Move 215:  Svirfneblin Camp

Tunnels--Camp, Day 5

Arachne worked her healing on Blacky's mangled arm. It took some time, but the muscle finally seemed to knit enough that it would heal normally.

Echo tried to fix the rip in Jana's armor. The sewing kit she had was not really suited to doing such repairs. She managed to get the tear stitched shut, but it looked doubtful that it would hold up to much abuse.

Azrun cast a spell on an arrow from his quiver. It lit up like the many light stones that the party possessed.

The watch rotation went off without any further incidents. Everyone awoke as well-rested as could be expected.

Jana, Pruc, and Ciekor got most of the slime off of them, although it was impossible to get all of it.

Blacky could tell when Arachne had stopped healing his arm because, although her eyes were still closed and her breathing was slow, deep and regular, as when she was in her healing trance, the pressure of her hands on his arm went slack when she fell asleep.

Blacky gritted his teeth as he tested his 'fixed' arm. "Well it works, but it still hurts like all hells.  It should heal in a week or so though." Blacky patted the sleeping Arachne in thanks and bedded down for some rest.

Jana looked at the repaired armor.  "Thanks, Echo."  She grinned as she added, "You're truly a woman of many talents."  She rolled the leather up and stowed it away.

Echo laughed and shook her head.  "Maybe that'll keep it from tearing any more.  Bring it back when it rips again."

Svirneblin Camp--Very late, Day 6

After what seemed to be another full day of following Pruc and Ciekor, the party met up with two more deep gnomes. Pruc and Ciekor greeted them briefly. They seemed a little more animated than they had been in the time they spent with the group but still not what one would call cheerful or talkative.

The four Svirneblin did not seem to have any intention of stopping yet, even though some of the group felt like it was definitely time to rest. They pushed on for some time longer until they finally
reached a camp set up by a group of deep gnomes. Past the narrow entrance, the cavern opened to about thirty-five feet wide but was very long. The ceiling was low enough that almost everyone in the group could reach up and touch it. The return of Pruc and Ciekor brought the Svirneblin numbers to fourteen. Five of the deep gnomes were curled up asleep along the walls near the middle of the long cave.

The four returning warriors were waited on by two of the three deep gnome females in the camp. One of the women gave them something to eat while the other went to the back of the cave and returned with water for them. Carmeneren was the third female in the group, her thin stringy gray hair and lack of armor making her look much like the other two. She was distinguished from them only by her advanced age, her holy symbol, and the fact that she did no scurrying after the returning men.

"Greetings," Carmeneren spoke to the group in her slow deliberate Commonspeak. "I am pleased to see that you have returned in such numbers. I began to believe that you would not come." When she stopped to give some directions to another couple of armored gnomes who were about to go out into the tunnels, the group was able to get a closer look at the younger male who stood at her side. He looked much like the other male gnomes, completely hairless and brownish-gray, but he wore a symbol identical to Carmeneren's. His demeanor was considerably different than the other Svirneblin as well. As a group, they seemed quietly grave, but this one could obviously barely contain his excitement at the appearance of the group of strangers.  His eyes went from person to person while Carmeneren's attention was diverted, but as soon as she addressed the group again, he forced himself, with some effort, to watch her instead.

With the other two gnomes dispatched to the tunnels, Carmeneren spoke again. "Blik will show you where you can rest. I will speak with you as soon as I have attended to some things." She gave them a small smile and called Pruc and Ciekor over.

The male gnome wearing the holy symbol, apparently Blik, led them past the other gnomes, who glanced at them briefly then continued about their business, to the very back of the cave in front of two small pools. "This will be your camp," he told them. His common had sound structure, but he talked much more quickly than Carmeneren, making his accent somewhat difficult to understand. "The water is good for drinking. I will get you some food." He made a signal at the two females, who brought an interesting although not very appetizing selection of fungi to them.

While Carmeneren was talking with Pruc and Ciekor, Blik stayed with them. He stared at everyone openly now. His eyes were full of questions, but he was too busy taking everyone in to ask them. When he got to Daelen, who was pretty well covered in dried snot, he remarked, "You met a clear jublen. I would think you killed it good. Carmeneren says you took out the orcs in the upper caves." He got distracted by Arachne before he could stumble out any more words. He stared at her even longer than he had at the others, then reached out impulsively to pet her auburn ponytail.

"I'd suggest that here might be a good place to set up our cottage and review what's inside and outside and whether we've got anything with us that our hosts might like," Arachne panted, when the party reached the Svirneblin camp.  "But the ceiling here looks awfully low.  Anybody remember the last tunnel or chamber where we had a reasonably vaulted ceiling?"  Dead on her feet, she awaited reply.

Aloysius was quiet and pensive as the party followed along behind Ciekor and Pruc, but the mage didn't seem overly tired from the long journey.

When the party reached the gnome camp, Aloysius remained silent and mainly just looked around the cavern to see what he could see.  When Blik showed the party their camp area, Aloysius removed his pack and sat down with his back to the cavern wall.  He removed his waterskin and took a long drink.

Quite intrigued by the fungi offered by the deep gnomes, Aloysius ate several pieces.  "Hmmm . ." he grunted while his mouth was still full.  "Dese are quite tashty."

After replacing his waterskin in his pack, he sat back, closed his eyes momentarily, and sighed.  "Wish would I that this journey would end soon," he began, "but doubts have I that we shall be pleased to find whatever lies at this journey's end."

He opened his eyes and waited to see what would happen next.

Arachne's face had been toward Carmeneren while she was speaking, and toward Blik while he was speaking.  How much of what either said she absorbed was doubtful, since her walking had become pretty wobbly by the time the expedition finally reached the camp.  When Blik paused to simply stare at Arachne, she continued gazing at whatever she was gazing at.

Blik patted Arachne's ponytail.  Her head dropped forward against his chest.  "Yup," she mumbled.  "It's real."  Then she sagged against him.

Blik looked extremely surprised when Arachne nearly fell over on him.  As small as she was, she was still as big as nearly all of the deep gnomes here.  He managed not to fall down himself and helped her sit down on the floor, giving her a very worried look.

"Uhm, thank you," Jana said politely, looking way, way down at the two women.  She asked Bilk, "Uhm, excuse me, is there some place I can wash this, uhm, jublen? thing off of me?"

Blik pointed to one of the pools.  "We bathe there.  We drink out of the other one."  The pool, being in the back of the cave that was now more than well-lit due to the group's many light stones, afforded absolutely no privacy.

"We met with some large white furred creatures with claws as well. Do you know what they are?" Blacky asked after stopping to refill his waterskin. Blacky picked at the mushrooms attempting to memorize the appearance of the ones that he liked.

Blik considered this for a moment.  "Quaggoths," he decided.

Echo stood quietly while the others talked to Blik.  She gave the mushrooms a doubtful look.

Daelen undid the buckles and loosened the straps on his armor laying it out   in pieces on the ground on top of his cloak. He nodded a greeting to the   gnome and continued examining his mail for damage or corrosion. "Yeah,   though if we meet another one we'll be sure to kill it with arrows instead   of swords. You got anything that'll strip this crap off without melting the   armor? Maybe some alcohol and a wire brush..."

Looking back up (or at least in a different downward direction), he noticed that Blik and Arachne were exchanging some gnomish greeting and decided to try his luck with water.

Azrun sat down heavily against the wall. The bard looked incredibly tired.  After resting a few moments, he filled his wineskins back up and sipped some of the water himself. Once he was rested, he pulled another arrow and cast a spell upon it. When he was done he looked to the others, "So what are we going to do now?"

Aloysius began to giggle.  It was a tired-sounding giggle, but it grew slowly until he covered his face with his hands.  After a moment, he got it under control.

Through a broad smile and watery eyes, he asked Azrun, "Azrun, how in Mystra's name did thou acquire the name 'Darkwalker'?  Surely it was made in jest as thou doth generate more illumination than the bonfires of Kossuth himself!"

"My aplogies," he said, after composing himself a bit, "but with the stress of our recent surroundings, that struck me as humorous."

"Wonder do I when our hostess shall return?" he asked.

He wiped a tear from his cheek and took a moment to catch his breath.  "My apologies," he said finally, after composing himself further.  "At some point, we need to discuss tactics.  That, naturally, should wait until after Carmeneren has told us what she can.  Or will," he added quietly.

Blik pointed Daelen in the direction of the pool he had just told
Jana they used for bathing.

Meanwhile, Azrun lit up another arrow with his spell.

Aloysius looked over at the pools with interest.  "At last," he said, "a chance to wash the stench from my flesh."

After taking off his new robe and placing it with his pack, he removed his boots, his pants, and his tunic as well before heading off towards the pools in his loincloth to wash off a bit.  He left his straw hat and bandana with his pack as well.

"Sounds like a good idea, won't matter how quiet we are if the enemy can smell us at 500 paces." Daelen said with a grin.

"Uhm, thanks," Jana replied.  She saw Aloysius head over there and Daelen apparently planning on it himself.  "I, uhm, think I'll wait a bit."  Jana put her light stone away.  "We might want to at least shield some of these stones," she commented to the others.  "The light probably bothers these folks."

Daelen took the opportunity to try and scrub himself and his snot covered clothes after his armor had become reasonably clean. After wringing out his clothes and dressing again, he returned to the group with his armor still wrapped in his cloak.
"Hmmm... this is... new." he commented, munching on some of the gnomish offerings.
The water in the designated bathing pool was extremely cold, practically icy, but it was currently deserted other than those in the party who felt like taking a splash or a dip.

Blik made sure that everyone had fungi and water and was somewhat settled before he went back to the front of the cave. He returned shortly afterwards to let them know that, since some of them were so tired, Carmeneren would wait to talk to them after they had rested.  He waited to see if anyone needed anything, then left them alone.

After a few minutes, Aloysius returned from the bathing pool. He took some clean clothes out of his pack and put them on. He pulled out a clean loincloth, looked around uncomfortably, and then
stuffed it back in his pack with the clothes he had worn earlier. He then unrolled his blanket and
wrapped it around his shoulders. He sat there for a while, writing in a book of some sort.

Seemingly wound up about something, he cut a fresh slice of root and popped it into his mouth. Something appeared to be on his mind, but seeing his weary comrades trying to rest, he remained quiet. He layed back with his head on his backpack

Once the men had left the pool and the lights were dimmed, Jana went over and carefully cleaned her armor, gear, clothing and self, changing into a clean set of clothes and the newly-repaired leather armor.   Shivering violently, she returned to the others, wet hair tied back.  She laid out her things to dry, looking a bit dubious as she did so.  "Stuff's never gonna dry down here.  Probably get all moldy."  She sat, arms wrapped around her knees and still shivering, looking extremely tired.  She made a half-hearted attempt to choke down some of the fungi, then gave it up and took a couple of swallows of the 'skin Blacky had obtained for her earlier.  She left the 'skin out for anyone else who wanted a bit of artifical warmth and curled up in a ball under a blanket, still shivering slightly.  "Wake me up if we need to set a watch," she mumbled, eyes closed.

Blacky stripped out of his armor, obviously still pained by his arm.  After eating a drinking he suddenly realized that he was very tired and lay down for some shuteye.

Echo pulled out the spellbook she was copying spells from, working on it quietly for a few minutes.  Before Jana went to sleep, she said, "If those stitches I put in your armor won't hold, I think I can fix it another way."  She waited to see if Jana wanted to give her the armor again before going back to copying spells.

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