The Sting of Inevitable Betrayal

Another heist adventure this time, but as opposed to the last one in Lakona--which was a loud, busy location--this one required more planning and stealth. Which may or may not have worked out. Either way, I got to introduce this group to Pietra Sangino, the most hated npc across all Krevborna campaigns she has appeared in. Some of these fools even trusted her! Now they have a reason not to make that mistake again.

Characters

Aria, a paladin struggling with her true nature

Heck, an affable revenant looking for answers

Panthalassa, a necromancer with a missing arm

Daytona, a dhampir gunslinger fresh from Hell

Garazi, up and coming witch with a bird familiar

Events

When we last left off, the party members were emerging from the druggy haze of "toiling the midnight bell" only to find that they were being watched by a woman willing to trade their services for the two remaining invitations they needed to get into the Myrastopol Gala. That woman? The legendary artist Pietra Sangino. Her offer? She would give the party the gala tickets if they stole one of her paintings from the gang that currently had it in their possession.

She told them that the painting was in the clutches of the Butcher Boys, a thuggish gang of extortionist dwarves who act as muscle for hire in Veil. The painting was a portrait of Helena Graymalk, the leader of the powerful Graymalk clan of witches. Also, Pietra was clear that she didn't care if the painting came back in one piece or in scraps--as long as she could verify that the Butcher Boys didn't have it, she would be happy. The painting was being held in the Butcher Block, one of the Boys' hideouts. When asked by the group if the painting was magical, she replied "Of course not." She was, predictably, lying. 

Panthalassa also requested that Pietra paint a small paper ship black so that it would match the Dawnrazor. A potential gift for Thomasina Laurant at a later date? Meanwhile, the group also saw that she was currently working on a painting of a three-headed chimera. Folks, we call that foreshadowing in the business.

The Butcher Block was surrounded by a tall stone wall, but that couldn't stop Garazi's bird familiar from scouting the compound. She discovered that there were two buildings inside: a fortified house and a large stable. Txori was also able to spot two Butcher Boy guards posted in different locations with crossbows at the ready. From her familiar's overview, Garazi was able to determine that the area under the least surveillance was the easternmost wall by the stable.

The group also knew that the Butcher Boys were sending and receiving ravens bearing messages to and from the Butcher Block. Having Garazi's familiar follow the ravens netted them knowledge of the gang's correspondents: they were in contact with the local army under the leadership of Sonja Barbarez. Aria chatted up a guardsman at the cathedral Sonja had commandeered as her garrison; she learned that Sonja Barbarez was gathering an army to march on behalf of the demon lord known as Legion. The group had considered pitting the Butcher Boys against the Legion forces, but now it seemed that they were allied--so another tactic was needed.

Meanwhile, Daytona, Panthalassa, and Nightsong were studying the nearby streets to see if the Butcher Boys had patrols or reinforcements nearby. They didn't, but the group did notice that they were being trailed by someone who was keeping to the back alleys. They executed a pincer maneuver to sandwich whoever was shadowing them--and their "prey" turned out to be Patchwork Jack, the highly intelligent corpse golem who had caused Viktoria Frankenstein and Serafina to flee their chateau in Creedhall in the first place. 

Patchwork Jack tried to get Panthalassa and company on his side, hoping to get them to give up Viktoria so he could claim his "legacy" (he believed that the "Frankenstein organ" attached to Viktoria and Pendleton's brains was rightfully his as the true Frankenstein "heir") but he was having no luck. After realizing that his gambit was doomed to failure, he shouldered past Panthalassa and stalked off into the labyrinth of back alleys.

A plan for the art heist was hatched: Nightsong would link all their minds so they could communicate telepathically, then Heck and Aria would scale the wall, head into the stables to release the Butcher Boys' war ponies as a distraction. Things went according to plan until Aria and Heck realized that there were rooms to explore inside the stables--which got them into trouble. They managed to not alert the stableboy to their presence, but when Heck tried to sneak past a "man" "sleeping" on the stairs it turned out that the man was a doppelganger (he was the gang's spymaster) and that he was only playing possum. He stabbed Heck unexpectedly, incapacitating him. 

However, before the doppelganger could strip Heck of his clothes and steal his identity, Aria rushed in and conveyed the situation to the rest of the group via telepathy, so they all came over the wall and ran to Heck's aid. Nightsong punched the doppelganger in the jaw, bouncing his head off of the stairs in the barn. Daytona, now wielding a magical rapier instead of his usual pistol to avoid unnecessary noise, finished the spymaster off by skewering him through the heart. Heck's wounds were healed, but the group were shaken by this early brush with death. Still, they decided to push on.

Nightsong knocked out the stablehand so he couldn't raise the alarm and Panthalassa took out the crossbow-wielding guard. In another bedroom above the stables, they found Thorik Haval--a fence who helped dispose of the gang's stolen goods. Unwilling to take on a group of well-armed intruders, Thorik allowed himself to be bound and gagged. However, before they trussed him up, he told them a few choice bits of intel in hopes that it would stay their hands and keep his throat un-slit: he informed them that the painting was located in the garret room at the top of the tower attached to the house and that they should avoid the bedroom south of his because it was the domain of "Gowan," whom Thorik suspected of being a demon on loan from the Legion forces.

Finally, they were able to enact their plan of letting loose the ponies and causing some distracting chaos! And--it worked; Butcher Boys spilled out of the house to round up their wayward ponies, which gave the party clear entry into the safehouse. Making their way up to the garret entailed fighting another guard, whom they interrupted while reading Love's Fatal Alchemy, a spicy romance novel. 

He was dealt with, but as they ascended they woke Leopold Daskin, the dwarf-in-charge of this location's operation, and Darvala Kohn, a cambion sent by Legion's army to seduce Leopold and get him to give them the painting. (The Legion forces wanted to get ahold of the painting because it was magical and could potentially be used to control or influence Helena Graymalk, possibly even getting her to switch sides from Satan to the unholy triumvirate opposing him in the "Hell War.") During the fight, Garazi's conjured chains did a tremendous job of locking the pair down while the rest of the group proceeded to murder them.

At the topmost level of the tower, the group located the portrait of Helena Graymalk and cut it from its frame. They noticed that the woman appeared to move on the canvas; despite what Pietra had told them, the painting was indeed magical. Upon returning the painting to Pietra Sangino, the artist promptly turned on them because she knew that there was a price on their heads. She had finished the chimera she had been painting while they discussed terms days before--but now the beast emerged from the frame and attacked!

They slew the chimera--when it died it turned into a puddle of oil paints--and Panthalassa managed to wound Pietra with a necrotic bolt. Pietra ran and touched one of her landscape paintings, which transported her magically to that place. Daytona attempted to follow, but he didn't possess the knack for traveling through the painting. With Pietra gone, the group proceeded to trash her studio. However, she had left the coveted invitations she had promised them on a table--alongside a paper ship she had painted black at Panthalassa request.

Next time--the gala awaits.

Patchwork Jack

Creedhall’s most powerful villain is Patchwork Jack, a corpse golem gifted with a genius for invention.

Patchwork Jack

Patchwork Jack is a towering flesh golem built from corpses and other refuse of the charnel house. Patchwork Jack is both Viktoria Frankenstein’s greatest scientific triumph and her greatest failing. Through some quirk of his creation, Patchwork Jack was endowed with a particularly fine mind. He learned quickly, becoming Viktoria’s laboratory assistant and collaborator. 

However, it was soon clear that Patchwork Jack was only interested in using his scientific genius for evil ends; unable to cope with the prospect of her creation’s desire to use his inventions to acquire and wield tyrannical power, Viktoria Frankenstein cast him out of Chateau Frankenstein and bade him never to return. 

    • Appearance: His hulking, mismatched form and the stitches that cover his body evidence his origins from among the dead remains of a variety of human beings.

    • Personality: The machinery of life and the inner workings of the mind fascinate him.

    • Motive: He desires a laboratory of his own that would allow him to create an army of corpse golems, take Chateau Frankenstein by force, and kill his “mother.”

    • Flaw: Despite his formidable intelligence, a bestial rage boils just under the surface of his cadaverous flesh.

Lithka

The Grail Tombs’ most powerful villain is Lithka, the last ruler of the Vlaak Empire.

Lithka

Empress Lithka, last sovereign of the Vlaak Empire, continues to exist as an undead creature long after the fall of her people. She toils within the Imperial Crypt, working steadily among the piles of eldritch machinery, books of magical theorems, and alchemical apparatuses that clutter her inner sanctum. Despite devoting her every moment to occult research, her forays into unwholesome avenues of magical inquiry are always hindered by her persistent madness. Lithka’s brilliant mind was ruined by a disordering insanity born from the traumatizing ritual that transformed her from a living Vlaak royal into an undead lich. Lithka is usually lost in a fog of madness, delirium, and repressed memories, but her rational mind sometimes reasserts itself, granting her fleeting moments of clarity. During her brief lucid phases, Lithka schemes of returning to the world above and reclaiming her place as empress of all she surveys. If she were to regain her sanity, Lithka would be a grave threat.

    • Appearance: Her alien, corpse-like form is shrouded in the remains of a once-sumptuous gown.

    • Personality: She behaves as if she still presides over an empire at the height of its power.

    • Motive: She plots to remake the world in her own image to begin the second great age of Vlaak civilization.

    • Flaw: Her mind is not what it was—she scrounges through the pieces of her fragmented memories seeking coherence.

Looting Lakona

It was time to inject a new flavor into the campaign, so you know what that means: tiki!

Also, up to this point, the scenarios had been mostly site-based exploration so I changed things up by making this one more of an open-ended puzzle that could be solved through a variety of means. Although there was an objective they wanted to attain (steal invitations to a gala) there were a number of ways they could have gotten their hands on them. To be honest, I had no solution in mind as to how they could accomplish that goal; instead, I seeded the area with tools they could put together into whatever combination they thought would work and then we'd see what happened.

Characters

Aria, a paladin struggling with her true nature

Heck, an affable revenant looking for answers

Panthalassa, a necromancer with a missing arm

Daytona, a dhampir gunslinger fresh from Hell

Willard Corn and Beebo, a farmer and a monkey

Events

The characters traveled north aboard the Dawnrazor, where they would be set ashore so they could head toward Veil. Since Nightsong had paid to have Serafina's location scried by a seer, she was sure that Serafina and Viktoria were currently at the Myrastopol Gala--the "party that never ends." One problem remained in the matter of tracking them down: to attend the gala they would need invitations. 

One way of getting invitations would be to win them at the high-stakes poker tournament currently underway at Lakona, a restaurant and casino located in Veil's Nightside. The Nightside could only be reached by indulging in the drug known as midnight bell. In an age now past, Veil had been a glorious Vlaak city, but it had since fallen into squalor and decay. 

However, once the characters entered the safest-looking drug den they could find and "tolled the midnight bell," they fell into unconsciousness and awoke in the city's "Nightside"--a phantasmagorical version of Veil in which all the poverty and filth was replaced with glamour and opulence. Indeed, once in the Nightside the characters found that even their clothes had been transfigured into finery. 

Getting to Lakona involved boarding a gondola and being poled down into a cave where employees wearing grass skirts, wooden masks, and jade amulets helped them disembark. After receiving a customary lei of pink and red flowers, the party found themselves confronted by the entrance to Lakona, which was a big wooden face that looked like a tribal deity or pagan spirit. As they approached the door, the guards flanking the face crossed their spears and bid the group listen to the voice of KAUA-PE. The wooden face began to speak, outlining Lakona's rules and wishing them luck at the gambling tables. 

After crossing through the mouth, they observed that the interior of Lakona had an odd but consistent aesthetic. The space was lit by torches affixed to bamboo staves; old fishing nets and garlands of shrunken heads hung from the stalactites; the stone floor was carpeted by mats of dried grass and palm trees sprouted from the stone to stretch toward the ceiling; the sound of primitive drumming filled the air; a number of conspicuous wooden statues that resembled KAUA-PE sat in corners throughout the cavern. 

The cavern spacious depth featured a number of dice tables, a bandstand, rows of strange copper machines that people were feeding rubles into, a bar area, and a number of doors leading to other amenities. Some doors were marked with a perimeter of skulls; these doors were off limits to anyone save for Lakona's staff. 

Playing to win the invitations seemed out of the question, as none of them had any skill for gambling--which was evident after they to drag Daytona away from the slot machines. Instead, the group settled into a table in the bar area and ordered a king's ransom worth of fruity, rum-based cocktails from a menu of exotica. Aria and Nightsong were especially thrilled to have the chance to flirt with intoxication. Nevertheless, Nightsong was summoned away from her companions by a member of Lakona's staff because a patron had requested she play in the exclusive poker tournament. However, before she left the party, Nightsong cast a spell that would allow them all to stay in contact via telepathy. 

It was resolved that Willard, Daytona, and Heck would check out a door on the right side of the complex, while Panthalassa and Aria would enter a room on the left side to see what was going on inside. 

Willard, Daytona, and Heck found themselves in Lakona's spa area, where they were offered massages, time in the steam room, a dip in the hot springs, or a romp in the "pleasure dome." Heck and Willard balked at the experiences on offer, but Daytona stayed for a massage from a burly man who had been oiled to within an inch of his life. Once the massage was over, Daytona slipped into a staff-only room and discovered Lakona's laundry room. He was able to steal an outfit and mask that would enable him to blend in with the employees. 

On the other side of Lakona, Aria and Panthalassa found themselves in a theater where members of the Skarnesti Circus were performing. They took seats just in time to see Zoskia Skarnesti introduce Melusine, the circus's exotic snake dancer, to the stage. Once the performance was over and the punters had left, Panthalassa re-made the acquaintance of the circus performers, including Dogface, who she had bested at a feats-of-strength competition. Dogface was particularly moved by Panthalassa's missing arm; he offered to rough up whichever villain had disabled her. 

Because Panthalassa and Daytona had done a good turn for the circus in the past, they were easy to convince to aid the party now in Lakona. Besides, Zoskia explained, carnies would take any opportunity to get one over on the rubes. The circus folk proved to be very well-informed. They explained where Lakona's vault was and that the room directly before it was the security office where guards watched over the site via the KAUA-PE statues positioned throughout the caverns. 

At this point, Nightsong checked in to describe the facsimiles of the prized invitations she had spied within a totem pole-shaped display case. Via telepathy, the group agreed to converge in front of the security office to make their play. The plan was for Panthalassa to use her magic to meld into the earth with Heck so they could burrow their way to the vault unobserved. Instead of finding themselves in the vault, however, they emerged in a long hallway that led to the vault. The vault's door was a wooden monstrosity carved to look like KAUA-PE. 

When they got within ten feet of the doors, KAUA-PE opened his jaws and blasted a stream of fire down the hallway. Heck was able to duck and cover, but Panthalassa was severely burned by the flames. That plan was quickly abandoned. A new plan was hatched in its place: the group would attack the guard post from two sides to gain the jade amulets that would protect them from the fire trap on the vault's doors. The group, minus Panthalassa who was avoiding further injury but with the addition of Nightsong, burst in and subdued the guards.

Now armed with jade amulets, the group crossed the hallway to the vault easily. Panthalassa picked the lock and they all ventured inside, where rows of chests and a wardrobe held Lakona's loot. Unfortunately, the vault also held a large iron statue of a mariner--complete with diver's helmet and trident--which animated to protect Lakona's funds from thievery. The resulting battle for control of the vault was hard-fought: the mariner statue was difficult to damage, but it didn't seem to have any trouble damaging the adventurers. Ultimately, a combination of Aria's sword work (and the ice-curse of her elven blade), Nightsong's bolstering war chant (and her steadfast desire to punch things into submission with her gauntlet), and Daytona's sharpshooting (especially when backed by a little hellfire) won them the battle.

The group looted the vault of as many coins as they could carry, a magical rapier, a necklace, a deformed green statuette, and the coveted invitations.

Back out within Lakona, things were in chaos with guards descending to impose lockdown as the patrons panicked. Luckily, the Skarnesti Circus troupe was waiting to usher them out an unguarded back entrance. As they said their goodbyes and fled into the night, the midnight bell began to wear off and they found themselves safely back at the drug den with their loot.

However, someone was watching them from the shadows. 

Who is it and what do they want? We'll find out next time.

Blyman's Cove

We left off last time with the characters in our Krevborna campaign on a beach, about to engage some soldiers, so we picked up with them on the beach, engaging said soldiers. We also got a reveal that actually took some of the players by surprise, which is gratifying because I worked hard to keep from spoiling it too early.

Characters

Garazi, a young witch

Aria, a strange paladin

Heck, an affable revenant 

Panthalassa, a necromancer with a missing arm

Daytona, a dhampir gunslinger fresh from Hell

Willard Corn and Beebo, a farmer and a monkey

Events

We last left our heroes at Blyman's Cove, on a rocky ridge overlooking the beach were the fearsome pirate man o' war  Dawnrazor was careened and having its hull scraped clean of barnacles by the crew. The party had ventured here to find Captain Vanessa Laurant, who had the supernatural ability to track Pendleton Torst. Complicating the situation was the fact that Farrowhawk soldiers were hastily assembling a cannon on the ridge so that they could fire upon the vulnerable ship. Complicating matters even further was the fact that Aria had charged up to them and issued a challenge, earning the immediate ire of half of the soldiers.

Aria's plan worked in that four of the soldiers descended on her in a fury, but it didn't work as intended when the soldiers proved able to nearly fell her. As battle was joined, Garazi bound the soldiers still trying to get the cannon operational with magical chains. Beebo the monkey once again pulled a gun and began firing, much to everyone's continued astonishment. The group rallied and slew their foes--save for one officer who was grappled by Heck and bound in manacles by Panthalassa. 

The group marched their captive down to the beach, where they were met by a line of pirates pointing muskets at them in suspicion. Luckily, Dandy John, the quartermaster of the Dawnrazor, recognized Daytona from his time delivering messages between Vanessa and Catarina. (In fact, Dandy John referred to Daytona as "the Countess's mailman.") 

Since the arrival of more soldiers intent on massacring the pirates was immanent, Dandy John gave orders for the Dawnrazor to be made ready to sail with the arrival of the tide. There was one problem, though: the captain had led a number of pirates into the caves along the ridge, and Dandy John would not leave without her. (He surmised that the captain was busy killing potentially mutinous sailors in the caves since she had selected only disloyal pirates to accompany her.) Because time was of the essence, the group volunteered to venture into the cave to make the captain aware of what was going on outside.

The group quickly learned that Dandy John's supposition was correct when they found the first (of many) dead pirates just beyond the cave's entrance. Besides still-warm corpses, the group located several piratical shrines and a parrot flying around seeking an exit. When Panthalassa coaxed the parrot to land on her arm with some food, it said "The egg is in the seabird's next"--an uncanny echo of part of Viktoria Frankenstein's coded message to Panthalassa. 

Due to Garazi's keen powers of perception, the group was able to avoid tumbling into a pit trap. Beyond the trap they witnessed the captain executing one of her errant crew...except the "captain" wasn't the captain they were expecting: instead of Vanessa Laurant, they had located Thomasina, Vanessa's adopted ward, who was now the acting captain of the Dawnrazor. 

After explaining the situation unfolding outside to Thomasina, she told them she couldn't leave until she had accomplished a task that had been assigned to her. She led them to a strange stone chest in a  dead-end corridor. The chest was decorated with skulls and bones that were inlaid into its surfaces. The top of the chest had many indentations in it and at the front were four levers. Each lever ended into a knob that was etched with a symbol; from left to right there was a devil's face, an octopus, a bottle, and a parrot. A bucket at the side of the chest held a number of pirate figures carved from wood.

Garazi made short work of the puzzle by placing fifteen of the pirate figures into the holes at the top of the chest and then pulling the lever marked with a bottle. Fifteen men on a dead man's chest...yo ho ho and a bottle of rum, indeed.

Solving the puzzle caused some stone to shift in the corridor, revealing a crawlspace. Beyond the crawlspace were a number of caverns. The first featured a small alchemical laboratory and ten large steel caskets. The room beyond held a single casket, which proved to be the resting place of another body that exactly resembled Viktoria Frankenstein. Thomasina began loading her pistol and asked Panthalassa if she wanted to wait in the other cavern while she did what she had been sent to do: put two bullets in Viktoria's head. 

Back on the beach, the group boarded the Dawnrazor on Thomasina's invitation and convened to share information. Although she was sworn not to reveal the exact location, Thomasina divulged that Pendleton was safe on "the farm." The group initially thought "the farm" was a euphemism for a dirt nap, but she explained that Vanessa had an island farm where she was currently guarding Pendleton against the Frankenstein household's foes. 

Aria, already under pressure due to revelations about her possibly otherworldly nature, became tired of the vagueness of the conversation and slammed a Vlaak cleaver into the captain's dinner table. Thomasina, though young, was still the captain of the vessel--in no uncertain terms, she reminded Aria of that fact. (They would later have a private talk in which Thomasina tried to pass on some advice for dealing with her rage and confusion.)

Later, Thomasina showed Daytona that she had kept all the wooden animals he had carved for her and let Panthalassa see that she still had the plants that she had sent along. She promised that there were more in her garden on the farm and plucked a rose, trimmed its thorns, and stuck it behind Panthalassa's ear. 

Daytona also finally received word from Catarina. Although the message was garbled, he could make out that the Widow and Viktoria's servants had arrived in Lachryma seeking shelter. They had been shepherded there by Kassidy Durango.

Thomasina ferried them to Piskaro, where they were due to meet Nightsong at the Six-Legged Pig as per their plan. They found Nightsong in the company of what was possibly the most beautiful woman they had ever seen; weirdly, despite the heat, she was wearing a fur-lined dress but did not appear to be sweating. There were six armored knights stationed around the table, obviously there as the woman's protection. (Although, she needs no protection.)

Daytona knew that these "people" were vampires, but even he was shocked when the woman introduced herself as Alcesta von Karlok, whom they knew to be the most powerful vampire in Krevborna. What followed was a lot of fear and confusion. The group wanted to get as far away from Alcesta as possible, and lied to Nightsong to pry her away. (Alcesta, of course, discerned the lie--she can probably distinguish everyone's heartbeat in a five-mile radius.) Nightsong resented being deceived and interpreted their actions as choosing to go to Catarina instead of continuing their agreed-upon plan to find Serafina and Viktoria.

Acrimony was building, but got smoothed over. Although who knows how and when that might erupt again. Nightsong was able to explain that the seer she had paid to scry Serafina's location indicated that she was in Veil. All they had to do was travel there and begin a more focused search. 

Next time, they arrive in the dangerous and ruined city of outlaws.

The Tomb of Ahkmosa and The Warren

Two Grail Tomb adventure locations.

The Tomb of Ahkmosa

In the far southwestern reaches of the Vespermark, the grasslands give way to an expanse of harsh desert and badlands called the Ash Barrens. The shifting sands of the Ash Barrens are dotted with an untold number of pyramids that are the burial sites for Vlaak nobles and members of the priestly caste. The largest of these pyramids is the resting place of Ahkmosa, a high priest of the Vlaakish cult of Dracula. 

    • Hidden with the pyramid’s internal maze is Ahkmosa’s gilded sarcophagus and the stone coffins of his immediate family, trusted retainers, and pets.

    • Desert nomads native to the region attempt to warn off any would-be trespassers who wish the breach the interiors of Ahkmosa’s pyramid, for a fearsome curse is said to descend on any who dare to rob his grave. 

    • The pyramid is also protected by both cunning mechanical and arcane traps—one of the traps will awaken Ahkmosa from his otherwise eternal slumber if triggered.

    • Once awakened, Ahkmosa will stalk the land as a mummy in search of his favorite concubine, whom he believes has been reincarnated as an innocent youth.

The Warren

A Grail Tomb beneath the streets of Creedhall has become the underground lair of a menagerie of bestial experiments who have escaped the laboratories of Creedhall University. These piteous humanoid creatures—which include scientifically and magically engineered mouselings and ratlings, as well as undefinable mongrels—have taken shelter within the Grail Tomb, renaming it “the Warren.”

    • Most of the creatures who dwell in the Warren merely want to avoid the people who populate the world above; they venture to the surface after nightfall to steal food and quickly return to their haven.

    • Reports of strange beastfolk prowling the town have so far been largely dismissed as the fevered imaginings of drunken students.

    • A vocal, and violent, minority within the Warren wish to strike back against the world that cruelly experimented upon them; they regard their feckless creators as monsters who must be punished, if not exterminated, for their hideous misdeeds. 

A Sacrifice to Baphomet

Want to make your players nervous? Just ask them to be very specific about the sleeping arrangements when they book a stay at an inn for the night.

Characters

Garazi, a young witch

Aria, a strange paladin

Heck, an affable revenant 

Panthalassa, a necromancer with a missing arm

Daytona, a dhampir gunslinger fresh from Hell

Willard Corn and Beebo, a farmer and a monkey

Events

After the beating they took at the Taurus Inn, the party decided to retreat to Borza and book a night in a different inn for safety's sake. The inn they settled on was called The Primrose. Everyone but Heck (who bunked down in the adjacent stables) and King Beebo (who lit out to parts unknown) had rooms inside. Panthalassa and Garazi were both pretty upset over the death of Rudolpho the Magnificent.

However, they were awakened in the middle of the night when the inn's door slammed open and someone with heavy-footed steps began to ascend the stairs, heading toward their rooms. It didn't help that this interloper was bellowing "Where are they, Mire Knight? Where are they?"

Panthalassa and Garazi hatched a quick plan to exit their room through the window, but before they could escape the "man" kicked in their door. Except, he was less of a man and more of a stitched-together monstrosity made of mismatched limbs and ill-fitting flesh. 

Garazi sent her familiar to rouse Heck down in the stable. King Beebo also arrived on the scene, and he had a new friend in tow: enter the (possibly insane?) pitchfork-wielding farmer Willard Corn! Even with backup, the corpse golem proved to be a menace in combat; he backhanded Garazi so hard that she nearly died. However, Heck stepped up and demolished the creature with a powerful rending strike. 

Once the dust settled, it was determined that the stitchwork holding the creature together was much cruder than that practiced by Viktoria Frankenstein. 

Garazi went to check on Adrian Vergara, but at some point he had fled the Primrose during the night.

In the morning, the group returned to the Taurus Inn and resumed their exploration. Eschewing the untouched second floor (where all the good loot was), they determined which barrel in the wine cellar was blocking access to the further depths and ventured within. They beheld four figures, each cloaked in purple hooded robes, frantically taking notes as they faced a stone statue of Baphomet. 

When they group looked over their shoulders, they saw that the figures were all writing in Verbis Diablo, but their writings appeared to be the nonsensical scribblings of madmen. Daytona sneaked a peek under their cowls and observed that all four cultists had been transformed into rat-like creatures. When Garazi attempted to interrupt their writing to ask about the whereabouts of the Graymalk witches, she inadvertently stepped too close to the statue and promptly faded out of existence...only to fade back into being in a room in which five of the six Graymalk sisters were bound and clearly drugged into unconsciousness. 

After locating a spiral staircase that led further down into the depths of the Taurus Inn, the group found that they could hear the sound of someone chanting in the caverns below. At the bottom of the stairs, they saw that Lorelei Graymalk, nude and bound to a stone altar with chains, had massive slug that was covered with eyes and mouths slithering up her leg, moving toward her head. 

Standing before the altar was Markos Delarossa, who was intoning blasphemous words and occult phrases from a stitched-together strip of flesh emblazoned with a demonic ritual--he was again attempting the foul rite that had profaned the Taurus Inn in the first place!

Springing into action, Panthalassa used a necrotic bolt to blast the slug monster off of Lorelei. With that out of the way, the rest of the group made short work of Markos. When Lorelei was unshackled, she collapsed sobbing onto Garazi's shoulder. 

The group collected the rest of the Graymalk witches and began to usher everyone out of the Taurus Inn. (They also gave the Graymalks the crucial missing word from the ritual.) However, Nightsong had arrived, with a bottle of wine in hand, and was utterly perplexed by the group's urgency in wanting to discuss matters outside. 

After dragging Nightsong from the inn, Panthalassa described all the horrors they had encountered. Nightsong, in turn, explained that her detour into Chancel was for the purpose of making sure that everyone knew of their daring rescue of Coraline Graymalk from Kholograt Prison. She had even brought along copies of a wanted poster that had a picture of each participant, as well as their names. Nightsong was proud of her "promotional tour," but was dismayed that the group didn't share her enthusiasm for infamy. Aria, in fact, had to walk that one off as it probably meant that her standing with the Church was now destroyed.

However, Nightsong had brought along (stolen) horses for the party and turned the screws on Lorelei Graymalk on Garazi's behalf so that the Graymalks would not threaten Garazi's family in the future. Nightsong had also obtained a useful piece of information for the group: the Dawnrazor was spotted making for Tortaga Island, where it was supposed that Captain Laurant was planning on careening her ship. The group decided that would be their next destination. Nightsong was to travel with the Graymalks to Hemlock Hollow so that she might get someone to scry Serafina and Viktoria's location, but they planned to meet again at the Six-Legged Pig in Piskaro.

After a bit of uneventful travel, the group arrived at Blyman's Cove, a crescent-shaped beach secluded by a rocky ridge, on Tortaga Island. The Dawnrazor was on its side and pirates were busing scraping barnacles from her hull. The stone ridge appeared to be riddled with caves. Additionally, the group spotted a group of soldiers, each wearing a blue tabard bearing the symbol of a gray hawk, assembling a cannon so that they might fire on the Dawnrazor and her crew. 

Aria issued them a challenge; the soldiers drew their swords and...that's where we left things for the evening.