Sarenith 3, 4711.
The Coopers are spending time in Fort Inevitable, awaiting the return of Roscoe from his extended patrol with the Hellknights. Darelle has been working with Doctor Mordel for the last two weeks, learning about healing and medicine. Mordel approaches her one day after a long day with a proposition. He admits to her that he is more informed about her brother Thorne than he led her to believe when she first met him. In fact, he was aware that Thorne had some illegitimate dealings with denizens of Fort Inevitable, and that they had done some business together.
Mordel requests a favor. He has a patient who needs to be smuggled out of Fort Inevitable, and he is willing to pay 500 crowns for this dangerous mission. Darelle tells him that she will discuss it with her siblings and get back in touch with him the following day.
Back at the farm, the Coopers discuss the situation. Smuggling out Mordel's patient provides them with some much needed income, and leaves Mordel owing them a favor. On the other hand, if they are caught their lives will be forfeit as smugglers. It's an incredibly risky proposition, but they agree that they must help Mordel.
Sarenith 4, 4711
The Coopers return to Mordel's office. At the Juliver Gate they notice that the guard has been tripled, and everyone is being searched going in or out. They hear the rumor that someone was gruesomely murdered last night, and the killer has not yet been found.
After an hour the Coopers are searched and let inside the fort, and they head to the clinic where they meet Peter Ardra, the son of one of the convicted and executed conspirators of the Lord Commander's assassination three years ago. Since then, Ardra tells them, he's been drumming up support and financing for an overthrow of the Hellknights.
Mordel tells the Coopers that Ardra was attacked by a very agile creature near the forest entrance to the sewers. This creature was humanoid in shape but moved very quickly. He slashed it with his sword, but was immediately sprayed with a silvery liquid. He managed to escape down into the tunnel, but by the time he had reached Mordel's clinic he had a fever and was shaking uncontrollably. Mordel then noticed that Ardra's blood was slowly been transmuted into silver. With a steady dose of medicine and with all the skills he could he managed to save Ardra's life, but he cannot successfully reverse this transmutation. For that, Ardra must go to a specialist in Daggermark. Ardra can walk, but he can't run, let alone fight, so he must be safely escorted away from the town.
Gerald jokes that Ardra could become a werewolf hunter, for if a werewolf were to take a bite, he would immediately encounter pure silver. Daryle tells him that it's not funny, the poor man in his condition. The Coopers agree to help Ardra leave the town. They devise a quick plan. Daryle will talk to Maralictor Wirt at the Mosswater Gate and see if they can get a permit to hunt goblins in the sewers. Then, they will smuggle Ardra through the small branch that runs by Mordrel's house and into the forest, from which he will be able to reach a wagon that will take him down to Daggermark.
Daryle thus goes to the Mosswater Gate. Maralictor Wirt is busily engaged in the searching at the gate, and tells Daryle that now is not a good time to talk. She confirms that there was a murder, and that patrols are combing the streets and the sewers looking for clues or the killer. She agrees to provide Daryle and her twins with a license to hunt goblins in the sewer. But, she tells Daryle, at sundown the Hellknights will flood the sewers, flushing out anyone hiding there. The challenge passkey is "Who comes?" while the answer passkey is "Well met." Several patrols are already down in the sewers, looking for last night's killer.
The Coopers head down in the sewers, and for the first few hours they scour the tunnels underneath the town. In the distance they see two different patrols pass by, and are challenged once. With no results, they decide to pass by Mordel's house, so they head down one of the older tunnels. Daryle notices that the doctor's basement wall is visible from the tunnel, when Mordel said that it should not be.
A few hundred feet in the tunnels they encounter another Hellknight patrol, led by Captain Ulrik. After exchanging passcodes, the captain advises the Coopers his patrol has seen nothing down this tunnel. At this very moment, one of the guards disappears in the shadows, wailing and abruptly becoming silent. A humanoid silvery creature stands at the back of the patrol, and begins to slaughter them. The Coopers and the Hellknights begin to fight, but their weapons appear to not affect the Silver Demon. The Demon leaps over the patrol, and makes straight for Gerald. Enough damage is done that the Demon runs away down the sewers, back towards the town. The Coopers and the remaining Hellknights give chase, but lose sight of it before the intersection.
The party splits up, with Gerald heading towards the surface to bring back reinforcement. Daryle and Darelle head towards the lake with Captain Ulrik. They corner the Silver Demon by the lake, and after a great battle the Coopers are victorious.
The state of siege over Fort Inevitable is lifted, and the Coopers are informed they will be awarded the First Level of the Crow during the quarterly ceremony on Erastus 1st, and they will also be invited to the Lady Commander's annual grand ball.
That night, they smuggle Ardra out of the town. They relay their fight with the Silver Demon to Dr. Mordel and to Abernard Royst. Abernard tells Gerald that the Silver Demon always attack in threes ....
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