Chapter 2: The Skinsaw Murders

Hemlock sighs and nods in response to Urthask's question, "Just tired is all. So much going on these past few months," he assures the half orc, "I'll be fine, though."

"I have Father Zantus and Malik looking into a cure for the ghoul fever," Belor says, and then shrugs, "As far as more people catching the fever, it's hard to say. I was hoping you could head out to the farms Caizarlu mentioned in his notes and take a look around."

With that, you set out from town in the direction of the outlying farms. About an hour out, you see a figure in the distance running in your direction down the road. As he gets closer, you can see he's dressed in the garb of a farmer, though its stained with blood.

The man has a look of pure terror on his face

Until Urthask speaks, it seems the man would have passed right by without even noticing you. When he hears the voice, he staggers and falls flat on his face, "Ahh!" he shouts as he falls.

When he finally gets to his feet, he falls on his bottom as he sees a huge bear just in front of him. Seeing that it's not feral, he takes a deep breath and looks up at your group, "I must get to the sheriff! The dead have begun to walk. They killed everyone!" he says and begins to sob, all of the strength leaving his body.

The man nods, "Thank you, oh thank you!" he says, "I'll go on to talk to the sheriff. We saw them at the Hambley farm. That's where they killed everyone else..." he says, voice beginning to break with terrified sobs.

He also provides you with directions to the farm

You follow the directions that the farmer gave you and arrive at the Hambley farm, passing through paths between the fields, which clearly haven't been tended to in some time.

As you round a curve in the path, you find yourselves facing the farmhouse and the large, L-shaped barn. It is eerily quiet and Arktos crinkles his nose in disgust at something that he can smell. He bares his teeth, clearly sensing a wrongness about the area.

As you approach the barn, you can smell the stench of death coming from within. Once inside the L-shaped structure, you see the partially eaten corpses of both people and animals scattered around the floor. In the center of the barn is a massive stone head, overgrown with moss.