>You are Nazrin, a newly inducted member of the Seeker's Guild, and you are dying. And while you may be on the trail of a solution to your problem, a difficult trek through the wilderness and a perilous destination still stand between you and your bittercress blooms.
>Your career got off to an interesting and busy start last week, between stolen cats, missing cattle, and sword-wielding fairies, but things took a much darker turn when an encounter with a wild spider youkai left you infected with a mysterious and deadly illness. Thanks to Minoriko's creative thinking and the power of an ancient sword found buried in the spider's lair, the Blight has been kept at bay. For now. But you were told you had no more than a couple weeks to live unless a cure could be found, and one of them has already passed.
>Your search for this cure has been a long and frustrating road. You could find little useful information about your affliction or its treatment in Braston, so you sought passage to Val Razua in the hope that its Grand Academy might house the information you desperately require. While the journey was marred by a bloody and near-disastrous struggle with tengu pirates that resulted in the Blue Maiden's defeat and the capture of a curious relic it had been transporting in secret, you still arrived in Val Razua more or less on schedule and in one piece.
>Fortunately, some of your hopes were realized when you discovered a passage, buried in the rare books collection of the Voile Magisterial Library, describing a medicinal mixture which can cure 'the ragged blackening of the veins'. Unfortunately, after consulting with a knowledgeable but somewhat incoherent professor of herbalism, you have learned that bittercress blossoms, a critical ingredient of this mixture, occur only once every seven years and are not due for another three. While you hoped that the blessed soil Minoriko gave you might hold the key to obtaining these rare blooms, but the seeds which you grew within it still have not flowered. Thus, you left the city in pursuit of a more dangerous option.
>You have come to Isir's Cross in search of a mysterious garden rumored to be located in the wilderness to its west, and which contains innumerable different plants perpetually in bloom. Thanks to the help of Sekibanki, the fort's disturbingly decapitation-resilient captain, you now have a better idea where this garden is located and how to get there, as well as additional supplies to the journey. Unfortunately, the picture being painted of its owner, Yuuka, has only become more unsettling. Still, you see no choice but to find and appeal to her aid; if you don't, you may be dead already, so you have precious little to lose.
>You are currently in some kind of supply depot in the fort, having just purchased a few items of surplus gear, with Sekibanki's assistance.
>"Yeah, you were a huge help, more than i can say."
>"If you say so," Sekibanki replies impassively, then turns and leads out of the supply depot.
