Turning toward the tree the cleric smiles gracefully, waiting for the one hidden to appear!
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The creature detaches himself from the tree and makes a low bow, greeting you politely in Common. "Welcome to the Arboretum Arcanis! If you want to visit the garden you have to leave a small fee." the creature says.
This filthy creature resembles a small, wide-mouthed fat child made from leaves, vines, tree bark, dirt, and pallid tubers.
This is a young Mandragora.
"What kind of fee? Water... coin... or blood?"
Pricking her finger the cleric allows one drop of blood be spilled for the plant. "I paid!"
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"It's food for me. I grow better with few drops of blood. You feed me and I show you the gardens." the plant answers.
The Mandragora accepts Kyra's offer. The plant transforms one of its fingers into a thin, translucent, syringe-like tube with a needle-sharp tip and withdraws a small amount of blood. You can see that a minute later the Mandragora's leaves become greener.
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Not quite sure what is going on, Haro watches as his fellow pathfinders give this thing their blood. When it finally comes around to his turn, he hesitates for a moment before producing his arm. "A little life water is nothing to lose lightly. But if it means gaining a valued information, Haro believes one spot would be worth it."
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You think the mandragora is honest. The plant retrieves the blood from you, also from J. who also wraps up a sleeve.
As promised the plant takes leads you further into the building. The first room behind the door is the vine-choked gallery, the odor in this room is the earthen smell of decay. Like J. said, it's dark and the cracks on the floor make it difficult to walk on.
"The vines block the light, most of the plants need light to grow so the fragrant flowers died. Do you have a light source? I can't see well in the darkness." the mandragora explains.
With a quick wave of her hand the cleric calls upon the rays of the sun to lighten up her helmet.
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Kyra lights the room and the mandragora moves on, leading you through a door to the next room. "This was once the Flowering Shrubs of Eastern Taldor. Everything is broken since the earthquake. The door over there was once a living shrub." Pip says while pointing at the north door. "And behind this door is the gallery of magically enhanced flora." he says and points at a door to the east. "Do you want to have a look? These plants are still healthy."
The plants in the room to the east radiate magic.
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Grishan looks into the room and searches it carfully. "No, I can't see a red lion statue in this room."
Pip leads you further into the building. You pass a long hallway which is blocked by rubble at the end, but you see a wooden plaque to the right, next to an entrance to a greenhouse. It reads Plants of Eastern Garund: Please proceed with caution, as some are poisonous. "The master gardener is in there." Pip says.
Unlike the dead and warped growth in most of the Arboretum, the plants growing in this greenhouse seem to be relatively young and healthy. Several raised beds of earth host strangelooking plants with long, sinuous vines, and a small, gently flowing fountain with a red lion statue at its center sits near the middle of the chamber. Against the wall stands a worktable and chair covered in gardening tools.
Inside this room you see a creature. She looks humanoid, like a woman, but her face looks like a fruit and long vines form her hair. Her skin is green and the surface of the skin looks like the surface of leaves.
"Stay back! I know that you are gardeners from Quantium who have come to harvest me and my companions" the woman shouts.
She is not in her right mind.
Her suffering might be due to the corrupting rain within the Arboretum. It's a disease.
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Maldrek tries to see if there´s magic in the room moments before another plant starts to talk.
We want no harm to you. We´re only seeing the place.
We even had fed one of your people, I think it proves our point
As he waits the woman-plant to answer, Maldrek whisper a few words to his companions. Mad due rain
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As my companions had told you, most of us just want to make sure J. is safe, [b] says Maldrek pointing the girl. [b]She wants to look around the school, she used to attend the clases and have a need to come again.
The last thing we want is hurt, or being hurted. This is why we talked with Pip, and this is why we´re talking to you.
I know, we´re strangers. It´s logical to have some fear. But our first option was not fight, but talk. That should mean something. We had offered blood to Pip and Water to you, to show our willingness. And we´re receptive to show it in other way, if you wish.
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Khaya visibly calms down and seems to regain some of her senses. "Please do what you have to, but leave my children alone! Light and water is all they need."
Pip on the other side looks a bit disappointed when he sees Khaya does not attack. Khaya lets you get into the room and search the Red Lion statue on the fountain.
Carefully tipping over the Red Lion statue on the fountain reveals that it is hollow. Inside is a small package wrapped in many layers of wax paper.
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"I can't remember the content of the notes, but this is my handwriting!" Grishan says after looking at the pages.
Grishan has forgotten the details of his notes. He struggles to believe what he reads about his Family.
"Could you please keep my presence in the Arboretum a secret, at least long enough for my companions to sprout and grow." Khaya asks.
"My dear, privacy and the wish to live in ones fashion peacefully is something we Saranreatis can understand just too well!"
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J. reads the notes as well and you can see that she's slightly disgusted and embarrassed. "I want to talk to my brother." Grishan says. "I think this information can be quite damaging in the right hands. I'm not sure if the old drop is still existing or if somebody revealed it in the last years. For sure my brother won't check the dead drop any more after all these years."
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"Thats fine!" the spirit boy says and returns into J.
"Well, the stories about my mother are not nice. But let's head to the Tri-Towers Yard!" J. answers to Maldrek's question.
The Drownyard is located a short distance from the Arboretum Arcanis, and is surrounded by a tall, wrought iron fence. The key provided by Drandle Dreng unlocks the front gate.
The grounds of the old Tri-Towers Yard have been cleaned up in the last several years, and several old ruined school buildings that stood too close to the cliff’s edge were demolished. All of the gnarled old trees were removed and new flowering bushes and trees have been planted in their place. Despite these efforts, the few ruined classrooms that remain look sad and forgotten. Just inside the gate sits a small, locked storage shed marked with the Pathfinder’s Glyph of the Open Road.
J. falls silent as she steps on the grounds of her old school, as she has not been here since she was rescued seven years earlier. "Please, let's remain quiet just for a moment while we remember the children and adults who died there." J. suggests.
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On the way to the classroom you pass a supply shed. Outside you see the sign of the open road on the door. The door is ajar and moves in the wind, it makes a screaching noise. J. stops in front of the door. "There is something wrong. I can feel it." she says and points at the shed. The storage shed was once locked, but its lock is damaged and no longer functions.