Grave Tidings
Daylight had come, and the four intrepid adventurers were really, really tired after a long, long night. The dragon had flown off, Arn riding it, and the guards dared to come out again. The sergeant cautiously approached them and informed them that by Trakorian law, they had to be escorted to the Procurator because of their trespassing on the Dragon's lair.
The party didn't want to make any trouble, but they did need some rest, and so were housed in Magister Draconicus' tower for a bit of sleep. It was already after lunch when they finally got started back to Arhem. For once, the trip was uneventful, with only the usual Marjuran drizzle to keep the group and their six escort guards company. One thing did worry Tindri, though; Sir Rolande's magic sword, Ebharing. To her, it seemed to radiate an aura of evil, and she warned the young knight against using it, lest it take him over and turn him from the path of good. He nodded, but on the advice of Albrich decided to keep it as long as they had to have dealings with a dragon, since they knew of no other weapon that would be as effective against the great monster.
When they finally got back to Arhem, it was long past dinner and night was falling. By the gates, the guards asked them about their errands and immediately started shouting invectives as the group when they heard that they had disturbed the dragon. Apparently, Blatifagus had attacked Arhem. As they passed through town, though, they saw precious little damage, aside from a couple of burnt down fishing boats, and an untidy mess of fallen over stalls in the market square.
The moment they were ushered into the Procurator's office, he started barking at them at the top of his lungs, all about how the dragon had taken his prize horse and they would all pay for this outrage with their lives according to the most severe punishment Trakorian law could offer, and that the mercury they recovered would be impounded by the Crown. Colonel da Kaelve was also there, but remained silent, so Sir Rolande was on his own, and tried, very confused and in terrible Trakorian, to explain that there must have been some mistake.
Tindri used magic power over the light to make her seem more impressive, warning the procurator against using force on Sir Rolande and his retinue. Things were just about to get nasty when the door was thrown open behind them and one of the White Berets storrmed in.
Panting, the wolfman managed to gasp a couple of words: "Undead army....Cruri..."
It turned out that the patrol the adventurers met while going back to Arhem from Cruri had found that a great number of undead had risen since the group left. There were hundreds of them now. Also, a human had arrived there and provided the undead with weapons. His description fit Baldyr the Brummer. Putting together the evidence, lugal da Kaelve proposed that the Shagulites were behind both this and the dragon attack, possibly by putting a spell on Blatifagus, at least temporarily. It seemed clear that the Shagulites were doing nothing short of launching an attack on Trakorian supremacy over Marjura, no doubt to take control over the sulphur trade. As such, da Kaelve immediately declared the entire sect outlawed and asked the Procurator to provide him with a troop to raid the Iron Tower itself. All charges against Sir Rolande and his retinue were dropped.
Albrich was sent with the mercury to settle with the dwarves in order to get the promised map over the Iron Tower, while Perrima went to try to find the kvurs, given that their time schedule now needed adjusting. Going over the logistics, da Kaelve said that it would take at least a full day to get the expedition together, given the distance they had to travel across the glacier.
Colonel da Kaelve queried both Trodax Draconicus and Tindri about how necromancers could raise and maintain an army of the undead. Draconicus had little to contribute with, though he did what he could to impress the elf. Tindri, who had spent some time studying the theories of necromancy to familiarize herself with the ways of her enemies, did have at least some ideas they could start with.
But first, they had to arrest Malek Mangus, the shagulite ambassador to Arhem, so he could not warn his brethren. Da Kaelve led the operation, with Sir Rolande, Rowri and Tindri as part of the troop. They surrounded the house as quietly as they could, and on a given signal, they burst in.
The shagulite was found in a room on the top floor. He sat in meditation, with his facemask on the floor in front of him. His face had no features - no nose, no lips, only a smooth green surface with a slit where the nose used to be and an enamel ridge instead of teeth. While Tindri's vines entangled him, Rowri stabbed him in the gut with Sturmendrang, and sir Rolande, who had promised not to use Ebharing, attacked as well, only realizing after the slash (which missed) that he was actually wielding the magic sword. Only with an effort of will could he put it away.
Malek folded over. A normal man would have been eviscerated by the sabre, but the shagulite had skin like bark. Even so, his green blood gushed forth over the floor. Da Kaelve gave Rowri a stern look and said that we wanted him alive for interrogation, and the wolfman said he though Malek was going to cast a spell on them. With a shrug, da Kaelve asked Tindri to save the prisoner before he bled out. As she examined the wound, she realized that Malek Mangus' anatomy had changed. He was no longer quite human. His blood was not so much blood as....sap filled with chlorophyll, and his digestive organs seemed shrunk inside his body. She was unable to focus on her healing spell, but did at least give a decent mundane bandage, just to stem the flow of whatever it was that passed for blood.
They returned to the stockade. Da Kaelve sent the prisoner to the Carravel Magnelika - he wanted to be able to sail to Tricilve with a moments' notice without losing the shagulite. However, even though he was secured to a bier, Malek Mangus managed to dive into the fjord from the boat bringing him over. He was never seen breaching the surface again, and the guards figured he simply committed suicide by drowning rather than being captured, but neither da Kaelve nor Sir Rolande's retinue believed in this. The White Berets were dispatched to search the shorelines. Rowri joined them, now that he knew what scent to search for.
Back at the stockade, it was time to plan the next move. Tindri explained that raising an army of several hundred undead required either a great many necromancers of medium skill or a couple of very powerful such, both of which the shagulites probably had available. Either way, the undead army could probably not be sustained for more than a number of days, perhaps a week or so, if the shagulites themselves just let it go do its work and then retreated to their castle. Da Kaelve, Albrich and Sir Rolande all agreed that this seemed likely to be the enemy's strategy, and Procurator Gotthard insisted that a substantial force be left in Arhem to deal with the onslaught of the undead and protect the civilians (and, more a significant priority for the Procurator, minimize the damage to the sulphur camp). He gave Da Kaelve permission to bring sixty soldiers, and whatever volunteers might be raised from the Marjurans. Between that force, the kvurs with their fuzzards (though Perrima had found none in their typical town camp), the two giants and the dragon, together with the map of the keep provided by the dwarves, they should stand a decent chance of bringing the enemy sect down.
Meanwhile, the citizens of Arhem had gathered around the stockade. They were shouting for the outlanders to be hanged for having disturbed the dragon. When notified, the Procurator and Da Kaelve went up on the wall and addressed the people. They told them that Sir Rolande and retinue had tried to stop the shagulites from enchanting the dragon, and that the shagulites were behind all their troubles. They told them about the coming army and reminded them of what the shagulites had done to their sick loved ones. On hearing this, the crowd got agitated and wild, swearing revenge. Thus, Arhem prepared for war!