Purging heresies!
They had eaten a good dinner together with Manada and were now enjoying the quiet of the pond and the tree before it was time for bed, when commotion from the front gate disturbed the peace. A group made their way through loudly and demanded to see the Inquisitor right away. Through the archway to the lobby, they could see that at least some of them were nobles, and they were armed, too. The retinue stayed in the lobby, moving about nervously. Every now and then they looked out the door or eyed the three companions with suspicion. Meanwhile, the loud voice of a male sometimes carried through the wall of the Inquisitor's chamber and into the yard.
Whatever these nobles wanted, they were under stress and not pleased at all, but before they had completed their business, a second group came through the door, but these were city guards escorting someone. Immediately, chaos ensued. The escorted new arrival pointed at them in great surprise and shouted "Traitors! Arrest them!" Some of the nobles responded by charging, weapons drawn, while others made a run for it.
The three adventurers were outraged: the two groups were desecrating a holy place. Rowri drew his swords, while Perrima and Tindri got to their feet, ready to take action in whatever way they could, but before they got far, a noble and a guard had joined battle with each other and taken their fight into the peace of the shrine. The clang of the blades completely drowned out the gentle clucking of the stream.
Rowri growled at them to make them stop fighting, but they didn't care or didn't hear. Tindri raised her arms to the tree and asked the spirit within to assist before blood was spilled on this sacred ground. It was happy to comply and before the brawlers knew what happened, two strong branches of the oak descended and grabbed each one in a rock solid grip.
The young noble was gripped with outrage and tried to scream at them to let him go, as he was an important man, and son of an important man, but that just made Tindri angrier and she gave him the dressing down of his young life. Defeated by a force greater than him, he surrendered.
The leader of the city guard group turned out to be a representative of the Imperial Procurator, who wanted to talk to the Inquisitor. Her errand and that of the noble, who was indeed a member of the rebellious aristocrats arming in the Hymbergonds, turned out to be the same: to convince Manada to declare that what happened at the hospital was the work of their enemies to mobilize support for their cause. Manada, of course, refused both of them, and when the Procurator's assistant insisted and tried to use her Imperial power against the inquisitor, the three adventurers sallied to her side as one, and between Perrima's gentle manners, Rowri's growls, and Tindri's majestic elven voice and eyes, she relented, and left.
With that, the three could finally go to their beds, but they had not been lying down for long when the alarms of the city bells and hammers woke them up in the dead of night. Rowri felt, faintly, the smell of burning house, so the three, accompanied by a very worried Inquisitor, left as soon as they could to see what danger befell the city now.
It turned out to be the crowd by the hospital. A man was standing on top of the stairs and screaming about demons and how the entire city was in danger. The public heeded his words and try as they might to stop the masses, the city guards were being overwhelmed. Already, some torches had been flung into windows, and at least some people tried to jump out, only to be assaulted by the crowd outside under cries of "demon, demon!"
Rowri tried a loud howl to get the crowd's attention and stop the madness, but no one cared about a howling wolfman, particularly not in this city, which the wolven frequented more than any other in the Empire. Desperate to stop a possible massacre of sick people, Tindri and Perrima joined together and prayed to all the spirits around in a cry for help before blood was shed. The spirits heeded them. The healing light of the Tigwalwa shone from Tindi, calming angry spirits around her, while Perrima's plead was heeded by frost and ice spirits. Soon, a freezing mist of frost crept across the square. As it engulfed the crowd, people lost their furious passion and their focus on the hospital, shuddering with the sudden drop in temperature that went through even their sturdy winter cloaks. Faced with such great magic, the attacking mob faltered, hesitated and then stopped altogether. When citizens came to their senses, they quickly dissipated from the square, emphatically encouraged to go home by the city guard, which did not let this chance pass them by. Manada's voice soothed them further when she loudly declared that the Inquisition was going to deal with the demons down below and keep them and their families safe if they only returned to their homes now. Soon enough, the city was quiet again.
The next morning, the group finally prepared to deal with creatures in the hospital basement. The Procurator had provided them with a group of 12 men-at-arms to assist in the venture. Most officials expected Manada to take charge, but as she had no experience of fighting demons, she let the three adventurers be the de facto leaders, which meant that Rowri took command. Equipped with picks and shovels, the brick wall was quickly brought down, but when the dust settled, there was only darkness beyond. Apparently, the creatures had run for cover in the cells lining the hallway.
Rowri organized the troup in three groups, with himself in the front. There three clerics were in the middle. A group of five men at arms, two of whom had crossbows, took the rear to make sure to catch anything that might flee out of the cells when they went to attack.
On Rowri's bark, they moved, forcing their way into the first cells, to find, as expected, some of the creatures holed up there in the shadows. Upon seeing them, some of the soldiers fled in horror. Others stood their ground and tried to fight the things. Soon enough, Rowri could hear the men-at-arms cry out in fear, as their weapons had no effect. His heart sank for a moment, as he saw this himself - the ax he wielded did nothing to the creature he attacked, even though he buried it in its head. Then he pulled out his scimitar, Sturmendrang, and tried again. The enchanted blade shredded the creatures quickly. Apparently, only magic weapons could destroy these things.
It came down to the three adventurers. Together, they methodically destroyed all the creatures, one by one, either using Rowri's Sturmendrang, Tindri's magic shortsword or Perrima's prayers to the ice. The things turned out to be pathetic. They tried to flee, and some tried to their best to escape the coming doom, but none of them were ferocious or formidable warriors. The final room at the end of the hallway, contained a greater creature than the others, a thing that was composed of two humans stitched together, which sat in front of an idol of some kind. The small statue consisted of a lump of wood, with a skull on top. One of the eyes had a small piece of colour glass in it. The creature besieged it, chanting "Shashasha, Kra'li, Kra'li", over and over again, until Rowri slew it with his scimitar.
The purging was complete.