Drusk (aside to the group): "She may be incoherent, but there may be something useful in her rambling."

To BB: "You told us to stay away from Marigold. What has you so worried?"

BB: "She’s witchy. Like, for serious. A witch. She raises the dead and commands them and... and... like, she’s a witch, man. That kind of power isn’t right and is pretty foul, I say. It’s just not good for the land, friends. Don’t let her fool you with her honeyed words."

Quote from Mingofaust >>

Quillary is going to try a Nature check to see if she knows what’s in the air.

Nature: 11

Quillary doesn't know what BB was smoking. But the air in the greenhouse, blocked off by the curtain, is likely to be clean.

While Quillary is sniffing the air, she hears something sniffing at her hat and the cat's skull. When she turns around, nothing is there.

Quillary turns in place like something is buzzing her head, then pulls off her curly hat, and reaches inside, muttering, to pull out a small, colorful frog, which squirms and slips out of her hand, landing on the ground and hopping away. “Don’t lick that!” she says.

”Maybe we could stay a spell in the greenhouse, out of the, uh, recreational smoke.”

Pascal, still quietly disturbed by the... vision he had, nods, “I would also like to leave... I’m seeing some weird things here, and I don’t wanna see much more.”

Quote from JcAndD >>

Pascal, still quietly disturbed by the... vision he had, nods, “I would also like to leave... I’m seeing some weird things here, and I don’t wanna see much more.”

Drusk: "What sort of weird things?" (No one in the group has said anything substantial so far.)

(OOC: If you want to stay here for a short rest, keep in mind that you are a group of complete strangers, who haven't shown any interest in buying anything or being friendly. A change in attitude might be needed... If you don't stay, you'll need to plan where to find a safe place to recover. You could skip the rest entirely, but Drusk has single digit HP, and won't be able to Turn Undead unless he gets a short rest.)

Pascal shivers as he recalls the beast, “It was huge, hairy, eyes like unburnt coals... Well... I mean... I think it was...”

Pascal pauses, “I may be a bit on edge here. It might’ve been a chien...”

BB: "Hairy... eyes like unburnt coals... Croody. Croody!"

Standing next to her is an eager dog, brown coat with large black spots, measuring five feet at the shoulders. Now that everyone has a longer look at it, its coloring and features seem sharper and brighter than a normal dog, with almost an elven quality to it. (It's panting sounds like the noises Quillary heard behind her earlier.) "Croody, have you been eating my hot peppers again?" The dog looks confused, but when it senses that Bitter-Blossom is going to scold it, it vanishes without a trace.

"Croody is a bit larger than your normal Blink Dog. A while back, he gobbled up an unknown blend of herbs, and is now like, giant, man. But he won't hurt customers."

Hildigrim looks a bit relieved. "Well, that's one mystery solved." He puts on his diplomacy face. "Madam, may we adjourn to your greenhouse? I've recently begun dabbling in the arcane and am wondering if you have any ingredients which might be useful."

I guess I should roll deception because, well, he's lying: 5

LOL!

Drusk (quietly to Hildigrim): "You asked Mari about her relationship with the 3rd person, Regis. Do you have a plan, where we shouldn't ask Bitt-Blos the same thing?"

Quote from DirtyDogP >>

I guess I should roll deception because, well, he's lying: 4   LOL!

Even in her smoke-fugue, BB gives Hildigrim a wary eye.

"Like, I'm sure there's plants that would be useful to an arcane mister like you, Hildigrim. I'm just worried that I won't be able to keep it going. If only I could get rid of some inventory. For instance, if someone were to buy this antitoxin and these 2 healer's kits for 50 gold, that would cover the bills. They will be past their expiration dates in 2 weeks, but until then, they'd be super duper useful." She then looks off to the side, whistling, with a hand open to receive coins.

(As she said, those items will only remain potent for 2 more weeks. But the market price is normally 60 GP, so she is offering a slight sale price.)

Pascal eyes her back, “You know, cher, we would love to take that product off your hands... but I’m afraid I can’t fit that in my pack will all this great food I cooked.”

Let’s see how she likes dealing with the munchies.

(OOC: After that amazing roll by Hildigrim, she isn't going to budge on selling those items. If people agree, Drusk can remove 50 GP from the group treasury.

She was also going to charge to allow the party to spend an hour in the greenhouse, but Pascal's offer of munchings and crunchings will be enough.)

Begrudging agreement. He passes a flavored jerky to her.

Quillary nods at Drusk, "Pay her, let us take a load off."

OOC > "munchings and crunchings!" Gurgi would approve!

OoC - sorry for not posting, super busy weekend!

Jorin is as excited about the snackies as BB and eagerly joins in the munching.

Drusk pays for the antitoxin and the healing kits.

(OOC: I haven't been keeping track of healing kit uses, that Mingofaust set up in the original rules. But the group uses them enough in their adventures. that these 2 will be used up before the expiration date... Someone can grab the antitoxin, if they want.)

While doing so, Drusk mentions that you'd like to spend an hour looking at the plants in her greenhouse. Before Bitter-Blossom can discuss a price, she starts sniffing the air. Pascal is waving some homemade jerky in fromt of him. BB looks dubious, but after a nibble her eyes widen and she grabs the rest of the offered jerky. She nods her head up and down, and gestures that the party can go through the curtain. "Just keep clear of the plants with the signs "No Feeding". They don't get meat until the end of the week."

After the party is in the greenhouse (using a Light spell and Jorin's sword to see the color of the plants), Drusk then asks if BB knows Regis Brightgem. In mid (jerky) bite, BB responds. "You know... this jerky just reminds me of adventuring with my sister. Regis too. We were buddies. Pals. We go way back, years and...  I can’t look him in the eye anymore. We lost her. My sister, Bitter-Root. Our parents weren’t very creative but we loved little Bitter-Root anyways. She’s been gone awhile and I can’t find her. I think Regis tries to help, but it hurts too much to talk to him. I don’t think I’ll be able to trust anyone from the Lords’ Alliance ever again."

Bitter-Blossom show no more interest in talking to anyone, after remembering her sister. From behind the curtain, you can hear a flint-and-tinder being used to create a small fire, and a puff of smoke escapes around the side of the curtain.

(do we know who Regis is?)

Quote from Guiltysparc >>

(do we know who Regis is?)

(Regis is the 3rd person that Rooster met. So all you know is that fact, and what Marigold and Bitter-Blossom have said about him.)

(And everyone can take a Short Rest. Drusk gets his Channel Divinity back, and will use his hit dice: 3, 9, 9, 10, 5  More low rolls, but he is back to 31 HP.)

I have not been keeping track of healing kit uses. I guess when you took over, I assumed that CRAZY :) rule was abandoned.

Pascal takes a short rest... he doesn’t feel different.

Quote from DirtyDogP >>

I have not been keeping track of healing kit uses. I guess when you took over, I assumed that CRAZY :) rule was abandoned.

(Yes. I am hand-waving that the party has a use for these extra healing kits. You don't actually have to use them.)

Halfway through the short rest, you hear scratching and banging on the glass. Holding a light up to the window, you see a horrific spectral form trying to enter. There are several of them, shaking the window panes. While they are groaning at all of you, they seem a little more focused on Jorin and Hildigrim. However, between the arcane construction of the glasshouse and some of the weird plants stirring & glowing, the Wraiths are kept outside. After 10 minutes, they give up and leave.

(OOC: I didn't feel like doing the fight with the Wraiths and Ghosts. Having your max HP lowered until the next long rest makes sense when the party is 8th level (what Tier 2 modules are balanced for), but not when the party is 5th level.)