Sylvia nodded at the words and quietly answered, "Ah. I see..." The accomplice was the maid of the same house. It would make sense, since they lived in the same place. She walked into the garrison and took note of the people behind the bars, and saw Yorik, sitting there with a big grin and the black hand print on his face. She figured that Aisha was responsible for that mark. It would have made Sylvia laugh, if not for the fact that they were in trouble right now. She sighed and answered Yorik gravely, recalling what Pylia called the phenomenon earlier, "I'm afraid it didn't go as well as we had hoped. Erendal used a Fireball. He tried to take us, and the two guards who fought for him, with him to a fiery death,"

“Is dat so? Damn. Wot a crazy bastard.” Yorik muses as Aisha directs you and the team to sit at a table. Yorik notably looks concerned as he sits next to Atisha who looks at the four of you. “We are now going to begin the interrogation. Do not resist this spell.” Atisha took out a small runestone that made you and everyone else at the table feel like something just went through your mind. Some sort of compulsion (charisma save DC 13). “You are now in a zone of truth. I will know if you are trying to resist the spell and lie to me. Now than... Let us begin.”

Atisha has various documents before her, each written in common with each of your names on it. Sylvia, Pylia, Shortfang, and evening Buddy. Atisha looks at Pylia first. “I will ask each of you questions and I only want one person to awnser. My first question to you, Pylia, is how did your group come to be involved in these series of events?” Pylia looked sternly at Atisha, not believing the situation they’re in right now. Every part of her wanted to fight but when she glances at you, Pylia simply lets out a frustrated sigh and speaks.

“It started when we visited a friendly merchant in town, Ferric. He asked us to help around town to get into the merchant guilds good graces.” Yorik had the duty to write this down, a task he was notably struggling with. Atisha looks over to Shortfang next. “What exactly did you all do as you were ‘helping’ Ferric?” Shortfang scratches his chin and seems rather reserved for some reason. “We go into market. Shop got hit by bad guys, so we talk to shop owner people’s they tell us what happen, than we talked to person who know what really happen, than we go to you guys and we work together, take out all sorts bad guys!”

Ultimately the questions Atisha were asking were about what exactly the party has been doing these last few days, mostly involved with the dealing with this gang. Atisha doesn’t seem to care about any details outside of that investigation. Eventually Atisha looks to you. “Would you ha e still NBC intinued ti pursue Erendal and his knights even without permission from the guard to be involved?”

Sylvia followed Aisha's advice, and didn't resist the spell. She looked to Pylia when she glanced at her, before looking back at Aisha. She listened as her friends answered Aisha's questions. Soon it was her turn, and she allowed the compulsion to tell the truth take hold. She answered Aisha,

"No. Not initially at the very least. We came to check and see if you guys, Shor's Company, needed any help this morning. But Shor, Cera, and Kor were already in the sewers and only Yorik was here. We heard that the Lightning Company was escorting someone somewhere. I thought it was weird, so I decided that we should look into it. We did, and I saw that the Lightning Company had escorted the accomplice onto the 'Marianne'. I recognized her as the woman who dropped off the payment for the thugs. I heard one of the Lightning Company tell her that the young lord would be there soon and that the dogs were on their scents. I think they meant us and Shor's Company when he said that,"

She continued, "It was with urgency that we decided to report to Yorik. We didn't realize that he didn't have the authority to deputize us, so when he gave us the word, we went to arrest Erendal and bring him in, before he could flee from Gransys and the law,"

Atisha silently took down notes about what you told her. Atisha would keep you all here for about three hours just questioning you before finally she'd allow the four of you to go. She stays very professional and tells you that you'll be under continual investigation. She recommends not leaving the city anytime soon, or else the law might be after your group for trying to evade justice. Despite how long your team was there, Shor and the others did not return. Atisha would not reveal what's happened to them, and Yorik himself wouldn't know. Once the four were ushered out, Shortfang let out a sigh. "Ugh. Shortfang thought he be there forever! Atisha is mean when she not friendly..." Pylia seems rather annoyed too. "The whole thing's one huge farce. She knows we're not guilty, so why waste our time? I thought she hated this sort of thing." Buddy looked at you, having written a small note for you. During the interrogation he did nothing but write notes, and subtly revealed to Atisha that he was not human. She seemed keep it quiet though. "How are you feeling?"

Sylvia answered Aisha's questions that were directed to her with complete honesty. Eventually she was finished with the four of them and they were allowed to leave. At the mention of not leaving, she reassured Aisha, "Don't worry, we're not going anywhere," They still had to meet with the Duke after all. Once the four of them were out of the garrison, Sylvia let out a sigh. The whole questioning can be quite tiring. She answered Pylia's comment, mostly distracted with her own raging thoughts and it showed in her voice, "Aisha is just trying to help us without being biased. Other people don't exactly know what happened. At least with the questioning we can get our side of the story out and the Zone of Truth would help. Hopefully, the Lightning Company will tell the truth as well..."

Then Buddy wrote his question and showed it to her. Sylvia had to admit, now that she recovered from the shock (or at least she thinks she did), she remembered three things about the encounter that bothered her. She answered Buddy, "Some things about that encounter is just not sitting well with me. I think it would be better to head back to the room and talk it out,"

The group grumbles a bit more about the interrogation, but ultimately concede to head back to the Silver Stag. As the group traveled back there was already whispers of gossip about the attacks. A lot of people wonder if it was a mad mage who tried something in the alleyway, but some blame kobolds trying to cause a ruckus. There's even rumors of cults trying to sabotage the festival. You notice a lot of guards on patrol around here doing damage control as eventually the team returns to the Silver Stag. Shortfang orders some stew while Pylia and Buddy return to the rooms. Pylia sits back on her bed as she doffs her armor while Buddy stands by the door as he often did. You could feel the presence of Dinah in your mind, almost as if it's asking you to let it free since it's safe now. Shortfang would also soon arrive with stew. "Shortfang, didn't you say that you needed to save money?" Pylia looks at the kobold. He bashfully put the soup on the table. It was a large bowl as he spread some cups. "Yes. Well... Shortfang figure we eat a lil, yeah?"

As soon as the group reached their room, Sylvia sighed in relief as she took a seat. Once she felt the presence of Dinah in her mind, she muttered "Oh, Right!" before snapping her fingers and summoning Dinah in the room. It was safe to summon her here, since there was...well, less of a chance of going through a fireball here. Once Dinah was summoned, she would pet the cat, as though to tell Dinah, "Good Job"

She turned her head to look at Shortfang and Pylia. She answered Pylia and Shortfang, "I don't think having a bit of lunch is a bad idea. Heck, I think we could use it after this morning. Thank you," She then pointed out, "But after this, Pylia, Buddy, or I can cover the next meal, since you bought breakfast as well today,"

After a bit of eating, Sylvia pondered over the topics that bothered her, and she started the conversation with a question towards Pylia, "Hey, Pylia. Out of curiosity...what did you make of Erendal's words? About how he would bring prosperity and something about his legend...?" She wanted to know what Pylia's insight was before she would speak her thoughts on the matter. She knew Pylia was pretty dang good at reading people

Pylia, Shortfang, Syfr, and Dinah partook in the soup. Shortfang would accept the offer to let you guy pay for the next meal as Pylia mulled on your question. "Initially, I figured it was just the ramblings of a mad man... But it did get me thinking of an old axiom. 'The road to hells is paved with good intentions'." Pylia was quiet as she said this, knowing how much it applied to herself. "If I had to guess, Erendal figured out something that he thought would help himself, or maybe actually help the others in town, but had to do terrible things like hire goons to damage shops and ultimately even kill himself." Stirring around what's left of her soup, Dinah went over to Pylia's bowl and lapped up the soup. "As you can imagine, noble families rise and fall. Sometime a peasant manages to rise above their station by starting a business or becoming great at something, earning them fame, fortune, and enough clout to earn the title of nobility. But than his descendants grow fat and lazy off their excess, become a shadow of their former glory, and fall from grace. Hearing Erendal's last words made me think that his family isn't nearly doing as good as they should for nobles and in his desperation, he found a way to fix it."

Pylia picked up Dinah and began to pet it, causing the cat to paw at her fingers and try to wrap her furry tendrils around Pylia's hand. "The first clue was that dagger. You saw it too right? A red blade with a gemstone hilt, like that skeleton from the waterfall cave where we found Buddy." Pylia looked to the silent knight. "Do you have any memories about it?" Buddy was still for a moment before he approached and wrote something into his notebook. He spent quite a bit of time writing. "I remember chasing someone into that cave and fighting enemies. The creature we fought was an ogre I had slain long ago. I was defeated in that cave. But somehow I am still alive thanks to what you all did." Pylia nods and looks over to you. "This is just a theory. But I think Erendal might've discovered something from an ancient ruins similar to that waterfall cave, a powerful magic item. Whatever it is, he needed to clear out the merchants in the market district. I think... If we're going to continue to investigate this, we'll need to look into what exactly Erendal did, and what he's trying to build up. I..." Pylia sighed as she rubbed her face.

"I suspect it might have to do with necromancy. Saying how his legend won't die here... That he was so willing to kill himself in a suicide attack, it makes me think that he knows a way to come back from the dead. Magic and necromancy... That's just what I think."

Sylvia let out a quiet chuckle and she commented on the aphorism, "Earth has that saying too," before letting Pylia continue with her thoughts. Sylvia had to admit, she hadn't even thought of his words that way. She listened to Pylia, and when she asked about the dagger, Sylvia nodded and answered "Yeah. I saw it," She looked to Buddy and read his answer to Pylia regarding what he remembered in the cave. She nodded and commented "It'll be really difficult to look into anything Erendal did right now, considering what happened today. But still, we should definitely keep that in mind,"

She smiled at Pylia, "I'm glad I asked. I honestly hadn't thought of his words that way,”

She continued, "I could be wrong, but I thought over his words, and I had a feeling that there was no way that those ideas could just come from narcissism and his upbringing. A magic item could certainly be part of it, but I don't think it would be enough to make someone believe they could bring prosperity and would become a legend. I think someone put those ideas into his head in order to enlist his help, and that person gave him that dagger,"

She then finished, "So, to sum it all up, I think a cultist or cult might have something to do with Erendal's actions, thoughts, and behavior," She then asked Pylia, Shortfang, and Buddy, "What do you think? Too far-fetched?"

Hearing your words had Shortfang chime in. "Like Grey Scale traitor. Kalmeet promise Grey Scale power, and they betray Sewer Dragons. Maybe cult bad guys promise crazy noble power, and he betray everyone." Pylia nods at Shortfang and your suggestion. "Yeah... Yeah I can see that happening. It'll make sense too. Elysium wants to sow destruction everywhere in Gransys, so what they did in the sewers with the trogs and kobolds was just one step. If they got to Erendal, he might've promised him power if he would stir up trouble in the market for... For some reason." The priestess continued to mull over the possibilities in her head, but eventually had to give up. "I can understand what would've happened if the troglodytes overrun the sewers and eventually the surface, but I can't imagine what Erendal gains from vandalizing shops. I guess he's trying to put them out of business and buy them up, maybe, but that seems so... Small scale." It was here that Buddy wrote his suggestion. "Erendal and his brutes could have been a distraction for the guards. Remember that Shor and his team are short staffed and there has been changes in the guard patrol. The sewers are nearby as well. With so few guards busy looking into petty vandalism during an important festival, there would be no guards available to have known about the trogs."

Seeing this made Shortfang nods as well. "Yeah, even Shortfang don't know until Shortfang go back home and find dead kobolds and trogs. But... Hmm..." Shortfang rubbed his chin. "So... What Shor and them do in sewer? It not trogs, Sewer Dragons got them. Maybe cult?" Pylia snapped her fingers and looked to you. "Sylvia... That note from the corpse, from the Jabani trogs. What if Shor, Cera, and Kor were on their trail? Yorik said we shouldn't go to the sewers, but we could still investigate the water mill."

Sylvia nodded along, listening to her friends as they spoke their thoughts. After reading what Buddy wrote, Sylvia commented thoughtfully, "If that's the case, then...something might still happen on the festival. I wouldn't be surprised if the cultists had a back-up plan in case the trogs or Erendal failed. We'll have to be careful on the day of the festival," She sounded a little disappointed if not cautious when she made her last statement. She had been looking forward to seeing the festival and just taking some time to have fun there.

When Shortfang asked about what Shor and the others were doing there and Pylia gave her answer, Sylvia nodded and pointed, "That's certainly a possibility. But, let's not forget that we encountered four of the Lightning Company today, and we saw eight of them yesterday. They were taking advantage of the fact that Shor, Kor, and Cera were distracted. And, we brought Dimos to the sewers and asked Yorik to watch over him yesterday, and he was not with Yorik when we met him this morning. I think Shor, Kor, and Cera might have been down there in order to protect Dimos from the Lightning Company,"

At the suggestion of checking the water mill, Sylvia asked Pylia, half curious and half confused, "Hmm...Would the Water Mill still count as part of Gransys? Or is it outside of Gransys' walls?"

"It's to the north, I think we went passed it when we first arrived in Gransys. I didn't think much of it at first, it's the same mill in town since I was a kid. Still it should be fine for us to go look over there, and it wouldn't break Atisha's warning about leaving Gransys." Pylia responded to your question. Shortfang rubbed his chin in contemplation. "But... Sound like Atisha and others don't want us keep fighting bad guys. Right?" Pylia shook her head. "I'm pretty sure what happened with us and Erendal is just a special circumstance because he was a noble. Unless there happens to be another noble at the mill in cahoots with the cult, I doubt we'll run into much trouble. Though we should be careful not to cause any destruction at the mill of something happens. I don't think anyone will appreciate it if it blew up in a fireball, whether it's our fault or not." Buddy nods and writes a note for Pylia. "Sounds like your problem with your penchant for fire." Pylia smirked. "What can I say, despite how I try to stay calm, I am very fiery." Pylia looks over to you with a nod.

"What do you think? Should we go check the mill, maybe tell Atisha or whoever about what we're going to do? I'm of two minds of it: either she'll appreciate us checking in with her, or she might tell us not to get further involved for today. We won't know until she finds out."

Sylvia answered Shortfang's question, "She doesn't want us getting into further trouble than we already are," She chuckled at Buddy's retort to Pylia's answer and she chuckled "Sounds about right. Play with fire, you're bound to get burned!" Sylvia immediately regretted saying those words. Just saying them brought back the memory of seeing Pylia lying on the ground, dying from the fireball. After a quiet moment on that, she added a little more seriously, "As long as there's no flour, or any other powder in that mill, we should be okay,"

She then heard the question regarding telling Aisha of their plan of checking out the water mill. She answered, "I think we should. Not telling them would be kind of a betrayal, I think. If anything, it also shows that we're willing to work with the law, that we're not trying to evade it, and if going there causes an issue, she'll let us know,"

She then realized and she mentioned, "Oh! We could ask the Oracle doll a question if we need to before we head out to do anything,"

“Hmm. I don’t really know what we could ask it. Honestly I’m starting to think that oracle doll is just a useless piece of junk; all of its predictions are vague and lead only to more questions than awnsers.” Pylia says sourly. Shortfang shrugged at the comment. “Shortfang think maybe ask? Something like ‘Is mill dangerous’ or something. Even if vague, it not wrong!” Buddy didn’t have a comment and simply started cleaning his axe of the blood from the previous battle. Dinah walked back over to you and curled its tendrils around your ankle and begged for your attention, while Syfr had eaten the last of the large chunks from the stew.

When Dinah begged for attention, Sylvia gently picked up her familiar and placed her in her lap, before pensively petting Dinah in thought. She mulled over Shortfang’s and Pylia’s words. She commented to Pylia and Shortfang, “It is thanks to the doll that we didn’t dismiss the dragon dream as just a dream...”

The more she pet Dinah, the more she came to realize that there was something they could ask.

Something that may be life or death.

She answered Pylia, “There is something we can ask. Aisha wasn’t going to tell us, and Yorik has no clue. Shor, Kor, and Cera haven’t returned by the time we were done being questioned...” Her last statement was laced with dread. She couldn’t help but think that the three of them were either dead or dying as of now. She quickly took out the doll and she asked while holding it, “What is the current location and condition of Shor, Kor, and Cera?”

The oracle began to glow as it spoke directly into your mind. "Skulking in shadows, chasing ghosts, seeking Salvation. The Windmill Crusaders will find not giants, but dragons." The oracle stopped glowing, leaving your party wondering what was said. "So? What did clay thing say?" Shortfang asked. Pylia was already putting her gear back on. "Whatever it said, I bet it's vague and doesn't help at all. Worse comes to worse, we might have to go into the sewers and look for them ourselves. But I'm positive they'll be fine." Pylia says as she straps her shield onto her arm. Buddy finished cleaning his axe while Dinah was pawing at the oracle.

Sylvia stared at the doll and she whispered after it finished speaking in her mind, "Did...Did it just make a Don Quixote reference?" She then heard her friends, and she answered them "Well, it was certainly a lot more descriptive than the last time. It said this: 'Skulking in shadows, chasing ghosts, seeking Salvation. The Windmill Crusaders will find not giants, but dragons,'" She then stood up and gathered her things, immediately putting the doll away, and as she did, she stated "They're definitely checking out the windmill. And if the seeking Salvation part is of any indication, they may need our help,"

"Alright then. Let's go see Atisha." Everyone geared up and would leave the Silver Stag to head back to the barracks. Dinah hops onto Buddy next to Shortfang while Syfr takes into the skies and provides recon. Getting to the barracks was easy enough, it seems like Atisha is in the process of interviewing the others right now. She was grilling one of the Lightning Company guards, who was without his weapons and armor, with Yorik standing menacingly behind him with his flail. Upon seeing the group Atisha has Yorik take the guard back to the holding cell while she looks at you. "Yes Sylvia, is there something you need?"

Sylvia grinned at the sight of Buddy with Shortfang and Dinah on his shoulders. She still wanted to talk about the moment when time seemed to rewind itself, but now clearly wasn't the time. She led the way back to the barracks quickly, and she soon saw that Aisha and Yorik were in the middle of interrogating the Lightning Company. Upon being asked if there was something she needed, Sylvia cleared her throat, and she spoke, "We came to check with you first before we go to the windmill. We heard that Shor, Kor, and Cera may be in trouble there," She then asked, "Is that going to cause any problems?"

Atisha raised her eye brow and looked to Yorik. He just shrugs. "Dun pin dis one on me Ears, I thought da boss was still in da sewers." Atisha looked back towards you and the group, carefully tapping her fingers in deep thought. "Hmm... Ordinarily, I'd have to ask you to let us take care of this. That being said, I'm not finished here, and I don't know specifically if the captain and the others are in trouble..." The dark elf motioned for Yorik to leave. "Yorik, go check on the mill. This isn't an arrest, this is just a patrol. The rest of you... I can not allow you to interfere or be involved in any investigations. You're still under suspicion after the incident at the alleyway. That being said... You are allowed to accompany Yorik during his patrol, as long as you do not impede his work. And should he need any assistance or is in any danger, well... You are free to do whatever you must, so long as you cause no harm to bystanders. Understand?" Atisha turned her full body towards the group as she pushes her glasses up. "Allow me to be clear: Yorik is the one who is to patrol and investigate. Do not do anything that would impede or otherwise prevent him from doing his job. And I expect you all to be on your best behavior and do not disturb or otherwise bother any townsfolk. With this said, you understand what I'm telling you, yes?"