Prologue: To Boldly Go Where People Have Not Been in a Good

There is no need to pay for room and board for the next month as you have all had your lifestyle expenses paid by the Golden River Trading Company, whom you are all employed by. You all rate a "Comfortable" lifestyle, giving you access to clean rooms, good food, and money to maintain your equipment with. You rub shoulders with merchants, skilled tradespeople, and military officers; so people who are influential and connected. Keep that in mind when playing.

FYI: So long as you continue to work for the Golden River Trading Company I'll continue to wave the normal 60gp fee requirement to maintain the Comfortable lifestyle.

The crazy druids that Zoe just mentioned are the Harken's Heart druid circle. In Harkenwold they are known as elven extremists when it comes to the woods, so much so we'd call them eco-terrorists in modern times. It is rumored their activities are limited to the woods due to a curse.

The Harkenwold Rangers spend much of their time trying to contain and limit the Harken's Heart druid circle and the Harken Treants mischief beyond the borders of their woods, though the rangers are nominally allied with both groups against outside threats like the Daggerburg Goblins.

The origin of the curse as your uncle told it is this: A millennia ago war broke out between the Treants of the Winterbole forest and the Treants of the Harken Forest. The Harken's Heart druids joined the fighting on the side of Harken Treants but the group's ruthlessness and its central and violent role in the conflict shocked the Vale's other druids. After the war ended, a powerful druid master named Eyton cursed the Harken's Heart druids, severing them from their primal power source.

Angered by Eyton's actions, yet fearing the intense power required to accomplish the severing, the Harken's Heart druids appealed to the goddess Melora for aid. If Melora heard the call, she only partially acceded to the druid's pleas. The spell was altered and became known as Harken's Curse. While within Harken Forest, those of Harken's Heart retain their full powers, including their ability to defend themselves and their forest. However, their powers quickly decline when they leave the forest's boundaries, and dissipate completely a league outside it's borders. To this day they seek to end the curse.

Are there any other actions people want to take before we move along?

So far we have:

1. Try to make contact with a local ranger for support.
2. Buy enough rations to cover the journey. Assuming absolutely nothing goes wrong you are looking at a 10 day trip.

Mentally calling upon his uncle's training in the way of the Harkenwold Rangers, Hunter quickly identifies three spots in the landscape where a hidden cabin would likely be. Judging by the distance from town, he picks the location to the north since it would be close enough to the road to monitor it while still far away enough from town to give the ranger some privacy.

Hiking up the road with no special precautions, Hunter comes upon a flock of dire turkeys, the adults half the size of a Volkswagen Beetle, slowly and ponderously attempting to cross the road. He draws his bow and tries to make his way around them into the woods but attracts the attention of one of the males. For every quiet step he makes, his new turkey friend makes a loud gobble, gobble or crashes into a nearby tree with its enormous bulk. He finally decides to shoo it away, which works in ridding him of the beast.

Determined to not be caught at a disadvantage again, the ranger takes to stealthing his way to where he hopes the ranger's cabin is. And it is there. Spying on the cabin he sees that it's the typical ranger layout--single story, divided into two bedrooms and a kitchen/dining area. From movement in the kitchen window he knows someone is home.

Hunter walks up to the door and knocks.  He is greeted by silence for the next few seconds but finally hears an old woman say to no one in particular, "Who's that knocking on my door I wonder. Are they lost? Or perhaps an orc? It's been an age since I killed an orc..." The figure within walks heavily to the door and opens it. A gray haired old woman in hunting leathers stands staring at the tiefling. Her eyes are two black orbs, like coal with no whites. Her hands are on two sharp looking short swords, still in their hooks. "Not an orc I see, but a devil. What brings you to my door red one?"

Hunter folds his arms. Just you wait, old woman. "Straight to the point, then. My friends and I are about to make our way through the Harken Forest and I'm out here looking for a Harken Ranger who will accompany us."

"He looks to walk with a Harken Ranger but does not ask to walk with her. The young, the young. Why do you seek the northern road? Tis not safe these days."

"We're going up to help out a business in Fallcrest. We're all capable. It's the druids we want to be extra careful to avoid. How about you? I assume you're out here alone because you can still handle yourself. We've not much in the way of coin, so if there's something we can do for you, name it."

"For me? He knows not my name and offers he makes, hoping for trust. But no lies do I sense in him." She hasn't said no or yes and isn't angry.

"My name's Hunter. What's yours?"

"Ludmilla ex Vistani." Her face wrinkles up as she smiles at you. "Hunter is a good name for you, you chose well. But I grow tired of talking like this. Come, join me for tea and let me ask you some more questions." The hands she held ready to her weapons disappear as an illusion spell melts away. It reveals that her weapons were in hand the entire time, ready to gut Hunter if events had shifted into conflict. She places them back into the hangers at her waist.

Hunter watches her re-sheathe her weapons. Crafty. "I suppose I could have another cup."

The layout of the cabin is just like your uncle's, right down to the smell. The only difference is in the few personal effects that the woman Ludmilla keeps. There's a massive horn as long as your arm, mounted to the wall. Strange symbols and markings have been etched into it and the faint smell of the grave permeates the area it is in. Propped against the wall is a strange kind of lute you have never seen before. It's clearly seen some use but it's well maintained.

Meanwhile Hunter wracks his brain for information about Ludmilla's name. He recalls that the Vistani are a strange people that travel about, settling nowhere. They have a reputation for knowing things they shouldn't know, and are often blamed for ill fortune or theft. Her eyes and mode of speaking also attest to this origin and yet she names herself ex Vistani, meaning she is no longer of that people. Very interesting.

Hunter takes a seat in the chair across from the old ranger. "Something smells off about that horn."

"Tis off a beast from the Shadowfell. It will never smell right."

The Shadowfell, the plane of the dead. "Who gave it to you?"

"No one gave it to me, boy. I slew the creature it belonged to!" She cackles as she pours tea for both of them. "Pray you never meet its like. It will hunt you for sport and devour your soul." She sets out the tea and takes a seat.

Hunter responds by sipping his tea. "So, you had questions for me?"

She takes a sip. "Aye. Who trained you?"

"My uncle."

Ludmilla's eyebrow climbs so high Hunter wonders if it will fly from her face and attack him. He quickly responds with his uncle's full name. "Yorenan of the Woodsinger Clan."

The old woman nods in understanding when Hunter finally mentions Yorenan. "I remember seeing you from afar back when you two were thick as thieves. I was surprised you didn't join up."

"I needed training to pursue a goal. What's with the dark eyes?"

"One is Vistani by ritual, not by blood, though there is that too. Becoming one of the people marks you as you can see."

"Why did you become Vistani?"

"I was born into it. My family was Vistani for generations." A tinge of regret accompanies those words. She sips her tea again. "Why do you believe your skills insufficient to travel through the woods? Did your uncle not teach you well?"

"What we need is a go-between for the druids. I don't want to raise hackles by stepping on an errant twig and having them show up out of nowhere demanding recompense. I figured a real ranger who makes a living policing them could be our buffer. Maybe even a treant, who knows. I don't know how likely we are to run into the crazy ones who call themselves the Harken's Heart."

"Not so likely here but more likely as you go. You won't be clear until 5 days journey and you won't be safe until you leave the woods."

"And they won't pursue us because of the curse."

"Yes, unless they really hate you. But no ranger would be that foolish, yes?"

"I don't aim to be." Hunter sips his tea.

"I cannot go with you. I'm needed here. However, I can take you part way. You'll just need to help me with a small errand."

"Okay..."

"To the east of here a great horde of gnolls attacked the dwarven fortress city of Mithralfast. The dwarves broke the heart of the horde but we are coordinating with them to catch the stragglers. As you no doubt remember from your training not one gnoll can be allowed to flee or the horde will be reborn within the year. Everyone is involved. The rangers, the druids, the treants, and the elven clans."

"So, you want to recruit me. Is that it?"

"You could say that. There's a cave network not far from here. Some, "friends," have a troop of them cornered there." The way she lingers on the word friends makes it clear she considers them nothing of the sort. "They have closed off the exits but refuse to enter on religious grounds."

"So it's only a matter of time before they break out. But why would your 'friends' let us through if they're afraid of violating the sanctity of their holy place?"

"Remember the curse?"

"Okay...I don't follow."

"The cavern complex is the last resting place of Eyton the Hierophant who placed the curse on the Harken's Heart druids in the first place. They dare not enter his sacred grove, even as they would never leave it to be despoiled by gnolls."

"Oh! Oh, I see. We might even be able to kill two birds with one stone."

"Yes, show that you are helpful and the Harken's Heart will have no reason to harry you."

"Well, I really hope we can work something out with them. I'll tell my friends, and if they like this plan, we'll pass by again on our way there. But before I go, I have another question for you."

"Shoot."

"You know my uncle, but why the interest in me? I'm doing alright by myself."

The old lady shrugs. "You are as close to being one of us as you can be without actually joining. If you ever change your mind, we are always on the lookout for accomplished warriors."

Hunter's eyes move like one moves their eyes when reading, thinking. "Thank you for the offer. And thank you for the tea."

"Of course. See you later, though sooner is better."

He nods on his way out but stops to listen within the cabin before he leaves.

"A fine young man to share tea with though only half finished. And isn't that a fine reading all its own? I can see why ye like him, Ava." A moment of silence and the old woman laughs like someone just told a joke. "I be too old for such thoughts and ye are older besides!"