Dead, Departed and Retired
The cast, in alphabetical order:
The relic is called the Heart of the Maiden, and looks exactly like an anatomically correct human heart except that it is hard, glossy and translucent, appearing to be made of a deep red crystalline substance such as garnet or ruby. If held in the hand it feels warm to the touch, and seems to pulse very slightly.
The Little Sisters of Carnage have suffered an outrage.
A holy relic was stolen by a winged demon from their Preceptory in the far north, and taken away southwards down the river towards Clancapaill. The guardians of the relic were both slain in a particularly gruesome fashion, having been literally torn limb from limb. From signs left at the scene of the atrocity, it would appear that the creature was also wounded as it made its escape.
By divination the Matron of the Little Sisters has determined that the relic is intended for a ceremony of desecration which would have a profoundly negative effect on the Sisters' ability to commune with their tutelary goddess, with all that implies. If the ceremony takes place, the Maiden will effectively be imprisoned, unable to make any contact with the physical world.
The Matron has no specific information about precisely who or what ordered the theft, but in an oracular vision has seen an image of a crumbling, ancient tower rising out of a forested, mist-shrouded swamp; in the vision snow was flurrying, and in the distance behind the tower she could see sunlight on snow-covered mountain peaks. She saw hideous winged creatures wheeling about the tower, creatures which looked like loathsome bat-winged vultures. She could not see inside the tower, but knows that an intelligence therein was aware of her scrying and was able to terminate it. She has since been unable to re-establish the link.
Since then she has received reports from the Chapter House at Clancapaill that a creature matching the description of the demon was observed to land somewhere in the Old City, but exactly where, or for what purpose is not known. At the time, the Sisters at Clancapaill were unaware of the significance of the event or they would surely have spared no effort to hunt it down at once.
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