Keepers: @bhskittykatt @holeyfailadin_29351 @krissmelser @darrylspeed Sollyn, Xtopher, Sam

Objectives: Find out if the Emerald Claw is really behind the Gloaming and the level of involvement, if any, Zorlan of House Cannith has.

Saoirse is not convinced the Blood of Vol is behind the Gloaming. She suspects the Emerald Claw. Considering it would be disastrous if elements of the plane of Mabar expand and leak across Khorvaire, she sent a large group of us to Korth, Karrnath, to investigate. There were also rumors that Zorlan, head of Cannith East, may be a Blood of Vol worshipper, and we needed to ascertain his involvement, if any, as well.

Korth is a bustling, albeit insular, town. The sieges from my homeland well predate my involvement in the conflict, but I still felt it best to not advertise my history. There’s something poetic in that the Cathedral of the Sovereign Host was one of the first structures rebuilt, and I felt blessed to see it with my own eyes. I did take the time to offer up a brief prayer asking Dol Arrah to light our path, as well as drop a few gold in the collection plate. It’s a small and insufficient atonement for the sieges of Cyre against Korth, but all things considered, Karrnath ended up better off than my people. Unity is far better than division, that is for sure, and I wish we had learned that lesson far sooner.

Our party met with Jessah, a contact from House Deneith, who met us at the King’s Grace Inn. She did not appreciate our bard’s throat singing, but neither did the other patrons (Korth really needs to have some cultural exchanges with other nations to expand their artistic palettes). We learned more about the Emerald Claw from her. They are a paramilitary-turned-terrorist organization that has operated in the shadows for the past 23 years since the regent attempted to disband them. Our contact believed that they may be attempting to bring in a new manifest zone linked to Mabar to use as a weapon.

We headed into the lower city to seek leads and found a small temple dedicated to the Blood of Vol. I quietly prayed to Dol Dorn as I tucked away anything visibly linking me to the Sovereign Host. While I do not fault others for having different faiths, I cannot help but find the Blood of Vol distasteful and heretic. To deny the divine is abhorrent in my eyes, but it was essential I set aside my own opinions and focus on the mission at hand. Proselytizing was for another day.

Ratha has been discovering demonic connections ever since we made a deal with Astarion and brought her back from the dead, and that gave us a good icebreaker with the caretaker of the temple, Vanor. He invited us to a ritual at the Necropolis in two days. The code phrase to grant access was “Dolurrh is Oblivion.” The ritual was for some sort of Sacrament of Blood, an unholy and unsanitary-sounding ceremony where all participants shed blood into a communal basin, which a priest would bless and then everyone would drink from. I quietly prayed I would not have to partake in such an occult and biohazardous rite.

Vanor also referred us to an inn for lodging, The Corvid Tavern, which was friendly to Blood of Vol worshippers. There, we discovered a band of Emerald Claw knights who were freely drinking and gossiping. We helped enable their drinking, and Sollyn did a good job getting them to spill information. We learned that Zorlan was, in fact, a Blood of Vol worshipper, but he was very low tier and not influential in any of their operations. We learned that the Queen of Death, the leader of the Emerald Claw, has a name: Lady Illmarrow, and that one of her guards has been spending a lot of time in Northwood Park recently. It seems there may be a connection to Mabar in the park, and vampires had been sighted there recently. The ruins of the original Tower of the Twelve are within the park and this seems to be a focal point of activity.

We sent this information back to Jessah for her blademarks to take further action on. We then decided to take a quick exploration to Nightwood Park for ourselves. We met a man in the woods who was apparently more than he seemed, and he seemed to be familiar with Ratha’s patron. I do worry about our dear Ratha and hope we did not make a terrible mistake when we made a deal with Astarion to restore her. It seems her patron wants to be freed from whatever binds her. I do not know this patron or what her intentions with Ratha and the greater realm are. I hope and pray to all the Host that Ratha makes wise choices with whatever this new bond is.