Move 302: Clean But Cold
Grell Nest--Midday, Day 28 (Marpenoth 13)Everyone who tried Arachne's shower found out that the water was cold, not invigorating, but plain old freezing cold. The temperature in the tunnels made the after effects rather unpleasant as well, and a good bit of shivering and shuddering was done by everyone who had gotten wet at all. The group finished cleaning up and managed to get most dried off with no further harassment from cave or pool denizens.
After washing off, Azrun looked back at the pool and then to the group, "These ropers will be unlike anything we've fought before. They like to entangle people with their limbs. From what I remember reading the toxin on their toxin affects the person's strength too."
He thought for a moment then turned to Renn and Olaf, "Do either of you happen to have the ability to ward people from the effects of poison or toxins? Something like that placed upon Jana and Blacky might be handy if it lasted a while."
Though still shivering, Arachne listened to Azrun explain about ropers. "I guess I could stand by, ready to do with a roper what I did for blacky with the eel," she said. "In case anyone gets in trouble. I'm pretty good at standing by. Problem is there was only one eel ... Roper or ropers might have spare ropes ... But that wouldn't make a difference except that I don't have much strength to lose." She sighed. "I have got to come up with something else to do or else I'll get stuck with the luxury of fear again."
Azrun smiled back to the gnome, "That idea would work quite well, Arachne. If it seemed like someone couldn't get free on their own then that trick would work well. How much does it take out of you, though? We wouldn't want you to be unable to defend yourself because of that."
Arachne "Defend myself?" Arachne asked, puzzled. She hurried into her other dress, a simple lightweight summer gown which had already seen much darning. "That is how I'd defend myself... By running -- or blinking myself away. Unless the roper poison interfered. The only difference is whether I'd try to take someone with me."
Aloysius went over and dug through his pack. He pulled out a slightly dirty blue tunic and some rumpled brown pants. The group recognized them as the clothes he had worn some time ago. He also pulled out a pair of socks and another loincloth.
Although most likely by chance, his back was turned to the group when he decided to change from one loincloth to another. Of course, "chance" was a relative term as those who noticed his actions still got a rather unpleasant view of the mage as he changed. He took the clothes he had on before and got them good and wet. He then set them out on the ground and tried to arrange them so they would be as flat on the ground as possible.
He grumbled as he looked down at his wet clothes. "Damn my lack of foresight in not better attending my cantrip lessons," he said to no one in particular. "A drying cantrip would be most useful right now."
With that, he pulled on the clothes he had pulled from his pack and put his boots back on. He wrapped himself in his blanket before returning to the general area where the group was milling about.
"So, I suppose we should stay around here at least until our garments are dry," he said. "Maybe at some point Arachne could return to the surface and procure some fire wood. We could keep it in the cabin and employ it when deemed prudent to do so without attracting undue attention to ourselves."
He looked over at Jana (after she had dressed herself again). "What are we going to do now?"
Echo hid behind Jana's blanket to change clothes. "Thanks," she said with a smile when she finished. She wrung water out of her wet clothes and spread them out while they were deciding what to do next.
Echo studiously avoided looking at everybody while they changed clothes. She pushed her wet hair out of her face with a muttered complaint, "I need a
haircut.""How long do you think it'll take to get to the roper caverns?" she asked.
"Nay," said Aloysius with unexpected fervor. His cheeks reddened. "Uh . . . .I meant that . . .your hair is . . . . fine. How it is. I mean, wet or dry."
Lowering his eyes he walked off to the edge of the light and studied the cavern floor.
"I like it better when it's not in my face," Echo replied quietly as Aloysius wandered away. "I like to be able to see."
After discussing their options, Azrun walked off to the side and changed out of his wet clothes into some dry ones. He took the wet ones and wrung them out and examined them for holes and such. When he put his clothes away, he got out his flte and began to play a few songs.
"Sound carries down here," Jana said as Azrun pulled out his flute. "Careful." She looked at the wet clothes. "I don't guess we have any way of getting these things dry?" she asked, not too hopefully. "We have a lot of oil. Maybe we can find some fuel in the next cavern, where the grells were. Of course, then there'd be a lot of smoke..." She looked at her wet padding and grimaced. "Let's let everyone get rested and our mages and priests at full strength then take off, I guess."
Azrun put the flute back into his pack before playing it, "Sorry, Jana. I guess I wasn't thinking again." With that he moved over to spot on the cavern wall and sat by himself.
"It's not like we're being exactly as silent as mice here," Jana replied, "but we should be at least a little careful. I just meant not to play too loud. A little quiet music would be nice."
Azrun nodded, "That's ok. Maybe Renn could play something elven. I've kinda lost the urge to play now. The only thing I can think of quiet now would just make me feel worse....I mean it's not your fault....I just started to think about someone...and...well never mind."
Arachne looked at Jana with a mixture of uncertainty and hopefulness. After a pause, she asked, "Is that long enough for a 'night' of resting and watches? If it is, I think that might be enough time for me to prepare, heal Olaf and then rest. I think. Is that OK?"
"I have no problem with that," Jana replied. She looked over to Olaf for his response.
Olaf noded, "Sounds fine. We should be at full spell strength before starting against the ropers anyway."
Renn shrugged his way out of his surcoat and then pulled the light suit of elven mail and the tunic beneath that over his shoulders He folded the mail into a small bundle, then kicked off his boots and finished stripping down to his smallclothes.
Renn stopped just outside the waterfall, and passed his clothes through it. He scrubbed quickly, with a sigh at some of the stains that wouldn't come out. Once his clothing was set aside, Renn used the water himself, his teeth chattered and his skin was reddened from the cold when he finished.
"That's c-c-cold," he gasped, though he didn't look altogether unhappy. "But it's nice to be clean, at least for a while," Renn smiled. With dry clothing on hand, Renn dressed quickly, and wrung out his long hair in an attempt to make it dry faster.
Renn sat and considered Azrun's question for a few minutes while he continued to dry off. Finally he shook his head in the negative. "I cannot recall any prayer which Corellon might grant me to protect against poison," the elf stated. "I may cure, or slow, any poisonings, but ward against, that I cannot do."
"If we can find the fuel, I should be able to get a fire going without needing any oil," Renn interjected as he wrung the water from his hair. "And unless I've totally forgotten the woodlore I learned as a child, it shouldn't be unnecessarily smoky either," he shrugged.
"Certainly Azrun," Renn nodded. "If we can get a fire going, a few songs would sound nice," he nodded again. "Played softly of course," he grinned.
"I don't know if we'll be able to find fuel for a fire," Echo said. "I haven't seen anything around that looks like it'll burn."
"Since we're going to stay put," she said, "maybe we should go back to the other part of these caves. It's wet in here and that eel might come back with friends or something."
"I think that's wise," Jana agreed with Echo. "Let's head back 'soon as everyone's done with the water, okay?"
"All right," Arachne said.
The gnome watched her waterfall and the usage of the waterfall with what appeared to be her usual absent-minded gaze. She herself had stripped off clothes as well as underclothes while using the fall. While under the falling water and also while doing what she could about washing her dress etc. she had appeared more concerned about cold than modesty. With her dress on, she had looked scrawny (her clothes draped whereas proper armor might fight to hold its own shape). Without clothes on it was more precisely clear that she was indifferently pretty -- but in an emaciated way.
Once clad and shivering in her spare dress, her attention, if anywhere, was on the falling water, but that didn't seem to be because of any effort to avert her gaze from anything else. After everyone was done with the fall, she ended it and then went to Olaf.
"I'll need to rest some before I tackle your arm," she told him. "About an hour, I think, would be wise. Then, I'll get to work. If you need to sleep now, that's all right. I can work on you while you sleep. Just, if you could, leave your arm out where I can touch it?"
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