1 - The missing villagers of Tar

The village of Tar is no spectacular thing. It sits comfortably on the Goddess Tears River with nice little stone-and-wood houses, a small bridge, a three rooms inn for traveling messengers and barely sixty souls.There is nothing but rocky cliffs in sight to the east and lifeless expenses to the west. It takes half a day to walk up the valley and then you can see it: the Spinecord Mountain Range, so massive that no one would even try to go over it. Stories from the old times talk about dwarven cities that carved the mountains to find and exploit ore veins that only them knew how to find. But those are stories, and no one alive have seen or heard of such cities being anything else than folktales: the region is poor and lives from stone cutting used to build marvelous places that none of them will ever see. And that’s fine. At least, they have the peace and calm of almost untamed nature.



Some of you probably know this peaceful village because it is the only civilized place within a few days, so most companies that come that far east come to restock here. But three days ago, a messenger from Tar arrived. He was exhausted, clinging onto his donkey to pass a capital information : Tar has been attacked.
Something happened as the sun was barely set and daylight fell. People were attacked in their house and taken. Eight of them were missing, five kids and three adults. The only person who saw and chased the raiders was killed, and his last words were: "Walking nightmares… Find them before they settle... this land is doomed if they do."
Two houses were attacked, the doors busted outward, every human taken and the only tamed wolf had his head… well, teared off or devoured. Whatever. The screams woke the neighbours that searched in the dark to discover the agonizing man.
He had three deep wounds that looked like they had been caused by some kind of war pike: straight, deep, not too large and "clean" cuts. He also had one of its legs broken. The poor man bled out alone in the night with his wife and two kids taken by who knows what…
A messenger was sent right immediately to go find the Oak Shield, and he stumbled on you after four days in the Sion Fields where your company had been deployed for a the upcoming month to guard the border of the realm.

Your squad was sent north to investigate the events. As you arrived in Tar, the Old Lady informed you that they had hired some adventurers to follow whatever lead was left, discover the raiders hideout and bring the captured people home. The group left five days ago, Tar never heard of them since their departure. "They looked like rookies, though, if you want my opinion" commented the elder woman.

Luis nodded along to the conversation. "Indeed, if no one around saw what happened, then we must look for any sort of tracks or clues that may have been left behind. Hopefully, it has been left undisturbed. I don't think I'll be able to sense anything strong after so much time has passed, but you never know. And there's always the old-fashioned method of turning over rocks."

Luis strode over to the house, and appraised the outside of it. He was hoping to find some signs of intrusion, or any sort of information about its condition.

The houses of Tar are simple but sturdy. The walls are made of two layers of play wood with straw in between. The roofs are either made of wood planks too or more traditional thatch roofs. Despite its small size, that village must have some very decent carpenters to build such houses to everyone. It gives style to the village, enough to make it the lovely hidden gem it is.

The house of the village's ranger, Jahmun, is one of those built with the traditional thatch roof. "It keeps you warmer when the cold comes. I've kept that too for my own house: their modern coverings may offer better protection against wind and rains, but I'd rather have a drop of water in a warm room than the opposite, comments the Old Lady.
As you investigate the house in search for clues, your officer is the one to notice it. Staws on the floor inside the house make you look for some disruption in the roof, something you find upon closer observation. Some ropes have been cut -very clear cuts- and packs of thatch moved then put back to their original position, but they are somewhat ill-positioned.
Malchuck then discovers small pointy tracks on the ground. Very unusual ones, from a creature he's never met. Or probably several of them. It's actually hard to tell, there's been a lot of passing in the house since the events.

The Old Lady of Tar accompanied you to Jahmun's house, but is waiting outside, sit on a bench while attending to her own tasks and obligations.

Upon closer inspection, Malchuck can see three very different sets of tracks. If you only count non-human tracks.
The more obvious ones, who caught his eyes first, were made by pointy... ends. Objects. Legs! It was made by creatures that had some kind of pointy legs with no hand or foot at the end of it. Some kind of... well, very much like a giant insect of some sort, actually. Which also explains the fresh scratches that he observed somewhere else but couldn't link to the events.
The second ones are much harder to see, and if he hadn't been taking a very close look at the first ones he would have, like everyone else, missed them. They were made by an humanoid being, probably five feet tall with claws to his feet but light or agile enough to not let them leave deep marks in the floor.
And you only know one thing about the third one is that they look like fingers of an open hand. Not the tracks of the whole hand, just the tip of the fingers. What kind of strange creature would move on the tip of its fingers?

Young man, she says with the warm smile you'd give to a child that asked a stupid but legitimate question I think you've misunderstood how the scene played out.
Her smile fades away as she gathers the memories of the events to describe them, once again, to those she puts her hopes into.
The sun was setting on the Spinecord Mountain Range, seven dreadful nights ago. As usual, people go home and close doors and windows when the night comes. Not hat this is a dangerous place to live in, but we are away from civilization and wild things can lurk in the dark of the night. As my father used to say: "We don't have the luxury to be astronomers, up here. Live under the sun, and let the moon and stars attend to their own business.
Anyway, as people were safe home, we heard cries in the still clear night. People were being attacked. Jahmun, who is responsible for keeping the village safe day and night, was on the site before we could even unbar our doors. The first house that got attacked was his own, and his wife and two kids were being taken under his eyes. He fought for their lives, and chased the intruders in the night. Of course he did, even if going after them was a certain death... She pauses for a second, showing very genuine sadness for those of them who were lost in the darkness of that cursed night.
At the same moment, another group of attackers was attacking my dear Romulan's house. They had a tamed wolf called Joshua, an amazing beast I must say, but the creature was found lying on the floor with his head missing...

... We lost nine people that night. One have been buried already, but the others are still missing and our hopes to find them alive are... thinning out.

We've sent a messenger (the one that found you) seek help as soon as the sun rose and recruited some adventurers with the promise to give them the little we possess. They departed from the village through the north-west road and were heading north, I believe, when they left it for smaller paths.