Upon reporting back to the Baron he immediately agreed with Gunthik’s instinct – they needed to talk to Penelo about what they had seen.
They told Penelo they had seen another door like the one in the Red Crow Catacombs, but with somewhat different markings. She was stunned when they mentioned the appearance of demons. And didn’t have a ready answer as to why demons were guarding the door in the Rimefell mine but not the one in the catacombs.
She was struggling to come up with a connection – or anybody else who might shed some light. They mentioned having seen Cerulean in the catacombs, and she immediately knew the name. She said Cerulean – who she knew as Lord Emberheart – was actually one of the primary benefactors of her library. And she knew him as an experienced and well travelled adventurer who might be able to tell them more. She showed them the way to his manor on a map, and they set off.
Lord Cerulean’s manor was huge and opulent, with extensive gardens and many statues.
Bjorn was mesmerized by the statuary, and started on a detailed explanation of the variations in styles across the old Manacalon era before trailing off as he noticed the others’ quizzical looks. “What? I like art okay?” said the big barbarian defensively. “Its not my fault my companions are a bunch of uncultured bohemians.”
Cerulean’s servants appeared to be expecting them, and ushered them politely inside. Despite their meeting weeks ago having been brief, the Lord quickly recognized them and remembered their first meeting. He said he knew of the door, and asked their interest. They explained what they had seen, and when they mentioned the woman singing he seemed lost in memory. He whispered something about “She always believed her song was a gift of…” and then stopped himself. He would not say more beyond that “One should never take the word of another if they can discover the truth for themselves directly”, and then handed them a key – with the handle crafted into the shape of a crow’s head.
They looked around a bit before leaving, and Shea noticed an elaborate telescope near a window. And as she approached, it appeared to suddenly swivel itself to point at a nearby hill. She couldn’t resist peering through it, and saw it was pointed directly at a small temple
Shea was insistent that the telescope had pointed the temple out to her for a reason, and it was not far away, so Marcus agreed that they should investigate before leaving.
When they arrived they found a seemingly long abandoned temple to the God Einar. Inside they surprisingly found a priest still tending to the temple. She was named Kamirae, and said the temple had been the birthplace of the Paladin Order of the Life Regnant – now known as an order of wandering knights. She said the temple had been allowed to be forgotten because it was built atop the tomb of a great evil. An entity named Kael’zanith had been sealed here long ago by the Paladin Dathus. But the entity was slowly breaking free. In order to enter the tomb and deal with it properly, they would require “something the paladin had held dear”. But she could not say where such a thing could be found. So they could only promise to keep a look out. Kamirae said the gods would guide them to what they needed, just as they had guided them to her.
They returned to the Crossing and the Red Crow Catacombs, and made their way back to the door they had abandoned earlier. As promised, it opened easily to Cerulean’s key. Beyond it lay a tunnel leading down to older stone tunnels – adorned with symbols of the Red Crow. They soon came upon a ghostly elven woman. She could hear them, but did not appear to see them or recognize their words. She appeared to be having a conversation with someone unseen, and mentioned the red crow was their “blessed sign”. They would soon be in the “divine world” where “Arivad’s divided soul would be reunited after it was torn asunder by Sorr-Tarr”. And then she faded away. They were not at all sure what to make of that.
But upon continuing on they found greater concerns. They were ambushed by a wraith lord, risen zombies, and ethereal horrors. They fought them as best they could, but the fearsome foes overwhelmed Bjorn’s mind and sent him scurrying to huddle in a corner.
And they overwhelmed Tiana by sheer numbers – her speed and skill not sufficient to block necromantic and psychic assaults.
But Marcus and Shea were far more equipped to deal with such entities. Marcus sent all but the strongest of them cowering from his own aura…
While Shea determined that ectoplasm was, in fact, still eminently flammable with the right combination of arcane energies.
After recovering from that battle, they changed up tactics before progressing further – with Bjorn and Tiana now concentrating on the physical foes – zombies, skeletal archers, etc – and letting Marcus and Shea deal with the non-corporeal threats.
Eventually they came to a shrine to deep in the lower catacombs – where they once again met the ghostly elven woman…. and Lord Cerulean. He whispered to her, and she began speaking – as if to an unseen congregation. She spoke of Sorr-Tarr shattering Arivad, and the god Einar forming from the parts of him that escaped. But “the Priestess” promised there was a way to heal him. That their own souls could be used to power a ritual to restore Arivad to his former self. She proclaimed that the “Red Crow” had arrived, and it was time to fulfill their destinies. Then she looked frightened, and vanished once again.
Cerulean was still for a long time, staring at where she had been, and then turned to them. He said she had been Iris’thylia, a cleric of Mariake – goddess of healers. And she had believed that someone called “the Priestess” could help her to heal Arivad himself. The Priestess had been very powerful, very knowledgable, and very convincing. But when the rituals were performed their souls were bound not to Arivad… but to a demon named Mani’vathas. Mani’vathas had been sealed below Bhorn’s Crossing long ago by Bhorn himself – an ancient dwarven general. And all of the Red Crow cultists were now undead enslaved to the demon. Cerulean himself had been one of them, but would not say at this time how he had escaped their fate.
He told them that the Soraks were now attempting to free the demon. He would help them to ensure the demon remained sealed… if they promised afterword to help him lay the spirits of the Red Crow to rest. They unhesitatingly agreed.
He said his key was only half, and the full key was necessary to enter the door at Rimefall and renew the seals. The other key was in Nokthanim, City of the Black Arcanum. An ancient city of necromancers and undead hidden deep in the jungles to the south. He gave them a sigil ring to show to an old wizard named “Balzaghar” – who would then give them the other key.
At the mention of the jungles to the south, they recalled the Baron’s scouts and the mysterious purposes of the Jade Scar Kindred. They began to suspect a connection, and mentioned that they would need to speak with the Baron before leaving. Cerulean merely smiled, and said “the storm approaches, as expected“. He asked them to return to his manor once they had recovered the second key.
They then returned to see the Baron, to report their progress and see if he had any news about the Jade Scars. His scouts had reported that the Jade Scars had met up with another group of some sort in the jungles of Elmukoru. A group which had come from Morrow’s Deep in the far west – a city which had recently been destroyed in “hellfire and ash”. He was determined that this *not* be the fate of his own city. He told them to travel to the village of Sugbu – an Orcish village on the eastern edge of Elmukoru. He had traded with them before, and believed the orcs could help them find both the Jade Scars and the city of necromancers.
Finally they stopped in to speak with Penelo again, and she was convinced that it would be better to keep the demon sealed away than to kill it and return it to its home plane. She promised to research it as much as she could now that she had a name. Then they made preparations to head south, to the Orcish jungles.
Author’s Note: This was a very interesting twist for me as a player. I had pegged Cerulean early as the likely “big bad”, and had him figured for the secret head of the thieve’s guild as well. Now… he’s still obviously hiding a lot, but his role in all this is looking far more interesting. As well as far more sympathetic. And the whole “Cult of the Red Crow” is looking more like unfortunate victims than “ancient undead cult”.
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