Move 162: Once More into the Breach
The Garlstone Mines--Morning, 4 Eleint 1374 DRAfter awakening, the group went through their various preparations for the day before continuing their exploration of the lower level of the mines. Aloysius looked considerably more bruised and battered than he had the night before. The chests, too heavy to easily move around, and the unclaimed magical items were left behind some rocks, out of plain sight, in the Dream Cave.
Despite his condition, Aloysius seemed to be in an oddly upbeat mood. "Those boots," he said pointing out the pair to which he referred, "lift one off the ground as a spell of levitation. Their magic is activated, and deactivated, by the word 'inseridek'. One must concentrate in order to change altitude." He warily regarded the boots as if they might run after him.
"Have a care NOT to invoke that word whilst airborn," he added sheepishly. "Accept the word of one who knows."
He groaned and was clearly having problems moving without pain.
Before leaving the Dream Cave, Aloysius took the boots that he had referred to earlier and put them back on. "'Tis said that, once thrown, one should immediately get back on. Hopes have I that such wisdom applies as well to enchanted boots as it does horses. Stargazer shall master these yet, assuming no one minds."
Echo nodded at Aloysius. "Arachne, if you want those other boots if we figure out what they do, you're welcome to them. It's fine by me if you want to hold on to them for now."
She added to Aloysius, "I found that color spray spell I've been looking for in the spell book if you're interested. I'm going to try to learn it as soon as I get time to write it down."
"Yes, excellent," replied Aloysius. "When the opportunity arises, we should pool our spell resources to the extent possible."
Echo went to talk to Jana quietly while the others got ready to go.
Jana spoke quietly with Echo for a few minutes, then wiggled out of her armor and pulled on the better chain in its place. She folded her armor and left it tucked away beside the chests.
Jana unsheathed her sword and pulled out her mace, then set them both carefully back behind the chests. She replaced them with one of the maces and the other bastard sword. "I like the other sword better, I think," she said apparently to herself, "but I'll use this one for now. Maybe if I'd had just a little more power, been a little better, I coulda gotten that bastard."
Azrun helped the party pack stuff up behind the rocks, occasionally looking at items and then putting them back down.
Rennirolas finished up his watch by performing his morning ritual prayers. "Now, let's see what we can do here," Renn smiled, though somewhat pensively. He worked his way through the wounded, spreading his healing magics as best he could.
When he was finished, Rennirolas said, "I had a strange experience last evening. I believe I *dreamed* about a tall, amazingly tall, silver haired elven woman. I know it were no recollection of the reverie, as I've never seen this elf maid before. I know not what it means, but I thought that I would tell you all of it," Renn explained.
Daelen changed his armor for the splint mail Blacky wore and adjusted it to fit him better. "Easier to fight without a pack anyway." he muttered as he stashed his old armor.
Arachne left the morning healing to Renn. Likewise, she left the planning where to go to other, wiser heads. She left her backpack with the chests and other stashed gear, after making sure that her absurd little fighting knife, the sling and a couple of stones were transferred to her purse. Her purse she took with her.
"I dreamt about a gnome," Arachne told Renn. "A gray gnome. I mean, the gnome was gray. Such a nothing dream," she sighed. "No sense of where the gnome was, or even whether the gnome was male or female."
"Huh, that's weird," Jana said. "I had a dream, too. Not like that other dream," she added, glancing quickly over at Echo. "It was just a dream-dream. Don't remember what it was about or anything, just had... someone I know in it. A little older-looking, too."
A slow grin arose on Aloysius' face. He turned a deep shade of red, then giggled a bit before covering his face with his hands.
"I had dream about Anth, the barmaid that got kidnapped. Rumer said she was recovering at her grandmother's place. I need to go there and inform her of Rumer's fate once this is done, perhaps Anth will still be there." Blacky said somewhat to himself.
"She is back in Thurmaster, Eric," replied Aloysius. "Or she was when Stargazer was last there. I have need to return there soon," he added, the blush returning to his face. "For more reasons than one. Perhaps we can go together."
Echo glanced back at Jana for a moment. She listened to the talk about dreams without comment.
"Do you want to carry that cottage thing, Arachne?" Echo asked. "I don't see any reason to leave anything light enough to be carried around in here. If no one else wants to carry the robes, I'll stuff them in my pack. Until we find out what they are and someone else wants them," she added quickly.
"Why don't you wear them. In case they're beneficial and we run into trouble." Blacky replied.
"I don't know that that's an unblemished idea," Arachne said, accepting the ceramic cottage and placing it carefully in her purse. "Considering the sort of person who last wore those robes, they _could_ attract trouble for Echo even if they hadn't for the last wearer. 'Favor of Cyric'? That sort of thing? I'd leave it up to Echo whether to wear or lug them."
Echo shook her head, "I'm not putting them on unless I know what they do. Besides, robes aren't my style."
"Yes we shall, but we must endeavor to inform Rumer's grandmother of her fate after we've avenged her by cleaning the glade. The other barmaid in Thurmaster, what was her name?" Blacky asked with a wink to Aloysius.
Aloysius' face turned tomato-red. "Gloris," he said quietly.
Renn used his healing boons for the day on Aloysius, Daelen, and Jana, getting the three of them in fairly good shape.
"Hmm...dream cave it is named, it does seem appropriate it appears," Renn shrugged slightly.
"But until something comes of it, I'll not be concerned with the dream," he said, pushing the experience from his thoughts.The party assumed their marching order and moved back toward the ladder to the level below. Once down the ladder, they made it back to the point where the tunnel to the left led to the Blue Garl Cavern, where the fight with the priests had occurred. The passage leading directly ahead, still dimly lit by magic, was about twenty feet wide.
Azrun looked around at the cavern, "Damn...this place is pretty big."
"Let's check all the rooms methodically as we move down the passage. Hopefully we won't get ambushed this time." Blacky suggested
"Perhaps someone should see if all of the corpses are still in Blue Garl Cavern," Aloysius suggested. "If not, we should just search each chamber as we come to it."
Echo asked, "Did we ever finish looking in there? Maybe we should all go."
"I think that'd be best," Jana agreed.
"Aye, an astute suggestion, " noted Aloysius. "If the bodies are all still there, something needs to be done to insure that Ranchefus can not animate them again."
"Uhm, yeah," Jana said with a slightly queasy look, "but what exactly is it we'd need to do?"
"Douse them with oil and set them afire," Rennirolas grimaced. "At least, that is what I would do." He spread his four fingered hands wide and added, "I would not even stack the bodies, the less contact with these undead we have, the safer we are."
"Perhaps, we should wait to do that until we're ready to leave," Azrun responded. "There is little ventilation in this place and the smoke and stench would overcome us for sure."
"Aye, and I had made the suggestion with that in mind, believing we were regrouping before trying our hand at the mines once again," Renn said plainly. "So for now I believe we must leave them as they are, as poor an idea it is."
The group moved cautiously back into the Blue Garl Cavern to find that the bodies were indeed still there, smelling worse than ever. The back half of the cave, which had not been explored, was mostly filled with a pool of water. A narrow path, sloping slightly upward, led around one side of it.
"Eww . ." muttered Aloysius. "Well, at least the dark priest hath not reanimated them. I wonder where that path goes?"
After thinking for a moment, he said "inseridek".
After Aloysius spoke the command word, he rose slowly to the ceiling of the cavern. He pushed himself along the ceiling a ways before pushing himself back to where he started and lowering himself back to the cavern floor.
"Naught could I see except the path around the pool in the back," he said. "It looks as if a part of the cavern sunk and filled with water. I couldn't tell if anything was in the water, or not."
Aloysius studied the path for a moment. "Perhaps if I used a different angle, I could see enough of the path to determine if there is anything of note back there?" he mused to himself.
He turned back to the others. "Once more, I shall endeavor to crawl along the ceiling in order to see around the yon bend. I would appreciate it if the rest of thee would watch the path and the pool for hostiles."
The mage moved further out into the room, picking his way through the corpses as best he could. When he got to within 20 feet of where the path led off, he rose into the air and floated to the ceiling. Once again, he began to push himself along the ceiling so as to try and get a better view of the pool and the path.
Aloysius floated back to the ceiling of the cavern and moved himself around slowly over the path and the water for about fifteen to twenty minutes.
Aloysius maneuvered himself back to where he had intially levitated and then lowered himself once again to the cavern floor. "There appears to be something at the edge of the water near the end of the path," he announced. "I could not tell what it was, exactly, but it had a glint to it. It may be metallic."
He stood for a moment with his hands on his hips. "I'd go and investigate, but without my defensive
magics, which have been dismantled, I am a fairly easy target I fear.""I'll go," Jana said. "Can't hurt me any worse," she muttered to herself. She held the light stone in her "off" hand and walked forward. As she approached, she drew her sword.
"I'll go with you," Arachne declared. "After that much time watching Aloysius bob and weave, we're all probably bored, but, if you'd like me to, I could go closer and make myself ghostly to examine it."
Arachne let Jana go in front until and unless she decided otherwise.
Daelen shook his head. "'Best to let the sea keep what she's claimed.' the old sailors on the dock used to say. Granted, it's a pool and not the sea, but we're still wasting time over a gold piece someone dropped."
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