You gather your belongings and strike out for Thistletop. At the Northgate you are met by the elven ranger Shalelu Andosana. She hails your group and explains that Mayor Deverin informed her of your trip. She gives you reliable directions to reach Thistletop, including a cautionary note to take the old hunting path through the Nettlewood rather than trying to navigate through Pauper’s Graves to the coast. Pauper’s Graves is apparently a large graveyard dedicated to the many poor and desperate laborers from Magnimar who came to the region to establish Sandpoint and its surrounding farmlands. Unfortunately, a pall has fallen over the monuments, and many of the graves have been desecrated, despite the lack of wealth of those interred. The Nettlewood, while wild, tangled and thorny, is a better bet, she thinks, especially with a druid in your group.

Before you leave, Shalelu makes a serious request. She does not know the source of the evil at Thistletop, but she asks that you act appropriately when considering the nature of your opponents. Goblins and other monstrous creatures can and should be “whacked like weeds” but those who should have a conscience, humans or elves or the like, should not be killed, but rather be brought to justice at Sandpoint if at all possible.

The Journey to Thistletop is roughly two hours by foot, east on the Lost Coast Road. The morning you set out is overcast, with intermittent winds whipping the grey ocean waters and bright beams of sun occasionally illuminating circles of water far off shore. You pass north of the Ravenroost Hills, with their isolated copses of eucalyptus, pepperwood and pine. Out to the northeast the Three Cormorants rock structure is just visible from the road, and something catches the light and glitters at the third rock. However, beyond an impression of movement, neither Ash nor Ausk can make out anything further from this distance.

As luck would have it, heavy rain begins about an hour into the journey, just as the road begins to wind inland between Shank’s Wood to the north and the Tickwood to the south. You pass a small roadside shrine… not much more than a stone plinth overgrown with yellow roses and a faded symbol of a golden seagull with blue circles on each wing. No one in the party is able to identify the meaning, but Spike lands atop of it and gives a happy squawk.

You have reached the point in the road where the Pauper’s Graves lie to the north, the Nettlewood to the east. The rain continues to fall, less feverish now but heady with the smell of ozone. Will you follow Shalelu’s advice and take the slightly longer path through the Nettlewood, or strike out north into the field of graves?