Daemons on fire

Chasing demons is a game of patience. They are caught through their followers and chasing their worshippers is as fickle and fragile like the flame of a candle. They are easily spooked. Flame extinguished and gone forever. We have to find a way to fan the flames and smoke them out. Many of our clues have however gone cold. But a few remain still and we do not despair. Life still goes on while checking out leads and surveilling the last targets we know, I for one spend my days with Mia, teaching her the ways of Aqshy and some investigative skills at the same time.

Johanna and sweet Sunniva have been summoned. Posh dinner with the elector count, von Gosser. As Johanna prepares and Sweet Sunniva coaches her in etiquette, Victor polishes his sword. Ever eager to cleave someone in two. He is also attending the dinner though I doubt they will let him sit at the big table. We can do nothing but wait now. We have surveillance on the tunnels. The rumor is out about the apprehension of the cult member and I am confident that it will reach the ears of that corrupt sergeant. We expect her to slip up somehow and give us a clue to the whereabouts of the other members or perhaps some other meeting place. 

Keeping a close eye and tailing the sergeant at all hours we discover that she visits a nondescript house in the common quarters. We will need to find out more about this place. Johan immediately starts inquiries as to who lives there and we prepare for the eventuality to enter this house. A slow rumble goes through me as I envision it burning to ashes. Mia tugs my robes as cinders and ash flake off from my fingertips. The houses are too close together for any sort of exact and separate disintegration into ashes anyway. We laugh it off together, the notion of setting the whole common quarter on fire just to rid the world of some demon worshippers. What folly. That is Mia laughs rather nervously since I am actually a little entertained by the idea. I think she senses it. Well, it is s solid backup plan for sure.

Being out and about is nevertheless better than moping at the house where the situation is a strange one for Johanna. Sweet Sunniva and her fret and worry about what the dinner will bring. It is clear that too much attention from the upper tiers of society is not without risk. Johanna's actions will not only be scrutinized but I fear there are powers that ---seek to control or curb them. Tensions rise as the hour draws near. Sweet Sunniva's game plan is clear:  “Staus quo”. We need all the help we can get against the forces of evil but we do not need the involvement of politics to cloud the path forward. Therefore, if Von Gosser is happy with a little dinner and storytime now while we wrap up the demon worshippers it is probably for the best. 

We learn Leo has a new job at a rich family. Von Kalbach. We might have to look into this family as well. Sunniva knows little about them but it is perhaps not so strange though that a famous champion is hired as elite guard for those with gold to spare. We have seen that he is a formidable fighter.  

Dinner and the chosen one(s)

As Johanna, Sweet Sunniva and Victor prep the last details and iron out the creases in clothes, reports emerge that the girl we are looking for, the red haired “chosen one” has been spotted and seemingly lives in the non-descript house the sergeant visited in the common quarters. Interesting indeed.

No time to do much before dinner. Good thing I didn’t burn it to the ground earlier. Any type of action against the girl and whoever lives there with her has to wait until later. We decide to set up heavy surveillance and figure out the best way to enter the house while we wait.

Suppertime and the castle is very grand. Von Gosser is a militant ruler. Guards and cannons everywhere as if the city is under siege. With so many huge cannons he is surely compensating for something. Sunniva told me though he is married with two kids. His wife Marisse does not live in the city however. I guess running the North leaves little time for family. Lets hope (for his sake) he doesn’t try anything funny with sister.

Sunniva and Johanna are seated with a lot of important people while Victor is sent downstairs with the servants.  All upper class power players. They all want to hear Johanna's exploits.

Fashionably late, Gosser enters with a grey robed “advisor”. Johanna is for a moment at the center of attention as she tells, in full details, how Norden was saved. They are of course very impressed and von Gosser basks in their moment of fame, taking full credit I am sure.

There is a'lot of good food and wine and in the course of the next 5 hours we learn the following:

-The robed advisor cryptically exclaims that “there is a bloody moon on the horizon”. We fear that he is somehow involved in all of this.

-Von Gosser wants to expand in the north by taking the important border city Salkalten away from Ostland and back to Nordland. Von Gosser is looking for a reason to intervene against the rulers there. Corruption and suspicion of occult dealings would be a good one. If only the witchhunters found foul workings there like in Norden. Johanna is tasked to look into this as soon as possible.

Meanwhile downtown, Mia and I observe beggars coming and going out the house and we see that they are receiving food handouts from a “priest”. I pull one of the beggars aside and inspect the food package. The food is accompanied by short religious verses referring to Suth. This is surely the only proof we need.  The last log on the funeral pyre. The house must be some sort of church or temple to Suth. It has to go.

Up at the castle but down in the kitchen Victor hears many rumors as servants gossip amongst themselves. Some juicy ones are that its actually von Gossers mother running the show and probably through the grey-robed man.  The mother also has some sort of a secret room next to the dining area where she can see and monitor everything and everybody at the dinner.

We swap stories later that night and decide that the house indeed must be taken but we have to check it for escape tunnels first. We have no reason to think that they are anticipating us and taking this precaution will prove valuable.

Cultists everywhere

The Suth-house is three stories with probable basement, doors on both sides to the street. We contact the rat catchers guild and employ them to find possible tunnels leading into the cellar. Unfortunately this delays our operation another day as the guild is unable to give information without a search themselves. You would think they had the whole place mapped out somehow but not this area I guess. One more day passes before Johan and Torgil are invited to enter the tunnels below to see the entrance to the house with one of the rat catchers. All does however not go as planned. After a short while they are ambushed! We should have known. Blast! With the delay it was folly of us to send just the two of them down there. In total seven well armed men and the rat catcher guide jump them. A terrible fight ensues but Johan and Torgil, the ghost of Salzemund, make the attackers pay with their lives. Understandably upset by these events they take the bodies to the Rat catchers guild where even more trouble awaits. Several more members are part of the Khorne cult and they attack. Already reeling from the events in the tunnels there is no other choice but to try to escape. They succeed. But vengeance will be had. Bodies will burn.

The temple of Suth

As the element of surprise is clearly gone we quickly heal up and rush to the house. I channel the fiery hot wind and we prepare for battle.  We bring some soldiers as well and surround the house, but all to no use. Of course we find it empty. The element of surprise is gone.  A quick search reveals tunnels in the basement where all traces and tracks disappear. Suspecting they went in the direction of their underground temple we make haste and enter the tunnels there. After some time we discover tracks and after following those for a while with the tunnels narrowing in on us demonic inscriptions on the walls. Inscriptions hint at a Khorne place of worship. I sense heavy magic in the air. Something evil stirs ahead. The cave narrows down to a crawl. Scouting reveals a omnious chamber with blood spatters and chains hanging from the ceiling. Taking no chances I channel forth and unleash one of the Great fires in the area. The room is charred, chains melted and any sign of life turned to ashes. However upon entering the room we see an adjourning disturbing room meant for bloodletting and sacrifice and upon closer inspection a grotesque and horrible demon emerges from the pool of blood in the ground. 

Terror and fear strikes us all and the soldiers break ranks. The demon is unnaturally quick and effortlessly kills a guard and seriously maims another before the reamaining guards run away. A very tough battle ensues but we emerge victorious. We are forced to take a break to patch up and heal substantial and critical wounds. No more clues to the whereabouts of the girls are found here but this was surely a gatekeeper or guardian of sorts. We must be getting close. The tunnels go on from here and after recovering the soldiers that fled and me blessing them and making them fearless by instilling the courage of Aqshy in them we move on .

The inner sanctum

Moving on we come in to two doors where one leads to a room of evil contemplation and devil worship. The only comfort inside is a single burning flame hovering midair in the center.

Assessing the situation poorly we rush on and enter the larger double doors dumping us right in the middle of a big chamber with three robed figures and four of the remaining Khorne champions, Leo and the sergeant among them. Disaster. The enemy and we are both a bit surprised at each other’s presence but quickly gather ourselves and a fierce fight ensues. At the back of the room, we eye three very similar red haired “chosen one” girls, bound tight up against the the wall. Our prize. It is unclear what the situation is here but there is little time for questions. Swords are drawn and arrows fly. I conjure forth scathing tendrils of beautiful red fire and black smoke and I manage to entangle the robed figures setting them ablaze at the same time. They squeal in agony and this most likely distracts them a little in case they are capable of channeling some evil wind of magic. Throughout the course of battle, Torgil manages to pluck them down one by one. I am still uncertain what their capabilities were but I think we were lucky that we did not find out.

Two of the champions immediately transform into demons and we brace for impact as they start their trashing. The soldiers fortunately hold fast this time and seem more capable. Perhaps it is the courage of Aqshy still lingering and giving them hope in this time of peril. I manage to entangle Leo as well, engulfing him in flames. It is an incredibly tough battle but again we prevail and come out victorious. Some of us are badly wounded though. Johanna and I do our best patching people up. Several of the soldiers are dead.

We quickly search the bodies and gather up the girls. Leo has a magical weapon. This most likely helped him in that fight with the Ogre.

A gruesome choice

The girls are quickly taken to witch hunters headquarters for safe keeping and interrogation We stick them in individual cells. Only one of them can be the true child. We need to figure out which one or we might be forced to kill all of them. Victor is in bad shape but I manage to cauterize his wounds. The magic in me is however so strong it surges tremendously causing flames up to the ceiling and leaving poor Victor with a rather nasty scar across his chest while he falls unconscious for a good hour.

Having finished this bit of business we now go back to house to thoroughly search and ransack the place. We find subtle symbols of Suth everywhere. No other real clues though. All three girls seem to have lived there. We call upon priests to purge and cleanse the Khorne sacrificial site and temple. Turns out the house served as a Suth temple and had been there for 15 yrs! Right under everyone’s noses.

Interrogation of the girls start and it proves difficult to spot the tainted one.

I catch myself leaning back whilst discussions concerning the right course of action trickle in and supervise Mias lessons instead and daydreaming about expanding the library and creating  a local Aqshy school of wizardry. I will need a tower though. One taller than those celestial nitwits.

Experienced priestesses of Shayla check the girls but they finds no evident signs of evil in any of them. The girls all stem from different places in the north. They were all kidnapped at the age of six.

Solrun, 7 yrs, kidnapped from Norden.

Sonja, 8 yrs, kidnapped from around Wreckers point

Sigrid, 9 yrs, ago kidnapped from a small fishing village on the edges in Norland.

They have all been severely indoctrinated with the teachings of Suth. Pressing them for any details we learn that the main robed mastermind or “high priest” is a woman!

Furthermore, a signet ring most likely gives away her identity. We always suspected she was form the noble part. The ring is the sigil of Von Kalbach. Now the pieces fit better as it is the same family that employed Leo.

Girls are examined in detail. Hair shaved and. No signs of chaos on their body. Frustrated we slowly succumb to the reality that perhaps all three must be killed to ensure that the prophesy is foiled.

That night Johanna has a dream and in her dream Solrun comes out as the chosen one.

Unsure what to make of this Johanna consults both the priests of Shayla and the Celestial college. Can we believe the dream? Can we trust it? What if it is a trick? Unsurprisingly no clear answer comes from those celestial clowns. Shayla however gives advice that Johanna should follow her heart and that she knows what the truth is concerning the authenticity of the dreams.

In that case Solrun is the chosen one. Solrun could fulfill the evil prophesy.

 Solrun has to die.