After parting with Jexi and David's groups, Connor's group headed into Stormhail to question Vados the Architect at the Sacred Guards HQ.
"Stormhail. Home to the headquarters of the Sacred Guard." Temenos said. "And the last place in which I expected to receive a reply to my letter."
"You didn't tell us you were writing back to your church. Have anyone you miss?" Connor asked.
"Not quite, I just reported our travels to Stormhail to a lady of the cloth I am familiar with. Mindt is her name. She has lost none of her penchant for procedure, I see…"
Dear Temenos,
Are you well? For my part, I am pleased to say that the investigation has calmed at last. Whenever I think upon the late pontiff, a tightness seizes my chest. Nevertheless, I forge ahead. I received your letter gladly. I understand the Sacred Guard's headquarters is your next destination. I pray you'll not quarrel with them. Despite your, shall we say, strained relationship. As ever, our door is open to you should you need rest. May the dawn bring good tidings and good fortune.
Mindt.
"She seems very nice, if I can say it…" Marianne said.
"Mindt is as meddlesome in print as in person… I won't be returning anytime soon, which I'm sure she'll be displeased to hear." Temenos said.
"Well, you'll be able to get back to Flamechurch just as soon as we wrap this case up. Let's get to it, alright?" Hilda asked.
"Very well then. To work. And to the Sacred Guard. For the Interrogation of one Vados the Architect." Temenos said.
Temenos then led Team Revival straight to the Headquarters of the Sacred Guard, which was the largest building in the town.
"So this is the place the Sacred Guard calls home, eh?" Connor asked.
"The crows dither and squawk in their nest, as ever. It leaves me cold every time I lay eyes upon it." Temenos said.
"M-move! Mooove, I say!" a familiar voice called as a certain Sanctum Knight rushed up the stairs and plowed into the group, the knight falling over. "Ow-ow-ow-ow… ahem, forgive me! Are any of you hurt?"
"Geez… one of these days, you're gonna give us your namesake, Crick." Connor said, as Crick saw everyone.
"As I live and breathe! Temenos, and Team Revival as well! If you've all come this way, then… You're all here to interrogate Vados, aren't you?"
"We sure are. But what's got you in such a hurry?" Raphael asked.
"Truth be told…I've overslept." Crick said.
"And you had to rush to get over here, despite it being cold and slippery." Lysithea sighed. "Newly anointed indeed."
"It's easily fixed though, buddy. Just say yer late because you had to meet us and Temenos unexpectedly." Travis advised.
"But…that would be a lie." Crick said.
"The path to adulthood is paved with benign lies, Crick." Temenos said.
"I will not stand for you treating me like a child!" Crick said.
"Oh? I believe all Travis has done is offer you an alibi." Temenos said.
"So he did… And I am left wondering why. You must have designs…" Crick said.
"Haha… You mustn't doubt people so." Temenos said as Crick was silent for a moment.
"No. No, I cannot abide this. I shall accept the punishment for my tardiness." Crick said.
"Serves me right for trying to repay a debt…" Temenos said.
"What debt?" Crick asked only to receive silence as everyone went inside.
Once inside headquarters, the group met with the receptionist and asked for Vados to be interrogated. However, to the receptionist's reveal, Vados's name wasn't on the Ledger for some reason.
"How can that be? Search once more, I beg you. There must be some mistake!" Crick said.
"I assure you I've looked over the ledger numerous times. There is no mistake." The Registrar said as Temenos was silent.
"I…I don't understand." Crick said disbelief.
"Come Crick, let us return later." Temenos said.
The group then veered away from the registrar to talk in private.
"Crick, are you completely sure you dropped Vados off here?" Connor asked.
"Beyond a shadow of a doubt." Crick said.
"Something isn't right here." Avlora said. "Vados's name couldn't have been erased for any reason. It's possible the Sacred Guard did so deliberately for some reason."
"How dare you? That cannot be! A messenger of the gods would never distort the truth." Crick said.
"I understand why you think that Crick, but trust me. This isn't the first time some of us have seen those claiming to be holy servants cover up the truth." Lysithea said.
"What kind of church would do that, I ask you?" Crick asked.
"The Church of Seiros, in the world myself and the rest of my classmates come from." Lysithea said.
"Trust us Crick, the church covered up a LOT of stuff back where were from." Hilda said. "But still, you wanna find out the truth as much as we do, right?"
"We must investigate the Sacred Guard. Will you join us?" Temenos asked. "If so, then I ask you to search for any other records of Vados's arrival. We shall search our surroundings for anything unusual. Good luck, Crick." he said as he and Team Revival departed the headquarters while Crick went his own path, unaware they were being watched.
The group then headed into a small cemetery next to the headquarters as they spotted red splotches on the ground near another entrance.
"Bloodstains? Where could these be-?" Lysithea asked, looking at them.
"Lysithea, look out!" Maxwell said as a hooded assailant tried to attack her, and subsequently Temenos from behind, but Crick was fortunatly there to intercept as he stopped the attack.
"I'm glad you're all safe." Crick said. "You've a Sanctum Knight by your side, you know… Perhaps you all could rely on the power of a Godsblade such as me!"
"...I could've countered our assassin myself, but thank you for the assistance, Crick." Lysithea said. "That hood though, is this person from the Sacred Guard?"
"Why would they send someone to attack us?" Avlora asked.
"Who are you? Show yourself!" Crick demanded.
The hooded figure said nothing as they soon ran off.
"Stop!" Crick called wanting to give chase.
"We must not follow them too far, Crick." Temenos said.
"But Temenos…!" Crick tried to say.
"Our debts to you multiply, Crick." Temenos said.
"Cease your worrying over these debts…" Crick said.
"So you renounce your gods?" Temenos asked as Crick was silent for a moment.
"I…I wish to believe in the gods. As I wish to believe in all of you." Crick said.
"Then allow us to thank you for your trust." Temenos said before turning to the trail of bloodstains. "We must press onward, We've yet to find what we're searching for."
"Everyone, I found the source of the blood!" Medina called, a bit away from the cemetary, as they joined the apothecary in finding a body buried in the snow.
"Is it…?" Maxwell asked.
"There's no doubt about it… It's Vados." Medina said. "Judging from the blood trail and how he's placed inside the snow, I'd say this wasn't an accident. He was assassinated."
"It appears as though someone did not want us to gather any information from Vados, so they ordered him to be killed… right in the domain of the Sacred Guard itself, I might add." Lorenz said.
"Lorenz, you think whoever authorized this might be…?" Betty asked.
"Yes, Betty. Whoever orchestrated this assassination, had to come within the ranks of the Sacred Guard itself." Lorenz said.
"Surely not…" Crick said.
"I wish Lorenz was making this up, Crick, but he's got a point. It's likely Vados was set up, and then offed." Denji said.
"You're lying…" Crick said, stepping away a bit. "I don't believe you! The Sacred Guard would never!"
The group soon left the cemetery and headed into town.
"Temenos, is there anything in which I can place my faith…?" Crick asked.
"That, you must find out for yourself. Though I must warn you there are few things worthy of our faith." Temenos replied.
"You don't even have fath in your own gods, do you? You doubt anything and everything in this world." Crick said.
"Doubt is what I do." Temenos said.
"Why'd you join the Order anyway, Crick?" Hilda asked.
"I hail from a noble house… Albeit one fallen from grace. My parents taught me to steal. To use others as a stepping stone to my own success. But I couldn't bring myself to believe that is the sum total of this life. Then the inquisitor paid me a visit and told me something I'll never forget. 'A noble flame burns within you.' Those words gave me something to believe in. For the first time in my life. I left home and joined the Order of the Sacred Flame. The world is a cruel and irrational place. I wanted something to believe in. Something to hold fast to. I want to extend a hand to the weak and cleave the wickedness from this world. I wish to be that sword for the people." Crick explained.
"Damn, Crick. We know a bunch of people who would sympathize with every single word of that story you just told." Connor said.
Temenos was quiet before he laughed quietly. "Well, that is just lovely in its naievity."
"Do not mock me, Temenos! I meant what I said!" Crick said.
"The inquisitor you met… his name was Roi, was it not?" Temenos asked.
"Ah! So you knew him!" Crick said.
"I'd a… strange affinity for him, yes. Come to think of it, you resemble one another. You both share a rigid sense of morality that makes you honest to your own detrement. Roi preceded me as Inquisitor. However, he embarked on an investigation into the church, but never returned." Temenos explained.
"Yes, I'm aware." Crick acknowledged.
"'The church has secrets. Extraordinary, terrible secrets.'. Those were his final words to me. Those words cemented in me a distrust of the church and a desire to expose the truth. And they are a dying wish I intend to honor." Temenos said. "Mind all of you, I do not intend to find and kill whoever is behind this. I simply wish to bring the truth to light. Long have I searched for it. And at last, it is close at hand."
"I am beginning to believe it, myself. The Sacred Guard is hiding something." Crick said.
"There ya go, now you're thinking like us." Travis said. "I'd say thats progress."
"Now, who could be the mastermind? Let us review what we know, everyone!" Crick said.
"Actually, it's late. Maybe we should call it a night." Hilda said.
"Are you joking?" Crick asked.
"Were all pretty fatigued. Not to mention were in a town constantly in the cold. Besides, you took a pretty good hit back there." Hilda said.
"What, this?" Crick asked, motioning to the scratch he got from the attack.
"You must take care of yourself, Crick. We charge headlong into danger." Temenos said.
"...Understood, Temenos. But do be honest with me. You're allowed to say you just want time to think." Crick said.
"Heh. You already know Temenos way too well in just a few days, Crick." Connor said.
"Good night, everyone." Crick said, taking his leave.
"Good night…" Temenos said when Crick was out of earshot.
Unfortunatly, this would be the last Temenos and Team Revival would ever speak to Crick again. For in the dead of night, while Crick was investigating on his own… tragedy struck.
The Next Morning….
The group awoke from a long night's rest in Stormhails Inn. While they were headed back to Sacred Guard HQ to continue their investigation, they suddenly found a crowd right outside the building, talking amongst themselves about something.
"What's going on here? Quite a crowd." Lorenz asked.
"That's one of them from the sacred guard, isn't it? How'd this happen?"
"Oh no… gods be merciful…"
"My apologies…would you let us through?" Temenos asked, as the group waded through the crowd, and he gasped at a shocking sight….
Slumped against the wall, dead with snow covered in blood… was Crick.
"Oh my god…" Betty said in shock.
"Crick!" Temenos said as everyone rushed to check his body.
"He's dead… since sometime last night, I'd wager." Medina said. "Dammit…!"
"There's something in his hands… a scrap of paper." Maxwell said, taking it. "Surrender yourself not unto silent dusk. For the light shall fade. That is the same phrase Vados pronounced."
Just then two sanctum knights stepped out.
"Stand back! Clear a path!" the female knight said
"This isn't a show! Go about your days!" the male knight added as the citizens moved away while the female knight walked up to where Crick's body was.
"What are you doing here? Be on your way!" the female knight said.
"Hold your tongue!" Lysithea said. "He was our friend!" she said.
"Easy, Lysithea." Connor said. "Crick here was our buddy, and we want to find out who murdered him in any way we can. Think you can let us and an inquisitor like Temenos here help out?"
"I fail to see how any of you'd be anything more than-" the female knight started before Urbosa snapped her fingers and lightning struck causing her to stop as she looked frightened.
"Whatever was that for, Urbosa? It's clear they do not want us to help." Lorenz said.
"Apologies, but her tongue was very much too sharp for my tastes." Urbosa said as they walked away, letting the knights tend to their devices. "In any case, we aren't wanted in a formal investigation, that much is clear."
"You know what that means…. We've gotta follow whatever trail Crick left behind." Hilda said.
Connor put a hand to Temenos's shoulder. "We'll solve this. I swear it, Temenos."
"And we will. The truth…lies in the flame." Temenos said as they began their investigation.
(Cue: Crime Scene- Master Detective Archives: RAINCODE)
An astral form of Crick soon materialized as Temenos then Guided him.
"Crick, we swear to you we will carry on the work you were torn from yesterday. And so we must be off." Temenos said as he and the group followed the astral projection into the Sanctum Knights headquarters in a room on the second floor that had shelves filled with books. "Given the scrap of paper in his hand, he must have been poring over the works in this room. Though I cannot imagine what would be so sensitive as to warrant killing a man for laying eyes upon it. Did he go elsewhere after procuring this clue?" he asked before spotting a book upside down on a shelf. "Why is this book upside down? And The Creation of Heaven and Earth, no less. Surely, it's not the first to be put back in haste, but…"
"Wait, there's something written on the back of the shelf." Lysithea said. "'Break the earth's shacks, and look to the heavens.' This is a bit too coincidental."
"We'll be sure to look into these 'heavens.'" Temenos said as he and the group followed Crick's astral phantom up to the railings in the ceiling and looked around. "Let's see… We've come here in search of the 'heavens', and yet…" he said before spotting a mechanism of some sort. "What's this?! Some sort of…mechanism?" he said as he activated it and the sound of something unlocking was heard.
"Sounded like something unlocked, let's go see." Hilda said as the group headed downstairs and found a hidden entrance at the bottom of the stained glass mural as Crick's astral projection disappeared. "A secret passage!"
(song fade)
"You became a true knight before you passed, Crick. No ordinary man would notice such a thing. We're going to find the truth, Crick. The truth you were diligently working toward." Temenos said as he and the group went inside and found books stacked upon shelves inside. "These are…forbidden tomes, all. So much knowledge erased from history… What could possibly be the Sacred Guard's aim?"
"I see the pontiff's hound knows how to follow a scent." a voice said as everyone turned to see a familiar woman enter the room who the group saw before back in Flameschurch.
"Deputy Cubayiri?" Ignatz asked.
"Crick knew too much. He was a fool to bring you all into this. To continue his investigation. An investigation that led him to the Book of Night…and consequently, to his grave. By the hand of someone you know well… Captain Kaldena." Cubayiri said.
"Kaldena did this?" Lysithea asked. "I see….then the answer is clear. After we are through with you….we're going to make her pay." she said in anger.
Cubayiri let out a mocking laugh. "After? There will be no after for you. You understand that we must put an end to you all. Just like we did your little helper. He wasn't an easy kill for Kaldena, I'll say that. But he was a damn fool - as are you. Your perverse sense of justice leads you to defy the gods! And so…you all shall share divine punishment." she laughed with cruelty.
(Cue- In Pursuit of Truth ~ Event Boss- Akiba's Beat)
"Divine punishment? The things that you have done are anything but divine!" Marianne said in anger, surprising everyone. "You took the life an innocent young man who wanted to uphold his own sense of honor, just so you could hide your dark secrets. And we will never forgive you for that." she said.
"Is that anger in your eyes, girl?" Cubayiri taunted. "Does it hurt, knowing your cute little knight friend was killed? Captain Kaldena herself ordered your deaths, you know. I believe her words were: 'Bring those hounds to heel.'"
"Seal your lips, you so-called messenger of the divine." Tenemos growled, murder in his eyes.
"Give us about ten seconds with this bitch, Temenos." Connor said as the group approached Cubayari as she drew a sword coated with darkness.
"You were the one Vados declared was Blessed by Alephan. He killed a scholar so we'd send a message to the Scholarking. You'll make an even greater offering." Cubayiri said.
"You're messin' with the wrong man, Deputy. Death doesn't scare me, I've already died once. I've never gone back there since I came back. And I never will." Connor said as everyone took their fighting stances.
Right Hand of The Sacred Guard Captain
Deputy Cubayari
"She has only three weaknesses. Spears, axes and staves. This will be easy." Lysithea said.
"Indeed it will." Maxwell said.
Cubayari charged in to make the first move, but Maxwell easily parried her strike and struck back with his spear, hitting her several times.
"Take this!" Hilda said, bashing the corrupt deputy with Freikugel. Temenos followed up with a good whack of his staff.
"Lousy dogs…!" Cubayari growled as she tried to attack again, but Lorenz intercepted her.
"Do you know who I am?" he asked before nailing Cubayari with rapid thrusts of his spear, before spinning his spear high above his mount to create a rose petal tornado. "You should be ashamed!" he said, knocking her away with a finishing slash.
"Feel the Sacred Flame's wrath!" Temenos said as he casted a powerful Light spell that blasted Cubayari, sending her reeling as Marianne went to finish her off.
"I won't run away!" Marianne said as she slashed Cubayari across the chest with Blutgang, sending her down to her knees.
Connor then dusted his hands off. "You shoulda checked to see how bad we bite."
(End song)
"Ngh…!" Cubayari said in pain.
"Answer us, Deputy. What is your superior's goal?" Avlora asked. "Does she intend to bring darkness upon the land, and does this all correlate with the Moonshade Order, and the possible resurrection of the Dark God, Vide?"
"Go to hell… There's your answer." Cubayiri said before collapsing to the ground dead.
"Before we do… you will atone for your sins." Temenos said, in a rare form of anger.
Later, the Group watched from afar as the non-corrupt sanctum knights held a funeral service for Crick. As they did, Temenos recalled all the memories he had of Crick.
"No doubt about it. Crick was probably the only Sanctum Knight we knew that actually did the job right. Can't belive he was killed." Connor said. "He was a good man, Temenos. I think you were very happy to know him."
"Indeed. He's left me in his debt. But he need fear not. We will see that dept repaid. I swear it." Temenos said as he and the group left for the harbor.
"So, there's no doubt about it, right? Those notes we found in the Fellsun ruins? Captain Kaldena was the one who wrote them." Hilda said.
"Which means she can only be headed to one place… The Nameless Village. She aims to unleash the power of the night upon us all. We must stop her before she can finish the rite. Watch over us, Crick. We shall shine enough light on the church's misdeeds for all of us…and put an end to Kaldena's treachery." Temenos said.
"Heh. Never thought we'd be the ones to enact real divine justice. Normally that would be Ace's thing." Connor said. "But it doesn't matter. Angel or not…we're gonna see some repentance happening. And I've got a bullet with Kaldena's name on it." he said, grasping his relic pendant as it glowed.
At last, Temenos and Team Revival have discovered the truth and unveiled a dastardly scheme. Kaldena, captain of the Sacred Guard, was the mastermind behind the murders. Now, Temenos and Team Revival must shed light on the key to her plot: The Book of Night.
And they'll do so with the Sacred Flame's help.