We teleported into a chamber that resembled a courtroom. We stood at the back of the room. In the middle, there were rows of benches. While there were some mages in the peanut gallery, most seats in the benches were empty. At the front of the room, there was a long, expensive looking table with plushy, individual chairs on one side of the table. The seats were mostly occupied by serious looking mages. Each mage was staring into a crystal ball in front of the person.

I stared at the crystal balls. Each ball was showing a different image. Two of them depicted scenes of battles but I had no idea where the action was taking place. I looked up and noticed that the ceiling was at least 40 feet high. Halfway up along the walls, there were alcoves with more seating. Seeing no way to reach those seats, I assumed that mages had to levitate to reach them. I took a moment to read my notification: "Negotiation SUCCESSFUL. Level 4, +50 XP." Ah! I didn't realize that I had raised my skill by negotiating with the shopkeeper for the Gate spell.

The benches on the main floor were split into two sections. Between them was spacing approximately five feet wide.

Iunicus turned around and said, "Please follow me." He walked past the benches toward the front of the room. However, he stopped a good ten feet away from the table in front of him.

As we walked, I furtively triggered both my Spirit Sense and my Magic Sense. The Spirit Sense confirmed that all persons in the room were visible to the naked eye; in other words, there was no invisible spy hanging around. It made sense that the spy from The Double Cross Society did not make the trip to Southampton. After all, once I left Bristol I was no longer their concern.

Additionally, my Magic Sense was lighting up like a Christmas tree; the walls were lined with protective spells, probably to prevent scrying and teleportation into the room. While every mage in the room carried at least one magic item, the ones seated at the table in front of us were carrying a motherlode's worth of magic items. And the auras for some of those items were extremely powerful. My head was starting to hurt from the strain of reading so many magic auras and I quickly released my Magic Sense.

I noticed that I had some pop-up notifications and I immediately read them: "Spirit sense SUCCESSFUL. +50 XP." "Magic sense SUCCESSFUL. Level 6, +200 XP, -2 Health." I was not surprised to discover that I had gained a level from using my Magic Sense ability because I had to read so many auras in this room. I dismissed my messages and turned my attention back to the room.

The mage sitting in the middle of the table looked up from his crystal. He was wearing a blue robe.

Our guide dipped his head toward the blue mage. "These people teleported directly into our building," he reported. "They came from the Bristol branch."

The mage in blue robe nodded. His eyes roamed from left to right as he examined my party. "Why have you come?" he asked. His voice was firm and steady.

I stepped forward and bowed deeply. "I am Lawrence Eugene Mulligan, a guildmate from the Bristol branch of the Magic Guild. I am on a mission to explore ancient ruins near Southampton. I arranged with the shopkeeper, Voum 'Tro, for passage to your guild in order to reduce my travel time. I was advised by him to seek out Delkon," I added.

The blue mage looked at Iunicus, who stood next to me.

The white mage nodded. "I have confirmed that he is telling the truth."

"I am Delkon Jawsul," the questioner nodded back. "I am the current Chair of the Leadership Council. Where are these ruins located?"

I looked at the speaker more closely. He was human but appeared to be beyond the prime of his life. His skin was bronze. His auburn hair was trimmed and reached the top of his neck. He had no facial hair. His crystal clear eyes stared directly into my eyes. I shook my head. "I'm not sure. There was a map which showed the ruins being located nearby. But I don't have the exact coordinates," I answered honestly.

I glanced at Iunicus, who nodded slightly and confirmed the truthfulness of my answer. I immediately realized that the man was going to use the Detect Lie spell on everything I said. I decided not to waste the man's mana. I pulled out my Truth Stone and said, "I am also a Brother of the Church and a holder of a Truth Stone. I cannot lie without invoking divine punishment from the Gods of the Law and Order."

All the council members seated at the table looked up from their crystal balls. When they saw my truth stone, they were shocked beyond words. How was it possible for a member of the Magic Guild to be a member of the Church at the same time?

Delkon was intrigued by my revelation. "What is your Class, Brother Mulligan?"

"Swordmage, Level 7," I revealed.

The blue mage was surprised. He had never heard of a non-cleric holder of a sacred Truth Stone. "How did you get that relic if you're not a cleric?" he asked.

"I had avenged the former owner of this relic as part of a Church mission. The bishop in charge was pleased by this result and granted me permission to carry the Truth Stone," I answered.

"Why were you given this quest specifically? Normally, the Watch would be ones assigned to mete out punishment," someone remarked.

I decided to lay down my cards. I rolled up my sleeves and cast Unveil. "Unveil SUCCESSFUL. +25 XP." I lifted my forearms and showed the council my divine marks. "I was entrusted by the Church because of these marks."

"How is it possible for you to carry so many brands?" someone blurted aloud.

"I guess I found some favor among the Gods," I answered modestly. I didn't know who asked the question. I decided not to reveal my status as a Player Character because, unlike the Church, the Magic Guild had no say over who will become the next king of the kingdom of Merlin. Therefore, it wasn't necessary to release this information to the council. But my affinity with the divinity was certainly a reasonable explanation for holding a Truth Stone.

"Who are your companions?" Delkon asked, seeking to steer the conversation away from the Gods. His face was unreadable.

I quickly introduced my party members and pointed at each person: "Kalistra the Master Swordsman, Rijana the Enchanter, Bjoukin the Ranger, Bjoukia the Fighter, and Van the Paladin."

The blue mage's brows rose when I pointed at Van. Delkon had thought that Van was merely a Watchman. "It has been many years since Southampton is graced by the visit of a paladin." Delkon bowed deeply to him and the other councilors did the same.

Van reciprocated with the same bow.

Delkon cleared his throat and turned his attention back to me. "You have an impressive party, Brother Mulligan. A paladin's presence and his willingness to concede leadership of the party to you speak well of your character and leadership ability. I will follow Van's lead and place my faith and trust in you, too." He muttered the power words and gestured with his hand. A map appeared above the table.

I looked at the map closely. It depicted a small city surrounded by water. There were two red dots on the water nearby.

"This is Southampton. And the red dots are pirate ships," Delkon explained.

"You're fighting pirates? Why are they invading your city?" I asked.

Another councilor finally spoke up. It was the red mage, who was a woman with cascading blonde hair and pale gray eyes. She spoke with an accent that sounded Scottish. "I assume they want our food and our women." Her tone belied her wariness.

I looked at her caption; her name was "Winei Haverstorm." Oh, great! She was a noble! I stifled a groan because I preferred to avoid dealing with the nobility and their frequently unrealistic demands. "Why did they try to teleport into the Magic Guild?" I asked her. Iunicus had initially assumed that we were pirates when we teleported into the building.

"They want to kidnap our Water and Air mages," said another councilor. It was the green mage.

His caption revealed the man's name as Edgrin Silzi. Another nobleman? Ugh! The man appeared to be in his late-fifties. While his skin was olive colored, I noticed that his hands trembled slightly. He seemed to be frail and in poor health.

I was incredulous at Edgrin's answer. "What's the point of kidnapping your mages? How would the pirates force them to cast spells?"

The last person sitting at the table broke her silence. "The pirates are barbaric and they may resort to the use of torture or drugs to control the captive mages," she explained.

I turned my attention to her. She wore a black robe. Her long raven hair shone under the illumination of the light spheres. Her skin was pale but smooth. Her lips were blood red and moist. Her dark eyes were captivating. The most distinguishing feature, however, was her youth. She appeared to be at least a decade younger than the other mages seated at the table. For a moment, I thought she was a vampire but quickly dismissed the foolish notion.

I looked at her caption and saw that her name was "Urru." "Why can't you conjure up a storm to destroy their ships? Or send a Meteor Swarm against them?" I asked. I was rather surprised to discover that this lovely woman was not a noblewoman. This meant that she reached her position through her magical talent rather than societal connections and wealth. I suddenly became wary of her.

Delkon shook his head. "Weather magic is difficult to control. Same with a meteor swarm. We are just as likely to destroy our pier along with the pirate ships. It is not a risk we can take," he answered, "as the pier is critical to our sea trade."

"But you could send strong gusts of wind to blow them further back, right?" I persisted.

Winei the red mage laughed haughtily at my ignorance. "They could easily have their own mages blow their ships back to their current positions. Your suggestion, if taken, will be an enormous waste of mana." She shook her head with disapproval and her curls swayed back and forth.

"Why wouldn't you win a war of attribution? Your air mages could simply drink mana potions and recast their spells," I pointed out. "Those pirates carry a limited supply of mana potions. Your guild could constantly make more. You have the advantage."

Edgrin the green mage rejected my proposal. "We are a seaport. The raw materials necessary to create more mana potions are not easily obtainable because we have very few farmland nearby. To create mana potions, we need lupine and wine. The higher quality of the wine, the higher tier of mana potion we can create. Normally, we receive shipments of raw lupine and wine from ships. But the pirates have formed an effective blockade of our pier. Even worse, they have been boarding ships seeking entry into our port and I assume they have stolen many shipments of lupine and wine. Consequently, I can't safely say that we will win a war of attrition with the pirates because they could easily make their own mana points with the stolen cargo."

My mind worked furiously as I tried to come up with additional ways to deal with the pirate ships offshore. They were clearly the top priority. We had to either destroy those ships or force them to sail away from the port. "Have you tried to send raiding parties to their ships?" I asked.

To my surprise, Iunicus smiled. "Unfortunately, we lack the manpower to send an experienced raiding party. Our people are primarily fishermen. The sailors we have are crewmen for merchant and cargo ships, which are no match for the pirate galleon and their numerous cannons. Additionally, our seamen lack experience in fighting pirates since piracy has been rare these days. Besides, our men are needed to defend our home. Your party, however, could try to board the galleon and sabotage it," the enforcer suggested.

The Leadership Council nodded their agreement with this proposal. It was much better than my foolish suggestions to use unreliable magic.

"Will you do it?" Delkon asked while looking directly at me. It was clear to him that I was the party leader and therefore, the person who will make this decision.

I turned around and looked at my companions. I saw the determined look in their eyes. They all wanted me to accept this mission. I turned back to face the council and bowed deeply. "Yes."

I saw the council members breathe sighs of relief at my answer. I turned my attention to the map hanging above their heads like deadly guillotines. How could we sabotage the galleon? That ship was the biggest threat to Southampton. If we couldn't use magic against it, then we needed to board that ship. The best way to do so was after dark. The plan started to form in my mind.

I held up my hand to get my party's attention. "We're going to swim to the galleon after nightfall. We'll use Rijana's Levitating Discs to get onboard and tie ropes for the rest of our party to climb aboard. Then we'll use invisibility to walk around and we'll set the ship on fire. While the pirates are busy trying to put out the fire and distracted, we'll attack them."

Rijana shook her head. "Isn't that kind of risky to attack them on their ship? We'll surely be outnumbered."

In response, I pointed at Kalistra and Van. "These two will more than even out the odds. They will work to interfere with the firefighting. And before I get on the Levitating Disc, I plan to cast a few acid arrows into the hull of the ship and create a big hole. Hopefully, enough water will enter the breach and cause the ship to sink. We can also carry flasks of oil to pour onto the ship's outer surface to facilitate the spread of the fire," I said.

Bjoukin smiled. "Yes, we can pour the oil down the outer hull as we climb the ropes," he added.

"Wouldn't the guards on the other ship see us as we climb?" Rijana voiced her doubt.

I shook my head. "The pirates have only two ships, right? We only need to make sure we climb the side of the galleon away from the other ship. They won't see us."

Rijana thought for a moment and reluctantly nodded her assent to the plan. Without the use of magic against the ship, she couldn't come up with anything better.

"We will gather the oil and the rope for your mission," Delkon promised. "Iunicus, please take them to The Trade Wind and put 2 large guest rooms on my tap. Our guests should rest until twilight and then commence their mission shortly thereafter," he ordered.

"Yes, Councilor!" Iunicus replied. He turned toward me and said, "Please follow me out of the Council Room." He started walking past the benches and led our party out. When we stepped into the corridor, he said, "Exitium!"

The world turned into a kaleidoscope but I quickly recovered from my disorientation.

Our guide waited politely until our party was ready to leave. He stepped through the automated doors and we exited the Magic Guild.