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In the evening Landis was spending time with Radagast in the castle (Radagast was changing rooms every night, but it never hurt to have some good company around). There was a knock on the door. There was a boy with a letter to Landis.
The letter was from the "docksiders", signed by G., claiming they did not know about the ruby and that Landis and his companions were allying with the wrong bunch of people (namely, the torchbearers).
In the morning Radagast and Landis were waiting for Jobric, but it appeared Jobric had spent the previous night having deep conversations with some gods of alcohol, so the two companions went to the docksides by themselves. Landis said he wanted to talk to the people alone, and Radagast let him try (he was sure Landis wouldn't even get through the front door). To his amazement it took only a little while and Landis was in. Radagast was too far away to hear what was being said, but Landis seemed to show the letter to the door after which he was let in. Radagast waited quite a while, during which time Jobric finally caught up with him.
Finally Landis came out. He was still in one piece although Radagast guessed the noble knight had had some disagreement with the thugs in the house. But what can one expect, sending an unbending upbringer of the law to a nest of thieves? In any case, Landis had met Giselle, the leader of the dockside gang and she had offered their help for a position in the nobility. Landis had made clear that was out of the question, and the woman did not in fact know about the gem anyway.
Again wondering how to solve the puzzle, the adventurers walked around, noticing an apothecary. Landis bought some garlic, and asked prices for some herbs best used in the bedroom. Radagast thought that Giselle must have been one heck of a woman... Jobric bought some wolvesbane and questioned the shopkeeper, but did not learn much. Jobric however suggested a little sewer romp to see if there was something interesting below Crooked Street.
Radagast bought a bunch of torches and rope, and the party descended into the smelly sewers from a somewhat hidden entrance as to not avoid suspicions. After a short while they came to a grate and door which was locked. They argued some time what to do, but Jobric's pessimism was catching and they decided it might be too dangerous to break the lock because that might bring the people who had set up the lock. So back to sunlight they went.
Radagast asked Jobric to try his location spell once more, and a little bit of walking did produce a slight surprise. The gem was no longer in the dock area. Jobric's sense pointed to the river, where the were some anchored boats.
They rented a boat, and "disguised" as fishermen. Jobric guided them to a largish river boat. A brief discussion of tactics lead to Landis knocking on the railing of the boat and yelling for boat crew. A woman came to see what was going on. To make a long story short, Landis made some ridiculous attempts to convince the woman, who seemed to be alone on the boat, that it would be a good idea to let the experienced seafearers Radagast and Jobric help with preparing the ship for leaving in the evening.
Radagast's sixth sense was warning him of danger, but he could not recognize the woman or see anything dangerous, so he followed the woman to the cabin. Jobric was following some 10 feet behind. As soon as Radagast entered he realized it was a trap as a skeletal hands barred the door and everything plunged into unnatural darkness. He took a quick step away from the door, and tried to cast protective magic, failing miserably in his concentration. He could hear the familiar words being spoken, the words that ignited a certain magical sword into flames! His sword!
He could hear Jobric and Landis try and break the door, and although there were promising sounds the door did not give in. Jobric yelled for Radagast to try and break the door from the inside. Since Radagast was pretty sure a certain death would await him if he did not get the door open he charged for it and broke through, but he also got to taste burning steel and he fainted from the loss of blood and shock right into Jobric's feet.
Jobric and Landis dragged Radagast away from the door, and Jobric healed Radagast. They were fighting the evil cleric woman, and at least one zombie. The woman seemed to know how to fight in the darkness, but it proved very hard for the heroes: they were not sure where she was (or where the comrades where) and usually missed her completely. Also they could not target spells at her. The fight could have turned ugly really fast, but then Landis finally got some lucky hits that really hurt, and the woman retreated into the cabin, having also lost her undead companion. Now being able to see again the companions healed their wounds best they could, and checked in to see if her darkness spell was giving out. While waiting, Landis noticed the boat had started to sink.
They did not have to wonder long what to do, as a section of the cabin wall shattered, and a cone of darkness spread out. Soon a splash followed, and the world again plunged into brief darkness. After a while they could see a gigantic blob of darkness moving slowly towards the opposite shore. They jumped back to the boat and followed the darkness. On the opposite shore it moved a little further away, but they followed it easily. Finally it stopped, and they waited, and listened. The woman emerged from one side, and Radagast tried to cast a blindness spell on her, but she was able to shrug away the effects. Landis run after her, and Jobric made after Landis. Landis was able to avoid her two hold spells, while she in turn avoided Radagast's daze. But she could not avoid arrows, nor swords. Finally she was out of spells, and out of potions, and took a final stance. She was quickly overcome, and Jobric ground her head to pulp with his shield. Vicious man, that!
Radagast was happy to regain his flaming sword, as well as his magical ring of protection. She also had two potions of some alteration magic, that Landis took. Her amulet seemed to contain necromatic magic, and the ruby had a strong aura of some strange abjuration.
The party quickly rowed back to the city and went to see Theoden. He investigated the amulet and declared it evil, and promptly destroyed it with his holy axe. As for the gem, he asked Radagast and his companions to accompany him to the catacombs under the city, where he placed the gem into the holy room where the axe was from.
After a brief rest Jobric suggested they would go and have a look at the river boat in the bottom of the river. That turned out to be rather easy after he made everyone able to breath water. Even the zombies they found in the boat we quickly sent to the world of beyond, again. They brought back eight gold coins and 20 jugs of olive oil which Jobric intendend to sell.