Closed Hunting for Herbs (Beodan)

Sayana meets Beodan once again and helps forage for herbs while he teaches her about them.

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Stretching northward along the coastline of the Suvan Sea, the Cobalt Mountains are the home of the Bronze Wood, numerous ruins, and creatures both strange and fantastical.

Hunting for Herbs (Beodan)

Postby Sayana on August 27th, 2015, 1:13 am

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By the time Dan had caught up with her, she had proudly dug out three plants of vyfox and was working on one of the ‘feverfew’ ones. When he pointed out that they were daisies instead she curiously picked one and brought it to her nose. It had some sort of sweet smell and she took a closer look at the petals. They did seem a little longer and the center smaller. So instead of carefully digging them out, Sayana picked several of the daisies and tied them together in a chain to make a circle, which she promptly stuck on her head. “I’m the daisy queen!”

Once she secured the vyfox plants in her rope contraption, she followed after Beodan to see what he had found. “Bynntip. Well, if you don’t think it’s important then we won’t gather any.” The Eypharian answered with a shrug. She carried along roughly where she had left off, but in all likelihood missed a little, then returned to perusing the forest floor. There were some vines that didn’t look like much, but she pointed them out anyways as they crept up a tree.

They proceeded along quite well collecting this and that as they made their crawl. Sayana pointed out some little purple flowers that turned out to be violets. And she was plenty excited to find a small patch of thyme. She had overheard Orin talking about it as a spice in food and she was quick to sample a little as soon as she knew it was safe to eat.

Then further along she spotted some yellow flowers. Her heart leapt as she dashed towards them. Yellow. She knew something that had yellow flowers. Aletrid was golden yet these were yellow with red centers. “Oh! I think I found some Connal!” Sayana called out excitedly. She started digging them out with the spade. Connal was something for the stomach? She couldn’t quite remember but she knew it was good. She reached down to pull out the plant and started working on a second. That’s when she noticed a small hole in the ground amongst the flowers. Further away, she spotted a second hole.

“I think there might be rabbits here,” she stated as she yanked out the next plant. “Oh, look!” With a high hand she lifted up one of the leaves of the Connal plant. Something had been nibbling away at it. It seemed like the forest was teeming with life. After depositing several of the Connal plants into the rope bag she got up searching for more.

There was a bit of sunlight where the forest seemed to thin and she spotted some purple amongst green bushes and grasses. She ran towards it, jumping over rocks and fallen logs, anxious for her next find. However, what she saw struck her silent. The trees were blackened pillars with few branches upon them. Much of the forest greenery was wiped clean and only small newer plants seemed to grow. The large purple bell-like flowers at her feet seemed to be thriving as well as some other purple flowers growing in tall grassy strands.

They had ventured quite deep into the woods now and had come across the results of huge forest fire from Fall 514. Many plants were beginning to grow back like the harebell and the hardy fireweed but it was still clear that fire had wreaked havoc upon the woods.
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Sayana
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Hunting for Herbs (Beodan)

Postby Beodan Clathony on August 27th, 2015, 10:34 pm

The herb normally used to add flavor to food also enhanced many of Beodan’s teas and tinctures. It tended to balance out some of the side effects of the more extreme medicinal plants. “Good catch. Let’s harvest it quick, we are running out of thyme,” he joked, beginning to plug the tiny leaves from the stems. “Leave the blossoms, the leaves are what we want.” Following her lead, he set a bit of the herb into his mouth and let it sweeten his breath. He wiggled his torso, the ropes were now nearly filled with all kinds of plants, only a handful of loops were left open. They were nearing the end of their trip.

Sayana shouted that she had found Connal. He praised, “Well done! I’m sure you can harvest it without my help.” Typically, he like to use the flowers in tea to drift into an easy sleep, though the roots worked fine too, if a little more bitter. He tended to run out of the dried flowers though due his consistent consumption. He walked off of their track back to the vines she had pointed out. But it wasn’t the vines that interested him. It had only just occurred to him that vines tended to like Elm trees because the bark’s texture allowed for easy rooting. He ran his hand down the rough trunk, a group of moth cocoons nestled in the crags just above his head height. Taking a larger knife out of his pack, he ran the edge down the trunk at shallow angle. After many strokes, he had removed a strip about as wide as his hand and as tall as his forearm. The tough, dirty inner bark had been removed to reveal the supple, desirable, inner bark. He cut a rectangle around the edges of the stripped bark, and pried off a few layers of the inner bark. Soon he had a nice pile of bark, ready to be dried for use. It was a shame that taking much more would damage the tree beyond repair, but that was the way of things.

“I think there might be rabbits here,” his companion mused as she yanked out partially chewed Connal. Beodan shuddered. He honestly thought they were cute, lovable creatures. If they did not eat his plants! Then they were the picture of evil. The ruiners of so much hard work and all it took was a few bites from the wrong root. She ran ahead again, and he sighed, cracking his neck before chasing after her to see what she had found. Trees of the Dead stood as eternal watchmen, terrible foreboding forms they took. Their blackened limbs offered little shade and the sun now bore down upon he awestruck pair. Without saying a word, he bent down and began to harvest fireweed on the edge of the burn. It seemed wrong to speak, as if it would dishonor this consecrated ground. He stood once more and turned around, saying softly, “That’s the end, time to head back.”
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Hunting for Herbs (Beodan)

Postby Sayana on August 28th, 2015, 8:22 pm

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Sayana couldn’t help but stare for several moments. The blackened tree trunks stood ominously and even though new life grew below, there was a sense of death in the air. Her partner bent down to harvest the few plants near the edges but remained silent too. Yet even with so much death there was still a chance for life, a chance of regrowth. She picked one of the purple flowers tentatively with a hand and cradled her stomach with her lows.

Carefully she bent down and got out her spade to harvest the same tall flowers that Beodan did. She dug up four or five of them in silence and put them into the knotted contraption upon her backpack. When Dan spoke, she gave a nod and turned back the way they came. She didn’t even know the name of the herb she picked but it didn’t seem right to speak after seeing the remains of the forest fire. In Eyktol, much of the land was barren except for where Makutsi blessed the land with water. But since coming to Syliras, it had all been rich with life. To see how a fire could have destroyed so much and probably so quickly was overwhelming to Sayana.

As they retraced their steps back towards Beodan’s abode, Sayana couldn’t help but wonder if they were going the right way. Several times she had bounded from one patch of flowers to another and she certainly hadn’t been paying attention to the trails or the trees. However, as she looked about the forest, signs of their passing soon became obvious. Every so often there was a hole dug in the ground, or plants with their leaves plucked off, or vines that had been cleanly cut by a knife. She even spotted the tree that Beodan had cut a significant amount of bark from.

These were clearly the marks of people, and foragers specifically. They were much different than the tracks of animals like the scraped up bark of a tree further back. She now had a strong suspicion that it had been a deer with antlers that had done that. To track a person would be very different from tracking an animal, but a person could also purposefully leave marks to make it easier to find their way around in the woods. It was certainly much easier to follow the telltale signs that the two of them had been there foraging.

Sayana contemplated the various aspects of survival. She was still impressed that Beodan managed to live out here on his own, but then he could simply eat grass and leaves if he wanted to. For her it would be different. Not impossible but also not easy. But would she ever want to live away from people so long? She shook her head trying to clear the dark thoughts. She had a family to raise with a loving husband. This was no such time for such dismal ideas.

As they neared Beodan’s tent Sayana finished off the last of the food she had been nibbling on. “Thank you for teaching me all those herbs today,” she spoke graciously as she detached the set of ropes from her bag. “Maybe we’ll see each other again some time. Oh! And definitely come to my wedding. I’d love for you to be there.” The Eypharian brightened up significantly at her last comment and with a wave she started getting ready to go.

OOCHope you don’t mind me rushing through the ‘going back’ part. I was getting the impression that we were wrapping up the thread and I’m happy to leave this as my last post.
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Hunting for Herbs (Beodan)

Postby Beodan Clathony on August 29th, 2015, 2:54 am

“Oh it was my pleasure! You have no idea how much this has helped me,” Beodan said happily, beginning to unload his pack. He hung the enter set of plant filled ropes on the sturdy ropes above, waiting to be store. “I know you gained some knowledge and all, but I want you to have something to show for it, okay?” He walked the shelf on the left and stood on his tiptoes in order to reach the very back of the top shelf. He held a vial that was smaller than his thumb, containing only half an ounce of a green tinted liquid. He placed it into her palm, and said excitedly, “This is a Belladonna tincture. I’ve never gotten to try it before, I’m not really big on cosmetic things, but I think a beautiful woman like you will be able to use it.” He thought for a moment, scratching his chin, then warned, “Put three drops of this into a half cup of water, mix it around, then drop that onto your eye, just two drops in each. Don’t put too much! And don’t let anyone drink it either. This should last you for quite a while. Enjoy!” The Kelvic waved her on her way, and turned around to look at the many pounds of plants they had collected. He let out a great sigh and began to sort and hang them individually. His work had just begun.

Item Transfer :
+0.5 oz Belladonna Tincture vial to Sayana
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Beodan Clathony
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Hunting for Herbs (Beodan)

Postby Devi on November 3rd, 2015, 12:15 am


Your Grades have arrived!


Sayana

Skills:
  • Riding: 1
  • Herbalism: 4
  • Poison: 2
  • Botany: 2
  • Foraging: 3
  • Tracking: 3
Lores:
  • Location: Beodan’s Woodland Home
  • Herbalism: Feverfew
  • Herbalism: Peppermint
  • Herbalism: Black Cohosh
  • Herbalism: Belladonna
  • Herbalism: Alder Bark
  • Herbalism: Elder Bark
  • Herbalism: Cranesbill
  • Herbalism: Hommos
  • Poison: Belladonna
  • Poison: Blisterweed
Comments: You little frolicker ;). A fun little summer thread - well done!


Beodan

It looks like you need to update your ledger to include your Summer living expenses. If you let me know once they have been added then I'll post your grades up for you!

Skills:
  • Observation: 4
  • Socialization: 5
  • Teaching: 3
  • Organization: 3
  • Cooking: 1
  • Herbalism: 4
  • Botany: 3
  • Foraging: 3
  • Endurance: 1
Lores:
  • Sayana: Pregnant in Summer 515AV
  • Sayana: Getting Married in Summer 515AV
Comments: Thanks for updating your ledger - enjoy your grades!

Let me know if you have any questions or feedback. Don't forget to edit your post in the Grade Request Thread to say it's graded and leave a link in there for the Storytellers.

Happy Writing!

Devi
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