Dues for the Dead (DM Lerus)

Doozey gave the Neya's exhaustion further thought from a more occult and arcane perspective, fearing subconsciously there being some subtle attack on their person by the crones. Though... the possiblity of the waters having been more severely contaminated than expected is not so far from mind; especially given the crones use of Greensleep Mushroom Dust. 

Arcana: 24.

(OOC: Based on the OOC Chat, it sounds like most of you are ready for a long rest but still want to set up watches. Therefore, please describe what you are doing during your watch and roll a perception check.)

@Doozey: In your head, you go through potential magic-laced causes for Neya's exhaustion. The foul water, the greensleep mushroom dust, and the crones' ability to affect one's dreams are all possible culprits, but a couple more pop up during your solo brainstorming session. The first of these goes as follows: you know that dragons are inherently magical creatures, with many scholars claiming that they are, in fact, nodes in the Weave where magic concentration is so thick that an entire creature, a dragon, is created... or something like that... the exact details are elusive. Some theories claim when dragons die, much of this concentrated magic is released and, should any beings be nearby, they may just inherent some of the dragon's magic. That hydra's breath weapon seem to support this theory. It is possible that being in close contact and even casting spells on the dead dragon has released some of its latent magic, but not in a pleasant way this time around. The other possibility that pops in your mind has to do with the treasure hoard itself. Some dragons, it is believed, prefer to guard their hoards with magical curses such that the hoard becomes a magical trap in some way. Some curses are vicious, while others may serve more as warning. It is possible that interacting and claiming the dragon's hoard without Derannos' explicit permission has released the curse on CRAP, and Neya's just happened to be the most susceptible person to the curse at that moment.

It took while to mentally put the pieces together, but eventually they all fell into place. The moment they did however, Doozey lets out an exasperated sigh and pinches the bridge of his nose. "That explain it. Bloody dragon managed curse his hoard at some point before his death, the... *sigh*...." He looks up to Neya, and gestures over to Utar.

"His big brother in the heavens aughta be able to fix it, like he did with Mr. Graxx. In the morning we can try to take a closer look at the treasure and see if its still cursed. Being young, I don't imagine he'd have been able to make it that, uh... sticky, should the treasure be dispensed after working its way through the us first. But, better safe than sorry, least we be wasting our time take any of it, good intentions or not." With that said, unless Neya had more questions for the stoutling, he went to work setting up a silent alarm as per the usual, prior to paying the sandman his due.

When later awakened for his shift, Doozey finds it hard not to look in whatever direction Derranos' remains had been laid to rest. Between the guilt of having not come sooner and keeping his promise and at best grey morality of keeping the hoard, an unease had settled in the pit of his stomach. Nevermind the battle that was -- or so he strongly hoped -- would take place the next day on the island, putting an end to at least that thread, or... his inevitable trip to the feywild to seek out answers. 

Eventually, it all became too much. Without a word to the others, he creeped away to find the remains, and knelt before it. There he kneeled for a good few minutes in contemplation, before sighing and taking out a dagger. "They say when a dragon dies, the magic that suffuses most if not all of their being is released, defusing into the environment 'n all that, and... become one with the world in the ways even some druids simply cannot, or unable to... Heh... or so my Mum once told me." He whispered while inspecting the dagger. "I doubt there's much of you left here though in that way, but... if there's even a chance, then...." He goes silent for a few minutes there, seeming to study the remains. "I... don't even know if this is gonna work. And.. I would've preferred to have them here, and have Biscuits and Tater's permission first, better now then never." 

Doozey takes a breath to calm his nerves. Then with a renewed resolve in his eyes, he used the dagger to start rooting around a bit in the neck remains, searching for a decent hunk of flesh and coagulated blood. He then cut himself and dripped some of his own dark blood over the mound, before clasping his hands together, and whispering in almost reverent tone, alternating between sylvan and the more softer draconic phrases. All in an uncertain attempt to somehow connect with the essence of Derranos, speak with him to some extent, or failing that, somehow merge it with himself in a similar as he'd done with Biscuit and Taters. But he was no druid, no cleric, or not even a Pale Knight(Profaned Soul Blood Hunters w/ warlock-y bent). But he would try all the same to make that connection, even if futility in the end. To close it out, he consumes of the hunk flesh and blood with a grimace, but powered on through until not even hardly dropped remained. Then... well, by then it was probably the next person's watch, so he would see to their awakening next.

(Given Doozey's intent, if you want to say the roll doesn't count, or would be at disadvantage(canceling out the advantage of heightened senses), feel free to ignore the below rolls)

Perception: 24.

(And if wanting some kind of roll for the "ritual" of Doozey, here it is(without mods): 11.)

Prior to turning in for the night Utar changes out of his wet clothes and finds a place to hang them in the vain hope they might dry overnight.  Finding nothing else in his pack bar his fancy robes, Utar is at least grateful for something dry and is slightly surprised at how warm the lining feels against his skin.  Taking a ration from his pack, he encourages the others to eat as well, chewing through the assorted foodstuffs in a companionable silence.

Taking his turn at watch, Utar holds onto his shield and keeps Lightbringer close to hand should his darkvision detect anything scuttling closer to the group as they sleep.

Perception - 19

When it comes to Neya's turn, she applies her own darkvision and tries to push through her fatigue during her shift. Now knowing the about strange effects dragons can apply to their environment, she now wonders what sort of foul effects a certain much more malevolent dragon utilizes.

Perception: 4

Graxx thinks back to his cursed sword at Doozey's mention of a curse.

"We need to be careful then.  We've seen what curses can do.  No telling what it has done to any of us."

Graxx will keep Tempus' Dogma close for his watch.

Graxx will use Divine Sense at the end of his watch.

Perception:  25

DM's Screen:

Doozey shares his conclusions with the rest of the group, making sure to say something about curse removal. Graxx is a bit alarmed by it all but the group foregoes any more efforts this evening and settles down for their rest. The barbarian himself volunteers for first watch.

@Graxx: As your intuition had told you, the first couple of hours turn out to be very quiet. You catch no indication of other living creatures in the cave, which is quite surprising for a damp place like this. Using your new, more direct connection with Tempus, you make double sure by sensing the space around you and confirming a lack of celestials, fiends, undead, or any sources of inherent evil/good.

@Utar: During your watch, you check on your traveling clothes and armor but find it all to be still quite damp. The prospect of having to swim your way out of the cave in the morning does not bode well for having dry clothes in the near term. Much like the barbarian told you, your watch also goes by quietly. You have nothing to report to the stoutling when you wake him up for his turn.

@Doozey: You check your alarm and it is still set up just as you left it. When you eventually make up for the guilt your are feeling by trying to connect with whatever presence Derannos may still have in this place, you can't help but think you are grasping at straws a bit. The improvised ritual feels somewhat improper in a way, as you realize you are replicating what the hydra had been doing in a sense. For what it is worth, for a brief moment, you feel the the tidal-like movement of the Weave against your skin, but it is hard to ascertain what that might have meant, if anything at all. As your watch period comes to and end, you can't be sure if something escaped your senses while you were busy otherwise, but it doesn't "feel" like you missed anything.

@Neya: You are having trouble with your exhaustion during the last watch. You are sure you have had enough sleep, but you do not feel fully rested somehow. You may have even dozed off during your watch, but the others had little to report so, with some luck, no new threat made its way into the cave in the wee hours of the morning. Your exhaustion does not go away as you complete the long rest, but you gain all other benefits of one.

As the group wakes up naturally, you all assume it is morning outside the cave. All looks as when you set up camp last night, including Neya's condition. The smell in here is getting perceptively more gross, however.

Utar squelches into his damp clothes, doubling down as he goes through the process of donning his armour on top.

Taking a moment before leaving the cave, Utar again kneels by Derannos' body, placing a copper coin on each of the dragon's eyes. The tiny coins appear almost comical against the eyelids that they rest upon, although thankfully their purpose is symbolic.

Utar casts gentle repose, preferably as a ritual if there is time. But a spell slot is the least Derannos deserves. 

(OOC Has Neya shared her exhaustion with the group? Greater Restoration would remove a level of it, or do we need that for Derannos' hoard?)

Graxx gets up and ponders on himself.  Does he feel any different? Would he know if a curse was troubling him?

Graxx approaches the group.

"Am I acting weird of anything?  More aggressive than normal?  These curses worry me after what happened last time." says Graxx.

Graxx goes up to Utar, Doozey, and Neya individually and stares into their eyes and looks them up and down before throwing his hands up in the air

"By Tempus, I don't know what a curse looks like.  I might as well be staring at a wall." says Graxx.

Graxx opens his hands welcomingly.

"Are you all feeling alright?  Don't feel any sudden urges for vengeance or anything do you?"

"I'm not feeling any less tired from last night." Neya responds. "Nothing violent, just constant lethargy."

Having gone to bed uncertain, Doozey awoke the next day both seeming grumpy, and yet half distracted while taking care of any morning rituals. Which is why when Graxx approached with questions, it took a moment, but eventually Doozey levels a flat stare at the man until Neya broke the ice. "Mn. Curses tend to be made to make a person suffer, or benefit the curser in some way. And while I'm not exactly an expert in curses..." He trails off for second, squinting at noone in particular for a second, before then awkwardly continuing speaking. "-of the non-blood variety. A dragon curse on a hoard would be meant to punish anyone that takes from it, making it easier to get back what's there. Making someone extremely violent or the like isn't likely to help with that. So, your safe big man." Doozey explained, giving Graxx a half-hearted thumbs up.

He then glances over to Utar during the ritual. "In Neya's case, sounds like a curse of Lethargy. At best, she'll never be able to properly rest. At worse... well, there are worse ways to die, but best to get fixed once Mr. Utar is done there." On that note, Doozey walks over to Utar, standing close by but not too close as to accidently interfere with the ritual. While waiting, his mind wanders back to his own ritual, and how much it differed from the Half Orc. It then clicked that perhaps there had been a mistake on his part. A bonding ritual is meant to go both ways, and with each side sacrificing a bit of themselves to make it happen. Or perhaps, he'd done that part right, but hadn't waited long enough for a sign of acceptance before taking in a part of Derranos? Or perhaps had not given enough of himself as part of the bonding?

Grumbling softly, Doozey sat down trying in futility to get his thoughts back in order.

As the group packs up the camp, Utar takes some time to do what he can for Derannos' remains. The Tormite sets up a ritual that aims to preserve the dragon's body for as long as a full tenday.

While this is taking place, Neya and Doozey catch up the rest of the group on the details of the monk's condition, bringing some worrisome thoughts into Graxx's mind. They conclude that Neya's curse is unlikely to be as violent as the one which affected Graxx in the past. Doozey once again suggests Utar has a look at the situation and then falls back into his silent, pensive poise.

(@MB: You may now consider Utar to be all caught up with what the group has theorized about Neya's condition and possibly the hoard's.)

Having done something for Derannos, or at least bought himself time to properly research how best to lay his remains to rest, Utar turns himself to the next pressing matter.

Suspecting Neya's exhaustion to be linked to the curse Derannos likely attached to his hoard, Utar looks over the gems within, selecting a few diamonds. Reasoning that Lightbringer may be able to sufficiently crush the gemstones, they are carefully placed in an empty pouch, before a suitable rock is chosen. Giving a quick warning to his friends, Utar gives them the time to cover their ears before the whackening begins.

Satisfied that the pouch now contains the required spell component, Utar lays his two hands out, palms facing upwards and invites Neya to do the same before emptying the contents of the pouch onto them. Closing his eyes, he begins to chant slowly and casts greater restoration.

Graxx looks to the others satisfied with Doozey's knowledge of curses.

"So what is our next move?  We are rested.  We have gold.  Should we look at securing a ship for passage to the island?  Or should we check the shops for anything useful for you all?"

"Well first, we check out the old, uh, fisherman's sack by the island. See if the boat we used last is in any working order. Doubt it though, but worth look all the same. Perhaps we might even manage to fix it up a bit in a pinch." Doozey replied over his shoulder to Graxx, as Utar makeshift attempt at powdering diamonds took place.

"And if not, well... then back to the city to make the arrangements, 'n all that. And pray that coven grow any stronger than it has before we can get to them."

(OOC: Apparently, diamonds are really hard to cut but fairly easy to crush... I didn't know that.)

Utar grabs one of the diamonds they found in Derannos' hoards and, with the help of a belt pouch and Lightbringer, does his best impression of a jeweler. Meanwhile, Graxx and Doozey discuss next steps.

Soon enough, the cleric hands over some pulverized diamond to Neya and magically cleanses the monk's body. In a surprisingly fast ritual --no more than a few seconds-- the monk feels her soreness leave her body and is assured that the curse, if that's what it was, has been lifted from her. A curse that had been possibly delivered by the dragon's hoard was cleansed by one of its own articles... poetic in a way.

(OOC: What's next?)

Unless there was more to be concerned with, Doozey was fairly eager to get back outside and get the rest of the show on its way. Any art objects far too large to pocket, including the more mundane, he'd suggest leaving it for at least the time being, and simply carrying what they could comfortably. At this time, Doozey saw to loading up some of his old gear, discarding the goblin scimitar in the process at some point.

After all was said and done, he stares at the Onyx statue in hand and faintly smirks, mumbling something in halfling just prior to picking up the pace. "When we surface, we should be mindful for any surprises, just in case." He warns, quickly pocketing  the statue and making ready to depart with the rest, hopeful to still see Sagin up top.

(OOC: I'll wait for some clarification in the OOC Chat before we can decide on what treasure exactly you are bringing with you. In terms of size, the bronze dragon battle standard -- including a bronzen pole-- is the only item that might be awkward to carry. The shrine Utar was interested is the size of a small nightstand, so that might be a bit of trouble too.)

Outside, the wet-again group finds an eager Biscuit waiting for them. Doozey had performed the changing ritual from afar and is happy to see that, at least this time, is worked as hoped. Sagin was far less happy about the return of the mastiff. The kobold takes his time coming back to meet the group and, once he does, he makes sure to stay away from Biscuit.

He stands there, letting CRAP see that he is still around but being too shy to initiate a conversation.

"We some options ahead of us, now," Neya says as they emerge from the lake. "We go to the shore and use the raft to get to the island. If it's not there, we could build one. We could go back to Phlan to charter, or even purchase a boat. We also have the option of hiring some mercenaries to aid us. I'm leaning towards at least checking out the shore to assess the situation."

Biscuit takes one wiff off the group and immediately feigns disgust in burying his nose under his maw, prompting a "Oh you oversized, cheeky pup" from an amused Doozey. Though half distracted affixing Biscuit's gear into place once more soon after, the stoutling is sure to shoot Sagin at least an acknowledging nod.

"Sounds like a plan on both accounts. We'll have to do something about the copper and silver anyhow, as is the least due as well." He said to Graxx and Neya, then looked over to Utar. "We'll have to come back with a cart and some able hands for that weird shrine, assuming you really want to bring back further study, Mr. Utar. But if you wanted to take a moment to draw a picture of it at least, perhaps we can bring that much back, yea?" Doozey waits a moment to hear the responses, glances over to Sagin, and then in a quick word in Sylvan to send Biscuit off a ways to do... dog things, turned to Sagin. "Have you decided then, Mr. Sagin?"