Move 454:  Recharging

Move 454:  Recharging

Hook Horror Caverns--Late, Day 43 (Marpenoth 26)

The newly returned Renn exhausted his healing prayers on various party members. Aloysius changed himself into an eel to explore the pool again.  He returned after some time had passed, reporting that it still seemed to be clear of hungry hostiles. Arachne provided the little cottage for the others to open as they saw fit then went back to resting.

Arachne had been waiting by the edge of the pool. She slipped out of the nightgown and into the water. The gnome seemed to spend almost as much of her time underwater as the eel had. Eventually, she came out. "Shells," she muttered, picking up her nightgown. Carrying it, she padded through the encampment to her backpack and searched through that for her towel. She didn't look chilly, only wet.

When Arachne's intentions became obvious Dalgaer suddenly visibly gulped and rushed out of sight, just around a bend in the tunnel.

He said, "Um... I'll stand guard here."

Azrun looked up from his books and stuff to see the naked little gnome walking through the camp. His eyes widened in surprise and he blushed before pointing his eyes back into his books.

Once the pool was again declared safe, Jana set out her cleanest set of clothes and declared she was going to clean up. She stripped to her undies and got into the water. She was starting to look a little chunky 'round the middle.

Echo walked to the pool's edge and kept watch while Jana cleaned up.

After bathing and pulling on new, less-bloody clothes, Jana kept watch for Echo. She glared ominously at any of the guys whose eyes seemed to wander in the direction of the pool.

"Wow, that feels much better. Almost completely right again. Thanks Kanon." Blacky said to the priest.  During the ensuing conversation about magical principles, Blacky actually covered his ears at one point to keep his head from swimming with confusion.

Kanon shook his head and sighed sitting up with his back to the pool of water. He looked over at Blacky and then around the cavern, "I seem to remember I had promised a few days ago to relate to you about my religion.  I know it may seem like a fairly bad time but actually since things have slowed down and I feel as I've neglected that promise. "

"No hurry, I just like to know more about my benefactors." Blacky said as he again inspected his reformed axe.

The cottage was opened, and the stored spellbooks were retrieved. People restocked from the provisions inside as well. Once the cabin was opened and everyone could see the treasure, mostly coinage, amassed inside, it became even more doubtful that this latest haul would fit safely inside the structure.
 
Aloysius and Azrun, with the extra spellbooks in tow, left to go examine the beak shaped rock formation. They were gone for a long time, but occasionally, others wandered over to make sure they had not been eaten by a leftover quaggoth or fallen victim to a rogue mindflayer. The prisoner was still sitting quietly, seeming almost oblivous to what was going on around him. Finslayer kept quiet too. It had not said anything outloud since Dalgaer agreed to go along with its wishes. Eventually, Aloysius and Azrun both returned to the cavern where camp was. Aloysius looked haggard and exhausted, barely able to walk.

"Do you want to borrow my spell book?" Echo asked Azrun. "I think you wanted that color spell. If you don't want it right now, I am going to work on the flying spell on the scroll."

Azrun looked a little overwhelmed, "I'm not sure what I need to do first...you go ahead and work on your spells, Echo. I need to figure out what I'm going to try to copy in and what I need first.......ugh, this is going to take a while."

The mage stumbled over to where his pack was and flopped down on the ground. Wrapping himself in a blanket, he put his head on his pack. After a moment, his eyes closed and he appeared to be dozing.
 
Echo asked Azrun, "Do you know what he found out?"  She sounded anxious.

Azrun shook his head, "I didn't ask. I was sort of busy trying to figure out spells and books and all that fun stuff."

"What are we going to do with this?" Echo asked. "Can it be sent to the surface too? If we trust anyone up there enough to handle it."

Dalgaer suggested, "Maybe we could leave the least valuable stuff here, to maybe come back for. Just take the most valuable stuff with us?"

"That would seem the most logical solution, I'm sure that all those coppers take up a lot of space and weight for their worth. Maybe we could just send the least valuable coinage to the suface and donate it to that church or something or we could give all the silver to the smith to start working up silver armor and weapons for our foray into the glade once we're done down here." Blacky commented looking to Jana.  After that he pointedly did not look toward the pool while the women were bathing.

"I'm sure Garyld or Tauster would be willing to hold some of the stuff for us, for a reasonable fee," Jana suggested.

Renn looked a little confused at the question. "No," he said finally after giving it much thought, "I don't remember talking to Arachne, or anyone else..." He paused as he looked for the words to explain it.  "It is as though I just blinked one moment and everyone was gone."

Renn glanced over at the creature Jana kept referring to as "fuzz-face." "Where did he come from?" he asked. "And what are we supposed to do with him?"

Azrun not looking up from his work added, "A few notions have been suggested but nothing has been set yet. I for one am for leaving him here alone and us just moving on. He has no hook horror friends left and he's really not all that powerful. He's just down here looking for someone, just like we are."

He sighed, "I'm not looking for an argument or ethical debate. I'm just voicing my opinion on the matter. Whatever is decided, I won't argue with or say anything about. I know no one agrees with me on this already."

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