Unbeknownst to the rest of the adventurers, Jabbles had not slept through the battle. Instead, his aggrieved conscience kept him awake the night of the raid, forcing him to seek counsel.
The goblin sought out the only person who might understand his predicament — Meroggha the goblin. Together with Jango, Jabbles stealthily made his way through the town before the battle and carefully got onboard the trading vessel.
Similarly adapted to the night time, Meroghha met him with a call of, “Hail moon brother. What brings you to our ship tonight?”
Jabbles spilled everything about the political morass the group had found themselves in. He asked Meroggha what he should do in the face of all this trickery that reminded him so much of the halflings he avoids.
“Why are you taking sides in big people’s battles?” Meroggha asks. “They don’t care about you.”
That causes Jabbles to ponder if all big people are just out for themselves. It is a weighty burden for the small goblin, but he reminds himself of Kristov’s character and the trading captain’s. He decides to watch his friends from afar and keep them from going down a dark path.
The next morning, much as Jabari felt more accomplished in arms with his recent kills in combat, Jabbles felt much more comfortable navigating the town without being seen, even while on the back of his wolf.
Finally reunited, the group makes a brief effort to look for Faus but cannot find him before setting off for the hillside’s ruins. Sending Jabbles to scout ahead to avoid any restless dead once they got to the ruins, Kristov and Jabari remain hidden in the brush, silent as the towering stones before them.
Unfortunately, while Jabbles can sneak into the ruins, he accidentally knocks over a cairn of stones, causing dozens of restless dead to rouse and start talking around. Before he slips back to his friends, the goblin discovers that the center stone has a circular hole near the top and an inscription on the sides.
Kristov digs deep into his experience and remembers his skills as an army scout. Using his spyglass, the aged trader reads the inscription and can transcribe it. He realizes that the ruins are a clue to the whereabouts of the crypt the townspeople speak of.
Kristov informs his partners they’ll have to return at midnight with a full moon to find the crypt’s location. Seeing the horde of restless dead ambling, the trio opts to quietly head back to town.
“I bet we can get Yawim to support us in finding the tomb to seek some money,” Kristov says. “He seems like someone who would stake a quest, in return for money and fame.”
The trader believes that Yawim could lend them some warriors to defend against the restless dead at night. His compatriots are not as convinced and are concerned they need to get involved with Pollmer’s plot or run afoul of her.
“Maybe while Yawim is helping us, we can get someone else to burn some boats,” Kristov says. “We can satisfy both and neither at the same time.”
The party debates a series of convoluted plans to satisfy all sides of the conflict, before deciding to turn Mrs. Pollmer into Rust Brother Sturkas’ custody.
Kristov also convinces wolfkin and the goblin that they should seek out Midwife Nirvea’s help with probing the crypt. But while heading toward Yawim’s tavern, the trio is accosted by a strange knight.
Jabari notices that the strange knight is actually a ghoul and a brutish one at that. The knight in full armor peers out with dead eyes in a skeleton face, arrows from an ancient battle puncturing his side. The knight bashes his sword and shield together, challenging the wolfkin to a fight.
As Jabbles draws his bow, Kristov pulls him back. “Stay at the ready,” he says, “But do not involve yourself in a matter of honor. This is for Jabari to resolve.”
The wolfkin grimly looks at the ghoul and utters, “If it eternal slumber you seek, my blade will send you to your doom once more fallen one.”
The knight nods at Jabari as the pair charge toward each other in a clash of arms. Rather than striking out with his weapon, the wolfkin attempts to body slam the knight, mindful of the town’s reverence of the restless dead.
In doing so, Jabari manages to dislodge the arrows. As the knight staggers back, it drops to its knee and looks solemnly at Jabari. The ghoul lays its sword across its shield in defeat but nods with pride toward the wolfkin as it fades into nothingness.
While the trio is astounded by the strange, otherworldly events in the town, most of the villagers are entirely unphased. Only the children seem to find entertainment in the event, and Jabari scares them off with a clash of his sword and shield.
Making their way to the Three Skulls Tavern, the trio is greeted coldly by Yawim. It seems the not-dwarf has grown impatient with the deadlock between him and Pollmer.
He leads them to his beer cellar and asks if they came to a decision. Kristov intimates that they have valuable information for him, but it’s not without cost. After lengthy negotiations between Yawim and Kristov, the old brewmaster finally agrees to not seek the town’s leadership but agrees to a council.
The party informs him of Pollmer’s plot to set fire to his boats and that she plans to do it that night. Yawim urges them to tell this to Rust Brother Sturkas while he gathers his followers to catch the saboteurs in the act.
Kristov convinces him to sacrifice the boats to catch Pollmer red-handed, but the strain of the arguing taxes the old traveler. To cut the tension, Jabari attempts to humorously use his beer flatulence but turns a fart into a shart.
“Yee gads, man,” Yawim says to Kristov. “I like dogs too, but I keep mine outside for this reason. You can’t have them shit everywhere in your house.”
The humor puts Kristov in much better spirits, but Jabari is irritated at humans laughing at him. He stops at the river to clean his pants, throwing the shite away errantly. The poop flies skyward but lands on poor Meroggha’s face. The goblin looks to the moon in the sky as asks the gods why he is cursed.
The boat captain comes on deck at this moment and says, “I’ve heard of a poop deck on bigger ships Meroggha, but this is ridiculous.”
Meanwhile, Kristov and Jabbles return to Pollmer to inform her they won’t be taking part in her schemes.
“We’ve come to an impasse. We have a pressing matter that is dependent on the full moon. However, we will tell you there is a special shipment that is going out from Yawim’s brewery,” Kristov says.
The aged town leader is unable to see through Kristov’s deception and accepts their decision. She even opts to give them back their sapphire and send word to Midwife Nirvea to join them that night.
“It was wrong of me to involve you in our silly politics,” she says. “You all have already done so much to help us. I can ask no more of you. Please just stay away from the river this night.”
Their plot in motion; the adventurers head to Rust Brother Sturkas’ house. Outside, they see the two young bandits working in a stable. The boys are wearing burlap sacks for clothes and have broken rusty manacles on their wrists.
Finding the cleric outside watching the boys, the trio can see the old warrior beaming with pride. That look turns to disappointment when the boys run in fear of Jabari once they spot the wolfkin.
“They’re good boys,” Sturkas says. “But Rust has his work cut out for me to turn them into men.”
Pulling him aside, Kristov informs the Rust Brother of the unrest in town and the plots from both sides. Sturkas agrees to take some men and watch the boats to see what happens. If they see Pollmer’s faction set fire to the boats, he’ll depose her from town leadership and set up a council. However, he gives the trio a warning.
“If I find out that you gave false witness, I’ll be coming for you next,” Sturkas says. Kristov nods in response and urges the cleric to look after the young bandit boys well.
On the way back to the hillside ruins, the trio run into Mick E. Faus, who finally makes an appearance. Though cagey on just what he was up to, it seems the spellcaster is in an excellent mood and brimming with energy.
In actuality, the necromancer had spent much of the day dealing with the dead. Faus had toured the graveyard in the north of the town, and the insights he found there had unlocked new mysteries and powers to him.
Once on the path up the hill, they met Midwife Nirvea as she pierced the silence with her stern voice. The mysterious healer thanked them for including her, as she was eager to see the ruins herself.
Kristov promises to help her turn the ruins into a temple once more after they discover the crypt.
“That would be nice,” Nirvea says, “But that’s only if we survive the night…”
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