"I believe that holy water + divine spell can alleviate some of the worst symptoms. Then add some antitoxin for good measure. Though I have no access to divine magic" says Sanimar. 

Sarűmir steps forward towards the family. He places his fingers on his chin, seemingly thinking about something. "I may not have been in Drakkenheim when the star fell, but I have heard tell of and somewhat seen the effects delirium has on people. Let's just say that your daughter could have had it much worse. I also apologize for my current appearance, it is a long story." He looks at them with a sterness like no other, yet his eyes are soft and vulnerable. "Next time, don't let your children anywhere near Drakkenheim. I'd rather not want to think about the idea of their young lives being ruined by that accursed sickness."

After shaking hands with Aster and Lara (the main two who helped preform the blessing), Flint walks over to Sanimar,  Sarűmir, and Twinkleblossum. "Thank you all for assisting me in the healing. That was very brave of you. Not many people would come near a sick child such as Bella. Even in Drakkenheim." He jumps in to give you all a sudden excited hug. You feel the warmth of his embrace, though for Twinkleblossum it may be a bit squishing. "It has been a long time since I've seen a friendly face. What a blessed day this is!" He lets go, arms up. 

Rubbing his elbows his smile turns to a faint one as he address her question. "Ah no unfortunately. My blessings only go so far. A person, once transformed, can not be made whole again." He puts his hand to his heart, "We can only stop if before it happens. But after- I am sorry. That is beyond the scope of the Flame's judgment." He looks down, "It is unfortunate, yes. But we seek to cure before it is too late." He holds hands with the family once more. "I am glad you came as soon as you can." The mother and father smile as they hold their daughter tight. The children, comforted by Twinkleblossum's kind words, seem to be leaning against their parent's legs, sleepily closing their eyes as sunset draws near.

The couple looks over at Sarűmir's step forward. They flinch at first, but seem to have been all settled in. "Yes. I've heard- that is- that is why-" The mother holds her breath. The father does the same, rubbing her back. She waves if off, standing up straighter.

"No. No need to apologize. Everyone is the way they are. We thank you." She puts her hands to her face. "I didn't think this could ever happen to us. We work at a nobleman's home. Said we couldn't bring chil- We only left her there a few hours a day. We didn't-" She offers you no more explanation than that as he father continues to look after the tired girl who has collapsed (from exhaustion) into his arms. 

"You better get some rest." They then do so as they begin to make their leave towards the barn.

"I let them have my room. They have just been through so much right now."

"If you five need anything ever do let me know." He wrings his hands warily at Lara, "Ask for Nathaniel Flint anywhere around the farm and I shall be there... Would you like to stay for tea?"

@Twinkleblossum

Sadly, despite your best efforts, you could not find Cosmos around here.

Sarűmir had flinched from Flint's hug, but had awkwardly patted him on the back afterwards. When Flint asks them to stay for tea, he responds with, "I don't really care for tea, and anyways, I think we have something else to be doing", he says, implying the deal with the tabaxi. "However, if my companions wish to stay, I will do so as well."

"We do have to be going soon as we have other obligations but we can stay for tea at least."

Twinkleblossum will land and follow Flint.

"Could you also give Cosmos a message. Let him know I visited with my friends and I will try to stop by again on another day soon."

"I suppose we can stay but only for 1 cup of tea as we do have somewhere to go" says Sanimar as she follows flint

Nathantial Flint smiled so hard after Sarűmir's pat on the back and goes in a second time with a doubly excessive handshake. "Ah no. Do not worry about. I do not wish to keep you all waiting." He eyes Lara a bit. "Next time. But if anything you know who to call. We are always open doors here."

He looks up with a grin when Twinklelbossum mentioned Cosmos, "Oh of course! A wonderful acolyte." He shakes your hand even harder. "You have met him? He might be on his way on there now!"

He swiftly picks up and pours the kettle that had been waiting on the campfire into each of your waterskins.

"For the road. Good luck out there." He says as if knowing where you all were headed. This wasn't the first time he's seen adventurers go out there. And it won't be the last.

Walking back is faster than the first. Maybe it's because you already know how to get back the easy way or just time feels faster when you know where you're going but either way you all head back into Emberwood for the very last time before venturing to Drakkenheim. You meet up with Eren again who hands you over the horses you had before stashed away for safe keeping or as Eren liked to call it 'horse-napping' despite them not actually stealing your horses. You hitch them up and ride out into the far edge of town. By the Watchtower you stop by a covered wooden bridge. The narrow Timberwash stream under it shows no signs of fish as water splashes across rocks. This is it: the last stop out of Emberwood Village towards Drakkenheim. Only a few miles out you can see the city's expanse from here.

Any last things before you head on out?

nods to Flint, Light and Flame brother. Turn to follow the others on our way...

Sanimar is ready to continue onward glad that she had a hand in helping Bella though a minor part. 

@Lara

Nathaniel hesitantly chuckles, "Haha yes." Then he nods, "Light and Flame... sister." Somehow he says the last part with upmost sincerity as he gives off such a goofy genuine smile. "Goodbye now." He waves you all off with such a enamored look in his eye.

Entering Drakkenheim

With one last look at the village behind you set off for the dark city with your horses in tow. Galloping by the river's edge, the horses take to this new found freedom like a Flamesend. It is so much different than the way the bandits had treated them. Your grips on the reigns are less tighter and more freeing. They whinny with delight, though their noses bristles at the smell of the ever-coming drifting haze from the city. The sun sets across the harrowing horizon. A bright purple undercurrents this entire landscape. The lazy sun drifts down for another night and the clouds do its bidding, tucking it away for another morning's eve. A light drizzle soon follows afterwards. 

Eren told you to follow the river's edge to get to the city. Presumably this was the safer route ('especially after dusk' they said). It takes you an upmost amount of 2 hours to trek the five miles get to the most southern-most neighborhood of what was once Drakkenheim. At this point your horses are heading towards (two levels of) exhaustion. They breathe in the change of air before you do. Lucky for you, the haze isn't as bad right now as Eren said. At night the fogginess subsides and now a shifting corona of octarine light shimmers over across the city. 

Travelling down the decrepit thoroughfares of Drakkenheim, you pass several buildings which have completely collapsed into rubble. Those which still stand are little more than condemned wretches teetering upon the brink of ruin. A rare few are undamaged, but still bear obvious signs of disuse and exposure: shattered windows, peeling paint, doors rotted off the hinges, and wet sagging rooftops. Hooves clink against cracked cobblestones littered with abandoned refuse: broken wagons, litter, and an occasional bloodstain or scattered bones. Here and there, floating motes and hazy particles hang over the city streets providing illumination akin to moonlight while the real moon hides from view. For now, the streets are cold and deadly quiet.

Wandering around for a bit you end up in what looks to be the remnants of an industrial neighborhood. The horses don't want to seem to pull you no more. Looking across the hill you are on, you seethe torn-through tops and the leveled buildings it looks to be the spot where a shard of the meteorite skewered through. Eventually it leads to a gauged out part of the cobblestone sidewalk where in its place is now what is a ravine of shoved aside dirt and that eerie purple glow you can see from here. It has the look of large scar, ripped apart at the seems, if scars bleed purple. You can't see much inside. The only light source is a dim bonfire by the entrance of a roofed outdoor blacksmith shop that still stands. Somehow it looks unblemished from the effects of the meteor and to be in good use too. A small campsite surrounds it. It doesn't even look all that was fixed up either (not leveled or scorched. No nothing). Like it just narrowly escaped. 

A thunderous staccato and a whirring mechanical sound echo across the ravine. As the noise dies down, it’s replaced by a bellowing voice calling out “All clear!” in dwarven and the sound of clinking hammers and picks against stone.

Before you can get down to the even near the campsite and past the makeshift iron gate that surrounds the expanse-

“Stand down.” Calls a bellowing voice. “Any beastie gets a bullet, but if you’re no monster, you may pass.”

Sarűmir rides up to the front of the party on his warhorse. Now back in his human form he shouts towards the voice saying, "None of us are monsters, I can assure you of that. However, who are you? I feel like proper introductions would be sufficient."

Sanimar bides her time itching to grab her crossbow but knows better. She waits to see how this mysterious shooter responds. For now, she keeps her hands in clear view. 

Twinkleblossum flies up to eye level and pats her daggers, "Don't worry friends, these gifts are not for you they are for what lays inside and we're planning on going in."

She then takes the Dodge action as she begins to zig-zag.

((Rolled a persuasion check for Sarűmir and you got a 19 + 1 = 20 nice.))

The voice huffs. "Aight. Ain't nobody running a fool of me, but I can tell yers not biters." You hear steps approach from down the hill behind the barricade. "You've gots some real guts coming out heres now at night now don't you, boys?" A woman about Sanimar's height comes out from the darkness. She is dwarf who carries two golden axes by her side and now stands by with her arm against the fence. Her long dark brown hair is laced into three separate braided ponytails with long sideburns that grow down the sides of her chin. She cocks an eyebrow with a very stern look on her face at Twinkleblossum's accusations. A light chuckle escapes her mouth as she watches you go zig-zaging. That's the best entertainment she's had all week. She grabs the wired hexagons of the fence and sighs. 

With three clicks you hear coming from around the perimeter, you look up. Even in the dark you can tell around the smithy are small platforms with a ladder that goes down to the camp below. Big hulking machinery is atop each one. Stack upon stacks of round metal balls surround each one. You realize that talking back you'll soon be looking down the barrel of a cannon.  "Now, you see now, I don't suppose you should be saying that as a threat now how?" She taps the metal fence with her pinky finger. "Unless you've got a death wish, why on earth would  ya be coming to the Scar at this time of night?" She eyes you for a little, then mutters something you can't hear before raising her voice once again (only subtlety higher ).

You now realize she actually hadn't been talking all that loud in the first place. Just the eerie silence of it all other than the undercurrents of mechanical clamoring (that wasn't all that loud to begin with) made it so that just her outdoor voice was enough to sound like thundering.

 Several other dwarves coming rounding up the hill. Eleven more in total. And they all come with crossbows.

 "Unless this is some grand trick... do ya really not know where you are?"

Sarűmir stares at the dwarf with a glowering look. "We know exactly where we are. And I don't take kindly to being threatened with a cannon. Please ask them to step away from it until our little exchange is over."

Persuasion: 19

The dwarf clutches her gut and doubles over heartily laughing. "Oh this?" She grabs a hold of the gate with one arm, "This ain't for you." Click. Click. Click. You see now that the cannons are not pointed at you but at the horizon. Even the dwarves' eyes are not on you.

The sounds of shuffling and moans begin to fill the air. Distant- at first. But getting closer... and coming from all directions. 

A series of loud wails erupt through the streets and the sounds of lumbering limbs cascade towards the smithy.

Something big is coming.

"Now you boys-" She completely disregards the fact that it's majority female. "-better tell me why you're here or you're going to be ending up fish food."

"Now don't don't ask me where the fish come from."

((Roll for initiative!))

Sarűmir's initiative: 8

Sanimar was expecting perhaps being allowed into the camp to discuss matters, but it seems something large needs to be put down once and more all. 

Initiative 

15 - rolled in game log.

Initiative Order

15 - Sanimar (30/30 HP)

15 - Lara (31/31 HP)

14 - Sarűmir (25/31 HP)

9 - Aster (15/15 HP)

5 - Twinkleblossum (28/28 HP)

 

20 - Gibbering Mouther (67/67 HP)

10 - Haze Hulk 1 (95/95 HP)

4 - Haze Hulk 2 (95/95 HP)

The wails grow louder, louder than any human can make. Its voice is twisted as if coming from many mouths. You hear scrapes and thumps as the creatures come near. It sounds to be wet, sloppy, slimy,... and red. Yes, red. If red could have a sound it would be this: a blaring, alarming gut wrenching feeling, a sensation that wracks that nerves whole. "HRghrAGhh?"

"HRAGGgaggAhh HUh."

They come closer and closer. You hear cannon balls go off from behind you. "ERRACK!" A screech. Wings and the breaking of wooden boards follow. "MAN DOWN! MAN DOWN!" The dwarves at the cannon to the north cry out. "****" The dwarf woman in front of you goes running towards the sound of the crash. So too do the others (after the dwarf man in all black stares at you just one more time before leaving with the others). From this position you can see a hideous horrendous combination of lion, goat, ... and dragon? A chimera. It breathes fire onto the watchtower. You see flame engulf it. You see bodies running out of the tower, scrambling down the ladder. "Southpost T!"

The cannon closest to you starts cracking up towards the other. 

But that's a problem for later. Right now... this is. Huge lumbering limbs go racking up the hill, scratching at it and scrapping at it to climb aboard. It did all that even though it wasn't necessary because it was a walking trek, but you can now see why this might have been a problem for them. Half their lower half is missing. Cut off from their knee down in what looks to be an attempt to have cut off the infection, this haze hulk still managed to meander its ways up. It gasps and gurgles. No not from its top mouth... but the one in its stomach. If you can stomach that, you can stomach this. From the mouth, its own guts fly out everywhere. Long and short intestines trail between forked and fanged teeth. You are surprised it hasn't bite any of them. And if it did, what harm would that do? It seems to already disregard them as a kidney plops to the floor. You're guessing this must have been a new monster because with a wide gap like that you're surprised it hasn't lost any more organs other than that.

Twitching tendrils hang out from its shoulders. They are shaped in those sharp pointed legs like that of a cockroach. 

Oh and it brought along a friend. Two, actually. They surround you.

The haze hulk brought along another haze hulk (almost the same as it), and the second one brought...oh Flame what- what even is that?! It has many many mouths. And teeth oh so many fanged teeth. It's got, um, red. Yes its got that red going for that. It trudges and turns, using one of its five limbs (could those even be called limbs they're more like stalks- some even actually just eye stalks... like a snail- and it doesn't even mind pressing against it. Oh dear Flame. The eyeball doesn't even blink as it is pressed up against the floor) to help it glide closer.

"ERRAH. EEk EEk AHh." It wails. It gibbers. It wails. It gibbers. It wails- Whatever it once was and the language it once had is unapparent as it shuffles closer. It sounds a mix of Median... Sidhe... even Sylvvan? You don't even know. It's not even close to coherent. It hurts your ears just even hearing it. 

The footsteps of the first friend draw nearer. In all just 30 seconds the spectacle unfolds.

"EYEAHH  cah-hunk."

A warm glob of neon-greenish spittle is plump thrown up on the ground. The dirt around it is reduced to simmering mud. It smells hot to the touch. The haze hulk next to it doesn't seem to care as it steps around it. "SNAh GAh hunk." The mouthing gibber hurghs. You can't even describe that noise without another noise. It gurgles; surprisingly all its eyes close. Acid bibbles between its teeth. "Eyunhk"

ROUND 1 BEGINS

Sarűmir will run towards H1, avoiding the mouther. "Can someone shut up that red blob?" He takes a slash at the hulk with all his might.

Attack: Longsword

To hit: 17

Damage: 7

If the mouther has blood in its body, he will use his Blood Curse of Binding as a bonus action.