"Thank goodness!" he sighs, relieve by the news. "Oh of course you can stay the night. I'll even forgo the rule on your supplies." Eyeing the growths on pointed out, he frowns. "I am sorry to say you caught the local affliction. It ails us all as children, but we grow out of it."
"I'm sorry to say the most we can do is ease the symptoms with a salve. It helps with the itch....Sadly, I don't think there's much we can do about our poor friend Amenira. Thank you for letting us know." Shutting the gate behind you, he hands a large vial of some black liquid to Omar.
He then ushers you back to the guest house and summons the High Priest for you. Huddled within the building, the man yawns and smiles. "Sherrif says you have news?"
Listening intently to your story, the men frown. Nodding, the High Priest speaks "Well, it's unfortunate that the poor lass lost her life to this...cloaker? And we do appreciate the update. So our Robori is but a herald to this seedling from the cave...I do hope you weather this afflictiion well and you are always welcome back." The pair wish you a good night and head off into town without another word.
The following morning, as you prepare to leave, you find the citizens have left you another breakfast of fresh fruits and vegetables in your message box. The sheriff meats you in the square and thanks you again for your efforts, wishing you well.
Your trip back to Katapesh is uneventful, though as you pass by stray travels, they eye the clunky doll with concern. Thrilled to see you again, Roderus beams "Ah! You have returned! Tell me what did you discover? What is going on in that town? And please...please...did you find our poor Amenira?"
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"A case most curious perhaps. Amenira is dead, to what we believe to be a cloaker, it's presence likely coincidental but one that Amenira probably needed to investigate. However, all is not lost, Nira, the doll, preserves Amenira's consciousness." Azrael fills in Roderus on the details of Amenira's probable cause of death.
"On the town itself, I can't say I fully comprehend it, but they are protected by 'Robori', a plant, that gives life. It is a case most peculiar..." And he looks to his companions fill in the finger details of the township it's protector.
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Jiggo knows he does not have Erastil's gifts to help Raijan, Omar, or Amenira.
Over the next days, he casts Diagnose Disease to identify what happened to Raijan and Omar.
If transporting Amenira's decaying body is too much of an ordeal, he sighs and casts Decompose Corpse to make her easier (and cleaner) to transport. He casts Restore Corpse when it's time to present her body.
"Amenira died at least 2 months before we got there, a cloaker got her. She transferred herself into one of her dolls and goes by the name Nira now." He remains solemn and gives Nira a chance to introduce herself.
"There is a powerful seedling nearby Mercy, in fact it's where we found the cloaker and Amenira. Omar used powerful magic to speak with it- I think it has taken the people of Mercy under its protection. It said it is reinforcing their fleshy parts or something. Maybe that's what these plant growths are?" Jiggo notes the signs of infection on Raijan and Omar.
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John adds on, "I'm pretty sure that the disease is that seedpod's method of 'improving the fleshbags'." He looks at Roderus and takes a deep breath, before spewing out more details of their adventures.
"Okay, so we traveled to Mercy and were welcomed by the town. Quite nice people, didn't seem to be crazy cultists. We discovered they worship a 'tree' called Robori, who seems to protect them. They keep their children hidden, which as we found out later, is because all the townsfolk get this growth thing as children. The children apparently don't have major issues and grow out of it. I'm pretty sure, as Jiggo mentioned, that the seedling we located is responsible for that and it is likely some form of adaption to the people in Mercy."
He hands over the notes that Amenira wrote about the odd religious practices, then continues. "We then encountered a cloaker harassing the townsfolk. We chased it off and tracked it to a lair, killing it there. We found Amenira's body and then, due to some odd plant growth, we searched deeper into the cave system. We discovered some sentient vines feeding off a sentient seed pod. With a scroll we had, we were able to communicate with it. I was also able to discern that the pod has arcane auras of Transmutation and Conjuration. I'm not sure exactly what was going on, but it may be some form of creature not from this plane. Either way, we had no way to directly identify or detect its intent other than talking to it. Which, once we did, we discovered that it appears to be aiding the townsfolk and specifically was the cause of the manastorm splitting to miss the town. The only concern we had was that the creature mentioned something about 'helping everyone in this world' and that makes me think that it may attempt some form of world or nation dominance. But again, it had not yet appeared to have taken any malicious actions against anyone so we decided to report our findings instead of taking action. We did notify the sheriff and head priest of Mercy, so that they could have more information about their worshiped deity." He exhales, phew!
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Omar stands mostly silent during the debrief, sullen and lacking his usual zeal for story telling of the adventure.
Aye, well stated John!!!
I think you were most thorough. We were able to speak with the plant 'mother' and all her improvements for us fleshies and the town.
But now all I really have to show for it is this itchy yellow rash.
He goes back to scratching his arms and back.
Nodding as you speak, he eyes the doll with intrigue. Interjecting but a few times. "Oh, you didn't bring it back with you? Huh...Oh..well I suppose that makes sense."
"You don't say...so they worship...a tree? But a different plant keeps them alive."
Stepping closer to Omar and Raijan, he smiles. "That IS interesting! Mind if I..." trailing off, the man scrapes a few of the growths from each of you into a beaker. "We'll have to inspect this stuff."
Returning to his desk, he scrounges through one of the bottom drawers, retrieving a sack and distributing a share to each of you. "I did say I would compensate you for your success and I am a man of my word."
"Well done! Well done! I'm glad to know I can rely on you for future missions." he beams. Sitting back down, he begins rifling through his notes again.
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Omar will frown at the man.
Well, I guess I better seek a temple to get this checked.
He will try to locate a temple and pay for a lesser restoration (or use 2PP for a full restoration/cure disease if those are needed).
(Not sure if the +4 from Jiggo applies to Omar - it may be for Raijan so I did not include. Omar will pay the 150gp if this fails)
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"Nira, we'll help you however we can. But first, we need to find a stronger healer than I to deal with these growths." Jiggo's glad to help the infected to the nearest temple (he would recommend Erastil, of course!) and chip in if they ask. If allowed, Jiggo will deliver Amenira's body to the temple of Nethys.
"Well Nira, this is the start of a new life for you. I don't know where it will lead, but you are free to choose now. Good luck." He smiles and then prepares to fill out some paperwork. Always some paperwork to do.
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"Omar, don't scratch that, it exposes more for the disease to feed upon."
"Alright, that should do it."
"Okay Raijan, your turn. I have to admit, I've never dealt with Tengu before. Just tell me if I pluck your feathers or something, I imagine that must be painful. Oooh!"
"Okay, that should help for now. Rest up and prepare. No night action for you, mister."