04/22/2023
The caravan carrying the remnants of Castle Avernus made its way toward the Halfways There Inn from Trine when it was set upon by gnolls outside the Elisar Woods
Boguls Bruisers recognized G'Nosh in the gnoll war party and thwarted an assault by turning it into a reunion. G'Nosh was excited to show his old friends the many "heads" he had back home, so the caravan was sent ahead and the group made their way to G'Nosh Town to see how things were going
G'Nosh Town was thriving, the gnolls working alongside the soldiers of Queen's Meet against the wolf threat to Crooke Post and the surrounding area. G'Nosh showed the group his trophy room filled with wolf heads and a space on the wall reserved for the biggest wolf of all: the Dire Wolf leading them
The Bruisers committed to helping someday but in the meantime, asked G'Nosh why he was attacking caravans, to which he responded there were "evil rocks" and they even had a pile of them in G'Nosh town that they'd stolen from the caravans from the Saffron Society in Trine
The group told him to keep it up, and made note of the remnants in the town before leaving, some new wolf pelts adorning their armor
They also received a long claw from the head dire wolf G'Nosh had taken, which was roughly the size of a person's arm
The Bruisers caught up with the caravan in Crooked Post where each person went off to check-in on some personal business:
Hannah visited Effi's Pages to find Effi had not gotten rid of the vampire in her basement and that other, dark cloaked figures had come through to visit her store recently. Effi was evasive when asked about the creature, and Hannah left disconcerted
Samoht visited Rolf Gunnderson to get the wolf claw from G'Nosh made into a weapon. Rolf agreed under the condition Samoht came back through for a drink after visiting the Halfway There Inn
Bogul checked in with Mayor Pol Gunnderson to find him stressed with work. The biggest of which was a request for funding from the Temple of the Gods, which seemed like Peer and Jamail attempting to scam the city
Bogul and Jezria visited the Temple and confronted Jamail, who was flippant about the embezzlement but Jezria laid into him, threatening to burn the church down if the two priests didn't ammend their ways. Jamail left on less than good terms.
The group spent the night in the Mythril Dream and left in the morning to complete their journey to the Halfway There Inn
Once arrived, the group snuck their weapons into the Inn and took in the scene:
Jezria and Samoht played chicken against a half-orc and halfling duo called "Half and Half"
Bogul snuck into a meeting between the caravan drivers and a hooded figure who seemed to be an illusion
The owner of the Inn, Bazil, confronted Bogul, who had an adversarial relationship due to the proximity of Crooked Post
That same illusion showed up on the stables where Hannah was staking out the remnants
The illusory man spoke with Hannah, claiming to be the "Tax Man" and was more or less kind and welcoming
Hannah hid out in the stable to see where the remnants went, and found fleshy mounds of blood and meat pull them beneath the stable floors
The group found a way into the basement where Samoht collapsed a wall to find an underground lair in which fleshy beasts were seemingly attacking a Beholder who asked for help in the same voice as the illusory man from above.