-----"After a couple o' uneventful days passed, we began to cut down trees and lash 'em together with ropes that we twined out o' fibrous plant stalks. Our plan was to make a raft and stock up on enough fish and coconuts to last us til we hit a port. It was then that our real troubles began. One by one the crew started disappearin. Each night, no matter what we did, another body'd go missin. Somethin was there on that island with us. Somethin evil, that preyed on the flesh o' men. And left tracks like these in the sand around our camp. We tried stayin up all night, multiple guards, settin traps out fer the beast, but it was useless. Every mornin another person'd be missin."
-----Obviously shaken, the Dread Pirate continues, "Finally the raft was finished and fully stocked fer the horrible passage back across the Calubrium Sea. And not a moment too soon, fer only Captain Pufflestuff and I were left. I imagine that whatever the beast was, it left me fer last because I was the smallest o' the crew and wouldn't really make a satisfyin meal. And the Dread Pirate Pufflestuff was the fiercest sort ye could imagin, he'd been known to rip his enemies apart limb from limb when the battlerage was upon him. So it came the day that we were goin to leave and Captain Pufflestuff wanted to have one last try to trap and kill the beast that'd massacred and eaten his crew. So he had me hide in this cave and I was to signal him when the beast passed by, so's he could set off a fire trap and burn the monster to death. Anyway, I waited and waited fer the beast, but nothin showed and I was gettin sleepier and sleepier. So I abandoned the cave and started headin down towards the raft, when I heard somethin walkin real stealthy like through the underbrush behind me. Somethin was stalkin me. So I waited til I was near a ridgeline and I made me break fer it. I ran fer all I was worth and I could hear the slaverin jaws o' death snappin behind me as the monster got closer and closer. I knew I couldn't outrun the monster, so I threw meself over the ridge and plummeted over the edge to the reefs and piranhas below. Fortunately, just as I hit the water, a huge wave crashed in and kept me from gettin ripped to tatters on the reefs. It washed me right up onto the beach, nearby the raft. So's I started gettin the raft pushed into the water, when again I heard somethin movin about in the underbrush. So I quickly dragged the raft into the water and leapt aboard. Minutes later, as I was bein swept out to sea, I could just make out some sorta figure runnin down the beach, sometimes on two legs, sometimes on four. But in the dawn's light it was too hazy to make out what it was. I just hope that Captain Pufflestuff managed to somehow get away from it alright."
-----Seth stops playing and stares at the Dread Pirate. Fear can be seen in his face. "Quick we must continue on to Grute immediately. Breakfast will not wait!" With that he carelessly drops his harp in the back of the wagon and reaches over for the reins and attempts to get the wagon moving as fast as possible towards Grute and possible safety.
-----Seth keeps the wagon on the road with the horses moving along at a fast pace. "Sir!" Brandel calls after a few moments, "the horses will not hold out forever at this pace!"
-----The trail road leads a bit to the northeast and then it begins to head directly north where somewhere up ahead lies the village. To the east can be seen open plains and the other road leading straight south probably toward the village of Nox.
-----A wooded hill is revealed to the west at a distance of about two miles. A slender stone structure seems to rise just above the trees there.
-----Suddenly along the road, two slender poles are seen. As Seth urges the horses on, everyone can see that the two poles are spears with their tips planted in the ground. Shockingly, each spear is topped with the head of a large humanoid.
-----The heads feature thick coarse dark hair with large wedge shaped ears. A few carrion birds scatter as the wagon approaches. Albert squawks as he flutters his wings.
-----"Bugbears!" Brandel says as they approach. The young mercenary turns toward Runik and says, "but what could they have met up with that would do this?"
-----The dwarf responds with a frown and a shrug as he begins looking across the countryside.
-----Seth ignores Brandel's request, but on seeing the spears and the heads, Seth pulls up the team and watches the heads, the tendrils swinging in the wind. He waits until the others arrive and after hearing that he is looking at the head of a bugbear, he ventures, "Maybe the town's people did away with them, and this is a warning to other bugbears not to come to town for breakfast?"
-----The Dread Pirate face grows even grimmer as he looks at the enormous sized heads of the bugbears, "Aye, a fearsome beast it was that managed to rip the heads off of those bugbears. I think an ogre would be hard pressed to do such. I don't think the local townsfolk would do such a thing."
-----Seth's worried look grows more worried when Dread suggests that the town's people would not have set up this grim totemistic display.