Chapter 18

Gven leaves the Broken Spy Glass through the back door and makes her way through the alleys around the building to the front of the pub. She stops at the corner, waiting to enter the main street as she watches the passersby. Approaching from her left, she sees two official-looking types with their hoods up headed towards the pub’s front door. She deftly enters the sparse crowd heading the opposite direction, blending in and avoiding a second glance from the two strangers.

Meanwhile, the rest of the group mills about inside the Broken Spy Glass, waiting for representatives of the Eyes of the Star and Hand of the Wand to arrive—as they know they soon will. Just before the pub door opens, Tella reminds the group to be honest, but don’t offer up any extra explanations. Two strangers enter the common room and pull back their low-hanging hoods. A dark-haired half-elf and purple-skinned tiefling stand before the group of adventurers and Tella, both with deep frowns on their faces.

Tella turns towards the half-elf, “Fine night for a visit, eh, Lithia.” Tella then nods his head to the tiefling, “welcome, Sirith. How might I be of service?”

Lithia, the half-elf representative from the Hand of the Wand, looks around the room, taking in the overturned tables and chairs and the unconscious hooligans, “looks like you know why we’re here.” She sighs heavily and passes a slow look over each member of the group, ending on Tella. “It’s unlike you to get involved in these sorts of affairs, Tella. Let’s see if we can get this wrapped up quickly.”

Lithia and Sirith listen to Grindlefoot recount the unfortunate altercation with Davanor’s thugs. After a few questions and a drinking salute to Bilwin’s deity, Hanseath, Lithia puts on a pair of glasses and slowly looks around the room. “Yep, it all checks out. These folks were minding their own business and tried to dispel the situation before it got out of hand. Let’s head back to the Hall, Sirith. You get to write up the report this time.” Sirith suddenly looks irritated and mumbles something under their breath that the group can’t quite hear. “Oh yeah, do you want me to tell the chief about that time with the Dragonborn a few months ago? Mmm-hmm, I didn’t think so.”

Tella turns to the group, “that went better than I expected. You’re lucky we got those two. Lithia is pragmatic and Sirith isn’t the sharpest sacrificial dagger in the drawer. And those spectacles of Lithia’s allow her to rewind recent events to see what actually happened. That’s why I told y’all not to lie. Now, drinks are on the house and I’m curious…are y’all interested in work?”

About six hours later, Gven finds herself slyly watching the Hall of Records from a pub along the public square’s edge. It didn’t take her long to reach the square after leaving the Broken Spy Glass, even taking a leisurely circuitous route to avoid being followed. Wanting to avoid attention, she’s moved through four different pubs before this one, waiting for a glimpse of Rightside.

She sees him slowly amble out of the Hall of Records, eating a kabob and looking none the worse for wear. Finishing her ale in one swig, she rises from her stool and makes her way towards the black and white tabaxi. Rightside is sitting on the steps to the hall, licking his paws clean after his snack, when Gven reaches him. “What do ya say we head back and see how the others fared?”

Rightside looks up at Gven, “sounds purrfect, my lovely large companion! I could use a drink too.”

After a short walk, Gven and Rightside find themselves at the locked front door of the Broken Spy Glass. Rightside knocks, “it’s me and the big lady, anyone in there?” A minute later, Tella opens the door and motions them in quickly. “A lot’s happened. We need to catch you up.”

Tella leads them into the kitchen, pulls a lever on the island counter used to prepare food, and it slides to the side, revealing a secret stairway. Following Tella down the stairs, Rightside is calm—they likely already knew about this hidden lair—while Gven proceeds with caution. A few moments later and she sees the rest of her group milling about the basement, investigating various shelves and lockers.

Dolor, Tella, and the others reveal everything they discussed after Lithia and Sirith left. Turns out that Tella is part of a secret organization called Heart of the People. They accept the responsibility of monitoring the Eyes of the Star and the Hand of the Wand, making certain that they act in the best interest of the people. The group is made of people who practice both faith-based and arcane-based magic, who have a vested interest in being treated fairly. They’re the ones who watch the watchers.

After seeing their skills in the tavern fight, Tella has recruited them to help the Heart of the People. As part of their agreement, he’s going to find out what he can about Torp, Gven’s older brother. He’ll do so a little more slyly than Rightside.

Knowing that they’ll need to use their magic, Tella has gifted each of the group with Bracelets of Diffusion. They reduce the likelihood that the Hand of the Wand or the Eyes of the Star notice any magical or clerical spells cast by those wearing them, as well as when using magical weapons. The bracelets should allow the group to act as they normally would without fear of being noticed or arrested.

Tella says, “now that you’re proper members, I have a job for ya.”