The Company are stunned after hearing this news, particularly Jeremi who seems very concerned and troubled that somehow the Illumination has incarcerated the Prelate of Marlona. This is the first time that the Company have encountered the Illumination's strict view of �tonist law.
After wandering through the back part of the store, the company hear humming coming from a closet underneath the stairs. Opening the door, they are confronted by a fiendish, foul creature made up of eyes and tons of mouths, all of them humming and gnashing their teeth. Taken by surprise, several members are grabbed by the mouths and bitten. Hearing the noise, a cultish-type sorcerer runs downstairs and attacks the party from afar using evil magicks. Jeremi quickly dispatches the evil sorcerer while the remainder of the company concentrate on the fiendish mouth beast. After a sustained combat, the the beast is finally killed, and the party takes a quick rest to regain their strength. They hear the proprietor in the front of the store, hiding in a corner and slowly rocking back and forth, muttering "she must be out of the way for the gate to open."
Continuing to investigate the strange store and library, the company goes upstairs and encounters two more hooded cult-members, who use evil arcane magick to attack the heroes. The leader, a woman, creates a dense fog-bank through which the company cannot see, and then she begins climbing on the walls and ceiling with the agility of a spider. After a fierce battle, the company is victorious, but Jeremi and Uso have depleted all of their spells. B'gokktem has also taken acidic damage from some type of foul magic, and it continues to damage him as the company makes their way into the basement of the shop.
Downstairs in the basement, the company enters a room with two more hooded cultists and another "gibbering mouther". They also see a near-helpless woman in a red robe holding her hands over her ears and screaming to herself. Another battle ensues and the company is hard-pressed to defeat these evil foes given their lack of magic. In the end, they win the battle, but not before Sebastian is knocked unconscious.
With the shop cleansed of the cultists, the company helps the woman, who turns out to be Alein, the senior Paladin of the Order of Hallowed Gillias. She is shaken by her experience and still not quite herself. The company promises to return her to her temple for healing and recuperation. In the meantime, they begin to take stock of the items carried by the cultists and prepare to retire for the evening to pray or meditate for spells and heal their wounds.
Later that night, on their way back to the inn, the company is approached by several prominent businesspeople from the city who invite the company to a party being held in their honor at the Stony Gaze Tavern on the following night to celebrate the defeat of the evil groups that were plaguing the town.
The company spends the day traveling to different libraries in the town looking for any books which may reference the pre-AEtonist prophet, Danar, and his creation of a secret storehouse of evil artifacts. After hours of research, Jeremi finally finds a vague reference in an ancient manuscript that discusses, among other things, the Most Hallowed Prophet Dorren and the foundation of the Holy Faith of Universal �tonism. The book is extremely old and is about ready to fall apart, and is written in an archaic version of Church Oestian. It appears that it is a translation of the original manuscript which was written in ancient Dasidian. Jeremi is able to piece together what he believes is the location of the "Banevault" where the artifacts are hidden. The company begins preparations to travel back to Barrid with the information after attending the party in the evening.
The party is a great success, with much food and drink, and songs written in their honor to celebrate the triumph of the company and the town over evil.
After leaving the party, the Company are ambushed by several hooded and cloaked individuals in a maze of alleyways and narrow streets near the Stony Gaze tavern. There is a great battle involving all members of the Company present as well as several humanoid
