"I'm going to go underground, collect my brother, update the neathers," Ky says to Ember. "Do you want to join me there?"

"I've never heard of the neathers, which means if they needed help I wouldn't have known to come give it to them. Yes, I think I would like that."

"I think they'll like you too."

Back to where she left the ladder and down into the depths.

There are still some neathers waiting at the bottom, although not that many; quite a few of them seem to have dispersed, heading back to their villages or out hunting or finding somewhere private. Horgus Gwerm is, of course, not currently there, but Iskander shouldn't be too difficult to find.

"Iskander! Things are quiet enough up top that I want you with me. This is Ember. Ember, my twin, Iskander."

"Hello! Your sister seems very nice, so I bet you are too. Do you also use paper like she does?"

"Nah, I'm a mushroom guy, and way less so."

"Mushrooms are very interesting! I think I can figure out how to grow plants later, and I can talk to animals, but I can't do anything with them. Can you use them to make lots of food to feed people, or make them glow so they can be used as a light source?"

"I can make them tastier. Or grow a little faster. It's not that useful."

Meanwhile, Ky goes to update the chief on the situation - plenty of demons around, most active fighting subsided but still the best time is likely to be after she fixes the wardstone sometime tomorrow late morning.

Legacy of the first crusade as they are, neither chief Sull nor any of the other mongrels know what the wardstone is, but they're sure she'll deal with it just fine. They'll make plans to head up tomorrow; hopefully Lann will be back with the kids by then, but they don't seem too optimistic.

Ember, meanwhile, will set about to seeing if any of the neathers are injured. She doesn't heal as much as Dyra did, nor can she get multiple people in one go, but she doesn't charge for it or seem to run out, and on the rare occasion someone isn't fully healed by it she can make a short chant and fix them up the rest of the way.

Ky isn't in a terrible hurry right now and will wait till she's done before heading back up.

It won't be terribly long at all; there aren't that many neathers that got injured in the last day or so, and Ember is relatively quick about the actual healing so a lot of the delay is her making conversation so she can learn about what life is like underground.

"It turns out they mostly had the healing they needed, as long as they could work or had friends willing to help them, so it wasn't too bad for most of them. They seem remarkably close to each other, at least when they're from the same village; it's hard to imagine what Kenabres would be like if everyone up there had the same sense of community. Lots of them used to be scared that something would happen to their friends and family after the ground started shaking yesterday and some kids disappeared, but you gave them some hope."

Ember smiles at her.

"I hope the kids are okay but it doesn't seem terribly likely. I think the success of the wardstone mission is the best way to help as many people as possible in the near term."

 Once she's back on the surface, some people in the festival plaza can confirm that Horgus Gwerm was last seen headed for safety at the defender's heart.

Cool. She will swing by there to get her gold and be seen.

Horgus Gwerm is sitting at a table, his back facing the door. Camellia is at the same table, though they don't seem to be currently talking.

"Ah, Kybele! There you are. I have to say, I regret letting you run off like that; the rest of my day wasn't half so interesting, and I expect the same isn't true of you."

"Nothing else really lively went down but I did meet some interesting people - this is Ember; Ember, this is Camellia, and that is Horgus Gwerm. How do you do, Mr. Gwerm, I hope the ladder was to your satisfaction."

"Yes, quite excellent. Not only did it serve to bring me right out of the caves, but into one of the safest parts of the city."

He pulls out a bag of gold coins.

"I won't be offended if you count them, of course, but they're all there. Horgus Gwerm was actually hoping to track you down to hire you for another task, but I hear you're busy?"

"A little, but I have the time to hear you out!"

"I happen to own a mansion in the south of Kenabres where I keep my valuables, including some of tremendous sentimental value, and it's far enough away from any of the patrol routes the eagle's watch have set up that I'm not sure they'll be able to dissuade any looters or cultists who have a go at it. I wouldn't dare ask that our paladins choose to defend my valuables over the lives of our fair citizens, but perhaps you would be amenable to escorting me there so I could retrieve them and ensure nothing untoward happens to them."

He pauses, slightly embarrased.

"Of course, I had planned to offer you the same sum as before, plus a bonus if we ended up seeing combat or for heroism in defense of my property, but part of the problem is that if we don't arrive in time to rescue my safe I can't guarentee I'll have the money on hand there to pay you instantly. I've asked Rathimus if I can withdraw from my accounts with the bank of Abadar, but he says he won't be able to get any actual gold to you before communications are reestablished with Absalom or Osirion, so in the worst case you might have to settle for a promissory note or a delayed payment. O-o-of course, if this eventuality were to occur I would certainly pay you extra for the inconvenience, and in absalom pounds instead of crowns to boot!"

His voice picks up a slightly blustering tone at the end. He seems more than a little nervous about the thought of someone getting their hands on these items of his.

"I think I have time to see you to the mansion, and I'm not specifically suffering for lack of liquid funds right now and will not weep over it if I must accept a promissory note."

"Capital! Horgus Gwerm thanks you for your help. Is there anything you need to do first, or shall we go?"