The Forgotten Wish

Rick steps back to not get sprayed with splutter spit.

He watches with the interest the interaction and supplies,

"Boss Pallen isn't bad luck, Boss Pallen is sick. Surely Old Codger has seen sick people? No buildings burned down before or after the last sick elf?"

His good ear lays back in mild annoyance before he redirects away from that fight to,

"Old Codger saw this smiling demon?"

Persuasion: 15

Breldo continues onward through the forest, managing to maintain the track, though eventually has to call a halt as he spots a potential issue up ahead. Right down the tracks they are currently traveling, a boar is in the midst of uprooting some plants to get a succulent meal; leaving the group to decide on a way to deal with it.

---

To the old man's credit, he wasn't directly spitting at anyone, just off to the side- Not that it wasn't a rude gesture.  But as the mangy cat speaks up, people seem stricken with that the oily beast talks... An awful lot of sense. Even the gruff old man, a moment before seeming like he would not sway from his position lets out a harumph as the people around him are going silent.

"Well, it's not like we've not had elves, but not ones hit with THAT disease... And the ones that do have it pass through without bothering us! Last time when I was a young un' and we did that, the fire happened, and, well..."

The man falls off a bit as Rick gets the distinct sensation that there are things not being said, though he pipes up again when questioned about seeing this supposed demon.

"Yes! I saw them! Some others saw them too! They... They, erm..."

"...Please ignore the old fool," Boris tries to interrupt. "This is ancient history he's harping about. There was a fire long ago, but far as I know nobody else saw this supposed demon of his."

"Most people just said they imagined it after! But- It was tall! And it had this permanent grin, which is why we called it that! And... Yes, it spoke! It said something about... 'That's not funny'."

Vague descriptions seem to have the old man lose most of his accomplices attention, however, and he soon scoffs again as the tide has turned properly.

"Bah, fine, keep him then. Just don't come complaining to me if you bring bad luck down to this entire place!"

"Careful, they can be an ornery lot, but sometimes they're just hungry. Be ready to shimmy up a tree though...", Breldo pulls some nuts and dried fruit from his rations and tosses a handful in front of the boar.

Sylvera, still a bit on the edge about how to feel concerning this secondary job, decides to stay close to Pallen for the time being. She very nearly says something along the line of “the nerve of these peasants…” but instead keeps her mouth shut, realizing that Pallen seems to be encouraging them to do what they can.

Perhaps that’s not a bad thing, though she still can’t help but feel pressed for time herself, even though Pallen seems to think he still has plenty of time. Still, who can tell how long this little detective’s mission will take. She has to admit that she is curious too, but this isn’t exactly her job. She has r been trained for this, and doesn’t want to make a fool of herself trying to play investigator. Yet perhaps it would be a good time to get some practice… 

For now she’ll just wait and see. Maybe once all the peasants regroup, they’ll have more information to work with. …wait a minute… is she actually trusting these people to do something useful? The thought bags at her as she sits in silence, the only words she speaks are to accept whatever meal they have been offered, ensuring that at least she and Pallen have dinner…and Khond too if he’s still around. 

"Rick has seen the disease, it is slow and hard spot at first. Rick would wager many of the elves Old Codger has met have had it, even if Old Codger didn't notice!"

Rick cocks his head and will ask before the codger heads off,

"Smiling Demon looked a like a human with a smile? What did Smiling Demon not think was funny?"

After the answer to that he will wave to everyone and head back to Khond and Pallen to explain the hot gossip he has procured. Sylvera is probably nearby too.

"Do Boss Pallen or Khond know anything about smiling demons?"

Breldo Animal Handling: 17

Nuria stays quiet as she watches Breldo work. Seeing the boar, she surprisingly doesn't seem frightened of it at all. Rather, she instinctively reaches for her bow before Breldo speaks up. When he does, she snaps her hand away from the weapon then nods to him while crouching down behind the halfling. 

Oren gets his warhammer in hand and prepares himself to fight if needed.  He waits to see if the boar is in a foul mood or if Breldo will have some luck trying to placate the beast.

Breldo decides to approach the beast head-on, hoping to keep it placated enough to not risk losing track of the trail by a detour- Nuria and Oren both willing to let him try, even if both keep a tight grip on their weapons just in case. Perhaps not without reason. The first reactions of the boar once spotting Breldo clearly hostile, hefty oinking and posturing movements. It is only Breldo's body language- And a distraction of some food- That gets the boar to cautiously shift its attention to said offered food. It'll allow the group to quickly continue and not risk losing the trail, as long as they don't do anything too sudden to irk up the boar after all.

---

Rick continues questioning the old codger for a moment - The old man somehow seeming both more and less confident as he keeps talking.

"Yes! No..? Humanoid shape, sure, but... Not quite, no," the main trails off, looking at this point as if he's considering just lying rather than these vague answers which don't earn him any favors. On the question of what exactly it was that was "not funny" however, the man goes quiet, his lips shut. The fact uncertain he keeps quiet because he does not know, or just doesn't want to say, before Boris interrupts.

"Okay, that's quite enough of all that nonsense. Look, listen- I think one of your compatriots started playing some beautiful music, right? We should all join back there," Boris pushes- And while the old fool shakes his head and scampers off, and a few of his compatriots disperse, others head to the local watering hole to see what has been going on. Entering, at least one can't help but exclaim "It actually IS a centaur!" and a few moments after seen digging through a small satchel to hand over a few coppers to another. When Rick asks his question here if anyone knows something about a "smiling demon" (and describes what the old Codger did as best as can), Pallen at least seems to shake his head, commenting it might just be a local folk legend. Gertrude comments that they shouldn't listen to the old fool.

(I'll take either a religion or arcane knowledge check if anyone wants to see if any of this sounds in any way familiar.)

Breldo will gesture the other two to pass, making placating sounds to the boar, and tossing more rations, a bit away from the trail as it finishes.

((I should've chosen a string instrument.  Why did a choose a flute?  Now Khond has to pick between performing or asking what Rick's talking about, because a local legend of a 'smiling demon' sounds super great to make a story from.))

Guess I'll at least roll uh...  Religion I guess.  2

Arcana or Religion: 6 (6)

Rick looks duly unimpressed by the codger's description.

Khond very vaguely recalls how a lot of religions describe "divine messengers" as "formless", and hence very hard to describe or remember, usually defined only by a few constants. Most different religions merely dictating what symbolism or feeling to recognize for "their" messengers. However, he's uncertain whether that is because there's any connection, or if these divine messengers are obviously intentionally vague so that priests can spin any manic dream into their favor. He certainly can't think of any particular god that would have "A big grin" as a symbol of theirs.

Breldo continues following the trail from that point, needing only about another ten minutes before the tracks come out on a small clearing within the forest. Verdant grass and wild flowers contrast against the otherwise cluttered forest floor. Following the the tracks, they lead within this little haven of peace within the forest, a ring of colorful mushrooms right in the midst of it.

The tracks come to a sudden stop there. 

“Well this is a nice area.  But obviously not just something that grew this way.  Someone must be caring for the area and planting these mushrooms and keeping and pruning the trees back.  Question is…who?”  

The clearing, while standing out among the forest, isn't exactly that terribly out of place to be handmade- Not that it is impossible someone has been maintaining or cultivating it, but it would seem more likely that someone found the place as-is, and chose to use it.

A quick investigation at least, however, reveals no tracks actually leading inside the clearing, except their own and some animals, which is the puzzling part.

---

Back in the village, more of the villagers are retiring their job for the day to come have an ale at Gertrude's, in what is a not subtle attempt to see what these adventurer fellows are up to... And to maybe help too, though it seems evident that none of them know anything they've not already heard. At least until the latest entry makes their way in. The young man, likely only somewhere around Nuria's age if that, in the midst of taking off some thick working gloves as he scans the room, almost immediately settling on the group. It doesn't take much longer for the redhead to approach them, bright eyes scanning between the lot of them.

"Excuse me? You're the people that offered to help, right? Could I have a word?"

"Don't think that means they've been planted, mushrooms'll kinda do their own thing..."

Breldo nature check on the mushrooms: 15

"They'll spread out in a ring from wherever they started from, ends up looking intentional, but it might just be the fungus spreading through the roots of a dead and fallen tree or something."

Rick looks at the Teen appraisingly,

"Yes and yes!"

Rick pats an empty seat beside him.