[Stomoxys]

We walked to the temple under the north gate and Nuur-Karif sat down to pray for a while before asking the three apeoids there were Enani was. They did not know anything, so we went to look for the Azura priest in the Tiri tower. The tower was completely empty except the top chamber. There, the priest was sitting alone in their rocking chair, staring at blue sky with their unseeing eyes.

The priest turned towards us when we entered, but said nothing. Nuur-Karif announced that Iloro, the Elik cultist wanted to meet them. The priest was unimpressed, saying that there was probably a reason why Iloro had been kept away. They wanted to be left alone and sit in the light of Ajaw, because they thought their time was running out. Nuur-Karif pretended that they listened and said they would try to find out why Iloro wanted to meet the priest. As we left, we got a blessing of peace and a reminder to remember the stars. Down in the the tunnels, Nuur-Karif instructed me to fetch Grogg. They would put a blindfold on Iloro and get Grogg to carry them to the tower. They did not want Wolfram to come along, though. I was curios to see what Nuur-Karif and Iloro was up to, so I played along. Nuur-Karif would go and pray in the meantime.

I made my way to the wagon. It smelled of beer and Grogg, Wolfram, and Hylda were there with a sleeping Yana. I presented the situation and Wolfram insisted that they should come along and I agreed. I do not think Nuur-Karif can tell the difference between the interests of Ashtar and the ashtarites and they would probably murder the Azura priest themselves if they thought it would get Audria released. Having Wolfram around would be an extra discouragement of any trickery. Then again, my impression is that the Elik cultists care even less about their own survival than the ashtarites, so if Iloro was determined, it would be difficult to keep the Azura priest alive.

We asked the couch driver to fetch the spy and the spy knocked on the door after a few minutes. After a brief conference, we decided that we could take the couch to the Anati garden and walk through the hedge to the Tiri tower. Grogg and Wolfram would be recognizable, but I could put an illusion on them. En route, Grogg told me that Nuur-Karif was wanted by the authorities, but not for murder for a change.

When we reached the garden, I began conjuring an image of a small troll. Hylda still saw Wolfram as Grogg and vice versa, so I briefly considered if whatever was causing that illusion could interfere with the new illusion. However, an image of a small troll formed as it should and wrapped around Grogg. I then began on an image for Wolfram, but as I worked, I felt the image on Grogg slipping and had to to abandon the new image to save the old. After stabilizing it, I made Wolfram's troll and wrapped it around them. This took more energy than I had expected, even though I had used the energy in the shimmer coin. I had to settle for some rather brittle images, but this time, Grogg were able to follow instructions.

Hurrying to the hole in the hedge, I had to focus to maintain the images. At one point, it felt like I was about to faint, but luckily I had brought my staff and was able to steady myself. Still, we did not reach the hole a moment too soon and Grogg had to steady me when walking through the remains of the Azura temple.

I was in no condition to fetch Nuur-Karif, so I asked Grogg to go and get them. They did not want to enter the Ashtar temple, but I told them they could go the wash basins and shout for Nuur-Karif. That way, we would not risk Grogg forgetting to wash and being forced to swat any outraged fanatics. Wolfram and I climbed the stairs to the priest's room. They did not appear to have moved at all and I plopped down on the floor next to them. I did notice that they appeared to look to the east, away from Ajaw and towards where the first stars would appear.

It took maybe 30 minutes before we heard Grogg's heavy steps in the stairs. They stopped in the room beneath us and we heard voices before Grogg, Nuur-Karif, and a male apeoid appeared in the hatch. The apeoid walked towards the priest, but I ordered them to stop before they got within jumping distance. The apeoid looked confused and started babbling about a private meeting they had been promised, but complied. The priest did not seem to care, stating that Nuur-Karif had arranged the meeting so they could see what they wanted to see. Nuur-Karif searched them for weapons and I kept a close eye in case they "missed" something. As far as I could tell, they did a thorough search. In the process, they showed me an amulet Iloro was wearing formed as a circle, a spiral and a dagges in a triangle. They then proceeded to search the Azura priest. Presumably as some kind of courtesy to Iloro, because it looked silly. The priest tolerated the handling with quiet irritation.

Nuur-karif asked if there was enough sky and then made to leave, but Iloro asked if they were a prisoner. Nuur-Karif did not answer, but said they would be within earshot. I said I would not leave unless the priest desired us to leave and did not get an answer. Kra cawed, and the priest turned towards the spirit raven and said that Kra could stay as long as they wanted. This was enough for Grogg and they left through the hatch. When I "shared the knowledge" that Iloro was part of a cult that collaborated with Tivito and that I did not know Nuur-Karif's intentions with the meeting, the priest responded that they did not know the reason either, but did not express any opinion. They did not sense any bad magic from Iloro though, but casually turned towards Wolfram for a few seconds when they said it. Reluctantly, I agreed to follow Nuur-Karif and Wolfram followed me. If Kra was there, Grogg would turn Iloro into pulp the moment they heard a distress call.

After the hatch was closed, Nuur-Karif took up position underneath it to listen and gestured for me to do the same, while motioning for Grogg and Wolfram to continue. Iloro tried to flatter the priest, claiming that they were impressed by how the priest had hid all these years in the Tiri tower, so close to the Mitra temple. The priest did not respond, but told them to wait until the stars were up. Judging from Ajaw's position, that would take about three hours.

After a whispered discussion, I went down to the others and told them that we would have to stay until nightfall. They were fine with it and I continued out to where the wagon had left us. After a few minutes, it came driving through at a sedate pace and the driver stopped right next to me, pretending to check the wheels. I slipped in and informed the spy. They were not thrilled with having to wait for us, but we agreed to meet at the wagon shed by the north gate. I also asked them to fetch some food which they accomplished in a few minutes and they also brought a small keg of beer. I still felt exhausted from the illusions, so I rolled the keg on the ground when returning to the Tiri tower. Grogg was delighted when they saw the keg, while I climbed the stairs to Nuur-Karif and handed them a bun. They signaled that nothing had happened and I gestured that I had to sleep a bit and returned to Grogg and Wolfram.