I accepted the quest.
Not because I fully trusted Liora, whatever she was. Not because fifty XP and an improved healing salve were enough to make a wolf-infested forest feel like a reasonable morning activity. I accepted it because the alternative was sitting in Meadowbrook watching my HP tick up one point per minute while the sun moved across the sky and nothing changed, and I had already established that doing nothing was not a plan.
Also, the salve. My ribcage had opinions about the salve.
"Good," Liora said, when the acceptance notification chimed. She did not look surprised, which was its own kind of information. "The grove is a twenty-minute walk east along the main road. You will know you are getting close when the birdsong changes."
"Changes how?"
"Goes quiet." She began retur
