Move 238: Lingering Odors
Tunnels--Very Late, Day 12Some of the party members pushed the lizard bodies into the pit. Daelen tried to ignite them with his sword, but they were not very flammable and refused to light. Aloysius' detect magic spell revealed no enchantments on the bracers or the javelins.
Everyone gathered their trampled, stinking belongings and trudged back up the tunnels for a couple of miles until they reached their other old, less smelly camp site. Once they were there and re-settled, wounds, old and new, were tended, and Arachne healed Renn, the most injured member of the party, before she rested again.
Tunnels--Early, Day 13
Neither the rogue troll or the group of humanoid lizards passed through again, and nothing else disturbed them during their rest. Everyone woke up and went about the business of getting ready for whatever came next. In the process, they made the unpleasant discovery that the smell that still clung to their hair, skin, and clothing had also affected the taste of their rations.
Jana wrinkled her nose. "Our ability to scout has been compromised," she declared. "I think we need to go back to the gnomes and clean up. And," she added, looking at her rations with obvious distaste, "see about getting some new provisions. What do you all think?"
"Agree do I," replied Aloysius. "Our food is likely befouled, and we cannot persist in our efforts against the trolls without eating."
"It depends whether there's any utility in making people think that the lizards are approaching," Arachne said. "To which, the reaction seems likely to be contempt," she added. "So that doesn't seem to offer us much benefit. And I doubt that the gnomes will be any more delighted to smell us than we are," she sighed. "Unlikely to want to share their pool, either."
"Do we have a third scouring yet to do at the troll den?" she added.
"Look at it this way," Daelen said as he ate some of the rations, then gulped from his waterskin to kill the taste, "At least it's not the mutton pie at the Hound and Tails..."
Jana laughed. She dug around in her pack and produced a full wineskin.
"Try this," she said, offering it to Daelen. "Another Hound an' Tails product. It'll take the taste out of your mouth." She started packing up to leave. "The gnomes'll let us do what we need to," she said confidently. "They want the trolls gone, so letting us clean up in their city is a small price to pay. And probably easier than having to smell us," she added with a grin that was more of a grimace. "Let's get moving. Light dimmed, quiet as mice and scouts front and back."Olaf frowned, "I'm not certain we need to scout individually right now. We could explore the troll's lair as a group, clearing it as we go."
Olaf went to each member of the party and prayed for Tyr to heal their wounds.
Daelen accepted the waterskin with a nod of thanks and took a swig, blinking in surprise as he swallowed and handed it back. "Whew, I thought this was that watered ale they had. At least we'll have something to use if we run out of oil."
"Hang on, Jana," Arachne said. "Are we or are we not finished with the trolls? I'd thought we needed to do at least one more sweep there. I do _not_ think the gnomes will be pleased to see us until we can report that the troll problem is finished. And I agree with Olaf --" She looked a little surprised with herself. "-- I mean, about individual scouting no longer being necessary. Sure, both we and our supplies smell disgusting, but the discomfort is aesthetic. I don't think our food is a public health menace quite yet. We're still working on establishing good relations with the gnomes; I don't think we should be straining the terms of our deals with them right now. We should not be going back to the gnomes until we believe that we're finished with the trolls."
Aloysius sighed. The mage was obviously getting quite tired of all the unpleasantries of the Underdark. "Yet have we to e'en see a 'Slaverer'," he commented. "There is still an entire tribe of trolls we have still to destroy, in addition to the rest of the Topknots. Although we might not need to scout the Topknots, we don't even know where the Slaverers reside. We may need a scout for that."
"I think I agree with Arachne," Echo said. "It would be good to tell them we killed all the Topknots if we go back. Maybe we should go check on that, then decide if we want to go back before dealing with the others? There couldn't be many more Topknots." She asked Arachne, "Can you tell if the food will make us sick? I guess that's the biggest concern."
"Didn't you say you heard something before you left that cavern?" Jana asked, looking irritated. "We have no idea if we've killed all the Topknots. And we have no idea where the Slaverers are. I say we need to get back to the gnomes, clean up and resupply and start out completely healthy. We will need scouts and we will need to be able to conceal our position, two things we don't have now."
"Let's take everything into consideration before this turns into an argument," Blacky said holding up his hand. "Daelen has just done us the courtesy of testing our food to see if it's going to hurt us, frankly I've eaten worse. Likely the food in the cottage is unaffected by the smell, so we can resupply here if need be. Likely we will strain our relationship with the gnomes if we show up without at least destroying one of the troll clans. I trust Arachne's assessment of their attitude, she's been around gnomes more than the rest of us.
"Well..." Arachne disagreed.
Blacky continued, “I agree that we will need to scout and conceal our position before finding and dealing with the slaverers, but I'm guessing that we should be able to take care of the remaining topknots without that advantage. I'm sure that they are already expecting and prepared for our return. We do need to be at full strength before we return both in health and spells, but I see no reason why we can't do that here. I would say we stay here, rest and heal, then return and finish the job with the topknots. But that's just my opinion, I will abide by whatever we as a group decide. We chose Jana as battle leader as a group, I'm sure we can decide this issue the same way. I say we take a vote on it." Blacky finished.
"I can make sure we're not being made sick by the food," Arachne promised. "Check for illness and cure it if I find it. I can't make the food taste pleasant -- but I thought that that was something that wizards might do ...?" She glanced at Aloysius.
"Uhh . . .not this one," replied Aloysius sheepishly. "I believe there may be priestly magics that can accomplish such things. I had forgotten about the stores in the cottage. If we have food and water 'enow stored there, then mayhap returning to the troll lair is not such a bad idea."
He rubbed his chin. "Wish do I that such was a possibility when I studied my spellbook afore. . . . ." he added quietly.
Azrun nodded, "I remember hearing stories of priests who could save spoiled foods by use of their divine magics," he looked over to Renn and Olaf, "I know that certain deities have their specialized areas of magic. Do either of you have access to such magics to purify the rations we have?"
Rennirolas nodded. "As for the quality and quantity of our food, I can lend some magical assistance," Renn nodded again. "Unfortunately not this day, for I have prayed for as many healing boons as possible. But should there be a need for it on the morrow, I could cleanse what foodstuffs are deemed to be unfit, or, by the grace of Corellon, I could create enough food and water to give us sustenance." Renn finished with a shrug, "A possibility a suggestion, no more than that."
Azrun looked to Jana, "I think that if we have ok food to eat and water to drink, we should keep going also. The trolls could smell us before we encountered the troglodytes. I'm not a tactician, so maybe there's something I'm not seeing here. I mean I freaked out when the other trolls showed up in that tunnel and told Aloysius to cast his spell, without waiting for you to make the call. That was stupid of me and I could have gotten us all killed. I will try to refrain from making those mistakes again."
"Agreed," Arachne said. "And I agree with Jana when she says that we need to start out completely healthy when we go back against trolls. And I agree with Aloysius when he says he'd like to know what we're doing next before he selects his spells. I think we can wait for him to re-read his books before we go tackle the trolls again. It's when she talks about cleaning up, resupplying and concealment that I think Jana demonstrates a lack of understanding of scent.
"If we and this place reek of those creatures, so will everywhere else that those creatures have been. Including the route back to the troll cave. Anything that relies on scent to track or identify has been effectively blinded for as long as the stench lingers -- and it looks like it's pretty good at lingering. We're concealed _right now_ because we don't ordinarily smell like lizards and our present and future locations do. We may not like stinking like lizards, but it isn't a tactical problem. I vote with Blacky. Who's still got lingering injuries?"
"Tyr might grant us a blessing that would cleanse the food and drink." Olaf answered. "I will need more time to prepare it, however. I have stocked up on healing and fire prayers."
"As have I," Renn grinned. After Olaf finished his ministrations on the wounded, Rennirolas began his own.
Aloysius shook his head. "Unfortunately, I cannot simply restudy my book." He looked over at Jana. "I have two certain spells of magical energy, and a web spell available. Beyond that, I may be able to cast one additional spell of magical energy. I also have the spell that emits the fan of diabling, colorful light. I could contribute to a conflict, but I could have been better prepared if I had surmised that we were returning to the trolls."
Looking back at the others, he added, "I'll do whatever Janathell thinks is best."
"I know almost nothing of magic Aloysius, but we will likely be here at least another day, if we choose to stay, before we are at full strength. Can you not rid yourself of the spells you do not wish to have and study the ones you wish to have in that time period?" Blacky said with a confused look.
Aloysius nodded. "What I meant was that, for the next 24 hours I am limited to the spells I already have. Tomorrow, I will be able, Mystra willing, to select different spells if I choose to. As I said afore, I do have some offensive spells available, but I would have had more if I had known we were going directly back to the troll lair."
"We might as well take at least that long to rest up then," Daelen said, "Whatever damage the troglodytes may do now is beyond our power to prevent. I say we finish off the topknots and go back to the gnomes with a decisive victory under our belts."
While the group continued to discuss what to do next, Olaf prayed for healing for the injured members of the party. The prayers improved the overall condition of the group considerably.
"I say this, that should our supplies be in order and our wounds mended, let us venture within the trolls' lair once again," Renn said as he squatted, his forearms rested on his thighs and his long-fingered hands draped between them.
Azrun looked around at the group, "I have a spell for detecting maigal auras if we want to look at those items we collected. If you would like that is. The rest of my incantations are combat oriented."
Echo pulled her cowl up and listened to the rest of the conversation quietly. "I think Aloysius did that already," she told Azrun.
"Does anyone need an armor spell?" she asked. "I can try for one if someone does. Best to be prepared, whether we're going to resupply or back to the trolls."
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