Hunting Horror

Expedition

The party meets the a feral man seeking aid. While traveling the countryside, he witnessed the butchering of a farming family in the middle of the night. He came to the Alderidge Academy to either find help or find information on whatever beast did this.
Wulfgar joins the party

The party meets the a feral man seeking aid. While traveling the countryside, he witnessed the butchering of a farming family in the middle of the night. The creature was eating the child when Wulfgar approached and didn't flinch when his ax removed it's arm. He came to the Alderidge Academy to either find help or find information on whatever beast did this.
Wulfgar joins the party   The investigation started at the Delmon Ranch.  In returning to the massacre, the part found the father devolved into a ghast with the grandmother still ghoulishly on the bed post.  The rot grubs burst from the dying ghast.  After burying the dead, the deciphered a different, purple jellied blood different than the rest.  It came out of the house from where Wulfgar had severed the creatures arm and pooled in front of the well before disappearing.  They found a a slight eastward trail along the treeline of broken branches and threads of black wool caught in the trees.

The black wool could only be from one place: the flocks of the Haggards, one of the southern clans for the local halfling.  Upon going up to The Clansmen Region, the part got confirmation from them that they trade with the local silver mine, Argenhill.  They receive sheep for meet and wool in exchange for silver... a commodity of wealth not commonly prized by clansmen.   In speaking to Cilllian and Shauna Haggard, it was revealed that the families poor lands had grown worse in the recent years.  Cillian had been approached by a fair fey woman about her increasing the life of the land in exchange for silver.  Since then, the family's sheep have had all they need but the stress of needing to collect so much silver each month has led the family into worse mental straights and priorities with a majority of their flocks destined for Argenhill.  Cillian pointed the adventurers towards Rathofer's Bog if they wished to meet a fey but warned them against making any deals.   On the journey down to Argenhill the adventurers had a detour to deal with a hive of ankhegs one of the shepherds had warned them about.  Eventually getting to the fortified mine, they were refused admission without business.  Not wanting to cause unneeded trouble, the party continued on to the bog.   The first day into Rathofer's Bog the party located the destroyed remains of a failed destination spa with the remains of other failed adventurers within.  Their spirits raised in contempt as will-o'-wisps.  The party exited the bog that night before delving deeper the next day to eventually find the home of the hag Noraferox, the Soul Trembler.  The party made a number of deals with the hag which revealed that the beast they hunted was Gozeni Duskbull, the owner of Argenhill and coincidentally Noraferox's "daughter".   After leaving Rathofer's Bog, the party passed by a fortified homestead on their way back to the Alderidge Academy to research on what kind of creature Duskbull really was.  Stopping at the farm they discovered that many of the local farms and ranches had been abandoned and all grouped together here under the elders of Heath and Marge Baylin.  The only survivor that was found that had new information on the atrocities was Gabriel Cofle.  He had returned home after a day away to find his home's interior frozen like a winter snow storm, the majority of his family turned to ice.  The only missing individual was his wife who was very late into her pregnancy.
In returning to the academy, the research the party did led them to belief that Gozeni Duskbull was truly an oni.  This would explain her malice, her butchering of people in the night, and her desire to feast upon children.  Additionally, it gave context to the supernatural qualities they had seen from the lack of response to mortal injury and the flash freezing of  homes.