An important visit to the Dawnspire

Cleo smiles and says his casual hellos to the farmers and merchants as walks past the Morning Farms residences toward the Dawnspire, but his pace betrays the urgency of his mission.

Lord Blue had been quite busy with his other studies, but he finally had a moment to make the trip, his tools in tow.

Abbess Imesah was, of course, a familiar sight to the Morning Farms, but it was not so common to see these three walking together, even if they were colleagues in the council chambers.

Cleo opened the temple door and held it for them as they entered. He said a brief prayer before the altar and greeted Helene.

"Wait here, if you please, Councilors. Elric and Leeora should be here, too. I'll return in a moment."

With that, Cleo went up the steps to the second floor library, where he found Elric giving company to Leeora on a brief break from her urgent studies. "Lord Blue and the Abbess are here. Shall we go take a closer look at what's in the crypt?"

Leeora glances up and her smile only brightens more when she sees Cleophus. Taking a sip from her tea, she nods and stands, placing a book she was reading into her pocket close to her.

"Of course, Brother Cleo. It is good Lord Blue made his way to help in this."

She smiles and follows Cleo.

blue waits as instructed hand tucked behind him in a seemingly military at ease pose..

he looks around as always checking out the dawn spire.. he nods to the priest and so forth that pass by..

he walks over and checks out the plants at times he can be heard softly talking to them often in elven occasionally in common.. he walks around inspecting the area.. he at times touches the stone work as if feeling for anything seeming weakness..

he returns to the spot he was told to wait and takes his usual pose hands behind his back..

Imesah remains in the temple proper with Blue. She finds a pew and sits. Closing her eyes, she prays quietly until Cleophus returns with the others.

The unarmored elric takes a last sip from the tea and follows them silently.

Cleo approaches the door to the crypt, nodding at the Temple Guards stationed on either side. He crouches and whispers a word into the lock as if it were a grade-school secret, then stands, producing an iron key.

He unlocks the door and holds it open for the others, becoming the last to enter the cloyingly sweet-smelling crypt.

He locks the door behind them and bids Elric lead the way.  

"While we walk, Leeora, please tell us what you have learned from the Book of Moander."

As they enter, she is silent for a few moments, keeping her head low while whispering a prayer for the dead. After her prayer, she is silent for a moment in respect, then nods to Cleo as they begin to walk.

"Oh! Right...um...well you see..."

She fumbles to retrieve the disgusting old book, her expression one of utmost seriousness and concern. Various places in the book have markers in them so that she can turn to the foul pages with ease.

"It has a lot of prayers...really um...really disturbing rituals. Specifically, I found one entailing of...of actually building a body for Moander. From what I understand, it would require a bunch of rotting plants and offal..."

A cringe appears on her face as she thinks about it.

"There was also another thing. It took up quite a number of pages. It's referred to as the 'Seeds of Moander'. It requires an emerald, rotting plant matter, and holy water. Basically what you do is wrap the emerald in the plant stuff and place it into the holy water. A ritual chanting and such is performed, and thus the Seed is created."

She speaks thoroughly, as if she has read into this specific section in great detail.

"Once the Seed is created, it's a horrible thing. If it touches a living being, I'm assuming any kind, even animals, it sprouts these spores. The spores enslave the being to the Darkbringer's will."

After recalling the points she's studied, she closes the book and looks up at Cleo with worry.

"Do you think that a Seed was used on the Prior?"

Speaking quietly, his voice echoing in the stone chamber, Cleo walks slowly,following along behind Elric, and answers:

"The Prior. Arya. Lord Blue, perhaps. Perhaps the Dawn Knight Marshal, here.

Any who have touched these objects have been exposed. The question is whether their resistance of the initial effects has killed the spores that invaded them, or do they lie dormant, waiting?

This is especially true of the Prior, since he did fall prey to this curse. Thoughts, Lord Blue? Elric? You both felt what these objects could potentially do."

"I feel no different brother. for the sake of our people i will submit myself to any exmination thou wishes if it so warrants.

What i felt from the amulet was an annoyance... it sought to influence my mind but failed. T'was only a tingling in the back of my head that i felt wheter or not i was in direct contact with the amulet."

i was able to recover fully from the thing trying to influence my mind.. nothing more i feel.. so normal i am *he would smirk as if he was playing* but seriously i am fine..

now as for spores bah i hate those blasted things.. are they breathed in.. if so there is a simple spell though im not sure if a divine caster can use but i will check if not i can make potions of it.. its called veil of air..

it should prevent them being inhaled it worked on the underdark spores long ago..

as for this so called seed i say destroy it..

since im currently on break from study feel free to look for spores if you feel it necessary but i assure you i am fine..

Leeora blinks a few times.

"Erm, Lord Blue, what I said was that it was through touch. Once the item touches a being, then the spores are transferred. I...don't think it has anything to do with breathing them in, in fact. Think of it this way."

She pulls from her pack a wrapped cookie.

"Say, for example, this wrapped cookie is a Seed of Moander."

Assuming Cleo would take it, she hands it to him in an attempt to explain things.

"Now that the wrapped cookie has physically touched Brother Cleo, the spores are attached to him and theoretically, Moander can have complete control over him. The spores are not 'breathed in'. They literally attach themselves to the person."

She doesn't take the cookie back, winking to Cleo, as she knows what happened last time a cookie was in front of him.

"And Lord Blue, I would be willing to bet there is more than just one Seed of Moander. I don't think this is going to be as simple as just 'destroying it'. I believe Cleo is onto something when he wonders about if the spores are still attached and lying dormant. If this is the case, we need to figure out a means of checking people to see if they have spread. Unfortunately, I do not think Detect Magic would be beneficial in this case unless the person literally strips down, removes all wards, has no magical items at all..."

She furrows her brow in thought.

"Brother Cleo, how do you think the best way to go about this is? I could try to do more research into the Seeds themselves, but I am unsure where to get more information besides this book. I could try speaking to the Prior if you would like?"

Imesah has listened quietly for a while, but when Leeora is done she says:

"We must find a way to destroy these spores as well as any seeds we may encounter. To allow such evil to fester is unconscionable. We must find them, and destroy them."

"Well, Imesah. We must examine the possibility that part of your declaration has already been accomplished."

With that, Cleo stops and gestures to the Dagger and the Amulet, both lying atop a stone table.

"When sweet Arya touched this dagger, she fell to the same sort of madness that the Prior had.

The Prior wrote in his journal that he felt like 'vines' were growing 'inside' his 'mind' after he touched the Orb. This is very much the effect that Leeora has described regarding the Seeds of Moander.

Lord Blue, here, complained of a 'pressure' in his 'head'. And now Elric has noted a similar feeling, from the Amulet, though it seems he did not touch it.

I think we should ask ourselves quite bluntly whether these items, in fact, ARE Seeds of Moander."

Cleo tucks the cookie away for safekeeping.

chuckles..

so they are in a since like those hitchiking seeds that cling to your clothes and fall off later when you arrive in a new spot.. or when you notice them and pick them off.. i do hate those things.. only these do not just fall off..

and thats all i felt was the pressure nothing more.. besides i used gloves and burned them after.. and when i touched the next item i used different gloves and burned them.. i have fully recovered from that pressure as well..

its not so easy to get into my mind after all..

and lets face it i cant be the only one curious as to the connection of this the tower of bones and house eoleth or whoever it was that hose belonged to we found those two items in..

i really do need to get better with names.. *laughs*

"Hardly, Lord Blue. In fact, that connection is why we're here. To wit:

Druuth Daern helped Myth Drannor against a cult of Moander before he got the itch to be a lich.

House Eolaeth was a great supporter of the Tower of Bones, and its summer home is where we found both that orb and now this Amulet that Elric discovered on his recent mission.

Indeed, we are counting on your curiosity to sate our own. So do your thing, Milord.

Tell us what you can learn about this blade and this amulet. Tell us something we can use."

Cleo gestures to the two items, then stands back, hands clasped behind him, making room for Lord Blue to work.

well you know this will take some time likely.. i hope you have food ready to bring in.. nah never mind ill just drink my tea *chuckles*

blue gathers his tools and puts on gloves and fully wards his self with all his ward many lasting a full day at a time such as protection spells from evil mage armor and many more..

he then moves his hands over the items feeling the magic if any on them.. he tries to find out what magic they are.. he uses his knowledge of the arcane spells and ritual magics as well as his knowledge of necromancy magic.. he also uses his lore of the past on occasions his telkirra would begin to glow as it appears and disappears as he accesses it..

he orders every one to move further back for safety and to give him self room to work..

once they move back he mutters a prayer to corellon and emits a fire from his glove covered hands over the items.. once he has gone over the item he flips them using a wooden pole once flipped he incenerates the pole to mere ash and the emits the flames from his hands over the other side..

the flame is intended to burn any unseen things attached to them with out damaging the items.. as well as test any response from the items..

only when he has figured out what magic they hold or may hold..

as he does he states what he is doing and why for those curious so being minor precaution others not so minor all meant to give him the security enough that it is reasonably safe to touch before he touches them..

think of it as sterilizing after washing and item in alcohol and the added time to find out if you would be willing to touch the thing..

some items give off a tell tell sign others have power enough to give you pause and make you rethink how you deal with them.. also it gives me time to brace myself for what ever feelings i get before i touch it..

he unrolls his tools and pulls various ones out preparing them..

with banishment and dismissal and sense life in his standard spell memorization for study he has them at the ready for casting as well if the need arises..

his hands hovering over the items he tries to determen what enchantments are on them..

im trying to figure out if it has any negativ enhancements if i feel a repulsive feeling it will likely have some.. i might even be able to tell what they are with out touching it..

i will be recasting my wards soon.. maybe then i will risk touching them..

blue recasts his wards and begins looking the items over again having burnt another set of gloves and put on new ones.. after he casts dismissal and banishment along side disjunction as a precaution.. he begins to hold the items and inspect them closely for anything he can find as well as checking the runes if any..

DM Carbuncle wrote:

Blues results:
the Dagger is a potent offensive weapon and very sharp and is able to rouse nearby plants to hinder the enemies. in addition Blue would feel a mental pressure when handling the dagger akin to the orb.. but a less intense.

the amulet has defensive wards placed on it. wich aid the wearer in combat. it also allows the wielder to raise billowing putrid gas from the ground to hinder his foes. and here as well, Blue would notice the mental pressure while handling the item, stronger than the dagger, but weaker than the orb.

blue begins to tell the others..

the dagger is very sharp and a potent offensive weapon it seems to be able to cause near by plants to hinder an enemies.. there is a pressure on my mind akin to the orb but less intense..

the amulet has defensive wards on it which aide the wearer in combat and to raise a billowing putrid gas from the ground to hinder enemies also.. it to places a pressure on my mind akin to the orb but again less intense than the orb ..

i would rate the dagger the less intense pressure the amulet a medium intense pressure the orb the greatest intense pressure so far..

they do seem to all be similar items as for the pressure and close to the same effects of wards.. they seem to be mutually beneficial to each other..

i will stop here do to the pressure on my mind and recover over time..

please perform your test or whatever to see that i am clear of what ever it is you suspect.. once cleared i will leave this place as soon as possible.. i do have other things to tend to..

"Are they not seeds then and are we not infected by such a vile taint?" Elric flat out asks.

i am no expert on these seed things but they are similar to the orb to a varying degree.. you will have to ask the others on that but i am not going near them again that is for sure..

so who do i need to see to get checked out and cleared?

"Fortunately, neither of you is acting as Arya did, or as the Prior did, or especially as the guardian of that Dagger did. Nonetheless, I will give you both the blessing of Mind Blank, just to be safe. And we will continue to research the Book of Moander, to see if we can learn anything else about levels of exposure."

With that, and only with their content, Cleo casts "Mind Blank" on them both.

blue excepts the blessing and goes on his way..

he stops at the temple of selderine along the way and speaks to the priestess there and has her double check him as well after explaining the situation..

before returning home he has his house priestess meet him as well and do the same.. and explains the things to her as well..

(based on what they say will effect how he goes forward.. if i hear nothing in the next day i will continue uneffected for sure..)

Imesah watches with obvious concern, but says nothing.