Tirana's Story
Tirana has been messed up since the events of 6 months ago. She re-appeared in Kaer-Maga 2 months ago seeking asylum/aid at the Church of Abadar (of all places). After paying off a hefty fine for stealing the Sword of Lust in the first place, she was turned away. That is when she approached the Church of Pharasma. Here she has helped out as best she could and taken steps on the road to redemption while the church investigated the cause of her "illness". There they ascertained that she was suffering from a 'magical withdrawal'—akin to a curse—whose cure was beyond their ability. Tirana then recounted her "plan" to consolidate the Seven Swords of Sin—you know, for the whole 'ultimate power' thing—and the resulting battle with the 'Company of The Gold Goblin' that dispersed the artifact level magic and exposed all present to that energy.
After more divining, High Priest Karaheis was able to glean that Tirana was now somehow tied to the energies of artifacts of ancient Thassilon. Further, it was determined that without being in proximity—no specific range found—to a Thassilonian artifact—again no specifics given as to which ones may help—she would slowly wither away and die.
This results in a cumulative -1 to all abilities for each week not in the presence of such an artifact. If later brought within range of a suitable artifact, the debilitating effects begin to wear off after 24 hours. Once Constitution reaches 0 the character dies.
Without further information available, the High Priest suggested that her best course lay in trying to find this 'Company of The Gold Goblin', both to see how they fared and also to warn them that what Tirana is suffering from could happen to them as well. Arthas—who was already working with the Church of Pharasma in Kaer-Maga—was tasked with helping Tirana find her missing 'people' and keeping an eye on her and her progress toward redemption at the same time.
As The Gold Goblin Gambling Hall in Riddleport is known even in Kaer-Maga, it seemed the best place to start looking. Arthas headed out with Tirana to Riddleport and met with one of the owners, Samaritha Beldusk—upon hearing who Tirana was, she almost put a lightning bolt through her. After Arthas managed to calm everyone down, the two got the story that the last meeting Samaritha's husband Rupert had with Tirana had not gone well. In fact she subjugated them and used them to take another sword before trying to kill them in an epic magical battle. But that was before Rupert and the 'Companions of the Gold Goblin'—as Samaritha corrected, they haven't actually formed an official adventuring company yet—met Tirana on a 'fugue plane' talking to a disembodied spirit. Anyway, Samaritha told the two that the 'Companions' weren't there, that they were away on business with the Pathfinder Society in Magnimar. Venture-Captain Sheila Heidmarch would know more.
The two headed to Magnimar and after once again Tirana having paid recompense at the First Bank of Abadar in Magnimar—now topping 50,000 gp paid—they made their way to Sheila Heidmarch. There Sheila listened to both Arthas and Tirana's stories, and was both impressed by Arthas' tale and disturbed enough with Tirana's tale that she agreed to have them 'sent over' to join the rest of the party—but not before Tirana accepted a Geas.
The Geas specifes that Tirana assist the party in all capacity in recovery and return of the Shard of Lust to Sheila Heidmarch in Magnimar while doing all within her power to ensure that no member of the 'Companions' be killed or left behind.
Sheila paired the two up with the only guide she knew of, one Jasper Kandamerus, a slightly mad cleric of Groetus. Jasper aided with describing the location to arrive—Maroux's Isle—so that all three were safely teleported (with an assist from Master Huer Thowatt) to the isle where Jasper was reunited with Maroux—and subsequently brewed a batch of his 'healing tonic'. After a brief discussion of where the 'Companions' last said they were going, Jasper lead the group off to the troglodyte caverns, arriving just in time to see the trogs leaving the caverns with a tale of a great battle between a group of adventurers and the fanatical followers—“...not us mind you, we've had enough and are heading out of this area...”—of Uggilo, cleric of the demon lord Zevgavizeb.
By this point in time, Arthas and Tirana have been travelling together non-stop for over two weeks. During this time she consistently voiced her desire to change her ways and to Arthas' trained Paladin eye—using detect evil on a frequent basis—her taint is indeed lessening. Arthas is immune to charm effects so is under no compulsions.
