29 of Last Seed
I spent the morning making potions from the ingredients I gathered going the long way around Caldera, and sold them around town, earning enough to buy a bigger mortar and pestle in the pawnshop - nicer quality too, not as porous a stone.
I left town then, heading north along the road, taking the time to make detours into the brush to gather more alchemy ingredients. One of the forays brought me back to the road by way of a big loop through several groups of stoneflower populations, back to a crossroads specifically. One of the
signs was to Gnaar Mok. I put my worries and anxieties of Ranis and the guild out of my mind, and made another loop into the brush, somewhat perpendicular to the road, looping back further along to make sure I had the right path. On the very next loop, I encountered a traveling human merchant along the side of the road, weapon in hand. She told me her escort had cut and run after an encounter with a small group of Nix Hounds (heretofore referred to as varying amalgamations of proboscis, wolf, and insect), and would trade me a pair of enchanted boots for an escort to Gnaar Mok.
At that point I recalcitrantly