Morrigan was shrewd enough to notice the hesitation in Astrid Stormstone’s voice when she spoke about the fighter’s guild, though not sharp enough to put together why she sounded so devastated. Did it have to do with the rivalry between the fighter’s guild and the mage’s guild, which she was trying to join with her father? Weird thing to get upset about. She didn’t seem like the kind of kid to care about things like that. They refrained from making a snide comment, only because they were more interested in hearing her describe how she helped deal with the situation. It seemed like a pretty simple fix, all things considered.

“… Well. I’m glad the situation got settled.” Morrigan sniffed.

And then she decided to poke her big fat nose where it didn’t belong, and any goodwill Morrigan might have held for the kid deflated.

“Ha! Cursed! I didn’t realize you were an aspiring comedienne, Miss Astrid Stormstone.” They said between a forced smile that stretched their cheeks slightly too much. She was not… incorrect, though Morrigan would die before they ever uttered such a thing out loud. It wasn’t her business. Curses could be broken, and Morrigan just had to find the right way to get rid of this affliction and become the person that they were always meant to be. And then none of this would matter at all! “Can a humble chemist not have hobbies? My interests are as ever-changing as Zeinav’s shifting sands…” That was accompanied by a wave of their hand and a round of glitter that fluttered through the air.

“Interesting.” Morrigan had never met a spirit before, much less one with such a visible form. They’d read stories, of course, but to meet a woman who was so solid and able to manifest so well, all because of some desire to protect kids, was so fascinating. Perhaps they would have stuck around to ask her more or bug Astrid Stormstone, but they wanted to investigate this treasure room, so they elected to follow Blue Raspberry down to the secret underground room instead.

… It was far less impressive than Morrigan had been picturing in their mind.

“Hm? Oh, it seems entirely likely.” They reached for one of the elixirs in their bag, popping the cork and drinking it like a shot.^[1] The room was unfortunately bare, even though there had very obviously been furnishing here, and some sort of puddle on the other side of the room. It was a far cry from the glamorous, treasure-filled tomb with glittering and glistening gold that Morrigan had expected.

Oh, well. They could always embellish it in later retellings.

Unfortunately, it didn’t look like there was anything of note in the room - Morrigan was about to call it quits when they noticed something out of the corner of their eye, a small, discolored object partially lodged in the mud surrounding the pool.

“Hello there, what’s this?” Morrigan gestured for Blue Raspberry to follow, bending down to pick it up. “Eugh, so much mud.” They wrinkled their nose as they picked it up and cleaned it up with their already soggy sleeve. It looked like some sort of box, pretty but innocuous enough. Morrigan thrummed with excitement as they cracked it open. Resting inside was some sort of… branch, it looked like, though from what short of tree Morrigan couldn’t tell. Not like they cared, considering the sudden burst of power that hit them like a tidal wave.

Yep, this thing was definitely cursed, alright.

Or powerful, at the very least, if Morrigan could feel it.

At Astrid Stormstone’s call, Morrigan craned their neck to get a better look at her as she descended, not really paying much attention to the plant in their hands. “I think so. It certainly feels powerful. Even if it’s not cursed, it’s something the guild should be interested in.”

---

1. Eagle's Sight Potion (1/2)

"Hm. It's a piece of wood." Blue stated as they looked at the contents of the box that had seemed so exciting while they were looking for it. It was kind of disappointing, really. From how much Morrigan had described cursed objects and their origins and everything, they'd expected something... different? They didn't know what they'd been expecting, but it wasn't a stick. Not even a stick, but more like a twig. Huh.

"Are you sure this is it? It doesn't look very miserable to me. Looks like a twig." Blue added, looking to Morrigan for assurance that this really was the object they'd come all this way for.

“A twig with some sort of horrible, terrible curse on it. Can’t you feel it?” Morrigan leans over to let Blue Raspberry get a closer look in the box.

Blue leaned over to take a closer look. They still didn't see anything special about it. Maybe it had a bit of an ominous vibe? They wondered what it tasted like.

Just as they were both standing over the twig, staring closely at it, a vine suddenly plucked it right out of the box and retreated back into the dark waters at the other end of the room.