I crossed over to the other side of the main chamber as Miriam went to speak to the head priest. It was difficult to wave off the throng of commoners who wanted to shake my hand for saving their lives, but I was soon able to get close to the shattered stained glass window of Priestess Sondrith. As I crossed the large room, a surprisingly sober Kinro approached me. His wounds were healed, and he walked with a strange energy. He was clearly tense, and I didn’t know if it was due to his sobriety or the possibility that a horde of monsters could attack the church at any moment.
“So, Boss. What’s our next move?” Kinro asked.
“For now, this…” I said, stopping short as four motes of Hellfire sprang from my hand, zipped through the hole in the stained glass window, and flew high into the air. Just as the motes reached the maximum range at which I could still control them, they merged together and expanded into a single massive rune that blazed like the midday sun.
ᛀ
The symbol was the Common rune for “th.” Due to its simplicity, I was able to make the rune gargantuan without using up too much mana.
The fiery beacon bathed the main chamber in a kaleidoscopic orange light that was similar to the light of dawn but much brighter. Having spent quite a few years surrounded by Hellfire lamps, the bright orange light was nostalgic to me. To the frightened churchgoers, the flaming rune in the sky might have seemed like an omen of misfortune.
“Beltane and Eadric know that this symbol marks the location for the party to regroup. I’ll keep it up for a minute to make sure that they see it,” I told Kinro.
“It’s the first rune of your name, right?” Kinro asked, stroking his chin.
“That’s the idea,” I responded promptly. The process of maintaining the beacon took up most of my focus, so I had some difficulty responding.
Father Galad and several of the other priests stepped up to the stained glass windows with shocked looks on their faces. One of the priests placed a clasped hand to his own chest in a show of faith to Nyx, and I heard someone shout, “The forces of Hell have marked us for death!”
Hearing this, I responded by saying, “No, no, I’m just calling for reinforcements. The rest of my group will come here when they see the beacon.”
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The third priest who came out to meet me after I killed the horde of orcs, a young man with vigor in his steps and zealous certainty in his eyes, approached me with an outstretched finger, shouting, “You dare use the wicked power of Hellfire on holy land? How could you be so…?”
The young priest’s tirade was cut off by Father Galad’s interjection. “Brother Sebastian! We would have been overrun by the orcs if not for Lord Thale! Do not speak to him in such a way!”
Brother Sebastian turned away from the high priest and me with a grimace. I looked over to thank Father Galad, and I saw an expression of doubt on his face. Though he dared not speak his concerns out loud in front of the congregants, I could tell he was concerned that my beacon would draw the attention of the monstrous forces besieging the city. He was probably most concerned that the dragon circling the center of the city would be drawn to the church.
“There’s no reason to be alarmed,” I shouted to everyone, though my eyes were locked on the high priest. “We can handle any monster that would be drawn here by the beacon.”
“What about the dragon?” a terrified voice in the crowd asked.
“The dragon won’t come here. Dragons are exceedingly territorial creatures to the point of compulsion. This compulsion is biological; they couldn’t possibly control it. They’re hoarders by nature, and if they are at any point separated from their hoard, it will cause them severe emotional distress. The dragon in the center of town has been separated from its hoard, so it is now compelled to immediately start forming a hoard and laying claim to a territory in the center of town. We can trust it to stay in the southern portion of the Merchant District for a day at least while it collects jewelry and other valuables from the area.”
Honestly, I felt a bit sorry for the dragon terrorizing the center of Etron. It was presently engaged in something akin to a panic response. Most dragons didn’t enjoy the process of razing villages and burning forests, but their strange cognition forced them to do so when there was no other way to acquire a hoard of valuables. In fact, the typical “dragon attack” only occurred due to some kind of outside environmental agitation. In ideal circumstances, a dragon would build up its own hoard through trade or looting. Dragons weren’t evil; it would be more accurate to say that they were mentally unwell.
The congregants and priests were mollified by my statement, and they all went back to their previous engagements once I was done speaking. With a sly smile, Kinro walked up to me and asked out of the corner of his mouth, “How much of that was bullshit?”
Frowning at Kinro’s foul language, I said, “Everything I just said was true.”
“Sure, sure,” Kinro said, clearly not believing my words.
With those words, Kinro walked over to the head priest and Miriam, who were engaged in a significant conversation. They weren’t fighting, but it was clear that the conversation held emotional importance for both of them. Miriam was most likely telling Father Galad the truth and her intention to leave with my group.
For the first time since the conversation with the Blue Mage, I was left alone with my thoughts. This gave me the opportunity to take stock of every tool available, create a plan, and make adjustments to my character sheet.