Mica wakes the next morning feeling oddly refreshed, more rested than he has been in days, especially given the location and situation in front of them.  He helps the others pack up their supplies and retrieves the two traps from the trail where he placed them the night before, relieved to see them undisturbed.  “We’ll take a look at these cliffs.  Probably should not try anything until it gets darker, but we can scout out a way down and see what we are facing.  Try picking up the trail of your lost wizards too.”

The night passes without danger or incident.  It is a steamy morning, with a low mist hanging in the jungle outside the cave-like structure where you have been hiding.  

Packing up his things, Eligos steps forward.  "I have been thinking," he begins.  Before he can finish...

Danica and Nalomanterys:

 Mica, Ran, Meili... you each see that Danica and Nalomanterys seem momentarily dumbstruck, swaying on their feet as if about to faint.  After a few seconds they both seem to recovery, though there is a look of shock and confusion on each of their faces.  Eligos, for his part, looks concerned, and he holds up his hands as if to say 'it wasn't me.'

Meili did not suspect Eligos and did not notice his reaction. Her attention was fully on the captain and Nalomanterys.

"What happened? Jungle sickness again or ... ?" Gods let it be the jungle sickness! Danica looked as pale as in the dwarven settlement now and the fact that Nalomanterys joined her in suffering this time was more than worrisome.

"We surely can rest a bit longer if needed."

Ran watches the exchange and quickly draws his new longsword along with one of his old reliable ones and steps between Eligos and Danica & Nalomanterys.

"What did you do, mate?" Ran says to Eligos. He looks back quickly to Meili. "Are they okay?"

Glancing at Eligos, she hummed in acknowledgement, surprised at his verbal gratitude. "You're welcome."  When Nalomanterys asks if they had tried to converse with Ran's bird sister, the elf grimaces, staring at the brightly colored avian and simply nodding as Mica explains. "Can't rightly tell if she's not right in the head anymore because of what's been done t'her or if she's just extra cursed..." Giving Ran a sympathetic glance. 

At the mercenary's suggestion of her steering the sky ship, she was about to bring up several things in protest when Eligos beat her to it, though in a much more cutting way than she had planned on. Sighing and leaning against the cave wall, Danica explains, "The biggest hole in the bird brain's plan is while I think I might be able to try and figure out how to steer a sky ship, I don't think any of you know how to man any sort of ship. ...And that would be important if we don't want to immediately crash." 

Huffing a mildly amused laugh at the foreign wizard's conciliatory explanation of his past plan, Danica shakes her head and admits, "What I wouldn't give for one of my old crew's necklace right about now..." Miming and making a sound mimicking an explosion. The brief amusement fades into drawn seriousness as Meili recites the prophecy that guided them all here, eyes unfocused as she can just hear Grandfather Zitembe's voice... Lips pursing as she thinks of Inete. 

Moving over to Nalomanterys as they began to settle down for the night, Danica nods at the other's comments of what to do if Eligos couldn't be trusted. Murmuring lowly to the eccentric man, she says, "We'll be counting on you to keep an eye on him. We might not recognize a spell before he casts it. But you could Nal." Giving their wizard a trusting smile before making sure to set up their bug repellant incense and protection spell courtesy of the Hag. 

Come the morning, she stretches to limber up and brings up, "So lightning bolts didn't do much Eligos? Think you managed to damage at least one part of it? If so, maybe we could focus some fire on that part and have a better chance of putting it out of commission. If it comes to that." 

The druid is turning to look at the Not Red Wizard as he begins to speak when suddenly she sways, eyes unfocused before she begins gasping for air, pawing and clawing at her neck for nothing there. Green eyes bulge in panic and she doesn't see the cave ceiling but an endless expanse of deep ocean with no surface in sight. Drowning.
But somehow she managed to stay on her feet as she felt her faculties return to herself. ...And indeed all of herself seemed returned. A slowly dawning look of confused realization overtakes Danica's expression as she stares at Nalomantery's, hand reaching out for his arm instinctively, seeing how similarly he had been reacting along with her. "Nal, you too-? Is it-?" Her mouth worked silently, unable to voice the question at first before a rather manic and utterly incredulously joyful laugh begins to bubble up from inside her. 

Staring at Meili's touchingly concerned expression, Danica doesn't spare a glance at Eligos, practically forgetting his existence as she explains to the Seekers, "The Curse. It's gone. I mean it feels gone. Stars I can't believe how much lighter I feel..." A hand is going up to her forehead and tangling in her brown locks, her smile not fading. 

Mica jumps up as Danica and Nalomanterys both sway and almost lose their balance. He immediately suspects Eligos as well, but Ran beats him to the wizard.  Instead he moves to help Meili steady the others while keeping one eye on the red wizard. “Are you alright, do either of you need any healing?”   As Danica’s reactions move from worried to joyful, Mica is confused.  “The curse, what do you mean it’s gone?  It’s over, just like that, we did it?”

In unison with Danica, Nalomanterys wobbles to the ground as his legs simply give out. While making wretched, hollow, gagging noises, the wizard's hands tear at his throat, ripping away his long, bight blue scarf from its so-far permanent spot around his neck. Within a few moments, it's all over and Nalomanterys gulps in lungfuls of air. Incongruously, a wide smile splits his gaunt face as though the best thing in the world had just happened to him.

He bolts upright, looking like he could run for miles in the jungle heat or wrassle a hungry t-rex by himself. "By Tymora's bloody tits, we did it!" He exclaims victoriously in a shrill voice. "Or someone did, as makes no matter. It's done! We can all go home now!" He struts triumphantly around the cave, blasting confetti from his fingertips, until he sees his scarf on the ground. "Ah..." he sighs, dampening but not killing his joy, as his hand reaches for his neck. He runs his fingers along a deep, old, rope-patterned imprint before picking up his scarf and covering it up again. "... that..."

He clears his throat. "Well," he says, face flickering between a seemingly irrepressible smile and... embarrassment? melancholy? "I suppose this changes our situation. Or does it? Do we still need to make sure this excellent turn of events stays permanent?"

Ran puts his swords away once he realizes Danica and Nalomanterys are happy with whatever has happened.

"As we did sweet piss all, it must be someone else," Ran says. "Or that lot in the city are fighting over control over whatever creates the curse."

He looks at the bird and then the 'white' wizard.

"Either way, I still need to go in there," Ran says. "Understood if the rest of you want to take a pass."

It's as Nalomanterys declares that they could all go home now that suddenly struck Danica out of her manic joy and her grin began to fade as she thought about the situation, hand loosely on her face still in shock, pieces of magically conjured confetti floating down into her hair. Hearing Mica's voiced concern and pointed question, she absent mindedly shook her head slowly. "No...no I don't think we're hurt..." Her eyes lingered on the wizard and couldn't help but be drawn to where he touched his neck. The imprint on his skin drawing attention but it seemed a private thing. So she focused on the more important matter at hand.

Taking a deep breath, the druid nods in acknowledgement of Ran's statement. "Could be. But you're right. I'm with you still. As much as I'd love to just head back and act the conquering hero..." She glances around at the others. "We don't know for sure if the Death Curse is really gone. Or what caused it and how to prevent it from occurring again."
The elf narrows her eyes as she meets Nalomanterys' and admits, "There's also no guarantee that this isn't just because we're closer now. It seemed like the closer we got, the worse I got. But it's been different for you? I wouldn't have guessed you had been suffering the same Nal." She admits guiltily, looking at the man with empathy before shaking her head. "It makes me think of an animal trying to throw us off its scent. Make us think everything's fine and we can leave it alone when it's not." 

Letting out a sigh, Danica ends, "I want to see this through. Help Ran. Help Hew." Her eyes widen and she exclaims, "Ah shite I forgot about Hew! Think he'll meet up with us soon?"

Mica’s confusion only deepens as Nalomanterys dances around the small cave and he focuses on the wizard's scarred neck. “Wait, were you affected by the curse? You too, Cap’n?  Why didn’t you say anything?”

Mica turns back to Ran “Well, curse over or not, we are here, might as well take a look around and see what we can find. I am with you, hate to walk all this way for nothing.”

He smiles as Danica mentions Hew. “ I reckon he will be along shortly, he is too stubborn to not show up.”

Rubbing the back of her neck before pulling her hand away with a grimace, it now greasy from the insect repellant she had only just re-applied not an hour ago, Danica sighed at Mica's questions. "I didn't know until a day or two ago. Not for sure leastways. Just kept telling myself I felt off because of nerves or I was coming down with something or another. Shivering sickness n all. Didn't mean to lie to you all or anything. But once I did know..." She shrugged and admitted, "Didn't see the point of saying anything. We were either going to end the Death Curse and I wouldn't have to worry about it anymore.....or we weren't." 

[Based on the time it would take to backtrack to Hrakhamar and then catch up with you, you expect Hew will not reach your location for 3 more days.  2, perhaps, if he hurries.  He does have Mica's trailblazings to follow, so maybe 2 days is a safe bet.]

Eligos watches the celebration of Nalomanterys and Danica, and the parties subsequent discussions, with unease.  Finally, he clears his throat.  "I am happy to hear of the betterment in your condition.  At the same time, this development does little to assuage my own concerns."

"I have been thinking all night about what you told me... about the vision offered to you by the god Savras.  It led you to this place, the seat of whatever power was spreading the Death Curse.  Mostly, I have been troubled by how the vision ended with the underground filling with blood, and then that blood erupting and spreading out across the land.  Drowning the world."

He walks to the opening of the little cave complex and stares into the jungle mists.  "Contrary to your warrior's theory, I do not believe Savras was telling you to cause a volcanic eruption."  He laughs, but it is bitter and mirthless.  "But I do agree... I fear the blood was a metaphor.  Not waves of blood, but rather a flood of my traitorous countrymen.  They have entered the tombs of darkness, pillaged its treasures, and whatever they have found down there, they will use to spread their foul influence across the entirety of the world."

"Well then a good lava bath would solve the problem," Ran says after Eligos hypothesizes about a tidal wave of red wizards spreading across the world.

He looks up at the sky from the 'cave' entrance and then to the others. 

"We should rattle our dags and go find this city before anymore of those snake people come this way."

Meili felt as confused as Mica looked. Actually, looked too. She was silent during all the explanations and at the end had to sit down and think it through a little to fully understand.

"We all saw you were sick." Meili addressed Captain first. "It was obvious, of course. I think I was not the only one who suspected The Sisters because they were hunting anyone with magic and attacked us before. But you are saying it was the  very curse we came to fight and you feel it disappearing?"

She looked at Nalomanterys now. "And you got affected as well. And because you suddenly feel better you now think the curse is gone?" Meili shook her head. "I am very happy to see both of you feeling yourself again. But I am sorry, I do not believe the Death Curse could simply disappear."

Meili paused with the same expression of deep doubt and added. "All priests in the world did fight it of course. And wizards too I think. Some could finally succeed but... how can we tell? There is a man, an entity behind it. He could simply toy with us - with you -  making you believe you are free now. And the vision - it clearly said the answers are down there." She stood up again determinately.  "One monster or many, a skeleton man or the hoard of Red Wizards. Even if you are right and the curse has ended, we have to make sure it did. I go down there."

“I thought it was the shivering sickness, nothing more, but it wouldn’t have changed anything if we did know, we would see it through to see you better Cap’n” Mica places his hand on Danica's shoulder “You too,  Nalomanterys.” Mica looks over at the wizard. “Meili’s right, we have to make sure.  For you and others.”

He grumbles a little bit at Meili’s last words though “It sounds like it is a skeleton man AND wizards, and snake men to boot.  Still let’s stop talking about it and get after it.  Ran’s right.” Mica shoulders his bag and starts to lead the others out, trying to trace the path of the previous scouting party.

Over the morning, Nalomanterys regains composure over his emotions - his smile fades and the light in his eyes dwindles to the usual dull fatigue of this endless jungle trudge.

Responding to surprise about his sickness, the wizard responds: "Yes, I knew I had it, but I saw and felt nothing of it until recently. After I had joined you all, in fact, was the first I noticed it at all. But it had been surely progressing."

As everyone agrees that they should go into the city and make sure the threat is really gone, Nalomanterys quickly concedes. "I agree, my surprise got the best of me. In fact, we should redouble our efforts and our pace. Perhaps those red wizards have suppressed the effect and are hauling some artifact - the source of the curse - off to their airships as we speak."

As the Seekers and their newest 'guide' trek through the dense jungle, they continue pressing southeast.   The air thick with humidity, enough that a pale mist clings to the jungle floor and low hanging plants.  Based on their experience, the atmosphere feels primed for large storms later today.  The usual cacophony of wildlife in the treetops accompanies them as they travel the final few miles.  Then, having gradually ascended a shallow rise, they reach the edge of a deep chasm cleft in the jungle floor.  Eligos cautions everyone to stay low, as he gestured downward.  At last, the Seekers have found the hidden city.

The jungle parts to reveal a dead city enclosed by sheer cliffs, ranging between 100' and 150' down to the bottom.  Ruined buildings and stone boulevards rise like ghosts from the floor of the misty basin.  Colorful birds glide overhead.

A waterfall pours into the basin on the opposite side of the chasm, creating a swollen river that floods much of the city before draining into a deep rift filled with molten lava.  A ruined palace lies a few hundred feet from the edge of the steaming abyss.  

From their vantage point atop the cliffs, the characters can see the entirety of the ruins sprawled out below them, the winding streets and crumbling buildings hinting at a history lost to the ancient past.  At this time of morning, half the city is still in shadow, as the sun hasn't yet risen high enough to illuminate all of it.

You can see the airships mentioned by Eligos.  One is anchored against the cliff face at the northern end of the rift.  Below it, a wooden rampart fortifies an encampment of some kind.  The other airship soars high overhead, just scraping the bottom of the clouds.

[You have reached the ruins on the western side, middle where the little peninsula sticks out bear the little orange dot that looks like a campfire.]

Ran looks across the rift to where the airship is anchored and notes the wooden rampart. He’s not sold yet that taking all that out first isn’t the way to go.

”Does anyone know how those airships stay in the air? Gas? We could set it and the rampart on fire. That would keep them busy for awhile.”

[Nalomanterys (or really anyone, I suppose) could make an Arcana check to see if they know how these airships work.]

"Magic, I suppose." Meili did not really know it, but to her, a gas able to lift a solid wood would be no different from a spell anyway. Her attention was on the city below.

"It's ... huge." She sounded (and looked) stunned. "How... Where... Can anyone see the way down?"