Hathun, First-Week, Eighth-day, the Now-Year
The PCs decide to track their quarry to the Southwest, finding some tracks that match the humanoid size they've seen before on this manhunt. As the sky darkens, they spy a human in a nearby tree in the Verdant, watching them. He claims his name is 'Groat' and that he's been stalking an evil fairy for several days through the area, and he attempts to enlist the PCs' assistance in nabbing the creature. The party scuffles over how to deal with him, some in favor of helping him and others thinking he's a useless distraction on the way to their true quarry...or rather, the quarry itself! Little do they know, the man's 'prey' has heard them muscling the hunter and approached them himself, and finally presents himself...an ascetic with a higher purpose. After some chat, it's decided they will leave Groat behind without his crossbow and take Kymyl, the wood elf 'fairy', along with them.
Soon after, they set up camp for the night. But their sleep is interrupted when they hear a shriek. As they follow up, they find that a gnome whose foot has been cut off was trying to crawl towards the Nest, but he was slain by a constrictor snake which slips off into the wetlands. Judging by the tattoos running up the gnomes arms, he was indeed a Wasp Rider, one that Barnowl briefly remembers seeing back in the village.
Hathun, First-Week, Ninth-day, the Now-Year
The next morning, the journey continues until the PCs find the tracks leading to an overgrown pond next to a massive, fallen, vine-encrusted tree trunk that looks hollowed out. As they approach around and over the pond, they are confronted by some muddy, strange creatures which can slash them with terrible wooden claws and spit acid at a good distance. They manage to take down the creatures, but not without receiving some heavy hits themselves, and several getting knocked unconscious. After searching the muck, they find some baubles and items that the creatures were carrying. They then approach the mighty, fallen trunk, to discover that the vines and kudzu over the base conceals a cavern passage below the pond.
At the base of the slope, the water seems to end, and there are dry, earthen caves beyond. In the first, they find the corpses of several gnomes picked apart somehow, and several giant crushed insects. Patches of green and orange vegetation on the walls turn out to be swarms of carniverous insects similar to butterflies, and the two colors swarm the party, blinding and doing great damage to whoever they can envelop. The party manages to take them down, but not without another brutal fight, and after dispersing the last little fiends they must decide whether to press on further or take another rest, at risk of their quarry getting even further away.
PCs: Barnowl, Borracho, Cynjak, Kymyl, Nahar, Nexa, Un'Krug, Vraal, Yukkbutt
XP Rewarded: 2200
Inspiration rewarded: --
Renown: --
NPCs
Groat (human male): A filthy, average height human approaching middle age, with greasy black hair so messed up that it creates a natural pompadour atop his head. His whiskers have grown out of control, he wears a leopard or lion's skin (you aren't quite sure), and his teeth are almost completely bent at odd angles. His one armament is a light bone crossbow.
