Foragers & Forestry

**Foragers & Forestry** is the first episode of *A Change In Gold*, an *Another Bad Side Quest* mini series. The employees of Taryn Doveweed's shop come together with an interesting new job on the table.

## Foragers & Forestry

### **Summary**

Our story begins on a small island off the northern coast of *Gilesha*, over a thousand years before the event of the main campaign, in the town of *Brand*. This town sits at the edge of a temperate rainforest known as the *Golden Crawl.* In this town we meet a very tall Firbolg woman, making a large breakfast in her farmstead home. Taryn Doveweed has pinkish skin and big brown eyes, and long droopy ears that stick out from ruddy red hair. Taryn hears the approach of her Halfling wife Rayn behind her, handing her coffee and a plate as Rayn insists she doesn’t have to do all of this. Taryn says she likes to as the camera pans out of the home and into the town of Brand.

Cotton has been awake for some time now but remains under the desk where she usually sleeps, going through old paperwork. Cotton has a mass of black curls, dark eyes with even darker circles hanging under them made all the more stark by her pale, grayish Rock Gnome complexion. Cotton occupies herself with tearing up some of the papers as her eyes dart across odd phrases and things carved into the underside of the desk and a viole case at her side.

Deeper in the town, Ciaradh is out on a walk. They wear a deep blue/black cloak and have a solid mask that covers the entirety of their face, not an inch of skin revealed. Their cloak is embroidered with a number of stars, the suns and moons and clouds to appear like a night sky. The view rushes out of Brand and to the very edge of where the town meets the *Golden Crawl*, there is a lone tent next to a small garden. Gilliphae steps out of their tent, appearing a little sick to her stomach as she goes to the garden which has been heavily marked with warnings of danger and poison. Gillie is an Aarakocra, feathers bright orange and blue and brown, and stands only a few feet tall. Gillie takes up some petals from a soft black flower, Black Pixie, using a quick cantrip to dry them, crushes them and sprinkles it over some rations and eats before beginning a small set of prayers.

Back in the farmhouse, Taryn explains she will be going to the office today to check on Cotton who she suspects is sleeping there and will have to talk to Gillie’s mother again if Gillie comes in today. Rayn suggests just making Gillie an employee but Taryn wonders if Gillie would be restricted under labor laws for children still and even then they would have to reiterate forest safety considering that is where Gillie had died previously. Rayn wonders if they could also talk about the hay scythe that Gillie has taken multiple times and Tayrn says they can but Gillie says runes appeared on it so she has to keep it and Taryn doesn’t know enough about magic to argue, noting it was never her strong suit.

Rayn eventually pushes Taryn out of the house to go to work and Taryn leaves with the reminder that she made Rayn’s lunch today as well. As Taryn heads into *Brand*, she hears a familiar voice and finds an Aarakocra very similar to Gillie although much older, Gillie’s mother Gilda. She asks if Taryn has seen Gillie, as she has a habit of doing every couple of days, and Taryn says she was headed to the shop to find out if she would be in today. Gilda admits Gillie doesn’t talk to her much anymore and Taryn asks how old she is now, Gilda explaining that she is technically still 18 but if they were to count the time while she was dead then 26. Taryn assures Gilda that Gillie is becoming a young woman and maybe she does just want some space, but Taryn would be happy to give her space under a watchful eye and Gilda appreciates it.

The two women split off in different directions and eventually Taryn makes it to her shop, *Foragers & Forestry*. The shop is a stand alone, built a little off kilter as everything is in *Brand* and it has a large round door, though Taryn still has to stoop to enter. Inside the shop is warm, the colors of the wood soft in exposed beams and the furniture inside. There is a small seating area with mismatched chairs, past the waiting area are two desks against either wall - one for Cotton and one more begrudgingly for Gillie. Beyond that is a large window, open to let in a soft breeze and engraved with the shop’s logo, and a much larger desk where Taryn works. Several walls are lined in Taryn’s hand drawn maps, another in shelves full of books and other odds and ends.

As Taryn enters, Cotton scrambles to stand up and throws her shredded paper like confetti as she greets Taryn. Taryn appreciates the warm welcome but asks what the paper had been, hopefully not a map, and Cotton assures her it was just an old work order though Taryn still asks her to gather the pieces and leave it on Gillie’s desk to give her something to do for later. Taryn notices the bags under Cotton’s eyes and reminds her she always has a bed in her and Rayn’s home but Cotton waves her off, assuring her that she would hate to disturb their peaceful slumber. Taryn opens an incomplete map on her desk and begins to work when the bell over the front door rings and Ciaradh steps inside, their footsteps silent as they appear to almost float across the floor.

Ciaradh points out a few pieces of the ripped paper as they pass Cotton, who is clearly unsettled by Ciaradh’s odd way of moving, and they head for Taryn to ask if there is work to be done. Taryn admits nothing new has come in but they only just finished their last job so they would have to wait and see. Taryn admits that she is unsure what to have Ciaradh do as she is unused to having proper employees, Cotton sort of just being present and Gillie coming and going whenever she wants. Taryn admits Roller wasn’t very specific on what Ciaradh had been hoping for when they were introduced by their mutual friend but at the very least they could work on getting them a desk for the office. Ciaradh says Roller had though Taryn may need some more utility in the group and healing and Taryn admits it is easy to get hurt in the forest.

As if summoned by the line of thought, there is a blur of orange and blue that sails through the open window as Gillie comes to a stop on top of her desk. Gillie asks if there is a job yet and introduces themself to Ciaradh, offers to let them come along with her into town for errands. Ciarahd agrees to come and Gillie receives money from Taryn to buy them a desk, Gillie gleefully taking it as they are told Taryn doesn’t need a receipt though Cotton tries to argue, noting Taryn loves receipts. Gillie suggests they see Edson at his woodshop and takes Ciaradh by the arm to lead them out into the street, Ciaradh jolting a bit at the touch but following easily enough.

The odd pair walk through the town and arrive at an open front woodshop, finding a man at the back hard at work. Edson greets Gillie warmly as a familiar face and Gillie asks if Edson’s intern found the fallen tree she had told him about. Edson says it was a nice piece and Gillie wonders if there could be a discount in making a desk out of it since she found it for them. Edson says that tree would make a terrible desk because the wood is so weak but offers his old desk and explains he has been looking for a use for some nice wood he recently got. Gillie says then they would be doing him a favor taking the old desk off his hands then and offers one gold. Edson asks how much Gillie has on hand and Gillie tries lying that she only has one gold, admitting that this is a job for Taryn in hopes of leniency. Though he clearly sees through the lie, he accepts the offer though Ciaradh can tell he will likely be seeing Taryn sometime in the future to collect the rest of his payment.

Money is exchanged and Edson offers the help of his intern, a young Minotaur named Bauk, to carry the desk back to Taryn’s shop and Gillie watches the man heft the desk over his shoulder in envy. Gillie says they know a coffee place nearby and hauls Ciaradh in that direction, along the way asking if Ciaradh has been in *Brand* very long. Ciaradh admits they haven’t, only a couple weeks spent at Roller’s bar before being connected with Taryn to get some work. They arrive at the coffee stall and Gillie orders her “usual with all the extra stuff”, something decaf for Cotton although specifies the barista should not write that on the cup, and a floral tea for Taryn before asking Ciaradh what they want. Ciaradh orders a plain black coffee and four lemon croissants. The barista regards Gillie like a friend and asks after Taryn and the shop as their order is made and handed over before Gillie and Ciaradh head back to *Foragers & Forestry*.

Gillie and Ciaradh return to the shop as Bauk and Taryn catch up, the office a mess as Taryn attempts to rearrange to make space for the new desk. Taryn is inviting the apprentice and Edson to dinner at her farm as they enter and Gillie doles out drinks, offering her croissant to Bauk as she forgot to get him a drink like she promised for helping with the desk. The apprentice leaves and there is an odd bit of tension between Ciaradh and Cotton as they leave a croissant for her and she accepts it warily, still apprehensive of Ciaradh’s odd demeanor. Ciaradh admits this is not unusual and does not mind but Taryn insists that just because it is a regular occurrence does not mean they have to be okay with it. From under her desk, Cotton can be heard munching on her snack and muttering to herself - “flaky and buttery and sweet, tangy and sharp like a knife”.

Just then, the bell over the shop door rings and Captain Maganormie of the *Brand* townguard enters, wearing uniform dark leathers emblazoned with the symbol of *Brand*. The captain asks Taryn if she is busy, asking again more seriously even as she insists they don’t currently have a work order out. Maganormie insists there is a problem and asks when the last time she spoke to Balthazar was. She says that it was dinner with his wife and her own at the farm, though his wife was rather rude though she chalks that up to *Foragers & Forestry* being direct competition to Balthazar’s own business. The captain informs her Balthazar is missing and has been for at least two weeks. Taryn wonders why she is only just now hearing about it and the captain offers to explain.

Apparently, Balthazar had taken a job with the *Ruin Society* to head into the *Golden Crawl,* hopefully finding a new excavation site. The problem is that only one of the five people who left returned. The woman says she has no idea what happened but the guards are keeping her in the glass box until they know more. The party wonders what offense she committed and the captain explains that the woman didn’t tell anyone that she had returned when she made it back to town four days ago and was only found when she had been noticed by Balthazar’s wife. Maganormie requests that *Foragers & Forestry* go into the *Crawl* and determine what might have happened or, better yet, find the missing people. Taryn wonders how Balthazar’s wife knew about any of this and the captain says she had sat in on the meetings with the *Ruin Society* before they had left and had recognized the woman who had returned as one of the *Ruin Society* members.

Taryn asks if they could have access to the woman to ask her questions and the captain says she is in the glass box which all but Ciaradh, being new to *Brand*, know is the suspended glass cell that held prisoners awaiting trial. Taryn turns to the others and says she would never volunteer for a job like this unless they wanted to go and Gillie readily says she wants to. Taryn asks if she has been studying her maps like she was told and Gillie says of course but Taryn catches the lie and asks how Gillie can expect to have the others’ backs when she doesn’t know where she is. Gillie sighs and agrees to bring the maps with her to study while they go to speak with the prisoner. Cotton seems excited enough, noting that the glass box was like a terrarium for people which leaves the captain a bit unsettled but Cotton thinks she would be very good at getting the woman to talk. Ciaradh also agrees to come, believing their skills could be similarly useful.

The captain calls the group odd but Taryn quickly defends the group, saying they were all good workers and she was happy to employ anyone who needed a job. With a bit of a grumble, the captain heads out and they party follows him to town hall.