[You seriously went back to sleep after not one but two assassins showed up at your window?] Basalt asks incredulously.

[I was tired, okay?]

[So tired that casting a spell you hadn't learned yet was a simpler matter than electrocuting an assassin?] Basalt points out.

I shrug mentally. [Electrocution was still on the table if I didn't succeed before he got in through the window, but his skills were… lacking.]

My full crew, escorted by Peace Camden, Mint Westminster, and two other Westminster Epics that I met briefly at last night's party. Both are balding middle-aged men that I think might be twins, but one is smiling and the other scowling.

Name: Justice Westminster Gleam Tiganna Race: Human | Gender: Male | Rank: Epic | Tier: Master | Class: Balanced Architect Disposition: Friendly | Mood: Excited, cheerful

Name: Valor Westminster Gleam Tiganna Race: Human | Gender: Male | Rank: Epic | Tier: Master | Class: Intrepid Zoologist Disposition: Friendly | Mood: Tired, grumpy

Names in Gleam certainly have a theme to them sometimes.

"So who hired that halfling, anyway?" I wonder. "Does anyone know her name so I can stop referring to her as the [Hush Warlock]?"

"She didn't tell me one," Justice says. "In hindsight, it should have been suspicious that she refused to give a name and insisted on being referred to by her class."

"People that are hiding something are often hiding more than one thing," I say.

"Are you hiding something?" Valor asks, leaning forward and examining me suspiciously.

"Sure, but it's mostly just the past life trauma I'm hiding from myself," I say.

Justice looks up at the building as we approach the Temple of Light. "Hmm, so far it doesn't appear to have been altered significantly with regards to architectural style. Let us head inside and see what has happened with the layout."

I give them a tour of the place and show them the empty rooms. "The Hush Warlock made sure to burn any spare essence before she fled, so most of the rooms are empty."

"New furnishings will be a good project for my apprentices," Justice says. "There's more rooms, too. We can fill them up with tables, chairs, and bookcases. Ah, dungeons and their remarkable ability to expand their interior space without altering their exterior footprint. It's fascinating, isn't it?"

"Fascinating," Valor grumbles. "Let's see the monsters. You told me there were monsters."

"Upstairs," I say.

"At least they seem to be staying up there now," Valor says.

The tower is also bigger on the inside than it appears on the outside, and while the stairs are still cramped, that's more because there's a dozen people bumping around in here. Moths the size of my hand with shimmering golden wings glow faintly, crowded along the rafters and railings.

I go ahead of the group to demonstrate zapping a single Gleaming Moth with my wand. The extra feat of control from the precision test to strike only one moth earns me more experience than a Basic monster would normally be worth. As intended, none of the other moths budge.

Valor walks up and tries to pick up a moth in his hands. It tries to flutter away, but his hands blur and in the blink of an eye, he's holding a Gleaming Moth very gently but very firmly.

Valor Westminster is using Mechanics (Catching), Enhanced Hands (Gentle Touch), and Persuasion (Animal Handling)

"Hmm." Valor examines the moth closely, holding it this way and that and squinting at it from every angle. The hapless insect-like monster glitters at him but otherwise doesn't protest the treatment. Its soul is too simple to even have a mood that registers on my [Empathy] skill.

"Hmm what, Valor?" Mint says. "I think they're pretty."

"Let's see the next floor," Valor says.

The bats are up next, and the Elites take turns fighting them for testing. We find them to be a fair match for low Elites like ourselves, with the biggest danger being a Dazzled status effect that lasts for several minutes. No need to worry about permanent damage from bright lights, because magic. The Perception reduction from Dazzled is still obnoxious, though. My Perception isn't the best as it is.

Valor collects a bat the same as he did a moth, with it only putting up the slightest bit more resistance for being Elite rather than Basic. The Gleaming Moth is now sitting on his head, its golden wings contrasting with his silver hair.

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"Hmm." Valor inspects the bat.

"Are we really going to stand here all day while you look up a bat's butt?" Mint says. "We've seen what they can do and they're not going anywhere. You can dissect one on your own time."

"Fine. Let's see the owls."

Anise, being the only Heroic in the group, is happy to volunteer for the task of incinerating a Gleaming Owl. Valor trails behind her to watch, muttering to himself the whole while.

Finally, it's up to the belfry. The massive golden griffin lounges beneath the even larger bell, lifting his head when we arrive but making no hostile movements toward us.

"What a magnificent creature," Mint breathes.

"I believe we need not fear further tampering with this beast as a guardian," Justice says.

"I'm not convinced," Valor says. "Let's see how strong it is. Kids, you should step back down the stairwell in case there are area-of-effect attacks."

Mint and Anise stay at the top of the stairs where they can watch as the Epic brothers clash with the Gleaming Griffin in probably an epic battle, judging by the screeches, yells, and flashes of light. Once they give the all-clear, I come back up to see Valor working on dismantling the corpse while Justice is examining the clock mechanisms.

"I must confess my ignorance as to how this all works," Justice says. "I work more with wood and stone than metal."

Valor says, "The griffin will be sufficient to discourage anyone below Epic from causing further problems with it. I'll get these feathers to my apprentices for testing. They will likely prove useful in crafting and potions." He offers me one long, pristine golden feather, his grumpy demeanor momentarily cracked into a smile. "There's a pretty souvenir for you, kid."

I thank him and don't argue. He'll be able to get as many of them as he wants, and I already got all the Hush Griffin feathers that there won't be anymore of around here. Peace didn't want them.

"I don't know that I like the bell ringing all the time or how I'm going to learn to sleep with it, though," Valor says.

"I suggest making pillows with leftover Hush Owl feathers," I say. "You had to have collected a few."

Valor lets out a laugh. "That's clever. I might just try that."

I point the golden feather toward the closest window and channel Invocation (Sunbeam) through it. The resonance with the light-aspected feather is much stronger than with my caduceus and I can feel it humming in my soul. The window illuminates as though there were a summer sun outside, letting a radiant beam fall into the belfry and catch floating motes of dust in the air.

After I stop focusing on it, the light lingers for a few minutes. A careful measurement of the rate the vis is fading from the window indicates that I might actually be able to start using it to light up dark places now.

I am not going to use goblin glue to attach this to a caduceus. I'll just put it on a necklace or hat instead.

"I'll give it a pass on the safety inspection," Justice says. "You have the go-ahead to start planning for next term."

I return to the guest house, leaving behind the Epics and some of my party members who want to keep playing with the bats and moths a bit more.

Spider Sutton's body has been collected and a sheet draped over it, and there's an older man with white hair standing by it.

Name: Thorn Sutton Gleam Tiganna Race: Human | Gender: Male | Rank: Heroic | Tier: Elder | Class: Whispering Guide Disposition: Wary | Mood: Unhappy

I double-check his quest log to make sure that he's not here to cause trouble before approaching him.

"You must be that reincarnator kid from Tempest everyone's talking about," he says. "I'm Thorn Sutton, here to collect my idiot nephew's body and take it back to my Hearth. I told that kid nothing good would come of deciding to become an assassin, but when do they ever listen?"

"Sutton needs to quit randomly generating assassination missions," I say. "Especially ones targeting children."

"I… have no control over that sort of thing," Thorn stammers.

"That's fine," I say. "I know who does."

I reach out with an astral tendril and poke his connection to his core. [Hello there, Sutton. I had a little chat with Barnet last night and now, I suppose, it's your turn.]

[Yes, Barnet informed me of its plans,] Sutton replies. [But Gleam doesn't need two assassin guilds.]

[I don't know that it needs one assassin guild, but I'm sure you can figure something out that doesn't involve sending people to murder children. How about a bribe to sweeten the deal, since you lost someone stupidly? I offer a seed infused with Hush aspect. In exchange, kindly leave me and mine alone. Please.]

[I accept.]

Sutton has given Thorn Sutton a quest: Deliver the seed

Rowan left the cursed pumpkin in my room. I grab it and take it to the kitchen area to cut it open so as not to make a mess in a guest room. Hearthkeeper Roan provides a bucket to put the pumpkin guts in and separate out the seeds.

Each seed only contains a tiny fraction of the Hush-aspected energy that was in the bell, and I slip all but one of them into my bag of holding. It's getting pretty full with pumpkin seeds and miscellaneous tools, and I have to pull a hammer out of it to make room for them all in the 5-kilogram capacity.

"There you go," I say, handing Thorn Sutton a pumpkin seed. "Knock yourself out."

Thorn takes the seed and the body, and leaves without a word of thanks. I don't really care. As for the pumpkin guts, I don't have anything I want to do with them, so I leave them with Hearthkeeper Roan. She passes them off to an apprentice to deliver to their alchemy workshop. Most of the essence settled into the seeds and the rind, but they might be able to make a few interesting potions out of that.

I pull out the teacup to check the Hush Warlock's position before heading out. She has made some progress in moving through the caverns and is getting close to the Underside finally. If she gets to a skyship and off Gleam, she could hole up in another dungeon somewhere and make herself a nuisance of a recurring villain.

My boat has been pelted with old fruit and eggs, and a few scathing notes have been left behind containing eloquent messages such as "STUPID BELL!" and "GO AWAY FOREIGNERS!"

I take a moment to appreciate that Gleam has both a surplus of eggs and people willing to engage in petty defiance before going to clean it off.

"Oh, that stinks!" Jade pinches her nose.

"I'll go ask Hearthkeeper Roan if she has anything to clean this off with," Basalt says.

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