The town is as nice as it seems. Miguel sets up wires inside the house to protect us, and he buries a couple spears in the ground for defensibility, but there’s not too much setup to do. Even though nothing happens all night, it's better to be safe than sorry, according to Miguel.

With the guest house being near the edge of town, I’m able to play and collect thaums. Thaum gathering has a lot more constraints than I act like it does. I can’t play too quietly, because then the sound waves don’t create the right vibrational pattern in the air to draw thaums in. Similarly, when I set up sound barriers to keep the sound in, the thaums don’t move towards me from outside the barriers. So I’m lucky that we’re close to the edge, and won’t bother other folks when I build the whorl. When the band notices that I’m running a recovery rhythm, they sit down and get some meditation going on.

Randi had already been doing her meditation. In an hour, everyone else pops out of meditation refreshed, and we start playing together. ABBA works pretty well for our group, with different folks and genders on vocals. Randi still looks beat though, even while meditating, and I make sure we play songs that are thaumically helpful. It only takes her three hours to fill up, and when she notices, she’s more than a bit shocked.

“What just happened? I’ve been running for days. It should take me almost a week to recover. Why am I full up on energy at 3 a.m.?”

I answer, “Some of my magic helps with thaum regeneration. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t share that. Folks have tried to keep me from leaving when they find out.”

“I get it. That's awesome. But it's cool, I won’t tell anyone.”

“Cool.”

We start warming up, and then almost immediately Randi asks Miguel for a bit of help. A few minutes later, we are able to get back to playing. Randi's playing 2-on-2 ping pong against herself on a metal table. She was apparently carrying the paddles and balls. I set up a mild sound barrier around her so we don't bother one another with ping pong sounds and ABBA, and the band gets back to playing.

When the sun comes up, we head out to meet the townsfolk and as a bunch of questions about the town. Generally folks are friendly, and we do social stuff and introductions, and eventually get a bunch of questions answered.

Q: Why is the town called Cerberus?

A: It’s the guard for the gates of hell.

Q: What is meant by gates of hell?

A: The gate to zone two.

Q: Why do they call the zone gate the gates to hell?

A: Because no one ever comes back. They make it to the gate, and then they’re gone. It seems like a one way trip, much like hell was.

Q: How do we know it’s Zone 2?

A: There’s a talking plant outside the area. It told us.

Q: What does the plant say?

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

A: There’s only 2 choices. Take the test, or don’t. No good information available about details of the test.

Q: What else is known about the test?

A: It’s a fight. It can be done solo, or in a group. If you do it in a group, it’s harder. The larger the group, the harder the fight. There’s no coming back. The test is a surprise, and when you take it you either pass and end up in zone 2, or you die.

That sounds just like this place. Once in a while you forget that this place is a gauntlet, trying to kill us.

Q: Do we know what’s past the gate?

A: Zone 2.

That was kinda useless

Q: Does anyone know anything about zone 2?

A: Higher thaum density. The plant can help with shopping again after you pass the test.

Q: Do we know who won or lost?

A: No clue. There’s only folks who took the test, and folks who didn’t.

We also learn some things about the town, and the horsemen.

Q: What’s up with the horses?

A: The horses are purely nonmagical. They have a rancher who raised and broke horses. He’s caught and trained a few dozen.

Q: How’s governance work here?

A: This is a frontier town. Everyone has powers of some sort, and is a survivor, and a lot of folks have friends. That makes it what my crazy secessionist uncle used to call an armed and polite society. They have the same rules that Gaspard told us: If you live here, you contribute. No killing folks, no stealing, no breaking stuff.

Q: Does it cost anything to stay?

A: Ten orange a week to live here, and help out the town.

Q: Is there a mayor?

A: Not really. There’s a watch, and Gaspard leads it. Big decisions are made with direct democracy. There aren't many big decisions.

Q: How long has the town been here?

A: A bit less than two years.

Q: How big is the town?

A: A thousand folks or so.

Q: How many folks have gone to try their luck against the gate test so far?

A: About fifteen thousand.

Q: Are there any other towns nearby?

A: Not really. Cerberus seems to be the only town within a couple hundred miles. Sanctuary is maybe two hundred and fifty miles north. The gate is to the West. East is Rocco’s area, and South, maybe three hundred miles is Hairyton?

Q: Why Harryton?

A: Not Harry, Hairy. Founder got a fur upgrade for warmth from the tutorial so he wouldn't get cold. He’s been making jokes about it ever since.

Q: Are there rules about power use in town?

A: Not really. It’s useful to the town to get a registry of what people can do, just in case a problem needs a certain kind of help. It’s not required, but answering questions about your thaumaturgy, with some demonstration can save you taxes for a week.

Q: Do y’all have entertainment?

A: There’s a brewer and a bar, but no television. Folks do some fighting practice. Wesley was an actor, and he's put together a troupe.

Q: Would the town like music?

A: You can try at Fredo’s bar.

After our questions are answered, and we've met the neighbors, we head back to our guest house to figure out what we’re going to do. Randi says she’s going to try the challenge. She heads back out in town to learn what she can, and figure out if there’s any preparation she can do.

The band stays at home to figure out what we’re going to do. Priya wants to see if she can get a larger team together to go back and save folks from Rocco. Steve and Mike are tired of traveling, and would love to stay in the town and try to build civilization. I want to rock. I specifically think we could see if the bar has a stage and we might be able to play there in the evenings for a bit.

We end up negotiating a compromise. We’ll stay in town for a week. Priya will be looking for folks to help rescue people from Rocco. Mike and Steve will see if they can get in on the construction work that’s going on in town. I’ll talk to the folks at the bar, see if we can get a gig. After a few minutes, we all head out.