Lady's Grace, cutters!

 

“It's not the heat. It's the ... Hmm. No. It's the heat."

Haimich Tallshins, a halfling planewalker on the Plane of Fire

 

 

First Void Day of Retributus, 126 HR

As they stepped through the portal, Naghûl first became aware of the scorching heat - not surprisingly, but no less unpleasant as a result. Thanks to his spell, they did not burn in this inhospitable environment, but they still felt the significant heat. Even Planar Tolerance could not prevent this. Bright orange light dazzled Naghûl's eyes and it smelled of smoke and soot. When he had become somewhat accustomed to the glaring brightness after the twilight of the Mortuary, he looked around cautiously. They stood in a palatial complex of red marble, obsidian, brass and copper - perhaps once the fortress of an Ifriti prince. The portal through which they had entered was in an archway behind them, and they were standing in an open space in the upper part of the complex. In front of them they spotted individual, low buildings, but also tall, slender towers with roofs of hammered brass. Behind them was a sea of flames, probably held back from the fortress by an invisible magical shield, which they licked at greedily and ceaselessly. The others also looked around in fascination - and were similarly startled by a deep, raspy voice behind them.

“Huh?”

They wheeled around and saw a burly hobgoblin. He wore only a few pieces of leather armor and held a considerably large double-bladed axe in his hands.

“Ashes to ashes,” Sgillin stuttered, taken by surprise.

The hobgoblin, however, looked more confused than threatening. A little way behind him stood three others, obviously guards here at the portal. But they were leaning casually against a wall, talking to each other and making no move to come closer, perhaps glad that their comrade had to deal with the new arrivals. “Since when ... do living creatures come through?” he asked, obviously slightly overwhelmed. Then his gaze fell on Lereia, who still had the hood of her gray Dustman robe pulled into her forehead. "Um ... Toranna?"

He looked uncertain, and Lereia had the presence of mind to seek Naghûl's gaze, just for a second, for a brief reassurance. Offhand, the tiefling didn't have a better idea either, and it didn't seem like the worst way to go. So he nodded slightly, almost imperceptibly.

Lereia took a step forward. "Yes, that's me," she replied to the hobgoblin, taking care not to let the wide hood slip back.

"Ahhh ..." He nodded. At least he didn't seem to know Toranna well enough to notice the difference in voice, and in height and stature the adlate hadn't been too different from Lereia, though not quite as petite. Then the hobgoblin's gaze wandered to the others.

"Why them here? New assistants?"

Lereia nodded. "I've found a few aides. Wasn't always so easy on my own."

"And that one?" The guard pointed at Kiyoshi lying motionless under the cloth. "Is for Imogen, as always, yes?"

"Exactly," Lereia replied. "I've come in person this time because we have something to discuss."

Naghûl nodded slightly. So far, she had maneuvered her way through the conversation quite well and, above all, inconspicuously.

The hobgoblin now laughed fatuously. "Ah yes, Illuminated always many meetings."

Illuminated . Was that an official term or just a respectful expression used by the guard? But he seemed a little too stupid to come up with such a term for his masters himself. It could therefore be assumed that this was the first time the name of the group

Toranna and the Shadowknave worked for had been mentioned.

Lereia nodded once more. "Can you take us to him?"

"To whom?" the hobgoblin asked, confused.

"Imogen," Lereia replied, and Naghûl winced a little. Imogen was a female name ...

The guard promptly scratched his head, overwhelmed. "So Imogen after all? Huh, what now?"

Luckily, the guards at the portal were obviously blessed with more brawn than brains. Lereia noticed her unintentional mistake immediately and switched to allegedly stressed. "Just take us to your boss," she demanded in an annoyed tone, rubbing her forehead under her hood.

The look on the hobgoblin's face grew increasingly unhappy. "Um ... which boss now? Marvent?"

“Yes, Marvent," Lereia replied. "The heat here is driving me crazy." She waved her arms demonstratively to emphasize her words, but the guard raised his shoulders.

"But Marvent not here."

"Where is he?" the young woman asked.

"Um, well, don't know exactly." The hobgoblin was obviously not used to being asked so many questions. "Probably Plague-Mort, I think?"

"What a bummer ..." Lereia muttered.

"How so?"

"Well, because we have something to talk about."

"I see." The guard looked helplessly from her to the others, then back to Lereia. "Well ... But Marvent hardly ever here."

Naghûl became slightly anxious. They knew too little about the facility, the goings-on here and this Marvent for having such a conversation inconspicuously. He hoped that Lereia sensed this too and would bring the situation to a swift end.

"I thought I might be lucky," she toned down her previous question.

The hobgoblin looked more and more unsettled. "Yeah ... hard luck, somehow ..."

"Never mind," Lereia said quickly. "Where are you taking the corpses?"

Now the guard looked clearly skeptical for the first time. "Huh? Toranna, you all right?"

"Everything's fine," Lereia replied, trying quite successfully to keep her tone calm. "We'll take him where he needs to go."

"Yes, fine." The hobgoblin lifted his shoulders, it was clearly getting too much for him. "Need some help?"

"No, I'll be fine," Lereia fended him off. "I have my aides and I know the way."

The guard nodded, obviously content to have nothing more to do with the matter and, above all, not to be bothered with any more strange questions. He walked over to the three other hobgoblins and joined in their conversation.

Lereia looked at the others. "That was close," she stated, and only now was her tension apparent.

Naghûl patted her on the shoulder. "You did well."

"Thank you." She smiled briefly, but then became more serious again as she let her gaze wander over the huge fortress.

"Where to now?" Jana asked a little despondently. "The complex here is so big and there are buildings everywhere. Where are we supposed to find this Imogen?"

Unfortunately, that was as good a question as it was difficult to answer. Naghûl looked around more closely. He realized that the fortress was obviously standing on some kind of plateau, floating in the flames of the Plane of Fire. The buildings, the entire complex, were made of red marble and perhaps also Abyssal granite. It looked like a palace and everything was built in the Ifriti's own architectural style with many domed roofs and slender minarets. However, it was quite empty and deserted for such a place, with only a few guards standing here and there, mostly hobgoblins and some humans, half-orcs and tieflings.

"I could imagine that everything important is rather centrally located," Naghûl said. "As far away as possible from the flames that would come in from outside should anything happen to the barrier around the complex here."

Lereia nodded in agreement. "That sounds sensible. Up there first then? That seems to be the center." She pointed to a staircase leading to a much higher square surrounded by several towers and larger buildings.

Naghûl nodded, suppressing a sigh at having to drag the seemingly dead Kiyoshi around again as he relieved Jana of the stretcher.

Sgillin was also less than enthusiastic. "Makes me wanna puke ..." he muttered to himself.

They made their way towards the staircase, which led up to the central square of the palace in three sections and with far too many steps for Naghûl's liking. Up there were several fountains containing molten lava, and tandersol and salamander orchids grew in some of the flowerbeds. In front of one of the buildings stood several hobgoblins and a tiefling.

"This looks like an important place," Naghûl said quietly. "Maybe we should try our luck here."

"Should I try pretending to be Toranna again?" Lereia asked hesitantly.

Naghûl could understand that his young friend was not keen on this role, but it was probably one of the best options at the moment. The conversation with the hobgoblin at the portal had at least given them some important information so that Lereia would be able to play the role better. So he nodded to her, and she sighed softly but pulled her hood back down over her face and stepped towards the tiefling. He had chin-length black hair, curved red horns and wore armor that appeared to be covered in tandersol. The metallic leaves of this small flower warded off heat and flames, making it possible to wear metal armor on the Plane of Fire. Lereia stopped and cleared her throat.

One of the hobgoblins looked at the tiefling. "Trent ... um, captain, I mean. Here, you need to sort this out."

The man addressed sighed and made no secret of the fact that he was less than thrilled to see the group. Nevertheless, Lereia took another step towards him.

"We have a new one," she explained, pointing at Kiyoshi, who was resting motionless on the stretcher carried by Sgillin and Naghûl with remarkable discipline.

Trent didn't look very enthusiastic. "That will be a tight squeeze," he said disapprovingly.

Lereia raised her shoulders. "I'm just following orders. And I can't really keep them with me." "That may be so," the tiefling sighed. "But the Shadowknave could slow down a bit."

"Heard from a whore that he's quick on the draw," Naghûl interjected with a grin and the tiefling laughed.

Lereia, on the other hand, gave him a brief and irritated sideways glance. Naghûl cleared his throat apologetically and decided to hold back again. He had wanted to add a little rough mercenary flair to the situation, but realized that perhaps he should have discussed it with his friend beforehand.

Fortunately, Lereia had not fallen out of character and now turned back to the captain. "Yes, the Shadowknave seems very ... ambitious," she remarked diplomatically.

"Great for him that he wants to be in Marvent’s good books," Trent growled. "But if the cells are overflowing, that won't get us anywhere."

Sgillin was already breathing a little heavier under the weight of the stretcher. "Do you still have room for him?"

"Well, we’ll have to somehow," the tiefling sighed. "But tell him to take a break for a few days. It's getting crowded here and Imogen's working on this alone."

Lereia raised her hands defensively. "Hey, don't shoot the messenger. If I see the Shadowknave, I'll tell him."

"Yeah, do that," the captain replied and then eyed Lereia a little more closely. "You've lost quite a bit of weight. Quite stressful over there, isn't it?"

Lereia sighed boldly. "Like you said, he works too fast ... And I don't always have someone to lug these bodies around for me." She pointed over her shoulder at the others and the tiefling nodded.

"Hm, I see ... Egyptian, yes?"

Lereia paused for a moment, then pretended she hadn't heard Trent properly. "How?"

With the axe in his hand he gestured towards a nearby building that looked a bit like a temple. "Well, because Brandal is preparing it inside. Egyptian pantheon ... Oh no, don't tell me that was misinformation."

"I see," Lereia replied quickly. "No, that’s fine. I'm not surprised that some people lose track of things."

"Well, you must know best," the tiefling said with a shrug. "I hope it's true. I don't fancy having to explain it to Imogen again. Well, enter then, it's almost ready, I think."

"All right," Lereia nodded and turned to the others. "You heard him."

They headed for the building the tiefling had pointed to and waited until they were a good distance away before speaking quietly to each other again.

"Should we go in there?" Jana asked hesitantly. She clearly did not seem happy about seeking another encounter with the dubious Illuminated who were responsible for such sinister machinations.

Naghûl understood her, but also saw an opportunity in it. "Maybe we'll find out what's being done to the people there," he suggested.

Lereia and Sgillin nodded in agreement, while Kiyoshi continued to cling to his role under the cloth and lay completely still and motionless on the stretcher. They approached the entrance, eager to see what awaited them inside and sweating profusely by now. Despite the magical shield that surrounded the citadel, it was probably around forty degrees and thus an increasing imposition in the Dustmen robes. But as they didn't dare to take them off and jeopardize their camouflage, every step was now an ordeal. Once they were out of sight of the guards, Lereia briefly lifted the cloth to check whether Kiyoshi was still conscious on the stretcher. He was, and the rather thin cloth probably let through more air than they had feared, so that they could cover him up again and carry him without thought. So they entered the temple, which to their relief was much cooler than the large squares and balustrades outside. Naghûl took a deep breath and looked around. As Trent had suggested, something was obviously being prepared
here for the Egyptian pantheon. On the walls were colorful frescoes depicting cranes, cats and lotus flowers, scarabs, sun symbols and people in white loincloths harvesting reeds. And in between, a bird of prey with colorful wings holding the symbol of life in its claws and a large eye. The symbols of the god Horus, as Naghûl recognized. The floor was made of light-colored sandstone and the ceiling was supported by mighty columns decorated with hieroglyphs. At the other end, opposite the entrance, there was a raised platform in front of a mighty bird statue. On a pedestal, held by an ornate golden frame, stood a large red crystal pulsating in a faint light. A younger man with dark skin and shorn hair seemed to be adjusting something on the fixture, while an older, fair-skinned man with a gray beard looked on, obviously nervous. The younger one wore only a white loincloth, while the older one was dressed in a white linen robe with intricate folds. He also wore eye-catching and valuable jewelry with the symbols of Horus. A little further away stood another guard, a human woman, leaning casually against a pillar and looking bored.

"Watch out there, Margram," the older one said nervously to the younger one. "The crystal is susceptible to vibrations."

"I know, Brandal," the man addressed as Margram replied tensely. "It's not the first time I've done this ..."

When they had almost reached the platform, the older man apparently heard their footsteps and turned around. "What are you doing?" he asked, annoyed, without really looking at them. "We're not ready yet."

"They said outside that you are almost done," Lereia replied, not too friendly, but also without any irritated overtones.

The man looked at her briefly and frowned. "What's going on here?" he asked skeptically. "Why isn't Toranna here? Who are you?"

Damn , Naghûl thought to himself. This one obviously knew Toranna better than the guards outside. He had already heard from Lereia's voice that she was not his colleague. It was fortunate that he had made it so clear straight away, as this allowed the young woman to react.

"Toranna sent me instead of her," she explained.

"Why?" the man asked suspiciously. "Who are you? What are your names?"

"Mahla," Lereia replied curtly, but without hesitation.

"I've never heard of you," the priest replied - if he was a priest at all.

"That's because I've only helped Toranna with the preparations so far," Lereia explained calmly. "I can't answer why she hasn't told you anything. Please sort this out with Toranna or with Marvent himself. I'm just doing my work. And with all due respect, we'd be happy if we could just finish it and would not be sent on with that guy in tow all the time." She pointed to the stretcher with Kiyoshi lying motionless.

Naghûl sensed that the situation was just getting dicey. He therefore decided that attack was perhaps the best form of defense in this case and came to Lereia's aid with a slightly more offensive stance while handing his end of the stretcher to Jana. "I told her straight away to give you a letter," he said, annoyed. "But no, don’t bother! The lady obviously thinks the world is her oyster."

He had obviously hit a tender spot, because Brandal now sighed somewhat resignedly. "She really does think that sometimes." But he immediately became more serious again and looked sharply at the group. "But I can't imagine her sending someone completely new without informing us. So ..." He glanced at the guard standing nearby.

"All right, I see," Naghûl replied quickly, his tone more forceful than before. "Why don't you do your dirty work alone? I just can't believe it."

His vehemence seemed to have the desired effect, for Brandal turned his gaze away from the guard and sighed in annoyance. Perhaps he didn't expect real impostors to be so belligerent. "Have you at least seen Imogen yet?" he wanted to know.

The tiefling rolled his eyes. "Bloody hell, of course not. The hobs downstairs sent us straight here."

"They're as brainless as manes," the priest growled. "Marvent should hire mercenaries with a bit of wits."

Naghûl nodded in agreement. "Well, you really could replace those berks." He looked at the guard. "You need people like her!"

The woman nodded contentedly and Brandal ran his hand over his forehead. "By the stinking swamps of Minauros ..."

Naghûl decided it was time for tactical concessions. "All right, I'm sorry the ladies are making such a fuss. Let's just get this thing over with." He looked around briefly and nodded in acknowledgment. "Horus, is it?"

Brandal was about to say something in reply when a clatter from the platform behind him made him wheel around. "Hey, watch out with that thing!" he snapped at the man previously addressed as Margram. "You're gambling with our lives the way you're messing around!"

"I'm careful," the younger man replied with a sigh.

Then Brandal turned his attention back to Naghûl. "Horus, that's right."

"Great, really good." The tiefling nodded. "You’re really savvy here."

His wife Morânia would probably have been a better judge of whether they really were. She was very familiar with the rites and symbolism of numerous pantheons and might have been able to tell if the temple was an accurate forgery. From what Naghûl himself knew about Horus, it seemed to fit to some extent. But considering Eliath's story about the strange instructions from the supposed Morninglord, one could rightly doubt the competence of the "priests" here.

Brandal, however, nodded in satisfaction at Naghûl's feigned praise. "Thank you. Unfortunately, we have far too much work here, man. So, go to Imogen and get a pass or whatnot."

"All right," Naghûl said. "And since we're new and don't want to have to rely on the stupid hobs again: Where can we find Imogen?"

Fortunately, Brandal now didn't seem to suspect anything thanks to the previous skirmish. "Out of the temple and then left, the tower."

The tiefling nodded. "Wonderful. Thank you and sorry for the commotion. We're also pissed off with the heat and all. See you around!"

"Don't do anything stupid," Brandal said as a warning before turning back to his assistant. "Margram, get away from the crystal," he shouted. "You're driving me crazy. Get away!"

The young man muttered something in annoyance, which they could no longer understand as they hurried to leave the temple. Outside, they didn't have to orientate themselves for long, but immediately recognized the tower to the left of the temple that Brandal had mentioned. A bored-looking hobgoblin guard waved them on without really paying them any attention. Naghûl cursed inwardly as they once again stood in front of a staircase inside the tower. He had relieved Jana of the stretcher again and was very tempted to ask Kiyoshi to get up and climb the stairs himself. After all, there was no one here to see. Of course, he knew that it would have been far too reckless, that someone could come down the stairs at any time. So he pushed the convenient thought aside with a sigh and, together with Sgillin, maneuvered the bier with the apparent corpse up yet another winding and too narrow staircase. At the top, they once again encountered a hobgoblin, who opened the door opposite the stairs for them without a word. In the room, from which two other doors led off, sat a githzerai behind a desk, probably Imogen. Not far from her, in front of one of the doors, stood another guard. As he passed the man, Naghûl briefly tried to catch a glimpse of the small room behind him and spotted a large glass tube and a table with various ingredients. But he quickly moved on towards the desk so as not to arouse suspicion. The gith was holding a quill with which she was scratching incredibly fast over a parchment, and a white cobra was wriggling on the table next to her. As the group entered the room, she looked up, clearly unhappy to be interrupted in her work.

"Greetings," Naghûl said, bowing his head slightly. "We are sent by Toranna and are to report to Imogen."

The githzerai looked at him inquiringly, almost piercingly. "What do you mean, by Toranna? Who are you? Why doesn't she come herself?"

The tiefling raised his hands in an apologetic gesture. "She said she couldn't leave because some vampire is breathing down her neck. I'm Morlag. We are helping her a little - for adequate wages. But we'll work it out with her ourselves, of course."

Imogen's yellow eyes narrowed. "She must have given you a letter explaining this?"

Naghûl sighed demonstratively. "Of course not." He nodded towards Lereia. "Because she's an oh-so-good friend of hers. The two of them said we didn't need that. Anyway, we have this pushover with us that we're supposed to drag here for the Shadowknave." He gestured towards Kiyoshi, while Lereia joined in again, huffing annoyed and crossing her arms.

"Is that so?" Imogen's voice was almost like a hiss. "Well, but she's not an oh-so-good friend of mine ."

"I can't help it," Naghûl replied apologetically. "I don't want to start an argument here either. We should get a pass, the nice gentleman in the fake Horus temple said. So that there are no problems."

The githzerai now stood up and eyed him thoughtfully, while the white cobra on the desk hissed softly. "You seem quite persuasive, admittedly ... But I have instructions."

"All right. What are they?"

Imogen's eyes narrowed. "That no one is allowed to stay here unless they have clear identification."

"Well, that's why we're here," Naghûl objected politely.

The githzerai got even more dismissive now, if that was even possible. "But you can 't identify yourselves, as I see it."

Jana began to tap her toes uneasily and cast an appraising glance at the hobgoblin still standing in the doorway.

Naghûl decided to stay polite, anything else would probably not have the desired effect on the githzerai. "That's right," he admitted. "We can only identify ourselves when you give us a pass - or not. So it's entirely up to you whether we can identify ourselves. At least, if I understood the gentleman in the temple correctly."

Imogen's voice became a low hiss, unpleasantly reminiscent of the cobra on her table. "You're obviously trying to play little wordplays with me here. You can't get a pass if I don't have anything I can really be sure of." She gave the hobgoblin a small sign, whereupon he closed the door, but remained in the room and took up position right by the exit. "I'd like to have a look at the corpse."

A seething shock ran through Naghûl. The mark. They hadn't drawn it! In all their planning and thinking about what might happen and what they should say, they had actually forgotten to draw the symbol behind Kiyoshi's right ear. Naghûl wished for the ground to open and swallow him up. For a second, the thought flashed through his mind of how glad he was that it wasn’t him who would have to report this to Sarin. He saw Lereia swallow hard and Sgillin and Jana turn pale. That was it for the cover. They would have to fight, he was sure of that. Nevertheless, he kept an unsuspecting face so that he could take advantage of the moment of surprise. "Oh, because of the Shadowknave's mark?" he asked lightly.

Without even the slightest sign, he and Sgillin set the stretcher down and stepped back a little. Jana bent her palms slightly outwards while Imogen walked over to Kiyoshi without dignifying Naghûl's question with an answer. Then she turned the soldier’s head so that she could see behind his right ear. Naghûl held his breath as Imogen straightened up and looked sharply at him. Then she stepped behind her desk and stretched out her left arm towards the white cobra. The animal immediately crawled towards her and coiled around her wrist, hissing. The githzerai looked at the human guard and the hobgoblin.

"Attack!" she commanded, barely less hissing than her snake.

Lereia immediately backed away to the far end of the room, avoiding physical altercations whenever possible in her human form. The human and the hobgoblin rushed forward, past their only melee fighter who was still lying on the stretcher on the floor. He had just managed to pull himself up after hearing Imogen's order to attack, but was having difficulty freeing himself from the cloth and was unfortunately neither equipped nor armed. Sgillin tried to get his bow out as quickly as possible, but this also proved difficult as he had hidden it well under his robe. So only Naghûl and Jana were really able to act at that moment. A few magic missiles whizzed through the room - they hit the hobgoblin they had both aimed at. Although this knocked him down, it unfortunately gave the human the opportunity to reach Naghûl and strike him with his blade, slicing open his left shoulder. With a curse, the tiefling stumbled back to escape the guard's reach as another spell was cast - not by Jana, however, but by Imogen. It hit Sgillin just as he was about to put an arrow on the bowstring, and the half-elf sank to the ground, unconscious. As Naghûl had backed away, the guard now closed in on Jana, interrupting her next spell, which she dropped to get to safety from the man's blade. Lereia's eyes turned turquoise, she had obviously decided to join the fight transformed - but it would take at least a minute before she was ready, Naghûl knew that much. He decided that Imogen was the more dangerous opponent, relying on Jana's arcane abilities to protect herself from the guard. So he gritted his teeth to ignore the pain in his sliced shoulder and conjured up his next spell, his gaze fixed on the githzerai. Her yellow eyes narrowed, she hissed something - and then vanished, in a brief but bright flash.

The guard, who had just lashed out at Jana again, saw it out of the corner of his eye and growled. "Ruddy gith and their plane-hopping ..."

He didn't get to say any more, because there was a muffled sound and he went down like a sack of potatoes. Behind him stood Kiyoshi, holding a cast-iron chair with which he had apparently knocked the man down. Without a weapon or armor on the stretcher, he hadn't exactly been in a good position for a fight, but he had used the element of surprise to his advantage - as well as the interior furnishing. When it was clear that there was no opponent left, Lereia interrupted her transformation. The seams of the robe had already cracked, her face and hands were covered in fur and her mouth and nose had clearly grown into a predatory snout. But now all these features were rapidly receding as she hurried over to Sgillin and examined him.

"He's alive," she reported with relief. "It was just a stun spell."

Meanwhile, Jana had wordlessly taken a healing potion from one of her belt pouches and handed it to Naghûl. The tiefling took it gratefully, uncorked it and emptied the small bottle in one deep draught. He was aware that it would have been better to clean the wound first, perhaps to even stitch it up. But there was no time for that. So he tore the fabric of the robe wide enough to have a closer look at the cut - fortunately it was not very long and not too deep, a clean blade cut, which he pressed together with his right hand so that the wound did not gape open as it healed. He leaned against the wall as he waited for the potion to take effect, nodding to Kiyoshi. "Good idea with the chair."

"Unfortunately, attacking from behind is not exactly in accordance with the virtues of bushido," the young man replied somewhat unhappily as he put down the iron chair.

"You had no choice," Jana said consolingly. "I think sometimes an exception is fine."

Kiyoshi didn't look quite so convinced, but merely nodded with a serious expression.

Naghûl let his gaze wander quickly, cautiously, scanning the room. "We have to get out of here fast," he said. "I'd say we take anything that looks interesting and then make sure we get away."

While she carefully tried to wake Sgillin, Lereia looked at the spot where Imogen had just been standing. "Where did that woman go?"

"Githzerai can plane shift," Naghûl explained. "But she will certainly be wary of coming back here any time soon. The radius is very large and imprecise."

Meanwhile, Jana had approached the desk and rummaged through the parchments lying there. She pulled one of the pages out of the pile and held it up. "This one talks about four people who are in custody here. It says: Current prisoners: Alvion, Shill, Clarent, Ulfwald ... status: procedure completed ... still in custody. Those four names were all on Toranna's list, with a faction affiliation."

Naghûl nodded and Kiyoshi helped the sorceress stow away all the parchments from Imogen's desk. Meanwhile, Sgillin regained consciousness with a soft groan and Lereia helped him to sit up. In the meantime, the healing potion had also done its work and the wound on Naghûl's shoulder had healed to some extent. As there was nothing more of interest to be found on the desk, they went into the next room, where Naghûl had discovered the large glass tube before. It seemed to be some kind of laboratory. In addition to the glass tube visible from the entrance, there were three more, large enough to hold an average humanoid. However, they were all empty. Next to them was a table with numerous alchemical ingredients and another one with iron hand and ankle cuffs attached to it. On one of the walls hung a poster with the detailed depiction of a brain. Next to the table with the metal cuffs was a kind of control panel, but Naghûl could not read the inscription - if it was a language at all.

The tiefling frowned. "Some things here look purely mechanical to me and others seem to have to do with alchemy. Hardly anything arcane."

Jana nodded in agreement. "Alchemy with the purpose of influencing minds."

"What could this console mean?" asked Lereia.

Naghûl raised his shoulders. "A control panel? No clue ..."

"Then perhaps the people are not being influenced by magic at all," Lereia speculated. "Only the Shadowknave used magic."

"The only question is why?" Jana pondered. "Why alchemy instead of magic?"

"Perhaps alchemy is more difficult to detect or track down?" Sgillin mused.

Jana was about to reply when she suddenly turned unnaturally pale and held on to the table with the ingredients. "Oh ... I think I should ..." She took a few faltering steps around the table, sank to the floor and leaned back against the wall.

"A vision?" Lereia asked, kneeling down beside her.

But the sorceress could no longer answer. Her eyes twisted under her eyelids, as they always did when she saw something, and her head jerked slightly back and forth. But unlike the last time in Sarin's office, this time she didn't take the others with her. So they stood uneasily around Jana, fully aware that the timing for a vision could hardly be more unfavorable. But they didn't dare to pull Jana out either, too worried about what that might do to her. To everyone's relief, it didn't take too long for Jana to regain consciousness, her eyes to look straight ahead again and her vision to clear. She took a few deep breaths and leaned her head against the wall, still a little disoriented.

"What did you see?" Lereia asked cautiously.

"I saw ... Imogen," Jana replied, still a little weak. "Here, in this room. She was brewing something. And Eliath was here too, tied to that table." She pointed to the table with the metal clamps. "And there was someone else, a figure in a dark robe. Imogen drew up a syringe with a red liquid and asked the figure if he was ready. The hooded figure said he still had to break into Eliath's mind and split it open completely. I guess that's what he did. Eliath screamed and then ... I woke up." She took a breath and closed her eyes to ground herself while Lereia placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

Naghûl swayed his head thoughtfully. "Perhaps the man in the robe was a psion. They are capable of telepathy and telekinesis, can shape things on the Astral Plane and even cause physical harm with their mental powers. They also have a great deal of power in Limbo. Extremely dangerous people. I can well imagine that someone like that would want to break into Eliath's mind and cause … well, something. Perhaps he made him susceptible to some kind of psychic poison that Imogen had brewed. And then the man in the robe must have rejigged his mind."

During Jana's vision and the subsequent considerations, they hadn't even noticed that Kiyoshi wasn't with them. He had apparently gone into the other room to investigate and was now returning. He was not alone, however, but was carrying a cat-sized, very wet animal on his hands. It looked like a hybridization between an otter and a lizard with very large ears. Its head, front legs and back had a brown-yellow striped coat. Its belly, hind legs and long tail, however, were covered in black, red and blue scales.

Sgillin looked at the creature with interest. "What do you have there?" he asked Kiyoshi.

"It was in one of the tubes in the other room," explained the young soldier. "I thought the plan was to take important pieces of evidence. If this isn't evidence, I apologize very much."

"Was there anything special about the tube?" the half-elf inquired.

"It had this creature in it," Kiyoshi replied promptly.

Naghûl suppressed a smirk and Sgillin grinned slightly. "Yes, I am aware of that. I mean any signs, an inscription or otherwise?"

The young man shook his head with undiminished seriousness. "It was unmarked."

Sgillin nodded. "I hope you can transport the little one in such a way that it won't hinder you if we have to make a quick escape."

"I will do my best, honorable Sgillin-san," Kiyoshi replied.

In the meantime, Jana was reasonably safe on her feet again and Lereia looked around tensely. "That was all the rooms, and I think we've collected everything important. We should go back."

Naghûl nodded. It was high time they left before any more guards turned up.

Jana, however, hesitated. "But the prisoners. We can't leave them here, can we?"

Sgillin turned to her. "We must," he replied seriously. "We'll inform their factions. They shall take care of them when they get back."

Jana still had the note with the names of the prisoners in her hand and now held it up. "It says that the procedure has already been carried out. I assume they'll be taken back to Sigil by these ... these Illuminated ...? Just like Eliath?"

“Certainly," Naghûl said. "But now we know who they are, and the factions can react."

"And if the procedure has already been carried out," Lereia pointed out, "there's nothing more we can do for them. And in this case they will surely be sent back to Sigil."

Sgillin was already waiting impatiently at the door, Kiyoshi with the wet animal standing calmly beside him. "Precisely," the half-elf said emphatically. "That's why we ... and only we ... have to return to Sigil as quickly as possible. If we get killed, the prophecy will be dead."

Kiyoshi nodded in agreement. "We have no orders to save them. But we do have orders to gather information. So that's a priority."

Jana conceded defeat. "All right, then. If these people are going to send them back to Sigil anyway, we probably don't need to rescue them at great risk."

Naghûl breathed a sigh of relief that there was no lengthy discussion, and Lereia looked relieved as well. "So then," she said, "Back to the portal as inconspicuously as possible?"

Sgillin nodded. "Preferably invisibly."

Everyone agreed to this plan, and so Sgillin and Lereia merged with the shadows while Jana and Naghûl cast an invisibility spell on themselves and Kiyoshi. As quietly as possible, they crept down the stairs and left the tower. There were no more guards outside than before and everything seemed quiet. Should they really be lucky enough that no one had noticed the incident in the tower? Despite their invisibility, they kept as much distance as possible from all the guards, as hobgoblins in particular had a good sense of smell. Heart pounding, they made it to the stairs, Sgillin and Lereia in front, Kiyoshi in the middle with the rescued animal. Then came Naghûl, and Jana brought up the rear. Only the steps of the three-part staircase remained, then they were almost at the portal ... three sections ... two ... the last one. At the bottom, Sgillin and Lereia stopped for a moment so that the others could catch up. Now they only had to pass the hobgoblins at the portal ... Naghûl paused. There was no one there. Why was the portal no longer guarded? That couldn't possibly be a coincidence. It looked like ... Before he could even finish the word trap , he heard a suppressed but startled cry from Jana behind him. They wheeled around and realized that someone had followed them - apparently just as invisible, but seeing them very well. And he had grabbed the sorceress by surprise from behind. Trent, the tiefling they had been talking to just moments before. He held a dagger pressed against Jana's throat.

"I saw you go in to Imogen," he explained grimly. "And then heard fighting noises. What was going on?"

At the same moment, the four missing hobgoblins emerged from behind one of the corners. Damn, it had indeed been a trap. Naghûl rubbed his fingertips together, feeling the arcane energy rippling between them, but he didn't dare raise his hands. Trent's dagger was right at Jana's throat; it would slit her pharynx faster than Naghûl could cast a spell. Sgillin obviously judged the situation similarly, one of his hands was on the quiver, but he did not pull out an arrow. At that moment, Kiyoshi said something that the Sensate could not understand and that sounded very strange. It reminded him of the conversation that Kiyoshi had had with the metal face in the Hive. But this time it had obviously been just one word, spoken briefly, concisely and forcefully, almost like an order. Naghûl looked questioningly at Kiyoshi, who now raised his shoulders apologetically, still holding the animal in his arms. Whatever he might have tried, it had at least had no noticeable effect. Trent looked irritatedly at Kiyoshi for a moment, then started to say something. But at the same moment, a figure appeared behind him ... much smaller and daintier than the guard captain and therefore almost hidden by him. A slender hand grabbed one of his horns from behind and yanked his head back, apparently with much more force than the figure's size and stature would have suggested. Black hair and a sleeve of dark blue brocade became visible ... Was that her? Yes, it was her. Zamakis was standing behind Trent, had bent his head back in a flash and was now sinking her fangs deep into his neck. Naghûl widened his eyes in surprise and heard Sgillin next to him inhale sharply. Trent cried out in pain, blood streaming down his neck, then Zamakis jerked his head to the side and the neck vertebrae snapped ... The tiefling's body went limp, his arms slipped away from the still terrified Jana and the dagger fell clattering to the ground. Then Zamakis dropped him carelessly.

"Ouch ..." muttered Sgillin, but wasted no time, pulling an arrow from his quiver and sending it straight between one of the hobgoblins' eyes.

Naghûl immediately seized his chance and conjured up a hail of magic missiles that hurtled unerringly towards one of the other guards. The remaining two took to their heels and ran. The tiefling couldn't help but grin derisively. So much for the mercenaries of these so-called Illuminated. When it was clear that the danger had been averted for the time being, they all stepped closer to Zamakis, surprised and curious. She calmly pulled a handkerchief trimmed with white lace from her sleeve and dabbed her still bloody lips.

"Um ... ashes to ashes?" Sgillin greeted hesitantly.

She nodded curtly as she pocketed the handkerchief again. "As much as I'm all for politeness and maintaining manners ... We should get out of here before they call for reinforcements."

She pointed in the direction where the hobgoblins had fled, and Naghûl nodded. "Let's get out of here."

No one needed to be told twice. They rushed to the portal, plucked one of the red glass beads from a pouch to open it and hurried through. A quick pull, a slight hiss in their ears - and they were back in the Mortuary. The glaring brightness of the fire citadel made it seem even darker than it already was.

Meanwhile, Naghûl had recovered from his surprise and turned to Zamakis. "Thank you for your help," he said. "We haven't been introduced yet, right?"

The vampire indicated a bow. "Zamakis, factotum of the Second Circle."

The tiefling returned the greeting with a courtly bow. "Naghûl Ka'Tesh, factotum of the Society of Sensation."

Zamakis nodded curtly. "And how exactly do you explain your intrusion into our faction headquarters?"

Ah yes, the direct yet dispassionate nature of the Dustmen, Naghûl thought to himself. And yet, of course, an all too legitimate question on her part. "Unfortunately, I can only explain this by referring to an important but secret mission," the Sensate replied apologetically.

Her beautiful, fine features remained cold and unperturbed. "I'm sure your factol will come up with a somewhat more detailed explanation to Skall."

"We investigated the murders in the Hive," Lereia explained. "That wasn't a lie. Everything else ... will perhaps be clarified and discussed by higher authorities? I know you don't know us and have no reason to trust us. But we acted under orders, and only in the interests of the city's safety. It had nothing to do with your faction."

One of her fine brows arched, but otherwise the vampire showed no reaction. "I see. And to which faction do you belong yourself?"

"To the Believers of the Source," Lereia readily answered.

"Ah, yes." The adlate's gaze wandered briefly to Kiyoshi. "And the Harmonium was there too? Lovely, lovely. You say you were acting on behalf of someone. On whose authority?"

"It is not within my authority to reveal that," the young soldier replied.

"Let's say on behalf of someone who outranks us," Lereia interjected.

"Which shouldn't be difficult," Zamakis replied matter-of-factly.

A sideways glance at his friend revealed Naghûl Lereia's growing discomfort. "We are grateful to you for helping us," she explained tensely. "But I don't understand why you are now revealing yourself as our opponent. Toranna has betrayed your faction, after all. She let bodies disappear right under your nose!"

Sgillin placed a reassuring hand on his companion's arm. "Hey, easy," he whispered soothingly to her.

Naghûl could understand Lereia's agitation. Not only the upsetting experiences of just now, those of the last few days, overshadowed by the nebulous prophecy - that had certainly made all their nerves a little weak. However, emotionality of any kind would not impress a member of the Dustmen, nor did it change the fact that Zamakis' criticism of the unauthorized intrusion into their faction headquarters was unfortunately justified.

The adlate remained perfectly calm, raising her right hand and meticulously yet casually plucking the tips of her shirtsleeve from the sleeve of her frock coat. "I'm not revealing myself as an opponent," she explained matter-of-factly. "You are too confused by your false passions to realize that."

"All right, we are confused," Sgillin said quickly, giving in. "That's all right. But let's make sure this lot on the Plane of Fire is picked up quickly now. I don't care who does it. It should just be done quickly before any more poor souls disappear over there."

"A true word," Zamakis stated without a frown, and yet the look in her dark eyes was of an intensity that did not quite match the cool façade.

Naghûl nodded at Sgillin's words. "That's how it is. And this story here ... Either we keep it between us or higher authorities will have to settle it. But that would probably be rather unpleasant for everyone involved."

A very brief smile flitted across the vampire's lips. "I think you know as well as I do that higher-ups are involved here anyway. I'm sure Skall, Lady Erin, Factol Sarin and the ever so obtrusively lively Factol Ambar will find a good solution to this."

Jana hadn't said a word since their return to the Mortuary, clearly uncomfortable around the undead. Now she took another small step back, apparently glad that her faction affiliation and her factol had not been mentioned.

Lereia nodded with a sigh. "I have no authority to decide that anyway."

"None of us do," Naghûl explained. "With or without passion. But I would like to pursue my passion now and take a good bath. Do you agree, adlate, that our factols should settle this matter?"

Zamakis nodded gravely. "So it shall be. I had followed you to see what you were doing. I hoped I wouldn't have to intervene. But that's the way it was." She indicated a bow. "It would have been a pleasure - if I could feel it. I assume you'll find your way out." She turned, but looked back again. "Perhaps we will meet again soon."

Naghûl nodded with a soft sigh. Yes, a gut feeling told him that would be the case. And that, in the last few days, they had only taken the first steps on a long and dangerous path.

 

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played May 18, 2012