Our intrepid band, tired from the road, returns to York and reports to Father Tomas.  He accepts their report with a surprisingly small number of questions, and has a new task - travel south to the city of Tounder (2 weeks ride by horse) and check with the priest Justian there, who Tomas has not had any communication with for the last six months.  Tomas has heard from the leader of the town (Rene Georges, a militia Captain) that Justian is fine, but is concerned with the lack of messages.  The party is paid and given horses, and off they travel....

... but not before checking with Salamancar, and getting paid from him.  Salamancar wants them to investigate a man named Loxley, who is running some sort of scam.  50 gold to find out information; if the party can get Salamancar his propers from Loxley, they'll receive a third of whatever deal they can cut.

  So, off to Tounder!  Following the river Tound, the party hears wolves in the distance, but finds their trip mostly uneventful.  They ride to the Militia headquarters and stable their horses, then head to the church.  They are greeted by the acolyte, who asks the party why they have come; upon seeing the party's badges he vanishes into the back.  After 15 minutes our group gets antsy and follows, only to find the acolyte is (a) not a he, but a she, which they know after (b) searching her body, because (c) she has hung herself from the rafters and broken her neck, and left a note saying (d) "I have always loved you".  Father Justian is summoned, and both disturbed and saddened by Jo's death - Jo was orphaned on the church steps 17 years ago and taken in by Father J.

  Further investigations by the party reveals several things.  One, Simon (the assistant priest) was freaked out by Jo, refusing to eat food 'he' prepared because he worried she'd poison him.  Two, Jo had parallel scars on her wrists from cutting herself, which the party finds on investigating her body during the ritual preparation process before burial.  Three, Father Justian seemed both oblivious to Jo's 'infatuation' with him and her cutting, which seems suspicious, especially with his somewhat low affect after her death.  And four, the missing correspondence between Justian and Tomas was found, hidden under the floor in Jo's room, starting with a letter from Tomas asking if Justian wanted to be re-assigned or given a new apprentice or other changes to his being the Father of Tounder.  On the backs of the letters were charcoal sketches (and rather good ones) of the church, activities in the church, and Father Justian.  Most were straight-forward, but two stand out - the first one (by dates) had a nude sketch of Justian, with a box drawn around his head and jagged, thick lines surrounding that; the other, a letter written by Justian asking Tomas for help with a monster attack, was similar, but the box was scribbled over, and the words "He Is Not Alone" written next to it.

  The party is a bit disturbed by this, but proceeds with their investigation, asking some hard questions on both Father Justian and the apprentice Simon.  They also speak with Rene Georges, the leader of the Militia (and head of the town), who gives them some more information - Jo was, from a very young age, seen as rather a bad seed, glaring angrily at everyone except Justian; and Father J had a girlfriend, a rancher named Margaret who lived several hours outside of town.  The 'Monster Attack' Justian asked for help with was most likely wolves, attacking Margaret's cattle; Captain Georges said she'd investigated the attack and that Justian's letter was more because who was asking, then what had happened.

  The party heads to Margaret's ranch the next day; AofEk's raven reports seeing crows and buzzards and other carrion birds ahead, near the ranch house.  Uh-oh!  The party enters the property through a gate and tethers their horses - as they get close to the house they see two bodies lying on the path.  Double Uh-Oh!  And for the triple, as the back door is opened (by the ranger, sneaking in the back with the rogue) a Dire Weasel gallops down the stairs to attack!  Joined by her mate the battle is on - but our brave band of adventurers vanquishes their foes handily.

  This next part should be avoided by those with weak stomachs, or the sensitive among our audience.  The ranch house contains a scene of horror upstairs - a man, seventy years old, lies with daggers in each of his eyes; a middle-aged woman next to him has her face burnt to the bone, most likely with boiling oil or grease; a third person, a young woman, lies face up, her hands gripping the dagger which pierces her heart.  Besides three corpses, the walls and floors are soaked with blood - someone has flung blood around everywhere in a scene both macabre and horrific.

  Two more bodies are found in the ranch house - all four bodies found outside have been drained entirely of blood - and other than that, our quick search comes up empty.  A closer and more careful search discovers several more things:

• There are four healing potions, and a little over 100 gold to be found
• A trail is found for three people walking towards the house, and only one person leaving
• A blood trail leads out of the house and up into one of the haylofts
• This house, like the temple to Joven, has several jars of yummy pickled fish

Following the blood trail into the barn, an unconscious man is found, with few identifying marks, wounded and close to death.  As the party goes to get their horses, stunned by the carnage, they see Father Justian ride up, seeking comfort from his lover after the death of his adopted daughter/acolyte.  He is - well, 'disturbed' seems too mild a word, but is willing to wait outside while the party continues their investigations of the scene.  The prisoner is brought to Justian, who casts healing - the prisoner is clearly insane, however, reveling in his deeds in a manner most vile, and repeating the phrase "None of us are alone" (or variations) in response to several questions.  The party, acting in their capacity as militia members, executes the prisoner handily.

  The tracks leading too the ranch, eventually, are impossible to follow, but a decent guess is that the attackers walked overland from Tounder (instead of following the road).  The tracks leading away enter a stream and are then unfollowable.  Father Justian, having the worst week of his life, takes the body of his lover back to town as the party digs graves for the rest.

  What will happen next to our heroes?  As we leave them, we hear a snippet of conversation - Loxley, a former militia member, is known to buy books.  On to a new Mystery!