Move 349:  Crowded and Stinky

The party had a brief discussion about what had to be done now, but several people appeared too tired or forlorn to participate. Eventually the conversation died down. It was more or less established that Arachne was going to take Aloysius and Olaf's body to the surface, but no supply list had been made and the plans were somewhat vague.

Some people had lunch; some people napped or sat by themselves, as much as one could in the small closed room. Arachne healed Renn then meditated.  Some hours later, she was ready to finish healing the priest. The little gnome practiced contacting Azrun mentally before she had run out of juice again. By then, everyone else was growing bored and restless as they were wont to do during times when they had too much time to sit or lie around, pondering things in the dank dark hole in the ground they were exploring.

The sealed room they were in had increased in temperature over the hours just from their body heat; it was not a lot of difference but it was enough to be noticeable. A distinctly unpleasant smell, the total lack of any semblance of privacy, and the close proximity to the body of their recently fallen comrade ensured that almost everyone was uncomfortable for one reason or another.

Aloysius had, space permitting, done some writing in his book. "Can someone tell me what supplies are needed, and provide Arachne and I with the coinage necessary to pay for it?" he asked. He sat ready to take supply notes in his book.

Glancing at Arachne, he added, "Or did you simply remove some money from the cottage when the supplies were placed inside last time? Tell me, did Rastifer see the cottage? I'll bet he found it quite intriguing."

"Eep," the gnome practically hiccuped, surprised by the question and wondering what she'd actually done. "I think ... I think ... um.  I think I didn't believe that the merchants would want to trust a sneaky little gnome like me to make them wait for their payment until all the supplies had been gathered together in the tavern," she finally decided.  "I'm pretty sure that I carried the coinage separately from the
cottage. But, Aloysius, if you think that you have an honest face and would be able to persuade any merchant to await payment until we were about to return down here..."

"Hmmmmm . . . . ." mused the mage. "Nay. Rastifer is a clever businessman. Doubts have I that I could simply explain to him that I needed to go and open a magical cottage so as to procure his payment."

With a heartfelt nod, he concluded, "We'd best plan on specie up front. Do we have much coin that isn't in the cottage already?"

"As repeat customers I think Rastifer, as a businessman, would do well to trust that we would pay him what we owe when collecting the merchandise. I was in business as a brewer before and that was how I would treat good customers." Blacky commented. "If he doesn't agree, simply explain to him that Arachne can zap the two of you to any town's supplier in a jiffy if he doesn't want to do business with us. That ought to change his mind in a hurry, considering how much coin we tend to drop on a supply run."

After a moment, Aloysius nodded. "Aye, thou mayest well be correct, Eric. Stargazer is unaccustomed to such dealings. Mayhap I shall leave that task to
Arachne."

"Well, there is the platinum from the ropers, though I'm not sure how much was found," Renn shrugged. "I'd thought of a couple items I could use from the surface, a smallish silver mirrior, if possible, and holy water again, if there's any to be found."

Echo said, "I need gum arabic. Maybe you should get components for the spells on the gems in case someone decided to learn them." She pushed her cowl back.  Her eyes were blood shot.

"What are we going to do with Olaf's stuff?" she asked. "Should his sword go to his church? And his share of the treasure?"

"We can send money to his church, sure," Jana said in a tired-sounding voice, "but I think he'd want us to use anything we could to fight the stuff down here. Sword, armor, wahtever. Whatever we use, we can send to his church once we're done. It won't be ours, just on loan sorta. I'm not good with those little swords myself," she continues, gesturing at Olaf's longsword from under her blanket, but maybe one of you guys can use it."

The gnome giggled. "Oh sure," she laughed. "Like I could manage to honor Olaf's memory by even lifting the thing." She gulped and sobered up. "I don't know what we should do with Olaf's stuff. I don't remember hearing any instruction from him, but there's a lot I miss.  And I'm evil anyway -- Gala and Kuiper made that determination, so I  know it's so -- and knowing that, I expect that I probably shouldn't  even try to guess what to do with Olaf's stuff."

"You're right," Echo said. "He would probably want us to use his stuff. He had the sword before we met him, but as long as we give it up later, it should be okay. Does anyone know how it works? I think he has magical armor and a shield. Can anyone use that?  Renn should take the scroll he had. Does anyone have a problem with using his stuff?" she asked.

"Only with using Olaf's sword," Renn said somewhat warily. "I'm not sure if Susk is a holy relic of Tyr, or a weapon which Olaf acquired in his travels, but I'd like to see him buried with his sword," Renn clarified.  "But without hesitation I will hold onto the scroll he carried.

"And we gave him the armor," Jana noted.

Echo looked surprised at something Arachne said. "Kuiper and Gala said you were evil?"

Jana laughed humorlessly. "They probably said I was too. After all, I'm an evil sell-sword, killin' innocents for money."

"They definitely disapproved of me," the gnome said. "And they're so definitively _good_ that I expect that they would explain their disapproval as a finding that I'm evil. I'm not good. I'm afraid to try to fight unless absolutely cornered -- and even then, I'm too lousy at it to be dangerous. But I'm willing to be devious and to lie and deceive if doing so seems likely to accomplish my purpose. I tell myself I'm being practical and that it's necessary if I'm dealing with powerful enemies who may or may not be evil.

"Anyway, with shady ethics like that, I doubt that I should be making moral decisions like what to do with Olaf's stuff."

"Oh," said Echo. "Disapproval from someone you think is good doesn't mean you're evil. If everyone who got disapproved by some goody-goody was evil, that'd be everyone in the world. There's a lot of evil but not that much."

As talk turned to spell components, Jana, still wearing her blanket, scootched over to Arachne. "Uhm, can I talk to you for a minute?" she asked, then lowered her voice.

 "Uh huh..." the gnome replied, her eyes wide with curiosity.

"Do you want to talk about spells for tomorrow?" Echo asked Azrun and Renn. "We can't afford to make any mistakes with only five of us down here. I can make two people invisible when we get ready to go," she offered. "I don't know the web spell."

"Certainly," Renn nodded. "It's going to take me some time to prepare my spells, as I've so many to pray for," he said in explanation. "Apart from my various healing spells, I'd planned on petitioning Corellon for two danger sensing prayers," Renn continued, as he ticked off the spells on his fingers, "a spell of silence, continual light, one to dispel magics, and a warding glyph."

 "That is _so_ impressive," the gnome sighed. "Being granted so much power. Your god must be very impressed with how good you are. _And_ you're a great fighter... and healer. That's really wonderful.  Um... I don't mean to sound like a perfectionist or something, but I was wondering if your god might also allow you to pray for water. There isn't much left, I think. Aloysius and I don't need to be left with any, since we can replenish at the tavern... (Maybe leaving empty waterskins with Aloysius would be wise, so we can bring them back full.)  But I'm not sure that we'd get back and rejoin you before you run out of water completely."

The gnome had things to do and remarks to add to some of the conversations. The rest of the time, she seemed quite content to sit in one place doing nothing. Meditating, evidently. She didn't offer any complaint about the close quarters.

I'd like to use the shield as long as we're going up against the ropers. It may deflect a shot from those strands. I don't think we can afford to have me lose my strength again." Blacky said with a glance at Olaf's body.

"Evil, just like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder," Azrun mumbled as he awoke from his nap. "Gala judged me without knowing the whole story behind why I was a wanted man. Personally, I could care less what most people thought of me. I respect the opinions of you all, because I consider you all friends."

"I disagree," Echo said. "Evil is evil. There are some things that are questionable and sometimes, things might have to be done for the greater good.  But evil is just evil. It has nothing to do with what anyone thinks about it." She looked a little
surprised at herself.

"Arachne, I don't think you're evil," she said. "No one who is spends nearly as much time worrying about it as you do. They are too busy being evil to worry if they are evil."

"All right," the gnome conceded. "I'm probably not _evil_. After all, I'm hardly dangerous enough to make a successful career out of being evil. But I'm sneaky and deceptive and misleading and ... um, spooky -- enough not to be trustworthy. Or any decent moral compass, anyway. At least, I prefer to keep those options open. Generally. With you guys, there's no advantage to hiding anything about myself or being deceptive... so I don't think I do. But with anyone else down here, I think I'd be inclined to deceive first and apologize for being evil later.

"I don't explain the spooky mind magic stuff to you all because I don't think that trying to would enlighten anyone, but I'm not keeping secrets about myself. ... I don't think, anyway. Stuff people tell me privately I do, because that's confidence and that's different." She sighed. "Sorry about the evil confusion."

Azrun stood for a moment and stretched his weary body, "If we're working on a shopping list, I'm going to need a fresh supply of spell components...for the spells I know and the ones I want to learn from those gems."

He looked to Aloysius, "Speaking of which, Aloysius. Could you leave one of those gems with me and Echo. I'd like to start copying some of those spells. Perhaps by the time you guys get back I'll have copied one spell into my book. Spell books...did those spell books we found topside have any room in them. It might be wise to see if you can pick up an additional spell book or two. I know you're in your second one and me and Echo may need an additional one soon."

Azrun nodded, "I agree with Renn on the sword. Olaf should be buried with his sword."

Echo hesitated then spoke up again. "We'd better ask someone about that. I'm fine with not using it, but I don't know that it should go in his grave. I don't think Tyr's church would like us to bury a holy relic.  Don't churches like to hold onto that kind of thing?"

"Uhhhh . . . ." began the mage uncertainly, "I thought you already had the gems?" he asked Azrun. Aloysius dug around in his equipment and produced the gems if he had them and gave them to Azrun.

"As for spell books, that would be an extraordinary expense," he noted. "Perhaps we can arrange something with Tauster. Staragzer shall see what he can do."

"I can memorize a spell to detect magic and a couple of magic missiles," Echo suggested.

"I don't need a spell book yet so don't worry about it for me," Echo said. "If you are going to see Tauster," she added hopefully, "and you don't think it'd take too much time, you could buy some spells from him that'd help us out down here."

"Blacky said he wants to use Olaf's shield. Can anyone use his chain mail?"

"Stargazer is likewise unpersuaded that burying Olaf's sword is wise," said Aloysius. "Those who are foul of heart are more likely to invade a grave in search of booty therein. 'Twould be the height of injustice if a holy sword of Tyr, if that what it be, were employed by those with malintent. Mayhap Semehis can hold it for us until we can determine what to do with it. Are Tyr and Torm on good terms? I know little of the ways of the divine, save Blessed Mystra and Sagely Azuth."

"As for evil, I agree with Echo. Certainly, somewhere, there is a divine standard for what is good and what is not. Differences of opinion may arise as to what that standard is, but that changes not the nature of the standard itself. As for Stargazer, I believe that truth and good are ultimately connected.  Truth can only be sought in an environment free of coercion from those inclined to act selfishly. The captors we seek are perfect examples of purest evil.  By exercising their dominion over the freedoms on the captives, they compromise the captives' opportunities to gain and share insights about the universe.  Therefore, the mechanisms of truth-finding are handicapped in order that the selfish desires of the captors can be served. If thinking creatures are not free, they can not seek truth. Truth is, by definition, eternal. Knowledge of it should be obtained and shared readily, to the extent each creature is able. To do otherwise is a dark deception that leads only to ill-motive."

He smirked at his long-windedness. "But as with any truth-seeker, Stargazer reserves the right to change his mind if presented with coherent reasons to do so."

Azrun looked at Echo for a second, "So, me and Arachne are evil? Gala thought so. That's what I'm talking about. One person's opinion can't determine if you're evil." He paused for a second, "Anyway, this isn't supposed to be a discussion on philosophy."

"I don't know what Gala thought about anybody," Echo said. "Arachne said she disapproved. That doesn't mean she thought anybody was evil in the first place.  We might be saying the same thing. At first, I thought you were saying evil and beauty were both relative," she shrugged.

"Aw, come on: Please?" Arachne asked him. "It beats breathing -- right now, anyway," she added, glancing at the corpse. "And besides: I don't really mind a finding that I am evil or am not evil or just a sort of practical mix-up. I remember, when I was at University, I found myself under a tree one afternoon with a sage who claimed to be a Philosopher of Idealism. He was looking, he said, for a few wise and discerning persons of independent means who would show sufficient wisdom as to become students of his in this study of Idealism. He claimed that Good and Evil were absolute ideals which were only dimly realized in the actual world. Good people are a faint manifestation of Good and evil orcs (and the rest) are a faint manifestation of Evil. Or contain it.  I forget the details. But Good and Evil aren't the only Ideals. There's an absolute Ideal of Order and an absolute Ideal of Disorder.  And of Illumination and of Obfuscation -- I bet I resonate a lot with that one. And there's Ideal White and Ideal Black and Ideal Blue and Ideal Green. The Idealistic Philosopher got a little carried away while trying to explain it all to me. Or maybe he didn't, and there's even an Ideal Wizard and an Ideal Tall Thin Wizard with a High Conical Hat Wearing Robes -- And an Ideal Scrawny Little Gnome Who Talks Too Much And Doesn't Have Much To Say. You know, it's probably a good thing that the divine beings have an infinite amount of storage space for keeping all those Ideals which I guess they've accumulated by now."

"Sounds to me as if this person was attempting to be the ideal of an Idealist," quipped Aloysius.

 "Eep -- I mean, we're going to visit Tauster while topside?" Arachne asked. "We _can_ I guess. But I was aiming for one town from here and Tauster is in another one... I forget the names."

Azrun shook his head, "Don't worry about the spellbook stuff. Echo says she has plenty of room and at the rate we're aquiring new spells I won't need one any time soon either. Just thought it'd be nice to have an extra one just in case. Guess we won't be finding in huge spell depositories down here, so it doesn't matter."

Azrun shrugged, "I've can set up a few magic missiles and 2 web spells."

Azrun thought about what he needed and then went over to Aloysius, "Aloysius, here's what I'd like for you to get for me." He then proceeded to tell Aloyius what he needed.
few strips of cured leather
some spiderwebs
few darts
powdered rhubarb leaves
adder stomachs
Whatever components are needed for Lightning Bolt spell and dispel magic
2-new shirts
new bottle of ink and pen
a few loose sheets of parchment
a couple apples or some sort of fruit

When he was done, he dug into his pack and poked around for a few minutes. He finally pulled some coins loose from a pouch, "Since, some of this stuff is just for me here's a few gold pieces to pay for them. I don't think some of that stuff should come from the party treasure." With that he went back over and sat down before pulling out his journal and writing in it.

Aloysius jotted down Azrun's list in his own journal.  He took the coins and put them in his pouch.

"I can get to Thurmaster myself," said Aloysius. "It shouldn't take too long and Tauster may well have formulae that can assist us. I'll need some money of course and I can inquire as to spell books while I am there."

"We can give the sword to his church when we're done down here," Jana said. "And we'll stick the armor back in that cabin thingie.  I already nearly got mine trashed once so we need to have spares."

"No," Jana interjected. "You guys are going on a quick, the operative word here being 'quick,' supply run. Get up, buy the shit we need and get back as soon as Arachne can manage it.  No side trips, no fucking around. If you want to screw around in Thurmaster, then we all need to go. We can't leave a reduced force down here. It's too dangerous."

 "As if I made a difference to the force we have down here," the gnome remarked. "But -- Yes ma'am. Maybe I can find us reinforcements up top in the town we go to. Someone not very bright who thinks that stumbling around down here in the permanent darkness is somehow adventurous. Well, we _might_ get lucky.

"Aloysius, I know you're not going to go haring off to Thurmaster because Jana asked us not to, but... We're you planning to get there using that shape-changing spell and flying? Or did you have something else in mind? Does the shape-changing spell last long enough. When you demonstrated it before, it only lasted about ten minutes, but I don't know if it can go on for longer. Thurmaster is farther away than ten minutes, though. I was just ... wondering?"

"I cut the spell short earlier," replied Aloysius.  "Although I doubt I can maintain it long enow' to reach Thurmaster in one casting. 'Twas my understanding that Arachne and I were to attend several matters whilst above ground. I see not how the removal of the two of us from the group weakens the rest of thee significantly. Certainly, Arachne's healing talents will be met, but Stargazer provides naught more than a target for the ropers. Howe'er, if we can resupply, obtain additional spells, and . . .  mayhap speak with Kuiper . . . .we may be of relative value to the group."

"I don't think that that's a judgment which you or I get to make, Aloysius," Arachne said softly.

"I don't know why you insist on acting like you can't do anything, Arachne," Jana said, sounding annoyed under her blanket. "Do you see any of us making doors through rock or blinking from there to there in no time at all or f'gods' sake, growin' back a whole hand? I mean, I sorta understand I guess how the gods grant some people powers and I understand a little less how others can read squiggles then do stuff, but what you do, that don't seem to take no gods or no squiggles, just you. So stop makin' out like you aren't important to us. And," she adds, "I think we've all already said we want you around just because we like you. So knock it off 'fore I drop-kick ya."  She laughed once softly.

Jana sat through the philosophical discussion with her hands on the sides of her head, massaging her temples.

"I'm sorry I annoyed you Jana," Aracne said. "I was saying that I didn't think I made a difference to the force we have down here. In between battles, I'm helpful and that makes me glad. Relieved, too, because otherwise I'd just be a complete bump on a log. But during a battle, I have to search pretty desperately for something to do that's helpful. And if my spooky gets wiped out, like against those ropers, I don't have anything else to fall back on... By the way, thank you for saying you like me... That does mean a lot." The gnome smiled shyly.

You didn't annoy me," Jana said in a near-whine. She muttered something under her breath.

After the philosophical discussion ended, Jana spoke privately with Arachne for a few minutes. Afterward, Jana seemed quite upset. She retreated back to the wall and hid under her blankie. She remained quiet  save for a few muffled sniffles.

Renn nodded at Arachne's words. "Corellon does grant me such a spell, and it makes sense to pray for it," Renn said agreeably. "As the keeper of Elvish magic, my lord grants me access to many forms of prayers. We Faywardens are protectors of our people, both spiritually and physically."

Renn shifted to a more comfortable position on the ground. "And if you can spare the space, I think it a good idea to take the empty waterskins to the surface with you."

---

Previous Move
Next Move
Back to Move Summaries
Back to Night Below Main Page