Grell Nest--Midday, Day 29 (Marpenoth 14)
Arachne and Jana returned a few minutes after Echo came back in. Both of them were sopping wet and shivering from the cold. They met Aloysius and Azrun out in the passageway as the two men returned from their trek to look at the pillar.
Olaf continued to try to nap, but it seemed he was rather unsuccessful at getting any real sleep. After a few hours passed, Blacky came to, looking rather hale and hearty, all things considered.
"There was something in the pool," Jana commented, wringing water out of her hair. "Dunno what. We hauled ass." She looked over at Echo and, stammering slightly and not making eye contact asked, "Uhm, you already told 'em, you know, about the pillar thing? Any, uhm, ideas on what it, you know, does?"
Echo, who was sitting apart from the rest of the group with her cowl up, said in a flat, muffled voice, "I told them." She quietly remained where she was.
Olaf said, "I suppose we should examine it, but I am still wary of this sense of well being. I wishe to examine it more closely with my prayers, but they are exhausted for the day, and i have slept too recently, apparently, to easily sleep again."
Olaf stood up, "I shall go and see what I can discern from this pillar, after I have read the journal, would anyone like to join me? I promise to yell quite louldy if anything happens!"
Olaf then read the journal page, "I am now even more suspicious of this feeling of wellness. If we can figure nothing out about the pillar I think we should move quickly on, and far forward. I don't like feeling this good." Olaf finished the thought with a borad smile, "It makes me ansty!"
Olaf then went to see the pillar with any who cared to accompany him.
Rennirolas examined the journal entry and raised an eyebrow in interest twice while he read the page. He began to speak, then stopped and passed the parchment to anyone who hadn't yet read it.
"Another of the People who sensed that which I do," Renn frowned slightly. "I'll need to think on this more than I have. And mayhap search for Corellon's guidance. Echo," he said quickly, "do you feel any of this presence that I do?"
"Echo said it was divination and alteration," Arachne piped up. "I was thinking that the big grell might've been able to spy on us somewhat as we approached."
Azrun nodded, "Might be how they saw you when you were invisible also, Arachne."
"What the..." Blacky sat up after he woke looking at both his lack of wounds and the fact that everyone else was accounted for. "I take it we won, no thanks to me?" He asked.
"You and me both," Jana commented to Blacky. "That thing did something to me and I couldn't move. Aloysius charged it and took it out. Sort of makes us seem superfluous, huh?" she grinned.
"Looks like I've had my ass saved more than my fair share of times today." He nodded in thanks to Arachne and Aloysius "I never figured I'd be on the wrong end of my axe."
Jana's expression clouded. "You were lucky," she said flatly. "Charging that thing was foolish. You endangered everyone needlessly, all for a chunk of metal on a stick. I hope you'll remember that next time you're in a fight and think first. You're going to have to be the person on the front lines now. The others will be depending on your judgment."
"We need to rest afore we discuss matters most serious," suggested Aloysius. "'Tis mine intent to examine the aura on the column as well as those on our newly-acquired items on the 'morrow. In all likelihood, such efforts will render me unable to travel until day after next."
His eyes drifted over to Arachne. "There is one other matter I'd like to bring up now," he continued. "My spellbook is full and I've need of additional space. With everyone's permission, I'd like to erase the formulae in good Pug's book. Methinks that we have copied all the spells from it that we intend, but realize do I that it carries with it sentimental value. I didn't want to take such actions afore advising the rest of thee of mine intent."
"It's a spellbook, isn't it?" Arachne asked, smiling sadly. "I couldn't read it anyway. Yes, it was written out by Pug -- but my grief is more that I _didn't_ get to know him well enough than that I did know him too well. You see? A spellbook that he'd written is hardly a way whereby _I_ might've known him better. Others, maybe..." She shrugged.
After another moment's thought,
the mage withdrew a piece of paper from a pocket inside his robe.
"Stargazer found this in yon other chamber when he
went there after the battle. 'Tis a portion of a diary from one of the members
of the party who passed afore us. Apparently, they did not get along with one
another very well, and judging from the remains we found, they are no longer
alive." A long sigh escaped his lips as he stared hard at the floor.
"Intent was I of making a production out of this fact in order to impress 'pon the rest of thee the importance of group action, e'en if mayhap we lack group affection. Howe'er, I've no stomach for such dramatics. The connection, I trust, all of thee can fathom without such devices. We've some hard decisions to make. Decisions, I fear, which may change everything."
"Actually, my intent at the time was to buy the rest of you some time to move back in to a open area. Since I was the one who had held things up and was relatively unhurt, I though I could hold it off for a couple rounds, then fall back. It obviously didn't work out that way." Blacky said " That 'chunk of metal on a stick' as you call it has as much value to me as your horse does to you. It's been with me a long time and saved my ass more than I can count. I was not going to leave it in this stinking hole with that thing. And what do you mean, I'm going to be on the front lines now. Where are you going?"
"I'd sacrifice my horse, my mother's horse," Jana replied in a tightly-controlled voice, "before I'd let any of you die. No horse, no axe or sword is worth any of your lives. And in case you forgot, I'm gonna die and I'm running out of time." She stalked off and found a vacant corner and sat, busying herself with cleaning her weapons.
Jana flinched then retreated to the next cavern for a few minutes. She returned in dry clothing and retreated to a solitary corner with her wet clothes spread out to dry. She busied herself working on her armor.
Arachne took a turn reading the page and sighed when she finished. "Well, it reminds me to be terrified," she admitted. "And of the importance of making what friends you can. But this is a _journal!_ If you can't confide your misgivings about your friends to your journal, where can you confide them? I mean, don't we all wonder about one another? Well, I do! I mean, I'm dying to know what has Echo upset -- I know that she _is_ upset about something, but I don't know what it is and doubt that I'm entitled to know. But I can't help wondering --
"And when I get out my journal and scribble in it, I try to write out stuff like that and then turn the page and leave those wonderings and doubts behind. I don't succeed, admittedly, but isn't it better to try something like that than to whisper the wonderings to someone else? I mean, Aloysius, wouldn't it be worse for you to complain to Blacky about how I never carry my share of the load than for you simply to record in your book that Arachne's a total slackard and you hate her scrawny guts and then just turn the page?
"Of course, what I should do, if I wonder something about someone else is to simply go to that person and _ask_, but I'm much too scared of being told that it's none of my beeswax and buzz off you little runt to go to Echo and --" Arachne stopped and dropped her gaze to the ground. The journal page fluttered out of her hand. "Oh hells," she muttered. "Hasted tongue again." She turned her face to the nearest wall and then leaned her forehead against it. "Nosy gnome," her soft voice sighed.
Echo sighed too, but she didn't say anything.
Jana took the page from Arachne. "A magical sword?" she said as she read it. "Can that be the same one? But Lytern has that sword..." She fell silent as she re-read the page several times the wordlessly handed it to whoever seemed to want it then walked over and spoke quietly with Arachne.
"I know not, Janathell," replied Aloysius. "But I do know that at some point, this page was stuck to a rock near the entry to the grell nest. Suspect do I that the torn corner Azrun spied is the same corner this sheet is missing."
The mage looked over at Renn,
since Olaf had left to look at the pillar. "Rennirolas, Oleanne had the
ability to speak with the deceased. Will your lord
grant you a similar blessing? If so, we could inquire of one of the members of
the prior party. It could provide us with valuable information."
"Indeed, Corellon does grant
me the power to speak with those recently deceased," Renn nodded. "My
power is not sufficient to summon the spirit of any
who have been gone from this realm for long, and also, the questions I may ask
are limited.
"If we wish it, I will pray for such a spell tomorrow," Rennirolas said slowly. "It would be prudent to decide which questions are most important to ask, and to make them as concise as possible. Disturbing the rest of those who have passed beyond is not something I would do lightly, but our risks grow ever greater, and I pray Corellon understands."
Echo took the page without getting up. After reading it, she told Renn, "I don't sense a presence of any kind. I think Aloysius looks a little different, but I don't feel as upsettingly well as Olaf seems to either." She sighed again and hugged her knees.
Aloysius abruptly cocked his head in Echo's direction, his fingers gently prodding his face. "I do?" he asked, a hint of alarm in his voice. "In what manner?"
“When you came back in," Arachne suggested. "After going to inspect the bag-thing's grotto: I felt better, seeing you."
Azrun sighed heaveily and shook his head, "I believe one of the items, probably the mirror, is causing the effect. When Aloysius came back from the cave, I felt better about having him around. I imagine the mirror has the ability to increase a persons charm or presence." He thought for a minute, "It would be the type of item a leader or charlatan would posess. The leader would want the people under him to like him more so they would follow his orders easier. The charlatan would want people more at ease around him to make them easier targets."
Aloysius turned and looked back at the cave from where he had come. "Well," he began, a certain edginess in his voice, "glad am I that there are magics powerful 'enow to generate good feelings e'en for Stargazer's return. I knew not . . . ."
His voice had caught in his throat and he looked away for a moment, swallowing hard.
"I'm going to rest now," he said in a calmer voice. I'd prefer some solitude. Suggest do I that the rest of thee do the same afore our order changeth. Mayhap my departure will elevate your moods all the more."
Aloysius moved off to the edge of the light, sat down, and began writing in a book.
Azrun ran his hand over his face and looked to say something to Aloysius. Seeing him walk over to a spot by himself Azrun stood up and walked to the center of the group. He rapped the end of his staff against the floor and cleared his throat.
"My name is Benjamin Crunell. I grew up in Cormyr. My father's name was Eric and my mother's Andrea. The love of my life was a beautiful girl by the name of Cemantha. I lost all of those people. I took another name and left my home to start a new life. Now it seems this life is going to reflect my old life. I'm losing the ppl that mean the most to me."
Azrun sighed deeply and looked
around at the group with watered eyes, "You
are my family now. I lost the first one to bandits. The bandits this time are
harsh and misunderstood words."
He looked to the warrior woman polishing her armor,"Jana, I know things haven't been easy for you. You've had to fight and struggle the entire time to get us to follow your lead while in battle. I know I haven't always followed your lead, usually because I was scared to death. I know you have this curse hanging over your head too. That's exacting its toll on you too." He scuffed his foot around on the stone floor for a moment, "I don't want to sound selfish about this, but...I don't want you to leave, Jana. You mean a lot to me as a leader and as a friend."
He looked over to the mage scribbling in the corner, "Aloysius....You are as unique as they come, my friend. And I do mean friend. When I was talking about the mirror, I did not mean that you were unwanted. I simply meant that the device enhanced your personality to others. You and I have talked to great lengths about many different things. Do you think I would have done so if I did not like you?"
Azrun walked over and picked up the scrap of journal paper, "We found this for a reason. It's to show us why others failed before us. That group didn't trust each other at all. We're at the same crossroads and we have similar decisions to be made. We either trudge on as a group, meaning all of us, toward freeing those that were captured or we leave this place all together."
"If we split up and some go back to the surface, the rest that trudge on will die. Carmeneren judged us powerful enough as a group to take on the task at hand, if we split up then those that go forward will die or become slaves just like those we wish to save."
Azrun slumped against his staff, looking very tired. "Just something I thought needed to be said." He moved slowly to the side of the cave and sat down with his things.
"Aye, and far more is there that needs said," said Aloysius as he stood up from his spot and approached the others. "Mayhap catharsis shall serve us all well, as we can hardly do any worse."
The mage swallowed hard and seemed to almost be trembling.
"I've no one. No one at all. No one except this group. My former master treated me as his pet. His. . . . project. Something to demonstrate that he was capable of molding such poor material into something with at least an inkling of talent. But even he abandoned me, as mine own parents did afore him."
He gave each member a long, hard look before continuing. "Stargazer be not so naive as to think that any of thee would seek his companionship were it not for our common effort in this endeavor. That is no longer as much a concern of mine as it was afore. Truth be told, there are those among thee that I do not particularly care for, and those I . . .care for a great deal."
Aloysius was careful not to let his gaze wander as he spoke so as to reveal who was in the latter class, and who the former.
"I respect the lot of ye. Whether it be for thy varied talents, or simply because I enjoy thy companionship - it matters not. Janathell is concerned, and rightly so, about her child and the curse she faces in the days ahead. She has already done much to help others she hath ne'er met, and now feels as if she owes a debt to her own flesh and blood. I fault her not for such thoughts."
He glanced at Echo. "Suspect do I that Echo will accompany Janathell wheree'er she goes, and a better friend she could not request. As a whole, we are as sticks, and not as a bundle of sticks. If we continue on as we have, we will be broken one by one. Of that, I have no doubt. Prefer would I to take what valuables I have earned and spend my days buried in the stacks of some library somewhere. Peril seems to have sought me out, despite my best efforts to avoid it. Yet, if I abandon this job now . . . if I abandon all of you . . . I am dead to the world. Dead in the sense that I can ne'er again be truly offended by acts of darkness, for I would have seen it already and walked away from it. Dead in the sense that I would be truly alone, without anyone who might give one cold copper about where I am, or what I am doing. Dead in the sense that whoever is snatching spell casters will oneday likely get me as well. None of these eventualities do I relish. But if this be my lot, then I shall embrace it head on and try to forge mine own destiny."
Aloysius looked over at Jana, his face now heavily streaked with tears. "Janathell, whate'er course you choose, I honor it and bid sweet Mystra to guide thy steps. As for the rest of thee, know that I would lose my life so that any of ye could take one more breath. Much consideration have I given my lot, and I have determined that I must continue on in this hell. Becoming a wizard worthwhile means more than simply achieving mastery of more complex matrices. It requires conviction and action against that which one deems to be wrong. What is happening in these tunnels is wrong and I will end it or die in the effort. If that occurs, so be it. But let it not be said that Stargazer meekly waited in some dank depository waiting for the forces of darkness to spirit him away. I've lived that way for far too long, and I'll do it no longer. If any of the rest of thee are intent on continuing, know this. We shall have a plan and we shall follow it. We shall sacrifice individual preferences to the extent necessary to maximize our chances at success. If you can not commit to that, then I will go on alone."
He stared down at the floor. "I'd rather do that than watch you all be killed."
"Yeah, I thought he looked different, but then I was out for awhile." Blacky commented "Could someone just read the damn entry, so we don't have to keep passing it around." He asked
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