C1E21: Traces
The FGC frantically piece together the story of recent events, as recent events try to tear them to pieces.
Splintered Insight The FGC emerge from the trees and quickly realize that the remains of their carriages are smeared across the landscape in front of them. As they stand, stunned, Khoraka emerges from the trees with a brace of rabbits. They survey the scene before them and start to pick out the pieces of what happened, while the thunder rumbles ominously overhead.
Based on Snow and Khoraka's findings, there were wolves, a werewolf, and the horses at play. It seems as though the horses were taken by something... very large... and Phelan used them as both bait and a chaotic distraction to escape into the cover of the jungle canopy by arcane means.
As they move towards the treeline in a bid to recover their friend's trail, the thunder in the air gives way to a sound it was previously masking... the thunderous footfalls of a hill giant [https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/16923-hill-giant], and the thunderous howls of wasteland wolves [https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/2479157-wasteland-wolf].
"Giant" Battle A giant mess...And then there's a big battle! The giant and its two hunting companions – a pair of large wolves who specialize in thunderous attacks – besiege the party, who makes relatively short work of them.
As Erash rains down flaming doom on the monsters, the tattoo on his arm flares back to a painful full glow. He narrowly dodges the giant as it falls, reminded of both chaotic battlefields and the precision punches of his older "brother."
As the rain looms and the atmosphere settles, the party makes their way back to the edges in the trees in hope that they can find their friend.
Following the Trail Snow picks up the trail again about 30' from Phelan's last location, and they proceed to follow the lupine tracks into the depths of the jungle. The trail becomes progressively fainter and harder to follow.
Wandering deeper and deeper, the FGC look desperately for any sign of their lost friend. A strange, mechanical chirp draws their attention to a rocky outcropping to their left. Atop the rocks, they see a lone Kamadan [https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/33044-kamadan], who is batting around its new distraction the way a house cat toys with an insect.
Nice kitty.That distraction is a bent, broken, and dented Phase [https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/2270206-phase], looking hopelessly battered and barely functioning...