Session 6: Cat and Mouse Report
General Summary
Seeing the second Lilim in the balcony, the investigators rush to that level, only to find the bell rope swinging but nothing visible. Ignoring the obvious distraction, Rowan began moving through the choir pews, using his stick to probe the air before him like a deadly game of blind man's bluff.
His search paid off, and he found the hidden lilim, knocking aside her attacks. She fled before the heroes, but was cornered in the bell tower and slain. Unlike the first of her kind, this one seem to implode and utterly vanish into a ball of shadow!
Heading back down to the main floor of the chapel, the PCs confronted Prioress Muriel directly. She brought them to her office and confessed that she herself had summoned the Malfeans...
It seems Prioress Muriel knew all too well of the sexual depravity of Abbot Caedmon, and had sent several letters to Seneschal August Kapoor of Lorinne, to no avail or answer. She found a tome that detailed the summoning of a lilim, a kind of Neverborn that rode their victims like a demonic lover, draining their life force. Landing on this punishment to fit the Abbot's crime, Muriel enacted the ritual to bring about her view of justice.
She did not know that the night she planted the fateful incense in the abbot's room, he would be having "devotions" with the young novice Timmin, who was an unfortunate victim of the lilm, who then rode the abbot to death and spawned a second Malfean--the one who later attacked Guibert the Novice Master. The lesser lilim died on the spot, while the mother in the balcony was drawn back to her realm when she was dispelled.
Having no real authority to replace or censure Prioress Muriel themselves, the heroes lodged their stern disagreements with her actions and promised to report her to the Cercatori, but Muriel continues to lead the Abbey for now.
After receiving the translated Ritual of Incatenare from Sir Humbert, the investigators realized they need 5 lbs. of acorn flour and a sprig of mistletoe to complete the ritual, which they got from a brief trip into the Oelno Forest.
The forest proved to be a little unnerving, as the Volgare saw and heard apparitions in the mist, beckoning them further into the forest. They did not found their ghosts, but they did find a party of men who had been savagely killed and stripped of weapons, armor, and boots. Stigala managed to find a throwing spike of an odd blue metal, and they also found several silver shillings.
Making their way back to Heathersly, they went to the Stone Circle in the dark of the new moon, finding fully 4 of the large stone menhirs dug up and fallen now. They began the ritual, each hero doing their part. Once it began, the lloigor's influence began to pull at Stigala, infusing her with a desire to stop the ritual, which she bravely fought and complete the inscription of the circle of flour. Zombie-like villagers rushed the circle and tried to stop them, but through Rowan's efforts they were held off. The dragon itself tried to rise, but Smok's insistent bell ringing and Stig's ring kept it at bay until Elric could complete chanting the ritual and bind the menace again for good...or for a while.
Finally arriving in Kalai again, the investigators found a court of law ready to try Elric for the murder of Berwyn the bailiff! Black Rolf questioned both of the priests, and Rowan admitted that Smok had confessed to the murder. Smok was then brought to trial.
In a stunning display of fast-talking, Smok managed to debate his way out of a guilty verdict! Clarity Champoux concluded that the guilty party ad not yet been found and the heroes were free to go! That doesn't mean Rowan has forgiven Smok, however...
For now, though, the investigators can rest in their village, safe until the next adventure.
