A rich and sonorous rooster crow awakens the crew. The smell of eggs and bacon is overwhelming and the sizzling of the cooking is music to your ears. You find [Mother’s name] busy at work. She is ordering Ada to set the table and Arik to fetch some fresh goat’s milk for the breakfast. [Mother’s name] shares with the group her gratitude and attempts to give them a couple of chickens and a quilt as a reward for their efforts. She confides that since her husband died it’s all she can do to fend for herself and keep the farmstead. She knows little about Goldenshaw and generally keeps out of the town. She knows of a good Inn where one of her cousin “Leanaya” works “The Winders Way”, mention her name and they may get a rate reduction.
[Mother’s name] knows little about the surrounding area except that she knows there’s a port city to the south called New Pippenmount. She has never seen and only slightly heard about the King of Adwellia but knows there are soldiers who are stationed in Goldenshaw. She lives on the land of Lord Jex, who has a manor to the west and contributes a portion of her produce in exchange for the use and protection, she warns the group to not ‘stand out’ so much so as to not draw out the Lord’s militia.

As the group approaches Goldenshaw

…Faint scents of moist earth and horse manure harken your arrival to Goldenshaw. Cresting a low hill the trail winds it’s way through shallow streams towards the town. It is encircled by a 15ft tall palisade and has an obvious large open entrance. There is an armored foot soldier near the entrance, he wears a gleaming white tunic with cerulean markings, one in shape of a diamond. When you approach he explains this is the King’s land and that “Men at arms” are to register officially, which can allow for paid services as the King tames the surrounding lands. Everyone signed in with their ‘real’ names. The guard’s name is Fronan. Above on the palisade, armed with a cross-bow is “Drit” another guard.

Once in town the group proceeds to the temple of Gorhan and meet Calindonadrius. They ask him to please prepare everything they can for their upcoming mission for Gorhan and the Golden Disks.

Later on at the tavern, the group finds out that New Pippenmont, a town on the coast a day or so to the south has seen many more soldiers and that there is talk of a fleet arriving any day now. They both come from a land several weeks to the south overseas called Adweilla. They get the sense that the King of this land is not hostile and in fact there is a sense of understanding and collaboration in this ‘frontier’ land.

The group hurried through the thicket and brush until they uncovered a small stone pyramid with a square top. The symbols of a compass, hammer and chisel arranged in a triangle. They quickly deployed a couple of ropes and Balan followed by Glover dropped down the 65ft+ shaft until they dropped into the main tunnel. They were about to proceed down the tunnel when a great heavy gray mossy carpet landed on top of Balan plunging the hallway into muffled darkness. More help came later and ultimately the creature was incinerated. Balan wiped the acid from his skin with oil but it burned just enough to bring him down. He required a dose of the healing salve to make it back to life (barely.) They quickly found Ada who was hiding in a metal car a few feet down the tunnel. She’s scuffed up but otherwise unharmed thanks to the soft ground directly below the tunnel opening. The group noticed the uncanny workmanship of the surrounding stone tunnel and parallel tracks but decided that they should return the child to its mother and rest up for the night and perhaps come back later.

Your band is finally winding it’s way downward along the rocky trade route descending into the Iri Valley flanked on either side by the tall Eoral Mountain peaks of your home.

It should take 3 or 4 days to reach the small town of Goldenshaw of which you’ve heard is a trade crossroads low in the valley but have never visited, in fact, in two days you will have travelled further than you’ve ever been in your adult life.

On your first day you make careful progress down the steep and treacherous mountain trails but by the end of that day you’ve arrived at a green valley lush with long-leaf pine and before you descend into the tree-line you see it continues for as far as the eye can see. You did not encounter any other travellers.

Day two, your progress is slowed by having to push the pull-carts through several soft and mushy sections especially down the center of the valley where a shallow blue ribbon winds it’s way down the center of the Iri Valley. By the end of the day you reach the eastern side of the valley and proceed through the pines. You notice clouds begin to cover the evening sky and spot shelter near a set of tall boulders which would provide an awning in case of rain. Just before you reach the boulders…

You’re startled as a large snowy-white stag silently leaps onto the road and regards you from a few yards away, it’s as if time stands still for a moment and then it disappears on the other side of the trail.

You all recall there’s an old saying back in Wildhood about a white stag, but sadly you none of you paid enough attention to the elders to remember.

Day three, travel resumes along the piney trail. It is uneventful but the light descends into gray as the sky fills with low hanging clouds. By the late evening the heavens open up with a crack of lightning and a barrage of large cool drops drumming on your heads and push-carts.

You realize you’ll be drenched in a few seconds and then you spot a hearty fire through the trees on the east side of the trail.

Within a magical protective ‘bubble’ you meet Burkhart Ackerman the Mystical. Once he hears about the Sinous Tunnels he proposes a ‘deal’. He is compiling a tome called Florilegium Abominabile a catalog of particularly horrendous creatures containing a complete description of their origin, habits, powers, etc. He asks the group to explore the underground tunnels, reporting on any strange monsters. He provides equipment necessary for them to catalogue the aberrations. Base payment is 250gp per aberration properly described; bodies or significant portions thereof presented to Burkhart are worth twice this amount, and captured living will award 1000gp. He also explains he was moving towards the Great Ravine pursuing rumors that there was a fabled tentacled creature within. He provides a means for communication (Vial of Dust to throw up in the air.)

Fourth day, they begin to see a thinning of the trees and some isolated farm-lands until you encounter the sobbing mother and child on the road…