Alvec cursed to himself as he opened the door to the church and was immediately set upon by Hoc, who was sweeping the main lobby's tile floor. "Alvec! Did you guys pull it off? Are you going to be competing?" he asked, practically vibrating in place as he spoke. As much as Alvec was happy to chat and happy to see Hoc, his spirit was infectious after all: He was not the person he wanted to speak to about the events that had transpired during the trip into the Valley of Steam. This needed to be handled discretely, and Hoc was anything but discrete.

"Hoc! Yeah, it was a success; we'll be competing. The others went to handle paying the entry fee and signing us up. I came straight here, though. I was hoping to speak to Sarbie; I wanted to ask a favor of her."

"That's awesome! I know people participating in the Festival of Blades!" he shouted loudly. "What's the team name going to be?"

"I'm not really sure; I left that up to them. Again, have you seen Sarbie?"

"OH, sorry, I just got excited. Anything you need, I can do for you, Alvec." He said with a confident smile and a tilt of his head skyward.

Crap, this wasn't going to be easy. How the hell do you spin something like this? What purposes could he have for needing to speak ONLY to Sarbie? Romance was the first thought that wiggled up to the surface. He fought off a laugh; it was nothing but projection. The two barely knew each other. Not to mention, the way Hoc acted around her, it was pretty evident that he at least had a thing for her, too. So, that lie wouldn't really gain any traction. Or would it? It didn't need to be about Alvec.

"Sorry, Hoc, it has to be Sarbie. Naya had some "girl-talk" questions she was too embarrassed to come and ask about, so I got sent instead."

Hoc smiled awkwardly and nodded. "I could try to go find another female priest. Sarbie's more comfortable with a book than that sort of topic."

Maybe claiming an interest in her would have been wiser. She certainly was Alvec's type. He, too, was more comfortable with a book in hand, but he'd chosen his lie, and he was going to stick to it. "Sorry, Hoc, Naya was very particular about who she wanted me to talk to. She said Sarbie by name, and if I betrayed that trust, it just wouldn't be right."

"Alright. I'll go get her," he said begrudgingly before he slunk off to find her. She returned without him a few minutes later, waving a hello from across the room. She stopped arm's length away and spoke.

"Hoc said you wanted to talk to me?" She asked.

Alvec stepped forward, placing a hand on her back and whispering. "I do; it's a bit sensitive of a topic, though. Could we go somewhere more private?"

The gentle touch and closeness almost shocked her into saying no. But something about the expression on his face pulled her in the other direction. Anxiety and concern. He was shaken. An adventurer was shaken. "Am I the right person to be talking to? I can get a cleric of higher standing," She said in response.

"I'd prefer it be someone I know and trust." She nodded and led the way to a side room. It was thankfully unoccupied. Before he entered, he picked Rem up off his head and set him down in the hallway. The fox coiled up just beyond the door, staring down the hallway. The room was small and plainly decorated. While the church of Kushang was lavish by the standards of the other gods, not every room was extravagant. This one merely held a desk, some chairs, and some cabinets full of scrolls.

She took a deep breath after the door shut before speaking. "What's going on Alvec? You're freaking me out a bit."

He raised a finger to his lips and shushed her lightly as he took a moment to work some magic here. She couldn't tell exactly what he'd done, but the space felt more solid, more secure. As if he’d somehow cut off the outside world, and nothing but this small room existed. "Alright, we should be safe to talk now," he said, taking a long sigh himself.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"I really can get a higher-up cleric," she stated again nervously.

"I meant what I said; I wanted someone I could trust."

By Kushang, she hated how he said that. "Alright, what's going on?" Sarbie asked as she took a seat behind the wooden desk. Her chest feeling tight as she subconsciously held her breath. She couldn’t shake the feeling she’d want to be sitting for this story.

Alvec moved over to the desk and leaned against it, placing one hand on the top of the table before beginning to speak."We went to the Valley of Steam, and we had an encounter that has left me more than a little worried. See, we ran into a devil. Mind you, it's not the first one we've encountered, but this one said something pretty ominous, and it got me worried. Have you ever heard the phrase, or any variation thereof, to raise the iron castle?"

The words, all of them, smacked her hard. She knew they'd fought some devils but to encounter another one out in the wild. Just how many of them were there? Should she tell her parents to stay inside till things blow over? The phrase meant nothing to her, but she could see why Alvec was concerned. It sounded bad. "No, I've never heard that phrase, and I don't like it either."

"Damn, I'm sure someone here has," Alvec said.

"What makes you think that?" she asked.

"The devil I killed seemed pretty fixated on Kushang. He called her the golden traitor."

"Alright, well, I don't know anything, so you'll have to talk to someone else about it."

"I've got to start prepping for the Festival of Blades. I could really use someone else to go about investigating this. Could I possibly have you go asking about it?"

"No, really, you should take care of this," she said, trying to deny his request.

"Sarbie, I can't. We've got the festival starting any day now... and I hate to say this, but if I, a tiefling, were to ask about something linked to a devil... it might not look all that good. I can't afford to be sidelined by the church or the Gold Banner army when my team needs me."

She took a deep breath and considered what he had to say. Tieflings were greeted with suspicion. Especially any that dabbled with anything infernal. If the phrase was, in fact, as ominous as it sounded... then he was right. Asking about it now might get him sidelined out of the festival. "And we can't just wait, can we?" she asked, knowing the answer already.

"Do you really think it's safe to wait? We don't know what it means or how long investigating this might take. If we don't use all the time at our hands now, and some infernal plot occurs that kills people, their blood will be on our hands," he said, looking her in the eyes.

The intensity behind those emerald eyes made her breath hitch. He was right; curse him for being right. She let out a small groan. "You really couldn't have asked Hoc?" she said, also fully knowing the answer. If they wanted to be quiet about it, then she was the one to do this. "I'll start looking in the library tomorrow. Maybe I can find some reference to that phrase or the golden traitor. There's got to be something useful we can find. Maybe we won't need to ask anyone else?"

"It's a possibility. I don't have access to the church's library to find out. I could go discretely look at the Academy between fights. Maybe one of the history books will have something on it."

"Are there any other details I should know?" she asked.

"The devil was wielding a two-bladed sword. I've got it secured in the tower already. It looks very ornate but isn't magical. I'm not sure if that has any significance, either. Perhaps it's a status symbol? If so, that could also be troubling, as it would indicate that this devil was respected."

"No devils are going to come after me, are they?" she asked.

"I can't promise they won't, but I doubt they will. There's too much risk in attacking a church of Kushang. Me on the other hand, I could see them launching an attack on the tower if they wanted to. We're good, but we could still be caught off guard," he mused.

"Good, I don't want to die."

"Just throw a better punch than last time, and you'll be fine," Alvec joked. He was beginning to look a bit less tired. It was relieving to see his demeanor returning to normal.

"Would you have told Hoc if I said no?" she asked absent-mindedly.

"Despite the colossal pain the ass it would have caused me... yes," Alvec said with a tired smile that was thin on his face.

"Good, it's refreshing to see the good in the world." The two said their goodbyes, and Alvec exited the church feeling much lighter than he had entered it.

Sarbie, on the other hand, was tired, though content enough. This wasn't the sort of thing she wanted to do, but she couldn't ignore it any more than he could. She smirked; at least she'd get to spend some time in the library.