Hathun, First-Week, Seventh-day, the Now-Year
Un-krug and Barnowl secure the oxen and oversized cart they will used to travel back towards the Nest, while other PCs perform last minute transactions. Pilaf offers Borracho full time work as an entertainer and masher at the Tavern, after being impressed with the dwarf's own brewing, but the bard politely declines, leaving Pilaf with a jug of his mash to console him. Vraal confers with Udiqa who praises the cleric's decision to help the PCs find the missing Wasp Riders. SlakeThirst tries to recruit some cannon fodder from the village swap meet, but only finds a small audience there. One of the audience, a blind old man asks the dragonborn if he is the 'traitor' to his kind often spoken of, and SlakeThirst responds with an eldritch blast, almost killing the fool! He stabilizes him and then beats a fast path westward out of the Court-of-Crows! The others begin to hear details of the violent episode.
On his way back to the group, Vraal heals the victim Blind Del, who then makes his way to the Enclave to report the incident to Captain Taias Bloodbath. En route he runs across Cynjak and after a perverse exchange, offers to serve the paladin as a personal slave. She refuses, then makes her own way back to the wagon, which is now ready to roll. The PCs exit the Court-of-Crows, to head back to the Nest, and they pick up SlakeThirst on the way. After an uneventful day and evening of travel, they set up camp before the Whipwater, and establish watches. SlakeThirst flies across the river, afraid to try and ford it with the rest. Through the night, there is various fuckery involving a bag of tricks, a Giant Hyena, a sleeping Barnowl, and peeing.
Hathun, First-Week, Eighth-day, the Now-Year
The heroes return to the Nest, to find it rather tranquil. Barnowl visits the staff at Tanziver's tree, and sure enough, the Wasp Riders have not yet returned. The PCs go to collect Nahar who is still helping out the Seer after her maid was killed by the mysterious shapechanging assassin, and they inquire after Klovak, who the paladin hasn't seen lately. They search for the hunter, only to find his discarded skin stuffed into a honeycombed mushroom! Cynjak's dire wolf steed sniffs out a potential culprit at the Waxworks, but then the PCs are confronted by Waxmeister Sprue. It turns out that all the gnome workers there have a similar scent to what the wolf found, but Vraal and Nahar are allowed to investigate the interior of the business while the rest of the party goes back to the Seer with the remains of poor Klovak...
Inside the Waxworks, the two heroes are shown the top inner level which is where the honey farm is primarily located, and then when descending to the lower level, they come across some waxy partitions in the walls which might be the golems the Waxmeister warned them about. The lower interior level is both an arcane study for Sprue and the place where he comes up with all of his candle designs. They find strange glyphs and a golden sword, and then Sprue reveals that he came about the metallic weapon after opening a portal into what he believes is the lost kingdom of Sunken Spires! He beseeches the PCs to join him once the moons have aligned and he can open the portal once again, and as payment he will give them the golden sword and any other metal weapons they might find.
Klovak's remains are brought to Gnoreen, who casts speak with dead. They discover that Klovak was indeed slain by the taloned humanoid enigma they have been tracking, some days before, while the creature was in the guise of Lord Barnowl! Barnowl vehemently denies that he is the creature, but some discord has fomented. Yukkbutt begins to perv out over the old Seer, disgusting his party, while Barnowl actually discovers the rest of the maid's remains under a floorboard! Nahar and Vraal rejoin them to share the latest info, though they have found no trace of the murderer in the Waxworks. The PCs scatter about further to seek more evidence on the mysterious killer. SlakeThirst and Borracho round up as many gnome citizens as they can find to look them over, while Vraal, Nahar and Nexa find the rest of Klovak's 'meat' hidden down in the Wasp Riders' Roost.
Large, clawed tracks are found, similar to what was originally followed to the Nest. They lead back out of the Roost and down to the southwest of the village and out. The PCs have discerned that not only is their quarry incredibly intelligent, but potentially obsessed with its original mark (Nahar) and prone to toying with their perceptions as much as possible. Un-Krug goes to speak with the colossal toad, still lounging at Flumi's Fishery, and it seems to be nearing the complete consumption of the fish pond. He uses his totemic ability once more to speak with the creature, and it confirms in its limited capacity that a large female humanoid did recently leave the village to the southwest! The PCs deliberate whether they should follow, or if this is another ruse by their prey to throw them off...
PCs: Barnowl, Borracho, Cynjak, Nahar, Nexa, SlakeThirst, Un'Krug, Vraal, Yukkbutt
XP Rewarded: 2000
Inspiration rewarded: --
Renown: --
NPCs
Blind Del (human male): A wiry, sightless old man who is accosted by SlakeThirst after asking the dragonborn if he is the traitor, even though he meant it as a compliment. Often found at the local swap meet in Court-of-Crows wearing a leopard-skin loincloth and carrying a bowl for pittances that the villagers can spare him. Also a bit of a lecher, as Cynjak discovers.
Jobbi (gnome male): One of the workers at the Waxworks in the Nest, he claims he is working on making 'Fifth Assistant' to Waxmeister Sprue once the PCs detain him for questioning, thinking he might be the shapechanging assassin in disguise. Normally a cheerful, average gnome with black and gray flaked hair and less exotic features than other villagers.
