Set briefly on fire, Nahaarifa screams and thrashes, and then pleads to surrender. Taiko looks over at her, and drops his swords raising his arms.
EPILOGUE
You secure the two wounded prisoners and the old man rushes in, and up the stairs. There, Sydell frees his wife, Helge, from her mystical stasis by whispering a keyword and removing a ring from her hand. She wakes immediately, and smiles at her much older husband. Her smile becomes a from, and she looks at the others, and the subdued warlock. "The Shades of Orcus have struck, opened a rift in town." She nods and stands up. "Show me."
At the rift, still pulsating with purple magic, she casts a single spell and it disappears. She looks about and nods, seemingly satisfied. "That's that. We should send word to the king."
Later, you find out that Rigavian, the leader of a cult called the Shades of Orcus, had been arrested on suspicion regarding some missing children. Over the following few days, the jails had quickly filled up as all sorts of locals got themselves arrested for minor crimes. A former guardsmen went crazy and was also subdued, and chained up in the jail. Lastly, Gilchan Abidal, a notorious and wanted criminal, was located by another local (who received a reward), and several adventures were dispatched to retrieve him. Never did they think that this was all related.
What magical means were employed to escape remain a mystery. Helge suspects that there was some sort of powerful illusion and enchantment was used on the prisoners, which duplicated the appearance and magical aura of the former guard. This allowed them all to bypass the Arcane Lock spell which was attuned to allow the guards to open and lock the doors at will.
After that, Rigavian, now freed, opened a gate to the netherworld, where a small host of demons had gathered. Again, she suspects that had the gate been open longer, more would have arrived. A peculiar alignment of the seasons meant that the gate would be at its most stable on that particular day, and so Rigavian was no doubt in a hurry to see his plan come to fruition.
Had they succeeded in ransacking the wizards' tower, they would have been able to remove all of her prepared defenses against such beings, and possibly found a way to eliminate her, as well (though she seems dubious about that). This would have left the town, and the Duchy of Harcourt, defenseless.
The warden, Meinhert, exceeds his authority and has Nahaarifa and Taiko executed, and ensures that the body of Rigavian is burnt and the ashes scattered into the river. Nobody complains about the lack of due process.
The warden and towns folk gather a number of valuables to reward you for saving their town from infernal mayhem. By donations of copper from some, gold or gems from others, you each receive 150gp for your efforts. In addition, you have made some new friends of the folk of Marian Town.
