As the adventurers approach the abandoned town of Thundertree, they see that they’re not alone. Waiting near the signpost is a female human with long dark hair. She’s wearing chain mail and eating nuts. She doesn’t seem to be surprised to see them. “I’m Mercarri Mirari,” she says, “and I’ve been sent by Isis to help you.” 

The adventurers hardly deliberate at all before deciding to let her join their party. Dare is the one to tell her the good news, and he does so with a smirk. He’s giddy and mumbling something about nuts. Our band of adventurers now numbers five, or at least they would if Ajax hadn’t taken ill just as they were reaching Thundertree. He told them to go on, that he’d catch up as soon as he got his bowels under control.

The horses are uneasy and refuse to go further than the entrance to town. So they are left hitched to a nearby tree, and the adventurers continue on by foot. Led by Mystic, they follow a road heading south.

If you can’t beat ’em, smoke ’em. 

Mystic ducks into the first ruined cottage she sees. It’s not much more than a shell of a building, littered with rubble from the collapsed roof. She picks through, looking for the necklace Mirna told them about, but finds nothing. While Mystic’s searching, Lilvari enters the remains of a cottage further south. Once inside, she sees several small saplings and bushes that have sprouted up among the ruins. As she searches the interior, one of these saplings tries to take a bite of her leg. She’s too fast, and it bites nothing but air. That’s when she gets her first good look at her attacker — a knee-high, woody shrub whose branches and vines twist together to form an almost humanoid-looking shape. And its not alone. Another twig blight attacks from the northern side of the building. All at once, the adventurers are swarmed by these creatures.

Combat ensues, though it takes little more than a single swipe of a sword to reduce their enemies to kindling. It’s Dare that makes an interesting discovery. During the midst of battle, he picks up a large piece of a splintered twig blight and lights its leaves aflame. The fire almost instantly dies out, but in its place billows a thick, fragrant smoke. Not thinking any better of it, Dare sticks his head in and inhales deeply. The effect hits him at once. He’s loose, he’s good, and he yells to his companions about what he’s found. One by one the twig blights fall, and one by one they are lit up and smoked — even Mercarri joins in against her better judgement. She envisions Isis standing behind her, shaking her head like a disappointed parent. “I send you here to guide them,” she imagines Isis saying, “and this is what you do. Really?”

Once the twig blights are dispatched/smoked, The group splits up. Mercarri and Lilvari continue the search of the ruined twin cottages while Dare and Mystic head north to what appears to have once been a tavern. Lilvari manages to find little more than her hand in front of her face. It seems the twig blight she smoked was a bit more potent than the rest. Mercarri hears Lilvari giggling and talking to herself from the next building. Having finished her search she heads over to find Lilvari crawling near the base of a large tree rooted in the middle of the building. “It’s a tree,” she giggles. “Look, I found a tree, Mercarri. WOOOOOO!”

Mercarri rolls her eyes. Lilvari saw the tree but apparently failed to notice the treasure chest right in front of her face. There are coins inside but no necklace. That’s when they hear a big, resounding BANNNNGGG!

Though there were several windows he could have peered in first, Dare decided to kick in the door instead. Then he hurried inside. Alone. It’s possible that his actions can be blamed on the twig blight smoke. Sure. Let’s go with that. The dead bodies lining the walls of this old tavern don’t stay dead for very long. Smelling fresh meat, they slowly start to rise. Dare’s companions rush north to help and after many, many, many, many rounds of combat, they are able to bring the ash zombies down. 

Weary from battle and suffering from an extreme case of the munchies, the adventurers barricade themselves in the old tavern and take a short rest. First though, they drag the zombies out front and light them on fire. Is the goal to make sure the zombies don’t come back to life or is the group hoping to smoke the zombies too? Only time will tell.