Crazed Hunger

Expedition

The yet-to-be-named Sapphire Order arrive in the village of Craven on a stormy night to be greeted by horror and dismay. The adventurers agree to look into the cause of a murder and find themselves face-to-face with a primal spirit deep in the woods.

We return to our story within the rural barony of Craven. Our heroes have been traveling the lands to to gain treasure and renown to aid them in their personal endeavors. After a week of overland travel, you arrived here on a stormy night, pulling into a tavern to get out of the rain. Couped up inside, the villagers were withdrawn and suspicious of your sudden arrival this night in conjunction with other happenings in the village. Speaking with the innkeeper Anne, you learned of a murder that had occurred just this morning. More odd, the culprit had been found eating from the victim's leg. The murderer was currently being held within the constable's home/jailhouse.
  Seeing this as an opportunity, you lot sought to help. Beatle took out his lute to begin changing the timber of the room. In little time, the man had won over the occupants of the common room as you pledged to figure out what had caused a member of the community to turn on another. Anne provide a jug of whiskey to win over the constable and allow you to begin your investigation before the evening was over.
  Crossing the village in the rain, Lord Sapphire managed to convince Constable Turner to let you into his home to speak to the culprit. Therein you spoke to Jerome Erewalker. The man was crazed, shaking and strained within his cell. He rambled about darkness in the woods but could not be guided into useful thoughts. Beatle managed to soothe the man. Jerome was shocked at what he had done. He knew he did it but couldn't understand why. He told of stalking a large stag in the noble's Hunting Grounds the day before. The village was allowed to do so if they couldn't find game in the southern woods but were restricted to only taking day trips. Jerome had managed to get his kill but was a full days hike into the wood by the time it occurred. He decided to camp for the night with his kill before returning with it in the morning. That night, crazed hounds surged into camp to drag the stag off. He tried to stop them but witnessed a shadow grow out of the carcass, taking the skull up withit before sprouting a tree from it's head. Gangly arms and claws lashed out.
  Jerome only remembered running ragged through the night back to the village. Returning just before dawn, exhausted and hungry, he saw the ferryman Grissel Fisher beginning to prepare his boat for the day. He fed his hunger. At this Jerome began to panick in his cell again but you kept him calm with assurances of no blame. The party felt an enchantment had taken the man which made the constable uncomfortable. He tried to argue but Lord Sapphire's implication and threat of a charm demostration got Constable Turner to stand down and Promise not to take Jerome to the Baron for judgement until you lot returned from your investigation into the Hunting Grounds.
  Our heroes voyaged from the village to the Hunting Grounds this evening to expedite their investigation the next morning. In the predawn light as Ravel finished watch, she found a rambunctious young fox messing with the tent. Tapping into her connection to nature, she began to communicate with the older kit after the other party members awoke. She learned that the fox had lost its parents to some feral hunter. Ravel wished to keep the vulpine friend with the party but learning that the party would be looking for the ravaging creature, it ran.
  Continuing into the woods, through the Mixed Oaks and Maples, Jerom had to the party they would need to get beyond the Maples. As they did so, the party set a trap. Marduk helped everyone hide as Lord Sapphire created illusory calls in Jeromes voice. Slowly, the party learned that it was in a stalking stalemate. Marduk leapt from hiding to start a rabid brawl. Waves of hunting, waxy furred hounds bayed out as the packs attacked but you all slayed them as they charged. Marduk cleaved them apart, Beatle's song sent some to sleep while his rapier punctured others, Lord Sapphire hailed bowshots as Ravel, provided flanking support. As the beats fell, you witnessed smoke pour from them, leaving nothing but skins behind.
  In the calm after the battle, Beatles elicted a song in challenge to the woods but it echoed back in a discordant minor shift. Following that cue, another skin was found with punctures on the back of its neck, this one identifiable as coyote. Ravel did it the respect of a buriel which caused a red fern to bloom from the the ground, marking this place as sacred to the primal forces of nature. In the distances over a burbling, unconnected spring of glowing water, was a shadowed presence. The party drew closer, arcing around and preparing to assail it. However, the closer you got, the larger and more substantial it grew, limbs taking from ending in bloody lithe claws. A stage skull was breached by a crown of branches. A Whisping, rasping voice emitted from it in the sylvan tongue, unknown to any of the heroes. Lord Sapphire called upon magic as she pointed her wand at the creature, using innate magic to understand it.
  The forest spirit spoke of a dark presence that hunted in it's woods. The primal entity claimed ownership of these woods and no longer had the patience for others hunting the animals it claimed as it's own. First a feral shadow hunted at night and now man hunted in the day. It would not have it. The Spirit held great disdain for the feral shadow. The Spirit claimed that the Shadow refused to eat man was its way. If it would feast on the Spirit's bestial kingdom, the Spirit would send any who hunted it's lands to feast on their own kind. The party had found their first answer. This spirit had caused Jerome to commit his crime. If the villagers stayed out of the Noble's Hunting Grounds, no further atrocities would occur. A simple answer, but an incomplete one.
  Wishing for a cleaner ending that would lead to greater peace for both man and spirit, the questioned where they could find the feral shadow that was the Spirit's enemy. The Primal Spirit point back towards the village of Craven. The evil presence hid behind man's walls and behind man's flesh. The party requested the Spirit's aid but it could not leave this wood. What it was willing to provide was one of it's hounds. Pulling a skin from the soil, it breathed black matter into the skin to bring it to life as the Spirit itself decreased and disappeared within the primal spring. In glee, Ravel dubbed the hound Sparky.
  Returning to the village by evening, the adventurers brought news of the happenings to Constable Turner. With confirmed knowledge of a contorted spirit, the priestess of Sol was brought to the jailhouse to try to aid Jerome. The old Theophania tried what she could but with the night falling, she had not the power to bring any more aid to the degraded man. She would have to try again in the morning. With morning would come more than Theophania's full efforts for Jerome. Constable Turner had to report in to Baron Harewell of the events. He had given the party time to investigate. Now he would have to report in. With that, though, the adventurers could join him to make what cases they would.
  The companions made their way back to the inn for the evening. The won-over villagers heartily accepted them in, providing sustenance and lodging for the evening. They hoped the adventurers could help them through this odd time and providing food and board was the least they could do. Beatle may have also found company that night in the name of Greta.