Description
Wandering Oak's Grove is a stand of towering oak trees amidst a wasteland. The Emerald Loop, running from Jigow in the north, ends here where it intersects the Hallowed Path, running from Asarius in the west into the Barbed Fields to the east. The entrance to the grove on the Emerald Loop is well worn by wagon wheels, and there is a wooden sign marked with the holy symbol of the Wildmother and the words "Emerald Loop Caravan Stop". From that entrance to the grove, smoke from the caravan stop's bonfire is visible.
The clearing for the caravan stop is about 125 feet (west to east) by 90 feet (north to south), big enough to accommodate a bonfire around which wagons circle, a rope-fenced corral for several oxen, a campsite with a few tents, and a full-grown horizonback tortoise.
If one travels at a slow pace, the Emerald Loop Caravan Stop is ten days south of Jigow, and it takes another five days to travel east to Bazzoxan. At a normal travel pace, it's eight days from Jigow and another four days to Bazzoxan. At a fast pace, it's six days from Jigow, and another three to Bazzoxan.
Notable people
- Lanata and Robur (the Acorn Sisters): A pair of dryads of the Wildmother who are caretakers of Wandering Oak's Grove.
- Gaeya Iliera: a drow who cooks what is reputed to be the best mastodon kor'rundl to be found outside of Asarius, or perhaps in the whole Kryn Dynasty.
- Guards of the Aurora Watch, including (in 836 PD) two bugbear chiefs and six veterans (a mix of drow, orcs, and humans)
When the Player Characters (PCs) of Call of the Netherdeep arrive in 836 PD, they may find a variety of characters who are passing through:
- The mostly- goblin Kruzkrenner family and their horizonback tortoise, Big Yuyo
- Ayo Jabe's adventuring party or, if they aren't present, an Aurora Watch patrol
- Tyvak and Moghra, humans of the Wastewalker clan
- Justice, a tiefling scout for a caravan, and his moorbounder mount Rice Pudding
- Various caravanners with seven wagons, and with goods for sale (including a small number of potions of healing)
Background
A treant named Wandering Oak planted this grove, and later she entrusted the care of the forest to the Acorn Sisters. By 686 PD it had become a respected refuge for travelers across the wastes, and by 836 PD had a reputation as a place where the best hunters sold their catches and a place to get the finest mastodon kor'rundl. The Acorn Sisters allowed only dead wood to be used as firewood, and it was customary for travelers to make offerings of food, drink, and song in thanks for their hospitality.
Critical Role: Call of the Netherdeep
In 836 PD, the PCs of this adventure pass through the Emerald Loop Caravan Stop while traveling from Jigow to Bazzoxan. Tyvak, Moghra, and Justice (along with Rice Pudding) tie into encounters the PCs may have had while traveling the Emerald Loop. If the PCs are trailing behind Ayo Jabe's adventuring party and haven't already caught up with them, that reunion may happen here.
One way the reunion with Ayo Jabe's party can happen is that one member of her party attempts to steal the Jewel of Three Prayers from the PCs in the night, and if the thief doesn't return within an hour, the rest of the party travels ahead to the Caravan Stop and waits up to seven days for their companion.