Being treated to a banquet in their honor, having thus solved the case of The Murder of Jose Sujeira, rather than sit in the spotlight or get to know some of the inhabitants of the village, the group decided to slip out to investigate some loose ends; primarily, the disappearance of Vicente Anbrosio, who vanished from the cell he was locked in.

Searching his home didn't yield any physical evidence, but the place had clearly been ransacked; Svorcra was able to deduce that three sizeable people had been there recently searching for something. By following their footprints, the group was able to track them to the dark alley near the Mayor's estate, where the trail diverged.

The clearest set of prints lead out of town and into the outlands, towards the village of Aldeia de Espiga, where Irmã Tempestade had warned them that an ill-wind was blowing. As they ventured into the woods they found the discarded clothes of a village guard, the same they last saw Vicente wearing. Errnie and Kadav befriended a hungry pack of wolves who lead them to a cave - inside, Vicente was being confronted by three large monstrous creatures.

Pip Vellum

The cave hid more than just a clandestine meeting of elite members of The Mycelial Thread; a halfling farmer from nearby Aldeia de Espiga named Pip Vellum had sought shelter in the cave for the night, only to find a group of strange beings enter shortly thereafter.

Hiding behind a stalagmite, he was able to overhear the conversation between the group. The man, Vicente - former deputy of Aldeia de Raiz - arrived last and bowed to the three mycelial beings, calling them The Emissaries of the Thread; specifically naming them Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

Vicente begged the Emissaries for forgiveness for his failures, and begged them to arrange a meeting with someone named Nebuchadrezzar. The leader, Shadrach, admonished Vicente and informed him that his life in Raiz was over; that he could never return. He was instructed to return home to Espiga, keep his head down and await further instructions.

This shadowy gathering was interrupted when the adventurers stumbled into the cave. Unafraid of the supernatural beasts, they clashed head on with the Emissaries, dispatching both Meshach and Abednego - though the leader, Shadrach, escaped early in the encounter. Elgor pinned Vicente to the ground with his immovable rod while the group swept up the mushroom men.

After the combat Pip introduced himself and explained the plight of his hometown. Not only were the crops being decimated by a supernatural blight, but the population of the village was slowly vanishing as a strange cult was rising in worship of a corrupted bird named Pica Pau. As he was on his way to Raiz to seek help, the group told him it would be a waste of time, as they would just be put in charge of the investigation anyways, and agreed to cut out the middle man. Together they navigated The Outlands en route to Espiga.

The Siege of the Crow's Head

Having arrived on the outskirts of the village, the group stopped at Cabeca de Corvo, the village inn - owned by the Família do Corvinho. The manager, Tristan Corvinho, an old friend of Pip's, welcomed the group with kind and open arms. Though he informed them that he intended to leave the village that night with his sister Graça, he invited the strangers to stay in the inn as long as they needed, though he strongly suggested they should flee as well.

The night was a chaotic cascade of surreal events. Morga followed a faun named Veada into the dark and dangerous woods alone, only to gamble with a couple strange monks at the crossroads. The faun begged him to clear the nearby cave of the brutal wolves who have recently allied themselves with a weredog. Back at the tavern, Kadav played renditions of his popular song "Bring Back Jasper" on the piano for hours.

Ernie and Kadav noticed a few strange creatures outside and, instead of hiding from them, they banged out pop hits and made faces at them from the window. After they left, the two put up a sign directing people to the open door. This door would later be used when the strange creatures returned with reinforcements, entering the inn and immediately knocking a couple members of the party unconscious. They appeared to be after Vicente, who was still bound and captive by the group.

Though the battle was bloody and hard fought, by the time dawn was beginning to crack, they finally vanquished the Gourdhead Manherd, successfully reclaiming their captive. It wasn't until dawn that Pip realized that, while Graça had left alone in the night, there was no sign of Tristan - though a thorough search of the office unveiled a secret door with a strange locking mechanism.

Fire at the Granary

Having finally rested after the siege, the crew was then tested when they found the village granary in flames. The symbol of Aldeia de Espiga's transcendence from serfdom to the free and humble village it once was, Pip immediately realized that without the mill, there would be no salvation for his hometown. Luckily, the rest of the group took little convincing before they sprung into action.

On the ground floor, an older woman was cornered by two Sweepers, though they were easily dispatched in the burning room. The woman begged the adventurers to save the others who went upstairs to attempt to put out the blaze; there was little hope to save the building, and she didn't wish to see it claim any lives unnecessarily.

The call to action was enough to send the group on a rescue mission. Pip lead the charge, feeling most invested in the safety of his fellow Espigians, and wishing to save the mill if possible. He scouted ahead for any other Sweepers that might be present. Ernie turned out to be quite adept at dousing the flames, creating torrents of water to purge the tower of the inferno that was consuming it.

On the second floor they managed to rescue a local farmer by the name of Francisco, who informed them that there was still one more man on the floor above. True enough, the foreman of the granary, Manal, was trapped behind a rapidly spinning cog. In a rare display of true heroics, Lord Elgor leapt over the gears and carried the man over one shoulder - this was perhaps offset by the fact that he carried Vicente Anbrosio INTO danger over his other shoulder.

Rather than retreating from the tower, the group decided to ascend to the top floor to douse the flames and save the building from complete destruction. In the small office at the top of the windmill, Pip found another misplaced Sweeper who seemed to accept that he was going to meet his doom in the blaze, yet was happy to chase a worse fate when it attacked the group.

After it was subsequently destroyed and Ernie put out the last of the flames, Pip cracked the lock on a chest and discovered a trove of psychotic notes and illustrations, effectively serving as a confession from the oldest child of the Família do Corvinho, Graça. It illustrated her plan to burn the mill to the ground, as well as a host of other cruelties she planned to enact. They also found a lockbox full of coins labeled "Wages", containing 200 silver coins and 1,000 copper. At the bottom of the chest, they found a pendant in the shape of the Corvinho family crest, bearing the family creed "Walk Amongst the Crows". Pip put it around his neck.

Having saved the most lucrative building in the village and several lives along the way, the group was greeted with a heroes welcome upon exiting the mill. The woman they saved on the first floor turned out to be Claudia Corvinho, the matriarch of the most influential family in the village. Wishing to thank the group properly, she invited them to a feast that evening.

Julia De Maya, who was travelling with the group, recognized the woman from a description given to her by her father and offered to help her prepare the meal, leaving the group to join Sra. Corvinho.

Legends of the Hidden Temple

Returning to the Cabeca de Corvo, Pip slotted the pendant into the panel, which fit perfectly and engaged the mechanism, allowing the door to be opened. Desccending into an earthen cellar, the group found an inner chamber being guarded by two cultists wearing the regalia of The Mycelial Thread. Confronting them with aggression only served to initiate hostility, but the two were no match for the full force of the adventurers.

This door was, again, locked and the they were unable to convince those inside to open the door. Without any other options available to them, Pip set to picking the lock, which he was eventually able to accomplish. Unfortunately, the other side of the door presented a frightful scene; a gathering of fanatics had just performed a gruesome sacrifice on a stone altar. Presiding over the occult practice was Shadrach, the lead Emissary in service of a mysterious high priest known only as Nebuchadrezzar.

The cultists wasted no time assaulting the interlopers, while the Emissary seemingly sunk into the wall itself. Adding to the gruesome environment, a flock of sinewy crows burst from the dead woman's belly, after which a massive bird-like beast crawled out from her abdomen to join the melee. These dangers were overcome by the group through pain and determination, leaving the chamber vacant once more.

Unable to pursue the Emissary, they instead surveyed the temple. Pip immediately recognized the victim of the ritual slaying as Rosa Corvinho, the middle child of the influential family. The altar was set up to filter the blood through a macabre alchemical contraption, resulting in a small opaque potion. Unsure what else to do, the group decided to look elsewhere for answers.

Adventures in Espiga

The group encountered a strange scene when they happened upon another strange monk attempting to heal a suffering Grimpa Gloompa who was wounded by the sweepers stalking the village. They were told that an unconventional healer was hiding in the back alleys of Aldeia de Espiga, and that he had sent his brother to fetch some medicine, but he had yet to return. When the group found the hidden shop of Sylcan Calcador, they discovered what was taking so long: the monk only carried ancient Bolotas, which the swamp-born healer would not accept. Happily trading coins of the realm for the ancient coin, the group facilitated the sale and stocked up on pills themselves.

When night fell, the group arrived at the Corvinho estate, where they had been invited to dine by Claudia, the matriarch of the Família do Corvinho. Conditioned to equate dinner with a sinister threat, the group was prepared to face down a hag or some such beast, but instead were surprised to be treated to a lovely feast. It was here that Claudia made a proposal: if they could stop the threats to the village - the blight and the harvest terror Pica Pau - she would sign over the deed to the village mill. She asked that they return her daughter Graça Corvinho alive, but understood if this was not possible.

To assist in this great quest, Claudia remorsefully furnished them with the Diary of Gustavo, her husband, which read like a sinister confession of a madman bent on the destruction of the village he helped to develop. This book also outlined the location of the oathgrounds, where they could take their vows as emissaries. Their path seemed clear until they exited the house.

Waiting outside was the assembled brotherhood of monks the group had encountered. The spokesman, a monk named Daas, told them a tale of an ancient prophecy told by the goddess Zell who predicted that a group of seven heroes would overthrow the sinister plans of a dark force that threatened to destroy Mag Duinn. This brotherhood believed they were the fabled heroes (a group known as The Bastards of Light), until their leader was corrupted to a tool of that very darkness. Watching their leader Pica Pau become an agent of evil made it clear that they were not the fabled group prophesized. Rather, they believed the group might be the true bastards of light and urged them to take on their quest.

Having no dissenting opinion besides that of Vicente Anbrosio, the group took the opportunity that sat before them, knowing they would have to give up their pursuit of Nebuchadrezzar and the rescue of his son Tristan. Elgor Silvershadow stepped forward to pull the blade of light from the chest of Daas, which bound them to their destiny as the saviors of the land. Their first task: slaying Pica Pau.

Facing the Blight

Heading into the fields, the Bastards met Graça Corvinho, the Crow Priestess, at the statue of the goddess Nespera, who agreed to grant the group passage if they revealed their darkest secrets. One by one the group stepped forward to bear their souls: Elgor admitting he was an orc masquerading as an elf (perhaps only a secret to him), Morga telling of his shameful exile from his clan after a failed coup, Errnie admitting he was shamed by the treatment the group had subjected their former hostage to, Kadav telling of the twisted fate that made him his own patron through the twisted alchemy of reincarnation the group experienced. Vicente boldly told of how he murdered his own father as a test to become a follower of the Thread. Only Pip refused a secret and, instead, snuck into the fields.

The dark magic that was infecting the field scattered the group to different corners - those who divulged their secrets were sent deeper into the corn maze, and Pip was forced to navigate from the start. He dashed as fast as he could through the dangerous maze, eventually running into his old friend Tristan - though this wasn't the man he once knew. Tristan attempted to hold Pip in the fields where he would be reborn as a Gourdhead.

Elsewhere in the maze, Errnie used their gifts to speak with the blighted corn, which gave him clear instructions on how to reach the heart of the field. Navigating the darkness, the rest of the group arrived at the threshold just as Pip ran up, pursued by the twisted form of Tristan. Kadav blasted him in the ass, revealing the creature to be nothing but a doppelganger born of the twisted magic of the cursed fields.

The Bastards cautiously wound their way through the dark and twisted maze until they found themselves in the center of the Corvinho claim where Graça and Pica waited for them. The scene was a horrifying display of torture and decay as the field warped wayward villagers into the mindless gourdheads they had encountered in the village. Whether for the sake of the survivors, for the sake of the realm or for their own satisfaction, the group faced off against their supernatural enemy, slaying both the bird and the priestess.

Aftermath

Though the Bastards were able to vanquish the evil, there was no way to salvage the harvest, which evaporated into a purple ash that scattered across the eastern corridor of the valley. As the winds carried the remains of the villager's livelihoods into the Outlands in unsettling dark clouds, everyone watched in silent dread.

In town a mob was rallying against Claudia Corvinho, the sole survivor of the once noble family. Pip was quick to stand in her defense, pointing out that she was a victim of Gustavo's wicked plan as well; having lost her three children to the sinister cultist's machinations. Not only this, but he pointed out that she did more to attempt to solve the problem than anyone else - actively giving the last of her wealth and possessions to secure aid for the ailing village. When the rest of the group stood for her, as well, the crowd backed away from revenge, only to face the desperation of their situation.

Half of the population wanted to abandon the village to seek greener pastures elsewhere, while half of them wanted to remain and rebuild what they had lost. Since the village couldn't sustain the entire population of the survivors, it was decided that The Bastards would escort those who wished to relocate to Raiz, where they had been informed that Lord Glumbo had, once again, requested their presence.