At the request of Sildar and the Lord’s alliance, Dare travels South to Wurstward in search of information about Freda Drawning. Per the information received, she may have grown up there. Dare arrives in just under a day. Wurstward is a poor village, mostly settled by humans. Dare spends the night at a rundown inn named Werdid’s Place. The next day begins his investigation. He begins with Werdid himself, a blue-scaled dragonborn. Dare hands him the sketch of Freda.

After a solid day of investigation, Dare discovers that Freda’s real name is Dovina Grillard. She grew up poor and remained that way until she married the local farmer who had just inherited his father’s farm and wealth. Unfortunately, her husband died in a tragic accident — having been run over by his horses during a stampede. Dare next checked out the farm. It was in ruins, but he was able to find several notes regarding autopsies of stampede victims. The material seemed to be focused on wound descriptions. Dare ascertains that the farmer’s death wasn’t an accident, that it was only designed to look that way. Happy with what he’s learned, Dare heads back to Phandalin. 

But he doesn’t deliver his news to Sildar. Instead, Dare sticks to the outside of town and sneaks to Freda’s house. She’s surprised to see him and surprised further when he calls her by her real name. She has him sit and spill what he knows. In the end, Dare threatens blackmail. Freda, it seems, is expecting to cash in from her latest husband’s death, and Dare wants a piece. She tells him to come back after sundown to discuss.

Meanwhile, the horses arrive at Phandalin. It’s a welcomed addition. Horses haven’t been in town since they were leant to the adventurers for their trip to Thundertree. Lilvari purchases two — a brown mare for herself and a white and gray spotted one for Annette — the villager who has a taken a liking to her. Annette is surprised and extremely happy. She names the horse “Mist”. Lilvari decides to have a stable built on the Tresender property. Construction has already begun by the time Dare returns. 

Mystic and Mercarri spend their time carousing — both deciding to frequent the market square. They help the poor purchase food and help carry wares to their homes. Mercarri meets a kindly gentleman named Gerbo Fallack and after several days of seeing him at the market discovers that he’s a Neverwinter Guard. He works nights and spends them patrolling the border. 

Dare takes the long way to Tresendar Manor, successfully avoiding anyone who might recognize him. He opens the door to his home and immediatley hears Droop screaming. “Watch Out!” Before Dare can move, a flying cat contraption comes flying towards him at break-neck speed… at least it seems that way. It runs right into Dare, knocking him on his ass and continues down the path towards town.

Droop is beside himself. “Help, please. We must catch Boof before she gets into trouble.” Lilvari, Mystic and Mercarri agree to follow. Though Dare wants to, he cannot be seen by the villagers, not until he deals with Freda later. The party, led by Droop search for the mechanical flying cat. They track it South through Alderleaf Farm then East through the woods South of Tresendar Manor. The woods are quite thick. The last time the party has been here was when they took out the Redbrands, when they traveled through the underground tunnel that led to their lair under Tresendar Manor. This time, the party travels more to the South.

Boof whizzes through the woods, dodging trees and zipping back and forth. Droop and the others are able to trail it. Eventually it starts circling a dead tree. As the others approach, they see this particular tree has a wizened face carved on it. It’s a man’s face. Bald. Empty eyes. It gives them a bad feeling. And rightly so. As Lilvari, Mystic and Mercarri watch Droop trying to regain control of his mechanical cat, they see shadows rush from the base of the tree. Instinctively they all look up to see what had created the shadows, but nothing’s there. Out of the corner of her eye, Lilvari sees these shadows begin to climb up Mystic and Mercarri’s legs. Mystic feels a cold bite of pain envelope her body. Mercarri manages to step back and avoid the attack. It’s then that they discover that the shadows belong to no creatures. The shadows are the creatures themselves. There’s four of them in all and they seem to focus their attention on Mystic and Mercarri — the two purest of the party.

Mercarri casts her shit hammer. Lilvari calls forth Curse Bringer. Mystic summons her moonbeam and Droop lobs fire at the shadows. The fight doesn’t last long. In the end, Mystic’s moonbeam burns away any remnants of the shadows, erasing them from existence. At least that’s what she believes. Once the shadows are dispatched, they take a better look at the tree. Lilvari doesn’t recognize the face carved into the tree, but Droop does. He approaches it cautiously. “This a bad tree,” he says. “Bad, bad, bad. Bad things have happened here.” He looks up to one sturdy branch in particular. An old piece of rope is tied around it. He calls forth Boof, who snatches the rope. It’s so old it turns to dust in its little cat paws. 

“This is Istishia. God of elemental water,” Droop explains. “And god of purification.” I think folks were hanged here in his name. Burn it. Must burn tree to the ground. Otherwise, the shadows will come back.” 

They all nod and step back, letting Droop do the honor. He snaps his fingers and a small spark arcs from a gadget he holds in his hand. The tree immediately catches. They watch it burn to cinders before returning home.

An hour or so goes by. There’s a knock on the door. Droop hurries to answer it. The others hear a shrill scream. It’s followed by Droop’s scream. They hurry out to see a flustered Harbin Wester. Hiding behind him is a girl. She has a fair complexion, long blond hair and striking green eyes. “It’s okay,” Harbin’s telling her. “The goblin’s friendly. He’s one of the good guys.” The girl eventually calms down. Harbin introduces her as his granddaughter, Lillian. He explains that her parents are letting her stay with him while they are away. “Anyway, she wanted to meet you.”

Lillian steps forward. She asks which one is Lilvari. Lilvari offers a small nod. Lillian smiles at her and thanks her for buying the horses. “It was such a nice thing to do, and I’m incredibly grateful.”

“Its the least we could do after yours ran away,” Lilvari says. Lillian’s eyes get teary as she thinks of her old horse, but she offers a smile. “I really appreciate it. And thank you for being here, all of you. My grandpa says that you got rid of the bad guys.”

“Yes,” Harbin agrees. “I want to thank you for that too, from the bottom of my heart. If not for your deeds, Lillian wouldn’t be allowed to visit. Her parents thought the town was too rough and out of control before. I think they were right.” With that, they start to leave. Harbin lets Lillian go on ahead a bit and turns back to Lilvari. 

“I wanted to ask you, would you mind showing Lillian a thing or two about horse riding? I think you’d be an excellent teacher. I’ll tell you what, I’ll even knock off half the cost of the two horses you purchased. What do you say?”

Lilvari agrees. 

After Harbin and Lillian leave, Mystic and Mercarri head to their rooms. Dare fills Lilvari in on what he’s discovered about Freda. Freda, after all, is both their concern and must be dealt with.