Who do? Voodoo.

We find the party deep in the catacombs, still searching for Bael and Melkior, ready to encounter the next cat. They quickly dispatch is and proceed to discover two dark findings. First, a ceremony involving strange ritual magics, then an even stranger sight, a wooden sculpture of a human heart, only ten times the size of a normal one. They use some rudimentary magics to discern that the heart is magical, but their attempts to destroy threatened greater danger than leaving it. After confronting yet another, and this time larger cat, they decide to move off and lick their wounds. They are tracked by some strange zombie-like people. Among the group of zombies, is Bael, apparantly transformed into a zombie. After a sluggish slugfest, the party manages to rescue Bael and they decide to retreat to an unused section of the great castle. They try to reason with their comrade, but he is beyond normal conversation. They realize that without Melkior's magics they lack the ability to repair him. The party gets dispondant. They decide to invesitgate and see if they can learn anything from the group. Rhoddri explores and finds Melkior, or what they think is Melkior. He seems to have joined the bad guys, but when confronted he avers his innocence. He leads them on a chance to track down his staff which they hope to find with Damzella the runethane. They find her in her chambers, with a young man, and quickly overpower her. She surrenders and offers them safe passage out of the keep.
Meanwhile Bael escapes his bonds and torn by his blood lust, and fear of those same feelings he banishes himself from the castle and hides in the darkness like the monster he had become.
When Rhodri and "Melkior" go to check on Bael, "Melkior" betrays Rhodri and they have a short fight. Even alone Rhodri, vanquishes the doppleganger and later finds Bael gone.
The party decides to make haste away from Erdina towards Green Meadow. They contact Bael telepathically, and he bids them leave him. They assent to his wishes, and decide to leave him and melkior to their fates, rather than face the death cult in their limited capacity. They ride off making maximum haste with the assistance of spells to fight off their fatigue.
They are followed by a hunting party, and Bael, sensing still some tie to the party, tracks the trackers and follows them as well.

Deadman's Party

After resting the night just outside the dead city of Erdina.
The party awakes to find Bael and Melkior gone (Bael was last to be on watch). They did a quick search and found no sign of them. They didn't have much time to mourn the lost, because shortly after this discovery, they spotted a party from Erdina with dogs and torches. After a brief attempt at hiding they were spotted by the group, and then agreed to follow them to the keep (Rhodri remained unseen following the group).
They had an uncomfortable evening with the group of gothic individuals and their toadying servants. They learned that the villagers of Green Meadow were in fact in the castle, being tended to in the makeshift hospital. Khord tried to help the people but found himself unable to help them much. A casual inspection of the home reveals some secret halls and other odd facts. The next day they left the area and discovered from the mind of the gatekeeper that the leaders of the keep were in fact undead. They decided after seeing the porters safely out of the city to gave it one last search by Astral Travel reveal both the presence of ghoulish incorporeal undead and Bael and Melkior unconscious in the catacombs.
They traveled once again to the keep and found some kind of party in the making. Dodging the party they went to their room and quickly headed for the catacombs. After Rhodri made quick work of the massive doors they encountered the angry giant Dru Alurin in full battle gear, a suit of plate mail with a death mask helm, and viscious looking scythe. Rhodri used a Hero point to stun the giant with a throat gouge. They succeeding in felling the dark champion in relatively short order. This gave they mission even greater urgency, it was unlikely they could plead innocence with their dark hosts now. A brief search afterward reveal more of the maze like structure including one room with a normal looking cat. The cat immediately attacked and scratched Rhodri before Rhodri killed the cat. They searched the maze further, and found the spot where Bael and Melkior were resting. Their friends were gone however. The party feared the worst, that their trusted companions were being used in some hideous ceremony. They raced to save their teammates but as they left they heard the sounds of yet another cat. Can they survive the might of yet another kitty?