Several others have offered to help with anything and everything they can. We've no shortage of ready hands, but I lack even the beginnings of knowing how or where to direct them.

[Ordinarily she'd not admit this failing to a stranger. But things are ever so slightly desperate on that front; could not some sign point toward where they should start?]

A friend of mine from home claims to have discovered a potion of sorts that can ward away the symptoms. He also says it is vile, almost beyond drinking.