I find myself with a few calm moments and I look back at the events of the last few days.
Grel came back to town with news of a plot to assassinate the Duke and lay the blame on our Temple. Joffry and Lidia returned to Enonia and much to my delight, Joffry has been anointed by Tangadorin as a fellow priest. Kjeld decided it was time to come out of hiding and have a parade for the Old Gods. I knew trouble would follow, but Tangadorin would want his name spread, so I agreed. All in all, the parade went better than expected, only near the end did some hooligans disrupt it. A small fight broke out which I was unable to stop, but none was seriously hurt. The city guards told us to disperse, and that was the end of it, or so I thought.
The next day, some unknown trouble maker roused a mob to attack the worshippers of the old gods. Things were getting far out of hand. The marshal’s men put a swift and fairly brutal end to the uprising.
We decided to seek out the Duke’s assistant who was already in town. We never saw him, just some of his guards. Mazlor heard about a haunted house where the residents were worried, and since we had nothing better to do we investigated. Turned out there are secret tunnels al throughout Enonia. One was under the house. We followed it and found two men burying an indistinguishable body. We apprehended them and had them lead us through the tunnels. We took the body to the Temple of the light. There Mazlor and Averin conversed with the corpse and found out that it was the Duke’s assistant. He had been killed and apparently replaced with a doppleganger just as Irem was.
Things look very bad, I am not sure how this will turn out! I pray to Tangadorin that he will help defend his people, and help reveal the truth of this awful plot.
The next day, we went to the Temple of the light, to perhaps get aid in our search. Averin told Mazlor that the High preiestess of Rhonderin was on her way, but she feared for her safety. As hers was a voice of moderation and acceptance, we decided it would be a good idea to see to her safety. A good thing too, for we foiled an ambush set to attack her. In all honesty, we were not doing spectacularly. We were greatly outnumbered and Things were not going well. Gizelle called for everyone to stand down, which we did. Then I went forth with the leader of the ambush to explain. The other cleric tried to convince Gizelle that we were there to attack her and he was there to defend her. I tried to explain the truth, but with Mazlor held, I feared this would not end well. Gizelle used a spell to determine who was lying, and promptly dismissed the lightbringer. With the help of her and her guards, we dispatched the lightbringers and took most prisoner. We escorted Giselle back to Enonia and sent the lightbringers to the Marshall’s jail.
The next morning, we awoke to news that the lightbringers had all escaped. We finally got to see the Marshal and told him of the plot and secret tunnels. He belatedly remembered that there was a tunnel leading in to the dungeon which he then caused to be locked and guarded. The Marshal told us that Orielle and Godfrey had been questioning him profusely about the guards and preparation for the Dukes arrival. Mazlor told him that they were not to be trusted and he should prepare some contingencies. We asked for some men to help us with a planned raid on a lightbringer stronghold, and he gave us 10 men.
Ward had informed us that there was some gathering going on in the basement of the Militiamen and the Bawd. We decided that Mazlor and the men would attack from the ground, and the rest of us would go in through the secret tunnel. On our way, we encountered some damned which effectively cut off any retreat. We managed things quite well, with Mazlor’s team gaining access from above, and us from below. We managed to capture the ringleader Marcus. The orator was killed, and many townsmen taken prisoner. We managed to rescue a former guard of the duke named Vextos.
We then rushed back to the temple, grabbed Giselle and went to the keep. Unfortunatly, we were too late! The Duke had arrived! We made our way into the keep after the Duke’s party. By This time, it was just me, Joffrey, Mazlor, Itsy, Fergus, Balto, Vilheim and Joseph, Giselle and Vextos
The marshal had us taken to the Barracks, where we were detained. Vextos was eager to report to the commander of the guard. Giselle had a guard escort him to the commander to report. Then she left to prepare for the feast. Eventually, we were escorted to the Marshal’s study to wait for him to speak with us. When he finally came in, Mazlor showed him the papers that we had discovered in Marcus’s lair that implicated Godfrey and Dame Oriele. He took a few to show to the Duke and arranged to have both of them arrested. Yinnivax came in shortly after and told us that Godfrey had gone quietly, but the Dame went screaming and shouting. We asked about Vextos, but no one had heard from him. Kalista, the captain of the Duke’s guard came in, and when we told her about the skinstealer and Vextos, she was surprised, Vextos had never reported in. It seems that Vextos was the skinstealer! The body of the guard who escorted him was found. Mazlor, Fergus, Balto and I were allowed to sleep in the kitchens to stay near at hand, but Joffrey, Itsy, Josef and Vilheim had to stay in the barracks. In the middle of the night. a gurd came and told us there was a struggle going on, the Duke was in danger! We ran to the Duke’s chamber, but there was a magical shield on the door and the guards couldn’t get in. I quickly dispelled it, and we broke through. We found the Duke gravely injured and three guards fighting an animated bed. I ran to the duke and gave him a healing potion. I would have healed him there, but he wanted to get out immediately. So, while Fergus and Balto helped fight the bed, I helped the Duke out of the chamber. Once he was out, I cast a cure spell on the Duke, the guards almost attacked me while I was at it, but Mazlor assured them it was ok. The Marshal came with the Duke’s mage Joseph. Mazlor and I did not wish to leave the Duke’s side while he was in danger, so the Marshal, the Duke, Joseph, Mazlor and I all went to the basement where Joseph swore us to secrecy, as he took the Duke to a magical chamber which he activated to send the Duke back to Rhonderin. The Duke said he would be back in two days, and charged the Marshal with finding the skinstealer. The Marshal then charged us with the task! We have two days to find and kill or capture the skinstealer! This seems to me to be a form of Chaos magic., I suspect Grel will be up to this task. I must meditate and commune with Tangadorin.