The group politely left the mayor to his own devices, there at the table, and moved to another; ordering up a round of ale, for the devil and his daughter; and wine for the two young nobles; before settling in to talk.

Praxius studied the barmaid who delivered the drinks; she was obedient. Quiet. Didn't say a single word more than she had to; simply walked over; placed the drinks down; and left. No smiles. No flirting. He'd dealt with hundreds of barmaids over the years, and at least half had been friendly, often overly so. This one... more like a summoned monster than a person. He turned to his young charges, taking a sip of his ale; and grimaced.

"Hells, this stuff is nasty. Terra, could you get the wine instead for us?" He passed his granddaughter a coin before looking back at the duo.

"I must admit a certain level of curiosity.... but this is either going to be something that will get the lot of you killed, or it won't end in a fight, so its not worth being involved in for your development purposes. On the other hand, if its a high-magic area, it could be worthwhile to get you rooms to sleep in somewhere on that rock; there are bounties nearby, and growing stronger as you sleep will help progress."

The boy gave a sigh and glanced up. "It's a good idea, but not enough power to make a difference. Its a level three zone. Anybody who spends enough time in it will eventually reach... the point we were when we started. Not as good as the one the Academy is based around, but still handy, and explains why almost everyone here is level three or four. If they had a magic school, a decent teacher could get people casting second-circle spells without them having to fight a day in their lives. I wouldn't be surprised if all the affluent people from nearby villages sent people to train here."

Praxius gave a slow nod. "Well then. Frankly, this place isn't worth our time. We should ignore the mystery, and leave."

The priestess frowned. "I disagree. Something important is going on here. And either what we do could make a huge difference and save these men... or they aren't really them, and we end up having to fight an army of changelings, or possessed, or whatever they are. So maybe it can help us in our progress, and even if it doesn't, solving this earns us the favor of a local lord and helps the town."

She turned to focus on him. "Besides. It shouldn't take too long. Me and the others can go ask around town, see what people know... and you can question one of the effected, intimidate him a little if you need to. If its just some cult, you should be able to scare the truth right out of him and solve it in an hour. Even if its a changeling or a possessed, I think you can find out easy enough. By this time tomorrow, we figure it out, get a bit of gold, and move on.... or we get involved in a drawn-out battle with a bunch of monsters."

Praxius slowly shook his head. "This could get you killed. I can't protect you from hundreds of changelings, if thats what they are. I could, eventually, kill that many... but it would be a long, drawn out fight, I'd need to back off a few times... this isn't like the dead. A hundred creatures at this level of strength might actually bring me down, if they work together. But..."

He focused on Kylie. "I will do as you ask, and interrogate one of them. If the Lord can point out a criminal who Terra's mother wouldn't consider an innocent, I'll find out what he is, regardless of what it takes. You ask your questions, but if it comes to a fight, run. If we find something that shows it might be worth staying in the next few hours, we'll stay tomorrow as well; but no longer than that."

***

The shrine of light was the most modest one they'd come across so far; there was a small house, likely the local priest's, a statue of the goddess facing east... and a row of stone pews facing the statue. There was, of course, an altar of sorts before it, and a podium; but not even a roof. If there were rain or other inclement weather, either they'd have to suffer through it in the open, or cancel services.

When Kylie looked over the area, she immediately saw something familiar; the two red-headed boys from Valdale; with a trio of equally red-headed girls, all sitting next to a red-haired priestess in a flowing white robe with golden accents and a black-haired woman in simple grey-brown dress. Red hair wasn't common at all outside the Eastwatch family up north; it was amusing to see so much of it down here, when she could go years between seeing redheads who weren't family in the Empire.

As she approached, the boys watched her... and then turned, whispering something to the two women. By the time Kylie arrived, both women were smiling at her; and the priestess gave a short bow. "Hello there! My sister-in-law tells me you sent my nephews on to safety while you fought the dead. I don't suppose you bring word of my brother?"

Kylie grimaced. The man had stayed behind, knowing what was coming, for fear that the dead might follow him, and hurt others in Rockdale trying to get to him. "...This is something we best not say in front of the children. I actually came here on another matter, but would gladly tell you what I know of the current situation in Valdale in private."

The woman gave a slow nod.. glancing at the children. "That's... all well and good. We can speak in my house. What was it you wanted to know?"

Kylie glanced behind her, at the towering spire of rock most of the buildings were perched on. "The men acting like golems. Just... walking around, odd.... Lord Rockson asked us to look into it. I don't suppose you know anything?"

She sighed, and placed a hand on one of the pews, studying it. "Well. We used to hold services here at the shrine with every dawn, just for a few minutes; and these pews would be crowded. Perhaps sixty or seventy men, a hundred or so women. Now... I haven't had a man attend services in weeks. It slowly trickled down over the course of months, and... its just disheartening to see. The only times I've seen a man here since is when his wife told him to come... and that's against the dictates of the goddess."

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"....When he did show up because of his wife, did he have any problems with the holy symbols of the shrine? Or the prayers?"

A quick shake of the head. "No, no. The morning services involve misting a bit of holy water over us all and reciting a blessing for the coming day. I was thinking maybe demons possessing them, so I made sure to get him damp; he didn't respond at all."

Kylie sighed. "Well. That narrows it down a bit. So they've been replaced by something."

The priestess shook her head. "I really wish you wouldn't assume we were all idiots. These men have wives. Children. They know every little detail of how they met their family, more than some impostor could recall. A man I.... had relations with... has turned into a dull, emotionless husk... but he still knows the exact spot where he first kissed me, the flower he gave me, what I said... I've heard of changelings. They question the victim before taking their place, but they don't know -everything-."

"...Then... what is it? What's could it be?"

"If you find out, tell me. I'll gladly help with a cure if I can."

Kylie glanced back at the rock. "Well. I hope my boyfriend has better luck at the other shrines. If not... I don't know who to ask. Come on. I'll explain the fate of Valdale somewhere away from the kids."

***

On the opposite end of town, a priestess of shadow waved at Derek as he stalked away from her shrine; he didn't know it, but it was a mirror of the one for her sister god across the way, except it was positioned to be in the shadow of the giant rock spire, and thus in darkness for most of the morning; with the statue casting a shadow over the pews in the evening.

It was the same in most of the Kingdom; two mirrored shrines of the sister goddesses on opposite ends, one shrine of the god of the earth either in the middle, or just somewhere random in the town; his priests always said he wasn't too picky. In this case, the shrine of the God of the Earth was up against the massive stone spire; he could see the tavern, a bulky structure that smelled like a distillery between it and the spire, as he crossed over... and frowned. There was a higher-level thing there in the building.

He couldn't be certain because he wasn't looking right at it... but there was someone level six or so just barely within the high-magic zone, inside that distillery. The Lord had been level seven. Was it him? He might be talking to the tavern owner.... Ahh, well, it didn't matter.

He turned and kept moving; the shrine was a solid stone structure; not too complicated. No statues, but solid walls and a ceiling; and inside, three men were having a quiet conversation; a priest, wearing simple brown robes, and a pair of farmers in dirty white and brown cloth; one had a hoe propped on his shoulder, while the other was just making animated gestures... and the three all turned, looking over the pews, as Derek arrived.

The priest studied Derek for a moment. "Young man. I'm not certain what caused that mark on you... but I can do my best to heal you. Perhaps simply carefully cutting it free, followed by some healing magic, and a bitt of observation over time...."

Derek chuckled. "No, no. This is an ongoing magical experiment, I'm just foolish enough to use myself as a test subject. I actually came to ask about the... oddity with the men here. If you knew why they were acting so oddly."

The two farmers both backed off a bit; clearly deciding to let Derek have a moment with the priest.

He sighed. "No, not a clue. The headmaster of the school, my wife over at the shrine of darkness, her cousin at the shrine of the light... we all came up with theories. Demon possession. Shapeshifters. But... no. Its really them. They aren't sick, or dying. Just... acting strange. Whatever it is, we've given up. Its why the mayor has posted that bounty. I'm half convinced some foreign god has come in and has them all going to secret services... but no."

Derk sighed, shaking his head. "Well. That was a nice thought. I hope my friend has better luck questioning one of them."

"Ehh. We tried that, of course. They answer questions freely and easily. Honestly, even. They just don't seem to know themselves. It really makes no sense at all."

***

"Now remember. The Lord asked no permanent harm come to him, but anything short of that is fine. So keep the blue potion on hand. The absolute most I'll go through is cutting off a hand, and that will let us reattach it, if its less than a few hours."

Terra stared at her grandfather as he led her towards the guardhouse the Lord had pointed out; a former thief and vandal who was about a year and a half into a ten year sentence, Deacon had been a good, model prisoner his six months, and had since been assigned to work for the guard doing odd jobs around town; cleaning streets, patching cobblestones, oiling the hinges on the gates, all sorts of minor work. He'd been a perennial petty criminal, arrested every few months for one minor thing after another; and Lord Rockson had him on this 'supervised release' in the hope that he'd settle down within a few years, become a productive member of the town; he was able to work, visit his friends at the tavern, and otherwise live a normal life, so long as he behaved, stayed in the jail at night, and did his job; otherwise it'd be hard labor, or even shipped out to a proper prison.

He'd actually done well for the first year, even; the worst he'd done is backhand a man at the tavern who insulted his mother. And.... for the past six months, he'd been perfect. A model citizen. Doing exactly what he was told, answering questions, doing anything and everything without hesitation.

This place had no real, serious criminals; and far less crime than usual for the past six months. The only one in the cells was Deacon; and the guards nodded at Praxius as he entered. One of them pointed further in. "The boss said you could go ahead. No permanent harm, mind you. He's cleaned up his act, no need to be too vicious."

Terra bit her lip as her grandfather replied. "Unless he attacks me, or something otherwise goes seriously wrong, he'll be in about the same shape when I leave as when I came here, or better; I plan to rough him up a bit and then heal him after. I only ask that you not enter; there will undoubtedly be quite a bit of screaming; while I don't intend for any real, permanent harm to come to him... I intend to make him believe that it will, and he's likely to get quite loud."

The guards both hesitated as they let him in.... but let him walk by into the block of six cells that formed the town's jail.. they grew a bit more concerned as the door was chained shut from the inside.

"Now, Terra. Today, we will have a lesson in torture. When its a useful tool, when it isn't. Some say that torture is useless, that a man will say anything to get the pain to stop, and only sadists practice it. There is some truth in that. But at the same time... there are times when, properly applied, torture can be of great use. For our first lesson, we'll focus on properly restraining your victims..."