... The family of otters begins working diligently in cleaning off their battered kin as the patron moves in front of Effan and Hozs ** spoiler omitted **...
... The family of otters begins working diligently in cleaning off their battered kin as the patron moves in front of Effan and Hozs ** spoiler omitted **...
Oops, Faldor check the Spoiler also.
The two bedraggled otters draw a shuddering breath as the healing magic pours into them and after a moment they rise on shaking legs and are soon smothered by their family members racing in to sniff and lick their loved ones. The family of otters begins working diligently in cleaning off their battered kin as the patron moves in front of Effan and Hozs ** spoiler omitted **
After several minutes the otters all seem to be doing fine and are playfully leaping around the party as the raft is secured for the night and camp is set. A couple of the otters slide into the water and disappear, returning ten or so minutes later with three fat ring-finned salmon, each more than 2-1/2 feet long and characterized by their loop-like markings on their dorsal fin. Several other otters leave and return with a collection of freshwater clams, which they leave in a pile on some of the excavated clay of beach. Yip-yap the fox seems to have gotten into a game of tag with a couple of the younger members of the otter family as the sun begins to dip below the horizon.....one more day should get you home to Falcon's Hollow. Hopefully you arrive in time....
Moving it to the new page.
Before bed, Hozs will speak with the otters and gather as much information as possible about the future of the raft trip. In the morning, Miss Squeek and Hozs will attempt to teach their katas routine to the agile otters.
Keegan's hungry. He steals a few furtive glances at the otters, but thinks better of it, settling for a few bits of jerky.
"Hmmmm..."
Keegan's hungry. He steals a few furtive glances at the otters, but thinks better of it, settling for a few bits of jerky.
"Hmmmm..."
Keegan's hungry. He steals a few furtive glances at the otters, but thinks better of it, settling for a few bits of jerky.
"Hmmmm..."
Keegan looks suspiciously at the fish.
"Last time I sees fishes, they's in being not any shorta shiny fer nobody's right keeshkas. I aint'nt touching those ones."
He spits on the ground and continues devouring his ill-smelling jerky.
His speak with animals long expired Effan smiles (he hopes )gratefully at the otters and their gift of fish. Taking the fish he guts and cleans them, tossing Catharine, and the foxes if they're interested, the heads and tails. (Hopefully someone will gather some wood and we can have a fire. Otherwise its sushi tonight. Ugghh.
His speak with animals long expired Effan smiles (he hopes )gratefully at the otters and their gift of fish. Taking the fish he guts and cleans them, tossing Catharine, and the foxes if they're interested, the heads and tails. (Hopefully someone will gather some wood and we can have a fire. Otherwise its sushi tonight. Ugghh.
Fire, fresh fish. It's a good night on the riverside. After a good meal, a little relaxation, maybe Faldor will give us a tune. Effan volunteers for the last watch and rolls off to bed.
Jaden keeps to him self for this last leg of the quest. He thinks of his wife, and hopes she will make it.
Faldor tries to fine tune his ballad he is creating subvocalizing the words to the song so it comes out as a barely audible hum. He gives Jahn the mostly uneaten fish and aks Effan to wake him to help during the final watch before himself turning in.
Faldor tries to fine tune his ballad he is creating subvocalizing the words to the song so it comes out as a barely audible hum. He gives Jahn the mostly uneaten fish and aks Effan to wake him to help during the final watch before himself turning in.
** spoiler omitted **
Effan grins and switches softly to draconic to reply to Faldor:
** spoiler omitted **
Faldor and Effan
The night passes uneventfully except for an incident where one of the otters got it's head wedged into one of Jaden's boots and ran around 'booting' people for three or four minutes before Hozs managed to dive on it and aid in removing the odoriferous headgear from the poor creature.
In the morning everyone except for Keegan awakens to 1-3 otters spooning them for warmth and friendship (the otters seem to keep their distance from Keegan, somehow knowing that danger lies in that area).
The breaking of camp and preparing to shove off once again is a relatively quick affair and the sun is bright and warm on this autumn day. You should make it back to town today. Hope swells in some of the group's hearts and is quickly overcome by a sense of dread.....How many townsfolk lie dead to the Blackscour Taint? Is your loved one alright? Could you have moved quicker?......
....
A slow grin spreads over Effan's face. "Aye. That could be done. It would be an improvement too. Sus wonder I didn't think of it."
....A slow grin spreads over Effan's face. "Aye. That could be done. It would be an improvement too. Sus wonder I didn't think of it."
"Hmm, what be you two conversin' 'bout, eh droogies?"
Effan looks down, avoiding eye contact, then raises his head smiling broadly. "Why, a bit of stitching is unraveling from your boot there, Keegan. Faldor spotted it and thought I should fix it up for you. I am a cobbler by trade."
Effan looks down, avoiding eye contact, then raises his head smiling broadly. "Why, a bit of stitching is unraveling from your boot there, Keegan. Faldor spotted it and thought I should fix it up for you. I am a cobbler by trade."
"Nah, friend-o, it's all shiny."
Keegan senses that something is horribly, horribly wrong...
During the final watch Faldor begins his work upon Keegan slowly altering his clothing removing stains and other questionable markings from his clothing and then begins making his metalic objects buffed to a shine. The last thing to be completed is the aroma of lavender and sandelwood giving Keegan a pleasent clean smell that Faldor suspects that he has never been known to have.
During the final watch Faldor begins his work upon Keegan slowly altering his clothing removing stains and other questionable markings from his clothing and then begins making his metalic objects buffed to a shine. The last thing to be completed is the aroma of lavender and sandelwood giving Keegan a pleasent clean smell that Faldor suspects that he has never been known to have.
Effan helps, using mending to repair rips and tears in Keegan's clothes, paying special attention to his boots.
**
After helping beautify Keegan, Effan tosses in his sleep through the final watch. His dreams are plagued by a talking rabbit who takes a bite from a carrot and asks. "Ehhh, Next?"
Faldor pulls out his ration and begins eating at the oats and dried fruit he had forgotten about. Not fully enjoying the dried meat and hard bread and cheese that comes in most rations Faldor loves the trail mix.
All the while humming to himself and actually thinking the boat ride won't be too bad today.
The group casts off finally for home. With every passing hour the terrain is looking more and more familiar. Several trails of smoke rise in the distance indicative of the town's location and the raft flows quickly by several outlying farms until it finally reaches the edge of town and Ferrymaster Skiff's docks. Noting that this is probably the best place to end the water-bound leg of the journey. Traveling to Laurel's shop, Roots and Remedies, is only going take another 15 minutes or so.
"Hello guys, I have missed you," Hozs tells the horses at the ferry. "Uhmmm... and hello Pa," he tells his father. He tries to remember when his next shift is. "uhmm... we have to hurry to Laural's."
Jaden does not wait for anytime to pass on makeing land, he(and i asume Keegan will also be close) Jaden double times it to the healer, hopeing the other will understand not waiting up for those who can't keep pace
"We will meet at the healer's hut. We will step it out, do not worry about keeping up. Laural needs what we have."
Faldor pulls out his ration and begins eating at the oats and dried fruit he had forgotten about. Not fully enjoying the dried meat and hard bread and cheese that comes in most rations Faldor loves the trail mix.
All the while humming to himself and actually thinking the boat ride won't be too bad today.
Keegan stretches, yawning, his serrated teeth looking even more disconcerting next to his newly clean and scrubbed countenance.
"I feels shiny, I does. Fabulous, even."
Jaden does not wait for anytime to pass on makeing land, he(and i asume Keegan will also be close) Jaden double times it to the healer, hopeing the other will understand not waiting up for those who can't keep pace
"We will meet at the healer's hut. We will step it out, do not worry about keeping up. Laural needs what we have."
"Righty-sir, then."
He pauses.
"Why did I agree to do this again, eh?"
A wicked grin spreads across Keegan's face.
The party high-tails it to Laural's shop shoving through the lunch-time crowds of people on the way.
Some snippets of conversation heard along the way:
"...too many dead. May take whole town...."
"...bar is boring without no music, isn't that the bard running..."
"...one o' de priests fell to the Blacksc...."
"...don't think my little girl is gonna make..."
"...turnips cost twice what they did last..."
The party high-tails it to Laural's shop shoving through the lunch-time crowds of people on the way.
Some snippets of conversation heard along the way:
"...too many dead. May take whole town...."
The whole town? Hozs shivers at the thought.
"...bar is boring without no music, isn't that the bard running..."
"...one o' de priests fell to the Blacksc...."
The priests too? "I hope Laural is OK..."
"...don't think my little girl is gonna make..."
Hozs nearly whimpers at this. "We hurried as fast as we could!" he cries.
"...turnips cost twice what they did last..."
Well that is conversely related to supply and demand economics. People dying is less demand, so turnips should be cheaper not more expensive. Unless of course if Turnip Johnny died, who will pick his crop or keep the hogs out of the fields?
"Uhmmm.... ecomonics..." Hozs runs as fast as he can crying out for Laural as soon as they are close to her hut.
The party filters into Laural's shop as fast as they can, pushing past a line of people and sick kin, some on hastily constructed litters. Jaden spies Denick Miller standing near the front of the line with a form wrapped in blankets at his feet. It appears to be Victellia in a near coma-like state.
Jaden nearly knocks the line of people down upon seeing Denick holding Victellia. He grabs her up, holding her close.
"No, i will not have it. I will not lose you." Laural !!, we have what you need, now hurry."
Jaden lifts Victellia in his arms and heads into the healers hut, pushing past anyone in his way.
Effan follows the others up the street to Laurel's , but his short legs can't quite keep up with the big ones'. Catharine threads easily through the crowd. The whispers and rumors in the crowd stir up his anxiety over Mary.
He reaches Laurel's a few moments behind the others.
Laurel turns from ministering to a near dead-looking girl child of about 8 years age as Jaden storms into the shoppe, beloved in his arms,"I hadn't the heart to hope for your return. Please tell me that you have the ingredients! I can stave off the Blackscour's effects no longer!"
You can?! Thank the Spirits!
Keegan wanders around looking bored, occasionally staring bemusedly at an unattended corpse, abandoned home, or lost child. He's having enough of a time remembering why exactly he agreed to go on the little expedition, much less why he isn't getting paid, or where the hell Raphael went.
There isn't anyone in the town that Keegan was ever attached to, and, though he wishes he didn't, feels a bit of satisfaction knowing that the hellhole he has called home of twenty-seven years is on the verge of collapse. Finally growing bored of the rest of the group's caterwauling, he wonders if he should follow Jaden, or merely go looking for some food.
Keegan wanders around looking bored, occasionally staring bemusedly at an unattended corpse, abandoned home, or lost child. He's having enough of a time remembering why exactly he agreed to go on the little expedition, much less why he isn't getting paid, or where the hell Raphael went.
There isn't anyone in the town that Keegan was ever attached to, and, though he wishes he didn't, feels a bit of satisfaction knowing that the hellhole he has called home of twenty-seven years is on the verge of collapse. Finally growing bored of the rest of the group's caterwauling, he wonders if he should follow Jaden, or merely go looking for some food.
Effan stumping along behind the group catches sight of the scout wanderinf into the crowd. "Keegan! Come on. Don't you want to see if Laurel can use what we brought?"
As the party files in at their staggered rate the ingredients are all produced and presented to Laurel who begins working at a feverish pace to reduce the ingredients into a usable form. Grating and pulping and drying the mushroom paste before a vent just above the mantle meant for such a task, the Elderwood mold is tossed into a large marble bowl and ground to powder with the matching club like device that together make up a mortar and pestle, the Rat's Tail root is then stuffed into a press and a thick liquid is collected that smells of earth. The ingredients are then all tossed into a large silver bowl and mixed with several other more common remedy ingredients like the juice from the Firefern succulent and a healthy amount of oils from a jar labeled "Grimwalk Trout Oil" and several different herbs.
She then begins mixing furiously with a heated spoon of some sort of mixed metal, maybe brass and copper that she swaps out with ones being kept heated near the fire as they cool.
It takes most of an hour before she finally is done and the mixture is a syrupy gray colored liquid that smells of the earth and herbs and medicine and fills most of the silver bowl. It looks like about 3 gallons of mixture is made.
She dips a measuring spoon into the mixture and pulls it out and pours the small amount into a small metal vial then begins filling several more. After getting a dozen filled she seals up half of them with pieces of waxed vellum.
To Jaden she turns and hands an open vial "give this to her now, no spilling! She'll need to swallow it all. It should start clearing her phlegm and bile out almost immediately. Then give her the sealed vial tomorrow morning. Tonight will be messy but it is necessary to clear out her throat and lungs of the Taint that Blackscour has done to her. She will be unable to speak for the next two days as her throat heals but she should pull through." She looks to the rest of the party, "who else that you care for has need of this medicine? Take 2 vials and administer them as I told Jaden to. I must start distributing the cure to the rest of the sick. Come back tomorrow and I will give you all recompense for your work and a better manner of thanks."
With that she turns and begins ministering to the sick within the shoppe before pouring more vials of the cure.
Effan enters as the herbalist begins her cooking. Too anxious to leave, hoping for the best, the gnome sits perched on a countertop in an out of the way corner with Catharine. He doesn't feel like talking, but strokes the cat.
Once or twice, Effan amuses himself detecting magic quietly while Laurel proceeds. He just wants to find out if the recipe is all natural or has magic elements.
***
Effan gratefully takes the vials and heads for Mary's shack at his best speed. He pauses at the door, before opening it and going through. "Mary?" He makes his way through the small house toward her bed.
Keegan looks about for any opportune damsels to rescue from the throes of the Blackscour.
As the run to the healer begins Faldor chants out a fast paced song and rushes after Jaden keeping pace as his short legs blur into motion.
After the cure is created Faldor offers his help in handing out the vials to those who are unable to make it to the healer in their state.
[..."Grimwalk Trout Oil"...
Hozs attempts to help Lauren mix... "MMMmmmhhh Grimwalk trout ...aghmmmm..."
Effan- No magic in the ingredients but the silver bowl radiates a minor aura of universal magicks and the warming spoons radiate a faint aura also. The final product seems to retain a slight aura from their usage also, as if she has brewed in some magic somehow. She is a truly gifted herbalist and probably doesn't realize that her mixtures have a slight magic to them.
Keegan- There are several ladies in the line, pick a type of woman and roll me a diplomacy check.
Faldor- Laural nods wearily at the offered help in thanks and seems relieved by the assistance.
Hozs- Your help is graciously limited to very minor and idiot-proof tasks that have little bearing on the product but serve to make Hozs feel like he was very helpful and needed.....the same way she has always treated her slightly challenged friend. She obviously bears a fondness for Hozs and works hard to make him feel like an equal.
"Thank you, i will do what you ask."
Jaden gives Victellia the liquid, makeing sure not to spill any. After she gets it down, he lifts her up, and carries her home.
"I will return tomorrow and help in anyway i can. Hors, when you are done helping, would you come and join us. She will be happy to see you when she is better."