SIDE QUEST: Last Week's Meat

Bildrath Cantemir keeps his inventory stocked by recycling the items he sells to doomed adventurers. If the PCs complain about his prices, he asks the party to retrieve a large, leather-bound bundle that he believes to be downstream of the Ivlis River Bridge, south of the village. If the bundle is returned to him, undamaged and still tied in its original string, he offers the PCs a 20 gold discount on any one purchase.
This bundle contains four explorer’s packs, unopened by the adventuring party that purchased them two months prior. Bildrath does not tell the PCs the history of their target, though he does inform the party that danger should be expected. The previous party, a group containing a low-level wizard, cleric, rogue, and fighter, perished soon after entry into Barovia, dying at the hands of a marauding tribe of scarecrows. The scarecrows were aggravated by the wizard’s raven familiar, a Fey spirit that found refuge with the Order of the Raven.
The bundle is guarded by a mated pair of ankhegs, which have incorporated the bundle into their nest. This nest is marked by a number of tall mounds of soil adjacent to the riverbank. The ankhegs have burrowed underground, and attack any PCs that approach within 15 feet of their nest. The nest also contains a purse holding 3 gp, 6 sp, and 21 cp; as well as a rusted greatsword, a pair of rusted daggers, and a muddy wizard’s spellbook. Most of the spellbook’s pages have been rendered unreadable, but the spells Find Familiar, Alarm, and Detect Magic are still legible. Enough bones to comprise four adult humans can be found woven into the wood and clay of the nest.

Plot type

Quest