Shademurk: Chasing Unlife

Session: Vultha / Sorval / Iskren / Taurio

Xivaskir 17

Vultha approaches Iskren about their plans to take over the town. Iskren mentions that this is somewhat of the intent. Vultha then suggests Sorval as a figurehead, who Iskren spent all week promoting to the townsfolk as a local hero. They agree that this is a good idea.
Vultha wants to restore the wilderness to town, making it more akin to his Gruul upbringing.
Iskren shifts this point to the town being a good center of diplomacy and bureaucracy, with the Murk a spot for the Gruul to live their authentic lives.
They then get in touch with the rest of the party, with Sorval and Taurio joining up in the antechamber to Iskren's main apartment. Thaya prepares a couple of cocktails for the guests (and a weak tea for Iskren).

Iskren lays out their plans to change Shademurk for the better. A bit of conversation follows where the process of election in Shademurk itself is explained. Sorval is informed that he is nominated to take the post of mayor, once enough sponsors have been found.
Vultha brings out a flask of special gruul alcohol to celebrate and Taurio almost learns how to reverse firebreath after trying a shot. Some more conversation follows and a few shots of Gruulshine later the party finds itself in high spirits...but also in the company of some Boros soldiers.
Thihm, boros representative, explains to the party that a robbery has taken place in the Old Temple, with the head priest injured.

The Old Temple, dedicated to the Wanderer but taken care of by the Orzhov, looks moderately damaged by the entire ordeal, the attackers not having taken care while assaulting the place. Two knights of Obligation guard the entrance, but allow the party to move through. Vultha and Taurio see familiar acid-related holes in the Temple, bringing their conclusions to Iskren.
Wellgar, the head priest, meets the party in a backroom, where he is currently residing to tend to his injuries. They discover, after talking with him and checking out the catacombs several items are missing, most importantly the weapon [a single edged, two handed weapon] of the Wanderer has been stolen. Other items of note were a blue sapphire, a pair of enchanted weapons, an enchanted shield and a ring said to have belonged to Freyalise.
While walking, Iskren proffers a ring to Sorval, with a Boros emblem embossed on it.
The party also discovers, while investigating the catacombs, the statue that held the blade has been built over by the Orzhov and that the ghost guardians of the catacombs have been banished.
They also learn that the Mayor, the head priest, lord Primeground and the Orzhovian patriarchs know about the contents of these catacombs' treasury and that someone banished the guardians of the treasury.

Vultha then drops on the floor, notes that the attackers were demonic in nature, and sniffs out their tracks...but then Taurio notes someone watching them. Alerting the party to this, he starts giving chase, with the rest in tow.
The group sees the figure weaves through back-alleys, darting away near a scene of Rakdosian commotion. Being the heroes they say themselves to be, the party takes a quick stance and obliterates their foes, but sadly enough, a captured orzhovian cleric is slain while the group dispatches their foes.
They then continue their chase after mentioning the involvement of Sorval with the restoration of order.

They wind up at a small door, which leads into a tiny room, decorated with velvets, candles, skulls and other trappings of the dead. On a bed sits a lady in a state of decay, with dark hair.
She introduces herself as Ysa, the Revenant. She opens by explaining her connection to Sengir, explains that there are several planar gates around Shademurk, but her knowledge seems limited on the topic. She mentions a gate to Ulgrotha, a gate to Dominaria, a gate to Llanowar, a gate to Kamigawa and a gate to a place she knows not the name of exist, linking one gate to the Izzet goblins at the Mizzium mine. She also links several planeswalkers, one to each gate. She also mentions the existence of a Nephilim, trapped under the Standing Stones.
Finally, she explains the five planeswalkers sealed away the Nephilim using five relics to bind the creature and then, she bids the party adieu.

Returning to the Old Temple, the party is set upon by a group of slithering purple growths and a six-legged being with one eye. This being focuses on Sorval, stealing an item from him before escaping, the purple growths manage to take out Vultha, causing enough distraction to have the cyclopean critter get away with minor injuries.