The herbalist looked at Arell with tired eyes.

ive been trying hard to identify it. It has all the signs of being Blackscourge. Which is a fungal infections from ingesting the Blackscourge Mushroom.
But most people know what that looks like and wouldn't even begin to eat it. It grows in Darkmoon Woods so I'm not sure how so many folks could ingest it so quickly. If I knew for certain what is is then I could do more than treat symptoms. Any of you have ideas?
 

As often was the case, as soon as the gnome stopped drawing attention to himself, most of the people simply ignored the smallish fellow. He scampered along behind the others as they made their way into the Herbalist's and slipped through the door hardly noticed. The smells and sights in the shop were intriguing, especially the books, scrolls and parchments that were laying scattered about. Nomerendal made a mental note to come back here when things were less hectic and see if he couldn't borrow some for reading material while he fished.

"Darkmoon Woods? Blackscour Mushrooms? Sounds like something out of a story..." he mused quietly, thinking.

"Excuse me, but may I ask, who was the first to take ill? Surely, you've already thought of this, after all, you're certainly more knowledgeable than most folks about such things... but that might help you track back to the source... maybe."

Nom realized he was still holding his fishing pole as he stood behind the others and peeked around to make his inquiry. He awkwardly fidgeted with it a moment, but there's really no hiding a fishing pole.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:30, Fri 29 Sept 2017.

Laurel glanced down at the Gnome and said Mathilda Dorgars, one of The Lumberjacks mother. She lives in town.and her son hadn't visited.

Tarack tries to remember if he knows anything about these mushrooms their properties and where they would be likely to grow.

14:14, Today: Tarack Bulslagson rolled 25 using 1d20+8 Knowledge Nature

Tarack considers what Laurel said

Tarack chimes in after giving the matter some thought "If it is Blackscour, then the people could have easily ingested the spores by drinking contaminated water near a mushroom patch. This will would not cure anyone who is affected, but I would suggest boiling any water before drinking it, or at the very least mixing it with alcohol, like beer or wine. Remove Poison spells should be effective as well.

Hmm, would a Detect Poison spell reveal the contamination?

And, if your guess is correct, what you need to treat the infected Laurel?"

With his thinking that on, Tarack seem to become oblivious to everything and everyone around him especially the cub near his feet until it started to treat his leg as a scratching post which brought about a loud "Ouch!" which was sure to scare the people outside.

Lorn watched as the troop of various species went into the hut before entering himself. Surprised at the number of people that are after the same quest as him.

He lets them asks their questions. Listening and contemplating the situation.

Rennick thinks that it is even more quiet at the temple than usual, but that suits his purpose.
He walks to the front of the temple and knocks on the front door.
He asks to see one of the priests, if possible.

Laurel pauses at Taracks thoughts and remarks everyone in town drinks from the same source. Bleakmans well. we've been drinking from that our whole life. 

------------------------------

Rennick hours to the temple and grabs ahold of the large bronze knocker of the symbol of Iomedae and knocks with it


A few minutes later a thin pinch faced woman with priest robes answers and says hello sir. what can this servant of the Swordmaiden help you with

Rennick answers the priestess, "I'm Rennick Hitman and I work at the Paper Mill. However, today I'm investigating the cause
of the affliction that the common folk call 'the scourge'. I've heard that one of the servants of the swordmaiden has fallen ill and I
would like to speak to her about that. It would help me to determine where this affliction has started. I have some ideas about that
already, but it would help if I could gather some more testimonies by people who've been afflicted. Is it possible?"

Arell is conflicted as he listens to the various "experts" that have gathered.  One one hand, it's useful that progress is getting made.  On the other...

"And...that well is drawn from an aquafier right?  No chance these spores wafted their own way into the drinking water, in sufficient quantity to make people sick, all by themselves. Right?"

you dont think...no...but that would be the only logical explanation

She looked very fretful and said Arell. we need to look in the well. inside. for black capped mushrooms.
Someone may have tried to poison the town. And while you're gone checking it I'll see if i.can find a cure

The priestess looked at the guard and sighed alas sir she has fallen into a deep slumber that we are unable to wake her from. She is older though. She had gone out to one of the farms out by the well to help one of the members of our congregation last night who had fallen ill with this scourge. Very quickly.she took I'll and now we can't wake her up

Arell strokes his chin with his hand completely covering his mouth.  If his eyes are any indication, he's probably hiding a rather ugly frown.

His eyes fall on the gnome...with a fishing pole.

Hmmm...

"That's it then?" he asks the herbalist, "Just lower someone down there and hope to the gods they spot mushrooms?

"That sounds like a good plan Arell, I would wager there are any number of youngsters around town who would love to be lowered down a dark and scary - possibly deadly - well. Shall I go recruit one?"

Tarack shrugs "You may not find anything. The infection is from the spores. There maybe no mushrooms there."

Tarack rubs the area where he was scratched before turning to Laurel "We may already be infected, but have not shown any signs. From what I gather it is affecting the less hardy, the old, the young and the weak. It may not even affect everyone, or at least the strong would be able to fight it off.

In any case, we need to treat the water, but just as important we need a cure. Laurel, do you have something that can cure this?."

i may. im going to look through my mothers journal. it be helpful Tarack if you could adminster herbal packets to those in line while i research and Arell goes to the well. you Elf. you should go to the Sherrif and tell him to get the word out about boiling the water from here on out so we can at least stop anyone else from possibly getting it.

She turns back to Tarack saying actually most everyone probably isnt infected... yet...most of us bring small cadks to larger barrels of water at a time and only go to fill another up when we get close to running out. I'd wager that the folks infected drank well water that was obtained recently. Don't you think?

"It's certainly possible, but why take a chance? Let's boil it, or treat it with magic to be sure." Tarack nods in agreement with himself. "Now where are those packets you wanted me to give out?"

"The water in the well is a likely candidate. But I'd like to remind you that spores are light as air and travel far with wind. They are also small enough to be mistaken for dust if seen at all. Lorn says stopping for a moment to gather his thoughts. "Have we searched under the trees or in any other damp, dark place? It could help us in our search to know where the victims of this plague live and work. If we had a map and pinpoint every outbreak, a pattern might emerge." he suggests.

After some quick identifying of where the infected people are...it seems as if there is no pattern for location being through out the town and some outside of it in outlying farms

Arell gives the little man a flat look,

"If there are spores down there, I'd rather not expose someone so young." he says, "Come on, 'Rendal, let's get some rope."

He heads outside, arm firmly around the gnome's shoulders if he senses any resistance.

Once outside he addresses the crowd, "Okay folks.  After chatting with Laural and Lorn, we think it's a problem with the well.  We're pretty sure boiling it before drinking should at least stop anyone new from getting sick.  Me and Rendal are heading to the well to confirm, but if we're lucky this won't be too hard to fix."

He seriously doubted they'd be lucky, but the town didn't need to know that yet.

"Tarack will be out in a few minutes with herb packets for anyone that needs it, just wait patiently and we'll get you sorted out."

And so saying heads off to grab rope before heading to the well.

Varianna listens to the exchange. She waits until they are done, then follows to the well. "I know of no one who might cause this much chaos living in town. I assume either this is occurring because of the forest or someone who hates the company, town, or someone inside it. Have you heard anything?" the elf asks quietly. She had done various jobs around town, but the fungus would hinder things at a minimum. "Let me know if I can do anything to help." she offers.

Lorn stays behind to ask Laurel;"Do you need any help restocking of herbs and ingredients, miss?"

"Well then who did you..." the gnome's voice trailed off as he realized Arell didn't have local kids in mind.

"I suppose that makes sense. But let's not get hasty, why don't we use our heads?" As he trotted behind the swiftly walking human, he rattled off a handful of other ideas, but by far his favorite was this:

"Why don't I just fish for some spores? If I rig my hook a little differently, I believe I could possibly snag a mushroom with it, and then I wouldn't be forced, erm... I wouldn't need to go down there... gulp. Besides, I'm much smaller than almost all of these rough-housers around here! Aren't you afraid of losing me down there? Or maybe I'll find some frog princess and will be ensorcerelled by her beauty and never return? I heard a tale along those lines once..."

The prattling and wheedling continued as they made their way.

In reply to DM Dread (msg # 36):

"I'm sorry to hear that. I hope she gets a medicine to make her recover soon. But thanks for telling me where she went. It appears that this scourge is somehow connected to the well."
Rennick went back to the place on the street outside herbalist shop to see what was happening there.