Cleaning Up The Temple

Meanwhile, Porter, Yaz and the Bastioness head for the NecroMaster's office. Upon getting there, Yaz and the Bastioness both begin casting, with Yaz casting a trap finding spell and the Bastioness casts a spell to detect magick.

Yaz finishes his casting first and then wanders around the room, pointing all around him in order to check that nothing in the room is trapped. Upon making a complete revolution of the room, he sees that there are no signs of anything being trapped.

"It all seems OK in here," Yaz reports.

"Fine," Porter replies. "Let's get to work."

The pair of them split up with Yaz investigating the bookcase while Porter takes the desk. Yaz sees that most of the books on the bookcase are to do with death and anatomy, fairly typical items to find on the shelves of the dedicated death priest. He leafs through several of them and finds, to his surprise, that a quantity of the books have false covers and are actually books on needlepoint and knitting. Yaz looks at the books a little strangely and then continues to investigate.

The Bastioness has finished her casting now and comes up behind Yaz, uttering and gesturing toward the bookcase. As she does so, one of the books starts to glow a little.

Yaz immediately grabs it and takes a look at it:

"It's completely blank," he says, flipping through the pages.

The Bastioness shrugs:

"I've no idea what it is, but it's definitely magickal in nature."

She continues to scan the bookshelf for a while and then shakes her head:

"That's all that's magick here," I'm afraid.

Porter, meanwhile, is checking on the desk. He sees that, on the table are neat piles of paperwork with a skull acting as a paperweight. He quickly checks through the papers, seeing that some of them are in dwarven and some in Bohavian. He sees that several of them have come from the High Mortuary in Opava.

Not being terribly interested in the paperwork, he tries the drawer of the desk and finds that it is locked. He takes the NecroMaster's keyring and then tries a variety of the smaller keys upon the lock. It doesn't take him too long to find one that fits.

Upon opening the drawer, he finds that there is little of interest inside it. There are a number of quills and paper, plus a vial of blotting powder. There is no money or anything else of value within, however.

Porter is just about to close the drawer when the Bastioness comes up and starts casting over the desk. The quill starts to glow slightly:

"It's magickal," she says.

Porter shrugs:

"Great, a magick pen," he says sarcastically.

Yaz calls over to him:

"Let's see if there's anything more interesting in his bedroom."

The pair of them walk into the bedroom and Yaz starts to sweep for traps once again. He spends a couple of minutes upon the task before he finally reports:

"That chest over there," he says pointing, "there's some kind of trap inside. Not the chest itself, but something inside."

The pair of them head over to check out the chest with the Bastioness following behind them. They all look at the chest and Porter says:

"So you're sure that the chest itself isn't trapped?"

Yaz nods:

"No, it looks OK to me,"

Cautiously, Porter tries the chest to find that it's locked. He looks through the keys on the ring and tries a couple of them on the chest. The second one that he tries opens the lock and Porter opens the door. Inside, they can see that there is a steel box some 2' long, 1' high and 1' wide. There are also several pieces of fabric in there.

The Bastioness takes them and looks at them carefully and sees that all of the items are embroidered with symbols of skulls and skeletons. The colors are predominantly black and red. She sees that there is a half-finished piece of embroidery on top with a needle stuck in it. She casts into the chest and the needle starts to glow, as does the steel box:

"Great," Porter moans. "This guy's got loads of useless magickal crap. He better have something pretty good in the box or else I'm gonna be pissed."

Porter continues:

"However, I will take the embroidered material as you never know when you might want to be a priest of Smurt for a day "

The bounty hunter investigates the box carefully:

"Hmmmmm, looks like a poison needle trap to me. I should be able to get around it if I'm careful."

He takes his tools and starts to work upon the box. After a couple of minutes, the bounty hunter nods:

"That should have taken care of the trap."

With that, he opens the box and peers inside expectantly. His eyes open wide and a smile comes to his lips as he finally finds what he has been looking for.

Inside the box are 278 platinum pieces plus a couple of gems. One is a small emerald worth around 500gp while the other is a larger golden topaz worth around the same amount. Also in the box is a small leather sack plus three potions.

The Bastioness casts upon the box and its contents. The golden topaz, the three potions and the bag all start to glow brightly.

Porter's eyes light up and his mood immediately improves:

"Jackpot!" he says.

He picks up the topaz, examining it and looking through it. He sees that it seems to be glowing a little from within, but there is no other clue as to what the function of the gem is other than it is magickal.

He gives a little shrug and then passes the gem to Yaz for his verdict on the item and then the bounty hunter opens the small leather sack and sees what lies within.

He sees that there is nothing inside at all. He turns it upside down and shakes it a little to see if there is anything hidden inside, but there appears to be nothing.

Yaz looks with curiosity at the different items:

"If it's a bag of infinite holy ganja, I already got one of them," he says.

"That gem thing is pretty, tho," he adds, touching it with an outstretched finger.

At that point, Winnacer and Faewen'il enter the room, with the young Lord dragging the Nemotz priest behind him. They take a look at the plunder for themselves.

Winnacer nods appreciatively, happy that Porter has found something valuable to cheer himself up:

"So have you been through everything thoroughly?" he asks. "Is there any thing else of interest?"

Yaz replies:

"Yeah, I think we've done the NecroMaster's room pretty well now and got everything worth taking. There's some documents and stuff on the table. You might want to check them out. I know how much you like that stuff."

Porter nods:

"There's just the senior priests room that we haven't checked out yet."

"Let's check it out now then," Yaz replies. "I've had enough of this place and wanna get out of here as soon as possible."

Porter and Yaz head off to the senior priests room and start to look around. Yaz scans it first for traps:

"Nope, doesn't seem to be anything to worry about here."

The pair of them spends the next five minutes rifling through the room, but find little of interest to them, with the majority of the chests containing extra clothes and personal items similar to those that they found in the room above them. They do, however, find a few coins hidden among the priest's possessions and come out with 15 platinum pieces, 36 gold pieces and 51 silver pieces altogether. As well as taking the money, Porter also takes the insignia, holy books and vestments of the Smurt priests for future disguise purposes.

While Porter and Yaz check out the senior priests' room, Winnacer checks out the NecroMaster's desk. He sees that there are quite a few piles of paper there that he sees will take him quite a while to look through. He bundles all of them up and puts them in his backpack so that he can read them at his leisure.

He then heads out of the NecroMaster's rooms and heads towards the entry chamber where he finds Gristan and the MasterSmith still on guard, keeping a safe distance from the undead that are still trapped by the web.

They look over him as they see the young Lord approaching:

"All quiet up here," the MasterSmith says. "We haven't heard anything from upstairs."

Winnacer nods:

"We should get rid of the undead while we're all here. We've accomplished all that we need to do and so we should be leaving shortly."

"I think that if we use most of our remaining Holy Water on them to soften them up to start with and then finish them off with our remaining Greek fire, then we should be able to get rid of them without having to risk ourselves in the process."

The two dwarves agree and so the three of them take their Holy Water and start to empty it over the undead. Gristan starts laughing maniacally once more as the water acts like acid upon the ghouls and ghast, melting the flesh of the abominations. Once all of the Holy Water has been used upon them, they then start with the Greek fire, dousing the now deformed undead with it. They use up all of the vials that they have and then Gristan gleefully takes his flint and steel to the web.

With an almighty "WWWOOOOFFFF" the web goes up in flames, igniting all of the undead contained within. Winnacer and the two dwarves watch on from a safe distance as the undead start to burn, running around the guard chamber in panic as the Greek fire roasts them. They continue to watch until the last of the ghouls falls to the ground and expires. Just to make sure that all of the abominations are well and truly dead, Gristan goes around each of the blackened husks hacking them to pieces, obviously enjoying the exercise immensely.

Once the slaughter is complete, Winnacer speaks to the pair of them:

"I think that our task here is nearly complete now. I just want to make sure that we destroy the bodies of the other dead priests in the Temple and to make sure that this place can never be used again. We also need to carry the plague box out."

As the dwarves accompany Winnacer back to the Temple, they meet Porter and Yaz coming out of the senior priests' room:

"Did you find anything interesting?" the young Lord asks.

"Naw," Yaz replies, "just a few coins and the usual crap."

"We're just heading back to the Temple to burn the bodies of the remaining priests and to purify the altar so that it cannot be used for evil any longer," says the LawBringer.

"As long as we're burning shit," Yaz adds, "we might as well add the priests to the pile. Cuz they're our biggest problem, if these guys try to talk to their dead. Anyone wanna help me get the dwarves from upstairs? And the others? Quietly?"

Winnacer nods:

"Good thinking. Perhaps you, Porter and Gristan can head up and bring the bodies down here while I start work on purifying the Temple."

"OK," Yaz agrees and then the druid, Porter and Gristan head upstairs in order to retrieve the bodies of the dwarves.

Upon climbing the stairs, being careful to avoid the ones that sound the alarm, they get to the hole in the wall that the Bastioness formed. They all climb up from the stairs and into the priests' room and start to drag the bodies of the slaughtered dwarves from their beds and back down the stairs bringing them all the way back down to the Temple.

Here they find that Winnacer and the Bastioness are hard at work in purifying the Temple. Winnacer uses the last of his Holy Water upon the altar, watching it eat into the black stone, sending the water hissing and bubbling.

They all then pile all of the bodies of the dwarves and the two dead Nemotz priests in the center of the room. Winnacer takes a silver skull holy symbol from one of the dead priests to add to his tally and then obtains the last of the Greek fire off everyone before he pours it over the heap of bodies. The LawBringer then utters a quick blessing to Spravedelna and sets the pile ablaze.

As was the case with the undead, the pile explodes into flame with a "WWWOOOFFFF", reminding the young Lord that he has managed to get through an entire evil temple complex without getting badly burned himself this time. They then all watch the bodies burn away until the air is heavy with the stench of burning flash and the bodies are no more than a smoldering heap upon the ground.

Winnacer turns to the others:

"It is done. Let us take the chest and head back to the Cathedral of Zelezny."

They head back into the storeroom and Gristan and the MasterSmith each take a handle to the box and start to carry it out. Faewen'il takes the two rolls of black silk, rather annoyed at not being able to take more of value from the place. They all make their way back through the lower level of the complex and back up the stairs. The two dwarves carefully maneuver the iron box through into the priests' room and then they all head in after them, with Winnacer having to help the bound Nemotz priest stumble through it because of his bonds.

Once they get into the priests' room, Porter listens at the door for a moment and then opens it a little. While he is doing so, Faewen'il quickly takes a set of priests' robes and accessories to add to her growing collection of disguises.

Porter then turns back to the others to report:

"All seems to be quiet up there," he says. "The other priests are obviously still asleep."

"Are you sure you don't want to kill the rest of them?" Winnacer asks the others hopefully.

"NO!" Porter and Yaz both reply adamantly.

Both Gristan and Winnacer look to be highly disappointed at hearing this, but neither of them makes a big deal about it.

Porter opens the door and leads the others through the short corridor past the rooms of sleeping Smurt priests with the others following on behind him. He gets to the door at the end of the corridor and takes another listen at it. Once again he can hear nothing and so he opens it up and peeps through. The coast is clear and so he leads the group through once again into the short corridor that leads to the office. He opens the door and leads them in there. With great relief, they see that the room is unoccupied and the hole to the outside world is still there.

Porter passes through first of all with Gristan and the MasterSmith following behind him carrying the box between them with the others following behind them in turn. Finally, they are out of the Temple.

Although they each breathe a sigh of relief at finally getting out of the Temple, they realize that, with Opava being the place it is, nowhere in the city is totally safe and so they make haste to head up to the Cathedral of Zelezny, hoping that no one is going to start asking them why they are dragging a Nemotz priest with them.

As they start to make their way through the streets and alleyways of the 3rd level heading for the stairs, they see that there are quite a few dwarves around on the streets considering the fact that it is well after midnight now. The party members see that the dwarves all seem to be pretty drunk, however. Many of them stop and look at the party members blearily before smiling and shouting:

"HAPPY ST. VACLAV'S DAY"

The party members smile politely at them but hurry to continue on their way. After five minutes, they reach the staircase that leads up to the next level. They reach it without incident and make the short journey to the Cathedral of Zelezny. The doors are shut and so Winnacer knocks upon them. Immediately that they do, the doors are opened by one of the dwarves who quickly sees that the MasterSmith is with them and opens the door for them all. The dwarf then leads them down the nave of the Cathedral, and through one of the doors in the back before leading them up the staircase towards the Artificer's office.

The dwarf knocks upon the door and then opens it. Inside, they see that the Artificer is pacing up and down the room with his hands behind his back, puffing away on a pipe. As the door opens, he turns towards the party and looks highly relieved:

"Thank Zelezny you made it," he says as he counts the seven of them back into the room.

"Did you manage to accomplish everything that you set out to do?"

Winnacer nods:

"Yes, we did. We killed two of the three priests and have taken the third one captive."

The Artificer then notices the Nemotz priest dawdling behind Winnacer.

"We also found the box of disease," the young Lord continues, "it's this one that we've brought with us."

The Artificer sighs with relief once more:

"Well, it appears as if your mission was a total success. Very well done."

He then looks over at the Nemotz priest and the box:

"So what are your plans for the box of disease and the priest that you have taken captive?"

"The prisoner needs to be questioned," the young Lord begins. "He may still possess useful knowledge about the impending ratman attack and perhaps some deeper understanding of this entire plot. I also think that the Council may wish to meet him and interrogate him as well."

"The Council?" the Artificer questions, looking a little confused. "What's the Council?"

"Allies looking to aid us in the battle to come," Winnacer replies, mentally cursing his tiredness for not being more careful.

The Artificer nods:

"Oh yes," he replies. "That could be quite a useful thing to have in order to deal with the ratmen threat."

"If you know of an appropriate place of imprisonment for him for the time being, it would be appreciated," the young Lord continues. "He understands that his life depends upon his total cooperation. Once he has fulfilled all we need of him, he will be set free as promised."

The Artificer ponders the matter a little:

"Well, I can't think of any specific place of imprisonment for him. The only prison in the city is operated by the Nyemetz these days. However, I don't think it's good for you to wander around the city with him."

He pauses for a while:

"I think I could lock him up in our storeroom for a while and keep a guard on him," he then replies, "but please bear in mind that this is only suitable as a stop gap measure. He can't stay there forever."

"We will figure something out tomorrow," the LawBringer replies. "Let us sleep on it."

"As for questioning him, I think that it would be a good idea if we questioned him now while all of us are here together."

Winnacer nods and then removes the gag from the Nemotz priest who coughs a little and takes a good gulp of air.

The LawBringer pulls him forcefully into the center of the group and yanks him around to speak to him:

"I'm going to ask you some questions now. As you are hopefully aware by now, we have the ability of determining whether you are telling the truth or not and so you will save us all a great deal of time and trouble by telling us all we need to know straight off."

The priest smirks:

"Sounds good to me. I wouldn't want to waste your time or mine now, not now that I know that I've got a comfortable storeroom to look forward to."

"So, firstly," Winnacer starts, "what were the exact plans for tomorrow and who else was to be involved?"

"Well," the Nemotz priest replies, "the exact plan was for exactly the three of us to head down to exactly the eighth level after an exactly light breakfast, each of us exactly accompanied by exactly one high ranking Smurt priest, exactly two neophytes, exactly two acolytes and exactly four zombies where we would each exactly dump exactly three bottles of zombie plague juice into exactly one of the wells."

"Is that good enough for you, or did you want it more exact?"

Winnacer looks at Faewen'il for confirmation that the priest is telling the truth. Her nod tells the LawBringer that the priest is not lying.

"Where and when are the skaven to break through?" he asks next. "Is there a meeting time and place?"

The Nemotz priest shrugs:

"What have the skaven got to do with any of this?" he asks. "They're just a bunch of stupid overgrown rats that are useful only for a bit of muscle and other menial jobs."

"We were just told to dump the zombie juice in the wells and then head back to base."

"He nae be lyin'," Faewen'il confirms, "that's all they be told to do."

"Where exactly is this base?" Winnacer asks next. "Where else have your plague ridden kind holed up?"

"We've got ourselves a cozy little place on an island on the River Svratka, about a day's ride north of Brunn," the priest replies.

"You should stop by it sometime and give them a visit," he grins. "I'm sure the boys back at base would give you a nice warm reception."

Winnacer replies coolly:

"Been there. Done that."

The priest grins, obviously not believing the LawBringer:

"Yeah, sure," he replies.

"What sorts of agreements exist between your temple and that of Smurt?" Winnacer asks next.

The priest shakes his head:

"There's no big tie up between Nemotz and Smurt in general," the Nemotz priest replies. "When we got here, we had no idea how violent this city is. The first time that we went down to the 8th to scout to the wells, we ended up getting in a big fight with a bunch of dwarves. We managed to take them all out, of course, and threw their bodies in the well, but they injured us all quite badly."

"Viktor, the leader of the group, until he got blasted by the young lady's lightning bolt that is," he continues with a glance at Faewen'il, "decided to bring the Smurtians in on what was going on in return for getting their protection when we dropped the zombie juice."

"What is the best way to sterilize the plague virus?" asks Winnacer.

The priest just shrugs again:

"Don't ask me, mate," he replies. "My job was just to dump the stuff; I didn't make it."

"Who are your superiors in the Nemotz organization?" the LawBringer asks next.

"Well, as I said," the priest replies, "Viktor was the leader of this group, but he's toast now. Viktor reported to High Priest Zdenyek Spalek back at base. I don't know who High Priest Spalek reports to. He keeps information like that under his hat, or helmet, to be more precise."

He looks up at Winnacer:

"He wears exactly the same type as you do, actually. Now there's a co-incidence for you."

"I have met this High Priest you speak of," Winnacer replies. "This helmet I wear is all that is left to remember him by."

The priest looks carefully at the helmet. Winnacer can see that the priest is starting to have doubts about whether the Nemotz Laboratory still exists.

"What do you know of the Nemotz presence in Olmutz?" the young Lord continues.

The priest shakes his head once more:

"We were always told to keep well clear of Olmutz," he replies. "The place is crawling with clerics, you know."

"No, that place is bad news for folks like us. Full of goody-goody types."

He looks at Winnacer again and grins:

"I'm sure you'd LOVE it there."

"What do you know of the relations between the Nyemetz and the Nemotz?" is the next question posed by Winnacer.

Once again, the priest shakes his head:

"There's got to be something going on, because whenever we went specimen hunting, we usually had a few ogres with us as muscle," he replies. "Mind you, we were always told to try and avoid the Nyemetz as much as possible and we've had run-ins with them occasionally, so I can't see that it was a universal thing."

He sighs:

"I really don't know any more. I'm just a monkey; you really should be speaking to one of the organ-grinders."

"Are there any antidotes to the zombie plague? To the disease that turns men into beasts?" Winnacer adds.

The priest shrugs once again:

"I've already told you, mate," he replies, "I didn't make the stuff, so I don't know. All I know is that it's not airborne, so there's no problem in opening the bottles, but one drop can start the disease, so we were told to make sure that we never got any of it on us."

"Where do you plan on going if you are granted your freedom?" the LawBringer continues.

"Can't really say that I gave it a lot of thought," the priest replies. "Up until an hour ago I had a great career in the priesthood to look forward to. It appears as if you lot have pretty much managed to bollocks those plans though. The Nemotz are not the type to give their people a second chance if they screw up."

He pauses for a moment:

"I guess that splitting Bohavia would be a pretty good move right now. The Silesian border's just a few miles away, so I'd probably head there."

Faewen'l has been clutching the amulet throughout the priest's interrogation. She nods to say that these are his true thoughts.

"Finally," Winnacer finishes, "are there any other connections with the Nemotz that we need to know about?"

The priest shrugs again and smirks:

"How the hell do I know what you NEED to know?" he replies sarcastically. "I'm not a mind reader."

He nods towards Faewen'il:

"Perhaps you should lend me her amulet, then perhaps I could answer that."

"Your attitude will only make this harder on yourself," Winnacer says sternly. "Keep that in mind, phlegm idolizer."

Winnacer sighs:

"That will be all for now," he replies, before he starts to apply the gag once more.

"You might at least say 'thank you' or something," the priest smirks before the gag is reapplied.

Porter's brow furrows at the priest's light-hearted comments:

"Hey asshole, I don't care what bargain paladin-boy made with ya, but you push your luck and I'll finish what I started when he's got his back turned. How's that ear feeling by the way? Oh and another thing, your base is toast, courtesy of my friends here, so you can wipe that smile off your face."

Unfortunately for the Nemotz priest, the gag is already applied now and so his response is just an unintelligible mumble.

Winnacer then turns away from the priest in order to address the Artificer once more. It is unfortunate that the Nemotz priest cannot see Winnacer's wry grin and sparkling eyes, as he would realize then that escaping death will not help him escape punishment:

"So that's the priest taken care of for the time-being," he continues. "As for the plague, perhaps it would be best if we attempted to purify it, with either the blessings of the Gods or with fire. It may be wise to save a bottle for evidence, to impress those that may not believe our story."

The Artificer looks a little unsure of this:

"Are you sure that it's going to be safe to open these bottles?" he asks. "I'm no expert in matters of disease. I wouldn't like to mess around with them without being sure that the contents cannot harm us."

Winnacer then looks around at the others and sees that most of them are still suffering from minor cuts and bruises:

"My comrades and myself have also suffered some wounds, some cutting as deep as the soul. Can you aid us in caring for these injuries?"

Before the Artificer has a chance to reply, the Bastioness speaks up:

"I'm not sure that the Artificer's healing skills will be needed," she says. "I still have a bit in the way of healing abilities. We got off quite lightly, I think. I was expecting it to be a lot worse than it was in there."

"I've got a fair bit of healing left too," adds the MasterSmith.

"Me too," adds Yaz.

The Bastioness starts to cast. One moderate healing spell is all that it takes to bring Winnacer up to full health. She then casts a minor spell upon Porter, but the effects are weak. She casts another on Gristan that has a strong effect, bringing the dwarf up to full health. The MasterSmith then casts another couple of light healing spells upon Porter, neither of which are terribly strong, but combined they bring him back up to his normal self.

Gristan shrugs:

"All my wounds are healed, but I still feel a bit funny," he says.

Winnacer looks to the Artificer again:

"Gristan was hit by the wraith that we encountered and it took some of his soul. Is there anything that you can do to assist him?"

The Artificer shakes his head sadly:

"I'm afraid that restoring souls is a very difficult thing to do indeed. There are just a handful of priests in all of Bohavia that are capable of such a feat and certainly none in such a place as Opava. No, I'm afraid that it's only in Olmutz or Mnyesto that such a priest would be found and it would not be easy to get a priest to perform such a task, even if they could."

Gristan looks a little disappointed at the news:

"Oh well," he sighs, "no use crying over it. All in a day's work, I suppose."

"We'll likely to be heading that way soon," Winnacer replies. "If you care to travel with us, we can help make arrangement for you to get the appropriate clerical ministrations."

Gristan nods:

"Well that'd be very good of you. I've been meaning to make a pilgrimage to the Fortress of Radegast for many a year now, so now seems to be as good a time to head off as any. I think I'll take you up on that offer."

"Talking of a day's work," Winnacer adds, "before we say goodbye to Gristan, the MasterSmith and the Bastioness, I suppose now is the time to split the items that we were able to take from the Temple."

He looks at Porter:

"I think that you have most of them, don't you, Porter?"

Porter digs around in his gear, pulling items from various hidden parts of his clothing, dumping them on the table:

"Let's see here, a magick pen, a magick needle, a magick book, a magick gem, and three magick potions. Wonder what this shit does. Let's start with the pen. Winnacer, let me see those papers you got."

Porter proceeds to try to copy the writing on the papers, seeing if the pen helps with forgery perhaps.

Winnacer looks Porter in the eye:

"There was some cash as well, I believe."

Porter looks up from his writing, saying:

"I'll get to that. There's 306 platinum, 65 gold, and 85 silver, as well as the emerald."

The Bastioness takes a piece of parchment and a quill and starts to jot down the amount:

"So I think that the emerald was worth around 500, wasn't it?"

She scribbles down the amount and then concentrates on dividing up the amount:

"So, divided between the seven of us, that comes to 519 gold pieces worth each.

While the Bastioness has been dividing up the loot, Porter starts to grin as he sees that he has made an identical copy of the NecroMaster's handwriting:

"My hunch was right," he says, smugly. "Some guy I did a job for once used to have one of these. He was a forger. Used to make a decent living due to one of these things alone."

Winnacer nods:

"I wonder what the other items do. I wouldn't mind the gem or the needle."

They can see that the Artificer is looking a little tired now:

"Artificer, I think that we have taken up enough of your time," Winnacer says. "We shall take our leave of you now, but I am sure that we shall be in touch with you shortly."

The Artificer smiles:

"Thank you all for everything that you have done for Opava," he replies. "Little does Opava know it, but they will be able to have a safe St. Vaclav's Day because of your actions."

"I shall arrange for those guarding the wells to be told that they can spend the day with their families after all."

With that, Winnacer, Faewen'il, Yax and Porter say their farewells to the Artificer and then they walk down the stairs along with the Bastioness, MasterSmith and Gristan, with Winnacer still dragging the Nemotz priest behind him. They look on as the MasterSmith takes the Nemotz priest from the LawBringer and locks him in the storeroom. He then instructs two of the priests of Zelezny on duty to keep an eye on the door.

As they walk out of the Cathedral, Winnacer shakes the MasterSmith, Bastioness and Gristan by the hand:

"I'd just like to thank you all for the great help that you have all been on the mission. I'm sure that we could never have managed it without you."

The three dwarves wave off Winnacer's gratitude:

"Don't mention it," says the Bastioness.

"It was no trouble at all," adds the MasterSmith.

"Just wished we could have killed the rest of the bastards," says Gristan.

They bid the dwarves farewell and then make their way to the staircase that leads up to the 1st level. The streets are pretty quiet now and, apart from the occasional dwarf lying drunk in the gutter, they pass nobody as they reach the top level of the dwarven city and head towards the gates.

They look up to see if you can see the goblins, but there is no sign of them whatsoever at the moment. As they head through the silent snowy streets of 'Tall Town', the air is freezing cold once more and their breath turns to vapor immediately. Although the temperature is so cold, the skies are clear and Yaz looks up, glad to be back in Prirodna's realm once more.

He points up at the skies:

"Hey, look at that star," he says, pointing to a bright light in the sky. "I can't remember seeing that one before. It looks like it's right overhead."

"Perhaps it is a portent of great things to come," Winnacer whispers thoughtfully. "Or perhaps it is a sign that we should get some sleep before dawn."

No one is much in the mood for astronomy at the moment as everyone is incredibly tired from the day's exertions and so they hurry back to the 'One Elm'.

As they enter the inn, they see that there is a large conifer tree planted in a pot in front of reception, covered in decorations, as is much of the rest of the inn.

"Merry St. Vaclav's Day," the innkeeper greets them as they enter the inn.

"Tree murderer," Yaz scowls at him, but he is a little too tired to make any more of a big deal about it.

Winnacer goes up to the innkeeper:

"I wonder whether it might be possible to get a hot bath?" he asks. "I know that it's very late at night, but I really would like to clean up before I go to bed."

"Certainly, Sir," the innkeeper responds. "I shall send a maid up with some hot water in a short while."

Winnacer thanks the innkeeper and then turns to the rest of them:

"So, that's a good day's work from all. I think that we've earned ourselves a bit of a lie in for the morning, what with it being St. Vaclav's Day and everything. Let us meet for breakfast at 10.00 to discuss our plans as to what we should do next."

With it being after 2.00am now and with everyone feeling tired, no one objects and everyone heads for their rooms.

Winnacer goes up to his room and takes off his armor and weapons. A short while afterwards, there is a knock on the door and a maid enters, bringing with her a couple of buckets of steaming hot water. She fills a bath for him and Winnacer gives her a tip.

The young Lord then spends a while luxuriating in the bath while leafing through the papers that he took from the NecroMaster's desk. The majority of the papers are written in dwarvish, but there are still plenty of communiqués from the Head Mortuary of Smurt that are written in Bohavian.

The LawBringer sees, with some relief, that none of the documents relate to any sinister plots from the Church, but that the majority of them are quite mundane memorandums relating to official matters including various forms to fill in for the amount of deaths recorded in each Parish, the numbers of new members recruited and the suchlike. There are a number of guidelines for priests and head priests also contained there. From reading through the documents, Winnacer sees that the Church of Smurt does not come over as being particularly evil, despite the evidence of certain churches such as the ones in Opava and Dobroushka that have proven themselves to be so.

He puts the papers down, making a mental note to bring them to the CornerStone some time in the near future for translation. He could just imagine the tongue lashing he would get if he asked Faewen'il for even such trivial help.

Winnacer reads until the water goes cold around him and then heads to bed in order to get some well-needed sleep.

While Winnacer was bathing, Yaz was busy with different toilet functions of his own, using a beer mug that he liberated from the bar while Winnacer was speaking with the innkeeper. After filling the mug, he steals downstairs back to the bar, making sure that the innkeeper doesn't see him coming down. The druid then places the mug on the counter and quickly moves out of sight of the bar, hiding around the corner to wait for the innkeeper's return.

After a few minutes, the innkeeper returns and heads for the bar. Yaz listens out carefully and hears, to his immense delight, a gulping sound coming from the bar followed by the sound of the innkeeper spitting the contents of the mug out with some alarm. As the innkeeper starts coughing furiously and letting out a stream of dwarven obscenities, Yaz grins and heads back up to his room, knowing that justice has been served.

He then heads to bed and is soon asleep after the day's exertions.