A rough day at the office

Our heroes started their adventures in an only slightly heroic way; as guards of the burial and dirt creation crew at the border of the City.  They'd fought off monsters from the Bone Field a few times before - leapers and floaters and diggers and the like, nothing too difficult - but on this day a new creature emerged from the featureless plain - a translucent man-shaped apparition wearing a golden necklace with a medallion.  The party engaged the creatures (along with the spectral figure were several leapers and a couple of floaters) to defend the priest and druid, as was their job; Esair the druid and Celia Moraine the priest were engaged in their respective rituals and unable to stop for fear of losing their spells.

And the battle was pitched and fierce!  Our heroes emerged victorious, as heroes who continue their heroics are wont to do; the leapers and floaters disintegrated into bones and grease, and the phantasm dissolved into shadows, but the golden medallion remained.  Harlan felt its evil presence, but before he could devise a plan for destroying it Manomarki picked it up to examine it - and triggered a curse, where M was unable/unwilling to drop it or let it go.  This new development was troubling enough that Esair and Celia dropped their spells and gathered the workers together - work day was over, and our band would go consult with the Temple.

After a stroll from the border to the center, the party was met by Sahla Bergamont at the temple, who interviewed all concerned to assess the situation.  The situation seemed puzzling and concerning enough that Dax Riordian - the High Priest and most powerful person in the city - came in, met our band, and used a wand to remove the cursed amulet from Manomarki.  After some pleasantries the party was quartered in a suite of rooms that can only be described as 'opulent', with dedicated servants and enough beds so that no-one had to share!

The next day the party was met by Sahla and Vinta Oglettia - a captain of the police.  Vinta got right down to business - if the party would go to the slums and investigate rumors that stirges (bloodbats) had been spotted, she would commute their sentences and free them from service.  "I don't want any dead heroes," Vinta said, "This is primarily an investigation.  If you find any stirge nests better to come back and report and let a squad of cops take care of it."

So to the Slums we follow our band.  Pearl spoke with one of her contacts from her acting days, who hadn't seen anything but suggested talking to Old Weird Harold, a beggar on the streets.  The party also went to a local tavern (the Carbuncle's Jewel) to speak to it's proprietor Yargum Burnsdof - who was kind of a gruff asshole until Lexi Mavis turned on the charm.  Not many beans were spilled, as it happened, but the bard found employment at the C-J, and Harlan heard from a travelling peddler that stirges had been seen in an alley around the corner.

An exciting start to our party's adventures!  I'm sure as time progresses they will get grander and more magical.