To the Druids' Grove

Present: 

• Sophia Beauchamp (half-elf priest 21) - Ian
• Elvis Ghenna (elf bard) - Shane
• Balder Dash (gnome wizard) - Jamie
• Slim Jim (human rogue) - Darryl
• Walton Formalin (half-elf mystic of 21) - Andrew
• Red Feuersturm (human temple fighter of Hob) - Chris
• Donk Platebreaker (human fighter) - Jeff
• Macron (elf thief) - Kevin

Walton writes:

 

Poisoned soil

The party spent half the day scouting the area around the poisoned soil, looking for any place that  verbena plants might be able to grown, but there was none. So they packed up their things and headed back towards Toluene. 

And travelled the rest of the day. Then made camp on sun-off.

The night was actually quiet and calm for once. No interruptions.

The next day's travel was uneventful, but towards evening, they came across a ruined barn.

There was a ghoul upstairs in the loft, and more of them in the surrounding woods.

Rather than face these dangerous foes, they quickly withdrew and continued until dark.

Eight "lizard men" attacked, and were easily dispatched.

Donk's Major Wound

The next day, they arrived back in Toluene and took up residence at the Uniformed Courtesan. 

Walton tried his new (Divine2) Cure Major Wound spell on Donk, and it worked! [spent some luck]. This removed the Major Wound off Donk [ so, it meant that Donk did not have to make every roll with a Penalty die - i.e. every skill roll is done with an extra D20 and take the worst one ].

Walton tried this on Elvis, but failed. So the group took Elvis to the REAL cathedral here, paid the exorbitant fee, and the priest cured his Major Wound. 

Then they went to Dimble's apothecary to update him of progress. Because they had the verbena seeds, Dimble had a druid contact called Alexis who lived in the nearby Caribou Gorn Druid's grove (two days' travel Klibwards). So the next mission was to go there to contact Alexis. 

That evening in the streets, when the party was returning heading back to their inn, a woman ran past. She was in the back with a heavy cross-bow bolt, and collapsed. It was fired from the second storey nearby. 

crossbow

Slim spun around to see a figure darting away, and fired his own arrow, narrowly missing

Walton bent down over the shot woman. She handed him a necklace and muttered "take this to Theodore." Then she died.

The town guard arrived and the group explained it all (sans the necklace). The Militia said it was Jemima Pluck - a well-known bard in town.

They return to the Uninformed Courtesan and Balder Dash did a Detect Magic and then an Identify on the necklace. It was certainly magical but the Identify was not very specific as to what it did, except that it’s only effective when with another item. The group assumed Theodore had that "other item".

The next morning, Slim and Macron went to the Thieves' Guild. They ascertained that Jemima was a member and also a well-known bard and pick pocket in town.

Jemima's husband was Reginald Pluck ("Reggie") and was also a senior member of the TG. Well-known bully too.

Balder went to the Wizards' Guild and discovered that the only known Theodore in town is a retired town guard - Theodore Wiley. Sophia and Walton visit him and while he recognised the name Jemima, he did not know much else. But he did know Reggie, and warned the group to be careful there.

At this point, an irate Dimble walked into the Uniformed Courtesan, where Slim and Macron still were, enraged, and snapped: "why da hell are you still being here?! You need to be getting on wit my job! Now!”

Around lunchtime, the rest of the party drifted in from their various jobs. The whole group left that afternoon for the Druids Grove; magical necklace and all.

The rest of the day was uneventful.

At the way station, there were three fighters already there. They introduced themselves as Quentin, Zarbo and Caspian. They were slavers, and had a half-elf slave girl called Debbie. 

Sophia bought her. She would be Sophia's lady-in-waiting.

There were WANTED posters all around with rewards for Halflings. 500gp each. Contact Zarbo the Great. The group was not brave enough to ask if the Zarbo here was the poster Zarbo; but they assumed.

It was a quiet night.

The next morning, they said their good byes to the three slavers and headed out.

Another quiet day.

Alexis

Towards the end of the day, they entered the Druid's forest and, as expected, were greeted by two large bears. These bears shape-changed into druids and took them to the Grove proper.

wolfsbane

Here, they met Alexis, and relayed the whole story of the verbena seeds and Dimble's requirements. 

Alexis was encouraging and very helpful, and she gave the group a tracker called Igbot the Well-wrought. He would escort them to the Oble ranges, and he had enough naturist knowledge to find a good spot to plant the verbena seeds.

Alexis also gave them two doses of wolfsbane. An ominous foreshadow or an innocent gift?