Durnham looks towards Ressys and Kotar. Torn because the Firbolg is right... this is important... but logically, what does it matter if they sit and have a meal?
The traveling merchant is either here or about town, in which case he will return to the inn; or he’s on the road probably heading back to Uthodurn, in which case they will need to make preparations for the journey before they can go after him.
Either way a few minutes to rest and refill their energy seems logical and not harmful as there’s no real emergency at the moment. In the end he shrugs to the two with a look that suggests, “do whatever you feel like,” and continues to wait for Arl.
As he waits he continues to think about his Uncle and their history. His responses to conversation become short and distracted as he gets lost in his own thoughts and memories.
Qidira, seeing that a couple of the others are trying to locate Irvel, will remain at the table drinking her ale and waiting on the soup. If she has a minute to eat before they are able to get a direction, she will eat quickly as it's been some time since she's had more than scraps. She works on the little bird some more and glances at the group in the corner noting the two human males and the children, trying to imagine their relationship and if the children seem happy.
Arl brings the ales shortly after you take your seats, and it is indeed amazing. The innkeeper takes Qidira’s silver pieces with gratitude: “Thank you little one, and if I may be so proud then I must say that Mr Wench is correct – I have accomplished much, but that stew is my masterpiece”
He heads off to the kitchen area while you inspect the key and the curious bag. Through handling them and talking through the possibilities of each item’s abilities, Qidira has a eureka moment as she remembers where she has seen such a key before: Helven the Lockbreaker wore one around his neck and would boast that it could open any lock in Wildemount – if the key so chose.
(OOC: Add a ‘Mystery Key’ to your inventory)
As Qidira recounts a particularly memorable story of Helven, Durnham continues to rummage through the rucksack, calculating how its dimensions might be achieved. He determines that some form of enchantment is at play, pushing onto a form of planar portal. Tearing the bag or placing it inside another contained portal would no doubt be catastrophic, but the benefits of the bag are hard to deny.
(OOC: Add a ‘Bag of Holding’ to your inventory)
When the fish stew arrives, it is excellent and does not last long in any of the five bowls at the table. Arl potters over to collect the tableware and, as practiced as he is at drowning out patrons’ private conversations, the old adventurer cannot help himself. “Liel you say? Irven Liel? Why that’s him across the way, with his husband and kids”
Your quarry has been under your noses the whole time.
(Feel free to process a short rest during the food, discussion and examination)
Ressys sits at the table with the others, his ears twitching as the innkeeper seems to have ignored his question. It seems that only by chance the dwarf points out who they seek. Ressys had started to get restless and was nearly going to get up and just start randomly asking the people in the room if they were Irven.
The stew in his bowl sits uneaten as he eyes those in the room. When the dwarf points the man out Ressys looks over at the table with the two men and two children. He immediately stands and approaches them. As he arrives at their table he looks at the two men.
With a calm voice he says "I seek Irven Liel, I understand one of you is that man? I need to speak with you regarding something of importance. Is there somewhere we can speak in private?"
Durnham attacks the stew as soon as it’s set before him. It’s as good as he remembers. When Arl returns to gather the bowls he lets the man know. “It’s good to be home Arl. They sure don’t make stew like this in Uthordurn. Thank you!”
He eyes Ressys and the uneaten bowl of stew and shakes his head to himself when he gets up to go talk to Liel. He watches the Druid approach the merchant and thinks about how much stew the bowl is holding...
“A bag of holding, I just remembered what these are called! He shows the bag to his friends at the table. The amount of enchantment needed to create one of these... it’s astounding!” He then looks around at the others “Is it ok if I carry it for now? You can have a turn if you want.. later.”
Qidira catches Arl before he leaves, passing him a couple more silver. "I think my friend will need some more stew,"grinning and gesturing at the Firebolg and shamelessly sliding the bowl over in front of herself and finishing this one too. Looking at the possibly wide-eyed Durnham, "What? Its good stew, and likely best when its hot." Forgetting about the songbird for a moment but watching the interaction across the room between Irven Liel and Ressys. A few moments later staring at the half-finished stew she passes it to Durnham, "Here. My eyes are bigger than my stomach."Sliding it over to him.
"Of course I don't mind, but I might ask for a turn depending on what we find along the way." Qidira responds as an afterthought to his question regarding the bag. "That key though, I could put it to good use. For the party of course. I'll hang on to it for a bit. Might save me some time with troublesome locks."
The matter of the food looked settled in favor of pursuing the merchant, should it prove necessary. Fortunately, it wasn’t. When the old dwarf returned to their table, he brought more than ale. Turned out that one of the men with the tiefling children was actually Irven Liel. What are the chances? Kotar asked himself shortly before deciding it didn’t matter. In a day where things seemed condemned to be just better than what they could be it was good to have some good luck.
“In this case, please, do bring some stew.”He says to Arl, visibly happy for being able to get the dish. Ressys, more focused on their quest, went directly to the family. “The bag will be safer with someone who fights from range and I trust you, Mr. Wenth.”The goliath says with sincerity, but in a teasing tone. “Let’s do some talking now.”
He followed after the firbolg, hoping that at least Brandon would come along. Of all in the group, the human seemed to be the most skilled with words and then that had more worth than any blade. Or, at the very least, any blade Kotar knew of. After all he saw in the last two days, he could imagine a well-spoken weapon
Durnham happily trades the key for the leftover stew. “Thish washnt thuh mhum khey I tha agh it wash,” he says around a mouthful of food. As he eats he takes the key out of his pocket and gives it to Quidira.
As Ressys approaches the two men they spot him and their laughter trails off although their smiles remain, warm and genuine. Both seem unremarkable in terms of their build, one with wavy dark hair down to his shoulders and the other with a close-cropped patch of strawberry blond atop his head.
When Ressys makes his opening request, both their smiles fade slightly into looks of concern and the dark-haired man raises one hand – like a child in school tentatively asking to visit the bathroom.
“I am Irven” he says, wavering, “but anything you want to say to me can be said here”
The blond man reaches across the table and places his hand on top of that of his husband, gold wedding ring glinting in the light. He tries to smile at him reassuringly, then sees Kotar approaching from behind Ressys. The combined mass of a firbolg and a goliath seems almost too much for his resolve, and he tries to disarm the tension with humour by remarking “Oh wow. Whatever message you guys came to deliver, I’m guessing nobody messed with you on the way!”
As Kotar and Ressys approach the merchant, Durnham finishes up the stew and sits back as he pushes the empty bowl away. As a server or Arl pass by Durnham asks embarrassingly “Could I have a cloth or rag please? I’ve spilled some food on myself,” and he gestures towards his perfectly dry and clean lap hidden under the table.
He then fishes his spellbook out of his backpack and begins to review some notes while carefully keeping an eye and ear on the conversation with the merchant.
Ressys glances back at Kotar as the goliath approaches from behind. As the man says they can discuss the situation here he purposely looks down at the children for a moment and back to the man. As he ponders for a moment, his ears droop slightly and then raise back up. He mumbles a few short words as he fingers his totem. (Cast Guidance on self)
"As you wish. My name is Ressys, though many around these parts call me Winterwalker. I live in and protect the land, watching over it and trying to maintain the balance of nature and the people. I aid those in need, both creatures of the land and people along the paths of life. Myself, and my companions," at this he glances back at Kotar and motions towards the others at the table, "are looking into a serious matter. Vials containing a deadly spore, an unnatural disease, that has already taken lives have come to this area from an explorer who returned from Eiselcross. Elro Aldataur, leader of Palebank Village, and charged with it's defense set us on this mission. We have recovered one of the vials and during our investigation we have learned that you have come into possession of one of them. It is a small blue vial and is very dangerous. The disease it contains is called Frigid Woe. We need to contain and stop the spread of this threat. We hope the vial you have has not been compromised and you have not been exposed. Our concern is for you and those of your family."
He pauses for a moment, allowing the seriousness of the issue hopefully sink in.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Brandon slides out from behind Kotar and Winterwalker, the larger bulk of the two naturally hiding him from view, and introduces himself to the merchant and his family with a well-worn smile on his face. "Good afternoon, my name is Brandon. My large friend here speaks the truth and I share his concern for you and your family's safety. Hulil, the dwarf who sold you the vial is a mutual..acquaintance and asked us to seek you out. The vial is not what they thought it was and poses great danger. Hulil is ill with this strange disease and several others who have been in direct contact with the vial have perished by becoming frozen solid." Brandon looks around the table at the merchant's family. "I do not share this with you to frighten you, but to warn you. Our only desire is to keep you and your family safe and to prevent the spread of this illness to others. May we see the vial?"
Qidira watches the interaction across the room wanting to assist but knowing she generally makes a mess of persuasive arguments and waves at the men and the children when they look over. As an afterthought, she holds up the mechanical bird making it flap and twist its head about as a distraction for the children and returns to fidgeting with it to draw their attention.
“I am Kotar Ironhunter Anakalathai.” He introduced himself in the ways of his folk, trying to sound as soft and calm as he could. First it was the birth name, given by his parents, then the epithet given to him by the chieftain and, finally, the name of his clan. “As my friend just told, are worried for your family’s safety. Just like we, our group and the Glassblades, are worried by the possibility of the content of the vial spreading.” He hoped that mentioning the local guard the family would be more inclined to attend Brendon’s request. “You see, the illness is deadly by nature highly contagious. You just need brief contact with the spores inside of the vial to be infected and people infected end up like statues of ice in a matter of days. The only cure is a specific antidote that you more likely can only find in Aeorian ruins, if it can still be found.”
The closest thing to lead to the cure lied in Urgon’s last travel route, but following it brought no certainty of finding any antidote. Without this information the next best option would be to search through the entirety of Eiselcross, something as likely to bring results as laying in prayer.
Arl raises a hand in acknowledgement of Durnham’s request: “Haha you’re not the first, young Wenth. I’ll take it as a compliment”he hunts around the bar area for a cloth.
Across the room, Irven’s face is frozen as Ressys, Kotar and Brandon recount your mission and the news of Frigid Woe. His mouth drops open at the end and moves a few times wordlessly, open and closed like a fish. He suddenly turns his head to the children playing in the corner and raises his voice to get their attention, feigning calm: “Honor! Magic! Fetch me your makeup kit please, I want to show it off to this man”
The two girls, maybe about six or seven years old, had been staring at Qidira’s mechanical bird from afar and laughing. Both yelp with glee and run upstairs at the mention of interest in their makeup set. As soon as they are out of sight Irven breaks down, sobbing into his hands. His husband looks up at you, eyes streaming with tears: “We ran into the dwarf lady on the road to Palebank. She said she was moving and needed to shed some possessions, so she offered us the chance to buy an Aeorian relic at a great price. It looked exquisite, but when we stopped here for the night and got a closer look we saw that the vial was cracked and some of the powder had escaped. We thought it was worthless...”
His voice trails off as excited footsteps bundle down the stairs and the girls appear before you, offering proudly a wooden box, hinged open to form two identical trays full of various creams, liquids and powders. Almost immediately you spot the Frigid Woe vial, cracked and three-quarters full. Then you notice the girls’ faces, one is a deep crimson colour and her adopted sister is a light purple. Both have exaggerated applications of bright blue blusher across their cheeks, the exact same colour as the vial’s contents. Irven has composed himself and says quietly “The girls were so in love with the colour that we let them add it to their makup set. If what you say is true, then...oh...oh my”
Irven breaks down again and the girls look confused. They look to their other father for explanation and he brings them both close to embrace them. Looking at you over their shoulders he mouths the words “Help us”, a desperate look in his face.
Kotar wasn’t sure about what to expect from Irven. Maybe disbelief in face of their history about a deadly, artificial disease, or the greed by which some merchants are famous or, rather, infamous for. Instead, the man was helpful and terrified, breaking into tears as his daughters heeded his request for their makeup kit.
Liel’s husband was more composed and managed to tell their history while the children made their way back, carrying a wooden box. Inside it a vial, much like the one they found with Hulil. Cracked. We’re too late, the goliath realized closing his eyes and pressing his lips against one another.
“Ressys, can you use your magic to check for sickness?” He then turned his head into the direction of the table where Durnham and Qidira sat. “Cracked vial. We’ll need help dealing with it.
Kotar could not help but to sympathize with the men. He knew all too well the feeling of having your loved ones facing death.
“If you are ill then you need to remain in the village. The Glassblades are already planning to find a cure.” He said remembering how Elro mentioned something to that effect while talking about Tulgi. “We’ll have to check the staff here too. And then report to Elro.”
As Durnham finishes reviewing his notes and enjoying a full belly, he feels a renewed sense of relaxation and ease as his sense of the arcane is refocused. (Arcane Recovery).
However any sense of relaxation evaporates as he watches and listens to the conversation with the children’s fathers And his friends. As Kotar requests assistance he stands and approaches the two children with the cloth in hand. He kneels down and speaks to them as kindly as he can “Hello there little ones my name is Durnham. Would you like to see a magic trick?” He then lays the cloth out on the ground and lifts his hand in front of him in a twisting motion and says “Mano!”
The mage hand appears before the children and performs a flourish before it moves into the children’s make up kit and picks up the vial. The hand then floats to the cloth and wraps it up in a small bundle. Then carries it back to the make up kit settles it inside and then closes the lid. “Do you know what? I’m an alchemist and part of my job is to make different make up and mixtures. I’m sorry to say that your make up here is defective... in fact it’s dangerous and might make you sick. So I need to take it and keep it from hurting anyone, but here’s a deal,” And he produces 2 silver coins from his pouch and gives one to each of them. “Now you can go buy a new make up kit and your dads can help pick it out. How does that sound?”
Ressys's ears droop as the man tells his tale. The reality that this family, especially the children, were in mortal danger and were sure to have contracted the sickness slowly sunk in.
"I'm sorry. " He starts. "There is time, and I will seek the cure. You have my word." Is all he can get out.
He embraced and respected the savage nature of the world. But this disease was not natural. It was a mockery of nature.
Qidira, moving close enough to hear what has happened by the time the girls have returned, says as she sets down the little bird for them to play with. "Did anyone else touch the makeup that you bought? They might need new make-up too." She says carefully trying not to let the concern show on her face.
She ponders what can be done to clean the room of this disease and who to speak to about it without causing alarm. They won't check out for a short time, so noone should be exposed yet. She will talk to Arl after she's found out more from the children.
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Durnham looks towards Ressys and Kotar. Torn because the Firbolg is right... this is important... but logically, what does it matter if they sit and have a meal?
The traveling merchant is either here or about town, in which case he will return to the inn; or he’s on the road probably heading back to Uthodurn, in which case they will need to make preparations for the journey before they can go after him.
Either way a few minutes to rest and refill their energy seems logical and not harmful as there’s no real emergency at the moment. In the end he shrugs to the two with a look that suggests, “do whatever you feel like,” and continues to wait for Arl.
As he waits he continues to think about his Uncle and their history. His responses to conversation become short and distracted as he gets lost in his own thoughts and memories.
Noob
Qidira, seeing that a couple of the others are trying to locate Irvel, will remain at the table drinking her ale and waiting on the soup. If she has a minute to eat before they are able to get a direction, she will eat quickly as it's been some time since she's had more than scraps. She works on the little bird some more and glances at the group in the corner noting the two human males and the children, trying to imagine their relationship and if the children seem happy.
Arl brings the ales shortly after you take your seats, and it is indeed amazing. The innkeeper takes Qidira’s silver pieces with gratitude: “Thank you little one, and if I may be so proud then I must say that Mr Wench is correct – I have accomplished much, but that stew is my masterpiece”
He heads off to the kitchen area while you inspect the key and the curious bag. Through handling them and talking through the possibilities of each item’s abilities, Qidira has a eureka moment as she remembers where she has seen such a key before: Helven the Lockbreaker wore one around his neck and would boast that it could open any lock in Wildemount – if the key so chose.
(OOC: Add a ‘Mystery Key’ to your inventory)
As Qidira recounts a particularly memorable story of Helven, Durnham continues to rummage through the rucksack, calculating how its dimensions might be achieved. He determines that some form of enchantment is at play, pushing onto a form of planar portal. Tearing the bag or placing it inside another contained portal would no doubt be catastrophic, but the benefits of the bag are hard to deny.
(OOC: Add a ‘Bag of Holding’ to your inventory)
When the fish stew arrives, it is excellent and does not last long in any of the five bowls at the table. Arl potters over to collect the tableware and, as practiced as he is at drowning out patrons’ private conversations, the old adventurer cannot help himself. “Liel you say? Irven Liel? Why that’s him across the way, with his husband and kids”
Your quarry has been under your noses the whole time.
(Feel free to process a short rest during the food, discussion and examination)
Ressys sits at the table with the others, his ears twitching as the innkeeper seems to have ignored his question. It seems that only by chance the dwarf points out who they seek. Ressys had started to get restless and was nearly going to get up and just start randomly asking the people in the room if they were Irven.
The stew in his bowl sits uneaten as he eyes those in the room. When the dwarf points the man out Ressys looks over at the table with the two men and two children. He immediately stands and approaches them. As he arrives at their table he looks at the two men.
With a calm voice he says "I seek Irven Liel, I understand one of you is that man? I need to speak with you regarding something of importance. Is there somewhere we can speak in private?"
Durnham attacks the stew as soon as it’s set before him. It’s as good as he remembers. When Arl returns to gather the bowls he lets the man know. “It’s good to be home Arl. They sure don’t make stew like this in Uthordurn. Thank you!”
He eyes Ressys and the uneaten bowl of stew and shakes his head to himself when he gets up to go talk to Liel. He watches the Druid approach the merchant and thinks about how much stew the bowl is holding...
“A bag of holding, I just remembered what these are called! He shows the bag to his friends at the table. The amount of enchantment needed to create one of these... it’s astounding!” He then looks around at the others “Is it ok if I carry it for now? You can have a turn if you want.. later.”
Noob
Qidira catches Arl before he leaves, passing him a couple more silver. "I think my friend will need some more stew," grinning and gesturing at the Firebolg and shamelessly sliding the bowl over in front of herself and finishing this one too. Looking at the possibly wide-eyed Durnham, "What? Its good stew, and likely best when its hot." Forgetting about the songbird for a moment but watching the interaction across the room between Irven Liel and Ressys. A few moments later staring at the half-finished stew she passes it to Durnham, "Here. My eyes are bigger than my stomach." Sliding it over to him.
"Of course I don't mind, but I might ask for a turn depending on what we find along the way." Qidira responds as an afterthought to his question regarding the bag. "That key though, I could put it to good use. For the party of course. I'll hang on to it for a bit. Might save me some time with troublesome locks."
The matter of the food looked settled in favor of pursuing the merchant, should it prove necessary. Fortunately, it wasn’t. When the old dwarf returned to their table, he brought more than ale. Turned out that one of the men with the tiefling children was actually Irven Liel. What are the chances? Kotar asked himself shortly before deciding it didn’t matter. In a day where things seemed condemned to be just better than what they could be it was good to have some good luck.
“In this case, please, do bring some stew.” He says to Arl, visibly happy for being able to get the dish. Ressys, more focused on their quest, went directly to the family. “The bag will be safer with someone who fights from range and I trust you, Mr. Wenth.” The goliath says with sincerity, but in a teasing tone. “Let’s do some talking now.”
He followed after the firbolg, hoping that at least Brandon would come along. Of all in the group, the human seemed to be the most skilled with words and then that had more worth than any blade. Or, at the very least, any blade Kotar knew of. After all he saw in the last two days, he could imagine a well-spoken weapon
Durnham happily trades the key for the leftover stew. “Thish washnt thuh mhum khey I tha agh it wash,” he says around a mouthful of food. As he eats he takes the key out of his pocket and gives it to Quidira.
Noob
She thanks him and puts it securely in a pouch inside her shirt as opposed to her coin pouch and looks to see how the conversation is going with Liel.
As Ressys approaches the two men they spot him and their laughter trails off although their smiles remain, warm and genuine. Both seem unremarkable in terms of their build, one with wavy dark hair down to his shoulders and the other with a close-cropped patch of strawberry blond atop his head.
When Ressys makes his opening request, both their smiles fade slightly into looks of concern and the dark-haired man raises one hand – like a child in school tentatively asking to visit the bathroom.
“I am Irven” he says, wavering, “but anything you want to say to me can be said here”
The blond man reaches across the table and places his hand on top of that of his husband, gold wedding ring glinting in the light. He tries to smile at him reassuringly, then sees Kotar approaching from behind Ressys. The combined mass of a firbolg and a goliath seems almost too much for his resolve, and he tries to disarm the tension with humour by remarking “Oh wow. Whatever message you guys came to deliver, I’m guessing nobody messed with you on the way!”
As Kotar and Ressys approach the merchant, Durnham finishes up the stew and sits back as he pushes the empty bowl away. As a server or Arl pass by Durnham asks embarrassingly “Could I have a cloth or rag please? I’ve spilled some food on myself,” and he gestures towards his perfectly dry and clean lap hidden under the table.
He then fishes his spellbook out of his backpack and begins to review some notes while carefully keeping an eye and ear on the conversation with the merchant.
Noob
Ressys glances back at Kotar as the goliath approaches from behind. As the man says they can discuss the situation here he purposely looks down at the children for a moment and back to the man. As he ponders for a moment, his ears droop slightly and then raise back up. He mumbles a few short words as he fingers his totem. (Cast Guidance on self)
"As you wish. My name is Ressys, though many around these parts call me Winterwalker. I live in and protect the land, watching over it and trying to maintain the balance of nature and the people. I aid those in need, both creatures of the land and people along the paths of life. Myself, and my companions," at this he glances back at Kotar and motions towards the others at the table, "are looking into a serious matter. Vials containing a deadly spore, an unnatural disease, that has already taken lives have come to this area from an explorer who returned from Eiselcross. Elro Aldataur, leader of Palebank Village, and charged with it's defense set us on this mission. We have recovered one of the vials and during our investigation we have learned that you have come into possession of one of them. It is a small blue vial and is very dangerous. The disease it contains is called Frigid Woe. We need to contain and stop the spread of this threat. We hope the vial you have has not been compromised and you have not been exposed. Our concern is for you and those of your family."
He pauses for a moment, allowing the seriousness of the issue hopefully sink in.
"Are you still in possession of the vial?"
Brandon slides out from behind Kotar and Winterwalker, the larger bulk of the two naturally hiding him from view, and introduces himself to the merchant and his family with a well-worn smile on his face. "Good afternoon, my name is Brandon. My large friend here speaks the truth and I share his concern for you and your family's safety. Hulil, the dwarf who sold you the vial is a mutual..acquaintance and asked us to seek you out. The vial is not what they thought it was and poses great danger. Hulil is ill with this strange disease and several others who have been in direct contact with the vial have perished by becoming frozen solid." Brandon looks around the table at the merchant's family. "I do not share this with you to frighten you, but to warn you. Our only desire is to keep you and your family safe and to prevent the spread of this illness to others. May we see the vial?"
Persuasion: 4
Qidira watches the interaction across the room wanting to assist but knowing she generally makes a mess of persuasive arguments and waves at the men and the children when they look over. As an afterthought, she holds up the mechanical bird making it flap and twist its head about as a distraction for the children and returns to fidgeting with it to draw their attention.
“I am Kotar Ironhunter Anakalathai.” He introduced himself in the ways of his folk, trying to sound as soft and calm as he could. First it was the birth name, given by his parents, then the epithet given to him by the chieftain and, finally, the name of his clan. “As my friend just told, are worried for your family’s safety. Just like we, our group and the Glassblades, are worried by the possibility of the content of the vial spreading.” He hoped that mentioning the local guard the family would be more inclined to attend Brendon’s request. “You see, the illness is deadly by nature highly contagious. You just need brief contact with the spores inside of the vial to be infected and people infected end up like statues of ice in a matter of days. The only cure is a specific antidote that you more likely can only find in Aeorian ruins, if it can still be found.”
The closest thing to lead to the cure lied in Urgon’s last travel route, but following it brought no certainty of finding any antidote. Without this information the next best option would be to search through the entirety of Eiselcross, something as likely to bring results as laying in prayer.
Arl raises a hand in acknowledgement of Durnham’s request: “Haha you’re not the first, young Wenth. I’ll take it as a compliment” he hunts around the bar area for a cloth.
Across the room, Irven’s face is frozen as Ressys, Kotar and Brandon recount your mission and the news of Frigid Woe. His mouth drops open at the end and moves a few times wordlessly, open and closed like a fish. He suddenly turns his head to the children playing in the corner and raises his voice to get their attention, feigning calm: “Honor! Magic! Fetch me your makeup kit please, I want to show it off to this man”
The two girls, maybe about six or seven years old, had been staring at Qidira’s mechanical bird from afar and laughing. Both yelp with glee and run upstairs at the mention of interest in their makeup set. As soon as they are out of sight Irven breaks down, sobbing into his hands. His husband looks up at you, eyes streaming with tears: “We ran into the dwarf lady on the road to Palebank. She said she was moving and needed to shed some possessions, so she offered us the chance to buy an Aeorian relic at a great price. It looked exquisite, but when we stopped here for the night and got a closer look we saw that the vial was cracked and some of the powder had escaped. We thought it was worthless...”
His voice trails off as excited footsteps bundle down the stairs and the girls appear before you, offering proudly a wooden box, hinged open to form two identical trays full of various creams, liquids and powders. Almost immediately you spot the Frigid Woe vial, cracked and three-quarters full. Then you notice the girls’ faces, one is a deep crimson colour and her adopted sister is a light purple. Both have exaggerated applications of bright blue blusher across their cheeks, the exact same colour as the vial’s contents. Irven has composed himself and says quietly “The girls were so in love with the colour that we let them add it to their makup set. If what you say is true, then...oh...oh my”
Irven breaks down again and the girls look confused. They look to their other father for explanation and he brings them both close to embrace them. Looking at you over their shoulders he mouths the words “Help us”, a desperate look in his face.
Kotar wasn’t sure about what to expect from Irven. Maybe disbelief in face of their history about a deadly, artificial disease, or the greed by which some merchants are famous or, rather, infamous for. Instead, the man was helpful and terrified, breaking into tears as his daughters heeded his request for their makeup kit.
Liel’s husband was more composed and managed to tell their history while the children made their way back, carrying a wooden box. Inside it a vial, much like the one they found with Hulil. Cracked. We’re too late, the goliath realized closing his eyes and pressing his lips against one another.
“Ressys, can you use your magic to check for sickness?” He then turned his head into the direction of the table where Durnham and Qidira sat. “Cracked vial. We’ll need help dealing with it.
Kotar could not help but to sympathize with the men. He knew all too well the feeling of having your loved ones facing death.
“If you are ill then you need to remain in the village. The Glassblades are already planning to find a cure.” He said remembering how Elro mentioned something to that effect while talking about Tulgi. “We’ll have to check the staff here too. And then report to Elro.”
As Durnham finishes reviewing his notes and enjoying a full belly, he feels a renewed sense of relaxation and ease as his sense of the arcane is refocused. (Arcane Recovery).
However any sense of relaxation evaporates as he watches and listens to the conversation with the children’s fathers And his friends. As Kotar requests assistance he stands and approaches the two children with the cloth in hand. He kneels down and speaks to them as kindly as he can “Hello there little ones my name is Durnham. Would you like to see a magic trick?” He then lays the cloth out on the ground and lifts his hand in front of him in a twisting motion and says “Mano!”
The mage hand appears before the children and performs a flourish before it moves into the children’s make up kit and picks up the vial. The hand then floats to the cloth and wraps it up in a small bundle. Then carries it back to the make up kit settles it inside and then closes the lid. “Do you know what? I’m an alchemist and part of my job is to make different make up and mixtures. I’m sorry to say that your make up here is defective... in fact it’s dangerous and might make you sick. So I need to take it and keep it from hurting anyone, but here’s a deal,” And he produces 2 silver coins from his pouch and gives one to each of them. “Now you can go buy a new make up kit and your dads can help pick it out. How does that sound?”
Noob
Ressys's ears droop as the man tells his tale. The reality that this family, especially the children, were in mortal danger and were sure to have contracted the sickness slowly sunk in.
"I'm sorry. " He starts. "There is time, and I will seek the cure. You have my word." Is all he can get out.
He embraced and respected the savage nature of the world. But this disease was not natural. It was a mockery of nature.
He would do what had to be done to stop it.
Qidira, moving close enough to hear what has happened by the time the girls have returned, says as she sets down the little bird for them to play with. "Did anyone else touch the makeup that you bought? They might need new make-up too." She says carefully trying not to let the concern show on her face.
She ponders what can be done to clean the room of this disease and who to speak to about it without causing alarm. They won't check out for a short time, so noone should be exposed yet. She will talk to Arl after she's found out more from the children.