The sergeant gave the ranger a hard stare, "If this was a battle or sneaking into an enemy's castle, yeah that might work if it doesn't get you killed."

Serna walked up to Talos and simply asked, "What do you have against me, Sergeant Talos? You have been on my back since you met me. What is it about me that vexes you so?"

"Met you? You are the REASON you got YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS INTO THIS! You just can't MIND your own business, can you? It's always one OVER achiever who thinks he or she is entitled to the right thing. NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED! You and your friends are visitors here. Try LISTENING TO the locals for a change, you MIGHT actually learn something!" Sergeant Talos snarled with disgust.

"Then let me ask you another question," Serna asked calmly, "Do I remind you of someone you used to know? Someone who might have acted just like me? Someone that you care about or cared about?"

Sergeant Talos fumed silently to himself. He'd rather be hunting down those thieves than babysitting this lot. "Yes and no. There was someone just like you, a boy, who took everything for granted, caused plenty of mischief and mayhem to the point where it got him almost dead. He was one of those who simply didn't understand what abiding by the law meant. He was asked to leave and when he refused, he was sent to do HARD labor up in the High Spire mines under the watch of a dwarven kinght, Sir Drogan. So, let me ask you this, how much do you want to find the relic? Are you true of heart? Because at the rate you're going, you're headed down a downward spiral."

"I want to find the relic very badly," Serna confessed, "Because I want to clear my name and return what was stolen. Am I true of heart? I honestly don't know. I try to be by protecting people but Dungeon Master only knows if helping people and protecting them makes one true of heart."

"And if Serna is headed to a downward spiral, Talos," Irzen stepped up and put a comforting hand on The Shield Maiden's shoulder, "We will be there to catch her."

***********

He calmed himself down enough to tell Neven, "Well go and talk to Calish. I believe you're still on the clock on this one."

"Yeah, right," Neven walked back over to Calish, "Hello, again! How do you feel? Are you ready to talk?"

The Fox Man eyed the thief suspiciously, "I'm fine. Well, spit it out kiddo. Did you or did you not acquire some item worth fifty gold?"

"I have," Neven admitted as he looked around, "Can we go somewhere private so I can show you?"

Calish held up a hand as he reached into one of his small pouches on his belt. It was a platinum ring with a sapphire gem inlaid in it. He tapped the ring once, twice, thrice and suddenly he and Neven popped into a pocket dimension. "Well, lets see what you brought for the entrance fee."

"Nice, very nice," Neven looked around to examine the pocket dimension before he revealed the ring to Calish holding it out for the Fox Man to see, "How about this for an entrance fee?"

***********

Above the city of Asylum everyone in the merchant district for a moment looked up to see the guardian flying over head. Even the party saw the gargantuan bronze dragon gliding over them towards the ocean beyond the sea port.

"Impressive," Willow remarked.

"WOW!" Serna gasped, "Not as big as that ancient Black Dragon we encountered when we had the Eleventh Talisman but still big nonetheless."

Irzen nodded in agreement.

Talos corrected the group, "Actually a bronze dragon is slightly bigger than those vile black dragons."

"I'll have to take your word for it," Irzen added, "The one we encountered was massive beyond imagining."

The bronze dragon glided ever lower to just above the surface of the water before disappearing beneath it. Its motion mimicked that of a submarine diving into deep water and was gone from everyone's sight.

"That was impressive," The Swordsman quipped, "I didn't know Bronze Dragons could swim."