The Sablewood Messengers

A young child who will not stop wiggling-it's clear how they earned their name. They are often busy scurrying up the trees in town, lighting the lanterns that hang from the branches. They know the fastest ways through the village. If the PCs approach, they are curious what life is like outside of Hush

An older woman with a thick beard carrying a barrel of ale. She is happy to stand and talk to the party (she will keep the barrel on her shoulder the entire time). If the PCs approach, she wants to know the name of every member of the party's weapons and the date they were forged.

During their discussion, choose an additional NPC from the list above. The second will be a friend that has knowledge of where the Whitefire Arcanist lives. They last saw this person at the tavern and send you in its direction. For example, your PCs might meet Fidget in town. After some conversation and coaxing, Fidget points the party to the tavern to meet Lausa.

The Clover Tavern is a sight to behold, with six curving stories climbing the trunk of an ancient tree. This is the heart of the community, always crowded with music and good-natured conversation. Newcomers to the bar must take off their shoes and hang them over a line that stretches across the bar's ground floor. Inevitably, by the time visitors leave, their shoes will be shined and filled with small trinkets. THE FIRSTMOSS FESTIVAL If they ask around, the PCs will find out the people of Hush are currently celebrating the Firstmoss Festival-the time when the new crops in the Sunless Farms have the first layer of moss growing upon them, meaning they're beginning to ripen for the season. It's a celebration of the arrival of spring, and of the abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables the town will soon have. There is a goodnatured arm wrestling competition, a stone-painting class, and a small marketplace full of homemade trinkets.

Location

The Treehouse

View

Making your way past the homes of the village, then through the farmlands of Hush, you see a variety of crops that have begun to cultivate a thin layer of glowing blue moss over the top of their fruits and vegetables. They pulse softly like a heartbeat as you pass. Among the thriving groves, you notice that the Sablewood trees in this area have hundreds of unique faces carved into all sides, the eyes peering in every direction. One tree, taller than the rest, bears the Arcanist's home, like an overripe fruit. It hangs from a braid of rope, as wide around as a giant's forearm, tied to a massive branch and counterweighted by a cabin-sized bolder lying at the base of the tree. The stone is marked with a collection of symbols and the cabin windows flash with a soft, yellow-green light.

Mysterious clearing in the shape of a perfect circle, the only area of the Sablewood you've seen without trees to block out the sky. This is the Open Vale.