"Oh gods.....I don't.....I need to sit down...." Duraelo collapses in a semi-controlled manner, sitting down on the floor. "Whatever the hell that thing was, I really hope we don't see anything else like it. That...nasty GUNK it hit me with just felt wrong."
Well struck, friend!" Etienne exclaims to Rufon. Etienne looks confused as the creature's body disappears, but this quickly passes - he has more important things to worry about. He returns to Isabeau and carefully wipes the creature's gunk off of her. "I don't know about you, but we've had enough for tonight. We should retire and come back in the morning. Besides," he adds as he looks sadly at the hawk, "we've taken casualties."
When Sjora returns she shrugs and turns to Etienne. "I can heal your companion, but resting afterwards might not be a bad idea."
She begins the incantation to cast cure light wounds.
"I think Thrace would not mind a little rest as well, he got quite the brunt of attacks of that creature."
Rufon says as he cleans Thrace his muzzle and paws with a cloth, the gunk on it smells horrible and Thrace gags a lot, spitting out a few chunks of meat he had for dinner this night.
"There there buddy, it's over now you're almost clean as a whistle."
"Anyone have any idea as to what that damn creature was?"
"Something foul," Kyra says, checking herself again to be sure the gunk has dissipated. "Tomas or Jalind will know more, I expect."
She picks up the torch she dropped as the fight began and peers into the room. "What is all this junk?"
"Does Thrace need some healing too? I do have a little left. It might be a good idea before we search this room, in case there's another one of those things... or something worse."
"Well his wounds seem serious enough to warrant a long rest, I'd say he would feel much better if you still got healing to spare."
"You asked the question on my lips Kyra, what in blazes is this?"
Rufon stares at the rubble and uses his club to search around and move some stuff to see if there is anything underneath the junk.
Sjora reaches out and gingerly touches Thrace, a bit intimidated still by the size and ferocity of the lovely beast.
"Hell if I know what any of this stuff is. Odds are it's going to be random junk they used for....I'm not sure I want to know."
Duraelo moves over to one of the junk piles Rufon isn't searching and takes a closer look, moving a few items around to see deeper into the pile.
Perception:
While the others are searching through the junk piles, Etienne takes a few moments to repair his bowstring. Blast! That doesn't happen very often. Oh well, no harm done. And it looks like Isabeau's doing a little better. Sjora's proving to be a women of many skills.
Kyra stands a rough watch, while Sjora works her healing magic and Rufon and Duraelo poke through the junk.
They have nearly given up when Rufon finds a leather sack under a broken table. It contains two Alchemical Silver daggers and a long case of wood and leather embossed with a scene of a stag moving through the forest. The case is approximately 6 feet long, two feet wide and four inches deep.
The case is locked.
Duraelo sees the items that Rufon pulls out of his heap of trash and can't help but chuckle. "Just my luck that I end up with the one without the fancy daggers and box. What's in that thing, anyway?"
Rufon tries to open the box, but comes to the conlcusion it's locked.
"Anyone of you has got 'nimble fingers' to open this?"
"This scene looks familiar to me, but I can't say it clearly where from."
"Anyone in for having a shiny new dagger? They look like silver to me."
"I don't know anything about opening locks, but you might be able to bypass it entirely. Try taking the hinges off."
"Well if you're offering up daggers, I won't say no. But hang on with that box for a second. I just want to check something."
As Rufon holds the wooden box, Duraelo casts a concentrated Detect Magic spell on it.
The box has no magical aura. It does, however, show extraordinary craftsmanship, and will very likely be worth something to someone, intact.
"Hmmm. Nothing magical about it. Someone back in the town might know something about it." Duraelo looks around at the group. "I say we get out of here before anything else decides to try and kill us."
"Agreed, unless we stumble upon Anna as we leave, I'd say we take a rest and come back tomorrow. But then she will probably have gone, so we'll have to chase after her then."
"I don't think that's a problem. We'll be rested, healed, and - most importantly - it'll be daylight. The dark forces will be less powerful."
The sun has risen while you were underground, and though none of its rays reaches the bottom of the ravine, there is enough light to see. Kyra extinguishes the torch and leads you back along the winding path to the village. The path that was practically invisible in the darkness now seems fairly clear, and after a couple of hours' hiking, you find yourself marching back through the gate in the village's palisade.
The ruins of the inn are still smouldering, though only a few people are still out, mostly just staring at it in exhausted shock.
Sjora looks at the ruins of the inn and sighs. "I guess we just find a place in town to set up a camp of sorts, eh? Unless some kind folks will take us in for a nap."
"In the meantime, I need to find someone who can check these out for me," Duraelo says, pulling out the two vials filled with mystery fluid. "Say, Kyra, do you know anyone in town who's experienced with potions, alchemy, that sort of thing?"
Among those still awake is Karsto, Kyra's father, who scowls at the lot of you. His eyes are quick to take in your injuries, however, and he trudges over as though the cares of the world were on his shoulders.
"Tomas has made room in the temple, if you need a place to rest and recover from your injuries," he says, pointing to a long building that faces west, with a watch tower on top, that you would recognize as a temple of the Awakening.
Kyra keeps her chin up, challenging her father with her eyes. She turns when Duraelo speaks to her and nods. "Jalind should be able to help. His camp is just down the trail there. You can't miss it. It's the one with the boar's skull over the door."
"I have a little bit of healing left for the day, so if anyone is in dire need before we rest, I will use what I have left before I sleep. Duraelo... you and Etienne look like you may the worst hurt... but I don't want to make any assumptions, so please, speak up if you need my assistance. There will of course be more healing available come morning."
"Thank you for the offer, Sjora, but I'll be fine. It'll take more than a few scratches to stop me. If you have any magic left after you heal the others, though, I'd be grateful if you could tend to Isabeau."
"Hey, as long as I'm breathing and no parts are missing, I'll be fine," the half-elf tells Sjora.
Duraelo then tells Kyra "Excellent. I'll be sure to give him a quick visit. Rufon, interested in coming along? Maybe he can help you out with your mystery box there."
"Sure I'll come along. I'm interested to see what this box holds, also why it was hidden in such a place. A box like this feels out of place there."
Then he says to Sjora: "I think Thrace and me can pull through for now, tend to the gravely wounded first. If you have any healing left after then, come see me and Thrace." He adds with a wink and then motions to Duraelo to lets get going to Jalind.
"No one seems to want to be healed tonight before resting for some reason, though many need it. Mind if I come along to see Jalind. I too am curious about the box."
The path winds though the forest and passes by a number of semipermanent camps, where tents and roughly built hovels occupy clearings. You pass the sullen singer from last night, splitting wood outside one, and then after half an hour or so, you reach what must be Jalind's place.
Stout wooden posts support a high roof, and the skull of a huge boar hangs from the beam at the peak. There are no walls as such, but heavy felt hangings that can be raised to let a breeze in or lowered to hold warmth. Inside are a few simple, comfortable furnishings, and a small herd of tame elk forage in the woods nearby.
The site was clearly chosen for the view, for it sits on the ridge line. To the east the seemingly endless forest stretches out below as far as you can see. West, fog fills the valley between this ridge and the next, and beyond that the peaks of distant mountains are visible.
You see the elf asleep in a hammock, though as you approach, the complaints of the birds rouses him. He stands carefully with the help of his crutch, moving nimbly, and watches you as you approach.
"Hello there, sir!" Duraelo calls out to the now awake elf. "You must be Jalind. We were told you might help us with examining a few things we found last night. If you're not busy, do you think you could help?"
It is a moment before the elf recognizes you, though you suspect that may be more to do with having been sound asleep than anything else. He grunts and nods, crutching along into the house and opening a chest.
"Yes, yes, you went down to the steaming cavern with Kyra, didn't you?" he says, taking a curious lens which he holds in front of his eye. "I've told her a thousand times, there's nothing down there but rock and mud and hot water. I suppose you found a pretty rock you'd like me to identify?"
"Rather an ornate box, with a scene with a stag on it. And some vials as well."
Rufon says as he steps forward, Thrace by his side.
"Perhaps you could also tell us something about the creatures we encountered there."
"And as for the rocks, mud, and hot water, you can probably add horribly mutated wolves, traps that set people on fire, a PENTAGRAM, and some horrible abomination that can summon darkness," Duraelo adds, pulling out the two vials and presenting them to Jalind.
Jalind takes the box from Rufon and examines it at some length. Eventually, he comes to the same conclusion that you had already reached.
"It's locked," he says. Just as you start to suspect that you'd hiked out here to see him for that, he shakes his head. "It's puzzling as well. The workmanship is high quality, probably Bijuterine, but the images are clearly of Cerb, the old pagan god of the wild."
He proceeds to identify the two vials as containing potions that will grant superior regenerative powers for a short time.
"From your description, I believe that the creature you faced was a form of nightmare made flesh. They were the accidental creations of the ancient dragons that dreamed the world, and are drawn by spiritual corruption as flies are drawn to decay."
"Yeesh. I guess we got lucky with dealing with it. Do you know anyone who can open up that box without damaging it? Seems like a shame to destroy some quality craftsmanship just to see what's inside."
"If we don't have someone who can pick a lock, maybe there's someone in the area who might be able to help us?" She turns a questioning look to Jalind, as if to ask him if he can. "If you can't do it, perhaps you know someone who can?" she asks him.
Jalind frowns a bit at the case, and then shakes his head.
"We don't have a lot of use for picklocks here, though I wouldn't put it past one of Jonah's girls to have a bit of skill in that regard." He taps the case experimentally, and sighs. "You can leave it with me until tomorrow, and I'll see what I can manage, but getting these things done by magic is costly. I can get it open for you for sixty gold."
Diplomacy check!:
"Sixty gold seems like rather a lot just to open up a box. How about, say, thirty gold? We'll pay you after you open up the box."
"As we don't have that much hard cash on us, how's about opening it for us in exchange for one of these?"
Rufon pulls out one of the daggers he found in the garbage inside the caverns.
"But then you'll have to tell us what you can about what's inside as well. Deal?"
Sjora backs up Duraelo's request for a lowered price on the opening with a comment about the cost of such magical aid surely not being quite so high as 60 gold...
Jalind considers the dagger for a moment, and then shakes his head. "That's worth about ten gold pieces."
"I'll tell you all I can about what's inside for nothing, but you're asking me to magic open a lock. A spell I cast for you is a spell I haven't got to use later." He gives the box another long look.
"Or I'll open it and tell you everything, if you give me the first pick of what's inside."
Duraelo thinks through the elf's offer. He didn't notice anything magical when he checked back in the cave, so the box having some sort of important magical item is highly unlikely. Even so, letting this stranger have first pick of something that he didn't even find rubs him the wrong way. But where in the hell are they going to find sixty gold pieces?
"Well, for that sort of offer, you'll need to check with Rufon here," he says, nodding his head towards the Druid and his tiger. "However, maybe you could let us just talk this out amongst ourselves?" He motions to the rest of the group as he says this. "So that we can come to a consensus at least?"
Quietly to the others, standing away from Jalind slightly, Sjora speaks for the party alone. "I have that much on me and can pay it, but maybe when or if we find anything of enough value I can get reimbursed for your shares of the cost? Does that sound fair?"