Encounter - The Giant's Teeth, Part 2

This is a site-based encounter that begins with some social interaction and can be used when the players are traveling beyond the forests toward the Crumbling Peaks.  Alternatively, the players may have heard the tales from the hunters and trappers around Larm and have intentionally come looking for the Giant's Teeth.  Either way, the initial encounter will begin the same.

Mapping Note:  The image below is taken from a portion of a map created by Dyson Logos and can be found on his website here:  https://dysonlogos.blog/2023/02/10/the-maw-a-five-room-dungeon/

 

As the players approach the rounded hill, they will be able to smell smoke from a small campfire and hear the raucous sounds of hundreds of chirping crickets.  Barely audible over the crickets, will be the faint singing of a man beside the campfire coming from within the ring of standing stones.

If the players continue to approach, the man will stand up from beside the fire and meet them at the edge of the stone ring.  He stands some 4 feet tall, his face and body a strange combination of animal and human parts: the right side of his face is covered in fur and has the look of a cat, while the left side of his face is scaly and lizard-like; his right arm and hand that of a man, the left arm ending in a large crab claw; he has one rabbit's foot on the right, and a cloven hoof on the left.  He is dressed in simple clothes with a woolen cloak and carries a shepherd's crook in his right hand.

He looks at the players with genuine curiosity before saying quietly, "I don't see many travelers out this way.  If you're cold, you can sit by the fire.  If you're looking to rob me, I don't have anything worth the trouble."  As the players look on, they see a small flock huddling nervously on the other side of the stone ring.  A second look confirms that these are not sheep, but giant crickets.

The man is a Mongrelman, one of the misshapen outcasts who live in the hills.  If treated with respect and kindness, he has a great deal of information about the area, about his Kin, about the Hidden God, and even about the Witch Trees.