Move 265: Time to Talk It Out
Tunnels--Late, Day 21Carmeneren looked around as the queries about the map died down, "When we wake, we will return to our city. You can let me know then if you intend to go with us. If you have any more questions, let me know." She tapped Blik on the shoulder and the two deep gnomes moved out of the party's lights to get some rest. Pruc came over a few minutes later to volunteer his and Ciekor's services for watches. As soon as everything was settled, they too got as far away from the lights as they could. The party was left with the map that they had been given and some decisions to make about how to proceed from here.
Aloysius found a spot on the cavern floor and sat down, popping yet another hunk of root into his mouth. "So much have we to discuss, I hesitate to suggest a starting point," he said with a weary tone. "We need to determine what supplies we need, as well as in light of what Arachne's talents can bear. We also need to select a route towards the city, as it seems we are not intent 'pon going to the city of the gnomes."
Aloysius sighed. "And not last of all, we need to discuss strategy. We have mostly battled mindless undead and trolls - neither of which employ much in the way of strategy. That type of encounter will be few and far between from this time forward, I fear. Our illumination announces our approach better than any horn-blowing herald ever could. We must find a way to remedy that somehow. Perhaps we could resort to a lantern with the expectation that our light stones would be employed 'pon encountering a foe?"
Aloysius looked over at Arachne. "Small one, hast thou an inventory of our current stores?"
"You mean in the cottage? Yes," the gnome said. "There's a bunch of treasure in there now. Also, some spare armor and weaponry. And a bunch of gear that Olaf made sure we should have. The food's all gone and I think, nearly all the lamp oil. We should be able to get in again pretty soon, if not already.
Echo said, "I need a few spell components, just some little magnets, colored sand, and gum arabic. And blessed leather for armor spells. I've still got leather pieces if Renn and Olaf can bless them."
"And that I can," Rennirolas replied. "I've three vials of holy water, and will pray for the blessings this coming morning," the elf added. "Also," he grinned, "speaking of components, I could use more Holy water if the temple has any," Renn began, as he ticked off items on his fingers, "holly leaves and berries, some garlic, foxfire, and a small silver mirror."
"If I'm not going to be teleporting from and back to the gnomes' city, then where are we going to establish our base camp? I'll want to be sure I'm quite familiar with the place, so that I can find my way back. Also, are Echo's spell components going to be available in a simple village above ground?"
"I don't think there's any way to get around the lights." Daelen said frankly. "Everything that lives down here probably doesn't need any light to see us. And they'd hear us long before that." he continued, creaking his armor to illustrate the point.
Echo said, "The lights are visible for miles. Noise doesn't carry that far. We won't be making any stealth attacks on anything," she agreed, "but there's a difference between them knowing we're coming in time to get their boots on and them having time to make a plan before we get there. Maybe bullseye lanterns for the light stones?" she asked. "We might be able to control some of the light like that."
Echo suggested, "I can try to identify a couple of things we've found since we're going to wait for Arachne anyway. As long as we can find a sort of safe place. We've got a wand and the green flask unidentified. Is there anything else?"
"We found some weapons and whatever that was Azrun found in that pool. Might or might not be magical," Jana said with a shrug. "As to the light stones, I'd like something a bit smaller than a lantern, myself. Maybe a little fabric pouch or something that's small and will let out just enough light so I can see in front of me, but easy enough to take out if I need t'blind someone with it."
"Janathell?" interjected Aloysius. "Stargazer has a spell that might be useful. It creates a mote of light that can be made of varying intensities – from that just short of full daylight to that of a candle. It would last about 5 hours per casting"
He frowned. "Unfortunately, it requires a live firefly to cast. If I could somehow acquire those," he said with a glance towards Arachne, "I could provide light 'enow for us to see by without alarming the entire Underdark of our presence." He wrung his hands uncomfortably. "Perhaps."
"Well," Jana replied carefully to Aloysius, "that's a really good idea, but you'd have to cast it twice for just one person each day and I think you've proven that your magic is really more valuable than just a light. Let's see if we can come up with a way to use the light stones and save your spells, okay?"
Jana cast an apprehensive glance at Echo and Arachne.
"What?" Arachne looked puzzled. "I don't even _like_ the light stones... except as a way of being spookily quasi-locatable. Is that it?"
"I could try to learn it. Is it difficult?" Echo asked Aloysius. "Depending on the range, we'd probably only need one casting of it for all of us. It sounds like a great thing to have. Maybe not all the time, but when we know we are getting near something down here. We don't all need to have a light, just enough to see as long as you can get to the light stones."
Aloysius shrugged. "I have the formula written down, but I have not entirely deciphered it as yet. From a casual glance, it appears to be a rather straight forward incantation."
"I think we've tested everything we found so far for magic," Echo said. "The dagger Azrun found was magical. The flask radiated alteration magic. The other stuff wasn't magical. The dagger doesn't need to be identified. It's magical but no special properties."
"Echo? Stargazer could assist thee in identifying some of the magical items. I would need to learn the spell, but that would save us some time, perhaps. How much of the required component is there for that spell?"
"Thanks, Aloysius, but we only have two things to identify. I can do that with one casting of the spell," Echo replied. "It would be better if only one of us was weak while we are down here too. If you want to learn the spell for another time, you can use my book while we are waiting for Arachne. We have some pearls in the cottage and I have one on me."
"We've run into a bit of a logistical problem with the cottage I think," Renn said. "If we open it now to place as much of our 'loot' as possible in the cottage and then Arachne opens it on the surface...what she procures for us in the village will be unavailable for the better part of a tenday," Renn shrugged.
"On the other hand, if we don't open the cottage now, our small friend carries that much less of the treasure to the surface,"
he said as he smiled at Arachne. "But which matters more, I suppose that's the question," he smiled and shrugged again, then brought his flute to his lips and began to softly play a slow tune."Ideally, I wouldn't have to use the cottage at all," Arachne said under the tune. "You seem to over-estimate the amount of treasure that I could reasonably hope to spend in a simple little town like Milbourne ... or whatever the name of the place was. I'm only purchasing supplies – and even doing just that, I could well have an awfully heavy impact on the local economy by trying to get food and wine enough for us for another... I don't know ... thirty days?
"So, I was thinking that I could carry on me the coinage I'd be using to purchase with. And for the return trip, with the purchased supplies, my first choice was to use a sort of Pocket spookiness which I know --rather than the cottage -- to carry the stuff. I'll know whether I can manage that by how difficult the trip out was. If I can't manage both the Pocket and the Teleporting at the same time, then I'd resort to the cottage to carry the supplies.
"Regardless, I think we'll need to open the cottage when I get back: So that the extra treasure can be stored, perhaps some supplies stored and withdrawn... Whatever. All right? Oh -- Am I going to have to go hunting in the woods for these berries and leaves you want? And foxfire?"
Renn cocked his head and dropped his flute from his lips. "Hmm...I hadn't considered it like that, thank you Arachne," he said as he blew a few more notes. "And if you can't find the plants I need from a gardener or apothecary, I wouldn't trouble yourself over them. Oh, I just thought of a few more things I would like. Bandages, many many bandages from knowing how we fight," he chuckled. "Plus a nice whittling knife, and some small blocks of wood, handsized or so if you could."
Arachne turned to Aloysius. "I don't suppose you have any spooky mind magic of your own," she asked. "In case I need to stay at town a couple of days while the supplies I ask for are assembled? Or Echo, so that you wouldn't worry if I took longer to get back? There's this potion I'm carrying..." The gnome dug in her purse. "I think Echo said it had something to do with Perception with more than just the Senses. I don't think that applies to what I'm talking about."
Aloysius appeared confused. "What do you mean, small one? I have no way of monitoring your well-being, if that is what you mean, other than going with thee."
"I meant for communica--" the gnome began, then broke off: "No, never mind."
Aloysius looked through his pack for a moment. "I'll need another 2 pounds of St. Yolland's root if you are able to make the trip," he said finally. "It looks like this." He pulled out the long, brown thingy he had been cutting chunks off of the last couple of days or so.
Arachne regarded the thing dubiously. "Hope you all won't be taking this the wrong way, but I rather expect that I'm going to be asking for a lot of this stuff 'for a friend.' Kind of emphatically, in some cases."
"So, let's see..." the gnome said, digging her seldom-used journal out of her pack, scrounging around in same for a quill, discovering a bottle of awfully dry ink and moistening it again with water. Stirring the mess with her quill, she said,"
Saint Yollands root, 2 pounds." She began writing her list...
Bandages, many many bandages...
Whittling knife...
Several small blocks of human-hand-sized wood...
Holy water, from a temple or shrine...
Holly leaves and berries (garden-variety)
Garlic cloves
Foxfire
Small silver mirror (don't know about this...Lord Whatsit, maybe?)
Little cloth pouches for light stones?
Live fireflies (??)
(note to self: Living things don't do well in the cottage)
Little magnets (lodestones, maybe?)
Colored sand (sigh...where??)
Gum arabic
Scrap leather (note to self: Get armor spell replaced...)
Daelen's ordered armor (hope it doesn't need a fitting)
Bolas (note to self: Get a description from Daelen that I can repeat to a smith and have it make sense.)
Lots of food; more wine; lots of lamp oil."Does anyone have any ideas for particular stuff we might want for a fight?" Arachne asked, looking up.
After Arachne made her list, Echo said, "You can probably pay someone in the village to pick berries and catch fireflies for you if you have a hard time finding them."
"Echo," the gnome said thoughtfully, "after I get to the surface, I'm going to try another spooky mind magick with you, if you don't mind. It's called Contact and it's pretty easy when I'm sitting right here in a cavern with you. It's harder when I'm far away, and I'll be deliberately doing it badly because it's not really supposed to be noticeable by whomever is getting Contacted. Anyway, if it works, you should 'feel' a sort of not-you presence in your mind. Um...
"I think, before I rest and then go (if this cavern is our campsite for a while), I should Contact each of you -- all of you -- so you have an idea what I'm talking about. A couple of reasons for this: So that you know what I'm doing is only one reason. The other is because you can sense that you're being Contacted, but there won't be anything Arachne-ish about the sensation. And illithids are also skilled at these spooky mind magicks. So, just in case we happen to come to their attention, I think you should know now about being Contacted. Also, just in case we've come to their attention, _I_ will only Contact Echo (or Blacky, as a backup). So, if Echo gets Contacted, but Daelen is also, then you'll know it wasn't me and that you're in trouble.
"While I'm on the surface, as long as it takes me to assemble the stuff you want, I'll try to Contact Echo or Blacky in the morning and the evening. I'll do both because a Contact while you're sleeping probably will go unnoticed. I _won't_ be able to Contact right before I return because I'll need all my strength for the journey. So, the Contacts Echo gets will mean that I'm fine but not coming back very soon.
"That all clear?"
Echo nodded. "So I'm the contact person. How long do you think you'll be gone? A day, two days? Are we going to stay in this cave?" she asked Jana.
Azrun listened to the conversations about light and supplies as he rolled the light stone in his hand. He cuffed his hands around the it trying to see how little light he could get out of it, "You know these things could be used a lot differently. I mean if we had a bullseye lantern, it could be modified to hold a stone and never need oil. You'd never need to light it either. Or if you took one and put it in a scroll case with some sticky stuff so it wouldn't roll out and then poked a hole in the end cap....you could direct the light exactly where you wanted it..." He looked up at the group to see what they thought, "do we have an extra scroll case anywhere?"
"Stargazer probably has one," said Aloysius, "or Arachne could go and purchase some more. What type of 'sticky stuff' do you propose we use?" he asked. "Methinks thy suggestion about the lantern would be more practicable."
"No," Jana said, "it wouldn't be. Not if you need both hands and light. a lantern's too big. We need something we can carry on our belts or something. I don't want to have to choose between seeing and defending myself."
Azrun looked up, "A lantern might come in handy in a large cavern or something, though. I'm not saying you guys up front should carry it. I'll carry it if need be and we don't have to use all the time either. The light tubes might be something you could tie to your forearm or something...point your arm and there be light. I don't know, it's just an idea and no reason for a long drawn out discussion."
He continued to fiddle with the light stone before looking to Aloysius, "Could I have that scroll tube if you have it, Aloysius? If I tear it up I'll get you a new one. I promise."
"Add to the list," the gnome muttered to herself, "
Scroll cases (disposable),
hireling for berries and fireflies...
sticky stuff ... glue?
belts or some-- no. We've got those already."The gnome looked up. "Anyone else worn out their boots? All this running I've been doing..."
"Uh, the St. Yolland's root needs to be dried," advised Aloysius. "You can get it at Rastifer's, or at least, that's where I got mine."
Turning towards Azrun, Aloysius dug out an empty scroll case and handed it to him.
"Well I'll look for this 'contact' from you if Echo doesn't get it. Could you get me a new set of boots and some clothing if you can find it in my size?" Blacky added to the list.
"Yeah, Blacky's got a good idea," Jana said. "If you can, new clothing and boots for all of us would be a good idea. And blankets, too. Gods know we've got the money for it."
"Mmmm..." The gnome continued writing. "Blankets. Fresh clothing for Jana, Aloysius, Blacky, Daelen, Olaf, Azrun, Echo, Renn, me. (Want to make sure I don't forget anyone...) Not the armor or tough leather stuff. Also, boots for me ... et al, I guess. Hope no-one has surprisingly sized feet? Any other preferences in the way of food? It's nowhere near harvest-time, yet, but I'll try to wangle _some_ fresh provisions that we can eat quickly, before they spoil."
"Echo, I don't know how long it's going to take me to collect all these things. Or whether I'll try to tarry for items that might take a while. I don't think I'll wait for them if I'm told that it'll take two weeks to find any lodestones. But if the clothiers need three or four days to prepare all the clothing I'd be looking for or the dry goods merchant can't provide enough food in less than a week, I think I'd wait that long. I'm not sure what the quickest turnaround will be, either. I expect to need at least one night's rest before attempting the return journey, but I also expect that something on this list will probably keep me a day or two longer than that. I don't even know what time of day I'll be arriving at the inn -- whether I could go shopping right away or have to wait for daybreak. I'm sure that there's lots of other details I haven't thought of. I know we've got about eight days worth of food left. Maybe I'll have to do this in two trips, rather than let you run out of food." She sighed. "Does that make sense?"
"Olaf," the gnome brought her list to the priest. "You supervised our last provisioning effort, didn't you? Do you have a suggestion how much coin Blacky should give me for buying all this stuff?"
After waiting for Olaf to reply, Aloysius spoke up again. "Arachne, for future reference, are you able to take other persons with you? I was thinking that perhaps a trip to Tauster's might be in order at some point to try and gain additional spells."
Azrun continued to fiddle with the light stone and scroll case, blinding himself occasionaly, "Arachne, perhaps you could enlist the help of some of the children in the town. I mean you can give them a coin or two for their help. I'm sure they would want to help. Children like stories of adventure and such, if they can help an adventurer they would feel good for a time. Just a suggestion."
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