The party's first port of call was the garrison, promising to Esbetha and Edira that they would catch Master Vernam's killer. Fenya and Eral started to investigate for clues about town, but were struck down by an unknown illness, and had to head back to bed.
At the garrison, once they'd told their story to the guard, they had little trouble getting inside and meeting with Captain Talios, head of the watch, and Ilantro, the corpse examiner. Talios was very amiable, and came across as heroic. Ilantro seemed to be a bit overwhelmed by the influx of corpses, not being used to it. He also appeared to be drunk.
After filling Talios in, he gave some information about the murders and Ilantro about the corpses. They had all be flayed, and had a skin next to them. Ilanto had not noticed that the glands were missing on all of them.
Using the witness statements from Talios, and their own deduction, the party realised that the skins did not correspond to the bodies. In fact, they surmised that the killer was taking the skin from one victim, and wearing it until the next. This meant that the first flayed body had not been accounted for. They also realisied that the last body was that of the elf skin found in Vernam's study. That murder had happened early that morning.
Given these observations, they concluded that the killer was out there, disguised as Master Vernam. They also thought it likely, based on the timelines, after a lot of discussion, that the following occurred:
- The Elf had visited Vernam for some reason.
- The Elf left, and was subsequently murdered, his skin stolen by The Flayer.
- The Flayer returned, in the Elf's skin, entering through the window (Vernam letting him in willingly), and murdered Vernam, taking his skin.
They also learnt from Ilantro's notes that there had been two earlier murders, a few days prior, in an alley near Toad Square. These had not be flayed, but were butchered, with the glands missing. Ilantro had not made a connection, much to Talios' annoyance.
They left for the Tower of Ordo Magica. On the way, Wulf realised that the three of the four recent murders triangulated around Toad Square (the fourth being near Vernam's academy).
They met an ancient, grumpy goblin guard at the Tower, who complained about being asked to disturb the masters, but was eventually convinced. He mentioned that he had seen Vernam enter not too long ago, and that he signed in, then went to the ritual chamber for a short amount of time. On inspecting Vernam's signing in signature with previous entries, Maddox realised it was different handwriting.
Master Eufrynda then appeared. He fit all the stereotypes, with a long grey beard, pointy hat and smoking a pipe. On hearing the news, he was clearly very upset; Vernam had been a good friend of his. Eventually he composed himself, and said he would do anything possible to help apprehend the killer. He led the party to the ritual chamber, where they found that the killer had taken out a scroll of dispel magic, and nothing more.
On their way to see Lasifor Nightpitch at Nighthome, they were approached by a mysterious hooded figure. He introduced himself as the elf, Keri-Las. He was a good friend of the murdered elf, who was called Tara-Kel. His was also an associate of Godrai and Saran-Ri, being on the same quest to clean-up after Gorak's expedition. He believed that the Elf and Vernam were both murdered because they were investigating the murderer. He had a request - that if the skull and crown were recovered, they would be given to the elves, who would hen destroy it as safely as possible. The party agreed to this request, believing it to be the right course, given the evil nature of the artefact. The Elf would be at the north gate at the final midnight of the week for the next two weeks.
Mayor Lasifor Nightpitch was happy to meet with the party, and had already been informed of Vernam's murder, and of their investigation. His witch concubine, Yagaba, blended into the background and listened. He endorsed the party and told them what he knew. It was mostly what they already knew about Gorak's expedition, that they had got the crown from an ancient king's tomb, and of the subsequent deaths and disappearances that seemed linked to the skull. Lasifor stated he did not touch the skull. He also believed that Gorak and Alahara were probably in hiding someone in the town, and it seemed likely they could be behind this. He offered 100 thalor each if the party bought the skull and crown to him. This was at odds with their promise to the Elves. Lasifor was not the first person to mention the rumours, that Gorak and his second in command were lovers.
The party had enough evidence to believe that Gorak and Alahara were the culprits. It seemed possible that the earlier two deaths were caused by someone blighted, hungering for the glands, and that the subsequent ones were done by the other, taking the glands to their lover, and using some form of magic to use the skins of their victims as a disguise. They also had a lot of evidence pointing to them hiding out somewhere around Toad Square, so they headed there as the night drew in.
Wulf and Maddox investigated the first murder scene, and found a blood trail leading to a warehouse district. No-onw there had seen Gorak though. Lanky got some good information of a drunk goblin at a near by dive--he had seen a shadowy figure entering the derelict Blue Moon warehouse, so the party decided to investigate.
As they neared it, they saw three dark figures approaching from another angle. One of them raised a crossbow and asked the parties business. After a tense moment, it was revealed that this was the witch hunter, Baumelo and two of his crew, on the same mission as the party themselves--There had been a fresh murder, but the Flayer had been interrupted, and did not get the new skin. Instead, they had got injured by a town watchman. Baumelo had followed the blood trail to the warehouse. Baulmelo apologised for his lackey's previous behavior, saying that they were too used to the backwards villages they normally operate in. However, Lanky sensed something off about Baumelo, as if he were putting on some sort of false front, or even acting--though he couldn't quite put a finger on it. The two groups decided to join forces, Baumelo and his men to go in through the door, Maddox, Lanky, and Wulf through the back window.
All they could see inside was crates and darkness. They attempted to sneak thorught the open window silently, but Maddox fell in, crashing to the floor. In the middle of the room was some sort of animated corpse, stripped of it's skin. It came at them with a crowbar and chain. Fortunately, it was no match for the party, who quickly dispatched it. Baumelo managed to break the door down and enter, only after the fight ended. There was a bed in the room, with a spellbook on it, containing only Dispel Magic and the ritual Bloodshrouding. Between them, they party realised this was used for guiding oneself with the skin of another.
They then realised the corpse was that of the first skin found on the victims, and unlikely to have been Gerek or Alahara. Moaning was then heard below, and Baumelo started smashing up crates, looking for a way down. They soon found a hidden, ancient spiral stair case down to a basement. The warehouse appeared to have been built on top of some ancient ruin. They headed down.
In the room below, a large man was chained to the wall, the appearence matched that of Gorak, although he was clearly in a well-blighted state, simular to Belun, shortly before his transformation. In front of Gorak was a clearly less blighted Alahara, sobbing and wiping Gorak's face with a cloth, a used spell scroll besides him. He was mumbling something about how he would cure Gorak. The copper crown and skull rested on a pedestal nearby. On seeing the others arrive, Alahara readied two hand-axes and attacked.
Alara proved a formiddable foe. The battle with him was short but intense. He used the necromantic Blight spell on Lanky, almost knocking him out immedieatly, then missed a vampiric touch. Maddox's thunder waves help keep him back. However, a few moments into the fight, a familier scene occurred--A blight creatute burst forth from Gorak's body. Alahara walked straight into it's arms, crying whilst getting torn to pieces, clearly having nothing to live for with Gorak now gone. The fight now raged on against the blight creaure, with Baumelo and one thug helping--the other cowered by the stairs. One thug took a few claws to the chest, and the party flirted with corruption, using their magic, in order to take the beast down.
Eventually they were successful in slaying it, but then was the question of the skull. Everyone in the room could feel some sort of pulling from it, as if it were asking them to do it's bidding. Baumelo demanded that he would take the skull, for the investigation by the Black Cloaks, but Maddox said that the party would be returning it to the elves. Baumelo then raised his crossbow and stated that he wouldn't be leaving without it, and any who stood in their way would die. He ordered one of his lackies to collect the skull with a sack (being careful not to touch it). Whilst Lanky and Maddox were deciding how to proceed, Wulf knocked up an arrow and shot it at the thug, missing, but shouting at Lanky to grab the skull and run to the meeting point agreed with the Elf. With heroic skill, Lanky did just that, dropping his sword and shield, grabbing the Lackey's sack, and sweeping up the skull in one motion. He made it for the stairs, with Baumelo in pursuit. Meanwhile, the two Blackcloak thugs engaged with Maddox and Wulf.
Baumelo managed to get in front of Lanky at the door to the warehouse, so in epic fashion, Lanky ran the other way, up the crate and straight through the window, smashing it to pieces and cutting himself up. However, this gave him enough of a lead of Baumelo to lose him in the town. The skill was safe.
By this point, Maddox was using more and more magic, at risk of being permanently corrupted. They took down one of the thugs, but the other floored Wulf. Maddox had just enough left in him to severely injure the last thug, causing him to flee the scene, whilst Wulf bled out. He was moments from certain death, when Maddox poured a portion of the Water of the Dusk (from SY03. Blight Night, Part II / The Mark of the Beast, Part I) down his throat, healing him. For the second time in a week, Wulf survived near-death.
They re-united with Lanky and went into hiding in their apartment until the meeting time with the Elf. They heard some interesting news in this time, from the paper. The famous witch hunter and Black Cloak, Baumelo had been found, grumsemly murdered along with his crew in a village home 50 miles away, the murders having occurred over a week ago. The drawing of Baumelo was clearly a different person than who they had been dealing with. The village in question was known as a stronghold for a group of cultists; it appeared they had impersonated Baumelo and his men in order to get access to the skull, and they were almost successful in getting it, had it not been for the party. Although the Odako impersonating Baumelo was still at large somewhere...
The skull and crown was returned to the elf at the designated meeting point. He was very grateful, and reiterated that they would be finding the best way to destroy it. It was generally thought by the Elves that the spirit of the long-dead king was trying to find someone to possess, and if the skull was destroyed, it could actually accelerate this process, so they weren't going to do anything rashly. He believed that this occurred in addition to it corrupting anyone who touched it directly. He stated he could even hear it talking to him, attempting to take his body over. He then left, leaving Lanky, Wulf and Maddox to recuperate after a hectic day.