Sometimes you win, sometimes you--whoa!
As several have noticed, there is a large insect of some kind using the crystals in Sabatier and Hande to move back and forth between the two cities for the purpose of hunting. After being injured in Hande, it retreated back to its desert nest, some distance outside of Sabatier, but alas, it wasn't smart enough to cover its trail (it's remarkably bloody trail), and so it was followed by a handful of intrepid explorers.
Upon reaching the odd structure that marked its nest, said explorers took the only logical action: they attempted to beat the structure to the ground. Alas, this did not work, leaving the structure intact and the explorers (as well as area birds and insects of more reasonable sizes) somewhat sticky.
Ah, if only they had thought to walk through the center of the structure first. For there in the middle is a divot in the sand. Digging in this divot soon reveals a hole, carefully covered by debris and webbing. Beneath this hole lies a deep depression and at the bottom of the depression a huge, man-sized scorpion-like insect. The beast is not aggressive, and further inspection reveals this is thanks to a massive hole in its exoskeleton--a hole caused by a certain frightened villager's hammer. In short, the beast is dying, and will soon no longer be any threat to anyone.
Its blood, on the other hand, is still quite the threat, and will burn any flesh it comes in contact with. The clutch of eggs also marks a potential threat, and it would be wise to destroy them. The rotting fish that scatter the depression are a threat only to one's sense of smell (they're really quite terrible). And the several dozen glittering artifacts that lie scattered about, on top of and half under the fishy corpses, are no threat to anyone, unless, of course, they're picked up.
So ends the mysterious menace of Sabatier and Hande. Though it was terrifying in life, it is now little more than a husk.
[Note: A variety of real life events necessitated this method of wrap-up rather than the originally planned finale to the event, and for this we apologize. More information is forthcoming, so keep an eye out.]
Upon reaching the odd structure that marked its nest, said explorers took the only logical action: they attempted to beat the structure to the ground. Alas, this did not work, leaving the structure intact and the explorers (as well as area birds and insects of more reasonable sizes) somewhat sticky.
Ah, if only they had thought to walk through the center of the structure first. For there in the middle is a divot in the sand. Digging in this divot soon reveals a hole, carefully covered by debris and webbing. Beneath this hole lies a deep depression and at the bottom of the depression a huge, man-sized scorpion-like insect. The beast is not aggressive, and further inspection reveals this is thanks to a massive hole in its exoskeleton--a hole caused by a certain frightened villager's hammer. In short, the beast is dying, and will soon no longer be any threat to anyone.
Its blood, on the other hand, is still quite the threat, and will burn any flesh it comes in contact with. The clutch of eggs also marks a potential threat, and it would be wise to destroy them. The rotting fish that scatter the depression are a threat only to one's sense of smell (they're really quite terrible). And the several dozen glittering artifacts that lie scattered about, on top of and half under the fishy corpses, are no threat to anyone, unless, of course, they're picked up.
So ends the mysterious menace of Sabatier and Hande. Though it was terrifying in life, it is now little more than a husk.
[Note: A variety of real life events necessitated this method of wrap-up rather than the originally planned finale to the event, and for this we apologize. More information is forthcoming, so keep an eye out.]