"And your dear healer gave us some wyvern poison to take just in case we start sprouting tentacles..."

"...and you said you'd take it? You?"

"If I'm growing tentacles, darling, I am as good as dead. So I see no reason not to kill one of them in exchange."

“And... Nettie told you that Halsin had been studying your condition, and he ran off with a band of third rate adventurers to figure out more about it,” surmises Ivetrielle. “So you have an obvious reason to find him. And... also an obvious reason to want a fourth member, who is not so afflicted, to follow you around in case of mind control or tentacles.”

"Plus the fact that they have run into others who were also infected with the tadpoles and who didn't transform has calmed Lae'zel some."

"I am not calm," she growls. "I merely think it may probably not be as urgent as we believed. But we still need to visit the crèche; they will know more than this 'Halsin'. My people have been dealing with ghaik for millennia."

"Healer Nettie has been so kind as to inform us of where Halsin went, as well as of the fact that the relevant place—a temple of Selûne—has been overrun with goblins."

Shadowheart purses her lips at "Selûne" but does not otherwise react.

"Oh, Rath returned with news? And it's overrun with them? Damn. Well. Regardless, I see the logic. Though I think I should pack my bags and wait for you in the woods, so it's not quite so obvious we're being an adventuring party. Pouting in a fit of childish pique, and all."

"And I should make sure to return these to where I found them because we do not want auntie dearest to find out that I've been through her stuff."

“Quite.” Her mouth twitches. “Arron can likely get you set up with any supplies you need. Provided you mention that you’ll be investigating Selûne‘s temple.”

"I will find them and tell them so. Now I do have one extra errand to do which is telling Zevlor that Kagha has already started the Rite of Thorns and is approximately impossible to dissuade for the reasons present company is now aware of but which shall remain unspecified so he should get his people ready to go. If we manage to un-shadow druid this Grove then that will come as a nice positive surprise for them."

"...I notice we're acting as if you're the leader even though you're the lowest-level one of us and an asshole."

"We are? Well, I'm not, I'm here for the logical reasons specified and also to kill you all if you get too tentacley. You can treat him as your leader, if you like. I'm just also not in a position to go shopping for gear myself. Rest assured you'll hear my complaints if you mess it up. Ta!"

Zevlor is not happy about the news but at least the fact that the Rite takes several days to complete is... well, not as bad as it could've been. He thanks the party for everything they've done for his people and bids them good luck on their adventures.

And soon enough they are all together and ready to go.

"So: temple of Selûne or swamp? I vote swamp."

"I vote temple of Selûne," says Ivetrielle, a little smugly. Is that a paper parcel she's got already? Her? Innocent little her?

Astarion lifts an eyebrow. "Someone looks like they've got a little secret."

"Not really, I think it's perfectly obvious that I ditched you all to retrieve proof of my aunt's betrayal on my own. I turned into a bird and flew to get it like a sensible person. Much faster and sneakier than four people tromping through a swamp being obviously not a single druid retrieving a message. Versus me, with my knowledge of my aunt's favored wild forms." She raises her eyebrows. "So? Temple?"

"Are you not going to open the package?"

"What? Here? Now?" Her mouth twitches with something that implies she has already long opened it. "No, I don't see any particular reason to. Are you planning to dawdle here all day, or shall we get moving before we start growing moss?"

...

You know what, if she wants to play this game, he'll play this game.

"Reasonable enough. Let's get moving."

"Certainly!" Towards the temple they can go, her package of tempting mysteries tidily tucked away. Deep in her pack.

According to the map the temple of Selûne is directly to the west of the Grove entrance past a tributary of the River Chionthar and through a small village by it. And given the location of the swamp...

"How do you see this going?" he wonders aloud. "It's about as far from here to the temple as it was to the swamp, but going as a bird means you'd have been shot down like Nettie's birds."

"So, Nettie's birds are bluejays, and can't fly as high as other species of birds, and are also... birds... so they don't really think about things like 'how far could those bows shoot.' They think they have been given a task and they want to do it. But I was also not planning to go fly to the temple to investigate as a bird. I was going to, you know. Walk. With the rest of you."