RPM:7 Bad Seed

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Starring: 🏹 Ehsan, 🐺 Ildefons, 🐘 One-Tusk
Guest Starring: Evette Lussier, Jean-Louis Gantier, Clément Cailler, Bashaarat al-Faheed, Orion Pandis, Chantal, Captain Hernaut, Emmanuel, Arlette (old lady), Issac (6yo boy)
Challenge: Poisonous seeds and Chantal
Location: Le Roux Mansion, La Magie de Prison (Iosif's office), Bear Creek Farm
Date Played: 07 Mar 2017

Prologue

🏹 Ehsan: OneTusk makes it back to Hugo’s estate where I am currently discussing with Basharaat my duties and adventures in this land. The task seems to be completed to Basharaat’s satisfaction, though is of course saddened to find out the fate of Mandro. She is unaware of what is within the vials the guild has made, but Ildefons takes the one vial addressed to Iosif Kettleblack to the prison to be dealt with appropriately.

🐘 One-Tusk: I notify Basharaat of our success, and find Ehsan has already engaged her. We… may have aired some laundry. It was inappropriate, but there are times when I can't help myself. I'm an Elephant! Impulse control isn't a strong suit.

Another Party Night at the Le Roux Estate

🏹 Ehsan: Basharaat goes to mingle with the rest of the party and I keep to the edges to oversee some of the “security”. Orion approaches me after a while, encouraging me to officially take my part within the Royal Pride. It has been a bit over a year now since I’ve settled within Lisway, it probably is time for me to officially file my papers. At least I know that Orion will be able to pull some strings to make the process go a bit more smoothly than before.

🐘 One-Tusk: With the party in full swing, I focus on securing the party against our security force. This is mostly for Hugo's benefit.

The Summit on the "Famine" Continues

Over the course of the last several days the Guildmasters have talked about what they are hesitating to call the upcoming famine.
It turns out that agricultural production is unusually low this year. Guildmaster Primus Evette Lussier of the Mercers confirms that this is true throughout all the whole continent of Hallbeirge, though the country of Arkstone is more impacted than most.
Guildmaster Secundus Orion Pandis of the Salters admits that it would seem that Arkstone has chosen the wrong year to over-invest in new technologies for farming. Several spectacular failures have compounded the food production problem.
The slowing of trade has Guildmaster Tertius Bashaarat al-Faheed of the Basketmakers concerned and she is here to invest in a plan that will help save the people. Her contacts say that usually buying food from Condrol has been an option, however the Condrol have found new markets in Kirkush and Eben, and Arkstone would doesn’t have the coin to match.

Request from Guildmaster Primus Clément Cailler

🏹 Ehsan: Agricultural production is unusually low this year. Arkstone is being impacting more than most. Usually they would purchase from Condrol but they’ve found better markets in other countries. Cailler requests for us to go investigate the growth of a fast growing, poisonous plant of some kind that recently started growing in a region outside the city. If the fruits of this plant were to be distributed among the people the damage and casualties could be significant, so it would be best to go deal with this sooner rather than later.

🐘 One-Tusk: The hinterlands around the city are almost an entirely different world. I pull the party via rickshaw, and we investigate a poisonous, quick-growing plant. In this age of Science, I can't help but wonder if the poisons can be purified, like how beans cooked one way are deadly, but cooked another are satisfying.

Bear Creek Farm

Bear Creek Farm is a several hour ride by rickshaw drawn by a Wildbloods of Burden (four horse-sized pigs). This community is known mostly for growing a variety of fruits and is a favored area of the bakers and pastry makers in the city of Lisway. The farm is actually a collection of about a dozen family farms that have pulled their interests together and incorporated themselves for more advantage in the city market.

🎲 DM: Jean Gavreau and his family were the ones who died.

🐘 One-Tusk: It is a tragedy for the workers to die, especially the workers of this collective. We briefly contemplate foul play, given the obvious motive, but it seems pretty easy to dismiss… at least until we investigate the druid's grove…

🏹 Ehsan: We arrive at Bear Creek Farm without incident. One of the workers directs us to a particular family that's fallen on bad times recently and so we head there for more information. An older woman, Analise, invites me into her home while OneTusk and Ildefons investigate the orchards. She seems sweet enough but I don't want to let my guard down completely quite yet. Her tea was pleasant, but nothing like back home unfortunately. She tells me of a druid who makes her home in the woods just outside the farmstead. The families don't bother her for the most part, but someone so in tune with nature may be able to offer us insight into the situation on these plants.

Druid's Grove is Creepy

• Aspects Overgrown & Dense Vegetation, Desiccated Animals Everywhere

🏹 Ehsan: We travel and come across desiccated wildlife in the forest as we get closer to Chantal’s (the druid) grove. We encounter her and she seems psychotic, almost possessed. She seems to almost blend in with the forest, taking on it's color and texture to remain out of sight, but my training allows me to spot her subtle movements. With a precise shot she stumbles out from her hiding spot and falls. Before passing, she shares with us that she wandered into a pocket dimension during the winter. The dimension was warm but cursed, and stole her personality the longer she stayed there. She brought back poisoned seeds to our land and sold them to farmers in the local area to spread the evil.