After thoroughly double checking the caverns beneath the Falls, the PCs decide to take their captive and the freed sorceress back to the surface, both hissing and mocking SlakeThirst all the while, although the warlock only shoots one of them with eldritch blast occasionally to remind them what's up. Apparently the dragonborn were attempting to eat her to consume her magic. They all trek back towards the Place-of-Scales, at which point SlakeThirst and a shapeshifted Kaarl break away to bring Pergeron to Mosh, while the rest of the party goes to scout out a column of smoke to the southeast of the village. As Slake and Kaarl enter, they notice its eerily silent, several dragonborn corpses have been destroyed, and they are soon pelted with small missile attacks (slings, etc). After one more verbal exchange, Pergeron manages to snap free almost instantly from his bone manacles, and rushes off to his mate's cottage. She emerges with a longbow, looking as if she too will threaten the PCs! They book it to the south...
Meanwhile, the others have arrived at a makeshift 'refugee' camp where Tyvim Jaava, Yor, and Urst, two men from Court-of-Crows (Klovak and Nahar) and a well-dressed dwarf named Borracho are being guarded by two of Chief Wralasar's dragonborn loyalists. It would seem that much trouble has occurred since the party left to find Pergeron, and now half the village is reverting to its atavistic dragon nature rather than risk the green dragon showing up again. Klovak and Nahar claim they are tracking the murderous entity from the Court and it has killed again twice, when Urnst the halfling pipes up that if it's got tracks to the North it may be after the Nest, which is now relatively defenseless with its Wasp Riders and Chief missing. The dwarf is introduced as Borracho, a wandering lore-seeker, flirt and entertainer who offers drinks to all. Klovak attempts to court Nexa the sorceress, to no avail, while Yukkbutt misuses his tan bag of tricks to summon a baboon and let it run rampant.
The other PCs rejoin them, and there is some bickering over what to do next. SlakeThirst wants to scout the village for Wralasar and help his Chief, but the dragonborn loyalists tell the warlock he should leave, and for good, he's caused enough trouble. They decide to send a stealthy scout party with the two half-orcs, Kaarl, and Slake, but only Kaarl in rat form eludes immediate notice, so the plan is scrapped, and the party decides to head out north to possibly pick up the tracks and help the gnomes if they're in danger. Klovak does find the trail, and then the group sets up watches.
Hathun, First-Week, Third-day, the Now-Year
The following morning, Yor, Nahar and Prince Slagmoor are all mysteriously missing from the camp, but the rest of the party presses on with Klovak. As they are back on the Whipwater Plain and crossing it, they are approached by a black, spiked figure riding an unusual elk, and followed by a gaggle of slavering ghouls! SlakeThirst immediately fires at them, and they rush to engage. It appears the mounted figure is Diedeath the Mad, who they've met before outside Dregroot, but has now been charged by Zlazash with a bounty on Cynjak. He has used these ghoulish minions to track her via an old...soiled...garment in the possession of Dregroot's chief! The battle is rather one-sided, the ghouls not able to cross distance and effect the PCs with paralysis, but they find a far more dangerous foe in Diedeath, who is notoriously difficult to hit, attacks with two medium weapons at once, and seems to HEAL when spells are used against him...after he brings down Cynjak a few times, and the PCs eventually destroy him, they remove the helmet and armor to reveal a strange, elfin humanoid with a twisted face, mismatched eyes, and a lamprey-like mouth. They loot his armor and weapons, all of which radiate magic, and continue to The Nest.
PCs: Borracho, Cynjak, Kaarl, Nexa, Slakethirst, Un'Krug, Yukkbutt
XP rewarded: 1050
Inspiration rewarded:
Renown: --
NPCs
Urnst Gourdbelly (halfling male): A pompous and overstuffed Halfling, he gets his name from his constant reeking of pumpkin-seeds and the tan, mildly orange tone to his skin. His hair and beard, however, and quite blonde, treated with some sweet smelling oils, and his dun colored clothes are also quite well kept, except for a few greasy hand prints. He is generally seen walking with a hoe or pitchfork, and several hounds tend to him.
