Andres had no luck at the village. The village was well aware that he was important if they wanted more food to deal with their hunger crisis, but at the same time they were too afraid of the cave. Andres didn’t know if this was a sign of the villagers’ naivety towards dungeons, or an omen warning him not to go near that cave.

He had a feeling that this was connected to Hasil, that old man seemed cunning enough. He also appeared to have traveled and understood the kingdom and its politics to a certain degree. Andres may hold power over their food, but he was walking on a thin edge by not immediately investigating the cave.

He was about to give up when a man volunteered to go with them. At first he was ecstatic, until the man wrapped in the cloak revealed himself. He was the madman, Stor was the name if he remembered. He wanted bodies to help make the cave more survivable, not liabilities that will drag down himself and his party.

“Mister, I assure you that we have no need for someone that was mumbling to himself in a dark corner only a day prior.”

“Sellsword, I am the only one in this village that is crazed enough to go into that damned place. If you want someone, I am the only person you will get.”

“What benefit will I get from bringing you? Look at the rest of the people you consider friends and family and think again. I have no benefit in bringing you and your people don’t want you to go.”

“That is where you are wrong. I am among the best hunters produced in this village. I have experience hunting strange monsters and beasts. I have developed intuition, like all great hunters in this village, that help me understand and feel the world around me. I have found herbs with no name yet I could feel how to use them. I can tell which parts of an unrecorded beast have value or properties. Ask any of this village, this instinct is something that all master hunters have.”

Andres felt his mind change hearing the madman’s words. He had people that would help him with exploring the dungeon and cataloging some of its resources. There was a diviner in his party, though he didn’t know how useful that madman’s techniques were or even if he was a fraud or not. He had a scholar that studied plants and animals, another madman that seemed willing to have bought a seat on this trip if the guild master hadn’t offered him pay.

Now that he thought about it, what was one more madman? The issue was that animals and creatures in the dungeon tended to get weird. Having knowledge of monsters or plants outside of a dungeon had little use inside of it. As one of the animals in the dungeon seemed to be based off of the local rats, and the stories said that animals and monsters were drawn in - there was a better chance that the knowledge of the locals would be better than a scholar from Millpond.

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He thought about it, then he arranged a private meeting with old man Hasil. While the old man tried his best to defend his nephew, both from himself and Andres, enough prodding revealed the truth. It was considered a significant blessing in this community, a rare thing to get and, apparently, an even rarer thing to use. This was their ancestor’s key weapon in understanding and surviving these dangerous forests. They had little use for such a blessing now when their ancestors recorded and passed down their wealth of knowledge.

Hasil tried to spin the situation as a delusion from Stor, that even if he did have the blessing it would be little use with the man’s insanity. Their long talks and negotiations continued, until Hasil asked if he could speak to the madman Stor in private. Andres, losing nothing, agreed.

Hasil changed his mind when he was invited back in. Stor had recovered enough of his mind, the old man said, that he was able to assist them. Andres refused to even consider the idea of inviting the man with him until he was given a good reason why. He used a lot of the old man’s old points, back when he was trying to prevent Stor from joining them, until the old man gave him a good reason to consider having a man that dealt with insanity on his team. While he wanted a person with this mystical ability to understand animals and plants, he would prefer anybody other than Stor.

Hasil explained to him that Stor had recovered from his madness once before, when the village investigated the cave. The man refused to even get close to the cave, and afterwards he returned to his mumbling and insanity. It turned out that he felt intense guilt over what happened, over the villagers that lost their lives during this second investigation. He wanted to redeem himself, believing that this madness would only go away if he redeemed himself.

Andres felt himself become a little moved. He had many people he considered friends over the years, and he was the only one left. Some of that was because of his cowardice, some was to save his own life, others were times when he desperately tried to save them. He understood the guilt of being a survivor - delving into dungeons was a life of betrayals and unpreventable deaths.

He still tried to find a better recruit, but Hasil became even more difficult. He made it clear that the only person he could bring with him was Stor, no one else will go. However, this ability, should it exist, was something he didn’t want to explore the dungeon without. He understood enough of these forests from the canals to not dismiss the possibility of a type of ‘nature’ ability. In fact, it would explain a lot of things about how people managed to live in these forests.

After more tiring negotiation, he relented. He allowed Stor to join them, to the dismay of his party.