Day 23 (continued)
Theren’s attention keeps shifting – he is distracted as he hears whispering. He picks up sailors discussing a variety of things: “she’s safely contained”; “It seems to have spread”; “Close the whole floor”; “Quarantine them all”; “Cleaner when we dock”; “Keep it under wraps”; “People will find out”; “She’s here on her own.”
Theren tells the party what he heard. Gage wants to investigate – who, what, how is it spreading? Lavender wonders which floor this is on, but they don’t have that information.
Temerity deploys the menagerie. Runcible goes too and picks up rumours of a demonic rabbit. This solves the mystery of the demon rabbit.
Chikatika marshals the menagerie and they disappear off, relaying to each other where they’ve been and what they’ve seen. They discover that this person is on one of the middle floors. Aurius sniffs at a door with a DND sign. He sneezes and gets knocked backwards. Korako sniffs the door but he cannot tell if this is necromantic.
They report back to the party who then approach the room. Theren and Temerity see a cleaning person at the end of the corridor – the cleaning cart looks untidy and he looks out of place. Theren assumes this is a guard. They vote to send Temerity to speak to the half-orc “guard”. He implies that all of his linens have been soiled last night. He asks for some new ones. The guard tries to send him to the front desk. Temerity asks about the cart he has. The guard deflects again, poorly.
Whilst he’s distracted, Lavender investigates the door. She uses her divine sense and feels that this is not natural magic or whimsical magic but it hasn’t come from a specific spell caster. Theren cannot sense anything from the room. The guard notices them and challenges them – Lavender insists she’s lost her keys. He warns them not to cast offensive spells. Lavender gives up looking for keys and walks away.
Runcible picks up Guido and carries him outside to look through the porthole. Looking through the porthole through Runcible’s eyes, Theren sees a young-looking elven woman laying in her bed, hair slick with sweat. She is very pale and has very dark hair and sunken eyes with bags beneath. Her breaths are shallow but she is not moving beyond that.
Theren telepathically tells Temerity what he has seen. Temerity is lightly nauseated by hearing the voice in his head. The guard tries again to get him to go to the front desk. Gage tries to stealth behind the cart while the guard is distracted by Temerity. The guard notices Gage and challenges him. Temerity continues to distract the guard with talk of a demon rabbit. The guard has not heard of a demon rabbit on board. Theren sends a telepathic message to the guard – I am the demon rabbit. The guard is very freaked out by this. The guard is suspicious. Temerity uses minor illusion to create an image of a demon rabbit appear at the end of the corridor. The guard runs towards the demon rabbit but realises that it was an illusion. Theren sends another message – did you think you can catch me? The guard screams and runs.
Gage picks the lock while Temerity investigates the cart. The sheets on the cart are in a terrible state and Temerity cannot untangle them. Gage successfully picks the lock.
As the door opens, a wave of stale air hits them – this is a sickroom. It‘s like the room has been shut for months. There is no reaction from the lady on the bed. Theren and Gage notice her valise has been rummaged through but there is still a lot in there. This happened quickly to her after she arrived. The porthole is fixed shut. The wardrobe and vanity are barely used. Gage sees a messenger bag with a seal on it. He doesn’t recognise the seal, but this person is of some importance – a courier. She is not common but she’s not rich either.
Temerity checks the patient. There is something is eating away at her strength – a degenerative disease that has been speed up. Theren senses that this is necromantic in nature – it is pulling at her life essence and sapping it, dissipating it. Theren sends Runcible to fetch Anaphel.
Gage rifles through her bag, which contains sealed letters with just initials on them. Gage prises off the seal very carefully with his tools and reads the letter – it is an innocuous letter but it is written in code. Gage copies the letter and restores the seal. He does the same for all of the other letters.
Anaphel and Lavender walk in. Anaphel casts greater restoration. The elf starts to colour a little. Her breathing gets slightly deeper and slower. Gage and Theren remain in the room to try and decipher the letters. Temerity, Anaphel and Lavender go off to search the ship.
Three of the letters have no monogram, the other two have the same monogram as each other. Gage, with Theren’s help, tries to decipher one of the monogrammed letters.
The code says: Roots withered. Veins clogged, the mountain’s breath chokes. Blood runs thin. Seek the alchemist. He saw the cracks.
Theren uses this knowledge to decipher the second letter: The scar grows. Ice cries out. Not of winter’s truth but grasping hands. The stone hums a dirge. Seek the light. They seek the core.
Initials of sender – O. L.
Initials of recipient – E. M.
Th tries one of the unmarked letters. It reads: Black feather is plucked. Coins are missing. No ship from the west until moon’s grace. There is still a pearl. Tell Corbin the net is torn.
To: G. L.
From: A. L.
Theren tries the fourth letter: Walls weep shadow. Stones remember pain. They are redrawing the lines. The old arches tremble. No trust in the cities sleep.
To: A. R.
From: C. M.
Theren tries the fifth letter: Operation green spill is active. The silent invaders advance. It’s tendrils grasp the sun. The gentle giant is unprepared. Deploy the wet squad. Location the third bush. East of the gilded swan’s nest. The ducks know nothing.
To: A. A.
From: B. B.
Theren looks at the insignia on the courier’s bag – this is an Imperial courier. They carry letters from more well-off people.
Aurius has led Temerity and the rest to the cargo hold.
Lavender kicks the door. They enter the cargo hold. Lavender closes the door behind them as best she can. Temerity casts light to help Lavender to see.
There are a number of crates in there. The markings are unfamiliar. Temerity offers Lavender his bent rapier to assist with opening the crates. She pries open one of the crates. She finds herbs and spell components. Lavender finds a rose with some withered petals. There are gems, similar to the ones the party has.
Anaphel relates of stories of lesser celestials and fiends being trapped in such stones. Anaphel holds up the gem to the light and cannot sense anyone trapped inside. They believe that the withered rose is related to the cursed elf courier.
Temerity examines the gems but finds nothing. He keeps them in his bag.
Lavender shows Anaphel her ring, which she has kept concealed until now. Anaphel takes a step back and refuses to look in her eyes. She explains that it was Orris’s ring. Anaphel is conflicted. Lavender can see fear, betrayal and conflict on their face. Anaphel says that there is someone in there. Lavender puts her glove back on. She promises Anaphel that they will sort it later. A tear runs down Anaphel’s cheek. Lavender is disturbed by Anaphel’s reaction. Lavender takes the withered rose from the crate also.
The party reconvenes in the elf’s bedroom. The elf is stirring but is not yet awake. Anaphel warns them all not to talk to her too much when she first wakes. The tension between Anaphel and Lavender is palpable. Theren shows Lavender the letters that they were deciphering. She recognises the handwriting of the two monogrammed letters – this is Orris Locke’s handwriting.
For the third letter, Lavender says that she has twin younger siblings – Anise and Angelica. She stumbles over her words and says that she cannot think of a G. L.
Lavender presents Theren with the rose and several vacant gems. Theren examines the rose. This rose is carrying the curse. It’s half alive. It’s doing something slowly – he suspects this is on purpose. Korako sniffs the rose but it smells very bad.
Temerity discerns that if he destroys the rose, it will stop the spread of the curse, but it will not cure anyone who is still infected. He blasts the rose with sacred flame. The rose is immolated completely in a sparkling flame.
Temerity appeals to the menagerie. He asks them to try tracking down any other cursed individuals. They all disperse. Theren sends Runcible to join them in the search.
As the menagerie wanders, they see crew searching for a demon rabbit. Runcible sends this back to Theren.
Lavender kneels beside the bed and uses lay on hands on the elf. Temerity also lays hands on the elf. The elf stirs a little. She begins to wake. She tries to speak but cannot. Gage uses [detect thoughts](detect thoughtshttps://2014.5e.tools/spells.html#detect%20thoughts_phb). He sees the word Adalens, the name Elara, a connection to guards of some kind/ruling people of Durvish City. He sees her going to dinner. He sees a figure trying hard to hide their face.
He probes deeper. Before succumbing to the curse, she was thinking of going to Durvish City to deliver her current letters, pick up more and then deliver them to Adalens. He finds that her name is Loraleia.
The menagerie do not return. There is shuffling from above decks. Theren sees through Runcible’s eyes that the menagerie has rounded up 12 people on one of the upper decks and are keeping them there.
Temerity stays in the cabin, since the demon rabbit search continues and Kevin might recognise him. The rest make their way up to where the menagerie are waiting. They agree on a coded knock.
They head up to the ballroom. A larger than life woman in a huge dress appeals to the party. Chikatika tells Theren that they’ve scented elements of the curse on all of these people. They reckon a dwarf is in danger, but that the rest are probably going to be OK now that the rose is destroyed with minimal intervention.
Anaphel speaks to the dwarf first and casts greater restoration. They reassure the dwarf that they will be fine but prescribes rest. The dwarf leaves. The worst are helped, the rest just need a little support. Nobody seems suspicious in the group – they all seem like normal civilians of differing backgrounds.
The boat docks in Durvish City. As it docks, they are reminded of the time that they first met. They feel a wave of nostalgia.