The Courting of Fire (DM Lerus)

Graxx receives the scale back from Obsben and looks a little disappointed.

Graxx looks up from the scale to Obsben.

"So.... This doesn't control Dragons?" asks Graxx softly.

Graxx sighs a bit.

"Well... I guess that would have been too good to be true." says Graxx.

Graxx looks back down at the scale.

"A shield huh?  Not a good fit for me.  Hard to hold my axe and shield at the same time..." says Graxx.

Graxx motions back towards where Utar went.

"Let us go check on our friend."

Graxx looks to Neya.

"Wait... This will be hard to hide from Spernik."

"Any chance it fits in the bag?" asks Graxx.

Obsben could only shrug. "With the appropriate rituals and given its connection, its not completely impossible. The challenge then simply becomes finding the right formula or what-have-you." She further explained. "Though anyone that might've possesseth such knowledge or means will either have to experiment and hope for the best, or-..." She glances down at Skovac. "Are no longer of the living variety in any sense of the word... or again, it could be such magic is simply dormant until someone again attunes to it." The lightling added before simply shrugging and carrying on with her work.  

"Well, the scale's bulk can certainly fit inside." Neya begins. "But, I don't think we can make the scale fit the bag's mouth without damaging either. If the bag is the thing that breaks, I don't think there's any feasible we can retrieve what we have inside."

"While Spernik likely doesn't know what we just went through, he probably already thinks we have it."

"I mean, he'd certainly suspect something. But a good story and a bit of misdirection can usually fix that sort of thing right up." Obsben assured with a cheeky smile. She then sighed and shrugged. "But seeing as it isn't feasible, then at the very least we can cover it up for now." She starts to turn away on that note, only to stop short and put a finger to her chin.

"... Although if none of you mind me attuning to it to see what else might be hiding, I wouldn't mind given it a go, as it could be this other magic will only reveal itself to more dragon bloody folk. And according to my Great, Great Uncle Libbo, there's a bit of dragon blood in the 'ol Overhill line from the time me Great, Great, Great Grandpa  fancied himself a... particular kind of dragon 'slayer', if ya catch my meaning." Obby gives a little wink and giggled to herself before again returning to her work. "... Besides, its not as if we won't need some time to recover after that whole mess anyhow, and there's plenty more here for some preliminary studying 'fore we begin to head back.... not to mention again seeing to the dead." 

Graxx presents the Scale to Obsben.

"Tell us it's secrets..." says Graxx lightly.

Graxx smiles.

"I would like to hear more about Dragonslaying some time." states Graxx.

Salty Bottom shakes his head at Utar and then shows him a wide, satisfying grin.

Obsben can't resist but ponder on the secrets the scale might still be hiding from her, but the halfling has to admit most of her thoughts are mere conjecture at this point. Graxx takes the scale again, a bit disappointed by its revealed powers and by its potential use as a simple shield. Obsben continues to name numerous possibilities but, again, they are only theories for now.

The party next turns to the mater of transporting the scale and, as Neya points out, the bag of holding may not be able to serve as a vessel for it. Graxx then worries that Spernik will plainly see the scale but Obsben seems to trust her tale-spinning capabilities, or maybe just a blanket. Giggling, she then offers to attune to the scale in hopes of finding out more about it. She asks for an hour or so to complete the ritual and rest, while reminding the others that they should probably bury the extra corpses they created in the latest fight.

(OOC: Go ahead and take you Short Rest!)

Utar returns the grin to Salty Bottom turns his attention back to Spernik, picking the man up and setting him against a wall again.

"How's your stay with us been so far, Spernik?  Would you recommend our simple hostelry to your friends and family?"

Setting himself down near Spernik, Utar continues, casually taking a ration from his pack and settling in, "Do you need anything? Food? Water? To make soil outside? If you can wait a little longer, we'll likely be getting ourselves on our way soon."

(OOC - If Spernik wants Utar will share his food with him.  Also, rolling 6 hit die in this short rest for.... 59 hit points.)

"Of course, Graxx. But I will warn ya it's a bit of raunchy one. And... there may be a few embellishments here or there, given it's a story passed down several generations. But I'm sure you'll enjoy it regardless." She assured him. On that final note, she found a comfortable spot near the pillar room entrance, but just out of immediate sight of it and begun her meditation on the object.

As much as Obsben might have wanted to join the others wherever it was the ultimately settled down in for their own short rest, some small hope lingered in her heart and hinted at the possibility of the scale shrinking to better suit her once attuned. Not all magical implements of course did such things, but the possibility was above a 0 at least! And if it could, she could sneakily call Neya back into the room to try again at hiding the scale!

Barring such any such occurrences though once fully attuned, she may very well wrap it up in her sleeping blanket at the very least before rejoining the others for one final story/pep talk prior to their departure back to town.

--Inspiring Leadership(following rest): 14.  

(OOC: Much as I'd like to get a pass on it... Salty Bottom died to the initial AoOs. Though at DM's discretion since he didn't do all that much in the fight anyways, I'd be perfectly fine having said that he was left behind to watch Spernik instead. Just extra beefed up for in case Spernik tried anything funny >.>;;)

Edit: Spending Arcane Recovery to get back one 1st level and one 2nd level slot.

Graxx's resistance to poison helped him not take much damage so he is not as tired as the rest.

"I'm excited to know what else you find out."

Graxx will carefully bury the new corpses and also check on the horses.

Graxx comes back to Obsben.

"I have to say.  A shield that shoots fire.  That would catch me off guard in battle." says Graxx.

Neya takes this time to catch her breath (and to keep from hacking up a half of a lung).

Hit Dice (4 Monk and 2 Fighter): 30 + 15

(@Ori: Oh, that's right. I forgot SB was poofed. Well, I'm happy to say he was with Spernik instead. )

Spernik looks defeated. He groans and moans through the gag on his mouth but eventually accepts some food. He does not respond to Utar's attempts to poke fun at him.

Given only one hour, Graxx decides to prioritize burial services rather than resting. He knows his body can take it, so the tribesman focuses on removing bodies from the temple and interring them outside, as he did with others before the fight against Skovac.

Similarly, Obsben dedicates the next hour to studying and trying out the scale as shield. Despite her hopes, the scale does not decrease in size, although neither is it too big to feel completely awkward to handle. It might feel to her as a wider than normal tower shield would feel to a human soldier.

Neya and Utar could use the rest, though. They find a spot to sit down and mend their wounds as they collectively keep an eye on Spernik.

(OCC: I need some Short Rest clarifications before we move on. @Grx: Did I understand it right that Graxx is skipping the rest? @MB: It looks like your Hit Dice rolls didn't work. Do you mind adding a word at the end of your post to force the rolls to recalculate? @Ori: Is Obsben not rolling Hit Dice? I'll elaborate on the shield once we finish the Short Rest proper.)

Feeling guilty as he watches Graxx remove the bodies and bury them. Utar turns the human back over to the watchful eye of Salty Bottomonce their ad-hoc meal is over.  Heading outside, he stands over the freshest looking of the small graveyard CRAP have now created and says few words over them, peppering in a few references to nature and how that Skovac and his followers are now all the closer to it.  He decides not to add anything about dragons or fire.

Glancing up at the sky, he tries to discern whether CRAP might have time to make a decent enough dent in the journey back to Phlan, or whether they best get the horses fed and set up to bed down here again.  Might let given them a chance to give the place a once over in order to give the Lord Sage something to look over, so sliver linings.

Survival - 7

(OOC Have no idea what time it is in game, is it early morning?)

OOC:  Yes, Graxx is out of hit dice so skipping short rest.

 SHORT REST

• Utar recovers 59 HP.
• Neya recovers 45 HP.

As the rest comes to and end, Obsben is sure to deliver a pep talk to the group, lacing its delivery with magic. (Everyone gains 14 temp HP.) 

Attuning to the shield, Obsben feels she is capable of slinging another spell. The spell is tied to the shield, so she can't quite inscribe it into her book, but once a day she feels she'll be able to launch a a line of fire at an enemy. Surprisingly, the halfling gains no additional knowledge regarding the abjuration and illusion essences the scale possesses. If fact, she learns something else. The scale seems to be slowly eating away at Obsben. Right away, she feels a burning sensation coming from within, from her deepest personal core, from her soul. (Obsben takes 1 fire damage and her max HP drops by 1 as well.)

The wizard/bard clicks her tongue. In attuning to the scale, she has cursed herself.

Outside, after delivering simple burial rites, Utar looks up and smiles. CRAP has most of the day ahead of them, should they wish to begin their return trip to Phlan.

Heading back inside, Utar claps his hands and rubs them together. His eagerness to return to Phlan palpable.

"We're burning daylight! We could be away from here and halfway home by the time night falls if we left quick sharp! There anything left for us to do here? Any more research to get done? Do we want to work out how to choose this place back up again?"

Graxx nods his head in agreement.

"I have nothing left here to do."

"Let us begin our journey back home.  I am ready to get out of all this cold weather clothing."

Graxx looks to Spernik.

"This one will certainly slow us down a bit.  We'll need to make sure they can keep up."

"We essentially are leaving this place an empty crypt," Neya responds to Utar. "The only things left here would only be for research efforts. I don't think we have the tools to delve any further."

As the realization of what happened donned upon her as well, Obsben found herself groaning, pulling at the sides of her hat, and eventually grumbling out, "Oh, not again!" And yet, if given at least a little time -- a minute or two at best really -- to compose herself again, she'd resolve herself to seek out a temple or bug Utar the next day about possible curse removal. In the meantime, she'd wrap as much of her bedroll and a change of robes around the shield, before ultimately strapping it to her back for the trip.

"Well, apart from some major heartburn and maybe a little soul burning, but we're not gonna think about that too much, I'm ready to be off as well. I miss riding a great deal, and could use the comfort." She said to the others, if though with some muttering midway through her spiel. "And I'll catch you up on what I found out, big guy. Along the way, mind you." She assures Graxx. "As for closing this place up, uhm... I wouldn't bother, truth be told. We've already burnt up enough daylight, as ya said before, and any effort to do so is liable to take up the whole day and thensome, Utty. Out of curiosity tho', want me to send a message to anyone, letting'em know at least we're on our way back?" She'd offer. But ultimately regardless of the answer, the lightling would happily follow the others out and back to the mountains for the ride back to the town.

Utar sees the rest of the group is finishing their errands in the Temple of the Scale and makes a recommendation. It is time to return to Phlan. The Tormite ponders if they should dedicate some time for one last errand, but both Neya and Obsben, think that time would be better spent by leaving sooner rather than later, especially since they sense they would be leaving little behind after thoroughly clearing up the old druidic circle's underground hideout.   

Graxx is eager to reunite with the mounts. Realizing they are riding back to Phlan with extra baggage, the tribesman volunteers to carry Spernik on Glory. The warhorse is certainly the most capable mount in the group when it comes to shear strength. Even if she wanted to share it, Obsben finds she is unable to give up carrying the scale/shield herself. She prepares the relic for travel, climbs up Basil, and follows Graxx. Utar and Neya climb atop their own mounts (Glühoof II and Opal) and bring the rear.

The ride through the hilly landscape is not unpleasant. The chilly winds cut a bit deeper when the group is moving at speed, and they find themselves following a winding path as to not force the mounts through a harsher, more direct path down the hills. Breaks are only taken to give the horses and the mastiff a break, as well as to ingest some food. Before CRAP can really notice it, dusk begins to surround them. By then, they have traveled far enough for the temperature to have risen a few degrees, though the evening brings some of the chill back. Feeling there is little need to rush through the night, CRAP decides to make camp and dedicate most of the next day to the final leg of the ride back to town.

(OOC: Please set your watches and let me know if anyone is attuning to any new items, like that Ring of Warmth.)      

Before leaving, Utar will take the four part key and reseal the room where they found the scale and fought Skovac.

Happily falling into conversation with the rest of CRAP, Utar suggests that Obsben message Harper, and perhaps the Lord Sage too. Ekmong as well if she strong enough to send that many.

As the end of the adventuring day arrives, Utar sets to pitching the cold weather tents, before asking, "Do we risk a fire tonight?"

Utar will take any watch: Perception: 21

(OOC How many rations have been consumed on the journey? I've already accounted for Utar's one eaten in the short rest. Also, Utar has not prepared sending, any messages from him will need to wait until tomorrow.)