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Meanwhile in a warehouse a few blocks away, a fox and demonborn watched down the alleyway while the sabrewolf crouched over the lock with a set of picks. "You sure that this is the place we need to go?" Draggor whispered to Zen as they stood there. "There have to be dozens of warehouses like this one."

"I'm sure of it," Zen replied stoically. "Using the thief's merchant pass we were able to find out what shipments the mercenary group that wants to kill me were guarding. After that it was a matter of him talking to the caravan posing as a buyer and we were able to get the location of their last shipment."

"Sounds good enough to me," Draggor replied. "I just got my message back from Xander, he says that they've agreed on waiting to flambe Alkali until tonight, so we have a few hours to do what we need to do here while at the same time assisting the Burning Pyre in setting all this up. Not sure about you, but this seems like an awful lot of trouble to sneak past a few religious nutjobs."

"It's not just them we have to sneak past," Serathin spoke up as he slid the thin metal into the lock, listening as the tumblers fell into place. "The Burning Pyre has a lot of clout in this city, which means we would have had to get past the guards and even the townspeople as well, not to mention if we got spotted they'd probably chase us all the way to Ka'Le. If this works then they'll be away from the gates and far too preoccupied with other things to worry about us."

After a few seconds there was a click and the hybrid opened the door, which allowed the three to sneak in before he locked it behind them. The area was well-lit by the sunlight that streamed in from the upper windows, illuminating almost the entirety of the tall building as they walked inside. Everywhere they looked there were only two things that occupied the space, the mark of the Burning Pyre and rows upon rows of large, metallic barrels. When they popped open one of the lids they confirmed what their information had told them as the flammable liquid sloshed slightly within.

"Fireproof barrels," Draggor said as he examined the container. "Not magically warded, but still enough to put a small kink in our plans. They're all marked with the symbol of the Burning Pyre, too, so even if we had three extra people and a reinforced cart to haul them to the stage, they're going to suspect instantly."

"So we'll just have to put it in alcohol barrels or something," Zen suggested.

"I don't think we can find enough watertight barrels in time," Serathin mused as he looked down at the liquid. "We'd be better off filling waterskins, but we'd need a lot, and having piles of them lying around might also be suspicious. What we need is an intermediary that can be easily filled and transported that doesn't stick out like a sore thumb."

As the three pondered the situation they suddenly heard the door unlock and open once more, which caused the three to look at each other before they secured the barrel lid. They made a break for the back door, only to hear someone shout before any of them could put a hand on the handle. The sound of crossbows clicking into place caused them all to stop dead in their tracks as they put their hands up. At the prompting of their captor they turned around slowly to see who had gotten the drop on them.

"Oh gods, not you three again," Serathin groaned as he saw the bandaged face of the eagle mercenary with his two cohorts at his side, crossbows pointed straight at them.

"Did you honestly think you could try to meddle in our business and not get caught?" Kaylik smirked as he leveled a hand crossbow at Zen. "Here I thought I was going to have to spend another few years tracking you down when I find out that a sabertooth merchant and his fox bodyguard were looking into what my company was trading. Now the only thing I have to decide is who to shoot first, the one who left us for dead, or the one who threatened my life."

"You probably don't want to shoot anyone here with those crossbows," Draggor mentioned, which prompted the two guards to aim at him while the eagle asked why. "The Burning Pyre has been storing oil here for many years, and despite their fireguards it has soaked into every square inch of this building, which is why you don't see any torches in here. Now I know fire, and I can say with certainty that if those weapons spark when you pull the trigger, then we're all toast... well, you'll all be toast. I'll be fine, fire demon and all."

Kaylik looked at the demonborn incredulously, continuing to have his weapon aimed at Draggor as he walked over to a nearby support beam. He rubbed his gloved fingers across the surface and then held them up to the light, his beak turning down into a frown as he saw the leather glisten in the sun. "So there's a chance that this place might go up if we shoot you," the eagle said as he stared at Draggor. "I think I might just take that risk of immolation to kill two of my enemies and one smart-mouthed demon."

Zen looked between the three mercenaries and when he saw their attention was all on the warlock, he reached back to Serathin's pack and pulled out a wooden stick with a leather cap, which he pulled off and caused the end to ignite as all three turned their weapons on them. "What if I made it a sure thing?" Zen shouted as he waved the lit torch in the air, the three mercs backing up slightly. "Shoot any of us now and I drop this so we all travel to the beyond together. Or you can leave this building and this city, and not only will I not set us all on fire, but we won't hunt you down and you can live to try and kill me another day. So what do you say, do we all leave here alive, or on the wind as ashes?"

The eagle merc stared defiantly at the fox barbarian, but when Zen pretended to drop the torch and caused them all to flinch, he finally let out a shout of frustration and put his weapon down. "I have your scent now, Zen," he warned as the other two unarmed their crossbows as well. "Remember that."

The two groups of three continued to stare at each other as the mercenaries slowly backed away, then disappeared behind the corner where the door was. Zen continued to hold up the torch until they heard the door open and close once again, and after Serathin ran up and made sure the area was clear they all breathed a sigh of relief. "You think they're going to tell anyone about this?" Draggor asked Zen.

"I highly doubt it," Zen replied. "They want me for themselves, they're not going to risk someone else getting the glory."

"Great news for us I suppose," Serathin stated before he turned to Zen. "Good thinking pulling my everburning torch out, all the appearance of fire without the risk."

"Everburning torch?" Zen asked as he put his hand against the flames, only to find them cool to the touch. "It's not real?"

"Well no, it's a magical effect that..." Serathin's face fell slightly as his words trailed off briefly. "Wait, did you not know that fire wasn't real when you threatened to blow us up?" The hybrid's eyes went wide when the fox just shrugged and poked the flaming end of the stick into a pile of filled burlap sacks. "Did you just test it while we were still in here?!"

"You just said it was fake!" Zen shot back as he capped the torch and extinguished the fire. "Plus I was being careful, those sacks are clearly marked as some sort of fire control powder."

"Yeah, we use the same stuff in the arcana library," Draggor explained as he knelt down and rubbed the bright blue powder between his fingertips. "Instantly puts out any flames that you put it on, and can also render flammable things inflammable for a bit. That's probably why there's so much of it lining the walls here, so in case there's an oil spill they can dump a few bags into it and keep the whole place from going up."

"You don't say..." Serathin said as he rubbed one of his teeth in contemplation before a small grin played on his muzzle. "I think I have an idea of what to do, but we're going to need to pick up something from the room first."

Hours passed and the sun set as Xander looked nervously out from the room he had been given at the temple of the Burning Pyre, which had a view of the town square as people milled about to set up the stage he requested. In the middle of it all the metal bowl glinted in the dying light of the sun as they filled it with sacred oil. If things went terribly wrong they would witness a death there, possibly more than one. At the moment, though, their plan seemed to continue to progress, and the presence of the paladins and clerics of the sect meant that the way was clear. Part of him wanted to gather the others and bust Alkali out now, but to do so meant a bloody confrontation and chase they would likely not outrun.

As the last of the sun was replaced with the light of the moon, the usual lit torches and windows of the other buildings were not seen, the entire city completely dark save for the square itself. For the dragon that was a good sign, it meant most if not all of the people were down there for the show. That meant more chaos, and chaos was good. As he stood there staring his thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a knock on the door, and when he turned he saw that cleric Skyler was beckoning for him to come.

The mood was somber as the dragon and lemur walked slowly down the corridors, Xander once more being told what he was supposed to say. They had spent all day working on it and it had made the bard sick to his stomach every time he had to repeat the mantra he was given. When they reached the basement catacombs of the temple, though, the reason why stood in front of him, the tall ferret stood there with manacles on with two paladins on either side of him. Skyler gave Xander a small smile and a nod before he motioned for them all to follow, Alkali giving Xander a reassuring nod while they moved.

The group continued on in silence until they reached the doors of the temple, which were opened for them to the crowd that had gathered in the square. There was a round of fanfare as the cleric stepped forward on the makeshift stage that had been created between the temple steps and the raised stone platform of the square. Makeshift barricades of wood and sacks had been erected in order to separate the cheering crowd from the paladins that sat on the other side, keeping them far enough away from the large bowl that was clearly filled to the brim with flammable liquid. The roar of the crowd turned to boos as Alkali was moved to the middle of the square, though a simple gesture from Skyler calmed everyone down before he spoke.

"Citizens of Tarecona," the cleric said as he raised his hands to the hushed crowd. "I stood on this stage not one day ago and promised you that we would find the source of the blight that was in our city... and now that vile corruptor of flesh is before your very eyes, ready to be purified by the holy flames that protect us! But we could not have done it alone, and thankfully divine intervention brought this bard to deliver the necromancer to us! It is my honor to introduce you all to Xander the Blue, who will lead us in the purification."

There was another round of cheers and Xander swallowed hard and stepped forward, his body now the only thing between the ferret, a bathtub-sized bowl full of oil, and a riled up mob of townspeople and paladins with pitchforks. "My name is Xander the Blue, and I am naught but a humble bard with the extraordinary position to be able to deliver justice at the hands of the Burning Pyre," he exclaimed as he worked his magic over the crowd. "I'm here to tell you a story, a story of how it came to be that this creature fell into my clutches in the first place..."

As Xander began to weave his tale on the stage, Zen carefully moved his way through the group of paladins. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a black-cloaked individual move along the perimeter of the town square before it stopped in the shadow created from a nearby torch. In an alley nearby the fires glinted off red scales as he stood there holding the reins of several horses packed with gear. When the barbarian moved past the barrier he started to usher people away from the stage, pretending to belong as he looked back at the pile of burlap sacks, or moreso the ones marked with a black X on them.

The time had come when Xander ran out of words and cleric Skyler once again took over, Alkali taken by the paladins and placed in the middle of the pool of oil. Despite the shallow nature of the pool the oil still reached up to his shins as the ferret tried to look as stoic as possible despite the terror of the situation. The lemur was given a lit torch, one the cleric explained as lit from the sacred fires inside the temple, before he handed it to the dragon. Once again Alkali and Xander gave each other a look before the dragon walked forward and held the flame high in the air, which caused the crowd to cheer.

More importantly it was the signal that Serathin watched for as he grinned and pulled his sword from the confines of his black cloak. "It's about time," he quipped as he walked forward to one of the bags marked flame retardant with a black X and stabbed the blade into it, a clear amber liquid pouring out of it and coating the metal as the hybrid held it up. "Let's get this party started."

Xander let the applause continue as he glanced to his left to see Serathin take his sword and hold it up to the flame of a nearby wall torch, the fire eagerly leapt to consume the oil on it and soon nearly the entire weapon was engulfed. The bard turned towards Alkali and nodded to him, the ferret doing the same before turning back to the cleric in front of him. "Are you ready?" Skylar asked, both of them glancing at the eager lemur as Alkali nodded.

"I was born ready for this," Alkali replied with a smirk that caused the cleric to frown. In the next instant Zen took the black metal sword that had been hanging from his belt and tossed it up on stage to Xander, the ferret holding his hands up and turning his head as the dragon swung down. The chain snapped with a loud crack and Alkali grabbed the edge of the bowl and flipped himself over while the shock of what had just happened sank in, both with the crowd and the paladins that thought they had been watching an execution up to the point it turned into a rescue. Cleric Skyler was the first to recover and shouted for the paladins that had backed off the stage to rush them, only to jump off the stage as Xander took one of the half-filled jugs they had used to fill the basin and dumped the contents in his direction.

Zen let out manic laughter as he took the hatchet he had been given and split open several marked bags of his own to let the oil spill out of the treated bags. It had taken the three of them hours to coat the inside of the burlap with the sealant he had bought and replace the powder, but the effect was worth it as people scrambled to get away from the flood of flammable liquid. They were the same bags that Serathin slashed open as he ran around the perimeter they had created, the liquid catching fire from the blade as it ran into the trough and created a wall. As the flames continued to grow around the town square Alkali and Xander joined with Zen to the corridor of flame retardant they had created for their escape, and as the bard caught the gaze of the head cleric of the Burning Pyre, he just shrugged his shoulders and threw the torch at the stage.

As more fire roared to life both townspeople and Burning Pyre members scrambled away from the spreading flames. Several tried to give chase, but as they did Alkali turned and pointed his sword at them, the blade growing green before it lanced out an arc of energy that hit them and caused them to fall to their knees. "Draggor, we're clear!" Xander shouted as they jumped over a small pile of sacks that sloshed slightly when they cleared them. "Light them up!"

A fanged grin spread on Draggor's muzzle as a ball of bright red energy formed between his outstretched hands for a few seconds before he launched it at the stage. The second it made contact with the metal bowl, the fireball the warlock had created exploded and turned the solid brass into slag while splattering the now-ignited oil everywhere. As Alkali and the others got on their horses he held out his palm and hit the pile of bags that were at the end of their escape route, flooding the makeshift path with flaming liquid as well. The entire town square had devolved to complete and utter madness as the oil-flooded troughs made movement in and out of the square next to impossible as the five rode down the alley.

Once they had gotten a few blocks away they stopped for a moment and looked behind them, pleased and relieved to see they had not been followed. The glow from the town square continued to flicker predominantly in the otherwise dark streets as they heard people shout to try and contain the fires. "They're going to be fighting that fire for a day and a half!" Draggor exclaimed with a pleased smirk on his face.

"What about all the people, though?" Zen asked. "I know the troughs will keep the town safe but there are a lot in there that probably didn't have time to escape."

"Well that's why they have clerics with healing magic," Alkali stated as he angrily squeezed the thick oil out of his robes. "If anything it stalls them even further because they have to stay and help the injured. Now let's get the hell out of here, I've been in a jail cell all day and now I smell like smoked meat, so I could use a drink."

"Hey, what's that?" Xander suddenly spoke up as he pointed down one of the side streets. The others looked down and saw a trail of fire in the middle of the stone road that stretched from one building towards the other. "Is that supposed to be there?"

"No..." Zen replied as he squinted forward. "That's the street that we dragged all the bags down to get to the town square... from the oil repository..."

The five stood there in dumbfounded silence as they looked at the flickering flames before Serathin spoke up. "Huh, one of the bags must not have been sealed well enough," he stated as a column of smoke was suddenly illuminated further down in the warehouse district. "...we should probably run." The rest nodded in agreement and galloped quickly down the empty street as smoke continued to quickly intensify in the air.

****************************************

Back at the capital Pandez watched from the parapet of his castle in stoic silence, wind rustling his royal robes as he stared down at the glowing light south of his location. As he looked the door behind him opened and one of his royal guard burst through, panting as he clutched a piece of parchment in his hands. "My lord, we have just received word from your spy," he informed the king as he handed him the paper. "The dark paladin Alkali has apparently been captured and about to be burned in the town square of Tarecona."

"Looks like the Burning Pyre did all the hard work for us," Pandez replied with a grin. "Was there any word of Xander the Blue or the others?"

"That's just the thing, sir," the guard explained. "Shuken says that it was Xander the Blue that turned him in and was also the one that suggested the performance that they're doing right now. He wants to know what he should do."

The King stood there for a few moments with his hand on his chin, scratching it idly as he looked down at the orange glow where Tarecona was. "I don't like this..." he mused. "Why Xander would go through all the trouble of helping Alkali procure the map just to betray him one town over makes no sense. Send a message to Shuken to stay put and get a squad of cavalry knights ready as soon as you can for a short journey to escort me there, I have a feeling this whole thing is going to go bad very soon."

Just as the King turned around to leave, the royal guard stood in front of him. "My lord, are you certain?" he asked in concern. "I know you wish to see this to its conclusion, but even if they did have some sort of plan, the Burning Pyre and the town guard are down there to hold them tight until your soldiers arrive. It certainly doesn't require your presence, I mean, how much trouble could they possibly get into?"

Pandez was just about to respond when the night sky was suddenly lit up behind them, the frown on the panda's face shadowed by the fireball that erupted high into the air. The royal guard swallowed hard as he was pushed aside and fell to the ground, the king apologizing before he walked past and down the stairs. Inside the castle proper every soldier, noble, and servant had found their way to a window to watch as several smaller explosions followed the first one. King Pandez called on several of them to aid him in his tasks, pulling them away from their spectating to put them to work preparing him.

As the last of his armor was helped onto his body Pandez saw a familiar feral falcon fly through the door and land on the floor before it once more morphed into a vixen. "It's a bit short notice, but I managed to get all the items that you requested," Serina informed him as he put a leather bag on the table. "Are you sure you want to do this, Pandez? Myself and a few skilled mages could reach their party far faster than you and your knights can, even on horseback, or if you'd like I could come along and aid you myself."

"Just like old times, eh?" Pandez managed a small smile as he felt the last of the latches lock the light metal plates into place. "As tempting as it would be to get the band back together I need you to stay here and translate the map, put as many resources as you need towards it."

"The historian isn't finished with his authentication yet," Serina replied.

"Doesn't matter," Pandez said while he grabbed the bag the female fox mage had brought and slung it over his shoulder. "Alkali is definitely following that map and he just burned down half a town to do so, so even if it doesn't lead to Ka'Le, it will still lead to him. All we have to do is catch up."

Serina nodded in reply and pulled a small, silver statue of a raven out of her cloak and tossed it to him, which he caught as he walked by and gave her a wink. He threw on his cloak and put the item in his pocket as he made his way to the door. One last servant waited for him before he left, the lizardman bowing slightly as he held the large, polished cherry wood box. Pandez opened it and looked at the contents, a white wooden stick as long as his forearm inlaid with black metal and stone in complex patterns that laid on a velvet pillow. The king ran his fingers over the weapon before he picked it up, nodding to the servant that closed the box as he secured it to his back.

A little after dawn a small crowd gathered in the street as they watched the procession of knights from the castle pass by them, cheering when their king came into view. None of them knew why such a display was happening, something the king wanted as they marched to the gate. Once they reached the border of the city they hopped on their horses and began to gallop down the road, King Pandez in the lead as they rode towards the black column of smoke in the distance.