Village of the Greedy
The team gets a surprise in that a bunch of travellers coming through that mentions that they found a large partiallu hidden to the south west at the edge of Eschbach's territory. It is one made up of Halflings and primarily a farming area with plenty of livestock (goats & sheep). One of their number went missing there and they need someone nearby in authority to search in & around the area for two missing adults: a man and a woman.
Plot points/Scenes
A group of travellers, primarily Barvarians, travelling up north. They had been down south doing business and stumbled across a large farming village made up of Halflings who seemed to primarily rely on raising livestock (goats & sheep). Rufus, the speaker for the group, says that they stayed overnight and a husband & wife called Albert & Gunti disappeared from their temporary camp beside the village a couple of nights ago. The Halflings say that it happens irregularly due to bear & wolf attacks every once in a while. Problem is, there was no marks of either animal type nearby, at least they could find.
The team can investigate and if they do it takes a few hours travel to the village. There they find the Halflings feasting on meat and plenty of vegetables & drinking ale. The team will notice that there is small packed fields nearby and the odd sheep & goat herds around but not as much as they thought. The village is at the edge of rocky ground surrounded by rich partially forested lands that have been recently cleared to an extent.
The elders Justin (49, male), Cairan (53, male) & Neve (51, female) will notice them and invite them to sit with them. They are introduced to the village and made welcome. They are given a meat platter each, and all the vegetables, bread & ale they want. All are wonderful to eat & drink and the team will find the meat excellent, very well prepared, and tender. They are offered beds for the night so they don't have to travel in the dark.
They can tell the elders that they are there to help find the two humans that disappeared recently. The Halflings will agree to let them search the area as long as it takes and warms them of rather dangerous packs of wolves & the odd cave bear that comes through occassionally attracted by the livestock. The team is told many animals have been lost along with the odd Halfling or 'outsider' too.
When they start with the campsite they will find disturbed earth near it. Tracks seem to indicate that a bear came through recently heading away from the village and leads into rocky terrain where it's den is. They can kill the bear and search the cave where they will find the remains of animals & the odd human/humanoid skeleton. A search of these will reveal that the human/humanoid bones have barely been touched by the bear and strange cuts (butchery cuts?) are on them.
Back in the village, they may find a hidden trapdoor covered by a few bushes at the back of the village hall. If these are examined they will find that these have been disturbed a few days before with a bit of cloth of Barvarian design caught between the bushes & the door.
The villagers will deny any knowledge of this and refuse to help saying they have many ancient artifacts below the hall and won't open it up from within the hall itself. They deny the external door altogether saying it doesn't exist.
If the team get in, they get the shock of their lives. Justin, Cairan & Neve will be down there clearing up the remains of Albert & Gunti, putting the remains in sacks for transport to the bear's cave. They were deliberately luring the bear away with livestock to dump the remains of those they killed in the cave.
At the same time they will notice the butchery items such as knives, saws, buckets, tables and meat hooks around. They also quickly find out that the Halflings have been butchering the odd human / humanoid that passes through the region and commiting cannibalism. The whole village are cannibals and now they've been found out, the team is going to be their next meal. They are also informed in some way that the meat they ate weren't from sheep or goat but from Albert & Gunti.
This leaves one option to the team, escape. They can fight their way out, and get back to a place of safety sending troops in to kill the Halflings & burn the town or they can do the job themselves. Either way a small group will escape with a couple of the elders numbering about 2d6 . Where they go is unknown and a random elder will escape.
It turns out as well, that there is about 320 gold sitting in the room, and possibly some sort of magical ring, and an explination too. The Halflings were from further west deeper in the Alps and were cut off for a few years ago due to severe snow storms. They were forced to start cannibalising to survive. The practice continued after they got out and moved to where they are now.
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