Wesley showed us a letter: 

To the Springreach Adventurers' Guild,  

My name is Jenni Dawnwillow, of Cranburg, east of Hfar. Four days past my husband Taelor went into the woods to check his snares and never came home. He has hunted these hills all his life. He does not get lost, and he does not vanish. The men who went looking found nothing at all — no blood, no tracks, not so much as a dropped arrow — and after a single day they gave up.  

There have been lights in the hills at night, near the base of the mountain where no one keeps a fire. The reeve says it is nothing. I know what I have seen.  

I have little coin, but I have a locket of silver and moonstone — old elven work, in my family longer than anyone remembers, worth a small fortune. It is yours if you can bring my Taelor home, or at least tell me what became of him.  

Please come quickly. Something is wrong here.  

With all the hope I have left,  

Jenni Dawnwillow 

We took the train to Hfar and headed west to Cranburg.  I asked after Jenni and was told, “Just down there two houses past the Drowsy Martin.”  Jenni said she was not married and has not seen lights in the hills.  She doesn’t know anyone named Taelor. 

Heva’lyn headed toward the tavern and I followed.  There was a woman behind the bar named Petra.  There were two men in their mid-forties, 2 kids—a boy and girl named Wick and Dot— running around in the back, a young shepherd girl in her 20s, and someone with flour on their apron. 

Holice and Marin were the men in their mid-fourties.  The went hunting with Taelor many times.  The went out searching for him, but couldn’t find him.  He normally traps in the northeast quadrant, but they found no sign of him there. 

Petra the bartender seemed suspicious when we asked about Taelor.  She did confirm that he was married to Jenni.  Jenni had come into the bar several days ago screaming that no one was doing anything to help.  When questioned if she’d seen lights she hesitated.  When questioned if others had gone missing she mentioned her son did quite a while ago, although they’ve never found a body.  Wick and Dot are his children.  Petra is actually their grandmother.  She delivered a drink to Taelor’s seat then looked at it confused and drank it herself. 

Heva’lyn went to inspect Jenni’s house to see if it looked like a man lived there.  He wasn’t certain.  When Jenni passed a table with a pipe on it.  She looked confused, stopped, and then walked past it. 

Knicks questioned the kids.  They were fighting over whether she could breathe under water.  Knicks asked about their dad’s disappearance a year ago.  He went hunting and didn’t come back.  Knicks asked if they had noticed her grandmother acting strange or forgetful.  They’ve also noticed her putting out the cups for Taylor.  They have seen blue lights in the fog near the old tin mines in the north west quadrant.  The adults go out looking, but come back really fast and say they didn’t find anything. 

Tansy—the shepherd—introduced herself to me twice. 
 
Garvin—the miller—thought Taelor went to Hfar to sell pelts.  He repeated this.  Down by the river gorge to the south east is where the strange things happen.  Perhaps we should look there.  Garvin couldn’t clarify what was strange and said he wasn’t feeling well.  He stood up and walked to the door.  We tried to follow, but couldn’t find him. 

We tried to find the river.  We walked for hours and didn’t see it.  We came back to the city and decided to head to the mines.  We heard rustling in the bushes of multiple things following us.  Heva’lyn tried to convince the party to turn back.  When that didn’t work he fairie fired the party.  Knicks stabbed him in the thigh.  Sapphyre said everyone was being childish and started to walk away.  Qualia used magic to grab Heva’lyn and he snapped out it.  I got very confused and walked into a bush.  When I snapped out of it I saw rats with exposed brains that were glowing.   A second swarm emerged from the bushes to swarm Qualia.  We destroyed them all and Qualia studied the corpses.  The brains were swollen and enlarged.  The removal process was done perfectly with a skill she had never seen before. 

We heard a voice call to us from the brush.  A yellow spotted tabaxi came out bushes.  His name was Pah'Thuun.  His hunting party was injured and he asked for our help.  Heva’lyn didn’t trust him.  We followed him 20 minutes.  When we refused to follow him into the mine he told his friends to ambush us.  They were immune to fear.  They did not cry out when injured.  They did not cry out when they died.  A floating brain did come out of their corpses.  They tried to crawl into our mouths before they were destroyed. 

We had to talk Heva’lyn into the caves to destroy the remaining brains because.  We came to a dead end, but Sapphyre realized it was an illusionary wall.  We walked through into an area full of twinkling fungal growth.  I was incapacitated and before I was able to shake it off Qualia dropped dead. 

We proceeded and found a room with rats and brains in cages behind glass.  They watched us, but we could not target each other. 

We attempted to open a door in the next room and brains in jars began to attack.  We almost didn’t make it out alive.   

In the last room we found Taelor and returned them to town.  Everyone recognized him except for Jenni.  We agreed to come back to try to defeat whatever if in the center of that cavern.