Move 400: Still StinkyTunnels--Late, Day 40 (Marpenoth 23)
At the request of their two under the weather members, the party pushed onward. They covered a little more territory, but they were going slowly. The smell from the mold clung to clothing and hair, although it was not overwhelming. A few hours and a couple of miles later, Aloysius and Arachne did not seem to feel any better and the minds of the others were beginning to turn toward camp as well.
This tunnel had plenty of side caverns and tunnels, and it was not too time consuming to find a place big enough for the group with a single entrance. It also had a small pool in the back; the frigid water was clear enough that they could see the bottom. They settled in and began making preparations to rest.
"Blah!" Blacky said when he pulled out his rations. "That stuff did more than stink, it spoiled my food as well. That's just nasty." He said pushing the rotten food aside.
"Mine . . as well," said Aloysius. "Although, I wasn't . . . all that hungry."
He slowly pulled off his robe. "Suspect do I that . . .recovery shall be retarded . . .'lest these clothes are cleaned." He stopped for a moment and took a deep breath.
"We had best replace our water with that in the pool. Then, I . . . need to wash."
"Hells," Jana muttered about the spoiled food. "Let's bathe one at a time with guards," she suggested. "We've not had the best of luck with pools so far. Aloysisus can go first and the men can guard him. Me and Echo can guard Arachne next then trade off for ourselves and then the rest of the guys can take turns. After that, we'll evaluate our supplies and see if we need to get more outta that cabin thingie."
Dalgaer nodded agreement with the plan.
"Okay," Echo agreed. "Is your food bad too? I think mine is okay." There were some rustling noises from the direction of her voice.
"I dunnno," Jana replied. "I'll check."
Aloysius continued to strip, not apparently mindful of allowing the women a chance to relocate. He also pulled some other clothes from his pack which looked dirty as well.
"A fire is what we need," he said weakly. He opened his water skin and sniffed at the contnts to see if the water smelled tainted. "Absent that, does someone have a blanket I can borrow? My intent is to wash all my clothes and they shall be wet for some time."
He sat down next to the pool looking near exhaustion.
"You can use mine," Echo said.
Aloysius looked up from removing clothes from his pack. "Oh . .," he said quietly, looking away from Echo. "My . . .thanks," he added, accepting the blanket.
He then began to strip the rest of the way, intent on washing all of his clothes.
After being informed by a couple of people that their food was bad, everyone evaluated the rations they were carrying. Some of them had been fouled by the stinkmold, but they still had enough to last for some time, at least until the magical cabin could be opened again.
"It looks like we can get by," Echo commented. "It could've been worse."
"My food's fine. Well," Jana amended, "it's no worse than usual."
Kanon threw his spoiled food to the side and sighed, "Mine has been spoiled by that foul air. I will prepare a prayer asking for food and water on the morrow so that our lost stores could be supplemented." The priest began to methodically remove his armor and was finally sitting there in his blackened padding with a thoughtful look on his face. The priest removed his necklace and held it up, "Pass this around to everyone while they are bathing. If they are wearing it then that is one thing less to worry about if something is dangerous in the water."
Arachne didn't need to report on the status of the food she was carrying, nor did she even stir herself to look in her rucksack, for the simple reason -- as everyone well knew by now -- that she wasn't carrying any of the food.
She did watch Kanon throw aside his spoiled grub and ask, "Isn't there blessing or divine boon or something like that -- I ..." She wound down, then resumed: "It purifies food and drink, I thought. And less work for the god than creating it from nothing...? Maybe..."
The gnome looked at the pool. "I'd like to use it, yes," she agreed. "But I think that I should go last. And after drinking water supplies are replenished, definitely. I don't think anybody else will want to wash in the water after I've used it," she finished morosely.
The blanket appeared on the floor after some more rustling noises.
"I'll keep my invisbility spell going for now," Echo said. "I'm going to keep watch by the door while the men use the pool."
"Once we've all washed up, I'll work on warding the entrance to our camp while the women bathe," Renn said; his gear appeared on the floor near one of the walls.
Azrun quietly picked through his food and supplies to see what, if anything had gone bad. "If we're getting close to the quaggoths, we should expect that they might pick us up on a patrol or something. I've got the web spell available to close up that hole, if we need it. Probably not the most sound idea, but it's an option if needed." With that Azrun went over to the water to clean himself up also.
Blacky began removing his armor in preparation of the chilling bath. He laid it and his other possessions out so he could carefully scrub each piece later.
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