As the party considered their next move, night fell. As the gate never opened past nightfall, they realized they would have to spend the night. It was decided that they would try to report their results to Tebur. If he wouldn't help them, well, they'd cross that bridge when they came to it. The night passed uneventfully, and at daybreak, the group approached the gate once again. The party was surprised to find it open, with Tebur and a force of guards waiting for them.
Surprisingly, Tebur addresses concerns the party raised during the night, and the short trip to Irongate in the morning. He explains to West that he couldn't allow them into the city, or even risk talking with them, while they were in possession of such powerful evil magic. Once they revealed its apparent purpose, he felt more comfortable letting them into the city. Tebur assures them that they'll have the full support of the city, but this is still primarily their problem. Irongate will help them destroy this evil magic, but until then, it belongs to the party.
"But what if we just leave?" Oleg asked. "Isn't this assuming we'll take responsibility?" "I'm not concerned with that possibility," Tebur replied, leaving the party to wonder whether he thought highly of them, or was confident that they couldn't leave without his knowing. Tebur suggested the party do some research, and indicated he was tracking down a few leads. Oleg pressed for more information, but Tebur rebuffed him, assuring Oleg he wanted no part in it. With that, the guards began towing the cart away. The party decided to split up. Oleg wanted to research the fluid in the cart, while West planned to retrieve armor he had commissioned for Bear, his new animal companion. Gronk had nothing to do, and felt he couldn't contribute to any research, so he kept his head down and tried to avoid trouble.
Oleg gained admission into the deepest, most obscure areas of the wizard's guild library. His research turned up a little on the strange substance. Oleg discovered it was blood culled from demons in a profane ritual, infused with magic. This demon blood would destroy all vegetation in a vast area. That area would be forever damned .. no plants have ever grown in earth touched by the evil fluid. Unfortunately, even with a half day's research, he found no way to destroy it.
West, meanwhile, was having minor difficulties of his own. He picked up Bear's armor, and managed to find Bear outside Irongate's walls with no significant trouble. Bear balked, however, when West tried to check it for fit. Casting speak with animals, West learned the problem. "You want me to wear a dead cow?" Bear complained. "Bears don't wear cows, we eat them!" After some arguing, West convinced Bear that the dead cow would help keep him alive. Bear agreed, for the time being, to wear the armor. He was quite upset at the prospect of not being able to take it off, and threatened to tear off the armor if the need arose.
After half a day's activity, all three were approached by dwarves who claimed to be agents of Tebur. They escorted the party to a large, hollowed-out barn. It was almost 40' x 80', and had a large 40' x 40' loft with a wooden ladder leading up. Inside, Tebur met them. He awarded each member of the party a small purse of platinum coins, and thanked them for their services in behalf of the city of Irongate. Slightly confused, the party accepted the gift. Tebur then told them that his leads had provided him with the solution to their common problem. Moments later, a human strode into the barn. He introduced himself as Beorn Lammond, diplomat from Ahlissa, South Province of the Great Kingdom.
Beorn also awarded the party, this time each with a sack of gold and platinum coins. Further, he pronounced them Knights Errant of the South Province. They would be titled Sir West, Sir Gronk, and Sir Oleg d'Ahlissa. By this point, the party's confusion was evident on their faces. Tebur and Beorn, interrupting each other, explained. The demon's blood was part of a Brotherhood plot to harm both Ahlissa and Irongate. It was to be taken to Hexpools, and from there distributed around the bread basket of Ahlissa. Once distributed, it would all be used on the land, ruining acres of viable land. While this year's crop would be mostly unaffected, Ahlissa would no longer have a surplus. Irongate desperately needed that surplus in these troubled times. Thus, Irongate would be starved, and Ahlissa would lose a significant source of gold and fine weapons and armor. Tebur further revealed that Beorn knew how to destroy the demon's blood. Beorn explained that he'd studied under a priest of Pelor for a while, and learned the ritual from him.
During this explanation, Beorn and Tebur kept interrupting each other, occasionally throwing verbal jabs. Finally, at the end, they broke into a full-on argument about whether the other knew of the plan beforehand. While they were distracted, the party pondered how much they could trust an agent of the South Province, a known redoubt of evil. They came to agree that they had no real choice, and that they needed to take the chance if they were to destroy the vile substance. By this point, the argument had reached a frenzied pitch. Tebur turned quite red in the face, and almost looked as if he were going to throw a punch. Instead, he turned abruptly and stomped out.
Beorn calmed himself, and then re-addressed the party. He explained that the ritual would occur in the barn, and that the party needed to be there to keep him safe. As the ritual of undoing neutralized the blood, the demons who had been sacrificed to create it would be reformed. The party was required to keep Beorn safe long enough for him to finish the ritual. Further, to be successful, the ritual had to occur just at nightfall on the first day of a festival. As it was the first day of Brewfest, the party had to be back by six that evening, or the ritual could not be performed. Beorn then left the group to their own devices.
Oleg explained to the group that demons were very difficult to harm, but they had some vulnerabilities, particularly to cold iron, a specially forged iron alloy. Oleg didn't remember their full capabilities, and didn't really have time to do any more research. He regretted not thinking to ask Beorn if anything else might prove useful. With this, the party split up to spend their newfound fortunes. Oleg and Gronk purchased weapons of cold iron, and sundry magical aids. West, who scorns metal as weapon or armor, purchased gear for himself and Bear, then went to retrieve him. The party regrouped at the barn at six, only to find Beorn waiting.
The barn had some new additions also. An altar to some profane god sat at the lip of the loft, overlooking the floor of the barn. A large cauldron, full of the dark, viscous blood, sat in the middle of the floor. It was surrounded by buckets of water, which Beorn identified as holy water. Finally, there was a shallow trench around the inside of the barn, just in case. Beorn explained that as he begun chanting, the blood would begin to roil. When he waved his hands, they were to pour all the holy water into the cauldron as quickly as they could. And when his chanting reached a fevered pitch, they would have about a minute before all hell started breaking loose.
The party prepared themselves. At Beorn's first signal, they splashed the buckets of water into the cauldron. It spat back at them, and they had to jump out of the way to avoid getting hit. At his second signal, they all started casting preparatory magics. West conjured several animals to help against the demons, Gronk activated his magical defenses, and Oleg cast enhancement and protective spells on them all. Finally, the combined fluid reached a boil, and an oily vapor started swirling about the room. It darkened and condensed in patches, forming quickly into two humanoid demons with warped bodies and large double axes.
As man and bear addressed this initial threat, more clumps of the vapor were forming. Soon a handful of smaller, maggot infested demons joined the fray. The party struck them down with relative ease, only to discover they erupted into a cloud of acid when slain. As the party fought on, still more demons manifested, of both varieties. The party quickly organized. Gronk dodged and weaved between the axe-wielding demons, distracting them from his allies and occasionally striking one a fierce blow. West directed his bears and tried to heal his companions. Oleg protected himself from the acidic vapors of the smaller demons, and concentrated on them. The demons, for their part, cast about. The smaller merely attacked the nearest nondemon, while the larger employed a bit more strategy. One threw force bolts, trying to knock down Gronk. A couple induced magical fear.
The largest concern, however, was when one threw a dark ray at the altar. This briefly caused Beorn to stop chanting, and the demon blood started to settle. He quickly started chanting again, and despite Oleg's voiced concern that the ritual was interrupted, the blood again began to boil out. Even so, the party was in danger of being overwhelmed, especially when a large, six armed demon began forming, the party almost lost faith. It cast some ray, which West managed to avoid, but blew a hole in the wall of the barn. Even as it did, however, all the demons disappeared as the last of the blood evaporated. The party regrouped and healed as Beorn came down, thanked them again for all their efforts, and then retired. Looking somewhat pale and drained, he then retired.
The party pondered their next move. They decided they needed some rest after the trying times of the past few weeks. After some well-deserved rest and recuperation, they would reconvene, tentatively to handle the issue of the human mage to the west of town.