After dragging Kardswann's body to the bedroom and putting him on the bed, Hazreem ties him down using what is left of the rope borrowed from Bahir. Examining Kardswann, life still courses through his body though very weak. But he is stable, for now.
Watching Hazreem tie Kardswann up, Bahir says, "We should find someplace more secure to hold Kardswann. The man burst through those ropes without a second thought. He is demon possessed and until we deal with his tormentor he will be a threat." Turning to Haleen, "Surely he had someplace to hold prisoners here. Not only might we want to free them but we can keep him there. Perhaps some of Felliped's companions might still be alive." Returning his glance, Haleen responds, "Felliped? That name is familiar. There was a group of adventurers who came here a week or so ago and were captured. One got away I believe by that name. This infuriated Kardswann. The man wasn't much for keeping prisoners in the first place, but this just made him more eager to kill them. To my knowledge, all from that party were 'dealt with' as he put it." gesturing towards the body tied down to the bed. "There are some prison cells down on the first floor. I've actually been staying in one, unlocked of course, but I've seen this man walk through a wall. I don't think one of those prison cells will do much to keep him locked up."
Hazreem joins in, "I do not relish the idea of advertising the fact Kardswaan has been captured by a party. Best to keep him out of sight now, and keep watch on him until we have secured the area. Once we have done so, then he can be imprisoned. We also need to figure out a way to break the seal under the church of Saranae. If Kardswaan was able to, then we should be able to follow his example." Daumari immediately begins searching the room as he says, "Perhaps he possessed a key or similar device that allowed to to bypass its protections ...", his voice trailing off as he focuses on his task. "Rumor has it that he simply walked through the door without opening it." replies Haleen. "I don't know if you'll find any keys." Just then Daumari pulls a small chest out from underneath the bed. Opening it, he finds four large garnets and a bag of coins, but no keys. The bag appears to be filled with mostly gold pieces. Lifting the bag is no easy task. This thing must have thousands of gold pieces in it. Continuing his search of the room, nothing additional of note is found.
Walking in after taking care of the rest of the bodies, Pae pipes in, "We should search Undrella's den as well, She might have left some stuff there." Looking at Kardswann tied up with just rope. "Maybe we need to find some chains..this is a slavers establishment we should find them easily enough" Nodding at Pae, Bahir replies, "That is wise my friend as was yours Hazreem. I'll guard him while you locate them." Haleen joins in, "I know one of the merchants downstairs has some chain for sale if you can't find any elsewhere."
Gathering the wounded, Mah'ysa says a brief prayer. A wave of healing energy washes over everyone, causing everyone but Hazreem to feel fairly good. "There. That is the last of Saranrae's healing power I have today. Come the dawn, she will honor me again with her power; but no more until then. So please be more careful Bahir." She kisses Bahir on the cheek.
While Bahir stays behind and watches over the tied up Kardswann, the rest of the group begins searching the rest of the battle market looking for something better to restrain Kardswann with, like chains.
Behind the stairs on the third floor, you find what appears to be guard quarters, with sufficient bunks for eight resting gnolls. All are currently empty and smell bad.
Heading back downstairs, you search the rest of the rooms. Most of these appear to be abandoned stores. Empty shelves line the interior walls, and numerous partially collapsed and destroyed crates lie heaped on the floor. Looking through this rubble, you notice that the cut banding straps used to secure the crates are still lying on the floor. Maybe something could be done with these.
Downstairs on the lower level, there are numerous store fronts facing the towards the battle stage. The three merchants are happy to see you alive and start chatting it up with Haleen, asking her what happened up there. They welcome you into their shops which take up one of the store fronts each. The rest seem to contain empty boxes and rubble.
Entering the first shop on the far north, Gorundal shows you all the weapons and armor that he has in stock. Most of the items seem heavily used and slightly damaged or shoddy in construction. His prices seem similar to what you would pay back home for new stuff.
The second shop, two slots down, is filled with many small racks displaying thin vials filled with multi-colored liquids, crumbs of tarry resin, and bits of colorful plants. Kalyx, the shop owner, says something about having stuff to help you escape your problems.
The third and final shop, fourth from the south end, has blankets lining the floor used to display numerous small items. These range from fire starting sticks to caltrops to torches to rope to vials of acid. Haleen walks in like she is on a mission and goes towards the back of the store. She picks up a reel of chain and shows it to you. Juluce, the proprietor of this shop, says "That's 3 GP per foot." The reel appears to have about 30 feet of chain on it. "75 GP for the whole reel."
In the other store fronts you find junk similar to the what you found upstairs, but there are more banding straps here. There is still the open door of the west side of the battle stage where the gnolls came out of.
With everyone in agreement, you head back up stairs to grab the bag of gold that was found in the chest under Kardswann's bed. Pulling out 76 gold pieces, you head back downstairs to the merchants. Amazingly, you didn't seem to put a dent in the amount of gold in this bag. Once downstairs, you buy the heavy reel of chain from Juluce while Daumari buys another 20 arrows from Gorundal.
Dragging, carrying, and rolling this reel upstairs, you make it back up to the third floor where Bahir is watching over Kardswann. Putting the chain off the reel, you start wrapping up Kardswann. 30 feet doesn't seem to go very far if you try to chain him to the bed as this bed is rather big. So instead you just wrap him up in the chain and lay him back on the bed.
Bahir will then secure him to the bed using his rope. After the job is finished, "I suggest we recuperate here and then see if we can pass the temple door in the morning. Perhaps some item he was carrying will be the key."
He will wake just before dawn and go down and out to the statue of Sarenrae to pray with Mah'ysa (I'm assuming she'll want to). He will take the others with him should they be so inclined.
With the decision to rest, and since you still have several hours until dusk, you finish exploring the rest of the battle market. Checking out the open door, you find a small chamber that is probably some kind of break or staging room. A small table fills the room with four chairs that appear to have been hastily pushed away from the table. Standard playing cards litter the table in what must have been an interrupted game. A small cabinet sits in the corner. Opening the cabinet, you find a huge stash of stuff that appears to have been simply thrown in. Digging though it all you find a ring, a cloak, a very nice Masterwork set of chainmail, a dagger, some kind of wand looking thing, a little vial of something, an amulet, a headband, a pair of slippers, some splint mail, and a cold iron heavy mace. You think to yourself, "Jackpot!".
On the other side of the room is another door. This door leads to a long curved hallway filled with doors on the left. Each one appears locked, but the keys Haleen gave you opens each one. Inside you find a series of small rooms, each with just a simple hard bed inside. Except for the last room on the right which contains Haleen's personal belongings. As you finish exploring, a gnoll who identifies himself as Kurellak approaches you. He indicates his desire to serve the new masters of the battle market just as he served the previous masters. If you need anything from him, he will be at his post behind the bar.
Now that you have some time, Efreat is able to sit down with Haleen with some privacy to catch back up on what has occurred since they last saw each other. After she left to go adventuring, she found herself in a situation where she owed someone powerful 2000 GP. Unable to pay and fearing for her life, she fled until she could obtain the money. She found this place and it seemed like a good place to both hide out and make a quick gold piece so she could repay her debt. But it didn't turn out to be such a good gig and she actually found herself in a worse place. So far she has made a measy 320 GP and has been here for many months. And she has been unable to leave from fear of being killed by Kardswann and his goons. But now that you, Efreat, and your friends have saved her, she is free of this place.
After stripping and cleaning up some of the beds found around the battle market, you hit the sack for the night posting rotating guard duty. The night passes without issue and as morning approaches you awake feeling really good. At sunrise, Bahir, Mah'ysa, Hazreem, and Daumari head out to the Church cemetery and doing their morning prayers before the statue of Sarenrae.
As you complete your prayers, you are surprised to see Utarchus, one of the mercenaries guarding the monastery, coming up the path to the Kelmarane highlands and around the corner. He has his sword drawn and holding his shield in a defensive posture. He is scanning the area around him as if expecting an attack to come from anywhere. He spots your group by the statue and hustles over to your location. Speaking in short bursts since he is out of breath, "Princess Almah sent me. She hasn't heard from you in a couple of days. You were out of sight most of yesterday. When we spotted you this morning, they sent me. She demands a status update."
Treat Deadly Wounds: When treating deadly wounds, you can restore hit points to a damaged creature. Treating deadly wounds restores 1 hit point per level of the creature. If you exceed the DC by 5 or more, add your Wisdom modifier (if positive) to this amount. A creature can only benefit from its deadly wounds being treated within 24 hours of being injured and never more than once per day. You must expend two uses from a healer's kit to perform this task. You take a –2 penalty on your Heal skill check for each use from the healer's kit that you lack.
At Utarchus' statement Bahir considers for a moment and then nods, "Perhaps it is best we return and report. If Princess Almah wishes to send men here than they will be able to watch over Kardswann in our absence. Mah'ysa and myself can return while you keep things disciplined here.(he looks at Daumari and Hazreem as he says this) We shall not be long. Perhaps you can discover if any of the equipment we found may be useful to us and examine that contraption while we are gone."
As the items in the closet are discovered, Bahir eyes up the Cold Iron Heavy Mace as his backup weapon and takes it as his own. Though he still feels compelled that his scimitar is the best tool for the job. Before heading to sleep for the night, Hazreem heads back up to the second floor to examine that alchemical contraption. Inside the contraption, you are able to determine that the liquids are magical potions of various types. The apparatus can be controlled to send the fluid to one of the syringe-like needles, probably to be inject one of these potions directly into someone's blood flow. The room seems as if it was once a store front. People could probably come here and pay for someone to administer one of these "drugs" into them. This device is rather large and appears to be securely mounted to the wall.
In the morning, Bahir and Mah'ysa decide to follow Utarchus back to the Monastery while the rest of the group stays in Kelmarane to keep and eye on Kardswann. Meanwhile, Paellat heads down to Undrella's laboratory in the lower section of Kelmarane.
As Bahir and Mah'ysa return to the Battle Market, from this vantage you can make out a trail of camel drawn wagons heading towards Kelmarane coming from the Monastery.
As the caravan arrives in Kelmarane, it heads up the path to the Kelmarane Highlands. Parking next to the market, Princess Almah, Garaval, and her Pactmaster guards immediately disembark and head in through the open southern door of the battle market. Inside, Almah looks around as if appraising the place. Spying one of you she asks, "Where is Kardswann?" When you gesture up to the third floor balcony, their group begins heading upstairs.
Father Zastoran and the mercenaries head inside shortly after. The camel drivers stay outside to tend to the caravan wagons. Seeing the stocked bar, the mercenaries immediately head straight for it, completely ignoring you. Though they seem a little concerned at first from seeing a gnoll behind the counter. After they see him filling drinks for them, they continue and sit at the bar. Father Zastoran inquires about your health and provides healing to everyone as needed.
Reaching Kardswann's bed chamber, Almah appears to examine the room more than she is interested in the man chained on the bed. Finally her gaze lands on Kardswann. "We should move him downstairs." Turning to Garavel, "Find a suitable place for him and assign the other mercenaries to guard over him. Then clean this room up. I will take it as my personal quarters. My guards can take the rooms I saw by the stairs as we came up."
After treating all of you, Father Zastoran briefly walks around the battle market and runs across the room with the alchemical contraption and stops in his tracks. It looks like love at first sight as he heads in and starts looking the device over.
Garaval pulls the mercenaries away from the bar and instructs them to carry Kardswann down to one of the prison cells on the first floor and to post a guard at all times inside the room with a second guard outside the room. If he starts to wake up, they should immediately call for assistance.
Mah'ysa and Sardaukar:
..."It is good that you have seen fit to place your trust in us to root out the demon that lies below the temple. It is still very much a holy place to Sarenrae. The demon has possessed someone we have captive by the name of Kardswann. I am hoping that you will be able to keep an eye on him until we are able to defeat this great evil."
Upon returning to the Battlemarket Bahir requests that everyone join him for he has news, "My friends, Princess Almah has seen fit to place a great deal of trust in us for our deeds here. She has given me a key that will allow us to pass the door below the temple. As you know, there is a great evil there. It is responsible for the abandonment and desecration of this area. I have greatly valued your expertise and companionship on our endeavors to date and pray that we continue our company. For those that choose to continue I have no doubt that we are headed into great danger and should prepare as best we can for it. Any of the equipment we have discovered should be looked over to see if it will provide us any advantages. Ready yourselves we leave at dawn. May Sarenrae's will always light your paths." Despite his dire words, the paladin's enthusiasm and confidence in doing The Dawnflowers work is quite contagious.
Pae returns and hands over the loot he has recovered.."this necklace..not bad work might go for 150 maybe even 200 if we make a play selling it" he says before tossing the ring in Efreat's direction.."Don't know about this one though..it's magical but might have been used already..see if you can work it out huh?"
"Sir Bahir, I have read some stories with those names, and heard more.
"Vardishal is said to have been a general in Nefeshti's army. Nefeshti was a powerful djinni princess who formed the Templars of the Five Winds.
"Vardishal was one of the five templars. So was Kardswann. These templars were believed to be immortal, but their immortality was believed to have come from a powerful wish uttered by Nefeshti.
"Vardishal's favored weapon was the Scimitar, which he used against the his enemies in the cult of Rovagug, the god of destruction and the arch-enemy of Sarenrae.
"Legend tells that these Templars of the Five Winds defeated a great evil, a vile spawn of Rovagug, hundreds of years ago near Pale Mountain, a pinnacle not very far from Kelmarane."
Mah'ysa turned her eyes to Bahir.
"The sword spoke to you? What did it say?"
Seeming thoughtful, "There was a feeling of disappointment from the blade when I saw Kardswann standing there. It was because Vardishal saw that he had fallen from his former glory as a Templar. It wanted me to claim I was Vardishal and admonish Kardswann for wondering off the path of the Templars of the Five Winds. At first, I thought maybe this Vardishal was a follower of Sarenrae but now I sense this is not the case. Still, they were foes of the Great Devourer and thus seem like they very well could be allies." He waits patiently for Mah'ysa's words of guidance on the matter.
Mah'ysa grins up at Bahir.
"Isn't it obvious? By the grace of the Dawnflower, we have the Interdict Key." She flourishes the device.
"We enter the crypt and destroy the foul creature that corrupted everyone and everything in the area. By cleansing the crypts we might even be able to redeem Kardswann."
She looks at Bahir with solemnity.
"But tell me truly, do we have the power to do so? I am not averse to waiting, if it will guarauntee victory..." Her eyes gaze into the distance.
"I wonder... Would an Augury be appropriate here?"
In response to Mah'ysa he smiles, "As long as our faith does not waver we will not fail. I have felt the Dawnflowers blessing in this place and she guides us now. I believe that is as much guarantee as we will ever need. However, praying for insight is always wise." He bows deeply to her, "I am but the blade, you are the hand that guides me."
The remainder of the day has Bahir checking in on everyone to see how they are doing or whether they need assistance and in prayer to Sarenrae.
As morning comes again to Kelmarane, everything is quiet. You feel refreshed and ready to go. Everyone is fully healed.
Checking in on Kardswann in one of the battle market prison cells, you find Father Zastoran tending to him. Seeing you enter, he turns to you and says, "He's doing well. His wounds are healing up nicely. But I've had to start administering a sedative periodically to keep him unconscious. Otherwise he'd be awake by now. If you plan on removing whatever curse has inflicted him, you'd better hurry. Time is of great importance as I don't know how long I can keep him like this." Two of the mercenaries stand guard behind Father Zastoran.
With much of the loot is divided up, Mah'ysa hands Paellat the slippers of spider climbing while Paellat hands Efreat a magical ring with the image of a ram head on it. "Ready yourselves we leave at dawn. May Sarenrae's will always light your paths" instructs Bahir. Mid-afternoon approaches.
Turning the ring over in his hands, Efreat whispers, "Drasheaze" and his eyes begin to glow blue.