her towards the door. Stopping suddenly, he turned back to face the merchant she had hugged. “Oh, excuse me, sir, but I believe you dropped this.” That said, Vlishgnath held his hand out, a golden chain dangling from his fingers.
The merchant quickly reached up, feeling around his neck, his eyes widening. “Oh, why thank you, church knight! I didn’t even notice.”
Vlishgnath smiled his warmest smile, his hand reaching back to grab hold of the girl’s shoulder before she could slink out the door without him. “You’re quite welcome. Mithos’ blessings be upon you.” That said, Vlishgnath turned back around, disappearing from the tavern with his arm draped around the young woman.
Once they got outside and were a few steps away from the door, the girl let out a disappointed sigh, and Vlishgnath removed his arm from around her. Turning to face each other, the girl looked up at him unabashedly, her arms folded defiantly across her chest as she furrowed her eyebrows at him angrily.
Smiling patronizingly in return, Vlishgnath spoke his amiable greeting. “Hello, Sidonia.”
“What are you even doing here? I figured you’d be off on an assignment by now,” Sidonia said, as the two of them began walking side by side down one of the main streets.
“I figured you’d have come up with a new way of relieving lecherous old merchants of their possessions. Looks like we were both mistaken.”
Sidonia rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Oh whatever. What were you doing in a tavern, anyways? I thought paladins weren’t supposed to drink on duty.”
“Technically, I’m not on duty. Not to mention, I wasn’t drinking to begin with. What’s the going rate on a stolen chain of gold?”
“Enough to afford me a comfortable living. You’re not going to turn me in, right?”
Vlishgnath sighed heavily. “No…I doubt you would learn anything from it, anyway. One of these days, we’re going to find out where that thieves guild is holed up, and you’re going to have to make an honest living like the rest of us.”
Sidonia laughed. “When that day comes, I’ll reconsider your offer to come work for the church. But I don’t see it happening anytime soon.”
“Neither do I.”
Sidonia glanced over at Vlishgnath, grinning triumphantly. After a moment, she caught her gaze lingering and quickly looked back forward. “So, what, there aren’t any wars going on so the church has you on guard duty?”
Vlishgnath chuckled, shaking his head. “No, believe it or not I was actually out for a walk and just happened to overhear your sob story. Very convincing, by the way.”
Sidonia shrugged her shoulders, tilting her head. “I know.”
Heaving with silent laughter, Vlishgnath was about to speak when something caught his attention. His eyes narrowing, Vlishgnath straightened up, trying to see over the heads of the crowd to identify the source of the disturbance.
Glancing over and noticing his behavior, Sidonia followed the direction of his gaze, standing up on her tip toes to try and get a look at what was going on, a task that proved somewhat difficult considering she was a full head and a half shorter than Vlishgnath. “What is it? What’s going on?”
“I can’t tell…” That said, Vlishgnath began gently making his way towards the center of the market square, where a small gathering of people was beginning to form a circle around something, or rather, someone.
Right on his heels, Sidonia expertly ducked and weaved her way through the assembled crowd, coming to stand next to Vlishgnath. There, in the center of it all, stood a man, his eyes wide with a crazed look in them. He wore bedraggled clothing, several days of facial hair growth on his chin, and a mostly empty bottle of cheap spirits was clenched in his left hand.
The man Vlishgnath stood next to looked over, noticing the paladin’s presence. He nudged Vlishgnath with his elbow and nodded toward the man before speaking in an amused tone. “So tell us again, what was it exactly you saw?”
“The whole city was covered in a dome of bright blue light!”
Vlishgnath spoke, his tone lacking the mocking quality of the man next to him. “Which city? What are you talking about?”
The man took a swig from his bottle and stomped his foot. “Khaarm! I was on my way back from Forthos, and I made my usual detour to Khaarm like I always do, and the entire city was covered in a big dome of bright blue light! Why don’t any of you believe me?!” That said, the man took another drink.
Vlishgnath looked down at the ground for a moment, picturing a map of the continent in his mind and locating Khaarm to the southeast of Ascention, roughly a month’s ride by horse. Looking back up, he spoke to the man again. “What were you doing traveling from Forthos to Khaarm?”
Standing in High Priest Vogoth’s office, Vlishgnath placed a hand on the drunken man’s shoulder, his voice sincere. “Go on. Tell the high priest what you saw.”
Vogoth sat at his desk, glancing over at Sidonia who stood near the door. With nothing better to do for the moment, she’d decided to tag along, but suddenly the high priest’s penetrating gaze made her shift uncomfortably, as if he knew what she’d done (or at least tried to do) earlier. When the man spoke, Vogoth turned his attention back to him, much to Sidonia’s relief.
“I was on my way back from Forthos after I delivered some smithing equipment for Terran, the blacksmith down across the river.”
Vogoth nodded slowly, his expression a mixture of genuine belief and uncertainty as to how to react to the man’s demeanor and vernacular.
The man continued. “An’ on my way back, I went to stop at Khaarm like I always do, visit my favorite tavern. But the city, the whole thing, was covered in a dome, like. Bright blue light! It was made of bright blue light!”
After a moment, Vogoth spoke, his voice soft and limitlessly patient. “I see. I thank you for reporting this to us, sir…”
The man hiccupped, and answered. “Duncan.”
Vogoth nodded. “Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We will call upon you if we have any further questions.”
“Yeah, okay…” Was all Duncan could muster, turning and staggering his way out of the high priest’s office.
After several moments, Vlishgnath spoke. “I think there is truth to his story, your holiness.”
Vogoth smiled a tired smile, clasping his boney hands in front of him. “As do I. Unfortunately, exactly how true is a matter of great dispute, seeing as his merit is somewhat questionable given his state of mind while delivering his report. While I do not doubt that in his mind he saw the city of Khaarm covered in a dome of blue light, for all we know his eyes could have been playing tricks on him or, given his fondness for the drink, it could have been a hallucination.”
Vlishgnath pondered the high priest’s words for a moment before responding. “Something tells me this isn’t the wild fantasizing of a drunken delivery man. Someone should investigate and ensure the safety of Khaarm; it is, after all, a rather important destination in the trade route network.”
Vogoth’s expression turned somber. “Without question, Sir Vlishgnath. However, I’m afraid I cannot justify sending a column of paladins on a several-month mission to Khaarm based on the testimony of a drunkard.”
Vlishgnath nodded, conceding the point. “Then I’ll go.”
Vogoth furrowed his brow, tilting his head slightly. “While it is true you are free to travel as you see fit, I must remind you this is not a church-sanctioned assignment, and you will be acting solely on your own.”
“I understand, your holiness.”
Vogoth’s