The Wight proved no match for the party, who quickly felled him. Following this, they chased the remaining skeletons to the roof in time to see a zombie dragon land and then fly off again - presumably the wight's transport out.
On the walk back to the barracks, Cleric Boyden voiced his worries to the party. He had long known that the leader of the Emerald Claw was a mysterious lich known as the Queen of Death - who was heralded by members of the order to lead Karrnath to glory in a re-ignition of the war, and to bring them immortality through the power of the Blood of Vol.
However, the wight naming Erandis Vol was unwelcome news to him. As part of his religious studies, Boyden had come across this name. Erandis was the last member of House Vol (the house from which the Blood of Vol religion gets its name), the destroyed thirteenth dragon-marked house, and house of the extinct Mark of Death. She was allegedly the daughter of an elf and dragon, born to unite the races, yet in the end they united to destroy her and the rest of House Vol. If she had been existing as a lich all this time, her power could be immense - especially due to her previously exhibiting the Mark of Death (although dragon-marks are known to be useless when belonging to undead).
Boyden's worries were amplified by his findings based on recent events: He examined the papers the wight had on his body, taken from the Tower of the Twelve libraries, and found they detailed research on the creation of a dragon-mark onto the body of a non-marked individual. He also revealed that the scriptures Coyle wanted from him (KA01. Bound, Gagged, and Blindfolded) were an ancient Sovereign Host text that contained (amongst other things) information on the potential merging of other planes with the Eberron plane through manifest zones. He summarised that:
- She could be attempting to bring back the Mark of Death.
- She could be attempting to merge Dollurh, the plane of death, with the mortal realm.
Boyden let General Yorin Thaurum know the news, and they both agreed the king would need to be informed. Thaurum was surprised to see the full party alive, but also impressed. He paid them the remaining gold and told them he would call on them in a few days time; they were free to take leave in the city in the meantime. Smith crafted himself some new gear. Daellin practised his bow, whilst Elias Minch worked on catching the arrows. Bludak Mal K'shaar joined in with the armies training and observed Daelin's bow skills. Selene d'Lyrandar went to check up on the progess of the Storm's Grace.
Two weeks later, news reached the party of a captured Aundarian spy. They were summoned to Thaurum who informed them that he had Remora d'Lyrandar in custody, who had been exposed by one of his own spies within the city. She was to be executed, but had attempting to bargain for her life. She stated that she knew the head-quarters of the Emerald Claw's Karrnath cell, and would give it for her life, stating that it was run by the Claw's ultimate leader in Karrnath, Lithri the Smiter (who was responsible for the imprisonment of the party, being Coyle's boss).
As Thaurum did not believe her, she told him that she had escaped Coyle's hideout with a group of adventurers who now worked for him, and she pleaded with him to allow the party on a mission infiltrate it and assassinate Lithri - after-all, what would Thaurum have to lose? He did not want to waste his own man-power on this potential lie, but killing Lithri would be a huge blow against the Emerald Claw - and so he played along. He offered the party pay for this as well - 130 gold each. They took him up on the offer, eager to take vengeance - and gold. Thaurum gave them five days to return before Remora would be executed.
She gave them directions to a cave east of Atur, at the foot of the Ashen Spire mountains. It would be a ten hour lightning rail trip, and then half a day's travel on horse. She stated that whilst the cave's normally held up-to fifty men and undead, at the moment it was down to about half numbers. The party left and were shortly in Atur, the Blood-of-Vol stronghold in Karrnath. All around them, undead were used as guards, porters, and for other menial jobs, which set the party on edge. The black pyramid cathedral to the Blood of Vol dominated the landscape. Selene managed to find a shop-keeper who could improve on Remora's scrawled map, and after leasing horses, the party managed to find their way with little trouble.
About a mile before reaching the destination, they came across a ransacked caravan on the road, they discovered two dead halflings, and a third, barely holding onto life. Bludak healed him, but as the halfling regained consciousness, he screamed a racist insult at Bludak, drew a dagger, and stabbed him in the arm. Daelling managed to hold Bludak off him, but then the halfling pulled another dagger from his boot and slashed at Smith with more racist insults. This time Bludak could not be stopped, and pounded the halfing to death. He instantly regretted this, and started blubbering wildly, apologising repeatedly, and attempting to heal the corpse.
Upon reaching the caves, the party stayed on the fringes of the wood, and noted three skeleton guards. However, Daellin spotted a small entrance into the rock-face a couple of hundred metres away, which the party investigated. Inside they found a dark cavern, where they were set upon by a pair of gricks who's home it was. Smith made short work of them both, testing out his new flame-thrower toy. The party then subsequently found a couple of small holes in the roof of the cavern that went through in to the Emerald Claw's hideout - with a bit of digging and a push, these could be breached.
After waiting for no footfall to occur, Elias was first to clamber up into an empty stone-hewed corridor, followed by the others. They found themselves in the middle of the base, not knowing where their mark was. Bludak tried one room, which turned out to be a well-stocked armoury. Daellin opened the door to another, only to find two ghouls staring right at him. They set upon him, but he made short work of them, with some help from the others. The commotion attracted two skeleton guards from around the corner, who had appeared to be guarding the door to another room.
The party made quick work of these, but not before one had run into the room it guarded, and attracted the attention of Lithri the Smiter, and his per fire-snake, Tevia. Meanwhile, the noise had attracted another occupant of the base from a near-by room, a lizard shaman. The shaman was dispatched quickly, as he ran to get more help, but he managed to heat Bludak's armour to a painful temperature first. The snake inflicted nasty wounds on Selene, but was ultimately destroyed by her magical ice amour.
Lithri proved a tougher foe, missing with his wand, but then bringing the pain on Bludak, knocking him unconcious with blows from his warhammmer. He then started to deal damage to Elias, simultaneously running to get more help. The party struggled to contain Lithri as Bludak lay dying. Just in the nick of time, Lithri was felled by a pair of magic missiles from Selene, and Elias managed to stabilise Bludak as he was seconds away from death. The party grabbed Lithri's armour, weapons, and platinum, before fleeing the scene of the crime through the same way they had come in.