Move 401: Flash

Tunnels--Late, Day 40 (Marpenoth 23)

Those who wanted to do so replenished their water supplies before taking turns bathing and washing their clothing in the frigid water of the pool.  Being cold and wet added a new level of discomfort to the evening, and  everyone, especially Aloysius and Arachne, seemed generally miserable.

Arachne waited until everyone else insisted that they were done with the pool and she should go ahead and wash herself if she was going to.  Then she bathed -- and seemed, in spite of the chill of the water, to be making an attempt to soak herself inside and out. She dunked repeatedly and spat an awful lot of water out, before eventually quitting the pool.  From her pack, she produced a towel, which would have been perhaps only a hand towel for everyone else but was quite large for her. After drying herself off, she put on her yellow, lightweight sleeping chemise-shift and slippers. Then she washed her dress and spread it out to dry in an untrafficked part of the cave.

Jana washed her clothing and bathed, although she kept her smallclothes on during the bath. "I didn't think I could get any colder," she muttered.  She huddled under a blanket to change into dry clothes and her soft leather armor before curling up into a shivering ball.

Aloysius did his best to clean himself and all his clothes in the frigid pool. Before cleaning, he made sure his waterskin was full. After he finished, he spread his clothes out on the floor to dry and wrapped his naked body in Echo's blanket.

Eventually, everyone settled down into rest, if not sleep. A bright flash of magical fire from the cave door, accompanied by a low pained moan, roused them all during the first watch of the evening.

Aloysius sat up and looked around groggily, trying to figure out what was going on.

The little gnome withdrew near her drying dress, hoping she was still out of everyone else's way. She rolled up in a cloak she'd worn occasionally on the surface (in rain but not otherwise, since it had been summer there) and used belowground only as a sleeping blanket in damp parts of the underdark. Fairly quickly, she made herself still.

The little gnome moved only enough for her eyes to be visible, watching the rest of the room.

"Not sure exactly what it is," Renn said quietly as he hefted his mace. "But whatever it may be, it's roughly human-sized and dressed in tattered clothing. Oh, and it's somewhat transparent," he added with a wry grin.

Azrun looked wide-eyed at the entrance, "Ummm....Renn does your spell continue to exist once it does that or is it gone? Mr. ghost didn't like it too much and I'm wondering if he'll try to come back again.....course guess if he was a ghost he could just pass through the stone like it was air....wonderful...."

Renn shook his head as he continued to watch the entrance of the cavern. "No, Azrun, once my warding has been triggered, it's magics are expended," Rennirolas said quickly and quietly.

Azrun frowned at the bad news, "Ok, just wanted to check."

"Murphl?" Jana mumbled as she slowly opened her dark-circled eyes. "Wha' ghos'?" She blinked a few times then paled. "Ghost?" she repeated in a quiet but high-pitched voice.

Echo looked around to make sure everyone was awake.  "Something tried to come in," she said quietly. "It may not be gone." She edged slowly towards the door.

Dalgaer rolled to his feet gripping his battleax and scanned the room. He asked, "Is everyone okay? What is there?"

Blacky rolled awake and grabbed a hand ax and shield.

Blacky and Dalgaer scrambled for weapons, while everyone else who had been sleeping tried to determine what was going on in their own ways. Azrun and Renn watched the entrance to the cavern, discussing what the others had missed while they were sleeping. Echo crept over near the doorway, but she did not leave the cavern.

The being that the ones on watch reported seemed to have left the cavern; there was no sign of it at the moment.

Kanon roused with a grunt pushing up out of his winter blankets and reaching for his mace in the process. He groggily pulled himself up and extended the mace towards the doorway. He closed his eyes and light blossumed around the head of the mace illuminating the area around the priest. He lifted the long waist length silver chain around his neck and began to move towards the cave entrance, "I certainly hope it wasn't a real ghost." The priest looked slightly worried but quickly steeled his resolve.

Dalgaer advanced to the door axe at the ready. "We should follow it."

Arachne's gaze followed the more impressive gnome. She did not, however, get up.

Aloysius stood up, still wrapped in Echo's blanket.  "Um," he started as he pulled the blanket more tightly around him, "Stargazer has no dry clothes presently.  Perhaps we can reward the opening and maintain a watch rather than chasing after whatever it was."

"...well done, O good and faithful opening," the little gnome mumbled to herself. "Here's an opening biscuit for you..." She rolled over in her makeshift blanket and sat up. "You know," she advised, "just because someone is rather transparent, that doesn't automatically make them a ghost. I can do a pretty good ghost imitation myself -- as some of the folks in the town uptop might tell you. Tattered clothing and somewhat transparency -- that also would go with a survivor of that previous expedition down here who happened to know the spooky magick called Ectoplasmic Form.

"Or it could be a ghost from that previous expedition," she shrugged, slumping again.

Dalgaer nodded, "More reason to follow. He may need help."

"If it was someone who has that skill, wouldn't he have spoken to us?" Echo asked. "I mean, assuming his reason for approaching us wasn't to kill us. Renn, does your spell go off if someone crosses it or are their conditions?"

"Indeed there are conditions," Renn nodded, with another glance out the cavern before he looked to Echo. "I warded it against the passage of evil. Seemed to be the easiest form of warding to set," he grinned.

"That settles his intentions." Dalgaer said. "If he returns he'll feel my axe." The gnome sat down and leaned against the wall.

"I can't see anything out there," she said, backing away when Kanon came up with his light. "Maybe it was that thing Renn saw before."

"No," Renn said as he shook his head. "I don't really think so. This thing, had..nothing elfin about it."

"I have no other spells to guard our camp," Renn admitted with a shrug. "But neither do I think it's a good idea to chase after that ghostly figure. We don't know enough about these tunnels, yet."

Azrun nodded, "I agree. Chasing a ghost or whatever that was, down unknown, quaggoth infested tunnels is not a good idea. We should wait a few minutes and see if it comes back. If it doesn't, then we go on with our normal nightly activities."

"I agree," Jana replied. "We shouldn't go running off into what may be a trap. Let's just make sure we're ready if it goes off again. Can anyone else cast that warning spell thingie?"

When it looked like the group wasn't going to be moving on, Blacky sat back down, but kept his weapon close at hand. "So it was a ghost or something that
looked like one. Renn, do you think it could be that thing you saw earlier?" He asked

Kanon just moved to the mouth of the cave and peered into the darkness with the aid of his light. He kept his holy symbol raised and waited a few tense moments, "I think I will have a hard time getting back to sleep. Ghosts are not corpereal so it could have come visible from the assault of the spell and then move in later without being seen." He looked back over his shoulder and moved back towards his bedroll, "A puzzling dilemma to say the least."

Azrun shook his head, "We could see it before it got to the trap actually. I think the trap gave it a good jolt though. It moaned pretty good when it got zapped. It was kinda funny in a way I guess.... Aha, unsuspecting mortals I can suck the life out of...POW!...crap! screw this! I'm going back out into tunnel and wait for a quaggoth.....heheheh." Azrun chuckled as he acted out the spirits failed assault.

Dalgaer expressed eagerness to follow the creature the people on watch had reported, but no one else seemed to agree with that course of action.  Everyone watched the doorway with some trepidation, but no ghost or other being made itself known to the group. The tunnel outside of the cave they had camped in was quiet.

"I can try," said Aloysius. He began digging around in his backpack while also attempting to keep the blanket around his body. He removed a small spool or silvery wire and a small bell and proceeded to the opening.

After looking at his components and surveying the opening, he looked back at the others and, with a shrug, let the blanket drop. He was stark naked but didn't seem all that self-conscious about that fact.

"I hope this takes," he said to no one in particular as he began casting his spell.

When Aloysius' towel fell, Jana squeezed her eyes shut and politely turned away before opening them again.

Azrun smirked and looked over at the newcomers, "He, ah, gets more oomph into the spell when he casts in the buff. Also catches the enemy completley off guard. I mean think about about, you're getting ready to skewer some guy, and he drops his clothes and waves his hands, chanting. I know I'd be a little bewildered." With that Azrun turned back to the tunnel, not the mage!, to watch for any effect.

Kanon coughed and settled back into his bedroll. He looked over at Azrun and shrugged before pulling the blankets back over himself and attempting to go back to sleep.

Echo discreetly averted her eyes. She glanced at Jana and gave a small shrug.

"What will the spell do?" she asked.

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