Chapter 2: Our Dad is on a Hunting Trip...

The head on the left looks thoughtful at this, prompting the one on the right to look at it in annoyance. The right arm raises up and slaps the back of the left head, "Don't even think about it!" it growls.

After glaring at each other for a few moments, they turn to look at you and shake their heads.

Maybe we can get something else's head?

"Hey giant, you see anything else going on strange around here? Somebody's sucking out hearts and blood and pinning the blame on you!"

"Umm... We seen some animals around dat been dead," the giant says, "Dat what you mean? Dey was like skellytuns."

"Good, that's a start," says Krogir-Vaam. "About where's you seen 'em?"

"And what's yer name? I'm Seraphina!" She waves in case he can't see her.

The left head says, "My name is Gob!" at the same time the right head says, "My name is Bog!

The heads look at each other, "Dey was over here!" it says, standing up, apparently over the fact that a fully-grown tree fell on its head.

After about 20 minutes of walking, you come across a withered husk of a deer.

"Weird," says Krogir-Vaam, kneeling at the carcass to poke at it with his handaxe.

Seraphina will check for tracks and other signs of where the culprit went.

Feldty kneels down to inspect the deer, trying to remember any magical studies that would give a clue as to why it looks this way.

As KV pokes at the corpse, he sees that it's been pretty well drained of all of its fluids.

Seraphina spots some large cat-like tracks in the area, clearly tipped with large claws.

Feldty can't seem to think of anything that might be capable of doing something like this.

I daresay I've never seen anything that would do this, in anything I've ever read. That said, it certainly seems more delicate than this creature we were sent to find seems capable of, yes?

"But, how does it get dried-up like that?" Krogir-Vaam says, pointing to the carcass. "There even a knife cut for the heart or something?"

With the way the deer is laying, you can't see a hole, but when you inspect it closer, there's clearly a hole about 3 inches in diameter in the center of its chest. It looks like something was jammed into its chest and was used to suck it dry.

Krogir-Vaam gasps, "It's like a big-tooth vampire... with only one tooth!" Looking up at the ettin, he asks, "None of ya have any teeth like that, right?"

The giant opens its mouths and shows its teeth, none of which match the wounds in the deer.

"So, now what?" says Krogir-Vaam to the audience in general. "We got a yellow-bellied deersucker running around here somewhere."

Seraphina also opens her mouth to demonstrate it couldn't have been her. Satisfied that she beyond suspicion, she muses out loud. "Well, these tracks might belong to the deersucker! Cat-like. Cats have more than one tooth though. Still, it's worth checking out."

The goliath looks up at the ettin. "You seen a cat with one giant sucky-tooth?"

What a droll creature! A cat with one giant sucking tooth? What kind of demented wizard is responsible for that atrocity!? Feldty says, cursing in his head at the hubris of his own colleagues, unknown though they may be.

The giant shakes their heads, "Nope," it says, "Not us. Sounds scary!"