After a VERY long nap (rivalling Rip Van Winkle's) on the Unicorn's
back, Maura woke up.  Her back and legs informed her about the very long
nap by complaining in the extremest language about her choice of time
and place, but she looked around and saw that Xyranthes was also in some
sort of daze--not that that was unusual--and that Justin seemed to
have lost himself in thought.

Justin, who strangely felt as if he has spent the last 10 or so 
hours in a car driving from northern Minnesota to the Chicago area, 
and before that months of oblivion, also snapped to and looked about, 
quickly reorienting himself.

Achingly, Maura dismounted the Unicorn and walked over to her companions. 
Tapping X lightly on the shoulder, she called quietly, "Justin.  Justin!
Time we entered the city, don't you think?  Jonah and Shard left
already."

"Absolutely," he replied.  "Don't ask me why we're just standing 
around here.  We've got Crystal to rescue and a friend to help."

Maura nodded, a little grimly, as she leaned against a convenient 
rock.  Then she said to herself, "And if my back is any indication, 
they must have left months ago."

Justin quickly glanced at his watch, and then turned to Maura and 
replied, "I don't believe your back is a good indicator, as my watch 
would seem to say it's only been a few minutes.  Either that or it's 
been exactly 7 years or so so the calendar had a chance to wrap back 
to the same day and the same time, but I think that's pretty unlikely 
since my battery probably would have died in that time and we 
probably would have starved to death."

Maura smiled.  "Just griping..."

"But this is really a pointless conversation.  Come on, lets go into 
the city and see what we can find out."  With that, Justin started off 
in the direction of town, stopping after a few feet to make sure that 
everyone was following, and once he saw that they were, turned back and 
continued on towards the city.

"Ehh." Xyranthes snapped out of his not so unusual state, and smiled at Maura.
"Sorry, must have nodded off again. Anyway, I agree, on to the city!"

Maura remounted a little stiffly the Unicorn, now looking like an ordinary
cart horse, and followed.  When they entered the city, she covered her face
with her hood, even though her hair was dark and her features altered.  She
tried to look tired, like any other working person, and it was not at all
hard to succeed.  The aching weariness had not left.  She began looking
out for shops where they could obtain robes for the temple event, and soon
saw one where she had never frequented.  A small rather dingy little shop
sandwiched between two taverns.  

Calling softly to Justin's back in front of her and glancing at Xyranthes,
Maura dismounted and began to lead the horse.  "Justin!  What about
there?"  She looked again at Xyranthes, not wanting to call him by name.
"What do you think?"

Justin paused, glanced at the shop, and softly answered back, "I 
suppose it's as good as any.  I can't help but wonder how 'priestly' 
any clothing we find in a shop between two bars is going to be, but 
it's certainly worth a shot."

Justin started heading towards the store, glancing back at Xyranthes 
and Maura to see if either followed.

"Yes, I fear that we may not find any truly priestly robes from the backs of 
a tavern, but the robes will obscure out true identities, and allow us better 
access."

And with that Xyranthes followed Justin, into the garment shop.

* * * * *

A small bell on the door jingled as the group entered the shop.  Garments 
of all different types were hanging around the shop, in various states 
of repair, and dis-repair.  Jackets, tunics, dresses, robes, cloaks, etc.  
The air smelled fainty of smoke, from the fire burning in a fireplace in 
the corner.

Upon entering the shop, Maura looked around for anything that looked 
suitably priestlike, or even like a worshiper/supplicant.  Since the shop
was not large, her gaze took in most of what was readily visible.  

After a few moments, an ugly old man appeared from a doorway near the 
back of the room.

"Wha'cn I do fer ya?" he asked, in a scratchy voice.

Seeing some things that might be worthwhile, if aided by illusion, Maura 
pointed to a few of them as she said to the proprieter,  "Things
like these are what we might be interested in."

Justin, suddenly realizing that although he had a good idea of what a 
generic priest would wear, but had no clue what quirky traits the 
specific group that they were trying to infiltrate might add to their 
robes (whether they were hooded, if certain priests in the heirarchy 
wore certain colors and style, and other priests wore other styles, 
etc.) decided to play things a little safe and slow.  He also 
suddenly realized that, to avoid really grabbing attention, they needed 
some wacky excuse to buy priestly-type robes from this guy without 
something as wacked out as "My friends and I have decided to become 
priests...."

So Justin turned to the shopkeeper and said (in the fashion of someone 
who talks just way to much and says more than he really needs to), 
"Nice selection here.  My friend and I are here to look at any nice, 
plain robes you might have.  Nothing fancy, although a hood might be 
desirable.  We've been invited to a masquerade ball by my employer, 
but none of us can really stand dancing, and holding up a mask on a 
stick for hours gets really tiring, so we figured maybe the dark 
hooded approach might be best so we can just stand in a corner near 
the refreshments and when everyone is told to unmask we can just whip 
back our hoods, is this making sense to you? I mean, it was nice for 
us to be invited, and we don't want to disappoint him by not showing 
up, and who knows it might be a chance for advancement, and we all 
need advancement, especially with my salary.  So Xy, anything look 
good to you here?  I kinda like these dark brown ones over here..." 
he finished, pointing to a dark brown robe, and then started looking 
at other robes commenting on everything.

"Hmm, well the brown are a bit too plain," Xyranthes commented, "there 
will be a lot of fancy costumes at the ball, if we want to remain 
inconspicuous then we had best not look like the daisy in the orchid 
patch, ehh. I think these nice blue ones, with the white over tunic 
should do the trick. Plain, and yet with just enough ornamentation in 
the cuffs and hem. In fact, my friends, I have a wonderful idea, in 
stead of just the dark robed look, how about priests? Then we could 
say we had taken a vow of non dancing should any ask us about our 
standing at the wall. Tell me, master tailor, do you also have any 
religious jewelry, medallions and holy symbols mostly?

Ignoring the fact that she had been about to say something to the
proprieter about a certain set of robes she had seen, Maura listened 
admiringly to Justin's strategem: it was very resourceful.  She also 
agreed with Xyranthes' response and thought they probably would be 
able to find something like what they needed in the shop.  

* * * * *

As Justin launched into his "naive shopper" act, the shopkeeper 
simply watched him with a bemused expression on his face.  When 
Xyranthes turned the conversation toward religious paraphanalia, 
the mechant nodded.

"Ah, ya' want priestly robes," the shopkeeper said.  "That's what 
I needed to know.  Why ya' want 'em is none of my business..." he 
added, with a conspiratorial wink.  The group got the impression 
that the merchant was used to people coming in for clothing they 
didn't use in their everyday lives...

The shopkeeper made his way to the back of the shop, then brought 
out three brownish-yellow robes.

"Priestly robes, in the manner of acolytes," he explained as he 
set them down on a workbench nearby.  "There are so many of 'em, 
an' they're always comin' an' goin' that no one can keep track of 
'em all," he commented.

He turned to grab a string from another table, then grabbed 
Justin's arm and began taking measurements.  When that was done, 
he made some quick alterations to one of the robes -- nothing that 
would hold up under long-term use, but would hold for a day or so.  
When he finished with that one, he repeated the process for 
Xyranthes and Maura in turn.

Finishing the alterations, he handed over the robes, and said, 
"That'll be five gold."

Maura looked pleased at the ease with which the transaction went through, 
and wondered how they would split the cost, or who would pay.  

* * * * *

When nobody was forthcoming with payment, the shopkeeper raised an eyebrow 
and said, "Y'all *DO* have money for this, don'cha?"  And he casually brushed 
aside a fold of his tunic, under which the hilt of a dagger was visible.

Maura smiled disarmingly at the man and shook her head when she caught
sight of the dagger.  "You don't need that.  Of course we do."  She opened
her satchel and produced the desired amount, looking over her shoulder at
the others.  She sent a telepathic message to Xyranthes: >You have always
been so handy with your jewels and so on before, I haven't had a chance to
spend this ordinary currency.<  She handed the money to the man, expecting
him to count it, and therefore not surprised when he did.  Her disarming
smile took on a more knowing tone.  She picked up her robe and turned to
the others.  "Let's go."

Upon seeing the satisfaction of the shopkeeper with the funds, Justin 
picked up a robe that suited him and followed Maura.  He said, "Thanks 
for all your help, mister" as he left.

Smiling, Xyranthes picked up his robe as well, and nodded to the proprietor. 
"Thank you for your help," he said, and with a bit of a small spell, helped 
the man's memory forget just what they looked like.

* * * * *

Having completed their purchase of disguises, the group emerged back 
onto the packed dirt road.  More of the afternoon had passed than 
anybody realized, and twilight was beginning to approach.  The road 
was fairly busy with people taking care of last-minute errands before 
nightfall.

Since they couldn't think of anything else to do, the three decided to 
look for somewhere to spend the night.  The ended up making their way to 
an inn in the less-reputable section of town that Justin was familiar 
with.  During his tenure with the City Guard, he had participated in a 
raid on that establishment, which had been suspected of shady dealings.  
The investigation revealed that, while the inn catered to some of the 
more shady types in town, the owner of the establishment was an 
upstanding type -- he did not allow any illegal activities inside his 
inn, he just liked providing a place for those people who had nowhere 
else to go.

They paid for a few rooms, out of what little Justin had saved from his 
guardsman job, Maura's profits, and the bag of gold Xyranthes had found 
in his room just before he left the castle.  They then settled in, and 
got ready for bed.

* * * * *

Maura was tired after the challenges of the day and the strain of keeping
up the illusion, and fell asleep even before drinking some water.

Justin took out the little computer he'd been carrying around 
with him and put together a budgeting spreadsheet of some sort based 
on their current assets, in order to figure out how much longer they 
would be likely to be able to survive on the cash they had, before 
they had to start selling stuff or go broke.

They were still doing pretty well, financially speaking.  If it had 
only been Maura's savings and Justin's wages keeping the group funded, 
the rooms would have just about drained it.  But Xyranthes had a bag 
of gold, which he explained had been a going-away present, of sorts, 
from the king, to whom the Sage had been acting as an advisor before 
he joined the quest.

After that, he practiced freezing, melting and boiling water using the 
amulet and his sci-magic hybrid powers, until he got tired.

Before he went to bed, he said a heartfelt prayer (not aloud) out of 
concern for the safety of this endeavor, especially since they would be 
going up against some apparently really powerful priest, they were a 
pretty rag-tag bunch, and aside from a few funky parlor tricks type 
magic, some basic martial arts training, and a single bullet left in 
his Luger, he was not sure he had much to offer in this showdown with 
evil.

He then went to sleep, and seeing as there were no major 
disturbances, stayed asleep 'til morning.

When Maura woke up the next morning, she felt a little refreshed and
took her leather bag of salt water into a corner for a sponge
bath.  Hands and face and throat.  After drinking a good portion of the
contents, she was really refreshed and stood up to stretch out.  Her hair
brushed against her cheek and she smiled, enjoying the feel.  She looked at
Justin, sleeping with his hand closed around his amulet and could tell that
he had been practicing his magic.  Her smile turned to one of proud
teacher, though normally she looked up to him for his strengths of purpose,
quietness, and just... strength.

Maura had a moment of confusion, during which she thought she saw 
Jonah sleeping in the room as well, but when she blinked, it was 
gone.  Must have still been a little tired...

Xyranthes was sleeping with his mouth open.  But at least not snoring.  
Morning light started to come into the room through the cracks in the 
door and she stretched one more time, knowing that day they would meet 
up with Jonah again in the city and perhaps even rescue Crystal.  

In time Justin woke up, and started preparing for a day of exciting
activity.

It was still fairly early in the morning, and their rendezvous with 
Jonah behind the church wasn't until noon, so the group had plenty 
of time for any preparations they might want to make.

* * * * *

Realizing just how little information they had about their enemy, 
Justin suggested they go to the local Library - which, luckily, 
there was one - and spend the morning reading about the Church before 
trying to sneak in on a hostage rescue mission.

Neither Maura or Xyranthes objected, so they made their way to the 
Library, and began their research.

In this world, there are two primary deities.  Maltiir, God of the 
Sun, and Ixarthas [pronounced ee-SHAR-thas], God of Darkness.  These 
two were the first children of the Earth Mother, the Source of All 
Life, and twins.  Maltiir was born Good, and became the God of Men, 
while Ixarthas was born Evil, and became the Lord of the Underworld.

Other minor deities descended from these three, in various ways.  But 
these two were the driving forces in the world.  Maltiir, trying to 
further the welfare of humankind, and Ixarthas constantly plotting to 
destroy everything.

The relationship between the two became the basis for the popular 
belief about human twins.  Since the First Twins turned out one 
good and one evil, OF COURSE any other twins will follow the same 
pattern - one becoming good, and the other evil.

Traditionally, the High Priest is supposed to attend to any birth 
of twins, and determine which will follow Maltiir's way, and which 
will fall under Ixarthas' influence.  The latter, the 'evil twin' is 
then supposed to be ritually sacrificed, to prevent their evil from 
developing in the world.

If this wasn't enough reason to fear twins, there was once a prophecy 
made about a twin that would one day be born, whose blood would be 
the key to the gateway for Ixarthas' power.  The Church's official 
interpretation of this prophecy said that this special twin would 
have to be sacrificed in a special ceremony, and would banish 
Ixarthas' influence from the mortal realm for eternity.

Several alternate, heretical interpretations have claimed that the 
'evil twin' would use his own blood to open the portal instead, 
thus freeing Ixarthas to ravage the world as he wishes.  Either way, 
the Church says it is imperitive to find this Chosen One early, in 
order to lessen Evil in the world.

Other information the group uncovered included various traditions 
and behavioral codes for priests, which would be useful to know for 
impersonating one.

They also found some information about the current High Priest.  After 
filtering out all the propaganda (the Church seems to have a way of 
influencing popular opinion...), the group learned the following:

The High Priest had been witnessed performing miracles.  While that 
was one of the prerequisites for becoming High Priest, his had been 
more apparant and blatant than anyone before.  This was taken by the 
Church as a sign of his favor by Maltiir.  [OOC: In AD&D terms, it 
means he's at least a mid-high level Priest.  In a world where there 
isn't much obvious magic, this makes one considerably powerful.]

The High Priest was born into the Priesthood, and had never known any 
life outside of the Clergy.  He was considered one of the most pious 
people in the world, and was looked to for leadership.

He had advanced the Church's power considerably since taking up its 
leadership -- even the King deferred to him on matters of the spirit.

He had cracked down seriously on heresy in recent years.  He appointed 
one branch of the priesthood to seek out and destroy heresy wherever 
they find it.  They had been given a large amount of authority -- they 
answer only to the High Priest.  Their usual punishment for heresy was 
confiscation of property; after a confession, of course.  Occasionally, 
a heretic was so caught up in the error of his ways that more - 
persuasive - means were required.  (An unfortunate death now and then was 
seen as 'acceptable losses' in the war against evil.)

The group found a little more information, but nothing seemingly 
significant.  Before they knew it, noon was approaching -- and with it, 
their rendezvous with Jonah.

They left the Library, and began making their way to the Cathedral.
As they made their way toward the cathedral, Justin started 
noticing that someone was following them.  Whoever it was was good at 
stealth -- were it not for Justin's military experience, he probably 
wouldn't have noticed any more than Maura or Xyranthes (who both seemed 
completely unaware).

* * * * *

Justin was very happy that he had the idea of visiting the library, as 
things made a vast deal more sense (or at least seemed to) and the 
urgency seemed to have become suddenly very real.  As Xyranthes helped 
in the research, uncovering as much as they could about their opponent, 
a disturbing thought began to form in the back of his mind. Yet he
ignored it for the time being, giving it time to develop into full worry.  
Maura was fascinated by what they learned in the library, but, like
Xyranthes, felt uneasy at the gravity of the situation, now that they
understood it better.

Noticing their pursuer, Justin made a nervous wink (as opposed to a friendly 
wink) in the direction of Xyranthes and Maura and suggested quietly 
that they take the "scenic route", stepping quickly into an alley 
(preferably a somewhat crowded one), after which he whispered (at the 
lowest volume at which he can expect to be heard by X and M, 
depending on the crowdedness of the alley) that they were being 
followed and should try to lose the follower.

Hearing this, Xyranthes' fear resurfaced.  Muttering a brief prayer 
under his breath - in actuality casting a 'Detect Evil' spell, to see if 
he could find out the alignment of his attacker.  The spell did not detect 
strong evil from the pursuer, nor did it detect evil intent.  Xyranthes then
looked at his companions.

Maura tried to sense any emotions emanating from the person.  She mentally 
informed Xyranthes of what she was doing, for she was aware of his 
evil-sensing spell.  She hoped the person was not as sensitive as the 
linked pair...

She did not detect any emotions from the pursuer.  However the 
person's mind was somewhat familiar.  She then rememberd Revok, whom 
they met before, and wondered if it might be him, or a friend.  She 
thought they were to meet him again...

"While we where in the library," Xyranthes spoke, as they attempted to 
scan mentally and magically, "a thought occurred to me. The prophecy
made about a twin that would one day be born, whose blood would be
the key to the gateway for Ixarthas' power.  While the church may have it's
various interpretations, I have my own. What if the High Priest plans on
using the 'special' ceremony that's supposed to banish Ixarthas, using
Jonah's sister as the sacrifice, to unleash the Dark one, thus fulfilling the
prophecy. Jewel is in great danger one way or the other, but now we have an
even more imperative cause for rescuing her. This world is in great danger.
We know that the High Priest has connections in the dark realms, but it's
possible that we have an even more determined villain on our hands.  And with
this man tracking us, the High Priest may have competition or enemies, which 
it may behoove us to find, if we can.  Given the limited time we have left, 
we might just have to attack, and hope that the competition is on our side 
long enough to help us."

"Regardless, the stakes are now higher than we knew when we set out on this.
Escaping from this task may be harder than we thought. Maura, Justin, with
the robes we can sneak inside, but if we interrupt the ceremony, who knows
what may happen. In the time I have known you both, I have come to care for
you, and I don't want either of you to come to harm. Should things get to
dangerous, I want you both to promise me you will escape with Jewel to
safety, promise me."

Maura simply nodded.  "I promise that if there is no other way of escaping 
with Jewel than by leaving you alone there to fight whatever we face, I 
will ensure that she is safe.  But, Xyranthes," --she added with a wry 
grin-- "this situation is going to be pretty desperate before I leave you 
or anyone to face this kind of danger alone.  Just so as you understand 
that..."

* * * * *

Maura turned to Justin: "He is still here, somewhere.  I cannot sense any 
hostile or evil emotions, but he is intelligent."  She turned her inquiry 
to both Justin and Xyranthes:  "What do you want to do?"

Xyranthes replied, "If we confront him, perhaps we will have an ally, or 
an enemy.  Either way, confronting him is our best bet.  I for one don't 
like the idea of having someone following us, with possible hostile intent, 
not knowing when he may strike. If we capture him now, without the use of 
magic, and he turns out to be working for the High priest, then we escape 
without further detection.   Justin, can we capture a person without 
making too much attention with the items at hand?"

Xyranthes voiced Maura's own thought on this, quite likely intentionally, 
since their minds were linked anyway.  : )  But she waited to hear Justin's 
opinion, as he was the experienced fighter there.  She was feeling antsy 
with the huge challenge ahead and was eager to find out their tracker's 
intentions, one way or another.

Justin replied, "I was personally kind of hoping that we could just lose 
him, and not get confrontational.  A crowded alley isn't exactly the best 
place for a fight but it certainly is a good place to get lost.  I could 
care less who this guy is and what he wants.  He's not being direct, 
and that's enough for me.  If you really want to confront him, we can 
do that, but I'd just as well keep moving towards our main objective 
and forget him, if possible."

Justin scanned ahead in the alley, looking for a good branch to lose the 
person following them, making furtive glances backwards to see if he 
could see the person whom he saw following them before they turned the 
corner.

"Justin," Maura said, "it is possible that this person is here to help 
and not hinder, or, as Xyranthes suggested, part of the High Priest's 
coterie.  I would feel safer knowing who he is and what his business is, 
but I am not sure we should confront him here when we need all our strength 
for assuredly a larger confrontation.  I also remember that we were to 
reunite with that man we met earlier, outside the city...  I admit to 
being of two minds, and therefore will defer to your and Xyranthes' 
judgment.  We do not want to be unable to meet up with Jonah."

Maura leaned against the wall, also looking behind them, but clearly eager to
have one thing or another decisive to do, if only to continue toward the
rendezvous with Jonah.

Justin seemed somewhat skeptical about that, but, half-feeling that 
the chance for evasion had been lost, and sick of hanging out in an 
alley having a discussion about being followed, gave in.

"OK, if you think this guy may be here to help us, we can test that out, 
but this alley isn't the place to do it," he said as someone walked by 
holding two live chickens.  "I think I know a nice quiet pub about 
halfway between here and the temple.  Why don't we head in that 
direction and see if he follows.  The pub's not too busy at this time 
of day, generally, and it might be a good place to discuss things 
with our surreptitious 'friend.'  Otherwise we wouldn't disturb too 
many people if things turned a little rough.  When I frequented there 
they had at least one fight a week."

Justin then turned, casually walked over to a pastry vendor in the 
alley, purchased a few pastries, gave one to Xyranthes and Maura each, 
and then headed back into the main thoroughfare munching on a pastry.

Maura thanked Justin for the pastry and set off after him toward the
pub, glad at last to be doing something...  Behind his back, she looked
dubiously at the pastry, but after a small taste, decided that she liked
it.  She sipped some water with it and looked behind to make sure Xyranthes
was following...

Xyranthes also thanked Justin for the pastry, said a small prayer of thanks, 
and began to eat while they made their way to the pub. He scanned the sky, 
to see how much time they had left before they were to meet up with Jonah.

No more than half an hour was remaining before noon - which was when 
they were supposed to meet Jonah behind the Cathedral.  Traffic in the 
city streets was beginning to pick up as townsfolk began their pre-noontime 
activities.  Especially so, as it was the day of the Weekly Service at 
the Cathedral, and all the faithful were making their preparations for 
the celebration.

As the group merged back into the flow of traffic, they seemed to be 
alone at first.  However, as they continued to move, Justin began to 
notice their pursuer again, and Maura and Xyranthes were still able to 
detect his presence.

Whoever it was continued to remain a fair ways back, but kept pace with 
the group.  They were still unable, however, to determine if his intent 
was harmful or helpful.

It took them about ten minutes to make it to the pub - considering that 
travelling from the pub to the Cathedral would likely take about another 
ten minutes, that left only another ten minutes to deal with the pursuer.

Justin led the others inside.  As he entered, he was greeted with the 
usual deliberate indifference that pubs of this sort foster.  The one 
or two eyes that did rise to inspect the new arrivals showed mild 
surprise - from the ones that recognized the former guardsman - as if 
nobody ever expected to see him there again.  Two or three dark shapes 
skulked silently toward the back exit - Justin figured they were 
underworld types who didn't want to take the chance that Justin was 
still involved with the city guard, despite the news of his departure.

By Justin's calculations, their pursuer would reach the entrance to 
the pub within minutes, giving the group little time to make whatever 
preparations they had in mind.

* * * * *

Maura looked at Justin and spoke in a voice just audible to Justin and
Xyranthes: "Well, we're here.  We have ten minutes before we have to go to
the Cathedral, so no time for a long confrontation.  Let's just get a look
at this person: if we know him, we can make a decision what to do
then.  If he's a stranger we can try to lose him here: we probably don't
want him to follow us to the Cathedral unless we are sure of him.  What do
you two think?"

Justin, slightly annoyed, replied, "Back in the alley you were 
suggesting that it's quite possible that this guy is our friend, in 
which case I imagine we do want him to follow.  I don't see that we 
have much of a choice, though, really.  We don't have an awful lot of 
time and if we can't force a confrontation, either we have to be 
followed or we have to somehow lose him.  At this close range to the 
Cathedral with this little amount time to lose him I find that highly 
unlikely.  We can't really double-back, and if he is from the priest 
and his friends I don't think he'll have a difficult time figuring 
out where we've gone.  Unless we can suddenly become invisible I 
don't think we can really avoid being followed."

Maura looked at Justin, understanding his slight annoyance.  But then she
grinned: "Invisible, eh?  Well, thanks to the rests we've had and a little
water, I think Xyranthes and I could probably swing that.  Ask Jonah
sometime about a certain invisible mischief-maker on his ship from that
other incarnation... Or rather, wait until we are done with this little
rescue.  Were you serious?"  Looking at Xyranthes, drawing strength from
him, she stepped behind the men, where she was shielded from general
view: the remnant of the pastry she was holding vanished.

"Well?" she said, placing a handful of nothing into her mouth.  "If we
don't have time to elude, we have to decide quickly..."

"I for one would still like to force a confrontation." Xyranthes began. "It 
seems to me that just being visible, and perhaps moving towards him would be 
the best. Maybe if I went alone. I'm sure I could work a quick spell if I 
need to escape something. But leaving a loose thread, now with everything 
coming to a head, would be to risky in my humble opinion. "

He looked for conformation, then departed to confront their follower.

Maura looked uncertain, and kept thinking about the distance to the
cathedral.  "What do you think, Justin?  I mean, there he goes, and we
don't have time for dissent..." She gestured at Xyranthes' slowly
retreating back.  "Looks like we can disappear if we need to and also find
out what this person wants..."

Justin pondered a second and then said, "Since we're really pressed 
for time, lets just try to confront him outright.  Chances are, if 
he's an enemy and is following us, he doesn't want it known he's 
following us and once we are clearly headed his way he'll break for 
it.  At which point he should no longer be following us (at least for 
a couple minutes) and we may have a chance to take off in the 
direction of the Cathedral unhindered.  If he doesn't run we can find 
out what he wants. Sounds reasonable?"

Justin headed out of the pub.  "Yes it sounds reasonable."  Maura 
smiled and followed Justin.

As the two of them passed through the door, they found Xyranthes standing 
just outside.  As they looked past the old man, they saw what had 
transfixed the cleric:  the Unicorn - waiting outside for the group, 
under cloak of illusion to resemble a regular horse - was facing off 
with what must have been their pursuer.

The figure was covered from head to toe in a dark brown cloak, the 
hood pulled down low over the face.  Whoever it was obviously was 
trying to move past the Unicorn, and failing miserably as she continually 
maneuvered between the figure and the entrance.

In all conventional ways like a horse trying to block the path of 
someone it considered hostile.  However, Maura - being the only one 
the Unicorn allowed into her thoughts - felt a sense of playfulness 
from her, and realized that it was mostly a game.

The figure, understandably, did not realize this, and upon noticing 
that all three of the party were standing watching the dance, pulled his 
hood back.

"Someone want to call the beast off?" Revok asked, in his usual 
brash manner.

* * * * *

Maura quickly put a hand on Justin's and Xyranthes' shoulders.  "It's all
right... I think.  She--our... horse--is just playing."  She communicated 
to the Unicorn: "*Let the man pass, playful one.  I think he has done us 
some service and time is short.*"  She walked forward to the Unicorn, 
keeping its flank between Revok and herself, and looked at their old 
acquaintance.

The Unicorn acquiesced to Maura's request, and moved to the side.  
She remained nearby, however, keeping a watchful eye on Revok.

The Bounty Hunter also continued to keep track of the Unicorn, 
but turned his attention to Maura and the others.

"So, what are you all doing around here so soon?  Our rendezvous isn't 
for another three weeks."

With a quick look over her shoulder at Xyranthes and Justin, Maura said, 
"We had, and have, good reason to come here earlier than we anticipated 
when we last spoke.  Shall we all walk along together for a moment?  
Perhaps you could give us the latest gossip from the city?"  Maura 
deliberately kept her words and tone casual, as if Revok were an old 
friendly acquaintance not seen for some time and pleasant in re-meeting... 
Her mind was not as relaxed, however, and her eyes were watchful:  the 
Unicorn and Xyranthes knew she was tense.    

Justin gave Revok a nod of acknowledgment, but waited to hear a reply 
to Maura's line of questioning before saying anything himself.  He 
positioned himself defensively, but made an effort not to appear 
belligerent or a threat.

Revok returned Justin's nod, and fell in next to Maura as she began 
walking.  He caught on to her nonchalance, and began speaking easily.

"Things seem mostly normal here in the city right now.  The excitement 
from the 'escape of the Evil Fire Wizard'," he said, quoting the popular 
description for what happened when Jonah and the others first left the 
city, "has died down.  The last two weeks have been uneventful, from 
the news I've heard.  About a week ago, though, the High Priest went 
into seclusion - nobody's seen him since.  There are whispers going 
about that something important is happening, but that it's being 
covered up.  But, then," he added, lightening his tone, "people are 
always saying things like that."

Maura, Justin and Xyranthes couldn't help remembering that about a week 
ago was when they had dreams indicating that Jodie was in trouble.

Revok continued.  "Then, about three days ago, there was that Gypsy boy 
who was arrested outside the Cathedral for trying to assault one of 
the priests.  He kept saying something about the High Priest taking a 
friend of his," Revok glanced pointedly at Maura and, while his tone 
was light and conversational, his look implied he thought the group 
knew something about that.  Which was not far off, considering that 
Andru - the Gypsy boy the group met in Behre, who had known Jodie - 
probably had gotten about a three day head start on the group, especially 
if he had been on horseback.

Revok paused, waiting for a reaction.

* * * * *

Maura smiled easily.  "It can hardly come as a surprise that a gypsy boy would
react in a fiery manner, especially if convinced that anyone was harming one of
his friends.  Not surprising at all, even understandable.  No doubt people have
been enjoying the story.  What is the latest--with the high priest in
seclusion, what has happened to this young hothead?  People will be grateful
enough for the evil fire wizard's disappearance but now will need something new
to talk about... By the way, has the priest's seclusion changed any of the
services or other rites at the cathedral?"  Her voice was still light, but her
eyes, especially as she talked about Andru, were somber.  If Revok was
watching, he might have gotten the idea that the trio did in fact know
something of that "gypsy boy."

The Bounty Hunter nodded slowly, to indicate he got Maura's meaning.

"The Gypsy boy was arrested, and hasn't been seen since," he replied to 
Maura's first question.  "No official statements have been made about him, 
but the popular story is that he's been thrown in the dungeons to await 
execution.  The public seems to like that story - most people don't really 
like Gypsies anyway," he added with a chuckle.

"As for the impact the High Priest's disappearance has had on the services 
at the Cathedral: it's been minimal.  Mostly, the lesser priests have taken 
over the services.  Only one or two minor ceremonies have been cancelled, 
because he couldn't - or wouldn't - attend."  Revok then glanced wryly 
from Maura, toward the Cathedral, noting that they were moving in that 
direction.

"I see you're heading in that direction yourselves.  Planning to take 
part in the noon service?" he asked, with one eyebrow raised.

"Religious rites are among my favorite things to study, in a scholarly 
way.  When I was working in this land, I was known to be a scholar and 
scientist, among other things.  And my friends--" Maura glanced behind 
her, encouraging Xyranthes and Justin to provide input, if they chose, 
or support her in her carefully-planned "casual conversation" -- "my 
friends are kind enough to put up with an old scholar's foibles.  Rites 
of any sort, especially in a cathedral like this one, are always 
interesting visually and aurally.  Are you free to join us?  Or perhaps 
you have other news of interest to look into, or tell us..."

Revok listened carefully to Maura's response, and glanced aside when 
at her question.

"I don't normally attend church services unless I'm on a job," he said, 
"but I have a feeling this one will be, ah, particularly interesting," 
a wry - and rare - grin on his face, "so I'll take you up on that 
invitation."

Justin had no major objections.  Although he was slightly suspicious of 
Revok, he did not say so.  "We can use all the help we can get to make 
sure we get our friends out safe," he said, and left it at that.

Xyranthes seemed to have gone into another one of his stupors, and was 
just wandering along with the group.

Maura smiled pleasantly.  "Please do."  She was aware of Justin's 
tension -- and guessed it was suspicion -- but knew it was not as if 
they were unprepared.

Eyeing Justin almost as warily as Justin was watching him, Revok fell 
silent as he continued on with the group to the Cathedral.  He pulled 
the hood of his cloak back up over his head, partly to conceal his 
appearance, but also to protect himself from the noonday sun.

After a few minutes, they came upon the Cathedral.  It was an immense 
building, near the center of the city.  The face of the Cathedral 
pointed east - toward the rising sun, one of the symbols of Maltiir.  
A large courtyard filled most of the area in front of the building, 
where services were often conducted in good weather.  A large crowd of 
the faithful were gathered in the courtyard, ready for the day's service 
to begin.

On the north side of the building was the entrance to the cemetary, 
and on the south was an alley between the Cathedral itself and some 
of its outbuildings - quarters for lesser priests, stables, etc.  It 
was in this alley that the group was planning to meet Jonah.

Careful not to attract too much attention (and possibly using some 
magic to assist the stealth), the group made its way into the alley.  
It took a moment for their eyes to adjust to the relative darkness, 
compared to the bright noonday sun.  Once they could see again, they 
were able to make out a bulge in one of the corners of the alley that 
looked like a small boy sleeping next to a drake.

* * * * *

As the group entered the alley, Maura decided it would be a good time 
to put on her robe.

Still standing well back, Maura looked at the small bundle, thinking that 
it looked as she expected but she was not willing to take chances.  
Concentrating, she squinted at the figure and then sent a mental sound she 
thought it likely only Jonah, if it were he, would hear and understand: 
the click and multiple tones of a Starfleet communicator.  A friendly 
greeting, she hoped. 

Xyranthes, in a stupor or not, would have heard her, of course.

"Interesting, I thought I head a bird, but it's seems to have gone now." 
Xyranthes blinked, and came out of his temporary stupor. 

"Oh, we're here," the old cleric exclaimed as he saw the Cathedral standing 
before him, turned his head he noticed what must be Jonah and his drake. 
Shuffling towards the ally, the Cleric added a few tugs and touches on the 
robe to complete his priestly disguise.

"Darn things is wool, I forgot how heavy and hot wool is."

The first reaction from the pile of sleeping forms was a twitch of the 
drake's ear.  It's head then rose, blinked once, then seemed to recognize 
the visitors.  Shard then poked the boy's shoulder twice with his nose, 
which awakened Jonah.

Jonah sat up, with Shard's help.  Stretched, yawned, and shook his head.

"Hi, guys," he said, obviously including Maura in the greeting.  "How's..." 
he broke off upon noticing Revok with the group.  "I see you've picked 
up some company."  He nodded in the bounty hunter's direction, then pulled 
himself up onto Shard's back.

Maura smiled easily.  "Our friend has been filling us in with all the
gossip in the city, and is showing some interest in the religious
festival... We were, of course, on our way there."

Jonah grinned, getting Maura's message through the euphamisms.

"Ah, good," he said.  "We could use all the help we can get.  Except, 
one thing: anybody have an extra robe for him?  Or anybody feel like 
doing an illusion?"

Maura nodded.  "I am sure Xyranthes and I can swing that."  Looking at the
cleric, she grinned and then Revok was wearing a robe like the others'...

"Well, anyway," he continued.  Jonah tipped his head to listen a moment.  
"It sounds like the service is about to get underway, so we should be able 
to get started soon."

Jonah then went on to tell the group what he learned from his "sources" 
overnight.  Most of it was the same things the others had already learned 
from the Library and from Revok, but he did have a few pieces of news.

"The High Priest is definitely keeping a couple of people locked away in 
the underground levels of the Cathedral," he informed the group.  "One 
of the people I talked to has been discreetly bringing in some extra food, 
outside of the normal provisions that the Cathedral uses.  Most of it has 
been pretty normal - bread, cheese, wine, etc.  Another person, however, 
described some weird things the High Priest has been importing.  A couple 
of rare flowers from the south, some paint made out of very specific 
ingredients, and one person actually claimed that the High Priest managed 
to get a pair of fairy's wings brought in.  Sounds like magical reagents 
to me..."

"Sounds like nonsense to me," Revok muttered.

Maura smiled a little wryly at Revok, but said to Jonah: "For what
purpose?  The reagents, I mean..."

Jonah shrugged.  "I have no idea.  Fairy wings are sometimes used in 
cleansing spells, but can also be used for chaos spells," he answered.  
"The paint sounds like something for a binding ritual - for painting 
a circle of containment on the floor or something, but I have no idea 
what sort of flowers they were, so can't make a guess."

"Well, the service seems to be in full swing now," Jonah commented as 
the sound of a hymn made its way into the dim alley, "so we should 
probably get on with it."

Shard then stood up, in response to an unspoken directive from Jonah, 
and the boy and his Drake led the group to the other end of the alley, 
toward the rear of the Cathedral.  Jonah then turned southward, away 
from the Cathedral, moving along the rear wall of the Cathedral's 
outbuilding.

"I've been told that there is a tunnel from one of the storage rooms 
over here into the basement of the Cathedral," he explained.  "I'm 
guessing that any captives would be kept underground, away from 
public eyes.  Ah, here we go," he said as they came to a rough wooden 
door.  He opened the door and slipped in, followed closely by the rest.

The interior of the storage room was cluttered and dusty.  It seemed 
like nobody had entered the room for years.  The contents were mostly 
old, broken furniture and other worthless items, hence the lack of a 
lock on the door.  A smell of dust and mildew pervaded the room, setting 
off anybody who had allergies to that sort of thing.

"Now we just need to find the passage..." Jonah said, and began to root 
through junk.

Justin helped out looking for a secret passageway applying his general 
practical knowledge from the variant 20th century Earth, tempered by 
experience in an underground resistance movement that occasionally made 
use of literally underground locations.

Specifically, with the door open (maybe just a crack), he looked for the 
existence, of any kind of draft that might be caused by air escaping 
through cracks around the secret entranceway.  Figuring that an underground 
area will tend to be cooler than the outside, the temperature difference was 
likely to cause a mild breeze.  If this method didn't work, he planned to 
fall back on his cheesier knowledge of how secret doors work in fiction and 
try moving inconspicuous pieces of furniture.

Maura rested against the wall, letting the experts work.

Justin's method quickly paid off -- he felt a breeze start from behind 
a pile of old chairs, which he was quickly able to move away, revealing 
a hole in the floor.  Since it was their only lead, the group decided to 
go for it, and began making their way into the tunnel.

Jonah dismounted, allowing Shard to climb down into the hole first.  
Then Justin helped lower Jonah down to where Shard was waiting.  Next, 
Justin on top, and Jonah below, helped Maura and Xyranthes down the 
hole (there was a ladder set into one side, but it was only about ten 
feet deep), and finally Justin climbed down himself.

The Unicorn, who had stayed out in the alleyway when the group entered 
the storeroom (there wouldn't have been enough space for her in the 
storeroom, even if the door had been large enough for her to go through) 
watched the group enter the tunnel.  Maura felt a strange feeling coming 
from the Unicorn, then she suddenly vanished.  Once they were all down in 
the passageway, they found a miniature version of the Unicorn waiting for 
them -- apparantly, the Unicorn posessed the ability to teleport, and to 
change her size.  The group then started down the passageway.

Xyranthes took a long look around once inside the tunnel.  Many religious 
buildings are built with theology in mind, even the secret passage ways and 
doors.  Using what he knew of both religion, basic religious architecture 
and the belief of the people of this area, he decided to concentrate his 
efforts in areas that might be secret doors.

The passageway was relatively unadorned; it seemed to be a utility passage 
or an escape route of some sort.  The walls had support beams running along 
them, which had been carved with a running pattern, but nothing overtly 
religious in nature.

The passage ran straight northward (according to the direction it left 
the storeroom from), toward the Cathedral itself, for about thirty feet.  
At that point, it made a turn to the right, at which point the group could 
easily tell that it was sloping downward, rather steeply.  It ran like 
this for another twenty feet, at which point it made another right turn.  
It continued going twenty feet and making right turns, obviously going under 
itself several times, until the group estimated they had gone down four 
spirals.  The passageway then dead-ended at a solid-looking metal-reinforced 
wooden door.

"Well, guys, what do you think?" Jonah asked.  "Do we try to sneak in, or 
throw caution to the wind and stride boldly in?"

* * * * *

Maura walked forward and placed her fingertips on the door.  She looked over 
her shoulder at Xyranthes and the now-small Unicorn.  "There is confusion 
beyond this door," she said, "Good and bad.  I do not know what we will find.  
I think we must be well before we meet it and therefore should do what we can 
now for our strength and morale.  But if we stay here, we will be discovered.  
And I can speak for myself--I will get no stronger with the passage of time.  
Time is what we, and Crystal, do not have.  Some short time, and then we must 
go in."

Taking her hand down, she looked to see if the others agreed.

Justin shrugged.  "Well this is what we came for, isn't it?  I have no 
intention of hanging out here, and I suppose if we're bursting in on a room 
that's already in confusion we'll have a slight advantage." He pulled out his 
Luger, makes sure the one remaining bullet was in the chamber and ready to 
fire.  He took his survival knife, held it between his teeth and mumbled 
(through the knife) "I'm ready to go when you are."

At the sight of the weapons, Maura stood back from the door.  She drank
some water from her pouch and then licked her lips, as if they were
dry.  "All right, then."  She made as if to open the door, if she could
(i.e. not locked and all : ).

The door was not locked - at least, not from that side - and, after what 
seemed like an eternity, it opened.  Beyond the door was another hallway, 
though this one had mortared stones for walls, ceiling and floor.  After 
the group passed through the door and allowed it to close, they discovered 
that it blended right in with the equipment rack that covered that section 
of the passage.  (A classic fantasy "secret door".  8^)

From this point, the passage led effectively right and left, each direction 
seeming the same as the other.  The group quickly figured out that they were 
in the Cathedral's dungeon - a scream heard in the distance, combined with 
the mental impressions that Maura and Xyranthes were picking up, spoke volumes 
for the despair and suffering that had been, and was continuing to take place 
there.

The group was trying to decide which way to go, when Maura felt something.  
It was very vague, but it felt like the presence of a familiar mind.

Following Maura's recommendation, the group set off to the right, navigating 
though the dungeon.  Once, they had to turn around and retreat to a side 
passage when a group of Temple Guards (members of the enforcement group the 
High Priest had recently set up) came their way, but the group managed to 
remain undetected.

After a while, they came to the location Maura indicated, only to find that 
the mind she was homing in on was straight down from there.

"Hold on a sec, I'll do some recon," Jonah said, and he and Shard scampered 
off.  The pair returned after about ten minutes.

"Well, I found the stairs down, but they're guarded.  I'd say we have two 
options: one, we can take them out; or two, we can try to distract them and 
sneak past.  Any other ideas?" he said.

* * * * *

After determining that the chaos was not *immediately* on the other side of 
the door, Justin went from Defcon 1 to Defcon 2 (terms he probably wouldn't 
use, not coming from a world with a Cold War, but they fit the situation), 
gun holstered, knife no longer in mouth but still in hand.  In addition to 
the fact the gun only had 1 bullet left in it, firing it in an echoey dungeon 
wouldn't be the brightest thing to do to maintain secrecy.

Justin pondered the situation a bit.  "I suppose I'd prefer the distract and 
sneak by option, I think we'll need whatever we can muster both with surprise 
and strength once we find Jodie.  What would be a good distraction for a 
dungeon though?  It has to be believable, but not too suspicious...I don't 
imagine they often see rampaging dragons or damsels in distress down here too 
often.  A herd of rats or minor flooding (or both, for that matter) might 
work.  Any better ideas, or plans how we might be able to conjure something 
on those lines?"

Maura looked at Xyranthes, who seemed to be standing in a daze, but felt
that the two of them could probably rig an illusory distraction.  Big
nasty rats would probably do it, especially if they seemed aggressive.  

She nodded at Justin.  "Guards may be ignorant," she said softly, "but
even they know rats carry lovely diseases.  That should work."  Concentrating 
and pulling strength from Xyranthes, she sent her "rats" scurrying away from 
them down the corridor.  "We will have to wait a bit, so the rats can lead 
them away.  Might even run in this direction, but I think they will have 
more options than that, if these echoes are anything to go by.  And I am sure 
these draughts are coming from more than one passage.  As soon as we hear 
them recede, we have to move.  Sound OK?"

Snapping out of another one of his reveries, Jonah looked a little startled 
when Maura sent illusiory rats down the corridoor before he was able to tell 
her exactly WHERE the stairs were.  However, he managed to give Maura some 
quick directions, which enabled her to guide the illusion right to the guards.

From the groups location, they could not see the guards, but they could hear 
some clanging of metal in the distance, and then some cursing as the guards' 
weapons had no affect on the rats.

Hearing a shout of, "You two chase down those ghostly vermin, we'll stay 
here," the group figured out that some of the guards were coming their way, 
as the illusion retured to its originating point.

"I guess the question now, is," Jonah said quickly, "do we stay and try to 
fight these guards, or hide and hope they miss us?"

* * * * *