The group tears through the remaining ghouls with ease--they are even weaker than the relatively trivial undead the demon kept close to him. They have a few Tritower citizens with them, currently paralyzed, but Ethane determines they will make a full recovery.
Maui steps up to the witch's cottage, and immediately it is apparent something went wrong here well before the appearance of the demon. There seems to have been a fight of some kind, due to the general disarray of objects through the small home. However, three things stand out most. First, there is a chair in the center of the room, and loose rope draped around it. The chair, the rope, and the floor have all be bled upon, heavily. However, the occupant of the chair is no longer present. Second, on a nearby table, a book lies open, and the facing page has an insult, written in blood, overwriting the original text. Finally, there is a notable library on a variety of arcane subjects, including herbalism, magic, religion and extra-planar entities.
A quick examination of the open book reveals it to be the dairy or journal of Ginni Raker, the local witch, midwife, and daughter of the mayor. The entry that was defaced describes how Ginni had come to believe Mindy Wallace was dangerous and was considering taking action to notify the girl's parents of Ginni's various suspicions. However, the journal ends within a day or two of that entry. Paging back, Maui can see a story unfold of how Ginni Raker had befriended Mindy Wallace, due to their common interest in herbalism. At first, she seems happy about having someone she can chat with from time to time, but over time, she starts sensing the child's dark side, beginning with Mindy's undue interest in poisonous plants and herbs. The dairy's words show increasing concern and suspicion that various disturbing events in town were, in fact, Mindy's doing. Eventually, Maui returns to the open page, where Ginni makes the decision she cannot help Mindy herself and needs to inform others of her suspicions.
The library contains a book which shows promise, and Maui is able to use it to help make a potential identification of Xathan. The characteristics of the demon neatly match with a Nabasu, a sort of demon that spawns when someone particularly twisted and evil dies. It devours life force until it is able to finally make the dimensional trip back to the abyss it calls its true home. Notably, it grows more powerful as it drains the life from its victims, and leaves its victims as ghouls.
Outside, Ethane has busied himself with tending to the dead, of which there are many. It is a morbid task, and he does his best to perform rites, casting several spells along the way. He seems to be actively seeking something, or someone, until he finally finds it--several of the dead are clearly followers of Ruvalra, lost in the attempted attack upon the demon's position.
Barlo searches the battlefield and the witch's hut for any sorts of magic. Outside of a couple minor spells inside the building, mostly with the purpose of making life a bit easier, he finds nothing of note or value. However, as he conducts his search, he spies a boy walk into the cottage, pale as if he'd seen a ghost. (They boy seems familiar, and eventually Barlo identifies the child as one of the boys the group met outside the survivor camp.) Seeing Barlo, the boy immediately steps forward, holding out a small bag, virtually begging the bard to take it. Inside is a ring, a strange green prism, a collection of valuable gemstones, and a note. Unfolding the note, it simply says, "Repayment for services rendered. -x"
Because Barlo is currently detecting magic, he can immediately tell the ring and prism are magical, and the gemstones are simply valuable. The boy seems ready to flee the hut, particularly with the disturbing bloody chair scene.
[sblock=Loot]Ring of Protection +3
Pale Green Ioun Stone - +1 attack, saves, ability/skill checks[/sblock]
[sblock=Endscene]If that is everything you're looking for, we can cut to the end with the Tritower Mayor and Cortesian people[/sblock]
[/sblock]
