Pool of Radiance - Podal Plaza and the Temple of Bane

After resting in town and selling my unused equipment, I headed back out into the city towards Podal Plaza.  As I entered the block, I was immediately given a few options.  One to just barge in, one to disguise the party as monsters, and another to sneak around.  As my mission here is to find out about this item being auctioned off, I chose to disguise us.
Apparently the disguise worked well enough as I was confronted by several roaming parties of orcs and goblins.  They made rude comments and laughed but otherwise left me alone.  I saw the crowd was in the middle of the plaza, but I explored around the outskirts of the block first.

I passed in front of a temple, once to Ilmater, now converted for use by followers of Bane.  The black hand of Bane has become a regular symbol in this part of town.  I entered and was immediately confronted by the temple staff.  Not to attack, but to recruit!  I was told that my services were needed at the main temple across the river and to come back to this temple in 2 hours to report to the head priest Mace.  I turned and left, having no intention of coming back.

I wandered around a bit more and headed towards the crowd gathering in the center of the block.  As I approached, a man started yelling about the item of great power that was to be auctioned off.  I couldn't tell from my vantage point what was in his hand, other than it was a small staff or wand.

I shoved my way forward a bit to get a closer look, upsetting some of the locals a bit, but my disguise still held.  I could see that this item wasn't the overly powerful item we had been sent to see about, but rather a wand of fear.  Just as I saw the item the podium in which the auctioneer was standing was enveloped in darkness.  A man and an ogre ran out of the darkness.  I chose to ignore the ogre and go after the man.  The auctioneer shouted after the man, calling him Garwin.  Garwin managed to slip away in the confusion.

With the item gone, the crowd dispersed and went back to their business.  I had completed the mission given to me.  I had enough info to make the council happy, but decided to stick around.  The council still were giving rewards for clearing sections of city out and I wasn't going to stop now.  I stayed in my disguise however and wandered into a bar.  The name escapes me at the moment.

When I entered the bar, a drunken buccaneer challenged me to a duel.  I readily accepted his offer, and my main character, Thanalis, went to battle.  I cast sleep right off the bat, and it stuck.  A quick and easy fight.  Maybe not fair, but who cares?  It was me or him, and I put his magical weapons to good use.

I stayed in the bar to see if I could learn anything else, but just ended up getting into a fight with the rest of the bar patrons.  This fight was a little tougher, but some well placed sleep spells and a few minutes later, we had destroyed the tavern.

With my disguise blown, I went outside and went about slaughtering every group of monsters I came across.  As I was clearing out some buildings in the southwest section of the block, I came across a couple doors that I couldn't pick or bash down.  I had one of my mages cast knock.  On the other side of the door was a makeshift temple to Ilmater.  Probably the priests who had fled from the one across town.  They provided healing and a safe place to rest. 

I rested and re-memorized my spells and went back out into the block.  I fought groups of monsters until none came anymore, and in passing by, killed all the inhabitants of the small temple of Bane on the east side of the plaza.  Satisfied that I had cleared the block, I returned to the civilized section of town.

A priestess of Ilmater.

I stopped by the council chambers and was rewarded both for clearing the plaza and for finding out about the item that was auctioned/stolen.  After receiving my reward, the clerk went into my next assignment.  It seems the undead from Valhingen Graveyard are getting to be too much.  Upon accepting the mission to stop the undead, I was given a magical sword +3 vs. undead.  That will come in handy when I do go out to see whats causing all this disturbance in the graveyard.

A problem which just won't go away.

I headed to the dock and was taken across the river to the wealthy section of town.  Dirten had stuck with me long enough, it was time we take care of his personal mission to clear out the temple on this side of the river.  First things first though.  I want to clear out the wealthy section of town to establish a foothold.

The wealthy section of town is taken by a large mansion in the center of town.  As I explored the area around it, I noticed once again the prevalence of the black hands painted all over town.  I would imagine that many of the head priests underlings live in this area of town, and they aren't afraid to mark their territory.  Just makes it easier to find them.

Instead of taking the more subtle back door, I just barged right in the front door of the mansion.  I was immediately attacked by guards.  The guards were quickly dispatched though, and I was free to roam around the mansion as I pleased.  I searched the rooms carefully, finding something of value in almost every room. 

orcs, and 20 goblin slaves...  I haven't been keeping track of how many orcs I have killed, but I most definitely put a large dent in those numbers.

In the back room I found the goblin slaves the note listed.  They didn't attack and begged me to let them go.  Thinking its not worth killing even more goblins, I did so.  As they left, one told me that in order to get inside the Temple of Bane, I would need a holy symbol.  They disappeared, and hopefully I will never see them again.

I continued to search the area, running across a room with some dirty beds lining the walls.  As I searched them for anything that may be of use, the owners of these beds came back and attacked me.  After a quick battle, I finished up my search with no results. 

A few more encounters, and an encounter with a traveling band of priests of Bane, I had some holy symbols in my possession and headed off to the temple proper. 

The temple area was completely quiet.  Standing in front of the entrance to the temple was a blind orc.  Apparently this orcs is only useful enough to stand outside and take the first hit.  As I approached he put his hand out and felt around my neck, thankfully I had the holy symbols of Bane.  This seemed to satisfy him and he let me pass without incident.

Inside was just as empty as outside.  I wandered around and searched everywhere, high and low.  I ran across a few caches hidden in the floor, which I promptly liberated.  The priest back in town had given me permission to take everything I found. 

Just as I finished collecting everything I could find, the head priest and his whole following it seems poured through the doors of the temple.  There seemed to be no end to them.  I concentrated everything I could on Mace since he presented the greatest threat.  Being a priest he could hold person, and that would ruin our day real quick.  I did manage to kill him quickly, but not without him getting a hold person spell off.  Unfortunately, the only one who was effected was Dirten.  There were still too many at this point and I couldn't save him before some lucky orc killed him off. 

I finished the battle without any more casualties, but the damage was done.  Dirten, who I had brought out here to clear and sanitize the temple, was dead.  To make matters worse, I wasn't even given the opportunity to have him resurrected.  He was removed from my party immediately following the battle.  I'd like to think that his spirit will help to sanctify this place again.  I destroyed the altar to Bane and searched Mace's body.  On him I found a note detailing the problem again at Valhingen Graveyard.  Its under journal entry 25.  The Boss is worried about the graveyard too, and promises to promote Mace if he is successful in stopping the threat, or providing enough information to plan a full out attack.  He won't be taking that promotion anytime soon...

Uhh...  leave it?

I traveled back to the civilized section of town and stopped by the clerk for my rewards.  One for clearing out the wealthy area, and another for clearing out the temple.  The clerk was pleased that I had completed both. 

So now, I have a few options...  I can head out into the wilderness to find nomads or kobolds, or I can return to the wealthy area and clear out some thieves in Kovel Mansion.  I believe my next stop will be the mansion, as save for the castle gates and the castle itself, is the last section of the city I have yet to clear.  I'll head into that this week as I get some playing time in.