One of the advantages of being a Wizard is that you are not obliged to go on military expeditions, unless you really want to. The Crimson Company was accustomed to capturing the undead creatures that the vampire was using in her army and experimenting on them to find out better ways of destroying them. I joined one such expedition and we were able to capture several of the creatures.
After the battle, I decided that the best use of my time would be in research. And I am very glad that I chose that path, because I discovered something quite disturbing. Certain of the details of the undead seemed somewhat familiar to me, so I cross-checked it with the book I have been carrying around for years - the one that I took from my parents. Sure enough, there were similarities. The details aren't important, and would probably only be understood by another wizard anyway, but I am now utterly convinced that my dear sisters, Ubrial and Andiel Nightwood, are directly involved in the vampire's army.
With this knowledge, I set about concocting an alchemical substance that would help to disrupt the necromantic energies that were animating the army's dead. According to my research the pandan flower would be an essential component of this substance. I was advised that the flower could be found growing in the nearby Duskwood. A small team was dispatched to collect the flowers, including Caine and Ilyich. I went back to my research.
Next thing I knew, I felt the telepathic link that I share with Paazbul snap back, as though suddenly severed. It snapped so hard that it gave me a headache and I had to lie down for a while. The last image I received seemed to be something to do with a tree.
It was clear that Paazbul was no longer on this plane. Somehow he had been sent back to the Hells I had summoned him from. I set about conducting the ritual which would re-summon him and bind him as my familiar.
Once that was done, I set about the process of extracting from him the story of exactly what had happened. It took some time, and I had to threaten him with torture, but in the end I got some information out of him.
Caine and Ilyich, along with two Crimson Company members - an armsman and a cleric - found some of the pandan flower growing in a cave. After a fight against an enemy that Paazbul was reluctant to describe, they found a shrine of sorts, with several of the flowers arranged atop the altar. It appeared - it was particularly difficult to extract this information - that Paazbul desecrated the altar.
This awakened a sentient tree, which attacked the group. Paazbul was banished during this fight, so I did not find out the outcome until later, when Caine and Ilyich returned to the camp. Needless to say, I kept Paazbul out of their sight while they filled in the gaps in his account.
They were forced to kill the animated tree that Paazbul's desecration had awakened. The tree was the deity of a primitive tribe that lived in the woods, though, and they were forced to make reparations. Fortunately the cleric that had accompanied them was able to return the tree to life and its position as god of the tribe.
I chastised Paazbul for his role in the situation and set him to the most laborious of manual tasks in the alchemical lab.
