With the overworked Laurel preoccupied by the numerous plague-stricken villagers outside her door, it becomes clear that the party members have worn out their welcome. They step out of Roots and Remedies, careful to avoid another run-in with the ill townsfolk. As Hakkara had suggested prior to her departure, the others agree to depart town the following morning at sunrise.
That afternoon, Jared makes a visit to the Goose'n Gander for some rations that will surely be needed should the journey prove to take several days...certainly a distinct possibility, with so much uncertainty hanging over the venture.
Meanwhile, Cyryn spends some time hitting up the shopkeepers, farmers, and lumberjacks at the taverns as they enjoy their suppers and not a few mugs of dark beer. (Gather Information Check, 10+7=17)
Several locals offer quiet conjecture about the witch Ulizmila. Cyryn hears her referred to alternatively as a wise woman, practitioner of the old ways, or local boogieman, in varying tones of respect and fear. One old woman says Ulizmila is a monstrous hag and great, great granddaughter of Baba Yaga herself, the deathless Witch Queen of the North. Another claims to know her as a harsh but wise sage willing to share her wisdom for strange and often morbid prices. All in all, the reports are conflicting and more than a little vague, but it seems clear the people of Falcon's Hollow accept Ulizmila as a real witch who lives somewhere in the wood, and not someone to be trifled with.
Meanwhile, information on the dwarven ruin is less forthcoming. Many seem to know nothing about it at all. A few older folk clam up and won't say anything about the matter, seeming to wish to leave the ruins of the past in the past. There is one old fellow in Jak'a'Napes, however, who seems to think the ruin must be an old dwarven monastery, referred to locally as Droskar's Crucible. “The Crucible is the nearest sort o’ dwarf ruin I know. Hosts of monsters plague its darkened halls, and they say ghosts o’ the dwarves skulk there too.” The old-timer doesn't seem keen to expound further, and Cyryn accepts the old drunkard's few words, realizing it's likely the most he's going to get.
No one seems to have any idea where the oldest tree in the Vale might be, but Cyryn does hear the name of the woodsman Milon Rhodam dropped a few more times. It seems that if anyone from Falcon's Hollow might know the location of this tree, it would be Milon.
