You tell your uncle, "Oh, if you want to help out I'd love to do some foraging together around here. Anyplace they might not have checked out because it doesn't look worth it if you can't fly should be full of plants."

Step 140

Glint agrees. Prota and Glint go foraging. Glint wants to teach Prota self-sufficiency, so he'll leave most of the actual gathering to them, but he'll look for the best spots and maybe gather a bit to sell or give to Nell later. Herbs are available as well as food. The described method will find common plants that others overlooked, but probably won't find many rare plants or anything hard to see from the sky. Fast-growing or recently-ripe forage is easiest to find when in a region others have already passed through weeks or months ago. Some small animals might be hunted and Prota is decent with a sling, though they haven't explicitly said they'd hunt. 

(Worldbuilding opportunity: greefolk leave behind their garbage when migrating. Some of it is valuable. Finding a few minor trinkets and/or one semi-valuable object could add depth to the world.) What trinkets might greefolk leave behind? Something that hasn't already been scavenged might have traits of: small and hard to notice, heavy or otherwise hard to move, worn out, damaged, or cursed. A more valuable object might be located in a concealed valley or depression in the terrain, half-buried, or high up and hard to reach. Ideas: small rusted gears, non-obviously magic wand or rod, broken pottery or glass, rotting wood furniture, other signs of passage like old campsites and latrines. (As a bonus side quest, possibly find an unidentified object that's interesting and turns out to be worth more than it appears, something identifiable either by someone in the larger cities or by Prota's eventual magic sense. Such an item should have uses that are subtle, look interesting enough to grab but not necessarily worth much to sell or trade. Its features should be discernable through careful investigation, rewarding Player initiative, but not obvious on first or even second glance.) One interesting item in fantasy settings is the immovable rod, which can be fixed in place with varying levels of stubbornness. This may be an obvious use if the activation is easy, but if the activation is hard then it might be subtle without magical means of investigation. (However, it's more interesting to use items that the Player is less likely to have heard of, so this deserves further tweaking.) Introduce instead the movable rod, an object as stubborn about going where its user intends as the immovable rod is about staying put. [The movable rod feels extremely light, and goes where the wielder puts it in spite of obstacles or obstruction, to the limits of its structural integrity. It can be damaged or deformed by excess force; to make this clear, it should be slightly deformed when found. It is a fairly decent weapon especially for those who can't rely on brute force when swinging it, but to avoid making it too obviously powerful, it moves as an ordinary stick if the wielder lets go. Being a relic of the more advanced greefolk, it is made of early steel - strong, but a bit rusted.] 

How is such an object made? Someone using Blue magic might have the ability to enchant objects; this is one such creation. 

How shall the object be introduced to the Player? While gathering berries in a ravine, they spot a bit of gleam in a muddy patch of dirt; the rod fell there and was mostly buried. (Its lack of resistance when and if it is pulled free is a clue about its function.) 

Glint continues teaching Prota the art of herbalism and finding good forage. 

(Should Prota face a challenge before obtaining the item? An encounter with dangerous wildlife or magic plants is plausible, but finding something dangerous right next to this item is actually a bit of an unlikely coincidence, since it has no features that would tend to attract sources of danger. It may be best to hold ideas for a dangerous situation until later, on the road to Adwell or the Twin Cities, rather than piling them on now just because it's a trope. Also, right now Prota has few options for dealing with danger other than "run and call Glint", who is unlikely to be far away. Having at least one interesting tool to use makes encounters more interesting; even if Prota doesn't use or understand the rod before something attacks, at least the chance exists to make satisfying use of it. Still, it's worthwhile to include a small reminder that the wilderness does have dangers, and also potentially see what, if any, precautions Prota takes dealing with unfamiliar encounters. A simple hint from Glint that some plants are dangerous will suffice.) 

Glint agrees readily, and you set off to forage. It turns out to be quite fun and moderately productive; while there's been plenty of foraging nearby since Clan Pratchett arrived, Glint is an expert at spotting clumps of overlooked vegetation in gullies and ground-hollows, and periodically returns to identify them for you. He points out specific fruiting bushes and herb plants with the confidence of long practice, and quizzes you periodically on which ones are safe to eat (or might try to eat you). You also spot a few ground animals that might be good hunting, if you were so inclined, though you'd have to be quick and have good aim. 

In the early afternoon, while you gather bulrushes from a shallow ravine, you spot a gleam of something shiny in the mud. Glint, in hawk form, is scouting just over a nearby ridge. 

Glint is nearby but not currently watching Prota. 

I don't try hunting; Glint's much better at it than I am.

When I see the gleam I go and try to turn it up out of the mud with my shoe.

Prota is not hunting. They try to move the object by prodding it with a foot, making it more visible. This sounds like using the toe of the shoe. Prota's probably wearing sturdy walking shoes or boots. 

You stick to foraging. 

You approach the place you saw the gleam and try to turn the object up out of the mud with the toe of your boot.

Step 141

Does poking the rod activate its movability? For loose definitions of touch, maybe. A strict definition requires direct skin contact with the item, or at least holding it in one's hand. (The stricter definition is probably easier to adjudicate, since it is generally unambiguous if someone is holding an object.) [The rod is only supernaturally movable when held.] The rod therefore moves only slightly, enough to tell its general shape. [The movable rod is about three feet long and slightly bent a third of the way down its length.] 

(It would be relevant to mention here, as context, that greefolk junk exists and is often picked up by scavengers.) [It's considered polite to bury actual garbage, though not everyone is polite.] Prota has passed some greefolk junk along the road. This specific area, it should be emphasized gently, is relatively hard to explore. 

The object shifts slightly. You make out the shape of a long and oddly stiff rod or branch, about three feet long, and slightly bent about one-third of the way down its length. It's mostly covered in mud, but there's a scrape that looks sort of metallic. It might be greefolk junk; their floating cities often leave behind scraps and garbage. You've passed a few small, rusted gears, glass fragments, and rotting wooden husks on this trip. Scavengers generally grab anything of value; the polite ones bury the rest. This area looks like it hasn't been visited in a while, though. 

None. 

I pick up the shiny stick with the fingertips of one hand and try to find some grass to wipe it off with.

Prota picks up the object with just fingertips, likely to avoid getting too much mud on their hands. They look for a way to wipe it off. 

You pick up the muddy object in one hand, holding it loosely while you look for some grass to wipe it off. 

Step 142

Prota notices that the object feels strangely light, and pulls free of the mud with almost no effort. There is grass near the edge of the gully, and they can wipe most of the mud off. It may be safely assumed that they follow through on their intention to do so. They will note additional features of the rod. It is definitely metal and a bit rusted. Because of the movement effect, it feels light as a feather, which might suggest it is hollow, but there don't seem to be any holes. More importantly, they might notice other oddities about the way it moves; intending to put it a little bit past the grass, as some might do when wiping off an object, would result in it squashing the grass flat and pressing into the earth as it goes-exactly-where-it-is-put. (Prota may not notice exactly what is happening or why, so some ambiguity is appropriate when describing this outcome to the Player.) 

The bent rod pulls free without resistance as soon as you've grasped it. Even covered in mud and held loosely, it feels light as a feather. 

You spot tufts of grass jutting from the banks of the ravine. It's easy enough to reach up and wipe the rod on a few, though its strange lightness makes it surprisingly unwieldy at first. You inadvertently smoosh a few patches of grass flat into the earth before you get the hang of moving the rod more slowly and purposefully. You scrape most of the mud from its surface. It's a bit thicker than a finger, and definitely looks like metal with a coating of rust. 

[The movable rod is about half an inch thick.] 

Huh. Maybe there's somebody who can blow metal like people blow glass. I pocket the rod to show Glint and maybe some of the Pratch later, and resume foraging.

Prota speculates about the rod, suspecting it might be hollow like blown glass. Prota "pockets" the rod; they cannot literally put it in a pocket but they presumably have a backpack or bag they have been using to hold gathered food. Three feet is short enough to fit in a sizable pack. They get back to foraging. 

You briefly speculate about the rod, then store it in your foraging pack for now, intending to show it off later. You resume foraging. 

Step 143

Prota has modest success at forage. They easily find enough for lunch. They might dry and preserve the rest as rations for future travel, share it with Nell, trade for a few coins at the market, or some combination of those. (Finding the movable rod was a stroke of luck. It is not necessary to the plot, nor particularly likely, that they also found any rare herbs.) Having worked for most of the day, Prota will be tired by late afternoon. Glint should explain their options. He's thinking of Nell and will suggest bringing some of the forage to dinner. 

When Prota puts away the rod, it loses its hypermobility and its normal weight returns. However, it's in a partly-full pack already. The added weight might not be noticeable. 

By late afternoon, you find yourself tired but successful. Even after a nourishing lunch, you have a pack full of berries, nuts, fruits, rushes, and some common seasoning herbs. Not bad for a day's work; it's nothing especially valuable, but it's more than you'd have found on the road. 

Glint lands and shifts human. "I reckon that's enough for today. What do you want to do with this haul? It'd fetch a few coins at the market, or some could go straight in the pot for dinner and the rest dried for the trail. Might cheer up Nell to have some variety," he adds. 

[Prota has a pack full of forage, as much as they can reasonably carry, and a movable rod.] 

"I think right now I'd rather have the food than the coin," I say after a moment's thought. "Oh, I also found something interesting -" I show Glint the rod.

Prota decides to keep, rather than sell, the foraged food. Before acting on that, they show Glint the movable rod. 

"I think right now I'd rather have the food than the coin," you say after a moment's thought. "Oh, I also found something interesting -" You pull the rod from your pack and show it to Glint.