Dare slaps Katherine across the face to wake her. The first thing she does is let out a blood-curdling scream. She holds her arms in front of her, eyes wide, as she realizes there’s nothing at the end of them but bloody stumps.  Because her tongue had been cut out, the words that follow have a choked, wet sound. Blood pools in her mouth. It runs over her lips as she regards her captors in anger, pain and malice.

Dare questions her about his sister, adding that if she doesn’t answer, he’ll make sure she suffers. Nazzeth telepathically reports Katherine’s responses. No matter what threat of violence or torture is made, it seems, Katherine tries her hardest to keep her gaze level. “Seeing you suffer is worth any amount of pain you can dish out. You might as well kill me because I will never help you find Tem Tem.”

Despite her words, Nazzeth catches a hint of fear. He telepathically informs Dare of this. Dare keeps this in mind as he continues his interrogation.

Katherine tells him that his sister is a hag, like her, and that she spends her days hunting children and ruining lives. “And you must live the rest of your life knowing this.” Her mouth curls into a smile. Dare has had enough.

He asks for a dagger, which Ultorin quickly provides. He then proceeds to slice off Katherine’s lower lip — slowly. She screeches in pain. Ultorin slaps her upside the head with her own severed hand just as Dare tears the last bit of her lip free.  Blood pours down her chin. She looks up at the group defiantly. She’s still not telling Dare how to find his sister — that is, until he picks her up over his  head and smashes her body over a nearby rock. Finally, she relents.

“You must first kill the vessel,” she tells him. “It’s nothing but evil. You must also recover what remains of the pure and good. Once you do both, they can be stitched together to re-form your sister.”

When he asks how to find her, Katherine says both parts are in a different planes of existence. “Because of what you did to me, I cannot shift you where you must go. Others may be able. Find the Vistani. Bands of them can be found here and there, wandering the countryside.”

At the mention of the Vistani, Lilvari feels a prickle on the back of her neck. It’s almost as if her patron is excited for this new ‘opportunity’.

As promised, Dare ends her suffering. He plunges the dagger through her head. Katherine is no more. The party plans on bringing the head back to Helmshold as proof of the hag’s existence. After slicing through neck and bone, Dare wipes the blade clean and hands it back to Ultorin. Nazzeth uses his Mage Hand to carry the hag’s head by its hair. Lilvari and the others investigate the gnomes. She wants to bring at least one of the gnome’s iron boots to Droop, but it doesn’t seem as if there’s a way to remove them. The group decides to cut them off instead. They’re amazed to see that the boots are actually a part of the gnomes. While Lilvari throws two in the haversack, Nazzeth casts an illusion to make the hag’s head appear as it’s talking. Dare gives a laugh. The others seem mortified. 

The party heads in the direction of Helmshold — a journey that is no more than an hour East. Before they can get to far, they hear the flapping of large wings above. They look up. Heading towards them, about one hundred feet in the sky, is a dragon.  They freeze as its massive body glides through the air. The sun has begun to set, and in the faint light its hard to make out much more than its black shape, but the party is quite sure it’s the young green dragon from Thundertree. Luckily it continues on it path without noticing them. 

They reach the Durger’s a short time later. Their home seems to be completely dark. Ultorin and Nazzeth go nearer to make sure things are alright, and as they do Nazzeth changes the illusion on the hag’s decapitated head once again. Suddenly its eyes light up, casting blinding beams outward like two torches. The light from the hag’s eyes lands on the Durger’s front door. Ultorin sees a note affixed there. He pulls it free and reads it.

“Warning,” it says in a scribbled hand, “per a group of adventurers known as Team Ramrod, there’s danger to the West. We went to Helmshold to enlist additional aid from the guard. Staying at the Hungry Flame until the danger has passed.”

It’s signed, “Henry”.

Moments later, they see torchlight in the distance from what seems to be a  dozen torches. As they near, the party realizes it belongs to the guards. After meeting up and explaining the situation, the guards escort them back to Helmshold to the Town Hall. Inside is where they meet Chief Speaker Amaradine Wanderfoot, a blond-haired female halfling and Lawmaster Reagan Kolpepper, a black haired female dwarf. The Chief Speaker is grateful for what the adventurers have done. She also uses it as an opportunity to make a dig at The Order of the Guilded Eye. “Maybe you should go back to the Holy Watcher and ask him how he failed to foresee this one,” she tells the guards. They mumble something under their breaths as they head out.

Chief Speaker Wanderfoot gives Team Ramrod a reward of 700 gold pieces and tells tells them that their rooms and meals at The Venturers Inn will be taken care of. Lilvari, noticing that the Chief Speaker has a pin signifying that she’s a member of the Harpers, shows her an identical pin. “And if you need my services,” Lilvari says, “all  you need to do is ask.”

The Chief Speaker nods knowingly and says, “I think there’s one more thing I can do for you. No longer are you a Watcher,” she tells LIlvari. “Now you’re a Harpshadow.” 

With that, she dismisses them. 

Team Ramrod then splits up. Lilvari heads back to Venturers Tavern to check on Droop, while Nazzeth decides to visit the library at Helms Cathedral in an effort to find out more about the heartstone he took from the hag’s lair. The others go to the Dirty Dwarf Tavern to find information regarding the note Halia sent (and to maybe take part in any drinking contests that may be going on).

The Dirty Dwarf is busy, and quite a few patrons are standing near the one side, blocking the view of what is happening beyond. Every so often, cheers and cries of excitement are heard from that direction. Ultorin, Dare and the others head over to the bar and order drinks. There’s a sign above the bar that says, “Dirty Dwarf Cups Contest — every 9th day at 8pm. Current Champions: The Piss Buckets”. Unfortunately the 9th is nearly a tenday away. 

Lilvari, after promising to bring Droop bacon upon her return, enters the tavern a short time later. There are two barmaids serving drinks and food —  one a female drow, the other a female human. She grabs the closest one – the human. She shows the barmaid the drug they took from a thief several nights ago. “Do you know what this is?”

The barmaid flinches and tries to pull away. “I don’t want any of that shit.”

“You misunderstand,” Lilvari says. “My friend has an addiction to this stuff, and I’m looking for more information about it.”

The barmaid calms a little. “That’s The Sight,” she says, giving the small pouch a pensive gaze. “It ruins lives. It’s a plague in the city.” She doesn’t know much else, only that if Lilvari is caught with the drug, she’ll be in big trouble. “As where to find more information about it,” she says, “Just look around. There are dealers all over the place.”

Lilvari, before meeting the others at the bar, heads over to the commotion near the back. She pushes through the crowd to see two men sitting at opposite sides of a small table. They’re arm wrestling. Bets are being made as these two go at it. The larger of the two men wins and shouts out to the crowd. “I thought this was supposed to be a tough-man’s bar! You all are weak!”

Dare overhears and makes his way over. He can’t resist. He takes a seat across from the competition – a burly human with a purple mohawk. They stare into each other’s eyes as they’re given a three count. At first, it seems as if the arm wrestling match can go either way. Both Dare and his opponent have moments where they’re dominating the match, but then, there’s a flicker in Dare’s eyes. Maybe he’s thinking about what happened to his sister. Maybe the whiskey has worn off enough to offer him a sense of clarity. Whatever the reason, Dare finds the strength to not only win, but to win with impunity. With a roar, he slams his opponents hand into the table so hard that he feels the man’s knuckles break. The man screams out in pain. Dare rises, victorious. There are both cheers and groans as money exchanges hands. When Dare asks if anyone else wants a go, no one replies. Instead, they all head back to their seats and back to their drinks. 

Meanwhile, Nazzeth is enroute to Helm’s Cathedral. The temple is massive and lit up like a candle, so he has no trouble finding the way. Only, as he gets within a few blocks, a scuffle breaks out several yards in front of him. Two humans. One pushes the other to the ground. When that one rises, he’s got a dagger and looks to use it. He rushes at the other man. Annoyance gets the better of Nazzeth. He raises his arms and sends a breath of cold air over the two. The man with the dagger manages to dodge it, but the spell hits the other head on. He drops to the ground just as a guard comes around the corner. The guard immediately pulls out his mace.

“Stop right there,” he says. Nazzeth complies, as does the man with the dagger.  The guard then kneels down to the man Nazzeth hit with the spell and checks for a pulse. There’s none. “You killed him,” the guard says to Nazzeth. Nazzeth protests, but the guard is having none of it. He blows his whistle, and several other guards appear a few moments later.

Nazzeth casts another spell, this time pulling the downed commoner back from the brink of death. “Check him again,” he tells the guard. The guard does and seems relieved to find a heartbeat.

Nonetheless, he tells Nazzeth that this has to be reported. He demands that Nazzeth and the two others come along to the Town Hall. Surrounded by guards, all brandishing their weapons, it looks like Nazzeth has little choice.