After the battle against the unusual bounty hunter, the PCs are rejoined by Yor and Slagmoor who were off hunting. They go over the items that they've looted from the hunter's corpse, and then decide to proceed onwards to The Nest as quickly as possible, resting on the way to heal wounds.
Hathun, First-Week, Fourth-day, the Now-Year
The PCs arrive at the outskirts of The Nest, and find a strange, small village of overgrown mushrooms and a few trees surrounding small bodies of water. They meet a strange, skipping, possibly insane young gnome and reaffirm that the male Wasp Riders and the village chief Tanziver are still gone and missing. She says she hasn't seen any strange creatures or characters arriving lately, but sends them off to the droopy Barnowl, a human guard who was hired on to watch over the village in the wake of the Wasps' departure. Yor recognizing Barnowl as a narcoleptic mercenary who was kicked out of the Spent Men. The party divides into a few smaller groups to explore the village, inquiring with the locals, most of which turn out to be quite strange.
They discover a giant frog is taking up the local fishery, and the place's proprietor Flumi beseeches them for help. Borracho unsuccessfully attempts to cast spells on both the frog and fisherman, but Un'Krug manages to speak with the frog, who claims it is simply here to eat everything and will eventually get around to them. The local wisewoman Gnoreen is visited, and she seems to be having strange visions. Yukkbutt scopes out the Wasp Riders' cave, but it does appear empty. Kaarl and SlakeThirst find evidence that some creature dragged a body into one of the ponds, and the entire group dregs it out to find a severed dwarf leg. The PCs surmise that Gnoreen's maid Bellende might know something, but when they arrive she's gone, and they find a face that's been removed!
Gnoreen tells the group that the maid went off to the Waxworks for some supplies, so they head their and meet up with the eclectic Waxmeister Sprue. Yor convinces Sprue to loan him some bees, which might be useful at stinging and driving off the colossal frog from the pond nearby. Kaarl and Slakethirst find goblin tracks hidden under leaves near the village, and the dwarves in the party think they hear some drumming in the near distance. A frightened young gnome rushes into the village, also thinking he heard the drums. Worried about a possible raid while the Wasp Riders' away, the PCs convince almost all the locals to all gather up at the Waxworks, and then they move them over to the Wasp Riders' cavern, which they think is the most defendable structure. Once they tell Barnowl, he stalks off alone to deal with the potential threat! The PCs await the next move of their hidden enemy.
PCs: Borracho, Cynjak, Kaarl, Nexa, Slagmoor, Slakethirst, Un'Krug, Yor, Yukkbutt
XP rewarded: 900
Inspiration rewarded: Nexa, Slagmoor
Renown: --
NPCs
Bellende (dwarf female): A fair-faced, pretty young dwarf, her hair is formed into perfect curls and ringlets adorned with golden tassles of corn and horse-hair. She is pleasantly plump, with humble but well-crafted brown robes that show that she takes her profession seriously.
Flumi (gnome male): A decrepit, squat figure, this
male gnome wears a stuffed bass as a centerpiece on his straw hat, and his
shock white, closely trimmed beard is full of fish hooks adorned with tassles
and colored beads. He wears several sashes of bone knives and other sharp
implements and leans on a stick that he can fold out into a fishing rod.
Gnoreen (gnome female): Haggard, elderly and
bedridden, this creature is a whale of a withered old gnome who also seems to
be blind in her left eye. Her long, greasy gray hair is patchy, and she has
large hairs hanging between her eyebrows down her nose; and an unsightly mole
on her cheek, which is tied off in a ribbon. She stares at you as if she knows
every secret you might harbor.
Lord Barnowl (human male): A tall, stoic man with
drooping eyes, his elaborate, thick moustaches and beard hang down to his
waist, and he wears a bone helmet with horns jutting out. His demeanor goes
beyond calm to sluggish, to the point where he doesn’t seem capable of wielding
the scythe he has strapped to his back, or the handaxe at his belt. He seems to
yawn when addressing you.
Skippitee (gnome female): A jovial young gnome
with clumps of warts and freckles over her weather beaten face, she wears a
mushroom cap over a straw hat and strawberry hair. She’s also got a pair of
dirty overalls made from a leathery hide, into which she stuffs all manner of
flowers, bugs and mushrooms. She seems to a lot of spring in her step and not a
care in the world.
Waxmeister Sprue (gnome male): Bedecked in a cloak
of honeycombs and a drooping hat with a smoking candle, this middled aged gnome
cuts a strange figure. His sharp eyebrows have multiple tiers to them and his
nose hairs have been waxed into a loop on his septum. He leans on a sturdy
staff with a mushroom cap and several dangling lanterns with lit, gently
smoking candles.
