The Wooden Sea #4

Foolslope
By Kati Davis (Korva Grimdawn)

The Wooden Sea

A Dungeons & Dragons World/Adventure

By Ahmad Williams (DM)

Travelling to Foolslope would take a while. Though the group hoped to make good time, they knew they would have to spend the night on the road one way or the other. They followed the main trade road as far as they could, before splitting onto a less trafficked one that would lead them to their destination.

The town of Foolslope was yet another tiny place trying to survive in the Wooden Sea. They were known for being grabbit farmers. This was probably the easiest job someone could have, whether inside the Sea or out. Grabbits were stupid animals and provided the most common, cheapest meat you could find. Plus, they bred like crazy. Surely a wizard in a Grabbit town was a great waste of talent.

After walking for some time, the trees closely encroaching on the road gave way to a grassy area that dipped away from the road. The grass itself was tall, most of it shooting well past the top of Korva’s head. From where the dwarf stood, she could just see across the top of the grass, thanks to the slight incline of the road. Great, broad mushrooms grew out of the swaying grass. Some caps were level with the grass, twitching every so often. Korva wondered if they were growing before their eyes. Others had grown beyond the grass and stood proudly in the bright sunlight.

“Could I make a shield out of one of those caps?” Crow mused while observing the tallest of the mushrooms. “Maybe we can eat them?”

“No, do not eat them,” Zrotzerzroz warned sternly. “They are poison. Do not eat them.”

“I want to go get one for a shield, but I’m worried about the ones that are moving,” Crow said.

“None of them are moving,” the gnome snapped at the human.

“Yes, some of them are moving.”

The paladin and druid went back and forth like this for some time. Korva thought it was funny that Zrotzerzroz was even arguing that they weren’t moving since she was pretty certain he couldn’t see the mushrooms Crow was referring to. The gnome was substantially shorter than the grass. Madera was the first to get fed up with the two of them. He picked up a stone off the road and hurled it into the field. It bounced off the top of one of the caps level with the grass with a boiing. The mushroom remained still.

“Not. Moving.” Zrotzerzroz stomped over to some small mushrooms on the side of the road and began whacking them with his hand.

“I’m going to get my mushroom shield,” Crow huffed and stomped off into the grass, heading for the tallest one he could see.

The man stood well above the grass line so Madera and Korva had a pretty clear view of what happened next. Crow was quite far out into the grass when suddenly he disappeared. The way his arms went up, it almost looked as if a rug had been pulled out from under him. A metallic tink sound reached the ears of those on the road, and it kept occurring irregularly.

“HELP!” Crow’s cry rang out across the grass. The group looked at each other in confusion, but another cry came.

Madera grabbed Zrotzerzroz and slung him onto his shoulders so he’d be above the grass. The half-elf started to run, and the dwarf followed closely to stay in the trail of parted grass he left. She could tell when they were close because the sounds grew louder. There was scrabbling and grunting in addition to the metal sound. Following her ears, Korva pulled around the other two, but when she finally reached Crow, the dwarf got a face full of grass. Tiny pieces stuck to her eyeballs, and she scrubbed at them frantically.

“Hey guys, it’s a small bugbear,” she heard Zrotzerzroz call out the warning. “Be super careful. They’re really strong.”

Korva shook her head and felt the last of the grass pieces come free. Just as she did this, the gnome yelled, “Thorny plant attack!”
A vine whipped through the grass, splitting stalks in its path. The dwarf turned her head to watch it go. It went right to the place where Crow was laid out on his back with the crudely armored bugbear on top of him. The creature was wearing one of the mushroom caps for a hat. The thorned vine wrapped mercilessly around the bugbear and yanked, pulling it off of Crow and closer to Zrotzerzroz and Madera. Now free, the human was on his feet as fast as he could be, greatsword in hand. He squared off with the disoriented creature.

It was small, standing about the same height as Korva. It’s armor was haphazard and it’s shortsword had the look of being scavenged from someone’s trash pile. Coarse hair covered it’s body, fangs jutted randomly from it’s mouth, and it’s nose resembled a bear. Otherwise, it was similar in shape to a goblin. If this was a small one, she hoped not to encounter one that was bigger. Breathing heavily through its nose, the bugbear whipped its head around to look at each of the four companions in frustration.

Crow lunged at the bugbear with his greatsword and managed to draw blood with the attack. Madera was right beside him, following up with his rapier. The hit was deep and true, drawing agonizing screams from the creature. The bugbear retaliated with all it’s might and was rewarded for it’s effort, blood for blood. It’s clawed hand sunk deep into Madera’s hip and ripped upwards, visibly severing skin and muscle. The rogue lost consciousness and fell instantly. Zrotzerzroz tumbled from his seat on Madera’s shoulders and landed on his back. The bugbear began to limp away, blood running steadily to the ground. It was still screaming and Korva could hear other feet moving at the sound of the creature’s death throes. Putting two and two together, the dwarf now understood the shifting and twitching mushroom caps that were level with the grass tops. There were too many bugbears in this field for comfort, but it sounded like they were retreating for now.

She grabbed her dwarven hammer and lobbed it in the direction of the retreating bugbear. The hammer connected with the base of the creature’s skull with a sickening crack, effectively putting it out of its misery. The bugbear collapsed, tongue lolling from its mouth.

Turning to Madera, Korva found Zrotzerzroz was already working on the half-elf. He was horribly pale and had lost a lot of blood, but the gnome seemed to know what he was doing, so she didn’t interfere. Crow went over to the dead bugbear and picked up Korva’s hammer. Severing the head of the creature, he removed the mushroom cap helmet and placed it on his own. The human wore vindication broadly across his face as he handed the hammer back to the dwarf, though she personally found the helmet to be slightly amusing. Crow attached the bugbear head to his pack.

Shortly after, they got a now-conscious Madera on his feet. The gnome had adequately stabilized the man. Crow laid his hands upon the man and pulled from his holy magic. His wounds seemed to heal well enough and soon enough the rogue was twisting around to test his range of motion. The paladin was looking quite disheveled himself due to his romp with the bugbear. He had some shallow wounds that were easily patched up, and before long the party was continuing down the road.

They had hoped to make more progress, but stopped when Crow and Madera found a good spot to camp, knowing their group needed to rest. Korva and Zrotzerzroz elected to let Crow and Madera sleep the full night and share the night watch between them. The dwarf took the first shift and sat up near the fire, watching as evening turned to dark night. Her companions fell asleep one by one. Eyes passed outside the circle of firelight every so often, and some even stopped to watch for awhile. Nothing ever tried to come near, though, for which Korva was grateful. Nonetheless, she kept a tight grip on her quarterstaff.

Hours passed and she finally woke a groggy Zrotzerzroz for his shift. He dutifully took her place by the fire, and when she was sure he was alert enough, the dwarf let herself drift off to sleep.

Korva awoke with a confused jolt the next morning. Something had been touching her neck. Sitting up and looking around, she saw Zrotzerzroz walking away from her. He kneeled down by Crow, reached out, and began rubbing two fingers gently up and down behind his ears. She shook her head, trying to clear her bleary eyes. Who wakes someone up like that? Korva thought tiredly, scrubbing her face with her hands. The human awoke in a similar way to Korva and the gnome moved toward Madera. 

“Why would you wake someone up like…” Crow started, but then he cut his own words off sharply by yelling, “What the hell!”

Korva saw the reason for his reaction as she lowered her hands from her face; their campsite was utterly destroyed. The dwarf groaned. Each of the party member’s travel packs had been shredded, along with anything inside that hadn’t been hard enough to resist whatever it was that had raided them. Fabric was strewn all around, the remnants of extra clothes and Korva’s blanket. Their rations had been filched from the packs and eaten, and not a single crumb was left behind. Madera’s rope that had been so helpful in Stonebottom was in chunks around the site. Three heads turned toward the night watchman.

Zrotzerzroz seemed to be having a hard time meeting their eyes. For all that he didn’t appear to understand social norms, he certainly knew to look guilty now.

“How did this happen?” Madera asked sharply.

“I was, maybe, picking flowers over there,” the gnome gestured towards the treeline.

Sighing, the rogue got up and started sifting through the mess. Crow, Korva and Zrotzerzroz followed suit, knowing there wasn’t much that could be done about it now. The dwarf rummaged through her ruined stale-ale-and-body-odor clothes, grateful she had been wearing the cleaner of her two sets. She gathered up the items that hadn’t been ruined such as her book, silver skull, money, and herbalism kit. Though her pack had been violently torn, she managed to tie knots along the side of it, sealing as many of the holes as she could. It wasn’t a permanent solution, but it should work until they could get back to Profit. Looking around, Korva saw her companions had done much of the same.

“I’ll find some food,” the dwarf murmured. She was unhappy, of course, that she would have to purchase replacement items, but the biggest loss was rations. This would be a pretty worthless group if they were starving. The dwarf searched the area around where they had camped and scavenged enough berries to feed them for now. Walking back into the open, she distributed them amongst her companions. Crow and Madera thanked her. Zrotzerzroz instantly stuffed a handful into his mouth, but Korva thought she could read gratefulness in his eyes.

The party started down the road again after salvaging what they could. Korva felt particularly sluggish following the events of the day before and the unkind surprise they had awoken to, and she could tell she wasn’t the only one. Madera was dragging as well, which made the rest of the trip to Foolslope take longer than it should have. Eventually, though, they made it to the tiny town. Korva couldn’t help but hope that finding the wizard would be their easiest task yet.

The bedraggled and worn party made their way into Foolslope. Well, all except Crow. He entered the town as well, but it was as if the events of the last eighteen hours never happened. Somehow his armor even seemed freshly polished.

The buildings in Foolslope were a ramshackle mess and junk was littered around the area. It was a town in disrepair. People were hanging around and they only showed a mild interest at the arrival of the strangers before going back to their loitering. Dwarves, halflings, humans, and elves all seemed to be inhabiting this little place in equal numbers. One large pen sat inside the town and it was teeming with chicken-sized grabbits. The fence was short, maybe knee high to a human. Must be really dumb animals to be corralled by that, thought Korva. They ignored the adventurers. A Guild bounty board was off to one side, but it had a single bounty tacked to it, which was the one they already had about disappearing grabbits.

There was one man who stood out, a human in his young twenties. He was standing aside from everyone else, though he was lollygagging like the rest, and he wore robes with a sash tied around them. It was quite a contrast to the others in Foolslope, who seemed to wear the normal attire of farmers.

Upon entering the town Zrotzerzroz and Crow made a beeline for a utility hut to see what goods they could replace. Madera and Korva followed. The dwarf had made some coin since starting out in Ofaname a handful of days ago, so she decided she’d rather wait to see what was available in Profit. The shop did have some small leather bags which locals used for feeding grabbits, as well as rations and waterskins. These were the items her companions seemed most interested in. After they made their purchases, Crow and Zrotzerzroz went over to a nearby well with a hand pump to fill their waterskins while Madera moved his stuff from the shredded pack into a leather feed bag. Meanwhile, Korva was surveying the hillside.

The dwarf was thinking about the bounty they had picked up for Foolslope. Grabbits were going missing following a flash of light appearing in the hills. She hoped they were lucky enough to be there on a day when the light appeared. And it seemed they were. Against all odds, something caught her eye. It was distant, maybe five miles out from the town in an area choked with trees, but it had definitely been there. Whatever was causing the flash disappeared in an instant.

She turned to the hut, purchased two day’s worth of dried grabbit rations and rejoined her group. Korva was distracted, though, trying to make sense of what she had seen. It must have been moving, whatever it was. She was reminded of the sun glinting off of something; polished silver, armor, a mirror… Her brain was too tired, and she couldn’t figure it out.

Crow led the way over to the young man in robes, who they were assuming was the wizard Mr. Preston had spoken of. He was leaning against a tree, looking as bored as everyone else in the town. Despite the representation of different races in Foolslope, they all seemed to have a similar rundown look. This young man, though, was cleaner and almost had a way about his features that would be associated with those of a higher class.

“Hey, my name’s Crow,” the human introduced himself as they gathered in front of the wizard. “What’s your name?”

“Crow, huh? Well, good to meet you,” the young man stood up straight at the approach of the party. “You might have heard of me. My name is Kenworth Brimley-.”

Maybe he was about to say more, but he didn’t get the chance.

“Nope, never heard of you,” Zrotzerzroz blurted out as soon as Kenworth’s words left his mouth. Korva resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the gnome.

“O-okay, I guess that’s fair,” the young man stammered. “Maybe my father, Wilfred?”

The name Brimley was familiar to Korva, and when Kenworth said “Wilfred” the pieces fell into place. Wilfred Brimley was a very powerful wizard who had spent substantial time working for the king of Wheldrake. She knew he had children who had shown promise as wizards themselves, but didn’t know much more than that.

“No? Okay…” The wind seemed to be going out of the young man’s sails at the lack of recognition. Trying to recover, he began again, “Well, I entered the Academy at the early age of ten.”

Kenworth looked at their faces hoping for reactions at the revelation of entering the school for magic users a year early. He continued proudly, “Yep I was a real prodigy, on my way to becoming one of the best wizards this land has ever seen. I mastered Mage Hand by my seventh birthday… but that’s where I kind of peaked… I’m not really a big deal.”

“So what brings you to this town?” Crow asked after the young man had deflated again.

“Umm, you guys are adventurers, right?” the kid asked his own question in return, nervous.

“Yeah, we’re with The Guild.”

“Am I in trouble? Are you here for me?” When the group hesitated in response to his questions he became flustered. “Look, it was an accident, okay, umm…”

“What was an accident?” Madera piped up, confused. This “wizard” was all over the place.

“I want immunity!” He burst out, fear written on his face. Tears quickly followed. “I didn’t do it on purpose!”

“Well, lets hear your side of the story,” Crow replied, unsure what was happening. The wizard was obviously afraid of them now that the conversation had moved in this direction.

“So… you’re not here to kill me?”

“Can we go sit somewhere? Maybe in that barn over there?” Madera indicated one of the rough buildings that was indeed a barn. The rogue looked as exhausted as Korva felt. The heat of the bright day didn’t help, either.

“That’s a good idea. It’s hot out here.”

Kenworth led them into the building, where it was cool and dry. The barn didn’t seem to serve a purpose, as it was relatively empty and no workers were around. Korva was grateful to see a couple of benches and stools. She moved to sit on one, curious about why their gnome companion was making a pile of straw to sit on instead.

“Okay, okay,” the young man started talking once he’d had a seat on a stool. “So, if you like my story, I can get immunity? Is that fair?”

“Sure,” Crow immediately lied. He and his party knew that wasn’t something any of them could offer. If Mr. Preston wanted to end this pathetic wizard’s life for whatever he was afraid of admitting, none of them would or could stand in the way. “Everything’s okay, you can give us the truth.”

Korva personally didn’t think she would have believed the paladin’s lie, but she could see relief in the kid’s eyes at the reassurance. Well, that’s that. This guy is easy.

“Alright, you say it’s okay… Oh man, where to begin?” He was building himself up for quite a story. “So I was young in the academy. Youngest ever, by the way. And it was hard. I mean, there were kids there who looked up to me, you know? And first year I was something. During the second year, everyone kept growing and getting better. They were learning new spells… while I was merely mastering the spells I had already learned. So, you know…”

Korva couldn’t help but feel a little bit bad for the wizard, and she could tell most of her companions (the gnome had a completely vacant look on his face and she couldn’t tell if he was listening or not) felt much the same.  To have such a promising start and then peak in the second year of school? That was unfortunate, though it didn’t explain what he was doing here or why they’d been sent to speak to him.

“But that year,” Kenworth continued, turning wistful. “That’s when I saw her. Her name was Lily. She was just so perfect. She was a wood elf. I could tell because I know these things. And, you know, I think the love was true. It was there. I would sit right next to her in our first period, and I swear she had the sweetest little laugh and half-smile. I’d tell her one of my jokes and she would laugh softly and it just warmed my heart. We were meant to be.”

Crow and Korva exchanged a look, hoping this was somehow pertinent information and they weren’t wasting their time.

“How old was she?” Zrotzerzroz interrupted bluntly.

“She was so beautiful… and she was in my class, so I assume we’re the same age. I mean, don’t elves age, like, I don’t know… isn’t every one year for us is like half a year for them?”

Oh boy, Korva thought. That math is so wrong. As far as she knew, elves were the longest living people, and they declared their own adulthood at somewhere around one hundred years.

“Third year came around. Boys were getting muscles, and I was still younger… So I thought I was going to lose Lily. I decided to borrow some money from my dad.” His hesitation was obvious around the word “borrow”.
“I purchased some books with it, you know? They were like that! Like, big textbooks.” The young wizard was jabbing a finger at Korva’s tome from the Stonebottom mine. It was poking out of a rip in her devastated pack. He shrugged, “I bought ten books and I just read a lot.”

Zrotzerzroz obviously couldn’t care less and laid down on his mound of hay. Korva, on the other hand, was trying to figure out how much money this guy had “borrowed” from his rich father to afford that many books. However much it was, it had to have been substantial.

“I kept doing research, and I learned about planeswalking,” Kenworth’s tone had changed a bit as he got into this part of the story. He was becoming more sheepish. “You guys ever heard of that before? How to go through different planes? It’s really high wizard stuff. Anyway, there’s this one plane that really caught my eye. It’s called the Fade.”

Zrotzerzroz actually sat up at that last sentence. Korva didn’t know anything about this “Fade” plane, but it was obvious the gnome did and that was worth noting.

“We don’t know how many different planes there are,” the wizard went on. “We’re on the material plane, and there is the fire plane, the water plane, planes of birds… There’s just different planes.”

“Whoa,” the gnome whispered, in awe at the idea of a plane for birds.

“The Fade is literally the area between the planes. It’s just a fragment of area in between. And there’s stuff there! Who knows what kind of stuff. I was reading about it, and one book said anything you can imagine can be found there, because it’s just been around for as long as existence, right? So I borrowed more money from my dad and was able to get a planeswalking kit.

“Anyway, I went there and… yeah, that place sucks. The book said what you are looking for finds you. Of course, that sounded really vague, so I didn’t know what to expect when I got there. I was trying to think of what to get for Lily, and I realized she must like flowers. Because her name is Lily! So, I thought ‘flowers for Lily, flowers for Lily, flowers for Lily’ and this woman appeared in front of me.

“Next to her was this, well, it looked like a seed. It was like a pit from a fruit but bigger and it was… sort of pulsing. And I know this sounds weird, but I could hear her mind. She wasn’t talking. I don’t know if that makes sense… Well, it kind of makes sense. And she said, in her mind, not to me, that it was a seed and it could create anything.

“Then I stopped listening, and I just grabbed it and got out of there. That place is, like, really scary. And, you know, she was really sad. But I don’t think she missed it. She wasn’t even holding it. So I got out of there and that’s when…” He trailed off momentarily. Korva could see Kenworth steeling himself for whatever he was about to say next. “Okay, whew. You said I had immunity, so okay… So I brought the seed back, because I wanted to plant it. To show Lily! And it just… shot into the ground like a crossbow bolt. It burrowed and stuff started growing and it was just… It was really scary. I’ve never seen something burrow so fast. It just started… I don’t know, the ground was shaking and trees started sprouting up. I thought I was gonna die.”

“How long ago did this happen?” Crow interrupted, but Korva was pretty sure she already knew the answer. A heaviness settled uncomfortably in her stomach and she was pretty sure her eyes were bugging out as the wizard shared more and more of his story.

“Oh gosh, less than ten years?” Kenworth replied. “Maybe seven or eight? Needless to say, I didn’t finish the academy so… yeah, about eight years ago.”

“Okay,” Crow responded in a clipped tone. The dwarf wondered if he and their other companions were having the same revelation she was.

“Do you know about where it was that you planted the seed?” Madera asked the young man.

“Yeah, well, I didn’t plant it. Lets be real, because I don’t want to get in trouble, okay? It dropped. You remember that old game forest that’s not too far from the capital? It had this cool little place, I called it my ‘hideaway’ where I kept all my teddy bears and stuff… I tried to show Lily once but she was not interested. She was really busy though, she said she had to do homework and stuff. I get it, the academy is really hard.

“I had, like, this little house that I made and it was in that game forest. Not, like, too deep into it but around there. Is that important?.” Korva’s head had dropped into her hands and she nodded minutely. Honestly, she couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

“Yup,” she muttered.

“You’re just a simple thief,” Zrotzerzroz stated.

“Hey now-”

“Just a simple thief trying to impress a girl,” Crow amended. Kenworth shot him a grateful look.

“Thank you!” he exclaimed. “I mean, have you ever been in love? You would do anything!”

“No,” the gnome said, overlapping Crow’s, “yeah.”

“Well umm, I mean, I just kind of hid out after. I was too embarrassed to go back to school. And then all this! This forest is weird, but, you know, I think my dad is maybe mad at me. I haven’t seen him in a long time. I’ve just been hiding out here in the Wooden Sea.”

“Why is your dad mad at you?” the dwarf asked, wanting to make all the pieces of this horrible puzzle fit together.

“Well, I never paid him back,” Kenworth replied slowly. “And he knows the king. The king! And I’m just so afraid I’ll see Lily again… Can you guys, like, put in a good word? That I’m not a thief?”

“Oh, we will put in a word,” Madera commented.

“You could come back with us, potentially,” Crow interjected.

“Plead your case,” added Zrotzerzroz.

“Does anybody know that you did this?” Korva inquired.

“Well, I may have left out some of the details to the people around here, and there are a few passerby, but… I mean, most people just know me as the wizard,” he fired off a small swirl and a few sparks from his hand. “So that’s what I’m known as here.”

“Wow,” their gnome companion looked thoroughly unimpressed and irritated as he said the word.

“Can you tell us more about what the seed looked like?” It was yet another question from Korva and she dreaded this one the most. Her gut was telling her she already knew what the answer was.

“Yeah, yeah, of course. It was this big,” Kenworth gestured with his hands, indicating something around the size of a ball children would kick around for sport. “It was rounded on one end and kind of tapered on the other. And it was kind of pulsing with all of these, like, cool looking root-vein things going through it. It was pretty solid and hard.”

“Did it have a distinct color?”

“Yeah, yeah… It was green and sort of bluish, with tinges of purple on the ends.”

“Did it give off any light?” She was forcing out her most patient voice, despite already anticipating the answer.

“Let me think,” the young man responded. After a moment, he said, “A little bit. I mean it was bright outside… Actually… Now that you say it, when it jumped out of my hands and was burrowing into the ground, it lit off some kind of blue glow in the hole it made. Is that important?”

Korva stifled a strange, panicky noise that was trying to push its way through her teeth. It was the orb. It was the orb they’d found in Stonebottom. At least it was one like it. Maybe what they’d found in Stonebottom was created by the one this idiot had brought back from the Fade. Oh no.

“You know, I wish I had more information for you,” Kenworth rushed the words out, his tone worried. His eyes were darting between Crow, Madera and Korva, who were all in various states of disbelief at his story. Zrotzerzroz, as a druid, was of course interested in the idea of the seed, but he hadn’t physically encountered it like the other three. “I only had the thing in my hand for, like, thirty seconds before I lost it. But I still have my summoning gear if you guys are interested in going to the Fade and talking to the-”

“That is a horrible idea” the dwarf cut the kid off at the same time the gnome started saying, “No, no, no, no. I am very familiar with the Fade, we are not going to do that. Rule one, never go to the Fade.”

“I mean, I feel like we should talk to the lady. That’s my opinion” Crow chimed in.

“Can we have a huddle real quick? One moment,” Zrotzerzroz demanded and turned away from Kenworth. The rest of the party came to join him.

“Okay, I get it. I get it,” the wizard said backing off a bit.

“Don’t go anywhere,” the gnome threw over his shoulder. Turning back to Crow he snapped, “No.”

“I say we just take the summoning gear, but we don’t go there yet,” Madera offered.

“I feel like, we just take the summoning gear from this person,” Korva pleaded. “I think that’s a good idea. But I’m not interested in travelling to another plane.”

“I say we get this guy in prison. He sounds like an absolute hazard,” Zrotzerzroz huffed.

“I think we should bring him back,” Crow started. “But I also think we need to talk to the person.”

“We do not need to do that at this time. I’m just saying the Fade is a danger-”

“I’m not saying we do it right now-”

“Do you know what a fractal is? The definition of chaos. That is what the Fade is.”

“Okay-”

“We can’t handle that.”

“Okay,” Crow conceded. “Well, take the summoning gear just so we have the option.”

“I think we should take him back to Profit.”

“I agree. Do we want to do the bounty first?”

“Look, this guy is absolutely the dumbest person I’ve ever met. We’ll just convince him to hang out until we get back.”

“We could bring him with us-”

“No!” Madera interrupted Crow. “We’ll just tell him we’re here to investigate the shiny thing.”

“Yeah, he already trusts us,” reminded Korva.

The party, now in agreement about taking the planeswalking kit and asking Kenworth to wait for them so they could take him back to Profit, turned back to the young wizard.

“Yo, stay here. We’ll be right back,” Zrotzerzroz told Kenworth flatly.

“Okay,” he said with a shrug.

“Cool, thanks for sharing your story,” Crow added. 

“So, we came to investigate the shiny thing and the disappearing grabbits,” Korva told the young man. “Do you know anything about that?”

“Oh! So you’re not here for me! Whew!” Kenworth looked thoroughly relieved. “Okay, yeah, so the grabbits… You’re adventurers! How come I didn’t see that?! Sorry for unloading all of that on you, but it feels really good to get that off my chest.”

“You’re good, you’re good,” Crow reassured him. Zrotzerzroz stormed out of the barn, completely annoyed.

“Yeah, so we don’t know what it is. We think it might be… Like, a bird… I don’t know let me think,” Kenworth waited a beat. “All we know is that we’ll be working, or some of us are, and someone will say that they heard a noise and we go out to check the pens and like half of the grabbits are gone.”

“What kind of noise?” Crow asked.

“So, it sounds like heavy scruffling, but that’s weird because we thought it might be a bear or a boar or wolves… But the fence isn’t broken. There are footprints, but they’re huge. Nothing is really that tall. And it’s always so fast. Whenever we check the pens after our naps, grabbits are missing.”

Korva internalized her exasperation as best she could. He just admitted they nap when they should be guarding their animals. Of course this guy is the one who managed to get to the Fade…
The young wizard was pointing in the direction that the dwarf had seen the glint earlier.

“You know, we see the same flash in that direction up there, but I have no idea what it is. It could be a seven foot tall bear with, like, sunglasses on,” Kenworth ended lamely.

“What about a dragon?” Crow asked randomly.

“Maybe! It could be a dragon!” The kid seemed excited at that prospect.

“Does it happen day and night?” Korva totally ignored the dragon comments.

“Yes, but it’s not every day. It’s, like, every three days, but-”

“When was the last time it happened?” Madera interrupted.

“Oh, just yesterday.”

“Thanks for the information,” Crow replied. “Just wait here, and we’ll be back.”

“Yeah, yeah sure.”

The group exited the barn, leaving Kenworth inside. Zrotzerzroz was sitting on the ground outside. He got up as his companions filed out and asked venomously, “So did that stupid idiot have anything useful to say at all?”

“Yeah, he gave us some information-” Korva started, but Crow interrupted her.

“Sorry, random thought, but can you look in your history book to see if there is anything about dragons and this shimmer?”

“In a minute, we’re talking!” Zrotzerzroz retorted.

“You’re kind of rude-”

“So, yeah, I was going to say,” Korva started talking over them until they quieted down. “It was really interesting that he said it happens every three days when I actually saw the flash of light  in the hills earlier. Apparently the last time they saw it was yesterday.”

“Was it very bright?” the gnome asked.

“It was just a glint, and it was there and then it was gone. It was quick. Just a quick flash”

“So that’s it? That’s all the information he had? That it flashes every three days?”
“Uh, well, they hear a sound. A heavy scuffling sound-”

“And there are footprints,” supplied Madera.

“Yes, large footprints,” Korva confirmed.

“Did he say if they look human or animal?” Zrotzerzroz inquired.

“I don’t think he knows,” Madera’s comment was probably spot on.

“That’s fair,” agreed the gnome.

“Have you heard of anything like that?” Korva asked the druid, but she knew they didn’t have much to go on.

“I’d have to look at it to see, so lets go check out the pen.”

They walked back toward the town entrance where the large, fenced grabbit pen sat. Zrotzerzroz immediately began pointing out the prints to Korva while the other two examined them. There was one that was less obvious inside the pen and it had been raked over erratically by whomever had done such a poor job mucking out the enclosure. Other prints encircled the pen. It was a print of a heavy boot, and they were indeed massive. There weren’t many of them, though, which made sense when one realized the distance between them had to be close to six feet. Maybe a troll, though the gnome informed her it was uncommon for them to wear boots. They weren’t big enough to be a giant and it certainly wasn’t dragon.

Crow had started to walk off, following the long strides away from the grabbit pen. The tracks led, of course, toward the hills. Korva and the other party members followed. Before long, they had crossed the treeline. The trees themselves were spread out in this area, so the midday sun beat down relentlessly, and the air was very muggy.

About a mile outside of Foolslope, Crow seemed to lose the trail. Thankfully, Madera caught the edge of one of the prints out of the corner of his eye and the group continued on in that direction. The ground started to incline as they went. A glint further up caught the attention of all of the companions, but Crow got the best look at it.

“There,” Crow pointed out. “Whatever it is, that glint is on the creature’s head and it’s about ten feet tall.”

“How far away?” Madera asked.

“A couple of miles hike probably.”

“Was it muscle-y? Could you tell?” Zrotzerzroz wondered.

“I just saw it’s head and shoulders, and then it moved behind a tree.”

Nodding in acknowledgement, the gnome turned and began picking some nearby yellow flowers. He started stuffing his pickings in his pack. Meanwhile, Crow had walked ahead. After catching up to the human and climbing the hill for awhile, everyone was beginning to feel tired with the exception of Zrotzerzroz. Reaching into his pack once more, the druid pulled out the yellow flowers and stuffed one into each of the other adventurer’s hands. It didn’t seem to help with the climb, but Korva supposed it was a nice gesture. Madera put his in his hair and the other two awkwardly put the flowers away in their packs.

“You look super awesome,” the gnome told the rogue in his deadpan way.

The Wooden Sea #3

Mr. Preston
By Kati Davis (Korva Grimdawn)

The Wooden Sea

A Dungeons & Dragons World/Adventure

By Ahmad Williams (DM)

Korva was drunk. So drunk. The townsfolk of Stonebottom had kept her tankard full all night and she wasn’t bothered about keeping track of how many refills there had been. The dwarf would drink herself into oblivion if enough was put in front of her. Her dwarven nature really came out when she drank. Boisterous singing, exaggerated stories, proclaiming her love for her companions… that sort of thing. It was quite out of character and reminiscent of her parents whom she had spent over half of her life distancing herself from, but she couldn’t resist the allure of dwarven spirits and it always brought that suppressed side out.

Crow and the thief, Madera, had made no effort to quell her drinking, which was for the best because it probably would have started a fight. She was not above brawling while drunk. Instead, her companions spent the evening mingling with the townsfolk. Most of the adventurers had left Stonebottom once the mine job had been completed, and so when they caught the eye of one who was still around sitting at the back of the room eating berries, they went over to chat. Korva was conscious, but pretty out of it. They toted her and her tankard along with them to go talk to the gnomish Guild member. Pushing the groggy dwarf onto the bench in front of the adventurer, they slid in on either side of her, effectively keeping her propped up.

“Hey,” Crow greeted the small man.

“Hey,” he replied, a dribbling of berry juice running out of the corner of his mouth.

They chatted about the Stonebottom mission for a bit, but Korva couldn’t really track their words.

“It was great!” she yelled loudly, interrupting whatever it was Crow had been saying by trying to contribute to the conversation. The dwarf was oblivious to their startled looks as she downed another large swallow of ale. Korva felt like the tankard was the only thing that was holding still at this point, and looking at the little man dipping up and down on the other side of the table only made her want to throw up.

“Okay,” said the gnome after a long pause.

After more chatter, Korva was pulled away from her reflection in the bottom of the tankard by a nudging in her ribs.

“Tell him your name,” the thief urged her.

“Who?” she asked thickly.

“Z-man.”

“Z? Who?”

“Him,” he responded, exasperated, gesturing at the gnome across the table. Korva slowly turned her head to look at the little man. Her gaze was uncomprehending.

“Who?” she belched.

The next morning, Korva awoke in a bed at the Stonebottom inn. She wasn’t sure how she’d gotten there, but was grateful to be somewhere comfortable. Early daylight was filtering in through the window, bright and crisp. Her clothes smelled strongly of stale ale and body odor. She could vaguely recall the massive amount of drinking from the night before, but she felt great despite the bender. This was pretty normal for Korva, dwarven constitution and all.

She ran through some quick stretches of body and mind, as she did every morning. During meditation, she kept becoming distracted by her own stench and grumbling stomach, and so the dwarf changed into her other set of clothes. She hadn’t thought to get them cleaned before leaving Profit, so the clothes sported some dark blood and a tear from the scrap with the boar. She had ultimately decided this was better than ale-and-sweat-soaked. Grabbing her pack, the dwarf headed downstairs in search of breakfast.

In the common room, a stew was bubbling, which Korva scooped generously into a large bowl. She nodded to the tall man whom they had rescued when she noticed him standing near her with his own bowl. He looked much better, if not fully recovered from his experience the day before. They stuffed their mouths in silence until her companions joined them.

“Madera, Crow,” the man acknowledge them.

“Hey Wedge, how’re you feeling?” the half-elf, Madera, asked the rank four when he and Crow had helped themselves to the stew. Apparently better introductions had been made when Korva had been indisposed.

“Great, but uh,” Wedge looked a little down. Korva expected him to say something about the partner he had lost. “I heard from Mayor Mullencamp that Mr. Preston has invited all of you to his place in Profit. I hope you’ll put a good word in for me.”

“Sure,” Madera, responded around the food in his mouth. Korva thought hard on what good thing they could find to say about the man and came up empty.

Mr. Preston was an important man and Korva couldn’t fathom what he could possibly want with a few rank fives. Becoming a rank zero was a promoted position, not one you could simply obtain through successes and honors like the other ranks, and Mr. Preston was one of only four zeros in the Sea. He handled the finances for The Guild, which was no small feat. Aside from his Guild position however, the man was an enigma. Though he was listed in the Guild adventurer handbook with the other three zeros, Mr. Preston’s entry was extremely short, lacking any real information about him aside from his job. Even his first name was off limits.

After polishing off what was left in their bowls, the trio and Wedge stepped outside into the increasingly sunny day. Stonebottom was a place of hardworking people, and the miners were eager to return to work. Mayor Mullencamp was nearby, his mullet as excellent as ever, barking orders at people as they went.

“Should we stretch before we go?” a voice asked from next to Korva’s elbow, too close for comfort. The dwarf’s heart stuttered as she nearly jumped out of her skin. A pale gnome with shockingly red hair stood there in a overly-large, wide-brimmed garden hat. Where had he come from? Nobody else seemed surprised in the least.

“Hey Brad,” the thief called out, crossing over to the mayor. Crow, Wedge and the gnome went after him, leaving a confused Korva in front of the inn. She followed a moment later, trying to grasp at the vague flashes from the night before. The gnome had to be in there somewhere.

“Ah, the heroes of Stonebottom! Good morning!” He greeted them cheerily and rubbed his hands together. “I don’t suppose you heard, but Mr. Preston has invited you to visit him. Very good, very good. He’ll be available all day to see you, so I’d get on the road to Profit soon.”

After that, the group wasted precious time debating whether or not to get mounts to ride. It all started with Crow, of course, who seemed to have some trouble travelling in his armor. There wasn’t much of a selection in Stonebottom, mostly just donkeys and ponies, but that didn’t stop the conversation. Crow and Madera went around and around… and around, with the gnome piping up at one point about an ostrich. Korva just stayed out of it. If she were to buy a mount, it would be something worth a bit more coin and that could assist in battle. No donkey or riding pony was going to hold its own in the Wooden Sea. Finally, they resolved not to buy and left Stonebottom. Wedge, who had been loitering by the town gate, followed them out.

During the return trip to Profit, a cart came up behind them on the road. It looked to be some kind of merchant whom Wedge seemed to have an interest in, but Korva paid it no mind. The dwarf was walking near the center of their loose group, lazily rolling her skull token around in her hands and vaguely people-watching. She saw the gnome, Zrotzerzroz, looking back towards the merchant but his attention was quickly captured by something in the sky. His eyes lit up excitedly and he started furiously scribbling in a journal. Korva had gathered during the first part of their journey that the gnome had been recruited by Crow and Madera the night before. She watched the odd little druid as his eyes kept darting upwards looking for something. Between Crow, Madera, Zrotzerzroz and Wedge, the dwarf couldn’t help but feel that she was trapped in some kind of weird circus. They were about as ragtag as it got.

“Great guy,” Wedge commented as he jogged to the front of the group, referring to the merchant behind them. The thief joined him shortly and the two had a short exchange though Korva couldn’t hear what was being said. Money changed hands and Wedge elbowed Madera in a friendly way, then the half-elf went to visit the merchant. The whole thing left a bad taste in the dwarf’s mouth.

When they arrived at Profit, the gate guards beckoned them through without question, recognizing them from previous trips there.

“Are you going to turn in the supplies requisitioned by the shopkeep?” Madera asked of Crow as they walked into the busy street beyond the gate. He was, of course, referring to the short list of items gathered during their mine foray.

“Should I? I mean, we don’t even know what this thing is worth,” the human pulled out the ruby pendant, which caught the sun brilliantly. Zrotzerzroz was suddenly very close.

“I like shiny things,” he commented in an offhand way. The gnome lifted his arm and pointed to a silver bracelet around his wrist without taking his eyes away from the dangling gem.

“Well, I know of a place where we can get it appraised,” Madera supplied after an awkward silence. The party all agreed and headed toward the jeweler.

The shop was a tight squeeze for all of them to be inside at once, what with all of the cabinets and counters containing precious items, but they made it work. Wedge was still hanging around, no doubt waiting for his opportunity to meet Mr. Preston. He wasn’t looking around the shop, though, and just waited near the door. Madera seemed to be closely eyeing a few pieces, but didn’t seem as if he was looking for anything specific. The gnome looked like he’d found paradise, not knowing where to look first. Korva wasn’t interested in much of anything at all and followed Crow to talk to the woman at the back counter.

She was a halfling by the look of it, squat and wide, with wild, curly hair. Eagerly, she pulled a pair of magnifying spectacles over her eyes at the sight of the ruby necklace Crow was handing her.

“I can give you sixty gold for this wonderful piece,” she said finally after turning it about in her hands several times. Crow hesitated at the offer. “Or, if you’d like, it can be traded for something that would better suit you.”

The jeweler gestured around her shop. The human’s eyes were caught by some enchanted pieces, which he enquired about.

“Oh, I’m afraid those are a bit out of the range of the trade-in value of this pendant,” the halfling smiled. “If you’d like to spend on top of the trade-in value, however, I think I have some very nice pieces that could help you in your travels.”

“I’ll think about it, but I’m going to pass for now,” Crow replied after some deliberation.

Next, the group walked to the armor and weapon shop. Crow was still undecided on whether or not he was going to hand over the ruby pendant with the other items he had been tasked to gather, though it didn’t make much sense to Korva why he was having such a dilemma. Apparently, the human had been offered quite a discount if he supplied what was written on the list.

Inside, the shopkeep enthusiastically welcomed Crow back by name, but the atmosphere in the shop was quickly changing. The human was hesitant yet again to give up the ruby. Crow had showed it to the man and though the man played it cool and said he’d have to send it away to be appraised, Korva could tell he knew more than he let on. Not only that, but the shopkeep wanted that ruby badly. It was likely worth more than even the jeweler had offered based off of this man’s reaction.

It was becoming obvious as their conversation carried on that Crow was not going to follow through with their deal. He was asking about masterwork items, and the shopkeep, who was an excellent salesman, was saying all the right things, but still the human was unwilling to part with the pendant. Crow couldn’t afford a masterwork at this point. He had been offered such a hefty discount for the goods, plus a plan to pay over the course of several months and the shop certainly had some nice greatswords to choose from. The dwarf wasn’t sure why he was turning it down.

“If I come back later, will you still offer me the same deal?” Crow asked. Korva resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

“No,” the rather annoyed shopkeeper replied flatly. “I have other customers with needs. I can't just wait around for you.”

The air was sour as the group shuffled out of the shop. Korva couldn’t help but think that Crow had capably burned that particular bridge.

“Alright,” Madera rubbed his hands together, a bit excited. “Let’s take our friend Wedge over to Tim’s.”

Crow was also itching to get back to Tim’s. Korva just grimaced. She never wanted to set foot in that place again. Drugs were common, sure, but that didn’t mean she condoned the use of them, let alone the sale of them.

“I’m going to the park,” the gnome piped up out of the blue, as he always did. He started marching away as fast as his little legs would carry him.

“I’m going with him,” Korva pointed towards Zrotzerzroz weaving through the crowd. The dwarf was more than happy for an excuse to avoid the alchemy shop.

The Profit park was small, but nice. It had a fountain in the middle and benches to sit on. A few trees and bushes were scattered around. Zrotzerzroz didn’t seem to be paying attention to Korva at all. She wasn’t even sure he knew she had followed him. His eyes flickered all around the park, the journal she’d seen him writing in on the road clutched tightly in his hands once more. The gnome spotted a group of birds near the fountain, seated himself quietly on the closest bench and began scribbling quickly. Korva sat next to him, but she didn’t have an interest in bird watching. Instead she pulled out the religious tome found in the dwarven ruin and started to flip through it. She hadn’t spent any time in study since leaving the monastery, but the feeling was familiar and she was enjoying it.

After they’d been there awhile, the gnome caught Korva’s attention when he stood up suddenly and stuck out his arm in an attempt to pet one of the nearby birds. Much to her surprise, the bird let him. Birds began landing on him and soon enough he was covered in the winged creatures. Somehow Zrotzerzroz looked even more excited than he had in the jeweler’s shop. He was practically vibrating with the thrill of it. She chuckled lightly to herself at the spectacle and shook her head. The birds flew off at the approach of Crow, Madera and Wedge, who had finished their errand. Korva noted there was not a single speck of bird droppings on the gnome.

“Should we see if we can pick something up from the board?” Crow asked the group.

“We should go see Mr. Preston,” Korva reminded. “We were told he is available to see us today. It’s best not to let anymore time pass.”

The party set off on their way through the streets of Profit to see Mr. Preston. They found his building was a dense brown-gray wood reminiscent of the Profit city walls. Before anyone could react, Zrotzerzroz charged right through the door. Hopefully we weren’t supposed to knock, Korva thought to herself in exasperation. Glancing at each other briefly, they followed the gnome in and were brought face to face with a petite, prim human wearing a tidy bun.

“Welcome,” she grinned brightly.

“We’re here to see Mr. Preston,” Madera told her.

“Of course, the heroes of Stonebottom! Please, come in.” She ushered them into a remarkably clean room. Korva could not find a single speck of dust with her sharp eyes. On the outside, the building had appeared to be two stories, but one could now see that the rooms were just that tall. The back wall of the office contained three doors; one on the left, one on the right, and one directly behind the woman’s immaculate desk. The woman indicated that the group should sit while she let Mr. Preston know they were there by gesturing to a couple of couches and then she exited through the left side door.

While they waited, Korva noticed Wedge out of the corner of her eye surreptitiously tuck something in his mouth. It was a tiny square of paper, about as thin as one could get it. She knew this drug. The dwarf didn't know the street name for it, but had learned about it under the scientific name, 'laxii'. Laxii was stamped onto bits of paper to be sold, and, when taken, would dissolve on the tongue. This caused the user to become more relaxed and charismatic. She could see the instant change in the man’s face as the drug took effect. His pupils weren’t blazed like down in the mine, but Wedge certainly looked confident enough to take on the world.

“Hey,” she beckoned to Crow and Madera. Korva didn’t really care about getting the gnome involved. As it was, he wasn’t even paying attention. Instead Zrotzerzroz was closely examining the dirt in one of the office’s few potted plants with a satisfied look on his face.

“I just saw Wedge take something,” the dwarf conspiratorially informed the human and half-elf.

“What was it?” Madera asked.

“It’s called laxii. Anything he wants to say to Mr. Preston, he’ll be able to sell it.”

“Should we take him in with us? We could ask him to stay out.”

“I.. don’t know,” she replied hestitanly. “We can’t be sure what he’s going to say and how that will reflect on us.”

Ultimately, the trio decided to ask Wedge to leave. Korva didn’t feel bad about it. The braggadocious rank four had simply tagged along this far because they hadn’t already thought to ask him to leave. The only reason he was still with their group was because they were his ticket to Mr. Preston. If the drug variable hadn’t entered the mix, Korva wouldn’t even have cared. She was worried, though, that Wedge would say something to discredit or slander herself, Madera and Crow and that he would get Mr. Preston to believe it. Laxii was a powerful tool in that regard.

“...So since you weren’t actually a part of our group and weren’t able to help, we’d like to ask you to wait out here,” Crow concluded after approaching Wedge.

“But I did help,” Wedge replied coolly. The way he said it was smooth as butter, without even the barest hint of annoyance. “I pointed out the trap to you. Who knows what would have happened if I hadn’t.” Korva forced her eyes not to roll.

“You wouldn’t even be alive if it weren’t for us,” Madera reminded him, matching Wedge’s tone and staring hard at the other man.

“Alright, alright,” conceded Wedge with a shrug. He seemed like he couldn’t even be bothered to care. “Just promise you’ll say I was an integral part of the rescue. Tell Mr. Preston I couldn’t make it.”

“Sure, we can put in a good word,” Crow replied.

“No, tell him I was an integral part.”

“Sure,” he responded again.
With a nod to the group and a wink at Zrotzerzroz, the man casually strolled out of the office. The gnome looked completely confused by the gesture.

Soon after, they were being ushered into the rank zero’s office by the petite woman, who had reemerged following Wedge’s departure. Mr. Preston was a small man with slicked back hair that was black as night, and he wore little, round glasses. He was painted as a picture of strength and power behind his solid ironwood desk, though. It was huge and sturdy, reminding Korva of a bulwark. The lines and seams of the wood slats were impossible to pick out. It was constructed even more tightly than the ironwood that surrounded the Profit itself. The rest of the office was practical. The only (maybe) frivolous item that Korva could identify was a pen holder that contained two pens. Light was supplied solely by lamps, as there were no windows in this part of the building.

“Crow, Madera, Korva, Zrotzerzroz,” Mr. Preston extended his hand toward each as he named them. His voice was as solid as his desk and imbued with authority. “The heroes of Stonebottom. Please, tell me what you found down in that mine.”

The companions were silent for a moment, considering. How could one explain what had been found there?

“Well,” Korva spoke up hesitantly, glancing at Crow and Madera. “We went in and found that the miners had made a tunnel into some dwarven ruins. It seemed to me to be a… a religious place. Maybe a monastery? We encountered dwarven skeletons held together by vines.”

She looked at her companions again. Korva didn’t know if Crow and Madera had been able to put together anything about the ruins and that they had been fighting dwarves. She’d never thought to mention it at the time.

“After that we came to a room that was covered in plants. The floor, the ceiling, the walls…” the dwarf continued slowly. She felt crazy, hearing herself say it all out loud. “Everything was cast in a blue light from this...thing that was suspended between the floor and ceiling by thick roots. It had lots of little roots coming out of it too, and pulsing veins running through it. It was...controlling people.”

Mr. Preston had a hard-edged face that was hard to read, but he did give something away under Korva’s careful eye. He wasn’t surprised by her story and she felt like his lack of reaction changed things.

"I must admit, I've heard a similar tale," Mr. Preston said in a tone that suggested stories like these often paraded through his office. Maybe they do, Korva thought. He continued, “There is a small town, Foolslope, about a day’s journey from here. They’re grabbit farmers exclusively, but there is one young man there who claims to be some kind of wizard. I’d like you to go to Foolslope and hear his story, see what you can find out.”

Mr. Preston’s assistant stepped forward with fliers in hand similar to what would be found on Guild bounty boards, but Korva could guess these ones would never see public eye. They contained the special directive Mr. Preston had just given them. Each of the adventurers took one. Zrotzerzroz, paper in hand, turned on his heel and left the office. Korva couldn’t believe his lack of manners. Their group hadn’t been dismissed yet, and she was sure it wasn’t a good idea to just walk out on someone like Mr. Preston.

“So, that’s a pretty nice desk,” Crow commented following the gnome’s departure, not giving anyone else a chance to say anything. His voice was sly. Korva and Madera looked at their companion in confusion.

“Yes,” Mr. Preston replied evenly. The man took everything in stride and kept his reactions bottled up. “Maddox is normally a boat builder but he’s an excellent craftsman and made this desk for me. He may be retired now, I don’t know. Unfortunately, we’ve lost touch.”

“What’s your first name?” Crow asked, drastically switching tactics.

This human has a death wish, Korva thought, as her eyes widened in horror. Madera’s jaw dropped. All the air whooshed out of the office under the weight of the expression on Mr. Preston’s face. His eyes were boring into Crow’s, his mouth was set in a line so tight you could barely see it at all, and the hard edges of his face seemed to be more pronounced. A line had been crossed. Suddenly, Korva felt like Zrotzerzroz had the right idea. She turned and hustled out of the office, not interested in being around for whatever was coming next.

The outer office felt bright and safe in comparison to the other room. She could still hear Mr. Preston’s voice as she stood just outside the door taking deep breaths. Korva wanted to put as much distance between herself and whatever was being said in that low, dangerous voice, and since Zrotzerzroz had apparently left the building entirely, she followed suit. The gnome was standing just outside the building, so Korva joined him. The two didn’t have to wait long before Crow and Madera came out. Whatever Mr. Preston had said was swift and to the point, though Korva couldn’t help being mildly surprised that the paladin had been let go in any form other than corpse. Mr. Preston was obviously not a man to be trifled with.

“Let’s get food,” Zrotzerzroz declared as soon as they were all together. No one had the chance to reply since he had begun to walk the second the words were out of his mouth. The gnome was, of course, oblivious to what had transpired inside. Neither human or half-elf shared anything about their final words with Mr. Preston, so Korva didn’t ask. She decided she didn’t need to know. It was probably better not to be involved.

The group walked in silence to a food stand and purchased some lunch. It was cheap meat, likely grabbit, but it seemed to be helping jump-start Korva’s brain which had been feeling sluggish following the Mr. Preston debacle. As they ate, the companions decided to check one of the Profit bounty boards to see if there was anything available for Foolslope or in the surrounding area of the town. After sifting through the typical “lost cat” fare, one presented itself. It was pretty straightforward: grabbits were disappearing following the appearance of a shiny object in the hills and the town was asking for someone to investigate. They each took one of the bounty fliers. Korva hoped that the mission was as simple as the piece of paper made it sound.

After grabbing his bounty flier, Zrotzerzroz had wandered off again. The dwarf noticed her druid companion at nearby flower stall. To the annoyance of the shopkeep, Zrotzerzroz began aggressively sniffing each flower.

“Hey, knock it off!” The salesman admonished the gnome right as Korva, Crow and Madera walked up. “You’re creepin’ out my customers!”

Sure enough, the people standing loosely around the stall were slowly moving away from the vigorous sniffer. The shopkeep held out his hand and said, “You’re gonna have to pay silver if you wanna keep smellin’.”

The little man looked devastated and started to turn away from the stall, but Crow tossed a silver to the shopkeep. Zrotzerzroz’s face lit up again and sniffed to his heart’s content. When he was finished, the gnome abruptly turned away and started waving both of his arms stiffly, palms facing his body.

“Almighty spirits of nature, heed my will!” He exclaimed loudly. Korva, Crow, and Madera shared a bewildered look. What in the world...

“Uh, what was that?” Korva asked dubiously.

“I communed with the spirits and learned the weather,” Zrotzerzroz said simply, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

“And what did they say?” Madera inquired slowly.

“It’s going to be nice tomorrow.” With that, the druid once more turned on heel and strolled away. He was headed toward the city gate, but his companions caught up quickly. They exited Profit and set out on the trade road once more.