19-21

The party ventures to the forest to find the elf, stopping for a pack animal on the way and finding an intelligent giraffe too expensive and settling on their horse and wagon. They kill firebreathing beasts at camp, saving the bodies for crafting. In the forest at a part with dead trees they find orphans of many races cared for by an elf man, human woman, and gnome man that keeps books. They are guarded by a silent dwarf that the party gives the beast bodies to so they can get things made.  They are suspicious of him but go to the healthy forest and find the elf they were sent for. He tells them the dead woods are dangerous and to send the orphanage to the healthy trees where he'll find them and direct them to a safe place to build. The party discovers the dwarf saved the orphanage on the road a couple months ago and directed them to their current location away from the healthy woods, strengthening their mistrust of him. At night the party watches the dwarf, with Armin playing his banjo seated next to him on his watch. Armin is stabbed by a dwarf that looks the same as the other. He dies after being stabbed by a dagger made from the beasts they brought and beaten with his own banjo by the dwarves. Caleb barely survives, only living by Ilbryn defeating the last dwarf before he could be finished which reveals the dwarf is missing his tongue as is common in the cult they are against. The party could swear they could hear Armin's faint distant voice still singing "I'm falling, I'm falling."