Move 270: The Shoppers Return
Tunnels--Late, Day 23Time continued to creep along as everyone anxiously waited. The entire watch rotation passed; people took turns sleeping as usual. Tensions continued to mount as people went about activities to fill the time while hours passed without the missing group members' return.
Finally, after several more hours had passed, a faint but startling pop announced Arachne's return. The little gnome reappeared in the cavern and opened a small door beside her from which Azrun crawled.
Aloysius got up from his spot on the cavern floor and hurried over to where Azrun and Arachne were. "Let us make haste and unload whate'er they have brought," he said excitedly. "We need to go and find Daelen."
"Daelen decided he needed to 'take a walk,'" Jana explained. "Not long after you two left. We haven't seen him since." She brushed back her hair, looking a bit haggard and worried. "We couldn't go after him. Told him that when he left, but he wouldn't listen." She sighed and said softly, "Aloysius and Renn were going to go after him, but I wouldn't let them. Gods," she sighed, looking tired.
Olaf sighed, and said "I think we should seriously consider forcing Daelen to return to the surface and leave our group when we have found him again. He has proven to be no more then a child in a man's body and cannot be trusted at all. He is more dangerous to us then the dragons."
"Likely, if we do find him it will be among the slaves in the city or as a charred pile of bones in the dragon's chamber. He chose his own road, I only hope he was prepared for the consequences." Blacky said "Does anyone think they can track him down here?"
Azrun looked Jana over with worried eyes, "Jana, you need to get a bit of rest. We'll unload the equipment and food supplies. I might be a good idea for you to eat a bit of the new stuff. It might make you feel a little better. Once we get the stuff stored then we'll go looking for Daelen. I have no clue how we're going to track him though. These are stone floors. We did get everything on the list except his armor which no one had a clue about."
"I'm not hungry," Jana replied. "I just want to go look for him, soon as we can."
"No one is 'forcing' anyone to do anything," snapped Aloysius. "No one forced him to stand with us against the trolls or against Ranchefus and his minions." Turning towards Olaf, he added, "And no one forced him to help us rescue you from the orc caverns."
The mage moved towards the location of the new provisions. "Now let's get moving. It's probably already too late, but we must make haste nonetheless."
Echo's voice asked, "Did you open the cottage? If not, we need to open it and make sure we have the supplies we need for the next five or six days. Before we go anywhere."
"We also need to decide who wants to carry these magical items," she said. "I did some experimenting with the potion. I think it's for polymorphing. The wand is a wand of frost," she told Arachne and Azrun. "Someone should take them now. We might need them before we find Daelen."
"Do we have any magic to help find him?" she asked. "A divination spell?"
Aloysius nodded. "Echo, were you able to determine a command word for the wand?" he asked. "At some point,
Stargazer should copy your identify spell so the entire burden of that laborious process isn't always on your shoulders."Renn murmured words of thanks to Arachne and Azrun as he tucked his newly acquired spell components away in a pouch with the others. "Yes, we should hurry," Renn nodded, "but Olaf's words have truth behind them. We'll be facing near constant danger as we move in this world beneath the surface. If Daelen went for a walk, just because he feels that no one can tell him what to do,
he's not thinking of everyone, and that could end up getting us all killed."Renn helped to sort and distribute the recently purchased items in order to get the task completed.
"Sending him to the surface alone would be murder," Jana said flatly. "We know there are any number of things still lurking out there that could easily kill one man alone. No," she sighed, "we'll have to simply force him to behave as if he had some sense. I shoulda knocked his ass out when he tried to leave," she grumbled, running a hand through her hair. "Shouldn't have just let him walk away."
Azrun started to say something, but then decided to just go back to the unpacking and packing. When they were all done, he spoke up, "Ok, so we find him and he's not troll food. What then? That's just more of a reason for him do whatever he wants. He wouldn't listen to you during battle and it almost cost of us a few people. If and when we find him, we'll decide what to do. I agree with Olaf, I don't want any of us to die because he's too pig-headed."
Olaf said, "Why could we not simply send him back to the surface the same way we just sent our shopping expedition? That could hardly be called murder. Trying to force him to do anything will simply make things more difficult, as he will undoubtably do something truly stupid at the first contact with an opponent. I shall haunt him forever if I die searching for him because of this." Olaf looks very sour at that thought as he helps with the packing and unloading."
"I know the command word for the wand," Echo nodded. "I don't know how many charges it has though. I don't want to keep the wand or the potion." She sat them on the floor so someone else could take them. "Let me know when you want to copy the spell."
Azrun smiled, "That has some promise there. A mage with floating boots could get a tactical advantage with that...float and around the enemy and blast them from the flank side. Or he could coat the tunnel with ice in front of charging enemies."
Aloysius thought for a moment. "If the wand functions as I suspect it might, it mayhap will provide us with a weapon that can address an area rather than a specific target. Azrun, if you would like to use the wand, that is fine with me."
Azrun nodded. "I'll hold on to it, but I doubt I can use it. I believe such things are for wizards only."
As soon as she got Azrun out of the pocket nicely, Arachne moved to a clear and lit space and ended the pocket. Everything in the pocket reappeared beside her.
She was unsurprised by Echo's voice and replied that she hadn't used the cottage on the surface.
"I think I remember what Daelen smells like," the gnome suggested. "or, if he's left any of his clothing behind, that would be useful, too. I could try tracking him...as soon as we've stowed this stuff -- does any of it need to go into the cottage?"
Arachne advised Olaf of the correct date and time on the surface when she left. She also agreed that if everyone and Daelen felt that it was best, she could take him to the surface. But she couldn't if he was uncooperative... Though, come to think of it, unconscious was okay.
Azrun looked over, "We'll need to store the food supplies in the cottage. Any of the other treasure we have no use for at this time should be put there also."
"Let's be sure we have several days worth of food and water," suggested Aloysius. "As for the wand, Azrun, it was my belief that you could employ it if need be. If you can not, then it would make more sense for Stargazer to carry it, in as its employment becomes needed at some point."
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