Characters
Catarina, unconventional prioress
Pendleton, rogue anatomist
Raoul, necromancer
Geradd, swashbuckling nobleman
Daytona, dhampir gunslinger
Panthalassa, empowered feral child
Asudem, undead antiquarian
Events
Catarina, Panthalassa, and Serafina approached the Convent of the Blood Reborn from the road. They found the gate in the outer wall guarded by two templars, who relieved them of their more obvious weapons before letting them inside. Upon entering the convent's chapel, they found a nun, Sister Bronwen, praying at the altar. Posing as folks in need of healing, Catarina and Panthalassa expressed interest in taking advantage of the convent's sanitarium treatments. Serafina posed as their servant, but took the first opportunity to sneak away.
Sister Bronwen took the pair on a tour of the facilities, which included some grim, asylum-like treatment rooms and an operating theater, and also performed an examination of both women--though she could find nothing physically wrong with either of them. Panthalassa had to distract the nun while Catarina stripped to make sure that Sister Bronwen didn't notice Catarina's hidden pistols.
After signing themselves over into the convent's care, Panthalassa and Catarina were shown to their lodgings in the infirmary ward. Inside was a tall young woman who bore a resemblance to Raoul. They had discovered where Lenore had been stashed away in the convent! Once the nun had left, they introduced themselves and told Lenore that they were friends of her brother and that her rescue was immanent.
Meanwhile, Geradd had independently made his way to Selvik's Hollow because his great enemy, Cardinal Radinov, had been spotted headed for the town. (Cardinal Radinov had a habit of extorting noble families for tithes to the Church; Geradd's family had suffered the Cardinal's depredations.) As Geradd approached the Green Cauldron inn, he saw Raoul, Daytona, Pendleton, Asudem, and the Widow talking to a very tall, pale man of military mien out front.
The stranger was exceedingly polite and introduced himself as "Count M." Count M. invited the group to dinner; Daytona wanted to decline, but he felt the Count bending his will. Count M. remarked, "Extraordinary how quickly the fog rolls in." When the group turned to look, they watched as a solid wall of gray fog sped down the valley, obscuring everything from view.
Once the group retired to their rented chambers, Daytona was able to divulge Count M.'s identity: they had come face-to-face with Count Magnus Draghul, one of the more powerful and feared vampire nobles of Sibersk. During this conversation, part of Daytona's history was revealed: he outed himself a dhampir. Later, during dinner hosted by Count Magnus, the vampire lord made it clear why he had taken an interest in the group: when they killed Countess Vlodeska, they killed a vampire of his bloodline. As recompense, he wanted one of the party to take her place as one of his vampire vassals. However, he was willing to give them time to think over who the sacrificial lamb shall be; after all, he has eternity on his side.
Catarina and Daytona communicated via the psychic connection enabled by one of the bone daggers in the prioress's possession. Daytona informed Catarina about Count Magnus. Asudem brought a very excellent plan to the fore here as well: he had Catarina summon the convent's matria, tell the nun that the real reason they had sought sanctuary was that there was a vampire afoot, and pleaded with her to send templars to hunt the undead beast in town. This would at least keep Count Magnus busy while they attempted to rescue Emily and Lenore from the convent.
Under the cover of the unnatural fog, the rest of the group was able to make their way to the convent unseen. They found a hastily constructed rope ladder thrown over the convent wall. Once again utilizing the psychic connection, the group was able to locate the infirmary. However, they saw that there was a figuring lurching toward them down the dark hall; the figure was dragging something heavy with it. When the figure heaved into Daytona's eyeline, it was revealed to be Serafina, who was dragging Panthalassa's maul--which she had managed to steal from the guards at the front gate.
Raoul and Lenore had a touching reunion. The Widow was put in charge of Lenore's safety while the group searched for Emily's body in the convent. Exploration led them to an elevator guarded by a nun and several templars. After battling their way down into the next level of the convent, the group were confronted by another nun and more templars. The nun used her miraculous prayers to bolster the armor of the templars, making them quite difficult for the party to put down.
Things went from bad to worse as waves of enemies began to stream in from adjoining doors. Sister Mary Augustine, the convent's matria, arrived with templars in tow. Catarina managed to put two bullets into the matria, but before she died she uttered a prayer and struck Catarina with a cat o' nine tails; the lash blazed with holy light and sent Catarina to the ground incapacitated. Cardinal Radinov also arrived with a squad of templars. "Geradd, I should have known that you would be involved in this!" he bellowed as he attacked the swashbuckler with a poisoned sword. Geradd was grievously injured, but he managed to rally and plunge his glaive through the cardinal's heart.
After a harrowing battle, the group stood victorious and was able to tend to their wounded. They quickly explored the remaining chambers of the convent's cellar until the found a ritual chamber with twelve incorruptible corpses in glass caskets arranged in a circle. At the center of the circle was an empty pedestal. They quickly identified the casket that held Emily's remains. Before they made their escape, Pendleton sawed the heads from the rest of the corpses so that they could not be used in the ritual; he took them as objects of scientific curiosity for Viktoria Frankenstein to examine.
Before leaving Selvik's Hollow, they stopped in to see the apothecary. Irena had packed up all of her belongings and moved on, but she left behind a letter for them under a rock painted with peonies. The letter read:
If you want to return the dead to life, you may wish to seek the Mantle of Iron Tears–a magical artifact crafted by the first members of the Crucifuge. As I am sure you are well aware, the ultimate goal of restoring life to the departed requires a tremendous amount of arcane energy and occult mastery. It’s also an endeavor fraught with peril. Even the slightest mistake can prove catastrophic. The Mantle of Iron Tears can mitigate that peril.
If you wish to lay your hands on the Mantle of Iron Tears, it was last known to be hidden among the oddities of the Skarnesti Circus.
Will the group find the Mantle of Iron Tears and be able to restore Emily to life? Will they choose one of their number to join Count Magnus Draghul among the undead or will they stand defiant against him? When will Dorian Margrave call upon them to honor their commitment to him as he plans for conquest? And what of the Brineblade and its ties to the Cult of Scylla?
