The heroes absent from the battle at the Nest come to the surface of the Wasp Rider's Nest to find that their allies are severely wounded, and that Slagmoor has been lost. Little by little, the gnomes also emerge. Several characters scouts out to ensure that there are no other waves of goblins waiting in the wings, while Cynjak and some villagers set out to find tinder with which to burn the dwarf's body. Others stack and dispose of the goblin corpses outside of the village, and then Slagmoor is given a eulogy, during which gnome children leave him offerings, baubles that they had originally brought to the cave with them for safe keeping. The hunter Klovak also notes that some of the serial killing monster's tracks are leaving the village again, to the Northeast, possibly towards Briar's Edge. Whatever it is must have snuck out during the battle...
The PCs and villagers go to sleep restlessly, remaining in and around the cave in case there are further attacks, several of the Waxworks employees and Yor keep watch.
Hathun, First-Week, Fifth-day, the Now-Year
The next morning, villagers start to trickle back to their residences and places of business, including the seer Gnoreen, who is escorted by Nahar, her new manservant. The PCs meet to determine their next course of action after discussing many leads, and ultimately decide that the missing Wasp Riders could be the most pressing issue. They ignore the colossal toad sitting in Flumi's Fishery for now, and leave Klovak and Nahar behind to protect the gnomes while they travel to the southwest, where Waxmeister Sprue mentioned that the Stinkstalker Goblins (who they just fought) are rumored to keep their lair. After several hours' travel, they find a crushed Wasp Rider and its mount, with a severed head and massive blunt damage. They find some large humanoid tracks headed eastward, and track them until nighttime, at which point they set up camp west of the Whipwater. Something is stolen away at night, but nobody notices...
Hathun, First-Week, Sixth-day, the Now-Year
The PCs come across to more crushed bodies near the Whipwater, these having been severed in the midsection while sleeping by the traumatic force of their own canoe being brought down upon them by something quite strong. They cross the Whipwater, still following tracks, and find two seemingly abandoned heaps of animal skins and carcasses, or perhaps two tents, nearby...as they approach, Borracho realizes that these are not tents, but creatures, a pair of odd, mutated giants who stand up to attack them. The battle is relatively short but brutal, the mass damage and stunning abilities harry the PCs, but in the end they deal out too much damage for the brutes to withstand. After killing them, they rummage their belongings and find the carcass of a golden goat, and a fine looking sickle.
They follow the tracks to the river surrounding the Court-of-Crows, where they suddenly disappear. They can't find any evidence of them beneath the water or on the other bank, so they head into the Court to warn people. They meet up with Vancal, who tells them to warn the local watchmen and inform the fishermen of their dead, and several of the PCs also choose to go to Pilaf's Tavern. There, Borracho performs for his meal, while Yor trades a short sword so he, Nexa and Barnowl can eat. Many folks don't seem happy that Barnowl has returned, including Vancal. Kaarl, SlakeThirst and Un'Krug search around the Court but find no evidence of the other giants that they were following across the plain. Borracho tries to mess with Maun, but the spell he uses doesn't affect the shady thug.
Yukkbutt goes to lie down in a nearby field in the corner of the village, and is soon joined by a curious little girl. They hear a loud, violent scream from the compound to the north, and then a head comes flying over the gate, landing at the feet of the girl...
It's the severed head of the Grand Mask!
PCs: Barnowl, Borracho, Cynjak, Kaarl, Nexa, SlakeThirst, Un'krug, Yor, Yukkbutt
XP Rewarded: 1400
Inspiration rewarded:
Renown:--
