Slick pauses at the door at the mention of an inheritance without an inheritor.

"Slick thinks perhaps this task needs Slick's expert oversight!"

The tavern keeper keeps up his smile, as if there had never been anything else planned! "Of course! I got two modest rooms right next to each other still just for yours truly. Regardless, just let me know when whoever wants to go first wants that bath!" he nods, and takes a quick, courteous exit.

---

Slick had almost exited the room, when obviously heroic instincts kicked in- Doing a quick half turn to offer his much needed services.

"Err- Well, you were a friend of Khond here, right? Then I suppose it's fine-"

Once everyone is gone to bed, Wisdom save from everyone.

Breldo will offer to letNuria first go, but won't hesitate if she turns it down. 

Wis: 18

Rick pats Khond's flank,

"Yes, Rick and Khand are best of buddies!"

((Wisdom save for sleeping: 11))

Khond frowns at the Tabaxi, "We hardly know each other.  I've no trust for your greasy mitts."

Wisdom save: 4

Wisdom: 21 (nat 20)

Nuria looks gives Breldo a thankful smile then nods to the tavernkeep. "I-I would like to go first."

Rick looks at Khond with mild surprise,

"Rick knows Gond very well! Why else would Rick put a ponyman in charge while Rick was off being heroic and saving people on the sinking, not sinking boat? Rick's mitts are greasy, Rick thanks Gond for noticing."

He'll rub said greasy mitts through his arm furr to re-grease them after having slathered the ponyman's hindquarters.

"Plus Rick made sure ponyman was safe after ponyman was completely demolished in a fight with a much smaller, but still big, drunk man in a bar. Rick is to be counted on!"

Wisdom save  6

"You don't even know my name, Tabaxi, and the only reason I know yours is that you keep saying it.  And from past experience, you'd likely try to take charge of the escort when they know what they're doing."

Breldo remains at the table, taking in the atmosphere if the tavern as Nuria heads to get cleaned up, and mentally reviews his list of things he'd like to pick up before hitting the road again. The lass is a bit jumpy, but seems to know how to use the gear she carries at least. A few days of travel will give a better measure of her. Oren looked strong enough, but he's a city boy, and they're both so young. All the more reason they need a seasoned veteran of the road to make sure they're guided in the right direction.

On one side of the city does the tavern keeper guide Nuria to a small, spare little bedroom, excusing himself and letting his wife take over the duty of pouring the boiling water into the cold tub - Assuming that Nuria would not prefer doing it herself. Not that far away at all Khond and Slick have just one of their funny little misunderstandings that only obvious best friends do, Higgs looking mostly in confusion as it transpires. But it is quite clear that he had taken trust primarily just in Khond... So things would have to be seen how they would be resolved.

At least for the two of them, it wouldn't matter. Khond for his part, slept peacefully, blissfully unaware of something that transpired. Slick on the other hand would as he drifts into sleep, feel the tug, ever so briefly, but snapped away from it in such haste that he would not even remember come morning.

Oren, Breldo and Nuria were not quite as lucky. Their dreams would be strange, or rather, nonexistent. But it would be reasonable to say that they would prefer to blame it all on a strange nightmare rather than reality, the experience distinctly uncomfortable. Feeling as if they were pulled out of their body, floating over the indistinct shape of the sleeping city, and out into the bay. As their visage was plunged deep into the water, at least it seemed their body was spared the cold. Whether the awareness that they could not feel or move their bodies was more or less comfortable than this fact, was debatable.

Their vision plunged down. Perhaps, subconsciously, they might realize they are not alone on this journey, even if they cannot perceive others that have been enthralled, as the wreck of the "Little Hope" comes into view. Their vision plunges through floorboards, momentary darkness each time before grisly sights of what happened, or was happening, to most else of the crew. Ocean life is opportunistic, and many fish do not deny a free meal after all. But these are grisly sights that come to stand into stark contrast with what else they can see, somehow through the pitch black of the underwater.

There in the bowels of the ship, drifting among lost goods, a female Tiefling lays quietly in eternal sleep. Raven locks slowly drift through the water, as she looks almost perfectly preserved. In fact fish nearby almost seem to keep their distance, occasionally watching. It seemed impossible to tell if they watched in reverence or fear. 

But their attention to her form is but a mere afterthought, compared to what their vision is forced toward. The object clutched in her hands, fingers interlocking together over the lid, clenching it shut even in death.

A small, but ornate wooden box. Varnished black, and decorated with both silver and ivory as intricate patterns line its edges and top, the lid of the little box could not hold more than a few mere trinkets at most, decorated with a symbolic picture of the sun, concentric circles surrounding it. 

And here it is that their vision is now stuck. Forced to watch. Be made aware of its existence. And, just perhaps, in the back of their minds, the nagging feeling that...

They should open it.

This happened to all. Except for Nuria. Nuria, who would have been dragged in regardless of anything that happened, for she had already heard the song. She was already enthralled. Perhaps the others had too, and just never realized that even the lingering presence of notes was enough to get addicted. Because here, now, in this moment, did she come to realize that is what it was. Whatever this box was doing, it made her body feel in the moment as if it were the first time it breathed fresh air, and instinctually want to hold onto it.

But that realization came together with the knowledge that she has survived her entire life without.

It means that, at least in this very moment, she is stronger than it.

And leaving her at least with the option on whether she'd tear herself away now... Or "stay" and, maybe, somehow, act..?

(Oren, Breldo, and Nuria are all considered "paralyzed". With that said, do let me know what they are thinking, or would be trying to do.)

Breldo's thinking he must be getting rusty and too far removed from action if he's letting a brush with adventure this afternoon take over his dreams in such a way. Or perhaps it's to blame on something he ate? Perhaps that third bowl of stew was too much? Or the spice of the sausages? That must be it.

When she first falls asleep, Nuria is revealed. Strange though it may be, what she at first perceives to be a dream of falling into the ocean is rather calming. Usually her dreams are filled with visions of flame and the sounds of terrified screams. Water is a welcome change. Perhaps it is a lingering memory of the wonderful bath she had before bed? Certainly not. No, this must be the result of that strange ordeal on the sinking ship. Still a welcome change, she has grown weary of reliving that moment from her past...This thought is ripped away when she sees the wreck of Little Hope. This is not a dream, it's a nightmare! And even though she is used to nightmares, that doesn't make them any less terrifying. Trembling, she floats along wherever this not-dream is taking her. The deeper she sinks, the more she feels that this is not even a nightmare... but how can that be? She had just gone to sleep. She is laying in bed right now. Isn't she? Her fear only grows when her eyes fall on the slumbering tiefling, and it grows more when she recognizes that intoxicating melody. It's beauty sickens her. Why did she want it so much? Why does it tempt her so? She hates it. If only she could make it stop...

"Magic is not real. Magic is not real." She tells herself. "This has to be a dream!" She tries to grasp her head, and panics when she can't feel her hands move. She can't feel her body at all! This is all because of that box! She can feel that if she tried, she may be able to escape it's grasp, but what if it calls to her again? What if it calls again, and it pulls at her with even greater force? What then? No, she can't leave now. She has to make it stop! Frantically, she tries to rush towards the sleeping woman. She has to take that box and destroy it. Anything to stop the music. 

Oren is used to dreams...Or really nightmares.  'Here we go again,' he thinks, trying to will himself to wake up before the usual dream of him being paralyzed while his parents try to run from the devastation of their home.  But then he realizes he not at his old home, but here in Mezzra and heading for the bay and the sunken ship.

He is confused and scared and struggles to move.    By the time he can see the dead tiefling and the compelling box she is holding, he has stopped struggling to move, knowing he cannot win in this dream-sleep.  He instead just tries to see what the dream/nightmare is showing him and tries to remember it all, knowing that so many dreams are fleeting and often forgotten once you have awakened.  Except for the terror, somehow you remember being scared.    Oren does not like to be scared.  And if he remembers the dream, even a little, it will be less scary next time and maybe he will know what to do.

Wisdom save: 15

Rick gives his best approximation of looking aghast,

"Rick knows ponyman's name but loves giving loving pet names! Rick is famous for Rick's pet names! Rick thinks friend..."

Rick's face bunches in concentration then,

"...Khond!"

With unbridled confidence and pride, then continues,

"Must have hit Khond's head in the fight!"

He nods then adds,

"Rick only takes over when Rick knows what is best to be done! Rick wouldn't take over from a cook or a carpenter, mostly!"

Higgs hesitates for a moment, then just raises his arms slightly.

"I'm not sure what's going on between you two, but one additional manpower is one additional manpower, right? If you're worried about pay, I'd throw in for the both of you-"

---

Oren and Breldo are stuck, frozen in place, forced to watch. In the vision of their mind, it almost starts to feel like everything else fades away, and leaves only that accursed box. Breldo wishes it away as naught but a bad dream, maybe brought on by that stew, and perhaps that ignorance is his bliss. Oren on the other hand, realizes something is far from right, but that still leaves him powerless to act.

The important part however is that under shock, perhaps that shock has them ignore the little voice in the back of their mind. But neither do they try and actively do the counter as well.

Leaving only Nuria to act. Nuria, who begins to struggle. She becomes vaguely aware of her own body, somewhere else, paralyzed, squirming under what is happening. But it is not that which moves after much effort of forcing her will. It is hard to say what form she is taking, if any, but none the less she feels herself reaching out to the box. But she has no intent of opening it. Her hope would be to destroy it. 

Not that she's sure she even could. It feels like her "body" is pushing through thick mud to move even the slightest inch. But she can get closer to this cursed box. And touch it.

And when she does, the first thing she becomes aware of is an unfamiliar voice. An unfamiliar voice she somehow recognizes as that of the Tiefling in front of her, although she remains dead.

"Please. All of you. Forget."

"What was the point of sacrifice, if all remain trapped?"

Nuria's first instinct is to recoil away from the dead woman and the cursed box, however something in the back of her mind keeps her from doing so. A feeling that if she isn't touching the box, she won't hear the voice. She needs to hear the voice. Maybe it can tell her what is going on. "F-Forget? Forget what? This vision? The song?" Well, that might not be so bad, but still, if it's left intact it can still ensnare her again...or anyone else that hears the melody. Fear clear in her voice, she continues, "Sacrifice? Trapped? P-please help me understand! What is happening?" 

Rick turns on Higgs before Khond can interject,

"And Rick accepts!"