Annea takes to the skies, drawing her healing wand as she does. She attempts to scare the remaining gardener into giving up but it doesn't seem like he's at all inclined to listen to reason.
That said, you've already largely got him cornered and it looks like a stiff breeze would knock him down at this point. It doesn't take but just a few moments for the group to pummel him into unconsciousness as well.
You now stand in the middle of a beautiful flower garden with one, possibly two, unconscious gardeners. From his position waaaay back at the treeline Vanick calls out, "Um...any of you folks needing jobs as security? We sure could use a team like you around here!"
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Meredith and Denair try to subdue rather than kill the last foe.
With that deed done, Meredith begins disarming and binding the druids. "Why were they rambling about pestilence and death? Let's take a look around for clues before we..." She unconsciously peers at Frankie. "Ask them some more questions."
As Vosk approaches, he waves his hand in the direction of the closest bound and unconscious gardener. Then he pulls out a wand and sprays what appears to be blood on their wounds. Ever so slowly, they begin to regain consciousness.
"Why hello there, friend!" he begins. "Now that it is safe to converse with one another like the civilized folks we are, why don't you tell me what you know about the disease that's been going around, eh? While we're at it, what all have you been growing in this garden? It is quite the sight, I must say!"
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Annea will remain hovering above the ground as she attempts to recall anything she might know about a group or groups of druids who seem to be fanatical in their veneration of death and disease.
Max 10.
"What on earth is going on here? Why did you attack us? I realize we may have startled you but that is no reason to be hostile."
To her companions, "Be careful, they might be infected with the disease and we don't have the necessary ingredients here to deal with an infection."
Now that you have the two remaining druids subdued you're able to quickly set about tying them up. From her position in the air Annea cautions those of you on the ground to be wary as you do, lest these gardeners be infected with the disease as well. And as it turns out, the young woman's intuition is spot-on for upon closer inspection you can see the same pale pustules dotting their skin as you did on the infected lumberjacks. In fact, all four of the gardeners, both living and dead, seem to be or have been infected with the disease.
Once the pair are bound Vosk carefully approaches and casually waves his hand at Yellow...
...before using a strange wand to bring her back around to consciousness. As she shakes off the grogginess and begins to realize her predicament, she seems...disappointed, more than anything. She peers up at Vosk as he - quite pleasantly - invites her to have a little chat with him and the rest of the group.
"How sad...I'd hoped you'd send me to join the others," she sighs, a slightly manic gleam in her eyes. "But in the end I guess it doesn't really matter - I'll join them soon enough, thanks to our Princess' blessing. Death is just part of life's natural cycle, whether it come swiftly and suddenly or by degrees."
Her eyes happen to settle on Frankie and she laughs. "Oh ho! I see at least one of you has already felt the Princess' blessing! How marvelous! How delightful! Our works have begun spreading even faster than we'd expected!"
"What works, you ask?" the gardener continues, turning her attention back to Vosk. "Why, the seeding of our Lady's blessing all throughout Falcon's Hollow! Death comes in many forms...and who would suspect a beautiful bloom to be the beginning of their end?"
The 'Princess' that the woman refers to must be Urgathoa, the Pallid Princess - goddess of gluttony, undeath, and disease.
In conjunction with the information above you realize that if these druids have shifted their allegiance to Urgathoa, they're no longer true druids and their connection to nature has been severed.
These are flamebloom flowers but they have been altered somehow, making their pollen granules larger and paler than normal.
During this interrogation Meredith and Denair carefully look around the flower garden and grove for any additional clues as to what's going on but there doesn't seem to be anything here besides some rough gardening tools and a very rudimentary campsite on the northern edge of the grove.
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Frankie waves at the woman when she calls him out "Not the first time I've been called a little blessing!" He giggles "Lots of old ladies used to tell Mom that when she'd take me into town with her to the tavern. She mostly just scowled though or gave them dirty looks." He rubs his chin then shrugs his shoulders at the memory.
Its not a surprise that Frankie's never heard of this Urgathoa before "That's a weird name for a Princess isn't it? I thought they were usually named Buttercup or Sparkletrot?" He grins. You aren't 100% if he's joking or not... Regardless he makes his way around the garden and camp and investigates(loots) anything that looks neat!
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"F#%$& Urgathoa." Whatever diplomatic ideas Meredith had been thinking about just got buried. "This garden is full of death. No one touch any of the flowers."
She looks at the woman. "Isandrea’s Basin- ever heard of it? You'll be released as soon as you tell us what you're doing here. Breeding a new plant to spread a plague?"
"Answer me, dammit." Meredith holds her mace high.
Denair, meanwhile looks among the strange flowers in the area. She isn't sure who this Urgathoa is, but the woman's remarks on Frankie was all she needed to hear: This Pallid Princess or whatever is bad news. Even worse, she's killing the fey AND turning Falcon's Hallow against them in one fell swoop.
Even worse, she has no idea what these flowers are or what they do. How do they get rid of them?
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Never mind that she voiced her disappointment at not being dead, but sure, threaten her with what she wishes was her reality! Seeing as things have taken a turn back to the hostile, Vosk relieves himself of the creepy garden. "No sense risking another one of us catching," he gestures at the gardeners, "all that."
Once he reaches the relative safety of the edge of the grounds, he calls back over. "Five gold says she continues her work if she's free. Either way she wins, so you might as well kill her and keep others from suffering," he advises. Now time for a pie!
While he munches on his pie (working so hard does work up quite the appetite!), he shouts across the grounds again. "Annea, you're rather woodsy and crunchy-granola. Have you taken a look at the flameblooms? The flowers they've been cultivating. Their pollen is oddly large and pale. Sounds like your wheelhouse, eh? Maybe you can whisper some words of encouragement into their petals? Sweet-nothings, perhaps? Might get a little color into them!"
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"Evil? Is it evil to suddenly understand that to everything there is an end?" the gardener asks Annea, quizzically tilting her head to one side. "We once saw the inexorable march of civilization on these lands and despaired...but then we gained clarity. We realized that the death of the land itself was simply part of the greater cycle of life! If we were not meant to nurture life in these woods then surely we were meant to sow death and decay, instead. After all...one day life will return to these lands and the husk of Falcon's Hollow and the cycle will begin anew."
The gardener smiles gleefully, even as Meredith comes to loom over her with her mace raised high.
"You want me to beg? Plead, 'O Death, won't you spare me over 'till another year?' My fate's been sealed, my tale's been told! I'll join the Princess one way or another, as will we all!" she laughs. "I know nothing of whatever basin you seek but I'll oblige your last request and tell you that you're already too late. Our brethren have already made for Falcon's Hollow, to distribute the flowers we've lovingly cultivated here in our garden...and soon, everyone will know the name of the Pallid Princess...."
There's an air of finality to her words and you suspect that the gardener has nothing left to tell you. And Frankie's inspection of the rest of the garden and campsite also yields nothing of interest. It seems that now, your business lies back in Falcon's Hollow - if it's not too late.
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"You're weak." Meredith lowers her mace. "So Falcon's Hallow moved in. You could have sought help. You could have spoke to them. No wonder the fey queen spoke to us instead of you."
Frankie shows up with some farming equipment and Meredith glances at him before lowering her mace. "Killing you now would be a mercy. No, you'll suffer while alive. We'll dash your stupid plans and you'll have to beg your new mistress for your failure."
She turns to her allies. "Thanks for indulging my request for parley. But now we need to head back. Falcon's Hallow is in grave danger. More of those bears could on the way."
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Annea turns to Meredith and an urgent tone is present in her voice, "This disease is the creation of the Pallid Princess and her zealous faithful. I don't know if we should go back to Falcon's Hallow before we go deeper into the forest. We will need to search this farmstead and see if the corrupted basin can be found."
Annea bows her head and holds her arm wide as she offers a short benediction, "May the Goddess bless all, the birds of the air, flowers of the field, trees of the forests, and even the misguided men at Falcon's Hallow. Dear Goddess, we ask your blessings upon US, we humble few, that our actions will be pleasing in your eyes."
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Quang Chi waits to hear out Annea's benediction and bows to her in thanks for the prayer before turning his attention to Meredith.
"Apologies, my friend, but I agree with Annea. I think we should focus on a search for the basin. We can hardly even stop this disease once it infects someone. But perhaps we can stop it completely at its magical source."
"And, apologies again, but could someone please tell me who this Princess is? There has been much cursing of her name, but I am unfamiliar."
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"But... we're going blind. We have no clues... fine." Meredith checks her swing and knocks the Urgothoan Druid unconscious.
"Where do we go next, then? I was hoping these druids knew, but they have no idea."
Meredith turns to Chi. "I don't know all the details, but Urgothoa's nickname is The Pallid Princess, and she's all about death, disease and undeath. Remember those bears? Probably their work. But why would they aim plague at the fey if they were after Falcon's Hallow? Maybe they just didn't care who was infected."
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"Apologies, but I do not think they 'aimed' the bears." He pauses and cannot help but let a small smile crease his serious face as the image of bears being launched from a catapult rises unbidden in his mind.
Forcing himself back onto task with a slight shake of his head, he continues. "I am not even sure these were responsible for them. She did not boast of them."
Recalling what the Venture Captain said back in Almas, he considers the facts further.
"Captain Braddock said that the basin inflicts a "wasting disease" to any who drink its water. These druids have grown poison flowers. Do they use the basin to water the plants? But they said they had no knowledge of it."
"Or perhaps there is yet another party involved."
"You're telling me you wanna head deeper into the woods?" Vanick gawps. "Er, no offense, but you're on your own, then. You treated me square so I brought you here like we agreed but this's far as I go. Think I'll take my chances with whatever's happening back in town!"
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While you try to decide how to proceed from here, QC considers the interrogation, the ex-druid's behavior, and what he remembers from the briefing.
You're certain that she's been telling the truth - about the plan to spread the plague throughout Falcon's Hollow but also about her and her companions knowing nothing of the magical cursed basin.
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Meredith leaves the druids unconscious, but alive. They won't get the embrace of their goddess today. Not from her hands. She will disarm them and strip them of their armor first, though.
"Right. Maybe they are just taking advantage of the diseased water, and they don't even know why the water is cursed. If we get the basin their plan falls apart."
"Varrick, thank you for your help. Head back to town and warn Laurel of what happened."
"Chi, let's head into the woods. I can lead."
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Quang Chi steps away to the edge of the camp and calls upon the wolf's senses to aid him. He wanders around the perimeter of the camp, sniffing the air and even the trees. He pointedly ignores the strange look Varrick gives him and the way Frankie follows along making fun of him.
"Meredith, perhaps this way?" he offers as they set out.
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More of a big picture sort of fellow myself, but I'll sleep soundly. Vosk remains content as he sits and carefully eats another pie. Hopefully the chef doesn't catch the disease! This backwater would lose the only worthwhile part of their culture and I'd have to wait until we return to civilization for a proper snack!
Once a path has been found and their decision to follow it reaffirmed, he joins the others in traveling.
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"I think we should 'Follow the Water' so to speak. Maybe the basin magically creates water which is the source of the disease or maybe the basic is simple submerged in a well, spring or maybe even a river nearby which is causing this to happen."
Annea checks the area for a well, spring and other sources of water.
+3 in bright light
Annea will send Tyndyn aloft so he can provide an aerial reconnaissance of the area for a possible source of the tainted water.
Resolved to press on into the woods on the trail of Isandrea's Basin you make sure that your two ex-druid prisoners will not pose a problem by disarming them, binding them, and in the case of the woman, pummeling her back into unconsciousness. Not enough to kill or even leave any lasting damage but enough that neither one will be waking up anytime soon.
After that you bid Vanick good-bye and good luck before setting out into the woods. While there aren't any obvious sources of water extremely close Quang Chi, Annea, and Tyndyn coordinate their efforts and manage to find that seems to be a very rough and recently-made foot trail that leads away from the grove and deeper into the forest. Not only that, but Tyndyn does see, on his aerial reconnaissance, what appears to be smoke rising into the sky from some distance away. The source of the smoke appears to lie in the same direction that the foot trail leads and so you decide to strike out for it and hope that your explorations will bear fruit.
You haven't traveled too long - maybe only 30 minutes if that - when all of you become aware of the sounds of something crashing towards you through the brush. Multiple somethings. They sound too small to be bears but still too bulky to be human. In fact, it almost sounds like....the beat of hooves.
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Meredith doesn't like it at all.
She agrees with Frankie. They needed to focus on saving Falcon's Hollow. Even if it costs the fey a bit more. They could be wasting their time while the town is corrupted. And then? They'll blame the fey for that.
But Meredith can hear something happening. She pulls out her longspear. "Denair, hide somewhere, quick. Frankie, you too."
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"Meredith, do fey have hooves?" Quang Chi asks. He rolls his neck to limber up and sets an arrow to his bow. No longer needing the nose of the wolf, he calls up the strength of the bull to his mind.
He wants to see what they are, and more importantly what their intentions are, before he begins shooting.
Pulling out a wand, Vosk stands with his back to a tree and conceals himself with a large bush that appears to be growing up the trunk. Must be on the right track, but we didn't notice anyone noticing us... Perhaps we just happen to be in the way?
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As the crashing grows louder, several of you very sensibly and understandably decide to hide and wait before acting further. Meredith, Denair, and Frankie all duck behind trees or under bushes, while Vosk simply conjures an illusionary bush to stand behind. Quang Chi and Annea are less worried and choose to remain in sight, though Annea does take to the air in case she needs to make a hasty escape or otherwise protect herself.
After a few more tense moments the foliage ahead parts as four creatures come barreling through. They appear to be men, all rather handsome, with the furry legs of a goat and a set of curling ram horns extending from their temples. When they catch sight of Quang Chi and Annea, they skid to a halt.
These are fey creatures known as satyrs. While generally not wicked, they are known to be debauched and hedonistic creatures of the deepest, most primeval parts of the woods.
"Humans! What are you doing out here in the forest?" one of them growls, threateningly. "You don't look like the humanfolk from Falcon's Hollow..."
"Up to no good, I'd wager," another pipes up. "Humans are always up to no good. I bet they're the ones responsible for the sickness!"
A third one, scanning the area, suddenly stops and points directly at Frankie in his hiding spot. "There's another one there, a little one! You, come out where we can see you!"
Notably, none of them seem to spot Meredith or Denair. Or Vosk, standing behind his illusion.
Strangely, none of them seem to be carrying any weapons.
Despite their bravado they seem deeply unsettled for some reason and obviously distrustful of you. Yet you get the feeling that they'll probably not attack unless you attack first or otherwise give them a good reason to fight.
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Shifting his weight to one side, Vosk cozies up to the tree and watches. So far so good, nobody's decided to fight yet. They're worried about that gruesome sickness as well, though, and seem to know less than we do. Nothing to do but wait, if I reveal myself too soon, it'll erode their trust.
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+3 in bright light
Annea recognizes these creatures as Satyrs and quickly works to dispel any misconceptions they might have regarding her and her companions.
In Sylvan, "We are not your enemies. My name is Annea Clivana, and I am a servant of the Goddess and the Green. I am a friend of the fey."
In common, "Calm yourselves, we are here to help. Please give us a chance to explain. We seek to find the cause of this disease and put an end to it. If you are ill... we currently working on a cure which we hope will cure human and fey alike."
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Quang Chi keeps his bow lowered, and goes so far as to remove his right hand from the arrow nocked and ready. He uses the fingers of his left hand to keep it all in place, though. Just in case.
The fey of Tian Xia are very different from Avistan, and he's never seen creatures such as these. The fact that they appear to be unarmed seems unusual, but perhaps they will be open to dialog.
The monk holds up his right hand in a peaceful gesture, and gives a small, polite bow to the goat-men.
"Apologies for entering your woods. As you say, we are not from around here. While you have no reason to trust us, we truly seek only to help."
Oh. Satyrs. Sigh.
Denair emerges from cover.
"Okay, none of us want to fight each other. So, let's not, okay? What's- what's going on, anyway? Her highness requested our help to fight a terrible disease."
"Boss, a little help?"
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Quickly recognizing the goatmen from their early adventure with the clock tower, or at least imaging he did, Frankie hops up and puts away his sling shot. "Hey there, I'm Frankie, nice to meet you!" He smiles and waves, stepping out of the brush pile before thinking about offering a hand shake and changing his mind. "I'd shake your hand but I think I caught the plague... so best not!" He shrugs.
Maybe if they're friendly I can get a ride.. that would be SWEET!
The four satyrs nearly jump out of their skins when Meredith and Denair come out of hiding but the group's words - especially when you name drop Queen Syntira - seem to finally convince them to relax. That said, they outright recoil in fear when Frankie calmly states that he's probably got the plague. No matter that Frankie makes sure to keep his distance.
"St-stay away! We've seen too much death today!"
Making sure to keep their distance they share a look and a few whispered words among themselves before turning back to address the group.
"We'd heard rumors that the Queen finally turned to outsiders for help against this plague that stalks us. Normally we'd never seek help from outsiders, especially humans...not after everything that Falcon's Hollow has done here," one of them calls back.
A second nods. "But the Queen is wise and we are loyal to our Queen. If you're really here to help then we've got no quarrel with you."
"And if this plague affects humans and fey both...well, I guess there're humans outside of the Wood that don't deserve such a fate," the third grudgingly admits.
The fourth shakes his head. "Brother, the entire town isn't a loss. There are a few humans and others even there that wish us no harm, like the medicine woman and the gnome."
"So, Human Pathfinders...what news do you bring from the outside? Do you have any word of a cure that we can deliver to our Queen?" the leader asks. "That one there says he carries the sickness but he doesn't seem to have any fear. And neither do the rest of you, traveling in his company."
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As the tensions ebb, the archer removes the arrow from his bow, returning it to its place in his magical quiver. It will be ready when it is needed.
"No, he is free of it now," Quang Chi says while giving Frankie a stern look. "But perhaps you could take us to the Queen, as it was she who summoned us."
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As the tensions ebb, the archer removes the arrow from his bow, returning it to its place in his magical quiver. It will be ready when it is needed.
"No, he is free of it now," Quang Chi says while giving Frankie a stern look. "But perhaps you could take us to the Queen, as it was she who summoned us."
"I got bettah!" He pipes up with a smile. "There are these smelly hippie gardeners trying to poison the Falcon town though. Something to do with flowers they were growing and spreading the disease? We found some loggers that were sick, and some weird exploding bears too. We were working on a cure most of yesterday.. and I helped!" He puffs out his chest and digs out his cocoa for a couple blasts.
Though the satyrs seem relieved to hear that there is a cure, or at least an effective treatment, they shake their heads when you ask to be escorted to meet the Queen.
"No, I'm afraid we can't do that, not when things are still so dangerous in the Wood. If there are more of these 'gardeners' lurking in the woods then we can't afford to take any chances. Once the threat is past we will be more than happy to introduce you to our Queen."
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Death already? I wonder where they're coming from. Perhaps the smoke in the distance are disease-riddled corpses. Great... Not wishing to spook them further, and always a fan of limiting who has actually seen his face, Vosk simply maintains his spell.
"Hmpf. Fine. What can you help us with?" Denair makes sure to step in front of the crew. She's well aware of what they can do.