Loose threads: The Man left in the Cave, the Devils in the Cave transforming regular animals into Fiendish Beasts
Participants: Lynnette o'Farrell, Nasdac, Sakassi, and Variel Magnelis
Locations: The Hills and Cave system outside of First Landing, Spire Hills.
Short summary:
We ventured into the caves to find a fiendish ape, and found a group of devils transforming standard forest creatures into more infernal beasts. The were doing so in order to track down a man trying to escape his part of an infernal contract. Unfortunately, we could not determine how to help the man without fighting the aforementioned group, which would mean almost certain death.
Full Report
The party was tasked to investigate the origin of fiendish creatures spawning in the hills near First Landing, as described by a previous report. The creatures were tracked to a cave system with evidence of recent passage; Numerous footprints, new and old, were discovered. After recalling information about apes in the area, the party came to the understanding that this beast, although Ape-like, was larger than the standard ape, and decidedly fiendish. We chose to delve into the cave, and were attacked by both the aforementioned ape and 2 similarly fiendish dogs.
The battle was successful, and after a few minutes of offering aid and assistance, we were in better shape to continue our investigation. Despite finding the fiendish ape we had initially looked for, there was reason to believe that there was an ongoing process of transforming standard creatures into fiendish variants. Our search took us back out to the hills and eventually we encountered more dogs--this time, being led by an imp. After vanquishing the dogs and subduing the imp, it informed us of a group of devils stationed inside the nearby caves who were searching for a man attempting to escape the conditions of his infernal contract.
We briefly talked to the devils, including the boss of the group named Alnar, Attorney of Hell, and offered to find the man ourselves. We elected not to inform them that we had no intention of returning him to the devils for the fulfillment of the contract, and went on our way. We ended up discovering the man, who had set up camp further into the cave system. We approached cautiously and explained our intentions to him, who informed us that he laid in wait for Alnar to eventually slip up. He did not believe that accompanying us to First Landing would be in his best interest in the long-term (see the infernal contract), and we hesitantly bid him farewell after realizing there was nothing we could do for him there.