Oliver starts at Eljoy's cries of pain as the heat sears his skin. He rushes over to the man and asks the Gods for their aid in healing him.
Adalwin almost gags at the smell of roasting flesh, but tries to concentrate on the opponent in front of him. Taking some courage from Olivers touch, he swings his blade again.
Jasper attempts to acidize the little fey again.
Between the three of them, Adalwin, Eljoy and Jasper finish off the long-clawed fey.
Jasper exhales deeply, seemingly from his very toes.
"Nasty fellow. Why do you think he was so angry at us?"
Anor' laugh turns into a choked cough as she stops cackling madly. She takes a moment to recover then says to Jasper "From what I remember, they are basically angry at everyone with no real reason."
"Yeah, well it can be angry in Hell now," says Reekis. "You OK, Eljoy?"
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In answer to Reekis, Eljoy resumes his heat dance. "Hot. Hot! F@%*ing miserable fey and damn the Consorshum's eyes for stirring them up. Tricky little buggers..."
The dance and commentary gradually wind down as the temperature of his armor returns to normal. Eljoy kicks the body one last time before retrieving his bow. He glares at Anor, and offers a rather meek, "thanks," to Oliver, Adalwin, and Jasper.
"Hey, I tried to talk the little bastard out of it, and I tried to help when that didn't work. Like you said, tricky little bugger."
The ugly gremlin has a rather large purple gemstone tangled up in its long greasy hair.
Anor nods and takes a little more care this time as they move off.
Reekis lifts the gem before the group get moving again.
The party moves on, and soon emerges from the southern edge of Darkmoon Wood into a field of tree stumps and weeds. Anor takes a moment to get her bearings, then sets off south east, soon meeting a partially overgrown trail through the fields that, after another eight miles or so, brings them back to the outskirts of Falcon’s Hollow.
Evidence of the Blackscour Taint abounds; people cough and hack, spitting up black bile, or else hurry along their way, mouths and noses covered by hands or makeshift cloth coverings. A cart piled with covered corpses waits in the street outside the Church of Iomedae, buzzing with flies. A crowd of desperate looking townsfolk wait outside Roots and Remedies.
Reekis looks about at the scene. "Sure is great to be back."
Adalwin finds it hard to draw his attention away from the cart as they arrive back in town, shaking his head sadly. "I wish we could have gotten here sooner. Lets get these ingredients to Laurel. I wonder how long it will take her to make it?"
"Oh yeah, give the girl all the risk....."
Anor takes the ingredients and moves off towards Roots and Remedies.... Inside she suggests to Laurel that they speak in private.
Jasper calls ShadowWing forth. "Watch for trouble," he says as he lets the tiny owl go.
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"Oh yeah, give the girl all the risk....."
Anor takes the ingredients and moves off towards Roots and Remedies.... Inside she suggests to Laurel that they speak in private.
"I'd have given them to Jasper, but they might be too heavy for the little guy. And you're going to be surrounded by us. There's more risk of you barking your shins on Ady's greives than townsfolk getting to you."
Seeing Eljoy arm himself, Adalwin follows suit, and moves in close to Anor, taking up a position to her right. "We aren't going to hurt anyone are we? These people are just scared." He asks, looking nervously at the group of townsfolk.
Sheriff Baelson appears to have the sense to have posted some deputies to keep an eye on the crowd gathering outside Laurel’s shop. Upon seeing your group approaching up the street, one of the deputies runs off and soon re-appears with the Sheriff himself.
The tall half elf strides forward, tips his wide brimmed hat at Anor, “Ma’am,” nods to the others, then looks directly at Eljoy and Adalwin. “Gentlemen. I trust you have some good news for us? Laurel told me what she’d tasked you with … sounds like a long shot, but things are going to get mighty ugly here before they get better if you haven’t managed to pull it off …”
Comments are made to the affirmative, and Baelson and his deputy shoulder through the crowd, steering you towards the doorway. There are some muttered protests and shouted questions, but mostly people here seem too sick or dejected to put up much resistance.
Laurel’s eye’s widen upon seeing you, but then she is all business. “You’ve brought all the ingredients? Well, let me see … this matches the description of elderwood moss – you’re sure it’s from the oldest tree in the forest? Well, yes, a darkwood that tall seems like it would be mighty old, it will have to do. Ah, so this is rat’s tail, I see why it gets its name. So you found old Ulizmila then? Oh, she wasn’t home? Dead maybe? Probably for the best … These mushrooms like right, should be enough for what we need. Well done.”
She looks about. “Well, I have everything else I need here and ready to go. Time to brew this up … if any of you know anything of herbology or alchemy you can make yourselves useful in helping me, otherwise … I suppose you can pray if you think that useful, otherwise just stay out of my way and don’t touch anything.”
Laurel begins separating and chopping ingredients, occasionally consulting her granny’s book of lore. Much of it goes into a large cauldron along with dozens of other herbs, roots and powders of less arcane providence, while several items are prepared separately and added later. After a couple of hours, Laurel announces that the brew if ready.
“You,” she says to Reekis, “I can hear you still coughing away. Try this,” she holds out a small ladle filled with swirling dark fluid. “No, give it a minute to cool. Now … drink it all down. It won’t taste nice, but it should do you good. You should start feeling better within ten minutes or so, but you’ll still need a week or so to fully recover your strength.”
Jasper tries to help, but his height is a hindrance and he finally settles for perching on the counter he can watch but remain out of the way, eyes wide.
"Gah! It's hot! And it tastes..." Reekis heaves a few times but manages to swallow it down, together with some half-digested rations from earlier in the day that rose up to greet the healing brew. "Mnnngh.... I feel worse than with the Scourge," he says, wiping his moth with the back of his hand, "How long did you say until this works?"
Anor looks at Reekis with a hint of disgust, she turns to Laurel "Do we wait until we are sure it's working on Reekis, or should we start dosing it out right away?"
Anor looks at Reekis with a hint of disgust, she turns to Laurel "Do we wait until we are sure it's working on Reekis, or should we start dosing it out right away?"
"We should give it out now. I think it will take more than this to cure Reekis." He shakes his head in the direction of his companion. "Thank you for guiding us to the ingredients Laurel. Is there enough for everyone?"
"My only worry is that if we give it and it doesn't work, we really will have a riot on our hands. We should see signs in 10minutes?"
"When we know it works, how will we get it to those that need it?"
"That's a good point."
After a while, Reekis begins to feel better; he coughs up some big globs of black phlegm, but then the urge to cough begins to subside, as does the pain in his chest.
Laurel and the Sheriff begin distributing flasks of the curative amongst the townsfolk that evening. By morning the change is marked – most of the afflicted have stopped coughing and life begins to return to normal in Falcon’s Hollow.
The next day, Sheriff Baelson calls on each of you at and offers you a small purse of coins. Inside is 30 gold pieces
“It’s as much as I could rustle up,” he says, “but my thanks – and the thanks of the whole of Falcon’s Hollow, whether they know it or not – goes with it. You’ve averted disaster, that’s for damn sure. If you’re planning to stick about for a while I may well have some more work for you sometime down the track – or if not me, others will. I’ll put the word out if you’re willing.”
Reekis sniffs as he counts the gold. On the one hand, the offer of more work could be useful. On the other hand, he risked his life for thirty frikkin' gold!? He opts to keep a surly silence.
After the sheriff is gone, Reekis whispers to Eljoy, "Hey, what about we go back to that wolf lair and grab their stuff?"
Anor helps with distribution of the potion, and then sticks around on Laurel's floor for a few days to see how things go. She accepts the cash gratefully, it will keep her stocked with supplies for months...
"hey Reekis, maybe we should get the precious stone and the statues we found out there valued?"
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Eljoy hefts the sack of gold. "Thanks, Del. This should keep me for a week or two. It was a good squad that went hunting those ingredients. Thought I'd have to wipe their noses for 'em, but they were really OK. Pulled me out of trouble a couple times."
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After the sheriff is gone, Reekis whispers to Eljoy, "Hey, what about we go back to that wolf lair and grab their stuff?"
Eljoy nods. "Yeah. We'll need some partners though. The wolves will have had time to heal and that howling we heard the first night might have been them calling in some friends. Ady's a good hand in a fight. And if it's fight, we might need some healing. What do you say to asking Ollie or Anor in too?"
Jasper is as excited as ever to see what lays in store. He accepted the reward from the Sheriff with wide-eyed astonishment and an eager nod at whatever else the man said. When he has a chance to talk to Adalwin in private, he says, "Is the money really ours to keep? I mean, yours is yours, but I keep mine, too? I don't know who I would give it to any more, 'cause, well, I'm not there, and..." He lapses into a moment of reverie, but only a moment.
"What are we going to do with it? What do we do next? This is fun!"
Adalwin accepts his own money from the sheriff with a gracious nod. "I expect to be in the area for a while, please let me know if there is anything else I can assist with. I was also wondering if I could ask a favour. I am seeking evidence of Azlanti ruins in the Darkmoon Wood - would you know any locals who may have any information about the forrest or the history of this region?"
Jasper is as excited as ever to see what lays in store. He accepted the reward from the Sheriff with wide-eyed astonishment and an eager nod at whatever else the man said. When he has a chance to talk to Adalwin in private, he says, "Is the money really ours to keep? I mean, yours is yours, but I keep mine, too? I don't know who I would give it to any more, 'cause, well, I'm not there, and..." He lapses into a moment of reverie, but only a moment.
"What are we going to do with it? What do we do next? This is fun!"
Adalwin is gripped by a wave of sadness as he realises where Jasper's line of questioning stems from. He offers a quick prayer of gratitude to any god that may be listening for his own innocent childhood. "Of course it's yours, you can do what ever you like with it. No one's ever going to take anything from you again..." He trails off, fighting the tears that were threatening to form. How could anyone be so cruel to such a good person? Gods, pull yourself together! Don't let Eljoy or Reekis see you cry!
Regaining his composure he continues. "What do you want to do next? The sky's the limit. But if you don't have anything pressing... I know I could use all the help I can get finding those ruins... and I bet the others will want to go after that treasure in the worgs lair... "
The little fellow nods eagerly, "Of course I will help you! It's just..." He pauses, then grins. "I like helping. And having friends."
He stares off into the distance, trying to imagine what he could do with the princely sum in Percival's saddlebags.
"Hey Addy, what's up - something in your eye?"