Session 22

The following week exposes a great betrayal.

It starts as a normal week at the Horn of Abaddon.  If ruins of a daemonic alter being taken over by the forces of hell to destroy a powerful Mitrian artifact to unleash a plague upon the lands could ever be called "normal".  Emmerick is away from the rest of the knot, busy training the troops near the barracks & his personal quarters.  Elsewhere on the 1st floor is Galen, off fiddling with his alchemical golum.

The other Knot members are around the Horn doing other various daily activities, with Mardus on guard duty at the Sanctum.

Emmerick hears the sounds of battle coming from the near by blocked first floor entrance.  The anti-paladin of hell rushes to the guard room near by to find a stone door has been shaped in the side of the room.  And through this new (magically created) portal, a group of four adventurers has burst in.  What's odd, with them is One Eye, the dire tiger the knot found.  And the tiger is ripping through guards.  Clearly the magical enchantment on the beast has been removed and it's come for revenge.

Emmerick rushes in to fight along side his men, hollering for the soldiers outside in the training yard to go get help.

Quell is the first to respond & comes rushing in.  He finds Emmerick & his men getting pummelled.  A druid has called down balls of lighting, a sorcerer is blasting minions.  More minions are falling in the jaws of the dire tiger.  And an elven archer is turning Emmerick into a pin cushion.  But what gives Quell pause is the dwarven barbarian.  Rabid and foaming at the mouth, the brute sunders through a minions blade & the axe keeps going through the minion underneath.

Quell hesitates  unsure what to do.  The soldiers are falling all around & Emmerick is now going toe-to-toe with the rabid dwarf.  But without any support, the rogue will be exposed.  So he waits, opting for some ranged support behind a doorway.

Quell's judgement pays off as he sees the dwarf sunder Emmerick's Mace, shattering it to pieces.  And further taking metal chunks off the Knight of Hell's shield.  All the while the withering hail of arrows rains down on him.

Once Emmerick falls, the gnome shouts.  "Emmerick's down, keep it up!"  And horror fills Quell.  They know the names of the Knot members.  Who are these people!

Eventually support comes, first in the form of Galen & the Gollum.  The alchemical monstrosity begins lobbing bombs & slamming into all enemies who get near.  The conjurer pulls a one two punch of arcane might.  First summoning in fiendish constrictor snakes to block the exit back outside and following it up with a stinking cloud.  Leaving the adventurers and Emmerick's bleeding form stuck between summoned hell snakes and a gollum backed up by Quell.

More Knot members arrive  Yvainne & Brother Summit come to aid Quell while Mardus comes from the outside of the Horn with Grumblejack close in tow.

Still, the Cloud lingers and the fight drags on.  Yvainne unable to reach Emmerick.  When all of a sudden, bursting out of the cloud right as Brother Summit is chocking his wan in comes a soldier.  Carrying the bleeding form of Emmerick.  Somehow one of the guards survived the lighting, the dire tiger, the spells, and the arrows & retrieved his leaders fallen form.  Yvainne is quick to revive the anti-paladin.  Who promptly charges back into combat.

Meanwhile on the other end of the cloud, by the new Stone door, the adventurers are trying to break free.  The dire tiger makes quick work of the snakes, all while shrugging off the effects of the cloud.  Eventually he makes it out & nearly eviscerates Mardus who is with Grumblejack and Emmerick's Nightmare, trying to block the exit.  The Oracle of Fire falls.  But it is no matter, the combined might of Grumblejack, the Nightmare & Galen is too great.  The tiger falls.

In the end, the adventuring group is whipped out.  The dwarf is dead, having fallen to Quell's blade & the Gollum's acid.  Though not before further damaging Quell's swords.

The leader, a Gnome Sorcerer dies to Galen's arcane power.  And the Tiger falls to Grumblejack's hammer.  The Elven archer & half-elvan druid, suffering severely from the stinking cloud are taken alive.  Though the archer just barely, as the Golum was quite savage in it's attacks.

The soldier, a tough brute from the slums of Farholde named Roderick, who likely saved Emmerick's life is made the Anti-Paladin's personal squire and attendant.

The Knot is surprised to find a set of potions on all the adventurers that look remarkably similar to those on the earlier adventuring parties. but the Knot is outright shocked to find a set of files on the gnomes corpse outlining the defenses of the Horn, the names of all the knot members, and suggesting attack routes.  Also on the Gnome is a personal journal entry, which states a secret meeting with an old man claiming to be a "prophet" of Mitra who provided all the information.  And was later tracked secretly to reveal himself a younger man speaking with a woman with a white raven on her shoulder saying "It's done, the ninth is finished."

The Seventh Knot, Elise herself, betrayed them...

There is a period of silence as all assembled consider what do do next.

What follows is a long series of discussions.  Mostly focused on how to go after the rogue Knot.  The ninth decide not to bring Thorn in.  Not until it's finished and they know more.

When the inquisition attacked without warning, shortly after Alicette came to "check on them".  The knot decides it's possible she was checking to see if Elise's plot worked & they all died.  So they wait to see if she arrives.  After two days pass and she fails to arrive the Knot figures Alicette likely wasn't part of the plot, but still can't be sure.

They decide to send Mardus to find Alicette & her overgrown ape to lie to her, saying he's all that's left & they need the seventh at the Horn immediately.

Then the ninth wait in ambush.  Like clockwork the seventh arrive in full force.  Hiding, lying in wait, the Ninth buff themselves with arcane and divine magic and then descend upon the seventh like the fury of hell itself.  Brother Summit and Mardus only pause long enough to tell Alicette to stay out of this.  It's an internal "political" matter.

Seeing members of the seventh fall left & right, the Courtesan of the the Aspis Consortium opts to stay out of the fight.  Or more accurately, the slaughter.  For slaughter it is.

Elise falls, without even getting time to act.  Dostan gets one swing in before succumbing to the repeated sap attacks from Quell and subduing blows from Brother Summit.

Trik, in confusion tries buffing himself, while calling for the ninth to stop.  Trak, blinded by glister-dust  attacks with longsword instead of bow & quickly falls as well.  Eventually Trik surrenders as well.

The Knot don't attempt to confiscate Alicette's weapons or torture her for information.  But they do ask some straightforward questions.  At the end of witch, they decide she truly is not involved and had been almost outcast the entire time by Elise.

Speaking with Trik it becomes clearer.  The Cleric of the Trickster God got tricked himself.  He thought it was on Thorns orders that Elise was trying to kill the ninth.  When he finds out he's been duped he's devastated.

In the end, with ample evidence & the seventh all alive and safely imprisoned, the Ninth breaks the seventh's clay seal to contact Cardinal Thorn.

The Knot is a bit surprised when their contacted not by Tiadora, but by the Cardinal himself.  He is irate that the seventh would dare to betray him.  He declares their contract null and void.  And leaves their fate in the hands of the ninth.

Session 21

With the arrival of one of the Daemon's & Galen, Brother Summit is bolstered with hope.  And shortly after they arrive, more Knot members come pouring out of the teleportation circle.

The Mitrian inquisition rapidly turns from hunter into hunted.  The Daemon shrugs off the attacks of the Inquisitor leader and with arcane support disembowels the Mitrian.  The guards & lantern archon begin to fall under the combined might of Quell, Brother Summit & Mardus with support from the negative energy spewing death priestess, Yvainne.

Mardus calls out to take someone alive and it is then that Emmerick arrives, riding through the 3rd floor balcony on his newly summoned Nightmare.  Charging into the fry he destroys the priest of Mitra, 2nd in command of the Mitrian forces.  Splattering blood across Mardus' face.  Clearly the Anti-paladin missed the Oracle of Hell's advice.

Still, as defeat claims the forces of good, a couple of the foot soldiers are taken alive for questioning by Yvainne.

After a few days of questioning an unexpected fact comes out.  The Inquisitors were following reports of an alleged "Knight of the Alerion Order" who was causing carnage along the river heading to Farholde.  Checking dates & times, they matched perfectly with the Ninth Knots trip along the same river months earlier.  A trip that always involved stops overnight near towns by Tiadora.  It seems Thorn's Lieutenant was keeping herself busy.  And managed to drag the inquisition down around them.

Why the inquisition thought it was forces of Hell behind the attack is unclear, as the two surviving foot soldiers simply heard the reports from the now very much dead head Inquisitor.

The Knot members discuss Speak with Dead on the remains of the Inquisitor & Priest, but they get interrupted and never get around to it.

The interruption comes in the arrival of Aliciette Cardoso.  She apparently knew of the surprise inquisitor attack.  It's at that moment the Ninth Knot thinks to ask, where was the warning from the seventh?  She assures them a messenger was sent.  She held up to watch the departure of the Inquisition, to insure they in fact left Farholde & reported to Elise before heading to the Horn herself to warn the ninth in person.

There is grumbling within the ninth that the seventh somehow tricked them.  But travelling back with Aliciette to the outskirts of Farholde, they pick up on the trail of the messenger & follow it into the woods, to see for themselves.

The follow the tracks & stumble into a clearing in the woods, that's when the corrupted plant creature attacks them.  Emitting some sort of hallucinatory spore, Mardus sees the tree as a friend, not an enemy.  Meanwhile, the rest of the knot fights off the creature's long vines as it tries to grasp at their necks.  Without Mardus' "fire" power, the fight has a rough start, but the Knot manages to overcome the tree creature with minimal difficulty.

There amongst the remains of various travellers is a letter from Elise warning the ninth of an impending attack.  Some grumbles are still heard among the ninth, but for now it seems Elise and the seventh remain faithful to the cause.

Over the next couple weeks, Yvainne & Quell together partake in the Boggard Shaman's odd ritual.  Yvainne is distressed to see visions of a fiery hell.  And not the comforting black void her god promises her.  Quell also has visions of hell though his involve odd Devils consorting and speaking of him & the other members of the ninth knot.  A brother & a sister of some sort?  The odd frog poison induced vision is too hard for the elf to follow clearly.

It is around that time a local preacher speaks of doom & evil at the Horn.  Trying to rally the town against this otherworldly threat.  Clearly this heretic must go.  If the heads of the Basileus Shroud had thought to consult the other knot members, Mardus would have strongly urged caution.  Suggesting to undermine the preacher's credibility.  But the Shroud members did not consult the others and where guided by Yvainne's secret rage at her "false" visions of hell.  The death priestess wants blood!  And Emmerick seems fine with letting her have it.  So the Shroud plots to end the Mitrian's life and after a couple unsuccessful attempts manages to succeed.  But only to prove to the town the preacher was right and now is a Martyr for the cause.

Eventually the half-way point arrives and the eventual end of Sister Marta is at hand.  Mardus, having maintained his alternate personality of a servant, convinces Sister Marta that salvation is at hand.  He leads her to her freedom by "sneaking" the blind woman out of the Horn.  In fact, he simply walks her past skeletons, guards, Daemons & others up long stairs to the Sanctum of Vetra-Kali.  There, standing before the shrine of the Daemon Prince, a glowing evil veil of green energy behind her as a backdrop, the Oracle of Hell swiftly cuts out her heart.  Ensuring that to the end, the Mitrian Sister always had faith in the Shining Lord.

The Horn burst forth with Daemonic energy.  The ground itself trying to revolt from the evils, causing loose stonework & dust to fall all about.  A sickly green pulse of energy lanced the heavens.  As the earthquake subsided, an unnatural darkness fell about the land as the rays of the Shining Lords light failed to fall on the lands around the Horn.

The following week after the dark ritual, the Knot members are awoken to the report of a murder in the servants quarters.  Before they can arrive to investigate, they hear voices coming from the cells.  Listening in, a woman's voice says, "keep quite, I'm here to rescue you."  In hushed tones the knot discusses & debates how to attack when they hear a scream.  Galen rushes & dimension doors the entire knot into the cells.  There they find some nightmare horror attacking their prisoners.

Battle is joined against the incorporeal creature.  Galen is quick to throw Brother Summit the magical shaman staff, capable of touching even ghosts.  And the Monk uses it to land blow after blow on the dream-shade   As others blows only half land.

Throughout the entire combat it changes appearance, taking on the forms of those who died in the Horn.  But in spit of it's crazed ways, the Ninth destroy it.  At least for the time being.

After combat ends Galen is explaining it's odd ability, Mardus pipes up to Quell, "Didn't you die here Quell? Could it have turned into you?"

A shudder runs down the elfs spine...

In the following week the Shroud leadership receive a missive from the headmaster at the Vandermir Orphanage, Bergill Mott.  Speaking in riddles that Yvainne & others can easily decipher  it seems another rival gang is moving against the Shroud's forces in Farholde.  A gang known as Thatcher's Crew is moving in on the slums of Farholde.

This act can not go unanswered.  But seeing an opportunity, Yvainne suggests an alternative to outright elimination   If somehow they could be incorporated into the Shrouds operations, the manpower would be quite helpful.

So, they set up a meeting outside of town between the rival gang leadership & themselves.  Speaking with Thatcher, Yvainne manages to convince him to join with them.  But her honeyed words fail to convince his crew.  Further, her supplications to the rival gang cause dissent within the Shroud.  The results are disastrous   While Thatcher & a couple of his personal cronies join, the rest of his gang scatters to the winds.  Worse, the Shroud loses more in moral & personal then Thatcher & his lackeys will ever be worth.

A bleak day for the machinations of the Ninth.

Session 20

Brother Summit quickly goes running off into the darkness after Quell.  His orcish vision guiding his way.  He eventually spots a light as Quell ignites a sun rod & finds himself hiding behind a massive stone coffin.  All around are the trappings of high druid priestess of the Iraen forest elves.  The Knot regroup and explore the ruins determining it to be an old burial tomb to the Iraens.  They rummage through the place and seize anything of value.  By far the greatest find was the Druid's staff.  A powerful magic item that has spells able to charm animals.

They sell off what they don't need and decide to keep the druid's staff.  Galen is able to use some of the spells & Mardus can also try to "fake it".  The Knot then proceeds back to the Horn to continue their defenses.

Shortly after returning to the Horn they receive a report of a grizzly mass murder in town.  A party of Iraens is found, their remains strung up on lantern posts.  With a grim statement.  "Stay away from the horn".  It seems the seventh knot is busy & not really following the ninth knot's instruction of keeping quite.  Also a report comes that the the bugbear horde as struck another blow to the armies of Talengarde & the absent Lord of Farholde and a great number of the soldiers & citizens of Farholde will not be returning alive.  The evil baron's control of the town of Farholde increases greatly as he's the only noble of any standing left in the area.

Another week goes by when the Boggard shamen & some of his frogmen approach Emmerick with a request.  A hunting party has gone missing out near the lake to the east.  The Knot decides to go investigate.

Galen leads the way & nearly gets the group lost.  Fortunately, the recently recovered magical staff has the ability to show direction, so the Knot still manages to reach the Lake, though it is far north of where they should be.

The group proceeds down the lakeshore admiring the native wildlife when an unnatural horror attacks from the crystal waters.  A massive Chuul reaches up and grabs Yvainne.  In a flurry of attacks the Chuul downs the priestess.  But the beast is unable to repeat what the giant toad did in the original prison escape & eat the priestess or drag the wounded Knot member into the unknown deepths of the lake. For Galen rushes and teleports himself and the downed death priestess to safety where Mardus revives her.

The rest of the Knot unleashes a torrent of attacks on the otherworldly horror and the hunter rapidly becomes the hunted.  Before the Chuul can flee, the combined arms of Emmerick, Quell & Brother Summit backed up by arcane might of Galen & Mardus bring down the brute.

Some in the Knot consider trying to animate dead but lacking the resources on hand & disliking the idea of dragging a corpse through a predator rich environment, they leave the remains behind.

Finally arriving near the location of the missing hunting party, Quell is quick at work searching for clues.  And somehow he manages to find a small isolated den of some large feline hunter.  Unsure of the specific creature living within, the Knot approaches cautiously.  Emmerick takes the lead, with Galen ready with his staff to charm the animal, if able.  When the dire tiger charges as Emmerick, Galen manages to enchant it with his staff & stop it from attacking.

Using magical communications, they manage to barter with the Dire Tiger who goes by "One-Eye" due to a scarred over eye he lost in some earlier altercation.  And through convincing words & magical compulsion manage to get One-Eye to return with them & guard part of the caverns below the Horn.  Though how long the predator will stay bound to the will of the Knot is hard to say.

The following week the Knot receives a dire warning from the seventh knot.  A large silver dragon was spotted flying over Farholde.  The Horn goes on heightened alert.  Mardus goes & warns the near by green dragon who seems angry at a possible draconic rival being drawn to his territory due to the actions of the Knot.  However the arcane beast reserves his temper upon hearing it be a silver dragon.  He mentions to Mardus how he dislikes a copper dragon that lives off the western shore of Talengarde.  Mardus asks if he knows of any silver dragons and all the silver dragons he's ever heard of were one of Antharia Regina's brood.  A great wyrm who lives far to the north.  And likely this dragon is one of them.  Mardus asks, "What if it's this Antharia Regina herself?"  The green dragon flashes a toothy smile.  "Then you're doomed."

And yet the days go by & no silver dragon arrives at the Horn.  It seems for now to have been a false alarm.

Unfortunately, the next attack comes with no alarm at all.  It happens as Brother Summit is walking the third floor of the Horn, speaking with the Dread Wraith Ezra Thrice-Damned about how his monk powers allow him to draw the energy from the living in the form of ki.  Brother Summit notices an odd noise by the door to the teleportation room & pauses, unsure of himself as he walks over to it.

Before he can open it himself, it bursts open and a group of Holy Inquisitors of Mitra charge through in what would have been quite a lot of noise if it weren't for the magical silence that fills the area.

Ezra, seeing a priest in their midsts flees to get help and likely to save his own undead "skin".  Brother Summit manages somehow to rush past the throng of Mitrian warriors & make it to the teleportation circle.  Only to have the men follow behind & teleport right after him.  The leader calling out, "Surrender Asmodeus scum."  Brother Summit doesn't even pause to consider how the Mitrians know he works for Asmodeus and just continues to flee.

Teleporting back & forth, he manages to stall long enough for Ezra to warn Galen & the others. The conjurer of hell teleports down & with him comes one of the Daemon guardians.  As the other Knot members rush for the teleportation circle as well.

The battle finally begins to shift in the favor of Brother Summit, who gets cornered but still manages to kill off one of his attackers.

How will the battle end?  And how did the Mitrian Inquisition know to use the teleporters...

Session 19

The Knot members quickly wrapped up their fallen comrade in a shroud, did a cursory search of the vanquished undead & scoped up all valuable items around, including the magical armor of the undead warrior.  Noticed an odd resistance when putting the armor into the bag of holding, but were still able to do it.  Then they fled the tomb of the undead.

Arriving back at their waiting boat, the fisherman Bartholomew gives an odd look as the group throws the shroud wrapped corpse of Yvainne into the boat.  But a stern look from Emmerick & a couple gold marks from Mardus whip the look off the fisherman's face, returning it to an indifferent stare.  Still, as he rows the boat back to town, Brother Summit hears him whisper under his breath to himself "Why kill her and then not dump her body on a the deserted island.  Makes no sense."

Brother Summit & Quell rush the remains of Yvainne back to the preservation room in the horn.  Force marching through the night & into the next day.  Finally making it back worn out & exhausted but able to get Yvainne's remains secured away & notify Galen & Grumblejack of what happened.  Grumblejack seems quite sad about it.  "Na! Nat da' little healin' girl!  Na Na!"  Galen too is concerned, but more about the price.  Death can be eluded.  And must be for the Knot members mission to succeed.  But it isn't cheep.

Meanwhile, back in town, Mardus & Emmerick waited until the morning, when they speak with lady Shalyn Marsten.  They ask the powerful merchant if they can rush order a Raise Dead scroll.  They also ask for absolute secrecy.  Lady Marsten is willing to get the scroll and can do it in a matter of days, but it will cost upwards of a thousand gold to magically make the rush order happen.  And even then, it will still be three days.  As for the secret, there's some haggling, but Emmerick tells her whatever she thinks it's worth, it will be worth 10 times that if she waits.  Because they will be powerful forces in the future.  So lady Marsten lets the Knot simply owe her a favor.  One she'll call in later, with interest.

Reasonably sure lady Marsten will keep the secret, the Knot reassembles at the Horn, hoping the death of Yvainne goes unnoticed by the rest of their would-be allies.  While together, the Knot goes over the magical treasure they received so they can pay their merchant ally for a scroll of Raise Dead.

When they pull out the magical armor they recovered from the undead out of their extra-dimensional holding space,  a load moan & gust of air is released & the armor disintegrates before their eyes.  Galen uses his magical knowledge & determines what his less arcane inclined members failed to notice before.  The armor was some pillar of the magical affects in the tomb.  It's removal from the area has likely altered or even destroyed the magics.

While the Knot waits a day, Galen finally finishes constructing the magical alchemical gollem, using the brain of the dead bard from the earlier adventuring party.

The Knot readies the next day to return to town to buy the scroll of raise dead & return to the underground crypt but are stopped when a messenger arrives from the 7th Knot.  An adventuring group group is heading for the Horn but they say they're unsure on the arrival but think maybe they'll try for a 3rd floor "center eye" entrance.

The Knot, unsure of when the enemy might arrive, sends Galen off to town using magical flying to procure the scroll & sell extra gear while the rest remain.  Expecting some form of magical flight to reach the 3rd floor balcony entrance, the Knot focuses their defenses on the 3rd floor as well as the Sanctum.  As they worry flying enemies might see the higher level entrance & risk passing through the energy shield to investigate.  The Knot is stationed in the Sanctum proper to ensure the ritual continues uninterrupted along with one of the two Daemon guardians.  And they leave a sizable force of guards on the 3rd floor entrance, including all the wraiths, the newly constructed alchemical gollem & the second Daemon who is in constant telepathic communication with the Daemon in the Sanctum with the Knot.  And they leave token minions & undead to guard the other two entrances.

Before Galen can return to raise Yvainne from the dead, the adventuring group arrives.  And they head straight for the 2nd floor entrance.  A pitched battle ensues, but the minions are no match for the Sorceress lead adventuring group.  Watching from the Sanctum through the magical scrying eye of the blood soaked & Mitra chained alter to Vetra-Kali the Knot watches the battle unfold.  Emmerick growls when he sees his soldiers break & flee to warn the rest of the Tower instead of stand & fight to the death.

The adventuring group makes a b-line for the temple & searches around the hollow column that contains the secret stairs leading from the caverns to the Sanctum above.  Clearly showing some for-knowledge of the Horn.  Still, as no secret door exists there, the group gives up & checks out the 1st floor entrance.  From range, they stop & destroy the assassin vines guarding the way up & encounter the sealed off entrance with undead archers behind murder holes.  They give up & break off the attack after finding no way to proceed.

The entire time, the Knot remains at the Sanctum guarding the alter & waiting.  As the adventuring group stumbles from one trap to another.

Eventually the group returns to the 2nd floor entrance & is faced with the same dilemma as the Knot faced those many months before them.  Scale the exterior or try to climb up the trap floor chute.  They make the same choice as the Knot & try the trap floor chute & have to rely on magical flight to get a rope secure.

However, unlike the Knot before them, a horde of monsters is just waiting for them to arrive.  And so the outcome is quite different.  Only one of the four adventurers even makes it out of the chute only to be waylaid by undead and a Daemon.  The cleric in the adventuring group does manage to destroy two of the lesser wraiths & causes Ezra Thrice Damned to flee.  But with the Gollem lobbing alchemical bombs & the Daemon savaging into them, two of the four adventurers die in a matter of a couple rounds.  The other two attempt to flee, but one doesn't even get out of the trap room before getting bombed from above by alchemical gollum.  The leader of the group, the Sorceress, does manage to get away from the slaughter, but before she can reach the 2nd floor exit the Knot sends the Daemon who is with them down to the entrance & the Sorceress is ripped apart.  Another adventuring group destroyed in the Horn of Abaddon.

While some in the Knot are quick to loot the dead & celebrate a victory, Emmerick has a different opinion.  Furious over the desertion of his men, he makes an example of two of the "cowards" who fled the un-winnable battle by giving them over to Ezra to be transformed into Wraiths.  The dread wraith is quite pleased with replenishing his loses.  And terror grips the soldiers & other minions of the Horn as they realize just how wicked their leaders truly are.

In sort order Galen returns with the scroll and Mardus attempts to restore Yvainne to life.  It takes multiple attempts and Mardus comes dangerously close to a misshape, but he manages to breath new life into the death priestess.  Though, Yvianne does rise with an oddly paler skin color & the skin itself seems almost stretched.

With their strength back to full & the Horn currently safe from attack, the Knot sets off to Farholde & the secret ruins that lay on Wrecker Island in the heart of the harbor.

Upon arriving they find the Wall of Force to be gone.  Walking into the room beyond they find an odd alter to some nature god of the forest elves from the forest.  Galen does comment that in the annuls of history Farholde was ruled by the forest elves.  Before Talengarde came & seized it.  Other exits to the room lead to further darkness.

Spotting a magical wand or staff that is not part of the alter, but simply resting in it, Emmerick grabs it & pulls it free.  And in doing so awakens some ancient spirit.  For coming down a side passage arrives a druid ghost & her ghost dog animal companion.

At first the group tries to parley with the spirit of vengeance and ask if they could help it in anyway find peace.  It looks down on Quell for 'abandoning' the great forest spirit & turning to the humans culture.  And says it wants Farholde returned to it's people, the King of Talengarde to die along with all other blood of House Barca.

The group realizes the spirit is from another time.  It doesn't even know of the downfall of House Barca & the rise of House Darian.

Speaking in Ignan to each other the Knot plots & considers the offer.  But Emmerick says he will not turn over all his kin to this ghost to be slaughtered.  The spirit, apparently able to understand Ignan, howls.  "You are of the blood of the enemy!  Die!!"  And attacks.  Though the Knot questions Emmericks "royal" heritage  this vengeance spirit has no problem taking his word for it.  Battle is joined.

Dropping flamestrike & focusing on Emmerick, even while risking her safety, the Druid Ghost still nearly kills Galen & others in her blind fiery rage.  Her spirit hound also jumps into action, howling a frightful bay.  And again, against a fear aura of a canine, this one dead instead of extra-planner, Quell flees in terror.  Though the rest of the Knot manages to steel themselves against it.  The elf is last seen barreling down one of the side corridors, into the enveloping darkness.

Despite her rage & incorporeal nature, the Knot rallies.  And though they are close to loosing another member in this crypt, they pull through and are triumphant.  But their victory will likely just be temporary as Ghosts are rarely ever permanently destroyed.  The druid spirit will likely be back.

The Knot members catch their breath & look to see where Quell has gone.  And all they see is darkness.  It seems their Elvan member has gone missing.

Session 18

The following week proved to be a relaxing time, or boring depending on perspective, for the Knot.

Having defeated the defenders of the forest, the Knot continues unmolested with their dark ritual.  Some of the Knot head into town to shop.  While there they are invited by the Baron to attend his upcoming 105th birthday party.  An invitation the Knot is quick to accept.

While in town, they also check up with the seventh knot.  A somewhat tense exchange between the Elise, the head of the seventh Knot & Yvainne happens over how extreme Elise should get when dealing with potential threats.  In particular, if a flood of would-be heroes arrive, how strong of a welcome should they receive.  It turns into Yvainne trying to order Elise to do her job a certain way.  But before the two woman go at it, the normally abrasive & harsh Emmerick chimes in and displays his rarely seen charm & skill with words to diffuse the situation.  A sight that relieved Mardus, but also surprised him.  He never imagined his traitorous co-conspirator & cats-pawn could be so skilled.  A sobering thought about the "puppet" he & Galen wanted to plant on the throne of Talengarde.

Meanwhile back at the Horn, the ritual goes on.  Galen, Quell & Brother Summit are treated to a visitor while the other knot members are off at town.  The extra member of the seventh knot, Aliciette Cardoso, arrives with a status report from Elise & a birthday invitation from the Baron.  Ironically, no different than the information the other Knot members were receiving back in town.  Aliciette does ask to stay for the night.  A request Galen is quick to fulfill.  But after their incident with the shape changing forest creatures, he does insist on magically searching her person.  And he's worried when he finds Aliciette is not wearing her magical Iron Crown.  However, the knot member retrieves it from a bag of holding, along with a silver holy symbol of Asmodeus thus proving her identity.  While socializing with Brother Summit & Galen, one of them does inquire as to why Aliciette doesn't wear her crown or holy symbol & instead keeps them tucked away in an extra-dimensional space.  Aliciette simply responds with a smile.  "It was a gift from someone I don't trust."

At the end of the week, with the Knot reassembled, Galen spends time studying the Iron Crowns, using magical identify spells and he finds there is something... odd about the gifts from Thorn.   They do not simply confer the ability to change your appearance.  They have some other magical effect about them, but what other function(s) they possess are a lost to Galen.

Emmerick, taking to heart this information, opts to not wear the Iron Crown around the Horn for the next few months.  To see if he notices anything different.

The following week is when the Baron throws his birthday party.  All of the Knot members save one prepare to leave for the party.  Galen though, insists on remaining at the Horn, to guard it along side Grumblejack & the minions.  Emmerick & Yvainne both try hard to convince him otherwise  but Galen absolutely refuses to take part the aristocratic feast, despite the possible benefits it would confer to both the Knot as a whole & their evil organization.  His adamant refusal raises some eyebrows amongst the Knot members, but the escaped prisoners have never been overly conversational toward one another.  Especially where their past lives are concerned.  So five members of the Knot depart, leaving one behind to guard the Horn.

The party itself is a fine affair.  Many magnificent & abnormally large sea-food is served in decadent sauces along side some of the finest wines in Talengarde, as well imported Galtan & Sarain wines.  Some in the Knot make note of the abnormal size of the seafood and questioning some wait-staff find out the Baron has been stockpiling large creatures pulled from the lake of Farholde and saving them for this occasion.

Various Knot members socialize with all sorts of people from around town.  Even the elusive acting commander of the Farholde watchwall, Sir Valin Darian, is present.  He even has a brief conversation with Yvainne, unaware the woman before him is a death priestess to the dark god Zon Kuthon.  Quell speaks briefly with the Mayor of Farholde, a rotund & jovial human with mild elvan features.  Mardus spots lady Shalyn Marsten, the powerful merchant in town & speaks with her.  The biggest surprise though is when Aliciette shows up hanging on the arm of the Baron himself.  The Knot member is revealed to be an agent of the Aspis consortium speaking to some merchants in Farholde about setting up a long term deal with her agency.

Brother Summit & others speak with her about this recent revelation & she confirms Cardinal Thorn was fully aware of it.  And that her role has been part ally/part judge.  It seems the Consortium was sizing up Thorn as potential business ally.  Someone to get them into the otherwise locked markets of the Mitrian controlled island nation.

Wrapping up their evening at the Manor, the Knot is reluctant to retire for the evening.  They'd heard odd rumors about the lake around Farholde, add to that the odd almost magically enlarged sea life found around it.  They felt they had to investigate & what better time then at night.

The Knot members quickly convince a fisherman to take them on a midnight excursion out to Wrecker Island, in the middle of the harbor of Farholde.  Paying a few silver to ensure the silence of the dockside angler.

Arriving, the Knot beings to search over the island, not really sure what the'd expect to find.  But through luck or skill or divine (or rather profane) providence, Quell spots a suspicious looking rock pattern.  At first he thinks it's a secret door, but in actuality, it's an odd cave in of rubble hiding the tops of some old ruins.  Before digging further, Mardus goes of & converses with the fisherman waiting on the shore while Yvainne rolls in some obscuring mist to hide their excavation.

With Emmerick & Brother Summit to help, Quell finds a small stone passage with red rusted iron rings extending down into darkness.  The sound of banging or clanking can faintly be heard below.  The orc & elf quickly decent down, leaving their human allies above ground.  With Quell's limited vision, he doesn't see much in the filtered moonlight from above.  But Brother Summit's darkvision cuts through & he sees a passageway extending off into the distance before opening up into a room beyond.  The odd noises seem to be coming from there.

Brother Summit slips into the darkness, leaving Quell behind and stumbles upon an odd sight.  He sees a well appointed audience hall, with fur carpet and clean cut stone along with a group of what look to be a squad of soldiers decked out in odd looking livery being lead by a sergeant   The group appear stuck at a door, trying to break it down yet having no luck.

The Monk slips away unseen back to his waiting Rogue ally & reports his findings.  It's only when the elf asks if the group had a light that a sinking realization sets in with the Monk.  There was no light source.  How could a half dozen humans carry on in the dark like that.  Looking back down the hallway, hairs on the back of Quell's neck stand up.  They must be ghosts or other undead.

Unwilling to give up for the night & return later with Galen, the Knot pushes ahead.  The remaining members slip below in the fog, Mardus leaving the fisherman alone on the shore with only the moonlight, an odd fog & his thoughts to keep him company.

Some in the knot, hearing the description of the odd livery remember the house Vandermir that looked similar, with their origins being that of the old royal line of house Barca.  Emmerick transforms his appearance to display the heraldry of house Barca & the Knot walks into the dark chamber, his allies following behind him.

Members of the knot were greeted with different scenes.  For some in the knot, they saw the same as Brother Summit.  Others were unaffected by the illusion & saw the horror before them.  The room beyond was in tattered ruins.  There was no "door" at the end, but rather the rotten remains of a door & a shimmering energy field blocking passage.  And banging against that magical barrier were no men, but rather shambling undead.  Their leader, a frightening, armor clad warrior directing it's undead minions around the room.  With Yvainne blinded by the illusion, those who saw the undead leader failed to realize the threat before them.  The graveknight like creature turned & demanded to know who was interrupting his men.

Emmerick attempted to bluff the creature.  Acting like a commanding officer here to get a status report.  At first it worked, but the undead leader began questioning the presence of other non-uniformed people in Emmerick's presence.  But it was finally the combination of a slip of the tongue on Emmerick's part, along with the presence of Yvainne, a woman, that got the undead warrior to shout out "Men, it's a trick!  That forest witch is up to something.  The woman is likely one of her agents.  Get them!"  And combat was joined.

Initially the fight went in the Knot's favor.  A fireball or two by Mardus & most of the undead minions were destroyed.  However the leader possessed some sort of magical spell resistance that Mardus was unable to overcome, so it was left unscathed & able to ruthlessly assault the knot, screaming all the way about avenging the "deaths of my men!"

Hacking with an acid soaked blade, the undead "sergeant" caused great harm to the Knot. Nearly taking down Emmerick & Brother Summit.  Mardus was forced to frantically heal his allies.  Yvainne started heading for the exit, wishing to flee & seal up the stone portal behind them.  But unwilling to abandon her fellow Knot members she remained to magically aid her allies.  Quell & others saying they thought they would handle it.  At that point the undead knight stepped back and spewed forth acid over the Knot members.  Yvainne, near the exit was spared, but she continued to stay, magically supporting her allies.  An opportunity to flee was opened up, but still the Knot members remained in combat.  Then the graveknight turned on the death priestess who was but five to ten feet away.  Screaming that "all the druids would die!" he stepped forward and with two hacks of his massive greatsword brought down the priestess and "freed" her from her mortal coil, to be embraced by the unloving, cold touch of Zon Kuthon.

The remaining Knot members piled on the undead brute & through a combination of all four knot members, they managed to eventually destroy the undead knight.

Unsure of what to do & faced with another death of a member the knot stood in silence in the darkened room.

Session 17

Having vanquished Hallack's group, the Knot is quick to get Sister Marta into the Manacles of Cooperation they had acquired in their initial looting of the Horn.  They also stabilized the dying dwarf, Yorgen and collected the remains of the others, to be placed in "storage" for later use, and allowing Grumblejack to wield the magical hammer that use to be the weapon of Yorgen the Smith.

Immediately following the downfall of Hallack's Crew, the Knot moves on any possible opportunity this has opened up.

Galen, Quell & Brother Summit make a trip to Farholde and they break into the houses of the members of Hallack's Crew, though they find little of note.  While in town, Quell & Brother Summit check in with the 7th knot and have cordial but brief conversation with the aloof Trak.  He mentions a reward has been posted on information pertaining to the missing Sister Marta.

Back in the Horn, Yorgen & Sister Marta experience the craft of the talented Yvainne.  If Halthus the Flayer's heart wasn't in a bowl in the sanctum of Vetra-Kali powering the dark ritual, it would have beat faster knowing the old torture chamber was being put to good use.  As it was, the heart simply kept a low beat in time with the ritual magic which ebbed around the Horn.

For the next couple weeks the Knot carries on with a variety of actions.

Concern over the possible faltering of the faith of Sister Marta, the Knot devised a plan to keep her spirits up.  Mardus began his roll in the plot by pretending to be a minion in the Horn who was in charge of feeding the Sister.  For the first couple weeks he begins to show kindness towards the blind woman.  Unable to rely on the disguise ability of the Iron Crown, Mardus showed his true con-artist ways & easily fools the blind Nun.  Along the way, Yvainne helps out by being upset about Mardus helping the Nun and "acting" out abusing him for his help.  The whipping of Mardus was done with a great deal of ease on Death Priestess' part, as if it wasn't an act at all.

Meanwhile, Mardus and Emmerick also spend time working down the Dwarf's resistance, trying to convince the reluctant Smith that cooperation will yield better circumstances.  A combination of diplomacy (by Mardus) and intimidation (by Emmerick) provide some results & Yorgen acquiesces to the idea of helping the Knot with minor work in exchange for increased freedom.

Galen spends his time examining the damaged alchemical golem in an attempt to catalog all the various damage and set about a plan to repair it.  Along the way the Conjurer continues to craft a variety of magical items for the Knot.

The Knot gathers together to perform one of the Rituals of the Sons of the Pale Horseman they found.  They create three hell hounds, bound in service to Yvainne.  The Knot also makes a trip to their neighbor, the green dragon, Sanderax, leaving Grumblejack behind.  By offering tribute to the dragon, the silver tongue of Mardus manages to gain a powerful aerial look-out for the Horn's defenses.

Arriving back at the Horn from their outing with a dragon, they find a fight has broken out.  The Daemonic guardians of the Horn have returned & are butchering minions while Grumblejack attempts to fight back.  Quick thinking on Galen's part saves Grumblejack from the assault.  By using the name-plates containing the Daemon's true names that were recovered from the hidden treasury, he binds both to his control, adding two more powerful defenders to the Horn.

While questioning the two new Daemons in their guard post at the foot of the long stairs leading to the secret Sanctum above, Grumblejack idly asks what is above.  Emmerick is quick to dismiss the large giant, as he has been for the past few weeks.  Galen however speaks quietly to the ogre & explains what's going on.  In response Grumblejack is quick to ask to see what's above.  Emmerick responds with indifference, but Galen encourages the curiosity & wrapping up the rather pleasant conversation with the Daemons, offers to take Grumblejack to the sanctum high above.

The minute the ogre enters the Sanctum of Vetra-Kali, he complains of a powerful headache and an overwhelming thirst.  Quell and Emmerick both offer water-skins but they are of no avail, nor is a wine-skin   Thinking in an unorthodox way, Galen draws forth a vile of unholy water from the shrine and feeding the unholy nectar to Grumblejack, the ogre's form changes.  Grumblejack's horns, before only stubs hardly visible under his mop of hair now sprout and reveal the half-fiends true origins.  The most startling discovery, for both the ogre and the Knot, is when Grumblejack recovers to find himself magically floating above the ground.  Startled and then ecstatic about his new-found flight, a reenactment of Grumblejack's earlier adventures crossing the border into Talengarde play out.  Various knot members try to get Grumblejack to return to the ground.  And are met with limited success, but only after the ogre has flown all about the horn, including through the glowing green energy field that surrounds the upper reaches of the Horn. Grumblejack returns to his guard duties, but the sight of a flying half-fiend ogre about the Horn of Abaddon will likely be a common sight for the months to come.

During all the hustle and bustle of the knot, a couple activities go mostly unnoticed.

The first is that of Brother Summit.  Some in the Knot notice him taking an interest in their religious rituals.  Yvainne gladly teaches Brother Summit all about her Death God.  And Brother Summit gets an insight into Emmerick's religious experience.  Seeing what a well adjusted individual could only describe as the insane ramblings of a madman.  However the Monk simply watches & occasionally attempts to imitate it.

However that is not what goes without notice.  Rather, what no other Knot members notices is the constant battle of wills that is going on within Brother Summit as he meditates and willingly lets the power of Vetra-Kali into his mind.  Only to fight off the outside alien presence.  The constant battle of wills further heightening the Monk's power as he engages on a quest to become truly independent of divine interference.

The second mostly unnoticed activities are that of Quell.  The elven rogue slips away into the caverns below the Horn to speak with the Shaman of the Boggard clan that lives below.  Quell asks to take part in one of the Shaman's vision quests.  He seeks to remember his time when he was dead & his soul was in Hell.

Smelling the incense & licking an odd looking Toad the Shaman usually has kept in a cage near by, Quell embarks on his vision quest.  Eventually he recalls the fiery pit in hell where he was kept.  He remembers the pain & agony, his price for abandoning the light of Mitra for the fires of Hell.  But he remembers something else.  A dark shadow watching him but before he could see who, or rather what it was, he was woken to the image of the bulbous face of the Boggard shaman.  And behind him a rather dark scowl from Yvainne.  It seems what was but a moment in Quell's mind was hours and hours of real time.  And the Death Priestess went looking for him after he hadn't been seen for hours on end.

Quell was still not content.  His vision quest was so intoxicating & powerful.  What other memories could he free up & relive.  So after a few days, Quell again returned to see the Shaman below the Horn.  And again took part in the ritual.  This time he tried to remember a fonder experience.  The time when his mother was still alive.  This vision quest however was unsuccessful.  He could not get the image of the Toad out of his head.  It swirled in his mind, blocking any other thoughts.  He eventually is shaken awake by the concerned looking Boggard Shaman.  In his croaking voice the Shaman informs Quell he's been out of it for hours on end and that it's night time.

Quell head back up to the 2nd floor of the horn, along the way he can't seem to shake the visions of Toads swirling in his mind.  As he walks into the 2nd floor entrance, instead of seeing the recently slain remains of the zombie minotaur guard, he only sees more toads, swirling in his vision.  Still a part of his mind registers the oddity of no guard.  As he continues to walk along, he spots what he thinks is the zombie minotaur guard who is with two of Emmerick's guard minions, who appear to be snooping around some of the unused rooms.

He calls out and tells the minotaur his place is to guard the entrance, and the undead brute responds that he'll get right on that & starts walking past Quell.  The elf stands dumbfounded   The zombie creature spoke to him?  That doesn't make sense.  As the creature moves past him, Quell's mind snaps into focus, and he sees the fluttery white feathers brush past his face.  He turns and sees true the creature before him, it is no minotaur!  It is the flying winged serpent woman who led the winged elves & treant in an earlier assault on the Knot.  Quell shoots out as the two "guards" that were there transform before his eyes into hounds with oddly human faces.  And quickly battle is joined.

It takes a few rounds for the rest of the knot to be roused from their sleep, as Quell is forced to take on the foes alone.  The serpent woman hacks at Quell with her blade, the two hounds move forward, one disappearing from sight, the other making multiple images of his form.

As Quell gets surrounded, Galen dimension doors in with Grumblejack & Mardus in tow.  The large half-fiend Ogre blocks the escape.  The three assailants  blocked from escape, focus on Quell.  The serpent woman landing more blows on the rogue while the hounds loose unnerving calls, causing Quell & Mardus both to flee in fear from them, along with one of Yvainne's Hell Hounds.

A long grueling fight ensues, the healing powers of the serpent woman, along with minor healing powers from the hounds allow the three to fight for a long time.  And the absence of the outflanking experts of Quell & Mardus seriously hamper the Knots efforts.  Eventually Grumblejack and others take down the serpent woman.  And then work away at the dog creatures, despite the mirror images they have to contend with. The ever relentless blows from Brother Summit & Emmerick strip away images, as Galen & Yvainne's spells hit true.

The battle eventually ends with the good outsiders vanquished by the Knot of Hell.

Session 16

The next week becomes a flurry of activity.  The Knot returns from the Horn to the town of Farholde with a plan on establishing an evil organization, named the Basileal Shroud, to aid them in their endeavors.  It's emblem being triangular in nature, to represent it's three leaders, Emmerick, Galen & Yvainne.   On the trip back to civilization, they carry what loot they can manage and have Galen lay down arcane marks along the route, to allow future minions & messengers an easy way to and from the Horn.

While in town, Galen gets busy with selling various goods acquired from the Horn, as well as collaborating with Emmerick & Yvainne on establishing their group of evil-doers.  Yvainne focuses on the Orphanage to gain able bodied young lads & children to help the cause.  And Emmerick helps Yvainne, but also searches the slums of Farholde for any desperate cut-throats that could be molded into future soldiers of Hell.  Galen helps out & also begins purchasing some gear they Knot will need in the Horn.

Quell spends some time relaxing & exploring around.

Mardus & Brother Summit check in with the 7th Knot.  There they find a relieved Elise.  It seems a visitor arrived recently & wishes to see the 9th Knot.  Going upstairs they find Tiadora waiting.  It seems Elise finally got ahold of Thorne.  Tiadora is quick to ask if Quell was alive.  Followed up by a general status report.  Her terse attitude rubs Mardus the wrong way, but not being Emmerick, is wise enough to keep his mouth shut.  She doesn't seem bothered by the apparent length of the ritual but is glad to hear from Brother Summit that the Knot is ready to start the ritual soon.  And it seems part of her anger is at an apparent failed attempt to assassinate the King by another of Thorn's Knots.  A failure caused by the son of the late Balentyne Watch Captain, Samual Havelyn.

After her magical departure via teleportation they catch up with Elise on the activities of the 7th Knot.  Again, with Elise, they get a terse report of what the knot has been up to.  Which mostly consists of general recon & the like.  Though she does verify that the acting commander of the local Watch Tower is blood kin to the Victor.   Despite her, at times, unkind words of the 9th Knots progress she gives a full report of her Knots activity.  And this time Brother Summit & Mardus have no problem freely exchanging their opinions before leaving on relatively good terms.  Though clearly a strain between them and Elise has formed.

Also for part of the week Mardus spends time reconnoitering the Abby.  Just to get a feel for the security of the place.

At one point the Knot organizes a quick trip across the river & into the Forests of the Savage North.  Their goal is to pick up their old friend Grumblejack & bring him back to the Horn.  Wielding fireballs & other arcane death, it is with relative ease that the Knot finds their large friend.  En route they question an orc prisoner for information & verify the location of an Ogre encampment and that the Ogres are of a different breed, "southron" as the Orc put it.  What the orc meant was unclear, but the information leads the Knot directly to their friend.  And after a near scuffle with some Ogre guards, Grumblejack comes lumbering forward, calling out "no smash, them little 'uns my friends!"

Reunited with their friend they head south again.  Faced with sneaking the Ogre south into Talengarde lands, Galen casts magical flight on the Ogre.  And after they stop him from simply flying straight up into the air & swooping around for fun, they get him safely across the border.  Together all 6 of the Knot with their Ogre cohort head to the Horn with one objective in mind.

Start the ritual to free Vetra-Kali Eats-the-Eyes.

Arriving back at the Horn, Yvainne schedules one last meeting with Halthus the Flayer.  With Emmerick standing guard outside, Yvainne explains to the Torturer that she wishes to speak more with him and that the new torture equipment was installed and could use testing.  Halthus looks worried, but Yvainne insists all is well & offers herself up first as a test subject.  Halthus, knowing the Anti-paladin is waiting outside agrees & though enjoys himself at first, when his turn comes, his attitude sours quickly.  But seeing no choice he participates.  Yvainne asks a few lingering questions of the torturer and spends her time insuring the cultists legs are left in poor shape.  So that running will not be an option later.  All the time insisting the cultist is critical to their plan to restore Vetra-Kali.

Then the Knot goes upstairs with Halthus in tow, leaving Grumblejack & the Boggards below to stand guard.  Pouring unholy water over the seal of Mitra & intoning the first Dirge, the Knot begins the ritual.  Then Brother Summit grabs the crippled Halthus while the Death Priestess quickly cuts out the heart from the last living Sons of the Pale Horseman & places it in a bowl on the Shrine of Vetra-Kali.  An alien voice fills the minds of all assembled.  "Kazara Vo” -- “I hear".

Like some kind of unholy beacon, a blast of green light shot up into the heavens, shredding through a stray cloud & trying to reach up to the moon high overhead.  All around the horn green balefire glows.  The undergrowth of the forest is blasted off the sides of the Horn, revealing the daemonic temple in all it's dark glory.  The ground quakes and wraiths play about the glowing flames of the Horn.  Far off in Farholde people out at taverns & walking the dark streets look up as from the south they see an eerie green light shine down on rooftop & church steeple, followed by a low rumble that shakes windows and rattles signs.

There is no doubt in the town.  Evil stirs in the Caer Bryr.

The Knot members stand shocked.  Any hope of secrecy has been blasted away by balefire.  After a while the magic subsides and is reduced to only an eerie green sheath of energy that encompasses the top of the Horn.  But still, their position has been exposed, the damage has been done.

Over the next week the Knot rushes to improve defenses.  Hauling around stone & then using magic to shape it into walls & other defensive structures.  They let the Boggards recruit more into their ranks as they begin focusing their other minions on learning the ritual & preparing for attacks on the Horn.  Along the way they learn many of the dark rituals of summoning extra-planer evil creatures that the Sons had learned & detailed in Murals.

The following week the Knot begin instructing the Boggards on how to do the ritual as well, so that all in the Horn know how to perform the ritual.  Aside from Grumblejack, who Emmerick doesn't bother showing the Sanctum to, or the ritual done within it's walls.  Instead he has the Ogre help him with training of the new recruits.

Half way through the week they get their first message from Elise.  It states a group of local adventurers is coming & it details them all.  Quell immediately recognizes the names of Hallock Amon, Yorgun the Smith & Bianca DeVallya.  And all in the Knot remembers the name of James O'Toole, the boxer who nearly downed Brother Summit in the pit fighting in Drownington Manor.  Also a Sister Marta Dian was with the group.  The knot resolved to stop the group, waiting for them to arrive & then ambush them.  With their goal to take Sister Marta alive as a captive and future sacrifice.

The Knot members waited, huddled at the lowest "Eye" of the Horn.  Quell hiding in the shadows looking out over the Caer Bryr from the opening.  Deep below, in the caverns waits Grumblejack, guarding the end of a slim covered bridge, flanked by a trio of Boggard warriors.  Quell, spotting the unlucky band of adventurers from his perch high above the forest signals to his companions and waits.  Just like Elise's note stated, the adventurers head straight for the cave entrance.  Once the last of the doomed adventurers disappears below, the Knot rushes forward.  Joining hands, Galen casts Feather Fall & they all leap out into open air.  The Conjurur's magic provides a swift & safe landing on the forest floor below.  The para-trooping Knot regroups at the cave entrance.  Knowing they have the stop-gap of Grumblejack & the boggards, the Knot takes the time to have Quell slowly scout ahead & ensure the adventurers move past the open cave entrance & are well inside the smaller caves before attacking.

Having ensured the trap will be closed when they attack, the Knot then springs into action & falls on the helpless mouse of an adventuring party.  Hallack's Crew barely has time to react.  O'Tool calls out from the rear of the party that they're under attack.  Hallack tries to rush up & form a wall with O'Tool and Yorgen attempts to flank.  But before their plan is fully realized Galen temporarily blinds most of the party with Glitterdust.  And then, Emmerick, wielding his anti-paladin magics, slams into Hallack, backed up by his arcane companions & Hallack falls under a flurry of blows.  O'Tool likewise gets out-flanked by Brother Summit & Mardus, who work as a team to end the Monk once & for all.  Sister Marta dispels some of the blinding effects but not in time to save Bianca, who goes down under Quell's sneak attack.  A wounded Yorgen, having his sight restored only to see his friend dead at his feet goes into a rage & continues to hammer into Emmerick, giving the Paladin of Hell pause.  But Quell pulls out a sap & quickly downs the mad dwarf.

During the fight Yvainne had quickly walked in amongst the dead & dying, their life's blood pooling at her feet.  All the while feeling the power of her god around her as she unleashes her negative energy blood mists.  Finally arriving at the scared & alone Sister Marta, she casts Blindness on the Mitrian priestess.

As the follower of the sun's vision fades to permanent darkness, the Death Priestess rests a hand on her shoulder.  "Hush.  Accept the mercy & blessing of Zon-Kuthon."