The whole room was frozen for a second or two as every thieves' guild member looked in horror at the glowing demigod standing on their treasure. Despite Eliyr having so many eyes, it was easy to tell by just looking at him that the wheels were turning in his head and he was trying to figure out for the life of him just how his plans could have gone so wrong. He had the interloping group of rabblerousers right where he wanted them, preparing to finally be rid of them and reinforce his reputation as a powerful man that suffered no defiance; this whole show, grandstanding his power and authority was to be impressed upon his underlings, that they would spread the legend to the henchmen and keep everyone in line. How, in the name of Plutus, did he end up with not only a high-ranking city official, but also the high-ranking official that was also a demigod trampling on his coffers like she had been there the entire time? He had heard the charred elf cry "Panic," but wasn't the term "Havoc"?

These things flitted through Eliyr's head in less than a second. Eden, on the other hand, was taking precious seconds to register that Mystern was in the room with her. Maybe it was the wounds she had taken, or general fatigue, but before she realized it, Senator Mystern had stepped over her, and was striding forwards to Eliyr, who, to his credit, stood very still--until his underlings all sprung between him and the demigod. All in a moment, Mystern spread her arms and Eden got the distinct impression, if only for a split second, that Mystern had six arms that were all reaching, pulling, tying and loosing incorporeal cords here and there; in one swift motion, Eliyr reached back, grabbed his desk, and disappeared. Senator Mystern scoffed in annoyance and as Reginald, the first of Eliyr's underlings, started to thrust his dagger forward, Mystern made a snatching motion in the air, as if she pulled on some unseen thread; Reginald collapsed into a pile of ashes that seemed too small for the amount of hobgoblin that was there previously.

"Oops, looks like he resisted." Senator Mystern said in a cool drawl, as if she was commenting on someone who tripped on a stair step. She then looked at the remaining underlings, who had all frozen with fear in hopes that they would be spared. "Let's see," Mystern continued in her ethereal voice, "clear association with the thieves' guild, protecting a criminal, and criminally holding people against their will? That alone would get you prison time, but oh, tsk, it looks like you all have your weapons drawn. That's resisting."

As one, the remaining guild members made a mad dash to the door; Mystern snatched another incorporeal thread and tied it to the desk--the guild members reached the door and started rapping on it, nine times in succession, but the door didn't open. Mystern pulled on a few more threads and one by one, the thieves, with their backs turned to the senator, in a futile and desperate attempt to escape, each crumbled into much-too-small piles of ash.

The group all stared at her in shock and mild horror. As dizzy as Eden was, she felt wrong about Mystern's actions. Something about her callous dispatching of the thieves reminded her very strongly of the incident with Ichabod when he disabled people who were helpless against him and subsequently killed them. Eden couldn't quite form any argument against him, but she knew in her gut that there was something terribly wrong about killing helpless opponents with impunity. Her thoughts disappeared as wooziness began to overtake her.

Mystern glanced over at Eden and began fiddling with spectral threads for a few moments before tying them all together in a neat bow; as she did so, Eden felt her wounds disappear and her clothes mend. Eden grabbed her hair and looked at it: winter strands shifted to autumn, but none of it was burnt. She gave a grateful, if hesitant, smile to the Senator who had already turned her attention to the remainder of the group, mending their wounds and helping them up.

Eden walked forward and embraced her friends in a group hug, which caused some confusion, as Eden was rather small compared to her compatriots--she managed to grab Bran and Vorol, but couldn't reach Sariel and Raenaugh. A moment later, they realized what they were trying to do and they submitted to the group hug.

"I thought we were done for!" Eden cried in full winter. "I didn't think we would make it! I thought I was going to lose my friends again."

"As soon as we were captured, I didn't see us getting out of it, either." Bran replied with a smile. "You did well, though. I didn't ex--"

"So we're finally friends, huh?" Vorol interrupted. "Took you long enough!"

"You really did save our bacon!" Raenaugh interjected while he had a chance.

"Friends? I'd agree, I count you all among--" Sariel began, but he and all other chatter stopped when they heard a steady clinking sound behind Eden. They all peered over Eden's shoulder (which wasn't difficult to do). Eden turned around and beheld Senator Mystern magically lifting streams of coin directly into her pockets, which seemed to never fill up. The senator noticed the silence and looked up. Eden still felt a pit in her stomach as she looked at the demigod.

"Do you have a better way of getting this out of here?" Mystern asked casually, if a bit defensively. "If we leave to get proper transport, it'll be gone when we get back; If I leave, you'll likely be attacked, and if you leave, you will likely be attacked."

Bran nodded. "That makes sense."

"Do you want any of this?" Mystern asked the group with her echoey voice. "As much gold or jewels as you can carry, if I don't get to that first." The group all glanced at each other.

"Will the senate be notified of the treasure?" Bran asked, hesitantly. Mystern glared at him.

"Of course, they will!" She chastised him. "There'd be an empty vault that we'd have to explain, and when the guildmaster is caught--and he will be caught--he'll complain to people that his money was taken from him--no, the treasure won't disappear into my pockets." Bran and the rest of the party relaxed a bit. "But," She continued; the party tensed up again, "it's not unreasonable for us to get paid for our work, and while I will be paying you from my own coffers, this is a convenient bonus. Lord Joyautombe was kidnapped; he deserves, at the very least, compensation for his troubles. Sariel put his career path on the line--gambling it to do what he believed was right and just; several well-placed jewels in the coffers of the temple he serves at will make sure the priest training him will know it was worth it. Vorol may believe the experience of this all was worth its weight in gold, but actual gold will buy him better equipment to use when he needs his equipment replaced. Bran, from what I'm told, will be actually doing his family's work, and while the bounty he could take with him today means nothing to the hoard his family sits upon, he will have my support in whatever he does, and that is worth more than what's in this vault." The coins and gems continued pouring into various pockets in her robes. "But you, Eden," Mystern said, focusing her iridescent blue-and-silver eyes on the small elf, "You are someone I didn't anticipate. What is it you want? Now, bear in mind, I'm not a genie, but if it's within my influence, I'd be happy to get it for you." Eden looked at the treasure hoard. Mountains of gold and jewels glittered back at her. Gold would be nice. She could purchase a house or something, pay the taxes on it for the next few years, and have a place to come back to when she's through with Ichabod's training. She paused. She hadn't really stopped to wonder if Ichabod was going to come back to pick her up. He said he would, and if he didn't intend to come back for her, he could have just told her and disappeared or something. He didn't have any reason to trick her. So he was coming back to get her, but that did also mean that she would have to leave at some point. But that did remind her...

"Senator, I do have a request for this hoard." Mystern raised her eyebrows expectantly. "If there are any magical musical instruments in this treasure, I want the most powerful one." The demigod nodded, thoughtfully.

"I'd say that's a good choice, considering your vocation. Very well. But either way, hop in here and find at least another couple objects that catch your eye, just in case we don't find any musical instruments." She looked at the group as they silently watched, as if mesmerized, the coins continue to funnel into her pockets. "Well, hop in, while there's still money to be had!"

All at once, the group snapped out of their haze and walked forward to pick up coins, gems, or precious items. Eden attempted to wade through the coins but found out farily quickly that the weight of the wealth itself was too much for her legs to power through, so she walked, stumbled, and crawled over grotesque amounts of wealth, sifting through coins when the fancy struck her, because, after all, when it was this disorganized, there wasn't really any point in perusing it in any fashion except for one of spontaneity. Eden lifted a diamond the size of... well not her fist, but maybe Bran's fist. The elf pocketed it. She sifted around some more, just in case it was part of a set.

Mystern, still vacuuming up gold into her seemingly bottomless pockets automated the process with magic and waded over to Eden, who was now a bright shade of spring.

"Child," Mystern said to Eden, holding something out to the elf. "This should help you where you are going." Eden held her hand out and received a ring that was noticeably, but not uncomfortably warm to the touch. "I hear the Grim Skald's mountain is especially cold." Eden dropped to soft winter by sheer anxiety.

"How..? Did you...? Why didn't y-- What?" Eden spluttered. The demigod laughed softly.

"You gloated. Albeit, you probably thought you were going to die before I could intervene, but you did let slip that you knew Ichabod. That and you use magic by way of music--not simply that, but your magic itself bears his shade. Even if I wasn't already aware of Ichabod's presence in the city, a child could have put it together."

"In the city?!" Eden almost shrieked, shifting to summer with a flare of illusory fire.

Mystern gave an impish grin. "Yes, he's been in the city as long as you have been."

"That asshole!"

"Yes, he has been known in the past to be irritating at best." the senator said, trying to refrain from laughing. Then she continued. "Someone of his caliber doesn't come into the city without my knowledge. If he planned on staying and settling down here, there might be a problem, but your arrival told me that he didn't plan on staying. Allow me to venture a guess: he's putting you through a sort of trial by fire? Learn how to live on your own so you won't be reliant on him?"

"That's what I understood." Eden confirmed, calming down and settling into the softer oranges of autumn.

Mystern nodded. "That sounds like him: so terribly practical that it causes trauma for those around him. Even after all these years, he's still the same."

"You've known him in the past?"

"Another conversation for another time; it's not something I'm really up for speaking about right now."

They all continued sifting through the treasure, Mystern's vacuuming spell doing most of the work, for a few minutes in relative silence. Eden looked up to find Raenaugh staring at her, eyes unfocused.

"Raenaugh, are you okay?" Eden called to him, waving her hands to get his attention. He started, then rubbed his eyes.

"Yes, Eden, don't mind me." He smiled sheepishly. "The fight to get here took a lot out of me, healing spells or no; I'll probably be fazing out here and there until I rest my head tonight."

"I hear that!" Eden agreed. She already felt the fatigue sinking in, now that things were quiet.

After the better part of an hour, the coinage was mostly cleared, and Eden had found five flutes, a guitar, a sitar, two lutes, a drum, and a banjo. Eden wondered how popular flutes were in this area, due to the sheer number of them. All but two flutes were in pristine condition, so she could rule out those two flutes--they weren't magical, but the rest... well, how was she supposed to tell what each magic did?

"Senator?" Eden called. Mystern, having vacuumed up the last of the coins and currently shoving a sword into her back pocket looked up and then walked over with the sword hilt still sticking out.

"Ah, it looks like you have a good selection to choose from." She commented.

"Yes, but what do they do? I'm not a magic item specialist."

"Ah." Mystern inclined her head. "I can't tell what the specific enchantments are, but you said you wanted the strongest item, right? It's that one. By far." She pointed to the sitar. "Whatever enchantment is on it dwarfs all the rest. I'd say it's a safe wager to make, if you're looking for sheer power." Eden picked up the instrument with both hands and felt the magic from the sitar--it was powerful, palpable, as if the entire instrument was covered in a field of static electricity.

"It doesn't seem to be cursed." Mystern observed, as if in passing. Eden turned and glared at her. Were all powerful people jerks? Was it some sort of prerequisite?

"Why did you knock on what was obviously the wrong door, earlier?" Eden overheard Vorol asking Bran. She turned to pay closer attention.

"I had a theory. Turns out I was wrong, I suppose, but I figured that the reason the guild knocks a certain number of times on a given door was because the rooms move about."

"Why would you think that?" Sariel asked, joining in on the conversation.

"Well, think about it: the guild was able to move their treasury around quickly whenever the city watch would locate them. Men can be moved, supplies can be moved, but a vault like this? the sheer amount of disorganized gold, jewels, artwork, and other miscellaneous valuables?" Bran gestured to the remaining few coins and paintings as if it was still a viable representation of the trove it was before. "Plus they never even found this vault. It was a hunch, and a good explanation, except that it didn't work. So they must have had some other method. Perhaps some sort of powerful illusion?"

"I have an idea." Mystern said, drawing everyone's attention back to her. "I think you might have been right the first time. I've got two, maybe three tests to run, to see whether or not that is the case..." She walked over to the door and rapped on it nine times to no avail. Then reached up into the air and pulled an ethereal cord from the air, but didn't have it at the end of the chord, but pulled out an ongoing thread, neither end of which was visible. She gave it a light tug and tilted her head as if listening for something, then let go of the cord, then reached out with her other hand and pulled on another, similar cord in much the same fashion. This went on for a while until she suddenly shot her arms out--two normal arms and four incorporeal arms jutting out from her sides--grabbed six separate cords, all with no ends, and wrenched them together, tying them in an intricate knot topped with a lopsided bow. Her incorporeal arms seemed to vibrate in the air and Eden developed a headache from looking at them for even a few seconds. Mystern seemed to understand this and withdrew the four spectral arms as soon as she was done tying the knot.

"There we go!" The demigod said at last, wiping sweat from her brow and staring at the knot hovering in the air. "I think this will do it." The senator reached out with both hands and grabbed the knot, wrenching it counter-clockwise, as if she was operating the handwheel of a valve. There was a large KER-THUNK somewhere in the large bulwark of a door. Mystern pushed the knot back into invisibility and said, "There we go! The door is now unlocked!"

"How did you lock the door so easily when the guildmembers were escaping, yet have to go through all that trouble to unlock it?" Sariel asked.

"Because the door was already locked, Sariel." Mystern explained. "I wasn't sure how it was locked--in fact, I'm still not seeing the locking mechanism anywhere, but the guildmaster had this place locked down so you all couldn't escape. What I did was impose an ultra-thin barrier over the door, so they wouldn't actually be knocking on the door and possibly get out if they knew a way to unlock it that wasn't readily apparent to me." She reached up, knocked on the door nine times, and the door opened, sliding upwards. "There it is!" Mystern exclaimed, beaming. "Now, let's head to a different door!"

There were no guildmembers waiting outside the door for them, nor any in sight as the group, plus Mystern exited Eliyr's office. Eden peered around and looked for any goons that might be hiding, but didn't readily spot any. The door slid shut behind them and they followed the senator in electric-blue robes as she led them through the labyrinth that was Valekenport's sewer system. Eden noticed something.

"Hey, guys, where are all the bodies?" the elf asked her friends as they walked. "I know we killed... at least one guy." Vorol looked at her flatly.

"One?"

"At least one. I think that's a safe assumption, don't you, Brandy?" She turned to Bran.

"It's Bran."

"That's what I said, Brandy!"

"I think," Sariel interrupted, "that we're in a different location altogether. I think Bran may have been right about the rooms moving." Mystern looked back and smiled at them.

"Let's go... three bridges over, and try one of those doors." So the group did, occasionally giving a ginger glance at the muck down between and below the walkways.

Three bridges later, the group watched Senator Mystern expectantly as she approached a door and knocked on it nine times. The door lifted and the group found themselves looking at Eliyr's office.

"See?" Mystern exclaimed, turning to Bran. "You make sure you give yourself the credit where credit is due, Lord Leland. You figured this out by yourself, where none of the guard had done so. Make sure you remember that." He nodded. "Now, let's scoop up the rest of the treasure and find our way out of here!"