. No injuries a potion couldn't fix, fortunately.

Finally, they reached the end of the path - a wide staircase down into a room lit by guttering torches. The party paused at the top of the stairs, listening closely.

"More than a few enemies down there, I think. Renna and her entourage, do you think?" Mahi muttered, her eyes narrowed as she tried to peer into the gloom.

"Definitely," Seelah cut in. There was sweat on her brow, and her expression was pained. "I sense something very evil. And... powerful."

Mahi frowned. "I see. Be ready."

Cautiously, the party moved forward, staying in a close formation to avoid anyone being picked off by archers. The torture chamber slowly came into view, making Mahi's stomach roil as she glanced around. It was a big room, with a massive pit in the center from which the sound of buzzing flies emanated. It was also where the worst smell was coming from. On the far side of the pit, arrayed behind tipped-over tables and work benches, was a large retinue of cambions, each holding a bow and looking eager to start the fight. By Mahi's count, there was seven she could see.

In front of them was a trio of cultists. All were armed with glaives. Two wore a simple breastplate over robes, with Baphomet's unholy symbol prominently displayed - Mahi's gut said they were clerics. But it was the third who drew the eye, and whose presence made everyone tremble. She was crouched when they entered, but as they approached she stood up to her full height, handing her helmet off to the cleric to her right.

She was elven, her eyes black and pitiless and her skin sallow. She was clad in black plate armor, which didn't seem to even slow her down as she took a step forward. Her glaive was larger and heavier than the mostly ceremonial ones carried by her cleric entourage, which didn't stop her from shouldering it with casual ease.

"So. If you're here, then Adet has fallen," she said, her tone flat and almost disinterested. "And at the hands of a defective, traitorous beast like you, Wenduag. How disappointing. And how disappointing that these fools would trust such a treacherous creature."

Wenduag snarled, but didn't reply. Mahi was close enough to see how the neather was trembling - not that she blamed her for it. After all, it was all Mahi could do to keep it together. She stepped forward slightly, moving in front of Wenduag.

"You don't sound very upset by Adet's death," she remarked, her voice clear despite her quivering knees. The antipaladin's eyes shifted to Mahi, which very much made her want to run away.

"Should I be? If he fell to you, it simply means he was weak. Weak, and too foolish to realize how weak he was." She still sounded bored, as her eyes moved past Mahi to Camellia, and then to Seelah. "Though I will still enjoy your deaths, crusaders. I am not as merciful as Adet. You will never leave this room alive."

"She doesn't seem very 'Joyful,'" Seelah muttered, shrugging her shield up into a more ready position. The antipaladin's lips parted into a thin smile.

"Ah, then you know my name already. I am Hosilla's Right Hand, Renna the Joyful. As for why I am called 'joyful,' you will learn it soon, paladin. Try not to die too quickly."

She lifted her glaive slightly, then swung it down to point at the party. "Loose."

The cambions behind her raised their bows and launched their missiles, starting the battle in one swift moment. Arrows rained down on the party, most striking Seelah's shield or deflecting off her heavy armor. Camellia and Wenduag stepped out of the line of fire, spreading out the targets to avoid the rain, while Mahi skipped back, one arm raised to protect her face while she wove a spell together with the other. She barked out the incantation, throwing her hand forward as an arrow skipped off her bracer, the broadhead tip cutting her scalp but failing to cause her any other injury.

Her spell went off properly, and there were shouts of surprise from the archer's line as they slipped and fell, only a few staying on their feet. Renna's thin lips widened into a near smile as she took her helmet from her right-hand cleric and dropped it into place on her head. "Baphomet, guard your servants," she intoned, raising her right hand. Black light spread from her and coalesced around her allies. Mahi's eyes narrowed as her mind raced.

"She cast a protection from good spell!" she announced, as the antipaladin started moving forward. A shudder rolled through Mahi as she felt the intimidating attention of Renna's gaze on her, before Seelah yelled out a challenge and charged forward. "Camellia, support Seelah! Wendu, we need to deal with their backline!"

"Right!" Camellia called, grabbing her amulet and starting to chant. Renna's movements slowed as Seelah closed in - but even so, the antipaladin deflected Seelah's strike casually with the butt of her glaive, twisting the weapon around and striking down at her. Seelah's shield came up, catching the impact - then she grunted, stumbling to the side as the elf twisted through, the blunt end of her glaive coming around to strike past Seelah's shield, crashing into the paladin's armored side with a clatter. Mahi grit her teeth but paid the fight no mind, focusing instead on the task she was taking on herself.

Wenduag was moving around the pit in the center, launching arrows at the clerics, who were forced to face the neather and Mahi rather than joining in on the fight against Seelah. It seemed like the protection spell wasn't affecting Wenduag's attacks, which was useful to know. Mahi pointed at the left-hand cleric, and called out, "Laugh, damn you!"

It certainly wasn't as inspired as when she usually cast it, but all the same, the cleric couldn't stop the bemused scoff that turned into a fit of laughter as her hideous laughter spell took hold. He crumpled to the ground, momentarily removed from the fight as the other cleric raised a hand and pointed at Mahi, chanting an incantation in fell tones. Her lips twisted into a grimace as she clenched her fist - and Mahi screamed as her skeleton shuddered inside her body, pain lancing through her. She stumbled forward, toward the pit, but manage to stop herself before careening into it. Wenduag glanced toward her, then snarled and launched another arrow at the cleric, who twisted to take the impact against her thick armor.

Mahi shook herself, gritting her teeth as she straightened up again. Across the pit, the fight against Renna was at a stalemate - Camellia's constant chanting seemed to be maintaining her hex on the antipaladin, slowing her strikes enough that she couldn't get a decisive blow in against Seelah, but not enough for Seelah to get a good hit in on her own either. Still, if things didn't change soon, Mahi was sure Seelah would lose. She was already slowing, each blow on her shield making her feet slide a bit more. Her face was grim as she struggled through the fight.

Renna had started to laugh as they fought. "You're good, paladin! Your faith is strong. In another year or ten you might be a formidable champion! But I've killed many promising paladins in my life," she taunted, not even sounding out of breath. Her voice had a giddy edge, like she was speaking through a wide grin. "I cannot wait to see that face twist with despair, servant of Iomedae!"

She twisted suddenly, her left hand leaving her glaive and darting toward Seelah, surrounded in negative energy. Seelah's shield came up reflexively - and pointlessly, as the antipaladin's touch of corruption passed into her through the shield. Seelah howled in pain as the negative energy passed into her, stumbling away from Renna, who backed off as well as Seelah stumbled.

Camellia darted forward, already chanting a cure light wounds spell. Meanwhile, Mahi's attention was on the cleric who had injured her, and she launched a crossbow bolt at her as she scrambled for cover. Before she could dive behind a table, Mahi's bolt and two arrows from Wenduag slammed into her back, sending her crumpling to the floor. Renna spared her a glance, before she took a stride back and knelt, laying her hand on the cleric's back.

"May your servant's death empower me," she intoned coldly. Black energy coalesced around the fallen cleric, who screamed out pitifully, her voice fading away as the black energy flowed into Renna, who stood taller as her attention turned toward Mahi and Wenduag.

Mahi shuddered, a sick feeling gripping her stomach. The antipaladin had simply executed her own ally, and used her death to empower herself. "She was..."

"Weak. At least this way, her death can strengthen me," Renna said, her voice cold once more. "The weak exist to feed the strong. Or did you believe otherwise? Your naivety is sickening."

Mahi snarled, and her hand flicked out toward Renna. A snowball spell shot forward - and impacted the antipaladin's empty palm, shattering apart. She shook the hand out. "Pathetic," she said, dismissing Mahi and turning her focus back onto Seelah, who was looking more hale after Camellia's healing. "Shall we continue, bitch of Iomedae?"

"You monster," Seelah spat. "For Iomedae!" She lunged forward again, a flash of light indicating she had called on the power of Iomedae to smite her foe. Antipaladin and paladin clashed again, their battle punctuated by the chanting of the tiring shaman.

Wenduag shifted uncomfortably next to Mahi. "She's powerful," she mumbled, glancing toward Mahi. "Can we win?"

"We have to," Mahi said shortly. She pointed toward the cambion line, where one of the archers had managed to regain his feet. "Focus on the task in front of us. I don't know how often she can do that... sacrificial spell thing, but we still need to make sure we don't get overwhelmed." She raised her crossbow and launched a bolt toward the cambion, which punched through his armor despite the protection from good spell still lingering on him. Wenduag's heavy arrows followed - and sent him crashing back to the ground.

The focus of the combat was still the duel between Seelah and Renna. Camellia had snuck in a buff for Seelah, to help her fight the empowered antipaladin, and flashes of holy light punctuated each attack - and her attacks were starting to land more consistently. Renna's voice was raised in gales of exhilarated laughter, and her swings were more wild - wild, but not amateurish. Each swing was expertly placed, and Seelah was often forced to parry with sword and shield in succession, or to take a hit on her armor. Seelah was clearly tiring - but Renna showed no signs of the same.

Renna struck, twisted, struck, butt, blade, butt, blade, blade, and then she dropped one hand from the haft of her weapon and lunged again, negative energy swirling around her hand. Seelah reacted swiftly, leaping backward as the antipaladin's touch failed to make contact. "Good! You've learned quickly, paladin. You, shaman. Stab her."

"Wha-" Seelah blinked, as Camellia's rapier turned toward her. She lunged suddenly, compelled by Renna's murderous command, and Seelah yelped as Camellia's rapier pierced the back of her knee, the leg going weak beneath her. Renna lunged forward, whirling her glaive overhead and bringing it down hard. Seelah's shield came up - and shattered under the blow. The force slammed her down to her knees. She couldn't stifle the pained grunt as her injured knee slammed into the stone floor.

"I-I didn't-" was about all Camellia managed to get out before the butt of Renna's glaive swung around and smashed into the side of her jaw, sending the shaman crashing to the floor. Seelah snarled, lunging upward with her sword held in both hands, driving it toward Renna's belly. The antipaladin grunted, stumbling back as sword slipped in past her armor, driving several inches in before she managed to get out of range. She stumbled, still laughing as she clutched her wounded belly.

"Wenduag, you need to get in there. Take out that cleric on your way past, I'm tired of hearing him laughing," Mahi said shortly, her hands trembling as she watched the way the duel had progressed. "I'll deal with these cambions."

It was risky, but they needed more fighters on Renna - and Mahi didn't even know if Camellia was conscious after that blow. She'd just have to hope she could deal with cambions on her own. She pulled the hand axe off her belt and vaulted over the barricade, stumbling slightly on the grease puddle she'd left behind it. A few of the cambions were on their backs, struggling to get up - and they started struggling all the more as they saw Mahi standing over them with her axe. "Sorry, folks. I don't have the luxury of mercy today." Her axe came down as she began the grim work.

Wenduag rushed toward the fight between Renna and Seelah, pausing briefly to bring her axe down twice into the laughing cleric's head. His laughter stopped, drawing Renna to turn toward Wenduag.

"Ah, the traitor, hehe," she said, breaking into giggles. "Never thought I'd see you following orders so easily. What does that tiefling have over you, hehe, I wonder?" She glanced back toward Seelah, who had a glowing hand pressed to her knee as she pushed herself up.

"Is this what it takes to defeat me? Can a paladin truly fight alongside such a creature as this one?" Renna's head tilted as she looked toward Seelah. "Or do you think it is acceptable as long as there is a greater evil to fight?" She laughed, though it was tinged with a rueful note. "That's how it sneaks up on you."

"You talk too much," Wenduag snarled, lunging forward and swinging her axe. Renna's grip shifted, and the butt of her glaive flicked toward Wenduag's face, forcing her to abort her swing and duck to the side, the mage armor flaring as the butt struck it. In the same moment, Seelah roared and lunged, her broken shield tossed aside as she took her sword in both hands and struck. The blade of Renna's glaive twisted, following Seelah's sword expertly and preventing the attack from reaching her. The three-way dance of death began, sword and axe meeting glaive as Seelah and Wenduag danced in and out, pressuring Renna from each side.

Camellia stirred from where she'd been knocked into a sprawl, her hand coming up to gingerly touch the knot that had swollen up on the side of her jaw. She couldn't murmur the incantation for a cure wounds spell, but she had a potion on her belt, and managed to drink it with some difficulty. The knot shrank, and her jaw popped slightly as it reset. She stood up, shaking on her feet, her eyes focusing on Renna as she gripped her amulet and started once again to chant her hex. The antipaladin's head turned slightly more to shoot a glare at Camellia, but that didn't stop the hex from settling onto her once more. Seelah and Wenduag were quick to capitalize, making Renna's laughter turn into a snarl of pain as axe and sword slipped past glaive to cut into her.

Mahi, for her part, was not quite as well off as she'd hoped. A few of the cambions were starting to regain their feet, discarding bows to draw wicked looking scimitars. Still, she met them with axe and spell, her snowballs blasting them back to the ground even as she met their attacks with the axe. She was taking wounds - superficial ones, but they were slowing her down - but there were only two of the cambions left. She blasted one back to the ground then slammed her axe into the chest of the other, knocking him down as her hooves slipped on the grease. She managed, barely, to keep her balance, and took a moment while her opponents were down to glance toward the fight with Renna.

Renna was panting and snarling, more pressured now. She hissed out as Wenduag's axe caught her, tearing a plate off of her armor and bruising her hip. She flicked her glaive toward Seelah, driving the paladin back a step. "Wenduag, stop there!" she snapped, flicking a hand toward Wenduag.

The neather froze mid swing, her eyes wide moments before she was paralyzed by the antipaladin's hold person. Seelah shouted, lunging forward to keep Renna from capitalizing on Wenduag's vulnerability. She swung her sword in a swift pattern, Renna's fatigued limbs barely able to keep up. Seelah's blade scored a few blows, making Renna grunt in pain - but she didn't stop.

"Back off!" Renna snapped, thrusting a clenched fist toward Seelah. The paladin roared in pain as her skeleton shook inside her flesh, the forceful spell pushing her back a step. Renna followed up with a sweep of her glaive that tripped Seelah, sending the paladin crashing heavily to the ground.

"I'm done playing around with you," Renna spat. Camellia's eyes widened, and she lunged forward to try and prevent what she saw coming.

Crunch.

Before anyone could react to stop it, Renna had twisted and stepped forward, thrusting with her glaive. The blade crashed into Wenduag's chest and through, bursting from her back with a sickening sound. Blood splattered from the neather's open mouth, her body shuddering as she coughed reflexively. Renna flicked her glaive, knocking Wenduag back off the end and sending her crashing to the ground, still paralyzed.

"Wenduag!" Mahi screamed, her eyes wide with shock. Her first reaction was to try to leap the barricade and go to the neather's aid, but her enemies weren't going to wait for her to recover her composure - both cambions lunged up, closing in quickly and forcing Mahi back into a fight for her life. She swung with axe and claw, fighting desperately against the pair.

"Blackguard!" Seelah roared, leaping to her feet and moving to close the distance between her and Renna. Camellia didn't hesitate, lunging in as she chanted her hex and seeking a gap in the antipaladin's armor with the point of her rapier. But it seemed Renna wasn't done yet.

She lifted her glaive high. "With this offering of blood, I call upon thee, fiends of the Abyss! Empower my weapon so I may strike down the enemies of my master!" A wave of black light poured off her, making Seelah and Camellia flinch and back off. Renna's glaive glowed, flames licking along the edge as she whirled it back into a ready position. She was bloodied - but for all the injuries she'd taken, she didn't look like she was ready to fall yet. Seelah settled into a forward stance, ready to attack or defend as she centered herself.

She and Renna moved at the same time, weapons whirling to crash together, strike into parry into strike into feint into parry. Renna's weapon was faster, with two ends to guard against, but Seelah was matching her all the same, keeping her guard close while striking past Renna's guard, neither blade meeting armor as they clashed. Camellia's chanting rose over the clash of steel on steel, and Renna's movements slowed, letting Seelah score some blows - superficial, but still tiring.

Meanwhile, Mahi clutched her bleeding side as she danced back, hooves slipping in grease. The last cambion was breathing heavily, bleeding from an axe wound in his chest, and he bared his teeth at her as he coughed up blood into his mouth. Mahi chanted under her breath, then flicked her hand forward.

The cambion dodged to the side then lunged forward - but her spell had been a feint, and she twisted and thrust the end of her axe into the cambion's face, taking a slice across her belly that made her mage armor flare. The impact and his lunge made his feet shoot forward across the slick floor, and Mahi switched her grip to bring the axe down into his face. He struggled briefly as she yanked the axe free, then brought it down again to finish him.

She was exhausted, bloody, and finding it hard to stay upright - but she lifted her hand toward the fight between Seelah and Renna. Quietly, tiredly, she chanted her grease spell, holding on the last syllable of the incantation while she waited for the right moment. Renna's feet were moving steadily back and forth, her glaive whirling, but there was a perfect moment, Mahi could feel it.

There. As Renna took a strike from Seelah across the haft of her polearm, Mahi launched her grease spell. Renna's foot moved back to brace against the impact - and the puddle of grease appeared beneath it just as her weight shifted. A step turned into a sudden slip - and Seelah was quick to capitalize. Her sword came down like a thunderbolt - and split Renna's helmet in twain.

The blade shattered from the force of the impact, making Seelah flinch as shards flew back toward her face, but Renna was transfixed as the helmet fell away from her head, her eyes unfocused as blood dripped from her nose and welled up around her eyes. She slumped sideways slowly, her last breath leaving her with a rattling giggle.

There was a moment where everyone just stood there watching her, panting with exhaustion. Then Mahi's eyes flicked over. "Wenduag."

Their companion's name broke the reverie, and Mahi vaulted the barricade to rush to the fallen neather's side. "Camellia!" she called out, and the shaman was at the other side in a moment, a cure wounds spell on her lips. She hesitated, then shook her head.

"She's beyond any healing I can offer. There's still a spark of life in her, but I can't rekindle it," Camellia said calmly, lifting her eyes to Mahi's face. Mahi's brow furrowed.

"You can't.... Dammit," she muttered, her eyes unfocusing as her thoughts whirled. There had to be something, right? She pulled her pack from her back, starting to paw through it in a rush. Her hand brushed over something that sent a jolt up her arm - one of Terendelev's scales. She pulled it out, looking at it with a serious expression. "I... I think...."

She laid the scale on Wenduag's chest, some instinct driving her forward. She placed her palm across it, her other hand open, palm upward. The glimmering Light of Heaven formed in her up facing palm as Mahi focused on that warm and brilliant power inside of her. It wasn't... her. It wasn't, but it was, and she found that she could use it as instinctively as she used her true magic.

Restoring life to the recently departed wasn't something she could do, not with her power. Even though the power of Elysium had bound itself to her soul, a gift from some distant maternal ancestor, it would never manifest in this way. But the Light of Heaven was different - a miracle, a wish flung into the future, and it had bound itself to her soul in a way she couldn't understand. It had fundamentally changed her in a way she couldn't describe. Maybe if she spent the rest of her life cultivating it, she might be able to perform even greater miracles. But this was just a small one.

The focus: a scale of Terendelev, a powerful silver dragon who used her power to heal and protect. The power: the miracle of Heaven she held in her palm, that burned in her soul. The miracle she was crafting: bring her companion back from the brink. She put the spell together in her mind, then brought her glowing palm down to Wenduag's forehead, and bid it to take form.

One heartbeat. Two. Seelah's breath had stopped. Camellia was shifting nearby. A fourth. A fifth.

Terendelev's scale, resting still on Wenduag's chest, began to blacken, before tarnishing completely and shattering into pieces. Just as Mahi started to despair, Wenduag gasped. The rent in her chest closed up, and her eyes flicked open as she coughed, struggling briefly before she realized everyone was kneeling around her. "Wha... what happened?"

Mahi breathed out a sigh, exhaustion sweeping through her as the tension released. She slumped forward in relief, her hands trembling as she panted softly.

"Mahi... how did you do that?" Seelah asked, her tone awed. Mahi's tail flicked at the sound, her head tilting to one side.

"I'm not... entirely sure myself. It was mostly instinct, but..." She hesitated, glancing down at her palm as she considered. "I constructed a spell - specifically, the kind of powerful healing that only devout clerics can use. Terendelev's scale was the center of the working, as focus and catalyst, and the power came from Lariel - or from his Light, still embodied in me. I just guided and shaped the spell. I don't think it would have been as effective if I weren't using a silver dragon's scale as the focus."

"It seemed more like a miracle than a spell," Seelah said. Mahi winced, and shook her head aggressively.

"If it was a miracle, it wasn't mine. I don't perform miracles. It was just a spell - one-time use, probably, and a hell of a gamble in the first place. I guess I could probably do it again, though I wouldn't count on it. One doesn't typically get away with stealing fire from the gods; certainly not doing it twice." Mahi's tone was firm - she was putting her foot down on that line of thinking. "Let's just focus on the outcome and not worry about how it was done, alright? Wenduag is healed, that's what's important."

Seelah didn't seem very satisfied with this explanation, but she did finally turn her attention toward Wenduag instead. The neather woman was examining the hole in her clothes, her brow furrowed and her expression conflicted. She remained silent as Camellia and Seelah started patching each other and Mahi up. It took a few minutes before everyone was well again, during which time Wenduag seemed to be turning the last few minutes over in her head to little satisfaction.

"I don't understand," she finally mumbled, looking up at Mahi. "Why did you save me?"

Mahi's eyebrow lifted, and she tilted her head to one side thoughtfully. "Should I not have?"

"Why would you? I've done... you know what I've done." Wenduag didn't shy away from it, looking up to meet Mahi's eye. "You don't need me to guide you through the Maze any more than this. If I was weak enough to lose like that, you should have left me behind. Would anyone have blamed you for it?"

"It doesn't work like that," Mahi said, pushing herself to her hooves and brushing dust off her backside. "I haven't given up on you yet, so you don't get to check out early. Besides, don't you have some unfinished business with Hosilla?"

"I do, but... if my strength only carried me this far, then...." Wenduag's tone was conflicted, her brow furrowed with consternation. This explanation didn't seem to sit well with her.

"You're not doing this alone, Wenduag," Mahi said, her tone firm. She held her hand out to the neather. "You've said I'm strong, but I rely on you and Seelah and Camellia all the same. I can do more with all of you than I can on my own. If I were on my own I'd have been paste in that brawl downstairs - and there's no way under the stars I could have beat Renna on my own. My strength shines when I have reliable companions - and in turn, I can help them shine as well."

Wenduag's expression shifted, drifting from displeasure to thoughtful consideration. She didn't say anything more, just reached up to grip Mahi's forearm. The sorcerer grunted, setting her hooves carefully as she levered Wenduag off the floor.

Seelah watched the exchange with a complicated expression on her face. It didn't suit her - grim determination or boisterous joy suited her countenance better, rather than the conflict currently present. Mahi made eye contact, tilting her head as though inviting the paladin to comment, but Seelah shook her head, waving Mahi off. "Well... I'd say where next, but I've been pretty well disarmed by this fight myself. I've seen a few shields I could pick up as a replacement, but getting a new sword is probably more important," she said instead, drawing attention to her empty hands.

"These cambions have scimitars," Camellia offered. She had wandered off somewhere in Mahi and Wenduag's conversation, clearly bored of it and seeking instead to check the bodies for anything useful. Or maybe she intended to offer something as an apology for being momentarily controlled by the anti-paladin - Wenduag's near-death had occupied their focus in the immediate aftermath of the fight, but things were clearly cold between Camellia and Seelah at the moment. Even more so than usual.

"It's not a longsword, but it's better than having to rely on my fist or a dagger," Seelah said, her tone careful as she took the offered scimitar. She gave it an experimental swing, her mouth twisting slightly as she considered it.

Mahi's took in this exchange from the periphery of her attention - her eyes had landed on something strange along one wall, and examining the four gems in front of her was taking up most of her attention. She could feel faint magic from them, powering what felt like an abjuration - a modified arcane lock, with the locus of the spell focused on the wall between the gems.

"I think there's a hidden room over here," she said absently, drawing attention from the others. Wenduag's brow furrowed as she approached.

"I don't think I've ever seen anyone open it," she said, examining the wall carefully. She rapped on it with her knuckles, then scraped with her knife - and everyone heard the moment the edge of the blade caught on a seam so thin it couldn't be seen with the eye.

"I don't think I can pick this kind of lock," Camellia offered, giving the gems her own glance. "So we'd either need to guess the combination or find it written down somewhere. I didn't find any notes being carried by Renna, though."

"Right, so we should guess?" was Seelah's suggestion. Mahi was quick to shake her head and shoot down the suggestion.

"If each gem could only be used once in the combination, we might be able to brute force it in a few minutes - that's only twenty-four possible combinations. But if each gem can be used multiple times, that greatly increases the number of possible combinations. And from what I can tell of the enchantment, that does seem to be the case. The good news is, it's only a four 'digit' combination," Mahi said, her eyes shining slightly as she examined the enchantment magically. "So we'd only have to go through a couple hundred combinations - which would probably take a few hours and would be difficult to track. The even better news is... I think I already know the combination."

She reached up and touched the gems - yellow, blue, red, then back to yellow. Her companions gaped, then Seelah let out a whoop as the door appeared and slid open. Mahi grinned, turning and presenting the door with a wiggle of her fingers.

"How did you do that?" Camellia asked, her slim eyebrows raised in picturesque surprise.

"There were some portraits in the common room. I found them rather strange - they were lined up on the wall, and the first and last portrait were identical paintings of a woman in yellow. The way they were framed as well as the use of two identical paintings in the same area really made them stand out to me, so I made a note of them," Mahi said, her grin widening. Seelah laughed, shaking her head.

"I bet you were desperately hoping something would come up with them," she said, accurately. "Imagine how you'd have felt if you spent all this time remembering the pattern and then it never came up again."

"I am very happy I don't have to keep remembering those silly paintings, yes," Mahi said, laughing with Seelah as she stepped into the hidden room. The laughter died on her lips as she stepped in, the atmosphere suddenly weighing on her. "Whoa. This place feels...."

Camellia had a similar expression on her face as she followed Mahi in, rolling her shoulders as the atmosphere pressed down on her. Seelah looked around carefully. "It feels profane," she said succinctly, her gaze drawn to an altar at the head of the small room. She approached carefully, her scimitar held at the ready - then she gasped in surprise. "Wait... no, it can't be!"

"Seelah? What is it?" Mahi said, approaching behind her. The paladin strode up to the altar, her eyes shining with an incongruous emotion - joy?

"Mahi! Do you know what this is?" Seelah asked, pointing to a sword on the altar.

"Should I?"

Seelah turned and gaped at her, making Mahi's head tilt to one side. "You really don't recognize it?! Mahi, this is Radiance! I'd know the design of the hilt anywhere." She indicated the hilt in question, decorated to look like an angel's spread wings. "It used to belong to the great Yaniel, who fell in battle during the fall of Drezen. Radiance was recovered, and it was supposed to be stored in the Tower of Estrod with all the other relics.... At least, that's what I'd heard."

Camellia scoffed. "Well of course this rusted piece of scrap metal must be that same sword," she said, rolling her eyes. "Or do you think you're just indulging in some wishful thinking, instead?"

Seelah shook her head firmly. "No, I'm certain. I've seen it so many times - never in person, but in paintings and in the hands of the Yaniel statue. I was meaning to go to the Tower of Estrod, now that I was here in Kenabres, so I could see it with my own eyes. How did it get down here?"

Mahi's brow furrowed. Personally, she felt the same way as Camellia about it - the odds of such an artifact being here, and being found just at the right time... she didn't think it was very likely. But Seelah's faith was strong - and she was quite certain about it. She glanced back at Wenduag, who was watching the conversation from the back of the room with an inscrutable expression. "Assuming it is Radiance... what's so special about it? I don't sense much magic from it."

Seelah frowned, her gaze coming back to Mahi for a moment. "Now... there's nothing, I suppose. The sword was legendary in its day. People say that when Yaniel held it, the blade would glow and she could strike down demons left and right. The light could be seen from afar, and the sight of it would bolster her allies. But now...." She turned her gaze back to the sword, where it lay on the altar. Mahi didn't need Seelah to explain - the sword had clearly been profaned. The altar was stained with blood and a number of human - or humanoid, at least - skulls surrounded the blade, which was itself stained and rusted.

"They made a mockery of it," Mahi finished, her expression grave. Camellia let out another scoff.

"Are you two empathizing with an object? Have you always been so tender-hearted and sensitive?"

Mahi's jaw tensed, but it was Seelah who rebutted. "I can't speak for Mahi, but I'm a paladin. We're highly attuned to evil. Radiance was in evil hands, and I can tell you they did nothing good to it."

"If this is truly the sword of Yaniel, then I suspect they were trying to unmake it," Mahi added, stepping closer to examine the altar carefully. There were spells wrought into it, focusing the profanity of the altar onto the sword. "Unmake it, or twist it to darker purposes. There's plenty of blood on the altar, and I doubt it came from willing sources."

She reached out and carefully lifted the blade from the altar. She could feel something from it, now that her hands were on it, and she muttered a cantrip as she held it - mending, to strip away the rust and hone the edge once more. As soon as the cantrip was cast, the rust was shed, and the sword seemed to catch the light, gleaming proudly again. Now she was more certain, recalling stories she'd heard of Yaniel and images she'd seen during her studies. This was Radiance - or such a perfect replica that it could fool both her and Seelah.

"It's strange that a priceless relic ended up down here," Mahi said, holding the sword reverently.

Seelah nodded, letting out a little laugh. "I guess it was stolen from the Tower of Estrod. Nobody else has ever wielded it - it has always been Yaniel's blade, after all. But now... I feel like I'm rescuing a fellow warrior from a dungeon. Perhaps it can be further repaired?"

"A blacksmith might be able to do more than my little cantrip can. But... I can tell, now that I've laid my hands on it. This is a paladin's sword - it belongs in a paladin's hand," Mahi said, offering the hilt to Seelah. The tall woman blinked, her expression shocked, as though she'd never considered it until this moment. She hesitated for a moment, then reached out and took the sword in her hand.

A frisson ran up Mahi's spine, a little tingle as the sword left her hands. She could "see" the flow of energy from Seelah's hand into the hilt - and then down the blade and back. A light seemed to shine from inside the blade, as Seelah looked up at it reverently. The paladin turned the sword, setting the tip to the stone and kneeling, her head bowed with her forehead pressed to the hilt. Her lips moved as she prayed, and Mahi felt the warmth of her faith as she took a step back.

"Check the chests," she directed Camellia and Wenduag, giving Seelah privacy to continue her prayer. Her own attention focused on the altar, as she considered the prudence of trying to unmake it. She determined after a moment that it would be highly imprudent - and besides, she didn't have the means at the moment. She could construct a counter enchantment to the ones present, if she spent some time examining them, but even so she wasn't sure she was powerful enough to counter them.

And it would probably draw Baphomet's attention on them, which seemed like a bad idea no matter how she looked at it. He probably wouldn't send a servant to punish them to such a minor and purpose-built altar, but he'd be likely to curse them for what they'd done at a minimum. Better to clear out the rest of the cult and make sure to tell the church of Iomedae about it once they got back to the city - and dealt with whatever they found up there, of course.

Seelah was getting back to her feet as Mahi turned away from the altar, looking content. Radiance seemed to rest well in her hand, and Mahi gave her an encouraging nod. "Do you think it will suit you?"

"I think so," Seelah said, sheathing Radiance in her old longsword's sheath. It didn't fit quite right, of course, but it was better than nothing and not dangerous to the blade. Especially now -
Mahi could feel actual magic in the sword now - only a tiny flicker of it, compared to the stories of the artifact, but it seemed to be happy (as much as a sword could be) in the hands of a true paladin. "At the very least, we can make sure it's returned to the museum once we get out of here."

"Hmm... I think... a sword is a tool. I think Radiance has more value in the hands of a righteous paladin than in a case to be gawked at," Mahi said, her tone firm. "I don't think you're going to do anything to dishonor the memory of Yaniel, if that's your concern."

Seelah looked a little chagrined. "I'll admit, that particular insecurity had occurred to me. Yaniel has always been a hero of mine - it's hard to feel worthy of wielding Radiance, with that shadow standing over me."

"Reframe the thought. You're not standing in her shadow - you are taking up her mantle," Mahi said, patting Seelah's shoulder firmly. "Taking on the same crusade that claimed her - honoring her memory, and making your own mark on history."

"Ha! Well, that's definitely a bolstering thought. But let's not rest on our laurels when we haven't even earned them yet. We still have to make it out of these caves," Seelah said, grinning widely. "We can start lauding me as a hero once we've survived that, at least."

"Right. Let's go, then. Only one thing left - Camellia, you have the key, right?" Mahi said, glancing toward the noblewoman, who was watching her and Seelah with narrowed eyes. She gave her usual thin smile once Mahi's attention shifted to her.

"I do. That Renna woman had it, as we expected," she replied, her gaze unwavering. "So we've got everything we needed. She was also wearing this amulet - I suspect it's magical, though I was waiting to confirm it with you." She tossed the item Mahi's way, and she took it and examined it carefully.

"Good call. Looks like an amulet of natural armor," Mahi said, after a moment. "It's a pretty simple enchantment, but it'll make your body tougher and harder to damage. Wenduag, you take this one."

"You sure?" The neather seemed a little surprised by the offer, not reaching out to take the amulet as Mahi held it out to her.

"I'm sure. You're joining Seelah on the front line sometimes too, so you need more armor than just my magic. Honestly, I'd suggest finding some proper armor, too, if you can find anything that works for you."

Wenduag nodded seriously, taking the amulet and putting it around her neck. "I think you're right. I'll see if I can find something."

Some searching turned up a set of armor and a shield for Wenduag and Seelah, and the party spent some time discussing where they currently stood as they finished their preparations. Generally, they agreed they were as ready as they could be given the circumstances - it would be more prudent to rest and recover fully, but they were short on time.

So it was with this weight on their minds that the party left the unfinished wing and crossed the chapel chamber. The penultimate chamber lay before them, a large room with sparse furnishing, and a heavy door to the north - the locked doors to Hosilla's ritual chamber.

Not that this penultimate chamber seemed like anything less than a ritual chamber itself. In fact, there were signs that a ritual had been done here recently - specifically, some sort of summoning. Mahi hissed in a breath between her teeth as she examined the pile of bodies in the center of the summoning circle, the reek of rotting flesh meeting her nose as she looked them over.

"Well, she definitely didn't use this to summon those dretches," she said, sparing a glance to the minor demons that had greeted them as they entered. With their cold iron equipment, the corpulent trio had barely qualified as an encounter - Radiance had made short work of them.

The sheer number of sacrifices was unusual - Mahi was hardly a demonologist and had only the most rudimentary understanding of the kind of sacrifices necessary to summon demons, but she was sure that the five or six bodies in the circle were far too many. It gave her a sense of foreboding.

Seelah's brow was furrowed as she examined the circle. "I don't know what she summoned, but I think it's probably something strong. We'll have to be ready for that."

"Savamelekh," Wenduag said, her voice shaking slightly. "I'm sure of it."

Mahi took a deep breath - which was immediately regretted, considering the stench of the rotting bodies in front of her. "Alright, well... we knew what the worst case scenario was. No way to go but forward," she said, clenching her fists to disguise her own shaking. "Let's go."

Camellia licked her lips nervously, carefully pulling her attention from the pile of bodies, then stepped forward to the door, unlocking it with the key. It swung open ponderously to reveal a staircase upward and curving to the right, and from beyond they could hear voices. Carefully, the party moved forward, taking the stairs slowly - until Mahi felt the slight tingle of an alarm spell being triggered. Knowing now that there was no point in trying to be stealthy, she pushed the party to speed up, and before long they emerged onto a balcony overlooking a ritual chamber.

Just beneath the balcony was Hosilla herself, standing at an altar - more like a low stone table - to which was bound an aasimar. The aasimar was praying to Iomedae in a steady voice, though Hosilla's own chanting was louder and drowned him out. Speaking over both was the hissing, cruel voice of the demon Savamelekh. Standing before him, bruised and battered, were six neathers - young, by the look of them.

"... even Tieflings are less defective than you! But I offer you the chance to be perfected," Savamelekh was saying. The demon was massive, easily twice Seelah's height, but was wiry and slender despite his height, with four arms and a long, sinuously twitching tail. Mahi's mouth went dry as she saw him - this was nothing less than a vrolikai, one of the most powerful demons of the Abyss. Even Seelah couldn't keep herself from shaking as she gazed upon him, the sheer metaphysical malice of him weighing on her paladin senses.

Savamelekh wasn't waiting for his uninvited audience to be awed - as he spoke to the neather kids, his sinuous tail rose before lashing out and driving the poisoned spike at the tip into the side of the bound aasimar. The man shuddered before falling limp, his mouth filling with foam as the demon's poison went to work. "I offer you the sweet flesh of a righteous aasimar! Eat your fill, you beasts, and my poison will make you strong!"

The neathers stared, swallowing nervously, but none moved until one spoke up. "No! We're the descendants of crusaders! No demon can hold sway ov-"

Before he could finish his sentence, Hosilla moved, vaulting over the altar with a glaive in hand. She came down on the neather like a stooping hawk, the blade cutting the boy nearly in half across his torso. She kicked his body back and whirled her glaive to flick blood off the blade.

"Any other 'descendants of crusaders' want to speak up?" Her voice was cold and haughty, and the neathers cringed away from her. Under her cruel gaze, they moved forward toward the altar. Slowly at first, then more quickly as some dark instinct gripped them. They fell onto the aasimar, snarling like beasts as they dug into the flesh.

Before she realized what was happening, Mahi's body was already moving. Seelah was keeping pace with her, Camellia and Wenduag just behind as they rushed down the staircase, curling around to the front of the ritual chamber. Mahi put on a turn of speed, her body moving faster than her mind. Her gaze was focused on Hosilla - she needed to put a stop to this horror.

But she was under the eyes of Savamelekh. Her gait slowed, her hooves dragging as she stumbled. Behind her, she heard Seelah's strained voice murmuring prayers as she fell to her hands and knees. Mahi made it two more steps, her lips bared in a snarl - just a few steps from Hosilla. The cult leader didn't look surprised, just contemptuous as she stared Mahi down unflinchingly.

Hosilla's hand dropped to her belt, coming back with a scroll in her grip. "Kneel," she commanded, and the spell washed over Mahi, Seelah, and Camellia. Mahi couldn't resist - her knees went weak, and she fell to her knees an instant later. This was no minor command spell, either - try as she might, she couldn't stand up now, as the spell simply overrode any attempt to do so before she even moved.

Perhaps if she could gather herself, she could will the spell to break. But under the malicious gaze of Savamelekh, Mahi simply couldn't compose herself. Her whole body was trembling, and as much as she tried to ignore it, she couldn't overcome the fear that rested in her belly. It was easier when she was already moving - now she was simply stuck.

Something burned inside of her at this humiliation, but even that fire was dampened. Still it drove her to lift her chin, to glare up at Hosilla defiantly. The cult leader's lips quirked in a self-satisfied smile, then she looked away from Mahi - she was beneath notice, or so Hosilla seemed to think.

"So, Wenduag. I took you in, gave you power and purpose. And this is how you repay me? I'd say I'm disappointed... but I suppose it was your unwillingness to bend and break that made me want you in the first place," Hosilla said, her eyes lingering on Wenduag. "Come here."

Wenduag staggered forward, the only one of the party who had been spared from Hosilla's magic. Mahi's eyes shifted to her as she stepped into view, before flicking over to Savamelekh, who was looking at her with lazy curiosity.

"Now, then, Wenduag. I don't know how you got the idea in your head that you could turn your back on me. Or that I would let you leave that easily. But I think you need to be reminded of your place. You belong to me," Hosilla said, gripping Wenduag's chin and tilting her head back. The neather snarled, but didn't move to resist as the cult leader glared down into her eyes. "I see. You met these outsiders and got it in your head that they could defeat me, right?"

Hosilla's gaze turned toward Camellia, who could only look at the floor, the color drained from her face. It moved onward, settling on Seelah, who was still praying desperately. "That paladin seems strong. Full of faith and self-righteous. Yes, I understand why you might think she was worthy of your hopes."

Her gaze landed, finally, on Mahi, who met it with a glare and bared teeth. "This one... oh, she's interesting. What do you think, Lord Savamelekh?"

The demon strode forward, breathing in through his nose. "Hmm. A mutt of the outer planes. Her blood reeks of iron and leather, a velstrac's kin. But there's more than a whiff of Elysium to her as well. There's power in her. Sacrifice or servant, she'd be useful."

"I see. So this was the one you pinned your hopes on, Wenduag? And yet here she is, held within my power. You see now, don't you? There is no way out of this for you." Hosilla drew her dagger - then held it out, hilt first, to Wenduag. "I'll give you one chance to erase this folly. Take this dagger and kill the one you pinned your hopes on. Do that, and I'll forgive you for Adet and Renna's lives. Or you can refuse - and die along with them."

Wenduag stared, then reached out, her hand trembling, and took the dagger from Hosilla. Mahi struggled again, trying to force herself upright, but she managed only to lift herself a few inches before Hosilla's hand gripped her by the hair and forced her head back to bare her throat. Wenduag stared, her hands shaking as she looked down at Mahi, who could only snarl and thrash as Hosilla held her.

"Well? Do it," Hosilla ordered. "Kill her."

Wenduag's eyes flickered from Hosilla to Mahi. Then she closed her eyes, and swallowed. Her expression went flat, and her grip on the dagger tightened.

Sometimes the fate of the world rests on a single choice. Sometimes, it is only the fate of a single life. In the Age of Lost Omens, such things were far more common now that Aroden's death had severed the thread of prophecy that wove the world together in ages past. In this age, the little choices mattered all the more.

Wenduag made a choice. Her tumultuous heart finally stilled, and she knew she was making the right one, as she looked up into Hosilla's eyes - and lunged forward, seeking to drive the dagger into the cult leader's heart.

"Hold." Hosilla released Mahi, her hand flicking upward toward Wenduag, who came to a stiff halt as paralysis set in for the second time this day. "Really. I'm so disappointed in you, Wenduag."

Mahi felt the rage inside her roiling again, pushing back against the power holding her in thrall. She knew she could unleash it, let it roar up and out of her. She would gain the power to fight back, she knew - and it was worth the cost, wasn't it? Otherwise she was going to die here. They were all going to die here. She felt the rage boiling and burning - right on the edge of her self-control.

And behind it, she felt the calm light of heaven, the angel unbowed and unbroken. Her mind wasn't driven by emotion - she didn't fly into rages. That wasn't who she was. But anger was a tool in her hands - and with that tool, a plan came together.

"Did you think this would make any difference at all? She will still die, Wenduag. It makes no difference whether the dagger is in my hand or yours," Hosilla snarled, snatching the dagger from Wenduag's stiff hand. "Now watch, and let this pathetic hope die with her."

She turned to look down at Mahi, her mouth twisted into a furious grimace. She raised the dagger high, ready to plunge it down and put an end to this little rebellion.

Savamelekh straightened, his tail lashing slightly as he stared at Mahi. He could feel something coming from the tiefling, and his instincts told him it was something dangerous. "Hosilla. Hurry it up. She's doing something, you need -"

Whatever he was going to say next was lost as Mahi roared, letting out a tiny flash of the rage that had tormented her for the last few days. Blood-red light poured from the wound in her chest as it tore open, and her body was suddenly shimmering with heat as she threw her anger against the power holding her down.

Suddenly, she was free and surging to her feet, Hosilla reeling away from her as though she had been slapped. For a moment, she felt wild and powerful and angry. These pathetic creatures had humiliated her - and they would die for it, for the audacity of trying to bind her.

For a breathless moment, she teetered on the edge of losing herself to the rage. Anger and pain and rage was a tool, but it this was no ordinary emotion and it was quickly proving a double-edged sword. The wild rage wanted to rampage and lash out - but Mahi couldn't afford to lose control. She strengthened her will and seized the other power inside of her - the Light of Heaven, pitting both forces against each other.

The rage snarled and twisted as she pulled the power of Heaven forward, binding the otherworldly rage in chains of light and dragging it back. The blood-red light faded, and her chest burned with the harsh white light of Heaven instead. Righteous anger filled her, burning through the foggy malice of rage. The whole internal struggle had happened between heartbeats, at the speed of thought, and as she stabilized on her feet, she was fully drawing on the power of Heaven.

"No more! I will not allow this to happen!" Mahi's voice rang in the space, brassy and strong. It rang with righteous power, overlapped by an other-worldly timbre - the voice of the angel, echoing her words. The heavenly light pouring from her flashed out, and a wave of pure holy energy rippled outward to touch everyone in the room.

The heavenly light pouring from the wound in Mahi's chest coiled around her arm as she thrust it toward Savamelekh. The light lunged forward and wrapped around the demon - and a moment later, a spear of light dropped from above and slammed down onto him, sending him crashing down flat on the ground.

Keening with panic and pain, the vrolikai rolled to his feet, tearing open a portal and fleeing into it. The altar the cursed neathers were eating from split with a scream of tortured stone, and the neathers all crumpled to the floor, stunned by the wave of heavenly energy that had poured out of Mahi. That same holy energy shattered the paralysis pinning Wenduag and allowed Camellia and Seelah to stand again.

Whatever power this was, it wasn't something Mahi could use consistently. Seeing the demon run made her concentration falter - and just like that, the light vanished, leaving Mahi reeling and cold in its absence. Hosilla was glaring at her. "What are you...? No. It doesn't matter. You'll die for that!" Before Mahi could recover, she spun her glaive, moving to thrust it straight into the tiefling's chest.

Two arrows slammed into Hosilla's back, fouling her attack and sending her into a stumble as Lann leaped down from the balcony. "Sorry I'm late," he said, his next arrow already nocked. Seelah and Camellia moved in, getting between Hosilla and Mahi. Wenduag stared at Lann, her expression uncertain.

"Wasn't sure if you were waiting on an invitation or what," Mahi said, giving Lann a nod as she straightened up. The wound in her chest was bleeding again, blood running across her skin as she faced off with the cult leader. Hosilla let out a wild and cruel laugh, her expression crazed.

"One more to kill makes no difference! I will serve your hearts to my beasts!" A wave of greasy darkness poured out of Hosilla, an unholy blight that washed over the party. Mahi stumbled, her stomach twisting as she staggered back, coughing and retching painfully as the spell ate into her. She heard Seelah let out a shout, and then a clattering of metal as the battle began in earnest.

Camellia danced off to one side, avoiding a quick swing from Hosilla as she danced out of the range of the inquisitor's glaive. She grasped her snake skull amulet and started chanting, and Hosilla snarled as the hex settled on her. Wenduag didn't hesitate to take advantage, circling around and striking with her axe while Hosilla's attention was divided. The aura around Hosilla flared, and the blade sank into flesh, drawing a cry of pain from the cultist.

Lann didn't hesitate, launching two more of his slim arrows which danced into the melee, one missing entirely while the other sank into Hosilla's thigh, fouling her step as she swung at Seelah. The momentary lapse let Seelah deflect the attack, Radiance shining brightly as she stepped through to counterattack.

Mahi, meanwhile, was still reeling from the unholy blight, doubled over and retching painfully. She shook her head, trying to shake off the effects, and managed to lift her crossbow to loose a bolt at Hosilla - her shot went wide, making little difference to the fight.

It was Seelah making the greatest contribution to the fight. Hosilla was certainly skilled with her glaive, but Renna had been better. Compared to the difficult duel with the antipaladin, Seelah was quickly starting to overwhelm Hosilla. Radiance shone brightly in her hand as she struck. The pressure made it difficult for the cult leader to call on magic or other powers - it was only a matter of time before the balance shifted too far for her to recover.

Hosilla could see it too, and she made a dangerous move - a feint to keep Seelah back so she could back out of range. "Creatures of the Abyss, protect your mistress!" she called out, and there was an answering chatter as two quasits swooped down from the shadows near the ceiling.

Alas, Hosilla had been too focused on Seelah to realize the danger, and before the quasits could join the fight, Wenduag had stepped in, swinging her axe with a furious roar. The blade sank into Hosilla's back, sending her crumpling to the floor - and Wenduag's follow-up swing to the back of her head ended the cult leader without ceremony.

The quasits, in the end, made no contribution to the fight - between the demon slaying power of Radiance and Mahi's snowball and axe, both were quickly dealt with. The party stood panting, the fight over as quickly as it had started. Wenduag stared down at Hosilla's body, her axe still embedded in its skull.

"It's... over. It's over! I'm free! I'm... I'm free," she said, her voice breaking at the end. Everyone froze as Wenduag's breath broke into little gasps, and she sank to her knees. It was Mahi who moved first - calling everyone's attention to the collapsed Neathers.

"Lann, Camellia, Seelah, go check on them. Make sure they're alright - I'm not sure why they collapsed, and I don't know if they're going to be enemies or not. I'd rather they not wake up and start attacking us," she said, striding past Wenduag to shoo the others over. Lann looked like he wanted to argue, but her glare held him steady until he finally snorted and turned to the task. Mahi approached Wenduag carefully, kneeling nearby.

In the time it had taken Mahi to chase away the onlookers, Wenduag's gasps had subsided. Her expression seemed numb now, and she barely glanced toward Mahi as she knelt down. There was no evidence that tears may have started to flow - even if Mahi could see such evidence, she would have denied it.

"I... I'm free, aren't I?" Wenduag's eyes turned to Mahi, her voice plaintive and small. "I don't know... how I feel."

Mahi nodded carefully, watching Wenduag's expression. "If it helps, I'm proud of the choice you made, in the end. Also, glad you didn't kill me. That would have been very disappointing."

Wenduag's expression became more thoughtful. "It seemed so obvious when the moment came. I don't know why I didn't see it before." Her brow furrowed.

Mahi sighed, biting her lip as she considered how to respond. "Sometimes it's hard to know what the right choice is. Sometimes it's not obvious you've made the wrong choice until the time has passed."

"How do I keep myself from making the wrong choice again? I've already made so many mistakes, how do I-"

"'Mistakes' is a really self-serving way to describe what you've done." Lann's voice cut in, his tone harsh. Wenduag jumped to her feet, turning to face him. Lann glared down at her, his arms crossed and his chin high. Wenduag cringed slightly, avoiding his eyes. "You served her, Wenduag! For years, you served her! You betrayed your tribe, and for what? Power? Safety? Or just because you were her loyal hound - until you had a chance to betray her too!"

"How do you... did you tell him?!" Wenduag's expression was betrayed as she looked back at Mahi, who shook her head quickly.

"He -"

"I heard it from your own mouth, traitor," Lann spat, interrupting Mahi. "You were careless. I was there, hidden in the hut when you explained the whole thing to her." Wenduag's expression twisted unpleasantly.

"Dammit," she hissed, glaring up at Lann. "I knew you wouldn't understand. So what, Lann? Do you think I should have just died? Rolled over and let Hosilla kill me back then?"

"It would have been better than letting her turn you into a monster!"

"That's easy for you to say, Lann! You weren't there. You didn't have to make that decision - and you never had to live with it! You've never had to make a hard decision - that's why Sull doesn't trust you!"

It was Lann's turn to flinch and snarl, and he took a threatening step forward, inhaling to continue the argument - until Mahi's sharp clap cut them both off.

"Enough! It's in the past, Lann! We can't change what Wenduag did, no matter how monstrous it was. We need to focus on what she will do." She stood between them, glaring at both in turn. Wenduag subsided quickly, unwilling or unable to match Mahi's gaze, but Lann's pride kept him from looking away as Mahi glared up at him.

"What do you mean 'what she will do,' Mahi? Are you planning to invite her along with you? Knowing who she is and what she's done?" He challenged her, staring down coldly.

"Knowing it, accepting it, and, ideally, helping her to move past it. If you don't trust her, fine, Lann. I can't force you to, and there's nothing she or I can say at this point that will change your mind. But I don't need you to trust her - just to give her a chance. There's room in this group for you, too. If you can accept her presence." Mahi's voice was steady and sincere as she looked up at Lann. His expression twisted.

"I don't trust her. And I don't understand why you do. I know she... she chose to fight back against Hosilla at the end there, but one good choice doesn't erase a lifetime of wrong ones!"

"Of course it doesn't. But it can be the turning point. I want to believe Wenduag can change - and I want to help her do it. This is the time to offer an open hand, not a closed door."

Wenduag squirmed slightly behind Mahi. "I'm right here, you know. If he doesn't want to come along because of me... so be it. You can't force him." Her voice wasn't harsh, just tired.

Lann's mouth twitched, and he glared over Mahi's head at Wenduag. "... Why do you want me to come along, anyway? I already left you all to deal with this alone. Maybe you're too trusting - too lenient."

"Maybe I am. So what? That's my choice to make and regret. I'd rather be too trusting, than be so unwilling to trust that I slam the door in the face of an ally."

"And what about the people following you? What do you two think?" Lann turned his attention to Camellia and Seelah.

"I mean, I don't really trust her either. Or I didn't. But... when Hosilla had us dead to rights, Wenduag could have turned her coat. None of us could have done anything if she killed Mahi. I mean, I guess you were there too, though none of us knew that, I think. One choice doesn't erase the past... but it's not nothing, either," Seelah said, her expression serious. Camellia shrugged.

"It doesn't really matter either way to me. If it were my choice, I'd leave you both behind, and spare myself the burden," she said, her tone icy. Lann rolled his eyes, focusing back on Seelah for a long moment. Finally, he nodded slowly.

"... Alright. Fine. I don't trust her - but I guess I don't need to. If you want me along, Mahi, I'll come. Somebody needs to watch your back, if you're going to be so damn trusting."

Mahi turned, looking toward Wenduag. "Are you alright with that?"

"Do I have the right to complain...? I can't imagine staying behind either way," Wenduag said. She didn't look happy with the way it happened, but she didn't protest either.

Mahi took a moment to watch Wenduag's expression, before nodding. "Alright. Glad to have you back on board, Lann," she said, giving the man a wide smile. He seemed a little taken aback, but covered it up by turning his reptile side toward Mahi.

"Yeah. So... those kids," he said, changing the subject deliberately. "I think the tribe can do something for them. Honestly, I think Sull needs to see all of this." He glanced toward Wenduag as he spoke, who flinched a little at his words.

"Right," Mahi said, her own eyes flicking between the two neathers. "Lann, could I ask you to gather Sull and whatever people he needs to deal with them? And Anevia and Horgus, while you're at it."

"Sure. I shouldn't be too long," Lann replied, shouldering his bow before setting off on his assigned task. Mahi glanced toward Wenduag, who looked pale.

"Are you going to tell Sull?" Mahi asked, her tone flat - no influence either way from her. Wenduag flinched a little, looking away from Mahi. "He's going to have questions, I think."

"Yeah," Wenduag said quietly, looking down at Hosilla. "Sull's old and timid, but he's not stupid. I guess... I guess I have to, right?"

Mahi hummed softly, crossing her arms. Personally, she felt sure she could maybe sell the idea that the cult had only just moved into the Maze - but she didn't think it was a good idea to tell Wenduag that. Besides, it would probably upset Lann, which did matter to her. She'd already done enough to hurt him.

"Okay. I'll let you decide how you want to do it - I'll be there to support you, but the confession needs to come from you," she said, instead. Wenduag looked a little ill, but she nodded, her jaw set with determination.

About an hour passed before Lann returned. The young neathers didn't wake up in that time, which had Mahi worried. The kids were still breathing well and had strong vital signs - they just weren't waking up. Other than that situation, she took the time to search Hosilla, finding a note on her body mentioning a cultist stronghold in the Tower of Estrod. She filed it away, then returned to pacing while she waited.

There had been some bickering earlier - Camellia didn't seem to care much about how the bodies or the neathers were treated, and Seelah ended up getting fed up with her callous attitude. Mahi had to step in, telling Camellia off before separating her from Seelah and having her stand watch at the exit, in case something came up behind them. That had left a sense of tension in the air that was making Mahi's tail twitch, and she wasn't sure what to do about it.

Lann's arrival was a welcome reprieve from the interparty tension, and Mahi wasted no time explaining the situation to Sull and the neathers he'd brought with him. Sull had a sharp look in his eye as Mahi explained - it was clear he'd already seen some things that didn't quite add up with Mahi's story. She directed him to speak to Wenduag, and lead them both away from the rest of the group so they could have their discussion.

It went... as well as such a thing could be expected to go. Sull listened with an impassive expression, though it occasionally broke as Wenduag went into details of her service to Hosilla - especially the names of the other neathers she had lead to Hosilla. He had some follow-up questions - mostly about the ritual and what it had done to her and what to expect with the kids. Finally, they lapsed into silence as Sull crossed his arms and lost himself in thought.

"Sho... all thish wash going on, right under my noshe?" he mumbled, sounding old and tired. "What would your old father shay now, Wenduag?" He sighed, reaching up to rub his face. "I have to put the tribe firsht. Wenduag... from thish moment on, you're no longer one of ush. You are banished!"

His voice grew stronger as he made the proclamation. Wenduag's expression fell, and her chin fell to her chest. She didn't speak, but it was clear her thoughts were running in wild circles. Mahi sighed softly, but didn't offer a hand of comfort - she was fairly certain Wenduag would reject it at this point.

"And you, uplander," Sull said, his gaze turning to Mahi. "You're plannin' to take both Lann and Wenduag with you, eh?"

"I am, yes," Mahi said, her voice steady as Sull stared at her. The chieftain scoffed lightly under his breath.

"I shee... I alwaysh knew Lann would leave ush one day. Hish eyesh have alwaysh been focushed on the shurfash. I think he learned shomething from you, too. Not to trusht so eashily, right?" Sull's lips split into a grotesque grin. "I guesh I should thank you. If you'd shown the Light, I wouldn't have been able to hold back the tribe. They'd have rushed in and been shlaughtered. Sho no hard feelingsh."

Mahi's lips quirked into a small smile, and she bowed her head slightly toward Sull. "I see why you're the chief. You saw through me from the start, didn't you?"

Sull laughed boomingly. "Egshactly! Now... you take good care of my tribeshmen. Even Wenduag."

Wenduag blinked, looking up at Sull, who turned a sad gaze on her in turn. "Even if she losht her way, she'sh shtill a daughter of our tribe. If you get her killed, I won't forgive you." He looked back at Mahi, his voice firm.

"Of course. I won't betray the trust you've shown, letting me take these two with me," Mahi said, her tone sincere and firm. Sull snorted slightly, shaking his head before exiting the conversation. Mahi glanced toward Wenduag. "How do you feel?"

The neather woman shook her head. "It's... all a mess. I understand Sull's decision. But that doesn't make it not hurt," she said, sighing to herself. "Besides... I thought after Hosilla was dead, I'd feel... better. But I don't. Not really."

"What do you mean?" Mahi asked quietly, watching Wenduag's face attentively.

"It's like... when I was serving her, I always felt so... irritated. Angry, hungry, I don't know. It was a lot of things - I never felt like I was at peace. Doing what she told me to made me feel a little better - and a lot worse. Fighting made it quieter. I thought maybe Hosilla was making me feel like that, but I still feel that way." Wenduag swallowed, looking at her hands. "Even now, a part of me just wants to dominate everything around me, to prove I'm the strongest."

Mahi nodded, though Wenduag didn't look up to see it. She could understand most of what Wenduag was describing - it was similar to the dark impulse that came to her from her fiendish blood, though Mahi had never been driven to dominate. Just to hurt.

"You consumed flesh tainted with Savamelekh's poison," Mahi said quietly - a statement, not a question. "And neathers were already tainted by exposure to abyssal corruption. I think you'll always feel a pull toward the Abyss. But in the end, what you do is your choice. And what you choose to do - or to not do - is far more important than any intrusive thought or desire."

Wenduag sighed, then scowled a little, not seeming to be satisfied with that statement. But she didn't say anything about it, and after a moment she shook her head. "We should get going. I want to get out of here. Leave it behind me," she said, turning toward where the rest of the group had gathered.

Mahi nodded, then followed Wenduag over. Anevia and Horgus had joined them, the one looking more stable on her still-splinted leg, and the other looking a little queasy and out of breath. Seelah and Camellia were still giving each other the cold shoulder, while Lann was talking quietly with Anevia. They all looked up as Wenduag and Mahi approached.

"Are we ready to go, then?" Camellia asked, her tone impatient. Horgus' eyes flicked over to her, the corners of his mouth tightening slightly, before he glanced back toward Mahi.

"Just about. Anevia, I think you're going to want to see this," Mahi said, handing over the note she'd found. The woman's eyes flickered over the page, skimming quickly, before she muttered a low curse in a language Mahi didn't immediately recognize.

"Dammit, how did we miss this?" she grumbled, folding the page and tucking it into her pocket. "I guess I owe you all some thinks for cleaning up this mess down here too. So, uh, thanks." Anevia's eyes flicked toward Wenduag for a moment, who stiffened and looked away. She raised an eyebrow, looking pointedly at Mahi, who frowned and shook her head, mouthing, 'long story; fill you in later.'

Anevia frowned slightly at that, then shrugged. "Well... I guess this is our way up over here? Looks like the aqueducts under the city - we should be able to find a way up if we follow them," she said, changing the subject as she approached the exit. Mahi huffed out a quiet laugh under her breath, following Anevia over.

"As good a way forward as any, I guess," she said, looking around at the brick walls. Lann stepped up next to them, his eyes closed as he took in a breath.

"The air smells fresher up this way. I'd guess the way out is in this direction."

"Alright, I'll take your word. You take point, we'll follow your nose."

---

Despite Lann's nose guiding them, the party's path was not easy. The bricks were often slick with moisture or coated in a layer of moss, and in many places the correct path had collapsed, forcing the party to redirect down side paths that would take them in the right direction. A few times, the party would come to a halt to allow Anevia and Horgus to catch their breath and to allow Lann or Wenduag (but not both) to scout ahead to plan the route.

To make things worse, the path was almost entirely uphill - only a light grade, but it still left the party with aching legs after the march.

"I wonder where we're going to come out? Probably somewhere in Old Kenabres," Anevia commented during one of these breaks. "There's a cistern under the Grey Garrison, which is the source for the aqueducts. Hopefully we're not going to have to climb up a well."

The conversation was cut short by the soft patter of Wenduag's feet on the stone as she returned, her expression pinched. "I think we're at the top. I found a big room with a hole in the ground, full of water," she said. "There's eight paths out of that room, but none of them seemed like the right way forward."

"That's the cistern," Anevia confirmed, frowning. "Maybe there's a path into the Grey Garrison? I'm sure I've never heard of one, though."

"Only one way to find out. You ready to get moving again, Lord Gwerm?" Mahi said, standing from the stone she'd been using as a chair. The nobleman was still breathing heavily, but he took a deeper breath and nodded resolutely.

It wasn't far to the cistern, and the party stood together at the lip, firing ideas back and forth.

"Surely there's some kind of maintenance access?"

"Probably, but it's likely locked up quite well."

"I know smugglers use these tunnels; maybe we can find one of their passages?"

"That might be our best option..."

Mahi sighed lightly, tuning the conversation out as she looked around. She paused, tilting her head back and forth, then turned to approach one of the walls. The conversation died as she walked over, everyone turning to watch her as she crouched down, examining something on the wall.

"What did you find, Mahi?" Seelah called out as she approached.

"Some of these bricks are misaligned. Not in a 'poor workmanship' or 'damaged' kind of way, but like..."

"Like there's a hidden door there?" Anevia finished the thought, taking a closer look at the wall herself. "I think I see it. But how do we open it?"

Mahi stood up, tracing her fingers over the stone, ignoring the layer of slime that soiled her fingers. She could see the shape of the door now, though it was hard to see - save for that one slight misalignment, the whole thing had a seam thinner than a hair. She examined the stones around the door, looking for any signs - and then a slight shifting of the party's lights made a mark on one stone jump out at her.

It was a Hallit rune, a symbol which meant - well, it had a few meanings, but one of them was simply 'passage.' When Mahi touched the stone the mark was carved on, she felt it shift lightly under her touch.

"I think I've got it. Camellia, come have a look. It might be trapped," Mahi called out. Camellia came over quickly, giving everything a once over.

"It looks clear, but everything about this door is pretty well hidden. Maybe we should use something to press it from a distance, just in case," she said, stepping back prudently. Mahi hummed, then stepped back as well.

"Anevia, can I borrow your bow?"

She handed it over without a word, leaning on Seelah to keep her weight off her still-hurt leg. Mahi leaned forward, lifting the bow carefully before pressing the end into the stone. It resisted for a moment, then slid back with a click - and a section of the wall next to the brick sprung out of place by a few centimeters.

They waited a moment. Nothing else happened, and Mahi sighed, handing Anevia her bow back. She stepped forward, getting a grip on the out of place section and pulling it toward her. It resisted for a moment, but once it started going, it swung open smoothly and easily.

Beyond the door was a small constructed area that quickly became a natural cavern. The cavern itself wasn't very large, and was full of verdant mushrooms. The party entered cautiously, then drew up short.

Whatever this cave may have been once, what it was now was an obvious way into a brick building above them. A huge pile of rubble had spilled down, creating a slope up into the room above. Mushrooms were already starting to sprout among the rubble, as spores found new places to grow.

"Looks like a way up," Seelah said blandly. Mahi snorted slightly. Wenduag's eyes narrowed and her head tilted lightly.

"I hear something," she said, after a long moment. Mahi glanced toward her, prompting her to continue. "I'm not sure, but it might be a fight going on above us."

Mahi's eyebrows rose. "Maybe some crusaders are still alive up there," she said. "We should move quickly."

Despite her suggestion, the rubble pile wasn't easy to climb, especially for Horgus and Anevia, forcing the party to take things slow to help them out. It took a minute or two to make it to the top, where the sounds of combat reached more ears than just Wenduag's. Anevia frowned slightly, her head tilting a little as the sound of voices rose over the sounds of combat for a moment.

"Is that...?" she mumbled, then shook her head and glanced toward Mahi. The tiefling was helping Horgus Gwerm onto stable ground, the old nobleman looking a little nauseous from the exertion of climbing the rubble. The able-bodied party members were taking a moment to check equipment, Mahi joining them once Horgus was squared away. A flicker of magic appeared around her as she recast her mage armor, and then she chanted a second incantation, and a pulse of energy flowed out of her and into everyone else as she cast a protection from evil spell.

"Alright. We'll take the lead - Anevia, you stick with Lord Gwerm and come up behind us," Mahi said as she checked over her heavy crossbow before operating the loading arm and slotting a bolt into place. Anevia frowned slightly, then nodded. Mahi arranged the party, then they set off up the stairs.

Anevia's suspicions - and her wild hopes - were confirmed by the time the party was halfway up, and she started pushing herself to walk faster, ignoring the twinges of pain she suffered for doing so. She recognized one of the voices ringing out in the fight ahead of them - it was her.

Mahi's party emerged on the floor above, the sounds of combat filtering to them through an open door ahead. They surged forward, taking rapid stock of the situation.

A group of knights was engaged in pitched combat with a pile of demons - some dretches, a few goat-like schir, and a twisted abrikandilu. Mahi didn't immediately recognize the knights' heraldry, but they were clearly skilled - as the party watched, most of the demons were cut down. Two of the schir were engaged with a paladin, whose sheer presence on the battlefield demanded attention. She wore golden armor adorned with Iomedae's golden swords, and stood head and shoulders above anyone under her command. As they watched, she called on the power of Iomedae, and her sword flashed with new power before she struck out at the schir fighting her with renewed vigor.

The fight lasted only a few blows, the paladin quickly bisecting one schir before running the other through with a flash of holy light that blew a melon-sized hole out of the goat-like demon's back. Moments later, the last of the demons went down. Mahi couldn't help but to stare as the paladin turned her cool expression onto her. She was a half-orc, which was something of a surprise but didn't shock Mahi too badly. After all, she was a tiefling. The paladin had a certain handsome beauty to her, especially with her current stern expression. It gave Mahi an entirely inappropriate swooping feeling in her stomach. Her tail lashed slightly as the paladin fully turned her attention on the party.

The other knights had taken notice of them, and there was a sort of armed tension as they stared each other down. It was Mahi who moved first, waving her hand to stand down the party. The paladin did the same to her knights, then stepped forward and opened her mouth to speak. Then her eyes went wide as another person stepped into the room behind the party.

"By the goddess... Nevi. I'd almost lost all hope," she said, her voice quivering with a sudden release of tension. Anevia smiled, hobbling over as quickly as she could and falling into her wife's open arms. They held on to each other for a long moment, sharing a few whispered words. Finally, Anevia stepped back, keeping a grip on her wife's arm before holding a hand out to indicate Mahi.

"This is Mahi. She rounded up those of us who survived the fall. Without her help, I don't think anyone would have made it back to the surface," she said, her tone sincere. Mahi felt her cheeks heat up at the praise, her tail lashing more quickly as she ducked her chin.

"I didn't do it all on my own. I'd have been in just as much trouble with the help of Anevia and the rest of my companions," she said modestly. Seelah scoffed lightly, and rapped her knuckles on Mahi's head, making her wince.

"Dummy. We'd never have made it without you," she said sincerely, before clapping Mahi on the shoulder.

"Let's just call it a group effort. Everybody contributed to our success," Mahi suggested, trying not to sound too desperate to get the attention off of herself. Anevia shook her head, smiling wryly.

"Anyway, Mahi, let me introduce you to my wife, Irabeth Tirabade, Commander of the Eagle Watch," she continued. Seelah straightened up next to Mahi, not quite coming to attention but looking far more serious than she had a moment before. Irabeth nodded, the slight smile on her face at the easy banter fading as she grew more serious. On a closer look, now, her face bore the obvious signs of exhaustion, and while her voice was mostly clear, there was the occasional long pause as she needed to marshal her thoughts through the exhausted fog.

"Until the army arrives, I'm the temporary warden of Kenabres. You're just in time - as you can see, we're in the middle of an operation," she said, then paused for a moment. Her tone dropped, becoming less stern. "And thank you for getting Anevia out of there."

Mahi nodded, drawing herself up as much as she could - even standing perfectly straight, the tips of her horns just came to Seelah's shoulder, leaving her as quite the diminutive figure in this conversation. "I just did what anyone else would have - I couldn't abandon people down there," she said. "Admittedly, we had trouble orienting ourselves down there - we came up through a passage near the cistern, so I assume we're in the Grey Garrison now?"

"Correct. It fell in the early hours of the attack," Irabeth said, her expression troubled. "The cultists have been holed up in here."

"What's the target of your operation here?"

"When the demons attacked the city, the Wardstone was their first target. Deskari himself threw it across the city, and it landed here in the Grey Garrison. It's vitally important that we recapture it so we can do something to reverse whatever sabotage they did," Irabeth said. She paused, looking over Mahi's party with a slight frown. "I can see that you've had a difficult journey to the surface. You need to rest, but there's a lot riding on this. I have no right to command you, but I'm asking you to help us."

Mahi hummed softly, rubbing her chin as she considered. Honestly, there wasn't much to consider - the Wardstone was too powerful to leave in the hands of the demons. Unbidden, her dream from before came to mind. Was this the true threat the woman had been warning of in the dream?

"I'm inclined to do just that, though I can't speak for my companions," she said, looking up at Irabeth with a serious expression. "Speaking of which, let me introduce them. This is Seelah, a fellow paladin of Iomedae. That's Camellia - she's been very helpful on our journey through the underground. Finally, this is Lann, and Wenduag. They are members of a tribe of people we met in the caves below, the neathers, who were descended from the first crusaders."

Irabeth's eyebrows raised in surprise, before she inclined her head respectfully toward the party as a whole, but with particular attention paid to Lann and Wenduag. "Most people in Kenabres think of the children of the first crusade as nothing more than a legend. Others say the day you emerge on the surface heralds the beginning of the end of the world. I'm not superstitious, but the situation is certainly apocalyptic enough. Maybe having a few living legends on our side can tip the scales back in our favor."

Lann grinned easily. "Come on, a living legend? More like a walking folktale. As long as I don't turn into a running joke," he said. Mahi snorted softly, shaking her head as Wenduag rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Don't embarrass us, Lann," she said, her tone short. Lann's laughter died on his lips, and he turned a snarling glare on Wenduag, snapping something in the Neather language. Wenduag responded with a snide comment, and before Mahi could head the argument off they were diving right back into bickering in the neather language.

Irabeth looked bemused - and a little concerned. "Long story. They're good in a fight, at least, even if they mix like acid and water," Mahi said, to reassure her. The argument had lost steam as both neathers realized they were making fools of themselves, and instead simply pointedly ignored each other's existence. Mahi sighed, rubbing her face tiredly. "What's the situation in the city?"

Irabeth copied Mahi's expression, rubbing an exhausted hand over her face. "It's... all but gone. Most of the defenders, including Terendelev, fell in the first few hours. The civilians either fled or died in the chaos. The city has been overrun by cultists and demons."

Mahi's eyes flickered over to the other knights, who looked grim at Irabeth's stark declaration. It was clear hearing their commander sounding so defeated had an effect on them. Mahi took a breath to reply, but Seelah spoke up before she could.

"Don't talk like that," she said earnestly, clapping a fist to her chest and making her splintmail rattle loudly. "As long as the city still has stouthearted defenders like me and you, Kenabres still lives." Irabeth's expression became less grim as Seelah spoke.

"Sweet words don't change the grim truth," Camellia said cynically, giving Seelah a pointed look. A few of the knights looked like they agreed with her more than Seelah, though at least the majority looked like Seelah's optimism had bolstered them, Irabeth included.

"No, she's right. Thank you, knight - Seelah, I mean. Until we no longer have the strength to hold a weapon, until Iomedae abandons us, we will fight for Kenabres!" She made the statement into a firm declaration, earning a sharp bark of agreement from the knights as they came to attention. It was an impressive display, and Mahi capitalized on the momentum.

"Well said, Commander Tirabade," she said, coming to attention herself. "This is the beginning of our counterattack. The demons may have bloodied us, but if they think we're simply going to roll over for them, they have another thing coming." Her voice was powerful and confident, and she could feel everyone standing straighter, grim smiles becoming more sincere among the knights. Irabeth's expression shifted to momentary surprise, before she met Mahi's confident smile with one of her own.

"We'll be moving out soon. Will you all be joining us?" Irabeth looked up toward Mahi's companions.

"Of course!"

"You can count me in." Seelah and Lann spoke up first, and immediately agreed. Surprisingly, Wenduag was nearly as fast.

"I'll follow Mahi's lead," she said, nodding firmly. The firm declaration was a little embarrassing, but Mahi kept a straight face.

"Of course I'm coming too," Camellia added, her tone bored.

Mahi nodded, then gave Irabeth a smile. "We're all in. None of us are knights or soldiers - we'll operate semi-independently and try to stay out of your way."

With the battle plan laid out, the operation was ready to start in earnest - at least, once Irabeth assigned a few of her men to escort Anevia and Horgus Gwerm to safety. Presumably they would be escorted to some sort of base the Eagle Watch had set up elsewhere in the city. But that wasn't Mahi's problem now, as Irabeth turned to her knights.

"For Iomedae! For the Queen!"

With that rallying cry, the knights burst forth into the main hall, Mahi and her group hot on their heels. In moments, the knights were engaged with a group of cultists who had been mustering, probably preparing to rush in and overrun the Eagle Watch knights.

Instead, they were the ones being overrun. Even without Mahi's crowd controlling spells - she deemed them too dangerous to use during such a pitched battle, instead resorting to single target spells and shots from her crossbow - the cultists were taken down quickly, falling to Wenduag and Lann's pinpoint fire, or Camellia's clever rapier, or simply cut down by quick tactical fights against the knights. Seelah was another stand out, nearly matching Irabeth's contributions despite the commander's greater experience and power. A third stand out was the dour dwarf whose axe was swift and deadly. He didn't shout or call on any gods, and showed little emotion at all as he cut down cultists with rote precision.

Irabeth didn't let their momentum slow, rallying her knights to charge up the stairs. There was a door at the end of the hall, but it was sealed with an intricate arcane lock - too much for any attempt to unravel it now. Mahi pulled her attention away and followed her party up the stairs.

For all their morale a moment before, the forces arrayed against them now made even the knight's stout hearts falter. Directly ahead as they came up the stairs was the Wardstone itself - this close, the sense of wrongness pouring off of it made Mahi stumble. Lann caught her before she tripped, giving her a concerned glance that she waved off. Irabeth and Seelah looked nearly as nauseated.

Immediately to the left, arrayed behind a low pile of rubble, was a group of cultists - if it were just that group, it would be an equal match. Behind the cultists were a few cambions, apparent leaders over the cultists. Turning further to the left, behind them as they came up the stairs, was another small army of cultists - and with that group, Irabeth's knights and Mahi's party were outnumbered nearly three to one.

It wasn't a good situation, and for a moment the knights faltered. One of the cultists caught the eye of a knight, waving to him in a friendly way. "Hey, hey! Come on man, why are you still playing at this knighthood thing?"

The knight seemed taken aback. "Wait... you... you joined up with the cultists?!"

"Of course! Come on, man. Do you really wanna die here today for some worthless goddess? Join the winning side - you're a lot more likely to see tomorrow that way."

There was a pause. Irabeth looked livid as she seemed to recognize the cultist calling out to one of her knights. Then... "Nothing personal, commander! But there's no way I'm going to die here!"

Before anyone could say anything, the knight dropped his shield and sprinted toward the cultist lines. Irabeth snarled.

"You coward! Turncoat!"

"It's not personal, Commander Tirabade, but I don't intend to di-"

A heavy arrow slammed home into the man's throat, before a second buried itself in his chest. Wenduag spat to one side, drawing a third arrow from her quiver and nocking it. "You don't intend to die? That's a shame," she snarled. The frozen moment shattered, as cultists and knights both moved to engage with each other.

"We'll keep you from getting flanked! Seelah, Camellia, move up to intercept!" Mahi called out. Irabeth acknowledged it, issuing orders to her own knights before wading into combat herself as Seelah and Camellia veered toward the cultists trying to move in and flank. Mahi chanted a short incantation, waving her hand toward the back line of the cultists that were her party's problem to deal with. The resulting puddle of grease sent their archers and spellcasters into disarray. Lann and Wenduag quickly started putting arrows into their frontline as Mahi raised her crossbow and started to join in.

Once again, the combat quickly faded into a blur of back and forth. The biggest challenge was the number of spellcasters - Mahi started targeting them specifically, sending volleys of magic missiles to cut them down - or shots from her crossbow, when they were a bit faster on their defense than she was on her spells. She directed Lann and Wenduag to target them as well, as their party started advancing further down this walkway.

At some point, Irabeth and her knights came back from their own fight, and streamed past Mahi and her party, joining in the melee at the front. The fight didn't last much longer once the knights joined in.

"Come on. Only one more floor - we should be able to get close to the Wardstone up there," Irabeth said, unable to keep the exhausted panting out of her voice. Mahi could commiserate - she was feeling the strain now, and she had just about exhausted her spellcasting for the day - she had a lot more fuel in her tank compared to her memories from three years ago (and that thought only made her shudder a little bit now) but even so she wasn't an endless font of arcane power.

She had limits, and she was starting to run up against them. Three big fights in a single day seemed to be the point where she had nothing more to give.

Of the others, Lann was the freshest at the moment, other than a need to recover arrows from fallen enemies. Seelah seemed to be holding up well, but she was clearly starting to reach the end of her energy too. Camellia had started holding back further from combat, relying on her hexes more than her sword. And Wenduag had nearly died once today, and hadn't had a chance to fully recover from it. She was hiding her exhaustion valiantly, but her shots were getting more sloppy, and she wasn't able to fully draw her heavy bow on every shot anymore. Lann kept glancing at her, a mixture of concern and exasperation on his face.

What Mahi wanted to do was to say they needed to fall back - they wouldn't last through another big fight. But she couldn't - even if it would be prudent, this was a make-or-break kind of moment. They needed to stop whatever the demons were doing with the Wardstone.

So instead she said, "Got it. We're right behind you." She could feel the exhausted glances her companions threw her way, but she just straightened her shoulders and fell in behind the Eagle Watch knights. They followed along without comment. A rumble shook the building as they approached the stairs, and part of the balcony above them fell down to crush the balcony behind them, cutting off retreat for the moment. Mahi glanced back, staring as she felt her palms getting sweaty with a sudden rush of nerves.

She shook it off, and took the stairs as quickly as possible. And once again, she emerged into what would certainly be quite a dangerous fight.

Down the path ahead of them, an array of demons and cultists waited for them. Several abrikandilu and a few dretches, backed up by a handful of cultists. But those were small fry, really. The serious threat had her back to the group - but a moment later, she turned around, her eyeless face twisting into a look of surprise.

"Oh my! I wasn't expecting guests so soon. I haven't even had time to light the candles, or pour the blood into the goblets yet," she said, her tones simpering and sweet - but it was immediately obvious what kind of danger they were in. This demon was a lilitu, a demon which specialized in infiltration and seduction. They could take on the face of their previous victims, those who had been captured by them and transformed into husks, and in doing so became the perfect infiltrator. They were powerful and cruel, and even one would have little problem wiping the Eagle Knights and Mahi's party away.

"Why don't you... Oh!" The demon's face lit up with a sickly joy, as she seemed to take particular notice of the dour dwarf among Irabeth's knights.

"What an unexpected surprise! Staunton, my little dumpling, it's been too long! I've missed you so much... I'm sure the feeling's mutual. Go on, you can admit it! You've missed me terribly, haven't you?" Her voice took on a sickly sweet and seductive tone, and the dwarf shuddered visibly before spitting on the floor.

"Minagho. You wench!" His voice was rough, like he hadn't used it for much in a long time. Mahi's eyes flickered toward him, and back to the lilitu, putting together the story quickly.

The exact details of the fall of Drezen weren't widely disseminated, but she had spent some time researching the history of the crusades in relation to her own work. The short version was this: Drezen was commanded by a valiant knight named Staunton Vhane. He was young, for a dwarf, and had a strong drive to prove himself worthy - a desire that proved easy to exploit. The lilitu Minagho had taken the form of a beautiful woman, and had tempted him to take Drezen's banner as his standard and march into battle himself, to prove to all the world how glorious he was.

As it turned out, Drezen's banner was no mere flag, but a powerful artifact created by Iomedae called the Sword of Valor. When hung on display above Drezen's bailey, it ensured that demons couldn't easily teleport into or out of the city, or anywhere for miles around. But as an artifact of faith, it worked best if it was hung somewhere public. Being carried as a battle standard was insufficient - it would only protect a single army and the area around them.

As soon as Staunton and his retinue left Drezen with his new battle standard, demons teleported into the heart of the city. At the same time, Staunton and his men were quickly encircled, cut off from reinforcements and quickly crushed. It was only luck - or Minagho's whim - that allowed Staunton to survive the battle. The Sword of Valor was captured by the demons, along with the entire city. This crushing defeat sparked the beginning of the Second Crusade, a desperate push to reclaim the fallen city - a push that ended in nothing but a stalemate, a holding action to buy time for the erection of the Wardstones to stop the expansion of the Worldwound. Ultimately, the crusade was a pyrrhic victory at best - and only the most charitable or propagandized historians would even say that much about it.

Mahi hadn't been aware that Staunton Vhane was still alive - not only still alive, but still fighting for Mendev in some capacity. Her eyes lingered on him for a moment, her thoughts whirling to a stop. Around her, the news that they were facing Minagho herself had sent a rippling uncertainty through everyone present. Irabeth's face had twisted furiously - it was a surprisingly good look on her.

Focus, Mahi.

"Be careful," the commander was saying, her eyes not leaving the lilitu's face. "She was responsible for one of the worst massacres in Kenabres. She must be back to finish what she started."

Mahi stared, feeling exhausted. Minagho was a threat so far beyond her that she felt like an ant staring up at the underside of a boot. Despair threatened to envelop her heart completely, the terror that she would simply die here and never see anyone she cared about again. It threatened to drag her down, and for a moment she was tempted to just give up.

But she wasn't that weak. She knew how to fight back against despair. Spite, and a good laugh would do it. "Hey, bitch! What's wrong with your face?" She spat the taunt in the harshest voice she could muster, nasally and taunting, her lips curled into a nasty smirk.

Everyone flinched at that - it was a suicidal display of audacity, and even Minagho seemed taken aback by the display of bravado.

"How rude! You're one to talk, mortal, with a face that even a mother would loathe," was Minagho's sneering retort, and Mahi let out another bark of laughter.

"Brilliant riposte! How can I possibly stand against the 'no you,' defense? If I'd known you were planning to enter this battle of wits unarmed, I'd have offered you a handicap. Maybe I should stick to using Elvish insults? They're not as clever, but then, neither are you." She tossed the mocking taunts out in a rapid stream, and this time nervous laughter rippled through the knights around her - and there were a few chuckles from the cultists behind Minagho. The demoness' tail flicked furiously, and she stamped her hoof down hard enough to crack the flagstones.

"Enough! Staunton, darling, are you really going to let some uppity tiefling bitch talk to me like that?" Minagho's tone became wheedling, as she tried to focus her attention on the one she'd seduced before. His furious expression only became more heated.

"That wench... She's the one who led me astray. She's the reason my life has gone to the Abyss! She's the reason for all of it!" His voice rasped harshly, and he gripped his axe tight enough to make the handle creak and crack.

"Oh my, like butter wouldn't melt," Minagho mocked, pleased to have a target with a less barbed tongue than Mahi. "What I remember is how eagerly you would run to our trysts. How you begged to see me again. How you promised you'd do anything I asked - by your own free will you said this! And now it's somehow my fault that Drezen fell? It's my fault that you've fallen so far? If you want to blame somebody, dumpling, shout it in the mirror!"

Whatever else could be said about her, Minagho certainly knew how to press Staunton's buttons. The dwarf roared out in a rage, "I'll beat your lying lips down your filthy throat!"

Minagho gasped, holding a hand to her chest with a wounded expression. "Now, Staunton, don't say things like that. Not about these lips, that once you kissed so sweetly. Really, dearest... don't you love me anymore? Remember how good we were together? I was so hoping that we could patch things up..."

"I'll kill you!" Staunton's final roar signaled the end of the conversation, and he charged forward in a rush. Minagho giggled, then waved her hands - and before Staunton made it halfway to her, she disappeared into a dimension door, reappearing around the bend by the Wardstone.

"Looks like you'll get the chance! But for now, focus on this fight!" Mahi called out, launching a bolt toward a dretch about to leap on Staunton's back. He just grunted irritably, as the other knights moved up to reinforce him.

The fight was brief, but vicious - Seelah was knocked senseless by one of the abrikandilu, and would have likely been killed if Irabeth hadn't stepped up to defend her, her glowing sword flicking in a complicated pattern that left the demon in four pieces. She took a moment to reach down and give Seelah a small pulse of positive energy, helping the younger paladin recover her feet and get back into the fight after another dose of healing - self-administered, this time.

It was Mahi's bolt that ended the fight, zipping over Staunton's head to plunge into the throat of a cultist of Deskari. The dwarf didn't even look back, rushing forward to the corner. Irabeth growled in her throat and charged after him, leaving the rest of the group to catch up.

As soon as Mahi turned the corner, the sickening feeling of the Wardstone's broken power struck her again. She stumbled, her knees nearly buckling beneath her. Her head was filled with voices, screaming, whispering, cackling threatening pleading whimpering shrieking cursing taunting noise noise noise noISE NOISE NOISE - until she mustered her will, and pushed it all away. She staggered sideways, knocking into Lann as the sudden silence left her head ringing. He stabilized her, giving her a concerned look, which she ignored in favor of taking in the scene ahead of her.

Minagho had a hand on the Wardstone as the party clambered over the last pile of rubble between them and her. She was chanting something under her breath, and seemed to be ignoring them. Right up until Staunton snarled her name, and her tail twitched to the right. Her head turned slightly - if she had eyes, she'd be looking out of the corner at them. "Keep going," she commanded one of the cultists next to her, a scarred woman who nodded quickly and took up the chant where Minagho had left off.

Minagho herself turned to face the party, clapping her hands in a slow, sarcastic method. "Well done. You made it all the way here. This is it, your precious Wardstone. But what are you planning to do now, hm? Fight me?" She let out a mocking laugh, and for a moment, everyone present faltered in the face of the lilitu. Even Seelah and Irabeth looked shaken, gripping their swords that little bit tighter.

"No, no. I won't give any of you pathetic creatures such a heroic death." Her smile twisted into a scowl. "It would be so much more fitting if you died in despair. Scrabbling like rats in the blighted ruins of your city, blind and broken, your flesh scabbed and seeping. Every moment, knowing precisely what was done to you."

Lann shifted uncomfortably next to Mahi. "Sounds terrifying... Except that's how we've been living for generations."

Wenduag snorted softly. "Do you think you upset her, Mis- I mean, Mahi?"

"Honestly, I don't see why she feels the need to hold a grudge."

If Minagho could glare, she would be giving Mahi one fit to boil the flesh from her bones. "There isn't a soul that can resist the temptations of the Abyss," she boasted, turning her "gaze" toward the Wardstone with a much softer smile. "Even a stone can be turned. This one has almost succumbed to my charms. And soon, the whole barrier around the Worldwound, the gift of your bitch goddess, will be a weapon in our hands." She laughed loudly, the sound ringing across the silence. "Every city with one of these eyesores will be turned into a smoking crater!"

"Sympathetic magic," Mahi muttered, her eyes widening. "That's what she was warning us about... the Wardstones themselves are the danger!"

"She? Who's she?" Minagho's sharp voice cut through Mahi's words as she voiced her realization aloud. Mahi's eyes snapped up, and she sneered.

"Who knows?" she replied, shrugging lazily. Minagho's brow furrowed - a very strange thing to see for a creature with no eyes.

"It doesn't matter," the lilitu declared. "You have a choice... except for you." She pointed a clawed finger at Mahi, then held out her hoof. "Kiss me on my dainty hoof, pledge your loyalty to Baphomet, and when the world falls, its ruins will be yours. And if any of you bring me that tiefling bitch's heart, I'll reward you all the more for it."

"Yeah, I think I upset her," Mahi said. "Anyway, my hooves are much prettier and daintier than yours, so bite me, no-eyes." She felt a little pulse of rage again - still chained, but facing what felt like a no-win situation had it thrashing madly inside of her. "Besides, I'm tired of hearing your voice. Shut your filthy mouth, scum." She spat the words, letting some of her frustration out.

It was Minagho's turn to laugh mockingly. "Make me." She giggled, smiling sweetly. "One of the sweetest spoils of war is gloating over your broken and humiliated enemy. And I'll take particular pleasure in gloating over you."

Mahi clenched her fist, feeling that rage rattling its chains. She grit her teeth, holding it down for the moment. "I don't think you've properly introduced yourself. Who are you?"

Minagho laughed. "Oh, so now we're caring about the niceties, is that it? Well, I'll indulge you - it's the least I can do before I eat your heart. I am Minagho, lilitu and faithful servant of Baphomet, and leader of his armies. This city is mine now. I'm just starting to settle in and get things just how I like them... and once I finish, I promise the results will be to die for."

Camellia scoffed. "And it was such a charming little place until you sullied it with your presence. It had such lovely boulevards, all shaded and quiet.... I don't think I will forgive you for taking those from me."

"They have done much worse things than spoil the promenades. They've killed so many people," Seelah said, her tone cold and angry.

"Yes, yes, you're right. I grieve for the common folk as well," Camellia replied, without a single drop of sincerity.

Normally Mahi would be paying more attention to such conversations, but now righteous fury was burning inside of her. "You... How dare you besmirch this world with your presence," she muttered, through gritted teeth. She glanced toward the cultists, some of whom were glancing back at Minagho and the party with curious expressions.

Were these people beyond redemption? If Wenduag had turned her back on the cult, and had been willing to start down the road toward redemption, could these people do the same?

She wasn't sure, but she needed to try.

"I wouldn't start planning what color to make the drapes just yet," Mahi said, her voice gaining the brassy quality that signified the presence of the Light of Heaven inside her. Irabeth glanced toward her, her eyes going wide. "Your victory celebrations are a little premature, servant of Baphomet."

She lifted her hand gracefully, and light flashed out from her palm. For a brief moment, she swore she felt the weight of a sword's hilt - but before she could grasp it, it vanished. The heavenly light remained, pouring out of her palm - and rising from within the Wardstone. There was resonance there, beyond the fact of both being artifacts of the empyreal planes, and both powers built on each other. Mahi's could hear the voices again - echoing her own words, though some still muttered dissent and discontent.

Minagho giggled, but this one was nervous, and she kept turning her head back toward the Wardstone. The grin had fallen off her face - and her cultists had stopped chanting. One turned toward her. "Hey! No-eyes! Didn't you say that Heaven had abandoned us? That joining up with your lot was our only choice?"

"Don't listen to her. The fiend wants you to lose all hope. She won't succeed," Mahi said, her voice still ringing with brass. The man glanced toward Mahi, then toward his fellow cultists. Then he reached up and ripped Baphomet's unholy symbol off his chest and cast it to the floor.

"I'm done with this shit! I only followed this hoofed menace because I thought the crusaders had had it, and there was no other way to protect my family! No more! I won't bow before these fiends ever again! And if I die - at least I'll die a decent death!"

"Yes! Return to our side, friends! Have courage! We will welcome you back, and Heaven never abandoned you, no matter what this deceiver told you!" Seelah's bold voice joined Mahi as she stepped up beside the tiefling, drawing Radiance and holding it up high. The holy light seemed to soak into the blade, as she swung it down to point it at Minagho, who looked rather like somebody had forced her to swallow a frog.

One of the cultists, this one wearing the symbol of Deskari, brandished his scythe, glaring fiercely at the first cultist to turn. "Turncoat! I'll cut out your heart!"

Another cultist behind him - the scarred woman - drew her own dagger, and plunged it into the Deskarite's back. "You're not so tough after all. We let you scare us once, but it won't happen again!"

That bold action triggered the rest of the cultists to turn on each other, around half stripping their unholy symbols off before diving in to combat the rest. Minagho watched for a moment, then turned back toward Mahi.

"You. I loathe you," she murmured, so furious she couldn't manage more than a strained hiss. "But you seem to have forgotten something important."

Mahi didn't even see the lilitu move - in the blink of an eye, she had crossed the twenty feet between them, and suddenly Mahi was at the center of a whirling cloud of claws and tail strikes. Seelah stepped in after the first two, interposing her shield - only to see it quickly shredded to splinters.

"Nothing you've done here makes any difference!" Minagho snarled - and between strikes she quickly chanted a spell, her hand flicking back toward the scrum by the Wardstone.

The entire group of cultists, both the faithful and those turned back from evil, were engulfed in fire. An echoing boom shook the chamber - and when the flames cleared, not even ashes were left. Mahi and Seelah snarled defiantly, each swinging their weapons at the Lilitu in the moment she was off balance from casting.

It made no difference - Mahi was disarmed with a flick of Minagho's wrist, and only a lucky flinch saved her from getting her face cloven by her own axe, the blade instead deflecting off her bracer and biting into her upper arm. The arm went completely slack, and she stumbled back, trying to make distance as Seelah rushed in to attack. She took another swing, only for Minagho to catch the tip of Radiance and hold it back contemptuously. Even with both hands on the sword's hilt, Seelah couldn't overpower Minagho - and before she could react, Minagho's other hand drove forward, claws bared - and she tore straight through Seelah's armor, scoring deep gashes across the paladin's belly before driving a straight kick into her and sending her tumbling back.

Seelah lay terribly still, the light of Radiance going out as the sword bounced off the ground. Mahi screamed out, throwing her hand forward and unloading every spell she could still cast toward Minagho. In the middle of that, Lann and Wenduag had landed a few arrows into Minagho's flank - arrows that the lilitu hadn't even considered to be worth trying to dodge.

"Was she your friend, tiefling? What a shame. She won't be the last friend you lose today," Minagho snarled - and her focus shifted toward Lann, Wenduag, and Camellia. Before any of them could react, she had shifted her position - and the reason for it was clear when she chanted out a spell and cut all three down with a single lightning bolt. Each crumpled, leaving Mahi stunned at just how quickly this had turned into a one-sided massacre. Minagho's cruel smirk turned toward Irabeth and the others now - well, mostly just Irabeth. Minagho tossed another fireball into the mass of knights, sending them all scattering to the ground save for the half-orc, who had charged in before the spell detonated. It was now just Irabeth and Mahi on their feet. For at least a few moments longer.

Irabeth made the best showing, leaving some shallow cuts on Minagho's pale skin as she blocked the paladin's strikes with her forearms and hands. It ultimately came to nothing - Minagho's strikes cut through Irabeth's plate armor like so much clay, and it wasn't long before the half-orc fell to one knee - before Minagho slapped her down to the ground.

Minagho's expression was annoyed now - clearly she hadn't expected anyone to be able to hurt her at all. "I'm tired of playing around now," she muttered. Next moment, Mahi felt pain erupt from her belly - and Minagho was there, one hand around Mahi's throat as she lifted her high, the other plunged to her mid-palm in Mahi's midriff. Something came out as she pulled her hand back, blood and worse spilling out of the gaping wound. She turned and threw the tiefling to the ground before stalking over to the Wardstone.

"I considered making you a husk, and then using your face to trick and kill everyone you care about," she said, in a conversational tone. She licked some of the blood off her fingers, then smeared the rest across the surface of the Wardstone. "It would have been gratifying, to see your face fall into despair as I dragged them in front of you before eating their hearts. But I'd rather not dispose of any of my other faces, and frankly... I don't have the time to indulge myself. I have an invasion to lead."

Mahi groaned, lifting her head slightly. Radiance rested in front of her, just out of reach. She grit her teeth, pushing the pain down as she dragged herself forward. Seelah shifted, lifting her head slightly, and Mahi let out a quiet sigh of relief.

It was a cold comfort. She didn't see a way out of this. But she wasn't going to die on her belly, no matter what. She signaled to Seelah to stay down, and reached out for Radiance, wrapping her hand around the hilt. She got a hoof down, pushing herself up to one knee.

"You want to know what will happen when I'm done with the Wardstone? Here's a little demonstration," Minagho said, turning back toward Mahi. She didn't seem surprised to see the tiefling pushing herself back up. Around the battlefield, a few others were stirring. Lann had managed to push himself to a seated position, his eyes vacant as he struggled to rise any more than that. Wenduag was crawling toward her bow with a dogged expression, even as her left arm dragged behind her. Camellia had rolled onto her back and was staring at the ceiling with vacant eyes as she stroked her amulet with her middle two fingers.

Minagho didn't look around at any of them. She only had no-eyes for Mahi as the tiefling pushed herself up to her feet and lifted Radiance to a one-handed ready position. Being on her feet was painful enough to make the edges of Mahi's vision go dark, and it was a fight to keep her balance - but she stood up, all the same.

Then Minagho cast her spell. Groans filled the air as the psychic assault struck everyone - but Mahi heard none of them. Her own skull was filled with screaming agony, thousand of voices screaming and howling and gibbering and sobbing, each desperately trying to be heard over the last. The pain nearly drove her to her knees again - but she grit her teeth and stood up straighter, gripping Radiance tighter.

"You won't break us," she spat. "We will never give up!"

"We will never give up," Lann echoed, his voice hollow. He said it like a mantra, like he was forcing himself to focus. "We will not break, we will not run...."

Mahi tuned him out, focusing on her hated enemy. She reached down deep, reaching out for the Light of Heaven again - and it responded, little more than an ember but still warm in her hands as she charged toward Minagho. Even the rage was there, pushing her onward, weak but still full of spite.

She made it three steps before the psychic assault redoubled. Her mind was filled with nothing less than an unbearable wall of screaming - and then, mercifully, something in the back of her mind snapped.

And Mahi dropped into darkness.

Mahi's dreams were a kaleidoscope of colors and sounds. For perhaps the first time in her life - or at least the first time she cared to remember - her dreams were utterly incomprehensible. She heard, on occasion, the plaintive pleas of the same woman she had heard before - but her words were mixed together with the screams and cries and pleas of a thousand other voices.

As if it weren't enough for her dreams to be so incomprehensible, the most comprehensible parts were just strange. For one stretch, an eternity long, the words she'd been hearing were arrayed on the face of a white box, cool to the touch, stuck to it without adhesive - like a lodestone stuck to an iron bar. Though the box definitely wasn't made of iron. She rearranged the words over and over again, confused voices repeating them as she changed the order, and at no point did any of it make sense.

It was almost a reprieve when the dreamscape shattered like glass and she plummeted.

Down, down, and further down. Once again she fell into darkness, an oppressive darkness that enveloped her so completely that she couldn't even see the tips of her fingers. It was the same darkness where she had found that purple stone before - she remembered now. But unlike the last time, there was a glow on the horizon. Two different sources of light - one golden, one blood-red. Dark clouds formed where those lights met, and lightning roiled within - two incredible forces meeting each other and detesting the contact.

Mahi couldn't watch the storms for long - regardless of her attempt to stay and watch, she still found herself at the crystal. Once again, she reached out and laid her palm on the facet. For a moment, nothing happened. Then a buzz started in the back of Mahi's mind. From that crackling buzz, a voice rose up. At first, it was too garbled to understand - then it resolved for a brief moment before fading back to garbage.

"- move our schedule up. I will need to perform the final impla-"

The voice was familiar - but Mahi was sure she'd never heard it before. The facet of the crystal she was touching shivered, and another hand touched the other side. This time, she didn't flinch away. She stepped forward, peering deeper. Her own reflection loomed back at her - no, it wasn't her. It couldn't be her. It was a face she'd never seen before, after all. A gaunt human face, with dark eyes and darker hair, pale skin, and an expression twisted with pain and anger. She'd never seen it - but somehow, she felt a pang of familiarity.

This... Other suddenly glanced up, then the image faded. In the same moment, Mahi felt her hooves leave the cold granite ground. She found herself tumbling upward, buffeted by the winds of the distant storm and sent into a wild spin that found her disoriented beyond any hope of knowing what was up or down. She fell in all directions, her thoughts suddenly racing - and then she crashed into the glass plane separating her from consciousness, and burst through.

Mahi sat up with a gasp, and immediately regretted it. Her head throbbed and spun, and a wave of nausea rolled through her, threatening to eject whatever bile was present in her stomach. She grit her teeth, taking deep breaths as her head spun, slowly taking stock of her body. She felt... well, she felt pretty rough, all things considered. On the other hand, she hadn't really expected to be feeling anything ever again, so maybe this wasn't so bad?

Her head felt like someone had used it as a percussion instrument, and her belly and arm ached - but at least she could feel them, and move them. She was stiff, and she could feel the telltale sweat of a fever recently broken, a clamminess that clung to her back - and drew attention to the fact that she was wearing little more than her underthings. At least she seemed to be alone.

And no sooner had she thought that, then she heard footsteps approaching. Just in case, she pulled the blanket up over her chest, watching the door cautiously. She wasn't sure where she was just yet, but a glance around the room revealed... well, it wasn't big, but the walls were made of wood, not stone, and the door looked like the kind of door that would be on an inn room, not one that would be put on a cell. It had a lock - but she knew from experience that those locks were rarely worth the metal they were made of.

The tension evaporated as soon as the door opened, and Seelah stepped inside with a tray in her hands. She was dressed casually, in a cream-colored tunic and a pair of brown breeches with a pair of heavy leather boots on her feet. She moved gingerly - but at least she was moving at all. There were bruises visible on her face and arms, but she seemed in good spirits - and when she saw Mahi sitting up, her face lit up with a broad smile.

"Mahi!" she exclaimed, setting her tray on a table by the door and approaching Mahi's bed quickly. There was a chair by her bedside, and Seelah perched on it, giving Mahi a quick once over. "It's good to see you awake - we thought it might be soon, after your fever broke."

"It's good to see you too," Mahi said. Her voice rasped at first, until Seelah grabbed a cup from the bedside table and held it out. Mahi took it gratefully, draining the water inside in a few swift gulps. It helped a lot with her lingering nausea and the pain in her head. "Where are we?"

"Somewhere safe... well, as safe as anywhere in Kenabres can be, right now," Seelah replied, rising to collect her tray before returning to the seat. There was a bowl of stew on tray, and a small loaf of bread, and Seelah began tearing into both with gusto.

Mahi's stomach growled. Seelah paused, glancing toward her with a little smirk. "Don't say a word," Mahi grumbled.

"I suppose it's to be expected. You haven't eaten in a while."

"How long was I out?"

Seelah sighed. "A few days. Honestly, most of us were out for at least a day... everyone who survived, anyway."

Mahi's heart sank. "Who all made it out?"

"All of our party. Irabeth. Staunton. And three of the Eagle Watch knights. Everyone else... they didn't make it," Seelah said, her tone soft. Mahi breathed out a sigh.

"Dammit..."

There was a knock on the door. Mahi sat up straighter, pulling the blanket up more firmly as Seelah glanced toward her. She gave a nod, and Seelah called, "Come in!"

The door creaked slightly as Irabeth entered, dressed in armor rather than the casualwear Seelah was wearing. Despite the armor, her left arm was in a sling, and her jaw sported a fading bruise. She perked up a little when she saw Mahi sitting up.

"Thank goodness, you're alright," she said, looking relieved. "We were worried about you. Healing your injuries was easy enough, but you were unconscious for so long."

Seelah started to set aside her tray and rise, but Irabeth held out a hand to stop her. "No need to stand on my account. You can finish your lunch," she said with a smile. "You've got good friends, Mahi. I think they've all been taking turns having their meals in here so they could keep an eye on you."

Seelah looked a little embarrassed at that. Mahi felt her cheeks heat up, and ended up looking down at her hands. It was rare for her to be at a loss for words, so she settled for an easy out - make a joke and change the subject. "So... did we win?"

Irabeth laughed wryly. "Sadly, no."

"I dunno... seems to me like Minagho had us dead to rights. I know we didn't all make it out - but we didn't all die, either," Mahi said, looking up at Irabeth. "Making it out alive is a victory of its own. How did we make it out of there, anyway?"

"You don't remember?"

"Last thing I remember is having my brain pushed through a sieve made of screaming. That psychic assault Minagho unleashed on us," Mahi said. A glance between Irabeth and Seelah revealed thoughtful expressions on both. "What?"

"I... remember that last spell she cast - it made my head hurt like somebody had hit me upside it with a hammer. But I don't remember any screaming," Seelah said, her brow furrowed. Mahi frowned, glancing toward Irabeth, who also shook her head.

"I see," Mahi mumbled, her own brow furrowing as she considered the implications. "It wasn't the first time I heard screaming - they started when we first approached the Wardstone. I was able to block it out at first, but not later on. I don't usually have auditory hallucinations." She frowned. "But then again, a lot has changed for me recently."

"What do you mean?" Irabeth asked. Mahi frowned, considering how to explain.

"Could you ask Anevia to come in here? There's a lot to go over, and I need to explain it to her as well," Mahi said, pulling her legs in to cross them in a more comfortable position. "Oh, and... where's my bag?"

Seelah reached down beneath the bed, setting Mahi's backpack on her lap. Irabeth, meanwhile, leaned out the door and called out to Anevia. Mahi frowned as she examined her backpack, which was covered in blood (mostly hers) and had been damaged during the fighting - one of the shoulder straps was completely severed. Once Anevia was inside, Mahi started telling the story, speaking down at her bag as she worked a prestidigitation cantrip and a mending to deal with the stains and the damage.

She told them everything, from where the discontinuity in her memories started - three years prior, on the streets of Nerosyan, while she was on her way to a tavern to meet up with a colleague who had promised to help her with finding some rare books. Anevia pressed for whatever details Mahi could recall - and she found it surprisingly easy to dig up those details. It had been Calistril, and the snow on the ground was deep enough to reach her ankles. She was in a low-class district of the city, so snow removal services mostly amounted to 'whatever the community got together to do' and this snow was fresh, anyway. She remembered a cart passing her, a little close for comfort - and that was where her memory ended.

Her story picked up again three and a half years later, on the day of the attack. Seelah and Anevia had their own knowledge to impart, recalling when Mahi was brought in, and how her injury had resisted Hulrun's attempt to heal her. She picked up from there, explaining everything that had happened underground, save for the details of Wenduag's story. Seelah looked a little sour at the omission, but didn't speak up to fill Irabeth in, which Mahi was grateful for. Ultimately, the choice of how much of her sordid past to share belonged to Wenduag, and Mahi wasn't going to make it for her.

Once the long story came to an end, Mahi sipped at her water, watching Irabeth and Anevia carefully. Both were wearing thoughtful expressions.

"So you don't remember anything from that period?" Anevia asked, her eyes watching Mahi sharply.

"Nothing. I think... I've dreamed, and some of them were weird. But I can't recall the details," Mahi said. "I can't imagine this amnesia is anything natural. It's too precise to be natural. I can't ignore the possibility that I'm compromised somehow."

"Like I told you before, I won't condemn you on maybes. Your actions prove you're a good person," Seelah said firmly. "If you were compromised, the confrontation at the Wardstone would have been the perfect time to reveal it."

"That's naïve," Mahi retorted, glaring at Seelah. "If they just needed a quick and dirty agent, any ordinary cultist would have worked. Whoever or whatever took my memories clearly wanted me to be here. Not just here but now. They could have subtly manipulated me in any of a dozen ways, to make me more likely to do things that would help them and not us."

"Frankly, I can't think of how you could make the situation any worse than it already is," Anevia said, cynically. "Moreover, I haven't seen any reason to suspect you up to now."

"We're not Hulrun's inquisitors," Irabeth said, crossing her arms. "I can't condemn you over something you might do. What you have done up to this point is fight like hell to save as many lives as you could. You showed bravery in the face of an enemy that none of us could stand against. There were so many opportunities for you to just... do less. Not even actively sabotage us, just fight a little less hard, do a little less. Your amnesia is worrying, but on balance I think it's worth the risk for us to trust you."

Mahi grimaced, looking down at her hands. "I hope you aren't making a mistake," she muttered, not wanting to look up at anyone. Seelah sighed, shaking her head.

"Why are you lobbying so hard for this? Do you want us to suspect you?" she asked, folding her arms as she stared at the side of Mahi's face.

"I just..." She faltered, clenching her fists in the blanket. She knew why, even if she didn't want to admit it out loud. If she was the one pushing for it, she was the one in control. It would be terrible to lose all her new friends - to be run out from the crusaders. But at least it would be in her own hands.

The alternative - that something bad would happen, and then she'd be blamed and driven out with no warning or preparation - was worse. And it was only inevitable. She was a tiefling - it wouldn't be the first or the last time that someone blamed her for bad things happening, even if she had no part of it. She'd left behind a series of parties that had formed for one job - and then collapsed because nobody wanted to trust the tiefling. Met people who she considered to be friends - who had been so concerned and apologetic while telling her to leave.

She didn't want to say it out loud. But the silence had lingered long enough - she needed to say something.

"I don't know. I guess I'm still shaken up from everything that happened. If you're all willing to extend your trust to me, then I guess I'll trust your judgement," she said, looking up at everyone. There was a moment of tension, before Seelah sighed.

"We're friends, Mahi. Whatever you're worried about, you don't have to deal with it alone, you know? I've got your back, like you've had mine," she said, her expression earnest and open. It hurt a little bit, seeing so much trust on the paladin's face. Mahi couldn't look at her, instead looking down at her hands and nodding.

Silence settled over the room, until Mahi sighed and shook her head again. "Right. Moving on from that.... How did we all survive, anyway? Like I said, it seemed like Minagho had us dead to rights. I think I blacked out before... well, before whatever happened."

Irabeth nodded, looking pensive. "Something strange happened with the Wardstone. After you collapsed, it started glowing - in a different way than usual. Minagho didn't seem to understand what was happening - she was trying to do something to the stone when everything went white for a moment. Once I could see again, we were all out of the Grey Garrison - we basically fell out of the sky directly on top of one of our patrols. They helped with triage and got us all back here to the Defender's Heart."

"What's the situation in the city, then?"

"It's bad, but not hopeless," Irabeth said, moving like she was trying to settle into a parade rest - before the movement of her arm reminded her it was in a sling, and she gave up on it. "Honestly, I'm surprised it's not worse - I have to hope our efforts at the Gray Garrison did something to mess up Minagho's plans. Or to delay them, at a minimum. Otherwise, I don't know why she hasn't completed her plans." She sighed, shaking her head for a moment. "News is coming in from around the city - more survivors are trickling in every hour, and we've been expanding our little safe zone as well. Even in places we thought were dead, resistance cells have been popping up. We've been bloodied, but the people of Kenabres aren't going down without a fight."

Mahi nodded, closing her eyes for a moment as she organized her thoughts. "Anevia, did you already report about the Tower of Estrod?" She opened her eyes to glance toward the woman, who nodded briskly.

"Yeah, I showed Beth that note you found," Anevia said, glancing up at her wife, who nodded as well.

"Infiltrators aren't unusual, though it is disappointing to hear that the Tower of Estrod had been targeted. I suppose that's how you got your hands on Radiance? You should see Joran Vhane about it, when you get the chance - he's the one who forged it originally. Regardless, I don't have the manpower to clear the Tower out. I'd be grateful if you could sneak in and scout out the situation. Just scouting - I can't recommend trying to engage the cultists there. I'd rather have you all come back alive than have martyrs."

Mahi nodded, frowning a little. "Noted. But going after the Tower of Estrod seems like a secondary objective, regardless. What's our plan for routing this invasion and recapturing the Wardstone?"

"That's a bold question," Irabeth said, her tone a little dry. "But a good one. First, we need to decide what to do with the stone once we get to it - I'll admit, I didn't have much of a plan for what to do if we'd managed to recapture it on our first attempt." She took a steady breath, glancing back at the door before drawing closer to Mahi and Seelah.

"What I'm about to tell you is classified by order of the Prelate. A traveler, a blind elf calling himself the Storyteller, came to the city recently. He insisted to be allowed to examine the Wardstone. I'm not sure why permission was given, in the end, but after his examination he immediately reported to the Prelate that he had found some sort of flaw in the stone or its enchantment."

Mahi's brow furrowed, and her eyes darted toward Anevia, who was looking on with a blank expression - she made a mental note not to play poker with Anevia, should the opportunity arise.

"I'm guessing the Prelate ignored him." She didn't even try to keep the cynical note out of her voice. Irabeth shook her head, looking conflicted and a little sour.

"Ultimately, it was Hulrun's choice - he dismissed the Storyteller, said he was bordering on blasphemy. Just between us, the Prelate's opinion isn't worth much - his faith is strong, but his zeal often blinds him to reality. It's easy to say it in hindsight, but I think the Storyteller knew what he was talking about. If we're going after the Wardstone, I think his advice would be useful for us. Sadly, I'm not sure where he's ended up in all of this chaos. He spent a lot of time talking with Staunton, asking him about the history of the crusades. If anyone knows where the Storyteller is now, I'd expect Staunton to know."

Mahi filed the information away, nodding slowly. "So that's step one - find the Storyteller."

"Yes, but there's another problem. After our failed assault, the demons have been pulling their forces back to the Gray Garrison. It will be even harder to take them with a head-on assault - so we're not going to commit to one. There are secret ways in and out of the Gray Garrison - you used one to get in yourself. I'd like you to keep an eye and an ear out for secret ways in."

Anevia spoke up. "I can't officially recommend talking to them, but if you run into any Thieflings out in the city, they tend to know those hidden paths - and I imagine they'd be happier to talk to you than to me."

Mahi nodded, her expression schooled to careful blankness. She could feel Anevia looking at her, and suspected she wasn't bluffing as well as she thought. She knew about the Thieflings - not the Kenabres branch, but she'd made contact with the Nerosyan branch. In territory where one's existence was tolerated at best, it helped to have friends in the same boat - and it was hard to find a fellow tiefling who was squeaky clean.

"If you're going to talk to the Thieflings, you should start with the kid in the basement," Anevia continued. Irabeth frowned slightly, but nodded. "The Eagle Watch nabbed him just before everything went to the Abyss, after their gang knocked over a shop in the area. When everything started, he got put in a cell in the basement for a lack of anything better to do with him."

"Considering the situation, someone good with locks might be useful. Camellia's been helpful in that role, but an expert would serve us better, I think," Mahi said, glancing at Seelah. She didn't seem to be against the idea.

"Talk to him first. If he's willing to help, let me know, and I'll have him released," Irabeth said. Her expression was a little conflicted - but she didn't voice her concerns. "Last thing - the Eagle Watch has lost -" Her voice faltered for a moment before she pushed through. "We've lost a lot of soldiers recently. Some were killed, others are just missing. It's hard to confirm anything in this chaos." She looked toward Seelah. "One of the missing fighters is Jannah Aldori. She was a new recruit to the Watch. I know she and Seelah got along well, and often went out drinking. I'd thought they might have been together when the chaos started - but now Seelah's with you, and there's no sign of Jannah. If you learn anything of her whereabouts, please report back."

Seelah didn't look worried at the news, but her lips thinned slightly as Mahi glanced toward her. "Of course. I'll keep an eye out." The slight tension left Seelah's face, and she gave Mahi a broad smile.

"Thanks, Mahi. I've been worried about her, and other friends I've made here, Curl and Elan. You met Curl at the same time you met me - the halfling I was drinking with. Jannah was there too, though I don't think you met her. If we're going to look for them, the Market Square is as good a place to start as any."

"If you're going to the Market Square, my scouts let me know there's a decent place to set up a crossing over the rift that damn beetle left. The rift basically cut the city in two, and it's a pain to get across in most places - so if you get the chance, it would be worth it to set up a crossing there," Anevia said, leaning her hip against the end of Mahi's bed.

"Another thing - the mission Beth gave you is important, and I'm not going to tell you to ignore that - you're good at getting things done, I've seen you in action. But if we send you out on a mission, we're weakening our defenses here. Realistically, Beth, Staunton and I are the only stand-out fighters outside of your party. If they come at us while you're gone, we'll be in difficult straits."

Irabeth frowned, but didn't contradict Anevia, who paused to look up at Irabeth before continuing. "We need you out there, doing what needs done. Taking the fight to them, as it were. But keep an eye and an ear out - if the demons make a move on the Heart, we'll send a runner to get you. If that happens, you have to hurry back, or you'll be coming back to an ash pile."

Mahi nodded slowly. "Understood. I'll discuss things with the party as well, see if we can figure out a plan for keeping some people here."

"Don't deprive yourself of specialists," Anevia replied, frowning a little. "We'll be able to hold for a day at least, more if we can strengthen our defenses, or if you can do anything while you're out to disrupt the enemy. The decision is yours, in the end - this is just my advice. If you go out without someone you need, at best you'll waste time coming back to get them, and at worst you'll get yourself hurt or killed."

Mahi frowned, but didn't really have a rebuttal against that. She wasn't an expert on strategy or tactics on any scale larger than small parties, so she was willing to take Anevia's advice, even if the part of her that wanted to be helpful chafed. She sighed, and nodded again. "Noted. I'll trust you to hold out in case an attack comes, then."

"Good. Come see me when you're ready to head out - I've got a few places you should check out," Anevia said. Irabeth nodded, standing up straighter.

"I'd recommend you also keep an eye out for any groups that can fight, and send them here as you find them. We'll need every fighter we can muster for the final push," she said. "Other than that, take some time around here to make sure you're ready before you head out. Your injuries are healed, but you may still be sore. Normally I'd say 'don't push yourself,' but this situation doesn't offer much reprieve."

"No, unfortunately. It really doesn't," Mahi sighed, managing a wry smile. "I'll be fine once I get moving - and maybe after a meal."

"Good to hear. Then we'll return to our work," Irabeth said, reaching down to squeeze Anevia's shoulder before turning to leave the room. Mahi relaxed, minutely, as Anevia and Irabeth left, then started pawing through her backpack to extract her clean clothes.

"Dare I ask what happened to the clothes I was wearing?" She glanced toward Seelah, who shook her head.

"They were pretty much tatters, and were soaked in blood on top of that. That lilitu did a number on you - on all of us, really. I've requisitioned a new set of armor from Joran, and a new shield. Hopefully, they'll serve as well as the last set," Seelah said, reaching out to stabilize Mahi as she sat up and swung her legs out.

It hurt - her whole belly felt tense, and there was a pulling feeling as she shifted around that nearly left her gasping before she strangled down the impulse. She gave her arm a few experimental movements - she had a full range of motion, but she could feel the strain of freshly healed muscles, and her last two fingers on her left hand were a little weak and clumsy. She ran through a set of exercises, and determined she could still perform her somatic components properly - not a career ending injury, at least. The axe wound must have severed some nerves - low-level healing spells could help with that kind of injury, but damage to the nervous system basically couldn't heal naturally, and spells worked by harnessing the natural healing process.

There were higher level spells that would work, and clearly whoever healed her knew what they were doing well enough - or she'd have no movement at all. She could work with this, at least.

She was focusing on her arm to ignore the pain in her belly, she knew. She held her hands out to Seelah, who gripped her wrists gently and leaned back slightly as Mahi put her hooves on the floor. It took more effort than she liked, and there were a few more tense pulls from inside her as she straightened up, but it was manageable. The pain was present, but she could work through it just fine.

Two new scars - one on her left bicep, one ragged one to the left of her navel. They joined the circular scar on her shoulder (still new enough to be novel), and the older lines across her wrists and thighs, and the thin ones all over her body, barely visible in this light but present to the touch. Mahi examined them dispassionately, then reached out stiffly for her clothes and started getting dressed.

It didn't take long - these clothes were the ones she'd originally been wearing on her arrival to the city, a dress over short pants, made of sturdy cloth and leather and designed for spending days on the road. She took a moment to pick over her appearance in the room's mirror - a dingy, bronze thing, rather than an expensive silver-backed one, but good enough for her to at least straighten her hair out so she didn't look like she'd just rolled out of her sickbed.

Her movements were stiff, and she had to be careful about leaning too far in any direction, but she was up and moving, at least. Seelah was giving her a concerned look, but she ignored it.

"Has anything come up with our party while I've been out?" Mahi asked, as she repacked her backpack before shouldering it again.

"Hmm... Lann and Wenduag have had about three arguments per day, but they haven't come to blows yet. Camellia's been... surly. She doesn't seem very comfortable here," Seelah reported. "Other than them, Horgus has been asking about you - I guess he wants to settle that contract, and he was hinting at another proposition as well."

"Of course he was. I'll talk to him," Mahi said, sighing lightly. "Alright. Time to show my face out there."

---

The common room of the Defender's Heart was packed - though revelry was in short supply at the moment. A few heads turned toward Mahi as she entered. A few lips curled in open disdain, but most people looking simply turned back to what they were doing - and for the few disdainful, there were a handful of others who looked at her with open respect. Mostly those wearing Eagle Watch colors - she was pleasantly surprised to see a handful of other tieflings wearing those colors.

Mahi scanned the room, picking out Lann and Wenduag with ease - each was currently pretending the other didn't exist, Wenduag standing off to one side and watching the crowd with a serious frown, while Lann warmed his hands at the fireplace. Wenduag saw her first - Lann's back was turned, at least until Wenduag snapped something in the neather language. He glanced toward her first, then looked over at Mahi when Wenduag jerked her head toward her. He gave a wave, his face splitting into a grin before he started picking his way through the crowd. Wenduag did the same, but she started nearer and had a clear path to simply circle the edge.

Wenduag reached Mahi first. "Mis- I mean, Mahi! You're up," she said, pausing an arm's length away. "I was -" she hesitated, searched for a way to end the sentence. "I wasn't worried, but I'm... uh... it's good to see you up."

"She probably spent the most time at your bedside out of all of us," Seelah muttered quietly, aiming for only Mahi hearing it. Sadly, Wenduag's ears were sharper than she'd expected, and the neather shot a harsh glare at the paladin.

"I wasn't worried! I know how strong you are. I just wanted to be there when you woke up," Wenduag said, her tone defensive as her spider limbs twitched. Mahi laughed lightly, then patted Wenduag's shoulder.

"I appreciate it. It makes me happy that you all care enough to look after me when I'm injured," Mahi said, giving Wenduag a guileless smile. The neather woman squirmed slightly, looking away from Mahi.

"D-don't read too much into it," she mumbled. Mahi giggled again, which earned her a glare and a short rebuttal in the neather language, before Wenduag turned and walked away. Lann frowned at her back as he approached.

"That's weird to see," he said, shaking his head. "I still don't understand how you handle her so well."

"She's pretty easy to handle, once you figure her out a bit," Mahi said, turning her attention toward Lann. "I've heard you two still have some friction."

He scoffed. "Yeah, you could say that. Look, I don't think we're ever going to get along. I'm willing to work with her, but don't ask me to like her on top of that."

Mahi frowned. "Friction between party members makes us all less effective," she said quietly. "And it does us no favors to have you and Wenduag arguing with each other all the time. I'm not asking you to like her - just... if it's something serious, bring it to me or Seelah so we can mediate. If it's petty shit, don't escalate it into an argument."

Lann's jaw tightened. "Why am I the only one getting the lecture?"

"I'll talk to her about it as well, don't worry. You're getting it first because... well, to be frank, I feel like your attitude toward her is that you're just waiting for her to fuck up so you can be right." Lann's fists clenched, and he turned the lizard side of his face to Mahi as she continued. "Right now, she's hurt and off balance. One of the pillars of her worldview has been shattered. She's been banished from your tribe, and she's adrift in the world. She's hurt, and a part of her thinks she deserves it. So she pushes you, because she knows you're inflexible and will push back - hurt her, like she deserves."

"So what? I should just take it when she's pushing me?" Lann asked, his voice cold. "I'm not her punching bag, Mahi, and I'm not yours either."

"No. Be the bigger man, Lann. At the very least, stop escalating. She's pushing you to get a reaction because she doesn't know where the limits are. If you keep treating her like everything she does is wrong, she's just going to decide that she can't change after all, and that it was pointless to try. If she pushes you, deescalate or walk away. If she escalates, bring it to me or Seelah and we'll deal with it."

"I'll admit, Mahi is probably going to be better at that than me, but I'll do my best," Seelah interjected. Mahi glanced back at her, then turned back to Lann.

"I'm not trying to be your enemy here, Lann. I'm just trying to keep us all pushing in the same direction. I'm not attacking you - Wenduag's behavior is a problem, and it will continue to be one until she figures herself out. I'm not going to defend her and say you're the only one in the wrong. All I'm asking is that you don't make things worse."

Lann's jaw tensed for a moment, then he breathed out a steady sigh. "Right. Okay. I'm... I still feel like you came down on me harder than you needed to, but I'll try to keep what you said in mind." He shook his head, turning the human side back to Mahi to give her a half-hearted smile. "Any tips for deescalating?"

"Best thing you can do is just not take the bait. If she's not getting the reaction she wants, she'll either back off or escalate herself - if she backs off, good. If she escalates, I'll step in - or you just walk away from her and tell me as soon as you can. She already knows you don't trust her, and she'd be suspicious of any more serious attempt at de-escalation. Leave that kind of thing to me."

Lann nodded slowly. "Got it. I'm glad to see you up and about, at least."

"Thanks. I'm glad to be up and about. Does mean that we're going to have work to do, of course," Mahi replied, giving Lann a smile. He shook his head.

"Hey, some of us recovered days ago - I've been earning my keep, running with Anevia's scouts. Wenduag's been staying closer to the inn."

"Well, yeah. She was very insistent that she wasn't worried about me," Mahi said, her tone dry. Seelah chuckled lightly, and even Lann smiled a bit. "So not worried that she spent the most time watching over me in my convalescence."

Lann blinked, tilting his head and glancing over Mahi's head at Seelah, who looked equally confused. Mahi sighed softly. "While I was recovering from my injuries," she clarified. "Really, it's not that unusual of a word."

"I've been living in a cave."

"And I used to be a street rat. I'd say neither of us had a very, uh, formal education."

Mahi sighed again. "Right. I guess that one is on me."

Seelah chuckled, patting Mahi's shoulder. "We're pretty used to it by now," she said. "Though I am curious about your story. I mean, you've told me some bits and pieces, but I'd certainly like to know more. Like where you come across a word like 'convalescence.'"

"My mom, mostly," Mahi said, glancing up at Seelah. "She's well-educated, and she tends to talk like it. I'm usually better about... not doing that. It's not a very endearing trait."

"I think it's endearing," another voice cut in, and three heads turned to see Camellia approaching from the bar. She looked a little on-edge, barely glancing at Lann or Seelah as she approached. "If you have an education, you should show it off, I think. It's only natural."

"Nobody likes to feel stupid," Mahi said, her tone mild. "And I prefer to avoid upsetting the people around me."

"I think if somebody gets upset because you're better than them, that's their problem. It's not your fault - it's only natural that some people are better than others," Camellia said. Her matter-of-fact tone grated on Mahi's nerves - and she felt the little nugget of rage, still smoldering sullenly in her chest, ignite once again.

It was good to know that was still there, but she really didn't want to deal with it. She had to take a breath to steady herself before she snapped at Camellia.

"I'm from Andoran. I don't really believe in the idea of natural hierarchies. The only difference between a noble and a farmer is the opportunities afforded to them," Mahi said firmly. Camellia tilted her head, looking at Mahi as though she'd suddenly grown a second head.

"I see," she said, her demeanor suddenly cold. "As fascinating as this conversation was, I came over to remind you to see Lord Gwerm before you went running off somewhere."

She turned back to the bar abruptly, leaving the other three to stare at her back as they processed her words.

"So I guess your so-called silver tongue isn't foolproof," Lann said softly. Mahi frowned at him, then shook her head.

"Nothing is foolproof. Once you think you have something that is, someone will simply invent a greater fool."

"Well, I couldn't be sure. You've been good at talking me around on things, most of the time."

"Turns out, you're not the greatest fool I know," Mahi said, grinning lightly. "Maybe second or third."

"Damn. I'll have to work on that," Lann said, an easy smile on the human half of his face. "I'd hate to think somebody is beating me at being a fool. It's one of my best talents."

Mahi giggled lightly, shaking her head. "Don't worry, with that attitude, you'll be chief fool in no time. Now... I'm going to go talk to an old man about getting us paid, and then I'm going to go talk to the thiefling downstairs. And maybe have a meal somewhere in the middle. You two should make sure you're ready to leave at short notice - I don't intend to do a lot of waiting around. We've got a lot to do, and not a lot of time to do it in."

"Got it," Seelah said, giving Mahi an easy grin. "I'll go see if Joran has my armor ready."

"Well, I'm ready to go whenever," Lann said. "I guess I'll work on fletching some new arrows while we're waiting."

"Perfect. I'll let you know when we're ready to go."

Mahi departed from Lann and Seelah, working around the bar. She paused to remind Camellia of the same thing, though neither of them was interested in getting dragged into a long conversation.

Horgus Gwerm stood out like an incredibly dour peacock in the midst of the rest of the tavern's occupants, and he hunched over a drink at the bar with a sour expression that only got more toad-like as Mahi approached.

"There you are," he said grumpily. "About time. The demons aren't waiting around for you to finish healing, you know."

Mahi managed to strangle the first response that came to mind, instead giving Gwerm a tight-lipped smile as she sat on a stool next to him. It wasn't an elegant maneuver - the sad fact was that she had to hop a little bit to get on the stool, and it left her hooves well clear of the floor. Still, she managed to keep her chin lifted proudly as she met Gwerm's eyes.

He flustered and looked away first. She smirked lightly. "I apologize for the delay in speaking to you, Lord Gwerm. As requested, my party and I have escorted you to the surface. As we've upheld our end of the bargain, I'd like to receive our payment now."

"Yes, yes. Two thousand gold, as promised," Horgus said, with a not-insignificant amount of grumpy bluster. He set a bag on the counter in front of Mahi, who hefted it with a careful hand. By her estimation, the bag certainly felt like two thousand gold worth of weight - though she'd known less scrupulous clients to cheat by filling a bag partially with stone or lead.

But by her estimation, Horgus Gwerm wasn't likely to cheat her. He might grouse, grumble, bluster, and complain, but he wouldn't cheat her. Nor was he likely to attempt to wriggle out of any contracts, written or verbal.

"A pleasure doing business," Mahi said, tucking the heavy bag of coins away in a hidden pocket. She'd sort it out later. "I was also told that you had another business opportunity for me."

"Yes, yes. It's a job that's perfect for your ilk," Gwerm said. Mahi froze, giving him a sharp look.

"What exactly do you mean, 'my ilk?'" she asked quietly, her voice cold. The air shivered around her, a small sign of the magic at her fingertips - and a reminder to the old man to consider his words carefully.

"You know, the adventuring sort. The type to drink all their coin away and wake up in the gutter, or whatever it is the lower class does," Gwerm blustered forward, apparently completely immune to intimidation... no, that wasn't it. Mahi caught her tongue in her teeth for a moment as she watched him. He was nervous. Whatever this job was, it had him on edge, and he was being more acerbic than normal to cover it up.

"Lord Gwerm.... If you are attempting to ask for my help, you are going about it very poorly," Mahi said, her voice acidic. "I do not care for my expertise and professionalism being denigrated. I do not care for my profession being denigrated. If this is the attitude you're going to take, I would recommend you find somebody else to take the job."

There was a small flinch - Gwerm would be an easy mark for a game of poker, not least because the man liked to bluff on a three high. Mahi placed her hands on the counter, leaning in to stare at him for a moment. When he didn't say anything, she shrugged, then made to stand.

"Wait! I... apologize," Gwerm said, looking downright bilious as he spoke. "It has been a very stressful few days, and I am afraid I am not adjusting well."

Mahi paused, then settled back in her seat. "Neither your position nor this circumstance give you permission to treat others poorly," she said sternly. He blanched, then reddened, but Mahi didn't give him a chance to speak. "Make your request - but I'll tell you now, I'm unamused by this lack of respect, and will be raising my price accordingly."

It was a gamble, but she was fairly certain she had a better position than he did. If she didn't, he'd have let her walk away from the bargaining table. She stared him down, her steely gaze making him squirm.

"I understand," he said, finally. "The job is not particularly difficult - I simply require you to accompany me to my manor, and to clear it of any miscreants who have moved in."

Mahi stared for a moment. His tone was too light - she felt like the manor itself was a secondary concern to him. "I see," she said, her mind moving forward as she watched Gwerm carefully. "And what are we looking for there?"

He flinched lightly - she'd struck a nerve. "Never you mind that. It's not something you need to know," he said, a little too quick. He didn't deny that he was looking for something specific. Mahi's lips twitched, a slightly self-satisfied smirk appearing for a heartbeat.

"Understood. Any other stipulations?"

"Yes. I'd like you to bring Camellia with you," he said. The request was not quite surprising enough to break Mahi's façade, but it did surprise her. It made her wonder once again what the relationship was between the apparently-noble half-elf and Horgus Gwerm. Part of her wondered if it might be as simple as an old man having a kept girl, but she didn't think it was likely. If nothing else, Camellia didn't seem like the sort of person to be happy with that kind of relationship.

"Dare I ask why?"

"She is clearly of much higher station than the rest of your... group. I'd prefer that she be involved." Again, Gwerm was a terrible bluffer. He was hiding something - but without more information, just knowing that he was hiding something was fairly useless for her.

Mahi's eyes narrowed slightly. "Very well. My asking price is four thousand gold."

Horgus balked. "You must be joking! Double what I paid you for the last job?!"

"Yes. For the last job, you were hiring us with no knowledge of our skills or ability to complete the job. A lower price was a reasonable ask. Since then, you've seen that we are quite capable. Not to polish my own brass, but I'd say the party I've put together is at least as skilled as any random group of Pathfinders you could find - and four thousand is still cheaper than hiring Pathfinders." She laid the points out clearly, her eyes not leaving Horgus'. "Furthermore, you've spent this negotiation insulting me and my party. And for all your bluster, I don't think you have much leverage here. Four thousand is my price."

Horgus' jaw muscles tensed, and he looked for a moment like he wanted to strangle her. She could hear his teeth grinding.

"Fine. Four thousand," he finally spat, through gritted teeth.

"Very well. I believe a handshake will be enough to seal the contract?"

If looks could kill... well, if Horgus' looks could kill, Mahi was fairly certain she'd have been ashes from the glare Gwerm was turning on her. He looked down at her outstretched hand as though she were holding out a live, poisonous, and very furious snake. But he did take the hand, squeezing it furiously, and gave a quick up-down shake.

"Pleasure doing business," Mahi said. Gwerm's face turned an interesting shade of red, and he stood abruptly before storming out of the tavern.

"That was terrifying," the serious-faced bartender commented, looking at the door. "I'm not sure anyone in this city has ever gotten the better of Lord Gwerm by words alone."

Mahi shrugged, letting her serious demeanor roll off her back. "I'm a professional. The minimum I ask from a client is that they at least respect that. Gwerm fell short of that basic courtesy, and unfortunately for him, I was simply dealt a better hand," she said, looking at the bartender with a critical eye.

"Dangerous game to play," the bartender said, returning to polishing a glass. "Now, you drinking? Eating?"

"Plying the bartender for information?" Mahi said, a twist of her hand making two gold coins appear. She wasn't great at sleight-of-hand, but she could manage little tricks like that. And what she couldn't manage with misdirection, she could manage with magic.

The bartender stared at her for a moment, then swiped his rag across the coins, scooping them below the counter. "What kind of information?"

"Guy like you probably has his finger on the pulse of the city," Mahi said - the bartender's face twitched, and he put both hands on the counter, leaning forward slightly. "Any place you'd recommend checking out? Any rumors you may have heard that never quite made it to a guard's ear?"

He watched her for a long moment, his eyes narrowed. "The Pitax Wine Cellar," he said, finally. Mahi raised an eyebrow and waited.

After he went back to polishing his glass, she sighed lightly. "Care to elaborate, or am I expected to simply read your mind?"

He tapped the counter meaningfully. Mahi's eyes narrowed, but she set down another gold coin. "Was supposed to be some sort of storehouse for Pitaxian wine, set up by King Irovetti. But then he got himself deposed, and the place fell into disrepair. Supposed to be some good stuff left behind by the Pitaxians, but nobody ever goes there. They say it's haunted." He shrugged. "You're an adventurer. You can probably handle it."

Something about that smelled fishy to her, but she wasn't sure of what. The bartender was impassive as he went back to his glass polishing.

"Sure, okay. Pitaxian Wine Cellar, got it," Mahi said, shaking her head. "Well... can I get some grub?"

He didn't reply - just disappeared into the kitchen for a moment, then returned with the same meal Seelah had been eating earlier - a bowl of thick stew and some crusty bread. He didn't ask for any payment - it was probably being covered by the crusade. It smelled beyond delicious, though part of that was probably because Mahi hadn't eaten in days.

She had a moment to take care of herself - but she was already planning her next steps. Outside, the fighting was still continuing. The crusaders had been bloodied - but they were getting back up, and getting their boots on to do some kicking of their own. Mahi wasn't really the organized sort - but that was better, in some ways. Harassment, sabotage, striking at soft targets - that was how she was going to contribute.

She finished her meal quickly. If she was going to put any plans in motion, she needed to have a meeting with the thieflings. And she knew just where to start.