Stories from the Right Side of Luck

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((The stories posted here will all center around the adventures of Elissa, a devoted follower and cleric of Beshaba.))

The Tricksy Herb
For Elissa it was just another boring day in this overly quiet town. Nothing seemed to happen here ever, although people kept telling her about an undead moss that made its appearance from time to time. Elissa had listened dutifully to their stories, nodded and thought her part. And now even the villagers seemed to have left for some kind of feast, perhaps. Nobody was around at all.

At least she could walk around the little village unhindered and people didn't bother her. A very positive experience. Now, as she walked the southern plateau she noticed a figure a bit outside the wall. Huge and imposing, when not bend down and looking at the grass closely. Elissa considered it worth a try to walk over and try to chat with someone who could obviously spare the time to pluck flowers from the grass. A little chat, even if only about the local rumors – once more – would have been very welcome.

As she approached the figure Elissa could make out the features of this half-orc, it was none other than the town healer, the orcish witch Vroka. Putting on her usual friendly smile, she approached the woman, greeting her with a formal bow. “Are you fighting off a hobgoblin attack, Miss?”

Vroka didnâ€t even react to the question instead she took a straw of grass and muttered quietly to herself: “Ah – there it is. I gots it!”

“Ah. Youâ€re looking for herbs, then?” With a smile she hoped to keep friendly, even though this woman was obviously below her, Elissa nodded and offered: “Do you need more?”

“Ja,” the reply came in broken common. And as if Elissa would have trouble understanding common like Vroka, she supported her words with gestures and nods. “But tricksy they be. Hide good.”

Inwardly Elissa sighed, yet even a half-orc friend was better than none. And someone with good understanding of herbs, no matter how stupid would make a great friend for Elissa, in her current condition. That made the decision easier for her. “Hmm. Iâ€d be willing to search for them… in exchange for a bit of herbal lore.”

“Long search to find,” Vroka warned, her big eyes looking over Elissa, taxing her. “Lore? nein; potion ja. Lore not something give away.”

Chewing on her lower lip, Elissa nodded, slowly, to gain a few seconds to think. Still even the good grace of this witch would be something worth gaining. Finally she decided to ask even less: “Iâ€d prefer a couple of bandages over a potion, though.”

“Ja – bandages I can do,” the half-orc agreed. Then she added, showing her fangs in what might have been an apologetic grin but ended in a grimace: “Must study long, hard to get lore.”

“Tell me about this herb, then,” Elissa sealed the deal accompanied by her well-trained warm smile.

“Hides in grass,” Vroka uttered, speaking slowly. “Very tricksy. Grows alone.”

Elissa barely prevented her eyes from rolling and suggested in a friendly manner: “Does it look like normal grass?”

“On quick glance ja – but look close and different,” the half-orc witch said, obviously having difficulties to express her knowledge properly. “Look all over – not find much. Need for heal potion.”

“Maybe you could show me the sample,” Elissa offered helpfully, hoping to finally be rid of this stuttering idiot. And it even worked, Vroka showed her the herb and she could now see how this passed off as normal grass. Except for hairs growing on the sides, it did indeed look like normal grass.
Finally Elissa finished looking it over and Vroka nodded her good-byes. “Now I go back back to rooms. If you find – you bring. I give bandages for it – ja.”

Keeping her smile, Elissa nodded in return and wished her safety, then sighed softly and began to look around. For the rare collection of straws that grew aside from the rest. Although she could spot such a place, it seemed that all the herbs had already been taken by Vroka.

The first thought was that maybe further west, towards the pass, there were more to be found, since Vroka probably didnâ€t venture into an area infested with hobgoblins.

Slowly Elissa moved further east, always looking out for hobgoblins, even while she scanned the ground for any odd growing grass. Luckily she spotted the hobgoblin before it saw her that allowed her to avoid the first axe thrown at her. Angrily she growled, alone she wouldnâ€t face a hobgoblin. That would be silly. Turning on her heels she made quickly for the safety of the walls of Jiyyd. The hobgoblin didnâ€t dare to follow her, just outside of arrow range it stopped, waiting for the next traveller to come its way.

Luckily, just inside the gates she met Gonnar, a quite helpful Halfling. Asking for food, she received gold instead to buy herself some. He was quickly persuaded to assist her in the task, not even asking for any compensation. It turned out that Gonnar was quite effective at spotting oddities in the grass as well as at removing hobgoblins in the area. But even though they searched all day and Gonnar killed a dozen hobgoblins, they still did not find a single straw of the tricksy herb. Maybe it was because of the snow that began to fall, maybe it was because the road was too frequently travelled and searched by others, but as the sun set, they returned to Jiyyd with empty hands.

The next day, she met Mariston, a nice paladin who helped her search another part of the pass, and guided her almost to the cursed village of Norwick, till she told him about her faith. Then it became nasty and they went separate ways. In Norwick, though, people didnâ€t seem to care much about finding herbs. All their lives were centred around was the various ways to slay goblins. To get in their good graces, Elissa tried to assist them a bit, but failed miserably, almost dying to a group of goblins together with some foolish, over-excited men.

Only another group that went out mining, allowed her to come along and search for the herb under their protection. But with all the blood of goblins covering the ground and Selûne in the air, there was no herb to be found.
When she finally returned to Jiyyd, there was some kind of mage meeting and as they cancelled it, Elissa seized the opportunity to recruit various people for her small task. Among them even two guardians, Natasha and Horbag, as well as Aymar and Merarry. This time they went west, towards Ormpur, but only into an area that was safe, as Horbag assured them. Again it had proven extremely easy to convince the unsuspecting people of Jiyyd to help her. And again, they had not asked for any kind of compensation. Although, Merarry had suggested to look west of Jiyyd for something, a burnt house, that interested him in particular. On the other hand, she had told them that it was an herb used for a heal potion and none had doubted her.

In a few words Elissa explained what they were looking for and then they set out looking for the tricksy herb, covering a huge area. Especially Natasha spotted many oddly grown grass straws, yet none of them were the herb. Finally it was Elissa who discovered a single straw with the fur.
The group dissolved on the way back to Jiyyd and they didnâ€t even bother to ask her why she entered Vrokaâ€s hut. Vroka, of course, was happy to receive more of her tricksy herb. And aside from a good supply with bandages, she even gave Elissa some food of doubtful quality. Despite the nasty looking food, Elissa thanked the half-orc warmly and left her to brew whatever heal potion the tricksy herb was used for.

((Thanks to everyone who participated in this very motivating experience! You guys were great!))

((Edited to add OOC information))