The party were starting to get used to their minor celebrity status after the events of SY08. Are you Afraid of the Dark?, when they received a message from Hurst to meet them at the The Red Boar. They noticed that Gem wasn't around when they got there. Hurst took them to the back room, and explained that they'd finally got something substantial from the scripture's being translated by Marla and Plendel. There was strong evidence to suggest that the ancient capital Symbar was in a specific--albeit large--area far to the north of Davokar. However, further investigation was needed. Hurst had sent his best team, the ranger Taveck needed for the perilous, long journey, Cleric Boyden for the knowledge, healing, and any magic requirements, and Gem for the muscle. Later on, when developments came, the party may be called upon. Maddox found it hard not to voice his displeasure at this decision.
In the meantime, the party would need to undertake more contracts to gain allies and coin, both of which could be crucial for their final mission. Hurst presented them with a note that Edira had brought to him. It was from her sister, another priestess of Prios called Darda. She was from the town of Kastor (about 60 miles to the east, on the edge of the forest). The note had been delivered in a special bottle that only Edira could open, a method they had agreed would only be used when one of them was in danger. Edira was clearly very upset. The note suggested that things had been bad in Kastor since the burnings of sorcerers three years ago. Edira thought maybe Darda lost a friend, but wasn't sure on any more detail. The note went on the mention that things had been getting worse, and that Darda knew who was behind it, and that she was alone, and that she needed help. The party agreed to investigate.
Hurst gave some background on the town. It had been one of the last towns to convert from the religion of The Many to Prios, and that as part of that shift, a number of heretics had been hanged outside the town some ten years ago. He also mentioned an incident with a crypt walker slaughtering hundreds a few years back before it was subdued. They took horses and on the way heard more hearsay from the numerous traders heading to the town. There was a famous bell tower in Kastor, said to protect it. It was last rang to repel barbarians trying to take the land back. In fact, the bell tower had been there before the town was built, when it was still a barbarian settlement. The town had a reputation for bit of a party town, although this was mainly only in certain establishments, such as the Chieftain's Bell Inn, or during the annual carnival. They also learned of The Rusty Dragon inn, which was one of the more classy establishments.
On reaching the town, there were a few things that seemed a bit odd. Firstly, there was smoke rising from the golden domed Sun Temple, and secondly, there was a lot of guards around the gates and within the town; more than would usually be expected for a town of this size. They had no trouble getting in though, but one of the guards told them there had been four murders of council members, including Mayor Selima in the night, but there was nothing to worry about; for the new major had everything under control with increased guard presence for the safety of the town. This immediately struck Wulf as being seeming a bit odd--it seemed very quick for the new guards to have appeared.
Wulf then noticed a couple of interesting things about the guards. Firstly, about half of them had some sort of blue detail, such as a blue ribbon on their clothing, or a blue arm band. They realised that this was the livery of the Blue Company, a mercenary band. That wasn't hard to spot, but Wulf's keen eye's spotted something a lot more subtle. Two of the non-blue guards were doing some sort of strange hand signals to each other, when they thought other guards weren't looking. It was unclear what this meant though.
The party decided to investigate the Sun Temple first; after-all it was where Darda worked as part of her priestess role, and the fact that it was smoking seemed a good reason to check it out first. When they arrived, some townfolk were putting out the last remnants of a fire, which fortunately had only spread to a small section of the building. They helped the locals with water buckets, and then struck a conversation up with the person directing the operation, a middle-aged kindly theurg named Belago. He was still upset because he revealed that one of those reported murdered by the town guard was First Theurg Karstak, and to top it off, Darda was in the temple with him. Belago was clueless as to what had happened, or what Darda's fate was.
He was thankful to the party, as they said they'd investigate, as they were friends of Darda. He told them that she hadn't been the same since Sister Garala's execution due to being exposed as a dark sorceress. Darda was close to Garala and believed she was innocent. Belago was inclined to agree. He mentioned that a dark sorceror cult had been exposed three years ago, and Garala had been exposed as one of them. The town council had cracked down hard on them. He told them that Darda spent a lot of time down in the catacombs with the dead, below the temple, and had been neglecting her studies. He was worried Karstak's death might push her over the edge.
They went inside the temple to investigate, but were beaten on the scene by an important looking guard, who turned out to be Commander Illeva of the town watch. Maddox kept her talking whilst Wulf went to have a look at the charred remains of four bodies on the floor. One body had the robes of a priest, but the others wore leather armour and strange masks. Wulf also noticed stab wounds. None were a woman. It's possible that three were the assassin's who had been killed themselves whilst doing the job.
Illeva seemed worried about the murders. She seemed calm and diligent, but clearly concerned. Maddox convinced her that he was a friend of Darda, and was looking for her to ensure her safety. Illeva was satisfied with that, allowing them to go down into the catacombs to look for her, but not trusting them enough to give any more information. She mentioned she'd be at the garrison at the far end of town if they had anything else to report. She left, with her guards taking the bodies. She did mention that the other two deceased were Mullando the head of sanitation; although no body had been found -- and Ardetta, the Treasurer.
Down in the catacombs, there was no sign of anyone, but they found a set of footprints going to a dark and dusty corner. Maddox moved a candle and a hidden door slid open. Wulf--with the help of his 3rd wolf--tracked them through winding underground passage ways, to a strange underground room. Peeping through, it looked like a church with people worshipping, and one woman dressed like a priestess. Lanky recognised a symbol of The Many. It seemed this was a secret church to the many, They decided to confront the people.
As the part came out into the open, the worshippers were scared, and the priestess drew knives, threatening them. They revealed the letter from Edira and said they were friends. The woman put her knives away, and revealed herself as Darda. She was very relieved that help had come. She then gave her side of the story. Assassin's had come to kill Karstak, and after him they turned to her. She managed to slay three of them, but the final two fled, sending fire magic at the temple, and she was forced down to the catacombs. She didn't know of the other three murders, and was shocked to learn of these,
She said that three years prior, her friend, Sister Garola had been framed and executed along with guilty members of the Spawn of Symbar, a dark sorcerer cult who had been slowly infiltrating the town's elite. Garala had previously told Darda that she had discovered a separate monster-worshipping cult, who also had power in the council and guards, but had yet to discover who their leader was. Darda believed that this is why she was framed, and believed the mystic, Kagliostro was the guilty party.
Kagliostro was the representative of Ordo Magica on the town council, an Adept in the order. It was he who had brought forward the falsified evidence. Darda claimed that Illeva and Belagio, and another mystic named Purgida were all party to this information and would be willing to testify against him. She claimed that Kagliostro must be the leader of this monster cult, and must be responsible for the murders of the previous night, in order to consolidate power on the council, though she didn't know what his next move must be. She also mentioned the new mayor had been appointed with the help of Kagliostro--the council member Grendol. As those two and Illeva were the only ones left alive on the council, they assumed that one of them must be guilty, and Maddox got the sense that Illeva was an honest and decent person. They agreed to help Darda by investigating the town hall, where Kagliostro and Grendol were currently. She offered her help, should they needed, but she would stay in hiding for now.
They left the secret church via the sewers. They reported into Illeva at the garrison next. Illeva was pleased at the news of Darda being alive, and was much more trusting of the party. They gave her the theory of the monster cult and this sparked something in Illeva's memory. She told the story of the history of the town, from a little over one hundred years ago. It was the story of a barbarian king who defeated an ancient lindworm with his magical axe, by ringing the bell. The lindworm was said to have been sealed away magically in an old mine. Illeva believed it was possible that this was the target of Kagliostro--to awaken to lindworm. It all clicked into place for her. She indeed had seen Kagliostro present the evidence, and admitted it could easily have been faked against Garala. She expressed regret at this.
She realised that over the last three years, Kagliostro had been slowly accumulating more and more power. It was him who had convinced the old mayor to bring in the Blue Company recently--and on top of that a mercenary unit of golbins, Harabassas' Marauders. She was angry at herself for not noticing this sooner. She said she would be willing to use her half of the town guard in any battle that could occur in order to defeat Kagliostro. Illeva also realised that a number of newer guards in her pay must have been planted cultists as well, and that would explain the hand signals.
She also showed them the corpse from one of the other murders. It was not Ardetta the treasurer, but actually someone who won Ardetta's hat in a card game. A case of mistaken identity. Ardetta must still be in hiding.
The party agreed to go investigate town hall before taking any more action. As they left the garrison, they then noticed something odd about the bell tower. It had a very heavy presence of the Blue Company guards. They appeared to use it as a head-quarters, but also had it heavily guarded. Maddox misty stepped in to have a look, and found guards sleeping inside. There was a rota for guard duty, with notes to keep the bell protected at all costs. This fit in with Darda's monster cult theory: if the bell could be used to protect the town, then the cult would want to keep it out of reach if they were trying to awaken some ancient monster. Maddox then stole a uniform and got out of there. They also noticed that the house of the dwarf family who normally looked after the bell was trashed and empty.
Suddenly, the party heard shouts. A group of blue company sell swords were walking towards them from the town hall, shouting that they had arrest warrants and that no-one was to stand in their way. One was for Ardetta, one for Illeva, and one for "a group of strangers in town--two humans and an ogre" -- clearly them. They ran away back to the garrison, as the guards gave chase, but the party managed to get inside. They told Illeva what had transpired, and she decided it was time to muster her forces and charge on town hall. Lanky was happy at the thought of some action.
Illeva quickly gathered her loyal guard inside the garrison and charged out on the half dozen with arrest warrants, slaughtering them. They then marched on town hall. When they got there, the doors were open and it was strangely quiet outside. They went in anyway, and were confronted with a large number of guards/cultists and goblin mercanaries. A huge battle ensued, with the party taking about ten enemies in their portion of the battle. They were also confronted by the undead Grendol--who it appeared had been killed and reanimated by Kagliostro. Grendol had a sword through his head, and attempted to headbutt and bite his enemies.
Lanky tore through cultists after cultists, Wulf killed many with bow and with sword. Maddox went straight to Grendol, getting himself in a bit of a pickle. Just as the battle looked won, a huge ogre was called in by the goblins, and dealt some serious pain to Maddox. Lanky came to save the day, destroying the hulking ogre in a matter of seconds. Eventually, the battle was won.
Illeva was excited to have some real action for the first time in a long time. Her forces had captured a cultist alive, and interrogated him. He said that they were too late; Kagliostro had found the location of the mine, had the chieftains axe, and was on his way to free the lindworm--they were too late. He didn't know exactly who gave him the location, but said it must have been one of the prisoners down in the basement. The party would go down there next to see who was imprisoned.
Then they would need to make a decision. Stay in town and wait for Kagliostro to come back, potentially using the bell to defeat him? Or give chase and attempt to stop him using a ritual to control the ancient lindworm?