"Well," said the witch, "I know nothing about this earth stone master Enoki. Mayhaps, if it were stolen in the desert, the desert rather than the mountains may be a better place to search? As for the willow wisps, they be fey. Neither evil nor good, but mischievous like most fey. They's as soon walk you off a cliff in the middle of the night as take you to a pile of riches. I tell 'em to shoo usually and pay them no mind. But they can be tricksy so just keep yer wits about ye. And yes, I've heard tales of that centaur up the mountain. Some sort of druid I've heard. Shay, the potion peddler, has some truck with him. She should be up in the morning as I hired her to gather some willow's beard mushrooms up the mountain. If you'uns will take her up there and guard her, and help with the haul, I'll see about brewing you a healing draught to help in yer travels." Her face seemed to flicker a moment, noticed only by Quinby. "Now shoo, shoo! An old lady needs her beauty sleep you know!" and she pressed the group out of the small house and into the night.
"Did anyone else see her face shift?" asked Quinby. No one else had noticed, and despite his question, the group decided to stay the night in the pole barn behind the house, also dug into the hill a bit. The night was clear, the stars sparkling above, and through the trees, the lights of Windemere Crossing could just barely be made out down at the bottom of the hills. The leaves had already fallen at this height, the bare branches stark against the stars.
 |
| Sharn the potion peddler |
The next morning, Bellatrix brought out a stack of pancakes almost as tall as Quinby. Sharn was a beuatifu Orc who helped set up the outside table. Breakfast turned out to be nasty as the Halfling, lacking in manners despite his ability to charm people, managed to get his entire hand in the crock of syrup. And failed miserably trying to steal Bellatrix's handkerchief again.
"Now you be careful," the witch said, "as there are brigands this time of year. You're going to have some nice but cold weather, I feel it in my bones."
The group, sated from pancakes but sadly lacking the handkerchief, started up the mountain. Rennor was heading back to town, loathe to miss her training. "Be a good protector," said Enoki as she headed back down the mountain as they headed in the opposite direction.
Baldur asked Sharn a bit about herself, and they found some more details about Anne's Farm. It is about two days hard walk southwest of Windemere Crossing. There is a stone with a mark on it that always has fresh water, and the woods are taking back what was once theirs. The group started to ask if perhaps she would be something of a caretaker should they buy that farm. She was shy but was at least thinking about it.
During their talking and past lunch, Quinby noticed two men crouched ahead of them on the path. In a loud voice, he said "I think there are two men up there going to the bathroom." The rest of the group saw the two men, one armed with a sword, and the other a stout cudgel, come out from the bushes.
"Hello," said Baldur, "what are you doing?"
"There's a toll. Winter is coming and we need to get ready so we don't starve. And getting up the mountain here, we've a toll you need to pay."
Enoki moves a lot faster than one would expect a walking mushroom to move and comes right up to the pair. "You really don't want to do this," he said, and spread spores to the two. The one with the sword gets a dumbfounded expression on his face. The other looks at his companion, "Wayne, what's got into you? Wayne?". Seeing the swordsman just standing there, sword almost dropping from his hand, Earl of the cudgel runs off (having failed his morale roll).
Enoki leans close to the remaining brigand, and in a harsh voice says, "You are not picking a good life choice." The tone in the man's head triggered a deep fear, and he will need to wash his britches as soon as he can. I believe Baldur adds that one must take care of oneself but not at the expense of others, and hard work is better than thieving.
Wayne is released and runs away, and the group continues their journey to the glade where Shar knows the willow's beard grows. They approach the place near nightfall. Off to their left, glowing perhaps from that last ray of sunlight falling, was a mushroom circle. A slick stepping stone crossed the creek that dropped off into a large pond. Quinby hopped right across as did Sharn. However, both Baldur and Enoki slipped, almost feeling as though they were pushed. Tinkling laughter could be heard as they got dunked into the surprisingly deep pond.
While Baldur clambered out, Enoki dove a bit deeper, searching for some rich pond silt to add to his dirt pile. A cold, small hand seemed to guide him to a particularly thick and rich bit of mud. Grabbing the mud, he made his way back the surface. Cold and wet, Sharn hurried them up to the campsite and they soon had a fire going. While eating and drying out their clothes. a beautiful woman walked up from the path, her black hair shining as if wet. 
"Are you travelers from far lands? Can you tell me stories?" Startled, the group thinks for a moment, then Quinby tells the beautiful tale of how Halflings came into the world. Sadly, I did not write down the player's tale as it was quite good. But basically, a small man fell in love with a star, and somehow later falling stars made the half-men, or Halflings. Really wish we had recorded that or something, but the player came up with this long tale on the fly. Now that is role playing!
And we closed the session there. Due to that story, their water bottles will be full of fresh water for the next 4 days no matter how much they use. And Enoki will find that for the next 4 days as well, a good night's sleep with that river mud will heal an extra HP per day.
NPCs Met
Sharn - the potion peddling Orc
Earl and Wayne - ineffective brigands
Verey Ambervale, the Naied who lives in that pond they fell in
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