As expected, the assault on the cavern systems in Westfall had stirred the hornet's nest, and under various guises the Damned made preparations to move elsewhere, to stay one step ahead of the Order. Every shred of military intelligence on the Cult's whereabouts had been made obsolete overnight.
Returning to the latter cavern system, down on the coast, the Order found that someone had paid the site a visit in the interim, taking with them the wagon that had been half-loaded when they stormed the stronghold the evening before. Following the tracks the wagon left, they were led towards the border of Duskwood, where the Peoples' Militiamen at the bridge dutifully informed them of various travellers and traders that had crossed the bridge that day. Among them, a deliveryman taking auctioned goods to their new owners throughout the south and east of Stormwind's provinces.
Among such things was a staff, said the militiaman, and with their interest piqued the Order crossed into the dusky lands beyond the river. Barely half a mile across the bridge, they found the broken corpse of a travelling deliveryman and his overturned cart - a familiar cart, nonetheless, though one devoid of any such staff.
With the Cult of the Damned infesting the woods, the Order set out to pursue the staff that had been plundered from the wagon, and some days later they were able to pry it from the hands of the Cult. With a haft of ironwood, and bound in decayed leather, it sported a solid metal tip fashioned from some dark, lustrous metal. The Cult coveted this staff dearly, throwing at the Order and great deal of their strength in the days that followed, seeking to reclaim it from their righteous grasp, yet to no avail. It posed a great many questions, and it was decided that there was one man, one heretic, that must answer them.
They sought Kanrir Fulwhin, the trapper-turned-cultist from the Grizzly Hills, sent to unearth a grave by the Cult of the Damned at the behest of Calistan Enright. Delving into the putrid, loamy crypts of western Duskwood, the paladins of the Order brought him to heel and made him speak - of the staff, which was no other than that one that Arduran's spirit had spoke of, and that had somehow made it all the way down from Tirisfal during the preceeding centuries; and of the Cult's leader in Stormwind's lands, no other than the spirit of Kelmir himself.
More tellingly, Kanrir was compelled to speak of the Cult's activities in Marshtide Watch, and it was there that the Order turned its sights to next...
The Order is still down south in Stormwind, and we're looking forward to some conflict in Westfall this week! With the grand finale of our six-month epic on the horizon, and plenty of RPPVP coming up, now's the best time to get in on the action!