Outlaws travel North

The group heads north, but another opportunity presents itself for coin and slaying evil.

Departing the village of Oakcrest, they passed through the village of Alefall in midafternoon, where they stopped to grab a drink in the local tavern.   While the rest of the group drank, Julian was pulled away by an attractive lady into the alley behind the bar. In the alley, he was confronted by Milena Black, who was dressed in black and red armor, and had a few swordsmen in similar garb with her. Milena revealed herself to be Valentina Benini, and Julian recognized the name as Valentina was an infamous assassin for the Lord of Hell, Asmodeus. She explained that he was now in debt to her master, and that if he didn't comply, not only would his afterlife be one of pain and suffering, his mortal life would be one spent running from the Altaieshians when she told them of all the things he did for the Jegorians. Julian realized he was in no place to negotiate.   Valentina gave him an assignment, he needed to convince his party to break into a fort controlled by a cult called "The Stargazers" and rescue a dwarf from there, Borlak Anvilsmith. Borlak Anvilsmith is a well known smith in the region and needed to be returned to the city of Leann, Valentina did not go into details why. She further explained that these cultists were associated with The Black King and had been known to attack travelers, so no one would miss them.   Making his way back into the tavern, Julian did not initially inform the group of his assignment, but after some pressing, told them there was an evil cult of the same people they ran into in Leann, and that there would be good gold in it to destroy the cult, as the cult was known to attack travelers and thus properly had treasure. The group agreed.   Making their way out of town, they found one of the former ambush sites of the cultists, and followed it through the woods to a fort built around an observatory. Deciding a frontal assault would likely end in their deaths, Markus disguised himself as a cultist, using the robes they had taken off of the priest they killed in Oakcrest. The rest of the group disguised themselves as prisoners.   Markus was able to talk his way past the front gate, and inside they found many people who appeared to be common folk enslaved. Markus was instructed to take the "prisoners" into the observatory for examination by the high priest. Unfortunately, Markus was not able to get through the door into the observatory as he didn't have a key, and it was trapped. The bard made a big scene of how important he was and one of the slaves fetched another of the cultists, a large man with a greataxe known as "The Executioner". This cultist let them in and escorted them to the makeshift temple on the inside, instructing them to wait there for the high priest.   With the temple area to themselves, the rest of the group demanded Julian tell them what was really going on here, and Julian explained that he needed to rescue a dwarf here, but did not go into further detail, which made the group uneasy and put them on their guard with him.   The Executioner soon returned with the High Priest, and Markus and the priest talked a bit, but the priest soon realized that this was not his friend the necromancer, and attacked. A bloody battle ensued, and the group killed the Executioner, but the High Priest escaped the building. They were successful in killing off his acolytes and several skeletons, and proceeded to break into the individual rooms of the lower floor, finding assorted gems and coins. In each of the acolytes chambers, they found a naked woman chained to the bed, Julian proceeded to free each of these women, who quickly dressed. Unfortunately, they were not able to escape the floor as the door had been barred from the outside, and the group could hear the sounds of another horde of undead waiting for them outside. They quickly investigated the high priests chambers, but found it to be empty, as though it had been cleaned out in a hurry.   Unable to go out without facing the rest of the cultists and the undead horde, the group elected to go to the higher floor in the observatory, and found themselves on the level with a giant telescope. Chained to the telescope in a bed were two people, both in their underclothes: A good looking man with a guitar, and a red skinned tiefling female. The man explained he was a scholar and musician by the name of Arlo Corkwood, and the tiefling was his lover, a warrior by the name of Tazmera. He greeted Markus by name, but Markus did not seem to know the man, Arlo explained that they had been at a music festival together years ago.   Julian proceeded to free the two and they were able to dress and arm themselves with weapons taken off the dead acolytes. From their higher vantage point, they were able to spot the missing dwarf, chained up in what looked like a blacksmith's shop. They proceeded to climb onto the telescope, lowering it down as close as they could to the ground and sneaking over to the roof of the shop. There they were able to free the dwarf, who rushed out with his hammer to attack the cultists. The group did follow and did battle with the undead horde and the remaining cultists, killing them off and proceeding to free the slaves. The people thanked them profusely for freeing them, and they began to loot the fallen cultists and take their farming equipment and the like back.   The group meanwhile, returned to their wagon with Arlo, Borlak, and Tazmera, and made camp. In the morning, the group headed out, and reached the village of Cooperville by evening. Encourged by the dwarf, who was anxious to get home and see his wife, they left early the next day and were able to make the city of Leann by noon. There, the dwarf left them, and encouraged them to stop by his shop sometime.