Move 424: Down and Up AgainTunnels--Insanely Early, Day 42 (Marpenoth 25)
Everyone save Blacky, Jana, and Renn went to sleep for an hour and woke up feeling much more refreshed than they usually did after spending a longer time sleeping down here. The other three took a less supernatural nap while the casters worked on their spells and prayers. Nothing happened while they were sleeping, but they did not look very spry and chipper when their allotted time for sleeping ended.
Aloysius awakened and stretched. "That was an hour?" he asked, a hint of doubt in his voice. "Remarkable . . . ."
He dug through his pack and withdrew his spell book, then walked over to where Echo was.
"Echo, after I have prepared for the . .day, I'd like to examine those bracers. Also, mayhap we should compare notes as to what spells we have on scrolls or in spell books that the other, and Azrun, may benefit from."
Echo took out the bracers and buckle from her pack. She handed them to Aloysius. "There's also a sword and an axe that you could look at. I don't think I have any new spells except the scrying spell since last time we compared books. I still need to learn the flying spell off one of the scrolls, but that's all I want off there for now."
"I forgot what's one those spell gems we got from the grells," she added.
After he had finished his prayers Kanon somberly donned his armor and strapped on his gear. He looked around at his comrades and then his eyes settled on Arachne. The priest walked over and kneeled working his hands through the subtle gestures of a prayer and mumbling the correct words of praise. After that prayer he moved to Blacky and Jana and attempted a similar prayer.
"Um, does anyone else have anything that needs to be checked for incantation?" he asked generally. "I'll look at the gems again and let you know. What else is on your scroll?"
He took the bracers and the buckle, smiling a bit nervously.
Echo gave Aloysius a puzzled look. "They're not that heavy," she told him, speaking quietly so she didn't disturb the people trying to rest.
"I'm carrying two of our scolls," she reminded him. "One has the mirror image spell, a web, a dispel magic, and a globe spell that protects from other incantations up to a certain level of power. I can't learn that one. I probably won't ever be able to cast it. The other scroll has invisibility, knock, the flying spell, and a short range teleportation spell that I won't be able to learn. I think it's sort of like the door Arachne uses."
Aloysius nodded, his nervousness relenting a bit perhaps.
"The globe spell, Stargazer would have an interest in it. Later, I mean." His hands wrung busily in front of him.
"Mayhap, I could work with you on those others?" he said, his voice trailing off. "Or not . . ."
Jana remained in her guard position until the nappers were up and dressed. Once they were, she stripped off her chain and padding and pulled on a slightly too-tight suit of studded leather and curled up to sleep hugging her sheathed sword like a child's toy.
Azrun stood and stretched when he awoke, "Jana, Blacky, Renn, thank you for watching over us while we slept. I wish you 3 could have gotten rest also. Perhaps, once we've checked out the rest of the tunnel we can set up camp again and let you catch up on rest. That would allow Aloysius, Echo, and myself some time to prepare our spells better. And we can discuss our next course of action."
Azrun nodded, "I'd like to copy that lightning spell you have, Aloysius....and that colorful light spell Echo has. Both were very useful in that last battle."
"Indeed . . ." said a beaming Aloysius. He stared blankly at the floor for a few seconds before recollecting himelf. "Perhaps at our next camp, we can copy some spells," he suggested. "And I'll gladly explain how to prevent the lightning from caroming back in the wrong direction."
Kanon asked for healing for Arachne, Blacky, and Jana. His prayers removed all of their remaining wounds.
When she got up, the other bloodstained gnome looked reasonably bright-eyed and chipper. "It works for me!" she exclaimed happily, springing to her feet -- and then wincing in pain. "As well as could be expected," she added. She looked around at the full elf, but he was already sunk in reverie. The priest of Lathander was busy praying and the wizards all seemed to be preoccupied with their grimy if not dusty (from that daily usage on the road) tomes. Arachne sighed and seated herself carefully again, close to Dalgaer. "So what's the plan?" she asked him. "We're not going to stay here much longer, are we? Just enough for prayers and spell study and then -- what? Jana wants to do -- I mean, we all want to do more Quaggoth hunting? Is that what's next?" More quietly, so as not to disturb the important work of the spellcasters, she asked the other gnome, "Is time enough for spell study and prayers time enough for soup?"
Arachne regarded the approaching armor-clad Dawn Priest warily. "Um, you're not still mad at me, are you?" she asked. "I'm sorry if I offended you or Lathander--"
"Oh," Arachne said.
"Oh!" Arachne exclaimed. "That's _so_ much better! Oh, my! Thank you Kanon! And Lathander. So, um, does he forgive me how I got myself hurt? Will you permit me to go on doing it? I can see how you'd think it wrong and I don't like doing it, but it seemed to me to be ... um, needful?" She regarded her dress. "And does anybody have anything for bloodstains?"
"When we get a chance, I'm going to try to learn the flying spell," Echo repeated. "I need to learn how to dispel magic too. I don't remember what's on the gems, but that's all I think I need to learn for now."
When everyone was awake and ready to go, Echo said, "I can cast the scrying spell now or I can wait til we get closer. What do you think?"
"I think now's best," Jana replied. "Knowing if there's anything there already will affect how we need to approach the area. It won't take us long to get there if we move briskly, so the danger of something appearing in-between you casting your spell and us getting there is minimal."
Blacky bedded down for the short respite and awoke when the priest healed his wounds. "Thanks, I feel somewhat better with out the pain of open wounds." Blacky gave a quick smile and began the task of preparing for the "day".
Kanon offered a weak smile to Arachne and shook his head, "There is nothing unnatural about your gift Arachne. I was just have a tumultous time of it all yesterday." He looked to everyone else and sighed as he spoke,"I must ask that noone afford me the gift of any direct spellcasting for the day. Even if I am struck down and my lifeblood is pouring out spare me any healing. I have atonement to make for my use of the nap prayer." The priest pulled down on the high gorget of his armor and waited until he heard an audible click, "Now for another promise I made yesterday." The priest weaved his hands through the gestures of another prayer and walked throughout the group touching each member of the group on the shoulder in turn save himself and finished the prayer, "I hope that that is helpful." He moved off to gather his gear, "I think we should go back and clear out the immediate caverns where the quaggoths laired and then head back. Who knows the caverns could extend for miles."
Arachne frowned, started to say something, then shrugged and smiled back. "OK."
Arachne asked him, "Does your atonement apply to the spooky stuff I do? Although Jana calls what I do 'spooky mind magic,' a wizard will tell you it ain't magic at all (and many of them will sniff disparagingly at the very idea). How similar or different psionics is from magics is a perennial subject for debate at University, especially by lawyers who are interested in crafting loophole-laden (or sometimes loophole-free) statutes. So... anyway ... I need you to tell me now whether your personal ban applies also to psionics, lest I later twist your words legalistically out of a desire to keep you from dying. You see?"
"Is it OK for you to tell us what you just did? I forget what you promised yesterday."
Echo cast her spell and sat down. She stared into space for a few minutes. "I don't see anything different," she reported finally. "The bodies are still there and they look undisturbed."
Aloysius listened to Echo's report about the quaggoth lair. "I suspect that we have set them to route," he said confidently. "Although we should probably be certain."
"It certainly appears that way," Renn agreed as he scrubbed a hand through his hair. "Though, I also believe we should be sure of whether or not the quaggoths are finished."
Dalgaer said, "I'm sure there' time for soup!" He poured some water into his soup bowl and watched as it was transformed into steaming vegatable soup. "Here ya go!" He offered the bowl to Arachne.
"Thank you!" Arachne dug out her spoon from her pack and ate a couple of sips of soup. "It's delicious!" She sipped another spoonful, then looked up at Dalgaer. "We can share it, can't we?" she asked him. "There's nothing in the magic to forbid that, is there?" She offered the bowl back to him.
Dalgaer smiled, "it's just regular soup. I'd love a little." He shared the soup with Arachne.
Kanon looked toward the tunnel out of their camp and nodded, "The prayer is called Unfailing Endurance. For nearly a ten day for twelve hours a day the recipients can effectively force march and undergo extreme activity without suffering fatigue. Without that extreme activity it usually lasts for about fifteen hours a day." He smiled and shrugged, "I think that's what my old instructor used to say. Almost verbatum I believe."
After Kanon's description Jana asked Arachne, "Do you think it's safe for that to be cast on me?"
"I'd advise against it," the gnome said, after some thought. "In part, because there is something going on around your baby which I don't understand, but also in part because my sense of what's going on around your baby makes me feel that it would be in conflict with the effect of this spell.
"My sense of the something that keeps me from telling you anything detailed about your baby is that it's working to prevent any interference with your pregnancy. 'Interference' is being broadly and harshly interpreted to include mere nosiness, as with my trying to find out how you're doing, but I suspect that the effect I'm encountering would resist any activity which might alter, halt or impede your baby's development.
"Now, your baby depends on you for its nurturing and growth. Your energy and life force are at least in part diverted to that development. I suspect that this resistance I see to my nosiness also works to ensure that that nurturing from you is unimpeded.
"If you undertake to spend days on forced marches and other kinds of hard living, you ought to get tired. You ought to _feel_ tired; it's a way for your body to tell you to take better care of yourself and your baby. If Kanon's spell keeps you from feeling the fatigue that would keep you reminded of your responsibility to your baby, I think that this protective influence around your baby won't like it. What it might do about things it doesn't like, I don't know, but my suspicion is that Kanon's prayer would not operate in you the way that he intends. Most likely, in my opinion, based on what you've told us, your baby would not be harmed or at risk, but you would be at much greater risk of unknowingly over-exerting yourself and then collapsing."
Jana's eyes glazed over at Arachne's explanation of why the spell wasn't worth the risk. At the end, she smiled weakly and said, "Uhm, thanks. I don't wanna take any unnecessary risks."
Jana approached Kanon and said, "Hey, about that don't-get-tired spell of yours. I appreciate the thought, but please don't cast it on me, okay?"
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