"That's a change," Tarva said, staring up at the ogres. "I've never been so openly approached for a bribe before."

"Not bribe," the leader said. "Want to sell dumb Kepob." He pointed at a skinny human boy, barely visible, cowering in the corner among the piles of ogre dung. The Dove was almost instantly at his side, speaking softly to the child, as the ogre explained exactly why he wanted to sell the boy, and what he was doing here in the first place.

Gann had winced at the word 'Kepob'. He had a few memories attached to that particular expletive. Tarva caught it, and looked to him for an explanation, which he, slightly reluctantly, provided. "It's not the boy's name... the most tasteful way to translate would be 'dog that eats its own excrement.' I imagine they treat him little better than his namesake."

Safiya grimaced; Okku rumbled like a distant thunderstorm; Tarva nodded and paid the ogre his asking price for the boy. The ogres departed, and they were left with the problem of what to do about the child.

Tarva tugged at her hair. "We can't take him with us to meet the hags – assuming we can get in- it's just not safe. We can't leave him here. Kaelyn?"

The half-celestial cleric looked up. "I have healed his wounds, but he will not speak to me. I believe he is mute," she said softly.

Tarva muttered something under her breath; the words were indistinct and unfamiliar, but the tone was very explicit. "Well. Then I see no alternative, without surrendering our place in this queue. Will one of you take him back to Mulsantir and civilisation? I can't deny the Witches are unpleasant, but they seem to genuinely care for their people – or perhaps Magda would take him in..."

"I doubt an acting troupe would have much use for a mute," Gann said. "And both your answers and mine may lie here – I will not go."

"I wouldn't ask it of you," Tarva said, ignoring the small glances between the others, who had no idea what he'd referred to. "Safiya, you are not suited for working solo."

"Not one bit," the Red Wizard agreed cheerfully. "Besides, like Okku here, I promised to look after you, personally."

The bear grunted. "While I understand your wish to protect the cub, little one, I must echo the words of the Thayan."

Kaelyn rose from her knees, smiling, the child's hand tucked in hers. "I am more than willing to take him – not to the hathran, nor to Magda, but to the temple."

"A gloomy place to condemn a child so young," Gann said. "Would he not have been better off with the ogres?"

"You do not know of what you speak, Gannayev," Kaelyn said, the faintest iron tone underlying her serene voice. "I would not expect you to recognise the touch of a god upon this child, but I do. He is Favoured of Kelemvor, and the temple is the correct place for him. First, they will take him in, and teach him; before long, voiceless or not, he will be teaching them."

"I thought-" Tarva began to say, but Kaelyn overrode her, something that the mild-mannered priestess had never done before.

There was a slightly dissonant note in her soft words. "I am no longer one of Kelemvor's faithful, and I am sworn to destroying the Wall he protects, but that does not mean that I hate him, or fail to understand the good in his tenets. The child belongs to him, and I will deliver him safely to Darovik at the temple. Besides..." and here, Gann saw an expression he would have described as 'sly' if it had appeared on any other face than Kaelyn's, "I will teach him of the Wall of the Faithless whilst we travel; it may be that the words of one of his Favoured may reach Kelemvor's ears where the words of his doomguide did not."

Tarva bent down, and she smiled at the child – a reassuring smile, that looked rather out of place on her normally impassive face. "Will you go with her?" she asked him. The boy's head nodded once, solemnly, and Tarva echoed the gesture as she straightened. "As you wish, then. Safe travel to the both of you; I don't know how long we'll be, but I will look for you at the Veil, Kaelyn."

"Ilmater's blessings on you all," the priestess replied, and traced a sign in the air. The soft, golden glow of the blessing enveloped them; a moment later, the boy did the same, and the silver-grey mist of Kelemvor's blessing swirled about them. The pair were gone before it cleared.

"I didn't like to mention this, while you two – three, I suppose – were busy talking about gods," Safiya said, "but you've just let our healer waltz off."

"I know," Tarva said, "but it was either her or Okku, and she wanted to go. Besides, I've still got a bunch of healing potions and kits, and Gann can pick up the slack."

As good a cue as ever he'd received, and a little bit of tomfoolery would be a welcome distraction from his... concerns about the Coven and his mother. He swept an extravagant bow. "Indeed, fair wizardess, have no fear, for I shall not permit a single scar to mar your delicate skin – my spells will erase each hurt you take before you even feel them, and-" Someone shoved him off balance; an arm in full plate armour caught him before he fell face-first into one of the reeking piles.

Safiya snickered, and Okku said, "You should not have caught him, little one."

Gann looked hard at both of them, as he regained his balance and released her arm. Tarva wasn't in the right position to have pushed him – but had it been the bear or the wizard? Tarva just shook her head, her face entirely expressionless. "Now, now, Okku. It seems as though it is going to be difficult enough to see the Slumbering Coven; I doubt they'd be willing to admit Gann to their presence covered in what I can only describe, under the circumstances, as ogre shit."

"An apt, if inelegant, description," Gann said. "I thank you for your timely intervention."

"You're welcome. After all – as you ought to have considered, Okku, since your nose is far more sensitive than mine – we'd also have to put up with the stench." Her nose wrinkled. "Speaking of which, let's move on."

So they did. The uthraki who waited in the next chamber did not present them with much difficulty, even if they smelt only marginally better. The one after that, though, was full of undead, led by a lich. Just precisely the kind of foe – since foe they proved – that Kaelyn was best suited for fighting. Nevertheless, the vampires among them proved as vulnerable to Gann's Sunburst spell as Count Crowroost had to the actual sunlight. The others found it difficult to dodge both Safiya's summoned sword, and the storm of missiles she sent at them. Tarva and Okku eventually triumphed over the lich, and turned their attention to the remaining few minions.

Gann was chanting the words of a minor healing spell – Okku had borne the brunt of the lich's attacks – when the indifferent voice of the hagspawn guard interrupted them. "So much for Ankriva. I guess that makes you first in line. Doesn't matter, since the Coven isn't seeing anyone. You'll just have to wai-"

"Guard!" another voice called imperiously through the door. Gann's eyes narrowed. A hag. A hag of Coveya Kurg'annis. Just let him speak to her – "Open the door and let them pass."

The withered creature stood between two hagspawn guards, and sneered down her hooked nose at the half-elf and her companions. "Spirit-eater!"

"That would be me, unfortunately," Tarva said.

"The Coven has recoiled from your unnatural presence. You shall not enter here."

Gann pushed past Okku to confront the hag himself. "We came all this way, and you would deny us?" He wanted answers, and she needed them. And this damnable hag chose to obstruct them? "Do you truly speak for the Coven, or is it your will alone that refuses us entrance?"

"Filthy half-breed! Speak in that tone but once more, and there will be bloodshed!" Safiya tensed noticeably at that final word, and shifted behind Okku.

Gann laughed, and gestured at the weapon master, the Red Wizard, the god of bears. "I dare you to act on such words, Coven servant. Now let us pass-"

"Spirit-eater! Is this half-breed your voice, or do you have your own words to say?"

Tarva tilted her head back to stare the hag down. "Gann speaks for all of us. We wish to see the Coven."

"You echo the words of a half-breed? Revolting!"

Tarva's voice was very cold as she told the hag, "I am a half-breed myself. There is no shame in that. What is revolting is the way you treat one who is at least half of your blood."

The hag simply sneered at half-elf and half-hag alike. "The Coven must be protected at all costs. By coming here, half-breeds, you have forfeited your lives, and those of your companions."

"We came to speak to the Coven, not to harm them," Tarva said, her hands shifting restlessly on the handle of her scythe. "But understand me when I say this: if you touch any one of my companions, you will die."

"You are too much of a threat," the hag said. "Your hunger, your conquest over the Bear King, your strength. Your lives are forfeit, but I will not claim them. The Coven will deal with you as with all other dangers and nuisances."

"Wait!" Gann cried out as the hag raised her arms, fingers spread, and Tarva swung back her scythe, readying a strike. The weapon master paused; the hag did not. "I want answers! I want to know of my mother, why I was cast out – answer me, hag!"

The hideous eyes narrowed, but her hands kept flickering. "Oh, that's right. You're that one. I remember now. Well, perhaps your mother will answer your questions. It's more likely she'll simply silence them – and you – when you meet her."

That was the last thing he'd expected, and it took him precious seconds to react. "Wh-"

Then the blue light surrounded them, and took them away.