The investigation begins

I arrived at the Chapel of St Thessina to find the expected disarray. I had sent messages to Bemmut’s colleagues from his explorations of the Banewarrens in the hope that they would have some useful information, or at least take an interest in his well-being.

Some of them are unavailable—Searc and Sir Lucius are on duties for their respective churches far away, and Avach seems to have vanished from the face of the earth. Ignitz was also indisposed but has sent someone called Igbot. I have seen some mention as a former gnomish companion of Bemmut that died in the Banewarrens. This Igbot maintains he is a gnome: he doesn’t look like any I have seen but seems to believe what he is saying. Very odd.

A knight of the Golden Cross is here, Janne Ilander, and has offered his aid. He claims to know Bemmut from boyhood and I have no reason to doubt him. I suspect he will be as obsessive as the sticklers from the Church of Lothian that would prevent me from doing the Lightbringer’s work.

There is also a strange representative from another church who was apparently here to negotiate some trade deal with Bemmut. I don’t really understand his motivation in helping but he wishes to help and that’s fine by me.

It is certainly a diverse group. May the Lightbringer guide our steps.

As well as the people that were killed when Bemmut was taken, there are others that have been kidnapped. May the Lightbringer keep them safe until we can find them.

There are some artifacts missing from the reliquary as well. The Chalice of Reeds is of no practical value and I wonder that anyone would take it. The Arrows of Righteousness and the Circlet of Lothian both have magical properties so I can at least understand them being taken. Enchanted arrows are typically difficult to distinguish and so I could imagine a thief would consider his chances of evading justice, but the Circlet of Lothian will be hard to hide or dispose of and we will no doubt track it down.

I examined the bodies and we extracted several small arrows from two of them. Apart from the small size the design is distinctive and I suspect we will be able to use them to find some information about the attackers. We will need to be careful in handling them as well—there is some residue at the tips of some of them I suspect to be poison.

I tried to recall the spirits to two of the bodies to get their accounts of what happened but failed. The strange priest Kasaki was able to cast the spell and we heard an account of drow attacking under cover of magical darkness. Drow in Ptolus... that is an unexpected turnup but then it does explain why a man as beloved as Bemmut apparently was might have been attacked. The question is whether he was just one amongst a group of people taken as potential slaves, or whether there is something they seek from Bemmut.

In Bemmut’s journal he makes mention of strange dreams he has been having. He describes a strange device and seeing Lothian wearing it in a state of ecstacy. We have spoken to one of the Priestesses of Lothian here in the city and she has mentioned that this is a most powerful device that allows one to commune with the Creator and was used by Lothian to achieve Divinity.

If the drow have somehow learned of Bemmut’s dreams then there could have been a purpose to their raid and Bemmut might be in particular danger. And if they get the information they seek then perhaps one of the drow will also attempt to ascend—not a pleasant thought.

It has become clear that the suspect mentioned in the Ptolus Times, Ferrik, has extensive gambling debts and having arrived at the Chapel after the drow attack may have found the possibly valuable relics... “handy”. We had previously spoken with him but went back again and were able to get him to confess to picking up the Circlet, though he continues to maintain that the other relics were already gone. It’s possible, I suppose, that another opportunist happened by but if so I don’t know why they left the Circlet. Still, that’s not at the top of my priorities at this time.

We were able to recover the Circlet from the pawn broker where Ferrik had sold it—we’ll have to discuss his penance in due course. Janne quite happily paid the broker’s fee until such time as it could be recovered from the Church. I think he was hopeful that they would allow us to borrow it to help us in our investigation. I could have explained to him the unlikeliness of this but left it as a surprise.

The other source of aid we have found is from the elf Doridian Methlod. He had heard about the drow returning to a fortress beneath the city and managed to arrange a meeting with an elven woman who had escaped slavery there and she was able to give us a lead for finding our way there. He also provided us with a rather generous purse to help us in our cause, may Lothian smile upon him.

Following the information from the elven woman we have found the point where the drow appear to have entered the city and we will be following their trail back to their fortress and, with the Lightbringer’s blessing, Bemmut and the others taken from the Chapel.

Praise be to Lothian.