Crooked Yew: The Bee Hives.

[gurusql]

Cadeweed

Cadeweed mumbles to himself, "So the Necromancer does have a name, the Prophet - How pretentious."

[Ahlmzhad]

Raven

Listening intently as he has little knowledge of what they are heading into.

[Jernau35]

Hake

Hake bows his head. "I would be glad to accompany you all on your journey. From the talk of diseased bees, afflicted treants and spiritually deficient bugbears, it seems that you have all done merciful work, but much still remains to be done." He takes the prayer book out of a pouch at his waist, opens it at random and reads aloud.

"For St Ygg hath not given us the spirit of weakness, but of kindness and benevolence" Closing the book, Hake smiles.

"And thus we are directed. I am reassured that my welfare is in your hands, and of course, a share of any proceeds would allow me to tithe to a more appropriate level than I'm currently able".

I'll do my best to catch up with the group's previous adventures in the archives and assume that the group is filling him in as they travel.

[Spearmint]

I will conclude here. I have adjusted each character's experience points record, please adjust your sheets too.

Sadly, Piggott is buried. A man of St Ygg's, his body can be interred in a grave and a few words spoken over him by those who knew him briefly. Two-Birds will deal with his personal affects.

The group are each restored to full health. With the honey production under threat from the bee virus, there are less potions available but Druid Clive is able to give a Potion of Extra-Healing to add to the group resources. As new recruit and team cleric, I will note that Hake can take that as probably, along with Two-Birds the mist likely team medic.

You can buy any extra gear from the settlement as shown in the Crooked Yew location threads. Just mark down any extra gear and the appropriate coinage spent. Dougal & Hake remember to add your festival bonus gear to your inventory items.

I will update the in Expedition thread with the next day and continuing trek.

[Quonundrum]

Moriartus


Upon entering the village he directs the stretcher bearers towards the long houses near the bee hives. When they arrive he urgently flags down an acolyte and requests Brother Clive's presence. "We found a dryad and she is very sick from the viral contagion. We need Bother Clive's assistance immediately, please."

[Karaunios]

Dougal and Conmhaol stick with Moriartus.

Wow eigth months since the last time we were here!

[Ahlmzhad]

Raven

Once the Dryad is turned over to Brother Clive if asked he will leave, if not he will stay to watch the Druid at work.

[Spearmint]

Druid's Hives.

June 29th 1066

Clive comes along with a few apprenticed druids. They can help the group unburden themselves and foremost, treat the Dryad.

Clive has an ability to Cure Disease

Clive 1st: Wisdom check study of Dryad and disease. vs 15 [4d6]=14[1d4]=2

The disease is not an ordinary affliction and takes two days to assess properly while the Dryad is quarantined. Clive prays each day, ministering incremental blessings to root out the visible disease and then to bind it from recurring again.

After an extra day the Dryad can stand and functional normally and for a few days, becomes another unusual guest at the Hives stockade.

During the following days as the group recuperate, Clive and crew can assist the group with any reports and investigations they made.

Actions, interactions with Clive.

He mentions he has received communications over the last few days from Moriartus's former dwarf companion Dalin that has raised other concerning issues.

[Jernau35]

Hake

Hake approaches Clive with the remains of the Crooked Yew laurel wreath he won at the festival.

"Brother Clive, I thought I might bring this to you. I believe the blessing it bestowed upon me saved my life at least once during my trip into the wilderness. I do not wish to just cast it casually away upon some rubbish heap. I thought you may have a way to treat it more...respectfully".

"There is also one more request I would like to make. In the Troglodyte caves, I was able to recover a large piece of the honeycomb.
Would you be able to perhaps use this to make a healing potion? And for what cost?"

[Spearmint]

Perseverance Hake fellowships with the druids. Their faiths like two circles of a Venn diagram, intersecting with agreements and vocations on service, healing, community and having debates on wider doctrinal issues.

Herne is a druidic religion, pagan in the Yggite's view, evangelising as the Futurus pantheon, adopted by the Duchy Lords.

I do not wish to just cast it casually away upon some rubbish heap. I thought you may have a way to treat it more...respectfully".

the blessing on the wreath is one imbued at the Festival, earned in a challenge.

"Such tokens can be divinely blessed through rituals, much like the dog collar you wear. We will receive it back and use it to hang upon a residence, a foci to draw in healing virtue should sickness come." They receive the wreath and look over the honeycomb taken from the Trog Hive. A normal 'potion of healing' can retail for 400gp while a generic anti-venom might be 200gp. In terms of manufacturing cost, it is not an exact science but as a general guide to player character alchemists, they invest half the retail value in gold and a number of hours preparation.

The same with the druids. But you have the raw material in the honeycomb and using a bit of downtime in Crooked Yew, they can walk you through their rituals used to imbue healing virtue into the honeyed potions they create.

Would you be able to perhaps use this to make a healing potion? And for what cost?"

I think I Iisted the honeycomb as a potion equivalent, so consider the brick form to liquid potion form small process they will do without cost.

[Quonundrum]

Moriartus


Moriartus consults with Brother Clive, briefing the druid concerning events at the giant bee hive and the sacred shrines of Sylvanus. "Something is terribly amiss with the Thornswild elves. With the dryad's help we can locate the Treant's secret grove, but if we encounter the elves, I fear their reception will be marred by great antipathy towards us and our mission. I feel it best to visit the temple of Sylvanus in Ironguard, first. Speaking of which, you said Mr. Dalin sent word from that direction?"

[Ahlmzhad]

Raven

Hearing Moriartus thoughts "that sounds like a plan. We will wait long enough to get some info from the Dryad, I believe I heard her say that the treant she partnered with had died. That is a serious loss for all, and something we should try to at least mark if correct."

[Karaunios]

Dougal plays with Conmhaol for a while before looking for this ranger that lives in this community. He wants to learn as much as he can about the surrounding areas and thier denizens.

[Ahlmzhad]

I know you called me out regarding the honey comb. I used that at some point so that's why I haven't brought it up.

[Spearmint]

The Beehives

The comrades fellowship during their week of downtime, discussing with Clive in regards to their recent experiences.

Speaking of which, you said Mr. Dalin sent word from that direction?"

Dalin is undertaking the Favours Expedition, which concluded at the end of June. "Dalin sent word of troubles which may not be unrelated. My estranged colleague Bjornark has taken in an unfortunate man who is undergoing some process of lignification, turning him into a tree. I don't know the full story but it seems rooted, pardon the pun, in more curses against the 'Fey' realms.

In other news, the dwarf seems to be a paragon of divine justices, not only helping to defeat the Set cult in the Bugbear community but also cleansing the Silvanus religious places in Bogtown and Ironguard of Impurax cult influences.

I heard he recently returned to Helix but intends 'a quieter endeavour' for the next weeks."

Dalin left Helix on July 10th, do in theory you could 'touch base' if you met up in the Helix taverns.

The Silvanus troubles will no doubt be of interest to Two-Birds. It seems many of the afflictions in the region have a focus particularly against the traditionally Elven faith. That then brings the Thornswild elves into the equation, with more discussion and speculation on those matters.

You know from the Drider testimony that they were morphed or generically altered to be that way (not by polymorph magics or 'creation of Lloth'. In the campaign pantheon, Lloth might equate to an aspect of Impurax) which could then make sense if Drow elves are being encountered by their infiltration of key Silvanus locations.

With the dryad's help we can locate the Treant's secret grove, but if we encounter the elves, I fear their reception will be marred by great antipathy towards us and our mission.

The dryad, let's give her a name at least, Amphoebe, can help locate the 'Conclave Grove' which is over the south side of the Merisc River and on the fringe of the Thornswild territories. After her recuperation in Crooked Yew, the dryad will seek to return to the Green Man grove and take up habitation in the hollow tree. So you can meet her there.

You know one Drider took exile in exchange for his life, hopefully he was true to his vow and will not return to trouble the dryad. Many spiders abound though which might be an issue to her safety.

Dougal

Dougal plays with Conmhaol for a while before looking for this ranger that lives in this community. He wants to learn as much as he can about the surrounding areas and thier denizens.

The wolfhound is growing and learning new trucks, proving an able and faithful companion. Hunnicot takes you both into the wilds for a brief trek, touring some nooks and crannies of the northern ridge and hiking to the Bugbear leper caves. One Bugbear, Harazhan accompanies you, learning basic ranger skills. Bugbears 'move silently' with surprising ease, hence being able to cause surprise as rangers do. For the duration you can copy his style of stealth and movement in order to gain the skill 'Move Silently' as a thief of the same 3rd level: 27%.

Raven chats, your Familiar cat Lenora gets lots of attention, especially if she chases the mice out of the hives woodwork. A lot of what you hear regarding your cousin kin is disturbing, not something usual in your own racial experience.

[Quonundrum]

Moriartus


"The cult of Impurax was in Bogtown and Ironguard? I thought dark elves to be a myth? We have to assume the Thornswild elves have also been infiltrated. We need more information before we attempt to cleanse the treant's grove. I doubt the lignifying man is a mere coincidence, either. We should visit this Bjornak. Thank you, Brother Clive. I shall return."

[Edeldhur]

Hedrak

The smell of honey filled the air as the half-orc approached, but something feels amiss...

(I read through the thread - not sure if the hives are still under quarantine?)

He saw several folks tending to the area and approached - "Well met brothers. May the strength of the Hunter be with you" - he offered - "I am a fellow Druid traveler. I have come to pay my respects to the Elder, and to let him know I am in the region"

(I am assuming something along the lines of if you enter another Druid's Circle, you should announce yourself. At the very least, and in spite of me imagining Druids as being loners most of the time, for Hedrak it is a matter of respect to let your Elder know you are there)

[Spearmint]

(I read through the thread - not sure if the hives are still under quarantine?)

Limited access as the bee virus is still in effect but characters can interact here.

Hedrak, accompanied by his mangy painted dog, touches base with the apiary keeping druids, their resource of honeyed salves, lotions and flavoured mead a widespread renown. The last seasons though has seen a dire affliction among the giant bee colonies with many of the drones getting contaminated by a pestilence and virus. The consequence borders on the catastrophic since in the wider environmental scheme of things, the bees help the forest flora propagate. Also the hive Queens who become infected birth deficit eggs and so the cycle of atrophy accelerates exponentially.

"We feel a root cause lies within an Impurax bane, chiefly targeting the forest realm's Treant guardians." You get some explanation of current concerns as you are greeted and they share various projects being undertaken. You can read the expedition: Dalin, rotten to the core; which gives a background to the Bugbear lepers who assist the hive labours.

Also you note two wooden carved gnomes, animated and busy tending to various duties. These are actually 'wood golems' (or Gnolems) and were discovered in a Barrow Moor grove tending to a deceased treant before being repatriated to the settlement. An expedition underway, Feywild, which hopes to find some answers to various Impurax (death god of decay and pestilence) afflictions.

There are daily services at the Herne shrine which is separated from the Hive. A druid conducts blessings and thanksgivings as appropriate to devotees though visiting clergy of the faith can conduct their own ritual rites.

As far as known druids in the wider campaign, the Hives are overseen by Clive with a team of junior acolytes (all considered regular npc's). Over the other side of the Barrow Moor, a higher level druid lives in a ruined moathouse by the Moorwash river. More recently another druid, the character Raust has moved into the central Moor wilderness in an attempt to convert and civilize the renegade Orphidian snakemen that were responsible for the initial attacks on the abandoned logging camp and Herne Shrine close to Helix.

Her project has yet to receive 'official sanction', the Druids may themselves be in favour of such ambitions but the Duchy (under Lord Krothos in Helix) certainly would prefer the old adage, 'a good savage is a dead savage' in regards to any relations with the Orphidian tribe. And the Duchy have a growing influence over the settlement with the church of St Ygg and militia barracks being erected. There is a fragile tolerance of the Yggitte presence among the Hernite community.

actions Hedrak ask any questions to gather information, post a Cha check (vs [4d6]) to assess the quality or accuracy of any response.

[Edeldhur]

Hedrak

The druid listens with care to all the information provided to him the well knows bee keepers - "What is this Impurax bane, and what could be done to put a stop to it?" - he inquires.

(Reading the expedition, but still this would be his first concern as far as information gathering goes)

Gather Info (Cha 10): [4d6]=13

[Spearmint]

"What is this Impurax bane, and what could be done to put a stop to it?".

Hedrak enquires and Druid Clive brings him 'up to date' with the conclusions of the Defilement & Sacred Groves expedition and the current Feywild undertaking.

The party left the settlement only recently, so news is limited as far as how successful they should be. Certainly the druid is encouraged with reports the Troglodyte Cave beehive was approached and the Queen successfully fed a healing potion. "But the banes of pestilence still grip the environment and afflict the bees."

Of concern was the report from his wood golems that the virus seemed to begin as an attack upon the Treat forest guardians and these mysterious wardens of nature serve a precious role in shepherding nature. When afflicted with the blight disease, the Treants each withdrew to gloomy places, self exiling in the hope that they would not carry and contaminate others with the virus affects. Finding these diseased Treants to help them would be a great boon.

"We know one went Eastwards, from the sacred grove into the Barrow Moor wilderness. I presume others went in search of barren places. Into the Moon Peaks heights and to desolate depths of the forests."

Finding a diseased Treant would be a difficult but useful expedition mission. As a fellow druid, he will gift you with some Honey resources to help on your next endeavours.

Add:

Honeycomb brick: (treat as potion of healing) and a lucky rabbit's foot (unlucky for the rabbit) which is your Easter Egg boon; see ooc post.