The next morning, I went to see Gavis Drin to see if there was anything else I could do for him.

"Unfortunately, I know of nothing you may do for the Lady now." he said. "Speak with Fedris Hler again. He usually has errands that must be completed by the lowly. Don't let him tell you he has nothing to be done. I'm sure there's something."

Well, that sure made me feel good. "Errands that must be completed by the lowly." he said. The guy was lucky Laurenna wasn't here. If she had been, that guard in the room would have been put to the test.

Lowly indeed.

Fedris Hler was surprised to see me. "Drin sent you to me?" he asked. "Priests...hmph!" He checked a small notepad he had with him. "As it happens," he continued, "there is another way you may be of service to our Lady Almalexia."

"And what might that be?" I asked.

"I spoke with the Lady earlier today," he replied, "and there may be something that one of your skill will be able to help with. The Lady Almalexia would like  you to retrieve a powerful artifact - Barilzar's Mazed Band."

"An Amazing what?" I asked, not quite getting the name.

"He he, no," he replied, catching my sense of humor. "Barilzar's Mazed Band. All I know is that the goddess wants it returned. You'll find it in the ruins beneath the Temple."

Everything seems to be in ruins beneath this entire city, it seems.

"Search to the northwest in the sewers. There was a passageway in the Abandoned Crypt that had been blocked off by a cave-in." he said.

"I had just recently explored that." I said. "There was evidence of a recent cave-in there, as the passage way was blocked by huge boulders."

"Correct." he responded. "Almalexia just had that area cleared, but the area beyond that cave-in had not yet been explored by the workers. As for the item itself, I don't really see why you'd need to know any more about it, but if you're curious, you might ask Gavas Drin, as he could provide more details on it."

Well, Gavas Drin was a wealth of information on this item.

"Yes, the Mazed Band." he said, proud of the fact that he knew something about this apparently famous item that I had never heard of.

Barilzar himself was a powerful mage...quite powerful, in fact. He created the band sometime in the middle of the Second Era, and soon after disappeared. The purpose of the artifact is unknown to me. All I know is that the Lady wants it. I can only assume it will allow her to better minister to her people, though I find that hard to imagine."

So, once again, I find myself in the sewers of Mournhold. I made my way back to the Abandoned Crypt that I had found on my last trip dealing with the Black Dart Gang.

I was surprised to see that the huge boulders that had blocked my way earlier were completely gone.

I would have loved to know what spell or device had been used to remove them.

I rounded the bend in the cave.

I decided to proceed as quietly as possible. There was a torch up ahead. Hopefully, it would let me see what was in the next cavern up ahead.

Suddenly, I heard something running towards me. From out of the shadows, a dark figure appeared, blocking my way.

It was a lich, an undead wizard, and he was spoiling for a fight.

The lich stood in front of me, staring at me with his empty eye sockets.

Suddenly, he started generating a fire spell.

This wasn't going to be pretty.