Thranton 
The journey to the capital city of Thranton is unremarkable, except that two of the party don't make the journey. Feth decided to take off and report the words of the Chains sub-deity to her church. Marza, meanwhile, decides that there is a chance for him to use RITAULS and ARCANA and decides to control the remnants of the forest fire until it is firmly under control. He sends his cat along with Rachelle, Desmond, and Alexander though so he'll know what is going on.
The journey to Thranton takes a week, and Marza needs a few days to control the fires. Finishing, he decides he needs to catch up, and he doesn't like the idea of riding a horse to death. What he DOES like is paying a visit to the wizard, Tarvec, who is just a short journey away in Kingston. So he does this.
Marza is able to get into see the wizard, and he tries to bargain for passage (i.e. teleportation) to Thranton. Well, "bargain". He tries to offer vague offers of future favours, and bad shadowsilk that the wizard had previously seen and rejected. The only time he even gets close to attracting Tarvec's interest is when Tarvec suggests putting some sort of wizard marking on Marza so he'll be able to summon Marza and demand ANYTHING of him at a later date. Marza refuses this and tries to bargain further (again offering nothing worthy of note) and Tarvec becomes disgusted at what a mooch he is and promptly teleports him out of the tower onto his ass. Marza gives up and decides to ride to Thranton after all.
Meanwhile, the Erathi investigation team makes its triumphant return to Thranton, the largest city in the known world, brilliant centre of all civilisation, commerce, and secure living, and Rachelle's hometown. Rachelle and company return at long last to report to Bishop Charles, the man who gave Rachelle, Alexander, and Feth their mission to investigate Elk's Bend back at the start of this story. The party reports both their success at restoring the Relic of Cuthbert, and their concern over this new enemy. A concerned bishop asks the party to report again the next day to some of Thranton's cardinals, the highest rank in the religious order. They agree to do so.
Meanwhile, the the party members decide to take care of some loose ends. Mainly this means things like shopping; the party buys some cool magical items since Thranton is the centre of all things commerce-related, getting bracers that improve common types of damage, amulets that raise defences, and other such things. This done, Alexander goes to report to his own temple, that of Pelor. Desmond is interested in seeing the sights of the city, so Rachelle fills him in, with maybe a hint of pride in the fact that she lives in the most
propsperous, safe, and influential city in the world. Desmond is unconvinced until Rachelle notes that such a large city has something that appeals to everyone. -Everyone-.
And so it was that Desmond asked where one could find a m->f crossdresser looking for a good time. A bemused Rachelle tells him to search after someone named Theodora. Desmond suspects that Rachelle might be trying to make a mockery of him, and remembers a friend of his from Elk's Bend who dropped another name. So Desmond goes to the rougher part of time to track this contact down. Rachelle sends Marza's cat to keep an eye on him so he doesn't get into trouble, and returns to her own home (family sadly all out of town) to rest for the day. Desmond finds and propositions this contact, but something about it doesn't seem right. The man comes off as exceptionally creepy, and this has nothing to do with his tranvestitism. Marza's cat meowls ferociously, and Desmond, after a few moments, backs off, and, despite the overtures of the "man", bids him good day and takes his leave. We aren't sure if the man was after Desmond's flashy new sword or just wanted some rape. The DM did, however, reveal that the "friend" who gave Desmond this advice was in fact someone with an axe to grind with Desmond, and Des of the 11 wisdom just didn't realise it.
Marza's cat is clearly scarred by the experience and wants to go home. Desmond however is not so easily deterred. Asking around, he tracks down this "Theodora", who turns out to be a very attractive older woman (except for the detail where she's actually male, but Desmond is allowed his tastes). Marza's cat protests, but a long story short is that Desmond rolls well on his Charisma check and has a place to enjoy an evening AND breakfast.
The next day, the party meets up at the temple of Gareth (sub-deity of commerce) where they met Bishop Charles the next day. Desmond is on top of the world, but Marza's cat has never looked worse. Rachelle takes the cat aside and tries to console him, saying he did a good job and that nothing he saw could be THAT bad... probably. Regardless, the cat relaxes. Anyway, before it is time to meet the cardinals, they do some more shopping, as Rachelle and Desmond both have magical shields to sell. It seems that one can't use both a magical shield and magical bracers at the same time, and while shields are cool, their magical enhancements are less so, so the party has some selling to do. Desmond gets a particularly good deal on his. It turns out that the Cuthbert chapter of the church of Erathis is more than happy to buy the SHIELD OF HIS MENTOR WHICH WAS AN IMPORTANT RELIC OF THE CHURCH. They're not happy with Desmond, just happy he's not selling his shield off to some mook instead of them. Desmond is shamed into not selling his shield after all, so decides not to buy magical bracers and continue using Antonio's keepsake.
And so, the party comes before the cardinals. They go to the high temple of Erathis and, after some time waiting, are met by one cardinal. A older, stately holy man named THEODORE. The look on Desmond's face is priceless. The cardinal warmly greets Rachelle, whom he recognises, as well as Alexander and Desmond. He compliments the latter in particular for being a paladin of the order, and praises him as "a man who knows his place in the chain of command". Rachelle SUCCEEDS on a will check to avoid breaking into laughter.
Regardless, the cardinals inspect the staff and scimitar that the deity held as a single polearm, and listen intently to the party's description. They aren't sure what to make of things, and after grilling the party of the events, they release them. The party has a few more days to kick around in Thranton while they wait for their judgement, though say the party may part with the weapons if they don't wish to wield implements of the Chains creature.
The next day, Marza arrives. As he pops the cat out of existence, his brain is suddenly overwhelmed and he buckles to the floor. Rachelle has to console -him-, too. Desmond, meanwhile, decides he isn't too happy with his scimitar after all, especially since it was used by a being of EVIL. The party looks into selling it. They find a buyer reasonably quickly... a man who is very, very eager to get his hands on the weapon. Suspiciously, Rachelle and Alexander grill him for why he wants it, and the man tries to act as if he were a simple collector. Desmond has a change of heart and despite the man's incredible offers, decides not to sell the weapon. Finally, the man gives up and takes off. Marza sends his cat out to act as a spy.
The cat silently stalks the merchant as he goes about his day, doing nothing suspicious... until late in the day, where, in the shadows of a rougher part of time, the merchant meets with someone who is disguised, but underneath it looks... well, demonic. The merchant reports that despite his efforts they weren't willing to sell "it". The demon, or whatever he is, expresses disappointment, but is overall unconcerned. The cat then attempts to follow the demon, but as it does so, becomes increasingly ill. It is forced to give up and return home. When it does, Marza himself starts to feel unwell.
Marza starts to get feverish, so the party takes him to the best healers Rachelle knows of. The clerics are most concerned, and despite the party's suspicion that it might be connected to the demonic creature Marza spied on, the clerics suggest that the culprit is the RING OF CHAOS AND TWISTEDNESS AND OH MY GOD IT SHOULD NOT EXIST that the party encountered a couple weeks ago and Marza haphazardly handled and inspected. The clerics note that such contact with raw chaos can in rare cases lead to certain death as chaos consumes the afflicted person's body. And already, Marza's body, which has recently fallen unconscious, is starting to... liquify. The clerics promise to inquire, but aren't hopeful.
Later that day, the party hears from a messenger from Charles. He has a new mission for them... to head to Sturmhalten, capital city of the domain of Ioun, goddess of knowledge. There, they will inquire from the most knowledgeable men there for information on this Chains creature they encountered, and will take the broken parts of the deity's weapons to show them (good thing we didn't sell them!). Also, they and they alone may just possess the necessary medical expertise to save Marza, who is rapidly turning for the worse. To illustrate what is meant by "worse", the clerics return Marza to the party... in a bag.
With a new mission in hand, the three heroes and their rapidly liquifying friend decide to head off to Sturmhalten, the capital city of
knowledge pure, unadulterated insanity. But more on that next time!
