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The next morning, Gwaihir and Landroval find themselves sleeping in a bit later than normal. The rest of the group is gone, although their horses are in the stable. So, we decide to go to the scholar's real quick and ask for his help in searching for Batrice, the man who might know something of our heritage. That's easy enough to take care of. He says it might take a few days to dig out the information, and we think maybe we'll ride back to that "ghost hold" manor house and check it out, just the two of us. The rest of the group will be fine, right? When we get back to the inn, we notice three elves in the common room. That's pretty unusual, considering the extreme scarcity of elves in this city, so we stop and say hi. Valanthalas, in mithril armor, is the main one, and his companions are Shenala (in studded leather) and Moranles (in loose clothing). Valanthas says they were born in Evermeet, raised in an "institution," and have been here on this continent only a year. They are seeking info. They are part of a group who feels it may have been a mistake to leave Faerun to the humans, and are considering a return of the elves. Their "order" is interested in reintroducing "objects of the power" that have been lost, as well as general info on elven artifacts from Myth Drannor, elven court. We ask them to come along with us to the manor house. They say sure, and will meet us at the stable. So we go out to the stable to find a group of guards raising a commotion in the street, searching from house to house. There's a guy on a horse partly burned. Two of the men walk up to us and ask "Have you seen these people?" while holding up scrolls of Dorn and Miranda. They say, "There's a thousand gold on each of their heads!" Landroval looks at me, I look at Landroval. "Um," I say. "Who are they?" The man spits on the ground. "Oh, the worst of the worst, I tell you! This one 'ere" he stabs a grimy finger at Miranda's picture "is the Dark Mistress, a follower of an evil god! And this one" (Dorn) "is her sergeant! He's got the biggest sword you've ever seen." The other guardsmen nods. "Don't forget the others, Bob," he says. "The others?" Landroval asks. "Yeah, they travel with a group of their minions!" Bob tells us. "One is a dark humanoid, some kind of vampire; one is an evil elf-looking bard; and one is a powerful evil human who can break your neck with his bare hands!" Landroval manages to look properly skeptical at this point. "Er," says Bob. "Have you seen these folks?" he asks, a bit deflated. "What did these people do?" I ask. "Oh, that's simple," says Bob. "They killed a high priest earlier today while he was at morning prayers. Everyone in the church saw this woman" (he points at Miranda's face again) "shoot him." Landroval gives me a quick look, and I know what he's thinking. With that many witnesses, someone definitely killed the guy, and it's a sure bet it wasn't Miranda. "So the high priest died from the crossbow bolt?" I ask Bob. He shakes his head. "That did him in pretty well, but it was the poison that really finished him off." I almost laugh in his face at this point -- hadn't Miranda made her views on using poison crystal clear to us? "And," says Bob, "it was a wicked looking crossbow bolt too." That stops me short. I fish around in my pack until I find the arachnid bolt I pulled out of the tree at Justford. "Like this one?" I say. He stares at it for a moment. "That's it!" he says, and the other guard turns to talk to the guard on the horse. "I was afraid of that," I say seriously. "We've faced these folks before. Women of the black arachnid, and boy are they trouble." Landroval nods, thinking. The guard on horseback comes over to us. We tell him about our previous adventure with "Sharee." He says that our bolt is a perfect match for the one that killed the archbishop, and we have indeed been helpful. Landroval tells him, "We'd really like to help get to the bottom of this. Can we go to the church where it happened?" The man says, "Sure, just tell them that Sergeant Boric Dundragon sent you." (Dramatic Pause) Okay, once we get over that excitement, we head to the high church of Torm. There are tons of people there. The church guards stop us. "We might have some information about the assassins," Landroval tells him. He will get someone from inside. While we're waiting, an older woman with two guards comes out of the church. Definitely a Dalelander, maybe in her 50s. The thing that catches our eyes though is her chain circlet around her head with a diamond-shaped gem in the middle of her forehead! I grab a man nearby. "Who is that woman?" I say. "That's Counselor Dorothea," he says. She gets in the carriage and it pulls away. After a split second, Landroval grabs one of the guards' horses, and rides after the carriage. I try to vouch for him, saying he'll bring the horse back, don't worry. After another moment, an older cleric comes out and takes me inside. He introduces himself as Stefan, and we talk. Landroval rides after the carriage, people jumping out of the way when they see the barding on the horse. Landroval catches up with it and talks with the driver -- he says he has an urgent message for Lady Dorothea. She speaks out of the carriage and directs Edward (the driver) to stop. Inside with her are two guards in ebony plate, both of good Daleland stock themselves. She lets Landroval into the carriage. He explains about the shape-shifting Simbian-looking people we encountered in Justford, and the assassin with the diamond-shaped gem in her forehead. He asks her to remove hers, if she would, so that the investigators can rule out one possibility. She sighs, has Edward point a crossbow at Landroval, and removes her jewelry. "Satisfied?" she asks. Landroval assures her that he is, apologizes profusely, and rides back to the church. We tell Stefan all about our companions, especially Miranda, and how we know beyond the shadow of a doubt that our people did not kill the archbishop. We do some background info, some character witness stuff. We tell Stefan about Dorn, and his quest for Borovic, and about why we didn't tell Borovic everything that we are now telling Stefan. He seems to follow pretty well. He says, "We must pray about this. Come with me," and leads us to a small cloister. At this point Landroval and I realize we just bared everything to a man we don't really know if we can trust, and if he's in on it, then disposing of us makes his job much easier. So, we take a deep breath... Luckily, he doesn't kill us. He closes the door behind us and says a few spells, and then says, "Now we can talk." Apparently someone named Skalia Darkblade arrived in town recently. I've never heard of this Skalia Darkblade, but Landroval has and fills me in. Apparently she's known as the "Sword of Chambril" because she's the right-hand-man of Fzhoul Chambril, a very high priest of the church of Bane, and one of the rulers of Zhentil Keep. Here's the problem: according to rumor, she is the bastard daughter of the old king of Scarsdale. Documents have been "conveniently" found that give evidence of her parentage (and therefore her claim to the throne). Because of her support by the Zhents in town, she could be a problem. "The only thing that was keeping the peace in town," Stefan tells us, "Was the Daleland Council, headed by the archbishop and the bishop, who is out of town." The only councilmembers in town now are Paul, Chambers, and Dorothea (of the 6). Archbishop was the right-hand-man of the mayor (bishop), and now that the AB's been killed, he will be returning, probably within two days. Landroval looks thoughtful. "I assume it was no secret that the bishop was out of town?" Stefan shakes his head. "Then it's possible that the whole point of killing the archbishop was to bring the bishop back to town, either to kill him to or to take his place." Gwaihir nods. "As far as we know, these people can shapeshift themselves to look like anyone, so they could easily catch him on the road, and ride right into town, already in the guise of the mayor." "What do we do?" asks Stefan, a little shaken. "Well," says Landroval, "I think what my brother and I really need to do is find our companions, and in order to do that, we need to talk to Borovic again." Stefan nods. "I wish you luck," he says. "I will do what I can on my end." To be continued...
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