Forest of Andor/Prologue
Each member of the party journeyed to Oakenspire, the most Northerly settlement in the realm of Arborus from their own settlement somewhat further South at the request of their respective village elders. For some it was more of a push than a request.
Assembly was in the clearing just south of Oakenspire at 3 pm on Friday, where the party met each other as representatives of the other local satellite villages and introduced themselves.
As the party approached the entrance to Oakenspire they noticed a distracted guard looking at what they discerned to be a flock or swarm of something moving Southwards through the canopy. The guard gave warm greetings, saying that visitors were few recently and allowed entrance to the town via the gruelling steps on the inside of the redwood.
Having ascended, the party rested at the Northwalk Inn where they were greeted by Hans Madre, the proprietor. Conversation revealed that supplies in the town were running low as the usual trade seems to have dwindled.
While the team got to know each other over refreshments, the innkeeper's wife (Sievre) appeared and began to feed her two small children on the terrace. Not long afterwards the distant sound of screams was heard from the North and the party noticed a cloud approaching through the treetops that soon resolved into a swarm of squirrels headed in their direction.
The team attempted to disperse and delay the swarm using fireworks, bombs and entanglement to good effect, though Jadrol somewhat overdid the fire and set one large branch ablaze and shortly afterwards he was engulfed by panicked squirrels. Meanwhile Calla managed to assist Sievra and Hans to get the children out of the way, but Sievra lost her balance, bumping into Calla resulting in both of them falling from the tree. Thankfully the burghers of Oakenspire had thought of the possibility of tumbling to your death from the branches and everyone was soon recovered from safety netting.
The party had a chat with a female wood-elf merchant who introduced herself as Silverleaf Everstiff. She sells foodstuffs from her store and had noticed a real drop in the goods that are normally supplied from the North, to the point that belts were starting to be tightened.
After resting, the party was approached by a Vine Leshy, the community elder - Gracebloom along with her Gourd Leshy familiar, Squasho. She told them that she had sent out scouts to investigate the drop in trade and the first to return reported empty settlements at the firebreak and significant growback that could threaten a wildfire in the settled region. She had then issued the summons to your villages for capable folk to venture North as a group as she needed to know what was causing the migration of the wild animals from the North and what had happened to the Ghoran woodsmen that normally maintained the firebreak and traded foods with Oakenspire and the other nearby villages. Some of the initial scouts have not yet returned and she has grown concerned about their welfare on top of the crisis. She formally asked the party to travel North and investigate.
