Part XIV: Caliphas

With the events in Illmarsh behind us, we had to get to Caliphas, the capital city of Ustalav. It lay on the other side of the Bay - 60 miles straight across, and almost double that by road. No boats were sailing across the Bay, due to the storms that occur in the middle, so we assigned ourselves to the long walk along the coast road.
Ferdibrand, however, had a different idea. He called up to his deity, Sarenrae, for help. Divine light shone through him briefly, then he reached out and touched each of us. In an instant we were transformed into clouds! Our new forms enabled us to fly across the Bay at great speed, and we arrived in Caliphas just an hour later!

Caliphas was a sprawling metropolis, an ancient city that had been around for thousands of years. Shrouded in fog, Caliphas was the most cosmopolitan and vibrant cities in all of Ustalav.
We now had the daunting task of finding the second dark rider. Fortunately, he found us. Unfortunately, though, he was headless and was riding a fiery black steed. He was quickly dispatched though. And on his body we found a peculiar amulet - a jagged edged disc with a large skull in the centre, surrounded by peculiar runes.
But where did we go now? The dark rider had no other clues about the whereabouts of the Whispering Way. We were at a dead end. We needed help.
The help came in the form of the Order of the Palatine Eye - the organisation that Judge Daramid in Lepidstadt was a member of, and also the professor, whose funeral we had all attended so long ago,. We discovered that they had a meeting hall in Caliphas, and that they would soon be gathering for a meeting.
We had a few days to spare before the meeting, so we took some time out to explore the city (Grimbledon was desperate to spend some money, so we went shopping for new gear).
On our third day in the city, we discovered that the inn we were staying in was abuzz with gossip. There had been a series of murders plaguing the city in the past few weeks, and the bodies had been turned to ash. But the local police had discovered a body that hadn't turned to ash. We decided to investigate.
In a back alley we found the chief of police with the body. It was missing its head and had a wooden stake through its heart. We were also told that there were two other bodies on the roof of the nearby building. We took a look to find two piles of ash. We discovered that the piles also had wooden stakes buried within them, similar in design to the other. We then heard a gasp from below. The officers had moved the body from the alley, and as soon as it had come into the sunlight, it had turned to ash.
Vampires. There was no doubt in our minds. Someone was murdering vampires. When we told the chief of police, he told us something chilling. Caliphas had a huge vampire population living under the streets. The vampires and humans had lived in peace for 800 years, since the Shining Crusade - a war between humans and the undead hordes of the Whispering Tyrant. The chief of police was worried that if someone was killing the vampires, they may decide to wreak vengeance and start a war. This was something that couldn't happen, as the living population would be massacred.
As we pondered on how to calm this situation, the day came around for the meeting of the Order. We went along and we were granted access to the Order's immense library. We found out what the peculiar amulet was - it was an object called a Moribund Key - a magical key used by the Whispering Way that opened hidden doors. The librarian that was with us recognised the symbols and showed us a gargoyle statue that was in the vaults that had been removed from an old cemetery. On its head was a depiction of the key, along with some runes that matched the key. When we used the key like a combination lock, an image of the city appeared in mid air. Near the centre was a building that was lit up in green - a safehouse used by the Whispering Way.

We made our way to the building, used the key to enter the safehouse, and found - nothing. It had been abandoned for years. However, as we were about to leave, a tall man emerged from the shadows. He introduced himself as Quinley Basdel. He said he knew people who could tell us where the Whispering Way had gone. In exchange for this information, he wanted us to help him find the killer of his mother. His mother had been the first victim of the vampire killings - she was a vampire! Quinley was half vampire! He informed us that he had connections with the vampires living under the city, and that their leader could help us with the Whispering Way.
We were at a dilemma. We needed to know the whereabouts of the Whispering Way, but in order to do that, we needed to ally with the vampires of Caliphas. The paladins, the clerics, and even myself, were not happy with this, but it looked like we had no other choice. So, we headed off with Quinley to meet with the leader of the city's vampires...

Part XIII: Journey to the Bottom of the Bay

When we returned to Illmarsh, we discovered that the mayor had gone missing, along with several other townsfolk. No-one had seen what had happened.
So, we couldn't report our success. Our only lead now was the skum cave at the bottom of Avalon Bay. But how would we get to it?
The answer was simple. Horace Croon, the old man we had encountered on the way in Illmarsh, had been working on a submersible. When we approached him, he was more than happy to lend a hand.
We climbed into the metallic fish - it was hot and very cramped - and it was slowly lowered into the water. Through the windows we could see nothing but blue. As we descended, the light faded, and darkness engulfed us. The submersible began to make frightening creaking sounds, but it held together. Suddenly, we noticed that there was a light shining in the darkness. At the bottom of the lake, built against a submerged cliff, was a fantastic dome of metal and glass, emanating bright light - bright enough to see the surrounding area.

The submersible stopped, and we could see a cave entrance a few hundred yards away. Ferdibrand cast Breathe Water spells, Ellavorn equipped her magical helmet, and we stepped out onto the sea bed. It was an amazing sensation. The weight of the water pressing down on us was incredible, but our magic prevented us from getting crushed.
As we made our way to the cave, Ellavorn's trident lit up. "Something is coming," she said. As we turned, a monstrous octopus, covered with thorny barbs, swam into view and attacked us. Bravely we attacked it as it assailed us with underwater magic. But soon it was defeated, and we made our way into the cave.
At the back of the cave was a glass wall, beyond which we could see a dry tunnel. Cautiously, we touched the glass and found that it was soft, so we pushed ourselves through it and into the tunnel beyond.
The skum tunnels were bereft of skum, their numbers brutally murdered by the alien invaders. But the invaders were still there. Peculiar creatures, born from a nightmare, roamed the tunnels.
We fought tall, thin, faceless creatures that tried to tear us to pieces, fat, tentacled, plant-like creatures that assaulted our minds with psionic attacks, and large, hairy, multi-armed beasts.(That fight was rather interesting. As the fight started, Skalif ran over to the beast, grabbed it, and vanished! A short while later, he reappeared, without the thing. He informed us that he had teleported back to home of the werewolves in the Shudderwood and given them the creature, which they had hungrily turned on.)
During our exploration, we came across a room filled with large glass cylinders, some of which had brains floating in liquid in them. After some experimentation, we worked out the use for some buttons and switches on the cylinders, and found that we could talk to the brains! It was horrifying. Each brain belonged to an Illmarsher. Each one had gone insane. And among them, we found the brain of Mayor Greedle. Through his bouts of insanity, he told us that the whole complex had been invaded by alien creatures known as mi-go, and that they were trying to open a portal to bring their god to this world.
We had to stop them!
As we continued, we found a powerful weapon. It was a mace, whose head was shaped like four ravens. The weapon - which was called the Ravens Head, was a powerful weapon against undead. Ichabod happily took it and looked forward to the chance to use it in battle.
Finally we pushed our way through another glass wall and entered the dome we had seen from outside. There were several long, spindly creatures with wings and tentacles, standing around a table, on which was strapped the dark rider we had been looking for.
The creatures - the mi-go we had been told of - attacked, but they were soon defeated. We went to free the dark rider, but he began to convulse on the table. Skalif grabbed him and teleported to the other side of the room, but it was too late. With a scream, the dark rider exploded, revealing a tentacled creature within him that grew very quickly to a huge size.
We began attacking it, but it was incredibly powerful, and we were hardly scratching it. The paladins then had an idea. Ichabod ordered us to retreat back through the glass wall. As we did, Ellavorn donned her water breathing helmet, raised her pistol, and fired at the glass of the dome. There was a crack. Then another. And then the glass gave in, and the sea rushed in to the dome. The creature flailed around in the water and was quickly crushed by the sheer weight of the water.
Hastily, we made our way back to the waiting submersible. The glass wall between the dome and the caves began to crack, and water was starting to seep in. We had to escape before the whole complex was flooded.
We got back to the submersible and began our slow ascent to the surface. In the darkness we could make out an enormous shape that seemed to be all tentacles and goat hooves. The aliens' god had partially manifested itself here, but with the killing of its offspring, it had no more hold on this world, so it had no choice but to return to its realm beyond the stars.
Once back on the surface, we watched as objects from the caves floated to the surface. Among them was the remains of the dark rider's clothes. In the pocket we found a letter that said that he was to get the Raven Head from Illmarsh and join his colleague in Caliphas.
So, we bid farewell to Horace and headed for Caliphas, the capital city of Ustalav.

Part XII: Under Undiomede House

We continued our exploration of Undiomede House, trying to find out what exactly was happening in Illmarsh. In an abandoned room we were attacked by horrific looking creatures that materialised out of thin air. They were vaguely dog-like, but were straight out of a twisted mind's nightmare. They attacked us without remorse, and when they died they merely turned into black vapour and disappeared.


After this, we discovered the grisly truth behind what had been going on in Illmarsh. Centuries ago, the founder of Illmarsh - Cassius Undiomede - had forged a pact with a local tribe of Skum that lived in Avalon Bay. The townsfolk would give the Skum their second and third born daughters, and in exchange, the Skum would ensure that the towns fishermen would always have full nets of fish, and sometimes even forgotten treasure from the Bay's floor. This had been going on for centuries, and when the Undiomede line died out, it was the local clergy who took up the responsibility of handing over the children. So this is why the mayor wanted us to stop the priests.

We also discovered a peculiar shaped necklace. This, we discovered, was a key. On one of the druidic stones that the house was built upon, we discovered an indentation that matched the necklace's shape. Putting the necklace into the indentation opened up a magical door. Gingerly we stepped through, and found ourselves on a descending staircase built into a natural tunnel.

The tunnel soon opened out into a small network of caves which seemed to be an outpost for part of the tribe of Skum that the priests had been dealing with. However, instead of finding bloodthirsty Skum out to kill us, we encountered a small group of very frightened Skum. Their chieftan, although clearly insane, was able to tell us that their home in Avalon Bay had been invaded by terrifying creatures that had taken over. He also told us that they were trapped in these caves as an "eerie light" was lurking nearby, killing everything it encountered, or driving them insane.

Cautiously we continued our exploration and found more evidence of Illmarsh's traditions. We found a cave that was meant to house human women and children - obviously those taken from the townsfolk. However, what we found was their remains. They seemed to have turned to a chalky substance, which disintegrated at our touch.

We did find one survivor. At the bottom of a pit we found a young woman, tenderly clutching the chalky remains of a baby. She was completely white - hair, skin, eyes, everything. And she was clearly insane. She kept muttering that the light would make everything better. When we tried to help her, she snarled at us like a wild beast, and became very violent. So we had no choice but to leave her.

We more exploration we encountered "the light". Hovering above the floor of the cave was a light. It was an unearthly thing, like something you glimpse between the stars at night. Beautiful, but at the same time unnerving and sinister. And it wasn't friendly. It lashed out at us with beams of energy. It took all of our skills and magical power to destroy it. But eventually it glared like the sun and then vanished, gone forever.

With still no sign of the dark rider that we were searching for, we headed back to Illmarsh to inform the mayor that we had dealt with the sinister priests...

Part XI: The Horrors of Illmarsh

Hot on the trail of the dark riders, we ended up in the town of Thrushmoor, nestled on the edge of Avalon Bay.  We found out that the riders had changed horses here and then split up. No-one knew where one of them had gone, but the other was seen heading south, along the coast, towards the town of Illmarsh.

As we headed along the coast road, the sky darkened, and a storm began to brew. The waves smashed up against the road edge, and a light rain began to fall. Suddenly we noticed a fishing trawler caught among the waves. It seemed to have only one crewman, who was struggling earnestly to steer the ship safely towards a nearby dock. Without hesitation, Skalif took to the air and flew over to the ship, and with his knowledge of the sea, he managed to bring the ship into the dock without any damage.

The grateful man was a white-haired old man named Horace Croon. he told us that he had been testing his new invention - a craft able to traverse underwater - when the storm hit. The rest of the crew had jumped overboard, leaving him on his own. Once we were sure he was ok, we said our goodbyes and continued towards Illmarsh.

The villagers of Illmarsh were insular and suspicious of strangers (which is nothing new in Ustalav), and our enquiries soon came to the attention of the local mayor - Early Greedle. He told us that the local church to Gozreh (god of nature, weather and the sea), the Recondite Order of the Indomitable Sea, was up to something strange and sinister, and he wanted us to put a stop to their evil ways.

So, we investigated the church, and found some clerics who were definitely not happy to see us. We also discovered that the church was actually dedicated to a demon lord known as Dagon, god of evil sea creatures, and that Gozreh was just a cover. We also discovered several corpses of locals without their heads. My medical knowledge could tell that they hadn't been decapitated with a weapon, but more like ripped off.

We also found something disturbing about a tradition of Illmarsh. Every second and third daughter that a couple had was given up for fostering to people known simply as "the neighbours". No-one knew who these mysterious people were, but apparently the young girls fostered lived a life of luxury with the people, but were never seen again. In exchange, the neighbours made sure that the fishermen's nets were always full. And it was the church that dealt with all of this.

However, it seemed that the neighbours hadn't been seen for a while, so the leader of the church had gone to a ruined manor house in the nearby swamp called Undiomede House - the house of the original founding family of Illmarsh - where he could supposedly contact the neighbours.

At the ruined house, we encountered High Priest Voltiaro and his lackeys. As usual, none of them were happy to see us. Voltiaro put up a fight, but Ichabod's strong sword arm soon brought him down. Or so we thought. As the fatal blow struck, Voltiaro staggered backwards, and then, to our horror, his head exploded, and hundreds of writhing tentacles emerged from his neck. And he kept on fighting! When we finally defeated this nightmare, four of the tentacles detached themselves as large slug-like creatures that slithered off into the shadows. One of them latched on to the grizzly bear that Ferdibrand had summoned, and it began to burrow towards its brain. Fortunately, Ellavorn was able to remove it before it got there.

What was going on in Illmarsh? What was the tentacled horror and the slug things it became? We needed to explore the rest of the ruined manor to find out...

Part X: Wolves and the Way

We headed through the Shudderwood to the ancient temple known as the Stairs of the Moon, now the throne of the packlord of the werewolf tribes. With us was Duristan from the Lodge, who was adamant he was coming with us. When we got there, we discovered the place under siege. Mathus, the head of one of the tribes, and his allies had taken the temple. The tribes who were opposed to him were surrounding it. However, as soon as we arrived, Duristan decided to find a way through to the temple on his own, and he quickly left us, despite our protests.

As the rest of us waited, Skalif used his magic to teleport himself directly into the temple, where he encountered Mathus and his allies. With some skillful diplomacy, Skalif convinced Mathus that we were not here to cause any harm, and that we just wanted to know where the Whispering Way had gone. Mathus told us that the Way, lead by a man named Auren Vrood, had taken the packlord's heart and headed east towards a place called Feldgrau.

As we started our journey eastward, we met with the one werewolf tribe that were trying to remain neutral in the whole werewolf crisis - the Prince's Wolves. Their leader told us that some of his people had gone after the Whispering Way, hot on the trail of the Demon Wolf Tribe, who had gone after them to retrieve the packlord's heart. He also gave us tokens to show to his tribe that we were friendly.

It took us six days to reach Feldgrau. When we arrived, we saw that the village was in complete ruin. Most of the houses had been burnt down, and there were no locals to be found.

While exploring, we encountered Duristan. He told us that he and some friends had decided to follow the Demon Wolves here and they were eager for all of us to meet up. So, we set off through the village, trying to avoid the patrols of Whispering Way cultists that were patrolling the ruins.

We found the members of the Prince's Wolves who had come here. And they told us that we were walking into a trap. When Duristan had disappeared from us, he had been captured by the Demon Wolves and infected with lycanthropy. He was now one of them, and he was leading us to our doom. However, before we had a chance to confront him, Duristan changed into a werewolf, so the Prince's Wolves leapt on him and tore him to pieces.

The wolves told us of a ghost that had been seen in the ruins of the inn. We went to see it, and found the spirit of the inn keeper. He told us of the tragic history of Feldgrau: - 20 years ago, an army had stopped in town on the way to a battle elsewhere, and the inn keeper had given them a place to stay. And then, during the night, the army burnt down the village and massacred everyone. The ghost said that the Whispering Way were now raising the dead villagers as a skeletal army.

They had to be stopped.

So, myself, Skalif, and a werewolf teleported into the building that Auren Vrood was using as his headquarters, while the others took on the undead army amassing in the square.

Vrood was not an easy opponent. In fact, his first act was to cast a spell that killed both the werewolf and Skalif! I was on my own against him! Fortunately, the clerics and paladins were quick to destroy the army, and rushed in to help me.

With Auren Vrood dead and the undead army destroyed, the remaining cultists fled. Fortunately, we found a scroll of Raise Dead, and Bazak the priest was able to bring Skalif back to us. But the packlord's heart  couldn't be found. The ghost of the inn keeper then stepped in to help us by retrieving the memories from Vrood's body. We saw that the heart, along with the Seasage Effigy stolen from Lepidstadt University, and the spirit of Warden Hawkin from Harrowstone Prison had been given to a pair of dark riders who had ridden south to the town of Thrushmoor.


So, we headed south, on the trail of the dark riders...

Part IX: Ascanor Lodge

Hot on the trail of the Whispering Way, we headed into the Shudderwood towards Ascanor Lodge.

A bit of background for you. The Shudderwood is known for its werewolf tribes. They keep to themselves mainly, never interfering with life outside the wood's borders.
Ascanor Lodge is a hunting lodge for the rich and powerful, situated within the Shudderwood.

When we finally arrived at the Lodge, we were refused entry. The halfling doorman said that our passes that we had been given were not recognised, and so he blankly refused to let us in.
As we were arguing with him, a group of people barged past us. One was a gruff looking ranger. The other was a nobleman with a group of lackeys carrying his belongings. The nobleman stared at us in awe when he realised we were adventurers, and begged us to accompany him on a hunt. He introduced himself as Duristan, of one of the wealthy families from Ardeal. He was out hunting werewolves, and had a lead on where one might be.

We followed a trail to a clearing where we discovered a dead stag. We also discovered a pair of dire boars who were guarding the kill.
Once the boars were dealt with, we realised it was getting dark, so Duristan decided to set up camp. The ranger said he wasn't staying and headed back to the Lodge.
Once the camp was set up, Duristan wanted to hear stories of our exploits as adventurers. But as we were talking, the night was pierced with the sound of a scream.
Hurrying to the sound, we found that Duristan's lackeys were all dead. Standing over their bodies was a large, grey-furred werewolf.  It told us that we should stay out of werewolf affairs, and that if we continued to side with Mathus, we would end up dead. It then bounded off through the woods.

Who was Mathus?

Returning to the camp, we spent the night, then returned to the Lodge with Duristan.
The halfling doorman was waiting for us, and he apologised about not letting us in. he said that our invites were indeed valid, but he had not recognised them. He also said that the Lodge's overseer would like to meet us.

The interior of Ascanor Lodge was finely decorated, as befitting a hunting lodge for the upper class. We were shown upstairs and into a library, where we were met by the Lodge's overseer - Estovion Lozarov. He also apologised for us not being let in, and said that the Lodge and all of its facilities were at our disposal.

Once we had settled in, we set about finding out about whether the Whispering Way had been here. Most of the other guests knew nothing about them. One guest, though, a woman known as Madame Ivanja, knew something, but wasn't telling. Skalif turned on the charm, and soon he was in Ivanja's good books. We found out that the Whispering Way had indeed been here, though not for very long. They had asked Estovion to arrange a meeting between them and the man called Mathus. The meeting went on for about an hour in secret, and then they left.

Mathus again. We needed to find out who he was.

Using the Lodge's libraries, we found what we were looking for. Mathus was the leader of one of the five werewolf tribes that inhabit the Shudderwood. A ruthless leader, unliked by the other tribes, and one that wanted to be packlord  (the one who ruled over all of the tribes).

The current packlord of the werewolves had been killed by the Whispering Way and her heart had been stolen. Normally, when the packlord is killed, the person who takes her place eats her heart. But with the heart stolen, war had broken out among the tribes over who would be the next packlord.

The information also told of an ancient temple of Desna, known as the Stairs of the Moon, that was now the highthrone of the packlords, and the gathering place for all of the werewolf tribes. And also where the Whispering Way had stolen the packlord's heart.

It was time for us to venture deep into werewolf territory and discover what was going on...

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Part VIII: Rescuing the Count

We continued our exploration of the castle. We entered a series of interconnected towers that were partially flooded. It seemed as if someone wanted to stop us continuing, as all access to the upper levels had been severed. Fortunately, our dwarf cleric is a master with stone, and managed to shape a staircase for us so we could reach the top floor.

From the top floor we crossed a slender bridge to the final tower. Shining in the sun was a large lightning rod protruding from the roof.

As we entered, we were met by a huge, slavering beast, stitched together from pieces of animals. It packed quite a punch, and despite the fighting skills of our paladins, and an unusual display of Skalif's sword-wielding moustache, it would not die. Ellavorn then had an idea and took out a Harrow card that she had and threw it to the floor. With a command, she told the creature to flee. The beast fled through the door, and in a mad panic, fell over the edge of the bridge into the waters below.

We explored the tower and found notes and diagrams talking about a machine that could be used to summon and control The Beast of Lepidstadt. So that's what the Whispering Way were doing here. They had used the device to make the Beast steal the Seasage Effigy from the Lepidstadt University.

Suddenly, a small imp-like creature appeared and told us that Count Caromarc was being held prisoner upstairs by an enormous, ravenous beast.

Cautiously we moved upstairs. We found the Count imprisoned inside some sort of iron maiden device. And guarding him was an enormous creature - part human, part spider, part scorpion. We knew it would be too strong for us to take on, so we had only one choice - get to the roof and summon The Beast.

Skalif flew out of the window and up onto the roof. There he manipulated the machine, causing a storm to break over the tower. As the storm raged, Skalif said "I can sense him inside my head. He's coming."

A short while later, the door crashed open, and The Beast stood with us. Furiously he charged at the creature, and an immense battle began. We aided The Beast as best we could, and soon the creature lay dead.

We rescued the Count, who thanked us for bringing his "son" home to him. He also told us that the Whispering Way were headed into the Shudderwood and a place called Ascanor Lodge.

We left the castle and continued following the trail of the Whispering Way once more.