The Ember Enclave travel to Shepherds Table, a mesa settlement shaped by shifting winds and seasonal movement. After reconnecting with Shepherd’s family, the party is asked to investigate reports of smoke far to the north, near the Maw, where no settlements are known to exist.

There they meet Eirik, a giant newly emerged from a still-sealed kaer. The party shares knowledge of the surface world, and Eirik agrees to guide them north to confirm whether the reported smoke may be tied to his movements.

Along the way, they pass through familiar woods and discover a grisly scene: a caravan destroyed with unnatural precision. Through investigation and magical inquiry, conflicting accounts emerge, but physical evidence points to a deadly airborne predator.

The signs match a creature the party has encountered before. Not a juvenile this time.

The party arrives at Shepherds Table, ascending by lift to the windswept plateau. Life atop the mesa shifts with the seasons. Winds change, villages relocate, family histories are shown in patterned flags, and messages travel by signal kites across open sky.

They meet Shepherd’s family. His wife, an elder, has just returned from a council meeting on an urgent matter. A herdsman reports smoke far to the north, near the Maw. With no settlements known in that direction, the party is asked to investigate.

Back below the mesa, the party heads north. The next morning, as they make breakfast over a campfire, they are approached by Eirik Bladwwin, a towering giant unlike any they have seen. Giants are known in stories, but none present have seen one before.

Eirik explains he comes from a kaer he calls "The Hole," a sealed refuge containing a society of giants and other peoples. It has not officially opened. He left on his own after becoming unwelcome. The party are the first people he has encountered after a lifetime underground.

They exchange stories of surface and vault. When the party explains their task, they suspect the reported smoke may be tied to Eirik’s campfires. He agrees to guide them north to confirm.

Traveling north, they enter a band of woods they passed through before during their pursuit of the Pale Offering.

The air shifts. The scent of fresh blood is overwhelming.

Shepherd takes the form of a dog and follows the trail, leading the party to a clearing.

The scene is devastation.

A broken cart lies in pieces. A mule has been cleanly severed in a single cut, half missing. Nearby are the remains of five white-clad figures, though the count is unclear. Bodies are dismembered, scattered, and cut with unnatural precision.

There are few signs of struggle. No tracks beyond those of the cart, the mule, and the dead.

The party searches carefully.

Fhino uses Final Words to question the dead. The first corpse did not see its killer. A second claims "a pack of wolves," though the wounds contradict this. A third recalls "fire everywhere," yet nothing in the clearing shows signs of burning.

Each account conflicts with the evidence.

Further investigation reveals a translucent, shimmering scale and heavy blood spatter leading north. There are no tracks to follow.

Something took half a mule and left the ground untouched.

The party pieces it together. They recall the razor-winged creature encountered near Ravenfall, a Flickerfly. It moved with speed, cut with precision, and exhaled disorienting gas.

That one had been a juvenile.

This was not.

The blood trail leads north, toward the Maw and Eirik's origin.

The Ember Enclave pause in the clearing, weighing what they have found and what it means. Whatever did this is powerful, mobile, and still nearby. They pause to discuss their next move.