The journey back to Bywater began silent and sullen. Despite Isa’s words to Joth, she was beside herself with disappointment. She had been certain - certain - that they’d find the scroll and be home by now. Sure, maybe she’d be in Vermont or New Hampshire - Joth was from one of them - she just couldn’t remember which. Or of course it was possible they’d be in Portland, and Joth would have to find a way home. Either way, they’d be in modern America.

And that’s what she wanted, right? The thoughts she’d had waiting for Joth to do his magic detecting, those were just jitters. Pre-trip jitters. She had friends and a place, career plans - she had an acceptance to OHSU, a place ready and waiting for her to learn to be a dentist. Family, routines. She knew what to do in her real life; she knew what foods to eat, places to visit, music, culture….

She didn’t have any of that here. Her stomach knotted tension and sadness. She missed hanging out with Marissa, laughing, sharing stupid memes, complaining about work. It was a good life. And in that moment Isa resolved to do what she needed to get back to it. Ealda would perform the spell. She said she would, said it without hesitation. That meant that Isa just needed 5,000 gold for the diamond. No, she needed 2,500 because she and Joth could go halfsies.

Isa glanced at Joth in the dim light of his light spell. She was about to speak when her foot caught on something in the path. Joth caught her arm before she could fall, and he directed all 4 lights to the ground. In the soft yellowy light Isa saw an eye staring up at her. A dead man lay on the ground. She cried out and jumped back.

“It’s the druid, Isa.” Joth began to kneel beside him. “It’s OK.”

A twig snapped, and Isa felt a sharp jab in her side. As she turned toward to see what she’d hit, a voice said, “I am no coward.” A glint of metal flashed as Isa instinctively dodged.

Joth’s lights were suddenly over her head, and she saw the other druid standing before her. He’d left his club when he’d run away earlier, and in its place he held a small dagger. “I’m no coward,” he said again.

“No one said you were,” Isa held her staff out sideways, the rapier in her left hand.

“Eohin’s staff. That’s his, not yours.” He lunged toward Isa reaching for the staff.

She brought the rapier up swiftly and stabbed him in the shoulder. She tried to make another attack, but she went wide with the second blow. From behind her, Isa heard Joth mutter some words and a white bolt flew past her and hit the druid. Ice and blood mixed on his chest.

The druid took a deep breath, lifted his hands in the air and began to chant.

Isa felt tiny fingers grasping at her feet and legs. With horror she glanced down to see that the forest floor was alive with plant tendrils, and they were all snaking toward her.

With a leap, Isa tore free from their grasp. It was all she could do to keep her feet, and the druid, perhaps sensing that he had the advantage even if his spell hadn’t quite worked, slashed at Isa again.

The tip of the dagger tore at her left arm, and as the blood ran down, she had to wonder if the blade was poisoned. She surely did not want to die in a nameless forest in a strange land, and she knew that this was a dangerous foe who might kill her with one more good blow.

She brought the staff up and swung down at the druid’s knee. If she could knock him prone…. The wood cracked against his knee, and an instant later Joth threw another frost ray at him. The icy bolt hit the man’s midsection and spread out. For a moment the man stood with his mouth open, and then he fell forward at Isa’s feet.

“My god,” Joth said, “are you alright?”

“I’m pretty done in.” She held up her arm. “How do you know if you’ve been poisoned?”

“Do you feel like puking?”

Isa laughed. “Fighting tends to do that to me.”

“Hmmm, that’s the adrenaline probably. This would be more…. Actually, I have no idea. I’ve never been poisoned.”

“So, if I’m not dead soon, I guess that means I’m not poisoned.” Isa meant it sarcastically but Joth nodded and said, “That is a healthy way to look at it.” He gestured at the two dead druids. “I guess he came back for his friend.”

“I think he was waiting for us. Waiting for a chance to - I don’t know - redeem himself maybe.” She looked from one body to the other. “We could sell their stuff right? Gimble, he’d buy their boots and stuff?”

“You’d get a few silver coins for them, probably.” Joth brought all 4 lights together and shone them over the dead men. “Why?”

“Do you want to get home to New Hampshire? We need cash for a diamond, right?”

“It’s Vermont. I’m from Vermont.” He didn’t answer Isa’s question but he knelt and began to pull the boots from the first druid.

All told, the men had a few valuable things on them plus the basics. They each had a backpack and blanket. Each of them wore a sprig of mistletoe on a silver chain.

The one that had surprise-attacked them was dressed in traveling clothes, and as the ice melted Isa pulled the jacket off him. He had a small box in the inside packet. Isa flipped up the lid and saw bunches of herbs inside. Tea maybe or herbs for cooking or healing? The box seemed nicely made. If nothing else, Gimble would give her a few coins for the box.

“This one has a nice coil of rope,” said Joth. “I can’t believe I didn’t see this earlier.” He tied the coil to his pack. “Elven quality,” he said. “Worth 8 or 10 gold, easily.”

“This feels a little creepy to me, so I’m glad that we might get a some actual gold out of it.” Isa sat back on her heels. The dead man lay sprawled on the ground, his eyes open to the sky. With a sigh she reached for his coin pouch. “I’m a little worried about how commonplace this is starting to feel.”

She’d barely muttered the words aloud, but Joth said, “I used to make note of their names, the people I killed. Not that there have ever been that many. I’m no great adventurer - you know that. But it’s happened dozens of times over the last decade, right? When it’s been kill or be killed. That’s supposed to make it better.”

Joth stood up holding a small pouch. “Something else we missed the first time. This is saffron. I don’t know maybe 5 gold worth here.”

Isa ignored him. She had a tied scroll in her hand. “Son of a bitch. Joth, look.” With shaking hands she untied the ribbon and unrolled the scroll. “I can’t read this. What’s it say? Is this the scroll?”

Joth reached for it and glanced at the writing. “No, I’m sorry. It’s a scroll of see invisibility.” He spent a moment reading it, rolled it up, and tied the ribbon around the scroll once more. “Very handy and probably worth a cool 150 gold.”

Isa held up a small vial. “Healing potion?”

Joth nodded.

“This guy was ready for action, huh?”

“Not sure how long these guys expected to be on patrol. It makes sense that they’d have a few trinkets at hand.”

Isa stood up and dusted her hands. “What do you think? What’s the tally?”

“Hard to say. Maybe 250 gold.” Joth waved his hand over the two bodies. “That’s for everything. Not saying we’ll find buyers for it all. Really just Gimble and Anne to buy and sell with in Bywater.”

“I need to get to Deney anyway. Promised Mery. So let’s go to Bywater now, get some sleep, lord knows I need it, and then what we don’t sell here, I’ll take with me.”

“Mery’s in Deney?”

“Yeah,” said Isa. “She’s got a new lead on Thorn.”

“Ah, that’s good news, isn’t it?”

“Yeah.” Isa finished packing what she could into her bags and bundled the rest in her arms for the journey back to Bywater. “I’d like to help her get this Thorn business settled before we leave.”

Spoiler: Isa's Character Sheet

Name: Isa Chamberlin

Race: Human

Height & Weight: 5ft 6inches / 120 lbs

Class: Fighter Level: 4

Alignment: Chaotic Good

Background: Stranger in a Strange Land

Hit Points: 26 AC: 15

Current Hit Points: 11

Combat: +5 to Hit

Weapons: Rapier (left hand) 1d8 +3 / Quarterstaff +1 (right hand) 1d6 +3 (bludgeoning)

(1) Potion of Healing

STR

11

0

DEX

16

+3

CON

11

0

INT

13

+1

WIS

13

+1

CHA

12

+1

Saving Throws: Str and Con +2

5

Acrobatics* (Dex)

1

Medicine (Wis)

1

Animal Handling (Wis)

1

Nature (Int)

1

Arcana (Int)

3

Perception* (Wis)

0

Athletics (Str)

1

Performance (Cha)

1

Deception (Cha)

1

Persuasion (Cha)

3

History* (Int)

1

Religion (Int)

3

Insight* (Wis)

3

Sleight of Hand (Dex)

1

Intimidation (Cha)

3

Stealth (Dex)

1

Investigation (Int)

1

Survival (Wis)

Special Attack: Two weapon fighting. When you engage in two-weapon fighting, you can add your ability modifier to the damage of the second attack.

Class Features:

(USED) Second Wind - On your turn, you can use a Bonus Action to regain hit points equal to 5 + your fighter level. Short or Long Rest before you can use it again.

(USED) Action Surge - On your turn, you can take one additional action on top of your regular action and a possible Bonus Action. You must finish a short or Long Rest before using it again.

Martial Archetype: Surgical Fighter

3rd level - Clinical Eye: Spend 1 combat turn studying your enemy and learn one of the following: if the enemy is equal to or stronger than you in strength, dexterity, or constitution. Can spend up to 3 turns to discern all 3. Can be used outside of combat as a free action - spend 1 minute to learn all three.