14th session

Freeday 2nd Mey Year XYZ
Having just defeated the 3 witches, our heroes decided to return to the lizards of Zurix' village and announce the great deed. They were well received, and they participated in the ritual burning of Grok, as well as in a party, hosted in their honor.

Lordday 3rd Mey Year XYZ
The following day, they left for Drahar.

Back in Drahar, they tracked down Garak at The Hideout, a house of pleasure not far from where they had been hidden. There they got some fun (or at least Valmer did) and once they got in touch with Garak, they found out that the charges against them had been dropped, so they weren't wanted anymore. He was very grateful for their help, but didn't want to take credit for participating in removing the hold the witches had over Jensson. He thought that might be dangerous, since Aelondir, the eladrin who is in charge of the Green Whelps, might take such a claim as a declaration of guild war, and the Sticks were definitely not ready for a guildwar against the Green Whelps.

When confronting Jensson with what had happened, he merely played dumb, and acted as if nothing had changed. Our heroes did however find out that there was a warrant out for Durnam, and in order to collect it, you would have to be an officially sanctioned bounty hunter.

Back at the Black Raven Inn, Valmer told the story of the 3 witches and the temple to Abraxis. They soon noticed that Zeke, who was sitting at his table as usual, was very interested. Valmer, who previously had bonded a bit with Zeke over a good brew, invited him over, and soon enough, our heroes had sold their services to Zeke. They were to lead him out to the swamp, to the church/temple, and he would get all scriptures and other stuff, that had his interest.

Sonday 4th Mey Year XYZ
The next day, our heroes bribed their way in to talk to Magister Rudolph, the magister who runs the Night Ward. While he wouldn't sanction them right away, he did find it interesting that they had made peaceful contact with the lizards, and their idea to make a deal with them, to stop them from raiding the various merchant houses whose merchants came too close to the swamp.

Mansday 5th Mey Year XYZ
The next day, it was once again back to the swamp. This time, the heroes avoided the lizards, and headed straight for the rock, or rather the church, which was there, just as they had left it, or rather, almost just as they had left it. As Zeke immediately started sketching as he arrived (after remarking that it was a church of the Keeper, one of several local evil gods), our heroes decided to check out the library books again. There Valmer found a book on rituals pertaining the Keeper, while the other two were reading. Then Valmer proceeded to find a secret door, behind the shelves.

Down they went, and way under the church, they found large set of copper doors, filled with religious symbols and a scripture. The symbols indicated that this was a grave. By the help of rituals (and Zeke), they found out it said:

Here lies Alexander Zorich, Exarch of the Keeper. Disturb his rest and suffer the consequences..

From the books, they learned a bit about Alexander Zorich. In the year 475 (but when was this?) The Tiefling Empire of Bael Turath was stretching all the way to this area (where the swamp and church is). Alexander Zorich was a paladin of the Keeper, and in charge of this province. From the books, it was apparent that many people must have lived here. Then, in 475, disaster struck. A magical explosion of unimaginable proportions took place in the heart of Bael Turath, the capital of the empire. Not only did most of the noble families die, but the explosion shook the world, destroying and changing continents. The explosion also ripped a hole in the fabric of reality, causing the fey energies of the Feywild to spill out into this world, causing woods, mountains, hills, swamps and other wild areas to grow and multiply, destroying entire civilizations in mere years. As the changes took place, Alexander and the other clerics of the Keeper grew increasingly desperate. Alexander personally collected 3000 children from the cities around, and brought them to the church. For days and nights, he sacrifized them to the Keeper, in order to appease him, and maybe save Alexander from the doom that inevitably seemed to come.

Ultimately, it was decided to try to disarm the trap that Tagron had found, and peak inside. However, that didn't go too well. Tagron failed to disarm it, and a trapdoor opened beneath his feet, hurling him 60' down, to his death. Or almost. Zeke managed to levitate down to him (25% chance!), before he slipped completely into the realms of shadows and administered him a healing potion. Carric and Valmer got them up afterwards.

Eventually, Tagron did manage to disarm the trap, and pick the lock. Inside was a tomb, with a sarcophagus, with the relief of a tiefling holding a nasty looking great axe on top of it.

Tirsday 6th Mey Year XYZ
Now, what to do. Our heroes decided to think about things, read some more in the books, before venturing in and picking of the casket. Valmer and Tagron left for the Zurix village, in order to try to negotiate something with Gorix. That proved fairly easy, and soon they were on the way back to the church. The plan was to have Gorix meet with magister Rudolph outside of the swamp, in a few days.

While they were gone, Carric was studying books with Zeke. A few hours earlier, Carric had cast animal messenger, and sent a message back to Trevor, his mentor, regarding what they had found below the church. As they were sitting there reading, Carric suddenly got a sending from Trevor.

Come back ASAP. Do not trust Zeke, he is very very dangerous!

At the same time, Zeke decided to go down and look at the tomb once again. Carric declined to go with him, and instead snuck after to check if he was opening the lid. But he didn't. Instead, Valmer and Tagron returned. Carric told them of the message, and it was decided to head back to Drahar, citing the lack of things to do at the church, to Zeke.

Once they got back to Drahar, they quickly met up with Trevor, to hear what he had to say, as well as to stuck up on healing potions. Carric was told that high priest was very pleased with his performance so far, especially concerning the whole incident in Dranar Hold. Speaking of which, they were a bit worried. The demon whose print had been found, was definitely a big one. Problem is, no one had reported anything about demon activity, which is odd, since only extremely intelligent and thus dangerous demons could control their urge to rampage and destroy everything in their path. But maybe it was after all just a weak demon, and maybe someone had killed it.

Anyway, Trevor told our heroes that Zeke was not to be trusted. People he brought with him on adventures had a habit of not showing up ever again. They had no proof, but suspected he was offing them in order to guard his secrets, or whatever else was found on these trips. Also, because of his seemingly uncanny ability to find secrets, and not share them, he was at odds with the Ancients, a guild of sages, who usually cooperated with the city council.

It was decided that the church of Kord would send some people to the church. But it would take some days to find those people, so the heroes should head back and stall for time. They opted to bring a sage from the Ancients, in order to maybe be able to figure out if Zeke was BS'ing constantly.

Onsday 7th Mey Year XYZ
On the way back, Valmer mentioned that there really was no hurry, since it was not like Zeke could make the whole church disappear. But 'lo and behold, when they arrived at the rock, the church was gone, with no trace it had ever been there. Some rituals and talk later, it was figured out that the church probably had gone to the Feywild. It might fit with the full moon the night before, mused Valmer.

Lordday 10th Mey Year XYZ
After waiting a couple of days with no result, the sage headed home. The heroes headed to the lizardman village, and helped set up a trade and peace agreement between the lizardmen and magister Rudolph. After that, they returned to the rock, and stayed about a week. But still no sign of the church. It was decided to return to Drahar, and investigate some more.

Sonday 18th Mey Year XYZ
Meanwhile, because of what they did for Drahar, their status as official bounty hunters had gone through in no time at all. This was an opportunity that was too good to be true. They quickly found out where Durnam was hiding, and stalked him for a couple of days. At an opportune moment, they ambushed him and his goons, and beat them into submission, for sweet revenge and a decent reward.