Tests and Trials

[Rodgeir]

Jaq pulls out the small box and looks at it, suspecting it somehow helped him resist whatever the pool did. It looks unchanged, just a palm sized box with a small hole.

As he turns it over in his hands he does notice a bit of the color and some sensation return to the palm of his withered hand briefly after the box has touched it before returning to it's withered state.

[NotStickFigures]

"Wow, hey!" he expresses surprise as the odd magic box does something to help his hand, if only for a moment. He will explain to the others what just happened and ask if anyone has any idea what could be inside the box, or if just maybe the box itself is some sort of beneficial magic.

[Arch Lich Burns]

”Oi! Ye donnae get ta feel down! It ain’t tomb raidin’ withou a trap or a curse o two. Besides it sound like it used ta do that before it was taint’d. If we find some cleric ta clean it up it should do so again.”

[Dlover]

"No, it won't do that again once it is cleansed. Sure, Kelemvor allows resurrection, but there are restrictions upon it. A pool which simply revives freely would cast the world into chaos. Countries would fight for its control, populations would swell uncontrollably, food would run short. Death is painful, but it is a necessity." Lurn glances at Jolly, his voice softening, "I am sorry to deny your hope, but I cannot stand to give you false hopes. I do not believe this pool will bring back the dead in a true sense."

When Jaq speaks up about the box, Lurn moves to inspect him, "Perhaps it contains an item made to fight back the undead? Magical or religious, I'm not sure... Hah, maybe it's even the pool's original source of power, before it was corrupted, sealed away to keep it from restoring the pool. If only that were likely."

[Rodgeir]

Jolly doesn't respond to Lurn's explanation of the potential geopolitical ramifications of a pool that brought people back. He does nod slightly at Lurn's conclusion that whatever the pool brings back wouldn't truly be alive.

((What is the nature of Lurn's inspection of Jaq? Medical, arcane? You can give me a roll based on whatever it is if you'd like.

Anyone doing anything else during the short rest? Otherwise roll HD if you want and let me know what you're doing next.))

[Dlover]

((Hrm, didn't really consider it as more than flavour of looking at the box having its weird effect. But sure, let's throw... Medicine, I guess? It's that, Arcana, or Religion, with investigating the effects of the box on him, but Lurn's just a medicine man with faith, really.))
Medicine: 1d20+7 = [7] = 14

Oh, and I forgot to answer the question of where we'd find a temple to Kelemvor... Now, before I make an assumption on that part, it'd most likely be in the nearest city of notable size, right? Being the temple that handles the majority of funerals, you'd probably expect them to be based in the places with the most people, where funerals are more common? I could try rolling religion if you want (And y'know what, I'll throw one out to not delay if you do want one), but it feels like a piece of information a cleric should really have by default.
Religion: 1d20-1 = [16] = 15

Oh, right, and Hit Dice. Let's see, Lurn was down to.... 21. So yeah, I'll spend one die on that. +CON for the amount healed, right?
1d8+4 = [5] = 9
Only 5 if it's without the con modifier.

[thinkslogically]

Ves will pull out a pot and start making a warming herbal tea (cooks utensils prof: everyone gets +1 hp back per hit dice spent). The ritual of it helps steady her again a bit. As the water boils she turns her attention to her own injuries and spends a couple of hit die to recover herself.

1d8+1+1 = [3] = 5
1d8+1+1 = [5] = 7

((That'll do))

She'll spend the rest of her rest breathing in the warm smell of the tea and meditating her ki points back. Feeling more centred by the end of the hour, she downs the tea in her cup and turns her attention back to the group, especially Jolly.

If necessary: insight - 1d20+5 = [12] = 17

[Rodgeir]

To Lurn´s trained eye Jaq´s hand belongs on a corpse, one that has been left out of its grave for too long. Jaq himself seems otherwise healthy and there don´t appear to be any signs of putrification and whatever has happened stops right at his wrist. Everything smacks of a non-natural (magical) condition and this is only compounded by the odd and brief re-vivification process the box causes.

Pondering on where he last saw a temple to Kelemvor he remembers there is a fair sized one in Grenmyr and several large ones in Bridgeway. Probably the one is Grenmyr is the closest at around 8 days away. Maybe if they could cross the river they could get to Bridgeway quicker? Likely a question for Ves.

Jolly is clearly trying to deal with everything that has happened and seems to be going through different phases of sadness, anger and dispondency,

((It is +con and then +1 thanks to Ves.))

[spiderwrangler]

((I think Lurn healed Jaq instead of Kroshav's Lay on Hands, so he'll use 4 of that on himself in addition to rolling 2 of his hit die.))

2d10+4+1 = [5, 4] = 14 + 4 LoH = 18

((Brings him up from 2 to 20.))

[thinkslogically]

((the food gives +1 per hit die so Kroshav should get +2 there. Not that it's likely to matter, but you never know haha))

[spiderwrangler]

((Yeah, you definitely specified that... Oops! 21 it is.))

[Arch Lich Burns]

Joe looks at Jaq’s hand and starts to ritually cast detect magic.

Hit die [1d6+3] = 3+3 = 6[1d6+3] = 4+3 = 7 total of 13 healed.

[Dlover]

Yeah, Lurn will try a Cure Wounds on Jaq to see if it helps any, though it seems unlikely. Roll from last page set at 10 healing from it.
"It seems like your hands are already dead... Seems like the pool inflicted you with a curse which rapidly converted all which entered into a state of undeath. I would say it actually changed your hands, but this box of yours says otherwise, so it's probably a curse. There is no changing from undead to living, after all... Well, not after it's too late for true resurrection. Now, there may be some difficulties involved in having hands which seem to be undead - having dead body parts certainly causes problems - so I would suggest you run that box over your hands regularly to try to ward off any problems... And probably get some gloves, so that people don't ask about it."

Having done all he can for Jaq, Lurn turns to the group, "The nearest temple of my faith would be found in Grenmyr or Bridgeway, depending on which we can reach sooner... If we stop at that dilapidated temple on the way we could ask for aid there, though there would be no priests to take action or alert us of any decisions, so we would have to guess whether anything had occurred... Well, you could all ask for aid, just in case we're cursed. Though my Lord is on bad terms with only a few of the gods, it's not exactly good form for me to ask another for aid. I will simply have faith that I will be provided with the guidance required."

[spiderwrangler]

"You don't think it's a disease or poison, do you?"

[Dlover]

"No, no signs of that. Absolutely no signs of disease or decay, and it hasn't spread beyond the wrists, so not poison. No poison would remain so neatly contained. Must be magical of some form. A curse to turn a living being into an undead. But not without hope of counteracting it."

[Rodgeir]

((Just to clarify, it is just one hand. It would be Jaq's dominant.))

Jaq's hand doesn't get better from the additional healing (Jaq's max was 18, the 21 was with temp job). Joe can see a strong, oily film of necrotic magic in and around Jaq's hand and she glimpses small streams of the aura moving back towards the ruins. There are also tendrils moving up Jaq's arm but don't seem to be growing. The box Jaq is holding still glows strongly with abjuration magic and everywhere the box touches Jaq's withered hand loses its necrotic film. Once the box is moved the oily necrotic film quickly returns.

[thinkslogically]

((How quickly can we get to those towns?))

Survival: 1d20+5 = [9] = 14

[NotStickFigures]

Jaq is trying not to freak out but can often be caught looking down worriedly at his hand.

[spiderwrangler]

As Kroshav moves away he takes a deep sniff and almost chokes as a stench of overwhelming rotting travels down his nostrils and fills his mouth and throat. Gagging he struggles to keep his breakfast down as he scans for the source before determining, unsurprisingly, it is the pool. Steeling have himself and hazarding another deep sniff Kroshav is able to make out three distinct odors centered on the pool, each gut wrenching in its own right. ((He is picking up that the pool smells undead, demonic and that the pool has been desecrated from whatever it had been.))

((Sorry, didn't keep up as much on stuff that last bit, internet was out at home the last few days.))

Kroshav has a ponder about demonic undead, and mostly comes up with a certainty that anything that is both is not good.

1d20-2 = [13] = 11

"Hey, I picked up demonic and undeadness around that gross pool. Any of you know anything that would be both demonic and undead? That skeleton guy was talking about his boss..."

((One of you smart guys help your poor paladin out!))

[Arch Lich Burns]

”Tha cannae be good. Thar be tendrils o necrotic energy goin twoards tha ruins n up yer arm. It ain’t growin, but it be worrinin’. Holdin tha box helps, try rubbin it along yer arm n keep it close.”

(Any other curses on anybody?)

[Rodgeir]

Ves ponders the travel times to Grenmyr and Bridgeway. As the crow flies Grenmyr is closer but it is also more or less along the same route they took to get here, only a bit more to the east. That means they would be in the forest the entire trip and be moving around the same speed. Bridgeway, if the now gone map was correct, is almost directly east and slightly further away than Grenmyr. If she remembers correctly though, once across the river, the ground is gentle, hilly grasslands making for quicker travel. The Wandering river that needs to be crossed rumored to be quite wide and violent as it comes out of the mountains.

Kroshav decides that undead stuff and demons are both pretty evil so they probably work together or something. It makes sense. How and why they work together and who the skeleton's Lord was is beyond him. He is pretty sure someone told him ghouls were undead demons but he isn't sure if that is true or not.

Joe casts her eyes around and is pleased to see everyone else seems to be curse free. Seems the skeleton was lying or maybe being figurative?

[NotStickFigures]

Jaq takes a deep breath then asks “Umm are we gonna go down those steps and see what is there?”

[thinkslogically]

"Up to you. Might find a cure down there for you, or at least something to open the box. Or we might not."

[NotStickFigures]

“As awful as it looks it doesn’t hurt or feel weak. Just kind of numb. I think we should get our Magics back and then check it out.”

[spiderwrangler]

"That'll mean tomorrow morning for me... If we're camping anywhere near here, it needs to be one we can defend if they get rowdy at night."