Tolth 10-11, 652 DR: The group is invited to meet with thieves in Tavernton to discuss the death of Jak the Elder. A threat is left for Jak that the people of Cænden are in danger. The group learn of Ferret’s plans and returns to Cænden to find murders have begun. Jak leads the group in slaughter. One escapes and another is released.

Continued from The Minion.

Talídor, 10 Tolth 652

Alcèrra left the tavern to perform a ritual in the Cænden Graveyard. Jak met an old friend, Tarad Green, who invited Jak and his group to a farm in town, to discuss things. Following Alcèrra ‘s ritual, the group wandered through the dark and foggy marsh to Tarad’s. Tarad explained that he had spoken with Jak the Elder on the night previous, and went on tell Jak of things that were said. It was decided that Tarad’s family were not safe and should spend the night in a local drainage casement. Jak led the group toward another casement deeper in the marsh.

The night passed without incident.

Padídor, 11 Tolth 652

In the morning, Jak explored the depths of the cistern, but after hearing a howl in the distant tunnels they thought it better to explore the pipes at a later date.

Leaving the cistern, the group traveled back to the Fiery Wench Tavern where Jak encountered a man named Hurrun, who told him that Aras wished an audience with Jak and his friends in Tavernton.

The group left for Tavernton. The Northbridge guard explained that a dressy man named Elsun Scarlet had asked that Jak meet him at the Fiery Wench that night or “the marsh would be thick with the dead.” In Tavernton the group was met by a woman associate of Aras’s. She told them where Aras could be found. Leaving the inn, the group went to the Broken Glass Inn, a dark and seemingly abandoned building, blocks away. As they spoke, Alcèrra looked deep into their hearts. There, Aras and friends explained about Ferret’s (Elsun Scarlet) plans and the two groups decided to finish Ferret once and for all.

The groups reached the Mothsmire bridge by evening. Mishara found evidence that a fight had occurred, but no bodies were found. Nearing town, a thief scout was spotted just inside Cænden, and at Jak’s command, Mishara fired three arrows into the ill-fated thug. The group entered town, building by building, killing another thief on the road to Northmarsh, and others that had gathered around the body of Jarda Keeper before the Fiery Wench Tavern. Mishara entered the front of the building, but was ambushed by two unknown assailants. He fought bravely, but would probably have died if Jak hadn’t arrived to fatally skewer Ferret, while Alcèrra impaled the woman backstabber with her trident. With the thief leader dead, Jak turned to Aras and plunged his spear into the coward. Seeing a chance to escape, the last of Ferret’s people, Aunda the Torturer fled from the back of the building, and raced away. One of Mishara’s arrows found her, but was not enough to stop the thief. After murdering Aras, Jak raced after Aunda from Mothsmire bridge to the far Wesridge gate. She was nowhere to be found.

Returning to Cænden, the gore-clad spear man learned of a surviving thief being held in a local home. With the help of Zard Ronad and Dedren Gamrud, they dragged the helpless man to the Northbridge and hanged him on a lantern post until dead. Jak returned to the village once more to address the assembled crowd. He was pleased by their attentiveness, unaware that as he spoke the shocked masses stared at his bloody hands and spear. In the background, the priestess of death moved slowly from body to body, offering solemn prayers into the quiet night. She stopped only once that evening, curiosity pulling her from her task. Turning her attention to the crowd, she looked into the hearts there, and sadly found her suspicions confirmed. A heart that had been invisible to her at the Broken Glass Inn, now shone with the hue of those it had destroyed.

Continued in Burying the Dead.

Characters

• Alcèrra Nàdrelan
• Jak of Cænden
• Kaithah Argentale
• Mishara Mythdaras
• Aras: killed
• Aunda of Darshshell
• Carad Farsh: killed
• Dedren Gamrud
• Doran of Darshshell
• Dorrod Rumm: killed
• Elsun “Ferret” Scarlet of Darshshell: killed
• Fallar of Darshshell
• Hurrun
• Jarda Keeper: killed
• Kurk of Darshshell
• Rayn Rumm
• Tarad Green
• Thorst of Darshshell
• Zard Ronad
• Zereb of Darshshell

Played: 26 Jan 1997