2023-06-17 Birchland Ingredient Hunt

• Date: 2023-06-17
• Region: Birchland
• Session #: 41

Player Characters

• Hyacinth
• Hedera
• Ivan
• Arkenciel
• Furifuru

Summary

Hyacinth and Arkenciel emerged from Subterranea, traveling from Quinder Hollow to Salmund to look for work.

Ivan entered the Celestial Study looking for Tarhun. Quasar informed him that Tarhun was away in the Haunted Realm, and asked him to help the apothecary collect ingredients in the meantime to keep busy and earn some change.

Hedera, passing through Salmund during her retirement, decided to help with the ingredient hunt since it would take her to Fallweave, a place of skilled and retired adventurers who could teach her magic.

Furifuru, having left his harengon tribe in the Kazzin Forest, visited Salmund looking for something to do.

The party convened at Potions of Wealing, where Vist Thermil explained the task. They received a list of four ingredients to collect on the way to Fallweave, along with a book of recipes to obtain there. Each item collected would earn 150gp.

They traveled east about a week, crossing The Boardwalk and arriving at the east end of the Shadowglade.

As the party left the beaten path to search for ingredients, they passed a small camp. A woman from that camp asked them what they were up to. When the PCs mentioned collecting ingredients, the woman complained that they were going to harm the environment. The party ignored her and moved on.

The party approached the first of the Hats in Birchland.

Arkenciel used pitons and rope to climb the Hat. Atop the plateau, she found the singing nettle plant. While taking clippings of it, she was pricked by it, and began to chant a shadarian battle tune. This awoke a flock of sleeping stirges hanging from the edges of the plateau, which charged at the party in search of blood.

During the fight, Arkenciel rushed down the hillside to avoid being separated by the party. Ivan cast sleep on a cluster of flying stirges, leading many of them to fall to their demise.

Next, the PCs decided to double back west to the Shadowglade edge hill. They searched along the hill and found a small webbed cave. Four giant wolf spiders lived within.

They shook the web to lure the spiders out. Arkenciel was paralyzed by spider venom during the fight, and the spiders began to drag her back into the cave. The group killed the spiders, saved her, and collected wolf spider hairs. Inside the cave, they also found gold and a luckstone.

They traveled to the village of Breezeville, arriving just past dusk, and spent the night at Windhammock, the inn.

The next day, they set out again. Among the sparse birch trees of the region, they found red amanita mushrooms.

When they tried to pick a mushroom, it complained loudly, but did not appear to move. Hedera, untricked, called out the disembodied voice as lying. A yellow faerie dragon materialized and introduced himself as Nini.

Nini used his breath weapon on Hyacinth, but she resisted the effect. He wanted to pet the "dog" (Furifuru) but Furi refused.

Nini informed the party that he had seen a hill giant somewhere northward. He offered to accompany them, and sat invisibly on Hedera's shoulder.

The party found the trail of giant footprints. They tracked it through the grassland to a ruined tower positioned next to a hillside. Within the tower a huge hill giant snoozed loudly.

Hyacinth stepped forward quietly. She collected the two toenails needed, but upon obtaining the second one, the giant awoke. The party fled from the hungry giant, slowing it with grease spells and illusory distractions. They managed to get far enough ahead to conceal themselves behind a hill, leaving the charging beast ambling by.

The group reached Fallweave by evening. They visited the Desilav's Sanctuary, the library, to retrieve the alchemy book Vist requested. Arkenciel searched for books about creature anatomy, and found some by a famous hero known as the Headtaker.

They perused The Magic Market, the magic item shop.

The PCs caught a boy pickpocketing a drunk, muscular, elderly man, and returned the man's coinpurse. The man thanked them and introduced himself as Tacitus, the Headtaker. He invited them to visit his home. They agreed to follow after releasing the pickpocket.

The group entered Tacitus' manor. Covering the walls was enormous collection of a variety of beast heads, containing everything from owlbears to dragons to remorhazes to manticores.

Tacitus rewarded the party for protecting his coinpurse by giving them a pirate treasure map and paying their inn fee for the next few days. Hyacinth expressed interest in training her martial skill with him, which he accepted. Tacitus passed out on his couch, and the party left for the inn.

When the party later traveled along the road back toward Salmund, they were stopped by the woman from earlier, who identified herself as a member of the Children of Nature. She called them out as defilers of the wilderness and attacked. The PCs killed the gang. They found the emblem of the Children of Nature on the goons' bodies: a tree cookie necklace carved with the symbol of a tree inside a kiteshield.

When they later returned to Salmund, the party received the full reward for collecting all five items for Vist.