No level up yet, but we’re extremely close. After talking with the Guardian Naga, Ailekk killed the unconscious lieutenants and the party headed underground. Reis offered to stay back at the church in case Father Bigmug came back or additional troops arrived. The party went down a ladder into the Nard undercity. They noticed glyphs on the floor marking things as “Shelter for all”, “Private Residence”, “Protection Here”, etc. After knocking on a building with the “Protection Here” glyph outside, Rurrick knocked on the door to be greet by a guard. He noticed 5 others plus a scrawny half-orc chewing on a drum stick. When Rurrick explained their predicament (they had a dead person they wanted to revive), the guard said they should find the High Priestess and nearby places she might be found would be the Inn, Tavern, or the Spa. After Rurrick offered the guards some additional gambling money, the guard said Twig might be willing to escort them for a gold piece. The half-orc jumped up and agreed she would happily show them around after tossing her drum-stick bone on the floor. Twig led them to a nearby inn where Vinna, the innkeeper was startled at the news they had Elder Elissa’s dead body. She was startled enough that she dropped the bucket of hot stew she was carrying, causing Rurrick to leap to save the stew, but he ended up take a face plant into the hot stew and sliding across the floor. After putting Elissa’s body in Vinna’s house, the party took a short rest and gave Twig some gold to try and find the priestess. After their rest, they went to the spa. In the guard house outside of the spa, each party member was asked to strip down and relinquish their weapons, all except Cassius who was allowed through as-is (being a “Knight of Bahamut” and all). Urd and Swell both managed to hide a dagger on their persons. (Meta: For some reason the party was convinced the DM was using this as an opportunity to de-arm them before throwing combat their way. Silly players.) Following another guard’s instructions, Rurrick led them to the part of the spas where the “Big Wigs” could be found. In a plaza they could see an inscription on the floor that said “Private Residence” in front of 2 doors and a third in front of a solid wall. On the wall in graffiti (thieves cant), Urd could read it saying “Gambling Den, run by the Guildmaster”. He searched the wall and found the secret door mechanism. Upon opening the door, he could hear a debate between Gravycakes and Jebb, with a nard woman in the gambling den around a card table. No one was playing cards. Twig was back behind the bar opening a bottle of wine. Was ensued then was a long conversation about next steps. NPCs: Vinna Garblade: Inn owner Bart: Also works in the Inn Gravycakes: A rotund halfling and also the Thieves’ Guild guildmaster. Twig: Scrawny half-orc female wearing leather armor and carrying a shortsword, hand axe, and a money pouch. Ezeqrus: Nard sorceress? Warlock? Wizard? The party isn’t entirely sure. Jebb: Middle aged Nard, so far the only Nard the party has met old enough to have fought in the Battle of Kiernard. During the meeting they learned with Ezeqrus, Jebb, Gravycakes, and Twig they learned: They know how to contract the high priestess, they are afraid bringing her back will just summon more cultists to destroy her. When someone mentioned the towns members not caring: Ezeqrus was upset when they said no one in the town seems to care. Jebb said it wasn’t their place to care, they were guests not residents. The Nards worship Goddess Dravens, deity of fortune, comradery, and righteous vengeance. (Domains of Trickery and War) The followers of Dravens were responsible for putting the Talismans in the hands of the Claws of Tiamat and the Dead Man’s Grace cultists, the talismans allow for magical ability to be shared across distances. They aren’t innately evil, but instead will seem to be the alignment of the person using them on the other end. Gravycakes is the guildmaster of the Thieves Guild in Guilds’ Town, might have some influence beyond just this town. He will give the party support to do what they can to help. If the party wants to hunt down the Claws of Tiamat leader, he calls himself the “X of Tiamat”. The problem with that cult is that they have taken over part of the guards, and are in and among their number, which makes it hard to fight them (b/c you might end up facing legitimate guards). However, doing this could garner the party popularity, and also make it easier for them to walk around the city in daylight hours without having to worry about being arrested. Possibly an easier target would be the infested tunnels, near the Nards’ undercity. This area used to be mines, and was started 20+ years ago when the Nards started digging underneath the city looking for minerals and metals. A couple years ago, things started happening to the miners and they stopped digging in that area. Now they believe that part of the undercity has been taken over by the Dead Man’s Grace and their undead. The area is close enough they could make an assault on the tunnels with help from the Nards. Currently the party has the Nards and the Thieves’ Guild as allies if they are willing to help take out the cults. The Mage Guild are possible allies. Swell realized that Twig is deceptively awesome at playing cards. While everyone else was talking she was being predominantly silent while beating the crap out of him at cards. Options Now: Attack one of the cults: Dead Man’s Grace, Claws of Tiamat, or Yuan-Ti Cult Didn’t bring this up, but they could, with help, go confront the entire Council of Elders Other Ideas?