3E420/08/12 - As Basad approaches the south gate of Ruskerton, he sees its closed and a few of the gate guards are arguing with a Firbolg, Farrah. Kip is one of the junior guards. They don’t want to let her in believing that she might be carrying a plague that is rumored to be starting from the forest. She wants help from some city scholars who can fix what’s happening to the forest. Kip asks Basad to check her over, since he looks like a cleric. He says that she isn’t diseased, and they are let into the city. Kip asks if they can follow them and make a report on this forest dying scenario, and the senior guard is fed up enough with Kip to let them go do whatever. Farrah explains to them that the forest has started to die over the past month, and the Elders of her tribe aren’t doing anything about it. Kip eats one of her dragonflies. Kip leads them to the only person they can think of, an alchemist named Verdanto, who happens to be a warforged. He claims to not know anything that’s going on, but after some intimidation by Farrah he reveals that some poacher contacts of his went into the woods to hunt ‘the Master of the Forest’. Basad realizes that this might be a forest spirit, and if it's wounded, that’s why the forest is dying. Verdanto explains that the horn of this spirit could make a potion of immortality. They decide to ask the Elders for information, heading towards the forest. Near the edge of the woods, Kip hears a scream come from a farm, where a farmer is being attacked by a malnourished wolf pack. They quickly kill the pack leader which causes the remaining wolves to flee, and rest up. In the forest, a deer mistakes Kip for food and almost eats them. Reaching the tribe, they are stopped by a guard but eventually let in. Everyone stares at the outsiders, and eventually they meet Elder Magala, who Basad immediately falls in love with and tries to flirt with despite her age. Magala eventually explains that the great Unicorn Spirit, the Master of the Forest, is likely hurt. The other Elder went to one of the other villages to ask for help, and is essentially useless. They decide to head out and speak with plants to ask an oak tree for information. The tree points them to the general direction of the poachers. Kip asks if there are others of their kind, and the tree says that the forest is Kip’s home. Later, they decide to use Kip as bait to get another deer, and then use the speak with animals spell to ask the deer to lead them to the poachers. At their camp, they see the four of them including a mutated human brute and two drow. They lure one of the drow assassins into the woods, where they use the hold person spell to immediately kill her. Basad disguises as her and goes to talk to the others, but the leader catches on and attacks. The three barely manage to take them down, and decide to rest up in their camp. They see in the leader’s sack is the broken horn of the Unicorn spirit. Basad realizes that his family heirloom crystal could be used as an arcane glue.

3E420/08/13 - The next morning, Farah disguises herself while Basad casts Speak with Dead on the leader. Through questioning, they find out that they are hired by the thieves guild to both get the horn to make an immortality potion as well as to kill the spirit so that the forest dies. They found the heart of the forest once, wounded the unicorn, but then were cast out in an explosion and have been lost since. If the forest dies, its more land for development. Farrah knows where the heart is, and they head to it while Basad uses sending to ask Magala for advice. Eventually, they reach the heart of the forest, and see the spirit in front of them, enraged and corrupted. The spirit tries to kill them, while they try to hold it down. Kip trips the spirit, puts the crystal on its broken stump, while Farrah uses her dragonflies to take the broken horn to the crystal. They need to hold it in place for just a few seconds, so Basad tries to distract it using Invoke Duplicity. It doesn’t work, and they are almost killed. They try the same tactic again, and it just barely works. In a flash of light, the greenery is restored, and the spirit is cured. It non-vocally thanks them, and blesses them. Kip sees many florans like them looking at them all around after the spirit seems to summon them for Kip. Kip promises to come back to talk all the time after they take the report back to the guards. Farrah has saved her village, and is content in this revelation. Basad gave up his heirloom, but feels happy about saving this village, and wants to try to ask out Magala again. With this, they start to head back to the city.