Having struck a deal with Lord Velfarryn to cure both Iata and his family members in exchange for the Vizier card, the party meets the Eladrin lord at his camp at dawn. Together, they cross into the Feywild, where they find he has prepared for them to travel in style: on Wyvern back. At first all is well, but a strange psychic presence midflight seems to take over the minds of the six curse victims the party set out to cure. Iata, Analastara, the elder Lord Velfarryn, and his three attendant nights go mad suddenly and attack the party. They are defeated, but not before taking down the Wyverns, one of which crashes some ways apart from the party, leaving many of their curse victims stranded.

Adric summons an elemental disk to transport their wounded wyvern, and the party sets out on foot in search of their missing members. They are slowed by a river crossing, but some quick work on the part of Vic and UI quickly sets up a rope system to get everyone safely across. Mara, Lenore, and Iata are riding across on the back of the disk when it suddenly stops in the center of the river and the cataclysmic dragon Oyevic rises to demand payment for their crossing. At Vic’s suggestion, the party engages the dragon in a game of riddles for their passage. Irontron’s gives a poorly-crafted riddle that the dragon scornfully answers, while Vic presents the dragon with a riddle that relies on a pun in common that the dragon deems invalid once translated into Draconic. Mara’s riddle of the Jacinth is quickly guessed by the dragon, but Oyevic is sufficiently charmed by her excellent Draconic and clever riddle as to allow the group to pass…on the condition that Mara come to see him again before she leaves the Feywild.

Safely across the river, the party finally manages to find their missing members. Vic moves ahead of the party to scout, and follows Eric Blacktree to find him at the very beginning of his quest for the comet. At this moment the party is suddenly haunted by the sound of carnival music, which once again takes over the minds of our poor cursed knights. A cataclysm begins to wrack the ridge where Blacktree was working, and a giant Femori emerges from the ground. Vic and Mara attempt to flee, and thanks to Vic’s cleverness Mara is saved from her own clumsiness. Adric, meanwhile, sets up a carefully protected space where he observes the events and takes notes, while Irontron and Aram have a fight.

The party camps for the night in the woods, and then makes their way to the Velfarryn estate, which they find besieged by three armies, including Amalia’s. Velfarryn wants to send his wyverns, which are in heat, into the center of the armies to cause chaos, but Mara – fearing for Amalia’s safety and political fortunes – convinces him to hatch a plan framing his neighboring house for the corruption that he has been accused of. The party makes their way through underground caverns that have been sealed for centuries. Upon learning that the portal relies on the healing waters of Oyevic’s river, Mara decides to contact the dragon to ask his permission before conducting the ritual, and so sets out into the caverns to hunt down an owlbear and its chicks to present as tribute to the dragon. Mara pleases the dragon with another riddle, and receives not only permission to perform the ritual but the agreement of the dragon to wash the corruption from the ritual up onto the shores of the three rivers army.

The party meets up with the vizier to make their way to the ritual site, and on the way meets the drow Corgi who asks for their assistance in finding their way out. Unbeknownst to the party, Corgi is serving as a spy for Amalia, sent to make sure that the party doesn’t ruin anything. The party encounters a cyclops, which Mara turns to stone and drains. Only Irontron witnesses her kill, and credit is given to him for the fight rather than explaining Mara’s vampirism to Corgi and the bystanders.

Once in the ritual chamber, the Vizier informs the party that he plans to sacrifice the knights and lord to the Femori to preserve a pact to keep the Velfarryn estate neutral in the wars against the underground giants. The party doesn’t like this plan, and instead decides to sacrifice the Vizier. Adric prepares to ensnare the Vizier and his acolytes in the ritual while Aram holds off the Vizier’s attacking ghouls. Victara, however, comes up with a better plan, and makes a deal with the Archfey Carrion King to free him in exchange for his purification. Using her shard of cataclysmic transformation, she breaks the seal on the river and allows a flood of water to come through, cleansing Iata, Analastara, the Lord Velfarryn, and his knights of their corruption. Everyone survives except the Vizier, who killed himself in an attempt to finish the ritual in time.

Negotiations with Lord Tanlin, Bakrosh, and Content Not Found: berrain-2 concluded, our heroes set forth for Winterfell, Orc and Eladrin emissaries in tow. They transit Dol’Urr’s exciting psychogeography, avoiding the haunted shack’s micro-dimension, and are admitted to Winterfell’s Holdfast.

They meet Lord Padraig, and tell him of the diplomatic “solution” which they have negotiated. Padraid listens thoughtfully, but Sister Lenara is unimpressed. Lord Padraig says that he will call upon our heroes for further counsel that evening and make his decision shortly thereafter.

Vic, Mara, and Adrik visit with Valthrun, who is a serious wizard, with a tower, and a hat, and everything. They trade for some magic items and components. Then Adrik and Mara agree to work with Valthrun to decode the templar letter using the Winterbole Codex, later that evening.

Irontron makes friends with the locals in the town square, and eventually a smallish skyship arrives nearby, exchanges messages with Padraig, and lands. Vic notices Content Not Found: Mathis’ slaving import/export business, and observes Mathis and a dozen mercenaries disembark.

Vic, Adrik, and Irontron all end up in the tavern, where they happen upon the Other Adventuring Party. Irontron unsuccesfully tries to start a psychic conversation with their drow rogue, before turning to other matters. Vic buys them a round, and trades tales about the Abbey, whereupon they decide to offer her an interview opportunity if she comes with them back to Gloomwrought in Mathis’ skyship.

Meanwhile, over a pint of ale which could not possibly have been strong enough, local elf huntress Lenara proposes to Adrik that they pass to the Prime and divest Lord Tanlin of the funds which he uses to page the House Therask mercenaries.

Later that evening, in their quarters at Padraig’s, the party identifies and rempoves various magical scrying devices in their room, placing them in Adrik’s bag. The party hatches a plan to put Oakley in command of the abbey, repel the Vol’Rukoth army, and assuage the religious persecution in Winterhaven. When Adrik goes to fetch Lenara, he discovers a chamber-maid dead in the adjoning room: she had been attempting to spy upon them, but instead saw the contents of Adrik’s bag… and her head exploded. Guards are summoned to remove the body.

Lenara is brought in, and paints the party a picture of the heist she has in mind. The party agrees to pursue this plan after they have tied up a few loose ends. They head to Padraig to provide counsel in his challenging decision.

Once there, he demands the cards, which the party of course refuses to give him. They are ambushed by the rival adventuring party, who are handily defeated, and the party and Lenora skip town on Mathis’s air ship.

Victara then threw Mathis overboard, because she could.

Our heroes approach the guardhouse and have a conversation with Bakrosh’s brother, and his associate, Tree. Irontron is convinced that Tree is himself from the future. Adrik deduces that we can enter the tower by touching a card to its exterior semi-real shell. Vic uses the Key card to open a portal into the world of madness within the tower and seals the portal behind them.

The interior is a pulsing mass off goo, cloven by a narrow chasm, bridged by the giant versions of Knight and Eurale cards. The Star card makes the door out, high on the far wall. Content Not Found: Irontron talks with the card bridge, and eventually some of the party walks across the bridge. When the party is optimally separated, the bridge is revealed to be a pair of dire mimics. The mimics attack, accompanied by a black pudding and some of its spawnlings! The party holds their own against its gooey, pulsating foes, before grabbing floating blobs of goop and escaping skywards.

Floating throught the doorway, our heroes are exposed to a realm of pure madness. They use a veriety of approaches to attempt to avoid the realm’s corrupting influence, with some success. Analastara Velfarren and Iata are touched by pure madness and chaos, irreperably corrupted. Who knows what it may take to make them whole again?

From this realm of xaos, our heroes emerge into the top floor of the tower, dominated by a giant balista which could be used as a siege weapon against Winterhaven or the abbey. The tower is inhabited by a beholder, corrupted by the order of this realm. Adrik observes that the entire tower was a trap meant to ensnare the beholder. The beholder wants to escape and ravage the mortal realm.

The party is having none of it. They execute a textbook tactical assault and dispatch the Beholder with the efficiency of a well-practiced team, recovering three cards. The death of the beholder undoes the trap, returning the tower from the realm of madness to the real world, and reuniting its inside with its outside, and the rest of Dol’Urh. While searching the tower, Vic notices the dracolich emissary from the Tiefling army scortching some land near Winterhaven with necrotic flame, while a Tiefling column approaches through the wastelands to the East, a week away, perhaps more.

The team clears the tower and turn it over to Bakrosh’s personell. The party trades sending stones and goes opposite ways: Mara accompanies the deformed Analastara Velfarren and her ancient, corrupted ancestor back to Lord Velfarren, and Adrik leads the other two corruptid Silver Flame knights behind them. Vic and Content Not Found: Irontron head to Bakrosh.

Mara engages Lord Velfarren in heated discussion about the nature of their accord. Lord Velfarren is impressed with Analastara Velfarren‘s performance, but ashamed of her chaotic transformation. They agree that our heroes will accompany Lord Velfarren to Thelanis and cleanse Iata and Analastara before treating Lord Velfarren’s ancestor, and eventually giving Mara the Vizier card.

Meanwhile, Vic and Content Not Found: Irontron return to Bakrosh’s tent, and meet his patron, Lord Tanlan a Brelish noble and member of the Aurum Accord. Bakrosh gives Irontron the Fool card, as agreed, and offers Vic his other card if our heroes can secure the gatehouse, and turn it over to House Tharask custody. Vic introduces herself to Lord Tanlin, and they get along as only a pair of ambitious and efficient fixers can.

A cordial negotiation ensues, mediated by the sending stones. Our heroes broker an agreement between the assembled parties. House Tharask will cease dumping their industrial refuse into the water, and bring in industrial equipment from the Prime to allow them to dump their slurry into the wasteland to the East. The Eladrin will hold their forest securely, preventing interlopers from interfering with House Tharask or Winterhaven. An Eladrin observer will have to be present in the Abbey grounds to ensure that the the terms are followed. Lord Padraig, however, will have to have provide Winderhaven’s agricultural surplus to House Tharask, so our heroes set off to Winterhaven to secure this final part of the accord.

Mara spends her morning in the Eladrin camp, learning from the local hunters that the Eladrin would not look kindly on the party killing the Owlbears that currently nest in the old Groundskeeper’s cottage. Fearing that the rest of the party will be quick to violence, Mara comes up with her own plan to scare off the Owlbears by using their inherent wariness of Displacer beasts. She picks up some tips on how to skin a displacer beast from the Eladrin, and heads to the bell tower with Iata, Oakley, and Analastra to get to work. Together the four successfully skin a displacer beast, extract the scent glands, and frighten the Owlbears off for long enough for Mara to find a book that will establish the Eladrin’s claim to the land.

Lord Berrian Velfarren discovered upon reading this book that his father had indeed been here, but needed more information on the matter before approaching Padraig about a potential alliance. His father was known to visit the autumn nymphs at the whispering grove, but for an Eladrin lord or his men to visit them would be unseemly, and so Mara once again visited them. At the Autumn nymph’s pond, Mara traded secrets with the nymphs and learned that Lord Velfarren’s father was trapped inside the guard tower.

Upon hearing this, Berrian Velfarren gave the Vizier card to his sister, Analastara, and coldly told her that if she was so keen to prove herself she would enter the tower and find their father, sending his own sister on what is almost certainly a suicide mission.

The party manages to broker a peace with a rival band of adventurers. Vic and Rabite leave them a few minutes of alone-time in the Inner Sanctum, and then the party settles in for the night. Oakley, unfortunately, can’t yet complete the ritual to cleanse the temple: he’s not only missing several components, but claims that there must be a necromancer somewhere on their floor interfering with the ritual. Vic, Rabite, and Oakley head off to the great hall in search of this taint, and indeed find not only their necromancer, but Mara’s corpse. She’s been strapped down on an operating table, and seems to be alive and well enough to convince the party not to attack Vadin, who she says raised her. From Vadin they learn that the Codex is locked in the vault, and that only a sanctified templar can retrieve it. Vic takes a moment to speak with a stone guardian and learns that the codex is spreading the crystal plague, and that Vadin posesses a card from the deck. The party decides to delve deeper, heading down through the secret passage in the Inner Sanctum towards the vault. When they enter the outer vault, they find a young red dragon giving orders to his kobold slaves. The party waits until the dragon is asleep and lures a few kobolds outside with a few words in Draconic by Mara (who seems to speak Draconic fluently now, for no apparent reason). A battle ensues, in which Mara is shockingly useful, Irontron manages to climb into the Dragon’s maw and blow him up from the inside out, and in which Vic connives to aquire no fewer than three cards from the deck off the corpse of the Dragon. Rabite prepares to flee as soon as the Dragon is dead, only to see an army bearing down on them. In one last moment of glory and vengeance, Rabite surrenders himself wholly to the Flames card, becoming the embodiment of flame and destroying the army of warforged that approaches from the surface. As the flames subside, the vault cracks open, and Oakly runs forward to grab the Codex before the invading army can.

The party decided it was beneficial to drive the orc miners needed to be removed from the encampment.

Approaching Lord Berrian Velfarren for his assistance – he said that he would be willing to, if he was confident of victory, it was not worth risking his forces (which could not be easily replaced) to antagonize the orcs otherwise. To do so, he wanted additional forces from win Winterhaven.

Going to the Watchtower overlooking the vale (a prime strategic location]] the party found that it had the addition of a very large tree – with metal embedded in it, shamanic lanterns, and House Tharask Banners draped on it. While a monkey slept / meditated in front, a half-orc shaman danced around the roots of the tree. Scouting, the party determined that the watchtower was definitely a site of aberrant magic, which presented a visual ‘skin’ of appearing the same as the moment of the change, but presented no immediate means of ingress.

Speaking to the shaman – Garan – they learn that he is a relative of Bakrosh, who heard about this anomaly through his family (who isn’t helping him much). He suspects it’s related to some magical artifact of chaos nearby, but hasn’t tracked it down yet. The party asked permission to enter the tower and recover the artifacts – but he said he wasn’t comfortable they would actually use the artifact to reduce the corruption in the area, since they seemed to be the typical group of adventurers: murderous vagabonds pillaging their way through the countryside. Finding no argument against that assertion and not wanting to take on the man, the party departed. But not before Fax Fortuna hugged the tree, which – as relayed by Garan – seemed to find something familiar to the party.

They then decided to approach the Gardmore Abbey Temple. Approaching the back way, through the Feygrove and past the belltower, they found their way to the central plaza – where Ser Oakley was praying, in preparation to enter the Temple and begin a right of purification… the quest for which he had traveled from Gloomwrought to accomplish. Determining that they had sufficiently common purpose to travel together, he joined the party as they prepared to enter the ruins.

In the main hall, they encountered several harpies – who had apparently taken upon themselves the role of priestesses of the Silver Flame. They managed to, somehow, activate / summon several of the Temple Guardians – three angels of vengeance and the ghost of an armored Knight. The party defeated them, while Oakley began his prayers. Unfortunately, the temple was far more corrupted than he had originally known – he only managed to purify the temple pool (which granted the players a small blessing).

In the altar, Rabite found the Flame card from the Deck of Many Things. In a back room, the party found 1600t papered to the wall with harpy feces into the shape of religious icons. Adrik helpfully used a cleaning ritual on the room, and the money was recovered for the party funds. Ser Oakley inquired into the manifestation of the Flame, seeking more information about the cards, but Rabite denied knowledge of such and hid his possession of the artifact fragment.

As they progressed into the catacombs, they found evidence of recent passage, most likely by the other adventuring party.

The party entered the Hall of Glory, where several of the Order’s greatest Knights – including its founder – were interred. Most unusually, the centerpiece tilework on the ground was an image of Tira, the greatest martyr of the Flame, depicted as a silvery dragon. Here, they saw the seemingly flesh embodiments of those knights conducting a service. Oakley immediately knelt in respect, however the party keenly observed several discrepancies to the ritual, determined they were false visions and corrupt spirits… and immediately attacked, dispatching the soul sucking spirits with alacrity.

Here, the path branched: Oakley reported he believed the Font of Divine Health was to the north, while his goal – the Dragonslayers’ Tomb – was most directly to the East. The party proceeded East.

This branch of the catacomb – the Mosaic Room – was slightly collapsed, with roots from trees above having broken away parts of the ceiling. A mosaic of the Abbey’s history covered the walls. Following the directions of the vision he received at the Feygrove Font, Rabite immediately discerned that two secret passages lead out of this room. One, to the Inner Sanctum, one to the Fallen Tomb (holding the remains of those Knights who were corrupted during the Abbey’s Third Crusade against a serpent cult). The room was defended by several mummies, a native rotgrub colony – and a particular gaurdian, a flaming skull. The rooms occupants dispatched handily, the party investigated the skulls particular enchantments. Apparently, its the head of one of the Abbey’s oldest knights – specifically defiled and enchanted to serve as a repository of knowledge (and defender) for it’s Master, Vadin Cartwright.

Oakley offered the use of the temple’s inner sanctum as a place of rest, if the party required, but they determined to press on to the site of purification.

Passing through the dragonscale curtain noting the names of those Knights who had participated in slaying the great monsters, the party was immediately attacked by several ghasts and summoned wraiths defending the room. This time, the party seemed overwhelmed by the opposition. (It didn’t help that Adrik had stayed behind to conduct a ritual along with Rabite, while Aeun and Perrin were still nowhere to be found after they departed to track down a displacer beast.) Most of the party had fallen by the time Rabite charged in, saving many from certain death.

Mara Baker, unfortunately, had sacrificed herself defending the party and could not be saved… her spirit summoned in rageful form to further harry her former allies. It was only after the death of the last of the summoned wraiths, that she escaped its control… and, speaking spectrally, managed to stay Rabite’s wrath and prevent him from murdering the unconscious form of Sir Oakley (whom Rabite considered a heathen who was responsible for all that happened… and was, further, preventing them from looting as much as he would otherwise like).

With the spectral form of Mara having faded away, and the rest of the party unconscious, Victara Stongsteel attempted to secure the room from intrusion… and, with Rabite, went off to loot the portions of the catacombs they had avoided in the company of Ser Oakley. While they didn’t find anything of value, they did explore the Fallen Tomb more thoroughly, discovering that a vampire kept its corporeal form in one of the sarcophagi – a woman of great beauty and strength, still in her armor and bearing a sword.

Returning to their recovering comrades, they determined that Mara’s body was missing. Iata, who had been left in the room unfortunately didn’t see what happened (she was still hiding, as she tends to do during fights). Ser Oakley declared that he thought he could – conditionally, here in the temple – raise her body, but only after advancing his purification ritual. Thus, he began chanting over the recovered Content Not Found: dragon-chalice. As he did so, the angered spirits of the temple began to close in, attempting to distract him… including the darkest form of Mara’s spirit. While Rabite and Fax sang hymns of safety (which Fax stumbled on), Vic saw spectral Mara’s interference – whispering heresy into Oakley’s ear – and worked to reassure him as he completed this stage of the ritual.

Oakley’s chanting concluded with a burst of divine energy – and Mara’s spirit was purged of some of it’s ambient darkness, passing into the spirit lands again.

Determining that to assist Mara further, he would need the chalice filled with water from the Font of Divine Health, Vic and Iata undertook to sneak into that room (hopefully avoiding its guardians) to steal away with some. As the prepared to enter, though, they saw the other party making its way through as well! They were fighting defensively, while they maneuvered for a hidden exit – the opportunity for a distraction was perfect, but very short lived. Vic and Iata moved quickly through the room, attracting no notice. After filling the chalice, Vic noted that the other party had discovered a secret passage out of the room – likely another entrance to the Inner Sanctum, given its location. She quickly passed the chalice to Iata, said “I’ll be right back,” quaffed some potion and vanished.

Iata stumbled and nearly fell as the tried to make her way out of the room without attracting notice from the skeletal guardians – Fax used her magic to catch the falling chalice, ushering it safely from the room, while Iata ran from the flame bursts exploding around her. Barring the door behind them; Iata, Oakley and Fax began to take the long way around to Sanctum entrance – Oakley chanting over the Chalice with each step.

Rabite, it seems, had excused himself much earlier – leaving on his own to attempt to get to the Sanctum himself, ahead of the rest of the party.

The disparate party members reunite at the the wizard’s tower (Adrik, Aeun and Perrin having scouted the other way around the wall, through the feygrove and past some spiders). The Flesh-Golem Elaida was in the process of trying to run away, squeezing her massive body through the tiny doorway while carrying the broken corpse of her undead love – when, from the outside perspective, a large scaled and clawed hand reached over her shoulder and pulled her hair back to expose the neck, followed immediately by a quick slice by a curved blade, severing the head cleanly.

Adrik pushed the body back through the door, while Vic – who was running down the stairs at that very moment – helped cover up the immediate signs of battle (an Orc patrol was coming up the street). Meanwhile, Iata cried in a corner. Despite the sounds of light sobbing, the patrol didn’t attempt to come in – through they did leave two guards outside. Vic, eventually, managed to quiet Iata’s sobbing with some soothing talk.

Insude, Rabite noted that the areas of wild magic in the room were beginning to converge on the body of the fallen undead wizards – and would eventually reanimate it. He moved to destroy the body further, to slow the process but was intercepted by Vic… who then wrote a quite lovely note apologizing for all the backstabbing she did, and explaining that it was only because she really wanted some of the wizard’s stuff and didn’t think he would have let it go if they asked.

Upstairs, it was revealed that the battle had begun to melt some of the frozen bodies. The wizard’s apprentices would eventually escape, but not soon. The first escapee was a strangely patched together Warforged, whom Aeun took to calling Jasper. Jasper was covered in the rotting remains of a flesh-suit-disguise, and spoke of accomplishing its primary purpose: to introduce the “power source” to the “primary target” – that is, to kill as many hostiles on the abbey grounds as possible, then find a dragon on one of the lower catacomb levels and slay it by letting it swallow the large bomb in his chest.

Another to escape was an undead tiefling in grand armor – a particularly devilish and well built man who introduced himself as “”/campaigns/against-the-coming-storm/characters/hajak-demarchus" class=“wiki-content-link”>General Demarchus." He allowed that he was in their debt for his escape, and so offered them some small assistance in exchange. His forces had marched on the Abbey as part of some grand war between his city, Vor Rukoth, and Gloomwrought for control of the region. He mentioned that the dragon roosting in the temple was likely one who had assisted his forces in their attempted conquest, but had never been particularly loyal.

The party, exhausted from twenty-four hours of fighting straight, made it’s way to the nearby woods in search of a place to sleep (Vic, Aeun, and Perrin slaughtering a hapless pair of orcs watching the tower in the process). The party picked its way carefully through a garden filled with giant spiders and exuvia sitting in large tangled webs, Vic and Perrin carefully clearly the webs as they went.

Perrin, upon realizing that the woods were full of displacer beasts, disappears to attempt to track one, and Aeun, enthralled by the idea of giant cats with tentacles joins him in his search. The others make their way to the belltower, where they see an Eladrin woman fleeing from a pair of displacer beasts…straight into a flock of stirges. The stirges swarm the party, attaching themselves to anyone bleeding, but strangely seemed to turn quickly on each other and the displacer beasts, joining a long line of enemies that suddenly switched sides mid-battle for no apparent reason while Mara happens to be nearby.

The party manages to save the Eladrin, who identifies herself as Analastara Velfarren and leads them to the Font of the Feygrove, where they encounter Lord Berrian Velfarren, her brother and the head of the family of Eladrin. The lord grants them his hospitality, allowing them to drink from the fountain and receive visions of the abbey’s past. He also confesses to posessing the Vizier card, and suggests that he might be willing to part with it should he be certain that he does not need it to uncover the truth of his father’s presence in the abbey. Lord Berrian wants information about his father, particularly information that would allow him to claim the land that Lord Padraig thinks the eladrin are squatting on. The party goes to sleep within the shelter of the Eladrin camp, preparing to assault the abbey in the early morning.

In which the players navigate Winterhaven, avoid the Endless Road, infiltrate Gardmore Abbey and backstab a nice, lonely old man then force him and his love to betray each other before running them as down as they try to escape.

However, they did pick up the Gem, from the [[:Deck of Many Things]] and the [[:Winterbole Codex]].

By the numbers:

Humans: Iata (intended sacrifice), Pilau (malign human), Toad (low status minion) & Jon (masochistic self hating cultist), and about a dozen latecoming worshippers survive, sent into exile. 27 killed directly, another dozen died by various means in the lowest level.
Eladrin: Illuan Tareleaf (quiet, intent convert), Lorak Velfarren & four others survive. Six killed on the lowest level.
Tieflings: Vadu, Sister Ariel & Mother Janreaza survive sent into hiding, 2 killed
Cambion: Brother Jeremiah survives in exile, 1 killed.

loot: 1kT looted, 1kT reward from Lord Padraig. One amulet of fortune taken by Fax Fortuna, one item under investigation. 3 Dragonshards. 200 arcane components, 200 religious components, 100 residuum. A number of yet unsorted books. A journal by the mad Heirophant Palascek detailing his discovery of the Codex and how it led him to the succubus Agera.

As the PCs traveled from the Tollgate Abbey to Winterhaven in pursuit of some men in service to the slaver Mathis, they came across a roadside temple dedicated to the Sovereign Host (and particularly Dol’Arrah). Inside, an argument was occurring between Brother Jeremiah, supported by another priest and several members of the laity, and the local Magistrate, Lord Padraig – supported by several of his guard. Padraig insisted that the temple has been corrupted by devil worship and demanded that the priests allow the grounds to be searched. As the party engaged in separate conversation with the various factions, Padraig’s guard attacked the priests – and were rapidly slaughtered. The priests ‘apologized’ to the Lord (while proclaiming their right to defend themselves). Padraig retreated, proclaiming he would return with more men. The party offered to assist with cleansing the temple, which the Lord agreed to reward for managing the problem without him having to become involved.

At first, the party seemed reluctant to pursue this diversion – they had traveled here to rescue some Eladrin slaves which had been taken from Gloomwrought: a time sensitive quest. However, Vic was persuaded that having the Lord’s favor would be useful – while Mara declared that she had a vision that some of the Eladrin had actually been given to this temple and were being tortured within. Aeun, too, declared she had a vision of the importance of this temple – however, she additionally declared she was certain that the Magistrate was an enemy to the party.

Settled on a course of action now, the party approached the small, squat temple once more to discover what secrets it concealed.

Using her status as a Knight-Hospitaller, Mara gained admission to the temple for herself and the party. With a lovely speech, she caused some dissension in the ranks – drawing some of the flock away from the Priests. Afterward, she was invited downstairs “to speak with the Hierophant,” – an offer which she accepted. Vic followed along stealthily… and, while Mara was speaking to Brother Jeremiah, stabbed him in the back. When that accomplished little more than shredding his monks robes and allowing him to spread his demonic wings, the truth of the Magistrate’s claim was made viscerally evident.

In the melee which followed most of the Human worshipers were killed, though the party took some care to spare the Tieflings and Eladrin. As they pressed deeper into the temple, they learned from a captive (Sister Ariel), that the Hierophant was rushing to conclude a ritual by which Agera herself could be made to take physical form. Rushing forward, the party managed to disrupt the hurried ritual just in time – by slaughtering the human cultists which were powering it, though Mara went out of her way to protect the intended sacrifice – Iata, despite the fact she had begun to show elements of transformation through the ritual.

Again, the Eladrin converts and the Tiefling Priests were spared – Mother Janraeza even being allowed to raise her fallen brother, Vadu after she surrendered and offered to show the party where the temple kept its loot, and how to most safely approach the Hierophant’s lair.

Adrik noted that elements of the temple’s architecture and warding had been constructed so as to create a better channel for Agera – both as protector and temptress. As well, the summoning and warding rites used seemed to have been taken from The Black Codex : a suspicion confirmed once the Hierophant’s Journal was discovered. Using his knowledge, he lead the effort to disable to “devilish seduction” elements of the temple’s magic, while preserving those aspects which provided protection from the undead as much as possible.

(Padraig’s second visit / attack)

While Vic and Lt. Elie Chastim snuck in through a secret entrance to the deepest lair – a great hall, featuring a throne sized for a Giant and an immense statue of Agera – Mara walked ahead, in one last attempt to convince the Hierophant to surrender. That attempt brutally failed, as the Hierophant began attacking her and the rest of the party – his throne encasing him in some kind of sickening spiked armor that allowed him to siphon the life energy from anybody he impaled upon it. As the temple collapsed around them, the Hierophant turned back to attack the, now mobile and hostile, statue of Agera… claiming that she had betrayed him. The party, as well as a few more Tieflings, barely escaped the collapsing (and now lava filled) lower level.

(Padraig’s third visit / payment / promise of further loot)

Reuniting with all the disparate members of the party at the Tollgate Abbey, everybody found themselves summoned to the main room – the brothers had begun to ring the alarm bells and were requesting assistance of the adventurers. However, when their contact ran off to get help and never returned, the party began to make their own preparations.

A quick search of the monastery revealed that all the brothers they could find were dead, most stabbed in the back. Most of stores of weapons were ruined as well. Further exploration revealed that at least some of the slaver foot soldiers had taken shelter in the basement, where they were shortly killed by something large with teeth in the dark, that the party then decided would be best /locked/ in the basement to stay there. They did, at least, manage to acquire another two of the strange [[sovereign / dark amulets]] from their bodies. Meanwhile, the party members on the roof noticed that a detachment of organized undead carrying a palanquin was marching on the building – apparently ruled by a necromancer powerful enough to pluck at the even the threads of control between Zera and her minions. An extended sequence of bunkering down and preparing to be besieged followed.

Zera did her own investigation / communication with the leader of the oncoming zombie forces and determined that it was run by an ally of their back from Gloomwrought, who was marching to take the monastery because there was something horrible in the basement only he could control. Deciding that they’d rather just give him the building without arguing about it, the party very quickly searched the building for more loot before they surrendered the building to their zombie-horde-leading Ally who wanted neither his name known nor face seen.

Finding a hidden room, they discovered a store of books, relics – and a man dying of the same demonic plague they last encountered in the Pyramid. He said the monastery has discovered something hidden and horrible in the basement and possibly corrupted by it. It had been his mission to investigate and report back to the church hierarchy what was going on, but he had failed. He handed the party a sealed scroll case of documents, and said he hoped they would do the right thing with it. Then, before he could further be affected by the transformative plague, he was executed by one of the party members. They looted the hidden room, sealed it back up, and quickly departed the monastery through its other exit – heading deeper into the mountains, following the trail of the mounted slavers (the last two survivors from the skyship crash). From an overlook of the valley, they watched the undead forces enter and occupy the monastery, garrisoning it against further incursion.

They moved deeper into the hills, but eventually the locales shifting geography made it impossible to track them any further. Knowing that a map was contained in the scrollcase, they carefully opened it: revealing a map of the Winterhaven area, a map of Gardmore Abbey, a magically encrypted report, the idiot card from the Deck of Many Things, and a vial of blood.

Using the map, they managed to find and follow the slavers deeper into the mountains, where they came across a small church (dedicated to Dol’Arrah, goddess of the Sovereign Host) alongside the road. Inside, Lord Padraig, along with several of his guards, was having an argument with the priests. He accused the priests of being in league with demons, and demanded access to their inner sanctum, which they were refusing to accommodate. Some of the party noticed that the statues of the goddess seemed to bear a very striking resemblance to Agera (a succubus they had encountered several times before) and decided that the Magistrate was probably right.

Shortly after some of the party pulled him aside (and out of the church) and others began to speak to the priests, an altercation broke out which the guards he left behind seemed to have start – and were rapidly finished by the surprisingly capable temple priests.

Vic made a deal to clear out the temple of the demonic priests Lord Padraig insisted were inside. Meanwhile, Aeun had a happy moment of meditative communion with her patron and Mara entered a psychic trance to see if she could learn more about what was going on inside the temple.