C2 E27 | An Eternal Plant

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Hello, I'm Philippa.

I'm Elia. And I'm a DM staff. Welcome to VentureForth.

Gather round you gentles. I have another tale to tell Of war-begotten heroes and repentant maduels. Of villains and their scheming and the fools that heed the cool sweet melodies to endure. They have the dulling dragons and dungeons.

Gather your party. When last we left these heroes. An eventful evening at the split keel ended with a party split. Elia, headed to the coin club headquarters to deliver Class Verhig into their care alongside Vale, Shaw, and the group's new ally, Karnak, and Phil remained briefly in the split keel with Ramsay, but departed shortly thereafter, with a certain bitterness at the propensities of humanoids hastening her steps towards the quiet solitude of her own space.

Elia, unaware of the state of her father at home, carried on her evening at the Red Thorn, but was shortly found and instructed to return by this old at the request of Denna. As Susan South, unable to find Elia, Denna Roche confided in another who was like a daughter to her, and told Philippa of some portions of the Roche's family secret, and the grains of sand slipping through the hourglass for Reese, and perhaps Elia.

But any further learnings were cut unfortunately short as a bugbear assailants launched an attack on the house, pouring in through broken windows intent on killing everyone within. But thanks to the timely arrival of the others, the lives of all were spared, and in the aftermath, Ilya saw what befell her father and asked for all the family to leave, which left Denna, Ilya, Reese, and Phil all together in the home of the Roche family.

Elia tried in the morning hours to delve into the troubled mind of her father, but was met with a wall of psychic resistance, obscuring whatever is now going on within the confines of his mind. And Denna, seeing the writing on the wall, prepared tea for everyone, aided you to sleep. As the Thornwatch arrived, set up a perimeter around the house, and each of you found your way off to sleep.

Elia, the warmth of the tea enters into your system. You taste the familiar, uh subtle bitterness of some of the herbs and other tinctures that your mother has put into this tea. Are you staying in your do you stay in the room or are you finding your way to your own bed?

I would find my way to my own bed. Okay. And like I'm still in that gown, so just with Phil's help, probably taking it off as I'm groggy with the tincture.

After talking to your dad, telling him about your day and going through everything, he remains unchanged, and your mother brings in the tea and gently insists and helps you up. You walk into the room with Phil, and the two of you together go about nightly routine and shed the the gown of the evening as you feel the effects of the tincture begin to take hold, your eyes begin to grow heavy, you lay down and drift into sleep.

Deep sleep. Sleep aided by the powerful tonics that is your mother's uh skill and careful hand. And as sleep takes you.

What is Ilia see?

I'm at our table. It's morning, breakfast on the table, and my father is staring into my eyes, and I'm staring back at him, face pretty intense as our morning ritual happens.

Stop doing that. Why are you why are you squinting so hard?

Right. Okay.

You can't give away anything with your face, Ely. People will ask why you're being so weird. So just relax. Use your hands if you need to. You're fine. Okay. Don't do that either. It's okay. Just easy. Just like we're having a conversation. Okay? When you're out with your mom. Think about that. When you're walking through the forest, you're not thinking about it.

You just do it, right? Just do it. Okay. I'm gonna try now, alright? And you feel the presence of your father's mind as it pushes against yours. Okay. Now your turn. Again. Stay relaxed. You're safe. Everything's fine.

And I start to do it trying to remain as normal in my face as possible.

Yeah. And you project your consciousness instead into your father's mind, and you feel that wall, that brick edifice come down as he lets you into his mind. You feel his love for you. You feel and sense his concern over your ability to harness this power and and use it effectively while also not revealing it.

And you sense the um importance of that uh directive. And in your mind, like walking eventually.

She's just fallen down.

Back of her head is blood. Covered. See the glistening flesh and bone underneath.

Mom?

And Mom?

Mom?

And she turns, her head kind of almost lazily turns as you see more of it. She looks into the room, and then suddenly you are in the room looking at your dad as he is comatose on the bed.

Mom? Daddy! Wake up.

And you wake up.

Mom! Ilya, Ilya. Breathe. Breathe. It's just a dream. In. Out.

Janet's into the room. It's okay.

Okay. Now to talk about it. I'm okay.

Okay. You're you're okay, Mom? I'm fine.

You see that um dawn is not yet through the windows. You see maybe just the pale, pale blue of dawn's first light. The sun is far from being risen. Probably got another hour at least until dawn.

unknown Sorry.

Sorry. It's alright. It's nothing to apologize for. Okay. I just I wasn't. It's alright, tell us.

Just remembering Remembering things.

When I was a kid.

And then and I'm replaying the night and looking at my mom and then film. And then I see the dress.

It wasn't a dream, was it? What wasn't? What did you see?

unknown Dad.

Nacoma.

I'm not. Tired. Alright.

Um get up. I'm sorry, wakey film.

Alright, we can get up. Why don't we make some food? Sorry, guys. It's alright.

House robe. Just head downstairs.

I'll turn to um Dina? Dina? Dana. Turn to Dana. Dana, what happened just before Reese lost consciousness?

Well, it was around right around sunset. And he was just walking. He just started cradling his head in his hands.

And Did he say anything?

Yes, he did. He um he said it sees me.

It sees you.

It sees me. It sees us. And then made it a few more steps and got him upstairs. And clean him up.

Right, right. Ilya and Reese. They share something in common.

Uh-huh. Telepathy. It's telepathic abilities and are not entirely uncommon as far as the ability to do so, but it is usually aided by magic. Only certain well, there are some creatures, but it's relatively rare for people to have it innately. And um I think I mentioned last night, but Reese's family has had it for some time.

You did. But and point of clarification, Ilya is not here anymore, right?

Yeah, unless I you call me up. I was just gonna go in there. Tea.

I can't you can be just right outside making tea.

Yeah.

There's a kitchenette. Ohstairs.

So um.

unknown Okay.

Because I would I would want to come back and try again with Reese. Yeah.

Um, yeah, you um so this conversation is private between the two of you. Yeah. Okay. These events have been increasing in frequency for some time. Alia doesn't know that. And uh, Phil, you did not, you were not able to get through a lot of the book last night, right? Is basically right as you sat down to read it, um is when those the assailants came in through the window.

But you were able to gather. Um, and if you wanted to see it again, you could, but yeah, I do want to see it again. Okay.

Um the diary.

Okay. Um well.

But I don't have to look at it right now. I can um I can we can finish this conversation and then I can because I want to get a couple of books actually.

One of the things that you noticed was the first entry where you started was uh 11 years ago. Um it was dated the 18th of Amaris, 7285 P.S.

And that date means something to me.

It's the day of the of the convergence.

Right, but it's also is it also on or around the day um before or after the explosion, do you think?

That would have been um a few days after. So yeah, the explosion would happen a few days before. A few days before that. But yeah, um 7285 or the 18th of Mayor 7285. I'm pretty sure that's the right date. Let me double check my own calendar.

Um I'm not writing it down. So take that load.

Somebody will. No, I'm just kidding. I need I need to have that right. Um, but yeah, the day of the convergence is the first, was the first entry. And I will say, actually, because we didn't get to it, you did make it through that entry.

Okay.

So this is what you remember.

Okay.

Light came through. It was too much in the wrong color, and I couldn't look away. There were figures going up into it. You can almost see in the writing the like ink blotches where the pen paused and like time was taken to think about what was said next. They were blurred and holding on to each other.

I've never seen anything like it. And then there was a sound, like a window breaking. There was something else behind the light. And I've gone over this a lot, but it doesn't get any clearer. It was vast. Old. In a way that made the word old feel p silly. Didn't have a face, it was just shapes spiraling and branching and folding into themselves and out again.

Everything was pearl and beautiful question mark. Wrong. And then my head started to hurt. And then I felt it. We see you. Then the sky shut, and everyone was looking up at two moons that weren't there, and some of them were crying, and no one felt what I felt. I wiped the blood off my chin. I told Weller I slipped.

I've run cargo I could hang for. I've looked men in the face and lied about what was in my ships. And I know what it's like to be looked at by something. It's deciding what to do with you. It was the first time I couldn't I looked at something and couldn't lie to it. That's the end of the entry.

Donna, do you mind if I keep this for a little bit just to read through it?

Sure.

Okay. I'm gonna pop over just next door.

I'm gonna get a couple other books, see if I can make any sense of anything. I will return.

unknown Okay.

Okay.

Ilya, I'm popping over next door. Okay.

Alright, come back in with the tea that's hot now. Sit with that for a bit.

I'm gonna bring some books to research.

I when you're out there, I might have a few questions that you might be able to assist with.

Sure.

Yeah. Alright. I'll pat her on the hand and um take my exit towards down the stairs to my unit.

Okay. You go down and yeah, go into your unit. What do you think?

Yeah, through the through the main back area. Um, I'm gonna quickly um get a change of clothes. Um clean up a little bit. Clean up a little bit. Find go like find my journal. Um and any other book on um mind altering like mind conditions. Okay. So I don't know if I have very many. I might have something.

I might have some, uh like a couple books that hand that deal with like not just telepathy itself, but like with mind altering maladies. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So just if I have any books on those, I would grab them.

Okay.

And I would yeah, I would take my time heading back.

unknown Okay. Okay.

Um, yeah, you're able to grab. I would say you probably have like two to three books on maladies of the mind. Um, it's a mixture of um a lot of yours deal specifically with like the nature of minds and how they change after physical trauma. Um, but also in the worlds of Elbor and Barestra, there are plenty of monsters, creatures, substances, diseases that can affect and alter the mind.

Um, there's also certain types of magics, as you all know, that can manipulate and alter uh the mind. So you you have a couple of resources.

I have Fion's journal as well.

Yeah. Okay. You bring that as well. Cool. Um do you do this in your uh your space or you go back?

I will look through Fion's at my unit.

Okay.

And then I would bring the rest back.

Okay. So you sit down.

Yeah, I'm on my couch.

Okay.

You in the early dawn hours.

Yeah. In the early hours, you see the sort of that gray haze of the sky begin to lighten, and you light a little lamp and you sit down in your in your home and pull out this journal that you've had now for many years.

Yeah, 11 years.

And that you haven't looked at since before the claim. Well, not in depth.

Not in depth, no. And there's a lot going on.

Yeah, yeah, you've had a lot to think about. Um, you start to read, and this for the longest time, so much of this book has been unknown to you. So much of the diagrams and and and everything um didn't really make a lot of sense. But you begin to read and sketch out, like you see these kind of musings.

It's like you see the number 14 pop up a few times, you see guesses. Earth question mark? Elemental scratched out. Negative energy, mmm, and like all of these different annotations, you see little diagrams and sketches, bits of pattern and and shape that appear much like you have, until eventually you reach this page and you see that there are it never made much sense to you because it's groupings of these.

Words and they're circled like all together. But after your experience in the the claim, you see earth, fire, water, wind, entropy, bond. Circled. And they're all circled together. And you see like a question mark above it. You remember feeling all of those in one of the rooms. The one you were in. And there's a word next to it.

And some further musings. You know that magic is divided, as far as the current academic understanding of it, into eight separate schools.

Yes.

Most of those schools understand magic as the outcomes that spells generate, right? Transmutative, abjurative. They're all about the effect that the magic entails or leads to. But there have been some schools of thought, some propositions by certain fringe scholars in the past that magic, like the source of magic, where does it originate from?

Right.

These are the manifestations of magic. And as far as the knowledge is, Lauris created the eight schools of magic as pillars to contain them. But there's very little research on but where does magic actually come from? Sure. And as you sit there and you see these three groupings, you remember some of these early theories, three separate, less origins and more sources or or conduits of magic, the way that the forces they are composed of and the way in which they operate.

Primal, earth, fire, water, wind, entropy, and bond works, and you see this annotation works with, and it's like underlined. Arcane, order, chaos, thought, void, time, entropy, works on, dash, compels, slash, force, divine, spirit, light, shadow, time, bond, entropy. Works through. And that word is circled through.

So it works through, works on, and works with. But primal is the only one that has a word circled for it.

Uh no, they all do. Primal, arcane, divine. Those groupings.

Arcane and divine. So arcane is the works on. And the divine is the works with works through.

Divine works through, arcane works on, slash, and it says like compel slash force.

For arcane.

For the arcane. And you know that force is the primary sort of uh the primary effect of pure manifestations of arcane magic. Yeah. Force damage.

Yes. Um which I would know from my type of magic. But I would also recall divine magic as well. Okay. So the only thing I and then I would also know primal because of the room that you were in and But also because of my um origins. So I would kind of understand, in some sense, all three.

And in these first pages of this book, as you flip back and forth, and now with all of these strange words given name and sort of categorized into these, you understand that what he was working on and these initial musings in this book are his initial contact with something like what you've seen recently.

Ah, okay.

His own musings and theories. And through time, 11 years later.

So something like the chamber.

Mm-hmm.

If I think back, can I recall anything from the labs that might have been? I know it would have been like really high level, but if I can recall any any now that I've seen what the chambers look like. Um was there a statue? Was there some statues?

Yeah. You remember one. And it was weird. It almost um you almost dismissed it as artwork.

Right.

It actually, funny enough, it wasn't in a place where you would anticipate something being studied. It's almost like it didn't want attention drawn to it. But you do remember seeing something. This spiraling, strange object that while inert, there was no motion or movement, but it looked, it was almost like looking at an optical illusion.

Okay.

And then there's one other word that you see that is like big and bold. It just says intent.

But I don't understand anything around that word.

And then the rest is, it looks like you get like there's almost a sidetrack. Like the journal flips to other other um musings on uh particularly like metallurgic properties of certain types of metal and its ability to be plied and shaped um while maintaining its resilience.

Okay.

And there's something about that understanding gives you the spark of an idea.

The metal understanding or the three distinct origins.

We'll figure out what that means later.

Secrets! It gives me an idea. Oh, wow.

It makes sense that Phil would be the one to crack this all open and who's like the only one with the brain in the whole group.

He's like, wait, guys, I got it. Primal arcane divine.

So we cut upstairs as Phil sits in her thinking chair. Well what Ilya, what are you doing upstairs?

I go into my parents' room. I sit on the bed next to dad. And I remember the dream, the memory, and the training. Walking. It's like breathing. I didn't have to think about it. And I open my mind and push against the wall.

Push. You feel that wall of resistance, and you throw your consciousness against it, almost like a physical thing, trying to knock it down or get around it, and as you move along the edges of it, you feel it curve and move, and you find no cracks and no purchase.

Um with my mind open, do I sense any other minds other than my mom that are nearby?

Make an insight check for me.

Insight, something I'm not really good at. Let me see. Oh, something that I might be good at. Thank you, Dice. Uh, 21. Hey. Yeah, that was a good role. I have a drill. Yeah.

You are familiar with the element of like f sensing life nearby, right? That's actually some one of the first things that your dad taught you how do you open up your mind just to clock where other things were. And you open up your mind and you feel, you extend your awareness. You feel your mom, you feel your dad.

You definitely feel the presence of a thinking mind there, but it is muted and locked away. You sense Phil down below. You sense, and that's probably the limit of your awareness, and you concentrate deeply. There's not another mind, but there is a connection. It's as if something that is not nearby is there's a tether, something very faint and ephemeral, and uh, only because you're really, really concerned and focused are you even able to detect it?

But there is something your father's mind is partially tethered to.

Have I ever encountered that before, or has my dad told me rumors of something like this happening before?

Or is this absolutely foreign? The only thing that it reminds you of, or that you can think of, is when you've been out with your dad and you've practiced, when you are using your telepathic gift and you're connected with your dad, and he then subsequently uses his gift on someone else, or is connected to another person, that sense of connection that like his mind is is projected partially elsewhere.

That's the nearest, but this is um strained, it is uh again like weak but intenuous but present.

Like, how do I attack an invisible tether? Um Yeah. D does the tether seem like malicious in any way? It's just I can't see.

That much you do not discern.

Okay. Okay. Never able to forcibly get in there, was I?

No.

Yeah, and I just close her up again, seal my own mind.

In fact, you've never been able to get through your dad's defenses if he wanted them up.

Yeah.

unknown Yeah.

Maybe I got stronger, but nope.

He's got a lifetime of practice.

I have a lifetime of practice. My lifetime happens to be short.

Yeah, but no, no, no, not his lifetime.

Not his lifetime. Okay. Um, I look at my mom. Find her.

unknown Okay.

I think he's. I don't know. But I have to believe that he will come back. He just needs to rest. And that's what I choose to believe.

unknown Yeah.

He'll come back.

Uh dad was working with Okonquo on uh on some stuff. I think.

Okay. Um, I don't know if don't you want me to handle that?

No, I don't. I could use the distraction and Well, your father was repairing you, but there's still some things that he wanted to keep you from, and I will honor that wish. So I will handle anything that comes our way. As far as I know, everything is quiet for now. Some of the shipments just left a few days ago.

Headed north, and captains have their orders. Time for him to get better.

Did we ever were you able to look at that I got?

Hmm. A little bit.

It's yes, actually. And I've never seen anything like it before. Not here, not in the underdark either. So it's one of a kind, as far as I know. I'm curious what might be extracted from it. I could use a distraction.

I could use a distraction.

Well, let me finish making breakfast and then we'll see what we can cook up with that.

unknown Yeah.

Maybe Phil can join us.

Hmm.

And your mom finishes prepping breakfast, Phil, at this point, do you? Cool. Um, as you come up. Philiba, we um. Well, um, she finishes cooking and feeds Reese, and um, there was actually something that um Ilya found when you were all at the claim, and I'm curious what your thoughts might be on it. It's something I've never seen before, but um, well, it's um yeah, it's downstairs in the workshop.

Alright. I'll take a look at it.

Good. Um interesting uh project for all of us, I suppose. Something new, and considering that it is related to the claim, well. Your guess is as good as mine. And she walks down into the workshop. And you uh go to your sort of table of beakers and brewers and and burners and everything that they have.

Like our sides are very like my side is very clean and organized, and their side is like plants everywhere.

Yeah, cliffings, plants hanging everywhere, just like stuff, baskets upon baskets, just hidden under little very apothecary-esque.

Exactly. Apothecary lab.

Exactly, exactly.

Very interesting. Um and she takes it out. Um, and you see, did you did Phil ever actually see this? No. Okay.

No, somebody pulled it while I was busy. Everybody was busy. I was just, I saw an opportunity and I took it.

Um and she removes this. Um how many how many leaves did I say you got? Was it just the one? I think it was two. Two, right? Yeah. Okay. She pulls out Does it do I recognize it though?

I know, do I know what it looks like when I when I see it, do I recall it being in the claim?

I would say fill. I mean, Phil's recall is pretty intense. So I would say probably, yeah. Okay. Um, you know, you yourself are uh but yeah, you so yeah, you recall seeing it and part of the-tens. Yeah, and part of the thing about it was that it it that was interesting, I guess, was that it kind of emitted the same and and actually interestingly enough, you saw it before you all went in, and then it was gone when you came back out.

Uh-huh. So the interesting thing about it though is that you do remember, like, you made the connection after the fact, and then because a lot was going on, you maybe dismissed it, but it has the same sort of uh properties around light, particularly. So it has this sort of internal green glow almost that emanates outward from it, while simultaneously having like you even even the plant itself, it's not nearly as intense as the stone, but you do see this like element, it's almost like a little bit darker around the leaf.

Does the plant look like other plants though? Like the shape of it? Does it look like anything else?

Oh gosh.

Without that, like the actual just shape of the leaf.

It it bears some resemblance to, I mean, gosh, I would say probably certain varieties of uh of like mushroom, if anything. Like it's it's more fungal um almost in nature. Um, you know those um oh gosh, uh uh um like uh lion's mane mushrooms, they kind of have those big frills that come out. It's kind of like that, but uh, but it almost resembles less like a singular body and more like coral.

Like kind of that's like visually kind of what it looks like. Um but it has a a thick tuberous uh stalk to it, and then like the leaves as well are are kind of this thick. Um but yeah, it has this strange light bending quality to it. As she pulls it out, um I haven't really been able to look very much at it, but I Oh, I don't know, Phil, do you make anything of it?

Well, have you tested to make sure it's not poisonous in any way to us?

I used some magic to detect poison and disease, and it does not give off any Okay, good, because the the gems that had the same property Ilya, you know they w they were poisonous.

Or diseased or caused potentially caused some disease.

Interestingly enough, this there's no venomous properties at all, as far as I can tell.

I wonder if this is not just another plant infected by the aberrative quality of the space. Similar to the insect, similar to Potentially plants are living.

Right, but at the same time, these plants aren't giving off that poison quality.

Well, but the men we found also weren't giving off that poison quality.

Wasn't their blood giving off that?

Only in as much as it as this is.

I mean, we were able to take the blood without getting disease, but it still had the same quality of So are there things affected by this stone you've spoken of?

Yes, I mean do you do you recall I don't know if you saw the the insectoids that attacked maybe twelve days ago, thirteen days ago?

I did. I saw some of the bodies after they had uh they looked atypical.

Exactly, growths. Um we I didn't get to inspect them, but it's it's quite possible their blood also would have had this quality to it. Um it's it's it might be just a a mundane plant.

Maybe it got infected. Yeah. It just now has mutated properties.

My hypothesis would would be that you know can just eat it. Well, that's not quite the move I would make next. You and Vale. Vale also likes to touch things. I I that's not quite what I would start with.

That's usually step number four or something, dear.

I mean, we had steps one through two, which was make sure it's not poisonous or, you know, secreting anything that would kill us instantly, and we did that. And so now step three is well, why don't we try and lick it?

Or step three could be well, let me let me try something.

Look at it harder.

I'm not wearing my coat, I am just wearing my uh white um shirt sleeves, suspenders, and trousers and boots. Yeah, yeah. Um and so I have my gloves on.

Okay.

Um, but I do have my white shirt sleeves rolled up. So you can see kind of the pinks of my forearms. And I will um take the look, the glove off of my left hand and I will touch the mushroom. And um you will see um on my forearm red, my my veins turning like a bright red, um, going through my fingers and the veins on my fingers into this mushroom.

And I will say, repair, and I will cast lesser restoration on the mushroom.

Interesting.

Because when we lesser restored blood, we saw it start to fascinating. But what if we wanted its mutated properties revealed? It doesn't fully clear it though. The blood.

So interesting.

Oh, we needed greater.

Phil, as you reach out with your with the restorative magic and you touch this, this, this plant, you recall um, you recall seeing this idea of um uh uh you recall the the the reaction of the um of the blood to that restore the the the attempt to restore. It was almost like the this um the blood like faded to it a little bit and then like swallowed it again.

Yeah. When you create and send restorative magic into this plant, it does not absorb it. You see it magnify.

What does that mean? What do you mean by that? What? What does that mean?

It's as if like your your restorative magic, rather than like going and like trying to cure something, yeah, it's as if the plant takes in that restorative energy and like amplifies it and it it subsumes and spreads throughout the plant. And you see that the darkness kind of go away for a moment as like your restorative magic almost holds within the plant briefly.

Before fading gently. Not the sort of like almost violent like suffocation of the blood. This plant has some kind of restorative properties. It's not, it's different.

It's different, but it is the same, but it is the same infection. Or it is the same. Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay. Okay. So and I'll look at I'll like stare at the plant, and then I'll kind of look up to um Dana and to Ilya and I'll be- and I will like go back to the and I'll start to like kind of go into my little like science.

Oh, I love it. She gets all excited. Oh. And I and I go, okay, okay, okay, wait, wait. What was that? When we when when the veil tried to restore, um, use this restorative uh last night. No. No, this was before we even prepared for the um the manor for the for the mansion for the party. This was back when I had the blood, and I was testing the blood to separate out the uh to separate out the infection or the the aberrative quality that was overtaking the blood.

As we were testing that, the Vale tried to clear it with a restorative magic. I don't know his restorative magic. However, when he tried to do it with the blood, it started to clear and then it just completely consumed um the blood, the the infection, dark infection of the blood completely consumed that restorative.

But it was how we realized that okay, some sort of more powerful restorative might help, which is why we're uh we are contracting that out.

Right.

So, this mushroom, however, as I attempted to use a restorative magic on it, it started to behave differently. It started to heal in a way that the blood did not. And uh perhaps it's because it's living still, right? The the blood is not living, it is living. Maybe it's just that. Or maybe it's that this uh root, this this mushroom, this plant has some restorative properties to it already.

And this aberrative infection is combating that. The plant is still likely restorative in some function, however, this I want to eat it. This aberrative disease is is infecting it. It is, it is the the proximity to the chamber that is infecting it. And if we could clear the infection, it could be quite powerfully restorative.

Or is the infection enhancing the properties it already has?

That I cannot know.

Hmm. There is a in the Underdark, there's magic. It's a pervasive magic that inhabits all of the Underdark, and it often forces or uh creates um well, it's part of the reason that the um for example, the divergence of My People, the Drow and Surface Elves happens relatively quickly once the forebearers of the of the Drow went into the Underdark.

You um adapt to the space you're in.

Yes, the environmental pressures, particularly those guided by magic, can increase adaptation rapidly. Correct. I wonder if either, as you've said, Phil, this plant is a consequence of the magic of the stones themselves, or as maybe you suggested, it is something that existed and was subsequently changed.

But changed doesn't mean necessarily bad.

Bad, no.

I mean abertive magic exists. Um, abertive magic exists. It exists, and it is not inherently good or bad or anything. Magic is just it just is. Could it cure this is a big stretch. Could it cure other things infected by that chamber? I would can I cut off a small piece of it and test it with the blood we have?

Sure.

We still have some other vial of blood.

You do, you do. Okay.

We only use a petri dish to of it, so I would get another petri dish. Okay, and I would pour s I would go into my side, um, open up a like chamber um safe. Not a safe, but like a glass cabinet. Yes. Um, and I will pool the the infected blood and I'll pour a small amount of it in a petri dish. Okay, and I will bring it over to um Ilya's side, and I will um kind of push a knife towards Ilya cut a section of mushroom.

Yeah. Silly. And to Phil take it. And then as I'm like not really paying attention, as I'm just like breathing and thinking about my dad and other things, I'm not really here. Phil's very smart throughout Elia's life has just been like, I don't understand what Phil's saying anymore. I'm just gonna tune it out.

I don't really know. Okay. I just like trust that she'll explain it in a dumber way later. I dumbed it down pretty fast. No, no, even more. And and as I'm holding on to the mushroom, the section that I just cut starts to weave together again.

Uh-huh. Okay.

As I unintentionally realize that I'm casting mend plants.

Okay.

And I didn't know.

How would men plants work for something that's made like this?

unknown Oh.

Okay. But that read mend plants for me.

Oh shit.

Okay, this is a fascinating interaction.

Drawing on primordial magic.

Okay, okay.

You instill vitality in nearby plants to create one of the following effects within range. And it is a touch. You instantly repair a break or tear of a living plant you touch, such as torn foliage, scorched branch, a scar cut into bark, pieces of plants that have been broken apart. As long as the damage is no longer than one foot in any dimension, you mend it, leaving no trace of further destruction.

There are two others, but that is.

So we just get to recreate this thing endlessly?

unknown Oh my god.

We get to use and reuse this thing.

What the fuck?

Never-ending plants?

Did it just do that?

It doesn't. It needs together, yeah. Whoa! Okay. So Elia's not really paying attention and all of a sudden it's like.

One one second. Does it make does it make something out of nothing, or does it just bring them back together and take away that space that was there? Is the question.

It mends the break.

Does it mend the break or does it create something out of nothing?

Interesting.

That's a question I Because like if I take a slice out of it, like a chunk, it does say like a scorch branch or a scar cut into bark, it heals it.

I'm gonna do that.

Or two pieces of plant that has been broken apart as long as the damage is no longer than one foot. Okay. Okay. The other sections of the spell are I instantly cause defoliated plants to grow foliage. Yeah. And um Yeah, okay.

Yeah. Okay. I didn't know you could do that. Okay. Um awesome. Well, that's amazing. So as yeah, as you, as the like you on subconsciously, just like the this the smell, like you, you sense the like, you know, when you break a plant or cut it, sometimes you can smell the the smell, the sight, the sort of just the uh the sensory input of a plant being damaged, as you're in this kind of semi-tired not paying attention, your brain is elsewhere.

Instinctively, as sorcerers are prone to do, you mend and see the the chunk out of the plant regrow and re-knit along the edge of it.

Yes, Ilya. I mean then I'm sorry. What, Ilya, would the plant heal itself? I'm sorry? Does the plant would the plant heal itself?

No, I don't I don't know if plants heal themselves. But it's a restorative plant. I I don't know. I've never seen this plant before. Dana, you are a plant person, maybe you can Plants don't typically do that on their own, dear.

Did you do something? I mean I felt it get a cut, and then I felt it. Did you put some intention towards it? Well, I thought it would just be a shame if we lost this plant and its abilities.

And then I cut another slice off. I don't see anything happening. Okay, so so and then I and then I try to touch it again.

And it starts to man, and I'm like, oh my god, I'm doing it! I do I do it's me! Oh my god, that's so cool!

What the f Well That's quite handy for the work you do. Yeah.

I'd say so.

That's so cool. Who needs to buy more plants, I guess? Does it take is it taking something out of you? Do you feel I less I mean I can't.

Does it cost you anything magically?

Intention.

I can feel the intention and I'm like in my mind, I'm like asking it to almost be itself like heal or it's hard to describe I don't Well your magic is mostly by instinct, so perhaps that's a new I really wish you would have done that sooner.

Um Right. Right. Well, I don't think you need to do it so often. If it takes something from you.

Huh. Cool. And I I go to a different plant and I like You this isn't taking anything from you. Cut the plant. And I break another twit from one of our many hanging plants. No, it's a fucking cantrell. And I Are you fucking uh just blooms from the lavender that I just cut. Well Uh-oh. Okay, Dana.

Well, Dana, it looks like you won't have to go back into the forest anytime soon. Mom, this is so cool.

I'm very glad, a little irritated, but we'll come back. What whatever? Sorry, sorry.

Okay, um Well, I guess we'll try this. And I drop the mushroom into the blood. You have to do anything to it? I don't know! Okay. This is how testing works. This is science. We are doing science right now. I'm not good at science.

Well, you're doing it, and you're doing quite well. So this is science. If I eat this, is it science? Don't eat it yet.

You see, as the diseased pieces flow into the plant, and in a small localized area around the plant, the blood clears of infection. And we're gonna go to break. You're not ill.

Did you just do an eat plant? You fucking worry about it.

I guess that is it is a much more. We're gonna go to break. We'll see you in a bit. Nerds. Hey nerds!

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As we return, Phil, you see the infection clear in this small area around the root. And hold.

All right. Dana. What? Do you think you can harvest this into a potion of some sort?

Of course.

Yeah. An ointment, something that can be used on a person.

Yeah, see what I can do.

Take the knife and I start going through just the methods that we normally do, like peeling it into the specifics. Into like strips and strips and sizes. But then instead of doing it so fast, I'm pausing.

Okay.

And then periodically like pouring the thought and essence of like regrow into the plant and seeing it heal as I'm as I'm trying to test the limits of this new power. Yeah. And see how many, like how much I can heal it as I'm going and how how much does it grow back and try and find those limitations.

So it's not like I can't go as fast as I normally would. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But I'm I'm going as fast as like a little slower than usual as you're as you're working out this new the the specifics of your new abilities here. Yeah. And I will say, like, as you're going through, you you you heal these, you're like stripping it. So I'm like going, going, going, and then heal.

Yeah.

And as you do that, you notice that after the like the first time that you get what is considered like a full harvest, as Dena it kind of begins talking to you. Absolutely, the um Ilya's already working on it, but basically, I think I can craft the potion from this. It's not dissimilar to other plants that I've seen before.

So I should be able to make something up relatively quickly. Quickly. At least to try. Um at least a couple of hours. But um, Ilya, you notice as you are going through, you probably could. I will say that like as as it regrows, you do see that the plant like shrinks a little bit. And much like soil that does renew, but if overused, will yeah will like eventually go inert.

Um, you can probably get, I'm gonna say, three harvests from like one harvest by doing this. So it like effectively triples the amount of harvest that you can get from like a single plant.

Okay, and this is just I'm just doing the one root. So we still have a second root.

Okay, so you okay, so you can only do the entirety of one root, but that gets you enough for three separate potions.

Nice. Okay. Okay, yeah. Cool. Yeah.

As dead time takes what you've given her, and it's kind of like back and forth. Like you're you guys drop into this flow where you are her assistant and you are preparing the ingredients, and she goes over to your the side of the workshop and begins pulling out um water and uh all of these like little burners, and she begins pulling out powders and a mortar and pestle and all these sort of different tools of of the trade as she kind of begins looking at it and trying to figure out, and you see her begin muttering to herself, um, actually in undercommon as she starts to like mutter things from her own sort of past and and and habits that are deeply ingrained, um, and begins the process of of brewing

something. Yeah. And at that point, you feel from your side of the shop, you hear a I'll be right there.

Uh one moment, please, and I will walk to the door.

You hear like a kind of frantic knocking. Is there, is there like a can you see through the glass? Oh, okay. Um as you walk into your shop, you see now it it is full morning, like the sun has risen, um, just barely, so very early. And standing outside there, kind of like looking frantically, like through the glass, peering, looking for for you.

You see a small figure, you see a round-faced boy of nine years old, um, mousy hair, uh, looking a little distraught. And you know this is Thomas. He is the oldest child of Jaro and Hesta.

Oh boy. Okay. Okay.

And he like he sees you and he's like.

Hi, I will go and I will open the door.

Um Thomas is the yes. My um, could you could you come with me? My mom, she told me to come get you. She she doesn't feel so good.

Uh su sure, I can come with you. What what can you tell me uh w what kind of not good so that I make sure to bring the right things?

Yeah, she's she's she's um she's sweaty and she's really tired. Okay. And she's kinda she's kind of like she's kind of on fire. But it's not it's not on fire on fire. So it doesn't hurt, I don't think. But it Okay.

Um, Ilya, um, can you get anything that will help with exhaustion? Anything that will help with um healing? Uh come along and and come with me to Jaro's.

Yeah, okay. Um I'm like, I I seeing that my mom is doing this stuff. She like waves you away. Yeah, yeah, I'll I'll pack it up right now. Hold on. Uh come on, Thomas. Okay. Okay. Um be a pee.

Okay. Um and run over to your side. Yeah, you as you quickly follow them. You do have to kind of like run to catch up as as Thomas's Thomas. When did she get sick? Um, she got sick and he's like looking up at you as he's walking. Um she got sick a couple of days ago. Um, and and and she got really tired.

Um, and then and then yesterday she couldn't get out of bed. She was really, really tired, and she started getting really sweaty.

And then um, and then this morning came and she she um she doesn't look so good and she she has good how. She she um she's like I said, she's kind of she kind of on fire. Um, but it doesn't burn anything. Oh right.

It's I don't know. On fire. And then she um and she's she's really sweaty and she's really hot. Right. You're doing great, Thomas. And she um yeah, she she looks kinda like my dad did.

Um Okay, okay. It's gonna be okay. Okay. So you got me. You did all the right things. Let's go, and and we'll we'll see what we can do. Let's go faster. We'll go faster. Yeah, yeah, that's right.

Um, okay, and he runs. He takes off running. Um, and he uh leads you not too far away, um, just around the outer side of the market ward. Um, or excuse me, the wall ward, probably a couple blocks north, and you come upon like a lovely little, actually pretty nice, like three-story townhome. Um, and he leads you into the front door.

Um, you open it and you see a very clean, very nice space. The furniture is well made, if modest. Up the stairs, he takes you very quickly into a second-story bedroom and you enter into um see two figures. You see sitting on a chair um right next to the bed. Yeah. Uh, you see a small girl. Um, she is squat.

Uh uh, yeah, she's very thick um, squat, and uh has like the bright blonde hair of the woman who is lying in the bed, um, who is human. Jaro is a dwarf and Hesta is human. Um, so their kids kind of have this like blended heritage. I forget Thomas's, he's small, but he's actually very well built for a nine-year-old boy.

Um, the the peaking of the dwarvish heritage. Um, and you see Hesta is waxy, pale, her face is drawn, and you you see um a very relatively similar um complexion to what Jaro had um in the days after he returned back. Um and he deteriorated rather quickly. Um you see He was never on fire though. He was never and yeah, Jaro actually, um, interestingly enough, Jaro never manifested any sort of um changes.

Beyond, yeah, changes, changes is the the good words are right because you remember seeing the creatures at they they were mutated, and uh Hesta, as you look at her, she looks outside of being very, very sick, you do see is like these small bits of like white flame like run up her skin, and they don't, it's not like she's totally encased in it, yeah, but they just ripple across her skin um intermittently.

Um they do not like you see, they make contact with like the with the blankets and the bed. They don't singe or create any sort of smoke or heat. Well and her s daughter is And her daughter's holding her hand, so they don't Yeah, they don't have any physical manifestation. It's just, but yeah, she is, and um, she's Esther?

Yes, um Um Olive uh Thomas, why don't you why don't you go downstairs for for a little bit?

And Olive looks at her mom and go, sweetheart. And she hops up off out of the chair.

Okay, um, let's go let's go make some tea or something for your mom, okay? And grab both of their shoulders and be like, yeah. Phil's Phil's the best of this, remember? She's the best in the whole town. Okay.

And you begin to walk down the stairs with the kids, and once you get back.

Oh, right. You um take out some of the stuff already, and then I know you're probably gonna need it. Just set it down. Thank you so much.

Yeah, you kind of prepare real quickly as the kids wait for you on the landing of the stairs, and as you walk down with them, you see Thomas looks up at you.

Is what happened to Dad? Can I happen to mom?

And I like crouch down to his height. I know it's really scary, but Phil. Phil's the best. And you've learned a lot since your dad, but you're really strong. You're from Black Rock. I know how scary it is to lose a parent. But we're gonna do our best and we're gonna help them out. We're gonna do everything we can.

Here. And I hold out my hand to him and I'm like, You're scared. You can just grab my hand, okay? Squeeze it as hard as you like.

And with strength very outsized for a nine-year-old, he grabs dwarf. He grabs your hand and he squeezes.

Okay, not not that hard, not that hard. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I am I am about to okay. I'm sorry.

Mom always says I got dad's muscles.

Oh yeah.

Okay, just squeeze it half as hard.

Okay. You're so strong. And you all have to be a little bit more.

unknown Okay.

Help them out.

As upstairs.

Yeah.

You sit down in the chair.

Mm-hmm.

I um I look a lot like Giaro did in the days.

What's happening to me? I don't know yet.

Have you done anything recently but out of the normal? Have you uh come into contact with anything that's abnormal for you?

And she she looks at you through tired eyes.

You can tell me I Jaro, he sometimes working the claims, he would find things gems and things that were valuable, and he would just take them home and sell them later, and so what helped us.

And they live in a pretty nice house for a minor.

Um Well, I'm not the law. It doesn't I'm not gonna take anything against you for that.

There was something that he brought back last time when he got sick.

What did he bring back?

It was a gem. It was um dark and green.

He and she reaches like kind of weakly reaches over towards the nightstand.

I'll open uh allow me. I'll open it for her.

Medically, um, you don't need to make a check for this. She's got three levels of exhaustion. Yeah. Um. And as you open the drawer, you see that there's a collection of personal items and things, but you see like very clearly a small box, probably about four inches by eight inches or so. Um, and it has like a lock on it, very simple lock that currently sits open.

Um as you go to open it, it is empty.

Okay.

I with Jaro gone, the death benefit is running out, and I've been out of work taking the kid the children, so wanted to get enough to get back to Karnar, to my family.

Right.

I sold what he had had. One of the gems was strange. I sold it to Buchanan.

It was odd. During the light. And it was dark, but lit at the same time.

I You sold it to Buchanan.

Three days ago. I kept it in the box since Yara returned home.

When did you open the box and touch it?

Three days ago.

And you felt fine before then?

Yes, I've been fine for weeks.

I believe I know what's happening here. I believe that those green stones from the mind are what made Jaro ill. They have a infectious, poisonous quality to them that we are only just becoming aware of.

And that's what happened to me as well.

It does look that way. But we are learning so much more, and I think that we've come up with a plan for how to potentially cure this. But it'll take a couple of days, and I don't know if you have those days. So let me first try to see if we can make you feel a little bit better. Um, would there be any potions that would help with exhaustion that we have?

That you have.

I know I mentioned that to Ilya as we were passing. I don't know.

Oh gosh, I let's see what I have.

Do you have them?

I had it up earlier and then it decided to meet. Here we go.

You have one?

I have one.

Okay. Uh that's That's it? I'm pretty sure.

30 awareness.

Let me there is one.

Hang on.

There is uh I can also cast I identify on her, maybe, to see if there's anything else going on with the fire.

Oh. Okay. Um human woman.

No, I I identify she or human woman.

Okay, this is a question.

Yeah.

Um. There are. There is a potion. And I have to figure out whether or not you guys have this.

Right. Might not.

There is a potion. It is a very rare potion.

Okay.

Mechanically called a potion of vitality that removes exhaustion.

Yeah.

But it is very rare.

I don't think I wouldn't grab that.

I don't think anything of that rarity would be just commonplace and lying around.

Like they could make it probably, but yeah. We might have it. It's just like in a secret, like we maybe. We would use this maybe for ourselves. Maybe. Yeah. Unless DM is like, I gotta think a little bit on that one.

Because that a very rare potion usually comes in in several thousands of gold pieces.

Well, that's the thing, because the potion I have is also incredibly rare.

The potion you have is yeah, it is very rare. Um, yeah.

So it's also something that I don't necessarily that I wouldn't normally use on a situation like this.

Correct. So that is, I I'm gonna leave that entirely up to Phil.

Um I have stuff that ignores exhaustion. Well, not very helpful, huh?

Um so, but Phil, you do cast, did I hear you right?

I want to cast identify on her. Yeah. So I will um I will un um and and because we're now level five, oh, okay. I will um this attack, I will grab the raven from my wrist and I will uncuff it. Um and I will bring it between my two hands and kind of like rotate them together. Um and and then release them.

And it is um as I release my hands, the raven is fluttering in between them.

Okay.

And its eyes turn this bright green.

Okay.

And I will say reveal. And I will cast Identify. Um, Identify is normally a touch spell.

Okay.

But the raven is going to flow, just fly um over to Hesta and scan up her body. Okay. There's gonna be this green light wash over her.

Okay.

From foot to head, and then it will rest on her chest.

Okay.

Um, and kind of pulse there.

Okay. As the wings flutter.

As the wings flutter and they settle.

The sort of as the arcane magic from your uh Raven companion flutter like flows up and down, Hesta, you begin to receive information. Um and what I'm going to say is because this is a uniquely magical disease, and perhaps the first time that you've thought to, unfortunately, the first time you had the thought to do this even before having treated patients with this under now with this more depth of understanding of what this is and how it's innately aberrative and magical in nature.

You cast identify. And the information that comes back to you is that this disease is it just kind of flows into your mind in the way that magic does. Warp touch.

Warp touch?

Warp?

What?

Touch.

That's what this like poison is or an infection? That's what the disease is.

And I will say with your with the amount that you have learned and the amount that you have studied over the course of these last two weeks. Two weeks. Uh bit of a bit of maybe a bit of a lore dump uh coming your way here. Um of the worst effects of raw chaos and dissolution, the malady known as warp touch horribly twists the flesh of an infected creature as the body collapses under the unbearable weight of corruption and infuses and is infused with the raw power of change, forcing all manner of strange and disturbing transformations.

Once the first mutation takes hold, the creature that was once that was once now faces the inevitable dissolution of his of their mind and will, becoming something less than yet more than mortal. The fate that awaits nearly all surviving mutations is to become a warp spawn, a gibbering abomination existing only to spread its corruption.

So if you survive it, you become a warp spawn.

In yes. Yeah.

Either you die or you become a warp spawn.

Either you die and then you have a um you have a chance. There is a, you kind of, again, as as the disease in your magic begins to flow through, effectively, there is a percentage chance that in any given day, as you contract this disease, your body undergoes a mutation. It is a random effect. And once you perish from the disease, there is also a random chance that you arise as a warp spawn.

Got it.

Which is why some people have died and not. There were, because there were a total of four minors who could six. Not all of them. It was just two. And Jaro perished from the disease without ever undergoing any mutation. So there is an element of just randomness.

But there is some type of mutation happening right now.

There is a mutation happening right now.

And but I don't know that that's the warped spawn mutation.

It is as far as, and I I will say that you just kind of intuit a lot of this through magic, is um the warp spawn is once you die, you like re-animal.

Okay, okay, okay.

So it is, it is an it is an inevitable transformation.

Transforming into something because she's already undergone some of the transformation might be higher.

You also, because of your experience, and now with your you understand roughly the timeline, from first contraction, it's it's depends on the days in between, but it the disease progressively gets worse and worse as you gain more and more exhaustion and you fail more and more of the role. Okay. Um, you also understand that um the only way to to cure a creature, well other than what we just realized.

There are potentially a few pathways to curing.

Okay.

Greater restoration can halt the progress of the disease and often reverse some of the mutations. Heal will also do it.

Heal just heal.

Yeah, just heal, which is a seventh-level cleric spell.

Yep.

And once someone perishes to the disease, the only way to bring them back is a wish spell.

So once someone dies from this, the only way to sort of like bring okay. Would work.

Once you die from the disease, the only way to bring your body back is with a wish.

Hope none of us get this. Like, bro, but the stone's back. Okay, um, would I think that the potion that Dena is currently working on might halt? Or would it be the same as what Greater Resto does, or might it be slightly Make a medicine check.

I'll I'll allow medicine or Arcana. Your choice. Probably Arcana, if I had to guess. Yeah, Arcana. You've done a lot of work on this, so sure.

Fifteen.

Fifteen?

Mm-hmm.

The potion that has arisen, and I'll say just again, Phil is a brilliant person and has spent the morning doing this.

He spent all morning thinking about it.

Interestingly enough, there is something about uh the way that this corruption can interact specifically with plant life that allows for certain that plant only grows within the vicinity of this corruption. But counterintuitively, it can halt the disease's progress. And it would be like much like a greater restoration, unlikely to reverse any effects, but it can stop it.

So if she's on fire, she's gonna be on fire no matter what. That's she this is the transformed effect.

Could be, yeah. A little uncertain.

A little uncertain, yeah.

But the other thing that you know.

Yeah.

If the disease progresses and you let it get to tomorrow, there's a chance for another and further mutation.

Yeah. Okay.

I'm making tea downstairs.

Oh, yeah, you're not even.

I'm not even here. I'm just hanging out with kids.

And did Dennis say how long it would take? She thinks it would take a couple of hours?

She thinks she could probably get it done in like eight hours.

Eight hours?

What I will say is after this time, the conversation, the identify, you probably ritually casted it, I imagine. So like it's been several minutes. So I will say you've returned, if you wish, with the kids. Like, unless there was anything downstairs that you wanted to do, you you come back up with the tea and you're able to enter the room at the sort of tail end of Phil's um identify spell.

Ilya. And I hand her the or I give I give Thomas the thing. Go give it to your mom.

He like walks over.

Hey mom, I got this for you.

Miss Ilya made it, so you know it's good. She puts it down.

He puts it down.

Uh, we need to know if from Tackett if the growth keeper has returned. Immediately.

Probably asked someone. They were watching the house earlier. Was it was there any Dornwatch members outside of the house?

Because okay.

I can I can go back. Get word to attack it. He sent the best days ago.

Week ago? Yes, but it was going to take him some time to return. We knew he was gonna return after the the harvest, but I I don't know how long after.

Yeah, I can I can do that. Do you want me to go nowhere are you coming with me?

If um I will touch her hand. I will be back before morning. Seems like every day this gets worse, so I will return before then. Dana is working on something that should be ready by tonight. I will bring it by and we will see what we can do. And as I'm holding her hand, I'm casting less of restoration again.

Okay. You see as the magic flows out of your hand and into her in the red veins, yeah. In the red veins of your of your forearm, and you do see a a a relief kind of come through her body. Even though it doesn't remove her exhaustion, it still does end the poison condition, which part of this disease is inevitably poisoned.

So I will say that while it doesn't halt the disease, it acts much like a like a like a drug or a bomb. It makes her at least feel not so terrible. And you see, as a little bit of color returns to her cheeks.

unknown Okay.

Stay in bed, it's not a cure. It's not, it's it's not going to help for long.

Alright.

Don't become heroic all of a sudden. Stay here, rest. Thomas, make sure your mother continues to eat and rest. We know so much more than we knew with Jaro.

And for that I am grateful.

Okay.

Thank you.

She reaches over and she grabs her olive and Thomas's hands. Okay, children.

You heard you have to you have to watch me while Miss Phil and Miss Elia go to find help, okay?

Do we uh do we have any potions that would like induce sleep? I would say for sure. I don't know if they would be restful.

I would say your bag, you got something that could help me.

I don't know if it would be restful or if it would like help.

Maybe it would at least make the time go faster, if nothing else.

Okay, so I will say, um drink your tea, have some food. This will help you sleep. Take it when you feel ready.

unknown Alright. Okay.

Alright. Um, and let's see if we can find Jackett. Hopefully he's in his offices.

Alright. Okay. Not to Olive and Thomas.

unknown Bye guys.

Thomas. We got it.

unknown Yeah.

Watch out for mom. So strong.

Head out and follow Phil. Thank you.

Of course, Thomas, of course. Um, and I will rush to Tackett as quickly as possible, I guess. Tackett's office. Okay. The office of the like their entire office is.

You leave the uh leave the the domicile of Hesta and Jaro and make your way towards Tackett. I think we gotta end there.

No, okay.

I think we gotta end there time rewise, right? Yes, yes. Yep. Okay. So I'm sorry, I know we we we we'll see. We'll see what what what happens when we return. As you guys run towards Tackett's office to find if the Grovekeeper has returned.

Look, I mean, the potion is gonna be hopefully ready by tonight, so Dana's working on it.

Yeah, we'll see.

I don't know, man. Alright, well, we will find out what happens with the warp stone and the warp touch when we return. Probably with some more folks, I imagine. We'll have to figure that out. Not next week. Not next week. So soon though, we will find out what becomes of our resident Doctor and Herbalist as they are on the case.

Next week you get to find out what the Vale and the Friend got up to.

What are they up to this lovely morning?

What are you doing?

Everybody's had their own misadventures. So we'll see what happens when the group all comes back together. But that's it for us, guys. Hopefully, and you enjoyed uh watching as much as we did playing, and we'll see you next time. Bye venturers.

Bye ventures!

Hey venturers, it's your friendly neighborhood editor Shane. Please hit that like button, that follow button, that subscribe, give us a five-star review, leave us a comment, swipe right, and hit hype if you're on YouTube and the episode's been published. If you have the funds, you can give us some of them by subscribing to us on Patreon or giving us a YouTube membership or a Twitch Prime subscription.

Now that that's all out of the way, did you all see the news? We're gonna be playing Da da da Dagger Heart on October 28th. We're playing Dark Heart of Andaloria, a campaign frame from the new Hope and Fear book. I will be GMing it. I'm super excited and honored to be a part of it. We're really grateful for the opportunity.

This is an official collaboration with Darrington Press. It's no joke for us. We're really pumped. Uh, fair warning, it's gonna be a bloodbath. So gird whatever must be girded. It is gonna be a spooky, gory, exciting time. Uh, we pulled no punches with this. So if you can, please do follow us on our socials for the next few weeks and show some support because we really want to let Darrington know that their trust in us was well placed.

Uh, I can't wait to share some of this stuff with you all. So until then, we'll see you in the next one, adventurers. Bye.

C2 E27 | An Eternal Plant

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