Pendar - Session 21, part 1

51 Merrysest, Sunsday -
As Nimue and Sana look around outside the wall, a few minutes later, a red-dyed Atremis appears just the edge of the wall before becoming unable to fly.

Atremis tumbles onto the ground as the magic wears off, a small box falling out of his mouth and onto the grass.
Sana: "Atremis! What happened, are you hurt...?"
Atremis looks at his reddish paws, then at Sana, whimpering.
Nimue: "We should leave, at a leisurely pace. May I clean you, Atremis?"
Sana picks up Atremis, looking him over for wounds.
Sana: "This isn't blood..."
Sana: [Speak with Animals] "{Are you okay? Did you fall into wet paint?}"
Nimue gets the box and stows it for a look later.
Atremis: "{I don't know! It happened when I got the box, I'm worried I'm sick!}"
"{I don't want you to get sick too.}"
Sana: "{I'll prepare some magic to help you later, if you're sick. It'll be okay, you're safe now, you did well...}"
Atremis curls up in Sana's hold, relaxing.
Sana: "What about Max and Efta?"
Nimue: "I trust them to get free on their own."
"May I clean you, Atremis?"
Atremis looks at Nimue, a mixture of caution and curiousness on his face.
Nimue: "I can use magic to clean you if you want."
Atremis tilts his head, before extending a reddened paw out of Sana's arms.
Sana: "Be careful not to hurt him..."
Nimue: "I am."
Sana loosens her hold on Atremis slightly, letting him jump down if he wants.
Nimue casts Prestidigitation to clean Atremis from the dye.
The magic cleans a bit of dust from Atremis's fur, but the red stain remains unaffected.
Nimue: "Hmm."
Nimue cast Detect Magic on Atremis.
Nimue: "I believe Atremis got hit by an spell to mark him as a thief, we should hide him and move, before we arouse attention."
Atremis looks worried.
Sana: "Okay. But Atremis isn't a thief."
Atremis looks at the ground from Sana's arms, scanning the grass for the box.
Sana: "I think Nimue took your box..."
Nimue gives the box to Atremis.
Atremis looks at Nimue, confused.
Nimue: "Mmhm, let me try something to get rid of the colour." [Dispel Magic, CL check: 17]
Atremis reaches behind him, grabbing a bundle of papers and a pouch from satchels in his armor and holding them out in his mouth.
Despite the change of methods, Nimue still is unable to remove the red coloring.
Nimue sighs.
Atremis whimpers.
Sana: "Is he going to be okay?"
Nimue: "I will have to try again tomorrow, the caster seems to be more experienced then me."
Sana: "That's a lot of things... you did very well, Atremis, I'll get you some pastries later..."
Nimue: "Let's move, get Atremis into cover, and get him some pastries."
Atremis barks enthusiastically, showing his support for the new plan.
Sana: "Okay... I hope the others get back soon."

Nimue and Sana make their way back to the inn, careful to keep Atremis from being noticed too much.
Nimue pets Hastur to welcome him.
A few minutes later, the door opens again to admit Maximilian and Efta, also back from their escapades.
Maximilian: "Whew! I say, that was an adventure."
Nimue: "Want to go upstairs to fill us in, and have Atremis show us his bounty?"
Maximilian: "I think that's for the best, yes."
Sana: "Okay... let's go upstairs, Atremis."
Atremis yips in agreement.
Sana returns to her room, setting Atremis onto the bed as the group gathers.
Atremis moves out of Sana's arms, goes to the corner of the bed, and sits down, proceeding to attempt to lick the red out of his fur.
Sana picks up one of the scrolls from Atremis's pockets, looking at it in confusion.
Nimue: "Let me first check everything for another magical trap."
Maximilian: "So, what's with Atremis?"
Nimue casts Detect Magic on all the items recovered by Atremis.
Nimue: "Looks safe."
Nimue points at the box.
Nimue: "That had a magical trap on it which marked Atremis red when he took it."
Maximilian: "Aha, caught red-pawed, you could say."
"Well, that means it's probably something valuable then."
Atremis swishes his tail idly, apparently satisfied to have gotten something that interests the party.
Sana pets Atremis, looking proud of him.
Opening the box, Max finds three small vials of reddish liquid.
Maximilian scrutinizing the liquid, raising an eyebrow.
Nimue: "Mmhm."
Nimue casts Detect Magic on the vials.
Maximilian: "You know, weren't people talking about blood?"
Nimue: "And vampires."
Atremis leans forward, sniffing the vials.
Nimue: "Err, not vampires, people found after being bled out if I recall correctly"
Atremis tilts his head curiously.
Atremis paws at Sana's armor.
Sana: "...Atremis?"
Atremis opens his mouth, as if to speak.
Elliot: ((Would people mind if I withdrew from today's session...?))
Sana: [Speak with Animals] "{What is it?}"
Nimue: "That's not blood, it's a material called djezet, used to power up magic."
Atremis: "{People are saying blood but it doesn't smell like blood, so I don't think it's blood.}"
Maximilian: "Dijuzzet?"
Nimue: "Djezet."
Sana: "Atremis doesn't think it's blood, either..."
Atremis looks at Nimue, confused, before turning back to the vials, continuing to sniff them inquisitively.
Maximilian: "Hm, fair enough."
"So, what exactly... does it do?"
"Like, it empowers spells, but why lock it up that securely and secretly?"
Nimue confers with Hastur for a moment.
Nimue: "Mmhm, seems that all three would be 600gp, which is a penny , but securing it with a magical trap strikes me as going above and beyond."
Maximilian: "Maybe the papers have something about it?"
Maximilian picks up the paperwork Atremis found and investigates it.
Maximilian sets them on a table.
Maximilian: "Warding magic, an... interrogating spell..."
"Evidently there's a lot of stuff in that tower."
"What's clear is that they reallllllllly don't want people to go in there. ...and... bad things happen to those that do."
Atremis thinks on that for a bit, before looking at Sana and pawing at her again.
Sana: "It's okay, Atremis, I won't let bad things happen to you."
Atremis shakes his head, and resumes pawing at Sana.
Maximilian: "It seems you got away with little more than a funny colour, at least."
Sana: "{Speak with Animals: "Did you see any bad things in there?}"
Atremis: "{There was a skeleton, I think it was moving when I left but couldn't get through the door.}"
"{...Did I do a wrong thing, taking this stuff?}"
Sana: "A... a skeleton? Moving? And no, you did a good thing, you helped us a lot."
"{Was there more besides the skeleton?}"
Atremis: "{A lot of paper. But with markings like other paper, not weird markings like these ones.}"
Sana: "{Normal writing instead of magic writing?}"
Atremis: "{Markings like the markings you read, not like the markings the dark woman and rock read.}"
Sana: "Atremis says there were a lot of other papers in the tower too, but not... I think he means not scrolls like this."
Maximilian: "Documents. Those sound very important."
Nimue takes a look at the papers.
Maximilian: "Truly, I think those are our best bet if we get to go in again."
Atremis looks at Maximilian for a short moment in thought, before yipping in response.
Nimue: "This half scribed scroll, it would put the target under a cover of shadow protecting it from sunlight."
Atremis tilts his head.