When morning arrived, a rag-tag bunch of characters awakened to find
themselves afflicted with strong hangovers, bad wedgies, and a foul odor
of rotting meat.  As they each pried open unwilling eyes, they gazed upon
the unwelcome sight of a charnel house, as they hung from the wall like
meat waiting to be slaughtered.  After some time, long enough for the
sight (and smell) to sink in, a muscular man wearing a butcher's apron
walked in to the room, flanked by a pair of beefy minions.

Apparently, the previous night's antics in the town tavern had gotten a
bit out of hand, and those currently hanging about awaiting their fate,
while not originally acquainted with each other, had each given hand to
the disaster that had overtaken the town, when Garland's finest wines and
liquors had been destroyed in an orgy of mayhem and fire.  As Harbark,
the town sheriff, explained, even had all their wealth and possessions
been confiscated, it would not have made an appreciable dent in the 600
gp loss.  So, most of their wealth had been confiscated, and they were
to be released with the understanding that the remainder of the debt
would be repaid as quickly as was reasonable.

Four hasty assents later, they were released and, introducing themselves
to each other, had their possessions returned and were led over to the
tavern, where the fire damage and hostile glares from the locals were
equally in evidence.  Fortunately, despite the group's transgressions
and Lamthanc's somewhat monstrous appearance (and Akra's unusual one),
Rimardo was generally good at soothing over bad feelings, and the mob
was somewhat mollified.

Looking for ways to work off their debt, the group split up to canvas
the town for possible leads and work suitable for their talents.
Harbark had already mentioned a problem with local bandits, and they
also found information from several other sources: the stone-workers
in the local quarry refused to work at night, claiming sights of scary
watchers in the dark; Valvo, the keeper of the general store, had seen a
skull pinned to a tree with an arrow; Kaylessa, the innkeeper, reported
scary stuff happening in the hills to the north, and at Lance Rock to
the south; Minthra's (the poultry merchant) daughter Pell had found a
tomb and saw a ghost in it.

The bandits seemed like a good (if small) start, so Rimardo and Hazel
went forth disguised as a noble and his diminutive servant, followed
at a distance by Akra and Lamthanc, as if they were looking for a soft
target themselves.  The former pair was eventually held up by a group
of four bandits, and Rimardo kept them talking while the latter pair
caught up and charged the interlopers.  Combat was joined, and the
bandits captured with only minor injuries.

Next, the group traveled to the tomb, following Pell's directions.
They eventually found a dark opening in a hillside, mostly hidden by
branches and fallen leaves.  Inside was a stack of pots and pans, which
they knocked over.  Curious about the obvious alarm, they figured it was
probably someone inside camping pretending to be a ghost to keep people
away.  Nope, the ghost was real - farther inside was a proper tomb, and a
ghostly watcher appeared and warned them off.  After some explanations,
they left the ghost and the tomb, planning to hide the entrance better,
but were first ambushed by a half-ogre who blocks the entrance.  As they
engaged the half-ogre, they found he also had a goblin companion outside,
waiting to pick off anyone who made it outside.  A fierce combat ensued,
with the goblin fleeing after his companion was killed.  Rather than
pursue, the group buried the half-ogre as best they can, then hid the
entrance.

Moving on, they then investigated the pinned skull, which they found!
The arrow had a note attached to it, so they unpinned it, gave the skull a
more proper burial, and examined the scroll, which read "The Last Laugh -
you'll be next / Valkander".  The night was met with uneasy dreams and
poor sleep, particularly on the part of Lamthanc.