Ishra and Braktus were in their house. They had just packed their travelling provisions into two worn backpacks. "You know that fighting makes me horny, don't you?" she asked. "You are still wearing that suspicious armour of yours," he said. "It may do all kinds of things to me." Ishra sighed. "You are suddenly scared of me?" she asked. "I do not fear you," he said. "I do fear some of the equipment you use." Ishra focussed him with her hazel eyes. "I am more fearsome than a silly sword or a suit of armour," she said. Braktus asked: "What are you trying to say?"

Ishra dropped her robe, appearing entirely nude. She opened his trousers with expert hands, gently caressing him. "You cannot resist me," she said. Ishra leapt on her husband, hugged him and took him with violent passion that might have crushed a lesser man. The armour did indeed have an effect. It prevented Ishra from getting pregnant.

---

Some time later they entered the inn where all adults of the village had gathered. Roland had obviously already tried to explain the situation, but the people did not seem to believe him. Ishra, again dressed in her nondescript grey robe, stepped into the speaker's position, much to the surprise of almost anyone other than Lonewolf and Nirahr. She spoke with a loud and clear voice: "Heaven and hell are inside me, inside you." She pointed at a villager, whose leering gaze she did not like. One just did not stare at any woman like that, not even a succubus. "Within all of us. Which way will you choose?"

She paused, waiting for her message to penetrate into the thick skulls of the crowd. Lonewolf idly wondered, if it was the exhaustion, an effect of the stirring evil, or if the villagers had always been that dumb. Finally Ishra continued: "The choice has already been made when you stay here. Hell has come to claim us. There is still time to escape, but it is running out quickly. Once the thing beneath us fully regains awareness it will not let anyone go. It wants your souls to corrupt and you bodies to spread the corruption into the world. I have seen all the outer planes. Believe me, eternal damnation is nothing you even want to get close to. Depravity, wickedness, selfishness and malice without end in infinite permutations.

"If you want to choose that way, I cannot stop you, but when you stay, the choice will be made for you. Most of you will not like that choice. None of you can resist the power here." Almost everyone stared at her incredulously. This morning they had believed her to be a weak woman, slave to the mighty Braktus, but now they had seen her fight like a berserk and speak with great wisdom and knowledge. Slowly the attention of the crowd turned from Ishra to the shade of an elder. He used magic to focus the crowd. Lonewolf sourly wondered, why she was unable to counter it.

"We have been save here from monsters and evil for many generations," the creature said. More magic of persuasion. Lonewolf turned to Ishra. The shade continued its speech: "Why try to brave the dangers of a broken world like young fools? Here you are save. This is your home, do not abandon it so easily." Ishra returned the gaze of the young mage and shrugged helplessly. Lonewolf tried to point out the obvious. The attack of this morning would not have been possible, when the protection was still intact. Her mouth seemed glued shut.

The crowd swayed, for there had been power in Ishra's voice also, even though she had used it unconsciously. They were saved by Dak'Yzal, who chose this moment to enter the room. She walked upright, having given up pretending to be a frail old woman. The staff she carried was covered with dried blood. She stepped between two elders and attacked them. The staff passed through the shades with a simple ripple of their bodies, as though a stone had been dropped into water.

"The elders are a lie, all of this village is a lie. A spider sits at its core and we are the flies in its web. We are not yet so deeply entangled that there is no way out, but the door is already closing. If you stay, you we be enslaved by the evil that lurks here. If you go, there is still a chance. I will admit that it may not be a great chance, but decades of folly are hard to set right in half a day. I will go. What will you do?"

The false elders had faded away, but a new one materialised in the doorway. Ishra glared at the crowd, her eyes radiating the righteous anger of an angel. "If you had paid attention during the battle, you had noticed that shades resembling the village elders fled from the bodies of the enemy leaders. Whatever sacred protection this place may once have had, it has failed." Lonewolf said: "The Eternal Wanderer killed an army of thousands of these creatures, and worse, not far from here. We have only survived thanks to her help. I can already feel the evil beneath us gather necromantic energy. When night falls, the dead will walk again."

A shiver of fear went through the gathered crowd. There was some doubt that a single mage could stop an army, but Lonewolf's last words struck home. Ishra took over, before the effect faded. "Undead puppets are more reliable than goblins and orcs from Arghia. They do not ask questions. They do not know pain. They do not know fear. They never tire." Lonewolf said: "I fear we will have to travel to Siema and consult Antonia Numinus before moving against whatever lurks here. I know it is a long journey, but we cannot go into this battle unprepared. If we are lucky, the Eternal Wanderer will find us on the way."

Silence spread. The villagers had begun to rely on the protection of the four mighty adventurers. People looked at each other. A few questions were asked, then everybody started talking at once, filling the room with disharmonious noise. Ishra moved her hand in way, she had once seen a celestial use as a gesture of command. Somewhat to her own surprise, it actually worked. There was silence. She spoke: "Go now and chose your most important possessions. I recommend you chose well. All left behind will be lost forever."

Ishra's eyes took on a painful intensity, as she surveyed the crowd with a soul-piercing gaze. She looked right through the eyes of every single person, inspecting the shape and disposition of their souls. None of them were truly good, but none were thoroughly evil either, except for the shade at the door. Ishra moved near it and looked it into the eyes. The expression within her hazel eyes changed again, now resembling the terrible anger of a celestial forced to fight a fiend. The ghost waved like a flag in the wind, then it faded away.

It was said that the anger of an angel could strike fear into the heart of the wicked. The other three adventurers had followed her. Braktus had reached for his ghost dagger, Lonewolf for her Swords of Fire and Ice. Both relaxed as they realised, Ishra was successful. "What are you waiting for?" she asked. "Every moment lost decreases your chances. And don't try to do what I just did. The ghost will possess you." Lonewolf said: "Most of their power lies in their eyes. Avoid their gaze and you should be fine. Travel lightly. We will have to move quickly."