[IC] Aqua Mortis (Session 2)

You carefully traverse the makeshift bridge over the crater, mindful of what befell Mr. Barnpuddle after he was exposed to this substance. It's not much farther till you reach a vast cavern. Your light penetrates into it, glinting off the walls and giving you the impression that this underground space must be some hundred yards across. But the walls aren't the only thing your light hits: the beams also shine on large, smooth, round objects lying in clutches like insect eggs. There must be a clutch every 25 feet or so, which would add up to literally hundreds of eggs...

You all manage to resist the temptation—the compulsion, really—to touch one of the eggs. They're so mesmerizing, and you can only speculate what might happen to anyone who touches one. But you wager that the three refugee kids all certainly had contact with one. That might account for the acute antisocial behaviors that got them committed to the healers: Jacey's intense paranoia, Melchic's aggression, and Lyssie's kleptomania.

You also wonder why Marseen Olond allowed you down here and what she knows or doesn't know about these eggs. One's been removed—why? Does she really believe you can help her remove the rest?

What Hildar finds most peculiar about these eggs is that they bear the signs of two different forms of abomination. That is, first, they are clearly dragon eggs. No one has seen them in the flesh in centuries, mind you, but their size, how they are laid, and shape match illustrations the Elven mage has seen in his studies of lost forbidden knowledge. But the second wrinkle is that the eggs seem touched by the Ynfernael. The rippling colors over their surfaces, the apparent curse when they are touched—both speak to a demonic curse at the very least, if not something worse. Perhaps these things hatch into Ynfernael dragons, for instance? At any rate, with no sign of recent draconic activity down here, these eggs must have been down here since the last Darkness ended—and the Cailn Curse began.

And apparently one of them has been removed, with plans to remove the others. Bringing these things out into the open cannot be a good idea...

As he contemplates how to dispose of the eggs, Hildar is reminded of the horrific accident that scarred Norc Barnpuddle and the other miners. Their own petards apparently triggered one of the eggs to explode in a shower of acidic goo. In other words, fire seemed to destroy the egg, but it also splattered the miners nearby. But this is a large cavern, and you have the benefit of forewarning...