The Heroes had found the Druid Grove late in the day. The sun was setting when they arrived and by the time the danger had passed, it was dark except for the light of the moon and the fire raging in the middle of the meadow. They knew they couldn’t really push on any further, especially with Elzy being in the shape he was. As they settled in for the night, Sylas kept throwing rocks at bushes that seemed to move in the flickering firelight. A few bushes ended up in the fire ….. just in case.
The next morning they got up slowly. No one rested well that night, but at least they were still safe. Elzy felt better, but would not be fully healed for a couple of days. But they had a long ways to go before they could get out of the Nelian Forest. At it’s longest was about 50 miles from end to end. It was rumored that a small number of Elves live in the Nelian Forest, but either the rumors are not true, or our Heroes never ran across them. They traveled a full day and never saw the end of the trees. It was until late the next morning did they reach the end of the forest and see the plains sweeping out in front of them.
After many more hours of walking, they started to reach a river. Far off near the river they could see three individuals huddled around a cart. Elzy sent Harvee who flew towards them, circled around in the air, and flew back to the group. If the three individuals noticed the falcon, it did not seem to bother them. Harvee did not see them as a threat, and were two humans, one male, and one female, with a male goblin as their companion. As Sylas, who never really waited for anyone, kept walking towards the cart. It became obvious that their cart was broken down with a busted spoke, and they were arguing over what to do next. The cart was pulled by a mule, and contained items like leathers, spools of fiber, rocks, personal effects, and food and gear. They were not a wealthy a bunch and leaving the cart would be a painful loss.
Rybeka, a woman geologist, dressed in leathers, with pouches and pockets all over her outfit, a mace at her side, was arguing with Mecylas, a robed man, with the holy symbol of Lycretia around his neck, a shortsword at his side, were arguing as the Heroes walked up. They should have bought a spare wheel, but at the time they could really afford it. Sylas stepped up and calming diffused the argument. Meanwhile, Eldaria quietly walked to cart and kneeled down. Toog’bo’tin, a goblin leather worker and tailor, seemingly with no weapon, watched her with a curious eye. He was staying out of the argument as he had already said his peace by the time the Heroes had arrived. Eldaria concentrated on her magic and used Shape Plant to repair the spoke. It would not last forever, but should allow them to be able to get to Vilhana, their next destination after Golan. Eldaria saw the Goblin looking in their direction and said hello in a few words of the dialect she knows. Much to her surprise, Toog understood and smiled. In thanks, this motley group of merchants invited the Heroes to have a meal with them, as they decided they would go no further today. The sun was already indicating it was late afternoon. But they wanted to push on for a few more hours. But before they did so, Mecylas went over to Elzy and summoned a few words and most of his wounds instant healed. Grainne thought Mecylas was a Hedge Wizards, someone who knows a few spells because they were blessed by Lorythu but was never able to by birth or money to study at the Arcane Order, but it was possible he was indeed a priest of Lycretia. They never stayed long enough to find out.
Rules Break Out:
Based on the rules of Plant Shape, it seemed like a wheel spoke made of wood could be mended. But we never rolled, because it was such a cool idea that failure would not have been fun.
The Heroes now needed to figure out how to cross the river. Where the merchants broke down at was a broken bridge that feel into disrepair 20-30 years ago and has never been replaced. With eagle eyes, both Eldaria and Elzy noticed not far up the river a great place to ford. Elzy put a piece of rope in Harvee’s claws and had him fly around a tree that was across the river until the rope was essentially tied. It very much helped as everyone was able to, with the help of the rope, to cross along the stones and logs that littered this shallower part of the river. The boars though just swam across, quite happy with a little bath.
After crossing they traveled for a few more hours until it was close to dark. Camping again in the wilderness, they thought they could reach their destination, Patra, in another day. The next morning, the sun rose nicely and there were very few clouds in the sky. Thinking this was going to be a good day, they trekked on into the hills. It was hard to admit to themselves, but they definitely got lost a few times going up and down the same hill once they realized they were going in the wrong direction. They knew of Patra, but no one had ever actually been. But before the sun actual set for the night, they reached the outskirts of the town.
Sylas started asking around about good places to stay, while Grainne was muttering out loud whether or not Sylas should just go to the lord or lady of the town and request rooms for all of them. Sylas never overheard this conversation, but Sylas suspected that only he could stay at the keep, but even if he could have convinced the lord or lady to stay, it just wasn’t his style. He is still very uncomfortable with his status and wishes to not impose himself upon anyone. That is is far too selfish for a knight. After asking around though, Sylas found out that the Fisherman’s Net would be a fine establishment to rest for the night. Though they had tasks at hand, they were all far too tired. At the inn, they had a fine meal of fried Lorg snapper and roasted taters. And as they relaxed in the common area before they went to their rooms, or in the case of Elzy the stables with his boars and Harvee, there was a bard singing songs and telling stories. The one that caught Grainne’s ears was about a legend of Mermaid Lake.
Generations ago, the legends say a fisherman fell in love with a woman who came from the lake. They had a family, who descendants still live in a fishing village on the Southern part of the lake, but one day, she went back into the lake and never returned. Stories say that when a full moon shines upon the lake, you can still see a mermaid swimming.
The World of Lycretia 