'Listen! In the shadowe of a layke afyre,
Death ryses in the swamp againe.
Be-hinde and ahed doth emerauld flayme lye,
And the sunne shall go darke.'
~ Book of the Fallen Star, unknown author, Third Age
Luctoras 14th Concord, 30 Fifth Age
The Hanging
With the alchemist's shack destroyed, the party made the long and arduous journey back to Correnwald, with Symon Vicario's withered corpse tied with rope to Vilwyn's back. The sky began to lighten upon their approach, the town awaking with the sunrise, and by the time the party reached the Siltwater Market, it was crowded with people. Where the fallen watchtower once stood, a makeshift gallows had been erected. Upon it stood a man, his slightly pointed ears betraying his half-elven blood. One eye was covered by a gold eyepatch, and his doublet was laced with gold in a tree-root pattern: the symbol of Lord Deacon Selwyn Larassan. Chancellor Luther Maldrud - a thin man with beady, narrow eyes, a pockmarked face, and a hooked nose - stood beside the Lord Deacon, wearing black velvet robes with a white collar, as well as a black fez with a single gold tassel. Sheriff Dagoban stood on his other side, near Venn, one of Lord Larassan's personal guard. Taking his place upon the scaffold was Chief Spittlebrick, having been tried in the party's absence, and sentenced to hang for his crimes.
'Friends and citizens of Correnwald. For too long has our great and historic town been threatened by the hateful goblin menace. Too many of our loved ones have been butchered. Too many of our beloved possessions have been added to their hoard. These creatures, so savage in their customs, so depraved that they have carved their own teeth into blades, must be extinguished. This vile and swollen beast that stands before you is their leader. This day, Lord Larassan rids Correnwald of its most terrible adversary. This night, our town may sleep well again.'
Lord Larassan's words rang out throughout the square, incensing the party, who knew that the Needlefang Goblins were on the payroll of the Lord's Lodge. As the goblin was hanged, Visimar used his blood magics - the Curse of the Fallen Puppet, namely - to reanimate Spittlebrick's corpse as it hung, flailing and snarling, before falling limp. Enraged by the Lord's hypocrisy, Kharmir pushed through the disturbed crowd, where he was stopped by the lawmen and Larassan's mercenaries guarding the scaffold. Kharmir addressed Maldrud and Larassan, loudly, so that the crowd could hear: perhaps the Needlefangs were not solely responsible for the atrocities on the Stumpmarsh Trail, and there were higher powers at work? Larassan dismissed the interruption, asking if Kharmir was making a case for the goblins, and though the disgusted crowd muttered ill about Kharmir, the dwarf and the lord locked eyes and exchanged a private and mutual threat.
A Murder in the Chapel
As the crowd dispersed and Lord Larassan's retinue returned to the Stilts, the party took Symon's body up to the Sun Chapel, leaving Chief Spittlebrick hanging in the square. However, as they arrived, they immediately noticed that something was wrong. Where Vilwyn's boot landed, he saw a single speck of blood at the edge of his toe. Further specks, larger, more like splatters, led into the heart of the room, staining the sun symbol etched into the simple wooden floor. At last, the trail arrived upon a great pool, where a body lay slumped against the altar, white robes stained thick and scarlet, arms thrown out - whether in plea or in prayer, it was impossible to tell. It was the body of Father Anselm, and he had been ripped open from ribcage to groin in one heavy downward slash. Rings of chainmail littered the floor around, severed from the remnants of a mail hauberk that had been seamed from the chest to the hem beneath Anselm's tattered robe. Callidus rushed to get the sheriff, while Visimar examined the body. The freshness of the blood indicated that the murder was committed within the last hour. Then Vilwyn began to hear whispering behind a door to the rear of the church, and the three warriors approached, Kharmir drawing his greatsword, Vilwyn readying his mace, and Visimar lighting his scimitar with blood-flame. They threw the door open and prepared to attack, but found only Klaus, Anselm's young acolyte, hiding in the vestry, whispering a terrified prayer to Haelion.
The boy was in shock, and explained what he had seen: Anselm had been disembowelled at the altar with a heavy poleaxe, and the killer was a tall, musclebound man, hooded and cloaked, with an iron hand. At this point, Callidus returned with Sheriff Dagoban and a pair of lawmen, who swore at the sight of Anselm lying dead. However, even under the influence of a calming enchantment, Klaus refused to share any more information while the Sheriff was in the room. Dagoban intuited that the boy would speak only to Vilwyn, so he bowed out to fetch his lawmen while Vilwyn wrang the remaining facts from Klaus. Klaus explained that Anselm had been in an urgent, frantic state prior to his death, and had not only purchased a pair of texts from the library, but had also been to visit 'the blacksmith, the brewer and the alchemist'. Upon leaving, Anselm told Klaus that, if he did not return, he should flee to Kallantium and speak to no-one in the town - especially not the Lord's men. This was during the party's absence the previous day, and the next morning Anselm had been slain in prayer.
Upon hearing mention of the blacksmith, Visimar went down to the forge to speak to Byron. He asked if he had seen the priest lately, and Byron told of Anselm's visit the previous day, having come to collect a shirt of chainmail he had ordered. The priest did not explain why he needed the armour, nor did he seem calm - in fact, Byron thought him uncharacteristically paranoid and twitchy. Visimar returned to the Chapel to find the party investigating the books Anselm had purchased. The first, The Alchemist's Creed by Haemon Gohstov, was a Starazyk tome about the arcane and philosophical pursuit of alchemy in Kastalav, detailing the creation of witchmetal in the secret Gilde Alkemika forges, and also bearing a complex but complete account of the brewing and applications of hexenbrand, otherwise known as alchemist's fire. The second text was a crumbling manuscript from the Third Age entitled Daemons Moste Foule, a rare text written by Scholar Ryzeekis about his own conceptions of the infernal cosmologies and the effect of demonic influence on the material plane. These texts deeply troubled the party, and Vilwyn suggested that Anselm's fears of a 'corruption' in the swamp were founded, and that the alchemists' operations in Loch Arkay was more connected to this corruption than previously suspected. They crossed the Stilts to speak to Ario, but the librarian had no idea what the priest was doing with the texts, as Anselm didn't give anything away. Ario also returned Baesellor's witchmetal talisman that Visimar had sent to him for identification - he apologised for his failures, but the sigils on the amulet were alien to him. As the party departed, Visimar told Ario to be safe, and stay inside tonight.
The party returned to the Sun Chapel to speak again to Sheriff Dagoban. Klaus, upon the sight of Symon Vicario's mangled body, fainted from the stress, and the party arranged to have him put up in the Taproot Inn. Though unnerved by Anselm's paranoia of the locals, the party believed that the sheriff - who had spoken out against Larassan in private - was safe to trust. They relayed the information Klaus had surrendered, and Dagoban recognised the profile of the murderer: Walter, one of Larassan's two inseparable bodyguards. The party recalled that only one - Venn - had been present at Spittlebrick's hanging, and deduced that the execution was a smokescreen to distract the town while Anselm was assassinated. However, Dagoban, for all his dislike for the Lord, was unsure. Larassan and the priest had never truly interacted before, and he saw no reason that Lord Larassan would have him killed. Visimar asked how long Wulfric would turn a blind eye to Larassan's villainy. The sheriff was angered by the slight upon his honour, and told the party how his jurisdiction had been slowly eroded by the power of the Lord's men. Visimar recalled an anecdote from his time in the Sunless Lands, where a tyrant from a neighbouring town was overthrown by the united populace, and asked if Wulfric would have their backs if they were to usurp the Lord. He didn't have to help, but his aid would be useful, and the party could ensure his escape from Correnwald alongside Byron and Alice if need be. Dagoban refused to abandon his people, and left the party with a tale of his own.
When High King Ceonred, tyrant of Alagost, was slain on the battlefield thirty years ago, his royal council massed at Sturmenfell to appoint a new monarch, only to find the Storm Pontiffs of the Ovad had already seized control of the city. The council were told to kneel, and the councillors who refused were publicly stoned to death. Ceonred's loyalists were treated the same, and those who swore obeisance to the new order were granted titles and lands as Lords Deacon. Selwyn Larassan was one such lord. The Pontiffs installed him as ruler of Correnwald, and no matter how forgotten and backwater the town may be, the Pontiffs do not take kindly to dissent. Any rebellions or usurpations would be promptly and indiscriminately extinguished. And with that warning, the sheriff left the chapel.
Finding Rosenstock
With the scene of the crime in the law's hands, the party returned to the Taproot Inn, where Mirtie the bartender was preparing for that night's assembly of Lord's men. In their cramped rooms, they began piecing together the clues they had accrued across their time in Correnwald. With the knowledge of his illicit alliances and involvement of his bodyguard in Anselm's murder, Vilwyn began to suspect that Lord Larassan was the one behind the alchemist's shack, and was using Tealeaf, or someone in the Emerald Brewery, as a middleman. However, certain factors, such as Anselm's demonic text and the Lord's inexplicable motives, complicated the whole affair. The party agreed that Ilvayne Rosenstock, the enigmatic alchemist with ties to the Lord's Lodge, was their most important target for interrogation, and suggested locating her before the night was out. It was a matter of urgency, as the party feared Rosenstock would flee Correnwald when she learned of the explosion. As Visimar only required four hours of trance to gain the benefits of rest, he offered to go out and canvas the town while the rest of the group caught an extra few hours of sleep. The exhausted party agreed.
As Visimar went downstairs, he found Osborn Tealeaf in the bar, chatting to Mirtie about Anselm's death. Visimar bought a drink and joined the conversation, explaining the circumstances of Anselm's murder and the existence of the alchemist's shack in the loch. He gave Tealeaf the description of the wagon-driver who was in league with Rosenstock and her alchemists, and Tealeaf recognised Lorne, his employee who was slain in the swamp ogre's attack on Mercuras. Tealeaf also told him that Rosenstock lived somewhere in the Mud Ward, on the very edge of the forest, but he wasn't exactly sure where. Visimar thanked Tealeaf for his cooperation, and wished him well in the nights to come.
The dhampir struck out alone in the misty swamp, hunting the treeline for the alchemist. After asking around town to no avail, he happened across a potter in one dismal cul-de-sac, who pointed out Rosenstock's residence. Visimar noted that the building had a back entrance, and that the windows on all floors were shuttered and dark. The place seemed outwardly uninhabited. After watching the house for a while, he spoke with one of Rosenstock's neighbours, who told him that the alchemist spent a lot of time up at the Lord's Lodge, easing Larassan's migraines with her special tinctures. Visimar thanked the man and ventured up into the Stilts, across the river bridge to the Lord's Lodge, which gleamed with warm light and dry timber in the mid-afternoon sun. Though the doors were shut, Visimar followed the stilted platforms around the back of the Lodge, where he found a private dock for the Lord's personal canoe. He was interrupted by the arrival of Tanda Elehen, chamberlain of the lodge, who bore a necklace of keys. She demanded Visimar leave and seek an appointment if he wished to speak to Lord Larassan, and was entirely unmoved by Visimar's attempts at charm, summoning Vann the mercenary to escort him out by force. Visimar warned them both that the Lord's behaviour had not gone unnoticed.
That night, the Lord's men gathered in the Taproot Inn for drinks. While Vilwyn made sure that Walter and his brethren were safely distracted in the revelry, the rest of the group approached Rosenstock's house via the back door. The windows were still shuttered, and the whole place lay silent. Callidus deftly picked the lock, and Visimar opened the door. The ensuing blast almost knocked him off his feet, as eruptive charges planted around the door exploded in a burst of purple smoke. Wary of further traps, the party crept inside, and saw that the kitchen - used as a makeshift laboratory - had been hastily cleared. While Callidus, Kharmir and Vilwyn searched the downstairs, Visimar crept upstairs on the ceiling, where he found a note on Rosenstock's table:
'I know not who you are, but no doubt you believe your cause to be righteous. Sadly, you have come too late. You may have destroyed my shack and murdered my men, but the wheels are already in motion. I have met dangers far greater than a pack of noble fools. Correnwald shall meet with emerald flame, and there is nothing, I'm afraid, that you can do about it.'
Downstairs, the party noticed that a green light was emanating from beneath the door to the hall. The glow grew in intensity, and the sound of crackling and the smell of brimstone alighted their senses. The fire leapt up, engulfing the door, and Kharmir shouted upstairs for Visimar to flee. However, as the trio below rushed out of the house, the emerald flames began to climb the stairs, and Visimar found himself pinned on the upper floor. As the party watched helplessly from below, Visimar kicked at the window, but it wouldn't break. Sulphurous smoke began to fill Rosenstock's chambers. Panicking, Visimar drew Spittlebrick's glaive, christened 'Dogchopper', and smashed it through the glass, shattering the rusty blade into shards that fell upon the party. As the last burst of flame laid waste to the bedroom, Visimar hurled himself from the window, landing in the mud.
Shouts of 'Fire! Fire!' rose up in the Mud Ward. In a state of delirium, Visimar sprinted away, and the party followed, ending up in a tangled clearing in the forest. A dread realisation set in - Rosenstock was gone, and had rigged her home with alchemist's fire. She had been warned of their coming… but by whom? The answer, as they slowly realised, was Tealeaf. Having been informed of the fire-brewing shack's destruction by an unwitting Visimar, the halfling had rushed to Rosenstock to warn her. Accusations of foolishness were thrown Visimar's way, but the dhampir stood fast. Vilwyn and Kharmir agreed that the best course of action was to break into the Emerald Brewery and see if the answers to this whole affair lay within.
A Break-In at the Brewery
As night fell, and the citizens of the Mud Ward raced to extinguish Rosenstock's house, the party approached the Emerald Brewery, a well-built building that presided over the street corner, its green-tiled roof arching low over its windows like a downturned brow. Its cobblestone foundation was buttressed with sandbags, and empty barrels were scattered around the front. A slick mud path heads round the back of the establishment, where a cart - stamped with a green star - was parked, beside space for another. Kharmir kicked down the front door, but the brewing hall was dark and empty, with no candles of any kind to illuminate it. As Kharmir went upstairs to investigate Tealeaf's private quarters, the rest of the group discovered a bulkhead to the back of the house, its dual doors locked with heavy chains. When Callidus and Visimar could not remove them, Visimar smashed the lock with his mace. The trio descended into the Brewery basement, where they found a small room cleared of barrels and instead hosting a large, square worktable. Blueprints and scrolls were strewn across the table; ledgers of dates, details, rotas, and guard shifts, all centred around a hand-drawn map of Correnwald, with arrows pointing to the bridge. The docks were circled, and an arrow pointed to the Lord's Lodge, with the caption: 'Steal boats to prevent escape.'
Meanwhile, Kharmir searched Tealeaf's chambers. In his lounge were chairs and a table, nicely dressed with a tablecloth and a bottle of wine. Shuttered windows overlooked the town, and a crocodile skull was built into the overhead chandelier. An arras hung in Tealeaf's bedroom, depicting a Swamp King holding court in a timber keep. Kharmir opened his bedside drawer to find a sealed scroll bearing an unfamiliar runic script scribed in scarlet. He gutted the mattress, dragged a lockbox of gold from under the bed, and tore down the arras, but nothing else was hidden in the room. As Kharmir went back downstairs to join the others, he passed through a tunnel on the way to the basement chamber: a tunnel lined with barrels, all stamped with a green star. Feeling a dark suspicion, Kharmir brough a barrel into the meeting place, and Visimar eased it open with a crowbar to find a familiar emerald substance within. Osborn Tealeaf was hoarding alchemist's fire in his own cellar, disguised as Emerald Brew.
The party were disturbed by shouts from above: a male voice, calling for Tealeaf to warn him that Rosenstock's house had burned. Peering from the dark, Vilwyn saw that it was Walter, the iron-handed killer of Father Anselm. Disguising his upper half as Tealeaf's - for his illusion magic could not shrink him to halfling size - he appeared in the basement stairwell and beckoned Walter downstairs. There, he was set upon by the party - Vilwyn grappled him, Visimar lunged from the ceiling, knocking him to the ground, Kharmir clapped manacles upon his wrists, and Callidus kicked away Walter's blade so he could not retaliate. Vilwyn demanded he speak, and invoked his god Talidorn to evoke a zone of truth upon the captured assassin, so that candour could be wrought from him. Compelled by magic and threat, Walter revealed the truth.
The Hellfire Plot
Fearing for his livelihood, Osborn Tealeaf had formed a secret group of like-minded townsfolk, all of whom had been crushed by Lord Larassan's callous tariffs and taxes, and began plotting to depose him. By miraculous coincidence, Ilvayne Rosenstock, an alchemist from Kastalav, arrived in Correnwald shortly after. Tealeaf hired Rosenstock and her crew to brew alchemist's fire in the swamp, but the substance began leaking into the river, killing the fish and causing the waters of the Ramman to spontaneously erupt in flame. Tealeaf began smuggling the completed barrels into town, storing them under his brewery in the guise of Emerald Brew.
Suspecting traces of alchemist's fire in the water, Anselm sent his curate, Symon Vicario, into the swamp to investigate, and began spying on Ilvayne Rosenstock. While Symon was gone, Anselm witnessed Rosenstock meeting with Tealeaf at the Emerald Brewery. Anselm foolishly believed he could convince Rosenstock and Tealeaf to abandon their pursuit, and visited both on the eve of Lunas, while the party was away in the swamp. Panicked, Tealeaf sent Walter to kill him, lest he reveal their plan to Larassan. When Vilwyn pressed him on the details of their plan, Walter refused to speak. He had a family: a wife and two boys in the Planks district, and he needed Larassan gone if he was to keep them safe. Callidus and Visimar suggested a threat against Walter's family, but Vilwyn, recalling the sheriff's earlier warning, reminded Walter that if they rebelled against Larassan, the forces of the Ovad would descend upon the town and enact summary executions against the townsfolk, rebel or not, Walter's family among them. Finally, Walter relented.
At Tealeaf's command, the fishermen were to take the barrels of alchemist's fire under the bridge and attach them with rope. They would also sneak under the Stilts on both sides of the river and lay barrels there, too, burying them in the mud. On Tondras morning, the carpenters would throw canvas over the edges of the bridge to conceal the barrels, and shut the crossing 'due to unstable beams', trapping Larassan, Maldrud and the rest of the Stilt-dwellers on the other side of the river. That night, after ensuring Larassan was abed, Walter would steal Larassan's private boat and arrive at the Taproot Inn, where the rebels would gather to watch their fiery plot come to fruition. The Stilts district, and its wealthy residents, would burn in emerald flame, and the remaining townsfolk would be liberated.
Vilwyn and Kharmir were naturally aghast at the amount of collateral loss of life that would ensue. Kharmir also revealed Tealeaf's scroll to the party. Remembering Anselm's borrowed text on demons, as well as Visimar's notes from Ario, he noted that environmental effects, such as the mutation of wildlife and the rising of swamps, were typical effects of an infernal pact, a deal made with a higher entity of the Nine Hells. Anselm, alone in his theological comprehension, must have suspected the involvement of such an entity in the blight afflicting Correnwald. However, despite their appeals to their fellows, Visimar and Callidus took another view. No matter the true puppeteer behind the rebellion, Tealeaf and his adherents were righteous in their planned attack upon Lord Larassan, who was responsible for so much of the town's suffering. Reluctant to interfere, Visimar made to leave, but Kharmir stopped him, insisting that such destruction was not a path the group should take. Outraged, Visimar turned on Kharmir and, abetted by Callidus, accused him of seizing control of the group, and of being a poor replacement for their slain comrade. Kharmir in turn disdained Visimar's blind pursuit of revenge, and Callidus' reckless and myopic behaviour. Before the argument could escalate into conflict, Vilwyn stepped in. He took Visimar by the shoulder, and reminded him that Tealeaf, not Larassan, was responsible for Lancion's death, having made the infernal pact that created the monster in the Hellmire. He spoke of Ario and Sheriff Dagoban, who would perish in the flames, and of Byron and Alice, who would shrink from Visimar's pursuit of violence. He recalled the sheer magnitude of the alchemist's shack's explosion: what if Tealeaf's fire could not be contained to the Stilts, and instead spread to the town as a whole? Any who were not slain in the blast would be hanged by the Pontiffs when they inevitably learned of the uprising. And finally, he assured Visimar that he was not alone in his fight. Together they would take down Larassan, save the town, and hunt the crocodile that slew their friend, because that is who they were now: allies, and friends.
Vilwyn's words found purchase. Visimar remained, and Kharmir sheathed his blade. Callidus dismissed his own inflammation of hostilities as idle provocation. With the party's inner antagonism salved, the party turned back to Walter. Vilwyn insisted that, with his cooperation, further bloodshed could be averted. If Walter could get Tealeaf to the negotiating table, they could devise a plan that would not leave such swathes of death in its wake, nor invoke the wrath of the Storm Pontiffs. Despite his murder of Anselm, a higher cause took priority over Walter's personal sins. Meanwhile, the party would infiltrate the Lord's Lodge in search of concrete proof to expose Larassan's corruption and liberate Correnwald without the need for senseless killing. Sensing wisdom in the plan and a chance to redeem himself, Walter agreed to speak to Tealeaf, and the active zone of truth confirmed his honesty. Kharmir freed him from his shackles and Visimar took his metal arm as collateral. However, as Walter approached the bulkhead with new and vigorous purpose, the doors flew open. The word 'traitor' was spoken, and a bolt of iron shot from above, piercing Walter's eye to emerge out the back of his skull. Tealeaf had returned with an army, and as Walter's corpse fell from the ladder to lie on the flagstones, Tealeaf levelled his crossbow at the party.
'We are delivering justice,' Tealeaf said. 'Have you never heard of a trial by fire?'
And so it is written.
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| The hand that killed Father Anselm |
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