1. Journals

(RP23) Questions for Naralis

RP
Roleplay in Campaign 2

Pine

It would take the group a day to travel from Iniarv's tower to the Ulthtower where Ularan resided, and their guide and backup, Naralis Analor, seemed more than happy to converse on the journey.


Pine would keep pace with the elf, although he was not nearly as surefooted.  In general Pine did not like the swamp with all its water, muck, and stench, and the weight of his plate armour certainly didn't help in traversing it.  But he was used to dealing with situations in the mere, having long since given up on trying to keep his fur clean until they were somewhere more hospitable.

"I would know more about what we will find when we get there," he would say to Naralis as they trudged through the swamp, the huge frost giant zombie lumbering along with them, "I know nothing of Uthtower, or those that will be there, or what circumstances we will find.  I do not like surprises, especially not when so much is at stake.  The Three sent me to him, to aid him in their cause.  I would know better how to go about doing that."

He was not trying so hard to mask his voice as he usually did, mostly he did so by keeping his words to a minimum.  Someone such as this, who had such command over the dead and worked with Ularan, must surely be inured to such things.  



Naralis

"These are prudent and pertinent questions." Naralis said without the usual nervousness new people had when responding to Pine.  "We are quite close to the Uthtower now so perhaps it is best to gather your companions, I can inform you all of what lies ahead."


He shakes his head, his blond fine hair a flash of colour in the otherwise dismal swamp.


"I fear that what awaits us may be a thing most dire. A soul, so malevolent, so ancient and so filled with hate that it will burn itself if the flames could harm others."


He points back to the others. "Let us join them. Unless you had a short personal question?"



Pine

Pine would consider it for a moment, then shake his head.


"I have many questions, possibly, but nothing more pressing than this."


Despite the dire portent in Naralis's words, there were hints, if someone were perceptive, that the former tabaxi had relaxed just a little.  Knowledge he could work with.  Facts he could work with.  The haze of uncertainty had been his enemy for much of this trip, and here at least there was one person willing to clear that with alacrity.

Can Ularan be healed?

[Pine]

Later, before they separated, Pine would turn to Naralis.

"Will healing spells work as intended on Ularan?"


[DM - Naralis]

"If Ularan requires healing then we are wading into darker tides that I expect fellow acolyte of Death."


Naralis looks pensive and thoughtful for a moment as he continues. "Ularan has lived long and has learned magic that did not exist before he did so. It's impossible to do so and remain completely as you were.


So yes, your question has merit. Many of the mundane spells that aim to knit flesh together would not affect his material form.


However he does heal naturally in time so a mundane non magical healer could aid him or even powerful magic that would speed this up" [Regenarate]


Naralis smiles at you but you notice that worry lines have appeared around his eyes. Your talk of Ularan being injured has distressed him even while he denies it's possibility.


"But worry not, all the aid he will need is simply allowing him to act.... Without the dark soul he wrestles with being given the same boon."


[Pine]

Pine frowns in thought, his own worry evident, although not for the same reasons, or not exactly.  "I do not know a spell like that," he would say, glancing away from Naralis and towards where the tower loomed in the bleak landscape. "I do not have any strong healing spells prepared, only smaller ones given strength.  Arya is better at healing the living than I, and so I prioritised other things.  But now she cannot heal at all, if she is to be trapped in another form.  Everything about this trip is worrying.  I don't like it."


There was nothing either of them could do about that, however.  Both of them were beset by circumstances not of their choosing or wishes.


"I truly do not know how I will be able to aid him."

January 23rd, 2025