7.4a - Kain's Decent

Anneleigh did not return to Thalin Tor as instructed, but instead continued to search for the others.    She was beginning to lose hope when she heard scuffling from behind one of the large gravestones in a cemetery she was investigating.

“Oh thank the Vigil you are here, Anneleigh!” cried Dame Levitia Voyla when Anneleigh rounded the stone.  “I only pray you are not too late.”

“What has happened,” Anneleigh said as she knelt to address the gash on Volya’s leg, “Where are the others?”

“Don’t worry about my wounds, madam!  Captian Ledisko is here in this cemetery, buried in a shallow grave!”

7.3A - The 12th Guard

Clark was waiting for her when she arrived at camp.  He received the trinkets, a look of mourning on his face.

“It pains me that Lev Nevok and Dravko Skeda are no longer with us.  Yet, it is better that they died a true death, than to have joined the same undead they spent their life fighting.”  He said.

Anneleigh lead the captain into his tent, wanting to share the best, and the worst, of her story for when they were alone. 

“I was unable to reach Dravko before he turned.”  Anneleigh said.  “He fell on the spike as he tried to attack me.  Though I would not begrudge him this; His mind was not his own.”

6.03a - The Forge

((To make up for the delay - a longer than usual segment - Happy Christmas))

Anneleigh left the observation spot and made her way along the known trails, watching for signs of the courier or his dark package.   Before too long she found his resting space, undeniably death touched and impossible to miss.  As she approached the courier, she thought he saw the hint of a smile on his face.

She came up and stood just outside the perimeter of the planar reach.  The courier watched her for a few moments, panting with exhaustion, sometimes grimacing in pain.  After a few minutes of silent observations, on both the part of the courier and Anneleigh, he finally spoke.

6.02a - Redsnow Courier

The third husband walked Anneleigh to the place he lost track of his wife’s footprints in the snow.  From there, she was able to use her hunting skills to track the woman.  Bent branches here and there as well as a few disturbed piles of snow lead her to the third husband’s wife.  Curiously the other two women were with her.  They were huddled in a small clearing, surrounding a few candles, some of which had burnt themselves out, others had been blown out by the wind.  Hanging around the neck of each of the deceased woman is a Couldbourne Ice Necklace.  The men had described the trinkets as a protection against evil, but it seems these victims did not reap those benefits.

6.01A - Cloudbourne Protection

Anneleigh walked through the quiet village until she came to Kain’s command at the far end of the settlement.  Though she was shivering with the cold and blowing snow, she remained out in the open to observe.  Kain was in conversation with his soldiers and she did not want him to see her in cover and think she eavesdropped on a private conversation.

“The work you’ve been doing here has not gone unnoticed.  Cyril himself has sent commendations, but I’ll dispense with the pleasantries.”

5.08A - Kain's Mission Complete

Anneleigh crouched beside the shaken prisoner.  He groaned and then looks up to see her.

“What.... What happened?”

“I believe Doctor Visek had kidnapped you and created his vessel around you.”

The prisoner cried out, not in pain but in distress.  “I remember now, yes.”  He puts his head in his hands and shakes his head.  The movement gives Anneleigh the impression of he is trying to shake off a horrible memory.  “I was the vessel; the souls of others have been trapped with me.  The shell of the gnarlbone was only an exterior.”