Vintage Wanderlust

Help Wanted

It had been three days since Gringa had left Tala's campsite in the late hours of the night. Although many would have let boredom eat at their days as they waited, Tala was a doer. Unlike the youngsters she used to watch laying about Pocoberry, Tala had found plenty to keep her busy. In fact, anyone who would have came across her little campsite, would have assumed she had been living there for quite some time.

On the first day, she had set about preparing for her stay. A small distance from the fire, a neat little shelter had been erected to keep her off the ground and out of the elements. With some use of her powers, she had sprouted and nourished a thriving pocoberry bush along the wall of the shelter. And along the other wall, she had produced a tiny herb garden.

On the second day of waiting, she had worked to repair her equipment and restock her supplies. Her shoes and dress had needed a bit of mending, along with a few spots on her pouches and belt that had started to show some wear. By night fall she had also noted that it had been a while since her staff had seen a good polish, so after her evening tea, she had set about rubbing it down with some bees wax.

The third day had been spent harvesting herbs and setting them out to dry, with a little magic to speed up the process. Then grinding them down, and prepping some premade tea packets for later. And as a task deemed the most important of all, to Tala at least, she had spent the early evening prepping the berries she had harvested into the starting of a flavorful wine. Although the plants had not had the opportunity to reach their natural maturity, she knew they would have plenty of robust flavor and still be able to handle the jobs she had for them.

As the late evening transitioned into early night, Tala sat before the fire, bottling up her delicious brew. She had just screwed in her final cork, when her ears picked up rustling in the forest, coming from the direction of the dig site. Pulling her staff close, she sat waiting.

She caught movement just as a large creature shot through the tree line and bounded towards her. Standing quickly, she prepared to defend herself when she recognized the creature coming towards her as Moss.

His dark fur glistened in the fire light as he came close and nuzzled Tala's hand in welcome. Before Tala could speak, he turned and shook his head to draw attention to his neck. A thick cord had been tied around it and as Tala felt along it, she found a pouch dangling from it.

"Now! You take now," Moss whined urgently, "From master! Important!"

"Oh," Tala exclaimed as she fumbled to untie the cording and finally withdrew the leather pouch from it's bindings. She quickly opened it and pulled out a small, folded piece of paper. She quickly read it.

"Tala,

I hope that I am right in believing that you are an honest and kind person. You had a genuine humble and kind vibe about you, so I hope that I am not wrong. I'm sorry, but I didn't tell you everything the other night because of the danger it could have brought you. But it's looking like you might be my only hope, to fix this. I'm actually an undercover agent for an out of town force and have been investigating the crew at the dig site because of their link to a missing person. Unfortunately, I believe they have become suspicious of me. So, just in case something happens, I wanted to get some information to you in hopes that it might help you in your endeavors.

The head paleontologist for the dig site often does business by way of the library in Tradleton (15 miles east, if you aren't familiar with it.). I'm unsure who his real employer is, but I have been able to confirm that the  messenger for their employer meets him there on occassion. I have heard that there are some important crates kept at the library, but I'm not sure how you will be able to identify them. If you are able to track the crates, maybe you'll find the employer's information you are looking for.