The Best Deceptions

Right about the time Audric and I got to the grove, Rowan and Grumble arrived as well. Heading in, we set about finding who among us had had any success with their missions. Turns out all of us were pretty much unsuccessful. At least I managed to secure us a safe place to hide if need be.
As we stood around taking in the view of the grove, Audric poked me and began gesturing towards Grumble. Apparently he was leaving it to me to tell him about our thoughts on Glorwynn after all. I stammered through my explanation of why Glorwynn might not be who she appeared, barely able to meet Grumble's eyes. No one wants to hear that their beloved family member might be hiding something dark and dangerous. The others began to chime in with their misgivings as well, but he couldn't be swayed. I can't say I blame him.
The next order of business was to find out what kind of information we could get from that dead sorceress. Audric cautioned we would have to be very specific in our questioning and we tried, but mostly failed. Stupid dead people and their dead logic. All we got was a clue to possibly what race the Speaker in Dreams is, and we decided to take our knowledge to Kartharine. If anyone in town could make sense of things, it would be her.
Arriving at the Library, we discovered it to be more like a mausoleum. All of the students had gone, and Kartharine was nowhere to be found. Right before I was ready to give up, she appeared with a mug of something hot and ushered us into the library. We told her what we had gleaned from the charred corpse and she suggested that our Speaker in Dreams may be an Illithid. Something that lives underground and has a bad case of tentacle mouth, and likes to eat brains like the rest of us like steak.
Feeling only slightly more enlightened, we decided to visit Glorwynn along with Grumble, just in case. On our way, Nialia stoped suddenly, saying she could smell something following us. We all turned to see nothing, but Audric stared intently for a moment, and told us something was there as well, and it was hunting us. Everyone grabbed for their weapons as Audric cried out, stepping in front of me.
Grumble cried out as he was pulled back and bleeding gashes began to appear on him. Rowan and I ran up and took a side, as best we could tell, and tried to stab the invisible foe without hitting Grumble. Whatever it was bit my arm as I tried to swipe at it. Nialia managed to cast faerie fire on it, and a huge wild cat appeared before us. Rowan, Grumble and I managed to take it down, and we all rushed to flee the scene before trouble could befall us from the new town militia.
We arrived at the warehouse shortly after. Of course Grumble knocked as an afterthought as he barged through the door shouting greetings. The rest of us wandered in after, finding Glorwynn alone playing cards, the rest of the caravan nowhere to be seen. She greeted us and said it seemed her companions had either cut town while they could, or gone to console themselves with drinks.
As she packed up her cards, Grumble hesitantly mentioned our doubts about her. Glorwynn began to play dumb. Too dumb, actually. I know what I heard, and I heard her say House of Bel. As Grumble pressed her for a family secret only she and he would know, she stopped and spoke to Audric, who had been sneaking around behind her. She called him "shapeshifter" and my heart hit my feet. How could she know what he was? Audric froze as Glorwynn admitted she had been reading his mind, and asked if he wasn't frustrated that he couldn't seem to read hers. The others eyed Audric with shock as Glorwynn explained to them what Audric had told me the other night about shapeshifters and mindreading.
I began to panic inwardly as Glorwynn continued to attack Audric, calling him by all of his previous names, and "murderer" as well. She asked if he really thought our love would change him. Would I die by his hands, or would he leave me to rot somewhere? Stepping in front of Audric, tears filling my eyes I screamed "ENOUGH!" Glorwynn had the cruelest look in her eyes, and I glanced behind me to see Audric shaking, eyes wide.
At this point Rowan stepped up, echoing my command to stop. Glorwynn turned to her and sneered "Big words for someone who's daddy's not here to help." Then she turned to Grumble and told him she knew of his family, and not just what she had pulled from his head. "Poor Mordi," she laughed. "I bet you still think it's all your fault." At this, she turned into what I could only describe as an elf, though I have never seen one so evil in all my life. Rowan and Grumble grabbed for their weapons from the bag of holding, and the elf turned to Rowan once more and asked what we had in the bag. We all made a move to take her out, but she snapped her fingers and we all froze completely, barely even able to breathe.
Terrified, I stared at the elf. She told us she had wanted to see the creatures who had thwarted her brother's plans. Apparently, we hadn't managed to impress her. Thankfully, because this was Rhanna, of the House of Bel. She informed us she had read all our minds, except for Nialia's, strangely enough. She was no longer interested in us, but told us to leave the city and pray our paths never crossed again. Then, to the dismay of all of us, she reached into the bag of holding, pulled out the chest that held the book of Vile Darkness, and disappeared, taking the book with her.
The spell broke immediately, and we were able to move again. Grumble in his anger and despair began to smash everything around him, while the rest of us tried to figure out what to do next. When Grumble had finished his tirade, I crept up behind him and put my arms around him. He shrugged me off, and I stood there staring at his back for a moment in silence, wishing there was some way I could comfort him. Of course there was nothing I could do, so I turned and went to rejoin the group.
We left the warehouse and headed back to the library as fast as possible. Kartharine demanded we tell her everything, down to the last forgettable detail, as everything might be important. While disturbed by what we told her, she seemed to calm herself quickly. Being a loremaster, I'm sure she must know something we don't. Hopefully we told her something she would find useful. Even that thought didn't seem to make me feel better, though, as we walked towards the nearest inn for dinner before I headed out for some recon work at the temple of Pelor.
On our way there, the evil looking tall thing from the balcony earlier was walking towards us down the road, accompanied by profusely sweating guards. Even though I hid myself, as he passed it seemed he looked right at me with a chilling grin. I have no idea what that thing is, or what business it has here in Brindinsford, but it most certainly can't be part of the solution.
When we got to the inn, I ordered food, but just pushed it around on my plate. My appetite was long gone. I kept snatching quick sideways glances at Audric, who didn't seem to be feeling any better than I. I wanted to tell him things were going to be fine, and that I didn't believe a word of what Rhanna had said. I wanted to hold him close and drown out whatever was running through his head, but it wasn't the time or place. I have a job ahead of me that I can't fail. Something is going on in the temple of Pelor, and it is my job to find out what, so I have to focus. I have to do my best so no one worries about me too much. I just hope I'm up to the challenge. I don't think I could forgive myself if I was discovered and captured, or killed. Please, oh please could my terrible luck not follow me this once?