“Alright, Sally will you take the cart and go exchange the direwolves? We will head to the temple and see if there is anything they need as well as secure us a place to stay.” Tobias said. He was scratching his chin, trying to remember which way the temple was.

The party had passed through Pinepass on their way to Ardglass a few years prior, so he had vague memories of how the town was laid out. Sally nodded and began passing out their personal supplies so she could just move the materials she was going to sell.

The party split up and everyone but Sally followed Tobias deeper into the city.

Noone was fascinated as he scanned the environment, taking in everything he could.

Pinepass was nothing like Ardglass or Tapestry.

Everything about the town was strange. Noone couldn’t help but realize how much he still had to learn.

Supposedly this was still an outskirts city. In terms of scale and grandeur they had told him that it was nothing compared to the big cities or capital cities of the countries. But this… was already way more refined than anything he had ever seen.

The roads were not compacted dirt but instead each path was made of a mix of stones set into the earth. The buildings were colorful mixes of wood and stone like nothing Noone had ever seen. Shale rooves dripped water, and large signs were hung up in front of buildings which swung in the light breeze.

And the people! Immediately Noone noticed that there was a much higher variety in the races present. Humans elves and dwarves. Dragonborn. So many small humans which Noone assumed were halflings like Jakobson.

As he looked around he kept his expression even, despite his fascination. He made eye contact with a large purple tusked-being the same size as himself and Tobias. The other man snarled at him before rolling his eyes and looking away. Noone smiled wryly at himself. Half-orc, he thought.

Not just Noone, but Sarah and Feylin were having trouble keeping their eyes to themselves. Feylin was the least subtle of them, being very much an innocent man raised solely with the temple.

Rae and Tobias both couldn’t help but chuckle amongst themselves.

Up ahead the party was able to hear the rush of water. Noone’s eyes widened as he saw a small river flowing through the middle of the city. Footbridges spanned the distance allowing them to pass over without issue.

“Tobias, what is the water for?” Noone asked. He had no shame in his own curiosity. He knew that without asking, he would always be ignorant of this world. Tobias was quick to respond.

“Here in Pinepass it is merely a way to get water through the city. This is natural river water that runs from a nearby spring. Almost all settlements in this world are built on or near a source of water.” He thought about the capital city. “There are also some places, much bigger and richer than here, which use it simply as decoration.” Tobias spoke neatly. Noone glanced at him to see if he was joking.

As decoration? Noone thought. What decadence.

Directly ahead of them Noone could see a large walled in building made of smooth white stone. He watched people pass in and out of the large archway which led into the courtyard. Many common people and a few in the simple garb he had seen the clergy in Ardglass wearing. Almost everyone wore a single-handed mace and a simple buckler as they came and went.

Tobias did not hesitate to pass through the archway, followed by Raelith, Feylin, and Noone. Sarah hesitated for a moment, but swiftly followed along. She looked around at the clergy members of the Order of Life.

Inside of her, she felt confused. She thought she should feel something, maybe regret? But… She didn’t. There was no regret inside of her, and that worried her.

“I guess… I made the right choice.” She sighed to herself, unnoticed by those around her.

When Noone passed through the arches his divine sense was suppressed to half, just like it did back in Ardglass. His expression was neutral, but his heart thumped in excitement. His divine sense easily covered the space around him, spotting the thick white threads of energy which floated around the temple. Noone flexed his hands excitedly, he knew that this was his best chance in a month to cultivate energy.

The main building wasn’t anything like the temple in Ardglass. It was a large white monolith of a structure with a white staircase that led inside. Two statues sat to either side of the entrance. One of a man and one of a woman - both stood gently holding their hands at their sides with their palms open. It seemed to be welcoming of anyone with open arms.

Everyone followed Tobias into the main hall.

“Hohoo, welcome back Tobias. I had a feeling you would be returning soon. Though you are a few months later than I expected.” Noone watched as a gentle-looking old man rounded one of the pillars – coming out of a hall to the side. His voice was cracked and aged, but he had a vigor to him that Noone couldn’t help but admire.

Tobias smiled, sharing a formal handshake with the older man. Initially Tobias held his hand palm-up, to show his respect to the elder, but the elder was quick to grab Tobias’s palm, turning it sideways.

“Now now Tobias. I might be old, but you’re still a paladin of the grand-temple of Cinapul. Do not be like this.” He chuckled gently. Rae smiled as she watched, and the rest of the party couldn’t help but chuckle. It seemed Tobias had some relationship with the older priest.

“So, won’t you introduce me to these young… one’s?” The old man’s eyes widened slightly as he met Noone’s gaze. This priest had lived for a long time, and he always felt blessed when it came to people. He could easily tell a person’s age on sight. Even races like the elves were easily seen through by this old man. He had lived his whole life faithfully doing the good god’s work, and he had been blessed because of it with insight.

However… when he looked at Noone, he felt confused. He couldn’t tell how old this being was. He seemed young, but at the same time not. Eventually he just smiled and nodded at Noone.

Noone was a bit surprised when the older man met his gaze. Initially he was going to try to suppress the power so not to make the older man think he was challenging him. But Noone felt shocked when they looked at each other. This old man wasn’t overwhelmingly strong… far from it, actually.

But all the power in Noone’s gaze seemed to wash past the old man. Like a blow being easily reflected to the side, Noone felt like the old man was looking through him. The only thing he could do was nod his respects to the priest.

Rae and Tobias seemed to have noticed the moment but said nothing.

“This here. Is Feylin, one of the two acolytes turned clerics we picked up from the temple in Ardglass. Under Jakobson’s stead.”

“Jakobson.” The old man smiled. “A good man. A great man… Shame he was sent all the way out here. Though… with the epoch tribe situation, perhaps the gods had a reason for it.” The priest nodded his head. Tobias nodded as well but said nothing. Feylin and Sarah both shared a look, but didn’t know what to say.

“This here is Sarah. The other acolyte under Jakobson.” Tobias spoke evenly, but everyone could tell he was deciding how much he should say. He glanced back to Sarah and waved for her to introduce herself. Instead of letting Tobias introduce her, Sarah decided to speak for herself… she was no longer a member of the Order of Life after all. She stepped forward, giving a proper greeting to the older man.

“Hello. My name is Sarah. I was taken in by Jakobson at 15. I am a Vengeance Paladin. Tobias was nice enough to allow me to join them en route to the capital.” Sarah’s voice was steady, and everyone looked on quietly, keeping their thoughts close to their chest. Feylin couldn’t help but lower his head as she talked.

“Ah. I see. Well welcome young Sarah. Anyone brought up under Jakobson is a good person, so you have nothing to worry about here.” The priest could easily see through the young girls’ level. She had just recently become a paladin. He suspected before that she was most like an acolyte for the order.

Tobias nodded, respecting Sarah’s choice.

“And this is Noone. The man we were sent to retrieve from the edge.” Tobias motioned to Noone who stepped forward.

“Hello.”

“Hello Noone. Welcome to my humble temple.” The older priest smiled, not at all intimidated by Noone’s size. “So will you be staying the night? I will prepare a room for you all.” The priest motioned for a young acolyte to come by.

“Two nights, actually. We plan to leave here with a caravan towards Stone-Eye.” Tobias said.

“Ah. Right. Two days then. Oh, and Sarah. If you need, we have effigies for every god down that hall there.” He pointed down a hallway near the entrance with stairs leading down. “This town is too small for more than one dedicated temple. Thus, we only have the one room. But it does its job.”

Sarah was surprised, she had never heard of that before. But she nodded thanking the older priest.

The young acolyte showed the party to their room. Feylin was the first to flop down on the bed. The first bed they have had in a month.

“Tobias, I am going to give my regards to Hoar. I don’t have any proper holy-symbol so I have made do with the book. But now that I am here it wouldn’t be appropriate if I didn’t do my prayers.” Sarah spoke, changing into cleaner clothes. Tobias nodded and talked with Sarah about buying armor when Sally came back with their gold. Sarah listened intently.

Noone sat against the wall silently and began meditating. He wanted to explore the town a bit, but more than that he knew he needed to take advantage of the atmosphere within the temple to speed up his cultivation.