"Not MORE prisoners to interrogate..."

The party stabilised the unconscious escapees and took them to the 1st garrison, one on the flying carpet and the other over a shoulder. Getting tired with the usual negotiation to see someone, the scout flipped a platinum piece to the spinagon on the door to let them in.

There they again talked to the resident inquisitor who accepted the additions to his torture table although with reservations about the lack of evidence. Luckily, the pair had paperwork on them describing the parts still required for the statue. As the adventurers had neglected to search beforehand, they were not able to really see what the notes said before they were whisked away into the pain devil's clutches.

After confiscating the flying carpet, the devil instructed a human to issue each of the party with a medal declaring their efforts in the service and defence of the pit fiend. After that, the group was dismissed.

Although it was late at night, some rooms were found as the adventurers retired for the night. While the cleric was on watch, someone (or something) woke up the innkeeper and held a conversation that could not quite be overheard. In the morning, the roomkeeper denied any such conversation had taken place.

The warlock was the first awake in the morning and decided that he wanted to go for a walk. After he had stepped out into the street and strolled on a way, he noticed a small child dash out of the entrance of the building he had just left and run off down the alleys. Thinking little of it, he proceeded to one of the tented bars and filled a wineskin with cheap beer (although there were no alternatives to "cheap beer", the tent just having the one barrel). Having made his transaction, the warlock left the tent only to be confronted by a patrol of devils from garrison 2.

In front of the local populace, the warlock was stripped of clothing and his belongings searched "for contraband". The dim and decidedly malicious devils insisted in ripping apart his wineskin and clothing to see if they concealed any items before confiscating a magical amulet "to be investigated". Strangely the spinagon did not offer a receipt... After sufficient humiliation had been delivered, the patrol let the warlock on his way. The warlock quickly went shopping for new clothing and returned to the hotel. The roomkeeper still insisted that there had been no conversation and the warlock's encounter was mere coincidence.

Deciding to look for more evidence of the existence of the vampire lord, the party returned to the shop they had visited the previous night. The door was patched up and the back door locked. The scout went to a nearby alchemist, flashed his adventurer's credentials, and bought 5 flasks of combat strength acid. one of these quickly made short work of the lock on the back door.

The knight stood watch while the rest of the party investigated the building. Within moments an ogre-sized creature rose out of the courtyard's sand and attacked him. Calling for assistance, the knight backed away ready to try some skillfull attack. Unfortunately, by the time he was prepared, the rest of the party had laid enough telling blows to cause the monster to turn back into grains of sand and disappear into the wind...

"Oh, magic carpets are so cliché"

As the monk came out of his emotional state of confusion, he realised he was near the 2nd garrison and that a quartet of steel devils were marching out. Quickly he retraced his steps but found the warehouse empty of the other party members when he got there. Instead a small crowd of onlookers had gathered around the dead and undead corpses. The body of the priest that had controlled the zombies was missing so the monk assumed he had been captured by his colleagues. Well before the steel devils arrived to investigate the disturbance, he was away looking for the party. Luckily the scout was also out looking for the monk and it wasn't long before they encountered each and returned to the party's hiding place.

Deciding that getting on the good side of the devils was the best plan, the party dragged their bound priest to the 1st garrison. The spinagon in command of the nupperibo at the door was not too interested in passing the party through to a superior without profiting itself but eventually the adventurers had their way.

Soon an excruciarch came to investigate, still spattered with blood from a current interrogation. The adventurers first mentioned that the patrol of steel devils from the lowly 1st garrison had stabbed an innocent bystander while investigating a disturbance. Next the party described the crimes committed by the vampire lord's minion. Although it would take the prisoner off the party's hands, the devil demanded real evidence of the purported terrorism that the priest was guilty of. The monk's attitude aggravated the devil which brought its aura in range of the adventurers, causing the skin of the party's cleric to be lacerated by cuts appearing from nowhere.

Dismissed, the party set off into the night for more information to back up their claims. The monk recalled his encounter with the merchant's staff that tried to buy the statue fragments off him so the adventurers decided to interrogate the person to see what links they had with the vampire lord's priest.

Being now quite late, the shop was closed for the night. Standing in a courtyard in the back, the adventurers could make out a candlelit room upstairs where two people were having a heated discussion. At times, the monk could just make out the words being spoken and it seemed the death of the dirgesinger and capture of the priest were worrying events.

Half the party went round the front to hammer on the door while the rest waited for the pair to try and escape from the back of the building into the courtyard. Just before they started, a patrol of nupperibo and their spinagon leader came along, checking all the doors in case a shopkeeper had been sloppy. After the devils had passed on, the cleric and knight started to batter down the front door. The occupants of the house could be heard to be taking fright so the courtyard occupants got ready with climbing material in case getting into the upstairs room was necessary. To their surprise, a flying carpet burst through the window bearing the two men from the shop.

First to react, the scout swung his grapnel into the air and snagged one carpet rider, draggi8ng him down to fall onto the courtyard floor. The warlock, himself flying above the roof of the building, shot the other escapee with an Eldritch blast. The carpet and rider, cleared the building on the other side of the courtyard but crashed into the roof beyond, leaving the carpet hanging down and the last rider in a heap on the ground.

The spinagon with the patrol, seeing the warlock fly over to rescue the carpet, itself took flight and headed to the nearby garrison tower to raise the alarm.

Devil Gallery

Spinagon


Nupperibo


Beuroza

Wee Jas and undead

The Dogma teaches respect for those who came before. Creation of undead by animating the deceased can only be performed with the appropriate permissions. Wee Jas is very hot on Law and authority so an evil necromance marching into a graveyard to raise an army would receive the full force of her wrath. Similarly, those undead that slay the living to create more undead are out of favour as they are preventing the dead from passing to their rightful place.

"My master will drink you empty"

With the warlock floating and babbling like a fool, the cleric summoned a giant wasp to attack the bard on the roof and soon the singing stopped as the poisoned and punctured body collapsed. With a simple command, the priest made the wasp bring the corpse to the ground where it could be looted (a pair of rings, a gem on a necklace, a puch of coins and a scimitar).

The knight hacked at the remaining pair of bards on the ground as they turned and fled. One fell mortally wounded whilst the other, hearing the knight's threats, stopped in his tracks and surrendered. Quickly the knight bound the remaining bard's hands and pulled him back to the rest of the party.

In the warehouse, the scout finished binding the unconcious enemy cleric.

Meanwhile, a befuddled monk, as is seeing someing horrific, started running off crazily into the distance.

Chaos reigned now as the remaining members argued over what to do next. Where could they go to that was safe enough to interrogate the prisoners?

The scout quickly looked around and chanced upon a near-derelict warehouse just a hundred yards or so away. Quickly the cleric cast Obscuring Mist over the entrance to their new hide-away and the party secretly passed through it to temporary safety.

The novice bard didn't give up too much information as he had nothing to tell in the first place. He had been spying on the party because Curtis Massine, the late dirgesinger, had told him to. The stone foot and hand were confirmed as the artefacts that they were after.

The captured cleric, though, was much more useful. On his arm was a tattoo of three red drops of liquid which he declared to symbol of his master, the Vampire Lord, representing domination of the living, control of the dead and the eternity of undeath. The party's priest declared that this was an affront to Wee Jas and should be punished accordingly. The captive responded that his master would feed long on their blood.


Settling down for her evening prayers, the cleric requested that Wee Jas provide her with a Neutralise Poison to save the life of the warlock.