Gameplay 2 - Deranged Poisoner

Here let me take a those

"That was it? I find highly suspicious that the camp was only settled by a troll and a lycanthrope... Could there be other people who are away to deliver poison to other streams? If so we should keep an eye out if they ever come back..."

"Well this is worrisome. If I'm correct... which by the way should always be our starting assumption, this symbol references Orcus, the demon prince of undeath. I fear this may be related to cult activity in the region after all"

Owen swears at the news. "How did they manage to get enough poison so as to pollute the river, undaunted?" He questions to the air. He calms himself. "Shall we see if I can follow the other carts? I fear that it will be a slow process to find each one, but I see no other leads..."

"They'll come back here eventually to restock..."

"But what damage might they do in the interim? Perhaps we should destroy the stockpile of poison here then track down the other carts, perhaps we could catch one or more before they get a chance to dump their vile brew."

"How do we safely dispose of this poison?" looking hopefully at Kelvin.

"Are the cart tracks going down obvious paths, or do they have to be tracked? If they're easy to follow, I vote for destroying the poison, then aggressively riding these other carts down."

Nar suddenly realizes that he didn't search the bodies...he corrects that error. Maybe there will be a clue.

"I understand your concerns Kelvin, but there are too many unknown variables. We do not know how many carts, we do not know how advanced in their mission they are, we have no way of knowing which set of tracks will lead us to a cart which has yet to deliver its poison and which will lead us to a cart which has already done so, while we chase one others might come back and be alerted something is up once they see the camp deserted, and so on and so forth... Logic dictates we wait here and pick them up as they arrive one after the other."

"Perhaps, either way we should destroy this concoction. I suppose an experiment is in order" Kelvin will collect a container (bucket, cup, bowl, whatever is handy in the camp) and gingerly tap the barrel, pouring a small amount into the vessel. He will then set it down away from his compatriots, walk about 20 feet away and launch a firebolt at it. "Hopefully the flame will render it inert, we already know dilution won't do the trick"

"Owen," calls Jhishma, and he points to the various wagon tracks he and Grok found outside the fort, "can you tell which one of these tracks is freshest? And how much of a lead it has? If you can determine that, it might help us decide to pursue or stay," advises the dragonborn, "because if their lead isn't too great, then I like the sound of Nar and Kelvin's desire to ride them down!"

Looking back to the corner of the courtyard where Kelvin is conducting his experiment of fire on the poison, "Well, Kelvin, what of it? Can you burn the filth?"

Asking the group, he continues, "Have any of you determined its base ingredients? By divine magick I may be able to neutralize it, if the poison is in fact some kind of tainted drink or food."

The paladin walks over and has a look at the barrel himself.

"Analyzing concoctions isn't my area of expertise sadly. However, if we are truly dealing with a cult, there is a possibility that this poison is magical or even divine in nature..."

Ack..

Eureka!

"Well, that's good to know!" says Jhishma, admiring Kelvin's insight, "Unfortunately, this power was not granted me by my holy patron in my preparatory morning meditations, but I could have the necessary magick ready on the morrow..." Looking at Nar and Cyrind'ae the dragonborn asks, "Does anyone else wield this power?"

"I do not. My magic tends to be of the supportive type."