Move 330: Warding the Camp
Tunnels--Late, Day 33 (Marpenoth 18)Renn cast warding spells on both openings of the tunnel while the others discussed supplies. A suggestion was made to open the cabin to resupply and take inventory of what might be needed. Someone suggested making a list of what was needed, and some thoughts turned slightly fanciful as people debated how to make their stay in a totally foreign and hostile environment as comfortable as possible. Thoughts of fire and fresh food did little to augment anyone's satisfaction with the cold stark limestone tunnel, the unnatural light of the magical stones, or the hard tack they were eating.
"How much food we got left?" Jana asked. "Hells, we might as well go on and open that cabin-thingie regardless. We're carrying around a lot of weight in coins. After we know this area's safe, we can see about finding a really secure place and seeing if Arachne can ferry us all up above for a few days, so we can get supplies and a decent meal. And some sunlight," she added. "I don't know about the rest of y'all, but I'm getting to where I dream about just laying in the grass feelin' the sun on me."
"Grass? what's that?" Blacky asked with a grin. "I could go for a tankard of stout or even watery ale at this point."
"All right," Arachne's voice said, drifting a little ways from everyone else. The small ceramic cottage reappeared on the cavern floor. "So I'm _not_ going shopping right away. Or even if I _do_ need to go shopping right away -- say, because a spellcaster realizes that they have a spell in hand that would be really useful against wall-crawling ropers -- a gnome can hope, can't she? And it just requires a clump of wormy dirt or something to make the charm complete -- well, even so, I wouldn't need the cottage just to go fetch a clump of dirt. For fresh food, on the other hand, I might wish that I had the cottage with me. But not simply for a glass rod or scrap of leather or -- the like.
"I have no idea, though, how our food supplies are doing. I forget whether we left any dried stuff in the cottage. I know that _I_ haven't been carrying any food. It's hard enough trying to keep up with you guys without carrying my fair share too." There was a pause, then the gnome added, "Well, there it is. Anyway, unless someone objects to my opening the cottage now..."
"Aye, let the cabin be opened," said Aloysius. "And while it is, we should make a careful inventory lest we get stuck down here wanting for something vital."
Looking at Azrun, he added, "I shall endeavor to create a list of components from the spells on the grell gems. I'd like to look them over again after we
have slept so I can continue deciphering the formulae.""I'll check if I need any components," Echo added.
"We could put ale on the supply list," Echo said. She pulled her cloak tighter around her and stared at one of the light stones. "I like the dark," she said quietly, "but this dark is different. "
Aloysius shuddered slightly. "Aye, that it is," he said quietly. "'Tis a darkness
that ne'er sees the light at all. There be no respite from the shadows here. Forces dark may fester and spawn without interruption, spared the inhibiting touch of the sun."He assessed the stone walls around the group. "'Tis a crucible suitable for fomenting the basest of evils." The mage's shoulders slumoed slightly, as if a great weight had been placed upon them.
"Though the light of the surface shall ne'er penetrate this gloomy darkness, mayhap we have been designated to act as a sort of proxy. Or mayhap we simply entertain false notions of such." His prior burden was then lifted somewhat by a heart-felt chuckle.
"But here we be, nonetheless, so let us endeavor to make a fair determination as to what fate has in store for us."
"It's not that bad," Arachne's voice complained. "A place that ordinarily never gets lit, I mean. It only disturbs you -- and makes you equate darkness with evil -- because you're so dependent on having a superabundance of light in order to see, in order to be aware of what's going on around you. You hate this place because you do not belong here. Any creature that did feel at home here might well consider that sun-dappled green field to be an evil place: That riot of distant color! The anarchical breezes! All that space and maddeningly dense conspiracy of tiny lives! Lurking under every footstep and even in the very air you're trying to breathe. (Didn't know that, did you? It might be painfully obvious to one whose customary air is much, much simpler.) All that heat and light and sounds and smells -- It's self-evidently villainous, no?" She paused, then added, "Mind you, I don't like it down here either. I grew up on the surface, in a maritime town where, to a gnome, everything is huge. I'm used to being among big people and around salt water. Of course, grass and sunlight are nice, too, but _I_ miss the sea air." The small voice paused again, then concluded, "I may not _like_ it here, I may not be _comfortable_ here, but that doesn't make this an evil place. Not that I'm clear what _does_ make for an 'evil place'."
Aloysius pondered Arachne's words. "I think this realm be not evil per se," he explained, "but it does provide harbor for those who would do foul deeds.
Light tends to expose things in their true forms, and evil depends often on deception, thus shunning the light. Not all dark things are evil, nor all light things good. 'Tis simply a trend, if you will, rather than a general pronouncement."He took his pack off his shoulder and placed it on the ground.
"Agree do I with thee, Arachne, that this place pleases us not due to our lack of experience with its peculiar set of . . . comforts . . .or lack thereof. Stargazer misses the night sky, with Selune's face leading her tears from one horizon to the next. He misses the warmth of a fire and the comfort of a soft bed." Aloysius knelt down and poked absently at his pack.
"In fact, afraid am I to accompany thee on one of your supply excursions. I fear I may not be able to return again. But, 'tis for the better as we shall appreciate the world all the more once we return to it for good."
Renn got a wistful look in his eye as the talk turned to grass, the moon, and other pleasantries of the surface. "As appealing as seeing the sky above me would be, I think I'll stay down here to hold down a camp, whenever we decide to venture to the surface," Renn said indifferently.
"Oh, 'Russe tuulo' moriloomir' (lightning, in Elvish)," Renn said after a pause. He checked himself, with a sheepish smile. "I forget at times that not everyone speaks the language of the People. It's how we say, 'lightning'." Renn waved a hand in the direction of the ward he'd placed earlier. "I set the ward to ignore all of us, and to be triggered by any non-goodly creature. For safety, I added the glyph's name, "Russe tuulo' moriloomir" to the warding. If you speak the name, the ward would let you pass, regardless of ideology."
Rennirolas shrugged, "Those don't seem to be the best options, but I'll think on different ways to improve the wardings of our rest areas from here-on."
"Russe tuulo moriloomir..." Arachne's voice echoed, in only mildly accented Elvish. Occasionally, afterward, in the vicinity of the ward, one might hear her voice offering the passcode that was required of the not-so-good, because who knows who is good enough to be good? The gnome had already asserted with certainty that she didn't.
The cottage was opened to stow money and check supplies. It was determined that they had enough food for nine more days, and other than most of their oil being gone, their mundane supplies seemed to be holding up well. There were even a few skins of wine remaining in the cabin for those wanting a drink now and again.
"We're not going to put _all_ the money inside the cottage, right?" Arachne asked. "I'd like to keep enough out to fund my next shopping trip. Not," her voice added apologetically, "that I want to carry it myself. That way, I don't have to rely on being able to open the cottage just to pay people for the supplies."
"That's what I said," Jana noted with only the faintest hint of petulance. "Hold out some money to pay for stuff. I'd hold out the higher-denomination coins and maybe some gems, myself."
"Sorry. I wasn't listening," the gnome said softly. "Too wrapped up in thinking about whether or not to open the cottage."
A short sword appeared on the ground in front of Azrun. "You said you were interested in a sword that's a little more easily managed than one of Jana's. You can use this one, if you like. It's too heavy for me to lug around. I _think_ it's pretty good. It seemed OK to me when I was trying it out. I'm not _terrible_ with it, you see. I'm just – you know -- bad: It weighs a few pounds and me trying to swing it -- well, it's kind of like Blacky with his great, two-headed axe. OK, maybe worse than that. The balance _is_ different. I ... I don't know." There was a small sigh. "You know what I was telling Aloysius about how we want to think of places where we're simply uncomfortable as evil? Well, that's _another_ reason why I want to think of combat as evil. I'm just not comfortable trying to wield these big, heavy, bulky weapons. So, as far as I'm concerned, Azrun..." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "... these _weapons_ we concern ourselves with so much -- they're _evil_! Evil, I tell you! They stink of bloodshed and pain, spawning reeking pus and base rot! This sharp, wicked, malicious metal --" Her voice returned to normal. "But I'm just being silly and biased. And certes, we cannot all afford to assume that particular bias of mine: We'd be dead in no time. And Blacky will tell you that it's a poor craftsman who blames his tools, and I already knew that. About me being a poor craftsgirl with this thing." The sword shifted on the ground slightly. "You're welcome to it, anyway."
Azrun listened quietly to Arachne as she spoke, "Thank you for the use of your sword, Arachne. I guess everyone has they're own view on weapons, the blacksmith looks at it as his trade, the guard a tool, some nobles even look at them as collectors pieces almost like a painting.Me.....I'm not sure....It's a tool I use to help protect myself and my friends with. Besides that, I guess I would just call a curiosity. I wonder where it came from, who made it and why. Gods know, I've seen my share of the evil that can be done with one of these." He paused a minute, "But anyway, thank you Arachne." With that he went to the side and settled down quietly and listened to the others discuss plans.
-- "Um, I hate to disappoint you," Arachne's voice said. "There isn't any mystery about this sword. I -- um -- asked the blacksmith in town up-top to make it for me. When we'd returned to the surface after meeting Carmeneren? I asked him to make it so that I could defend myself a little better and he did so, adhering to the usual design that best trades off effectiveness and durability and weight -- for most people. So I quickly figured out that the thing was too heavy for me to carry it around all day. I dumped it here in the cottage. I didn't curse it or anything. It was my fault I couldn't use it. I'm sure it's a very competent sword And I guess that's its pretty complete history. Not very interesting. Pretty close to nil..."
Aloysius looked inside the cottage and scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Hmm . . . ." he mused, "if I recall correctly, the cottage can only hold 1000 pounds worth of . . . things. I'd estimate that, with the coin and supplies, we are perhaps at 80% capacity. We will have to take care in the future as to what we add to our stores."
He went into the cabin and helped move whatever supplies that needed moved. He made sure that his food and drink was refreshed so that he had at least a week's worth of each.
After helping with the provisions, he approached Azrun. "After we have rested, I'd like to look at the spell gems again, if that is all right with you."
Echo got what she needed out of the cottage. "Aloysius is right," she added. "The money is heavy. Is there anyone on the surface we trust enough to leave some of it if we need to?"
"Gala," Arachne said. "I mean, she might spend it, but it'd be for a worthy cause."
"If Sunshine tries to give my money away," Jana muttered, "I'll kick her ass. I'm my own worthy cause." She humphed a bit and then added, "But I don't think she'd do that, so I don't really have any problem with leaving some money with her. And I probably need to pay more for stabling my horse." Her voice dropped to the nearly inaudible range as she added, "Damn, I miss my horse."
Aloysius scowled at Jana before speaking. "I'd suggest we use some of the coins of lesser value to pay for our goods. I'm sure Rastifer will accept them and they will leave us with more wealth stored in a smaller volume." With a glance at Arachne, he added, "Assuming Arachne can bear the burden of a larger horde of coin. If not, mayhap she can take one of our sturdier members to assist her."
"I think I'd be all right," Arachne said. "But company on the trip's fine -- within reason. One, I guess, if I'm not using the cottage to transport the purchases. Anyway, I expect that Rastifer would appreciate the smaller coins more also. Anyway, he'd appreciate a fairly accurate provision of coin for whatever the total bill turned out to be."
"We don't need to decide anything just yet," Jana noted. "We've got to finish up in hese caves first. And I sort of need to go," she reminded Arachne. "Personal business, remember? It's my hope we can get a secure area here and get everyone on the surface for a day or two."
"I think there are a couple of other priests around,"
Echo noted. "The Torm guy has a temple in Milborne. If we made a donation to the temple, he might keep some of it for us. Since we rescued him, he might be willing to help us out.""And he has less of a history with us than with Gala. I'm sure she'd do it too with no problem," she added quickly. "The other guy is just another person to think about."
"So the plan is that we've got nine days to wipe out the ropers, find a reasonably secure location down here and then pull out to the surface?" Arachne asked. "Nine days, because that's our food supply and I doubt that raw roper is going to be more appetizing than raw lizard. There's the possibility of raw quaggoth too, I suppose. That might be more enticing ..."
"That's my plan, at least," Jana confirmed.
Blacky helped unload and load what was needed into and out of the cottage, then hung around in the cottage because it gave the illusion that he was not in unfamiliar territory deep underground. He was careful to get out before it closed though.
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