3A. The Missing Hunter
Tifa needs you to investigate the disappearance of one of the refugees.
Structure
Exposition
Tifa says that the person who is missing is named Tase Janssen. He was a refugee who came all the way from the Northern Mountains. He didn't have anyone else who came with him or knew him, but that's not completely unheard of, especially since he came from so far away.
He seemed to like it here, though. He had made friends, and he made pottery that was very popular. He was also a very good hunter when it was his turn to go out. He even had a girlfriend. But yesterday, he went out for his turn hunting and didn't come back. His girlfriend was supposed to meet him for breakfast, but he wasn't at his house.
Tifa wants the PCs to investigate for a couple reasons: 1) she's busy 2) if there's something dangerous in the wood, someone with combat skills should go 3) quite a few of her people are very wary of the city guard and probably wouldn't talk candidly. She will tell Brilies, but she wants to be able to tell her it's already being handled.
Tifa points the PCs to a few people who might have information:
Millicent Duststone
Farfalee
Phancis Chambon
Robin Rowntree
Rising Action
Visit each of the people and talk to them
Go to Tase's house and search it
Try to rummage through the homes of the people with information
Ask people about each other to find out their secrets
Climax
They try to track him into the forest, the will see shoe prints that just stop at one point and all you can see are various animal tracks. DC 19 Survival to determine that one of the sets of tracks is that of a werewolf unless they know he's a werewolf.
Find the mangled body of a traveler. Beside him is a bloodied sword out of its sheath, but it's unclear whether the blood on the sword is coming from the bloody body. His pack is next to him, ripped open, and it's clear that the person was traveling somewhere. Inside the pack you find:
- A wineskin with a pint of mead inside
- 20 sheets of parchment paper
- 700gp
- A journal written in a strange language (DC 18 history check to identify it's infernal). If they can read it, they will see that it's gibberish and probably in some sort of code.
Falling Action
If you pass the DC 17 perception check, you hear quiet sobs coming from a hollow space in the roots of a large tree nearby. Looking in, you find Tase Janssen, naked and in a fetal position, crying. He has blood on him, but none around his mouth and less on his hands than you might expect. He has one large cut running the length of his back diagonally.
If you try to talk to him, he can do nothing but whimper and cry. Trying to get him out of the hollow space is difficult as he will struggle against you. Need to pass a strength contest against Tase unless you incapacitate him somehow.
Depending on what they decide to do with Tase, he might end up in jail. Most people will either assume he killed that guy or think that it's dangerous to let a psychologically unstable werewolf out into the town. Brilies will ask one of the therapists in town to try to get more out of him.
Brilies, Tifa, and Brynn will tell everyone that if they're going hunting, they should go in pairs. We can't stop hunting; food is the most vital resource we have.
The mystery of the tuft of fur will have to wait for another day; no one will be able to identify it.
Resolution
--The party did this quest first out of all of them in 3. Everybody Wants Something
--They found out that Phancis Chambon was lying about being a shop owner in his previous town and they told him that he needs to know what he's selling before he pitches his idea to the Merchant's Guild
--They found Phancis' spy log and took it with them, then showed it to Farfalee. She was not pleased.
--They found out that Farfalee makes homemade drugs, which is questionably legal, and that there is a stash under a loose floorboard in Tase's house. Farfalee said she would give some to Latrans if he offered her something in exchange.
--Zinyra smashed Millicent Duststone's amulet, but Marco compensated her for it with jerky. Ulo told Milicent her amulets were nonsense before leaving and Marco found out that Matilda Redstream is Milicent's "mystical advisor."
--Marco scryed Tase Janssen's location and saw that he was hiding in a hole under some tree roots.
They follow the scythe-like tracks back to the traveler's body
They discover that the body is that of a fiend, that the cuts were claw marks, and find the tuft of fur on the body. They identify that the journal is written in infernal, but cannot read it.
Marco uses the ring of the grammarian to cast "heal" as "hell" and inadvertently brings a part of the Seven Hells, including two pit fiends, into the Material Realm. They fed the pit fiends pie and then sent them back to hell. The pit fiends are named Gollmaroch and Trerazad; they were standing in their front yard when they were brought in.
Ulo banished them back and one hand and foot shrunk. Ulo took away the foot curse but not a hand. She now has one hand that is half the size of the other.
They take Tase back to their house and get him to describe the creature he saw. Mebeesee later identifies it as a Grun, an infernal animal that is typically used as a guard dog or in pit fights. He also says that the black ink Marco gave him wasn't ink and they discover that it can be used to decode the journal on the traveler.
They tell Tifa that Tase was on patrol and saw someone who seemed suspicious. He was following the guy which is why he was out late, then heard them in distress being attacked. Tase went to go help and saw the traveler being attacked by a big thing. Big thing chased him and attacked him before disappearing. He got scared and hid until morning. Tifa bought this story and will recommend people go out in pairs at least.
Plot type
Teaser/Mystery
Parent Plot
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Related Locations
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