August 30, Year 3488 (SE 118)
After finishing their respective tasks, the party regroup near the palace gates to watch the Royal Procession. Everyone comes except Zedlyn, who stays behind at their rented building to keep an eye on the cultists. Adokas passes on the location of the building to the rest of the party when they meet.
It appears that a large portion of the city has come out to watch the procession. The palace gates open, and the procession begins. For the next half-hour, the armies and the important functionaries of Viskha march out of the gates. Apart from the soldiers, the party see many of the city's most important nobles, merchants, and priests, including Iskander and his wife with the other priests of Kilooloogung.
At the end of the procession is Queen Ilthai, her honour guard, and her most important advisors. She is riding a powerful warhorse and wearing elaborate ceremonial armour; Zedlyn reflects that according to common knowledge, she is supposed to be an extremely skilled warrior and gifted general.
As the Queen begins making her way through the city, the crowd follows, and only a few of the party members (Iriellis and Arik, specifically) are able to make their way through the mass of people fast enough to keep up. The Queen travels across Yahn's Market to the city gates, before stopping at a stage to address the people. She asks them to remain strong in the face of years of warfare, reminding them of the increased influence and privilege that the city now enjoys because of their conquests, and assuring them that Cappadarnia will finally fall this year. Before she leaves, she formally passes control of the city itself to Lord Jaleer, her chief vizier. She and the last remaining soldiers exit through the city gates, and they slam shut, ending the procession. The crowds begin to disperse.
Afterwards, the party again split up to pursue different goals. Iriellis asks Arik to meet her at a local cafe to talk. It seems that Queen Ilthai's speech has made her think of her home city, Cappadarnia, and her family there. She asks Arik if he plans to go there, but he says he doesn't intend to go that far south; his next intended destination is Golnuz, the so-called "City of the Gods", known for its extensive temples and devout people. They discuss Iriellis' background, and when she explains that she is a deserter from the Cappadarnian army, that solidifies his decision not to go there - it's a warzone, and Iriellis has a death penalty for desertion having over her. Afterwards, Iriellis goes to a tavern to drown her sorrows.
P'hla and Flossaria travel together to the Temple of Kib, looking for information about the creation of the world. They speak with a priestess there, who tells them the standard story that they already know - that Kib created the world, and all of the creatures upon it, except for certain unnatural creatures that were created later through magic and sorcery. Such creatures are abominations against Kib. They ask if they can study any scriptures, but she can only point them towards the common and publicly available ones; while the temple does have a library of rarer and more valuable writings, they are only for the use of highly-ranking priests. Finally, they ask about the deserts to the east and the west, wondering what the scriptures of Kib say about them. She says that, while most places in the world were given to various creatures, there are certain areas of the world, such as the deserts, that were given to no creatures - they were made inhospitable so that there would be a part of the world that existed only for itself.
The remaining party members (Zedlyn, Adokas, and Sharla) spend the rest of the day keeping an eye on the cultists' building. Although they do occasionally see people going in and out, they aren't yet able to infer any patterns or make any conclusive deductions.
That night, the party gather in their rented room and keep watch throughout the night. Flossaria decides to stay awake all night, worried about what could happpen in her dreams if she goes to sleep. At all times, one other party member is awake as well and keeping watch. They watch the building all night, but observe nothing of interest. It seems that no one is going in or out of the building at night.
August 31, Year 3488 (SE 118)
Flossaria manages to stay awake all night, and the next morning everyone else awakes. Flossaria asks P'hla about her dreams, but P'hla responds that she didn't dream at all, which both relieves and somewhat troubles Flossaria. The party again split up to pursue various aims, with Arik and Adokas staying behind to keep watch on the cultists, and Iriellis too hung over to be of much use.
Zedlyn goes to find a store that sells mining supplies, and convinces the appropriately-named Dwarven proprietor, Axehand Hammerfist, to show him the mining explosives that he keeps in the back room. Although such items are highly regulated, he convinces the dwarf to sell some to him; specifically, he purchases two small Gnomish demolition charges, built for precision rather than raw power, and therefore useful as grenades during a fight.
Flossaria and P'hla again team up to visit a temple; this time, they track down a temple of Yoharneth-Lahai, the God of Dreams. Lahai's temple is a small, run-down building in the docks district, manned by a single elderly priest. They start by asking the priest questions about Lahai, wondering if he could be responsible for their dreams. However, the priest's answers don't seem to match up very well with their experience, as he describes Lahai as a benevolent God who sends dreams to entertain the people or to remind them of past memories. Even nightmares are usually a warning to be heeded, and thus actually a good thing, according the priest.
P'hla decides to explain to him the specifics of the dreams they've been having, while Flossaria leaves the building, as she was explicitly told by Grif not to say anything to anyone. While she's outside, she casts a Detect Evil spell and concentrates on the inside of the building. She detects a faint source of evil, and rushes in to warn P'hla, but when she steps back in, with the spell still active, she realizes that it is emanating from P'hla herself!
By this time, the priest has finished listening to P'hla, and after some initial confusion, he comes to a conclusion as to what the dreams must be. He explains that such dreams could not come from the Gods, and therefore must come from the demons below. Demons, he explains, sometimes send dreams to individuals in the hopes of driving them to commit evil and unholy acts. Flossaria listens to this explanation and is convinced of its correctness, realizing that it isn't some ancient god speaking to her, but rather a demon trying to trick her. The priest teaches the two adventurers a series of mantras to Lahai that should help ward off bad dreams, after which they thank him and depart.
At noon, the party regroup at their room. Flossaria, convinced by the priest of Yoharneth-Lahai that the dreams are lies from a demon, disregards the warning given to her by Grif and shares everything she knows with the party. She then leaves for the temple of Mung in order to inform them as well, and spends the rest of the day praying at the temple. P'hla visits the College of Mages again, but Ayal's message has still not arrived, and she is still not let in.
The rest of the party spend the afternoon keeping watch on the cultists, and by the end of the day they have ascertained some basic patterns. While many of the comings and goings of the cultists seem to be random, there are also several that come and go on a regular schedule. During the afternoon, Adokas, having yet to find any followers of Theia in the city, decides to try the opposite tactic: he posts a public note asking any followers of Theia to meet him in a specific place that evening.
As evening nears, they decide to send Arik to tail one of cultists that leaves the hideout - normally his distinctive appearance would make him a poor choice, but in the dark of night, it shouldn't be an issue. Adokas heads out the the meeting that he'd advertised earlier, Zedlyn wanders the nearby neighbourhood hoping to find anything of interest, and Flossaria prepares for a second night without sleep.
Zedlyn and Adokas return as night falls, both having found nothing of interest, and the party settle down for the night. It is immediately apparent that Flossaria can barely stay awake; only constant interruptions from Zedlyn (and later, Adokas then Arik) keep her awake.
Partway through the night, Arik returns, informing Adokas and Flossaria (the two awake party members at the time) that it appears the cultists are engaging in a vigil of their own - the cultist he followed heading to a building about half an hour away, trading places with another cultist who has already there, and settled in for a long watch.
Arik takes the next watch after Adokas, and it is uneventful. At the end of his watch, he and Flossaria go to wake P'hla for the last watch, only to find that she's not in her bed. A quick search of the area confirms their immediate suspicion: P'hla is gone!
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