Jack read the room. It was time to head.
Quickly, he snapped off as many of the mushrooms he had sprouted the night before from their decaying substrate, shoved a handfull in his mouth raw, then carefully bagged the rest. He placed a few in the spore collection jar, to replenish his supply.
Mama did not want to leave the deer remains, but after some prodding, she just picked up the whole remainder and trotted off with it.
Spying a discarded lower leg bone from the skinning and cleaning, the old coot snatched it up. While not 'ideal' material, it would suffice for making fishhooks. He still did not like where the material had come from though.
Shifting his hobo-sack over his shoulder, he tottered along next to Mama through the disturbed undergrowth.
---
Party travels uninterrupted. (RNGsus spoke about this earlier when I rolled for the encounter.)
After a day of plodding through the undergrowth, they arrive near the lake. (Water edge is in sight.)
There are large wallows in the wet, muddy soil, and knocked over saplings in the area surrounding the lake, but otherwise no signs of a lake monster. The whole area reeks of old fish. The wallows seem to make a kind of chaotic undulating path leading in random directions from the lake, then back again.
Further up the shore of the lake to the East, two small figures can be seen. One has an ornate wood and straw mask on, and is dancing wildly while the other is beating small drums. They are too far away to make out clearly, or to even hear the drumbeat. They appear unaware of the party.
---
[in town]
Arven scratches behind his head nervously as the topic if road conditions comes up.
"We've had trouble keeping the roads in good repair, as none of the [surviving] laborers want to risk being torn apart just to keep the road maintained. Situation just gets worse and worse. Started with just a few isolated disturbances, but has since become almost an all-out assault on the town, with unpredictable intervals between attempts. They seem to be getting smarter, or at least, more violent and cunning with each attempt. I suppose if we cant deal with the problem, the condition of the roads will be the least of our worries...."
His face looks grave while he frowns behind a well-trimmed beard.
"BUT-- Let's get you provisioned. Standard issue is leather gear, and some healing potions from the company stock. I'll let the townsfolk know you have picked up the cause. They'll be a bit happier knowing some of you are still in town (though they have been whispering some odd things about that metal armor wearing fellow... He keeps prowling around the edge of town digging random holes.)"