Flores' eyes narrowed at the offending asparagus. Something felt amiss, but she could not put her finger on it. But before she could put it down to paranoia, Tendilius approached the farmer, which made her wonder if he noticed something too. On that basis, she casually wandered over to where Tendilius was, wondering what the farmer's response would be. 

As you both look closer at the dropped vegetables you notice that it has similar pattern and color of discoloration that you found on the queen's leg.

The merchant turning and seeing you looking at the fallen items quickly goes to pick it up and put it back in their cart. 

The merchant looks worried, embarrassed and scared. They mutter something friendly under their breath with a nod and turn to continue on with their cart. 

Tristan will just step in front of the merchant "Apologies sir, we are pretty hungry from our travels. Are you selling your produce by chance?"

Following Tristan's lead, Tendilius pulls out a gold coin and says, "Indeed. It would be a joy to chat."

Persuasion: 11+6 = 17

"My produce is already been purchased. I'm sure one of them will sell to you." as he points to the others on the road. 

As he tries to continue on his way, Tendilius' request hits him and as he pulls his cart over and a bit off to the side of the road, he breaks down crying. "You saw didn't you. Of course you did. I don't know what to do. Everything was fine last week but now, this." He holds one of his asparagus. It has those same strange discolorations. "I've fought bugs, drought, bandits, and fungus, but I've never seen anything like this before."

(Well done on the Persuasion Roll!!)

"If I may ask, where is your farm located? You're not the only farmer facing this issue and it would be useful to know where it's been going." replies Tendilius.

He turns to Flores, "I'm not the most familiar with toxins or whatnot. Might there be anything you notice about the vegetables?"

Flores' education was extensive, but typically enough to know more than the average person in a wide range of subjects. As she stared at the offending vegetable, she racked her brains, wondering if she'd heard of any such thing before, if there was a natural explanation or if this was in some way man-made. The latter seemed most likely, so she quickly evaluated what she knew.

Medicine: 4

He looks up and says "My farm is near Ulden Swamps, just West of Sobruz. We just bought the farm and planted this crop and its ruined. It was all our money to buy that farm. I guess the cheap price should have told us. " 

Flores, with your medicine role you decern that you have not seen anything like this before in nature nor some type of man made poison or such. You do think it is unnatural, potentially magic, a curse, or something like that.

Second, as you are all keeping your eyes and senses open, you notice two things. First, after having stopped the cart, you notice a slight sickeningly sour smell coming from the produce.  Not like rotting, but something different. Second, you do a quick scan of the farmer and you notice no marks like the queen.  

"May I go please, I found a person who will buy my produce for his pigs. Its not much, but we won't starve."

Tendilius ponders the farmer's words. "Please hold for a moment." he says.

Turning to the party he says, "Seeing the state of that produce I have to wonder what effect consumption of it would do to a creature. As curious as I would be as to the resulting condition of the pigs, should anything happen to them I must wonder what would happen to the next person in the food chain." He sighs and looks pensively at the produce, "What do you guys think?"

Flores’ nose wrinkles as she considers the ruined fruit. “The thing is,” she says, “I cannot ascertain how the change happened. I have never seen anything like this occurring naturally. Nor, and I have some experience in the field, does it appear to be a poison. Which leaves one logical avenue…magic. Something like a curse. The question is, how widespread is this, and where did it originate? As to what might happen in the food chain, I wouldn’t like to overly speculate until we find out what type of curse. But it’s possible.”

Tristan just stays quiet as the two take the lead on asking questions. He begins to just walk to the back of the cart looking closer at the produce to see if it looks familiar to what he saw on the queen in any way, or if it is affecting the produce different then it affected her.

"I can understand not wanting to worry too far in advance." says Tendilius. "It's something to consider for sure. And magic does have a tendency to not always follow logical chains of events." He turns to Tybitha, "And your thoughts on the matter?"

He takes a glance at the farmer wondering how trustworthy the man might be with money.

Insight: 2+2
//considering the possibility of handing him some gold on the idea of "have the pig-farmer promise not to have anyone eat the pigs for a while"; give some time to know what happens.
//though I'm not expecting much of that roll ;p

The farmer, seeing your concern for hurting people that might eat the pigs, says "It doesn't hurt people, if that's what you all are worried about. Honest. My family has been eating these, although not raw, but cooked and we've had no issues. There's no difference in the taste. In fact, it may be a little sweeter."

"If you all that concerned, I can take you to my farm and you can have a look see; after I drop these off."

Tendilius tries to hide a look of surprise at the farmer's words. They ate them? he thinks to himself. I'm no expert but I feel like this is how zombie movies plays begin. After regaining his composure he says, "Seeing your farm would certainly be useful." He turns to the others, "Does that seem like a reasonable course of action to you? Or would you like to investigate other ideas?"

Tristan nods "I would appreciate seeing the farm as well. It might help us to understand this thing better."

The farmer not thinking you would take him up on his offer, agrees. 

The farm drops off the 'produce' and starts to head out of the city. 

"My farm is about a little more than half-a-day's journey but with it being late we'll need to camp along the way. I'm still not sure what you all can do, but any chance is better than none." He offers for you to ride in or walk along side the wagon.

(What would you like to do?)

"Camping out? Good thing I brought a tent." says Tendilius as he remounts Snowbell and brings the horse alongside the wagon. He turns to Tristan and Flores, "It's big enough for two if you want. And I believe Tybitha has another tent." He turns to Crow, "What kind of sleeping accomodations would you need, sir?"

He is prepared to follow the farmer along for the journey. He thinks about the area wondering if there's any particular concerns about bandits or other hazards.

History?: 18+4 = 22

On one hand, Flores sees this as a tenuous lead - but on the other, it is the only lead they have. On that basis, her mind is made up. "A tent would be fine, and we can take it in turns to ride in the wagon if need be. Are we all in agreement?"

Seeing everyone in agreement you set off. Your journey is uneventful and as darkness falls you break for camp. The farmer pulls out a blanket and wishes you a good night as he rests in the bed of the wagon.

What are your plans till morning?

"Shall we take any shifts with keeping watch? I'm willing to take the first" asks Tendilius. While the night winds down he also pulls out his shawm and plays some music to break the stillness of the night with a melody. He will also take his book, quill, and ink to add another entry describing the events of the day.

Perception: (10,5) + 2 = 12 or 7 (not sure if you'd need the disadvantage from darkness or not)