With Tee in such a state, they really had no choice: They had to return to the city and seek the healing they had foregone before.

They carefully bound Tee’s arms and legs – partly to stop her from injuring herself; partly to stop her from injuring them – and Agnarr gently lifted her and carried her back down the corridors they had already explored.

It took them the better part of an hour, but they finally emerged – bedraggled and soaked with blood and ichor – into Greyson House.

They headed down Upper God Way to the Street of a Million Gods and the Temple of Asche, attracting many stares. The priests there explained that Father Mand Scheben was not present in the church that day, but he had left instructions that they were to be offered healing at the lowest of possible costs. This was good news for the party, who still had to dip deep into their funds to afford the several hundred gold pieces required for the necessary components and divine casting.

When the clouds of madness cleared from Tee’s eyes, she was left with two sentences burning in her mind: “The lance is being built. The runebearers will not come in time.” She wasn’t sure what to make of it.

The priests allowed them to use their baths to clean up, and then they headed back towards the Ghostly Minstrel. On their way back, a flying ship passed overhead. This startled most of the group, but Tee described it as a common sight in Ptolus – the aeroship of House Shever.

When they reached the Ghostly Minstrel, Tee pulled Ranthir to one side and told him the phrase she had emerged with from her madness. He wasn’t sure what it meant either, but he promised to research it the next time he went to the Delver’s Guild Library.

…which turned out to be immediately after dinner. Ranthir and Elestra both headed to the library. While Ranthir researched the things Tee had asked him to look into, Elestra read up on Ghul the Skull-King. What she found confirmed their suspicion that the complex they were exploring was connected with him: There was, in fact, an expansive construction beneath Ptolus referred to collectively as “Ghul’s Labyrinth”. The Delver’s Guild believed that these were the breeding chambers, barracks, and laboratories of Ghul during his dark reign. Much of the treasure drawn up from the depths came from chambers within the Labyrinth. Many delvers were even reporting the discovery of chambers protected with ancient preservation magicks – their contents untouched through the eons. (When Elestra briefed the rest of the group on what she’d found, Dominc grimaced: “Preserved corpses… No… Well, I hope not…”) To find an unexplored section of the Labyrinth, as they had done, promised many rewards.

Tee, meanwhile, bought a newssheet for a copper piece and browsed through it while she taught Dominic the rules of dragonscales. She discovered that earlier that day an older, well-known, and well-liked City Watch guard named Devaral Unissa had been found killed with the shape of a raven carved into his chest. This was the sign of a gang-killing by Kevris Killraven’s men.

Agnarr, boozing it up, was hearing the same thing from others in the Ghostly Minstrel’s bar. Tee was surprised to hear that the Killravens were now considered to rival the Balacazars as the premiere criminal gang in the town. When she had left Ptolus a little more than a year before, the Killravens had only just arrived in town. It was rumored that many of Kevris’ top lieutenants had come with her from out of town.

After talking it over, Tee and Dominic decided to head over to the Cloud Theater and try to talk to the “Dullin boy”. Tee was convinced that this boy’s life was in danger, and she wanted to warn him.

But when they arrived at the theater they found it closed: A notice was posted that the theater was closed for rehearsals, but would re-open with the grand premiere of The Princeling Emperor on the 4^th of Kadal (one week later).

They knocked, but there was no answer. Tee had to content herself with writing Dullin a brief letter, asking him to contact her as soon as possible at the Ghostly Minstrel.

A DAY OF ERRANDS

(08/29/790)

Tee had a previously scheduled appointment to keep on the 29^th, so the day became largely a matter of tidying loose ends and running errands.

First thing in the morning, Agnarr and Tee headed over to the Hammersong Vaults. Their funds had been depleted, and they needed to pull some of their gold from storage to serve as petty cash. Tee then returned to Delver’s Square, where she sold the loot they had recovered from Ghul’s Labyrinth and bought new healing supplies (focusing particularly on restorative draughts which would overcome the rigors of poison and madnesses of the mind).

Tor, meanwhile, was trying to track down Ritharius (the mysterious benefactor who had written him a letter of introduction to the group). He didn’t know if he was actually here in Ptolus, but he thought there was a chance of it.

Unfortunately, he met with little luck. Perhaps he was being too reticent. Dejectedly returning to the Ghostly Minstrel, he ran into Tee, who suggested that he might look to see if the Order of the Chalice – the order of knighthood who had apparently given Tor’s name to Ritharius – had any representatives here in Ptolus. But here, too, Tor met with no success.

Ranthir and Elestra headed back to the Delver’s Guild Library, planning to spend the day researching a variety of subjects. They were scarcely on their way, however, when Ranthir felt someone tapping him on his shoulder.

Turning he found the Iron Mage standing there with his hand outstretched. “May I have my compass, Master Ranthir?”

“Oh, yes, of course.” Ranthir fumbled with his bag, produced the compass, and handed it to the Iron Mage.

“I thank you, Master Ranthir.” The Iron Mage closed his hand and opened it again. The compass was gone and in his palm lay a single black gemstone. This the Iron Mage handed to Ranthir. “Please take this as a token of my thanks.”

And he disappeared.

Ranthir studied the gemstone for a moment and then rubbed it between his fingers… it purred. Bemused, Ranthir rubbed it again. And it purred again. (Tee would later tell him that the gemstone alone was worth more than a hundred gold pieces, and with the purring enchantment they might be able to find a buyer to pay more than five hundred for it. But Ranthir wouldn’t hear of it. After absentmindedly using it as a friendly, purring touchstone for an entire day of research, he had grown quite attached to it. Besides, he wasn’t sure what the Iron Mage might think of that…)

At the library, Ranthir had little luck researching the cube of grayish metal they had found. Elestra, meanwhile, was trying to research the Sons of Jade, but eventually gave up in frustration. Slamming the books down she stormed out of the library and began a walkabout to calm her nerves and deepen her connection to the city of Ptolus.

Ranthir continued the research Elestra had started, but found little of interest. However, he had more luck trying to identify the small, black cube Tee had found at the bottom of the dry well. It was, most likely, the necrosis cube – a powerful artifact that had reputedly been developed by the legendary Jade Magi of the Lost City of Shandrala. Since the Sons of Jade had been dedicated to the study of the lore of the Jade Magi, it seemed likely that they had either recovered the necrosis cube or somehow duplicated its creation.

But, of course, the Sons of Jade had been secretive. The Jade Magi were nearly legendary. And the necrosis cube was scarcely recorded in the ledgers of history. So, beyond its (possible) identity, Ranthir could not discover more.

On his way back to the Ghostly Minstrel, Ranthir took the time to hire a scribe named Endin to copy Observations of Alchemical Reductions and the Deductions Thereof by Master Alchemist Tirnet Kal. (He was planning to sell the original.) It was a lengthy and complicated work, but the scribe promise to have it done within a week.

Dominic, meanwhile, was wandering the city and trying to get his bearings. (But, for some reason, he kept finding himself back at Delver’s Square…)

BRANDYWINE STREET

Elestra’s walkabout was meeting with more success than her efforts at research. Listening to the gentle whisperings of the Breath of the City calmed her nerves and centered her thoughts. Almost immediately she became aware that the Commissar had announced a bounty of 500 gp for the capture of Devaral Unissa’s killer.

By the early afternoon, however, the story had changed: News had broken that Shilukar had attempted another break-in, this one at House Sadar (a merchant house known for its long line of mages and its association with shadow magic; its leader, the Merchant Prince Renn Sadar, was known to have a strong association with the Inverted Pyramid).

As the evening hours arrived, however, Elestra’s thoughts drifted back to the conversation the group had had over dinner the previous evening. Tee had been talking about the list of prophecies they had found in Helmut’s office and had called particular attention to one of them:

S shall find the golden statue while it still breathes. But the Idol of Ravvan brings doom. His lair lies beneath a vacant lot of brandywine.

Tee didn’t know who “S” was or what the “Idol of Ravvan” was (although there was another reference to “Ravvan” in another of the prophecies), but she suspected that “brandywine” might refer to Brandywine Street.

Could there be a vacant lot located on Brandywine Street? Elestra’s wanderings had brought her to the Guildsman District and Brandywine Street was not far off.

It turned out that there was. Brandywine Street was only one block off of Smoke Street. Smoke Street was named for the large number of guildcraft shops – tanners, blacksmiths, and the like – that lined it from one end to the other, and it seemed that this convenient vacant lot had become something of a dumping ground for the craftsmen. The lot was filled with trash and rubbish of all kinds.

Elestra’s queries also revealed that many furtive figures had been seen “skittering” around the lot of late – the locals suspected that ratmen were looting the garbage.

Elestra decided to investigate a half-buried shack she had spotted near the middle of the lot. She easily danced across the surface of the garbage and discovered that the weather-worn shed was secured with a thick-and-rusty chain and padlock. Rubbing grime off one of the windows, she peered inside… and found it filled with garbage, as well (possibly dumped through a large hole in the roof on the far side of the shed).

Elestra didn’t have much luck trying to break the padlock, and resolved to come back some day with Tee so that she could pick the lock.

SECOND LESSON OF THE DREAMING

In the afternoon, Tee returned to Iridithil’s Home and sought out the meditation chamber. Doraedian was waiting for her.

“Sit, Tithenmamiwen.”

She did so. But before they began working on the Dreaming Arts, she wanted Doraedian’s counsel in other matters. She explained what had happened with Phon since she had last spoken with Doraedian, and she showed him the prophecies they had discovered in Helmut’s office. Tee called particular attention to one passage:

When the crowd gathers upon the hill in the oldest town, the new republic shall be troubled by its people. At this time the lord shall be weak.

“I think he’s using these prophecies. One of my companions, Dominic, says that he saw Helmut deliberately incite that riot in Oldtown. He’s trying to make them come true. I don’t know why he’s doing it. Or what he wants.”

Doraedian frowned. “If that’s true, then Helmut’s involvement in that was even greater than the Commissar suspected.”

Tee also pointed out another passage:

The elves shall quarrel. Dark out of the depths. Blood shed under silver moonlight.

“I think it means us. I think it means the Moonsilver elves.”

Doraedian nodded. “Indeed. That seems likely in the language of dreams. But I don’t know what it means. Or what the significance of any of these other passages may be.”

Tee nodded and took back the parchment.

Doraedian smiled and laid his hand on her shoulder. “But I will take what you have told me to the Circle and see that it reaches the ears of the Commissar. I don’t know what he can or will do about it – particularly if Helmut has left the city – but it is important that he know it. And you are right – this boy Dullin must be warned. It is likely that he doesn’t even suspect the danger he may be in.”

Doraedian then turned Tee’s attention to the Dreaming.

“Today we will speak upon the nature of time within the Dreaming. The elven scholar Falnafeshnae described three orders within the Dreaming: The Dream That Was, the Dreaming Moment, and the Undreamt – or the Dream That Will Be….”

“The Dreaming Moment is now. It is the moment of existence. It is the present tense. It is fleeting. It is ever-changing – it is always present, but it is always passing and it is always coming. In life we rarely live within the moment. Our thoughts dwell in the past or wish upon the future. But in the Dreaming, such wandering ways are dangerous. In the Dreaming it is the Moment that is the touchstone of your experience. It is the bedrock upon which you stand. It requires absolute mental precision to maintain it. But without it you will be lost.”

“Within the Dreaming all things that ever were exist… but also many things that never were or merely might have been. These are the Dream That Was. It is uncertain to us whether all of thought originates within the Dreaming and passes through our hands to become reality, or if thought comes from us and then passes through the Dreaming and thus into the waking world. But that is how it is.

“Finally, there is the Dream That Will Be. Just as all that was lies within the Dreaming, so too is there everything that might be. But such realms are dangerous and uncertain. We will return to them later.”

“But the secret of the Dreaming is that there is no true distinction between past, present, and future. All are as one in the Dreaming, even if we are not capable of understanding it in totality. That is why we must be careful. That is why we must stand upon our bedrock in the Dreaming Moment that is.”

“Meditate upon these things. Seek the truth of them within yourself.”

Tee worked hard upon her dreaming trance. At the end of several hours of work she was exhausted and covered in sweat, but the Dreaming had eluded her. And it would be another week before she could meet with Doraedian again…

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