Move 156:  Moving to the Cabin

The Garlstone Mines--Afternoon, 2 Eleint 1374 DR

Before anyone could go into the mining cabin, they had to wait for Aloysius' web spell, which was covering the front of said cabin, to end.  Arachne parked herself by Aloysius' prone form and began to meditate.  Daelen went about the business of stripping the bodies of the enemy dead, which took quite some time and resulted in a very heavy and very bulky pile of clothing, armor, weapons, and various pouches and possessions.  The priestess was wearing, in addition to her holy symbol, an impressive collection of jewelry and a rich blue, although very bloodstained, cloak with a silver clasp that matched the design of the ring taken off the prisoner earlier, and the halfling was wearing a topaz ring.  Everything else would take more time to examine before determining if it was of
interesst.  There were no potions on them, although the red-haired fighter did have an empty vial.

By the time Daelen was done with that, the web spell ended.  Blacky went in the cabin to find it deserted and apparently safe for the others to enter.  The small cabin was crowded with several single beds, a small cooking area, a table, and enough various personal effects to mark it as recently occupied.  A couple of chests, suspiciously similar to the ones they had hauled all over Haranshire to trade for Echo, sat in a corner.

Arachne used her regained mental strength to heal Renn as much as she could, but it was not enough to make the priest rest easily.  Almost everyone was feeling the exhaustion of the long fight and their wounds, both physical and emotional.

Arachne shook her head.  "Nothing for it..." she murmured, and resumed meditating.

Blacky laid Renn and Aloysius on the beds and searched the cabin for anything that might be useful or valuable without touching the chests.  "You guys sleep, I'll keep watch."  Blacky said when they were all inside and positioned himself by the door axe in hand.

"What are we going to do with them?" Jana asked in a flat voice, gesturing toward but not looking at Etienne and Ceth's bodies.  "We can't just leave them here to get all... zombified."  Her voice cracked slightly at the end and she swallowed hard a few times before regaining control.

"We'll take them with us when we leave, so we can bury them," Echo told Jana quietly.  "Not sure how, but we
will.  But if we're going to be here a long time, we might have to do something else though.  How long are we going to stay here?  Until Renn and Aloysius wake up?  And then what?"

"We need to look for the prisoners," Jana said numbly.  "They might still be here.  After we rest up a bit, we can put their buh-bodies in the shack.  I wish I knew the right words to say to their gods.  Dammit..."

Echo nodded sadly, "I don't know what to say either."  She added with a sigh, "We should look for prisoners,
but right now, we're not strong enough.  I never saw any other prisoners here when Ranchefus brought me through before though.  The only time I saw others was with those bastard orcs.  That's where Snagger is, or was," she said morosely.

"We'll find 'em," Jana mumbled, resting her hand briefly on Echo's arm before returning it to the hilt of her sword.  "We'll find 'em and we'll find that bastard, too."  She closed her eyes and her hands loosened their grip on her sword as exhaustion won out over pain.

"We're too beat up to even think about going into an orc nest. Let's talk about it later when we've had time to
rest, I'll take first watch with Blacky."

Echo gave Daelen a blank look then smiled.

Daelen moved to the door and leaned up against the wall next to it.

"Don't argue." he said to Blacky in a hushed tone so he wouldn't disturb the other's rest, though they looked tired
enough to sleep through an earthquake. "I'm as exausted as you are, but I'm not gonna sleep after..." Again he let his voice trail off.

"I can go through that stuff Daelen collected," she added with a grimace.  "I should be able to tell if any of it's worth anything or magical after I rest if we're here that long.  I can look at those chests too, but I'm too tired now.  Jana, you should rest too."

"I'm fine," Jana replied illogically.  She could barely stand.  She smiled half-heartedly at Echo.  "Sorry, yeah, you're right.  I'd better go sit down before I lay down.  But watch out before you touch those chests.  I about got my arm froze off last time I touched 'em."  Jana found a free place to settle down, sitting with her back against the wall and her sword across her lap.  She didn't even bother to take off her blood-soaked armor or clothing.

"I'm not going to mess with any of it until I've had time to rest," Echo assured her.  She sat down beside Jana and closed her eyes.

"I'll second that, if it was anything like that trap on the ladder you'll want to stay away." Daelen said, rubbing his arm absently and picked up a piece of cloth he had seperated from the pile.  "This cloak looks like it might go with that ring our prisoner had." He thrust his thumb back towards the mine entrance. "We should use the other clothes to wrap your friends in, it'll be easier to move them that way." he said, his voice trailing off as he dropped the cloak back on the pile.

Blacky and Daelen kept watch while the others rested.  Arachne got up after some time and worked on Renn some more, this time leaving the elf resting easily and on his way to recovery.  She had enough strength left to heal
Aloysius some too, but had to rest again before he was doing as well as Renn.  After the two most injured were stabilized, the little gnome gave in to her own injuries and exhaustion and slept through the next few hours.  Echo slept through all of this, but Jana's rest, in her armor, was fitful.  Blacky managed to stay awake, as did Daelen for the most part, although he did nod off from time to time.  Nothing happened, however, and the next thing that woke them all was Aloysius regaining consciousness.  It was difficult to gauge time down here, but it seemed to be well after midnight, probably nearing the next morning.

Aloysius groaned and sat up on the cot.  He rested his face in his hands for a moment and looked about his
surroundings.  "Gods. . . ," he muttered, "what in the Abyss happened?"  He began to remove his blood-soaked
tunic.  "Water . . .," he croaked weakly, "where is my pack?"  He rubbed his face as his disorientation
continued.  Finally, he found his waterskin and took a drink.

"What is this place?" he asked no one in particular.

Echo took out her spellbook and moved to a place where there was enough light to read.  After a few minutes,
she closed the book and got up.  "If anyone's got any thing that might be magic, let me know.  I can check
it while I detect magic on the other stuff."  She went to wherever Daelen had made the pile of clothes etc.
and spread it all out so she could get a good look at it.

Jana opened her eyes, looking haggard and not particularly rested.  She was still deathly pale and made soft, pain-filled noises before she awoke fully.  She didn't move much for awhile.

Arachne first inspected Renn.  "I think he's well enough to be able to pray when he wakes," she whispered.  "Not much more than that," she sighed.  She looked around the room, then finally went to Jana.  "I think you're next," she murmured, not paying much attention to whether the woman was awake or not.  "And I also think you'd be better off with that armor off -- unless something gets past Blacky and Daelen," she admitted.  "So, maybe not.  I don't know...  Well, there it is..."

Arachne looked at a ring she was wearing.  "We already know this is magical," she murmured.  "We just don't know what it does.  So there's no point your looking at it now, right?"

Aloysius changed into a clean tunic that he took from his pack.  He then, in his usual immodest way, changed
into a clean pair of pants.  After Echo finished studying her spellbook, he spoke up.

"The last thing I recall, I was in the midst of a forest of walking dead, trying to fight a . . . .halfling?  Nay, that can't be correct.  Echo, can you tell me what hath occurred here?"

Blacky grabbed a cot for a few hours rest. "Wake me if anything or anyone comes." He says to Jana.

"Oh, I was gonna let you sleep throught it," Jana muttered, looking vaguely offended by the instructions.

After changing his clothes and drinking some water, Aloysius stumbled back onto a cot, completely spent.

Breathing hard, and letting his head rest on a pillow, he curled his legs up into a fetal position.  "St- .
.Star- . .gazer shall be of . . . little use. . .afore he . . .rests," he said weakly.  "If Kelemvor comes for me now, I may embrace him gladly."

The mage drifted off and fell silent, only his raspy breathing indicative of his continued life.

"I don't think I can get it off by myself," Jana confessed, smiling weakly.  "'Sides, they need t'sleep.  I'll stand guard for awhile."  Jana allowed Arachne to do her creepy mind things and slowly got to her feet afterward.  "Thanks," she said.  "You don't look s'good yourself," she added, peering at the gnome.  "Maybe you oughta rest some too."
 

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