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Scarred One reiterates through whatever is out there by hitting glyph: 'Next'.
"Ruindelver, sometimes I am worried about you boy..."
Hitting next shows you another section of arena, this time with a large gong front and center. You think you might see the edges of the gargantuan heap along the bottom of the "screen"
Hitting next continues to cycle through various views of the arena. There's a big wide balcony with seating that overlooks it. There was clearly some sort of luxury viewing box, complete with hot food from your own personal oven.
There are additionally a pair of sleeping stony lizards near some statues of fleshwarps, that likely line up with the northern corridor.
Oorgatch looks at the statues, trying to recall if he has seen anything like them.
Those are the south end of the same statues you saw and identified before
Sendoski scoffs at Scarred One.
"Worried about me? That's a good one."
Scarred One is deaf to sarcasm.
"Does anyone feel strongly that we should try to use the other glyphs? I think we shouldn't."
Yan nods in agreement, and heads over to the next room.
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Sendoski did not mean to sound sarcastic. He is genuinely tickled that someone would be concerned for him. After all, he's a good witch!
While Soomdevi smiles at the thought that someone would be worried about him, Naught agrees it's best to leave the behemoth alone.
"Besides, should you destroy the creature, you won't be able to use it should you need to."
"Makes sense to me," says Sendoski.
Heading back up the wide stairs and past the blockade debris, over to the wide hall and to the west. There you pass over the balcony you could see from below.
Ahead a closed portcullis flanked by arrow slits blocks the hall. Some of the bars near the north arrow slit have partially melted and twisted, perhaps caused by powerful acid.
It would likely take a mastery of Athletics to lift the portcullis completely. An expert might be able to move it just enough for a small and nimble creature to squeeze through the acid burned parts though.
"Well, that's going to need some work." grumbles Oorgatch. "Maybe we need to pick up a hacksaw or three next time we're in town."
Let's head back. I'm tired. Yan barely stifles a yawn. He's looking forward to an evening reading his book about the Roseguard.
"Yeah, we've been here for long time already. I would gladly see the stars..."
It's easy enough to head back up, strange noises still come from below in the room with the big shaft. Stars and the full moon make for a welcome sight once night falls.
After resting overnight some of you wake up in better shape than others.
Sendoski: Naught butt to the face, but otherwise okay.
Scarred One: very stiff, occasional muscle spasms.
Oorgatch: strange nightmares of chasing/being chased by chickens and eating or being eaten by them. The sweat on his night shirt even smells a little coppery...
Yan: Totally fine.
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Sendoski stretches and pushes Naught out of his face.
”Everyone sleep okay?”
Not one to suffer sleep inertia, he immediately beings cooking a breakfast for everyone, and using prestidigitation to clean the camping equipment. Such a good witch.
Later, he spends an hour communing with Naught and preparing his spells for the day.
Naught reminds Sendoski not to forget about his new ring, and spellbook.
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Yan enjoys Sendoski's book so much he falls asleep reading it and it slips out of his hands and lies open-faced next to his pillow, where he drools on it. Then he tosses and turns, crinkling pages.
In the morning he's refreshed. Scarred One; Oorgatch… you okay?
Scarred One wakes up saying "I must have slept on a root or something. My back hurts..." He moves clearly with less agility than the other days.
He tries eating something an moving some more but his condition does not pass.
Scarred One is able to diagnose himself with a particurally aggressive form of tetanus, likely contracted from the Velstrac's rusty chains. The good news is that stage 1 is a week long.
”I don’t know what happened. Couldn’t sleep. Do I look like a chicken?”
Scarred One checks his body, makes a small incision, and smells the blood. "That chain, had to not be cleaned well. Disgusting slob!"
He helps prepare food, and later on he recalls a spell to clean his body of disease.
"I think I am under the weather. Can we rest a day or two?"
With little success in getting rid of the disease, Scarred One goes to Oorgatch.
"Ok lad, I was curious why that creature did not attack you, and now you have nightmares. Put all your belongings here. Let us check it for magic."
Then he would run an examination of the young one while asking him questions "Have you saw any symbols in your dream, did you take something from underground that you hid from us?"
He assumes that Oorgatch holds some cursed item, maybe the whip or whatever he took from the woman in chains.
The whip doesn't seem to have any unknown powers that Scarred One can detect, but cursed items are notoriously hard to properly identify.
Scarred One is also unable to diagnose Oorgatch with a disease. Maybe just a bad dream? Maybe a curse? Maybe a hag or a spell that attacks his dreams? Maybe bad memories from his history with Fleshwarps? Maybe the eye of Nhimbaloth is upon him? He is in better fighting shape than Scarred One (No mechanical penalties etc).
Maybe he's fine, maybe there's something more seriously wrong. If it is a curse the Dawnflower Temple or the Stone Circle Druids might be able to help. If it is the influence of Nhimbaloth maybe Sendoski could spend some time reading through the Whispering Reeds.
Other avenues of research and/or action are potentially available to you as well.
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"We should visit the library. maybe the clerics there can help.
”Maybe, but if I have a day, I can work on my infusions. And then when they are done,,maybe rebuild the bar. We can use that, right?”
Oorgatch spends a day working on his cats eye elixirs, and then finishes them off with the reagents they found. He hands each of his compatriots another, so that each has two.
He then spends six days working on cleanup and repair of the Thirsty Alpaca.
With his troubling dreams, he spends much of his time alone, not wanting to risk harming his friends.
Oorgatch spends a couple more nights waking up late, dirty and sweaty but then his mind clears and things seem fine.
A haggard Oorgatch meets with the party after a long day's work cleaning up and rebuilding the Thirsty Alpaca. "So, finally, I got a good night's sleep last night. Been trying to work myself hard enough I just fall asleep, but the dreams kept coming. Finally, they are gone. I should talk to a priest, or someone, I guess?"
He makes his way to the Stone Ring Pond, more trusting of Worliwynn than the priest of the Dawnflower. He explains what he had been seeing, and what they had encountered, assuming she is willing to listen. As he does, he thinks about his own training in the occult
"Why would I be chased by chickens? Sure, they are tasty, but they are usually pretty tame. And some of these were HUGE!"
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The Druids at the Pond will chat with Oorgatch. "Have you ever had prophetic dreams before?" Taking Oorgatch somewhere quiet they take Oorgatch to the remnants of some chicken corpses that were clearly savagely torn apart by some rather large teeth and fangs.
Taking Oorgatch in close "We're worried that Jaul's influence lingers somehow, trying to divine the source we've seen a distant refection of Jaul. When your group defeated him did he make any mention of spreading lycanthropy to others?"
Sendoski spends some more time reading The Whispering Reeds.
Given Nhambaloth's association with will-o'-wisps and fear nightmares would not be out of place. While you're unsure exactly what's going on with Oorgatch you do know that if he's cursed or otherwise somehow under the influence of Nhimbaloth he should make sure to not die, as those under Nhimbaloth's influence generally find only Empty Death and oblivion, their souls not travelling to the boneyard.
Yan wanders around town listening for rumors of missing or destroyed chickens.
Yan visits Captain Lardus Longsaddle at the Garrison to see if he can finally win the man over. Tell me, does the garrison get involved in overdue books? Theoretically, were a friend or his talking cat to press charges against a good person for the unintentional destruction of a beloved fan-fiction paperback, how would such things be enforced? Theoretically, of course.
He tastes all the things at the Crow's Cask!
"No, ma'am. I do not recall him mentioning anything like that. "
Oorgatch takes a look at the torn apart chickens.
"I don't ever recall having prophetic dreams before. I thought prophesy was dead?
"That being said, something very odd happened in our last encounter. We were facing a vestrac evangelist, which completely ignored me. I did quite a bit of damage to it, but even then, it ignored me, to its own end."
Scarred One spends the time working at the inn. Beside working on rebuilding the construction he makes sure that the place has enough of plants and a nice garden outside. Connection to nature should be present in such a place. He listens to Oorgatch's revelations about chicken, and hopefully to whatever Yan has heard.
When he bumps into Ruindelver he tells Sendosky "If you go and teach the mayor's kid, give her something silver to hold for a moment. If lycanthropy was passed, her nightmares could be a sign."
During one of the days the old one heads to visit Wrab Chertel. He doesn't think that they ever spoke, and he learned that sometimes people were sitting on some information only waiting to tell them
"Mister Chartel, how are you doing? How is the lumber business going? Have you discovered anything of interest in the forest?"
Responding to Oorgatch "Velstracs are fiends and sometimes have inscrutable motives. That said it does seem to point to you being cursed or under the eye of Nhimbaloth somehow. Next time something like this happens come to us right away and we'll help figure out what ails you."
Yan learns that the Stone Pond druids have not been selling eggs recently like normal. Eventually he's able to connect back with Oorgatch and find out about their chicken slaughter.
Yan finally makes a good impression with Captain Longsaddle. "You know, some of the kids around here look up to your group. If you want to be the role model I know you can be, you and your friends should cut ties with Yinyasmera, we don't need any more thieves in this town."
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Wrab Chertel is the current patriarch of one of Otari’s three lumber concerns, Chertel Timber. The man is slightly overly formal but seems happy that Scarred One has come to see him. "Just the normal troubles, labor, materials etc. I hear you've been delving deeper and deeper beneath Gauntlight. I wonder how deep it goes. If you're looking to retire from the adventuring life come see me again, we'll have another chat and I bet I could find a good job for you."
"I just thought of something, ma'am. Was it just the full moon? I was bit by Jaul when we fought him. I didn't think anything of it at the time, but, now, I wonder."
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The druids take an ancient looking stone rod inlaid with silver and run it over where Oorgatch was bitten.
Oorgatch flinches in pain when the rod rolls over the spot.
”I guess that is not a good sign?”
There is much shaking of heads and whispering.
Oorgatch gets the sense it's a good time to show himself out. Him and his close friends can likely figure something out.
Yan checks out WOLF RAINE by Azure Moon from the library. He's not too worried, the redeemer knows his friend is a good person (even if his friend doesn't know it yet) and that they will find a way.
Don't worry Oorgatch. I'm sure Sendoski or Scarred One will think of something before the next full moon. In the meantime, this lycanthrope-themed romance novel will have you howling!
Oorgatch looks to be close to tears as he makes his way back to his friends. ”Please, please don’t let me hurt anyone. I’d rather you kill me then let me do that. I… I don’t want to end up like Bazák, and I don’t know if I can do it to myself.
“If you cant cure me, that is. We can cure this, right?”
Even Vandy Banderdash at the Dawnflower Library is incapable of casting Remove Curse.
Absalom is less than a day's travel away and would assuredly have people capable of casting it.
Oorgatch looks to be close to tears as he makes his way back to his friends. ”Please, please don’t let me hurt anyone. I’d rather you kill me then let me do that. I… I don’t want to end up like Bazák, and I don’t know if I can do it to myself.
“If you cant cure me, that is. We can cure this, right?”
Scarred One looks at the young one from behind his mask. He scratches his cheek.
"Look kid ... we will look for the cure. If this is what you want, we should be able to figure it out between myself and Ruin Delver. But you should know that werecreatures are part of nature. They are no more evil than a hurricane. Fear not, we will find a way to keep you safe, and if it comes to that, we will stop you from doing harm to others." he looks the young one in the eyes
The old one looks at the others "In the meantime, it could be a good idea if you don't carry a silver weapon. Also, wear gloves when handling money, silver coins will cause you pain. Trust me when I tell you that people are quick to judge, and sometimes even quicker to act. Keep it to yourself for now."
"If you can learn the spell, elder, and keep me from hurting people, I would appreciate it. If you don't think I am a danger to anyone right now, I will trust your judgements."
Oorgatch seems to have forgotten the silver sword cane back in his room.
Where to?
Thise spored bither me. Yan looks around town for some masks.
He also makes sure to take the bottled air with.
When ready, he stops to see how the mites are doing and leads the way down!
Oorgatch follows, not looking altogether happy about it.