Upon awaking in Good Mead the next morning (though the sun still remained below the horizon) the party ventured into the village to find cold weather gear and a route to Easthaven. Stopping a local woman, they were informed that the town speaker, one Kendrick Rielsbarrow, had recently been killed by a verbeeg who made off with three casks of mead meant for Bryn Shander. Five militia members had been dispatched to retrieve the mead, but they had not yet returned. Meanwhile, Kendrick’s body lay in state at the Shrine of the Flaming Sword, where party members learned from another woman, Chevra Simta, that monsters had been emboldened by the constant dark and made regular forays into the smaller towns. The loss of Kendrick had been bad enough – he had been well-respected as a leader of Good Mead – but the loss of the mead was an even heavier economic burden. Good Mead supplied the Ten Towns with its namesake libation as its only real means of commerce, and any shortcomings hurt the village exponentially.
Enticed with an offer of free lodging for a tenday and all the mead they could drink, the apparently low-rent party for hire agreed to track down the verbeeg and return the mead. Moving north into the woods, they soon encountered a scrambling trapper who described a horrific scene of violence: the five chasing militia members were killed horribly, their heads and chests caved in by what appeared to have been a huge club. Traveling to the scene confirmed the trapper’s account, and heavy tracks continued northward from the scene, allowing the party an easy path to follow.
A few hours later the group had a curious encounter with a tiny snow creature that liked to throw snowballs. While Thoradaen threatened to pack a snowball with a rock, Hawlkrin joined in the fun and tossed one or two snowballs back at the impish spirit, which seemed to enjoy the game. It soon disappeared as they drew closer to the lair of the verbeeg, but perhaps they have not seen the last of that creature.
The lair had four separate entrances, and after some deliberation Haryk decided to sneak in one entrance while the dwarf and the cleric tried the eastern entrance. Haryk soon found the verbeeg who saw the rogue as Haryk tried to go back to inform the others. The battle was vicious – the verbeeg had an ogre companion who rushed to his aid which Thoradaen and Hawlkrin ended up defeating while the verbeeg was killed by a firebolt from Ferus after the giant severely wounded the rogue. Exploring the lair, the group found the mead in a rear cavern and also an ancient burial tomb decorated with carvings of a female chieftain wielding a powerful wand. The party combined their strength to open the tomb, where they found the remains of the chieftain and in her hands a wand and a pearl. The noise of opening and closing the tomb drew the attention of a cave bear, which they dispatched with little trouble.
One more curiosity they discovered involved a statue of Silvanus, a god of nature, in a frozen pool where the bear had denned. The statue radiated magic, and after melting the ice Thoradaen collected some of the water for himself, though out of caution he did not drink it. Deciding a long rest would be best before returning to Good Mead, they gathered around the verbeeg’s bonfire and took their rest, though Haryk was troubled by nightmares the entire night and was not refreshed the next morning.
As they prepared to leave, they heard a calling from outside the lair – another verbeeg, this one female coming to call on the mead thief/murderer (his name being “Duhg”). She attempted to flee at the sight of the armed band, but was quickly subdued by Thoradaen and Talion, who had shape-shifted into a wolf. She proved defiant to the end, and Talion tore her throat out after she lashed out at the dwarf in a suicidal rage, her last words calling the group monsters for what they had done.
The group then departed for Good Mead, where they were thanked for the return of the mead and the end of the verbeeg threat.
