As they arrived in Kaupaapunki, they were immediately met by a dark, suspicious looking dwarf woman named Misouk.
Vigdis wished to see her father alone before the funeral, and apologised that with the upcoming funeral all guest rooms in the Keep were already occupied. But she put them up in the Inn and asked her to come visit her privately at the Keep the next morning.
“From Ice you were born,
with Steel have you ruled,
on Stone you have fallen,
in Ice shall you rest.”
Closing with all swearing “Honor to the Fallen”
After the ceremony Vigidis encouraged them to mingle and take note of some of the attendees and get impressions.
Before they could interview any more attendees, Masouk asked them to come with her to speak privately with Vigdis. It appeared that there was a problem with the pending Ascension ceremony for Vigdis to take her father’s place as head of the House. A symbol of office – a Dragon Claw Amulet – was supposed to be presented to each Lord upon assuming the role. But the amulet was *not* on her father’s body as it should have been. It had had a magical fail-safe cast upon it to teleport it to the Kaikonnen family vault if it was removed from the Lord’s person. Without the amulet, Lord Stonebeard would have a legitimate claim to contest Vigdis’ ascension. So they needed to retrieve it from the Vault – deep inside the family necropolis – and then determine who had attempted to take it. Seemed simple enough. But there was a problem…
Masouk had already looked in the Necropolis, and heard voices and saw shadows that should *not* have been there. And the mechanism to open the vault apparently required at least three people in three different locations. So she needed their assistance.
They decided to have Kat, Roland, and Falcon each position themselves in one of the tombs with mechanisms, with Tess and Masouk in the central area. Tess could most easily teleport/fly to whoever needed backup if an ambush appeared, and Masouk would be ready to help defend her if attackers appeared there.
Kat got to him first while Falcon and Masouk were defending Tess, and made a pincushion of the flying Soraks while they were distracted assailing Roland. And Tess recovered enough from her injury to help finish them off.
Inside the Vault they found the Claw Amulet safe and sound, and quickly returned it to Vigdis for the Ascension.
After the Ascension, Vigdis asked them to assist Masouk in investigating further. Masouk said she didn’t have any strong leads, but her instincts were telling her they should check into the movements of the Thadeos. It was a thin lead, but she said he had not been nearly as present and involved in the preparations for the funeral and Ascension as she would have expected.
After following leads and interviewing guards, they determined that Thadeos had been seen entering the Mines the night before the funeral – which was an unusual place for him to be going at that time. They headed to the mines… just in time to find Miners being attacked by Soraks!
After defending the Miners and killing the Soraks, the Miners told them that they had seen Thadeos enter a small glacial passage earlier, and had gone to investigate it themselves thinking he had found a hidden vein of ore. Instead they had stumbled into Soraks.
They followed the passage indicated by the miners, and found a small chamber with a cage… a cage containing Thadeos! When they went to free him, Thadeos also appeared on an nearby platform – saying now he understood why the Soraks complained about Roland so much and transforming into… an Incubus Demon!
Several demonic servants – Vrock and Hezrou – appeared to assist. The Incubus opened with a spell that slew poor Thadeos in his cage, and the battle was on!
After defeating the demons, Vigdis appeared in the tunnel. Masouk explained the situation, and together they carried Thadeos’ body back to the Keep.
At the Keep, Vigdis contacted her head priest. Maja had been researching an old Tirmarian spell ritual which had not been tried in living memory. A ritual to Speak with the Dead. Vigdis insisted they all spend the night in her chambers for safety while Maja prepared for the ritual.
In the morning Maja cast the spell, and they were given the opportunity to ask three questions of Thadeos spirit. He gave frustratingly vague answers to some questions, but he did indicate that he was caged by Vigdis’ own cousin, Ragnhild! He had seen Ragnhild attempt to take the amulet from Lord Kaikonnen’s body, and followed her into the mines. There she had ambushed him and locked him the cage. They were unable to question him further before the ritual ended.
After the battle they were able to take Ragnhild captive. Ragnhild ranted about how they “Your light is doomed. You thought you had won and barred Sorr-Tarr from this world?”, but would not elaborate further. Vigdis directly demanded to know if she had been involved in the death of Lord Kaikonnen, but Ragnhild would only say “She wished she had plunged the dagger in his heart herself”!. Vigdis was so furious with her that she didn’t trust her immediate judgement. She turned Ragnhild over to Masouk to be imprisoned while she decided what to do with her.
After the sentencing, they still needed to determine what to do next. Clearly the Soraks were now involved with Demons in some way, and had had a peculiar interest in her father’s Amulet. And were trying in some new way to clear a path for Sorr-Tarr to invade Solasta. But the specifics of how these threads tied together and what was being attempted eluded them.
Tess asked Vigdis again about the Claw Amulet – and particularly about the ornate box used to contain it – as that was clearly of old Manacalon make and *not* Dwarven. Vigdis told them it was in some way related to a wizard named Exonaika and the Pact of the Claw. The Pact of the Claw was an old, near-forgotten agreement between the five Great Houses forming the original basis of the Snow Alliance – and dating back even before the Cataclysm. She told them they should seek out her old friend Violet for more information on the subject, as Violet was well versed in both Manacalon and Dwarven history. They could reach Violet immediately – because the Keep had a hidden Major Gate and so did Violet’s residence. Tess wondered aloud what sort of person Violet was to have her own Major Gate, but Vigdis would say no more. She simply gave them the passcode to the Keep Gate and asked them to trust Violet and seek her guidance.
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