Move 376: Caves It Is!Smooth Caverns--Afternoon, Day 37 (Marpenoth 20)
The group returned to the cave with the strangest of all the strange pillars in it. Most of them were miserable; it was cold and impossible to get really dry and warm in the damp cool caverns.
Renn patched up Blacky and Jana. Blacky seemed to be recovering much more quickly than Jana; it became obvious that Jana had been giving back much less than she had been getting in that fight. Watches were set to get them through the night. It was a while before anyone wanted to go to sleep, so there was plenty of time to do whatever it was that one did in damp cool caverns.
When everyone finished the trip down the fairly long tunnel to the cavern that had been chosen as a camping ground Renn went to his hands and knees just a few feet outside the chamber. A softly chanted prayer continued for a number of minutes, as did the scribing of the glyphs across the width of the tunnel.
Renn stood and brushed the remaining incense from his fingers, and the dust from the knees of his breeches. "The chamber is warded against evil from the tunnel," Renn said as he shivered slightly. "Should an evil being attempt to cross the ward, a fiery blast will encompass it," he said with a fierce grin. "Of course,
should anything tunnel through the walls, ceiling or floor, my ward won't help much," he laughed shortly.Echo offered Jana her cloak to wrap up in. "You look like you need this more than I do at the moment. I wish we had something warm to drink." She spread out the loot that came out of the ropers. She examined it, starting with the platinum tube.
"Th-thank you," Jana replied. She wrapped up in it after removing her armor and soaked padding. "I'd pay handsomely for a cup of hot tea."
"That would be nice," Echo replied. "A cup of hot water would be probably seem nice though."
Echo opened the tube, a scroll case. She pulled out two pieces of paper. "It's another journal page," she said, sounding disturbed. "Renn, you might want to look at this."
With a slightly apprehensive look, Renn put aside what he was working on and glanced at the paper in Echo's hand. "Journal page," he replied somewhat warily. Renn knelt next to Echo and began to scan the paper in her hands.
After the group settled in for some rest Azrun pulled his journal out. He looked it over making sure it hadn't gotten too wet during their aquatic adventures. Once he was satisfied it was ok, he produced his quill and began to write down notes and such. He hummed quietly to himself while he wrote. He looked up occasionally as if to make sure everyone was ok. He met eyes with a warm smile before turning his own back to the pages he was writing.
"I wonder if that was one of them in that thing," Echo said quietly. She looked unsettled.
"Aye, it certainly seems that way," Renn grimaced. "It's curious though, mention of the Ssri-Tel' Quessir," he slipped into Elvish as he spat out the last words. A hard line crossed his brow.
"Makes me wonder what these people mentioned," Renn said as he waved a hand at the paper, "were doing down here that they would associate with an evil dragon and my twisted brethren."
"The other page we found said they were looking for lost companions," Echo reminded him. "I guess it goes to show that the illithids must be no respecter of persons when it comes to kidnapping."
Rennirolas blushed, a darkening of the bluish tinge around his jawline and ears. "Aye, you’re right Echo," he nodded. "That was why they were down here. And no matter their ideology, illithids are a bane I'd wish upon no one."
Echo reached over and patted Renn on the shoulder in a very tentative manner. "From this man's writing, it doesn't sound like they were very suited for this,"
Echo said. "Then again, we probably aren't either, but I don't think we hate each other like they seem to."Renn gave Echo a grateful smile before he looked to the others. "Aye, I don't think there's the ill will here that they seem to have."
"Any chance you guys might want to share that paper with the rest of us?" Jana asked, looking more than a little perturbed.
Echo looked more than a little surprised at Jana's attitude. "Of course," she squeaked. "I thought Renn should read it first. I didn't realize you'd mind. I'm sorry." She reached for her cowl, which wasn't there since Jana was using her cloak. She tried to hide her face by intently studying another piece of paper instead. As soon as the look of surprise went away, her face crumpled into a distraught expression.
Jana winced. "No, it's okay," she backpeddled, "I just wanted to know what it said so we could all talk about it. Maybe Renn can read it to us?" She walked over to Echo and wrapped her borrowed cloak around Echo's shoulders. "Thank you, I feel a lot better now that Renn's fixed me up and all."
Renn sat holding his flute case, but refrained from playing the instrument. As everyone settled in, Renn went to the chamber with the odd pillar and sat before it, a lightstone on the floor beside him to light the area.
After he had studied the pillar for a number of minutes, Renn began to speak softly in Elvish. "Can you hear me, do you understand what I am saying," Rennirolas said as he intently watched the pillar.
Jana opened her mouth to answer Renn but just blinked a few times with a confused look on her face when we turned toward him. Jana turned toward Echo and mouthed, "What the--?"
Echo looked puzzled too. "I guess he wants to see if it is trying to communicate with us."
Smooth Caverns--Morning, Day 38 (Marpenoth 21)
As uncomfortable and cold as they were, everyone each took their turns sleeping. The never-ending night was wreaking havoc on their body clocks by now, and even when well-rested, it was not uncommon to feel lethargic or otherwise out of it. Their rest period had passed with no contact from the two on the surface.
"Are you feeling any better?" Echo asked Jana. She looked groggy as she pulled out her spell book to study.
"A little," Jana said, "but not a whole lot. Blacky got me pretty good."
Echo nodded silently.
Blacky seemed to shrink, if that was possible for the big man, at Jana's last comment. He remained sitting quietly, feeling too weary to move.
"I know it wasn't your fault," Jana said to Blacky, dredging up a tired smile. "I hope I didn't hurt you too badly. We couldn't get you in a position for Azrun's Web spell."
"Not a problem, I was the enemy at the time. I just hope I didn't affect your ... condition." Blacky replied quietly
Jana winced. "Yeah, me too," she mumbled. "I'll get Arachne to, uhm, check when she gets back."
Renn spent an extraordinary amount of time in prayer during the morning. When he was finally finished, the elf checked both Jana and Blacky's bandages before he prayed over their wounds.
When he'd finished, Renn asked, "Are we planning on spending the remainder of today here, or are we going to move back out of the roper cavern?
"I only ask because if we are staying, there may be a spell or two I can cast to make our rest somewhat more comfortable," Renn smiled. "But regardless of whether we stay or go, I can summon our food and some water for the day, to save on what supplies we have."
"Echo, can you do that spy spell thing again?" Jana asked.
Echo nodded. "I think I can do it twice today. I can look at only one place with each spell. I checked in the store last time. Do you want me to do that again, or should I check the inn?"
"Wherever you think best," Jana replied. "Maybe the inn?"
"I'll try to find them there," Echo agreed.
Renn prayed over Blacky and Jana. When he finished, Blacky was healed completely and Jana looked considerably better.
After Renn's healing, Jana sighed and smiled. "Thanks, Renn. Still a little sore but I feel a lot better. Wish you had a "dry off and get warm" spell though," she added with a grin.
The next morning when Azrun awoke he stood and stretched sore and cold muscles. He waited quietly to see what would be the plan for the day.
When he'd finished, Renn asked, "Are we planning on spending the remainder of today here, or are we going to move back out of the roper cavern? I only ask because if we are staying, there may be a spell or two I can cast to make our rest somewhat more comfortable," Renn smiled.
"But regardless of whether we stay or go, I can summon our food and some water for the day, to save on what supplies we have."
Azrun nodded, "If Echo can cast her scrying spell again, then we can decide where we need to move to. I do think rest would be a good option though. We could probably use the time to check out our existing equipment and see if there are repairs needed." He waited for resposes and comments before sitting down to look over his spell book.
"Depending on what our plan for this day is, I just may have," Renn grinned. "Hold yet another moment Jana, I'd like to see you free from injury for once."
Renn began his Elvish chanting once again. When he was finished Renn spoke again. "If we are staying here for the day, I shall summon wood, which our mighty warriors can chop into small pieces," Rennirolas laughed. "From there I'll enchant the wood to burn for a period of eight hours.
"That should be plenty of time for us to get warm, though I'll certainly miss the fire once it's gone," Renn said as he spread his fingers wide.
"That sounds good," Jana said, "but what about the smoke?"
Renn prayed over Jana again, removing her remaining injuries.
"I think the ceilings are high enough here so that we wouldn't smoke ourselves out," Renn replied. "Though if I am wrong, I'd think the worst that happens is we put out the fire and know that campfires in these caverns are ill advised.
"It's nothing that we must do," Renn shrugged. "Something that just came to me while thinking about being wet, cold, and miserable," Renn grinned quickly.
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