Abraxxus looks stonily at Blau and then cracks a smile.  " More gold? More soft towns to plunder? Let's go.  " He chortles again and smoke pours out of his nostrils. " Those are the best things in life. Plundering, pillaging , killing and gold. Those are what makes the world go aroumd. " 

Kiliketz comes flapping into the room, landing on the table as the Ice Mephit reports in, "Sakkarot sends word that we probably want to clear out. Some of his people are already questioning whether we still need you guys alive and he doesn't have much of answer. He told me to tell you he's got a hold on them for the moment, and they're distracted with other targets, but that won't last. Soon or late, you'll be just another target to kill and rob. So where we headed mistress?"

Blau gathers up his share and tucks it away, then makes his way with the rest of the group to the rooms, gathering up his gear (if it's still there) as they ready to leave the remnants of their work behind. 

Kiven looks at the elf girl Calarel as she tries to hold back her grief over the loss of Father Donaggan.  As usual he fails to show much warmth or empathy, but simply speaks plainly.  "I am sure this is quite upsetting to you, on top of the previous losses you spoke of.  Such things will either kill you or make you stronger, and here you stand, a survivor of this siege.  Let us take our leave as is recommended, and then you will have a decision to make about your future."

Kiven gathers what he can, helping with the gold and other loot only if necessary and to get his share of coin, and is ready to depart.

  Abraxxus glowers at this.  " Ignorant fools.  Your group made it much easier to take this place. Damn elves though....." He continues to grumble as he loads up his share of the gold.  He admires a few pieces some more. "  Let us go and find more treasure. " 

"Let's get down to the stables and take any horses that haven't been eaten. It'll get us on our way sooner." Blau says as he heads in that direction. "I hope one of you know how to put the saddle on - I don't."

"Yeah, time to find some horses and get out of this shithole," she says to the group. "We should get moving."

"Grumblejack, do you want to stay here for a while or would you rather come with me? I'm afraid I need to go soon," she asks the cute ogre with a sad tone. 

Grumblejack's about to answer when Karlotta grabs his arm, glaring at Eya, "He stay here, not go with humies. We has more work ta do." Grumblejack looks at Eya helplessly and shrugs, staying behind when the group departs.

The group heads downstairs and find the stables largely unspoiled save for a few human bodies and a giant spider apparently using the corpse of a horse to lay eggs within. One goblin is having fun terrorizing the remaining horses with a torch, but he clears out in a hurry on seeing you. A few minutes later, you've saddled five horses, including someone's heavy courser for Abraxxus, and are leading them out.

There are heavy footfalls, and then Grumblejack appears at the other end of the hall. A hefty looking piece of thrown wood bounces off his skull before he can fully round the corner, and he's followed by a string of shouted insults in giantish. The ogre comes jogging up, apparently ready to join the group after all. He shrugs and says, "She gettin' too clingy for Jack ennyway."

Before leaving Havelyn's room,  Eya grabs a fine silk cloak from his closet and folds it into her bag.

---

When Grumblejack returns to the group, Eya can't help but smile. "Alright Grumblejack, try and keep up with us okay?" She uses her circlet to make herself look like a beautiful human woman with black hair and a calm expression, her persona of Martha. Before they leave, she hands Abbraxus a steel circlet. "Wear this and it will allow you to disguise yourself to look like a human, albeit a very large one," she says as she cranes her neck up to the half dragon. "Now then,  let's be on our way to Ghastenhall."

Kiven brings the pretty elven girl Calarel with them to the stables.  "Can you ride?"  He'll either find her a horse as well or have her ride with him on any particularly sturdy looking horses available.

The motley party makes its way out of the once proud fortress of Balentyne, skirting around the village of Aldencross as it burns and whatever people remain scream in terror and pain. Soon enough this scene would be repeated elsewhere as the horde moves to loot and pillage other soft targets. Grumblejack is able to keep pace with the horses easily enough as a traveling speed, his long legs eating up the distance. Calarel rides along as well, her head down as she weeps.

The Cardinal's reply to the earlier message comes through shortly enough. "Well done. If they agree, bring this warrior, but do not entrust them with sensitive details as of yet. Contact will handle recruitment. Praise Asmodeus."

Soon enough, you leave the screams of the dying behind and set off down the road towards Ghastenhall.

Thus ends Way of the Wicked, A Knot of Thorns. Thus begins Way of the Wicked, Call Forth Darkness.

The trip to Ghastenhall proves to be remarkably mundane. The roads are mostly quiet. Every once in a while you have to skirt around a village or town, and then Grumblejack has to hide in the bushes from time to time as someone passes by on the road. The ogre proves to be fairly adept at that actually, probably thanks to his previous life as something of a highwayman, ambushing and eating travelers.

He does break cover once, throwing a rock to stun a passerby and then tying him up to get cooked later that night. Eya scolds him a bit for that, he promises to run it by her next time.

That evening, Grumblejack cheerfully ties the man onto a spit, knocking him over the head one more time to keep him quiet. Calarel watches with horror as the man is roasted and eaten, the ogre fussing over his meal like a chef in a kitchen.

But the next morning Calarel is still in her tent, she is quiet and subdued as the group packs up for its last day of travel.

You have just passed through the mountains, and the city of Ghastenhall is visible on the horizon. Those not heading to the city should go due south from here to the coastline of the inner sea known as the godscar. The rest should take the road southwest to the city.

  Taking the circlet he studies it for a moment.  He then thinks of a  huge black haired human that fought with the horde and his appearance shifts.  Glancing at the horse he shrugs   " I'm not much of a rider since i have a tail and wings. " He throws himself across the huge steed and sniffs deeply.  " Well we have food beneath us now.  Horse meat is one of my favorites...." 

Blau rides along with the group happy in his accomplishments for the glory of his God, and willing to comment on the events and notable deeds performed by his companions. The night that Grumblejack consumes the hapless innocent, Blau has a thought that he approaches the Ogre with, after he's eaten his fill. "Mighty one, I have a use for those bones, if you could spare them from your next meal." 

During the trip, Blau makes a point of taking care of his allies, helping them recover from any damage remaining (2 x level per night), and saving his stored magic. (Using Touch of Law to ensure it works that night). Blau will head into the city with the group that does so, disguised as a Dwarf.

Respar says, "I'll certainly head for the Drowning Cat.  Did our fearless leader say how we are to find the actual contact?"

During their four night travel to Ghastenhall, Eya felt herself becoming especially more powerful as she continued to develop and hone her natural powers. One night in particular, her eyes crackled bright purple with a considerable amount of arcane power. She found that this power could be harnessed to empower her memorization and recall skills to beyond superhuman levels. Spells that once took her hours to memorize, show could now memorize in seconds. Though it was still draining to use her powers in this way, this newfound ability would surely come in handy she thought. 

She also worked tirelessly every single night to prepare for the next mission. To her, there was simply no time to rest. The mission was all that mattered. She spent two nights trimming and enchanting the fine silk cloak from Havelyn's room.  Once finished, the black cloak became reinforced with a small amount of protective magic. 

The next night, she spent some time with Kiven perusing both his and his brother's old spellbook for ideas. "Did you get this idea from my spider?" she asked him. "This Web spell will surely come in handy."

The final night, she spoke with Abbraxus to see what kind of item would best suit him. He simply wanted more strength, so Eya came up with an idea. She measured Abbraxus' waist, then began working on a shiny belt for the half-dragon. "It's not done yet, but if I work on this for a few more nights it will be ready. You will feel a considerably more powerful once you put it on," she said to Abbraxus.

---

Once the group arrives, Eya answers Respar, "He told us to just "check in" to the Drowning Cat, perhaps rent a few rooms. We need some discretion here, so we should have some of us wait and hide out here in the meantime to the East away from the city. We are supposed to meet our next contact at the Inn." She then turns to Grumblejack and says, "Grumblejack, stay here with Abbraxus and the elf girl. If she tries to escape, kill her. I'm not dealing with that shit again."

  Abraxxus watches the others head to the city. He settles in with Jack and Celarel.  Working carefully sharpening his huge axe,  he keeps an eye on the elf and for signs of anyone approaching their position. 

Blau waits with the others outside the city, making sure the little elf morsel doesn't get eaten, and watching for unusual visitors, as well. He keeps the fire low and hidden as they wait, now and then working on his scrolls he intends to sell when they are able. 

OOC - making scrolls: Cure Light Wounds level 1 x 10 (125 gp expenses at 12.5 gp each), Bless x 10 (same), Comprehend Languages x5 (62.5 GP), Ant Haul x 5 (62.5 GP), Magic Stone x 5, Positive Pulse x5. Total of 80 hours needed (2 hours per spell) , 20 hours used at this point(half rate). 

Respar, Eya, and Kiven head into Ghastenhall. People here are on edge, it seems that word about Sakkarot's horde has reached them. But they don't seem to thing they stand a chance, and pay the three knot members no particular attention.

Finding the drowned cat isn't particularly difficult. The tavern on the docks sports surprisingly detailed sign, showing a particularly angry looking cat struggling to climb back onto a dock.

The three stop in, perhaps enjoying a drink or two, and wait.

Perhaps an hour later, your contact finally shows up. Tiadora walks in, wearing clothing considerably more suited to the wharf than the diaphanous dress she'd been in the last time you had seen her. Instead of sitting, she leans over the table, keeping her voice low. "Well done you three, I was uncertain if any of you would be seen again."

"The master sends this, with his regards." She places a small coffer on the table. "A reward and assistance with supplies. You have a difficult task ahead of you next, you'll be delving into some old ruins, so I suggest preparing accordingly while you are here. When you are ready, go join the others outside of the city, we'll be picking you up at dusk. We can speak freely at that time."

Eya looks annoyed at the sight of their contact. "Of course you're the contact, of course. Are you auditioning for sexy evil pirate queen or what?" Eya groans as she rolls her eyes. "Anyway, thanks for the reward. Couple questions so that we can prepare more effectively. What are these ruins? Do they have a name and what kind of bad can we expect to find there? Also, we need to sell several valuables, but many are sensitive and have religious iconography that may be difficult to sell discretely. Any idea on how we can go about getting rid of some of this stuff?"

"Farholde then caer bryr, I'll explain more later. As to the... sensitive items, I can get them to a fence here."