The Corrupter's Camp

Learn from my mistake; don't make deals with gods that you don't understand; especially one that readily works with hags. -Wick

Reconnecting with Dharrakir, the party decides to join him in camp, taking the opportunity to both scout the area and learn more about his group and their plans.
Note from the DM: There was a LOT of information that got dumped during these conversations; I'm doing my best to correctly include what you all learned; but if there's something I missed, please let me know.

Plot points/Scenes

A Fiery Welcome Mat

With the sudden escalation caused by Bulgey's threat, Tilly takes the golden idol to calm things down with Dharrakir. Tilly attempts to appeal to the man's conscience in giving up Mary, but Dharrakir is insistent that he would only assist the party in tracking her down if he gained something in return, namely a volunteer for Bastimaar's trial. Wick reminds the party of his personal history regarding deals with powerful, but enigmatic, beings, and cautions them about accepting those terms. Dharrakir's appearance (as he's visible at the front gate) reinforces this concern, as the red tiefling, with very visible leathery wings, appears quite devilish, in a very literal sense.
Unwilling to make that agreement, at least for now, the party nonetheless decides to take him up on his offer for shelter within his camp. Concerned it might be a trap, or at least a bad situation, Wick uses his owl familiar to do a flyby of the area. He spots an old temple of sorts up on the cliff above the camp, along with some movement along a winding path up to it; but nothing discernable, even peeking into the temple. The camp, he notes, appears largely empty, which runs counter to what the party expected after Noggie recounted how many had been there when his party had departed the day before.
Still unsure, the party rechecks the Seeker's Compass, which still appears to point to the camp. They decide that, whatever may come of it, they'll learn more from within the camp. Fork picks up the idol and informs Dharrakir that they would take him up on his offer of shelter, and Brian begins ferrying people over the now uncrossable gap to the camp. Before making the crossing, Tilly casts invisibility on Fork so that he can scout around the temple unimpeded, as Brian drops him off along its path, appearing to merely be scouting the perimeter.
Noggie, unsure about the potential deception, expresses that he's not the best liar. He is left outside the walls, concealed behind some hills, with Tilly's tent.

Introductions

Within the camp, the party finds far more tents than individuals, and Dharrakir confirms that he had sent most of the others away, once the party had indicated they were coming this way, as a precaution. The two guards up on the wall, Goll and Werts, a pair of mercenaries, were the only ones Dharrakir had remain with him. Brian chats up Goll, finding that their story appears to check out. As Vita and Tilly explore the camp (encountering and failing to appease the guard's pair of dogs in the process), Vita comes across a timid and slightly terrified young halfling woman hiding in one of the tents. Identifying herself as Riris, she panics about being found out, and runs out of the tent to Dharrakir, who looks disheartened to see her, but supportive.
As she leaves the tent, Vita hears a voice in her ear; Fork's. He's found the pathway up to the temple is hidden behind the tent that Riris was hiding in, and that he didn't dare explore further up towards it, as he spotted one of those clawed footprints they've come to associate with Mary's Little Lambs. In a moment of confusion about their next step, Fork breaks his invisibility, before deciding it more prudent for him to stay hidden for now, and keep an eye on the path.
Introducing Riris as one of his more promising acolytes, Dharrakir expresses disapproval that she left the others and returned to camp. She struck the party as very timid and kind, which prompted a number of questions from Vita and Tilly as to why she would be associating with someone that works with hags. Looking for approval from Dharrakir before answering, she explained that she owes her life to him and Bastimaar, wishing to prove herself a capable one of his followers.
Bulgey, content to take a back seat for most of the discussions so far, attempts to garner some favor and potentially loosen lips a little, playing some tunes on his guitar for their hosts. Getting the most distinct reaction from the guard Werts, he approaches him after the performance to inquire about hiring them away from Dharrakir. Willing to take on a new contract with the party, Werts suggests that Bulgey should speak with Dharrakir to give them the go ahead to break their contract with him early.

Whispers of Pasts and Paths

Things winding down in the camp, with Bulgey's liberal application of beer helping things along, the party groups up on the far side of camp while Dharrakir and Riris retreat to a tent to talk. Tilly, listening in to their discussion stealthily, overhears/verifies that the rest of the group had been sent away, and that Riris returned both out of loyalty to Dharrakir, and because the temple on the hill was apparently a necessary component for the trial, of which she is determined to undergo soon. Dharrakir seemed to be chiding her for her recklessness, as his death would be inconsequential, but hers permanent. He relents to her stubbornness somewhat, and expresses that, at least it seems like the danger has passed. The party took another look at the Seeker's Compass while this was going on, finding the compass pointing towards the tent where Dharrakir and Riris were.
The party regroups ( Fork with them, but hidden in a tent), and Dharrakir and Riris rejoin them shortly. Bulgey, having just had his conversation with Werts, approaches and asks about hiring the mercenaries. Dharrakir agrees to some degree, offering that, when the party departs from the camp, they can take the mercenaries with them. He explains that he and Riris likely wouldn't stick around much longer anyway. But while they remained in the camp, the mercenaries would stay in his employ.
Following up something that had been nagging a few of them, Bulgey and Tilly ask about the nature of Bastimaar's trial. Dharrakir produces a strange looking knife, which with a flare of green from his eyes, generates a strange pattern of glowing green down the gutter of the blade. He explains that, should you be stabbed with this dagger, in the temple up above, you go through something akin to a vision, although the results are very real. Before he departed to form his own group of worshippers, Dharrakir witnessed a number of people go through the trial beyond his own. He described it as different for everyone that goes through it, and that he witnessed a number of failed runs that resulted in death. One however, a half-elf woman, managed to survive a failure, but nobody was certain how. He described his own trial seeming to be based on his abilities to speak and persuade, which he acknowledges to Vita with an unexpected display of pride as his "strength".
Wick sat nearby with the others, silent but listening intently. His expression reinforcing his warning to the party. The one he had expressed to them many times before; their first meeting outside of the ruined battlefield, when Tilly caught a glimpse of his sister Cinder, and early this very day, before entering the camp. Don't make deals with gods.