With a nod of his head to the dwarf, "Cousin," Menzar found a spot near the door. From there he surveyed the camp as they waited fo Milton.

As the others asked their questions the gnome waited for his turn, "And any guidance you can give for the fastest path between the witch, the tree, and the mine."

Milton puffs his chest a little bit. Under his brown beard you can see him smirk a bit.

"I am." he says to Serafina. He turns toward Camara. "The witches' hut? You dare to seek that haunted location...what in the gods names would force you there?"

He walks around the room and towards where the Dwarf was sitting and leans against a stack of something in the corner with his arms crossed.

"Aye. I can offer you the fastest path that I know but I am still curious what is happening?"

"there is a plague upon the town and many are stricken and dying. We have been tasked in seeking the cure ...the witches hut might hold something that will aid us in our quest" Morton replied with a slight smile" and as for haunted well I'll deal with that if the need arises" He added

"By the gods. My nephew is from that town. Has he befallen the plague?"

Milton walks over to the group and plots a map for you.

OOC: Depending on the path you take. Will depend on where you go next. If you are curving around the river and not going through it then you will hit Forest Eldar tree first that can be done and you can arrive around dusk but you'll need to go through Darkmoon Vale Forest and no clue what you will run into.

If you go across the river you can save sometime barring if you don't run into anything on the river itself and can make a raft of some sort that can hold the party with the horses (a rather lofty feat that might take more time to make the raft than just walking)

on the Map the Forest Eldar is C
On the map the hags hollow is D

Camara shakes her head at Milton's question, "We do not know, but we will gather enough ingredients to cure more than the just the population of the town."

"I am sorry we do not have specific information."  Serafina meant it to.  "The elders only started trying to organize just before we left."

"How well do you know these woods?  Perhaps you may know of more expedient, or additional, sources of some of these ingredients."  Serafina asked hopefully.

Jackdaw had been silent in the lumber yard. It wasn't that he had nothing to say. It was that it had taken every ounce of self-control not to start beating the holy crap out of people - some of the men but also some in this own group that were trying to incite a riot almost.

His lip had curled and he had shaken his head but let it go. Ego and honor could be easily bruised, it was something to have a care for sometimes.

He frowned and was hopeful that Milton's nephew wasn't among the sick, but he wasn't about go say anything since he didn't know for sure.

He took interest in the map and the direction provided. "Thank you. We'll do what we can for everyone."

Milton turned to Serafina a worry glance caught her eye. "Aye. I wish I knew a faster method but there is not. The Darkmoon Vale forest is the only route and it is filled with all manner of beast. I've hunted in these woods for sometime. You have to be quick on your feet, many of creatures live in there. Some more cunning than us."

The man walked away from the map standing on again with a more worried look on his face.
"You'll have to forgive me. I need to ride out shortly to find if my nephew has fallen ill. I wish I could be of more help."

"we thank you for your time and your help...may I now give you a little advice. Go find your nephew if he is not stricken with the illness leave the town at great haste but do not come back here for five or six days hold up somewhere safe. This will allow you time to make sure neither of you have symptoms of the infection. You must be sure before you return here."

He looked at his companions " we are all clear of the infection so we know your mine will be safe when we leave but you must keep your men safe as I said do not return until you are certain you are not carrying the infection otherwise you will be burying those unwashed gentlemen out there."

"I would also suggest you do not let any in or out if you can. cut this mine off from the outside until we can get the cure and bring some back here for you all"

"This is fair counsel."  Serafina admitted, a little surprised to hear it, but it made her feel a little better about the situation.  "It would be a disaster if the disease spread."

You can see a fear behind the eyes of Milton. "Gods speed friends. Make haste I will close this place down and force workers to hunker in place for now to avoid spreading the plague. You need to hurry at minimum you have a solid two day trip to where you need to go."
Milton walks away and you can see begins making plans to close everything down for the time being.

Sigrun studies the sketch map Milton has made for them. It certainly looks faster to cut across the forest, but she's hearing all sorts of warnings about that. Sooner or later, of course, even if they go around the forest they will have to enter it to find the witch's hut and the Eldar tree.

Even as Milton is starting to leave she asks him "What is it that kills the men cutting the trees?"

Milton turns to Sigrun, "It's not what kills men cutting trees. It's what hunts you in the Darkmoon Vale Forest. They have all manner of creature in that forest. If you haven't already it's best to assume something is hunting you the second you step in. Don't let your sense deceive you, there is a great many things that lurk in the shadows."

Well, that was illustrative, though Serafina did not care for the conduct of these louts she now understood their presence.

Seeing little alternative for herself at the present time, she had considered she'd most likely wind up a sellsword, but she just hoped she didn't conduct herself like that, even if she conducted herself poorly all the same.

But she didn't wish to keep Milton or delay their follow up decision making, and said nothing.

"Thank you for the map and the advise, Sir. With some attentiveness on our part I think we, as a group, should be able to manage the forest."

Turning to his companions, "Though the woods still looks to be the best way to get everywhere we need, as fast as possible. Even still, we should move on ourselves. We'll loose the daylight even faster in the forest."

---

OOC: Can't remember if wee opted for a wagon or just mounts or I would say leave the wagon/mount up.

Camara was now intrigued by what the forest held. The cooler climates and woodlands were so different from the tropical jungle island of the temple she was raised at.

[OOC: We went with just mounts and those of us who can't ride are doubling up. Camara's choice is to ride with Serafina.

We also had the location of the tree as Camara could find it even of she couldn't necessarily point it out on a map.]

OOC: So where to first? Are you going to wind around the river? Go through the river or something else completely?

"I doubt we will be able to build a raft that can carry us and our horses to cross the river, not from scratch in less than a few days. So even though it is a less direct route, I suggest we go through the forest around the end of the river."

If Milton has not left or if the dwarf is still there, she will ask them if the river starts at a spring. It seems to just well up in the middle of the forest -- at least on the map.

OOC: Most likely from a spring. There's no other water source close to the location on the map which makes you think possible underground water source or what not.

"Aye. I think if we head around the end and head towards The Tree we can get to everywhere we need to in as quick a miner as possible. I know I had said something about a raft back in town but that would only help us-- maybe-- on the way out of the forest."

---

OOC: Sounds good to this gnome.

Camara chimes in, "We could make more progress leaving now than waiting to build rafts that would require us to leave the horses."

"Could we split the difference?  Take the indirect route, but look for a good place to ford the river as we go?"  Serafina figured it was obvious, but wondered if she shouldn't say it out loud anyway.

Jackdaw's head swung back and forth slowly as he looked at each person listening. He wasn't sure how much it mattered, but Serafina wasn't wrong. It wouldn't hurt to try to keep the river at least somewhat close, close enough to keep an eye out for a fordable place. He gave a small shrug. "We keep an eye out then."

Camara raises an eyebrow, "There is nothing wrong with seeking a better way to go when on a journey."

As they are readying to leave, she looks at the desolation of the landscape dotted with stumps of trees now destroyed. She had no qualms with trees being harvested for the wood, but this was just destroying the land. Even if trees were planted to replace the ones fallen, it would be decades and maybe a century before they replenished what was taken so carelessly.

OOC: Since I think its established that you are moving on we are going to start the next chapter of the story. Continue in the next chapter. It is assumed that you are still traveling on your horses until I mention anything further.