Laurel The Herbalist's page

"well, Rhen. I don't recall makin you any promises. We ain't dealing with magic here. This potion you helped me concoct works with your natural defenses against the disease. If I could perform miracles, I would not be here." She puts her arm around him. "Now you are gonna get better, you just need to give it some time and take your rest." She moves across the room. "Now, if you will excuse me, I am going to make more of this for when it makes its way to town."

The cultists were infected.
"Well, Rhen. This is a true plague. It appears to be engineered in some way. It is very contagious, difficult to fight off, and deadly."
The anti-plague concoction will give you a +5 alchemical bonus on your next check (once per day). An act of heal can trigger a new save, but the healer must be able to observe that you are not getting better since your last save.

This scenario introduces a new disease that plays a prominent role in the adventure. Be sure to familiarize yourself with the affliction rules beginning on page 555-556 of the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook.
Type disease, injury, inhaled, or ingested; Save special (see below)
Onset 1d4 hours; Frequency 1/day
Effect 1 Cha damage on first day, 1d2 Con damage and 1d2 Cha damage each day thereafter; Cure 2 consecutive saves DC22 fort

Rhen, Grokar and Seldlron remain infected. Mox and Bulgard are cured but have -1 charisma.

Bulgard and Mox soon after begin to feel much better. You are no longer infected and do not have the sickened condition. You still have charisma damage. Laurel garnered enough information from the healing efforts to create a cure for the disease. After an hour or so, she finishes her brewing.
"You have been so helpful. If this disease does hit the town, I now have a way to combat it. Syntira, the nymph queen, is an ally of mine. We meet regularly to trade secrets and ingredients and what not. Should you see her, please give her my remedy. She will be able to replicate it easy enough. Here, take this as my thanks." She gives you two potions of cure moderate wounds and 24 vials of her anti-plague concoction.

Bulgard's stealth allows Laurel to concentrate better on her duties.
"Okay, I think this is a good starting point. I believe I know what to do now. You have all been so helpful. Thank you. I could not have gotten this far on my own." Laurel tends to each of you, giving you an assortment of nasty tasting reagents and making notes in her book as she treats you.

The initial effects of the plague are beginning to wear you down. The damage to your charisma is making you irritable and less friendly. You fight it.
"Seldron, Bulgard. I need some river foam from the middle of the river, not the banks. Seldlron, there was a newt in the back garden. It would be nice if you could track it down for me." She hands you both a jar with a cork in it. Seldlron has one with a cloth cover for the newt.

"Well, Rhen. I can concentrate better knowing the town is currently safe. One less thing to worry about."

9/10 successes. If I recall correctly, Bulgard has quite a few good skill numbers. Seldlron has 2 +5 skills.

Laurel smiles at Grokar as he looks about the shop as if confused. Her gaze moves to Bulgard "At least he is trying to help. What are you doing just standing there? "

LOL. 8/10 successes

"I'm beginning to get comfortable with this recipe. I think I know about how to finish it. Got a few more concerns, but I think we are getting there."

Laurel gives Grokar a glance. "If you can't take the heat, get out the kitchen."

"Well, you two are quite helpful. I ain't used to such."
4 successes, 6 to go.

Laurel makes notes of your symptoms and consults her heirloom recipe book. She goes back and forth comparing them for what seems like an eternity.
"Okay. I have never seen this illness before and it is not in my book. I can tell you it is very contagious, affects your mind, and your inner strength to fight it off. If that weren't bad enough it is going to be very hard to shake this one off. This is just nasty. Most likely a true plague of some sort. It is going to take some time to see I can even concoct a remedy. Now, let me get to work. I'll be needing you to test it on when I am done, so don't go nowhere."

Type disease, injury, inhaled, or ingested; Save Fort DC22, Onset 1d4 hours; Frequency 1/day Effect 1 Cha damage on first day, 1d2 Con damage and 1d2 Cha damage each day thereafter; Cure 2 consecutive saves.

When you enter Roots and Remedies, Laurel greets you. She notices the pustules on Seldlron, Bulgard, Rhen, and Grokar. "Oh, my. Tell me your symptoms." She looks at Mox. "My grannie told me about folks like you. I ain't never met one till now. You ain't from around here. I'm guessing the otherworldly power you made a pact with led you here because of this. You can't cure them?"

Laurel comes from a long line of wise women, each passing her secrets on to the next. While she is an accomplished herbalist in her own right, Laurel owes the most miraculous of her successes to several pages in the back of her heirloom recipe book. These few leaves of parchment overflow with notes and cryptic formulas in ancient, scrawled handwriting and are rumored to contain original recipes of the witches of Irrisen.

The herbalist carefully inspects your findings.
"Ironbloom, seven. Elderwood Moss....Rat's Tail. You boys done good. Here. Take this apple to the sheriff and he'll give you your reward. And you, woody, (pointing at Bulgard) if you ever fright me like that again you will be joinin thems. She points to a bamboo cage with two large toads in it. They both begin to croak. "Now get outta here, I gots work to do."

Laurel let's out a loud scream as she was not expecting anyone to creep up from behind. She spins around. A wand points at you.
"You! Why you gotta do me that way?" Catching her breath..... "Well, well, well, whatcha got boys? Show me the goods."

"Well, that is a start. I suggest you head to the Consortium Lumber Camp to the east and look for Milon Rhoddam, the most experienced woodsman in this region. If there is anyone who knows where these things are, it is Milon. What are you waiting on? Shoo!"

She looks at the group. "Well, y'all know where these things be?"

K Nature gets you nothing at this point. Diplomacy does get her moving in the right direction. "So these things ain't too hard to identify, it is just a matter of where to find them. Well, for the elderwood mold, there’s gotta be an oldest tree in the vale. Damned if I know where it is, though. “The rat’s tail and mushrooms are even longer shots. Way north, toward the mountains, people say there used to live a bunch of dwarves. They’re not there anymore, but I’d bet their forges are. If you can find ironbloom anywhere around here, that’d be your best bet. “As for the rat’s tail, who knows? Well. Actually. Ulizmila, the witch that lives deep in the woods might. She’s a crafty, mean thing that knows all sorts of strangeness. She might even have one. I don’t know what she might want for it, but I doubt it’d come cheap. My grandmother traded her sight to the old crone for a few pages of what she knew, and that was years and years back, and I don’t know a soul who got any nicer as they got older.”

“The recipe calls for some rare roots and concentrations, most of which I have here, but there’s three I don’t. Elderwood moss, which I’ve never heard of, but granny says the stuff only grows on the oldest tree in a forest. A specially pickled root called rat’s tail, again, sounds like hoojoo to me. And seven ironbloom mushrooms, stunty little things that only grow in dark places thick with metal, a favorite among dwarves, or so I hear.” She glances at Rhen and smiles.

The smell of burnt earth and spicy incense chokes the air of the cramped, mud-tracked shop. Bunches of dried herbs hang from the ceiling, along with dangling pots, presses, alchemical apparatuses, and glassware of more arcane purposes. Pouches of rare plants, jars of colored glass, and all manner of dried, preserved, and jellied animal parts fill high shelves and tables doing double duty as displays and workspaces. In the shop’s rear, a rail thin woman with severe looking spectacles and hair pulled back tightly busies herself between an over packed rack of herbs, a table covered in stray powders and measuring equipment, and a pot loudly bubbling over with thick gray froth. Over the din of her work and without looking up, the woman impatiently shouts, “And what’s your problem?”

Hearing the ruckus that Reinar has started, Laurel goes to the door and yells at the crowd. "Did the sheriff send you? If he did, get yourself in here. And y'all let em on through. This won't take long."

Surprised by Bulgar's approach, Laurel draws a wand and says "what the eff, who the eff. Upon hearing Bulgars words she does not cast and says "Alright already bring him in, use the back door."