Nymm 6th - 8th, 1005

After the end of their first shift, the recruits accompanied Sgt. Kromer to his house in Bloomsbury. They were greeted by his wife Marion and met his children Roman, Elise, Casper and Josephine. The boys, dressed in a Schäfer School uniform, stood up and saluted their father before finishing their breakfast and walking to school. Marion went in the garden with Josie and Elise cooked breakfast for the party. The sergeant questioned the recruits' decision making during the encounters, but seemed fairly satisfied with their answers. After breakfast, he sent the party home for some well-deserved rest.

The next night, Cpt. Dunsmith announced that Maj. Cannith had dug up a few draft dodger files and ordered them investigated. Sgt. Kromer kept two files for the party to investigate: Martin Kelger and Ghislain Dechart, who both lived in the Dol Arrah district.

The recruits began by investigating the Dechart home. They met his father Simon, the ducal clothier. Mr. Dechart was very worried about his son and claimed not to have seen him for several weeks. He allowed the soldiers to search Ghislain's room, where they found a map of the nearby cemetery and a Bloodfang Dagger, indicating that Ghislain adhered to the Blood of Vol.

They then visited the Kelger household. Bernhardt Kelger, the priest of Aureon, was dismissive of the recruits' investigation, as he was convinced that Martin had reported for duty as required and was currently doing his basic training at Fort Deepdark. He even showed them a letter supposedly written by Martin telling his parents that he had safely arrived on the military base and had begun his training. A search of Martin's room provided little evidence save an address book of local youths he had been preaching Aureon's word to.

The party's visit to the cemetery was more fruitful; the marked mausoleum on Ghislain's hand-drawn map turned out to be former duke Clemens's family mausoleum, and one of the sarcophagi was revealed to have been dug through to be used as the entrance to an underground dungeon. The party climbed down and found a number of undead guards patrolling the halls. After dispatching a number of zombies, they discovered a jail cell where one Winston Trager was imprisoned. Winston told the party that his captors were members of the Order of the Emerald Claw and that they meant to hang him after performing the Sacrament of Blood in the ritual chamber. The party let Winston out of the dungeon before confronting the Emerald Claw cultists. Finding the main door locked with no visible mechanism, they opted to bust through a weakened wall into the ritual chamber. The cultists, Ghislain among their numbers, seemed as in a trance, drinking blood out of a carved human skull. Without snapping out of their trances, they attacked the soldiers after their leader ordered them to "kill the royalists".

Following Sgt. Kromer's guidance to take the cultists alive, the party managed to subdue them all. Notably, Nyx used a Suggestion spell to compel the priest, Reiner Hassel, to come quietly. Upon searching Hassel, the soldiers found a letter instructing the Emerald Claw cell to wait until Duke Kovacs' son Lord Maksim had been killed by the Golgath team before eliminating the Duke. They booked the criminals into jail and tried to resume their search for Martin Kelger, but were unable to find him before curfew rang. The rest of the night went by without incident.

Only a few hours after getting into bed, the recruits were woken up by Lt. Philip ir'Antik, Duke Kovacs' personal messenger, who announced that His Grace had summoned them to the castle to brief him on the situation they uncovered. Upon arrival at the castle, they were greeted by Gentlelord Helmut ir'Zahn, who taught those unfamiliar with court etiquette the protocol when meeting the duke. Charli explained the situation to the duke, who was dismayed by the news that his family was targeted by the Emerald Claw. As required by the King's Law, Duke Kovacs sentenced the captured cultists to death for Blood of Vol worship and conspiracy to commit treason, but followed Charli's suggestion to publicly execute the majority of the cultists to send a message to Emerald Claw leadership while keeping two of them alive for further questioning. Ghislain and a woman whose identity could not be ascertained were chosen to be spared.

  Having earned some time off, Charli invited her colleagues to dinner at The Cinnamon Lantern following a recommendation by Gld. Helmut. While the Kartoffelklöße were as good as the duke's attendant said, the price shocked the less-affluent recruits. The party then returned home, making plans for their remaining two days off.

The recruits went dancing at The Fiddle Kitchen and bonded over a game of "Never have I ever", and went sparring at the garrison training courtyard. Patriot won the melee battle and Res one-shot Zigz in a sniper duel. Upon returning to the city, they witnessed a Lyrandar elemental airship landing at Teryk Castle and leaving two hours later.