The Scarecrow's Revenge; or, The Weevil Dead

Around a year ago, a halfling named Ollo Wordfoot inherited a farm in the village of Redleaf. As a scribe, he didn’t know anything about farming, so he decided to rely on books—and succeeded. His neighbor, a lazy drunkard named Fenrick Mallow, became very envious and turned to a local witch, Auntie Yseldra, for a fetish to conjure an insect infestation to ruin his neighbor’s harvest.

Fenrick hid the charm inside a scarecrow in the middle of the Ollo’s pumpkin patch. However, he couldn’t properly recite the incantation to activate its magic, instead causing the summoned weevils to just bunch together around the fetish.

Ollo checked his patch late evening, and in the moonlight, he thought he saw the scarecrow move. He ran away and locked himself in his house, and his fear has kept him there ever since.

The Last Harvest Festival is tomorrow, but the local inn­keeper, Garrick Dunn, still hasn’t received the shipment of pumpkins promised to him by Ollo. Pumpkins are crucial for the festival, since they are used for decoration, as an ingredient in many dishes, and for the traditional lanterns, supposed to scare away the evil spirits.

With his hands full organizing the upcoming festival, Garrick is looking for someone reliable to check what happened to the pumpkins.