Bren the Healer
Hark; I am Bren, a
healer of the New School of Magic. I have been intrigued by the inhumation of
Rayne, a healer from the era of the Great School. She weathered the bloodbath of
the Wizard War and was trained in spellcraft and medicines of the old school. I
wish I could speak with her, but the black aura shrouding all of the Virtue
Heroes prevents me from conversing safely with her.
I’ve weathered my own battles as well at Cross-Roads, Oakenholm, but especially
at Stonehaven. Stonehaven found itself under near-continuous attack by a huge
band of gnolls. They were repelled from the town proper by the enchanted stones
the hamlet takes its name from. The stones are the remnants from some ancient,
eldritch keep or shrine that crumbled long ago, but their magics couldn’t stop
the gnolls from blockading the trade roads and peppering the town with arrows,
spears and burning pitch.
Stonehaven contracted the New School of Magic for aid. I was a member of a cadre
of various spellcasters from the school sent to aid the hamlet. While my skills
in healing helped mend numerous war wounds, they were far more sorely tested
after the battle was done. The town guard with the aid of a garrison from
Cross-Roads and my cadre from the New School routed the gnolls and drove them
back to their lair in the Landbridge Woods. The hunt for the gnolls continued
into a fetid swamp, later dubbed the Black Mire. The town defenders routed the
remnants of the gnoll raiders, but not without their own losses.
Crawling through the toxic mud left the defenders stricken with miasmas. I
suppose you haven’t studied miasmas much. They are the foul swamp gasses that
can destroy a person’s health. They cause fast acting fever that left far more
of the town’s garrison dead than the gnoll blades had. The defenders were
covered in crusty, infected sores from the tainted mud and swamp gasses.
The lore for combating and preventing miasmas had been lost with the fall of the
Great School, so time was of the essence because the fever can leave a victim
dead in a matter of hours. Cure Disease spells were only partially effective.
They slowed the infection and spared many, but without the proper herbs and
medicines far too many died before I ever found a proper curative. If only the
Healers Library had survived the Wizard War. I had would have known how to save
the defenders of Stonehaven.
Yesterday, I caught the scent of that foul marsh here, near Fallenstar. It’s
nearby; somewhere over the hill behind my grave but I don’t know where. If you
can find out how the Healers of the Great School dealt with miasmas, I am
confident I can craft some kind of restorative or protective balm. Be warned
friend don’t go into the Black Mire without protection! It would be your last
journey.