Brisa stayed close to Argurios, she felt the oddity too. People just wern't behaving right. True Loudwater was much larger than Twiddledale but there still should have been similarities. Here it seemed people were...individuals. Not even bothering to acknowledge one another...not a community. It felt very off to her and as she walked she kept her precious shoulder bag close to her body, hanging onto it tightly. It contained her spellbook which was her most valuable possession, without it she could do little. 

“Yeah lets get out of here” she said to Argurios in a soft voice. “I had thought someone here might be able to help us, but this is...wrong...somehow. Let's get some supplies and go.”

They had turned towards the row of shops and other business geared for travelers when the gong sounded. It was a strange noise, echoy and deep, and it went on. And on. And on. Brisa was not surprised that the gong signaled a change in activity, naturally it was a signal for something. But when she saw people shuffling in a half worried have curious state towards the center of town she was curious. 

Even people her age were gathering, a elfish boy weaving through the crowd nearly split her and Argurious up. She worried about loosing her companion, now friend, in the flowing mass of people. She had no interest in seeing what was going on in the town center, but it was almost impossible to weave through the people, they seemed to be going against a tide of humanity. 

A boy ran into them, smack into them, nearly knocking Brisa down. If she hadn't grabbed hold of Argurios really quickly she would have been. 

[b]"A-Agurios? Brisa? Is that you!?" He said, shocked to see anyone from the town again.[/b]

Brisa stared open mouthed at Aiden. Like he, she had never expected to see anyone from Twiddledale again. Not really. She had hoped. But as they had walked on and on and on this past week that hope had dwindled. 

“Mystra's Mantle” she said in surprise and then did something very uncharacteristic for her. She gave him a one armed hug, just seeing another from Twiddledale lifted her spirits but she did wonder if he was even real. Maybe she had gone mad traveling. Maybe none of this was real.

Then she caught sight of a woman dressed in black and gray, weaving through the people. The woman had no trouble, people parted for her like she was a plague carrier. It wasn't actually the woman that had caught Brisa's eye though. It was the medallion she had around her neck. It bore the same symbol they had encountered before, the same symbol that was on the medallion that Argurios now carried—found in his father's belongings.

[hider=figure on holy symbol]
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/R79ljka.jpg?1[/IMG]
[/hider]

She changed her mind quickly. She had planned to go the other way but now she needed to know what the woman was doing. She jerked her head slightly towards the woman, trying to draw Argurios' eye, and then spoke softly to the two boys. 

“I'm going to go see what's going on, I think we need to know.” 

She did not say anything further, hoping that at least one of them would come with her but not wanting to ask. She was smart enough to know it made sense to split up, she could watch while Argurios went to fetch supplies, and they could get out of this city with the overhanging oppressive feeling all the faster.

While Brisa, Aiden, and Argurios were talking towards the back of the crowd, in the shadow of a building, the town center was filling with people. There were only a few seats, but they were all empty. Folk preferred to stand, it suited their unease better. In many places hangings were a celebration, a criminal had been caught and punished. Here everyone knew, in their hearts at least, that those about to be killed had done nothing to warrant it. They were just like everyone else, only they had been unlucky enough to get caught letting their feelings towards this new god and his followers show. 

On the stage in the center of town stood seven very dejected looking townsfolk. They had family, friends, lovers even out in the crowd but no one even acknowledged them for fear of being associated with whatever blasphemy they had been accused of. Those on the stage stood alone, and they would die alone. 

Arrayed on the stage keeping the blasphemers from running were three enforcers, they too once had family, friends, and yes lovers amongst the townsfolk. They no longer cared. They were wholly devoted to their god, and followed only the orders of his priests now. 

The woman Brisa had spied made her way onto the stage and cleared her throat expectantly. A hush fell over the crowd and Brisa wiggled her way between a couple of observers, crouching where she could see the stage but remain fairly unnoticed. 

The first thing she noticed, and it riveted her attention, was the writing above the gallows. It was [i]the[/i] writing...the same as she had been struggling to decipher since Twiddledale. No question now...she needed to know what was going on. She knew instinctively that the locals wouldn't talk, at least most of them. She needed to find someone who would tell her what was going on...and she was beginning to be afraid that it might have to be one of the priests. She saw several of them lurking about on the stage as the woman began to talk. 

Her speech was rambling, mostly incoherent, and punctuated with loud words and shakes of her fist. It didn't make much sense to Brisa, more like she was just stringing words together. She caught the name of the god...Eshowdow...so that was something. It meant not one damn thing to Brisa but she filed it away. Maybe they could find someone somewhere who would know. There was also lots of ramblings about the “one god” and “rising from the shadows of the creator” and a bunch of other rhetoric. While she was ranting and rambling the seven victims were lined up like sheep for the slaughter....not a bad comparison as the enforcers lowered the nooses over each one's neck. Normally the stage only had one gallows arm, more had been hastily erected for this occasion. Those to be hung were standing almost shoulder to shoulder as they tried to fit them all on stage. 

Unnoticed by the children, unnoticed by most of the townsfolk actually, another set of eyes watched the spectacle. The woman was tall, over six feet, and incredibly lean. Her brown hair was coarse and stiff, like the hairs on a brush. She was dressed in peasant garb but any good eye would notice she didn't carry herself like a peasant. She kept her eyes averted, a good thing since orange eyes were not the norm around these parts. She had come to watch, and learn. The threat of Eshowdow was great, he was growing in strength and she had to figure out how. More importantly she had to figure out how to stop him, for the sake of her own god.