We spoke to Mendacus. He said he thought the problems were just peasant superstition. We then went to a tavern to find out what the locals knew about Hanik. I found someone who had heard of Hanik. They said he was affiliated with Karam Ag Terra (The cult of the lion headed spider) who make bloody sacrifices to their cruel god and their priests are known for powerful curses. Their temples are said to be full of human bones and green fire. In the tavern were some dwarves causing a commotion. The dwarves had a problem in their silver mine. They said they can't mine as there was a weird beastie in their mine, though they had not seen it. The mine was in Mahakam so we agreed to go after dealing with the haunted house and that they would pay us in silver.

Afterwards I went foraging then made some spectre oil. The following morning we went to examine the house. Bulgar announced his amulet was vibrating, indicating the presence of magic as we neared the house. As we approached there was a gust of wind and the door blew open and the smell of roasting meat came from inside. When we looked we found a spit being turned by two decomposing corpses. On the spit was a huge blob of meat with what looked like faces inside pressing against the surface.

The corpses were ghouls and attacked us with meat cleavers but they were quickly cut down. When we looked again at the spit, it just looked like half a pig. The bodies of the ghouls also vanished. The door from the kitchen blew open briefly and we saw something dash across the corridor beyond. There was a tapping noise from a room at the end of the corridor and when we investigated we found the noise came from the drinks cabinet in the room. The cabinet opened when we entered the room and a smoking pipe fell out. The pipe started to spark then a small fire elemental erupted from the pipe. Bulgar hit it with his sword and it exploded. One of the shards hit me and I had to quickly put out the fire. Inside the pipe we found a small bone key.

Scathe prepared to cast a ritual to speak with the spirit of Hanik and the temperature in the room got noticeably colder. Suddenly the room went dark and three spectres drifted through the walls. In one hand they carried a lantern and in the other was a sword. Bulgar cast a spell to keep them corporeal and we quickly dispatched them but we heard more hammering from the walls, presumably more spectres being held back by Bulgars spell. Scathe finished casting his ritual and summoned the spirit of Lividicus Hanik. His robes had an unusual sigil embroidered in. The spirit said the last one had come. It said he had brought the last one here and we must destroy it or perish. He said it lived outside time and space and was holding him here and to beware the coin. The coin was with the haunting horror. Vaporous black smoke started rising from beneath him and formed the shape of a claw. The claw closed round the spirit and it shattered. The banging on the walls had stopped when Hanik appeared.

We headed to the stairs leading upwards. The door to the stairs was locked but the key we had found opened it. A thin layer of mist was drifting down from above. As we climbed the stairs it became increasingly difficult to push through the mist. Upstairs we explored several rooms until we found a trophy room with stuffed animals and suits of plate armour. As we examined what was in the room, a stuffed bear, then a suit of armour animated and attacked. Scathe cast several spells and destroyed the bear, but the armour battered Bulgar, inflicting several critical wounds on him. We fled the house with sounds of laughter behind us. On the way out I saw a coin on the floor. I kicked it outside then covered it with a clod of grass.

I sewed the witcher back together and we spent a few days waiting for him to recover. When we explained to Lord Dulcas what we found, Mendacus suggested he went there to deal with it. When we suggested we should all go together he quickly made up an excuse and rushed off.

Scathe went to visit Mendacus in his rooms, but he was not there. A guard let Scathe in and a search of the room revealed a trap door. There was some green light in the corridor below so Scathe returned to myself and Bulgar suggesting we needed to explore the tunnel. I said Bulgar was in no state to get out of bed but he struggled out anyway. We returned to Mendacus's room and climbed down the ladder into the corridor. The light was coming from torches in sconces on the walls of the corridor. As we walked down the corridor we saw green mist rolling towards us. Bulgar thought it might be caused by foglets. Scathe cast a spell down the corridor which misfired, surrounding him in raw chaos for a few seconds and burning him.

Scathe then cast another spell, enveloping a creature in fire and making it cry out in pain then vanish. Five more creatures rushed forward out of the mist and we were able to identify them as wraiths. Bulger killed one and I wounded another. Bulgar killed another two but the light from the torches behind us started going out and when we looked we saw a wall of darkness coming up behind us. A spell from Scathe destroyed another of the wraiths as a voice came from the darkness saying 'Your souls are mine'. Another wall of darkness appeared in front of us and Scathe said it had been created magically.

We destroyed the last wraith and moved forward into the darkness. As we moved through the darkness I felt sick and started vomiting as did Scathe. Bulgar dragged us forward and we heard the sounds of something scratching the corridor ahead of us. A voice from the darkness said 'Have you had enough yet? Unless you desist in your actions you will never escape'. We moved forwards and the darkness vanished. We found ourselves at the end of the tunnel and a ladder lead upwards. Bulgar climbed the ladder and found himself in a spare room in the haunted house, though the corridor had not been long enough to get there.

There were sounds of laughter and the door to the room opened, revealing a sitting room beyond. Bulgar walked through and the door immediately slammed shut behind him. A few seconds later we heard the sounds of fighting in the room where Bulgar had gone. Scathe cast a spell and a blast of stones hit the door, knocking it from its hinges. In the room beyond Bulgar was fighting a creature of chaos with a goats head and a steel breast plate. Scathe cast a spell, setting the creature on fire. It continued to fight until Bulgar finally decapitated it. The head flew into the painting which fell to the floor. Bulgar said the creature had emerged from the painting to attack him.

A voice from above said 'a useless tool easily bested. Mendacus, destroy them'. As we entered the corridor a portal opened at the far end and Mendacus stepped through. One of his eyes was missing and a coin was inserted in the socket. Mendacus summoned a flaming vortex which hurtled unto us. Scathe threw a ball of fire back at Mendacus, killing him instantly. Scathe grabbed his spell book and scooped the coin into one of his shoes. Then we left the house. Outside it was night time. Far more time had passed than we had experienced. We went to the dock and found a fishing boat with some drunk sailors which we paid to take us out to sea for an hour. It was an unpleasant trip but after an hour Scathe dropped the coin into the sea then we returned to Novograd.

In the morning we spoke to Dulcas and told him what happened. He agreed to seal the tunnel. We then waited a few days for Bulgar to heal from his wounds.

After Bulgar healed we started preparing to continue clearing the house when a guardsman arrived and told me Lord Dulcas wished my presence. The others came with me to see Lord Dulcas and when we arrived he was in deep conversation with a courtier called Regan, a courtier of the king, Radovid 5th. Regan said he had come from the palace and Radovid had urgent need of us. Two royal guards were waiting outside the palace and escorted us to the throne room. Radovid was seated on his throne. An older woman (who we later learned was the kings mother Lorana) was seated to one side and a man with a staff stood to the other side. We were told of a plague which which was starting to affect locals which was believed to have originated in the market district. He wished me to investigate the source of the plague and eradicate it. He would pay 1000 orins and receive his gratitude if we were successful. Otto Crupp, a renowned plague doctor had been engaged but so far had been unsuccessful in locating the source. He was currently operating in the market district with the rest of his men.

Regan said the plague had originated in the market district about a week ago. There were rumours it came from a ship or the docks but the docks are far from the market. There were other rumours of a god being offended and laying a curse on the area. and more rumours about black shuffling figures being seen at night. The plague was very virulent and victims died quickly.

We went to investigate the market where we found most of the doors in the market had a red flaming goblet painted on the doors. The symbol was a stylised version of the eternal fire, the symbol of a local church and now the official religion of Redania. As we investigated, suddenly a small group of figures lurking in the market fired a crossbow at Bulgar, hitting him in the chest and an arrow was fired from another group, hitting Scathe in the leg. Bulgar charged the first group but tripped over a cart, falling flat on his face. The bandits charged us and I ran one through. Scathe cast spells, summoning some illusions of himself, and impaling one of the bandits with a stone spike. Bulgar got to his feet and swung his sword, but hit nothing though in return he took a nasty blow to the head which left blood running down his face. I plunged my sword through the eye socket of another bandit and Scathe impaled their leader and another of the bandits with more stone spikes which erupted from the ground at the touch of his magic. The last bandit turned and fled.

As they fled we saw two large swarms of rats emerge from the darkness towards the well at the centre of the market as Bulgars amulet started vibrating, indicating the presence of magic. Scathe hit one of the swarms with a ball of fire, setting them ablaze and scattering them. Scathe then did the same on a second swarm, but we saw a third swarm approaching. Bulgar started ineffectually chasing some of the scattered rats and a fourth swarm came from behind us. Scathe incinerated a third then the fourth swarm before they reached the well.

A plague doctor called Maximillian came out of a nearby building. He said he was working with Otto. The sick were all in the buildings marked with the eternal fire and at the temple. We were taken to one of the buildings and introduced to Otto. We found the patients were suffering from bloody diarrhea and convulsions. I took a sample from the well and found it contaminated with rat droppings and urine. We then went to another building where there were some unaffected peasants. They had been drinking from the river. They called it the Catriona plague.

We went to the temple where we found the pews stacked with dead bodies. Scathe could not stand the smell and started vomiting. The matriarch was nervous when we told here the well water was contaminated and denied it. Bulgar saw a rat hiding under the altar. Bulgar confronted one of the priests and said he knew the rats came from the temple. The priest looked surprised then asked Bulgar to come for confession where he was told 'it had gone too far'. The priest said a young woman called Catriona wanted to join the order but was found wanting and denied. They believed she committed suicide down in the crypts. He said the crypts were sealed but there was a secret lever which would cause the altar to descend into the crypt.

I examined the altar and found one of the frescos appeared more embossed than the others. I pressed the flames on the fresco and the altar started descending, revealing stairs. The matriarch shouted 'stop them' but Bulgar shouted that we were going to cleanse the temple of a curse and the priests backed off. We descended into the crypt and heard the priests saying 'we're not going down there' when the matriarch told them to follow.

As we entered the crypt, rats fell from the ceiling, covering me. Bulgar charged further into the crypt and was attacked by a spectre. Scathe cast fire at the rats on me. The rats scattered and I was hit with the fire. I moved away from the rats hurriedly and performed some emergency first aid on myself. Bulgar attacked the spectre, casting a spell to force it corporeal. He then hit it with a staggering blow but it survived. Scathe summoned a ball of fire which he threw at the spectre but it dodged the blast. Bulgar struck it another massive blow, destroying it, and the body of a woman who had been gnawed to death by rats appeared in its place.

Scathe spoke to the dead spirit of the woman. She was upset by the matriarch discarding her and had come into the crypt to die. She claimed the matriarch had done unnatural things to her and told her she would be accepted if she allowed the matriarch to do so. The spirit faded away and we heard sounds of the altar moving back into place, blocking our exit.

I examined the pillars holding up the crypt roof and identified one that looked like it could be collapsed to bring part of the ceiling down. Bulgar took the lid of a sarcophagus lid to use as a battering ram, but dropped it, causing it to shatter. I helped him with a second lid. The pillar collapsed after several blows, crashing into the wall which partially collapsed revealing a room constructed in elven style beyond. The air was colder and damp and Bulgars medallion was vibrating. We explored another room to our left and found a metallic cylindrical device with a glowing red pentagram drawn in the floor around it.

A knocking came from the cylinder. Bulgar called out "Who is there" and something called Asmadan replied. He said he had been summoned by his master who then left. He came from a different world but would grant a wish if he was freed. He said his master was called Balial. There was writing round the edge of the cylinder in an old Elder script about Summoning and Protection/Containment. Bulgar found a case in a puddle of water. Inside was some parchment with a spell which would open a portal into chaos.

We investigated more rooms. Asmadan seemed able to talk to us wherever we went and kept telling us how dangerous it was and how he could help if let free. In the corner of a room we found a decomposing body. It was twitching and I identified it as a shambler. Bulgar cast a fire spell on it and it got up. Bulgar ran it through then decapitated it and it collapsed. Its body then started swelling before exploding. We entered another room and found another four of the creatures lying on the floor. Bulgar cast a spell and set three on fire. They charged us so Bulgar cut two in half then ran away as they exploded taking a third with them in the explosion. I destroyed the last but more attacked, critically wounding Bulgar.

I ran to the cylinder and released Asmadan who immediately destroyed one of the creatures then Healed Bulgar. Asmadan then created a portal which we jumped through, finding ourselves in a blackened craggy landscape. In the distance was an erupting volcano. Asmadan said "welcome to my realm". He said he held a life debt to us, and gave Bulgar a ring which would summon him when we needed him. Asmadan said he wanted to experience our realm and would take us back and help with the house if we provided him with a vessel for a year and a day. Bulgar entered into a pact with Asmadan which was sealed with blood.

Bulgar was told to put ring on and say his name to summon Asmadan and he would inhabit an immobilised body. We would have to hide his weapon and armour and return it at the end of the year. He then created a portal to the outside of the temple. We stepped through, just in time to see a carriage with the matriarch and three priests leaving. There were more priests with another carriage and some horses. We quickly grabbed several of the horses and gave chase.

Two of the priests fired crossbows at us and a third started casting spells on himself. As we closed they fired another volley at us. We continued the chase until the carriage stopped on a bridge and they all got out and headed for a small boat moored nearby. Bulgar charged them, leaping off his horse and landing on top of the matriarch just as I caught up and joined the attack, quickly dispatching one of the priests. Bulgar decapitated a second and the third priest surrendered. I chloroformed the priest and matriarch, then we bound them and took them back to Novagrad in the carriage.

We returned to the temple as Bulgar wanted to secure it, but he was chased by some city guards who thought he was acting suspiciously and he barricaded himself in the temple. I returned to the palace in the carriage to report to Regan with our prisoners. Regan was unhelpful, suggesting the king would not be happy with us arresting the matriarch and said we could go into exile or be arrested. Bulgar had been arrested by the guards and he was bought to Regan. As it was looking like we were not going to be paid for our work by an ungrateful king we decided Regan would be a good host for Asmadan who would then be able to influence the king in our favour. We subdued Regan and summoned Asmadan. Asmadan was pleased with our choice but started talking about how humans would behave when at war. Asmadan promised to provide evidence to convince the king of the matriarchs guilt.

Regan/Asmadan spoke with the king who then granted me the title of a lady and Bulgar was made a lord. The king ordered all the priests to be captured and the temple torn down. Bulgar ran ahead of the guards to find the priest who had originally warned him, and when he found him, Bulgar subdued him and smuggled him out of the city. The priest was not very happy at being saved, accusing Bulgar of ruining his life.

We then decided it would be a good time to find the dwarves and help them with the problem in their mine. We found them in the tavern. Bulgar gambled, playing an axe throwing game with the dwarves and got drunk. In the morning we heard the temple had been burned and the city guards had been rounding up the priests.