February 18, 118
Having struck a deal with Leravith, the party decide to head back to Ash-Daughter's hiding place in the Undercity and plan their next move. The tiefling leads them back through the winding corridors of the Undercity, and eventually they find themselves back at the hiding place's entrance. However, before they open the door and step through, Kaplan spots a trickle of blood running under the doorway.
They stop to listen at the door, but hear nothing. Elvish cautiously opens it, and inside he sees three corpses. One, right next to the door, is a cleric of Vorn, while the other two, a bit farther away, seem to be guards or soldiers of some kind.
A quick inspection of the hiding place reveals nothing else out of the ordinary, and no living people hiding in wait for them. They investigate the bodies as well as they can in order to try to determine what happened.
They deduce that the guards and the cleric fought, as the cleric has wounds from the guards' swords and the guards have wounds from the cleric's mace. It seems the cleric fought and killed the guards, but then succumbed to his wounds. The guards bear the insignia of Prelate Gorith, while the cleric has no particular identifying marks. He does, however, have a rolled-up scroll.
Dark Star takes the scroll, and upon unrolling it he discovers that it contains a short message preceding instructions for a magical ritual. The message is addressed to Kaplan, so Dark Star passes it to him. There is no signature or other clue regarding who wrote it, but the writer indicates that they are not necessarily displeased with Kaplan's killing of the Archprelate, and in fact wish to hire him. The message claims that Kaplan's escape from Gorith's men's custody has been a serious setback to the Prelate's chances of becomes Archprelate, and that he will spare no expense in tracking Kaplan down. In return for Kaplan's services, the writer offers to provide Kaplan with protection from Gorith's men.
Ellyanna studies the ritual underneath, which is some sort of spell of communication apparently intended to contact the writer of the scroll. The party decide that Ellyanna should study it thoroughly before they consider using it, since they need to know exactly what the spell does.
Discussing the implications of this, Ash-Daughter points out that she's most concerned about how these three people found her hiding place, as she never revealed it to anyone. No one is able to give a clear answer, and the possibility that someone is using magic to track them is brought up.
The party decide to head back up to the city, leaving Ellyanna behind to study the scroll and leaving Kaplan behind because it's too dangerous for him to go up. Dark Star and Elvish head to Demon's Gift's occult shop to respond to his message from the morning, while Calanon and Grrrr Yip head to the markets to sell their accumulated treasure. Ash-Daughter waits at the entrance to the Undercity to guide them back.
It's nearing nightfall as Dark Star and Elvish reach the shop, arriving just before Demon's Gift closes it up. He tells them that he was visited by an elf, hiding his face beneath a hood, who was asking about Zargon. When he told the elf that he had recently sold his only tome containing information about Zargon to someone else, the elf asked to arrange a meeting with this person. Not wanting to give out Dark Star's personal information, he asked the elf to leave some contact information then magically contacted Dark Star.
Demon's Gift tells Dark Star and Elvish that the elf is staying at the Evening Shade Tavern and Inn, located nearby. They head there immediately, and a bit of coin persuades the innkeeper to call down the elf to meet them.
The elf, after identifying Dark Star as the person who bought the book from Demon's Gift, invites the two adventurers up to his room. There, he introduces himself as Vaelac. Removing his hood, they see that he is a White Elf from up north. He explains that, until recently, he was the shaman for his tribe, but about two months ago, he began experiencing strange dreams and visions. Eventually, he grew to understand that the visions were from a being called Zargon, and that it was commanding him to free it (from what, he is not sure).
Along with the visions, he began to develop strange powers, similar to those possessed by Dark Star, and eventually this was noticed by his tribe. He was forced out, and decided to come to Vornheim to see if he could learn more about Zargon and find anyone else who had experienced the same things. While Dark Star had a broadly similar experience, he never had any sort of dreams or visions, instead learning of Zargon through a book he found. Vaelac tells Dark Star that he hasn't had any visions since coming down to Vornheim.
Knowing that the White Elves live to the north, and that the undead army went somewhere northeast from Frosthaven, Dark Star and Elvish ask Vaelac if he saw any unusual activity before leaving his tribe. Vaelac relates that he did see a mysterious, black-robed figure visit the tribe's chief shortly before he was driven out, but he was not party to the meeting and does not know who the figure was or what he wanted.
Vaelac tries to convince Dark Star to sell or lend him the book, but Dark Star is adamant that he wants to study it himself. The only concession that Vaelac manages to wring out of Dark Star is that the half-orc will report in to Vaelac if he discovers anything of use.
Their business concluded, the party members meet up with Ash-Daughter and she guides them back to her hiding place. There, Ellyanna has finished studying the scroll. It does indeed seem to be a spell of communication, and she cannot detect any harmful magic woven into it - it seems to do what the message claims it should. Regardless, the party decide not to risk using the scroll for now. Instead, they settle in to rest for the night, setting a watch in case the hiding place is attacked again.
February 19, 118
The next morning, the party split up once again. Kaplan stays back in hiding place for his own safety, and Ellyanna stays as well so that he isn't alone. Calanon and Elvish head into the city and try to find Aralakk, the priest who met with Calanon while he in jail, to learn more about the various prelates from him. Dark Star and Grrrr Yip head into the city to investigate their various options for retrieving the bed and an undead sample from Frosthaven for Leravith. Finally, Ash-Daughter acts as a guide back to the city once again, then waits at the Undercity entrance for everyone to return.
It takes a great deal of searching for Calanon and Elvish to track Aralakk down, but eventually they find the mid-sized temple where he is head priest, and he agrees to speak with them in private. They request a run-down on the prelates of Vorn, which he provides. He tells them of the five prelates:
- Prelate Severn heads up the Inquisition of Vorn, whose task it is to monitor the clergy and keep them in line. All of his agents are secret and ostensibly serve under one of the other prelates. He does not seek to become Archprelate, as he feels he is too young and is not ready. Aralakk is an agent of Severn.
- Prelate Gorith is in charge of all temples of Vorn outside of Vornheim itself. He is also in charge of the outer gates of Vornheim, and it's his men who have been pursuing the party. Aralakk tells them that he has a reputation for being ruthless and cruel. He seeks to become Archprelate, but currently has the support of none of the other prelates.
- Prelate Eljarn commands the military wing of the church of Vorn, including its paladins and crusading clerics. He currently supports the bid of Prelate Thaalia to become Archprelate, but Aralakk tells them that rumours say that he actually wants the position for himself and could change his allegiance if he thought he had a chance.
- Prelatess Sahril is the Loremaster of Vorn, in charge of relics, rituals, and research. She is in charge of the various religious scholars who study the nature of Vorn, and set and updates the rituals used in religious services. She does not publicly support any of the other prelates, and Aralakk doesn't know much about her ambitions or loyalties.
- Prelatess Thaalia is in charge of the temples of Vorn inside Vornheim itself, and therefore has the most influence inside the city. She was the runner-up in the last election for Archprelate, and feels that she is clearly the best choice to rule. She is also the only prelate who currently has the support of another prelate; if she can secure the support of one more, she will most likely win the election.
After discussing the various prelates, Calanon and Elvish eventually decide that they'd most like to speak with Sahril, as she seems most likely to know something about the undead threat they faced in Frosthaven. Aralakk tells them he'll attempt to get in contact with one of her sub-prelates. In order for him to be able to contact the party, Calanon decides to stay at the temple.
Meanwhile, Dark Star and Grrrr Yip are considering how they will hold up their end of the bargain with Leravith. A trip to Frosthaven and back in winter conditions will take nearly three weeks, which is time they don't necessarily have. They investigate several possible solutions, before realizing that they already know a way to instantly contact Duskveil - through the same magic that Demon's Gift used to contact them.
At Demon's Gift's shop, they ask him about the spell, and he tells them that it will indeed work over any distance, but the caster (in this case, Demon's Gift himself) must be personally familiar with the recipient. It turns out they're in luck - Demon's Gift does have an acquaintance in Duskveil who he can contact. The spell is limited to 25 words, so after paying him a 90-gold fee, Dark Star and Grrrr Yip compose the following message:
"Tell mayor - urgent: send soldiers to Frosthaven crypt through coffin staircase, bring many undead and the bed to Salty Locust, Vornheim - Elvish Parsley, reply immediately"
The "Salty Locust" in the message is the Salty Locust inn, a small establishment that is located on the very outskirts of Vornheim, which they feel will make an ideal meeting place. Demon's Gift receives a one word response - "okay".
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