When I answered the knocking on my door, I did not expect to find Rael standing outside. I also did not expect him to be accompanied by a pale, freckled redhead of a young woman. She could barely be called an adult. Last I checked, Rael was not really interested in romance.

“Can we come in? Winds cold.” Rael said, as he looked around, as if afraid he would be followed. “Um sure, I suppose, just don’t blame me if you catch what my sister has” I answered as I stepped aside. “We won’t be staying long, and it’s actually because of your sister that we are here.” he was nervous, I realized, as I blinked. This was quite unlike Rael indeed. What in the world was going on?

“Seeing as your sister is sick, I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind letting Gloria here take your place in tonight’s operation that way you can look after her instead.” My first intuition was to refuse, my sister had only a light cold, nothing that would be even remotely dangerous. But then I saw the expression on Rael’s face. I had not seen an expression like that since he planned to make himself bait to let the rest of us escape that Warg pack 10 Years ago.

He was up to something, and it involved this woman. I looked from Gloria to Rael and back, before taking a deep breath. “Fine, I know you are up to something, something you don’t want to tell me. But you have never steered the group wrong, not where your intuition tells you to do something. I will stay here, it is rather unfortunate that my Sisters sickness would suddenly worsen and thus I cannot leave her side.” I took out a pen and wrote a note. “Luckily Gloria is a friend of the family from out of town and I trust her to do the duty of taming in my place.” I handed Rael the note. “Give this to Mordred.”

Never before have I seen a man look so relieved. “Thank you, my friend.” He gave me a crushing hug. “No need to thank me, I have a feeling I know what this is about. Just don’t do anything too terribly reckless. As for you young lady, you take care of the group, you hear me?” She nodded.

As the two turned to leave I sat down and gave a relieved sigh myself. So, the Guildmaster’s strange behavior of late had not just been my imagination, but Rael had noticed it too. It was the only reason I could think of for why he suddenly brought in that woman. Come to think of it, there was something vaguely familiar with her?

I shook it off. The less I knew about this mess, the better. That way if my suspicion that the Guildmaster had somehow influenced people’s behavior turned out to be correct. Then if he turned that on me, it would be better if I could not tell him anything useful.

A coughing from the bedroom drew my attention. I grabbed the soup from the fire. The magical heater hadn’t worked since Heater Core ran back to its fire dungeon. It made even basic cooking a chore, despite this the soup was first class.

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I Introduced Gloria to the rest of the party later that day, and their greetings while friendly were also steeped with curiosity. “Mind if I ask where you come from?” Mordred asked Gloria directly, who seemed startled. Then gave an apologetic smile, pointed at her throat and shook her throat.

“Gloria is an old friend of Erem, he asked her personally. She has the Silent Casting skill, which is the only thing that saved her career as an adventurer.” I answered for her as Mordred eyed me curiously. “Oh how so?” “Songstealer separated her from her party. If Erem’s old party hadn’t stumbled on her… well.” There was a collective shiver from all the other casters in the group as Mordred lowered his head. “My apologies, Ms. Gloria, I did not intend to bring up such a traumatic experience.

Gloria shook her arms and head in denial, clearly wishing to show she held no animosity to Mordred, who seemed to relax at that. “You are too kind, very well, so she will cover all of Erem’s duties?” I nodded, “Including the capture” Mordred flinched for a second… shot me a surprised look, then re-read the note I had given him from Erem before sighing.

“Wait… now that I think about it, I do believe Erem mentioned you once, Ms. Gloria” she looked startled “Said you were quite talented in the art of Taming. Well, I owe the old man my life many times over, so I will let you handle it this time.” As he spoke, he shot me a glare saying “You owe me for this.” Tell me something I don’t know. I didn’t know what was written on that note. But it had made Mordred support my story and give up on the glory of the capture, for that alone I owed him thrice over.

-----

I cornered Rael and Gloria a bit later, flinging my arms over their shoulders in a friendly and relaxed manner as I often did with Rael and Erem. “Talk” I spoke softly, too softly for anyone to hear except those two. “Somewhere we can’t be eavesdropped on, perhaps?” Answered Rael, equally soft spoken. “Fine, my room has wards against eavesdropping and spying both mundane and magical.” Rael nodded. “Sure a round of drinks for old times sake sounds marvelous, your room Mordred? It’s the closest, after all.” he spoke a bit louder, pretending to be pleasantly surprised. “Sure” I answered.

Once inside the room I activated the wards. “Spill it, all of it, Erem might be content with not wanting to know, but you owe me some answers at least.” I stared at both of them as I spoke. “The guildmaster’s behavior has gone off the wall, Mordred. You saw it yourself. By Rubolg’s accursed axe, he bribed a Sworn Blade to forsake his oath. He stole the Core of a noble and allowed trespass into a Deathtrap without official sanction. And then his sudden and all-consuming obsession with this Core. Not to mention anyone who questioned him suddenly found it very important to support him after he talked to them alone for a while.” Rael was ranting, he never ranted. This was serious.

I closed my eyes and nodded. “And this Gloria is your countermeasure against this somehow?” I asked. “The less you know the better, given the circumstances. All I ask is that you trust me.” Dammit, Rael… I took a deep breath. “Fine, but you’re paying for drinks for the next 3 outings” to my astonishment, Rael immediately responded. “Deal.” That sent an icy shiver down my spine. Rael was so dead set on this he would pay for the drinks without even complaining just to have his way?

This had to be way more serious than I thought. Rael was right, the less I knew the better. I probably should also avoid the Guildmaster until all of this was over, just in case. This wouldn’t be the first time Rael’s strange intuition had made him do strange things that turned out to save all our asses.

----

We set out for the dungeon about an hour later. We had to get to the designated camp before nightfall and make the site ready for the plan once darkness fell as that was when the Core would expect company. The first order of business was the tent itself to cover our work from the weather and wind.

If the sealing circle broke mid ritual she would slip out of our fingers instantly. Once the tent was up and every plug, quadruple checked to ensure no wind would get through. Then we quickly set up the stands for all the members who would take part in the taming. Rael and Mordred entered mid setup and walked over to me, flanked by a woman I did not recall. “Sir, I must report a slight change in the lineup for tonight.” I looked at him. Why now of all times?

I put on a smile, “Change?” Rael nodded. “Erem’s sister got worse, so he recommended an old family acquaintance of his, Gloria.” He motioned for the woman behind him. “A pleasure to meet you Ms. Gloria.” I stretched a hand out, but she flinched back. “Sir, that’s what I wanted to talk with you about. The reason we need to change the lineup is that Gloria had a close encounter with a Songstealer.” I immediately retracted my hand.

“I see, is she still...?” “No, but if it gets too crowded around her she can still have an... episode” I shivered. Songstealers were horrible things. They literally stole the voice of their victims. Replacing them with their own bestial and deadly ones. If this girl spoke she could potentially kill everyone within earshot. The worst part was that the effect was contagious for a long time after the encounter. Provided the poor lost soul survived the encounter at all, and those who did always suffered the same trauma. Being stuck in crowds would make them freak out and start screaming, loudly.

“Then why did Erem recommend her of all people?” I inquired. “She has a unique skill that aids in Taming and can use Silent Cast, as such she was the most ideal candidate. You said you needed the best, after all.” Providence was smiling upon me. This must indeed be Lady Inlas’ blessing! “I see, well then I will give her a balcony of her own. Closer to the Core and even set up a tent around it to secure her privacy. How does that sound?”

The woman, Gloria, smiled and nodded several times, then bowed in the way a proper devout follower of divine Inlas should, excellent. All was going as Lady Inlas desired. The girl might be tainted in body, but it was clear her spirit was as white as pure as snow.

As night fell, I tossed the bag with the trap in it to Ezekiel. “Here, you know what to do and remember, keep imagining gems in your head the entire time.” The fool nodded and left the tent, hiking out around the territory of the dungeon to enter it from the opposite side. It would be the dark of night before he would actually enter, but even so better not take any chances.

Meanwhile, everyone else was getting ready. All in all, there were 13 people who would attempt to tame the core. 12 of them were standing in a perfect sphere around the sealing circle in the middle. While a small tented platform was closer than that, inside which was Gloria. All of us waited for the flash that would herald the arrival of the core inside the sealing circle.