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Message: <blockquote data-quote="dungeon blaster" data-source="post: 3979750" data-attributes="member: 30575">Chapter 3: Back to HommletThe three companions return to Hommlet in the early afternoon. The wheat fields ripple in the gusts of cold northern wind, and the sky is a blue expanse without a cloud to be seen. Hommlet is west of Dennovar, and therefore on their way, but the companions are here for a specific reason - they hope to add two more old friends to their group. Once in the village, the companions split up. Tarquin sets off towards The Grove, where he hopes to find Jaroo Ashstaff; Melvinari visits his former master, Burne, and Mathias goes in search of his friend Caetal.As Tarquin walks along the narrow dirt path, wending his way between gnarled oaks, he can feel the power present in this sacred place, although he has always questioned if the source was the grove itself, or its warden, Jaroo. Within the grove, marked by a ring of moss covered stones and pale mushrooms, it feel to him as though time flows differently, or not at all. Tarquin wonders if this was how trees or animals experienced time. He resolves to ask Jaroo, or perhaps Robyn, someday.Jaroo lives in a small cottage on the edge of the grove. As the local druid, he possess great authority among those who follow the Old Faith, or that of Silvanus, Mielikki, or Eldath. He arrived in Hommlet nearly forty years ago, after the previous druid passed away, and the village received him warmly. In the four decades he spent as warden of the sacred grove, he trained several apprentices, his most current apprentice being Brother Smyth, the local blacksmith. But none were as promising, and certainly not as beautiful as Robyn, the bee-keepers daughter. Jaroo instructed her in the druidic ways nearly from the day she was born, passing on to her the ways of the animals, trees, and rivers, the languages spoken by nature. He considered her his daughter and the forest was her mother. Literally. She was the child of a hamadryad, a tree spirit, and given to her father as a blessing from nature. The hamadryad was willing to part with her child only on the condition that she be raised as a druid. Joren, her father, and Jaroo agreed.-----------------------Tarquin spies Jaroo tending to his garden and greets him warmly. Although Tarquin was educated by the local church of St. Cuthbert (where he developed his friendship with Mathias), he always felt a fondness towards the old druid. Jaroo, for his part, had always done his best to keep the young men of the village away from Robyn. Ever since she had left, the Grove had seen far fewer visits, and Jaroo wasn't entirely unhappy with the increased solitude."She's not here." Jaroo says flatly, still bent over the garden, his back turned.A crestfallen look crosses Tarquin's face. He tries to recover. "Oh. Well, I have a message for her...A request, really".Jaroo continues digging at a particularly stubborn turnip. "What kind of request?" It's about time you got the courage to ask her hand, not much good it will do you, Jaroo thinks.Tarquin shifts uncomfortably. Speaking with Jaroo could be unnerving, to say the least. "A quest. I'm on a quest and her skills could be...useful. Do you know where she is?""Hand me that spade." Jaroo takes the spade and continued digging. "In the forest, I assume." He speaks tersely, apparently uninterested in the conversation."But you could contact her, right?" Tarquin looks at Jaroo hopefully, but the old man says nothing. "Please. This is important. Mathias had a vision"."Of?""...a Red Hand. I don't really understand it msyelf" Tarquin says uncomfortably. Why did conversations about Robyn always have to be so difficult?Jaroo slowly turns. "A great danger to the west."Tarquin takes a step back, a look of shock on his face. "Yes! But how did you know?"Jaroo's eyes connect with his. "I have seen the omens". He stands up, leaving the turnip half-buried in the ground.Tarquin steps towards him. "So, will you help me?"Jaroo sighs. "Yes. I will attempt to contact her." He bends over and picks up a small wicker basket filled with turnips and other roots.Tarquin stoops over the buried turnip, plucks it out with one hand and places it in the basket. "Thanks".Jaroo nods and stepped inside his cottage, shutting the door behind him.</blockquote>

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