Session 4

Kana and Suna had been dispatched by Shava to a nearby holiday estate of a noble from Jiiwani. The estate had stopped paying it's protection money to the Butterflies and they were to retrieve it. On arrival they discovered the owner of the estate wasn't there, and the housekeeper was unable to release money in their absence. They intimidated them into relaying a message to the owner: pay or we'll be back. They stole the jewels from the estate as collateral, and promised to return in a month.

When they returned to Otgon Sum Shana said they'd just missed the rest of their group, who'd headed out to investigate the source of the grey humanoids. She said they'd be able to catch up if they left quickly, so they did.

The rest of the group were again confronted by a group of the tiny grey creatures running towards them, with a few of the more normal sized ones commanding them. Sassani immediately blew the scout out of the tree, who died in the fall. As the groups clashed Kana and Suna were able to follow the noise and group up with their companions. In addition to the two kinds of creature they'd seen before they were confronted by a hulking giant, with bony knuckles and a gorilla-like gait. Luckily it was spotted before it managed to close with the party, and Chae-rin-shen was able to bend the creature's mind into fleeing. Suna was able to finish it off as it fled. The party burned most of the bodies and took the corpse back to the wagon to transport.

Ryo followed the creature's tracks further into the forest, and called a halt as the group spotted more lookouts in trees. Kana attempted to climb a tree to get a view of what they were protecting but a branch snapped under his weight, sending him tumbling to the ground. Rather than try again, the group sent Ryo through a gap in the sentries. Approaching the base of a cliff Ryo saw a settlement the creatures had set up against it, with a cave mouth descending into the base of the cliff behind them. There were signs of industry and expansion, and an intent to stay.

He reported back to the group, who decided to report back to Shava rather than try to do anything further with the group of creatures. When they got back she took the body from them, concerned by the news they bought of the settlement. She decided the Butterflies should focus their efforts on eradicating the rival bandit group and send for help with Jiiwani to deal with the interlopers.

The group turned in for the night but were woken early by Shava, who had discovered that their captive had died overnight. She lined up all of her operatives and quizzed them all about what'd happened, but wasn't able to discern anything from them. She agreed to Kathra's suggestion that she and Admar both case Detect Poison to see if that was the cause of death. Kathra cast the spell, and discovered Shava, Admar and Tolli were all carrying poison on them. Through a slip of the tongue Admar badly incriminated himself, saying he was sure the poison he was carrying wouldn’t' be the same as the one used on the body before the body had been checked for poison.

Shava tested the body for poison with the help of the clerics, then dismissed Kathra. Suna, who had snuck after them, overheard Shava accusing Admar of betraying them and killing the captive, and dismissing him from the gang. She then approached the party, and asked them to follow him as he left. If he headed for Jiiwani then he was to be killed, or if he stayed local then followed.

The group followed Admar to Dejang-e, where he took a room in a lodging house overnight. They threatened the owner of the establishment into reporting his movements to them, then set a watch outside just in case. At about two in the morning the woman left the building, and Kana snuck in to check what was happening. As he entered Admar's room he saw him vanishing into the forest behind the lodging house.

The lady had gone to the Whale to find the party, and told them that Admar had left. When they returned Kana told them he'd seen him fleeing into the forest, so the party gave chase. After following Admar's attempts to throw them off the trail the path straightened, heading straight towards Karzin.

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