#frogified

The shoe elves pointed me toward a local dungeon haunt called Hero’s Hollow, popular with the adventurers passing through. I headed there next, expecting it to be an ideal cultivation ground for Skullcaps, and I wasn’t wrong. Just outside of the dungeon entrance, however, I found an old map of the place half-buried in the dust. I thought it was nicely convenient, until I wandered around inside long enough to realize how terribly outdated and inaccurate it was. The good news is that it led me straight to a patch of Silverleaf, so I made sure to gather plenty of it along with my Skullcaps on the way out.

Hoping to make a good impression with my first patient in the area, I hurried back home to mix her cure in less than half the time I needed. I call it -

“Anti-Toad Antidote”

Crush Skullcap mushrooms into a paste

Boil the mucus out of Smooth-Croaks (discard the bodies - I fed them to Shadow)

Stir together with the mushroom paste until the Skullcap pulp dissolves

End result should have an oily consistency & a mild umami taste

Paid: +20 silver Kiara seemed relieved and thankful, if a little embarrassed. I told her that kissing frogs would never get the result she wanted, and she seemed to concede, although I didn’t like the gleam in her eye when she left.

Additional Notes:

Explored the village a bit this week. I ran into a newly formed adventuring party, lingering around the general store as they prepared for an expedition into Hero’s Hollow. I offered up the old map I found to them, in case it could still be useful, although I did warn them that it’s mostly out of date. They asked me to come along with them in person and act as a guide, instead – so I agreed, thinking this could be a good opportunity for more foraging, and it would be useful to know the layout a little better.

During our exploration I found an ancient-looking whiskey bottle with the seal unbroken despite its age. I’m excited to crack it open sometime and see if it’s really whiskey inside, or something else. Scattered around where I found the bottle was a good number of Hermit Snail shells as well, so managed to gather a good handful. I also picked up a few more Skullcaps, growing around what might have been a tapestry at one point (now it was just scraps of rotted cloth with hints of embroidery on the clean edges). I found a second batch after we struggled our way through something called “the puzzle room,” which is accurate if not expecially creative.

The adventuring party - they call themselves the Bacchae - told me they’ve heard rumors of Wyrd Water sometimes found in the depths of certain dungeons. I’ve studied the idea of Wyrd Water - I’m fascinated by the thought of an entirely separate dimension of reality - but I’ve never handled any personally. I got a little too ambitious and began to search for some while we continued forward, and I was less cautious than I should have been. I fell into an active trap when I wasn’t paying attention and it wounded me badly enough for the expedition to be cut short, as a few members of the party had to help send me home to recover.

OOC: Rep – 6 [Novice] Silver – 20 Tools – basics Familiar skill – Hunter (-3 Animal reagent rarity) Upgrades – garden plot (x1; Surgeon Sap)