Closure

In the coming days, our heroes find the people of Hackelsburg have been gathered up from their farm homes, and taken to the village's central area. A horrific sight lays before their eyes, as they realize that any woman of proper age was being raped as part of the gnoll's vile rituals of Lamashtu. They also found that among the captures was Lorelli, the Goodly Gingerbread Witch, and Father Hayshin, the leader of the Jaidites. Lorelli, emaciated and dehydrated, appeared to have been prisoner of the gnolls for quite some time, resolving the mystery as to her whereabouts.

Making clever use of their small, but potent magical arsenal, and with help from the Pan family and their Angel Falls allies, the heroes were able to rain chaos among the gnolls, using the mysterious gunpowder to kill and scatter the tribe from the village proper. Fighting through some of the stronger willed gnolls who held their ground, the heroes found themselves fighting the tribe's champion, Zhyzhak - an ogre sized female gnoll, her belly monstrously swollen with Lamashian horrors, no doubt. Much to their surprise, Zhyzhak wore upon her neck the Stinkstone, the greenish stone once worn by the troglodyte shaman slain at the lumbermill, and then again by the worg known as Bitter-Heart, before being left in the safe care of the Angel Fall's alchemist, Kriter Del Monte.

 Slaying the champion and coming within a hair's reach of death, the rest of the gnolls scattered, leaving behind Hackelsburg.

The PCs free the surviving townsfolk, with the aid of Lorelli and Father Hayshin, they send word to Angel Falls, who waste no time in dispatching a large militia force. In a week, the heroes lead the militia forces into securing all the farms, killing any remaining gnolls in the region.

Lorelli reveals the reason for her disappearance - how her investigation into the tatzylwyrm's cantankerous behavior revealed that ancient monsters put into slumber centuries ago by the elves of the region were being stirred awake by a cult of Lamashtu. Lorelli was ambushed, and taken captive, by humans, no less, and subsequently turned over to the gnolls, who planned to feed her to Zhyzhack's children in a dark ritual, and thus kept alive for these many months. Lorelli cannot identify or describe her captives - but she did surmise that they were reawakening fearsome beasts of legend, who were then being moved to unknown locations for unknown purposes.

The Hackelsburg citizens face a terrible reality - and with the help of the Angel Fall's alchemists, their women purge themselves of the terrible reminders left within them by the gnoll raiders. So distraught are they by the tragedy, that they agree to the hero's suggestions, and abandon their city to move to Angel Falls for protection.

After investigating the situation of the return of the Stinkstone, information is garnered that while the PCs were exploring the Underdark, the distant neighbor city of Nellhold had sent representatives, new representatives, to Angel Falls, and part of their trip included visiting the Alchemy shop. It is discussed with the town's top officials and the heroes, that Nellhold should be checked out, with the PCs and some extra muscle being sent, also as "diplomatic envoys". The heroes enlist the aid of, unsurprisingly, Patyr, Lady Persica, Wallace the Willful, and Antwon Underfoot ti accompany them, and watch their backs.

The heroes find that Wallace the Willful once attempted to settle in Nellhold not that long ago, but found himself very unwelcomed, and that his gut-feeling told him that something unnatural was about the people of that city. At the time he wrote it off as him being unaccustomed to "civilization", but that looking back on it, he thinks there may have been something terribly wrong with the people of that town.

The heroes spend some time among Nellhold, which is a dour and unfriendly place, and their entire visit feels somehow staged. Very few of the town's folk speak with them, and those that do seem as if they are rehearsing a script. The heroes manage to trick their assigned attache, and speak frankly with some of the town's folk who, although tight lipped, reveal that their is something going on with many of the town's folk, who have been acting very weird - friend's no longer talk with each other, some of them develop strange habits such as giving up bathing, and some have even been seeing eating their meat raw.

On their second night, while the PCs rest, their living quarters are assaulted by a massive beast, a strange purple cat-like creature with half a dozen whipping tentacles from it's back, the creature seeming to phase in and out of reality tears into their midst, giving the heroes one of their most dangerous fights ever, bringing them to the brink of death, the creature nearly impervious to many of their attacks. They manage to wound it, driving it off, only to be assaulted by unseen assailants in the night, firing arrows at them. The heroes flee into the village, and are pulled into a home by an old woman, one of the village's midwifes, who reveals all she has learned - that many, many, many of the people of Nellhold have turned to worshipping Lamshtu, and that many of their women are birthing all manner of monstrosities, and that two unknown men have taken control of the town's governor, and have orchestrated an alliance with the gnolls. She helps the heroes escape the town, and as they run off into the night, they can hear the sound of the old woman being savagely murdered.


In the coming weeks, the heroes have to fend off attacks by several immense, powerful creatures that seem to probe at the defenses of Angel Falls - creatures immune to non-magical attacks, fiercely intelligent, cunning and very bloodthirsty. Combined with the winter weather and food shortage, they find the city effectively under siege.

The PCs find gnolls amassing for a raid on their home, and launch a brilliant attack, decimating the gnoll tribe almost entirely, only to learn that the gnoll's were only 1/2 the attack - and that they were working in conjuncture with Nellhold to overrun Angel Falls. Fleeing back to their homes, they find the walls of Angel Falls under attack by all manner of wild beasts and feral creatures - bears, wolves and worgs, warped stags, venomous snakes, and angry birds all assault the city, along with several of the legendary beasts, and armed, savage humans, seemingly immune to the cold weather. The heroes fight off the horde of animals and feral people, giving the citizens of Angel Falls a chance to regroup, and strike back. The heroes become the fulcrum for a counter attack, but find themselves cut off from their allies as they overstretch - the fight on, discovering the leaders of the cult and organizes of the attack - a Lamshaian Druid and his Shifter guardian, two people not quite human, not quite beast, but some strange race that lies between the two. The PCs bring forth all of their magical might against the two - only to find that it isn't enough. Defeated by the two who possess a sort of strength unlike anything ever before seen, the pair send the heroes to an icy death in the Ustradi River, it's waters freezing cold. When submerged, the heroes senses are shocked to their core, by a strangely melodic and soothing voice that urges them back to the realm of the living, and infuses their being. The heroes undergo a transformation in the life-giving waters of the Ustradi, as new and mythical powers awaken. The crawl out of the river, cold, but not frigid, their bodies renewed. An epic battle happens from their, the heroes unleashing a tidal wave of raw power on the druid and shifter who fall beneath the onslaught, with the heroes absorbing their power into themselves, becoming even mightier. The PCs drive back the Lamshtu cult.

In the coming weeks, the PCs work with the untainted citizens of Nellhold, snuffing out all traces and followers of the cult.They learn that the cult had information that an attack on the region was imminent from Geb - the druid and shifter overmasters sought to ally with gnolls, and build a vast army of beasts, monsters, and abominations to combat the undead hordes with, and that Angel Falls was seen as a great source of potential breeding stock.  Worst of all, it seems that the attack was credible, and pending in the next few years. Geb would reclaim it's lost citizens and add them back to their undead empire.

The heroes, having unlocked great new powers, seemingly from the Ustradi River, begin to seek out answers. Exploring the properties of the water, they dabble in planar magic, seeking answers from outsiders. In doing so, they alert a powerful outsider, a fossergrim, an evil extraplanar fey who delights in corrupting water, and the master of Salveela, the selkie who was sent to poison the Ustradi, and made caused so many to be come sick and so many crops to be lost. Reminded of the Ustradi, the fossergrim comes to the material plane, recovers the poisonous statue carelessly left behind by the PCs, and set's it up at the base of Angel Falls, again poisoning the water supply and destroying the crops for the 2nd year.

The PCs fight upstream, facing even more challenging foes. At the mighty waterfall itself, they find that the fossergrim uncovered a secret of angel falls - that the water itself is watched over and blessed by a literal angel, who the fossergrim has weakened and taken prisoner for his own sick amusement and corruption. The PCs fight the fossergrim in the slick cavernous area behind the waterfall, and manage to defeat, and trap him, giving them a secure way to make sure he is never an issue again. They rescue the angel, who reveals to them the truth of Angel Falls, the Ustradi River, and a secret weapon to defeating the impending Gebbian army, and secure the entire region...