Centoriel

[Graybeard]

Sister Rose had an idea. "See if we can get hold of that comb." Nobody wanted to go into the hallway, but eventually Harker (who else?) was "recruited" for the task -- "recruitment," in this case, being a euphemism for "thrown."

As the familiar returned, cursing under his breath, Rose looked at the comb. "Good. There are some hairs on this thing. Now I need a control ... Sasha, could I get a lock of your hair, please?"

[Sareth]

Quietly, as Sister Rose did her work, Lillith stepped next to Angus. She didn't want to disturb what Sister Rose was doing, but there was something that was concerning her. She leaned close and whispered, "How soon would those people arive? The ones they mentioned sending? Do we want to be here for that?"

[Drannin]

"We should have time," Argus whispered back. "This is the middle of nowhere, and it would take a while for a kill-team to get here. I'd put it at a day or so, maybe half a day if there are people in the vicinity. And no, we probably don't want to be around, if only to keep it a secret that we know that there's SOMEONE out there."

Argus looked with interest at what Sister Rose was doing. Some sort of tracer spell...?

[Graybeard]

Good. There were traces of blond hair on the comb.

"Haven't tried this in a long time," Sister Rose said, almost to herself. Her green eyes glowed as she muttered under her breath, her breathing accelerating with the exertion of casting what was obviously a highly taxing spell. As she finished, she blew a puff of air into the mixed pile of Sasha's and the missing girl's hair that she had cupped in her palm.

Sasha's long, fine hair rose on the breeze and wafted directly back to the young woman. The other hair, blond and sparse, generally stayed put in Rose's palm, but one or two hairs lifted and blew into the entrance to the large ruin, falling to earth in the hallway before the Malletarian emblem.

"Whew," Rose panted. "I was afraid that she'd pulled these hairs out too long ago for this to work. Fortunately, some of them were fresh. That pretty well settles it: that girl went in there and didn't come out."

Even Brother Miguel looked at Rose with an impressed expression. "I didn't know you could do that."

Rose shot an enigmatic look back at him. "And you didn't really see me do it, either ... did you?"

[Sareth]

"So what do we do then?" Lillith asked. Going down in that black pit did not sound appealing to her. But if the lead these people had went in there... Well, she didn't feel safe being left here alone. It was amazing how much attitudes could change in only a day. Yesterday she would have happily snubbed any of them and gone on her own merry way. Now the thought of being left alone was...

[Graybeard]

"Lillith, I'm afraid we don't have a choice," Sister Rose said gently. "We have to let some people know what's going on here, then move on and resume our search for Father Egbert."

The stricken look on Lillith's face spoke volumes, and Rose's own heart ached within her. It was difficult to tell from a half elf's appearance how old he or she was -- Rose understood this better than just about anyone surviving in Veracia -- but everything about Lillith screamed that, at least from an emotional point of view, she was about at the same stage of life as the girl who'd fallen into the Malletarian trap. She must surely be thinking, there, but for the grace of the gods, go I -- and not without some justification. But some things were not to be trifled with. The Malletarians were too powerful for half a dozen random travelers to take on. The team coming to deal with Arganial (never mind that he'd already been dealt with most emphatically) wasn't likely to take kindly to the suggestion to link up and go after the Malletarians. And above all, there was still a job to do.

"Let's go back to the wagon and send a message back to our colleagues," Rose said sadly. "It's about the best we can do. Who knows, maybe they can get an expedition together and go rescue this Leilani."

And maybe they can stamp out world hunger, cure cancer, and fill the woods with cute little bunnies singing happy tunes while they're at it, she thought to herself as she started hiking back to the ridge.

[Drannin]

Argus took one last look around the ruins before following. It was a shame, really. There was a lot they could learn here... But they were few, and these Malletarians sounded quite powerful. And, honestly, that Spider-golem was half-fluke on his part. Best to hope Father Egbert had experienced a similar attack of common sense and moved on.

With a sigh, Argus followed the others.

[Sareth]

Lillith trailed along behind the others.

Coming here had been a mistake. She realized that now. Even if the place hadn't been a mad house of dangerous gollums and explosive... whatevers, she didn't have the makeup to use any of it. She'd found what she was looking for, and found herself cowering in a fear so strong she was hiding behind the worshipers of some paternalistic ball of made-up deity.

The best thing for it would be to go home, tail tucked between her legs, and admit that she'd made a mistake. But she couldn't. She'd made a vow, and even if no one else cared, she did. She'd know she'd failed.

What was she supposed to do now?

[Graybeard]

"Lillith, Argus, wait a minute," Brother Miguel called from behind them. "There's something we forgot to do. Rose, go ahead and launch a parrot, we'll catch up to you. Sasha, can you keep Rose company?"

Puzzled, Argus (and Harker) and the women went in their various directions, Sasha and Sister Rose bushwhacking their way toward where the wagon waited, Lillith and Argus to where Miguel stood at the edge of the ruins. "We got distracted," Miguel explained. "Really should have checked the horses to see if there was anything in the saddle bags that might help us. They didn't get that image of Father Egbert out of the clear blue. I wonder what else they might have had."

The three made their way to the clearing where the horses were hobbled, in the process solving a minor mystery as to how the horses had gotten there: a sketchy trail ran from the clearing back to the road that skirted the edge of the ruins. A short distance to the south, the road forked, one leg heading off toward the plains of the west, the other continuing southeast along the side of the ridge. If they understood the sinister message from the crystal ball correctly, the death squad, whatever it was, would be coming up that road to the west.

The horses were skittish again; apparently the exploding crystal ball had made them nervous, understandably enough. Lillith's soothing voice soon calmed them, and the three explorers started to check the saddle bags. There wasn't much there; clearly the horses and riders had come in from somewhere else, where they were based. In a moment, however, Miguel knew where that base was, by name if not necessarily by location.

"Check this out," he said, holding up a large key with a tag attached. "The tag says it's from the 'Mashtel Inn,' wherever that is. Lillith, do you still have that map you found?" She did, and it only took another moment to learn that "Mashtel" was a small town along the southeast-trending road, perhaps an hour's ride away.

"Hmmm," Miguel mused. "Maybe we should check that place out. We'll have to find a way to get the wagon past the crater, either that or take these horses. I don't know whether they'll let us ride them -- what's that?" He turned and followed Argus' gaze to a cloud of dust moving in the southeast, a mile or so down the Mashtel road.

A solitary rider was approaching, his horse at full gallop.

[Drannin]

Argus frowned, suddenly tense. "A one-man kill-team?" he muttered furtively. "He's already seen us. No sense in hiding. We should listen and hear what he has to say."

"What if he says 'prepare to die,' Boss?" asked Harker.

Argus snorted. "After dragons and spider golems, I don't scare easily."

Harker stared at his master in horror. Did Argus just tempt fate?!