The page took the same path we used to meet the Archbishop: Down the staircase, through the main chapel, and into the foyer.
Before I stepped through the main entrance, however, Van grabbed my shoulder again.
"I need to grab my gear before we leave the church. Can you wait for me?" he requested.
"I have some friends waiting for me outside. Can we wait for you from across the street instead?" I asked.
The paladin hesitated for a moment and then agreed. "Ok. Just promise that you won't start your search without me."
"I promise." I smiled.
"I'll see you soon," Van said and started running down the hallway.
I stepped through the main entrance and into the street. I saw the twins waving at me from across the street. I waved back and then headed over to them.
"What did the archbishop say?" Rijana asked. She had decided not to follow me to meet with Archbishop Wilshire because she was not a member of the church and felt it was inappropriate for her to meet him. Thus, she joined her friends in waiting for me from across the street.
"I explained what happened during our investigation in the cemetery. He seemed upset to hear that there was more undead lurking in Bristol. He disputed the notion that the Brotherhood is involved in raising the undead because Musa does not grant access to such spells. He believed that it was possible that rogue Necromancers had joined a Lich and raising undead for that reason," I recounted the meeting.
"Ouch," Bjoukin winced at the mention of a Lich being involved. He had never faced one before.
"So where should we start?" Kalistra asked. Her tail swayed from side to side. She was anxious to do something besides standing around.
"Not yet," I replied and shook my head. "The archbishop has assigned a person to join us but he's retrieving his gear right now. While we're waiting for him, can I ask you to take this signet ring and deliver it to the mayor's secretary?" I asked while holding the precious ring in front of the cat girl. "We'll meet you in front of the Mayor's Office."
"Fine," she replied and grabbed it. Kalistra placed the ring in her pouch, went down on all four paws and started running through the startled pedestrians.
I shook my head again at her antics. I turned toward the rest of my companions. "His Grace suggested that we return to the cemetery and consult with the treant. Specifically, I need to figure out how the treant is able to detect the presence of undead and hopefully, I'll be able to utilize this technique. There is a divine spell to detect undead but the range is very limited. During my visit to the church, I tried detecting the presence of undead. But the church grounds are clean," I added.
Bjoukia and Bjoukin were relieved to hear this because neither elf wanted to miss out on the upcoming quest to hunt undead. As followers of Gaea, they will receive bonus XP for killing undead creatures.
Van came out of the building shortly thereafter. He was wearing a full set of plate mail armor including a helmet. His armaments consisted of a tower shield on his back along with a two-handed warhammer in a harness, a long sword in a scabbard at his left hip, and a mace on his right hip. He also carried a sling at his belt along with a bag full of stone bullets.
Bjoukia stepped forward to accost him. "Well hello, handsome!" she greeted him with a lecherous grin.
"Behave!" her brother hissed and nudged his elbow into her chest.
"Well met!" Van said. "I'm Van, a Paladin in the service of the church. I've been assigned to protect Lord Mulligan during his undead hunt in the city." He took Bjoukia's hand and kissed it softly, to her delight.
I cleared my throat. "I need to go back inside and make some holy water. I would like Rijana's assistance because she has helped me with this task before. Can I ask you three to head over to the mayor's office and join Kalistra? I want to make to make 10 vials but that may take over a half hour," I explained.
Van was reluctant to leave me behind.
I mouthed the words, "Please go."
He nodded.
I quickly crossed the street and entered the church building again. This time we went through the right hallway and took the staircase down to the basement. Soon we entered the room with the water fountain in the middle. I nodded in greeting to the four clerics sitting near the fountain.
Rijana grabbed two handfuls of empty glass vials off the red shelf while I settled at a free spot near the fountain.
I opened the topper and dipped the vial into the water. As the vial filled up, I made the chant and felt my mana drained into the glass container. I repeated the process four more times before I had to take a break to refill my mana. I received 10 XP for each vial of holy water created and used 2 mana. While I still had 20 Mana remaining, I decided that it was more prudent to refill my blue mana bar and then dip it down to 20 Mana again. If I had an encounter with a hostile person on the street, I wouldn't want to enter the fight with only 10 Mana remaining. And I wouldn't put it past the Gamemaster to create such a scenario to kick me while I was down, just to see how I would survive such an encounter.
While my mana slowly refilled, Rijana decided to start a conversation. "I'm surprised you agreed to have a paladin join us for the undead hunt," she said. "Kalistra once mentioned that you didn't like paladins because of their rigid beliefs of good and evil."
"Believe me, it wasn't my first choice," I replied with a shrug. "The problem is that Tescka is accompanying us and she IS evil. Thus, she will have to stay further back and return to her role as an invisible observer. I'm sure she wouldn't have any problem with that. Van, on the other hand, may not appreciate her presence. If he discovers that an evil mage is accompanying us, he may attack her. And I'm not going to place my bets on him in a paladin versus mage duel."
"I'm sure Tescka will stay invisible while tailing us," she said.
"Tescka is an expert spy. But the problem is that a Paladin has the innate ability to detect evil. If she happens to be in the range of his detection, then he could still find her. Heck, I could pierce through her invisibility with my own Spirit Sense," I noted.
"She's nearby?" Rijana asked with her brows raised.
"Not currently," I shook my head. "We ARE in the basement of the church and there IS a barrier preventing her from entering the church grounds," I pointed out. Seeing that my blue mana bar was full, I resumed creating the rest of the holy water. When I was finished with this task, I carefully placed all 10 vials in my potions bag. I rose to my feet and led her out of the building. I made a stopover at the general goods store to purchase 5 Potions of Minor Healing at a cost of 2 gold each. We then walked slowly to the Mayor's Office. Between the time spent creating the holy water, the detour to the general good store, and the trek through the busy streets, an hour had passed by the time we arrived.
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"About time," Kalistra grumbled when Rijana and I stood before her. "And you're sure about having this goody two shoes join us? What about our invisible friend?" she asked quietly.
"Archbishop Wilshire made the arrangement and I'm confident that Van will make significant contributes to our mission," I answered loudly.
Van bowed deeply to me. He understood that many people were uneasy being in the presence of a paladin. Van was glad that I insisted on having his accompaniment for this vital mission. It spoke well of my willingness to stay the course despite strong disagreement from my friends. In fact, some would even call it "leadership."
"Don't mention Tescka to him," I said quietly to the cat girl.
Kalistra's eyes glowed for a moment and then she nodded. She didn't want the church to become aware of the fact that an evil elven mage was following them. My association with Tescka could be raised as an issue by the voting members of the Church leadership for the next King.
"We need to return to the cemetery. I need to ask the Treant how he was able to detect the undead in the city and hopefully learn this technique," I explained. I started walking north.
Serving her role as my bodyguard once more, Kalistra positioned herself to my right.
Van walked to my left while Rijana and the twins walked behind me.
Along the way, the church bell rang ten times before we arrived at the cemetery. We entered through the open gate at the southern end. I headed west and then north. I closed my eyes to sense the presence of the treant. Picking up its unique green aura, I made a beeline straight for the creature.
The treant had moved from its original position and stood among a group of trees. When we approached, the creature stepped forth and revealed its presence. "Greetings, Servants of Gaea. I didn't expect to see you again so soon," he said.
"Greetings, Treant," I replied with a deep bow. "I was wondering how you are able to detect undead when you're so far away?"
The ground started shifting and snake-like roots pierced through the dirt into the surface. "My roots are embedded deep within the earth and span over the entire city of Bristol. This allows me to sense the presence of living non-living things walking above this expansive network of roots," the treant explained.
I sighed in defeat. How was I supposed to adapt to this method to detect the undead?
The treant took note of my disappointment. "Young sapling, I couldn't help but notice that you have the ability to detect spiritual auras," he observed.
"Yes, I do," I confirmed.
"Then you have the tool you need to find the undead. If your Spirit Sense develops to a sufficiently high level, then you will be acknowledged as a Spirit Magi. That's on top of your normal profession. The Spirit Magi is a seeker of truth. The true nature of any creature, as well as their location, will be revealed to you," the treant explained.
"I'm not sure about that," I replied. "My range isn't that far right now." I was very skeptical that the range of my aura sense could encompass the entire city of Bristol.
"That's because you need to practice using it continuously," the treant replied. "That's the only way to develop this skill and increase your range. So start now and walk around until you detect the aura of undead."
"Thank you for your advice," I said politely and then bowed deeply.
"I will continue to monitor your progress. May Gaea continue to watch over you, young sapling."
I turned around and started walking toward the gate and then exited the cemetery. Following the treant's advice, I continuously activated my spirit sense as I walked around the city. It was discomforting because of the auras of living creatures, large and small, constantly entered my mind. And I had to actively filter them out. Now, I knew what being telepathic felt like. It was mentally exhausting. Yet, I persisted in maintaining the Spirit Sense because that was the only way I could sense the auras of the undead creatures. I headed toward the Public Square because that was the center of Bristol. If the treant was correct, I should detect the undead within the vicinity of this location.
My companions remained silent the entire time. They realized that I was mentally exhausted from keeping the spirit sense active for almost two hours, and counting. They didn't want to distract me.
Suddenly, I caught a flash of a undead aura; I immediately froze. I slowly turned my head, even as pedestrians on the street rudely brushed past me. Finally, I felt the aura coming from a house. I turned toward Van and pointed at the house. My throbbing headache proved to be overwhelming and I finally released my Spirit Sense. "-10 Health. Spirit sense SUCCESSFUL. Level 7, +500 XP." No wonder I received damage; I had overused the ability. I quickly healed myself. "+10 Health, -10 Mana."
The paladin nodded and walked over. He knocked on the door. *KNOCK-KNOCK*
We waited for a few minutes but no one answered even as we watched the paladin knock repeatedly.
"Should I break the door down?" Van asked.
"Yes," I answered. "I have a Writ of Authority from the Mayor, along with the quest from the Archbishop himself to hunt the undead. I detected a trace of a undead's aura from inside this house. Therefore, we have the Lawful right to enter this house without the owner's permission." Since I had a paladin as my companion, I needed to play this by the book and clearly lay out our Lawful right to break in and enter the house. Gosh, this was annoying!
Satisfied with my response, Van raised his right foot and slammed his plate mail boot against the doorknob. *BAM* The door offered no resistance and swung wide open.
Rijana cast Light to illuminate the area beyond the entrance.
We entered the two-story house and searched every room. However, nothing unusual was discovered.
"Are you sure we're at the right place?" Kalistra asked. Her whiskers twitched.
I closed my eyes and activated my Spirit Sense again. I focused on the black aura that I had sensed before. I followed the aura and it led me to a wall. I reached out with my hand and felt . . . nothing! The wall was an illusion! "Spirit sense SUCCESSFUL. +25 XP."
"Hold on," Rijana said. She directed the Light sphere to another room and then cast Dispel Magic on the wall. The wall disappeared, revealing a shimmering black portal.
"I sense great evil coming from the other side," Van said with disgust.
"That's where the undead is located," I replied.
"What are we waiting for? Let's go!" the paladin said and made a move toward the portal.
I immediately grabbed his shoulder and stopped him. "Hold on," I said. "We don't know if this portal will allow us to come back here. If it doesn't, then we'll be stuck on the other side," I warned.
Van looked at me with displeasure. He was anxious to go through the portal and eradicate the undead on the other side.
I looked at Rijana. "Can you gate us back to Bristol?" I asked.
My magic teacher shook her head. "I'm not powerful enough to use that spell," she replied softly.
"Then we have no choice but to ask Tescka for help," I said aloud. "Can you help us?" I asked and turned my head toward the invisible mage, who was standing just a few feet away.
Tescka chuckled and dropped her invisibility.
Van sensed the evil within her and made a move toward the elven mage.
I immediately stood in front of the paladin and blocked his path. "Van, I order you to stand down. Tescka is an ally. Unless you can cast the Gate spell to bring us back to Bristol, we need her help to finish the Archbishop's quest."
The paladin glared at her. With great effort, he took control of his bloodlust to vanquish evil. "If that is your command, Lord Mulligan." He bowed deeply to hide the disappointment on his face.
"If you can control that pet of yours, I suppose I can help a bit," Tescka smirked.
"Don't push your luck, wench!" Van snarled.
I held up my hands. "Stop your bickering," I ordered. I turned toward Tescka. "How long can you maintain your invisibility?" I asked.
"Continuously," she grinned.
"Okay," I nodded. "I need you to stay here and watch the portal while invisible. You are NOT to engage with whoever goes in and out of the portal."
"What are you going to do?" Tescka asked.
I took out the Ring of Ultimate Power and the Scroll of Undead Eradication. "Archbishop Wilshire gave me these items to assist me in my quest. The scroll is powerful enough to destroy even a Greater Lich," I began to explain.
"But you're not strong enough to use the scroll," the elf interrupted me, "even with the ring. So you're going to need to grind for experience points first." Tescka nodded in understanding of my plan.
"Couldn't we just ask Tescka to use the scroll? I'm sure her Mage Level is high enough to use it," Bjoukia suggested.
Van shook his head. "This is Lord Mulligan's quest. It was given to him by the archbishop. He can't pawn off the responsibility to someone else--especially not an evil elf mage."
"Exactly," I nodded.
"Then we need to train Lawrence some more," Kalistra grinned with delight. She flexed her paws and her tail dangled in the air. It had been a while since I had received proper training from her.
"The front door is busted and the illusionary wall has been dispelled," Bjoukin pointed out. "What if the Necromancers return and move the gate to somewhere else?" the ranger asked.
"Then Tescka will follow them and find out where they place the new gate," I answered while looking at the elven mage.
Tescka nodded and then turned invisible.