Strange Fruit - 5e WNW

Session 5 of the weird new world campaign was played on Friday 1/16

The party consisted of the following:
Verdt, 1/2 Elf Wizard 2 (John)
Nessendra, Wood Elf Cleric 2 (Erindel)
Kethra, Human Fighter 2 (Nikki)
Bach, Dragonborn Warlock 2 (Erik)
Riia, Human Ranger 2 (Hanna)

Not in attendance:
Max, Human Bard 2 (Yann) - left campaign

Rested and recovered from the pirate attack on the town, the party decided that the missing children were still the top priority, especially since the townsfolk didn’t seem particularly concerned about their kidnapped fellows. It seems the pirates tend to ransom them back after a couple of weeks. Strange that…

Heading back to the manse, the party circled the walled garden, and opted to enter by going over the wall near one of the outbuildings. After several decades, the roof wasn’t particularly sturdy, and when Bach jumped on it, the roof collapsed. The rest of the party hopped through the hole Bach made, spotted a vine monster slowly snaking it’s way up the stairs and opted to depart the groundskeepers cottage via the window.

Creeping along the wall they fought off another vine monster, and made it to another ruined building, this one a storage shed that had mostly collapsed in on itself. A brief minute spent digging around inside turned up nothing more impressive than a half-rotted shovel that Verdt cast faerie fire on, causing Bach to think it was magical.

The party decided that the next objective to check out was the stables/carriage house. Cutting across the center of the garden they came upon a massive tree in a somewhat clear spot in the otherwise overgrown garden. Hanging from the tree were numerous vein laced pods, each about 3' tall. Riia took aim, and shot one with her bow. The pod broke open, and a black viscous fluid poured out. At this, the roots of the tree began to undulate, and several other pods bounced to the ground, cracking open. Childlike figures emerged from these pods, but horribly changed, as they had twigs and branches growing out of their various orifices, and even through their skin.

The horrible little creatures were vicious, but not super coordinated, dispersing themselves around in their thirst for blood. As the battle continued more and more of the pods fell until a total of 9 of the creatures were swarming the party, all while the tree swayed and the roots undulated under foot. With the death of the last of the monstrosities, the tree and roots stilled…

The party sighed in relief, but it was short lived, as the base of the tree split open and a figure with a ragged hole in his chest burst forth. Most of the party's weapons were not nearly as effective as they should have been, but Verdt’s Eldritch Blast had no such issues. After just a few rounds of combat the Gulthias vampire was again dead, the shaft of the “magical” shovel pinning the body to the ground.

But what will they tell the townsfolk about the kids?