Ursula's eldritch claw rakes the last of the life force out of the bullywug champion, leaving her an empty husk that collapses to the floor. You are victorious!

(You all gain 240 XP!)

(Follow-up post coming soon.)

Seeing the bullywug champion fall in front of her, the halfling leader walks over to the sleeping bullywug and, with one violent stroke, cuts its head off. "That better be the last of them!"

She appraises the group of adventurers. "Well, I certainly didn't expect to find anyone else in this mudhole. But you must be friends, else you wouldn't have been fighting those toady bastards." She extends a hand. "I'm Branna Torsson, from Tor's Hold, pleased to meet you. These are my friends, Cormen and Jems. And that's our Luck Maker, Lars. Damn bullywugs stole my kid, so we decided we had finally had enough and it was time to get back at them. Whatever she did to Heron, Uggloor deserved worse than death." 

The hunting hounds run, playfully barking, to the halfling called Cormen, who pulls out two pieces of jerky and feeds them to the hounds.

Jems moves over to the giant dead toad, and starts to untie the net. "Branna, I've found the stuff they stole! Looks like almost all of it is here."

The Luck Maker, Lars, points to Quyst and says "Is that devil-kin with you? I'm afraid I've used all my blessings for today, but I could still use good old-fashioned practical medicine to get her back on her feet." Pulling out a small pouch, he moves over to Quyst and begins to wrap her wounds with bandages. After a short time, Quyst comes around again. (You are conscious with 1 HP.)

Coming back to herself, Quyst stands up slowly. "Thank you, for patching me up, and..." she looks around, noticing all the enemies she didn't even see coming "thanks for helping my associates to get rid of those bastards, I guess."

Bram comes out of hiding shamefully, head drooping.  "Thanks for the rescue," he says to the halfling company.  He turns to his own group of adventurers and rubs the back of his head.  "Sorry that I failed you guys... I guess I got overconfident there, and I messed up.  I'll do better next time!"

To Branna, he says "We received word of these bullywugs working together with the Iron Circle bandits from the druid, Reithann.  We were trying to eliminate these bastards before they got the upper hand on us, but we did manage to slay one of their leaders first.  He admitted to working loosely with the Iron Circle, but claimed he couldn't tell us any more than that." He scratches his head.  "Have these bandits been a thorn in the side of Tor's Hold, too?  Our ultimate goal is to rescue Baron Stockmer from the bandits, but we're obviously... not strong enough to do that yet," he finishes sheepishly.

Ursula introduces herself to her fellow halflings and then searches the downed bullywugs for any treasure or belongings while she addresses Branna.

We owe you our lives, Branna of Tor's Hold. And our thanks to your Luck Maker - it's lucky indeed that you showed up when you did. How has Tor's Hold fared with the Iron Circle?

20 - Investigation

Davner walks out from behind his hiding place.  Bruised and bloody he says “Yeah, I’m pretty sure we had it under control.  We had them back peddling and afraid.”  As he puts up to fists and and bounces around a bit before defeatedly dropping his arms by his side.  “Thank you.” He says dropping his sarcastic tone.

Looking around for the child “We charged in after we saw the child, where are they?  How are they doing?”

Tafod will give thanks to the halfling healer and proceed to retrieve his hand axes, if possible.  He will then suggest to the others, "We should check fer anythin' worth while on the toadies, th'n 'ead back."

He will scavenge the toad corpses for anything useful or valuable.  Investigation   4

From the entrance of the cave, a small voice says "Mama?" Branna turns and runs to her son, engulfing him in her strong arms. "Heron! I was so worried! Did the nasty monsters hurt you? We're here now, everything is going to be fine." Shaking with relief, Heron points at the adventurers. "The bad toady dropped me when she saw them, and I ran away! They scared that big nasty  bullywug mama, they must be real heroes!"

Branna's smile is warm and sincere when she looks back at the adventurers. "It seems I have even more to thank you for than I thought. You saved my son, I will not forget that." She walks over to the net of supplies the bullywugs had stolen and takes out an emerald with two identical snaking cracks in it. "This isn't nearly enough to repay you, but take this. It's worth at least a hundred gold."

Replying to Bram, she says "Those dirty Circle bandits have been a plague on Harkenwold for months. Tor's Hold has seen less of them since we're further from Harken Keep, but that's not been much of a blessing. They threw us to the mercy of these bullywug bastards. Couldn't even go out farming without fearing a raid, and they just kept getting bolder. It was high time someone dealt with them." When Bram mentions the group's plan, she says "A noble goal. Now that the bullywugs are dead, Tor's Hold will soon be able to give their strength to fight the Iron Circle. If you see Dar Gremath in Albridge, you can tell him that." 

Two of the halflings carry the net between them, and the group of halflings prepares to leave. "We're going back to Tor's Hold now. If you try to go back to Albridge right now, you'll be marching right through the night. We'd be more than happy for you to come with us and spend the night at Tor's Hold.  I'm sure it won't be hard to find beds for the heroes who saved my son!"

Tafod doesn't find any more treasure on the bullywug corpses.

"Some rest and respite with your kinsmen sounds like exactly the thing we need right now," Bram says wearily.  "I know I sure could use it."  Before the group leaves the cave, he offers his aid to Quyst should she need it, in true gentleman fashion.

(But before he goes anywhere, Bram will try to recover some of his bolts from the battle.)

Bram recovers all but two of his spent bolts.

The halfling and the heroes start their short journey to Tor's Hold, with the dogs running ahead. On the way, Branna explains some of the history of the settlement. Tor’s Hold is a group of steadings belonging to the seven children of Tor Hammerfist, who once slew a dragon. Old Tor has been dead for many years now, and his offspring have each raised small clans of their own. Branna is not the oldest of Tor's children, but she is their leader in most things. 

After about an hour, you arrive at Branna's home. It's a large, cozy farmhouse. Inside you find a bustle of halflings of all ages. Branna calls out to some of them, and soon you're sitting at a long table eating a hearty meal. Branna tells the story of what happened this night several times as different halflings come and go. In each retelling the bullywugs become more fearsome and their slayers become more heroic.

When the time comes, Branna finds some spare beds for you to sleep in. They are nice and warm, although they are a bit short for Bram and Quyst.

(If there's anything you want to talk about with Branna, you may do so now. Otherwise, you pass the night here, have a long rest (during which you may attune to items) and can continue on your way in the morning.)

Getting to the house filled with the large Halfling family. Davner can’t help but smile.  “Feels like home...... before all this happened.” Taking the time to enjoy the company.  “How’s the farming equipment round here?  Maybe you’ve heard of Deephollow’s Smithy.  Once it gets less precarious, just give them my name.... they’ll take care of you and your family.  We have to look out for each other.”  He says to Brianna.

Branna smiles at Davner. "You are a credit to your family. If they can produce a little hero like you, I'm sure their farming tools are more than excellent! I will remember that name for when I need it."

Quyst politely refuses Bram's help - she's not rude, but she has to keep some of her facade of independent, strong woman.

Tired and bruised from the battle, she goes to sleep right after the meal. As soon as the first rooster announces the sun, Quyst is up and ready to continue their way to Albridge.

Ursula's shoulders relax immediately as they reach Tor's Hold. It reminded her of home so much it hurt, a happy hurt, though. The shadow sorceress spends the evening entertaining the children with minor illusions and tricks, doing what she can to take their mind off of the bullywug raids and the looming threat of the Iron Circle. She spends particular time with the kidnapped child, trying to get a smile out of them despite their ordeal.

Before they leave, she asks Branna if she can spare a token or some other indication of Tor's Hold's support for the resistance against the Iron Circle. Having some marker of Branna's commitment would go a long way to convincing the other villages and sundry stakeholders that allies were gathering for real and it was not just hearsay.

The party leaves early the next morning. Before they leave, Branna gives Ursula a sealed envelope. "Give this to Dar Gremath in Albridge. He'll know what it means."

The weather is cool and windy, and the group is able to make good time. They arrive at Albridge before midday. Despite being the second largest town in Harkenwold, Albridge is no big city. The town stands where the King’s Road crosses the White River. There's a large central square with a small merchant caravan parked on one side. Children are playing a game involving two balls and a ring. 
As they approach from the North, the group can see a large bridge across the White River on the other side of the town. On the other side of the bridge is a vine-covered collapsed tower.
You see several shops throughout the town, including a smithy and stables. The inn bears the sign of a large green duck in front of a yellow sun.

Map of Albridge:

It only takes a couple questions for a villager to direct the party to Dar's Stables. The inside smells strongly of horse. A broad-shouldered, gray-haired man is just finishing with a customer, who gives Dar a couple coins and then leaves. He talks fast, looking straight at you. He has the confident and optimistic air of someone who expects to be listened to. “Haven’t seen you around before. You look like adventurers, eh? I’ve had an adventure or two myself, a long time ago. Name’s Dar Gremath.”

 “Nice to meet you Dar!  Well I don’t think we quite feel like adventurers after our journey here... but would love to hear a tale or two.  The name is Davner Deephollow.”  Davner replies as he extends his hands for a handshake.  

"Tafod Haearn," Tafod nods at Dar. "Ale an' a tale 'r al'ays t' be taken serious," he rumbles with a broad smile. "But, we be seekin' t' tumble th' I'rn Circle, so the tale'll 'ave t' be a wee bit onna short side. Know ye anythin' o' those scum?" Tafod will watch closely to see how Dar reacts to the mention of the Iron Circle being scum.

„Bram Moltenheim,“ Bram adds in greeting.  We‘re adventurers who were told you were the man to talk to around these parts.  At least, the one to talk to if you happened to have a big problem with those Iron Circle bandits... which we do.“

Quyst thinks their friends asked enough of the man for now, and doesn't feel like she needs to introduce herself. She bows discretly and take a look around while waiting for his answers