(I/C)
“First things first,” Brendon said. “I want to block off the door downstairs with the cabinet like we did here.”
“Senor, I have jammed the door. But I will go with you, if’n you want?”
The party looked around, turning beds to the side, or moving chairs back to the table. From downstairs they can faintly hear the scrape of the cabinet. After that they came up and the group took a moment to relax.
“Ok, by Aine’s blessing,” Lyra said, “off with the armor and let me see the worst damage you have.” While the Cleric was tending to everyone’s wounds and wiping the worst of the blood and scrapes clean, the group broke out their cold rations and began to eat.
“Ugh,” Lannis groaned. “Cold rations. I’m so enthused.”
Wyn snapped his fingers, “Alors!” He took out his wooden box and flipped the lid, doling out the tomatoes within as well as the mushrooms we had picked up. “”ere,” he said, offering one to Kovid, “it’ll help you eat what we’ve got in our pack, non?”
Nodding thanks, Kovid squeezed the greenish tomato and then stuck it in his mouth, biting deep. “Mmm,” he said.
“I won’t eat that,” Lyra said, checking Kovid’s many wounds. “Something strange about it. Weird vegetables growing in dead kobolds.”
“It’s not a vegetable,” Lannis offered, rubbing the top of the mushroom clean and then biting it. “It’s a fruit.”
“No senor,” Abraxas corrected him. “You can get tomatoes at the vegetable stands in the market.”
Lannis shrugged. “Whatever. I’m sure my genius level intelligence and knowledge of anything you might ever need to know is wrong in this one tomato given fact.”
“Monsieur, perhaps they will help us save some of our food stores for later?” the elf asked.
“Doubt it.” Lannis tilted his water skin and took a drink. “I’m more worried about this. We’re going to have to risk going outside tomorrow and fill up at the well.”
The party drank deep, noting that both Kovid and Lyra pretty much emptied their skins. “Getting that bundle of gold cost both of us about half our water. We’re ok now, but we need.”
“That reminds me,” Wyn closed his eyes, dusting the last of the food from his chest, and waved his hands about, chanting slowly. At the end the air around his shimmered and spread out in a thin rippling field. “Let us see if we found anything magical.” The group brought out the ring, the club, silver dagger, drum, gloves, mirror, elf ears, even the old pants. Nothing showed any latent magic.
“Hmm,” Wyn got up and began to walk to the stair. “Monseiur Offop, si vous plait come with me to the lower barracks.” The two of them went down and looked over the room. In here things were slightly different in which the bodies of the 5 elves all had the faintest traces of decaying magic upon them. Giving it a look (Lannis Magic User Int > 15, no roll) the wizard felt that the remnants of the spell had the same signature and pedigree as the rainbow ward that surrounded the Castle, however in reverse. “Means what?” Wyn asked.
Lannis frowned. “Means the spell that established the rainbow ward which went obviously outside the original parameters of the spell, also killed every damned elf in this room. At the exact same time. In fact, I’d say their death actually fed the spell and helped it reach critical mass and explode as it did.”
“Ah…so we’re good here?”
“Yeah, let’s go back upstairs.”
From there the party broke up into watches: Wyn and Kovid, then Brendon and Abraxas, and finally Lannis and Lyra. Abraxas had claimed one of the hobgoblin beds, shoving pillows and blankets and clothing under parts of the mattress to make it comfortable . Taking the knobby club he had picked up, he shoved it at the base of the bed to raise his feet and then laid down, closing his eyes. "Buenos noches, amigos. Let's rest well and get back to it soon so we go home mas rapido."
By this time the oil in the lantern had run out and the room fell into gloom. Wyn took up position near the hallway door and Kovid took up position at the opposite end of the room. And as the room was filled with their sleeping friends, the two of them relied on their infravision and heightened senses to suss out anyone poking around out there (2 WMC – nothing).
At the end of their watch (9 pm), tired and worn, they awoke Brendon and Abraxas and swapped with them. Kovid eschewed Abraxas’ bed, instead opting to sleep on the stone floor with just his backpack as a pillow. Not having the same ability to see in the dark as their companions, the decision was to light one of the slow burn candles and place it on the table where its glow would not be seen at the door and still give them something to see by.
(3 WMC, 2 nothing, 1 positive) It was towards the end of their watch, when the slowburn candle had pretty much gone out and the two men were sitting in the dark that they heard a slow plodding walk in the hall outside. Whoever it was had a sour body odor and there was also the smell of bloody meat. It walked the barracks (Wis check -10 penalty, – failed) and kept going, north to south and eventually down the stairs that the group had only chanced to step down earlier that day. It was gone for at least 15 minutes before the slow heavy plodding steps came back again up the stairs and then made its way again in front of the door – this time the sour body odor was stronger and there was no bloody meat smell – and continued on its way and was gone.
At this point they were exhausted and they went to light the last of the hobgoblin’s slowburn candles until there was enough light to see and awaken Lyra and Lannis (1 am). The two of them, looking much better and bright eyed, woke up, got the heads up of what was going on, and then took over the watch while Brendon and Abraxas went back to sleep.
The watch was with little issue, except Lyra kept getting hit by tossed stones and rolled up hobgoblin socks, where when she turned to Lannis, he merely looked at her and shrugged mouthing, “I don’t know?”
She tapped her sling. “Keep it up and I’ll pelt you with a rock.”
Lannis lifted his shoulders and frowned. “I have no idea what you’re going on about. Is it your time of the month again?”
(4 WMC, 3 nothing, 1 positive) It was about half way through their watch that they heard kobold voices in the distance. They were chittering and yipping and talking at length. No words were discernible and they walked on to the Barracks door where the two friends heard the knob rattle before the kobolds got into a heated discussion and then walked on, the name Corfard identifiable amidst their mutterings.
By this time the slowburn candle had expired and Lannis had taken out Kovid’s lantern, rummaging around the dwarf’s pack for a flask of oil (Kovid, remove 1 flask of oil (1) from inventory). “Don’t you have your own?” Lyra asked.
Lannis nodded. “Yeah. But that’s my oil. It’s HIS lantern, so we use HIS oil.” About an hour later the party woke up the rest of the group where a good night’s rest gave them some healing (Wyn 1, Lyra 3, Lannis 2, and Kovid 5). After that Wyn, Lyra, and Lannis studied and prayed for their spells for the day (Lyra – you get your spells – no need to pick. Lannis and Wyn – pick your spells and let me know what you want to prepare for the day based upon your limits). The group broke their fast and by 6:30 AM, Day 2, they were ready to once again plumb the depths of Halgafar’s Castle in search of the Prism Crown.
Time now is 6:30 – lantern has 4 hours of oil in it.
(OOC)
New day! I will be sending everyone their updated character sheets – please note them as need be.
What’s the plan today?
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