[IC] The Plague of Tamor Town

[WhismurWanders]

Cailenam watches as the druidess casts her ritual, and can only answer Tarra's question with a shrug, "Perhaps she is. I only met her on the road, I don't honestly know much about her, except that she's excited about anything and everything." With the revelation that everyone and everything seems to have been infected already, it takes every ounce of his self-control to not hurl the bowl away as quickly as possible, instead mentally instructing the hand to place the bowl down on a table far away. He mulls over the new information as it comes, each of the adventurers offering their own insights and opinions. At the next opportunity, he speaks up and offers his own, "Mere disease wouldn't be sensed as 'evil' by your paladin friend. Something else is going on here, and I concur that we should seek out the source quickly." He asks to the townfolk in general, "Does the wellwater come from a spring in the hills, perhaps? Seems like as good a place as any to start."

[Zergrinch]

"Hey, pops," Zarron addresses Matthias, "Do you have any idea why your fountain would contain an unnatural disease of evil origin? Who hates your village this much?"

[Izzarra]

Lana is able to coax some dirt out of the water but not the disease.

-----

Elyn tells Cailenam "When the town was established the dwarfs that mine these mountains built the fountain for us, it is fed by the stream that flows through town. They say that the stream flows out of the side of the mountain near where the dwarven mine is, though only Torvald the Blacksmith has seen it."

-----

Matthias has been called Father on several occasions, a common misconception as he is only a friar, but never pops. He raises an eyebrow slightly at the word and pauses to see if he was being addressed as he did not consider himself old enough to have had fathered children, although he is middle aged. "These people are but simple farmers I cannot fathom why anybody would wish them harm."

-----

Spoiler: DC 10 Medicine

Show

This plague could have incubation period where there are no symptoms.

[Xihirli]

"I may be able to fix things from here on, now that I know we're dealing with disease. But I'll need a day to get ready," Lana offered.

[Gluteus_Maximus]

Taara thinks back to some sickness that went around the monastery once. Their training was put on hold and Suthyra had her help treat the afflicted. One dragonborn, who was particularly weak and hate-filled, declared loudly between coughs that it was a sick traveler who had given them this sickness. Taara spoke up immediately, saying no one had been through for weeks, and the two went into an argument. Suthyra hushed both and said, while unlikely, what the dragonborn said had some merit. Diseases can have an incubation period in which they are growing to a mass where they can manifest.

Taara relays this information. "It's possible the disease has to build up, since it has not affected us yet," she explains, a hand placed gently on her chest. She paused, listening to what the witch had to say, in awe of her convenient disease removing capabilities-

Spoiler: Random Insight

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(1d20+5)[10]

-not knowing that what she speaks of is only removing disease from a specific food or water, not from a person.

She nods and continues: "Dwarves, huh? Do they still dig there? I might have met a couple of them, as they went through where I'm from. They're strange and short but kind and strong. Not as much so as Trunksplitter, of course." she smiled, through the situation and the knowledge she's diseased.

[Xihirli]

Taara relays this information. "It's possible the disease has to build up, since it has not affected us yet," she explains, a hand placed gently on her chest. She paused, listening to what the witch had to say, in awe of her convenient disease removing capabilities-

"That's my hope. I can remove it from food and drink, but not people." Lana shrugged and started specifically picking at food that didn't ping detect poison/disease, probably just the rat.

[Zergrinch]

Matthias has been called Father on several occasions, a common misconception as he is only a friar, but never pops. He raises an eyebrow slightly at the word and pauses to see if he was being addressed as he did not consider himself old enough to have had fathered children, although he is middle aged. "These people are but simple farmers I cannot fathom why anybody would wish them harm."

"So....." Zarron strokes his non-existent beard; not a single wisp of hair below his brow, "what's being corrupted? The fountain is corrupting the water from the mountain stream, or the mountain stream itself is diseased?"

Turning to the seemingly-knowledgeable water genasi, he asks, "Is there a way to tell?" A hint of desperation creeping into his voice.

[Izzarra]

Elyn: "If the fountain or the stream is the cause of the plague what shall we drink?"

[Xihirli]

Lana stroked her chin for a moment.
"I need twelve seahorses and a bowl for them, then some water from both sources."
She thought a second more.
"Actually, skip the seahorses. But I'd need to look at both water sources to see if they're infected."

Elyn: "If the fountain or the stream is the cause of the plague what shall we drink?"

"I can purify the water. Slowly. A little at a time. Starting tomorrow." Lana smiled like she'd solved a huge problem.

[Izzarra]

After everyone finishes with lunch they go out and gather several water samples from the stream and river and perform the little ritual again. You discover that the water in the stream both before it enters town and where in enters the river is contaminated. The Usival river is clear of the plague before the stream mixes in. However there are traces of the plague in the river after the stream.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

It is around 1 pm in game, summer time. You know that there is safe water available for the town in the Usival river.
Unless somebody wants to spend some time crafting or experimenting you can leave town now and get a half day of travel in before dusk.

[Zergrinch]

Zarron quickly refills his waterskin from the uncontaminated river water, takes a long draught, and refills it. Unsurprisingly, he is very anxious to find a cure now that it's personal.

"There's a safe water source for the village," he says. "We should track the stream to its source while we can stand."

[Izzarra]

Spoiler: Lana

Show

You know that the water that Zarron just drank does NOT have the plague but does have some common diseases that will cause minor digestive issues. The villagers know how to make the water safe so you do not have to say anything.

Spoiler: Adamas

Show

As someone who knows how to cook and has spent plenty of time on the road you know that drinking water from the river without doing something to purify it, such as boiling, is a bad idea.

[Xihirli]

"Wonderful! I'm just starting out on my mission and already I'm saving a stream from an evil plague! Oh and I guess a village too." Lana practically danced as she walked along the stream.

[ProudGrognard]

Adamas

Adamas looks at the filled from the river waterskin and shakes his head.

"Don't drink water from the river. You must boil it first. Otherwise, you will have bad stomach for many days."

[Xihirli]

"Yes, my mom's third favorite husband always told me to be careful swimming near rivers, since humans dump stuff in them. Breathing that in can hurt you," Lana explained to the others.

[Zergrinch]

Zarron coughs and tries his best to vomit the water he drank back out.

[WhismurWanders]

Cailenam huffs at the revelation. "I'll never understand people's enthusiasm with the outdoors. One would think pure, natural water straight from a river would be clean enough to drink."

[Xihirli]

"The world's running out of things that are pure and natural," Lana pointed out.
"And I'll let you know when we've seen one."

[Izzarra]

Elyn pulls out a jug and pours a clear liquid into a mug and hands it to Zarron. "Drink."

Spoiler: OOC

Show

It is moonshine, it burns. Roll a con save DC 18 if you drink it. Should kill anything that was in the water, and might get you wasted for the next few hours.

After boiling some water and refilling the quarter cask that you brought from Qsen you get ready to head out. Matthias brings out his mule and hooks it up to your cart. He shows you some supplies that need to go to the monastery, it is located along the road you will be following.

After traveling for about five hours you see a small farm located on the other side of the stream. There s a nice little bridge, a small house, and a barn with several fields. Dusk is still a few hours away.

[Zergrinch]

Am I drunk? (1d20+2)[6]

[Izzarra]

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Am I drunk?

Yep, Definitely

[Xihirli]

"We should definitely warn them not to drink from the stream before we move on," Lana insisted. She ignored the bridge, preferring to freeze the water beneath her feet to step over the poisoned water.

[Zergrinch]

Zarron is not unaccustomed to the occasional sip of alcohol; the master had allow him such to gradually build his tolerance. It is, after all, part and parcel of being a bard. Of course, due to his age, his dosages have been appropriately restricted in the past.

Where it is due to his plague-weakened constitution, the potency of the moonshine, or Zarron's current state of mind regarding his impending doom, the alcohol hit the young half-elf hard. Very hard.

And so, he spends the entire journey singing loudly to all and sundry.

We March On
by Zarron Gemblossom

We march on through road and hills
.. Follow we the stream!
Trace the plague right to its source
​.. Easy as it seems!

Adamas, with all his might
.. Flattens all our foes!
Taara, dext’rous warrior monk
.. Deft with bo and bows!

Evil rats can’t stand such pow’r
.. Swatted like mere ants!
We’re infected, but who cares
.. None bar our advance!

With a druid by our side,
.. Lana’s pretty cool
Cailenam, not sure of him
.. Has he lots of tools?

So we march along the road
.. Tamor Town, we'll save
Woe betide who caused the plague
.. Smite we evil knaves!

[Gluteus_Maximus]

Taara happily bobs her head side to side along with the song, smile wide. Shooting some skittish curious glances at Cailenam, she gradually drifts towards Lana and walks alongside her, but avoids eye contact with the water genasi, focusing her attention on Trunksplitter and his stature.

She considers interrupting the drunk Zarron to sing a song of her own, but decides against it after feeling uncomfortable looking at him.

[Zergrinch]

Does Drunk Zarron notice Taara's unsaid desire to sing?

Insight at Disadvantage, DC 13.
(d20+2)[13]
(d20+2)[19]

--------------

Even though the alcohol is dulling his senses, Zarron still notices Taara unconscious swaying to his song. And, as the drink had removed his inhibitions, all his misgivings about the deadly elf were temporarily suppressed.

He reaches over to Taara, and pats her on the back. He whispers to her ear, "Don't be shy, Miss Taara. Come on, let's sing!"

We march on through grass and rock
.. Righteous is our cause!
Nothing can deter our course
​.. Justice is our law!

Not a human in our midst
.. Motley be our crew!
We won't fail, we'll persevere
​.. Me and all of you!

[Xihirli]

Lana was feeling pretty good.
One, someone walked next to her on purpose, while other options were available.
And B: she was described as "pretty cool" by who was clearly a famous singer.
Today was a good day.

[ProudGrognard]

Adamas

Adamas enthusiastically and with various degrees of success joins in the singing, his loud voice adding volume, depth but alas not harmony in the song. The fact that he knocks the ground and various innocent members of the flaura with his weapon to the rhythm of the song does not help either.

Finally, when the farm is in sight, Adamas stops his singing

".....
ME AND ALL OF YOUUUUUUU!

That was good, Zaaron. We should do that more often. But there, there is a farm. Perhaps they will let us use their barn to sleep. Can a nice, good looking person go and ask? Me, maybe I scare them."

[Zergrinch]

The temporarily fearless half elf, still somewhat inebriated, agrees and walks rashly to the farmhouse door heedless of any possible dangers and knocks smartly three times.

After all, there is nothing to fear.

"Hello? Is anybody home?"

[Gluteus_Maximus]

Taara pauses her bobbing at the pat on the back, but quickly joins in the singing, though she stayed fairly quiet all the way through, raising her voice when Trunksplitter joined in so she could hear herself.

When they arrive at the farm she stops and sticks near Lana, keeping her staff at the ready.

[WhismurWanders]

Cailenam follows Zarron to the door of the farmhouse, in case he needed to lend any authority to the matter at hand. He had smiled at the singing of the others on their journey, and was still humming the tune to himself as he waited for a reaction beyond the door.