Move 301: Waterfalls
Grell Nest--Midday, Day 28 (Marpenoth 13)Now that everyone was safe, at least momentarily, talk turned back to what appeared to be a very strong group desire to get clean. Arachne suggested a plan to make a temporary waterfall and asked for assistance in carrying it out.
"Actually, I was thinking that if someone could heal me, I could use that water breathing potion to go finish that thing off." Blacky commented. "It would be really nice to have a safe place to bathe. I could check to see if there are any other entrances to this pool while I'm down there, just in case what Aloysius says is true."
"And if it is true," Jana pointed out, "There're probably tons of those things down there. Even if you can breathe underwater, I'll bet you can't really fight or swim all that well. I don't think it's a very good idea."
"-- Oh." Jana's ruling had headed off something else that the gnome had been about to say. She decided to say it anyway: "Um, I was going to suggest that, if you gave me time to rest up some, I could go _with_ Blacky. Not using the potion, though. I'd do what I did to fly up on the surface: transform myself into an aquatic elf. Then, I could help Blacky -- or whomever -- hunt for the eel. I could also get him out of there in a hurry if the eel had -- well, a mate, at least. Or I could advise the rest of you up here if we found something really interesting..." She shrugged. "Just some thoughts.
"Anyway, Jana, I wasn't going to put the waterfall _over_ the pool. I think everyone's a little too worried about eels for that. And, if there are any, the splashing would definitely attract them." Arachne walked over to the portion of the ledge around the pool that had the slope she was looking for. "I was thinking that if I put the waterfall over here, the water would drain back into the pool. Most of it, anyway. People should move out of the way stuff they'd rather not get soaked, in case some spillage goes a different way.
"As for what we should do next..." Arachne poked at the limestone with her still-bare foot. "I'm always up for staying put and resting," she admitted. "I could _use_ some rest -- again. But it's not like I'm a Party Protector. Rescuer, maybe, but not Protector," she added under her breath, glancing down at the ground with a smile. "You won't need me to help squash a stray grell, say," she resumed, looking up. "So, if the consensus is to resume exploring, that's all right with me. But if someone doesn't mind resuming the exploring carrying seventy pounds of
sleeping, damp gnome (including my stuff), then that sounds even better to me."Echo stepped away from the side of the pool, listening quietly as the discussion continued.
"I just don't think it's a good idea, going into the river. I mean, Jana explained, "I don't think if I took the potion I would be able to fight it. I couldn't wear my armor and I'd just move too slow and that eel thing was damned fast. I think your waterspout idea is good, though. But honestly, if it's a choice between getting clean or your having the strength to heal Olaf's hand, I'd just as soon stay dirty."
Jana paused a moment then said with a smile, "Oh, by the way, great save. And regardless of what you think, it was very brave."
"Oh yes, it was brave," Arachne allowed. She seemed about to go on then paused. "It _was_ brave -- I mean, if I'd seen someone else do that, I'd call them brave too. But it wasn't bravery. I just didn't have time -- I was too busy to think about being scared. Maybe that's my problem when we're in a fight... I don't have enough to do." She shook her head. "My fault -- and my flimsiness, not having the strength to do all the things I'm suggesting. I don't know whether Olaf's in a rush yet to re-grow his hand. I don't know how much Echo or anyone else wants to get cleaned up of grell gore. (I pick on her only because she was at least as involved in the autopsy we were doing as I was. I suppose everyone's gotten somewhat filthy with grell goo -- I at least got an abbreviated bathing.)" Her legs
folded up under her and she sat down with a bump on the cavern floor. It was her habit, since she had a short ways to drop. "I don't know how eager everyone is to move on to the next bad thing in our way," she continued with a sigh. "I don't know much, except that I keep offering to do stuff and then I fail to deliver. Tell me what you want... I guess it's all one to me." She fell back, to lie prone on the floor -- except that she fell too fast and her head hit the limestone with a thunk. "Owwww....""I suppose that from a purely denotational perspective, 'bravery' does imply some measure of overcoming fear," offered Aloysius. "Howe'er, e'en though you acted without thought, that does nothing to decrease the merits of your actions. When thought is removed from the motivation, only character and fundamental values remain."
He grinned at the gnome. "So, your actions demonstrated strong character and a value for Eric's well-being. Not that any of us doubted that you had those qualities to begin with. Arachne, thou doth perform tasks that none of us can repeat, nor in sooth e'en fathom. Stargazer knows that he, for one, is humbled by your talents."
Aloysius peered at Arachne long enough to satisfy himself that she was all right. "'Twould seem that the tunnel with the 'ropers' might be our next venture," he suggested to the group. "If he wyrm-like beasts are as formidable as Carmeneren hath suggested, mayhap we should wait afore searching for them."
He sniffled slightly and spat on the floor. "Of the practical options before us, that seems to me to be the most prudent. What sayeth the rest of thee?"
"Thank you, Aloysius," Arachne said to the wizard. "I'll try to be brave, from now on ... Really. Even when I have to think about it." the gnome gulped. "If I have to think, I'll try to think brave thoughts. I'll try..." She shuddered.
"I guess I can wait on killing the damn eel, if that seems the best course of action. I never thought of not being able to fight underwater. It seems to me that thrusting weapons like the spear wouldn't be much affected, but it would be tough to slash underwater with my axe or a sword. That's all theory though as I've never tried it." Blacky thought for a bit "Hey Arachne, what about that ghost form that you can do? Are you imperviouse to physical attack? I saw you move through walls that way. Could you move through water in that form without having to breath and safely do some recon?"
"Ah, quite the idea Blacky," Renn smiled as he approached the warrior. "I've but one healing blessing, and a minor one at that," the elf sighed. "But it's better than no healing at all," he shrugged and began to chant an elvish prayer.
"I could do the ghost form," Arachne said to Blacky. “But even if I started off fully rested, I couldn't manage it for more than maybe ten minutes. It's very hard work for me to start and maintain it. so it's lousy for doing recon."
"Thanks. I think that eel cracked a couple ribs. That's about what I deserve for turning my back on that pool. It would've been a lot worse if not for our talented Arachne." Blacky said with a nod to the gnome.
"Another time then. We'll just have to be careful when we come back to this area. Of course now that it's lit up, it'll be harder for the eels to sneak up on me." Blacky laughed.
Arachne stared at Blacky. "I want to be a help," she admitted. "Do you think I'm a help?" she asked. "I try..." she admitted. "I -- I want to be liked ... I'm not likable, am I? I'm... I don't _feel_ brave. I don't feel useful very much. I ... _Do_ you like me, Blacky?"
"Of course you're a help and of course I like you Arachne. Just because you don't do well at smashing skulls, doesn't mean you don't do your part. Besides, Jana and I do more than enough slicing and dicing for all of us." Blacky said as he removed his armor and clothing just to the point of being embarrassed, then washed under the waterfall. "You know this could be really useful if we needed to put out a large fire or drain this pool, assuming that it's not part of a river." He commented
"So Arachne," Jana said quietly, "can you still, you know do it? Olaf's hand?"
Olaf said quietly, "I think we should for that until we plan to spend a full day in one spot, a defensible spot. We can wait on it, if need be."
"It's your decision," Jana replied. "None of us are going to begrudge you a few hours or even a day to get your hand back. Whenever you're ready and Arachne's ready and able, we'll find some place to hole up."
Olaf answered, "Okay, let's move on, find someplace to hole up on our way to our next target. Then we can do it."
"I'm not sure," Arachne admitted. "After tiring myself helping Blacky, I doubt I have enough left to help olaf also without resting some first." She put her head in her hands. "Maybe you don't want to wait on me?" She shook her head slowly. "Do you really want to put up with my getting tired so easily?"
"Of course not," Jana replied. "I don't understand that mind-magic stuff you do, but I can see what it does. I mean, it's gotta make you tired, right? Like when Aloysius and Echo find out what magic stuff does."
Renn healed Blacky with his last remaining healing spell. Blacky looked somewhat better for the attention.
Since the decision was made to wait on working on Olaf, Jana picked Arachne up so she could try to make a shower for the group. The idea seemed to work well, as water poured out of the portal that appeared in front of the gnome.
"Well, there it is -- won't last forever, though," the gnome said contemplating her handiwork as she once again got soaked. Arachne made way (as soon as Jana put her down) for anyone else who wanted to use the waterfall. For herself, she rinsed herself and her dress as much as she could of grell guts and troll smoke and the rest of the underground grime.
"Venerable Mirage spoke of the benefit of taking the spookiness out of psionics by using it sometimes for humble, ordinary purposes," Arachne remarked, watching the water fall when she wasn't herself under it. "Using the power sometimes for a not especially dramatic or urgent purpose is one way of helping others who are not familiar with the Way to become more comfortable with having it used around them. After all, it isn't as if I have to mutter to myself or dance peculiar steps or chew on the brains of the dead to bring about my peculiar effects. Not that there's anything _wrong_ with any of those activities," she added as an afterthought. "As long as you choose your dead brains carefully. But I don't _have_ to do anything spooky to make my spooky magic happen. And if my result is simply to cause some water to fall..."
The gnome reached out and caught a bit of the showering water in cupped hands. "Here's to you, Eldath," she whispered, raising her hands and the water in them. "Wonder if I should do this more often? Venerable Mirage also warned us to beware of wasting our Gift on idle display or silly purpose..."
Aloysius stood under the water just long enough to soak himself. As he was already down to his loincloth, this didn't take long. He then went back to his pack to look for cleaner clothes to put on. His teeth chattered as he dug through his belongings.
"It'd be nice if we could make a fire somehow," he said generally.
Echo took off her boots, but other than that, got under the water fully clothed. She wiped off the remaining goo on her then got out of the way as fast as she could.
Jana was already soaked to her knees from her earlier head-first trip into the pool. She'd stripped off her armor and padding already. After setting Arachne down, Jana removed her boots and stripped to her smallclothes and got as clean as she could under the makeshift waterfall. She met the eyes of any of the men who looked her way with a challenging glare that quickly turned deadly with continued eye contact.
Once out of the water, Jana put her blanket around her shoulders and pulled out dry clothing. She used her blanket and her Glare of Death to achieve at least the illusion of privacy as she changed into the dry clothing.
Jana walked over to Echo. "You need to get into something dry," she said quietly. "C'mon," she said, nodding in the direction of a closest thing to a corner the cavern had and wiggling the blanket slightly. If Echo agreed, Jana held the blanket up and stood with her head turned to look back over her shoulder, giving her as much privacy as possible.
Olaf turned his back politely while the woman cleaned up.
Olaf didn't use the shower as he was already wet. he just toweled off and changed clothes. Anyone looking at him saw that his back and chest are covered with small scars as if from many arrows and dagger wounds.
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