The party, after safely delivering Gofer, Wrench, and the latter’s two wounded assistants to a safe house belonging to their society, delivered their captured elemental to the Clifftop Adventurer’s Guild. Unfortunately, due to their long nap and other obstacles, they were not the first ones to turn in an elemental. Fortunately, the consortium needs more than one, and since the party’s specimen is so superior, they are more than happy to accept it too. A cash bounty is turned over to the party, and the Clifftop Adventurer’s promise to keep them in mind for future jobs. Maybe an expedition to the wild continent of Xen’Drik will be in the party’s future?
They return to Ghallanda Hall, which is still their base of operations, though they are now paying for their room and board. After sleeping away most of the day, Rhogar, the dragonborn paladin returns to them with dire news.
The ministerial branch of the Silver Flame has been massacred. In the night, while the party was pushing chumps into lava and wrestling elementals and running on ceilings, the Daask (allegedly) broke into the clerical and scholarly enclave of the religious order, and slew all the neophytes and teachers present. Rhogar has been patrolling the outer perimeters of the enclave, while the City Watch has locked it down, by orders of the dwarven paladin Steve, the Grand Templar of the Silver Flame.
The human wizard Kyllar looks on the door to their private room, and notices a note. It is from Asmund, the paladin from the train. His small order (currently just him and his master are in Sharn) are worried about the possibility of a devastating crusade. All they know of the violence is what Steve has told them, and they are hesitant to commit to something so extreme without verifying it for themselves. Neither Asmund nor his master is stealthy, so Asmund has asked the party to infiltrate the enclave, investigate the scene and report what they find.
The halfling rogue Shadowale has also heard of the massacre and imminent threat of crusade through his underworld contacts. He tells the party that a hit is being considered on a high-ranking Templar in an attempt to stop a crusade from being proclaimed.
The human monk Turnin, and the gnome barbarian Gnofulk are enthralled by the dropping of knowledge, but have none to offer themselves in this case, though Gnofulk remembers the warforged terrorists from the train, and vows to keep an eye out for wayward gears.
Kyllar prepares a note for Asmund, and gives it to his still-unnamed kobold pet, shooing him out the door to go deliver the message. The party gears up, and sets out.
The clerical enclave for the Silver Flame is very high up in Sharn, and spans similar levels of a few towers. The height is so great, that the usual spiderweb of tower-to-tower bridges and multiple entrances and causeways are absent; there are only two official entrances to the enclave, and the City Watch will be guarding all known routes to it.
From a distance, the party surveys the enclave. They decide that the direct approach will serve them best, and approach it from the sanctuary entrance, marching in formation. They are stopped by five members of the City Watch. Rhogar, at the head of the formation halts, and clears his draconic throat to speak for the party.
When the guards ask what the party is doing, Rhogar’s mind, exhausted after an already long day, draws a seemingly endless series of blanks. He forgets not only the name of his guild, but the secrecy part of the assignment, tells the guardsmen that a big man hired them to investigate the scene of the crime. The guards aren’t convinced, but also aren’t concerned, as Rhogar’s bluffs are so innocently (if unconvincingly) uttered.
The party retreats, and decides to approach from the other entrance, near the dining hall. They wisely refrain from impersonating kitchen staff, and instead approach the quartet of guards. After a brief conversation about curiosity, Turnin fumbles with a small bribe, and coins fall from his hand onto the sky bridge. After collecting them, the party retreats again. Fortunately, again, the party’s attempts at infiltration aren’t considered serious or threatening or noteworthy.
A bit disheartened at their lack of success, the party decides to approach the arboretum; a park on top of a tower adjacent to the clerical enclave. While a separate tower, with no direct access to the arboretum, the enclave does have a private observation deck overlooking the arboretum, and the party thinks they could find a way to enter via the deck, should they be able to get into the arboretum…
…but the Sharn City Watch has covered this possible entrance as well. While usually open to the public all day every day as a refuge from urban concerns, and a small sanctuary for traveling druids and those more in touch with nature, the Watch is guarding this entrance as well. Spotting a trio of guards on the western-most entrance to the arboretum, the party halts in the shadows, and gathers their wits to form a new plan.
They opt to play the bureaucracy card. Will a few minor illusions copying Rhogar’s Blademark’s Guild badge, again the party marches purposefully towards the city watch guards. This time, Kyllar does the talking, and convinces the guards that there was a mix-up in orders, and that the Blademark’s should guard this spot, and the Watch should be patrolling. Amazingly, it works. The guards leave to patrol, and the party takes up position guarding the sky bridge… for a few minutes.
Once the Watch is out of sight, Kyllar conjures an illusion of some nondescript guards in the entrance, and the party stealthy makes their way through the arboretum.
The arboretum sits atop a large, flat-topped tower. A tall, vine-covered wall encases it, preventing visitors from accidentally falling. A few natural-looking but artificial fountains bubble ceaselessly, and a variety of large trees reach into the sky.
The observation deck juts out from the enclave building, hanging a good sixty feet above the arboretum ground. After a brief discussion regarding order of operations, Turnin attaches a rope to himself, and with the aid of Kyllar’s magic, is able to jump from the arboretum wall to the wall of the enclave tower, and then scamper up to the observation deck. From there, he lowers down the rope, and the party slowly and quietly ascends to join the monk.
The party takes a moment to enjoy the view before entering the enclave. They find themselves in a library with 5 entrances. Shadowale creeps in, and does a circuit of the room, listening intently for any signs of other intruders, though hears nothing. A quick perusal of the shelves provides no real clues, and Turnin is ridiculed for still carrying around Brenda’s clerical tome on the Sealers of the Stone Maw. Still on the lookout for gears, now, in the cold stone of the enclave, not the arboretum, Gnofulk decides to expand his search to include small rodents and woodland creatures, who may have seen something. Everything is nice and orderly in the library, and the books and scrolls present are more history and treatises on official dogma rather than awesome spells.
The party adopts a methodical approach, and turns to enter the Reliquary, though they find their way blocked. The party can see wooden doors, but a lattice of ornate, unbroken metal work covers them, preventing passage. Shadowale can find no lock, so Kyllar prepares a spell to detect magic, and discovers that the door is locked by clerical magic, and only a cleric spell would unlock it.
Turnin remembers his tome, and casts one of their spells that the Silver Flame clerics taught him. The doors open, a reveal empty display cases and scroll racks. With some insight, the party is able to infer that these are all religious icons. Not only would it be hard for someone not of the Silver Flame to gain entry, the relics would also likely require some religious devotion to be of any use; no layman could wield them effectively.
The party abandons the Reliquary, and moves onto the study hall nearby. It is a large room, with eight smaller “cubby” rooms attached. All the rooms have tables and chairs, and everything is nice and tidy here.
They then move onto the Cloister, which is actually in an adjacent tower, and reached by an enclosed walkway. Inside, there a several windowless bare rooms, adorned with only a simple rug or mat on which to sit and meditate. Even Shadowale must crouch to enter these cramped rooms, and does, as he intently searches every room. Amazingly, when a rug is thrown back a trapdoor is revealed in one of the rooms!
The intrepid Gnofulk is brought in, and urged down through the trapdoor due to his inherent pathfinding abilities. It is a cramped way, but after descending down a winding stone staircase approximately three tall stories, Gnofolk reaches the end, and emerges into a small chamber. After messing with the wall, he is able to find another secret entrance, leading to a secluded alleyway.
Rhogar, a longtime-resident of Sharn, recalls an urban legend of a particularly lecherous halfling cleric, who was rumored to have continued in her escapades somehow despite being sequestered in the Silver Flame. It appears the party has confirmed an old urban legend. Gnofulk ascends, returning to the Cloister, and informing the party that he has found an exit for (most) of them (Rhogar is far too big).
Confidently, the party exits the Cloister and enters the Sanctuary via the library, where they assumed the carnage unfolded. They are disappointed. The Sanctuary is a massive room… but empty. A pulpit of sorts dominates one end of the room, the stage shared with a large sculpture of silver flames, which Kyllar is able to determine is actually magically enchanted, providing small . No pews or chairs are found here – believers are servants of goodness and the flame, and much approach in stances of humble supplication.
Nothing is immediately seen here, and Kyllar, with a small conjured flame in hand, begins a circuit of the huge room. As he reaches the end opposite the holy sculpture, he sees the crumpled forms of two bodies. Knowing there are guards on the other side of the Sanctuary doors, he quietly calls over the rest of the party to investigate…
The party knows that the enclave is guarded by Templar at night, is able to deduce that the guards (low-ranking paladins) were caught unaware as their swords are still in their scabbards. They are able to determine that they were killed by a series of devastating economical unarmed strikes; each blow was struck with practiced precision and with purpose, to silence; to cripple; to kill.
A Turnin and Shadowale regard the violence, they are struck by the varied placements. Strikes seemt to have come from a variety of angles and heights; to catch both guards aware, the killer would have been a flurry of violent activity.
Kyllar determines these doors are locked, and pockets the small keyring still on the person of one of the slain paladin guards. The party backtracks to the sculpture end of the Sanctuary, and departs the room towards the kitchens and dormitories.
Maintaining their methodical approach, the party makes a series of right turns, and enters the closest dormitory.
The common room is littered with bodies, but Rhogar is able to determine that these clerics died fighting, on their feet, felled by powerful unarmed strikes and by animal-like mauling and ripping. The party is able to determine that the clerics died at approximately the same time. As they investigate the bodies, the party finds that some of the assailants have died here as well. At first glance they appear to be Daask. Closer inspection finds them to be disguised long-dead zombies, and Kyllar is able to detect and find another necromantic control rod in the spines of one of the zombies. Detaching the head and artifact, the studious wizard uses a spare bag to house the grisly evidence.
The second dormitory is laid out the same, but had different events unfold. The common room, while messy with the grime of a throng of zombies, has no bodies – these are found in the bedrooms nearby. Rhogar is able to determine that these clerics were caught mostly by surprise; startled awake and slain in short order, killed by unthinking rends and gouges.
Evidence in hand, the party makes their way to the nearby dining hall. They find evidence of the zombies here as well; the numerous stools and tables are strewn about and everything is filthy. Three more paladin guards are found dead, taken again by surprise and again killed with precise and deadly unarmed blows.
The party, constantly positing theories since their arrival, begin to piece together a narrative… they quickly ruled out that Turnin was mind-controlled. And they also quickly realize that they still need to exit in secret. Wanting to map the secret cloister passage, the party decides to lower Rhogar back into the arboretum, using the rope that Turnin, strict follower-of-instructions-that-he-is, still has tied to his person, and has been trailing behind him the entire time. With Rhogar’s feet back on the ground, Kyllar instructs him to wind the rope back up, with Turnin dutifully does.
Rhogar exits the arboretum via the bridge guarded by Kyllar’s illusions, while the rest of the party returns to the Cloister passage. The space is cramped, and they descend slowly, but emerge into the secluded alley without incident. Gnofulk and Kyllar are able to quickly sketch out the location of this secret space, and will bring this to the Ghallanda Hall middleman for reward later…
The party reconvenes at Ghallanda Hall as the dawn breaks, and are greeted by Asmund, who asks what the party has found.
Kyllar relates the prevailing theory, with help from other party members, and backed up by the grisly evidence bag.
The party believes that Daask are being set-up. The paladin guards in the enclave were caught unaware, and killed by practiced, professional unarmed strikes. While unsure how this intruder entered, the party believes the intruder let in a throng of zombies disguised as Daask into the enclave by way of the dining hall. Once inside, the clerics were killed by the intruder and the zombies. The news is supported by the bits of disguises and by the necromancy rod recovered by Kyllar.
Asmund is still clad in plate; his face still hidden by a mask. Kyllar mentions, almost in passing, that the Reliquary was emptied. This seems to rouse something in Asmund though. The ministerial branch of the Silver Flame creates most of the potent religious icons for war, dolling them out only when they have proclaimed a crusade or deem a task worthy, and the Reliquary shouldn’t be accessible to someone without a clerical or paladin background. Something bad is brewing in Sharn…
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