The Urban Druid
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What started out as a mere collection of shrubs and grasses sprouting in the commons has become a small thicket of trees, some of which look like they've been growing for decades despite only being planted recently by the mysterious bearded man who'd claimed to be doing 'Marty's Work'.
[Feel free to reach out via DM or via Discord with any thoughts that you wish to keep hidden, otherwise this is the place to investigate or comment until the plot resumes on Thursday of this week]
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Isolde, mindful of the process in this stage of the investigation, has simply ordered the pages as they were found and where, clearly believing there are more to be found. However she has yet to return to the sewers, seeming to put it off to whenever someone 'sturdy' is available to clear a path for her in the muck below. She and Nate have been going over the findings to date and decided that the wayward physician's clothing ought be the best bet for a Legend Lore spell. Presumably Isolde invites herself along to the Cerulean lab when Nate sees fit to get this particular job done.
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Some clues have been uncovered, after the roots and cave-ins dislodged parts of the underground tunnel systems in the old sewers, the mystery has started to take shape.
Parts of the story are evidently missing, and the order in which the pages go has perhaps not been figured out quite yet.
Time, patience, and tenacity may yet avail.
[Again, pose ant questions or investigation directions your character may be taking my way. I'll be out of game till Saturday at least so these next steps may be exclusively text based]
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Cleanly transcribed, the following pages can be accessed through the Ladies No 1 Detective Agency, while the mildew-ridden originals can be found in the official guards file:
Moldy Page | Bleak Entry: (found amongst Keith, the Urban Druid's possessions, Peltarch Gaol)
...this will do nicely, finally out of the basement. It took me a long time to move everything by hand and unseen. So far, nobody suspects...
...there's talk of war and people are growing worried. Time to lay low. Maybe the Visitor will return and offer guidance. Gods know, I need it now...
...didn't even know there was a cellar beneath the Mermaid. This will make things move all the quicker, from there I should be able to work my way down. No-ones been down here in years!...
...thought I was caught. It was just a rat, thankfully. I'm beginning to think I'll need to hire some bodyguards. That sounds expensive and even more difficult to explain should the authorities discover me. Think, woman. Use your learned brain damn it!...
...snowy, I've named her. A little terrier, cost an arm and a leg. Yuck, poor phrasing. Though fifteen gold bits for a dog seemed steep at the time, she's a darling. Every so often I'll hear a hiss followed by a shriek and I know she's out earning her keep. Whats more; she is lovely and warm in the lap...
...accidental progress: I animated a hand, good grief I almost soiled my linens. The way it jerked and jolted, sprung to life. I admittedly feel a wretched turning in the pit of my stomach, but, this is progress. Failed experiment disposed of. In fire. Good riddence!...
...finally set up in the deeper sewers. There's enough rumored fairy-tales down here to keep the common and uneducated out, the guards rarely patrol this deep. Snowy has taken to barking. She snapped at my fingers last time I tried to feed her...
...had to do it. I am burdened, my soul and my conscience may already be questionable but my feelings are hurt all the same, I am a human. I'm a woman. And I have feelings that I shouldn't be ashamed to admit. But Snowy wouldn't stop barking and would've given me away. I had no choice...
...surface world is getting tense. My work of a physician keeps me busy above, no-one suspects. I've lent my ear to those suffering from mental anguish and worries. Prescribed some calming remedies. Consider upping dosage should nerves get the better of them...
[the rest of the page is illegible, if anything was ever written at all it's mostly rotted and worn through. A thick dusting of black mold threatens to consume the rest of the paper]
Ancient Page | Early Entry: (found below the Mermaid)
...I will ask him to marry me, he surely knows by now my heart is his. I wish so to give him my everything. Gods, but he is a distraction! I thought I might wait until I had finished with my formal education before settling. I must admit, I want him now...
...and though by now I have graduated, though just barely, I still don't see the fuss. I wanted his love forever - and now he's talking of 'children'? I must write mother....
...the medicine tastes awful and we're no further along, perhaps it's not meant to be. He says he still loves me, I love him. That ought to be enough. I hope that is enough...
...I am so proud of him, he works so hard. Though we've no little ones (yet!) he has been working extra hours almost every night! My dear husband, bringing in the coin. Gods know we need it! No-one's hiring for my line of expertise....
[illegible scribbles, scored out repeatedly, tear-smudged and perhaps stabbed with the writing implement]
...they moved in together five weeks ago. There's no way she's that heavily pregnant in five weeks. My suspicions, was I blind? Am I a fool? It wasn't my fault, I tried. We tried damn it! Maybe if I find a way, maybe he'll take me back. I can still win. I can still have him...
[the rest of the pages are filled with anatomical drawings, they're remarkably good and represent the human body with learned accuracy]
Ancient Page | Soiled Entry: (found in the sewers, Docks district, in chest dislodged by roots. Within chest was also the author's still dapper, enchanted clothes and Snowy's collar - she really did love that dog)
"...I heard they split years ago. I don't understand why he didn't come to me. I'd look after him, I'd treat his depression. I'd fill his guts with mandrake extract, how about that? Sorry bastard that he's become...
...saw her at the market, down on her luck. Three fresh babbies at her knee, the whore. One has red hair, a Tompson if I ever saw one, I wonder if he gave her the crotch-rot along with their fine son. A blonde, and I was almost struck dead to see a little Half-Orc. I know it's petty, oh how delicious..
...washed up on the shore. My poor man, my poor handsome man. I never got to tell you how sorry I am, oh what a wretch I've been. I'm so sorry! I almost turned them down when they asked me to perform the autopsy...
...it was rather unusual, a visitor - now that I think on it. But he was so charming. I was finishing the last stitch on his sternum when the gentleman strode in - and he spoke to me as an old friend, I thought perhaps someone I studied with decades ago. What he offered, well, how could I refuse...?
...in the basement, I thought it'd be too small but no - all of the equipment fit, just as he said. I paid an awful man an awful lot of coin to bring the body back 'discretely', and so far no-one has come knocking. Lovely!...
...failure after failure, after failure. My poor husband, his eyes opened and I thought for certain we'd be reunited. In this manner, too, I could give him a child, finally a family, finally love! His eyes were black and soulless, I've given life to a monster and killed my beating heart..."
[the rest of the entries are a mix of arcane symbols and potion recipes, some reference to voltage and the depiction of an iron rod catching a lightning bolt]
The books found previously are still at the Bardic College, being gradually dried and transcribed for easier reading:
Big Book of Anatomy: Exploring The Flesh of the Human Body
Most of the pages of this muddy tome are ruined, the few pages that are left show surgical implements and various cross-sections of humans. No other races appear to be featured in the book.
Noteworthy: A plain bookmark made the book plop open on the pages regarding the amputation of limbs.
Big Book of Alchemy:
The ruined tome appears to be waterlogged, even when dried out there isn't much left to salvage.
Noteworthy: A plain bookmark causes this book to open up on an almost legible chapter explaining the capture and transferrence of a mortal soul from one vessel to another.
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For the time being, Keith is tight lipped and refuses to offer much beyond that he believes he was doing honest work, he's convinced he's in the right and seems to be quite upset at being locked up and stripped of his possessions.
His belongings have been left in the Gaol's evidence/interrogation room under minimal guard.
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Naught but stumps and dried up logs, debris and remaining cobblestones litter the commons now. The only trees yet standing are those that have grown there naturally all along, thankfully.
Reports of guards descending to 'clean up' where the adventurers left off are mixed with strange accounts of molding corpses up on the ceiling, spore-like motes floating in the air, and the thunderous footfalls of something 'big' as yet unidentified.
Whatever work the druid started seems to be far from over.
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Isolde takes the books to the Bardic College, to be dried and restored to what extent possible by the experts. Whichever investigator that wishes to study them can do so by simply paying a visit. The items, in turn, were divided between the trio present for the fighting below the city's streets, with Tatyana winning the toss for the strange myconid cap/helm, Perom for the century armour and knight's ring and Isolde herself storing away the broken sword, the magic spear and the wood armour for potential study.
She jots down a few swift ideas for the continued investigation:
"First, a little chat with the druid himself. Secondly, look into possibility of digging down from the point of the largest tree and following the remains of the roots. Might we find more clues there that will allow us to determine which of the many items lend themselves best suited for Legend Lore? I'm hoping to at least find out whether the items are linked or come from completely different layers and events in time. Actually, might an earth elemental do the job for us, without the actual digging? Worth finding out. And naturally, involving Nate for easy breezy Cerulean back-up and heavy lifting with the lore bit!~"
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Treasures untold were recovered from beneath the city's streets. As the small group of adventurers found their way to the point directly beneath the Commons they only pulled back the veil to reveal yet more questions. At least for the truly curious. A broken sword, a knight's ring, a magic spear and some enchanted armor. A druid perhaps along with their undead-hunter companion, who knows?
Among the treasures a pair of unusual books. Perhaps they were buried together or simply found by coincidence. The mystery deepens yet further.
Keith, the urban druid has been taken into custody. Guardsman Perom is credited with his arrest.
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*As time passes, minute to minute and hour after hour the plants seem to grow, and grow. The leaves have changed, fallen, and regrown several times between sun-up and the waning of the moon, as if seasons and cycles are passing by. The short and stunted bushes have grown into century oaks and great hoary pines, each in turn has scattered seed and pollen into the wind - though the nuts and such appear untouched by the strange growth.
As the roots push ever deeper and spread through the commons, some odd things begin to be turned up out from the earth. A rusty helmet, an ancient battered breastplate, many a dull and broken sword, arrowheads - and as some lucky passers by have noted, the occasional coin albeit minted from a bygone era. Cobblestones from beneath the new pathways jut up like giant broken teeth indicative of civilization before the current age. A mans' skull is pushed up along with some bones. The roots reach ever deeper..*
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Isolde can be overheard spinning a tale by the dappled shade of the thicket of trees, of a cloud castle, high up in the sky. Though the trees would have to grow a great deal higher to reach this mythical place, she describes the splendours within with many a fancy word, ending with a dainty finger upheld as she emphasizes: "But bear in mind, I call dibs!"
