What Lies Beneath the Broken Tomb
After having made contact with the Alchemists Guild to gain membership for Craum, the party takes some time to do shopping for some upgrades and Valerie checks on some rumors. Word on the street is that bodies are going missing and tombs have been broken into in the catacombs on the 5th level of the city...
A bard's song, dubbed "Diablo the Mighty"
Meeting with Amoral Tamlish at the Mages Guild, the party presented the light-averse amulet and detailed their encounter with the skinchanger—a Skorelia capable of assuming the form of any dead creature by consuming its flesh. Tamlish noted the creature was likely working with a higher power to open a ritual portal, referencing the Divine Barrier created by Casmir to keep gods, demons, and celestials out of the realm. He advised them to track missing people, inspect individuals for rot marks, or look for magical disguises; Valerie immediately suspected Eleryian, the leader of The Watchers, given the cult's concentration of poor followers and the pile of corpses at the temple.
After delivering the tea blend to Myriel Delesande through a guild proxy, the party waited while Dakka transcribed Identify. Tamlish revealed the amulet was an infernal focus, refusing to return it so it could be sealed or destroyed instead. The guild offered the party items left behind by the Seekers—including a Tentacle Rod, a Pearl of Power, and Bracers of Defense (claimed by Craum)—and assigned them a quest to hunt a large, eight-legged, spined beast in the northern woods to earn additional relics, an assignment an overly enthusiastic Diablo quickly embraced. When Craum asked about his heritage, Tamlish explained his kind were nearly extinct husks originating from the ruined Xoraxan Empire.
Moving to the Alchemists Guild (dedicated to the goddess Dasus), Valerie commissioned a custom set of studded leather matching her jacket, set to be ready in three days. Investigating rumors of grave-robbing, the party learned that bodies were vanishing from the 5th-level catacombs. Taking a magically imbued steam train, they bypassed a week's travel in two hours and entered the catacombs under the symbols of Ielna and Grevtria. Spotting a vulture—an omen of disturbed dead—they encountered a silent, bound priestess in white robes on the first level before learning the 8th floor was cordoned off due to missing corpses, including an elven girl matching the Skorelia's form, a dragonborn man, and a gnomish child.
As they descended into lower levels with fresher corpses, Renatus heard a voice calling to him and spotted a woman in white. Ignoring her at first, he eventually followed her as she shifted into a ball of light, leading the party to an altar flanked by braziers and statues of the goddesses of the dead. Investigating the altar, they discovered the corpse matched the spirit, exposing the attending priestess as another demon. As she attempted to flee, she screamed and animated two undead. Dakka failed to hide effectively, and both Diablo and Ornnar were knocked unconscious in the ensuing fight. Valerie delivered a fatal blow to the demon by stabbing its gut and slicing up through its ribs and face, causing the animated corpses to collapse before she and Craum revived their fallen companions.
As the party caught their breath, the braziers flared, the statues' eyes ignited, and the Goddesses spoke directly to the group. Warning that demonic infiltration posed an existential threat to the city, Ielna bade them seek out the Archmage to secure entry to the ball in three days. Postponing their northern woods hunt, the party exited the catacombs and settled into a local tavern for the night.