The armor guy was sitting in a pew on the opposite end of the building. He was hunched over, with his hands held his head hanging thoughtfully. 

S was visibly taken aback by armor guy's, y'know, full plate armor. 

Armor dude looked back at us as we came in, and spoke with a sort of forced softness. "Ah. Visitors. What brings you into this-" He paused as his helmet shifted slightly towards Todd's arm, which, naturally, wasn't in very good shape at the moment. "Ah. I suppose-"

"Woah! Nice plates, man!" Todd exclaimed as we approached, his voice picking up a noticeably more enthusiastic tone. "Who'd you have to kill to get a hold of those, dude?"

TODD! COME ON! He's a mysterious heavily-armored never-shows-his-face deep voiced warrior type, probably with some sort of vague and very poorly implemented mental illness! There's no way he DOESN'T have a tragic and/or vengeful backstory! I guess what I'm ultimately trying to say is PHRASING!

"It was a gift." The armor guy spoke with slightly less softness than before. "From an old friend." 

"Man, I'm jealous! I'd ki"

"RIGHT!" S attempted to interrupt, but,

"ll for a set like that!" Todd paid no mind.

Sis chuckled as I accidentally muttered "Dangit, Todd..." under my breath. 

"I get that a lot, too." Todd replied.

Sis chuckled louder. I'd go as far as to say she even chortled. 

S, probably actively trying to stop himself from physically cringing, picked up right where he left off. "This guys arm. Can you do something about it?" 

"By the light, I'll do what I can." Said the ever-gracious armor guy. "A moment, please." 

He quickly walked over to the stand thingy at the back end of the building, reaching under his desk and pulling out a small, tan cloth sack, bound by a thin string. 

"What is your name, friend?" Armor guy asked as he returned to us, looking over at Todd.

Who said nothing until S elbowed him and quietly shouted "Name."

"Ah. Todd. Todd Ersomething."

Ersomething?

"I see. Todd. Sit, and be still." Armor guy said in a commanding yet somehow equally welcoming voice. "As for the rest of you, this may take a while. You are free to remain here, or go... Somewhere else. Whatever works."

Kinda lost it at the end there, but alright. Anyway, we all sat down. If this starts taking too long, I figure we can just go and see what Michaus and crew are doing. Though, it might be a bit difficult to explain the threads. Also what happened the last time we met. Also how we could possibly be here right now to any construction guys that happen to be passing through for lunch or something. Okay, maybe we'll just chill here. 

The man in steel unwrapped his sack, and pulled out a small book he held open in his left hand, as he knelt down beside Todd and placed his right hand over Todd's arm. Then, he lowered his head and began muttering something as his steel hand began to glow much like Pat's did. Except, replace the smell of booze and hiccups with creepy presumably religious mumbling. 

I quickly got bored and a little curious, so I used the holes to take a quick peek at the book he was reading from. Now, I know that I can't read, but even I was able to tell that what was written in there was utterly illegible. All jagged and creepy, as if it was written by someone who had only a vague knowledge of the meaning of the word 'sleep.' Which checked out.

His now much louder mutterings weren't much different, so I quickly closed the hole as a shiver raced down my spine.

With that, we just kinda sat in the pews for a while, and it seemed like we'd be spending quite some time here. Best get comfortable, I wager-

"Oh shoot, the horses." Todd exclaimed.

"Right, crap, the horses." S said.

"I told them I'd be back soon, but it would appear that I'll be away for a while longer than I had anticipated."

"Right, should we go check on 'em?" S asked.

"Yes, that would be best. They won't run off on their own, but leaving them open to beasts or other ruffians isn't wise."

S seemed like he was about to say something, but he paused as his nose briefly twitched after Todd finished talking. 

Guess I'll take the initiative. "Yeah, we should keep an eye on them." I said. No sense potentially allowing something that could delay us even more. Plus, it's an excuse to get out of this stuffy old church.

"That would be best." Todd repeated.

"Right. We'll do that. See you in a bit, Todd." S said. 

Thus, we got up and left the church. 

Aaaaand kinda forgot the guard dudes were standing outside.

"Uh, w-we're going over there." I said to the twins as I awkwardly gestured behind the church. "For reasons."

"Your" "friend" "still" "in" "there?" The twin guards asked, fortunately getting straight to the point and not questioning much.

"Uh, y-yeah. He'll be out in a bit, probably."

The guards simultaneously and silently nodded in response. Weird.

"Right, you guys always talk like that?" S asked.

"Mostly, yeah." The guards replied in unison.

"Huh. Alright, later."

Thus, we walked behind the church and went right back where we came from again. Lotta just going in circles recently, huh. 

---

'Does that girl always carry around a fishing rod?' Thought the guard to the left, the one with the slightly longer hair.

'Dunno. Sure seems like it.' Thought the guard to the right, the one with the slightly shorter hair.

'That's weird.'

'Yeah, weird.'

'Real weird.'

'Bet if we checked, those three wouldn't be behind the church.' 

'Oh yeah, definitely not. They totally be disappearing.'

'Yep. Reappearing, too. We ever gonna tell anyone about that?'

'No lol'

'lol'

'lol'

Meanwhile, inside the church, where Todd was still getting healed by the 'armor guy.' 

'The presences, they're gone again! But not all- And does that girl always carry around a fishing rod?' The armor guy thought to himself, before quickly clearing his head and getting right to the point.

"Tell me, Todd, was this a... Workplace injury?" He asked, pausing his mutterings.

"Something like that." Todd said with half of a shrug. 

"Hm... I'll be honest, Todd, this looks like a wound from a weapon. Specifically a great hammer. Something you wouldn't find on a normal construction site." The armor guy stated, his voice getting increasingly forceful. "You were attacked, were you not?"  

"Oh, yeah." Todd said, completely casually. "Band of ruffians, big hammer, yeah. I'm on guard duty, that's what I meant when I said that."

"Oh. I, uh, thought you were just being coy." 

"No, I don't know how to do that. Just how I talk." 

"Ah. How embarrassing. My sincerest apoligies. What happened to your assailants? Were you able to detain them, or are they still on the loose?"

"Think they retreated. Could be wrong."

"Are they still around? Is there a possibility they might return?"

"I don't think so." 

"Hm... You say that, but I don't believe anyone's crossed the bridge for a while. Were they hiding amongst your crew when you arrived?"

"Oh, no, it wasn't any of them. They rode up to our carriage on horseback."

"Horseback? But the last horses that came through were part of your- Wait a moment... By the light, your carriage?"

"Yep."

"Didn't you leave across the bridge on a carriage several hours ago?" 

"That's entirely possible."

"Then... How are you here?"

"Well, we rode over here, I would imagine."

"But you couldn't have, because you..." 

The armor guys voice trailed off. He turned his gaze upward, and stared Todd in the face. Though he was distracted, he kept his healing hand hovering over Todd's arm as best as he could.

Todd's eyes seemed almost otherworldly. Utterly unmoving, permanently affixed to the center of mass on the steel plate armor in front of him. Even as he blinked, his eyes seemed still. Though they were still, seeming almost inhuman, they didn't look 'dead' by any means. More like they were frozen.

The armor guy wondered what might lie behind those eyes to keep them like that. It was clear that his existence wasn't one born of magic, but perhaps it wasn't one born of man, either. Perhaps it was something wholly different. Something he wasn't yet able to even begin to understand. Somehow, the thought unnerved him greatly, though he couldn't place why.

Regardless, he thought, these were not the eyes of a liar or a cheat. At least, not a knowing one.

"Tell me, Todd..." Armor guy spoke once again. "Where do you believe you are right now?"

"I have it narrowed down to a theater or a church. Or a school. Or an office building." 

"By the light- No, what I meant to ask was, what town do you believe you're in?"

"Town? Oh yeah, I guess that makes sense. It'd be weird for a church or theater or school to be in the middle of somewhere by itself. Though, I was pretty sure there we wouldn't pass another town for a while." Todd said, recalling route he'd taken and the map he so carefully studied.

"You're in Basenholm right now, Todd."

"Basenholm? That can't be true. That's where the construction guys are, that's where I came from. And I never go the wrong way." Todd said with a little indignance.

"Can you tell me how you got here, Todd? To this church, I mean."

"I guess it was just on the other side of the cart. Because I stepped through it, and it was here. Lucky we stopped where we did."

"Were you aware of this church before you were already making your way here?"

"Nope."

"And you thought nothing of this?"

"Things appear in front of me a lot. And I was paid not to think about it too much."

"Paid? By whom?"

"I don't know."

"And you accepted the deal without thought?"

"A mans gotta work." 

"Hm. I suppose he does."

The armor guy continued to heal in silence for a while, as he tried to organize and make sense of this rather confusing conversation. 

"I must say, Todd, you are an odd fellow."

"So I'm told."

'The same can be said about those kids...' Armor guy thought to himself. 'By the light, I pray for their safety. And that whatever it is they're hiding never becomes a threat. By the light, I will protect the people of this town.

No matter the cost.' 

. . .

"Your arm is healing nicely. It shouldn't be much longer now." The man in armor concluded.