Nigel shrugs.
"Vell, visiting His realm in Heaven did leave a lasting impression; moreover, some aspects of His teachings really resonated viz me. After all, ve worked hard to build a fully-functional, self-sufficient community out of nothing in ze middle of novhere; if zat isn't a miracle, I don't know vhat is. Apart from my own family, I had never really been part of a proper community before; I now see just how important zey are..."
He then nods.
"You are right. Ve should make a point of making sure others are avare of vhat has happened in ze Fangwood; ve shouldn't assume zat zey already know..."
"A single branch is easy to break, but band them together and they can't be broken. We are more then the sum of our parts. " Father Noelan says sagely."And we all have a part to play, even if we do not know it yet."
"Assumptions make an @ss out of you and me." Father Noelan concurs."Communications over the Fangwood isn't easy. Perhaps we may be able to use animal messenger, but again there's no telling if the pigeon got eaten by some hawk out there. Probably better to get the hawk to deliver the message."
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Nigel winces when he sees the group.
Damn.
He clears his throat, and announces himself.
"Hello? My name is Nigel, and ze ones accompanying me are Gren, Robert, and Fazer Noelan. Ve heard zat you vere in trouble, and vanted to see if zere vas anyzing ve could do to help..."
He then frowns, as he gets a whiff of what is cooking.
"For starters, ve have fresh food... It doesn't smell like your stocks are good..."
As Nigel draws attention to himself by coughing, the humans look at him, and their faces turn pale. Some of then faint dead away on the spot, while the others start screaming, "Arrrrrrgggghhh there's a monster coming to eat us!" Then try to scurry into the shelter with haste.
Father Noelan rubs his eyebrows, "I told you you can't be seen in polite company while you're shifted. I think its those troll arms of yours, even though its a vast improvement over your last transformation involving a wolf head and bat wings."
Nigel is now speaking to empty air, his only audience his party members and those who passed out from the fright of seeing him.
Father Noelan goes to inspect those who have fainted. "Hmm, food poisoning I think, and also there seems some of shape moving and twitching beneath their skin. Some kind of parasite, I'd wager, but I can't place it at the moment."
Nigel knocks on the shelter and it collapses in a bunch of fallen twigs and leaves, revealing about 10 sick humans tossing and turning fitfully on the ground, while another 10 bedraggled and pale humans weakly brandish clubs and makeshift weaponry at Nigel. "Abraham was talking about a monster that was trying to fatten us up and eat us. Are you that monster?" One of them speaks up while brandishing his club.
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Nigel sighs.
"Ze answer to zat question vould be an emphatic no. I may not know you, but Old Deadeye teaches zat ze veak and infirm should be aided, vhen at all possible, so zat ze community as a whole is healthier. Ve heard zat you vere in trouble, and came over to see vhat ve could do to help."
He then nods in Father Noelan's direction.
"From vhat ze good Fazer has said, it sounds like you have a parasite infestation. Have you encountered anyzing unusual recently? Is it possible zat your food is tainted? Ve have supplies zat ve are villing to share, and vill do vhat ve can to get you back on your feet, boz literally, and metaphorically."
"Well, you don't look like a monster, so you can't be a monster."The dark complexioned man with wavy black hair replies. "Abraham, that monster has probably run back to the woods with all the ruckus you were making!" The man lectures the other man, another dark complexioned man with a mop of curly black hair.
Nigel does not know what kind of parasite it could be.
"Well, we encountered a wounded deer which we slew for food and made into stew. It didn't taste very good, but it was better then starving," The man answers. "Then some of us started falling ill."
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Nigel winces.
"Do you still have any of ze deer / tainted meat left? In ze interim, ve have good, nourishing food zat ve are villing to share."
He then moves to portion out some food, being careful to make sure that people take things slowly, to avoid refeeding syndrome.
"Gren? Do you have any insights into vhat ze parasite is?"
He then turns to Father Noelan.
"It looks like zeir food is tainted. Ve should destroy ze stocks zat zey have left, zen treat zem as best ve can. I am afraid zat means ve vill be relying on you, heavily, for Lesser Restoration, Remove Disease, and Lesser Planar Ally. I am sure zat Erastil vill grant us suitable aid."
Nigel then starts passing out Antiplagues to the seven healthiest-looking of the stick.
Grenwold follows behind, and watches as the sick people struggle. He casts and extended heroism on himself as well as heightened awareness, and approaches, attempting to identify what is hurting this gathering.
"Ahh, that can be bad. Do you mind if I take a look?"
If allowed, Grenwold casts guidance and then looks at the sick people.
"I don't know, let me check. I have a little knowledge of healing too, hopefully that helps."
"It's in the stew pot." The dark complexioned man with wavy hair gestures. "After we started getting sick, we were too weak to hunt or gather food."
Grenwold determines the parasites are wolf-in-sheep’s-clothing eggs.
"I didnt prepare lesser planar ally, or remove disease today."Father Noelan shakes his head. "Besides there are too many to treat by magic."
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Nigel winces.
"Zen ve vill have to do ze best ve can. I guess ve stay here overnight, you prepare ze relevant spells tomorrow, and zen ve see vhat ve can do."
He then goes and disposes of the remaining tainted venison, thoroughly cleans the pot, and starts to prepare a new meal from the party's ration stores.
Nigel recalls that an indigenous shrub called glossleaf is highly toxic to wolves-in-sheep’s-clothing, but only mildly poisonous to humanoids. A tincture made from the plant’s berries functions as a nonmagical potion of remove disease, but only for the purpose of removing wolf-in-sheep’s-clothing egg infestations. Gloss leaf can be recognized by the rainbow sheen its leaves give in the sunlight.
Glossleaf grows in shady areas along shallow streams throughout the Fangwood. By canvassing the nearby forest the party can locate enough berries to prepare 1d6 tinctures with a successful DC 20 Knowledge (nature) or Survival check; each check requires 1d4 hours of searching. At night the DC increases by 5, as glossleaf is most easily identified by the rainbow sheen its leaves give off in daylight.
Nigel cleaning up the pan and preparing a fresh meal has taken 1 hour of daylight.
"Are you sure it is wise to split the party?" Father Noelan questions Nigel. "This part of the Fangwood is not safe."
"If things go badly I can hop on Cavall and get away but not everyone is that fortunate."Father Noelan comments.
"Yes, I can stay. I'm pretty good at non-magical healing, myself."
"So, this looks like "wolf-in-sheep's clothing" eggs. The creature appears to implant eggs into it's prey, and lets the prey go, to be eaten by someone else. The target can resist being implanted, but if it fails, the seed gestates and becomes a self-aware creature that slowly steals nourishment from its host before finally exploding free of its host. We can cut the parasite free of the host’s belly with a heal check, which takes about an hour hour and deals a little damage regardless of success or failure. We can also use remove disease."
"As Nigel said, there's also the glossleaf option. Robert, you're the best at the non-magical healing side. I can stay here and assist you. We might be good enough at healing to start operating on these folks while Nigel searches. Or, I'm pretty good at finding herbs, and Fenton and I can pass relatively unseen. I can go look while Robert attempts to heal people with Father Noelan's help, but it may be best for me to stay and help him."
Grenwold wishes everyone well, and heads off in a different direction as Nigel, hoping his survival skill will allow him to stay safe and gather a lot of the herb.
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On the second hour, Cavall runs to you, panting heavily as if he has been running for a while, and whines at you.
"Help! Father Noelan has fallen into a pit! He managed to persuade the Genghryl not to eat him, but it's demanding lots of food before it lets him go! He told me to get you since you're the one carrying the food!"
On the second hour of your glossleaf picking you run into 4 large masses of hobgoblins bearing crazed, eager expressions. They are outfitted with sturdy crossbows and several vials of unstable chemicals.
They do not notice you as yet.
Nigel rides Cavall to the scene of the crime, to find Father Noelan talking to the Genghryl in rumbling noises. Father Noelan has a nasty bite wound at his side.
Look, I already gave you my dinner. Be patient and my companions will arrive and you’ll get all the food you can eat.
On seeing Nigel the Genghryl waves its tentacles at Nigel cheerfully and gives him a big toothy grin. Nigel does recognize it as the same Genghryl that he fed earlier a day or two ago….
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He then turns over another 20 provision points to the creature, and helps Father Noelan out of the pit.
"Right. It's probably a good idea if ve move on from ze immediate area..."
After making sure that Father Noelan is properly healed, he goes back to hunting for herbs.
Grenwold gives the creatures a wide berth, recongizing them as similar enough to the creature groups they had to run from earlier, and continues to look for herbs.
After Nigel turns over 20 provision points of rations to the creature, the creature makes a stairway with its tentacles and points at Father Noelan to use it, and he gets himself out.
Once Nigel and Father Noelan are out of earshot of the Genghryl, Father Noelan sighs. ”Sorry, I was riding Cavall when the pit opened up beneath us. Cavall managed to leap for safety, but I’m not a very good rider, so I fell in. Thanks for the rescue.” Father Noelan thanks Nigel.
”And I swear that Genghryl recognizes you, somehow. I really don’t want to know what environmental effects feeding the indigenous wildlife will have in the future.” Father Noelan grumbles.
Father Noelan then heals himself.
On the third hour of his search for glossleaf, Grenwold runs into a platoon of snarling, feral beasts that tightly leashed by grim hobgoblin handlers. The hobgoblins are armed with scimitars and javelins, while the beasts wear spiked collars and makeshift barding.
They do not notice him as yet.
Grenwold avoids this group too, attempting to avoid all hostiles if possible.
”Oh noes… it seemed a little too familiar with you. Maybe we should teach him NOT to dig pits beneath people. Not everyone would survive getting bitten by that creature.” Father Noelan sighs.”It’s a greedy guts, isn’t it?”
5 hours into his glossleaf search Nigel runs into 4 small, brown, leathery winged creatures in a forest clearing. They seem to be engaged in some kind of ritual, with their their two arms cupped together above their forehead and standing on one leg with the other folded into their thighs , and their wings hanging from their backs. There is also a filled sack and 4 small shovels, 4 watering cans nearby.
Grenwold manages to avoid the large group of hobgoblins and their beasts and continues looking for Glossleaf. As night is falling, he hears from the distance the sounds of laughter and lyre music.
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"If ve run into it a zird time, I zink ve just might..."
Later on, when Nigel encounters the unusual winged creatures (who seem to gardening tai chi practitioners?), although he does not recognise them, he notes that they seem to be performing some kind of ritual, and respecting that, quietly leaves them alone.