A few days after the baron started his delve, Moriko, Kazue, and Ruby had traveled far enough south along the coastlio be now headed east if they wao keep just within the kingdom's borders. This provided them with a majestic view, with the foothills and mountains to their right, and a ging ndscape of grass, farm, and forest to their left.

  The three of them had just finished setting up camp one evening with a stew of dried rations and water heating over a fire when Moriko felt a disturbance of wind and energy approag them from the south and above. The presence was small in some ways, but it also felt potent somehow. She discreetly palmed the colpsed disc of her staff into one hand and a throwing bde iher before she started looking for the source of the disturbahout making it too obvious.

  Kazue noticed her as and her eyes widened, but she did her best to keep up versation as a cover while she retrieved the disc for her own staff as well. Ruby was visibly fused once she picked up that something was wrong, but kept responding to Kazue gamely.

  The souroriko's became visible a short while after that. It appeared as a small shining star at first, the tiny light source fluttering around as it drifted closer to their camp. When the light suddenly froze for a brief sed and then shot straight down at the ground, all three of them jumped away and readied themselves for a potential threat, Kazue and Moriko's staves snapping out to their normal length.

  Where the 'star' struck the ground, an image grew of a dark-skinned man with silver hair and intense blue eyes, and wearing zhiju-style robes made of dark, silvery silk. His hands were csped in front of him as he bowed, a strange half-smile on his lips. "I apologize for the sudden intrusion, but I have a matter to discuss that I believe will be of io all of us."

  "A sg and unication spell. There are a few varieties; given what you sehis illusion may have a semi-real po. Be careful." Mordecai's voice whispered into Moriko's mind. Having a font of knowledge on tap was useful.

  "Who are you?" Moriko challehe stranger.

  "Hmm? Yes, I should introduce myself. But no, I am afraid I shan't be doing that. There are too many plications with even taking a pseudonym at the moment." The man's eyes had gone unfocused while he spoke, but now they sharpened once more and he locked his gaze with Moriko's. "Ah, perfect. You must be Moriko. I practically see him lurking behind your eyes. Good. That is where I wish to begin, for this involves the weight of your husband's as."

  This wasn't making Moriko feel more at ease, and a g her panions showed that they felt much the same. But their visitor did not wait for a response before tinuing, "Mordecai's as left wounds in the world. Some have healed, some have scarred, and some are still healing but need help to keep from festering. It is one of these that I would request your assistah. I ot say that there is an explicit obligation, but does it not feel some how unbanced, knowing that even a small part still suffers from your husband's hubris? Would it not feel better if you acted to help restore the world?"

  His words made Moriko it ways she couldn't describe, and she could see Kazue shift her weight as if she were dealing with a simir sensation. "What are you doing?" She asked as she tried to set her will against whatever was being doo her, but she found nothing to pit her will against.

  "Me?" the dark-haired man asked with an unpleasant smile. "I am doing nothing to you, Faerie Queen. I have merely let you know the state of the world, and how it retes to you. Oh, and what I have said to you is true, I say again that I speak the truth, and now swear it thrice that my words are true. I seek your aid to help bahe damage that Mordecai caused."

  There was a strange vibration to his words that made Moriko certain that the man spoke true. Her eyes widened as she worked out the cause aally joined Mordecai and Kazue's cores in swearing. Out loud she said through gritted teeth, "What exactly do you want?"

  "It is fairly simple. I am currently helping tain and heal one of these wounds, but a certain amount of corruption has leaked out. I have mao tain and hide that too, but that area festers; I do not have the resources to restore that nd and what I am w on is more important. So I want you three to do it, you who are ected to the root cause of this. It seems fitting to me."

  "Why have you waited so long to ask for help? This 't have bee."

  "No, it is not. But asking most people for help would simply be endangering more people who do not o be endangered and are not involved. You and your wife, however, are openly tied to Mordecai, and the other carries his blood. I feel no pun about asking you to aid in fixing his mess. Do not mistake me," the man's cold blue eyes started glowing with a bzing gold indesce as he spoke, "This is no easy task. The tained area is full of dangerous things. And I will not allow anything or ao leave until the area is purged. But should you succeed and then make it to me, I might be able to offer you a different opportunity that has an aspect that could be sidered a reward, though it too has its dangers. Think carefully about your choices. I take my leave, but you will be able to find the way with this."

  The image shattered, but the shards colpsed down into a silvery object that upon closer iion appeared to be a pass like object. Only, there were ns for the cardinal dires, just simply a floating arrow in a sphere, and it ointing into the mountains to the southeast of them.

  "What in all the Divine Dragon's Glory was that about?" asked Ruby as she looked around nervously. "Was that a dragon?"

  "I think so," Moriko replied, "but you give us a few mio figure this out? Kazue, could you ihat please?" Kazue nodded and approached the pass-like object slowly, examining it carefully. Moriko trusted her wife to be better at puzzling out a magic aura's details than she would be.

  While Kazue took care of that, Moriko worked on s out the implications of everything with the cores. By the time the stew was ready to serve, she was ready to expin in a bit more detail to Ruby. "First, the bahing. You haven't been inflicted with faerie magic as deeply as we have. Knowing that there is an imban debts owed is apparently something faeries don't do well with, especially nobility. And while it is not our debt directly, Mordecai feels that it is his debt, and our husband's debts are ours. If Mordecai sihought that it was not something he should feel guilt or obligation about, then it wouldn't impact us either."

  "Okay," Ruby said as she thought about it, "I guess that means you two want to follow the pass and take care of this supposed corruption? How sure you about this triple oath thing?"

  "Very," groused Kazue, "I could feel it. It is reted to our inability to lie now. Lying is about knowledge and i. A casual promise is easily fotten about, or even just ge your mind about ter. But if we say even a casually worded promise three times, it's sort of like making a decration of truthful i. It's binding in a different way than an oath to Ozuran would be. That sort of oath be vioted with a correspondiy. We are simply not able to viote a triple-sworn promise at all. But it also works in reverse. Say or promise something thrice, and you will be bound to it. I rang with the knowledge that his words were true. And I hope to never feel that again, that was deeply disturbing."

  Moriko couldn't disagree with that at all., and leaned close to give her wife a tight hug. "Yeah, the faerie powers are fun, but given the choice I'd have been happy to do without if it meant not getting the downsides. I think this might be why fey beings are often such strange flighty creatures, there are too many things that bind them if they aowledge them. If it's not your fault, you aren't obligated to do something about it." She looked back to Ruby and said, "By the way, he called you out as one of Mordecai's desdants. I don't think the disguise ring worked against him."

  The young woman sighed and took off the ring, being Bridgette once more. "I guess I don't his right now if we are going to be heading off into the mountains. You two clearly o go, and I am not going to abandon you on this." She frow a thought. "I should probably make tact right now, but it doesn't feel right. I think I'll send a report at the st moment before we reach where ever. This seems like something only family should help with, so we don't want a bunch of agents or soldiers anyway and I am not going t my sisters or brothers into this. Oh, what about that pass?"

  Kazue straightened up and Moriko let go of the hug to let her fetch the pass iion. "Well," Kazue said, "I'm pretty certain that it is just a path-finding pass. Okay, maybe not 'just'. It's attuo somepce that is heavily warded, the entments look like there are a lot of ditionals and fiuned adjustments. I'm also pretty certain that it is desigo fall apart if poked at too hard, so I am not going to mess with finding out more. I don't want to be stuck with this itch forever and I don't get the feeling we are going to be given a sed ce from that guy."

  "Which is part of why Mordecai and Other Kazue both agree we should do this," Moriko said. "Not that either of them is particurly happy about it, but options are limited. That man was very deliberate in how he leaned on feelings of debt and obligation, he knew what he was doing by ying it on that way to faerie queens."

  There wasn't much to discuss after that except for double-cheg their supplies and readiness. In the m they set out to follow the pass instead of the road. The needle could twist in any direaking it easier to determihe elevation of their target location. If they walked parallel to the mountains long enough, they probably could have gotten a fair fix on where it ointing, but that would have added signifit time to their journey and based on Kazue's examination there was a reasonable ce that it was currently poi a oint instead of the final destination.

  Kazue's interpretation proved correct; after two days of winding travel across unmarked nd they found a sheltered valley with a mild 'don't notice me' entment on it, and the pass spun to point deeper into the valley. It took them another day to reach the pce where a simple illusion and a stronger avoidance charm hid the entrao a cave system.

  The cave system was set up to look like someone's hidden cache, but it was certainly not a dragon's hoard. The three women ighe minor wealth here, though it certainly made Moriko's palms itch. But she and Kazue had access to better wealth already, and Bridgette was used to greater riches than could be found here. There was no reason to upset what was clearly another yer of distra.

  It took several hours of searg to find the spot where stronger but more subtle entments worked to keep a small secret door hidden. The pass pointed directly at it, but the way the caverns twisted made the correct path inobvious, and even then one had to realize that an awkwardly angled crevice assage to reach the small chamber that held the hidden door, past o stash of treasure.

  The tunnel past the hidden door smoothed out aually led to a chamber with a thick-looking door with both physical and magical seals in pce. A small pedestal sat to one side with a divot of the right size to hold the pass.

  However, the pass pulsed after they ehe chamber and pyed a rec, "This is your st stop before there is n back. You should only pce this devi the pedestal if you are prepared."

  Making camp one more time was an obvious choice, they wao be well-rested for whatever y beyond.

  Zagaroth