The faint clanking of Sardan’s armor echoed gently off the smooth stone walls as he stalked his way through the hallways of Rovale’s mayoral house. While Paladins did have unilateral authority for dealing with unholy incursions vested into them by the global church, it was still better to involve the local authorities whenever possible and avoid a diplomatic incident.

He came to the end of a hallway and was shown into a small, dimly candlelit, office by one of the manors many servants. Though the reputation of Vesmar as a country made them suspect as thieves or assassins, just with higher manners. Sardan could practically feel the staff watching him whenever he rounded a corner or passed through a door, their eyes burning into the back of his skull.

The inside of the office itself was uncanny and opulent, the furniture clearly aged but resplendent beyond what a simple city mayor would be able to afford. Gold filigree laid into every spare inch of lavish wood and stone.

The mayor himself was a small, mousey, man with a thinning head of hair and a nervous look in his eyes. Clearly rich beyond his position from bribes and kickbacks, and perhaps nervous beyond his years from the associated criminality.

“Master Paladin!” the mayor called out with false cheer, beckoning Sardan into the office with wide gestures. “Please, please, have a seat. Tell me what I can do for you here in our fine city.”

As Sardan took a seat on a finely upholstered chair, the furniture groaned beneath the weight of the paladin and his armor, prompting a visible wince from the mayor.

“I’m here investigating the rumors of ‘The Devil of The Forest’, specifically the suggestion that it has moved into your city,” Sardan explained rather abruptly, noticing the visible panic spreading across the old politician’s face.

“My lord!” the older man began stammering, his hands wringing in front of him as he attempted to appease the inquisitive holy man. “The rumors of a Devil in our lands are just that, I assure you. The matter has been thoroughly investigated by the members of the guard, and no one has ever seen this supposed ‘Devil’ let alone provided substantial proof.”

Sardan merely rolled his eyes. He found politicians to be almost as bad as nobles since nobles were surely entitled but not concerned with keeping their position in the next election. “Would you care to explain why the grace of my blessing registered an unholy presence within your walls?” he questioned the cowardly man.

“My lord!” The mayor gasped, all color draining from his face. Sardan worried he might faint. “I can say with absolute certainty that we had no idea of this. Our city has few members of the clergy to begin with, let alone someone as skilled and as blessed as yourself.” The mayor heaved a heavy sigh. “The full authority and position of my office will assist you in your search, in any means that you require.” His voice quivered audibly with either fear or anger. It was hard to tell with these types.

“Thank you, mayor. I will be in touch by the end of the day after I’ve had a chance to patrol the city.” Sardan finished, rising from his chair and moving towards the door to hopefully put an end to this conversation. It was clear neither of them particularly cared for the other’s position.

He was let out by a young maid with a suspiciously high number of scars on her hands for someone that didn’t work in a kitchen and moved to exit the manor. On his way out he could hear a deluge of muffled curses and muted crashes as a whirlwind of anger tore its way through the mayor, and his office. This was going to be an ordeal.

The following morning Sardan spoke with the captain of the guard and had checkpoints established at every gate and port entrance to the city. This was not a popular move in a city of smugglers, but Sardan quite frankly did not give a fuck. He needed a complete list of anyone and everyone who entered or exited Rovale during his investigation, otherwise, this devil could very easily slip out of his grasp. That was not a risk he was willing to take.

Over the next several hours as he practically ran laps back and forth across the city, overseeing the set up of the various checkpoints, Sardan kept noticing the presence of the devil on the edges of his perception. Like an itch he couldn’t quite place, it was beginning to drive him mad.

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Thozronnath’s gaggle of monsters had reconvened in his run-down inn room on the morning of their planned departure, now in a fitful panic.

“Alright. So there’s a paladin out there trying to lock down the city and I’m pretty sure he can smell you” Prisaela explained, debriefing everyone on her earlier scouting trips.

“I kept an eye on him yesterday when he almost started following us around, and it’s like he knows we’re nearby. Didn’t get the same effect when I went myself, so you must be the issue” She continued, prompting a frustrated groan from her boss.

“I could cover Kaggant with an illusion if I had to, but I’m not sure anything we have can hide from a paladin that senses through our shapeshifting” the succubus sighed, the group's original plan quickly falling to pieces.

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The next morning, once Sardan had successfully set up every checkpoint that was reasonably possible, he held a meeting with the guards once more. Their dimly lit barracks served as a headquarters for his investigation now that he could avoid the city mayor.

“Right, let's get down to it” Sardan grunted, disturbing a small cloud of dust as he nearly collapsed a long-unused chair.

“Do any of you have caster or half-caster classes?” he asked the assembled guards, representing all but the bare minimum to man the city. When a few of them nodded in apprehensive affirmation, he dismissed the rest.

“Once you get back to your posts have anyone with casting ability sent back this way” The paladin called out over his shoulder as the vast majority of guards began to filter their way out. Slowly turning his attention back to the group that remained.

“It will come as no surprise to anyone that my Paladin class is focused on spirit magic” He began explaining “Devils are fully immune to fire innately, and some of them even develop a similar resistance to cold. Our best bets are elements that oppose them directly, as anything else is probable to be resisted. My spirit is a good start, and a light element would probably be our strongest option” the last sentence being phrased more as a question as he glanced to the guard, receiving only a few dejected looks in response.

“Damn. Alright. Aside from that reflection builds on light, but I doubt anyone here would have a quaternary element like that without me knowing. Anyone got metal for their class?” He asked, looking up from his thoughts and noticing a few raised hands.

Sardan had those three guards move to the side and took the time to assess the remaining eight guards and their elements. They were mostly a loose collection of primary elements, though two of them had managed a secondary, ice and steam. Ice was almost as useless in this situation as fire would be, but steam pulled from spirit so it had a chance to help. The rest were dismissed.

Turning to the metal focused guards he began to lay out a plan for them. “The only known weakness to affect all devils regardless of rank is silver. Just handling the stuff isn’t enough though, you need to make contact with blood, either eating or wounding.” He then proceeded to detail how a devil's blood would literally boil when it made contact with silver and asked if any of the guards could conjure the metal. None of them could. Godforsaken backwater crime den.

“Okay, here’s the plan then, backup for the backup plan at this point. Round up as much silver as you can, coins, forks, whatever. Start manipulating it into little needles, just a prick will do. Once we have enough for the entire guard, we prick everyone here as a show of proof and move to the populace.”

The plan prompted a few sighs from the guards. Their bribes were going to take a hit for several weeks if they went around sticking people with needles, but it was better than the inquisition coming down on their city. That would be the end of their jobs, if not their lives.

“I can’t be everywhere at once, but I will stay within the eye line of the barracks if someone reacts strangely bring them here and signal me. I’ll know right away if it’s a devil, and worst-case scenario run for your lives as I doubt they care much about your combat skills.”

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“Why don’t we just fight out way out?” Kaggant suggested completely non challant, as if doing combat with an entire city of mortals was a feasible option.

“Mainly because we don’t want to be executed in the street like dogs.” Thozronnath sighed, wracking his brain for ways he could escape this situation fully in tact. If he could still fly, he could make use of his natural invisibility and just soar over the walls of the city, but he no longer had any wings. Then it hit him, he hadn’t always been able to [shapeshift] into a human. He’d started out with a raven. A bird. Birds could fly.

A quick application of the skill found his clothes lying loosely on the floor and his black feathered wings spread wide. As a raven he was a touch larger than any real bird had the right to be, but it could feasibly get him out of the city without being noticed, so he sifted back and began packing his things into Prisaela’s backpack.

“Here’s the plan, listen up. Kaggant is going to carry the new bag for Zildoxoxi, and Prisaela is going to use [Natural Illusionist] to make them both invisible. The gate checkpoints should be on the lookout for a devil so hopefully you can slip right through, if not, just getting to the gate unnoticed and barreling through is fine. Uzdaax and I are going to fly out of the city up and over the walls to avoid detection from the paladin. Any questions?”

As he laid his plan out for the gathered monsters he received only silence, though Prisaela found herself worried that it was an incredibly simple plan. Something was bound to go wrong.