Leaving Ruth in the sprawling Straddleford marketplace with enough gold to replace her broken weapon, Janrielle travelled to the Temple of Maileen to consult with Lydia, the regional head of her order. After receiving the warrior-maiden's report of orc activity in the Old Forest, Lydia bid Janrielle to walk with her through the temple grounds. "We have another mission for you, Janrielle. One that will take you to the Southern Empires." As the raven-haired woman nodded silently the cleric continued. "We have a small temple in the northern reaches of Malirid, just off the TradeMark. There has been no recent contact of any kind with the temple, and the Council has decreed that we send a small party to investigate." "And since I'm from Malirid, I'm the most logical choice to go." Janrielle replied, already making travel plans in her head. Lydia nodded once, stopping before a statue of the goddess of magic and lovers. "Be careful, Jan. We have word of war within the region, and that the Duchy of Urevan has fallen to a warlord from the Ridgedown Mountains." "I'll be careful, Lydia." Janrielle smiled now, both amused and touched by her friend and superior's concern. "Besides, I have someone I'll be taking with me, and an extra set of eyes never hurts." "Indeed not. And a third pair is even better than two." At the puzzled expression she received Lydia started to laugh softly. "We're sending a scout with you. An old friend, as I recall..." Well, I found out at least part of the problem with the shadows, or lack thereof. For some reason, shadow-aliasing is not supported by my laptop. Ah well, time to call tech support, it seems. So, while not 100 percent satisfied with this one, I am still happy with the way it turned out, needing only a little postwork to clean up a couple of small pokethroughs. As always, thank you for looking! Drawing Credits: Kristen Bonus from DM