The priest paled when Jasper returned, carrying a mutilated arm and leg under one shoulder and a head dangling from his hand. Damqa took it worse, slapping a hand over her mouth as she ran for the door. She didn't make it in time, though, before she spewed her guts out, leaning heavily against the pew.

"Why did you mutilate the body?" Angallû asked, as he accepted the severed limbs with trembling hands. "You didn't do any dark-"

"I didn't do this on purpose," Jasper assured him. "Well, I guess I took his head off on purpose - it was the only way to put him down - but the rest? Let's just say I have a spell that comes with a certain amount of collateral damage," he added vaguely, rightly guessing that mentioning he'd summon a horde of angry specters that had torn the bandit apart would only upset the priest more.

The priest looked queasy as he set the ruined limbs before the altar. "Are there more…pieces?" he asked uncertainly.

With a nod, Jasper headed back out into the rain and returned a few minutes later with the rest of the bandit's body. By then, Damqa had recovered her senses and was hovering over the body with a mixture of horror and curiosity. "You said your spell did this?" She prodded.

"In a manner of speaking," he replied evasively as he, following the priest's instructions, laid the body down carefully before the altar and lined it up with the dismembered limbs.

Her curiosity was palpable, but she reined it in as the priest knelt beside the corpse and began to pray. "O Great Lady of the Night, Queen of Heaven, Guardian of the Celestial Court…."

As the priest kept talking, his words changed into a language Jasper couldn't quite follow. Some of the words seemed familiar, snatches of phrases here and there that he was fairly certain he understood, but most of what the old man said was indecipherable.

But he didn't need to understand the priest's words to observe their effect. As the priest chanted in a sing-song tone, the lights in the shrine dimmed. The votives flickered, nearly guttering out as an unnatural warm wind filtered through the small stone chapel. As the wind swirled around the idol's base, its eyes began to glow - a glow that was matched by the priest's own eyes, which turned into glowing silver orbs. The voice that resonated through the chapel was no longer the priest's, but something older. Something stronger.

Damqa slumped to the ground unconscious as pressure emanated from the priest, and Jasper struggled to remain standing, catching himself against the altar with one hand as the force shoved him down. He was driven to his knees as the pressure intensified, but as he looked up, he saw a bright light manifest above the altar, and in that light, something physical manifested.

With a clink, a small glass vial, filled with rich, dark blues and glowing strands of solid silver, dropped onto the altar. As it hit the old stone, the pressure lifted, causing the light in the priest's eyes to fade.

"I-" Jasper leapt forward as the priest began to collapse, catching the old man before he hit his head against the ground.

"Th-thank you." The man's limbs shook like jello as Jasper helped him back to his feet. "It has been many years since the goddess visited me thus, and I fear I forgot to take the unnecessary precautions."

"Precautions?"

"Pillows, my lad, lots and lots of pillows. And also to get rid of anyone below level fifty," he added wryly, casting a glance at the still unconscious Damqa.

"Will she be alright?"

"Fine," the priest reassured him. "The divine presence was a bit too much for her to process. She'll wake up with a bit of a headache, but no real damage."

"And the body?" Jasper asked. "Was Selene able to give you any information about the magic they're using?"

"Not exactly, although…" The old man paused and gave him a funny look. "Lady Selene was more talkative than usual. Just who are you?"

"Why? What did she say?"

The priest gestured at the altar hesitantly. "She wanted to give you…an apology." The last word came out almost strangled.

"Oh." Jasper blinked. "Well, that's nice, I guess, but I wasn't really mad at her. Not after Kas̆dael explained her thought process. Still, I won't say no to a gift." He picked up the vial on the altar and examined it curiously.

"Kas̆dael?" The priest breathed out, looking at him with a newfound wariness that had Jasper rolling his eyes.

"Oh, don't worry - I'm not some doomsday cultist. She's not a fan of those you knew," he added as he flipped the vial upside down, looking in vain for a label or description. "Did she say what this does?"

"I'm not surprised you don't recognize it. May I?" The priest took the potion out of his hand, flipping the vial over in his palms almost reverently. "This gift is usually reserved for only her most devoted followers. Tis a soulmark potion," he added as if that explained anything.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"I guess I'm not familiar with that," Jasper frowned. "What does it do?"

"The uneducated would call it a resurrection potion," Angallû explained. "But it's not quite that simple. The potion can be used to mark the soul of one who's recently deceased - no more than a few hours," he added, preempting the question Jasper had been about to ask. "Once the soul is marked, Selene will retrieve it from the void and return it to its body - no contracts needed, no payment rendered."

"So why not call it a resurrection potion then?"

"Even the gods cannot prevent every danger in the Void. There are things there that can destroy the mind beyond repair."

Jasper shuddered involuntarily as he remembered his own afterlife experience, including his very narrow escape from the Sea of Oblivion. "Yeah, now that you say that, I know what you're talking about."

The priest's eyes flitted subtly to the scar that wrapped around Jasper's neck, but he didn't comment. "Yes, a soulmark potion is not a guarantee of resurrection, but it's the next nearest thing," he added as he handed it back to Jasper.

Jasper stared at the potion with newfound appreciation and whispered a quick prayer of thanks to the goddess before tucking it securely into his bag. "Did you learn anything about the magic the stoneflesh used?"

"Lady Selene said it bore some resemblance to certain Fey rituals she was familiar with from the days of the Mwyranni Empire."

"The Mwryanni Empire?" Jasper frowned, trying to recall what he knew of them. It was the predecessor of the Corsyths, the empire the Sidhe had destroyed, but that was really all he knew of it. Well, that, and that the Mwryanni Empire had been based thousands of miles south of the current empire's borders. He was pretty sure there was a small survivor state still down there that was technically the Empire's allies, but the distances were large enough that their interactions were limited. "She didn't say anything about the Huedar," he asked, following up on Kasdael's only lead.

"She didn't mention any Fey by name," the priest shook his head. "Only that she recalled a group of Fey that worshipped a trio of gods known only as the Forgotten. Lady Selene said they used a potion that allowed their gods to inhabit their bodies temporarily, granting them great strength and healing. But she also said that their potion was not like this one; it was a sacred thing, given only to the tribe's greatest champions, but this…" The priest grimaced. "She called this a poison. Repeated uses will likely leave its taker a gibbering madman," Angallu finished.

"Was that all she said? She didn't have any tips on how to fight it?"

The old man shook his head regretfully. "No, she thought Lord Tsiāhu might know more, but said that your patron was already working with him."

With a sigh, Jasper shoved his hands into his pockets. It was a bit more information than Kasdael had been able to give them, but not enough to help them much. Well, this was a bust. He kept his thoughts to himself, though, as he nodded politely at the priest. "Thanks for your help. Is there a place I can move the body?"

"You can leave it there for now," Angallu replied. "I will need to purify it before I can bury it, but my essence needs to recover first." He gestured at the woman who was still passed out beside them. "You would have my gratitude, though, if you could take Damqa back with you. It may be a few hours before she awakens, and it won't do her any good to sleep on the floor."

Jasper bent down and scooped her up in his arms. He felt awkward as he lifted her princess style, but it didn't seem quite right to fling her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "I'm happy to take her back, but I don't know where I'm going. Does she live in one of the keeps?"

"Take her to the keep on the left," the priest instructed him. "Once you reach the gates, the guards can guide you to her room."

With a final word of thanks, Jasper headed for the door. The wind and driving rain rose to meet him as he stepped across the threshold, quickly resoaking the clothes that had only begun to dry. "God, I hate this place," he muttered as he draped the woman across the back of her horse and, taking it by the bridle, led it up the steep path toward the keep on the left.

The guards greeted him with suspicion as he showed up with their commander's daughter hanging unconscious from her horse, but his display on the wall had clearly left an impression. Despite the angry glares leveled at him, the guards stayed their hand long enough for him to explain and, after verifying she was unharmed, they helped him deliver her to her room. "Let me know when she wakes up - I've got a healing spell that can cure headaches," Jasper offered, and then he returned to the tavern.

He left a trail of water across the old stone floor as he stomped over to the bar and, tearing his coat off, tossed it over the nearest stool.

"Looks like you had fun." Ihra met his eyes with an amused smirk, but she shoved her mug of mead toward him. "Here, since I stole your drink, you can have mine."

He sank in the seat wearily and winced as he took a sip of the proffered mead. "Hot damn that's strong."

"It gets better," she shot back.

"Was the priest able to tell you anything?"

Jasper took another sip of the mead, feeling its burning sensation cut a path down to his belly, but he had to admit Ihra was right. The honey's sweetness more than made up for the alcohol's burn. "Surprisingly little," he grunted. "Selene apologized for dragging us into this, gave me some sort of knock-off resurrection potion-" He ignored Tsia's dramatic gasp - "But she couldn't tell me much more about the magic they're using than Kas̆dael could. They both agree it's Fey though."

Ihra wrinkled her nose. "So? We don't need a history of its use; we just need to know how to stop it."

"Like I said," Jasper shrugged. "The priest proved a dead end. But I did pick up a potential lead from Damqa." He took another sip of the mead before continuing. "Her father's second-in-command went missing a few days after the sabotage incident. The locals think he's been taken by the bandits…"

He trailed off, tossing a significant look at the barkeep who was clearly eavesdropping, and Ihra and Nissilat exchanged glances.

"Do you think he's mixed up with them?" Ihra leaned forward, whispering.

"Hard to say. Damqa and the villagers seem to trust him, but they wouldn't be the first group to place their trust in the wrong man. Without further evidence, I see no reason to assume he's on the side of the angels. One way or another, I think our investigation has to start with Captain Tōrîl."

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