2/26/22

Begin with no INSP stuff
DM-Goddess grants INSP!
Character question 1: Are you a good liar? Aurane doesn't want to lie, unless absolutely needed. He is the type to couch the lie in too much information, which works on fewer people than it doesn't, which makes him bad overall.
Character question 2: What is your biggest pet peeve? Vandalism, and those goddamn teens that keep Color Spray (the spell? whatever) painting penises on the walls around Cherwood
Character question gain us +d6 dice also
 
BEGIN SESSION
We are in the forest and have just finished a short rest. We're about a half day into the forest, but you wouldn't know it from the deep darkness that pervades the area, leaving us in a perpetual twilight. We think that the groups we saw heading west could have some exposure and choose to turn back, to check on them and either cure/kill those who need it. We are a half day into the forest and then another half day behind those groups, so we must make haste. I use Divine Intervention to summon Shadowfax, a horse lord and the keeper of the meaning of haste. I need to roll d100 lower than my level and fail (40), so no Mearas for me. Melfina harvests some samples from the treant and zombies, sequestering some spores in tarp material. (Side note: Rorin is an anti-vaxxer and Fawx News watcher). Spike bites a spore sac and loses, with MED we learn something so small would zombify in 1 day instead of 2. SUR check to lead us out, but our passive observation skills notice shambling forms, including one 4-legged creature roughly the size of a bear. Once we emerge, I homing pigeon us back towards the nearest city. We also have to CON save for us and the horses. My horse and Melfina's fail and become exhausted. I summon a Ghost Horse(TM TM TM) to compensate for mine, and Melfina doubles up with Rorin. We ride through the night, and SUR check to keep pushing. We get into Lake Town about 6 am, the mounts tired, us tired, but we're here. We are gonna split up to go to the Sanctum and HP Impartial to inform them of the risk, and the temple of Kusco to handle the mounts. I go alone to HP; Marda, Melfina, and Spike go to the Sanctum; Druss and Rorin go to Kusco.
 
Druss and Rorin take care of our mounts, and ask after the groups in question. They're going to look into it and follow up.
 
I reach HP Impartial's residence and walk in without knocking. He is in a state of undress, brushing his teeth and brewing coffee. He has his holy symbol on and is half-way to magicking me. He notices who I am and allows me to present the situation. He dresses and prepares to leave, casting Sending to the mayor to call for the other clergy. He asks if this is the same thing that Lenny from the Sanctum had been talking about using sequestration to solve. Yes, as that is the guy Melfina used Sending to contact.
 
Melfina, Marda, and Spike reach the Sanctum, and there is a pop-up sick house next to it. Lenny is assumed to be around there somewhere. They go looking for Lenny and check the security of the site. (Mayor is Sharon Morston). Marda is headed to the mayor's house. Marda tells about the airborne pathogen and spores, the 2 day progression, and getting the city on board with quarantining. The government thought Lenny was just excitable and wrote him off. The Sanctum presence here is small and lacks the weight of authority. Captain of the guard Vick is also there. They see clerics, 2 each from Dem Felic (Love) and Morbris Sempra (Death), show up and get to work. Criers begin decrying the mask mandate and sick house locations.
 
Melfina arrives at the sick house and assesses the situation. The sickest are in the back, progressively becoming less serious the nearer the door they are. There aren't really things to make masks out of, for the most part. Melfina is very matter-of-fact in her delivery of the information about the outbreak, scaring anything with a pulse. The healthier ones comply with her, out of fear. The worse ones are late-stage, and she becomes quite serious about the containment.
 
I make it across town with HP Impartial and am joined by the clerics of Bazil (Fertility), Lord Terrance (Sun), and Pudge (Oceans and Storms) along the way. We get to the temple of Kusco, seeing Rorin and Druss. Autobots roll out to the sick house. Marda eventually gets through to Vick and gets more supplies devoted to the cause. Melfina casts Lesser Restoration on a late-stage that isn't so bad, making a WIS check for effect (22, which works mostly, not fixing the tissue damage, but clearing the infection). INSP used, healed a super sick guy. Then, healed another super sick guy. All super sick are cured, all heavy sick are cured, we're just down to the 1-day folks, maybe. Melfina is observing the standing populace in the sick house, finding one with signs. This person is marked, and a cleric called for. Aurane spent so much of his energy on the two near-death patients, and shambles from the back of the house, barely standing. The 5 folks left are ok, one of them having been the group healer who took care of them even after quarantining. We hand off the light work to the NPC clerics and release the uninfected back into the populace.
 
We head to the inn and get two doubles and some food. My one and only goal is to sleep, then get back to healing. INSP gained for the hard work and focus on what needed doing.
 
I have had a series of stressful weeks, with Cherwood attacked, my exodus into the wilderness, the skyship, and tapping into Her Divinity so deeply, as well as the fear of the failure of the powers and my connection to them. I dream of rot, pestilence, corrupting my city from the inside out. I have hope, that maybe I can stop this thing, but a thin hope it is. The others dream as well, unbeknownst to me.
 
In the morning, we make sure that the situation is under control here and in other cities. From previous discussions, I look into containment units suitable for the samples we've been working on so far. There is a 1 foot by 6 inch container I am able to acquire for this purpose. It isn't perfect, but will serve. We also get some waxy paper business to use for strange samples.
 
We travel back to the forest, and I am on second watch with Spike. 1st watch has a creepy pair of eyes show up. Our 2nd watch begins, PER(25) and halfway through the shift we're good. I look to a different point in the darkness and see new, different eyes. The angle is different and they are also staring at the camp. I cast detect evil and good, and they are too far away, but I know that the ground past the tree line is consecrated. There is a weird vibe to the consecration, not divine but earthen. I won't go into the trees to find the source, as they are ~90 feet away. The feeling is coming from the trees. REL check (17), and I take a moment to connect to the magic. I sense it is trying to grow, the blessing, the protection. Focusing on the consecration and the source, I sense the same source as when healing the infected folk. Another hour passes and we hand off to third, Melfina and Druss. Druss can see 120 feet into the dark, and can see that the first set of eyes is an owlbear in black and white rotting flesh, and the second set of eyes looks to be a weretiger in some form of undeath. Another set of eyes is visible to him as well, a hint of reflective eyes and maybe some horns or a branched head. He brings his findings back to Melfina and she commences note-taking on these fools. There is an arrow flying towards them, narrowly dropping to avoid being hit. It sticks and they find a note attached to it. Melfina views it, avoiding the black ichor on the note, to read: "LEAVE. blah blah blah" She identifies the rest as Elvish. Within 30 minutes, the sun begins to rise and we start making breakfast. As the sun rises, the eyes fade away. It appears no-one can read the Elvish, so I cast Comprehend Languages as a ritual to read this thing: "LEAVE. (Begin Sylvan) You are all parasites leaching off of the land. It is now time for the Earth to take back what is its. You will perish or we will use you as part of our army."
 
I vote to move deeper into the forest. Whatever the consequences are, we'll deal with them. Melfina "Shall we press on?"
 
END SESSION
Current tally, INSP and +d6