Wraith King 3

Moonlight

With all this talk of undead and vampires, Moonlight [Chris] went into the Holbein woods to collect natural garlic.

 

The rest of the  day passed quietly, and everyone else (Huilam [Jamie], Tylin [Ian], Madagascar [Darryl], Lammy [Kevin], Grey Wacke [Jeff], Ampersand [Shane], and Argile [Richard])  crossed their fingers, waiting for dark, hoping that Carmilla's pledge (to get the Wraith King to stop sending undead into the city) would hold.

Ronnie [Deacon], Lammy [Kevin] & Dee Dee [Steven] marmaladed.

_______________________________________________

Night fell. The group waited a while to see if there was any movement on the streets; any sign of undead. It was quiet, so they ventured outside and looked in the direction of Skull District. Searchlights and fireworks could be seen in the distance - so REAL was still at it. It was ironic that the Undead had the moral high-ground in this case.

So, the whole party (sans Moonlight) headed into Skull district, and to the graveyard, to get a closer look.

Serial disinterment

The forces of the Knives,  with some TGP support, were stationed at the gates of the necropolis and at some of the larger wall-holes of the huge perimeter. They were at stand-offs against groups of REAL troops: paladins, soldiers, militant supporters and hangers-on. But, the necropolis is not a very easy area to defend, and plenty of REAL priests, paladins, et al. had got inside. And they were wreaking havoc in the name of all that is Light and Good. They tore open tombs, broke into mausoleums and dug up graves. Here, they shined REAL's purifying Sunray onto the remains of any interred that they found. Pure and uncorrupted corpses, skeletons, and less-intact remains were fine, but if there was any trace of corruption or undead taint, the remains would be destroyed, utterly - if it didn't try to scurry away.

The Wraith King's sway over the undead was impressive, and the order was absolute, because all the lesser undead encountered (ghouls, ghasts, shadows and below) showed no measure of self-defence. When a nest of them was discovered, they just stayed immobile, only to be destroyed in flashes of light and smoke. The REAL Sunray spell is, after all, the same strength as REAL's light during the day. No undead can withstand that.

The more sentient and powerful of the undead (wights, wraiths, spectres, et al), did make some feeble attempt to escape the forces of Light by burrowing deeper into their tunnels or crypts. But few got away, and they, too, were consumed in the righteous light, fire and zeal of REAL.

The very powerful undead, like the vampires and ghosts, were not seen at all - as expected.

Most-High Priest Igor Lightmouth was there in person, and he seemed to be enjoying himself. But it was noted (by the more learned) that he did not have access to some of the very powerful spells (like Flamestrike). Was this a holy seal of disapproval? Or just par for the course with the fickle and mercurial REAL? Who would know.

Blue-tooth skull comms

After watching massacre for a while, the party returned home. Here, Madagascar dialled up Carmilla with the blue-tooth skull.  He reported that the plan was working, and that the group really did appreciate the Wraith King's efforts in restraining the undead within the graveyard. Carmilla's sarcasm was tangible and scathing, and she did not seem very happy, but she reluctantly accepted the argument that maybe REAL's attacks would lead to greater internal unrest and the eventual overthrow of Igor.

Madagascar and Huilam tried to encourage Carmilla to see if the Wraith King would continue his “truce” for the next night or two, while things came to a head with REAL. She hissed that she would try to assuage him. 

______________________________

Tylin, Huilam, Madagascar and Grey Wacke went to visit the Knives at the Scabport Town Council building.  Madagascar went to the busy Night Sergeant, and and wrote a message for the Scabport Town Criers, to put out their anti-REAL propaganda for tomorrow's news: 

"Who'd have thought? Undead hold the moral high ground." 

"The dead's rest violated. Sanctimonious atrocities performed by REAL."

"Goody Two-shoes? More like Goody Jack-boots stomp in your grandmother's grave."

While Madagascar was dealing with the Night Sergeant, Tylin, Huilam and Grey Wacke asked for Lieutenant Chung, and they were shown down a passage beneath the Council Offices that they had never been to before. 

In a chamber, they found Chung and two no-necks. And hanging from ceiling, by her wrists, naked and bleeding, was one of the triumvirate witches Dalila Hornsby (the one that the party captured from Fort Eugor). Chung was lashing her with a scourge. She was sobbing and pleading.

Chung frowned at the group, hurriedly went over to them, and guided them out.

"We better hope," he said. "That our ... guest ... does not remember your faces ..."

But Grey Wacke was too quick for him. Grey rushed back in to the chamber, snatched up a single-tail and started to lash at Dalila. The two no-necks interceded, and frog-marched him back out to Chung.

Chung took them all into a room off the passage.

"I take my hat off to you," he said, happy to change subject. "The undead have stayed in. But, I see, REAL's not playing ball."

________________________________________________

Later in the night, the group got hold of Rita, and they encouraged her and the Anti-War faction to send out priests to survey the undead situation through-out the town, to prove that the undead had, indeed, stayed in. The plan was for them to report their findings back to the rest of the priests in the REAL temple. This was important for the whole PR narrative.

_____________________________________________________

Canker Priest

The next morning, as soon as it was light, Madagascar and Grey Wacke surreptitiously left the party base and headed to the Elwins warehouse on the party wagon Carte Blanche. They had a dark mission to do and did not want the rest of the group to know. The route was clear, and so the finicky wagon did not play up.

Elrick, an Elder of the Elwins, met them at the entrance to his base. The two had a chest of silver in the wagon which they unloaded for Elrick [ one COIN ]. Elrick went inside and returned with two scrawny half-elf children, roped together, wrists tied, and hooded. They were lifted onto the wagon and secured.

Then Madagascar and Grey Wacke drove to the Canker temple. A Canker guard lead the two unfortunate weeping children away into the awful darkness of the temple interior.

"Your debt is cleared," hissed the hooded priest.

The two returned home, with new stains on their souls.

"Business is business," muttered Madagascar.

"Naughty half-elves," said Grey Wacke.

"Best that Sorrow and Huilam know nothing about this," said Madagascar.

Grey Wacke nodded solemnly.

________________________________________________

Ampersand, inspired by the Town Criers spouting the party's anti-REAL sentiment,  wandered around the town, and collected some renta-crowd mobs, and he guided them to the REAL temple. 

While the party (and Town Crier) narrative of the "mean REAL going against the poor Undead" was good at first blush, it did not hold much water if you thought a bit deeper. Sure, grandma's tomb might be ripped open and her skeletal remains cleansed (or "violated") with REAL light or bathed in holy water. But, isn't that a damn sight better than grandma walking around as a summoned undead corpse, or her rotting body used as the desiccated plaything of some Canker priest or a lustful ghoul? 

Well, luckily for the party, the renta-crowd mobs, the perpetually outraged, and the anti-REAL crowds didn't "think a bit deeper". So, they were quite happy to protest outside the REAL temple, waving placards, chanting slogans "ULM: Undead Lives Matter" "Support your right to keep grand-mother interred", and setting fire to things. 

Also, there was the more pragmatic narrative of "More of us are being eaten by undead than last week, and it's all because of REAL".

The rioting and general mayhem outside the REAL temple gave Rita and the other Anti-War priests (lead by Tier Three Priest Jimmie Sanford) a perfect opportunity and excuse to work upon the vacillating priests. They managed to turn one more Tier Three to their cause early on: Priest Mario Ransom. But their real coup was getting a Tier Two priest, High Priestess Lilli Caswell across to their side. That was enough to give pause to Lightmouth himself.

Rita gave the party another box of six holy water vials.

___________________

Esme was keeping a watchful eye on the Luscious Pixie party jobs board. Charles Denton, of IMAG, contacted them again. So, to humour him, a few Budgie Smugglers went and met with him. He said that IMAG was keen to help the group "in their greatest hour of need". His help consisted of more offers of Arrows of Darkness. They politely said "no".

The rest of the day passed.

_________________________________

Tylin and Grey Wacke went to graveyard before dark, and secreted themselves near the main gate. There were no substantial forces of REAL, so the only troops present were the Knives. They were all facing outwards, obviously preparing for the arrival of REAL. 

But the REALs did not turn up. That was a good sign.

Night fell.

Almost instantly, streams of lesser undead (skeletons, zombies, shadows, ghouls and ghasts), came

Wraith King

swarming out of the graveyard,  in a big wave, past the Knives (who were surprised, and basically fled), and past the "hidden" Tylin and Grey Wacke, and into the surrounding streets.

 

Madagascar used the blue-tooth skull to talk to Carmilla again. She told him that "my Lord" had decided that there was too much loss last night, and that he would "right the ledger" tonight in an orgy of wanton destruction. Madagascar squeaked like a girl, and pointed out, with a wavering voice, that this would be a bad idea. 

And after much to-ing and fro-ing, and begging and pleading, Carmilla agreed to try and change her lord's mind. The skull-call went dead.

Back at the graveyard, the mass streams of the undead had stopped by now. Tylin and Grey Wacke were about to leave when they noticed that there was more movement in the graveyard. Unlike the first wave, these ones were floating, less corporeal and more horrific undead; the type they had not seen earlier. Two of the foul creatures approached the superbly hidden pair; as if they were not even hidden. The temperature round them dropped, and their breath appeared in clouds of steam. The half-skeletal, half-see-through creatures suddenly launched themselves at the two. Tylin voided his bladder in a spasm of terror, Grey Wacke his bowels, and they both shrunk back deeper into their hidey hole, [Tylin made a Resistance roll] BUT the creatures passed.

Within the hour, the lesser undead, that had streamed out earlier, started to return to the necropolis, in large waves, being shepherded and cajoled by the non-corporeal undead.

When there was a loll in the traffic, Tylin and Grey Wacke left their hiding spot, and headed back to the party lair.

High Emissary Carmilla

The rest of the party, back at base, was planning to head to the REAL temple. They were worried that Igor might have a change-of-heart and launch a late attack after all, and thus they hoped to stop this, if possible. But, when they opened the alley-way door to leave, Carmilla was standing there.

"May I enter?" she asked in her Luln accent. Madagascar nodded meekly.

She sat them all down, and then offered them a phylactery. This was a magical cursed amulet which, if brought close to a REAL priest, would silently absorb and destroy the heart of said priest in the space of minutes.  She suggested that it would be an superb solution to the Igor problem. However, they would need to lure the priest out of the temple grounds because there was no way to get the phylactery past the Temple detectors; it was high magic and evil.

"But you are resourceful," she mused. "Maybe you can get it in."

The majority of the party was not keen to take it, so they said "no" to Carmilla. But Ampersand was happy to take it. After all, he had a black arrow from IMAG, so why not a phylactery from a vampire too? While he didn't promise to use it on a priest, he didn't say no either.

Carmilla saluted them all, and then left.

_______________________________

Out on Prison Island, Sorrow practiced with his new camouflage cloak, in preparation for collecting the Teleport glass from its hiding place under the prison jetty. El Cid would be act as the spotter for Sorrow when they executed the plan. Once smuggled into the prison, it should be an easy matter of getting the glass to Michael Stringfellow.

The agreed plan was to spring Michael Stringfellow from no earlier than in two more mornings. This would mean, from that point onwards, that the rest of the party would need to man the hired room in the Adventuress & Bugbear 24/7 in case he teleported in.

There was also the matter of not being able to guarantee that Stringfellow would actually agree to use the item. But, they would cross that bridge when they came it it. 

You can lead a leopard to water, but when you want to run it up the flag pole, it can't change its spots.

_________________________________________

The next day dawned. 

Ampersand went out to do some more agitating for his renta-crowds. He wanted to keep the pressure on REAL. He wanted more protests and demonstrations.

The group also had some extensive discussions about snatching the slaves from the Elwins, but no actual plans were made.

Tylin stressed that this would have to occur, but that the Elwins must "never find out it was us!"

But that would need to wait. They just needed to get through another night.

Wraith King 2

The suspicious warehouse had two storeys, and had a large front door. The door was open, and there were some obvious guards, all Elves, lounging around.

There was a blind alley leading behind the place, so Sorrow [Jeff] lead the group (Ampersand [Shane], Huilam [Jamie], Moonlight [Chris], Lammy [Kevin], and Madagascar [Darryl]) down there. He had spotted a rear door here.

(Argile [Richard], Ronnie [Deacon], Dee Dee [Steven] were marmalading.)

In a (stressful) flash, Sorrow had the door picked, and he slipped inside followed by the rest, into a small kitchen. The group certainly was anything but quiet, and Ampersand, bringing up the rear, spotted movement at the mouth of the alley; so they must have been heard. He shot at an elf, and then slammed and bolted the kitchen door.

 

There was an internal door from the kitchen into the rest of the building, but now no-one was brave enough to continue any more. This decision was confirmed when lamp oil started to pour under the door into the kitchen. They knew they were discovered, so Huilam ... just ignited the oil. 

There was a small table in the kitchen, so Moonlight and Ampersand grabbed it, they threw open the outside door, and fled down the alley towards the street, using the small table as cover, with everyone else clambering behind this, head down. A few arrows thunked into it, and the group got to the road. Here, they fled into the morning crowds.

"Well," said Ampersand, as they got back to their secret base. "That was a fat waste of time."

"Rest assured," proclaimed Sorrow. "We were not followed."

Then they balked in surprise. Tylin [Ian] was here!

Tylin regaled them with his tale: 

When I left you lot yesterday, after spotting the escaped slave woman on that cart, I followed them to a warehouse. The same warehouse where you just came from now. I sneaked after them inside. I thought I was unseen, but apparently not. The alarm was sounded and I had to flee upstairs. I hid, and managed to trick them into thinking I'd escaped out a broken window, but it took them a long while to take the bait. By then, it was near dark and the place was pretty well locked-up and guarded. (I could not use the broken window room upstairs because it had a ballista, and was manned at night.) So I stayed. But I did take a risk to explore a little.

 

Three (of four) escaped slaves are there, and are working for the the Elves as employees (not slaves). But I never saw the the fourth slave, the young girl. They have a big cage full of Half-elves. Wonderful to see. These Half-elves are slaves, or to be enslaved. They also have a room of corpses: ex-undead and fresh ones. Not sure why. 

"This morning, first light, I slipped out and returned, but none of you were here," Tylin said "So, I just waited. And, well, here I am!"

Just then, Esme entered the room with a bit of paper.

"This was stuck to the secret door," she said. "That will be yet another group who knows our secret lair's location. 'Not followed' huh, Sorrow?"

She gave the note to Huilam who read it out loud:

"We need to talk. You know where we live. E"

So, Madagascar, Tylin and Moonlight, the three full Elves of the group, went back to the Elves' warehouse.

Elric Elwin

At the warehouse, they were greeted upon arrival by an Elf called Elric. This group called themselves the Elwins. They were an all-Elves band, were all named with E (leader Elrick, Eric, Edwin, Egbert, Eustace, Ernest, Edward, Edgar, Ezra, Elias, Ethan, Edison, Easton), and they were slavers. They specialized in Half-elf slaves: "half casts", "half-arses", "halvers" and "halvies". Tylin was delighted! Elves after his own heart. The Elwins captured Half-elves via citizen arrests, vigilantism, or plain thuggery, and enslaved them, as Tylin had noted. 

With the recent undead incursions, the Elwins now had a second job. They worked for the City Council to clean the streets after each night's undead activity. They'd pick up the bodies of the destroyed undead and the bodies of undead victims. They would store these corpses in their base, and then dump them in the river later in the day. Scabport City ordinance rules only allowed a certain number of bodies to be dumped, per hour, into the Scab river. So, by storing the corpses, they could avoid exceeding the limit. 

_____________________________________

The meeting with the Wraith King or his mouth-piece was scheduled tonight at midnight. It was at Statue Park in the posh Mansion district, which was across the river from the Docks. Rather than risk travelling over the dangerous streets after dark, the group thought it might be prudent to setup shop near Statue Park.

After a brief search, they found an unoccupied dwelling and used El Cid [Shane] to break in (the subtle entry failed). "Breaking in" involved the destruction of the door's hinges, and the splintering of the architrave. Luckily, Lammy's Mending spell came to the rescue and fixed the door, good as new.

The group was careful not to make a mess, soil any food, clean the toilets with tooth-brushes, or put jam in anyone's shoes. They relaxed and rested until near midnight. Statue Park was only a short walk away.

Great Oak of Statue Park

An hour before midnight, they ventured into the park and headed to the centre by the Great Oak. This long-dead tree, a former oak, was just a skeleton of bleached wood. But it matched the colour of the statues that filled the park. The statues were all superb renditions of people and animals in life-like poses of surprise. Rumour had it that they were all caused by a vindictive medusa in days gone-by.

The park was quiet. People did not risk heading out at night due to the undead, of course. That said, this side of the Scab river was not troubled by them because the seven Scab bridges were blocked each night by the Knives and TGP.

However, four figures approached the group, and stopped a stone's throw away. They were dressed in shroud-cloth  robes, so the party guessed they were Canker priests. When Canker priests walk over vegetation, it goes brown as if sprayed with glyco-phosphate. There were a few tracks like this in the grass of this park.

Wizards carry accurate chronometers. Lammy glanced at his one: dead on midnight. 

In the sky above them, they could hear the flapping of leathery wings. And then it suddenly went cold. Frost formed on the ground and on the boughs of the dead oak. And their breath came out in clouds of steam.

Then a slender figure just fell into their midst.

High Emissary Carmilla

It was a striking young lady, with jet-black hair, pale pale skin, perfect lips but wicked protruding canines, and cruel timeless eyes. She was, of course, a vampire. She was dressed in some kind of deep purple, velvet, long dress which clung to her as if it was alive; or maybe it was just the remnant jiggling of her bust from the drop.

She gave a formal curtsey.

"You must be the Budgie Smugglers," she purred in a strong Luln accent. "Please allow me to introduce myself: Carmilla Romanov, High Emissary of the Necropolis..."

She raised a hand as they were all about to speak.

"But first, kindly empty all your flasks, of the ... cursed water."

They all meekly complied, tipping out the six vials of REAL holy water.

Huilam bravely stepped forward.

"Don't tell me," she said. "Huilam Artois? The dashing..."

Quick as a cut snake, she swept him up in her arms, sealed her lips to his neck, and bit. Gristle and vein. Huilam shuddered and squirmed as she drank deeply. He choked out a throaty moan as his eyes rolled back. It felt so good!

But, it was only a short drink. A "drink of greeting". She stepped back and licked the blood from her own chin with a dexterous tongue.

"Now, how may I help you?" she asked.

The Canker priests, having now seen Carmilla, started to approach, gliding over the frosty grass, making no sound. She gave them a withering glance, and they stopped.

Huilam put forward the town's side. Carmilla put forth the Undead's side. The REALs started the war, so she claimed. They invaded the graveyard. They invaded the tombs and desecrated the grave soil. "We just want to stay undisturbed". When challenged about the ghouls and the undead incursions that had provoked the REALs, she just let out a musical laugh and said "Do not believe everything you hear!"

Huilam didn't press this issue, so he then waxed lyrical, perhaps employing a little hyperbole to exaggerate the Budgie Smugglers' influence over the priests of REAL. And, as a gesture of good faith, could Carmilla beseech the Wraith King to hold back the undead for just one night? That would help their cause immensely. Tomorrow night, even, maybe?

She smiled: "I will do my best."

Then she asked, pointing the Canker priests:

"I believe you have a payment owed to my Lord's ... associates over there? Elven blood and ... some volunteers."

Huilam looked over, then back at her and he nodded.

"I will take the blood now," she said.

She gestured to Tylin and Madagascar (full elves). Tylin stepped forward first.

Quick as a flash, Carmilla swept him into a loving embrace, and affixed her perfect lips onto his neck. Gristle and vein. For the next minute or so there was a loud sucking slurping noise as she drank heavily. Tylin quivered and spasmed like Huilam had earlier, as he lost half an elven pint of his blood.

Then it was Madagascar's turn. She drained the same amount from him too.

This time, she made no attempt to clean the spattered mess on her face, lips and chin. Blood had drooled down her neck and onto the expanse of her décolletage, which rivaled even Daisy Crown.

"I do so enjoy the sweetness of Elf blood," she said, sucking her fingers, and dabbing at some of the larger spatters on her chest. 

Canker Blue-tooth skull

Then Carmilla gestured to the four Canker priests. They drifted over. She whispered to one and he (or it) reached into its own tattered hood, and passed her something large. Instantly, there was a rattle of dry bones and the shroud-cloth robe fell to the ground. Now there were three priests. She gave the object to Huilam. It was a human skull, aged and quite dry.

 

"Use this to liaise with me," she said. "To activate, you touch the tooth. The blue tooth. Oh, only at night."

Huilam looked at it. It was cold to the touch, but maybe that was just Carmilla's presence.

"Any questions?"

They shook their heads.

She waved, and then gracefully jumped upwards, into the air. There was the brief flapping of leathery wings which faded fast. And then the temperature rose again.

The three Canker priests drifted close.

"Our payment?" one whispered.

"Tomorrow!" snapped Huilam. And the party headed off, back to the mansion for the rest of the night.

_____________________________________________________________

In the morning, at first light, El Cid and Sorrow went back to the wharves and joined Sergeant Skipper on the prison shallop boat. They headed back to Prison Island for another stint of guarding. Sorrow had his new stone-coloured robe (made by Burrito's seamstress mother), and had the Teleport glass. He told the rest of the party that, in three mornings' time, they should start to continuously occupy the rented room in the Adventuress and Bugbear in case Michael Stringfellow teleported in.

When the boat arrived out at the Island, Sorrow surreptitiously hid the Teleport glass in a secure spot under the prison jetty. He knew that the magic detectors on the prison gate would spot it otherwise.

______________________________________________________________

Via Rita's intercession, the group met up with REAL Priest Jimmie Sanford and the other renegade priestesses Keely and Nancy at the Gibbet and Grape later that morning. Huilam gave them the news about tonight's cease fire. They were impressed he had enough influence over the Wraith King to pull this off. If. Then arranged to meet them again tomorrow at noon.

Madagascar went to the Elwins to ask if they happened to come across two scrawny broken Half-elves, then he'd be interested. These would be payment for the Cankers. He negotiated the cost down to two for one COIN.

Everyone else (not Moonlight) went to see Lieutenant Chung. Like the REALs, Chung said he would be very impressed if they could make the undead stay away. To help with the party's cause with the REALs, he offered Ampersand an Arrow of Darkness (one of the IMAG ones). Ampersand gladly received it.

Lammy and Tylin went to the Wizards' Guild and spoke to Sly Dunbar about the cease fire. Sly Dunbar was mildly interested that the Budgie Smugglers had an information conduit to the Wraith King. He said that the Guild might be interested in exploring that after this had all died down.

While they were there, Tylin arranged to see Daisy Crown. Her interest was piqued about the undead cease fire, but more piqued when he told her about the Elwins' collection of Half-elves.

Wraith King 1

Most-High Priest Igor Lightmouth

The whole group (Huilam [Jamie], Grey Wacke [Jeff], Tylin [Ian], Ampersand [Shane], Ronnie [Deacon], Lammy [Kevin], Dee Dee [Steven], Moonlight [Chris] and Madagascar [Darryl]) ventured to the REAL temple and sought out Priestess Rita. 

According to Rita, the general feeling of the priests in the temple was that the Most-high Priest Igor Lightmouth was doing the right thing, and that this fight with the undead was, if not sanctioned by REAL, perfectly just and good. Undead should be given no quarter, and must be destroyed where ever they lurk. But there were a group of moderates, who were more pragmatic, like Rita, and they wanted the war to be over. It didn't take much to convince Rita that she should arrange a meeting with the moderates. The group would meet them at the Gibbet and Grape in the Docks.

The party duly arrived. Sitting in the corner of the tavern, trying to look inconspicuous, and utterly failing, was a paladin.

Soon, three REAL priests drifted in, and introduced themselves to the group: Priest Jimmie Sanford, Priestess Keely Sawyers and Priestess Nancy Jose (pronounced with the Sancho affectation "Ho-say"). They got to talking about REAL politics and REAL realpolitik. 

The REAL hierarchy worked in threes (three being the number of divine states that the god REAL can be in: "Shining", "Quiescent" and "Aberrating"). The Most-High Priest Igor Lightmouth was classified as "Tier 1". The next rank down was "Tier Two". This was three High Priests Richard Dial, Lilli Caswell, and Joseph Bullock. Below that were nine "Tier Three" priests. 

Jimmie, Keely and Nancy were Tier threes. Jimmie said that the three Tier Two High-priests were very loyal to Lightmouth, so they would get no support from them. And of the nine Tier 3 priests, only Jimmie, Keely and Nancy wanted to stop the war. Rita was defying her mentor because Colleen was loyal to Igor.

The party said that they would try to help.

To help aid in their endeavours, Jimmie gave Huilam a bandoleer of six holy waters.

__________________________________

08K4

After that meeting, the group headed off to the Council Offices to go and see Lieutenant Chung.

On the way, they spotted one of the escaped slaves - the woman (slave ID 08K4) - driving on a non-descript wagon (twin horses) with one other shady-looking guy. Tylin surreptitiously left the group to follow her.

At the Council, Chung's receptionist recognized Huilam and Grey Wacke, and motioned them in to Chung's office, while the rest stayed in the waiting room.

Five-finger fillet

Chung was in the conversation pit with another soldier. Chung's two bully boys were in the corner playing Five Finger Fillet.

Chung was not in a bad mood today, so no-one got beaten up.

They told him that they had a clever scheme with which to negotiate a truce with the Wraith King, but did not let on their contacts with the REALs

Chung didn't want to know what they had planned anyway, and he was dead certain that whatever they tried, they would die. Horribly. But, he didn't have anything to lose, and if they succeeded, very good. 

The 25 COIN offer stood.

Huilam didn't press this point, and returned to the party, and they talked things over.

They needed to get in contact with the Wraith King, and were not sure how safe it would be to wander into the graveyard - at night.

"Can we send him a letter?"

"How will we deliver it?"

"Gnome Post!" exclaimed Madagascar. "Zey deliver anywhere, or 'we drink our own urine'."

The main Gnome Post office was only a block over from the Council, so Madagascar went to ask.

The gnome behind the desk was not very helpful.

"Oh my gosh," he said, wobbling his big gnome head. "We do not be delivering to the dead, sir!"

Back to the group.

"Could one of the evil temples do it? Maybe they have a link to the undead. Leprous by-blow?"

"God of Desolation? Juis suis desole.  Malechai?"

"They would HATE to. How about Spiney Norman?"

"Ignorance? Too thick. 'I got my letter stuck in my eye. I can't see anything.' What about Nuke, god of war?"

"Maybe. Or IMAG?"

"Or Canker! God of Suffering and Death"

"That might work," said Huilam. And he got out his quills.

So, he wrote a letter:

Most Magnificent King of the Wraiths,

Lord of the Undead,

Overlord of the Skull District,

Hammerer of REAL.

With the greatest humility, we afford you with the opportunity of de-escalation, and the humiliating retreat of your greatest foe.

We have knowledge that, with a devious plan by Your Magnificence, the foe shall turn upon itself.

We humbly request safe passage, and Your protection, to discuss this plan with You or Your emissary.

We await Your reply at midnight, in two nights' time, at the great oak in the centre of Statue Park in the Mansion District.

Huilam Artois of the Budgie Smugglers, Docks, Scabport.

He sealed it and with the party seal, then they all headed to the Canker temple in Temple district. 

They all stopped outside the temple. The Canker temple itself was carved as a huge skull, grinning at the world, made of some kind of dark weeping rock. The temple grounds was a graveyard with statues of dead things, and funerary things, and accouterments and memorials to the dead. There was a path of bone fragments running up to the main black iron door in the skull's mouth. A shadow passed over the sun and a cold wind blew. 

"I'm not going in there!" someone muttered.

"Me neither!"

Huilam and Grey Wacke bravely entered the rusty road gate, and headed down the bone path. There were no guards, but they were sure something was watching them. Some things.

A hooded figure in a shroud-cloth robe greeted them at the black iron door, and beckoned them inside. It was dark. They couldn't see his face.

"Follow me," he whispered in a grave-dust voice.

They moved deeper into the complex. The floor was sticky, as if they were walking through a finger's-depth of mud, but it was too dark to see anything clearly, even with Huilam's infravision.  On the edge of their vision things moved on the floor in the gloom; things the size of a corpse, things as small as a torso. They writhed, twisted, wiggled, moved. And there were noises: sometimes a whimper, a groan, sobbing, noisy eating, a clink of chain, a strangled cry cut short, a cheyne-stoking rattle. And the whole place reeked of rotting meat, grave-dirt, blood, and rancid fat.

"So ... you want this letter delivered?" he rasped. "I can get that done. But ... there will be a price."

He paused dramatically.

"A pint of elvish blood, and two living 'volunteers'." It was too dark to see the air quotes, but they were there.

Huilam thought for a moment, and then passed over the sealed letter.

"It is agreed," he said.

Then Huilam and Grey Wacke hurriedly left the place. When they got outside into the light, they realized that the "mud" they were walking in was a mix of blood and fat and crushed bone.

________________________________________

Night fell.

Back at the secret lair, Tylin had not returned. 

"He's often out late," someone said. "Let's hope he's nighting over somewhere safe."

After dark, the undead started to roam the streets as the previous night. The group kept a watch up all night. And no-one was planning to venture out. 

There were unnaturally-moving creatures in the streets: ghouls, zombies, skeletons? And a skittering on the roof tiles a few times. But nothing broke in, and so it was a quiet night.

__________________________________

At first light, Sorrow and El Cid arrived back from the Prison Island. They had completed their trial week. Before they left Sergeant Skipper, they arranged with him to be picked up again in two mornings.

At the prison, for the last few nights, the ballista crews had had good targets to shoot with the bolts. There a few swimming lacedons (marine ghouls) in the water, and they provided ideal targets. The ballista bolts did short work to them. If the bolt didn't kill the creature outright, it would embed itself in the body, and then make it too heavy to stay afloat.

After meeting up with the group and having breakfast with them, Sorrow headed off to Burrito's mother Martha to use her seamstress abilities. He wanted a cloak made of a grey material, the same colour and look as the prison stone walls. With this, he could camouflage beneath it while climbing the walls.

Now, the rest of the crew were worried about Tylin, who had still not returned. So the whole lot, plus the newly invigorated El Cid, went off to search for Tylin. They knew that Tylin had followed the non-descript wagon into the Docks district. So that narrowed the search down to ... about two thousand. Someone remembered it was yellow; yellow and distinctive. So, they went on that.

Several hours into the morning, someone spotted the distinctive wagon, and they zeroed in on it, and then zeroed in on a suspicious warehouse.

Undead Troubles

Burrito's [Darryl] special-needs brother Nut had taken a turn for the worst, so Martha Campana (Burrito's mother) asked Burrito to return home to tend the poor boy, while she did her day-job as a seamstress. Argile[Richard] was marmalading.

It was an hour before dark.

Madagascar Gauloise

Esme, the party's NPC secretary, came into the Budgie Smuggler's secret lair and told the group that they had another potential member.

A full elf wizard called Madagascar Gauloise was waiting in the party's wagon Carte Blanche out on the street. So, the group went out and interviewed him. After some rigorous questioning, they decided that he met their high-class criteria, despite being a heavy smoker (of those foul Elvish Gitane cigarettes), so he joined the team, and was sworn in with the "no betrayal" blood oath. [This was Darryl's second character.] 

About an hour after dark, Esme happened to glance out the window onto the gloomy street.

"What's that?" she squeaked.

The group looked out. There were two creatures there, moving with unnatural speed ... just like the ghouls of the other night.

So, as loyal Scabport citizens, they went out and fought them.

 

With the help of Lammy's [Kevin] Light spell, and Madagascar's Magic Missile, and Grey Wacke's [Jeff] combat Lead Group Action, they were dropped.

When the fight was over, a patrol of leather-armoured soldiers arrived. These identified themselves as TGP (Thieves' Guild Police) and their commander was Sergeant Staines, a half-elf. He questioned the group, and then told them that the TGP was helping protect the city. And that all the undead here was because of the "invasion" of the Graveyard by the forces of REAL. It was affecting all districts this side of the river. The Knives were barricading the five bridges across the Scab river, so no undead had got across to the other side - yet.

When Staines found out that this group was the Budgie Smugglers, yes, he had heard of that name, and of some of their exploits, and HEAT.

After the patrol had gone, the group put the two ghoul bodies onto Carte Blanche, took them down the street to the wharves and the river, and chucked them in.

There were other suspicious creatures swimming in the river too. The group didn't tarry too long.

When the group got back to the blind alley that lead to the secret entrance door of their lair, there were four skeletons down that alley, wandering around like lost souls. These were soon dispatched by the group; another Lead Group Action by Grey Wacke. Mention in dispatches to Ronnie [Deacon] and Ampersand [Shane].

Later on that night, firmly ensconced in their lair, Huilam [Jamie] glanced out the spy-hole on the secret door. It was completely black - unnaturally black. Since the iron door was well-barred, no-one was brave enough to open it.

They settled down to the rest of the night.

A couple of hours later, Tylin [Ian] glanced out the window and, down the street a stone's throw away, he could see a heat-source fighting something (with no body heat). He roused the group, and the fighty ones went out to help. But, when the iron door was opened, something came in.

Imagine a man standing in the doorway, with a street-light high above casting his shadow into the threshold. Now, imagine the street-light lowered quickly, so that his shadow would slide across the floor. Well, this shadow looked like that, but there was no street-light and no figure to cast it.

The hackles rose on everyone's necks and the room went cold.

Grey Wacke chopped at the shadow and ... as you would expect, smashed a chair with his sword, and cut the floor. Ronnie loosed an arrow into it, and ... put an arrow in the wall, then one into the china cabinet.

Madagascar tried a Magic Missile. That seemed to work, and there was a high-pitched scream, like fingernails on black-board. It didn't like Lammy's Light either.

Grey Wacke landed a tremendous blow with his sword, right through the shadow, and cut a magnificent gash through the lathe and plaster wall, through the dwangs and wall studs, right into the bunk room on the other side. But it didn't seem to affect the shadow. In fact, it jumped at him with another scream, but he managed to deflect it with his shield.

Madagascar hit it with another Magic Missile again, and it just vanished, as if it was not even there.

After that little fight, when the plaster dust had settled, Tylin looked at the window at the figure on the street. He was there, but lying still, and slowly cooling.

"We better stay eenside," he whispered.

All was quiet for an hour or two. Then there was a skittering on the outside wall, followed by a scratching on the roof (like an opossum on corrugated iron). They all tensed for a break-in, but nothing happened.

Later, eight skeletons marched past in the street in perfect two-by-four formation and in perfect time.

No-one was brave enough to go out.

In the morning, after light, they rested [ and did a Downtime to recover stress ].

Then they all headed to see Lieutenant Anton Chung at the Council/Knives offices. The Knives Receptionist seemed to be expecting them, and motioned them over to Chung's office immediately.

Chung was there in the conversation pit next to big map of the city festooned with pins and labelled blocks of wood. He was with four bully boys, an older man, and a young woman both in chain-mail. He looked up.

"And here're the bastards who started this," he growled.

He surveyed the group a moment with a calculating eye, gestured to the bully boys, and pointed at Ronnie.

"The pretty boy."

The bully boys yanked the hapless Ronnie from the group, threw him onto the sawdust-covered floor, and then laid into him with iron-shod clubs.

Grey Wacke watched with keen interest.

"Can I join in too?" he asked, eyes shining.

Chung didn't look up, but pointed to a rack of staves on the wall.

"Help yourself."

Grey Wacke gleefully grabbed an iron-bound staff, and then laid into Ronnie too. 

The regular and wet thwack thwack noise, like a tenderizing hammer into meat, the occasional crunch of a bone or rib, and Ronnie's pitiful whimpers drowned out any murmurings from Chung and the other two as they discussed the tactical map.

Dee Dee [Steven] was not very happy. She approached Chung.

"This isn't fair," she exclaimed. "The undead attacked first."

"Shut up, gnome!" snarled Chung. And he punched her in the face hard enough to send her flying across the room.

After Ronnie had stopped moving, Chung waved the bully boys to stop. Grey Wacke managed to sneak in another blow onto Ronnie's broken backwards-facing knee before Chung stopped him with a glare, and then a puzzled "why are you beating your own man?" look. The party picked up the bleeding, beaten and unconscious Ronnie.

"You lot go see the REALs," Chung snapped. "See if your whore friend can talk some sense into them. They won't talk to us at the moment."

"'Whore friend'?" said Huilam.

"That REAL bitch. Rita."

"I would not call 'er an 'ore..." He was silenced by a deathly glance from Chung.

"She scorned ME!" Chung thundered.

 Huilam stammered hurriedly: "... but we weel do our best, Lieutenant."

They headed to the REAL temple. It was a hive of activity. REAL guards had formed a cordon around the entrance and were stopping any townsfolk from entering, but Rita was in the courtyard, and when she saw the group, waved them through, and into a side room.

Rita tended to the broken Ronnie and cured some of his minor damage.

"I can't fix this all," she said. "Our main healers are resting after last night."

The party explained the Knives' point of view.

While Rita agreed with them, she didn't have any ideas. The top priest of REAL, Most-High Priest Igor Lightmouth, was dead keen on this purge, and he didn't want to stop until the Wraith King was destroyed. The upper-tier priests, including Rita's mentor Priestess Colleen, agreed with him. 

However, more concerning to Rita, was that the Most-High Priest said he had prayed with REAL and that REAL had commanded this undead scourge be purged. All REAL priests know the open secret that both the Primal gods REAL and IMAG can not communicate with their priests, and that doing any direct deity communications spell (like Commune, Augury, etc) results in insanity.

So, they left Rita, and went back to the Knives base again with some ideas. 

As they approached Chung's office, a black sphere emerged from the room, and walked past them in the hallway; an IMAG priest.

It was a few hours since they had last been there. Chung was still there, but with just with two bully boys this time. On his desk were four of the black arrows (like what Charles had offered the group last time).

Chung looked up, pondered, and pointed at Moonlight [Chris].

"That one."

Moonlight was hauled to the sawdust. One bully boy managed to get a solid hit into Moonlight's sagging gut, and one to his collar bone, before Huilam interrupted.

Wraith King

"We can stop ze war," said Huilam. 

Chung gestured to the bully boys to pause, as Moonlight knelt in the sawdust, coughing blood.

"Ha!" said Chung. "If you can do that, 25 COIN. But I don't believe you."

.

"We can negotiate with the Lich King," said Grey Wacke. "Very 'daring'."

"'Wraith King'," corrected Chung.

"...but it will be more than 25," muttered Madagascar.

"I am not authorized to pay more than 25," said Chung. He nodded to the bully boys and they landed two more blows into Moonlight. "But tell me your idea."

Perils of IMAG

Ampersand, the Lurk

A new member joined the Budgie Smugglers: Ampersand the Lurk. [This was Shane's second character; El Cid was still on Prison Island.] After some coaxing, the group managed to convince Ampersand to sign the Budgie Smugglers blood oath.

They also realized that Grey Wacke [Jeff] had yet to do the blood oath too, so he was duly processed.

[Argile/Richard, Lammy/Kevin and Ronnie/Deacon were marmalading.]

News was going around town that the battle between REAL and the Wraith King in the graveyard had spilled into surrounding districts around Skull: Slavers, Downtown and TGP.

During the day, squads of the Knives tried to keep groups of REAL priests, paladins and armed followers out of the Graveyard. During the night, there was active fighting between REAL and undead creatures both in the streets and in the graveyard itself.

The TGP had joined in, and were helping the Knives on both temporal fronts.

Consequently, because of the lack of police on the streets, travel around Scabport had become more dangerous than normal.

The other interesting news was that, because of the fighting, the much-augured Scabport Town Council meeting had been postponed.
__________________________________________

Esme had a new job for them at the Hoarse Whisper (Slavers District). So the whole party (Tylin [Ian], Huilam [Jaimie], Burrito [Darryl], Moonlight [Chris], Ampersand, Grey Wacke, and Dee Dee [Steven]) traipsed off to that tavern. In the corner was a sphere of darkness; an IMAG priest. Oh dear.

Charles Denton, IMAG priest

Tylin approached it. A raspy voice came from within; the priest identified himself as Charles Denton. He had a job from the IMAG Foundling. The Foundling was annoyed, and wanted the group to assassinate REAL priests or REAL paladins. He offered 4 COIN per paladin or priest. He would provide an Arrow of Darkness to help with the deed.

They hummed and hawed.

"Speak among yourselves, and come back at 2 bells," he rasped.

They headed out to be alone.

"Should we take it?"

"I'm not workin' for no IMAG."

"But we are 'consummate professionals'," came the mocking reply. "Morals shouldn't figure into this decision. We were quite happy to work for REAL."

"Yeah, but REAL doesn't betray us."

"But IMAG gives us gifts too. Where's your REAL gift, huh? I'll tell you. Zip!"

With that, they all voted, and decided to decline the job.

8X21

_____________________________________________

Later, in the day, all but Burrito (who had moral qualms about working for slavers too), visited Agnes Thames at the Drunken Imbecile to confirm they would take the runaway slave job.

She took them to Simon's Slaves headquarters. There, she gave the group a caricature sketch and data on each slave:

1. A724: Human male, ex-scribe, age 20-25.
2. 8X21: Human male, ex-warrior, age 20-25.
3. 08K4: Human female, ex-thief, age 22.
4. P778: Human female, child, age 13.

08K4

"Slaves get new names," said Agnes, parrying the first question. "So we don't record the original names."

But, strangely, attached to the records of 8X21 was a note "Charles Denton".

"We do this when there might be ramifications," said Agnes when she saw their interest. "Does this name mean something to you?"

"No ...uh.. no," they lied. "Not at all."

"Anyway," she said. "We will pay 2 COIN per runaway returned, alive. If the all the slaves are dead (and you didn't cause it), I'll give you half a COIN total"

__________________________________________________


Huilam went to the Funken Wagnall temple and did some research on Charles Denton, but, in the Scabport Who's Who Almanac, it just said "Notable IMAG priest. Living in Scabport."

Back at the Hoarse Whisper they met up with the IMAG Priest Denton again.

They asked him about his name on the slave's record.

Denton said there was a group of IMAG guards recently lost ("a few weeks ago") when a wagon went missing on the Spite road.

"Maybe this wretch was one of our guards, captured," he hissed. "And enslaved. If you find out any more viable information on this, or the whereabouts of the taken wagon, we will pay for it."

But he had no idea why his name would be there.



The party then told him that they did not want the job.

There was a long pause.

Then, an arrow was pushed out of the sphere of darkness and onto the table. It was very well made, and had a slight black aura around it, like El Cid's hands and Attlee's skull Lido.

"Here," he rasped. "My gift to you."

No-one in the group wanted it.

Denton left the inn, leaving the arrow on the table.

"We don't want it!" they cried.

He ignored them and went out into the street.

Not sure what to do, Tylin sent a runner to the IMAG temple with a message to "retrieve your magic arrow".

The arrow was retrieved soon after by a shadowy figure.

______________________________________________

Out in the middle of the Scab river on Prison Island, El Cid and Sorrow kept their noses clean, and behaved like good boys.

Up the top of a ballista tower, they watched the fireworks in the distant graveyard with mild amusement, and felt safe from undead here on the study island.

"Au contraire," said Sergeant Skipper in pidgin Elvish. "We get lacedons - marine ghouls - out here when there's undead trouble in the city. They come out the sewers. Expect an influx."