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...
