I had opened up the thread with this information quite awhile ago, but I get the impression that some of you are still uncertain.
"Years ago, before the war, before you three left your valley, and before Brudher's grand-parents were born, there was a great plain to the west of here. It was large enough to hold several kingdoms, a smattering of city states, and the man I loved.
"As you may have learned, that plain is no more, sunken by powerful magic sources beyond me, as well as the control of those who sought to use said source as a weapon.
"It is a swamp. It seems likely that eventually it will become a sea. I fear that someday, it may actually become a hole in the bottom of our Earth, ending us all, but that day is millennia away, and the problem of others not yet born."
She smiles, holding up one graceful hand. From her sleeve a golden green tendril grew, gently growing from her elbow, around the forearm and finally blooming in a flower beyond compare hovering over her hand.
Xellistra:
"You probably caught the part when I mentioned the man I love. My desire is simple, to have you seek out what happened to him, if he lives, or died, or... something else.
"I know it seems silly that I would ask others to complete this task, but the resonance of the Foggus Fundus is powerful, and as Master Thatch will, I assume, attest, the more powerful a wielder of magic one is, the more... potent? Yes, the more potent the skills of the magikor, the more discomforting such inequalities become. While it should only require extra care and attention from your friend to be effective, even coming within a few leagues of the Fundus gives me splitting headaches. I fear entering it would probably kill me."
Her attention returns to the present, and the flower fades from view, though not from memory.
"I will purchase for you the service of the swamps best trackers and most knowledgeable sages. When last I spoke to my lover, he was in the gardens of Aloyebakis in the heart of the city of Kturumthirr. That would be the place to start..." (The K being a click noise, and the rest pronounced normally, emphasis on the final syllable.)
D'Amboise finds traveling papers signed by the city giving them all safe passage, a bearer bond for 100 gold in his own name labeled 'traveling expenses" and a second for the same amount made out to "Su'amba's Safari's and Guided Tours". There is also a map of the city of Kturumthirr, per-Apocalypse. (NOTE: The second bearers bond was not used due to D'Amboise's suspicious nature.)
Thatch finds the following list of things they are looking for to help with finding her beloved:
12 perfect jade tiles, square (any color)
These should be somewhere near the gardens of Aloyebakis
12 kobold horns (or the horn of one red dragon, your choice)
The ichor of three separate Manes, clean. (i.e. not mixed with other manes)
And a list to help him with his own problem:
Both poison sacs from one poisonous giant frog. (very dangerous!)
3 black hearts of ghouls
This is followed by a list of half a dozen plants, each with a colored sketch next to it. Two are labeled as dangerous, one drawn next to a human figure which it dwarfed, for scale, and small delicate pink flower labeled (poison!) They each list the parts of the plants and quantities required.
Shank finds the following list of things they are looking for to help him with his nightmare problem on a permanent basis:
12 kobold horns (or the horn of one red dragon, your choice)
One crocodile brain, intact.
Four feathers from the same harpy
The tail of one giant lizard
The center head of a hydra with an odd number of heads
Four ogre scrotums'
the proboscii from 7 stirges
there is also a list of five plants, each with a finely detailed colored sketch, one labeled 'carnivorous, must return aline and intact. The rest list the parts of the plants and quantities required.
