#pnpt

Chase pats down his chest and pulls out an amulet that looks like a miniature purple paper lantern with a bit of paper at the end. He looks back at the others and grins. "It's so cool to see in person!" he whispers. 

“Ohh sick trinket little dude!" Bro whispers back to Chase.

“ Thanks!" Chase says, grinning. "I came up with it!” Then he turns back to the woman. "Greetings! My name is Lee Shirani and these are my companions. We're in the area solving a mystery.”

“Oh, of course we can offer our aid," the woman, Fubuki, says. "What is the mystery?" 

Alt blinks and then looks at the kids, "Uh.. right we listened to the backstory... uh... we were hired by the princess and... there's people who are going missing, right?”

“Alttt! You gotta get into character!" Bro says. He steps up and places a hand on his chest and bows slightly to Fubuki. "Greetings ma'am!" He says in an over-the-top grand voice, "We're gathering information about some missing people and we believe one of the missing people might have recently stopped by your temple. Do you know anything?" 

Alt blinks then rolls his eyes slightly at Bro. 

“Ah, of course." Fubuki nods in response to both Alt and Bro. "What's the name of the missing person?”

“Um... Akai Nokori, I believe," Schneep says. 

Fubuki's expression shifts slightly. 

Marvin narrows his eyes. "Hey Jackie? Can I do an insight check?”

“Of course," Jackie says. 

A 19 appears above his head. "Do you not... like Mr. Nokori?" Marvin asks. 

"Well..." Fubuki hesitates. 

Alt tilts his head. He opens his mouth- and then lets his voice drop to a scratchy deeper kind of voice. "Has he been causing you trouble?”

“Yeahhh! Alt's doing the Swift voice!!" Bro whispers excitedly and in Alt's face. 

Alt pushes him away. "Stop- you're gonna get in the way of my character lines!" 

Oliver giggles at the two of them.  

Fubuki glances around, then leans closer to the group. "Nokori is a bit of a troublesome person," she says quietly. "They were always very blunt and a bit harsh to others.”

“A jerk?" Stacy asks. 

"Oh, they've never actively harmed anyone. But... I always felt as though they would not mind if they had to." ‘

Marvin nods slowly. "Right... I forgot Nokori was a 'they' guy." 

Like your friend Ram! JJ says, looking up at Jackie. 

"Mm-hmm." Jackie nods. "They really helped me with Akai." 

"oh non-binary, nice!" Alt says in his regular voice.

"You wouldn't have uh... helped in Mx. Nokori's disappearance, would you?" Bro asks.  

Fubuki looks deeply offended by this. "Sir! Truth Reapers like myself do not create mysteries such as disappearances!" 

“Oh! I-I'm sorry to insinuate that Ms. Fubuki, my sincerest apologies," Bro says, taking a deep bow. 

Up above, Jackie whispers "Mix...?" with an air of confusion. 

Bro looks up at Jackie and grins, "Oh! Mx. is how we in the future call someone who's non-binary, like Akai! It's like a mix between Mrs. and Mr.! Mx!”

Jackie frowns. "It's a weird, uh... prefix. Why not something like... uh...”

“Striker!" Chase says. "So you'd call your friend Striker Ram!" 

Jackie laughs. "Yeah. Something like Striker.”

Bro laughs, "Dude that would be so cool!" 

"Jackie told me a lot about the Truth Reaper religion, since Lee was raised there. They're really dedicated to, uh... things being... in the open? I guess that's how you say it?" Chase informs.  

She COULD be lying, JJ says. 

"Well Lee wouldn't believe she'd lie.”

“Morgana would though," Stacy says, raising her hand. 

Marvin and JJ nod in agreement with her. Schneep shakes his head. 

Alt makes a face and hums, "...I'm on the fence about trusting her too...”

“Well... I want to believe her- but Ekos has pretty good insight... lemme see." Oliver says. He looks at Fubuki and tries to see if she's lying. 

The numbers roll…

“Ohhh fuck," Marvin says as the yellow numbers roll to a stop next to Oliver's head. They flop forward and fall before disappearing. "A natural one!" 

Oliver briefly wonders if Ms. Fubuki is wearing a mask that only looks like her face. Before he realizes how stupid that is. Oliver tilts his head and looks at Fubuki with a mix of confusion and concern. Then he shakes his head out. "...that was weird-”

"If you are looking for enemies of Nokori, others feel the same about them," Fubuki says. "Werbonne is a vast city, they were well-known.”

“ Hmm..." Schneep frowns. "We heard from someone that they joined a religion recently. That shopkeeper, remember? He also did not seem fond of him." 

JJ nods. The shopkeeper said something about good riddance. 

“This guy seems very pleasant- should we even go searching for him?" Alt grumbles. 

"Well it's possible that their disappearance is tied into this greater mystery of disappearances," Schneep says. "So it is not just for Akai Nokori's own sake." 

Jackie laughs. "Schneep was really taken with Yomma when the group met her.”

“Sh-shut up!" Schneep says. "I think she and Rhess would be--would be very cute!”

Alt blinks at Schneep then smirks, "Aw.. that'd be cute- she's the Princess right?”

Schneep nods. "Sh-she is very smart! And determined!" 

Sometimes she contacts the party through magic illusions, maybe we'll see her! JJ says cheerfully. 

"Andd im guessing this isn't the religion Nokori recently joined?" Bro asks. 

“It is not, sir," Fubuki says. "Though many from the East Islands join the service of He Who Sees, Akai Nokori was never interested.”

“What other temples are in town?" Stacy asks. 

"There are The Green Thrones, The World Circle, the Fear Knight, the Blinding Light, and of course, Lady Haunt." 

“That is... so many oh my god-" Bro mumbles with wide eyes. "How do we start to narrow that down...?" 

"Uh, well... who knows the most about religion?" Stacy asks. 

"Oh! I have a +4!" Schneep says. 

"So do I," Marvin says. 

"Huh? But you only have a +2 for smarts!”

“Yeah but Cara Kalla is proficient in religion, I figured she'd have picked up some stuff while serving Reign.”

 “My point is, whoever has the highest should roll a check," Stacy says. She looks at the grown-ups. "What about you guys?" 

"Uh.. I have a +1," Alt says. 

"mm... I think I don't have a modifier for Intuition," Oliver says. 

Bro looks up to think, "... Seraph has a -1 to religion...”

“Ha?? Isn't he a paladin??" Alt says. 

"Yeah! Not all Paladins swear oaths to gods! I- or well Seraph, swore to protect the world the ancients created, and carry on his family's legacy. I can do that without knowing much about them! but... out of game- my intuition is like 8." Bro shrugs. 

"Oh... so a paladin isn't exactly like a knight, then," Jackie says. "Knights aren't tied to religion so heavily, but they do have to follow a Vow to something. Interesting. Okay, Schneep and Marvin, you roll for religion." 

Schneep looks at Marvin's set of green numbers and frowns as they land on a higher number than his. "Rhess will remember this." 

Marvin grins triumphantly. "Alright, I like... had the vague knowledge of these religions beamed into my brain.”

“Who's the most suspicious?" Stacy asks.

"Well, Lady Haunt is like a Death god and the Fear Knight is a War god so they kinda suck in general. But then the Blinding Light follows this goddess called Paraluz who's kinda strict and the World Circle has a god of chaos and stuff as part of their, uh... double-theism. The Green Thrones seem chill though." 

"Okay so- we can cross out the Green Thrones then..." Bro hums. 

"Okay so... would it be good to assume a guy no one likes would go to one of these religions?" Oliver asks. 

"If he's an asshole- maybe he's be drawn to... the war god- or the chaos god," Alt shrugs. "That's just my opinion though as a recovering asshole." 

I like the idea of a chaos god, JJ says. We can start there? 

"Not the war god?" Marvin asks. "I'd expect Ion to like that." JJ chuckles. 

Good point. But out of character, I want to check the other one. 

"The idea of a chaos god is pretty cool," Marvin agrees. 

Alt chuckles, "I think I like the sound of the Chaos god too. Chaos is kinda my thing.”

“It's one of your things- you have a lot of things," Oliver giggles. 

"You don't often hear about chaos gods!" Chase agrees. "Usually gods are supposed to keep order, aren't they?” He shrugs, "Which is closer to here, Reaper Fubuki?" he asks. "The Fear Knight temple or the World Circle temple?”

“The World Circle has their worship place just that way." Fubuki points. "One moment." She reaches into her robe and pulls out a rolled-up piece of paper. "Do any of you have ink?" 

Schneep takes some out of his bag and hands it over. 

She circles several places on the paper then hands it over. "This is a map of the city. I've marked all the temples and such." 

"Oh that's very helpful! Thank you, Reaper Fubuki!" Bro says, adopting his Seraph voice again. He sounds like he's trying to sound like an old-timey superhero.

“Good luck, you all," Fubuki says. "You may come back whenever you like." Chase nods. He bows. "Thank you." Then he looks to the others. "Come on, let's go.”

“You guys don't have to roll for anything since you have a map now, by the way," Jackie says from the window. 

Bro bows respectfully to Fubuki before starting to head back out on the road. 

"Oh nice! Thank you Jackie!" Oliver calls up. "Who wants to hold the map for us then?" 

"I have it!" Schneep says. "But does someone else want it?”

“We can pass it around so everyone can look," Stacy says. 

"That sounds fair!" Oliver smiles. "Where are we going now, Henrik?" 

"Ah... this way!" Schneep turns around and leads the group out of the gate. 

"Hmm... I wonder..." Jackie looks thoughtful. Then he sits up straight and says in an announcing voice, "You arrive at the World Circle temple." 

And then somehow, they were immediately somewhere else, the whole walk there being a blur in their mind. 

"Whoa!" Marvin stops walking and looks around. "What just happened?”

“Ha!" Jackie pumps the air. "I timeskipped! I didn't get a chance to see if I could do that last time!" 

Chase looks impressed. "The power of the Cavern Master!" 

The older boys look around in confusion. "Dude- that was so weird! It's like we were fast forwarded!" Bro laughs, "How cool! Way to use those CM powers, Jackie!”

“Yeah thank god- I hate walking," Alt snickers. 

"Maybe next time you can try flying then!" Oliver taunts. 

Jackie grins proudly. 

"Alright. So." Marvin claps his hands together. "What is this place?" 

There's a small iron fence around a garden, filled with tall pine trees. Through it is a building. 

Chase laughs. "Look! That building looks like a triangle! Is that the temple?”

“It is an A-frame building," Schneep says. "They are usually used in places with high snowfall.”

“Looks a lot cozier than you'd think a chaos god's place would be," Stacy says. 

Maybe it's different inside, JJ says. 

"Well, there are two gods in the World Circle religion," Marvin says. "One's chaos, and the other is order. You can choose to follow one or the other but I guess this is for both of them? Well. Who wants to go first?" 

"Ohh that's so interesting," Oliver says, observing the temple. "You don't hear about many religions with only two gods..." 

Alt shrugs, "I could try going first." He looks around for a way into the garden, then shrugs and tries to hop the fence, using his wings to guide him over. 

It's actually amazing how easily using the wings comes to Alt. He flutters a bit as he lands. 

Alt seems surprised as he finishes jumping and flutters his wings some more. Then, he smiles, "Huh- these things are pretty neat." 

Bro looks jealous but tries to hide it as he also hops the fence. 

Alt snickers, "That's not very Seraph of you, Chase.”

“Oh piss off, why are you policing me on my character so hard?" Bro mumbles. 

"Cuz you got onto me about not playing Swift right!" 

JJ sees what he's doing and also climbs over. Jackie starts to say something, then stops. "Well... don't think you have to roll for that, since your characters are supposed to be pretty tall...”

“Whoo!" Marvin also hops the fence. And then Chase does. 

Stacy meanwhile... walks over to the gate in the fence and pushes it open. 

Oliver laughs and follows after Stacy, "There was a gate right here you guys!”

“Fuck gates! I'm above the need for gates!" Alt says haughtily, shaking out his wings. Then he laughs. "That's something Swift would say." 

"Yes! When you have wings you are above gates!" Schneep says. He also hops over the fence--though since he's short he needs more help from his wings. 

Stacy laughs. "Ah, boys.”

“Tell me about it," Jackie says from above. 

The group walks down a short path and arrives at the A-frame building. It's made of wood with a stone pillar in the middle, dividing the building in two. In the middle is an emblem of two clasping hands: one made of black marble, the other made of white marble. There's also a splash of blue paint on the side of the building. Vandalism, maybe. There appears to be some writing, too, but the symbols aren't in Common. 

"What's that?" Chase mutters. 

"I do not know, I cannot read it," Schneep says. 

Alt, Bro and Oliver try to peer at the writing. Maybe it's something they can read? 

Oliver instinctively recognizes the symbols as the same symbols Gnomish is written in, but he doesn't know the word. It just reads as nonsense to him... something like "ZSH ZFRRLLRM." 

"Huh... gnomish...?" Oliver muses to himself.

"Gnomish?" Schneep says, glancing at Oliver. He squints at the words. A 7 pops up next to him. 

"...huh. I will trust your word, I suppose," Schneep says. 

Two people are trying to clean up the blue paint with brushes and buckets of soapy water. A tall man with greenish skin and large lower teeth, and an even taller woman with red skin and hair and horns that stick out of the side of her head. 

"Woahh...! Look at those people- they really look like something straight out of dnd!" Oliver whispers. 

"This building is so cool too! Look at the emblem!" Bro grins. 

The guys' whispers draw the attention of the green-skinned man. "Oy! What're you doing here?" he asks in a gravelly voice. 

"We mean no harm!" Schneep says hurriedly. "We are here to visit the temple!”

“Yes, we, uh--we were wondering if you all have seen someone here lately?" Chase says.  

Bro steps forward and puts on his knightly air, "We're looking for a person named Akai Nokori, do you know of them?" 

"Ah... that human," the green-skinned man grunts. "I said the next time we saw them here, I'd pound them." The horned woman holds up a fist threateningly. 

"Yeah, but they were completely unphased by that," the green-skinned man says. "It was almost unnerving." 

JJ tilts his head. That's freaky. His way of signing shifts slightly. Well sounds like they deserve a good punch. 

Marvin grins. "That's JJ's Ion voice." 

The older boys look fascinated to see JJ's signing change. "ooh cool!" Bro whispers. 

"Does that mean he doesn't worship here?" Alt asks, adopting his more gravelly voice for Swift. "Did you send him packin'? We're tryin' to find some sign of the guy so.. any info ya have would be appreciated." 

"We don't keep track of the other worshippers," the horned woman says. "You'll have to ask the head Listener." She reaches over and pounds a fist on the wall of the building. "Hey! There's some people here to see you, Heiron!" She waits. When there's no reply, she pounds on the wall some more-- 

"Please do not hurt your hand!" Schneep says. "We will head in to find this... Heiron.”

“What are you doing, by the way?" Marvin asks. 

"Cleaning, what's it look like?" the green-skinned man says. "Some punks did this during the night. Fucking assholes."  

"Oh- do you have any idea what it was saying? It looks gnomish to me," Oliver says, adopting a sorta timid voice but- it doesn't sound too different from how he normally talks. 

"Hmm. Who cares?" the horned woman shrugs. "Ask Heiron or Seras inside," the green-skinned man says. "They're the intellectuals that like going in circles.”

“Gnomish?" Chase blinks. "I thought it was Dwarvish? But it's kinda nonsense. It's like... " He makes a sound like he's pretending to wield a lightsaber. Something like 'zhshfshrmm.' 

"They use the same alphabet," Jackie supplies. 

"Oh! I thought it said something like that too!" Oliver says, "But that's so weird...”

 Maybe it's a code," Alt shrugs, "Anyways- let's go talk to the uh- Listeners inside then." Alt starts walking towards the door. 

Bro waves to the man and woman, "Thank you for your time! Good luck!" Then him and Oliver follow Alt. 

The interior of the building looks similar to a church in real life, with benches lining an aisle that leads to an altar. The design is almost woodsy, with more dark wood and stone columns. Behind the altar is another emblem of the hands, hanging above a stained glass window that seems to be depicting a lot of hands and claws. Perched on the altar is a bowl, and in it is a pristine blade. 

"I'm getting flashbacks to Aunt Isla's church," Bro mumbles, "though- thankfully she only took us on Easter and Christmas..”

“I don't think her church had a blade on the altar," Alt says, gesturing. 

A door on the side opens up, and out walks a tall--oh, this is what a birdfolk looks like! This birdfolk has black feathers and yellow eyes, looking somewhat similar to a crow. He wears decorative silver armor with that same emblem on the center. "Ah, are you here to talk to the gods?" he asks. "Or to listen to them?”

“Oh hey, Schneep, Alt, fun fact," Jackie says. "The World Circle is a faith that's very popular with birdfolk." 

The older boys blink in surprise at seeing the crow Listener. 

Alt looks up to Jackie and smiles. "Oh cool! Maybe we'll get some advantage here." He squares his shoulders and walks a bit closer to the listener. "Actually, we're lookin' for someone. Name's Akai Nokori- we're tryin' to track 'em down and we were told you might have seen 'em." 

"Akai Nokori..." the crow birdfolk muses. "No, they're not one of our Listeners.”

“Are you Heiron, by the way?" Marvin asks. 

"Indeed I am. I'm the head Listener here, so I know them all." Heiron bows his head. "But I do remember... Nokori is an Easterner with long black hair and eyes, yes?”

“That was the description we got from the shopkeeper who mentioned them," Schneep nods. 

"Yeah, they came in here some time ago," Heiron says. "They were wearing some weird red robes. Said they were just checking things out, but they were freaking out Perada and Homet--those are two of our Listeners here, they're both a bit jumpy but for good reason--so I had Sturgoz and Advara escort them out." 

Those... are the two cleaning up outside, aren't they? JJ says. 

"Yeah, that's them." 

"Are uh- red robes associated with any other temple around here?" Oliver asks, "We uh- heard they just recently joined a new religion so we're trying to find out what that is..." 

"Not one I'm familiar with." Heiron shakes his head. 

Chase rubs his temples. "He Who Sees is purple and black, and I think these guys are black and white, so it's not either of them. What were those other ones, Marvin?”

“The Green Thrones, the Fear Knight, Lady Haunt, and the Blinding Light," Marvin says. 

"Well I can tell you that the Blinding Light isn't red," Heiron says. "Sturgoz has a half-brother at their temple, he drops by sometimes in these bright yellow robes. Not sure about the others, though." 

"hmm... should I try rolling a religion check for that, Jackie?" Alt calls up to ask. 

"I'm guessing it's either the Fear Knight or Lady Haunt- I doubt the green thrones would wear red robes, that's just silly!" Bro says.  

Jackie giggles. "Yeah, you guys can roll if you want!" he says, grinning wide.

 JJ narrows his eyes. I don't like that smile.

 "That's, uh... what's the word?" Stacy bites her lip. "A shoot-eating grin. Except... not that word.”

“Go on and roll." Jackie's smile widens. 

Green-blue numbers roll above Alt’s head, he gets a 19. 

Then, above Marvin’s, an 18. 

Then, Schneep's numbers roll on a 20 and land with little firework effects. "Ooo!" He grins. "Aha!" He pokes Marvin. "See?”

“Cara Kalla had no beef with you," Marvin says. 

Alt, Marvin, and Schneep all know immediately. The Fear Knight's main color is orange, the Green Thrones are green, of course, with some hint of yellow, and Lady Haunt's main color is red. 

"It's like I can picture the exact shades of their outfits," Schneep says.  

Alt blinks as all the information comes into his head. "Huh- that's efficient. Well you were right on one of them Chase, It's Lady Haunt." 

Bro goes, "Yes!" and pumps a fist in the air. 

Oliver giggles and then politely bows his head to Heiron, "Thank you, Listener. You gave us some very helpful information." 

Heiron bows back. "Just let me know if you need help while you're in town. The Silence and the Chaos are strange gods, but there's always going to be one part of them that helps.”

Oliver smiles, "Thank you, we'll keep that in mind.”

“ ...out of character, this religion is weird," Stacy says. 

I think it's pretty fascinating! JJ says. 

“It really is," Alt agrees with JJ, "I wish we had time to hear more.... but we got a missing person to find.”

Schneep takes out the map again. "Good thing Ms. Fubuki marked down all the temples!" 

“Awesome! Alright, lil hen! Lead the way!" Bro grins. 

Schneep grins. He turns and heads back out of the temple. As they emerge back into the outside, the maple trees around them, and they head to the small silvery fence, Chase stops to stare at the paint and the vandalized words. "Hey... none of those religions had a blue color, right?”

“Hmm? No," Schneep says. "Why?”

“I dunno. I was thinking that like--maybe there are church rivalries, like with schools, but if blue isn't a color, then it doesn't work out." 

Stacy looks around and frowns. "Why do things feel weird out here?" 

Oliver looks around and frowns, a yellow 13 appearing above his head. "Um... the trees are different, they were... pine before. and I think the fence is too?”

“Huh, really? I don't see anything different," Bro says, looking around. The kids can see a 1 rolled by his head. 

A 4 rolls by Alt's head and he nods. "Yeah looks... pretty much the same to me." 

"...wait huh?! WAIT!" Chase looks around. "WAIT A MINUTE!”

“Heh heh heh heh heh heh heh," Jackie cackles. 

Did you plan things to change?! JJ says. 

"I did! I didn't expect the 4 and 1--it's a DC 5 check, guys!" Jackie laughs. 

As soon as he points out that they failed, Alt and Bro can suddenly see the differences--but only once they're back out onto the street. 

Alt and Bro blink and then each of them point at the changed scenery with open jaws. "What!! How did we miss that?!" Bro groans. 

"That's fucking cool!" Marvin says excitedly. 

"Isn't it? The Chaos is a god all about perception and stuff, and the Silence is too, to an extent--they're like a yin yang the way they're locked together, I was so excited once I found them in the Deities section of Caspian's Bottle of Anything, I had to include them." 

"Dude- that's so fucking metal!" Alt grins. "What a cool god! Do they only change the parts around their temple?" He looks up to ask Jackie. 

"Well, according to their section in the book..." Jackie flips through his copy of the handbook. "They'll change anything where their presence is 'felt,' which usually includes their places of worship and the area around it. But if I wanted, I could insert in a place in, like, the middle of the woods or something where they have a strong presence." He tilts his head to the side. "Hmm... thoughts for the future." 

"Oooh! That's so cool dude- we gotta tell our Jackie about that," Alt laughs. 

"Nooo! Don't give Jackie more ideas!! It's already evil enough that he brought in Dr. J once to scare us..." Bro mumbles. 

Jackie closes the book. "Anyway a lot of CnC gods are like that--they have places where the Godly Plane is closer to the Living Plane so they're more powerful there--oh yeah also, let's timeskip you to the Lady Haunt temple."

 Another blur of a journey later, they're somewhere else. 

The older boys shake out from the timeskip and Oliver hums, looking around. 

The temple for Lady Haunt is surrounded by one of those tall fences made of pointy metal rods, its gate decorated with spiraling metal that looks like a stylized skull. Through the fence is a small courtyard filled with rosebushes and berry bushes. The building itself is tall and elegant, designed like a narrow gothic house. Inside seems darker than daylight, like a cloud is blocking out the sun just over the temple. 

Alt’s eyes sparkle, “Oh hell yeah this place is so metal!!” He grins. 

"Oooo this place is perfect for Morgana!" Stacy says excitedly. She tries the gate--but this time, it's locked. "...oh." She's visibly disappointed. 

“…if this is a place of worship- why would they lock the gate?” Oliver asks. 

“Maybe this is more of a closed religion.” Bro shrugs. 

“Heh- I can use my wings again!” Alt smirks and crouches down low- before bursting into the air to try to sail over the fence. 

A 24 bursts atop his head and Alt ends up doing a cool almost parkour-ish move where he places a hand on a non-pokey part of the fence then bursts off and lands on his feet, his wings flaring out and showing off their colors. 

Bro pouts and crosses his arms, “Fucking show off!” 

Schneep gasps, stars in his eyes. He backs up and tries to copy Alt. There’s a flash of 13 by him. He's able to do a flip, but wobbles a bit as he lands, stumbling. He looks up at Alt and grins. 

Alt looks down at Schneep and grins back. He pulls Schneep in and gives him a little noogie. “Hey! Nice job, bird buddy!”

"That is so cool to actually see!" Jackie says excitedly. 

"But what about the rest of us?" Marvin asks. 

JJ walks up to the gate and raises his flail-- 

"No no no no!" Stacy hurriedly steps in front of him. "I can pick the lock." She takes a small felt bag out of her backpack and removes some picks, fiddling with the lock. A pink 26 rolls by her head! 

The gate clicks and swings open. 

“Whoo! Go Stacy!!” Bro cheers as the rest of them file into the courtyard. 

Stacy smiles smugly. "I am so good at agility guys.”

“Real good!" Chase smiles back at her. "I wish I had a +7 in anything." Once inside, they can walk down a stone brick path, passing between red roses, and reach the door. 

Marvin reaches out to open the door, but it's also locked. "Want to show off again, Stacy?" he asks. 

"Do I ever!" Stacy tries again on the door. Pink numbers roll, first being a 13, then adding a 7 to make 20. It takes her a second longer, but still opens easily. 

Inside is the foyer of a manor, with two large staircases heading up to a balcony and a chandelier with red flame candles dangling from the ceiling. Beneath the balcony is a set of double doors, with images of a crown carved into each. 

Chase squints. "It's so dark in there. Who has darkvision? You guys go first." 

Marvin, JJ, and Stacy all raise their hands.  Bro also raises his hand. Alt and Oliver shake their heads. 

“I can help lead sure! I can be the light in this dark place~!” Bro says in his Seraph voice at the end as he grins at the kids. Then he charges forth. “There’s uh- double doors under the balcony- but maybe there’s something up the stairs too?” 

"Yeah, I see the double doors," Stacy says. "Oh! Schneep, do you have that light potion prepared? For the four of you?”

“Ah! Right, I almost forgot." Schneep takes out a slim bottle. "What do I light up? Hmm...”

“Oh! Light up my dagger, that'll be wicked." Chase pulls out one of his knives. 

Schneep pours some of the bottle out onto the knife and the metal starts to glow, lighting things up in about 20 feet around them. 

“Ohh! Light potion? How cool!” Alt says with a grin. 

"Thank you!" Schneep beams. "I knew it would be helpful!" 

"I'll head upstairs." Chase does so, "Yeah, there's another set of doors here! They don't have the crown, though.”

“There's more doors to the left and the right." Marvin points out a small single door on either wall of the room. 

Oliver hums, “…it’s really empty and quiet in here for a temple… where do you think a person in charge would be?”

“My bet is the doors with the crowns on them,” Bro says as he heads towards them to see if he can open them. 

But as soon as Bro touches the doors-- 

"Ooooahhhhh!" A figure leans through the door. A woman, her form pale and her eyes empty, dark hair floating in midair. She's completely colorless except for a red cloak. "Intruuuuders!" 

Bro screams bloody murder in a pitch much higher than his speaking voice and jumps back. He pulls his sword and aims it at her, but he’s clearly freaked out. “S-Stay back!”

“A ghost??” Oliver gasps. 

“Well… she is called Lady Haunt,” Alt says. 

"Intruuuuders!" The ghost wails again. 

The walls move, and Stacy also shrieks. Hands! There are undead hands climbing down the walls! One, two, three--eight of them! Numbers then fly through the air. 

Numbers rapidly roll in front of everyone, for the order of initiative! The ghost rolls the lowest, then the hands, JJ and Stacy all get a 4. Chase gets a 6, Marvin a 12, Bro a 13, Schneep rolls a 19- then both Alt and Oliver roll a 20, lighting off little fireworks next to them. 

"Oh time for combat!" Jackie says. "Okay so last time we learned that you literally can't act outside your turn order--a lot of same numbers, uh--you go with the higher agility in that case." 

“Oh, then Alt goes first, Swift definitely has more agility then Ekos,” Oliver says. 

Alt smiles at Oliver but quickly frowns as he looks around. “How are we supposed to fight ghosts?!” He pulls off his short bow and fires at the main ghost in front of Bro. 

The arrow gets caught in the middle of the ghost. Numbers fly away as it enters her form--a 6! A number 45 appears... but despite the 6 damage, the hp only rolls down to 42. 

“Tsk- half damage… okay.” Alt grumbles. 

"Well, uh--normally I wouldn't give you guys hints, but since you're actually in the game," Jackie says. "They're resistant to a lot. But, uh, the crawling hands have no resistances! Except necrosis." 

“Okay so, hands first?” Oliver says. He looks around and tries to see if any of the hands are clustered together. 

The circle of light from Chase’s glowing knife lights up a couple clusters of hands on the walls. The eight of them are grouped together in two, three, and three. 

“Careful of your movement, guys!” Chase says. “If you run out your legs just sorta stop working.”

“Jackie, do stairs take more movement?” Marvin asks. 

“Uhhh it’s probably the same,” Jackie says. “You should be fine, you have like, a million feet of range on your Eldritch Blast. Also Oliver—druids are casters, right? You have spells?” 

"Yes! In fact- I'm gonna try casting one..." Oliver says as he turns to aim at the group of three. He points his finger and whispers a spell word that he didn't even think he knew, and a beam of silvery light rockets down over the group of 3 and creates a solid cylinder of light. 

Ghostly flames hit the hands as they enter the cylinder of light. 

Alt’s jaw drops and he looks at Oliver with wide eyes. “Oliver…! T-That’s incredible!” 

Oliver blushes, “I-it’s just a 2nd level spell…!” 

The hands inside the cylinder immediately fall off the wall. They land on the ground and curl up, fingers turning inwards. 

“Eugh… don’t like that,” Stacy shivers. “Looks like spiders.”

“Well those are super dead,” Jackie says. “Schneep! You’re up next!” 

Schneep is rummaging through his bag and belt. “Ah, what is the difference between acid and poison, again?”

“Do we have to say this every time?” Chase groans. 

Acid hurts the surface, poison hurts the insides! JJ says. 

“Right!” Schneep pulls something out that looks like a medieval spray bottle and points it at the ghost. Green liquid sprays out in a cone formation—also heading for Bro! 

A light blue 21 rolls next to the liquid. “…ah, what is your armor class, Bro?” Schneep winces, looking apologetic. 

“19- why?AGGH-!” Bro shouts then throws an arm over his face, “Ow ow! Little hen!!” 

“Sorry!” Schneep says. “I forgot it would hit you!” 

The ghost wails as its hp drops another point down to 41. 

“It’s okay! I’m big and strong! I can take 3 damage!” A orange 28 appears by Bro and then drops down to 25. 

“Jesus this thing has a lot of hit points-“ Alt mumbles. 

“Oh it’s my turn! Sick!” Bro says. He hefts his long sword and shouts out, “Thunderous Smite!” As he swings his sword to hit the ghost.  

As soon as Bro hits a thunderous BOOM! Rings out from his strike against the ghost! 

The ghost flies to the side, moving five feet away as the strike hits. Numbers fly off like electric sparks, and the ghost's hp falls to 33. 

"Wait--shouldn't that have been down to like, 25?" Stacy asks.

 Chase groans. "Are we ever gonna find something that it's not resistant to?!”

“Ghosts have a bunch of resistances!" Jackie holds up a book labeled Monster Manual, opening it up to an illustration of a pale ghostly figure. "That's why I wanted to use one! You guys have been tearing through the enemies.”

“Oh you cannot say that when Rhess was almost killed by the siren," Schneep says. "...well, since then.”

“Alright, it's my turn!" Marvin runs to the side and fires off an Eldritch Blast. 

The beam blasts the ghost and pushes it ten feet away from Bro, to his right. Its hp goes down to 31. 

"What?! Why did your lightning work but Bro's didn't?!" Chase gasps. 

Marvin cackles. "Because it's not lightning! It's force damage!" 

“Ohh that makes sense! Mine was all thunder damage!” Bro grins. “Good job Marv!” He gives him an enthusiastic thumbs up. Then he looks up to the rest of the party. “Alright other little dudes! Let’s see what you can do!” 

Chase grins. "Well, I don't think I can do much against the ghost but uhhh... I'll try!" He holds up his arm crossbow and the bow part pops out, a bolt already in place. He fires at the ghost. But it flies right through her form. 

"Shoot!" Chase curses. 

"Remember your bonus actions, Chase!" Jackie shouts from above. 

"Ah right!" Chase nods. He rushes over to the ghost, taking out his dagger and slashing at her twice. 

The ghost's form gets disrupted, her hp rolling down to 28. A glowing number 3 appears by Chase's head and changes to a 2. 

"Aaaand I think that's all I can do!" he says.  

“Whoo! Good job little me!!” Bro cheers. 

Chase beams proudly. 

But now it's the crawling hands' turn. The group of two zoom across the floor over to JJ, crawling up his legs. He yelps in surprise. 

The group of three land on Alt's shoulders. He can feel their nails digging into him, trying to do damage! 

Alt yelps in surprise too but- the hands don’t do any damage to him. He starts to rip them off of him- or at least try. 

Unfortunately, he can't quite seem to grab them--his hand stops an inch from each of them. 

It's not our turn, Alt! JJ says, though he looks pretty uncomfortable with the weird claws climbing up his legs. A blue 16 is hovering--his armor class keeping them at bay. 

A 14 blooms green next to Alt, his armor class holding strong too, and he grits his teeth as he tries to move. Then he catches JJ’s signs and he stops trying. He shudders, hating that he has to let these things just sit on him.

"It's mine!" Stacy says, nodding. "And I have an idea!" She runs up the stairs, then stops halfway and starts climbing over the railing so she's on the outside. 

“Oh Stacy, be careful!” Oliver calls out in worry. 

"Don't worry, falling doesn't hurt as much in this world!" Stacy says. She pulls out a short sword and looks down. The ghost is directly below her. 

"Stacy this doesn't count as a sneak attack," Jackie says. 

"You don't know that! She's not paying attention!”

“She can see you up there!”

“No she can't! She's looking at Cara Kalla!" Stacy points. 

Jackie sighs. "Fine. You'll have to roll acrobatics to hit her, though.”

“I can do that!" Stacy says, and jumps off the staircase, swiping at the ghost. Numbers roll quickly, a 24, a  22 to hit- then extra sneak attack damage! 

Her sword cuts through the ghost, knocking the hp down to 21. 

"Fuck yeah!" Marvin shouts. 

Oliver’s jaw drops, “T-that was amazing, Stacy!!”

“Yeah!! Rogues rogue rogues!!” Alt shouts. 

"Rogues rogues rogues!" Stacy grins triumphantly as she chants along. 

But now it's the ghost's turn, finally. She looks around, then looks down at Chase, who's closest to her. She reaches forward, hand passing into his chest--

"Whoa, hey, what?!" Chase gasps. Numbers roll by his head.. But only land on a 6. 

The ghost then vanishes, and a misty white smoke surrounds Chase. His eyes widen. "Oh no." And then he tries to stab Bro with his dagger! 

Bro cries out as the ghost goes for Chase and he tries to move his sword to help but finds himself stuck. Right, it's not his turn! “W-woah little me h-hey!” Bro shouts in surprise and then yells out in pain as Chase’s dagger slices across his cheeks. He staggers back and holds his cheek, staring wide eyed at Chase. Orange numbers go from 25 to 22 by Bro’s head.  

"Sorry! I think the ghost is doing that?" Chase says. He looks around. Then he hops in place a couple times. He wiggles his arms. "Okay. I can move around if it's like... me doing it, but if I think about Lee doing an Action then I can't do it." 

JJ's eyes widen. Are you okay?! 

"I'm fine!" Chase says. "Don't worry! I just--don't know how to get the ghost out.”

“Oh the ghost is possessing Lee then- not you since we’re not technically here. That’s… honestly fascinating,” Alt observes.

“Jackie!" Marvin looks up at him. "Hint?”

“Uh--normally I wouldn't do this but considering the implications of you being in the game--" Jackie scans the page in the Monster Manual. "Ghosts can possess people, they'll use your stats but not your features. It lasts until the ghost ends it, the ghost is repelled, or the person being possessed drops to 0 hp." 

“Uh- hopefully we have something to get the ghost out of Chase! Or uh- Lee I guess?” Bro says, “Maybe one of my paladin spells can help… when it’s my turn, of course.” 

"Yeah, knights have like--holy abilities!" Jackie says. "Depending on your Vow you might be able to cast Repel Undead.”

“Schneep, don't you have some sort of 'repel evil' potion?" Stacy asks. 

"I, ah--got rid of it since I never used it," Schneep says. 

Chase laughs. 

JJ looks very uncomfortable with this whole situation. But there's not much he can do about it, so he turns his attention to the more immediate problem. Jackie, will it do damage if I throw these hands against the wall? he asks. 

"Uh--yeah, but you'll have to do a strength check, I think," Jackie says. 

JJ nods. He tilts his head to the side, cracking his neck, and his eyes start to glow orange. An orange image of a bear appears around him before briefly fading away. He grabs the two hands on his legs and throws them as hard as he can towards the wall. 

The hands hit the hall with two identical crack! sounds and then fall to the ground, unmoving. 

“Ohhh fuck yeah little Jay!! That was so cool!!” Bro cheers.

 Alt and Oliver also look impressed. 

Alt smirks, “the quiet kids deserve to go ape shit every once in a while.” Then he realizes it’s his turn. He looks around and then decides to try to blend in the shadows and hide- using his cunning action. He easily blends into the shadow and then starts to draw back his bow to aim at the ghost- but freezes as he realizes that means he’ll hit Chase, “ah… shit. I… I dunno what to do- I… I can’t hit Chase!” 

"It's okay, Alt! It doesn't hurt in this world," Chase says. 

"That does not make it easy to hit someone you know, though," Schneep points out.

"If you want, Alt, you can ready an action," Jackie says. "You know--so that once the ghost appears you hit it immediately!" 

“Oh! That’s a good point- I’ll do that then,” Alt says with a nod, keeping his arrow nocked. 

“Oh! Jackie I have lesser restoration, could that help Chase?” Oliver asks as he looks up to Jackie. 

"Lesser huh?" Jackie blinks. "Hold on." He picks up a second book labeled the Player's Handbook and flips through it. "God so many spells here... You end a condition or disease on someone... paralyzed, poisoned, blinded/deafened... I don't know? Huh. If Bro doesn't have a better skill I'd say it's worth a shot!" 

“Oh lemme think-“ Bro says, thinking through his spells. “I just have healing spells I think… lay on hands or divine smite… So I say give it a chance, Oli. Radiant damage might help but that’s still damage…” 

Oliver nods and he rushes over to Chase and lays a hand on his shoulder, casting Lesser restoration. 

Chase inhales sharply--and numbers start to roll… eventually landing on a 2. 

"Chase!" Schneep shouts. 

"It's not my fault! Don't say it like it's my fault!" Chase protests. 

"It is absolutely your fault for deciding Charisma was not worth it!”

“Well how was I supposed to know so many skills used it for a saving throw?!" 

Oliver blinks then hides a laugh at their antics. “It’s okay! We’ll figure something out!” 

"Yeah, if the worst comes to worst I can help," Jackie says. 

Schneep looks through his potions. "I do not have much to help--oh! Chase, can you willingly fail a save?”

“Uh, yeah?”

“Alright, fail this, then." Schneep rushes over and pours something from a bottle onto Chase's head. 

Chase splutters for a bit. "Bro!”

“It is a paralyzing potion," Schneep explains. "That way the ghost will not be able to fight with your body--or, ah, Lee's body?" 

Chase tests out his movement. "It's the same as with the ghost, I can move but I can't when I think of Lee doing it." 

“Oh nice thinking, Schneep!” Bro grins. “Okay- let’s see if some radiant damage can help…” He rushes at Chase and aims his sword but goes to attack with the flat of it. 

There's a loud SMAK! noise and a 16 pops up next to the sword. 

Stacy winces. "I know it doesn't hurt but it definitely sounds bad.”

“I'm fine!" Chase assures him. "I, uh--didn't even take any damage." A 17 is protecting his chest. 

I still think it sucks how YOU have more armor than ME, JJ says. We have the same feature! 

"Yeah but my stats are better," Chase says smugly. 

“Man! I was trying to use divine smite but that only works on a hit…” Bro pouts. 

"It's okay!" Chase laughs. 

"Is that the end of your turn, Bro?" Marvin asks. "Cause I'm looking at my spells here--" He has a book open, black with a red gem in the center. "--aaaand I don't think I have anything to help." 

Jackie frowns. "Might be time to exercise my CM powers." 

“Yeah I don’t have extra attack or anything…” Bro sighs. 

“Man if I had my actual magic this would be so much easier…” Alt grumbles. 

"Alright--well. CM powers away, then." Jackie clears his throat. "The ghost can choose to end the possession at any time. I think that since Schneep used that paralysis potion she's gonna decide there's not much she can do while possessing Lee." 

The whitish mist lifts away from Chase. 

"Does that make narrative sense?" Jackie asks. 

“That makes perfect sense,” Oliver nods. 

The ghost reforms in an empty space five feet from Chase--thus triggering Alt's readied action! Fire! 

Alt grins and lets loose his arrow. A 10 pops up, and the arrow sails right through her form. 

Jackie groans. "Just barely! Booo!”

Alt curses and lowers his bow. “This ghost is getting on my fucking nerves!”

“Well, I know what I'm doing, at least." Marvin closes his book and looks at the ghost, muttering something under his breath. 

The ghost clutches her head and shrieks. Her hp rolls down to just 10. 

"Ha!" Marvin grins. "Psychic attack! Fuck you!" 

Alt grins at him. “Hey! Awesome job dude!” 

Marvin grins right back. "Thank you! Totally worth the spell slot!”

“Alright, lemme just..." Chase's face screws up in concentration, a 12 popping up. 

Schneep winces. "Sorry, Chase, that does not break the paralysis.”

“Can't you just freaking stop it yourself?!”

“No! That is the con of the potion master!”

“Well, guess that's my turn!" Chase grumbles. 

The moment he says that, Alt feels the hands on him trying to attack again. 

The bright green 14 shows up by Alt again, pulsing strong. He doesn’t feel any damage. “Why are these little buggers still here…” he snorts. 

“Guess they like you!” Oliver snickers.  

Stacy giggles nervously. "Um... I can help, since it's my turn." She hurries over to Alt, taking out a dagger. "Um..." And she tries to stab one, but only rolls an 8. It seems like she doesn't put that much force into it, and her dagger just bounces off. "Welp," she says, and backs away again. 

“Thanks for trying Stacy,” Alt smiles. 

Now it's the ghost's turn again. She looks around at the group, her form flickering, and frowns. Then she floats over to Bro and reaches out, touching his skin. 

Bro yelps and jumps away as the ghost tries to touch him. A bright orange 19 pulses by his head and he laughs. “Ha! Nice try ghost!” 

The ghost backs away from him, anticipating some retaliation on his turn--but she edges close to JJ, who is able to move on his turn. He grabs his flail and rushes forward, swinging it at her. A 24 rolls out, then another 7 for damage as the spiky ball crashes into the ghost's form--the 7 getting doubled to a 14 for the critical hit, but then getting halved back to 7 due to the ghost's resistance. 

“YEAHHH GO JJ!!!” Bro cheers, pumping his fists in the air.

She shouts in surprise--and holds up her hands. "Waaaaait! I... surreeeeender!" Getting knocked down to just 3 hp must have really made an impact. 

Alt bares his teeth at the ghost. “If ya surrender, take us to whoever’s in charge here.” 

"What do you intend to dooo?" The ghost asks. 

"We were never gonna hurt them!" Marvin says. "We have some questions about someone who disappeared. We think they might know something." A green 10 appears next to his head, a persuasion roll! 

The ghost frowns, doubtful. "If you only have questions, whyyyy did you break into our hooooouse of death?" 

“Because your doors were locked. How else were we supposed to find someone to talk to?” Alt growls. 

"They were locked for ooooour protection!" The ghost protests. 

"Okay so persuasion might not work," Stacy says. "Should we threaten a ghost?" 

JJ lifts up the flail again, resting it on his shoulder. I think it's a good idea.  

Bro points his sword at the ghost and glares. “We’re already here, I would cooperate if you don’t want to become a pile of ectoplasm.” A bright orange 15 appears next to his intimidating display.

The ghost cringes. "Ohhhhh very well." She floats up, then passes through the double doors with the crown carved on them. There's a small clunk sound and they open, creaking outwards and revealing a short stone staircase lined with lanterns with more red flames inside. "This waayyyyy," the ghost says, floating down the stairs. 

Bro smiles and sheathes his sword. “There! Cooperation!” He smiles at the others then starts to follow after the ghost. 

Alt and Oliver almost seem hesitant to move- then realize they can since combat has been dropped. They hurry after Bro. 

Chase quickly follows the adults, bringing his glowing knife to light up the area for those without darkvision. The rest come afterwards. 

The staircase is only six steps. They walk down it, following the ghost, and end up in a stone brick room, lined with more of those red lanterns. At the end of a short aisle is a black marble statue of a woman in an elaborate ballgown, so elaborate that it might have been carved with magic. The woman holds a sword in two hands, which looks like it can be lifted up and taken. Lining the aisle are coffins and caskets of all kinds. Some are upright, leaning against the wall, while others are horizontal, lying on the floor. 

Alt looks at the statue with awe. Never in all his life does he think he can make something that beautiful. Bro’s eyes land on the sword- his eyes shining. 

Oliver looks around at the coffins and caskets warily. “Um… w-where exactly is your leader, m-ma’am?” He asks timidly. 

"A mooooment." The ghost floats over to a stone casket built into the floor and leans through the lid. After a moment, the lid opens, stone grinding against stone, and someone sits up from lying down. 

"Gah! Vampire!" Chase shouts. 

"Vampire!" Stacy also shouts, though she sounds excited and not alarmed. Alt also looks excited about the possibility of a vampire.

"Oh. Visitors. No, I am not a vampire." The person who was lying in the casket is a man with black skin, black hair, and pointed ears. His hair covers one of his yellow eyes, and he's wearing black robes lined with red. "I am simply another lost soul, drifting through the depths of the ocean that we call life.”

“ ...dude what?" Marvin laughs. 

"My name is Dusk," the man says. "I am the head Vigil here at the House of Lady Haunt." 

“Oh uh- hello…” Oliver waves sheepishly. 

Alt coughs and gets into his swift voice, “Vigil Dusk, we’re lookin’ fer information on a worshipper of yours. Name’s Akai Nokori. Know anythin’?” 

"Oh... is that all? It must be urgent, if you didn't flee at the sight of Rio here." Dusk tilts his head towards the ghost. "Akai, was it?" He picks up a book from inside the casket as well--looks like there's a whole stack of them in there with him, piled up on the bottom which has been lined with velvet. He starts flipping through this one. 

"...unusual question," Schneep says. "But it seems you and, ah, Rio are wearing different robes. Is yours... because you are... in charge?”

“Rio died ten years ago," Dusk says, continuing to look through the book. "Our garments have changed since then. Another sign of the impermanence of life, forever marked by change as people continue to seek that which is new to them.”

“Man, I'm almost glad you guys got sucked into the game for this NPC," Jackie says. "I was nervous about voicing him as flowery as I wanted but he's just doing it on his own." 

Alt laughs, “I like him. He’s great.”

“You would like this guy,” Bro chuckles. “He’s right up your alley.” 

"I like him too!" Stacy adds. "He's cool," Marvin agrees. Jackie smiles. "Thanks! I thought he'd be fun.”

Alt gets back into his swift voice, “Nokori has disappeared as well as a few others- we’re tryin’ t’find info on him to hopefully locate the others who are missin’.” 

“Disappearances... that's unfortunate," Dusk says. He closes the book. "What's even more unfortunate is that I can't find the name Akai Nokori in our list of worshippers.”

“Huh?!" Chase blinks. "But--that has to be the case! They were seen wearing red robes, and this is the only god in the city with red in their colors!”

“Except for the fact that clearly, the Vigils here wear black robes lined with red," Schneep says, pointing to Dusk's outfit. 

"Red robes...?" Dusk muses. "I... may not know the target you're looking for, but I may know something that's still useful. You see... over the past couple months, we've lost a significant number of worshippers. One of them came back to see me. She was very smug about finding some new place that 'did more for her' than Lady Haunt could. And she was wearing red robes." 

"Oh! That could be the lead we need!" Bro says excitedly, "Do you know anything more about the god she was talking about?”

“Maybe... it's more of a cult than an established place of worship..." Alt mumbles. 

"She was not very specific... but I'm willing to agree with your bluebird friend here," Dusk says. 

"There is no well-known god in the city whose worshippers wear red robes." Marvin sighs. "Well... fuck. What the hell do we do, then?”

“Anything you know, anything at all!" Stacy encourages. 

"I don't pay much attention to the world beyond the House," Dusk says slowly. "And even less so in recent times. Not since I asked Rio to start guarding the House against those who weren't on our list of worship." 

Why did you do that, anyway? JJ asks. 

"We had a bit of trouble a couple weeks ago. Someone broke in and stole Lady Haunt's crown." Dusk points towards the statue at the end. There is a slight ring of scratches around the statue's head. "They splattered some blue paint all over, too. I had to clean that up. It was so much trouble." 

Oliver perks up, "There was blue paint on the World Circle's temple too! Do you think this group of red robed people could be related to the same guys causing trouble with the paint?”

“I mean... guess they wouldn't need to match their robes to their paint color-" Alt says. "So... it's a possibility.”

“I'm so sorry your lady's crown got stolen..." Bro says sympathetically. "It makes sense why you had the temple guarded."  

"Thank you." Dusk nods towards Bro. "You're very kind, sir. It was only a small one, but even small crowns for the Lady carry some power. If you find it, I'd ask that you bring it back... but don't go out of your way.”

“Hey, Marvin, can you roll a religion check?" Jackie asks. 

Marvin blinks. "Huh? Me specifically?”

“Yeah.”

“ Uh... sure." A green 16 rolls next to Marvin’s head. 

"Oh thank god," Jackie breathes. "Okay. Marvin. You're forgetting something very important. What is Reign's main color?”

“...........oh!" Marvin's eyes widen. He takes out the book he had in the fight earlier. "Red!" He taps the red jewel in the center. 

"Oh! It's Cara Kalla's old religion!" Alt says. 

"Why didn't we think about that?" Oliver chuckles. 

"Sweet! We have an expert then! Marvin- do you know where Reign's worshippers gather?" Bro asks Marvin. 

"Hmm... well, Cara Kalla's backstory is that she found an altar in the forest and thought it was for one of the gods," Marvin says slowly. "But it was actually for Reign. Oh! I get it!" His eyes widen. "Reign pretends to be some other religion to outsiders! So--any one of these places might be for her, actually!" 

Jackie nods excitedly. 

JJ frowns. I don't like that there's some Elder Thing worship happening under everyone's noses...  

"ohhh- that's so devious though!" Bro says, nodding with JJ. "That's very evil...”

“Okay so- seems like we have more temples to check out," Alt says, "We had... the Green Thrones, the Blinding Light and the Fear Knight left... I think?" 

"Hmm." Stacy bites her lip. "If I was an evil eldritch cult pretending to be some other god, which one would I choose? Probably one that would like... not draw attention?" 

Oliver nods, "One you'd be least likely to expect...”

“Or- what if it went after the one that would get it the most followers?" Alt says, "Trick the whole town into worshipping you and you'd have a massive army." 

“Yeah... but I think we would have heard something more about that if that's what was happening," Bro says. He looks to the kids, "What do you guys think?" 

Schneep frowns. "I agree with big Chase. I am sure Princess Yomma would have told us if there was some whispers like that. All she has said is that people are disappearing--oh, and that some monster attacks are happening more.”

“Riiiight, I almost forgot about that part," Chase says. "I dunno if that's related, though. Could just be, like, building the world." 

Stacy looks over at Dusk. "What do you think? Do you know anything about the last three religions? The Blinding Light, the Green Thrones, or the Fear Knight?" 

Dusk frowns. "I know the Light and the Knight have some fearsome reputations to their name... So much so that Lady Haunt often takes in former worshippers of theirs who thought they were too intense." 

"I mean... that's at least a place to start," Alt says. "They both seem kinda fitting for some Eldritch thing to like- take over.”

“Yeah, I was wondering if it would go for the Light out of all of those..." Bro hums. "Though Fear also seems fitting.”

“Well, which is closer? Let's start there." Oliver suggests.  

Schneep takes out his map. "It looks like from here... it is the Church of the Blinding Light.”

“Everyone put your sunglasses on!" Chase says jokingly. 

Bro laughs, "Good one, little me!" He holds his hand up for a high five. Chase eagerly high-fives Bro.

"Good luck with your search," Dusk says. "We will be here... as always." He leans back down and pulls the casket lid back into place. 

"Rio, remember to let them through if they come back." 

Rio frowns. She gives the group a side glance, then nods. "Of cooourse." Then she disappears. 

 Alt and Bro give hard glances at Rio as she leaves. 

"Thank you Vigil Dusk for your help!" Oliver smiles. 

"Anytime," Dusk says, and sighs in a moody way. 

He's not very talkative... unless he's being all poetic, JJ says. 

"You guys want to just timeskip?" Jackie asks. 

"Sure CM!" Bro smiles up at Jackie. 

Jackie gives the party a thumbs-up. "Alright, so, you all leave the House of Lady Haunt and make your way to the Church." 

A blur later, the group is standing in front of a tall marble building. This is the first temple they've been to that really feels like a place of worship. There's a fountain in the courtyard filled with some sort of liquid gold material, and behind it is a staircase leading up to a grand front entrance with marble columns. There are two big stained glass windows, one featuring a rising sun and the other featuring a female figure. One of the columns has a splatter of blue paint on it. 

Bro's eyes sparkle as he sees the temple. "Woahhh! This is a place Seraph would absolutely love!! Look at how cool this place is!!" He rushes towards the fountain then eagerly gestures to it, "Look at this fucking fountain!! How dope is this?!" 

Alt and Oliver laugh at Bro's excitement. 

"Ja, what is this?" Schneep leans forward, putting his hand in the fountain. "Hmm... I know what Rhess would do in this moment." He takes out an empty bottle an scoops up some of the liquid. 

"I knew you'd do that," Jackie laughs. "You want to use your Examine on that next short rest?”

“Mm-hmm!" 

Bro grins, "Nice! I'm curious to see what that is!" 

Then, Alt notices the blue paint on the column and gets closer to look at it. 

On the other side of the column, a man sits on the ground. A human man with blonde hair, wearing a bright yellow set of robes. There's a brush next to him but he's not doing anything with it. He looks up at Alt as he shows up. "Ohhh more people." He sighs and stands up. "Did you come to see My Lady?" 

Oliver walks up with Alt- and Alt is startled a bit by the man and flares out his wings slightly. Then he coughs and curls them back up. "Uh- maybe? We're lookin' for someone. Have you heard of Akai Nokori?" 

The kids notice Alt and Oliver talking to the man. 

"C'mon," Chase says, gesturing at Bro. Bro blinks and follows after the kids. They all head over as well. 

"No, that name definitely isn't familiar... but I'm not all that good at names," the man says. "Maybe My Lady would know. We can go to pray to her for answers." 

Marvin frowns. "I don't like this guy." 

But if we go inside, we can look around for any sign of a secret other god, JJ points out. 

"Is there not like... a general like person in charge of the temple?" Oliver asks. 

"There is, but he's gone on a journey to meet with other Church leaders around the world," the man says. "A conference. It's just me here to keep the Church clean. Ohhh, I can't believe this happened when I was here alone. Of all the luck." He looks at the blue paint splatter and sighs, then turns back to the others. "Besides, My Lady would know over him. She sees everything." 

Schneep takes a step backwards. "I agree with you, Marvin, I do not like this man," he mutters. "He is too in love with his 'Lady.'" 

Oliver nods to Marvin and Schneep. "Yeah... its kinda creepy.”

“I mean- some people are just really into their fate?" Bro tries to defend. "The death guy also said the Blinding Light guys were intense," Marvin says. "The death guy. There's nothing more intense than fucking death." 

"... that is a very good point actually," Bro replies.

Alt tilts his head at the brush next to the man, only really half-listening to what he’s saying. 

…Yep, that's a brush alright. Alt frowns as his attempt to learn more falls flat- a 7 rolling next to his head. He looks up at the paint, "Did you see who did this? We've seen a couple other temples get marked by this same blue paint." 

The man looks at the blue paint. He sighs. "No. I never see anything, I just woke up to a noise and by the time I got here, the culprit was gone. All that was left was this paint and some word in Primordial. At least I scrubbed that away." 

“Damn, Primordial... I only know Celestial." Bro sighs. 

"Primordial...?" Chase repeats. "What's that? Who speaks that?”

“ Oh, older beings--not gods like My Lady," the man says. "Elementals, deep sea creatures, aboleths... nothing that people would encounter every day." 

"Oh, well it’s a shame about your… predicament," Oliver says, "Perhaps we will uh- pay a visit to your lady.”

"Yes, please, go visit My Lady," the man says, suddenly eager. "Being in her presence is incredible.”

“Yeah, uh, we'll go do that now," Marvin says, heading in. 

Meanwhile, Stacy sneaks into the church through the big front doors. She comes back out a minute later, looking disappointed. "Stupid rolls." 

Alt blinks down at Stacy and looks back at the front doors. "What were you trying to look for?" He asks. 

Stacy shrugs. "Just anything suspicious.”

“I'll look, then," Marvin says. 

After a while, Marvin says, "I don't see anything suspicious in here. I don't really like this temple, but I don't think there's anything uh... Well there's definitely nothing related to Reign." 

“Well… that’s good, I guess.” Alt says, as he, Oliver and Bro walk in after Marvin. “Should we just- skip looking into this temple then?”

“Well- maybe we could get valuable information speaking to their lady,” Oliver says. “It couldn’t hurt to try?” 

The inside of the temple is shaped like an octagon, a domed ceiling overhead. Three walls have stained-glass windows on them. Benches surround a statue in the center, a large carving of a woman in a loose dress with a tiara. The material is glowing slightly. The plinth the statue is on has a word carved on each side, written in different scripts. The Common one reads "Paralu, Our Lady." 

Bro also sees the same phrase in Celestial, and Alt can read another script, instinctively knowing that as 'Birdspeech,' and Oliver recognizes Gnomish, as well. 

Look, this is Elvish, JJ says. 

"And Dwarvish, here," Chase points.  

"Oh! They have the phrase in every language then, that's inviting!" Bro says. 

"Or creepy..." Alt mutters. 

"Listen man- I wanna root for this one not being the evil one for my guy, Seraph," Bro sighs, gesturing. "Even if they're kinda intense, so far they seem to just be eager to have followers! That's pretty standard for a religion, right?" 

"I'm pretty sure there's nothing too bad in here," Marvin says. 

"Oh yeah, because of your successful roll," Stacy grumbles. 

"Y'know, Stace... you get really upset when rolls don't work for you," Chase says. "U mad, bro?" 

Stacy blinks. Then laughs. "Yeah, I'm mad, 'bro.'“

Bro, Alt and Oliver blink then all burst into quiet giggles. "Oh my god- that was such a blast to the past...!" Bro laughs.

“Don't feel too bad, Stacy," Jackie reassures her. "The dice screw people over all the time. That's why I have that cup acting as dice jail." 

"It's okay Stacy, you kicked ass in the battle- sometimes the dice just needs to balance somewhere else." Alt says. 

"Okay so- guess we need to... pray to the lady now, huh? To try to get info? ...do I do that like how I prayed at church...?" Bro asks quietly, looking up at the statue of Paralu. 

The man in the yellow robes slinks into the church behind them. "You kneel at the foot of the statue," he says. "Silently ask for your wishes to be granted.”

“Oh holy fuck!" Marvin jumps in surprise and spins around. "Okay, uh, thanks! We can do this on our own!"

The man nods and goes back outside. 

"So we just... do this, then?" Chase gets on his knees, then hesitates and gets up again. "I don't think Lee would do that. He's already loyal to He Who Sees.”

“Yeah, and Cara Kalla has her thing with Reign, I don't think Reign would let her do that," Marvin says. 

"Rhess does not believe in praying," Schneep says. 

What's that supposed to mean? JJ asks. 

Schneep shrugs. "He is a science man, I think he is too committed to science to do things with gods.”

“Morgana wouldn't care enough," Stacy says.

"Swift also wouldn't care." Alt shrugs. 

"I think... uh- in our campaign at least since Ekos is fae or from the wilds, he would worship or know different gods than here so... he probably wouldn't." Oliver says. 

 ...well I think Ion would do it, JJ says, getting on his knees. But he has a -2 to intelligence so I don't know if he'll be able to reach out. 

"Well- Seraph would! Paralu seems like a goddess who brings light to the world and that's what he's trying to do so! I'll try it out!" Bro says, kneeling down next to JJ. He clasps his hands together and bows his head. 

"Ah- church trauma flashbacks," Alt snickers. 

Bro shushes him. 

"Church trauma?" Chase repeats. "What's that? Why would you be hurt by church? It's just a thing that happens.”

"Oh uh- we just didn't... like going much," Alt laughs nervously. 

“Maybe you guys just went to the wrong churches?" Stacy says. 

Jackie laughs nervously. "Uh anyway! I, uh, wasn't expecting you guys to do this so... make a religion check? And you can have advantage Bro, cause you're an angelborn--or whatever you called it." 

JJ nods. His face screws up in concentration. At first a 9, pops up… but then it changes to a 7. 

Bro nods and closes his eyes and tries to concentrate too. He gets a 7! But then that changes to a 6…

...but, after a moment of nothing happening, JJ raises his head again. I suppose we're not getting a response. 

Marvin laughs. 

JJ gets up and shoves him. The two of them have a brief shoving contest. 

Bro opens up one eye and then groans. "Man! I thought I had that...!" 

Alt and Oliver hide their laughter. 

"Well, I normally wouldn't do this, buuuut... you want to fudge the rolls?" Jackie says. "I'll give you a little hint. Or, uh... Paralu will. But it'll really come from me." 

"Yeah... guess that's okay..." Bro pouts. 

"If you could fudge the rolls this whole time why don't you just do it all the time?" Chase asks. 

"Well because then it's no fun if just anything can happen," Jackie says. "That's like asking if you can turn on God Mode in a video game, why don't you always play in it?”

“Ahhhh." Chase nods. "For the challenge.”

“Also it seems like this world partly does the rolls for us anyway," Marvin says. 

"Anyway..." Jackie says. "Bro, you get a message in your mind... a fuzzy image..." 

Indeed, Bro does get a fuzzy image beamed into his mind, surrounded by bright light. A... chair? Two chairs? 

Bro blinks as he gets the image and hums, "uh... I see- two chairs?" He looks at the kids, "Does that mean anything to anyone?”

“ ...the green thrones?" Alt guesses. "Cuz... multiple?" 

"Oh! Yeah!" Marvin nods. "I should've said this earlier, but the Green Thrones are also a two-theism.”

“Oh, I went over to the computer to look up some stuff, actually," Jackie says, "and there's no word for a religion with just two gods, so I've decided to make up the word duotheism. There are actually a handful of those in Caverns and Creatures lore." 

Marvin nods. "Duotheism." 

"Ohhh that sounds so official," Oliver says. 

Alt makes a thinking face. "If they're a duotheism then.. it'd probably be really easy for this elder thing to take over one side... right?”

“And hide behind a colored name so we wouldn't suspect them! We were gonna completely discard the green thrones!" Bro says. 

"Let us go find it, then!" Schneep says, taking out his map again. 

"Timeskip time?" Jackie asks. 

Bro laughs, "Yeah! Hit it CM!"