Session 11 - Ill Omen

32/04/5-10

The defeated oozes turned dark black, as they remained on the ground. Valeyo said he hadn't heard of any oozes like this prompting Otto to investigate. He identified that this is not an ooze, but rather demon ichor. From his stidues he knew it as a vile sunsbtance that runs through the veins of demons. He warned the party not to touch it as contact with it could lead to unpredictable mutations. Valeyo went to speak to the survivor. The man explained that these men were waiting on the road surrounded by carnage. He saw it stopped and waited, which is when the party had arrived. After the revelation of demonic involvement, Vlaeyo suggested the possibility of there being an abyssal portal nearby.

Looking around some of the dead were likely the patrol. From the dead, there was 1 Otgore, 2 Boyar and 6 Sila. This was too far south for an Otgore to be on their own. Sapphira decided to look through the dead' personal items, while the others looked around for tracks made by the infected. On one of the Boyar, she found a warrant for the arrest of Jozef Nied, of the Otgore for the murder of multiple Sila along the road. Cassinni found a campsite nearby, setup for 3 people, but it looked more abandoned that it ought to. Coming from the east were some, just visible flattened grass, about the size of the oozes which had left a slithering trail.

Cassinni shared the findings with the group and Valeyo suggested going east to find the source of the ichor. He insisted, comparing an abyssal portal to an infected would which got worse if left untreated and would lead to more and more demons coming through. After some searching the track appear to come from the south-east, but following them was hard. As such we returned to the main road and near the evening, the party saw the glow of Krainasto. On approach, multiple caravans and wagons could be seen congregating by the side of the road. A group of guards was nearby. As the party approached the Sila they were stopped. The guard said they couldn't be allowed into town at the moment, as a dangerous pandemic has spread overnight, so they are stopping people here. They are currently working on a way around, but for now, no one can't pass. This happened last night, there was a selection of people dying mysteriously and their doctor determined the cause to be disease, so he is locking the town down. A senior officer would be around later to assist.

The group talked about investigating this, with Otto and Cassini's abilities and so they waited for the Senior Officer to arrive. About an hour later a guard wearing insignia of a higher rank approached. Valeyo explained that they had some healers and could help and the guard pulled the group aside. He shared his story about the disease, describing it as nothing he had ever seen before. Ten people had died last night looking withered and frozen in their beds. Throughout the day it was fine, but they worry more will die tonight. Otto asked if they had anything in common, but the guard said they hadn't assessed anything like that yet. Otto had not heard of any disease like this, acting this quickly. Milivoj asked to meet their cleric in the temple and the guard escorted the party in gave us a pass.

On the way Valeyo asked who they worship around here and Milivoj said that its Waukeen, Morradin and Erathis who is worshipped in Dragomir, but here it could be anything, many looking to the Old Gods. The town streets were empty, except some guards, knocking on doors and looking through windows for anyone sick. Moving to the town square, the town hall could be found, before which was a status of a man - Krum VII. A small temple with a two-section tower was near the square, with an owl perched on top. The guard led the way and knocked on the church door, it was opened by an elderly Goliath man, wearing a face covering. He let the group inside, where some guards were stood covered up and six people were laying down, shivering an looking feverish. The priest introduced himself ad Mikela. He said the affliction is not natural and anyone who stood here long enough would see what he is talking about.

To Cassini it looked like a violent fever. He looked for any bites or rashes and he noticed that the moisture coming from the corners of people's eyes was freezing on their skin. Using detect magic, Cassini could see a necrotic energy surrounding the people. Around their eyes, nose and mouth it was stronger. Sapphira used her Primeval Awareness and detected the presence of fiends within a mile. She let Valeyo know and the group discussed what to do next. Sapphira wondered if they lived close to each other and the cleric said there was a map in the town hall where she could show them.

The party made the short walk to the Town Hall, where the priest marked where the ten which died last night lived. There appeared to be no pattern, except that they were all central. Unable to think of what to do right now, Otto tried to cure one of the sick people using Lesser Restoration. To his surprise, he succeeded. The man stopped shivering, his skin cooled and the frozen liquid near his eyes melted. Cassini picked two other to cure and we decided to stay in town for the night to keep an eye out.

Otto and Sapphira would stay in the tower to keep an eye out, while the others stayed in the town square. During the first watch, Otto noticed that it was weirdly quiet, no wildlife could be heard outside of town, under his food he noticed, in the corner of the tower, relatively fresh 6 dead bats. All of them seemed to have icy flakes near their eyes and mouth. On the floor, Valeyo noticed a group of guards on night watch, enter the tavern. The tavernkeeper, a young half-elf girl hands them a drink, thanking them for their work, but nothing else of note.

During the second watch, Shiek saw a guard, being assisted into the church, coughing and stumbling. Shiek approach and asked them and the guards said, he was suddenly overtook with it while doing their rounds. Sapphira saw this happen from the top of the tower and also heard a faint noise going "A a a a", like cackling. Shiek shared his findings with Sapphira and they went back to their watch. On the third round Shiek noticed a man coming in from the east, looking like a hunter. He awoke Milivoj and the two went to approach the man, who turned out to be a rattled halfling. He looked deathly pale and said he hadn't left the town yet, he was going hunting. Milivoj was surprised he was so early and asked what was wrong. The halfling pointed behind him and said that the lake is wrong. All of the fish are dead and there are dead animals all around it.

Shiek got Sapphira up and he, Milivoj and Sapphira followed the halfling to the nearby pond. There all of the fish were floating on the lake dead and there were dead foxes and birds around. Sapphira asked the hunter where the town wells are and he pointed them out. Milivoj then took the final watch, which went without issue.

33/04/5-10

Everyone awoke the next morning. Shiek shared about the water and the guards and Valeyo mentioned seeing the guards enter the tavern. Valeyo and Milivoj would go to the tavern. Cassini and Otto would check out the wells and pond. Shiek would go look for the guards from last night and ask what they had to drink.

Otto looked at the well and could sense a potent necrotic energy and there was some sort of scum gathered on the water surface. Using Detect Poison and Disease, Cassini found that the water carried a disease. His spell revealed it to be Tlacatecolo disease, an affliction that would exhaust one to the point of death. When the bucket of water was pulled out, he also noticed the disease was purified. Sapphira suggested it might be exposure to the sun that cured it.

In the tavern Valeyo couldn't see the girl from last night, but an older elven woman was running the tavern. Valeyo approached asking after the half-elf and the woman said she was asleep, but after some convincing she woke her up. The girl said last night ,she gave two of the guards beers and Stefan water, as he doesn't drink. They warned them not to drink the water and the elven woman put out a sign saying "Don't drink water, drink our beer it won't kill you.". With that Milivoj and Valeyo left.

Shiek visited the church and saw the guard was not looking long for this world. The priest said this was Stefan. With that Shiek left and met up with the others, where we all shared our discoveries. As most of the group went to the pond and confirmed it had been purified, Otto went back to cure Stefan. He warned the priest not to drink the water and everyone regrouped near the lake, where Sapphira was looking for tracks. Near the shore, Sapphira saw a foot and a half long foot print, with two finger forward and one back, resembling that of a bird foot. Valeyo mentioned some fiends with bird feet, like the Vrock or the Abyssal Chicken, but didn't think either of them could inflict such disease.

Sapphira kept tracking it , but assumed it flew away. She did however find a large pure-black feather, almost 2 feet in length. Her background in beasts, led her to believe that this might be from an owl, and it also stunk. Milivoj suggested that they could use the sun to clean the wells. Otto said proposed wait during the night, with Sapphira setting alarms near the lake and well, so they can go when the creature appears. Cassinni recalled the owl atop the tower and him and Sapphira went up to see of it was there, using his Detect Poison and Disease spell. His spell was a hit. In the rafters was an owl looking down at him, the source of the poison. Cassinni tried to act as if he hadn't noticed, but the owl began to grow larger and larger, before eventually becoming a large bipedal owl creature with massive clawed hands. Looking down at him it uttered "I am going to kill you!".