An Encounter with Evil

With no other leads the party headed back to the Twilight Yawn to await the evening once again.  The evening meal was not up to Peg's expectations, not Arvien's, but they had their fill anyway.  The time passed slowly as the group made plans to once again watch Bloodhaven Estate for anyone possibly heading out of the manor house to find a new victim.

As the evening wore on the clock chimed the hours and at around 10:30 the party headed out to the streets once again.  The party paced along Baylis Road back and forth in front of Bloodhaven Estate.  Drovic became a small wren like bird and overflew the grounds.  He saw a few men monitoring the grounds, spread far and wide over the large area. 
At the witching hour when the clock started to strike midnight, the heroes heard a woman's muffled scream from a nearby alley.  They quickly moved into that area entering slightly the alley.  A lantern hung above the back door of some tiny shop illuminated a grisly scene.  A tall, burly figure in cloak and top hat stood facing the grimy wall.  His right arm was outstretched, pinning a terrified young woman against the bricks.  Her feet dangled helplessly a few inches above the pavement.  The stark terror in her eyes was a haunting reminder of the first victim the heroes saw when they entered this fiendish city.
In the man's left had, a glittering blade flashed.  Flowing symbols appeared to be etched into the metal surface, symbols that seemed to drip blood even before the knife performed its horrible work.  As the blade slashed across the woman's neck, her scream ended in a ghastly gurgle.
The man turned suddenly, and his wild animal eyes fixed the party with a stare that revealed all the worst that a man can become.  Small droplets of blood speckled his face and beard.
Then another figure, also wearing cloak and top hat, moved in front of the first man as if shielding him.  Where did this second fellow come from?  He wasn't there a moment ago.
The second man was older and gaunt, his white hair slanting across his forehead.  He moved slowly, with a limp.
Behind him, the madman's arm moved with gruesome precision, all the terrifying now that the screaming had stopped.  The original party members recognized the knife-wielding maniac was the murderer they saw when they first entered Paridon. 
Peg moved up and disappeared as she became invisible, other members moved forward but could not yet reach the enemies.  The older man spoke and a wall of stone appeared behind him, blocking out the grisly scene.  He looked around with surprise and then turned around, swore and pounded on the hammered on the wall in frustration.  Angus charged the mage, Shelly and Seglun both moved up to attack the character also.  Arvien tried unsuccessfully to find a sight line over the ten foot high wall to cast a web over the crime scene.  She also ordered Summergale to fly over and follow the murderous fiend.
As all the party members engaged in the battle, a pack of Jackals appeared, jumping down from the roofs of the surrounding buildings.  They clustered around the heroes, attacking with their bite attacks.  Suddenly the old man cast a spell moved through a Jackal and spryly climbed the building wall up to the roof.  Peg took the figure of a Jackal and blinded one of the Jackals.  Ralom blessed the party while Arvien summoned a earth elemental as she moved away from the Jackals that attacked her.  The battle continued and Angus asked Seglun if she wanted to have a boost over the wall.  Shelly and Drovic were taking significant damage with Shelly moving away from the enemy while Drovic fell under the attack of two of the beasts.  Peg moved to clamber over the wall and as she attempted to climb the wall her arm passed right through the barrier.  Being invisible no one else saw her move right through the stone barrier.  The white haired man delivered magic missiles at the party for a couple of attacks and then moved away over the rooftops. 
Angus slew a Jackal, Seglun another as Ralom moved to stabilize and heal the fallen Drovic.  On the back side of the wall Peg spied the young woman's body slumped against the brick wall.  Her throat had been slashed so deep that only the position of her body kept her head on her shoulders.  Meanwhile Peg let the party know that the wall was an illusion and moved back to cast a color spray at the Jackals. 
The elemental attacked the Jackals while the party continued its assault.  As the older figure disappeared over the roof line the Jackals began to flee from the alleyway.  The group let them fly away.  Angus moved to the body of the young woman.  The look on her face was one of sheer terror.  No living creature should die the way she did.  Once again, the murderer had left his characteristic mark: several internal organs had been neatly removed.  Again there was little blood around the area, the same as they had seen at other murder scenes.  Angus was looking closer at the body when he saw clutched in her hand a torn piece of paper.  He pried it from her grasp and found a letter fragment.

 On the edges of the paper a partial wax seal attache to the letter.

Angus declared that this was the crest of the Bloodsworth family.  Meanwhile Seglun was talking with Summergale to find where the killer had fled.  Summergale led them to a sewer grate in Bread Street.  After Ralom applied more healing to the heroes the party entered the access tunnel in Bread Street.

Seglun had no memory of the event but was certain that she was dead.  Yet she was now alive.  Ralom, Arvien, and Drovic also experienced a shutter as they felt the pall of death over their bodies.  A low groan issued from close at hand.  Next to each hero, a companion lay at the edge of wakefulness.  Bending over the companion was a strange, formless shape.  If seemed vaguely humanoid -- for a moment, clearly a hand was resting on Arvien's forehead.  But in the next moment, it shifted.
Flickering like a candle in the wind, the figure assumed a variety of horrifying forms.  Some were mere caricatures of humans, with strangely twisted limbs,  Others were bestial, with leering, fang- filled faces.  Still others were amorphous, with multiple limbs and hideous bloated heads.  As Drovic attempted to speak to the creature it hissed, "Be still, you fool!  Can you not see that I am restoring a life?"
The light was dim, a single lantern, its wick trimmed low, illuminated the scene.  I appeared the group was in the underground, laying on a ledge in a tunnel through which water flowed sluggishly.  The lantern hung from a rusted ladder that had broken away from the wall a few feet overhead.  At the top of the ladder could be seen a circular hatch.
The tunnel was about 10 feet wide.  Its wall were made of brick, with and arched ceiling perhaps 20 feet overhead.  The ledge jutted out over the water and was barely wider than the span of Ralom's arms.  Rats scurried along its crumbling edge, their beady eyes watching hungrily.  The oily black water lends a foul odor to the air.  Disgusting pieces of refuse swirled in lazy circles as they float past. 
When doppleganger finished raising all the characters it stood and addressed the party.  With a voice that changed pitch with the body shapeshifting, it stated.
"Welcome back from the land of the dead, my friends.  Tell me, do you still feel the cold kiss of death upon your souls?  I have given you the touch of life, and now you owe me something in return.  I ask of you a small task -- a trifle.  But should you fail me, you shall hear death's icy laughter a second time.
"Some time ago, a magical knife was stolen from me by one of my servants.  I want you to recover it and return it to me.
"The knife is a thing of great danger.  In the hands of a person of weak moral character, it can cause its owner to commit heinous crimes.  Alas, I fear this dire consequence has already occurred.  I want the knife returned to a place of safekeeping, where it can do no further harm.
"You will recognize the knife by the runes etched into the blade, and the face of a vampire with ruby eyes carved into the guard.  Recover the knife and return it to me before midnight of the morrow, and I shall free you from any further obligation.  What's more, I shall reveal to you a way to leave this city forever.  Fail me, and your lives shall be forfeit.
"Should you doubt my word, I suggest you reach beneath your clothes and touch a hand to a spot above your heart."
Every hero felt their chest and found a small, hard object there.  A closer look revealed a tiny metallic beetle that had fastened its clawed feet into the chest of the hero.
Questioning of the creature revealed that a clan of dopplegangers had stolen the knife and he was trying to protect the city of Paridon.  Who the current holder of the knife was, he was unsure, some other doppleganger to be sure.  The beetle could only be removed by him when the knife was returned.  With that the creature walked off down the tunnel leaving the heroes to clamber up the ladder into the streets above.

DMs Notes:  The characters earned 1000 XP for the nights adventures and now have 19956 XP.