Before settling in, I check the teacup I'd grabbed from the core room and use [Trace Connection] to see if I can pinpoint where the Warlock ran off to. Already a kilometer south of here and a hundred meters down. Seems she knew about an entrance to the sewers and scarpered. I'm not worried about catching up to her, but I'll try to monitor her position as I don't think my skill is yet good enough to reach another domain.

I turn my attention to the great bell. Now that I'm here, I need to figure out how to actually do the task I was hired for. Before I can re-attune it, I need to get rid of this curse, though. I try [Imbue Item] to push the concept of music and sound into the bell, but it doesn't actually do much to remove the curse that's already there.

What's the best way to get rid of this Hush aspect? There's a lot of bell here and a Warlock a rank higher than me had plenty of time to dump her aspect into it. Raw magical power will take me too long.

I remember watching [Mystic Guardian] Griza remove a curse on me once. A much weaker one, admittedly, that did nothing but mark my aura as a thief. What she did was transfer the curse into a mushroom rather than try to do anything with it. The mushroom could then be disposed of.

"Could someone run down to the Westminster guest house and bring me one of the leftover pumpkins?" I ask.

My party doesn't question the strange request, and a spooky pumpkin is in my hands in short order.

I grab a hold of the Hush aspect on the bell, not with my hands but with my will, and pull it toward the pumpkin. With the assistance of a caduceus, I establish a connection and manage to get a small bit firmly anchored inside the hapless gourd. With some trial and error, I set up a sort of magic siphon. I have to maintain focus to keep the flow steady, but it's effective and sees results.

Once the last of the Hush residue has been removed from the bell and is safely ensconced in its new vegetable prison, I receive a welcome system notification.

Skill acquired: Invocation (Mystic Siphon) Description: You may separate and transfer mystic aspects from one object to another.

"Alright, that's the curse gone," I say, holding up the pumpkin triumphantly.

"What are you going to do with the pumpkin?" Rowan wonders.

"Maybe throw it at a certain Warlock's house," I say. "I dunno. Just be sure nobody eats it. It might cause you to lose your voice or hiccup out Hush Moths or something."

Rowan eyes the pumpkin uneasily. "Noted."

With the Hush curse out of the way, I find a window to restore my Inspiration meter by staring at the sky for a bit before starting in on re-attuning the bell. I don't know what its aspects were before the Hush Warlock messed with it, but I have a good impression of what they should be. I bring to mind memories of giant bells in clock towers, and imagine them ringing out the hours across the city. I infuse the bell with the concept of music.

The clock ticks on, the sounds of its mechanisms much louder in this room now that the silencing curses have been removed. As I finish up, it reaches 5 o'clock, and the striker starts to move. The curved hammer arm attached to the clock mechanism taps out the hours on the outside of the massive bell.

BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG!

The great bell's clear tones echo out of the room and are probably audible across the entire Topside. Peace stares at the bell, enraptured and wide-eyed.

Challenge complete: Awaken the Silent Bell

The radiant speck of frozen experience on my aura sublimates and flows into my soul, filling me with a strange tingling sensation on the level of something that should not be capable of tingling.

"Perfect," I say with a grin, admiring the bell as it finishes ringing. "That's the way it should be. Bells are meant to sing."

We step outside the Temple of Light to find a small crowd has gathered in the plaza beneath the orange and yellow lights of Tiganna and the Great Orb in the sky above.

"What's going on here?" someone from the crowd demands.

"Are those adventurers?" says someone else.

"That's the Chief Warden of Camden," says another person. "Who are those kids?"

An old white-haired woman in a green dress emerges from the crowd and approaches us.

Name: Mint Westminster Gleam Tiganna Race: Human | Gender: Female | Rank: Epic | Tier: Elder | Class: Pedantic Librarian Disposition: Neutral | Mood: Confused, concerned

"Aunt Mint!" Melody says upon seeing her.

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"Melody?" Mint says. "It seems you have been busy. Care to fill me in? There aren't going to be monsters coming out of the Temple of Light to attack us, will there?"

"There will not," I say. "I was given a quest to fix the bell, and I have done so."

"Then why was it ringing?" Mint wonders.

"Bells are supposed to ring," I say. "That's what they're for."

Peace puts in, "I know not how it became forbidden to ring the bell, but if this is how it was supposed to be, then it was the suppression of music that was blasphemous, not the music itself."

Mint's aura swirls with puzzlement. "If my niece and the Chief Warden of Camden vouch for you, I will take your word on it. This is a cause for celebration, then. Why don't we reconvene at the guest house and you can fill us in over some food and drink?"

Soon, we're recounting our exploits in the midst of a party. Gleams don't seem to be quite sure how to party, but at least the food is… well, it's food. You know, of all the things the cores took inspiration from England, why did it have to make all the food bland? I'm sure real English food had to have been better than this. Oh well, maybe we can convince them that spices aren't blasphemous next once they get used to music.

We fill Mint in, and explain what happened in the dungeon. At least, what starts as me trying to summarize things concisely turns into Melody playing up the whole daring adventure. She has the crowd on the edge of their seats as she recounts the battle with the Hush Griffin. People gasp in shock and rage as she describes how the Warlock left us trapped in a murder dungeon.

"I knew we shouldn't have trusted that halfling," a man growls.

Westminster has offered you a challenge: Track down the Hush Warlock Description: The Hush Warlock who corrupted the Temple of Light got away. You picked up an object she had used to trace her location with. Find her and stop her. Reward: Experience, reputation with Westminster

The door bursts open and a young man exclaims, "There's a skyboat flying this way! It looks like there's an adventuring party on it. A couple of short people with bushy beards and a few humans."

"Oh, that's probably my friends," I say. "I didn't get a chance to send them a message that we don't need to be rescued. Please don't kill them."

Word quickly gets passed along, and I wave the Celestial Duck in for a landing at an open yard near the guest house since there are no docking towers on the Topside.

"I take it you don't need a rescue," Basalt says, glancing about at the park full of normally stoic Gleams attempting to party.

"Yeah, sorry, it has been a busy day," I say. "But you're in time for the party!"

"You call this a party?" Anise says, looking about at the subdued crowd. "Do Gleams even know how to smile?"

"We brought a few cases of wine," Amethyst puts in, gesturing to the cargo crates in the boat. "Wasn't sure if we'd have a chance to go back. Got my yeast, too!"

"Wine?" Hearthkeeper Roan says, perking up as she overhears. "Oh, thank the cores. Our stocks are running low. Please tell me you're selling. I'll pay extra."

The bell chimes 6 o'clock as the light of Tiganna shifts from orange to red.

"Are we supposed to go inside?" someone wonders. "Is there still a curfew, with the monsters gone?"

"No more curfew," Peace says. "You can stay outside all night if you want."

"I'm never going to get to sleep if it's going to keep making that noise every hour," an old woman complains. "Get me some of that wine! Ooh, you've got Pinner wine, too! I haven't been able to get that in ages. Gimme!" She offers coins, and receives a bottle that she immediately starts drinking straight from, not even bothering with a cup.

"Did I mention that the other four bells are also supposed to ring?" I say. "I think they're meant to chime every fifteen minutes, but they're not. Only the big bell's mechanism seems to be working at the moment. I'll have to take a closer look at it later but I don't know much about clock towers, so I might have to find an expert."

"Or spawn one," Basalt says.

"I still haven't decided on my class yet," Peace tells me quietly. "Three very different paths lie before me. Your soul is ancient and you see many things. Do you have guidance you can offer?"

I look at her aura, and locate her class options amid the sprawling quest log, though not as large as it was now that a few ongoing issues have been resolved.

Name: Knightly Vanquisher Primary skills: Invocation, Striking Description: Increases experience gained in battle, especially against monsters and undead.

Name: Shining Guardian Primary skills: Blocking, Enhanced Mind, Invocation Description: Increases experience gained when protecting someone or something.

Name: Supportive Keeper Primary skills: Invocation, Enhanced Mind, Tending Description: Increases experience gained when guarding, preserving, and sharing knowledge.

"I'm not you," I say. "But I would take [Supportive Keeper]. I know the nature of the apocalypse we will face in Year 800. The mind will help us survive more than blades and shields, and Tending will help make sure the next generation we raise are as strong as we can make them to face it."

Peace Camden has completed quest: Seek Drake Corwen's wisdom

Man, cores are sending their Legendaries to me for advice now deliberately? At least Peace doesn't seem capable of being embarrassed by the prospect.

"Ultimately, though, the choice has to be yours," I say. "If you choose a path that does not speak to your heart, you will regret it for a very long time. Immortality is too long to spend on regrets."

"I still really want to learn from you," Rowan says. "But I also want to attend Crux Academy next year, if I can."

"I could become a teacher there," Peace suggests. "Retiring to teach students would be an honorable change in career."

"They don't allow anyone above Heroic rank on campus," I say. "But maybe they would allow you to teach remotely. I have plans to make communication devices."

"Hmm. An interesting prospect. Let us discuss it further at a later time. For now, let us return to enjoying the party, shall we?"

I gaze off toward the party, where Melody is giving a demonstration of her hurdy-gurdy and Anise is trying to teach some clueless locals how to dance. What they lack in artistry and passion, they make up for in coordination, I suppose. She might have better luck with zombies.

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