Faera takes a bit to catch her breath once the beast is felled by Ilithir.  After the way the fight was going, she is surprised they did kill it.  When Ilithir congratulates her, it makes her smile, and she responds, "Me?  Here you are half dead, and how did you unleash all that fury?  Impressive!"

She watches as Ghurr heads over and takes care of her new friend, then brushes herself off and sends Oliver around to check the area, making sure that was the only one they needed to be worried about.

Oliver's perception  19

The fallen creature does not react to Ghurr's poking, and after Thurodim's frustrated swing leaves its head lying beside the body, eyes wide and tongue lolling, it is very safe to assume that the thing is dead. 

Mala's investigation of the peryton doesn't turn up anything more unusual than the thing itself. It neither carries nor wears any items, and the natural red patterning of the feathers is the only marking you see. Up close you can see how vicious the spines of the antlers are, and notice the size of its talons, each one the length of your hand. You have all done well to save this community from such a beast.

The people coming from their homes initially set about putting out the fires which, left alone, would certainly have spread to the rest of the fields. 

They find the dead man, and exclaim at the damage done to him. "Someone should go tell Nooma that her old man Darah's been killed," is suggested. Nooma presumably is the man's wife. They also find the other man you heard, knocked unconscious by a wall. "Take him to Othri!" goes out the call, and the man is carried away.

They start to gather around you, bursting with questions. "Is that what's been killing us?" "What is it?" "Is it dead?" "Where did it come from?" "Where's Darah's heart? Did it eat it?"

Oliver's vision, replicating that of an owl, is good even in the dark of the night. However, there is nothing to see. No sign of any of the same creatures following, or watching. He notices small rodents moving through the wheat, which he draws your attention to, his form influencing his thoughts. He skirts the edge of the forest and hears a couple of true owls conversing. "Toowit." "Towhoo." But no danger presents itself.

Ghurr looks over at the crowd and listens to a few of the questions. They don't look to be in danger and one of the others is likely better able to explain what happened. 

Instead he turns to his companions.

"First harpies; half bird half human," Ghurr begins. "Now peryton; more mixed beast."

He looks around for a second.

"Maybe nothing. But Ghurr think maybe something."

Thurodim gives Ghurr a nod in agreement with his assessment before turning to the townsfolk. "We think it is what have been taking hearts around here, but we can't be sure. It took Darah's heart but dropped it somewhere over there when we attacked it. It is quite dead now.  It came from over there." He explains as politely as he can, pointing in the direction the Peryton came from. "And I'm sorry that we didn't get here in time to prevent this. I can go to Nooma and apologize."

As Thurodim gives his regret for not saving this Darah, Mala can't help but think if he'd just listened to the warning he perhaps would have survived.  She decides better of saying that out loud though.  Looking at Faera she asks, "Your little owl doesn't see anything? If not, then it seems for the moment everyone's safe. Hopefully there was just the one creature." 

"We have to find his heart!" enthuses one of the townsfolk, a human male in his 30s. "At least one of these poor folk should be buried whole." There is a chorus of agreement from the small crowd, and a number of them move off in the direction Thurodim indicated. 

A middle-aged woman approaches the group. "I don't know for sure, but I think the old tower is out that way. Valleron's tower. No one's been out there since Tarwen killed him though, as far as I know, so I couldn't say for sure." She looks a little uneasy. "Do you think this could be because of him? Has he come back to take revenge on the town?"

"I doubt Valleron is behind this, but we definitely should check the tower to make certain," Mala replies. She then looks to her companions, hoping they agree and she hasn't spoken too quickly.

Watching some of the town people run after the heart that was in the creatures claws, she then turns to Mala as she talks to her.  "No, Oliver doesn't see any other threats in the area.  Hopefully that was the one and only creature, though.. we can't be sure?  I think it's worth heading to the tower, if anything to help rule it out." Faera says, agreeing with Mala.

"Shall we head out tonight yet or wait till the morning?"  she then smiles as Oliver returns to her and buries himself within the folds of her cloak.

"Maybe rest now and head to the tower at first light, I think our friend Ilithir needs a rest before more adventuring." The massive half-orc says, nodding at the severely battered silver-haired elf.

Ghurr looks around at the others.

”Sleep now sound good. Back to inn?”

"Yes, back to inn." Thurodim says and nods to Ghurr, then walking over to offer to help Ilithir back to town if he would need it.

"Sleep now. We can be up early to get to the tower," Mala agrees.  She starts to make her way back to the inn with the others. 

Faera shrugs, then looks to Ilithir and realizes the rest are right.  Following the rest, she checks to see if any of the townsfolk are hanging around, either looking suspicious or just off in some way.

Perception  16

The woman seems satisfied with Mala's answer, and moves away to speak with a few other townsfolk, before they start drifting back into town. It is the early hours of the morning now, and the air is cold, dark and damp, now that the residual heat from the extinguished fires has faded away. 

Quote from kqstark >>

Faera shrugs, then looks to Ilithir and realizes the rest are right.  Following the rest, she checks to see if any of the townsfolk are hanging around, either looking suspicious or just off in some way.

Perception  14

 The only townsfolk remaining in the fields are those looking for Darah's heart. Of the others that came out to see the aftermath of the fight, some have carried the unconscious man away, some have wrapped Darah's body up in some canvas and carried him away also, and the rest are simply heading back home, or to the tavern. 

You make your way back to The Watchman, keeping an eye on Illithir who appears much improved thanks to Ghurr's healing, and is remaining stoic, but who definitely took the brunt of the beast's ire during the fight, likely drawn by the impact of his magic. 

Entering the tavern, the barkeep from earlier is there in his nightclothes, hands on hips. "What in the Hells is going on, eh? Shouting and crashing about, people are trying to sleep!"

A halfling man steps up to him, wagging a finger. "Don't you shout at them! They've done it, they've killed the beast that's been taking hearts!"

The barkeep's eyes open wide. "You... you have? Oh thank the gods..." He sits down heavily, and breathes a big sigh of relief. It's the first time he hasn't seemed just gruff and stern. He runs a hand over his tired face. "What was it?"

"We killed a creature with the body and wings of an enormous bird of prey with the head of a stag. We believe it is called a peryton. It's beheaded corpse is in the fields south of town. We will do some more investigation tomorrow just to be sure this terror is over for Soft's Rest, but first we would need some rest, our elven friend was caught by the peryton and crashed pretty bad as he slew it." Thurodim explains with the most gentle voice he can muster, although it is clear that he is weary after the nights adventuring.

Ghurr holds his arms up high and wide as Thurodim describes the peryton to give the barkeep an idea of the size of the creature.

"Hope only one," Ghurr adds. "Sleep now. Look more in daytime."

Faera smiles at the halfling man that comes to their defense.  "Yes, it was a very large flying creature.  Those talons.. they'll haunt my dreams for awhile."  She collapses into a chair near the rest of them, then looks at the bartender, "Don't suppose you could spare a drink?"

Mala nods in agreement with the others. "Yep. Hopefully there was just the one.  But once we get a little rest we'll check to see if there's anything else about."  She glances over at Faera, "A quick drink before sleep would be welcome though."  She gives the barkeep a smile. "If you could spare us the courtesy." 

"Sure, sure!" nods the barkeep. "You saved the town, right? I say that calls for a drink." He moves behind the bar, and does not draw up tankards of beer, but pulls out a bottle and some smaller glasses. He pours a glug of amber liquid into each glass for you, and one for himself. "Cheers to the heroes of Soft's Rest!" He sips at the drink, and purses his lips at it. "And no charge for the rooms, least I can do." He walks away with his glass, and leaves you the bottle.

It is currently approaching 3 in the morning. If you want to rise early (6-7am) I'll allow it to count as a short rest for the purpose of hit dice, spells etc, but you'll have to roll a CON save to resist exhaustion. A Long Rest now will take you to 10am.