Safiya exhales heavily. "Thank you for trying." She rubs her eyes miserably. "I... suppose we can ask her theater troupe if they know anything. If she went anywhere unusual, did anything strange, that might give us a clue what she knew."

"I don't have a better idea."

"It's a plan, then."

They pass back through the shadow portal, out through the dressing rooms onto the stage, and out through the audience into the sunlight.

Then, three masked women teleport in formation in front of them.

"Talk fast," Belmarniss advises them, in case they are not immediately about to attack, though she gets a Dispel ready.

"I've studied your laws, witches, and we've broken none," Safiya adds. "Keep your distance."

     "You know our laws, but I know you, child, even if these others do not," says the eldest woman. "You'll be better served by keeping silent."

          "Look, Sheva," the right-hand witch says angrily, "the strange-skinned one! It's her who offends the land, and will draw the army to our gates!"

     "Speak your name, foreigner," says Sheva, "and be warned that you address the Wychlaran."

"I don't know what a Wychlaran is, I'm from another planet. My name is Belmarniss."

Sheva frowns. "We are Witches - ambassadors to the hidden realm of spirits, and keepers of the sacred law. We bow our heads to the Triune Goddess, and to no one else. Magda told us of your... heroics... in the Veil, but the spirits tell a different story. They say that in three days' time, the bear king Okku will march an army of spirits to our gate, roaring for your blood. They say that you defiled his sacred den, and loosed a great evil upon the world. And the spirits do not lie. I can smell the wrongness on you, foreigner; it hangs upon you like a corpse-shroud."

"I ping Good - or at least I did before I smote Mephistopholes, which shouldn't exactly hurt - and as far as I know I'm the only entity that was broken out of there."

The old Witch nods. "You still do - which is part of why we are not throwing you to the bear god in chains. But there is something within you... something far worse than mere evil. I do not know what it could be, but I know that the bear king wishes you dead, and will not listen to reason. He will hunt you to the ends of the earth. Anywhere you hide, he will rip to pieces. Your only hope is to face him and defeat him before his army."

"Can I get rid of the thing within me, do you suppose?"

She shrugs. "It is deep within you, I know that much. I do not know what roots it may have put down. Can you tear it out? Perhaps. Can you do it in a day? Perhaps not."

"Uh-huh. If he's on his way and you don't want me wherever you live that's reasonable, do you want to recommend a staging ground?"

"He will stop before our gates, as we have honored him in the past, and demand that you be delivered unto him. The plain before our gates will make as good a battlefield as any. And... hmm... I shall tell you this. You may go to the prison and recruit any man who will stand beside you, and he will be granted amnesty for whatever crime he has committed. I do not know who would answer such a call, but I know that you will need all the help you can get."

"...cool, sounds like a decent deal."

"This is to honor the debt we owe you for crossing spells with our enemies the Red Wizards; do not think us generous," Sheva cautions. "Is there anything else you must know?"

"If you wanted to brief me on what defenses the city'll be putting up for collateral damage minimization purposes that'd be keen."

Sheva smiles. "The walls of this city are stronger than they look. The spirits of earth and stone fortify our bulwark. It would be best if you did not aim to destroy them, but I doubt you could even if you tried."

"Cool, good to know. Do you know where the bear dude gets his army from, what their vulnerabilities and nasty surprises are as a class?"

"We are not the ones to ask; we revere the spirits, and do not fight against them. It is only the most bizarre circumstance that drives us to help you in your opposition of them."

"I mean, allies can still know things about that, like how I know angels are immune to cold but just resistant to fire even though I don't plan to set any angels on fire."

The witch who piped up before does so again. "We can only help you in certain ways, outlander," she sniffs. "To tell you how best to defeat the telthors would be a betrayal, no matter that Sheva hopes you will succeed."

"Well, if that's what your inner phylactery of faithfulness is telling you. Where's the prison?"

"Up the hill, by the gibbet," says Sheva. "We will speak with you again if you live."

And they vanish as suddenly as they appeared.

"Do you know how to fight telthors?" Belmarniss asks Safiya, heading uphill.

Safiya nods. "They're incorporeal, so force effects are most effective, and they tend towards... physical strength rather than magical... hello," she says to the two teenagers who have just approached the pair. One, a boy wearing a helmet with an impressive rack of stag's antlers attached to it, raises a hand in greeting.

      "Hello. I am Efrem the Stag, and this is my sister, Susah the Crow. We couldn't help but overhear your... discussion with the Wychlaran," he says. "An army of angry spirits approaches the gates of Mulsantir. You will likely require help against such a host."

           "My bow and my brother's sword will aid you," says his apparent sister, "should you agree to first help us find our lost sister, Kaelyn the Dove."