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[howandwhy99]

Reflexively all of Brother Ben’s muscles twitched. He opened his eyes and realized he was face down on the floorstones of the temple. “It was an illusion,” said Darius. “An elaborate hoax. I bet even the dragon was fake too.” Slowly four people stood back up. Mirel pushed the very real corpse of Brother Thom off of her. Father Hedrach’s was nowhere to be found. “If this was an illusion, why did they do it? Unless…” Darius’s eyes grew wide. “It’s another distraction!” He ran back out into the street with Captain Radcliffe following after. Ben helped Mirel to her feet. Lighting a torch the two went into the congregation room. Each had a weapon ready just in case.

The gate to the inner bailey was raised at Captain Radcliffe’s command. A small contingent of the guard had gathered to watch the events beyond. Darius started shouting. “Lady Devereaux! Lady Devereaux!” The captain led him and several of the guards to the castellan’s chambers. Her metal door was closed and locked. It took several attempts before they could break it down. At that moment Mirel and Ben had found Father Hetrick’s room and entered inside. Both rooms were examined at the same moment in time. Lady Devereaux’s was large compared to the Father’s small compartments, but each had its roof tore off from above. Brother Ben put his hand in the massive gouges the dragon’s claws had left in the stone.

The furniture within was trashed and torn. Sword cuts had demolished most of the contents of each room. Books, paper, maps, and nearly every scrap of planning had disappeared. A thorough search revealed Lady Devereaux and Father Hedrach were gone too. Darius led his team to the Advisor’s room and pounded on Elion’s door. Again there was no answer. Unlocking the door this time, they saw destruction similar to the other rooms. No clues seemed to be left. A dragon had come and either stolen or eaten all three. Radcliffe inspected his own room adjacent to the Lady’s. The torn up conditions were the same. Brother Ben was in despair. “Every book, every scrolls, every holy instrument in his compartments. Gone. All gone. Father Hedrach has been utterly destroyed!”

Mirel went and inspected Brother Thom’s room and Ben’s as well. Neither area had been touched. “Did Brother Thom walk in on a raid?” she wondered. Outside the Inn continued to blaze, but Dalin and Dram had arrived and were leading the bucket brigade. The building burned quickly as night returned to normal. With the keepfolk’s efforts, a small portion of the Inn was saved. The remains smoldered as the light of dawn rose over the wounded keep. Gathering together once again, the team decided to sleep within the temple as no was left alive but Ben to oversee it. When Igor wobbled in the others saw what the potion had done to him. He looked as if he suffered from conniptions. Unfortunately he could still not sleep, so he kept his promise and watched over the others as they fell into deep slumber.


[DAY 66 – Fastday, Jinto 27th, CY 81]

Only four or five hours passed when Igor roused the party. It was already midmorning and the streets were crowded with people. Igor tried explaining the situation, but his stuttering was near constant. He led the group outside and to the Inn. A circle of people stood around it. Many of them were from the bucket brigade the evening before. Apparently they had been ordered to let no one enter. Darius quickly remanded his order. The people were ordered to go home and sleep except for those who had rested through the night. When the entire circle dispersed, Darius ordered a few watchguard to protect the Inn instead. Igor walked the team to the front gate of the keep were another group of people was trying to get out. The guard had closed the gate and was not allowing anyone to leave the keep. When Darius arrived they saluted him.

In an outer bailey tower the guard were questioning a strange woman found last night. It was Holly. Darius asked the guards to free her into his custody. Brother Ben wondered why the guards were following any of Darius’s orders, but so far it seemed to be better they did. Another order was given to find all visitors still left in the keep and to assemble them for questioning. The gate would be kept closed, but all locales could enter or leave if they wished. Holly was escorted back to the temple where the crew asked her if she had survived the night all right. She had also seen the light and felt the fear, but not one person leave the keep. Barth, Turko and Zerk must have left by a different means or were still within.

Since they were awake and it was morning, they decided to find out what was going on in the rest of Keep Margrave. At the door to the inner bailey they were welcomed in right away. They did not even have to knock. “There’s firsts for everything,” thought Darius. Inside the guards looked nervously at them and escorted the team to Lady Devereaux’s chambers. Inside Radcliffe was standing at a cracked mirror holding up finely sewn suits in front of him. They stared at him in disbelief. “What do you think? The red or the yellow? I like the yellow. Yellow is my favorite color you know.” Darius had always known Radcliffe was slow to speak, but it quickly became clear he was even slower to think. “He must have been told what to do his entire life”, thought Ben. Radcliffe paraded around in front of them. “I mean I REALLY like yellow! It’s the best color of all colors. Beats the rest hands down.’