Draíocht frowns upon hearing Thelanis' revelations. "Sandford?" he asks. He looks at the corpse and whispers in Elvish, "Farewell to thee, cousin. May thy spirit find rest in the Celestial Grove and dwell in its tranquil peace."

He turns back to Thelanis, "It would fit the timeline of his arrival at town, no?"

To the ants he asks, "From before. Many giants?" wondering if perhaps the killer was alone, "Two giants? Three giants? More?"

[[ Used "Celestial Grove" as a placeholder. But not sure what you have for the afterlife abodes in your worldbuilding. ]]

I love the Celestial Grove! I hadn’t thought of anything for an elvish afterlife so I guess that’s it now.

The ants tell you, “4 giants, 4 giants.” Then a few ants correct them “3 giants, 1 small giant. 3 giant, 1 small giant.” This is about as complicated a sentence as they are able to perform. A couple of the ants are sent off course from the effort.

Amiz shares what he found on the corpse. "Unfortunately, we are no closer to figuring out what or who done this to this person. Though an errant soldier from a hostile land is a haphazard business with death around any corner. Perhaps he was caught red handed." 

"Thank you, friends." says Draíocht to the ants. He takes out a ration and puts some of it in their path while guiding a few that went astray back to where they were. "Have food."

He frowns as Amiz refers to the elf as an errant soldier, regretting the conflict. "Perhaps," he says reluctantly. "according to the ants there were four people. One would have to be him," gesturing to the elven corpse, "and then three others, one of whom was smaller. Dretch, halfling, child? I do not know." Turning to Valar he asks, "What are you thoughts on the matter?"

[[ removed one 1 rations from his inventory ]]

If you have no more you wish to investigate here, you all continue onto Erithon.

When you arrive it's late in the afternoon. People still look at you strangely, being adventurer's and travelling with outsiders. But when someone recognises Alaine they shout out in joy, "Quick, someone go get Shepley, it's his daughter. Alaine is back!" A middle aged man with this brown hair appears as you get towards the centre of town. Alaine runs over to him, "Dad!" she elates as he opens his arms and embraces her. After she explains a little about what occurred he turns to you all, "Thank you so much wanderers. I have nothing to give you in return for what you have returned to me. But know that there's always a place for you to respite at my farm." He ruffles his daughter's hair as he presses his nose into it, closing his eyes as tears roll down his face.

"We should report in with the constable, let her know about the possibility of a larger scale threat."

Valar agrees, "I can speak with the constable if you all have to resupply or anything else." 

"I can agree with that course of action." says Draíocht. "Though I do wonder with that treasure we found in the goblin cave if there's any guesses as to how much belongs to the villagers. I doubt the spell scrolls came from here, but perhaps a portion of the gold." He'll hang towards the back of the group as they head there, remembering the constable's previously dislike.

"We could certainly return a portion to the villagers, help make friends even a little."

Shepley thanks you again as he leads Alaine away. Alaine turns back to you all, espiecially focussing on Amiz and Draíocht, "T-t-thank you all so much. Please stay in town for a while, i-i-i'd love to see you all again before you g-g-go."

You all make your way to Constable Adger's quarters. She is inside being debriefed by one of her rangers, "Ahh the heroes! Please come in, i believe we have a lot to discuss." There's a trace of sarcasm in her voice, but also of genuine warmth.

"Greetings, Constable! We have returned, and by the grace of the gods, have suffered no casualties in our quest.  We tracked the goblins to a cave and rescued their prisoners. While this was a success, I suspect the threat goes higher. The goblins were being bossed about by a bugbear named Gark, who spoke of a Lord g'Ruek that they appeared to follow."

Adger listens carefully as you debrief her, "This is very interesting, we've always known the goblins have a leader in the Slopes, but we've never heard the name before... g'Ruek. I will send some rangers into the Slopes now that the goblin leadership in the Dim Wood has been put down, we finally have the resource to find their base of operations" She puts her hand to her chin in thought, then breaks out of it. "Well it seems that for the time being there will be no more goblin raids. Please feel free to stay in town for a while, I will wish to talk to you further once we have more information on the slaver's base."

It will take the rangers a couple of days to head into the Neurath Slopes and return with information. You can all hang out in Erithon and the surrounding area while you wait. The people here may not love you all, but you've at least proven that you can be trusted.

Here's a map of the town. I'll post another map of the local area once i've popped some places of interest on it.

I apologise for the crudity of this local area map. I had a better one but I can't find it. This gives you an idea of what's in the local area. A few things you'll remember from the other day:

1. Reports of zombies appearing near Luethanos Pass.

2. Reports of a ghost in the southern edge of the Dim Wood.

3. Sanford came from Kholias and escaped back east into the Dim Wood.

4. There are goblinoids in the Neurath Slopes.

5. Kholias is a hub of aberrant darkness that is spreading out across the land.

After stepping out of Constable Ager's office Amiz says "I'd say keep the loot. You can think of it as our pay for risking our necks. Plus, a room and food don't come for free neither. As for what to do with our time perhaps we should find anyone in town with a job that needs doing. Its beats twiddling our thumbs as our coin pouch gets lighter everyday" 

Draíocht bids goodbye to Alaine for the time being. "I'm inclined to take you up on that offer. Do you have a shack or something we might be able to take rest in for the night?"

As Thelanis greets the constable he takes note of the ranger party being sent out. Internally he's thankful she took the lead.

When Amiz suggests donating all the loot his yes widen for a moment. Not what he'd expected from a sellsword. Perhaps there was more to leonin warrior than meets the eyes.

I beleive Amiz suggested specifically keeping the loot.

Alaine smiles at you as she turns to her dad, who nods. "Of course you can stay with us! We don't have much room in the house, but you could always sleep in the barn. I-I-It doed get a little cold at night now that we've lost so many animals. But it's a roof over your head."