Makara IC

Parveth & Steam
The wood elf nods in agreement about attempting to conserve the magic.

She responds, "Despite that then, your idea is fully sound. We are in unfamiliar lands, and moreover near the front of a long running conflict. I am not yet tired, and do not require much rest. I believe I should take first watch for several hours, letting all of you rest first, after which some of you would be able to be on the lookout for the remainder of the time, alternating and taking naps to fulfill the rest. If you have not stood watch before, it involves judging the likelihood of imminent danger, and awaking the rest of the group if you believe it is. Do not attempt to handle the problem by yourself."

The genasi doesn't pay much attention to all of this, having begun to dig through the bags and baskets for a bedroll and blanket. She, possibly reflexively, lets out an acknowledging 'uh-huh,' when Parveth finishes talking.

Words are hard:

((You don't need to detail things out quite that much. The general idea of how watches are slated and who is doing which ones is enough. Other considerations. Who is sleeping where? (There's the main room and the two other rooms.) Is anyone going to close the door? If so do they also lock it? Do you all sleep in your armor?))

Parveth & Steam
The two bid everyone goodnight as the group begins settling down to rest, and Parveth sits in a crosslegged posture in the main room.
Parveth spends most of her watch in quiet reflection, having to unpin Steam at least once from under Ketha and strongly encouraging the genasi to sleep somewhere else. The genasi chooses to curl up around Parveth as she remains sitting relatively still.
Hours pass
Fighting drooping eyes, the wood elf decides to call her shift to end and moves to wake her replacements, gently nudging Steam and Ketha. She moves to a wall and pulls out her own blanket, leaning against it and closing her eyes. She mutters a quiet, "Wake me if you're not sure," before...drifting off? It's sort of unclear.

The genasi rouses from her bedroll and stands, wrapping herself in her blanket as she stands and starts moving about the main room. She gives Ketha a friendly smile as the still-armored dragonborn stirs, not intending to bring up the fact that she was partially crushed underneath her. She opens with pleasantries like, "Pleasant dreams?," and "Oh, what was it about?," and describing somewhat her own dreams after giving Ketha appropriate time. (She was lounging near that lake in Lf'ern enjoying the warmth of the sunlight until there was a jangling and a pressure came over here that seemed like a tree had fallen onto her, except the tree was also warm like the sunlight. She was half-enjoying the weird combination before she woke up.)

quietkal wrote:"Pleasant dreams?,"
"Oh, what was it about?,"

"Not really," comments Ketha, "I spent time thinking of how to escape Kelfas, and then I fell asleep."

Steam
The genasi looks intrigued (which is also generally how she looks) at Ketha's statement, and prods, "Oh? What'd you come up with?"

Ketha looks to Steam with half-rested eyes. "Keep your optimism, I will need it later."

Steam
The genasi looks at Ketha, somewhat confused. "We're going to ask nicely? I mean, don't get me wrong, I'd love for that to work and it's gotten me out of more jams than I could count, but I'm pretty sure this group'll say 'no.' Got a backup plan?"

Steam
The genasi recoils a bit at this. "Oof. Summoning a deity's not a great backup plan, trust me on that. Been there, done that, would've bought the shirt if everything wasn't on fire." She pauses for a moment, before adding, "Y-y'know...metaphorically. Haven't...actually summoned a deity. That'd be nuts..." She pauses uncomfortably for a moment, before continuing, "You didn't consider just like, walking away into the ruins? We got pretty loaded up wth supplies, I'd think we could probably just sneak out if we tried."

Ketha shakes her head. "This city is large and dangerous, the bandits know it better than we do. If we are caught, we will not be given freedom again."

Steam
"Oh yeah...makes sense." Steam begins strolling around the room restlessly, looking into the empty cabinets. "So you're into the Raven Queen then? I'll be honest, I don't know much about her. Something-something-raven, something-something-death. You've mentioned her a couple of times now, is why I ask."

"The Raven Queen protects those who pass away. I do not follow her, but assuming the worst, I hope she protects me too."

Steam
The cerulean lady reaches into the cupboards, reaching around to see if something just out of sight might be hanging out. "That's pretty nice of her, probably. Depends on if she like 'protects you' by putting you in a cage. What's she protect you from after you've died? Seems like that'd be the state you're least threatened by stuff."

Surprisingly, Steam finds her finger momentarily catch on something in one of the cupboards. It seems to be some kind of small hidden panel in the back wall of it.

Steam
In what seems like a shout, but at the exact same volume they'd been conversing, she says "OHHH HOLD ON I FOUND A SECRET."
Steam starts messing with the panel, trying to see what's up with it.

It takes a bit and mostly involves prying it open with her fingernails, but after a few moments Steam manages to pop the panel off. She can't really see what's inside but it doesn't matter as it's apparently just a shallow little space with a single item inside. The item in question turns out to be a key of some sort. The teeth look like a modern key (which while they do exist in the setting are somewhat rare still) and the head is a small padlock (the arch connecting to the body of the key).

Steam
With a "Huh. Well, only one way to find out if it's cursed," Steam grabs the key and pulls it out of the cabinet. She inspects it briefly, before showing it to Ketha, asking, "What a funky looking key. What d'you think it goes to?"

Ketha looks over the key...

(Arcana Check: 11 (Roll) + 4 (Skill) = 15)

Ketha determines that the key is certainly magical. She thinks it has something to do with locking things. Also she knows she's heard something about magical keys before, but for the moment the details elude her.

"There is magic in this," comments Ketha, "But for what it is for I do not know. The lock may be rusted now."

Steam
The genasi considers the key. "Really? Huh. Hope not, that'd mean this key's basically useless if the lock can just be popped off. Hopefully not just a weird looking key. Let's find out, yeah?"
She begins fiddling with the key while mumbling arcane phrases, trying to prod at any magic within to see if something's special about it.

The thing:

She continues (attempting?) to make light conversation with Ketha while Identify-ing the key.

Steam identifies the key as a magical item called the Lockand.
It has the following properties:
Sometimes gains a charge when you unlock something.
At the start of each day has a 1 in 6 chance of gaining a charge if it has 0 charges.

1 charge) Magically locks something such as a door, hatch, or window and increases the durability of that object while this effect remains.

Has other effects when nearby or used with other magical keys.

Current charges: 3

Steam
The genasi blows a raspberry, unimpressed. "It locks stuff? Blughhh what a lame key. Why can't it like, open stuff? Or make things become filled with money? Or animate tiny figurines when locked inside?" She pauses, and taps the key to her chin in thought. "Actually, it might do that last one, gotta find another key to pair it with first." She thinks for a moment more, before a thought occurs to her. "Oh! Right! The magic that's everywhere! Ketha, how do you feel about personal space and me being all up in it?"

Ketha has a blank expression as she tries to figure out how keys, magic, and her personal space is related. "I don't understand," the dragonborn concedes...

Steam
"Well, you remember when I said there's a bunch of magic everywhere? If not, there's just a whole mess of magic hanging out all over the place. Or, it was earlier, I haven't checked in a while. Couldn't tell what any of it was, just that it was there. But! I have that spell I just used to find out what's going on with the key. And we've been down here enough that we've probably sponged up a bit of it by now. I can cast the spell on you, and figure out if it's doing stuff to us that we should be aware of, probably. The spell involves a lot of poking and uh, physical manipulation of the thing or person being checked. Like you just saw with the key. Not like I'm going to feel you up but...I'd kind of feel you up." She seems a little embarrassed to be asking.