Chapter 11

Falcon Hollow
February 25 continued

The group arrives at a riverside and sees that there is a ferry on the other side, but no movement is visible. The group rings a bell, and a man comes out of a house on the other side, waves his hand, and then goes back inside. Some time passes and nothing happens. Neiia rings the bell again, but nothing happens. After this, Neiia casts a flying spell on herself and flies across the river. She reaches the other side and finds inside the house a man who is currently eating. The man says that if she waits a moment, he will come to take them across by ferry. Neiia says okay and waits. The ferryman finishes his food and afterward brings the group across the river.

Kieron asks the ferryman for directions to the inn. The ferryman directs them forward but seems somewhat suspicious, and when Kieron asks for more information, he finds out that the ferryman considers the inn to be shady. Next, Kieron asks for the way to the herbalist Laurel’s place, and the ferryman gives them directions. The group heads there.

Ertak is afraid and digs a sock out of his backpack and pulls it over his head for protection. Kieron tries to convince Ertak that isn’t it better if you don’t see diseases, they can’t infect you, so it would be better if you didn’t use those eye holes but turned the sock around. That is, out of sight, out of mind means the same as it doesn’t exist.

The group arrives at Laurel’s house. In front of the house, about twenty people are queuing in front of the door. The group bypasses the line and says they are coming to help. Laurel is inside and tells them that they have a well which for some reason got a fungal growth called Black Scour. If one drinks that water, one becomes ill. She hasn’t heard of this fungus growing in such warm conditions; usually it lives in much colder places. The well is now closed, and it still needs to be cleaned and checked at some point before it is used again. That well is not the acute problem, but those sick people are. There are over 30 sick people in the town, and the fungus starts growing inside the sick and continues growing until the patient dies. The fungus continues growing even after this, and this is how it usually spreads.

Laurel has found in his grandmother’s herbal manual instructions for a medicine that would apparently cure the disease. She has most of the ingredients but is missing some. One of these ingredients is old tree moss that reportedly grows on the oldest tree in the forest.

Agnarr remembers that he has heard of such an ingredient; it has reportedly been used to strengthen medicines or similar. The second missing ingredient is a root called rat’s tail. Laurel hasn’t even heard of it, but he says that the local forest witch Ulizmila might know something about it. Ulizmila might also know something about that oldest tree. Similarly, the lumberjacks’ scouts might know about the oldest tree.

The third missing ingredient is iron flower fungus, which reportedly lives in dark places where there is a lot of metal. Nearby are ruins of an old dwarven monastery, where one might well find iron flower fungi, as dwarves have reportedly liked the taste of this fungus. Apparently, a few handfuls of moss are needed, roots from about 10 plants, and about 7-8 fungi.

Laurel doesn’t know where Ulizmila lives but suggests that one of those lumberjacks might know something, and also Elara might know. Elara has an orphanage about five miles from the town.

February 25

Just before midnight, Kieron hears some dragging sounds from Neiia’s direction. She asks Neiia what’s there. Neiia turns around and sees a large snake behind her. Neiia freezes in place while the snake coils around her and bites her. Kieron shouts an alarm and jumps down from the cliff. Unfortunately, there are some items at the bottom of the cliff, so he falls to the ground and can’t get up quickly. Jaysek reacts to the shout and jumps up and draws his weapon before he is even properly awake about what’s happening here.

Ertak reacts next and comes out of the tent; last to come out is Agnarr. It’s hard to see much outside, so after Jaysek has first struck once with his weapon, he conjures light, but it doesn’t illuminate much, so next he creates a large fire under the creature. At this point, the snake has already completely swallowed Neiia and is trying to escape, but Kieron, Ertak, and Agnarr engage in close combat while Jaysek shoots at the snake with his pistol. The first shot misses, but the next hits Agnarr, even though he throws himself to the ground. After a couple of seconds of battle, the group manages to beat the snake down.

After this, Agnarr begins to chop the snake’s head off. When he gets the snake cut in half, Agnarr says to grab the snake while he pulls Neiia out. Ertak grabs the cut-off head of the snake, Jaysek and Kieron in turn grab the part of the snake where Neiia is, while Agnarr pulls by the legs. With a couple of attempts, they manage to pull Neiia out. Neiia is unconscious, so she and Agnarr are given first aid. Kieron also has a minor injury from falling, so that is also healed.

After this, the group rests so that Ertak can get his magic powers back in order to try to heal Neiia. Ertak tries the healing twice with a ritual but doesn’t succeed. After that, he starts looking at what’s wrong with Agnarr, as he complains about having injuries.