The Scene of the Crime

The entrance to the alley was dark and foreboding.  A startled dog, gnawing on a tossed away bone, let out a yip and sped away.  Even the animals seemed to be on edge tonight.
The parties lanterns revealed three guards huddled around a body sprawled on the paving stones.

"Didn't Nayth say that the investigation was done?" wondered Arvien.  Ralom was at the ready casting detect evil, which revealed a clump at the end of the alley.  Approaching, the guards moved away to allow access to the body.  Shelly immediately went right to the body, using her lenses to examine the body closely.  Drovic moved up to the body also, it was Mariel Rigsby.  Gaping, ragged wound covered Mariel's body in a chaotic pattern.  Her garments were shredded and bloody.
Shelly moved in closer to examine the wounds, there was little blood evidenced but the wounds were grievous.  Just then the body of Mariel transformed into a Jackal shape and attacked Shelly.  The guards also transformed and Drovic fell asleep as they gazed over the group.  Angus had moved behind the guards and now attacked with a fury.  Ralom blessed the party while Peg kept blinding the Jackal(weres?) with spells which helped reduce the fury of the attacks.  Arvien attacked on and off when the spirit roused her to action.  The attacks seemed to be not as deadly as the party would wish but even with Drovic sleeping away the four Jackal(weres?) soon fell to the onslaught.
Shelly was still puzzled by the lack of blood, while Ralom roused Drovic from his slumber.  Arvien and Angus were trying to determine if Nayth had set them up for this trap.  Hadn't he said the body was taken to the funeral home?  Or had there even been a murder?  Shelly confirmed that there was the residue of blood on the cobblestones.  Seglun started to drag a Jackal saying "Let's take these to the Guard Headquarters.  Maybe we can dump them on that rat, Nayth."  Arvien prevailed by suggesting that they go to the undertaker to see if a body was actually delivered tonight.
Arriving at Morton's Funeral Home, the servant ushered them in calling for Mr. von Keller to speak with them.  Morton arrived soon thereafter and verified that Mariel Rigsby had been brought by the guard to his mortuary.  He told Seglun to leave the Jackal carcass outside, he would deal with them later.  In the basement the body of Mariel Rigsby lay on a table.  She had the same precise wounds in a few places, little blood and von Keller said that organs had been removed.  Also her hands were missing, having been hacked off.  At the sight of the kindly proprietor's wife, Seglun and Arvien felt sick and had to rush outside for a breath of fresh air.
Drovic recalled that in a previous set of attacks, the arms and legs of the victims had been severed, but they were with the bodies.  Shelly once again peered closely, no puncture wounds just surgical cuts on the body.  Having found the actual victim, to their chagrin, the party headed back to the Twilight Yawn for a hopeful, sleep filled night.
Just as all had bedded down for the night they found themselves, with Varrid, Baru and Grunyar, sitting in an audience facing an elaborate stage.  Looking around they were in a Theater, complete with box seats, orchestra pit and lighting.  An unseen orchestra tuned its instruments, and the packed house waited in silent anticipation for the start of the show.  As the group looked at the audience it became clear that the audience consisted of corpses in varying states of decay.  The corpses, however, were as animate and mobile as the party.  They're not dead -- they're undead.
As Arvien scanned the bodies close by she saw that they were villagers from Introsia, people that they had celebrated with, ate their food, danced with and drank with, just a few nights ago.  Whatever performance the grisly audience was waiting for didn't begin.  Slowly, ever rotting or burned head turned to stare accusingly at the heroes.  Then the house light turned off and the theater was plunged into darkness.
The group finds themselves on a cart, driven by Arvien on a narrow road, with trees so close that there were no paths into the woods.  The cart, filled with tools and burlap sacks of seeds, moved slowly down the roadway.  After what seemed like hours riding the cart, webs fell from the sky covering the entire cart and horse.  Out of the forest came ettercaps, one large, who attacked with abandon.
Drovic fired up a flaming blade, which started the web afire.  Other attacks ensued as the party disentangled itself from the webs.  The smaller ettercaps were not too difficult to defeat but the larger one took more time.  Drovic fell unconscious at one point but Ralom recovered him quickly back to health.  Varrid flanked the large ettercap with Baru.  While Seglun finished off another monster.  The battle ended as the huge ettercap crumpled to the ground, which shook like a quake.
Now the party was in the hallway of Renee's boarding house.  Arvien fell silent for a moment but quickly recovered as all of the party marched down the hallway, hearing the terrible screams and pathetic sobs behind the doors, none of which would open.  Finally Arvien heard Renee begging for her life behind a door.  Arvien quickly opened the door which led to the middle of a field outside Introsia.  Fires raged all around and intense heat rolled out of the fire in blistering waves.  Ralom looked around for the crops with human heads.  He saw instead, the children of Introsia, who seemed to grow like crops, their feet stuck in the soil.  Just as he was about to pull a child loose the Fire Monster arrived, setting fire to the children.
Arvien, giving up any pretense of concern, flung herself into the middle of an intense fire.  The rest of the party attacked the Monster, some of them bursting into flames as they were attacked.  Grunyar was firing arrows, Ralom blessed the party and Arvien roused herself enough to exit the flames.  Each round the heroes could feel the blistering heat and smoke burning inside their lungs.  Quickly the Fire Monster was defeated but the party found themselves in the boarding house.
The bedroom was again the one used by Arvien.  Fire raged out the windows, the door was scorching to touch and wisps of smoke crawled in from under the door.
Sitting on the bed was Renee.  She looked directly at Arvien, oblivious to the danger around them.  "Where have you been?" Renee asked.  "I've been waiting for you.  You said you'd be back.  You said you liked me.  I thought you were going to help me run this boarding house.  Instead, you left me here to die."
As Renee talked, her features slowly began to change.  Burns appeared on her face until it became a charred mask of flaking flesh.  Scratches appeared on her arms and across the rest of the body, slowly turning her into a bloody mess.  At this sight of Renee, Arvien tried to rush to the door, burning her hand as she grabbed the knob.  Letting go she screamed aloud at sat in a corner, head in hands.
The flames dripping from the ceiling formed another Fire Monster, bigger than the one they just fought.

DMs Notes:  The party earned 343 XP for killing the Jackal(weres?) and now have 18127 XP.  Additional XP for the Nightmare will be awarded when and if the party survives.