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.

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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.

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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.

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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.