It was supper time at the Fox and I was keeping an eye on the Baron and his companions when new arrivals at the Inn caught my eye.  They were clearly from Loskalm and of regal bearing and had come in search of the Baron's wisdom and advice.  Naturally, I immediately sent word and soon these gentlemen were seated in one of the Fox's finely appointed private dining rooms.  It turned out that the Queen of Loskalm was the patron of these Knights of Hrestol - Sir Henry Markham and his son Sir John.  The Queen had sent them here on the matter of a missing Knight in her service by the name of Sir Martin Montford and as the Baron had already established, he had been in companionship with Sir Marik Luther.  The Hrestoli beseeched my master to lend his aid to the service of their Queen and graciously, Tamar agreed to do so.

The following morning, Fireday, we set off with the pagans in tow to see if Sir Marik might have visited the University during his stay.  Thanks to my forward thinking, we had already established a number of important contacts there and I called on Professor Jaspel to see if he remembered such a man.  He contacted Professor Lammitas of the Necromantic school - an elderly and wise man, steeped in arcane wisdom to come and speak with us for he had met with the mystical Luther before the Knight's departure from the city.  Lammitas spoke oddly and in tones that gave me doubt that the man's faculties were fully intact but did, in time, elicit some useful information, namely:

1. That Luther had conducted business in the city with an ancient power, probably a demonic entity.

2. This entity had escaped a mistress who is far more powerful and is a force allied with the Devil and is one of ‘her' seven servants.

3. He had sought this entity's ‘advice' in combating the higher power.

4. Luther had sought the University's advice and examined its library but to no avail. Since then Lammitas had discovered that records on this higher entity may be held by the Hrestol church for one of their number had fought and bested ‘her' before many years past. On the Baron's advice, Sir Henry immediately sent to his Church requesting information.

5. Lammitas indicated that said ‘mistress' is a very powerful demon, capable of holding God fearing men in thrall and making them her slaves. The pagans indicated that they believed this explained what had happened to the vanished soldiers fighting the forces of Argin Terror in Ralios and why the Sage they sought, Lambert Greybeard, had fallen in with Luther.

6. On the matter of Luther himself, Lammitas believed he was a Boristi Knight, a sect long thought to have vanished, destroyed by their own, ill advised methods of dealing with evil forces.

Informed, we departed the University and ruminated on Luther's actions in Sog City.  After some thought and consultation of arcane texts, I realised we were likely dealing with a Lamia, a powerful vampiric demon that steals life from unwitting men.  This now explained why Luther had been so keen to study the vile harlots of the Street of Women and I swiftly deduced that this creature must be hiding among them, probably in the Vadeli brothel - the House of Seducers. 

So we returned there and happened upon a Street Judge by the name of Anders.  He remembered Luther had sought to bribe him and his men and had hidden among the shadows watching those fool enough to risk their souls by partaking of sins of the flesh in that dread place.  Anders had refused the bribe and was keen to arrest Luther but the Godless rulers of the city overruled him and he was allowed to maintain his vigil.  Soon he saw what he was looking for - a student named Lucenzo who had clearly fallen under the Lamia's sway.

We tracked Lucenzo to the old mansions overlooking the eastern bay.  He had left for his parent's estates after Luther saved him and his student friends, two of which were still in residence: a nervous, callow youth named Polosi and the much more personable Marius, both also students of the University.  Marius told us that they had all fallen under the creature's spell with one of their number, Oscario paying for his sins with his life.  Lucenzo would also have perished were it not for Luther and his companion's timely intervention.  During questioning, it became obvious to me that Polosi was not telling the full truth and using inspired rhetoric and interrogative techniques, I soon discovered that we were not the first to ask about Lucenzo in recent days.  Apparently, a group of bandits, disguised as Judges had forced Polosi to speak of Lucenzo's whereabouts and his expected return to the city, which, Marius confirmed was due this day or the next.

The game was afoot!  Lucenzo's habit was to dine at an Inn outside the walls called the Fatter Goose whilst on his way in and out of Sog.  Thence we rode at haste to try and escort him safely home only to find a group of ne'er do well mercenary soldiers waiting.  They looked competent and as the coach carrying Lucenzo rattled down the track and into the Inn's courtyard, so the Baron hatched a cunning plan...