Caeldrim grins as he looks over the Ambitious Medic's Box as he knows he'll be able to make good use of it to heal people with his abilities.

To be gifted a Tea Weird by a fey lady has Barbara weirded out.

"It sounds to me like we're all very keen to defeat the Weft of Shadows.  Good.  Then I propose a system for keeping one another informed about what we learn of the Weft's whereabouts.  I will leave what we learn with the villagers, so you can check with them.  When you do, you can inform them if you've learned anything new."

Pyrus is eager to have a taste of the tea.  "Let's try out the new things!"

Amalar hugs Pyrus from behind with a smile and says, "The tea weird might ask for a taste of you in return, Pyrus." then looks at Cael. "I see that grin... I take it that box has you very excited."

Hunter nods in agreement with Barby. "Good idea." then looks at Daes. "Thanks for the loot and for taking care of that nasty crown. We're off to town." he gives a polite bow and follows the group off to town.

 Joe manages to barely avoid his enjoyment of someone else getting stuck with 'your reward for the end of the quest is another related problem' being the vindictive sort, but enjoy it he does.

  "We should probably wait until after we get everything with the town dealt with, unless you want to handle hot tea while walking I guess."

Daesanderena nods and says, "Keeping in touch to deal with the threat posed by the Weft of Shadows to both of our lands, although the system you propose is a bit unnecessary as I can use magic to contact you without involving innocent villagers who could become targets of the Weft of Shadows simply to break our means of communication. To contact me, use this token and it will let you contact me. This token can only be used once a day, but I doubt you'd need to use it move frequently than that."
Daesanderena then pulls out a carved amber token and hands it to Barbara.

Daesanderena then wishes the party well and once the party heads off she returns through the archway to the Summer Lands.
This message was last updated by the player at 05:09, Mon 17 May 2021.

Barbie accepts the magic item.  "Even better.  And you two are in frequent contact, then?"

She glances between The Bramble King and Dae to indicate whom she's talking about.

Pyrus blushes from Amalar's hug and comment.  "I wasn't going to eat the Weird."

He headshakes to Joe.  Walking with hot tea would be messy.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:13, Mon 17 May 2021.

The Bramble King and Daesanderena look at each other and the Bramble King says, "We will have an easier time contacting each other. I can have a Bramble Creature waiting near the archway and if needed I could open it and send the creature through with a message, or Daesanderena could open the archway and contact me through the Bramble Creature."

Mix curiously checks out the token Barby was just given. "...handy."

Hunter says, "Glad you and she can be in more frequent contact, just in case."

When the group gets going, Amalar asks the Bramble King, "What is your story? How did you get the crown... and how long ago was that? And what were you before?"

  Bramble butlers, a sure sign of a more dignified future for the bramble king.

  "I'm going to just be thankful my broad jadedness makes correspondence with other planes seem like a convenience rather than outlandish."

As the group travels to the village, the Bramble King answers Amalar's question with, "I was a young orphan lost in the deep woods when I discovered the crown around 150 years ago. I remember that my curiosity about the object overrode any fears about its thorns glistening with green poison, and I reached out for it. To my surprise, the thorns retracted where my hand touched, allowing me to grab the crown and place it on my head. As the crown settled on my head, it transformed me into the plant-like fey that I am now. That act probably saved my life since I doubt I would have otherwise survived alone in the Margreve. I suspect the crown somehow knew that. It is also why I try to tend to and protect any orphans or lost children that wander into my territory."

Barbie simply listens to the conversation without comment.  But inwardly she wonders if she can use this to recruit the Bramble King in tipping the scales in favor of the innocent in the Wild Games.

"Me and Mix are orphans too," Pyrus comments, "Her mag...  Miss Barbara has been taking care of us since she found us."

Mix nods to what Pyrus said.

Amalar ohs, looks up to the crown and says, "Goodness. Well thanks, bramble crown, for rescuing him." she then looks back to the Bramble King. "Do you like music? Barbara is a good singer."

Hunter smiles as the group seems to be getting along OK. This is a FAR cry from how he expected things to go.

  In a long enough timeline, most children are orphans. Joe (and Tark) probably do not count due to fictional age cutoff ranges of how dramatic it is for your dad to be eaten by a bear or not. Bramble king would probably laugh considering the whole 'woodsman and carpenter' job though.

  "Well, hopefully given the chance to make their town a bit safer will cut down on family members dying for reasons other than old age."

The Bramble King nodes to Pyrus and catches the 'slip' and figures that Barbara must be a minor noblewoman from some land due to the 'her majesty' comment.

The Bramble King smirks at Amalar's comment to his crown since some other people could view that act differently. "Most often I listen to the natural sounds of the forest. The singing by birds, frogs, and toads can often create soothing melodies."

The Bramble King then turns to Joe and nods while Zariss speaks up, "There would still be deaths from other natural causes like disease, but I think everyone here understands the intent behind your words. If both the Bramble King and myself work with this village, then not only would the village flourish but the wildlife as well. The villagers would be able to gather herbs and items they need while helping me and the Bramble King keep dead plants from becoming fire hazards to the forest. Plus they could discourage loggers from trying to set up shop in this area since neither the Bramble King nor myself would tolerate such activities as that would draw what passes as the conscious attention of the Margreve"

"I've heard repeated mention of loggers.  What of hunters?  Suppose there were a spike in demand for wolf pelts during the Wild Games?"

Like a per-pelt bounty paid for by her parents if she can persuade them.  It would be better to manufacture a fashion trend for furs, but Barbara doesn't think that way.

Amalar responds to the singing comment, "I do so enjoy the songs nature sings..."

She watches Barbie ask about hunters and idly pets Pyrus to distract him from the fact he slipped up.

Hunter looks like he wants to speak, but keeps his mouth shut for now.

Mix doesn't get the whole "nature sings" part of the conversation, but his attention is definitely on Barbie's latest inquiry.

  Amalar is clearly so good at music she could convince frogs to give her fragments of vitality boosting-Right this joke has dragged on. It is a zelda reference, the end.

  "Many successful farming communities have to import lumber these days, considering how far from forests they can be to provide for their kingdoms." You can't even escape from this in fantasy farming games where you go from cursing the countless stumps on your land to suddenly needing to pay exorbitant prices for wood in a hurry before spring arrives.

  "So unless the Margreve also makes crops and livestock grow poorly out of spite while continuing to let them be driven wild by twisted dark magics... Okay it's going to take a lot of work even with the Bramble king being more friendly with the locals."

  Joe is tempted by Barbara's idea out of spite, and yet... "People hunting for profit by pelts here will probably either die, or be disappointed and leave when dealing with beasts you need to brutalize before they get the hint and actually drop dead. I'm expecting a hypocritical combination of 'The Margreve can't notice every twisted ritual controlling nature to suicidaly attack any person they see' and 'People are burning these magically compelled wolves, not on the Marvreve's watch!' to make that an even bigger mess of a blood sport."
This message was last edited by the player at 03:12, Mon 24 May 2021.

The Bramble King says to Barbara, "Animals and people can typically either move or defend themselves. But plants are stationary and without the plants there would be no Margeve. And I do remember the last Challenge of the Fang, which is what I think you are referring to. And once people realized it was going on... there was an increase in people hunting down wolves... but also an increase in werewolf activity. Those brutes nearly wrecked half my territory before I managed to drive them off."

Zaris looks to Joe and says, "The issue with Loggers versus people who just need timber from a single tree is that most logging operations clearcut areas which is an act that is not sustainable by even in the Margreve."

It is shortly after this that the representative of the villagers in Cambervale begins negotiations with the Bramble King and Zariss. It is at this time that the representative hands over the Alchemy Jug to the party as the promised reward for resolving the situation. Another villager informs the group that the herbs they were sent to acquire for the nearby village of Levoca have been loaded into the cart pulled by the party's donkey.

By the time the party is ready to leave Cambervale to get the herbs to Levoca that Tremika informs the group about the resulting arrangement which provides mutual protection for the Bramble King, Zariss, and the village of Cambervale. The Brambleking gains a source of insight into what goes on outside of his section of the forest, the villagers gain safe passage into the parts of the forest the Bramble King controls to harvest herbs and fruits. Zariss gains allies to help him prevent uncontrolled forest fires in the area.

Barbara is sure to sharply warn the villagers to be vigilant.  Not only for the coming Challenge of the Fang, but also for the machinations of malevolence bent on breaking the peace of their home.

"Werewolves?" Pyrus wonders aloud, "That doesn't make sense to me."

Rocky glances at Pyrus and says, "Unfortunately it makes a lot of sense to me. Werewolves would be the natural hybrid between man and wolf, civilized and feral...if their mindset wasn't slanted towards the feral due to the curse of Lycanthropy that they have So in actuality I'm sure they side with the wolves and I would not be surprised if the leader of the wolf side was in fact a werewolf of some sort."

Hunter says, "Right. Silver weaponry. Gonna need it in the near future."

Mix says, "I wonder if a werewolf or normal wolf would be fooled if I practice at pretending to transform into a werewolf... or even just being one."

He shapeshifts into a werewolf pup and wags his tail.

  "How do so many things immune to natural harm or magics that specifically effect nature manage to keep their reputation as 'natural'? Real wolves hunt in packs because if a sheep kicks them in the head it goes badly for them, while a werewolf who gets chewed up and spat out by a dragon will then brag not dying makes them a 'natural predator' and everybody smiles and nods because they sorta kinda look like an animal if you squint. A fat corrupt lord hunting rabbits from horseback is a more natural predator than a werewolf, at least they might hurt themselves falling off."

  He eyes Mix for a moment, then sighs saying "Sorry, you did it too well and look like an actual natural fluffy wolf person. Maybe if you looked more pretentious it would be convincing."

Barbara kinda hates those state functions where being pretentious is mandatory.  Now she has ammo for comparing nobility to werewolves...

"Good point, Rocky.  I should have thought of that."

Now that Mix is acting like a puppy, Pyrus feels it's OK to play along with Amalar's pets.  He pants and tail-wags.  "ARF!"

Caeldrim observes the current antics and shrugs, “When magic as powerful as the lycanthropy curse is involved, I think it is mandatory that logic is thrown out the window... Possibly because people that strong with magic are completely insane. Which does beg the question, if those people can't grasp logic and rely on magic to get stuff done, how do they get logic to go out the window anyway?”

As these antics continue, the group continues leading the cart pulled by Don the donkey back to the village of Levoča to get the village the herbs it needs to replenish its supplies after recent events in the village.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 04:12, Mon 24 May 2021.

As the group reaches Levoča, they see some of the villagers heading towards them, seemingly to greet them.

The pair seems a bit out of breath as one of them says to the other with the group in earshot as it seems the pair hasn't even noticed the group yet, "We had to walk quite quickly to escape it. Some sort of weird wagon thing. I'm nearly out of breath. Last I saw, it was sort of chugging down the main pathway. It tried to climb the hill but I think whoever is inside got tired. Goblins, no doubt. No, I wouldn't say it was careening through the village on a path of destruction; definitely not - still quite a nuisance."