Care in Progress

The party along with Vesper continues towards the base of the mountain in the carriage, traveling east along the island coastline. To their left is a small bit of forest and the strange red-and-purple marbled ocean beyond it. The tides appear to have stopped moving, though waves are still crashing. To the right is a dense old-growth forest of oak, thick enough to block vision past around 30 feet. The weather is dreary, but it is not going to rain.

 

Inside the carriage, Oracle plays with Jinx, adjusting the newly-acquired bone crown on the latter’s hat, intrigued by the find. Makani goes through a routine of monitoring the ocean, then scanning around the carriage for danger, then investigating the party, trying to remain focused and not start a conversation. While looking at the water, Spítha comes up next to her, startling her by asking what she is looking at so intently. She is bored, doing nothing, and sees Makani looking at the ocean every 5 minutes as excessive. Remedy, outside the carriage, notes that the forest looks like it has not been cleared in a while after Makani asked for anything distracting. Eurus speaks to her then, and she audibly replies back, earning her judging looks from the rest of the party. Eventually she seems to relent to whatever the sword is saying and awkwardly strikes up a conversation about the weather.

 

Oracle wonders whether his marbled hand can be fixed, and if it is dangerous, but inspection showed no spreading of the pattern and the water is only lethal after long-term exposure. Freshwater is also unaffected by the darkening of the ocean. Further questioning of Vesper reveals the ocean turned marbled at the same time as it did in Nok Harbor, 250 miles away. The party recalls that the effect seemed to come out from the island itself.

 

A brief conversation between Omar, Spítha, and Makani reveals that the latter has had no friends (excluding her sword), not seeing the point in having them. The others explain that it is good to have people to lean on and who in turn lean on you. Makani does not really understand and rejects Spítha’s hug.

 

Omar asks Remedy’s favorite tree, but it does not have one. It also does not and cannot eat, nor does it need a fuel source. Omar then turns to Oracle, asking if he’s ever had insect stew, a delicacy where Omar is from. He remarks that it “helps the tree,” and Makani tenses at the last word. She learns Omar’s family is from Mirona, and after being questioned by Spítha, she reveals that she is as well. While Omar is from below the branches, Makani was raised above and forbidden from going below. She also says she cannot go back, and that if anyone asks, she is from Venithos. Omar reveals he and his mother are able to hear the tree, Oracle commenting that the roots of trees whisper.

 

Upon arrival at the base of the mountain, the group sees half of a well-established town, and upon looking up, the other half at an unnatural 70-degree angle with rubble at the base. A good number of refugee camps are within eyesight, with makeshift tents and huts. Remedy approaches the first person it sees, a halfling woman in generic wizard attire, and asks if anyone is in danger. She replies that there is a medical tent with clerics that have it under control, and Remedy immediately heads towards this. It finds the one patient in critical condition and uses its spear to cast Private Sanctum to invoke his physician’s office. Inside, it cares for the dwarven man, whose entire left side was crushed, stabilizing him enough that healers expediting the process will be sufficient.

 

For a minute, the sky looks blue, and a thin sheet of freshwater comes down as everything is now wet, but intact. It was definitely a wild magic surge.

 

Makani returns to the halfling while Remedy is busy and asks her some questions. She learns that the mountain appeared in the late morning/early afternoon, half an hour before the water darkened. They have done their best to clear out every vertical building but cannot guarantee there are not still people up there. They have been working on narrowing down the location of the strongest wild magic, but the scale the party is after is atop the mountain, too steep and smooth for them to climb.

 

Oracle looks around in the medical tent, seemingly looking for something, and stops someone with the insignia of the wizard school to ask for help with his hand. They get someone with a grater power, who restores Oracle’s hand with a Remove Curse. Makani is able to ascertain that Oracle is indeed looking for somebody but being dodgy about it. Meanwhile Spítha stands at the front of the tent staring in, but insists she is fine.

 

Makani gathers the party and shares the information gained from the wizard as another wild magic event occurs, covering the ground in smalls flowers.

 

With the group reunited, they look towards the top of a mountain just as a purplish black band forms at the top and begins travelling down. They have 3 minutes before it reaches the ground, during which the people are alerted and gathered in the medical tent. As the band of color moves down, it flattens the part of the mountain over which it passes. Makani remains outside, looking for civilians still not in the tent.

 

As the band reaches the ground, everything wobbles as the ground momentarily softens before returning to normal after it passes. Makani gains a level of exhaustion after passing through the band and sees that the medical tent is protected from these effects by a force field.

 

Inside, Remedy’s core sparks as the force field expands from it and encompasses the tent. After it passes, the dome falls, Remedy’s core still glowing yellowish and sparks coming off its metallic parts. The core goes dark as Remedy goes outside and lays into the ground, releasing excess energy as it continues to spark, as if it short-circuited. A blanket is draped over it by Oracle.

 

The remaining party gathers around the blanket and ponder the consequences of obtaining the scale and moving it, thus moving the wild magic surges elsewhere.

"You just love touching them don’t you?" -Omar after Makani asked to see Oracle’s hand

 

"I know insects." -Omar

"I can tell." -Makani probably

 

"Is Eurus your only friend? Do you need a hug?" - Omar

 

"Who’s spilling secrets now?" -Oracle nudging Makani after she revealed her place of origin

 

"Don't be afraid, you're all safe, I made sure of it." -Remedy