The party left Glenhaven with the dead gnoll rolled up in the blanket they found and the odd limb they recovered in the cave too. It was a two day trip to find Evy Ashwood's house with a stop in Meadowfen for the night.
Along the way, a gallus named Adina joined the party. She was looking for her missing chick and thought that wherever the groups was going was as good a place as any to begin her search.
Before reaching Evy's House the party heard a low rumbling coming towards them. Stampeding over the crest of a hill was a heard of buffalo. The group tried to get out of the way, and most did, with only Amichai getting trampled. Dúne was surprised that the buffalo were so far south, they mostly stayed up in the north.
Evy was surprised that the Butchers of Meadowfen showed up at her house (really a stone tower). When they told her what had happened at Glenhaven and of their adventures in the Wolpertinger Caves of Mokkden Caverns, she invited them in to have a look at the body and arm. She didn't recognize either of them and said she would study them. The party also showed her the ring they found so she cast detect magic. It wasn't magical but the party (except for Adina) all glowed in transmutation magic. They guessed it was from getting shrunk at the cave of the eternal flame. Evy didn't agree, she know of that cave and what it did, and was sure it wouldn't leave that kind of a trace on anyone who'd been shrunk.
It turned out the studded leather armor and the blanket they'd wrapped around the dead creature were magical. Evy went to cast identify but couldn't find the pearl she kept around for that spell. She cast magic mouth and spoke a note to a farmer named Tam Loxwood. His wife had a pearl necklace that they could borrow and bring back for Evy to cast the spell.
The party headed over to Tam's farm where he met them outside. A very friendly vulpin, he agreed to Evy's request and brought out his wife's pearl necklace. Being that it was covered in blood, everyone became a little suspicious. At that point a creature appeared, it looked like those they fought in the caves. A few party members had been charmed and didn't seem worried about it. In fact Dúne wandered around back behind the windmill where he found two dead vulpin. The creature asked a few questions and Tam could (mostly) understand it, interpreting for the party. Having had enough, Cyrus ran up and attacked the creature.
It cast several spells, one that churned the earth up around everyone. Finally, Amichai cast sleep and they defeated the creature while keeping it alive. Tam had been knocked unconscious and when he came to he wept uncontrollably over the death of his wife and the farm hand he'd hired.
- The party interrogated the creature with the help of Tam as an interpreter.
- It called itself a Gnoll.
- Said it was scouting the area and had traveled from Camp 3.
- Said there were over 800 gnolls at the camp.
- Called Humblewood the Promised Land and said this was their new home.
It was getting late so the party went back to Evy with Tam and the gnoll. The next morning they left to go find this camp and see what they could discover. On the way they found some buffalo that were slaughtered and mutilated. At the camp itself, there were less than ten gnolls left taking down tents from a huge encampment. Most of the gnolls were Flesh Gnawers but there were a couple tougher Berserkers who would certainly put up a tougher fight. The party stealthed around the camp taking the gnolls out one by one until they made too much noise, but by then half the gnolls were dead. They dispatched the rest (not exactly an easy fight, but they won) and searched through the camp.
They didn't find much except for a map that was left behind, showing troop movements in western Humblewood. It was clear all the major cities were about to be invaded.
The part spit up to try and warn everyone. Cyrus went to Ashbarrow. Snow headed to Winnowing Reach. Dúne, Amichai, and Adina headed due south, stopping at Evy's on the way. There was a gnoll patrol close by so Evy had them ransack both levels of her house making it look like gnolls had already been there. She said she'd be fine and sent them on their way to Meadowfen with their captured gnoll.
Despite their haste, the heroes were too late. Each town had a large contingent of gnolls in them. They were going house to house, searching for magic items, separating some bird and humble folk from their families, and making sure their superior strength and numbers were felt. It did not look good for Humblewood at all.