Bad Blood

After Hansel and Mishka (and Goro, who was kidnapped) got back from their honeymoon, the Runners had a few days of peace and quiet, but as always, there was another disaster right around the corner.

Gavi received a dream visit from her brother Bloodgrut the Smartest, who told her that he wanted to see his son Imesh, or Griffin, or whatever the hell he was calling himself now. Apparently he married an elf? Bloodgrut asked Gavi where he was, and Gavi told him, asking Bloodgrut to not hurt the boy. When she woke up, she went to the castle to head him off, telling Griffin that his dad was on the way. Griffin told the rest, and they all shored up for his arrival.

When he showed up, Goro, Larkin, and Hansel eyeballed him and realized he was, in fact, a dirt golem and not really Bloodgrut. He asked to speak to Griffin, who relented and came out to meet him, and Bloodgrut said that Griffin's mother was pregnant again, and may not survive this time. She wanted to see her son. Griffin refused, holding Bloodgrut accountable for her possible death, and turned to go back inside.

Goro and Larkin heckled Bloodgrut for a while, and he excused himself, asking Gavi to come with him to talk. Hansel sent the Clockwork Crow to eavesdrop and report back on their conversation, and it replayed Bloodgrut telling Gavi that her son Timur had lost his way, and was with his father Josiah in a hippie village named Little Creek, farming potatoes and shit. Allegedly, wood elves were going to attack Little Creek, but when the crow repeated this to Hansel, he called absolute bullshit.

Gavi set off to the village to try to get Timur back before the village was attacked, and Joan contacted the Runners to tell them that Bloodgrut was planning to attack one of three different villages, and asking for help defending them. The gang, accompanied by Lucienne, set off for Little Creek.

While Gavi arrived first and spoke with Timur, he was adamant about wanting to stay. About the time the Runners arrived to hear the end of this conversation, Larkin spotted wood elves approaching from the tree line, and pointed them out to Hansel -- but the pair of them recognized them as more dirt golems. One loosed an arrow directly into Timur's throat.

Luci leaped to revive him, and Gavi used her paladin magic to heal him further, while the rest got ready for battle -- Goro blessed his allies, Larkin hopped onto a roof to get a better vantage point, and Hansel went to protect the townsfolks. The golems were accompanied by an orcish druid, who the Runners beelined for while Goro and Luci put out fires he'd he'd set. Raef and Hansel stabbed the fuck out of him, he attempted to escape as an eagle, and Larkin shot him out of the sky, then shot him again, and finished him off. The remaining golems crumbled to dirt, revealing bones that Luci identified as largely half-orcish.

After this, Gavi tangled with Goro and Hansel over who had sent the golems, the Runners pointing out that the druid was an orc, and the golems were identical to Bloodgrut's previous form, and he was the one who claimed wood elves would attack the village in the first place. This was difficult for her to swallow. After resting, Goro cast Speak With Dead on the druid, and confirmed that he was a follower of Gruumsh, which Gavi justified to herself as it being Gruumsh's will that this village be wiped out, since orcs and elves were living there together.

Goro challenged, "So you're going to continue to follow a god that would kill your son?"

Gavi had no response. She stormed off, with her son in tow.