While in town, we did some buying and selling. In addition, Devin went to the monastery to learn about barghests. Barghests feed on the innocent on the material plane, and we believe that Malfeshnekor is likely mad with hunger. Phillipe went to Chask‘s bookstore to investigate ancient Thassilonian history. He spoke with both Chask and Cyrdak Drokkus, but gained no useful information. Ash met with Brodert Quink. She showed him the 7-pointed star symbol, which he identified as the “Sihedron” rune, which represents the 7 virtues of rule. Another theory is that it stands for the 7 deadly sins.

During lunch, we overheard Larz Rovanky mention that the “Sandpoint Devil” was recently attacking his wife’s parents’ farm. The Sandpoint Devil is said to be a winged horse that spews flames from its nostrils. It comes at night, attacking farms, massacring the sheep.

Ash and Phillipe visited Ilsoari Gandethus, the wizard who runs the Turandarok Academy, a school/orphanage in Sandpoint. They asked him about the 7-pointed star, as well as the illusion of the Thassilonian speaking on a throne, but he hand no useful information. They also asked him about the Sandpoint Devil, and Ilsoari said that it was just a legend.

We returned to Thistletop keep to investigate the Thassilonian illusion. Some of Shalelu’s agents were stationed in the first room of the lowest floor. We went to the throne room, but only after blocking our ears in order to protect ourselves from Malfeshnekor’s call. Devin cast Comprehend Languages in order to understand the Thassilonian speech. It was a fragment repeated over and over: “…is upon us, but I command you remain. Witness my power, how Alaznist’s petty wrath is but a flash compared to my strength. Take my final work to your graves, and let its memory be the last thing you…”

After we returned to Sandpoint, Mayor Deverin urgently requested that we meet with Sheriff Hemlock. We went immediately, and he told us that a murderer had struck at the lumber mill the previous night. Two bodies were discovered by Ibor Thorn, who operates the mill. A bloody note, addressed to Gulnyr, was found pinned to the sleeve of one of the victims. It read, “I do as you command, master!”, and was signed “Your Lordship”. The victims were Banny Harker and Katrine Vinder. Banny was a mill operator, and Katrine was Shayliss Vinder’s sister. One of the victims had the 7-pointed star symbol carved on their chest.

We went immediately to the lumber mill to investigate; at this time it was about 7:00 PM. A large crowd of people was gathered outside, including Cyrdak. We spoke with the guards stationed outside, and then went in. One body was in a pile of wood from the log splitter, and the other was hung on the wall by a hook. There was an axe embedded in the floor. We could see a set of footprints, barefoot, which smelled of rotten meat. The axe had the same smell, and its smell was the strongest, as it actually had pieces of meat and bone caked onto it. Katrine’s body was the one on the floor, and Banny’s was the one on the wall. Banny had the star carved into his chest, and his jaw was missing. Ash looked outside, behind the mill, and found muddy footprints coming up the pier to the back door. They matched the barefoot prints inside.

After this investigation, we went back to the Sheriff’s office. He then informed us that three con men from Galderia had been killed in an abandoned barn a few days ago. Their bodyguard survived, but went insane, and was currently in a sanatorium. The men were lured into the barn by a note from “Your Lordship”; the note proposed a lucrative business venture.

Ibor Thorn and Ven Vinder were in the sheriff’s custody at this time. We tried to speak with Ibor, but he was unwilling to talk to Gulnyr or those who associated with him. We then spoke further with the Sheriff, and he revealed that Banny and Katrine were lovers.

The next day, Phillipe and Gulnyr stopped by the smithy, and then went to check for clues across the river behind the lumber mill. They found more odorous tracks leading away from and back to the river, but none that seemed to originate from elsewhere.

We then decided that it might be helpful to speak with Shayliss, and that Devin should be the one to do it since she would trust him the most. Devin was worried that he might get seduced again, so he had Ash wait outside in case he needed to call her for help while he met with Shayliss. She told him that Banny Harker had been cooking the books of the lumber mill, skimming money for himself and Katrine. The two of them were trying to get back at the Scarnettis, who owned the mill. Banny and Katrine were worried that the Scarnettis had found out, and Shayliss was concerned as well, as she had also benefitted somewhat.

After this, we visited Hayliss Korvaski, the owner of a curiosity boutique, to gain information about the Scarnetti family. She told us that they are one of the three founding families of Sandpoint. They are corrupt, and hire thugs to collect protection money. The three murdered con men, named Martwell, Hask, and Tabe, were associated with them.

We went to the barn where the three con men were murdered, and found it burned down. We then went to the sanatorium where their bodyguard, Graced Savila, was being kept. We knocked at the door, and Erin Habe answered. We told him we wanted to meet with Graced, and he brought him out. Graced was rambling crazily, and said “too many teeth”, “razors”, and “the Skinsaw Man is coming”. He also had a message for Gulnyr: “He said. He said you would visit me. His Lordship. The one that unmade me said so. He has a place for you. A precious place. I’m so jealous. He has a message for you. He made me remember it. I hope I haven’t forgotten. The master wouldn’t approve if I forgot. Let me see… let… me… see… The master said that the bodies you are finding are signs and portents, that when he is done, you shall be remembered forever and the misgivings shall be your throne!” He then broke free of his bonds and attacked Gulnyr. We knocked him out, and then left immediately, by the request of the orderlies. The orderlies were two large tieflings, whose teeth protruded through their cheeks.

We stopped at a local farm for dinner. The owners had a shrine to Ylimancha, an Agathion lord.

We then returned to the sanatorium after dark. Ash broke in through a window, explored for a while inside, and then requested that we join her. Once inside, we were attacked by a human-sized rat wielding a scimitar. He was joined by four undead. We killed them all, including the rat.

The party return to Sandpoint without incident, where they are given a heroes’ welcome by Mayor Deverin and Father Zantus, as well as the rowdy crowd at the Rusty Dragon. Even Shalelu consents to join the in the evening’s revelries, and Ameiko knows how to throw a truly outstanding celebration, while also giving respect and honor to the recently departed druid Ausk (despite an awkward moment when Father Zantus, a bit drunk, describes Ausk as a guy who just couldn’t seem to keep his guts on the inside.) Only Sheriff Hemlock seems reserved, and excuses himself early after making assurances that Nualia is safely guarded under lock and key.

While Nualia remains impossible to interview (varying between near catatonic silence and fits of mad screaming) her extensive notes recovered from her Thistletop lair piece together a tragic story, as follows.

Nualia was a foundling raised by Sandpoint’s previous religious leader, Ezakien Tobyn, and her childhood was lonely and sad. Her unearthly beauty made the other children either jealous or shy, and many of them took to playing cruel jokes on her. The adults in town weren’t much better – many of the superstitious Varisians viewed Nualia as blessed by Desna (goddess of dreams and luck). Rumors that her touch or proximity could cure warts and rashes, that locks of her hair brewed into tea could increase fertility, and that her voice could drive out evil spirits led to a succession of awkward and humiliating requests over the years. Nualia felt more like a freak than anything else when she finally came of age, so when Delek Viskanta, a local Varisian youth, began to court her, she practically fell into his arms in gratitude.

Knowing her father wouldn’t approve of a relationship with a Varisian (he wanted her to remain pure so she could join a prestigious convent), they kept the affair secret. They met for many secret trysts, often in the abandoned smuggler’s tunnel under the glassworks. Before long, Nualia realized that she was pregnant. When she told Delek, he revealed his true colors and, after calling her a slut and a harlot, fled Sandpoint rather than face her father’s wrath. Nualia’s shock turned to rage with no outlet, and her father’s reaction to her condition only exacerbated her feelings. He forbade her to leave the church, lectured her nightly, and made her pray to Desna for forgiveness.

Nualia’s rage continued to grow, amplified by the presence of the catacombs and sinspawn below Sandpoint. Seven months pregnant, she miscarried a monstrously deformed shape, only a glimpse of which put Nualia into a coma. As she slept she experienced dark dreams, fueled by the wrath from below and the dark goddess Lamashtu. Nualia gained a conviction that her wretched life was inflicted on her by those around her. She came to see her angelic heritage (for indeed her unearthly beauty was due to being an aasimar, a half-angel) as a curse, and the demon-sent nightmares showed her how to expunge this taint from her body and soul.

When she awoke, Nualia was someone new, someone who didn’t flinch at the personal connection to Lamashtu that had been forged. She jammed her father’s door shut as he slept, lit the church on fire and fled Sandpoint. The locals assumed Nualia had burned in the fire, a tragedy made all the worse by the death of father Tobyn as well.

Nualia fled to Magnimar, where the record becomes fragmented and disjointed. She tracked down Delek and murdered him, possibly with the help of others? The god of secrets, Norgorber, is mentioned but scratched out. It was in Magnimar that she received the seven-pointed star medallion from an unknown benefactor. Newly confident, Nualia returned to Sandpoint and found herself drawn to the brick wall in the Smuggler’s tunnels where she and Delek had conceived the deformed child. Nualia bashed down the wall and discovered the catacombs beyond, as well as the quasit Erylium.

For many months, Nualia studied under Erylium’s tutelage. During this time, Nualia received another vision from Lamashtu – an image of a monstrous goblin wolf imprisoned in an underground room. Nualia learned in her dreams that this creature was named Malfeshnekor, and was also one of Lamashtu’s chosen. If she could find him and free him, he would help her to continue her vengeance on Sandpoint, and would be the key to cleansing her body fully of her “celestial taint.” Nualia wanted to become one of Lamashtu’s children now… a monster in form as well as soul.

The notes finish with a few interesting details. Nualia was planning to send a large army of goblins to Sandpoint to burn the place down once and for all, as a burnt offering to her dark goddess. She hoped to become a half-fiend, and had learned from Erylium how to manifest sinspawn from the “minor runewell” down in what she refers to as the “Catacombs of Wrath.” However, the runewell has only so much arcane fuel, and once expended neither she nor Erylium knew how to replenish it.