The Keys of Telku / Heathen pt. 1 / Vish the 14th through the 22nd, 3592 CE / 4-14-19

Adrienne Kirk has been summoned back to Liem by Tarrus the One-Eyed. When she arrives at the tower of Tarrus, she sees that he has three new retainers at his side; a tree-like creature named Moss Cherry-Blossom Quickroot, an aasimar paladin named Henry Skalitz, and a human druid named Roisyll. Together, they are tasked with journeying to Ferrantia, a town Adrienne has visited before but has now forgotten due to the obliviax potion, and meet up with Nari Ashida and Coron of Ur, two more of Tarrus's operatives who have been using the Library of Ferrantia to research something called the Pillars of Midnight, the only clue they currently have to the location of the third Key of Telku.   After days of travel through the Sighing Plains, the party reaches the walled city of Ferrantia, which rests at the foot of Mount Ferrantia in the southern foothills of the Grey Mountains. As they pass through the streets, they notice Ferrantia is teeming with refugees who have set up tents wherever there is space. They are shown to a sub-basement of the library, where Nari, Coron, and Nari's assistant Fiora Rebane, are studying the many texts from the library's vast and ancient collection. The party and researchers compare notes, learning that Nari may have uncovered a clue to the Pillars' location from an old book of legends.   Adrienne, who has recently learned that her lycanthropic episodes are triggered by the mysterious "black moon" expresses concern the requisite twenty days has passed since her last transformation, and that she requires a secure cell to keep from hurting her friends. Nari, accompanied by Henry and her pet raptor Jozu, volunteers to take Adrienne to the local jail. Moss and Roisyll offer to continue the research, and stay in the library's sub-basement, under Coron's watchful eye. As they exit the library, Nari directs Fiora to go inform Portia Ferrantia, the Head Librarian, of her companions' arrival in order to arrange for sleeping quarters.   At the jail, Kraegar Umbak, the sheriff of Ferrantia, shows Adrienne to a secure cell, just in the nick of time, as Archie, the small dog who has been accompanying her, begins yipping and whining, a sign that her transformation is imminent. Nari and Henry inquire with the sheriff about the refugees, wondering if perhaps the dark cult referenced in the legend of the Pillars of Midnight could somehow have any connection to the Death Squads which are persecuting the nomadic tribes all throughout the Southlands, but the sheriff has little insight to share. Nari and Henry head out among the refugees in order to gain more information. Nari offers to buy one family food, despite the fact that they are able to tell her little more than Sheriff Umbak, and goes off to buy a pig from Yeshka, the local butcher. Henry learns from a survivor that the Death Squads dress all in black, and at least one among them wielded some sort of dark magic.   Meanwhile, in the sub-basement, Moss and Roisyll have learned to identify the make of the particular type of parchment used in the book of legends, and have used it to narrow down a list of other books from the same geographic region. This includes a text called "Threat of the Old Gods," which, in reference to one god in particular, Anubhak, the god of monsters and the unquiet dead, uses the word "pillars." Though a slim lead, nonetheless they feel they are one step closer to locating the Pillars of Midnight. After consulting with Coron, the priest of Accuris tells them that Anubhak is more demon than god, and is the arch-enemy of Accuris because of Anubhak's patronage of necromancy and the undead. He also tells the tale of the party's first adventure in the dead city of Tecumeth, and the ghoul cultists of Anubhak they encountered there.   Among the refugee tents, Nari has returned with the pig. A steady rain begins to fall, and she ducks inside with the family she has befriended. Henry stands outside in the rain, holding a stone he has enchanted with continual flame as a beacon of hope for the downtrodden families in the tents. However he suddenly hears screams, as black robed assassins reveal themselves to have been hiding among the refugees and begin moving from tent to tent, cutting down innocents. Bones, an elderly member of the town guard and Nari's friend, attempts to stop them and is slain. A battle ensues as Nari, Jozu, and Henry do their best to fend off the murderers, though they can do little to slow down their bloody work. Fiora runs to the sub-basement to inform Moss and Roisyll of what is transpiring outside, and all three rush upstairs and out into the muddy streets. In the midst of the bloody, pitched battle, the party manages to lay waste to the seven black-robed assassins and the two evil clerics leading them, though not without great peril, as both Nari and Jozu are gravely wounded. Kraegar Umbak, sheriff of Ferrantia, and his guards, along with three strangers the party have not seen before, arrive to help them finish off the remaining assassins, dragging away the only survivor for interrogation. Standing in the rain and mud, the Adventurers regard the newcomers with interest, wondering what connection they have to the day's tragic events.