The inside of the town hall was pretty much what Riez had expected. She had stepped into a large room, the floor, walls and ceiling covered in bark, as if the tree had just grown in this shape naturally. She was reminded of a church, a long hall, a couple of doors at the sides, but with rows upon rows of pews all facing an altar. On closer inspection, it wasn't an altar, but rather a table where presumably the council of Mek could make decisions and discuss said decisions.

  All of this was, of course, just guesses on Riez's behalf. After all, she had no way of knowing what this place was actually used for, since nobody was in here. She would have loved to prank one of the council meetings. Even so, she was on an important mission, and she wasn't going to let a little missed pranking bring her mood down. She looked around for where the Alman Stone might be.

  Light was streaming in from windows that had been covered with leaves, giving the entire hall a very soft light. It was almost as soft as the voice that barely spoke up.

  "You can see me?" The voice was quivering with anxiety and was almost raspy from disuse.

  Riez turned around, and her eyes almost drifted off the grey-looking drow. He had moved without Riez seeing it, which should have been impossible.

  "Yeah, you are quite well hidden, and yet you are visible to me." She said, her voice a little apprehensive. "Who are you?"

  The man looked like he had been struck by the fact that she spoke to him, and he almost whimpered when he was asked a question.

  "My name isn't really important." He said, not meeting her eyes. "But I know who you are. I am supposed to gather rumours and... uhm... yeah... give messages." He was faltering on every word.

  "You know who I am? That is... interesting. Not even the elves know that... so how do you know?" She asked.

  "Ishtar told me to look out for you, so I did. She thinks that you aren't here, but once she is told, I am sure I will get a reward. I just need to make sure I keep an eye on you." The grey man said, the moment he mentioned a reward, he got a massive perverse smile on his lips that seemed to ooze content. It clashed with his otherwise frail look and made Riez shiver in pure frustration.

  "Fine, then I will just go deal with Ishtar," Riez said, turning to the entrance to leave.

  "NO!" The explosive voice was at odds with the frail look of the man. "No! You can't do that! You cannot interrupt her great speech! The goblins were bad enough. We will all be punished if you go out there as well."

  Reiz raised an eyebrow. "Is that so? Well, why do you even follow her? She doesn't seem like a nice person."

  The shift in the man's posture was almost like night and day. Before, he had been huddled and submissive, but now... The moment Riez had even gotten near insulting the Lady in white, he was standing tall, his shoulders moved back, and his back even gave an audible pop as it was moved to be straight, and he started to tower over Riez. His eyes became cold, and the way he looked down his nose at her reminded Riez of the other people. The people she suspected might be the Ilshers that Jasper and Celeste had talked about.

  "You do not know her strength. You do not know her power. Misrush gave my beautiful older sister a gift. A gift to obtain every Divine Domain." His voice was no longer stuttering or faltering. Rather, it was prideful and filled with a not-so-wholesome excitement.

  Reiz blinked. This was news to her, and she decided to open a bug ticket on this. Even so, she needed to know more. "Don't believe you." She simply stated, shrugging her shoulders.

  The wiry man, who could probably be blown over by a strong gust of wind, ground his teeth. His eyes were shining with a deep hatred that Reiz didn't recognise, and which looked out of place on the man.

  "You filthy... cretok wiu seriso!" He spat the words. "You do not know the might that she carries. You think that she is weak like a god? She is born from the same blood that birthed you, Armandos. Mishrus is inside both of you, and you will not deny this. She is the mightiest among us, because she has taken our Domains."

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  Riez acted surprised, she wasn't really sure what the Ilsher was saying, but she knew that she needed to know more, after all, the more documentation of a potential bug she could get, the better.

  "Then explain to me. Explain how mighty she is." She said, and with her placating words, the hot air seemed to seep out of the grey Ilsher.

  "Fine. If you must know why neither you nor anyone else can defeat her. It is not like it is some grand secret. It all started with her own Domain. She obtained Blood through her own birth, but she learned that she could obtain Domains from others. Either by them willingly giving them up to her, or by consuming their flesh." He spoke, voice softer, though not as afraid or stumbling as it had been before.

  "She started with her siblings. She took Sefyr's Magic and Knowledge Domain, and she became as proficient in that path as any grand mage. Then she took Ira's Melee and Tinkering Domains. From Marcel, she took Loyalty and Health. From Tanis, she took Plants and Deception. Mordecai, she took Death and Madness, and from me she took Passion and Journeying." The Grey Ilsher spoke.

  Reiz was pretty sure that she was supposed to know the name of the Grey Ilsher, but she just couldn't remember it, no matter how hard she tried. She was sure that Jasper would have been able to recall it in a second.

  "That is... wow. A lot of Domains. Did you all lose your Domains?" She asked, and the low god shook his head.

  "No... for a time we do, but they are restored by Misrush when night falls to day." He spoke, and Riez noticed that he had been circling her while he spoke. He was moving to place himself between the exit of the hall and Riez.

  Riez let him. She wasn't planning on fleeing. Worst-case scenario, she would be killed and just get booted from the game.

  "Fine, so your sister has the Domains Blood, Knowledge, Magic, Tinkering, Melee, Loyalty, Health, Plants, Deception, Death, Madness, Passion and Journeying. That is a lot of Domains, but there is no way of using those efficiently." Riez challenged.

  A wicked smile spread on the Grey Ilsher's lips. "Is that so? You do not believe that she would be able to win again, any, who might stand in her way? Well, she was the one to kill Carmenor, the Human god, and as she consumed his flesh, she obtained more Divine Energy, Power and most importantly of all, the Domains War, Endurance and Might. Once our mother learned of this, she saw that her daughter would be the ultimate weapon, so she convinced Ewen to betray Alman. Once Alman had been slain, she obtained the corpse of the god so Ishtar might gain the Networks, Songs and Plants Domains. Though she already had the Plant Domain, so it was not as efficient as Mother would have wished."

  Riez was logging all this to the bug ticket. This seemed to be far too much for even a god to have. And the shoddily clad man didn't seem to be done.

  "Now, with our mother's passing, she has obtained new powers. Thanks to Sefyr, she was able to consume the ashes of Daikia, and Ishtar is now the Goddess of Night, Fertility and Vengeance."

  Riez quickly compiled the list.

  Blood

  Knowledge

  Magic

  Tinkering

  Melee

  Loyalty

  Health

  Plants

  Deception

  Death

  Madness

  Passion

  Journeying

  War

  Endurance

  Might

  Network

  Song

  Night

  Fertility

  Vengeance

  That was far too many Domains to use efficiently. Riez wasn't really scared that Ishtar might beat her, but rather the fact that Ishtar seemed to be spread too thin. With all these Domains, she didn't have a clear identity as a goddess. She would stand for nothing other than the superiority of the drows.

  Riez smirked, "Fine. I'd better go take care of her now, then," and she made a motion to dash towards the entrance.

  As expected, the Grey Ilsher tried to follow along, only to stumble ever so slightly and practically fall down the stairs that led up to the town hall.

  As the Divine Trickster, Riez had, of course, done a fake-out. She had pretended to dash for the door, only to move towards one of the side doors that were scattered along the walls of the hall.

  She was inside before the Ilsher could even register what was going on. Eyes darting to the sides, she realised that she was in an office. Looking at the carvings in the walls, the first time she had seen the tree had been damaged for any reason, it was the office of one of the councillors. The carving showed an elf, whose gender was, as always, rather hard for Riez to determine, but three young elves were carved into the wall as well, as if the moment had been captured in a photograph.

  There was a large desk, connected to the floor, and covered in the same bark that covered almost everything else. The surface had been polished and looked flat, but that wasn't what caught Riez's attention. Rather, it was the fact that her Deception Domain seemed to call to her. The carvings were hiding something. It was a hidden door.

  The Trickster looked around, and as she pushed against the face of one of the elven children, she felt the wood give way, and the section of the wall swung open without a sound, revealing a set of stairs leading down. Once more, these were not sung from the wood, like everything else appeared to be. Rather, they looked carved and sealed with some type of wax to ensure that the tree didn't grow over them.

  It did mean that the steps were quite slippery, but with Riez's high dexterity, she managed to make her way down the stairs with little problem.