Peace Camden returns shortly and grabs another cup of coffee before joining us at the table.

"Alright, let us begin the briefing," Peace says. "What has Melody told you about what you're getting into?"

"That the Sacred Bell is in the Temple of Light in Westminster," I say.

Peace looks at Melody. "I take it you left before you saw what happened afterward?"

"What happened?" Melody asks.

"Monsters started spawning inside the Temple of Light," Peace says. "Every time the bell rang, more monsters would appear. And it started ringing every hour, on the hour. Someone from Hush was brought in to put a silence curse on the bell in hopes of it stopping the monsters from spawning, but it did not and had some unintended side effects. I'm glad you're here to fix this."

"Side effects?" I prompt.

"While the bell was ringing, the monsters remained inside the temple, like a normal dungeon. Now, they've been leaving. Strange creatures flying out of the upper windows of the temple, swarming all over Gleam every night and bringing an aura of silence with them."

Melody gasps at the description. "Oh no…"

"Basic-rank Hush Moths, Elite-rank Hush Bats, and Heroic-rank Hush Owls," Peace says. "I had to train more personnel with ranged attacks and anti-swarm abilities to deal with them. We instituted a curfew to keep people safe inside at night."

"So there was a good reason for the curfew…" Jade says.

"I have no doubt that a group of Elite adventurers such as yourselves would not have had a problem with them unless more than one Hush Owl showed up at once, but they pose a serious danger to Basic children and civilians. We issued permits to everyone Elite and higher with combat experience. I take it you didn't have time to fill out applications and wait on paperwork."

I nod. "Yeah, sorry, I have another quest that needs me to be back in Tempest at the end of the month and the guard at the lift said it might take four to six weeks for permission to use the lifts, so we went through the caves. Got some great experience down there, too, so I can't complain too much of the detour."

"I will have someone get you expedited permits so that you can hunt at night so long as you are here," Peace says. "There is a bounty posted for any Hush monsters killed. If you are feeling daring, your Bard could draw them out. Hush Owls are attracted to music and any nearby will attack anyone they detect singing or playing music. After the Ringing, groups sprang up singing in alleyways and crafting makeshift musical instruments, but many of them were injured or killed when their songs unwittingly called monsters to them."

"So there was a good reason for the instrument ban too…" Jade says, frowning deeply.

"It sounds like this person from Hush did more damage than Bucky did," Misty comments.

"That may be so," Peace says with a sigh. "And I fear I know naught else about this person or where they went."

Melody puts her face in her palms. "I haven't been home in months and I didn't know any of this was going on at all. Well, I trust Drake will do a better job of it!"

"Do you think it might have been deliberate sabotage?" Jade wonders.

"I know not," Peace says. "I would have hoped that no human would stoop so low as to inflict monsters upon innocents, but I cannot know what evil lurks in people's hearts."

"Alright, we can get to Westminster today, right?" I say. "Let's go put a stop to the source of the wandering monsters, and then we can hunt down any stragglers afterward."

We gather our belongings and Jade returns the pilfered scarves. She almost seems disappointed that we don't need a disguise anymore and keeps muttering, "I still can't believe that actually worked."

Being escorted by an Epic Paladin in uniform probably attracts more attention than our dark hair ever would have, but absolutely no one wants to stop us.

We reach Westminster in short order and settle in at the closest guest house to the Temple of Light to get some lunch before we make our delve. Or climb, as the case may be, as this is the sort of dungeon that goes up and not down.

Inside the guest house, a woman with odd streaked red-and-gold hair exclaims, "Melody!"

Name: (Color?) Westminster Gleam Tiganna Race: Human | Gender: Female | Rank: Elite | Tier: Journeyman | Class: Lively Hearthkeeper Disposition: Friendly | Mood: Starting to look up

"Aunt Roan!" Melody says, going over to hug her and helpfully providing the name my skill didn't quite catch.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

I'm sure the word 'Roan' in Common sounds nothing like 'Rowan', but I'm going to think of her as 'Hearthkeeper Roan' to avoid any confusion. I don't care enough to ask whether her hair is dyed or just naturally weird. I've met elves with pink hair before.

"We've been so worried about you!" Hearthkeeper Roan says. "Where have you been? Who are these people?"

Melody gives a quick round of introductions. "We're here on a quest to fix the bell and stop the monsters from coming out of the dungeon!"

"Oh, that's wonderful! Are you hungry? Let me get you and your new friends something to eat. You don't want to go fighting monsters on an empty stomach!"

We readily agree, and take a seat at a table while Hearthkeeper Roan swoops over to the kitchen area. She taps a couple of apprentices to help distribute food, and soon we've got bowls full of hearty vegetable soup and plates with cheese sandwiches on the table before us.

Given the information that she might not be able to use her Bard skills inside the dungeon, Melody swaps her hurdy-gurdy for a staff.

"I usually use [Stone Hurling] if I need a ranged attack, but I don't want to break any windows," she says.

The Temple of Light is a massive white building with stained glass windows and a clock tower. The windows are very colorful, but if they're meant to depict anything specific, I can't figure out what they're supposed to be. Judging by the flows of aether and vis, the core is located in the basement.

We steady ourselves and head inside. Peace follows behind us, ready to step in if needed, but otherwise letting us clear out the lower floors for experience ourselves.

The dungeon doors open into the most generic, nondenominational church/temple I could imagine. The pews are undecorated. No specific symbols adorn the walls. No holy book sits on the lectern.

Every single pew is packed with clouds of ethereal white moths that let off an eerie sound-dampening mist, each of them about the size of my hand.

Type: Insect | Rank: Basic | Class: Hush Moth | Disposition: Hostile

The moths swarm all over us and try to bite us, but Rowan's [Protection] skill keeps them from getting too close. I wave my wand at them and blast them with [Electric Current], trying to see how many jumps of chain lightning I can get and how many moths I can kill in one casting.

This turns into a bit of a competition as Misty does the same with her frost wand, clouds of freezing fog taking down entire swarms with much less fanfare than my glorified bug zapper.

"What did you use this place for?" I have to wonder once the bugs and their silence effect are gone.

"We normally have lectures here," Melody says. "I got so many levels in Knowledge skills in here when I was a Novice! It might not be so bad having monsters in here if they stayed in the tower, though."

"So the Temple of Light is a… school?" I ask in puzzlement.

"Yeah! What else would it be?"

"Considering I've seen the signs outside of the Hidden Glade, I'm not sure what else I was expecting."

I examine the area with all my senses and skills to see if I might spot the secret way into the core room. I don't usually do this as normally it isn't necessary, but something is very wrong here and if we need to change the parameters of the dungeon, that's where we'll need to do it from. I can't quite pin down how to get in from a cursory inspection, so we head for the stairs up.

The tower is full of strange white bats whose wings flap completely silently, letting off the same mist as the moths did.

Type: Bat | Gender: Male | Rank: Elite | Class: Hush Bat Disposition: Hostile | Mood: Excited to claw your face off

They're tougher than the moths, but much less numerous. They still try to swarm us, so we have to be careful not to try to take on too many at once lest Peace have to step in. The windows in the tower are all wide open, and we close them once we've cleared out the bats.

Another set of stairs, and the next floor up contains a single snow-white owl, only slightly larger than a normal owl and letting off the same silencing mist as the other monsters.

Type: Avian | Gender: Female | Rank: Heroic | Class: Hush Owl Disposition: Hostile | Mood: Happy to eat you

The Hush Owl doesn't hoot. Her wings make no sound as she dives straight at me like I'm a tasty mouse she just spotted hopping across a field. Rowan steps in the way, his shield up. The owl crashes into the shield and flutters back in a daze. We take advantage of that momentary disorientation to pile on damage. The monster recovers after a second, but we don't relent. Lightning, ice, air, sword, and staff all strike the creature.

"I was expecting something tougher," Melody says once the boss is down and we're closing the windows. "Aside from the annoying silence effect, it wasn't that strong."

"We're not at the top floor yet," I point out. "And that was only a single monster. It didn't leave a chest, so it wasn't even a boss."

On the next floor, there's another Hush Owl, accompanied by a handful of bats this time. The one after that contains a pair of Hush Owls, and it's at that point that Peace has to step in before we get seriously hurt. [Serpent's Bite] barely does anything to them, and their talons rip through Rowan's [Protection] forcefield.

"I take back what I said about them being easy," Melody says as Rowan heals a cut on her face.

"You did very well to get this far on your own, kids," Peace says. "I will take point from here."

Once we're healed up and get another set of windows closed, we let the Paladin take the lead and continue up to the next floor. Three Hush Owls dive at Peace, but she fends them off with a sweep of her sword. The metal flashes, and an arc of light rips into the monstrous birds.

Peace Camden is using an unknown skill. Aspects: Light, blade. Auto-naming: Invocation (Blade of Light)

"I have got to learn that skill," Rowan says once the monsters are down.

"I will give you lessons once we're done here," Peace offers.

"Do you promise?" Rowan pleads.

"I swear an oath as a Paladin that I will train you in my ways, should you wish it."

"Yes!" Rowan exclaims.

Finally, we reach the top of the tower. A massive bell hangs in the middle of the room flanked by four smaller bells, but it's the monstrous figure in front of them that draws my immediate attention.

Type: Avian | Gender: Male | Rank: Epic | Class: Hush Griffin Disposition: Hostile | Mood: Time to prove myself!

An elephant-sized white griffin rises onto leonine haunches and opens his beak to let out a wave of deafening silence.

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