"Let's go." The satyr hurries Sparkles up the ladder, rushing the other as well. She makes a face when they aren't moving so fast as she'd like. She eyes William when he says he wants to hold it. It looks to be no when she starts an "I don't know..." until she surprisingly changes her mind and (softly) dumps it into his gloved hands. The small geode (no larger than the top half of your thumb), despite being encased in a jar, begins to hum. You try to listen to these voices when you hold up the jar, but it only comes out in soft discordant whispers. "Don't-! Do. Not. Shake. It." She continues on her rush outside. Sparkles and her pass Starry on their way out.

"Mriga." She lowers her head in a bow towards the elk. The elk just stands there innocently. 

"For the exhaustion," she explains to Syed. "Purging contamination takes a lot out of you. It's going to take a lot. A lot. ... You said you don't like pickles." She starts fumbling in her bag for some keys but then realizes it's already open. "Ah." It clicks.

"AHH!" she yelps as soon as she opens the door, quick to aim her crossbow at the one person inside. Eren Marlowe stands up suddenly. "WHOA! Hey- hey!" They take a step back, setting down their whittling knife. "Wha-"

The satyr huffs. "Sorry. Guessing you're with them," she says upon inspecting your expression. "You haven't been touching delirium now, haven't you?" She points her finger (letting go of Sparkles just a second before clamping right down back on her wrist) at the caravan driver. "No. You wouldn't." She answers herself. Eren looks at her funny and this time takes a step forward. "No... why would I?" 

"You know!" She exclaims. "What?" Eren responds. "THE CONTAMINATION!" The satyr looks so relived to finally find someone else who knows of the deep dark secret. "Start cooking," she commands the person holding the beans. If no one did then she just straight says this to the air, thinking someone did.

"Yes? What- what about it? Did someone touch it? Where?" Eren looks around confused. "You guys had delirium on you?"

"Honestly, no. I've heard vague references but never before have I seen it." Kolette shakes her head.

Syed, concerned but composed, says, “No one’s touched delirium as I can tell. It's also the first time for me to even lay eyes on it. But Sparkles is who we’re focused on now—let’s just get through this purge.” He glances at Eren, adding, “What should we expect? Do the beans really help with the exhaustion, or do they purge Sparkles?” Mellow stays close, and Syed prepares himself to assist however he can, hoping the satyr’s methods will work quickly before things worsen.

Not seeing much to add Zeren keeps an eye out for possible danger.

The last thing they need is for all this noise to draw the attention of more bandits or monsters.

Sparkles is still silent, and slightly frightened, as the party and satyr prepares for the cleansing. This process is definitely not going to be an enjoyable one, and she just hopes it doesn't take too much out of her. The last thing she wants is to have to wait about and hold up the party's progress just because she needs time to recover. Their compassion is enough proof to show that they won't leave her behind, but she still doesn't want to be a pain and make things trickier.

"Oh." Eren looks to you all perplexed, especially the one gripping the aasimar with such brute force and with a water bubble in another. "And y'all haven't been in the haze either... since that's all the way in Drakkenheim." They squint. "So what's this all about purging contamination?" The caravan driver looks expectingly over at Sparkles. "You alright? If ya didn't touch anything than ya should be fine."

"I mean I've been contaminated once or twice before-"

"You have?!" The satyr nearly raises her crossbow right away.

Eren puts their hands up. "- but I was lucky, caught in the early stages! Went to the Flamekeepers."

"The Flamebe-keepers..." she repeats, then raises her eyebrows over at Sparkles before looking back at Eren.

"Ya... can cure it, only up to a certain point. Why do you think ya have it? Hearing voices? Newfound spells. Honestly somehow that'll be how it'll trick ya like that. Ya think yer getting stronger but no sirree. It's the sickness, sadly. I don't know 'bout them beans specifically, but a long rest do help. The tiredness does get pretty bad though." Eren shrugs. 

"I'm guessing you're the owner of the house?" 

"Why? Yes.." She just slightly loosens her grip on Sparkles. "Haley."

"Haley, um, since we're your... um guests? Why don't we cook you something, a sign of our hospitality, now if you don't mind..." Cautiously, like taking care of wild animal, Eren moves slowly towards the fire and starts placing whatever left over food they saved from the caravan into the pot. They also gesture to take the sack of beans. "Why don't you take a seat?"

Surprisingly, Haley does. "Did you guys see the horses?" Eren whispers to you, looking up at the window. The fog seems to have cleared. Haley stares at the cooking pot.

Sparkles stays silent like usual as the satyr shoots her a glance on discovering that the Flamekeepers are still very much called Flamekeepers, but  then feels like she needs to speak up as Eren reveals how laissez-faire he is over the whole situation. She says 'Well, exactly your point. I do feel stronger, like I've got some sort of new energy welling up inside of me. I feel swifter too, far swifter than before. And if that isn't a sign of something new happening, look what appeared right after I ate the goop off one of those infected centipedes.' She holds up her forearm and points to the translucent, shimmering scales mixed in with the feathers. 'If that isn't a new body part appearing, then I don't know what is. Something clearly has happened to me so I think we should probably take some concern over this. Like you say, if it gets treated early, it can be prevented, so even if you think it's nothing, I'd want to be cleansed just in case, and I don't care how exhausted I'll be. Also no, we did not see the horses.' She's regained some of her feisty attitude, though seems irritated that Eren seems to be telling Haley to just sit down and relax whilst they cook for whatever reason instead of cure her, though she doesn't enjoy being standoffish towards him at all.

Sparkles smiles softly at Syed and says 'Thanks...I'm just a little tense, that's all, but we'll manage.' She then looks down to the glowing trinket nestled in her palms and smiles a little wider.

William would be focused mostly on the jar, casually following behind his companions as they fuss over curing Sparkles. His eyes would study the stone in the jar with great interest while he free hand pulled out a black book from inside his overcoat. After a moment or two he would set the jar down on the ground and begin flipping through his spellbook fervently as though trying to verify the contents of the jar...

Arcana to determine for sure what this is and whether or not it could be useful to him in any way.... 18

 Seeing a way to be useful Zeren sets to work helping Eren prepare the meal.

Seeing Sparkles's agitation he tries to reassure her.

"Don't worry, if you mutate and attack us I'll put you down."

Kolette looks askance at Zeren but nods at the necessity if their companion becomes dangerously out of hand.

Sparkles is a little bit surprised by the bluntness and honesty of Zeren's statement in the moment, but soon realises it comes from a place of compassion. She squirms in her seat slightly and says 'Yeah....thanks, I guess', mustering a weak smile towards the helmed figure.

OOC: I don't know what comms are going to be like. At worst, I'll see you all in a week.

Eren tries to lead the saytr, Haley, away from the commotion (in which she started) and towards the window. Haley seems to make grabby hands at the beans before acquiescing until-

"Well, exactly your point. I do feel stronger-"

Haley's head whips around with interest, eyes wide and beaming. "Aha! So you DO say-!" she shouts before she closes her mouth and motions for you to continue. Her face goes from bright-eyed to grim in a mere matter of seconds. "A new body part is appearing." She lists off what you have to say almost roboticly, counting them down with her left hand though they stay rigid at her side. "Scales. Goop. And Centipedes." She blinks then she rips her arm from Eren's grip. The human stammers but shows no defense against Sparkles and her onslaught of words. "I- I-um I uh guess..." 

Haley moves closer, eyes locked to examine Sparkle's arm. Eren tries a bit to rub their own. The saytr's tug was strong.

"Don't you say you just ate it though? It don't-" Both their eyes catch the glimmer that shines off your arms. Eren's dry swallows. "Don't think it be- was like that before." They stand a little back from you now. But Haley doesn't. She moves ever closer.

"Hey now, sorry- I- I didn't mean to dismiss your claim earlier it's just-" Then at last the horse comment throws them off their tracks.

"Oh. Whoa." Eren steps back, sheepish. They grimace and rub the back of their neck then look back over at Haley who's now up and standing from her seat. 

"We need you. Cleansed. Now." Your scales sparkle in her eyes. Her right hand shudders. "Like my brother-"

There's both fear and excitement that flashes across her eyes. She watches the exchange between Sparkles and Syed with an ear twitch. She nods when Syed offers to take care of Sparkles, giving her the glowing trinket. A slight smile appears on the saytr's face before it vanishes when she turns back to the cooking. And so does she nod when Zeren offers too... in his own type of way (though she cocks an eyebrow at that). Her resolve remains. "It's now or never. Or leave." She gestures to the door. The words come out soft, but her resole is strong. You can tell from the way she looks, she really means it. Her fists are bawled up with the water ball (suddenly popping back into existence) just slightly floating next to her to the side. 

"Give me the pot," she commands Eren.

Eren hesitates but soon enough hands her a second pot (one that wasn't filled with the stuff they were just making). The saytr takes the pot from Eren and places it down in front of Sparkles and herself, dragging along a table with her hoof and plopping that pot on top of it. She dumps the water into it. "Ready?" But she doesn't wait. "By the power of the Stormcatcher, I call upon you to make this water heal!" Her voice echoes within the walls of this dingy old house. Her hooved stomp damn near makes the table fall over. Soon enough the water settles. 

Haley look over at Sparkles, welled up tears are in her eyes. The water begins to flow from the pot outward, creating a cascading waterfall from out the pot into the air in a reverse waterfall effect. "Give me your hand."

Kolette looks on the scene, "Fascinating...I take it that we should stay clear of any gunk we find?"

Sparkles squirms slightly in her seat, trying to shake off the tension she was feeling. This whole ordeal seemed to stretch out agonisingly, each fleeting conversation appearing to drag on for eternity. She coughs, readjusts and puts out a hand to Haley, prepared to be 'cleansed.'

Syed hops onto the edge of the table, crouching just beside the pot, his bushy tail flicking. He watches the swirling water with a sharp but calm look. “Go on, Sparkles,” he says quietly, but with an odd little grin. “Better a splash now than tentacles later. I’ll be right here if anything bites back.” He lightly taps her wrist, then rests his paw on his crossbow, ready — just in case.

William's eyes go wide as he examines the jar. He takes a few notes inside his black book before carefully placing the jar in his pack and covering it with a few bits of flesh... a snack for later. After the jar was secure, he moved join his companions. "Let me know if there is anything I can do to help William says as he watches the two of them work. While watching he looks for any signs of trickery... trying to verify that they are indeed trying to help Sparkles....

Insight 4

Eren seems to want to chime in to Kolette's question but closes their mouth in spite of it. "Yes, never touch anything from that damned place! Never..." Haley mumbles while she sets to do her work. "If it were up to me, no one would set their foot in there ever again." Her left ear twitches at the thought of it. She looks back at you, seeming to remember that you were all heading that exact way. There is a pause, a grimace, but the rest of her judgement is left unspoken.

When Sparkles squirms in her seat, Haley's grip softens a bit. "No, no, this will be okay." She leans down over towards the broken down shelf to pick something up, and with a smile says, "I've been practicing." She near winces at the cough.

"Exactly," she points over in Syed's direction before setting down the equipment she had picked up earlier. It consists of tweezers, a rag, and a bowl. "Thank you," she smiles at William. "But we don't need it."

The floating ball of water safely descends up the bowl once more. Haley soaks the rag in the water, turning it over until it is fully drenched. She wrings it out and slowly pats Sparkles right arm while humming. "Do not let this one fall into the hands of misery. Do not let her be dragged down by the voices of madness. Do not let this evil contamination foul yet another one soul. Oh great Sky King, let this... BE DONE!"

And with a quick sweep of motion, Haley yanks out a scale from the other's arm and drops it into the water. It fizzles. Before the water can finish bubbling, it splashes outward, landing on top of the table. Smoke rises from the table where the water fell. Haley coughs and tries to dissipate the fumes with a arm wave. She looks down. Nothing has changed about your arms.

"It works," a squeaky voice is heard from the front of the entrance of the home. It is from no one you recognize.