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Geoffrey determinedly swings his sword and cleaves two more gashes in the massive devil's side, and though Issil's spell seems to work this time, it flips past the devil and into a sewer tunnel.
Morvena's magical shark sends a watery torrent through the crowd of Silver Ravens as it displaces the area behind the devil.
Morvena throws a handful of magical dust. The water shimmers brightly as Padraig's dancing lights reflect off every sparkle. The dust finds its way right to the devil's four eyes, and it begins pawing madly at its face, unable to see anything.
With the sarglagon unable to properly defend itself, the shark snaps wildly at it and gouges its side.
But it's Manta Ray Marty who swims above the devil's dust-covered head and brings his dagger down into its brain! The water ripples as it groans in pain, and then it floats belly up towards the ceiling.
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Bah, I wasted my magic. Issil shrugs, then gives everyone a thumbs up.
Then she tries to pet and ride the shark.
I'm riding a shark! #^%&$ You Imma Shark!
Marty celebrates oh so briefly, the poison coursing through his veins and his limbs getting tired and heavy. He weakly motions towards Issil and his poisoned wound. He grabs her by the arm and takes off towards the nearest dry land. I'm getting so tired...
Huh? Vic, what are you, aww I wanted to ride the shark some more! As Victor drags Issil, she doesn't resist.
Oh that's a bad poison. Right, and I just spent my magic hurling bolts down a sewer pipe. Note to self: Buy more antitoxin.
The shark swims about in the water for several seconds with Issil astride it; the creature is clearly confused by this turn of events but thankfully doesn't attempt to bite, somehow understanding that Issil isn't a foe to be vanquished or a snack to be eaten.
Meanwhile Morvena looks on with some concern as 'Marty' begins to slow down and lose some of his natural buoyancy. Though she's not trained as a healer she did stay at the Tooth & Nail the previous evening, so she swims up and tries to do what she can to help...
Hmm...I suppose that is NOT where that goes...at least there are no polyps.
Geoffrey looks over the devil corpse briefly before abruptly realizing something was wrong with Marty. Moving on the other side of Morvena he glances over the bite wound.
Yeahhh, this doesn't look good, he realizes as he begins to clean out the wound. We might need to get him back on dry ground.
If only Pádraig could give one of his inspiring tunes... Singing underwater sucks. How do merfolk pull this off?
Issil wonders as everyone glares at her, waiting for an answer. She shrugs and does what she can.
The next four base saves vs poison. Add in any bonuses they can give me.
12 damage will put me at 0 in this large form. 10 when normal sized. So looks like if they can give me +4 to my first save then I'll pass 2 and be good, otherwise Marty is going zzzz by round 3.
Marty looks at Issil and then starts manipulating the wound and trying to remove the poison based on.. well luck.
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The party circles around the manta ray, desperately trying to remove the poison running through its body. Despite their best efforts, Marty shrivels up as his strength leaves his body. He soon begins to float without resistance, and it's clear that he's unconscious.
Geoffrey suggests hauling him back to dry ground, so you all grab a side of the large manta ray and drag him back past the skum lair and towards the hollow pillar, and back out into the room where you had found the skeleton, trapped door, and bag full of equipment. It's pretty tiring work, but at least he's out of water now, and back to his normal form as Victor.
His backpack falls off, and with all the tugging and pulling the manta ray through the water, a strap comes loose and some of Marty's goods fall out.
Among his goods is a transparent bag with a strange black substance inside.
"Jeez, Vic." Issil coughs as she surfaces. "I never knew manta rays were so heavy..."
"Someone grab his stuff, I need to dry my hands."
Issil waves some water out of her hand like a wet dog. "So, I'm low on magic. But I did keep a scroll, just in case." Issil reaches into her supplies and pulls out a scroll.
"This should rejuvenate him, at least a little." She casts Lesser Restoration and the scroll burns up as she reaches for Victor.
Geoffrey nods in reply, glad to be out of the water. As the ex-manta ray stirrs to consciousness Geoffrey hands him a potion bottle.
"Here you go. This should help."
As he reaches down to secure Victor's gear something catches his eye. Reaching down he picks up the transparent bag with a strange black substance inside.
"By the Hell's, what is this?"
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"What... is that?" Issil looks at the bag. Her face contorts to a mixture of pity, rage and grief. "Dammit."
When Issil started her life on the streets, she couldn't do a two-step without tripping over herself like a drunk barmaid. Rhonda picked her up, gave her a place to sleep when money ran low, and taught her a thing or two about guarding her purse from slick thieves and cheap customers.
In a few years, Issil learned how to dance in public and private, invented a few dance moves of her own, and managed to rent her own inn room. Rhonda was older, and elder performers lose their luster. Money became tight, and roles reversed. Now Rhonda lived with Issil's support.
The signs were clear, in retrospect. Rhonda's constant fatigue. Sometimes she would arrive late, reeking of incense. Issil's side of the money pile had a few less copper pieces in it. Best friends were friends, though, so she let it slide.
Issil woke up one morning to a tugging sensation on her hip. Issil snapped awake and caught her family brooch as Rhonda clutched onto it, the door already open. The woman's coordination was gone, her grace erased. Her breath smelled like death and her hands were coated in black. Rhonda panicked, fell backwards, scrambled to her feet and ran with all of Issil's money out the inn.
All Issil could do was watch the woman run towards someone. He gave Rhonda some black tar in a bag. The woman dropped her bag of change, took the black tar and consumed it like it was ambrosia from the gods. He took her onto his carriage and they rode off. Issil held onto her brooch and cried. No dancing that day.
Rhonda's withered, broken body was found a few days later, her face covered in black tar. "Dammit."
"We need to... help Victor." Issil faces Geoffrey and speaks calmly. "In mind and body. If we don't, this thing will kill him. Slowly."
Morvena's eyes narrow, flitting between Geoffrey, Issil, and the little bag. Though she had no personal, firsthand experience with such things she wasn't a fool; it was fairly obvious what Geoffrey had discovered.
"I suppose this explains a thing or two. We certainly can not have this continue - it will eventually become a security risk for us all," Morvena remarks in a low voice. "Issil, what do you recommend to be the best course of action?"
"Kind of hard to get rid of it." Issil looks about the chamber. "It's not like there's a trashcan inside. Even if there was, Victor can get more. I'm certain he knows a guy." She looks upon the shapeshifter with pity. "Once we get back, I'll keep an eye on him. I owe Rhonda that much."
She wanders over to the surface. "We need to swim back, anyway. Victor's in no shape to venture on. Once he wakes up I'll slap him silly and we can head back."
"N-no. Let him keep his dignity." Issil quietly replies. "I don't think he can fight back in his current shape, anyway."
Thanks to Issil and Geoff's restoration magics Victor finally starts to regain some strength and wakes up, sitting up slightly but seems very much out of it still, and very weak.
"Hey guys... any of you catch the tags on that carriage that must have run me over? Youch.." He looks around at all the long faces looking down at him "You all think that squid faced devil killed me? Heh, he wishes! I just need... I just need to rest a while and I'll be good as gold." His eyes wander over to his backpack as he reaches to pack it back up.
Geoffrey holds up the bag of opium as Victor hunts around for it. "Looking for this?" He asks quietly, "If you come clean as to where you got this...and WHY in the God's names you decided to do...THIS...then you can have this back."
Who is Rhonda?
Morvena makes a mental note, filing the name away until a better occasion rises where she can inquire further. As Geoffrey makes his questionable 'offer' to the now-awakened Victor she says nothing, preferring to watch carefully to see what his reaction will be.
Let us hope he does not force us to restrain him anyway...
"Vic, you and I are gonna have a long talk. We need to return to the inn, though. You are in no shape to carry on."
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"We should get our hands on some means of waterproofing cargo, like all these parchments." Pádraig Henry looks over at Victor. "I mean, if we're checking our favorite crack baby into rehab anyway."
The bard starts singing before the team reenters the water.
They tried to make me go to rehab
I said, "no, no, no"
Yes, I been black
But when I come back, you'll know, know, know
I ain't got the time
And if my daddy thinks I'm fine
He's tried to make me go to rehab
I won't go, go, go
Victor frowns at Geoff as he dangles his newly acquired bag of dope over him like a gold coin on a fishing line. "Oh? The opium? It wasn't hard to find really, and come to think of it, it was pretty damn cheap." He pulls out one of the old hookah's they'd come across in the first floor of the Lucky Bones, past the sealed door.
"Never tried it before a few days ago. Its the only medicine I can find that makes me feel better after we fought those ghosty things. I get pretty tired, but at least my stomach stops hurting and my head clears. Its pretty good for that, but it wears off after about an hour and you start to feel even crumbier." He slouches back down and coughs a bit, bobbing his head to Padraig's song.
"Great tune P, but what's a rehab?" He asks, his mind still foggy and semi incoherent. "And I'll be much better in a scrap if you let me have some of that back for a smoke. It really makes you feel great!"
"Mmm...did you perhaps consider that your opium is what is ultimately making you feel worse?" Morvena asks, actually, genuinely curious. "Much like a negative loop; the more that you consume the worse that you feel and so the more need that you feel for it."
Victor pauses for an extra long thought and nods "Maybe. Not something you think about too hard though when you wanna stop feeling awful."
Issil grins. "First, you're going to sleep. For most of tomorrow. Then I'm going to get a much better cure. Because... that isn't medicine." She frowns as he shows the hookah.
"Yeah Victor," Geoffrey shakes his head sadly, "THIS is no cure. This is what those who we are fighting against use to enslave their victims. Do YOU want to be a slave for the rest of your living days? Like those ghosts we fought before?"
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With Victor in full withdrawal and still greatly weakened from close combat with the drowning devil, you decide it would be pertinent to get him some solid rest and recuperation. You swim back up to the main level of the Lucky Bones and climb the ladder leading back to the surface level, where the last lick of sunlight has just disappeared beneath the horizon.
You trek your way back through Old Kintargo and towards The Tooth and Nail. Inside, the tavern is about as busy as it would be on any other Wealday, with several tables full of patrons in various stages of sobriety, and some empty. You notice Laria Longroad chatting with Setrona at the bar while she sips on a cup of milk. A tray of sweet-smelling, fresh biscotti rests on the bar in front of her, adorned with a small sign that reads Visit Longroads Coffeehouse! impaled on a cookie.
"Oh, hi! It's been a while, hasn't it? I decided I'd stop by and visit, and perhaps do a little advertising while I was at it," she smiles. She looks over at Victor, and her face drops. "Oh gods, he looks like he was run over by that dottari vermin wagon!" She bounces off her chair and holds her hand up to Vic's face. "What happened, dear? You should get some rest."
Victor smiles weakly at Laria's attention. His eyes and nose do pick out the tray of goodies as soon as they entered the tavern though and he replies without hesitation "A fist full of those would go a long way..." He head nods towards the snacks and then towards the warm milk, blood shot eyes of a hungover puppy.
"Laria." Issil is quick about it. "Victor got poisoned pretty badly." She escorts him to the back room. "Do you know where we can buy a scroll of neutralize poison?"
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"Poison! Yes, please, eat all you need!" She stuffs a biscotti in Victor's mouth, and brings the tray to the backroom, where many of the other Silver Ravens members sit. Octavio looks on as Laria begins filling a bucket with water.
"The markets may have one. If not, a visit to the local Temple of Shelyn will have that fixed in no time. Why don't you rest for the night and visit both tomorrow?" The halfling takes the wet cloth and wrings it out, applying it to Victor's head.
"Thanks Laria." Issil pulls up a chair next to Victor.
"I'll be here all night, Vic. I don't know why you tried out whatever those ghosts were using, but it's got you hooked." Issil smiles weakly. "Let me tell you about a friend named Rhonda. She saved me from starving to death, but hunger overtook her..."
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The evening passes at The Tooth and Nail with Laria and Issil taking care of Victor, and likely keeping a close eye on him. In the morning, you help yourselves to some breakfast and set out for the markets. At Crisalli's Fine Tomes, you find your wizened shopkeep Nandy Crisalli organizing her wares. She pulls her purple cloak in and shudders as she sees Victor in his current state. "Oh my. I think I should have just the thing to help your poor friend here..." She quickly flips through her pile of scrolls.
... And pulls out a scroll of remove disease. "Here we are!"
Issil wakes up in the chair and checks her neck. "I've slept in worse spots. Eat up on chicken wings and muffins, Victor. We're going on a walk.." Issil gets ready to look for tomes.
"That's the one, Nandy." Issil pulls out her bag of coins. "Here you go."
"Alright, Vic. Let's see this work."
"Heh, ya, its been a long week as they say... got any more of that tea? My stomach is wrecked..." Wish they didn't take all my meds, gah this sucks.
Morvena watches with a mixture of curiosity and anxiety as Issil attempts to work her magic using the purchased scroll. Healing and medicine had never been a particularly strong point of hers nor an interest so it's difficult for her to tell if anything seems to be happening...
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Action/Time: 10 minutes.
Retry? Varies. Generally speaking, you can’t try a Heal check again without witnessing proof of the original check’s failure.
Pádraig Henry does what he can to help Issil treat their dope fiend buddy.
"Repeat after me, Victor:
1. We admitted we were powerless over our addiction, that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
4. We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. We admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. We were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7. We humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. We made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. We made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. We continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11. We sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to addicts, and to practice these principles in all our affairs."
"We're gonna need more than a scroll, huh? Let's find a cleric who can pull this off. I have the money to make it worth their time."
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Issil reads off the scroll and watches the words burn off the page. Victor twitches as the magic begins to take effect, and his complexion begins to return to normal... but the torment of addiction soon returns, and Victor feels just as bad as he did before.
"I apologize. It ... doesn't always work. The Temple of Shelyn isn't far from here though, and Vhast will be happy to help," Nandy frowns.
And so you depart the bookstore and head for the Temple...
... And manage to avoid any sort of dangerous overgrown street vermin, curious dottari, or skum who have slipped out of the sewers. At the Temple, Zachrin Vhast, High Priest of Shelyn, greets you with a smile. "Welcome back. It's been quite some time, hasn't it? Come to think of it, that fellow who used to come and rid our temple of rats hasn't been back in a while. Then again, the rats are all but gone now."
He looks at Victor and listens to you explain. "I see. A horrible disease, that addiction. I'm glad you came. The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide you are not going to stay where you are," the androgynous priest nods, holding his hands over Victor. "A donation of 500 gold pieces would be appreciated for my services."
Victor's always had a soft spot, or maybe even a slight crush on Issil, he appreciates her watching over him just as he is annoyed with having a 24hr guard... "I'm pretty sore, could you give me one of those patented massages? I think that devil poison really jacked up my muscles."
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Victor raises an eyebrow as Padraig starts chanting some ancient disease remedy. He mindlessly mouths along to appease the helpful guy but his heart just isn't into it for some reason. Besides, its hard to say the words right when you're trying to choke down as many wings as you can before someone else wants some. Man this would be WAY more interesting if I was high. "Thanks for your help, but I'm super tired right now. Maybe we can talk about it more later."
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The crew drags Victor to the temple. His mind having successfully fought off that cursed scroll of remove disease, it was feeling much more nervous though about a full fledged cleric trying something similar.. or maybe worse! "Heh, ya. I guess its bad for you, hard telling though, its only been a few days!"
Just to appease the crowd and maybe win a bit of goodwill back at the costs they are racking up, Victor recounts the fight with the wraiths where he first felt the urge to 'smoke dope'. "That thing reached right into me and it was like it blew a lung full of that smoke right into my soul.. and I just couldn't shake it ever since."
He adds in some puppy dog eyes and a sniffle for some hopeful pity.
Geoffrey smiles at the recitation from Padraig and nods heartily in agreement. "Wiser words have indeed never been spoken!"
On hearing the tale of how Victor gained the addiction to begin with he frowns in thought, "You know, I do remember feeling this...tug you described as I also fought those wraiths. I never paid it much mind, but now as I think about it, truly a miracle I did not also submit to their need!"
Issil lets Pádraig be the know-it-all mother who thinks a quick recital will handle everything. She wants Victor to know they are all supporting him in one way or another.
The scroll didn't do much, but Issil did get an appreciation for the magic on the scroll. "It was worth the shot. Thanks Nandy." I could probably do it better myself. I need more experience, though...
The temple Sheyln was beautiful. And gaudy. Her family quibbled about Asmodeus versus Shelyn, but they agreed it was all beautiful. To the point where they bought some art Shelyn acolytes "lost" and rebranded them as gifts to the Dark Lord.
Issil is ready to pay the priest to shut him up when Victor, good sport, hands over the money.
He's willing to try, at least. Normally addicts just humor you until your back is turned.
"Creatures and spirits that incite the beginnings of addiction?" Morvena questions, her expression a mixture of amazed and horrified. "I had never considered such a thing, but...if incubi and succubi can incite lust in their victims then it would make sense that inciting other desires is certainly possible as well..."
The mere thought of it makes her shudder.
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Before taking payment, an acolyte spreads petals of lavender around Victor. The smell is sweet, and helps him relax. Then Vhast closes his eyes and begins mouthing the words to the Remove Disease spell, his palms glowing. The verbal components of the spell seem unique to this priest in that he says them in the form of a song, his voice is soft and pleasant. The light beams from Vhast's palms into Victor's body, and Victor's color returns.
"That should do it," Vhast smiles. He looks at the sack of five hundred gold pieces. "Come to think of it... Given what I know your goals are, and I've helped you several times before, I think I can offer my services free of charge. Consider it a blessing from Shelyn herself." He smiles.
"Creatures and spirits that incite the beginnings of addiction?" Morvena questions, her expression a mixture of amazed and horrified. "I had never considered such a thing, but...if incubi and succubi can incite lust in their victims then it would make sense that inciting other desires is certainly possible as well..."
"Incu-what?" Issil turns to Morvena. "Are those devils or divs or something? I feel like grandma mentioned something like that before."
Victor blinks a bit and looks around, still feeling quite awful overall but at least now he doesn't feel the gnawing in his head... or does he... "Where's that hookah? Mind if I see it? Just want to make sure this worked and all..." As the priest refuses payment Victor smiles and returns the gold back to his wallet without a rebuttal.
He looks at the smoker and shrugs his shoulders "Nope, nothin'. Looks like I'm cured... though I still feel like crap." He picks up a piece of lavender and starts munching on it, quickly spitting it out. Smells nice... tastes bitter, yick.
Issil smiles as Victor ignores the hookah. "Glad to see you're back. Mostly." She dances to celebrate.
Then she sits down next to Victor. "Okay, now we can get you back to normal. It's easier to keep track of you when you're weak as a kitten."