Ghosts of Saltmarsh (cbaer8) - Campaign Thread

As soon as the talk of shopping shifts to searching for this temple immediately, Lilyn is already packing up her things and preparing to leave. As nervous and closed-off as she's seemed thus far, she obviously has some motivation to help out.

She gives a (slightly confused) smile at Kei's request. "Yes, that would be alright." She's quick to follow the others out the door.

They begin to walk through the city, and the same conflicting expressions take over her face as when they first entered the hotel - total awe at everything around her clashing with a need to make herself small and unseen.

The two men escort the party through the crowd, to a side entrance into the building, and into a large room segmented with alcoves, each housing an ancient cot. Some are occupied with indistinct resting figures under coarse, threadbare blankets.

An old man with an ornate eyepatch, sitting at a cluttered desk, addresses you. "What's your complaint?" he asks, mechanically. In a ritual that Kei has experienced before, the one-eyed old man stands up and walks around the desk toward you, carrying a small wooden tub full of liquid. "Does the sea touch you? Do you submit to Procan?" He reaches into the tub and then flicks water in your direction. It smells of seaweed and old socks. He doesn't wait for an answer. "Five silver for a bed and stew. Fifteen gold to bind any wounds. Fifty gold to cure your ailment," he drones.

Your burly escorts make an anxious gesture toward Gerrard, but the old man seems unimpressed. "What do you want?" he asks, flatly.

Gerrard:

Turning to Boko, Gerrard gestures to her and asks, "Is this the place of your memory we discussed, or merely the task you were requested to accomplish at that place?"

Gerrard is simultaneously worried about treachery within the ranks of the Procan temple and/or some other Kuo-toa faction trying to sabotage the Procanites with the pouch of mysterious coins.

Boko nods imperceptibly to Gerard in response. She does not respond to the question of whether the sea touches her. “I am curious. Do you have healing potions here, and are they for sale?”

Gerrard:

     “Ah, I see,” Gerrard responds gently.  More loudly, he adds, “Indeed they do sell healing potions, but for that I believe we need to talk to Los the priest—if he is available.”

Turning to the Procans, he asks, “Would it be possible for us to have an audience forthwith? Ah, to include Captain Jane if she is available as well.”

Dwal pushes his way past all the bigger folk and addresses the old one-eyed man. 
"Ya got an old woman here says yer gonna cut off her foot unless she pays 50 gold. Where's she at?" he says flatly. 

The one-eyed old man listens patiently to Boko and Gerrard, and responds, "Yes, Los can help you acquire medicines if ye' wish." He nods to your handlers to let you through to the other door.

But then Dwal interjects himself. The old man looks surprised and confused. "Barra?" He raises his one visible eyebrow. "Yes, she has an unpaid bill. And she made a lot o' promises about getting it paid. Were you th' one she was appealing to? We removed her diseased foot not fifteen minutes ago. She's quite sick an' not fit t' speak right now, but if ye' come ba..."

"DWARF! DWARF! YOU CAME GIVE Mee!" shrieks a slurred voice from one of the cots in the alcove.

Dwal moves past the old man and searches for the human woman.

The old woman is quickly found in one of the alcoves. Her leg is swaddled in old, bloody, and none-too-sanitary-looking cloth. She is semi-conscious and delirious, ranting something about bread dough, and money, and her ex-husband. She seems to have forgotten that her wishful dwarven patron has arrived, and is no longer registering the presence of visitors.

The old man cautions, "She is very sick. We did what we could. We just have to wait now, and see what Procan has in store for her. It's best if she sleeps now."

There are three other patients visible in the alcoves. Only one, a half-orc smoking a pipe, is missing a foot (and a few fingers.) Another human, missing part of her face, stares at you blankly through one cloudy eye. The third is an old man, fast asleep. It's a grim place.

Boko moves forward and tries to give the woman a quick medicine check, to see what's really going on, and if she could restore her to some semblance of health. She asks Dwal to help her do so, advising him not to touch her if he can help it. "Is this a common ailment you have been seeing?"

Medicine: 16

With Dwal's help, Boko takes a brief look under the bloody wrappings and confirms that the old woman has indeed had her foot recently amputated at the ankle. The medical tourniquet is crude but effective. Boko can also see that the woman is drugged up with something, presumably to keep the pain at bay. 

"Poverty? Yes. She was hoping ye' could help pay her bills here, as her stay will likely be lengthy. But if she survives th' night, her prognosis will improve. Barra's not a strong woman."

He continues, "But ye' asked - have we seen this ailment before? Yes, many times. There are nasty poisons in th' river. People who bathe or look for shellfish - if they wear open shoes or barefoot, and if they have a small cut or sore, they can catch a deadly infection. Th' river water has gotten much worse in th' past few years." He shakes his head. "Only the ocean is clean. Procan sees to that. Every storm cleanses the shore. But the rivers are the sewers of th' forest, the sewers of th' marshes."

Dwal looks around, astonished by what he sees.

"Yer supposed ta be priest of the Sea God, ain't there a true healer amongst ya?" 
Dwal holds his hands over the wound and says a short prayer castingCure Wounds at second level. 
heals: 7

Dwal turns to the preist. 
"Alright, tell me of tha symptoms of this plagued water ya keep talkin' about. An'" he adds. "ya know that tha water from tha lands runs ta tha sea, don't ya?"

Gerrard:

Watching with concern, Gerrard tries to put the pieces together in his head…the Kua-toa and this evil mental influence kidnapping people and poisoning the water.

Wait—didn’t the Kua-Toa decline to ally with the Lizardfolk against the sea devils?  What if what is going on in Seaton is connected somehow?

Kei 

His memory jumps straight to his and Peri's recent run in with the burly guards and the one eyed man. A smile crosses his face. Where is that pint sized rascal.

"So hang on. You cut off her foot without the payment? What would happen to her if nobody came to pay....not saying we are here to fix up her dues." He instinctively shifts his coin purse deeper inside his robe, he'd already given the caretaker enough money.

He listens intently to the explanation given to Dwal's enquiry hoping see if the man believes his own words or is spinning a tale about infested water.

Insight 18

"We must seek the source of this rot and cleanse it," Boko says before uttering an oath in druidic. And listening to the responses to the other lines of inquiry. "Poisons like this, in the water, cannot be abided. I was swimming in the mouth of the bay a couple hours ago and saw some massive deposit of a gelatinous substance that made me gag. And I was injured. I hope that I was not exposed to such a poisoning." She describes roughly where it was that she saw the goo.

"Are you saying this is happening to people farther upriver? If so, the source is multifaceted, or profuse. Has the Storm Lord not given you any insight as to the cause of this? Certainly he does not want his domain polluted by such foulness."

She's still trying to determine if the woman would benefit from lesser restoration.

Dwal manages to seal the wound with his magic. The old woman seems to be resting more comfortably now. 
The one-eyed man gives Dwal a weary look. "If you're looking for employment, you may apply t' Los."

But he does respond to Kei. "Barra would've died tomorrow if we hadn't taken her foot today. She'll carry a heavy debt if she survives this. Your generosity would certainly help her situation."

"It usually starts in the toes," he continues, "then spreads rapidly. High fever, death in a couple o' days. We urge folks to bathe in the ocean, not the bay. But the river is much closer..."
Kei senses honesty, and fatigue, and mild irritation from the old man, together with some detached they-don't-pay-me-enough-for-this attitude.

To Boko he replies, "The ocean cleanses all. But as the sea reaches its limit at the shore, so too does Procan’s power. He cares little for what happens beyond his waters. Our job is to end Seaton's primitive preoccupation with that foul canal, and turn them to the life-giving waters of the sea."

"Papa!" cries out Barra.

Boko nearly yells at the man that the ocean is full of water that flowed down rivers, and so all water matters to the Storm Lord, but instead, seeing the delirious ill woman, presses her hand gently on her forehead and casts lesser restoration on her.

Normally, curing a disease like this would be absolute and instantaneous with the powers Boko controls. But this one is deeply rooted. Boko needs to roll a DC15 arcana or medicine check (without help this time.)

Here goes nothing…

Arcana: 12

Boko finds something blocking her attempts to heal this woman. There is something deeply arcane - something extremely ancient - about the nature of this illness. She finds she is powerless to stop its course. Barra will need to fight this battle alone. But right now, the old woman seems to sleep easier because of the healing the party has provided.

The old man asks, "Let her sleep. Did ye' want to see Los now? Ye' said ye' wanted to acquire medicines?"