Animal Sanctuary
I recently received a large donation of animals for my new Animal Sanctuary, but they need help. The treatment requires a specific, expensive Gemstone. There are deposits known to be not far from here, but require special skills for location and extraction. Experience with the Nightshade region preferred. A large reward is available.
Lara Shyr
Recap
Merrick, Nyra, Resmida, and Yulvik answer a call to collect Gemstones as treatment to help animals newly adopted into an Animal Sanctuary. Upon arriving to Memoria, they find themselves in front of a For Rent building where it seems said Animal Sanctuary was recently set up. Inside, they meet a Druid-Ranger woman named Lara who gives them their task. Resmida is very concerned for the animals and uses Speak With Animals to do a cursory investigation. She learns that the Animals are more on edge, aggressive, improved eyesight and smell, and generally… Hungrier, almost Bloodthirsty.
This is concerning, but there isn’t much else to go on and the group heads out to collect the Gemstones near the edges of the Volcano, near where will likely be lava. They are warned it may be difficult to access the area where the Gemstones will be found - legend has it an old mage from ages ago left behind something to protect it. Tess appears right before they walk around the corner to find three Large Constructs in the form of two Amber Snakes and a metal-looking Crocagator swimming in a creek of Lava.
Despite Nyra attempting to approach peacefully, the group learns that Peace was Never an Option: These constructs were clearly left here to guard the area. Upon approaching, battle ensues! It is quickly revealed that the Constructs regenerate when taking Fire Damage, but Tess and Yulvik manage to think quickly and get them out of the Lava Creeks to make it easier to take them down. Nyra and Merrick gets slowed, but Merrick is able to snap out of it fairly quickly. (Despite being slowed, Nyra still does an incredible amount of damage.) Resmida becomes One with the environment and peppers attacks from a safe distance. Tess maintains sharp control. Merrick and Fang continue working as an epic Duo. Though these Constructs are sturdy, eventually, they all fall.
Tess helps Resmida identify the Gemstones as Agate, which they also sort out is usually used to Awaken plants and creatures. There is no clear answer as to why this would be used as treatment for unwell animals. It feels… off. Nyra and Yulvik make quick work of mining the Agate to bring back to their quest giver.
Back with Lara the Druid-Ranger, they confront her that this is a particularly strange situation. Before they are willing to complete the job, they want to meet Lara’s client, as they have their suspicions. Lara reluctantly agrees, while it irritates her she’d rather get this done with as little friction as possible since the Agate is right there after all. As she writes the letter to contact her client to arrange the meet, Nyra spots that the client is in fact, shady-mage Ezekiel who sent them on a strange quest to get a Mirror. Meanwhile, Resmida steals some papers stored in the back and collects Nyra to start reading through them while Tess keeps Lara occupied with small talk. Nyra confirms the client is Ezekiel, and then they find records of Lara’s active bounties: One describing the information she received about the animals from Ezekiel, but then another… a bounty to find and retrieve Zephyrus to Ezekiel.
It takes some convincing but they do manage to get Lara on board to be properly suspicious of Ezekiel despite the huge amount of payment he is offering. She wants their help to figure out how to handle the Animals from him in her care… (to be played out in RP channels) and as a thank you for helping her sort out the sticky situation she is now in, offers a few items, even if she cannot pay out the gold she would have since she will not be able to collect money from her client.