After a well earned rest, the party were once more summoned by Hurst. Though he wasn't expecting to hear from Taveck, Gem, and Cleric Boyden for some time yet, he still couldn't hide his worry as to their wellbeing. After the last mission, Hurst offered the party a simpler one this time. With Taveck far from the border, a green Returners, Marlow was in charge of bringing new recruits through the border control into Ambria at Prios Pass. Without Taveck's contacts or experience, Marlow had been having trouble getting the new recruit in, and was currently stuck in the refugee camp south of Prios Pass. The party's mission was to rendezvous with them and get them back into Ambria, through any (peaceful) means possible--be it bribery, sneaking in, persuasion etc.
On leaving Thistle Hold they noticed more activity than usual. On talking to travellers on the road, it appeared there were many rumours on the location of Symbar; it appeared the Returners were not the only ones who had gotten hold of this information. It took eight or nine days to get there by horse, and the journey was uneventful. As they neared Prios Pass they heard a few more rumours. Some clergy members seemed excited by a large caravan that was soon expected, though they kept there mouths shut when questioned further. The party also got some information on the main places in the town, such as inns, taverns, and other areas of interest.
Entering from the north into the main town, it did seem very busy, and the rangers stationed there (the main border guard) mentioned a large caravan had just arrived. In fact, the gate to the bridge to the refugee camp was shut, and the party were informed it would not be opened again until the caravan had passed all safety vetting--and that could be a few hours. They would need to find an inn. When the gate opened, there would be three tolls of the gatehouse bell. The rumour going round the town was that the caravan held some sort of political prisoner, being transported from Alberator.
The party went to the The Queen's Threshold, the largest in in town. It was so busy that they ended up sharing a table with a middle-aged, plain looking man in simple robes, who introduced himself as Huberdo, a notary from Yndaros, there on the business of his master, Lord Manslem. He made some small talk about the weather. Maddox thought he seemed like a good guy, but Wulf was sure the man was lying about almost everything he said. Huberdo then retired to his rooms.
A woman then started screaming for silence, and to everyone's shock, the bell was ringing--not three times, but continuously and frantically. Everyone in the inn was confused; this had never happened before. Whilst Lanky and Maddox went outside to investigate, Wulf headed to the stairs to check on Huberdo, narrowly missing running into him as he came bounding back down the stairs.
Wulf followed him to the gate, where he just stood around in a non-suspicious way, and met up with the other two there. There were several rangers maintaining order, including a lieutenant. One of them stated that an abomination had somehow come in with the caravan, and was running riot in the camp. Screams could be heard from across the river. Maddox asked about going across to help the rangers, but the lieutenant was having none of it. He then played on her conscience, saying that it would potential save lives, so she decided to let them through. The gate would not be opened, so they had to abseil down the town walls to get the the bridge.
Across the bridge in the refugee camp, it was indeed carnage. They arrived in time to witness two ranger captains finally putting the abomination down, though several bodies were strewn about. Before they had chance to do anything else, more screams came from the direction of the soup kitchen. Heading over there with the rangers, they saw about a dozen more terrifying abominations attacking the helpless people of the camp. The party got into a battle against four such horrors. The fight was vicious, with the abominations going into a berserk rage. One civilian was killed before the party could save them. Wulf, Maddox, and Lanky all did some serious damage though, and managed to prevail, saving three innocents, including a mother and child.
With the party's help, the ranges had prevailed, though now twenty or more bodies littered the floor, and twice as many were wounded. The main ranger captain, Egusta said that she had seen regular people turning into these creatures before her eyes, and that nothing like this had ever happened there before. People did not turn into abominations en-masse unless something intentional had triggered it. There was foul play at work. She trusted the party after their show of prowess, and said she would appreciate it if the party could investigate it for her.
They spoke to the mother that they had saved, asking where they might find Marlow. She knew him and where he was camping but then saw a ginger haired body on the floor. It was Marlow, and next to him was his friend who he had shared a tent with--the new Returner. He appeared dead, but then made a noise--his dying words "Beware! It is her! I saw her. Shackled. The darkness enchained..." The party's initial mission was a failure, but they decided to do Egusta's bidding and investigate for her.
As the mother was walking away, she appeared to be under the influence of some sort of drug. In fact, Lanky noticed half the people around had a weird manner to how they were walking, and the look in their eyes. After talking to a few people, Wulf and Lanky realised all the strange acting people had eaten soup from the kitchen an hour or so before. At the same time, Maddox noticed a pavilion was on fire.
The party split three ways--Maddox to the pavilion, Wulf to the soup tent, and Lanky to the clergy chapel to investigate what drug could cause this.
Lanky made an unlikely friend with a Theurg there, and the man revealed that there was indeed a berry, the Krusean Berry, that could cause this effect, and too much of it could cause corruption. It even grew near by. He had a store, but on inspection, found a large amount of it had been stolen. This appeared to be the cause--that the berries had poisoned the soup.
Wulf ran into the soup kitchen, throwing an accusation at the head chef, an elderly woman, who lead the cooking team along with a number of young goblins (something she was not happy about). She took offence at Wulf's stories of poison, and when she got angry, he punched her. She then hit him with a ladle, and it had to be broken up by a nearby ranger. She denied any wrong doing, but then glanced at two sheepish looking goblin youngsters. They legged it out of the tent, but ran into Lanky as he walked in, who apprehended them whilst shouting about the soup being poisoned. They admit foul play, but said a "bearded man in dark leather armour" had put them up to it, and said it would be a funny joke, like itching powder. The description matched no-one the party had seen.
Meanwhile, Maddox went to the pavilion he had seen on fire, but it had just been put out. Without asking any questions to any of the nearby people, he went straight in to investigate. He found the following:
- Chains on the floor that looked as if they had held a person. On Lanky's later arrival, he identified them as using some powerful magic
- Two dead bodies, both Black Cloaks, who had been killed by a sword.
- At the north entrance, a necklace with an image of "dead Prios". This was the symbol of the Fallen Templars, something the party knew between them. An organisation of ex-Prios knights who now believed Prios was dead, and seek vengeance on all non-believers of Prios. In other words, an extreme sect of the church, shunned by the Curia. There was also a blood trail leading out here.
- By the south entrance, the trail of two sets of footprints, dragging a third person out.
After much discussion about what could have occurred, Captain Egusta turned up. She admitted that the pavilion had contained a very important political prisoner, the High Priestess of the Earthmother, Elsana. She had been held captive by the Church of Prios since she refused to convert to Prios. The Curia did not want to make a martyr of her, and so gave her chance to repent once a year. She was finally being moved to the capital. Egusta said there had been four Black Cloaks transporting her, so the fact that there were now only two meant the other two may have fled for some reason-- be it the obvious battle that had occurred, or the abominations spawning. She also mentioned that there would be many parties interested in liberating her, for various reasons. Egusta was desperate for help--this had happened on her watch--and offered 100 thaler each if the party could:
- A. Find out who spiked the soup, and
- B. Bring Elsana back to safety--she believed the use of the berries to spawn abominations was a ploy to get the Black Cloaks to flee towards the safety of Monastery of the Twilight Friars with Elsana, and that they were now in danger out in the wild i.e. it was a trap.
The party first followed the blood trail, which led to another tent. Wulf attempted to listen in but fell through the door. Inside were four heavily injured knights, in no mood for a fight. It was easy enough to get them to talk. They were on a mission to kill the heretic Elsana in the name of Prios, but on arriving at the tent, she had already departed with two of the Black Cloaks. In a rage, they killed the other two and set the place on fire. They seemed truthful enough. They had no idea who had poisoned the soup. They asked the party to kill Elsana for them.
On their way back to the pavilion, they were met by Huberdo from the inn. He revealed he wasn't a notary after all. Rather, he worked for the Reformists, ledd by Father Sarvola, an organisation attempting to reform the church, hoping to reinstate some of Prios' former meaning and duties, and perhaps bring back some of the other deities. He said that whilst they didn't have official support from the queen, she hadn't condemned them either, and had even let slip about the caravan to them. He believed Elsana could be convinced to join the Reformists, and had had a plan to kidnap her with his team when she got to Yndaros. Clearly that plan had failed. He now begged the party for their help convincing Elsana to join his cause. He also had no clue about the soup.
They lost the tracks heading south from the pavilion at the south gate of the camp, but a two young children appeared to have seen the black cloaks leave town with the prisoner and this gave them further directions south east out of town, towards the mountains, where they found fresh tracks. They summarised the following. There are four factions at play:
- The Curia & Black Cloaks - who were transporting the heretic to Yndaros. Upon hearing the chaos of the abominations, two of them fled with the prisoner.
- The Fallen Templars - who attempted to assassinate the heretic, but she was already gone. They killed the other to Black Cloaks
- The Reformists - with Brother Huberdo working in Prios Pass - who hoped to take the heretic at Yndaros, and eventually convert her to their cause, ultimately freeing her.
- An unknown faction or person who poisoned the soup, who may know be attempting to attack / take the heretic somewhere on the road to Twilight Friars. Their motive is unknown.