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Note: This adventure is an abbreviated version of “Forest of Blood”, by Wil Upchurch, as published in "Dungeon Magazine" #103, October, 2003, pages 40-58.

20 July 1111

The party has made the long trek to Berlingford to visit their famous “Summer Faire”. Ketamine and Ash remain at home because of prior obligations (or lack of interest).

While browsing the booths and seeing the sights, though, a pack of four Feral Large Wolves crash the party – forcing our heroes to act. When they defeat the wolves, the proprieter of the Boar's Head Inn, a man named Baeran, invites them to stay at his place free of charge for the duration of the faire. The party accepts and, after browsing the faire for a couple more hours, retires to the Inn.

During the course of the day, Freyrik heard rumors that several local “women of ill repute” had been brutally murdered. In an effort to gather more information, he begins asking around the Inn while Allie uses Merthúvial to scan the thoughts of the people being questioned.

In the course of this investigation, they determine that while a couple of women are not working the streets as they normally do, there is no reeal evidence of any murders.

More interestingly, they learn that a local wood carver named Charne has apparently used a magical charm on a local woman, a buxom blonde named Shella who appears to be an acolyte to Freya. When confronted, he opts to leave the Inn, accompanied by a second woman, a fiery redhead named Lucinda (an off-duty barmaid from the Boar's Head – who seems to moonlight as a prostitute).

Without any real evidence, though, and absent a physical crime, the party reluctantly lets them leave.

As the evening progresses, the party relaxes and enjoys the hospitality. Allie and Heilli join the bards for an impromptu jam session, while Yosi enjoys the free drinks a little too much.

About an hour after leaving, the barmaid Lucinda returns in a panic, her dress torn, and her face spattered with dirt and blood. Allie rushes to find out what happened and learns that the three were ambushed by bandits on their way to Charne's house. Lucinda managed to escape after she bit the hand of one of the thugs.

With Yosi in no shape to offer assistance, the remaining four leave him at the Inn and head off to investigate Lucinda's story. They find Charne, alone, in his house – nursing a black eye. Shella, he says, was abducted by a group of bandits.

The party forms up to track the bandits, but finds more than expected when a group of six men attempt to ambush them outside Charne's house. The combat, though, is short and sweet and ends up with three men in custody and three fled. One of the prisoners, a man named Lars, is encouraged to lead them to where the bandits are holed up – a cabin by the river.

On the way, the party finds a badly wounded bandit holding a magical collar. They tend to his wounds, but leave him and proceed. Shortly thereafter, they meet an Awakened Wolf named Felinal – who (after a tense stand-off with Freyrik) tells them that the bandits are using magical collars to control the wolves in the area. Several of his “brothers” have been taken by the bandits – led by a man who can apparently change shape into a Boar.

Felinal leads them to the edge of the clearing containing the bandit's cabin, but is reluctant to go any farther. The party approaches the rest of the way as stealthily as possible, but still attracts attention from the bandits inside. Two bandits rush from the front door, while a third begins firing arrows from a window, and two more use a secret tunnel to approach the party from behind. When the battle begins going against the bandits, their leader emerges in Boar form to attack. While non-silvered weapons do little damage, the party eventually brings the beast-man down - where he reverts back to human form in death.

Inside, the party finds Shella mostly unharmed in the basement, along with a pit filled with imprisoned wolves. They also find some treasure the bandits had acquired and a note from a man named “Kazok” regarding payment for the abduction of Shella.

21 July 1111

The next morning, the party reports their adventure to the authorities. With Baeran's corroboration, Mayor Garrick Delros offers them a 500 gp reward and agrees to buy the bandit's non-magical loot for the slightly inflated price of 1,100 gp.

Later, after sleeping in well past the others, Yosi awakes to find the rest of the party has already left the Inn. As he stumbles out into the street, his eye catches a large, dark shape rising from the nearby forest. It is a long, gray-brown winged beast with a man riding it! While the creature and its rider were too far to see any details, this does not prevent Yosi from adding some of his own. For the remainder of his days at the faire, he tells stories of a “dragon” varying in size from 30 to 100 feet long, sometimes snorting fire as it rose from the forest.

Despite Yosi's exciting story, no other people seem to have noticed the “dragon” – although in his defense, the sighting occurred on the edge of town, far away from the bustle of the faire.

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