Anachain smiles to Kulloda as he comes to the front door where she is already standing in the doorway so she can easily glance inside and out.  "My mind's eye is already out there keeping watch," she assures the large Half-Orc.  "But more eyes are always welcome..."

     "If it is true the... Quicklings?  won't enter here then we should all rest while we are safe," Anachain suggests to all.  "Restore ourselves as we can before attempting the ritual or anything even more dangerous."  ((In other words, let's get a short rest in while we can before we do anything else?))

     Assuming nobody objects to a short rest, Anachain will use a couple of spells before she begins it - She will cast Unseen Servant and direct them to clean up the cabin as best as possible.  When they are starting their cleaning she will ask the Lizardfolk a couple of questions.  "What is your name?" she will start with.  There would likely be some idle chit chat afterwords but relatively quickly she would try to politely squeeze in "Is there anything specific we should do with your master's corpse?  A proper burial, perhaps?  Surely they don't want to rot and foul up the cabin forever?"  If a burial or other sort of dealing with the corpse is suggested then the Unseen Servant would assist in that.

     (The other... Well I'll hit DM up on Discord first about that.  Wanting to know how noticeable it would be first...)

     And of course she mentally instructs Myrth to keep a look out around the cabin and to raise an alarm if needed...

Deniz briefly explains the rituals described in the book: prayers and blessings, with some additional components like fresh water, iron spikes, etc. Some are every two weeks, some weekly. The Chernomoi is the most demanding, with milk or baked goods required every two days. Perhaps this Lizardman was venturing into the village for this purpose.

A commitment from the village to uphold the rituals is what Deniz was implying.

“Hmmmm.  Is there any way to return them to the fey realms?  It just seems to be a lot to keep up, and disastrous consequences if there is an interruption in the process.”  he turns with his beak opening and clicking shut once, then says to Deniz with a serious look on his face.  “I’m sorry.  Your nipples are going to get very sore and worn out feeding that odd creature out there.”  He turns and looks back at the decaying, foul, stinking body.  “I agree.  We should bury your master.  It is the proper thing to do, and we can’t get this stink out of here until we do it.”  

"he called me Pom... When I was first summoned, Pom is a fine name he said. His name was Jordgubb, he looked like this" the shape changing familiar says with effort gesturing to his lizardfolk form. "He would like to be buried I think... Returned to the dirt, he loved nature. I was waiting, waiting until I was strong enough to lift what is left of him out and do it myself but I... I've just been getting weaker... His magic in me is waning..." Pom stands with a heave and an bit of a hunch, as though the mere weight of his own body is nearly too much to bear. "Travel back is impossible... That's what Jordgubb told me, their essence is tied to this land. To keep them safe, but that was before the town grew so close... I don't know anymore, maybe it was his magic that ties them here, maybe that is waning too... I tried to do the rituals... I wasn't strong enough to drive the spikes... Wasn't fast enough to water the stones before being attacked... Wasn't clever enough to bake..." The shape changer moves to the other room and returns with a set of heavy iron spikes, placing them on the table where the book had sat before "If someone could it would be a weight off my mind, I could fade in peace."

    "So... Someone must perform these rituals, some of which must be performed every other day, or... What, exactly?" Anachain asks, a little confused.  "It sounds like Chernomoi and the Lantern-Bearers and the Quicklings are tied to the land and the rituals do not change that, so what exactly does the rituals do?  If someone is going to dedicate their life to this it seems like they'll need to know the benefit of it...  And what land are they tied to?  Like the whole forest or just this area?  Are their borders they must stay within or...?"

Kulloda frowns a little then takes the blanket and wraps it around what‘a left of the body and takes it outside.

”Tell town build new bridge” Kulloda suggests. “Bridge too close to this.”

He waves his hands at the building and body and the woods.

”Not want new bridge then come do ritual.”

He looks around for a shovel or something that could work as one.

"I don't know..." Pom coughs, "the quickling's hill is a two hour walk northward, so the area might be large... When jordgubb started this, there was no town near here... He kept up the rituals because they were his friends, he didn't want to see them maddened and violent, it's not what they want to be either... There are boons, but I didn't understand them. Fey give aswell as take... The bird was a gift from them, though I don't know how they got it... when Jordgubb received the bird he was happy for the gift, said its eggs would save us if ever there was a rainy day, or something... After he died I waited until it rained, I took the eggs out into the rain but they did nothing, you can't eat them either, they're too hard, I didn't understand. I still don't, they're too hard to eat and the goose was getting hungry, so was I..." Pom licks his lips in memory of something good he may have once ate, and takes a seat next to Deniz on the floor by the fire.

Then suddenly there is a shriek out in the forest, a while off,  echoing through the trees. The shriek is not one of fear but of power and intention, the ground under your feet shudders for a moment at some kind of shockwave which passes as fast as it arrived. Pom sighs, "chernomoi is attacking something, I thought the offering would last longer, did you all meet him? Was he ok?"

Deniz takes a few moments to translate as much as he can of the journal section, reading it out loud in his own words for the benefit of the others:

In the heart of the Feywild, a band of rebels rises in defiance. Their people have suffered too long beneath the yoke of the Unseelie, and at last they dare to strike back. Their scheme is bold: a heist to steal a relic of unspeakable power, a keystone of the Unseelie’s dominion. If they could sever it from their oppressors, the balance of power would break.

But fate betrays them. The heist fails. Captured, the rebels brace for the sure punishment of death: yet the Unseelie deal a crueler sentence. With a curse woven of spite, they bind the rebels to a twisted immortality, their minds poisoned with madness, their hearts driven to bloodlust. Released back to their kin, they are no longer heroic liberators but hated monsters.

Their people suffer. Rituals and wards to slake their passions become a daily necessity, lifelines against their own corrupted heroes. Hatred grows where once there had been hope. The Unseelie’s lesson is clear: resistance will be answered not with death, but with living torment. No one will dare rise again.

Until one soul chooses self-sacrifice. He remembers the former valor of these once-heroes. He sees what others fear to admit: that the Unseelie’s grip can never be broken while the cursed rebels remain. So he gathers them, every one, taking their burden upon himself. Crossing into the material plane, he binds their essence deep in an ancient forest, far from mortal settlements. There he vows to keep the rituals, to guard them, to endure and to stay their madness. Their protector. Their warden. Their friend.

It is an unusual and unnatural threat, to be sure, admits Deniz, but one easily contained with a modicum of watch-care. It is only a shame that the protector remained reclusive, otherwise he might have passed on the responsibility before his death.  

Quote from Thoradin_Orcbender >>

 

"Should go kill oppressor," Kulloda states. "Then they not need stay."

 "Ha, no way," Grimrin says. "We're getting paid to do a job, and I say we do it. But killing some faerie lord or something is not part of any deal we've made. I'd need the mayor to offer a castle. No, I say we observe these rites or what have you, go back and tell her this part of the job is done. For now. And if she wants it to stay done, she'll need to send one of her own for upkeep."

Kulloda grunts and shrugs at Grimrin but does agree with the notion of going back to the town to tell them they've solved the bridge issue. But he loses some interest in the story about the feywild though one part of it nags at him a bit.

"Fairy steal relic," Kulloda says, then pauses. "Pearl stolen from town. Maybe pearl is relic."

He then follows Pom around to the back of the home and, finding a somewhat useable shovel, digs a grave for the blanket wrapped slurry that was once a body.,

After that, Kulloda leaves the actual burial rites to someone who knows about those things. Instead he goes off to find a spot on the floor inside to get some sleep and to recover from the angry pixie stab wounds. He won't keep this anger in check next time.

     "Must admit, I do not care about Faery politics," Anachain admits, still by the front door.  "But could the dull blade be right?  Is there any description of the keystone?"  This is directed to Deniz, of course.

     "Pom!" she calls out, turning the the shapechanger.  "How long has your master performed these rituals?"  As Anachain recalls the pearl was stolen about 60 years ago so the timeline could eliminate them being one in the same.  Then again, it could be a long game of stealing various items of great power... But that is likely above her pay grade, so to speak.

     Her Invisible Servant helps with the digging of a grave, if the site chosen is not too far from the cabin, otherwise just tidies the place up as it can.

     "I don't think we have a choice but to perform the required rituals.  At least for a couple of days.  Perhaps one or two remain here to do that while the others return to town and explain the situation to the mayor.  I believe we have upheld our side of the bargain of making the bridge safe again.  Even if it had been mundane thieves we killed it wouldn't be a permanent fix.  Nothing is.  So we give the mayor a few days to come up with a town solution to the extended performance of the rituals... Or not.  Their choice."

Togar sees a glow that remains around the decrepit body, his detect magic is still functioning, he looks and looks, sees that it is centered on his pocket.  "Oho, what is this?"  He pulls out a wand from the pocket of the late lizard man, before he is lowered into the ground.  He listens as the rituals as discussed, looks over the shoulder of Deniz as the text is translated.  

"I agree, we can continue the rituals until help can arrive.  I'm not too anxious to see the mayor again, I can help with the rituals until help arrives.  What a strange curse this is!  How long does the ritual take again?"  

Deniz goes over the rituals in a bit more detail with Togar:

* Dairy and baked offerings to the Chernomoi every two day at least.

* A written prayer to be recited around a circle of stone and a ritual with clean water for the darkling lair once a week.

* The quicklings do not have a lair, but their site of power is a high place nearby where an iron spike must be driven into the ground and a lullaby sang, though there is none noted, lastly a blessing of sleep which is noted written into the ground, this is to be done once per fortnight.

* Each ritual is has illustrative annotation and directions to the correct lair.

"He's been here doing this longer than that town has existed, that's all I know, I think there were other Poms before me, but if anything happened to them he resummoned me, but not the same... It might have been hundreds of years" Pom says, gathering his thoughts and energy. 

As the group offer to gather and bury the dead Druid, Pom makes his way hobbling out of a back door. Gesturing the group to follow. Kulloda moves the body easily and the blanket proves a half decent barrier against the mess. A hole is dug with the stray gardening implements in the yard, next to a loose animal pen with a small hutch which looks disturbed as loose straw has been cast from the inside, it doesn't take too much deduction to realise this is likely where the bird that pom spoke of, lives.

Pom seems very upset at the burial but doesn't know what to say, having been living in the house with a decaying corpse for however long, making himself comfortable on the unmoving knee of the being that summoned and cared for him. Now gone, and the burial being a more concrete end to mark the life of one who dedicated themselves to the care of others. Pom doesn't know how to clearly put into words the feelings that flow freely from his eyes as he kneels beside the disturbed earth of the now covered grave. 

Kulloda keeps silent during the burial and afterwards. The emotion Pom is feeling reminds Kulloda of what he has never had.

Other than driving a spike into rock, he doesn’t see where he can do any of the rituals so decides to get some rest until then.

Deniz searches around the shack, checking for any iron spikes or other implements required for the rituals, and generally looking at all other aspects of the habitation - the wood-box, the bird-pen, the garden, the compost heap - anything relevant to who lived here and how...

With the burial done, the hut and it's outer aspects searched, the group gather for a long rest. There is one bed in the adjoining room and the fire in the hearth quickly warms the entire hut, making for a comfortable rest, only disturbed every few hours by the thunderous shriek of the chernomoi who, as he had promised, is keeping the dead quickling's down in his lair of gore and unfortunate travellers.

Waking up to the sun rose streaking through the trees surrounding the cavern the fire having been up kept by those who only needed a few hours to trance. Pom is found sitting outside by the front door, once again in cat form, watching the sun rise.

Kulloda wakes with the sun and heads outside, chewing on some jerky from his pack. Seeing the cat there, he offers Pom some jerky too. Looking around to make sure no one is watching, he reaches down and scratches the cat's head.

Once the others are around he gathers his gear up.

"What now?" Kulloda asks. "Go back. Tell village do rituals?"

     "Well I believe at least one of us must remain here to perform the rituals while the others are gone and until the villagers come to take over," Anachain answers as she sets about her morning breakfast and routines.  "Deniz seems like a must, if he is willing...  I do not believe any of the rest of us will be providing milk any time soon."

     Anachain looks around a bit suspiciously at the others and coughs uncomfortably.  "And one of you will need to stay to milk him as I do not think he can do that himself..." she adds before quickly following up with "I will lead the rest back to town, hopefully avoiding further encounters, and discuss the situation with the mayor."

When the others wake, Deniz is already quietly busy in the kitchen kneading honey into the moistened flour. He listens impassively to the suggestions, then offers his own, while continuing to prepare the cakes:

I fear in trying to return to the village you shall meet the same fate as the other poor travelers in that glade, and the village will know nothing of this disaster. Even if you did make it through, I suspect you would need to return: the village hired us to investigate because they lack the resources to do so themselves.

Then looking up from his work he says more earnestly:

My advice is to perform the rituals ourselves - as soon as possible. For myself, I intend to remain until the village can provide a new custodian. You may choose for yourselves, but I maintain that Togar alone could fly there safely... if only to bring word of our failure.

Deniz is certain that Grimrin and Togar are already in favor of staying, but unsure of the others. Facing Kulloda, the elf adds with a rare hint of a smile:

There is sure to be plenty of pixies to kill.