- Party spending afternoon at inn - ashleigh comes looking for help - members of the gilded hand deny her help - ashleigh turns to party - party offers to help - she leads them to the entrance to them tomb and tells them at the goblins have taken her daughter inside by force - the party tells ashleigh to stay put and approaches the tomb - on approach they are ambushed by goblins - after putting down the goblins outside they continued into the tomb itself - inside the tomb they see goblin staging area - they dispatch goblins as willa demolishes them - they see several frescoes depicting weakened humans drinking from a particularly fancy cup and becoming all big and strong - they proceed and successfully disarm a deadly scythe trap - entering the next room they see a skull icon painted on the floor and a statue in the far end of the room as well as sarcophogi lining the walls - party walks into the room which triggers the skull to activate which wakes up the undead in the coffins - party defeats undead and tyche destroys the skull icon - they carefully push the statue at the end of the room out of the way and head to the next fight - inside next room they find a number of goblin subordinates and a bugbear channeler - They also find Violet tied to a stone pillar, her lifeforce being drained via channeled spell in what looks like an attempt to remove the large magical ward present in the center of the room - The ward appears to block passage to the next level of the Delian tomb - the heroes, in a hard fought battle defeat the enemies, Cadeus striking down the bugbear channeler and free Violet - violet is unconscious though unharmed and they carry her out of the tomb to reunite with her mother - travelling back to broadhurst ashleigh tells the party that they are welcome any time, day or night, and that she would be happy to help them with any undertakings given she is a skilled artisan - upon wishing ashleigh and violet goodbye the party is approached by abbott loric - the abbott is curious as to the results of their quest and whether violet is safe - he is surprised to hear that the heroes report queen bargnot is still out there, and postulates that she would be incredibly old, if she was the same one that terrorized the town and surrounding area decades ago - he thanks the heroes for their work in the town and shares with them tale of the town's woes once the heroes confirm they are interested in further helping the settlement - reeve rosamund reports food thefts, vaughan the woodcutter is scared of bandits, mikael was attacked by a wolf, harim is waiting for a shipment of leather that hasn't arrived, dunquat is having trouble with stone merchants, orson is having some kind of issue - the abbott also offers the party full access to his study and personal library, for any research projects the party may wish to undertake - He thanks them again and bids them farewell - the party heads to the inn where they encounter the gilded hand in force for the first time - The party notices the ring on the elf's finger - A polder invites them over to chat about their quest and introduces the other members of the hand - the party is standoffish with the hand due to their treatment of ashleigh in her time of need - the polder insists that while they are generous at heart, the hand can only afford to undertake jobs that pay, as they have people at home to look after and think about as well - the polder pushes for info about their quest - as the party notes that they entered the tomb and dealt with the goblins therein, mara speaks up to ask if the party had removed the barrier to the second floor, and is dismissive of probing questions or anything not to do with the magic in the tomb - Caedus questions why the hand didn't fight as the shirtless dwarf looked plenty ready for a fight. The dwarf squares up to caedus but otherwise doesn't engage - The polder explains that the Hand had just gotten done clearing out the Cressan tomb of some demon worshipping cultists and is in town to rest and to hopefully expand their presence in the region, as the human, Targon, explains is very important - The party takes interest in the elf's ring, after determining it is enchanted in some way - Illwyth clarifies she found it in the Cressan tomb and that she likes the look of it, though the party notices she is now hiding her hands as they talk - the party is suspicuous of the hand but leaves them to recover after their adventure - caedus works on health potions, tyche works on researching the tomb, willa goes fishing - the party reconvenes at the inn and speaks to the innkeeper gweldyr who comments on the wound she heard mikael received, she doesn't buy it but urges the party to investigate - the party meets mikael and hears his story of being attacked by a big wolf, he requests they dispatch the wolf and recover his saw - the party then goes to Tansy and hears her story of broken traps - they set out to kill the wolf - outside the wolf cave they see slaughtered sheep and meet Yerris the sheepherder who's brother Oleq was inside after being taken by the wolf - the party goes in cave to see big river, they go to cross river but get attacked by water wolves - defeating the wolves they cross the river and continue in - wolf is standing over Oleq claiming that she can turn him and make him more powerful - willa attempt to sneak up but fails during the fight Oleq is bit twice before escaping - They defeat the wolf and loot seagrass, willa carries the wolf out of the cave to the furrier - Caedus investigates and determines that the cave has a remarkable property, the veil between their realm and Quintessence, the realm of magic is shockingly thin there, perhaps explaining the water wolves - the sheepherders are reunited and thanks the heroes though they have no means of rewarding them - the heroes ask Oleq to accompany them to the town as they must tell him something - caedus gets the abbott, tyche gets mikael and they all meet up with willa at the furriers - they tell mikael and Oleq that they are infected with lychanthropy and a cure must be made as soon as possible - the news is taken well-ish and everyone heads home to keep an eye on the calendar - the abbott asks if the werewolf spoke at all or explained its presence - the heroes confirm it only spoke to attempt to explain to oleq how it could empower him - the abbott wonders about how it got to their sleepy town - the abbott once more thanks the heroes, Mikael goes home as do the sheepherders, and Tansy sets in to start harvesting the werewolf's pelt and saving its guts to make the potions to clear lychantropy - the party heads to the charcoal burner's to investigate his issue - There, they meet Orson an enigmatic fellow who claims he was attacked by a huge bug and the bug stole his necklace - After getting the details the party goes to a farm just down the way, where Ellery's pig herd was wiped out by a creature matching Orson's description - the party enters a tunnel that the creature created/used and after signficant effort make their way into its lair - the party fights and defeats the arixx and successfully reclaims Orson's necklace - they present the arixx head to ellery who thanks them and offers them free bacon for life, she feeds the bug head to her remaining pigs - the party goes back to orson and gives him back his necklace and reporting the death of the bug - After the party points out to orson that the necklace is magic, he invites them to sit and hear them out - he informs the party that in reality he is a member of a semi-secret organization, devoted to the protection of natural and wild spaces from demonic or magical incursions, the Coursers - he notes the party is selfless and capable and invites them to join - he also comments that he would not extend the invitation to the Gilded Hand though offers no other comment - the party accepts and he gives them each a brooch, silver, in the shape of a twelve stringed lute - the parts ways with Orson and heads back into town