Makers of Friends

The party awakens at The Tired Trunk Tavern & Inn, the two owners of which the group comes to learn are Alech Mooray, a Human, and Gisme Elwys, a Halfling. Barian apparently had left the rest of the group behind to pursue his future goals but forgot his remaining stones which Jaxi quickly claims; a Ruby and an Emerald.   Jaxi and Misht go downstairs and get breakfast in the Tavern while Gargax sleeps in after a long day of adventuring. In the meantime, a semi-stir crazy Jaxi works on making a map of Arbor Harbor to pass time before being joined for breakfast by a groggy Gargax. Gisme suggests that the party visit the armory before sunset. The party discusses this suggestion and decides to hang out for a while before heading to The Stoic, with the goal of getting a shield for Gargax. Getting a little overexcited, the seven foot tall Dragonborn nearly rips the large door of the armory off its hinges. This then sparks the sudden idea of turning the door itself into a shield, and Gargax begins to borderline beg Gol Markeg, the owner of The Stoic to make his idea a reality. Eventually defeated, Gargax instead commissions a custom shield with the Nyaldaashkmeller family crest on it.   While waiting for the commission to be completed, the group meets up with Erig for a short chat regarding Gary and his duplicitous escapades. The party is informed that Gary is already on his way to “route 2” and the group goes to pick up the shield but are witness to an Elf selling a fancy-looking wooden axe to Gol before heading into the Limerick Forest.   The party attempts to stealthily follow the strange elf but is quickly noticed. The group then approaches and he begrudgingly introduces himself as Cama, after a little persuading the group is able to get Cama to agree to lead them through the winding forest. Cama is very clear that he would be doing something “incorrect” by doing so but will lead the group through if they first accompany him to his destination, as he could use some help. He also vaguely mentions that he has already been partially shunned for interacting with outsiders before.   As the party heads through the dense green forest they are jumped by a group of elven archers who engage in an argument with Cama regarding him bringing outsiders through the forest. Begrudgingly, the elves escort the group into a village composed of houses built into huge oak trees, the party immediately notices a flower bed that has a trail of dead plants through it. We come to learn that this village is known as Teebrook and all of the inhabitants are elves clothed in animal skins and vibrant face paint who actively choose to keep their home a secret from outsiders.   The party is brought to the center of the village where a statue of the Fae God Rillifane Rallathil stands and they shortly meet the leader of the Teebrook elves, Minye, who is very displeased that Cama has brought in outsiders. The party also learns that Cama is apparently shunned by his own clan for being a woodcarver, which is viewed as a waste of natural materials. After a short argument regarding the futility of the elves recently attempting to solve their own problem, Minye concedes and informs the outsiders that recently the prized Longbow of Rillifane Rallathil has been stolen and that the party would be allowed to work to retrieve the item but otherwise not leave Teebrook. In seeking out more information regarding the loss of the longbow, Minye mentioned that a giant oak tree had arrived a few weeks prior and walked through Teebrook, leaving the trail that the group had noticed upon their arrival to the village. The elves hadn’t approached or examined the tree as of yet, either. Cama then suggests we visit Carda, a crazy older elf woman who runs a mouse carnival. Carda then approaches the large oak tree with the rest of the group.   The tree has several brown lumps across the bark and Gargax impulsively rubs one resulting in the tree opening it to reveal the lump to actually be an eye. Awakened, the tree then states “grove is gone” and that it “came from the morning sun” aka the northeast and that the area it came from is “drowned in death.” The tree then identifies itself by the name of Oaken Grove. The group then agrees to check out the tree grove that it came from and we gain permission from Minye to pursue the lead.   Before leaving, however, the party decides to go to the local Lucky Squirrel Tavern which is owned by Nora and order some food for a quick break from the action. The group learns that the tavern is named after the gray squirrel that inhabits the rafters known as The Emperor. Nora then reveals that she is also a card reader and provides the party with readings before heading out on their next mission.   Gargax receives the reading of the Two of Swords which the card reader defined as “You have a big decision coming up - use your head.”
  Jaxi receives the drawing of Page of Pentacles which she extrapolated as “An offer is going to come, accept it.”
  Misht draws the card of Five of Swords defined as “Choose your battles, lay down your swords.”   After receiving their card readings, the party sets out, following the trail through the forest left by Oaken Grove; along the trail the party starts to notice a brownish-red mold and an ominous moistness in the air. The group also begins to notice a violet fungus and Gargax readies his weapon and shield just in case; suddenly the fungal growths jump to life and attack the party.