Candlekeep Mysteries

“Mmmbuh-bye,” Greensong’s girlish voice comes as you take your leave. “Breakfast will be ready soon!”

As you move down the hallway toward the lounge, one of the white-tunic wearing beauticians passes you in the other direction, turning into the kitchen.

In the lounge, you find most of the guests already seated. “No coffee?,” the Baldur’s Gate sergeant inquires gruffly. “No,” replies Morganna, smiling. “It will only slow your healing, and reduce the efficacy of our offerings. Do try our invigorating ginger and goblin-mint tea,” she suggests, gesturing to the other white-tunic wearing beautician who is now situated at the bar to prepare the concoction. Today, Morganna wears a gauzy white knee-length dress, leather riding boots, and a leather hat with a brim embroidered in gold. She moves with the same elegant confidence as yesterday.

Also in the room is a new face, though equally stunning as Morganna. A tall, brown-complexioned woman in a cream-colored blouse straining at the seams under a square-cut dirndl top with strong-looking shoulders and muscled thighs revealed by a leather skirt. Little One does a double-take, then simply stares…

“Ah, our new guests. Welcome,” the latter says, in a full-throated alto voice. “I am Azirssa, proprietor of the Temple of the Restul Lily…” 

“Co-proprietor,” Morganna cuts her off cheerfully. 

“Riiiigghhhtt…,” Azirssa says, smiling back at Morganna. “Remember everyone, that the morning workout begins 30 minutes after breakfast is served, in the Garden. Ah! My timing is excellent as ever, haha…” Indeed, at that moment, the first white-tunic wearing staff person – as ever, wordlessly – comes into the lounge bearing a huge salad bowl which he sets on the bar, where tableware is neatly set out.

“Do help yourselves,” Morganna says to the room. Azirssa had been just about to say the same thing and smiles dimples to Morganna in a way which either says, ‘I love you,’ or ‘I will kill you before the sun sets.’ No, or course it must be the former…

Meredith stares at Azirssa for a full thirty seconds, " ..........Mommy......."

Then shakes her head........thats a Hag.....H...A..G....no....look at Bell and Erudisia...  only at Bell and Erudisia.....

Goblin-mint, thinks Erudisia, is no tea ingredient I have ever heard of. 

Erudisia makes the motions of choosing a few items of food, and drinks only clearest water that she pours herself. She chops each offering into small pieces, spends some time pushing it across her plate, one piece lingering on her fork but never quite reaching her lips, until it is time for the workout. When Morganna is near, and in earshot, Erudisia says to Little One,

”We must finish quickly if we are to make Azirssa’s workout, Little One. I do not wish to snub the owner of this fine spa.”

Meredith nods along as Erudidis talks....

Little One surreptitiously cocks a huge brow at Erudisia’s remark, but quickly catches on. “Yes. No want keep owner wait.” He shovels half the bowl of salad into his maw then dabs with a napkin. 

Morganna’s response to Erudisia’s remark is less sanguine. Her fair face twists into a hidden snarl as she looks away from the guests to hide her expression, adjusting a flower arrangement that needs no adjustment. Or did it? She removes a withered bloom that seemed perfect before and crumples it inch by inch into her fist as she faces back around, smiling warmly.

“Only perfect flowers for our guests.”

A few minutes later, Azirssa speaks again. “Not everyone here is in need of strength training,” she says, sliding a finger along Little One’s bicep. “But,” she turns to encompass you three in her glance, “if you ever want to be physically beautiful,” she adopts a graceful fighting dancer stance, her muscles bulging, her dirndl dirndl-ing, “a bit of exercise won’t kill you. Will it?”

She speaks over anyone who begins to respond. “Follow me to the garden. The first step in your journey away from being a pathetic weakling. YOU. Can conquer the world…” She smiles ingratiatingly and walks, graceful and strong as a panther, out to the garden. 

The halfling women follow, bickering quietly about the importance of “us” time. The sergeant sets his jaw, picks up a crutch and using it, limps toward the garden.

Erudisia follows too. 

Meredith does train but looking at the hags biceps she's not sure she'll survive......still she wasn't going to let Erudisia head in 'alone'.

Bell gave a happy little wave as she split off from the others, "Have fun. Time for me to get something done with this hair." She moved to the doorway to 'The Treatment Room'... which was an odd name for a spa salon but... everything here was a bit odd for Bell. Stepping in, she found a large chamber, lit but dimly - 'Guess it is mood lighting,'  Bell thought as she moved to the main counter to make arrangements for a bit of a hair care routine.

Perception Check: 9

Bell, trying to appear as casual as possible for her, kept looking around, to take in the room so she could report back to her friends later. Shelves and counters hold an array of perfumes, oils, and lotions, and scented candles that fill the room with a pleasantly invigorating scent.  "A trim and rejuvenation, mistress?" the soft spoken attendant asked, guiding Bell to a chair that looked much more complicated than just a chair. She settled into the well cushioned chair and watched as another attendant silently approached and took up silver shears that seemed to hum on their own. Instead of sweeping the hair away, the scissors dissolved the split ends into sparkling dust. Next, a cooling, blue gel that felt like liquefied moonlight, was massaged into Bell's scalp. She gave a full body shiver as the gel seemed to evaporate her stress.

Bell tried a few times to strike up a converstation but the attandants would not reply to her attempts. 'How do Meredith and Erudisia make it seem so easy for them?' she mused as she waited for the final touches on her hair.

Insight Check: 17

With a bit of final snips and brushings, Bell was done AND at a loss for what to do next. She clumsily tucked a heavy gold coin into the attendant’s hand, offering a quiet 'thank you' smile.

With a sigh and a nice, clean head of hair, Bell went in search of her companions.

Erudisia, Meredith, and Little One (Bell can join after her haircut if she wishes)

You follow Azirssa, the svelte, athletic sun elf with copper hair who this morning wears an ornate breastplate with a red fur mantle. She has a confident and jovial voice and jokes with the halfling women as they precede you into the garden.

As you discovered last night during your moonlit reconnaissance, an iron fence overgrown with ivy surrounds the garden. An earthen path weaves between a scattering of trees, flower bushes, and stone benches. Various iron weights, wooden poles, and heavy sacks are strewn about the place. They seemed like ponderous shadows in the night, but now, in golden daylight, the garden seems cheerful. Birds chirp and flit around. Squirrels rustle in the undergrowth outside the fence.

“Good morning Ash!,” Azirssa calls happily. One of the trees shudders, extending the knobby bend of a limb to exchange an elbow bump with the sun elf. An awakened tree…

“My arms still ache from yesterday,” one of the halflings mutters, slowly rotating her shoulder with some difficulty. “You have to feel the burn, wimpy, or it’s pointless,” the other replies, not without an edge of mockery. The first sticks out her tongue and rolls her eyes.

“NOW,” Azirssa says, jovially. And she starts the exercises, making encouraging but discouraging comments to Erudisia and Meredith in a subversive attempt to goad them into feeling bad about their physiques, and thus, into action and into pain…

“I have a special magic potion for either of you if you can complete three …easy, haha… activities.”

The three activities are as follows:

Squats. To complete this activity, a character must perform three sets of continuous squats and succeed on three incrementally harder Constitution checks—DC 10, DC 13, and DC 16, respectively. A character who fails a check has disadvantage on the next Constitution check they make as part of this activity. A character who fails three checks in a row must finish a short or long rest before attempting this activity again.

Tug-of-War. To complete this activity, a character must stay on their feet in a tug-of-war against the awakened tree. Have the character make DC 16 Strength (Athletics) checks until a check either fails by 5 or more or succeeds. In the former case, the character falls prone and takes (1d6) bludgeoning damage from being pulled to the ground by the tree. In the latter case, the character wins the tug-of-war. In either case, the contest ends.

Chain Skipping. To complete this activity, a character must succeed on three DC 13 Dexterity (Acrobatics) checks, representing their attempt to stay on their feet while they try to jump over a heavy metal chain being spun by Azirssa and the awakened tree. If a check fails, the character is knocked off balance, and the DC for the next check becomes 15. If a check fails by 5 or more, the character is also struck by the chain and takes 2d6 bludgeoning damage.

(You can go ahead and try!)