“This blasphemy can’t be tolerated! The drow has clearly bewitched Igan, so we must act to save our town… and souls… before her corruption spreads and we incur Tempus’ wraith. He gave us victory over the orcs, but he could easily send them back to punish us for allowing this perversion to continue,” Pavel raved to the dozen warriors he trusted most as he stormed about the sacred sanctuary of his temple, he knew they were faithful to the Lord of Battles… and therefore to him. The adventurers would oppose his plans, so he needed overwhelming support from the town’s people, if they stood with him to call for Igan’s removal as lord-protector, the so-called heroes wouldn’t be able to save him. “Igan Starag… the good people of Winter Edge demand you step down!” the cleric roared, bursting through the doors of the great hall with most of the town’s citizens in his wake. He’d timed his revolt favorably, for the Feast of the Moon, the most sacred holiday to Tempus, just after the Feast of Heroes, a religious rite to honor those who fell in battle. He waited till Igan had left the temple, then whipped the congregation into a fury siting the lord-protector’s tolerance of the drow’s nightly naked dance around the boon fire in front of the hall as proof of his corruption… swaying their allegiance with the help of an enthrall spell. “In favor of you I suppose, Pavel,” Igan snarled in response as he rose to face the challenge. Most of the town’s warriors were there with the priest, but he hoped that they’d just been caught up in the fervor of the moment and given a chance to really consider their options they’d remain loyal to him. He knew that the cleric harbored ambitions to seize control of the town, and to take his niece, Kara, as his bride, but he hadn’t expected him to act so openly. “You sent over a score of our finest warriors to the deaths right before we needed them most to defend our home… given control of Winter Edge, you’d decimate our defenses in your endless quest for blood,” he accused in a growl, but then addressed the assembled townsfolk in a calmer tone; “I hope our people see that you’re just using their dedication to the Foehammer to grab power for yourself, and to take the one thing I’d never give you… Kara!” For a several minutes the townsfolk murmured with indecision, then Zora strode forward from behind Igan and commanded; “Seize him!” There was a moment’s pause as a frightening silence hung over the hall, then the town’s warriors fell as a wave onto the cleric, while he cried out; “Tempus, my lord, recall me to your sanctuary!” In an instant he vanished from the warrior’s grasp, leaving them stunned and confused. But Igan and Zora rallied them and stormed the temple. However, there was no sign of Pavel there… then word reach them that the cleric was stealing a horse from the stables, and they knew he’d flee through the city gate. Rushing to the parapet wall above the gate, they saw the retreating figure of the disgraced priest charging off toward the Surbrin river ford, heading for the Frost Hills… if he reached the orc tribes who attacked them before he could insight another assault, so he had to be stopped, but he was already beyond bow range. Then they heard a bowstring twang, and saw a single arrow soar skyward, diving downward in a graceful arch until it met the cleric’s fleeing form, striking him precisely through his vile heart, flinging him from the saddle to land in a dead heap… then all eyes turned to see Nykira had fired Syl to fatal effect.