The streets of Leah at last.
Shella is ager to get you to meet her father so he can help you on your quest, but wait, something is wrong. The mood of the city is somber. We ask the guard what the problem is and he tells us that Menion Leah, the ruler of this city, has been taken grievously ill!
Shella quickly leads you towards the manor proper. On the way you pass the manor gardens, as well as have a brief, yet disturbing conversation with a spooky looking gardner. Hmm, wonder what his deal is.
Menion at last. He does appear very ill. His eyes ar shut and his breathing is erratic. Being the suspicious sort, we scan the room for clues and find the presence of some...disturbing ingrediants in Menion's empty teacup. It appears Menion was POISONED!! *gasp* We talk to Menion's chamberlain downstairs, who informs us that he saw the shady gardner snooping around the kitchens earlier.
We take the teacup to the kings herbalist. He tells us that there was indeed something shady in the tea. Finding out who did this will have to wait, first we need to get an antidote. The herbalist says he needs certain items and then he will make the antidote, so we rush off to get the ingrediants for him (which are all convieniently in the city and its gardens) As we search the gardens, we come across some evidence that the gardner was growing a poisonous plant there in the gardens, the very same plant in fact whose petals were used to poison Menion!
We return with the ingrediants only to find that the herbalist has been MURDERED! The guardsman outside says he saw the gardner skulking about before leaving the city. Luckily, he is still grasping the formulae for making the antidote. Since jak is a bit of an outdorrsman who knows his way around herbs adn the like, he is able to mix together the antidote using the herbalists mortart and pestle. Shella than leaves to apply the antidote to Menion's still body (force feeding basically)
The next day Jak rises to find his antidote worked! Not only that but Allanon is there with them.(Allanon is the guy who saved Jak earlier form the monsters. He is a powerful Druid, one of the Shannara series order of spellcasters.) After some hearty laughs and relived sighs, Jak updates menion with all that he knows: Brona has returned, and monsters are set to invade their land.
After a brief conference Allanon tells Jak that the Sword is all that can stop Brona, and it will be found in the city of Tarsis. Furthermore, as a member of the Ohmsford family line, only Jak can weild the sword. Great, now Jak has more travelling ahead of him as well as a potential showdown with the big bad. Shella wants to come as well but Menion forbids her. Shella appears to agree then bids you goodbye. The mysterious gardner, who was the center of suspicious activity is nowhere to be found.
Jak sets off from Leah. Unsurprisingly, Shella joins him outside the city gates, having taken a secret passage. She is the rebellious sort and wants the thrill of adventure. Soon they reach the banks of a large river which they must cross in order to get to tarsis, but wait. There seems to be somone there...
Well well. Our old 'friend' the gardner. Guess we caught up to him after all. Well he will get whats coming to him to be sure; after all, how much threat can an old gardner be eh?
Sadly he is not alone....
To be Continued!