Still worn out from their epic battle with the cultists and hobgoblins, the party decides that they should simply hole up for the night. In any case, though they are getting rather experienced with repairing their wagon (this is the second time it's been sabotaged), by the time it is repaired it is near nightfall. The group tosses their prisoner on the cart (leaving Dunrat's corpse for the worms), and relocate to the hilly, brambled fields between the roads leading to and from Nulb, a mile or so south of the river.

During the night, Soot (who has been instructed to keep watch on the temple while the party rests) reports many creatures leaving the temple and striking out on the main road towards Nulb. The party quickly wakes up and readies themselves. Soon enough they can hear the sounds of the creatures approaching. Vangkor, using his darkvision, creeps in for a closer look, and sees that they are indeed hobgoblins, numbering at least a dozen, perhaps more. It's hard to tell for certain in the moonlight at a distance, but it appears that at least half of them are smaller in stature; however, whether these are goblins or children is not certain. In any case, they don't appear to be on the warpath; rather, they are trying (rather unsuccessfully) to move as quietly as they can. After a brief and quiet debate, the group decides to simply let them pass, rather than risking another confrontation. Before long the group of hobgoblins move out of sight down the road, and the party returns once more to rest. They are not interrupted for the remainder of the night.

Harvester 6

The group's first order of business the following morning is to interrogate their prisoner, the female cleric who had been assisting Dunrat in his ambush. This is the first prisoner of the cult they have managed to capture alive, and they take no chances: they ensure that she is securely bound, and Richter removes her holy symbol: an inverted EEE triangle, but with a small silver circle dangling beneath it.

After making sure that the prisoner isn't going to escape, Richter begins popping off cure spells, until the cleric mumbles, coughs, and opens her eyes. She looks about, and immediately sees the situation she is in. Instead of raving or braying mad laughter, which seems to be the norm for these cultists, she exhibits a cool, calm intelligence... even a certain level of contempt, despite her dire straits. She reveals her name to be Undra, and reveals the following information to the party:

• - She is a diviner who lives in Verbobonc; had been sent by her "masters" to assist Dunrat regain the artifacts after his group was wiped out by the party. She had never met either him or Chatrilon before; her normal role in Verbobonc was to keep tabs on the various power groups in the city. She was chosen for this mission simply due to her proximity to the area.
• - Though the Temple of Elemental Evil has been inhabited by several bands of outlaws since its second fall, the cultists have not had any part of these inhabitations. This includes the hobgoblins.
• - Dunrat's plan was simple: he knew that the party would pick up his and tracks at the moathouse, and wished to lure the group to the Temple, where they would hopefully fight the hobgoblins. If the hobgoblins defeated the party, Dunrat would barter with the hobgoblins for his artifacts. If the party defeated the hobgoblins, the cultists would attack the party, hoping they were weakened enough.
• - Once the artifacts were recovered, the plan was for Undra to escort Dunrat and Chatrilon back to the cult's headquarters, a place in the Lortmil mountains called the Temple of All Consumption. Undra has never been there, and was relying upon Dunrat to lead them there after recovering the artifacts.
• - She lets slip that the cult is preparing to execute some sort of "plan" in Verbobonc, involving a powerful artifact called the "Stone". Dunrat had bragged to her that he was to have led the execution of this "plan", and had planned to return to Verbobonc with her after delivering the artifacts.
• - When she learns that the party is actually involved with the groups from whom the "Stone" was taken, she shuts up and says no more.

At this point, possibly hoping to reason with her, Richter begins an interesting dialogue with the female cleric on the nature of faiths and religion. This eventually devolves into an argument over whose cause is the more worthy, and what really is the definition of "evil". While he is at first respectful, her haughty replies and obvious disdain for his religion soon began to get under his skin, and finally he threatens her with his mace, telling that she should tell them everything she knows about the Stone of Years. She laughs at him, saying death would be preferable to what would await a traitor of the EEE. Richter follows through with his threat and whacks her into unconsciousness. Fletcher is upset about this cavalier treatment of a woman (even an evil prisoner), and in turn pops Richter one in the jaw. Unperturbed, Richter gets to his feet and ties the female cleric up, with the intent to leave her there in the field with some rations (but without her holy symbol, which he keeps). Minaret is itching to simply slit her throat right then and there, but Fletcher will have none of it; Richter's treatment of her was bad enough, in his eyes. After vainly arguing about what a stupid mistake it is, Minaret gives up, though she still toys with her rapier and looks at the unconscious woman like a glutton eyeing up a well-prepared meal.

Having learned all they can from their prisoner at the present time, the party returns to the temple in order to make sure that everything has been cleared out. They explore, and find that all of the hobgoblins have indeed abandoned the place, taking or disposing of all the bodies and leaving nothing of value. Exploring further into the temple, several stairways are found leading down to what used to be the lower levels, but these are impassible, completely blocked with fallen rubble. The group recalls Elmo's story of how the lower levels of the Temple were collapsed when the demoness Zuggtmoy was destroyed at the end of the second Temple uprising, and decide that they are unlikely to get very far in that direction.

While making their explorations, something about the female cleric's story keeps nagging at Richter; something to do with Verbobonc, the Stone of Years, and the old journal they found in the wagon. Finally it hits him: he recalls, during his early studies as an acolyte, reading an old, famous account of one Count Di'Riccini. If Richter recalls correctly, this Count was an adventurer who long ago had settled down and lived for many years in Verbobonc. He had travelled to Verbobonc from the far east of the Flaeness, and had passed on many incredible stories about being in an adventuring group that had defeated a demilich. He was apparently asked so often to recount these tales that he commissioned a bard to set them down permanently. Richter remembers something from one these stories of the Count that seems to indicate that the Stone of Years was borne by one of the members of the adventuring party he had traveled with. He makes a mental note to follow up on this at the next opportunity, for something tells him that it is important.

Exploring the temple further, the group encounters a captive of the hobgoblins left for dead, a human dairy farmer named Tiadden. Tiadden was captured by a hobgoblin raiding party over a week ago while travelling from Verbobonc to Hommlet to visit friends. He is pathetically grateful for his release, and sticks close to the party, not daring to make the journey to Hommlet himself.

After finishing their search of the temple itself, the party explores the tower in the northeast of the compound. They find that it is also deserted, though it is apparent that some creatures lived there recently. A secret trap door is found, leading down to a long, winding tunnel that reaches a T-intersection. One branch, which seems to go in the general direction of the Temple, is blocked with collapsed debris and rubble, but the other leads about a quarter of a mile northeast, ending at the bottom of a well beside a deserted farmhouse. The group spots nobody around, so they climb out of the well and return back to the tower to collect Tiadden.

Satisfied that the Temple has been cleared out, the party returns to their wagon, only to find that both it and the female cleric prisoner are missing. It doesn't take much guessing to deduce that Chatrilon is responsible. The tracks of the wagon (and those of booted feet around it) are still quite fresh, and the party wastes no time, following the trail as it cuts across the fields to the south of Nulb. Minaret sends Soot up and ahead to scout. Soot reports that the wagon stands still back at the road leading south from Nulb to Hommlet. They catch up with it, and find the wagon deserted, the horses missing. One set of fresh horse tracks lead towards Hommlet at a gallop. Doggedly, the group pursues, until night falls and they are forced to rest. They hope that Chatrilon will be forced to rest as well, as the horse cannot keep the pace up all night long.

Harvester 7

The group sleeps lightly, then resumes tracking their quarry. Unfortunately, it appears that Chatrilon did ride all night at a gallop, or at least as far as he could. Several miles out of Hommlet they come upon the corpse of a horse, its mouth covered with foam. Chat apparently ran it to death. Fletcher quickly finds booted tracks continuing towards Hommlet. They continue to follow, but eventually Fletcher loses the trail. The party is unsure if the assassin left the road cross country or simply took a different route to Hommlet. In any case, they decide to continue on to the town itself to find out what they can, and to warn Elmo of Chat's possible return. They arrive in town at nightfall.

The party asks about, and learn that two people matching Chatrilon and Undra's description were spotted galloping like the wind along the road towards Verbobonc the day before. Chat must have bought or stolen another horse. The group is disappointed that they were unable to catch the assassin, but at least they now feel sure that he is not in town.

Elmo tells them that no new cultist activity has been observed in town since they left; however, the body of the druid Jaroo was discovered behind his grove. The strange thing was that it had been buried there at least before the party had even arrived in Hommlet; if this was the case, who was the old druid that the party encountered and Elmo briefly detained before escaping?

In any case, it appears that the troubles caused by the cultists in Hommlet have ended; however, the routing of the cultists has seemed to raise more questions than it has answered. The party is unsure how best to proceed: do they follow the trail of Chatrilon to Verbobonc, or head towards the Lortmil mountains, where this "Temple of All Consumption" is reputed to exist? After some debate, the party decides to go to Verbobonc, for several reasons: (a) they hope to find more supplies there than what Hommlet has to offer; (b) Richter would like to follow up on the lead he has on this Di'Riccini character; and, most importantly, (c) Chatrilon seemed in an awful hurry to get there for some reason. They set off at once.

En route, Richter is contacted by Amgerit Maelochtar of the Temple of Maeth, and Richter reports all the party has learned. Amgerit is brief, but suggests the party's idea to go to Verbobonc is a good one. He recommends that they seek help from an old acquaintance of his, a female wizardress by the name of Jevicca Norr. She shouldn't be too difficult to locate, as one of her arms is made entirely of red, gem-like glass. She frequents several establishments down by the dock ward of Verbobonc. Richter conscientiously reminds Amgerit to pass his report along to Vangkor's superiors at the College of Wizardry, and Amgerit agrees to do so.

The remainder of the three-day journey to Verbobonc is ominously without incident...

Harvester 10

The party arrives in Verbobonc, and split up to run some errands about town: several party members replenish their supplies in the marketplace; Richter visits the local (very small) shrine to Boccob, letting him know that he is in town; Ian visits the local headquarters of the Koor-Mah-Lao Legion. After taking care of business, the adventurers all meet up back at the marketplace near dusk.

They are preparing to locate some lodgings for themselves, when they are startled by some abrupt screams and shouts, and see an astonishing sight: a single half-orc, completely engulfed in flames, runs screaming down the main street of the market. The crowd scatters like quail before him, and the party sees that although the half-orc is burning like a torch, he seems be unharmed by the flames. This proves not to be so for others he touches, for when he grabs a passer-by in his panic she shrieks and is badly burned by the flames.

The group has barely time to register this peculiar event when suddenly there is a thundering BOOM from behind them, and four people in the fleeing crowd drop to the ground, dead. The party turns to see the fleeing crowd behind them reverse direction, retreating from a terrified-looking human man. Before the party can react, the man screams, his eyes abruptly flash, and a pair of lightning bolts arc from them, striking and wounding several party members.

Mere seconds later, a woman further along the street begins screaming, as she starts slowly floating up into the air. Her arms flail about wildly, as she shrieks, "Help! Help! The demons have me!" The people around her instinctively flee, but Minaret spots a single dark figure beyond her who does not run. This figure, apparently humanoid, is striding purposefully down the street. Though its back is to the group, it seems oblivious or unconcerned to the chaos erupting in the marketplace. The group, deducing that this figure must have something to do with what's going on, decide to pursue.

As they chase he figure, the chaos continues; a man stands terrified at the sight of a giant, dying octopus that has abruptly appeared half-way through the stone wall of a building; a shadow mastiff suddenly appears from nowhere, and its howl fills both Ian and Vangkor with such terror that they uncontrollably flee the scene. Another man literally liquefies in front of the party, his skin bubbling, hissing and seeping through his clothing as if it were suddenly turned to acid.

Finally, Fletcher, Richter, and Minaret reach the dark figure. Fletcher puts out a restraining arm, and the figure whirls around. They are shocked to see that it is a dark elf, wearing a black cloak but no with visible armor or weapons. With startling quickness, the figure whirls about, and swings his arms in a quick one-two punch, briefly stunning Fletcher. His lithe movements immediately remind the group of Elakshi's trained fighting methods, and they deduce he must be a monk of some sort. The others move in, but the dark elf proves a challenge to fight, calling into being a magical sphere of darkness. He darts about, throwing punches and delivering kicks as the party tries to take him out. Ian and Vangkor overcome their fear and return to the group; however, when Ian charges eagerly into battle, he feels the surge of wild sorcery this figure is apparently causing, and he is suddenly surrounded by a glowing cloud of red dust. He backs off, daring to come no closer. After a long battle, the dark elf is finally brought down, falling unconscious to the ground.

With the fall of the dark elf, the chaos in the marketplace subsides, and the city watch arrives, having been kept busy dealing with the shadow mastiff summoned earlier, not to mention all the other chaotic happenings in the area. They question the party and soon learn what happened. However, the guards appear reluctant to approach the fallen figure, afraid of what will happen to them if they get too close. The leader of the five watch members takes Minaret aside, and politically explains th situation, asking if she would be so kind as to "secure the safety of his men." Minaret, never a squeamish one, agrees almost eagerly to deal with the problem, and drags the unconscious figure behind one of the buildings. Looking quickly around to make sure she is unobserved, she drives her rapier repeatedly into the body of the dark elf until it stops breathing. She then regretfully informs the leader that the prisoner has suffered fatal wounds, and that despite her best effort he did not survive. The leader nods sympathetically, and orders his men to remove the body. He thanks the party for their assistance, and the guards carry the dark elf off.

The role of the party in putting an end to the chaos do not go unnoticed by the crowd, which has reformed now that the immediate danger sees past. The party members soon finds themselves the heroes of the day, and as they stop in an inn they are greeting with a rousing cheer and a limitless supply of free drinks from the patrons there. Uncomfortable with their sudden celebrity status, they try to be as polite as possible about it without drawing attention to themselves. They make inquiries about lodging and secure a room at a quite reasonable rate.

As they are closing the deal on their room, they are approached by a woman dressed in robes whose arm appears to be made completely of red glass or gemstone. The woman is indeed Jevicca Norr, the woman they were themselves seeking. She congratulates them on their heroic deeds. The party thanks her, and says that they were actually looking for her. They briefly explain that they are looking for two individuals, giving a brief description of Chatrilon and Undra. She says that she hasn't seen them (or anyone else wearing ochre robes, for that matter) about in town. However, she says that perhaps they each may be able to help each other out.

The female wizard says that she has come as a representative of the Inverted Pyramid, a group of wizards headquartered in Verbobonc. Unrelated to (and occasionally at odds with) the Silver Consortium, the major, "public" wizards guild in Verbobonc, the Inverted Pyramid is a more low-profile (even secretive) organization, dedicated to the discovery and advancement of magic by less academic means. When her order learned of the events in the marketplace today, they determined through divination that the dark elf the party brought down had actually escaped from an ancient, long-sealed stronghold whose entrance lies beneath the very city of Verbobonc itself: the Banewarrens.

Jevicca then tells the history of the Banewarrens to the party: how millenia ago, a powerful good cleric named Danar Rotansin tried to rid the world of all evil artifacts. Calling them "banes", Danar thought that destroying them would release their evil essence back into the world, and sought instead to contain their evil forever by keeping them locked safely away. He constructed a vast catacomb beneath the city, well-warded and hidden deep underground. He called this place the Banewarrens. For years he worked at this cause, collecting more and more of these banes, until finally he acquired one of the most evil artifacts known to exist: the Book of Inverted Darkness. Even Danar Rotansin could not withstand its temptation, and he finally succumbed to its evil compulsions. He turned to evil, and became Eslathagos Malkith, the Dread One. With the knowledge and evil power he had collected in the banes through the years, he withdrew into his tower, which was named Jabel Shammar. A few years later, he emerged and began a destructive campaign so devastating that it threatened the whole of the Flaeness. So great was his evil and power from the banes that reality itself rejected him; Jabel Shammar was thrust out of the prime material plane altogether. Only the combined strength of many mortal races led by powerful heroes were able to avert disaster. They took the battle to Jabel Shammar itself, and were able to bring down the might of Eslathagos Malkith. After the victory, some remnants of the good cleric Danar once was remained. His spirit, now free of the evil, managed to seal the Banewarrens once again. The banes he had collected have remained sealed there for ages, untouched and safely kept from the rest of the world... until today.

Jevicca reports that the divinations performed by the Inverted Pyramid have revealed that this dark elf, who went by the name Tavan Zith, was actually himself one of these banes. His power or curse was to awaken the latent sorcery hidden in all individuals who had not yet tapped into its power. These individuals invariably had no means to control the raging, chaotic energy of their own latent sorcery, and were usually consumed in the process of its awakening. Being a naturally chaotic and evil being, Zith revelled in this power until the cleric Danar was able to imprison him. This happened hundreds of years ago. Since then he has remained somehow preserved in the Banewarrens.

Zith's sudden appearance is troublesome enough, but the implications are much more dire. If Zith has gotten out, then somehow the Banewarrens, sealed for centuries, has somehow been breached. The hundreds of evil banes, each one a powerful artifact, would be available to any evil individual strong or mad enough to find them. For this reason, the Banewarrens must be sealed again, and quickly.

Jevicca offers each party member 850 gold pieces for recovering substantial information regarding the opening (and resealing) of the Banewarrens. She also agrees to look into the matter of any cultist activity in Verbobonc for the party: she concedes that it is quite possible that the opening of the Banewarrens and the activities of the Elder Elemental Eye may be related. After a brief discussion, the party accepts her offer.

With the party's acceptance of her offer, she then informs them that Tavan Zith entered the city by coming up through the wine cellar of a manor in the Oldtown district of Verbobonc. She gives them detailed directions to the house, which is currently vacant. Finally, she tells the group how to contact her when they have information: they should leave a message for her at a public house called the Ghostly Minstrel, and she will meet them as soon as possible. Thanking the party for their help, and wishing them luck, she exits the tavern.

The party, worn out after their ordeal and travels, creep up to their rooms to escape the noise of the barroom. They are not there long, however, before there is a knock. Warily, the party opens up the door to reveal a human male in his forties, appearing fairly fit. He introduces himself as Brother Fabitor Thisk, of the Church of St. Cuthbert. Like Jevicca, he is also curious about what happened in the market earlier, but his questions seem more general, less specific than Jevicca's. Beginning to tire of recounting their experience, the group gives him a brief account of the bizarre goings-on in the marketplace. After listening attentively, Brother Fabitor presents his own offer to the party, explaining that a great champion important to the church has gone missing. The paladin's name is Kalerecent, and he disappeared just a few days ago. He was last seen at the old Church of St. Cuthbert, where Brother Fabitor lives and works. He doesn't know where Kalerecent might be; all he knows is that the paladin is missing, and that the church's divinations indicate that his disappearance is involved somehow with the incident in the marketplace today. He offers the party as a group a reward of 2000 gp, payable when they return Kalerecent to the church alive. He will pay 1000 gp for the recovery of his body for raising. The party, never one to turn down actually getting paid for their services, decides to take him up on the offer. He thanks them warmly, telling them that they can leave word for him at either of the St. Cuthbert churches. He then departs. The party then locks the door, as they have a lot of new information to digest, and new plans to make...