The PCs gather together at Pilaf's Tavern, but Cynjak is off on her own, so Slakethirst and Nobro head out and track her down. To follow up on the rumor of the 'Demon of the Ditch', Pilaf directs them to track down the Ayshus family north of the village, across the Whipwater. Specifically they are looking for a man named Cret. After a hazard-free crossing, they find some of the nervous harvesters out in the fields of the Plain, and are eventually led to Cret himself, who seems a little more zealous about his missing piglet than his own flesh & blood that might have fallen to the scourge of the ditch demon. He leads him to an area the farmers have cordoned off with marked sticks, where three of his family disappeared within the past week. They quickly find the corpses of these men in a sinkhole...and then try to 'bait' whatever might be inside, which is ineffective.
After the failed 'baiting' attempt using a suddenly bold Cret, the PCs decide to get down in the dirt, and discover a network of caverns. They encounter a chamber full of excited, hostile giant crickets, and the ensuing combat is so loud that it eventually draws the attention of a stalking plains leopard. All of these creatures are easily dispatched by the PCs before they press on. They travel through the loose dirt tunnels to find a second exit on a nearby hillock, covered in brush. Heading back inside, they find a chamber stuffed with massive pumpkins and other crops, rotted out, but hidden inside is a suit of leather armor with parts of its previous owner still attached. After this they come across a few slaughtered cattle, and then the 'Demon of the Ditch' itself, occupying a heavily furrowed cavern in which the ground is so stirred up that movement is slowed. They are soon surprised to find that the demon had a mate...
These are the heroes' most deadly foes yet, shooting streams of acid and attacking with brutal mandibles, nearly felling half the party before they are eventually brought under control. After exterminating the large pests, they find a clutch of five eggs belonging to them, and Yukkbutt finds and takes a bone scythe from their nest. The party takes a short rest and then presses on to find a pit trap in a corridor, which Slakethirst falls into. After jerking him out, they uncover a strange, dully glowing altar in which a crystal is fixed, built of an alloy unknown to them which resembles seamless silver. There are some other baubles (bronze coins and a stone knife) that appear to have been left here by someone not related to who ever built the shrine. They trace their steps back and discover a cavern of older human corpses, as well as Cret's prized piglet. After Kaarl gathers her up, they find a pool of what appears to be acidic bile, some product of the ankhegs.
The last area in the cavern network that they uncover is heavily full of roots, brush and what seems to be an inverted field for a ceiling, and the heroes are ambushed by some rather weak twig creatures that they very swiftly destroy. Somewhere in the chamber they dig up another strangely seamless silver object, a crescent which looks like it's held in the hand. Baffled, they collect the item and several creature parts (from crickets and ankhegs) to trade back at the Court, and make their way out of the crumbling burrows.
PCs: Cynjak, Kaarl, Nobro, Slakethirst, Un'Krug, Yukkbutt
XP rewarded: 410 per player
Inpiration rewarded:
NPCs
Cret Ayshus (human male): Soaked through with sweat to the extent that he looks like he just took a dive into the Whipwater, this man’s entire face and neck are coated with either beard or mis-shaven patches of stubble, with kernels of corn, grasshoppers and other detritus having taken up residence. He has a distended, uneven gut and walks crooked with a cane made of a wooden stick and a corn cob coated in dried honey or some other glaze that keeps it preserved. A bone sickle is slung at his belt and his fat toes poke out through his sandals, covered in angry red welts and other insect byproducts.
