Of Supplieses and Surprises: Chapter 5 in the ongoing True and Accurate account of our band of brothers

For what seemed like a simple milk run, it wasn't a simple milk run. Killed my first Ankheg, which was an interesting creature, though also on the acidic side. Which, so far, seems to be a thing with monsters we run into.
 
The trip to camp was largely uneventful tho I am obsessed with that boar we saw a few nights back. When we reached our destination, however, things got interesting. The camp was in ruins, and, at first view, deserted. And by deserted, I mean everybody appeared dead, and various out-buildings were in ruins.
 
After securing the cart and the ox, we made our way into camp, with the dwarves and the cleric exploring the tents, and me staying well hidden but in range in the small spinney of trees just outside of the clearing. As the dwarves stamped about the grounds, a giant burrowing beast unburrowed itself right in front of Baric, who immediately got caught in its jaws and lifted off the ground. I would use the metaphor of a dog with a rag doll, but that probably doesn't do credit to the sudden violence of the situation. Maybe a feral dog with a rag doll.
 
At any rate, Dash moved in, throwing a couple of hand axes with remarkable precision and clearly damaging the beast. I tried a new spell, Ensnaring Strike, which, it turns out, might not be effective against Very Large Critters, but I still managed to shoot it with an arrow. Ozzie went into Berserker mode, and angrily attacked the earth below his feet, upon which he promptly fell thereafter. The net effect seemed to be he summoned a second Nasty Critter. Meanwhile, the first spit acid, catching both Baric and Dash in its path. Spitting is rude. But, undaunted, Dash moved in and slayed the first critter, while Baric saw the wisdom of attacking from range, backing up and dropping one of his Light Bombs of God. He missed, but it's still a good show. Speaking of missing, I confess to sending a couple of errant arrows myself during the whole battle. One went high, while another bounced harmlessly off the creature's natural armor.
 
Ozzie, who I strongly suspect was drunk, continued to smash the ground, and may have discovered an ancient dwarven summoning spell, the net effect of which was a third critter appearing out of the ground before him.
 
Dash the ever-so-brave got bravely smashed into to the ground, as Ozzie seemed to gain some composure and started directing his energy towards the beasts and away from the earth. Baric revived Dash, who had just enough time to gather his wits and be bravely smashed into the ground a second time. I put a finishing arrow in the second creature, and Ozzie started hacking away again at the third. Baric revived Dash once again and this time, he came up swinging. Baric dropped a few more healing spells while the rest of the party dropped the third creature.
 
We were all shaken -- and just about out of spells for the day. So we did what any band of adventurers would do: we bravely ran away, taking the ox and the cart and a limping, bruised, and cut up party a quarter mile back down river to rest and recuperate for the evening. Someone mumbled something about perhaps confusing the beasts if we ran away some more, but I don't recall who said it.
 
Dawn broke after an uneasy but uneventful night and we returned to camp for another round of fun. Baric suggested we try the Dwarven Summoning Spell to see if any more Ankheg's were about, but to no avail. After searching the grounds, we entered the building, where another of the beasts burrowed up right through the floor to attack us again. This time, we were prepared -- and, fortunately, it was just a single creature, and we despatched it with relative speed.
 
Upon entering the back room, we found a cowering, filthy man in the corner, who apparently was hiding in here while the rest of the people were devoured. Turns out, this was Tybor, the half-brother of Harbin. Apparently cowering inside a building is a trait that runs strong in this family. But so is posturing, and he quickly tried to put on airs and took that "I'm a super self-important noble" tone that makes me want to vomit. Or punch them in the mouth. Given that he was cowering in his own shit for a few days while his men got slaughtered didn't really endear me to him, nor did it change my mind about the general moral character of nobles in general. Baric suggested he take a bath in the river. I'd just as soon see him drown, but fuck it, I guess baby sitting shithole nobles is how we get paid.
 
At any rate, we unloaded the supplies in the back room, and I surreptitiously rifled through the packages to ensure they matched the manifest, which they did. My suspicion that we were transporting something of a secret or dangerous nature apparently were unfounded. But again, we're dealing with nobles, so I have fair reason to be suspicious.
 
The party gathered up the bits and pieces of what appeared to be body parts, or ex-body parts, and helped Baric do his cleric thing. I set about skinning the remaining Ankheg, loading up a decent amount of carapace and other bits that I am anxious to use in a future leatherworking project. Perhaps I could combine the leather from the manticore wings with parts from the Ankheg to create a unique studded leather... I will have to begin working on that. I've also got to scope out the nearest city or town where I can fetch a fair price for the extra parts. I was super thankful that we had an empty cart to haul everything back. I need to touch base with Attabrah to see how she is faring, and to see if she would let me store some of the extra bits I managed to bring back. I'd also like to see if she has any specific requests for various animal/monster bits for her alchemy crafts.
 
Meanwhile, I saw no sign of the boar on our return path. Following the ox cart tracks was dead simple, and the boar was not more than a day out of town. I'd like to re-explore this area with more purpose in the near future. I also want to explore the source of the scream that Baric and one of the dwarves heard on our march out of town.