Czlaplon Quest

[arcomniflash]

"Hmm, that purple stuff...the town officials were correct - it's like some kind of giant fungus." I'll pause and think for a moment. "Some kind of elemental contamination, then? Wait, if Alston needs to be decontaminated just by going near it...I wonder how many people back in town came here and need to be decontaminated, what are the effects?"

[Kasbak]

I'll be a bit confused at first, until the word 'decontaminated' comes up. It's a fungus then, or some other contagion. That explains the dust; it must be spores or whatever it is that's spreading it. Good thing I didn't head straight for the group then. I'll be careful not to touch anything else with the hand I patted the dog with if I can avoid it.

"Alright, I'll touch down there." I'll point to indicate a space a few yards away from everyone, making sure to read the air first so that I stay down wind on my approach. I'll stay still and let them approach me. Fortunately my size should mean it won't take as much of the spirits for a decontamination.

[TarlimanJoppos]

Alston: Once you're down, Shaliko douses your hand, your bow, and then the rest of you with some sort of fierce alcohol. It smells like turpentine and stings horribly, especially when he pours some over your head. Your bowstring will have to be reconditioned, as the alcohol will have stripped the beeswax from it and possibly damaged the fibers. You're unable to fly for fifteen minutes while your wings recover.

“Alston needs to be decontaminated because he touched the dog,” Gudrun explains. Kolbeinn nods, then tosses a Blizzard Sphere, killing the dog in an instant and freezing the porch area. “That is not dust from the farmyard on its fur,” Gudrun continues, watching the procedure, “but a fine coating of spores. I will send a spirit to Garvin with the news that they should start washing down with alcohol, as the entire town may be contaminated. Shaliko, please send a light sprite to the captain to notify her that the ship and the passengers may need to be attended to.”

Kolbeinn, meanwhile, has conjured an earth elemental and has it making a trench and firebreak around the farm. “This is not elemental contaminant,” he says. “It is solely fungus, but I do not think it native this place. It aggressively, try eat animal and plant before dead are.”

[Kasbak]

Yeah, I kind of anticipated as much. No point in getting upset about any of it, since it's all necessary, so I'll just bear through the stinging sensation. I'll probably have the odor on me for a bit, but it's better than winding up weak and withered. "Thanks." I'll remark to Shaliko. "I'll get you some replacement when we get back." Probably something drinkable instead of the disinfectant. I kind of doubt that he'd hold me to any sort of debt for it, but it's the principle of the thing.

While I'm drying off, I will give a silent prayer to Jaspree for the sake of the dog, but I won't put up any sort of protest on the conclusion. It was in pain and too far gone to be saved, so ending its suffering quickly is the more humane option. Once that's done, I'll take a look in my pack, as I should have at least one replacement string in my supplies. I'll look at the decontaminated string later when I have more time and space to properly examine it to see if it's salvageable. Actually, if Audelia and her parents decide they do want to go through with some further testing, having her analyze it might be a good method for seeing if the Discipline speaks to her instincts at all. Maybe I'll save it for that option. I'll also want to look at my bow when I get back to the ship and likely put a new coat of sealant on it, but I would expect the alcohol to evaporate quickly enough that it won't be left as bare wood right now.

I'll get my wings stretched out and give them several good beats to test and make sure they're fully dried out. Once I can get airborne, I'll catch up with the activity of everyone else. It's easy enough to conclude that the intent here is to cleanse by fire. "Should we set it off from a distance? I wouldn't want us to breathe in anything harmful that might get set in the air by a blaze." I can get it started once we move back a ways with Flame Arrow, possibly at longer range than a spell might, though since I'm not a spellcaster I won't know what Kolbeinn has in his arsenal. It might be a good idea to have a fire elemental ready too in order to make sure it spreads thoroughly.

[arcomniflash]

"I agree that fire might be the best option, if anything is done to this stuff it'll probably release spores into the air, at least with fire they'll burn up in the heat." I'll glance back at the farmhouse again. "If it's not native to this environment though, why is it here? Did someone put it here on purpose?" These are probably thoughts to be fleshed out later, but to me, this doesn't seem to have been accidental. After all, why would someone even be handling spores of this type on a farm? I'll fall into step with the others. "Anyway, a flaming arrow from you should do it, Alston. Assuming this stuff is burnable...but I don't know of any fungi that aren't. Though, I don't know any purple fungi for that matter."

[TarlimanJoppos]

Alston: Shaliko raises an eyebrow at you. “The cheap stuff, not anything you'd want to drink. This is wood alcohol, used for cleaning. More than a mouthful and you'll go blind.” You spend a few moments replacing your bowstring and getting the remains of the alcohol to evaporate.

Isaac: “Not native,” Kolbeinn agrees. “Is bloodspore. From Blood Wood. Very large problem back – there.” He hesitates over word choice slightly, and his shoulders sag. “Spread like fire. Also die in fire.”

By this point, the lot of you have retreated back through the gate and out to the, well, it's not really a road, more of a trail made by passing wagons. “Ew,” Mekhitar says to Kolbeinn. “We'll need to look for patches of it between here and the next farm over then, where it might have gotten tracked. Is there any sort of detection spell or specific sort of targeting that you can do?”

Kolbeinn frowns. “Yes but I do not learn.” He glances down at the ground, and says “Thank you.” To the party, he says, “Fire break is done.”

“We will make do with what we have,” Gudrun says. “I have summoned a spirit and tasked it to find the nearest patch of the fungus beyond this farm and report it to me, and to continue doing so until sunset. Alston, your arrow if you would. As to your question, Isaac, there are only two ways a fungus from Blood Wood could arrive here. One is by accident, the other is on purpose. As quickly and aggressively as it spreads, a person carrying it by accident would not have survived to reach this distance from the Wood. Therefore, we are dealing with deliberate ecological sabotage.”

[arcomniflash]

"Hmph, great. Then we have a saboteur with enough resources to find a specific type of fungus from the blood wood for his work, who then uses it on a small farm in the middle of nowhere..." I'll pause for a moment and tip my hat. "We're going to need more clues than that to go on, this is just strange. Perhaps if we asked the two town officials who sent us here we might get more answers." With Gudrun summoning her spirit and Alston able to set fire to this stuff with arrows, I don't have much more to contribute than questions for the moment. Once we find other patches of it, perhaps some of us can set fire to it the old fashioned way - with torches - and help out that way.

[Kasbak]

A fungus from Blood Wood? Well no wonder I wouldn't have recognized it; that place was always somewhere to avoid, both in travel and in conversation. I may not be one of The People, but being raised by them does give you a real connection to the history, both the good and the bad.

I'll give Gudrun a nod and quickly look about for a good spots to fire into, something dry that will catch a spark and spread easy. Most likely the roof or some dry brush for the more outlying areas. Once I've let fly, a thought does occur as to the rest of the conversation. "Unless there were someone carrying it here accidentally by means of magical travel. It's a shot in the dark and probably more wishful thinking than anything, but that could be a possibility." I definitely don't think it a high enough likelihood to relax my guard at all, but it is important to try and look from all the angles possible.

[TarlimanJoppos]

Isaac: “What better place to start a plague than an out of the way spot that gets no attention from adepts?” Gudrun asks you. “We will see what my spirit brings back from Garvin.”

Alston: “Unlikely,” Shaliko says. “Anybody capable of magical travel out of the Blood Wood right now is most probably working for us.” He raises his arm and lights his symbol briefly, the Lightbearer sigil glowing on his bracer. “There could be an operation going that would land someone here instead of a Lightbearer stronghold. We're still compartmentalized, even after having gone public, so not everyone knows everything. I think Gudrun's probably right. It makes more tactical sense for this to be a plague seeding.”

“Garvin is seeing to the town,” Gudrun relays, after listening to something nobody else can see. “The captain is not pleased, but says it is better to find out about possible contamination before leaving port and carrying it somewhere else. Isaac, you have done well bringing our attention to this. If you had not, we might have inadvertently been a plague vector.”

Between the lot of you, the farm is soon burning fiercely enough that you have to move on. Kolbeinn has left air and water elementals to contain the blaze inside the firebreak. Shaliko pulls out his Blight mask and suggests everyone else don theirs. Kolbeinn shrugs, and puts his on. “A suit body of tarred canvas really need,” he says.

You don't have far to go. Before you reach the next farm, you start seeing patches of purplish fungus here and there, on the trees, spreading up the flowering plants, and enshrouding a lump about the size of a small animal at the side of the wagon track. Gudrun has pointed them out before you get to them, and Kolbeinn tosses ice spells. “Not as good as fire but will contain so we can pass,” he says. Further up the road, the purplish haze is more obvious, and you can see some really large cup fungus, a foot tall or more, with upturned bell-like heads atop thick stems.

[Kasbak]

I've never been to Fortetsa Hebo, so I won't have a blight mask, and I doubt anyone would have a spare in my size. I'll have to make do with with a cloth covering. Yet another reason to always know where your towel is.

"I wasn't really thinking one of ours." I'll clarify to Shaliko. "I was thinking someone from Blood Wood traveling out. I still don't think it's highly likely, but it's best to try and see all the possible angles." Then again, that could still be the culprit if it is a deliberate act.

"If we don't have one on it already, it might be a good idea to have a spirit canvas the area and give us an idea of how far it has spread. If we can get a shape, that'll tell us if it's just been dropped in one spot and is spreading outward from there, or if it has been seeded in more than one place." That would also give an indication on where it started and how long ago, assuming the rate of spread can be figured. "Searching for any other Namegivers around might also be a good idea." Both on the chance that the culprit is around and looking for any victims.