Laurel stops working for the first time since you set foor in the shop.
"Oh so your the ones deldrin recruited for this, I'll tell you now Brit I'm not even convinced this will work but were out of options right now, I've tried everything! and to make matters worse Deldrin only went and got the whole town worked up last night didnt he, so now i've got every bugger with a scabbed knee or chest cold queued up outside thinking they've got the blackscour taint too!" She says pointing at the door. "I swear, that deldrin...he's got the strength of an ox but sometimes I think he's got the brains to match." She smirks to herself at this comment but quickly shakes it off.
"No time for smiles" she says to herself as she wanders over to a large desk and pulls out an enormous old book. "Anyway..." she says, tipping her glasses closer to the edge of her nose "Theres three ingredients I dont have for this that I'd like you to fetch, if you can find them that is. There's Elderwood moss, a dark red moss that only grows on the oldest tree in the forest, wherever that is. A specially pickled root called rat's tail, 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."
Laurel starts to get back to her work pouring mixtures and herbs into various vials whilst chatting away. "Now im sure you have lots of questions so ask me while I work, those people tha' already got the taint need something to keep em going whilst your busy in the forest"
Upon hearing Laurel say this, he just shakes his head in confusion. Give him the open sea any day rather than this talk of rats tails, mosses, and dwarf mushrooms. Glancing at Britton and seeing the other man concentraing to remember something doesn't encourage him. Turning to Mezari, who he judges to be a healer of some sort and knows something of this outdoors stuff, simply asks
"Know what she's talkin' about?"
Rat's Tail: you definetly remember this one, as the process for pickling the root was drilled into your memory when you became a witch. The rat's tail root, once properly pickled, is used for summoning a replacement familiar for a witch. It normally grows deep in the soil underneath swamp land.
Ironbloom Mushrooms: They are indeed a dwarven delicacy and are usually found growing in places where dwarves frequent, such as mines or other dwarven structures, where the mushrooms feed off the thick metals such as Iron (hence the name).
Mezari nods to Felmor. "I'm familiar with the various plants and their uses. The root is found deep below in swampland, the fungus in mines and other locales rich in metal. The moss would indeed grow on the forest's eldest tree; if I remember correctly from my lessons from my mother and aunt, who once visited this forest, the tree in question grows to the east of the lake at the wood's center. A few hours' walk, at most. With fortune the whole can be retrieved in a single day."
After listening to Mezari, Grn'nak smiles. "Good news indeed. I definitely prefer sleeping by the hearth than in the woods."
Felmor nods at Mezari, and says,
"Aye, thats settled then, lets get started. I don' fancy th' idea of hanging in the Darkwoods at night."
I'm familiar with the various plants and their uses...etc.
Upon hearing this Laurel looks up from her work, then when Felmor and Grn'nak have finished speaking she wanders over, a vial still in her hands.
"You seem to know much err...Mezari was it? she says addressing the gnome. "I'm glad to hear that you know of root but well...all the swampland within a 10 days hike of Droskar's crag, all the way down to Olfden, is wildly unpredictable. There's superheated mud pools, boiling hot geyseys and the land near them aint even that stable too. Take the last merchant caravan that came this way, they hired a cheap guide, took a wrong turn at painter's pot and the ground itself swallowed them up...only one poor sod make it back here and he was lucky! So if this root is really found under swampland its not from round here..." she pauses for a second seemingly caught in a moment of insight, then rushes over to her huge book and picks it up. "This book was written by my Grandmother" she says excitedly "But she got all her knowledge from a Witch called Ulizmila. Bit of a crazy one, my granny had to trade her sight to get the crone to teach her, but if anyone knows how to harvest the root, it'll be her!"
The gnome nods with a slight frown. "Yes, that would complicate things... nothing is ever quite that simple is it?"
She nods again at the mention of the old witch of the forest. "I am familiar with the name, though finding her location would be slightly more difficult. It is a lead however, something we lacked before, gives us a place to start." She glances between Laurel and Britton, hoping one of the two locals will know better how to find the witch.
Laurel pipes up after Mezari's comment. "If you want to know where she lives the best person to go see would be Milon Rhodam, he knows where pretty everything is in the forest. Hell, he might even know whether theres any mines nearby too."
"That sounds good. Why don't we track down this Milon, and see what he might know about this witch, and maybe if he knows of any dwarvish ruins in the area?"
Felmor nods at the half orc. "Aye, a ship that don't leave on th'high tide finds itself stuckin th' mud. Times waistin'."
"Well whatever you do, do it fast! there's people dieing every day and that queue outside aint gettin' any shorter. In fact...You've been in here way too long so git! go on! find those ingredients for me before we all end up dead!" says Laurel, shoeing you out of her shop.
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"We can check out the consortium's main camp north of town for Milon. He should be there."
Looking squarely at Laurel. "Make sure to take special care of Eliza...." Brit's voice wavers, the first time he's shown emotion since seeing his sick niece. "You keep her alive until we get back with what you need."
Mezari simply nods and weaves her way out of the shop. Once outside she waits until Brit emerges then follows his lead.
Grn'nak gives a grunt in acknowledgment to Laurel, and makes his way outside. Once there, he takes notice of the little witch, and makes his way over to wait by her.
Felmor moves to join his new crew outside of the shop, leaving Britton a few moments of privacy to talk to Laurel about his niece.
"It was nice meeting you, Laurel," Armandia says, (although this is, in point of fact, the first time Armandia has spoken to her,) and leaves to join the others.
Outside the line of Sullen townsfolk has gotten longer...much longer. The line now stretches down the street followed by the hacking, spluttering coughs of the sick. When you all step outside a scawny woman in a long dirty dress barges past you "Took your sweet time din't you!" she says "Hope you find a cure"
The sun is now fully over the horizon as the dawn's warm rays embrace you.
Adventure awaits...
Grn'nak will rush to catch up with Britton. "So, how well do you know this Milon, Brit? Is he friendly or like the folks from the line?"
You all plod along the well worn path on your way out of the town as Grn'nak and Brit start up their conversation. It doesnt take long to get to the town gates and after that the five of you tread the dusty, woodchip coated path north of the town.
The vast mountain of tree's that is the darkwood forest looms ahead. It stretches as fair as you can see east to west, the only other visable landmark being the massive volcano visable to the north east, Droskar's crag.
After following the path for barely ten minutes you come across a crossroads...
Dust clouds form in your wake as you set a heavy pace to quickly get to the lumber consortium main camp. Tree stumps litter the plains around the path, like scars upon the landscape they are the only reminders of the size the once proud darkwood forest used to be. The path is well worn and used regularly. You pass many lumberjacks and hired hands going to and from the camp, most don't acknowledge your existence but a few give a subtle nod to Brit and sometimes the whole group.
It takes just over an hour to reach the main camp, which consists of five sturdy-looking log buildings surrounded by wide carts and precariously balanced log piles. Sawdust chokes the air itself, whilst the breeze scatters the woodchips to the wind as they rise and fall to the beat of the axe. You count roughly twelve loggers and lumberjacks milling around, hauling logs and strapping them to the wagons. A couple of them are armed and seem to be guarding the largest of the buildings.
Two of the lumberjacks working on the cart closest to you have spotted you. The smallest of them, a scrawny man with long red hair points your way and says something to his companion. The two of them wander over your way, axes slung over their backs. "What business you got ere'?" says the larger of the two men, a surly muscular man with shoulder length greying hair and a full bushy beard.
"He's busy" replies the larger man gruffly.
"Are you here on consortium business?" says the smaller man in a high pitched voice, "Theres no entry except on consortium business". He recieves a non too subtle elbow in the ribs from his companion for this comment.
Grn'nak moves forward, "Yeah, we're here on consortium business."
Bluff:
The squeeky voiced smaller man stands up taller at this and says proudly "You should go talk to Mr Krookshavits then, he's the boss around here".
The larger man folds his arms and gives his companion a patronizing look, "They know who to go see Bill, they're here on business"
"I was just reminding them Ben!" sounds the other man's grating voice "They might have forgotten!"
"Yeah yeah whatever" says the larger man, dismissing his companion. "Come on lets get back to work, the boss wants us shift some flowerpots after this, heavens knows why!" and with that he walks back to the wagon, his smaller companion trailing after him.
"The boss is in the big guarded building!" shouts Bill as an afterthought.
As you all walk the 200 odd metres to the guarded building, stares and sideways glances assault you from all sides. The guards shift their spears at your approach but as they do a short man with bunched muscles and long red hair emerges out of the forest carrying a bear-trap. The guards nods to him as he approaches the door "G'day Milon" greets one of the guards...
Milon turns round from the steps of the building and looks around curiously. His eyes rest upon Brit and the group but there is no smile or greeting upon his face. "I havnt got time for jokes Brit, I'm busy, what do you and your friends want" he says indicating the group.
An eagerness shines in Milon's eyes. "Yes yes of course! I didnt even know Laurel had found a cure! Thank the gods, my nephew may yet live! Now Ulizmila's hut...its a two hour hike west from the elder tree of the forest, if you get lost get to higher ground and look for a small clearing, the huts in there. Now there aint no cave systems this side of the mountains, but theres a few dwarven ruins that should have at least a few ironblooms. The closest and safest is Droskar's Crucible, its only small but you can't miss it, just keep travelling east from Ulizmila's hut then when you reach the edge of the forest follow the foot of the mountain north until you reach it. ok? now git going, you can enter the forest from here, the sooner you go the less people'll die, including my nephew. I assume that was everything you needed?
Felmor walks along silently to himself not saying a word. He did not like these woods at all. Already he could feel them pressing down upon his body. He wondered if he could keep going. Looking at the companions he just joined up with, he realizes maybe if he could trust them and let them help him he could get through this.
Aloud he says, Don't wanna hold ya up further, but any dangers we should be aware of either from this witch, or at those ruins ya mentioned?"
Grn'nak looks to Britton. "As long as you can find us this elder tree and keep us heading in one direction that should be good enough."
As Felmor steps forward and asks his question Grn'nak grunts..."Hmm, yeah that might be good information to know before cutting through."
Milon places one hand on his hip and speaks hurriedly, seemingly eager to share his information. "Well no-ones seen the witch in over a decade, but then again no-ones ever dared go in her house so she could still be around. Watch out she's a nasty old crone. As for the ruins I've only been there once and the only thing i noticed was an unusual amount of wolves about. I mean theres always wolves in the Darkmoon woods, but this place...there was a lot! Oh and one other thing, watch out for these" he says holding up the bear trap in his hand "some bastard's been setting these things all over forest. Ol' Jack got caught in one an it was three hours afore anyone found im, the man wont walk for at least another week, nasty things they are, that...
Milon goes to continue talking but a loud voice issues from the log building "RHODAM!!" it shouts angrily.
"Shit. I have to go" mutters Milon "I wish i could go with you but my family needs the coin, may Erastil guide your path" and with that Milon enter's the building leaving you standing on the wooden steps.
The little gnome, mostly silent and following along behind for the duration of the inquiry, absorbs the information with calculating eyes and journalistic memory. Her only expression is a momentary slight smirk at the referral to Ulizmila as a "nasty old crone", and it flickers away back to a neutral expression just as quickly as it appeared.
Once he departs she nods to Grn'nak and Brit. "I know where the tree is, enough to get us there... though I only know a general location, any obstacles or other problems that may be in our path I will have to defer to our guide." She nods respectfully in Brit's direction. "Sounds as if we can find the tree we can find everything except the swamp root just by following the directions."
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The little gnome, mostly silent and following along behind for the duration of the inquiry, absorbs the information with calculating eyes and journalistic memory. Her only expression is a momentary slight smirk at the referral to Ulizmila as a "nasty old crone", and it flickers away back to a neutral expression just as quickly as it appeared.
Once he departs she nods to Grn'nak and Brit. "I know where the tree is, enough to get us there... though I only know a general location, any obstacles or other problems that may be in our path I will have to defer to our guide." She nods respectfully in Brit's direction. "Sounds as if we can find the tree we can find everything except the swamp root just by following the directions."
"I agree," Brit replies. "We'll have to cross a river to get to the forest's heart."
Grn'nak nods.
"As long as you know the way, I'm good to go."
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Brit kneels down and gives Lord a treat as he speaks looking north into the forest. "We can head straight north from here 'til we hit the eastern edge of Droskmere Lake. The river narrows at the northern end of the lake so we should be able to cross around there. Then we can travel northwest until we stumble on Ulzmila's."
Brit whispers something into Lord's ear which perks up the hunting dog with excitement. Brit stands up, makes a quick but thorough check of his gear and will lead the others into the woods.
Brit stands up, makes a quick but thorough check of his gear and will lead the others into the woods.
"Lead on," says Armandia, who follows Brit.