One the way to Levoca, the party came across a group of trees that appeared to form fingers of a hand growing from the ground. In the tops were some platforms and hanging from one of these was a cage. It turned out Gatonio's nemesis, Mateo (aka The Rat in the Hat), was in the cage and near death. He explained to Gatonio that several months ago (before traveling to the Margreve) he'd been caught, and in a fit of reckless honesty, confessed to everything he'd ever done. They wrote it all down, had him sign the confession, and sentenced him to death. Mateo was stunned, he'd admitted to everything so why the death sentence?
What happened next was a little unclear as Mateo was wracked with coughing fits. Somehow, someone named George broke him out of jail, took the signed confession, and the two of them left for the Margreve to find Gatonio. All Mateo said was that he'd left George at an Inn, somewhere in the Margreve, before he got put in the cage. Oh, and whoever put him in the cage was going to eat him. Before he took his final journey he gave Gatonio a Luck Stone and a ring that looked like it might be worth more than what Mother Molvor had promised to pay them. After Mateo died, the party "cleansed" this section of the Margreve of the bandits living in the finger-like trees.
That night, a bear brought a gift from the Margreve to Lavaell, charcoal that could imbue an object with magic. Lavaell put the charcoal on the fire and his shield over that. The smoke from the charcoal was absorbed into the shield and Lavaell was pretty sure it would protect him better now.
The next day they arrived at Levoca and Mother Molvor paid them the 750gp. She also said her employer was looking for colybiscus, apparently whoever he'd charged with finding some had disappeared in the Margreve. The party looked around at each other nervously, thinking of Eagehrt. They asked about this "employer" and Mother Molvor didn't have many answers, only describing the person as wearing a brown cloak. She thought it was a man but wasn't sure. After some further prodding she suggested they go see her sister, Jedza Nansa, who lived in Whistlehollow. Jedza seemed to know who the brown cloaked employer might be.
Stevnar went to see the farmer and paid him the gold for Sir Oink they'd promised. At first the farmer was grateful but then broke down in tears and gave the money back. He took Stevnar and Sir Oink to his barn and opened up an old trunk. "Here," he said to Sir Oink, "Your father wanted you to have this when you were old enough, but I was afraid you'd go off on some foolhardy mission." He presented Sir Oink with studded leather armor that had a saddle that small creatures could ride on.
The party agreed they'd head to Whistlehollow and speak with Jedza. The first night, Elluine had a howling good time as he ran away from the party to enjoy the full moon. He showed up the next morning, looking very rough, with no memory of what happened. The next day the party passed though Wheedon and bought supplies, checked on the orphans, and Gatonio checked if anyone named George was at the Inn. There wasn't.
Continuing on to Whistlehollow, they came across a house cat who asked them to help her rescue her children/eggs before they were sold by a group of bugbears and ogres. After a moment of confusion, the party got the full story from Lesharrkk-cat. She was actually a Griffon who'd been polymorphed by a wizard (or some magic user) and driven out of her nest. The wizard wanted something in the tower and left after he got whatever it was. The bugbears (about 30) and ogres (hmmm, unknown number) stuck around to try and make some gold selling off Lesharrkk's unhatched children.
The party agreed to help and Lesharrkk left to try and reverse the polymorph, which should have worn off. The Still Tower used to be for griffon riders but had been abandoned a long time ago. Rather than a full on assault, the party took Lesharrkk's advice and looked for a pond with an underground stream that would lead them into the basement of the tower. A rather rude plant attacked them on the way, but the party handled it with their usual skill.
Eluine volunteered to do the rescue alone. Sneaking, after all, was one of his specialties. Stevnar went with him to make sure the swimming part went all right. They got into the basement, found a secret room, and two not so secret statues that proceeded to pound Stevnar pretty good, much more than he was used to at any rate. Eluine and Stevnar assessed the situation and decided a strategic retreat of running away as fast as the could was called for. Meeting back up with the rest of the party, they began to create Plan B.
Plan B
This time the whole party swam up the underground stream and into the basement of the tower. Gatonio went up to scout the main floor and promptly decided he'd just run up the outside of the tower, grab the griffon eggs, and come back down before anyone in the party was any the wiser. The first part of his plan went off without a flaw, he climbed up the side of the tower. Unfortunately, he was seen by at least one of the thirty odd bugbears hanging around outside. Gatonio went in a window on the tower and bugbears started running into the room. So he went back outside and all the way up to the top of the tower. He also became a bit of a pincushion as archers fired their arrows. At the top of the tower was a hulking ogre. She noticed him right away. Thinking quickly, he climbed down and through a window in the floor below (again, arrows flew and some found their mark). Inside this room there was a total of three ogres. Not as hulking as the one on the roof, but still, three ogres. Gatonio went out the window again, arrows flew, and the last thing he saw was the ground coming up at him rather quickly.
Meanwhile, the rest of the party had no idea what had happened. Eluine knew that Gatonio ran up the outside of the tower and he could hear shouts of the bugbears. He shouted at a group of bugbears that ran into the room and then he dropped down into the basement, ran to the water, and jumped in the well where Lavaell was. Dodgy hid behind some barrels. And Stevnar, ever the tactical one, waited for the bugbears to see him and ran through the hidden room where the statues had attacked him and up the ladder. The statues came to life and proceeded to pound on the bugbears much like they'd done to Stevnar earlier that day. Since the statues and bugbears seemed preoccupied, the rest of the party followed Stevnar up the ladder.
The ladder went all the way to the top. Stevnar jumped out first and began trying to push the ogre off the roof. Eluine ran around them and grabbed the griffon eggs. Lavaell began casting a spell. Dodgy mostly wondered how they'd ended up in this situation in the first place.
Unable to push the ogre off the roof, Stevnar grabbed her and jumped off so they both fell, rather close to Gatonio who was unconscious but breathing. Lavaell summoned two giant eagles. He and Eluine jumped on one and took off. Stevnar grabbed Gatonio and took off running as fast as he could. Dodgy climbed on the second eagle and followed Stevnar, who looked in pretty bad shape. It was a good thing he did because a few arrows later, the bugbears found their mark and took Stevnar down. A quick heal spell a moment later from Dodgy, and they all got away. The whole party agreed never to try that plan again.
Lesharrkk was very grateful for the return of her hatchlings (they started hatching while the party waited for her) and gave the party a few magic items as thanks. Now, on to Whistlehollow to find Jedza.