Laurel Usessa's page

Laurel chuckles at Illiam's joke for a moment, but then looks pensive, and looks him in the eyes to say. That might have worked well for me because in the past week I haven't gone anywhere. The only scent I would have left would have been in my place, to Jak's or to the Tribunal. You'll get no such luck from Kimi. That girl is literally all around town. You might be chasing your tail, so to speak, for hours on end, following tracks that double back on themselves three and four times.

Laurel swallows a way-too-big bite of ham and mumbles to Illiam through full mouth. Yesh.

Laurel laughs aloud at Chillel's intimation about Payden and Kreed suffering similar fates, a good, hearty bellowing laugh. She smiles and says, Thank you Chillel, I needed that. Then turning to Goruck, with water welling in her eyes, she says, Yes, Goruck, I would very much like to see some of those the cure has helped. I've wanted to see nothing more ever since you all arrived from Almas. Please, lead on. With that she reaches a hand down and tries, unsuccessfully to flatten out her wrinkled clothing, no doubt she's been sleeping in it for the past few days. Realizing it is no good she lets out a soft harumph! but follows as Goruck, Baradim, and Chillel lead her down the street.

Thank you so much! Laurel says, almost in tears, hugging Baradim, Goruck, and Chillel each in turn. Gavel Kreed's complaint against me was so ridiculous, some of the customers in my shop starting arguing with the guards that came for me, and they got beaten up for their loyalty. She says with zero care for who might be listening, even though you all stand just outside the Tribunal and just on the edge of a crowded market. Then she leans in to Baradim's ear, though, and whispers, I would feel not the least bit sad if I woke up one day and somebody told me Gavel Thuldrin Kreed was dead. She runs her fingers through her slightly greasy and disheveled hair, trying, vainly to smooth and straighten it, and then says, Of course then Payden would just take over and we'd lose one idiot just to replace him with another. Ahhhh. She sighs heavily. That seems to be the way of the world doesn't it?

Whatever your plans, I urge you to get to them quickly. If these Sylvan words are true, we've already lost many members of the town to this disease, ill, now, beyond cure. Let us lose no more, if we can. For my own part I can tell you that I would not look to Vade for help. Hildrinsocks is tight-lipped, but he is a true friend to the Vale, and could be convinced to help. While you go about your evenings, I'll stay here and look through my books for anything else I might be able to offer in guidance. I'll come to Jak's in the morning and tell you anything I've found. Again, I suggest you waste no more time dallying, but go, and do what must be done. Laurel's voice bleeds stress with her urgent words, and she all but pushes the envoy from Almas and their newfound Vale comrades from her shop. Now, in the street, you must decide, follow Illiam in looking for local help, or follow Lunarinus and Lady Cirthana to the magistrate to garner permission to exhume and burn the bodies of those that have died of the Necrotic Death?

Show me the original entry, if you would. Laurel says, and Lunarinus heaves the hefty tome out of his pack, unwraps it from his bedroll and sets it on her counter. The page itself is easy to find since the edges of the pages near it are all slightly burnt. When Lunarinus opens the book to the page, she notices the burnt edges and gives him a quizzical look. He just points at Dolok, and says, don't ask. She looks over the entry for a moment, and taps her finger against her full lips repeatedly. After perusing it for a moment, she looks at the group and says, I don't think things are quite as grim as you may have originally thought. It just so happens that I speak Sylvan myself, among a handful of other languages. This word "mükəmməl" means perfect, which could mean "holy," but I think here it just means, purified, meaning all impurities are removed. So, no need to empty the holy water censers. As for the ingredients. the first three are no problem, in fact I have a massive amount of all three of them on stock, and can call in some favors to greatly increase my stocks from the locals in a day or two. The last three though... She walks away from the book, behind the counter, and reaching under the counter pulls up another book, a green canvas bound journal. After flipping through it for just a few moments, she claps it shut and sets it down. Elderwood moss is a moss that only grows on the eldest tree in a forest. Ironbloom mushrooms tend to grow, rather rapidly actually, on rusting and decaying iron, funnily enough. If there were going to be some in close proximity, I'd say they're probably growing on the rusting forges of the old Dwarven monastery at the base of Droskar's Crag. She pauses again, and this time looks right at Lady Cirthana when she speaks. As for pickled rat-tail root. I have no idea whatsoever, but I know someone that might. There's a witch that lives somewhere in the forest. My mother used to trade secrets with her occasionally. Her name is Ulizmilla, she's a recluse, but not dangerous, at least so far as I know from my mother's stories. My guess is, if anyone around here knows, she does. Unfortunately that leaves us grasping at gossamer webs for two vital ingredients. Who even knows where the eldest tree of the woods is? The situation may not be terrible, but we've definitely got our work cut out for us, that's for certain. She says, exhaling sharply.

I used Azerbaijani for Sylvan.

Everybody OUT! Now. I'm closing for the day. Shew. She says, coming around from behind the counter and urging people out with wild gesticulation. Out, out, out. I'll open again on the morrow, god's willing with more helpful brews to ease this plague. She says trying to offer some sort of hope in the face of this ailment.

Once the shop is empty but for the envoy, and the handful of valers. She locks the double locks, and says, So he is with you? Pointing at the halfling.

Before Laurel unlocks the door to her shop to let the envoy from Almas out the door, she snaps her finger. You know, I almost forgot, in the shock of Kairon's medicine, and your arrival. You said you have Kreed's approval. Can I see that writ? She waits while Kairon fishes out the Gavel's scroll of passage and aid. She looks it over and smiles, but doesn't give it back immediately. Instead she goes behind the counter, and fiddles around with something under the counter for a moment, discerning ears hear a metallic click. When she gives the scroll back to Kairon, she also hands him a gold piece. This is for what you did for Daermod. You may not think it was that important, but trust me, to this town it was, and to me. I know healing supplies aren't cheap. If you all can find a cure, I hope you'll consider working here with me to make sure all of the Hollow can be helped. After placing Kreed's scroll and the Andoran gold piece in his hands, she unlocks the door and swings it open. Seeing no one immediately outside, she steps onto the street, and looks up at the sun, right at its zenith. She closes her eyes, face upraised absorbing the bright heat, and for the briefest of moments a smile crosses her mouth. As Lunarinus and Kairon walk away, people are already moving from up and down the street to return to her shop. She calls to the men when they are just a bit down the road. Good luck gents! Don't forget, I'm here if you have any questions!

At Lunarinus' oath Laurel smiles a broad smile. I knew a paladin once, many years ago now. Her dark Garundi eyes seem to drift off for a moment, then come back and focus on Lunarinus. I take you at your word, and bind you to your oath. The book is under your protection until it is returned to me. She then turns to Kairon. As to your question, unfortunately, you see true sorrow in her eyes as she speaks, no, I do not. The book is so disorganized, and nowadays I rarely need to turn to it, since most of the entries that have been of use to me, I've memorized. You are correct that it could take one person days to search through it, and even then, you might pass it over if that entry is written in a foreign language. It is a true hunt you undertake. The cure might indeed lie within your fingertips. She says as she stands and hands Lunarinus the book. But it might take a prayer to find it. As she says prayer and rests the book in Lunarinus' hands, she brushes her fingers seductively across the back of his hand. A move that is hidden from Kairon by the thick book.

She begins to walk away then, back downstairs. I entrust the book to you both, but I must get back to my shop and my people. You are free to look at the book up here, or to take it elsewhere. I wish you all gods' luck. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask, though I would have you do me the favor of coming after the shop is closed, which, of late, has been an hour or two after the streetlamps are lit. With that she leaves, already halfway down the stairs.

Behind the beaded curtain you are greeted by shelves from floor to ceiling of plants, growing in pots, collected in bundles of string, dried, and jarred in liquid. There are animal parts, fungi, vials of dust, vials of various colored liquids, and all manner of other strange and exotic ingredients. In fact this small closet, for it can seem to be nothing else houses so many ingredients that there is barely a pathway noticeable on the floor. To the left is a door, that can only lead outside, but it has apparently not been used in some time, as there are two barrels placed directly up against it, on top of which are stacks of dried herbs, and sacks full of Laurel only knows what. To the right is a narrow and steep wooden staircase, and you just witness Laurels feet as she disappears turning right at the top of the stairs.

Following her up the stairs reveals what must be Laurel's living quarters. There is no bed, only piles of cushions and pillows in one corner, a thick grey wolf pelt covers the floor, and various brass lamps are placed on low tables throughout. There are a few cupboards and shelves, but they are sporadically filled or empty. These though are not filled with ingredients, but books. All of the rest of the room, suddenly gets lost though, as you see Laurel sit down, on a slim cushion on the floor, right next to what is one of the biggest books you've ever seen.

Leather bound, full of cracks, with metal binding, and a jeweled silver clasp, the book is a full two feet from the bottom cover, which rests on the floor next to the wolf pelt, to the top cover on which is the hasp for the silver clasp. There is a Garundi mark burned into the cracking leather that looks like an upper case U next to a lowercase z. There are several edges of papers that appear to be stuck into the book, not originally part of it.

Laurel opens the tome, and flips through it quickly, and you suddenly realize why finding anything in the book is so difficult. Two reasons. The first, there is nothing seeming to resemble organization in it. One page has a recipe for tea to soothe a women's monthly cramps, and the next is a drawing of a leaf from a very unfamiliar tree. As she turns further into the book, you realize that not every page is written in the same script, and worse, they aren't all even written in the same language.

This, my friends, is why I haven't had time or knowledge enough to know if a cure is in here. I think I remember coming across an entry that mentioned blackscour, but I haven't been able to find it again, and there are languages in here, that I don't speak. She looks at Lunarinus and Kairon expectantly. I sincerely hope it can help, and I am willing to let you take it, but I must have a guarantee that I will get it back. It, after all, is the source of my livelihood.

After watching the halfling stand silent for a moment, Laurel comes from behind the counter, opening a small hinged door that is blended into the counter, and pushes him out the door. After closing the door to her shop she takes out a brass key and locks it, then pulls a chain across and hooks it into a padlock. That done, she turns to the envoy and says, Lunarinus, Kairon, it is my pleasure to make your acquaintance, but I won't be able to keep that door shut for very long. People are sick, very sick.edit to fix narrative continuity The miller wouldn't tell you he was sick, he'd never admit it, but trying your tincture to make sure it was safe, was probably the best thing he ever did. With his symptoms eased, he'll be better equipped to take care of them. Whether his family lives or dies, doesn't depend on easing of symptoms though. It depends on a cure. My mother's tome of knowledge, I think, has mentioned something about blackscour fungus. I don't even know if it will be of any help. I hope it will. I hope you can find what I lacked the time and know-how to myself. She goes back behind the counter, and then pulls aside the beads on a beaded-curtain doorway that leads to a small room in the back of her shop. Follow me boys. She says, and then disappears behind the curtain and you hear her footsteps as they traverse a set of stairs.

Laurel looks at the halfling, with just as serious a facial expression as she gave all her other customers. I'm going to have to ask you to leave, again, little man. She says, her voice suddenly so thick with Garundi accent, you wonder where or why she's been hiding it before. Standing akimbo, she points at the halfling, and then at the door. Now. We've got important things to discuss.

Laurel's visage suddenly becomes very serious, and she looks at the customers in line in her shop, and says, with zero sarcasm, I need you all to get out. She gives them all a minute to grumble, but what just happened, and the appearance of these strangers has convinced them more important things are happening, and they all leave without further trouble. All that is, except for a halfling that has stood leaning against the wall, silent, and watching. Laurel looks from the envoy to him, and then asks: Is he with you?